FINSeRe

What 😂

I literally don’t have any idea why you are so butthurt but even your quote states that I’m talking about NHL 24… I will say this the third time so you might hopefully finally understand; goalies making undeserved saves is not new to NHL 26 and this is not even close to being as bad as it was NHL 24.

I will once more explain why this isn't the case down below. But even if you had all shooting perks open and you banned all goalie X-Factors, goalies would still make those crazy saves. 1st you talk about increasing skill ceiling and immediately after that you are saying that goalie positioning shouldn't matter? It's literally opposite of increasing skill ceiling for goalies if positioning doesn't matter. It would mean that it doesn't matter who is in the net and it wouldn't matter if he positions wrong. So I disagree with this. If goalie plays perfectly and positions perfectly, he should be rewarded with the save at least most of the time. This isn't game only for forwards and defenders and this game should be fun for goalies also. But at the same time I do think goalies should be played more aggresively so I would actually like to see some nerfs on goalies when they just stand on goal line so it would encourage goalies to challenge shooters (like in real life) which in turn leaves more room to score from passing plays. This is true and with this I agree. But the solution isn't something easy like banning X-Factors or something, it's literally how EA has programmed this game. I have been playing competetive 6v6 almost 15 years and I can assure you that goalie making undeserved saves is not a new thing in 26. It's IMO incredibly short sighted to say something like that. However I do think the peak of undeserved saves was in NHL 24 and I'm pretty sure 99 % of the player base agrees with me on this. At least I did my research and all my numbers were correct.. Those numbers you gave are funnily enough wrong and VERY HIGHLY situational. Sponge activates only when you would make the save anyways. It gives no boosts to the save itself. Banning Sponge would actually only increase brown poopy goals, which isn't increasing skill ceiling. Post 2 Post activates only while moving sideways and then it can actually give 75 % save accuracy and reaction time. It also increases goalies speed while moving sideways. Dialed In is actually only X-Factor that is not situational as it boosts all saves. However I believe this is the weakest X-Factor for goalies and unless you get decent amount of saves, it's almost like you don't have X-Factor at all. Recharge activates after every save but again it will only activate when you would make the save anyways. It works quite the same than old battery perk, where it would give energy to players. Also it reduces fatique and pressure etc. so this one is actually very noticeable. However it feels like I'm only one using this and as it doesn't improve goalies save ability, it's hardly OP. Show Stopper activates only when making reflex saves. I'm not sure what reflex saves mean in actuality (would need EA to clarify this), but I do know that it doesn't mean it activates on every save. At least in paper I do think Show Stopper is the best X-Factor for goalies but I'm not 100 % sure how it works compared to other X-Factors so my words in this case should be taken with grain of salt. So from 5 X-Factors only 3 are actually helping goalie to make saves and even then 2 of them are highly situational and activate only when certain parameters are reached. Only X-Factor which isn't situational is pretty weak and it will reset after every goal given against. I can also guarantee that Elite Quick Release will be available in the next Season Pass so actually it will be available in the next ECL as we are talking about actual ECL. Incorrect. I don't use Post 2 Post because I'm able to save onetimers without it. Same applied to NHL 24 and 25 as I didn't use Post 2 Post on those either even when most of the goalies did use it. Reason why I use Elite Sponge is because I think Dialed In is the weakest X-Factor (like I said previously) and because I don't need Post 2 Post, there is only Sponge that I can use even if it doesn't boost my saving ability. I just think it's better gameplay from goalie perspective to not give up so much brown poopy EA goals. I wouldn't say it's OP tho. At least I gave some actual facts. I didn't say anything about undeserved goals or saves, I just pointed out the actual numbers. Learn to read and don't put words in my mouth thank you. You yourself are just rambling your own thoughts and gave no actual explanation for the goal increase. Yeah it COULD be because of this and that and it COULD be because of them and those but you arent proving anything by giving your thoughts. Also if you haven't played NHL 24 I think it's crazy to use argument: "This one might the furthest reach I have seen in a while." Like how would you know? I mean literally if you haven't played that game? Then suddenly you start to talk about NHL 25 even thought I was talking about NHL 24 and how bad goalie making undeserved saves really has been. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I do also want to point out that EA fixed floating goalies and leaky short sides from NHL 25. They also fixed other numerous smaller things for goalies and made many improvements in quality overall so they wouldn't be so braindead all the time. So even if the gameplay would be identical to NHL 25, goalies would still at least in paper save more because of these fixes. I think currently most broken thing (stick checking included) is posts as many certain goals are taken away because of this. If EA fixed this it would already make huge improvement IMO. I also want to point out that I don't care what the bans are going to be for the next season as it will be same for every goalie. I'm pretty sure I can manage it either way.

