NHL 15: Build of the Week -- Power Forward

Sorry, I have been out of the loop here for a while. My low level of enthusiasm for NHL 15 because of the lack of a next gen version has sapped my will to write about it. That is until now. So let's dive into the build.

Power Forward
Legend 2
6'2"
195 lbs
Regular flex
Second curve from the top
13" Skates

Deking: 88
Hand-Eye (+7): 90
Offensive Awareness (+7): 86
Passing: 70
Puck Control (+7): 89
Slap Shot Accuracy: 65
Slap Shot Power: 65
Wrist Shot Accuracy (+7): 88
Wrist Shot Power (+7): 80

Aggressiveness: 90
Body Checking: 68
Defensive Awareness: 86
Discipline: 85
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting Skill: 65
Shot Blocking: 65
Stick Checking (+7): 88

Acceleration (+12): 90
Agility (+7): 84
Balance: 67
Durability: 90
Endurance: 86
Speed (+12): 90
Strength (+7): 83

Built at http://pixelhockey.net/builder/p/jmpeLLFK

This type of build should be pretty familiar if you have seen my previous builds. Offensively it looks like accuracy over power is the way to go again for the shot. Passing gets fiddly if you put it up too high so minimal spending there. Max puck control, deking, and hand eye let you hang onto the puck. You can pick corners from the high slot with this build pretty easily.

Defensively the maxed stick check, defensive awareness, and aggression are highlights. To avoid unnecessary fights keep body checking low. If you play a more physical game you can feel free to increase that by taking away from say discipline or aggressiveness. The aggressiveness is to be able to corral loose pucks. It has a good stick check and isn't prone to tripping players like the playmaker.

In athletics it is all about the speed and acceleration and endurance. Agility is nearly max as well. Strength is solid. Balance is for left overs. Durability is maxed but injuries still happen with alarming frequency. It is an inexpensive stat so spending points there probably doesn't hurt the build. Injuries really need to go away (or be completely revamped) in EASHL. Getting hurt, especially if it is skating, ruins the rest of your game.

So why power forward? Playmaker trips everything in sight. Two way forward can't score well enough. Grinder ditto. Sniper is too squishy and doesn't shoot any better. Enforcer (pause while there is lots of laughter ... still pausing ... more laughing ... catches breath finally...) um ... no. Obviously you are not going to play this build at center. For center I would go two way forward. You won't score quite as much but max faceoffs and great defensive ability along with decent offense is a good balance. Maybe if I get ambitious I will put up my two way forward center build.

NHL 15 vs. NHL 14

After playing the pre-release version of NHL 15 we have decided we are going to play on the 360. Despite the exact same interface there have been some changes to gameplay which I will discuss below.

Here are differences I have noticed between NHL 15 vs. 14:

• No touch icing makes the game quicker and eliminates those times your CPU D decide to take a terrible line to the puck.
• Icing in general seems to be called more consistently. As opposed to last year where it was basically a coin flip as to when they were going to call it.
• Injuries seem to make much less of a difference. I don't know if this is a side effect of just not having many cards but I have barely noticed a difference when I get injured.
• The game misconduct is back in. This is really good because it should cut down on people running you from behind. The downside is I have seen a couple of five minute interference calls where they look no worse than incidental contact.
• The high flip dump super bounce is gone. So people can't cheese you with those.
• Off puck collisions between players on the same team could both help and hinder you depending on who it happens to.
• The physics just feel somewhat different overall. To this point I would call them improved.

There are other observations I think are too clouded by lack of attributes to be able to come to any solid conclusions. These include the poke check being poor and scoring being difficult. I suspect these are going to clear up over time just like in 14.

So there you have it. Are these changes enough to justify buying NHL 15 on last gen? That is a call you will have to make.

NHL 15: EASHL Fail

The game I was most looking forward to this year was NHL 15 on Xbox One. The though of a better engine and crisper graphics combined with the ability to stream to Twitch or just grab highlights on the go seemed like the breath of fresh air the series needed. As it turns out this was not to be. EA decided to leave EASHL (and other modes) out of next gen in favor of overhauling the presentation, crowds, and arenas.

In my professional life I do custom application development. This decision from EA is like getting a complaint from a client that their application is running slowly and responding by prettying up the UI. If we did something like that we would be fired. It is difficult to fire EA because there are zero alternatives for NHL games. What I did though was I got EA Access refunded and am not buying NHL 15 on next gen. I would encourage you to do the same.

However, the story doesn't end there. EA happily informed us we could still play EASHL on last gen. Reluctantly, my teammates and I resolved ourselves to the disappointment and decided to suffer another year in the 360 ghetto to play the only must have feature of the NHL series. At this point I think things are about as bad as they are going to get.

I was wrong. As you can see by watching that video they have basically taken NHL 14 and changed the logo to NHL 15 and forced you to look a Bergeron all the time in the menus. I am grabbing the pre-release as I write this to confirm myself but at this point I am not inclined to keep my NHL 15 pre-order for 360. If the gameplay is still exactly the same as 14 then why play it or more importantly *pay* for it.

