NBA 2K17 Gameplay Blog with Gameplay Director, Mike Wang

[Beluba]

Quote: Originally Posted by Barnsey

Thanks for all the time you're putting into interacting with the community, Mike. It doesn't go unnoticed. And it makes us feel like we are a participant in the makings of this game (with our feedback) rather than just a consumer. I absolutely cannot wait to play the game and give feedback. As someone who has followed NBA religously for 15+ yrs as well as played NBA video games during that time, i feel like i can give some pretty valuable feedback. And i'm sure other sim heads here feel that way too. I'm going to document all my impressions of the game in a notepad file (stream-of-consciousness style, to give an idea of user experience) and then after playing it for a week i'll compile my feedback into a post. I'll cover gameplay and MyLEAGUE feedback. What is the best way to get our feedback to your eyes? Post in this forum? (a specific thread or..?) Link you on twitter? Some other way? Cheers

I read every single impression in the impression thread here on OS. If you post it somewhere else online, send me link on Twitter. Thanks. We appreciate all the feedback we can get!

[Schiltzenberger]

With the tied in connection to the 2nd round pick out of college playing a big part in the storyline this year...... what happens if you demand a trade?
I assume you either don't get the option to demand a trade, so the story can flow... or you can demand a trade and get traded, but does the other guy get traded with you or does that part of the storyline just cease to exist?
will we form a new combo with someone else? or can we form another duo down the track..... either with someone else in the same team or at another team?

Basically, was demanding a trade taken into consideration when hashing out this story?

[ch46647]

Will Czar and OG be writing blogs this year?

Would be tough to top this one..

Really looking forward to the presentation blog, assuming we get one.

[Beluba]

Quote: Originally Posted by Beluba

1. I have trouble picking off passes too. But I seem to be alone on that one in the office. The guys did add auto interceptions for user controlled players in very obvious situations, but it's a subtle change. Pass deflection targeting is much better though so you might be fine this year even with lag. 2 and 3 are definitely Yes. 4. Bigs dribbles have been severely nerfed. I don't think Shaq Isoing will be a problem at all. Additionally, you must have a ball handle rating above 75 to unlock and equip the better Iso moves on your MyPLAYER which most bigs will not be able to attain. 5. Not going to say foot planting is perfect or that there's zero sliding, but it's definitely better this year. A lot of the sliding from last year was a bandaid to aid the defense. This year that's been dramatically scaled back as movement has improved.

Another note from our engineer re: #1

• Improved pass stealer IK to account for collisions with other players
• Made it possible for a pass stealer to dislodge a recently caught ball AND a receiver to dislodge a recently stolen ball (based on physics and ratings)
• Give user pass-stealers a timing window in which to press steal button if their stats are high enough rather than requiring frame perfect input.

[Beluba]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sundown

I'm a little confused about how to control these shots without the contextual directional shot stick. How do we control which direction to shimmy in the post and which direction we turn to shoot the turnaround? Is it the same controls close to the basket (where a close hook shot would be performed) as it is farther from the basket (where a turnaround shot would be taken)? Can we shimmy fake without actually shooting? The system we had in 2K16 seemed so intuitive-- there wasn't much need to remember the modifier buttons for specific shots and dribble moves, and where they were necessary they were themselves pretty intuitive. If I wanted to shimmy/fake, I just tapped in the direction I wanted to fake. If I wanted to chain a shot in another direction afterwards, I just pushed the shot stick in that direction. I understand many of the controls had to be moved away form the shot stick for the shot accuracy feature, I feel a little like a noob again having to remember button combinations for basic shots again, and it almost seems like going a bit backwards. Are a lot of the directional fakes and shots controlled with the left stick now?

Shooting in the post is nearly identical to last year (only some slight changes to incorporate shimmy hooks and dunks out of post.) The only directional shots that were removed from the Pro Stick are the perimeter jumpers like stepbacks.

[Beluba]

Quote: Originally Posted by Chemthethriller

Question about post play. 1. Is there better flow? ie If I drop step, I shouldn't just stop and be faced up (2ft from the basket) as the intent of the dropstep was to dropstep then immediately go up with the ball. 2. If a defender is in from of you, but you are within "dunking" range of the rim, can I go up for a dunk or will I be required to pump fake then go up? 3. This question goes back to flow, I felt like a lot of the post moves (post hop step, drop step, post spin) looked nice but the finishing ability was never there. I'm playing on a 7'3" 300 lb Center, and I felt as if I had the hands of a 7 year old because I had no strength going up with the ball, and if anyone at all was near me it was a turnover 8/10. It felt like it turned post play into post fades, pump fakes, and the very rarely up and under. 4. Is there better passing out of the post, ie I have someone posted up and someone cuts behind me and my defender, I attempt a bounce pass and it goes to the wrong side and hits my defenders legs. 5. Can I avoid shooting fouls on defense this year? It felt like people would come into the post and pumpfake, and sometimes simply holding the RS up made my guy jump into them. Sometimes I just want to put my hands straight up and that's it. 6. Can I set picks on the low block this year?

1. Drop steps are quite a bit cleaner now. We changed the way you blend into shots from drop steps to get rid of the hitching. Zach also refreshed all of the drop step content.

2. Post dunks and UB dunks feel better this year too. You should be able to flush all over little guys with athletic/power bigs under the rim.

3. We've been working on this and I think it's much better now. We found some bugs that were causing the ball to be very vulnerable around the rim and I think we've ironed out most of the issues. At one point we had the opposite problem of bigs in the paint being completely unstrippable which wasn't good either. Seems pretty balanced in our tests lately but we can also post ship tune a lot of this stuff if need be.

4. So much has changed with passing so my gut says this is resolved. No one has complained about it at least.

5. Yes. The only way you should be earning shooting fouls down low now should be if you actually attempt to steal or block.

[Beluba]

Quote: Originally Posted by thormessiah

I don't know if anyone has asked this yet or not, but have chase down blocks been nerfed this year for players who shouldn't/can't block from behind? I don't wanna see J.J Reddick blocking Demar Derozan in transition this year.

The guys who work on blocking have re-tuned block success. Haven't seen OP chase downs from scrubs in a long time.

[Beluba]

Quote: Originally Posted by BluFu

1. Is this 'Shot Creator' available in the Edit Player screen? 2. With the boost being added to the shot stick, are you aiming to remove button shooting altogether in the future? 3. Have you considered making the button exclusively for layups/floaters/push shots? (To prevent unwanted jumpshots in the paint) Thanks Mike!

1. The Shot Creator is a MyCAREER only feature
2. Button shooting will never die. But I have plans to do some interesting upgrades to the Shot Stick next year.
3. We have a lot of Shot Button users in house and I think they're pretty happy with the shot selection they either get automatically or through Left Stick hints. Floaters are pretty tough to pull off on the Shot Button but I don't think we want to remove pull-up middies altogether from that 10-15 foot range.