Community Forum

Obviously I'm late to the game (literally) on this, but...my goodness what a terrible way to design a game. I've lost all motivation to keep playing this game. Which is just as well...I only had about a month left anyway before College Football comes out.

So, I sat out last year's version of The Show. Needed a break. This is my first experience with "Seasons." Am I understanding this right, I cannot use any of the cards I paid and grinded (a lot) for for three months? It says my cards are all ineligible, with the exception of a few high 80s.

Someone please tell me that I'm missing something.

If this is the case...I cannot imagine that I'll play this game ever again...

@Jackmo709 Ha, I know you were being sarcastic. Mine might not have conveyed either!

@Skarmaen I don't necessarily mind having them. But forcing us to use them in our lineups when we have so many other players we would rather be using...that's what I have a problem with. No, I do not want to work to get 500 XP using Topps Now players.

@Jackmo709 The next time I buy a pack, of any kind, would be the first time.

I haven't posted on the Community Forums in years, and yes, this is another post from a player saying he's checking out—likely to be met with "Fine, go." Whatever. Hopefully SDS reads this.

But I am finished with The Show, after many years and hundreds of dollars and countless hours spent. I took last year off because I was so frustrated with what was happening with the game, but one month into this year's game and...I just can't.

1. The loss of true legends, replaced by above-average former players, is a HUGE L for this game. Losing the likes of Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Dale Murphy, and so SO many others, and then trying to dupe us into believing Chili Davis is a "legend." Chili Davis is a former player, not a legend. Grady Sizemore is a former player, not a legend. Raul Ibanez is a former player, not a legend. Lists float around these forums of the players SDS has lost the rights to, and it's staggering.

2. Getting to 1 million (!) XP and 400 (!) Program cards to acquire a 99 boss is absolutely absurd. The amount of time you would need to spend flipping cards and playing the game to get to the achievements...people have lives and jobs. Their jobs should not be playing The Show just to get a 99 George Brett. For years, SDS has made small steps toward pushing players to spend money on stubs, and this...this is the final, full evolution of those efforts, and it's a slap in the face.

3. Speaking of flipping, it used to be a sort of easy way to earn enough stubs to acquire the players you needed to complete collections. Now...the CAPTCHAs. I...I can't. It's too much. I literally went through 9(!) just to sell ONE card. I understand and respect the need to keep bots off the market, that's legit. But you have to go jump through more hoops to sell or buy a card on The Show Community Market than you do applying for a freaking credit card. The CAPTCHAs have turned flipping into an hours-long process.

4. The insistence on Topps Now players. Look, just because a player goes 3-5 or throws two shutout innings, that does not mean they need a diamond card. And I sure as hell don't want to have to use a #4 starter who won't even be on the 40-man roster in August for, like, a dozen strikeouts. I've found my lineup usually consists of no-name Topps Now players I have never heard of and do not want to use on my team. Instead of using, say Ryne Sandberg at 2B, I have to use Colt Keith. SDS insists on us using these players, when no one wants to use them!

5. The insistence on "Future Stars." News flash to SDS: About 80% of the Future Stars turn out to be nothing. Christian Pache? Forrest Whitley? Vidal Brujan? I get the fun of using new young players, and that's fine. But to make them, and Topps Now players, a primary mode of play...SDS used to be so much about Legends. Now it's about...I don't even know what. Spend your life flipping cards for 99 players we won't even build in programs to let you use.

Yes, this is long. Yes, this has been building up. Yes, I'm frustrated and disappointed. Do I expect anything will change? No.

I'm not quite as optimistic as others here about the market generating better margins, for a couple of reasons. First, the market is flooded with new players from XBOX and Switch. More players results in slimmer margins--the more people competing to buy or sell a particular card squeezes the margins. Second, SDS has formulated collections and the way they offer cards to discourage flipping. Exhibit A is the Topps Now cards. Last year, those were my go-to sets for making sizable gains. Now, they are doing them differently, releasing them one at a time, and four in a group, rather than in packs. And you (so far) need all of them, so there is no incentive to sell them, or one that's obvious to me. I thought maybe the FOTF cards would create a flippable market, but so far those margins too are super thin, at best. I guess some people are finding good margins in things like equipment and rituals, but that's not my thing so much. In my experience, having flipped for a few years now, low diamond sets create the best markets, both in terms of the time you'd need to dedicate to it to make your time worthwhile, and the monetary return. It was good ROI. But right now, that collection does not exist. But to my first point, even if it did, the sheer number of players/flippers in the market would shrink margins.

