does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

[raw51188]

Hey All,

Been on the forum quite a while. Mostly taking in the knowledge. But I ask this every year, and it makes a big difference in how I tweak my own sliders (kinda late to NBA 2k this year).

To be clear in case you're not, the question I'm asking is whether the difficulty level changes more than shooting windows, etc...i.e. Are the CPU player attribute ratings inflated on Hall of Fame difficulty? Are the user player attribute ratings deflated on HOF?

If so, what difficulty level retains neutral player attribute ratings for the CPU players? In other words, what is the games natural difficulty level?

Thanks so much in advance if you know this answer.

Ps. I believe kings55 was the first to discover this was indeed the case in 2k14. Even if you're not certain, your opinion is welcomed.

[raw51188]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

Anyone?

I'd be much appreciated if someone could at least tell me they don't know or that this is a question that no on knows (especially if it's an OS O.G.).

[raw51188]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

Did some more research, and this is all I've found so far. Posting it here for the people who are/have viewed this:

"I see alot of complaints about the overpowered play of the CPU on the Hall of Fame & Superstar difficulty settings. I was that way too, so I decided to look into why in the world does the CPU play a virtually perfect game on those levels, while at the same time my teammates & I play like trash. I mean on those 2 settings, your teammates are virtually non-existent(play no defense, hardly ever make shots, etc.). After doing a little research, combined with a small amount of critical thinking, it now all makes sense. On the Hall of Fame & Superstar difficulty levels, the CPU has been given a substantial BOOST in attributes/ratings, while you & your teammates' attributes/ratings have been REDUCED. So that explains why your teammates stand & watch the opposing team shoot the ball right in their faces & won't even lift a finger to contest the shot. It also explains why they miss wide open jumpers, layups, & also explains why it's a lot harder for you yourself to even make a jumper. So with the boosts they've been given in attributes/ratings, you can now understand why the CPU's center can rundown your fastest point guard on a fastbreak. Before I knew all of this, it was very frustrating, but now that I know, it all makes sense. But on the Rookie & Pro difficulty settings, the USER & his/her teammates have been given the boosts in attributes/ratings, while the CPU's ratings have been reduced. The All-star difficulty is by far the most balanced/fair. No boosts have been given to either side & your teammates play as they should, defense & all, which makes for a more fun, realistic experience. Some games maybe blowouts, some games may be close, all depending on who you're playing. So when you guys complain about how the CPU shoots the lights out every single game on Hall of Fame & Superstar, regardless of who you're playing, then it's only doing what it's been programmed to do on those levels. And it all makes sense because that's the only way to increase the difficulty when you really think about it - reducing your ratings while increasing theirs. Now that I've learned that, I WILL NEVER PLAY ON ANYTHING ABOVE ALL-STAR EVER AGAIN. To me, that's no fun at all. The fact that my teammates have been turned into complete idiots plus me not being able to control them, while my opponents are virtual superheros, turns me away from those levels 180 degrees. That's not fun nor fair at all. I just wanna play the game & enjoy it, not end up angry & frustrated."

-random poster on 2ks forum.

Thoughts?

[deezycobain]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

Nice write up, seems very similar to madden difficulties.....
i myself have been on pro and losing some games but now that im getting my 2k rhythm back im gonna make the jump to all star

ive never felt like i needed to mess with the sliders on nba, possibly because i dont kno basketball as well as football, but this year plays great so far.....

once again this was a good read
Thanx

[JasonWilliams55]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

Hey All,

Been on the forum quite a while. Mostly taking in the knowledge. But I ask this every year, and it makes a big difference in how I tweak my own sliders (kinda late to NBA 2k this year).

To be clear in case you're not, the question I'm asking is whether the difficulty level changes more than shooting windows, etc...i.e. Are the CPU player attribute ratings inflated on Hall of Fame difficulty? Are the user player attribute ratings deflated on HOF?

If so, what difficulty level retains neutral player attribute ratings for the CPU players? In other words, what is the games natural difficulty level?

Thanks so much in advance if you know this answer.

Ps. I believe kings55 was the first to discover this was indeed the case in 2k14. Even if you're not certain, your opinion is welcomed.

Most likely it is still the same. Go back to my post on how to negate the boosts to find a balance on higher levels.

[thapi]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

The difficulty does boost the CPU stats, hence the greater the VC rewards. Basically what 2K is saying to players is "We are gonna turn the CPU into beasts and dumb down your team, if you can beat that then you deserve the higher VC", best thing to do in that case is adjust the USER sliders to try balance the gameplay

[Snoopy2quik]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

Did some more research, and this is all I've found so far. Posting it here for the people who are/have viewed this:

