These things are details, since I don't play online they don't much matter to me one way or the other. Offline the gameplay was fine as it was. Until EA fixes the "Stuck in the AHL" and "Scout Call" glitches they're still selling a broken product and are not doing their jobs. For shame EA.

Since the patch i noticed the D is much tighter and thats a good thing. But pre patch I had 4 online loading screen freezes before a ranked VS match(out of over 200 games, please dont say its my system its the only game to ever freeze on me...ever.), and give or take 3 freezes while waiting in the online teamplay community. Just decided to test it post patch and the online teamplay community still freezes when in the lobby. i wont judge too harsh it took EPIC 5 updates to get gears of war running good...so EA has 5 more chances

I played extensively last night (360) and I didn't notice any change in the gameplay whatsoever. The AI D still stood there and let easy cross creases by behind them, I didn't see one goalie poke check on a cross crease (and there were numerous chances for him to do so), the 5 hole exploit still worked, and the passing still felt the exact same to me.

Maybe I just didn't see it or the changes are very subtle but I am kind of hoping the update was just for the helmets and the gameplay changes are coming via another tuner update like last time.

I play offline and the AI defense is definitely a lot tighter. They play the man more and you can't really make those nice passes across the slot any more. I thought it was fine before really (for offline). The good goalies and good defensemen stopped it before. Now, a 70 rated defenseman can stop Crosby and Malkin on a 2 on 1. :S

hmmm.. I've noticed some of the updates... overall I would say the patch is good..

However I'm not sure if this has been brought up but in online versus

1. you cannot change your controller settings

2. you can no longer view the injury report screen... so how am I supposed to play a player that I have chose to sit on the bench due to injury??

Guess that seals it.

I held onto my copy with that sliver of hope that the patch would help. Looks like its time to trade it in.

Well look on the bright side... you won't see me on here whining anymore

Peace all!

I just don't see a lot of difference either. It really does suck that they were so close with NHL 09 and they have now taken 10 steps backwards with NHL 10. There are just too many fundamental game play issues to be addressed for us to expect we can still salvage this years game.

All the really good input (both positive and negative) many have given on this forum should be invaluable to EA and I really hope they appreciate what a huge group of passionate supporters they have (or had) and will somehow come to an understanding of what we all want to see in the NHL series. I will look to these forums next year before buying NHL 11 to get your opinions as to whether they have succeeded or failed.

My last suggestion to the EA team for next years game is too just focus on GAME PLAY! Almost all the issues that people have with 09 or 10 revolves around game play. Don't worry about the fighting, boost slots, or ugly gear.....just focus 100% of your time on the actual game play. You need to recapture the "fun" in playing the NHL series. If you get that right you will see these boards light up with praise and people will give you more of a pass on any graphical shortcomings if the game play is spot on.

As much as I want to play hockey, this game is just too frustrating and I am moving on to other games....as I am sure many of you are as well. I have been playing FIFA (offline) and the NHL team should definitely take some notes from them on game play...it is really fun to play. There are plenty of great games like COD, Assassins Creed 2, Left 4 Dead 2, etc. all coming out shortly, so finding other games to replace NHL 10 slot will not be difficult. If many of us do reject NHL 10 and they see the player base drastically decrease online, maybe that will get the point across that an automatic purchase from us each year is not guaranteed.

Have a great gaming Xmas everyone!

ps3.Filthy_Wilson wrote:I play offline and the AI defense is definitely a lot tighter. They play the man more and you can't really make those nice passes across the slot any more. I thought it was fine before really (for offline). The good goalies and good defensemen stopped it before. Now, a 70 rated defenseman can stop Crosby and Malkin on a 2 on 1. :S

For offline, this is definitely true ^^. The AI defense is crazy now - and it makes for a much tighter, lower scoring game and that's how I like it. Playing smarter offense is required now. However, I worry that - as you said - it may be too much, such as your example of a 70-rated d-man stopping Crosby too easily. I've only played two games with this patch so I still have yet to discover more of the patch I don't like, which will happen undoubtedly. But my first initial impression so far is good.

Keep in mind I don't play online and other areas of this patch that people are not liking doesn't apply to me. I've never had a freezing issue ever in any game on my 360, so I can't relate there, so for me and a few others that play offline, there is some good with this patch.

