Well fellas...as if online league heads were not already ignored, it seems like 2k has pushed it in even further, if you know what I mean.
First the good, lest everyone attest nothing but negativity to this post.
We have the ability to play 12 min HOF sim settings, which if nothing else will make this mode playable when the bickering is over and the dust has settled. Number of teams, games played, and playoffs are all customizable as previously discussed prior to release.
After selecting your league options, you create the league with the amount of teams you want ranging from 2-30. 2K previously mentioned that you could use CPU teams to fill the league. That is not true. Only human controlled teams are allowed and you cannot start the league until all said humans have joined, be it 2 or 30.
After using another profile to fill the 2 man test league, You are encountered with some barebones options and menus that will leave us all wondering why we have regressed to pre xbox/dreamcast era online leagues in an era of next generation consoles. There is a total of 4 menus ranging form Trades, Team Roster, Standings, Stats, and Options. Before you get giddy with excitement, hold your horses until you see whats underneath those menus.
Lets get straight to the point and discuss the all important OPTIONS that 2k has given us this year. We have 3 sub menus of "League Settings", "Game Management" and "Leave League." League settings brings you right back to a grayed screen verifying the settings chosen prior to creating the league; see the first screen shot for reference. Once chosen they cannot be modified in any way whatsoever. Want to adjust games played, number of teams, difficulty and gamestyle or trades in season? Tough luck. Nothing to see here as this is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
The important thing are the missing settings that we have grown accustomed to. That's right fellas; no admin options to kick a user or do anything of remotely administrative. Thats all there is to league settings. Can you imagine having to ask a bad user to please kindly leave the league as the admin no has no recourse of booting unruly members? You can leave the league but 2k wont allow for booting members? Brilliant.
I can verify that you cannot invite a member to join the league after someone voluntarily leaves the league. That's right fellas, you cannot send an invite to ANYONE to join the league when trying to fill a vacated team. Essentially, the invite feature only works when creating a league from its inception. After the league has been created, you better hope your members are loyal and never leave, as there is no recourse to fill open teams after the fact. All you can do is sim out the vacated teams' remaining games since they cannot be replaced
As for the "game management" menu, it simply brings up the league schedule with the game results after you bypass the "failed to recieve schedule" message. I am assuming that you you can reset the games once results are posted but with the "simulate game" options "failing to simulate," I cannot categorically declare that resettings games are in this year. The LT/RT toggle on the upper right hand corner of the screen shot simply lets you cycle through the respective teams and their schedule/game results. Just praying that reset options are in once I play a lg game.
As of now, all you can do is simulate, view gamercard, and cancel when you click on a scheduled game or game result. Again, I cannot verify reset options until a game is played between humans.
Lets keep it moving to the "Trades Menu." You can only trade up to 3 players at a time. There are no longer veto capability so that is a plus. The downside being that there is no admin option to block, reject, or nullify trades. Obviously we knew with no OA, that salary cap will no longer affect trades so it will be up to the user solely on accepting and declining trades.
Another let down is the "team roster" menu. My friends, this is simply a disaster in every sense of the word. There is no ability to set rotations, situational lineups, or wait for it.........SIGN FREE AGENTS. You can only cycle through the lg members rosters. The work around here is to do an offline draft with your lg members in auctioning and assigning FAs prior to uploading your custom roster. I know I am shaking my head too.
With That said fellas, adidtional omissions that I can confirm are that there are no practice play, freestyle, post moves, or practice of any kind in online leagues this year. Thats right fellas, that wasnt a misprint, you cannot even freestyle practice. Gotta practice offline as a work around. Yup, keep shaking your head.
One last downer is that I have repeatedly encountered a glitch where you are continously spammed with a "please wait" message bot that prevents you from accessing the league once you log out. To the extent that you either have to turn off your console or simply switch profiles in order for it stop so that you can simply play any other mode. This could be due to the 2k servers not being up to snuff prior to release day, so lets refrain from total condemnation till the game releases officially.
Add this to the issues:
1. No conferences
2. No league leaders
3. No ability to short individual player stats from highest to lowest ! The arrow is visible next to category name but it doesn't work
4. No dates or real schedule. We had this simple thing in 2k11!!!
Cmon did 2k really not care about this mode. Its so incomplete its a slap in the face to league guys