Dropped the Ball on LIVE RUN imo.....

[Beavis_5000]

You put too many limits on players abilities. Fore example, you can't make a point guard that has elite finishing and have elite passing.

A perfect example of what I am describing is Kyrie Irving. According to the game he is a Point Shooter. But Kyrie is the best finisher in the league so if I want to model my player around Kyrie I do not have the ability to do so as you can't rank up your lay ups as a point shooter nor can you rank up 3 point shooting as a slasher. Nor can I have a guard that can rebound. I mean wtf, seriously?

Also, passing, as always, is somewhat broken. If your an NBA level player you can throw a pass from foul line to foul line quite crisp and not float it all the time or be so inaccurate you throw it out of bounds over half the time.

NBA LIve 16 had the passing issue but at least you weren't so limited in designing your player the way you want. I literally can't even model my player around my play style (aggressively attacking the rim and great passing).

EA Sports dropped the ball with Live Run imo. Whats amazing is it is still better than 2K but quite obviously either know much about basketball. It's seriously not that hard to pass the ball up court as this game makes it to be.

[[Q]]

I can see why they did it that way. It's to limit players from making guys that are just too good.

As a backcourt defender, I chose on ball defense and steals as my primary skills. Of course there is a trait that I really wanted that prevented you from getting ankles broken but you needed to select mid range and off the dribble shot skills.

I was thinking about starting a new one and wanted a LeBron like character that's a walking triple double. Was about to pick hybrid wing but I wanted to see what he was. I noticed guys like him are playmakers which is something reserved for guards. I eventually went with hybrid wing

[Beavis_5000]

I can see why they did it that way. It's to limit players from making guys that are just too good.

As a backcourt defender, I chose on ball defense and steals as my primary skills. Of course there is a trait that I really wanted that prevented you from getting ankles broken but you needed to select mid range and off the dribble shot skills.

I was thinking about starting a new one and wanted a LeBron like character that's a walking triple double. Was about to pick hybrid wing but I wanted to see what he was. I noticed guys like him are playmakers which is something reserved for guards. I eventually went with hybrid wing

I understand why they did it too but they put way too much of a cap on the play style you can develop for your player. Of course some limits should be made (as there was with Live 16) so we don't have 7 footers running around with capped out speed and ball handling. But they went way overboard. You literally have to make a one dimensional player. In 16, I started off as a slasher and by the time I was mid 90's it said I was a passer. There was so much flexibility to really tailor your player to how you wanted and there were no issues with players who were too good because they still put logical limits on players for balancing reasons. You can't even make a really solid two way guard. You can make a decent one, but not a really solid one.

It just leads to frustration. We all know the types of players we get stuck on the same team with sometimes. It really adds to the frustration when you only have one really solid weapon to work with.

[[Q]]

I think the whole 7 footer problem was probably the main issue. That was addressed in one of the patches for the demo. Big guys lose the ball all the time when dribbling now

[Beavis_5000]

Do you think they went way to far with it?

I feel like they are play style nazi's.

Almost no freedom at all. You can shoot but you can't finish. You can finish aggressively but you can't shoot 3's or have elite passing. You can be balanced and be able to finish and pass solid but you can't shoot 3's or dunk.

[[Q]]

I'm a pg with a 70 rating in free throws lol

They gotta keep that stuff in check. That's part of the reason why I've never been a big fan of the create a player modes

[Andrew]

NBA 2K's first attempt at defined Archetypes/playstyles was a bit restrictive as well. It's done for balance, but it's possible they went a little overboard with it, as 2K did. Some more hybrid styles would be good.

[Beavis_5000]

You can't make Westbrook/Lebron/Kyrie/Curry/Harden/etc etc etc type players. I feel like they are trying to balance it out like it is a first person shooter.

I mean in Live 16 if I was on a horrible team (all I play is Live Run) and up against a decent or good team, I could at least have my rebounding ranked up so when my teammates jacked shots or did stupid stuff I could at least grab an offensive board every now and then. And have on ball and help side defense ranked up so I could compensate for bad teammates on D.

At this point in Live 16 there were still 4 or 5 attributes or more that I was grinding to rank up so I could be even more effective in a game. At this point in Live 18 I am thinking what is the point? I can't rank up rebounding. I can't rank up any defense. And as a Slasher, my dunk and pass is maxed out at 82 lol. My dude is only in the mid 80's and there no attribute that I can continue to rank up that I can see actually helping any further.

I'm not even excited to get skill points anymore because they won't even help. No matter what I put them on I will still have poor on ball D, poor help side D, average passing, no 3 point game, no ability to steal, no ability to rebound and I am sure I can think of more. And no matter what play style you pick you know you are gonna have huge holes in your game.

Don't get me wrong it is still enjoyable but Live Run in 16 was way better imo. I felt like my player could always improve even when I was up into the mid 90's.

On Live 18, if I am on a bad team (which is at least half the time) all I can do is watch in frustration and can't really do much about it or don't even have a chance to.

They really dumbed the game down as far as Live Run to the point I may just go back to head to head. I see Live Run just being too frustrating.

[Beavis_5000]

NBA 2K's first attempt at defined Archetypes/playstyles was a bit restrictive as well. It's done for balance, but it's possible they went a little overboard with it, as 2K did. Some more hybrid styles would be good.

What gets me is they had it Live Run in 16 way better than this. You could work on any weakness your player had.

I played Live Run extensively in 16 and there was never any issue with any certain player type being overpowered.

