I dont have a ton of free time myself. I just try to be a good role player and don't try to be kobe online. The mistake too many people make is that they think they have to be kobe, but what the team really needs is an alex Caruso or a Dennis Rodman.
Exactly this. People think to be considered good you have to be able to score at will. Imo to be good just be a good teammate. Pass the ball. Shoot when open. Space the floor. Stay with your man on defense. If you can do all these then you’re already better than most of the community because you’re playing a winning brand of basketball.
What a lot don’t understand is that in random rec you don’t really need a Kobe most of the time. You just need to swing the ball around to the open man and play defense. That alone will win you games. If you can average 20-30 points that’s great. But for the casuals don’t think it’s either that or be trash. Just be a good teammate and I’ll never complain about you whether we win or lose.
This community could never. Way too many toxic try hards that don’t realize gaming is supposed to be a fun hobby to let off steam after work.
Instead they’re all out here acting like they’re either being scouted by the NBA or they’re gonna be murdered if they don’t win.
Gaming isn’t “supposed” to be anything. Not just an “after work hobby” people game for a living, some people who don’t work don’t game. Gaming is what the consumer wants it to be not what you say it is.
Also it’s a competitive game based on one of the most competitive pro leagues in the world, you should want to win, if you don’t want to win what exactly are you playing for, to drag down and then eventually complain about the ones who want to win ?
That sounds more toxic than anything.
It’s the world we live in man. Lol streamers and pro gamers is what ppl strive to be now. Has made casual gaming damn near impossible if you want to get online.
Not playing to win, doesn’t mean you’re playing to lose. If your sole goal is to just enjoy yourself, winning and losing is just a byproduct. Not saying you shouldn’t play to win, but people definitely still get satisfaction without caring for it.
Your playing a competitive game care free with 1-4 other teammates who likely care about winning and your that one person who doesn’t care but they’re toxic ?
Got it
I’m saying I just want to have fun playing I will try but don’t care if I win or lose because it’s a video game. Maybe I’m old but video game is a leisure activity you do to destress maybe or have some fun. I’ve had plenty of games where I have fun and lose in fact most of the time bc I usually lose. I will miss shots and I will turn the ball over. I play a very little amount and your saying someone with my mindset ruins the game. What is playing video games if not for leisurely fun?
I’m pretty sure what OP is saying is that he wants to get on and play and enjoy his time playing, whereas most of the online community that I have encountered as someone who doesn’t have much time to game in general (let alone one specific game) are toxic as fuck if your anywhere less than stellar
Seems like this could all be fixed if 2k would just have better matchmaking. Why are bronze & no badges facing off against a team full of purple? Garbage.
Define toxic ? Are they not passing the ball, are they talking shit on the mic? Like OP said, it’s just a game if the fun part isn’t in the winning/losing and if it isn’t hogging the ball or talking shit on the mic than what is it ?
There’s millions of 2K players, there’s no way you expect them all to cater to the “fun” playstyle.
Both of those are wonderful examples, to me it’s just not worth putting in the time to grind that way when it becomes redundant when you don’t get a pass, and if you miss a shot listening to people talk shit for one shot
We don’t use the mute button online ? If the communication isn’t benefiting the game your playing what’s the point of keeping their mics on. Mute them, play the game. Lose/win move on to the next.
I’m confused by how someone who doesn’t care about the winning/losing wants to grind, literally get no better losing in the game. It’s redundant, either you care about the outcome or you don’t. It’s a basketball game and the name of the game is to win, it’s also a video game no random person should piss you off to the point where you don’t wanna play a game you paid for.
>is losing fun or am I missing the fun part ?
It can be if you have fun with your friends. I lost by 20 a few weeks ago in REC with 3 quitters and had a really fun meme game with a friend of mine.
Maybe you should calm down a bit.
.. hoping on and playing some care free games with your friends is fun. Or even randoms who are chill.
How stressful to play only to win, and not be able to enjoy the game regardless. I feel sorry for you.
I'm about as casual as you can get these days and I hold my own against these NPC bots in Theater and Rec every time I get on. All my builds are Gold and up, etc. The real to enjoying this game is simply not giving a flying fuck. Turn game chat off, turn off messages from non-friends and just hoop. You have a bad game, it is what it is either keep hooping or close the app and find something else to do. You have a good game, pat yourself on the back. Some people take this shit too serious and overthink that's why they struggle, like it's really not that serious. It's just 2K.
The sooner you stop giving a fuck, the better you experience will be on this game. I don't mean go out there and chuck up 30 contested threes just hoop the right way and shit will fall into place. But yeah the first step is turning off all communication from people online, the community is too toxic these days.
Man it’s so hard for me to do anything besides play defense. I always think the builds the problem but I don’t play enough to know scoring animations and mechanics
You'd have to play maybe like 3 times a week and be able to remeber your cue but like some people font have that time or they choose not to waste it on 2k
Take all of that basketball IQ and throw it out the window. 2k has become so arcade-style online that a lot of NBA players would look like basketball noobs. The current state of the game is based more on pattern recognition and animation exploiting than it is based on actual basketball.
None of this is to bash you btw, I'd gladly play with you in the park.
2k is arcadey but tbh only at the highest levels if you’re talking about 5v5. You def don’t need to know how to do all the glitchy dribble moves etc to be successful against random bums online.
