I'm generally not a fan of tons of clutter on my screen, I appreciate the Movement and Immersion in NBA 2K so I like to turn most of the "videogame reminders" off. The shot meter is a necessary evil, so I deal with it. Watching replays of some of my games I was shocked when I saw the contest quality of some of the shots. Most of them were just fine, but do you know what stood out? Instances where the defender or I went for a block and missed but were rewarded with a high contest were like, really, really super-duper high.
So I did what I always do. I tested it against other people. Sure enough, using triangle to block a shot gave you ridiculously high contest percentages--even if you fell for a pump fake. But isn't that backwards? Should a missed block have a high contest rate at all? Shouldn't it have among the lowest? This is the NBA, offensive players offensive players are too good to be disrupted by bad timing....at the same time, it was concerning. A defensive mechanic that has no downside puts offensive players in the classic No-Win scenario. Serious Question: If missed blocks get tertiary rewards that exceed the quality of a good contest, why would anyone EVER contest?
Here's why its important--because gameplay can't be in the business of rewarding failure. A block is largely an all-or-nothing proposition. If it works, it completely wipes out the shot attempt. If its not successful it can't equal a well-timed contest. If it does, the contest literally has no role other than taking up animation space. So why is this missed block from Giannis a 100% Contest?
Missed Blocks shouldn't be automatic fouls but Giannis should have a decent shot at getting whistled here. Missed Blocks should have very low contest ratings. Less than 10 percent, they're basically an attempt that missed. They can't have anything other than a token effect on the offensive player's success rate. Now do contests need to be expanded on and made more user friendly? SURE. We're quickly approaching a time where gameplay will punish people who try to block everything, so we need good defensive tools. Take a look at the video below:
Notice how the shooter gets his shot off before I can react. Now think about why: As the defender i'm moving forward with the left stick trying to mirror him as he receives the hand-off, careful to use L2 for a better stance in case he turns and attacks. But at the moment he pulls up, I have to then pull BACKWARDS with the R-Stick to contest? What could be more counter-intuitive to what we're looking at on the screen and doing with our hands? That's bad design. We need something more comprehensive, fast and easy to use. Thats the reality of why users still use triangle to defend--because its an easy, quick button press. The current mechanic for contesting is clunky at best.
We should point the R-Stick AT the shooter and the timing of our contest and distance from the offensive player should dictate our contest quality. The animations should be defender-only and contextual based on the situation. Right now the current system leaves us in a situation where we can only contest shots in front of us. This is a huge gap in the defensive gameplay. Here are two good layup contests:
Further, allowing us to target the offensive player does two things. 1) It makes contesting more skill-based and 2) It allows contests from anywhere on the court and versus any type of shot...regardless of whether its a layup, a shot behind the arc or whether we've just gotten beat and are in trail position like below. Try to block one of the best dunkers in the league from behind? No thank you. Contest him like in the second video? Sure.
The clip below has Exum contest my first shot (20% Contest Rate) and everything is going fine until I get the offensive rebound. I fake (he bites) and then he quickly jumps again and now the Contest Rate is 48%? NO, NO and more NO. Unless he has the Pogo Stick Badge (I can't believe I just typed that--but he doesn't) this is ALL BAD. Gameplay has to be consistent and balanced. This is another instance where a defender should be out of the play or the contest rate should be in the single digits:
Another video where two defenders try to block my shot and miss, but the contested rate is 43%?
How? Is there an invisible player there we can't see? Both of these guys miss blocks and while not every missed block should be a foul, there's no way a missed blocks should affect shot success significantly. That's a system begging for abuse--because it rewards spam.
Here's what the contest rates on missed blocks SHOULD look like:
Lebron misses and the Contest is 3%, which is more than reasonable. This is really what we should see as a rule. Anything else rewards and encourages users to spam block and makes contests useless. And while missing can be the more frequent outcome--Neutral Outcomes are bad. Gameplay can't be afraid to call fouls. Its a popular tactic to go for a block (like I did below) when help is near, knowing that the offensive player will have to wait for the defender to clear and will likely be blocked/contested by one of the help defenders. Don't allow players to abuse the fact that fouls are infrequent and base a strategy around it--BECAUSE THEY WILL:
Hopefully we'll see some of the improvements here in future iterations of the game.
Well...thats all for now. Until next time, thanks for reading.
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