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The NHL 22 closed technical test is over and unfortunately I have to confirm that the matchmaking problem is still there as we expected. For reference: my team played the technical test from Monday to Thursday every single evening, but e.g. on Tuesday we only got to play ONE game during 90 minutes. To be fair, we started playing late, around 22:30 CEST, but as we already acknowledged on Monday, the matchmaking problem is still a thing. We played the same team 3 out of 4 times. Doing my own research, I found out that out of the total of 14 German speaking teams, 9 of them were playing the PS5 version while 5 of them were playing the PS4 version. Seeing (on Discord) all of those other teams (mostly Finnish and Swedish) playing as well, it was the final confirmation that the matchmaking is still broken. Searching games on "relaxed" also didn't help at all as we got matched against North American team, which most likely searched on that setting as well. So we see this as proof that even though the matchmaking problem itself is crucial, the players/teams being split between consoles is just brutal, even moreso if the info is accurate that it's "only" because of some cosmetic things, f.e. the moving eyeballs of players, like....really? One more time again I want to kindly ask the EA NHL team to look at that problem and give us the option to search on the server we want to play our public games as well. I mean, it shouldn't be a big thing, because remember, in your "most competitive game mode" where you organize the GWC tournament, you have the possibility to adjust your settings to search for an opponent with up to a certain amount of a maximum ping. So you have the solution, you just don't want to add it to EASHL as well. You even have a tool to track quitting players and ban them for a certain amount of time, you just don't want to add it to EASHL as well. It's just so devastating, frustrating and most of all sad. Please fix it. Further thoughts on the closed technical test, based on the few games we got to play: + Passing: you finally have some realistic passing in the game. If you throw a cannon ball, the recipient has to have the hands of Patrick Kane and Connor McDavid to be able to pick it up and therefore he most likely won't. Bravo! Behind the back passes are slower which they should be, you can't force that much passes through sticks and bodies. Don't listen to the guys saying that this is trash because they now have to think about what they are doing. + Deflections: I saw some really nice animations and it seems like they are more likely to happen without being the go to move. Players still jump randomly instead of getting their stick into the shooting lane, which sometimes just sucks and is pretty much unrealistic, but I believe making EVERY tip possible would also be OP. + Build system: for me personally I do like the mix between full customizations and pre builds, it's up for debate if the small customizations really will make a difference, but I do like the fact that only certain builds can have certain zone abilities. - please consider adding versus again in the upcoming technical tests that we can also see how the AI is doing. I don't really have negative points to tell about the technical test, for sure some animations felt weird or the multiple chops got on my nerves after a goal, but for a beta it's normal to have some glitches and let's be real, sport simulations will always have some glitches and weird bugs.

Missing the Settings tab in WOC (Camera etc) -Pass receptions: Adjust a tiny bit so that people are not forced to use the Magnetic XF/SA but using the Magnetic has a tiny advantage. Now that ability is way too OP or the pass reception ease needs a slight overall buff -Pass assist: don't touch anything -Pass interceptions: don't touch anything -DS4 doesn't occasionally vibrate on a successful bump, sticklift, poke or stick sweep. But when it does, the vibration is also too low. -In defense, holding L1 while skating full speed should result in a gliding shotblock on one knee (and player should be able to decelerate the glide with holding L stick against momentum) -Poke checks: A single tap of R1 should result in a poke check directly outwards of the controlled player's hips, not automatically towards the puck -Augmented reality: During breaks, don't show stats that are either 100% and/or 0% (empty stats) -Add an option to mute the Chel Lady -the height/weight impact on physical play needs to be higher. In the beta you can knock a puck loose from a Chara looking fella with a Nathan Gerbe lookalike way too often.

So here is a review of the technical test from a very average and casual player of the game. I wish there were more comments in this article from different kinds of players because I like to read them very much. I was able to try out both versions (PS4 & PS5) of the technical test. I tested pretty much everything from Pro-AM to 6vs6 club games. I have to say that imo the difference between these two versions isn’t that massive. PS5 does everything a bit better and smoother but gameplay seems to be the same, even the bugs are pretty similar in both consoles. Some FPS drops seem to happen quite often with PS4 (4K Monitor). I don’t think it will be a problem to play next tournaments on the PS4 version. I already sent my (long)list of bugs that I faced during the week with both consoles to EA so I will comment on the game in general here. Frostbite game engine didn’t bring massive upgrades to visuals or mechanics in technical test. Everyone who played NHL21 can see and feel the similarity of the basic mechanics and animations compared to NHL21. I have to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with this, but I can live with it. Especially AI seems to be the same old, at least for now. WoC Interface is better/faster now and especially the main menu looks really good imo. Pros: Stick physics in general are my favourites. Although I think poke checking should be fully manual using R1+right stick. clicking R1 will always aim automatically towards the puck (same old). Cutting the passing lanes makes some sense now. Players are rewarded for positioning correctly between the passing lanes. Puck won’t anymore randomly go through three players. This is horrible in NHL21. Passing feels more manual now. Passing power makes sense. You can’t just fully load a pass and smash it to your buddy’s blade standing 0,5 meters away from you. Receiving player won’t most likely receive it even if he/she had the right perks for it. If you want to serve your teammate a onetimer, you have to adjust the passing power to the distance, like irl. Passing power and direction is really automatic in NHL21. Shot blocking is rewarding. The new L1 kneeling animation is way better than before and ‘’the carbet’’ animation (R1+L1) feels less edgy now. Puck bounces are a bit closer to the laws of physics which is good. Also goalkeepers can’t glue every 180km/h shot and the puck will be bouncing more in front of the net. Loadouts are really fun to edit and test out. Game tempo is slower so even the bulkier players can keep up. I saw our community’s top players favouring a certain sniper/playmaker/puck moving d build (185cm 88kg) already, but I hope the variety will be large and people aren’t forced to use the same builds anymore to be competitive. Goalie interference penalty is a good addition. However, not sure how well it works and if goalkeepers will be able to use this to ‘’fishing’’ penalties. Cons: There are already too many bondage-centers existing that are tying up every goddamn faceoff and it will be even worse if they let people take away faceoff ability points to boost their deeking. Please remove faceoffs from editable abilities or give some new tools to centers to work with. Puck pickups have some new animations and as said above pass power and direction affects if the player will catch it or not. Most of them are OK, but sometimes it felt that players were missing easy passes so this might need a little boost. Smaller/weaker builds can still ‘’pump’’ stronger/bigger builds out of balance and steal the puck which needs some tuning. However I don’t like pumping in general so it should be changed in some way. Pumping was actually even worse in the PS4 version. People were taking penalties but no-one knows why because there are no replays? Nothing new for the goalie-players? Five hole looked really vulnerable in loose pucks and crashing the net with the puck. AI goalie had serious problems coverin the near posts. I hope the server selection will become available in public games as well so the northern and southern part of the European community will become more connected. Especially now when the game is split in different consoles. Where the heck is the spectator mode? I bet the commentary voice in the WoC menu gets pretty annoying after a couple of days so I hope there will be an option to mute it. Sometimes it’s really hard to see where the puck is when it's crowded, but not sure if this is actually made on purpose. I think especially defenders will like this version of the game. I really enjoyed the technical test and it feels bad to return for FCL games in NHL21. In general the NHL22 technical test felt less arcade than NHL21 and I’m pretty sure I could enjoy it way more than NHL21. Rating solid 7/10. Let's see what the future holds. Sorry for the long post.