Leaderboard

I've definitely joined the ban them all camp recently. I don't think the abilities are well-designed or balanced at all. They are sort of tacked on top of the core mechanics, which they override and overpower a lot of the time, creating the sort of chaos and unpredictability that a competitive game should minimize. Look at games like Counter-Strike or Rocket League and how pure of a competitive experience they are. By introducing the abilities, the NHL series has moved further from that than ever. And in NHL 26, it's worse than it's ever been.

Can someone give me at least one good reason why you still allow X-factors at this point, when you’ve already banned eleven (?) of them and restricted builds by position? These days I don’t really care what SG does, I just play, but I’m genuinely wondering. Back in the day, I voted to either ban all of them, ban none or ban only a couple of the most overpowered ones. But this current approach of banning around 75% of them and letting the rest stay just doesn’t make sense. Yes, some of them are more useful than others, but the main idea behind all of these traits is the same: they’re basically stupid superpowers breaking the game mechanics. If you ban traits like hit boost, better balance and ones that generate extra pressure from spamming shots, then why on earth do you allow auto-saucers, speed boosts on pass reception, 2x endurance and whatever else is left? Yes, you can probably answer that by saying the community hasn’t complained enough about those perks being overpowered, but now we’ve reached that point and this is exactly what we knew would happen once you started banning traits one by one. You’re basically leaving breadcrumbs on the table. No hate, it just feels like there’s no logic behind it anymore.

Honestly, the more I’ve played the game, the more I’m leaning toward “ban them all.” For skaters and goalies.

I think maybe we ban everything else besides Enforcer builds and then we play like real men

What has changed your mind?

I think that’s the case because no shooting abilities have been banned.

Okay, well, at least make an effort to catch the puck.

Okay… so whose great idea was it to ban almost everything for skaters but nothing for goalies? I’ve only played the game for one night, and I’ve already seen countless desperation saves from goalies whose positioning was clearly off. It feels like they just stand in the middle and still manage to stop most one-timers, even when half the net is wide open. Maybe I haven’t played enough yet, but this has happened in every game so far. Also, Elite Stick ‘Em Up seems a bit questionable… and you even get a speed boost from Send It (Receiver). Before any goalie or defender starts whining I’m only sharing my personal opinions here. I just think the banned abilities should be equal for everyone, also Goalies. It feels really unfair that goalie traits are completely untouched at the moment, and I’d love to hear an explanation why? At the very least, ban all the elite abilities. In their current state, these abilities are ruining any sense of “competitive” gameplay and make the game feel more arcade-like with all the speed boosts and other nonsense. It’s like Super Mario grabbing a star suddenly you’re immortal and super fast :D.

Quick release need to ban.