What happened this year?

[BENVCR]

Re: What happened this year?

Wow, someday we can all hope to be as awesome as you.

You don't think it's stupid allowing a major assist like directional hitting in online play? When I play someone who just throws meatballs down the middle but somehow manages to never swing and miss on a pitch in the zone, I know it's a directional scrub on the other end. It's not me being awesome as much as it's a joke to not force them to actually try to hit when playing online. Most sports games have these kind of caps.

It's actually ridiculously easy to be passable at directional, it's just way too inconsistent for my tastes. If that's how you want to bat go play one of the arcade games like RBI baseball...

[KBLover]

Re: What happened this year?

If that's how you want to bat go play one of the arcade games like RBI baseball...

So because they want to use an interface you'd rather they didn't, they should go play another game? Because they use an option presented by the developers?

If this is the prevailing thought in online play, I'm glad I'm happy with just playing offline franchise.

[BENVCR]

Re: What happened this year?

So because they want to use an interface you'd rather they didn't, they should go play another game? Because they use an option presented by the developers?

If this is the prevailing thought in online play, I'm glad I'm happy with just playing offline franchise.

For competitive online play, yes. You can use auto-hitting for offline to your hearts content

[Armor and Sword]

Re: What happened this year?

So do competitive online players have a pre game warm up routine too? Take some BP, shag fly balls, do some strecthing of the finger joints and thumb push ups?

Sorry but I could not resist.

Auto hitting....lmfao. Forget understanding how to work counts, see and recognize pitches etc....because we don't place a PCI recticle we are auto hitting scum...ok man. There is far more to hitting than that, and IRL son....you can't place a PCI circle wherever you want......you just got to see it out of the hand and time your swing. And if your lucky you can change your bat placement lol.

GTFOH with that chest thumping crap.....it is a video game. LOL!!!!

Playing for money? A trophy? Online play is for everyone amd anyone can use whatever interface they want.

Zone is no more difficult than analog or timed......so level of difficulty is a crock with each interface. I have played with all of them. Zone has certain advantages too. Some far stronger than directional.

In fact when I see guys using zone with enormous PCI's covering the entire pkate I laugh my *** off.

Again working counts, and pitch recognition is far more important than PCI placement. Directional uses player ratings a lot of lime to play simulation baseball online as well.

This condesending tone from so called virtual jocks is hysterical.

[BENVCR]

Re: What happened this year?

So do competitive online players have a pre game warm up routine too? Take some BP, shag fly balls, do some strecthing of the finger joints and thumb push ups?

Sorry but I could not resist.

Auto hitting....lmfao. Forget understanding how to work counts, see and recognize pitches etc....because we don't place a PCI recticle we are auto hitting scum...ok man. There is far more to hitting than that, and IRL son....you can't place a PCI circle wherever you want......you just got to see it out of the hand and time your swing. And if your lucky you can change your bat placement lol.

GTFOH with that chest thumping crap.....it is a video game. LOL!!!!

Playing for money? A trophy? Online play is for everyone amd anyone can use whatever interface they want.

Zone is no more difficult than analog or timed......so level of difficulty is a crock with each interface. I have played with all of them. Zone has certain advantages too. Some far stronger than directional.

In fact when I see guys using zone with enormous PCI's covering the entire pkate I laugh my *** off.

Again working counts, and pitch recognition is far more important than PCI placement. Directional uses player ratings a lot of lime to play simulation baseball online as well.

This condesending tone from so called virtual jocks is hysterical.

The only advantage of Zone hitting is being more consistent because you can zone out a part of the plate and drive anything that comes into that area. Have fun "laughing your *** off at guys with huge PCI's" while your own directional PCI will be the same, you just can't see it because oh yeah, you don't have to actually use it. Directional uses player ratings much more which equates to taking player control away in favor of automation. Which is why i see people complaining here about directional not yielding variation in hits.

Apologies if you think you deserve credit for seeing and recognizing pitches, and working counts; as far as i'm aware that's the fundamental basics of hitting, so why do you consider yourself equal to a zone hitter when putting the bat-head on the ball is also a fundamental mechanic of hitting? When I'm in a 2-2 count defending the strike zone i actually feel realistic because it's literally a battle to foul off and lay off pitches until you get something good, with directional its pretty much impossible to swing and miss unless you missed video game lesson number 1 and forgot how to time something.

Again if you decide to play online vs someone using directional when they are dealing with zone, you are playing a handicapped game, and IMO you ruin it for me, because it's not realistic to have to always pitch outside the zone to get swing and misses. Then again, im sure your the guy who uses auto-baserunning, fielding, button throwing and pitching online and thinks that you actually deserve to win when you do?

