No end to complaints about the game led them to create a 1.1 gigabyte free, downloadable patch for their game. It wasn't just fixing some game mechanics, they actually added in a few new things that people were truly complaining about.

Maybe just think about it for this game (*cough* OTP/EASHL dnf and skill level *cough*)? You guys have watched your online numbers slice by more than half since the game was released. This would restore faith for these fans, who now find themselves playing COD or Forza instead out of frustration.

Enjoy COD and Forza....One less GLITCHER I have to deal with....

I'm too tired to argue i'm just curious where you read that their online numbers have been cut in half cause Sk88z (Community manager and EA insider) said that the servers actually have been pretty much steadily loaded up with players.

I'm inclined to believe him over any "well from looking at the forum responses" as those are a tiny percentage of the actual playing base. Now if you've seen these numbers in a credible and reliable source say at IGN then by all means I'd believe your statement.

xbox.Clarkez wrote:I'm too tired to argue i'm just curious where you read that their online numbers have been cut in half cause Sk88z (Community manager and EA insider) said that the servers actually have been pretty much steadily loaded up with players.

I'm inclined to believe him over any "well from looking at the forum responses" as those are a tiny percentage of the actual playing base. Now if you've seen these numbers in a credible and reliable source say at IGN then by all means I'd believe your statement.

You can see the amount of versus games and OTP games occurring within the game. For the first few weeks, during peak hours, there was something like 900+ versus games and 200+ OTP/EASHL games occurring on average. If you look at peak hours now, you'll find maybe 500 or so versus games and just over 100 OTP games if you're lucky. When my friends list used to show 20 friends online, a good 15 of them would be playing NHL. Now, maybe 3-5.

Of course games tend to have more volume at the beginning of the release, but dropping by half is still a little steep. I'm sure your developer friend doesn't want to advertise that his game is losing gamers, but that doesn't mean it's not happening.

EDIT: An unofficial 'source' seems to think the numbers have dropped by three quarters. Apparantly about 12,000 gamers were on during peak hours when the game first came out, and now it's at about 3,000. I cannot confirm that though.

xbox.The Casinator wrote:Enjoy COD and Forza....One less GLITCHER I have to deal with....

I don't glitch, in fact I'm the epitome of team player. If only I had a scoring touch

I suggested something like this. Maybe adding jerseys in via title updates and what not like Madden does. No reason really why the Calgary alternates can't be patched in, or the Flyers/Bruins WC jerseys. It would be cool but I don't know if it's happening this year.

xbox.LuGer33 wrote:I suggested something like this. Maybe adding jerseys in via title updates and what not like Madden does. No reason really why the Calgary alternates can't be patched in, or the Flyers/Bruins WC jerseys. It would be cool but I don't know if it's happening this year.

Lol that'd be nice, but not quite what I was talking about. I'm referring to in-game issues, such as the one I mentioned in the original post. My only real problem with this game is how improbable it is to find a good, competitive game in OTP. Match-ups fall apart before they even start because people don't get their position. The first goal of the game results in half of the opposing team quitting. A whole team filled with elite players goes up against a full team of noobs with 10 games played, yet theres no way to find that out until it's 3-0 halfway through the first and everyone has quit.

I don't care about glitches, exploits, unrealistic blah blah blah... I just want to be able to start a good, competitive, LONG LASTING game without having to wait 1 hour and quit 3 games to find it.

xbox.MitchC09 wrote:

xbox.LuGer33 wrote:I suggested something like this. Maybe adding jerseys in via title updates and what not like Madden does. No reason really why the Calgary alternates can't be patched in, or the Flyers/Bruins WC jerseys. It would be cool but I don't know if it's happening this year.

Lol that'd be nice, but not quite what I was talking about. I'm referring to in-game issues, such as the one I mentioned in the original post. My only real problem with this game is how improbable it is to find a good, competitive game in OTP. Match-ups fall apart before they even start because people don't get their position. The first goal of the game results in half of the opposing team quitting. A whole team filled with elite players goes up against a full team of noobs with 10 games played, yet theres no way to find that out until it's 3-0 halfway through the first and everyone has quit.

I don't care about glitches, exploits, unrealistic blah blah blah... I just want to be able to start a good, competitive, LONG LASTING game without having to wait 1 hour and quit 3 games to find it.

Why not find a club to join, and now worry about finding a game? I know it seems like a typical response but finding a good club with a decent amount of players is the best thing for people who play it online and not just typical 1v1's.

ps3.SCARFACE9O9 wrote:

xbox.MitchC09 wrote:

xbox.LuGer33 wrote:I suggested something like this. Maybe adding jerseys in via title updates and what not like Madden does. No reason really why the Calgary alternates can't be patched in, or the Flyers/Bruins WC jerseys. It would be cool but I don't know if it's happening this year.

Lol that'd be nice, but not quite what I was talking about. I'm referring to in-game issues, such as the one I mentioned in the original post. My only real problem with this game is how improbable it is to find a good, competitive game in OTP. Match-ups fall apart before they even start because people don't get their position. The first goal of the game results in half of the opposing team quitting. A whole team filled with elite players goes up against a full team of noobs with 10 games played, yet theres no way to find that out until it's 3-0 halfway through the first and everyone has quit.

I don't care about glitches, exploits, unrealistic blah blah blah... I just want to be able to start a good, competitive, LONG LASTING game without having to wait 1 hour and quit 3 games to find it.

Why not find a club to join, and now worry about finding a game? I know it seems like a typical response but finding a good club with a decent amount of players is the best thing for people who play it online and not just typical 1v1's.

It's true, and I do enjoy club play most of the time. However many times we do not have enough players for a 5v5 let alone 6v6, and in those situations it'd be nice to have a functional OTP. I don't know why you think it should be club play or don't play.

xbox.Clarkez wrote:I'm too tired to argue i'm just curious where you read that their online numbers have been cut in half cause Sk88z (Community manager and EA insider) said that the servers actually have been pretty much steadily loaded up with players.

I'm inclined to believe him over any "well from looking at the forum responses" as those are a tiny percentage of the actual playing base. Now if you've seen these numbers in a credible and reliable source say at IGN then by all means I'd believe your statement.

I quit online and traded the game in a few weeks ago. He is probably right.

IGN is far from Creadible...lol wow, you can see a fair bit of the numbers your self in the lobbies, It is true, the numbers are still steady and will climb with Christmas coming up.

MAIN.oilersguru wrote:IGN is far from Creadible...lol wow, you can see a fair bit of the numbers your self in the lobbies, It is true, the numbers are still steady and will climb with Christmas coming up.

Clearly if they gave the game an 8.7, which it doesn't deserve.

They are a 3rd party PR site, nothing more, there scores are based on offline and online play, where people do not cheat. So thet score accurate.

MAIN.oilersguru wrote:IGN is far from Creadible...lol wow, you can see a fair bit of the numbers your self in the lobbies, It is true, the numbers are still steady and will climb with Christmas coming up.

Whatever, they should still do this patch

Yeah they really do need a major patch to fix the way we join OTP games and whatnot. I understand that last year was the first year of making the OTP/EASHL but you'd think they could have fixed a lot of the issues in OTP over the year. I mean the most simple one would be to have you select your position at the team selection area right away. It's common sense.