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I list these complaints simply to get them off my chest. I think other single-player DD grinders probably agree with most of it. I've defended SDS in many threads for making so much content free to NMS players, but this year's game's design decisions have made grinding an unpleasant chore. I'm close to calling it quits.

1. CPU pitchers on rookie this year throw far fewer middle-middle pitches than in past years. It's not even close. This makes grinding much more frustrating. In MS and Conquest, many players play on rookie and have other things on in the background. We don't want to "focus" and "work counts." There's a psychology behind this, and SDS has ignored that. So many at-bats on rookie have 70-rated pitchers throwing balls feet off the plate followed by painting the black. They jam you inside then spam sliders. It's not hard; it's just not fun. This is made worse by #2 and #3...

2. Perfect-perfect nukes with power hitters routinely fail to go out. Routinely. This is a baffling design decision that makes "grind 99" even more frustrating. Add to that...

3. The game is often a line-out simulator. Far too often the ball beams straight to a fielder who barely has to move. Several streamers have observed this.

4. TA2 is absurd. The grind is ridiculous. The number of raw hours you have to put in to complete it means it's meant to dominate your time with the game, especially now that the clock is running on those cards due to seasons.

5. Kaiju and other programs are pure filler. Why do we care about 90 OVR cards when our teams are stacked with 99's already? Answer: because the game is now all about preparing for some collection down the line. BUT we're forced to use the cards to complete the programs. Ugh.

Ultimately, my displeasure comes down to single-player grinding on rookie. I've played hundreds of games this year and lost maybe 3. There have been games where I've put up 30, but many more where I've hit well but won 3-0 because of #2 and #3.

Rookie grind is meant to be candy. Pure fun. Domination.

Mindless.

It's not now, and it's not fun.

Just sharing my thoughts on a message board, hoping that SDS sees it perhaps. There have to be thousands of grinders out there who are feel similarly.

Off to play Fallout...peace.

SDS,

DON'T hurry to fix mini seasons or the myriad of bugs/crashes/glitches in the game.

DON'T communicate with us in any meaningful way about what's wrong with the game.

DON'T apologize to those who paid a premium for 4 days' early access to a broken game.

But RUN to fix "the market" to ensure that persistent monetization is not threatened.

Shout out, SDS!

Exchanges, seriously? They completely nerfed them this year. You need something like 400 million exchange points to get 5K xp.

You forgot to attach your resume.

Content this year is underwhelming. It's quantity and quirkiness over quality and planning. Programs that throw 90's at you when there are already dozens of 99's...ridiculous. The mind-numbing grind of TA2...ridiculous. The continued dependence on moments and showdowns...[censored] that.

DD has become a season of Lost. What's around the corner? What plot-twist lurks ahead??? In DD, it's all about collecting [censored] cards so you can be prepared for the collection down the line. Ooooh, the suspense.

I'm done with it. Perhaps literally.

@SuntLacrimae50_MLBTS said in Major Misses by SDS in 23: A Show Lover's Take:

@genopolanco_PSN said in Major Misses by SDS in 23: A Show Lover's Take:

I have to try to get out playing the CPU on Veteran so I’m not sure what the gripe is about Rookie not being easy enough. Maybe just don’t even play on Rookie at all. Try grinding on Veteran.

I do agree that the content schedule has been a massive L though. I remember when they first announced this sets/day 1 99s idea and I came on here and bashed it. People responded with saying, “it’s SDS, they clearly had to put some thought into this and plan it.”

Well guess what? They didn’t. They just drop whatever cards they want with very little planning at all. I think if anything good comes from this year, it’s that this community becomes more critical of SDS and gives them less benefit of the doubt because they are clearly taking advantage of it.

Veteran is often weirdly less frustrating than rookie, true. But it misses the point. That's just a design quirk that SDS surely didn't intend.

And to be clear: it's not difficult, just made more frustrating for no reason.

Also...

What I should have incluced in my OP is that they ramped up the grind massively this year, made CPU rookie pitchers more frustrating, and made it harder to make stubs to buy cards. Making BR and RS rewards unsellable goes into that as well.
Honestly, unless you live this game you're not unlocking the best collections. The time buy-in has become too much.

It's really based on a junkie drip algorithm meant to keep you coming back for a fix. And the drug ain't that good any more, sorry.

I actually kind of enjoy this troll. Harmless, tongue-in-cheek stuff. Well done.

@schnauzerface said in Trout, its been real bruh!:

3-year average my buttocks.

THIS. What the actual [censored].

In the meantime, Taylor Trammel shoots up seven points.

WITH 38 AT BATS.

SDS is on crack this year with these updates, period.

SDS can't win. If they drip out the grind, people complain. If they do a massive content dump that's meant to take weeks for the average gamer, people complain.

