NBA 2K made a problem that they can never fix 

You can’t force people to play a role. The harsh reality is the majority of players don’t know a damn thing about basketball or how it should be played. That’s the biggest problem in 2k

calling it basketball magic the gathering makes it sound way too fun

it’s not just 2k. online gaming as a whole went from people playing games to have fun to everybody trying to be the sweatiest most try-hard player possible. e-sports and youtube / social media did irreversible damage to games. as soon as a game comes out it’s a million “content creators” showing people how to abuse every exploit possible to cheat at the game

I dunno why but Kofie just seems like the kinda guy you wanna just chill with. Dude has great energy

One very frustrating thing about 2K is that you often seem to have no control over what your player is doing. Going up for a dunk? Nope, you lost the animation game and are gonna blow a layup instead. Other player has good passing badges? You're frozen and can't move to close out. Catch a pass within 10 feet of the sideline? You're running out of bounds for no reason. Slightly moving when your PG passes the ball? You're getting pulled 25 feet from where you started. The game just constantly takes control out of your hands, usually because of some badge they never bother to fully explain the effects of.

One thing I wish they would consider doing is separating my player online from my career. The fact that I have to pay IRL money to have a better experience playing the computer is nuts. Why shouldn’t those attributes be separated?

My biggest problem with 2k is how the people who just like to play mycareer have to get screwed by all the changes they make for the multiplayer. I miss the days when you could make a fully all around player like a prime LeBron. Now youre limited in prder to balance the multiplayer when I have no intention of ever taking this player into multiplayer. Ive been saying that these modes need to be separated. Mycareer should be its own thing and park and rec should be its own thing.

As somebody with no friends who only plays playnow my career and myNBA eras I see this as an absolute win

The parents thinking it’s real thing it’s so true, over COVID me and my buddies would set up my Xbox on the big TV in the living room and gamble with each other on simulated games and my dad sat through a whole Kings-Rockets game before he realized it was just 2k

did not expect the explanation of the GOATS meta on a Kofie video but thats just the versatility that this man has

Subbing in rec is a phenomenal concept. Almost like loadouts in an FPS. Pick 2 builds to have for certain situations in game. Start your shooter, your team gets dominated on boards, call a timeout and sub in your big and your team could play a different way. I’d love that mechanic in the next game. Hell 2k’s greedy ass could even make it profitable by charging like 100vc for every sub forcing you to be super strategic.

The issue with the 2k is that for some reason one game mode is reviewed as the entire game lol none of this happens in myleague what so ever

not to mention the cheesy moves that players just spam every year and they dont get patched until like april… and you’re at a disadvantage for not wanting to play that way as well

I've always felt like there''s actually kind of a simple solution here - split single player mode from multiplayer altogether. They clearly want to have archetypes and stuff for multiplayer but also want you to be able to make the best player ever for single player mode. Splitting those things up so that single player mode has no cap (and doesn't take tons of money or 8 seasons to become good) and multiplayer has achetype limits and set abilities fixes these problems pretty easily. The issue is just that they can't load the game with micro transactions if they do that.

I think this is going to continue to be a problem until 2K loses it's exclusive licensing rights, same with EA and Madden. I understand these leagues are businesses but I don't think there should be private publishing rights, especially for 10 year contracts

The point you made about random rec is so true,I can't tell you how many times I was very efficient on offense I.e 26 on 7/10 fg, having a random refuse to pass me the ball when I'm the hot hand,they fail to realize that if my match-up can't gaurd me they have to double which opens opportunities for them,so many Ls because of this

I refuse to play any sports games online these days. It is never set up to optimize the experience and challenge of the game, that's always secondary to getting you to play for longer and/or pay more money.

Theres also just too many people who don’t know how to play the game of basketball ruining peoples experience since it’s impossible to do it all by yourself

I remember playing 2k16 and my dad walked in looked at the screen and said "I didn't know there was a game on." I just looked at him and said "nah its just my game on the xbox." "DAMN THATS NUTS" 😂😂

the comparison to Magic or Yugioh is actually a really interesting one, because even beyond the “these people have way more time/money” factor in both, there’s a lot of added complexity and knowledge, and yeah you can learn the systems over time but its a lot more to get into than “shoot with this button, pass with that button, go” and that feeds back into the time issue even more.

