MyCareer is trash, change my mind

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MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Rugshtyne on Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:19 pm

This is a rant.

I've been playing NBA games since NBA Live 2003 (some Lakers vs Celtics on my old Sega as well, but doesn't really count) up until moving to 2K since 2K9. I've seen the start of MyPlayer on 2K10, the glory of 2K11, the overall best modding experience on 2K14 PC, the last gen rises and falls, basically haven't skipped a single 2K. I also have 2K21 next gen on XSX, so overall I've seen a lot.

What I currently think is that this year's MyCareer is the rock-bottom of the meta gaming in NBA 2K, an unbelievably ugly and totally not fun experience.

Why do they think that this should be online-only experience? Why do they think that navigating a cringy, ad-driven city with your unresponsive skateboard (lol) and picking up 'quests' from characters from MyPlayer's/MyCareer's past is some accurate representation of a professional basketball player's career? For god's sake, this is an NBA game, not some Freestyle Basketball All-Stars Dunk Jam 3000 Fashion Fest. Why have a menu if the menu is only to look at new virtual thrash to waste your money on? Nah, using it for INSTANTLY moving throughout the features (NBA, online courts, training courts, etc.) is for boomers. To open MyCareer and hear some ridiculous unskippable dialogue about a need for starting DJing or walking on a podium as some major milestone in building one's basketball career was enough for me. I just want to play a god damn basketball game with my uniquely created player.

It seems like the crew at 2K Sports are only trying to maximize the profits by being 'trendy' (and even that is so cringe I won't even) and approachable to teenage streamers and not really bring an enjoyable experience for basketball fans. The last two words from the previous sentence should be the main focus group of this product, but at this point it is not. Though I saw one review from some random gamer who's not into sports games at all and he/she summarized this year's 2K as "less a video game and more an advertisement for the sport [...] and it’s simply not fun to play." And I totally agree with that (at least talking about MyCareer), even though I know a lot more about basketball in general and its games.

Is there anybody out there enjoying this year's MyCareer? Please share your thoughts because I can't see how I could enjoy it and maybe I'm missing something. I'm still stuck in this 2K10-2K11 MyPlayer nostalgia where you would just load up the gamemode and instantly play some basketball, even though your overall is in low 50s and you have to earn a spot in D-League team's starting lineup first. But I was happy, because I was playing basketball, on a hardwood court.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Issy on Fri Sep 17, 2021 7:19 pm

You have absolutely right, Mycareer (and the gameplay) has become a Grind Badges Mode for Mypark.

It's not for offline players anymore (you can't even play offline!), offline players doesn't buy VC's, they want a realistic slow progress when online players pay a another 80€ day one ( :lol:) to be competitive.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Andrew on Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:31 pm

So I haven't gotten into MyCAREER in NBA 2K22 as yet, but I have spent a lot of time in the mode over the past five years or so, and am familiar with its direction and the issues you've mentioned. And to that point, I absolutely agree. The emphasis on the online scene and the need to level up as quickly as possible has facilitated the recurrent revenue mechanics, and thus the progression is designed around that. You either buy, or you grind hard. The introduction of Badges and builds has created a meta that makes it easy to create a player that is less effective than they should be, and encourages gamers to adopt homogenised styles in order to be effective, online and offline.

As far as the extracurricular stuff is concerned, sometimes I think it's a matter of ageing out of the key demographic, but I have seen younger gamers grumble about the non-basketball aspects as well. The often-suggested solution of playing MyLEAGUE/MyNBA with player lock is worth noting, but I also feel that it's an inelegant and ultimately unsatisfactory one, because you do miss out on natural progression and career mode-specific presentation and features that you do actually want to have as part of the MyCAREER experience. And of course, a completely offline MyCAREER is now impossible.

The silver lining for me is that I've wanted to move away from MyCAREER for a few years now, especially now that a couple of people on the NLSC Pro-Am squad have boycotted the last couple of releases (and understandably so). In the past I have actually enjoyed the online team play experience in addition to the NBA side of MyCAREER, and building up a player to be viable online is one of the reasons I've put any hours at all into MyCAREER the past couple of years. This year, I don't have any incentive to do that.

It's funny because my recent retro basketball gaming kick has been NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4. I didn't play it much when it was new for reasons I've discussed in some of my articles and on the NLSC Podcast, but it's been fun to give it a second look all these years later. I've actually been playing some MyCAREER in NBA 2K14 PS4, and it's really driven home how much the mode has shifted away from the NBA experience, and into the online arena. Even the story has gone beyond the ups and downs of an NBA career into a lot of off-court drama and whatnot. I do appreciate the production values of some recent stories, but like The Neighborhood and The City, there's a lot of unnecessary filler; more flash than substance.

