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This is the best season and it's not close (Long read)

picklegoat

Rookie 2
I never play video games anymore. I'm sure on a forum like this I am in the heavy minority.

But for whatever reason I was bored 2 winters ago and decided to download an NBA game for my phone and chose NBA LIve Mobile. I came in during the end of Winter promo and man I thought it was cool. I thought it was weak you couldn't play realtime head to head but other than that I loved the cards, the upgrades, the presents and I think 99% of us would agree the music in Season 1 was FIRE! :D

Then Season 2 came along. Cheat glitches. Corny teams that were already top teams joining up to try and dominate WHILE also using cheats, lol. Never understood that but moreso never understood how EA let that slide for so long. The game would crash daily, including in the middle of LvL :evil:

It was pretty clear this game was an EA afterthought to Madden, Fifa, etc.

Then... the bans occurred. And they legit almost lost me. I didn't even check the game for a few weeks.

But I gotta...
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The first 3 months of season 2 set the bar so low that you could trip with it. I was expecting something better fo the beginning of Season 3 & for the moment it really is.
 

X020179

Pro 1
It?s still S1 for me. S3 has been phenomenal so far though.

Edited to clarify it?s mostly due to gameplay. I rarely play SD ever, sometimes not at all for weeks. I used to grind H2H for pure enjoyment of the game even before I realized you needed to play H2H for Master Westbrook. Massive gameplay revamp may tip the scales, but I can?t see it happening
 

betaman411

All-Star 1
I agree with OP. When I saw the title at first, I was like, no way...s1 was better. As I read the first post, I started reflecting on it and came to the conclusion that season 3, with all of its annoyances and issues, is by far the most thought out season to date. As bigballer notes, the bar was set pretty low coming off s2 but I still think this latest promo (even with the timer issue) was the best compromise between F2P and P2W I've seen in this game. I'm hoping they build off this promo to make the Winter/Xmas one even better. We'll find out soon enough!
 
Season 1 was the best season for me. More grindable masters which in order to get you had to grind ALL game modes. So far this season I haven't played even 1 season game and hardly play showdown and if I wasn't in a league wouldn't play LvsL because we get nothing out of it.

I expected more from this season. Similar to madden and fifa, I was hoping for new graphic engines, new changes to game play and animations, etc. We got the exact same game as season 1 with less masters, less sets, less coin packs, no abilities, less boosts, and all our favorite packs have become cash only. Not to mention a highly regulated AH. The only positive addition this season is Campaigns, that's it. I fail to see how anyone would find this season any better when we get less in every category and have the exact same gameplay.
 

X020179

Pro 1
Season 1 was the best season for me. More grindable masters which in order to get you had to grind ALL game modes. So far this season I haven't played even 1 season game and hardly play showdown and if I wasn't in a league wouldn't play LvsL because we get nothing out of it.

I expected more from this season. Similar to madden and fifa, I was hoping for new graphic engines, new changes to game play and animations, etc. We got the exact same game as season 1 with less masters, less sets, less coin packs, no abilities, less boosts, and all our favorite packs have become cash only. Not to mention a highly regulated AH. The only positive addition this season is Campaigns, that's it. I fail to see how anyone would find this season any better when we get less in every category and have the exact same gameplay.

Exactly. This game out of the mobile trio has easily the worst gameplay by far. It?s really upsetting they haven?t changed anything yet, but our sliver of hope is that they are apparently preparing for a massive revamp around All-Star. I?d post a picture but I don?t feel like gravedigging for it on Twitter.
 

aramwot

Rookie 3
Staff member
Founder
The game has most definitely improved on Season 2, can't comment for S1 - Wasn't around for it.

They are definitely listening more and have more of a pro-active approach vs no approach at all.
 

revride

Rookie 1
It's like they're doing Pimp My Ride this Season 3. Fancy interior/exterior, but it's still a beat-up car.
 
I can?t really comment on Season 1 since I played on the NBALM Asia build which is drastically different and had the worse start to a season of any version of the game so far. But people forget about K3, coin selling and cash grabs. The things they complained about on a daily basis throughout Season 1.

Season 2 was at least up to date for NBALM Asia users. It had a rough start and recovered around this time of year but went downhill with the All-Star promo. I would be surprised if the All-Star promo was as poor this year, so I think the devs have rekindled my faith.

The big thing they?ve done this year is try to get the balance right between f2p and p2w. It seems like they?re still fine tuning it from their end to ensure that promos are profitable but I like the fact that a large chunk of the promos are now grindable. We?ll see if that trend continues once higher OVR cards arrive since Fire and Ice and New Year?s were grindable last season.