NBA2k was peak before they introduced badges

As an ex-rec player, I hear you dog. My best friend and I stayed connected via 2k over the pandemic, and we just couldn’t tolerate the rec experience anymore in 23. The matchmaking and toxic teammates became too much.

As a known 2K supporter. 2K18 and 2K22 made me want to stop playing, but 2K23 brought me back with Eras. But I went back to 2K16 and realized .that they need an engine overhaul. I was playing against the Bulls and got destroyed by Drose because he was so unbelievably fast. I put LeBron on him an couldn’t slow him down. Open 3s weren’t automatic. Whereas now it’s tailored too much to the online community (ironically because that’s obviously not working). What’s sad is the features of MyNBA are great, but I don’t know if I see myself buying 2k25 unless they add something like situation mode back. Which is sad because I own every 2k since 2k10.

As someone who has been playing 2K since 2K5 as well and still regularly play 2K you summed it up nicely. They need to go back to the 2K19 player builder where you had to choose between being great at one thing or decent at two things. The whole everybody can do everything great has killed this game.

I remember getting my PS3 and playing 2K7 on the flat screen downstairs and my grandma walked by thinking it was real lmao.

i stopped playing when they changed and added a bunch of badges in 2k19, shit just got way too confusing. obviously I don't play anymore, but the one problem I have with the game, because I still watch some rebuilds, is the ratings in the game. like, I'm still used to the 2k16 ratings, where overalls were much lower, and the 90 overalls were reserved for like top 5 players, and the 80 overalls were all stars, borderline all stars, or just really good starters. watching the pistons rebuild you did a few weeks ago and seeing like 3 80 overalls on one of the worst teams in history, James Wiseman being like a 77 overall, that was the most confusing shit ever for me

Really appreciated the 'parents thought it was real' anecdote. My folks both got fooled when I brought home Madden 09 and would add weather effects to the games

You forgot to mention the input latency on online modes. No game gets away with this problem like 2K does. I've basically avoided online for the last four 2Ks because of this issue.

Absolute crock of shit I can't play MyCareer on 2k20 or 2K21 because the servers are down. An offline mode is now forever lost. Done with 2K, never buying 1st hand from them again

imo the BIGGEST issue is the fact that 2K has no competition when it comes to basketball games due to how much money they have and because of that they don't care what the consumers say there ain't no other product.

0:30 - I remember playing MLB the show with my Grandpa watching and he thought it was highlights. I couldnt believe it.

commenting to boost engagment

I genuinely recommend going back and playing any game from 2k15 to 17 if you have one of them. I got 2k17 and I’m having a blast doing a my career type save in myleague, where I put a player in a draft class and start my career from there. I do realise you can’t play online on those games but fundamentally those games are infinitely better.

Kofie would you ever consider doing a podcast or something similar? Would love to hear some longer format content from you other than the sb stuff

A lot of people didn't like 2K20 because you could only make "role players", but the game felt more balanced. You couldn't make a build that was good at almost everything like you can now. The pie chart system made you choose one thing to be great at, or two things to be good at. It made the game feel more balanced, you had to play more within your role and what you're good at. The last time I had fun playing rec was 2K20.

I don't play sports games online much (last time was back on the PS3) so finding out that sports game multiplayers have evolved into full on RPGs with badges, stats, gear and everything impacting online is insane to me. I thought it was still just a vanilla your chosen team vs opponents chosen team while you grind leaderboard ranks unless you were playing Ultimate Team type modes. This is nuts

I never thought I’d see Overwatch be compared to 2K but I’ve played both pretty heavily and I completely understand the frustration, Love the video man!

