The Franchise Topic

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The Franchise Topic

Postby Andrew on Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:36 pm

Let's talk about Franchise mode in NBA Live 18 (and beyond). Any thoughts on the experience this year? How can it get better?

Even though I'm admittedly turned off by the lack of depth and the way they've approached advancing the schedule, I want to try and spend some time with a Franchise game. If nothing else, I'd like to give specific feedback on how it could get better in NBA Live 19 and beyond. In short, right now I think that a combination of some of the current features, the "push" approach in NBA Live 08, and the staff hiring of NBA Live 06, along with some of the ideas introduced in MyLEAGUE, is what I'd like to see moving forward.

There is some merit to what they've been building in NBA Live 18 though, and as far as a streamlined approach goes, it's fairly solid. It can get deeper and better, but again, I'd like to see what I can do with it. Having played a game with the Minnesota Timberwolves the other day, I'm thinking they might be a fun choice.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby iceinmyveins on Thu Mar 01, 2018 7:02 am

I think the mode is pretty solid, other than the load times. I'm getting used to it, though. I'm definitely seeing two full seasons through with my Lakers and Spurs. With me being done with 2K (beat the Cavs, woo!) Live is going to be my main sports focus. The upgradeable skills feature seems nice. There's a lot that I like about the menus, honestly.

I recommend the T'Wolves. I got drafted there and am enjoying The One a good deal, and the street ball stuff too.

LUT is even growing on me. I shredded the Warriors with Harden (don't look right in a Lakers jersey!) and the challenges seem really neat and I see the effort. Can't wait to take on Ginobili & Dirk... For beating the Warriors, I got Durant for two games and LeBron for Christmas I guess?

Anyway, officially started my Franchise w/LAL for good this time now that all real-life trades are done. I got some ideas. Beat the Clippers. I chose to start with the current roster (even though it only gave me 2 million in cap space). I think it's *unlikely* that Isaiah Thomas sticks around or re-signs with the Lakers (but even he says he'd like to show them reason to sign him back), but I'm giving it a shot with Lonzo at SG (as they no longer have Clarkson around). First game was somewhat promising. Glad they kept Randle... I could've shredded Lopez and Thomas but reckoned I'd go with the current roster and just fiddle with it in-season.

I think I might make a trade. Most likely going to cut Deng. I might even bring back D'Angelo, lol.

And most of all--CAN'T WAIT--to start back with my Spurs. I gotta wait, though, cuz I typically sign some new players or make "offseason" trades to continue my narrative as it were a continuous Spurs team over the years (from NBA Live 10-2K14-2K16-2K17-Live 18). I think I might go for Avery Bradley or other "Spurs"-ish players that might make sense. Almost time for Tony Parker to call it quits. Already retired Ginobili even though he just won't stop in RL, lol. Still rolling with Gasol (signed him first before the actual Spurs did, haha). But basically, looking forward to it. Already got a separate roster file ready to tweak for any new players/trades I make before launching the franchise.

I'm just happy that Live is back. Hopefully, they're back-back!

(Y)

:D
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby Andrew on Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:05 am

For me it's still missing a bit too much depth, and I'm not a fan of the week-at-a-time simulation approach, at least compared to the traditional day-by-day calendar. I don't think it works for the NBA.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby Dee4Three on Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:22 am

For a sports title in 2017-18, it's really dissapointing that we can't control more than one team in a franchise. We should be able to control multiple teams, do a fantasy draft, etc. That's a very basic feature that encourages other people to join in on the fun (locally or online).

