The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Talk about NBA Live 19 here.

The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby Dee4Three on Wed Jul 25, 2018 1:37 am

I am hard on Operation Sports, but I agree with this article.

https://www.operationsports.com/the-sta ... e-proofed/

It covers a lot of what we have discussed on here, including multi-team use.

Keys To NBA Live 19’s Success

Over the past week, I’ve played a lot of NBA Live 18. I’ve tried to dig back into franchise. I’ve tried to really nail down the things that are missing, and the reasons it just can not hold my attention. It doesn’t have the options, and it doesn’t’ have personality. It’s not engaging.


1.There are no in-game injuries whatsoever. Going back to the Xbox and PS2, and even before, we’ve had in-game injuries that actually impact the player on the floor. In Inside Drive 2003, I remember vividly going up for a dunk with Vince Carter and stumbling to the ground. Sprained ankle. It gave me an option to sub for him, or have him play through it, albeit with decreased efficiency. And get this, he showed signs of physical impairment, limping along on the screen. It was glorious. I can also recall seeing Ricky Davis and Darius Miles go down in the same game, and then having to run the entire game through Big Z. At the end of the game, Big Z was so exhausted his movement speed was a crawl as he labored to get up and down the court. There is no excuse that in-game injuries should not be in a game in 2018 when they were implemented this well, and to this degree, in a game from 2003.

2.Team playstyles and player-specific playstyles. Again, this is something Inside Drive 2003 did that really made me fall in love with the AI part of NBA video games. Rip Hamilton, zipping through a staggered screen, only to lose his defender, pop out to receive the pass in the mid-range area (where Rip Hamilton is most efficient) and shoot the shot. Seeing Vince slash his way and finish with the monstrous tomahawk in traffic was a thing of beauty. The athletes played to their real-life tendencies. Teams tried to play to their specific strategy. Right now, there are team playbooks in NBA Live 18 that aren’t very well done. There are very few plays, if any at all, that will free you up for a mid-range shot. There aren’t enough plays, or not enough branches if your first or second option aren’t open to execute. The players are almost all a carbon copy of each other. They aren’t attacking from their spots. They are attacking from spots that a SG is supposed to take a shot from in the set SG play. The playbooks aren’t designed to get the “right players” the ball at the right place to attack based on their game. It’s designed to feed the post, or spam into the paint, or mindlessly pass the ball around the perimeter forcing a shot at the end of the shot clock. This isn’t NBA basketball, and it’s not enjoyable to play against. I want to game plan. I want to see that KD is having a monstrous 3-4 games in a row, and fear the next game that I’m going to have to stop him. I want to see that Steph has been horrid for 3-4 games, so my game plan is to not let him get going early, to keep him cold. Inside Drive also had players riding hot and cold streaks, which was phenomenal. We all remember Kobe’s outburst of scoring over the 10 or 11 games in a row. Those things matter; I want to see them implemented. If a game in 2003 can do it, a game in 2018 can do it.

3.The lack of future planning. This covers both rookies, the NBA Draft, and trades/future picks. First, I want to make sure I’m able to edit the rookie classes, in both appearance and traits (as well as names, etc.) so I can replicate the Zion Williamsons and RJ Barretts coming into the league. I want to continue my franchise, playing with replicas of those franchise-changing young players. I need to have access to do those things. But I also need to be able to trade future picks, put protections on those picks, perform blockbuster trades (three and four team trades) and include cash considerations. Cash considerations has become a big thing on social media; it’s involved in quite a bit of trades that go on in the real league. I need to see that my Cavs have won 11 games by the All-Star break, and so management decides to blow it up and ship out Kevin Love and Kyle Korver to contenders for late first-round picks (or probably a second for Korver). I need those other teams to realize they have got a legit shot to win the championship, so they will offer a trade and actively seek those opportunities to improve.

4.I want game plans to work. If I set my strategy to double someone on touch, I want it to work. If I do “Superstar Focus” then I want my defensive teammates to adjust and focus on stopping the superstar. The game plans haven’t worked in the past, or they’ve been extremely inefficient.

5.I want full control over franchise if I see fit. 30 team control. I generally don’t use it, but I do know several in the community want it.

