Eight Exciting Changes Coming To NBA 2K19's Gameplay - Game Informer

[Andrew]

I like what I read in the MyLEAGUE/MyGM blog, but comparisons with the previous gameplay blogs leaves me feeling somewhat concerned and sceptical in that regard.

They still need to balance Archetypes. They also need to address the issue where cheesy 7'3" MyPLAYERs have ridiculously fast dunking animations, which makes them unstoppable inside. It's even worse when they pick a hybrid Archetype that makes them a threat from the outside as well. Again, balance is key here.

[sticky-fingers]

Great great post
this kind of post, debriefing of kept and broken promises, would deserve a front page article

I've been thinking of how to approach a feature like that, discussing legacy issues and contradictions during the preview season. I'd ultimately want it to be constructive though, as it would be too easy to come across as snarky or like I'm out to bash the game and the developers.

Sorry, I missed your message.

it's always constructive to demonstrate - impartially - if promises have been kept, if there's a real improvment or a downgrade, step by step (graphics / animation / gameplay / rosters accuracy / sounds / presentation).

A main article after the release of a new game, and perhaps after big patchs would be constructive.

[Andrew]

As it happens, I've just drafted a Monday Tip-Off article about it. I expect it'll be this coming week's instalment.

[sticky-fingers]

which is worrisome a month before the release, is that gameplay"orientation does not seem definite.

https://twitter.com/Beluba

[Andrew]

That sounds like fine-tuning to me, which I actually find welcome. No guarantees that it'll suit everyone's tastes of course, and patches/tuning updates post-release could change it all anyway, but the fact Beluba is soliciting feedback for fine-tuning ahead of the game going gold doesn't concern me too much. It's good to know they're listening.

[sticky-fingers]

For me, it's the kind of decision that they should have done months ago.

[Andrew]

I mean, better they ask for feedback as they continue to fine-tune before release, rather that not consider what the community wants.

[sticky-fingers]

Problem is, everyone in the community doesnt want the same thing.
Mostly online players want that perfect release means field goal. On other side, offline players want realism and real fg%.

[Andrew]

That is the challenge, but I guess that's why Beluba is conducting a poll, to get an idea of what gamers generally prefer.

[ThePointForward]

Or you could also not tie everything to one mode - I've had little to no interest in online play, but was forced to online character balancing.

[Andrew]

Monday Tip-Off article has now been posted: https://www.nba-live.com/mto-cynicism-developer-blogs/

Obviously I'm covering similar ground to what I've noted here in the Forum, but I wanted to cap it off with some more constructive commentary.

[JEDL]

Or you could also not tie everything to one mode - I've had little to no interest in online play, but was forced to online character balancing.

This. As some of the comments suggested, they should be separate as you can't appease opposing crowds at the same time.

[ThePointForward]

Some more Mike Wang tweets:

Glass Cleaners got a lot of love this year. One of my favorite additions is in Takeover they get a target on the floor showing where the ball's gonna go on missed shots. Gives them a huge rebounding advantage. They also get elbow clearouts after Off. boards prior to putbacks.

That sounds OP as hell honestly. +10 (ish) bonus to rebounding and knowing where the ball goes...

Shot Creators get a boost when shooting advanced jumpers like spin and stepback shots. Can also break ankles with stepback jumpers when in Takeover.

For Shot Creators... pullups = [MONEY EMOJI]

Every archetype has some sort of mechanism to prevent abuse of their strengths. Slashers degrade when they repeatedly take contact. Perimeter shooters degrade when they have to work too hard to get up a shot. Over-dribbling for PMs was just not accounted for very well til 19.

So... Fatigue?

Layup defense is modeled better this year, so the makes and misses make more sense. And yeah, i agree with you about emphasizing timing over openness when it comes to post fades/hooks. See my last tweet.

Tweet mentioned above:

They were evaluated like any other shot in 18, since they're much easier to anticipate and contest, it was easy to shut them down. 19 more accurately reflects post shots to real life. Good post players aren't bothered by defenders as much so it's more about executing the shot.

Which is funny because CPU was regularly just fading away in post hitting shots from behind the board with ease.

Locks will be able to stonewall ball handlers more frequently than most other archs. Rim protectors unlock grab blocks and other content. Both archs can cancel offensive badges and Takeover skills. They can also knock the ball free when colliding with receivers.

Alley-oops are more useful in 19 and easier to complete in general. Defensively, players do a better job at intercepting oop passes so we were able to relax some of the throwaways that we need to have in there to balance them out.

