Mike Wang tweets

As we all know, Mike Wang tends to drop bunch of info each year and sometimes answer follow up questions.
I've done some summaries before, so I thought I'd do one again. Keep in mind this is mostly going to be for current gen (Xbox Series and PS5).

Tweets up to 2023-08-16 10:30 CEST

• At least that one annoying quick drop dunk is gone
• Limitless takeoff badge gone
• Open layups and dunks have "MUCH bigger" green windows, but shrinks fast as the traffic gets heavier. HoF and competitive online is green or miss on dunks.
• Finishing skills are also affected by depleted adrenaline bars. [also as in like shooting skills]4
• Variable shot timing toned down. Shot Timing Impact grade of a jumper is now Shot Timing Stability. Higher stabilkity dampens effect of fatigue and defense on shot speed.
• Opponents will not see your shot meter online.
• Turning off the shot meter increases your green windows size by 20 %.
• No adrenaline loss in backcourt retained.
• Signature motion styles should be available in MyCareer.
• Signature motion styles up from 37 to around 150 thanks to ProPlay.
• Fades buffed in midrange, "big" nerf beyond the arc.
• More reliable foul calls when defenders bite on pump fakes.
• Blockers jumping up for no reason will land on ball handlers and get called for fouls.
• Not every green is a swish, mostly due to the green or miss system.
• Advanced shot types (spins, stepbacks, ...) got buffed in midrange.
• Advanced layups (euro, floaters, etc) buffed.
• Heavier contest penalties for being crowded at the start of the shot. Lesser penalty for late closeouts.
• Green shot celebrations are there for 15+ feet shots. Delayed animation start to not give away if it's green or not.
• "Paint defense was reported as the biggest gameplay improvement from external playtest sessions"
• New controller settings - separate toggeles for shots, layips, free throws, including control type (shot button x pro stick).
• New UI settings - you can reposition onscreen elements like shot meter, player indicator, fatigue bar, etc.
• No generic numbered shots for jumpshot creator - "all in" on real NBA player shots generated by ProPlay.
• Defense immunity grade of a jumper: A+ grade will reduce contest score by 30 %. F grade will BOOST contest score by 30 %. (final numbers are subject to change)
• Takeover can temporarily push your stats over 99 and it will make a difference.
• Takover will increase your stats in the chosen category by 10 points. Subject to change based on feedback.
• Green is a guaranteed make.
• Every shot will have a green window, even if it's sub-pixel one. Exception: 100 % smothered shots.
• Heavily contested shots may look like full whites.
• Some animations will be released with seasons, but "vast majority" of animations will be available on day 1.
• You can meter dunk standing dunks, but "hard to pull off at the moment" and "work in progress". [so expect it to be broken af lmao]
• Double crossovers are now equippable.
• Players intentionally staying out of bounds will get grade penalties for griefing.
• Thriple threat and dribble emotes.
• You can choose if during a team takeover you want to stay locked to MP or control the entire team.
• Steal and block attempts will eat up adrenaline bars on D. 1 bar gone = 20 % block/steal rating nerf. 2 bars = 40 %. 3 bars = 75 %.
• ProPlay about doubled pass styles.
• ProPlay added new animations that VC wouldn't think to capture in mocap. Some unique shots, moves and passes.
• Ball handle and speed with ball - 92 for Curry and Trae. 95 is highest needed for unlock - Steve Francis' signature sizeup.
• Alley oops work the same as in 2K23. [in regard to green or miss]
• Tougher to get team takeover, when you get it each player gets a boost in their primary specialty at the time.

Tweets up to 2023-08-24 14:00 CEST

• Internal debates on effect of losing adrenaline bars - previously mentioned 20/40/75 % nerf in defensive stats have been currently changed to 7.5/15/50. Still presumably subject to changes.
• Euro step and hop dunks are still in the game (yes, someone asked that).
• Shooting badges do not impact shooting percentage anymore, now they either modify shooting attributes, shot window size or both.
• Big man standing contact dunks without dunk meter still possible.
• New motion freelance offense . "Lots of smart action away from the ball from your AI teammates. You want to turn offensive playvision to all plays and playvision display to at least lite.
• REC bots will have noticeably better timing for their shots to make them competent in the green or miss system.
• Pass Accuracy impact on types and speed of passes similar to 2K23. Different passing styles will make a big difference.
• All 2K23 shooting meters are back + 10 new ones added. More customizations for placement and size.
• Driving dunk rating is the main thing for dunk meter window size.
• Roughly doubled amount of passing styles.
• Shot timing doesn't change based on your location on the court.
• Slight nerf to acrobatic layups, especially with lower ratings.
• Minimum and maximum player heights:
  
