MLB the Show (Home Run Derby) 20.

Seriously, though: think of how arcade-like the game has become. They add sinkers to pitchers just to make them usable. They make stats for player cards that are average in real life just to throw a bunch of players into the game.

This year's game, for me, is almost as bad as MLB the Show 18. The content, although arcade-like, was new and different. But there is no incentive to play right now. Why would I spend all this time grinding for WS, or completing the Extreme series, for example, when I could spend 45 minutes grinding easy moments to get absolutely over powered cards like Arozerana (probably misspelled) and Seager?

In the long run, the content has proven to make the game less exciting.

The game play is just a disaster, as well. With all the overpowered cards, every game has become home run or bust.

Maybe my expectations are too high--maybe I expect more of a simulation; but I really do think they need to make it VERY difficult to obtain high-level cards. They need to make pitching more dominant, and more realistic--stop giving sinkers to guys who threw maybe 2 of them in a season just to accommodate the meta of the broken game. Make the game more about baseball--the actual game of baseball--and not about seeing who can hit the most home runs with a god-squad of guys in Shippett stadium.

Mantle has a very slow swing, so you need to cheat on high heat. Sit high and react to low offspeed. He crushes the low offspead stuff.

I switched from Strike Zone to Zoom and found that it's easier to get harder hits. I had a 26 hit game on all-star, before jumping back into hall of fame games this ranked season.

With the extended view and ability to see the batter, it's easier to swing at the ball in accordance with the batter's stance. This creates more swings that are on the early side of good, which seems to be the meta this year.

The game play this year was bad. The only thing that matters is power and hitting home runs. Pitching it totally irrelevant, especially at the higher levels.

I've completely left the game over the last month to play COD. I know it's COVID, but the content has been incredibly boring. Every DD team is the same -- every game is being home hunted to Shippett, and everyone just plays for home runs to win the game.

The new minor league cards were boring and unrealistic. The way content should work is that there should be clear differences between truly great players. There should be multiple card levels for the great players (with real card art, if you ask me). For example, Griffey should have veteran, rookie, and hardware series. You should have to grind with the lower level cards in online games to unlock the higher level cards. The higher level cards should be very difficult to get, so, if you want them, you have to expend a lot of time working for them. This structure would promote lineup diversity, as players would have to pick and choose cards they want to work to develop.

Live series cards of current players should be more competitive with the old school players, and should also have a program in place where you can unlock higher level flashbacks. Want the 2020 Finest Mookie Betts? Grind with live series Mookie and his 2020 stats in online DD games. This gives incentive to actually use live series players in DD, rather than having them become collections pieces one week after release because of juiced flashback cards and fake minor league players. All cards, in my view, should multiple levels of prestige, too, which means if you constantly use a live series player (or flashback, you can prestige them through multiple levels).

99 overall ratings should be RARE. Only a handful of truly great players should be that highly rated. That means stats for the flashback cards should actually be lowered to make the rare players standout. This means Griffey might not have maxed out power in comparison to Babe Ruth, and that's ok. Too many cards have fantasy stats that just aren't that exciting.

Gameplay needs to reward pitching and contact hittting, as well. Team construction should not be based on cutters, sinkers, and power.

End rant.

I completed the LS collection thanks to a small investment and a 12-0 run that netted me my second Mike Trout and those rewards. At this stage, I like having the LS collection done because I can just grind for fun cards that I enjoy playing with without having to worry about creating a competitive team for ranked seasons. My primary goal is to always have a competitive team for ranked. Having that, I can focus on just playing, getting better, and enjoying the game. This is the first time I've ever completed the LS collection in the first month and it was honestly worth the grind and the investment I put into it.

Also, I have a full time job as an attorney, so I don't have time to grind out programs. It's easier for me to sink a bit of money in for certain cards than to just grind for hours like I used to when I was a student.

Not sure if this has been said, but I think the issue with overly fast heaters and bad timing windows has to do with the opponent, not with the individual playing their opponent. If you opponent has poor internet connection, get ready for terrible timing windows.

Not a chance for any player. Cards in the game have no real value. Just play and grind.

Just got an “invalid node state” message in Showdown and got a loss without even entering the game. Stupid.

Started a BR run today with a routine fly ball to Mike Trout that he completely whiffed on thanks to crappy animations.

Also, why do high fastballs seem like they’re coming in at 110 mph, while low changes and sliders appear to be 75 mph? The timing windows are completely erratic.

Double plays are fun to hit into every time someone is on first.

I love good/okay hits when the ball is pretty much dead center in the PCI.

Two outs? How about you allow an extra 4 runs before the game is over?

Ugh. Just needed to vent. This game is extremely disappointing.

Locked in a freeze off in a BR run. I’m in the lead and I’m one win away from nabbing Acuna. Looked through the opponent’s profile and game history and there seems to be a trend of winning games when down or losing. Looks like the opponent uses freeze glitches to get wins.

