NHL 25 Discussion

[T1K]

EA SPORTS NHL 25 HUT Deep Dive Blog

Even HUT somehow got worse. The more i read this the more it sounded like they just ripped off MUT which is really bad news for the player.

- Player overalls have been deflated (again) and as an added bonus, gold players "start" at 80 overall. I know EA too well, their claim of "now you'll get to see players from all over!" is code for "we're watering down our already shitty pack odds with even more junk." Madden pulls the same shit with dudes no one heard of being "elite" cards

- Streamlined rewards are a good thing on paper because the game had essentially turned into a hamster wheel for a lot of people. Getting rid of it WOULD be a good thing if they're going to offer a replacement for all the rewards lost from weekly squad battles/rivals. Spoilers: they won't

- Seasons model sucks. MLB The Show already has been doing this for the past couple games and people hate it. Forces people to continuously grind for new cards (even with SDS being much more player friendly) and in a lot of cases will force you to stop using some of your favorite players because of an arbitrary window. EA doesn't outright mention it here admittedly, but that's the conclusion pretty much everyone jumped to

- Cards going from NO-SELL to BND f***s over no money spent players hard. No sell could still be used as fodder for sets/upgrades and is generally how the sickos who played no money spent made their progress. BND means bound, means that card is bound to your account like a bad case of herpes. Once you got it, you can't get rid of it.

- Wildcards is a cool concept, but is probably just going to play out as a lesser version of house rules from MUT.

- day one $100 CAD packs. I thought blizzard selling a mythic gun skin for 53 was the biggest crock of shit i've seen this year, it took a total of 24 hours for that to be topped.

As primarily a HUT player, this summary is concerning. I might just stick with 24 when I have the itch to play.

The only positive HUT thing I’ve read is that the PS and Xbox auction houses are now combined. That’s a big plus obviously, but EA has been pumping the micro transactions each year for the smallest overall upgrades. Frankly I’m exhausted.

 

[Blitzkrug]

As primarily a HUT player, this summary is concerning. I might just stick with 24 when I have the itch to play.

The only positive HUT thing I’ve read is that the PS and Xbox auction houses are now combined. That’s a big plus obviously, but EA has been pumping the micro transactions each year for the smallest overall upgrades. Frankly I’m exhausted.

I could be wrong, i would recommend also reading the deep dive to get it from both perspective but i really don't like a lot of what they have listed here.

 

[T1K]

I could be wrong, i would recommend also reading the deep dive to get it from both perspective but i really don't like a lot of what they have listed here.

I’ve kinda had a poor taste in my mouth with HUT ever since they did that “clutch moments” promo last year where you had to grind so many packs to upgrade your players. Not only did it take forever, but there was no transparency in the cost to upgrade to the max overall. I feel like more of that type of stuff is coming.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Oh no. This is so sad. I really thought there was a chance that the changes to skating and AI would be more than superficial.

Good to see the goalies are still liquid dogshit.

Why does Shesterkin move so hard to the right post on the first goal when he can clearly see the shot? The animation looks forced with how fast it pulls him out of position. Goalies still flopping around for no reason or at the worst possible times, these new skill based one timers look busted which is what most people feared (the guy that posted the video said they seemed "pretty efficient")

And then it just looks like NHL 24.



uhhhhh

 

[McAsuno]

Let me guess, pricey pond hockey will be shown up once again on BAP.

 

[Matty Sundin]

Disappointed like always but expected. The gameplay literally looks the same.

 

[NYR94]

the player models look weird, like they're not wearing all their pads. Players looked more bulky in 24.

 

[Dradavich]

Looks terrible, The shooting is still awful outside of one timers, for some reason EA thinks most players are unable lift the puck more then a couple of centimeters when shooting AND most of the shots lack any power to them at all. The goalies are still complete garbage and play like they are from a beer league. They still have the same unskippable celebrations from last year. The hitting still looks like it's complete whack, the skating looks better but it's not good, for one it's a little on the slow side, I remember in 21 you could absolutely fly with a guy who has his speed in the 90s. All this changes from 23 to 24 that made 6 v 6 gameplay feel like a slog are still in the game. It's 24.2 Not buying this garbage, i used to only buy the NHL games to play 6 v 6 but they've completely ruined that for me now.

 

[Blitzkrug]

The ratings are predictably awful roster wise but this might be a new level of ass.