I will be commenting on Twitter as I try out 15 on the 360 this weekend. I may follow up a with a blog post but it is looking like this may be a lost year for the NHL series. I can see my team just staying with 14 and then maybe upgrading to next gen if they follow through with their promise of implementing OTP in a future patch. But I could just see waiting for NHL 16 as well.

NHL 14: Build of the Week -- Sniper Winger

This week (month/year) I am featuring a build I just started playing recently. The sniper.

Sniper
Legend 3
6'2"
195lb
Regular flex
Second curve from the bottom
13" Skates

Deking: 80
Hand-Eye: 85
Offensive Awareness: 80
Passing: 77
Puck Control (+12): 90
Slap Shot Accuracy: 66
Slap Shot Power: 65
Wrist Shot Accuracy (+7): 90
Wrist Shot Power (+7): 84

Aggressiveness: 84
Body Checking: 66
Defensive Awareness: 86
Discipline: 75
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting Skill: 65
Shot Blocking: 65
Stick Checking (+7): 86

Acceleration (+7): 90
Agility (+12): 88
Balance (+7): 75
Durability: 75
Endurance: 87
Speed (+12): 90
Strength (+7): 83

The offense is going to look somewhat weak compared with a playmaker outside of the shot and puck control. You aren't going to feather great passes across the ice to people for one timers unless they are completely open. What you will do though is score goals in bunches. This build puts pucks in the net like no other. The shot is nicely balanced and will pick corners with ease. The puck control lets you hang onto pucks in high traffic areas so you can get your shot away.

Defensively it looks somewhat weaker than a playmaker as well but it has a surprisingly good pokecheck given the rating. The solid aggression and defensive awareness make this build respectable at picking up loose pucks as well. While the body checking is low it is notable how often this build knocks people down. That may have something to do with the athletics.

One of the things I never liked about sniper before was how it felt skating. It was awkward and didn't turn well and seemed like it was a step down from most other choices. This setup though feels very quick and responsive with the maxed acceleration, agility, and speed along with the 13" skates. Balance and durability are just enough to get by. Strength is maxed here as well and while it is not a very high rating it seems to factor in to how well the build hits.

How to play this build?  Pretty much get open in good scoring position and fire away when your teammates set you up. Or pick up the puck with speed in the neutral zone and beat the goalie off the rush. You are the trigger man with this build. This is not a support build. If you aren't going to shoot a lot then I suggest picking another build.

NHL 14: Build of the Week -- Two Way Forward Center

This week features a two way forward that will help you take over the center of the ice.

Two-Way Forward
Legend 1
6'2"
195lb
Regular flex
Second curve from the bottom
11" Skates

Deking: 75
Hand-Eye: 85
Offensive Awareness: 75
Passing (+7): 87
Puck Control (+7): 87
Slap Shot Accuracy: 66
Slap Shot Power: 65
Wrist Shot Accuracy (+7): 85
Wrist Shot Power: 75

Aggressiveness: 81
Body Checking: 70
Defensive Awareness: 89
Discipline: 79
Faceoffs (+7): 95
Fighting Skill: 65
Shot Blocking: 68
Stick Checking (+7): 90

Acceleration (+12): 90
Agility (+7): 81
Balance (+7): 80
Durability: 77
Endurance: 90
Speed (+12): 90
Strength (+7): 80

Props go out to http://pixelhockey.net/builder/ for their awesome NHL 14 player creator.

Offense is not bad on this build. The wrist shot is just about perfect for scoring in a variety of ways including screened wristers against both CPU and human goalies. Puck control and passing are solid. Hand eye is solid. Deking and offensive awareness are low so it is not the greatest on breakaways and don't try a lot of no-look passes with this setup.

Defensively this is a very strong build. Poke check is great, defensive awareness is great, faceoffs are maxed, and despite the seemingly low body checking this build will lay a lot of people out. The aggression is nice for picking up loose pucks and also intimidating people you hit. There is a smattering of discipline but this build shouldn't take a lot of penalties if you are smart with it.

Athletics are pretty strong top to bottom. Acceleration and speed are what stir the drink. The agility is reasonable and with the 11" skates it allows for pretty good turning.  Strength and balance are good so this build can take and give a hit pretty well. Endurance is high also so that you can keep skating fast all game.

This build can play it anyway you want. It is good on the rush, cycle, or in front of the net. It can also shut down teams by cutting off passing lanes, dealing out big hits, or taking away the puck with a well timed poke check.

NHL 14: Build of the Week -- Playmaker Winger

And we are back! First up is a playmaker winger. Let's get right to it:

Playmaker
Legend 1
5'10"
180lb
Regular flex
Second curve from the bottom
13" Skates

Deking: 78
Hand-Eye: 85
Offensive Awareness: 80
Passing (+7): 90
Puck Control (+7): 90
Slap Shot Accuracy: 67
Slap Shot Power: 65
Wrist Shot Accuracy (+7): 85
Wrist Shot Power (+7): 79

Aggressiveness: 84
Body Checking: 72
Defensive Awareness: 85
Discipline: 65
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting Skill: 65
Shot Blocking: 66
Stick Checking (+7): 85

Acceleration (+12): 90
Agility (+7): 81
Balance (+7): 80
Durability: 75
Endurance: 86
Speed (+12): 90
Strength (+7): 80

This build will look pretty familiar to anyone who has seen my builds before. This has pretty good first five stats with an emphasis on puck control, passing, and hand eye. Then you have a beefy wrist shot good for beating both human and CPU goalies. I don't use one touch dekes much instead using the side to side dekes to slow down and create separation between defenders and I. It is enough to score somewhat on breakaways but will probably get increased along with offensive awareness once legend two and three roll around.

