The "Shot Defense Strength" Sliders Explained

[EccentricMeat]

Quote: Originally Posted by SlimFast_GymRat

So, in conclusion to explaining this what number of value do you think would be most optimal to set these sliders at to achieve the most balance (even a ballpark rating) for certain levels? For example, as someone who plays All-Star or Superstar level, what number of value would give them good competition without compromising the endless amount of animations they'd wish to see. I have these sliders for both user/CPU range between 40 to above 50.

I haven’t done my own fine-tuning yet to be able to give you a good answer. And the “optimal” value of these settings will vary based on other sliders (shot success, on ball defense, body up sensitivity, etc.) as well as personal skill level. This is why I went the route of explaining what the sliders do as you increase/decrease them so that everyone can tweak their own slider set to match the results that play best for them.

As a general rule, I would say to keep Jump Shot Defense Strength (Gather) low (40-50 should be fine, or higher for more of a challenge) while (Release) should be high. How low and how high will vary from person to person.

Quote: Originally Posted by bagojohn76

Holy cow!!!!! I finally feel like 2k19 is what I was hoping for now. Thanks for your time and insight, bro! The game looks, plays and feels like a AAA product after fine tuning these sliders. I feel like now I can adjust the play style to reflect different eras and to simply enjoy the game more. My only issue is why didn't the devs make this change a point of emphasis in terms of relaying the changes and details to the customers???? Maybe they did and I missed it? But it seems like this is a very important detail when you consider how much it impacts the actual gameplay and feel of the game. Thanks, fellas!

Your guess is as good as mine! They still haven’t explained what half the sliders do, and the rest are self-explanatory. Maybe the devs don’t even know?

[Branbran225]

Do you know which defense slider to increase to make post spins and drop steps harder to score with?

[SlimFast_GymRat]

Quote: Originally Posted by EccentricMeat

I haven’t done my own fine-tuning yet to be able to give you a good answer. And the “optimal” value of these settings will vary based on other sliders (shot success, on ball defense, body up sensitivity, etc.) as well as personal skill level. This is why I went the route of explaining what the sliders do as you increase/decrease them so that everyone can tweak their own slider set to match the results that play best for them. As a general rule, I would say to keep Jump Shot Defense Strength (Gather) low (40-50 should be fine, or higher for more of a challenge) while (Release) should be high. How low and how high will vary from person to person. Your guess is as good as mine! They still haven’t explained what half the sliders do, and the rest are self-explanatory. Maybe the devs don’t even know?

Thanks, every time I feel like I've found a medium, 2K implements a patch and I'm back to square one!

I generally have On-Ball Defense (10-20), Lateral Quickness (40), and Body Sensitivity (15-25) pretty low (just to combat the stick Pippen-esque aggressiveness from defenders).

I haven't adjusted jumpshot gather and release strength/success either (40-50 range), but I've increased layup strength (100) for both USER/CPU values to test the difference (along w/contact shot success).

I'm making layups at a more realistic (yet reasonable) rate, but shot feedback is obviously more unforgiving. Gameplay seems fair so far.

There's honestly a ton of sliders that factor into the quality of gameplay on offense. Driving contact frequency, contact shot success, etc. I'm still figuring out the difference between the consistency and awareness sliders.

You're right, though. All of this can be very confusing, some sliders seem indistinguishable and... it feels like we're doing way too much work for 2K loool

[EccentricMeat]

Quote: Originally Posted by SlimFast_GymRat

Thanks, every time I feel like I've found a medium, 2K implements a patch and I'm back to square one! I generally have On-Ball Defense (10-20), Lateral Quickness (40), and Body Sensitivity (15-25) pretty low (just to combat the stick Pippen-esque aggressiveness from defenders). I haven't adjusted jumpshot gather and release strength/success either (40-50 range), but I've increased layup strength (100) for both USER/CPU values to test the difference (along w/contact shot success). I'm making layups at a more realistic (yet reasonable) rate, but shot feedback is obviously more unforgiving. Gameplay seems fair so far. There's honestly a ton of sliders that factor into the quality of gameplay on offense. Driving contact frequency, contact shot success, etc. I'm still figuring out the difference between the consistency and awareness sliders. You're right, though. All of this can be very confusing, some sliders seem indistinguishable and... it feels like we're doing way too much work for 2K loool

I’m actually testing the Consistency and Awareness sliders as we speak. I’ve only just started so I haven’t reached any comprehensive conclusions or anything but I’ll definitely let you know if/when I do.

[EccentricMeat]

Quote: Originally Posted by Branbran225

Do you know which defense slider to increase to make post spins and drop steps harder to score with?

First thing would be to set Drive/Inside Contact Shot Frequency both to 100 so the proper animations trigger. Increase Layup Defense Strength (Takeoff) so that the defender is better able to get in a position to contest the layup and so his presence has a more drastic impact on lowering the shot success rate, and increase the LDS (Release) slider to trigger better block/contest animations that also have a more negative affect on shot success.

Same goes for fade-away shots in the post, except you need to increase the Jump Shot Defense Strength sliders to combat that. The higher you set the (Gather) slider, the better the defender is at reacting as soon as the shot attempt begins and the more his presence negatively affects the shot. Increase (Release) for more aggressive block/contest animations and a more negative affect at the release of the shot.

And again, if you want the CPU defense to be stronger against you, you need to increase the USER Defense Strength slider. If you want your defense to be stronger against the CPU, you need to increase the CPU Defense Strength sliders.

[bagojohn76]

Yeah, this makes sense after messing with the sliders a bit. I'm an older guy that has always tried to get that 80's-90's gameplay feel where things were more physical but shots dropped at a respectable rate. Raising the offensive and defensive awareness actually makes the players and teams react like true professional ball players now. I haven't checked but I would assume that the main difference between base difficulty settings without tweaking the sliders is focused mainly on gather/release adjustments paired with shot success rate adjustments. Eccentric, you may be discovering why the patches always create more gameplay problems than they really solve. The real answers to improving gameplay is probably within this slider logic. I am seeing an entirely new set of animations that fit the gameplay situations. Hello devs?????

[atlplayboy23]

Quote: Originally Posted by bagojohn76

Yeah, this makes sense after messing with the sliders a bit. I'm an older guy that has always tried to get that 80's-90's gameplay feel where things were more physical but shots dropped at a respectable rate. Raising the offensive and defensive awareness actually makes the players and teams react like true professional ball players now. I haven't checked but I would assume that the main difference between base difficulty settings without tweaking the sliders is focused mainly on gather/release adjustments paired with shot success rate adjustments. Eccentric, you may be discovering why the patches always create more gameplay problems than they really solve. The real answers to improving gameplay is probably within this slider logic. I am seeing an entirely new set of animations that fit the gameplay situations. Hello devs?????

What do you have for your 90s era sliders looking for some

[bagojohn76]

I am on Xbox and my gamertag is bago76. I still need to make some further adjustments but this is giving me the overall feel that I enjoy. Definitely remember to decrease the 3pt. attempts and increase "look for post players" and "take post shots" sliders. The team playbooks are another factor. Many of the default playbooks leave your C and PF roaming the perimeter. The sliders actually seem to have the desired effect on the game this year. I haven't settled on settings yet but I am much happier with the game already. Players like Reggie Miller(CAP) and the other all time greats stand out more, most likely because the sliders adjustments make players with higher ratings appear and play as "higher rated" players.