HUT difficulty

[mikeymud]

Is anyone else finding this mode kind of difficult? Currently, I'm playing predominantly with my starter pack plus the free packs I unlocked in the demo. My first line forwards include Joe Vitale and Arron Asham, and my best defenseman is Brooks Orpik. My team's current rating is at 3 stars. The offense and defense are rated around 82 each.

I can beat the rookie tournament consistently, but I find that it's not as easy as I expected it to be. I mean, I'm playing against teams with overall ratings of 2 stars and offense/defense in the low 70s. I figure I should be crushing these teams, and I always outshoot them 2:1 or 3:1, or my time in the offensive zone is usually double theirs. But the goal scoring gap doesn't reflect this - their goalie stands on their head saving nearly everything, and I almost never score on those garbage/rebound plays. Conversely, I feel like the computer team doesn't need many shots to score, and the puck tends to find them for a juicy rebound goal. Also, when the computer is on the attack, sometimes it's a struggle to get to the puck first.

I've tried the next tournament up which is on Pro difficulty, but I've been eliminated twice now in the second game to teams with equal ratings.

I don't know - I mean, I know I'm not the best player in the world, but I feel like the rookie tournament should be just a little bit easier given the team ratings. Maybe I just need to wait for better player cards? Is anyone else experiencing this?

[colindidit22]

Originally Posted by mikeymud

Is anyone else finding this mode kind of difficult? Currently, I'm playing predominantly with my starter pack plus the free packs I unlocked in the demo. My first line forwards include Joe Vitale and Arron Asham, and my best defenseman is Brooks Orpik. My team's current rating is at 3 stars. The offense and defense are rated around 82 each.

I can beat the rookie tournament consistently, but I find that it's not as easy as I expected it to be. I mean, I'm playing against teams with overall ratings of 2 stars and offense/defense in the low 70s. I figure I should be crushing these teams, and I always outshoot them 2:1 or 3:1, or my time in the offensive zone is usually double theirs. But the goal scoring gap doesn't reflect this - their goalie stands on their head saving nearly everything, and I almost never score on those garbage/rebound plays. Conversely, I feel like the computer team doesn't need many shots to score, and the puck tends to find them for a juicy rebound goal. Also, when the computer is on the attack, sometimes it's a struggle to get to the puck first.

I've tried the next tournament up which is on Pro difficulty, but I've been eliminated twice now in the second game to teams with equal ratings.

I don't know - I mean, I know I'm not the best player in the world, but I feel like the rookie tournament should be just a little bit easier given the team ratings. Maybe I just need to wait for better player cards? Is anyone else experiencing this?

It is really challenging it took me 3 go rounds on rookie to get the achievement (one was my Internet fucking up) before I got the achievement. And I was just eliminated in the semis yesterday for pro...the ways you can score in normally don't translate over to this mode...and the goalies for the other time are ridiculously good and they can score from where ever in the offensive zone...I myself have a 4 star team now because I bought some packs last night. Bit before I was 2 and a half.. and my goalies an 80 but can't seem to stop a slap shot from the center of the offensive zone...it's pretty dumb if you ask me

[MilkySheep]

Yeah definitely this mode is retardedly difficult. I'm beating teams purely with defense, I make it 3-2 and everybody is really agressive. They can't get a proper shot at goal and I get shutouts. The challenge though is getting goals and even against rookie teams I still only get, at max, 3 goals.

The challenge is good, but I don't know how my strategy willl go against the pro leagues when I get to that level. Maybe it is something they can fix with a patch.

[acdougla17]

The AI is actually pretty easy to beat, even on Superstar difficulty with the help of a couple of cheap wrist shots. I will upload a couple videos to EA Sports World of my methods for scoring.

[DuCLuX]

Originally Posted by acdougla17

The AI is actually pretty easy to beat, even on Superstar difficulty with the help of a couple of cheap wrist shots. I will upload a couple videos to EA Sports World of my methods for scoring.

That would be awesome. I can play superstar on every other game type and win nearly every game, but for some reason my HUT team goalie cant stop a shot and I can barely win All star games in this. I lost 6-5 to the red All Stars with my mid-high 70's team, with an 80 goalie, who let in 6 of 7 shots, his one save being a puck that bounced off his glove too a winger who shot it in.

On another note, I have noticed that as my teams star rating went up, tournaments got easier. I was at 3 stars, and I couldn't win the 4 star tourneys, but when I beat 2 3star tourneys, my star total went to 4 and I could win those (the one at like the top of the screen). I don't know what this rating does, but all I know is that these stars go up and down when I win or lose.

