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NBA Live 13 Wishlist

The Wishlist is divided into three categories: the Essentials which comprise the things we feel NBA Live 13 should have/things we most want to see in the game (including things already in the game); Things we’d like to see, which includes other popular wishes that aren’t quite as important; and finally, Things to fix and avoid, which is mostly comprised of nagging bugs and the like.

ESSENTIALS

  • Release a PC version, ported from the Xbox 360/Playstation 3, just like FIFA. Allow unofficial modification/patching by the NBA Live community. It would also be great to have some official tools and patching capabilities for the console versions.
  • Make use of the right stick for dribbling moves, hands-up defense, steals (move stick right to steal with right hand, left for left hand) etc as in Freestyle Control in older games, but also make use of the face buttons; kind of a mix between the older controls and what NBA Elite 11 was going for. Passing and shooting controls should be face buttons.
  • Retain the concept of players having control over the shots (according to player ratings and abilities), rather than the outcome depending on a “dice roll” as in previous games.
  • Include the turbo button. Removing it just didn’t work out on fast breaks in the NBA Elite 11 demo. Just avoid exaggerated catching up on fast breaks from both the user and CPU and it should be fine.
  • Add a fake pass button, as in NBA 2K11.
  • Balance out the foul calls. In NBA Live 10, the CPU gets too many calls on contact that isn’t called at the other end leading to unfair and unrealistic free throw discrepencies.
  • Balance out user and CPU abilities; neither should be able to do things the other can’t. Tone down the CPU’s ability to make difficult shots and bail itself out when the user puts up a good fight defensively, or better yet make sure there’s a slider to control this.
  • Although rebounding in NBA Live 10 was pretty good for the most part, sometimes the CPU had a tendency to grab offensive rebound after offensive rebound because the user’s CPU controlled teammates refuse to battle on the boards. The CPU also still scores a little too easily after an offensive rebound.
  • Keep shot selection, percentages and player tendencies/abilities realistic. NBA Live 10 did a great job of this out of the box, post-patch the results weren’t always as pleasing due to the CPU seemingly running fewer plays. In short, players should play and perform like their real life counterparts and teams should utilise real strategies.
  • Give players signature shots, moves and dribbling styles so that they not only play and perform like their real life counterparts, but look and move like them as well.
  • Fix the CPU AI so that it’s intelligent and more realistic in crunch time situations ; when they foul, when they attempt shots, whether they try for a three or a two, etc.
  • Bring back in-game injuries. Preferably do not have them depend on shooting fouls.
  • Fix the alley-oop logic; alley-oops should never be thrown to players standing at the three point line. If no one is in a position to be thrown an alley-oop, pressing the button should simply result in no action.
  • Remove or balance out the tendency for the ball to get stripped on drives or when posting up. In NBA Live 10, the user was stripped far too easily compared to the CPU. Good idea, but implemented in a frustrating. Having a specific slider for this – both user and CPU – could also help greatly here so that we could adjust the balance ourselves.
  • Remove blind interceptions. The CPU in particular still makes interceptions too easily, being too quick to the ball and making “eyes in the back of their head” steals. This should be greatly toned down and player awareness abilities should play a greater role in being able to play the passing lanes.
  • Similarly, the CPU’s passes always seem to be crisp whereas the user finds themselves throwing sloppy passes that dribble out of bounds or go right into the hands of the defense far too often. This needs to be balanced out, another slider aside from the interceptions and steals sliders could also be useful here.
  • Include more gameplay sliders so that the AI can be tweaked according to the user’s preference. Including some default game styles as NBA 2K11 did (realistic, arcade-like, somewhere in between for the default settings) would also be a good idea to cater to sim and arcade players.
  • There seemed to be a bit of an issue with the CPU being faster than the user in NBA Live 10, allowing them to catch up or get back in time on in fast break situations whereas the CPU is able to out-run (or effortlessly side-step) the user. Again, there should be more of a balance here.
  • Fix the fast break AI so that your teammates run towards the basket on the break, instead of always fading to the wings or stopping dead at the three point line.
