Official NHL 17 Discussion/CAG Team Thread - Ausfahrt Banditos: The Res-Erection

I've only used him in a couple games so far, but he seems pretty monstrous. Just the fact of having 99s for everything...it feels like he can do things that are completely out of character for him. He absolutely wrecks people on hits, he beats out icing calls all the time, etc. There was one flip in particular that I thought for sure was going to be icing. Then, all of a sudden Datsyuk comes flying in, so I switch to him, a good 3-4 strides behind the defenseman going back. Datsyuk just flies around him, grabs the puck and I was able to pass it out in front for a one timer goal.

It's little things like that that just seem almost unfair and unrealistic...but whatever. This is what EA has turned the game into. Between him, Richards, the Halloween cards, those crazy high/low International POTG cards, there are so many players now that just have stupid attribute numbers. I've got Richards as my 2nd line C now and moved TOTW Getzlaf to 4th line LW (along with Malhotra and Bissonnette...freaking bruiser line that one is, haha).

I'm not even running team wheel right now...and my guys still feel very fast. Sometimes I wonder if having synergies active affects how the defensive AI reacts to them. I feel like I'm getting around guys easier now without it. Even somebody like Daniel Sedin has been in open ice on a few occasions without getting caught from behind.

My lineup still feels really unbalanced though. I'm using 86 ovr TOTW Gaborik as my top line RW (he's seriously one of my best goal scorers) and 86 ovr TOTW Grabner as my 2nd line RW...but I'm 7-1-0 with this lineup. So, why change it if it's working? I've been playing only competitive seasons...so I'm not sure how the matchmaking for that works. But I've played a couple teams loaded with legends and HUT Heros. I like the rewards for the competitive seasons though. So far, I've gotten two of the Gold Expansion Plus packs (the 20 card ones). I pulled an Evgeny Kuznetsov in one and sold him for 24K.

I finished off my sets for Datsyuk by doing Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and San Jose. I ended up keeping Doug Wilson on MVP's recommendation. He was the fastest of the 3 defensemen, has a pretty good shot, and hits like a truck. I also have 8 synergies active again. (3 team, 5 individual).
I can't wait to get Datsyuk. Right now I'm at 9 hero collectibles and just need the golds and carbons to finish off a few of them. I've mostly just been selling the cards as I have done them. I currently only have 4 Heroes that I use. I've held to Graves on my 1st LW since really early on since I just feel like he is so balanced all the way around. Then I use Bucyk as my 2nd RW, then Shanny and Wilson as my LD and RD on my first D pairing. Shanny as a D-man is insane. Him and Wilson get at least a goal a game or at least an assist on a deflection. They are both wrecking balls too.

I'm with you on the unbalanced part too. I use MOV Larkin (87) and Series 2 Evander Kane (87) on my 3rd line, Larkin for the synergies and Kane because if you look at his ratings he is a high-end 87 and with TW and T activated he is an absolute monster. I still use base Burns, Doughty, McDonagh, and Pavelski. I need to move Burns out since his synergy doesn't really do much for me since I easily have OJ activated, and I just can't part ways with McDonagh since he does so well for me at both ends.

I'm really enjoying the competitive seasons too. Unfortunately I haven't had to much time to play for Season 2. Season 1 I was able to play quite a bit and was able to finish in the top 250 for the season and I think 7th for round 4. I was able to jump up to 6 last night after having some pretty tough games against top 50 guys... But unfortunately I won't be able to play much more until Monday.

As for competitive matchmaking, supposedly if you are in the top 100 you are supposed to only play top 100 guys. The keys seems to be either get placed really early or really late. If you get placed early and go 5-0 you can easily get in the top 100 and should still be within the top 200 after 24 hours and in a sense you can make it easier to rank up from there with just one win. The other option is start late and you might get matched against higher teams that will butcher their score if you win and help your placement.

 
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Yeah, it was really, really weird. I think it might have actually been a MS person. He was Montreal...the game was laggy as shit...he scored some moronic goals that just hit off of 10 things and went in. I messaged him after the game saying "Wow...that was some crazy Frenchie bullshit"...and seriously 2 minutes later I had a "policy violation" message.

And I've hardly played NHL lately and haven't messaged anybody other than gg messages. So, it had to be that. Crazy how completely other end of the spectrum they've gotten. PC Principal must be in charge now. Anyway, main tag is out till 3/1...so, yeah...I sent a join request for Altern8.

 
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Anybody try the Wildlands beta yet? I played a little earlier today and I'm not sure if I enjoyed it, haha. The driving is pretty bad...like worse than The Crew. It felt weird in a Tom Clancy game...almost like I was playing GTA or Saints Row. The gunplay felt good...and the enemies aren't bullet spongey like in The Division. But the location seems more boring and I'm not sure how much I care about the story.

 
I love it. Still playing the beta. I am definitely pre ordering it tonight or tomorrow.
I've only been able to play a little bit, but I am enjoying it. I do wish the helicopter's were a little more useful. I've snagged choppers with guns on them a couple of times, but they really feel useless against ground troops.

 
Just saw this from Kotaku's review of the Switch.

Breath of the Wild looks and performs noticeably worse when plugged into the dock than it does in handheld mode, a potentially worrying indicator of how the Switch’s graphics processing hardware will hold up over time. When I play on the TV, I notice frequent dips below the game’s 30fps frame rate, sometimes to the point that it’s genuinely distracting and makes it harder to play. Any time I’m running in tree-shade on a sunny day in Hyrule, zooming in for a closer view, or moving quickly through the rain, it feels like things drop into at least the 20-25fps zone.


If I pop the console out of the dock and start playing in tablet mode, everything immediately runs more smoothly. The frame rate is solid in the same places (with a few exceptions), and the overall image is crisper. The disparity is likely because the Switch runs at 720p resolution in handheld mode and bumps up to a more demanding higher resolution (1080p in general, 900p in the case of Zelda) when plugged into the TV.

Breath of the Wild is a massive open-world adventure with numerous complicated simulations running on top of one another. It’s the most technically ambitious Nintendo game I’ve ever played. I understand why it would be a challenge to get it running smoothly, but it’s still a shame that it suffers when played on a TV. Furthermore, it’s worrisome that Nintendo’s own developers have been unable to get their top-billed game running equally well on TV and in handheld mode. Hopefully it’ll be less of an issue as the people making Switch games become more familiar with the hardware. It’s not a reassuring start.
Yech...that's rough. As many people as I've heard say that the Switch is "what the Wii U should have been". It seems more just like the opposite approach of the Wii U. The Wii U was basically a home system that could also kind of be a 3DS. The Switch seems like a 3DS that can also kind of be a home system. I mean, if it's struggling to do 900p at even 30fps...people are going to never want to plug it into their TV.

 
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That''s kinda crazy that it performs that much worse. When I heard that the dock was basically just that, I figured there'd some degradation in performance, but not to that extend. It'll be interesting to see if devs can better optimize for it in the future.

 
I might be able to play. Not sure yet. Bad storms here tonight. 75 degrees today...calling for possible snow this weekend. Seriously, fuck you, 2017 and your retarded throw shit at the wall weather.

 
Wow...Preds putting a beating on the Sharks tonight. Then San Jose starts getting pissy. Calle Jarnkrok takes a penalty, and piece of shit Micheal Haley chases him down and sucker punches him in the face. If you want to challenge him, challenge him. But I can't stand people who think they're badasses because they punch somebody when the guy isn't looking.

Fortunately, it drew a major and he got tossed. But still...what a bitch. Hope he gets suspended and fined too. Taking a cheap shot to try to injure a possible playoff opponent. Doesn't get much dirtier than that.

 
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