Community Forum

This might be well-known, but I haven't seen it mentioned, so I figure it's worth posting.

One issue which I have had in the past while using analog pitching was stick drift on the way up, particularly when using pitchers who have long deliveries. Recently, I found a solution to this issue which doesn't necessitate using the thumb and another finger to steady the stick.

Starting the delivery requires only the slightest movement downward, and the delivery will continue as long as the stick isn't moved upward until the desired release point. It took a little while to break the habit of bringing the stick all the way down and then sending it up to pitch, but making the change has been very helpful, increasing my accuracy a great deal by negating the occasional pitch which sails off-target due to stick drift on the way up.

@JoeTheGamePlayer said in Final Big Sale of 2020:

Somebody's got way too much time on his hands

Indeed.

I'm a disabled combat veteran who can't stand up straight and who has a sleep schedule shredded by PTSD. On that latter bit, mundane tasks help me relax, like a sort of meditation.

Also as I've mentioned, if I've got sports on one television, I'll often be active on the PS4 on the other TV.

I'm not sure which game you're playing, but if you're talking about MLB The Show 20 I couldn't possibly disagree with you more. This year's game is brilliant!

From what I have seen in the Community Market, there are thousands of active players at any one moment. It's not evidence, just an impression, but everything this year seems so much more active and busy than last year...

...although, sadly that increase in activity is also reflected in the absolute downpour of players who feel entitled to success, etc. To those people, I would say simply that perhaps you should stop playing. The aggravation with which you're dealing is negatively impacting your life, but not just your life, the enjoyment of others is tarnished by those who must wade through the seas of bile in the forums in order to reach delightful archipelagos of adult discussion.

This is really starting to get quite ridiculous.

When does Fall begin in San Diego?

The World Series starts tonight, yet somehow we're still not in the Fall stage for Team Affinity?

I got matched up with a player in Ranked Seasons who came in with a record of something like 11-65. I decided to pitch to contact to give this person a chance to hit.

I threw meatball after meatball, and this person struck out time after time, including multiple times on flat fastballs right down the pipe.

Eventually, they hit a long home run and I triggered the replay. I took the lead with a 4-spot in the 4th or 5th, and I continued to throw strikes on every pitch, the only very rare exceptions being when I missed the zone by a few inches. In other words, I was basically being as nice as I could be throughout the game. There was zero chance of me losing, so why not? Why not in any case, really... although it's rare that "nice" translates into 70 down-the-middle fastballs in a game.

Anyway, whoever this person is responded by beaning four or five of my players, calling time with the home plate umpire as often as possible, and just generally being as obnoxious as they could.

I've been online for far, far too long for any kind of behavior to surprise me anymore, but it's still amazing to see someone acting like a [censored] for no reason, let alone in the face of generosity.

This year's version of The Show is fantastic so far - no surprise there. Having said that, particularly as someone who spends an inordinate amount of time creating content for myself and others to use, I'd like to request some modifications to the game, changes which would greatly enhance the immersion factor of The Show. Thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say.

1. Increase available number fonts - the game has at least 40 fonts which the system uses to render player jersey numbers, yet we have access to only 10 of those when modifying uniforms. Let us use the other 30, please.

2. Increase available lettering fonts - having access to all fonts in the game would be a simple yet major improvement.

3. Alternate Uniform Set(s) - please let us create at least one Alternate set in addition to the Home and Away sets we are currently able to set up for our teams. I believe that having as many as five sets available for any one game would add to the immersion level in a big way, thereby increasing enjoyment of the game(s). Just take a look at the vault(s) for insight on how much many of us enjoy creating content for ourselves and others, while also noting how many images are downloaded dozens if not hundreds of times.

4. More uniform flexibility overall - it would be fantastic if we could set sleeve logos, special edition logos (franchise anniversary, that sort of thing).

5. Stance Socks - let us customize these, please... at least with the colors. For example, the St. Patrick's Day Stance socks are quite valuable, but many players won't use them for the simple fact that they look absurd in conjunction with nearly every uniform combination in the game.

6. Sleeve Edges - in many instances, the uniform shirt sleeve gets blended in where it overlaps an undershirt, performance sleeve, etc. Please try to fix this one, as it just looks odd when it happens and is a stark immersion breaker in my opinion. Perhaps it's something as simple as having the uniform shirt be an object which is itself overlaid as the top layer on the player's torso?

7. Female Players - particularly in RTTS, the ability to add female players would be a MAJOR enhancement to this game. It's a matter of time before various female athletes make their ways into professional sports. In baseball, I suspect that the most likely positions for the first batch of women to make the majors will be 2nd basemen and knuckleball pitchers. I will be very surprised if women don't make up at least 5% of MLB rosters by 2050. Considering a separate angle, imagine how many young girls out there are big baseball fans (I've raised two of them) but who cannot get the same kind of enjoyment as their brothers, male friends, etc from The Show.

