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

[papadell]

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

Ah I see...I'm personally less inclined to use "team captains" vs thematic captains. I'd rather see them smash it out of the park with some crazy good thematic captain cards (like 1990s hitters, 1970s/1980s pitchers, a Switch-hitter captain, etc.) as main program bosses.



Either way, I don't know if what they do will keep people engaged. I'd be shocked if they changed the paradigm for the actual content and after having 99s all year, I don't know that the inclusion of two 99s per team in TA is going to be alluring enough.

Oh I'm with you. I just mean that with captains being a specific card set, those team specific ones aren't coming yet.

I feel like they really missed the boat on the thematic ones. The Clemente program showed what captains COULD BE. Like if they made Clemente the captain with the same boosts that Lindor gave, that's the kind of stuff that would really be fun.

I'd still love to use an MLB Network team and stuff like that. I want a mix of both thematic and teams. They just kinda keep putting out flat and unexciting team captains tho

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[JoshC1977]

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

Oh I'm with you. I just mean that with captains being a specific card set, those team specific ones aren't coming yet.

I feel like they really missed the boat on the thematic ones. The Clemente program showed what captains COULD BE. Like if they made Clemente the captain with the same boosts that Lindor gave, that's the kind of stuff that would really be fun.

Rolling with the Clemente program example because it is a good one...

So are you saying that you would have made the 99 Awards Clemente a 'captain' (not a "Captain series" but with the same card but with a Captain icon on the card) with all the boosts? I'd personally be down with that....that would make his card worth grinding for AND if you eventually got a 99 Lindor, you'd be able to boost it.

I think the trap SDS fell into was instead of making Captains the desirable reward, they have used them mainly as a means to merely make grinds 'easier'. I know SDS was trying to avoid meta captains and so on (so they artificially lowered their ratings), but for a game that gives out 99s like they're out of style, it's an irrational fear.

I'm actually hoping as I write this that they do away with the Captain card 'series' next year and instead emboss certain cards with a "C" and give those cards a specific thematic boost. Number 1, artwork-wise, it'd look better. Secondly, they could really open things up to give some super cool combinations.

But...that would require SDS to be creative and well....

[papadell]

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

Rolling with the Clemente program example because it is a good one...



So are you saying that you would have made the 99 Awards Clemente a 'captain' (not a "Captain series" but with the same card but with a Captain icon on the card) with all the boosts? I'd personally be down with that....that would make his card worth grinding for AND if you eventually got a 99 Lindor, you'd be able to boost it.



I think the trap SDS fell into was instead of making Captains the desirable reward, they have used them mainly as a means to merely make grinds 'easier'. I know SDS was trying to avoid meta captains and so on (so they artificially lowered their ratings), but for a game that gives out 99s like they're out of style, it's an irrational fear.



I'm actually hoping as I write this that they do away with the Captain card 'series' next year and instead emboss certain cards with a "C" and give those cards a specific thematic boost. Number 1, artwork-wise, it'd look better. Secondly, they could really open things up to give some super cool combinations.



But...that would require SDS to be creative and well....

Precisely. Like I said all year, I feel like each programs main reward should have been captains. So Clemente would have been the Clemente award captain... Like...... doesn't that just make sense?

Sticking with the competitive card game terminology, that's flavor. Or if Chase 98 McGwire boosted all cards from that program and set. That Sosa that everyone made fun of could have been boosted by Mac and Jeter and everyone else. Instead of them just being generic cards that only got used in program grinds no one wanted. It would actually make grinding the full programs feel paid off. Each program would be like a "starter deck" or theme team already built. They don't need to be Uber end game, but with the boosts I feel like we all know by now what is competitive and elite and so forth. If they just kept the full boosted attributes in that wheelhouse there would be much more room for variety.

Like it really bugs me that Roberto Clemente isn't the captain of the Clemente build.

And I agree. Captains being a unique card set feels like a waste. Making it a branded ability or something to allow different configurations would be awesome.

Say every card has inherent captain boosts. What that would look like is a whole different conversation. But each card has inherent boosts. Maybe with each parallel level, you unlock another tier of boosts or something.

So Clemente could boost all award winners, everyone from his own country and pirates or something at P5. But maybe he only boosts award winners until p2.