@oreorockstar_mlbts said in At Some Point, I have to blame myself:

@txraider78_psn said in At Some Point, I have to blame myself:

This is disappointing to hear that you've lost so much enjoyment from playing, and for the reasons why. It's extremely frustrating and disappointing to submit tickets to SDS, and they do nothing about them. I've had a similar experience. I can only imagine they are getting flooded with tickets and can't respond to them all. But still...make a game that doesn't have so many bugs, and you won't get complaints.

I think for me, the biggest ongoing disappointment has been losing the licenses to players like Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Ted Williams, some of the older classic all-time greats. In their place we're getting guys like Brian Roberts, Kevin Youkilis and Chase Utley. Yes, I know we have gotten Pedro and Randy and Clemente, and those aren't to be ignored. But I think on a macro level, the quality of legends has really gone down as a whole. I'm sorry, I just don't care about Grady Sizemore or Brian Wilson. Give me back Williams, Cobb, Hornsby. I want DiMaggio, Satchel Paige, Carlton Fisk, Yaz, not Vinny Castilla.

Never in my life did I think to myself "Man, I really wish Harold Baines was in this game," but...here we are.

Man, we agree 100%. I posted before the game launch that other than Randy, I would prefer to have Cobb, Hornsby, Williams, etc. back as opposed to the other guys they are replacing them with each year......I have to think they purposely let some of those licenses expire so they can promote them (as big names) a few years later as "new to the game". It gets hard to land super big names each year, especially if they won't consider the steroid era/cancel era type guys...

I would be really curious to understand how the licensing issue works with SDS and former players. I'd be surprised if they "let players go" just to bring them back in a few years to sell the game. Baseball is a 100-plus year-old sport with more great legends than you can possibly fit into the game, and legends that will drive sales. You can add at least 2 marquee names every year, without losing any of the major ones, and almost never run out ESPECIALLY now that the Negro Leagues are considered a major league. They literally have a whole new league of legends to procure.

This is disappointing to hear that you've lost so much enjoyment from playing, and for the reasons why. It's extremely frustrating and disappointing to submit tickets to SDS, and they do nothing about them. I've had a similar experience. I can only imagine they are getting flooded with tickets and can't respond to them all. But still...make a game that doesn't have so many bugs, and you won't get complaints.

I think for me, the biggest ongoing disappointment has been losing the licenses to players like Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Ted Williams, some of the older classic all-time greats. In their place we're getting guys like Brian Roberts, Kevin Youkilis and Chase Utley. Yes, I know we have gotten Pedro and Randy and Clemente, and those aren't to be ignored. But I think on a macro level, the quality of legends has really gone down as a whole. I'm sorry, I just don't care about Grady Sizemore or Brian Wilson. Give me back Williams, Cobb, Hornsby. I want DiMaggio, Satchel Paige, Carlton Fisk, Yaz, not Vinny Castilla.

Never in my life did I think to myself "Man, I really wish Harold Baines was in this game," but...here we are.

@the_dragon1912 said in Margins in Market:

I'm not sure if this will ruin my gameplan or not, but Topps now cards make the market move. We don't have topps now cards yet. Selling of topps now cards get more stubs into buyers hands. You might see a drastic change in the marketplace come friday assuming the same topps now format

This is a great point. And you're right, they do move the market.

It's been interesting to read people's takes on the impact of adding so many more players to the market; some think it's been great, some think it's hurt the market. I don't have a degree in economics or anything, but it seems like the more people in the market, the thinner the margins will be. You'd think that it would effect both the Buy Now and Sell Now prices, but so far it seems like the only thing being effected is the Sell Now prices, which shrink the margins. I thought low diamond Live Series might be the way to go for flipping, because they are relatively affordable, and EVERYONE needs them to complete the main collections to earn Randy Johnson, but even the margins there are next to nothing right now.