  • In NBA Live 10, it was too difficult for the user to make long outlet passes with too many of them sailing out of bounds when thrown by good passes. Players with high ballhandling abilities should be able to make long baseball passes more often.
  • Clean up some lingering issues with players stepping out of bounds or back across half court without anything being called. The boundary force field slider would be a welcome re-addition here.
  • Expand the coaching options beyond the three choices of up tempo, balanced, and half court is essential. Use a percentage adding up to 100 for things like on-ball screens, off-ball screens, post up, isolation, and penetration for non-set plays or freelance offense. Look at it like an evolution of quick plays, only with options in case the quick play is defended well. This could open up spots in the play calling dialog for more set plays, and improve the offensive flow after a set play breaks down.
  • The same can be done for defense and rebounding. Let us choose how many players should get back on defense after a shot is put up, and how many will follow the shot looking or an offensive rebound. Not only that, let us choose which players get back and which players crash the boards. Defensive coaching sliders for double teaming (who and where), post pressure, perimeter pressure, off ball pressure, force baseline, force middle, weak side help, strong side help, denying the post passing lanes, denying the perimeter passing lanes.
  • NBA Live 10 made some excellent improvements to the substitution logic which should definitely be retained for future games. However, the re-addition of the substitution frequency slider would be helpful for the All-Star/Rookie-Sophomore game and tweaking the gameplay in general (eg when playing shorter quarters) and the starters still sometimes end up playing too many minutes. A rotation menu similar to the one in NBA 2K11 (not the one currently in the game in Dynasty Mode) would be handy in this regard.
  • Allow users to customise controller configurations.
  • Bring back the pause menu in between quarters so that we can make substitutions and other adjustments before the next quarter begins.
  • Display the number of timeouts remaining the pause menu so we can easily bring up that information at any time.
  • Allow the user to choose whether they want to call a 20 second or full timeout in the pause menu and after pressing the timeout button during gameplay.
  • Give users more control over Hustle Plays; let us manually dive for the ball and make a better attempt to get the ball to a teammate when scrambling for a loose ball/saving the ball from going out of bounds.
  • Add more off-the-ball fouls including loose ball and over the back fouls as well as tie-ups/jump balls.
  • Add the ability to perform putback dunks on command.
  • Add the ability to throw alley-oops off the inbounds pass.
  • Retain elements of player control such as Pick and Roll Control, Lay-Up Control, fadeaways, floaters/runners, Direct Pass Receiver Control and the ability to shoot bank shots.
  • Add some more tip-in animations that depend on where the player is standing and whether they’re moving towards the basket at the time. Allow these moves to be performed on cue, similar to putback dunks.
  • Bring back individual player Go To Moves, implemented as they were in NBA Live 08 (direction plus shoot in the appropriate areas of the court).
  • Bring back Size-Up moves, including signature Size-Ups.
  • Bring back some of the Own the Paint moves and give users more control in the paint. Add some more up-and-under moves, running hooks and other moves as well as a variety of spins, jab steps, fakes etc.
  • Include the pro hop/jump stop and Eurostep moves; allow the user to perform them on cue.
  • Keep Freestyle Passing; expand passing controls to allow the user to force lob and bounce passes, etc.
  • Allow the user to select the inbounder in dead ball situations instead of it always being the small forward.
  • Allow the user to break out of dunking and layup animations to make a pass.
  • Add the ability to draw a foul on a pump fake (NBA Live 2005 includes a good example of this mechanic).
  • Add the ability to adjust a shot in midair (similar to the Freestyle Air concept/controls).
  • Try to avoid canned two player animations as much as possible. Implement real physics with player weight and strength taken into account and realistic collisions.
  • Add a wider variety of dunk packages and allow the user to select/customise them.
  • Overhaul and greatly improve Dynasty Mode. Some specifics about what we want to see:
    • Fix the simulated stats in Dynasty Mode so that players are averaging true-to-life statistics. Make sure that bench players are averaging realistic numbers too, ie. the league’s top sixth men aren’t averaging 5 ppg in 20 mpg off the bench. Better management of rotations for both the user and CPU controlled teams is a must.
