The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Everything looks phenomenal! And where it doesn't, you seems to know exactly how to adjust and what you need to improve on! Thanks for sharing!

Trojan, with those kind of comprehensive stats, it seems to me that you MIGHT be ready to do some final slider tweaking.

I say MIGHT because these stats are combined between Difficulty levels. But it paints such a comprehensive picture of your ability that a tweak or two at some point may be an excellent addition to the fluctuating difficulty.

But everything is SO CLOSE that you may be able to balance things out on your own without sliders. Like King said above, your stats look incredible and if you just continue to play as is, not only will it be fun, but super close to sim results.

Congratulations man.

[RogueHominid]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Trojan, with those kind of comprehensive stats, it seems to me that you MIGHT be ready to do some final slider tweaking.

I say MIGHT because these stats are combined between Difficulty levels. But it paints such a comprehensive picture of your ability that a tweak or two at some point may be an excellent addition to the fluctuating difficulty.

But everything is SO CLOSE that you may be able to balance things out on your own without sliders. Like King said above, your stats look incredible and if you just continue to play as is, not only will it be fun, but super close to sim results.

Congratulations man.

Thanks! From that statistical picture, which I believe is a good reflection of my ability, what kinds of minor adjustments would you consider?

Again, as someone who is learning the sport, it's not always easy for me to tell how close I am to realistic stats.

As a side-note, it was really fun to play all of Spring Training and get to know my players really well. Working on roster bubble players was the most fun, especially the bullpen competition for two lefty spots and the long-man role. I was really gunning for Milone to break into the bottom of the rotation or work as the long-man, but Straily and Gray totally earned their spots in the rotation and Chavez earned his role as the long man.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Thanks! From that statistical picture, which I believe is a good reflection of my ability, what kinds of minor adjustments would you consider?

Again, as someone who is learning the sport, it's not always easy for me to tell how close I am to realistic stats.

As a side-note, it was really fun to play all of Spring Training and get to know my players really well. Working on roster bubble players was the most fun, especially the bullpen competition for two lefty spots and the long-man role. I was really gunning for Milone to break into the bottom of the rotation or work as the long-man, but Straily and Gray totally earned their spots in the rotation and Chavez earned his role as the long man.

Tell you what. If you add up all of those numbers, and divide them so they are presented as "per game" stats, I'll give you my two cents (just team stats, not player).

We can take that to PM though. Honestly, just quickly glancing at it, you might not need to change anything.

[KingV2k3]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Tell you what. If you add up all of those numbers, and divide them so they are presented as "per game" stats, I'll give you my two cents (just team stats, not player).

We can take that to PM though. Honestly, just quickly glancing at it, you might not need to change anything.

ST is kind of a relatively "small sample", so I'd agree, that it's prob best to leave your sliders alone until around you're anywhere from 24 to 40 games or so into the season...

Esp. the batting ones...

IF you were to mess with the pitching, I'd suggest lowering EITHER control or consistency to 4 and see if that bumps the ERA/ WHIP up a bit...

If it still doesn't, then I'd lower the "other" to 4 and quit while you're ahead...



Hard to quibble with your results though...

Impressive!

[DJ]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

The Blue Jays are one of the best HR hitting teams in baseball. Jose Bautista is one of the best home run hitters of our generation.

Long story short, a stretch of two dingers a game with TOR is MORE than acceptable and realistic.

That said, HR's really inflate OPS so if it gets out of whack, DD will promote you.

Yep. I used the Blue Jays in MLB 13, just because I wanted to use a team that had the ability to blast the ball out of the ball park. Can't blame me after using the Mets the past several years.

Anyway, those HR numbers look comparable to what I was putting up last year. You've got guys that when they get a hold of the ball, it's going to go a long way. The downside to Toronto is the high K numbers, weak pitching staff and mediocre defense.

[RogueHominid]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

ST is kind of a relatively "small sample", so I'd agree, that it's prob best to leave your sliders alone until around you're anywhere from 24 to 40 games or so into the season...

Esp. the batting ones...

IF you were to mess with the pitching, I'd suggest lowering EITHER control or consistency to 4 and see if that bumps the ERA/ WHIP up a bit...

If it still doesn't, then I'd lower the "other" to 4 and quit while you're ahead...