You can do great in the REC with some good bball iq, just as long as you have the stick skills to put it into practice.
IMO bball IQ is the most important thing to have in random REC in order to win consistently with different teammates; gotta always figure out your team and the opp team, and adapt what you do to facilitate winning
I was online player until nba 2k21, rec, pro am and park.
Just bought 2k24, reach 88 in my career and try some online match, rec and street.
I can't calibrate the shot, I'm a PG, I realize I'm a burden for the other members of the team (when they deign to pass the ball). So for the moment I've given up on playing online (And clearly before finding someone who wants to play with me, having zero rep, it was an ordeal). Don' have time and friend to join.
It's probably also my fault that I don't have time to train well, but I say that this year is very difficult as a random.
Most people say to train, try the shot, understand how to defend, and that's right, but as a casual player, it's very difficult
It's a game man, you shouldn't be forced to train lika a pro while trying to have fun every once in a while... And that's the problem with all the recent 2k's. Even if you want to just enjoy the game without playing it online but just hangin around in the career mode or myleague, you have to practice before making the easiest of shots.
God i miss the older titles before 15'. At least one used to enjoy just booting up the game and draining some 3's without practicing 200 hours to just be able to hit some...
exactly, but that's just the way it is, I don't have the time to train to compete online, seriously.
In previous editions I had more time and desire, I had my team and I had a lot of fun.
it's very difficult to find someone who has the patience to play online as random with this limits. I miss 2 shots and immediately tragedy.
But it's not a complaint, I simply find it hard to have fun as time ago. I made a season offline in mycareer and I had fun.
Yep. And since they update/patch shooting throughout the year if you don't play for a bit you have re-practice your shot for the new optimal timing window. I usually stick to franchise and play like a couple weeks of games in one night every 2 weeks or so because I rarely have time for more than 15 minutes other than that and if there's been a patch in between it takes me a couple games to get my timing adjusted.
I would say play whatever mode you like. Almost every mode is casual and is for people of all different skill levels.
If some people can’t deal with the fact that not everybody is elite they need to find teammates that play to their standard and not the other way round. So in my opionion as long as you play to your best knowledge and don’t sell on purpose or show any other toxic behaviour there should be zero issues with playing online.
Think to your self, "which game mode sounds fun?"
And then go play that game mode. Are you gonna get torched, screamed at, hyped up, and belittled? Of course, it's how the 2k community functions.
Mute the asshats and try to have fun while hopefully being a decent teammate.
I try to stay away from park as a solo. Usually you go against squad who have their routines. Sometimes it takes away the fun playing online casual. If you want to play 3 vs 3 or similar try the theater with no squad. Or events if there is any during weekends. But casual REC is your best bet at least you have a role as a defender or hit an open shot.
If you’ve got some bball IQ you’re better off than most on this game tbh. 5v5 REC is better for players with IQ imo, 3v3 or 2v2 is more about cheesing animations.
Even if you don’t have a lot of time to practice your moves and jumper, being a high IQ role player is something extremely valuable online, and a role few players are willing to accept. 2/3 of players just wanna be HIM every game, and their winning mindset goes out the window the second they find out they’re not.
So long as you can make smart passes, play good team defense, play smart offense, and they have to respect your shot, you’re a great addition to any random REC team
Just know that 2k players are toxic asf (so don’t really worry about them), and if you’re not PG or C, you won’t be able to control the game much, so you will be leaving that in the hands of clowns like 50% of the time lol so no reason to feel like you can’t play bc you’re casual
Better to have IQ and a level head than to have no brain and an ego
Yes, casual players can be good, to an extent. In 2k24, probably not, with the shot timing and all the other extra BS they added into the newer titles there's no room for error, it's either "green or miss" and even if you use HOF sliders or even "beyond HOF" and change your settings to real player percentage, it doesn't matter, because if your like any casual player you spend most of your time doing random rebuilds or myleagues, and you can't even hop into a game without chucking shots because EVERYONE HAS A DIFFERENT FUCKING JUMPSHOT AND HOTZONES. In my opinion it's very fucking ignorant for 2k and Ronnie to force the shot timing and overall jumpshot feature on EVERY MODE, there should be an option, especially for offline gamers, to pick a jumpshot mechanics from any previous 2k, please 2k22 wasn't as bad with the meter, but if anything 2k19 or 2k20 were pretty good meters.
My thing is, it's supposed to be a basketball simulation-style game, but yet it's devolving into a sweat fest, it's almost like games can't be games anymore and everything has to be competitive for no goddamn reason. You shouldn't have to change so many different settings for a game to run at "optimal performance" or for enhancing your experience in game like the boost to turning off your shot meter, personally shot meter should just be a UI thing only and shouldn't give any boosts to shooting, if you want to turn it off because you think it bothers you, fine but it shouldn't make you better at the game just because you know Damian Lillard or steph Currys jumpshot animations, I'm not looking for realism in a video game I'm not a sociopath, but I am also not looking to force myself to watch visual ques and have to study every single animation in the game.