Defensively this is pretty good all around. Good stick check as long as you don't poke directly from behind (that probably goes for all builds but this one seems to trip easier than others). Good defensive awareness to cut off pucks in passing lanes and a high aggression to help scooping up pucks. This build does not hit well at all. This is however a bonus in that you can run into people almost at will and never pick up a penalty over it. You won't flatten them but you will jar the puck loose frequently.

Athletics are good from top to bottom. Agility is a bit low especially with the 13" skates but the straight line speed helps make up for that and it turns far better than you would think. Endurance is key for the ability to skate fast all day. Strength and balance are also bolstered to help with being jostled along the boards and to help maintain puck control. Almost no amount of this will help you from getting leveled this year but some is definitely worthwhile. The new thing you might notice is added points to durability. With the crazy amount of hitting and injuries I really think that adding some points here is worthwhile. Being injured, especially a skating injury, will keep you from being effective. The spare points there let you take some hits to make plays without getting hurt as often.

This build is good at both passing and scoring and solid enough defensively to get the job done there as well. I am not sure there is a better offensive class available in the game.

NHL 14: Demo Impressions

I have spent a decent amount of time kicking the tires on the NHL 14 Demo and I figured I would give my impressions.

The Pros

• Passing seems less random and more reliable.
• There are some shots now that have a decent chance to beat the CPU goalies (toe drag through a screen seems to work a lot).
• CPUs don't automatically take the puck away on cross ice passes.
• Hits from behind are penalized more frequently now.
• Can't hit people skating away from you unless they slow down quite a bit.
• Poke check doesn't work from forever away anymore and is generally just less powerful overall.
• Skating feels better. Fewer big turns and just overall smoother.
• Backskating and transitions from forward to backskating feel much much better.
• You can hang onto the puck easier while being jostled and even get a weak pass away while being bumped.
• I have seen cross crease goals actually work at a reasonable rate.
• Overall offense feels better.

The Cons

• Forced fighting after big hits. It is dumb in the NHL it is dumb in NHL 14. This better not make it into the EASHL or even HUT.
• No turtle option for those of us who don't care about fighting.
• Still no easy way to pick which of two players who are skating near one another that you want to pass to. I don't get why they haven't at least attempted to fix this after years.
• Those shots that work all the time can be a bad thing.
• Still can't pick up a puck right near you at times because you can't turn in a circle quickly even going at the slowest speed.
• Hitting window still seems a second too long. Need to call interference more often on later hits.
• Overall defense feels more difficult.

Too Early to Call

• Extended board play range lets you actually board play people. Not sure if this is going to cause problems or not.
• Hitting is easier. There were already enough teams that ran around hitting like crazy not sure making hitting easier is going to be a positive.
• Poke check doesn't block shots reliably anymore. This is part of the poke check not being godly but I liked being able to block shots standing up rather than having to crouch. You can still just get in the way of shots.
• Screens work better. This is great from a scoring perspective but it is going to require some adjustments on defense to not screen your goalie.

Given how bad NHL 13 was (the worst of the EASHL versions by far) this is clearly a step up. The game just feels better overall. The offense feels more varied and CPU goalies can be beaten. Defense will be somewhat harder but that is fine if it means the offense will be more creative and fun. NHL 13 always felt like a slog even when you made good plays. This doesn't feel that way at least in the demo. The forced fighting is a concern but I am guessing they are just doing that in the demo so you have to see what the fight engine looks like. That is my most serious concern. Forced fighting in EASHL or even HUT could ruin the game. The other issues we will work around as we always have. 

I will be playing the prerelease and will try and post my impressions of how the EASHL works once I get some time with it.

NHL 13: Player of the Week -- Giant Playmaker

This week features a large sized playmaker that is surprisingly effective in all areas of the game.

Playmaker
Legend 3
6'4"
220 lbs
13" Skates
2nd Curve from the bottom

Deking: 87
Hand Eye: 85 (+5)
Off Awareness: 81
Passing: 87 (+5)
Puck Control: 87 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 75
SS Power: 70
WS Accuracy: 80 (+5)
WS Power: 70 (+5)

Aggression: 76
Body Check: 76
Def Awareness: 72
Discipline: 87
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 66
Stick Check: 80 (+5)

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 75
Balance: 71
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80 (+5)
Speed: 82 (+8)
Strength: 75 (+5)

When does a playmaker look like a power forward? When you make him 6'4" and 220 pounds. I kind of deemphasized the offensive and defensive awareness attributes on this guy to try and crank up other areas and to keep my overall low. We tend to play with fewer CPU players but it seems like having a lower overall tends to make them better and maybe even give you bounces. We played a team the other night of all 50ish rated players and they scored 4 goals on our excellent goalie by basically shooting the puck through him. This guy is 72 overall so not low but not the normal 79/80 you would get on a playmaker wing.

