NHL 11 News Post

NHL 11 Rosters Arrive Tuesday, November 2nd

01:47 PM - October 29, 2010 by misch13fRoyale

According to oilersguru, one of the moderators at the EA Forums, the much anticipated NHL 11 rosters will be available Tuesday morning, November 2nd.

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# 1 misch13fRoyale @ 10/29/10 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bama83


	And deadline number 3 is set. Third times the charm, right? Seriously, that needs to change. EA needs to have a little more transparency with their customers to help set/monitor expectations. Maybe have some sort of "in-game" update system that shows ETA on patches/updates. And provide small blurbs on development, in game. Again, as a PM, I am appalled that they couldn't get it right. Working through the weekend means that people weren't working properly to get it done in the allotted time frame. Instead, they should have been working nights to get it out before the EOW (like promised). This isn't a licensing issue any more, this is lazy project management.

you know i agree with everything everyone says, just the difference with me and some others is, im willing to give some NON-ea roster updates a whirl... which have worked fine for me so far and held me down to this point.

But, I am a subscriber to Game Informer mag, and there was an article in the first issue i received a couple months ago, about David Littman, the producer who was ON POINT with all the roster updates and information released up to the NHL 10. Apparently he has been asked to revamp the NBA live series which is fighting for its life cuz it sucks so bad.... but he seemed alot more responsible than anyone else who is running the day to day ops over there... I dont know if hes even there assisting anything but, who ever is running things there apparenlty has a serious lag. Taking into consideration that the database is on a different magnitude, you would think maybe, just maybe they would have more people working on it than before.

# 2 casbruce @ 10/29/10 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bama83


	And deadline number 3 is set. Third times the charm, right? Seriously, that needs to change. EA needs to have a little more transparency with their customers to help set/monitor expectations. Maybe have some sort of "in-game" update system that shows ETA on patches/updates. And provide small blurbs on development, in game. Again, as a PM, I am appalled that they couldn't get it right. Working through the weekend means that people weren't working properly to get it done in the allotted time frame. Instead, they should have been working nights to get it out before the EOW (like promised). This isn't a licensing issue any more, this is lazy project management.

Unless you have worked on the game you really have no idea the circumstances that have been in play here. It's quite a stretch to suggest that people weren't working properly when you have no idea what the factors are. Being a project manager where you work doesn't give you any specific information about this particular industry and this specific project.

And considering that this is the first time they have directly said what day it's going to be available, you really can't say they've missed deadlines.

# 3 speels @ 10/29/10 02:46 PM

Or they could do nothing after release. Your choice.

# 4 mkharsh33 @ 10/29/10 02:50 PM

Maybe I'm off base here, but for all the EA-defenders, let me ask this question:

Do they CREATE a real-life player BEFORE or AFTER they get his signature?

My guess is before...they must be thinking in advance about player ratings and his cyber-model.

If they wait for a signature before they even start to think about how to create the player then I can understand the wait. But I don't know if that's the case...

As someone who has worked on NBA 2K and MLB 2K rosters, I can find scouting reports, pictures, and have a general feel for a player and create them very quickly. I don't have a team, just me, my console and a laptop. I have a full-time job, 4 children, and church activities that soak up a lot of my time, yet I put rosters out (for enjoyment) in quick order.

I don't get this delay from EA. I realize it's a lot of players, but for MLB 2K10 I created well over 250+ minor league players and was able to churn out rosters updates on a frequent basis that were spot on. I know what it takes (from my end) to get this done. If I had a team of people I cannot begin to fathom how much more fun, quickly, and accurate I'd be...

# 5 misch13fRoyale @ 10/29/10 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bama83


	How do you do that? I heard they took out roster sharing and it borks the whole thing up. I would gladly use a 3rd party roster. I think that's why Littman was moved to the Live team. My guess is they were WAY behind on their deliverables and they need a good project lead to ensure that there were no set backs. Littman was unable to work a miracle and NBA missed it's intended deadline. It looks like the NHL devs are going down the same road. Developers are wonderful, but need a bit of direction from time to time. Prioritization and people ensuring targets are being met. They need Littman back.

