Let’s be honest
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I have given the game time and got to the point where I feel like I could accurately compare hitting last year to this year, as for most of the year last year we were using high overall diamonds almost immediately.
This year’s game is just not as fun as last years when it comes to game play. I find myself playing online way less because I just don’t have as much fun as I did last year. Nuking stadium elevations and whatever they did to hitting (exit velos or balls dying at the warning track, etc. whatever IT is.) has just made it so much less rewarding. I hardly play ranked outside of weekend classic anymore, I don’t play BR at all, and play events a bit to make it through the MP program. Last year and the years before, I played them often. The thing is, I still win the same amount, which is often, I just don’t have as much fun.
Next year I hope they reverse course and give us back high elevation stadiums and revert back whatever they changed this year with hitting. People played in these stadiums because they found them fun. Like I said, this year I am winning at probably a higher rate, but without having as much fun.
I know some in here will disagree and that’s ok, but I think many more out there agree that if this year played like last year, with the cards and content that we have gotten this year, the community as a whole would have been pretty happy. And just for good measure, they should get rid of PCI shrinkage. It’s dumb and one of the reasons why we see so many switch hitters.
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PCI shrinkage is ludicrous. MAYBE for a pull hitter I could understand it somewhat, but for a push/balanced hitter it’s just a miserable addition to the game.
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@creeder21_MLBTS I think we have it figured out from all the other posts complaining about hitting this year. And yes a few of them are my posts. Three things mainly.
1.They turned up the pitching sliders for an absolute surety.
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Rng is very prevalent in this year's game.
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The connection server issues are god awful. Making it seem like fast balls warp in at a 120 mph and every swing is late.
We can also add the pci shrinkage to the list for sure.
I think sds was way too focused on defense this year and completely changed course.
I am also winning at a good rate. Online record is 38 and 23 same rate as last year. And like you not having fun this year.
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@creeder21_MLBTS said in Let’s be honest:
And just for good measure, they should get rid of PCI shrinkage. It’s dumb and one of the reasons why we see so many switch hitters.
You can't blame him for that,he had just gotten out of the pool.
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@Ditka06_MLBTS I have plenty of my own theories as to what it is. RNG definitely plays a part, but at the end of the day, I really don’t care if the WHAT, I just know for a fact the way the game played last year was way more fun.
Shoot, even offline play. On rookie or veteran having to just sit there and wait for a strike batter after batter is extremely boring.
I still have fun playing, but not NEARLY as much. It’s like night and day to be honest. The thing that kills me about the whole thing though, is the game outcomes are the same because either they are better or I am better. Very rarely does the RNG limit the better player from winning (it does happen, has happened to me by either being better and losing or being worse and winning, but it is SO rare). I just want to load up into online play and feel like my good swings are rewarded. Hell, I even want my opponent’s good swings to be rewarded. It just makes the game MORE fun.
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@PAinPA_PSN someone is to blame here!
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@creeder21_MLBTS couldn't agree more.
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2024 3.14 HR/G 5.9 R/G .304 AVG .706 W%
2025 2.55 HR/G 4.8 RG .339 AVG .727 W%You’re hitting less HR and scoring less runs per game this year compared to last year, but a higher average and better win percentage. I for one am happy they toned down home runs. It’s still pretty unrealistic, but it was way over the top last year.
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I feel like gameplay and hitting is better this year. I like that every game is not just a home run derby and plays more like actual baseball than it used to.
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@GoozeFn_PSN and here is where you, the data guy is going to be COMPLETELY wrong. 2024 was over some 90-100ish games. This year in ranked 11. Made it to like silver 1 or 2 before the first weekend classic and have only played in weekend classic since for ranked. So you are comparing apples to oranges here. Nearly all my online games are not captured in the data here because the way data is recorded this year.
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@Pergo_MLBTS I don’t like how user input isn’t rewarded the way that it should be. This year, I have had far too many instances of where I square it up on a good swing and it just dies in the field of play. I don’t find that to be fun or enjoyable. I’m not elite at the game. I can make WS and have for the past few years that I have competitively played online. I want to play a baseball video game, not a baseball sim.
