Hitting is not fun
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I was about to post this in another thread, but thought my reasons were different from OP since I only play offline.
I play this game to relax, not get frustrated that all my games are either 1 run/hit games (mostly this) or 15-0 blowouts.
There are usually some growing pains at the beginning of each year, but those should have been fixed by now. 3 innings of lazy fly balls to center and dribblers to second is insane and boring. There has to be a balance between realism and playing a video game. That used to be accomplished by changing difficulty. Grinding on Rookie takes the same time as grinding on all-star now, except for XP. I admit that I'm not as good as the arthritis in my hands progresses, but I'd like to still enjoy the game I've been playing since MLBTS19. The Arthritis isn't that bad. I thought it was an adjustment to Directional hitting, but seeing multiple posts like this tells me it's not. As all sports games are, the grind is the game. Earn this player by hitting 50 home runs, that's fine, play the CPU vs the White Sox at Costco Field. Might take several times, but the grind is the game. This grind isn't fun. The balance went way too far to realism. To me, it feels like like being on the seesaw with my big brother and he just jumped off, slamming me to the ground.
I even find myself moving the sliders in RTTS and MTO. I've never had to do that before. Beginner with moved sliders so I can hit HRs on a regular basis while getting my player to where I actually want to play is now tedious. I'm back to always pressing up on the left joystick like I did when first starting out. I went through a lot of controllers that way, I'm not going to do that much longer because the controllers, I now use to accommodate my aging hands, are much more expensive.
I love what they did with the content this year. The creep is amazing! They finally use odd numbered cards instead of always going up by 2. I'm still using LS cards over a month into the baseball season. Most importantly, I get to team build every day I play, like I did in MLBTS 2021. Except for TA, which I'm reserving judgement until TA2, the programs are better than they've ever been. A decent amount of decent cards that can be earned. Yes, too many cards that have to be bought, but you can get a good team without buying a bunch. We're already on our 3rd mini season, and finally have had a good number of conquest maps. Diamond quest is a great addition, plus gives good cards. The changes made to RTTS are true improvements. I didn't see any changes to MTO, but we can't expect everything in one year.
I do have to say I don't like the changes to fielding and pitching though. The CPU still has common "gold gloves," while my diamond fielders miss easy ground balls and have errors in every game. That added to poor pitch control with 80+ control pitchers is laughable when you throw a 4 seam well above the zone and it gets hit out of the park because it ended up middle/middle. Add that to boring hitting and the gameplay sucks. This is a game, treat it like a game. RPGs have story mode, FPSs have easy, and other sports games have rookie that plays like it's for rookies. Shouldn't MLBTS?
You want true realism, cool, play on legend and be alright with some of your players having .176 batting averages. Make me play Rookie instead of Veteran, that's fine. But please don't take the fun from the game.
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@broken_toy1_PSN said in Hitting is not fun:
I was about to post this in another thread, but thought my reasons were different from OP since I only play offline.
I play this game to relax, not get frustrated that all my games are either 1 run/hit games (mostly this) or 15-0 blowouts.
There are usually some growing pains at the beginning of each year, but those should have been fixed by now. 3 innings of lazy fly balls to center and dribblers to second is insane and boring. There has to be a balance between realism and playing a video game. That used to be accomplished by changing difficulty. Grinding on Rookie takes the same time as grinding on all-star now, except for XP. I admit that I'm not as good as the arthritis in my hands progresses, but I'd like to still enjoy the game I've been playing since MLBTS19. The Arthritis isn't that bad. I thought it was an adjustment to Directional hitting, but seeing multiple posts like this tells me it's not. As all sports games are, the grind is the game. Earn this player by hitting 50 home runs, that's fine, play the CPU vs the White Sox at Costco Field. Might take several times, but the grind is the game. This grind isn't fun. The balance went way too far to realism. To me, it feels like like being on the seesaw with my big brother and he just jumped off, slamming me to the ground.
I even find myself moving the sliders in RTTS and MTO. I've never had to do that before. Beginner with moved sliders so I can hit HRs on a regular basis while getting my player to where I actually want to play is now tedious. I'm back to always pressing up on the left joystick like I did when first starting out. I went through a lot of controllers that way, I'm not going to do that much longer because the controllers, I now use to accommodate my aging hands, are much more expensive.
