NHL 13 Catch-All

I've played all my league games now. Bring on the next round

magnus wrote:

I've played all my league games now. Bring on the next round :)

Hey dude, we got a league thread, you know.

As I said over there, it felt like Hockey Night in Goodjerville as my notifications through XBL were beeping all night that someone else was on playing NHL 13.

This explains why this thread was so quiet.

Moving over there

So yesterday I was playing some HUT, and my pup, Crowley was sitting next to me. I was playing an online game, and was down 1-0, when I buried a nice wrister for a goal to tie the game. Playing around, I yelled, "Goooooaaaaaallllll!' and gave Crowley a big bear hug. Hockey games still elicit the biggest rush of emotions than any sports game I play.

I don't use headsets for randoms online. Too often it just ruins the experience. So I was kind of shocked when after my opponent scored another goal to go up 2-1, I could hear his voice emanating in a loud mocking "Gooooaaaallllll!!!!!" And he started calling me names, and asked how I liked it. And then he quit the game.

So it turns out, Kinect is doing voice chat in lots of games that I had no idea. I sure would not have screamed goal like that if I had realized my opponent was listening to me.

I turned my Kinect mic off entirely after similar issues with online games. I'm still not entirely sure I trust it.

On a somewhat related note, I have had more occurrences of people text messaging me after random onlines in NHL13 than any other game, ever. I played probably 150 online randoms in NHL12, and I don't recall anyone ever messaging me after a game. Since I started playing NHL13 online I've had three different people message me after a game to disparage my person or call me a variety of names. I'm not sure why the juvenile vitriol, especially since in at least two of those cases they won.

This happened to me the other night, but in reverse. While playing online, I was forced to listen to a guy and his wife arguing while he played the game. After the game, I immediately set my Kinect microphone to mute so nobody would be automatically forced to listen to the nonsense that goes on in my house.

As for hearing other people, unfortunately EA requires that Voice and Text be set to Everyone (this was the profile issue Boudreaux and I both had), so I'm not sure how to prevent that happening in the future.

Boudreaux wrote:

I'm not sure why the juvenile vitriol, especially since in at least two of those cases they won.

Canadians. French ones, most likely.

No, really.

Man, I had a terrible online game tonight. Felt like my team was skating through molasses, I couldn't even get shots off. It's weird how much more responsive players are in offline games than online. I play vs CPU in an offline game and the go online for a random match and the same team feels like its suddenly staffed by geriatric players who can barely move.

"According to EA, NHL '13's sales are up 9% compared to NHL 12, and more than 3.7 million online games were played in the first week since the game's release."

- Source

For those of us with Spotify, there's a playlist of all NHL songs available here.

After another week or so getting used to the new changes I'm really enjoying the game - but there are two things that continue to drive me nuts from time to time:

#1, I'd really like to know why skaters can't take possession of the puck near the blue line and then skate forward without also pulling their stick 5 feet behind them and triggering offsides. I get so many calls in a game because of this.

#2, if I'm passing to a teammate, please don't give me control of that teammate until he actually takes possession of the puck. Know what happens when the puck is intercepted mid-pass? The intended recipient whom I've been controlling for the last second and a half is now skating merrily on his way up the ice and is now woefully out of position. This is a corollary to the whole "same button used for passing and player selection" problem that I have. It's immensely irritating to try to pass, only to have the puck poked out a split second beforehand and instead of passing, suddenly I'm controlling a player on the other side of the screen. No, that's not confusing.

Otherwise, thumbs up. Best hockey game yet.

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but I'll give it a try anyway...

New XBox360 owner here (was gifted a Japanese one recently). All I really want to use it for is NHL. However the only region-free version right now is NHL12. I have no idea how releases like this work, if a region-free version of 13 is coming or not. Should I go ahead and get 12, or are the updates to 13 worth waiting around for? (A bit of context: the last NHL game I played with any regularity was NHL'94.)

mwdowns wrote:

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but I'll give it a try anyway...

New XBox360 owner here (was gifted a Japanese one recently). All I really want to use it for is NHL. However the only region-free version right now is NHL12. I have no idea how releases like this work, if a region-free version of 13 is coming or not. Should I go ahead and get 12, or are the updates to 13 worth waiting around for? (A bit of context: the last NHL game I played with any regularity was NHL'94.)

You might be good to grab NHL 11 if you find it cheap. The upgrade to NHL 12 was not significant at all.

The upgrade to NHL 13 is pretty huge, but you might find it irritating. They installed a new skating engine that is really good, but can be really frustrating to get used to. There is a huge emphasis on taking longer to accelerate and to stop. You may really love it, but it is going to be a lot different than NHL 94.

