The miscellaneous "Hopes for Live 2004" thread

[TheMadGod]

A "shop player" option - When I want to make a trade (esp. my 12th man or one of my reserves or lesser players ), why not have an option which allows me to see which teams might be interested in my player. ( i.e. Very interested, Mildly interested etc... ) That way I won't waste a lot of time shopping my player to other teams.

[Andrew]

Perhaps a similar facility as NBA2K3's "Trading Block" feature. Not only could you place one of your players on the market, you could see who else is available. You could then make offers/counter offers involving these players.

Of course, a player wouldn't need to be on the trading block to be involved in a deal - depending on the deal, the CPU might accept it even if it wasn't "thinking" of trading a certain player (but the offer is just too good to refuse).

[champ]

hope 2004 allows you to use the pad aswell as stick cos i will probably stay with 2002 if it doesn't.

[Andrew]

NBA Live 2004 will likely have Quick Plays, so there probably won't be the option of using the D-Pad for movement.

[Ripper]

a couple of things:

- you should be able to set the quickplays without having to change it every single time you start the game. It should remember the plays you like to play.

- you should be able to design your own plays (maybe in nba live 2010)

- Bring in tons and tons of ingame stats

- Being able to use the ingame menus without having to use the keyboard and/or mouse, just the controller.

- Being able to make automatic substitute patterns, or being able to manually substite during the game, without using the menus.

- Bring back the calculator!

- better menus, the interface in 2003 is slow and presents information poorly. You need a graphics card just to use the interface let alone play the game. Make it simple, effective, efficient and fast. Browsing through stats is crap now, you can put a whole lot more stats on the screen and it should go alot faster.

- Improve the create-a-player section. Setting and looking through the attributes takes ages now. Just make a pulldown menu for every attribute. And the hairdoes could be much better. NBA
Live 2003's create-a-player option is more like create-a-retard.
(why don't we start a competition for the retardiest looking player award, just send in the screenshot...)

- And i hope they fix the awards problem too.

- Bring back player of the week (for east and west) and player of the month.

- oh yeah and one more thing, add all options that NBA 2k3&2k4 and ID 2003&2004 have.

[Tuomas]

Complete Freestyle Control (R) for keyboard. That's a MUST.

[Andrew]

- Being able to make automatic substitute patterns, or being able to manually substite during the game, without using the menus.

That was one of the early features of NBA Live 2000, the ability to customise auto sub patterns. Unfortunately, it never made the final product, nor did the scenario mode and builder.

[Colin]

That was one of the early features of NBA Live 2000, the ability to customise auto sub patterns. Unfortunately, it never made the final product, nor did the scenario mode and builder.

Then they fired the programming team didn't they. Silly EA.

[Andrew]

Passing and shooting. On passing, it should be easier to move the ball around and set up the offense without encountering an impossible steal (or a whole lot of deflections). Similarly, it would be nice if we could throw lob passes - not just alley-oops. If a player is posting up and his defender gets in the passing lane, it would be nice to be able to lob the ball to your teammate, who could then turn around and lay it in. As it stands, we can only throw a lob pass at the rim for an alley-oop, or watch as the defender easily intercepts the pass.

On shooting...fewer dunks (especially spectacular dunks in traffic) though a wider variety of simple dunks, more layups, and better means of challenging shots in the post. Cumbersome, less talented big men shouldn't be able to easily score - they should force more shots, miss tough hook shots, and fail to establish good position in the post.

Wide open jumpshots should not be as easy. Plenty of times players will get wide open looks, only to fire a bad shot. I've also noticed guards tend to prefer to step back for a three, rather than working for a mid-range jumper - it would be nice to see more mid-range and long jumpers in the game; players like Chris Whitney shouldn't be attempting 10 threes all the time.

Alley-oop layups: They were supposed to be in Live 2003, but I haven't encountered any to date. They would be executed when a player isn't in a position to make a dunk, or if the player cannot dunk.

I've noticed in Live 2003 you can force your player to execute a layup by pressing back-down before you press shoot. Further control over the types of shots attempted, especially in the paint, would be sweet.

About all I can think of for now.

[Andrew]

Just thought of something else: blocking. It seems that we're going to be getting more realistic blocks this year, and hopefully, fewer overall. However, I'm hoping it's easier to block layups, especially if you're using Shaq and a small player, say, Brent Price has the audacity to take it to the basket. At the very least, the layup should be challenged.

Reading the previews, I feel confident that a fair few things we've talked about here will be in Live 2004 one way or another.

[MikZyth]

get rid of Live 2003 replays, they suck

It just has to be improved (I mean manual (menu) instant replay, not automatic). And the possibility to save it to .AVI

[MikZyth]

NBA Live 2003's create-a-player option is more like create-a-retard.

It concerns the whole NBA Live 2003 interface (menus).

[sixerfan03]

- you should be able to design your own plays (maybe in nba live 2010)

Designing your own plays shouldn't be too much to ask. There are football games that let you do that.

Complete Freestyle Control (R) for keyboard. That's a MUST.

Agreed. Even if it's just the number pad, that's perfect.