I love what they did with the content this year. The creep is amazing! They finally use odd numbered cards instead of always going up by 2. I'm still using LS cards over a month into the baseball season. Most importantly, I get to team build every day I play, like I did in MLBTS 2021. Except for TA, which I'm reserving judgement until TA2, the programs are better than they've ever been. A decent amount of decent cards that can be earned. Yes, too many cards that have to be bought, but you can get a good team without buying a bunch. We're already on our 3rd mini season, and finally have had a good number of conquest maps. Diamond quest is a great addition, plus gives good cards. The changes made to RTTS are true improvements. I didn't see any changes to MTO, but we can't expect everything in one year.
I do have to say I don't like the changes to fielding and pitching though. The CPU still has common "gold gloves," while my diamond fielders miss easy ground balls and have errors in every game. That added to poor pitch control with 80+ control pitchers is laughable when you throw a 4 seam well above the zone and it gets hit out of the park because it ended up middle/middle. Add that to boring hitting and the gameplay sucks. This is a game, treat it like a game. RPGs have story mode, FPSs have easy, and other sports games have rookie that plays like it's for rookies. Shouldn't MLBTS?
You want true realism, cool, play on legend and be alright with some of your players having .176 batting averages. Make me play Rookie instead of Veteran, that's fine. But please don't take the fun from the game.
For me it's the CPU pitching, it gets worse every year and this year is terrible.
I now refuse to play 9 inning games against the CPU because every game now is the pitcher throwing either ball after ball or unhittable dots on the corners, and when you do find a hittable pitch and hit it perfect perfect you can bet the fielders will find a way to come out of nowhere to make the catch, even if they have bronze fielding.
I've said this for the past 2 years at least, if I'm playing on rookie and trying to grind stats I don't want to just sit there watching my hits turn into outs, it's very deflating. Rookie/Vetran/All Star should be fun grinding levels not the CPU playing like it's a GOAT team.
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You guys nailed this 100%. Exactly how I feel and so sick of all the sweats and try hards denying it. The game isn’t fun or rewarding and it stinks. The potential is there but they intentionally slowed the grind to a halt and if I’m not having fun what is the point. I have a full time job and family with children and sports. I don’t need this game to feel like a part time job I don’t get paid to do to creep along at a snails pace.
I said the CPU pitches like a combo of Ricky Vaughn from Major League and Greg Maddux rolled into one.
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I cannot upvote this post enough!
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I cannot upvote this post enough as well!!
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if it's any reprieve, events feel better.
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About the only thing I’d add is that on rookie, we should score so many runs that we are encouraged to try a higher difficulty.
As the game stands now (in all modes), I’m not encouraged at all to get off Rookie (unless forced to)
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@capardo_MLBTS said in Hitting is not fun:
About the only thing I’d add is that on rookie, we should score so many runs that we are encouraged to try a higher difficulty.
As the game stands now (in all modes), I’m not encouraged at all to get off Rookie (unless forced to)
In RTTS I like to get my player to the skill I want and use dynamic until I find the right point. Same idea.
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The original post is true for me also. I have limitations. I play offline only and veteran difficulty to compensate. I understand that I am playing with low diamonds and golds compared to the 99's that we had last year. However, I am playing against AI teams with bronze players. Those bronze pitchers are dotting sweepers and those bronze fielders are robbing extra-base hits with highlight-reel catches. My low diamond hitters are driving perfect-perfect contact right at the fielders or turning solid contact into lazy fly balls. It makes the game frustrating. I just want my bronze/silver offline opponent to play like one, and my own rare good contact to result in something positive. Is that asking too much?
Leave online play alone if people like it. Just make offline grinding a little less painful on the easier difficulties. If people want to be challenged offline, they have the higher difficulties and better rewards for using them.
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To be fair... starting with MLBTS19 as your base is not going to help...
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All of these points are true for me as well. I play basically just offline and on rookie or veteran. The content this year is fantastic. The hitting grind is brutal.
