Official NHL Not 15 (14) Discussion/CAG Team Thread - Headsets On Pants Off! New Team!

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mvp828 said:
Are you proposing another lockout Nate Bettman?
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Depends on if I can find my keys, lol.

I just don't see any way an 82 game season (plus playoffs) and a multiple season franchise are supposed to work together. That would take such a psycho obsessive level of commitment...it would start to feel like a job (though the CAG EASHL team did run into a team that played 600 games in the month of July the other night...and remember, that's in NHL 12...). And honestly, I'd much rather get through four 20 game seasons than one 80 game season. It's just too bad EA doesn't see it that way.
 
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I still think simming certain months/blocks while playing others might be the way to go, and fastest way to get through a season.

 
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jza1218 said:
I still think simming certain months/blocks while playing others might be the way to go, and fastest way to get through a season.
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But how do you deal with the disparity in teams? Somebody's going to get in the playoffs because they had a good team and the CPU won the majority of their simmed games. That's the only reason I came up with the conference games idea. You'd still have the sim game issue...but at least you'd know you played the games against the teams you're vying for a spot against.

moojuice said:
I can't remember, was there not a mode like the league we did in '12, where each team plays each other twice?
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Nope. They took it out.

 
n8rockerasu said:
But how do you deal with the disparity in teams? Somebody's going to get in the playoffs because they had a good team and the CPU won the majority of their simmed games. That's the only reason I came up with the conference games idea. You'd still have the sim game issue...but at least you'd know you played the games against the teams you're vying for a spot against.

Nope. They took it out.
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I think that's just how it has to break. This would let us play roughly half our games, but moves us along at a brisk pace (well brisk for us. I assume simming a month would take away two hours of Nate's life.) But first, we should figure out exactly how many people would play in such a league. Then you can figure out the number of games that need to be simmed.

 
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n8rockerasu said:
But how do you deal with the disparity in teams? Somebody's going to get in the playoffs because they had a good team and the CPU won the majority of their simmed games. That's the only reason I came up with the conference games idea. You'd still have the sim game issue...but at least you'd know you played the games against the teams you're vying for a spot against.
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I really like the conference idea... Another thing to think about with the month or block simming is that chances are there are going to be some teams that have a lot of games during that time period and some that only have a few. I remember in the past there were times in the regular season when the Wings had played as many as 5 games more/less than the next highest in the West.

As long as the communication stays great between everyone involved, I think the conference idea could easily work out. I know in the 1st season of '13 I think I played everyone that I was supposed to except maybe 3 games when neither of us had enough time.

 
jza1218 said:
I think that's just how it has to break. This would let us play roughly half our games, but moves us along at a brisk pace (well brisk for us. I assume simming a month would take away two hours of Nate's life.) But first, we should figure out exactly how many people would play in such a league. Then you can figure out the number of games that need to be simmed.
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Haha, well, I'll just have to make sure I schedule advancing during "sandwich time"...or even during potty training time for my daughter because God knows that takes for freaking ever as well, lol.

mvp828 said:
I really like the conference idea... Another thing to think about with the month or block simming is that chances are there are going to be some teams that have a lot of games during that time period and some that only have a few. I remember in the past there were times in the regular season when the Wings had played as many as 5 games more/less than the next highest in the West.

As long as the communication stays great between everyone involved, I think the conference idea could easily work out. I know in the 1st season of '13 I think I played everyone that I was supposed to except maybe 3 games when neither of us had enough time.
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Well, yeah...it's just one of those things that's like "Oh, it sucks I won't get to play the other conference unless I make the Cup finals." But if it's the best we can do, it just becomes making the most of a shitty situation...which, let's face it, is what EA specializes in. I feel like we're mostly all on the same page though, where we at least all want to try, and that's saying something. Who knows. Maybe EA will shock the world and there will be an option for changing the season length...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lItS6RoJXLY[/youtube]

 
As much as I would hate to I could deal with the 82 games.  What I can't deal with is the lag.  Last year I was not able to do anything when playing.  I had to have the computer shut off so it wasn't trying to update something and the phone could not be used while playing unless it was an emergency.  Bad thing is I have the highest internet/phone package with Charter.  All other games can be played online and someone else be on the phone and on the computer, but NHL 13 if any bandwidth is used for anything but it online then good luck in playing.  If 14 is just as bad that would cause me to drop in the first month.

 
sendme said:
As much as I would hate to I could deal with the 82 games. What I can't deal with is the lag. Last year I was not able to do anything when playing. I had to have the computer shut off so it wasn't trying to update something and the phone could not be used while playing unless it was an emergency. Bad thing is I have the highest internet/phone package with Charter. All other games can be played online and someone else be on the phone and on the computer, but NHL 13 if any bandwidth is used for anything but it online then good luck in playing. If 14 is just as bad that would cause me to drop in the first month.
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That's weird. Did you try forwarding ports on your router? The 360 in general has some ports that can be opened to improve performance. And there might even be some for NHL, specifically. At the very least, I'd try giving your 360 a static IP and turning on the DMZ for that address.

