NBA 2K24 (I hate 2K)

Zero-Cool

That time of year again for the best (only) basketball game to get announced and another year of NBA Live missing in action. Release date 8th September, The city is back with electric skateboards, bikes and golf karts with 'streamlined quests', Jesus. 80 euro for regular edition, 100 for Black Mama edition that comes with 10k vc or 25th anniversary edition for 150 that comes with nba league pass.

One of the big announcements is cross play, as if the servers weren't bad enough, you now get to share them with other consoles.

Ps4, xbox one and pc (old gen) have a neighborhood in my career while ps5 and xbox x has the city.

Also something called ProPlay that merges real life footage straight into gameplay. No idea what they mean by that.

Mamba moments that will celebrate Kobes best accomplishments like the Jordan challenge of last year.

Jordan 199

Will you be picking it up Mr. Cool?

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120820671#Comment_120820671

I tell myself i won't but i probably will. We'll wait to see what the launch is like. Last year, they upped the price of upgrading your player and reduced the amount of currency you could earn in quests so it made an awful grind to level up while all the time throwing the option to buy currency with real money to level up faster, two mobile game f2p bollox. But then it is a brilliant game underneath all the sleazy greed so I'm torn each year on release.

Jordan 199

Just spend the money on a pair of Air Jordan's and a basketball hoop for the back garden 😉

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120820814#Comment_120820814

Already have them :D

Potential-Monke

Yeah, no sign of changing anything to do with career so this is another nope from me. More streamlined... in other words, designed to get even more real money out of you in order to progress, coupled with not playing basketball to make VC. Such a shame, as there seems to be a really good game behind the horrendous monetisation. I lasted 3 hours in 23.

v3ttel

I wonder what cross play will mean. The lag when shooting online is unbelievable. The timing of the same jumpshot online and offline is totally different.

Looking forward to getting some Park going again and pouring hours into a new build. It's great craic when its not with randomers.

Zero-Cool

V3ttel, hands down the most enjoyment I got out of 2k23 was the park games with you. The only thing that killed any of that enjoyment was the randomer teamate. They are REALLY pushing the crossplay, to the point that you'd swear they invented it but it might help on here as each year, there's a small number of players on both playstation and xbox so now we might actually be able to get regular 3 or 5 players to squad up for rec or pro-am.

I think I would start off with a big paint beast build again that can't shoot as i don't expect the online lag to change when it comes to shooting which is a pity. I suppose you could learn the lag timing but let's see what difference it makes when crossplay is involved.

Zero-Cool

Game reveal plans. I hate the way they leave Career and park to the last week knowing that's what everyone wants.

https://twitter.com/2KIntel/status/1684564601936175113?t=Re6hmUM8dnaLqMiiDykNUg&s=19

Potential-Monke

If you squint enough, you can see the letters VC in each of those icons.

Zero-Cool

Some great news, quick drop dunks are gone! I hated that meta as i don't like quick drops but you had to go with them to avoid blocks.

https://twitter.com/LD2K/status/1687695711352270848?t=EFTw_IzGXpDo7oL_RuUXjg&s=19

Zero-Cool

1st gameplay video showing off the new tech Pro Play. Basically, they scanned real life footage of stars across the NBA into the game and applied them as signature moves just to those players (and you can apply to your player as well). The rest of the players will have the usual mocap moves but have to say, these new animations look slick. That KD comparison is crazy.

Big gameplay blog as well describing the changes this year. Lot of buzz words but definitely some nice changes in there. Sounds like defense is getting a buff to match the new offensive moves.

https://youtu.be/OJS1BVniz5c

https://twitter.com/ShakeDown2012/status/1691477419079704576?t=TtCo1HclUNdGSPoqk2bkmQ&s=19

https://nba.2k.com/2k24/courtside-report/gameplay/

Potential-Monke

That looks like a great new feature. Wonder how much VC it'll cost. I feel so bad for the crew making this game and it having to be stuck behind 2K's horrible business. Only just now this moment realising it's the same parent company as Rockstar, it's starting to make sense. Great looking gameplay.

Zero-Cool

Yupp the CEO of Take 2 gets a bonus for every mtx sold so you can imagine his emails to the devs to make the money keep following in.

Anyway, Mike Wang, lead gameplay dev, answered a ton of questions last night and someone on reddit put all the answers together. Some great changes here but 2K are known to nerf/buff things for the worse when the toxic community gives out about stuff.

These are my summaries of Mike Wang tweets, in one place, cleaned up a bit from repeating info.

