NSL Insider - 2021 NSL Sliders Previewby Vitticus, updated on Wednesday, October 13 2021, 01:05 am EST The 2021 NSL Season start is upon us. I know a lot of you have
already gotten the game and started testing your teams to see how it looks on
the 2K22 engine. The engine is pretty much the same. The only difference is the
players. So treat it like it�s a roster update.
The latest sliders are listed as �NSL_TEST08� under username: �sC00p� If you would like to compare the sliders with last year, click the
following link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MA5aemwtyrf8PWJ3rXRx4UMm_LG6GrBFF2a0bF2-gHg/edit?usp=sharing
Shooting
3PT shooting took a slight hit this year. This was done to keep our
averages closer to the NBA average, but it�s still at the Hall of Fame default.
Mid-range got a significant boost to help some of the underperforming point
guards like Kemba Walker and Chris Paul.
Inside
Scoring
The success rate for inside scoring has gone up, but the frequency
at which it happens took a hit.
Blow-bys: This was the biggest reason
that inside scoring was out of hand for the past 2 years. Last year, we tried addressing
this by messing with the player speed. Whether it worked or not, I couldn�t
tell you. But this year we played around with body-up sensitivity.
When you try to dribble around your defender, you have a chance to
activate a �bump-back� animation. Last year this animation was non-existent,
but this year we bumped it up so that point guards would get a bump back here
and there.
Cutters: I�m not sure if this was a
problem last year, but testing 2K22 I notice the CPU performs rim cut dunks a
whole lot. I know in the past we tried reducing this by nerfing the pass speed
and pass accuracy. We even jacked up Play Passing Lanes. This year we reduced
Hands to make it harder for the runner to catch the pass. You would think you�d
start seeing players dropping passes. But instead, the passer will just choose
not to make the pass. In this way, we were able to reduce the frequency at
which rim cuts were happening.
Defense
We didn�t really focus too much on defense this time around. All we
really did was if steals or blocks were under NBA average, we would increase
those ratings until they were within NBA average. That along with the nerf to
blow-bys and cutters, I felt defense looked fine. Some of the numbers indicate
the defense took a hit, but it doesn�t feel that way when I was watching the
test sims.
Rebounds
Offensive Rebounds up, Defensive Rebounds down this year.
Fouls
Fouls are maxed out. But what you need to know is that even though
fouls are set at the max, the CPU really does not like fouling. We could not
get the free throw rates anywhere close to what it was in the NBA.
Stamina
/ Fatigue
This is a major change this year. In the past, we generally left
Stamina and Fatigue alone. Players were barely even getting tired. I ran some
test with these sliders and found the following energy levels for each rotation
at the 4:00 minute mark of the 4th quarter:
8 Man Rotations � 50 to 60 energy 9 Man Rotations � 60 to 70 energy 10 Man Rotations � 80 to 90 energy
When the player goes below 60, they will have a Gatorade icon to
indicate that they are tired. They get a stat debuffs across all their stats
and their turbo bar shortens.
Closing
Thoughts
Realism
The whole goal of the sliders is to make the game as realistic as
possible while still staying within the NBA average. There are things about the
game that makes it really hard to hit realism, but we try to get pretty damn
close.
The things that I see in this slider set that doesn�t match realism
is: �
Smaller, faster forwards do not
dominate bigger, slower forwards �
Free throw rates are impossible
to get up �
3PT attempts are also
impossible to get up unless you have Steph, Dame, or Luka on your team
Balance
Balance was another issue.
Last year, guards dominated Player of the Week every single week.
And that was because of the nature of blow-bys. I still feel guards are better
than forwards and centers, but the gap isn�t that big this year.
In terms of scoring balance, this is what I�ve seen in the tests: �
Third man: 18+ points �
Stars: 22 to 28 points �
Superstars: 30 to 44 points �
Demi-gods: 45+ points
Note: Demi-gods don�t actually exist in real life, but they do in
video games. We talked a lot about limiting these demi-gods throughout the
slider process. But in every case, lowering these demi-gods made the entire
league average drop very low. So we just left them alone. I think this is as
balanced as it gets.
Anyways, I hope this helps you as you prepare for the 2021 season. |
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