On the plus side, NHL 13, just like previous versions, have an optional control scheme to match NHL 94. I think it is worth learning the new controller layout, but there is an easy option to get you up to speed quickly.

Thanks for the reply.

Does NHL11 have Be A Professional mode? That's what I'm most interested in. If price is similar, I assume NHL12 is the better option? Or is 11 a gold-standard type game?

I just deleted my HUT team and have decided to start over. That cost me a ton of my pre-order and returning player bonuses that made it too easy to build a better team. This has really exposed how awesome the new skating engine really is. My team is actually less NHL dominated now, and the stark difference in speed, agility, and accuracy in both passing and shooting is really visible.

I also think that some of these differences are seen when playing NHL games, but because they are more subtle, it feels like the game is just messing with us. Passing is so much harder now, but I think it highlights how well the game does take ratings into consideration.

HUT is still my favorite mode, even when playing online against much better teams. My record is not good, but I've gotten so much better at using conservative strategies to frustrate teams that rely on having more skill players. My defensemen are way too slow to push too forward on the forecheck. But figuring out how to avid the breakaways and still play tight defense has been pretty fun.

Hopefully I can turn that from losing close low scoring games to winning a few. But when I have grinders like Ryan Reaves on my first line, it's hard to generate offense, especially when playing conservative.

mwdowns wrote:

Thanks for the reply.

Does NHL11 have Be A Professional mode? That's what I'm most interested in. If price is similar, I assume NHL12 is the better option? Or is 11 a gold-standard type game?

I'm sorry I missed this. NHL 11 is a better game in some ways, and a little worse in others. The differences are pretty small, and since NHL 11 can be found for much cheaper, I'd lean that direction.

The first patch just dropped for NHL 13. It addressed a ton of issues. After a few games, it feels like Pro got a lot easier. There is also a new tuner, 1,06. I'm not sure what the tuner addresses.

Gameplay Updates
  • Separated ability for backwards to forwards pivot for ‘with puck’ and ‘without puck’ and made it quicker to pivot without the puck.
  • Poke checking – fixed bug causing players to always miss to the same side of the puck.
  • Goalies will be more aware of shots right off a faceoff in the offensive zone.
  • Goalies will have a harder time dealing with screens.
  • Ability to tune shooting back against the grain so it can be less accurate/effective than shooting with your weight behind the shot and moving towards your shooting direction.
  • Ability for players to be more susceptible to lose the puck when getting hit while skating backwards with the puck at speed.
  • Prevented desperation shots from knocking the puck away from the goalie minimizing the strategy of diving at the goalie to knock the puck loose.
  • Fixed shootout logic in GM Connected to include both locked and unlocked users.
  • Allowed BAP games to resume from simulation in the middle of a shift (fixed crash when sim intervening).
  • Fixed goals screening goalie stat.
  • Goalie has a better chance of squaring up to shots from far out.
  • Improved orientation of off-puck players in one-timer situations.
  • Improved AI behavior against a back skating puck carrier.
  • Fixed hit power sliders so only the hitter’s slider value matters.
  • Fixed AI players occasionally standing around looking at the puck when resuming from simulation in BAP.
  • Fixed BAP being taken off the ice after a short shift that results in a stoppage.
  • Fixed rapidly spinning players in BAP when resuming from simulation.
  • Ability to tune players puck control coming out of a 45 glide deke.
  • Ability to tune CPU pass error on long passes.
  • Improved puck hop behavior when it hits the boards.
  • Pokechecking effectiveness range tweaked. Players with better stick checking skill will stand out more compared to players with lover ratings in that category.
  • Tuned goalies and shooting accuracy to ensure shots in the slot/middle of the ice are more effective than shots from sharp angles.

Presentation and Graphics

  • NEW - Added unique (green) Reebok 20K EA Sport branded skates and stick to the RBK pre-order pack (XBOX).
  • NEW - Added unique (blue) Reebok 20K EA Sport branded skates and stick to the RBK pre-order pack (PS3).
  • NEW -2012 Winter Classic Jerseys (PHI / NYR) now selectable in regular game modes.
  • Reduces frame rate jitter on the Xbox 360 as experienced by a number of players in all game modes but was most noticeable in OTP/EASHL (XBOX).
  • Replay Wipe timing fixed.
  • Commentary for replays won’t continue if a replay has been skipped.
  • Action Tracker post effects (barrel distortion on net cam) is working correctly.
  • Tampereen Ilves home/away jerseys now displays correct logo.
  • Dynamic board ads added to Toronto’s stadium.
  • Snow on players/goaltender/environment now fades out more smoothly/realistically.
  • Flag holders in the Winter Classic stadium now stand correctly at all corners of the flag.
  • Lulea HF center ice logo now displaying correctly.
  • Transition wipes should no longer hold on white frame longer than necessary.
  • Boston jumbotron no longer white; has proper textures (PS3).
  • Rare occurrence of skate spray not lining up correctly with action now fixed inside of the Action Tracker.
  • Shuffling of NIS’ has been improved. Less chance of seeing the same NIS inside of the same game.
  • Goalie stick mirroring has been corrected. Blade will now be pointing in the right direction during shootout NIS’.
  • NHL Moments Live snow build up on ice will now work correctly.
  • Calgary Flames now have proper logos on helmet for both Home/Away.
  • Prevented replay speech from playing over top a fight or if goof off is skipped.