Perfect summary of this year's game happened to me in mini seasons yesterday on rookie. Scoreless game in the top of the 4th because, you know ... hitting. I strike out Babe Ruth with Rollie Fingers, but the pitch gets away in the dirt and Ruth reaches first. Why, why, why are there so many wild pitches this season??? These are major league catchers blocking here. Juan Soto then turns on a 1-2 fastball up and in for a 3-run bomb.
Bottom of the 4th, I've got Tim Raines ghost running on 2nd. He takes off for third (not my call), but I get a outside fastball to Craig Biggio, who smokes it to right "perfectly." First baseman makes a leaping grab of the 103mph hit then throws to second for the easy double play.
This game has always had a double play fixation, but the wild pitch thing and lack of offense this year are mood killers.
As it stands, I'm about 22 games into this mini season and I still need six hits by Barry Larkin for the Ryan Braun card, seven extra-base hits for the jumbo pack and 300 PXP for the pipeline pack. -
I understand most of what you're saying; I get that registering P/Ps only to hit into outs is frustrating for you and others, and I agree that the CPU plays too fine a defense, though I don't have the same frame of reference because I really don't enjoy playing below AS (though my understanding was that the lower levels slow the pitch speeds down and make your PCI and pitching inputs more forgiving, not that it necessarily changes how the CPU reacts)... but I don't understand this:
@Orcin_MLBTS said in Hitting is not fun:
... turning solid contact into lazy fly balls.
I'm not trying to pick a fight, here... I just don't know what this means. If you hit a lazy fly ball, what is it that makes you think you should have had solid contact? Is it just because of the feedback window? And, seriously, do any of us really know, definitively, what that shows? Is it reflective of where the ball would have or already had crossed the plane of the plate (because if you swing early, it hasn't, and if you're late, it's already past that point)? Does it show the point where contact was made (likely not, as it shows the PCI as it was on the batter screen, but, depending on your timing, you would have swung through that point in space if early or not yet reached it if late)? And I'm referencing the black screen when I talk about the feedback window; that overhead bat graphic is nonsense and clearly does not show anything close to what happened.
I guess I think I'm saying that too much is being made of the feedback screen. I don't think we have a clear enough understanding of that, and I'm not so sure it works, anyway. Where offense is concerned, reliance on that window seems to be ruining people's lives.
On defense, you're probably right that some sliders were turned up to stop easy grinding (the CPU is quicker than I am to react, on AS, anyway, but still makes errors with realistic enough frequency, in my experience), but I just don't see the issue with hitting; it's just less forgiving and exit velocities are more realistic, statistically.
I think that not only makes hitting more fun, it finally makes pitching and defense fun, too. That makes for a better overall baseball game.
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@The_Joneser_PSN said in Hitting is not fun:
I'm not trying to pick a fight, here... I just don't know what this means. If you hit a lazy fly ball, what is it that makes you think you should have had solid contact? Is it just because of the feedback window? And, seriously, do any of us really know, definitively, what that shows? Is it reflective of where the ball would have or already had crossed the plane of the plate (because if you swing early, it hasn't, and if you're late, it's already past that point)? Does it show the point where contact was made (likely not, as it shows the PCI as it was on the batter screen, but, depending on your timing, you would have swung through that point in space if early or not yet reached it if late)? And I'm referencing the black screen when I talk about the feedback window; that overhead bat graphic is nonsense and clearly does not show anything close to what happened.
Between the feedback screen (where the PCI is relative to the ball such as if you miss under or over it, or if you’re right on it; and, where the swing timing is within the green/yellow shading on the overhead view) and analysis screen (PCI rating on the scale of 0 to 15; and, timing as categorized in the analysis), you can get a good idea of the quality of input from the hitter. Once you account for pitch location, hitter attributes like power, and hitter swing type (balanced, contact, or power), you have a good idea of potential outcomes.
All of that then goes into the RNG and that spits out the randomized outcome.
Generally, once you understand all of that, what people are describing generally relates to two things:
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More “okay contact” outcomes on good input than past years. The contact outcomes are perfect, good, okay, weak, or other. Great swing input on strikes is typically perfect or good contact. Good swing input on strikes is typically good or okay contact. The more good swing input translates to okay contact, the less rewarding the game feels. The more good swing input translates to good contact, the more rewarding the game feels. Okay contact is often routine fly balls.