The unfortunate thing is that its a bit of a lengthy process, for you have enter everything manually, whether it be player edits, or create a player, and some roster movements, but I have been using these guys' updates since NHL 08 i believe and its great... http://petrpuck.blogspot.com/ give it a whirl.... im pretty satisfied, i just finished my first season in BE a GM... i played the majority of the games, and just went through my offseason last night, ready for season 2... the player developement needs to be a bit better but thats through a patch... but overall, am i 100% satisfied? NOPE!! but, can i live with my own tweaks to the game based on others hard work? yes....

Littman isnt totally out of the loop from what i gathered in the article, but he needs to be at the helm, like before... things ran ALOOOOT smoother with him around... reaction time was great!!!

# 6 mkharsh33 @ 10/29/10 02:54 PM

without the patch the roster update is worthless. BAGM is broke, so I can see the rosters coming out, and they'll be fun to play some exhibition games with, but the patch is needed. haven't heard a timeframe on that yet.

# 7 casbruce @ 10/29/10 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bama83


	They've directly said it'd be done multiple times. This is just the first time they've given us a concrete date rather than a time frame. It should not, in any situation, take 60+ days to release a completed roster where most of the edits are shuffling lineups within a dedicated database or application.

Again, without having worked on a sports video game there is no way you can state as fact that it should never, in any situation, take 60+ days. No one can know if they aren't in the room and in the meetings. I know EA used to use outside firms to handle ratings and such for the rosters. Maybe they were waiting on that company. Who knows? I have no extra information than you, but I think it's irresponsible to be making statements about the work ethic of people you've never met.

And I'm sorry, but just because someone isn't completely outraged over A ROSTER UPDATE doesn't mean they are "sunshine pumpers."

# 8 kestrel @ 10/29/10 03:24 PM

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that they HAD to wait until now to release it. With the time teams have to move players around then those players to join the appropriate unions (if they haven't already), around a few days from now would be when an official "start-of-season" roster should be available. EA had to wait until all moves would be finalized, 10-or-so games into each NHL team's season, whether or not they have been working on them before now, whether or not they had prepared anything in advance (and if they had, they would have plenty of preparations to undo, I'm sure).

Now, I'm not trying to sound like an EA apologist, because there is a problem in all of this (more than one, to be sure).

Problem one lies not in the date now announced for release, but in all of the overly zealous and completely impractical guesstimates that were announced. These shouldn't have ever been mentioned. Last year, they mentioned the time it takes for teams to finalize their rosters, games into the season--why would that have changed this season, especially with the addition of the CHL?

Problem two is the lack of communication with regard to client updates. There is very little talk of what problems/bugs/glitches are being acknowledged, which ones are being worked on, how far along they are in fixing those problems, if they are encountering problems fixing these problems, just a simple explanation on what's taking so long.

It's all backwards, too much and all too wrong communication with regard to one update and too little with another.

# 9 casbruce @ 10/29/10 03:42 PM

Saying it will be out November 2nd is the first date they've given. So they have not missed it. Giving a general statement about it being out in a couple of weeks is not a deadline. I've never been in any situation where saying "it'll be done in a couple of weeks" is considered a deadline. Deadlines are exact dates/times. If you've ever given your project team an actual deadline of "in the next couple of weeks" than you have a very fortunate, lucky project team.

And why is it ludicrous to defend EA on something? I'm sick of this attitude that you have to criticize the gaming companies for everything otherwise you're just a stupid fanboy who doesn't know any better.

# 10 Fiddy @ 10/29/10 05:04 PM

we wont see very many rating changes at all... not a chance of it at all!!

# 11 tmac55 @ 10/29/10 05:39 PM

I may be in the minority here but I am grateful for the time they take to give us a good roster update. As a lifelong season ticket holder to the Windsor Spitfires, I also appreciate the dedication to completely redo the CHL.

The player turnover from the rosters on the game now to the current CHL rosters is crazy and i say kudos to their efforts. Some of you need to relax and be thankful for what is coming.

Yes I realize it's been a few weeks now; however, this is great to see and hopefully we can all get on our ways once it arrives.

# 12 misch13fRoyale @ 10/29/10 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmac55


	I may be in the minority here but I am grateful for the time they take to give us a good roster update. As a lifelong season ticket holder to the Windsor Spitfires, I also appreciate the dedication to completely redo the CHL. The player turnover from the rosters on the game now to the current CHL rosters is crazy and i say kudos to their efforts. Some of you need to relax and be thankful for what is coming. Yes I realize it's been a few weeks now; however, this is great to see and hopefully we can all get on our ways once it arrives.

