Official NHL 12 CAG Team - We're Back Baby!!! WifeBeaterz on Parole!

[quote name='Vulcan2422']"The Commissioner is not all powerful. If he is abusing his power as Commissioner, the league’s GMs can vote to have him removed. The GM who initiates the vote, if successful, will then become Commissioner." Better watch it Nate!! Lol[/QUOTE]

LOL...what the fuck is this? Pirates of the Saskatchewan? You can mutiny the commissioner? I call parlay. Parlay!
 
[quote name='Vulcan2422']Well, problem last season was that nobody wanted to trade at all. Even for shitty players so that their team would be a complete roster. With the random, I can see more trades. Either way, I call Tampa. I like how the mode is almost real life.
[/QUOTE]

For me, the reason I never initiated trades was because they made it too much work to actually check out other team's player stats. Since stats were "locked in" for players once the league was created, it was hard to tell if skaters were rated on par with their real life counter-parts.

Plus, half my roster was injured IRL, and the in-game roster had all the AHL replacements, so it was really hard to even come up with something that remotely resembled a fair trade without me giving up like 3 players for one good player, but my reserves were thin enough already because of those injuries.

As for the Avs, I think Brandon usually takes Chicago anyways, but if he wanted to, he could have them; if we're using random rosters anyways, its really just the logo, so I'm fine with whatever if that's the case.
 
Yeah, to me, trading was pointless because it was a very half assed effort at "league play" anyway. EA barely gave us anything to work with. The rosters were screwed up pretty bad, you couldn't access your farm club, it was limited to one season, etc. For that matter, we didn't even finish that one season, lol. It just didn't feel long enough to really see where the holes in your team were (unless of course, you're just basing them on real life). I'll go with whatever the majority wants, but something about the rosters being completely random just makes me nervous. I can only hope that NHL 13 is whole assed, lol.

I think the bigger issue is having involved owners. If I'm being blunt, I feel good about the "Playoff 5" + Destro. Everybody else beyond that can be a bit flakey. Again, who knows what names we're going to see come out of the woodwork with this new mode. I'd love to see us with a dedicated group similar to what Madden sees. But that's going to take some work and commitment from everybody. It's also going to be a bit odd learning how the scheduling works. The article makes it sound almost like an NFL schedule where we'll have to play our games in order, but each team gets to play each other. It mentions rounds and number of days per round. It'll be interesting to see how customizable it really is.
 
[quote name='moojuice']As for the Avs, I think Brandon usually takes Chicago anyways, but if he wanted to, he could have them; if we're using random rosters anyways, its really just the logo, so I'm fine with whatever if that's the case.[/QUOTE]

Chicago???? How dare you sir! ;)

I really wouldn't mind a different team than the Avs but not the Blackhawks. I am a Cubs fan in baseball but that's about it.
 
We won't truly know till we play it honestly. Parlay! Lol. I see Brandon taking Boston! I must destroy Thomas! Maybe make a thread so we can get the ball running already. Would be cool if you could scout players to play for you like it says you can do thus the 750 players. How ever, you could pay them and it could go into there salary for better skills in GM only. A thought that would be cool in my book.
 
Ah I was right.

Both GM Connected and Be A GM also benefit from this year’s addition of GM Brain, a revamp of the NHL 13 GM AI. GM Brain causes the computer controlled GMs to act in a more realistic way than ever before. Instead of focusing just on immediate needs, GM Brain allows the AI to evaluate trades and transactions in terms of immediate, short-term and long-term goals that are best for the organization.
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[quote name='Vulcan2422']We won't truly know till we play it honestly. Parlay! Lol. I see Brandon taking Boston! I must destroy Thomas! Maybe make a thread so we can get the ball running already. Would be cool if you could scout players to play for you like it says you can do thus the 750 players. How ever, you could pay them and it could go into there salary for better skills in GM only. A thought that would be cool in my book.[/QUOTE]

Well, like I said when we first heard about it, the dream would be to have EASHL clubs for each team, and have GM Connected combined with EASHL. Honestly, EASHL needs to eventually just be put in the GM Connected format. Instead of having "playoff games" at the end of each month, they should have a certain number of games each week that count toward your "schedule", and then let the rest be exhibition games. Then, when the real NHL playoffs roll around, you see what records everybody has compiled and who made the playoffs.

Of course, this would be exploited beyond belief, and you'd have numerous teams going 82-0. They'd really have to make some changes for it to ever work. You'd have to not be able to see anything about the team you're matched up with. No ratings, no way to look them up, etc. That way, people would just have to play whoever they're matched up with. But then you'd also need a matchmaking system that actually works. Ah, who am I kidding...maybe something to look forward to in NHL 2035...but by then, we'll all be playing hoverboard hockey anyway.

