Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?
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@capardo_XBL said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
I don’t think the game is “pay to play”. But, I do think that SDS is trying to nudge ( not force or push) us to play online.
The game is awfully “grindy” for us offline strictly players.
How is the game nudging people to play online? I am not saying I disagree, just curious to see a different perspective. I started playing this game in '21 as mainly an offline player and over time have played more and more online. I feel that '23 is the most it has been geared towards the offline player. I have to dedicate hours per week to offline tasks (moments, showdown, conquest, mini seasons) to complete most programs.
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I actually think its the opposite, at least for me. In the past I would spend some real money to get some of the better players or to finish live series sooner but this year there are so many free high level cards that I haven't felt the need to even consider spending money this time around. And I'm not even bothering with the live series collection unless I get some real luck in the free packs.
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@The-Harvest_XBL said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
This is only my second year in the show and I came here after being pushed away by Madden. Madden has become pay to win in the most unbearable and obvious way.
I loved the show last season. I dropped real money a few times because I was late to the party and had some guys I wanted quickly. This year, I came in with a plan on how to flip cards, store cards, and win collections.
However, as I'm seeing this first set go, it seems like there's more cards so far that are packs only. There's a few players I want, but I have no way of getting them without stubs. With collections basically gone, minus the live series, flipping seems harder so far. The demand for winnable cards is way down.
I'm not trying to be negative and we are only a month in, but this is the vibe I'm picking up.
Anyone else feeling the same way?
In an hour I’d say nobody feels this way. Odds are you’ll find maybe that idiot Mohorn guy jumping on here and agreeing.
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@Skarmaen_PSN said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
Moreso than in the past for sure. If you doubt this check the # of 99s (and their quality) that are hidden behind expensive packs every Tuesday and Friday.
This is the correct answer in my opinion.
I can already see that even my modest goal of just obtaining all of the Cardinal players is going to be much more expensive.
99 Jordan Walker - Purchase off market
99 Jim Edmonds - Purchase off Market
99 Adam Wainwright - Purchase off market
99 Ozzie Smith - Purchase off MarketPrices have come down some since they were released. Even though their prices have been slowing going down they are still around 220K to get all four. I believe they are all from packs so there is no way to get them without spending on the packs themselves to try and get lucky or purchasing the cards outright.
Getting stubs simply from playing and doing offline content is really slow. You have to rely on getting some pack luck from earned packs to try and pull some diamonds.
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@SuntLacrimae50_MLBTS said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
No. Flipping is more grindy for sure. But reward cards that are traditionally $$$ are much lower in price with the changes. Go get Lou and Gagne for 33K, for example. BR 1 cards are low. Griffey and Posada will go down.
Stubs & packs are everywhere if you play a lot, and it's raining 97-99's. That's the opposite of having to pay for cards.
How low are you thinking for Posada and Griffey? I picked up Posada a few days ago. I think I may grab Griffey this week too. With SDS switching to no sell rewind packs in events, I have a feeling that may pop up in ranked and BR too. Between no sell packs and the inevitable stub sale, I'm thinking I should grab him sooner rather than later. His price could go up a lot in the near future.
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I hate the way this game is going but by far this is the best sports game on the market!! Honestly this is the only game that you don’t have to pay in order to win. You can have a team full of 99’s and not spend one dollar. I complain about stupid stuff this game does, but all in all this game is head and shoulders above all other sports games imo.
SDS has work still to do to make the offline gameplay better but i feel this is the only company that actually listens to its community and tries to fix things ( except for online franchise mode
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Thank you all for the responses. I should clarify my intent. I’m clearly a Yankees fan and want all of them on my team. Not having judge doesn’t bother me as I have all year to pull him.
But Posada and Severino are packs only. I play this game constantly and don’t have anywhere near the stubs to buy them. So besides money, I’m not sure what else to do
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If you’ve been playing DD since 2014 you would see that yes it’s certainly heading in that direction but also that it’s still drastically better than every other ultimate team mode. Let’s just enjoy it for now because it may not be that way for much longer
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If you need the very best cards to compete online you may have a point.
I am enjoying more offline vs cpu with themed teams.
Currently playing w Rockies LS players and Captains and enjoying the cpu on legend difficulty.
Gr8 game and I have zero interest in collecting everycard in 1 month.
Nice job SDS w this version
I am curious as to how set 1 phases out and what shows up in 2. -
Depends on what you’re going for. If you’re going for sets, which lets be honest is the most fun part of the game, then yea I could see it feeling that way. Live series probably like 1.2-1.3 mil. Set collection I am not sure how many free cards there are because I have 2 so I’m past that point but I’d estimate it cost me about 700-800k stubs to get where I’m at and it would be another 1.5 mil to get the third card. Granted some more free cards will come out but it’s still going to be a lot.
On the flip side of you ignore collections minus using the free cards to get Jazz, Trea and maybe chipper then there are a lot of good cards on the market. Several top 99s are like 30-40k, the TA program has some good cards and if you play a decent amount a million stub team is pretty obtainable and can definitely compete.
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@GoTitans3_XBL said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
Depends on what you’re going for. If you’re going for sets, which lets be honest is the most fun part of the game, then yea I could see it feeling that way. Live series probably like 1.2-1.3 mil. Set collection I am not sure how many free cards there are because I have 2 so I’m past that point but I’d estimate it cost me about 700-800k stubs to get where I’m at and it would be another 1.5 mil to get the third card. Granted some more free cards will come out but it’s still going to be a lot.
