<![CDATA[Why are rookie and veteran so hard this year?!]]>I can’t be the only one who noticed this. Making it somewhat different from one year to the next is fine, but these levels are too hard. My skills can’t have diminished this much in this short amount of time since ‘25. I’m swinging too late on rookie level all the time. I don’t mind finishing programs significantly later than the better players but this is just too restrictive. Hard to accumulate enough stats to complete TA in a reasonable amount of time at this rate. Maybe I am the only one. Anyone else out there who plays on veteran and rookie that is as frustrated as I am?

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/topic/82075/why-are-rookie-and-veteran-so-hard-this-yearRSS for NodeSat, 18 Apr 2026 04:08:53 GMTFri, 17 Apr 2026 03:43:56 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Why are rookie and veteran so hard this year?! on Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:52:58 GMT]]>@Alaric919_PSN
You’re right, each year at the beginning the lower level cards make it more challenging. They are definitely trying to incentivize online play. Maybe that’s part of it.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/748441https://forums.theshow.com/post/748441Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:52:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Why are rookie and veteran so hard this year?! on Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:51:19 GMT]]>

@Sarge1387_PSN said:

@Alaric919_PSN said:

Part of it is the lower level cards. I noticed it early last year, too. But yes. The pitching has been tweaked again. The CPU grind XP rewards are ridiculous. They’re trying to herd we stragglers into the online cesspool with exponentially higher rewards. I can compete in Ranked, generally in the 600’s, but I always walk away hating this game to my core.

I usually top out around 600 and I'm alright with that...I'm more about attaining the rewards than anything but still. They tweaked the difficulties a bit, not complaining though. I think I'm just about due to move up anyways because online AS is the difficulty anyways.

600 seems to be when I run into the cheaters. It’s like the second I cross over, I’m giving up 14 consecutive hits in a row (Has happened three times!).

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/748430https://forums.theshow.com/post/748430Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:51:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Why are rookie and veteran so hard this year?! on Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:41:57 GMT]]>

@Alaric919_PSN said:

Part of it is the lower level cards. I noticed it early last year, too. But yes. The pitching has been tweaked again. The CPU grind XP rewards are ridiculous. They’re trying to herd we stragglers into the online cesspool with exponentially higher rewards. I can compete in Ranked, generally in the 600’s, but I always walk away hating this game to my core.

I usually top out around 600 and I'm alright with that...I'm more about attaining the rewards than anything but still. They tweaked the difficulties a bit, not complaining though. I think I'm just about due to move up anyways because online AS is the difficulty anyways.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/748427https://forums.theshow.com/post/748427Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:41:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Why are rookie and veteran so hard this year?! on Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:53:40 GMT]]>I'm fine.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/748423https://forums.theshow.com/post/748423Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:53:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Why are rookie and veteran so hard this year?! on Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:51:14 GMT]]>Part of it is the lower level cards. I noticed it early last year, too. But yes. The pitching has been tweaked again. The CPU grind XP rewards are ridiculous. They’re trying to herd we stragglers into the online cesspool with exponentially higher rewards. I can compete in Ranked, generally in the 600’s, but I always walk away hating this game to my core.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/748409https://forums.theshow.com/post/748409Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:51:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Why are rookie and veteran so hard this year?! on Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:09:04 GMT]]>I switched to veteran difficulty last week after playing on rookie to start. On rookie, I am always early on my swings. On veteran, I'm still early, but not as bad. Pitching with meter, my k's per game has dropped about 30%.

]]>https://forums.theshow.com/post/748407https://forums.theshow.com/post/748407Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:09:04 GMT