[quote name='jza1218']Ah I was right.[/QUOTE]

My only question with that would be how would the scheduling work? For instance, if we have 15 people in the league, normally, playing everybody once would make for a 14 game season. If you throw in CPU teams...that would mean CPU games. If we didn't play every human team, but played some CPU games, I suppose that could work. It would just need to be balanced. Again, I feel like we're getting into a part of the pool that is just too deep for EA to swim in. I hope they brought their water wings, lol.
 
Well I think the only way to see what's what will be when we get the game. But I'm optimistic that we're going to have a blast with this. Trades will actually make sense and matter now.
 
Surprised nobody has posted this yet. This explains GM Connected a little better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf52GpMVh5I

Wow, I advise everybody to watch the video and pause on the menu screens. It really gives you a good idea of what's going to be possible. It's interesting that you can have 25 human players on a club, but are still limited to 6 in a game. I guess they just can't pull off line changes and connecting that many people in one game. There's also a few screens of the team strategies menus, which show an addition of neutral zone setups and a slider for balancing neutral zone/forecheck play. Then there are the different line strategies, including sliders for carry/dump, cycle/shoot, efficiency/energy, and don't block/block for forwards. And sliders for hold line/pinch and cycle/shoot for defensemen. All of this is filed under the "Build Your Own AI" feature that I guess you can set up if you anticipate not being able to play all your games, where you can allow the CPU to play for you. Pretty interesting, and hopefully it will really change the way the AI plays, and we'll be able to fine tune them how we want them.
 
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That looks amazing. I'm confused as to why they would have an option to essentially play the games as an OTP format other than if somehow you could get a bunch of places like here to have their OTP team enter as one team in a league, but this should be really fun and great. Also being able to sim the games for people who aren't as active is also great. Deadlines are good. Really looking forward to this.
 
[quote name='DestroVega']That looks amazing. I'm confused as to why they would have an option to essentially play the games as an OTP format other than if somehow you could get a bunch of places like here to have their OTP team enter as one team in a league, but this should be really fun and great. Also being able to sim the games for people who aren't as active is also great. Deadlines are good. Really looking forward to this.[/QUOTE]

Well, because the ultimate dream would be to have a fully manned "Virtual NHL" with 30 teams, and at least 6 players per team. It would be one giant OTP league, and if there was ever a way it could logistically work, it would be amazing. I just think we'd have trouble organizing something like that.

I would like to see them maybe shift the EASHL in this direction though. Have people sign up for "dynasties", and then group those teams together for seasons. I guess the drawback would be that you'd only have one champion (per 30 team dynasty) per game life cycle though. And any cheating/glitching/general douchebaggery would ruin it for everybody. I'll just be happy we have more options and can have a legitimate franchise amongst ourselves. Honestly, this could be more enjoyable than EASHL even.
 
Oh yeah it totally would be if you could get it to work.

Essentially, if you had 150 friends who had NHL, you'd have one amazing league.
 
wow this sounds really interesting! Pumped for my TRU pre-order. Release day for $45? heck yeah!

If there are spots available for the online franchise, I'd be interested in joining as well. I'd like the Bruins if they're available but as a newbie I understand I have pretty much last pick in the pecking order.
 
[quote name='GamerDude316']If there are spots available for the online franchise, I'd be interested in joining as well. I'd like the Bruins if they're available but as a newbie I understand I have pretty much last pick in the pecking order.[/QUOTE]

There will be plenty of spots available. Since this will really be the first year for this kind of thing, I really have no idea how much interest it will generate. I don't think NHL is anywhere near the level of Madden in terms of sales, and even the people who do play it on CAG, I don't know how many have the time/desire to play in a franchise setting. And as far as I know, there are no Bruins fans, so you should be good. We'll be glad to have you. Just keep an eye out for a league thread to be created soon.

[quote name='DarkTower80']Any thoughts on times for the playoff run?[/QUOTE]

I should be good for tomorrow night as well...hopefully with no interruptions this time, lol.
 
Tomorrow should work for me too. May end up going to see the watch tomorrow after work but should still be home in time to get some games in.
 
[quote name='n8rockerasu']There will be plenty of spots available. Since this will really be the first year for this kind of thing, I really have no idea how much interest it will generate. I don't think NHL is anywhere near the level of Madden in terms of sales, and even the people who do play it on CAG, I don't know how many have the time/desire to play in a franchise setting. And as far as I know, there are no Bruins fans, so you should be good. We'll be glad to have you. Just keep an eye out for a league thread to be created soon.



I should be good for tomorrow night as well...hopefully with no interruptions this time, lol.[/QUOTE]


awesome thanks! I thought about trying to join up with this last year but I didnt even know about till December and my school schedule/shitty Live connection made availability really limited. Now I graduated though with a much better Live connection so would be great to get more involved. Pumped for this year's NHL installment!
 