6.We need to be able to edit rosters within franchise mode. Full control. Signature shots, attributes, tendencies. If Carmelo Anthony changes his mindset, and starts becoming a team player (the fabled Olympic Melo), I want to be able to edit those things within my current franchise. I want to edit accessories, signature shots — all of those things.

7.Downloading rosters. I want to download draft classes via a share feature. This is self explanatory. If several community members get together and work on a roster set, and tweak the players to give a better on the court product, I want to be able to “share” that roster. I’m not saying the devs aren’t doing a good job, but you have communities full of people who LOVE tweaking these things to get a more accurate representation of what they interpret as the NBA gameplay.

8.Take it online – One of the only times I enjoyed online gaming was in NBA 2K7 and NBA 2K8 where we had a group of like-minded individuals running our own setup league. I don’t remember what the site was that we used to track stats, but it was fun. Going against sim-minded individuals who played team specific, player specific, and actually ran plays was glorious. I don’t get into online gaming anymore, but there is a big part of the community that does want to run connected franchise.

9.Free Agency needs to matter. Right now, if I have money and there’s a free agent, I offer him a contract and he accepts it. There’s no suspense. There’s no rhyme or reason on who signs where. Teams will sign guys who don’t fit a need, or who will cause a logjam. I love facing off against a team of six centers, four PFs, and two SGs in year three of franchise. Make “fit” important. Make contract duration matter, and make organization direction matter. If I’m rebuilding, I don’t think a superstar should accept an offer just because I have the money. Make things matter to them. Money, contract, location, playing opportunity, etc.

There are so many things that I can add to this list, but in Live 18, these are things that should have been there. These are things that I’ve ranted about. These are things that I’ve talked with those in the community about. These are things that, in a game that aims to simulate the NBA product, should be in there by now. Re-branding, relocation, ticket sales, merchandise sales, etc. are all icing on top of the cake so to speak.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby Andrew on Wed Jul 25, 2018 2:07 am

I definitely agree. I want to see CPU teams initiating trades with the user and each other, and better team building logic. Deeper free agent logic, with actual negotiations as we've seen in previous games. Money alone isn't always enough to lure the big names, as the Bulls have found out on so many occasions. A day-by-day calendar system, instead of the weekly sim option that was borrowed from Madden's Franchise mode. In-game injuries, recognition of retired numbers, multi-team control, number editing, a trade block feature...we need to see the basics that were in the previous generation's Dynasty mode. We're even missing a proper League Leaders screen right now; you can sort the stats screen to view the league leaders, but they don't take into account qualifying numbers and you need to manually sort the stats screen into the leaders, rather than going to a dedicated League Leaders screen. The ability to view advanced stats and Per 36 numbers would also be great.

Aspects like rebranding and relocation are great ideas that would be nice to have at some point, but one step at a time. NBA Live's Franchise needs to be beefed up with some of the basics that it's missing, then it can start looking at expanding the experience with additional management functions and other "flavour" features. It's still too shallow and not engaging enough, not only lagging behind MyLEAGUE, but also behind what Dynasty was like on the previous generation. It really needs to be as good as last gen Association in NBA 2K, then it can start getting some bells and whistles along the lines of MyLEAGUE. I really hope we see some progress in that area in NBA Live 19.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby Murat on Wed Jul 25, 2018 5:29 am

Realism-wise, Inside Drive was the shit. Agree on all of the points.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby Dee4Three on Wed Jul 25, 2018 5:40 am

Murat wrote:Realism-wise, Inside Drive was the shit. Agree on all of the points.


I loved Inside Drive, so underrated.

In fact, I think it may have been the most realistic basketball simulation at the time. Of course, that's my opinion and may not be shared by others, but it was the least arcade in my opinion.

Not only were the graphics really solid for the time, but the player movement was really good. I liked the look of dunks/layups and shots on the move. I miss the Inside Drive games.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby StyxTx on Wed Jul 25, 2018 9:35 am

Dee4Three wrote:I am hard on Operation Sports, but I agree with this article.

https://www.operationsports.com/the-sta ... e-proofed/

It covers a lot of what we have discussed on here, including multi-team use.

