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Fixing NBA 2K14 Next-Gen


Depending on where you are at with your 2K experience, NBA 2K14 is either amazing or a disaster.

The NBA 2K series has enjoyed plenty of success since it launched NBA 2K11 with His Airness gracing the cover. Ever since then, EA Sports has been treading water while 2K has steadily improved year after year.

But then the next generation happened.

Despite having solid game play and – in my opinion – the absolute best graphics of all next-gen games, NBA 2K14 has plenty of areas that need improvement, and fast. Here are three specific areas which should be tuned in the next patch to fix some of the biggest complaints with the game -- outside of the still reported crashes and save file issues of course.

Make Virtual Currency What It Used To Be

In no living world should ANY sports gamer have to pay any sort of currency to change a lineup or fire a coach. For us who shelled out $400-$500, then another $60 on the game, that last thing we wanted to be told was that we had to pay for the ability to change a lineup. Sure it’s only 200 VC, but it slowly begins to add up the further you get in your career. It’s never been an issue when purchasing My Career upgrades; it’s been in games since MLB The Show’s Road to the Show mode was introduced. Nobody complained.

I’d love to get rid of VC all together, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon. But I can all but guarantee 2K will start losing ground if they continue with this. If NBA 2K15 shares the same philosophy, be prepared for an uproar and one PR battle that you won’t want to be a part of.

There are also plenty of other issues that My GM faces that stem from the use of VC, which deserves an article for itself. Without a good chunk of VC, you can’t experience what it’s like to be a GM. Instead, it feels a lot like the old Association Mode with a bunch of annoying interactions and cut scenes. Those interactions don’t get interesting until you can afford to purchase negotiation tactics. Even after you can buy those tactics, it's more of a cheat than a negotiation. This needs to be adjusted, and the option to "force" trades should return.

Trade Logic

This section will be brief, but is one of the biggest issues with the game's main team mode. For years trade logic was a pain in everyone’s behind. It’s never been perfected, mainly because nothing feels “real” until it actually blows up on Twitter. But when it’s literally impossible to prevent players from being traded during a season in My GM, it kills the mode. Why can't we turn off trades? By the time the playoffs come, it’s a fantasy draft, which makes me prefer selecting to play a Season rather than the career. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Ball Control

Ball handlers are too careless with the ball a lot of the time, which leads to ridiculous turnovers. Obviously you can’t run around in circles, spinning and crossing over, until you find an open lane. But if you’re walking it up with LeBron and do a quick, step-back hesitation, you should be able to keep control of the ball. Instead, the ball will fall out of his hands and slowly dribble alone until someone manages to pick it up. This doesn't happen all the time, but it does enough where you'll notice it. Even passes end up flying through the air when you're at a stand still. Then again, the Pacers looked like this in the first quarter against the Heat last night.

It’s a quick fix that I believe can be taken care of in the next patch. When the game released, corner 3 specialists would always be standing out of bounds, but the first patch sort of fixed that. The players started standing on the line instead. Since, it has all been fixed (to my knowledge) to where your corner treys are actually corner treys. If that can be fixed, so can the ball control.

Final Thoughts

NBA 2K14 on next-gen isn’t far from the original 8.5 I scored it in the official OS review, but the longer it takes to fix a few of these problems, mainly the VC, that score will slowly go down, down, down -- at least mentally. It keeps us from the “in-depth experience” that we expect from 2K, the same one that is always promised.

What do you think needs to be done to fix NBA 2K14 on next-gen?


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Member Comments
# 21 mblazess @ 12/20/13 03:17 PM
I really miss team play in some sort of season mode. I haven't been able to check this in the latest patch, but when my cousin's come in for the holidays, we always enjoyed creating players and playing on the same team season after season. This doesn't seam to be an option for us anymore in Next-Gen 2K14.
 
