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Not so sad news today Welcome back Rightin Snapu aka Slim Peku aka Pastori Peku aka Lit Raitin Snapster aka Ippe Snapunpoika aka ECL5 MVP aka PUANTSO! Our summer training camp has started Our roster is updated (see first post) DieCutterMC & Puantso - > IN Nampa77 -> Out

And so it begins.. The final fight for the trophy of Pro division. Today 20.30 CET, Evo vs UB. Game 1 & 2 Make sure to tune in. Evolution lineup @topikeranen @Erkki @Jageksi @Crisu_rottis @puke85 @SepiDN

And also welcome @Vilupoika

Yes, it is something we were thinking about. As for now, we decided not to go down this route because the way we promoted Pro teams to Elite ahead of ECL 5 was similar to today's decision. As we did not announce any changes beforehand, we didn't want to implement any last minute solution. Now, this is a case we weren't prepared for when we developed the divisions framework, so this left us with a small surprise. We all agree that Elite should always feature the very best teams, and to accomplish this, we will think about carrying out a mini tournament between the remaining teams in case a team cannot participate in the relegation games. That needs to be added to the rules first though (together with everything else division-related), so expect an implementation for ECL 6.

Gratz FALUN for Elite spot! =)

Uhm did you even consider that you play against #15 (synergy) for your spot or is it somehow automatic that synergy and NL has to get relegated and give more spots to pro teams? Now when Mukimiehet is also out i think its really weird that you rather promote pro teams than let those elite teams fight for their spot. Grats to all promoted and good luck to both finalists!

Yeah Big grats Falun! Tooooo ezy:)

Enforcer Goalie is needed. Hextall Style

Red Machine looking 1 forward and 1 defender, we are playing in ECL Pro next season. Hit me up psn: jergelii

This is related to the other player builds thread that I resurrected, but I chose to start a new thread because this isn't really about which player build to pick. Be warned that this is a long post with some conflicting ideas and a stream of consciousness. I tried to formulate it somewhat logically but it may get confusing or contradictory. I was thinking further about how we yearn for more variation in builds actually used by players. Player builds come with preset attributes these days. It used to be you'd build your own player, deciding what you needed and didn't need so much. People found what worked best, and we ended up mostly playing with very similar builds. It wasn't so different from now in that regard. The most notable differences came from selecting player size and customizing the skates and sticks. The two-way forward was once the go-to player type as you could maximize the attributes that were the most useful for EASHL. They had an attribute for fighting, for instance. There was really no reason to trade points from anything useful for that. On the other hand, certain attributes that sounded useful didn't seem to have much of an impact on the ice. Beyond the actual customization, there was the grind of acquiring more attribute points to spend, all the way into "Legend 3" where you had the highest amount available. I don't miss the customization, and I don't miss the grind. Some feel the former provided more variation in team compositions and the latter a rewarding sense of purpose. From my perspective, the builds used were often hardly distinguishable and the grind was a pointless necessity. So preset builds were a great move in my mind. They didn't quite turn out the way I expected, though. EA had the publicly stated idea that these different builds would translate into varying roles on the ice better than the old customization. You know, just like in real hockey where each player is employed in a certain way. Think a line with the classic grinder-playmaker-sniper composition, or an enforcer whose job it is to protect the more skilled players from scary actions like dirty hits or a punch in the face. Real hockey goons are nearly extinct now, but you get the idea. Even before preset builds they tried to direct people into role play with features such as "intimidation" where a player on the receiving end of several crushing hits would get scared of his own shadow and have his attributes nerfed. It was a beautiful vision. However, to me it's unnecessary. I like to see variation in roles, sure. But are different builds even required for that? I think not. I think the better route to such variation is a natural one. Consider Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. There's a game I've played a lot to minimal success. In competitive CS, everyone is equal as far as their in-game character yet organized teams have very distinct roles out there. You have the sniper, the entry fragger, the creeper, etc. Granted, some of the variation comes from buying different gear. I would contend that we already have this sort of thing in EASHL and especially the ECL. It's just typically not as organized as with professional teams in certain other games. Even if everyone picks the power forward because it's perhaps the strongest build overall, the player roles will not be identical. I'm not just talking positions here, though that's certainly an aspect that emphasizes the varying roles between players. Centers will naturally gravitate toward their idea of what a real hockey center does, and the same applies to all the other positions. Beyond that, though, think of the team you currently play for. On the surface we see six players adhering loosely to roles dictated by their chosen positions. Examining their play closer, though, more details in distinct player roles emerge. It's typical to have a go-to player for a specific action. If you need to carry the puck through the opponent's defensive trap and into the offensive zone, a team may have a specialist for that. No words or even conscious agreement is required here. You'll just have one or two guys doing that specific thing far more than anyone else on your team. In the long run, it becomes part of that player's role on the ice game in and game out. Or, just to draw an example off the top of my head, NOS has one defender who's rather fond of dumping the puck in. The team accepts this as part of that player's role on the ice. We aren't getting through the trap right now, but I'm glad we have our designated carrying-the-puck-into-the-zone guy, or our designated dump-in guy, or what have you. Another obvious example would be defensive pairings where one is the more offensive defender and the other stays further back to compensate. That's one of those things where we instinctively emulate real hockey, of course. I picked CS:GO as a parallel earlier. It was a convenient choice for me to make my point. What about a game like Dota, though? Could you imagine that with identical builds? And unlike CS, many multiplayer FPS games are designed around varying character abilities. R6: Siege and Overwatch, for example. I can see that a very convincing argument could be made for different player builds in EA Sports NHL. And it doesn't need to be an either or, between distinct builds or naturally formed roles. Why not have builds emphasize the differences between players and their roles that already exist? The way to achieve this seems obvious: balance the preset builds better. Have the sacrifices for getting specific strengths truly matter. Make the trade-offs count so that you really need to rely on others to compensate for the innate shortcomings of your build. I mean, if that's truly what we want. One might also want to have the absolute best players not be limited by their builds in any way so they can stand out above the rest and do all the things they're good at to the best of their ability, not just the things where their build allows them to excel. But then again, you could argue that clearly specialized builds may actually highlight the skill between players better compared to a more uniform template. Carving out a niche for oneself and truly excelling at it would become a more viable way to the top as those niches would be in high demand from teams looking to fulfill specific needs.