[colindidit22]

Because that's what I'm going to do. In addition to what I said I think it's ludicrous that the ai scores from pretty much where ever they want but yet I take shots like that and it's not even a challenge for their goalie. The fact that I have everyone on my team 82 and over yet I'm getting embarrassed by shit 73 rated teams. The fact that if they get two goals ahead and unless their goalie becomes shit you lose all but surely. I thought of a shit load last night but now I can't remember if I do I'll post it later

[mikeymud]

My latest rookie tournament has been wickedly easy. I don't know what changed - I only switched a player's team which improved the line chemistry from red to yellow (and this was on the third line). Maybe there's something to what DuClux said, about winning makes your team better? There doesn't seem to be a change in the chemistry rating, though.

And my main gripe now is that I run out of game contracts before I can make enough pucks to afford the gold card set. So, yeah - my rate of pack purchasing has been slow, so I haven't been able to contribute to the card collection effort.

I need to get good enough to start earning pucks in more difficult tournaments. Don't know if that will happen.

[SHMEEDIDDY]

Rookie Tournament was easy, and Pro Tournament to it was easy, maybe bc I bought three 560 packs with 30 cards and 18 rare over the weekend! My team is 91 Off, 88 Def, and 85 Goalie, so maybe thats why its easy and know how to play the game with easy shots!

[mikeymud]

Originally Posted by SHMEEDIDDY

Rookie Tournament was easy, and Pro Tournament to it was easy, maybe bc I bought three 560 packs with 30 cards and 18 rare over the weekend! My team is 91 Off, 88 Def, and 85 Goalie, so maybe thats why its easy and know how to play the game with easy shots!

Well, yeah - if you're team ratings are 20 points higher than those in the Rookie tournament, I would hope it's easy for you.

As far as "easy shots" go, can you go into more detail?

The shot that works for me most consistently is the short side corner wrister from inside the circle. I'm a rightie, so shots from the right circle go in more often. I do have success with the other corner if I find myself on that side of the ice - again, inside the circle, middle slot area. Other than that, I feel like I have average success with any other shots, typically the slapshots from the blue line. Compared to NHL 11 and 12, I am having below average success with one-timers and wrap-arounds.

[scottofdarwen]

Ive also thought this mode is Hard , I'm not a good player but can hold my own , i have a decent team 4star overall , I did win rookie tournie 2nd attempt but anything else , no i try all sorts of shots n all my tricks but no joy , the ai seem to be passing wizards tic tac toe Goal ..lol i keep plugging away but ...

[DuCLuX]

My friend with a four and a half star team can easily go through all 4 star tourneys, says him, but he can't do 5 star ones. I still have a bit of trouble with the 4 stars with my 3 star team, which is weird because I can consistently beat my friend by 12 goals or more any
Time I play Him in play now mode, but I have trouble winning a tournament he can clean up easy. I think star rating has something to do with it, combined with player skill of course. Just my opinion.

And fuck, the contracts are killing me as well, for some reason I consistently have 3 guys running out of contract, and at 150-200 a peice I can't seem to make shit, until I win a tourney, by which point I'm sick of HUT cause I have only made 600 pucks in an hour. I have resorted to buying contracts for 150 and reselling for 200, but it's a slow process, only yielding 40 pucks per hour if they sell. It's something at least.

[colindidit22]

Oh I remembered another thing this modes stupid for. It doesn't allow you to edit lines in game or change your goalie when he's sucking the place up. That's unrealistic any NHL coach tweaks his lines consistently in games If something not right

[DuCLuX]

Originally Posted by colindidit22

Oh I remembered another thing this modes stupid for. It doesn't allow you to edit lines in game or change your goalie when he's sucking the place up. That's unrealistic any NHL coach tweaks his lines consistently in games If something not right

I hate the not switching the goalie. It's using my back ups contract, why the fuck can I not Change him? I dont care if it fatigues them both, I want my goalie out of there if he lets in 5 of 6 shots or some shit.

[mikeymud]

Originally Posted by DuCLuX

I hate the not switching the goalie. It's using my back ups contract, why the fuck can I not Change him? I dont care if it fatigues them both, I want my goalie out of there if he lets in 5 of 6 shots or some shit.

The main reason I can think of is this, and I think it's a good one:

Many tournaments have entry requirements. By allowing switching of personnel after allowing entry into the tournament, one could possibly bypass those requirements and farm wins/pucks "illegally." I think this protects you in online tournaments especially, if someone can show his lines as being a bunch of scrubs then subbing in a bunch of superstars.

