Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

[NYJin2011tm]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

Another thing that doesn’t really work is the playcalling. I use auto play calling with dynamic and do not repeat and they will still call the same play over and over and over sometimes.

[R9NALD9]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

Not sure what is going on but to me the game is ruined to some extent. Been playing with Amor's slider set with adjustments (AI shooting increased to the same values as user) and have had the time of my life until recently. Every game is a blowout...as in I score more than double the points the AI does if not worse.

Not sure what to change and by how much...just sucks that I have to play around with sliders in the middle of my season.

[H2UKNOW]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better



Box scores from my last two matchups. Gonna up game speed and play with sliders more, but Luka started the game 6-6 with 15 points so the aggression is back and not being able to make consecutive shots on RP% is gone.

[simbayless]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

You guys should tried putting the CPU offense Consistency at 85 and let me know what y'all think🤔

[jfsolo]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

Agreed on all accounts.

After finishing another game—against the lowly '87 Spurs—the best way I can put it right now is that my offense feels confined. I can win and I can score... but only as long as a utilize the few ways 2K currently allows me to succeed.

What worked:

-Using Xavier McDaniel, Tom Chambers, and Maurice Lucas to back weaker defenders down until they had point blank shots.

-Running screens until I could get an open mid-range jumper, which I can hit because I upped the sliders.

-The canned animation escape dribble jumpers (holding down a shoulder button and pushing the shot stick in a prescribed direction). These seem to push my player into an "open" zone which elevates chances of middie success.

What doesn't work:

-Triple threat: 2K's had a love-hate relationship with triple threat moves for years. For as long as I can remember, they seem to bounce between allowing the jab-and-go to be a viable means of securing an advantage and the jabs basically serving no purpose whatsoever (as they do now).

In fact, it seems jabs are most often disadvantageous for me right now because the only thing it usually does is draw the defender in closer, which would be good news in real basketball because they'd be more susceptible to a blow by, but that doesn't happen in 2K.

-One-on-one dribble moves with any non-dribble gods: Isiah Thomas was amazing to use when the game was initially released. He felt slippery, elusive, dangerous. Now, his face up dribble moves usually lead to CPU defenders anticipating his every change of direction. And that's for Isiah Thomas. If someone like Nate McMillain had any kind of interest in losing a defender with a live dribble in the half court, forget about it.

-Fast Breaks: I can't even successfully cherry pick at this point. The defense always retreats, they always wall up, and they always impede forward movement. My only hope last game came when the CPU gambled on a steal and Tom Chambers slipped behind for a reverse dunk. Otherwise, it's nada in the open floor unless I pick off the point guard at the top of the key.

-Winning hip rides: Pre-patch, some body contact was okay because there was still a chance of slipping past said contact as an offensive player. Doesn't happen anymore. The only two outcomes in the majority of situations are now either: Stonewalled or Heavily Contested.

Having so many offensive options inaccessible really, really dampens the fun of the game. I'm heading back to the drawing board to mess with body-up sensitivity and more, but I despise the fact that I'm seeing shades of 2K22 pop up post-patch.

As a final aside, is there no free throw slider? The CPU has been awful at free throws post-patch and I can't find where to fix it. They shot 38 percent from the line against me last game.

Your "What doesn't work" section makes NBA 2K a game for me that simply is pretty much never fun to play. I recognize that the game does so many things well and is objectively a very high quality game, but the way you have to engage with the game mechanics makes it a chore for me to play.

Maybe my opinion is off because I don't play those games, but I personally think of it as being like a fighting game, i.e., it requires too specific a type of controller input and style of play to have success. It's easy for some folks to adapt to, but for me it's too much work.

[sirdez]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

Seeing a lot more CPU jumpshots go in now - it feels like I'm liable to get punished if I give up open looks which is good.

Really struggling to see the CPU get bigs involved though. I played the Lakers twice (LeBron has retired) yesterday and Davis took a combined 15 shots, half of which were from offensive rebounds, while Austin Rivers took 43 and Dinwiddie took 38 (in 10 minute quarters). Had the same issue with Orlando, where Banchero only took four shots. Then played a quick game against the 2002 Mavs and Dirk had taken three shots in three quarters when I quit.

It may be a tendencies thing but it does feel like the CPU just uses bigs to set screens for its guards and to offensive rebound. I get that the NBA is a guard-dominated league in general but dominant bigs like AD should still be a focal point on offense.

[VDusen04]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

If I had to sum up the post-patch era so far with just one clip, it'd be this.



I feel like that's a monster dunk pre-patch, considering even dudes like Joe Barry Carroll were close to dropping 50 on me.

I'm steadily upping all the offensive sliders to see which ones make a difference. Shot making isn't necessarily the issue (Knicks shot 49 percent against me). But then again, under no circumstances should LaSalle Thompson and young Otis Thorpe be clamping Patrick Ewing and Bill Cartwright.

I need to know which slider makes teams play smarter offensively, because that seems to be my biggest issue right now (I've been bumping up offensive awareness). Ewing should be getting touches each time down the floor. Now, it seems like the CPU's bleeding the shot clock on too many possessions and settling for awful shots.

Also, the CPU and I combined 7-of-16 from the line, so those are an issue as well (they were 2-for-7).

Elbow blocks are definitely a factor again now, too.

[NYJin2011tm]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

I just shot 35 FTs in a 2002 game Knicks(me) vs Timberwolves. Actually it was a pretty fun game. I trailed the whole game and won 102-98. I shot 38% and CPU shot 43%.

[aimlessgun]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

Its also going to vary greatly from team to team, player to player due to tendencies, coach settings, and playbooks. Not only at the player level but what the tendencies are at the slider level is going to have a major impact as well.