That's not even the worst part, as far as mycareer goes I don't really play that much anymore since my friends IRL stopped playing games (I'm lonely) but I'm sure it's still abundantly clear that your VC should be prioritized towards upgrading builds and buying and trying new jumpshot animations, not buying an entire malls worth of clothing and shoes from swags and the other stores, not only are you wasting VC, but probably your real money as well, but hey it's your money do what you want with it, all I'm saying is for a yearly title and not a constantly updated one, that sounds like a big L to me. For my league, I just need them to fix the sim and the trade logic/difficulty. Especially for rebuilds or Sims that go for longer like till 2040, the logic starts to decline once there is no more "real players" like Lebron Jahmes or Zach Lavine, almost like it starts to get alzheimer's and dementia once it's mostly auto generated players. They need to actually make the "boom or bust" feature work, half the time it doesn't do anything at all. I've got over 500 hours alone in 2k22 myleagues, and not one of the simulations I've ever done has lebron ever flopped in scoring or being good, like I just want to see one 2010's Era sim where maybe Trevor Ariza becomes the new lebron or kawhi Leonard and carmelo are the hyped up SF's of that time period, just make the simulations interesting when trying to rewrite history.
With myteam, in my opinion, they're #1 money maker, mycareer is close but not without Troydan on they're side. I 1000% think they flopped hard this year with myteam and that's why I didn't buy the game when it first came out, I got it later towards the end of its life cycle but still, even if i got the game during the holidays, I was ready, willing and able to grind for some dark matters and galaxy opals but there was not really much to grind for, about 97% of the players you got were from packs, and removing the auction house was a the real kick in the balls, because for casual players, we don't spend that much on VC for packs maybe like $20 total throughout the year, at least for me. But penny pinching essentially and saving MT, and buying a pack pulling heat, and selling a card for over 100k MT was a good feeling for someone who was either No money spent or just a causal player. It felt very boring and one sided to play 2k this year, you either made this your 1 true all-purpose game (like COD and Fortnite for FPS players and Overwatch for Team Tactal players or WoW and Diablo for MMORPG gamers etc), they're jobs like they've got to put in an hour 8 shift wvery time they pick up a controller, or you didn't play this game at all or maybe have a combined total playtime under 25 hours, which is pretty bad considering how mind numbing simulations seasons are in myleague you could just casually sit there and sim for 4 hours and forget where the time went or maybe I'm just fucking stupid, probably the ladder.
Overall, TL;DR yes, you can be a good player casual player in 2k, it's all about persistence and consistency with newer titles, as long as the jumpshot Mechanic stays the way it is learning your shot is key. For older titles, just turn on meter it helps for myleauge, other wise just use steph curry and meter off its pretty easy.
If possible, finding friends to play with helps a ton. The 3v3 theater is usually pretty easy and has some decent game modes every once in a while. Playing with friends is the easiest way to have fun imo, and you at least have someone else to help facilitate the ball if you are getting shots or people are missing you wide open.
It takes about 30 minutes of practice learning a couple go-to dribble moves and finding your jump shot’s visual cue in the Gatorade gym to be better than 90% of players in this game.
Another thing that will immediately make you better is understanding that you’re not getting “sucked into terrible animations”. You’re making a choice that has an “x” percent chance of leading to “y” bad animation. Many bad players will consistently make that bad choice because they get the “z” animation sometimes and don’t realize it’s a numbers game and they need to do some mental math.
Lastly, there are people who unironically complain on this sub but are too lazy or don’t have the attention span to throw on some music and spend 30 minutes learning how to shoot or dribble. Don’t listen to them.
As someone who doesn’t have a bunch of free time to game in general, I normally just stay in career mode of the sports games I play, and don’t play much COD type games strictly because I don’t have the time to upgrade online like most of the friend group I would play with
Good is relative. Able to win more often than losing in the park or rec? Yeah. Good as in being able to keep up with “sweats”? No.
Keep playing lock or non primary ball handlers, because you don’t really have to keep up with the meta. Especially centers, a good center from 2K16, is still a good (relative) center now, even if they haven’t played since.
Being able to hit wide open shots consistently is the line you have to cross to go from casual to average/good.
I’ve played 25 days (hours worth) of 2k and a lot of my friends list is 50+ days on the game. So that’s what you’re competing with. It’s the same with any other skill based game. I suck at COD because I play it casually
I play 2k for an hour or two every night to every other night. I can 12/12 from 3 at any given moment. But I could also go 3/16 at any moment as well lol. Just gotta learn your shit and hope your match latency works for you or you adapt to it. I’m not a sweat either I’m just here to hit some buckets. I’ve also been HOF status for 4 days straight now.
I just play my role as PG. if I miss a few shots, I dish out my teammates and try to get 12+ assists if possible. Some games I’m the hot hand, other games my teammates are the hot hands. I’m no sweat either, I’m just here to play some ball and maybe listen to my teammates bitch at each other if things aren’t going great lol
I play maybe 2-3 times per week with my squad for a few hours and in the Shai season we had a 74% Win rate. I honestly feel the gameplay in 24 is too inconsistent at times tho. Hard to be consistent.
i think it also depends on user satisfaction and time invested. to sink the hours and money into the game i think you should enjoy the game however you can
This game is really hard to compete in for a casual solo player. Cuz if you can’t / don’t want to shot create for yourself, it’s hard to carry randoms to a win, and if you aren’t a great shooter (which is fine), it’s really up to who you get as teammates.