AGREED!!! the way its been handled hasnt been pleasant for even those who have been patient and understand that NORMALLY the first roster updates arent released until about the end of october. Just today I saw and posted the date in which they say it will be released... i think that has been the majority of the complaints. But youll always get people who will complain from the get go... thats impossible to avoid!!

# 13 canucksss @ 10/29/10 06:44 PM

im JUST GLAD that they are having this ROSTER UPDATE .......... FINALLY!!!!!!!

somehow i cant open the link.... does it says Nov.2 roster is available for D/L or that is the date of their submission to MS and it will take another 2-3 days before its approved?

I agree with mkharsh that this is USELESS for BeGM mode since the mode is not working properly..... which is a BIG DISAPPOINTMENT for me.

# 14 savoie2006 @ 10/29/10 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canucksss


	im JUST GLAD that they are having this ROSTER UPDATE .......... FINALLY!!!!!!! somehow i cant open the link.... does it says Nov.2 roster is available for D/L or that is the date of their submission to MS and it will take another 2-3 days before its approved? I agree with mkharsh that this is USELESS for BeGM mode since the mode is not working properly..... which is a BIG DISAPPOINTMENT for me.

Rosters don't require MS certification, only patches.

# 15 chelios7 @ 10/30/10 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by savoie2006


	Rosters don't require MS certification, only patches.

Exactly. The fact that the Mod on the EA site tried to say that they were waiting on Sony and MS to approve it was ridiculous. Its just a roster update.

I can wait until Tuesday, but if they finally give a date, they damn sure better make sure they can deliver. And next year, at LEAST make sure that you get the NHL roster out as soon as you can.

# 16 toughfighter83 @ 10/30/10 12:55 AM

is anyone going to make an offline roster for nhl 11 xbox 360?, i dont have live but have xport.

# 17 savoie2006 @ 10/30/10 05:49 AM

"I can wait until Tuesday, but if they finally give a date, they damn sure better make sure they can deliver. And next year, at LEAST make sure that you get the NHL roster out as soon as you can."

They did have updates online that could be saved for offline play as well you know.

# 18 speels @ 10/30/10 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kestrel


	Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that they HAD to wait until now to release it. With the time teams have to move players around then those players to join the appropriate unions (if they haven't already), around a few days from now would be when an official "start-of-season" roster should be available. EA had to wait until all moves would be finalized, 10-or-so games into each NHL team's season, whether or not they have been working on them before now, whether or not they had prepared anything in advance (and if they had, they would have plenty of preparations to undo, I'm sure).

There is a problem with the EA rosters where players that are eligible to return to juniors are not able to during BaGM. A player may play up to 9 games before the team has to make a decision if they are going to send a player back to juniors or if he will stay with the team the rest of the year. I imagine that is why EA had to wait this long for the roster update as Taylor Hall just played his 9th game and Nino Neiderietter was just sent back to juniors. Since there has only been one case (Luca Sbisa) where a junior player was actually sent to juniors after playing more than 9 games, I am sure they wanted to be able to make all rosters as accurate as possible. After playing their 10th game a rookie becomes part of the union officially because they are now using a year of their contract.

My only issue is that EA should have said they were waiting for this date and everyone would not have been freaking out about all of the "false" dates. As fot the roster sharing, I do not think that EA even realized what it was doing when it changed the save games. And I don't think they have gotten into the whole roster sharing programming yet, but I may be wrong as I only play NHL. I just chalk that up to a bad programming mistake and everyone is allowed a mistake once in a while.

# 19 savoie2006 @ 10/30/10 12:49 PM

If I'm not mistaken NCAA Football has the roster share feature. It's the ony one though.

# 20 mkharsh33 @ 10/30/10 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by savoie2006


	If I'm not mistaken NCAA Football has the roster share feature. It's the ony one though.

...because the moment they take that away it will be the death blow to that game. nobody wants to play a game in which qb8 throws it to wr80.

and for the time it takes to update them people will decide it's not worth it.

i wish these game programmers understood how important roster sharing is. there are people who would probably purchase the game that might otherwise wouldn't. i'm not a ps3 guys, but i can fully understand how someone who was hoping to use matt's rosters would be very upset. the problem is once you've bought the game you've already put money in EA's pocket...

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