NHL 25 Discussion

[Slats432]

based on reading this thread (and feedback in other forums) i'm not sure this game is worth downloading a free ten-hour trial, let alone the actual game itself. hopefully enough people stay on 24 (an awful game in its own right) to find games in chel.

I wouldn't come to this thread to make my opinion. I would look at each aspect of what people said as to what was good and bad. There is a lot of bitch just to bitch. The first thing I heard about NHL 25 from guys who played it, was they liked it.

In here..."The menus are slow. f*** EA."
"I don't like the faces...f*** EA."
"They worked on Franchise instead of Be a Pro. f*** EA."

There is tons of complaints just to complain. I didn't buy NHL24 because of the pressure meter. It was a non starter for me. But my son loved the game. He likes NHL 25 too and he is a gamer.

Make up your own mind.

 

[AtlantaHockeyFanatic]

If you go by comments on Reddit, this is the worst game ever. Don’t listen to them.

This game is amazing (except be a pro, which is a bummer)

 

[Elvs]

Whoever came up with the idea of adding NTCs/NMCs with randomized teams to players contracts is a midwit.

Love that my player will accept a trade to Buffalo and Ottawa but refuses to go to Tampa Bay or Vegas.

Super realistic guys. Well done.

Who is the player? Buffalo and Ottawa is in pretty close distance from eachother. Maybe this AI wants to move closer to his family

 

[TimeZone]

I wouldn't come to this thread to make my opinion. I would look at each aspect of what people said as to what was good and bad. There is a lot of bitch just to bitch. The first thing I heard about NHL 25 from guys who played it, was they liked it.

In here..."The menus are slow. f*** EA."
"I don't like the faces...f*** EA."
"They worked on Franchise instead of Be a Pro. f*** EA."

There is tons of complaints just to complain. I didn't buy NHL24 because of the pressure meter. It was a non starter for me. But my son loved the game. He likes NHL 25 too and he is a gamer.

Make up your own mind.

The Be A Pro complaint is pretty damn valid considering it's been a neglected mess for what will be more than half a f***ing decade by the time the next game drops.

Other than that it I just don't enjoy the chunky feel, it feels like arcade hockey and feels miles behind other sports games.

 

[Gaud]

The changes affect my overall play - im good at making it to the net on the original rush and (if that doesnt work) capitalizing on those few seconds before the opposing players actually get to where they are supposed to be. I find the forward speed reduced, but maybe the left and right went up (turning doesnt slow you down as much). I will need to adjust, but im not against that at all.

Stick lifts are a lot better; i dont get slashing penalties anymore. I found the one timers were less effective in the last game than the previous one, but it needs to be toned down in this one. I like the timing meter on them.

Its ok so far, though ive had games on pro that were harder than on superstar. My annoyance is the changes in the reward system. It used to be id be looking forward to thursday to get my rewards, friday to get those from hut rush.. now it feels more like grinding for the next reward, then going to the other mode and grinding there. I feel i enjoy the game less when i play and get whatever reward instead of "grind for a 1000 puck reward so i can eventually get the 3 bronze player reward after that.. so that 20 games from nw i can get the icon card".

 

[Blitzkrug]

Well, they killed HUT for people who don't have bottomless wallets.

- The single, unified XP path as i suspected completely gutted free rewards. It's a 2 month long path with the best reward being a single 80+ overall pack at the end. While yes, the old option was a hamster wheel sure, but if you liked the game enough you could easily pile up 100+ cards a week and then use what was mostly junk to build pretty much every event card you wanted which is how no money spent players stayed in the game.

- Because of the lack of rewards, the auction house's inflation makes Weimar Germany blush. The current event, which is the cover athletes stuff requires you to have 36 79 overall or better cards. Because of this, the cost of these cards are sitting at just under 7k a piece, which in turn means a single master set player is going to run you just under 250k. Insane.

