Is Directional hitting working properly?

[dalger21]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

PCI is NOT supposed to move for directional.
It is working as intended.

That basically makes it zone without moving PCI.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

PCI is NOT supposed to move for directional.
It is working as intended.

So when I see a low changeup that I know it's going to be in the zone and I time it perfectly I'm still going to chop it no matter what?

I get that there is some kind of penalty for not using zone but this seems ridiculous.

Is this for online balancing? If so that is kind of a piss off to all of us who play offline only.

[El_MaYiMbE]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

That basically makes it zone without moving PCI.

No...because the "PCI" is bigger in timing hitting when your swing perfect, and smaller when your timing is off. Correct me if I am wrong..when swing with Zone the PCI is ALWAYS same size....thats #1

#2 in situational settings...say runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs, if you want to pull a ball in the air but you are late on a pitch, it will be harder to do that, resulting in bad contact (MLB 16 now has feedback on contact type AND speed off of bat...bad swings and mixmatching timing vs direction severely impact this)......this is also why Directional is more realistic because you have this option. In zone there is no way to try an pick which field to hit to, there are strategic reasons why this is a necessity.

#3 Timing is harder on Directional Hitting. This has been like this since last year, to combat that notion that its just zone without moving PCI, they made timing a little harder when Directional Hitting is used. So the timing window for a good swing on Directional and good swing on Zone are different. So timing is easier on zone but aiming is harder, timing is harder on directional but aiming is not an option BUT swing direction needs to match with timing...which again is harder (in zone this concept doesn't exist).

[El_MaYiMbE]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

So when I see a low changeup that I know it's going to be in the zone and I time it perfectly I'm still going to chop it no matter what?

I get that there is some kind of penalty for not using zone but this seems ridiculous.

Is this for online balancing? If so that is kind of a piss off to all of us who play offline only.

No...if you time it perfectly the PCI would cover the entire zone essentially and you should make good contact (at least as good as if you moved the PCI to that same location yourself with zone). However in Directional Hitting, its harder than in zone to time something perfectly and this is what determines if PCI is covering entire zone or not.

The window is smaller...Also the swing type you choose will influence that, batter ability, hot and cold zones, all play a part.

Also as I mentioned before, just because PCI isnt covering that part of plate does not mean you will not get a hit, just like zone. If its close (within reason) you will make contact. Sometimes good contact, sometimes crappy contact, sometimes swing and miss. But timing and direction pulled are deciding factor, not PCI movement.

Those who come from zone will notice they are super early or super late on alot of pitches. But again timing windows are different.

It is not a penalty, its different implementation.

If that is the case, than I can argue I am penalized in zone whenever I am trying to hit the ball to RF when there is a runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs. I cannot do it. You would argue put your PCI in proper spot and be a little late with a righty to push ball to RF but to me that sounds crazy. I chose to push stick in that direction and wait for a pitch that I can handle and influence it to go where I want. If my timing is off and direction is off...it will result in a bad swing and poor contact (or swing and miss).

Additionally Direction is not a given. I hit a HR opposite field with Kris Bryant today.
It was a ball up in the zone, middle plate, I was pulling. I was a tad late but still had enough timing and enough PCI coverage and I was able to hit it out.

[El_MaYiMbE]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

Here is an example, it was a pitch down in the zone, that I hit UP and OUT for a HR...with Pillar from Blue Jays (not a power hitter, using normal swing).

Had this been Zone Hitting:

#1. I would not have had option to try and pull AND hit ball in the air. This would have required me to put PCI under the ball, when you see image you will notice there is no space to get under ball.

#2 You notice the ball is actually under the PCI, in zone this would have been a chopped ball.

In directional hitting the PCI is not the location of the bat, its simply area the batter is covering.
Again the swing type, timing, player attributes, and direction of stick influence how ball is hit.

I killed it by the way, 103 MPH off the bat, monster shot.
Off of a Changeup, low by the way TheWarmWind....same exact scenario you asked about.

However, since its Directional Hitting I chose to uppercut the ball and pull it. I was in complete control of that swing. Had the pitch been away where I could not pull it I would have laid off and waited for my pitch. I was ahead in count and could do that.

Had I been behind or desperate and tried same swing on a pitch low and away, I would have made bad contact, rolled over on pitch, or fouled it off, or swung and missed. In this situation I wanted to pull.

