Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

It just sounds to me like everyone having this internal debate that's actually using Timing is either on a Difficulty level they have business being on or have their Pitch Speed slider set too high...

Consistently good timing gets rewarded on Timing; hence the name.

Yes, it's largely ratings based and good timing is not always rewarded (remember, the pitcher is rewarded or penalized for their timing too) but its name and what that truly means seems to be getting overlooked here....

[Pythons80]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

I tried timing after about 2 months of using pure analog and it was a lot easier and more responsive. Then eventually I found out that it was hard to win games because you are unable to control where your players swing. It's frustrating when you get thrown a cookie and your player swings way over or under it. I got to thinking "I can do better than that!?" and I have since I've moved to zone.
Zone hitting is challenging and it is hard to score runs in MLB 14. My advice to you would be to use a better team than the Cubs. Wait till you've mastered the game to start using weaker teams.

[NDAlum]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

It just sounds to me like everyone having this internal debate that's actually using Timing is either on a Difficulty level they have business being on or have their Pitch Speed slider set too high...

Consistently good timing gets rewarded on Timing; hence the name.

Yes, it's largely ratings based and good timing is not always rewarded (remember, the pitcher is rewarded or penalized for their timing too) but its name and what that truly means seems to be getting overlooked here....

I had about a 40-game sample. I might go back to it because I do prefer timing over zone for the ratings having more of an impact, at least I like to think timing is better in that regards.

I found that Veteran was typically too easy and All-Star was too hard. I feel like a Veteran+ would be amazing for me.

I upped HUM timing and had just early or normal about 85% of the time. Even if I got a pitch I could drive it really felt like I wouldn't be rewarded, especially with McCutchen who is arguably a top 10 bat in the league.

Was I in a super long slump?
Do I need a normal swing every single time?
Am I having a selective memory and only remembering the pitches I miss?

Once again this is from a guy who desperately wants to use timing!

[ruxpinke]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

for me what it comes down to is the quality of my at bats. With timing, I only have to worry about recognizing a good strike and swinging at the right time.

When i uze zone, im thinking too much about the pci placement and I end up chasing bad pitches more often.

Timing has its head scratching moments for sure, but i feel like i can replicate more realistic at bats using the timing mode. When i pop up that 3-1 on occasion, I tell myself "he just missed that one", which does happen often in MLB.

On timing my game becomes more working at bats, being patient, and crushing a good pitch if and when it comes. I know some people can do that on zone, but I cant. Zone becomes too frantic for me, too much to think about at once. I have more fun with see pitch, hit pitch.

[KBLover]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

Stanton sure, but what about a hanger to a lower rated player that same PCI will be placed low and away. Feel free to stream away

Right, because that's why my Hechavarria and his 38 power has 10 HR (how many does he have in real life?)

Yes, that happens, but it also happen to where I kill the ball - like the 436 foot shot I hit with Stanton in the next game.

There's annoyance with Timing for sure, but considering my BABIP in realistic ranges for the players in most cases, it can't be too broken.

[KBLover]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

I upped HUM timing and had just early or normal about 85% of the time.

Is there anything higher than "Normal" in MLB14? I believe in 13 there was Perfect timing, but I've never seen it in 14. Some of the hardest hit balls I've had were with "Normal" timing.

Yes, it's largely ratings based and good timing is not always rewarded (remember, the pitcher is rewarded or penalized for their timing too) but its name and what that truly means seems to be getting overlooked here....

Nor should it be always "rewarded". Best BABIP in the game so far is Puig at .383. 61.7% of the time he doesn't get a hit on a ball he put in play. I wonder how many good swings with near perfect timing he put together and wasn't "rewarded" for?

[NDAlum]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

You guys are making me go back to timing tonight lol. I'm going to "follow my heart" which is what I tell people to do all the time in a sarcastic fashion.

I've only seen Normal as well, with Solid contact being the best possible outcome.

