CAGLS: Official NHL 13 No Hockey League - Playoffs! Rd 1 - Deadline 12/11!

[quote name='Vulcan2422']I look at it like this, we have been getting screwed over by the CPU for years on end. So, why not? But we need people to be on point and finishing games.

Also, Damn, how the hell did I miss this? I do this a lot in Saturday night games just to get it out from behind the net.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, like I said, it's basically just getting over the disappointment of what the mode could have been (and probably SHOULD have been) and accepting that we won't be as in control as we'd like to be. I figure we can at least try it, and if it's a miserable experience, it will sort itself out, lol.

And yeah, chopping at the puck is pretty cool. Your guy seems to do it automatically depending on how close you are, how the puck is moving, etc.
 
[quote name='n8rockerasu']Well, not sure if this counts as confirmation, but:

http://www.operationsports.com/foru...-gm-connected-mode-but-you-can-sim-games.html

I guess EA actually Tweeted a response about it back in July saying that they intended it to be this way. So, barring any 180 from the company due to public backlash, it seems that if we want to attempt GM Connected at all, we've gotta give up control and just accept these issues:

* The outcome of at least 50% of your games will be decided by the computer.

* You could put up a very good record against human opponents and still end up missing the playoffs

* While the CPU is in control of your team, some of your players could be injured (I've read that injuries are up quite a bit...and in the test league I created, I saw 10 players injured on the 1st day...one of which was a 49 day injury), waived, or even traded (moojuice created a test league and noticed when he simmed a few games that his own team was making player moves).

There's probably even more issues that I'm not thinking of, but these stood out to me. Kinda hard to accept that the franchise structure is nowhere near as good as Madden's, but if we can mentally get over the fact that any one of us could get completely screwed over by the CPU, then it could still be somewhat enjoyable. Just definitely not what I had envisioned. And definitely a piss poor effort on EA's part.

I won't even bother with the "vote with your wallets next year" nonsense. I buy this game every year because it's the only hockey game out there. And by default...the only game is the best game. With NHL and Madden, EA pretty much has the vast sports gaming community by the balls and can get away with whatever they want.[/QUOTE]


Wait, your own team will make roster moves when you sim games? Am I reading that right?
 
[quote name='GamerDude316']Wait, your own team will make roster moves when you sim games? Am I reading that right?[/QUOTE]

That's what moojuice experienced. He started up a GM Connected franchise with the Colorado Avalanche and started simming games to see what would happen. That was when he noticed that they signed a free agent player. I thought maybe there would be an option to turn off the CPU doing things for you (as there is in most GM modes), but I haven't seen it yet. Unless the disc version just magically has more options, yeah...you can expect that to happen. Like I said...piss poor effort from EA.
 
[quote name='n8rockerasu']That's what moojuice experienced. He started up a GM Connected franchise with the Colorado Avalanche and started simming games to see what would happen. That was when he noticed that they signed a free agent player. I thought maybe there would be an option to turn off the CPU doing things for you (as there is in most GM modes), but I haven't seen it yet. Unless the disc version just magically has more options, yeah...you can expect that to happen. Like I said...piss poor effort from EA.[/QUOTE]

Well there has to be some way to turn it off. Otherwise we cant trust the CPU to not make dumb moves. Its one thing if you're short of roster requirements like how Madden can be, but the CPU just signing random players to your team is inexcusable.
 
[quote name='GamerDude316']Well there has to be some way to turn it off. Otherwise we cant trust the CPU to not make dumb moves. Its one thing if you're short of roster requirements like how Madden can be, but the CPU just signing random players to your team is inexcusable.[/QUOTE]

I just loaded up the test league I created, and I'm not seeing any individual GM options. When I go into settings, it just gives me the league options like when I created the league (which I assume only the commissioner can view). I'll try to sim a bit further...but you'll have to bear with me because simming is INSANELY slow. It took like 5 minutes to sim through a 3 day stretch of games. Even the menus in GM Connected move at a crawl. From the main screen, you can scroll through and view different things like League News, Team Transactions, Goal Leaders, etc. And it takes a good 5-10 seconds for each one to load. It's really really obnoxious.
 
