OOTP25 Thread

[Young Drachma]

Tomorrow is the pre-order beta release for OOTP25. There are some big changes under the hood in this version including a long overdue expansion of player ratings, as well as improvements to player development.

I think it's a quality update, while still being the same looking game. I suspect it'll really be wild for folks in online leagues after all these years how it's been. As a solo player, curious to see how the long-term impact is.

[Lathum]

I exclusively play Perfect Team and love it. Never sink a dime into it but am competitive enough to make it to diamond and earn several packs a day. Looking forward to the reset as the game has been dead for a few weeks and the missions at this point have either been completed or are unattainable.

[korme]

YD's post got me curious so I thought this link might be helpful to those curious what the new release has in store: https://www.ootpdevelopments.com/out...-home-buy-now/

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

The new features are listed and shared on a Google Doc.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...yzxl0gOa8/edit

wtf

[bhlloy]

I will say if those attribute splits, player development and adjustments to the talent pools for newly created classes are properly done, it might be the only thing that would get me buying again in the future.

Now if they only being some of these improvements to FHM.

[Lathum]

Downloading the BETA now. Will dive in a bit tonight.

[Mota]

Seems like a pretty good change list for this year's version. I like this one in particular:
Players who relied very heavily on HRs may have very small contact ratings in the new model
I personally found that a high power batter with low contact would never achieve the big HR numbers, you really needed some decent contact ratings in addition to the power to make a good home run hitter. Now I see because contact and power were tied together in the background.

[Lathum]

Launch was supposed to be today at around 7 AM but they don't have Steam approval yet and their contact is on the west coast. That seems really odd. Does Steam not have a pre approval process?

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Launch was supposed to be today at around 7 AM but they don't have Steam approval yet and their contact is on the west coast. That seems really odd. Does Steam not have a pre approval process?

Definitely weird. I believe they put out the final "release" patch yesterday to the early beta users. Markus' time stamp for that announcement would have put it out at noon pacific time. I think some beta testers get the game from Steam during test time, so Steam would have had that build yesterday morning? Somebody at Steam dropped the ball with the final build?

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Launch was supposed to be today at around 7 AM but they don't have Steam approval yet and their contact is on the west coast. That seems really odd. Does Steam not have a pre approval process?

Markus said that they initiated the approval process 11 days ago.

[Lathum]

Approved. Should be good to go soon

[Lathum]

and we're live. Setting up my PT rosters now

[Bobble]

FYI, a bit of an issue with some of the loyalty packs. Those might not show up yet. Should land tomorrow.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Bobble

FYI, a bit of an issue with some of the loyalty packs. Those might not show up yet. Should land tomorrow.

I got all mine except the 25th anniversary one

[Lathum]

A week in to Perfect Draft and my initial thoughts are they have borderline made the game unplayable for people who aren't willing to pay for play.

They have made several changes to the tournament structure that make it really difficult to grind out packs and it has created a ripple effect.

They got rid of PT+ which was an amazing value for $6.99/month. You got double log in rewards, and an extra tournament slot and perfect draft slot. So you had 4 tournament slots and 3 perfect draft slots.

In addition they changed the structure so now you get only 2 quick slots, 4 daily slots, 3 PD slots. The daily slots fill up a day in advance, and are hard to get packs because all the people who have paid for the best cards win, so you're left with the daily slots. If makes it hard to get packs, which makes it hard to complete missions and sell cards, which makes it impossible to compete.

In addition the removed all quick perfect drafts that reward packs and went to PPs, and a lot of the 64 team daily tournaments went from top 32 earning packs to top 8.

[Mota]

This all sounds like a description of a game that should be free-to-play.

I'm personally enjoying my Canadian fictional league. My top LF just got injured for the season in the 3rd game, my team is getting old and now just 3-8 after having 2 great seasons. Maybe it's time to rebuild, I'm starting to move those 33-34 year old players for younger ones. My team's farm system is ranked 27th out of 28, so those low draft picks every year are starting to catch up with me!

[Lathum]

The game isn't free though. I paid for it

[Swaggs]

Anyone have any feedback or reviews on this yet?