[HustlinOwl]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

Right, because that's why my Hechavarria and his 38 power has 10 HR (how many does he have in real life?)

Yes, that happens, but it also happen to where I kill the ball - like the 436 foot shot I hit with Stanton in the next game.

There's annoyance with Timing for sure, but considering my BABIP in realistic ranges for the players in most cases, it can't be too broken.

10HR impressive, but again difficulty and how many games played guarantee those "timing slumps" will start to appear soon.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

I had about a 40-game sample. I might go back to it because I do prefer timing over zone for the ratings having more of an impact, at least I like to think timing is better in that regards.

I found that Veteran was typically too easy and All-Star was too hard. I feel like a Veteran+ would be amazing for me.

I upped HUM timing and had just early or normal about 85% of the time. Even if I got a pitch I could drive it really felt like I wouldn't be rewarded, especially with McCutchen who is arguably a top 10 bat in the league.

Was I in a super long slump?
Do I need a normal swing every single time?
Am I having a selective memory and only remembering the pitches I miss?

Once again this is from a guy who desperately wants to use timing!

I haven't shared nearly as many of my opinions on the gameplay as one would expect from me this year, mainly because I'm having a lot of discussions on the game via PM.

I struggled mightily on launch; more so than I ever have in this series and I consider myself a pretty good hitter if you use the general tone on OS as a barometer (due to the fact that year after year on OS people talk about how hard hitting is and I've always pretty much felt like a minority voice when wishing BABIP would come DOWN...not up, eventually, especially for low average/high power bats. For years, I've felt success at the plate relied more on the power attribute rather than the contact attribute. Fortunately, this seems to have changed).

After trying to assess exactly what the problem was, I determined that I simply wasn't seeing the ball as well as I should. I actually made a post about this where I theorized that maybe I was just getting old. As a result, I lowered the pitch speed. And boy oh boy, did I start to hit! For the rest of the season! Almost too much so, as my next experiment led me to AS+ and HOF and let's just say that didn't go as well as I had expected!

Although I believe this game still has a propensity to favor the homerun, I believe the balance is pretty good with Timing on AS once you've established yourself a good pitch speed and batting camera.

After one full season, everything looked real good aside from two things:

1. Too many homeruns and a trending too high BA, thanks to reducing the pitch speed to much, more than likely.
2. Not being able to see the ball well enough, regardless of the pitch speed, with right handed hitters.

So I made some adjustments for season two back on AS. I brought the pitch speed back UP since I had clearly gotten better at seeing the ball, and I adjusted the Default Catcher camera ever-so-slightly to the right in order to open up the outside part of the plate with right handed hitters.

My best advice to anyone would be to analyze your own play and see where your strengths and weaknesses are. Personally, if you're on AS and "wish there was a Veteran+", then assuming you haven't already zeroed out the pitch speed I would suggest lowering it and seeing where that leads you. It's an often overlooked "difficulty level" in itself.

Obviously, I can't say for certain whether that can over come a 0.20 increase in your hitting. It really depends on why you aren't hitting. That said, 8 hits per game versus 9 hits per game can close the BA gap quickly. You just need to find a way to make up that ground. Whether you prefer that to be with Timing or Zone is a personal decision, and I'm not going to begin to say one is a better choice than the other. They're not. One can't judge what another seems realistic or fun; it's purely subjective. I just know what worked for me and hope it can shed some insight or a path to try to take.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

10HR impressive, but again difficulty and how many games played guarantee those "timing slumps" will start to appear soon.

What is a "Timing-slump" guarantee???

[ManiacMatt1782]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

Where you get a forced slump because the cpu wants to put your pci in every position except for on the ball.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

Where you get a forced slump because the cpu wants to put your pci in every position except for on the ball.

Oh! That's right!

I heard the code for it was tucked between the AI rubberband code line and the tooth fairy code line.

How could I have forgotten that?

[ManiacMatt1782]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

Oh! That's right!

