NBA 2K21 Patch 1.02 Notes: Detailed Breakdown Of What Changed In New Update

On Monday, 2K released something they haven’t in at least a couple of years, and that’s a detailed set of patch notes to inform fans what they’ve changed in a recent update.

A massive update went live on Monday, and it addressed several areas of the game including the polarizing shot-aiming component, the 2K Share problem, and more. Here is a look at all of the notes from Patch 1.02.

General 

• New Pro Stick Aiming/Shot Timing selector. On your first boot, you will now have the option to choose between using the new Pro Stick Aiming mechanic or the traditional Shot Timing mechanic. Your settings file will be updated with the appropriate selection. As always, you can visit your settings at any time to update your shooting preference.
• Fixed several hangs that could happen when entering and exiting various game modes during the same session, or when idling out at certain areas.
• Andrew Wiggins now appears with updated facial hair to more accurately represent his appearance.

 Gameplay 

• Enabled the ability to use Pro Stick Shot Aiming with the Shot Meter setting turned off.
• Ideal Shot Aiming point now determined by how slowly or quickly the Pro Stick is initially deflected when starting a shot. A slow flick will move the ideal aim point to the left, while a fast flick will move the ideal point to the right, giving players more consistency with Pro Stick shooting.
• Changed Ante Up to use competitive slider settings (more skill-based).
• When the Shot Feedback setting is set to "OFF," players and opponents will no longer see Excellent Release (green light) animations.
• Fixed unwanted fadeaway shots that were playing after immediately shooting out of certain dribble moves.
• Improved standing dunk reliability when using the Pro Stick.
• Disabled the double team indicator in an effort to clean up the on-screen UI based on community feedback.
• Added the ability to shoot driving floaters from further away from the basket.
• Moving Park dribble moves were remapped to "holds" on the Pro Stick, allowing continued use of Hard Stops with L2/LT after unlocking the Park Handles badge.
• Cleaned up some animation pops in the dribble move system.
• Fixed ball physics bugs when Shot Timing was set to Real Player %.
• Toned down the effectiveness of the Lead to Basket pass feature to prevent exploits.

 MyCAREER 

• Fixed a Pro Am 3v3 hang that was being reported by the community.
• Fixed a hang that some users reported when entering/exiting the Cages.
• Addressed a case where some users reported loss of control of their MyPLAYER during gameplay.
• Fixed an issue in MyCOURT where the player was unable to finish some mini-games with certain NBA players as AI.
• Fixed a hang that could happen at the start of a 3-on-3 game in MyCOURT.
• Fixed an issue where fan growth in Park games was not properly accumulating. 
• Addressed an issue where custom shoes were sometimes not showing up properly on other players in the Beach.
• Fixed a hang that some users reported when transitioning between Beach instances.
• Users will now receive the correct scene after winning the College Championship.

MyTEAM 

• Fixed a hang that would occur if the user was tracking an expired Agenda. 
• Fixed an issue where the progress bar would fail to show progress on the Agenda Tracker.
• Fixed user interface issues when applying and upgrading badges to player cards.

MyLEAGUE / MyGM 

• 2K Share Content (Draft Classes/Players/Rosters) should now properly function when accessed.
• Tuning improvements to Player Progression, based on community feedback. With our new “Boom or Bust” system, player progression/regression has been completely re-written for 2K21 to provide a level of dynamism such that players will follow different career arcs in different playthroughs.
• Addressed a MyLEAGUE item where the user would hang when selecting the Save As option after previously accessing the shared save list.

This list is in a word, refreshing. For the past couple of release cycles, 2K’s patch notes had become increasingly scant, and left players wondering what was changed. This communication has a much sweeter taste, and what’s even better is that most of the major issues were at least addressed across several modes.

The 2K Share issue was one of the biggest because of its complete unavailability, and now that is working properly, which has been confirmed by several members of that sub-community.

As for the shooting, it will take a few days or so before anyone can give an accurate gauge on how this new approach is affecting the gameplay experience. In any case, it’s a strong effort to make the game better. At the end of the day, that’s all any sensible 2K fan can ask for from the developer and publisher.