Moderator note: The below has been translated with ChatGPT to make it available to more readers. You can find the original text in Finnish in the Spoiler section below. It’s too complicated to explain properly in English, so I’ll just explain it in Finnish terms. But here’s how I’ve understood goalie perks, and what’s been tested in the “Between the Pipes” server (the world’s largest goalie server with about 2,250 members): there are 3 out of 5 perks that activate on every save — Sponge, Dialed In, and Recharge. Since only one perk can visually appear on the screen at a time, what you see is the goalie’s highest currently active perk. In practice, that’s usually either the red Sponge or Dialed In, since most goalies have one of those unlocked. If a goalie has both active, Sponge has priority to be displayed on screen, but Dialed In also activates in the background. The same goes for blue and gold goalie perks — they activate in the background even if they don’t show on screen, especially Recharge. Because there are so few red perks available for goalies, practically every goalie uses either red Dialed In or Sponge. But that’s just because there aren’t many options — not because those perks are necessarily overpowered. Most players haven’t grinded the season pass far enough to unlock red Post to Post, which is considered meta in North America and gives a significant boost to lateral saves. So even though those perks activate on every save, it doesn’t mean the save happened because of that perk. When Sponge activates, it just indicates that the save was a “controlled” one — meaning the goalie covered the puck quickly or handled the rebound well. When Dialed In activates, it simply means the game has temporarily boosted the goalie’s save ability by 6%. The same logic applies to skaters: even if you score with a wrist shot and Quick Release activates, that doesn’t mean the perk caused the goal — it just means it triggered. You could shoot into an empty net and Quick Release would still activate, but the goal obviously wasn’t because of it. In other words, banning Sponge alone wouldn’t eliminate those “undeserved” saves — it would just lead to more of EA’s nonsense goals. Sponge isn’t even close to the best goalie perk in HUT, in my opinion. The current Sponge is the same as in NHL 24 and 25, just slightly stronger. And as I calculated earlier, NHL 26 is nothing compared to NHL 24, where goalies were making completely undeserved saves left and right — which is clearly reflected in the goals-per-game average. Even though there were fewer of those undeserved saves in NHL 25, they still happened all the time, and it’s never been about perks — it’s the game engine. If there really were a magic fix for it, believe me, I’d be all in. But I think people will be disappointed if they expect that banning red Sponge will suddenly stop those undeserved saves.

How is it OP actually? It boosts your cover speed and ability to make controlled save. So without Sponge you would still make those saves only difference being that you have bigger chance of giving rebounds. I do agree that being bad shouldn't be rewarded and increasing handicap is a good thing, but IMO Sponge isn't even strongest X-Factor for goalies.

In ECL Elite Winter '24 there was average 5,11 goals per game. In ECL Elite Spring '24 this average was 4,78 goals per game. In ECL Elite Winter '25 there was average 5,78 goals per game. In ECL Elite Spring '25 this average was 5,53 goals per game. In Krike Cup (on-going) there are 9 Elite teams who have scored average 6,25 goals per game in a pretty serious 1 350 € buy-in tournament. So goal scoring is actually going up every version and players even have new X-Factor "Quick Release" that reduces goalies reactions by maximum of 50 %.

