Moonshot program the worst in years
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Ever wonder why you can't get any hits but your opponent can? Never seems to be the other way around.
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Unfortunately, it’s not gonna happen. The changes have been by design and the current and future direction is clear. They are catering to the elite players and/or whales at the expense of the casual player.
They have made a calculated business decision that squeezes players out that aren’t great at the game or don’t want to buy stubs. It’s not going to change and will likely double down this path moving forward until they are lumped into the same category as Madden, FIFA and 2K.
For those that say there are plenty of free cards all you have to do is compare the pack cards to the earnable cards to see they are far from equal despite what the rating says. If you want the good stuff simply grinding the game no longer works. Either bust out the credit card or git gud are the only viable options.
I certainly don’t want a participation trophy, just a chance to grind for the fun cards. As an offline player nobody cares what cards I have but me so at least give me a chance at them even if it costs more stubs or takes longer to achieve than the more skilled players.
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@TripleH-4481_PSN what you’re saying is nonsense; if they cater to the elite players they are losing well over 95% of their base. They want to sell more units, not less, and be as broad as possible. They’re toeing the line between monetization and player retention and will adjust one way or the other depending on their data.
The gameplay isn’t harder or less rewarding. We get these stupid threads every g**[censored] years vomiting the same dumb confirmation bias presented as fact.
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@yankblan_PSN the same 5 people every year, whine about the same five things, and they buy the game every year.
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@TripleH-4481_PSN said in Moonshot program the worst in years:
Unfortunately, it’s not gonna happen. The changes have been by design and the current and future direction is clear. They are catering to the elite players and/or whales at the expense of the casual player.
They have made a calculated business decision that squeezes players out that aren’t great at the game or don’t want to buy stubs. It’s not going to change and will likely double down this path moving forward until they are lumped into the same category as Madden, FIFA and 2K.
For those that say there are plenty of free cards all you have to do is compare the pack cards to the earnable cards to see they are far from equal despite what the rating says. If you want the good stuff simply grinding the game no longer works. Either bust out the credit card or git gud are the only viable options.
I certainly don’t want a participation trophy, just a chance to grind for the fun cards. As an offline player nobody cares what cards I have but me so at least give me a chance at them even if it costs more stubs or takes longer to achieve than the more skilled players.
First you say it's wrong that the good cards are locked in packs. Then you say you want a chance at then even if they cost more stubs.
Kind of contradicting.
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The only problem I have with it is they introduced these deluxe, premiere and ultra packs as ways to finish collections and to give you a choice of which ones to tackle. Then they introduce this program and made specially named packs so that I can't use the Deluxe packs that I saved to help me finish this collection.
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There is little doubt that SDS has been steering their ship towards the monetization destination for several years now. How much that bothers or impedes any given player is variable.
I would also say that to some extent that they are catering more to the best players also.
There is evidence of this. Does the game cater to whales? Absolutely, look at this program. Spend stubs and buy all of the pack cards turn them in for collections and you finish the program without throwing a pitch or stepping up to the plate
Now can you still get everything No Money Spent? Yes but that takes a level of dedication and time that your casual and middle of the road players just don't have or can afford the time for.
There is also an argument to be made that Diamond Quest is aimed at better/elite players, or again players who have a lot of time to play these multiple times if they fail a RNG check. It's one thing to have the gameplay have some randomness baked in but to succeed at a diamond quest map and then still have to rely on the luck of a dice roll is too much. The better you are, the higher difficulty you play on the better your chances of earning the reward. I am not sure how that is not catering to better players at the potential cost of alienating more casual players who rely on rookie or veteran modes.
There are probably more examples but I am sitting here with no power typing on my phone. Also, this is from someone who has been accused of being a shill or employee more times than I can count.
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This is a good drop chill out
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@Dinger_Dan19_PSN said in Moonshot program the worst in years:
This is a good drop chill out
I will say after all that I typed above that I kinda like this content drop for the most part.
