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I mean... if they were making big changes/improvements, wouldn't they be marketing the hell out of it?

I can't recall a single case of a developer marketing a game less because they felt it was going to be better than expected.

@SaveFarris said in Doesn’t look good guys:

This isn't helping: https://inewsource.org/2021/01/14/new-data-shows-san-diego-among-worst-cities-in-us-for-covid-1/

Eh. I work in software and this whole 'COVID causing delays' is extremely overblown and, IME, largely just being used as an excuse by s****y companies. If a tech company hadn't efficiently transitioned to remote work by May or June, they had issues far beyond covid restrictions.

This isn't steel manufacturing. In a lot of ways, working remotely should actually increase their output, especially in the software industry.

@beanball0571 said in Doesn’t look good guys:

I’m thinking it’s gonna be a sh@t show because they don’t know how to fix a broken product

I'm optimistic that they won't even try. Like another poster said, this seems to be setting up for a copy/paste update at a reduced price this year so they can rework the game for '22.

The mechanics feel archaic and the animations are more than a decade old in a lot of cases. At a certain point, you just need to start over.

@ComebackLogic said in Doesn’t look good guys:

I’m thinking that ‘21 may be an update DLC for owners of ‘20 that brings new card art, rosters and content via a patch that costs around half of the base game. If released as a standalone title on PS4 and on other platforms, you’ll get ‘20 with the ‘21 updates preinstalled over the base game of ‘20 and pay full price. This will save a lot of work, allow for improvements to be made to the existing product and give them an extra year to think about a full rebuild. Plus it’s an entirely new game for non PS4 owners. Digital delivery is the future of gaming, music and any downloadable product (well, it’s the present, but you get my drift), with physical discs and so on rapidly being phased out of existence, so to make a base game at AAA price and keep it current with yearly updates makes sense, particularly when they blatantly sell us the same game with updated rosters etc every year anyway. Why not admit that, own it and utilise it?

PES did a version of this. I would think SDS is in a position where they have to do this. If not, a lot of the animations and mechanics will have been ported over FOUR console generations.

It needs to be re-imagined from the ground up, especially hitting, and I don't think anyone would falt them in the least for making '21 a continuation in exchange for something significantly improved the following year.

They continually increase the randomness to offset the power/effectiveness creep of the new cards. It's why by the end of every game cycle, all the cards start feeling like they play the same regardless of attributes. Really hoping they go in another direction for next-gen because it barely feels like you're in control at times, which isn't great for a video game.

The big difference I've noticed this year is that timing now appears to be somewhat random. If you pay attention to the bat swing feedback animation, there's some really wonky disconnects (ie. feedback saying you were very early and the animation showing almost neutral). The perfect foul balls also seem to further confirm this as in your input was actually "perfect" but the game's outcome dice-roll landed on foul ball.

At the end of the day, all these games are running on PS2-era engines.

Just from what I've observed over the years, it's not that these companies don't want the game to be infinitely better YoY, it's just that the engine they keep building on is so limited and frankensteined together that even minor additions are gigantic undertakings with branching, potentially game-breaking effects. It's why you're seeing games like Madden and MLBTS seemingly get buggier every year, despite them appearing to be largely interchangeable with the previous year(s?) game.

They need to essentially tear them all down and build them back up from scratch, which isn't going to happen until they're absolutely forced to (ie. people stop buying packs/stubs).

Nah, it's not being cancelled. It would set a crazy precedent.

If it was, logically, they'd have to cancel every season once a player tested positive for the flu since the flu is much more dangerous to this population than COVID.

Sports are going to be fine, the leagues are just in this crazy position where they have to overreact due to the hyperbolic, politically-driven, science-denying crazies that infest social media. Why they care about what these creatures think, most of whom aren't even real people... there will be case studies written.

They're both crappy in their own way, though I give Madden more of a pass because there's a crazy amount the variables at any given moment and plays well offline if you aren't aware of the cheese plays. Baseball is relatively binary when it comes to outcomes so should be 100x easier to program, especially since SDS doesn't even incorporate physics, which is absolutely crazy in 2020. You can almost see the 'if-then' statements firing off in the background.

I think the problem with both is that they're continuing to use legacy assets/code from the PS2 era, SDS especially (look at the field, batter's box "dirt", mid-swing animation, etc.). A total teardown is in order.

Nah, the stage 3 cards are primarily for offline collectors. Anyone who is still playing at this point, and has the resources (time or money) to get to stage 3, already has multiple better options at every position.

The HR derby cards just released, many which are sitting at near-quicksale prices, are arguably better for this meta than any stage 3 cards.

Of course, why wouldn't they?

I'm sure they have it down to a literal science as to when strategically rewarding folks with good pulls ultimately results in more stubs being bought. From a business standpoint, I'd assume whoever is in charge of increasing stub sales would be fired if they weren't 'rigging' packs.

Random tip from someone who plays showdown almost exclusively - load up on exit velocity perks and avoid the contact boosts. I'm fairly certain the contact boosts create a larger soft contact area which is creating a lot of the nonsensical hitting outcomes you see criticized on here.

