The miscellaneous "Hopes for Live 2004" thread

[Andrew]

If the words "deep Dynasty Mode" are anything to go by, then chances are we'll see great strides made in the General Manager aspect of the game. My only fear is that too much detail might be put into the game - I still think that in a mode that features gameplay (as Dynasty Mode does), some details (raising and lowering ticket prices, for example) are not necessary - and would take too much focus away from the basketball element of the game.

I feel you shouldn't have to worry about the team going bankrupt, or trying to get a loan from the city (as the Sacramento Kings did back in 1997). Such details would be cool in a way, but highly unnecessary (and irritating) if they became more important than assembling a roster, dealing with free agents, and planning strategies to match up against tough opponents.

NBA Live is first and foremost a basketball sim, not a text-based manager game - being able to take care of all the frontend tasks is great, and I'm looking forward to the new, deeper Dynasty Mode. But sometimes, too much detail isn't good.

[Metsis]

I don't know sh*t about how the NFL works their trades, but NBA has that nasty salary cap system that really makes draft picks a lot harder to trade. Draft picks are usually traded along with players and almost never alone for a player.

And I have hopes that the dynasty will have some of the features kobebeef talked about. They are all good additions.

Still Andrew has a point, I think there never should be a situation where you would have to sell your super-star to keep the team afloat. A situation when you have 4 super-stars and you don't have the cash to sign them all would be most welcomed. I'd like to see some sort of "max cap" for teams, the absolute maximum money available to player wages.

Also one of the best off-season resources is the mid-level exception, that allows a team that is over the cap to sign players up to 4,5 million real cash anyway. This is an important building block for any team in the league and it should not be overlooked.

And the free agent signing process is hopefully overhauled and no more Jason Kidds and Tim Duncans signed for minimum salaries. This has always been a problem in the Live series. In Live 2003 the salary system was seriously flawed so that you could have a poor team and still be over the cap about 600k and that shouldn't be so. But all that is because of an old salary.ini file...

[kobebeef]

...also i've gone through numerous seasons without any injuries. I believe that one of the challenges in the game is to go through the season despite injuries to one's key players. Again, Madden offers more of these injuries (including career-ending ones by the way) although the computer controlled teams normally have more injuries than the user.

In Live 2003, almost every team is over the salary cap so its hard to do trades but when the free agent signing period comes, computer controlled teams get a bulk of the MAJOR free agents. I only manage to get those left out when the season starts and pay them the minimum.

I DEFINITELY AGREE that Dynasty Mode should be similar to the Madden series and that's it. We don't need to go too far as to buy planes, move franchises, etc. It takes away the spirit of basketball simulation.

and since I'm in the Madden Mode, more uniforms! Madden 2002 offers all team uniforms in its history.

[Metsis]

I don't know why the injuries have never really been introduced. A player has a sprained knee and is out for 4 days. Or a sprained wrist with 6 days out of play. C'mon... If you have an injury that keeps you out for a few days, well that is no injury at all and most NBA players would play through them.

And if you go out with a sprained knee, well the injury should be atleast 2-4 weeks long. As any notable injury should be atleast a week long and there should be some randomness in the recovery. The players return on time and that is just dumb. This has been so well done in NHL series for years now. I just don't get it why the injury system is so poorly done.

Career ending injuries have a nasty ring to them. This is only a game and loosing a star-player to such an injury would hurt an NBA team far more seriously then in NHL etc. Again the difficulty of trading comes into play here... I don't think career ending injuries should be implemented, because of the simple reason of randomness... This has just been discussed in the "technical fouls section" and something random happens too often or too rarely.

[Colin]

If the words "deep Dynasty Mode" are anything to go by, then chances are we'll see great strides made in the General Manager aspect of the game. My only fear is that too much detail might be put into the game - I still think that in a mode that features gameplay (as Dynasty Mode does), some details (raising and lowering ticket prices, for example) are not necessary - and would take too much focus away from the basketball element of the game.

I wouldn't like that as I want to be the General Manager, not the owner. Dealing with ticket prices and concession worker wages would just be annoying and time consuming. However if this is implemented in the game, then I hope it would be a dynasty option. Like what fantasy draft is now. There could be new franchise options, and you could adjust injuries there, along with all those other things mentioned. With injuries I somewhat agree with Metsis, as you could loose a very important player. They would, to bring up an old point, most likely have the randomness problem. Although if they happened as often as actual injuries happen in this game it would be alright. There is usually only 1, or maybe even no, career-ending injuries a year in basketball. Hardly ever do they happen to a star player, the only current stars I can think of are Barkley, and to a lesser extent Grant Hill as he might be out now.

