@Onix_Savage22_PSN said:

has already fumbled gm connected in nhl 27

I'm curious, how so? When my friends and I test drove it a couple weeks back it was pretty good. I think there's somethings that need tweaking/adjusting, which I did note in the post Beta survey.

@Onix_Savage22_PSN said:

@icebergslim7669_PSN yeah outside of doc and Larkin and maybe ryno these are just a bunch of players that are getting there 1 99 for the year that probably won’t even be useable. Robert’s sucks killabrew is gonna be high power/contact low everything else.

Eh, people might use them for theme team runs of Conquest or Mini Seasons.

There are already, not counting today's release, 66 players with 99 OVR cards. 49 Hitters and 17 Pitchers (only 13 SP).

Not every release is going to push the Meta. Early on in the 99 life cycle is when we should be getting these types of cards. For players who don't do collections or buy all of the pack cards these two could be stop gap players until more are released.

@PriorFir4383355_XBL said:

I have their CFB, Madden, and NHL 27 games. While NHL 27 is not yet playable, I have NHL 26. All of these games not only omitted pay-to-play schemes in their primary offline game modes

Really. Didn't they catch a ton of flack for introducing micro transactions into the offline modes of CFB?

They only took them out based on enormous amounts of bad press and customer outrage. Hard to give them too much credit when they actually did add them.

@Onix_Savage22_PSN said:

@PriorFir4383355_XBL idk man ea has already fumbled gm connected in nhl 27 im still gonna buy it but all there games are money grabs im sitting out madden this year cause I spend to much. Atleast in nhl woc is completely free online and really fun I’ll probably give hut a shot this year too and try my best to stay NMs.

Is @priorfir4383355_xbl glazing EA? I have him blocked for his stupidity.

@Onix_Savage22_PSN said:

@Sarge1387_PSN if u build it they will pay.

I think the number of people willing to go that route is at an all time low right now and will decrease much further as more time goes by.

EA Sports has rightly taking a beating in courts of law, but it seems they have at least with the offline game modes learned their lesson. I have their CFB, Madden, and NHL 27 games. While NHL 27 is not yet playable, I have NHL 26. All of these games not only omitted pay-to-play schemes in their primary offline game modes, but more critical has made it entirely reasonable to upgrade your avatar player by nothing more than good old fashioned quality of play on the field or the ice.

This proves that while other large game companies have figured out the customer base has run out of tolerance for this pay-to-play scheming, SDS appears once again to be a day late to the present reality. They seem to be expanding their marketing schemes, while their rivals figured out it is best to diminish the marketing and instead max out the technological reach of their games and let people have good old fashioned fun in increasing the skill levels of their play.

Yes, this means even with the best consoles you must adopt a restart and cold reboot of your console after each game to clear the buffer, but this is a good trade for having a game that leverages most of what the consoles can deliver, vice retain gameplay and graphics that echo what was state of the industry five to ten years ago.