One of the opponent’s recent freeze offs against a top player went overnight.

Is there a way to report this?

New controller always helps too. In case you're using an older one. The toggle sticks sway and get loose.

I think they give it to Arenado.

I'm the opposite. I'm early on everything online with VRR and 120hz activated.

I'd have to try the two different options. MLB the Show caps at 60hz refresh on either 4k or 1080p, so I'm thinking 120 fps may not make a difference online. Although the monitor can run up to 120fps, I'm not sure it would actually overclock the game at that framerate.

I've been playing with VRR on the past couple days. I haven't been dealing input lag issues. In fact, I'm early on a lot of pitches. But the VRR hasn't solved the embedded defects within the game, i.e. the RNG and flawed hitting system with PCI placement.

@limitlessrage__psn said in Question about VRR with my G7 Samsung monitor:

VRR capabil

I have the same monitor. It looks like AV is better for performance.

Hitting is bizarre. I've had perfect PCI placement and next to perfect timing and the ball is just a weak flyout. Lineouts galore. Also, whenever I get someone one base, contact with a baseball generally magnets for a double play like 80% of the time. Not to brag, but I'm sitting at like a 27-8 record this ranked season and half those loses are from games where, no matter how well I squared up balls, the RNG I mentioned above just killed me. I have had some close games against good players. I remember one where we were in extra innings and this guy hit a walk off homerun with Bryce Harper on a cutter at Bryce's knees. Overall, it just feels like user input has no relevance at all. More than ever, the game feels arcade-like - it's the game that decides whether you get a hit, not the player and his or her stick skills.

I've been testing different setups. For reference, I play with a wired connection directly into a gaming router. I have my PS5 set to priority over all other devices in the house. I generally have download speeds at 470mbs to 520mbs and uploads around 25mbs to 30mbs. I'm on a Samsung G7, 4k 2.1 HMDI, 144hz refresh rate monitor with adaptive sync capabilities. At first, I thought hitting was jacked up because I was playing 4k. Switching to 1080p didn't really fix the issue. I had hopes the VRR supplement would help things, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. Timing windows and lag aren't really an issue at all for me. It appears to be the game itself at this point. Everything people are saying about lineouts, flyouts, and double plays are consistent in my gameplay too. The game itself is poorly executed when it comes to hitting.

Pitching seems fine this year. But the pitcher stamina patch was bad. Pitchers have just as much stamina as they did last year, so it doesn't even matter whether you have plate discipline to wear a pitcher out. They can just keep going, which is frustrating and unrealistic.

Fielding is bit odd too. Diving catches can get a bit crazy. If you dive early enough, a player will slide into balls that are well outside their reach.

As far as a baseball simulation, this is not that game. The Show is more of an arcade and collectible experience at this point. Not worth putting much effort into, other than for obtaining rewards. The rewards are also a bit dumb. The Face of the Franchise has taken over everyone's lineups. Every game you play has unrealistically boosted players. Every lineup is filled with switch hitters so you are forced to use only pitchers with a sinker/cutter/slider combo to deal with the switch hitters. Soon, I'm sure we'll get bombarded with progressively juiced Topps Now cards that will someone end up being high 90 overalls. Oddly enough, players who get Topps Now cards early in the game cycle are high golds or low diamonds, but at the end, a player will likely get a high 90 overall for the same performance put on early in the game cycle.

I'll end the rant. But just wanted to toss out a more detailed experience to generate some commentary on the game and the issues.

@victor_sds_psn said in Matchmaking issues, and 120hz output.:

Hi all.

The team is aware and investigating the recent issues with 120hz output and the impact it is having on matchmaking for PS users.

As other users have mentioned - if you're having troubles finding a match, you may want to try turning off the 120hz output option in the PlayStation settings.

• Settings -> Screen and Video -> Video Output -> Enable 120hz Output: Off

I'll reply again when I get further updates from the team.

EDIT: I know other users here on the forums have already mentioned it, but if turning off the 120hz output option resolved the issue for you, please reply and let me know. Thank you for your patience.

Turning off 120hz worked for me.

489mgs download and 22mgs upload.

@d_e_m_i_s_e_psn said in This game is awesome. Seriously.:

@raesone_psn said in This game is awesome. Seriously.:

Good luck. Can't wait to hear your opinion when you're 895 rated and lose to a guy who fouls off every pitch thrown miles out of the strike zone and hits bloopie after bloopie after bloopie before burying you with a grand slam on a perfectly executed pitch that went right down the middle.

This sums it up. Gave up a VERY early HR to Olson earlier. Meanwhile, my Mullins hits 2 balls almost dead center of pci for routine fly balls. Won some games, lost some games but off for the night. Ball is a blur. Can't read any pitches.

The ball is blurring because of laggy connection from the other opponent's internet. Just keep playing until you get good connection with a local server.

Same. I go PCI off. I turn it on briefly when I change levels to get a gauge of PCI size, but then go back to off. It's far easier to see pitches and time up swings.