 
Never thought of doing any of that because it was just NHL 13 that was the issue.  I think I have done that in the past when Halo 3 came out.  I was having NAT issues and I remember I had to do something with the ports.

 
With all the built in wireless modems that a company gives out, it's hard to even open up any ports. I know my modem, as soon as I go into the UI, kicks me out and resets the whole entire modem.

So, I went ahead and canceled my GameStop pre order. After playing the demo so much, I'm sick of it. Pivtos are horrible still and the goalie still has the weak side upper shelf spot. The same spot on the net is there where it's a goal but it isn't. fuck you EA, so tired of your bullshit series. Just go burn a fiery death.
 
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Ah, that sucks. Guess we have a spot on the team open then. To me, the demo still feels a million times better than the last I played of 13. I'm thankful for the goalie "weak spots" because it puts the emphasis back on good defense. If you let somebody just walk through the slot and line up a perfect slapshot with no pressure, they SHOULD have a reasonable chance of beating the goalie.

It definitely feels like those "sometimes the goalie just misses" goals are back in the game. And while that can be frustrating...I still think it's better than the goalie saving everything and people just going for rebounds the entire game. At the end of the day, goals have to be scored somehow, and the team that plays a more complete game (ie. time on attack, shots, defense, powerplays, etc) should be winning. And with 13, I feel like that didn't happen 9 times out of 10.

Passing also feels crisper. I'm not missing passes as much. That combined with the better skating makes it feel easier to navigate the zone and cycle the puck. I actually feel like I'm creating good shots because I'm moving the puck around, and eventually the defense will rotate to apply pressure and double team. I've had several goals come off of finding the open man in these situations and getting him into the right position for a high percentage shot. Stuff like that just feels right to me. It's not really a weak goalie. It's a mistake/gamble by the defense for abandoning the point, trying to force the turnover...and me making "the right read" and capitalizing on it.

As always, who knows if the full version of the game will play anything like this...or how long it'll play like this. But at least the demo gives the impression that EA took some good steps with the game. They just have to resist the ever-present urge to undo them.

 
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sadpanda.jpg


 
I'm just wondering how HUT is going to play.  Have they said anything about legends that will be in it, or hell anything about HUT?

 
I might actually use that cover.  I meant to post that on here when I saw it posted on Facebook by Dave's Geeky Hockey.

EDIT:  Great so they made it now to where you have to spend even more money on packs with the bronze, silver and gold levels.  

 
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mvp828 said:
How do you figure?
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Based on this:

Regular Player item types will now have three different tiers, in addition to being denoted as rare or common. Bronze Player items are made up of CHL players. Silver Player items are AHL, European and backup NHL players. Gold Player items contain superstar and proven NHL players. All other HUT items are now categorized by these three levels.

Unless the "backup" NHL players are decent players, someone not spending money on packs with higher chances of gold are stuck with CHL, AHL, European and "backup" NHL players unless they get lucky to get a superstar or a player that has "proven" himself in the NHL. The video also made it seem like you have to buy a lot of packs in order to get some of the higher end players or else you are going to suck at HUT.

 
sendme said:
Based on this:

Regular Player item types will now have three different tiers, in addition to being denoted as rare or common. Bronze Player items are made up of CHL players. Silver Player items are AHL, European and backup NHL players. Gold Player items contain superstar and proven NHL players. All other HUT items are now categorized by these three levels.

Unless the "backup" NHL players are decent players, someone not spending money on packs with higher chances of gold are stuck with CHL, AHL, European and "backup" NHL players unless they get lucky to get a superstar or a player that has "proven" himself in the NHL. The video also made it seem like you have to buy a lot of packs in order to get some of the higher end players or else you are going to suck at HUT.
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I guess we interpreted that differently... I guess seeing that, I don't see anything different than how it has been. The only difference would be top players are Gold, backups Silver, and everyone else Bronze. I don't really think that is going to change what is in the packs so to speak. I think you are still going to get the "1-3 players rated 80+" in whatever pack it was in before. I'm sure now it will just be reworded as "2 (or 3) silvers and a chance at a gold".

