Community Forum

I play the online modes once in a while (Events and BR) but I have a career job and just don’t have the time to invest into ranked seasons. That means I play the single player modes the majority of the time - including RTTS.

As of right now, not including a few of the gold and diamond programs in RTTS, I’ve already completed everything available for the offline modes. The game is so boring right now that I’ve even completed every Conquest map.

To make matters worse, the game doesn’t feel rewarding. Out of the 37 Live Series diamond players available at the moment, I have exactly 4 of them — and 1 card was purchased on the marketplace. Given that I’ve completed all of the “Other Programs” (except Stages 2 and 3 of the April Series, of course), all of the Showdowns, the Conquest maps and 3 full Mini Seasons, you can imagine how many packs I’ve opened along the way. I’ve even played the Mystery Conquest map about 15-20 extra times because it’s a quick and easy way to get 5 The Show packs for free.

Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t remember the game being so boring and unrewarding when The Show 21 was released. I know it’s early but something needs to change. The odds say we have a 1 in 50 pack chance to get a diamond player but that’s a load of bullsh*t! On one occasion, I opened 108 packs before I pulled a diamond player and I’m currently on 86 packs without a diamond pull. On top of that, out of all the Ballin’ is a Habit packs I’ve opened - I’m still sitting at 1 diamond player from those packs and 0 diamond pulls from Headliners packs.

When you combine all of this with the many lazy-assed copied and pasted card images from The Show 21, I’m really disappointed in the replayability and the lack of effort put into the game.

At the very least, they could give offline players a replayable Showdown like they finally added last year so we can earn cards for winning and sell them for stubs on the marketplace.

Sorry for the length … I don’t comment very often but wanted to vent a bit.

@jcassaro44_PSN said in account banned:

I mean write a ticket and they’ll review it, if it was a mistake they’ll take care of it, if you did something wrong then you’ll be banned. SDS is good about these things.

He said he appealed in the original post. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with posting a message on the forum — even if he’s just complaining about it.

Every single one of the people who have posted or replied to a comment in this thread has been in a situation where something happened to you and you thought “what the heck?!” or “what’s going on here?!” … a situation that was both surprising and confusing. Then, at some point later on, you told a few friends or acquaintances about it because you still couldn’t understand why it happened.

What if those so-called “friends” or acquaintances just gave you a blank stare like they couldn’t care less and said ”I mean, write them an email and if you didn’t do anything wrong, they’ll fix it.”?

If you were flabbergasted by the situation you’d just shared with them, you’d think they were being pricks who didn’t care about it. In reality, they likely replied with something like ”that sucks, man.” or ”I hope you contact them about it because that doesn’t sound right. Sorry that happened, my guy.”

A little f-ing empathy is ok, for crying out loud.

OP - hopefully SDS will get back in touch with you in a timely manner. If I hadn’t done anything wrong, I’d wonder what was going on, too. Good luck!

I’m primarily an offline player (maybe 5% online) and I’ve completed all available offline activities for every Featured Program so far (some of them multiple/many times - ex: Mini Seasons). It doesn’t feel very good to know that I only have 24 of the available Live series Diamond players after all the different packs I’ve opened along the way. Of those 24 Diamond players, I bought 2 of them through the marketplace.

I realize the Live series Diamond cards aren’t necessarily the best available overall but they’re the best players in the game based on (almost) real-time stats.

I’ve had 15-20 additional Live Diamond pulls from all the packs I’ve opened but they were duplicates of the players I already own. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for my 1st “big name” pull like Trout, Ohtani, Ramirez, Acuna, DeGrom, Scherzer, Tatis, or even Hader. I still don’t have any of these players and I think that’s ridiculous when considering the overall number of packs I’ve opened (which is a lot).

Bad luck protection is used in other games to increase the odds of getting an item you don’t have and I believe it should be used in MLB The Show. I’m not saying we shouldn’t ever get duplicates - I’m saying with each Diamond card pulled in a pack, the odds of getting a player we don’t yet own should continuously increase in our favor.

For offline players, the grind to earn the XP for the “Featured Program” is already difficult after all available Moments, Missions, Conquests and Collections have been completed. This also includes the Moments available through the “Other Programs” section. When I think about the time investment and all the packs I’ve opened, the fact that I still don’t have any of the players mentioned earlier is disappointing.

Of course, this is just my opinion…

Sorry for the long post. If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

@mrwonderful95 said in I’d love to know why two years in on the Xbox the controller still doesn’t work right?:

Can we get some type of explanation as to why the Xbox controller doesn’t register PPP properly? It’s your new enhancement to the game and you can’t use a OEM Xbox controller? I have to use this POS scuff controller instead of the elite? It’s kinda ridiculous and not a good look that they can’t program proper input with a controller you’re supposed to be using. It’s a major failure IMO. If you’re gonna take our $ at least be transparent that the controller doesn’t work right on Xbox.

