What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

[Fiddy]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

This is a genuine question and not an attack or anything like that...

But how on Earth are you enjoying DD this year? To me, it feels like I am literally grinding for no reason other than the right to lease a card for a few weeks. There's zero challenging content, there's zero long-term gameplay centered goals (collections are cute and all but are just currency-based...and yes, time is a currency). The entire mode just feels like a totally pointless time suck where you will be asked to start over...and over...and over without ever truly achieving anything (moreso than usual). Then you throw in the total dearth of new content since launch (like 3 or 4 tiny maps and no new mini seasons - Moments/Showdown do not qualify as real content IMO as they don't use your team) and nearly everything you do has to be done by repeating the same old content. The only "skill" with DD is how much time you can spend playing it...

I've asked other folks this and I am asking you the same (and anyone else here); but what is the "Draw" for you? What is tickling your fancy so much? What is your goal?

I REALLY would like to enjoy DD this year as I love the addition of Captains and a true use for thematic teams; but every time I fire-up the mode, one question pops into my head, "What's the point?". It's grinding for no reason other than to grind and there's no pay-off.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thats a fair question! I ask myself this daily as well..

To answer "why am I grinding" or "what's the point?" Because, what's the point to any game? RPG, First Person Shooters, etc. We play and finish those, but why? We get nothing out of it overall. So just have to step back and just enjoy the games for what they are. I treat MLB just like that, a game I'm just trying to beat.

I just enjoy baseball, and I'm 100% in on how they doing content this year. I made a google doc and make sure when I'm playing I'm playing for a reason. Clearly this content is super easy, nothing to difficult, and once I'm done with things I move in and play Online. Even if Events or Ranked grind is done. Just to play, gameplay to me is enjoyable. I'm not elite, very average, but I have fun and compete and hold my own.

Overall goal? Just to keep up and stay current with the content, collections etc. With that said, rinse and repeat the same things over and over and over.. But what else can they do? Maybe dump Extreme Seasons/Moments etc on us? I'm for that to add a challenge..

But again goes back to why? Because we can just ask ourselves that for every dang game we play.

[papadell]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

I think online rewards are pretty bad this year. For me, the gameplay being rewarding is the ultimate reward.

Granted, I've had some weird games in the handful I've played today but overall it still feels tighter than years before. By not grinding all the TA stuff immediately and focusing on just playing more this year - the game has never been more fun.

I used to hardcore grind everything immediately, then had nothing to play for and the gameplay sucked so it was like why bother. This year, I feel like I'm actually accomplishing a lot each game.

I usually did the monthly grinds offline. But I'm playing the event since I haven't had any time to play at all this year. My timing is jacked up since I've been mostly offline but that grind of getting timing back and getting better each game is what's going to hook me versus anything else.

There's nothing tangible offline. That was a big focus for me in the content survey was adding more tangible offline content. Even as someone that WANTS to play online most often, I still want them to add a bunch to offline.

[JoshC1977]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

I won't quote you both (Fiddy and Papadell)....but I agree with you both...this game IS fun and the gameplay this year is amazing.

I'm around 100 games deep into my Reds franchise already (playing every game) and am having a blast with that. (And I just spent around 85 hours playing Octopath Traveler II during that same time period...so it's not like I've been married to MLB).

So, in a sense, the gameplay alone isn't enough to draw me into DD - because...I am already getting all of that goodness. But I DO miss using the past legends and so on....

I might try to give things a whirl again for season 2 and see if I can identify "an angle"...

[papadell]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

I won't quote you both (Fiddy and Papadell)....but I agree with you both...this game IS fun and the gameplay this year is amazing.



I'm around 100 games deep into my Reds franchise already (playing every game) and am having a blast with that. (And I just spent around 85 hours playing Octopath Traveler II during that same time period...so it's not like I've been married to MLB).



So, in a sense, the gameplay alone isn't enough to draw me into DD - because...I am already getting all of that goodness. But I DO miss using the past legends and so on....



I might try to give things a whirl again for season 2 and see if I can identify "an angle"...

Is there any particular reason you don't play online? Only asking because once they fix the captain dilemma and release better captains, you can take the theme teams you've described before online and be competitive and hopefully have fun.

With Co-op now too, you could pair up with even people in this thread and play without it being a gigantic sweat fest. If you can play offline on legend you can definitely hang online.

Not trying to coerce you into online play or anything. Until they actually put real time into making offline deeper, that cat and mouse game online making adjustments is the last layer of challenge for experienced and skilled players.

[SamC24167]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

This is a genuine question and not an attack or anything like that...