Hockey Ultimate Team

  • NEW - implement training duration item so training items can last for multiple games.
  • Addressed an issue where some users were not getting Puck rewards for playing games and would sometimes get a Loss for actually winning games.
  • Fixed an issue where players would continue to receive the Happy Hour bonus if they never disconnect from the EA servers and continued to play HUT games.
  • Fixed an issue where after playing a game against the Team of the Week or a team from the Leaderboards screen, the wrong roster would be downloaded for all of the teams in the EAUHL 24/7 league when playing a Single Player game.
  • Item Pack Art EASST Player Premium Pack art now shows Promo and not Deal.
  • Fixed an issue where players would see an error message with missing text when bidding on the same item over and over until while being out bided by another player.
  • Applied training boosts are no longer used up for players in the user's Scratched Roster.
  • If user has a Stanley Cup edition item in their starting lineup, they are no longer able to add that same player from the New Items screen, thus resulting in them having 2 of the same players in their lineup.
  • Fixed an issue where users are not getting wins for opponent DNFs when playing Online Tournaments against the same opponent twice.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when a player enters the Watch list and highlights a sold (green outline) item.
  • Online Tournament opponent searches now check for player skill level and team star rating.
  • Fixed the crash issue when applying Consumable items to some of the players in the New Items screen.
  • Addressed an issue where spamming in and out of a challenge team game will cause a blank lineup screen to appear.
  • Fixed an issue where users would advance through tournament rounds by entering the tournament tree and then playing through a regular non-tournament game (online and offline).

Be A GM

  • Addressed an issue where players that should not be considered waiver eligible were being listed as waiver eligible.

Be A Pro

  • Tuned off season player growth effect on the BAP player EXP Growth.
  • Fixed an issue where the player’s BAP team would not sign FA’s or RFA’s to contracts.

GM Connected

  • New - Trade messaging has been added to the mode.
  • Speed up Hub loading times.
  • Improved responsiveness when scrolling through the Main Menu to reduce accidently scrolling past the option players want to select.
  • Improved scrolling when looking to selecting a team on the trade player screen and select team screen.
  • Users should no longer be able to adjust the gameplay sliders during a CPU game.
  • Improved responsiveness of league search screens.
  • Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause a crash when bringing up the player list on the Trade Player screen.
  • Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes crash while backing out of the mailbox screen.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash while loading into the GM Connected HUB.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when proposing a trade to a CPU team (also fixed in Be-A-GM).

Online Team Play / EASHL

  • Addressed an issue where team members from different regions could not match up together in a club practice and the matchmaking would fail as a result.
  • Fixed PS3 microphone fluctuations when not set in HQ mode.
  • Resolved an issue with EASHL matchmaking where it was returning the captain’s versus skill level instead of the club’s skill level. This will improve the accuracy of matchmaking.
  • Addressed an issue where Hockey Shop Boosts were being unequipped to the player’s EASHL Pro upon reboot of their console.
Jayhawker wrote:

The first patch just dropped for NHL 13. It addressed a ton of issues. After a few games, it feels like Pro got a lot easier. There is also a new tuner, 1,06. I'm not sure what the tuner addresses.

I've always wondered what the tuners did. Are they like mini-patches that tweak gameplay, or what?

Tuners just affect how attributes work, if I understand it correctly.

I imagine the fabled 'tuners' comprise a gigantic set of mostly-numerical values that control various aspects of the game (like, say, how far goalies like to come out during breakaways, or how accurate wrist shots tend to be from the slot). Because they don't modify the source code or other critical game assets they don't count as 'title updates'. This means the developers can mess with them as much as they like without having to deal with Microsoft/Sony red tape and stream them to players via their own online infrastructure whenever they're ready.

Those patch notes indicate that they've moved a few more things from the code into the tuner system, permitting them to screw with the relationships as frequently as they need to.

