2009 vs. 2011

[fistofrage]

Can someone please summarize what 2011 does better than 2009. I have 2009, in fact, I liked it so much that I didn't get 2010 because I just kept playing 2009.

I am sure everyone will say 2011 will be a huge upgrade, but I just want to know is Franchise vastly improved, is the on the field play much different and can I still use just the buttons to hit & pitch in 2011 and is their any "penalty" for doing so.

I guess its a testament to the game that 2009 is still ebtertaining to me, but if 2011 is deemed a significant upgrade, I'll make the plunge and support the series. Thanks.

[bg79]

I did the jump from 09 to 11. Most of the changes were into different areas of the game. What you'll notice is there will be a Target Field, and a roster update including last years draft picks and probably an update from someone here later this year with this years draft picks in it too. The actual nuts and bolts of franchise are basically the same, they took out the travel option and instead made it a constant expenditure with sometimes an option to take a bus or fly on a trip that is close enough. I also noticed that the Rookie of the Year and MVP award will now include pitchers. Theres new music obviously, and I kinda prefer 09 in that department. There is a mail system now in franchise that gives you all kinds of info. In 09 if someone was put on waivers you'd get a screen that you'd have to cancel out of and now you don't get that you'll have to check the mail periodically to see who's on waivers. It will also give you updates on players in your system, trades around the league and whatnot. It's pretty cool but I find the controls for it cumbersome and frankly after a while I spend a lot of time deleting a mass amount of spam mail and I wish there was just a delete all option. There are some differences in the roster control layout. Now you can sort in the manage roster, like for instance you can sort by potential, it also will allow you to see who's on the 40 man and sort via that as well so you can quickly find the low man on the totem pole if you need to DFA them to make a spot. On the Player's card it will make a note if they're rule 5 eligible which helps you when you need to protect them. The Rule 5 draft now doesnt have those A potential type players that were routinely plucked from teams in 09. The players during the offseason tend to be more picky about contracts. Players under 3 years service time WILL NOT accept any contract you throw at them as long as it's at least 80% of their salary like they did in 09. You'll have to fill their bar and usually offer them double what they're asking for to get them to sign 10 year deals. They will renew for one year but that has to be done manually during the last week of the offseason. All in all at 60 dollars the biggest thing you're getting for Franchise is a roster update. All those other things are nice but not worth the upgrade from 09 to 11. If you're content with the players you have on 09 and don't really care about playing with the new prospects then perhaps waiting till 12 where they're supposedly going to rehaul franchise would be more cost effective. Right now for me I have shelved MLB11 till they patch the trade issues and other small things in Franchise. It's a real shame as I love being able to play with the new players but as far as the game itself goes I sort of prefer 09. Edit: sorry for the wall of text but for some reason it's not keeping my paragraphs.

[fistofrage]

Thanks for the info. 2009 still plays a great game of baseball so if their isn't a ton of bang for the buck, I'll just keep enjoying 2009.

[rymflaherty]

I'm jealous.
Truth to be told I'd still be playing my 09' Franchise as well (skipped 10' for the same reasons as you), but my PS3 died and I lost the save file.

11' is still a great game.....but (at least to me) 09' actually played better out of the box. I got a great baseball sim experience on default settings. This year I had to play with the sliders and now hopefully have a setting I can play on.
Then the biggest disappointment was the small problems I had with 09' (mostly to do with Franchise mode and CPU logic) still exist in the game...as I figured that would have been taken care of.

So guess I'm saying - If you don't need the new rosters, or care about analog controls, playing online......than you're not really missing out.

[slickdtc]

I am in the same boat, skipped 10 because I was satisfied with 09, but made the leap this year. I say it's worth it. I play franchise mode, but I'm not too big into all the roster details and stuff so I can't say what's better or worse, but I know the on the field gameplay is just an absolute blast. I thought MLB 09 was the ****, well MLB 11 is the new king.

Personally, I love the analog pitching and fielding. If you're not going to use them, I think you can get another year or two out of 09 and save the 60 bucks. When I thought my MLB 11 was broken, I started getting back into 09 but I sorely missed the analog pitching. And I used Classic pitching on 09, so that's telling you something.