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After giving it some thought and reading others' takes on this... I'm also team BanThemAll. And here's the reasoning why: The whole X-Factor ability shenanigans were added to the game in order to highlight superstar players with their superstar abilities. I totally understand that concept from an offline mode or online versus point of view, it's a great addition and does what it's supposed to do: recognize greatness. But in WOC game modes, we don't need that at all - everybody can already spend their XP however they see fit under the ruleset of preset builds and be the superstar they want (even though I'd love to see the return of the old custom build system). In WOC the X-Factors don't make anyone a superstar in the way they were intended in the first place if evvvveryone on the ice has them. What the X-Factors bring in 6s especially is instead lower skill gap RNG to a vast variety of in-game scenarios an even stronger meta for each wingers, centers, defencedudes & goalies where everyone exploits weaknesses in the game Therefore a competitive setting with no superpower abilities would balance not only the meta but also the dreadful RNG. EA made the decision on our behalf to remove EE from WOC, which, if you think about it for a second, is actually is a huge step towards the direction I'm suggesting here. And absolutely nobody is complaining about it. Now it's all about finishing what EA started this year and play without the honestly quite unnecessary X-Factor abilities in 6s.

I'd like to reiterate a couple of points I made earlier. This was way back in early September: We got that definitive, non-reversible decision when @Kenu & LA on October 15th announced the following: This was later adjusted, albeit slightly, when Kenu & LA on October 22nd announced that, based on community feedback Big Tipper (Gold and Silver) would be banned. The discussion continued at a brisk pace, and some good points were raised. Two ideas seemed to take off, both quite radical; the banning of all traits and the "one player type for each skater"-suggestion. The banning of all traits seemed to be the more popular one, and it is a suggestion I'd probably support myself (under the right conditions). However, I once again highlighted the importance of foresight and consistency: With just days to go until the first official tournament of NHL 25 (Qualifiers), I would like to emphasize foresight, consistency and structure one final time. LA laid out the proposed structure of the upcoming tournament back in early September. They confirmed the prerequisites and structure for the upcoming tournament in mid-October. They confirmed the tournament structure a second time about a week later (with one small adjustment, that had about a 99 percent approval rating). To completely rip up everything and start over from scratch at this point would be a disservice to SportsGamer, the League Administration and to the competitive structure of the ECL as we know it. Knowing that we can trust what is said in official statements and rulings from LA and SportsGamer, should (and must) be a core tenet of this league. If we don't have that core tenet, if every decision made and communicated is up for suggestion and is subject to change with the proper lobbying, then the rules, trust and structure built over the years are essentially worth nothing. Not to mention the fact that for a radical change like the one suggested - and let's be frank here, it IS a radical change when compared to every other tournament ever played on the website - there should be: - a proper period of time for the topic to be discussed, - a proper period of time for various different official suggestions (on competitive structure) to be drafted, - a proper period of time for these official suggestions to be voted on by the community, - a massive effort made to make sure that as many people in the community as possible get involved and get to have their voices heard (perhaps by way of an official news story, social media posts and emails sent out to all members) We're talking about a process here that could, and honestly probably should, take months. And a process that should be completely transparent all the way, allowing all members - regardless of how active they are on these forums or the website in general - to understand what is going on and to have their voice heard. My personal philosophy has always been that change and innovation works best when applied by the proper amount, with the proper support, over a proper period of time - so yeah, I might be biased. But on this topic, based on the points I've argued, I really believe that it is the only reasonable way to move forward.

Im casting my vote for team BanThemAll. However, that means that the grudge matchup needs to get fixed asap. Banning all traits but still having one player (most often the center) with all offensive or defensive traits would mean that all teams exploited that one player, because why not? Im hoping that if we come to a conclusion to ban all traits, we start seeing even more diversity with different builds.

*NOT SAYING THIS SHOULD BE DONE* but Is banning everything still on the table for the winter season? Just out of curiosity. 100% understandable if it's "too late" to do that. But I think the majority would not mind.

BOOMERS (LITE) We are looking for starting goalie. Dm here or discord: ikarkkii#4165

I love this idea. Time to make some great decisions. BanThemAll +1

Pata Hellalla (lite) looking 50/50 or backup goalie for ECL winter

Markalla wrote very well indeed! BanThemAll +1

What does that have to do with my message?

BanThemAll +1

BanThemAll +1 !!!