Hard to quibble with your results though...

Impressive!

Thanks, bud! I've been meaning to PM you back, so I'll chat with you more via PM shortly, but this is helpful.

I've been pleased with the challenge the mode presents; I'm normally way above .500.

As my pitching level settles in at All Star, I'm sure the WHIP will come up. I will say, though, as OAK, I have an embarrassment of riches in the rotation and in the pen, so I anticipate some good stretches like this where we flat-out mow people down. Over the long-haul, those younger guys with lesser consistency will even things out. Straily and Gray each had one positively abysmal outing where they struggled mightily with control. I think that will be an issue with them in year one.

Awesome feedback, though, again, so thanks!

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

ST is kind of a relatively "small sample", so I'd agree, that it's prob best to leave your sliders alone until around you're anywhere from 24 to 40 games or so into the season...

Esp. the batting ones...

IF you were to mess with the pitching, I'd suggest lowering EITHER control or consistency to 4 and see if that bumps the ERA/ WHIP up a bit...

If it still doesn't, then I'd lower the "other" to 4 and quit while you're ahead...



Hard to quibble with your results though...

Impressive!

Moving them all to 4 seems a little extreme considering the sample size and him being on Rookie for some of it.

His doubles hit do seem drastically low too. But that will increase as he improves his hitting. Since he's been in ST only, we have to keep in mind CPU starters are being subbed so early stamina hasn't even been a factor yet.

[RabidPanther]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Have been doing a lot of reading on this thread, and been taking mental notes of everyone's experience. So, today and tonight I have a lot of free time to start a sample season with my Braves and relay all my input from it.

For beginners I'm not that great at hitting mainly because I'm not patient and swing at everything, and if anyone has any tips for that would be great, like maybe the pitch speed slider? Lol I would probably evaluate myself as a Veteran hitter, but for pitching I would probably grade myself as an All-Star border line HoF possibly.

Still debating if I should do a QC because everyone else is doing it or play it regularly. Any opinions?

Hitting; since I am not very comfortable with it I'll probably spend time splitting up my games with the different options. (Analog, Timing, and Zone) probably do 1/3 of my games in Spring Training with each. Which would be best to learn with? Or is it all personal preference?

Pitching; I use Analog. Sometimes I'll do pulse but for this test I'll exclusively use Analog.

And here is to an awesome game and to everyone

[KBLover]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Anyone doesn't use quick counts but does use dynamic difficulty?

How is it working out? Will pitchers issue walks on the lower levels without quick counts? Does difficulty no longer impact pitcher strategy (i.e. pound the zone a lot on lower levels, try to nibble and confuse you on higher levels)?

Walks are the #1 issue I have with this game in general. I know QC makes it "easier" since you might get a 3-ball count to begin your PA, but I don't know if I'm going to be that heavy a QC user since I like to work PAs from the start both on the mound and at the plate.

[bcruise]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Anyone doesn't use quick counts but does use dynamic difficulty?

How is it working out? Will pitchers issue walks on the lower levels without quick counts? Does difficulty no longer impact pitcher strategy (i.e. pound the zone a lot on lower levels, try to nibble and confuse you on higher levels)?

Walks are the #1 issue I have with this game in general. I know QC makes it "easier" since you might get a 3-ball count to begin your PA, but I don't know if I'm going to be that heavy a QC user since I like to work PAs from the start both on the mound and at the plate.

On the lower levels (by which I mean Rookie - Veteran+) .... not really. Starting on All-Star the CPU is more likely to try and make you chase in the late counts, which will lead to more walks if you're patient enough. That's why I need the contact swing to take BB's, in a nutshell.

It will occasionally get wild and issue 4 and 5 pitch walks too, though these seem more likely to happen if you're hitting the ball hard and the CPU is forced to nibble.

So long as I can stay around a 50-55% take rate on All-Star and above, the walks are usually there for me unless I'm swinging at ball 4.

Edit: 2 minutes after posting...swung at ball 4.

[bcruise]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

BTW, that 50-55 percent take rate isn't something I'm just pulling out of my butt. There's a very interesting bit in the strategy guide that talks about the MLB averages for 6 different parts of the game:





So basically, if you're able to pull that off in a game, you're probably pretty close to a realistic game. Take % is by far the hardest to duplicate, but it is absolutely vital to drawing the right number of walks.