- There's 34 different packs in the store from the 100+ dollar one to the classic mega pack which gives you a "chance" to pull something at 80 overall or higher. After doing the quick math the odds screen gives you approx a 13.1% chance of pulling one of these cards, for the low low price of 1050 HUT points. What a deal!

- If you're one of those sickos who would spent coins on packs, you also can't do that anymore because the prices have been jacked up to high hell.

This is actually somehow more flagrantly money hungry than i expected even by EA standards. Sad part is they'll probably still make a shitload of money doing this.

 

[Elvs]

I just got the game and one thing I immediately noticed, which I haven't seen talked about in any of the youtube videos I've watched, is that player overall ratings are calculated differently than in years past.

I know this as I have saved print screens of all players I edited in NHL 24, and as I gave it a test with Ross Johnston in NHL 25, I noticed the build that would give Johnston a 77 overall in NHL 2024, would now give him an 83 (!) overall in NHL 2025.

I think it's a good change as players are gonna feel more different from eachother than before. Sucks that all my work for NHL 24 will be pretty pointless though.

Edit: Actually now I see the player type plays a major role here. The same build with Ross Johnston will change the overall depending on what player type he is.

Enforcer 83
Grinder 83
Power forward 82
Two-way forward 77
Sniper 76
Playmaker 75

Hmm ... Gonna take me a long time getting used to these when editing players.

Edit 2:

Found a video talking about this:

 

[belair]

Are we still matching human goalies with AI goalies in Club? And if so, have they at least nerfed said AI goalies?

 

[IHaveNoCreativity]

I remeber when ultimate team made its debut in champions league 2006-2007… was cool but wild how that idea destroyed every ea game and how micro transactions have ruined gaming

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Are we still matching human goalies with AI goalies in Club? And if so, have they at least nerfed said AI goalies?

No, they fixed that yesterday (Thursday), human goalie matching is back. Still no option to match club size though.

 

[Ceremony]

He should sue

This looks like one of those reconstructions of what a caveman looked like 100,000 years ago.

 

[DVision44]

He should sue

Why'd they give him that monobrow?

 

[blfr]

Having played a mix of Be A Pro and Season Mode for a day, my initial impressions are that the game is absolutely awful. I legitimately looked into getting a refund but that doesn't seem to be a possibility on PS5.

I should say that I only care about the on-ice offline gameplay as I typically only play a mix of Be A Pro, Season Mode, and Franchise Mode. Also, I never played NHL 2024 but have played every version going back to the 2003, so I don't know how NHL 2024 compares.

The game looks and plays so awkwardly now. They have somehow managed to break the feel of the skill stick and hitting that had existed since it was introduced. Everything about the on ice gameplay is just so awkward now. Deking, shooting, hitting, poke checking, and even just skating feels and looks so awkward.

My first goal I scored in the game was a point shot where it glitched and I took the shot with my stick and puck about a foot and half in the air and I literally shot the puck downward. I had never seen that in any of other games. A bunch of goals I have scored one handed because for some reason you player is constantly controlling the puck with one hand on the stick. It looks so ridiculous.

I never played a previous iteration where I wasn't generally in favor of most of the changes until this game. It is truly a step back.

 

[542365]

I only play EASHL, so my opinion is based solely on the gameplay, and I think it’s the best it’s been in a LONG time. Pokes and stick lifts are equally effective, one timers are good chances like they should be, no elite edges means no insane pirouette turns to avoid hits, hitting is well balanced, goalies let in fewer terrible shots(but still aren’t good enough), dump and chase actually works, menus are much faster(but still not fast enough), skating is better and makes more sense, puck intercepts are better(but not as good as they should be), fewer/no absolutely moronic penalties(elbowing that you have no control over, boarding that definitely isn’t boarding), AI makes better passes but are still awful defensively unfortunately.

The only people I’ve seen complain about the gameplay are shitters frustrated that they can’t just force back door passes or rebound shots all game anymore sooooo their opinion doesn’t really mean much to me. Apparently the pay to win mode sucks too, but who cares? It’s always sucked.

