[NHL 23 Technical Test - Let us know what you think!]

I had "only" one evening of experience so far which where around 6-7 games. Most of them came to 6vs6 play and two 3vs3 games.

- Goalies seem to be pretty hot trash. While AI goalies can only save cross creases and high percentage shots, you can score on pretty much other shot. Human goalies also struggle to save some "easy" shots and received a lot of goals during scrambles or better to say when they can't make the initial stop.

- hitting/bumping is completely unnecessary or useless. I know that those endless bumps favoured the defense but in the test it felt for me that you can't even bump anymore, it didn't trigger any animation in most of the cases and when it occasionally happened it didn't had any effect. Furthermore you either were able to hit the opponent right in the face or not even at all. If you weren't spot on on the hit, like completely centred, I flew right by the opponent without any impact. Felt also the way that I basically was animated around the opponent. This was for PMD and with a "heavier" TWD. Heard that from someone with a 95kg DD as well.

- skating as an offensive player is fun and I like that if you have a decent speed advantage with the puck you can keep it and don't get penalised just for skating straight forward with the puck. So you keep your advantage, that makes sense to me.

Skating as a defender especially in backchecking situations is extremely awful. F.e. the basic situation where you cover the middle of the ice and the forward wants to skate near the boards to get the entry over the side, you can't defend that beside camping basically already near your own zone or hustling straight backwards towards the net and hope for the best. Normally you skate a little bit across to the boards but you loose so much speed while doing it. This needs to be fixed, otherwise RIP defenders

- stick lifting feels ok/good, quite the same to NHL 22, idk if they changed anything there but IMO there is no immediate need.

- still unsure how to judge the poke checking. I like that that you can't spam it anymore, which was just brutal. Personally I had the feeling that it was up and down all evening, like sometimes it was pretty accurate with the timing and the effect it caused, and sometimes I poked three times perfectly but it didn't had any effect on the opponent. He still kept the puck (unstoppable force on gold). That non effect occured with other builds on the opponent side as well though.

- still unsure how to judge the speed penalty for holding the defensive skill stick. I get why they changed it and it was abused a lot of times, f.e. blocking, but yesterday it felt like you can't use it at all. You basically stop while doing it. So it's effectively you can poke one time or never. My guess is they can't prevent the blocks so they made the penalty for using the defensive skill that high, which should make it pretty much non existent. If you have to penalise that, then probably not that much IMO.

- occasionally a flickering effect occurring on the center ice line.

- no server selection --> big L

- we didn't play a private game, but I guess it is highly unlikely that you can connect the SG stats to the ingame stats for the team leaderboards which pops up after goals. While this is cool for normal EASHL games, I guess it could be annoying for private games as they don't count towards the statistic so it will probably pop up multiple times with the same stats in private games which is useless. Like the goal celebrations for a certain amount in the last game.

- are those new OT celebration cinematics randomized, I thought MAYBE you can set them also up in the club settings which was obviously not the case. Never played an OT game though so far.

- passing felt quite smooth so far. I like that you had better aim and strength to some "drop" passes.

[NHL 22 Technical Test - We want your feedback!]

The NHL 22 closed technical test is over and unfortunately I have to confirm that the matchmaking problem is still there as we expected.

For reference: my team played the technical test from Monday to Thursday every single evening, but e.g. on Tuesday we only got to play ONE game during 90 minutes. To be fair, we started playing late, around 22:30 CEST, but as we already acknowledged on Monday, the matchmaking problem is still a thing. We played the same team 3 out of 4 times. Doing my own research, I found out that out of the total of 14 German speaking teams, 9 of them were playing the PS5 version while 5 of them were playing the PS4 version. Seeing (on Discord) all of those other teams (mostly Finnish and Swedish) playing as well, it was the final confirmation that the matchmaking is still broken.

Searching games on "relaxed" also didn't help at all as we got matched against North American team, which most likely searched on that setting as well.
So we see this as proof that even though the matchmaking problem itself is crucial, the players/teams being split between consoles is just brutal, even moreso if the info is accurate that it's "only" because of some cosmetic things, f.e. the moving eyeballs of players, like....really?

One more time again I want to kindly ask the EA NHL team to look at that problem and give us the option to search on the server we want to play our public games as well.
I mean, it shouldn't be a big thing, because remember, in your "most competitive game mode" where you organize the GWC tournament, you have the possibility to adjust your settings to search for an opponent with up to a certain amount of a maximum ping. So you have the solution, you just don't want to add it to EASHL as well.
You even have a tool to track quitting players and ban them for a certain amount of time, you just don't want to add it to EASHL as well.
It's just so devastating, frustrating and most of all sad. Please fix it.