BanThemAll +1 🤩

Banthemall +1 Great shout 👌

BanThemAll +1 Markalla good post👍

Mights 🦅 In: @xMossee @Ketsivaa @Penkuins @Jutiv (ajuti) @Jokke (JokkeRNG) @priima-namu (FeikkiNambo) @TheJoppi

BanThemAll +1

The traits exacerbate the randomness of the gameplay that's pretty random to begin with, so I'm all for banning everything. The boosts can stay. I've disliked the traits since they were introduced.

BanThemAll +1

BanThemAll +1

BanThemAll +1

Free LW/C/LD Starter/Backup contact here or discord "Sweini999" https://sportsgamer.gg/players/14371

Bjorkloven Esport IN: @Alpha borje @Ttv_ahnbergs99 @LukasGudinge @Bobban-21- @xSnaipperi @stenborg431 Welcome boys! 💚💛

Free C/RW/G for next ECL Preference playing C position. Lite or good team in Core. Last ECL played in ECL lite. Xbox

Free LD for lite. Starter or backup. Prefere LD but I can handle RD if needed. PS and discord Mewn73 .

You can remove it by pressing square I believe

U still can

Yes u can (At least it was possible in NHL24)

Neo team HC Total Chaos looking for goalie in ECL winter. We need also backup player.

Free rw starter/backup write here or on discord root_1919

Mustaa Kultaa (Elite) looking for startter RD contact me here pls...

Free Agent: Elite/Pro/Lite: Goalie Lite/Core: Left D Lite/Core: C contact me here or discord (Zwelitzo)

I love everything about this message - you basically cleared the table. I’ve bolded my favorites. Also, @FINSeRe is spot on. There have been many great posts overall - kudos to everyone. While I agree that the BT ban was probably the right call since it's such an automatic skill, I also think SG shouldn’t go any further and should let the situation settle. Banning X-Factors one by one isn’t the way to go. People will always start chasing the next "worst" ability, and it becomes an endless cycle. I repeat myself, but every trait has its own issues, so it doesn't make sense to remove some XFs while leaving others. We know some of them are more powerful than others, but in general, it's not fair in my opinion. Sopuli explained why quite well. It's easy to be hindsight-driven, but I think when the first-ever XF bans took place, it was a mistake. While it did make a somewhat shitty game a little more enjoyable, we should have just banned them all. So, I’m not criticizing the end result, just the approach. But as I said, it's easy to look back with hindsight, and I was also advocating for individual trait bans back in the day. This brings us to the point where I think BT is the only one that should be put in "jail" at the moment. The next step is either to ban them all or let the game run as EA intended, with XFs included - even though I don’t like the latter option. For me, the Sauna Cup was easily the best and most enjoyable gaming experience I’ve had since the X-Factors were introduced to the game. It just felt natural, in a good way. I'm sure many of you would have enjoyed it as well. I remember counting the GF and GA per game, which were almost identical to ECL. I know it was a different NHL game then, but when it comes to hockey, creativity never dies. There will always be different ways to generate scoring chances; you just need to adjust. If we ban all traits, the start could be frustrating because we have gotten used to building our style around those X-Factors. However, after some time, I believe most of us would come to love it. As for the goalies, they aren’t overpowered; they’re just broken. EA's game mechanics are so RNG overall that goalies will save empty nets and let in soft goals, regardless of whether there are XFs or not.

I would pay cold, hard cash (more than I'd admit) for a similar breakdown of all the traits and abilities currently in the game.

I had a chat with the gameplay producer at EA and they gave me the following facts about truculence tuning for NHL 25: Gold Truculence provides a 25% boost to stamina drain on a shoulder check hit (NHL 24 it was 30%) Silver Truculence provides a 0% boost. (NHL 24 it was 20%) Truculence also increases the power of a Shoulder Check, which would naturally drain a bit more stamina than a non-truculent Shoulder Check. The X-Factor should only trigger on Shoulder Checks (not push checks).

up

Free LW/C/LD looking for club Core/lite/Pro Backup is fine If I can play some games https://sportsgamer.gg/players/1595

Eisbären Lauf GAMING: For ECL 25 Winter Pro/Lite and beyond we are looking for the following positions: 1x Defender What is important to us: - Technical understanding - Commitment and investment to progress - Communication skills (we speak English and German) - Team player mentality - At least lite experience - Xbox or PS5 (both is possible) What we offer: - Performance based roster with many ECL Pro experience - Clear structures - Established ice hockey organization off- and online Please contact me via discord @theburner18 More Info: http://instagram.com/eisbaeren_lauf_gaming/ http://twitch.tv/eisbaeren_lauf_gaming http://twitter.com/eisbaerengaming https://discord.gg/m68Xue8EVV

Bann me