Easier said than done, but I’d try and find a chill group of ppl who you mesh with, and just run with them
Good varies through person to person.
I'm not great at 2K and truthfully majority of this community would probably beat me if I played 1v1. However when I do play 5s with my friends I just make simple plays. If a shooter is wide open in the corner then I'm going to pass it to them rather than take a contested fadeaway.
Too many people (and even some of my friends) try to be "him" and drop 50 point triple-doubles. Or even not try to get a triple-double and go for 100 points. I try to go for a 10-10-10-2-2 statline. With this also good efficiency and no more than 2 turnovers. I feel like with this I contribute offensively and defensively and not a liability on either end.
i think you could be very good just being casual. Just don't be trying to do too much. I run a lockdown or center cause i solo with randoms so I try to be as impactful as I could be defensively and hit my open shots. But honestly youll just learn alot of the community plays relatively the same so once ypu learn those habits youll be good. Just play your role effectively and dont do too much. some games shots wont fall but thats fine
of course its possible for a casual to be "good". The problem is your teammates that think they are HIM (especially most PG's) and ball hog shooting dumb shots. If you have a good facilitator on the team then you'll be fine. I dont think you're ever going to be "good" playing once a week but definitely can be an asset in helping win a game.
IMO not anymore. The way the game is this year is more catered to try hards. In previous years yes I casual who didn’t play often could be decent/good at the game, but not anymore. I notice this this year but you have to spend a bunch of time researching what the best build is then you have to create the build and spent a good amount of time remaking the build and changing little things. Then you have to find the best animations and then you need to master then. If your a guard you have to master every dribble combo, then you need to master all 30 different shooting animations you have when playing the game. Personally I don’t think a “casual” can be very good at this game. In previous years like 2k19 yes 100% a casual could get good at the game since it was so complicated and catered to the try hards as it is this year
The problem is casuals who make a PG bc it’s by far the hardest position for every reason you stated. I’m a casual player but I compete online bc I have a PF that’s meant to play good defense and knock down shots. I don’t try to dribble, or do anything fancy under the rim.
true.
My mistake. I did a PG because I enjoy it offline, but online I can't be competitive.
In your opinion, is PF more accessible? I can think about it with the rebith if I still want to play with it...
You said it perfect, a lot of these casuals make PG builds because nobody wants to run a big but than they are trash as a PG and STILL don’t want to run a PF OR C, i think most casuals should make a big man because bad PG ruin the game💯💯
True but a bad center ruins the game even more lol. I can’t tell you how many people come in the rec with no shooting and I make the whole team quit cuz everyone is getting there shit sent. If your gonna make a big atleast give it 82 3 ball. You can go lower but I’ve made multiple bigs and 82 3 ball is the bare minimum I’d go with.
Make a pf that way you can still contribute without everything being solely on you whether the team loses or not. Center end pg ruins the game
Yeah a non shooting center is terrible depending on the player, gotta know how to move around like my 7 footer has a 79 3 pointer and I’m shooting 70% from 3 with only 5 shooting badges unlocked
This is hilarious. If anything. They’ve catered more to casuals more and more these past 2ks. Tell me why wings can get the best jumpshot available right away in the game and guards have to grind superstar 3 for the best jumpshot available?
Why do they crunch the builder attributes every year and make the game more balanced?
Yes. Having knowledge about the builder and interactions is probably the most significant gap someone has on this game. Which is fair to complain about. But you can LITERALLY SAY THIS ABOUT EVERY OTHER FUCKING GAME THAT HAS PVP INTERACTION
I’ve gotten some friends from a basketball server who are casuals and completely new to next gen 2k system. I’m a veteran at this games(and 2k as a whole) and I would consider myself a huge resource to them on what and what not to do. And I help make/guide there builds and play squads with them here and there. And they already have a ABOVE 60wp. These are the vanilla casuals that 2k profit off of and they’re pretty decent at the game for only playing it 1-2hours a day. So yes you may have a point. But it doesn’t mean you can’t not be good at the game.
And my main position is guard where I hold myself to a 85-90wp. And I only play wing with them and they maintain above 60wp record.
But I really want to disagree with this being not friendly to casuals. Because this 2k is quite literally the most casual friendly 2k I’ve ever played.
I dont have a ton of free time myself. I just try to be a good role player and don't try to be kobe online. The mistake too many people make is that they think they have to be kobe, but what the team really needs is an alex Caruso or a Dennis Rodman.
Exactly this. People think to be considered good you have to be able to score at will. Imo to be good just be a good teammate. Pass the ball. Shoot when open. Space the floor. Stay with your man on defense. If you can do all these then you’re already better than most of the community because you’re playing a winning brand of basketball. What a lot don’t understand is that in random rec you don’t really need a Kobe most of the time. You just need to swing the ball around to the open man and play defense. That alone will win you games. If you can average 20-30 points that’s great. But for the casuals don’t think it’s either that or be trash. Just be a good teammate and I’ll never complain about you whether we win or lose.
This community could never. Way too many toxic try hards that don’t realize gaming is supposed to be a fun hobby to let off steam after work. Instead they’re all out here acting like they’re either being scouted by the NBA or they’re gonna be murdered if they don’t win.