Keys To NBA Live 19’s Success

Over the past week, I’ve played a lot of NBA Live 18. I’ve tried to dig back into franchise. I’ve tried to really nail down the things that are missing, and the reasons it just can not hold my attention. It doesn’t have the options, and it doesn’t’ have personality. It’s not engaging.


1.There are no in-game injuries whatsoever. Going back to the Xbox and PS2, and even before, we’ve had in-game injuries that actually impact the player on the floor. In Inside Drive 2003, I remember vividly going up for a dunk with Vince Carter and stumbling to the ground. Sprained ankle. It gave me an option to sub for him, or have him play through it, albeit with decreased efficiency. And get this, he showed signs of physical impairment, limping along on the screen. It was glorious. I can also recall seeing Ricky Davis and Darius Miles go down in the same game, and then having to run the entire game through Big Z. At the end of the game, Big Z was so exhausted his movement speed was a crawl as he labored to get up and down the court. There is no excuse that in-game injuries should not be in a game in 2018 when they were implemented this well, and to this degree, in a game from 2003.

2.Team playstyles and player-specific playstyles. Again, this is something Inside Drive 2003 did that really made me fall in love with the AI part of NBA video games. Rip Hamilton, zipping through a staggered screen, only to lose his defender, pop out to receive the pass in the mid-range area (where Rip Hamilton is most efficient) and shoot the shot. Seeing Vince slash his way and finish with the monstrous tomahawk in traffic was a thing of beauty. The athletes played to their real-life tendencies. Teams tried to play to their specific strategy. Right now, there are team playbooks in NBA Live 18 that aren’t very well done. There are very few plays, if any at all, that will free you up for a mid-range shot. There aren’t enough plays, or not enough branches if your first or second option aren’t open to execute. The players are almost all a carbon copy of each other. They aren’t attacking from their spots. They are attacking from spots that a SG is supposed to take a shot from in the set SG play. The playbooks aren’t designed to get the “right players” the ball at the right place to attack based on their game. It’s designed to feed the post, or spam into the paint, or mindlessly pass the ball around the perimeter forcing a shot at the end of the shot clock. This isn’t NBA basketball, and it’s not enjoyable to play against. I want to game plan. I want to see that KD is having a monstrous 3-4 games in a row, and fear the next game that I’m going to have to stop him. I want to see that Steph has been horrid for 3-4 games, so my game plan is to not let him get going early, to keep him cold. Inside Drive also had players riding hot and cold streaks, which was phenomenal. We all remember Kobe’s outburst of scoring over the 10 or 11 games in a row. Those things matter; I want to see them implemented. If a game in 2003 can do it, a game in 2018 can do it.

3.The lack of future planning. This covers both rookies, the NBA Draft, and trades/future picks. First, I want to make sure I’m able to edit the rookie classes, in both appearance and traits (as well as names, etc.) so I can replicate the Zion Williamsons and RJ Barretts coming into the league. I want to continue my franchise, playing with replicas of those franchise-changing young players. I need to have access to do those things. But I also need to be able to trade future picks, put protections on those picks, perform blockbuster trades (three and four team trades) and include cash considerations. Cash considerations has become a big thing on social media; it’s involved in quite a bit of trades that go on in the real league. I need to see that my Cavs have won 11 games by the All-Star break, and so management decides to blow it up and ship out Kevin Love and Kyle Korver to contenders for late first-round picks (or probably a second for Korver). I need those other teams to realize they have got a legit shot to win the championship, so they will offer a trade and actively seek those opportunities to improve.

4.I want game plans to work. If I set my strategy to double someone on touch, I want it to work. If I do “Superstar Focus” then I want my defensive teammates to adjust and focus on stopping the superstar. The game plans haven’t worked in the past, or they’ve been extremely inefficient.

5.I want full control over franchise if I see fit. 30 team control. I generally don’t use it, but I do know several in the community want it.

6.We need to be able to edit rosters within franchise mode. Full control. Signature shots, attributes, tendencies. If Carmelo Anthony changes his mindset, and starts becoming a team player (the fabled Olympic Melo), I want to be able to edit those things within my current franchise. I want to edit accessories, signature shots — all of those things.