[Jgainsey]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Anyone doesn't use quick counts but does use dynamic difficulty?

How is it working out? Will pitchers issue walks on the lower levels without quick counts? Does difficulty no longer impact pitcher strategy (i.e. pound the zone a lot on lower levels, try to nibble and confuse you on higher levels)?

Walks are the #1 issue I have with this game in general. I know QC makes it "easier" since you might get a 3-ball count to begin your PA, but I don't know if I'm going to be that heavy a QC user since I like to work PAs from the start both on the mound and at the plate.

I've played 10-15 games using DD(No QC for me), and I had to start over a couple of times due to my progress not saving in TSL.. Which is to say I've been playing a ton of Rookie - Vet+ lately, and the walks don't seem to be there on the lower difficulty levels.

The hits are there though, lol. I think I put up like 20 or 21 hits against the Red Sox last night.

It got me thinking though... I can certainly see why so many people have trouble transitioning from the lower levels to AS or HOF. It's really a different brand of baseball at those levels. And that's not a knock on SCEA, I'm sure the vast majority of customers don't have the slightest clue about strike% and walk rates. They just wanna turn the game on and slap the ball around for a little while.

I haven't played enough to come to a final opinion or anything close to that when it comes to DD. But if I were were giving advice to a sim oriented Show-noob, I may just tell that person to start off on AS or HOF, and see if you can struggle your way through the learning curve.

I say that, because now that I've spent a little time with rookie and now Vet+, I can already feel the bad habits creeping into my approach. We'll see though, DD may very well be worth it after a while if you're able to settle into a sweet spot with a few slider tweaks.

[RogueHominid]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Moving them all to 4 seems a little extreme considering the sample size and him being on Rookie for some of it.

His doubles hit do seem drastically low too. But that will increase as he improves his hitting. Since he's been in ST only, we have to keep in mind CPU starters are being subbed so early stamina hasn't even been a factor yet.

I was concerned about doubles as well. I think if Moss, Donaldson, and Cespedes heat up (they were all really cold in ST), my doubles will increase. I had gotten a lot of Ks with those guys, and a lot of rocket shots for outs with them too.

But it sounds like proceeding full-steam ahead is an okay strategy, and I'll keep touching base with results as the sample size increases and I get a better foundation for impressions.

[bcruise]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Here's an example of the above stats from my last game:



Walked twice, struck out 3 times. K's are still low even on AS+ (I did promote up to that), but I'm getting a few more each game. I near-promoted to HOF a few games ago and I might try that to get some more contact swing whiffs (that's still why I'm not striking out, of course).

Take % was a bit low, but missed was up which means I missed a lot of middle-count swings. I don't tend to worry about hit and out% as much as those other four since a number of factors go into what makes it one or the other.

Still not a bad game, and the 2nd walk came leading off the 8th inning, which was followed up by the game-winning 2 run HR.

[KingV2k3]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Moving them all to 4 seems a little extreme considering the sample size and him being on Rookie for some of it.

His doubles hit do seem drastically low too. But that will increase as he improves his hitting. Since he's been in ST only, we have to keep in mind CPU starters are being subbed so early stamina hasn't even been a factor yet.

Well to clarify, my suggestion was to move only one of the two for the HUM to 4, but as you correctly stated, even that's premature because of the "rookie ramp up"...

I was concerned about doubles as well. I think if Moss, Donaldson, and Cespedes heat up (they were all really cold in ST), my doubles will increase. I had gotten a lot of Ks with those guys, and a lot of rocket shots for outs with them too.

But it sounds like proceeding full-steam ahead is an okay strategy, and I'll keep touching base with results as the sample size increases and I get a better foundation for impressions.

One of the other things that will raise your doubles is using zone to time pitches to hit into the opposite field gap...

Sitting back (a tiny bit) on a pitch will do that as well...

I usually get the hang of that every year after playing for a good bit...

That being said:

The guys you mentioned will heat up at some point (esp. Cespedes) and rake a few doubles, as will Crisp...just because of his relative speed...and Reddick who can get hot...

Overall, the more these get looked at and discussed, the more impressed I am with the game "out of the box" on these settings...