Mini seasons in August
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Mini seasons cards should be sellable. They were 2 years ago and it was only positive. Nobody should have to play a mode they don't like to get cards. I would definitely not play the game if online cards and DQ cards were no sell, as online is so tedious to complete 200 hit missions while losing HRs to dashboards and I have multiple issues with DQ. Online is at least fun when its an even match up with a non griefer.
This is 2025 and companies should stop designing games like its 1999. Even 2K is making salary cap track completable offline this year, at half the progression rate.
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@BJDUBBYAH_PSN yeah, I don't know why people hate on the grind. The grind is the whole point of a trading card collecting game.
Do you want everybody to just have all the cards? The grind is one of the best gatekeeping methods - it rewards skill (because you can grind a lot quicker if you're good), but it doesnt lock you out if youre not super skilled. It also doesn't make you spend money.
Like, I didn't mind the multiplayer 200-hit grind. Even though I'm a way better offline player than online, it didn't take me that long.
Then we have people complaining about how long it takes them to do programs - when theyre all super short. I don't get this crowd that doesn't want to earn things by playing the game.
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@rubicante23_PSN said in Mini seasons in August:
Like, I didn't mind the multiplayer 200-hit grind. Even though I'm a way better offline player than online, it didn't take me that long.
200 hits for me is probably 200+ innings. In a 4 week window thats absurd, especially since online play mostly sucks unless you get lucky with an even match with a good connection. And even then outliers, inside sinkers/cutters, outside sliders is just not that fun for me.
If it was a long term goal I wouldn't mind, but its time limited for a mode I would probably never consider playing if there were no rewards attached to it.
Also, all the offensive heavy goals actively discourage you from playing against people who can pitch, and disincentivize things like theme teams. Innings based is far superior, like it was 2 years ago. Then I could chill and be happy for a 1-0 game that was tense, instead of feeling I wasted the last 40 minutes of my life.
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@rubicante23_PSN one hundred percent
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Dude. Yes!!!! Please go talk to them. That would be awesome.
Have you ever read about those old barnstorming yours where Satchel Paige and Bob Feller would face off like heavyweights across the country. How cool would it have been to see that?
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@Roogasaurus_XBL online players hate it, offline players love it. I’m with you.
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People are so disingenuous, or willfully ignorant, on this topic sometimes.
Yes, there are indeed some people that are anti grind and want things for no effort so they can just go play with a god squad online, and honestly a lot of streamers are this way. This is why we no longer have grindy programs and probably why TA is [censored] this year
But then there are people that don't want to be forced to play a specific mode. I am VERY grateful I don't have to play online if I don't want to: the cards are freely for sale (and thats where my stubs typically go to). I don't think its remotely unreasonable for someone who doesn't enjoy showdown or mini seasons to be able to buy those cards as well.
This is NOT people wanting everything handed to them, so people need to knock off that nonsense response. Its about people wanting to grind the modes they enjoy to support those they do not.
I did the gold mini season a few years ago multiple times to sell those cards to fund buying all the event cards. Thats the way a well designed system works.
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And back to the 200 Hits thing:
in 2023 and early 2024 there were innings goals, and I generally had a maximum: in 150 innings I knew the track would be complete if I did things like get pxp with the program cards.
If I did well, I could finish in under 100 innings, but usually ended up around 125 A good player could finish faster, and could sacrifice the card pxp missions along the way. There were choices in how you want to tackle the program, and there was an end in sight.
In this years game, you have no flexibility, its do everything. I feel the options to play more casually have been removed and now its be good at hitting or expect it to take far, far longer than prior years. It is absolutely a regression, and thats the big issue: It was better in the past and they have gone backwards. The story of so many things with this year's game.