# 22 sooperb @ 12/20/13 03:23 PM
They are done with REALLY fixing this game. How is this game made from the ground up? They take stuff we had forever out of the game then bring it back little by little after a whole damn year of complaining. Then we love the"new" additions. Online issues will never ever be addressed by these dudes. EVER! If NBA LiE 11,12,13 and 14 were descent basketball games we would be playing the equivalent of NBA 2k16 right now! Every year us hoop fans are angered by 2k's shenanigans and a lot of us use the threat of not purchasing their Shiny new Beta game 60 bucks when it gets released but they all are lying because we love basketball.
 
# 23 Gramps91 @ 12/20/13 04:20 PM
Lots of good ideas here. They also need to put cpu vs cpu in GM Mode. I plan on staying with current gen until they do so.
 
# 24 Grmplse @ 12/20/13 04:55 PM
In MyTeam since the newest patch release, lag i unbelievable. Its not constant but theres spurts where the game goes slow motion for 1-1.5 second and then speeds through it and catches back up.

3 games in a row last night I get "network conditions too poor to play" and IM awarded the loss? I have 30mb/s internet and know for a fact my connection is great.

Really lame
 
# 25 mblazess @ 12/20/13 05:01 PM
Can anyone confirm for me whether there is now an option to play an co-op games in some sort of season mode (MyGM)?
 
# 26 Coolade @ 12/20/13 05:14 PM
They also took out the option of how to tell a defender to guard his opponent. Remember the soft/normal/tight defensive options? GONE. be prepared to give up wide open 3's all game long with shoddy A.I help defense.
 
# 27 mlb08 @ 12/20/13 05:25 PM
Fix mygm and mycareer crashes. Add custom roster to my career.fix CPU resets rotation. Add back defensive settings. Add back save roster and settings to hd.
 
# 28 twogotwingz3 @ 12/20/13 06:13 PM
They need to fix the mindset of the big men!!!!!!! These guys are 6'9+!!!!! Why is it, every time I throw the ball in the paint and they have the lane wide open they either get their shot blocked doing a ******* reverse layup or they attempt a layup period?!?!???!? This is the NBA!!!!!!!! Not the WNBA, not middle school ball, not D3 small school ball!!!!! They DUNK in the NBA so I don't know what the freak 2k was thinking with the programming....that's all my big men ever go for is layups...

Other that need to hurry up and go are these automatic animations and the dumb fouls called because of the automatic animation that makes players dribble out of bounds..... But when I'm chasing a guy around and I'm tryna run in different directions I get sucked into players setting picks when I'm running and I see the picks but my virtual player doesn't ....and the dumb passes get on my nerves....line drive passes shouldn't happen when people are standing right in front of you...this isn't And 1 !!! I'm not tryna throw the ball off people's face!!! Just like there is a bounce pass control, there needs to be like a nice touch float pass or something
 
# 29 TamiDKennon @ 12/20/13 07:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frythatchicken
Bump, first
thats is not good
 
# 30 vtcrb @ 12/20/13 08:30 PM
1. Let USERs save to Hard Drive

2. FIX CPU Logic in Association(Contract and Trade Logic)

3. CAP(Create A Player) system in ALL Game Modes and FIX 2k Share GLITCH

4. FULL Editing available for Draft Classes(Deeper Scouting as well, maybe scout 2 classes at a time for FUTURE Drafts)

5. BRING Back Association Options. 30 Team USER Control being MAIN thing, also option to Simulate Games

6. Let USERs NOT have to be connected to the Internet to be able to Edit Rosters or Play Game Modes. Not everyone has Great Internet Connection.

7. CAT(Create A TEAM) feature ADDED BACK and fix 2k Share GLITCH

8. Get ALL players into the game that have signed Contract or Played in NBA in the last 18 months.

9. Bring Back D-League

10. Add Back HOT Spots and ISOLATION Tendencies.

11. Fix On-Line so USERs can USE Custom Rosters and Sliders

12. Fix 2k Server Issues

13. Full Playbook Editing and Testing Capabilities and REMOVAL of Broken Plays BRING Back TESTING in Practice MODE

14. Explanation of What Each Attribute, Tendency, Slider, Coaching Profile EFFECT in Gameplay and Sim Stats

15. Work on CPU AI in ALL Game Modes

16. ADD Back Defensive Settings

17. For MY GM Mode: The ability to intervene in games, Manual injury system

18. Add in REAL Life Trading of Draft Picks(ability to Protect Lottery picks,etc)

19. Making COACHING hirings and firings more important. Let us Sign Assistant Coaches from other teams OR Promote Our OWN Assistant Coaches.