Logan Stankoven is somehow an 84 overall with elite potential. I get the kid is probably going to be good, but getting an 84 with 14 points in 24 career games seems just a bit egregious. For comparison, Slafkovsky is an 85 for 70+ games of good, but not elite production (should be high 70s with a high potential like it was before)

Drew Doughty being 88 overall for the 45th year in a row, the rank and file guys like Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie both getting 83s. Petr Mrazek being an 84 somehow still.

Get your shit together EA.

 

[Indrid Cold]

I rolled the dice and pre ordered. If Franchise mode is decent, I will be happy.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Honest question- has anyone ever 'figured out' scouting? My scouting staff has all A's in their respective regions, and areas of expertise but they still cannot fully uncover a player after scouting them two or three times with Potential and Comparison

I felt like it was so much easier in previous gens up until they changed it in NHL19.

 

[T1K]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1839017023185080556

I might not even bother downloading the free trial (lie)

 

[NYR94]

I do so much of my own roster editing that EA's ratings are almost irrelevant. With the NHL Edge data that's available now there's really no reason for certain attributes like speed or slap shot power to be wrong.

 

[LokiDog]

I do so much of my own roster editing that EA's ratings are almost irrelevant. With the NHL Edge data that's available now there's really no reason for certain attributes like speed or slap shot power to be wrong.

Can you share some of your ratings? Do you do it all free hand or do you create a spread sheet or anything? I basically do what you do, but I used to be more organized and actually create a spreadsheet. Now I barely have time to edit and when I do get an NHL game I get through maybe 2 teams per day if I’m lucky, forget about creating and editing prospects, etc. as well. I’d be curious to see what your rosters look like though if you ever have considered making them shareable. I try to do it how you do and use real data to make it as accurate as I can.

 

[CutOnDime97]

I might not even bother downloading the free trial (lie)

When's that out?

 

[NYR94]

Can you share some of your ratings? Do you do it all free hand or do you create a spread sheet or anything? I basically do what you do, but I used to be more organized and actually create a spreadsheet. Now I barely have time to edit and when I do get an NHL game I get through maybe 2 teams per day if I’m lucky, forget about creating and editing prospects, etc. as well. I’d be curious to see what your rosters look like though if you ever have considered making them shareable. I try to do it how you do and use real data to make it as accurate as I can.

Problem this year is I don't have a current gen system like PS5 or X-Box so I don't know when I'm going to be able to even get the game. I only have PS4 and it's not coming out for last gen. I've always been a Sony guy but it's still kind of pricy for me and I don't game much outside of NHL.

Anyway I don't do a full roster edit (I don't change every attribute for every player, don't have the time or numbers for that) and I don't create/edit prospects because I don't follow them closely enough. I stick to players who have played enough NHL games to have NHL.com stats/NHL Edge data, like wrist shot shooting %, slap shot shooting %, top skating speed, top shot speed, faceoff %, etc. Another attribute that affects scoring is a player's shoot-pass bias, but you won't find that rating on the normal player info screen, you can only see it when you go to edit a player. For that one I look at a player's 5v5 shots/60. And yeah I use spreadsheets for everything.

I honestly shouldn't have called EA's rosters irrelevant in my previous post because now that I think about it, I don't edit goalies either. If anyone knows of a public site that has really granular goalie stats let me know, because I've always felt that a lot of the attributes are merely estimates (like glove high, glove low, stick high, stick low). there is a web site called operationsports that has a sub forum for EA NHL rosters, you might want to check them out,

 

[T1K]

When's that out?

I think tomorrow with EA Play monthly pass

 

[Saskatoon]

Honest question- has anyone ever 'figured out' scouting? My scouting staff has all A's in their respective regions, and areas of expertise but they still cannot fully uncover a player after scouting them two or three times with Potential and Comparison

I felt like it was so much easier in previous gens up until they changed it in NHL19.

There are some guides out there and a few different strategies work

I got Potential and Comparison, Skill Assessment, Strengths and Weaknesses, and then a second Potential and Comparison

A scout can do roughly the amount of prospects they can scout for the 1st Potential and Comparison by Christmas. Although if you move someone regions the timelines go wonky - the game says what you have assigned to them will take longer than it actually will if they are currently travelling

 

[Puckstop40]

Be a pro unchanged again

 

[Gaud]

is the XP trail replacing weekly rewards for playing rivals or squad battles? Hut Rush is gone, replaced by wildcards, which seems like a more complicated version of the same thing. I played one game on rookie and got 20 points.. then realized the end reward is 2000 points away, htough im sure higher difficulty means more points. However, i dont see any of those challenges that give lots of points, so it may just be a straight grind.

