Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

[SoxFan01605]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

I gotta be honest...my heart lept in my chest with excitement when I read this thread...lol. Last year, it felt like I could hit anything, anytime.

I'd much rather hear it got harder, personally. I really can't wait. To me, there's no shame in going back down to All-Star, or even Veteran if need be. Just means there's room to grow again

Really digging this fact.

[davewins]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

I haven't played retail yet but from what I played in the demo it feels very good. If you are struggling you need to work on it just like big leaguers work on their swings all the time. You need to go into bp and try to learn what a curveball looks like out of the pitcher's hand, etc.

I think what you need to do is take a game and just watch all the pitches or do it in bp for that matter. Sometimes just concentrating on the ball all the way into the catcher's mitt will help your timing and placing location on the ball. It will improve your eye. A guy that does this a lot is Jeter in real life. Just go into an exhibition game and/or bp and just WATCH the pitches. Try to pick up the ball at the release point all the way "into the catcher's mitt". Don't swing or even think about swinging at all. I think if you do this right it will definetley help you. Worst comes to worst you waste a little time. Let me know how you make out.

Also wait for a pitch that you like. This can help as well.

[Chai2112]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

I'm getting the game tomorrow, but this thread is making me happy. In last year's game, I played on HOF and had the sliders set so that all of my hitting attributes were literally on zero, and I still had about 3 players batting in the high 300s (one even over .400!) and my player with the worst batting average was like a .280. And my team batting average in my franchises over the past few years has always been .320-.340. That was unrealistic to say the least. Can't wait to see if this game on Legend will be hard enough. Hard to tell from the demo, but it's clearly much better and more realistic than last year's. Hopefully there won't be as many 20+ hit games in a season.

[Chai2112]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

Another thing that drove me crazy in 08 was that there was no discrepancy between batting against lefties and righties. Meaning, if I had a lefty batter and I set his Against Lefties slider all the way down, his average against lefties would still be nearly as high or sometimes even higher than his average against righties. I never had a player who bat say .230 against lefties and .290 against righties. It was always within .010. Hopefully that won't be the case in 09.

[aukevin]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

In the vein of this thread....I would love to see a user be able to pick a hitting difficulty and a pitching(maybe different!) difficulty separate.

M.K.
Knight165

yeah I would too.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

In the vein of this thread....I would love to see a user be able to pick a hitting difficulty and a pitching(maybe different!) difficulty separate.

M.K.
Knight165

Amen!! I usually find my games in the Show are overly low scoring since I pitch too well AND suck at hitting. I never asked for hitting to be harder! The sliders (at least in the demo) were not exagerated enough imo. I think I might be OK with things but I would have liked them to be more powerful.

I still think the dev team needs to give us more sliders and ones that are more powerful. Giving the user more control is a good thing and not a bad one. I don't buy the excuse that it could break things. If I break the game by tweaking things too much that's on me but I'd like to have that ability.

[sbauer318]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

Because it's more difficult, it feels much more rewarding when you actually get a hit.

In RTTS, my player was struggling. I was beating balls into the ground and hitting them at people for a few games. I broke my streak during my second at bat of game with a doink shot that dropped in between the first baseman, second baseman and right fielder. It was just fair. Never really saw hits like that before. I managed to get a few hits after that.

[bizarro]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

The hitting difficulty is GREAT. I'm playing on Legend defaults this year, and it's so nice not to sleepwalk my way to 15 hits per game. Even in the one game where I broke out for 9 runs, I felt like I had to EARN it with concentration and a bit of luck.

[Blzer]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

The only really tough thing about it for me is my left stick aiming doesn't seem to be responsive enough, so I'm trying really hard to "move it before I swing," but then that results in too late of a swing.

An awkward dilemma I'm having.

[magoo1967]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one having a hard time. I can't hit for nothing in 09. I am 1-6 so far with the mighty Yankees and I can't seem to ever get any kind of rally going at all. Started playing on All-Star (my regular setting in 08 & 07) and was 0-5, then stepped it down to Veteran where I'm having a little more success (1-1). So far it seems the only time I score runs is via the long ball. I know that in the long run, I'll probably see this increased difficulty as a good thing (I hope), but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated big time right now. I guess I need to put in a lot more time in BP mode re-learning how to hit.

[ehh]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

How exactly is it harder, Crash? You have to be more precious with your coverage indicator? It's less forgiving? If so then that's probably a good sign.

[guboogi]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one having a hard time. I can't hit for nothing in 09. I am 1-6 so far with the mighty Yankees and I can't seem to ever get any kind of rally going at all. Started playing on All-Star (my regular setting in 08 & 07) and was 0-5, then stepped it down to Veteran where I'm having a little more success (1-1). So far it seems the only time I score runs is via the long ball. I know that in the long run, I'll probably see this increased difficulty as a good thing (I hope), but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated big time right now. I guess I need to put in a lot more time in BP mode re-learning how to hit.

I have a somewhat related question. As someone who is new to The Show series (i.e. never played MLB 08, etc.) I definitely need to work on my hitting in MLB 09, even on Veteran. I am thinking about starting a franchise once I find a good set of updated rosters. If I started on All-Star, which is where I eventually think I will settle in, should I be discouraged if I start my season poorly? As we all know, the baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint, so once I get the hang of it, can I expect to "make up for" the poor start later on in the season? Or should I just start on Veteran and move up once I think it's getting too easy?

[chasmalgrat3]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

I first played the series back in 07 and found the hitting very difficult (for someone coming from MVP05's hitting system). With that said, I've found 09's to be a little easier for me. This isn't to say it's easy to get hits, but I've had a much more rewarding experience this year. I consider myself still new to this series (only had 07 for a couple of months), but I find that turning on the visual batter's eye and lowering the pitch speed one or two notches on the All-Star setting as a good place for a newbie to start. Additionally, I need to always remember to watch the ball out of the pitchers hand rather than watching where it will cross the plate. This has helped me tremendously in being able to place the bat on the ball. Now I just need to work on my plate discipline, but some bp sessions should help that. Other than that, this games plays fantastic right out of the box (at least the demo - can't wait for tomorrow!).

[pbz06]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

I personally don't care much if it's veteran, all-star, or hall of fame...as long as it's a nice tough challenge and my team doesn't hit .320 every year. For now, Veteran is perfect for me.

[jim416]

Re: Hitting in 09 is a tad too difficult

I'd much rather hear it got harder, personally. I really can't wait. To me, there's no shame in going back down to All-Star, or even Veteran if need be. Just means there's room to grow again

That's how I feel. If I find out I'm comfortable on VET, so be it. Ain't to proud to admit it. \

Played a game last night, swing only again. I'm starting to learn what NOT to swing at. Last year I was definitely a hacker as it was hard to tell, for me, if a pitch was going to be in/out of the zone, so I hacked. This year is a completely different feel, I'm being patient, hell I've even walked, WOOT, and am starting to see the kind of contact I like.

Man it's good to not be late on EVERY fastball like last year.