NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

[Sundown]

I'm not sure I get the point of many of these traits. Don't we already have ratings that cover these, except that they can be set at anywhere between 25 and 100, as opposed to a binary on off thing?

I mean cornerman can be replicated with hot spots, dead eye can be replicated with shoot in traffic, lockdown is already covered by on ball d, and many of these suggestions like speed already have ratings for them. I hope the traits don't dumb down the game by taking away precise ratings and actually make sense as an on/off toggle.

Frankly, this new addition has me a little worried. It might make the distinction between players less nuanced and less realistic.

[richmo]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

My speculation:

• Ankle Breaker - This guy's handles are much more effective to get the defense off-balance (Jamal Crawford, Deron Williams)
• Help Defender - Always in the right spot at the right time (Nick Collison, KG, Dwight)
• Pickpocket - The sneaky defensive player who can cause a turnover when you least expect it (Chris Paul, Rondo)
• Banger - Has a higher chance to finish over a defender in his way. (Shaq, Dwight)
• Clutch Performer - Always comes up big when his team needs him most (Durant, Melo, Jordan)
• Footwork - Can use his awesome footwork to perform an array of post moves (Kobe, Scola, Hakeem)
• Crafty - Uses his trickery to find different ways of finishing around the basket (Ginobili)
• I'm a Hustler, Homie - The energizer bunny - the players with the motor who always go for loose balls (Varejao, Rodman)

That's all I got for now, but it excites me to know we still have around 20 more traits to go! Though I'm thinking the traits would pretty much cover everything that ratings don't. And if that's the case, I wonder if traits affect Overall?

[Mos1ted]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

I'm not sure I get the point of many of these traits. Don't we already have ratings that cover these, except that they can be set at anywhere between 25 and 100, as opposed to a binary on off thing?

I mean cornerman can be replicated with hot spots, dead eye can be replicated with shoot in traffic, lockdown is already covered by on ball d, and many of these suggestions like speed already have ratings for them. I hope the traits don't dumb down the game by taking away precise ratings and actually make sense as an on/off toggle.

Frankly, this new addition has me a little worried. It might make the distinction between players less nuanced and less realistic.

True, but even with the appropriate ratings and hot spots, players still didn't play that much differently from each other. What I'm thinking these skills do is program the game so that the AI-controlled players recognize they have these abilities and take advantage of them, and users, particularly casual users, will be able to understand what strengths a particular player has without thumbing through mounds of numerical information.

Also, not all of the Signature Skills will affect just the individual player. There will be some that allow the player to affect the abilities of his teammates as well.

[Mos1ted]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

What I'd like to see:

"Cannon" - Allow guys to put more velocity on their passes.

"Touch" - Speed up a player's catch and pass animations (letting them do touch passes and swing the ball around the horn faster).

"Arc" - Unlocks special "high-off-the-glass" lay ups and floaters to better avoid getting blocked.

"Stop-n-Pop" - Make players faster and more explosive when pulling up off the dribble (ie Russell Westbrook).

"Tenacious" - Makes players better at slipping blockouts and more difficult to keep off the boards.

"Springs" - Speed up player's "gather" animation before jumping. Able to get off the floor quicker than other players.

My speculation:

• Ankle Breaker - This guy's handles are much more effective to get the defense off-balance (Jamal Crawford, Deron Williams)
• Help Defender - Always in the right spot at the right time (Nick Collison, KG, Dwight)
• Pickpocket - The sneaky defensive player who can cause a turnover when you least expect it (Chris Paul, Rondo)
• Banger - Has a higher chance to finish over a defender in his way. (Shaq, Dwight)
• Clutch Performer - Always comes up big when his team needs him most (Durant, Melo, Jordan)
• Footwork - Can use his awesome footwork to perform an array of post moves (Kobe, Scola, Hakeem)
• Crafty - Uses his trickery to find different ways of finishing around the basket (Ginobili)
• I'm a Hustler, Homie - The energizer bunny - the players with the motor who always go for loose balls (Varejao, Rodman)

That's all I got for now, but it excites me to know we still have around 20 more traits to go! Though I'm thinking the traits would pretty much cover everything that ratings don't. And if that's the case, I wonder if traits affect Overall?

Good suggestions, fellas. Keep them coming!

I particularly like Help Defender, Canon, Touch, Tenacious, Footwork, Banger, and I'm a Hustler, Homie. I think those would really add elements I feel are totally absent in 2K12.

[jersez]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

I think this might be one of the underestimated new features. I just read the espn article and I can actually see this being a great addition.

At first I thought this was going to be like the superstar thingy in nba live 07 or 06 i can't remember.

One problem this could fix, is a player being better in the game than he is in real life. Deandre Jordan, Javale McGee or DeMar DeRozan. They had the athletic ability which out weighted basketball skill at times in 2k11 and 2k12.

But to get on topic. splitter- ball handlers that are great at splitting screens.

strippers(couldn't think of a better name) players that are great at striping the ball, as a player goes up for a shot. I hate that almost everybody could do this online.

Microwave- Vinnie Johnson type players that can catch on fire easily.

[youALREADYknow]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

I'm not sure I get the point of many of these traits. Don't we already have ratings that cover these, except that they can be set at anywhere between 25 and 100, as opposed to a binary on off thing?

I mean cornerman can be replicated with hot spots, dead eye can be replicated with shoot in traffic, lockdown is already covered by on ball d, and many of these suggestions like speed already have ratings for them. I hope the traits don't dumb down the game by taking away precise ratings and actually make sense as an on/off toggle.