EASHL Improvements listed: http://www.easports.com/nhl/news/article/be-a-pro-hockey-league-improvements

Club Captains:

In NHL 13, you will be able to assign captains and alternate captains to players in your club. Club GMs will have the ability to assign one captain and up to two alternates, or no captain and up to three alternates from the Club Roster screen. Captains and alternates will display C’s and A’s respectively in gameplay, however goalies will not have a C or A on their jerseys.
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We feel that with the matchmaking improvements we have done, there should be no reason to back-out on your opponents in NHL 13. The back-out penalty is intended to punish the quitting team whether they quit from the Side Select or prior to the one minute mark in game. Anything after the one minute mark of game is tracked as a Did Not Finish (DNF) Loss so there is no need for additional punishment.

Consecutive back-outs are able to stack, and the punishment results in a deduction of rank points upon the next completed regular season game if it results in a win. DNF losses post 1 min mark, and Playoff games will carry any back-out penalties to the next game. Side Select and Pre-Game back-outs can be weighted differently and we can choose to implement a grace number of back-outs before the penalty would apply. Penalty amounts per back-out, Max penalty amount, and free back-out amounts can all be adjusted server side per back-out type.
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Not sure how I feel about that.
 
[quote name='jza1218']Not sure how I feel about that.[/QUOTE]

Wait...so there's going to be a "back out penalty" that is separate from DNF%? lol...that seems thorough. Unless EA's matchmaking is now advanced enough to match up douchebags with douchebags, the matchmaking isn't going to matter (though really...they SHOULD just do it based on GFA, since we always have the most competitive games playing a team with a similar GFA). I'd love to not have to look teams up before playing them or even for our stats/record to be hidden...but that only works if all the cheats and glitches have been removed. If EA is seriously going to penalize us for refusing to play a team that's going to glitch the entire game, then they've reached a new low.

EDIT - Added my two cents to their blog about it as well. Maybe they'll see it, but probably not. I really think matching teams up based on GFA and having a back out penalty would work. That way, the douchebag teams would be forced to play each other. Their idea for region based matching just seems like it will go horribly wrong. So, regions where hockey isn't as popular are going to have a harder time finding a matchup? Everybody is just going to say they're from Canada, lol.
 
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We did a few small tweaks to the EASHL Pro regarding player types and how you can spend your XP. NHL is always tuned using NHL players and teams and we do not have separate gameplay for EASHL specifically. This year we have decided that you can no longer be better than an NHL player in any stats for EASHL, that way we don’t see 99 wrist shot accuracy and power being able to blow shots past goalies as easily. You will no longer be able to have 99 of any stat. We tuned the values based on real life NHL players within their respective player types. For example, for snipers, we have a hard cap at 95 for wrist shot accuracy. The cap depends on the player type and what they “Should” be good and bad at. A Playmaker for example, would be able to get up to a 95 passing, but not up to a 90 rating shooting. We feel that by adding a cap for each stat based on player type does remove some of the freedoms you once had, but also forces people to choose a player type that more or less suites their style of play. We want NHL 13 to feel different with the new skating system, and we do not want people to have unbalanced players by being able to have 99 speed and agility for example.

You will also notice the player overall ratings will be much lower. This is somewhat of an unwanted result of the offline player rating separation that happened, but really the EASHL Pro’s overall rating doesn’t mean anything. The individual stats are the most important.

Also note that these caps were set while using the Boost Slots applied so we ensured that even while using boosts you could not go over an unwanted level. This will result in some people thinking some of the caps are set too low, but you must factor in the +8 boost you would apply to your pro.

...this also applies to goalies. We looked at Miller and Lundqvist's stats to see what their rates were and determined that we won't allow goalies to go above a 92 in any given category.

...There is a cap on faceoffs, and I think the best player build for faceoffs is Grinder. We made their cap a little higher than other player types because the best faceoff players in the NHL are normally grinders. Plus it ads a little perk to be a player type that may not get used as often.
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Glory fucking day! lol. This may have just saved EASHL. I never would have imagined they'd do something as drastic as a stat cap, but this is fantastic news. Just the thought of not running into juiced up players has me encouraged. No more 99 deking, 99 balance, even 99 faceoffs. Granted, the scale will still be the same (ie. 92 is the new 99), but this should at least prevent people from being able to do things that the game never intended for them to do. The fact that the cap is AFTER a +8 boost is applied is amazing too. I have to give them credit for at least taking steps to try to combat all the cheating. I'm sure something will pop up for people to exploit, but this is a step in the right direction.

I also agree that it SHOULD make the player types matter more. It's funny that they talk about the appeal of Grinder now for faceoffs (if I remember correctly, it was one of the more balanced builds too...which is the same reason I've been using 2 way forward for the past couple years). I'll mark out incredibly hard if this actually causes players who only focus on one thing (hello, speedy little danglers with 99 wristshots) to be at a big disadvantage in other areas. I'm almost afraid to say it, but yet again...it APPEARS as though EA has changed something in our favor. Now, lets see how long it takes them to undo it, lol.
 
