NHL 16 News Post

NHL 16 Video and Details - Be a GM Player Morale

04:08 PM - August 20, 2015 by Steve_OS

In the latest NHL 16 video, Associate Producer Andy Agostini talks about the innovations made to Be a GM and Player Morale. Below are some notes from the blog, but click here to read all about it.

Being a GM in NHL 16 is about more than just getting the best players, it’s about getting the right players to play well together. Every player on an NHL or AHL team has a unique personality that you will have to manage. Deal with trade demands, teammate relationships, and much more by calling team meetings or adjusting your roster to directly affect your team’s on-ice performance.
Every player in our game features a personality type upon entry into the league or when created for the first time (in the case of generated rookies for the Entry Draft). Each personality type includes a number of traits that impact how they react to certain events. Finding the right balance of players with the right traits and personalities can give your players boosts to their ratings and model a harmonious locker room.
It is possible for a player to have ‘Best Locker Room Chemistry’ with a player on another team. It is important to keep in mind player relationships and who they have ‘High Locker Room Chemistry’ and ‘Low Locker Room Chemistry’ with on the team. For example, if you trade or demote a player that Henrik Sedin has high chemistry with, it may negatively impact his player morale and overall rating.
Every player's personality is different. Certain personalities will be happier if the team is winning and won’t put much stock in the makeup of the locker room. Other personality types will put more priority on locker room harmony morale and care less about the decisions that the team may make, such as who they may sign, release or send down to the AHL.
This year also introduces ‘Team Meetings’ into the mode, which allows the user to interact with the team based on almost 30 different key events that can happen to a team in a season, such as being on a winning streak, playing a rival, or facing elimination in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Each of the Team Meetings, and the speech you choose to give to the players based on that meeting will impact the players on the team based on their personality type and the situation. As a result of each Team Meeting, every player on the team will consider the situation they were in and how you spoke to them, which will impact their morale and overall rating. Learning what to say and when, based on the makeup of your locker room will be an important factor in maintaining high morale for your players.
There are also Player Meetings you can have with players. There are over 20 different specific conversations you can have, ranging on topics from the recent team performance, failing to renew the contract of a teammate, to being made Team Captain. Each conversation may have an impact on personal morale.

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Member Comments

# 21 Money99 @ 08/21/15 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HypoLuxa13


	Well, I still hope for a decent game, but... It really seems like we are seeing the affects of lack of competition for EA. Both NHL and Madden have not seen much useful innovation in years. Regarding budget - Madden sells about 1.5 - 2 million copies the week of release accross all platforms, whereas NHL sells what, 250k copies? But the Be A Pro mode is something I enjoy, and the improvements to that mode look promising. The different training options look cool. And of course, simming to your next shift is a must. Be A Pro is probably where I'll be spending a lot of time if I do end up purchasing this year's game.

I think the NHL game sells around 750-850K.

What's hard to believe is that in the beginning, NHL was selling as much, or MORE than Madden.
Not sure what the totals were, but I remember reading that somewhere.

That first NHL game was so freakin' good. It blew my mind.
I worked as a busboy and worked my butt off to save up for a Sega Genesis just for this game.
I think after buying the system, an extra controller and the game, it cost me over $500.
And that was in '91?
That's a lot of tables I had to bus, haha!

# 22 Vikes1 @ 08/21/15 08:46 AM

Hope there's an on/off option....just in case.

# 23 HypoLuxa13 @ 08/21/15 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Money99


	I think the NHL game sells around 750-850K. What's hard to believe is that in the beginning, NHL was selling as much, or MORE than Madden. Not sure what the totals were, but I remember reading that somewhere. That first NHL game was so freakin' good. It blew my mind. I worked as a busboy and worked my butt off to save up for a Sega Genesis just for this game. I think after buying the system, an extra controller and the game, it cost me over $500. And that was in '91? That's a lot of tables I had to bus, haha!

Yeah, I was speaking of release week sales, I think Madden sells close to 7 million a year total, FIFA something like 10-12 million total.

I played every NHL game from NHL 97 on PS1 until about NHL 04, and have been purchasing about every other year since then. Never was into hockey before I got a PS1. But the game back then on PS1 was every bit as enjoyable, if not more so for some reason, as any current gen version.

