2k19 Myleague Wishlist
First things first, thank you davez and the entire NBA 2K developer crew for posting here reading and responding to our requests for your game. You guys don’t have to but you do, and you guys care about the game as much as we do. I don’t post much but I would like to take this time/post/wish-list thread to challenge Erick Boenisch, and everyone at 2K and Visual Concepts, using Erick’s quote in one of the opening paragraphs of the 2K18 MyGM/ Myleague blog.
“Innovation. Authenticity. Engagement. Those are the exact three words I lead off with last year in NBA 2K17’s MyGM/Myleague blog. We have used those three words to serve the NBA 2K community well for many, many years now. In a space where other developers continually shy away, the team here at Visual Concepts has once again delivered a robust and thoughtful list of franchise features that will keep you coming back for more.” -Erik Boenisch
You guys nailed innovation and authenticity, no doubt. The only category that I feel is lacking is engagement. I think this wish list is the foundation to keep 99% of all Myleague players satisfied for the foreseeable future. Not just my personal wish list, but something that I think all myleaguers would appreciate. Keep in mind my total time spent in 2K is in myleague or association mode back in the day, I’ve never got into mycareer or any online mode. It’s a bit long of a read but I believe well worth it, just as all of your blogs are. You guys take the time to post here and interact with us so I took my time to really think about what this mode could be in comparison to run the neighborhood mode, and gave viable options and reasoning with every or most myleaguers in mind. I want to pop this game in and never turn it off and play it for a lifetime. Yes, that kind of engagement. Not speaking on gameplay, of course.
Anyways lets get started.
1A) Year to year saves for Myleague. I know its probably a lengthy pain to code and program, but at this point it’s starting to become a must. More and more people I’ve seen, read, and felt myself are experiencing a connection to the point where its a struggle or sacrifice getting the new game. Some of us gamers are getting older and have less time to devote to gaming and rebuilding a dynasty each time a game releases. Myleague has the ability to play out for 80 years, why does it go on for that long and what’s the point if we can’t continue our progress from a previous iteration? Yes I could sim ahead and see what unfolded, but some people including myself actually play a lot, if not the majority of the games in the season, especially with this year’s gameplay. Thats why we buy and play the game it plays beautifully. But our history, our blood, sweat, and tears, grinding away all season gets discredited and wiped away each year with each release. Not to mention this is an opportunity to solidify yourselves for a few future markets. With NBA Live trying to make noise, yes there is clear competition for the create your player and play against/with other people online; mycareer/ mypark/ myteam/ street ball/ pro am/ drew league stuff which is fine, and I get it. And yes NBA Live struck first in the WNBA landscape, but which game gives us the option to carry our franchises/dynasties to the next game and continue to write our own history? In addition you can adapt that feature into your WNBA if/when you do decide to do bring in the WNBA and take that market away from Live. The neighborhood mode you have added seems amazingly fun and all, but this, and the rest of this list, would be just as huge if not bigger to the myleague community. I can’t speak for everyone, but it won’t go unnoticed, nor under appreciated for the dedicated myleaguers out there.
Just please don’t make it an exclusively online connected only mode/feature, that is what Myleague online is for. Speaking of which…
1B) Merge offline and online myleague to be same thing, to an extent. Its a perfect 2 birds with one stone opportunity if done properly. Having year to year saves connected/online (Myleague Online) would be the same experience as offline with all features leaving no myleague player group behind. This would be the connected/online version of the offline year to year saves as I mentioned earlier. It would effect both groups (Online and offline) positively at the same time, again if done properly. Our myleague online counterparts will finally get what we’ve had offline, as you can tell by the forum people are jumping ship because it’s lack continuity and depth. The only thing that you would need to add to the online myleague would be a commissioner tool/window. I could go in depth but I’ll leave this link for a deeper discussion as I don’t personally play Myleague Online:
http://forums.operationsports.com/fo...ak-future.html
2A) Complete roster flexibility. Allow us to export our myleague rosters and/or teams for use in a play now games. Allow us to generate random team rosters, for anyone that wants to create an entirely new league with new team rebrands and fresh faces not in the league. Allow us to export and copy individual players from any myleague or roster file and have them in our created player pool for us to use at our leisure. Increase our created player pool and add shareable/downloadable player DNAs like past 2Ks. Just think, even if it’s a weird but appealing random generated rookie, let us save him and add him to another myleague or draft class. It feels like you guys are right on the cusps of adding this anyways, maybe even do a patch. You guys added a lot great legends and all time teams, with us being able to run a myleague with them, but there is one big issue for those that care about stats. When you use a legend in your myleague, their all time stats are duplicated and the currently activated legend stats are added on top of what they already have, taking up two spots. Could we finally get a reset league stats option, for those that want to start a new legends or NCAA myleague? Or disable legends stats? Something that won’t break the all time leader boards.