Anyway, on to the discussion. The offense here is strong. With a slightly lower offensive awareness you can have two reasonable shots and everything else loaded up. It passes well, shoots well, and generally can handle the puck well with high deking and puck control.

Defensively you are pretty much maxed out everywhere except defensive awareness. With the poke check block though you can knock down any pass that comes near you so you don't really need it. This build hits surprisingly well despite having what seem like low checking numbers. The poke check is decent but not amazing and as always with a playmaker you need to watch carefully or you trip people pretty easy. The +5 boost there seems to help but isn't a panacea.

Athletically you are looking for acceleration and speed in skating. Those two being maxed along with the 13" blades let you hunt people down. Max strength lets you hit them and take a hit as well. A minor bump in balance helps you keep the puck along the boards and maxed endurance allows you to skate all game long. As I am sure you notice the agility is seriously lacking. I have found with this build and in general you can change direction by just using the left trigger pivot and at the larger size you still move around pretty well.

This build scoops up pucks and can hold them near the wall while fending off hits. It can also go to the front of the net with gusto. It passes extremely well and has good shooting. As mentioned before you can also hit players well. After playing this build I am not sure I am changing it ever. About the only thing it really lacks is a really good poke check. 

As an aside, I tried a similarly specced grinder and it just didn't work as well aside from having a better poke check. I really do think this is one of the better builds you can play.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Two Way Forward Center

For this week I am going to share a build I have been playing when I play center. It is the versatile two way forward.

2 Way Forward
Legend 3

5'10"
180lbs
11" Skates
Regular Flex
Second Lowest Curve

Deking: 83
Hand Eye: 84 (+5)
Off Awareness: 82
Passing: 82 (+5)
Puck Control: 82 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 65
SS Power: 65
WS Accuracy: 76 (+5)
WS Power: 70

Aggression: 80
Body Check: 73
Def Awareness: 85
Discipline: 87
Faceoffs: 87 (+8)
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 73
Stick Check: 85

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 80 (+8)
Balance: 74
Durability: 65
Endurance: 85
Speed: 82 (+8)
Strength: 75

As you can see offensively it is not bad, lying somewhere between a grinder and a playmaker in that regard. It has mid level everything but a slightly higher hand eye (I like this for being able to grab passes and shoot one timers). The shot is lower end but not bad for going against human goalies and can even work in a pinch against cpu netminders if you are smart with your shot placement and timing. I will say for full disclosure we play 90% of our games 4v4 and up using a human goalie nearly all the time.

Defensively you can see the double boost in faceoffs which I think is pretty key for a center. The only other build that can get to 95 faceoffs is grinder and while my love for the grinder is well known I think this build offers more offensively. The two way forward, the way I play it, is more of a positional defender than a hitter. Body check costs a ton and I prefer to ramp up aggression instead to help pickup loose pucks. The stick check is strong even with no boosts and this build excels at intercepting passes due to the high defensive awareness.

Athletically you can see my typical max boost and max attribute setup for speed, acceleration, and agility. The higher than average endurance on this build is very useful. Even with no boosts you will rarely run out of energy even late in a period. 

NHL 13: Overall Player Grade Calculator

One of the most frustrating aspects of playing NHL 13 in drop in games or the EASHL is the grading system EA has implemented. To make matters worse EA started to average your grades across all three forward positions and defense. This means that you may have the grade you need at three of your four positions but those two sloppy games you played in OTP at center where you lost every faceoff are holding you back. To this end Phil Rindone has created a spreadsheet you can find here that has boxes for all of the positions and what level you have in each metric (positioning, team play, statistics). What this will do is let you plug in your levels for all of your positions and your games played at each and come up with your overall grade. Then what you can do is adjust the levels and games played to see how to get your grade where you want it to be.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Defensive Defenseman

Here is a quick Defensive Defenseman build I put together. I have not tried it yet but with the attribute caps there aren't a lot of choices about where to put points this year. I ran this last night for a few games and made a few changes.

Defensive Defenseman
Legend 3

6'0"
195lbs
9" Skates
Regular Flex
Lowest Curve

Deking: 70
Hand Eye: 78 (+5)
Off Awareness: 72 (+5)
Passing: 85 (+5)
Puck Control: 74 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 75 (+5)
SS Power: 87
WS Accuracy: 72
WS Power: 75

Aggression: 82
Body Check: 85
Def Awareness: 87 (+5)
Discipline: 82
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 65
Stick Check: 87 (+5)

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 80 (+5)
Balance: 73
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80
Speed: 80 (+8)
Strength: 80

Pretty much everything useful in every category is maxed on this build. The only real mystery is where to put your boosts so I will discuss my general strategy with boosts. Offensively I like to focus on hand eye, puck control, and one shot. In this case the slap shot. The power is already good so no need to burn more than a +5 on accuracy.

Defensively you can see that basically everything useful is maxed with spare boosts in defensive awareness and stick check. The defensive defensemen I have gone up against and played with all seem to be vacuums when the puck gets around them and you can see from the defensive stats why.