One thing though - it doesn't appear the issue of BAGM has been addressed - in the patch notes and with no talk about it in these 10 pages of replies.. good thing I play season I guess..

With the online issues and other areas of problems based on feedback in this thread, EA has more (a lot more) work to do with NHL 10, with future patches and overall more support.

Seeing as how I won't be able to get my hands on the game again for several weeks. I was wondering if someone could answer the following two questions regarding changes to the goalies.

1. Did they add the option to turn on the Blue directional arrow for online goalies?
2. Did they change the right stick functionality for goalies (i.e., when you pull down with the right stick will the goalie now stay in the butterfly rather than go down and then pop back up?).

Thanks!

Jtric

xbox.LargePayload wrote:I played extensively last night (360) and I didn't notice any change in the gameplay whatsoever. The AI D still stood there and let easy cross creases by behind them, I didn't see one goalie poke check on a cross crease (and there were numerous chances for him to do so), the 5 hole exploit still worked, and the passing still felt the exact same to me.

Maybe I just didn't see it or the changes are very subtle but I am kind of hoping the update was just for the helmets and the gameplay changes are coming via another tuner update like last time.

I have to ammend what I said earlier. I logged on this afternoon, downloaded the xbox live update and fired up NHL. I was prompted to download a roster update and did so. Then a few friends and I had some server issues (players not seeing teams in the matchup screen, dropping etc) which fixed itself. Then when we got a game going it felt like a different game. It was much faster, the passing was much faster and it felt a lot more like 09. I did notice the AI defense snagging some cross creases passes behind them, but overall not that many and still no goalie poke checks. The biggest change I saw was that the AI seemed to be MUCH dumber from a decision standpoint. They still were intercepting passes but the choices they were making were awful. A few times they passed it out of the zone to an offside player, and they just flat out played terrible. I have seen the AI play poorly before but this was every game.

It almost feels like the Live Update somehow activated the patch or a new tuner file was hidden in the roster update. It's unlikely I know but I would be interested to hear what people think afther they download the live update and the roster update and get some games in.

LOL EA if that was the update then someone there needs to actually play the FN game. I will say the D is tighter but only when your carrying the puck, but thats it. Cross crease is still there, goalies dont poke check or try to intercept the pass, and yes the Defense still stands there while your guy scores, they still dont respond to certain passes. The board play hasnt changed, I was getting pinned all night and each time i was go further away from the boards. This update was the last straw. Like someone else wrote..time to trade in. It wouldnt suprise me a bit if they gave no money for a trade in, and if that was the case..I couldnt blame the store...lol

Madden, Fifa and NBA live....I cant wait.

I can t believe I bought this piece of crap

My thoughts after about 15 or so EASHL games post-patch:

- AI defensemen play slightly better. They are a marginally more aggressive in the defensive zone, although I'd like to see them made even more aggressive and close the gap between puck carrier and themselves a bit more quickly to attempt a poke or hit. It would also be nice to see the AI more aggressively pinching a loose puck near the point to keep the puck from leaving the offensive zone in some situations. I've seen on several occasions an AI D-man just puss out and back up from a puck that a 2nd string peewee player could have contained.

- Players & CPU alike are better able to intercept or at least interfere with passes made into or through the slot area. The ease of scoring easy "pass to the slot, shoot, score!!" goals is greatly diminished. Great job here EA. I'm almost tempted to say you made it a little too difficult to score that way, but it's so close to being spot on that you should consider this area fixed and move on to more pressing gameplay matters.

-I like the new authentic boost slot helmet, it looks way better on everyone else than my stupid tattoo helmet does on me. Unfortunately, it isn't available to me for some reason. I've deleted and reinstalled the patch 4 times and can't seem to get it. I know I'm not the only one.

- I don't notice much difference in board play. I've not played with it much, but it seems like players are still being pinned from slightly unrealistic distances. Maybe I misunderstood what the change actually did. I was under the impression that one key difference would be the distance between opposing players necessary to initiate a pin would be reduced fairly drastically.

-Although I never use it, I haven't noticed anything different with the stick lift. It wasn't broken before IMO, and I didn't think it was even on the list of things being changed. I did see some posts with people crying about it. Did it get changed? I haven't had anyone using it against me anymore than normal, and when it is used against me it always seems to happen under legitimate circumstances (just picked up a loose puck in heavy traffic, stick is lifted and puck boosted away from me, which seems legit) I don't see anyone using the stick lift to rob me when they clearly should not have been able to. I haven't seen many high sticking calls however, which used to be fairly common on the 2nd or 3rd attempt. Is this why people think it's been made too strong?