As for the having to spend money... I think you are taking the advertisement to literally (no offense intended). You have to remember it is just an advertisement to help build excitement for the game and more directly towards HUT. I mean hell, look at games like Call of Duty and Battlefield. They advertise their DLCs. Make it seem like you have to have them in order to get the full enjoyment out of the game or to be able to have fun at all.

Again, not trying to come at you or anything. It just seems like you are reading too far into it. That being said, it is EA, and they are jackasses, so I can kind of understand where that mindset might come from. :)

 
Damn it, I need to be better with my conditions. Looks like I'm going to gamestop and putting my pre order back down. Hope it's not the same employee lol.

 
mvp828 said:
I guess we interpreted that differently... I guess seeing that, I don't see anything different than how it has been. The only difference would be top players are Gold, backups Silver, and everyone else Bronze. I don't really think that is going to change what is in the packs so to speak. I think you are still going to get the "1-3 players rated 80+" in whatever pack it was in before. I'm sure now it will just be reworded as "2 (or 3) silvers and a chance at a gold".

As for the having to spend money... I think you are taking the advertisement to literally (no offense intended). You have to remember it is just an advertisement to help build excitement for the game and more directly towards HUT. I mean hell, look at games like Call of Duty and Battlefield. They advertise their DLCs. Make it seem like you have to have them in order to get the full enjoyment out of the game or to be able to have fun at all.

Again, not trying to come at you or anything. It just seems like you are reading too far into it. That being said, it is EA, and they are jackasses, so I can kind of understand where that mindset might come from. :)
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If it was anyone other than EA or Capcom I wouldn't be thinking like this, but it is EA. I guess it will also come down to the price of the packs and how easy it is to earn pucks. I thought I read that you can earn them in the Play Now feature, so maybe it wont be so bad.

 
After reading these, and factoring in I'll be getting FIFA and then upgrading it for $10 to the Xbox One version, and also the fact I wanna finish all my Batman games before the new system hits, I might actually just pass on NHL this year. Can't believe I'm saying that.

It just seems to be a half-hearted effort this year aside from the gameplay, which I've never been one to complain about even though most people do.

The non-94 online mode is annoying, the be a pro seems broken when you're being sent down when you are the team's scoring leader, and I honestly mostly play drop-in EASHL to just have fun, but I've got all this other stuff I wanna finish.
 
Meh, shame to read about the Live the Life. Playing the demo and hearing them say Stamko instead of Stamkos got so annoying. 

 
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Well, the IGN review sounds like "same old, same old" and the Joystiq review looks like it could have been written based on the demo. The AI comments are worrisome, but I think what's going to be make or break for the game is if humans can still boost their stats to become impervious to certain things. If somebody maxing out their balance, deking, agility, etc. breaks this awesome new "collision physics", then it'll truly be the same game it always is.

And as long as goal scoring doesn't come down to waiting for dumb bounces, I think we can still hold our own...even with less than great AI. The "three times as many shots" comment from the IGN review would worry me...but the guy also proclaims that he knows next to nothing about hockey and just loves the hitting. So, yeah...he's probably shooting the second he gets into the zone. Oh, if only I had paid EA that extra money, I could be playing NHL 14 tonight... /sarcasm :lol:

 
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jza1218 said:
He also said that the shot totals came on the easier difficulty levels so there's that.
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Yeah, I figured he meant that more in reference to the AI skill, but yeah..that would make sense too. I just figure someone who doesn't bother to learn the sport isn't going to know how to cycle the puck or even know what a "good shot" is, let alone how to set one up. I even looked up IGN's review of NHL 13 to see how things compared. NHL 13 got an 8.5 (compared to NHL 14's 8.3), but that was from a different reviewer. Basically, these reviews don't tell you shit, and are kind of a waste of everyone's time (including the writer's), lol.

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxYBMLRtvwA&feature=youtu.be

So, anybody up for some NHL 14 tonight?

 
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Haha, I was thinking of doing it too. I thought Season Ticket locked you out of online though, as servers weren't up yet?

 
The only reason I'm thinking about doing it is that I'm off tomorrow night instead of Sunday and my wife is going out for a bit, so after I get the kids to bed I'm in prime gaming position. Hmmmm.

 
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