lake79

Hello EA Sports and it´s producers. I´ll have to raise my concern for the NHL-series. I just cannot understand, why i am getting an feeling (and many others too across the internet) that EA Sports dosen´t really care that much of the series anymore and leaves me and many others the feeling that the money from HUT is almost the only thing that matters. I got bored to the gameplay in NHL16 and stopped playing HUT and the game altogether in the rink long before spring was upon us. (That is when the game usually starts to "die".). Game felt just too much of the game that i don´t want to play and NHL 17 felt too much of an game that was basically just an copy of the last year. Including the Franchise Mode. Now what i have seen from the videos and played the beta, NHL18 isin´t going to change that much. The gameplay felt different, but not enough to be something that i want to play every day. NHL 17 beta gameplay was the best gameplay for me ever, on the history of EA Sports NHL-series and i hoped that it will not change for the full version of the game, but it did. Why did you changed it back to "NHL 16 gameplay"? My guess is, that many of the players wanted it to be so. My questions are: - Is the game going to change fully, when and if the Frostbite engine comes to the game? This means an whole new Franchise/GM Mode, whole new Be a Pro and whole new gameplay+animations+menu. - Is GM Connected going to comeback as the Connected Franchise from Madden? I hope this, since many of us were big fans of the GMC and it´s gameplay back on old gen. - What are your goals for the future of NHL-series as an whole? Where/how do you see the series 2-5 years from now? This partly asked, as i assume there is going to be an next next gen from Xbox and PS at about four-five years from now. - Are team collections gone forever from HUT? This was really addictive to me and i was disappointed when those were taken away and replaced with the new system. - Are you guys going to invest for the offline modes of the game in the future or do you see the offline gaming coming to it´s end in the future? I hope this is not the case, but there are signs of it all around the hockey- and football (Fifa+PES) gaming unfortunately for me. What i want to see in the game in future: (This don´t mean in the next game as whole, but in the games on future years to come) - Frosbite engine - Whole new gameplay, based on NHL17 Beta gameplay - GM Connected/Connected Franchise - Whole new Be a Pro/Animated hockey player career as in FIFA 17-18 or Madden 18 - Whole new menus for the game - Roster pool for the fans to upload. I loved this in NHL2k-series, the loading of 90´s rosters and so on was really fun and addictive, since you could start with Forsberg and Lemieux kind of players to play the Manager Mode. - Team Collections back to HUT - A variety of tournaments back to HUT. Loved these in old gen, as there were many different tournaments back in the day, for ex. an restricted tournament for the quality of the players, you did have to put bronze/silver players to the team in order to qualify. - Whole new GM Mode for offline gaming. This includes the Morale System, which for me feels too much like it is happening as an random occurrence and not as something that feels realistic/good. - Gameintros from NHL96-2000 back. I still watch those from time to time and remember how good they felt back in the day. Oh the chills. I hope this feedback/these questions find it´s way to you. I don´t want to sound too negative, but my limit as a fan came to it´s end with NHL17. NHL18 will very likely be the first game since NHL94 that i will not buy/get from my mom as an present (smileyface), since it basically feels that i am wasting my money for. I have been hoping that these small upgrades of the game will all be in the whole new NHL-game when Frostbite comes in play and NHL19/20 will be an whole new NHL game which i want to buy screaming with joy as i did with most of the games years before. And in the end i want to put things that i liked about beta and the videos about NHL18: - Def Skillstick was ok, i hope the spamming of the poke will come to it´s end- NHL Threes was fun, thank you for this. - NMC/NTC and the possibility to make contracts in midseason is an good thing - The possibility to make everything ready before you start to look for opponents on online gaming (lines, tactics and so on) is an good idea. - Sync. error seems to be gone, i hope this is the case. - Overall drop is an good thing. I hope this will continue in the future and be edited even more to feel realistic. - The possibility to start from Europe in Franchise Mode and make the Vegas draft from the start is an good thing. Sorry for the long list´s, but i wanted to get every little thing out that are pressing my heart, concearning the series. Ps. In the end i want to thank NHL Gamer to make this an possibility. Thank you for the good work you are making for the NHL games. I hope this continues in the future too. With all the best: Vili Laakso / lake79