It's no longer about that one extra point, even though that's kind of a secondary layer available. Before in CHEL, you tried to stack these abilities, find out different combinations, and which one to give the one extra point. So far, we'll say, ‘Hey, this is the go-to ’’ and then a day later, it’s like, ‘Actually, no, this is the go-to, here's how you counter it.” That, to me, is an interesting exploration. We're changing up the way we're building our player classes with a lot of feedback from the community. I’ll use the example of the World of CHEL. With the challenge of the pace of the game and the team game, really. How have they changed the way that you play the game? It’s been said the X-Factors are going to change up the metagame. If we put in place a design where you had to trigger it, you really wouldn't have too many moments. And the reason for that goes back to what I said earlier hockey is such a fast sport with line changes. We don't have a specific trigger or event to activate it it's always active in the right context. So depending on the ability, it is contextual. What you will see, though, is if he has a puck and he's carrying it through the neutral zone and the o-zone, that's where you'll have the ability activated. You're not going to have his ability if you are in your own defensive zone or if you're hustling back on a defensive assignment. He's known for being the fastest player in the game, with or without the puck. Take McDavid's Wheels Zone ability, for example. We had to take a bit of a different approach where the “Zone” and “Superstar” abilities are always active in the right context. How often do X-Factors activate during a game? I know fewer players have the powerful “Zone” X-Factors, and they’re for the big superstars, but how many times will I see Auston Matthews’ “Shock and Awe” ability hit? Is it every time he goes out on the ice he can do that move, or do you need to do something to activate it?Īs opposed to Madden's design model where you have to throw a yards to completion on a single play, the game of hockey is different in terms of having line changes, the speed of the game, and it doesn’t have special teams outside of the penalty kill and power play. So those two data points are really informing any kind of balancing, changes, or tuning we may need to do for launch. With the competitive balance side of things, what better mode to test it than our CHEL community? If there are any imbalances or exploits, that's where we find out. Second, obviously, is the technical test that just wrapped up. There's a fair bit of feedback that we've gotten already from there. We are constantly giving them weekly builds, making updates and gameplay changes, tuning the mechanics. So with X-Factor this year, in addition to it being available in all modes and having integration there, we also have gameplay experts within that group to give us feedback. Since NHL 16, we had started this specific group with different experts, covering gameplay, Be A Pro, and all kinds of different modes. One is we're constantly working with our community, with our EA Game Changers group. Kwong: There are a couple of things here. How is EA Vancouver ensuring that the X-Factor abilities are balanced appropriately while remaining fun? For instance, why not just pick the Tampa Bay Lightning every time since they'd be stacked with these abilities? You get an all-star goaltender in Vasilevskiy alongside elite talent in Kucherov, Point, Stamkos, and Hedman. Some players have reservations about the Superstar X-Factors being overpowered and giving certain teams an edge. To learn more about this feature and how it’s taking NHL 22 to new places, we sat down with producer Clement Kwong, who also answered some of our other bigger questions about the latest entry in EA’s NHL series. This will impact the game by forcing you to anticipate these players’ abilities every time they hit the ice, and they’ll be present in every major game mode. This year, EA Vancouver is calling on its elite talent to be the difference-makers, introducing Superstar X-Factors, which provide special skills and moves to the best of the best. In just about a month’s time, hockey will be back in full force, both if you’re watching the puck drop on your TV or strapping on the skates in NHL 22.
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