Before addressing My Team's many design issues, it must be stressed that gamers cannot enjoy a mode when, on a technical level, it does not work.

Because of NBA 2K14's always-online requirements, any time 2K Sports' servers are down -- as they often are -- My Team will not even boot past the initial loading screen. The mode's frequent, random network errors are equally discouraging, especially when these disconnections cause nearly finished games to be thrown out, or even worse, automatically forfeited.


Adding offline functionality to every game mode, not just My Team, would greatly improve NBA 2K15.


If gamers are looking to add a specific NBA player to their My Team roster, the best bet is to purchase a team pack. This strategy works reasonably well if the desired card comes from a low-cost team like the Milwaukee Bucks or Sacramento Kings, whose packs command only 3,750 VC. But what if you're trying to secure a backup player from big-market franchises like the Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat or New York Knicks, all of which demand 10,000 VC per pack?

It is unfair, perhaps even cruel, to force users into unloading 10,000 virtual currency points just for a seven percent chance of pulling bronze role players like Tyshawn Taylor, Chris “Birdman” Anderson or Tim Hardaway Jr. A card marketplace, where NBA 2K fans can buy, sell or trade cards among themselves, would ensure that LeBron James doesn't end up costing the same amount as Norris Cole.

Fairness -- an attribute that My Team sorely lacks -- is asking NBA 2K15 to incorporate a feature that every other non-basketball version of Ultimate Team already includes.


Just how badly is Visual Concepts shortchanging consumers with its current card prices?

A gold premium pack in NBA Live 14, for comparison, contains four to five players. A standard Ultimate Team gold pack, which is often awarded just for completing game challenges, offers at least two to three players.

NBA 2K14's reward of just one player per My Team pack is unreasonable, especially considering the amount of time it takes to afford one. A skilled gamer can bank between 6,000 to 8,000 My Team points from a single Domination event, which means it will take, at minimum, seven 40-minute games (4 and a half hours) just to add 1 potentially good NBA player to your lineup.

I say "potentially good," because gold packs offer no guarantee of landing a useful player. You could pull a "gold stud" like Marcin Gortat or receive a slow, over-the-hill Kevin Garnett. Worse yet, you could receive a second copy of a player you already own.


Imagine if, instead of receiving a biweekly paycheck, you only received a below-the-belt punch for all the hours you worked. That stinging sensation is what it feels like trying to play My Team as its designers intended.

There is no worse feeling in NBA 2K14 -- aside from seeing the dreaded "2K Sports' server is not available" screen -- than saving up for an expensive card pack, opening it eagerly, then turning red in the face as the card flips over, revealing a duplicate item.

To illustrate how out-of-control the duplicate card issue is, I purchased more than 30 historic packs this past week, at a cost of 6,000 VC per pack, trying to complete the 2000-2001 Philadelphia 76ers collection. As I'm typing this sentence, I currently own just six of the eight scrubs who are required to complete the team and unlock Allen Iverson. That means 80 percent of the time I opened a pack, I either threw my 6,000 VC into the cyber landfill, or I got punched in the gut -- whichever metaphor you prefer.

This ridiculousness is why NBA 2K14's most popular roster file, downloaded over 268,409 times on PlayStation 4, is not an official NBA roster with up-to-date transactions, but rather, a virtual currency "farming" exploit that places Jordan, Dr. J and Shaq on the same team, while tossing the rest of the NBA's superstars into free agency.


Playing game after game of Road To The Playoffs against the same 10 to 15 superstar athletes quickly grows old.

New and casual My Team players may feel intimidated, or even discouraged, when they are repeatedly pitted against users who have invested tons of time or money into their lineup. Including a salary capped ladder path within the existing Road To The Playoffs mode would increase team variety and introduce more strategy to roster building. Tier-based talent restrictions would also allow My Team newcomers to field a competitive squad, even against seasoned players.

It was Visual Concepts, after all, who invented the gold, silver and bronze tier system in All-Pro Football 2K8. So why not bring back the "two gold players, three silver players, seven bronze players" model for NBA 2K15?


After defeating all 33 teams in Domination mode, gamers who prefer to play NBA 2K14 against the computer aren't left with many exciting options to maintain their interest in My Team.

Aside from replaying Domination games, which aren't much fun to begin with, because they force the user to chase after artificial in-game goals, NBA 2K14 offers just seven offline tournaments, all set against randomly generated computer teams. NBA Live 14, by comparison, now contains 45 different solo tournaments -- a number that has steadily increased since launch day.

Sports series like Madden, FIFA, NHL and NBA Live continually release compelling offline challenges, such as battling legendary teams from the past, or taking on a particular season's All-Star team. If all these titles can produce entertaining single-player challenges on a regular basis, why can't NBA 2K15?


For a game that's sold more than three million copies over the past four months, it's disappointing to discover how few cards have been added to NBA 2K14 since its release. Apart from limited locker codes for Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant, as well as three special tournaments for Stephen Curry, James Harden, and Scottie Pippen, Visual Concepts hasn't added much new content to the mode since the NBA season began.

If a game like NHL 14, which serves an audience of just 500,000 customers, can make dozens of new Player of the Game, Team of The Week and Career Milestone cards based on real NHL happenings, there is no good reason why NBA 2K15 cannot do the same.

Instead of updating My Team's card market alongside the 2013-2014 NBA season, Visual Concepts has been drip-feeding the same historic players who were already present on NBA 2K14's default roster from day one. It makes no sense to keep gamers waiting nearly four months to use Allen Iverson in My Team when he and his 2000-2001 76ers team have been available in exhibition mode since release day.

The recently completed All-Star Weekend would have been a great opportunity to promote special items, like a Marco Belinelli card with boosted shooting ratings, or a Kyrie Irving "MVP Edition" that raises all his attributes by a few points. Instead, My Team remains filled with outdated players (Goran Dragić) and overrated teams (anyone playing in the state of New York), whose ratings have not been touched since November.

This week, Visual Concepts unveiled the "emerald" card series, which features ratings updates for 14 of this season's "biggest movers." These attribute adjustments, barring a few scattered +2 boosts, are largely a copy and paste job from NBA 2K14's regular NBA Today roster updates. Changes like this should be automatically incorporated into My Team's entire card set, not limited to a small selection of players.

If a player marketplace is added to NBA 2K15, users would be rewarded for "buying low" on rising stars like DeMar DeRozan and Anthony Davis at the start of the season, then letting those cards' values appreciate as NBA Today updates gradually make them more desirable. Special edition cards could then be reserved for celebrating career milestones, like Kobe Bryant (potentially) eclipsing Michael Jordan's all-time points total, or career evenings, like Gerald Green's and Jodie Meeks' 40-point performances against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Gamers could unlock these bonus cards by recreating Green's and Meek's point totals in an offline matchup against the CPU Thunder, a challenge that would be way more enjoyable than simply receiving items from luck-of-the-draw pack openings.


NBA 2K14 already compiles many advanced metrics inside its My GM mode.

Bringing all this information over to My Team would allow gamers to compete for bragging rights on each console, plus it would give coaches more data to examine when deciding whom to bench and whom to start.

Keeping track of mode-wide records and handing out weekly/monthly awards would give My Team's most dedicated owners something extra to play for.

Do you support these ideas? How else would you improve My Team for NBA 2K15? Share your suggestions in the comments below.