Do it at your own pace! The cards you unlock are good through Season 2, which goes into July.

Relax.

The first QOL enhancement should be an filter to see duplicate cards.

Against the CPU, in Conquest, on Rookie/Veteran...

Power is nerfed. Warning track shots with 115 power perfect-perfect shots. Several.

CPU pitchers throw down the middle a lot less than last year.

Lots of perfect-perfect lineouts. Lots of them.

Too early to whine too much, but sheesh.

Also, love the changes made to Mini Seasons and RTTS.

Baseball is an American game. Not trying to be jingoistic. But that's the fact.

@kasper4160_mlbts said in Account Bans after Game update 12:

I was banned and have sent 3 emails to support and no response or explanation why this is ridiculous I have spent hundreds on stubs through xbox store and flipped cards and equipment that's all this needs to be addressed and fixed asap before all star program drops also I still have full access to mobile app and can buy and sell cards on there still so makes no sense

If you spent hundreds on stubs in the store, the ban is doing you a favor.

Guess if you can't monetize it, it gets little to no attention.

Franchise will be more of the same.

We've known it for years -- DD gets 90% of the attention. Gameplay maybe 8%. Everything else 2%???

@jeezy-e_psn said in Think we're being too hard on SDS:

@aaronjw76_psn said in Think we're being too hard on SDS:

@jaytal6_psn said in Think we're being too hard on SDS:

As a teacher, it would take me a decade , to arrive at 40k per year in the State of Idaho. And that's not a living wage here either. But I understand. 70k would be very difficult to get by on in California.

Move to Canada. Our dipshit teachers average 88K/year here. That doesn't include gold plated benefits and pension

I definitely didn’t get into the right profession,Teachers here have it [censored] good. A year round salary even though you don’t work in the summer, any time you whine the government throws tax payers dollars at you, and all you have to do is babysit for about 5 hours of the day.

So much disinformation!

I actually get the summer, 2 weeks for Christmas, 2 weeks for Spring Break, a 4 day Easter break, and various other days off.

And it's more like 6-7 hours a day.

But if you have a stack of essays to grade, which is the running normal for me, and had to prep for the year during summer break, which almost all teachers do, you'd understand that it's a job where you take your work home with you almost constantly. And the stress of being "on" all the time is real.

But do enjoy my summers!

@kasper4160_mlbts said in Account Bans after Game update 12:

It was like 300 and what I do with my money is my business I just would like a response as to know why this happened and it to be fixed who knows maybe could happen to you next game update bud bet your tone would change then

Please purchase some punctuation with your next burst of discretionary spending.

Worst change SDS made to single player DD this year: cpu pitchers on rookie difficulty throwing absolute garbage most of the time. Makes grinding a chore. Way to make single-player grinding feel more like moments, SDS. Ugh.

THAT'S what I'm complaining about today.

@TheHungryHole said in Good and Bad:

@NYGxNYMxFan68_XBL said in Good and Bad:

@TheHungryHole said in Good and Bad:

@SuntLacrimae50_MLBTS said in Good and Bad:

@TheHungryHole said in Good and Bad:

@SuntLacrimae50_MLBTS said in Good and Bad:

CPU on rookie should be grooving in way more meatballs. They've upped the NMS grind tremendously while also making hitting on rookie more frustrating. Game is much improved. This sucks, though, 100%.

i mean this with complete respect - but i just finished the conquest america on rookie primarily here - easiest thing i have done in many years - half paying attention doing emails / working counts / winning - gone are the days of conquest extreme style difficulties

I finished all the Conquests without losing a game. I'm not saying it's hard. I'm saying that CPU rookie difficulty should pitch in the fat part of the plate way more. I don't select rookie difficulty to work the count ffs.

i mean - isn't that baseball though? imagine being on rookie mode just getting meatball after meatball - what is the point of that? it would be eye watering level boring

But there are like 5 difficulty levels since it's a video game if you choose to play at a lower difficulty level then yeah it should be easier in all aspects. Just like if you want a challenge , the higher levels should be harder in all aspects

i completely agree with everything you just said - i feel like rookie is one of the easiest possible levels to plan on - i could rake up 20 runs in 3 IP if i tried - everything does scale appropriately on a macro level here - HOF is harder than AS, rookie is you could be half eyes closed with a cigar in the other using your chin to swing

Wow, you're so impressive. I have stars in my eyes.

Seriously, though. On rookie more pitches should be thrown over the plate. That's the point several of us are making. Especially since PP's with power hitters are dying on the warning track.

I suppose though I'm just giving you the chance to respond with another flex, though. So go ahead. Tell us again how good you are.

It's "whoever," not "whomever."