NBA 2K: Fixing The Flaws With MyCareer

[RaychelSnr]

MyCareer mode in NBA 2K14 was a cool, but flawed experience.

I don’t know about you, but having to sit through nearly an hour of cutscenes at the beginning of the mode with no option to skip really ruined the experience for me from the get go. From there, the linear nature of the storytelling was more like holding your hand through a pre-designed NBA-experience moreso than letting you live your own story both on and off the court.

To me, MyCareer represented the best of intentions with some paltry execution.

Read More - NBA 2K: Fixing MyCareer's Flaws

[VDusen04]

Very solid article here. I'd say I'm on board with virtually everything mentioned (and then some). The idea of following a linear storyline was a complete turnoff, as I felt it almost went against everything MyPlayer mode was supposed to represent in the first place (clear your own path, choose your destiny).

Still, even without the linear storyline, I felt things became dull relatively quickly in the NBA2K13 MyCareer mode (which is maybe why 2K opted to experiment with the corny storyline to begin with). I think there's a lot of little things that could be added to the mode that'd keep things fresh. Three random suggestions off the cuff:

1) D-League: I'd love if the minor leagues came back into play. The D-League is becoming more relevant every year, and it'd be great to have that reflected in 2K, with authentic teams, jerseys, courts, coaching tendencies and fully editable rosters.

I mentioned this in another thread last night, but if the D-League were implemented in 2K13 (when my MyPlayer was drafted by the Houston Rockets), my quest would have had a unique wrinkle if I were assigned to play for their super high speed, run-and-gun Rio Grande minor league affiliate.

2) Re-introduce the Draft Combine, Summer League, and Training Camp (but provide the ability to simulate/skip any and all)

3) Observe Theme Jersey Nights (Retros, sleeves, Green Week): It sounds so mundane, but I feel little quirks like this could help during those times in one's MyPlayer career when games are just slogging through one after another. It'd be a neat bonus, in lieu of being able to choose our own jerseys, to get to the opening tip and see your squad rocking their St. Patrick's green alts.

The inability to simulate any games in the 2K10 MyPlayer mode seemed to make it feel just a little bit more a grind than I would have liked. Still, the experience of trying my hardest in the combine, summer league, and training camp, only to be assigned to the Bakersfield Jam, felt awfully legitimate. And when I finally got to the big stage, with NBA commentary, in a full 20,000 person arena, it was a heck of an award. It was a great video game moment. I wouldn't mind having the option to experience that type of career once more.

[joewink23]

I agree, it would be nice to skip through this stuff. Ronnie said on the PSBlog "We want you guys to experience this stuff and not skip it." But it's the parent-going-to-his-kid's-dance-recital paradigm where, of COURSE they want us to, but let us have the option.

Secondly, the game needs to react more appropriately to our performance. I lead the league in scoring and blocks at the SG position for a good 2 months before cracking the starting lineup. Also, missing the buzzer-beater should not cause me to lose my spot in the starting lineup. The system overreacts and underreacts to a lot of your performances. If I go 65pts-13reb-12ast-8blk-6stl in a game, shouldn't I be on the front page of the NBA.com menu? Also, I'm an all-world defender. Let me tell the coach "Let me check Lebron" instead of asking Arnett Moultrie to do it. Give me the ability to ask the coach for the last shot. Let me influence the Points of Emphasis; "coach, we need to hit the glass harder, they're killing us on the boards" "we have to go under the pick and roll instead of over the top on Rondo" etc.

Additionally, we have to look at what was broken in terms of gameplay. Playcalling was hit or miss AT BEST. Often it was a free-for-all and it ended with me taking way more shots than I wanted. I want the offense to be basketball, not streetball. Why do we have to play EVERY game in our first year? I can only stand going up against the damn Bucks so many times (4 in the Eastern Conference)... it's uninteresting.

So many glitches in terms of substitutions NEVER happening. My teammates refusing to play defense or go for rebounds. My teammates refusing to shoot. My teammates getting open only to dribble into a contested layup that gets blocked EVERY TIME. This is all stuff that has plagued the mode for years, it's time to fix THOSE items before worrying about how the story is presented.

[Semipro91]

This article seems to have been written after the guy played through the first 2 NBA games. Half the stuff he wants are in the career mode just not at game 3 of your career.

"What about having random events come up which affect your ability to play well, think MIchael Jordan's flu game here. Another cool aspect would be having a minor injury which you can fight through with lower attributes but higher VC rewards -- but playing through an injury also can result in you being injured and missing time." - This happens 30 games or so into your career, you can elect to talk to the trainer (find out you are hurt and miss a few games), or play through the injury (your ratings take a hit).

"It was a similar feeling when I had to enter every game, wait for the game to load into the arena, only to sit through the game and have random times when I’d see some in-game action. Why not allow the ability to quickly move through games and if we don’t appear, we don’t have to actually go through the process of loading into arenas?" - This ONLY happens in the first 2 games of your career.

"or on the other end be a very low-key player who just goes about his business. As I said in the first point, I think the ideal career mode isn’t a storyline driven experience, but rather the ability to make real choices both on and off the court which impact your virtual universe in real ways, but not in the West Side Story 'we're rivals and that means we're enemies' kind of way." - This happens all throughout the mode. You can do all kinds of things that change your experience (talk trash about a teammate to the GM, demand trades, refuse to pass the ball to the star player, refuse to go out with teammates, be a team player. All of these decisions change the story in one way or the other.

"I could see this all centering on a popularity/likeability type of scale, where your popularity and likeability both can change and affect the other and your ability to grab endorsements and such. A high popularity and likeability rating, for instance, would net you a major shoe deal, with a very generous VC reward to be had obviously." - This is already in the mode, all the decisions you make affect your fan rating which in turn give you crappy endorsements (ala bobs tires) or good endorsements (ala sprite, gatorade, adidas).

I do however agree with Joewink23 and Vdusen04 on their ideas. It just seems like this article was written without the author playing through much of the mode.

[munky1307]

Yeah i agree with Semipro91. It seems like you weren't patient enough to experience a lot of the good things that happen in the career mode. Decisions that affect how you get along with the owner and your teammates. I agree you should be able to skip any cut scene without a doubt. But the linear did give it all a little more personality compared to a Madden where you "just play the games". To each their own though.

[munky1307]

I will say though, the writer has some good ideas to include in next years version for sure!

Ex: "For instance, after playing at home against the Heat with a rookie from Chicago, I could choose to take to social media to trash talk the Heat or a specific player (aka LeBron James). Depending on how persistent I was, when we went on the road maybe the fans are THAT much angrier towards me and maybe the Heat are a little more amped up to stop me."

[jseward92]

I would just really like to be able to simulate games. That would be a huge improvement for me.

[lopey986]

So do you play all 82 games + playoffs in every year of your career? How do they expect you to even finish 1 season?