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NBA 2K: Finding the right gameplay blend with sliders.

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Old 10-23-2016, 10:49 PM   #1
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NBA 2K: Finding the right gameplay blend with sliders.

Here is a post by Steve McPherson, written back on October 18th, 2012. This is a very good read, and it still applies for this year's reiteration. It has helped me enjoy 2K.

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Firstly, let me tell you what this is not: a post about the best slider sets out there or even one about what makes for the best slider set. There are plenty of thoroughly researched and test-driven slider sets up on 2K Share — many of them from OS users who have crafted great matched sets of rosters and sliders for. As a starting point, I highly recommend looking into mkharsh33's slider set, which seeks, among other things, to help the problem of the CPU grabbing defensive rebounds and taking off on unstoppable fast breaks — a real problem, in my opinion. But look at the headline again: the right gameplay blend will be the right one for you.

So remember that when it comes to making slider adjustments for games you’re going to be playing against the CPU, the most important thing is to make the game play the way you want it. Yes, there’s something appealing about downloading a set of sliders that promise the most “realistic” stats possible from a certain difficulty level or quarter length, but there’s actually nothing inherently moral about playing the most realistic basketball video game possible. There are a couple problems with this idea.


NBA 2K13 can be very sim...or arcadey.

First of all, you might not play NBA2K13 in the same way that real basketball gets played. I, for instance, like shooting in the game to be a little hotter than in real life. This means bumping up shooting sliders for both the player and the CPU just a bit so that I end up with teams hitting around 50% consistently and getting realistic scores (between 85 and 110 for each team) out of 10 minute periods. I play this way because it’s the way I wish basketball were, with fewer clankfests that result in scores like 72-69. Fundamentally, I like for good shooters to mostly make open shots and mostly miss well-contested ones. I wish this were the way the universe works, so it’s the way I like to make NBA2K13 work.

You might like a lot of dunks, and there’s no crime in that. Or you might like blocks. You might have this preference consciously or unconsciously, but it leads to the second point, which is that different people have different perceptions of the game itself. For everyone who thinks that the Game Speed needs to be pushed up to 53 to accurately simulate the speed of the game there’s someone who thinks it needs to be cut back to 45. In the pursuit of ever-heightened realism in video games, we sometimes forget that they’re not there just to simulate reality but to present us with alternative realities.


NBA 2K13 is very customizable to the experience you'd like.

You can go completely crazy. Hate free throws? Turn foul calling way way down. Love pinpoint passes? Turn up everyone’s Passing ability and turn down the Play Passing Lanes tendency.

Or you can be more subtle with it. Bump up Dunk In Traffic Frequency and Success plus the Attack The Basket tendency for yourself and the CPU if you want a physical, above the rim game. Back off on Blocking Foul Frequency if you don’t want whistles getting in the way of your fun. Or if you prefer guys to slip to the hoop like magicians, dial back the Driving Contact Shot Frequency. New this year is the ability to tweak the shot defense strength of shots both at the gather and the release, allowing you to still punish bad shots taken under heavy D while rewarding open looks more.

The key to finding the sweet spots for yourself is not to listen to what anyone else says is the definitive slider set, but to try out different sets and tweak them yourself. Play around. Through trial and error you’ll find what suits you, but you also might find that something will suit you for a week or a month and then feel flat. And don’t forget that the sliders interact with the individual player tendencies, which makes it absolutely essential to play with the right set of rosters if you want to get the effect the maker of the sliders intended. Same goes for difficulty. And although there have long been people who liked to work their way up to Hall of Fame difficulty, more recent iterations of the game have brought out people who feel the difficulty levels above Pro bring out too much blatant cheating by the CPU to make the game enjoyable.

So take a deep breath. Download some slider sets from 2K Share. Then start pushing them around yourself. The right blend is out there, you just might have to put in a little time to find it.

Original Article:

http://www.operationsports.com/featu...-with-sliders/

Last edited by Luke Skywalker; 10-24-2016 at 08:49 AM.
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Old 10-23-2016, 11:31 PM   #2
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Re: NBA 2K: Finding the right gameplay blend with sliders.

I remember this post from back then. Still relevant for sure. Not sure though if its a good thing or bad thing that it still is haha... Anyways I remember when we didnt even have sliders so am thankful to have them at all every year. With a bit of work you can probably get the game playing how you like, its just some years it takes more fiddling than others..
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Old 10-23-2016, 11:44 PM   #3
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Re: NBA 2K: Finding the right gameplay blend with sliders.

