Signature Skills: Tied to Player Progression for CAPs

[Nick]

well we know the players only can have 5 skills.....anybody want to try an guess LeBron's 5?

im going with

shot creator
finisher
highlight reel
dimer
chase down artist

?

other possible skills: floor general, posterizer, interceptor, break starter???

thats my thoughts....no 4th quarter closer though im sure LeBron will be mad about that

Post playmaker is a possibility. In fact if 2k don't give him that, then i will edit it so he does.

you think so i think lebron will be fine with just dimer

Well making plays from the post is the biggest part of modern-day lebron's overall game...

[The X]

I don't think it's being burned out, I mean, I barely did any patching for Live 08 and I believe I had no releases for 2K9 (although, I was starting the NBA Live PC project for 06 during that time). If anything, I think it might be marriage, baby, impending graduation and graduate school. I've been leaning heavily on Leftos, Pat, and others the past couple years with the "research & development" aspects of patching

Same as the rest...

Time to choose: some boring female and random offspring or plastic instruments and patches.

Guilty as charged

Love the banter more than the info coming out. Burned out for a while now.

[deihatein]

Mommy, why is daddy dancing with that fake guitar?

Mommy, why does daddy have so many sweaty men on his screen?

Guess i'll just wait for the game to be released to see how all of this info about the game plays out.

[j8lacy]

well we know the players only can have 5 skills.....anybody want to try an guess LeBron's 5?

im going with

shot creator
finisher
highlight reel
dimer
chase down artist

?

other possible skills: floor general, posterizer, interceptor, break starter???

thats my thoughts....no 4th quarter closer though im sure LeBron will be mad about that

Post playmaker is a possibility. In fact if 2k don't give him that, then i will edit it so he does.

you think so i think lebron will be fine with just dimer

Well making plays from the post is the biggest part of modern-day lebron's overall game...

well....he does go to the post now but i dont think he goes enough to give him post playmaker... id rather see it on people like marc gasol or divac

[Leftos]

GREG MONROE BITCHES.

[j8lacy]

GREG MONROE BITCHES.

yeah greg momroe does deserve it lol

[JaoSming]

From one of the previews today

a player/coach role that lets you completely dictate the play of the team based on your whims.

[Andrew]

I assume that would basically mean free reign over playcalling.

[Leftos]

As confirmed by the Dev Insight #4 (MyCareer), signature skills are actually levelled, going up to level 3. So that's an additional factor at their differentiation. That's what I've been saying since their announcement, and I'm really happy to see them implemented this way.

The 2 MyCareer specific Sig Skills are:
- Gatorade Prime Pack: Player doesn't tire during the 1st quarter
- On Court Coach: Call for Pass will force teammates to drop whatever they're doing and give the player the ball.

EDIT to the EDIT: Also revealed in the same developer insight, signature skills will feature rating requirements. Floor General for example needs 85 Offensive Awareness, Brick Wall requires 80 Strength, etc.

[shadowgrin]

On Court Coach: Call for Pass will force teammates to drop whatever they're doing and give the player the ball.

aka The Kobe

[Leftos]

Yup, pretty much.

[volsey]

Also noticed on one of the screens that there is in fact Skill Points separate from the VC credits or w/e they're called. However everything shown thus far has been able to be purchased in VC. And the post game screen showing what goals you've accomplished was entirely in VC. Makes you wonder how you earn SP, and what they're used for (assuming just the actual attribute increases).

Leftos good call on the tiered Signature Skills. Definitely a no brainer move, really seems as though they thought through this whole Signature Skill feature, which they easily could have just crammed in there and claimed better differentiation between players.

MyPlayer as a whole seems to be a lot more full and well-rounded. People can (or should?) finally quit bitching about the non-fundamental additions to the game, player A.I. has been addressed, bounce pass has been added, better contact physics (supposedly), what more can you ask for? You don't want them starting from scratch every year and overhauling the system, yet people complain when the main core, which was honestly as solid as any sport game ever made, is still the same as last year with minor tweaks and adjustments made for the better.

I honestly don't know how you people can expect a drastic overhaul every year (because every time you say, 'same old animations', that's what you're asking for), while still expect the new gameplay improvements, or additions to game-modes and features added in at the same time. Look at Live, you've all seen first hand what happens when you try to re-write the book every year. Building on a strong foundation, while tweaking and adding where needed is the route to take.

Anyways random rant over. Commentary additions sound like a cool addition, it always bothered me how the commentary kind of ignored me, I could have 45 and a triple double and working on my 3rd MVP and I'd still fail to get even a single line of commentary during a game. I always felt they really missed out on not really giving the user the feeling of being an NBA Player, you could be the next G.O.A.T. and you'd never really feel any different than your rookie season. There's a definite lack of satisfaction when becoming the top tier player, hopefully they picked up on that and the addition of the Media and other features helps build that hype around your player.

[Andrew]

It does sound like they've covered most of the bases the first time around with Signature Skills; they're not canned moments that can be spammed, there's tiers for added differentiation, ratings requirements and a wide variety of them suitable for stars and role players alike. Expecting perfection is expecting too much, especially the first time out of the gate, but it doesn't seem like it's going to detract from the sim approach at all. Good stuff.

The two MyCAREER specific skills sound handy too, helping you stay on the floor and establish yourself as the team leader, having more control of the action on the floor.

