There will always be room for a heartfelt and informed dislike for full-price games that have modes laden with microtransactions. This path has to led the outright demise of quality for the Madden franchise. So what about that pesky MyTeam mode inNBA 2K23?
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The good news is that if this mode will make theNBA 2K23developers lazy, it hasn’t landed yet. This is still obviously a pay-to-win mode and this should be disclosed to anybody who considers playing. But there are loads of improvements over the last year’s mode that may make gamers who swore it off give MyTeam a second look.
10Offline Availability
MyTeam offline? It might not sound possible, but it is! Plenty of fixed rewards and challenges are part of themassive file sizethat players download. So if gamers can’t log in, obviously they can’t play each other, but they are far from sidelined.
There is an entire single-player challenge tab to check out and enjoy. These aren’t practice modes, these are games that actually matter and have rewards. Of course, most of the MyTeam experience is defined by the online experience, but the offline is meaty enough for when the internet does down.
9Leaderboards
Finally, players can brag about being the best in the world outside of the tournaments! There is a leaderboard gamers can point to, enabling them to know where they stand against the best of the best. Peek at players doing better and see what team compositions are getting it done for them.
Rookies to MyTeam should be open to advice; it’s alright to take a few weeks to figure things out. The leaderboards will help players find out who to turn to for advice and who is merely talking trash without the accolades to back it up.
8Game-By-Game Progression
Trying to sort outthe best gold cards in MyTeamto get a foundation feels somewhat unrewarding. Sure, players might get an extra win or two, but why make a big deal of it? Do these individual victories really matter outside of the tournaments?
Now, they do. Players get to see their ranking adjust as soon as the game is done. Climbing the ranks is no longer an ethereal concept, it’s practical and measurable. Keep track to see how each change in the lineup improves the team’s standing.
7More Rewards
MyTeam has always been pushing those expensive packs, of course, and gamers should be wary that this is unlikely to change. Aside from these paid rewards, the only other rewards are usually given at the end of lengthy seasons.
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Now, players are getting serious rewards after just a few games' worth of work. An hour or two of gaming will wield loads of new cards, customizable items, and tokens. The long-term rewards are still around, so don’t lose focus, but enjoy rewards for hitting the smaller goals and challenges in between.
6Six-Week Seasons
A season in the real world is three months. That’s a long time to wait for something to change. By shortening the seasons up to six weeks, there will now be more rewards, more tournaments, more winners, and more opportunities to get big rewards.
Hundreds offantastic Emerald cardsget added for the free-to-play gamers throughout a season, but it often takes a while for these rewards to make it into the game. Now, every six weeks, there should be a new shipment of exciting player cards.
5Prestige Tiers
Prestige tiers are great for everybody. It’s already an impressive feat to be in the top 10% of players in the world. But what about those in the top fraction of a percent? Don’t they deserve to play against gamers of their skill level?
More importantly, isn’t it fair that somebody in the top 5% isn’t constantly facing off against somebody who drained thousands of dollars on the MyTeam mode? These extra prestige tiers will be perfect for the pro-level players to show off their stuff and for simply talented players to get a fair challenge.
4Contracts Are Gone
If players from last year were asked to think of the least fun thing about last year’s MyTeam, the contracts would have to be the top answer. “Signing” players may be fun in a franchise-style mode but it made little sense in MyTeam and felt like a way to nickel-and-dime gamers to use the cards they already unlocked.
They’re gone! There are still someoverpowered Free Agent cardsto use for a limited time, but the era of paying some weird currency for unlocked cards is closed, hopefully for all years going forward.
3More Single Player Modes
Playing offline is one thing that works well. But single-player online modes? Yes, please. And thankfully, those are a thing now too. Face off some challenges without worrying about facing off against a veteran gamer with a stacked deck.
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These premade challenges aren’t a breeze. Players can still struggle against mid-nineties cards after they’ve knocked out the introductory hurdles. But players can stack someincredible Sapphire cards and try again without the feeling of defeat that comes with PvP.
2Co-Op Modes
Co-op sounds like a wild concept, especially for a game concept that involves two players who each have their own individual cards and team. But the implementation has been beyond well-received as pals can unite to defeat the toughest challenges.
For real, throwing up an alley-oop to the AI feels like a shot in the dark. With a buddy, pick and rolls, rotation on defense, and these oops become simple with some good communication. Find a like mind and get to balling out.
1Weekly Era Challenges
The weekly challenge gives players another wrinkle to look forward to when it comes to all-time fantasy matchups. In usual MyTeam, players can put Bird and Johnson on the same team. But what if they want to relive the rivalry where they went against each other?
The era challenges are a treat for historians who love to see the players they’ve seen online in highlight videos, books, or black-and-white replays come to life. With one every week, it’s something to anticipate for the whole year.
NBA 2K23is available now for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
