Fielding Suggestion
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With the recent maintenance as well as the update yesterday, the game is feeling a LOT better. Kudos to all the teams taking our complaining every day and working their asses off to get it done. It'd be great if there was more transparency but I also understand why there isn't - this community blew up in size this year and to keep saying "it's coming" feels like an hollow room when it's really hard to find the root of these tiny bugs and glitches.
I want to bring up the next thing that I feel could make the game even better - input is feeling much more like output. I don't want to talk about hitting - I think it's truly getting there and will only continue to improve at this point. Contact swings - still a issue, but it feels like it can be worked around as a pitcher now, when weeks ago it was game-ending.
Anyway, onto my suggestion(s). Fielding needs to reflect input and output more now. I love that the animations focus on realism, but that realism causes unforced errors a lot more this year than last.
Just tonight I had a game where Jordan Groshans had a ball go under his glove, and then two batters later Ramon Laureano in center field didn't manage to hold onto a ball that I took a good route on. I've also recently had Buxton drop a ball that he was camped under.
A side annoyance that gets me is a ball 85+mph off the bat on a line and you see the shortstop able to take 5-6 steps before getting to the ball - I get that shortstops have great reaction, but a silver reaction shortstop shouldn't be consistently getting to that ball.
I get that these animations can sometimes get confused when the ball is moving so fast - I'm a dev so I get it - coding this stuff is hard.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I get that some plays move too fast to let the user make the movements - specifically hot corners diving on their own. But the fact is, it doesn't seem to matter most of the time if they're commons or diamonds at the hot corners, they will dive and almost always knock the ball down, and any slow runner is dead on arrival.
Here's what I propose:
- user routes should dictate heavily, if not fully, if the ball is caught or not. The reaction stat is perfect - and controls whether guys can get to balls or not. But if they get there, it should be caught, we shouldn't be having RNG decide the fate of a ball that we as a user manage to get to.
- throwing should be harder. Maybe a double tap system, one that tells the fielder to set up to pull in the ball and another tap to throw to first - or perhaps more weight on the size of the green area for throw accuracy. Positionally, further throws should also be weighted heavier - right now, "tough plays" have smaller green areas, but a 60 accuracy at third vs a 60 accuracy at 2nd should play a bigger role than it does.
- perhaps to number one, don't lock us into an animation when we're under a ball. Don't slow the player down, if they overrun it, that should be on the user, not based on the card. They should be listening to US as users, not their ratings.
Right now, for most of us, it's automatic to let go at the right time - very rarely does a misthrow happen. If the common first baseman can bail your team out, but the diamond center fielder can [censored] the bed, something isn't exactly right. I get that people get mad if a line drive just flies by a first baseman without any chance at input - but on a 100mph ball - that happens.
In short, make us "field" the ball, and then make us "throw it" - if we take bad routes, turn those into errors, if we take good routes, turn those into catches. The less RNG in the game, the better the game becomes for everyone - it gives us all something to improve on. I get that Yordan isn't going to make catches Buxton can - that makes sense - but I also can't name the last time that Buxton missed an easy one - and if we're chalking that up strictly to RNG, well, it's hard to sit there and grab incredible defensive cards in BR or events, when a common will have the same skillset/issues.
Just my two cents.
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spoken like a true xbox noob that doesnt know theyve changed all of this since 19 to make it harder each year
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@greenbuk75_mlbts said in Fielding Suggestion:
spoken like a true xbox noob that doesnt know theyve changed all of this since 19 to make it harder each year
Lol I've played the game since 12, some people switched to Xbox because they enjoy the controller more. Maybe don't be an [censored]?
And it's definitely still not hard enough. Fielding is arguably as hard as hitting a ball or pitching in real life.
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Can I get a cliff notes version?
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@aaronjw76_psn said in Fielding Suggestion:
Can I get a cliff notes version?
Yeah, it's the sentence starting with... "In short"?
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@aaronjw76_psn said in Fielding Suggestion:
Can I get a cliff notes version?
He basically just said glug glug glug
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