    • Scores in simulated games should also be realistic, with very low or very high scoring games and near-record blowouts being a rarity.
    • Allow users to use the traditional Reorder Roster screen to change their lineup. The Player Rotation/Injured List screens are too cumbersome and just don’t work out as well as the traditional menu. This has been an issue since NBA Live 07, if Dynasty Mode is getting overhauled this is a change that needs to be made. Basically, the ability to set player minutes/rotations needs to be independent of changing the roster order and starting lineup.
    • Allow users to select more than one team in Dynasty Mode, as well as change teams in between seasons if desired.
    • Allow users to select a shorter season length in Dynasty Mode (eg 29 games, 58 games or the full 82).
    • Utilise the qualifying thresholds in season league leaders, so that there aren’t players leading the league in field goal percentage at 75% having made 15/20 field goals.
    • Allow users to hire and fire staff including the head coach, assistant coaches, trainers and scouts. Allow the user to make use of a similar negotiation mini-game to the one used to lure free agents.
    • On a related note, have coaches retire and retired players go into the coaching free agent pool so that they may be hired as coaches/assistants after they hang it up.
    • Speaking of which, please retain the mini-game used to lure and negotiate with free agents.
    • Allow users to train players in an NBA Academy-like setting. Make sure there are drills to improve all of their abilities (in NBA Live 10, it was impossible to develop outside shooting ratings)
    • Allow users to enter the five-on-five scrimmage and practice with their team at any time, not just during the monthly ratings development sessions. This way, users can practice with their team and get a feel for new players after a trade, without having to get used to things on the fly with games that count.
    • Tone down the amount of superstar trades that take place in Dynasty Mode, especially wildly unrealistic and unfair deals between CPU teams. Perhaps there could even be a slider/toggle setting for this.
    • Give in-game injuries the possibility of carrying over to other games and keeping players out for an extended period of time, similar to previous versions of NBA Live.
    • Improve the All-Star selection logic as well as the logic used to select end of season award winners. Better yet, represent the fan, coach and media voting that decides those honours in real life.
    • Add more manager/front office duties but allow the user to simulate these duties if desired. Alternatively, offer a non-gameplay/complete sim mode like a coaching/owner/GM mode.
    • Bring back the rumour mill and the ability to investigate NBA rumours.
    • Display all-time records and statistics as well as player career stats, so that players can break records and move up the list of career leaders.
    • Expand the trading block feature so that both the user and CPU could make players “available”, thereby inviting specific offers for those players.
    • Allow users to toggle between interest, salary and years remaining on the Trade Players screen, so that we can seek out expiring contracts without too much back and forth between menus.
    • Allow multi-team trades (at least three teams).
    • Accurately represent free agency with Bird Rights, Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agency, 10 day contracts in season (when they come into effect in January), the mid-level exception and veteran/rookie minimum contracts. Yes, we really do want Dynasty Mode to be that deep!
    • Allow trading of draft picks, during the season and the Draft itself. Allow trades during the Draft.
    • Include the full All-Star Weekend.
    • Dynasty Cutscenes, similar to NBA Live 2004. Examples here.
    • Have better looking generated rookies (less crazy/inappropriate hair colours and mismatched facial hair) with realistic heights/weights (not too many undersized guards and centres) and abilities appropriate to their position (most point guards should at least be average to good ballhandlers, for example). Improve name generation as well, notably the matching of first names to surnames. Also have younger rookies, with most prospects aged between 18 and 23 with an average age of 21/22.
    • Have the CPU give more feedback when they reject a trade (eg this leaves us too weak at centre, we are not interested in trading Player X, this deal is unfair etc), so that the user is aware of why the trade was rejected and can offer a different trade proposal.
    • Bring back the Confirm/Cancel dialogue box from NBA Live 2000 to represent trades being agreed to in principle/backed out of…mainly so the user can see what kind of offers will be accepted before making a decision and shop a player around.