7.Downloading rosters. I want to download draft classes via a share feature. This is self explanatory. If several community members get together and work on a roster set, and tweak the players to give a better on the court product, I want to be able to “share” that roster. I’m not saying the devs aren’t doing a good job, but you have communities full of people who LOVE tweaking these things to get a more accurate representation of what they interpret as the NBA gameplay.

8.Take it online – One of the only times I enjoyed online gaming was in NBA 2K7 and NBA 2K8 where we had a group of like-minded individuals running our own setup league. I don’t remember what the site was that we used to track stats, but it was fun. Going against sim-minded individuals who played team specific, player specific, and actually ran plays was glorious. I don’t get into online gaming anymore, but there is a big part of the community that does want to run connected franchise.

9.Free Agency needs to matter. Right now, if I have money and there’s a free agent, I offer him a contract and he accepts it. There’s no suspense. There’s no rhyme or reason on who signs where. Teams will sign guys who don’t fit a need, or who will cause a logjam. I love facing off against a team of six centers, four PFs, and two SGs in year three of franchise. Make “fit” important. Make contract duration matter, and make organization direction matter. If I’m rebuilding, I don’t think a superstar should accept an offer just because I have the money. Make things matter to them. Money, contract, location, playing opportunity, etc.

There are so many things that I can add to this list, but in Live 18, these are things that should have been there. These are things that I’ve ranted about. These are things that I’ve talked with those in the community about. These are things that, in a game that aims to simulate the NBA product, should be in there by now. Re-branding, relocation, ticket sales, merchandise sales, etc. are all icing on top of the cake so to speak.


#1 and #2 are things I have been going on and on about. For me, the lack of those in the game make the game a lot less enjoyable.
Last edited by StyxTx on Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby Andrew on Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:07 pm

It's crucial that the NBA side of NBA Live receives adequate attention. The Streets are a hook, but the game needs to be well-rounded.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby StyxTx on Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:35 am

Duplicate post. Sorry.
Last edited by StyxTx on Wed Aug 01, 2018 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby iceinmyveins on Tue Jul 31, 2018 4:49 pm

100% agreed. That's why I have already bought 2K18. Played one game, already have rosters updated as of today, whereas Live 18 is lacking things that are expected at this point in time. Definitely not as good as Live 2010, but it was nice to see them back to form (almost).

Right now, I'm basically just finishing out the season in franchise mode, then switching to 2K18 for the "next" season. No warning about the trade deadline, says it's Week 18 in the menu. Toggle feature doesn't seem to work, so I got stuck with my roster which may or may not be good enough to win the championship, because it's only Week 17 yet there is a lock symbol on the trade menu, despite the actual trade deadline having been 2/8/18 this past season and it was only 2/7 in the game.

Very frustrating...it's been nice enough experience, as I fell in love with Live 2010 (had previously played 2005, 2007, 2008).

That, and the menus are very slow. Functionality. The game has moments that have amazed me and it feels authentic, but then there's most of the time where like has been stated things are generic and formulaic.

You can't even compare myLeague to Franchise at this point, and I remember when 2K used to have the clearly inferior "Dynasty" mode. Having no control over the other teams or seeing any CPU/CPU trades, or anything cool that I've seen happen in myLeague dating back to 2K14 (my first 2K experience since 2K2), has now gotten me to roll my eyes time and time again.

I have to tolerate fending off Derrick Rose and Chris Bosh on the Suns, Monta Ellis on the Bulls, Manu Ginobili on the Hawks, Brandon Jennings on the Kings. That, and Isaiah Thomas is starting instead of Lonzo for the Lakers. C'mon, now. Can't even edit other team rotations.

After I tried to create Josh Smith (J-Smoove), I realized that the create-a-player is very limited in physical appearance (despite an amazing face scan for The One mode) and started looking at 2K18 prices on Amazon. Live 19 hopefully improves these serious problems...I would like to keep playing Live, but I can't even fathom creating rookies and it would take forever to do all the offseason trades/signings. On 2K18, it took me maybe 10 minutes to find someone's awesome roster file and now I'm good to go.