I know you posted this message in early October but I thought I’d reply in case you weren’t aware of the recent update from Microsoft and Xbox. I (and many others) had the same issue with newer XB controllers (including the Elite v2) dating back to Show 21.

In the release notes for the most recent XB dashboard update for consoles, Microsoft also mentioned a firmware update is available for newer controllers which is focused on fixing issues that appeared in a previous version. Since I hadn’t been able to use my Elite v2 controller for Show 22 due to the issue you described in your post, I decided to update the firmware to see if it fixed the problem.

As it turns out, the new firmware FIXED the problem and I can now play Show 22 with my Elite v2 controller. If you’re still using a different controller, update the firmware for your XB controller and you should be able to play without any issues.

On a side note - you should know that this problem was created by Microsoft - not SDS. While trying to find a solution in 2021, I found an article that explained the problem was related to a new feature called Dynamic Latency Input (DLI) that was introduced by Microsoft in 2020. DLI is supposed to keep the controller in sync with the game while reducing input lag and latency. However, the opposite was true with a few games - including MLB The Show.

I understand the frustration since I had the same problem for almost 2 years. Since your original post was directed solely towards SDS, it’s important to recognize now that this issue wasn’t created by them and it was never their problem to fix. Your frustration should be directed at Microsoft … AFTER updating your controller firmware.

I’m 53 - I’m not 20 years old anymore but I still feel like I can compete. Of course - not at the top levels but I don’t play as much due to a career and family, the outdoors, etc.
My desire to play online definitely started to decline due to various issues dating back to The Show 23. Outside of a few Battle Royale games in The Show 24 (XBSX), I stopped playing online modes altogether. It wasn’t fun … waiting to find an opponent only to end up being matched against a-holes who constantly pause for a split second repeatedly or people who quit if they gave up a 2-run HR. What’s the point? Packs and player cards are fine but I enjoy the competition even if I lose. I also never liked the slight lag involved when batting online (hardwired gigabit connection). Mostly due to the a-holes from past experiences, I haven't touched an online mode in The Show 25 and probably won’t. It’s not worth the stress or the grind.
Regarding the OP’s comments on hitting - something feels off in the new game. There’s far too many bugs (Xbox) that haven’t been fixed and, more often than not, it feels like batters are swinging one of those flimsy “pool noodles” (that help people float). For example, I was trying to finish the Yankees Team Affinity program and had Anthony Volpe at Shortstop (very average hitting attributes). I hit a soft grounder to shortstop for an easy out - it didn’t sound like solid contact at all (barely made a sound on contact).
The post-pitch hitting feedback info showed that I hit a slightly inside fastball with good timing and the center PCI dot was just on the top edge of the baseball. I don’t have an issue with the ground ball (though other players have hit line drives on similar contact and pitch location) but it felt like one of the most unrewarding at-bats I’ve ever had. Contact sounded worse than a foul ball and the exit velocity was lower than the pitch speed! And, of course, Volpe hit a HR in his next at-bat with the center PCI well below the ball and slightly off center.
It seems like the game took quite a few steps backwards this year and they created new problems that didn’t exist in prior years.
Specific to hitting, I can’t help but wonder if they made it feel worse now so new cards with increased attributes in the future will feel better in comparison. Artificial improvement with no effort on their end to fix anything…
Sorry for the long comment.

@jahlove1722_mlbts said in Power A controllers are trash:

What do people do? These power a controllers get stick drift after a few days, how the hell are you supposed to play on series X, how’s this an issue?

I bought the cheap wired Power A controller (cheap in comparison to Xbox brand) and have had decent luck with it since Show 21. The real issue is why can’t SDS fix their game so OEM controllers can be used? I have an Elite v2 controller that I use for everything except The Show. I also can’t use the standard Xbox controllers either.

When I play with the Elite or standard controllers (with updated firmware), not only does the PCI lag for Zone hitting, I can’t use Pinpoint pitching at all. It’s been a known widespread issue since Show 21 yet we still have to buy a different brand controller solely to play their game on Xbox consoles. I was hoping the issue would be fixed with the new game but that’s not the case.

It’s a great game (although it’s starting to get boring with little replayability for offline content) but people shouldn’t have to purchase a separate controller just to play their game.