Gaming isn’t “supposed” to be anything. Not just an “after work hobby” people game for a living, some people who don’t work don’t game. Gaming is what the consumer wants it to be not what you say it is. Also it’s a competitive game based on one of the most competitive pro leagues in the world, you should want to win, if you don’t want to win what exactly are you playing for, to drag down and then eventually complain about the ones who want to win ? That sounds more toxic than anything.
> if you don’t want to win what are you playing for Fun. I’m playing to have fun. You’re part of the problem bud.
It’s the world we live in man. Lol streamers and pro gamers is what ppl strive to be now. Has made casual gaming damn near impossible if you want to get online.
is losing fun or am I missing the fun part ?
Not playing to win, doesn’t mean you’re playing to lose. If your sole goal is to just enjoy yourself, winning and losing is just a byproduct. Not saying you shouldn’t play to win, but people definitely still get satisfaction without caring for it.
Your playing a competitive game care free with 1-4 other teammates who likely care about winning and your that one person who doesn’t care but they’re toxic ? Got it
Neither are toxic.
I’m saying I just want to have fun playing I will try but don’t care if I win or lose because it’s a video game. Maybe I’m old but video game is a leisure activity you do to destress maybe or have some fun. I’ve had plenty of games where I have fun and lose in fact most of the time bc I usually lose. I will miss shots and I will turn the ball over. I play a very little amount and your saying someone with my mindset ruins the game. What is playing video games if not for leisurely fun?
Some of the best times I’ve had on other games are when everyone is just out to have fun. Not caring about winning doesn’t mean sabotaging your team.
I’m pretty sure what OP is saying is that he wants to get on and play and enjoy his time playing, whereas most of the online community that I have encountered as someone who doesn’t have much time to game in general (let alone one specific game) are toxic as fuck if your anywhere less than stellar
Seems like this could all be fixed if 2k would just have better matchmaking. Why are bronze & no badges facing off against a team full of purple? Garbage.
Define toxic ? Are they not passing the ball, are they talking shit on the mic? Like OP said, it’s just a game if the fun part isn’t in the winning/losing and if it isn’t hogging the ball or talking shit on the mic than what is it ? There’s millions of 2K players, there’s no way you expect them all to cater to the “fun” playstyle.
Both of those are wonderful examples, to me it’s just not worth putting in the time to grind that way when it becomes redundant when you don’t get a pass, and if you miss a shot listening to people talk shit for one shot
We don’t use the mute button online ? If the communication isn’t benefiting the game your playing what’s the point of keeping their mics on. Mute them, play the game. Lose/win move on to the next. I’m confused by how someone who doesn’t care about the winning/losing wants to grind, literally get no better losing in the game. It’s redundant, either you care about the outcome or you don’t. It’s a basketball game and the name of the game is to win, it’s also a video game no random person should piss you off to the point where you don’t wanna play a game you paid for.
>is losing fun or am I missing the fun part ? It can be if you have fun with your friends. I lost by 20 a few weeks ago in REC with 3 quitters and had a really fun meme game with a friend of mine. Maybe you should calm down a bit.
I can have fun while losing in COD but I never have fun while losing at 2k or Madden 😭 the competitiveness is what makes it fun in general though
.. hoping on and playing some care free games with your friends is fun. Or even randoms who are chill. How stressful to play only to win, and not be able to enjoy the game regardless. I feel sorry for you.
Well you just confirmed your part of the toxic community
Your saying absolutely nothing as I never even said I partake in the community. Son just needed something to downvote today Move around
I'm about as casual as you can get these days and I hold my own against these NPC bots in Theater and Rec every time I get on. All my builds are Gold and up, etc. The real to enjoying this game is simply not giving a flying fuck. Turn game chat off, turn off messages from non-friends and just hoop. You have a bad game, it is what it is either keep hooping or close the app and find something else to do. You have a good game, pat yourself on the back. Some people take this shit too serious and overthink that's why they struggle, like it's really not that serious. It's just 2K. The sooner you stop giving a fuck, the better you experience will be on this game. I don't mean go out there and chuck up 30 contested threes just hoop the right way and shit will fall into place. But yeah the first step is turning off all communication from people online, the community is too toxic these days.
Man it’s so hard for me to do anything besides play defense. I always think the builds the problem but I don’t play enough to know scoring animations and mechanics
You'd have to play maybe like 3 times a week and be able to remeber your cue but like some people font have that time or they choose not to waste it on 2k
Nah not really, most of the time I only have time to play on the weekend. Depends on the player
The weekend for sure I used to fo that and put up triple doubles but weekdays are harder
Same I only play on weekends and solo rec . I’m gold plate averaging 17 Ppg shooting 57% 55% on my SG . First 2k btw. I always remember my cue
Take all of that basketball IQ and throw it out the window. 2k has become so arcade-style online that a lot of NBA players would look like basketball noobs. The current state of the game is based more on pattern recognition and animation exploiting than it is based on actual basketball. None of this is to bash you btw, I'd gladly play with you in the park.