I guess I will keep trucking it for now and hopefully something unforeseen will happen to change my mind lol.

[Beavis_5000]

And as far as doing all this in the name of balance, the restrictions have the far opposite effect.

Wing Shooters are by far your best play style if you want to impact a game. They can shoot mid range and 3's and contested shots and all off the dribble while still having decent ball handling to do so.

Next is your post anchor because they can dominate the paint offensively and also dominate rebounding.

[[Q]]

Hmm I dunno, as a backcourt defender, I do have the option to equip the dunk, rebounding, and blocks traits if I wanted to. I've used the rebounding one to help me in pro am challenges requiring more rebounds than certain players.

[Beavis_5000]

Hmm I dunno, as a backcourt defender, I do have the option to equip the dunk, rebounding, and blocks traits if I wanted to. I've used the rebounding one to help me in pro am challenges requiring more rebounds than certain players.

You just can't add variety to a game by taking options out. In Live 16 (Live Run) we had so many attributes we could grind to max out. I was a 95 and still had several attributes I felt I needed to improve on. There were so many options to allow for so many different types of play styles to design your player around.

Another example of something not well thought out is they gave the Point Shooter the ability to max their passing and dribbling out at 93. That means in 90% of the games I play in we will have a Point Shooter running the point dribbling all over the place jacking 3's. I wanted a pass first guard who can aggressively penetrate and finish and drop dimes. When I play I play pass first but hardly ever play point because we have a Point Shooter who jacks shots all game running point.

Variety is the spice of life and they took a lot of fun out of Live 18 by limiting the options we have to really develop the player we want.

I will definitely still play Live 18 even if I switch back to Head 2 Head but I think we have to face the facts that they messed up Live 18. It wasn't very well thought out imo and that is not a good sign for the future of Live considering they had 2 years to make this game. I've played Live since 95 and it hurts me bad to say that.

If we were guaranteed a new Live every year then I wouldn't be so worried because there is no doubt Live could improve the next year. But I feel like Live 18 is gonna help kill the franchise off. A bad year of Live could mean the end.

[[Q]]

I think part of your problem is an unrealistic expectation of how others will or should play online. I expect to be stuck on a team of all guards as everyone wants to be Steph and jack 3s nowadays. I can appreciate it when I get a big on my team. It's funny live run plays a lot like real life pickup ball in the sense that you team up with strangers who may or may not be any good or know how to play, or might be balling, might not play defense, or might actually be a good team player, etc.

[Beavis_5000]

That's what I love about Live Run. Its realistic in the sense that you may end up with bad teammates and etc, as you described. I usually have pretty low expectations in those regards lol.

Any issue with my expectations would be on what type of options I have available to create the type of player I want. I want a player that can aggressively penetrate and finish and drop dimes. Because I wanted a player that can aggressively finish, I went Slasher which means all the other guards will be actually running point over me even tho my real play style is pass first more so than most other players I run into.

I play similar in real life. My aggressive penetration and ability to finish is vital in opening things up for others. This individualism, creativity and variety was allowed in Live Run 16 as you could tailor a play style in way imaginable.

It's literally impossible to create the type of player I want and that is where my issue lies. I mean, if I am only going to get 6 attributes to rank up at least let me pick which six. That's still severely limiting but it would at least add some options and individualism.

I'm absolutely baffled as of why they would smother the creativity that Live 16 allowed.

[ThaLiveKing]

Yeah, I have no defensive traits, but I could still get blocks and steals. That statement dunker is clutch when you're trying to close out a close game because your whole team gets a defensive boosts.

[Beavis_5000]

Yeah, I have no defensive traits, but I could still get blocks and steals. That statement dunker is clutch when you're trying to close out a close game because your whole team gets a defensive boosts.

The ability to steal is the least of my worries. My dude gets his ankles broke every few plays and his agility to move around on help side is horrendous. But yeah I can pull off a steal every now and then lol.

[ThaLiveKing]

Yeah, I have no defensive traits, but I could still get blocks and steals. That statement dunker is clutch when you're trying to close out a close game because your whole team gets a defensive boosts.

The ability to steal is the least of my worries. My dude gets his ankles broke every few plays and his agility to move around on help side is horrendous. But yeah I can pull off a steal every now and then lol.

Yeah, I've seen a few users get their ankles broken by the CPU, and started laughing out loud. I think it's more tuning the sliders they're using for online. It happens a lot offline too, ankle breakers don't seem to be organic. I think we really need to wait until the first real patch drops.

[[Q]]

Mine get broke quite a bit considering I'm a 3 and D player and my on ball defense and steals are maxed at 93. It happens when I'm holding L2 and trying to stay in front of the guy but wind up switching from left to right and back too many times on the left stick. They hit a crossover move at that time and bam your ankles are done

[Beavis_5000]

Hey guys, I hate to continue my rant but I just wanted to further explain my opinion of the game (in terms of Live Run). I apologize because I am going to sound like an elitist.

When you let players design a player the way they want and don't put as many restrictions as they did in Live 18 then players (the actual gamer) skill levels will really shine through. In other words, they didn't balance the game by doing this, the just put a governor on the really good players to decrease the skill gap.

In Live 18, skill level does determine the outcome of the game still imo. However, what class you pick has far to much of an impact on the game. It's unbalanced because Wing Shooters and Post Anchors/Rim Protectors are by far the best play styles.

They need to let the ballers do what ballers do in Live for real.