There are ABs where I hit other way, depending on how pitcher is pitching me...
Its all strategy, and Directional Hitting is awesome at it.

[p00p1]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

I could have sworn in the Twitch streams SCEA was doing, you could see the PCI placement with directional hitting in the swing analysis window... maybe they changed it?

[dalger21]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

I'm not necessarily talking about directional hitting...I'm referencing timing hitting, which is just directional hitting without actually selecting a direction to hit.

[El_MaYiMbE]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

I'm not necessarily talking about directional hitting...I'm referencing timing hitting, which is just directional hitting without actually selecting a direction to hit.

That then just takes the hitters tendancies into account.
When you pause the game while hitting you can see their spray chart and whether a hitter is extreme pull, push, or balance hitter.

If you do not pick a direction, the CPU basically picks a direction for you based on what that hitter would do most of the time. This is actually what happens in Zone Hitting, and why I do not like it for situational hitting. Sometimes I want to dictate where the ball goes. Sometimes it does not work, but I know I tried and my influence was taken into account. Again timing, pitch selection, pitch location, and attributes play a huge part.

However, not picking a direction 100% of the time is misuse of the hitting system. Sometimes I do not pick a direction and take "see the ball hit the ball approach". But as I mentioned, in situational settings, where I am trying to drive a pitch, or get a runner in, you HAVE to use direction to if you want to be successful and be in control.

Not using direction on directional hitting, is like not moving PCI in zone. You will get hits, you can be successful, but to truly use it and make it work you need to move the left stick to influence the pitches for each hitting type respectively.

[El_MaYiMbE]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

Look guys reading my posts, it comes off as if I am trying to like convince you guys to switch...I am not...

I just wanted to express 3 things...

1. PCI has no influence on Directional Hitting, so Directional Hitting is not broken.
2. Directional Hitting is only in year 2 of its implementation, and in 1 day of playing I already think its better than year 1.
3. You need to understand differences between Zone and Directional, if you ever want to use it and/or understand it. It is different, and your approach at plate is different. If you approach it the way you do Zone, it will not work. Which is why I cannot use Zone...Directional seems natural to me the way Zone does for the Zone players.

[sooner1]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

Here is an example, it was a pitch down in the zone, that I hit UP and OUT for a HR...with Pillar from Blue Jays (not a power hitter, using normal swing).

Had this been Zone Hitting:

#1. I would not have had option to try and pull AND hit ball in the air. This would have required me to put PCI under the ball, when you see image you will notice there is no space to get under ball.

#2 You notice the ball is actually under the PCI, in zone this would have been a chopped ball.

In directional hitting the PCI is not the location of the bat, its simply area the batter is covering.
Again the swing type, timing, player attributes, and direction of stick influence how ball is hit.

I killed it by the way, 103 MPH off the bat, monster shot.
Off of a Changeup, low by the way TheWarmWind....same exact scenario you asked about.

However, since its Directional Hitting I chose to uppercut the ball and pull it. I was in complete control of that swing. Had the pitch been away where I could not pull it I would have laid off and waited for my pitch. I was ahead in count and could do that.

Had I been behind or desperate and tried same swing on a pitch low and away, I would have made bad contact, rolled over on pitch, or fouled it off, or swung and missed. In this situation I wanted to pull.

There are ABs where I hit other way, depending on how pitcher is pitching me...
Its all strategy, and Directional Hitting is awesome at it.

So on that which way did you hold he stick before the pitch?

[El_MaYiMbE]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

So on that which way did you hold he stick before the pitch?

It was a righty hitter, so I held Up and to Left (at an angle) on left stick.
Result was a he pulled ball up and to the left over the fence.

The key was timing it perfect. Had I timed it wrong, that maybe is a lazy fly to left center field or to SS, or a chopper on the ground despite me trying to get it up in the air, or a swing and miss altogether...

Trajectory makes a difference also...Being late on a fastball is less costly than being late on a curveball because being late on the changeup means you hit the top of it since it has downward movement, while being late on a fastball means you can still hit in the middle and poke it the other way (or foul it back or miss altogether, depends how late you are) But being late on a fastball happens more often and the chances of being late on a change are slim.

So consequences of being late or early is also different pitch by pitch.