On the flip side of you ignore collections minus using the free cards to get Jazz, Trea and maybe chipper then there are a lot of good cards on the market. Several top 99s are like 30-40k, the TA program has some good cards and if you play a decent amount a million stub team is pretty obtainable and can definitely compete.
Agreed. If I just wanted to field a high ranking team, and not care who was on it, it’s definitely not pay to play. But for a theme team or sets, I think it’s trending that way. Not badly, but like Madden. Just a feeling
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Not to me. I am less likely to buy stubs for cards, with this new Set card format. Spending stubs on cards that will expire in a couple of months is not appealing to me. Investing in LS collections, for the Core rewards, may be more appealing to some.
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@Pennstatefencer_MLBTS said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
@SuntLacrimae50_MLBTS said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
No. Flipping is more grindy for sure. But reward cards that are traditionally $$$ are much lower in price with the changes. Go get Lou and Gagne for 33K, for example. BR 1 cards are low. Griffey and Posada will go down.
Stubs & packs are everywhere if you play a lot, and it's raining 97-99's. That's the opposite of having to pay for cards.
How low are you thinking for Posada and Griffey? I picked up Posada a few days ago. I think I may grab Griffey this week too. With SDS switching to no sell rewind packs in events, I have a feeling that may pop up in ranked and BR too. Between no sell packs and the inevitable stub sale, I'm thinking I should grab him sooner rather than later. His price could go up a lot in the near future.
I think Posada will stay expensive longer than Griffey because of the hype he's getting. Fewer great catchers than left-handed outfielders. Plus he's a switch-hitter with a legendary swing.
We'll see. It ALL depends on whether or not they have throwback packs in the next program. I think they will....
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With the rise of No Money Spent (NMS) teams I'd say it's become LESS PAY FOR PLAYERS... you just have to put more grind time in if you want to get to those players... the addition of Ranked Seasons Program and Battle Royale Program make it even easier because you can get World Series and Flawless Rewards respectively just by simply playing the mode... not to mention if you play Co-op that's another opportunity to get the RS rewards as well.
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@romeischillin said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
With the rise of No Money Spent (NMS) teams I'd say it's become LESS PAY FOR PLAYERS... you just have to put more grind time in if you want to get to those players... the addition of Ranked Seasons Program and Battle Royale Program make it even easier because you can get World Series and Flawless Rewards respectively just by simply playing the mode... not to mention if you play Co-op that's another opportunity to get the RS rewards as well.
That requires a lot of grinding, flipping and maybe some pack luck.
The problem as I see it is that while you can definitely compile a competitive team without much of a stub requirement you might have more of a problem if you are targeting players you want.
I am not even talking about the big collections. In 5 weeks they have cycled through 11 diamond duo packs, each with two 99 overall diamonds and each on the market for a very limited time. That keeps those 99 players rarer and more expensive.
Diamond Duo Packs are 40K so even if you bought 1 pack of each that is 440K, more than the average player has even earned thus far. Then toss in the other limited packs like the All Star Game pack and we are well above half a million stubs needed. Probably more expensive than that to just target the players you want.
That would be fine if it was for the entire year but these are all Set 1 cards. Double the above investment for set 2 and all of it's limited 99 overall cards, triple it come set 3. It's a treadmill of stub spending that they want to keep everyone on all year, through 6 seasons.
If you don't have stubs you will find it hard to even keep up with even minimal collection goals.
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Yes. And anyone who's says no either devotes 5+ hours/day or spends money.
No other reason to start the year releasing 99s and 2 different collections. They are trying to make their Jeter money back.
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@The-Harvest_XBL said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
Thank you all for the responses. I should clarify my intent. I’m clearly a Yankees fan and want all of them on my team. Not having judge doesn’t bother me as I have all year to pull him.
But Posada and Severino are packs only. I play this game constantly and don’t have anywhere near the stubs to buy them. So besides money, I’m not sure what else to do
Posada is not "pack only". You can grind the BR program and have him in a couple days.
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@Tuke7-1_MLBTS said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
@The-Harvest_XBL said in Is the Show starting to become more Pay for Players?:
Thank you all for the responses. I should clarify my intent. I’m clearly a Yankees fan and want all of them on my team. Not having judge doesn’t bother me as I have all year to pull him.
But Posada and Severino are packs only. I play this game constantly and don’t have anywhere near the stubs to buy them. So besides money, I’m not sure what else to do
Posada is not "pack only". You can grind the BR program and have him in a couple days.
Not to mention, grab him in a rewind pack next BR, if you took another card
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Lots of reasonable responses on here which is a pleasant surprise. For the last 3 years, I’ve been blocking people with stupid opinions and perhaps it’s finally paying off!
Like many others have said, this game is WAY better than other sports games for “DD” type of stuff. Other than buying the fancy version every year, which gives you a nice head start, I never consider spending real money (it’s cool if you want to obviously). There are so many ways to earn packs and if you play the market smartly, even without flipping (which I only rarely do because it’s so boring). My team is pretty stacked and while I likely won’t be getting Chipper, I can compete with anyone from a roster perspective. -
Pay to win? No. Cash Grab? There is an argument there. Not even counting the set collections as you can het 1 of the 3 big ones from free no sells, the 50k packs are pretty obviously a money grab. Those maxed out at 30k in the past
