WWE 2K19 is a little over one week away, and the team at 2K Sports dropped a new dev blog about WWE 2K19‘s new MyPLAYER system, which is an upgrade to the MyPLAYER experience that has been integral to the MyCAREER experience in both NBA 2K and WWE 2K. This is going to be a long one, as this is the final update to the roundup!
Check out the Hell in a Cell and Steel Cage improvements in Part One of the WWE 2K19 Features Roundup: WWE 2K19 Features Roundup Part One
Check out the WWE Universe Mode changes and improvements in Part Two of the WWE 2K19 Features Roundup: WWE 2K19 Features Roundup Part Two
MyPLAYER, coined and innovated back in NBA 2K10 after the introduction of 24/7 Mode, has become a staple in both NBA 2K and WWE 2K, integral in the main single-player experience – MyCAREER. As I’ve already discussed in our piece about this year’s MyCAREER campaign, the changes that come to the MyPLAYER experience are integral to how MyCAREER advances as a story. The main change is to the upgrade system. WWE 2K18 saw an approach similar to the NBA 2K system where certain attribute groups were boosted by earned Attribute Points, which were hard to come by at times, and downright frustrating in terms of advancing your MyPLAYER up the ranks. This year, WWE 2K19 introduces the MyPLAYER Skill Tree Progression System. According to 2K, the MyPLAYER Tree “offers a more visually engaging way to advance your character with branching paths” in order to make every created Superstar unique.
There are five prestige ranks while progressing through the MyPLAYER skill tree: Rookie, Superstar, Main Eventer, Titan, and Hall of Famer. Upon reaching Level 50 of the rank that you’re currently seated in, you Prestige up to the next rank, unlocking new branching Tree options, as well as exclusive Superstar parts and even emblems and banners for your MyPLAYER profile. Similar to the Final Fantasy X Sphere Grid system, you can take a look at all the available paths to determine where you’ll go while climbing the tree. You can also earn XP levels as you advance through the MyPLAYER Tree, and once you reach level 10, the Sub-Style tree opens up. We’ll talk more about that as we get to the revamped Style system later in the article. However, the Sub-Style Tree can seriously change your Superstar according to the choices you make while going up these trees. Make your decisions carefully, as your style can completely go into left field if mismanaged.
There is a third upgrade Tree, that’s related to the Payback System. MyPLAYERs can gain exclusive Level 2 Paybacks that provide extra buffs to your character, depending on the Payback you choose. These are known as Overcharges and can be further buffed by advancing up the Overcharge Tree. Beast Mode increases grapple speed and damage and is indicated by a golden glow on your arms upon activation. Charged Fury allows you to unleash a powerful punch to devastate your opponent. Electrifying, if uninterrupted allows for your Momentum to grow at a much faster rate than normal, while your body radiates with electricity. I would doubt that these Overcharges make it outside of MyCAREER with the potential of them being beyond broken or abused to grief. That’s neither here nor there at this point, though.
Last year’s loot box system? Considered that rendered OBSOLETE! This year, the in-game store has moved to packs that can be purchased exclusively with in-game currency. What does this mean? NO MICROTRANSACTIONS – at least with real money. Tokens and deluxe tokens can be earned through gameplay, and the loot packs are geared to specific genres in this year’s title. Create-a-Superstar parts, Taunts/Entrances/Victories, Moves, and Boosts are all in separate packs, so you can tailor your purchases to specific needs. There are also combo packs if you so choose to test your luck. Receive an item you don’t like or you already have and you can sell it for deluxe tokens to open better packs.
Road to Glory returns with some new features. While the core idea of the game is similar – compete against others to get boosts, parts, VC and star points to gain access to Pay-Per-View events – this year opens up an additional option: Factions. You can join one of eight different factions right out of the gate, which offer unique challenges which will raise your faction level, as well as earn you superstar parts and emblems and banners for your MyPLAYER profile. Road to Glory stars can also be earned in the single-player MyPLAYER Towers. There will be challenges included in both MyPLAYER Towers and Road to Glory, such as kicking out twice in a match. You’ll initially receive small rewards for the first time you accomplish the challenge, but as you complete the same challenge more than once, you can earn leveled sideplates which yield higher rewards each time. Speaking of MyPLAYER Towers…
MyPLAYER Towers allow you to take a WWE Superstar or your MyPLAYER through a string of opponents, all tied to a specific theme. Every tower is unique with different victory conditions, stipulations and degrees of difficulty. The two different types of Towers, Gauntlet and Steps, have different clear requirements: Gauntlet must be done in one setting and if you lose or quit you start over, but Steps allows you to play at your own pace, with progress being saved after each match. There will be 13 persistent MyPLAYER Towers from launch in WWE 2K19, with 7 day-one towers at launch. 2K will also update Towers with daily, weekly and real-life WWE Pay-Per-View towers to keep content flowing. If you pre-ordered WWE 2K19, you’ll also gain access to a Rey Mysterio Tower as well as Ronda Rousey Tower. Deluxe and WOOOOO! Edition owners will receive a Ric Flair Tower.
The Creation suite has been bolstered with three new features: Create-a-Superstar Randomizer, Block Bodies, and Mirrored Attires.
The Create-a-Superstar Randomizer does as advertised: build a fully created character with just the press of a button. The randomizer will select a unified color theme to keep everything uniform, so if you don’t like the colors on the attire you settle on, you can change the color theme without changing the outfit. The randomizer can also be pinpointed to just one part or many parts of your Superstar, so feel free to mix and match the way you feel.
Creating a Superstar can be quite a time-consuming process. Trust me, I’ve done it every year. WWE 2K19 fixes that this year by allowing superstar parts to be easily mirrored. If you customize a glove or an elbow pad, you can mirror it over to the other limb, so you don’t have to go through the menus to do the same process all over again. Logo placement, color and material will be retained, so customization should take a fraction of the time.
Block Superstars can be made as well, where you can go full Minecraft on your MyPLAYER, your favorite superstar or just go old school with it and create NES-style Mario or something. You can edit the outer surface pixel by pixel, so get excited to bring in your pixel creations.
Create-An-Arena also has seen some updates as well. You can go full Instagram filter on your show by tweaking hue, saturation, and contrast. Want to go spoopy for Halloween? Add in some fog. Want to go full heel Batista? Add a single spotlight to the ring. You can also give your shows a cel-shaded filter to give it a comic-book style.
That’s it for WWE 2K19‘s features roundup for this year! What will you be doing when the game releases on October 5? Will you take the Road to Glory? How about go HAM in the Creation Suite?
WWE 2K19 will be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Steam on Windows PC.
