Let's discuss the new timing window

[lhslancers]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

So you like 12 better? TBH if 12 didn't have the wild pickoff bug and too many ground rule doubles I could play that game forever. So many great rosters. I am warming to 13 with the ball physics and hit variety but as a Timing only player I would like if they would have an option for 12 type hitting window.

[Stolm]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

I actually agree 100%. I don't know whether it's the ball physics or something in the new contact/timing equation, but there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on, and I don't like it. I feel like where I put my PCI in relation to the ball is more meaningless than ever.

Exactly.

I use Zone + Analog just like last year, same difficulty, same camera angle, and am batting with a similar average if not slightly better, but everything seems so off to me.

Balls just seem different coming in, kinda floaty, I'm never sure what's going to happen when I connect. And that is totally different from last year. Last year I knew exactly when i crushed a ball or just got a piece.

This year i just swing and see what the game gives me.

[Stolm]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

So you like 12 better? TBH if 12 didn't have the wild pickoff bug and too many ground rule doubles I could play that game forever. So many great rosters. I am warming to 13 with the ball physics and hit variety but as a Timing only player I would like if they would have an option for 12 type hitting window.

That Passed Ball pickoff bug is a killer, especially during RTTS.

12 would be almost perfect with that fixed.

[G3no_11]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

That Passed Ball pickoff bug is a killer, especially during RTTS.

12 would be almost perfect with that fixed.

I absolutely hated that pitch out glitch. Would've ruined the game for me if it wasn't for how great the rest of the game was... but it did about ruin RTTS.

I am with you guys that I could've played 12 forever. But it is worth it to me to have the new ball physics. They are a huge improvement. And I also like the Nike signs

[DJ]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

Whew.

Glad I am not alone in this.

Bobhead and Stolm, you guys are spot on and those are my biggest beefs with the new timing window; I have no clue what is going to happen when I press the swing button. In 12, I had a good idea where the ball was going based on when I started my swing.

What's crazy to me is that when I use Analog, I fall in love with the game. PCI placement is good and the ball goes where I think it should based on my swing.

H&V brings up some good points and maybe we are expecting too much success based on past games.

I've zeroed out the pitch speed slider and will begin experimenting. If all else fails, I'll go all Analog.

[Taffin]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

I may have slow reflexes, because I struggled last year. Even sitting on a fastball, I found I had to kind of guess and swing way earlier than I was able to read the pitch. This year I am actually able to read a pitch and adjust.

But, if you're looking for advice, I would give the same advice I would give to a batter in real life who is consistently out in front of pitches: shorten your stroke and focus on line drives back up the middle to right center gap (assuming a RH hitter). You can't really shorten your stroke in this video game, but you can change your focus from trying to hit the ball hard (often resulting in pulling the ball) to trying to hit the ball up the middle (which often results in hitting the ball hard).

And when I hit slumps in this game, this is exactly what I focus on to break out of it.

[Stolm]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

I said this in another thread but, I really, really, wish they had released a chart or something detailing all the changes made throughout the different difficulties to pitch speed and the stride timing, and given us the required slider changes or difficulty changes to replicate last year as much as possible.

I played MLB 12 almost everyday for a full year using one difficulty setting (All-Star) with default sliders, and would love to know how to replicate that experience as close as possible.

It kind of screws over the fans that have worked to improve for so long.

[Bobhead]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

Me being the random person that I am, I decided to try setting the timing slider at 0.

I definitely like it so far. I've already gotten some hits down the line, bloops, and everything... plus my at-bats feel more natural.

I need to play a lot larger sample size, but it's a pretty big difference imo.

I'd give it a shot. I might end up raising timing to 1 but same thing really.

Did you try the thing with holding your hand further away?

[DJ]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

Me being the random person that I am, I decided to try setting the timing slider at 0.

I definitely like it so far. I've already gotten some hits down the line, bloops, and everything... plus my at-bats feel more natural.

I need to play a lot larger sample size, but it's a pretty big difference imo.

I'd give it a shot. I might end up raising timing to 1 but same thing really.

Did you try the thing with holding your hand further away?

No, haven't tried that but did lower the Pitch Speed to zero. Small sample size but I was making more consistent contact. There's really not a big difference between Pitch Speed being at default and zero, but that slightly lower speed allowed me to take that extra beat before swinging.

On my flight today I played 3 innings of a Yankees (CPU) @ Orioles game and hit 2 HR's off of Kuroda.

[cdub71323]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

Never used timing hitting so I'm just throwing this out there but is there a possibility it was done to make zone hitting more responsive?

I use zone and it feels so much more natural to me this year than last year.

In no way am I justifying it and feel for you but just wanted to mention it.

I use zone hitting as well and although I haven't played it that much, hitting seems so smooth and natural for me. It's easier for me to hit balls that are supposed to go the opposite way to the opposite side of the field.