This could also be our backdoor to college basketball. Another 2 birds with one stone situation. We are 8 years removed since any kind of college basketball, with zero on this current generation of consoles and none for the foreseeable future, this is the “backdoor” feature that would satisfy that need once set up. If we could save our rebrands offline and have them all displayed correctly without being connected all the time, throw in a force retirement at the end of season option for any player (even a league option, force retire after 4 years) and bam, the closest thing to college basketball. *Side note I haven’t tried it in 18 yet, but in 17 you had to be connected at all times for all of the jersey’s and courts you downloaded to be displayed correctly in myleague.
2B)Import our created draft classes from previous games. This ties into not recreating our myleague year after year. Some people still get that authentic college gameplay and presentation in CH2K8 or NCAA Basketball 10. Some people still have their draft classes and personal storylines and spend there first few days recreating their draft classes instead playing the actual game. Could we also get a draft recap screen from previous years under the history tab, so we can see rookies where they got drafted and compare how they progressed over the years. Unless you fully integrate points 1A and 2A, then this could be forgiven if ignored or passed over. Otherwise can we please get this feature to compensate.
But anyways now for the fun and dynamic stuff.
The system proficiency, a nice addition but slightly underwhelming. When you create or adjust your starting lineup the coach proficiency automatically places who ever it wants in the spot. Also there is no clear way to truly know it’s benefits, but lets add even more depth to the coaches.
3A)Deeper coaching staff, and smarter coach signing logic. Self explanatory, add 2 or 3 assistant slots not necessarily tied to offense/defense or even a system, but 2 to 3 assistant slots, on top of keeping the current Trainer and Scout. For myleague if not replacing the CFO, GM positions with assistants coaches add another assistant coach slot. Make higher rated coaches way more likely to re-sign with their current team, especially if they are successful or make the playoffs. Make losing a coach of high stature drop team chemistry/moral a few notches and drop fan interest too. Have higher rated head coaches never go to a rebuilding franchise. Instead have them sit out a few years and still be available for an extended period of time looking for the “just right” situation or contending teams, otherwise retire. Have coach profiles, wins and loss records, which teams previously coached etc… Have CPU head coaches evaluate their strengths, the team’s roster when reviewing job offers and hiring assistants. If their is a new head coach signing have him have an option of replacing the current coaching staff with his guys, or cherry pick and hire a few of his own loyal coaching staff. Make the head coach look at/for assistants that either add on top of his own strengths or fills a void that compliments his strengths.
3B)Create our own coaches, and make CPU coaches deeper and matter on all fronts. Add badges on top of the new system proficiency. Have them effect and influence players off the court and in late game situations. Have coaches impact progress and regression, some coaches favor progressing younger players while leaving veterans high and dry and of course an opposite. You could add a plethora of options, think player badges but for coaches. Some head coach specific, some team chemistry badges, and in game badges. Then developmental badges, influence/style badges for all coaches/assistants. Make them all useful in both Myleague and Mygm, editable of course in Myleague.
Scale Options:
Bronze= effects 70 and lower players, Silver= effects 80 and lower players, Gold= effect 90 and lower players (HOF) all players, or
Maybe Bronze 1%, Silver 3%, Gold 5%, and HOF 7% boost for all players, or
Maybe even a 3%, 5%, 7%, 10%, or
Even a 1,2,3,5% scale.