So, no comment on which Season is the best. I?m happy with the game at present. That?s the main thing.
 

Stewie309

NBA Legend
Staff member
Community Chief
Imo Season 1 is still the best due to the free market the biggest thing I like about this season despite the messed up market at the start is that we don't have to worry about upgrading every lineup for LvL purposes and hopefully they don't require us to us other lineups in LvL because I hated needing to keep everything balanced out in order to avoid bad scores either for manual or AI
 

Anatdoc

All-Star 3
Played all 3 seasons.. prefer thiz seasons promos by a mile.. what i miss of season 1 is the uniqueness of each promo and integration of all game modes.. the connections with real life games (like award winners last season, it was fun trying to figure out point totals in season1 playoff promo etc).. but the season 1 promos were not half as grindable as this season..
 
Mostly agree with OP.
S1 still has a nostalgic place in my heart, and the free market and all of those perks (random giveaways, spamming the refresh to find cheap elites to flip, etc.) were unbeatable. But the game is a little more sophisticated now, and it seems more stable. I think it has gone in the right direction, but there are still some things they need bring back, and it's crazy that they haven't!!

- Coin packs for promos WITH players...this should be obvious.
- Creating rewards for ALL game modes (Season play hasn't had anything for two seasons, LvL rewards are achieved in less than a week)...this should also be obvious

Overall I'm happy with S3 though! and I think we joined at the same time in S1.
 

picklegoat

Rookie 2
I definitely think Season 1 was great and it is what kept me here but I think some of you are forgetting how crappy some of the features were as well.

There were so many glitches and modes where the gameplay was extremely slow. There were issues with the controls especially as it related to clutch and other more rare moves. There were coin packs and all these things where you would use your stamina and you would get hardly a thing for them. Stamina itself was an issue as some promos you would play 5 minutes and have to wait a few hours to play again. Head to head was horrible. Actually Season 2's Showdown was the best versus mode so far and I believe they are revamping Showdown to better match that now.

Season mode has been a drag in every edition. Nobody likes it, the rewards suck, the gameplay is easy and it's an autoplay situation.

Overall, Season 1 vs. 3 is definitely the question but this year has the second best music next to S1, the gameplay is better, the early promos have been better, campaigns is a cool twist, the auction house is not perfect but very close to S1 and I think that as this season goes on it's gonna get a lot better. There is just simply more effort being put into making it user friendly. EA through Brian is actually responding to our efforts.

The one criticism I will say other than no effort into Season mode is that some of the incomplete promos like Harden are strange and I never managed to get the top level of Embiid and I'm sure I have played 75 events... not sure why they left us hanging. LvL should go back to 3 qtrs like Season 1 I think too.

Close call but I think by the end of this Season it will be by far the best bc WE are changing the game with OUR requests.
 

gnu

Rookie 1
I agree with the OP. I started playing in July of '16, not long after hard launch, and I really enjoyed S1 a lot--but some of you nostalgic for it need to remember that at this point (December) of S1, we had rampant cheating in LvL and many of the sets were damn near impossible to complete. Despite the early issues with the AH, S3 has been better in almost every way.
 

Stewie309

NBA Legend
Staff member
Community Chief
Nostalgia isn't a factor in it for many players as almost all things people mentioned against S1 also apply to both S2 and S3 so those really are useless examples of negatives

How about some negatives from S3 that don't apply to S1
1. AH bot
2. Pack limits
3. Still a 2:30 game mode that sticks out like a sore thumb compared to all other PvP modes throughout the years
4. 75-82 overall master card that stopped at 82 when we have 90 overalls now
5. Point in time when EA tried to sell us coins
6. Cancelled programs for no reason

Some positives that apply to S3 and not S1
1. More active EA employees directly related to this game
2. 1 promo so far where we can grind out a fully finished master card
3. Changes coming based on what we want not exactly what we want but still some changes

Some positives that apply to S1 but not S3
1. Free market with no bot
2. Grindable non-promo masters including fully finished 95 OVR game master with clutch
3. Easier to invest in masters early in promos to flip for huge profits
4. Reasons to play other game modes during promos
5. Database distributed through a 3rd party by permission of EA that showed every stat in the game instead of us needing to rely on 1 person to handle the entire community's need for a DB and only having 1/3 of the stats to look at because EA cut down on what we see out of or in the game

Some negatives from S1 not in S3
1. Way less insight from the devs

We ALL can agree both are better then S2 which is EA's game plan this decade take away things or make them worse then make it better the next year making you think they just recreated the wheel
 

picklegoat

Rookie 2
IDK Stewie, some of the things you mention that are pros about Season 1 aren't necessarily pros for everyone. The auction house running rampant was also a disaster at times. Some teams were so loaded bc they made one big sale that it was making LvL and H2H worse. It was kinda the equivalent of a salary cap in sports putting bots in. Basketball for example has a cap and baseball doesn't but baseball isn't necessarily better than basketball because of a free market.

