NHL 14 News Post

NHL 14 Video & Blog - EA Sports Hockey IQ

03:38 PM - July 19, 2013 by Steve_OS

EA Sports has posted an NHL 14 blog, which includes a new video discussing the improvements to Hockey IQ. Some of the improvements include providing better puck support, smarter shooting and the ability to read the play more effectively on both offense and defense.

Below are some more improvements to the AI on offense, defense, lane change logic and special teams.

Offensive AI

Player Facing: Players will do a much better job opening up for passes/shooting opportunities. You will notice that they will better position themselves to let their own team�s shots through, and get ready for deflections and/or resulting rebounds.
Keeping the Puck In: Players are now more aware when they are close to the blueline and will take the extra care needed in ensuring they keep the puck in the offensive zone.
Avoiding Offsides: Players will do a better job of adjusting their route to ensure they remain onside as the play enters the zone.
Shooting Analysis: Smarter decision making based on where the goalie is and the situation. Affects the types of shots they take and the location of the shot. For example: If they see someone on their team driving the net on an odd-man rush, they�re more likely to shoot low at the pads to produce a rebound.

Defensive AI

Gap Control: Defenders will be more aware of the gap between themselves and the forwards as they breakout, progress through the neutral zone and into the defensive end. They will also make smarter decisions in selecting whether they should play loose or to tighten the gap by recognizing their opponent�s offensive ability versus their own defensive capabilities.
Blueline Entry: A.I.defenders do a better job of recognizing the approach of an incoming offensive attack and will pick their moments to step up and lay a hit at the blueline, get a stick towards the puck or in the passing lane, or drop back into a more controlled gap. This will result in the need to read the defense when entering the zone and to vary the approach accordingly.
Player Facing: A.I.defenders will do a better job of ensuring they�re facing the proper direction and are aware of where the puck is when covering point-men and forwards in front of the net.

Line Change Logic

Players now have more awareness of the right time to change. They�ll do a better job of understanding the risks and rewards when determining whether they should come off or stay on for a critical situation, based on the opportunity vs. pressure and/or time of game.

Special Teams

Power play logic has been improved to ensure that a team on the Power Play isn�t overly committed to attacking. This ensures that the PP team can still be defensive minded when they need to be.

Source - NHL 14 - EA Sports Hockey IQ (EA Sports)

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Member Comments

# 1 akula @ 07/19/13 04:00 PM

quite frankly, I'm tired of hearing this same old "AI Improved" every.. single.. year!!

If they were telling the truth, the AI would be amazing now while in reality it is mediocre. Waiting on a demo before I buy NHL 14.

# 2 Peter10 @ 07/19/13 04:39 PM

Improved line change logic? Now hopefully that works, this would be a step in the right direction.

# 3 Al_Tito13 @ 07/19/13 05:11 PM

This is actually the most encouraging video I've seen so far concerning NHL 14. I just hope that what we see in this video is not only some good promises that won't last long. Can't wait to get my hands on the game to be able to judge it by myself.

# 4 Moose24x @ 07/19/13 07:22 PM

The only thing that really gets me intrigued in this news is the blue-line hold-in AI they mentioned. Otherwise, they've been talking about more intuitive O/D/transition AI for years and it's always the same ****.

# 5 onac22 @ 07/19/13 09:09 PM

Ok so far so good, but will my AI teammates still take 3/4 of my penalties? Will the cpu get called for injuries commited behind the play?

# 6 Ghoste @ 07/19/13 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter10


	Improved line change logic? Now hopefully that works, this would be a step in the right direction.

Yeah, it was funny seeing both your defensemen head off for a change even as the opposition was coming into your zone.

-ghoste

# 7 The Visualizer @ 07/20/13 12:10 AM

everything looks and sounds promising so far, but I am a little worried that it seems like the vast majority of improvements shown are going to lead to goals being scored a lot more frequently and easily.

the only real game changers that would offset more goals being scored from a defensive standpoint that I can think of are:

1-real physics when it comes to stopping sticks from being able to clip thru other players to limit the effectiveness of stickhandling in tight spaces against good defensive positioning and eliminating shots scored in traffic that should not have been on target because the shooters stick is impacted during the shot release by another stick or body.

2- better implementation of play along the boards. In NHL13 its too risky to try pinning puckhandlers in most situations because of how precise your positioning needs to be in order for you to trigger the action successfully. This mechanic needs an overhaul as its pretty useless in its current state and should be a weapon in the arsenal of a defender for dealing with puckhandlers in the corner or behind the net.