Athletically I always spend 3 +8s on acceleration, agility, and speed. This is a skating game and you need to have the ability to turn and keep up when needed. I do run 9" skates with my defensive builds because I think being able to pivot is one of the most important abilities for a defender. I run a at 5'10" 180lbs because the skating feels smooth but I don't feel tiny. I don't think this build is going to be crushing anyone but if you play positionally sound then you should be able to break up almost any play. I could definitely see going larger for a better poke check range, more reach, and better hitting but you have to be comfortable with the skating dynamics of a larger player. I ran at 6'0" 195lbs last night and it was still relatively maneuverable and could hit people when needed. Still not a giant crushing build but had serious shut down ability.

Edit: I went from just putting together a concept to actually playing the build and made a few changes in this entry. I really like this build and may stick with it on D for a while. We played 3 games 4v4 with human goalies and gave up 2 goals total. Passing felt good and it was great defensively.

NHL 13: Recruiting

Edit: this season is going rough due to recruiting. Don't let our record fool you. We have been top 100 at one point and are usually around 250 overall. Once we get a few more active players who fit our style we will be back towards the top of the league.

Despite all of my complaints about the game we are still playing. Our team the Hamilton Mustangs are now recruiting if you are interested in trying out. We are only playing 4v4 (with a human goalie) and up. Here is what we need in order of importance:

• Good defenders -- right now our two top forwards take turns playing D because our top two defensemen rarely play. You need to be able to stop scoring opportunities and make good outlet passes.
• Backup goalie -- we have a regular goalie who is very good but occasionally we could use someone else to fill in when he is not around. It would be nice if you play goalie if you could also skate as a defender or even forward if needed.
• Forwards -- who can control the puck, enter the zone under control, and make good decisions passing. Really we like to move the puck well and people who go 1 on 1 all game need not apply. This is the category we need least but if we were able to bring in a quality forward or two one of our other forwards might be persuaded to move to D. 

We do two tiered tryouts. First tryout will be either 5 games or a night of playing with us. The extended tryout is 20 games after which we figure out if you fit our team concept.

We don't play every night but we are shooting to play 3 to 4 times a week if we have the people to do it. We are by and large east coast timezone and play mostly from 7-11pm NHL schedules allowing. Feel free to message Xaroc on Xbox or drop your gamer tag in the comments along with what position(s) you play and we can try to work something out.

NHL 13: Things to Fix for NHL 14

NHL 13 is definitely a better game when you always use human goalies. This has the drawback of needing at least four people to play (in my mind 2v2 with human goalies is pretty terrible). There are, however, a number of things the NHL team really needs to clean up in the next version. Some of these I have mentioned but I figured pulling them together in one post would be useful.

Here is my list in no particular order:

• AI Goalies -- They are just too good. They stop chances that should be nearly sure goals 90+% of the time which is highly unrealistic. It turns the game into a low skill throw the puck at the net and hope kind of game play. 
• AI hitting -- The AI is far too good at hitting and can knock you down at the drop of a hat even if you are 6'3" 225lbs with 85 balance and 13" skates. They shouldn't be pushovers but they shouldn't be able to hit like they do.
• AI passing -- The AI is terrible at passing when you call for it and can't complete a 5 or 10 foot pass at times. Pee wees can complete these passes. Much like they need to tone down the hitting they need to up the competency of short passing for the AI.
• AI decision making -- please stop the AI defense from walking right in front of the goal on defensive zone draws. This has been happening for years and no defender in any league does this.
• Hitting from behind while skating away from someone full speed -- this needs to go away, if I am skating full speed away from someone and they are slightly faster than me they should not be able to knock me down from behind. There is no physics model that supports that. Mind you this has happened to me playing grinder at 6'195lbs and 80 balance and 70 strength.
• Hitting in general -- hitting in general is way too effective and there are far too many teams that just run around like idiots and hit all game and never get penalized enough for it. And god forbid you give them the first goal the (non-existent according to EA) momentum plus intimidation means suddenly your team can't hit an empty net now. It needs to be toned down and more calls need to be made for illegal hits.
• Incidental contact -- With the new skating model people can skate right into opponents and stop their momentum with no call. While I don't think it should be called 100% of the time I do think interference needs to be called enough to dissuade people from doing this all the time. I don't mind some body contact while skating the same direction but when people meet from opposite directions I think there needs to be calls at least some of the time.
• Amount of low skill random goals -- even with human goalies the percentage of low skill pinball goals is way too high. I really think the game needs to reward skill more rather than rewarding slop like it does now. Over half the goals scored against us are just terrible low skill goals.
• Changing face off handedness right before puck drop -- This is a problem that has been around since the series started. How this hasn't been fixed by now I don't know. If you change your faceoff grip less than a second before the puck drops you should lose every time yet they reward cheating.
• Passing -- the passing in this version is really all over the place, it is muddy and imprecise even with high end passing. I preferred the cleaner passing of NHL 12.

When you combine the muddy passing, improved ability to knock down passes on defense (I like this), and the crazy AI goalies you end up with a lot of low skill luck goals. This is a general problem I have with game companies that do balance changes from year to year or even patch to patch. Every single one of them instead of just toning something down a little they go overboard and make whatever they were trying to fix totally useless. The one timer is a great example. Before it was probably 80% effective which was too high. What they should have done was get it to around 30% effectiveness like in real hockey. Instead they have made it less than 10% effective which renders it no better than any other shot (a lot of times worse) and not worth trying against the AI.