Frankly, this new addition has me a little worried. It might make the distinction between players less nuanced and less realistic.

EXACTLY.

The only point of traits/skills is to cover ground that cannot be accurately reflected by ratings/tendencies/abilities. I love the addition to the game, but from what we've heard so far I doubt that half of these will make sense to use other than allowing 2K to covering up their past "difficulties" in accurately profiling a player using their own rating/tendency/hotspot system.

Things like veteran leadership and intangible abilities would be great to see and I'm sure we'll get more of those since there are 28 total and we've only heard about a few.

[aloncho11]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

I'm not sure I get the point of many of these traits. Don't we already have ratings that cover these, except that they can be set at anywhere between 25 and 100, as opposed to a binary on off thing?

I mean cornerman can be replicated with hot spots, dead eye can be replicated with shoot in traffic, lockdown is already covered by on ball d, and many of these suggestions like speed already have ratings for them. I hope the traits don't dumb down the game by taking away precise ratings and actually make sense as an on/off toggle.

Frankly, this new addition has me a little worried. It might make the distinction between players less nuanced and less realistic.

Like the interviews say, these are mostly intangibles and player traits. By player traits it means a certain way of doing things on the court that only a few do (setting a good hard screen or pick, for example).

It's not necessarily a "stat boost". For example, although strength, speed, on-ball defense, defensive awareness make players perform on D, there actually isn't anything that differentiate how a player reads the offense from opponents or how he can read screens and effectively stay with his man.

[illwill10]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

I think this might be one of the underestimated new features. I just read the espn article and I can actually see this being a great addition.

At first I thought this was going to be like the superstar thingy in nba live 07 or 06 i can't remember.

One problem this could fix, is a player being better in the game than he is in real life. Deandre Jordan, Javale McGee or DeMar DeRozan. They had the athletic ability which out weighted basketball skill at times in 2k11 and 2k12.

But to get on topic. I can't think of one right now, but I'm excited about this feature.

This is one of my most liked features so far.

Even with Tendencies, players didnt really play different. You basically had to prepare for Athletic players the same way.

I didnt like why the athletic players who arent that good(great I mean) IRL would go off because their ratings were decent enough. Blatche, D.Williams(MIN), Beasely, Favors, P.Peterson are some of the guys who would always go off.

[exposedaking]

It reminds me of the superstar moves on nba live, just better

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

[Sundown]

True, but even with the appropriate ratings and hot spots, players still didn't play that much differently from each other. What I'm thinking these skills do is program the game so that the AI-controlled players recognize they have these abilities and take advantage of them, and users, particularly casual users, will be able to understand what strengths a particular player has without thumbing through mounds of numerical information.

Seems like this is what tendencies were for, except they also allowed more precise ratings. I guess if the trait "hacks" the AI into performing like the players should, it could work, but still not a huge fan of the on-off aspect of these traits.

Also, not all of the Signature Skills will affect just the individual player. There will be some that allow the player to affect the abilities of his teammates as well.

Auras could be good-- but again, I'd like differing levels of effectiveness. Not every player affects their teammates to the same degree.

[Mos1ted]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

In 2K12, it was easy to take an athletic player who is average in real life and lead the team in a variety of stats in game. Like Javele McGee, for example, I could put up 20 and 10 with him every single game if I forced the issue, even on the highest difficulty. It was the same thing with Richard Jefferson. I could make Richard Jefferson play like an MVP every single game. I think this system looks to address that in some way.

[youALREADYknow]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

In 2K12, it was easy to take an athletic player who is average in real life and lead the team in a variety of stats in game. Like Javele McGee, for example, I could put up 20 and 10 with him every single game if I forced the issue, even on the highest difficulty. It was the same thing with Richard Jefferson. I could make Richard Jefferson play like an MVP every single game. I think this system looks to address that in some way.

Most of that was because 2K rated Abilities ultra-high for every "named" player out of the box regardless of skill or talent in performing that move.

Again, it's back to rosters being terrible in 2K12. Fixing the base rosters in 2K13 should be one of the top priorities and would fix a lot of the complaints that gamers have had over the past year. Adding another layer on top of garbage won't fix much.

[iLLosophy]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

I'm not sure I get the point of many of these traits. Don't we already have ratings that cover these, except that they can be set at anywhere between 25 and 100, as opposed to a binary on off thing?

I mean cornerman can be replicated with hot spots, dead eye can be replicated with shoot in traffic, lockdown is already covered by on ball d, and many of these suggestions like speed already have ratings for them. I hope the traits don't dumb down the game by taking away precise ratings and actually make sense as an on/off toggle.

Frankly, this new addition has me a little worried. It might make the distinction between players less nuanced and less realistic.

Even more so, how do you create a natural progression in myplayer or rookies in association? Be pretty unrealistic if you just one day you didn't have this ability and the next day you did.

[DukeC]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

What would be interesting would be if there were negative traits as well. Such as someone not being aware defensively (leaving his man open after switching off in a pick and roll situation, not playing his specific zone), someone who doesn't box out (giving up offensive boards), guys who have lead feet (aren't quick enough to keep up with the ball-handler), and guys who can only drive to a specific side (such as James Harden only going left).

It'd be interesting to see whether their benefits (positive traits) outweigh the negatives (negative traits) to create a further "chess match" so to speak.

[iLLosophy]

Re: NBA 2K13 Signature Skills -- Confirmed Additions vs Speculated Additions

What would be interesting would be if there were negative traits as well.

Should have a Scalabrine / White Mamba trait