Game dying earlier than usual
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There seems to be lack of interest in the game this year earlier than past years. The twitch numbers are down considerably and videos made on the game from bigger creators are generating less views than usual for this time of year, indicating people are losing interest in the game. What do you guys think the reason is and how can they fix it? I think changes made around roster updates and the market aswell as the struggle for them to deal with bots is one of the main reasons for people losing interest
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Is this really even a true question?
I mean all respect to the OP, but hundreds of customers have been giving SDS clear warning about the situation for years now, with all of it ignored. It was only ever a matter of time. The game has grown stale, and it isn't stale because of SDS failing to find some magic arcade theme to add to DD mode.
It is stale because the graphics and gameplay has remained stagnant for years and this year according to many reports has actually reverted in MLB 26. When play outcomes are ruled in ways totally alien to the video presentation it robs customers of desire to play the game. This sort of thing only needs to happen a few times before the customer just concludes the game is junk and moves on from it.
I'll add this more personal note. I explained to SDS two years back that customization of the game experience is the best way to retain customer interest in the game. Nothing promotes enthusiasm to play than customers seeing their own creations in the game environment.
And of course MLB The Show has custom uniforms, logos, and stadiums as an option. SDS lost their way when they came to regard these three modes as unworthy of continual upgrades. They have also lost the message when they force customers to redo those customized options when a new release is made. Yes, if that is due to significant upgrades to the game, then customers can accept that as a reasonable tradeoff, but not when there are zero upgrades at all and the forced redo seems entirely malicious in nature.
SDS is earning what they are experiencing. I seriously doubt anyone feels sorry for them. I certainly do not!
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There seems to be lack of interest in the game this year earlier than past years. The twitch numbers are down considerably and videos made on the game from bigger creators are generating less views than usual for this time of year, indicating people are losing interest in the game. What do you guys think the reason is and how can they fix it? I think changes made around roster updates and the market aswell as the struggle for them to deal with bots is one of the main reasons for people losing interest
How much time do you have?
-Unrewarding - Way too much grinding for little reward. The very small chance you do get a diamond is rewarded with a quick sell 85. Not sure I have had a rare round all year. I know I haven't got the chase reward. These things would be nice every once in a while. When they never happen it really ruins the desire to continue.
-PCI shrinkage - Not sure who thought of this but outlier fastballs and great change/splits are just as hard to hit as sliders. Makes me wonder if whoever came up with this idea actually played baseball. It is a hard game that doesn't need to be made harder by some trumped up fantasy.
-Glitches - Hard enough to hit without these. Hader and King shouldn't be in anyone's rotation and bullpen right now and wouldn't be if they were fixed.
-Cheaters - No chance everyone dots all the time with every pitcher. PARS will not physically allow you to do this. Somehow everyone is Maddux throwing outlier hitting every line with every pitch. Why use a Maddux when you can use harder throwers that magically have the same control. I think you would see a huge difference if pitching cheats were removed.
-Market bots - These have recently really gotten on my nerves
-DQ - Think I've played it once. I just have a hard time doing a mode where I can succeed and not get rewarded
-BR - Played free round and then 1 game of another run. If you can't win 10 games there is no point. Waste of stubs that are very hard to come by in this game.
-WC - Great idea but rewards are slacking.
-I don't think 1000 rated players (majority of which I don't think are legit anyway) should start season at 700. It's not like they are not going to make WS anyway. Start them on legend at 900. I see a lot of WS players get smacked and/or quit when a new season starts.
-Stealing is out of control. Stealing needs to be a weapon in the game but it is far too easy.
-Events - Zero creativity. How about even a gold/silver event?I'm sure there are more but my brain is fried.
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Way too many reasons to state but demis & prior did a good job filling you in.
I'll keep it short and sweet: input / output isn't good enough. Whether that's grinding, exit velocities / launch angles on hitting, slow responses to cheating scandals, or just simply connecting to the servers. The players don't get near enough for what they put in.
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You mean if you don't listen to your fan base they eventually get tired and leave? Wow, who knew.....
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@D_e_m_I_s_E_MLBTS I agree with everything. One thing you said that I dont see talked about is the rank reset. Im a world series player, but just barely. What I mean is I have a tough time going from 770 to 800. When the new season comes out I dont even bother playing for the first week because I know im going to get matched with cheaters and players who are way better than me. The players who tops out at 600 dont have this problem, and the players who top out at 1200 dont have this problem. Its very punishing for players who are good, but not great (or cheating).