    • Avoid the PDA style of waiting two days to find out if a trade is accepted; this should be done in “real time”, as it was in NBA Live 10 and other games that have used the “push Dynasty” approach.
    • Keep sim intervention as an option, but also allow users to simulate to the end of the game once they’ve started a game or intervened in one they were simming, if they’ve built a big lead and would like to take their chances (if possible, allow users to jump in and out of gameplay and simulation).
    • Include “analysis” screens including mock drafts, MVP candidates/project award winners, etc.
    • View boxscores from every game during the regular season, All-Star game and Playoffs.
    • Add the D-League; allow users to assign players to the D-League for development.
    • Add a detailed championship celebration/trophy presentation, with visits to the White House during the offseason (as in NBA 2K11). Let us replay it in case we accidentally skip it and allow us to save/upload screenshots of our players during the championship for our Dynasty threads.
    • Allow jersey numbers to be retired. Do not allow retired jersey numbers to be assigned; numbers that have been retired in real life should also be unavailable, unless the user overrides a setting.
    • Allow the user to customise and create Draft Classes, as in NBA 2K.
    • Allow saving during the offseason.
    • Add a Summer League and allow teams to have more than 15 players during the offseason (must trim to maximum of 15 players by the end of training camp). Conversely, allow teams to have fewer than eight players during the offseason (but enforce the rule that the roster must be adequately filled by the start of the season).
  • Full ESPN Integration with commentary and accurate TV-style presentation. Include player intros (don’t use the effects seen in NBA Live 07 and NBA Live 08, make it realistic). Add a brief halftime show that highlights key performers and shows an assortment of highlights. Add a sideline reporter.
  • PAL users have been stuck with metric measurements for players in recent years, which has really detracted from the presentation. Add the option to toggle between metric measurements or the imperial system, with the imperial system being the default. After all, player heights are not given in centimetres on real NBA broadcasts. And even though those of us in PAL regions are used to the metric system in our daily lives, it’s easier creating players when we’re working in feet and inches. ;)
  • Allow users to enter training modes from the main menu to practice certain drills and scrimmage five-on-five.
  • Add the ability to practice free throws.
  • Add the ability to save games in progress.
  • Bring back Scenario Mode.
  • Bring back the All-Star Weekend complete with Three Point Shootout and the Dunk Contest. Even if there are no major improvements to the mode, its presence spices things up and adds a bit of variety as another exhibition mode (as well as fleshing out Dynasty Mode). The way it was implemented up to NBA Live 09 is much better than not having it at all!
  • Continue to allow users to save replays and screenshots and upload them to EA Sports World.
  • Add the ability to save boxscores and upload them to EA Sports World as well (or dump them to a text file in a PC version :)).
  • Display player career stats in table format along with career highs etc, similar to the backs of basketball cards and in reference material such as the player profiles on NBA.com. Basically, what NBA 2K does with their Player Cards.
  • Keep the animated play diagrams in the coaching menus, as well as the on-court markers during gameplay when running a play.
  • Add a custom team feature similar to the one in NBA Live 2000. Ideally include custom art that consists of generic basketball-themed logos and the like, so that they can be used with a variety of custom team names.
  • Add other creation modes such as Create-a-Jersey, Create-a-Court, Create-a-Coach, Create-a-Play etc.
  • Allow editing of dunk package and all other playing style data.
  • Flesh out Become Legendary, similar to what NBA 2K has done with My Player: pre-Draft workouts/games, the Draft itself, endorsements, post-game press conferences, the ability to request a trade, experience points, etc. Don’t have players started out rated too low though!
  • Implement online leagues and online Dynasty play (the EA Sports Basketball Association), similar to what has been done in NHL, Madden and NCAA Football.
  • Punish online players who quit/disconnect while they’re losing. Assign them a loss and give the person in the lead the win. If the person who’s ahead quits or disconnects, call it a no-contest (no punishment, but don’t reward them with a win without actually finishing the game).
  • Retro and special jerseys made a welcome return in NBA Live 10. Please keep them. :)
  • Keep the arena specific audio and atmosphere settings introduced in NBA Live 10 along with the pre-game rituals, instant replays, “spotlight” features etc.
