Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

[jake19ny]

Let me start by saying I love this game it’s one of the few games I look forward to every year. I’m just curious as to how many people think SDS really delivered an awful experience in DD this year. It’s only April and I’m losing interest already. Here’s a quick review of my thoughts;

Not going to spend much time on the moments missions as I have a thread dedicated to this and the consensus is in. Not fun, tedious, frustrating, and boring best describe it.

The Sony Partners missions are idiotic. I don’t know who thought it would be fun to play as a bunch of strangers nobody can relate to and have to use them in the tedious moments type missions or play as them against a team 99 MLB stars. Bizarre idea.

All the other modes can be summed up by saying this.....for some reason it was very easy to build a great team early. My team is almost all Diamond players and it took no money and just a few weeks. Virtually every team I match up against is also almost all Diamonds. We all loved the better pack luck but between that, the ease at which Diamonds are unlocked, and the low market prices, everyone has an awesome team and there is nothing to strive for.

I completed the 20 wins in the April Event to obtain a card that won’t crack my line up and netted me a mere 8000 stubs. Can anyone remember a time when an event reward Diamond didn’t sell for 50,000 to 300,000 stubs?

The same statement above applies to RS, Battke Royale, Conquest, and completing collections. It’s only April and 90% of the rewards obtained for those things will never make my line up and sell for so little the desire to obtain them is non existent.

Yes there will be cards 94-99 but by the end of May most will have those too. My point is I think in the great attempt to make everyone happy early (lasted a week) they have made everyone unhappy long term. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoy playing the game enough to jump into RS matches but I’m not sure what they can come up with moving forward to peak anyone’s interest the rest of what is still a long season to go....

Thoughts?

[Karle]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

Let me start by saying I love this game it’s one of the few games I look forward to every year. I’m just curious as to how many people think SDS really delivered an awful experience in DD this year. It’s only April and I’m losing interest already. Here’s a quick review of my thoughts;

Not going to spend much time on the moments missions as I have a thread dedicated to this and the consensus is in. Not fun, tedious, frustrating, and boring best describe it.

The Sony Partners missions are idiotic. I don’t know who thought it would be fun to play as a bunch of strangers nobody can relate to and have to use them in the tedious moments type missions or play as them against a team 99 MLB stars. Bizarre idea.

All the other modes can be summed up by saying this.....for some reason it was very easy to build a great team early. My team is almost all Diamond players and it took no money and just a few weeks. Virtually every team I match up against is also almost all Diamonds. We all loved the better pack luck but between that, the ease at which Diamonds are unlocked, and the low market prices, everyone has an awesome team and there is nothing to strive for.

I completed the 20 wins in the April Event to obtain a card that won’t crack my line up and netted me a mere 8000 stubs. Can anyone remember a time when an event reward Diamond didn’t sell for 50,000 to 300,000 stubs?

The same statement above applies to RS, Battke Royale, Conquest, and completing collections. It’s only April and 90% of the rewards obtained for those things will never make my line up and sell for so little the desire to obtain them is non existent.

Yes there will be cards 94-99 but by the end of May most will have those too. My point is I think in the great attempt to make everyone happy early (lasted a week) they have made everyone unhappy long term. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoy playing the game enough to jump into RS matches but I’m not sure what they can come up with moving forward to peak anyone’s interest the rest of what is still a long season to go....

Thoughts?

I too love the game, but the improvements are a mixed bag.

From the Twitter streams I thought it would be good. However, things are going on which I do not understand. In March to October all of a sudden my throw interface changed after the latest update. Then when I went to play the there was a different throw interface still than what I was used to using and it messed me all up. Why are the throw interfaces changing depending on what I am playing? It makes it unnecessarily difficult and takes away from the experience.

The other issue I have is in DD one builds up a team of golds and diamonds and never use all the commons, bronzes and many of the silver cards you accumulate. It would be better to be required to also use lower cards.



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[mikeq672]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

Yes. Its been a massive swing and miss. Half the mode isnt actually even DD. Remove online from the equation because I know a lot of people dont particularly like or play online and there is almost nothing to do.

[Mercury112491]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

Eh I like they tried something new. Bit of an overshoot though. Next year maybe give us more of a mix.


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[guinness22]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

I am feeling the same. I played DD for the first time last year and although it was a grind I enjoyed it. I'd always been a franchise only player, but in '18 I logged over 500 hours total (my most played MLB The Show and I've played them all - I'm 51!) with more than 350 of those hours in DD - all offline grinding out missions vs the CPU to ultimately get Ruth, Wagner, Trout, Eck, Ripken, Brett, Ryan, etc etc, and also to do the full 1B and CF programs with my created player.