Further thoughts on the closed technical test, based on the few games we got to play:

+ Passing: you finally have some realistic passing in the game. If you throw a cannon ball, the recipient has to have the hands of Patrick Kane and Connor McDavid to be able to pick it up and therefore he most likely won't. Bravo! Behind the back passes are slower which they should be, you can't force that much passes through sticks and bodies. Don't listen to the guys saying that this is trash because they now have to think about what they are doing.

+ Deflections: I saw some really nice animations and it seems like they are more likely to happen without being the go to move. Players still jump randomly instead of getting their stick into the shooting lane, which sometimes just sucks and is pretty much unrealistic, but I believe making EVERY tip possible would also be OP.

+ Build system: for me personally I do like the mix between full customizations and pre builds, it's up for debate if the small customizations really will make a difference, but I do like the fact that only certain builds can have certain zone abilities.

- please consider adding versus again in the upcoming technical tests that we can also see how the AI is doing.

I don't really have negative points to tell about the technical test, for sure some animations felt weird or the multiple chops got on my nerves after a goal, but for a beta it's normal to have some glitches and let's be real, sport simulations will always have some glitches and weird bugs.

[ECL 12 Pro Playoffs: Semifinals Preview]

Group 1 > Group 2

[ECL 12 Season Information]

Interested in playing some other teams then our 20 team-pool outside of the EASHL-Playoffs 🖐

[Send us your questions for the NHL 20 developers!]

1. Is it possible to implement the number of teams who are currently searching on the different servers instead of this buggy "low, medium and high" garbage which basically is irrelevant?

2. Was it 4 or 5 years ago that the community wants to have the goalie as a 6 manually played player on the ice if he leaves for the extra player? Why it's not implemented, what's the problem and when do you think it's not completely impossible to fulfill this "dream"?

3. Can we please be displayed on our correct positions? It really makes me wondering why we are all centers since DAY ONE OF NHL 19?!

4. Can we get an explanation why the formation during a defensive zone faceoff was changed midseason in NHL 19, that the defender is ahead of the winger? It was still the case in the Beta. Is that fixed? Why was it there in the first place? Will there be soon some chances of creating some own faceoff buildups for some variation?

5. Are you able to give us some insights why sometimes a brutal hit with 500 foot fullspeed skating ahead into the boards results in nothing or a 2 minute penalty, while the player fly 2 miles away and sometimes a small bump into the boards results in a major penalty and the opponent player is hurt but doesn't even flinch?

6. I guess the dressing room is fixed so you can actually see straight away who you matched and not like the 5-10 seconds freeze? I mean this should be a no brainer but since the dressing room fiasco in NHL 19 it's worth a question.

7. EDIT: Is it possible to add a kind of logic where it's not goaltending interference when the goalie is the active guy on the contact by performing kamikaze outside the blue crease?

8. Some stuff was already mentioned: Spectator mode, unlimited/three pauses inside challenge games, rejoining a disconnected game?

[NHLGamer, Dr. Oetker and Elisa kicking off unparalleled 6vs6 experience with ECL 8]

This is so awesome!
Thank you @Kenu for doing an outstanding job, being probably the biggest workhorse I've ever seen. This man spent countless hours for a vision - making NHL eSport ready and I guess he's doing fine right? Give yourself a big tap on your shoulder, I couldn't imagine another person who deserves it more.

Also a big shoutout to the many guys in the background who made this happen. It doesn't care if you are fresh members or old veterans like @The_Alpha_Furyan or @gzell60 (to name only a few), we applaud you and appreciate your hard work!

[Team Radical disqualification]

My point of view is that if there happens an action on day x which has to be looked up by the LA, this day x is fact for the ruling of the LA. They were assistant captains at this time so the disqualification settle at day x and not on day x+5 when the final decision is published.

Yeah, we all know that there are only English speaking people in the LA so there is no way of sending a message to them in English and their mother language.. anyways, if they asked for permission, they have to wait for the decision of the LA and not already switching captaincies and changing teams. This kind of behaviour insult that they didn't seem to try a big effort of keeping the team alive.

[Team Radical disqualification]

vor 5 Minuten schrieb MartindalexC:

I acknowledged that the two rules contradict themselves. The problem arises when you realise that 13.4 was added (27th Feb 2017) to the rule book after 13.8 was already there and as a direct replacement for it, therefore the LA applying a clearly obselete rule is just completely asinine.  It's their fault they didn't rectify this discrepancy in the 3 editions of the rule book since, not mine for applying the rule as indicated. 

