If you play on HOF, the game is NOT broken

[LorenzoDC]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gosens6

As stated above, a poster has recently seen a tweet from czar that echoes my exact sentiments. Believe what you want, I'm going by what the creators of the game say. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This has come up several times with Czar and OG on SimHangout discussions in the last year.

Books Nelson jokes with them that it should be called "Nightmare Mode" so that high ego players who insist on thinking of themselves as "HOF" will know exactly what they are getting into. It's not sim and not designed to be.

None of this is rumor. It's established fact from the devs.

This year they put a lot of attention into CPU game play AI so that difficulty levels could be based more on the intelligence of sim type basketball by level. But they are clear: sim style play is maximized on AS and SS sim levels. On HOF, it's artificial CPU ratings boosts and user nerfs that create the higher difficulty.

As they build more intelligence into CPU AI and pure basketball intelligence into the system, that may change. But the OP is correct.

[Wolf Ticket]

Quote: Originally Posted by LorenzoDC

This has come up several times with Czar and OG on SimHangout discussions in the last year. Books Nelson jokes with them that it should be called "Nightmare Mode" so that high ego players who insist on thinking of themselves as "HOF" will know exactly what they are getting into. It's not sim and not designed to be. None of this is rumor. It's established fact from the devs. This year they put a lot of attention into CPU game play AI so that difficulty levels could be based more on the intelligence of sim type basketball by level. But they are clear: sim style play is maximized on AS and SS sim levels. On HOF, it's artificial CPU ratings boosts and user nerfs that create the higher difficulty. As they build more intelligence into CPU AI and pure basketball intelligence into the system, that may change. But the OP is correct.

The HOF difficulty level should be designed to be a challenge, being able to abuse scoring in the paint while not being able to hit a open mid-range perimeter shot consistently isn't challenge, it's problem that needs to be fixed.

Some parts of offense are extremely difficult (near impossible) some parts are extremely easy, HOF isn't difficult this year, it's unbalanced.

[Gosens6]

Quote: Originally Posted by Wolf Ticket

The HOF difficulty level should be designed to be a challenge, being able to abuse scoring in the paint while not being able to hit a open mid-range perimeter shot consistently isn't challenge, it's problem that needs to be fixed. Some parts of offense are extremely difficult (near impossible) some parts are extremely easy, HOF isn't difficult this year, it's unbalanced.

That's how the make it challenging. Giving the AI an unfair advantage and giving the user minimal scoring outlets.

We all know it shouldn't be this way, but if the game developers are confirming that's how they made the game, there's nothing you, I or anyone else can do to change it


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[rjohns23]

Man great thread. I agree with the OP that the CPU will get artificial boast. In last gen, you could actually see the boast when you switch to the cpu controlled team and go in the sub menu. You cant see them this year (havent really checked though) but im pretty sure they are there.

So i guess the synopsis is the difference between rookie and HOF is rating boast or decreases. CPU logic/strategy has no baring whether you play on rookie or HOF. I wish it did but if developers are saying that then i guess its true hopefully one of them can come in and fully explain the relationship betweem difficulty levels and sliders.

All i play is HOF but since i do roster editing, i do want to play against each players true nature. I can win on HOF but what difficulty level will i have to play to have players play "exactly" like themselves... Is it Alstar with default sliders??

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[SonicMage]

I personally think difficulty and sliders should be integrated into one component. It doesn't make sense to keep difficulty settings with cryptic names that only confuse the community, when really all difficulty means is adjusting sliders under the hood just like we do.

So no more difficulty, just three slider sets: Rookie, Sim, Hall of Fame. Sim being the one that the developers feel is the closest to NBA basketball play, Rookie being toned down to make it easier for new players, and Hall of Fame for those who want the AI to cheat a little bit for a challenge. And then, of course, we can customize these to make the game easier or harder as we see fit. No more confusion.

[LorenzoDC]

Quote: Originally Posted by rjohns23

Man great thread. I agree with the OP that the CPU will get artificial boast. In last gen, you could actually see the boast when you switch to the cpu controlled team and go in the sub menu. You cant see them this year (havent really checked though) but im pretty sure they are there. So i guess the synopsis is the difference between rookie and HOF is rating boast or decreases. CPU logic/strategy has no baring whether you play on rookie or HOF. I wish it did but if developers are saying that then i guess its true hopefully one of them can come in and fully explain the relationship betweem difficulty levels and sliders. All i play is HOF but since i do roster editing, i do want to play against each players true nature. I can win on HOF but what difficulty level will i have to play to have players play "exactly" like themselves... Is it Alstar with default sliders?? Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

The design intent of the game is to make players play like themselves, in a balanced game play experience, at SS sim and AS sim. The difference between the two is SS sim gets a bit more of the CPU artificial intelligence and adaptation.

So, for example, on defense, the CPU will be more aware and react to your offensive action more quickly. As a result, your shot or play making windows will be narrower and so you will have less time to read what's happening and make decisions. Your margin for error is less. This is not accomplished with ratings or attribute boosts but with more complete and quicker acting offensive and defensive AI.

Using default sliders will make the game a little more arcade like, and less sim. Using All Star or Super Star sim settings should give you what you are after. That said, just because the designers targeted and tested the game to be most sim and realistic on those settings, it doesn't mean they got it all perfect out of the box. You or others in the community may find that making a slider tweak here or there improves the game.

I've done custom sliders for years, and this is the first year where I am really taking my time to play and understand the game tuning out of the box before concluding I need to do much with sliders. I may go there, but they did a much better job this year than in previous years in approximating real sim game play on AS sim and SS sim.

So, depending on your skill level, I would start with one of those and play enough games to get a good sample, against enough teams (who really do play differently this year). Then, once you have a feel for how your chosen level fits with your skill level, start checking out the slider sub forums for ideas on any tweaks you may want to try.

[Wolf Ticket]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gosens6

That's how the make it challenging. Giving the AI an unfair advantage and giving the user minimal scoring outlets. We all know it shouldn't be this way, but if the game developers are confirming that's how they made the game, there's nothing you, I or anyone else can do to change it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But that's not the way HOF has worked in the past hence the many people complaining, in the past the defense was stronger and reduce open looks, the game didn't just significantly lower the probability of making them.

This isn't just a problem with HOF, the the disparity between points in the paint and points off of jumpers is a problem but not one that affects the CPU, the imbalance is just more magnified on HOF, in my current MyLeague (on superstar) my team is leading the league in pts in the paint and we've nearly doubled up the team just below us in the category, no one can tell me there isn't a huge difficulty difference between getting buckets inside and outside, one is unrealistically hard and the other is unrealistically easy.

[MadManCometh]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gosens6

I'm wrong??? Seriously, dude? So when the developers of the game have come here and stated pretty much exactly what I have? I'm wrong? If you have to exploit the low post game and the pnr game to win, you don't care much about a realistic challenge anyway. So the people who made the game are wrong? Okay. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The "realistic " argument went out the window once u acknowledge the devs purposedly programmed the game in a unrealistic manner in favor of the CPU. Now u want to talk to him about using pick N roll? So what if he did it 325 times a game. It's not realistic anyway once the game is programmed in that manner. Thats why I think it's silly for ppl to accept that. Why not challenge 2k to make a better and more "realistic" game in-tuned with the difficulty, instead of standing up for them like u work for them or trying to get a job with 2k. U guys agree with everything they do and say just because they monitor the site? Look, so what. With all due respect to them because they are the best indeed, but it's ok to challenge these guys to makle a better product as well. Stand on ur own 2 feet dude. U don't have to suck up to anybody. The best in anything can have imperfections still.