Anyway, long story short, while I haven't gotten into MyCAREER in NBA 2K22, I'm not surprised that it's no different to how it's been in recent games, and I completely agree with your assessment. It's helped me move on to other modes, but it's a shame that it's taken this road.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby [Hyperize] on Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:53 pm

When I was younger I probably would've loved the immersive MMO thing they're going for, but now I just want to play basketball.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby sticky-fingers on Sat Sep 18, 2021 7:18 pm

Offline MyCareer was fresh when it came out, but it was a unique road, each player had mostly the same experience and the same goal.
But MyCareer Online became a pretext to push players to grind or pay.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby [Hyperize] on Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:47 am

To add to my previous post, I'm doing some more City exploration now and it's honestly pretty cool getting quests from real people: everyone from Jake from State Farm to former characters like ATM and Jackson Ellis to Zach LaVine... meeting Zach LaVine is like when I got to meet Boba Fett in Star Wars Galaxies lol. The cool thing is I'm not even doing these challenges for the rewards or XP, but more because they just seem fun.

Traversal is an absolute bitch though... might look into a bike or something cause even the skateboard isn't cutting it for me.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Caius101 on Sun Sep 19, 2021 8:10 am

I tend to enjoy the MyCareer mode, even as it has changed over the years... my biggest issue last year was being called "Junior" constantly, because I am a junior on my name and my dad is a senior. Once I got past that, I enjoyed it a lot. I haven't played MyCareer for this year much yet... but I dread what I have read about the 'city' stuff as opposed to a neighborhood.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Andrew on Sun Sep 19, 2021 1:18 pm

cavs4872 wrote:To add to my previous post, I'm doing some more City exploration now and it's honestly pretty cool getting quests from real people: everyone from Jake from State Farm to former characters like ATM and Jackson Ellis to Zach LaVine... meeting Zach LaVine is like when I got to meet Boba Fett in Star Wars Galaxies lol. The cool thing is I'm not even doing these challenges for the rewards or XP, but more because they just seem fun.

Traversal is an absolute bitch though... might look into a bike or something cause even the skateboard isn't cutting it for me.


I can appreciate the idea, but it's not really for me. Is the skateboard still free this year?
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Caius101 on Sun Sep 19, 2021 1:37 pm

Andrew wrote:
cavs4872 wrote:To add to my previous post, I'm doing some more City exploration now and it's honestly pretty cool getting quests from real people: everyone from Jake from State Farm to former characters like ATM and Jackson Ellis to Zach LaVine... meeting Zach LaVine is like when I got to meet Boba Fett in Star Wars Galaxies lol. The cool thing is I'm not even doing these challenges for the rewards or XP, but more because they just seem fun.

Traversal is an absolute bitch though... might look into a bike or something cause even the skateboard isn't cutting it for me.


I can appreciate the idea, but it's not really for me. Is the skateboard still free this year?


The Skateboard is free.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby TGsoGood on Sun Sep 19, 2021 4:01 pm

If you are looking for offline mycareer try The W on next gen. Its the MyPlayer for WNBA, it's more streamlined. You can hop online at any time and you can play or sim through a career. The only drawback is that it's in the WNBA, not as prestigous as the NBA and also only 12 teams.
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NBA 2K21 TGsoGood Mods and releases - viewtopic.php?f=267&t=110608
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Andrew on Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:43 am

Caius101 wrote:The Skateboard is free.


That's good to hear. Given how bikes in The Neighborhood went from "free to use when you level up enough" in NBA 2K18 to "level up AND buy them for 100,000 VC" in NBA 2K19, I was sure the skateboard was going to be given away free in NBA 2K21 and then made into a premium item in NBA 2K22.

I criticise the recurrent revenue mechanics in NBA 2K and for good reason, but credit where credit's due. Even if it's not the quickest form of transportation available, that's very decent to keep it free again this year.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Rugshtyne on Mon Sep 20, 2021 9:56 pm

Guys made here some very good insights on the mode's past and future and I found myself playing yesterday the mode for a few hours (though skipping almost every cutscene and trying to progress to the next game as fast as possible). I guess an ideal situation would be to be able to select how you are going to play the gamemode, like in MyNBA, so you could opt out of the unnecessary dialogues and cutscenes and just have the experience similar to The W.

I guess the cringy dialogues and microtransactions aside (for which I think I haven't spent more than 20$ throughout all the years) I still hate the whole fake-MMORPG experience. It feels like a indie developer's entry into the new genre, where the controls, the options, the traversal is more of a burden than of experience. Slow, clunky and fake.