 

[nightonthesun]

Just spent some time with the demo. Videos made me skeptical, and my expectations were low, but I’m having more fun than I did when I tried 24. thoughts from an offline only player who felt put off by both 23 and 24:

The changes to the skating feel good to me after getting used to it. L2 skating is satisfying. Noticeable upgrade.

AI improvements are felt on defense. I like that a lot. On offense, conversely, I still get the sense that teammates are often passive, positioned poorly, and sort of uninterested in supporting the puck carrier. But I’m at least interested enough to dig into the strategy menus and try to get something happening.

The skill one timer is indeed brutally overpowered rn.

Faces still look terrible. new instant replay cameras: a great update if your game looks good.

Darude - sandstorm. Dunno if that’s new this year or not but I like little presentational touches of realism like this and would love to see more of them. Because the presentation is by and large… still very bad. I’ll be so happy to see a great looking goal celebration.

Looking forward to trying a franchise mode run. Glad that it was touched up but whether it all comes together to be a more authentic thing is TBD.

All in all I’m eager to play more of it. We’ll see if ten hrs is enough

 

[russ99]

It kind of goes against what many view as ice tilt. The pressure meter only stands to favor the teams who sustain zone possession. Ice tilt theoretically tilts the ice in favor of the team that seemingly isn't controlling the play. And I believe that it's quite noticeable when you play H2H against the the AI on high difficulty.

I believe the pressure meter was a tool to try and convince players to pass more and change the way they approach the offense in this game. Cycles were effective in the game before the meter was a thing. And there are still an abundance of players who think that forcing the cross crease is the only way to score.

God forbid they fix the broken gameplay engine, just slap on another gimmick or make players change the way they play, which is also how real hockey teams play.

Watched 6 gameplay videos today, all of them have the same issue with opposing computer controlled teams keeping posession in player team zone, once even when getting hit in the crease, and the player being controlled loses the puck in the computer team offensive zone when any opposing player is close to them. Can’t set up plays or even initiate a cycle, only play is to hold it at the top of the crease and hope a computer controlled skater on your side gets to a place to get a clean pass.

 

[Pebble live]

Just spent some time with the demo. Videos made me skeptical, and my expectations were low, but I’m having more fun than I did when I tried 24. thoughts from an offline only player who felt put off by both 23 and 24:

The changes to the skating feel good to me after getting used to it. L2 skating is satisfying. Noticeable upgrade.

AI improvements are felt on defense. I like that a lot. On offense, conversely, I still get the sense that teammates are often passive, positioned poorly, and sort of uninterested in supporting the puck carrier. But I’m at least interested enough to dig into the strategy menus and try to get something happening.

The skill one timer is indeed brutally overpowered rn.

Faces still look terrible. new instant replay cameras: a great update if your game looks good.

Darude - sandstorm. Dunno if that’s new this year or not but I like little presentational touches of realism like this and would love to see more of them. Because the presentation is by and large… still very bad. I’ll be so happy to see a great looking goal celebration.

Looking forward to trying a franchise mode run. Glad that it was touched up but whether it all comes together to be a more authentic thing is TBD.

All in all I’m eager to play more of it. We’ll see if ten hrs is enough

The game feels great. I'm typically an offline player as well but like to jump in for some VS or sometimes join an EASHL club.

The defensive side of the game is a lot better. Game play speed is a bit slower, skating feels more responsive and being able to turn off the pressure meter was a nice touch.

Graphics have had a nice upgrade. I haven't bought the game in a few years and so this feels like a significant upgrade. Overall it's a much better year for the game than what I expected.

I want to see things changed a bit on the presentation side of things. Give us a more realistic presentation instead of something that appeals to the fortnite kids with ADHD. That's my only gripe at this point.

It seems like some folks aren't happy with HUT or Be a Pro. I don't play either. Never understood the appeal of building a team of superstars that everyone else has. It's very strange to me.

 

[belair]

Yep. World of Chel is a bit of a mess in terms of matchmaking pre-release, but they took all of the strengths in terms of player control from '24 and they slowed the game down. Feels better than any game in the past five years in terms of player control.

 

[JoVel]

The new GM mode actually looks like a pretty decent upgrade. Might eventually get it when it's on sale, but not feeling like spending 70 euros for just the GM mode.