NHL 25 Discussion

[amikaro]

I finally bought the game as well.

Franchise Mode is the same as always with some minor improvements like NTC/NMCs.

Scouting, GM (arena, marketing, ...) are still a mess and not usable to me.

Menus are still pretty low and drastically bad UX. Who did that?

Gameplay got some significant improvements. But there are some weird behaviors and computer checking is strange. Those shoves once you passed a D which make your F passive for 1-2 seconds are taking lots of fun. A backpass is still a pain in the ass ... they go anywhere ...

Also the game is still pretty buggy around changing. Suddenly, players stay on the ice forever or the line up is mixed up.

Fun, evolved, but also a bit frustrating as it s the same - over and over again.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

They should make a GM mode that is an extra mode but is more narrative driven. Like a story mode type thing. Think of the movie draft day (lol), but you play through it for a few years.

Online GM mode seems like a pipe dream. It's never going to happen and if it does there will be so many bugs with how complex some of the features are now. Like I said in my previous post, there were already many critical bugs in the old online GM mode, and that was a much more barebones mode.

They should have never taken the classic GM mode out. Even if it has to be sim only, it should have been in there for online as "GM Mode Classic".

There should at least be a basic online league feature. Let me create a league with X number of teams and a custom schedule length, with a fantasy draft. Don't have growth or potential of a salary cap. Just make it really basic so a group of buddies can get together and play. That sounds like something they could do without screwing up.

 

[Flukeshot]

I've always been an offline only players, and I'm starting to enjoy the Franchise mode custom league.

It took a fair bit of time to figure out the pros and cons of number of teams and playoff structures.

Went to about year 12 of a 40 team league. 8 div X 5 teams each. 1st place in the div gets a bye, 2nd and 3rd play in... it's was like a nightmare version of the real NHL format with just the same opponents every year. I also started with real rosters so the 8 expansion teams were garbage until they bought enough through free agency.

I'm starting to build a 48 team league. Any recommendations on division and playoff structure?

 

[Slats432]

They should make a GM mode that is an extra mode but is more narrative driven. Like a story mode type thing. Think of the movie draft day (lol), but you play through it for a few years.

Online GM mode seems like a pipe dream. It's never going to happen and if it does there will be so many bugs with how complex some of the features are now. Like I said in my previous post, there were already many critical bugs in the old online GM mode, and that was a much more barebones mode.

They should have never taken the classic GM mode out. Even if it has to be sim only, it should have been in there for online as "GM Mode Classic".

There should at least be a basic online league feature. Let me create a league with X number of teams and a custom schedule length, with a fantasy draft. Don't have growth or potential of a salary cap. Just make it really basic so a group of buddies can get together and play. That sounds like something they could do without screwing up.

This was a good game which seems like what you are talking about but for NFL.

https://www.ea.com/games/madden/nfl-head-coach-09

I've always been an offline only players, and I'm starting to enjoy the Franchise mode custom league.

It took a fair bit of time to figure out the pros and cons of number of teams and playoff structures.

Went to about year 12 of a 40 team league. 8 div X 5 teams each. 1st place in the div gets a bye, 2nd and 3rd play in... it's was like a nightmare version of the real NHL format with just the same opponents every year. I also started with real rosters so the 8 expansion teams were garbage until they bought enough through free agency.

I'm starting to build a 48 team league. Any recommendations on division and playoff structure?

Four divisions of 12, with 8 of each making playoffs. 32-->16-->8-->4-->Stanley Cup Final.

 

[The Tourist]

Late to the party and probably been discussed a hundred times but I'm not reading 23 pages. I found the game for $20. Is it worth buying? All I play is franchise mode and I skipped NHL 24. I usually buy it every other year but I was planning on skipping it again because of the disappointment.

Should I get it for Franchise mode or just wait for 26 to come out and go on sale?

 

[amikaro]

20 bucks is fair value. even if i got disappointed in recent years

i play gm only. i wish online CHEL was more stable. But i dont want to spend time matchmaking or playing with morons every third time.

 

[EK392000]

Late to the party and probably been discussed a hundred times but I'm not reading 23 pages. I found the game for $20. Is it worth buying? All I play is franchise mode and I skipped NHL 23. I usually buy it every other year but I was planning on skipping it again because of the disappointment.

Should I get it for Franchise mode or just wait for 26 to come out and go on sale?

I am not sure if they’ve fixed this but in my experience, there was incredible menu lag that made franchise mode unplayable for me. It took a couple seconds just to load the stats of a player of their contract details.

Unsure if they’ve fixed that you should look that up before you pull the trigger.

For what it’s worth, the new elements in the franchise mode are a welcome change but become repetitive after some time.