The chase Big Mac boosts all program cards until p2 then at P5 maybe he boosts all cardinals and all hitters from the 90s.

Many possibilities

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[JoshC1977]

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

Precisely. Like I said all year, I feel like each programs main reward should have been captains. So Clemente would have been the Clemente award captain... Like...... doesn't that just make sense?

Sticking with the competitive card game terminology, that's flavor. Or if Chase 98 McGwire boosted all cards from that program and set. That Sosa that everyone made fun of could have been boosted by Mac and Jeter and everyone else. Instead of them just being generic cards that only got used in program grinds no one wanted. It would actually make grinding the full programs feel paid off. Each program would be like a "starter deck" or theme team already built. They don't need to be Uber end game, but with the boosts I feel like we all know by now what is competitive and elite and so forth. If they just kept the full boosted attributes in that wheelhouse there would be much more room for variety.

Like it really bugs me that Roberto Clemente isn't the captain of the Clemente build.

And I agree. Captains being a unique card set feels like a waste. Making it a branded ability or something to allow different configurations would be awesome.

Say every card has inherent captain boosts. What that would look like is a whole different conversation. But each card has inherent boosts. Maybe with each parallel level, you unlock another tier of boosts or something.

So Clemente could boost all award winners, everyone from his own country and pirates or something at P5. But maybe he only boosts award winners until p2.

The chase Big Mac boosts all program cards until p2 then at P5 maybe he boosts all cardinals and all hitters from the 90s.

Many possibilities

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This is all really well laid-out and is the kind of team-building creativity the mode seriously lacks. Any idiot can just throw a bunch of 99s on a team; but can you REALLY navigate through different abilities/players/boosts to unlock a team that really works for you?

I'll throw out another idea to the parallel thing....why not make it so that PV allows the user to unlock a player's eligibility for the other teams he played for.

For example: We get an insane Griffey Jr Seattle card. I get him and parallel him to PV and it unlocks an ability for him to be eligible for Reds (and White Sox) theme team boosts. He would still be a "Seattle" card, but just eligible to receive those boosts for the other 2 teams.

Now, I say this as someone that has not gotten a PV all year; but I think it is something that would reward folks that work at it. I know MUT does some of this with training points, but I think it should be something you have to earn by really playing the game, not merely exchanging cards to earn another currency (like in MUT).

[ChaseB]

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

Most out of the loop I've been with DD in the last 4 years so don't feel like I'm a good judge of this based on just my own personal feelings, but where does this year rank in the last 4 for how much you enjoy the content?

I think the 99s at launch were interesting but probably are the "core tenet" that soured me on the game this year -- at least in terms of spending my "team building" time on it (I instead have gone to Madden and FIFA this year more for that component of my sports games). I didn't think there were enough legends to make it feel unique enough so felt more like 99s meant there was nothing to build to when the 99s also feel redundant pretty quickly.

[papadell]

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

Most out of the loop I've been with DD in the last 4 years so don't feel like I'm a good judge of this based on just my own personal feelings, but where does this year rank in the last 4 for how much you enjoy the content?



I think the 99s at launch were interesting but probably are the "core tenet" that soured me on the game this year -- at least in terms of spending my "team building" time on it (I instead have gone to Madden and FIFA this year more for that component of my sports games). I didn't think there were enough legends to make it feel unique enough so felt more like 99s meant there was nothing to build to when the 99s also feel redundant pretty quickly.

Purely in terms of content it's middle of the pack for me. I loved 21 and felt like the gameplay was fine but i grinded the soul out of that game. I was playing it into February because I just loved the balance of cards available.

I think the big issue with content this year is the exposure that game modes are severely lacking. There's only a couple ways to use the cards. With online rewards being reduced to meaningless, ultimately the content didn't matter.

I really like sets and seasons. But I need more ways to use the cards versus grinding all these offline programs with crappy cards for rewards that don't even make my starting lineup.

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[ValhallaVikings]

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

Most out of the loop I've been with DD in the last 4 years so don't feel like I'm a good judge of this based on just my own personal feelings, but where does this year rank in the last 4 for how much you enjoy the content?