[quote name='n8rockerasu']I just loaded up the test league I created, and I'm not seeing any individual GM options. When I go into settings, it just gives me the league options like when I created the league (which I assume only the commissioner can view). I'll try to sim a bit further...but you'll have to bear with me because simming is INSANELY slow. It took like 5 minutes to sim through a 3 day stretch of games. Even the menus in GM Connected move at a crawl. From the main screen, you can scroll through and view different things like League News, Team Transactions, Goal Leaders, etc. And it takes a good 5-10 seconds for each one to load. It's really really obnoxious.[/QUOTE]

Yeesh that does sound pretty bad. Dont go to any extra trouble on my account, I should have my copy by the end of the week anyway and will be tooling around with it since I want to have my own franchise as well.
 
Yup, thought I posted about that experience before, guess not.

I didn't even play a game, just created a dummy leage to see what options are available to be changed after a league starts. Simmed a 2 week break, and my team signed a free agent on it's own.
 
When are we going to start the games? Are we starting when the NHL starts if they do have a season or this week?
 
[quote name='moojuice']Yup, thought I posted about that experience before, guess not.

I didn't even play a game, just created a dummy leage to see what options are available to be changed after a league starts. Simmed a 2 week break, and my team signed a free agent on it's own.[/QUOTE]

I wonder if that's just a Colorado thing, because I just simmed a couple weeks in my test league, and Colorado signed several free agents. I got multiple trade offers, all of which I just ignored, and when I simmed, they just went away (were actually replaced with new offers). So, at least THAT'S a postiive sign...so far.

[quote name='sendme']When are we going to start the games? Are we starting when the NHL starts if they do have a season or this week?[/QUOTE]

You might want to read through the last few pages of this thread. We're trying to figure out how to even have a league now. EA thought they'd be like the NHL owners this year and do their best to lock us out, haha.
 
I got my capture card running and took a video to give people a better idea of exactly what's going on with GM Connected. I feel like a huge Negative Nancy just relaying all this info, but I swear I'm not making it up, guys! lol

Video Coming Soon.
 
Rumor has it that Bettman would lock the players out rather then allow shorter seasons in NHL13.

What an assclown.

Are regular online leagues still an option?
 
[quote name='Panther1484']Rumor has it that Bettman would lock the players out rather then allow shorter seasons in NHL13.

What an assclown.

Are regular online leagues still an option?[/QUOTE]

The most ironic part about it is that EA refused to allow something that in all likelihood will actually happen this year...ie. a season lasting less than 82 games, haha. I don't think the old style leagues are still possible, but I'll admit I haven't looked too thoroughly. I'll check in a minute.

Damn this Youtube video. Of course, it clocked in around 16:00 (gives you an idea of how long it takes to sim, lol), and my account needed to be verified to upload more than 15 minutes. I'm having to re-upload now. Should be done in about 10 minutes.
 
[quote name='jza1218']Nate, what team was yours in this league?[/QUOTE]

Nashville. I didn't play any games. Just simmed a few weeks to see what would happen.
 
Wow that's brutal Nate. I like the overtime rules being labeled as "advanced settings". As all expert fans are from before the lockout of 2004...

I'm starting to think that EA just couldn't handle different schedule lengths with their online infrastructure. Madden has 16 games, and everyone is alright with that. This is just ridiculous that they didn't try to fix this.

Also, this is a very NHL soundtrack. Including the Black Keys-like rap song. Need to get the custom soundtrack ready for Thursday.....

EDIT: Ok, so if we set the schedule period for two weeks, we have the option ro play five or six games in that period? If we would be able to complete games in a timely manner (4-5 days), that would mean finishing a season in two-three months? That's still bs. I'm just hoping we make it to the playoffs in our first season.
 
How long did it take to play the seasons in 12? This being my first hockey game I have no idea what to compare things to from older games. However from the sound of things it have gotten worse with 13.
 
