NHL 14 Ultimate Team Gets Online Seasons
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Like NCAA Football 14 and Madden NFL 25 in recent months Online Seasons will also debut in NHL 14’s Ultimate Team mode. That goes along with Online Seasons also being featured in EASHL. The system involves 10 game “seasons” in which winning a certain number of games will lead into playoffs and moving up to tougher competition. Coming up short means standing put in that division or moving back to an easier one. Other new features for Hockey Ultimate Team include additional information on items up for auction, three tiers of player types and contracts, and the ability to earn “pucks” outside of Ultimate Team in other NHL 14 modes.Â
Online Seasons
NHL 14 adds the best-in-class promotion and relegation system to Hockey Ultimate Team with all-new Online Seasons. Win games and advance to the next division to face tougher competition, but fall short and be bumped down.
The Seasons HUB is the central location to view Seasons stats and start a Season or Playoff game. Season progression and club history is tracked on this screen. Pucks reward bonuses will be rewarded based on each Seasons’s performance.
When Playoff Season opens, one of the four Playoff Cup Tournaments in HUT Online Seasons will be available to enter. The higher the Division the more Playoff Cup Tournaments that will be able available to enter. Check out the World Table screen to see which ones have been unlocked.
HUT Online Seasons has its own Leaderboard for Regular Season games, where players can compare stats against their friends.
Players will earn Trophy items for winning Division Titles, League Titles and Playoff Cup Tournaments in HUT Online Seasons. Work your way up in HUT Online Seasons to earn the League Title in Division 1.
Auction Assistant
Pay close attention to the Auction Assistant widget displayed in the New Items, Collection and Trade Pile screen. Should you buy that Claude Giroux item? The Auction Assistant will display key information, such as the rarity rating and availability, to help inform decisions on items.
Player Item Tiers
Regular Player item types will now have three different tiers, in addition to being denoted as rare or common. Bronze Player items are made up of CHL players. Silver Player items are AHL, European and backup NHL players. Gold Player items contain superstar and proven NHL players. All other HUT items are now categorized by these three levels.
Contract Items
Contract items will now come in tiers that correspond with the Gold, Silver and Bronze Player items. Each Contract item will increase the contract length of Player items, but using an item tier that matches the specific player tier will produce better results. For example, a Gold Contract item will increase the contract of Gold Player items more than a Bronze Player item.
EA Puck Rewards Everywhere
You can now earn EA Pucks for completing games in game modes besides Hockey Ultimate Team, like Play Now or Online Versus mode. Pucks are earned based on performance in each game. Pucks can then be redeemed for use in Hockey Ultimate Team.