@Matt_42187 said in Update 1.13 Discussion:

@Scarletgospel said in Update 1.13 Discussion:

Lol... apparently this is a good/good homerun by the cpu on legend now. Lol.

https://imgur.com/a/Krb2Rmi

I guess we just get to see the bad hits in more detail now. I hope this is an outlier and not the norm.

Where did the ball land, because the wind was blowing out 10MPH? I noticed the PCI & bat/ball placement doesn't look to be in the same spot, which sucks.

Interesting observation. He was behind it with bad PCI placement... and it went out of the park? With 54 power?

Also, I understand the PCI /= the barrel of the bat but JFC. PCI is way to the right of the ball but the ball makes contact towards the end of the bat?

Like I said before, this enhanced feedback is likely to bring more questions than answers.

@Scarletgospel said in Update 1.13 Discussion:

Lol... apparently this is a good/good homerun by the cpu on legend now. Lol.

https://imgur.com/a/Krb2Rmi

I guess we just get to see the bad hits in more detail now. I hope this is an outlier and not the norm.

Yeah, I highly suspect this feedback is actually going to make things worse. I'm really surprised they went this direction rather than just turning down the RNG. It's just going to further confirm that many results are nonsensical based on the input.

@hoboadam said in Ducks on the Pond Elite Round:

@GradektheBard said in Ducks on the Pond Elite Round:

Really a scummy move to add a tier that will kill the value of the former high tier cards. This is now th sig pack from last year where those mid tier cards were 40k right from the start.

TBH, we saw this coming. The moment the odds were released and the type of pack it was advertised at. Having an elite round should be ZERO surprise.

Okay, Ramone.

Literally nobody predicted an elite round.

Madden's fine. Plays more straight up than MLBTS but, granted, they have a lot more areas to hide the DDA. Ultimately, if you like Madden offline, it plays essentially the same online just with more cheese plays (which is actually a benefit to you if you learn how to counter them).

I would highly recommend 2k, though. I'm not even a basketball fan and it's starting to take over the vast majority of my gaming time. Gameplay is simply fantastic.

@raesONE said in Keep Hiding behind Content:

@Hoofartid said in Keep Hiding behind Content:

@raesONE said in Keep Hiding behind Content:

@Hoofartid said in Keep Hiding behind Content:

IMO, post-patch '18 online hitting was better than '19 or '20. I'm not saying it was great or even good, but it had a whole lot less RNG. It was all or nothing but good input was largely rewarded, at least compared to the last 2 years.

Offline, '18 hitting was actually pretty great until they nerfed it when they released all the immortals.

Finally, can we stop saying rewards are content? The rewards are okay but the overall playable content in DD is sorely lacking. There's hardly any incentive to collect cards or improve your lineup if you play mostly offline. Don't get me started on the playability of moments - might as well just be pulling a slot machine lever.

Fight me.

Not gonna fight you but your opinion in this regard is extremely rare and not often supported.

What supports that '19 or '20 are any better?

That you said hitting in 18 was better. 18 was a disgrace and a complete dumpster fire in every aspect imaginable.

I'm not going to waste any more brain cells debating which version is less terrible. Fire up '18 and see for yourself. I like it better than '19 or '20 because, in my experience, good input is rewarded at a much higher rate. If you disagree, cool.

@raesONE said in Keep Hiding behind Content:

@Hoofartid said in Keep Hiding behind Content:

IMO, post-patch '18 online hitting was better than '19 or '20. I'm not saying it was great or even good, but it had a whole lot less RNG. It was all or nothing but good input was largely rewarded, at least compared to the last 2 years.

Offline, '18 hitting was actually pretty great until they nerfed it when they released all the immortals.

Finally, can we stop saying rewards are content? The rewards are okay but the overall playable content in DD is sorely lacking. There's hardly any incentive to collect cards or improve your lineup if you play mostly offline. Don't get me started on the playability of moments - might as well just be pulling a slot machine lever.

Fight me.

Not gonna fight you but your opinion in this regard is extremely rare and not often supported.

What supports that '19 or '20 are any better?

@cardinals588 said in Keep Hiding behind Content:

People get all tore up when they lose. I hope the show takes away feedback next year so the crybags will shut it up. It is silly to think you are going to throw perfect pitches and have perfect hits Everytime you swing the bat.

Who are you talking to?

IMO, post-patch '18 online hitting was better than '19 or '20. I'm not saying it was great or even good, but it had a whole lot less RNG. It was all or nothing but good input was largely rewarded, at least compared to the last 2 years.

Offline, '18 hitting was actually pretty great until they nerfed it when they released all the immortals.

Finally, can we stop saying rewards are content? The rewards are okay but the overall playable content in DD is sorely lacking. There's hardly any incentive to collect cards or improve your lineup if you play mostly offline. Don't get me started on the playability of moments - might as well just be pulling a slot machine lever.

Fight me.

I think you answered your own question.

Plus, not that there's a ton of doubters now, but it would also essentially prove that DDA is rampant in the game.