As we approach the end of the season.. A few thoughts.
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As we approach the playoffs and what I will assume is a month where we only get content from 12 teams I wonder if the game has anything left to keep me playing?
I don't try and collect all the released cards. As a fan of one of the 18 teams that will not be in the playoffs I don't see me playing much in the near future, especially if all the content in Oct is postseason cards. I don't have any desire for more Yankee, Dodgers, Brewers, Phillies or Cubs cards.
Then we are in November. I am usually done with the game by then as I like to take time off to reset before the next release. Sure there are the Finest cards but it is a voucher that I have already earned. I assume like most years I will get my card and almost never use it because it is so late and there is so little new content to use it with. Maybe we get some retro Finest cards to go with it but they have the same issue.
There are glaring problems in distribution as we all know. The four teams with the most cards in the game are all in the playoffs so they will continue to get even more cards (and more 99s) while fans of the teams with the least amount of cards will get nothing in October. The Rays and White sox only have 2 99's for their theme teams so far.
There are countless Hall of Famers and Legends who still lack cards that are end game worthy. We are talking the likes of Gary carter, Orlando Cepeda, Duke Snider, Johnny Bench, Bruce Sutter, Harmon Killebrew, Stan Musial and Satchel Paige. Those are just the ones with sub-90 overall cards. Maybe they get retro finest but how many will still care at that point as we approach Thanksgiving?
On the selfish side I look at the Cardinals and I think why have we not received a Stan Musial upgrade since his common Courtesy card dropped on April 2nd. Why do we still only have a 91 Lou Brock from May with only 75 speed and 62 steal? Why was the last Mat Holliday card we got an 84 gold card on release day of 2024? There are only two MVPs a year so why is SDS so stingy with issuing those cards? A 99 MVP Goldy at some point would have been nice. Overall, I realize that the Cardinals do not have it bad. We are right in the middle of the pack in a lot of categories. There are plenty of other teams worse off
Okay, enough of that rant. I just realized as I saw the Postseason Past cards posted that they seem to only be pulling from 99s which would leave out any potential Cardinal card so I just saw a long stretch ahead where I probably won't play.
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@Dolenz_PSN said in As we approach the end of the season.. A few thoughts.:
Why was the last Mat Holliday card we got an 84 gold card on release day of 2024?
I thought Holliday also had a Jolt card (from the A's, which is a travesty).
Also... you're right... WHERE'S MY 99 MUSIAL? Maybe he shows up in the XP path for the 9th inning. God forbid a "Chase" pack.
I've played MLBTS since the early days, but only RTTS until 2020. I do enjoy DD, but it's wearing thin for me after 6 cycles. I'll do the Postseason program, but I don't see myself playing much after that. I'm looking at "Strange Antiquities," which you mentioned in another post.
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@MarioMendoza935_XBL said in As we approach the end of the season.. A few thoughts.:
@Dolenz_PSN said in As we approach the end of the season.. A few thoughts.:
Why was the last Mat Holliday card we got an 84 gold card on release day of 2024?
I thought Holliday also had a Jolt card (from the A's, which is a travesty).
Also... you're right... WHERE'S MY 99 MUSIAL? Maybe he shows up in the XP path for the 9th inning. God forbid a "Chase" pack.
I've played MLBTS since the early days, but only RTTS until 2020. I do enjoy DD, but it's wearing thin for me after 6 cycles. I'll do the Postseason program, but I don't see myself playing much after that. I'm looking at "Strange Antiquities," which you mentioned in another post.
Thanks for reminding me . I didn't play that yesterday so I need to do it today as I am getting near the end of the game.
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I've sort of naturally stopped playing
The lack of what I would call meta grinds (specifically something like TA in prior years) really sapped my enthusiasm around the All Star break. Neon was a bit too late.
Then we basically jumped from 95 to 99 and all the sudden juiced 99s further drained any desire I had to play, and Moonshot 2 was the death blow.
To me here is an example of why I didn't enjoy this year as much: The Mets were stuck with an 85 McNeil for almost the entire year, until they got a 99 Murphy. Yet its those low to mid 90s that play the best in my mind: still a bit juiced, but players have strengths and weaknesses and have at least some semblance to their actual counterparts
But I know I am in the minority because most people seem to want an Ozzie Smith with 125 power. And I fear next year we will get that even earlier in the year. And that is fine if they still better support the lower tier cards too. A version of salary cap, both online and offline, would be a great addition. Also theme team centric modes.