FYI - for anyone that may not know, the issue with Xbox controllers and Pinpoint pitching is that whenever the right stick circles up to the 12:00 position as part of the pitching motion, the game seems to register even a slight pause as an actual input. When it’s time to move to the 6:00 position (to throw the pitch) the timing is messed up because the game thinks that input already happened. This is a huge issue with any pitch that requires you to go past 12:00 and then come back (splitters & forkballs). Once you move past 12:00 the 1st time, the game has already registered that input unless you sacrifice the timing and move the stick faster as you move past 12:00.

Apologies if that description doesn’t make sense. Many people complained about it in The Show 21 and there was even a few clips on YouTube. It was submitted, tweeted, etc. to SDS but nothing has been fixed.

@savefarris_psn said in Always intense program is a scam:

“Mom, the free cards they’re giving us aren’t free enough!!”

I get the point you’re making but there’s no reason to talk down to people just because you may not agree with them.

I’d encourage you to remember that time is money. I have a career job and, more importantly, I’m a dad and a husband. I’m not filthy rich (financially) but I make mid 6 figures in salary each year so I’m doing alright. With that said, my personal time is even more valuable because my family is my highest priority yet I have less time to spend with them compared to work.

The point is - when you consider the personal time investment, the cost of those cards that you say are “free” are actually quite expensive. Personally, I’m disappointed in the program as I don’t think the rewards are worth the time investment. I’m not complaining about it … I just won’t spend any time on it.

The more significant issue that’s not being addressed is that SDS seems to be struggling with creating content that’s interesting and replayable - particularly offline. As a result, they feel like they have to give the appearance of new “content” by artificially inflating the requirements to complete some of the programs in an effort to keep players engaged. In the long run, it won’t work because the rewards (so far) haven’t been worthy of the time investment.

Nothing in this game is “free” if you have to spend time doing something to get something.

@eatyum_psn said in Always intense program is a scam:

@x-supersko-x_xbl said in Always intense program is a scam:

@eatyum_psn said in Always intense program is a scam:

@x-supersko-x_xbl said in Always intense program is a scam:

The problem I have with this line of thinking, while I get the thought process behind it is, it gets quite silly when you think about it.

For example, if I have the next two days off and my coworker says, it's great you will have some free time with this kids, am I going to correct her and say "Well actually, time isn't free, time is money, so it's technically not free time".

I don't want to live like time is money, I don't want to constantly think about that. I certainly evaluate how I spend my time and whether something is worth doing, but I think that mindset of time being money can become quite a toxic thought process

Are you saying there could be instances where a rewarding program is "worth" the time of forgoing family time? I would guess not

Fair point.

I’m saying time is valuable. Specific to the comment to which I replied, I said time is money because it was a conversation about “free” cards that could otherwise cost money.

I’m sure there’s a better way to say it than I did in my initial response. I guess my point, generally speaking, is that it’s easy to say someone’s complaining about something because you want to be a smart [censored] in that moment. However, it’s all about perspective.

Time has value. Many people don’t understand what that means so, financially speaking, they don’t do very well for themselves because they waste too much time doing things that take up too much of their time — which reduces its value. But that’s a different conversation.

Specific to family and video games, you’re correct in that I’m not saying a rewarding program in a video game is worth more than spending time with family. However, if someone has a real [censored] family life, they might have a different perspective. Personally, it’s not even a choice … I will always choose family over video games — and family over money. I learned the hard way that making tons of money isn’t the only way you support your family. Believe me - lesson learned!

With video games, for me, my point wasn’t about choosing between family and a rewarding program … it’s about choosing to play something else if I don’t feel the time investment is worth it for that program. Since I don’t have as much time as I’d prefer to play video games, the time I do have is valuable so I’m not going to spend it on earning a reward that ends up feeling unrewarding.

Again - it’s easy to make smart assed comments in an anonymous online forum. However, as I said earlier, it’s all about perspective. Time has value. As it relates to the program being discussed, if I had a couple hours that could be used for work or completing the Always Intense program specifically, I’d work because I’d make money and reduce my workload in the future leading to more time with family.

That’s a long winded reply and I’m not sure if it speaks to your points but that’s how I see it.

I agree with everything you said, but I would argue it's easy and understandable to make a smart (censored) comment and I wouldn't blink in eye or wonder why someone does when the title says that the program is a "scam"

Agreed.

This might be surprising, but it’s Faces of the Franchise J.T. Realmuto for me. In my experience, he’s out-performed his stats both offensively and defensively. I only use him for offline gameplay and he’s never given up a stolen base. I’m sure he’s gotta be getting close to 175-200 games played and I think I remember seeing his batting avg around .450 (don’t have his stats available right now). He’s pretty fast for a catcher too.

@aaronjw76 YES! Why complete other challenges or modes and waste the XP that could be gained the next day?!

We should be able to play & earn XP whenever WE want to play.