The thing i enjoy the most when i´ve played without x-factors is the fact that there is no tuculence or stick em up..
Especially golden stick em up feels too automatic at times and the skill in using it isn´t there.. Yes there are bullshit pokes with it also, but the best way to use the golden stick is to just press r1 and that feels too automatic. Without abilities i´ve seen some elite defenders really struggle now, because just auto aiming with the r1 isn´t there anymore. You actually have to defend by having a good body position or having a really good active stick. Two things that require skill and iq.
I actually dont´t hate this as it doesn´t make defending too automatic and still rewards offensive plays more than now. We haven´t had yet a problem scoring without abilities and adding the silvers wouldn´t change much. We have been scoring one timers too from further out with minimum slap shot stats😮
Also a thing mentioned here before. Spamming shots close to the net when the goalie is well positioned doesn´t work anymore and you actually have to find a better angle rather than just shooting it close to the net without even thinking anything else.
Conclusion:
I would enjoy the game most without abilities or not having defensive boosts. Atleast not having golden stick em up or/and truculence would make my experience better🙂