• At least that one annoying quick drop dunk is gone
• Limitless takeoff badge gone
• Open layups and dunks have "MUCH bigger" green windows, but shrinks fast as the traffic gets heavier. HoF and competitive online is green or miss on dunks.
• Finishing skills are also affected by depleted adrenaline bars. [also as in like shooting skills]4
• Variable shot timing toned down. Shot Timing Impact grade of a jumper is now Shot Timing Stability. Higher stabilkity dampens effect of fatigue and defense on shot speed.
• Opponents will not see your shot meter online.
• Turning off the shot meter increases your green windows size by 20 %.
• No adrenaline loss in backcourt retained.
• Signature motion styles should be available in MyCareer.
• Signature motion styles up from 37 to around 150 thanks to ProPlay.
• Fades buffed in midrange, "big" nerf beyond the arc.
• More reliable foul calls when defenders bite on pump fakes.
• Blockers jumping up for no reason will land on ball handlers and get called for fouls.
• Not every green is a swish, mostly due to the green or miss system.
• Advanced shot types (spins, stepbacks, ...) got buffed in midrange.
• Advanced layups (euro, floaters, etc) buffed.
• Heavier contest penalties for being crowded at the start of the shot. Lesser penalty for late closeouts.
• Green shot celebrations are there for 15+ feet shots. Delayed animation start to not give away if it's green or not.
• "Paint defense was reported as the biggest gameplay improvement from external playtest sessions"
• New controller settings - separate toggeles for shots, layips, free throws, including control type (shot button x pro stick).
• New UI settings - you can reposition onscreen elements like shot meter, player indicator, fatigue bar, etc.
• No generic numbered shots for jumpshot creator - "all in" on real NBA player shots generated by ProPlay.
• Defense immunity grade of a jumper: A+ grade will reduce contest score by 30 %. F grade will BOOST contest score by 30 %. (final numbers are subject to change)
• Takeover can temporarily push your stats over 99 and it will make a difference.
• Takover will increase your stats in the chosen category by 10 points. Subject to change based on feedback.
• Green is a guaranteed make.
• Every shot will have a green window, even if it's sub-pixel one. Exception: 100 % smothered shots.
• Heavily contested shots may look like full whites.
• Some animations will be released with seasons, but "vast majority" of animations will be available on day 1.
• You can meter dunk standing dunks, but "hard to pull off at the moment" and "work in progress". [so expect it to be broken af lmao]
• Double crossovers are now equippable.
• Players intentionally staying out of bounds will get grade penalties for griefing.
• Thriple threat and dribble emotes.
• You can choose if during a team takeover you want to stay locked to MP or control the entire team.
• Steal and block attempts will eat up adrenaline bars on D. 1 bar gone = 20 % block/steal rating nerf. 2 bars = 40 %. 3 bars = 75 %.
• ProPlay about doubled pass styles.
• ProPlay added new animations that VC wouldn't think to capture in mocap. Some unique shots, moves and passes.
• Ball handle and speed with ball - 92 for Curry and Trae. 95 is highest needed for unlock - Steve Francis' signature sizeup.
• Alley oops work the same as in 2K23. [in regard to green or miss]
• Tougher to get team takeover, when you get it each player gets a boost in their primary specialty at the time.

Zero-Cool

Battle pass rumours were true. There are 3 **** season passes. Free one with 80 rewards, 10 euro pass with another 80 rewards and and top tier one that gives boosts to get through the pass faster. Gross! You just know the rewards are going to be absolutely awful, they have been every season for the last few games.

The ONLY upside i can see to this is maybe vc prices to upgrade players will be lower if they be making the money from season passes instead.

https://nba.2k.com/2k24/season-pass/

Potential-Monke

I seriuosly doubt it, merging MyCareer and MyTeam into 1 reward system I can see it making it harder to earn VC. Wouldn't put it past them. 3 tiers...

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120992344#Comment_120992344

Some people online think that solo my career will unlock rewards and are praising the system, i don't think that's going to happen. Also, the city rewards always included my team cards while my team never provided rewards for city so merging them means they can throw more crap at you and to unless you play both modes, it's gonna be useless.

I just can't believe an 80 euro game will have pay to win mechanics (vc), my team card buying mode, 2 paid season passes, both last ing 6 weeks covering 8 seasons and an option to buy season boosts to skip levels. Surely with all that we the game should be free to play.

I can only hope that things don't cost as much vc this year and vc is easier to earn. That or vc is a reward within the season pass.

The amount of people praising this online is mental and just shows that 2K can do whatever they want because it's a niche market as the only basketball game available.

Potential-Monke

Tis sickening alright. What's that crowd that investigate predatory tactics within games? Might bang them off an email if it's even worse to earn VC this year.