I'm not saying they need to have an online franchise option, but locally being able to choose multiple teams is a must.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby [Q] on Fri Mar 02, 2018 8:23 am

Admittedly I simmed through the season, playing a few playoff games with the warriors to get the trophy. I mean, it's okay but the framework is there. It just needs depth. A lot of it. Having a 17 man roster with two way contracts is a must for next year
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby [Hyperize] on Wed Mar 07, 2018 6:47 pm

I think a lot of my enjoyment from this mode comes from the gameplay just being a nice change of pace from 2K (and really nothing is wrong with it, it's just not as smooth), but do CPU teams ever make trades in this mode? On two separate saves, I simmed a season on one and a season and a half on the other and the CPU never made a trade.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby Andrew on Wed Mar 07, 2018 9:03 pm

They don't, which is one of the major problems with the mode.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby [Hyperize] on Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:01 am

Oh my God, that's game-breaking. I was actually thinking about starting a franchise story with the Cavs too, as I had a blast with the actual gameplay. In some respect, it may be better than having unrealistic trades you can't control, but this is still pretty bad. I don't even think you can make trades if you're over the cap either. This is an utter shame as I love the gameplay.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby Andrew on Thu Mar 08, 2018 11:02 am

It's functionality that was in older games, so it's definitely disappointing. I know a lot of people are about the career mode and the connected experiences these days, but it's still important to have a robust and relatively deep Franchise mode as well.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby nextnba on Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:16 am

It’s frustrating that you can’t play other teams. Even if you can’t GM more than one team, it should at least allow us to play other teams through the schedule. It’s frustrating that it doesn’t have a My League mode like 2k that allows you to play and control a whole season.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby iceinmyveins on Tue Apr 10, 2018 9:10 am

Having played a few games now with my Spurs (having a good time so far) and my Lakers (although I've lost interest in them, lol), I do wish that we could play practice or something as that was something I liked doing in 2K. I'm still trying to learn controls (especially in the post) since I have Gasol, but not being able to go into a scrimmage or something is annoying.

I also turned down settings to where the CPU contesting my shots doesn't seem to have a big effect on me making shots, so the game is flowing better so far. Definitely looking forward to making a run at the title. Although I am fond of my players on the team, I may try to make a trade, wonder how well that works in this mode.

Other minor issues...you can't change jersey numbers or positions. Being able to adjust rotations mostly makes it not a problem, but I think it affects substitutions that I want to do for lineups on the floor, still not too problematic though.

Maybe with Live 19, EA will split the focus on both "career" mode and franchise, as lots of Live fans enjoy this mode and it seems more attention was given to The One and it shows. Definitely not as many features as 2K's version, like how you can scout other teams and just a lack of detail in general. The potential is there, for sure, though.

With a custom roster, I've also noticed you can't play a "Play Now" game with a custom roster or practice/shootaround with one. Even when I load my custom roster as the "Active" roster, it all reverts back to the latest EA roster update. Not a problem if you're not using a custom roster, but if you have a custom team like my Spurs, you just can't practice with them, lol.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby Andrew on Tue Apr 10, 2018 10:27 am

You should be able to play a Play Now game with a custom roster, as far as I'm aware.
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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby iceinmyveins on Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:45 pm

So, a sad development...

In the options menu, you can enable/disable Trade Deadline, which says any ability to make trades will become unavailable after Week 18.

I'd been mulling over the idea of some trades, advanced to the next week after finishing out some games. Now, I'm in Week 17.

I go to make something happen, and now the trade menu has a lock symbol over it. Except it's Week 17.

Googled it, no reports of this happening that I could find. Both of my save files are current, which sucks. I even turned off the feature, but the menu still has a lock on it.

The issue is that I should still be able to make trades, as according to Live's calendar, Week 17 is 2 weeks away from the All Star Game, which would place the trade deadline before the All-Star game. Not sure if that's accurate, but the point being that I should still be able to make trades. The real trade deadline was 2/8/18 this past season. It's the 5th I guess as I just started Week 17, and I play the Suns on February 7th, still one day before the deadline.

Is it really true that someone goofed and made a typo on what week the trade deadline is? Should it have been 17 instead of 18? The news bulletin thing doesn't even have a story/announcement/reminder about the trade deadline. Going to play the Suns and see if it reappears.

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Re: The Franchise Topic

Postby Andrew on Tue Jul 31, 2018 8:09 pm

Sounds like a side effect of the weekly simulation approach. I hope it goes back to a day-by-day calendar in NBA Live 19.
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