Anyway, I am sure a lot of you have other things you want fixed in the next version. Throw them in the comments so we can discuss them.

NHL 13: The Return of the Dead Puck Era

Note: I meant to publish this back in November but I have had to deal with some family issues so it never happened. I am putting it out now because I still think it is worthwhile.

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Back in the early 1990s up until the 2004 lockout the NHL went through a period of decreased offensive output known as the dead puck era. This time was epitomized by the play of the New Jersey Devils trapping their way to three Stanley Cups. The Devils would choke teams into submission and win games 1-0 or 2-1. Not to take away anything from Devils fans but this was dull unwatchable hockey for everyone else.

This year EA has managed to bring back the slog of those years with NHL 13. I have given them time to make a patch and put in multiple tuner sets to adjust the goalies but this is clearly the game they want us to play. A game where in our October playoff run our last three games ended up 2-1 in 4 overtimes (OT), 1-0 (3OT), and 2-1 (2OT). We got the banner but honestly we were wrung out and it was absolutely zero fun. I would say nearly all of those goals scored in the last three games (by both teams) were cheap rebound goals off of weak wrist shots from bad angles. Real chances including cross creases, solo shots from inside the hash marks, and shots off of nice passing plays in general were shut down like pregame warm up shots.

It is to the point where we crack jokes when we score a goal that looks like an actual hockey goal every two or three games. It it always something along the lines of, "Someone call EA they need to patch that out because it looks like hockey". I get that they don't want automatic goals but the percentages of high quality scoring chances that get stopped are not even close to realistic. The fantastic site behindthenet.ca had a really great post on NHL shooting percentages from particular zones on the ice. As you can see from the plot  shots from below the hashmarks range from 15-35% effective. I haven't run the numbers but I would venture a guess that shots from those areas in NHL 13 are roughly 10% or less effective outside of breakaways. I would happily take good shots from that close in going in at 15-35%. Even worse in NHL 13 it seems to be random what goes in. Last night we had two shots from outside the hashmarks at 45 degree angles go in opposite side. Given that the goalie regularly stuffs 2-1s with perfect passes I have to call those both weak goals. This leads to the impression that scoring and winning is random.

So can teams be good at this game? Sure better teams find a way to win and we have been ranked as high as in the top 100 at times but our method is by playing crazy suffocating defense, letting super goalie clean up most of our mistakes, throwing tons of shots on goal hoping for rebound goals, and springing people for breakaways. I have heard it said the word fun doesn't mean anything and it is lazy to use it. However, in this case, what EA has given us is not fun.

What does this mean for me? I think I am close to being done with NHL 13. I am not sure if I am going back to 12 or just playing other games but as of right now the game feels more like work than entertainment at this point. The joy of setting up beautiful passing plays to score goals just doesn't exist anymore. We don't pass on a two on none anymore because the higher percentage play is shooting it yourself. That, in a nutshell, is an all encompassing  indictment of how NHL 13 has failed us.

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That was how I was feeling back in November. We are actually thinking about starting up again and our plan going forward is to never play with fewer than 4 players and always use a human goalie. That should fix most of the issues we have with the game.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Power Forward

Today I am featuring a Power Forward build.

Power Forward
Legend 3
5'10"
180lbs
11" Skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the bottom

Deking: 83
Hand Eye: 82 (+8)
Off Awareness: 81
Passing: 70
Puck Control: 81 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 77
SS Power: 70
WS Accuracy: 77 (+8)
WS Power: 80 (+5)

Aggression: 82
Body Check: 87
Def Awareness: 78
Discipline: 80
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 78
Stick Check: 80

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 78 (+8)
Balance: 75
Durability: 66
Endurance: 78
Speed: 82 (+8)
Strength: 74

First off, let's get this out of the way, I have not been a fan of the power forward since NHL 11 when speed/acceleration were essentially broken and it was the only build to run. I am going to be comparing this to my grinder build since that is my favorite build right now.

Offensively this build is fairly solid top to bottom, decent shots, decent hand eye, decent deking, and reasonable puck control. It is slightly better than the grinder in this category.

Defensively it seems to hit better than the grinder even with similar checking numbers but also has a worse stick check and defensive awareness. It does seem to scoop up pucks somewhat better than the grinder at similar aggression levels.

Athletically it can take a hit well, maybe somewhat better than the grinder. However, this is offset by significantly worse skating. Even dropping a couple of points in agility makes the build struggle to turn. Perhaps going to 9 inch skates would help but would also limit the speed and acceleration of the build which is already worse than the grinder. Playing this build I found myself a step behind the play a lot which hurt defensively and offensively.

So in summary I am not a huge fan again but I could see this working if you like to work the walls and camp in front of the net for garbage. Just don't expect to out run or out turn many people with this build.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Two Way Defenseman

This week we have a two way defender build that should allow you to keep the front of the net clear and yet also chip in a bit offensively.

