I mean, what we really need is for SDS to just finally make the quality of life improvements that the game has desperately needed for years now.
Why is rain allowed in online gameplay? Yes, rain occurs in real life. It isn’t needed in online play. It’s just used for griefing by how bad it makes the gameplay.
Why aren’t the month and times restricted to just 1 pm in July or 7 pm in October in online gameplay? Yes, other start times exist in real life. They aren’t needed in online gameplay. They’re just used for griefing by inducing glare and shadows.
Why were custom ballparks introduced without the ability to block them in online gameplay? If people want to opt in, great. But they aren’t needed and are generally just used to grief people with 6 inch high fences and max elevation. And all custom ballparks ruin the timing windows this year, regardless of fence height, dimensions, or elevation. If people don’t want to play in them, they should be able to opt out. If it makes searches longer for one group or the other, oh well. People can make their choice.
Why were a bunch of max elevation, small dimension minor league ballparks added in 23 without adding any ability to block ballparks in online gameplay? The game plays fundamentally different depending on the elevation; it’s either low elevation and actual baseball or high elevation and a home run derby. ERAs in this game are through the roof because everything is played at the equivalent of late 90s Coors Field. Video games where the map chosen fundamentally changes the gameplay typically allow for blocking some maps in online gameplay so that players know what type of game they’re committing to play. If people want to play home run derby, I’m not asking Sony to take that away from them but it’s absurd to force everyone into it. It ruins people’s experiences, whether they’re from one group or the other.
Why haven’t they attempted to reduce wasted time during online gameplay? They haven’t attempted anything. They actually increased wasted time with hit celebrations and the fan cam being added in the last couple years. The time to pick and throw pitches needs to be cut in half, pause time needs to stop being regenerative, cut scenes between innings need to be removed, hit celebrations need to be removed, walk ups need to be removed, replays (home runs or catches) need to count against the replaying player’s pause time bank, etc. Other games like Madden might have extras like cut scenes but they also reduce the actual gameplay time (5 minute quarters instead of 15 minute quarters; time run off from accelerated clock after plays are called) and have much tighter restrictions on pausing. This isn’t a “allow people to turn off or on” situation in online play. If you allow people to waste time, a portion of the player base will abuse it as much as you allow. Yes, the graphics team tries to add new stuff to the game every year but people can enjoy it offline by not choosing fast play offline. It shouldn’t be used as an excuse to waste online time.
A player who pitches slow adds 10+ minutes to a ranked game because of how many pitches are thrown in 9 innings. If you play someone that wastes time, you can have a 60 minute game. If you don’t, it can be 30 minutes. How can they actually expect ranked to grow and for people to be excited about it when any matchmaking against a griefing opponent basically results in you being held hostage for an extra 30 minutes (or quitting and accepting the loss in a game you aren’t losing)?
There’s so many little problems with the game that Sony has refused to acknowledge or address like this that if you play every year, it adds up and you end up burning out earlier and earlier. And nothing I mentioned is even content or gameplay related.
Edit: And why do we still have R2 in the game when hitting or pitching for that matter? There should just be an option in settings to select to always show pitch history and the pitcher’s information (stamina and pitches) on the screen or turn it both off. But it shouldn’t be necessary to delay the game to show it.
... That was annoying but I think that was the game being the game and not a lag issue. Fortunately I was still able to win