Truculence seems obvious ban as it’s stupidly OP. Not sure about banning skating X-Factors tho since their AP makes them expensive as hell. Elite Wheels and Elite Edges are 70 AP so you can have one of them and almost nothing else. X-Factors across the board seem to be more impactful so by doing this they are handicapping themself. And if you are paying for example 70 AP, yeah it should be pretty powerful and in that case it’s on defenders ability to read this like they have to do with McDavid in real life. In the old X-Factor system this was different as there was no AP tied to the perks. So ofc you would take Elite Edges which was the best single perk of them all as you can see how much AP it costs in NHL 26. I also agree about big tipper as I haven’t had much experience with it but one alarming thing is that some X-Factors are A. locked behind season pass or B. coming in future seasons (who knows when) and will be locked behind battle pass. Goalie X-Factor Show Stopper which is suppose to counter deflections and screens isn’t even in season 1 pass, who know when we will get it. And man Season Pass XP gains are fucked, unless they buff it, I can’t see people reaching higher tiers where X-Factors are locked without paying real money which is fucked up. They are kinda doing FOMO here as no1 seems to know what happens if you are not able to unluck them, will they be locked from you forever? Basically you are getting ~300 Season Pass XP per game and it takes 10 000 XP to reaxh next level (I’m lv 12). And objectives aren’t helping much as I’ve done most of then already. So it’s around 30 games times 50 levels = 1 500 games which in real time takes 500 hours. So yeah fuck EA.

As a player who has been there from the beginning, including consolehockey times, one thing I have learned is that you unfortunately can't rely on EA. For example, I remember being in those NHL yearly pre-release events decade ago when I played 1v1 seriously and developers were already back then talking about Spectator Mode and how has that panned out? Or GM Connected? List goes on. I have to give kudos to EA tho as the gameplay is much more fun in 25 overall even though I despice gimmicky grudge matches and other useless features as it's pandering to Fortnite-generation and going further away from true simulation which should always be the direction in a hockey game. Problem is as svetidaje stated, that EA can and will modify X-Factors during the season and we know how great that will go. I can't think any serious esport, where patch is introduced mid tournament. For example, League of Legends Worlds, which is currently ongoing, takes month and a half and obviously they will be using one and same patch that has been announced way before Worlds started. And yeah I know that NHL isn't "serious" esport compared to bigger ones but let's be honest here, we are paying to play this game and it's not cheap. The less we rely on EA on anything, the better we will be with the league imo. Banning Big Tipper is a good start, but the more I think about this the more I'm starting to think that we should bring old school hockey back, which would mean banning all X-Factors and we won't have any "balance issues" in the future and we get our pure skill hockey back.

While I agree that the shooting traits are powerful, they are still much better state than previous year (or start of this NHL) so I personally wouldn't complain about them. And as a goalie I really can't comprehend how good Truculence is so I won't have any opinion should it be banned as others will have better opinion than me. However I've seen some wild shit with Big Tipper. One time somebody shot from point and defender blocked the shot and because this the puck trickled extremely slow speed. Still somebody with this perk got their stick onto it and the puck went like rocket to the top corner ignoring all the physics. And of course as a goalie I've seen numerous times how somebody shoots puck 3 meters high and wide and still somebody with Big Tipper is able to deflect it into goal I mean most of the perks require you to have some skill to pull it off. For example shooting perks require good positioning and understanding when and where to shoot. Even Truculence requires you to able to hit checks. However with gold Big Tipper player becomes immediately god tier finisher, with him just literally standing there doing nothing. Imo NPC-tier perk.

Had no packet loss this night, felt good.

Today got 8 % packet loss on Helsinki server, it’s pretty bad

I actually noticed the change 1-2 weeks ago. We were playing drafts and I got randomly kicked out from dressing room and EA servers. Ever since I've had those random micro stutters and some times also 2 % packet loss. 1st I thought it was linked to EA servers but as I also have DNA, ISP might be the problem here. For me it has been playable though but I feel a bit handicapped specially if this happens during golden one tee.

