Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

[RoyceDa59]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

I like both but I find Directional can be a little too easy for me on All Star and below. I will say the with Zone hitting yes I do find myself popping up more it is usually due to me placing the PCI a little to under the ball. The hitting is a lot more precise this year so if you on not on point with the PCI you may find yourself popping up or grounding out more than previous installments before.

[Aviator87AC]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Actually I just usually hold up or down and adjust my timing to try to pull or push. You can still pull outside pitches out of the park like that if you're early enough.

Yes, this is a great explanation. Also, I misspoke slightly earlier - for a pull with directional, you actually only need go left or right with the left analog stick (depending on which side you bat on). The up or down input will depend heavily on the placement of the pitch. And as you mentioned already, timing of the swing of course.

...I find Directional can be a little too easy for me on All Star and below...

I think we need to be very careful in distinguishing whether we're talking about RTTS or not. In RTTS, the difficulty scales according to the league you're playing in - so if you set the batting difficulty to all-star, AA will be veteran, AAA will be all-star, and MLB will be HoF.

The jump is compounded from not only the all-star to HoF change but also the AAA to MLB team quality. Suddenly pitchers can pitch and even the slightest movement of the analog stick (zone) will send a pop fly. I can smash all day long in AAA with all-star. This leads to excellent performance in the lower leagues and early promotion to the bigs - now the difficulty goes up and the teams are immensely better - all of a sudden your batting sucks and you slump hard. This is sort of a separate issue - but with zone hitting, it's unforgiving.

[No.27]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

so u hold it up right or up left or just up

Correct. I suggest if you go to settings and change the interface to directional then play a game you will get a small display arrow when you move the stick showing what you are trying to achieve. I think it is very well implemented this year and well worth a try. I find it helps me go to the box with a plan of how I am going to combat a pitcher and where I want the ball to go which seems pretty realistic to me. For example if I'm up against a sinker baller pounding the bottom of the zone I will often influence straight down and try and get solid contact on a grounder up the middle.

[redsfan4life]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

To be blunt if you aren't doing well with zone the blame is on YOU, not the batting mechanic. Directional is easier but you'll always be at the mercy of the game and what it wants you to do. I can't stand directional.

[Bobhead]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

I've had problems with Zone also. I'm hitting a ridiculous number of home runs but everything that stays in the ballpark is a easy fly ball or grounder. Everything I square up on either flies out of the ball park or is hit right to the corner infielders for an easy out.

I've only played about 20-30 games so I haven't gotten to the step where I figure out a solution... just sharing my experience. This is on HoF.

[KBLover]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

To be blunt if you aren't doing well with zone the blame is on YOU, not the batting mechanic. Directional is easier but you'll always be at the mercy of the game and what it wants you to do. I can't stand directional.

That's just the game in general.

Yes, you have more user input on Zone, which is why Directional is "easier", but ultimately, there's still a random element. If you want say "the game decides what it wants you to do", sure - I wouldn't disagree with the caveat that it's the RNG element.

[stephens123]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Can someone tell me the idea of zone hitting with the different PCI's? The wedge for example. Are we supposed to put the yellow dot on the baseball or the whole wedge? and what about classic and outline? I understand the concept but am a little confused. Directional was a good idea by SDS..but it was executed poorly and quite honestly it doesn't even work. Seems to me like they want us to use Zone.

[perksg]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

I gave it a long time before writing this, but after weeks of struggling and a broken controller - I feel it is time. Is anyone else completely fed up with zone hitting? I'm assuming many gave up on it early on and some may have never tried it, but the zone hitting is a complete failure in 2016. And before you say "oh, you mean it's too realistic?" - it's not.

I strive for 1-4 or 2-5 games and a .250 avg. Zone just doesn't provide that and far too often I lined a fastball up with perfect timing and just pop out over and over again. My RTTS player is in his 3rd year now, which means he's an 80 overall and has respectable attributes - yet still grounding out on almost every play (with or without a hitters count). The off chance he gets a hit feels like a miracle.

So tonight I switched to Directional and oh my god - what a difference. I immediately felt more in control of my swing than I had with zone hitting. I still struck out and had some unlucky outs, but the difference is I was now slapping grounders down, instead of everything turning into a deep fly ball.

So my question is this, with directional hitting - does the direction you "aim" have ANY impact on whether or not contact will be made on the pitch? Should I be "aiming" at all for where the ball is or only for where I want to hit the ball? For example, if it's a fastball in on the hands and you "aim" out and away, will you be more likely to swing & miss or just make poor contact?