 

[Dolemite]

How does playing CHEL make you feel like you're stuck in limbo?

Because matchmaking sucks ass.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1842798897686605974

 

[Dolemite]

If you go by comments on Reddit, this is the worst game ever. Don’t listen to them.

This game is amazing (except be a pro, which is a bummer)

Every game is the worst game ever on Reddit.

 

[amikaro]

So you "protest" the game by still buying it but "paying less?"

That's quite a protest.

I pre-ordered NHL for the last 20+ years. I got bored of their direction. Me as a company would care, if a loyal client changes his behavior. They sure care about their revenues and profits. So, it's the protest I'm willed to do. Chill out about it ... what's your motivation?

Moreover, I appreciate what those game devs do. I m sure there's tons of people trying to do their best to keep it playable. It's a fact, that EA NHL is the best hockey game out there. So, I wouldn't even care, if they charge me more than those 70 bucks each ear, if the development goes in the right direction.

 

[yzerman]

He should sue

He did but he took it back when he realized that he was going look like in the picture fighing the lawsuit for years.

 

[Elvs]

Having experimented with the edit player tool a little more I will say I actually don't like the new changes at all.

In the same way you had to jack up the defensive and physical attributes of small, offensive players before in order for them to reach a realistic overall...

The same is now true for power forwards and grinders, but the other way around. For example, a guy like Max Jones who is both strong and fast will automatically reach a high overall, and the only way to keep his rating down is to make his attributes a lot worse than they in reality should be.

And it's not just Jones. It's the same with any bottom six power forward or grinder what I have attempted to edit so far. I could change them all into two-way forwards which has much more realistic builds, but that would be sad to remove all the power forwards and grinders out of the game.

The other option is of course to just edit players by their player types and attributes and just go with whatever the overall number ends up being. But then the problem is trade value, contract negotiations and AI usage of players gets ****ed up in franchise mode.

 

[Canuck Luck]

Having experimented with the edit player tool a little more I will say I actually don't like the new changes at all.

In the same way you had to jack up the defensive and physical attributes of small, offensive players before in order for them to reach a realistic overall...

The same is now true for power forwards and grinders, but the other way around. For example, a guy like Max Jones who is both strong and fast will automatically reach a high overall, and the only way to keep his rating down is to make his attributes a lot worse than they in reality should be.

And it's not just Jones. It's the same with any bottom six power forward or grinder what I have attempted to edit so far. I could change them all into two-way forwards which has much more realistic builds, but that would be sad to remove all the power forwards and grinders out of the game.

The other option is of course to just edit players by their player types and attributes and just go with whatever the overall number ends up being. But then the problem is trade value, contract negotiations and AI usage of players gets ****ed up in franchise mode.

mind running a simulation on having pwf grinders with high attributes for things taht matter to them (strength/speed etc) but low in the other areas causing the to have inflated overalls and see how it affects salary negotiations in franchise?

Thinking of skipping this years game for the first time since the 90s and this could be a major reason why as a franchise mode player

 

[Elvs]

mind running a simulation on having pwf grinders with high attributes for things taht matter to them (strength/speed etc) but low in the other areas causing the to have inflated overalls and see how it affects salary negotiations in franchise?

Thinking of skipping this years game for the first time since the 90s and this could be a major reason why as a franchise mode player

Good idea.

I've have now ran a couple of simulations on a power forward, using left winger Max Jones of the Boston Bruins as my guinea pig.

So the first thing I did was change his contract from 2 years to just 1, so that he'd be a UFA at the end of the first season in franchise mode.