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After the direction the game developers have gone the last couple years, I’m putting together my forever team (Aaron, Chipper, Honus, etc). I’m not going back to 85s and starting all over again for another year. The way Chase packs and packs and packs were handled this season, I just can’t do it any more. I also typically complete collections by the second month and I still don’t have Judge or Witt. I only have Shohei because I splurged after a stubs sale. The pack cards were always better than any program or collection until this month’s 99 “fantasy” cards. I mostly play offline anyway. No sense in me starting over. I have so many other games in my backlog that it will feel good to not have to play MLB 2-3 hours per day to keep up. My wallet will also be happy. I always say I’m not gonna spend money but I always do because I can’t play many hours every single day. Gameplay also hasn’t been as rewarding any way (especially with nerfed exit velocities and gained xp per game) and midway through an Inning XP season the earned cards were worthless because of the packs. No huge regrets after playing for many years. I can still get my fix offline wit cards I actually want to play with.
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@Teak2112_MLBTS said in As we approach the end of the season.. A few thoughts.:
I've sort of naturally stopped playing
The lack of what I would call meta grinds (specifically something like TA in prior years) really sapped my enthusiasm around the All Star break. Neon was a bit too late.
Then we basically jumped from 95 to 99 and all the sudden juiced 99s further drained any desire I had to play, and Moonshot 2 was the death blow.
To me here is an example of why I didn't enjoy this year as much: The Mets were stuck with an 85 McNeil for almost the entire year, until they got a 99 Murphy. Yet its those low to mid 90s that play the best in my mind: still a bit juiced, but players have strengths and weaknesses and have at least some semblance to their actual counterparts
But I know I am in the majority because most people seem to want an Ozzie Smith with 125 power. And I fear next year we will get that even earlier in the year. And that is fine if they still better support the lower tier cards too. A version of salary cap, both online and offline, would be a great addition. Also theme team centric modes.
This is a good example of how they can never please everyone. You want the power creep to be even slower while I am saying that, since I don't really play much after the baseball season, I don't want that because I never end up playing with cards I want to play with because they come out too late. We could be looking at me not using a 99 Stan Musial or a Lou Brock with 99 Steal because they just released too late. I would be less annoyed at that if they given me a 95 Stan that I could P5 so that he would be a 99.
And people don't want an Ozzie Smith with 125 power - people want a any switch hitter with 125 power. It just happened to be Ozzie Smith this year.
I will say that this, if I truly think about it, is the worst content since 2018. My Reason are
- More cards being put in packs every program instead of in the program path
- Lack of meaningful Team Affinity content for those not trying to accomplish all 30 teams.
- The complete imbalance of Team Captains with 5 teams with no pitching captains. All of those teams are in the bottom half of my theme team power rankings. 4 of the 7 lowest teams on that ranking scale have no pitching captain.
- The complete imbalance of The Amount of attribute points captains boost. Why does the Brewers get a boost of 80 attribute points while the A's get like 40? Miami gets 128!
- I realize it is only a cosmetic but when it comes to the #1 Fan icon it is so unreachable for me that I stopped trying for it. To need 3 times the stats some other teams do for a cosmetic seems punishing to those whose team records are really high.
- Yankees with 72 legends and flashbacks (16 more than the second place team) while Arizona has 24.
- Diamond Quest - a mode where even if you are successful you are still at the mercy of the RNG gods. I would go so far as to say it actively discourages more casual players.
I am sure that they are steering their content towards a goal of making more profit but that seems to be coming at the expense of keeping more casual players and fans of lesser teams engaged. But hey, I am sure that the hardcore players are probably the ones buying stubs to get the latest and greatest card.
They really need to find ways to keep fans of all teams engaged throughout the year while still rewarding the teams and players that do well. As we move towards the post season I am sure there are plenty of us who are not anticipating the next 99 Yankee postseason card or more Cubs, Brewer, Philly or Dodger cards.
October would be a great time to introduce a Team Affinity program for each team. If you are not invested in the playoff Team's cards then there would still be a reason to play
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@Dolenz_PSN said in As we approach the end of the season.. A few thoughts.:
@Teak2112_MLBTS said in As we approach the end of the season.. A few thoughts.:
I've sort of naturally stopped playing
The lack of what I would call meta grinds (specifically something like TA in prior years) really sapped my enthusiasm around the All Star break. Neon was a bit too late.
