Let's discuss the new timing window

[nomo17k]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

... and to the "floaty" feel, I think it may be true that the game this year produces slightly more fly balls than ground balls. At least in CPU vs. CPU games that's something I've noticed. The game was more ground-ball friendly in the past.

In terms of Zone hitting, I feel timing factors in more than the last year... meaning when I'm late, the PCI location seems to really indicate this... even though I'm trying to place L3 on the high position, when it goes under the pitch location when I swing under. I initially thought my new controller was broken or something, but I think the PCI location *after the swing* tends to show this a lot more prominently this year.

It hasn't been so long since I switch to Zone, but I don't remember Zone hitting working like this last year. Did the PCI location after the swing reflect timing this much in previous years? I tend to remember it always was placed in where I move L3... I could be wrong.

[Bobhead]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

My discontent has had nothing to do with struggling though. I'm hitting better than ever. I just can't put my finger on what it is...

I have a theory... I think I posted it somewhere else but I'll put it here also, in a shortened version...

Please interject or correct anything wrong or disagreeable...

The hitting system in The Show, for awhile, has been largely timing based. Even if you are using Zone or Analog or whatever...

It's been my observation throughout the years that this mechanic works through penalties and bonuses assessed depending on your timing. Just to pull numbers out of the air... if you have good timing on a pitch, +5 contact and power... or something like that, right? The better your timing, the better your chance of solidly connecting with the ball, even if your PCI was in a weird place, so I would assume this is done with raw numbers being added or subtracted into the equation. But whatever it is, you get what I'm saying... timing will make or break your hitting.

So thus it's reasonable to say that the larger and more lenient the timing window is, the easier it is to get these bonuses, and the higher frequency with which one will be solidly connecting with balls...

I think the issue is that with the new timing window, this system needs to be adjusted... These "good timing" hits are happening all over the place, and the end result is that I am just mindlessly tapping the X button and hoping for a line drive somewhere. The strategy in locating my PCI is all but gone, non-important. Either I was on time, or I wasn't. Either I get a hit, or I don't.

And for someone who can't get the new window down, the reverse is happening, and "bad timing" penalties are interfering with their at-bats, even at times where their timing wasn't that off and solid contact should have likely occurred.

So the root of the problem is that timing (the word, not the control scheme) is weighted too heavily in the hitting equation.

[Stolm]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

I'm definitely not a veteran of The Show. MLB 12 was my first experience with the franchise.But I did put an awful lot of time into it.

I started on All-Star (seemed like that was the default difficulty), picked zone + analog because that seemed the most realistic way to hit, challenging but rewarding.) Never touched the sliders, though at times I wanted to

At first I was terrible, late on everything, striking out way too often, moving the pci in time before swinging was near impossible. But I kept on playing, spending a lot of time in practice mode. Eventually after months of playing the game, my timing was great, no longer late on everything, was even pulling mid 90's fastballs on the inner half.

I was excited for MLB 13. As far as I was concerned MLB 12 was the most realistic sports game I had ever played and was looking forward to seeing all the improvements that had been made.

I noticed the game felt different as soon as I came up to bat my first time. Everything kinda of seemed a bit smoother. Not good, not bad, just different. Then I noticed the ball looked very odd coming in, very floaty, hard to pick up. Pitches seemed a little slower. Balls didn't seem to end up where they looked like they were going. Caught looking at lots of low strikes, which was never a problem before. Balls that I thought I crushed were popping up. The amount of pop-ups and deep fly balls I have seen is staggering, and I rarely see anything hit on a line.

From there I noticed I was extremely early on everything.

In MLB 12 I would anticipate where a ball would go and I would swing early to hit it in time.(like a real ball player would do) But now I was having to watch a ball almost to the plate before I would swing or I would pull it into the seats. (This is very easy to notice as I have looked at the distance the ball is from the plate when I start my swing, and the difference between the two games is massive. Like a 5-8 foot difference.)

The next thing I noticed was balls put in play never seem to go where they should, it feels like there is lots of under the hood simulation going on right as you strike the ball. The ball jumps off the bat at weird angles.

Basically i was shocked. I felt like I was playing a totally different game. I had heard about changes to the Timing Window to make hitting a little easier, but didnt expect such a dramatic change in the feel of the hitting. I was expecting it to be a little easier to pull a ball high and inside, but it seems like a total overhaul.

MLB 12 was challenging, very challenging, but I never felt cheated.
I can't say the same about 13.

