GAMEPLAY
- Improved Shot Stick shot release timing and consistency across offline and online games.
- Fixed a rare hang that would occur when intentionally fouling the inbounder.
- Dunks will now branch into mid-air collisions, resulting in contact layups and changes in shots.
- Big men with low vertical ratings will now jump the appropriate height when rebounding and contesting shots.
- Addressed an exploit when using the Hopstep Dunk. Players will now branch to a contested shot animation when defenders are nearby.
- The ballhandler will no longer pick up his dribble when a ‘take charge’ attempt fails.
- Users are now able to execute the Crossover move when using the ‘Alternate A’ controller configuration.
- Added high trajectory shots when the shot is taken along the baseline. This will reduce/eliminate baseline shots that just hit off the side of the backboard.
- Addressed a playcalling issue where non-stars are getting a bulk of the plays run for them during specific situations.
- Queued pass/shot commands are now deleted when a fumbled catch occurs.
- Improvements have been made to the directional passing system with the end result being more accurate pass targeting.
- Tuned under-basket shots such that big players are no longer overpowered by smaller defenders, thus forcing a bad shot.
- Body-ups have been re-tuned such that good dribblers do not ‘lose’ during a mismatch or by taking good angles.
- Queuing a fake pass command when catching the ball will no longer result in a touch pass.
- Missed and inaccurate passes will now play at an appropriate rate when passing out of a shot or contact shot.
- Long range passes have been re-tuned to fix a gameplay exploit. Also, improved defender reactions on such passes so that they are properly contested.
- Users are no longer able to call a timeout when they are bobbling the ball.
- Improved AI logic for boxing out, ensuring that players go into boxout situations when appropriate.
- Players boxing out their opponent should no longer be called for Over the Back fouls.
- Tuned ‘Take Charge’ logic such that charges will now be properly called when the defender is set. This includes a fix for the pro-hop exploit where charges were not being called.
- Fixed an issue with player swapping during rolling inbounds; users will no longer be stuck controlling a player with the inability to switch players.
- AI defenders will no longer closely guard bad shooters far from the hoop when not necessary.
- Improved AI steal behavior and tuned the overall steal frequency/difficulty; defenders should now only attempt steals when they are actually looking at the ball.
- On the ‘Casual’ game style only, defenders are now slightly slower to react on passes, thus limiting the number of pass deflections.
PRESENTATION
- Fixed a long hang that would sometimes occur at the end of the highlight reel between quarters.
- When an Arena Music event is triggered, it will now randomly select one of the available songs instead of always playing the first song in the list.
- Addressed a few minor audio issues including instances where the commentators would call a few players by the wrong name, instances where a commentary line would cut out mid-sentence, instances where the commentary would refer to a missed shot as a made shot, and clean-up in the Doris Burke analysis during playoff situations.
- The commentators will now tell Coach ‘stories’ during gameplay. These stories tie-in with the Player/Team stories for an increased presentation experience.
- Users are now able to button through lengthy substitution overlays and get right back to gameplay.
- Fixed a very rare hang that would happen during the Player of the Game segment at the end of the game.
- Fixed an occurrence where the incorrect portrait was displayed for a created/generated player.
ONLINE
- Voice Chat improvements have been made to eliminate/reduce the amount of background static that can be heard in Team-Up/Pick-Up games.
- Users are no longer able to substitute in injured/fouled out players during Crew games.
- Opponents can no longer see Pick and Roll and Play Calling icons during online games.
- Addressed a game disconnect issue when one user would call a timeout, quit out of the game, and attempt to start another game.
ASSOCIATION
- Addressed a hang that would occur in the transition between the 1st and 2nd quarters in the weeks leading up to the All-Star break.
- Injured players will no longer lose their Player Role due to an injury, which ultimately led to may unhappy players around the league.
- Fixed an issue that caused a decrease in trading activity in future years. This same issue also resulted in valued free agents not signing during the free agency time period of the offseason.
- Home court advantage (for simulated games) has been toned down during the regular season, and even more so during the playoffs (this fix also applies to My Player mode).
- Participating in Intra-Squad Scrimmages will no longer disable Intentional Fouls during regular NBA games.
- Addressed an issue where trade values would drop to 1-star when a Weekly Practice was scheduled.
- Fixed a bug where coaches would get fired continuously (this fix also applies to My Player mode).
- Users are now able to properly waive players in the Training Camp period of the offseason when there are more than 15 players signed to the team.
- Corrected an issue where the Qualifying Offers period was automatically getting skipped, thus not allowing users to make qualifying offers to their restricted free agents.
- Addressed an issue where Potential values weren’t being properly updated in the player progression system.
- Existing NBA players should no longer have their signature animations changed at the end of every season based on their skill progression/regression (this fix also applies to My Player mode).
- Fixed an issue where generated players would be created with the award history of a player currently in the Hall of Fame (this fix also applies to My Player mode).
- Tuned rookie generation code such that incoming talent is more in-line with players already in the league. Other generation improvements were made as well, including better secondary position logic along with adjustments to the size of the incoming players (this fix also applies to My Player mode).
- Users are now able to call plays during Intra-Squad Scrimmages in the Live Practice feature.
- Players who have the ‘Prospect’ player role are now much more forgiving of their role, meaning they will no longer become upset when they are in the role until they have reached a high rating.
- Addressed a number of other smaller issues within the mode (better CPU logic when accepting/declining Team Options, undrafted rookies should no longer sign larger than expected contracts, etc.).
MY PLAYER
(A number of issues that also affect My Player mode were listed above in the Association section. Those issues were noted as such.)
- Addressed a hang that would sometimes occur when completing a game during the NBA time period.
- The user’s team will now be more efficient in finding a trade to one of the requested teams when a Trade Request is made.
- The Rookie of the Year Milestone should now properly unlock when the conditions are met.
- Addressed a playcalling issue where the dribbler would hold the ball until the last second during My Player games.
- PlayVision art is now drawn on the floor when the CPU calls a play, easily enabling the user to follow the action on the court.
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