Offline and Casual players Only Thread
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This is not a thread about anything involving online game play/rewards. It is also not meant to be an online vs offline thread, just looking for some opinions..
Offline /Casual Players. Curious as to your thoughts this far on this years game and specifically....Diamond Dynasty only. To me, while we have the usually things for offline like Conquest Maps, it has been made so difficult for offline only players to obtain program stars, no ability to get Red Diamonds, Team Affinity now requires that you play Showdown, which seems very difficult for the casual players and even harder now with the new patch
I am a player who like grinding stats for cards and don't mind more of a grind to do it than it is for online players (totally good with that) but it just seems like SDS has completely whiffed this year on almost anything to offline DD players. And now is sounds like XP has been reduced offline and online, making the XP reward path even more difficult.
Curious as to your thoughts...
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-Conquest
This is fine. It's basically the same as last year's and I like it. I've been playing it on HoF so it's a little bit more challenging, and I actually lose games now.
-Showdown
Conceptually great, but flawed in execution. I think they're only a couple small tweaks away from really fixing the majority of gripes, as I stated in a different thread
-Moments
For the most part fine, but they NEED to delete doubles moments. It was awful in 18, and they learned in 19, but brought them back for some reason.
-Prestige diamonds
Yeah it's mildly annoying that it's online only, but I'll survive
-XP
Seems to be reduced everywhere
-Team Affinity
Far better than last year's with rewards that can actually be used -
My biggest issue with TA is that last year, you could get 45 points for just collecting cards. Maybe that was a little too easy, but this year, IF you dont do showdown....it will just take forever. There should be more moments that can contribute toward affinity, and its just hilarious to me that you can only get 10 points for collecting a team set, but you then get all of the TA pack awards that are worthless cause they are locked.
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@ImDFC said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
-Conquest
This is fine. It's basically the same as last year's and I like it. I've been playing it on HoF so it's a little bit more challenging, and I actually lose games now.
-Showdown
Conceptually great, but flawed in execution. I think they're only a couple small tweaks away from really fixing the majority of gripes, as I stated in a different thread
-Moments
For the most part fine, but they NEED to delete doubles moments. It was awful in 18, and they learned in 19, but brought them back for some reason.
-Prestige diamonds
Yeah it's mildly annoying that it's online only, but I'll survive
-XP
Seems to be reduced everywhere
-Team Affinity
Far better than last year's with rewards that can actually be usedI agree with most of this if the offline gameplay is playing decent. Offline guys are hurt too, at times, to the engine changes. I play quite a bit offline to grind missions, programs. I was having trouble with showdown, which is frustrating. (I haven't played post patch yet). Absolutely agree on those doubles moments and stolen base moments are a pain in the A.
I'm not too bothered by the prestige diamond thing. I'd love to be able to do it (and probably will since I play a bit online too) but you're only talking minimal upgrade on those guys, for the most part.
The reduced XP kind of upsets me. It seemed to me (not sure if it's true) that the program stars being rewarded were down quite a bit already.
I like the team affinity and the players there, but it's quite a grind if you aren't able to knock out showdown in decent time.
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I want to play with my DD collection. Nothing else. I don't want to play with a drafted squad or with live MLB teams. And there's a big limitation with everything I can do with my collection - Conquest is 3-inning road games only, Play vs. CPU is aimless, and singleplayer Custom Leagues require exploiting a loophole, don't count as DD for the purpose of missions, and offer only home games.
Custom Leagues without the mentioned problems would be pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.
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@omegaminus_sk said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
I want to play with my DD collection. Nothing else. I don't want to play with a drafted squad or with live MLB teams. And there's a big limitation with everything I can do with my collection - Conquest is 3-inning road games only, Play vs. CPU is aimless, and singleplayer Custom Leagues require exploiting a loophole, don't count as DD for the purpose of missions, and offer only home games.
Custom Leagues without the mentioned problems would be pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.
I was really hoping for an offline custom league as well, without loopholes.
I completely agree and relate with all you said
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I have not played since the patch but what I have heard has concerned me quite a lot. Making batting harder, thereby making Showdown harder and reduced XP across the board would be a kick in the cajones.
Conquest - I like conquest. I like the multiple maps in conquest. My only request for conquest would be to refresh the Main Map throughout the year. Maybe make it stages like in the evolution missions. You have finished the map the first time and earned Mays now do stage 2 for a new legend in a few months.
Showdown - I failed the 1st inning showdown on the first boss. I should not have and some bad play along with a pinpoint accuracy throw from center field to cut down the winning run at the plate meant I lost stubs on that run. Not fun. I will try again.
Moments - So far at least it seems that they are hiding most of the moments in Player Programs or Showdown. If you have issues beating showdown then you will be at a major disadvantage for the inning program. Plus for the Granderson mission, the doubled, tripled and even quadrupled their multi game missions which I am not sure anybody enjoys due to the need to back out to the menu between every game and no easy way to restart a mission.