8. Tattoos - I'm honestly surprised that an option to add tattoos doesn't exist already.

I have a number of other suggestions, but I think that this list is quite long enough for a start. Thank you very much for the time, effort, and passion you put into creating this game, SDS.

All the best to you and yours.

I just played a guy with something like 1500 results, record of something like 650-850, I can't remember the exact numbers.

Anyway, it seems like he's been using the same lineup for a very long time as all of the batters he sent to the plate had many hundreds of at-bats. I might not have noticed this had I not initially noticed that most of his batters had AVG and OBP numbers that were nearly identical. This made me curious so I checked and found that only one player on his entire roster had more than ten walks, Trout who had 11 over something like 700 plate appearances. Amazing, especially considering that said opponent had a pretty good eye, rarely swinging at junk.

Anyway, all of the above may go some way toward the fact that I managed to throw a perfect game with Zac Gallen. Only 9 strikeouts, but no walks, no HBP, no errors.

Great game with lots of tension as my opponent pitched very well himself, giving up only 1 run on 4 hits.

In case anyone's curious about it, I can tell you that the game doesn't do anything in particular to recognize a no-no or perfect game, apart from the presentation of the catcher lifting the pitcher up, etc. There aren't extra awards of any kind, which is fine by me.

9th inning. Larry Walker pinch hit for Josh Hader in the bottom of the 8th.

I hit the wrong button and exit out of the automatic suggestion to change pitchers due to there being a position player on the mound.

Walker is forced to face three batters before being replaced. Fortunately he goes 1-2-3, but that's beside the point.

If no pitches have been thrown, we should still be able to bring in an actual pitcher.

Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be a version of any game which plays in such a way that people learn to accept responsibility for their own results instead of blaming the game, the developers, the positions of the planets, etc.

On the subject of replays in online games, that yet another thing about which to be annoyed has been created out of thin air is utterly baffling to me. Are so many people who are playing online games so emotionally weak that they find it abhorrent for an opponent to enjoy a moment of success? Seriously? I mean, come ON...

Personally, when an opponent takes one of my pitchers deep, I remove any worry or doubt when it comes to whether or not it's "okay" to view the replay by hitting L2 myself, every single time. Seriously, what is the harm in letting your opponent enjoy the replay? You never know, if you allow for the possibility that it's okay for others to enjoy themselves - even when you're their opponent - you just might find that you're enjoying yourself more at some point along the way.

Heya. I am also a disabled veteran who finds it relaxing, almost meditative, to play various PS4 games. I have some advice that I hope will help you.

1. Open a batting practice session. Have the pitcher be someone who throws fastballs, a slider, a curve, and a change-up. Be sure to set the scenario to repeat.
2. Watch the pitches as they come in. Don't swing, just focus on pitch identification. I suggest first identifying ball/strike and working toward specific pitch type and location. Do this until you are correct much more than you are incorrect.
3. Switch the pitcher to one who throws mostly fastballs and maybe a change-up. Take at least 100 AB. All you're doing here is getting your swing timing down so that when you choose to swing, you make contact. I recommend Analog swinging. It's quite forgiving and feels more realistic, providing a better feel of the fact that it takes a moment for the player's bat to go from his stance to the strike zone.
4. As your comfort increases, try the Weekly Challenge multiple (ideally, many) times. Doing so will help a great deal, particularly as you get to see analysis of the type of contact made, etc.

Important note: use the same camera for both hitting and pitching. Doing so will train your eyes to recognize pitches even while you're not focusing on hitting them.

Last thing... feel free to hit me up for a casual game. I'm quite happy to play a game or two during which only fastballs - in the zone - are thrown, except with two strikes. Good practice for making solid contact.

Good luck!

While in the Community Market, the addition of a single filter toggle would be absolutely brilliant:

Even without including an option to show which items are able to be sold, this filter would save enormous amounts of time for those who are active in the Community Market.

Thank you for your time and consideration. All the best to you and yours,
Bryan

I have a ton of excess cards for which I have no further use after finishing Stage 4 of the Affinity missions.

I will be unloading excess cards throughout the day at very friendly prices for those who are still active in the Marketplace and could use a hand.

Most of the excess is in the 70 to 74 range of overall ratings, as they're by FAR the best way to build up exchange points via cost-efficient means.

For example, a short while ago I put up 30 Madison Bumgarner cards (74 rating) at 444 and below, down to 222. The card has been selling for 700 to 900 Stubs all week.

Anyway, enjoy, and good luck!

Over the past few months, I've noticed that my hitting in particular is much better after about 30 minutes of playing than it was when I first powered up my PS4 and entered the game. This is still the case even after playing hundreds of hours over the years.

To address the issue, I've taken to having something of a routine, at least when I remember to do so, and particularly if I'm going to be playing online in the near future.

