New Mode! NHL HUT Competitive Seasons

Everything you need to know about Competitive Seasons, the newest HUT based game mode.
 
Competitive Seasons was introduced in the 3rd NHL 17 Content Update that was made available on January 19th, 2017.

I know I’m a bit late posting about it but I wanted to make sure that I actually played it before writing this… 28 games later here we are. Yeah I got a little carried away.

It is noticeably MUCH more competitive than Online Seasons, as you would expect. If you rage a lot playing Online Seasons then I highly recommend, for the sake of your health and sanity, that you DON’T play Competitive Seasons… Consider yourself warned.

What is Competitive Seasons

HUT Competitive Seasons is a mode that allows players to compete in a calendar season format and earn in-game rewards.

It is “calendar season format” in the sense that the seasons are only open for a specific time frame, not on-going forever like HUT Online Seasons. The first Competitive Season will go for 12 days, ending on January 31st, and consist of 4 rounds that last 3 days each.
 
*NOTE: Rounds and Season durations are subject to change.
 

Ranking/Leaderboard System

Competitive Seasons ranking system is based on the Glicko Rating method. This is much different than what the Online Seasons Leaderboard system uses and should result in a more accurate ranking based on actual skill instead of focusing on the amount of games played.

Of course, you will likely still need to grind quite a few games to keep up with the best. The big difference you will notice versus the Online Seasons system is that you will be punished much more for losses, especially if you are ranked high and lose against someone lower ranked than yourself.

The Glicko Rating system was originally developed for Chess, the top comment on this QA post here does a good job of explaining how it works.

Stats

After navigating to stats you will be presented with two options, Team Stats or Recent Games.

Team Stats

EA added more stats! If you play Online Versus then you are use to seeing a lot of different stats on the leaderboards, AGF, AGA, ATOA, etc.

Competitive Seasons shows all those same stats and you can filter them based on the Round, very cool! I was definitely disappointed when I first saw the lack of stat tracking on the regular Online Seasons HUT leaderboards.

Recent Games

Same as everywhere else, shows the results of your 25 most recent games.

You may notice that you can’t “Challenge” other players in Competitive Seasons, this is because it is a ranked only game mode. This also means that you can’t peek at your opponent’s team builds, unfortunately.

Manage Lineups

This is just a shortcut to the original Manage Lineups section found in the HUT “Team” menu. The changes you make here will be reflected across all HUT modes.

Round and Season Rewards

You will receive rewards at the end of each round based on points accumulated during that round and at the end of the season based on points received from your round results.

HUT’s Competitive Seasons menu lays out the rewards nicely, I’ll include screenshots below.

Rounds

Round 2, 3, and 4 rewards are the same as Round 1 except the amount of coins you get increases with each round.
 
UPDATE(25/01/2017): Rounds 3 and 4 rewards have been increased! Screenshots of Round 3 below. Round 4 is the same but with increased coins.
 

 

Season One

You do NOT have to compete in all 4 rounds to be eligible for a season reward. In-fact, the amount of Season points up for grabs increases with each round making it easier to jump in late and still compete for season rewards.
 
UPDATE(25/01/2017): EA Sports has increased the Season One rewards! Woot woot. The screenshots above have been updated to reflect this.
 
For those curious what the old Season One Rewards were:

Previous Season One Rewards(before update)

How Does it Compare to Online Seasons

As mentioned earlier, it is much more competitive. If you aren’t able to maintain Division 1 in Online Seasons, then you likely won’t place high enough for any decent rewards in Competitive Season one; however, it still is a great way to consistently match up against players closer to your skill level and improve your game!

Based on the community feedback I’ve seen, a lot of people aren’t happy about the Competitive Season rewards, since anything of value stops at the top 250. Basically, there isn’t any point in playing it unless you are good enough to place in the top 250. That excludes a lot of players!

With that said, keep in mind this is only the first season of HUT Competitive Seasons ever. We’ll see how EA Sports addresses this in Season 2.

My Experience

Based on the 28 games I played, I can sum up my experience with this gif:

And I actually did pretty good! So I can’t imagine how others must of felt.

There was a lot of ups and downs, as anyone who plays NHL competitively will be well accustomed too. One second it’s the best game on the planet and the next… well, refer back to above gif.

If you want to place in the top 250 then you will NEED to have an elite team. I had to upgrade mine in order to become more competitive. Here is what my new team looks like:

If you want to take a closer look at the synergies/stats then check it out on HUTDB: ChelTips Active Roster
 
Felt like my team was on the lower end of the overall team rating spectrum too, based on the teams that I played.
 
All said and done, I’m really looking forward to what EA does with Competitive Seasons.

Oh yeah, you get a cool little recap screen at the end of each round too:

And your rewards:
 

What has your experience with Competitive Seasons been like so far? Let me know in the comments.
 
If you would like to see what else was added in NHL 17’s Content Update #3 you can check that on EA’s post.
 
See ya in Round 2!