This is the big one: the return of Affiliations in the next-gen version of NBA 2K21.
The City is big, and so the return of Affiliations is a given considering the sheer size of the online world. It’s been among the more requested features of the NBA 2K community so it’s great to see it returning. Read more about NBA 2K21‘s next gen Park, The City.
The four Affiliations in the next-gen version of NBA 2K21 are:
- North Side Knights
- South City Vipers
- Beasts of the East
- Western Wildcats
Each Affiliation will have its own specific borough within The City, and once you get our of Rookieville, you’ll be assigned an Affiliation. If for whatever reason you don’t like your Affiliation, you can visit City Hall in your desire Affiliation’s borough to request a transfer (awesome, right?).
The downside? If you do change Affiliations, you rep level will be decreased back to Pro 1, which is what you are when you first leave Rookieville.
You earn Player Rep at a faster rate by playing on your own Affiliation’s courts. “Playing on the courts of your rival Affiliations will earn you much less rep per game played.”
For the final two weeks of every Mayor term (which I’ll touch on below), there will be a series of events, which will determine which Affiliations run The City. These Rival Day Conquest events will be where all rep-earning restrictions are removed from The City and you are encouraged to invade every other borough with your teammates and take hold of the courts.
This will conclude with the Rival Day Championship, which will take place in the Event Centre.
“Battle head-to-head with teams from other Affiliations as you engage in this culminating experience. For the Affiliation that comes out on top of this head-to-head championship, the spoils of The City await you. You’ll be able to head to your Affiliations City Hall and pick up your winner’s check (enjoy the free VC!), but the real prize is your Mayor will also be able to deck out your entire borough and make your Affiliation the envy of The City.”
Above, Mayor’s are touched on, but what are they exactly?
As described by Visceral Visions: “Each Affiliation will be represented by a Mayor; they will be very influential in your day-to-day experience within The City.”
Mayor’s will be responsible for
- Affiliation Videos – The creation of assorted videos during their term that will appear in-game on the jumbotrons in the court areas.
- Custom Playlists – Mayors can curate custom music playlists that only play within their respective borough/affiliation boundaries. As you move away from one court area, you will hear the music slowly fade away as you get further away, and vice-version as you approach your Affiliation’s area.
- Court Design – There will be events during a Mayor’s reign where if their Affiliation comes out victorious, they will have the responsibility of designing what the courts look like for their borough.
- Mural Design – Like Court Design above, there will be opportunities for Affiliations to customize the look of their court areas with highly stylized murals.
- Uniform Selection – When it comes time to formally battle the other Affiliations head-to-head, the Mayor will have the unique opportunity to select the uniform that all members will wear as they stream onto the courts of their rivals.
So how are Mayor’s chosen? For the launch of next-gen NBA 2K21, Mayors will be hand-selected candidates from the NBA 2K community.
“These four big-time community influencers will be leading the charge for our Mayor program,” the developer explains. “Every six weeks, we will be holding an election week in the game where you, the community representing your Affiliation, will have the final say on who becomes the next Mayor to represent the cause.”
What are your thoughts on Affiliations returning in NBA 2K21? Sound off in the comments below!