Once you are late or early it reduces the impact of your direction.
However, I have been late and early and STILL make good contact and hit HR, doubles, singles, etc.. since there are different degrees of late and early. There is slightly early, slightly late, and really late and really early.

This all sounds like real life baseball to me, alot more than zone.

[sooner1]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

It was a righty hitter, so I held Up and to Left (at an angle) on left stick.
Result was a he pulled ball up and to the left over the fence.

The key was timing it perfect. Had I timed it wrong, that maybe is a lazy fly to left center field or to SS, or a chopper on the ground despite me trying to get it up in the air, or a swing and miss altogether...

Trajectory makes a difference also...Being late on a fastball is less costly than being late on a curveball because being late on the changeup means you hit the top of it since it has downward movement, while being late on a fastball means you can still hit in the middle and poke it the other way (or foul it back or miss altogether, depends how late you are) But being late on a fastball happens more often and the chances of being late on a change are slim.

So consequences of being late or early is also different pitch by pitch.

Once you are late or early it reduces the impact of your direction.
However, I have been late and early and STILL make good contact and hit HR, doubles, singles, etc.. since there are different degrees of late and early. There is slightly early, slightly late, and really late and really early.

This all sounds like real life baseball to me, alot more than zone.

So are you using timing and directional? Ive been an analog guy for awhile, might try something new this year. Do you always hold a direction before pitch?

[El_MaYiMbE]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

So are you using timing and directional? Ive been an analog guy for awhile, might try something new this year. Do you always hold a direction before pitch?

Timing and Directional are one now.
You always have to use timing, but can chose to use directional when you want.

There are 2 ways to use Directional.

1. Swing with [], X, or O
2. Swing with right analog stick

I use #1.
If you use #2 you dont use left stick as direction, but instead use right analog to swing AND determine direction of swing. This however only determines if you push or pull, you cant say I want to hit a fly ball or ground ball since you will always be flicking analog up.

With button swinging you hold left stick in direction you want ball to be hit.
This includes up, down, left, right or a combo of each...making it more realistic.

I do not ALWAYS use direction. Its situational.
If I am just trying to get on base, or behind in count I do not touch the left stick and just swing and take the "hit the ball see the ball" approach.

However, if I need a HR, or need to stay out of double play I will try to get balls in the air (point stick up). You need to wait for pitches middle plate or up for best results, but as you saw in my pic you can get balls low in air too. If I want to drive a run in from 3rd and infield is back, and a guy with little power is up I might pull stick down and to right to get ball on ground and run in. Sometimes the ball will be lined into the gap using this, sometimes the ball still is popped up. Again this is an influence not an absolute command.

Most times you will notice if you swing at right pitch and time it right, you will hit the ball in the direction you want. Waiting on that right pitch and timing it is the difficult part.

All that comes into play before you even factor swing type.
Ahead in the count with power hitter, I swing with square and pull up on left stick to try for HR. This is risk reward because bigger swing means less chance of contact.

When I am behind count I use circle to make more contact less power.
Most of the time I swing with X for normal contact.

Also unlike Zone you can move left stick up to last minute.

So if you want to pull a pitch but you do not want to make that decision until last minute, you can wait to see the pitch and then pull and swing and it will work. This requires alot more timing and practice.

I tend hold direction before pitch, and if I dont think the pitch is in a location that will benefit me I will lay off even if its a strike. This leads to me working count more often as well.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

Cool thanks for being patient with me and for all the info El_MaYiMbE. I think I was just frustrated because I wasn't getting the results I was expecting with directional. I've played a few games with pure analog and I'm liking that much better, but maybe I'll give directional the old college try again further down the line.

[El_MaYiMbE]

Re: Is Directional hitting working properly?

Cool thanks for being patient with me and for all the info El_MaYiMbE. I think I was just frustrated because I wasn't getting the results I was expecting with directional. I've played a few games with pure analog and I'm liking that much better, but maybe I'll give directional the old college try again further down the line.

No problem....
Hey I did not make the game so I am not offended by how anyone plays lol...

I just see Directional Hitting getting a bad rap around these parts, but the more I see people express their frustration, I realize its mostly because the expectation and usage is not there.

Veterans of the MLB The Show series going back to to even the 989 Studio days, never had timing directional hitting. But those that played EA's MVP Series have welcomed Directional Hitting with open arms.

It is not perfect, but its damn good.