1. Weekly Challenge - great for honing accurate pitch identification
2. A Moment or two
3. A Conquest game or two

I don't keep to the above with any kind of fastidiousness, but when it occurs to me that I don't see the ball for the first 20-30 minutes as I will after having immersed in playing some, I do a few of the above before playing more difficult modes, particularly online play.

I'm curious if anyone else reading this has any sort of routine they use when starting a session, even if it's only a once in a while / when I remember sort of thing.

Better example: 33 Randy Dobnaks just went up for 55 each, previously selling at 333. Enjoy!

Earlier, just goofing around, I decided to buy Headliners packs until I had at least one of each set. It took 77 purchases - 231 packs - to finish the set. I had all but Set 14 for about a dozen of the last packages bought. So, 577,750 Stubs worth of cards. After the purchases were done, I had 1,004,00 Stubs left in my balance.

So far, I'm about halfway through the Live Series cards, and my balance is at 1,542,756 Stubs.

Nice when fun stuff works out. It will be interesting to see if selling the rest of the 924 cards acquired will push my balance over 2,000,000 again.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the local Punchbowl Log Merchant, I'm posting this to let those who are interested know that a big sale is going on right now and will continue through the week.

I've actually organized this one in Excel, as such stuff is enjoyable to me for whatever reason. I love stats, collated information, etc. Weird? Maybe. Whatever.

Anyway, roughly 5,000 cards will be put up at 40ish% discounts between now and the end of Sunday, with the most active times during American football games. When there's nothing worth watching on television, I'd much rather play the game than spend time in the Marketplace.

I've identified 3,631 cards in advance, covering 100 different players and totaling 5,643,671 in Buy Now value, with plans to sell said cards for roughly 3,000,000 Stubs. There will be many other cards sold, but in the Excel I've prepped for this I've only identified and set prices for cards in quantities greater than 10.

Thanks for taking the time to read, I hope that if you need a boost of cards or whatever that the coming sale is good for you.

TL;DR = Big sale in progress, 5,000 cards at prices cut by 40%, enjoy, whee.

All the best to you and yours,
Bryan

One thing which has been in RTTS in the past was the ability for your player to choose to interact with the team's manager. There wasn't much to it as far as I can remember, either demanding a trade or requesting a position changed. The option was removed years ago.

A game which I just finished reminded me that I'd like to see player-initiated reactions come back into the game, only this time with much wider options in terms of what the player chooses to say, how he chooses to say it and to whom.

Up 2-0 in the bottom of the 9th, with two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, my manager pulled my pitcher immediately following back-to-back strikeouts... this after leaving my guy in following an error and a bloop single. I suppose that I hit an arbitrary pitch count of 85 pitches, as my pitcher was pulled after his 86th pitch to complete the 2nd strikeout of the inning.

Sod's Law came into effect, and my relief gave up a walk and then three successive hits to lose the game 3-2. I'd love it if there was an option for my pitcher to speak to any of the manager, the pitching coach, the General Manager (bad idea w/ negative consequences), or the agent, after being pulled in such a way with the bullpen blowing the game in short order.

What do you think?

@Boudrow96 said in Should SDS sell high?:

Thinking SDS should sell the rights to MLB over to a better development team, preferably a sports-centric one. I don’t see how you could create an award winning game and over the course of a few years break it entirely.

They should sell while the value is there because the developers clearly have no idea what they are doing.

No, they shouldn't stop making The Show, as they've long been the industry's gold standard for creating a comprehensive player experience. They have an extremely high reputation in the gaming industry, one which many (myself included) believe to be well-earned.

One improvement they could make, possibly... is to create something akin to "Baseball School", a longish tutorial-type experience through which players can learn the basic nature of baseball, the physics of the sport (particularly the variance introduced by collision physics, etc).

Unfortunately, they'd probably have to offer high rewards for completion of Baseball School, but it sure would help clear the pollution in the forum. Only the most stubborn spewers would continue once they've actually gained some understanding of the game, I suspect.

@DoIHearBossMusic said in Free pack!!:

Even if they gave those out, they'd reduce the diamond odds from 50:1 to 200:1, and most of the bs diamonds distributed will be the weak Kershaws, Springers and Altuves...which shouldn't even be considered diamonds at this point.

While I certainly don't look gift horses in the mouth and thus cheerfully accept Diamond cards of any level when they come my way, to your point I suggested a year or two ago that the Diamond level be split as it covers too many overall ratings, a wide spectrum of trade-in/sell value.

One solution which would work, I think...

Tin: 0 to 59
Bronze: 60 to 69
Silver: 70 to 79
Gold: 80 to 89
Platinum: 90 to 94
Diamond: 95 to Max

A system like the one above would solve the issue of the current "low" Diamond cards being inflated Gold cards while also differentiating the very top level into two smaller segments to represent the wide variety in value between Diamond cards which are only a few slots apart.

What do you think?