Probably an off-topic, but oh how I long for some healthy competition in basketball videogames, 2K got reaaaally lazy.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby jmmontoro on Tue Sep 21, 2021 1:16 pm

We clearly don't understand the new business model. When brands join the game to sell their products in a digital form and people spend real (like it or not VC translates to real) money to purchase such items then something changed and it's not coming back. MyCareer is no longer about being the best but about flashing the most.

How as a community we allowed to be treated as credit cards is almost embarrassing. They force you to queue so you have nothing better to do than browse their catalogue until it's your turn to play. It's basically a FTP game disguised as a AAA full price title. How is it possible that having full courts of players means that those not on courts have to wait for their turn to play? I payed, we all payed, match everyone outside up and lets play, how is it possible that this happened? And when it's your turn to play you're matched up against a 90 overall? On release week? Tier it up 2K. I can't even begin to conceive how this happened and happened with so much success. Everything in MyCareer is wrong and weird, it almost seems like it was designed to fail but it's not failing, on the contrary.

So clearly we don't understand this game anymore, maybe it's because no one calls them out, but I believe kids today enjoy this new model. But if it's because of the first, then forget it, no one will risk their status to make a better game.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Andrew on Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:28 pm

I do believe that it irks us more if we're (shameless plug) at the upper end of the demographic.

The problem goes beyond NBA 2K of course; it's the state of gaming in 2021. That's probably why a lot of people let it slide, because "that's just how it is now". 2K have also done an effective job of normalising VC and making the recurrent revenue mechanics pushier over the years, while introducing elements that trigger dopamine rushes and instil a sense of FOMO if you abstain. It didn't used to be as much of a problem, and by the time most people were getting sick of it and noticing how bad it had become, VC had been normalised.

To that end, too many people defend these mechanics and practices as being "optional". This is technically correct, but electing not to buy VC to speed up the progress results in an inferior experience, because the game is designed to frustrate you into spending. The journey of levelling up a player isn't as fun or fair as it used to be, because it's not designed to be. Saying that we have a choice is ignoring the fact that neither choice is particularly appealing in a Triple-A game. You either pay more on top of that to get the game to a more enjoyable state (i.e. a competent MyPLAYER), or engage in grinding that isn't enjoyable in order to get there the long way. It's not that people want to be maxed out in a week or not have a suitably lengthy or challenging journey. It's that they want a fun one, and the current approach doesn't prioritise fun and enjoyment. It prioritises recurrent revenue.

There are people calling them out, but they're getting shouted down by apologists, and outvoted by people who have fully bought into recurrent revenue mechanics and the idea that they're normal, fine, and necessary. Others have simply been worn down. They don't like microtransactions but have resigned themselves to indulge in them because again, that's just how it is now. It makes change highly unlikely.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby jmmontoro on Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:59 pm

I'm more frustrated by the matchmaking than by the microtransactions.

I don't really care who your player is wearing, if you want to pay to be a 90 or (who knows how you have the time) you grind to that level then let those guys play together, tier it up, or whatever, just why do I have to wait in a spot to play next when there are 20 others waiting with me? You enter the park, you queue, it's about to be your turn, someone steps out, you wait some more, some one steps in but another steps out, you notice in the distance a full squad is about to tell you to wait some more (holding my fingers not to get into slurs) and another match starts with you watching from the sidelines. WTF?!?! I payed, let me play, is it really that hard to understand that maybe I have 30 minutes in my day to play and your making me waste them waiting on queue?

It's a vicious circle, it's an exclusive club you either pay your way in or stay out, and on the door of that club is that clown Ronnie (just ugh, won't go there). Then again, I don't have to play MyCareer, or I could just go straight into ProAm and have the chances of touching the ball reduced to 2 or 3 more ball hogs. But in the end, whatever clever rant we can come up with, won't matter, because all of their metrics tell them that everything they do is fantastic. I still can't believe how anyone in game design thought that a real park sim is a good idea in practice.

I really don't think that we are aged out, I play a lot of games and have never seen this level of exclusion in any other game, not even in FTP games.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Andrew on Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:13 pm

I'd say 2K has a very specific issue in its approach to the demographic and appealing to younger gamers who prefer Park play. However, it's not the only issue. The lack of matchmaking and the elitism that the online scene fosters is a huge problem as well. That affects everyone, and it makes the scene unwelcoming and toxic compared to other games.

Like you said though, the game is successful by the metrics, and anyone pushing back against elitism, toxicity, and recurrent revenue mechanics is shouted down or effectively outvoted. More people are taking issue with it and beginning to speak out, but the damage has been done and I suspect we're beyond the point of no return. There's no competition or viable alternative on the market, which makes change even more unlikely. That's not to say we shouldn't speak out, but it is an uphill battle to put it mildly.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Rugshtyne on Wed Sep 22, 2021 8:53 pm

Andrew wrote:I'd say 2K has a very specific issue in its approach to the demographic and appealing to younger gamers who prefer Park play. However, it's not the only issue. The lack of matchmaking and the elitism that the online scene fosters is a huge problem as well. That affects everyone, and it makes the scene unwelcoming and toxic compared to other games.