This year I just cannot get into it. I've created my team and my CAP, I've edited my logos and unis. I am ready to go. But...I find the menus very confusing and chaotic, and I feel like I can't figure out what I am supposed to be doing half the time. Moments is just weird, playing Tony Gwynn vs current Astros, etc. Jury is still out for me on March to October. Maybe I'll get into it, but I am thinking that I will revert back to my old pattern of playing Franchise only this year, especially once the rosters formerly known as OSFM drop this week.

I am not saying this year's DD is bad - I don't have anything but last year to compare to because I never played DD before. But for me, I actually enjoyed the crap out of last year's DD iteration and I can't get into this year's version at all. That said, I wouldn't go by what an old guy like me with a sample of only two years worth of DD says anyway! haha. Just thought it was interesting reading others' impressions as I thought perhaps it was just me this year...

g22

[JoshC1977]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

Yes. Its been a massive swing and miss. Half the mode isnt actually even DD. Remove online from the equation because I know a lot of people dont particularly like or play online and there is almost nothing to do.

Agree, but don't agree. Where they dropped the ball isn't with "not having enough to do" but in providing no reason to want to do it.

You can grind the Conquest maps, but why?
You can grind team affinities, but why?
You can play vs CPU games, but why?

There are a few things they could do to add a little more long-term grind to the mode, the kind of grind that can motivate a person to keep going....

- Add DD-specific stat grinds to earn program points (e.g. gain 2 program points for a mission to hit 2 HRs in a Conquest game or another to gain 4 points for scoring 50 runs, stuff like that).

- Add a collection (with a high-end Sig Series card) for completing 100% team affinities for all teams. (No one will bother to go to 100% team affinity for more than a team or two when the max player reward is at 50%). I hate that you can earn this just by playing games with players on a team, but at least it would give us a reason to experiment with different players.

- Add some intrigue by setting roster restrictions (like events) for certain conquest maps.

- Announce a reward for hitting 600 points (i.e. completing) for all 9 inning programs (as it stands, people will just grind to 300, collect the bosses and go).

There is just too much "play the game and get cards" vs "play the game well and get cards". As it stands now, it's a pretty pointless and drab mode (and playing online is just not happening for me).

[Foldzy]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

Online play is the best it's ever been and that is a huge home run for me. It's great being able to use contact hitters and fastball pitchers again! I also like what they've done with the marketplace and pack odds. I havent spent an extra dime and already have several live series diamonds. I also havent been disconnected once which is huge. I'm finding it a little more difficult to climb the ranks this year but I'll live with that because the games are actually quite enjoyable

[mikea330]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

I would agree with you OP. To me DD is just stale. The past few days I’ve been loading up and going “what am I even supposed to play?” I’ve done conquest, and that’s fun. But I don’t see any incentive to actually improve my team when right now all I really can do is play the moments.

While I hated the souvenirs last year, I didn’t hate the stat grinding because it gave me incentive to play as my team. This year, don’t really seem too interested. Thankful for OSFM rosters soon so I can get into RTTS of franchise.

[mikeq672]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

Agree, but don't agree. Where they dropped the ball isn't with "not having enough to do" but in providing no reason to want to do it.

You can grind the Conquest maps, but why?
You can grind team affinities, but why?
You can play vs CPU games, but why?

There are a few things they could do to add a little more long-term grind to the mode, the kind of grind that can motivate a person to keep going....

- Add DD-specific stat grinds to earn program points (e.g. gain 2 program points for a mission to hit 2 HRs in a Conquest game or another to gain 4 points for scoring 50 runs, stuff like that).

- Add a collection (with a high-end Sig Series card) for completing 100% team affinities for all teams. (No one will bother to go to 100% team affinity for more than a team or two when the max player reward is at 50%). I hate that you can earn this just by playing games with players on a team, but at least it would give us a reason to experiment with different players.

- Add some intrigue by setting roster restrictions (like events) for certain conquest maps.

- Announce a reward for hitting 600 points (i.e. completing) for all 9 inning programs (as it stands, people will just grind to 300, collect the bosses and go).

There is just too much "play the game and get cards" vs "play the game well and get cards". As it stands now, it's a pretty pointless and drab mode (and playing online is just not happening for me).