So there was a roster update that didn't seem to do much at all. wel, it seems the good stuff was getting duplicate NHL guys on their assorted European teams. Unfortunately, the KHL and NHL don't play nice, so there is nothing for those players.

NHL Players Make the Move to Europe in EA SPORTS NHL 13

Hi there hockey fans! Today you may have heard that an online roster update for NHL 13 was released that adds a duplicate version of NHL® players who are playing in the following European leagues to their current team: Czech Extraliga (ELH), SM-Liiga, Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Elitserien (SEL), and National League A (NLA). This means that a player like Giroux will remain on the Flyers, but will also be available on the Eisbaren Berlin (DEL) roster.

Hockey is a global game and within NHL 13 there are five European leagues, 66 European teams and over 2100 players representing 26 countries across Europe. By adding NHL players who have joined those leagues to their respective team rosters, we are able to create an authentic experience for fans of those leagues and the NHL, worldwide. For fans of a specific NHL team, those players will still be available on their NHL rosters, which could make for some interesting matchups online.

And if you really want to full effect of the new skating engine, paying some European games is a great way to do it. I started up a season with one , and playing in an international sized rink with players rated from the 40's through the 60's was seriously different. All that space, and very little acceleration.

I may look for some teams with Blues players (there is a table in that link above that lists players and their NHL and European teams), as it coud be interesting to dump some 80+ rated guys into that mix.

A few moments I had to share. The first, a shorty I "gave up" to the Flyers. Ward at his stellar best. Then this glorious deflection for my first BAP goal after a long drought. Earning it.

Ah, the old junk shot. Nicely done.

How is BAP? It's the one game mode I haven't dipped my toe into yet.

B Dog wrote:

Ah, the old junk shot. Nicely done.

How is BAP? It's the one game mode I haven't dipped my toe into yet.

I find it compelling. Doesn't hurt that my name is in the game thanks to a certain Pascal :). Only thing I wish is that they'd offer a configurable camera view for when you're riding the pine, as if they let me set it to the true broadcast cam I'd watch the whole damned game that way, then play my shifts instead of skipping the parts when I'm not on the ice.

I really enjoy BAP - it's the main way I play the game. I play right D, and this year they did a lot to improve the mode (my last NHL was NHL 11). They goals I score are much more realistic and I'm generally getting points by playing the game the right way. Playing D is all about positioning, in a much more true way than NHL 11 used to be. The new skating system is awesome for teaching you how to stay in right areas of the ice, anticipate play, and keep your gaps with opposing forwards where they should be. Also, I'm learning how to initiate contact with opposing forwards in front of my net to limit chances. Pretty cool for learning the position, I feel like I'm playing the game much more like how it is supposed to be played than I ever have before.

It's still annoying when my D partner plays his position far too conservatively when defending against the rush and there is a weird line-change bug where the CPU D decides to change on the fly when it's really not safe to do so. I'm also scoring goals more easily than I should, but I haven't even upped the difficulty to max yet.

I'm thinking BAP in NHL 13 will have long legs for me. It's very fun.

Working my pro up through the OHL right now. Playing for the Kitchener Rangers, we're 3rd in the West, I'm leading the team in goals.

Anyone playing online versus games in NHL13? I've been enjoying a basic season with the Blues (offline), but just for grins decided to go play a random ranked match online last night.

Holy cow, it was almost unplayable. Sluggish, unresponsive, felt like my team had been replaced by a bunch of overweight, out of shape scrubs who just finished Thanksgiving dinner. Skating on a rink coated in molasses. Both sides seemed to suffer, puck control was laughable, and I finished the game with a whopping 6 shots on goal. Going back to offline play was like night and day.

Just picked this up as it looks like it will be the only hockey for awhile.

Never played much video game hockey before, so am I going to have a tough time?

Boudreaux wrote:

Anyone playing online versus games in NHL13? I've been enjoying a basic season with the Blues (offline), but just for grins decided to go play a random ranked match online last night.

Holy cow, it was almost unplayable. Sluggish, unresponsive, felt like my team had been replaced by a bunch of overweight, out of shape scrubs who just finished Thanksgiving dinner. Skating on a rink coated in molasses. Both sides seemed to suffer, puck control was laughable, and I finished the game with a whopping 6 shots on goal. Going back to offline play was like night and day.

What's your connection like? Mostly my experience has been fine, but I've had a couple of games like that. But many, many dozens more that have been very good. But I have a pretty good wired connection.

The main thing I notice is that there is some slight lag that results in my guy passing the puck when it records my RT to switch to a player late. So I have to be less active in trying to switch to the guy about to grab the puck, and instead wait for him to possess it himself.