MLB The Show 19's Diamond Dynasty Mode: The Gold Standard for Card-Collecting Modes

[ChaseB]

As card-collecting modes have become an increasingly important part of so many sports games in recent...

Written By: Kevin Scott

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[Turbojugend]

DD is just, well... bonkers. There are so many great cards to collect, and obtaining them is relatively easy, even for an offline miser like myself. They even managed to reinvent Conquest and make it more engaging than before.

I'm currently working on an all-Legends squad with Gehrig, Williams, Robinson, etc. I've designed appropriate unis and named them the Iowa Barnstormers. It's a total blast.

[brunopuntzjones]

I disagree about them eliminating all of the cheese. There are still quite a few animation-related issues that favor players who are willing to engage in some reckless baserunning tactics. Taking a huge lead off third with any player with even a little bit of speed is almost unsolvable without pitching out. Throwers also tend to get stuck in animations or just stop responding during prolonged rundowns, too.

One thing I hope we see next year is the return of many of the lower rated legends and throwbacks. A ton of silver, bronze, and even common cards were taken out. They were a fun way to play with a player whose high tier card you might not have earned yet. Some of them had useful attributes too. I also like trying to get the tier based daily challenges, so I’m often sending out an all bronze or silver lineup in RS. It would be cool if I could still stack it with legends/flashbacks.

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by brunopuntzjones

I disagree about them eliminating all of the cheese. There are still quite a few animation-related issues that favor players who are willing to engage in some reckless baserunning tactics. Taking a huge lead off third with any player with even a little bit of speed is almost unsolvable without pitching out. Throwers also tend to get stuck in animations or just stop responding during prolonged rundowns, too. One thing I hope we see next year is the return of many of the lower rated legends and throwbacks. A ton of silver, bronze, and even common cards were taken out. They were a fun way to play with a player whose high tier card you might not have earned yet. Some of them had useful attributes too. I also like trying to get the tier based daily challenges, so I’m often sending out an all bronze or silver lineup in RS. It would be cool if I could still stack it with legends/flashbacks.

I agree with most of this, especially as it relates to more variety in ratings. I know by the end of the year these modes all go for 99 overalls, but I always like playing with the lesser players.

As for the gameplay elements, there are some baserunning issues. However they're more online latency issues to me than inherent flaws with baserunning that need a major overhaul. If we just had better servers/connections, I think a lot of this would not be such an issue.

[brunopuntzjones]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChaseB

I agree with most of this, especially as it relates to more variety in ratings. I know by the end of the year these modes all go for 99 overalls, but I always like playing with the lesser players. As for the gameplay elements, there are some baserunning issues. However they're more online latency issues to me than inherent flaws with baserunning that need a major overhaul. If we just had better servers/connections, I think a lot of this would not be such an issue.

I’ve had an idea for a tier based RS-type mode all year. You bring in a roster of all bronzes, silvers, golds, etc. and face the same. It would be a good opportunity for daily chasers to face a level playing field. I like having the opportunity to use different cards. The limits they put on event rosters don’t scratch that itch enough.

The one criticism I would make of the way they handled signature series this year was that the game was flooded with teams made up entirely of high diamonds within a month or two. Took some of the drama out of squad building and created a major pay to win scenario, but to their credit by July or so things leveled off.

I think servers are part of the baserunning issues, and I could see them being the explanation for the fielder holding the ball just getting stuck after 10 throws/canceled throws. But I once played a guy who would frequently take huge leads off third and (mostly but not always) held L2. If I threw to 3rd, he broke for home and I had no chance. If I stepped off with the pitcher, the animation to throw home was too slow to get him. If I pitched he would score on a bunt, grounder, basically anything but a shallow fly or swing and miss. I got him once or twice by pitching out but then he stopped sending immediately. Basically if he got a player with 70+ speed onto third I had to concede a run. That was all on animations, imo.