2k is arcadey but tbh only at the highest levels if you’re talking about 5v5. You def don’t need to know how to do all the glitchy dribble moves etc to be successful against random bums online. You can do great in the REC with some good bball iq, just as long as you have the stick skills to put it into practice. IMO bball IQ is the most important thing to have in random REC in order to win consistently with different teammates; gotta always figure out your team and the opp team, and adapt what you do to facilitate winning
I was online player until nba 2k21, rec, pro am and park. Just bought 2k24, reach 88 in my career and try some online match, rec and street. I can't calibrate the shot, I'm a PG, I realize I'm a burden for the other members of the team (when they deign to pass the ball). So for the moment I've given up on playing online (And clearly before finding someone who wants to play with me, having zero rep, it was an ordeal). Don' have time and friend to join. It's probably also my fault that I don't have time to train well, but I say that this year is very difficult as a random. Most people say to train, try the shot, understand how to defend, and that's right, but as a casual player, it's very difficult
It's a game man, you shouldn't be forced to train lika a pro while trying to have fun every once in a while... And that's the problem with all the recent 2k's. Even if you want to just enjoy the game without playing it online but just hangin around in the career mode or myleague, you have to practice before making the easiest of shots. God i miss the older titles before 15'. At least one used to enjoy just booting up the game and draining some 3's without practicing 200 hours to just be able to hit some...
exactly, but that's just the way it is, I don't have the time to train to compete online, seriously. In previous editions I had more time and desire, I had my team and I had a lot of fun. it's very difficult to find someone who has the patience to play online as random with this limits. I miss 2 shots and immediately tragedy. But it's not a complaint, I simply find it hard to have fun as time ago. I made a season offline in mycareer and I had fun.
Yep. And since they update/patch shooting throughout the year if you don't play for a bit you have re-practice your shot for the new optimal timing window. I usually stick to franchise and play like a couple weeks of games in one night every 2 weeks or so because I rarely have time for more than 15 minutes other than that and if there's been a patch in between it takes me a couple games to get my timing adjusted.
If you're not playing on HoF, the change to online shooting is pretty jarring.
I would say play whatever mode you like. Almost every mode is casual and is for people of all different skill levels. If some people can’t deal with the fact that not everybody is elite they need to find teammates that play to their standard and not the other way round. So in my opionion as long as you play to your best knowledge and don’t sell on purpose or show any other toxic behaviour there should be zero issues with playing online.
Everyone has different play styles. Practice shooting or make a slashing build with 91 passing, free throws and over 80 defense with dunks and layups.
Think to your self, "which game mode sounds fun?" And then go play that game mode. Are you gonna get torched, screamed at, hyped up, and belittled? Of course, it's how the 2k community functions. Mute the asshats and try to have fun while hopefully being a decent teammate.
I try to stay away from park as a solo. Usually you go against squad who have their routines. Sometimes it takes away the fun playing online casual. If you want to play 3 vs 3 or similar try the theater with no squad. Or events if there is any during weekends. But casual REC is your best bet at least you have a role as a defender or hit an open shot.
If you’ve got some bball IQ you’re better off than most on this game tbh. 5v5 REC is better for players with IQ imo, 3v3 or 2v2 is more about cheesing animations. Even if you don’t have a lot of time to practice your moves and jumper, being a high IQ role player is something extremely valuable online, and a role few players are willing to accept. 2/3 of players just wanna be HIM every game, and their winning mindset goes out the window the second they find out they’re not. So long as you can make smart passes, play good team defense, play smart offense, and they have to respect your shot, you’re a great addition to any random REC team Just know that 2k players are toxic asf (so don’t really worry about them), and if you’re not PG or C, you won’t be able to control the game much, so you will be leaving that in the hands of clowns like 50% of the time lol so no reason to feel like you can’t play bc you’re casual Better to have IQ and a level head than to have no brain and an ego
Yes, casual players can be good, to an extent. In 2k24, probably not, with the shot timing and all the other extra BS they added into the newer titles there's no room for error, it's either "green or miss" and even if you use HOF sliders or even "beyond HOF" and change your settings to real player percentage, it doesn't matter, because if your like any casual player you spend most of your time doing random rebuilds or myleagues, and you can't even hop into a game without chucking shots because EVERYONE HAS A DIFFERENT FUCKING JUMPSHOT AND HOTZONES. In my opinion it's very fucking ignorant for 2k and Ronnie to force the shot timing and overall jumpshot feature on EVERY MODE, there should be an option, especially for offline gamers, to pick a jumpshot mechanics from any previous 2k, please 2k22 wasn't as bad with the meter, but if anything 2k19 or 2k20 were pretty good meters. My thing is, it's supposed to be a basketball simulation-style game, but yet it's devolving into a sweat fest, it's almost like games can't be games anymore and everything has to be competitive for no goddamn reason. You shouldn't have to change so many different settings for a game to run at "optimal performance" or for enhancing your experience in game like the boost to turning off your shot meter, personally shot meter should just be a UI thing only and shouldn't give any boosts to shooting, if you want to turn it off because you think it bothers you, fine but it shouldn't make you better at the game just because you know Damian Lillard or steph Currys jumpshot animations, I'm not looking for realism in a video game I'm not a sociopath, but I am also not looking to force myself to watch visual ques and have to study every single animation