Every coach brings something to the table, it would add a lot of dynamics when creating our coaching staff and evaluating our team year to year in all aspects. Instead of just looking for an A+ coach/assistant or solely a specific system, this will make it interesting and develop our teams differently with each coaching staff adding something unique that will matter down the line. Coaches don’t nearly get the love that the players do, understandable I see you guys making strides this year, but give a little more variation and personality in each one. Here are some example badges:
Trainer Only Badges: (Or use the current names)
Overseas Treatment- Increase injury chance but players coming off injuries boost attributes for 1 month
Smarter Not Harder- Reduce injury chances
Extra Workouts- All players get a boost in development, but increases risk of injury during games and practice
Gym Rats- Increase player endurance
Medical School Honors- Reduces injuries and increases endurance
Game Day- Stops/slows fatigue rate final 5 minutes of game
Scout Only Badges:
International-More accurate overseas scouting
Local Gyms- More accurate scouting for prospects from the current team’s city, county, state and/or region
Red Flag Hunter- Less accurate but spots a bust after scouting in less trips than normal
Gem Hunter- Less scouting trips but spots 80+ potential after scouting in less trips than normal
Online Researcher- Extra scouting trips but less accurate
Game Day- Significantly less scouting trips, but more accurate, also points out a matchup that you can take advantage of at pre-game tip and after substitutions
Developmental Badges (All Coaches):
Baby sitter-Increases rookie/younger players development, regress older players faster
No boys allowed- Older players regress at a slower/minimal rate, rookie/younger player develop at slower/minimal rate
The A Team- Only the starters get small development boost
The B Team- All non starters get a small development boost
Let it fly- All players, gets a small development boost in offensive skills
Lock it down- All players gets a small development boost in defensive skills
Physical Fundamentals- All players get a small boost (speed, strength, hustle, fatigue etc…)
Mental Fundamentals- All players get a small boost in IQ things (Shot IQ, O & D awareness etc…)
Grinder- All players gets a boost in development but an increase in injuries
Ex PG- All PG’s gets a small development increase
Ex SG- All SG’s gets a small development increase
Ex SF All SF’s gets a small development increase
Ex PF- All PF’s gets a small development increase
Ex C- All C’s gets a small development increase
Never played a game- All players gets a boost in awareness, a boost in everything IQ related and regress at a slower/minimal rate
All Time Great (Only unlocked by ex players inside the top 25 of any individual stat category)- Players at that position gains a boost in attribute related in said stat category. And increase development.
Influence/Style Badges (All Coaches):
Re-up -Increases re-signing chances of your free agents
Ex Point Guard- Increase PG interest in team
Ex Wingman -Increase SG/SF interest in team
Ex Big Man -Increase PF/C interest in team
Head Liner- Increases higher rated players interest in team that doesn’t fit system, decrease interest in system players
Championship Pedigree- Increase interest for players who have a high championship desire (Unlock if you won a championship)
Proud Alumni- Increase interest in any player that attended the same college as coach
Old Coach- Increase interest in any player previously coached (Longer coached= higher interest)
Effects Coaching Staff
Loyalty to organization- Increases the chance of staying with the organization over anything else
Loyalty to the staff (Head Coach)- Increases the chance of keeping staff together, or chose 1 assistant to join you at new job
Loyalty to the staff (Assistant Coaches)- Increases chance of following the head coach if he leaves
*Having no loyalty badge coaches can get swayed easily to leave or stay for a higher price*
Building the system- Increases the effect of every coach’s badge on the staff, *But can’t have any other badges*
Team Chemistry Badges (Head Coach Only):
My Fault- No/minimal team chemistry & morale loss after a loss
Team Day - Boost team chemistry and morale on off days
Post game quotes- Boost or no loss of team chemistry and morale after a loss
Silent Treatment-Reduce team chemistry & morale but increase attributes for 1 game after a loss
Buying the system- Added increase in team chemistry and morale after a win, normal loss after a loss
In Game Badges (Head Coach Only) *All things regarding time assuming 12 minute quarters*:
Drawing up plays- Boost player offensive attributes for two possessions after timeouts in the last 2 minutes
Late game D- Boost player defensive attributes for two possessions after timeouts in the last 2 minutes
Fast Start- Team starts the 1st quarter with a 5 minute boost in attributes
Comeback Magic- If down 10+ at the beginning of the 4th quarter, your team gets a 5 minute boost in attributes, looses effect once tied, ahead, or time runs out
Halftime Adjustments-If down at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, your team gets a 5 minute boost in attributes
