I've played The Show since 2006. I'm on season 20 into a RTTS career that I've carried over each year since MLB The Show 15. I have some thoughts I've had back through the last couple years of this game. But playing lately has really been making me want to say something. While the RTTS career is partly why I haven't played a lot online, the other reason is the hitting is atrocious. The fielding was recently fixed, although outfielders are still able to make magical over-the-shoulder catches every single time.
As a passionate baseball and MLB The Show fan, I just can't hold back anymore.
Same [censored] different day. Even playing offline, "good" contact results in 70-80 mph exit velo. "Early" or "late" contact results in ~90 mph ex velo. Perfect-perfect gets you a line drive to the CF, who takes a step to his left or right for the chest-high catch. Even while offline, "contact" is made even when the ball is a foot away from the bat. Sometimes it feels like the player is swinging a cinder block. An obviously late swing results in a pull-side liner down the line. Again I rarely play online—I can't imagine the frustration with hitting there.
I wouldn't mind all that so much if this was something SDS actually cared to fix. I could sit here and say I just need to keep grinding and hit em where they ain't. But when they release a billion new player cards/packs for Diamond Dynasty, I see where the priorities are. I get it, OK, you'll tell me they're a business trying to make money. I've seen these arguments on these forums before. I get that SDS is trying to make money. But it goes both ways. SDS has an obligation to satisfy its player base because make no mistake, no company is squat without its customers. We made them who they are.
When players pay for packs—not knowing what they're about to get—that is gambling to a T. (I do know items can also be bought individually on the marketplace. A big element of DD is the packs.) I'm not opposed to gambling, that's not the takeaway here, but it's the time suck for SDS. The balance of focus has clearly shifted from making a good baseball game to making good player packs. While they can rely on player packs and cards to make money, the focus moves away from improving areas like core gameplay mechanics, franchise or RTTS (the same since 2015, except now you can see your player lift weights and sit on his a s s in a bus, plane or clubhouse). Instead of getting deeper RTTS/franchise modes, we get a billion more ways to earn cards and packs. Instead of an actually improved hitting system, this year we have face of the future cards. So even though you can play with new legends and other newer players in DD this year, you're still getting screwed with the flawed hitting and opponents magically rallying after 4 innings. We're a few years into this and the pure obsession for player packs just makes MLB The Show feel like baseball-themed gambling. It just makes it worse when some of the players online get so salty about losing when they spend so much money to get good players to win. Let's face it, it's just not about baseball anymore.
Does SDS really have to squeeze every last dollar from its player base? Do players have to spend extra money on cards they could earn anyway just by playing longer? Just because you can, does it always mean you should? Spending money is like voting, so remember that when you buy something. Your money is seen by the business as support for what you're purchasing. Maybe don't buy Stubs. Maybe don't buy MLB The Show 21, because it'll be this year's game, just with more colorful player packs. It's so frustrating to see the same core gameplay problems year after year while more player and card packs are thrown at us from every direction. It's an embarrassment.
What happened to the days of getting the game and just playing f-ing baseball?
For those of you who like DD, that's great, and again I have no problem with it on its own. It's a cool feature for sure. The problem is that DD has completely consumed the life of SDS and MLB The Show and that's what I'm addressing. Look at Madden, the biggest meme for a sports game touting annual improvement, but showing none except for more player pack features. Some football fans are turning to Maximum Football to get a more authentic football feel than the scripted Madden animations. That tells you that no matter how big a game is, if it's hollowed out with superficial elements while core gameplay remains unaddressed, players will leave.
What's the fix? I truly believe it's SDS leaving DD alone for a year. Seriously. We don't need all 19,690 players to ever play in the MLB to show up in DD. It's beyond time to focus on aspects that get players excited to play the baseball side of the game, and not the aspects that keep players in the menus. The core mechanics of gameplay desperately need attention, and maybe that's why DD is such a window dressing. Other game features starve for innovation. I don't know how else SDS fixes these issues that remain year after year without getting away from its main distraction. Otherwise let's just say f-k it and call it Diamond Dynasty Baseball 2021.
Or, a couple fixes:
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Hitting/fielding fixes. Calibrate timing with contact/power more realistically. Late swings should never result in a pull-side liner for a double. The fielding this year is improved from past years, I'll say that. The OF first step after contact is a nice touch. However, it's unrealistic that every outfielder will make a running over-the-shoulder catch on every fly ball. It's unrealistic that even the best fielders take nearly perfect routes to every single fly ball. Infielders seem to be bobbling grounders too frequently. Fly balls do get lost in the sun. Players who haven't played together long get crossed up on calling for a pop fly. If SDS is truly striving for authenticity...
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For anyone like me who loves an in-depth career mode, how about this: let RTTS players/franchise GMs negotiate career player/GM contracts for multiple years and Stubs salary. Just like career mode in NBA 2k, your player/GM salary is in-game currency. I want greater control on what my player's skills and successes can afford. This would make it feel like there's more of a takeaway from the grind of playing through a season, for multiple seasons. Including performance bonuses for player/GM would be great also. Imagine being a player winning the MVP and collecting an extra 2000 stubs or whatever, or a GM reaching the World Series and collecting X-amount of Stubs. Bonuses for playoff appearances, home runs and various statistical thresholds.
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RTTS player can become team owner/GM after retiring. Connecting these modes would really just mean a transition between menu setups, while keeping the player's world connected, from playing to managing a franchise. It'd be cool to see a player transition into the next baseball career after playing, maybe even reaching the Hall of Fame. I don't think there's a lot of gameplay value for being a team owner. Essentially you'd be a GM that also owns the team. A true baller. Collecting profits converted to Stubs (for example $10 million profits = X Stubs) would be enough incentive to own a team, right?
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With all the branded equipment in the game, why can't a RTTS player get brand sponsorship?
The franchise relocation is meh, but it's a start. It's hard to consider your team rebranded if it's in an MLB stadium with the actual team's signage everywhere. Also hard to think of it as a rebranding if you put the team in a minor league stadium. Except for the Marlins, who would be close to 100% attendance. However, if you're rebranding teams with their throwback logos/uniforms and put them in a classic stadium, it brings a cool old school touch.
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Customizable stadiums...? It's a feature that's been requested since babies were born in mangers. You want 230 feet to RF with a 50-foot fence? A retractable roof stadium with a ferris wheel behind a 500-foot centerfield? Who cares, it's just a videogame!
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If not customizable stadiums, how about more classic stadiums? Tiger Stadium, Ebbets Field, or going back to baseball's early days, Exposition Park.
There's so much more cool stuff overall that could be done that is simply being neglected because of the studio's obsession with player packs and DD. I'm tired of being disappointed by the same broken mechanics and feeling like this game under-delivers in favor of its superficial elements.