Community Forum

Servers are down lol. New grade: F

@JenkinMeyer_PSN

Such a dumb mechanic in the game. I just have such fatigue from the same ol’ faults in the gameplay.

Annual Review – MLB The Show

I usually wait until the end of the first Weekend Classic or the end of the first Inning Program to write my annual review. Not sure if anyone will care to read it, but I like getting my thoughts out anyway, so here it goes.

TL;DR

Content is strong and well-paced (A-), but gameplay is still inconsistent and frustrating (D+). Rewards and modes feel weaker than past years, especially collections and Diamond Quest. Overall, it’s the same experience as previous years—a solid but flawed game (C) that’s more enjoyable when played casually rather than competitively online.

Content — A-

I love the way they’ve spaced out content this year, and the programs are very quick and easy to complete. It feels like there’s been a real variety of cards used in the game, and you could make a case for several different players at most positions. There isn’t much of a clear “meta,” outside of the usual switch hitters like Ozzie Albies.

The only thing keeping this from being an A or A+ is how quick and easy the multiplayer program was to complete, it just felt a little too fast and I think it was dumb that events are time limited.

Gameplay — D+

I’m not shocked that gameplay still feels random and varies game-to-game based on opponent connection, stadium, and other factors. After playing about 11 ranked games over the past few days, it’s once again been a frustrating and inconsistent experience.

One game feels super crisp where timing is great, and the very next game, with the same roster or even the same stadium, it feels like I’m swinging underwater with no chance of getting a hit. Some games turn into a fly-out simulator no matter how good your contact is.

Pitcher confidence continues to be a major flaw. With how long ranked season games take, the rewards just aren’t there during the regular season. Weekend Classic rewards are a huge W, I went 3-3 and felt rewarded, but even in games I won, the experience was frustrating and not that enjoyable.

At this point, I play video games to have fun, and playing online is very rarely fun.

Miscellaneous Pros

• I like how they handled Team Affinity as a year-long system instead of constant card dumps.

• The parallel mods have also been a fun way to experiment with different cards.

Miscellaneous Cons

1. ⁠What happened to Diamond Quest? It was such a fun and rewarding mode last year. Now we’re into the second Inning Program and there’s still no good Diamond Quest map.

They take a long time to complete and aren’t very rewarding. It feels like the mode has basically been removed. I’ve only completed one so far and don’t see much reason to do another anytime soon.

2. Collection Rewards

Honestly, this feels like the weakest group of Live Series collection rewards we’ve had (not counting the year with 95 Pedro and Palmeiro).

Pedroia hasn’t been great. Chone Figgins doesn’t really play up to his ratings since contact hitters aren’t that strong. I’ve heard mixed reviews on Campanella. With defense being important, Manny Ramirez doesn’t feel like a huge impact player.

Félix isn’t close to Roger Clemens, and while I’m excited to use Pujols and Tulowitzki, they still pale in comparison to some past rewards.

Overall Grade — C

This is about what I expected. It’s roughly the same grade I’ve been giving the game for years, and not much has changed.

Part of it is on me, I had my best year ever playing online last year, made World Series, and was locked in all year. This year, I just can’t get into that same rhythm or focus.

At this point, I’m looking forward to finishing the Live Series collection and playing more casually online. Honestly, the less I play online, the more I enjoy the game overall, especially the collecting and grinding aspects.

It kind of stinks, but it feels like the player base has just gotten too good, or pitching is still too random

I’m with ya sister !! I’m transitioning to just mostly offline, too old and online folks are crazy good now. Excited for weekend classic but we need a good DQ map BADLY

@ApolloZ_99_MLBTS but that’s the rules in MLB so why not here ??

Bump. Any updated reviews ??

If they don’t fix the balls on the black not being called strikes then what’s the point.

Everyone is just (rightfully so) taking every pitch that’s even close and getting rewarded for it. Add in the foul balls on early swings and low control on pitchers it’s such a laughable experience on all star difficulty.

Good to know, those are the 3 that I look forward to using on paper. But so many RHH !!!

@GodShammGod2_XBL

My statement mean to say those two cards were collection rewards last year and were staples in my lineup for months. This years group of collection rewards doesnt seem to have as “Meta” cards on paper at least that add value to the overall stub sink of collections. I’m hoping to be proven wrong by reviews from folks (Manny, Pedroia are they good?)

Bump still Bump

Ranked should be 9 innings. Having 1 standard mode where you replicate the true 9innings is needed.

I agree, I wish they would get rid of BR and add a new “salary cap” 6 inning mode where you choose 2 diamonds from your binder, 3 golds 5 silvers etc and make it 6 innings with ranked style rewards.