I heard the code for it was tucked between the AI rubberband code line and the tooth fairy code line.

How could I have forgotten that?

It's not any Code, it's just the way it is. You get a random placement of the PCI on timing only. And you have no control over whether it is High or low. So just by the way the dice rolls you are gonna have strings where the dice rolls of where the PCI is placed are out of your favor, just like you will go on a hot streak. It is exactly like a roulette table. You are gonna get your heaters, and cold streaks no matter how well you are on the timing because of the random PCI placement. No need to be condecending there man. But You have to agree I have a point. The slump will happen and there is nothing skill wise you can do about it because you are at the mercy of the random PCI location on timing. Just like you will go on an insane hot streak.

[canes21]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

220+ games in and I love Timing. We're nearing the all star break in this new season (a new season 1) and my Atlanta Braves have about as realistic starts as I could ask for. My lowest avg is BJ Upton around. 227 and Freeman owns my highest just about. 300. Heyward is about. 255, Gattis is. 240-.250. Chris Johnson is .285. Uggla was. 189 until I got rid of him. I'm in the lower third as a team in avg as I should with this team, but my HRs and extra base hits are where they should be in the top half, top third.

I have had games where I put 15 runs up and I've also been shutout. I've had a few instances where the PCI was way off, but it's always BJ, Uggla, if Schafer who miss like that. Freeman and Chris Johnson are always right on the ball. I only strike out with those guys if I chase something or am way off on timing. Then my guys who are around 50 in contact sometimes swing and miss with normal timing, but also crush the ball with normal timing.

I've easily hit more hanging balls into gaps or over the fence than I have not. There's been times where Gattis gets a 3-0 popout on a fastball right down the middle, but that's realistic. He's done it a few times this year in real life. But the majority of the time I get one with him, Freddie, Justin Upton, Heyward, Johnson, or even Simmons and Doumit, that ball is coming off the bat hard.

I've noticed if my timing is off, the PCI is off like it should. There's been plenty of times I identified a hanging curve, hit excited and swung way early and the PCI was over the pitch like it should. But when my timing is normal on those, goodbye.

I think my large sample size has shown me that timing is huge, hence the name, and player ratings are big. Why are Freeman and CJ hitting over. 280 for me? They're easily my best two rated hitters. Why is Heyward a . 250 hitter, but in the top 10 in HRs? His contact ratings aren't too great, but not that bad, but his power is good. I've also got Laird batting over. 350 as a spot starter, but for some reason his contact rating is in the upper 80's.

I just had 7 straight at bats result in 3 HRs, 2 doubles, and 2 singles with Freeman and he's been on a tear and will easily be in the top 5 in average in a series or two at this rate. If I pay attention and swing at mistakes, I get rewarded. Some games the opposing pitcher is near perfect though and I just get beat. That's baseball. Overall though, I'm far from believing the PCI is random. It's not or else my experience would be far different than it is. Get good hitters, swing on time at good pitches and you'll be fine on timing. Me and the guy I'm playing with have been through a season and a half. That's a big enough sample size for me.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Long time zone hitter, moving to timing. Maybe.

It's not any Code, it's just the way it is. You get a random placement of the PCI on timing only. And you have no control over whether it is High or low. So just by the way the dice rolls you are gonna have strings where the dice rolls of where the PCI is placed are out of your favor, just like you will go on a hot streak. It is exactly like a roulette table. You are gonna get your heaters, and cold streaks no matter how well you are on the timing because of the random PCI placement. No need to be condecending there man. But You have to agree I have a point. The slump will happen and there is nothing skill wise you can do about it because you are at the mercy of the random PCI location on timing. Just like you will go on an insane hot streak.

"Random," as bolded above; and "forced" - as you stated in your previous post - are very different things. One I can get behind a little bit (though I think it's probably less random than people think, though some element of that may exist) and the other I can't.

Thanks for clarifying.