For me its the updated rosters. Each game feels a little different on the gameplay but that's not always a good thing.
You also get new my career story lines if you're into that sort of thing. I enjoy it, but don't get enough time to play it.
Why was the online classic roster matchmaking taken down? That was a huge bummer for me when they took it out a couple of years ago. I really loved to play online using Hakeem vs Shaq, or AI vs Jordan and a bunch of other fun matches classic roster matches. It would be really really cool if 2K could bring that back. Also, can we get a respectable all star weekend in 2k? I feel like 2k is really missing a big opportunity with that. They should have online all star weekend festivity's like celebrity games, rookie vs sophomore, 3 point contest, dunk contest and of course the big game, how sweet would that be? Every year I get so pumped during all star weekend and want to pop in 2K hoping that they have the all star teams in the match making, or that they have a all star weekend section updated somewhere, but unfortunately the only way I can do the dunk contest is if I sim through using mycareer, and if I want to play the ASG I have to do it against the AI which is super boring. Please make all star weekend online! And bring back the classic team matchmaking!
I just want the GM side to be 100% accurate with all the accompanying ability to: have non-guaranteed deals, sign more than 15 players then hold training camp and trim the roster as I see fit, stash players in D-League (not sure if possible already), sign D-Leaguers, be able to negotiate with players signed in Europe (like Sergio Llull since Euroteams are in), have all the exemptions, make complicated deals etc. I also wish they just stick with the same gameplay for once, just expand upon what works and not cut something that works or the other way around. So much stuff that was good in one game, got dropped because they supposedly did something much better (not at all) and then brought back in some form later on. The most dumb aspect of NBA 2k is still passing. Making silly overhead passes into the crowd, pass it to the nearest guy when another is down at the end for a fast break lay-up, not being able to control what kind of pass you give and of course, the CPU players intercept way too many of your passes because of how the system works. AI still sucks too, so that must improve tremendously, you still have to do every single thing on the court. Players size and weight need to have a serious impact, for example with shot blocking, dunking and rebounding it does not even matter that much. The rate at which open shots fall is also way too random. I've played with the 90s Nuggets many times and tried to get hot with Chris Jackson / Abdul-Rauf by shooting wide open threes, have not been able to do it and this guy was known for his pure stroke and hot streaks. This brings me to my last point: the classic teams. I applaud them for making the effort but again they fall short. What is the point of having a classic team when you do not have one or several big names. What is the point of having so many generics in there which we cannot edit to make the roster complete? What is the point of having next gen graphics and then not even polish the classic players up? Also, how many teams with the same star player do we need? Just have one or two classic teams from different eras for each team currently in the NBA.
Mann no kidding and damn I'm getting old lol, NBA shoot out was one of my brothers and I favorite games. We used to play that sucker religiously. I think from everything I have been reading about this 2k it's prob going to be the best one to date. The gameplay is supposed to be vastly Improved especially the passing which has always been hit or miss. It's funny because I still buy prob 4-5 games a year and play them maybe once or twice and then they just sit there. NBA 2k is still the only game every year that I just always come back too. Whenever I get with my college friends we still play it a lot. This is always a must have for me because I have owned every 2k dating back to the first one on dreamcast, also having Harden on the cover is an added bonus.
I'm at the point now where i think i wont be buying the 2k games every year opening day. I may play them a year behind. The graphical leap from 2k13 to 2k14 made it worth the anticipation but from here on I think the graphics will look pretty much the same with just a few gameplay tweaks and updated rosters.
I've been spending $60 every year pretty much for the updated rosters. The other tweaks are cool I guess. I don't think it's worth the money, yet I still do it year after year after year.
This year is definitely a lot better than the previous game, you can count on that. Read up on the changes, it's crazy how much 2k did for this year's game. There's 12 classic teams added, a return of a Rocket next to EJ & Shaq, signature celebrations, almost every NBA player had their faces scanned for the most accurate representation etc.