Better job? I've had my pass stolen by Seth Curry jumping from a spot and reaching above the inner rectangle on the board. Literally just turned, jumped and stole it way higher than his vertical ever could be.

[Andrew]

Ouch. Psychic steals have been a problem for years. The last thing we need is for the AI to be even better at them. Alley-oops being easier is good news though, I thought they were nerfed too much in NBA 2K18.

[ThePointForward]

Some more info on (mostly) takeover mode:

Takeover will work based on your primary archetype - meaning whatever is your primary is what content and skills will be unlocked/boosted.
Once you reach 94 OVR the takeover mode will also work for the secondary archetype. Or will last longer if you're pure archetype player.
Length of the takeover mode will also depend on your OVR rating. And how powerful the boosts will be is also based on your skills/badges. The better you're the better your hot version will be. That does make sense.

Takeover just applies to your primary arch until you reach 94 overall. At that point you get TO for both primary and secondary archs. If you're a pure you stay hot longer at 94.

[...]

For Takeover, I'm always referring to your primary arch.

[...]

Primary Glass, not just pure. So a slashing rebounder would get it [the rebound target thing in takeover].

[...]

You have the ability to use Takeover off rip. It's not a badge, it's tied to your arch. You just won't have the full capabilities of your TO until you get your badges and ratings up.

[...]

Takeover length depends on your overall rating. bums can get it but it's super short. significantly longer for good players

Playmakers:

Playmakers are the only ones who can put someone on their back with an ankle breaker. They also get boosts to their shot after breaking someone off the dribble and an extra dimer-like buff to their teammates.

Slashers:

Slashers get a big boost when using euro, cradle, hop step, and spin lays and boosted contact shots in Takeover. Dunkers unlock special contact dunks that no one else can get.

Post Scorers:

Post scorers get a lot in Takeover. Power back downs, clearouts, and spin/drive content unique to their arch. Boosted hooks, fades, shimmys. @CHoops4Life hooked you up this year.

Defenders:

Shot contest boosts, Ability to cutoff dribblers and make them pickup the ball, Cancel out offensive TO skills, Boosted steals including exclusive ability to knock ball loose on catches, Advantage in securing 50/50 balls, chuck/grab with fewer fouls and more aggressive content

[...]

Paint protectors get exclusive block content, snatch/grab blocks and smash shot %s om good contests. They also cancel offensive Takeover skills when they're hot. Eg. You can't clearout a hot RP.

Sharpshooters:

Sharps are the only builds who get the "green animations" (ie. the showboat shot landings)

[...]

Takeover modifies shot windows for shooting builds to make it easier to hit perfect timing. It also boosts (or unlocks) the full potential of the shooting badges. For example w/ Limitless, only Sharps in TO can bomb from Curry range with any effectiveness.

Shot Creators:

Only primary playmakers. But primary shot creators are the only ones who can break ankles with stepback jumpers.

On shooting in general:

Every now and then there will be some "rim drama" but for the most part, almost every green release will be all net

[...]

Your shot changes to the contested shot when you got a guy all up in your jersey. I'm assuming you guys don't like that feature?

[...]

Timing is much tougher. And if you get a defender nearby, you can expect to see a lot of bricks. But a pure sharp in Takeover left wide open with good timing is going to hurt a lot of teams.

And of course...

Tons. Info will be rolling out soon. A lot of stuff to look forward to in #NBA2K19

[kingpnp]

My usual gripe about the above.

Playmakers should never get a dimer badge boost nor a scoring boost just because the person breaks an ankle. There is nothing realistic about that. If you've played basketball long enough you would know that when guys make great moves and actually make people fall the odds of the guy hitting the shot or him making a perfect pass so his teammate swishes a shot is is not nearly as high as 2k wants you to believe it is. Most times guys will break someone's ankle and miss the pull up if it's a jumper. or the teammate might miss their shot. so there is no reason to give someone an extra boost after that animation kicks in.

The animation on its on is the boost.You have just made a guy fall or stumble now you're open to do what you please. no boost necessary.

lastly, are the shot creators able to constantly spam the step back jump shot and get that 2 player animation? or is that animation now only linked to the player trying to pull it off? Cause if its the 2 player animation as it is now. It's bad basketball. No one gets sucked into an offensive guy just because he/she pulls the ball back. some guys get caught off guard by the move but it shouldnt make you step back or stumble if you are not going for said move. you should only stumble when you the defender is going so fast in one direction that when you try to change directions because of the offensive guy crossing over or crossing back. you end up losing your balance like real life. that move should not blow me backwards 5 feet every time you perform it.and I shouldnt need a work around to deal with that move. every now and then certain players with good strength should perform the move and push you back with their shoulder. this should also be called an offensive foul 60% of the time.