But how on Earth are you enjoying DD this year? To me, it feels like I am literally grinding for no reason other than the right to lease a card for a few weeks. There's zero challenging content, there's zero long-term gameplay centered goals (collections are cute and all but are just currency-based...and yes, time is a currency). The entire mode just feels like a totally pointless time suck where you will be asked to start over...and over...and over without ever truly achieving anything (moreso than usual). Then you throw in the total dearth of new content since launch (like 3 or 4 tiny maps and no new mini seasons - Moments/Showdown do not qualify as real content IMO as they don't use your team) and nearly everything you do has to be done by repeating the same old content. The only "skill" with DD is how much time you can spend playing it...

I've asked other folks this and I am asking you the same (and anyone else here); but what is the "Draw" for you? What is tickling your fancy so much? What is your goal?

I REALLY would like to enjoy DD this year as I love the addition of Captains and a true use for thematic teams; but every time I fire-up the mode, one question pops into my head, "What's the point?". It's grinding for no reason other than to grind and there's no pay-off.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I will say this is the only game i play year round mostly, baseball is my number 1 passion . i played when i was 4 and never stopped until my knee gave out my senior year, sop not being able to physically play the game like i used to i had to dive into gaming and it just makes me feel that pride again to be good and know the situations and things like that . I also like to say im not a great player on here im more on an all-star bandit persay but i do like accomplishing things like the BR program and events to get the awards but if i do go online i am usually a homer and use a Cardinals theme team

Also with my job being alot of stress mentally and the family it really feels good where i can get on and just indulge the game and have fun and for a couple of hours have a release from reality .

[Fiddy]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

I won't quote you both (Fiddy and Papadell)....but I agree with you both...this game IS fun and the gameplay this year is amazing.

I'm around 100 games deep into my Reds franchise already (playing every game) and am having a blast with that. (And I just spent around 85 hours playing Octopath Traveler II during that same time period...so it's not like I've been married to MLB).

So, in a sense, the gameplay alone isn't enough to draw me into DD - because...I am already getting all of that goodness. But I DO miss using the past legends and so on....

I might try to give things a whirl again for season 2 and see if I can identify "an angle"...

I have a Mets franchise going as well to keep me current with the actual season.

Plus, I even have 5 MTO's paused right before the all star break, that way I get 14k XP for 5 divisions when TA2 drops. Dang Ramona only giving us 5 save slots LOL.

[JoshC1977]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

Is there any particular reason you don't play online? Only asking because once they fix the captain dilemma and release better captains, you can take the theme teams you've described before online and be competitive and hopefully have fun.

I game exclusively offline (across all gaming genres, not just MLB) for one simple reason - when I am gaming, I don't want to deal with people. I deal with people all day long and I have zero interest in having my experience impacted by another person in any way, shape, or form.

And I am even referring to things you online guys consider normal...like queues, someone hitting the pause timer or skipping cut scenes, etc.

[papadell]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

I game exclusively offline (across all gaming genres, not just MLB) for one simple reason - when I am gaming, I don't want to deal with people. I deal with people all day long and I have zero interest in having my experience impacted by another person in any way, shape, or form.

And I am even referring to things you online guys consider normal...like queues, someone hitting the pause timer or skipping cut scenes, etc.

Definitely understand that. I still get annoyed when someone is bunt dancing or rapid pausing even though I expect it. I just want a nice clean game and those are incredibly rare.

[ValhallaVikings]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

Definitely understand that. I still get annoyed when someone is bunt dancing or rapid pausing even though I expect it. I just want a nice clean game and those are incredibly rare.

I've found casual mode to be pretty good for this. I haven't ran into much nonsense and if I do then I would just quit out and no worry about my ranking or ruining a solid BR run.

I've had some of the most competitive games in this mode and I'm not all nervous like I am in ranked.

I THINK it still counts for player pxp? I know your online stats change in casual mode

[papadell]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

I've found casual mode to be pretty good for this. I haven't ran into much nonsense and if I do then I would just quit out and no worry about my ranking or ruining a solid BR run.

I've had some of the most competitive games in this mode and I'm not all nervous like I am in ranked.

I THINK it still counts for player pxp? I know your online stats change in casual mode

Honestly that's what I love the most about the concept of Co-op. Like it's still using cards I grind for and really like, but with the added fun of more people. Even with that having a Ranked ladder I don't think I'd care at all how we performed as long as it was fun.

Still down for co-op at some point if people wanna play. I've been hella busy with work the last month but hoping it kind of gets back to normal after this week. The handful of event games today are the first online games I've played I think since the first week of launch.

