RTTS difficulty

[kooch66]

So it seems like the difficulty in RTTS scales based off of what you choose to start, but I'd like to know exactly how this works before I settle into a decision...

I started as a pitcher on all-star as my difficulty but it's way too easy in AA, already threw a no hitter. I can tell it's not actually all-star because not only is it too easy but the catcher is calling pitches and locations which shouldn't be happening on this difficulty.

In AAA the catcher is no longer giving signs, so I'm thinking this is actually all-star now but it's still way too easy. ERA under a half a run with 80Ks and ZERO walks. I need to bump to HOF, but I'm afraid that if the difficulty spikes again from AAA to MLB then HOF in AAA will actually be legend in MLB which I don't think I want.

So should I leave AAA at all-star and expect an automatic bump to HOF in MLB or what?

[bcruise]

Re: RTTS difficulty

So it seems like the difficulty in RTTS scales based off of what you choose to start, but I'd like to know exactly how this works before I settle into a decision...

I started as a pitcher on all-star as my difficulty but it's way too easy in AA, already threw a no hitter. I can tell it's not actually all-star because not only is it too easy but the catcher is calling pitches and locations which shouldn't be happening on this difficulty.

In AAA the catcher is no longer giving signs, so I'm thinking this is actually all-star now but it's still way too easy. ERA under a half a run with 80Ks and ZERO walks. I need to bump to HOF, but I'm afraid that if the difficulty spikes again from AAA to MLB then HOF in AAA will actually be legend in MLB which I don't think I want.

So should I leave AAA at all-star and expect an automatic bump to HOF in MLB or what?

Nice, you caught on to the easiest way to understand the RTTS difficulty changes. You're correct, in AA when your difficulty is set to All-Star you're actually on Veteran. As you guessed, that's why you can see the catcher glove and pitch suggestion. When you get promoted to AAA you'll be on true All-Star and the two suggestions should disappear at that point. When you reach MLB you'll actually be pitching on HOF. If you choose to not change your difficulty to compensate, that is.

There is one scenario in which this doesn't apply - Dynamic Difficulty. No matter what level of a system you're in, your dynamic difficulty level will always be what it shows you. So, if you know what level you're comfortable at you can work your DD level up to that level, set the DD sensitivity slider to 0 and never have to worry about the difficulty moving under the hood.

As to why they designed it that way (it's been like this for years, perhaps as long as RTTS has existed which is MLB '07), there has never been a clear answer given. I can speculate that they wanted to allow people to breeze through AA and then meet a tougher challenge when they reach MLB, but it's just a guess. The way I see it, if your ratings are low for the level you're in (such as when you first get an MLB callup) there should be enough of a challenge on the normal difficulty scale to not require the game to bump you up a difficulty level. But, I'm not a game designer.

[kooch66]

Re: RTTS difficulty

Nice, you caught on to the easiest way to understand the RTTS difficulty changes. You're correct, in AA when your difficulty is set to All-Star you're actually on Veteran. As you guessed, that's why you can see the catcher glove and pitch suggestion. When you get promoted to AAA you'll be on true All-Star and the two suggestions should disappear at that point. When you reach MLB you'll actually be pitching on HOF. If you choose to not change your difficulty to compensate, that is.

There is one scenario in which this doesn't apply - Dynamic Difficulty. No matter what level of a system you're in, your dynamic difficulty level will always be what it shows you. So, if you know what level you're comfortable at you can work your DD level up to that level, set the DD sensitivity slider to 0 and never have to worry about the difficulty moving under the hood.

As to why they designed it that way (it's been like this for years, perhaps as long as RTTS has existed which is MLB '07), there has never been a clear answer given. I can speculate that they wanted to allow people to breeze through AA and then meet a tougher challenge when they reach MLB, but it's just a guess. The way I see it, if your ratings are low for the level you're in (such as when you first get an MLB callup) there should be enough of a challenge on the normal difficulty scale to not require the game to bump you up a difficulty level. But, I'm not a game designer.

Thanks for such a quick and thorough response! I did see some stuff to this effect searching older forums before I posted, but I was wondering if maybe it's changed with the new progression system or something. Guess not though, as my noticing the catcher calling signs on "all-star" AA is proof.

Do you happen to know if this happens in the playoffs, too? I remember doing a franchise a few years ago and the playoffs seemed MUCH harder than the regular season. If so, is there another World Series bump or just regular season to playoffs. And since in franchise you aren't player locked is it just upping bother the batting and pitching difficulties each by 1? Also, if this is the case, does this happen in RTTS, too? Like if I'm on all-star in MLB which is essentially HOF, would the playoffs be legend?

[jeffy777]

Re: RTTS difficulty

The showcase games were really challenging, so apparently the difficulty scaling doesn't apply there. Once I got drafted, everything was ez pz, which was disappointing. I'll have to try dynamic difficulty.

[kooch66]

Re: RTTS difficulty

The showcase games were really challenging, so apparently the difficulty scaling doesn't apply there. Once I got drafted, everything was ez pz, which was disappointing. I'll have to try dynamic difficulty.

Sure, or you could adjust as you go along. If you want more of a challenge early on set difficulty to hof to get all-star in AA or set to legend for hof in AA. Dynamic isn't my thing, but to each their own.

[jeffy777]

Re: RTTS difficulty

Sure, or you could adjust as you go along. If you want more of a challenge early on set difficulty to hof to get all-star in AA or set to legend for hof in AA. Dynamic isn't my thing, but to each their own.

Yeah, I'll probably just set it to Legend for now (in AA) since I usually use HOF pitching in Franchise.

[kooch66]

Re: RTTS difficulty

Yeah, I'll probably just set it to Legend for now (in AA) since I usually use HOF pitching in Franchise.

Yeah that's what I would do if I was starting over. For now I'm just going to leave it on all-star which actually is all-star in AAA and that'll be HOF when I get called up.