It's unfortunate. Hopefully, Live 19 steps up and takes up the mantle to be legit competition. I'll keep my eye on how it looks...
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby Andrew on Tue Jul 31, 2018 8:11 pm

The speed of the menus is definitely another gripe for me as well. It's even worse in Ultimate Team, where it can take more than ten seconds to scroll through the different Challenge menus as it's retrieving content.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby jayzmagz on Tue Jul 31, 2018 8:22 pm

Dee4Three wrote:
Murat wrote:Realism-wise, Inside Drive was the shit. Agree on all of the points.


I loved Inside Drive, so underrated.

In fact, I think it may have been the most realistic basketball simulation at the time. Of course, that's my opinion and may not be shared by others, but it was the least arcade in my opinion.

Not only were the graphics really solid for the time, but the player movement was really good. I liked the look of dunks/layups and shots on the move. I miss the Inside Drive games.


I too loved inside drive still play it whenever my original xbox is on. I hate 2004 edition as they used Shaq as mo-cap player on all movements for the players.
The 2002 and 2003 Inside drive were good. Did not bother with 2004 that much because of the player movements.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby Dee4Three on Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:22 am

The closer we get to launch, the more I worry.

I get responses on other items I tweet out about, but never any responses in regards to franchise mode. I've heard of late announcements, but I fear that it's a bit late now..

While the gameplay has certainly improved, and I really enjoy the game.... the fact that they are still putting the NBA part of the game as secondary makes me nervous overall from the franchise's direction.

Anybody else getting this vibe? I understand that they are targeting the younger demographic, but NBA is the biggest part of the title, Not Street Live 19, or The One 19, etc.

EDIT: I posted this on the NBA Live forum


"Franchise Mode


I'm nervous.

I'm not expecting unparalleled depth in this mode, but the basics should be met. Multi-Team use, and a realistic transaction/injury system. We are not asking for draft classes, or court/arena creation, anything like that. Just the basics.

I understand that EA Sports is targeting the younger demographic with Live 19, and it seems to be the mission moving forward. You can tell that this is the case, when the game itself puts a 14 year old teen in front of you talking all excited about your street game, and how he is following you on social media. This I can live with, if the NBA part of NBA Live was up to snuff. This isn't Street Live 19, or The One 19, it's NBA Live 19.

The gameplay has improved a lot, including but not limited to: Better feeling shots on the move, better overall post game, graphics, and the overall feel of the basketball action. The team over at EA should feel great about the positive changes they made to the gameplay, so congratulations on that. But, we watch the NBA because of the NBA action, we became fans of the game through watching NBA players play throughout regular seasons and into the post season, we care about the NBA aspects of the game.

I'm nervous because we are getting close to launch, and while my tweets about gameplay critiques (Good and bad) have been met with responses (Thank you for that), any tweets about Franchise mode have been met with silence. I have been nothing but professional in my dealings with EA on social media, and I present myself professionally in general when it comes to communication. However, I fear that Franchise mode may have gone untouched, and this is disappointing coming from a lifelong basketball gamer.

Playing Live 2003 the other day, you could control 30 NBA teams at once. Why 15-16 years later can we only control one?

Lets put the NBA back in NBA Live.

-Dee "
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby [Q] on Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:05 am

I definitely feel like something is up if they haven't mentioned anything about it yet, but there are also so many new things that I'm sure they'd rather push first. Also they are still releasing new information so it's not like they can't announce anything next week. I mean they just released information about the court battles this weekend so who knows.

Does seem a little fishy but they could still surprise us
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby Dee4Three on Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:08 am

[Q] wrote:I definitely feel like something is up if they haven't mentioned anything about it yet, but there are also so many new things that I'm sure they'd rather push first. Also they are still releasing new information so it's not like they can't announce anything next week. I mean they just released information about the court battles this weekend so who knows.

Does seem a little fishy but they could still surprise us


Crossing my fingers.... I really like this game.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby Andrew on Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:46 am

The NBA side of things, including Franchise and LUT, remains my biggest concern at this point.
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Re: The State of NBA Live Franchise Mode

Postby alansu55 on Sat Sep 01, 2018 6:36 am

PSG posted a preview of Franchise Mode. Looks a bit better, but there is still room for improvement.
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