Member of the Sim Nation here. I actually never thought of that but it makes perfect sense. Normally I play all kinds of games. From Battle Royale to MMO to Souls-like. In all the games I play, NBA 2K is the only game I don't PVP. I tried it and I just didn't like it but I always thought it was because I used to play ball in real life and all I wanted was to play like the team's real life counterparts. And now Kofie laid it all out to me I can see why. Because I never looked at NBA 2K's PARK/REC as what they are, PVP games. I'm having the most fun playing Franchise mode and playing CPU because I can run plays and I can do what I actually see in the NBA. Since they've already had letter grades and actual numbers for player's ratings, maybe they can split the game up and use only the letter grades for PVP games (Park/REC games) and then balance both side of the game with badges (so they worth more in PVP, for example). Just my two cents, I dont know if it'd work and if it's super hard to implement but coming from a lot of MMO communities I've always find the balancing between pve/pvp challenging for devs.

As a person who always burns out of playing 2k after a couple months, I never really understood why. I thought it was rewards and unlocks, but this year there are plenty of good reasons to grind out levels and rep. But, its now February and I aint play the game since November. I think this video helped me understand why I give up on the game. If I have to play 10 games of blow outs to have that 1 game of legit, competitive, high iq, fun basketball then it aint worth it. Especially after my build and badges are maxed and there's no way for me to improve my player

I think 2K's only way out is fixed player builds or maybe something like what EA does in CHEL where you have a badge limit of 4 with only one being your X-Factor. Then reset the build of anyone who gets too extreme in their ratings like 92 speed, 93 agility, and 93 accel at the expense of 80 balance, 79 slapshot accuracy, etc. Only problem is I don't think 2K is willing to sacrifice the VC that's being spent on these builds and would rather choose profit over gameplay balance.

You pointed out something very interesting. 2k knows that we all have a certain game type. And we only play what we like without experiencing the game in its entirety. With that being said, 2k gave us a game mode similar to what we have all been asking for. We just won't go to it because, it's The W. And as the community we want to dunk, and be men. But The W although watered down, does not cost vc to build nor gain clothes. If those two options were available in My Career. The community would be mildly happy.

NBA Live '95 did a better job of being a basketball simulator than whatever version of NBA 2k made me see approximately 1000 Chips Ahoy flags before I could even ride the bench instead of play against the Bucks.

ive started taking mental health breaks from 2k but i always come back

They need to eliminate or limit badges. they simply break the game. and they need to limit the heights and weights.

There’s a relatively simple solution: before each random game, there’s a 5 minute scoreless pickup session with randomly assigned teams. Weight the counting stats, and then re-distribute the players based on their stats in the pregame. There are a lot of holes obviously but it is a direct balance-free solution

You know what for me? I wholeheartedly agree. I honestly haven’t had a great time online since like 2k17-2k18. What I have found is I am addicted to my league. I mean it’s broken yeah, but it’s fascinating to watch Dick Bender win 10 NBA Titles in a row with the Thunder, averaging 60 20 and 10 every year as a 6’2” shooting guard from 2042 to 2052.

OG OW players remember. Launch Brigitte and Goats comp were cancer

that's why i like play now online player control, it's pretty much rec with real players so it's easier to try and pick someone that works with everyone else and there's less worry about one of your teammates having a bad build

I play mostly random. And I can say this. Most games consist of all 5 players running in circles. No spacing. Everybody wants to be 1 of 3 players. The centers are not centers. They are all KD and carmelo builds. The guards are all kobe, and curry builds. Nobody plays their roles. The 90+ 3ball shooters slash all game. And the pure slashers clog paint all game. Resulting in massive turnovers because no spacing. I actually like this game compared to previous years. My only gripe is how slow and bad the passing is and how bigs can't finish at the rim as good as a guard. Makes no sense

This is so accurate. 2K uses the fact that voice chat exists to justify not showing you what your teammates are, but the difference between voice chat and real life is violence. You don't have to worry in 2K that you're gonna be punched in the face for the stupid corny shit you wanna pull. There is a general understanding when people can reach out and touch you that your actions are going to dictate whether or not that happens... so act accordingly. If 2K would just tell everyone what the teams make up was *badges and attys quickly before each game you would have a better chance. Also, if their report and ban system was better the community would be better.