After that, I experimented to find out which attributes have the most impact on a power forward's overall number and this is what I came up with:

Primary attributes:
Body checking, Puck control, Strength, Balance, Offensive awareness

Secondary attributes:
Speed, Wrist shot accuracy, Acceleration, Hand-eye, Defensive awareness

Redundant attributes (have little to no effect on a power forward's overall):
Endurance, Passing, Slap shot power, Slap shot accuracy, Wrist shot power, Agility, Faceoffs, Durability, Deking, Aggressiveness, Poise, Shot blocking, Discipline, Fighting skill, Stick checking

Okay, now let's get into it:

Simulation number 1 (Rating 88 overall):

Ratings:

First I gave Jones a 95 rating in all the primary attributes for a power forward, an 85 rating in all the secondary attributes and a 75 rating in all the remaining attributes except for durability which was maximized to 99 to avoid injury.

This gave him an overall number of 88, which in franchise mode made him slot in on the Bruins 2nd line as well as on the 2nd PP unit when using "best lines".

Stats:

In the regular season, he played in all 82 games and scored 42 points (21+21) and then in the playoffs, he scored 6 points (3+3) in 10 games. He averaged around 16:30 minutes of icetime per game.

Contract:

After the season and entering contract negotiations, Jones was still an 88 overall forward and he was asking for a 6 year, $5.975 mil contract with a full no-trade clause.

---

Simulation number 2 (Rating 84 overall):

Ratings:

Now it was time for attempt number two, only now I gave Jones a 99 rating in all primary attributes for a power forward, an 80 rating in all the secondary attributes and a 60 rating in the remaining attributes (again durability being the exception).

This gave him an overall number of 84, which in franchise mode made him slot in on the Bruins 3rd line a well as on the 2nd PP unit when using "best lines".

Stats:

In the regular season, he played in all 82 games and scored 20 points (13+7) and then in the playoffs he scored 1 point (0+1) in 11 games. He averaged just above 14 minutes of ice time per game.

Contract:

After the season and entering contract negotiations, Jones was still an 84 overall forward and this time he asked for a 1 year contract worth $2.725 mil with no clauses.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

This is such a terrible game wow.

I had 2 on PS4 the first one they made and then I replaced it a few years later with a year old game from Gamestop for $8 or something. That second one was amazing maybe 18?

Can't believe how terrible it is. Haven't even caught someone with Zadarov the D isn't fun and nothing works poke check hit stick etc. You get a 2-0 rush and the other skater won't even get into position.

I was going to buy it one year for this console so whatever. Hate hate hate how small the rink is I typically avoided online play so I could just play the computer on All Star and switch to an Olympic rink.

Not even sure I want to both with franchise or if I'll even try it again this game sucks that much.

 

[Leafs87]

The features for the new GM mode sounds great on paper, but once the conversation system gets boring and repetitive which won’t be long, you’ll realize you’re basically playing GM mode from 24 only that you’ll spend significantly longer to do everything as now it’s essentially a conversation to first get the player interested (not hard to go from no interest to top interest) and then finally pitch them a contract. The trade logic is unchanged from last year, which has been the same for years prior to that as well. A rebuilder will trade you their top prospect for your 30+ star forward on an expiring contract, first overalls with franchise potential talents don’t change the value compared to other years without the franchise talent and you can keep tacking on late round picks until the computer accepts trades against their teams current goal (rebuilds will trade you prospects they just drafted in the first round for meh players 28 YO player +3,4,5 round)

The gameplay I personally find brutal. Only a few games, but it’s super choppy, the opponent makes very few mistakes and it doesn’t flow nicely at all. Seems like a PS3 game when this was supposed to be the first truly next gen game.

Either way is it “worth” the purchase? I think so because it’s 90ish so if you play 100 hours till next year it’s like $1/hour. Personally I see the value as a hockey fan, but my hours spent have decreased year after year due to the product. Whether it’s an upgrade or not, I need a change from seeing the same menu/gameplay after a year, and it’s really not a huge investment.

 

[UFO]

It's great to see that they haven't fixed a bug in nhl threes that first appeared in nhl 23.

 

[belair]

It's great to see that they haven't fixed a bug in nhl threes that first appeared in nhl 23.

Which bug?