I'd like it even more if all 4 Cardinal cards released yesterday were not in packs requiring me to spend stubs on at least 3 but possibly all 4 of them
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@Dinger_Dan19_PSN said in Moonshot program the worst in years:
This is a good drop chill out
For actual in game content, its the best drop of the year.
It also comes with a chase card and two cards meant to be much rarer than the other cards. And I believe a collection that needs one of the three.
Comparing to 2023 the monetization is SIGNIFICANTLY worse in just two short years. We already have more chase cards in 2025 than we had in all of 2023. I believe we have more pack cards outside of headliners/diamond duos already. And stubs were so much easier to obtain in 2023 than they are now, unless you are elite or bunt cheese DQ.
Remember when those mini season cards were sellable? Or when a mini season run was good for 10-15k stubs on its own? Now even the programs stubs nodes are 250....gee, thanks how generous
Of course, a few years back Sony (not SDS) get obsessed with the live service model and it would be a very safe bet they are behind this, and its frankly not likely to go away. A game catered towards whales makes far more money than one catered towards light spenders, even if the population is reduced by 50%+
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This game is way better than when they gave every card to everybody that played the game for 3 seconds.im ok with the grind, im ok with good cards being hard to get and im ok with SDS trying to make money as a business. Why would they cater to whiny dudes on thier forum that dont spend money and dont do anything but complain. Why would a for profit business spend thier time giving out free stuff to guys that will just come on here and talk about how the game is nerfed because they had to play the Rockies on rookie twice this year to complete the program instead of one conquest game like 2022
The game is not nerfed if you can’t hit but all your opponents;, think about it we are all playing the same game!
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I agree with the OP about these Moonshot cards being useless to a large amount of the player base. There are people that make their lineup all the best hitters & don’t care about speed, stealing or fielding. These cards are for them.
Unfortunately you know that all these cards will be required down the road for big collections. If you don’t care about those collections then just skip Moonshot and play what’s fun to you.
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@Redd666ish_PSN said in Moonshot program the worst in years:
This game is way better than when they gave every card to everybody that played the game for 3 seconds.im ok with the grind, im ok with good cards being hard to get and im ok with SDS trying to make money as a business. Why would they cater to whiny dudes on thier forum that dont spend money and dont do anything but complain. Why would a for profit business spend thier time giving out free stuff to guys that will just come on here and talk about how the game is nerfed because they had to play the Rockies on rookie twice this year to complete the program instead of one conquest game like 2022
The game is not nerfed if you can’t hit but all your opponents;, think about it we are all playing the same game!
You are putting words in people's mouths
I loved 2023 because of the longer programs. I disliked 2024 because everything was designed to be completed in an hour or two. You could play that game 3-5 hours a week and easily complete everything offline.
I spent some money in 2023. Usually just to put me over the top for flash sales, but I loved the content and was motivated. 2025, since they have heavily nerfed the stubs you can earn in game and increased pack cards, I just ignore the pack shop completely.
And yes, I am hitting quite noticeably worse than I was last year for my particular style of offline play (which avoids vs CPU games in clown stadiums and prefers all star difficulty). if anything I am better online though. So I've played enough to conclude that it is highly unlikely to be me that has changed
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@Teak2112_MLBTS I always play on AS for offline programs and I’m hitting way better than last year with all the candy 99s from day one. Maybe you need a break or change your approach, cause I’m having a better year all around (online too) and not getting younger.
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Maybe stop comparing this year to other years, hitting is always different year to year.
One year I went 18 straight hits with Willie Mays the 19th AB was the first out (best I've ever done with anybody) never have done that again, still hit good with him...
Also maybe not try for a result, as mentioned elsewhere I had 20 homers with Wood all done early in the season and didn't use him for awhile, put him back in to get the last 5 and through at least 30 ABs hit nothing but liners got hits and doubles and triples but couldn't seem to launch the ball, 10 games into the moonshot miniseason and I need just 1 more, facing same quality pitchers not getting different pitches same stadiums I was playing in, but instead of trying to hit it I'm now just hitting it.