Like you said though, the game is successful by the metrics, and anyone pushing back against elitism, toxicity, and recurrent revenue mechanics is shouted down or effectively outvoted. More people are taking issue with it and beginning to speak out, but the damage has been done and I suspect we're beyond the point of no return. There's no competition or viable alternative on the market, which makes change even more unlikely. That's not to say we shouldn't speak out, but it is an uphill battle to put it mildly.

I guess the saddest thing is that throughout the season there is a bunch of prominent YouTubers/streamers who stand up and rise the same issues we're discussing here right now but somehow, for some reason (I guess mostly for monetary one, clicks, views, etc.) when the new game drops, everyone gets in the bandwagon and starts adoring the game in its whole. Even though only some small things like defense, shooting is adjusted, but the major issues surrounding slow progressing, lack of matchmaking, pay-to-win mechanics are still there (and they were complaining about it just few months ago). Kind of a vicious circle, that's true. I'm starting to think that only some competition in the market could save us.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Andrew on Thu Sep 23, 2021 1:15 am

If you want access as a content creator that's made content creation your career, you've got to play nice. I understand the position they're in, but it leads to some disingenuous opinions.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby jmmontoro on Wed Feb 09, 2022 12:04 pm

I remembered this thread by watching the latest 2KTV episode (22), it starts with a question about how you spend your time while you wait on 'got next' followed by a KIA ad. This is a FTP experience wrapped in a AAA title. I can't really say why I keep playing this, but I do.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Andrew on Thu Feb 10, 2022 9:55 pm

Stuff like that suggests that "Got Next" isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby fjccommish on Fri Feb 11, 2022 8:07 pm

The whole game is trash. I do MyLeague playing the games CPU v CPU. Blowouts are ridiculous. The Bulls with MJ on the team just swept Milwaukee. They won game 1 by 63 points, game 4 by 50 points. Ridiculous.

Something is way way off.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby jmmontoro on Sat Feb 12, 2022 5:36 am

Andrew wrote:Stuff like that suggests that "Got Next" isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Or ads and product placement.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Andrew on Sat Feb 12, 2022 10:32 am

Definitely not. We're never going back to the days before microtransactions and intrusive advertising.

I've gone back to my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER save recently, and it's been a blast. It's unfortunate not having MyCOURT to shoot around in and test out animations (though we don't have that in NBA 2K22, either) and there are a few other annoyances or handy features that weren't implemented yet, but the focus on the NBA, the cost of upgrades, and the overall experience, is just plain better. That first story was actually solid, and added some flavour to the first season. From what I've heard of NBA 2K22's story, it's as intrusive as the advertising, and may have topped NBA 2K18 for bad writing.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby [Hyperize] on Sat Feb 26, 2022 6:55 pm

jmmontoro wrote:I'm more frustrated by the matchmaking than by the microtransactions.

I don't really care who your player is wearing, if you want to pay to be a 90 or (who knows how you have the time) you grind to that level then let those guys play together, tier it up, or whatever, just why do I have to wait in a spot to play next when there are 20 others waiting with me? You enter the park, you queue, it's about to be your turn, someone steps out, you wait some more, some one steps in but another steps out, you notice in the distance a full squad is about to tell you to wait some more (holding my fingers not to get into slurs) and another match starts with you watching from the sidelines. WTF?!?! I payed, let me play, is it really that hard to understand that maybe I have 30 minutes in my day to play and your making me waste them waiting on queue?

It's a vicious circle, it's an exclusive club you either pay your way in or stay out, and on the door of that club is that clown Ronnie (just ugh, won't go there). Then again, I don't have to play MyCareer, or I could just go straight into ProAm and have the chances of touching the ball reduced to 2 or 3 more ball hogs. But in the end, whatever clever rant we can come up with, won't matter, because all of their metrics tell them that everything they do is fantastic. I still can't believe how anyone in game design thought that a real park sim is a good idea in practice.

I really don't think that we are aged out, I play a lot of games and have never seen this level of exclusion in any other game, not even in FTP games.

There's a matchmaking 3v3 gym in the city that's an absolute godsend. I mainly just play MyTEAM and Play Now Online now, but that was my shit a few months ago. If you quick-travel to your apartment or whatever it isn't far down the road.
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Re: MyCareer is trash, change my mind

Postby Andrew on Sun Feb 27, 2022 12:27 am

I could be wrong, but I believe jmmontoro is on PC. Unfortunately they didn't add The Old Gym (or an equivalent) to The Neighborhood on Current Gen.
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