Community Forum

@rubicante23_PSN

When I say "catered to casuals" I mean casuals vs. those that think of themselves as "competition players". I agree that the moving parts are far harder to pick up than Madden or 2K. There is a a VERY small group of players that play this game at a level that I would consider to be "competitive", and the reality is that competitive means a lot of different things. There are people that are in the 600 and 700's that consider themselves to be competitive players. They aren't. They may be competitive in their respective divisions, but they aren't winning the end of season tournament. In those tournament players eyes, even those 600-800 level players are "casuals".

So, I stand by my estimate, which might even be low, that 85-90% of the player base are casuals, and the gaming companies need those people to keep buying the game and doing micro transactions, so they will always cater to those players, and rightfully so.

@genopolanco_PSN

So I have no idea how good you are at the game, but the reality is that probably 85-90% of the player base for this game are "casuals", so it makes total sense to build a game that will keep the "casuals" playing more.

I play Madden far more at at a much higher level than I do MLB, and the same mindset exists there. The "non-casuals" make up a FAR greater percentage of the player base. EA and SDS are, or are owned by for-profit corporations that could care less about "competitive" players. Madden's true competitive program peaked a few years ago, and has gotten worse each year since. I feel like it will be phased out entirely in the next few years. The Show has no real "competitive" culture now. There are too many bots and cheats in this game to be a legitimate "competitive" platform.

@Teak2112_MLBTS I second the need for repeatable Conquest maps. I know we have the Magic 3 map or whatever it is called, and I do it daily, but let's be honest 5 Show packs isn't really moving the needle all that much, considering what is usually pulled in those packs.

I just don't understand the obsession with Showdown that SDS currently has. They have effectively locked those of us that don't like/can't play Showdown out of all the major Collection Rewards this year, because the Rolen card requires that you be able to do either the Spring Breakout of the Negros Leagues one. I can't seem to do either of them, so I don't have Rolen or Williams, despite having every single other program 100% complete this year and the Live Series done, due to a lucky Ohtani pull from a Headliners pack. It is very demoralizing.

@mietha_MLBTS said in How close (far away) are you from Ted Williams?:

Eternity. I'm not paying to play showdowns and he requires either Summer Breakout or Negro Leagues, both of which require cards that can only be obtained in showdowns, and can't be bought, so I will never get him because SDS refuses to make gold cards that came out in March sellable.

Ditto. I am terrible at Showdown. I apparently have some mental block for this mode. I beat the Starter one, and managed to beat the latest one that came out, but have tried both the Spring Breakout and Negro Leagues ones more times than I care to remember. Locking cards that are necessary for this type of reward behind this one mode is asinine. I know now that I won't get Rolen, Williams, or apparently any other main Collection rewards that come out this year. Make the cards for the old Showdowns sellable at some point, or give me an alternate way to get them. I love Conquest and would play a lengthy map with no other rewards, just to be able to get ONE of the cards from the Negro Leagues Showdown.

I feel like a "spring chicken" here!!! I just turned 59 and have played Franchise on MLB The Show from the beginning. I just started played Diamond Dynasty with The Show 23, so this is my first time without Sets & Seasons. Like to original poster, I grew up going to MLB games a lot and was a die-hard Royals fan. Brett, Otis, Mayberry, Patek and the rest. Brett is the only one of that group that I have seen be in the game during the time that I have played DD, but would love to play at the Royals of the 70's and 80's. The younger crowd in this game really mimics what I have seen from the youth of today in general. No patience and a sense of entitlement that truly baffles me. Years of participation trophies haven't made our youth better people, in fact quite the opposite.

First of all, you are 100% correct in your observations, but you know as well as I do what their solution is. It is the same solution as they have employed for as long as I have been playing this game...................repeatedly ignore stuff like this, to the point of not even addressing that it exists. Rinse and repeat for next year.

Well if that is the case, then that sucks. I played franchise exclusively up until 23 and have the old games. I went back and downloaded 21 and 22 from my archive, and there was no voucher for the previous main collection reward, but I also see that the one-off "bosses" that weren't vouchers carried forward into the next collection. So, for example in 21 it looks like Brett was the first collection reward, and McCutcheon was the next one. There was no Brett voucher, so I thought I would be alright. I knew that the series of cards expanded each time, but I am caught up on them. It is the one-off boss for the Negro Leagues and Spring Breakout that I am missing.

Anyone want to do a Showdown for me!!!!!

@YOSHI24_XBL So have the previous Legends and Flashbacks players always been a part of the next Legends and Flashbacks requirements? I don't have Rolen, only because I can't beat either the Negro Leagues or Spring Breakout Showdowns. I have have all the other vouchers, but you can only skip one. I don't have Harper or Santana. I was hoping that the Retro Lightning players wouldn't be part of the next big set.

Well, the obvious answer is wait longer than the other guy, but the real problem is that SDS allows this to be a thing in the game. I am not sure how the freeze-off works, but every time I have had someone pause the game on me, the timer runs down and then the games asks me if I want to make them forfeit. If I say yes, I get the win. If I say No, then we keep waiting.

Oakland is Mason Miller

KC is Seth Lugo

What I don't understand is why not make them like the Cornerstone Captains, so that you can trade one in and try an new one. I have done that for both Seasons, and it was fun building the different lineups with the different Captain cards.

@urbanphilosophy_XBL It originally said tomorrow, the 23rd, but when they updated the schedule and added the stuff coming the next two Fridays, it dropped off the list. I am hoping that it was just a spacing issue, and they wanted to get the part about 8/2 being the Lightning Card on there.

The new Jurrangelo Cijntje card doesn't truly "switch pitch" in the game. They do have him deliver the ball from the same-hand side of the batter each time, but the break on his pitches is always as if delivered from a right-handed pitcher. The Slider doesn't break away from left-handed batters as you would expect from a left-handed pitcher. Instead it runs in on left-handed batters. Now I have been able to use that fact to my advantage a few times, but overall the "switch pitching" thing is just a visual gimmick in the game, and not truly as he pitches in real life.

I am using the Castillo Captain, so the Live Series is definitely a viable Team at this point in Season 2. I have a lot of them P5, so with the Castillo boost, they are mid-to-high 90's.

I fully agree. I am an old guy, so I vividly remember playing video games when there was no such thing as an update. The update was next year when the new game came out, or if you took the time to make rosters yourself. There was no Internet, so you couldn't download the roster that the other guy made either. I played NCAA back in the day, and the offline mode was fun, but that is because that is all there was. In this age of "instant downloads and information", people aren't going to be as excited with a totally offline mode as they think they will be.

I love baseball, and I actually love MLB The Show, but the changes in format this year have not resonated with me at all. Let's be honest, a significant chunk of the player base here will be gone, or at best divided in attention starting at 8:00pm EST today, when Madden 24 drops.