And a question for kobebeef, how often do these injuries occur in madden compared to how often they happen in the actual NFL?

[Goodz]

has anyone ever played NBA Basketball 2000 for ps1?? during the allstar break, there was the basic allstar game and surprisingly the shick rookie challenge in which the best rookies of the east and west had an allstar game also. i would love to see that in a basketball game again.

[kobebeef]

And a question for kobebeef, how often do these injuries occur in madden compared to how often they happen in the actual NFL?

They happen more frequently in the real-life NFL than in Madden. The Career-Ending I do not like, I just brought it up because Madden has it. And the career ending in Madden happens VERY rarely (1 out of 8 season - which is also way less than in real life NFL).

[Andrew]

I wouldn't like that as I want to be the General Manager, not the owner. Dealing with ticket prices and concession worker wages would just be annoying and time consuming. However if this is implemented in the game, then I hope it would be a dynasty option. Like what fantasy draft is now.

Agreed. If there's more detail than desirable, some of that detail should be optional. A GM may only oversee basketball operations, hence he wouldn't directly manage ticket prices and so forth. I think that most people find more enjoyment out of managing the basketball aspect of the franchise (I know some people want all the responsibilities, and that's cool), so there should be the option of scaling back your duties in Dynasty Mode.

And if you go out with a sprained knee, well the injury should be atleast 2-4 weeks long. As any notable injury should be atleast a week long and there should be some randomness in the recovery. The players return on time and that is just dumb. This has been so well done in NHL series for years now. I just don't get it why the injury system is so poorly done.

On top of that, you might have the option of bringing the player back too early, thus not playing to the best of their abilities, and also running the risk of further injury. Perhaps the Hardiness rating could determine how long the player takes to recover from injury.

Career ending injuries have a nasty ring to them. This is only a game and loosing a star-player to such an injury would hurt an NBA team far more seriously then in NHL etc. Again the difficulty of trading comes into play here... I don't think career ending injuries should be implemented, because of the simple reason of randomness...

That's basically how I feel too. Sure, we've seen a young player been afflicted with a series of injuries that may prove to end his career (Grant Hill), but it's not all that common. If career ending injuries were implemented in Live, they should be the result of repeated injuries to a player with a low Hardiness rating.

A player who breaks his leg in his rookie year shouldn't call it quits as a result (where would the Nets be right now if that were the case). An old veteran who is plagued by injuries should be leaning towards retirement more often than not.

and since I'm in the Madden Mode, more uniforms! Madden 2002 offers all team uniforms in its history.

Definitely. At the very least, I'd like both home and away classic jerseys, even if it's just the one set.

[Power And Proud]

I've noticed a flaw that some people may have seen. It's nothing major (well it can be) but I found it pretty funny. I don't remember who I was playing, but after I scored, and the other team was bringing the ball upcourt, I fouled them in my frontcourt, and I was in the penalty, but I got 2 FT's. It was clear the foul was on my player coz the announcer said 'foul on #42, Jerry Stackhouse, that's his 2nd personal foul, 3rd team foul. It came up on the screen that the foul was on Stack, but Stack was shooting FT's.

[Andrew]

I've experienced that, picking up a defensive foul and getting to shoot free throws, but not in NBA Live 2003 (yet).

[Metsis]

That free throw thing was a real problem in Live 99/2000... In either one of those it happened in almost every 5 games or something.

Haven't seen it in 2003 though... But it is very funny when it happens or in a tight game very frustrating.

But this is one of the problems that are hopefully fixed into 2004 as all the other little bugs in the previous Lives.

[Andrew]

A couple of small points regarding statistics - it would be cool if the League Leaders also included double doubles and triple doubles. Nothing huge, doesn't matter if it's not included, but something that I feel would be good nevertheless.

Also, and this is a fairly pedantic point, there's usually small errors in simulated stats. For example, in my current Franchise in NBA Live 2003, the Lakers (CPU controlled) have played 23 games. Shaq has appeared in 22 of those 23 games. However, no one else apart from the regular starting five have started. Therefore, it doesn't match up - when Shaq missed a game, no one replaced him in the starting lineup, according to the Player Stats. I know, I know, who cares, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

[Metsis]

Those are things that would need to be fixed, so that it doesn't happen again. Those are the most irritating errors in the game, small, irrelevant and just stupid.