20. Create a Coach Option

21. Fix Free Throw Shooting as far as having guys who SUCK at shooting them go 9/10 almost every game

22. If you ADD a game Mode(MyGM, My Player,etc) make sure they work. Put in the time to make each USERs Experience Unique. Too much GENERIC stuff.

23. Expand the TOTAL SIM CONTROL options. Lots of Potential

24. Remove Virtual Currency(VC). We already pay enough for game without having to PAY just to be able to be able to play Modes or Execute Options BUILT INTO the Game.

25. EXPAND Sig Shots(Shot, Layup, Dribbling) to give MORE Authentic Player Abilities on the Court

26. For My Career: Better CPU Draft Logic, More Options in Player Customization, Bring back Option to simulate games

27. Bring Back CREW MODE

28. TAKE OUT AUTO SAVE. No use for it, causes TOO many ISSUES for USERs, that CANT be Undone.

29. Deeper Simulation Mode(meaning you can Sim quarters and play 4th quarter, etc)

30. Get Back to BASKETBALL. Focus on the BASKETBALL element of the game, THEN you can work on all of the EXTRA Modes, Cutaway scenes, adding Celebrity Teams, etc.
 
# 31 VDusen04 @ 12/20/13 09:41 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by vtcrb
1. Let USERs save to Hard Drive

2. FIX CPU Logic in Association(Contract and Trade Logic)

3. CAP(Create A Player) system in ALL Game Modes and FIX 2k Share GLITCH

4. FULL Editing available for Draft Classes(Deeper Scouting as well, maybe scout 2 classes at a time for FUTURE Drafts)

5. BRING Back Association Options. 30 Team USER Control being MAIN thing, also option to Simulate Games

6. Let USERs NOT have to be connected to the Internet to be able to Edit Rosters or Play Game Modes. Not everyone has Great Internet Connection.

7. CAT(Create A TEAM) feature ADDED BACK and fix 2k Share GLITCH

8. Get ALL players into the game that have signed Contract or Played in NBA in the last 18 months.

9. Bring Back D-League

10. Add Back HOT Spots and ISOLATION Tendencies.

11. Fix On-Line so USERs can USE Custom Rosters and Sliders

12. Fix 2k Server Issues

13. Full Playbook Editing and Testing Capabilities and REMOVAL of Broken Plays BRING Back TESTING in Practice MODE

14. Explanation of What Each Attribute, Tendency, Slider, Coaching Profile EFFECT in Gameplay and Sim Stats

15. Work on CPU AI in ALL Game Modes

16. ADD Back Defensive Settings

17. For MY GM Mode: The ability to intervene in games, Manual injury system

18. Add in REAL Life Trading of Draft Picks(ability to Protect Lottery picks,etc)

19. Making COACHING hirings and firings more important. Let us Sign Assistant Coaches from other teams OR Promote Our OWN Assistant Coaches.

20. Create a Coach Option

21. Fix Free Throw Shooting as far as having guys who SUCK at shooting them go 9/10 almost every game

22. If you ADD a game Mode(MyGM, My Player,etc) make sure they work. Put in the time to make each USERs Experience Unique. Too much GENERIC stuff.

23. Expand the TOTAL SIM CONTROL options. Lots of Potential

24. Remove Virtual Currency(VC). We already pay enough for game without having to PAY just to be able to be able to play Modes or Execute Options BUILT INTO the Game.