I haven’t bought yet.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Anyone have any feedback or reviews on this yet?

I haven’t bought yet.

Do you play the stand alone game or perfect team?

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Do you play the stand alone game or perfect team?

I fool around with perfect game, but put in a ton of hours playing as a GM and (relatively) fast simming.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Anyone have any feedback or reviews on this yet?

I haven’t bought yet.

Bump

Anyone have any thoughts on the updates to career mode? I’m getting that craving to play, but haven’t bought the newest version yet.

[Front Office Midget]

I play a multiplayer game with 2 other people, we are 2 1/2 seasons in and everything feels great, haven't noticed any major issues. Some end-game logic and UI issues as with any text sim, but overall, probably my favorite sports management sim yet.

[RainMaker]

The development system is completely busted last I checked. They added a development lab which is fine, but it seems to have neutered any development outside of it. Pointless to draft high school players, 15 year old international free agents are better than almost any 18 year old you draft. Bunch of other little things too.

Feels like they took a swing and making development more fun and it screwed everything else up.

[Mota]

I'm seeing the same thing. Drafting 4* and 5* high school players in the first round of the draft. Almost immediately, they start losing talent. And I have a scouting director that is Excellent at amateurs and with Very High scouting on the players. Within a year they've dropped from 5.0 to 3.5 stars. I almost never see any positive development from any players, even with my best staff coaching them. That pitcher with 35 control with 55 potential will never be playable. Most of the young stars in the league that I'm seeing are getting bursts of development, not really top prospects finally reaching their potential.

I didn't have good results with the development lab either, I had 4 of 5 guys succeed in my most recent season, and yet none of them actually gained any ratings or potential at all.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The development system is completely busted last I checked. They added a development lab which is fine, but it seems to have neutered any development outside of it. Pointless to draft high school players, 15 year old international free agents are better than almost any 18 year old you draft. Bunch of other little things too.

Feels like they took a swing and making development more fun and it screwed everything else up.

The top of the international market is too strong and the college amateurs aren't good enough. I rarely see a draft with more than 5-7 college guys going in the first round and almost never in the top 5-10 picks. Impact college players in the draft are incredibly rare.

The development lab feels like unnecessary fluff.

[Swaggs]

I have been playing OOTP25 a fair bit since the playoffs started.

I have actually grown to like the player development lab quite a bit. There are options to work on a lot of different parts of the game, but the gist is that you can improve aspects of your players' games. The best for me have been in improving defense, improving secondary pitches, and (my favorite) strength and conditioning (which can alter injury proneness).

International signing/training is still not all that enjoyable, but it seems like there is a little more of working towards signing a class rather than just going big for one stud player. I've probably only gone all in on one player in about 25 years, but it is more typical to get 1-2 primary targets (3.5-5 star) and then grab another 2-4 lesser guys (2.5 star types).

Anyway, thought I would revisit since I enjoy getting a season in during evenings this time a year. Pretty good experience after some patches.

I'd say trading is more challenging and the game itself is more challenging. It actually took me awhile to build my team into a consistent contender.

[Young Drachma]

The development lab is something I've wanted for a really long time, the ability to actually train a player to develop is really nice, even though you could always do it in commish mode or force a guy and he'd eventually pick it up.

I think for people who wanna play the game out of the box with no frills, there's probably a different kind of experience, the best OOTP experience really needs you to do a bit of tinkering with settings, especially heading into the future since the game doesn't have future modifiers, to tamp down on the game's excess in certain areas and to mitigate the AI's relatively bad job of managing your opponents.


That said, it's still a pretty complete game. I find international development/signing better when I create alternate leagues in those countries and make the talent akin to the NBA experience, the game never posts anybody but I intevene and make Japanese teams and others post players that can then be signed into MLB.

It's a really solid GUI number generator still after all these years, I imagine there'll be some solid fixes for 26 especially with the lab.

