The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

[Brandwin]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

But remember, for me, the PS3 version is temporary. I'll be upgrading May 6th. And the idea of having to 'start over' because of profiles not transferring is daunting and I really hate to have to DO THIS all over.

Again, I'm in it for the long haul here but Nemesis makes a point that I was echoing over and over while playing last night. And on top of it, I REALLY REALLY don't want to have to do this again on the PS4.

Wait, profiles will not transfer from PS3 to PS4? If not, I will probably not use Dynamic Difficulty and just find some sliders that work for me. Like you said, no point into trying to get it right just to start over.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Wait, profiles will not transfer from PS3 to PS4? If not, I will probably not use Dynamic Difficulty and just find some sliders that work for me. Like you said, no point into trying to get it right just to start over.

Well to be honest, I'm not sure! Bcruise said that in previous years, Cloud transfers didn't include Profiles (which is what DD attaches itself to). I cannot verify this myself.

[bcruise]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Well to be honest, I'm not sure! Bcruise said that in previous years, Cloud transfers didn't include Profiles (which is what DD attaches itself to). I cannot verify this myself.

Yeah, that's a negative. Settings profiles are platform-specific - They don't carry over in the cloud save. I just tried it on the Vita.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Yeah, that's a negative. Settings profiles are platform-specific - They don't carry over in the cloud save. I just tried it on the Vita.

That's really kind of a bummer. I'd guess it'll take me four days at least to recalibrate my Difficulty. LOL! Kind of the last thing I wanted to do after finally getting Next-Gen baseball. Maybe I'll get it done in two days if I take a vacation though.

But I'll do it. Loving this mode right now. Especially if I end up on a plus which I'm fully expecting (because you actually can't do that without DD!).

How do you plan on approaching this? You getting the PS4 version?

[bcruise]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

That's really kind of a bummer. I'd guess it'll take me four days at least to recalibrate my Difficulty. LOL! Kind of the last thing I wanted to do after finally getting Next-Gen baseball. Maybe I'll get it done in two days if I take a vacation though.

But I'll do it. Loving this mode right now. Especially if I end up on a plus which I'm fully expecting (because you actually can't do that without DD!).

How do you plan on approaching this? You getting the PS4 version?

Yeah I hear you on repeating it. Honestly I'm not sure I'd want to either. But like I said, I pretty much locked into AllStar hitting enough to where I'm comfortable just using the normal AS setting. And I'm pretty much there on pitching as well now - peaks and valleys like I mentioned, but never promoting or demoting.

I am most definitely getting the PS4 version. I don't anticipate the gameplay being too much different so I think I'll be able to go right to AS on there too.

BTW (bit off topic), I'm having some absolutely fantastic individual games on AllStar right now, with only one slider change (you aren't going to believe this...) - pitch speed maxed!

My thinking is that I tend to second-guess myself on swinging and sometimes lock up on pitches I should swing at. I don't have time to do that with the speed upped - it's my first thought or bust. That, combined with the catcher zoom camera that's giving me a good look at those high fastballs I can't lay off of, is really helping my plate approach. Whether I'll keep the pitch speed change I'm not sure, but it's certainly not hurting me right now and might actually be helping!

Walks might be low, but I'm actually averaging 1 or 2 a game now instead of just lucking into one. The counts are fine - lots of 2-0 and 3-1. I've also broken out the contact swing on two strikes in order to keep the AB's going, and it's led directly to a few walks.

I've never seen the game play this well on default.

I'm probably going to stream for a bit later on (weather permitting - power went out for a while earlier today), just some season mode gameplay while I see what the stats look like. If you have time to watch maybe you can see what I'm talking about. I'll post in the video thread when I go live.

[Mabster]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

The most common starting counts are 1-1 and 2-1 , followed by the 3-2, 2-2, and 2-1 counts.

Is one of those supposed to be 2-0?

[Brian SCEA]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Is one of those supposed to be 2-0?

It's a typo, it should read 1-2 not 2-1. Thanks for noticing!

[ckarlic]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Hustlin, you were right. The box scores are a little off in the universal profile. The score was right but the hits were off. Just played a QC game and both the nats and mets had 3 hits according to my universal profile. The Nats should of had 11 hits while the Mets should of had 3 hits.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I think this mode is brilliant in theory, but it's flawed in two ways:

1) As others have mentioned, let us choose a starting point.

2) It only takes into account runs...I'm loading the bases, never striking out, but won't level up unless I score 3 runs.

I hope this becomes more, well, dynamic because it's a brilliant concept; I'd love to see it examine a box score and adjust individual sliders.

I think I may move back to sliders for now...

[Mabster]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

2) It only takes into account runs...I'm loading the bases, never striking out, but won't level up unless I score 3 runs.