25. EXPAND Sig Shots(Shot, Layup, Dribbling) to give MORE Authentic Player Abilities on the Court

26. For My Career: Better CPU Draft Logic, More Options in Player Customization, Bring back Option to simulate games

27. Bring Back CREW MODE

28. TAKE OUT AUTO SAVE. No use for it, causes TOO many ISSUES for USERs, that CANT be Undone.

29. Deeper Simulation Mode(meaning you can Sim quarters and play 4th quarter, etc)

30. Get Back to BASKETBALL. Focus on the BASKETBALL element of the game, THEN you can work on all of the EXTRA Modes, Cutaway scenes, adding Celebrity Teams, etc.
This is all outstanding. I would love all of that would likely hop right back onto the 2K train if ever 50% of those aspects came to fruition.

One additional, self-serving thing I honestly think would help: returning some attention back to the classic teams. I do not mean a new mode devoted to them entirely, but perhaps adding some new teams, even if they're recent classics featuring a lot of players who remain active in the NBA ('07 Warriors, Cavaliers) or even classic teams that could be largely comprised of other classic players already included ('00 Raptors).

A lot of serious NBA fans are also fans of its history, and I think some classic team TLC could go a long way toward bridging that gap 2K's created in recent years.
 
# 32 Philstat @ 12/20/13 09:43 PM
ABSOLUTELY CAN'T STAND THE ROSTER ISSUE! Beyond frustrating that you don't have any control over saving your roster to your HD and editing the lineups to your liking. In GM mode you have to play an 82 game season, what a freaking grind. Back to the roster, the fact that you can't alter other teams lineups in GM mode, honestly brutally unhappy with this game, have played it less than any year past. VC - despise!
 
# 33 Kaanyr Vhok @ 12/20/13 11:54 PM
Wow I wouldnt even put ball handling in the discussion.
 
# 34 banks2531 @ 12/21/13 12:27 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Batum Shaka Laka
Fix the atrocious input lag online, fix the Dolby "choppy" sound glitch on PS4, rerate Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez and I'd be happy...

I'm a quick match player, but the input lag online makes this game completely un-enjoyable.
THANK YOU! I thought i was the only one who noticed. All i do is play quick play online and the input lag is terrible. Not even worth playing. PLEASE FIX 2K!
 
# 35 Philstat @ 12/21/13 12:55 AM
Wished I would've bought current gen version vice next, NG offers better graphics - absolutely falls short in options and content.
 
# 36 hutch23 @ 12/21/13 03:55 AM
Give us local co-op in mygm mode!!!
 
# 37 tril @ 12/21/13 09:10 AM
I see the concept/logic behind the VC system. Its just poorly executed. They should include a mode with VC turned on or off!!!. If 2k gets rid of VC all together then the GM mode will become too easy and users will breeze right through the mode.
There is a proper balance in there somewhere.
certain things shouldnt cost VCs
Changing lineups shouldnt cost VCs. Talking to players shouldnt cost VCs. Travel and lodging should cost VC's. scouting players should cost VC's. Player rehab should cost VC's-as in sending someone over seas for special rehab treatment. staff/player salaries, maintaining building facilities should cost VC's. and it should be based on a teams market size/overall team budget and revenue streams etc. .
 
# 38 Guard-ian @ 12/21/13 09:58 AM
Online has to improve a lot. Better stability, less lag... Online Leagues must be what they used to be in 2k11 and before.

Blocking system is more balanced in current gen. Too many times guards blocks bigmen, there should be more diffrentiation between great and ordinay blockers, and in the peremeter the system is still a mess, too may blocks there, players with a slow release are useless due to this problem...

In the paint the Post game need to be more effective that just standing layups, if you use a star it only takes to face up and press shooting... Skills should be a must to excel in ths game.

At the end of the day I just want to play basketball and not only a videogame...

Cheers!
 
# 39 VDusen04 @ 12/21/13 01:12 PM
When does the NBA 2K15 wishlist thread usually pop up?
 
# 40 eko718 @ 12/21/13 01:26 PM
Provide the same options available in current gen across all modes and FIX THE GRAPHICAL ANOMALIES. For as much credit as this game gets for visuals, like 40% of the players in the game are not only poorly rendered but actually look glitched. They are fixable, as evidenced by previous fixes to player heads, body types and complexions that were made. Take pride in the visuals that were the selling point of the game.
 


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