Well, for what do have assistant captains then? That they have absolutely no responsibility in every case and are only named because the rulebook says so?
I agree that this paragraph (13.4) is written a little bit sloppy but as 13.8 referes to this kind of situation it sticks for me.
What did those two guys do? The captain left the sinking ship, that's crap for sure, but what kind of attitude you should have as an assistant captain? Step up for your team, take this role and try to do best out of it. For me it would be something like "pride" to finish the season as good as I can. For sure it could be very frustrating, but it is what it is. This should be a kind of codex to all of those guys who are in a leading role inside of a team. I know you earn nothing out of it as it's only a video game and I'm fully aware that it's nowhere written in the rule book and probably never will, but still, those captains and assistants have to take responsibility for all of the teams actions!
When did they got transferred to Northern Ascendancy? Before or after it was clear they will brake up? Without having knowledge I would assume that it was after it and if it is so, due to this time of event they are responsible for the teams actions and for me it is that exactly after this event they got banned. So they can be transferred to Northern Ascendany but are banned for playing in ECL 7. You could also read the rule book this way. Sure, you can blame LA for writing this paragraph with some loop hole, but as a captain yourself, would you like to see that other captains will sneak through loop holes as well? I doubt it.
For me it's the right call in case that everybody should take responsibility for their actions and don't snitch threw every written latter and try to make the best for themselves and give a damn to the integrity of this community. God damn, we don't do this for a living, there are and will be some mistakes. Please don't put every word or sentence under the microscope.

[NHL 19 Tuner 1.0.2 is out - Are we overreacting about the changes?]

Are we overreacting?

Personally it isn't a question to have a clear answer for it. IMO it's a no for that the game is unplayable or completely unjoyable. Do we have a less more effective poke check? Yes. Therefore we had a spamming stick lift festival which seemed to be a little bit fixed yesterday but still there are some situations where you could basically watch two guys smashing the x button for quite a while without any penalty. There are still out of nowhere pokes and stick lifts where you are wondering how you could loose the puck. Was this better in beta? At least the poke check was way better as you had to realy think if you use it instead of "let's poke, good things will happen". I don't get it why you change it if nearly most of your gamechangers and therefore visible "advertisement" are very excited and satisfied and you release a "how to poke video" before bring the good old times back a day later. Make it variable for the different divisions as a softer tuner for lower divisions and harder tuner for higher tiers.
Personally the skating feels a little bit weaker than at launch but way better than in nhl 18. But there are definitely a few pick up scenes where you only can scratch your head off. A little example? If you do a saucer pass along the boards the receiving player will do a little cut inside and looses his speed and position. Very frustrating if you do exactly the right play but the game and not an opposing player "defends" your actions.

For me it's the little things which realy leaving me sometimes with total disbelief. Every player on the ice get displayed as a center in the cut scenes - basically what the fuck? It should be the same code as for years now. It occurred during the beta and is still not fixed two months after that? I know this has nothing to do with gameplay and the realy important things to adjust but that's how you make people motivate to screw your game.
Or the fact that your player takes a seat during the penalty kill on two different places - sometimes on the players bench, sometimes inside the penalty box. And this kind of bug realy effects gameplay and tactics. Let this scenario come inside your head: ecl playoffs, matchup for the title/promotion/relegation, overtime. Your team has a powerplay and don't score, produces a turnover and There are 2 seconds left on the penalty. You are in total stress and make the move to the side of the penalty box to prevent a breakaway chance - and the player spawns exact on the other side of the ice, gives a middlefinger to your positioning, scores a goal and you are done. That would also be a nice way to sell some new tv's, monitors, controllers..

And don't forget the major point of all critics - the dressing room error. One of our backup guys can play every other game with a very low ping with a nice internet connection, but he can't play nhl because of reasons. Basically he spent 70 euros to try it sometimes and have fun for 20 minutes in our party chat and than rages and go to another game because he can't play any single game with us. That's not acceptable.
In the rest of our team we don't realy have that much problems with error codes or get kicked out of the sessions, but you spend nearly half an hour or more in the dressing room everyday because some guy drops out of the game and you have to restart it. And you don't go back to the dressing room, no, this would be the easy solution so no way to do it like that. Go to the main menu and click through 5 different menus to get back to the dressing room. Brilliant!

Otherwise the game physics are kind of random sometimes - on that play your player is totally in the wrong position and still takes the puck, sometimes you stand perfect in the passing lane and he is more interested in the young girl from shawinigan in the stands as picking up the puck. You do a great saucer pass to score a cross crease goal? Don't trust it, because the defender could do a random stick lift to stop it and sometimes your pass gets through 3 players. It's basically inconsistent for a lot of games.

I guess that most people don't want to complain the whole game, but currently these little flaws are way to present and pisses everyone that off that they will see way more negative things than positive. It's human to rage and hate the game if you spend 2 hours in the dressing room without finding a matchup that works without any drops and than receive a cheesy goal.

So far I'm satisfied with the general settings and it feels that you need more skill to win games. But I can totally understand people who hates the game already because off all these flaws and maybe the only big change in the game physics (skating) got cut and it seems that frostbite or other new game mechanics are far away to get included.

Ps: please note that I'm nearly only playing eashl and not versus or HUT.

[ECL 6 - Pro Playoffs Round 1]

Thanks @strapat, I don't know why I missed them. I fixed it