I think the 99s at launch were interesting but probably are the "core tenet" that soured me on the game this year -- at least in terms of spending my "team building" time on it (I instead have gone to Madden and FIFA this year more for that component of my sports games). I didn't think there were enough legends to make it feel unique enough so felt more like 99s meant there was nothing to build to when the 99s also feel redundant pretty quickly.

Was super stoked and motivated for set 1, set 2 was a dud, somehow set 3 reeled me back in and I feel like set 4 was a bigger dud than the 2nd

Not loving the structure but like how they've implemented online tasks plus the event into recent programs MUCH BETTER... I feel like I haven't had to play a conquest or mini season for a month which is fine by me. I already got kluber, Foxx, Betts so zero point in me doing trick or treat for Yaz and triston or whoever else.

They gotta make these programs more worthwhile instead of all being fodder for collections. For the most part the monthly programs are really the only programs that give you a true online competitive capable type card

[JoshC1977]

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

Most out of the loop I've been with DD in the last 4 years so don't feel like I'm a good judge of this based on just my own personal feelings, but where does this year rank in the last 4 for how much you enjoy the content?

I think the 99s at launch were interesting but probably are the "core tenet" that soured me on the game this year -- at least in terms of spending my "team building" time on it (I instead have gone to Madden and FIFA this year more for that component of my sports games). I didn't think there were enough legends to make it feel unique enough so felt more like 99s meant there was nothing to build to when the 99s also feel redundant pretty quickly.

Honestly, this is probably my least favorite year in terms of content since I started playing DD back in '18.

Let's start with the positives though:

- Captain functionality can be fun for some of the more creative team captains (the downside, most of the Captains were rather bland and designed primarily to aid in grinds).
- Sets/Seasons are great for allowing people to "skip" periods of the year and then get "caught up". I personally eschewed the second half of Season 1 and all of Season 2 before getting into things a bit more in Seasons 3 and 4. I also like that they included a "Wild Card" slot.
- They've done a better job releasing new Conquest maps throughout the year. I've only played through the US map once this year when in the past, I have had to replay it numerous times just to have an area to play to grind out missions.

The negative though is a big one as it undermined most of the good. The "99s all year" paradigm sucks.
- The "best" cards were nearly all in packs or collections (major red flag for the future)
- Little ramp-up makes new releases FAR less exciting and there are far too few sub-Diamond rated flashback/legend cards.
- Redundancy throughout the year and just generally made-up ratings to fit a player/card into a specific OVR (like for TA)
- There were far more 'contrived' card series to try to "refresh" repeat cards in later seasons (and iMO, too few "real" cards).
- The ability to stack teams with 99s seriously undermined the utility of Captains.
- It perpetuated the false narrative in the community that anything other than 99s are undesirable.
- I do think too many 99s can hurt the "competitive" scene (undermining player skill in team-building).

There are also some other negatives to the mode (many of these are legacy issues to be fair):

- In spite of improvements to the presentation, mini seasons continues to be redundant gameplay-wise to Conquest. The mode does not stand out due to the games also being 3 innings. I'll continue to beat on this drum...mini seasons games need to be 9 innings. If you are an online-centric player and don't like that, you can buy any of the rewards in the market (just like offline players have to buy RS/BR rewards). There just needs to be a MEANINGFUL 9-inning offline mode for DD. At a bare minimum, give us the option (and just multiply the mission stat thresholds by 3).
- Unsellable rewards for online modes is a blatant money grab.
- There continues to be an over-reliance on content that does not use your team (i.e. Moments and Showdowns). These should be OPTIONAL for all programs (with repeatable mission grinds for ALL programs if folks wish to complete them that way).
- Topps Now continues to be nothing more than a program for collection fodder vs cards people may want to use (this is in-part due to the "99 issue"). Honestly, merely making these cards Core (essentially an extension of LS) would add to their utility - especially for thematic teams.
- Mission/program structures are WAY too consistent and predictable.
- Honestly, what the mode needs more than anything are more general stat grinds (that can be accomplished with ANY players so we're not always using cards we don't necessarily want to use). For example, if a team hits 50 HRs in a week, have a Topps Now mission to hit 50 HRs with your DD squad.