I've never been able to master zone hitting. And I only revert to it when I find myself chasing bad pitches for several games in a row. Then I'll switch over to zone hitting and leave it centered. The game figures out your tendencies and will continue to exploit them game after game until you make the adjustment. When I switch to zone it forces me to refocus on the pitches I want. Once I've readjusted I go right back to directional. That being said, I rarely use directional. I focus only on hitting the ball where it's pitched and not where I want it to go. I will occasionally try pulling the ball, but only because if I'm late I still have an inside-out swing and may still get a solid hit.

[Aviator87AC]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

I'm hitting a ridiculous number of home runs but everything that stays in the ballpark is a easy fly ball or grounder. Everything I square up on either flies out of the ball park or is hit right to the corner infielders for an easy out.

^This^
I think we need to pay particular attention to this because it is the fundamental problem with zone hitting on HoF or above difficulties. It is uncanny how many bombers I'd hit only to go back to popping out over and over again for games on end.

This is something that is immediately fixed with directional - you can get infield hits. Don't ask me why, don't ask me how - it just is.

[gocubsgo]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

I find it last years game was perfect just aim with the left stick where you want the ball to go and hit swing buttons accordingly, I never play with the pci but this year feels like the pci needs to be pretty centered with the ball to have a solid hit so I feel as if I'm not aiming just focusing the pci where the ball wil land and this is frustrsting for me.

[sbmnky]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

I've had problems with Zone also. I'm hitting a ridiculous number of home runs but everything that stays in the ballpark is a easy fly ball or grounder. Everything I square up on either flies out of the ball park or is hit right to the corner infielders for an easy out.

I've only played about 20-30 games so I haven't gotten to the step where I figure out a solution... just sharing my experience. This is on HoF.

What are your sliders set to - I'm assuming contact, power, timing, and solid hits would contribute overall to what you're describing? Note: Not trying to turn this into a slider discussion.

And, have you tested this on other difficulties? The reason I ask about difficulty is that I see (at least I think so) more hit variety on AS+.

[Bobhead]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

What are your sliders set to - I'm assuming contact, power, timing, and solid hits would contribute overall to what you're describing? Note: Not trying to turn this into a slider discussion.

And, have you tested this on other difficulties? The reason I ask about difficulty is that I see (at least I think so) more hit variety on AS+.

Default sliders and Hall of Fame batting.

[Acts 4 12]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

I've had problems with Zone also. I'm hitting a ridiculous number of home runs but everything that stays in the ballpark is a easy fly ball or grounder. Everything I square up on either flies out of the ball park or is hit right to the corner infielders for an easy out.

I've only played about 20-30 games so I haven't gotten to the step where I figure out a solution... just sharing my experience. This is on HoF.

This is spot on accurate! This has been my experience with this years game. Don't get me wrong, I love the game, but I'm getting extremely frustrated and tired of adjusting things to find some hit variety. In truth I don't think I ever loved the idea of zone batting but this year seems really different to me. I'd prefer more of a quadrant batting style or even a cursor batting style. I play on legend with max pitch speed which comes with its own set of issues. For those saying why make it so hard on yourself any level lower than that just produces easy contact for me. I like pitch speed maxed because (it's harder to make contact) if I'm late reacting it produces a jam shot which produces a hit that looks like a contact swing. Having to swing contact to see more hit variety is just silly to me because once again contact makes the ball easier to hit. I'm desperately trying to find a way to adjust the sliders to produce contact/normal swing type of hits just taking a normal swing. I've played this game from the very first one and have always been able to look past my perceived deficiencies of zone hitting but this year something is really different. Every game I play my hits are exactly as you described in your post. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

[Aviator87AC]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

...Every game I play my hits are exactly as you described in your post. If you have any suggestions please let me know...

Ditch zone and go directional. Seriously, zone is a mess this year. I started a new RTTS last night with directional and wow, I'm actually having fun. Finally, some simulation like baseball. Sure I'll get the occasional 0 for, but I'm consistently hitting the ball in random places, like the real game. I have a tendency, as most hitters do, but no longer the predictable lineout, flyout each AB.

I think a lot of the people defending zone are riding perks on lower difficulties.

[countryboy]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Ditch zone and go directional. Seriously, zone is a mess this year. I started a new RTTS last night with directional and wow, I'm actually having fun. Finally, some simulation like baseball. Sure I'll get the occasional 0 for, but I'm consistently hitting the ball in random places, like the real game. I have a tendency, as most hitters do, but no longer the predictable lineout, flyout each AB.

I think a lot of the people defending zone are riding perks on lower difficulties.

Zone works just fine for me and I play on HOF default. I get great hit variety.

Just because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean that it doesn't work for anyone else. It also doesn't mean that those people are playing on lower difficulties or defending it just because they are able to use something that you don't.