# 8 CaptainSuperman @ 07/20/13 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onac22


	Ok so far so good, but will my AI teammates still take 3/4 of my penalties? Will the cpu get called for injuries commited behind the play?

Huh? In my games, all penalties on my team are called on me for slashing/high sticking and tripping when I try to poke or stick check.

# 9 drog1602 @ 07/20/13 12:28 AM

I like how the AI look for better passing opportunities and the shooter squares up to the pass. But...the skating still looks horrible. The AI still have issues while turning and still no explosive first steps.

# 10 Moose24x @ 07/20/13 03:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drog1602


	I like how the AI look for better passing opportunities and the shooter squares up to the pass. But...the skating still looks horrible. The AI still have issues while turning and still no explosive first steps.

100%. They keep talking about how they've fine tuned the real performance skating to be more responsive and mimic the "explosiveness" of real hockey, but the absolute LAST thing I see in these trailers, and experienced in last years game, is explosive skating. It's a huge problem. In all honesty, there should be a button that gives you an all out burst for like three steps to get up to speed quickly when chasing a puck or to change your pace from coasting in on a defender to turning on the jets and driving wide, and it should not be pressing in the left stick (and should be a TON more effective). Obviously, it shouldn't be equal for all players and should be effected by weight, speed and acceleration ratings, but there needs to be an actual, real, effective way of getting those explosive first steps. It should fatigue you more and come at a price and such - make it as authentic as possible - but it really should be in there. It's glaringly missing.

# 11 TDKing @ 07/20/13 10:41 AM

Yeah, yeah, yeah... same old crap, with a couple of new talking points thrown in. Still waiting to hear something that makes me say I gotta have this game ! Next...

# 12 13whitebread @ 07/20/13 02:00 PM

Just make sure the sliders work to adjust the game. Start with that signed NHL 13.5 and come on September 10th

# 13 Splitter77 @ 07/20/13 08:27 PM

i just hope simmed stats are better.
they also need to make it easier to create a team and actually play a franchise with all fictional players.

they also need boxscores to be viewable from the league schedule for every game played.

then of course they have to make it alot harder to enter the offensive zone.. If anything, I hope thats improved.

But Im gonna be honest, im probably gonna get the game anyway just because nhl 13 was a good game and at worst nhl 14 will be nhl 13 with an awesome new fighting engine. And I cant wait to try out the fightin because it looks sweet.

# 14 Fiddy @ 07/22/13 11:20 AM

i remember Rammer saying that they did add stick collisions, but it caused to many loose pucks and would ruin the fun for casual fans etc. so they turned it off. why cant they give us that option to turn it on for offline or online seasons with friends?

if they would turn that on under the hood, im sure it would be frustrating, but guess what? we would adapt and force people to play actual hockey. pass, dump, forecheck, cycle, etc. not just dance around, loose puck deke, spin around, start and stop, skate around etc..

i also wish they would add back that when you do any of the above that you fall down and lose the puck. buuuuuuuuuuuuut the casual whiners cried and they removed that. bah!

# 15 Yeats @ 07/22/13 12:37 PM

Ramjagsing must have had to have swallowed the blue pill, seriously. As if NHL 94 arcade mode looks and plays much different from so-called simulation mode. What a company.

# 16 canucksss @ 07/22/13 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiddy


	i remember Rammer saying that they did add stick collisions, but it caused to many loose pucks and would ruin the fun for casual fans etc. so they turned it off. why cant they give us that option to turn it on for offline or online seasons with friends? if they would turn that on under the hood, im sure it would be frustrating, but guess what? we would adapt and force people to play actual hockey. pass, dump, forecheck, cycle, etc. not just dance around, loose puck deke, spin around, start and stop, skate around etc.. i also wish they would add back that when you do any of the above that you fall down and lose the puck. buuuuuuuuuuuuut the casual whiners cried and they removed that. bah!

You know that they will not add that option to have an on/off for the stick collision...because they have limited budget and limited people working in the NHL department.