Zero-Cool

So some big 2k content creators posted their negative reaction of the season pass, which fair play to some of them as the ones who stay on board with 2K get nice benefits (free game, invite to 2k events, etc) and speaking against 2k gets them put in the bold corner. However, they decided to check how much they spent on VC on 2K23 and share on social media. 1 guy who actually seems to have the community's back said he doesn't 1200 dollars and it's been a wake up call to him as he never realised it was that much. He put out a very honest video about it and it's sad how obviously predatory 2k is. On the other side, these guys need their views and no one wants to see 65 rated players sucking online.

Saw this thread on Reddit where what starts as a wake up call about vc spending turns into almost bragging with people claiming 6-12 thousand dollars spent on vc. No wonder 2k brought in the season passes.

I'm still really hoping that 2K announce builds will be cheaper to make and vc easier to come by but i know I'm reaching.

https://reddit.com/r/NBA2k/s/3gkn0uM9pX

Potential-Monke

$25k... content creator or not, that's both sad and the cause of this. Hopefully this will be a wake up call, but without competition I doubt it.

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121009067#Comment_121009067

The conversation online is crazy. People already planning on buying their way to level 40 on day one. It's 2 dollars to skip a level so 70 for the game, 100 to max their build, 20 for season pass and 80 to skip straight to level 40. 2K pissing themselves laughing.

Potential-Monke

Explains why they're chancing their arm more and more. They will end up having to change, but they'll be wiping away their tears with $100 bills by the time it happens.

Zero-Cool

New Blogs today for The W and MyNba.

The W has you make a female player for career mode but this year, you can start as a college 1 draft starting at 75 or mvp from overseas starting at 85. Such a great addition, start as an 85 and not be completely crap at the beginning. No VC in sight as well, this is a fun mode but ya know, no dunks.

NBA 2K24 The W | Courtside Report

MyNBA

NBA 2K24 MyNBA | Courtside Report

Potential-Monke

While I'll wait until they reveal all, I'm not hopefuly, but it's a bit of a kick in the teeth to include a separate mode that seems to be exactly what people want from the main game. Like "Here's how it could be, but we want your money". No dunks = no deal. Literally the best part of basketball for me.

Zero-Cool

Community Day gameplay videos are out, this is a popular one, he breaks down a lot of the new animations. Saying that, lead dev tweeted during the night that a bunch of it will be removed or patched for day 1 patch as people are pointing out issues. One hilarious one is that Giannis has Lillard's dribble moves and he was boosting all over the place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5XbYj5Dpfo

Zero-Cool

News about The City. Streamlining it more to basketball instead of of non-ball quests like before so the main side quest is a streetball tournament that kind of sounds like NBA Live 18/19 and it sounds like it's you vs AI which is exactly what I wanted. New mode Starting 5 sees you insta match make against 1 other player but you have a team of AI with you, again sounds cool. 2 Affiliations instead of 4. Looks class, but it always does when news gets released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4QdZjdb1fU

https://nba.2k.com/2k24/courtside-report/the-city/

Potential-Monke

Sounds good. But will it be enjoyable with a 65 starting player who's expected to be as good as the vets without having to spend real money to upgrade your player to 85 to make him usable. If it's still that way, no amount of new features and lies about it being all about the basketball will improve it. I suspect it'll be the exact same and I've never been so sure of being right before.

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121053326#Comment_121053326

That's what's make it or break it for me at the moment. I need to see how you earn vc and how much a build costs to determine if i can jump into career, grind a half a season solo to get to 85 naturally and then be happy to jump into park or at least part park modes like the side quests as a low level and earn vc to upgrade. Wishful thinking, especially with season pass, they know people will have fomo and will want to buy vc to get to 85 straight away to start earning rep.

Potential-Monke

That's exactly what I'm expecting too. Is it too much to ask for 10-30 games covering highschool/college in order to build up your character before draft? Or include overseas if you don't make the draft first time to build up even more... Nah, while VC is around that'll never happen. Except in the W. Which has no dunking of note.

Zero-Cool

I usually have this preordered by now, i mean it's only a matter of time before i pick it up as I'm craving a basketball game but i need to to see what the build cost is like and how easy/hard it is to earn vc. I'd it's the same or worse than last year, will hold off for the black friday sale. I think 23 was on sale 2or 3 times before Christmas last year. Id love to see reports that career mode gives more vc and cheaper to build to make up for the paid season passes, would happily buy the base version then.

v3ttel

Same for me man - I haven't pre-ordered yet.

All I would like is cheaper/easier access to VC. If I make a mistake with a build (or I want a big and a guard), then it's too time consuming to grind the rating/badges and too costly to create a second build. It shouldn't require a small loan to have a couple of builds in order to not be losing by default when playing online. Even if there was a way to retire a build and re-use the VC in a new one, that would do.

That said the prospect of having a group of us in MyPark would be class and would buy it just for that. Should be easier now with crossplay.