2 Way Defender
Legend 2

6'0"
195lbs
11" skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the bottom


Deking: 77
Hand Eye: 79 (+8)
Off Awareness: 77 (+5)
Passing: 82
Puck Control: 78 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 77 (+5)
SS Power: 82
WS Accuracy: 69
WS Power: 65

Aggression: 79
Body Check: 82
Def Awareness: 85
Discipline: 82
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 79
Stick Check: 82 (+5)

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 81 (+8)
Balance: 75
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80
Speed: 81 (+8)
Strength: 75

I have noticed that once you get a decent number of points (say legend 1) you really start running out of places to spend them for a lot of these builds. It really comes down to how you configure your boosts. It makes +3s even more important than before because the cap is a hard limit whereas in NHL 12 you could look at the costs of something and see if that +3 bought you more than a +5 somewhere else.

So to that end the entire offensive category outside of the wrist shot attributes are maxed. I debated between  having higher deking vs. the higher hand eye and went with hand eye. I think 84 is just a bit too low to one time a shot. If you are a team that plays catch and then shoot then 84 is probably enough and you can spend that boost on deking or somewhere else. The slapshot is reasonable and there are spares for the wrister even.

Defensively everything is maxed that is important and the rest went into shot blocking.

Athletically this is a pretty strong build with good skating attributes, endurance, and even a moderate amount of balance and strength. The high level skating will allow you to stay with quick forwards and the balance and strength will help you against an aggressive forecheck.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Grinder

I teased this earlier on Twitter but I really do think this may be the One True Build™* for NHL 13. I will list the reasons in a minute but first here is the build:

Grinder, Legend 2
5'10"
180lbs
11" skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the top

Deking: 80
Hand Eye: 82 (+8)
Off Awareness: 75
Passing: 70
Puck Control: 78 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 70
SS Power: 65
WS Accuracy: 76 (+8)
WS Power: 78 (+5)

Aggression: 81
Body Check: 84
Def Awareness: 85
Discipline: 80
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 66
Stick Check: 85

Acceleration: 84 (+8)
Agility: 80 (+8)
Balance: 65
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80
Speed: 84 (+8)
Strength: 65

From memory those checking/aggression numbers seem a bit off compared to what I was getting in game but it is maybe a point or two so it doesn't really matter. Everything else seems in order.

So what makes this the One True Build™? Let's cut right to the chase and look at athletics. Even at Legend 2** you have skating attributes better than any other player type in the game. Specifically acceleration and speed are both two points beyond what you can get out of any other build. Even agility is within two points of every other build and better than some. But back to speed and acceleration. Speed and acceleration are basically everything in this game, they let you get in on the forecheck faster, get back on the backcheck faster, and give you more room and time on offense because you aren't as pressed by people pursuing you from behind. You can actually slow down after building up a gap and get away a decent shot or pass or pull up and set it up in the zone with less worries of being defended.

As you can see on defense it is super solid and you don't need a single boost there unless you play center. For playing center the changes I make are +8 on faceoffs on the stick with just a single +5 wrist shot accuracy. Max stick check, faceoffs, discipline, defensive awareness, and then dump the spares into aggression then checking. Offensively and athletically the build is the same (outside of the lost wrist shot power and accuracy). Notice, you can hit 95 in faceoffs as a center which you can only do as a grinder or a two way forward so it makes a good center build.

Now I am sure you are looking at this offensive setup and saying, "How can you do well with those attributes?" The answer lies in what works offensively for NHL 13. For all intents and purposes you can't score from outside the hashmarks since two tuners ago so you don't need an amazing shot. The passing attribute and passing in general is mostly broken in this version so you don't need great passing. The hand eye is competitive with all other player types. The puck control looks weak but if you can keep the puck away from people you don't really need much. Also, you won't lose the puck from small bumps with this setup even with the base balance and strength. The amount of deking is fine for almost anything. Breakaways are not really a problem for this build especially with the extra speed.

This build is very similar to the dangler in NHL 09. By that I mean the dangler had two extra points of speed that you couldn't get with any other build. Dangler was not the best offensive build but with the extra speed you almost felt like you couldn't play anything else. I think grinder is in the same boat based on the inherent speed and acceleration advantages it has.

* That isn't trademarked I am just having some fun.
** I have already looked at some numbers for Legend 3 and will do a separate post once I hit that level and do some testing but how does 94 speed sound?

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Tough Guy

Was going to do power forward or offensive defenseman next but played this last night and it is fresh in my mind so I am going with Tough Guy today.

A quick note the NHL 13 player creator here is wrong about the point values on offense for the Tough Guy so if you try to recreate this there you won't be able to.

Tough Guy, Legend 1

5'10"
180lbs
11" skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the bottom


Deking: 75
Hand Eye: 79 (+8)
Off Awareness: 69
Passing: 70
Puck Control: 73 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 73
SS Power: 70
WS Accuracy: 75 (+8)
WS Power: 73 (+5)

Aggression: 87
Body Check: 87
Def Awareness: 78
Discipline: 75
Faceoffs: 66
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 73
Stick Check: 80

Acceleration: 80 (+8)
Agility: 76 (+8)
Balance: 73
Durability: 67
Endurance: 78
Speed: 80 (+8)
Strength: 80

I know I set this build up somewhat small but I like to be quick. It is definitely more durable than a sniper but I still get destroyed at times despite the 80 strength and 73 balance. You do notice the lower skating attributes to some extent but it isn't as bad as I would have thought.