Prestige Diamonds - I hate that the inning bosses which hopefully can be won completely offline are Prestige cards. If you are going to make cards that can only be prestiged in online play then make the Ranked Seasons or Event rewards be those cards.
Team Affinity - No major positive or negative from me yet.
My biggest concern is the ability to get to 300 points as an offline casual player. 70 from showdown, 30 from conquest (plus maybe another 10 if you average 1 star per stronghold), 20 from The Granderson mission. That gets us around the halfway point with some miscellaneous points for playing. Assuming they release 2 or 3 more player programs like Granderson you will still be 80 or 100 points shy of 300.
How can you make up that difference? Collections which will cost you stubs. The Special Edition Diamonds gets you a fair amount but will cost upwards of 50,000 stubs to buy the extra 5 that you need. The Prospect collection is going to cost much more than that for a whole lot fewer points. The other option is just to play a whole lot of meaningless games vs the CPU.
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@Dolenz said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
I have not played since the patch but what I have heard has concerned me quite a lot. Making batting harder, thereby making Showdown harder and reduced XP across the board would be a kick in the cajones.
Conquest - I like conquest. I like the multiple maps in conquest. My only request for conquest would be to refresh the Main Map throughout the year. Maybe make it stages like in the evolution missions. You have finished the map the first time and earned Mays now do stage 2 for a new legend in a few months.
Showdown - I failed the 1st inning showdown on the first boss. I should not have and some bad play along with a pinpoint accuracy throw from center field to cut down the winning run at the plate meant I lost stubs on that run. Not fun. I will try again.
Moments - So far at least it seems that they are hiding most of the moments in Player Programs or Showdown. If you have issues beating showdown then you will be at a major disadvantage for the inning program. Plus for the Granderson mission, the doubled, tripled and even quadrupled their multi game missions which I am not sure anybody enjoys due to the need to back out to the menu between every game and no easy way to restart a mission.
Prestige Diamonds - I hate that the inning bosses which hopefully can be won completely offline are Prestige cards. If you are going to make cards that can only be prestiged in online play then make the Ranked Seasons or Event rewards be those cards.
Team Affinity - No major positive or negative from me yet.
My biggest concern is the ability to get to 300 points as an offline casual player. 70 from showdown, 30 from conquest (plus maybe another 10 if you average 1 star per stronghold), 20 from The Granderson mission. That gets us around the halfway point with some miscellaneous points for playing. Assuming they release 2 or 3 more player programs like Granderson you will still be 80 or 100 points shy of 300.
How can you make up that difference? Collections which will cost you stubs. The Special Edition Diamonds gets you a fair amount but will cost upwards of 50,000 stubs to buy the extra 5 that you need. The Prospect collection is going to cost much more than that for a whole lot fewer points. The other option is just to play a whole lot of meaningless games vs the CPU.
Just a quick point, but the prospects collection includes TA prospects. So it can be done for free, albeit at the expense of time.
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@DriveByTrucker17 said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
Just a quick point, but the prospects collection includes TA prospects. So it can be done for free, albeit at the expense of time.
Yeah, I realize that. But if you struggle with Showdowns then the amount of time that we are talking by accumulating innings and playing through MTO is extreme because I think you need 10 of the prospects. By the time I got that done we will be in the 7th inning and the 1st inning cards will be easier to just buy if they are not already obsolete.
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@Dolenz said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
@DriveByTrucker17 said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
Just a quick point, but the prospects collection includes TA prospects. So it can be done for free, albeit at the expense of time.
Yeah, I realize that. But if you struggle with Showdowns then the amount of time that we are talking by accumulating innings and playing through MTO is extreme because I think you need 10 of the prospects. By the time I got that done we will be in the 7th inning and the 1st inning cards will be easier to just buy if they are not already obsolete.
That’s true, but including Tebow it’s only 9. I get where you’re coming from though. At least you can complete it after the 1st inning ends for free if you really wanted to though.
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@DriveByTrucker17 said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
@Dolenz said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
@DriveByTrucker17 said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
Just a quick point, but the prospects collection includes TA prospects. So it can be done for free, albeit at the expense of time.
Yeah, I realize that. But if you struggle with Showdowns then the amount of time that we are talking by accumulating innings and playing through MTO is extreme because I think you need 10 of the prospects. By the time I got that done we will be in the 7th inning and the 1st inning cards will be easier to just buy if they are not already obsolete.
That’s true, but including Tebow it’s only 9. I get where you’re coming from though. At least you can complete it after the 1st inning ends for free if you really wanted to though.
That brings up another good point. I hope there are enough stars to be earned that late comers to the game at least can finish the earlier innings without needing the vouchers.
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@Dolenz said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
@DriveByTrucker17 said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
@Dolenz said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
@DriveByTrucker17 said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
Just a quick point, but the prospects collection includes TA prospects. So it can be done for free, albeit at the expense of time.
Yeah, I realize that. But if you struggle with Showdowns then the amount of time that we are talking by accumulating innings and playing through MTO is extreme because I think you need 10 of the prospects. By the time I got that done we will be in the 7th inning and the 1st inning cards will be easier to just buy if they are not already obsolete.