Passing and shooting. On passing, it should be easier to move the ball around and set up the offense without encountering an impossible steal (or a whole lot of deflections). Similarly, it would be nice if we could throw lob passes - not just alley-oops. If a player is posting up and his defender gets in the passing lane, it would be nice to be able to lob the ball to your teammate, who could then turn around and lay it in. As it stands, we can only throw a lob pass at the rim for an alley-oop, or watch as the defender easily intercepts the pass.

On shooting...fewer dunks (especially spectacular dunks in traffic) though a wider variety of simple dunks, more layups, and better means of challenging shots in the post. Cumbersome, less talented big men shouldn't be able to easily score - they should force more shots, miss tough hook shots, and fail to establish good position in the post.

Wide open jumpshots should not be as easy. Plenty of times players will get wide open looks, only to fire a bad shot. I've also noticed guards tend to prefer to step back for a three, rather than working for a mid-range jumper - it would be nice to see more mid-range and long jumpers in the game; players like Chris Whitney shouldn't be attempting 10 threes all the time.

Alley-oop layups: They were supposed to be in Live 2003, but I haven't encountered any to date. They would be executed when a player isn't in a position to make a dunk, or if the player cannot dunk.

I've noticed in Live 2003 you can force your player to execute a layup by pressing back-down before you press shoot. Further control over the types of shots attempted, especially in the paint, would be sweet.

About all I can think of for now.

Unfortionately, the passing is supposed to have more deflections according to the reviews.

I agree. There should be more mid-range jumpers and more misses in general. Bad bigmen (half of the centers in the NBA) should play ugly most of the time.

Just thought of something else: blocking. It seems that we're going to be getting more realistic blocks this year, and hopefully, fewer overall. However, I'm hoping it's easier to block layups, especially if you're using Shaq and a small player, say, Brent Price has the audacity to take it to the basket. At the very least, the layup should be challenged.

Reading the previews, I feel confident that a fair few things we've talked about here will be in Live 2004 one way or another.

A big man should disrupt most layups. Bigger players (Kenyon Martin or even McGrady) should be able to adjust and take better shots, but Derrick Fisher should never be able to score at will when the AI wants it to. (Maybe really good little men like Iverson can still hit a number of layups)

I don't know if this is the case in longer games, but when you go by someone, bad defenders should reach in some of the time. That way, they get fouls, or the small potential for a steal (hopefully very small)

[Andrew]

Unfortionately, the passing is supposed to have more deflections according to the reviews.

I know. I'm hoping that deflections are not overdone, and that they will not all result in a steal, but also the ball going out of bounds, or an offensive player regaining control of the ball.

I don't know if this is the case in longer games, but when you go by someone, bad defenders should reach in some of the time. That way, they get fouls, or the small potential for a steal (hopefully very small)

Yeah, it's more or less in the game already. It's also pretty easy to reach in when you play aggressive defense on the perimeter.

[ShowMeTheMoney]

I hope the CPU 'D is tweaked a bit more. Back in Live 2001 I absolutely hated the way the defender seemed to be glued to you, making it virtually impossible to drive to the basket unless you called for a pick.

That was "fixed" in Live 2003, but then the speed practically made it very easy for guys like Iverson or even Kidd to just drive to the basket for the easy lay in.

Although hopefully the addition of a "speed slider" would help fix that.

Another thing I hope they look at is the inside game. Sometimes when I'm using a "small team" against the Lakers(Shaq) or the Spurs(Duncan) I hardly ever feel the absence of quality big men in my own team. There should be a sense of urgency on the part of the user to stop quality big men. Maybe to the point where I have to resort to hack-a-Shaq tactics.

Bad bigmen (half of the centers in the NBA) should play ugly most of the time.

I totally agree with this one. Sometimes I can easily get any of my slot men to score 20+ points in a game.

[Metsis]

Another thing I hope they look at is the inside game. Sometimes when I'm using a "small team" against the Lakers(Shaq) or the Spurs(Duncan) I hardly ever feel the absence of quality big men in my own team. There should be a sense of urgency on the part of the user to stop quality big men. Maybe to the point where I have to resort to hack-a-Shaq tactics.

Well first of all you should be able to hack in the first place... Fouling intentionally is next to impossible in Live 2003. Ironically the first (PC) game without the ability and the first game where the commentators refer to it as a often used tactic in the final seconds. I just hate it. Again all of this is "lack of big men not hindering a team"-thing is all because of the blocking is too easy and the fact that the AI uses guards most of time for ending it's offensive plays. And that's why the Shaq's and Duncan's are wasted on the AI in Live 2003...

I totally agree with this one. Sometimes I can easily get any of my slot men to score 20+ points in a game.

This is again a mental block in the AI... But the big men do play good defense in Live 2003 though they are impotent in offense. There just should be more missed shots in the game. So you would have to use the best players to do most of the scoring and not the overall 78 center being guarded by Shaq.

[crimson_stallion]

Another thing i find annoying are the alley lobs. how often to nba players throw the ball overarm for alleys? they are usually a two handed chect type pass or an underarm lop. I dont think ive ever seen a 2 handed overhead alley pass. It really looks abit rediculous.