"I see alot of complaints about the overpowered play of the CPU on the Hall of Fame & Superstar difficulty settings. I was that way too, so I decided to look into why in the world does the CPU play a virtually perfect game on those levels, while at the same time my teammates & I play like trash. I mean on those 2 settings, your teammates are virtually non-existent(play no defense, hardly ever make shots, etc.). After doing a little research, combined with a small amount of critical thinking, it now all makes sense. On the Hall of Fame & Superstar difficulty levels, the CPU has been given a substantial BOOST in attributes/ratings, while you & your teammates' attributes/ratings have been REDUCED. So that explains why your teammates stand & watch the opposing team shoot the ball right in their faces & won't even lift a finger to contest the shot. It also explains why they miss wide open jumpers, layups, & also explains why it's a lot harder for you yourself to even make a jumper. So with the boosts they've been given in attributes/ratings, you can now understand why the CPU's center can rundown your fastest point guard on a fastbreak. Before I knew all of this, it was very frustrating, but now that I know, it all makes sense. But on the Rookie & Pro difficulty settings, the USER & his/her teammates have been given the boosts in attributes/ratings, while the CPU's ratings have been reduced. The All-star difficulty is by far the most balanced/fair. No boosts have been given to either side & your teammates play as they should, defense & all, which makes for a more fun, realistic experience. Some games maybe blowouts, some games may be close, all depending on who you're playing. So when you guys complain about how the CPU shoots the lights out every single game on Hall of Fame & Superstar, regardless of who you're playing, then it's only doing what it's been programmed to do on those levels. And it all makes sense because that's the only way to increase the difficulty when you really think about it - reducing your ratings while increasing theirs. Now that I've learned that, I WILL NEVER PLAY ON ANYTHING ABOVE ALL-STAR EVER AGAIN. To me, that's no fun at all. The fact that my teammates have been turned into complete idiots plus me not being able to control them, while my opponents are virtual superheros, turns me away from those levels 180 degrees. That's not fun nor fair at all. I just wanna play the game & enjoy it, not end up angry & frustrated."

-random poster on 2ks forum.

Thoughts?

So, with that being said, is anyone gonna boost the user sliders to level the playing field on the higher difficulties to match the CPU? Or will I be better off playing on All Star?

[raw51188]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

So, with that being said, is anyone gonna boost the user sliders to level the playing field on the higher difficulties to match the CPU? Or will I be better off playing on All Star?

Click on jasonwilliams55, he replied in this thread. Then visit his thread about his 2k14 sliders. He lays out how you negate these boosts on higher difficulty levels. I haven't done it (will probably just play on all star). But I'm sure his suggestions will carry over for the most part to 2k16.

Btw, it mostly deals with lowering certain CPU attribute ratings. Ie...youll reduce ball handling from 50 to 43, strength, speed, etc. These will make the CPU and user attributes equal. The only issue is that there are user attributes that affect game play somewhat substantially, that cannot be adjusted by the user. So there will still be some boosted play from the CPU, but id say it was 90% reduced. Basically the CPU only has a slight advantage attribute wise. But the key attributes will be equal to the users.

If you have more questions about this, let me know. I honestly have no idea why jw55 stopped making posts and threads and sliders. He's the best player in the OS NBA forum. And I been here for 12 years so I've seen everything.

[Perfect23]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

Which difficulty level has the unchangable ratings equal for both sides?

[denverbro89]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

difficultly also affects Cpu awareness. you'll notice that on higher difficulty, the Cpu plays much faster, setting up plays faster, identifying open teammates faster, they'll pass out of contested layups and jump shots more often. on defense they'll ice the PnR more often, forcing the Pg into the paint. Less breakdowns on dribble moves, and more body-ups, pushing your players off their spot. All of this would be fine, but with the obvious attribute increase, the gameplay becomes unbalanced.

[spreadthem]

Re: does difficulty affect player attribute ratings?

I have put my ends in in terms of how ridiculous HOF is. I play on HOF and I win but my shooting percentage is terrible. I play on Simulation too which makes shooting way worse but it makes the CPU miss a little more often and shoot about 54% most games compared to default HOF that they shoot 68% and its impossible to beat when I can't even score a fastbreak layup.

Difficulty should be the CPU are smarter, not attribute changes. So rookie would mean they get less open jumpers or don't decide to hit an open 3 and stall a bit and get closed down, but also take the open 3's and make or miss depending on who the player is, JR Smith and Curry knocking down open 3's all day no matter what difficulty should be the way it is.

But on HOF the CPU will move better and find themselves in more space and have those open looks and knock them down according to their shooting stats, that seems to be the way it is for my team. Paul George hits 8/10 3's no problem (remember I play on simulation HOF) because his 3 rating is in the 90's but Montae Ellise hits about 4/10 because his 3 is only 78. But the CPU have a contested 3 from 25 feet out with 1.8 left on the shot clock and knock it down no matter who it is.

I swear I played a game earlier and I never shoot jumpers unless wide open, I was 0/9 on 3's all completely wide open (94 3pt shooting, corner specialist and limitless range, yes I rookie casualed for the badges, had to) clearly I should be making at least 3 of those? But no, because its HOF a 94 3 doesn't means 94, it means 74.

The game shouldn't be harder difficulty means making me worse while making the CPU better, it should be the CPU are smarter in their defence and attack. Using crossovers and screens to get by and pull men in and free someone up, not making TJ McConnell an absolute beast from the perimeter. Just like in real life, if Curry played against a bunch of amateurs and someone was right in his face while he took a shot it would put him off, but he would still score the same amount of open shots against amateurs as he would against pro, an open shot is an open shot regardless of difficulty.