This is a great reminder

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Old 10-24-2016, 08:23 AM   #4
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Re: NBA 2K: Finding the right gameplay blend with sliders.

I've never read this...but its a fantastic post tbat shouldnt go ignored....

There are legitimate issues across the board, but the people who can control their experience shoulf without question use the tools provided.
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Old 10-24-2016, 08:48 AM   #5
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Re: NBA 2K: Finding the right gameplay blend with sliders.

I am posting the original article in the OP.

http://www.operationsports.com/featu...-with-sliders/
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Old 10-24-2016, 10:26 AM   #6
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Re: NBA 2K: Finding the right gameplay blend with sliders.

My process for balancing the gameplay in NBA 2K is the same each year.

First, I go to the Basketball Reference website and pull the team stats for the prior season and pull three sets of averages (league average, league's best team, league's worst team) for the categories I'm interesting in. This gives me a target range I'm aiming for in my slider adjustments. I'm basically looking at attempts (FG, 3P, FT), make percentages, rebounds (ORB, DRB), steals, assists, turnovers, blocks, and fouls.

I play five games and then compare my averages (human and CPU) to real averages and adjust the sliders accordingly. I ignore the temptation to change the sliders after every game, because a single game doesn't tell you anything trend-wise. It becomes quickly obvious from the 5-game trends where balance is missing.

For me this year, I adjusted the game to 11 minutes quarters to get the attempts correct, lowered the CPU tendency to take 3Pers, and upped the fouls for both me and the CPU. I adjusted the shot sliders to get realistic team averages for me and the CPU, and then I upped my make percentages slightly above reality to compensate for the unrealistic number of uncontested looks the CPU gets under the basket (my defenders don't get back on defense properly, and the CPU always averages 8-10 more attempts per game because of this flaw in the gameplay). Blocks, steals (don't abuse the steal button), and assists seem good out of the box. Your experience may vary, as it's going to be dependant on your gameplay style.

It's important to note that you'll not get everything to balance perfectly within real NBA ranges. It's a video game after all. Example: I have slightly fewer fouls in game than what you get in real life. This is due to blocking and offensive fouls almost never getting called, and most fouls being shooting fouls. If I attempted to get realistic foul numbers, my free throw attempts would be too high. Since I get a realistic number of foul shots, and have to deal with my bigs getting into foul trouble in some games, I've accepted the trade-off.
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Old 10-24-2016, 10:57 AM   #7
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Re: NBA 2K: Finding the right gameplay blend with sliders.

And just in case someone might find this useful, here are the per game averages from the NBA last season:

Category - High - Average - Low
PTS/g - 114.9 - 102.7 - 97.3
2PA/g - 66.6 - 60.5 - 52.6
2P%/g - 0.528 - 0.491 - 0.454
3PA/g - 31.6 - 24.1 - 15.6
3P%/g - 0.416 - 0.354 - 0.317
FTA/g - 29.4 - 23.4 - 20
FT%/g - 0.805 - 0.757 - 0.668
ORB/g - 13.1 - 10.4 - 8.3
DRB/g - 36.2 - 33.3 - 30.5
AST/g - 28.9 - 22.3 - 18
STL/g - 10 - 7.8 - 5.7
BLK/g - 6.5 - 5 - 3.7
TO/g - 17.1 - 14.4 - 12.6
PF/g - 22.6 - 20.3 - 17.4
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Old 10-24-2016, 11:37 AM   #8
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Re: NBA 2K: Finding the right gameplay blend with sliders.

Interesting Moonripple.

My sliders are set to where it's more of an inside-out type of game. The main objective is to attack the basket and use the post game, I have it set that way because that's the highest percentage shot to take. Jump shooting is a last resort (low percentage) shot. The objective on defense is to force the player into a jumpshot situation, hence lowering shot percentages.

My games usually average between 38-45%. If it goes 50 or above, you're probably not playing good defense.

Inside and Shot frequency at 100, Layup Take Off/Release and Jumpshot Gather/Release at 60. Help Defense Strength 75, makes it a chore to get into the paint. Fatigue Rate 57 to force myself to slow down and not use turbo that often, slowing down the tempo for lower scoring. I barely break 100 in my games, and I play on 12 minute quarters.

Game Speed is at 42, I like everything slow to emulate the Chess match, I love seeing the animations play out. I think 50 is made for head to head, because at a slower speed I can perform better and match the CPU's reaction time.

I look for challenge rather than realism.
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