Also, stealing is so bad, ive stolen bases on outlier pitch outs eith 90+ pop time and arm strength. Ive used p5 adley and I got the same amount of CS as when I use posads. Stealing is all rng. The only way you throw out the runner is if the gane decides to give the runner a bad jump. Were all familiar with the "stuck in mud" animation.
And lastly, to beat the dead horse, paxks are absolutely terrible this year. They put out these premiere pack like they are somthing worth grinding for, and they are always base round. The deluxe packs are even worse. The real kick to the face is when you get a premiere pack and its a new threads so basically its barely worth 5k. Dont get me started on chase packs, ive opened so many of these, if I had to guess im around 60, and ive got the chase card twice. Every other time its an 85, not once has it been a 90+ LS diamond. That is clearly scripted.
Sorry for typos.
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@go4stros25_PSN we already know who loves this post.
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I think the biggest problem with this years game is the lack of anything new and less stability in the game. Every year in the past they at least tried something new that impacted the game and feel a little fresh even if people didn’t like it.
Like adding parallel system. Mini seasons one year. Weekend Classic. Seasons. Programs to BR snd Ranked. There’s probably other things I am missing. I’ve only played since 21.
This year it felt like a FIFA release at the end of a system release. Copy and paste with roster update.
This years changes? Red diamonds (cosmetic only), mods to cards, and bear down pitching, 7 game mini seasons. So really nothing new or fresh. And many of stuff they promised didn’t actually pan out at all. Correct stats in mini seasons or no shrinkage on outside sliders.
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@virusts_PSN thats a great point, theres nothing new. Not to mention they removed a ton of things. Only having 1 team affinity is so dumb. Removing MTO was dumb. Removing the BR program was dumb. Having weeks at a time where there simply isnt an event at all is very very dumb.
They need to bring back MTO as a new from of team affinity. Imagine you want to prgress the yankees team affinity, you play a "season" with the yankees cards you own and depending on the outcome and difficulty you play the season on, the more team affinity points you earn. Make the first playthrough have packs, goals, and challenges like mini seaosns. Make the player lock in the lineup and difficulty in the beggining and for the love of god track the player stats accurately. Have a moment in the seaosn where you can add new players to your team (trade deadline) as long as they fit the current seasons team.
DD is missing one of the most fundamental thing that draws so many people to sports games, stats. Its also missing the story aspect you get from franchise modes.
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One mroe thing worth noing, and its goes along with demises mention of "unrewarding": the long stretches in the inning program of hundreds of thousands of xp only rewarding the player with single standard packs or 1000 stubs (when ohtani is 750k) is so demotivating. And these stretches are towards rhe end of the program!
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Yeah, I don't even pay attention to the main XP path much anymore, because it's so frustrating to see I'm only going to get a single standard pack or something similar next. Even if it was a 3 or 5 pack it would at least be palatable in between the bigger rewards. A single pack is just a joke though.
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@Finn_Scotus_MLBTS not only next lol. There was a stretch of over 200k this seaosn where you earned like 1 standard, 1 headliner, 1 ballin, and like 2000 stubs. That should be the rewards for the first 20k xp, not 200k-375k or whatever it was.
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@Finn_Scotus_MLBTS not only next lol. There was a stretch of over 200k this seaosn where you earned like 1 standard, 1 headliner, 1 ballin, and like 2000 stubs. That should be the rewards for the first 20k xp, not 200k-375k or whatever it was.
Yep. I generally don't get too up in arms about the state of the game (other than the exploiters, who absolutely should be punished), but the primary XP path feels like it's just a joke this year. It's kept me from really feeling engaged.
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-Unrewarding - Way too much grinding for little reward. The very small chance you do get a diamond is rewarded with a quick sell 85. Not sure I have had a rare round all year. I know I haven't got the chase reward. These things would be nice every once in a while. When they never happen it gets really ruins the desire to continue.
Agree with this. Game simply isn't rewarding enough my biggest gripe is with the reward path...there shouldn't be singular piddly s#it TS packs deep into the path. And if there are, they should start at 5's, then 10 packs, then 20 bundles.
-Glitches - Hard enough to hit without these. Hader and King shouldn't be in anyone's rotation and bullpen right now and wouldn't be if they were fixed.