As a goalie I should mention, that the new anticipation system takes ages to activate. I don't have exact timing but it was something like a whole second in beta so you can't react with it in fast one-timers or other hard situations. This means if they would add back the risk thing, you as a goalie would have 20 % chance to make the right anticipation (+ you get your saving ability lowered if incorrect) and you would have to do this a whole second before the shot which at least in Elite is impossible as the puck moves so fast. Anyone who can do math can see that it would be awful odds for the goalie and mathematically you should never use the system if risk is involved. Other side of the coin is that now you can keep it on all the time without penalty and it gives boost on one direction and by keeping it on, you wouldn't have to wait for the set up time it takes. Because of this the set up should be instant so goalies wouldn't have to hold the right stick whole game as it brings the same results. I did only some testing with this new anticipation system in beta as the energy was mostly learning the now optional goalie control scheme, but I did find it almost useless as the goalie would still hoover the puck in even if in rightly positioned and anticipated. Gotta test more after the buffs tho and they were only my own experiences.

(No REC) LW pikkuroger, Vattuyy, Puantso, vire30, xAaro89x C Beniittto, Patzlaf, Mozjayh, Foppatofflan, SadaPoika RW Laiitinen, NikkeDangles, EkiOriginal, Dzouvi_, antoniomannen_ LD xDoumi, tomboo-_-, Nassustelija, Patsberg_, SebbeLarsen86 RD Teemuyy, re_Wenger, Sakkem95, KingOfApes_, J-_-Jamaltheman G uhNikke, Faze91-, ICappeI, kaz_zu, McSavid

Most of the answers to this poll will be from forwards (roughly 50 % of the community as it is 3/6 of the team). Because of this I'm pretty sure most of them won't have close quarters on their list (as this post demonstrates). But if the point is make ''game more enjoyable'' it would be absurd if the close quarters wouldn't be banned as it has been arguably broken since it came in NHL 22. Still it's pretty funny that there wasn't any outcry about X-Factors when goal scoring was super easy in NHL 22 and close quarters being broken as it is. I mean the amount of the goals in NHL 22 was done through goalie using close quarters was... Well let's say it was a lot. And even though I think it's not as bad as last year, it's still badly balanced from the goalie perspective. Personally I think this poll is flawed as it doesn't take to account what position player plays. Obviously forwards, defenders and goalies have different opinions at least on some level. I'm kinda opposite on this as I wouldn't actually ban any of the X-Factors, not even close quarters (even though it is a bullshit trait). But if we are going this route, I think truculence, unstoppable force, big tipper and close quarters is the way to go. But if this would happen, I would predict that there will be big surge of one tees, especially gold ones.

https://ps5suomessa.com/

@Pursuitti

Free G. Still considering my options for the next season. Had some difficulties in the beginning adapting to this new NHL as I had to make total revamp to my playing style and to be honest I was mostly stinky ass in the net for the starting days because of this. But now I feel that my training is starting to show and I feel better and better every night so I’m very confident and hopeful for the future. And I’m fucking super motivated for this NHL 💪🏼

Yeah so we were playing 6v6 against ”Dinamo Riga” aka. ”Latvian Warriors” at the late night. We were leading the game 4-2 when syncing error occured. Normally the losing team would leave but in this case they lied to us how they turned PS off and went to bed. Had a little chat with the captain where he said he ”was in bed” and using ”PS app”. Well after few hours of waiting I checked if the game was still running and noticed that you can actually see who are still in the game if you press ”report content”. And surprise surprise there was 4 guys from the opposing team waiting us to leave to get experience and ranking including the captain I had been previously talking and who said his ”PS is off”. Yeah nobody cares about club ranking or experience but this is a matter of principal especially when both teams are part of this NHLGamer community. These guys just make me physically ill. Just pathetic. I would recommend avoiding this team when playing 6s.

Free G. Competitive and long term team thx.

Same game with better graphics and boosted perks. Lazy af

28 yo free G.

I'd say 70+ likes on Mikka's post is pretty ''overwhelming'' feedback 😆😆? Or do you usually see this many likes on ANY post here @NG?

How about ECL 9 and Delusion (now hREDS)? That season they were über dominant in the Pro, imagine putting that kind of team in Lite.. Would Lite teams enjoy playing against that kind of team and losing 20-0? They were winning in Pro by over 10 goals many occasions (like 17-5 and 13-1). If hREDS formed today would you seriously put them to Lite?

Well, things didn’t go as I hoped but life truly does teach 😂 So yeah, free goalie Elite/ Pro. Extremely motivated to play and grind. Ready to try-out. Available for games every day. Cheers ✌