That’s true, but including Tebow it’s only 9. I get where you’re coming from though. At least you can complete it after the 1st inning ends for free if you really wanted to though.
That brings up another good point. I hope there are enough stars to be earned that late comers to the game at least can finish the earlier innings without needing the vouchers.
I agree with this, and that’s coming from somebody that finished every inning program on time last year, and plan to this year.
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Conquest - I love conquest and it's a big part of what I do in DD, it's been one of the bright spots this year (giving us 3 maps to start the year was fantastic) the CPU playing harder against you was hard at first but a nice challenge and has been a great way to get XP (until now).
Showdown. I haven't tried showdown much. It seems challenging but I'm sure I'll give it a try later on in the year.
Moments. Non existent to this point (other then Curtis Granderson and the season starter options) really hoping for more this year as I used these last year to build up my stubs and get great cards for my squad.
Prestige Diamonds - This I really don't like. I don't play online and therefore these are going to be really hard for me to obtain. I agree there should be options to earn these through offline modes.
Team affinity - I don't like the fact that there giving us double's and triples of cards that we can't sell or exchange other then that though I'm happy with team affinity again this year and I'm excited to try out some of the prospects.
It's going to be a real grind to get to 300 stars if each inning is like the first inning. I'm at 140 as of today. But if they have moments like last year it should work out. Fingers crossed.
My biggest complaint and while I say this I understand wanting to make collections harder to complete but the ability to not quick sell/exchange has been really difficult so far.
I should say that I really like perfect - perfect contact and I hope this new update doesn't ruin that.
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They did the same nerfs of hitting and XP after a few days last year. I brought up last year the fact that XP earned for activities during games had been lessened but people argued with me that it wasn’t so. The way I knew for sure was comparing the XP earned for an immaculate inning. It was significantly less after the first few days. With an immaculate inning, there’s no variation in what’s happening. 9 pitches, 9 strikes, 3 outs. I’ve noticed the same the last couple days this year. It’s annoying that nerfing hitting and XP after the first week seems to be their protocol. I love the development team for MLB the Show as much or more than that for any other game I’ve played the last couple decades, but it just makes no sense why these guys do things to ruin the experience so quickly after release. XP needed to remain the same and hitting didn’t need to be changed. The only thing that needed to be altered was an increase in pitch speeds for online play. It took months last year for the game to get fun again after they tinkered with the sliders that first week. So glad I preordered and played those extra 4 days. I was able to have a lot of fun and to complete collections. I sincerely hope this is not gonna be another year of tinkering with hitting constantly as reactions to some streamers and twitter folks. They should be able to play the game themselves and see how fun or not fun the game is playing. I personally don’t want a game that mimics real life stats. Low scoring games with no offense and constant caught line drives is not fun in a video game. This is the only baseball most of us are gonna get for months. I want it to be fun.
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Disappointing. Another year of conquest or nothing. I was looking forward to Showdown but I pretty much hate it to this point. Trying to be patient and give it a chance but I will be playing something new at this rate.
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@XxDeathReyxX said in Offline and Casual players Only Thread:
Disappointing. Another year of conquest or nothing. I was looking forward to Showdown but I pretty much hate it to this point. Trying to be patient and give it a chance but I will be playing something new at this rate.
Yes, was very much looking forward to SHOWDOWN, but the high difficulty makes it not worth the effort for me, and at a 1000 stubs per try....NO THANKS! Too bad...could have been great....i'd probably do it if it were free, but not doing it anymore unless it changes.....
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I'm holding off on my judgement. Just been enjoying playing the game the last few days. The locked in/unexchangeable cards is my biggest gripe so far. Bout to dive into the 1st inning showdown so wish me luck.
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Okay, I have played some conquest games on my normal difficulty (veteran) and here is what I have noticed.
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The PCI is noticeably smaller. It looks more like an All-Star PCI. This is going to hurt a lot of people who are not that great at positioning the PCI. My first game was an 8 inning loss to the Cardinals where I only managed a couple of hits.
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The variation on pitch speeds seemed greater because fastballs felt like they got to you quicker. I can't say for sure that they sped up the fastballs but it felt like it.
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XP definitely felt like it had been nerfed on the Offensive side. Even a good inning where I had 3 hits, scored a run and made the pitcher throw probably 15 pitches ended up being only 400 some odd XP. That number would have been much higher before. I could almost always average around 1,000 or more XP an inning but my 4-3 win over the Astros in 5 innings I only averaged about 600 and some odd XP per inning
The bottom line of this is that I had less fun. I have absolutely no confidence that I can accomplish a Showdown based on the way I hit against the Cardinals and Houston's #3 starters on veteran. Grinding Program stars in Conquest just became harder if they really did nerf the XP gains. Harder hitting will mean all of the Moments will be harder.
I will continue to play occasionally and see how it goes. But the hitting patch definitely seemed like it is really going to hurt those of us who rely on offline play at veteran or maybe all-star levels. This may become another '18 for me when I was done with the game by May.
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