At the end of the day though, I think the "99s all year" paradigm really hurt the mode this year. I appreciate what SDS was trying to do and their rationale for doing it, but I also believe that the sheer volume of 99s from the outset boxed them into keeping the pace up (and it forced them into duping content).

[JoshC1977]

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

Not loving the structure but like how they've implemented online tasks plus the event into recent programs MUCH BETTER... I feel like I haven't had to play a conquest or mini season for a month which is fine by me.

I've noticed that change too and I truly LOVE this for you! I am 100% on-board with the approach of allowing for programs to be accomplished in either online or offline. I don't think people should be shoe-horned into playing in a way that they do not wish to play.

They gotta make these programs more worthwhile instead of all being fodder for collections.

I think they've done a little better in Season 4 but I fundamentally agree. The idea of a big collection is fine and dandy. But I think the mode is FAR too focused on collecting fodder cards.

I'd personally prefer a model where the Set collection rewards are not based on collecting a bunch of cards but a combination of completing programs AND specific missions/tasks (maybe collecting X number of cards is part of that).

So for the Set 4 "collection" (i.e. the path where you get Mookie/Kluber/Foxx), you would have an array of tasks/missions (and you would NOT need to complete all of them). Tasks might include things like:

- Complete Season 4 program
- Win 10 games in RS during Season 4
- Hit 100 HR with Set 4 cards
- Win a Mini Season
- Win 50 Conquest Games
- Complete the August Monthly Awards Program
- Collect 100 Set 4 Cards
- Go Flawless in BR

(This is just a snippet, there could be a huge laundry list for both offline and online players...each task assigned a point value based on challenge/time required - some may be easy/short, some may be harder/longer)

[papadell]

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

In these last couple days before Season 5, I'm going back and finishing the programs from earlier in the year I didn't finish. Specifically, Future Stars and Father's Day.

To me, these two programs are prime examples of the absolute worst way to design programs. Future Stars has a ton of cards, but they're all pretty generic and not that interesting. To complete the program, you have to grind a ton of stats/PXP with those cards. I don't want to use these cards. Why can't I grind with the teams they represent and earn progress that way, too? Like I'll use specific cards every once in a while, but DD is SO geared toward "do stuff with things for things" instead of just playing how you want.

How much time do you spend in a Conquest screen to complete the map? I have zero interest in a half-baked territory game just to get to games. Why can't I just play the damn teams? Domination in 2K is one of my favorite offline modes in any sports game. They have current day teams, all-time teams and era teams and you just play the games with more rewards on higher difficulties.

In The Show, you're just doing the same stuff all year. They slowly got away from FORCING people into doing Showdown, Conquest etc but they need way more ways to just play the game. The fact that there aren't a million stat/PXP missions just available is insane to me.

It's like they're just funneling people into the same modes we've been playing for years and expecting everything to just be great. 24 needs legitimate rejuvenation in HOW we play.

[papadell]

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

Kinda disappointed Strider is the Braves Finest. His cards always suck and aren't even really usable. Was really hoping Olson would be the Finest.

So I'm assuming Olson will be a collection or pack card.

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[JoshC1977]

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

Kinda disappointed Strider is the Braves Finest. His cards always suck and aren't even really usable. Was really hoping Olson would be the Finest.

So I'm assuming Olson will be a collection or pack card.

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It could be worse...you could be a Reds fan and your Finest is Matt McLain...ugh.

[papadell]

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

It could be worse...you could be a Reds fan and your Finest is Matt McLain...ugh.

There's a couple names on there that had me like [emoji102]

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[papadell]

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

Albies as a core collection? I never got Seager because I didn't touch BR all year so there is no chance I get this Albies unless they dump a bunch of core cards

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[ValhallaVikings]

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

i've done all of BR except for one season but they usually make albies weak vs one side....they should juice him up for a core collection card and make his speed crazy

I was hoping for a corbin carrol or kyle tucker card. I feel like we've had 100000x jose altuve cards.

I loved george brett last year so hopefully they make him good, the rest of the retro aren't really jumping at me. Just seems like the same cards we got all year to be honest

I actually am interested in the matt mcclain card...assume it'll have good defense/speed/contact and probably 100's power. He was one of my best fantasy pickups this year so I'm now loyal to him.

On paper I'm not really dying to rush into things tomorrow and knock it all out but we'll see.