[quote name='sendme']How long did it take to play the seasons in 12? This being my first hockey game I have no idea what to compare things to from older games. However from the sound of things it have gotten worse with 13.[/QUOTE]

Well, this is the first year that you could do a real season in an online league format. The way leagues used to work, you'd just choose how many times you'd play each member. You could play the games in any order and CPU teams didn't exist. If you had 14 members in the league, playing every team once would make for a 13 game "season". What we have this year is completely different. As for comparing it to offline, it's not quite the same thing since it's a lot easier to play 3-4 games vs the CPU in a night, as opposed to trying to schedule a time vs 3-4 human opponents.

Like I said, I think we're just going to have to accept what they've given us, try it out, and if it's absolutely abysmal, walk away and pretend it never happened, lol. Someone suggested the idea of breaking up into smaller "leagues", and while that's not a bad idea, if we were going that route, I'd almost rather group up into OTP style teams (which would accomplish the same thing in terms of reducing the overall number of teams). We've got just about enough to have 5 teams of 5. Then, each team could establish a "hockey night" and most of the games would be vs the CPU, and could be knocked out pretty quickly. We could even use random rosters for this to make sure that the teams weren't too unbalanced. Just something to think about in case what we were planning doesn't work out.
 
Also, I do want to say, I don't want to scare people off from getting the game or anything. The gameplay itself is definitely improved from 12. The skating engine is GREAT. Guys can't just zig zag all over the ice anymore, and momentum plays a huge role. A puck can squirt out right in front of you, but you can't just snatch it and take off down the ice because if you were moving the other direction, it takes a few seconds to stop your momentum and get moving the other way.

Sticks are also way more active in the neutral zone. This makes for a lot more broken up passes. Going hand in hand with that, the puck is much more lively. It bounces off of sticks and players at all different angles and speeds. I feel like much more time is spent playing in the neutral zone this year because sometimes just getting the puck into the offensive zone is a challenge.

The goalies are FANTASTIC. I honestly think they're too good...but I'm afraid to say that too loudly out of fear EA would just revert them back to an NHL 12 level. But yeah, they get to probably 95% of cross creases...even 2 on 0's that really should be easy goals. It also seems like they can do back to back desperation saves, as I've seen them lunge across the net and then throw themselves back to the other side with insane quickness. They probably could tune down their reaction time just a bit...but if doing that breaks everything else, just leave em alone, lol.

The AI players also do a good job with the puck. For some reason, they don't dump it anywhere near as often as in the demo, but they're smart enough to skate away from contact, to draw defenders to them by passing the puck back and forth, and they take good shots. They also do a good job taking the body and playing passing lanes. Huge improvement from 12. Honestly, most people are going to have a first impression that the game is "too hard". In reality, this means that you have to actually learn how to play and how to use hockey strategies to create real scoring chances. If you play online, people still force bad passes (most of which don't go through) and try to cherry pick even harder to compensate for the increased AI skill, so that gets pretty annoying. But overall, the gameplay is worlds better than the "Anybody can score" hockey seen in NHL 12. I just hope they leave it this way.
 
[quote name='n8rockerasu']Also, I do want to say, I don't want to scare people off from getting the game or anything. The gameplay itself is definitely improved from 12. The skating engine is GREAT. Guys can't just zig zag all over the ice anymore, and momentum plays a huge role. A puck can squirt out right in front of you, but you can't just snatch it and take off down the ice because if you were moving the other direction, it takes a few seconds to stop your momentum and get moving the other way.

Sticks are also way more active in the neutral zone. This makes for a lot more broken up passes. Going hand in hand with that, the puck is much more lively. It bounces off of sticks and players at all different angles and speeds. I feel like much more time is spent playing in the neutral zone this year because sometimes just getting the puck into the offensive zone is a challenge.

The goalies are FANTASTIC. I honestly think they're too good...but I'm afraid to say that too loudly out of fear EA would just revert them back to an NHL 12 level. But yeah, they get to probably 95% of cross creases...even 2 on 0's that really should be easy goals. It also seems like they can do back to back desperation saves, as I've seen them lunge across the net and then throw themselves back to the other side with insane quickness. They probably could tune down their reaction time just a bit...but if doing that breaks everything else, just leave em alone, lol.