Cannot handle how fast time is going anymore.

[papadell]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

I spoke way too soon about online gameplay.

The amount of foul balls I'm giving up is insane. It felt better in the tech test and at launch but my god. I'm hitting like garbage and expect to because I haven't been online much but the foul balls are absurd so far in this event. Literal balls aimed in the dirt with a perfect release that are being fouled off.

They were supposed to fix this stuff.

[ValhallaVikings]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

one gripe i had today

I had to play a 8 inning event game. I got 18 good contacts, 4 perfects and most where pretty much middle of the plate. My opponent had 3 good contacts and one perfect. My opponent also did the bunt in the middle of your windup thing to try to be a *******, he did it enough that it was clearly on purpose.

8th inning this guy hits a high and away fastball perfect perfect 2 run HR

I got ZERO HITS in 8 innings with 18 good contacts and 4 perfects.

I played another game cause I couldn't end on that note. In the first inning my 2nd, 3rd, 4th batters went back to back to back HR

Both games at the same field, i was home team. That doesn't happen often but definitely makes zero sense

[DanH35]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

Guys who are looking for something to do if everything else is completed. Prep for Team Affinity 2, play an MTO with a team from each division on Veteran (or whatever level you want). Go all the way up until July 1st and stop. Then once TA2 drops on May 12th 3pm set, play out a moment or two and get past the July 9th All Star Break and get a quick 10k to 14k XP. Nice jump start to go along with the Conquest Map, Moments, and Showdown. Once you get things going you can even go back, finish the season, win it all and get an additional 40k in XP.

I’ve been mainly doing this the last few days. I have 5 team saves ready for Friday. I’m not sure if this is common knowledge and I just didn’t know, but today I noticed that you can change your gameplay type to casual and it affects MTO. Doing that makes playing on All Star feel like Rookie. After noticing that, I checked other game modes for that, it works with Moments, but not Conquest or DD vs CPU.

[papadell]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

one gripe i had today

I had to play a 8 inning event game. I got 18 good contacts, 4 perfects and most where pretty much middle of the plate. My opponent had 3 good contacts and one perfect. My opponent also did the bunt in the middle of your windup thing to try to be a *******, he did it enough that it was clearly on purpose.

8th inning this guy hits a high and away fastball perfect perfect 2 run HR

I got ZERO HITS in 8 innings with 18 good contacts and 4 perfects.

I played another game cause I couldn't end on that note. In the first inning my 2nd, 3rd, 4th batters went back to back to back HR

Both games at the same field, i was home team. That doesn't happen often but definitely makes zero sense

I can't judge a small sample size too much but in 11 games today I'm backtracking the strong gameplay review I've been giving.

Perfect input after perfect input while pitching, clearly hitting the zone but being called balls. Falling behind every batter because the ball is still favoring the outside of the PAR. If you aim more toward the center of the plate it goes right down the middle. They either need to loosen the strikezone if they want pitching to be like this or tune the perfect results again.

It almost feels like 20 again, except instead of phantom meatballs on perfect inputs it's like there's a blackhole outside the zone eating up all the good releases.

Hitting is whatever. I'm swinging like trash so won't complain about hitting which generally feels ok. But most of my online time came pre-pitching tuning and this feels worse; not better.

I think I might actually switch to meter or something. Why put in the extra effort with concentration on pinpoint if it's not even rewarding optimal input.

[Fiddy]

Re: What Are You Working On? - MLB The Show 23 Edition

I’ve been mainly doing this the last few days. I have 5 team saves ready for Friday. I’m not sure if this is common knowledge and I just didn’t know, but today I noticed that you can change your gameplay type to casual and it affects MTO. Doing that makes playing on All Star feel like Rookie. After noticing that, I checked other game modes for that, it works with Moments, but not Conquest or DD vs CPU.

Really? I'm going to have to check that out for sure.

If I were to play say on Legend, I would get around 92,500 (on low end).

But I don't trust my thumbs LOL. I have won multiple World Series in MTO on Legend the last few years, but no pressure of wanting these points for TA. But, would be nice and less grindy.

As of now with using Veteran for that XP and doing all the Captain/Henchmen Missions, plus Conquest, Showdown, and Moments you end up with like 147,500 (possibly 150,000 on the dot with a perfect MTO run in first and second half). If no perfect run, just one team build of pxp gets you 5,000.

Also while grinding the missions above, using mini seasons, you gonna get through at least two of those seasons and another 80,000 in vouchers to use anywhere..

Ahhhhh.. The grind starts tomorrow! LOL..