Comeback Kings- If down mid way through the 4th, your team increases attributes. Looses effect once tied or ahead
Foot on the gas- At the start of any quarter, and your team is ahead, increase attributes for 5 minutes
Closers- The last 5 minutes of all quarters except the 4th, when ahead your team gets a increase in attributes
Sell it- Increase foul calls for your opponent (Last two minutes)
Swallow the whistle- Decreases foul calls for your team (Last 2 minutes) Overrides sell it badge if higher, if the same negate both effects. *Higher meaning bronze, silver, gold, HOF*
Let them play- Decrease all foul calls (Last 2 minutes) Overrides both Swallow the whistle & sell it badge if badge is higher, if the same negate both/all effects *Higher meaning bronze, silver, gold, HOF*
They’re Calling Everything- Increase all foul calls (Last 2 minutes) Overrides Swallow the whistle, sell it, and let them play badges if higher. If same negate both/all effects *Higher meaning bronze, silver, gold, HOF*
4A) Smart/Dynamic game plans. I read the AI improvement Blog, really happy about that. I noticed you updated the Jordan Rule, but If I have a lockdown defender that I want to lockdown a scorer/star, there is no option in the game plan to match his match up minutes. Example: I have a lockdown defender that doesn’t start, but his match up starts, he starts and guards his man. If said star/scorer subs out, then my guy subs out automatically with his match up. When said scorer/star comes back in, my defender comes in too. Have this override advance auto rotation stated in 4B, for this specific player.
4B)Advance auto rotation for foul trouble. Give us sliders based on what we think max fouls should be. For the first quarter 2,3,4 etc or none, sub out accordingly. If my first quarter max foul is at 3, let players stay in the game until his foul count is at 3 then sub out if it is still in the first quarter. Same for the second and third quarter, have a max foul limit so players can stay in the game until they reach their max number in any given quarter. Have an option that if x player fouls out then x player comes in. Or if “x” position fouls out the next up according to our depth chart gets subbed in. Essentially make situational dynamic auto rotation lineups.
5)Lineup packages for manual substitutions. Starting lineup/Back up lineups/ Bigs lineups/ Shooters lineup/ Defensive lineup/ etc… editable line up names and packages options in the coach game plan not just before each game and have all lineups available in the substitution menu at the pause screen during a game.
6)Force CPU v CPU wins, easy enough right? Just keep re-simulating until the desired team wins. Sometimes your simulation engine can produce some off the wall wonky results, this could be a nice addition that can be a work around. On the daily schedule screen where we could highlight games to participate in, just simply add a force win either home or away option. Myleague is our sandbox, it should be possible to line up against our rivals in every conference finals or finals if we want to guarantee that to happen in our world of myleague. Or force a team to tank to increase their chances at the #1 pick. Don’t limit our control of what happens within our league. You guys have given us free reign over a lot of things, this is just another thing that I know a lot of players will absolutely use and appreciate, not just to benefit our teams but the CPU teams as well.
7)Have different scoreboard options. The games are already marked and predetermined on the schedule as major TV games, why not make it actually feel and look like one. With a simple scoreboard change, you could. You don’t even need an TNT, NBATV or whatever logo license, just use an older game scoreboard or create a few new ones. You guys have a lot of different ones already in house that are already different. Look back at 2K1, 2K2, 2K8, 2K9, 2K10, 2K14, and 2K15 scoreboards, obviously spruce up the older ones graphically, and on top of the grey in 2K8, have a white option, plus home court color option. That’s more than 6 different options already that you don’t need to make over again, and it adds variety. Just like the different reporters for different teams. Possibly have a different scoreboard for each division if it is not a major TV game. A different one for the playoffs, and of course the finals. Then you won’t have to recreate any more if you don’t want to. Or you could just give us the option to pick one before the game loads.
8)Have the ability to play our Myleague games in any arena, whether any current team court design, an older different era court design, or our own created courts. The courts are there on the game, why limit them to play now and specific teams. I want to re-create, if I wanted to, the Bulls at Utah with that old school white and purple jersey in the classic Delta Center with the mountain logo in the middle, but within my Myleague when the game is on the schedule. Before the game loads where we select our jerseys, maybe just have an option press L2, and R2, to filter era specific home team arena. Then press anything lets say triangle, to change home court arena team, and same thing just cycle through specific era arenas. Could this ever be a possibility? It will give us the ability to use and experience all of the courts.