The AI players also do a good job with the puck. For some reason, they don't dump it anywhere near as often as in the demo, but they're smart enough to skate away from contact, to draw defenders to them by passing the puck back and forth, and they take good shots. They also do a good job taking the body and playing passing lanes. Huge improvement from 12. Honestly, most people are going to have a first impression that the game is "too hard". In reality, this means that you have to actually learn how to play and how to use hockey strategies to create real scoring chances. If you play online, people still force bad passes (most of which don't go through) and try to cherry pick even harder to compensate for the increased AI skill, so that gets pretty annoying. But overall, the gameplay is worlds better than the "Anybody can score" hockey seen in NHL 12. I just hope they leave it this way.[/QUOTE]

I'm having trouble one timing the puck now. In 12 I would hold down the left trigger and press up on the shot button, quick one timer.

Now left trigger is vision lock and backwards skate so I don't even know if it works anymore? I'm trying it but it definitely doesn't seem the same.
 
[quote name='DestroVega']I'm having trouble one timing the puck now. In 12 I would hold down the left trigger and press up on the shot button, quick one timer.

Now left trigger is vision lock and backwards skate so I don't even know if it works anymore? I'm trying it but it definitely doesn't seem the same.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I feel like that just doesn't work very well anymore. Maybe it's something to get used to, but I don't know. I think LT just does too much now. I've been having more success doing one timers without holding LT, but of course...that leaves you susceptible to interference calls if you fan on it and end up checking somebody. That's probably another thing that should have been thought through better.
 
[quote name='jza1218']EA confirmed via twitter that there is no option for a shortened season in GM connected.[/QUOTE]

One step forward, ten steps back.

Mine shipped today from Amazon. Yippie
 
[quote name='Vulcan2422']I watched some great videos and now can master the 45 degree cut. I might be a pretty good winger this year. Break out of the D mold.[/QUOTE]

Scoring is really, really hard this year. Our first game last night, Brandon, Rob, and I went into 5 overtimes, before finally losing 1-0. We outshot the team 51-26. It should get better as we level up our skaters (or when EA decides to undo all the good defense with a tuner update), but yeah...it's going to take a lot of work to feel comfortable as a forward this year. The way the game is tuned right now, it's definitely weighted toward defense...which many think is a great thing.
 
Odd that mine has yet to ship from Amazon. I have prime so I would think I would get it tomorrow. I would be the first game that I did not get on release day from Amazon.com after getting prime.
 
[quote name='sendme']Odd that mine has yet to ship from Amazon. I have prime so I would think I would get it tomorrow. I would be the first game that I did not get on release day from Amazon.com after getting prime.[/QUOTE]

Mine said "shipping soon" all day, and then just changed to "shipped" an hour or so ago. I did get an email though. I would wager that you'll probably have it tomorrow.
 
[quote name='n8rockerasu']Mine said "shipping soon" all day, and then just changed to "shipped" an hour or so ago. I did get an email though. I would wager that you'll probably have it tomorrow.[/QUOTE]

Same here. My copy is coming across the state as we speak and I'm hoping it is here when I come home tomorrow. Weird that they decided to stop release-day delivery...
 
Well, the North America version is region locked, but apparently the PAL version is not. *sigh* Spending a lot of $ on this game. :(
 
[quote name='Canbanana']Just got and E-mail from Toys R Us saying there is a delay.. may just cancel and head to Best Buy in the morning.[/QUOTE]

Whats your estimated delivery date? According to TRU, my copy isnt set to get here till at least the 19th :(
 
If there are any spots open, I will go ahead and fill in a spot. I have decided to go ahead and pick this game up today after work, as my friend plays it all the time and I figured I might as well give it a shot as well. However, I practically have no experience with a hockey game since Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey on the N64, so should I even join up? I am still completely willing to play out games just for the fun of it, even though I most likely would get stomped anyways. I can take any team that is available, since the only hockey team I really know is my regional team of the Capitals, and they are taken already anyways. My schedule is usually open any Monday - Thursday after 7 PM (sometimes earlier, but I mark 7 PM just in case), but Friday - Sunday afternoon can get pretty busy. I am usually available Sunday evening/night though.
 