Agreed, this is annoying AF. The Grant Taylor delivery really messes with my eyes.
-Cheaters - No chance everyone dots all the time with every pitcher. PARS will not physically allow you to do this. Somehow everyone is Maddux throwing outlier hitting every line with every pitch. Why use a Maddux when you can use harder throwers that magically have the same control. I think you would see a huge difference if pitching cheats were removed.
Good point, especially about the PAR. I stopped trying in earnest in Events two or three ago when players using the Cityscapes JR Richard was dotting. Anyone above board who's used him knows his PAR was almost the size of the bottom half of the zone.
-Market bots - These have recently really gotten on my nerves
Yeah, it's a big problem with the market right now. Every time SDS manages a way to stop them, ten more ways for them to work pop up.
-DQ - Think I've played it once. I just have a hard time doing a mode where I can succeed and not get rewarded
Yeah, great idea but horrendous application in terms of the rewards.
-BR - Played free round and then 1 game of another run. If you can't win 10 games there is no point. Waste of stubs that are very hard to come by in this game.
If they were to apply the same tier structure to BR and Events that they do with Weekend Classic, it would probably see more traffic from the larger part of the player base.
-Stealing is out of control. Stealing needs to be a weapon in the game but it is far too easy.
This is due to server "luck". I have 99/99 guys that routinely will not go until almost a full second after the pitcher begins his delivery. If they're getting consistently perfect jumps, they just have the connection advantage.
-Events - Zero creativity. How about even a gold/silver event?
Again, tier them like the WC and it'll probably improve
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The awful fielder animations / lack of urgency also impacts stealing. Even if the throw beats the runner, there's no guarantee that the defender will apply the tag. This is very common on throws to third base.
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@xRatedGProdigyx_PSN played a game yesterday where our opponents had 3 hits in a row where 2 were very late bloop hits that we all hate, and 1 was lance berkman making an error at first in a routine grounder. They then hit a homerun.
Check swings are also very obviously rng. Some swings are clearly a swing but called a check and some check swings are clearly not a swing but get called a strike.
Pitching is also rng. 2 players throwing the same pitch with the same pitcher with the exact same input and both pitches will end in different locations. So what decides when you get a pitch where your aiming, and when that change up catches just enough of the zone to get crushed?
Too much rng and rewarding of bad input durring online games.
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@xRatedGProdigyx_PSN played a game yesterday where our opponents had 3 hits in a row where 2 were very late bloop hits that we all hate, and 1 was lance berkman making an error at first in a routine grounder. They then hit a homerun.
Check swings are also very obviously rng. Some swings are clearly a swing but called a check and some check swings are clearly not a swing but get called a strike.
Pitching is also rng. 2 players throwing the same pitch with the same pitcher with the exact same input and both pitches will end in different locations. So what decides when you get a pitch where your aiming, and when that change up catches just enough of the zone to get crushed?
Too much rng and rewarding of bad input durring online games.
Yeah, the first baseman bobbles the routine grounder, acts as though he stepped on a landmine, then acts dazed long enough to let the runner get to first base. Even if you have enough time to throw to pitcher covering the bag, they toss the ball 20 feet in the air instead of at the pitcher standing on the bag a few feet from him.
There are animations / errors that regularly occur online that I don't think I've ever seen happen in 1000s of offline grinding games. It baffles me.
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@xRatedGProdigyx_PSN its all animation based. For example: a perfect perfect line drive is hit towards your second baseman, you dive and happen to knock the ball down. Your second baseman gets up and takes his time to casually toss the ball to first causing the runner to be safe.
Your second baseman was never supposed to touch that ball. Off the bat the game knows that hit animation is a hit to the outfield, therefore they runner is safe at first, therefore, the throw to the base doesnt register as a potential out.
Just a theory. I know thats how madden works. Thays why you get weird blocking and fumble recoveries.
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I’ve mentioned this before. The fact a single or 500 stubs is viewed as a reward shows just how out of touch SDS is. That’s basically nothing when an avg pack is almost worthless and 500 stubs buys nothing in the game. As you said if it was a 5 pack of standard or ballin, a decent choice pack, or like 2500 stubs that would make sense. In a nutshell it perfectly demonstrates how little the output matches the input mentioned above.
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@go4stros25_PSN the show isn’t even remotely close to how bad madden is when it’s come to animations. Not to mention the gameplay between these games couldn’t be any more different
