Introduction
NBA 2K18 had a really good MyTeam. Arguably the best one to date. The addition of the Pack and Playoff was exciting and unique as it allowed you to try completely different players than you would find in packs or buy in the auctions while challenging you to make the best of what you were given. The schedule challenges allowed those like myself who prefer offline modes to have 900 more challenges to test (not to mention the easy contracts you get from just doing each of the teams' first 2 minute situations. It was all across the board a much better experience than in prior releases but there are still many ways it can improve. Here are 5 changes I would like to see in NBA 2K19. Be sure to let me know if you agree or disgree down below.
1. Earn MT from playing with friends
The very first change that I would like to see is being able to earn MT coins from playing with friends. I found myself playing my friend dozens of times towards the end of NBA 2K18 and constantly trying to better our lineup against eachother was the most exciting part of the whole mode. I foresee us going in on NBA 2K19 trying to compete against eachother daily for the next year after release. Unfortunately we don't earn MT coins from playing which in another perspective feels like a bit of a waste of time. Granted we don't waste contracts by versing, and can even use players with zero contracts on their cards, MT should still be awarded for time spent. I don't wish to see a performance equivalent pay as that would obviously be an unfair way for people to cheese the currency, but a set amount per game such as 300 MT for the standard and unchangeable 6 minute quarter long games sounds like a fair amount. Hell, even just 100 or 200 per game would add up over time and be fair enough for each completed game together. Time spent in the MyTeam mode and playing with the cards you've built your lineup with should yield some kind of compensation.
2. More Player Specific Challenges
I love seeing the weekly challenges such as make 9 3's with any Steph Curry card in a game and win, or play with Koby Bryant and 5 other lakers players and beat so-and-so. Things like that challenge you to play as a player you may not favor, and also to have a diverse collection so you can successfully fill the lineup requirements. I love these challenges so much that it sucks waiting a whole week to see more and sometimes there is only 2 or 3. I'd like a seperate category for this to be made where you have dozens of player specific challenges to complete. The players do not have to be G.O.A.T material like Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Koby Bryant, but maybe score 13 points in 40 seconds with Tracy McGrady, hit the game winning shot (with any of the hundreds of player who have hit game winners), record 10 alley-oops between Chris Paul and Blake Griffin (or Deandre Jordan), or score 70 with Devin Booker. 2K is already really good about these challenges, so I'm more so hoping to find a specific category design with a couple dozen player specific challenges to play through at your own pace alongside the weekly ones; maybe a "Moments" mode? Also, can we get a 100 point challenge with Wilt Chamberlain on an old school court that doesnt have a three point line?
3. Remove the 10% fee from the auction house
Am I the only one who cringes at the ten percent fee from selling a player? Does that 10 percent get recycled by 2K back into VC purchases from the willing to pay players? It's stupid and doesnt make sense. Most of the joy I get comes from flipping cards in the auction house. It keeps me from buying random crap on ebay. My auctioning addiction is satisfied and I get to work hard in a more relaxed way at growing my MT bank account. When you start to sell players in the 10s of thousands, that little percentage off comes out to be in the thousands as well. Let the value of the auction house be the value we recieve in the end. Maybe I'm in the minority here, and I do get that it's probably a deterant for people like myself who like flipping cards, but I hate the thought of anyone losing out on so much possible MT because of this system.
4. Auction house optimization
Going back to the auction house, NBA 2K19 needs to be way better optimized. I appreciated the fact that everything was like and bidding wars were intense because of this, but things were still off. I would sometimes bid really high (sometimes doubling the highest bid) on a card with 40 seconds left and be told that the auction has already ended. The clock was not always accurate. Also, I don't know how many times I tried to refine my searches to players like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and be told nothing matched my search perameters even though I know there are dozens of them on the market. Can we also get a search criteria for contract amounts? Towards the end I started buying a whole bunch of infinite contract players. To find them in the market though I had to tape my eye lids open, poor a few eyedrops in, get close to the TV, and spam the right button in the auction house until I saw a quick moment of an infinite symbol pop up. Ok ok, not that dramatic but still, this should be a search option.
5. Adjustments for Pack and Playoff
As mentioned earlier, Pack and Playoff was new to NBA 2K18 and it was a great addition. I'd like to see them offer maybe one more turn of the packs. Each position has a pack, and within each pack is five cards. You have to turn two and then pick one. Then you are laugh at in your face to see the cards you could have gotten if you were a bit luckier. I'd like to see the option to turn 3-5 of the cards over and you pick who you really want of them all. This can be easily done by not having a dramatic difference across the cards; all 5 are amethyst and you can only pick one, all 5 are gold and you can only pick one, all 5 are ruby and you can only pick one, etc. Hell, maybe you organize the packs by color. Your first pack is all bronze, second pack is all silver, third pack is all gold, fourth pack is all ruby, and 5th pack is all amethyst. That would really crazy!