I love Overwatch, but i havent played regularly since about March of last year when my frirnds stopped playing. Hammond mains rise up in Kofies comments

Bro. This is the most spot on description of 2k I’ve ever heard. I honestly couldn’t agree more. I too love 2k but like you said random rec is just way too frustrating. Zero balance. And I’m sick of getting banned for a game I paid for just because I’m tired of playing with a random team. It’s so wild to me lol. Great video bro

I'm enjoying playing last year's 2k in 92 and under rec, most of the insane people have moved on, so it's mostly just people who quit 2k24, kids, and other similarly casuals. I agree that the balancing in general is horrible, I liked the older 2ks where if you spec'd your big man to be a shooter, it meant he couldn't really do much else or was giving up a ton of size, now every point guard is max height, min weight, max wingspan, every center is a two-way stretch, everyone shoots ten fadeaway corner 3s a half, and it just stops resembling basketball.

The fact that you play overwatch makes me so happy and so sad

If I didn’t have a huge group of friends that played the game I probably wouldn’t play it. Trying to play with randoms can be the most frustrating experience. Sometimes you get lucky and everyone is on the mic and it just clicks but those scenarios are few and far between

I've felt the same way about this for a while! I've always felt like balance was non-existent in the game and that it felt SUPER unfair that changes to the gameplay could make your build bad, and the only solution is to make another build when it's not your fault that the build doesn't work anymore.

I used to play as a 6'3 95 OVR Playmaking Perimeter Creator and every matchup I got was a 6'8 PG with dunking, blocking, 3 pt, slashing, not allowing me to play my own game, making me resort to just corner sitting waiting for an open shot. So frequent to the point I resorted to buying VC and making a 6'8 3 level threat so I could be on a level playing field. I don't want to play a game that has so much variety people feel like they have to keep shelling out 50 to 500 dollars A YEAR for multiple builds just to have one META build that does everything after 3 SEASONS OF PATCHES where your old build feels ancient to the new ones being made. I used to play 2k because it was the best basketball sim in the world, now I resent it because it represents everything wrong with the state of live service games and half-assed commitment to making a balanced and fun game for participating parties spending nearly 2 months worth of paychecks just to KEEP UP.

I agree with most of this except, height difference is apart of basketball. What has made it trash is the badge /grade system inspiring selfish play / players . It’s between tedious job or pay to play no balance.

I wish they made the “archetypes” like they were in the past (2k13-16 or something), where you had a specialty like athleticism, or outside shooting, so those attributes would be incredibly whilst the others would still be usable. I remember my athletic point guard, whilst having 90+speed and finishing, still having 80+3pt and defending. But now you have to be such a specialty player you physically can’t do more things than just one or at a push two. If you tried to be an all rounder you’d just be a mid role player.

Lot of things i agree with here. I think the biggest thing Kofie didn’t talk about was the dev team also basically doesn’t touch the game after a couple of months because they start making the next one. I would argue 2K could be really fun and balanced if they were able to move to a F2P or subscription model and just have one platform that they iterate on for years. Instead of reinventing the wheel every 8 months

I played 5 games in Rec, won every one somehow, only for it to wait at the end and say there's a connection error*. All 5 games I didn't get credit. Deleted the game, even the save data. Remembered it's the only basketball simulation. Went back to playing Myera and it's been more enjoyable. It has it's own issues. But there's been a lot less frustration and more enjoyment

I've been thinking about this idea since 2k started their eLeague. If they replaced the Rec with a mode similar to the eLeague locked mode, new players would be able to play the game online, casual players can jump onto the game throughout the year, and competitive players have a better way to compare themselves because everyone has the same limited options. It would also allow 2k to balance the game more effectively and control the state of the meta. At the very least, they could give us pre-builds we can use in the park. Even if they are unoptimized, players wouldn't be required to pay money to have a usable build.

I go into random REC with lowest expectations possible. Once my team shows me they on board to win, we can usually get the dub. The matchmaking is kind of broken. I think they should balance teammate grade and performance for a better experience.

Either go back to archetypes or take away badges I think a lot gets solved without badges

I pretty much just play Team-Up with my friends. Rec and Park just gets way too frustrating and MyCareer’s not really fun enough to keep me invested for long.