[ThePointForward]

I'll stop copying everything, still coming from Mike Wang, verify it in his Twitter account if needed:

• Dunk contact animations:
  
  • 85 dunk rating for "Pro" contact animations
  • 88 dunk rating for "Elite" contact animations
  • 75 standing + 50 driving for standing contact dunks for bigs
• Fatigue to have higher effect - harder to sprint or ball hog all game long
• Catch fumbles are "basically gone"
• Easier to make long passes to open players
• You can slap floor as defender
• Some dribble moves will eat stamina faster than others
• Contesting from behind shouldn't affect your shot
• 86 ball handling rating for "momentum cross etc"

So overall it sounds like you unlock the better animations around 85-86 rating in their respective skills. 88+ for the top tier animations?

[Andrew]

Sounds good, as long as it's as good as advertised. We've heard some of it before, and it hasn't quite panned out.

[ThePointForward]

More stuff, this time on rebounding:

• Only "decent" rebounders will be able to get rebounds even if they didn't go exactly their way.
• Small guys with low rebounding skill will be better off actually chasing after the ball instead of jumping right away.
• Under good circumstances you might be able to rebound-pickup straight into running.
• For offline modes you need to time the rebound button right after the first rim hit - but later than in 2K18.
• Box out should be more important.
• Left stick controls in box out mode - forward/backward to try to get closer/further from the basket, left right for swim moves.
• Disengaging to get around might be hard to do against skilled rebounders, but just giving up and running away should be easy.
• The effectivity of swim moves depend on strength, weight, box out skill rating, hustle rebounder badge and takeover mode.

[Andrew]

Sensible in theory. Hopefully rebounding Archetypes don't have the same OP advantage they had in NBA 2K18, where it often felt blatantly predetermined.

[ThePointForward]

I really should have made a thread of it's own for the tweet reports (not just screens or copy pastes), didn't expect it to be so much info.

• Triple threat packages - stance, jab (reg/quick), stepover and pump fake. Sounds like a cosmetic thing mostly.
• Changes to dunks
  
  • 84 dunk for lvl2 contact dunks, 85 for lvl3 (was 85 and 88 couple days ago) - makes me think that getting really high rating in a skill will be hard/grindy
  • "Small dunk pack" for guards and SFs at 85 dunk rating
• Layup packs include: Defaults (Small, Swing, Big), Circus, Dominant Big, Floater specialist, long athlete, unathletic small, Crawford, Curry, Gervin, Harden, Irving, James, Jordan, Simmons and Westbrook
• 3 signature size up combos (standing, moving, triple threat)
• Layup timer (shot meter) is on online for everybody, offline modes can be turned off if you wish to do so.
• Calling a timeout without clear posession of the ball "should be fixed now" (as he mentioned before, he just doesn't like to deal with absolutes, so hopefully it is fixed indeed

Side note: I like they provide bunch of info. Shame their official community managers cannot do the same.

[Andrew]

I'm glad to hear they've brought back some signature packages. I thought they went too simple with it in NBA 2K18.

[ThePointForward]

At the same time some entries are missing from the list, like Tank package. I'm not sure if they're in the final game (as Mike Wang stated "include", which implies this is not complete list) or they decided that it was LeBron's package anyway.

The Dominant Big package had emphasis on it on Twitter, so that could be interesting.

Along with couple of other changes making a solid PF could be interesting this year, especially for MyCareer because I think many teams are lacking good PFs.

[ThePointForward]

Apparently we'll be able to see max ratings for MyPlayer on creation. It's cool, but should've been there in the first place in my opinion.

The shot meter on bottom puts stamina on top of player indicator like in 2K17.

RS shooting gives extra control over type of shot. Shocking I know, but specific examples:

• RS left/right - euro steps, cradles
• RS down left/right - hop steps
• LS + RS back - stepback jumper (when driving)

Retreat sizeups are triggered by moving LS back and tapping RS up. Should be faster than just backing away with LS.

Back pedaling has been slowed down quite a bit to fix "walk back" cheese.

Not sure what is being referenced...

[Andrew]

Yeah, I'm not sure which exploit is being referred to there.