I know there was a lot of talk of making the hitting easier to allow newer players to feel like they were accomplishing something, and to have higher scoring games, but if all this tweaking and overhauling was done to remedy that, it is a huge disservice to the players that spent the time to learn and improve in last years game.

I'm not sure if this is the norm with the game with each new iteration, because as I said 12 was my first experience with The Show. But I will now be extremely cautious when looking to purchase further versions.

[DJ]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

I'm definitely not a veteran of The Show. MLB 12 was my first experience with the franchise.But I did put an awful lot of time into it.

I started on All-Star (seemed like that was the default difficulty), picked zone + analog because that seemed the most realistic way to hit, challenging but rewarding.) Never touched the sliders, though at times I wanted to

At first I was terrible, late on everything, striking out way too often, moving the pci in time before swinging was near impossible. But I kept on playing, spending a lot of time in practice mode. Eventually after months of playing the game, my timing was great, no longer late on everything, was even pulling mid 90's fastballs on the inner half.

I was excited for MLB 13. As far as I was concerned MLB 12 was the most realistic sports game I had ever played and was looking forward to seeing all the improvements that had been made.

I noticed the game felt different as soon as I came up to bat my first time. Everything kinda of seemed a bit smoother. Not good, not bad, just different. Then I noticed the ball looked very odd coming in, very floaty, hard to pick up. Pitches seemed a little slower. Balls didn't seem to end up where they looked like they were going. Caught looking at lots of low strikes, which was never a problem before. Balls that I thought I crushed were popping up. The amount of pop-ups and deep fly balls I have seen is staggering, and I rarely see anything hit on a line.

From there I noticed I was extremely early on everything.

In MLB 12 I would anticipate where a ball would go and I would swing early to hit it in time.(like a real ball player would do) But now I was having to watch a ball almost to the plate before I would swing or I would pull it into the seats. (This is very easy to notice as I have looked at the distance the ball is from the plate when I start my swing, and the difference between the two games is massive. Like a 5-8 foot difference.)

The next thing I noticed was balls put in play never seem to go where they should, it feels like there is lots of under the hood simulation going on right as you strike the ball. The ball jumps off the bat at weird angles.

Basically i was shocked. I felt like I was playing a totally different game. I had heard about changes to the Timing Window to make hitting a little easier, but didnt expect such a dramatic change in the feel of the hitting. I was expecting it to be a little easier to pull a ball high and inside, but it seems like a total overhaul.

MLB 12 was challenging, very challenging, but I never felt cheated.
I can't say the same about 13.

I know there was a lot of talk of making the hitting easier to allow newer players to feel like they were accomplishing something, and to have higher scoring games, but if all this tweaking and overhauling was done to remedy that, it is a huge disservice to the players that spent the time to learn and improve in last years game.

I'm not sure if this is the norm with the game with each new iteration, because as I said 12 was my first experience with The Show. But I will now be extremely cautious when looking to purchase further versions.

I agree with a lot of points made here. Like you said, it feels like all the work we (the gamer) put into becoming good hitters in 12 was discredited with 13's release.

To gain perspective I played MLB 13 and 12 yesterday and my goodness, there's a very big difference in the two games. MLB 12, you really have to anticipate the pitch coming in and get your swing going early if you expect to pull a fastball. The ball travels faster to the plate, which makes reading pitches a little easier.

MLB 13 you are forced to sit back an extra beat before swinging. That delay in the swing basically negates what you had trained your brain to do the past 12 months. Having to wait longer on the pitch makes hitting off-speed pitches even tougher; it just never seems like you can swing with good timing. Swings that I know would've been late in MLB 12 are still labeled as "early" in MLB 13.

I also agree that the placement of the PCI and the ball location seems more random this year. In MLB 12 if I timed a pitch up I had a pretty good idea of where the ball was going to go. MLB 13, it's more of a crapshoot.

I can enjoy both games but I find myself playing MLB 12 more just because the hitting mechanic isn't as frustrating to me as 13.

[HechticSooner]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

I agree with a lot of points made here. Like you said, it feels like all the work we (the gamer) put into becoming good hitters in 12 was discredited with 13's release.

To gain perspective I played MLB 13 and 12 yesterday and my goodness, there's a very big difference in the two games. MLB 12, you really have to anticipate the pitch coming in and get your swing going early if you expect to pull a fastball. The ball travels faster to the plate, which makes reading pitches a little easier.

MLB 13 you are forced to sit back an extra beat before swinging. That delay in the swing basically negates what you had trained your brain to do the past 12 months. Having to wait longer on the pitch makes hitting off-speed pitches even tougher; it just never seems like you can swing with good timing. Swings that I know would've been late in MLB 12 are still labeled as "early" in MLB 13.