Thank you for SPEAKING UP !!! I hate what the overall presentation of the brand has become. More focus on the fluff around the game and less focus on the actual oncourt gameplay and interaction.

Wow, I didn’t really expect Goats to be the subject of a Kofie video today. Fun!

Bro thank you for making this connection. I get OG Overwatch players are upset with the game not being as great as before but they have NO IDEA how bad it is for 2k players. Not only do you have to buy the game, pay for your player to even compete but you also gotta make sure you build em META and hope they don’t severely nerf. Insanity

I just thought about this, but one cool thing they could do is make a Rec mode where you select from a list of players in the NBA. I think that would balance it pretty well…unless someone wants to play as like Killian Hayes to troll

The most frustrating thing about 2k for me is the offline mode. You cannot be a superstar coming into the league. If real life were like 2k there would be no Jordan, Kobe, lebron. They would enter the league at OVR 65 and have to grind over several seasons to get any good at all. A new 2k offline character wouldn’t get on a college team. Now, children, please respond with “git gud”

I feel like I’ve been finessing myself for the last 5 years buying 2k. I couldn’t help it because like you said I’ve been playing since I was kid on the OG Xbox playing 2k5. I fell in love with 2k when I first played park on 2k15, and I was really good. After 2k17, I noticed the game was trending negatively, but I kept my optimistic view up until a couple years ago. I still bought the game because it’s the only simulation basketball game, but this year is definitely the last year I’ll be playing 2k as my friend and I have moved to PC. WAYYYY better experience and I would recommend everyone here, if you have the opportunity, I would invest in a PC and start gaming on PC.

OW and basketball is a great analogy that I think 2K players and OW players could both benefit from thinking about more lol

I’m too old to be good enough to fucking green every shoot man i just be playing mycareer and head-to-head online that’s it i can’t keep it with the rec on a sweat level

I think it’s crazy how just one person on your 5 man squad can destroy your team chemistry. It can be incredibly frustrating

Honest patch notes and being able to re-spec your attributes would solve this issue almost entirely.

I play 2k a bunch, and my teams in Rec tend to win a lot, but I think that has to do with that I usually build defensive bigs. It's fun to just rebound the bejesus out of the ball. Everybody always has these hyper offensive builds and shoot a billion 3's. Be the change you want to see in the world, build rebounder/defenders.

Insightful video… I don’t think the balance issue is with player customization, i think its with the rank system and match making.

2k might need to go the route of NHL. The stats you get are determined by the build loadout you make. With height and weight manipulating base stats and then you can unlock badges to equip as you play. Those characters are completely separate from the OP mycareer character

I haven't played NBA2k since 2015. Once monetization started being more influential, I dropped it. Some games can't afford monetization influencing competition. It's why Madden monetized MuT but not other modes initially( I haven't played that either since 2015). NBA2k monetized anything to do with career mode and the modes that use your career mode characters. This inherently corrupted the balance of the game and made career mode stingy with the ability to improve your character through playing a career and instead put a focus on spending money to boost your character.

Ngl the wnba is wayyy better you get like certain play styles for each position then you can edit it from there

That didn’t start in Overwatch… that been part of MMORPG life since Everquest..

NBA 2k series went from one of my favorites to me hardly playing it probably haven’t bought one in it least 3 years

I just bought my first NBA 2K game (24) when it was sale for the holidays. All I have touched is franchise, and I have got to say that I've had a blast. Going back to 1991 and playing with Peyton and Kemp has been outstanding. All this online play? Nah, I'm out man. I'm just gonna chill here in franchise mode and enjoy my team building vs the CPU

the fact that they still don't have nextgen on PC is insane to me

None of my friends have touched 2k since December, also I tried to get a refund and they said that I couldn’t get a refund for VC because I already used it (fair) but said because I already used it they couldn’t recoup the VC I had used so I can’t get a refund RECOUP??? It’s literally called VIRTUAL CURRENCY they basically said because I used that VC there’s no way for them to get it back so I can’t get a refund

damn i don’t play overwatch, but that was a hell of a connection to the problems facing 2k. i can say as a primary mycareer guy, i would just like to have the magic of like a 2k11-2k13 back, i know it’s not happening because more people are in the park but FUCKK, it would just be cool for them to seperate them like the wnba mode

Same thing sort of with online team up, 50% of the time you’re matched up with awful teammates then your forced to either play a full game of agonizing basketball or quit and get punished for it. I do still enjoy the actual gameplay tho. The game feel good just many of the player base just don’t play actual basketball.