  • PG: 5'7" - 6'8"
  • SG: 6'0" - 6'9"
  • SF: 6'3" - 6'11"
  • PF: 6'6" - 7'0"
  • C: 6'7" - 7'3"
• Dribble move packages (unclear if total or new, sounded more like total): 25 styles, 31 behind the backs, 18 stepbacks, 45 crossovers, 27 hesitations, 2 6escapes, 20 combo packs, 102 breakdown combos (new feature), 67 size-ups and 30 spins. Most of them have multiple animations in the pack.
• Metered dunks and pass interceptions are expected to be biggest skill gap.
• Easy layups are much easier to make in 2K24.
• Height thresholds for signature sizeups are same as in 2K23.
• Rookie difficulty available in MC again.
• 24 new badges
• Adrenaline bars do not get eaten on post backdowns, boxout battles or post moves.
• Midrange shot rating is used for both normal and fade midrange shots, but different badges are applied. (context: question was if post moves are needed to be effective at midrange faders)
• New park-specific dribble moves, like nutmegs added.

Tweets up to 2023-08-28 16:30 CEST + Zach Timmerman

• RB-LB outlet passing is gone in REC/Park modes, you'll need to do it manually this year. Quick Play and MyTeam still has it.
• Pro/HoF season pass reward tracks will not have anything that will provide competitive advantage to players on the court - e.g. no gameplay animations, badges, etc.
• In MyPlayer builder if you pick an NBA player template and do NOT modify it, you'll get that player's signature animations automatically equipped, even before you hit attribute requirements. These animations are locked to that particular save, purchased ones are unlcoked for all saves.
• ProPlay added around 400 signature jump shots and 500 advanced shots (spins, stepbacks, pullups, post shots).
• Whistle badge will increase the rate of shooting fouls being called on you and also your ability to finish the foul shot for an And-1. Very low shooting foul frequency in comp modes, mostly useful in NBA games.
• Gym Rat badge is gone. Attribute boosts from gym are gone. Gym is now used for working on certain badges and perfect workouts will give you turbo boost for the week. Possible to earn permanent turbo boost later on.
• Rebirth sets your badges to silver immediately.
• Teammate grade and win/loss have large impact on badge progression. Bigger impact on teammate grade.
• Badge grind is quick for frequently used badges.
• Truly wide open layups will have the entire meter green.
• Floor setters are available to new builds (they are supposed to be season track rewards IIRC, so once yo uunlock it it should unlock for all builds).
• Badge tiers do not affect badge levels. A C-tier badge can go up to HoF if you fulfill the attribute requirements.
• Bronze badges unlock automatically on meeting the attribute requirements (at least that's how I understood Zach's tweets).
• Attribute menu (where you buy attributes with VC) there is now badge glossary with attribute requirements listed and as you fill up attributes you will see which badges requirements you now fulfill.

Last edited by ThePointForward on Tue Aug 29, 2023 12:50 am, edited 2 times in total.

Great job compiling the info to date!

Some potentially good changes across the board, even smaller things like properly naming jumpshots. "Green or Miss" is going to be harsh for online play with lag and so forth, so we'll see how that works out. It does feel like they keep pushing in that elitist direction, to the point where it might start to affect player retention and the ability to get into the scene. Harsher punishments for griefers was overdue though, and to that end, that's some welcome news.

Though some of those changes are grounded in realism/sim, others definitely strike me as being competitive video game mechanics. We'll see how well it's balanced.

Added new tweets to the first post.

As I'm going on a vacation to Greece in less than 8 hours, I've added more tweets, including some from Zach Timmerman who is responsible for MyPlayer builds stuff.
I'll be back on 6th, so if anyone wants to take over the torch from here feel free. I just look at their twitter accounts and switch to "replies", because most clarifications are hidden there.