| HUT15 | |
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Release Date |
September 9, 2014 |
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Platforms |
Xbox and Playstation |
Hockey Ultimate Team is a game mode in NHL 15 . NHL 15 was released on September 9, 2014. Many people were upset that multiple game modes were cut from this years installment. Hockey Ultimate Team is one of very few that made the cut. It is speculated that including this mode was a top priority for EA since HUT increases the profit of the series because of the option to purchase packs.
The basic premise of HUT is to create a team you can play with through the use of opening packs of cards. Packs include a mixture of player cards, consumables and special "rare" cards. Your team consists of a normal hockey roster: 12 forwards, 6 defenseman, and 2 goalies. When you start HUT for the first time you get a free pack and it assigns the cards to your roster. From there you have two options: play to earn coins (used to buy packs or players from the auction house), or buy packs with real money. HUT includes players from the NHL, AHL, Liiga, SHL, Czech Extraliga, DEL, and the NLA. In addition, the game will include the CHL, which comprises the QMJHL, OHL, and the WHL.
Features[]
Creating your team - When you first open up HUT you will receive your first pack for free. This pack is meant to get you started and will contain everything you need to get playing fast. It will usually contain mostly low level players and a couple low level NHL players from your selected favorite team. You can assign any positional player to any position, although it is recommended to play them at their natural position such as right wing or left defenseman to help a line's chemistry. Other things that are factored in to a line's chemistry are what league they play for, what team they play for, and what type of player they are.
Consumables - Consumables are a big part of the game. Consumables include contract, healing, change team or position, and attribute boost cards. Each player has a contract value on their card. For every game played, 1 game is subtracted from each player's contract. When a player runs out of contract games you must either apply a contract card to them or replace them with another eligible player. Healing cards must be used when a player gets hurt in a game. Until the healing card is used the player will not be able to be used. A change team or change position card can be applied to any player in order to change those attributes, which helps to increase the chemistry on your team. Attribute boost cards are used to help a player's in game skills such as shot or skating.
Types of game play - There are three options when it comes to playing an actual game in HUT. You can: play offline against the computer, play in the division based online mode where you start at division 10 and fight your way to the top, or play 4 game tournaments online. All of these game modes reward pucks for how you do and what difficulty you are playing on.
Marketplace - The marketplace is where you can buy and trade any item with other HUT players on the same console. The auction house is the location where this all happens. You can set filters to help you find the exact card and price you want. EA takes a small cut for every item sold on the auction house.
Collections - A feature a lot of people like is the ability to collect whole teams and get rewarded for it. In this years HUT each team from every league has a different pack reward for completing the team. You get these packs for free once you have every player, jersey, and logo from the team you chose to collect. For NHL teams the rewards range from 3 gold packs to 10 gold packs depending on how expensive the collection is. Leagues lower than the NHL, such as the AHL or SHL, often have silver packs or even bronze packs as rewards. Collections are a good tactic to do since the packs you get are free and then you can sell the players you collected after.
Types of Packs[]
Bronze - A mix of 12 items, including players and consumables. Mostly Bronze and 1 Rare. 600 pucks
Bronze Jumbo - A mix of 24 items, including players and consumables. Mostly Bronze and 4 Rare. 2,500 pucks or $.49
Silver Premium - A mix of 12 items, including players and consumables. At least 10 Silver and 3 Rare. 3,750 pucks or $.99
Gold - A mix of 12 items, including players and consumables. At least 10 Gold and 1 Rare. 6,250 pucks or $1.49
Gold Premium - A mix of 12 items, including players and consumables. All Gold and 3 Rare. 8,750 pucks or $1.99
Gold Premium Jumbo - A mix of 24 items, including players and consumable. All Gold and 7 Rare. 17,500 pucks or $3.49
Special (rare) cards[]
Team of the Week (TOTW) - One of the most popular and abundant cards in HUT, the TOTW cards are created once a week. Players are chosen based on their performance that week. TOTW cards per week include 4 forward lines (2 NHL and 2 random), 3 Defensive lines (2 NHL and 1 random), and 2 goalies (1 NHL and 1 random). Specific team of the week cards can only be pulled that week. After that, you can only pull the next team of the week's cards.
Player of the Game (POTG) - POTG cards are created when a player of any league has an amazing game. It can be any player of any position. Some ways a player can earn a POTG card are scoring a hat trick or recording a shutout.
Milestone (MS) - MS cards are rewarded to players that have just achieved a career milestone in real life. Usually these are rewarded at point and games played thresholds like 300/400 goals or 1000 games played.
Hockey Fights Cancer (HFC) - HFC cards were only in packs during October. The NHL and NHLPA have partnered up to raise awareness for cancer research.
Movember (MOV) - MOV cards were only in packs during November. MOV cards are considered the most powerful and some of the most expensive cards in the game. The special feature of the MOV card is that it will automatically upgrade the card's stats to the current best version of that card. If your MOV card is an 88 overall but another version of the same players card gets an upgrade to 90, your MOV card will now match that 90 overall card. Many people invest in these cards early hoping that the player will receive multiple stat boosts.
Winter Classic (WC) - WC cards are rewarded to players that have achieved something notable in a winter classic game or are playing in this year's winter classic.
All Star Game (ASG) - ASG cards are given to captains of previous All Star games.
Legends - Legend cards were released with the game. They included greats such as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. These give the users the chance to play with former greats and Hall of Famers.
Team of The Year (TOTY) - TOTY cards are released close to the end of the NHL regular season. In NHL 15, the TOTY consisted of three groups. A group that the HUT community voted for, a group that consisted of the best offensive performers, and a group the consisted of the defensive performers.