9)Scores around the league halftime segment. If my memory serves me right, they were in there before. Why did you take them out? It was a nice immersion thing that gave the season a breath of life. Add a ticker at the bottom of the screen during the game, when a timeout is called and/or during the halftime show. Or a really engaging and deep immersion thing would be during a timeout or stoppage in play, stop our game and jump to a game winning basket in another game, or a triple double that just happened, a monster blow out, or a major injury around the league. Of course make sure that the games and updates come from games that are played before or started at the same time as our game, no future predictions from later games that haven’t started yet, Obviously reflect those scores from the force sim feature from earlier, and have the same score/stats when you are done with the game. Then pick up where our timeout just started and continue or game, comment on the scenario/s. Seriously I would be totally cool with scrapping the current half time segment. Instead of showing highlights from the wrong team while they are discussing the pros and cons of the other team, always, just go straight to around the league. You don’t even need highlights, a quick boxscore thing with highest performing player for each team, with a brief this team is up, or won for a like 10-15 seconds per game. We are playing our game we know what is going on. Preview future games later that night, or major games coming up around the league. Afterwards come back to the final screen that you have right now showing the team stats FG% etc… and start off like “Well back here lets see if either of these teams can make adjustments because of… etc” That would be absolutely lovely.
What else, I was thinking create our own plays, but it’s not a necessity at this point. I can’t really think of anything else that is a make or break for myleague. Or anything of real deep engagement. Deeper G-League rosters and playable G-League games I guess, but I would much rather have everything on this list first. Looking at the neighborhood mode, adding all of this list would be the equivalent for us myleaguers. Total control and continuity of our myleague worlds for both online and offline. Then anything else that you guys can think of, or already in the works, would just be the cherry on top. This game mode would be absolute golden if these came into fruition. You’ll unlocked your Hall of Fame Engagement badge so to speak. Again though thats just one man’s opinion.
I didn’t mean to write an essay over here filled with half rants, I just care deeply about basketball on so many levels, as I am sure you do as well not to mention my fellow OS’ers. Even though our preferences and priorities differ, we all want the best out of 2K and all sports video games. Whether its playing video games, or in real life I choose basketball over anything else. With the inclusion of these items I can confidently say that I won’t need any other game beside NBA 2K(fill in the year). I almost did not purchase 2K18 this year, solely on the fact that I couldn’t continue my myleague progress. My time is a resource that is growing sparse. I really wanted to wait for the 2K that will have the ability to continue with me, but the improvements in AI and the coach system proficiency snagged me in. I know coding/programing it will be a lengthy pain, but maybe in 2K19 our/my prayers will be answered and we can finally continue our previous myleagues. But honestly I’m about 90% sure I am done buying another 2K. If I can’t continue my myleague. It makes me sad just thinking it. For some added context, I don’t watch baseball at all. Baseball is 3rd far behind basketball and football yet I still purchase MLB The Show yearly only because they have year to year saves. Madden, I have stopped for numerous reasons since 16 and for NBA2K, I don’t want 18 to be my last purchase. As I’m getting older, I don’t have time to recreate dynasties year in and out. I’m still rocking with my team and created players since The Show 14, and never had to restart, nor worry about it. Now imagine how thrilled if NBA fans and gamers would be if we have that with 2K? A far more popular sport. Seriously salivating over the thought. I truly believe if you added this list, especially year to year saves, your fans and supporters of myleague will only grow and be here for life. As a 10-year strictly offline 2K veteran, I think that eventually more offline myleague players will shift to this same mind frame, unless they are converted to the neighborhood or Live. Maybe not, maybe I’m the delusional 1%, but I can live with that and just like everyone else, post his opinion. All in all 2K is an exceptional product and there are great improvements every year, but can we please get year to year saves?
Anyways thats my wish list. Sorry again for the long post if you made it this far, truly thanks. Thank you for reading this 2K, and thank you for 10 years of absolute fun and memorable moments. I will subscribe for a lifetime of yearly pre-order purchases if these are in next game, I will play year round with no worries.
Truly thank you 2K and any other developer from any company. Thank you for taking the time posting here reading, responding, and considering our requests and comments no matter how absurd, minuscule or annoying. Looking forward to the future.