"It's been three years and I still haven't fully grasped this discussion. It's clear that EA Sports has delivered a terrible game for the past three years, catering more to "drop-in" players than to competitive ones. All the perks are nonsense; they are meaningless aids for players engaging in a dreadful video game that bears no resemblance to hockey.
The only solution is to ban all perks because they offer disproportionate advantages over individual player skills. Banning only a selection is illogical: for example, a player who focuses on physical play receives no aid (as those perks are banned), but a player who loves to shoot has every tool at their disposal. This approach constantly favors some while disadvantaging others. The only way to rectify the poor decisions of EA Sports and ensure fairness for everyone is to ban all perks. This would force teams to play actual hockey based on teamplay instead of abusing EA Sports' aids.
Playing on many teams this year is a tragedy: the center is never on defense. This is absurd, especially considering the other senseless aid introduced by EA Sports: the Icon Pass. As a result, if you play defense, you are constantly facing a 2-on-1 situation (at best), or 3-on-1/3-on-2. Essentially, in most defensive plays, you have one defender and four wingers. The least of my concerns are the goaltenders conceding goals, as many teams are clearly unbalanced and they have to rely on luck to get help from a defenseman.
I've even seen players, who would typically play center in Pro , abusing the related perks to take backhand or forehand shots from the blue line. This is not hockey. Removing all perks would compel these players to learn how to play hockey properly and cooperate with their teammates.
Personally, I would only leave the perks for goalies because, as is the case every year, they certainly do not have an advantage. I find it absurd that these complaints are coming from forwards, who have had the game significantly skewed in their favor for several years. However, to maintain complete fairness for all players, removing the perks for golies too would be acceptable. This is my opinion, at least for the Elite, Pro, and Lite divisions. Core and Neo could remain as they are, as they play purely for fun, much like Club Ranked matches.
It is time for SG (likely the tournament organizer/community) to remove all support mechanisms that should not exist in competitive game. They fail to realize that this makes the game terrible to both play and watch! It's time to put competition back into the hands of the players and away from the terrible ideas of EA Sports; otherwise, they will end up like the Club Ranked matches: dead."