[Nick]

People can (or should?) finally quit bitching about the non-fundamental additions to the game, player A.I. has been addressed, bounce pass has been added, better contact physics (supposedly), what more can you ask for? You don't want them starting from scratch every year and overhauling the system, yet people complain when the main core, which was honestly as solid as any sport game ever made, is still the same as last year with minor tweaks and adjustments made for the better.

I honestly don't know how you people can expect a drastic overhaul every year (because every time you say, 'same old animations', that's what you're asking for), while still expect the new gameplay improvements, or additions to game-modes and features added in at the same time. Look at Live, you've all seen first hand what happens when you try to re-write the book every year. Building on a strong foundation, while tweaking and adding where needed is the route to take.

Well said.

[Leftos]

Nice write-up by Steve over at Operation Sports:

http://www.operationsports.com/features ... -the-game/

[Nick]

I think me and Steve played different version of 2k12? Either that or he is making up imaginary problems with 2k12 that weren't there in order to make 2k13 sound better.

In 2K12, some players in the game just had funky timing on their jump shot animations and were innately difficult to perfect. Exacerbating this issue was the inconsistent shot feedback in practice mode, where “excellent” timing would often still send the ball careening of the rim.

Huh? That never happens.

The Bruiser Signature Skill is particularly interesting to me in that physicality and strength has never been a tangible gameplay element in NBA 2K. In 2K13 it ...

Yes it has.

I love what he says about how you would approach SS if you were fantasy drafting a team. I totally want to start an association in 2k13 RIGHT NEOW!

[Leftos]

Yeah, he's exaggerating over the first point, never seen any "excellent" timed shots go airball, unless I was doing perfect timing on a 3-point attempt with Dwight Howard.

As for Strength, I'm kind of on the fence about this. I've yet to see really strong players be able to actually dominate more in post-defense or screens more than weaker players.

As I've already said, Signature Skills can really add to the experience of looking for the right player to sign and/or trade for.

[Andrew]

I wonder if the CPU will take the presence of Signature Skills into account when negotiating trades. You'd expect role player rated 70 overall with a couple of signature skills to be more useful (and thus valuable) than another role player rated 70 overall but lacking any Signature Skills, but if the trading logic hasn't changed it'll probably mean we can get the CPU to agree to swap two players like that.

[j8lacy]

interesting thought...i assume the skills will have a large effect on the trade value (stars)

[gogadantes]

I honestly don't know how you people can expect a drastic overhaul every year (because every time you say, 'same old animations', that's what you're asking for), while still expect the new gameplay improvements, or additions to game-modes and features added in at the same time. Look at Live, you've all seen first hand what happens when you try to re-write the book every year. Building on a strong foundation, while tweaking and adding where needed is the route to take.

I personally never expect a drastic overhaul ever year, just improvement, if possible. But what pisses me off to no end is when companies regress and step backwards in elements of a game, or even actually OMIT features in a current edition of a game that was available in its prequel. And we have to admit these things happened with NBA 2K12.

[hova-]

So why not talk some skills for other players? How about Dirk for example. How could you get similarity to the real Dirk, which skills would you give him?

For me, its pretty hard to say, those are the ones I'd definitely give him:

- Deadeye (I guess this is the attribute for good shooters who do not only spot up)
- Closer (4th quarter 2011 Finals, baby)


Now, there are some skills I'm not too sure about considering Dirk, but that could come in:

- shot creator (don't know if any big man should have this, I think it's rather for perimetre scorers)
- post efficiency (Dirk is not a real post player, taking most shots from the high post/mid-range shooting over the defender, but fades are also included, so this could be in)
- heat retention (I guess most super scorers will have that, so maybe he's in)
- anti-freeze (I've seen games where Dirk would actually suck three quarters and heat up late, but maybe "closer" is better to resemble that)


Your opinions?

[Andrew]

For Dirk, I'd agree that Deadeye is a safe bet, Closer too probably. I'd say Heat Retention and Anti-Freeze are probably good guesses too, perhaps even Microwave would be fitting.

[DCAllAmerican]

well we know the players only can have 5 skills.....anybody want to try an guess LeBron's 5?

im going with

shot creator
finisher
highlight reel
dimer
chase down artist

?

other possible skills: floor general, posterizer, interceptor, break starter???

thats my thoughts....no 4th quarter closer though im sure LeBron will be mad about that

Lockdown
Floor General
Finisher
Chase Down Blocks
Intercepter

[Leftos]

Today's Q&A with Erick Boenisch revealed something really disappointing for me.

The levelled signature skills only apply to your MyPlayer, and are on-off for the rest of the players. And this doesn't make any sense to me, at all. If they can do it for MyPlayer, why not do it for the rest of the roster as well?

Here's hoping that the value isn't binary, and that some roster cracking can let us change the value for all players the way it applies to MyPlayer. But I have my doubts.

I'm really disappointed about this. Here I was, praising the implementation of the Signature Skills and how they've thought of everything by making them have 3 levels instead of just being on-off.

-sigh- Sure, the current implementation may work just fine, but it really makes no sense to me, and the player differentiation is certainly limited compared to what we thought it would be. More options than last year, but will they be enough to make players truly unique?

[Andrew]

I'm still optimistic that it'll work fairly well the first time around but I agree, that is a bit disappointing to hear. Having the tiers would be a good approach in general, not just MyCAREER, it's a bit puzzling that they'd implement it for a MyPlayer but not real players.