If a good market doesn't materialize somewhere, it's going to be very difficult for players like myself who don't buy stubs to complete collections, especially since SDS has nuked the amount of stubs you can earn playing the actual game.

I've seen a ton of people over the years on this message board threaten to leave the game for good over things like gameplay, server issues, and whatever else. I wonder how many of those truly did leave for good. I don't mind so much the issues with gameplay and server problems, this is still the best baseball game on the market. But if the only avenue to complete collections and obtain high diamonds is to purchase stubs or to play an ungodly amount of games at an ungodly high level, this could be the thing that drives me away.

I actually have noticed this. My issue is...80% of pitches thrown to me by the CPU are below the knees, with about 50% at the ankles and lower. I have been resigned to just setting my PCI at the bottom of the zone and waiting for the sinker. And this isn't just this year, this is for about the past 3 years now. It's like the CPU knows over the years that's my Achilles heel, the pitch below the knees, and for the past 3 years that's most of what they throw me. But then, I highly, highly doubt there is some sort of intrinsic AI built into this game that teaches every pitcher to work me below the knees, so to speak. But to your point, yes. I rarely get solid pitches to hit in Veteran.

@go4stros25_psn said in Margins in Market:

@capt_awesome34 said in Margins in Market:

@the_dragon1912 said in Margins in Market:

Have you guys even flipped this early on in the cycle before? Margins don't expand much until June or July anyway

I flipped my way to Trout and Acuna last year at this time

Last year I made millions just from flipping stadiums. This year stadiums are dead from the start. Also prospects were good last year, well those are dead too.

You can't escape the fact that players making stubs from the market isn't in SDS best interest and as a business they should want to put a stop to it.

I really do wonder about this. SDS cannot control the market, per say, but they CAN create cards that stunt the market, or at least choose not to make cards that can generate a market, which might be the case here. I'm in the camp where, I spent $100 on this game, which is a fair price for what really is a great game (despite all the bugs), and I won't spend any more on it, ever. I have never bought stubs, and never will. I personally think it's pure greed to ask people to spend anymore on the game, but I understand that is the business nowadays. I just think you should have the option: take the shortcut and spend the money to buy stubs, or take the long, free route and flip your way to completing collections or buying higher priced cards.

Two weeks into the game now, and I'm curious if everyone who flips cards is experiencing the same thing--absolutely minimal (at best) margins. I've tried various combinations to find which cards or sets are generating any kind of return, but am just as likely to lose stubs than earn any after a day of working the market.

My theory is that, with the inclusion of XBOX and Switch players, the market has been flooded with new users, many of whom are just desperate to sell off their cards for fear of taking a loss, driving down the sell price.

I'll often list a card to sell hoping to earn maybe 500 stubs, but within minutes, a dozen more will post underselling mine. I don't remember this happening in past years. Maybe it's just that it's still early on in the game and the market needs to "settle."

But I also I wonder if SDS has intentionally created cards and sets that make it difficult to flip and earn stubs, forcing you to buy stubs instead. I remember a few years ago when they had the 30 low diamond legends, which for an entire year created an absolutely killer market where you'd earn 400-700 stubs per flip sometimes. That set doesn't seem to exist currently.

Maybe the FOTF cards will eventually be those though.

SDS' response to this is Corporate Communications 101: Offer a broad, non-specific statement without offering any detail of when the problem will be fixed, then bury your head in the sand and ignore the flak. It's also unconscionable, not only considering how much money people spent on this game (myself, $100), but also how many, many of us can only carve out a certain amount of time to play. Combined with the late release, we're now going on three lost weeks of gameplay. I do expect (since you really can't demand it) SDS will offer some sort of compensation. But what this REALLY effects is the 1st Inning Program, and Ranked Seasons. I don't know what is fair or right here, but just spitballing ideas, they need to either give everyone a large chunk of XP toward the 1st Inning, or just give away the first inning bosses. And for RS, bump everyone up at least two levels, and give them the corresponding rewards. But the REAL right thing to do for those who spent the extra money on it is to give us back the $40 extra bucks we forked over for early access that was completely lost. There are A LOT of new people to the game this year, and many will not return because of this. For better or worse, apparently.