[Swaggs]

Agreed with all you said. I find myself really looking forward to the offseason and using the development lab to upgrade pitchers and to work on the injury proneness modifier (strength and conditioning). And, I think they are pretty realistic with the percentage of times it works and doesn't work and how much growth. It is quite at thrill to get lucky and change one of your 'fragile' players into 'normal' with their injury ratings (but I'd guess it only happens like 1 out of every 5-7 times).

My biggest current complaint is not really their fault, but with MLB cutting down the number of minor league teams in each system, some of my decent or interesting prospects don't get enough playing time and can get backed up and stagnate before reaching AA or AAA. I try to cut people where I can, but still end up with 40-50 players in the short season league teams sometimes.

[Atocep]

25 is the first version I've skipped eve, I think. International signees were way overpowered in 24 and the lab was interesting but really too shallow. Overall it felt like it had very little impact.

The draft was also pretty fucked. The draft was so HS dominant that you might see 5 college guys go in the first round and none of those guys in the top 10.

If 25 has improved those areas I might pick it up and play around with it.

[Ajaxab]

UI question on the game...can the game window be resized to any size and the font scaled accordingly, kinda like FM? I wanted to play OOTP's little brother, FHM, but their prescribed window sizes and non-scalable fonts don't work well with my widescreen monitor. The window size choices mean the game takes up the whole screen or too little of the screen with a font that is too small to read. Does OOTP work the same way or more like FM?

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

UI question on the game...can the game window be resized to any size and the font scaled accordingly, kinda like FM? I wanted to play OOTP's little brother, FHM, but their prescribed window sizes and non-scalable fonts don't work well with my widescreen monitor. The window size choices mean the game takes up the whole screen or too little of the screen with a font that is too small to read. Does OOTP work the same way or more like FM?

The game window is fully resizable. The fonts don't resize with the window (IIRC) but you can pick your own font size.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Agreed with all you said. I find myself really looking forward to the offseason and using the development lab to upgrade pitchers and to work on the injury proneness modifier (strength and conditioning). And, I think they are pretty realistic with the percentage of times it works and doesn't work and how much growth. It is quite at thrill to get lucky and change one of your 'fragile' players into 'normal' with their injury ratings (but I'd guess it only happens like 1 out of every 5-7 times).

My biggest current complaint is not really their fault, but with MLB cutting down the number of minor league teams in each system, some of my decent or interesting prospects don't get enough playing time and can get backed up and stagnate before reaching AA or AAA. I try to cut people where I can, but still end up with 40-50 players in the short season league teams sometimes.

I brought back those levels of minors for this reason.

[Young Drachma]

Markus retiring from OOTP end of an era, wow.

Saying Goodbye: A Personal Message from Markus

(I have posted this on our official community forums already, but I felt it would be appropriate to post it here on Reddit as well)

Dear OOTP Community,

Today, I have some important personal news to share. After much reflection, I've decided that it's time for me to step away from my role at Out of the Park Developments and open a new chapter in my life.This wasn't an easy decision to make, and I wanted to reach out personally to all of you who've made this journey so incredibly special.

When I first started working on Out of the Park Baseball, I could never have imagined the amazing community that would grow around it. What started as a simple idea fueled by my love for baseball and strategy gaming has blossomed into something truly extraordinary, all thanks to you.

I still remember the early days... writing the first lines of OOTP code back in 1997, tucked away in my tiny 90-square-foot dorm room. The first launch in 1999. Pulling all-nighters to fix bugs, getting excited over every new feature idea, and eagerly reading your feedback on the forums after each launch. It was an incredible time. Over the years, your passion, suggestions, and critiques have been the driving force behind OOTP's evolution. Together, we've taken this game to a level I never thought possible.

I want to give a huge shoutout to our amazing team. I've had the privilege of working with some of the most talented and passionate people in the industry. Thank you for your hard work, creativity, and for making (almost, haha) every day at work fun and exciting. I consider every single one of you not just colleagues but true friends. OOTP's future is in good hands.

I also want to express my deepest gratitude to our partners at MLB, MLBPA, and the Com2uS Corporation. Their exceptional support for our little niche game has been truly remarkable. Working alongside these esteemed organizations over the years has been an honor, and their belief in our vision helped us bring OOTP to new heights.