The little zone hitting thing is more responsive to where you place it. In MLB 12, there were times that I would know where the pitch was going, hold my zone there accordingly and on the feedback it wouldn't be anywhere close to where I had it.

I'm liking this new timing window for now

[erod550]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

Timing hitting seems to be much more random this year. I have lost count of how many times I'm at the plate with a 96 contact hitter like Adrian Gonzalez and get a 2-0 fastball down the middle with good timing and I either foul it off or even straight up whiff because for some reason the PCI is way off out of the strike zone. I had it happen on back to back fastballs tonight, both belt high, one inside, one outside, and on both of them the PCI was on the opposite side of the zone and I swung right through them despite getting good timing. I can understand this happening with a batter with a very low contact rating, but not on someone who is an extremely good contact hitter.

It's frustrating because I prefer Timing hitting so I can just focus on balls and strikes and having good at bats and find I chase too much with Zone hitting and also can never hit high pitches properly with Zone either, and I'm so frustrated with the game at this point that continuing to struggle at a mode I'm not good at to try and get better just isn't an option. So I will continue to use Timing hitting as I have for the past 6 years but it's definitely different this year, and not in a good way, like so many other aspects of this year's game.

[Taffin]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

Timing hitting seems to be much more random this year. I have lost count of how many times I'm at the plate with a 96 contact hitter like Adrian Gonzalez and get a 2-0 fastball down the middle with good timing and I either foul it off or even straight up whiff because for some reason the PCI is way off out of the strike zone. I had it happen on back to back fastballs tonight, both belt high, one inside, one outside, and on both of them the PCI was on the opposite side of the zone and I swung right through them despite getting good timing. I can understand this happening with a batter with a very low contact rating, but not on someone who is an extremely good contact hitter.

It's frustrating because I prefer Timing hitting so I can just focus on balls and strikes and having good at bats and find I chase too much with Zone hitting and also can never hit high pitches properly with Zone either, and I'm so frustrated with the game at this point that continuing to struggle at a mode I'm not good at to try and get better just isn't an option. So I will continue to use Timing hitting as I have for the past 6 years but it's definitely different this year, and not in a good way, like so many other aspects of this year's game.

I feel like this isn't different from last year. MLB 12 was the first version where I really noticed just how little control I had when using timing hitting.

[Steven78]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

Erod, I suggest zone hitting without moving the PCI at all.

[nomo17k]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

Based on the feedback that I've read so far, I feel the new timing window has been working the way it's intended. That doesn't mean the change improved things for everyone.

In general, there are two crowds.

I see people who struggled with hitting before being happy with the new timing window, because not only they can now actually hit but also they feel a bit more in control of their own destiny... is it a coincidence that we seem to be seeing less of comeback talks this year than before??

And there are those people who feel the new timing window is off for whatever reason that they haven't really been pin point. Those tend to be veterans of The Show who, while not the masters of whatever hitting mechanisms they have been using, have usually found the right setting for their hitting level/tendency. The words like "floaty feel" and "something is off" are used to describe what they feel.

... I still feel the same way, when I wrote my CD impression about the new hitting timing window. The change in general is for the better but it's drastic enough that veterans of the game would feel weird.

My personal opinion is that the main culprit of why our experiences differ is how we are responding to the "general shift" in the timing window. I think the timing window is not only widened, but also generally shifted a bit later (in time) so that you literally have to wait a bit longer to hit with the best timing this year. Basically that's why the vast majority of people have reported being early on pitches (which we almost never heard of before) than being late this year.

[nomo17k]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

... and the new timing window has done a couple major things.

I play both online and offline for different reasons, and I tend to feel the timing in online games is pretty much perfect this year. Offline, I feel the game feels a bit artificial in a sense that "early timing" contacts are generated when I actually feel that I'm a bit tied up.

In previous years online, I always felt that I'm behind the pitches, and using Pure Analog didn't help; only with Zone I could hit reasonably well. I could literally never pull or hit high pitches unless I anticipate a fastball and be right on it purely by chance. In one online game, a clever opponent noticed how I never pull and shifted all his fielders to the away positions. That was easily the most humiliating day of my life.

But this year, online hitting never feels laggy to me. Using Zone must be helping me a bit, but I know my LED TV lags (with MLB 12) and pitching to Pure Analog hitters feel entirely different from past years. It was rare to see Pure Analog hitters hit well high and inside fastballs before, but this year it's pretty common... to the extent that some online gamers consider using Pure Analog cheesing (wtf). That's quite a huge difference from previous years.

What this tells us IMO is that the global "shift" in timing window in the game obviously helps to adjust how we time pitches, but both in our skills and also to fight against lags.

... so why not give us the Timing Shift slider?? (I think Timing slider in the game right now only shrinks or widen the window and does not shift.)

Before MLB 13 was released, I was seriously considering replacing my LED with a lag-free TV or PC monitor... but so far I haven't found a reason to with MLB 13. That tells us something.