# 24 Money99 @ 08/21/15 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HypoLuxa13


	Yeah, I was speaking of release week sales, I think Madden sells close to 7 million a year total, FIFA something like 10-12 million total. I played every NHL game from NHL 97 on PS1 until about NHL 04, and have been purchasing about every other year since then. Never was into hockey before I got a PS1. But the game back then on PS1 was every bit as enjoyable, if not more so for some reason, as any current gen version.

I wonder about that too.

I think with the advancements in technology we expect the games to be better than what they are.
I grew up on NES Ice Hockey, Baseball Simulator, Ring Kings and Tecmo Bowl.

Those games are lightyears behind what we have today. But maybe it's because our expectations were so much lower back then.

I know I'm one of those people that was hoping for a much greater leap in terms of AI and offline modes by this time.

There are things in old games like MVP2004 that still aren't in today's games.
Heck, even NHL94 had intermission highlights.
I'm baffled as to why that's not in any of the games today.
Remember NFL2K4's weekly show? That was amazing. How come nobody else can do something like that? Isn't that game 2 console generations old already?

I think it's expectations like that which prevent people like myself from enjoying the games more than I should.

That said, and I'm trying not to sound like a broken record (seriously, I'm not

), if EA would PLEASE finally provide more player styles and team styles so that every game was different, I'd be able to overlook a lot of the missing parts in NHL16.

I swear, reading how different the 12 player types are in EASHL, I think I'd even be happy if NHL16 allowed us to create an entirely fictional league with only randomly generated players based off of those 12 models.

# 25 nddurst @ 08/21/15 11:10 AM

I'm not impressed. Adding morale is a step in the right direction, but this game is still lacking a deep, immersive offline game mode. We're in the third cycle (second cycle for NHL) for this generation of consoles, and still NHL is far from what it needs to be as a product. Game modes aside, we still have no clue as to how the AI performs in-game, and that's troubling to me. I fear that player, coach and opposing GM AI will leave the offline experience even more frustrating.

The lack of competition is killing this game, making it stale and lacking in any sort of innovation. There is nothing pushing EA to make this game as good as it could be.

# 26 Splitter77 @ 08/21/15 11:27 AM

definitely a no buy for me.
not buying again until they focus more on offline play.

gonna be playing a lot of hitman this winter

# 27 GlennN @ 08/21/15 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikes1


	Hope there's an on/off option....just in case.

That was my first reaction too! I would love going back to the chemistry for certain line combinations, with boosts or deductions to ratings. But for this stuff? Locker room morale and friends of players? I'll pass. Plus, not to be negative, but until the ratings actually matter, changes to the ratings are little more than window dressing.

# 28 BearishRiggs @ 08/21/15 11:51 AM

The one positive I'm taking away after letting it soak in a little is this: since apparently player performance (based on their stats I'm assuming) affects their morale and in turn their OVR rating, that may mean we'll finally have fluctuation in contract demands based on stats. Of course, this depends how much the overalls truly drop.

Although, it did show that even if a player's own performance sucks they'll still be happy if the rest of the team is doing well...so...shrug.

# 29 iFnotWhyNoT @ 08/21/15 11:55 AM

Control, share, control, share, CONTROL, SHARE...two fundamental philosophies a GM/FRANCHISE mode should be about. I like that they added a new feature but If they added sliders we could CONTROL, save and SHARE amongst the community to find the right balance that will temper a TON of frustration.Same goes for roster editing. Give the hardcore user tools to construct their own be a gm universe while in the mode. BUG's happen, if something happens where i deem it to be ridiculous or petty and it sucks me out of the immersion. I would rather look for a roster set and be a gm slider set to try before deeming the game to be broken and needing to be patched. With next gen we have reached a new gaming experience and thats with devs giving consumers tons of control, where forums and communities like this build and tweak everyday to get the best out of the game, and hopefully the devs can be focused on adding new immersive things like a watchable trade centre day with analysis on big trades and commentary, game ticker that appears and fades during games and what not. Build a foundation with sliders for every new feature. All i ask; lets build up every year, not up down up down.

# 30 BearishRiggs @ 08/21/15 12:14 PM

When every other main sports franchise has provided us with the ability to edit players (both in general and during Association/Franchise modes), upload/share rosters, utilize robust create player modes, play continuously updated and improved offline modes...the list goes on and on.