Semantics, were on the same page completely.

[dougdfc]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

I like moments. I just wish they gave us more moments specifically for our DD team.But they should make challenges that require certain team overalls or players or something. Just need more variety in the offline aspect. The new COnquest maps are fun, but they needed more maps with more rewards at the start. Heck, you could've worked them with choice packs or something. Like, have a NYC map where the reward is either a Flashback yankee or a flashback met or something. They should also give us rewards and stuff for that mode where you play offline against random DD teams. I like that mode, but it was never worth it if nothing counted.

[ph33]

Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

I'm also in the "what do I do now?" Boat even as an online player. Can't imagine how brutal it is for offline

I think one place where things could have been better is not tying team affinities so strongly to March to October, where those innings spent with those players don't even count. If that program was more tied into using actual DD players it might help us be more involved


I'm personally still not for the "load your lineup with positions of just one player to grind 200 hits out" or the "keep loading/resetting game just for one stat" thing from the past, and right now we aren't given much to gain from, but they have time to get it right

[Stolm]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

I posted this last week, but there needs to be more long form cumulative stat missions like last year. I have almost no reason to play once i have finished all the unique conquest rewards.

I still need to work on hitting Champion Series for the Trophy, but I don't always want to play head to head pvp. It would be nice to casually play some AI while still working through different missions. Though they basically give away Diamond players this year, so I dont know what I would be working toward.

They basically went the opposite way they should have. They need to slow down the acquisition of high end cards, and make good players feel like a real get. I have only played around 15 Ranked matches, while focused solely on Conquest and Moments, and the bulk of my team is Diamonds. And I haven't spent a dime.

And Moments suck.

[jake19ny]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

I posted this last week, but there needs to be more long form cumulative stat missions like last year. I have almost no reason to play once i have finished all the unique conquest rewards.

I still need to work on hitting Champion Series for the Trophy, but I don't always want to play head to head pvp. It would be nice to casually play some AI while still working through different missions. Though they basically give away Diamond players this year, so I dont know what I would be working toward.

They basically went the opposite way they should have. They need to slow down the acquisition of high end cards, and make good players feel like a real get. I have only played around 15 Ranked matches, while focused solely on Conquest and Moments, and the bulk of my team is Diamonds. And I haven't spent a dime.

And Moments suck.

But at this point if they added cumulative stat missions would they even be worth the grind? Everyone’s team is basically all Diamond and by simply reaching level Silver 1 everyone should have 3 signature 99 cards. There is simply no incentive to do anything anymore but play ranked RS for fun but even that’s becoming a snooze fest because just like last year the better the team makeup the worse they hit and pitch. My last 8 games have been 1-0 or 2-1 boring games with the hardest hit outs you will ever see. Why do RS games always play great when this game gets released then nose dive into crap.

[ph33]

Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

I don't really have a problem with diamonds being a bit easier to get. We all have our personal tastes, but I've put a TON of hours into the game already, even if it hasn't been released that long, I'm glad that I feel like I am being rewarded for it. And remember last year when they were taking forever to release the second set of programs so we had to wait a while to finish immortals? That wasn't all that fun either. If you make it too arduous, or make people wait too long, that's gonna turn people away.

I think they just need more programs where we use the other cards we have to keep it fresh. That's what events are for, but they do need something for the offline folk (myself as well, not always looking to enter a try hard game)

I do agree with needing some better long term projects though.

I feel like if you play offline exclusively, it's a limited experience and I feel for them. As a mostly online player, it's been alright for me, but I do feel the lack of variety at the moment.

the bulk of my team is Diamonds. And I haven't spent a dime.

See, I feel like this is a positive thing. I do agree that they went too far the other way, making things too easy for some end game cards, but as I've mentioned, it wasn't fun when I played a ton and the rewards were minimal while prices of cards were crazy high.

I will say, everybody having signature kershaw and or nolan does indeed take the luster off of having them. Happy to have them but it's not as fulfilling if everyone gets one. Hopefully they release more cards that tier so not everyone has the same rotation.

[BigOscar]

Re: Did SDS drop the ball in DD this year?

I don't really even care if the rewards are "worth it", I just want something to do. I completed all 4 conquests despite all the cars being garbage, make another 10 garbage conquest maps and I'll probably happily do them. Make some stat accumulation missions with pretty mediocre rewards and I'll do them.

Hell, I did all the moments despite them playing like absolute *** and the rewards being terrible. Give me missions and I will probably do them!