[quote name='GamerDude316']Whats your estimated delivery date? According to TRU, my copy isnt set to get here till at least the 19th :([/QUOTE]

I looked over my order info and i see no estimated delivery date as it hasn't been shipped yet due to "delay". Which basically means they haven't got any copies. You would think that considering I ordered over a month ago they would make sure they have the stock? I gave em a shot unfortunately I'm out the pre-order bonus i could've gotten elsewhere. Live and learn.
 
As far as the league settings go, at this point I would rather just run with it as is (one IRL wekk to do 2 virtual weeks;if you don't get those games in, they get simmed) and see how far we can get without simming games, and then sim as necessary once interest dies off.

Honestly, if we are going into it knowing we are going to sim 3/4th of the games anyways, we might as well do a "on paper" league.
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']My TRU order got cancelled... guess they don't want my business permanently...[/QUOTE]

That sucks. I still haven't gotten any tracking info on mine, probably shoulda done Amazon for the credit and the Bauer pack which I coulda sold here for a couple bucks or trade.
 
[quote name='moojuice']As far as the league settings go, at this point I would rather just run with it as is (one IRL wekk to do 2 virtual weeks;if you don't get those games in, they get simmed) and see how far we can get without simming games, and then sim as necessary once interest dies off.

Honestly, if we are going into it knowing we are going to sim 3/4th of the games anyways, we might as well do a "on paper" league.[/QUOTE]

I would like to do old school OT settings, if no one has any objections.
 
[quote name='moojuice']As far as the league settings go, at this point I would rather just run with it as is (one IRL wekk to do 2 virtual weeks;if you don't get those games in, they get simmed) and see how far we can get without simming games, and then sim as necessary once interest dies off.

Honestly, if we are going into it knowing we are going to sim 3/4th of the games anyways, we might as well do a "on paper" league.[/QUOTE]

The problem with this is, if you mean going about things at the actual schedule's pace, then that puts us finishing season one in June...which also feels like a waste. So, not only would we need to "try to sim as few games as possible", but we'd also need to play them at a quicker pace. Really, we need to finish a season in 2-3 months.

So, what does that come out to? About 2 weeks of schedule time in 1 week of real time? I just don't see how simming is avoidable. The thought that EA considers this a legitimate mutli-player experience is a joke. I'd like to submit this entire discussion to EA and tell them if these questions aren't coming up at their focus groups and testing sessions, they're doing it wrong. These issues just seem SO obvious.
 
[quote name='GamerDude316']Whats your estimated delivery date? According to TRU, my copy isnt set to get here till at least the 19th :([/QUOTE]

[quote name='Canbanana']I looked over my order info and i see no estimated delivery date as it hasn't been shipped yet due to "delay". Which basically means they haven't got any copies. You would think that considering I ordered over a month ago they would make sure they have the stock? I gave em a shot unfortunately I'm out the pre-order bonus i could've gotten elsewhere. Live and learn.[/QUOTE]


Took my time getting around to canceling the order and just as i was getting ready to cancel and head out the door to buy a copy i got an email saying they are processing the order and I can't cancel now.. est. delivery time is 14-19th.
 
LOL...yeah, me too. If anybody wants to thank me for putting this league together by giving me your free HUT packs, I would graciously accept. ;)
 
[quote name='CAGLeagueSports']LOL...yeah, me too. If anybody wants to thank me for putting this league together by giving me your free HUT packs, I would graciously accept. ;)[/QUOTE]

Figure out our CCM and then we'll talk
 
Speaking of HUT. In NHL 12 it carried my team over, showing it was established in 2010. Now my team says Established 9/11/12 and I'm using the same name and never deleted my NHL 12 profiles. I also didn't get whatever pucks I was supposed to carry over.. Anyone know the deal with this?
 
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