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All that said, i think its ok to have some meta rewards that require you engaging with different aspects of the game. Easter program and Donaldson for example. Just so long as they aren't time limited
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@Teak2112_MLBTS its not that people want it for free & no effort. Ive put in 800-over 1000 hours a year since mlb 17 in DD & the grind bas been the same since mlb19. THE SAME! Its added up over time and its horrible to do. If they had a different form of grind id be fine. But they've ran the samething year after year. Its added up to stale & boring. Thats where I have the issue.
Remember mlb 20, we had to play like 50 3 inning games to get 99 babe Ruth? That is an example of how im tired of 3 inning cpu games.
If they did something new id be all in.
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@Teak2112_MLBTS that was also when the mini seasons would disappear after a while that's why those cards were sellable, but those cards that were sellable that was in a pack
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@Weshill627_PSN said in Mini seasons in August:
Yeah mini season is so stale. Ive won 16 games & completed all the missions, and I don't wanna finish it but because they refuse to allow us to buy the card I need Santana to get the collection finished. It is a terrible game mode & I hope it's adjusted in 26 to being optional or removed.
I don’t think it needs to be removed, maybe add a button to simulate games in the calendar, make it more themed oriented and make rewards sellable for people that really like it, like @GoozeFn_PSN does.
For some of us mini seasons is just a means to an end, for others it’s a mode where they can grind and get rewards while doing something they like, so we can’t think radically like this.
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@iBonafideScrub__PSN I’d love to see the rewards sellable. I think we can all agree on that.
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@GoozeFn_PSN said in Mini seasons in August:
@iBonafideScrub__PSN I’d love to see the rewards sellable. I think we can all agree on that.
Yes, I can actually say that when they put effort and think about mini seasons it’s a fun mode, but thy have gotten lazy since they launched MS, they can do a latin america mini season, east coast vs west coast vs USA central teams only and you select which side you’re on before setting your lineup, teams with rivalries only, etc.
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I started a mini season today. Putting my Cardinals theme team to the test.
Quit after the game. Playing on veteran I only got two hits the first game but one was a HR so I won. I lost the second game in extra innings when I was forced to bring in a bad reliever and Gil Hodges an opposite field blooper just inside the line.
Meanwhile, at the plate, I just experienced more of what I had been experience all year while facing the better pitchers on these teams. If I get decent velocity then the launch angle is high. If I get a decent launch angle the exit velocity is reduced and the ball is ran down by the fielders (or hit right at them).
Maybe I was just having an off day.
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@Weshill627_PSN said in Mini seasons in August:
Remember mlb 20, we had to play like 50 3 inning games to get 99 babe Ruth? That is an example of how im tired of 3 inning cpu games.
The All Timer program, that was fun.
Playing the best possible lineups for every team, it was a grind but a fun challenging grind.
Signature Greg Maddux was the MVP for me during that.
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@rubicante23_PSN said in Mini seasons in August:
@BJDUBBYAH_PSN yeah, I don't know why people hate on the grind. The grind is the whole point of a trading card collecting game.
Do you want everybody to just have all the cards? The grind is one of the best gatekeeping methods - it rewards skill (because you can grind a lot quicker if you're good), but it doesnt lock you out if youre not super skilled. It also doesn't make you spend money.
They don't want to grind offline though they want to play competitively online.
Let's say their skilled / good enough to finish a mini season on the first try. That's a minimum 24 games (18 reg season wins to clinch postseason berth + 6 postseason wins) to get one card---which may not even be a card that they want but is required for a collection---. For a skilled player or someone who doesn't play simply to relax on rookie mode, that's 6-8 hours of brain rot. Then they have to readjust to online play (e.g. timing, latencies).
Some people want to save money. Others want to save time.
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I love mini seasons, but cards should be sellable, so those who do not enjoy mini seasons can have access to the cards, and those who do enjoy mini seasons, can continue to make stubs on it.
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@Dolenz_PSN said in Mini seasons in August:
Maybe I was just having an off day.
In my last MS game, I went 10 innings, finally winning 5-2. I was making decent contact, but almost every flyball I hit died. I don't think I've ever had a 3 inning game go 10 innings. Weird.
