In terms of areas of focus for NBA 2K19, I've covered that in this week's Friday Five:
http://www.nba-live.com/tff-5-things-nba-2k19-needs/
We've got the Wishlist topic we need to be making better use of in general so we can send in a comprehensive list of ideas, but I'd like to keep identifying gameplay issues and suggesting solutions in here as well, to continue the productive discussion we've been having.
SHOOTING
I'm going to bring up this video again:
The gist of it is, this year there's a 50% chance that a Perfect/Excellent release will be Green, which is an automatic basket. The other 50% of the time, it becomes a Good release, which has a 5% chance of being made. This essentially gives you a 55% chance of making the shot, because 100% of the Green releases (which happen 50% of the time) will go in, while only 5% of the White releases (or let's say full bar/Good releases, since you can change the colour this year) will be successful. Badges will affect the percentages on non-Green releases. Early and Late releases
This has been done to curb cheesy shooting, by ensuring that players aren't regularly shooting 70-80% (especially on threes) by mastering the timing. There's basically a dice roll so that you can't always hit Green. A good idea, but I don't think it's worked out well in practice.
For a start, online players are still shooting really high percentages once they master their timing, with the help of Badges, hot zones, and perfectly tuned custom jumpshots. At the same time, it also feels like the Good to Excellent/Perfect ratio isn't exactly 50-50. Furthermore, dropping the make percentage to 5% on what is essentially a nerfed Excellent release (or very close to it) is conceptually flawed. Slightly Early and Slightly Late releases still feel safer than aiming for the best release possible, and that's not right.
My suggestion would be to adopt a system similar to NBA 2K17, but leave out the stick aiming bonus that was definitely making things too easy. Make it difficult to get a Green release for a guaranteed basket without precise timing on the button/stick, but give Good releases a better percentage, ideally scaling with the player's ratings. A player with good three-point ratings who has ten attempts with Good releases should probably knock down around 50% of them, maybe around 75% when wide open and with Badges that boost the odds. Likewise, defense (and defensive Badges) should affect percentages as well.
BADGES
Speaking of Badges, the main problem is that they're too vital to performing basic plays. In NBA 2K18, it feels like you can't even throw easy alley-oops with good passers and have them caught by good finishers, unless the players have Lob City Passer and Lob City Finisher Badges. Even then, too many easy lobs go awry, even though the timing and the angle should result in a high rate of success.
As I've mentioned, there's a Catch-22 at work here when it comes to MyCAREER and the connected experience. To be successful, you need to get Badges. To get the Badges, you need to succeed at doing what it is they help you to do. Sticking with the same example as above, to throw or catch alley-oops with any kind of accuracy, even really easy ones, you need to to have the Lob City Passer or Lob City Finisher Badge. To get the Lob City Passer or Lob City Finisher Badges, you need to successfully complete a lot of alley-oops as either the passer or the recipient. Add in the XP requirements, and it is a grrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnd.
My suggestion would be to make the Badges a little less significant when trying to make the simple play. The Badges should help and enhance the ability, but not be the ability. Another good example of this is Free Throw Ace, which has replaced the free throw rating for MyPLAYERs. That one's an even worse idea, especially with how long it takes to grind for Badges. Badges should provide small boosts and corrections/compensations, particularly on shooting. A lot of this does revolve around MyCAREER, but it goes for the implementation and effect of Badges in general, too.
CAMERAS
This one's another MyCAREER/connected modes-specific one, but there's a really strange design choice this year with the free shootarounds in 2K Pro-Am, team practice, and pre-game. Instead of using a fixed camera as in a MyCOURT shootaround, or regular gameplay, it utilises the camera and interface from The Neighborhood. This means that you can't jump for a rebound during shootaround (it brings up the menu), you're practising from an unfamiliar angle that doesn't match regular gameplay, and the controls just don't feel right as a result. It defeats the purpose of being able to practice in a free shootaround situation when it's so different from the regular experience. Also, who brings their phone onto the court with them?
CANNED MOMENTS
The addition of realistic elements such as fumbling passes, losing your balance and stumbling, and passes having bad aim, don't feel nearly as realistic when they seemingly happen at random. Those moments shouldn't happen "just because"; they should make sense in the context of the action, and according to the quality of your decision. A few examples...
- Risky passes should stand a chance at being intercepted. It feels fake if the pass goes directly to the defender without them having to move or make an effort, though. Good passers shouldn't have their passes picked off because the game has decided "this is going to be a turnover", and instead of the pass going where it should - even when using icon passing - it just conveniently goes straight to the defender.
- Reach-in fouls should be based on timing and whether or not your spamming the button, not random chance. Your player shouldn't start wildly hacking and grabbing at the ballhandler on a single press. A badly timed press may result in a foul if there's too much contact, but the canned fouls need to go.
- CPU players should not be able to make blind steals with regularity. AI players shouldn't all be able to play the passing lanes and pick of passes like MJ in his prime.
- Players with good ballhandling/passing and finishing/catching abilities shouldn't fail to connect on easy passes. If nothing else, plays with slick, well-timed passing shouldn't be ruined by players randomly bobbling passes or getting stuck in a stumbling animation, even though they catch the ball in stride. Despite assurances in pre-release blogs, players are getting stuck in animations, and screwed over by bad animation selection.
PHYSICS & MOTION
As I've said, I like the fluidity in NBA 2K18, but not the skating and looseness. I feel like it needs to be tightened up so that it's somewhere between NBA 2K17 and NBA 2K18 - precise like NBA 2K17, but responsive like NBA 2K18. That's how I'd sum up my desired result.
Players need to have a physical presence, especially outside the paint. No more blatantly dribbling through players and randomly having the body steal take place, or indeed, just allow it to happen as if the defender wasn't there. Contact with the ball on steals should knock it loose, while contact with the arm and body due to a badly timed press/spamming the steal button should be what determines a foul, not random chance and the aforementioned canned moments.
STRATEGY, AI, AND PLAYER DIFFERENTIATION
Despite the fact that this is an area of focus with guys like OG and Da_Czar heading up playcalling and AI, it feels like it got dumber in NBA 2K18. We've got players who shouldn't be taking threes launching from range, weird shot selection in general, and a lack of strategy that has been there in previous games. The AI players just don't feel as smart this year.
As noted, there needs to be more differentiation between player abilities and play styles. Not everyone can drive into the paint with ease, not everyone steps back to take a three, and some ratings just seem really off. It feels like overall ratings have become higher over the years, perhaps to avoid causing offense to players who are themselves now really into video games and vocal about it on social media, and that's probably led to some players being overrated. I think the ratings need more attention, players might need to be rated a little fairer (and harsher when appropriate), and there needs to be more work on having teams run the proper plays and players making smarter decisions, or at least having more awareness of what's going on. Again, this was something that was promised in the blogs, but it feels like it's been the opposite.
I'd also agree that help defense needs to be quicker and smarter, and there should be better balance between players being able to blow by their defenders and having their drive cut off.
I'm sure there's more to add, but I feel those are some of the most pressing issues, and desirable solutions and direction.