And don't even get me started with the simulated stats... There is just no realism in those.

And currently in my franchise I have this one guy that comes off the bench and dunks through everyone and averages about 18 ppg. A really dominant inside dunker and the AI simulates him (when starting) at 10 ppg and mostly as a defensive center.

[redz]

just a thought... how bout changing the minutes(or time) style and make it work like in Nhl 2003 where you play a fast 15 minute quarter in just five minutes? so that wen you look at your stats it wont be just 19 or 21 mpg. while the cpu controlled teams gets the right mpg.


you guyz knw wat i mean?

[Andrew]

It's an idea that's been brought up before. It would be one way of curbing high scores (though Live 2004 is supposed to be more sim-orientated anyway), but it's not really suited to the game of basketball.

Basketball has too many clock-related infractions (24 second shot clock, 8 seconds in the half, 5 second inbound) for the game clock to run at a faster speed. It wouldn't really work, having the infractions called in real time but the game clock elapsing more quickly.

[Goodz]

involving stats....I would love to see nba live keep track of career highs- scoring, blocks, steals etc. I also would like to see certain things enforced, such as retired numbers and such.

[Ceasar121]

NO ROOOKIES WEARING NUMBER 75 OR 89 OR ANY OF THAT CRAP! NO THREE PLAYERS ON THE SAME TEAM WITH NUMBER 23!!! PLEASE!!! IS THIS SO HARD?!!?

[Andrew]

involving stats....I would love to see nba live keep track of career highs- scoring, blocks, steals etc. I also would like to see certain things enforced, such as retired numbers and such.

Yeah, I'd like to see those too. An all-time leader board would be nice, too.

NO ROOOKIES WEARING NUMBER 75 OR 89 OR ANY OF THAT CRAP! NO THREE PLAYERS ON THE SAME TEAM WITH NUMBER 23!!! PLEASE!!! IS THIS SO HARD?!!?

Better number management would be a welcome addition.

[Andrew]

Just remembered another small detail - the Western Conference champions still always have home court advantage in the NBA Finals, even if the Eastern Conference champions are entitled to it.

[Colin]

Just remembered another small detail - the Western Conference champions still always have home court advantage in the NBA Finals, even if the Eastern Conference champions are entitled to it.

[taking risk of looking stupid]That's not actually true is it?[/taking risk of looking stupid]

[Andrew]

It's true. The Western champs always get home court advantage, no matter the regular season records of the two NBA Finalists. I've never been able to get home court advantage with an Eastern team, even when I loaded up the Bulls with Legends and simulated an undefeated regular season.

[Metsis]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We should be able to see the player stats pretty much the same we see them on NBA.com. You see the current stats, this years best performances and the best performances of their careers. You can see the all the other normal stats and with PC's great resolution, well you could even fit the players ratings on the same page.

I think NHL 2003 has a very usable and a very good user interface and I'd like to see something like that in the Live series too.

Live UI's have always been kind of complex and hard to use and sort of strange. But it will propably be changed (for the best I hope) since the introduction of the "new" dynasty mode...

[diafenes]

2004 definitely needs to update stat system and displays
1. i can't even find where the player ejections are.
2. i'd like to view a player's career on one screen. so i can see his whole history and career averages. i hate going through each year seperately, without knowing what team the player was on for that year.
3. there's no rookie reward system throughout the year, EA should either implement a system similar to the MVP candidates in 2003 or rookie of the week/month system of 2000.
4. generated player scoring and other stats especially those of bench players have got to improve, they've somehow have gone backwards. the ones in 2000 are more realistic than this years!

gee i sound like i want 2000 revamped for 2004....in some ways i do [/list][/quote]

[Metsis]

In your defense diafenses the Live series most stable and best game is still Live 2000, and the series has regressed since then, but hopefully we will see a turn for the better with this years edition.

Still I can't see the point in changing the developer team... It's not all bad, but still the games since have had a problem or two that have basically ruined the game somehow. NBA Live 2001 had the problem with simulated stats not following a players progress and 2003 had it's own chunk of stuff, which maybe the worst is the console designed UI.

But I'm hopeful and I still think the most important part is to get the game right without any glaring flaws that stick out like a sore thumb.

[Jackal]

I want to be able to walk up court again...I dont think you can do that in NBA Live 2003...In 2001 you could...I want that feature back. If it is in NBA Live 2003...sorry .....and could you tell me HOW to do it??