-My one gripe is the wrist shot toe drag shot where you pull the puck behind and curl it out for a strong wrist shot. Goalies should not be thrown off by this move nearly as much as they are. While I can agree it should have some degree of better success than a normal wrist shot, it is much much too powerful in it's current state. I don't believe this tactic was addressed at all in this change, but it should have been, and should now be one of the first things looked at in the next update. Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzUiDqG_tdk

-Slap passes. Haven't seen any as of the patch. Although it's something that only a small minority of clubs were doing. Maybe I just haven't played against those clubs yet since the patch. Hope they're gone for good.

-After the whistle nonsense - Why do the refs let so much of this go? I rarely see any calls for roughing even when people are constantly checking 6, 7, and 8+ times well after the whistle has been blown. I know it's purely cosmetic, but this kind of stuff gets silly and makes me feel like I'm playing against children, as well as takes away from the excitement of big hits during play. Officials should call this stuff more often.

-Defender dumps puck out of play from his own defensive zone. To quote the in-game commentators, "This is a black and white call" It's simple. Either it was thrown out of play from the defensive zone, or it was thrown out from another part of the playing surface. Why is this only called half of the time? This should be a penalty every time. Doing so would force players on the PK to be more careful, could potentially cause more PK turnovers (because PK players would be more hesitant to just dump the friggin puck the instant they get it) and thus make powerplays a more viable offensive tool.
-While we're talking about puck dumping, how do D-men catch slapshot dumps with their hand as if it didn't even hurt? I've played hockey. I've "caught" 75 mph slapshots in the hand, and I use the word "caught" very, very, liberally. You may block, or deflect a slapshot with your hand, but you certainly don't catch 95mph shots with your hand without seriously damaging the structural integrity of it. Here's what happens when a high speed shot hits your hand: Nerves in your hand send impulses to your brain that tell your brain "maybe you should check to see if your hand requires medical attention as soon as you finish skating to the bench." Those gloves are padded on the other side, not on the palm. It's a glove, not a catchers mitt.

Again, these comments are mostly online specific, and are meant to be constructive. I haven't played many offline games since the patch.

I still don't have the boost slots for REAL helmets.

The boost slots do not apply to all authentic helmets. They only apply to one helmet. If patched correctly, it should be the helmet in the second row, second column.

Don't worry yourself too much, I don't have it either.

Second thing they need to fix and idk y EA diidnt think people wouldnt play keep away when there winning and its even strength but... In the rule book it states when u are even strength you are not aloud to make backward progressive into your defensive zone once you break your zone(Having the intent to delay the game) Which u know thats what there doing...The result of what should happen is It will result in a faceoff in the offenders zone as a delay of game no penelty is given just a face off...BTW its Rule 629 Letter C (Puck must be kept in Motion ) In the 2009-20011 Official Rules and casebook of Ice Hockey..

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I am fairly certain this is NOT an NHL rule, or one I have ever heard of in any league I have played in. Sounds more like basketball then hockey.
The only stipulation in the NHL is that the puck must stay in MOTION. If you freeze it on the boards or net,etc then it can result in a faceoff and in some cases a penalty.

I used to referee. I haven't seen a rulebook for a few years and can't say for sure, but I can say that his Rule numbering and lettering [Rule 629-C] is consistent with the way USA hockey rulebooks are written. So he's either right or he's a good liar who's done his research.

This may well be a USA hockey rule, who knows. But I doubt it's an NHL rule. Either way, the game is full of small inconsistencies (like face-off positions for many offsides or puck out of play situations) But hockey rules are very complicated compared to some other sports, and you can't realistically expect EA (as much as I dislike EA, this is one time you'll find me sticking up for them) to keep up on every little rule that is implemented. Especially when you consider that they begin laying the groundwork for a game a year in advance.

While we're talking about nitpicky rules, has the NHL done away with intentional offsides? The way I'm used to playing, if a teamate is offsides and you shoot the puck into the offensive zone on net, it is ruled "intentional offsides" and the ensuing faceoff is held all the way back in your defensive zone. Has this changed?