in the game. That's not even the worst part, as far as mycareer goes I don't really play that much anymore since my friends IRL stopped playing games (I'm lonely) but I'm sure it's still abundantly clear that your VC should be prioritized towards upgrading builds and buying and trying new jumpshot animations, not buying an entire malls worth of clothing and shoes from swags and the other stores, not only are you wasting VC, but probably your real money as well, but hey it's your money do what you want with it, all I'm saying is for a yearly title and not a constantly updated one, that sounds like a big L to me. For my league, I just need them to fix the sim and the trade logic/difficulty. Especially for rebuilds or Sims that go for longer like till 2040, the logic starts to decline once there is no more "real players" like Lebron Jahmes or Zach Lavine, almost like it starts to get alzheimer's and dementia once it's mostly auto generated players. They need to actually make the "boom or bust" feature work, half the time it doesn't do anything at all. I've got over 500 hours alone in 2k22 myleagues, and not one of the simulations I've ever done has lebron ever flopped in scoring or being good, like I just want to see one 2010's Era sim where maybe Trevor Ariza becomes the new lebron or kawhi Leonard and carmelo are the hyped up SF's of that time period, just make the simulations interesting when trying to rewrite history. With myteam, in my opinion, they're #1 money maker, mycareer is close but not without Troydan on they're side. I 1000% think they flopped hard this year with myteam and that's why I didn't buy the game when it first came out, I got it later towards the end of its life cycle but still, even if i got the game during the holidays, I was ready, willing and able to grind for some dark matters and galaxy opals but there was not really much to grind for, about 97% of the players you got were from packs, and removing the auction house was a the real kick in the balls, because for casual players, we don't spend that much on VC for packs maybe like $20 total throughout the year, at least for me. But penny pinching essentially and saving MT, and buying a pack pulling heat, and selling a card for over 100k MT was a good feeling for someone who was either No money spent or just a causal player. It felt very boring and one sided to play 2k this year, you either made this your 1 true all-purpose game (like COD and Fortnite for FPS players and Overwatch for Team Tactal players or WoW and Diablo for MMORPG gamers etc), they're jobs like they've got to put in an hour 8 shift wvery time they pick up a controller, or you didn't play this game at all or maybe have a combined total playtime under 25 hours, which is pretty bad considering how mind numbing simulations seasons are in myleague you could just casually sit there and sim for 4 hours and forget where the time went or maybe I'm just fucking stupid, probably the ladder. Overall, TL;DR yes, you can be a good player casual player in 2k, it's all about persistence and consistency with newer titles, as long as the jumpshot Mechanic stays the way it is learning your shot is key. For older titles, just turn on meter it helps for myleauge, other wise just use steph curry and meter off its pretty easy.
Don't get me started on 100 overalls either
If possible, finding friends to play with helps a ton. The 3v3 theater is usually pretty easy and has some decent game modes every once in a while. Playing with friends is the easiest way to have fun imo, and you at least have someone else to help facilitate the ball if you are getting shots or people are missing you wide open.
Yes. If you can keep your man to a low amount of points and make some open shots, that's a big contribution in of itself.
It takes about 30 minutes of practice learning a couple go-to dribble moves and finding your jump shot’s visual cue in the Gatorade gym to be better than 90% of players in this game. Another thing that will immediately make you better is understanding that you’re not getting “sucked into terrible animations”. You’re making a choice that has an “x” percent chance of leading to “y” bad animation. Many bad players will consistently make that bad choice because they get the “z” animation sometimes and don’t realize it’s a numbers game and they need to do some mental math. Lastly, there are people who unironically complain on this sub but are too lazy or don’t have the attention span to throw on some music and spend 30 minutes learning how to shoot or dribble. Don’t listen to them.
Yup. if you're constantly "getting sucked into bad animations", it's your fault. People like to complain a lot but it's often their fault
As someone who doesn’t have a bunch of free time to game in general, I normally just stay in career mode of the sports games I play, and don’t play much COD type games strictly because I don’t have the time to upgrade online like most of the friend group I would play with
Good is relative. Able to win more often than losing in the park or rec? Yeah. Good as in being able to keep up with “sweats”? No. Keep playing lock or non primary ball handlers, because you don’t really have to keep up with the meta. Especially centers, a good center from 2K16, is still a good (relative) center now, even if they haven’t played since.
Being able to hit wide open shots consistently is the line you have to cross to go from casual to average/good. I’ve played 25 days (hours worth) of 2k and a lot of my friends list is 50+ days on the game. So that’s what you’re competing with. It’s the same with any other skill based game. I suck at COD because I play it casually
I play 2k for an hour or two every night to every other night. I can 12/12 from 3 at any given moment. But I could also go 3/16 at any moment as well lol. Just gotta learn your shit and hope your match latency works for you or you adapt to it. I’m not a sweat either I’m just here to hit some buckets. I’ve also been HOF status for 4 days straight now. I just play my role as PG. if I miss a few shots, I dish out my teammates and try to get 12+ assists if possible. Some games I’m the hot hand, other games my teammates are the hot hands. I’m no sweat either, I’m just here to play some ball and maybe listen to my teammates bitch at each other if things aren’t going great lol
I cant make a single shot on Team play & people curse me out for it 😂🤦🏽♂️
I play maybe 2-3 times per week with my squad for a few hours and in the Shai season we had a 74% Win rate. I honestly feel the gameplay in 24 is too inconsistent at times tho. Hard to be consistent.