[acdougla17]

They arent talking about adding completely different players to the lineup because thats not allowed in the NHL either. Both coaches give the officials their lineup before the game and those are the only players that can play.

I think you can switch players around if you pause and go to Coaching Options or something like that but I have never tried. I know you can't switch goalies mid game which makes no sense. Its just laziness on EA's part.

[DuCLuX]

Originally Posted by mikeymud

The main reason I can think of is this, and I think it's a good one:

Many tournaments have entry requirements. By allowing switching of personnel after allowing entry into the tournament, one could possibly bypass those requirements and farm wins/pucks "illegally." I think this protects you in online tournaments especially, if someone can show his lines as being a bunch of scrubs then subbing in a bunch of superstars.

What Acdougla said. I want my back up in net, who is counted in the tournament requirements, and is using up contracts and was required to be there, even though you don't use him. I understand what you mean, and yeah, that would be complete bullshit, but that's not what I was saying. I just want to try and use my backup because he hopefully won't suck shit like my starter sometimes does. Then again, we will probably see that in 2 years as an innovative improvement to the game.


On another note, does anyone have a ny scoring techniques for HUT that get them like 10 goals a game or something? I really need pucks, and that extra one hundred or so from games would help allot with the contracts I am constantly buying.. I am not having a problem with winning, and I am not trying to use this online, just a few extra goals would give a nice bonus to pucks, so any techniques are welcome please,

[acdougla17]

I just played 1 game in Pro Challenge HUT tournament and won 10-2 (they had 3 shots on goal). I tried to do 1 of each goal that I use to score against the AI and I think I did most of them.

These all work on superstar however they just need to be perfect shots. I have managed to beat all but 3 NHL Moments on Superstar. One of them is the Mike Smith Shutout, and the other 2 both require me to come back from down by 4 goals. Against LA I tied it up and went to double overtime before losing. As Winnipeg against Montreal I tied it up and lost in overtime. I literally focus 100% on doing these goals against AI. I don't spend on time trying fancy passing plays or shots from the point and it has worked very well for me.

Sorry about the kind of crappy quality, but I recorded it with my phone.

NHL 13 - Easy Goals Against AI - YouTube

NHL 13 - Easy Goals Against AI - YouTube

[DuCLuX]

iPad doesn't play videos so I will be back in a bit to watch it, but I wanted to thank you already, that's awesome of you to put that up. I'm in the same boat, missing the three it looks like you are, and the gagner one. Mike smith One I got scored on with 15 seconds left so it'll be a good 6 months before I want to look at it again.

[xMidget_Furyx]

thanks for the tips on goals I've been trying to beat some of the NHL moments.

[DuCLuX]

apparantly I suck, I can still only win 5-1/5-0 each game, which is what I was doing before in the pro game. But I am up to about 15-20 posts per game. Main reason I can't score as much is I get hit every time I try one of these.

[xMidget_Furyx]

ok tried to deke and keep losing the puck. I can't seem to score at all even on rookie. these NHL moments are making me pull my hair out.

[mikeymud]

Originally Posted by acdougla17

I just played 1 game in Pro Challenge HUT tournament and won 10-2 (they had 3 shots on goal). I tried to do 1 of each goal that I use to score against the AI and I think I did most of them.

These all work on superstar however they just need to be perfect shots. I have managed to beat all but 3 NHL Moments on Superstar. One of them is the Mike Smith Shutout, and the other 2 both require me to come back from down by 4 goals. Against LA I tied it up and went to double overtime before losing. As Winnipeg against Montreal I tied it up and lost in overtime. I literally focus 100% on doing these goals against AI. I don't spend on time trying fancy passing plays or shots from the point and it has worked very well for me.

Sorry about the kind of crappy quality, but I recorded it with my phone.

Thanks for the upload. Due to the quality and the fact that the replay console was in the way, I couldn't determine where you were aiming the puck. It seems that the corners are all still viable if you can get the goalie to move away from the post. Do you ever aim 5-hole, and if so, are you having much success?

[acdougla17]

Originally Posted by mikeymud

Thanks for the upload. Due to the quality and the fact that the replay console was in the way, I couldn't determine where you were aiming the puck. It seems that the corners are all still viable if you can get the goalie to move away from the post. Do you ever aim 5-hole, and if so, are you having much success?

I never aim 5 hole intentionally against an AI goalie. Every goal in the video except for the last slap shot (which was mid left) was put into one of the top corners. That's all I ever aim for.

[DuCLuX]

Top shelf seams to be thebest shot in this game. I think 90% of my goals are there. The other 10% is the five hole when i tried to shelf it.

