Community Forum

I don't consider the pack a ripoff move by SDS at all, and I am anything but an SDS apologist. As with everything else in life, there is a price for convenience and the inability to wait for something. I am an old guy, nearly 60 years old, and back in the day we had to learn to wait for things. There was rarely instant gratification. You wanted the news, you had to watch television at 6p and 10p. If something happened after 10p, you found out in the next mornings paper. You wanted some trivial fact of information, you got in the car, or drove your bike to the library to look it up in a reference book, which was probably 5+ years old itself. You didn't carry around a personal computer with you all day, like now with smartphones. The pack was presented on the "Not Live" SDS stream exactly correctly. They said that there would be an all-encompassing pack released later in the night that would have all of the same cards as the first two packs and more, and that the first two would be more expensive, but you would have your choice of cards, and you would get to use them earlier. I have $1.2M stubs and less than a month before Madden 26 launches, so I was perfectly fine with paying $75K for the Cardinals draft pick. It does sting a little to see the card available this morning for $25K, but as I said, $50K in stubs was the price for the fun I had using the card last night. Money well spent for me. Not everything is about "flipping" or "investing", or a "virtual card holding it's value". Just to be clear, it is virtual and since I didn't spend a dime to acquire those stubs, and can't sell the cards for real money, it has no "value" for me.

Crazy, I have had the exact opposite experience with Aranda. I too was concerned about 16 TB's with a real-life singles hitter, but I have hit 2 Home Runs and a 2B with him so far in two games. I am hoping the good run continues!

Have they said who the reward players are for the next Multiplayer program that starts today are? I looked on X, but couldn't find anything.

There isn't ANY content in this game that is NEEDED. However, my statement was not that I needed Rolen and/or Williams. My statement was that the Spring Break or Negro League players are NEEDED to get Rolen, and then subsequently Williams, since only one voucher can be skipped in both collections.

@SaveFarris_PSN Ok, I sampled it, failed, but I still need those cards to get the Scott Rolen or Ted Williams collection rewards, so MAKE THEM SELLABLE, so us failure's can purchase them on the open market and do the main collections.

@Talkingben9558_XBL Well that hasn't been my experience to-date!! I play Mini Seasons on Rookie, just to get it over with as fast as possible and I have always won the Championship. It is a LONG grind to do a Mini Season, but I will do it for the rewards.

I am aware that the inability to do Showdown is a "me" problem. I have tried the Negro League one probably 10+ times. I always beat the first 3 and then lose, which means I have to face Donaldson needing 12+ runs. I actually got close once, but still fell 2 runs short. I am pretty sure that my old-man reflexes (59 years old) are contributing to part of the issue. This needs to be like Tech Support at work, where someone can remotely log into my PS5 and finish for me!!

@Talkingben9558_XBL So it seems reasonable to you to lock the major collection rewards behind one mode of gameplay, when the company's advertising slogan is to play the game the way that you want. Now I couldn't care less about the Rolen or Williams cards, as there are far better options out there now than those two cards, despite the 99 OVR on both, but the fact that I already know that I can't get any subsequent collection rewards sucks.

@dmc04005_PSN I am a terrible bunter. I can get bunt hits with Jackie Robinson and Rap Dixon, but that is about it. I don't have any problem moving runners along, once they get on, but have trouble bunting for hits. I would freaking pay $100K in stubs for the right to buy one of those Negro League players that are locked behind the Showdown.

@GoozeFn_PSN I have 17 of the 18 vouchers needed for Rolen. The two that I don't have are the Negro Leagues and Spring Breakout. Both of those are locked behind the Showdown mode, so unless I can somehow get them done, I won't be able to get Rolen. I know it is a "me" issue, but I hate that they don't have a way to finish the collection without being able to complete a Showdown.

@dap1234567890_PSN Thanks! That is what I was afraid of. I guess I won't be getting Scott Rolen.

For whatever reason I just can't beat a Showdown to save my life and I am stuck one voucher away from Scott Rolen, with only the Negro Leagues Showdown or the Spring Breakout Showdown left to do. You have to beat the Spring Breakout one 4 times, so no chance on that one. You only have to beat the Negro Leagues one once, but I just can't do it. I need one more card for the Negro Leagues. Does anyone know if there are additional Storylines to come?

My experience was very similar. My total was just over $15K and my only Diamonds were a uniform, an Easter Hunt Tony Oliva, and the Chase Pack was Joe Ryan. I typically don't play online at all, but decided to try out the Moonshot Event, which gave me a good headstart on the MP program. This is the first one I have finished all the way. I pulled a couple of pretty good diamonds from packs along the way, Skenes and Acuna, but the results of the 50-pack were disappointing.

@BigBodyBen30_PSN I totally misread your post. I thought you said that you were finished with all programs, and I was like...........you can't be!! I am pulling for you to make it!

There is no way that you are done with all Programs, Conquests, and Mini-Seasons and still short of XP for the 2nd inning pass. I don't play online at all and am done with those and have finished the Inning Pass and had 2 of the extra spins, and approaching a 3rd. Also, I did not get the 30,000 bump for collecting the bosses from Inning 1. I sold them for the stubs for Live Series. Now the x-factor is how much you are taking advantage of the Double XP being offered this week. If you are only short 55K, you can get there easily by playing more this week. There is also a Spotlight program dropping today that will have XP in it.

Crazy that this isn't going to drop for over a month. I only started playing DD two years ago, so I only know the previous way of TA, and this is a huge improvement over that way of doing it, however, this one can feel overwhelming and get stale if there isn't a card reward to grind for on the TA pass for each Team. I was motivated to get all 30 of the Jolt cards, but there is currently a huge void between that card and the All-Star voucher, filled with not a lot to grind for.

@BJDUBBYAH_PSN Tomorrow's is Double PxP, not XP, so no help for the Program XP path. I am currently at 250K, so I don't have any concerns about finishing the XP path, but I also do all the offline Programs. I don't play online at all currently. I didn't collect the bosses from Inning 1, as I was prioritizing accumulating Stubs for the Live Series and sold both of them.

I am starting to believe that gaming companies have eliminated beta testing of all games as a "cost savings", instead allowing the general public to be their "beta testers". It is rampant in Madden, and appears to have made its way to SDS. The Weekend Classic was the cornerstone of what was new in MLB 25, and it is probably too kind to call it a mess at this point. Cheating/Tanking is rampant, the servers are terrible, and honestly playing the game feels like there have been ZERO innovations this year, or really any of the things that we identified in years past fixed.

Yes, you will continue to earn PXP with the player already at P5 for the challenges requiring PxP with the team they play on, but as you said you won't earn it for the player already at the max upgrade.

This is what a lifetime of "participation trophies" does to the mindset of our youth. None of them can fathom losing at anything, let alone have it be their fault.

I am terrible at Showdown and tried it once. I beat the first two bosses really easily and was cooking on the third one, but had a couple of line out double plays and it went downhill from there. I decided that grinding the PxP was better for my mental health than trying it over and over with no success. The fact that stats in the mode don't count for anything is a turnoff as well. Once I got Chase Dollander the grind wasn't that bad. He contributed tons of the needed PxP himself.