Sds you scared all the casuals away. Not good for your game.
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@rubicante23_PSN lol. Not true. Im a sweat and even im losing interest due to lack of being engaged. Its more the only people who can stay engaged are the 1000 rank players. Because of lack of programs.
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Let me clarify. Its not so much about the remaining players being great, or losing games. The main reason the casuals.. aka people who are not fantastic at the game are not playing online is because of one simple fact. There are not enough online programs. Lack of creativity on sds part to keep people engaged. This is far from an i lost a game.. so im crying post. This is lack of engagement for good reason by not great players.
This has nothing to do with anything along the lines of players not coming back and just saying things to say things. People will continue to play. But engagement will continue to be down.
The merging of Events and BR "programs" into the Multiplayer Program is what killed online for me.
I never really dabbled into Ranked; because I didnt want to deal with the toxicity. Now, all Ranked players aren't toxic. I'm takking about the bunt dancers, the quick pitching, the holding of R2 (fixed this year), the jumping/diving around on fly balls, the constant reply of homeruns, etc thst is usually found in the lower difficulties. (I'm not good enough to to get out of the 600s)
However, I did play BR (even though I knew I'd never go 10-0) and I did play Events (even though I knew I'd never go 10-0) because they had their own separate rewards and programs.
Now those programs are merged into one long program, but have fewer rewards (cards), than they had separately.
But where did those extra rewards go? Well, into packs that you have to purchase!
I wont touch BR now, except if I'm bored with offline play and those no events going on, but its maybe a handful of games.
I'll play any Events; until I finish the MP Program (50 bundle). Because I have no incentive to play after I hit that point.
You may say; "But there is a Wheel Spin". Yeah, playing enough event games to get the 30K to spin the wheel (which works out to getting 90K in PXP) for what is normally a 5pk bundle of junk; isnt my idea of fun.
If SDS wants to have more people play online, and stick around longer, they need to either bring back the separate programs for BR and Events or get rid of the 1,500 stubs buy-in for BR.
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I still don’t know what yall consider causal players to be
That's a valid question.
Is it a time based criteria? If so where is the threshold? The person who spends 20 hours a week probably has a different definition of casual than the person who plays 50 hours a week
Is it a skill question?
I consider myself a casual as I play offline on veteran. I don't worry about collections or finishing every program. I don't flip or invest. My hours spent playing is drastically less than others. I'm still around because I am a casual. I have not burnt myself out yet.
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I still don’t know what yall consider causal players to be
Some equate casual with play time, but I have always considered it to have absolutely nothing to do with playtime.
Casuals to me are the people who play the game on their own terms and are more interested in relaxation vs competition. For example, playing what people consider suboptimal (using a theme team as an example) because its fun.
Some activities are definitely a grey area, such as trying to collect every card. I've collected every card in some of the past versions of the Show, but I rarely use meta cards so I'm not motivated by getting the best team. Is this casual or hardcore? yes, yes it is.
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@x-814-x-MAFIA-x_PSN exactly 100000 percent correct! Well said. This is exactly what im referring to.
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You cannot really play this game casually. The game is too difficult.
I consider everyone a casual who is less than 900 ranked. Very simple for me. Everyone above 900 plus are your top 1 to 5 percent player base. Really good at the game where they rarely lose interest in playing online.
Maybe offline players who play on veteran or lower would be the exact definition if we want to get technical. What incentive do casuals have to go online? Is the real question? There are no programs besides the events.
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I completely agree that they should go back to having the individual programs for BR, Events and Ranked. But the reason they went away from that and changed to the Multiplayer program was due to complaints from people about being forced to play certain modes. As best as I can tell, this is where the whole "play your way" thing even started. It was in reference to the introduction of the Multiplayer program.
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@Pergo_MLBTS interesting. Well they botched the change big time. Multi player program sucks compared to all the prior individual online programs we used to have. We used to be able to get world series rewards in ranked by grinding ranked. Now you have to make ws. Etc everything gets worse in this game never better. So who benefits now. The top 1 to 5 percent of players. This is what im talking about.