EA Sports NHL hasn't given us any of these things. The game feature wise has minimally improved when you look at things like create player and GM mode, dating back to like NHL 07. It really is hard to understand why they're so far behind. You'd think they'd include fully customizable GM/BaP modes on the Legacy edition as a thank you to fans on what will surely be the last iteration for previous gen. But they can't even do that.

# 31 onlybygrace @ 08/21/15 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BearishRiggs


	When every other main sports franchise has provided us with the ability to edit players (both in general and during Association/Franchise modes), upload/share rosters, utilize robust create player modes, play continuously updated and improved offline modes...the list goes on and on. EA Sports NHL hasn't given us any of these things. The game feature wise has minimally improved when you look at things like create player and GM mode, dating back to like NHL 07. It really is hard to understand why they're so far behind. You'd think they'd include fully customizable GM/BaP modes on the Legacy edition as a thank you to fans on what will surely be the last iteration for previous gen. But they can't even do that.

Not really sure what you mean about there being no customizable Be-A-GM or Be-a-Pro in the legacy. Pretty sure there is.

Regardless, the fact they are charging 60 dollars for what is nothing more than a roster update is inexcusable whether they've been up front about it or not. At least NHL 15 on 360 had some subtle gameplay changes that made some noticeable difference.

A legacy game that is LITERALLY nothing but a roster update should go for 39.99, tops.

Should call it a LARCENY edition.

# 32 piffbernd @ 08/21/15 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwiggy33


	How is this going to actually negatively or positively affect a game? Is the negative affect going to have the same effect where the CPU all of a sudden turns god like and ping pong passes all over the ice only to score? If it's actually done properly it could be really good, but I just don't think this is actually going to do anything to the actual gameplay except for force unnatural abilities.

If it done properly, that is the big question

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikes1


	Hope there's an on/off option....just in case.

I don't think so with new feature they have an option for that.

# 33 Vikes1 @ 08/21/15 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlennN


	That was my first reaction too! I would love going back to the chemistry for certain line combinations, with boosts or deductions to ratings. But for this stuff? Locker room morale and friends of players? I'll pass. Plus, not to be negative, but until the ratings actually matter, changes to the ratings are little more than window dressing.

Yep Glenn, line chemistry really would have been enough for me...if it truly seemed to matter. Not too sure how long i'll be interested in going through my entire roster choosing some random quote to use on each player. Especially when i'm also long from convinced that ratings matter anywhere near as much as they should. Feel like i spend enough time already, trying to fool myself into believing they do. But again...always hoping for the best!

# 34 BearishRiggs @ 08/21/15 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlybygrace


	Not really sure what you mean about there being no customizable Be-A-GM or Be-a-Pro in the legacy. Pretty sure there is. Regardless, the fact they are charging 60 dollars for what is nothing more than a roster update is inexcusable whether they've been up front about it or not. At least NHL 15 on 360 had some subtle gameplay changes that made some noticeable difference. A legacy game that is LITERALLY nothing but a roster update should go for 39.99, tops. Should call it a LARCENY edition.

What I mean is that you can't edit any player's attributes/potential/contract in the middle of a GM mode. You can only do that with Edit Player from the main menu, not during an actual mode. I can't remember any EA NHL game from the last decade allowing us to do that.

And yes, they shouldn't be charging full price, but they shouldn't have charged full price for NHL 15 ( despite the subtle changes which I agree made the game better than 14) on old gen either.

# 35 onlybygrace @ 08/21/15 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BearishRiggs


	What I mean is that you can't edit any player's attributes/potential/contract in the middle of a GM mode. You can only do that with Edit Player from the main menu, not during an actual mode. I can't remember any EA NHL game from the last decade allowing us to do that. And yes, they shouldn't be charging full price, but they shouldn't have charged full price for NHL 15 ( despite the subtle changes which I agree made the game better than 14) on old gen either.

I see what you mean. At this point, I'm gonna borrow my buddies ps4 and rent the game...it had better be pretty impressive because i just recently found a slider set for old gen that makes the game play like a dream. Good enough to wait until next year when EA releases their next debacle...EASHL 17....hehe...heheh... :/

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