I've been playing 2k for a while, and it's always been unbalanced, but this year, i feel like it's very bad! My issues are: *A big can't really dribble well or be faster, but a small dude can Vince Carter everyone on the court, and drop you with high strength. *How a pick is the ultimate move for spammers to win games (especially at the park) because the big doesn't really receive any major penalties for this move. *How a random dude does not grade out for intentionality selling the game. *How 2k continues to tweak jumpshots, which becomes a pain and unnecessary work. *Random out of bounds this year. *Break started on silver or higher, yet you can still chuck the ball out of bounds. *Random animations to include that lame passing one where the character freezes. Like who does that 😂. *Shooting 3s from half court like nothing with a high accuracy. *The lack of letting players experiment builds before committing. *AIs not reliable on the Rec. *Zens... yes... you still see them. *Also, MyCareer story has been trash for a long time. I honestly think 2k needs some competition because they know we will buy the game and play it since its the only basketball game out there with an NBA roster. That's just my take on it 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ve been saying this for a while, but 2K would never do this because they’d lose a lot of money from microtransactions, but I think something that would make the game more enjoyable is if you could respec your build. Having all of your progression attached to your account rather than each build mean less grinding and less wasted time, and being able to respec your build means you can experiment more, and if you make a build that isn’t good or gets patched, you don’t have to start all over. Also IMO, badges need to be tuned down in terms of how much of an impact they make on gameplay. There are so many badges that are essentially required to do certain things in the game, and I just don’t think it effects the gameplay in a positive way

Making defense better than just spamming steal would help. It’s impossible to stay locked in. They need a defensive cone or something. And I hate getting stuck playing C when I’m a 6’9 pf! TF!

I also started on 2K5 and the same happened with my parents as well haha

My biggest complaint is how many layups these guys miss during games. It can be a open lane to the basket and a player just smokes a clear cut lay up.

The problem is basketball is position-less pretty much now a days so it’s going to be hard for the game to be balanced if it’s going to be realistic but only way they can balance out the game is going back to the traditional roles of the 1-5 and only allowing certain attribute upgrades

Im an offline only franchise player and it is so clearly balanced more for online mycareer mode. Thats whats killed it for me. And they took out so many offline modes

I’m with you 100% I have mad friends to squad up with but I don’t play like I used to.

biggest issue to me other than the price and grind to upgrade your player is having the ability to turn off lay up timing and let the game do it for you. yeah do that in career but if you online you should have to do it and it shouldn't be a option. you should have to time everything right to make it also add a kick feature for people who sell the game "intentionally" and add back the ability to switch matchups{ why remove a feature?}

2k will never change unless yall stop buying it and streaming it

I swear the limiting factor of 2K 18 and 19 builder was a W

This very topic is why I almost attempted to make a RU-vid channel. 2K23 was such a bad year for me but I know what the problem is. 2K became the #1 basketball game by constantly making improvements to be the best simulation basketball experience on the market. Once VC was introduced and people could buy their overall instead of grinding mycareer for skill points (sp) that changed everything. 2K14 you bought VC to buy your badges and the levels (bronze,silver, and gold) and I don’t hear anybody speaking about how crazy that is. The monetization and the younger crowd calling for super fast dribbling and demigod builds completely broke this game. It eventually got to a point where you don’t have to know how to play basketball to be successful you just have to know how to play 2K. Which are two totally different things. My build this year has been based 80-90% on defense so my experience may be different than most peoples this year but I enjoy playing casually. Not so much with randoms, but with people the people I’ve been hooping with for a decade or more now, I win games consistently.

2k should add skill based matchmaking so if u have high win percentage u would get in parks rec etc less people quitting out and all that’s stuff