Defensively you basically have everything maxed even at Legend 1. It does fine getting in lanes and knocking down passes and the pokecheck works well. At this point I see little reason to use any defensive boosts other than for faceoffs as a center.

Offensively this build is amazing at picking up loose pucks. This is probably due to the aggression rating. It has pretty terrible puck control but frequently I would lose the puck then pick it right back up again so it wasn't much of an issue. The shot is okish and since it is hard to score from anywhere but under the hashmarks it mostly doesn't matter. Hand eye is just below where I like it (90) so receiving passes isn't as smooth as it should be but it works out most of the time since the build will just scoop up the bobbled puck and keep going.

For this year this build is pretty viable which is kind of a sad statement on NHL 13 more than anything but it is pretty fun for working the walls and crashing the net.

NHL 13: Open Letter to EA

Dear EA,

I like a lot of what you have done with NHL 13. The new skating is great and small guys can't run over guys twice their size now so those are both good. Despite the fact I really enjoy the cross crease I like the fact you have made it not automatic like every version before. I like the new matchmaking system and the penalty for backing out. I like that playing defense is easier overall and not just because of the crazy goalies (more on that in a bit).

There are some problems though. While making the cross crease less effective is something to strive for making it less effective than a wrist shot from the top of the circles is not. There is almost zero reason to pass the puck to set a guy up for a one timer anymore. There are basically three semi-reliable ways to score against cpu goalies now. Rebounds, cannon toe drags, and breakaways. Not saying other methods don't work ever but honestly those are the high percentage options and what everyone goes to. Make the cross crease 50% effective not 10% (I would even take 30%). It is already far harder to get passes through in the first place with the active sticks (something else I like) so at least reward people who manage to do it.

Another problem is passing. The passing stat seems to do basically nothing this year from what I can tell. I can make the same passes and have my passes screw up the same way with 70 passing as my center running 95. The fact the passing is so wonky combined with the lack of one timers working results in many fewer passes. This is especially true in the offensive zone where you are mostly better off trying to score solo or generate a rebound rather than setup another one timer that either gets picked off or magic goalie stops.

Then there is the fact that cpu goalies and even human goalies tend to let in the worst possible shots despite being in position. You setup five beautiful three player passing plays that should leave the goalie scrambling for cover but he calmly knocks the chance away. Next time down the ice you throw a weak wrister from the goal line and it is in the net. I don't mind some variability in scoring but this amount is unreasonable.

The new pokecheck is amazing but seriously overpowered. It needs to be toned down just a bit. I appreciate it a lot playing defense but it is annoying when trying to score. It also leads to less setup in the offensive zone because most players are worried about losing the puck constantly.

I would harp on penalties here but it seems like the latest tuner has made the officials actually call interference and boarding more often. I do think the incidental contact needs to generate penalties though. A lot of people are abusing it.

I think all of these changes have made the game an overall less skill based game. And if not less skill based definitely less team based. It has turned into who can cheese the most wristers or rebounds rather than skillful passing and setting up chances. It rewards 1 on 1 play rather than teamwork. In general people dislike guys going one on one and dancing and trying the toe drag or deke all the time (you guys have even said you don't like this) but this year that is all that happens because passing is a terrible option most of the time.

Thanks for reading and hope you take some of this into account when planning future tuners and patches.

Sincerely,

Xaroc

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Sniper ... Again

Updating this build now that I have hit Legend 1. Thanks to VexExil from the comments for linking me to the new NHL 13 player creator here. I will be posting all of my builds in that format now. Note that this shows attributes then you have to add in the boosts in parenthesis.

Sniper (LW) Legend 1
5'10"
170lbs
11" skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the top


Deking: 77
Hand Eye: 83 (+8)
Off Awareness: 70
Passing: 71
Puck Control: 80 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 65
SS Power: 65
WS Accuracy: 86 (+8)
WS Power: 86 (+8)

Aggression: 80
Body Check: 72
Def Awareness: 78
Discipline: 80
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 70
Stick Check: 78

Acceleration: 82 (+5)
Agility: 80 (+8)
Balance: 65
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80
Speed: 82 (+8)
Strength: 68

As you can see the biggest changes are even bigger shot, lowered the passing, and lowered the hand eye a touch. Defense still running no boosts and 4 of those categories are maxed. 78 stick check is still plenty. Athletically all of Acceleration/Agility/Speed/Endurance are maxed. With 90 speed you can make a lot happen offensively and still be able to get back to backcheck.

This could have been it's own post but I am going to throw it in here since it pertains to this build.

There was some spirited debate in the comments of the last post about balance and it's importance. I am of the opinion for small fast builds like my sniper balance is mostly worthless. This is mainly because you are going to get crushed no matter what your balance is and any points you put in balance are going to take away from your skating.  If you are building a forward who is going to go to the front of the net a lot or try to hold the puck in a lot of traffic then balance is probably pretty important (need to do more research) but with a sniper build (the way I play it) it is all about quickness, speed, and shot. I would also say that if you want more stability in addition to adding balance and strength make your player larger. It will make you slower but also make you more stable. Some common breakpoints are 6'0" 195 and 6'3" 205 in addition to the height and weight for my sniper build.

I will try to throw up a different build type next. Either Power Forward or Offensive Defenseman. I have both setup and have played them both a bit.