  • Keep the standalone Playoffs Mode in the game. Bring back a more bare-bones single Season Mode as well (without all the extras of Dynasty Mode that relate to multi-season play).
  • Allow sharing of more files in EA Locker, including Dynasty saves, Scenarios (if Scenario Mode is included), Playoffs, settings, rosters, videos, boxscores and screenshots.
  • Allow upload/sharing of files to a public server where users can easily download files without having to send a friend request first.
  • Bring back the ability to run a give-and-go play by holding the pass button to hand off to a teammate, then release it to call for the return pass after making the cut.
  • Add moving hair for players with long hairstyles.
  • Allow users to modify aspects of the sim engine if they don’t like the default ranges for stats.
  • Keep Dynamic Season Mode.
  • Add more player accessories including a variety of sleeves, singlets under jerseys, mouthguards, etc.
  • Include audio files for common first and last names, so they can be assigned to created players and generated rookies.

THINGS WE’D ALSO LIKE TO SEE

  • Allow users to hang on the rim after a dunk by holding the shoot button. Assess a technical foul if players hold for too long.
  • Add the ability to start Dynasty Mode with an expansion team.
  • Allow customisation of the soundtrack with the ability to import music files.
  • If the likeness rights can be secured, bring back Legends and the All-Decade teams from previous NBA Live games, as well as other historical content.
  • Update the FIBA rosters, add more teams.
  • Allow users to modify the All-Star and FIBA teams (ie add/remove players, add created players etc).
  • Show a preview of the animations for dunk packages, signature shot styles etc in the Edit Player screen.
  • Bring back the T-Meter to shoot free throws.
  • Allow users to select who they want to shoot around with on the practice court.
  • Increase the length of auto saved replays for end of quarter scenarios.
  • Add more than one court for use in Adidas Live Run.
  • Bring back Online Team Play Clubs.
  • Add the ability to watch/spectate friend’s games.
  • Remove the invisible barrier around the court so the ball can sail into the crowd, particularly on big blocks!
  • Have fewer restrictions on the replay camera, allow the user to go up into the nosebleeds if desired.
  • In the absence of NBA Street, include a more arcade-orientated Street Mode in NBA Live.
  • Add more shoes including all the Air Jordans.
  • Bring back the old team rankings/ratings on team selection screens (eg ranks in scoring, rebounding, defense, overall)
  • Increase the limit on Created Players so that we can create more than 50.
  • Add some mini-games, simple modes to kill a few minutes in between Dynasty Mode, Become Legendary, online gaming, etc.
  • Game created highlights package after every game that can be uploaded for use in Dynasty stories.
  • Newspapers, magazine articles etc in Dynasty Mode and Become Legendary.
  • Award Player of the Game honours after the game has finished, rather than in the final couple of minutes.
  • Have the crowd start to leave in the fourth quarter of a blowout game.
  • Add championship banners to the rafters when you win titles in Dynasty Mode.

THINGS TO FIX & AVOID

  • Random crashes/lock-ups during gameplay (happened a lot after the official updates in NBA Live 10).
  • Glitched replays where the players just stand still (seemed to lead to the aforementioned crashes)
  • Quick substitution options in subs screen don’t work properly (eg selecting Starting 5 does not make any changes)
  • Players were sometimes invisible in the NBA Academy in NBA Live 10.
  • Foul out rule does not seem to be followed; players remain on the court/are able to return after picking up their sixth foul.
  • During online games, allow shot control to be recognized on each user’s side for jumpshots and freethrows so there is no need for a users compensation due to lag.
  • Correct the player lighting at the Create-a-Player/Edit Player screen to match what is shown during a 5 on 5 game.
  • Improve the performance when editing the attributes of a created players head and face. For the past couple years that screen has been very laggy. Possible by caching the files to the hard drive?
  • Improve the performance during team select and other screens by caching dynamic screen graphics such as logos and photos to the hard drive.
  • Sometimes players have $0 salaries in Dynasty Mode.