I played directional for about 2 games and it reminded me of the ****ty batting from the 05-10 generation of baseball games where you had issues like lefty hitters never hitting home runs.

[RLB]

Re: What happened this year?

The only advantage of Zone hitting is being more consistent because you can zone out a part of the plate and drive anything that comes into that area. Have fun "laughing your *** off at guys with huge PCI's" while your own directional PCI will be the same, you just can't see it because oh yeah, you don't have to actually use it. Directional uses player ratings much more which equates to taking player control away in favor of automation. Which is why i see people complaining here about directional not yielding variation in hits.

Apologies if you think you deserve credit for seeing and recognizing pitches, and working counts; as far as i'm aware that's the fundamental basics of hitting, so why do you consider yourself equal to a zone hitter when putting the bat-head on the ball is also a fundamental mechanic of hitting? When I'm in a 2-2 count defending the strike zone i actually feel realistic because it's literally a battle to foul off and lay off pitches until you get something good, with directional its pretty much impossible to swing and miss unless you missed video game lesson number 1 and forgot how to time something.

Again if you decide to play online vs someone using directional when they are dealing with zone, you are playing a handicapped game, and IMO you ruin it for me, because it's not realistic to have to always pitch outside the zone to get swing and misses. Then again, im sure your the guy who uses auto-baserunning, fielding, button throwing and pitching online and thinks that you actually deserve to win when you do?

I played directional for about 2 games and it reminded me of the ****ty batting from the 05-10 generation of baseball games where you had issues like lefty hitters never hitting home runs.

I am one of those guys that use directional but I never use the directional feature, I use timing only because I want to rely more on the players attributes as opposed to my skill of nutting a pitch with the PCI. I use the buttons to throw too.........should I seek out a 12 step program for help?

It is a game, and everyone has a different skill set or view on how they want to play it. If it bothers you that much, then why do you even bother playing on line?

Oh and I have around 400 channels on my TV, I bet you only have one.

[shark547]

Re: What happened this year?

The only advantage of Zone hitting is being more consistent because you can zone out a part of the plate and drive anything that comes into that area. Have fun "laughing your *** off at guys with huge PCI's" while your own directional PCI will be the same, you just can't see it because oh yeah, you don't have to actually use it. Directional uses player ratings much more which equates to taking player control away in favor of automation. Which is why i see people complaining here about directional not yielding variation in hits.

Apologies if you think you deserve credit for seeing and recognizing pitches, and working counts; as far as i'm aware that's the fundamental basics of hitting, so why do you consider yourself equal to a zone hitter when putting the bat-head on the ball is also a fundamental mechanic of hitting? When I'm in a 2-2 count defending the strike zone i actually feel realistic because it's literally a battle to foul off and lay off pitches until you get something good, with directional its pretty much impossible to swing and miss unless you missed video game lesson number 1 and forgot how to time something.

Again if you decide to play online vs someone using directional when they are dealing with zone, you are playing a handicapped game, and IMO you ruin it for me, because it's not realistic to have to always pitch outside the zone to get swing and misses. Then again, im sure your the guy who uses auto-baserunning, fielding, button throwing and pitching online and thinks that you actually deserve to win when you do?

I played directional for about 2 games and it reminded me of the ****ty batting from the 05-10 generation of baseball games where you had issues like lefty hitters never hitting home runs.

As someone who has played the show.....forever....this zone vs directional/timed baloney is absolutely meaningless....

I can hit better using zone without moving the PCI than I can with directional and timed and it has always been that way....you aren't better for using zone....you don't realize how much the game is still doing for you.....you are not a "great" or "better" Show player because you use zone......

Moving the PCI to a place in the zone to swing is completely unnatural and doesn't represent anything like real baseball so you should really just chill and enjoy the game.....

[Armor and Sword]

Re: What happened this year?

As someone who has played the show.....forever....this zone vs directional/timed baloney is absolutely meaningless....

I can hit better using zone without moving the PCI than I can with directional and timed and it has always been that way....you aren't better for using zone....you don't realize how much the game is still doing for you.....you are not a "great" or "better" Show player because you use zone......

Moving the PCI to a place in the zone to swing is completely unnatural and doesn't represent anything like real baseball so you should really just chill and enjoy the game.....

<iframe src="//giphy.com/embed/Kzvsru1JqQg4E" width="480" height="257" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/yes-snoop-dogg-Kzvsru1JqQg4E">via GIPHY</a></p>

[KBLover]

Re: What happened this year?