Then we basically jumped from 95 to 99 and all the sudden juiced 99s further drained any desire I had to play, and Moonshot 2 was the death blow.
To me here is an example of why I didn't enjoy this year as much: The Mets were stuck with an 85 McNeil for almost the entire year, until they got a 99 Murphy. Yet its those low to mid 90s that play the best in my mind: still a bit juiced, but players have strengths and weaknesses and have at least some semblance to their actual counterparts
But I know I am in the majority because most people seem to want an Ozzie Smith with 125 power. And I fear next year we will get that even earlier in the year. And that is fine if they still better support the lower tier cards too. A version of salary cap, both online and offline, would be a great addition. Also theme team centric modes.
This is a good example of how they can never please everyone. You want the power creep to be even slower while I am saying that, since I don't really play much after the baseball season, I don't want that because I never end up playing with cards I want to play with because they come out too late. We could be looking at me not using a 99 Stan Musial or a Lou Brock with 99 Steal because they just released too late. I would be less annoyed at that if they given me a 95 Stan that I could P5 so that he would be a 99.
And people don't want an Ozzie Smith with 125 power - people want a any switch hitter with 125 power. It just happened to be Ozzie Smith this year.
I will say that this, if I truly think about it, is the worst content since 2018. My Reason are
- More cards being put in packs every program instead of in the program path
- Lack of meaningful Team Affinity content for those not trying to accomplish all 30 teams.
- The complete imbalance of Team Captains with 5 teams with no pitching captains. All of those teams are in the bottom half of my theme team power rankings. 4 of the 7 lowest teams on that ranking scale have no pitching captain.
- The complete imbalance of The Amount of attribute points captains boost. Why does the Brewers get a boost of 80 attribute points while the A's get like 40? Miami gets 128!
- I realize it is only a cosmetic but when it comes to the #1 Fan icon it is so unreachable for me that I stopped trying for it. To need 3 times the stats some other teams do for a cosmetic seems punishing to those whose team records are really high.
- Yankees with 72 legends and flashbacks (16 more than the second place team) while Arizona has 24.
- Diamond Quest - a mode where even if you are successful you are still at the mercy of the RNG gods. I would go so far as to say it actively discourages more casual players.
I am sure that they are steering their content towards a goal of making more profit but that seems to be coming at the expense of keeping more casual players and fans of lesser teams engaged. But hey, I am sure that the hardcore players are probably the ones buying stubs to get the latest and greatest card.
They really need to find ways to keep fans of all teams engaged throughout the year while still rewarding the teams and players that do well. As we move towards the post season I am sure there are plenty of us who are not anticipating the next 99 Yankee postseason card or more Cubs, Brewer, Philly or Dodger cards.
October would be a great time to introduce a Team Affinity program for each team. If you are not invested in the playoff Team's cards then there would still be a reason to play
The funny thing? 2023 had both 99s for people that wanted them but a steady supply of lower cards too. That Lou Brock BR card from 2023 was fantastic, high contact, 99 speed/steal. And it was an 89.
There is no reason they can't give 2023's content richness a go again without expiring cards. And just have the standard ranked track with god squad silliness, or the option to do a power creep or salary cap type of mode where lower cards have value.
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I typically only play one game a year (was Madden first a long time but since ‘21 it has been The Show). My goal each year is to complete all “offline” Collections (no online at all) and to field an all ‘99’ team.
21 was awesome. 22,23,24 were fun.
25….not so much. Most of my gaming sessions have been very unrewarding. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said, “What have they done to this game”.
They nerfed my favorite stadium to play at Costco. Game play XP has been nerfed. Exit velocities are nerfed (at times). Most of my Conquest games are 1-0 with a 95+ team. The cards in the auction house are insanely expensive for this late in the year.
I play mostly on Veteran. Unlike Madden, I’m not encouraged to play at higher difficulties because of the P/P line outs, nerfed exit velocities, Bronze pitchers dotting, and GG fielders. I’m sure I’m missing other frustrations I’ve had this year.
(With Madden, I score so many points in a game, I WANT to play on a higher difficulty). On Veteran, I should (with an all 99 team) score so many runs, I WANT to play on Allstar (or higher). But that is not the case.
Bottom line for me is that I’m leaning towards giving ‘26 a miss. Hopefully, that will get me to miss playing The Show and I’ll be back in ‘27. We will see. Long reply, I know.
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My thoughts: Awesome improvements in game design & power creep … Starting from the all-star-break, „the creep“ got too steep too quickly