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I completely agree that they should go back to having the individual programs for BR, Events and Ranked. But the reason they went away from that and changed to the Multiplayer program was due to complaints from people about being forced to play certain modes. As best as I can tell, this is where the whole "play your way" thing even started. It was in reference to the introduction of the Multiplayer program.
Well now they have to play conquest games (like that one map with 14 strongholds) or a ton of mini seasons just to get cards that's either required for collections or saves them the hassle of paying a ton of stubs for a collection card that they'd otherwise never use.
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I completely agree that they should go back to having the individual programs for BR, Events and Ranked. But the reason they went away from that and changed to the Multiplayer program was due to complaints from people about being forced to play certain modes. As best as I can tell, this is where the whole "play your way" thing even started. It was in reference to the introduction of the Multiplayer program.
Well now they have to play conquest games (like that one map with 14 strongholds) or a ton of mini seasons just to get cards that's either required for collections or saves them the hassle of paying a ton of stubs for a collection card that they'd otherwise never use.
Yep, and maybe they'll move away from that for offline now to. And then people will complain about that instead.
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@SpawnOfDitka_XBL By both of your definitions, I guess I'm a casual. Sometimes I'll play a ranked game or two if I'm bored and already caught up on offline content, but for the most part my only incentive for playing online is when the event or mulitplayer program has a card that I really want and it isn't cheap on the market.
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The online environment is very unfriendly for casual gameplay. Inconsistent servers (unless you play on bad servers regularly then it's hard to adjust), Dashboarding that causes stat missions to take even longer then they already would, online multiplayer programs that give minimal to no rewards for wins / innings played, the matchmaking system (especially with events) pinning you against vastly inferior/superior opponents, there isn't really a mode designed for grinding online programs outside of events which are often inactive for half the week, and the rewards programs are extremely unrewarding. I know a lot of people get tired of playing the META (e.g. at Coors Field, switch hitter lineups, bunt cheese or 99 spd lineups).
There's no incentive for using theme teams or any creative mode that Spawn & Teak have often requested. You're often grinding for the same cards repeatedly (e.g. PCA). Also, it's weird when Topps Now players and Willie Castro spend the majority of the year rated much higher and/or have better card builds than legends like Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, etc.
Wouldn't a casual either play offline (e.g. RttS) or use their favorite team on ORated where they can just log in for a quick game with their favorite team then proceed to do something else?
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@xRatedGProdigyx_PSN yeah I feel like they get more and more uncreative as every year goes by. I noticed it big time last year was the start of it. Just disappointing.
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I was literally 900 for multiple weekend classics this year and I’m down in the 500s it’s just the first week of the season that’s always rough it will balance out I’m seeing 1000s in the 600-700 range which is flat out ridiculous just give it a week.
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@Onix_Savage22_PSN we shouldnt have to give it a week. They should have never removed the ranked programs to allow everyone to get ws rewards, if they played and grinded enough. And 1000 ranks have no business being anywhere near the 600 levels. Gross.
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@SpawnOfDitka_XBL Ik it’s terrible they have completely fumbled online. I just hope this gets fixed next year cause 1000 ranks in all star is unacceptable and unplayable.
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Idk. I’m probably a casual? I’m almost 40 and play for maybe 1-2 hours a day. I don’t have time to grind Ranked much, but I did win about 20 straight event games. There are definitely casuals playing events.
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The casuals left like around June. Once it became obvious to the average player that your input has very little if anything to do with the results you get in this game as far as hitting goes, most people walked away. The online is garbage and always has been a piece of tras. The fact that you’re playing a game that requires milliseconds of timing on a peer 2 peer server is a joke in 2026.
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@VioletNine9_XBL let’s just make it hit button hit ball.
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@Apolloz_99_MLBTS no he is right. The inputs when good are so hit and miss in this game. The game is extremely hard to begin with. Then when you square up a ball and rng takes over, thats extremely demoralizing to a casual player. A top 5 percent player it doesnt effect as much. Because they can do it over and over again... square up the ball i mean.
If you are a pro at this game a perfect line out doesnt effect you that much. Youll square up the next one just as easily. A beginner or casual player it effects tremendously. The game has become a very negative experience for alot of players.