Looks good so far but I have become increasingly skeptical over the years at what they say. Seems like each year they make it sound like they are fixing a lot only to have it break something else or undo it because of whining.

But it does sound good if they don't mess it up.
 
Haha...damn, you guys might be worse than me. It's at least a good idea, and it says something that they can at least recognize that no EASHL player should have better stats than an NHL player in the game. Why EA is all of a sudden able to figure these things out, I have no idea. But if it works the way they're saying it works, it would be a huge improvement.

Also, I don't know who will be around tonight, but I should be able to play for a while if anyone is interested...I'll probably get on around 9:30 PM EST.
 
Can we get some games going Thursday? BAP has taken a toll on me. I miss you guys!

Hopefully us D will get some good stuff this year and not feel left out. Now, as grinder can you park in front of the net and try to pick up garbage? Cause that's how I play IRL. My job is to park in front and pick up garbage goals and screen goalies. I think as EASHL as our beer league so no 99 is great.
 
I can probably play this Thursday for a little and the one after that, assuming something doesn't change, a lot. After that though my work schedule changes so that I'm off Saturday and Sunday instead of Thursday and Sunday.
 
[quote name='Vulcan2422']Looks like Alan and I are going to dominate! I like how the hits look now as well.[/QUOTE]

I really hope so. I'm honestly bored with the high scoring in all of EA's sports games. It's the same shit in Madden and NCAA (can't speak for FIFA...as the few times I've played it, scoring was not something I knew how to do, lol). They're afraid of defense because it would force people to actually learn to play the game and come up with a strategy. It's much easier to just "Whoa! 70 yard touchdown, bro!!!" It'll be interesting to see how much things change...and how long it takes for people to flip their shit about it, lol.
 
So true Nate. Alan and I have been playing D for so many years that we know the in's and outs so well. Not a knock on anybody but I'm strictly a D player as we can all tell. Now if screening and garbage goals are more prominent, I might play winger more often!
 
I'm liking the changes to defense.

I really wish they would've put line changes in though.

I just looked at the op rosters, have I really not played with you guys since 08-09? Damn. :whistle2:#
 
[quote name='Vulcan2422']So true Nate. Alan and I have been playing D for so many years that we know the in's and outs so well. Not a knock on anybody but I'm strictly a D player as we can all tell. Now if screening and garbage goals are more prominent, I might play winger more often![/QUOTE]

We got 99 problems but D ain't one.
 
Stealing this from the Official Madden League thread, but I guess EA released some new info on Season Ticket

Looking to renew your EA Sports Season Ticket? Check out the new details on the program. (Not seeing NBA Live 13)

Play Early. Play More. Play Better.

The program that gives you early access to all of your favorite EA SPORTS titles is back, now with even more value for only $24.99 or 2000 Microsoft® Points for 12 months of benefits! With EA SPORTS Season Ticket, you’ll get ahead of the game in all participating titles with:
Access to over $100 of PDLC
3 days Early Access to the full game
20% discount on additional PDLC
Access to over $100 of PDLC Across all participating titles

Don’t wait to build your club in Ultimate Team, compete against your friends, or test your skills in weekly global tournaments. With EA SPORTS Season Ticket, get a leg-up on your opponents with access to the following PDLC across all five participating titles:
1 Legendary Pack and 24 Pro Madden Packs (over $30 in value)
24 NHL Premium Gold Packs (over $30 in value)
24 FIFA Premium Gold Packs (over $30 in value)
Tiger Woods 14 content to be announced
NCAA 14 content to be announced
3 days Early Access Across all participating titles

Download your favorite EA SPORTS titles 3 days early and get into the action while your friends are still dreaming of throwing 40-yard bombs or ripping the back of the net. Carry over your progress and achievements when you buy on launch day to stay ahead of the game.

20% off additional PDLC Across all participating titles

Want to save even more? With EA SPORTS Season Ticket you get 20% off all PDLC available in all participating titles. Get more Ultimate Team packs, more courses, more players and more boosts for your money. If it’s available for purchase, you get 20% off. It’s that easy.
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Ugh...I'm actually considering buying this. Basically just for the Madden and NHL Ultimate Team perks (since a few of us recognized last year that as we're buying boosts and card packs, we would have just been better off getting this). Not to mention, it'll keep that pesky Ltor from creating our team early and designing some fabulous uniforms! 2000 MSP...that's not THAT bad, right? Someone convince me that it's not the worst idea ever, or that I've completely lost my mind. I'm fine either way, lol.
 
No, that's actually a good deal really, especially if you buy multiple EA titles. I think
I might get it even though I only buy NHL and Tiger on occasion. It's still 24 card packs for $20.
 
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