@topikeranen brings the cup

Kiitos EA is looking one D and a forward to ECL 6.If interested contact here or psn vokial2/SolidElli Ps. We might also have room for a G

Another departure: @xDoumi -> ? Thanks for everything next superstar New signing though! @alakerranjorma Welcome brother

Super Sexxxy team, Ghetto Firebirds is looking for active starting goalie! - ECL experience is considered to be an advantage - Finnish nationality is considered to be an advantage - Goalie who plays as a 6th link on the rink (Team player) - Whatsapp and Headset communication Our team members are between 23-27 years old and we don't need any children to babysit Team stats: ECL 4 - Lite rank 8 ish ECL 5 - Pro relegation ECL 6 - Lite, aiming to be in the top 3 after season, and rise back to pro division Possible LD position is also open Contact Aantri or KepakkoFin on Psn or with private message here on NHLgamer for Tryout!

Good post! There’s a few reasons to why the game is scripted, pre-programmed based on positioning, and uses the same game engine in all game modes. 1. Hockey is a team sport. There’s either bots or other players on the ice. 2. How are the bots supposed to behave, as in ”be programmed”, in an unscripted 1v1 game? Random movement? 3. In an FPS games theres no bots. In a FPS theres no rules. If you compare FIFA to NHL, in this game mode, they have almost the same ”issues”. Exept the playing field is much bigger. But you see the same wierd player speed changes, wierd penalties, strange tackles, insanely stupid passes and wierd goals. It’s because the engine is based only on positioning. There’s no RNG in this game. Even the puck is affected more by timing and player positioning, than of actual physics or player attributes. And lets not forget about Internet delay and consistency.

Could have like it was before without the grind and preset builds have a set value which you add some amount of points for those skills that suit you best.

I wish the playmaker had any form of balance / strength, the fucker is so nice to use but he gets jostled off the puck like a geriatric waiting for a hip replacement.

That’s because your offense is limited anyway.

wat

??????????? Don't state opinion as fact then? And where is this stuff about me hating bots? Ask rusty, we love them here at nor

dafuq is this

As a goalie i raise my hand for that point martindalex.

idynahui

davai bombu..

Ah.... The silver's handbook

Elite Miners! 🤘

So we can already say gratz to Pata Hellalla...

this is true, games definitely not about RNG (in common word luck)

As a "grown up" with kids, letting go of player build and grind was best thing EA could have done for me

Man knows whats hot

Yh i dont see personaly a point of all of those players builds, if 90% community use PWF and than there is 10% others.. EA should really work on the builds to balanced them out on next NHL, probably that will not happen so we have only a hope, that the Indian guy will finally start to work on things what he suppost too, not making every year new game modes which no-one plays.

I don’t think it’s as clear cut as merely taking a look at what others use would make it out to be, for example SJK successfully utilizes other player classes amongst their forwards. I think people use PWF now because they have always done so + if your opponent uses PWF’s, at least you’re not ”giving your opponent any leash” by using a possibly inferior build. Everyone should use whatever feels most natural. I switched from playmaker to PWF in NHL 17, and while at first it definitely felt very clunky, I feel like it is the best build at the moment. Jumbo isn’t bad either, though.

Joukkue löytynyt👍🏻

This. Not saying that there was not other hard ones, but Aapon was on their own level compared to others when they wanted to. It will be interesting to see how they can keep this going on, or if others will get to that level also. Well deserved championship. 👍

Gratz Aapon!!

Congratz Aapon! By far the hardest team to play this season. Fair win!

congratz Aapo you were the far better team than everybody else so well deserved

Evolution Is looking for a forward (center, possibility for a winger aswell) We are also looking for a backup defender. We will play in Elite next season Interested? Contact me here or PSN Crisu_Rottis We will play the pro finals before even thinking about tryouts, but make sure to apply early.

Nice Aapo!! Gongrats!!

Gongrats Aapo, well deserved!

A big congratulations to Aapon on winning the finest trophy we have in this community - well deserved! GGs to SJK as well who fought til the very end. Well done all of you!

Good job Appon! Thank you NHLgamer Staff to make this Tournament. Hope see everybody in ECL6 and maybe new faces too

Monte Carlo are pleased to welcome the latest addition to the team: Veskku of Tiki Talk fame! He plays RD. Also, it has come to my attention that filip15900 never actually said he would join the team so contrary to what was originally stated in the opening post, he's not a member of Monte Carlo at this time. My bad!

Free agent!

чётка! не ну чётка! зачёт, пойдёт!

Elämäm Kiekko sent a fan package to 2015's most popular Youtuber in Finland. Markoboy87 comes from Pori as we do, so this was the least we could do for his sake. See below Markoboy's reaction of our products.