How to Improve Each Single-Player Mode in Diamond Dynasty

[ChaseB]

Some people might think that card-collecting modes typically cater more to the online crowd, but Diamond...

Written By: Kevin Scott

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[JoshC1977]

Good article but I think there is another area that Moments/Showdown can improve upon....

Pitch speeds. If you play on higher difficulties (even someone like me that plays exclusively on All Star), the ridiculously slow pitch speeds on Veteran and Rookie can be jarring and make them far more difficult than they actually should be. Going from moments to another mode creates unnecessary transition periods for many gamers and makes hitting more challenging.

The solution, IMO, is to have a preferred minimum pitch speed setting for these modes in each user's gameplay options screen. So, if I were to set this on All Star, every moment/showdown on Vet/rookie would have All Star pitch speeds (everything else reflecting that level; such as PCI size and so on). However, if there was a moment on HOF, I would still be forced to play on HOF pitch speeds.

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On the other modes, I think giving people options for 3/6/9 inning games would be a great addition. It would only have a meaningful impact on Mini Season stat grinds, but I imagine SDS could find a way to extrapolate the stat mission length selected based on your innings played.

[DonkeyJote]

For Mini Seasons, I don't believe I've ever had a win counted as a loss. I know that was something that was an issue at launch, but have they fixed that?

I have, however, had playoff runs ended due to a unhandled server exception. That's a pretty big bummer.

As a primarily (but not exclusively) offline player, I want to see some 9 inning mode. Imo, that's what Mini Seasons should be. (Even at 28 games, it's still less to finish one Mini Season than it is to get the WS reward on ranked. If it's the "endgame" offline mode, I think that's fair). But if it isn't for Mini Seasons, then just make a tournament mode or something that ends up being like 15ish 9 inning games. Give me a reason to actually need more than 5 pitchers.

Also, I'd like to see Dynamic Difficulty as an option instead of All-Star/Hall of Fame. Personally, I'm way better at pitching than hitting, and I'd have more fun if those difficulties were separate like they are in other modes. And I think it'd be nice to be rewarded for maybe playing the whole season on Dynamic instead of feeling like the best path is get the difficulty rewards done quick and then switch to rookie.

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[Formula1Racing]

Thanks for this article. Very well done. I am just getting my feet wet doing these DD offline modes and this piece explains it very well.

Having played MLBTS for many many years doing RTTS and Franchise, I never got into DD until this year and it is growing on me. I am now considered an offline MLBTS DD addict! I can't stop playing and it keeps me from my other hobby of MS Flight Simulator..lol

[brunopuntzjones]

As is, I think Showdown is a failed idea. Every challenge is basically the same and the mode is a tedious chore, especially if you come up short. A successful run might only take 30 minutes to an hour but I never really have fun doing it because it’s literally the same every single time. Pitching showdowns might salvage it, I guess, but I’m not optimistic. The key might just be to make them shorter or focus on the final challenge. Maybe make it so you can draft a better squad immediately but also no matter what you go in down 10-20, maybe with more outs remaining.

Moments are kind of a double edged sword. They tried to be creative with them initially but a lot of them were absolutely sadistic in length and difficulty, especially in 2019. Whoever came up with, for example, the Harper “Video Game Numbers” one should be institutionalized. They’ve dumbed them down a lot, which helps make them more palatable but also they’re just kind of the same thing over and over too. But it’s basically fine where it is and I like that they aren’t relying on them as much so far this year. They’re basically in an acceptable place, finally. That said I’ve thought some moments might benefit from a showdown presentation. Instead of repeating one PA ad nauseam until you get a particular type of hit, you get a certain number of outs to get a run or TB or something.

I think ultimately people want to use their teams in full games. They need another 1-2 modes for that. A 9 inning mode would be great. Maybe it could be formatted as a playoff challenge, with rewards for winning each series along the way. Some kind of playlist where you had to lock in an events or BR style roster and complete a playlist with it would be cool too.

