NBA 2K

OPINION: MyCareer Is Painfully Dying

I can’t remember the last time MyCareer was actually entertaining to play, NBA2K23 may have officially killed my love for this mode. I’m not solely blaming it on 2K23, but fans of 2K have fallen into a grind-mode more than a fun-mode.

For me, I hate spending every moment on the game traveling through the city trying to complete quests before I can play a single regular season game. Where is that fun? Many people were complaining about this and much more.

I love storylines, don’t get me wrong, but at what point do we end the storyline just to play the game to try to become a Hall of Famer?

There are many frustrating elements to MyCareer that makes it impossible to play due to how much you have to grind just to have a good player and play a singular game.

Here’s how I would fix the storyline issues

The rivalry you had with Shep Owens was good, it made the draft more exciting and it gave the game more meaning, but it really died out due to all the quests and interruptions after the Summer League and into the regular season.

My suggestion is 2K brings back the college experience, let you choose your college, and try to raise your draft stock all while battling your rival. The college experience was really fun and you could make it even better by adding in a “Shep Owen 2.0” (for example) that heads into Summer League.

Let it go through college, the draft, and into the summer to give you the ultimate storyline. All the quests, challenges, cutscenes, etc will be condensed from college to the end of Summer League. Why do it this way? If 2K does it this way then they can tell a better story and not frustrate people when they want to play regular season games and are tired of the quests.

If developers want to add mini storylines to keep it entertaining, that’s fine. I am all for that, however, let the quests end in the Summer League. Sometimes more is less.

Make VC cheaper

I guess NBA2K23 was meant to be a cash-grab as to progress your player to higher overalls you would need to spend ridiculous amounts of money. Even if you spent more money to get the Michael Jordan Edition, to get more VC, it cost people hundreds of dollars just to get to an 80/85.

I went the free route because I spent too much money in the first place on this game, it took me weeks just to get to an 85. Does no one else see how big of an issue that is? Everyone must also take into account people don’t want to gaming every day for several hours; nor can many due to life and what other obligations they have.

Spending real-life money on a video game is not always possible nor is it fun as that shouldn’t be the main purpose behind leveling up. Nobody, including myself, would want to spend hundreds of dollars to commit to an online-grind.

Between quests and VC, 2K has officially turned off many because even money can’t buy satisfaction in this game.

Have two game mode options

I’m a causal gamer, my schedule doesn’t allow for me to understand and dominate the game to the likes of pro-gamers. I can’t play NBA2K23 very well because I can’t get down the shooting and the difficulty of the game. These developers wanted to make it more challenging and competitive, however, it has turned many off because it is super hard to play.

If you want to make it more challenging and skill-based, then offer two options. Remember how it was in NBA2K20? That is how it should be in a game where all levels of skills could play and enjoy the game, it’s very frustrating to play a game where everything has to be either near-perfect or exactly greened.

One option can be skill-based, the other being for causal gamers. It’s a grind to learn the game, maintain those skills, and try to enjoy it with your current overall in MyCareer.

Conclusion

MyCareer is painfully dying, but there is a way to fix it. In the end, people don’t want to feel like they need to grind to play the basics of a video game.

All the quests, high prices, and difficulty of the game has turned MyCareer from good to something downright horrendous. I love playing MyCareer but it needs to be better, NBA2K24 has to be better with MyCareer.

I’m not a big online guy so I just hang out in my little world of MyCareer and rebuilding franchises as a general manager and/or owner.

MyCareer is suppose to be this fun opportunity to make an easy build, win games, have a cool storyline, and try to make it as a G.O.A.T and the ultimate Hall of Famer.

Many changes need to happen to make NBA2K24 an overall good game, but MyCareer is becoming a massive problem that needs to be solved. I actually have optimism for this game and I am looking forward to their release in September.