They definitely messed up some things so far like abandoning campaigns and master Embiid. BUT, there was not a better promo for grinders in S2 or most of S1 than Harvest. That was a pure grind promo which helped F2P players immensely. And it's still early. If they listen to us I think it will be much better than S1 by the end of the year.

I do think S1 was great but some of the programs back then still sucked. March Madness S1 was poor. The Summer stuff was poor, etc.

I guess we are nitpicking though. They are both very enjoyable and this season is trending upward. If Winter promo has presents and is awesome, I will be very happy.
 

Anatdoc

All-Star 3
Ill have to agree with pickle abt season 1 promos.. the only actual grindable was ultimate legend.. and that was some hardcore grinding.. all the other promos needed AH expertise rather than grinding gameplay.. i guess it comes down to how much the AH means to u in the decision between season 1 vs season 3 promos.. but content and creativity wise season 1 was way way better.. the only good promo in season 2 was 1st round of playoffs.. u could make a ton of coin AND get atleast 3-4 great cards..
 

Stewie309

NBA Legend
Staff member
Community Chief
IDK Stewie, some of the things you mention that are pros about Season 1 aren't necessarily pros for everyone. The auction house running rampant was also a disaster at times. Some teams were so loaded bc they made one big sale that it was making LvL and H2H worse. It was kinda the equivalent of a salary cap in sports putting bots in. Basketball for example has a cap and baseball doesn't but baseball isn't necessarily better than basketball because of a free market.

They definitely messed up some things so far like abandoning campaigns and master Embiid. BUT, there was not a better promo for grinders in S2 or most of S1 than Harvest. That was a pure grind promo which helped F2P players immensely. And it's still early. If they listen to us I think it will be much better than S1 by the end of the year.

I do think S1 was great but some of the programs back then still sucked. March Madness S1 was poor. The Summer stuff was poor, etc.

I guess we are nitpicking though. They are both very enjoyable and this season is trending upward. If Winter promo has presents and is awesome, I will be very happy.

I think you're underestimating how important a free market was as well as being able to sell to your own AH guaranteed it was key for giveaways and helping legaue members if they needed it by allowing you to know where the card was going and knowing that if your card sold on the AH it would also sell from your auctions with the bot you have to guess which AH it shows up on and no guarantee that if your card is bought by someone else that will get coins for it

Every season has and will have shitty promos an example of that from this season is the rookie promo where you had to spend a ton of money for 2 80 overall rookie cards and even more for all 3 to get 83 KD the summer courts promo was actually rather unique it gave us the non-NBA courts which were used for the classic lineup last year as well as tons of cards that were linked to the cities including some of the best cards in the game

A good grindable promo is nice but it doesn't make or break a season because in S1 it was very easy to grind out harvest legends and all the Winter T Mac cards which became staples in people's lineups for a long time

The Holiday Hoops promo this year will have presents based on a Twitter exchange Brian had with someone last months after Brian announced this month collectibles and other items (later revealed as courts and jerseys) will be auctionable then the person brought up how they we're excited that presents will be auctionable again and Brian sent an excited emoji

Edit: Auctionable presents are confirmed
 

picklegoat

Rookie 2
Well we can go back and forth about this a lot and there are fair points on each side but one thing I will comment about is the auction house. Bots are annoying. There were really annoying last year and the tax was insane for a while. But... I absolutely hated the bs and rigging that was in the auction house in season 1. People would buy coins on all these bs sites and stack their teams and leagues. I saw the "gifting" as basically a shortcut to cheating. Where scrub players would be able to buy a sick card for nothing and have a chance to beat you just bc they had artificial AI and OVR when I am grinding my a$$ off in the auction house and grinding my a$$ off even more in the games. To be able to bypass that with some rigged auction was something I am happy was abolished.

The presents are my favorite part of the game. I hope they do that for Easter again bc that may have been my all time favorite promo across 3 seasons with the eggs and baskets. I think it is great that you can sell them again for winter that is huge.

In summary, the fact that voices are listening to us is what i think will eventually separate S3 from S1.
 

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