While I plan to pursue new opportunities sometime next year, I certainly won't disappear. I'll be available to the entire team as a mentor and will happily provide feedback on feature designs if needed. Of course, I'll also continue to play the game and lurk around on the forums.

So, this is it. Out of the Park Baseball 25 was my final launch. After more than 27 years, my career as OOTP developer and CEO / managing director of the company is now officially over. I was incredibly lucky to have such a long career in gaming, and I am eternally grateful to everyone who helped me along the way. You guys are the best!

Thank you all for being part of this incredible journey.
Markus

[SirFozzie]

Ok, I know this PROBABLY isn't true, but in my secret heart, I wonder if this is the nail in the coffin that finishes off the trend of "Grognard baseball sim" to "Yearly baseball gacha game"

(Nothing against gacha games, just it's obvious which side of the debate I'm on, even though it's a minority)

[PilotMan]

Shame if it is. The latter holds zero interest for me.

[GrantDawg]

Wish the best for him, but it doesn't leave me high hopes for OOTP going forward.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Wish the best for him, but it doesn't leave me high hopes for OOTP going forward.

I wonder if they're gonna ramp up on more DLC or do something else strange and fan base alienating. OOTP crowd isn't nearly as big as the FM crowd, but it wouldn't take them long to destroy 25 years of goodwill if they do something boneheaded.

Guess we'll see. On the brightside, I've felt like for years that OOTP was good enough as a standalone that if we never got another edition that I could use the current game in perpetuity and I felt that way at like OOTP 8 or 9, so the fact that it's at 25....we've been playing with house money for a while. I do hope they avoid the DLC route though.

[RainMaker]

I hope it's just stepping down because he wants to try something new and not because he's upset with the direction of the franchise. Had my issues over the years with the game but it was an incredble accompishment by a guy who seemed to mostly develop this by himself early on.

Have a bad feeling we're going to shift to microtransaction casino style games instead of a sim. Hope I'm wrong though.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I hope it's just stepping down because he wants to try something new and not because he's upset with the direction of the franchise. Had my issues over the years with the game but it was an incredble accompishment by a guy who seemed to mostly develop this by himself early on.

Have a bad feeling we're going to shift to microtransaction casino style games instead of a sim. Hope I'm wrong though.

After 25 years of turning your homebrew baseball game in Germany into the biggest text baseball sim ever, getting the MLB license and selling (the game) twice...I can't hate on dude for wanting to do literally anything else.

Who knows if it was written into his sale agreement that he had to do x years with them before getting the rest of his cash, I don't blame him at all for going away...I can't imagine doing that for more than half his life and not having time to do literally anything else, given they make a game every year.

I do think they might DLC the shit out of the game, but it'd be hard to do, people aren't gonna pay for that -- maybe on mobile, but it's already like that -- but I'm glad he got paid and hope his OG devs also got a little cash on the way out.

[Young Drachma]

Maybe we can get Com2US to buy FBCB, lol. We just need one refresh.

[GrantDawg]

Makes me think I need to buy OOTP 25. Might be the last good version, but then who knows? Maybe it won't take the bad turn I fear it will.

[GrantDawg]

Dola: And I did since it is 50% off right now.

[Sweed]

Matt takes the lead roll. Maybe they promote or bring in new coder to take on some of Matt's workload? OOTP continues on the same path it's always been on.

[Lathum]

I am pretty heavily involved in perfect draft and really enjoy the daily drafts. I had by far the best team I ever had in the daily near perfect yesterday.

My starting outfiel was Ruth, Mantle, and DiMaggio with Cobb as DH. Schmidt was 3B, Piazza catcher.

I won the tournament going 24-8. I scored 20+runs in five of my wins and 10+ in twenty of them. The team was an absolute wrecking ball.

They made some changes to the tournaments that have made it a lot more enjoyable. The prize structure is great, awarding 75 packs for a win and 40 for second, 15 for 3/4. They have a lot of drafts that are all perfect or near perfect so it is really fun to play with all the good cards.