# 17 bwiggy33 @ 07/22/13 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_OS


	[]Avoiding Offsides: Players will do a better job of adjusting their route to ensure they remain onside as the play enters the zone.*

What offsides? Offsides barely exists in this game as is. I'm willing to bet half of the games I've played I did not go offsides once and the times I did it was because of me trying to hold a puck in the zone. The problem is every time you enter the offensive zone your CPU teammates automatically stop at the blue line instead of trying to time the puck carrier entering the zone so they can go in on a rush. As it stands now you have to wait for all of your teammates to start skating again in order to have any chance of setting anything up. It's just ridiculous. They need to go back to the way it was in 07 and 08. The logic may have been a little annoying at times but at least there were offsides. Once again though it just all reverts back to the fact they want a fast paced no whistle hockey game. Really really sad that this is happening.

# 18 jyoung @ 07/23/13 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiddy


	i also wish they would add back that when you do any of the above that you fall down and lose the puck. buuuuuuuuuuuuut the casual whiners cried and they removed that. bah!

Off the top of my head, here are some simulation elements that have either been removed or dramatically reduced since NHL 09 due to catering for casual players:

-- Shot blocking injuries (I haven't seen a single one this year online)
-- Self-injury when missing a check and running into boards (completely gone)
-- Goalie collisions (supposedly returning in NHL 14)
-- 4 vs 4 OT followed by shootout in regular season EASHL games (taken out via patch in NHL 09)
-- Charging penalties (I've seen zero called this year)
-- Skaters losing their edge and wiping out when trying to turn too sharply (completely gone)
-- Scoring by screening the goalie (not entirely removed, but significantly reduced to the point you rarely see it anymore)
-- CPU offsides (used to be fairly common, almost never happens now)

The design philosophy of this series seems to be to make the games go by as quickly as possible with constant up-and-down action, no penalties, no injuries, no offsides and no neutral zone play.

That same philosophy explains why they refuse to penalize people for spamming the draw button on faceoffs, or why the puck has a built in "invulnerability" period whenever the goalie passes out the puck out from a covered up position.

# 19 FBeaule04 @ 07/23/13 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyoung


	Off the top of my head, here are some simulation elements that have either been removed or dramatically reduced since NHL 09 due to catering for casual players: -- Shot blocking injuries (I haven't seen a single one this year online) -- Self-injury when missing a check and running into boards (completely gone) -- Goalie collisions (supposedly returning in NHL 14) -- 4 vs 4 OT followed by shootout in regular season EASHL games (taken out via patch in NHL 09) -- Charging penalties (I've seen zero called this year) -- Skaters losing their edge and wiping out when trying to turn too sharply (completely gone) -- Scoring by screening the goalie (not entirely removed, but significantly reduced to the point you rarely see it anymore) -- CPU offsides (used to be fairly common, almost never happens now) The design philosophy of this series seems to be to make the games go by as quickly as possible with constant up-and-down action, no penalties, no injuries, no offsides and no neutral zone play. That same philosophy explains why they refuse to penalize people for spamming the draw button on faceoffs, or why the puck has a built in "invulnerability" period whenever the goalie passes out the puck out from a covered up position.

The real philosophy behind that game is to make some people (I had another word in my head for this but I'll keep it for myself) play the game really fast so they can get they're 300 000 points in 1000 games and in the process making another type of people (same here for the word) spend all the money they can on boost slots and boost pack thinking it's going to make a difference.

In the end, the third type of people, like me (a ...), buy the game year after year, feel completely lost by what's missing and stopping enjoying a game I wish I love.

# 20 Moose24x @ 07/23/13 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyoung


	Off the top of my head, here are some simulation elements that have either been removed or dramatically reduced since NHL 09 due to catering for casual players: -- Shot blocking injuries (I haven't seen a single one this year online) -- Self-injury when missing a check and running into boards (completely gone) -- Goalie collisions (supposedly returning in NHL 14) -- 4 vs 4 OT followed by shootout in regular season EASHL games (taken out via patch in NHL 09) -- Charging penalties (I've seen zero called this year) -- Skaters losing their edge and wiping out when trying to turn too sharply (completely gone) -- Scoring by screening the goalie (not entirely removed, but significantly reduced to the point you rarely see it anymore) -- CPU offsides (used to be fairly common, almost never happens now) The design philosophy of this series seems to be to make the games go by as quickly as possible with constant up-and-down action, no penalties, no injuries, no offsides and no neutral zone play. That same philosophy explains why they refuse to penalize people for spamming the draw button on faceoffs, or why the puck has a built in "invulnerability" period whenever the goalie passes out the puck out from a covered up position.

I'm only quoting this post because I was only allowed to like it once. Once is not enough. This post is truth.

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