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@GoozeFn_PSN Oh and also for the data, last year the VAST majority of the games I played were on HOF. The 11 games played this year that you analyzed, on All Star and veteran. All of them. I lost my first two games this year so even more on veteran before even reaching All Star. The data you are utilizing is worthless because of how data is recorded this year because of WC.
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@creeder21_MLBTS Nerfing exit velo, especially this crazy shield woods, was the best move SDS did to gameplay in the last 5 years … made it much more realistic (there are still too many HRs) … In other words: On this I do not agree with
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@creeder21_MLBTS said in Let’s be honest:
@Pergo_MLBTS ... I want to play a baseball video game, not a baseball sim.
You know that this game is called MLB the Show? It resembles the actual game of MLB … and imo they are doing a pretty good job with it … We had those games you are looking for in the past. They were called MLB Slugfest etc. …
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@YOSHI24_XBL and we can disagree, BUT why do you think people played there? Do you think maybe people enjoyed it?
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@YOSHI24_XBL last year was not slugfest. IMHO, this game has typically been incredible about balancing good to “perfect” user input and rewarding it. This year, not so much. It had a really excellent balance between sim and arcade, but it has been pushed more towards sim. I like the middle, in what I like to call baseball video game. Not cartoonish arcade or total baseball sim, but just an enjoyable video game where the user gets rewarded for their input.
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@creeder21_MLBTS said in Let’s be honest:
I have given the game time and got to the point where I feel like I could accurately compare hitting last year to this year, as for most of the year last year we were using high overall diamonds almost immediately.
This year’s game is just not as fun as last years when it comes to game play. I find myself playing online way less because I just don’t have as much fun as I did last year. Nuking stadium elevations and whatever they did to hitting (exit velos or balls dying at the warning track, etc. whatever IT is.) has just made it so much less rewarding. I hardly play ranked outside of weekend classic anymore, I don’t play BR at all, and play events a bit to make it through the MP program. Last year and the years before, I played them often. The thing is, I still win the same amount, which is often, I just don’t have as much fun.
Next year I hope they reverse course and give us back high elevation stadiums and revert back whatever they changed this year with hitting. People played in these stadiums because they found them fun. Like I said, this year I am winning at probably a higher rate, but without having as much fun.
I know some in here will disagree and that’s ok, but I think many more out there agree that if this year played like last year, with the cards and content that we have gotten this year, the community as a whole would have been pretty happy. And just for good measure, they should get rid of PCI shrinkage. It’s dumb and one of the reasons why we see so many switch hitters.
And for everyone's sake, fix. CPU. PITCHING.
My 9 at bats with Griffey so far, 2 hard singles, 4 HBP, 3 outs because I swung at pitches inside.
The CPU pitching is just getting worse, it's August.
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Its funny, I griped about the CPU pitching earlier in the year but I've come around to live with it for games. Yes, its unrealistic that common Seth Halvorsen perfectly places his outlier fastball right on the black on the bottom of the zone right after throwing a splitter or two just below it. But I dont want it too easy either. My bigger issue is that timing is coded to give FAR too many double plays. Its gotten to the point where Ill sometimes purposefully take strike 3 if its low in the zone.
Moment pitching is tedious though.
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@samguenther1987_PSN I agree with you. They somehow made playing versus the CPU even more boring. Every time I play against the CPU on rookie or veteran, I think back to when I started playing the game and I probably wouldn’t have continued to play it. Getting absolutely dotted on the lowest difficulties is either impossible for a new player or boring for a good player as you wait for something decent to come in.
What they did with CPU pitching was intentional. Its design was to slow people down in the grind and keep them in the game longer. Its design is to make people buy stubs to get the cards versus playing to earn the cards. Short term, it’s probably successful, but long term, new players are just not going to play and buy the game.
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Bingo. I said it months ago that the CPU pitching is by design. On lower difficulties players just want to relax and mash after a long day. Not hunt your pitch every at bat only to get dotted up by a bronze or common pitcher repeatedly.