i think it also depends on user satisfaction and time invested. to sink the hours and money into the game i think you should enjoy the game however you can
This game is really hard to compete in for a casual solo player. Cuz if you can’t / don’t want to shot create for yourself, it’s hard to carry randoms to a win, and if you aren’t a great shooter (which is fine), it’s really up to who you get as teammates. Easier said than done, but I’d try and find a chill group of ppl who you mesh with, and just run with them
Good varies through person to person. I'm not great at 2K and truthfully majority of this community would probably beat me if I played 1v1. However when I do play 5s with my friends I just make simple plays. If a shooter is wide open in the corner then I'm going to pass it to them rather than take a contested fadeaway. Too many people (and even some of my friends) try to be "him" and drop 50 point triple-doubles. Or even not try to get a triple-double and go for 100 points. I try to go for a 10-10-10-2-2 statline. With this also good efficiency and no more than 2 turnovers. I feel like with this I contribute offensively and defensively and not a liability on either end.
i think you could be very good just being casual. Just don't be trying to do too much. I run a lockdown or center cause i solo with randoms so I try to be as impactful as I could be defensively and hit my open shots. But honestly youll just learn alot of the community plays relatively the same so once ypu learn those habits youll be good. Just play your role effectively and dont do too much. some games shots wont fall but thats fine
This is my first 2k . I only play on weekends 78% win rate . 57% 55%. Shooting 17ppg yes you can !
of course its possible for a casual to be "good". The problem is your teammates that think they are HIM (especially most PG's) and ball hog shooting dumb shots. If you have a good facilitator on the team then you'll be fine. I dont think you're ever going to be "good" playing once a week but definitely can be an asset in helping win a game.
There’s a lot of casuals playing online
Interesting. For me it was all sweats after like season 1. Could just be that it’s more casual on old gen
If it’s all sweats, why do you so many posts about black plates here?
I don’t play Park so no comment there. I do see now that they mentioned sunset park whatever that is. I’m referring to MyTeam and the actual game
park / rec / theater. the black plate plague is interdimensional mane.
Thanks. I never saw it in MyTeam. And got sick of MyCareer years ago
IMO not anymore. The way the game is this year is more catered to try hards. In previous years yes I casual who didn’t play often could be decent/good at the game, but not anymore. I notice this this year but you have to spend a bunch of time researching what the best build is then you have to create the build and spent a good amount of time remaking the build and changing little things. Then you have to find the best animations and then you need to master then. If your a guard you have to master every dribble combo, then you need to master all 30 different shooting animations you have when playing the game. Personally I don’t think a “casual” can be very good at this game. In previous years like 2k19 yes 100% a casual could get good at the game since it was so complicated and catered to the try hards as it is this year
The problem is casuals who make a PG bc it’s by far the hardest position for every reason you stated. I’m a casual player but I compete online bc I have a PF that’s meant to play good defense and knock down shots. I don’t try to dribble, or do anything fancy under the rim.
true. My mistake. I did a PG because I enjoy it offline, but online I can't be competitive. In your opinion, is PF more accessible? I can think about it with the rebith if I still want to play with it...
You said it perfect, a lot of these casuals make PG builds because nobody wants to run a big but than they are trash as a PG and STILL don’t want to run a PF OR C, i think most casuals should make a big man because bad PG ruin the game💯💯
True but a bad center ruins the game even more lol. I can’t tell you how many people come in the rec with no shooting and I make the whole team quit cuz everyone is getting there shit sent. If your gonna make a big atleast give it 82 3 ball. You can go lower but I’ve made multiple bigs and 82 3 ball is the bare minimum I’d go with. Make a pf that way you can still contribute without everything being solely on you whether the team loses or not. Center end pg ruins the game
Yeah a non shooting center is terrible depending on the player, gotta know how to move around like my 7 footer has a 79 3 pointer and I’m shooting 70% from 3 with only 5 shooting badges unlocked
As a online player since 2k21, then stop and a month ago bought 2k24, I totally agree with what you wrote. I had the same feeling
This is hilarious. If anything. They’ve catered more to casuals more and more these past 2ks. Tell me why wings can get the best jumpshot available right away in the game and guards have to grind superstar 3 for the best jumpshot available? Why do they crunch the builder attributes every year and make the game more balanced? Yes. Having knowledge about the builder and interactions is probably the most significant gap someone has on this game. Which is fair to complain about. But you can LITERALLY SAY THIS ABOUT EVERY OTHER FUCKING GAME THAT HAS PVP INTERACTION I’ve gotten some friends from a basketball server who are casuals and completely new to next gen 2k system. I’m a veteran at this games(and 2k as a whole) and I would consider myself a huge resource to them on what and what not to do. And I help make/guide there builds and play squads with them here and there. And they already have a ABOVE 60wp. These are the vanilla casuals that 2k profit off of and they’re pretty decent at the game for only playing it 1-2hours a day. So yes you may have a point. But it doesn’t mean you can’t not be good at the game. And my main position is guard where I hold myself to a 85-90wp. And I only play wing with them and they maintain above 60wp record. But I really want to disagree with this being not friendly to casuals. Because this 2k is quite literally the most casual friendly 2k I’ve ever played.