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: 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.