IMPORTANT UPDATE: ECL ’26: Winter - No New Ability & build Bans

Ban elite sponge also, it was behind the pay wall

5 minuter sedan, tbnantti säger:

Pay-to-win doesn’t mean you must pay. Amongst other things, it means you can skip the grind if you pay.

I think it would be a good idea to let teams play with the abilities they want to if both teams agree to it.

But now you’re adding the pay-to-win angle to a situation where SG just banned things because you have to buy certain items now to use them, even though you had more than 8 weeks to unlock them for free.

Meanwhile, you’re ignoring items that still can’t be unlocked anymore, but players could unlock them during Season 1. Why weren’t those banned when Season 2 started? It would’ve been pretty nice to not deal with Elite Stick ‘Em Up, which can make anyone look like Lidström in the defensive zone.

The defensive X-factors still break the game more than the offensive ones do. Even I can admit that as a defenseman, even though I haven’t used Stick ‘Em Up at all this season and only recently tried Quick Pick. (I'm stupid)

Everything is just weird. The arguments don’t hold for why this is being done.

Anyway, I’m going outside to touch some grass now. Have a good evening, Antti.

No1 in our team had none of these since we only play pw games and dont pay for virtual abilities. So this is peukku (not the drug) from us.

Or idk after reading we might have these abilities. idk dont care

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Yoloberg

Thanks for the feedback Everyone. League Administration genuinely thought we were doing a good thing by this approach, but it turns out we were wrong. This most recent decision will be rolled back and no new bans will be put in place for this Winter season.

Regarding the timing, we didn’t know the timing of the WOC seasons when scheduling the ECL originally. When the new season started this week, we were a bit surprised by EA’s approach and decided to make a quick decision. But as we’ve now learned, it was the wrong one.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your swift and honest feedback. As we said in the original news story, the plan is to move away from Abilities for the Spring season, as that seems to be what the majority is asking for.

5 minuter sedan, Kenu säger:

Thanks for the feedback Everyone. League Administration genuinely thought we were doing a good thing by this approach, but it turns out we were wrong. This most recent decision will be rolled back and no new bans will be put in place for this Winter season.

Regarding the timing, we didn’t know the timing of the WOC seasons when scheduling the ECL originally. When the new season started this week, we were a bit surprised by EA’s approach and decided to make a quick decision. But as we’ve now learned, it was the wrong one.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your swift and honest feedback. As we said in the original news story, the plan is to move away from Abilities for the Spring season, as that seems to be what the majority is asking for.

Bra beslut

15 minuter sedan, Kenu säger:

Thanks for the feedback Everyone. League Administration genuinely thought we were doing a good thing by this approach, but it turns out we were wrong. This most recent decision will be rolled back and no new bans will be put in place for this Winter season.

Regarding the timing, we didn’t know the timing of the WOC seasons when scheduling the ECL originally. When the new season started this week, we were a bit surprised by EA’s approach and decided to make a quick decision. But as we’ve now learned, it was the wrong one.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your swift and honest feedback. As we said in the original news story, the plan is to move away from Abilities for the Spring season, as that seems to be what the majority is asking for.

"the plan is to move away from abilities for the spring season, as that seems to be what the majority is asking for"

 

Why the fuck did we play this season with abilities then? Everyone made their opinion clear before ecl that majority wanted to ban them all

This is like 3rd NHL now where different abilities are allowed in each ecl season. What is wrong with banning everything straight away if that is what people want and have 2 seasons with same ability bans so there is a bit of consistency?

Allowing perks that not everyone can use (playing only private games/do have a Job) or paying this company 10€ for them is peak comedy

47 minutes ago, iSvamp said:

But now you’re adding the pay-to-win angle to a situation where SG just banned things because you have to buy certain items now to use them, even though you had more than 8 weeks to unlock them for free.

Meanwhile, you’re ignoring items that still can’t be unlocked anymore, but players could unlock them during Season 1. Why weren’t those banned when Season 2 started? It would’ve been pretty nice to not deal with Elite Stick ‘Em Up, which can make anyone look like Lidström in the defensive zone.

The defensive X-factors still break the game more than the offensive ones do. Even I can admit that as a defenseman, even though I haven’t used Stick ‘Em Up at all this season and only recently tried Quick Pick. (I'm stupid)

Everything is just weird. The arguments don’t hold for why this is being done.

Anyway, I’m going outside to touch some grass now. Have a good evening, Antti.

I do agree that everything locked behind a paywall should be banned, whether it’s S1 or S2 items. I was under the impression S1 items were granted to everyone after the season ended. Items locked behind a paywall are pay-to-win in the very definition of the term. If someone starts the game now, they must pay to get access to the items. Anything other than cosmetic items should never be locked behind a paywall, progression or battle passes.

 

I also agree with Anton that if the same system is in place in NHL 27, all tournaments should be ran with no abilities. 

Edited 1 hour ago by tbnantti

Late and inconsistent decisions really weaken trust in the organisation and how decisions are made. I really hope for transparent communication about any changes for the next tournament, and that those are communicated well in advance. These kinds of communication issues make me at least question whether I even want to pay for and participate in future tournaments.

#Kummeli

I have never seen in any other competitive gaming before where you can get clear edge with "pay-to-win". It's ridiculous that those are not banned and that this is allowed. It make unfair competition situation and everyone is not in same line.

 

"But you could get them for free" No, even then you just had to pay, not with your money, but just with your time.

 

For me it not matter that much, I don't care enough and can play without abilities also. The point is that this is not how competitive gaming should work. And I prefer just for fair competitive environment for everyone, which is what this should be.