The big problem I see with mini-seasons is basing rosters on real players’ DD squads. Later in the year we’re probably going to be facing teams full of the same meta cards over and over. I’d rather have SDS build rosters themselves to ensure variety and maybe tell a story. The Whales and the Cats are already basically the same team and it’s inevitable the others will catch up.

[DonkeyJote]

Quote: Originally Posted by brunopuntzjones

The big problem I see with mini-seasons is basing rosters on real players’ DD squads. Later in the year we’re probably going to be facing teams full of the same meta cards over and over. I’d rather have SDS build rosters themselves to ensure variety and maybe tell a story. The Whales and the Cats are already basically the same team and it’s inevitable the others will catch up.

I don't think that'll be an issue. For one, later in the year team diversity went up last year. Right now if you have a highly rated team, you're using the same players as everyone else with a highly rated team. Later in the year, when there were a lot more options, I saw a ton more lineup diversity in online play.

For two, the team selection in Mini Seasons isn't random. I think each team has a range of team overalls they're looking for. Out of sheer curiosity, I loaded up a few different mini seasons. Lichtenstein and Cairo were always, every single time, both absolutely loaded. They universally had the Live Series collection done, and the average player on their roster was a 95. I did 5 mini seasons. Of the other 25 teams that loaded in, none of them had the major collections done. Only 1 had an average player rating over 90.

I think it breaks down like this. Lichtenstein and Cairo are looking for the highest overalls possible. Probably mid 90s and up. Lima is looking for rosters in the high 80s to low 90s. London and New Orleans are both looking for mid to high 80s. Tokyo is looking for something in the mid 80s or lower. And Seoul is looking for the low 80s or lower.

Maybe they're even looking for ratings in specific categories. In my brief looking into it, I did notice London tended to have much better hitting than pitching. Whereas Lima tended to have stronger pitching.

But as the year progresses, maybe they'll up the ranges those teams are looking for as player teams are better. But I don't think it'll get to the point where every team has a God Squad; I think it's set up to limit that to Lichtenstein and Cairo. And I think as the year goes one and there are more ways to build a "God Squad", there will be more variety between Lichtenstein and Cairo.

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[JoshC1977]

Quote: Originally Posted by DonkeyJote

I don't think that'll be an issue. For one, later in the year team diversity went up last year. Right now if you have a highly rated team, you're using the same players as everyone else with a highly rated team. Later in the year, when there were a lot more options, I saw a ton more lineup diversity in online play.

I set up a new mini season last night....decided to roll with the first league I set up.

I'm already seeing a lot more variety in roster construction (maybe it was a lucky roll but still). There was only one team heavy in FOTF guys (which seriously....utterly annoying to see those squads). Most of the others had a nice mix of players. The only team that had the full slew of "meta" relievers was the Whales.

Still though....going back to bruno's point, I think that cultivated teams (or at least cultivated styles of teams that can be varied) would enhance the mode greatly.

[shark547]

I would like to see a large conquest map with random teams and packs or prizes that resets with new stuff every time you play it. I think that would be cool.

As far as pitch speeds. I think that there should be 2 separate settings. For offline stuff where you play the computer you should be able to set the pitch speeds to what ever level you want if the player cards are determining the outcome. I will never play people because I find the timing to be unnatural in the game. You pretty much find a setting that is good for timing or location, but, not really both. Seems like when on directional you can time things and somehow you are constantly late until you aren't. I have at bats where the computer can throw 97 mph fastballs and I am too late on them all. I can push the swing button as soon as the pitcher releases the ball. Doesn't make any difference. Then I wait and swing on a 100 mph pitch and it says I am early. Not sure how that works under the hood, but, it seems that when using directional the player card has some effect on timing. I guess what I am saying, is that I want to play where my timing makes sense for when I swing and the ball goes in the direction it should and the card then determines the outcome.

Sorry for the long paragraph....just trying to relay my whole thought.