For competitive online play, yes. You can use auto-hitting for offline to your hearts content

I highly doubt the devs are doing to ban Directional from online play.

I'm not an online player so I have no idea but the devs probably wouldn't keep putting it in online modes if hardly anyone used it.

Apologies if you think you deserve credit for seeing and recognizing pitches, and working counts; as far as i'm aware that's the fundamental basics of hitting

Real life hitters get credit for seeing and recognizing pitches and working counts. It's basic to real baseball, too. Yet guys who do it very well, like Joey Votto, are given a lot of credit for it.

So if you're talking about realistic, to degrade someone for pitch recognition and strike zone judgement, that's unrealistic.

because it's not realistic to have to always pitch outside the zone to get swing and misses.

Actually, that's most realistic.

In-zone contact in the real game averages around 80%. Some guys in the real game make contact in the zone literally over 90% of the time (Daniel Murphy did it at 97% in 2015 - look it up on fangraphs).

Out-of-zone is where contact becomes very inconsistent. For a lot of hitters, it's a coin flip (about 50-60% contact). The best contact hitters can still make contact out-of-zone at over a 70% clip. Some over 80% at the very top tier.

So that's actually the most realistic if it's difficult to get hitters to swing and miss in the zone. That's why having swing-and-miss stuff in the zone is a big deal in the real game. It's also why pitchers try to get hitters to chase out of the zone.

That's what the Vision rating is for (in theory). If you have someone like Chris Carter and can make him a contact hitter because you are good at PCI placement...that's realistic?

You might argue it makes for a better video game. But it's not realistic, according to the production produced in the real MLB.

[Ghost Of The Year]

Re: What happened this year?

...GTFOH with that chest thumping crap.....it is a video game...
Zone is no more difficult than analog or timed......so level of difficulty is a crock with each interface. I have played with all of them. Zone has certain advantages too. Some far stronger than directional.

In fact when I see guys using zone with enormous PCI's covering the entire pkate I laugh my *** off.

Again working counts, and pitch recognition is far more important than PCI placement. Directional uses player ratings a lot of lime to play simulation baseball online as well.

This condesending tone from so called virtual jocks is hysterical.

Lord rue the day people start saying your not really a great hitter unless your using the Move & Eye Cam lol

[No.27]

Re: What happened this year?

Zone versus Directional? I find where I sit in relation to the TV has the biggest effect on my "hitting". I'm thinking about changing from one side of the room to the other for lefty/righty matchups but am worried it might give me an unfair advantage. 😀

[bcruise]

Re: What happened this year?

Actually, that's most realistic.

In-zone contact in the real game averages around 80%. Some guys in the real game make contact in the zone literally over 90% of the time (Daniel Murphy did it at 97% in 2015 - look it up on fangraphs).

This year it might be even higher. Last in the league is Tampa Bay - at 79.9%. Only goes up from there.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.asp...ers=0&sort=6,d

[KBLover]

Re: What happened this year?

This year it might be even higher. Last in the league is Tampa Bay - at 79.9%. Only goes up from there.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.asp...ers=0&sort=6,d

Yep - 86% league average so far.

7 out of 8 swings in the zone = contact. That's what that rate is approaching.

[Bunselpower32]

Re: What happened this year?

I’m getting really frustrated myself. I started out, playing on directional, and it started out great, but then it’s like it settled in and just started taking away hits and eventually, just started only having me hit lasers. So I switched to zone. Immediately got better hit variety. So much so i started crushing the ball. I was consistently better than all star, and moved to hall, and was consistently good for many, many innings. Now, after a lot of innings on that, only pop ups and laser beams that never ever fall. Usually I’d just chalk it up to me settling into a slump, but the pitchers are not throwing any balls. In over a hundred innings, I haven’t scored, despite dozens of squared up pitches, and have like five walks at most. And not for lack of taking.

I’m not one to blame anyone but myself for stuff like this. in fact, I commented on a thread like this one. But there’s been a difference in approach it seems.

Between this and the fact that I’m seeing an unprecedented amount of glitches, I’m talking like two to three per game. I think this might be my worst experience with this series. The fact that it hasn’t been revamped in many years is showing a lot.

You don’t care where I sent this from.

[raneman85]

Re: What happened this year?

My biggest gripe is with baserunning and the home run. It doesn't matter what park I'm in or even if I adjust the power sliders, I'm playing warning track ball. So a ball that falls 2 ft short in PNC or Dodger Stadium also falls 2 feet short in Fenway and Coors. Makes no sense.