[mikeymud]

Seriously.



F***


HUT


Sick of this sh*t happening, where my team dominates and total garbage from the computer-controlled team goes in. There is absolutely no incentive to cycle the puck or set up any play. Just find an open spot and toe-drag wrist shot. Rebounds? They're great if you're the computer. My guys wave at the puck like they're the fricking queen of England. There's no incentive to hit - they might go down, but my guy goes down, too. Are any of my teammates around to pick up the loose puck? Oh, hells no. However, the guy I just creamed gets up just fine and picks up the puck as my guy lays down.

And I hate that fricking waggle they do right before your goalie goes down and they wrist it top shelf. Their goalie? GOD as far as I'm concerned.

This mode is total BS. How many hours have I wasted trying to save up pucks to buy packs that might help me improve my team? Every 8-9 games I have to renew 20 contracts - that costs me about 3000 pucks each cycle. Even with Peelman's tip, if I am averaging 600-700 pucks a game, that nets me 2400-3300 pucks after 9 games. So I'm playing like 25 games to afford one gold pack. That's like 8 hours of my life. Not anymore.

And forget playing the auction house. I have a freaking job. I'm not going to build my fortune by turning around cards for 100 pucks that I purchased for 50. NHL freaking 2020 will be out by then.

That's it. I'm going to request help to get the full set achievement, and I'm going to bid for a captain card and get that sh*t out of the way, and then goodbye HUT. Seriously. Before I break a controller. Life's too short to deal with this crap.

[PANIC ATTACK 10]

i have a love/hate thing with this mode. since it came out its been a real cashcow! you cant really get anywhere with starter deck teams. so you spend A TON OF MONEY! just to have a decent team! they need to change this to how soccer does it. this mode is rediculously hard. even non star players score like allstars. ea needs to do this mode like soccer does! you cant play a friend & earn pucks even. the cost of packs is ridiculously high. both in pucks & money ie pts. its a massive cashcow for ea.

lastyear i spent ALOT of money! that was to get just the prince albert pirates team! i hate to see how much it'd cost me to get my habs! i do love the idea of building my own team. but seriously. you need to keep playing the first tourney ALOT! you also need contracts too. its a real pain in the ass mode. take a look at how soccer does it. you can even play against friends in the tourneys. so if you lose its to a human player. also the tourney requirements suck! you need a team of 5 players from certain teams each. honestly let me build my team my way! i dont cheat either. so i work hard for my goals. ea needs to stop making must updates to download ie the tuners. that is seriously bs! making the game play even worse. the game should be done from the disc. but theres alot of proablems with this mode. my friends gave up on it. even my brother wont play it anymore. they should make these modes easier for us to play. also the degree of difficulty should accurately match the star rating. a 2 star game should be easy. while all stars should be next to impossible. i was a hockey god on these games. that was until ea made them impossible to win fair. the cart games are the best. you lose some & win some. ai was balanced. but the ai isnt balanced at all. the game favours the ai teams over human control ones! like bettman favours american teams over canadian ones. i hope they make this mode like soccer has it.

[yourbreakfast99]

Originally Posted by mikeymud

Seriously.



F***


HUT


Sick of this sh*t happening, where my team dominates and total garbage from the computer-controlled team goes in. There is absolutely no incentive to cycle the puck or set up any play. Just find an open spot and toe-drag wrist shot. Rebounds? They're great if you're the computer. My guys wave at the puck like they're the fricking queen of England. There's no incentive to hit - they might go down, but my guy goes down, too. Are any of my teammates around to pick up the loose puck? Oh, hells no. However, the guy I just creamed gets up just fine and picks up the puck as my guy lays down.

And I hate that fricking waggle they do right before your goalie goes down and they wrist it top shelf. Their goalie? GOD as far as I'm concerned.

This mode is total BS. How many hours have I wasted trying to save up pucks to buy packs that might help me improve my team? Every 8-9 games I have to renew 20 contracts - that costs me about 3000 pucks each cycle. Even with Peelman's tip, if I am averaging 600-700 pucks a game, that nets me 2400-3300 pucks after 9 games. So I'm playing like 25 games to afford one gold pack. That's like 8 hours of my life. Not anymore.

And forget playing the auction house. I have a freaking job. I'm not going to build my fortune by turning around cards for 100 pucks that I purchased for 50. NHL freaking 2020 will be out by then.

That's it. I'm going to request help to get the full set achievement, and I'm going to bid for a captain card and get that sh*t out of the way, and then goodbye HUT. Seriously. Before I break a controller. Life's too short to deal with this crap.

I'm tired of this bull as well