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by brunopuntzjones

I’ve had an idea for a tier based RS-type mode all year. You bring in a roster of all bronzes, silvers, golds, etc. and face the same. It would be a good opportunity for daily chasers to face a level playing field. I like having the opportunity to use different cards. The limits they put on event rosters don’t scratch that itch enough. The one criticism I would make of the way they handled signature series this year was that the game was flooded with teams made up entirely of high diamonds within a month or two. Took some of the drama out of squad building and created a major pay to win scenario, but to their credit by July or so things leveled off. I think servers are part of the baserunning issues, and I could see them being the explanation for the fielder holding the ball just getting stuck after 10 throws/canceled throws. But I once played a guy who would frequently take huge leads off third and (mostly but not always) held L2. If I threw to 3rd, he broke for home and I had no chance. If I stepped off with the pitcher, the animation to throw home was too slow to get him. If I pitched he would score on a bunt, grounder, basically anything but a shallow fly or swing and miss. I got him once or twice by pitching out but then he stopped sending immediately. Basically if he got a player with 70+ speed onto third I had to concede a run. That was all on animations, imo.

I love the idea for that mode. I love using the "bad" cards, and having more reason to use bronzes and silvers would be a good time. I think especially now when there is so many OP cards, it makes the gameplay sort of weird in that everyone knows what the meta is, so turning it on its head with worse cards in some capacity would keep it fresh. It's also the same reason I want a Salary Cap mode in DD.

It's a fair point about your issues with the animations, and I don't think they're blameless. I just believe the animations end up slower online, and you can get away with more shenanigans on the basepaths when there is input lag, and the baserunners inherently seem faster than your throws because of this. It's a problem for the series for years, and it was even something I specifically made a video on a couple years back during the height of bunt cheese because it showed how bunts were really only that effective online due to how the animations were slower/worse there.

[JoshC1977]

Diamond Dynasty may be the best card-collecting mode out there, but it's because other games set the bar so low. Now, the following comes from someone who plays the mode strictly offline...so my point of view is going to vary a bit....

DD did make a couple of improvements:
1. more conquest maps
2. XP rewards
3. Adding "choice packs"

But man, they dropped the ball everywhere else:

Innings programs - Weee...just play the game. Zero skill required. (and if you started the game late, you literally cannot complete the old ones to earn the bosses - congrats to those PS Plus members who got the game)

Team affinity - weee....just play the game....zero skill required. (Stat goals here vs innings would've added SOMETHING for offline players to grind for - massively missed opportunity).

Moments - The mode should be re-named "Moments of torture". Who actually finished a moment (with the possible exception of the Signature Team moments - by far the best content this year) and said, "wow, that was fun!". It was just a sigh of relief of "phew, it wasn't one of THOSE moments". Moments were designed with one intent, to cater to the online community members and their ceaseless gripes of things being too hard (or long) for them.

The removal of stat grinds - Wee...we have lots of conquest maps and no reason to play them. We're accomplishing NOTHING other than just slogging through the games to try to complete the map. Last year was awesome because you were constantly accomplishing stuff....every game meant something to the long term goal. 9 inning vs CPU games....completely pointless to play aside from grinding....wait for it....innnings played for team affinity....

Associated with stat grinds - lack of reason to use lower-tier cards offline. Aside from dailies (YAY - more innings "grinds") there was no reason to use a bronze/silver card. SDS did it right last year in having stat grind tiers....they messed up removing it.

Oh, speaking of long-term goals - they're absent. DD went from an incredibly focused mode in 18 with well defined end-game goals to an arbitrary MUT-style "goal" of merely "make team better to play online". Sorry, "make team better", while certainly an intrinsic concept of the mode, is not a "goal" to shoot for. Getting all of the immortals (the original ones) on 18 was a goal worthy of shooting for and made the mode enjoyable.

Keeping all vs CPU games vs live series only teams - NOW....the sig teams program was awesome because you finally had a chance to face all the different cards in the game under CPU control (vs going online and facing some 7 yr old Youtuber). They need to expand this to other vs CPU modes (like Conquest) to add a lot more variety to the gameplay.

Sig Series cards - I'm fine with the concept, but they need about half as many of them. I totally get that online play became a bit "icky" last year as people kept using the same cards over and over. I'm totally good with adding a nice variety and letting people choose lineups...but can you tell me with a straight face that you truly believe Alex Gordon deserved a "Sig Series" card?

The reward-to-content ratio is too high. Repeat after me, "New cards does not equal new content." Cards are rewards and the content associated with getting them is way too low. People should have to work to get the rewards.

I get it, online play is the focus. DD on '18 swung too heavy towards "the offline grind". DD on '19 swung too far towards "the online ch(ease)" (pun 100% intended). DD in '20 needs to strike a much better balance and offer the community some well-defined long-term goals from the very outset. Give us all something to work towards as the season progresses.