One example one of my criticisms of the AI Pacers was how often Curry was chilling behind the 3 pt line. It could be due to the playbook the team was using. Take a current day example with Luka. He likes to post up and the Maverick playbook has plays specifically designed for him to do that. If you put Luka on another team he will still have post up as a play type, but if he is on a team that didn't previously have plays designed for the guard to post up Luka may end up using post up plays that are designed for bigs, and in those cases you are basically swapping the PG and PF/C in the play, so you could end up seeing a C standing where the pg typically is.

Thats what I'm thinking is happening. Pacers playbook was probably designed for Reggie Miller at the 2, but they have Wade at the 2 instead. Completely different type of player. I'm thinking Wade is using iso plays designed for Jermaine O'Neal and its causing some weirdness.

Yeah playbook, play type assignments are a pretty big deal. It would be quite a lot of work to fix all that for a league but it would probably improve CPU offense substantially.

A lot of variance in execution as well. If maybe half of offensive variance is being hot or cold in shooting, the other half is in play execution. Some games the CPU just cannot execute a play to save it's life: screens never catch anyone, guys get tangled up by the defense constantly, they run 5 feet behind the line on 3pt plays, they don't see open cutters etc. The best teams I build, for whatever reason, don't have many of those games.

[AIRJ23]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

I really tried but this game has gone to crap. I realize the only times I can have competitive games now is if I let the cpu get hot by playing soft.

All of a sudden I went from not being able to hit anything a week ago to hitting everything and scoring 80 points in a half. And I have cpu defense sliders maxed out! So I turned my team’s shooting sliders down a couple pegs. Now I’m bricking everything again.

The gameplay is completely disjointed. How disappointing.

I’m gonna have to figure out a way to make this game work but no way am I buying another 2K. It doesn’t matter how good it is at launch. It just gets ruined in due time. I thought we were safe with 2K23 because it took so long for them to mess it up.

It feels super arcadey now.

[simbayless]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

They never tell you about these little gameplay update changes they do.
Now this is the down side of the devs not interactive with the community on here so we get some understanding
That just leads to being cocky and they know you gonna buy it anyways

I hate to say it but 2k not the game to buy at launch anymore

2k reached a level that no longer hear our outcry 🤷

[AIRJ23]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

They never tell you about these little gameplay update changes they do.
Now this is the down side of the devs not interactive with the community on here so we get some understanding
That just leads to being cocky and they know you gonna buy it anyways

I hate to say it but 2k not the game to buy at launch anymore

2k reached a level that no longer hear our outcry ��

They definitely hear it but they *listen to* it from the online community. And whatever non sim online cheese they have to employ ruins it for offline gamers.

[CujoMatty]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

I really tried but this game has gone to crap. I realize the only times I can have competitive games now is if I let the cpu get hot by playing soft.

All of a sudden I went from not being able to hit anything a week ago to hitting everything and scoring 80 points in a half. And I have cpu defense sliders maxed out! So I turned my team’s shooting sliders down a couple pegs. Now I’m bricking everything again.

The gameplay is completely disjointed. How disappointing.

I’m gonna have to figure out a way to make this game work but no way am I buying another 2K. It doesn’t matter how good it is at launch. It just gets ruined in due time. I thought we were safe with 2K23 because it took so long for them to mess it up.

It feels super arcadey now.

It honestly feels like the devs were just bored. Like hmmmmm what should we do to look busy? lol.

Look I understand the game wasnt perfect for everyone out of the box but i think the majority of people thought the gameplay was the best its been in quite some time or even the best ever.

So leave it alone.

Instead they want to be everything for everybody and that is literally impossible.

Having a game not be for me right out of the gate is far better than it being the best game ever and having the rug pulled out from me half way through the games cycle.

To be honest it feels really wrong to me. Like there should be a legal way to get my money back if they completely alter a game after i purchased it. They got my money 3 times Switch, PC and PS5. All because i enjoyed the game so much originally on PS5.

[simbayless]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

They definitely hear it but they *listen to* it from the online community. And whatever non sim online cheese they have to employ ruins it for offline gamers.

I was just giving 2k their props in this same thread
Then that crazy update happened 🤦

Now I'm blowing out CPU Hall of fame left and right

It's like they turned down the CPU IQ

2k if your reading this it's ok if the user lose some games it's more fun that way

Making it too easy will the user put the controller down out of boredom

[ggsimmonds]

Re: Is it me or did the CPU get WAY better

If I had to sum up the post-patch era so far with just one clip, it'd be this.



I feel like that's a monster dunk pre-patch, considering even dudes like Joe Barry Carroll were close to dropping 50 on me.

I'm steadily upping all the offensive sliders to see which ones make a difference. Shot making isn't necessarily the issue (Knicks shot 49 percent against me). But then again, under no circumstances should LaSalle Thompson and young Otis Thorpe be clamping Patrick Ewing and Bill Cartwright.

I need to know which slider makes teams play smarter offensively, because that seems to be my biggest issue right now (I've been bumping up offensive awareness). Ewing should be getting touches each time down the floor. Now, it seems like the CPU's bleeding the shot clock on too many possessions and settling for awful shots.

Also, the CPU and I combined 7-of-16 from the line, so those are an issue as well (they were 2-for-7).

Elbow blocks are definitely a factor again now, too.

Same thing I'm seeing. Its like the AI is just a tad slow on making decisions.

I saw the same thing in that Pacers series where Wade ran off a screen and had an open midrange because Dwight dropped back to protect the paint. It was consistently there, but Wade would give a head and shoulder fake and then a few rotations on his pivot foot before passing it off and putting the Pacers into "scramble for a last second shot" mode.

My guess is to take a look at your user/cpu sliders and see what the AI tendencies are at. We may need to "reset" those sliders to default values if 2k adjusted the under the hood tendencies