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Less exit velocity on good contact. There’s a lot of 90 to 95 mph fly balls occurring on good contact.
I haven’t looked at this year’s offline slider options but a staple of the game’s sliders for years has included a “solid hit” slider. It basically deals with how often good swing input translates to good or okay contact. This year feels like that slider has been turned down a couple notches. It doesn’t really impact great swings, that are typically perfect or good contact, and are what typically lead to big innings. It seems to be in that good but not great category that input just feels very unrewarding.
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@The_Joneser_PSN said in Hitting is not fun:
but I don't understand this:
@Orcin_MLBTS said in Hitting is not fun:
... turning solid contact into lazy fly balls.
I'm not trying to pick a fight, here... I just don't know what this means. If you hit a lazy fly ball, what is it that makes you think you should have had solid contact? Is it just because of the feedback window?
Yes. The feedback window says that my contact was "good". I think it is reasonable to then assume that my contact was good. I have no other data.
I don't believe you are in a position to understand the concerns expressed by myself and others in this thread. You say that you don't play on anything below all-star. I never play above veteran. You talk about the pci placement, but I use directional hitting. I think your skill level is too high to relate to our difficulties. Again, I don't want to change your experience. I just think that rookie and veteran should be a bit more forgiving.
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Upvote upvote upvote
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As someone who plays exclusively offline Rookie, I think I’m usually the one to blame when I get into a hitting slump. It almost always means I’m getting impatient and chasing bad pitches. When I’m patient and not chasing pitches out of the zone, or even taking pitches in the zone but not “my pitch” (eg. low and away or high and inside) I’m usually rewarded with very hittable pitches down the middle and enjoy running up the score to 29-0.
Maybe it’s different for the Switch version but with the slower frame rates I find it harder to chase pitches on Veteran (I despise moments) as they are almost always thrown to the edges of the zone. I happy to play my little patience game on Rookie instead.
Most of my players are batting .400+ and I have all programs and conquest maps complete. It’s a nice little sweet spot for me.
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agreed with everything you said. Grinding this year is a big problem and slow. They nerf the hell out of mini seasons. Pitching is a mess you either getting dotting to death or walk to death. Hitting is randomly as hell to. Rookie plays like all star, veteran plays like rookie, hall of fame plays like all star, legend play like Goat, and Goat plays like legend this is all offline playing. And cpu can go from hitting like a toddler and the next minute plays like a top 10 player with eyes of a eagle. -
They are doing this to support their power creep. In '15-17 or so, they allowed you to just mash fastballs down the middle and grind all day on Rookie vs CPU. You could even play a (grind friendly) user created team named the "Yetis", and get even more stats/xp etc., with ease... Nowadays, while grinding vs CPU is not difficult, it is a lot more time consuming and tedious. Basically, grinding vs CPU on Rookie/Veteran/AS etc. is working as intended.
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How does making low difficulty offline play tedious as heck with nerfed results and CPU rarely throwing a hittable pitch support the power creep? Their release of cards should support the creep plain and simple. This year is far worse than the previous 5 and I just don’t get it. Maybe it motivates others to play more but it makes me want to play less and the fun factor is diminished 10 fold.
As an offline player no one cares what card I do and don’t have. All this does is make the game less fun and rewarding for me which is ridiculous. I play to chill and unwind from life. If players want to be challenged let them do so online at higher difficulties.
Make rookie play like rookie plain and simple. Rookie mode in most other games has this figured out but in the show rookie is just slower pitch speeds and bigger PCIs. Otherwise there is almost no advantage to playing on Rookie or Veteran because the CPU will still super dot and drive up your pitch count by taking pitches just off the black and fouling off 10 pitches if the inning is going just a bit too fast. Makes no sense.
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Strongly agree with most of whats been said here. Its actually refreshing that there are so many people liking and sharing their similar gripes as opposed to what you see on alot of forums like this, fanboys, undercover interns etc dismissing valid concerns and or defending the game as some beacon of perfection.
Hitting is ABYSMAL. Particularly as others have said for offline low difficulty players. I get that there have been years where EVERYTHING is a homerun and no one wants that either. But this is the opposite extreme and its just as bad, if not worse.