Secondly, i'm getting annoyed with the three throw meter. In harder skill levels the meter goes estaticly fast, so that ray allen is lucky to hit 7/10 from the line. Yet on rookie settings, anyone can get 10/10 with shaq. Meter speed should be dependant on two things;
1) player free throw rating
2) situation.

I'd like to see the clutch rating make an influence. Late in a playoff game, a bad clutch player should have his metre moving wildly to simulate the extra pressure and stress put on him, while high clutch rated players should be basically unaffected, or possibly even slow down a little.

Teams should be able to change coaches through trade market (relisticaly in 20 years pat riley probably wont be coaching heat), and maybe when some star players retire they can become coaches. It probalby wouldnt be too hard to keep the face and put a coaches suit on say, patrick ewing or michael jordan.

Big need is the reintroduction of an intentional foul button. The call doesnt always work as intended and soemtimes u want to stop the clock in a tight game and u have no timeout of dont have possetion.

Game must be slowed down in regards to the fast breaks. I like the faced pace breaks, but they shouldnt be unstoppable.

A guy with low block ratings shul not be able to swat practically anything. Damon Stoudamire blocking jason kidd is jsut not on. similarly, michel olowakandi shouldnt be blocked by corlis williamson.

Double teams are good at stopping post plays, but they are abit TOO fast. you team settings should work. I tell my gusy to never double team and to play high pressure and man-on defence. then i have my PG defendign the other teams SF and mu SF on their PG. Plus double teams still come.

When crash boards are off, fast break should be pushed, when on vguys should stay aroudn the rim. It works alittle, but doesnt really affect th eplay much.

thats bout i for now.

[Tuomas]

More stuff:

1. Lay-ups should be much easier to block. I've blocked about 3 lay-ups in 200 games

2. More simpler lay-ups

3. Getting "in the zone". Like AI gets hot, player could make, say 5 shots, then the player indicator could start flashing red, and he would be hot and making shots like a madman. And like AI, taken all the fun outta it byu screaming and shouting out!

[Andrew]

I'd like to see more misses that result in long rebounds (or at least more difficult rebounds). A bad shot (release the button too soon/too late) would result in an ugly brick.

I'm also hoping that guys who retire this year (MJ, Stockton, Robinson, and any others who might end up calling it quits) who are currently signed to appear as Legends will be retained in Live 2004. Would be nice to see Sir Charles back in the game, too - hopefully, they'll get the rights to his image.

[Lil DMX]

Right. And bring back the forward leaning jumper like in 2001!

you can do that by doing a trick like the hold ball under your legs thing... after that keep holding it down and shoot...

[Metsis]

When crash boards are off, fast break should be pushed, when on vguys should stay aroudn the rim. It works alittle, but doesnt really affect th eplay much.

This is just and error in your thinking and knowledge... Crash Boards effect only offensive rebounding! Your guys always go for defensive rebounding.

And guards run the break pretty naturally with the small forward. And they do it almost as often as they can and you can only get a fast break when you make the other team give a turnover.

One thing that really sucks in this is the fact that when the ball bounces on the floor (usually after a block) you should be able to catch the ball way earlier then you actually can. And you should be able to catch or deflect the ball atleast from mid air. It is so irritating when a ball goes right next to you and your man can't do anything toward trying to catch it.

I still would like to see a solid game that has no apparent flaws!

[Metsis]

When crash boards are off, fast break should be pushed, when on vguys should stay aroudn the rim. It works alittle, but doesnt really affect th eplay much.

This is just and error in your thinking and knowledge... Crash Boards effect only offensive rebounding! Your guys always go for defensive rebounding.

And guards run the break pretty naturally with the small forward. And they do it almost as often as they can and you can only get a fast break when you make the other team give a turnover.

One thing that really sucks in this is the fact that when the ball bounces on the floor (usually after a block) you should be able to catch the ball way earlier then you actually can. And you should be able to catch or deflect the ball atleast from mid air. It is so irritating when a ball goes right next to you and your man can't do anything toward trying to catch it.

I still would like to see a solid game that has no apparent flaws!

[MikZyth]

Though it's not a gameplay issue, but I'd like 2-D photos to be brought back. I like them more than that ugly 3-D faces in the stats.

[Colin]

One thing that really sucks in this is the fact that when the ball bounces on the floor (usually after a block) you should be able to catch the ball way earlier then you actually can. And you should be able to catch or deflect the ball atleast from mid air. It is so irritating when a ball goes right next to you and your man can't do anything toward trying to catch it.

This a huge issue with the game. Also when I block a players shot back past halfcourt (shouldn't happen of course) and I'm running to get it in front of my opponent, I somehow slow down when he;'s pressing up against me on the run, so he can then grab it. ARGHHHH!

[Tuomas]

Though it's not a gameplay issue, but I'd like 2-D photos to be brought back. I like them more than that ugly 3-D faces in the stats.

Definetly.

Recruit the top free agents and import your top college players in a revamped Dynasty Mode.

I like the college player thing.