Beta Impressions

[Janikka]

Let's talk about the NHL 19 beta, shall we?

After a bit of adjusting I'm liking it. There are some apparent quirks here and there, like the frequent crashes or the far-too-generous three-minute timer of the match-up screen. I'll give EA the benefit of the doubt and pin all that on the fact that it's a beta, though. Some of the animations look a little weird to me, particularly in some of the transitions from one animation to the next. Anyone else notice this?

Skating feels smoother than it's ever felt on the current gen. Passing feels more fluid than before, too. I like the loadout system, even if the menus are a little confusing at first. I like that defenders can now play with forward builds and vice versa, not being able to do so felt like an artificial restriction anyway. The loadout editor also seems like a good balance between fixed builds and customization.

The revamped hitting is better and more consistent than before, I think. I like that you can't poke spam, though I'm not sure if the tripping calls aren't a bit too much. Sometimes it seems you do everything right with your poke check and still get called for tripping. That could just be the NHL 18 player in me talking, though. I can still use the poke check consistently without getting penalized if I only do it from the front side of my opponent and from an adequate distance. I wouldn't really mind if this were the case in the final product.

1vs1vs1 is a pretty fun distraction. So far so good, as long as the retail game is more polished as one would expect.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Janikka

[Dercie]

I like it very much, the control of the player feels so smooth not only in versus but in EASHL I have not had a single game so far where I felt delay, I even played with north americans and didn't feel much difference. May this open up crossplay over the atlantic with our north american friends? 

The poke checks could be buffed, L2 could be nerfed, the menus are slower than my grandmother on the ice, constant crashes (it is a beta) but as long as the gameplay is this smooth I will not complain. I really like that there are way more hits in the game, makes it more fun to watch and play. The poke checks still work but you have to be 100% sure you're in a good spot when you pull it off. The defensive skill stick seems to be better, and as the name says, it is rewarding if used correctly.

Can't wait for NHL 19 to be released on September 14

[PSchibra]

3 7 games, 3 7 loop disconnects/freezes before the first faceoff. Hopefully this stays in the beta  🙃

Edited July 28, 2018 by PSchibra

[Kenu]

6 hours ago, Dercie said:

I like it very much, the control of the player feels so smooth not only in versus but in EASHL I have not had a single game so far where I felt delay, I even played with north americans and didn't feel much difference. May this open up crossplay over the atlantic with our north american friends? 

 

While I agree with you 100%, an improved connection has always been the case for me in the beta and when the actual game comes out, the connection - for one reason or another - is not as smooth. The numeric data for ping might be the same, but the smoothness is gone. Hopefully this is not the case for NHL 19.

[Oicteppotulppu]

On 28.7.2018 at 22.57, Kenu kirjoitti:

 

While I agree with you 100%, an improved connection has always been the case for me in the beta and when the actual game comes out, the connection - for one reason or another - is not as smooth. The numeric data for ping might be the same, but the smoothness is gone. Hopefully this is not the case for NHL 19.

I hope it too. While others haven't been suffering bad "game experience" that often, i have had it through the whole nhl18. 

I might know why, i can't just prove that without buying stuff to measure it out. 

 

I would pay full price for only versus and EASHL modes, just to be able to enjoy smoothness in the game. 

Beta has been really smooth except for the disconncting problems which bunch of players have been suffering. Not me tho..

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2018 by Oicteppotulppu

[Ranksu]

We can't be sure will this stay in the game or challenge team mode, but after game there is only 1min time frame after game kick you back in the lobby. So when we're taking screenshots / photos for game reports its quite tight time frame to do it. I hope they will delete that time window away from the game.

[MartindalexC]

2 hours ago, Ranksu said:

We can't be sure will this stay in the game or challenge team mode, but after game there is only 1min time frame after game kick you back in the lobby. So when we're taking screenshots / photos for game reports its quite tight time frame to do it. I hope they will delete that time window away from the game.

You just have to go to instant replay (or anything? Not quite sure) and the progression towards the lobby / next game will stop.

[MovaaN]

I've personally liked the beta so far. It has some flaws here and there but overall image is good and optimistic about release.

Pros:

New build system. I've personally liked new approach on EASHL with existing builds, because freely allocating points on stats have before ended that there are some builds that just are broken. This new twist on non-modable builds with ability to change size and the trait system feels good. Now people can get the role and make it look more like themselves. After trying out many of different roles with different size et cetera I feel that every build is viable. It doesn't feel at this moment that there is any OP builds out there.

Poke checks. Now we're going to right direction. There is few things that need tweaking. If you poke the aim seems bit off at this point. It looks like that player is trying to poke the spot where puck is at that exact moment and not take into count on player movement. But I like that if you poke from bad angle you often end up drinking water in penalty box. No more spamming thank god.

L1. You know what I mean. Now this gets you penalized if you try to use it from behind or in bad place. I just hope that they would figure it out how to handle it next to boards because you don't see hockey players going ass up high next to boards. 

RPM and Collision physics. Movement of the player is amazing. Really responsive and you feel when you have momemtum. All this has brought game speed closer to reality. Collision physics work well but I feel that tackling is bit too much. Now your player becomes a heat seaking missile when you push your right stick up (or any other direction) which makes tackling maybe even too easy. There are ways to counter it but there is no difference on how good you are tackling and timing it.

Overall there are lot of good stuff not mentioned here, this is more like my top list.

 

Cons:

Well error issue at the moment. There is a a work around for it (just reboot your game after every match) but has killed lot of matches.

GOD DAMN MENUS. There is just too much stuff on the screen. Everything looks so out of order and non-logical. And the epilepsy indusing colors...... Don't know the idea to make player PSN avatars humongous and everything else in lobbies so small. I see you have nice avatar but what the hell is your build and PSN-tag.... 

 

Better game than 18 definetely. New game? I wouldn't say so, pretty much update. Will I buy it? Yes, even the more expensive version.

In summary, I would say that 19 will be great game for EA to start make the series on Frostbyte, yes this will go to Frostbyte because Ignite as an game engine was outdated when it came out. And Frostbyte has a great netcode.

-Movaan-

 

P.S. I left connections out of this because on release we will see the truth when server stress is real. So far it has been best so far.