Anyone have the collective finished that can provide a review of the big 3? I’m underwhelmed on paper compared to the trio from last year.

Having no equivalent of Ted Simmons or Chase Headly stinks too. Kinda killed my vibe to grind a bit !

Yeah I didn’t touch DQ mid to late last year, the tedious time really added up.

I’m pretty disappointed with Diamond Quest so far. I just did a full run on the map, uncovered every square, and completed all the missions and both stadium strongholds. It took me roughly 2 hours to get through everything.

I was expecting the reward cards to have some real value, but the prices are really low.

Did anyone else notice the challenges feel more time-consuming too? Things like score 3 runs or multiple missions that take up to 9 outs make the runs drag on longer than I expected.

Are the cards just worse compared to last year, or is that why their value is so low on the market?

Maybe this is just anecdotal, or maybe I should’ve skipped some of the challenges and tried it on HOF or something instead?

Tl;dr - I don’t see DQ as worth my time grinding as it was last year. Need more valuable end cards.

Can we access the 26 market on the web browser? I'm getting an error each time @cbrev29

@NWOStunna_PSN yeah I’m not thrilled with the choices. Even Pujols, he’s a big name and great attributes on paper but I didn’t love his swing in years past enough to warrant what he’s gonna cost.

Oh well. I wasnt excited for Gil Hodges last year and he ended up being awesome for me so we’ll see. ‍️

Going into MLB The Show 26, based on everything I’ve seen and read so far, I’d give the game an overall B+ heading into launch.

Starting with the Live Series collection, I’d give that a B-. It’s hard not to compare it to past years. Felix Hernandez and Tulo just don’t really stack up with some of the elite collection rewards we’ve had before. When you think about Roger Clemens and Carlos Beltrán last year (with Beltrán being a switch hitter), or even going further back to rewards like Mickey Mantle or Chipper Jones, this year’s feels a little underwhelming by comparison.

That said, there are a lot of changes I really like.

One big one is events having real meaning again. In recent years they felt pretty pointless, so having actual incentives to play them should be a nice improvement.

I also really like the addition of Parallel Mods. That’s a feature the game has desperately needed for a while because it finally gives players some customization. Other sports games have had similar systems for years — for example, NBA 2K had a shoe upgrade/customization system at least as far back as 2K19 (which is the first year I played, and it might have existed even earlier). So it’s good to see The Show finally moving in that direction.

Another positive is that Team Affinity won’t be the main content drop anymore. Dropping 30 cards all at once was never a great idea because it overshadowed everything else in the game. It basically reset everyone’s teams overnight and made a lot of other content feel pointless. Spreading content out more should make the progression feel better.

One underrated improvement might be the overhaul to attributes. Pitchers will now have different ratings against right-handed vs left-handed batters, and fielders will have directional fielding ratings instead of one blanket attribute. Hopefully this helps balance gameplay — especially in the outfield, where defenders have felt overpowered in past years.

We’ll have to see how it plays once the game actually releases, but overall I’m feeling pretty optimistic with a B+ grade going in.

@Dookie-Possum_XBL

That’s the other thing, I hate the ping pong stage of going back and forth. My next game will likely be on all star, then if I win, back to HOF. Going back in forth makes it even harder to get into a rhythm.

Genuine question, not saying it’s impossible to enjoy.

With most of the game being on all star, I just find the shift to HOF so steep. Games go from 9-6, 11-9 to such drastic pitchers duels.

I also feel like it makes the good input outs really stand out in a bad way. I don’t notice it as much on all star because I’m able to get a lot of good input, so a larger sample size of good input seems to “balance out”. On HOF, pitchers just dot the corners all game long (is pinpoint just too easy?) When you do finally get a mistake and nail it for a perfect perfect out it stings especially since those are rarer on HOF.

Yes, this post is partially because I just lost 1-0 which included my shohei getting robbed of a HR, but truthfully, even if I had won 1-0 I’d srill be here wondering why you guys like it.

just it does take practice?

Do the good / perfect outs get super frustrating?

All of my upcoming Weekend Classic games will be on HOF, not exactly looking forward to my opponent and I conbining for 20+ Ks and just watching pitchers dot corners on perfect pinpoint input over and over.

@JEEPaholic21_MLBTS had my first freeze off today in weekend classic. Didn’t realize I had to plug my controller in, I guess it died and PS went into sleep mode.

Shame on SDS for not fixing freeze offs or at least identifying when they happen and nullifying those game results (should be treated like a friendly quit)