NBA 2K Online Needs Proper Matchmaking

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NBA 2K Online Needs Proper Matchmaking

Postby Andrew on Sat Apr 16, 2022 5:34 pm

OK, so I know I've harped on this point in several articles and on the NLSC Podcast. However, I want to put it out there in the Forum as well. The online scene in NBA 2K desperately needs proper matchmaking.

I've left the online scene alone this year; in fact, I haven't been playing much of NBA 2K22 at all. I've grown weary of the grind, and I'm not a fan of the direction MyCAREER has taken with The City and all the off-court activities. I'd be more inclined to stomach it if our squad - NLSC THRILLHO - were still interested in playing Pro-Am. We've collectively lost interest in it though, and it's not just burnout on grinding.

Before I get into team Pro-Am, I'll just say that The Playground is a toxic mess, wherein matchmaking is in the hands of a community that would rather stand around than risk a loss, and judges potential teammates on the clothes they're wearing. That's where that scene is at. That's the atmosphere that the game has cultivated. The Old Gym on Next Gen is a half-hearted solution, but it grants lower XP, and it isn't free of toxicity. I said it years ago, but Got Next gotta go. I get the concept, but it literally simulates the most boring part of any activity - waiting in line - and leads to people avoiding each other.

As for The Rec...it's awful. Randoms without squads who don't know how to play as a team and are just there to level up, and supposedly elite squads who, rather than facing competition on their level, go into The Rec to feast on ragtag bunches of misfits. It's what happens when everyone's thrown into The Neighborhood/The City together, without any semblance of proper matchmaking. The root of the problem can be traced back to what happened to team Pro-Am.

In NBA 2K16 and NBA 2K17, team Pro-Am was fantastic! Our NLSC squad had a blast with it. We played over 500 games in NBA 2K17; that's how much we loved it. We didn't play as much of NBA 2K18 because we didn't care for the game itself, but then NBA 2K19 brought in a massive change. Whereas before we needed a minimum of three users to begin a game, now every team Pro-Am game required five users aside. This was to make it more like the home version of the NBA 2K League, which makes sense. AI Players aren't exactly in the spirit of online team play, either.

It was a really useful feature though, especially on the Australasian/Oceania servers, where a lot of squads often ran with 3 or 4 instead of the full complement of 5, and still had a great time. If one or two people couldn't make a session, you could still make a go of it with three. That's no longer possible, because the mode caters to the elitists. They added 3v3 Pro-Am which can be fun, but it's glorified Playground. It's not the same. The Rec is meant to be an alternative, but it's not a fun one due to the toxicity and horrible standard of play.

The irony here is that by enforcing those restrictions on team Pro-Am, it's forced more squads into The Rec just to find games, or as I said, to pick up easy wins by blowing out thrown together squads. Instead of enhancing the quality of online play, it's ruined it. Now, I understand the objections to AI Players in online team play modes. Contrary to what elitists bleat however, people don't want AI players because they think it's the optimal way to play, or they want to be carried by the AI Players (which doesn't exactly happen anyway). It's a means to an end when you can't get the full squad together - which is not an uncommon occurrence - and far preferable to playing in The Rec.

There's a solution that could make everyone happy here: proper matchmaking! Either only match up full squads with other full squads, or make facing teams with less than five users optional. Perhaps there could be ranked and unranked play, with ranked play requiring five users, and unranked play only requiring the old minimum of three. That way, teams with less than five can still play casual match-ups against each other and be fine with AI Players filling in, while anyone who doesn't want to play against bots never has to see them. Everyone wins! The only reason to object to this is elitism, and a desire to get your own way at the expense of other people. We shouldn't be against our fellow gamers like that.

While they're expanding this matchmaking, there needs to be proper ranking and grading, as in Rocket League. Squads should be facing opponents of similar experience and quality, especially in ranked play if there are casual and competitive settings. We also need to be able to see how much experience or how many wins we need to level up. A few years back, the developers couldn't even answer exactly how teams levelled up to Gold/Elite status. How can you not know how your own game/ranking system works? If it's because it's kind of random, that's kind of a problem!

The bottom line is that if NBA 2K's online scene is ever to be anywhere near as good as it could and should be, it needs proper matchmaking. Unfortunately, I have my doubts of it happening, because the current approach encourages quick upgrading and the purchasing of the appropriate cosmetic items, which in turn pushes people in the direction of buying VC. Proper matchmaking would, to a small extent, alleviate the pressure to engage in microtransactions. It's a necessity for the quality of the experience however, and the lack of proper matchmaking means that NBA 2K lags (pun fully intended) far behind the online scene in other video games.

Personally, I have no interest in returning to the online scene until these issues are sorted out. It's a shame because I know how fun it can be. I also know how frustrating it is without proper matchmaking, and with an approach that caters to elitists and recurrent revenue mechanics. They had a good thing going as of NBA 2K17, but greed and toxicity have spoiled it. Proper matchmaking wouldn't fix everything, but it'd be a huge step in the right direction.
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Re: NBA 2K Online Needs Proper Matchmaking

Postby jmmontoro on Sun Apr 17, 2022 12:32 pm

We've discussed it before, and I agree with everything you said. Online is so profit driven that is sickening, it's a FTP experience with a AAA price tag. Sadly I feel like we're closer to cosmetic NFTs than anything close to matchmaking. Why would you have people play one of your game modes when you can have them walk around getting ignored by others because of their rating or clothes?
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