2K19: Inbound Steals
 

Another in the long line of legacy issues that have gone untouched is the infamous Inbound Steal. Its more "videogame only" behavior thats sheer frequency we never see in the NBA. It not only breaks the suspension of disbelief...but much like 24/7 No Huddle in Madden, it hurts the game's authenticity making it hard to watch. Still, no reasonable user has a problem with steal success if players have good timing/skillset:

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The problem starts when there isn't proper balance , you see if steals work? The drawbacks to missing steals has to work too...the total lack of balance is partly a result of no negative aspect to steal spam, follow my logic here: If good steal timing with a player with a solid rating = good outcomes, bad timing with bad ratings should = bad outcomes...simple right? And it wouldn't be so bad if there were a measure of strategy involved BUT NOPE, users can go for steals with any player on the court (regardless of skill-set) and have virtually ZERO risk of drawing whistles. Bigs are frequently in the virtual backcourt swiping at the ball and making contact 94 feet from the basket with no penalty.

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This is horrible balance and gives the green light to SPAM. With the rarity of actual steals in the NBA (the league leader the last 5 yrs has averaged less than 2 per game) the chance of failure (via foul or missed steal taking them out the play) should outstrip the chances for success.....unless of course, we want a game where defenders get to swipe the ball away every other possession.

Ask yourself how many times a user gets to fail before there's a negative outcome? Where are the bad outcomes from not being successful? Why wouldn't a player spam steal when missing the steal STILL impedes the offense like below?

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Its past time this got resolved, lets do away with this poor balance in 2K19. Stop rewarding failure in gameplay and encouraging user SPAM. We need to see steal failure have negative outcomes next year.

Re: 2K19: Inbound Steals
 

Spamming is a flagship feature in 2k, bro. Why would they punish users for being garbage?!

Re: 2K19: Inbound Steals
 

The inbound pass is controllable on your end. I don't see how we can give this much power to a sibgle inbound defender.

I watch the first clip and immediately it's obvious the defender is anticipating the inbound and playing it tight. You do have another available pass and you can also run the baseline or no?



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Re: 2K19: Inbound Steals
 

The same argument can be made re: any defender swiping at the ball. In the end where are the negative outcomes when the defender fails? Dwight Howard, Valaciunas and Ibaka swiping at the ball (and missing) and riding the ball-handler 94 feet from the basket can't be a thing.

Unless there's a risk of fouls or being out of the play. 2K17 had a missed steal animation that was good. I haven't seen it once this year.

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And in the end gameplay cant allow animations that hinder the offense when the defender misses--these might seem inconsequential, but savvy players pick up on stuff like that immediately. Imagine if the Bayless (Impact Steal #3) play was with the clock winding down...I never get a shot up and we've just rewarded the defender for NOT getting a steal. Case in point: I spammed steal here at the end of the game because I knew the game wouldn't call a foul and there was a good chance Harden would be trapped in a recovery animation:

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Re: 2K19: Inbound Steals
 

I'm with you here.

I support balancing winning animations with failed animations in an effort to punish and counter spamming. Overall it can help to clean up the spam patterns if the user has some consequence to fear. It also puts more emphasis on timing and skill if poor timing and poor skill efforts are marginally put in their place with high risk.

I do follow your logic here.



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Re: 2K19: Inbound Steals
 

I'm on the fence here. I've seen it work both ways. I haven't seen it over powered for each side. I've seen a lot of different out comes. ...Yea I'm on the fence. Because I see the improvements they made in this situation it's not like years before where someone could steal it over and over again. I've burned dude trying to steal it and turn it into a 5 on 4 situation. And I run a lot of inbound plays. I kind of seen it all myself.

Re: 2K19: Inbound Steals
 

That's all i'm saying...is that there are gameplay mechanics that need cleaning up because they affect soooo many other parts of the game. Inbound steals are a symptom of the larger issue. Its horrible balance and a no-brainer that steals can't benefit the offense whether they're successful or not.

We can't run any semblance of an offense if every time the ball is passed is a potential on-ball steal--and we're passing the ball just to get away from guys swiping at the ball....especially when its players who don't even possess the skill-set. The risk of negative outcomes have to FAR outweigh the benefits.

Steals have to be about skill, timing and skillset. NOT SPAM.

Re: 2K19: Inbound Steals
 

From today....(notice how easy these are to capture)

Steal Spam (which yields no steal--it FAILS) disrupts the play-call and damn near pushes me out of bounds. Again: Gameplay has to have negative steal outcomes.

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