I also agree that the placement of the PCI and the ball location seems more random this year. In MLB 12 if I timed a pitch up I had a pretty good idea of where the ball was going to go. MLB 13, it's more of a crapshoot.

I can enjoy both games but I find myself playing MLB 12 more just because the hitting mechanic isn't as frustrating to me as 13.

THIS I used to feast on curveballs last year this year I can't time them up to save my life, and of course the CPU learns this and gives me a steady diet of them. I love the changes to hit veriety but come on why change the game from the perfection that was last year.

[Steven78]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

My last game against the CPU their pitcher threw something like 47 curveballs in 80 pitches. Needless to say I couldn't hit it to save my life. I just cant get my timing down on anything offspeed and I've been playing The Show since 2008.

[ptbnl]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

I've had a couple problems with the timing this year, one relating to the stride with Pure Analog.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out when I'm supposed to be taking a step anymore. Last year, I had no problem. I'd get a good or better stride timing most of the game.

Now, I seem to have too early or too late all the time. Rarely do I get good or perfect stride, and usually when I do, I am too late on the swing (or I'm concentrating too much on the stride and then am too distracted to hit).

I increased the stride window (supposedly to make it easier), but that didn't seem to help at all.

I guess I'm wondering when everyone else takes their stride on Pure Analog...

[DJ]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

I've had a couple problems with the timing this year, one relating to the stride with Pure Analog.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out when I'm supposed to be taking a step anymore. Last year, I had no problem. I'd get a good or better stride timing most of the game.

Now, I seem to have too early or too late all the time. Rarely do I get good or perfect stride, and usually when I do, I am too late on the swing (or I'm concentrating too much on the stride and then am too distracted to hit).

I increased the stride window (supposedly to make it easier), but that didn't seem to help at all.

I guess I'm wondering when everyone else takes their stride on Pure Analog...

Interesting ... I've found my timing to be better when using Analog than when I use Timing.

I pull back on the stick just as the pitcher gets ready to release the baseball.

[Stolm]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

I've had a couple problems with the timing this year, one relating to the stride with Pure Analog.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out when I'm supposed to be taking a step anymore. Last year, I had no problem. I'd get a good or better stride timing most of the game.

Now, I seem to have too early or too late all the time. Rarely do I get good or perfect stride, and usually when I do, I am too late on the swing (or I'm concentrating too much on the stride and then am too distracted to hit).

I increased the stride window (supposedly to make it easier), but that didn't seem to help at all.

I guess I'm wondering when everyone else takes their stride on Pure Analog...

Funny you mentioned this, as I am using Zone + Analog like I always have.

I jumped on and enabled the pitch/swing info box that I have always had disabled and noticed that I was getting lots of "Bad Stride" and "Early Stride" though I am not stepping any earlier or later than last year. I step just as I anticipate the ball coming out of the pitchers hand.

So I decided to take the stride out of the equation and go a couple games with just Zone hitting, and I am absolutely crushing the ball, line drives , no doubter homers. When I think Ive smoked the ball, it's actually reacting that way.

I'm not sure why stepping with your stride seems to have to be so much more accurate this year if the timing windows were opened. But that seems to be the problem with why I have been seeing so many weak fly balls and pop-ups.

[ptbnl]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

So I just played a game against a knuckleball pitcher and found out that it is impossible to hit against them.

I got schellacked of course, though I did hit two miracle homers (no ideas how), but I noticed something on the stride timing: it is ridiculous.

Throughout the entire game I had "just early" on everything even when I timed the stride right as the pitcher was releasing the ball. So I adjusted the slider. Still just early. I eventually moved the slider to zero (easiest stride timing) and I was STILL "just early".

Turns out your stride is on the pitch, not the pitcher. If I took my stride with the ball halfway to the plate, I would get a GOOD stride time. Not even perfect. I have no idea when to stride there, because if he throws anything else, you're going to be late. Oh, and guess pitch does not work against knuckleballs. I didn't get a single one right despite actually picking pitch and location correctly most of the game.

Whatever they to batting, they broke it. There was no need to change that aspect of the game.

[G3no_11]

Re: Let's discuss the new timing window

Oh, and guess pitch does not work against knuckleballs. I didn't get a single one right despite actually picking pitch and location correctly most of the game.

Whatever they to batting, they broke it. There was no need to change that aspect of the game.

You could never guess a knuckleballs location. At least I know you couldn't last year. I'm pretty sure you could guess the pitch, but since you guessed location, that wasn't going to show up either.