Where'd you come up with that? As stated in the guide and posted by Brian a few back, OPS is the main thing that influences change.

[bcruise]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I think this mode is brilliant in theory, but it's flawed in two ways:

1) As others have mentioned, let us choose a starting point.

2) It only takes into account runs...I'm loading the bases, never striking out, but won't level up unless I score 3 runs.

I hope this becomes more, well, dynamic because it's a brilliant concept; I'd love to see it examine a box score and adjust individual sliders.

I think I may move back to sliders for now...

Brian quoted the strategy guide earlier in this thread that says progress (or lack of it) is measured by OPS. Based on my 20+ games with it I'd have to agree that it's working as intended. Big innings are of course the main way to raise it, so a few innings with doubles, triples or homeruns (which add more to the slugging part of the OPS equation) could get you promoted up from Rookie+ to Vet in one game like it did for me. The idea being that if you're truly too good for a difficulty level, it won't be long before you break out with several big innings.

I think it's a great start, but it could use a little refinement as others have mentioned. It's odd that while I've seen the main complaint be how hard it is to move up, I'd almost like to see the progress threshold increased for promotion/demotion - again, because once I hit a desired difficulty level, I wouldn't want a prolonged streak or slump to move me off of that level. I'm fortunate that one of the normal difficulty levels is my sweet spot and I don't have to use dynamic to stay on that level.

The best solution would be to make all of the + levels selectable though, as mentioned previously. Then everybody's happy once they find a good level.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Oh that's right mabs! Good news!

[Mike Lowe]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Brian quoted the strategy guide earlier in this thread that says progress (or lack of it) is measured by OPS. Based on my 20+ games with it I'd have to agree that it's working as intended. Big innings are of course the main way to raise it, so a few innings with doubles, triples or homeruns (which add more to the slugging part of the OPS equation) could get you promoted up from Rookie+ to Vet in one game like it did for me. The idea being that if you're truly too good for a difficulty level, it won't be long before you break out with several big innings.

I think it's a great start, but it could use a little refinement as others have mentioned. It's odd that while I've seen the main complaint be how hard it is to move up, I'd almost like to see the progress threshold increased for promotion/demotion - again, because once I hit a desired difficulty level, I wouldn't want a prolonged streak or slump to move me off of that level. I'm fortunate that one of the normal difficulty levels is my sweet spot and I don't have to use dynamic to stay on that level.

Yeah especially that last part. I'd hate for DD to bail out a slumping team...although those dips should still be able to be withstood based on prior history...I think?

[Mike Lowe]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

A ton of throwing errors from AI IF too...

I'll stick with DD for now!

[RogueHominid]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

OK, fellas, I have some stats and impressions. Before I get to those, let me establish the parameters of my experiments so far.

*All testing is done in Spring Training with OAK, using Dynamic Difficulty for batting and pitching.

*I played at regular speed for 5 games, then played the next 6 games using Quick Counts, as that's the mode I'll likely use as my base for my franchise.

* After the first 5 games, I switched from total analog to timing hitting and classic pitching, as these are the preferences of most of the people I know. That way, the bulk of my data now and all of it going forward will be transferrable/usable to those who play that way.

Current DD Status:
*Batting, Rookie +
*Pitching Veteran + with some occasional progress to ++ and some regression.

Record: 4-7
Team BA: .206 (101 K, 34 BB)
Team SLG: .381 (373 AB, 18 HR, 9 2B, 1 3B)
Team OBP: .272 (373 AB, 34 BB)
Team ERA: 2.58 (101.1 IP, 7 HR allowed, 21 BB, 99 K, WHIP 1.08)

Impressions on stats:
* Hitting: I went through an abysmal 5-game stretch where I was struggling too much with analog, which wasn't a problem last year, so my team BA has risen steadily and I feel that I'm getting a nice array of hit types. I actually think DD is giving me great hitting adjustments on the fly, and Rookie + shouldn't fool you. I've been dominated by good pitchers, and have had my days vs. lesser ones.

*Pitching: My staff started off unbelievably good, but as I've approached Veteran +, things have gotten more realistic. My last 5 scores were an 8-0 win vs. MIL, a 5-1 W vs. ARI, a 2-7 L vs. ARI, a 2-7 L vs. COL, and a 4-3 W vs. CWS. I believe that going forward my team ERA will become increasingly realistic.

On Slider Adjustments:
* With the exception of pitch speed, which I set to 0 because I'm old, I have left everything else alone at default and I honestly don't feel like I will need to touch sliders for a long time.

On QC:
* QC is giving me lots of diverse counts and it makes every at-bat unique and fun.
* The walks are there to be had for disciplined hitters. I started off really poorly, but in my last 5 games, my walk totals were 2, 3, 5, 4, and 6.
* The K numbers feel high to me, but I've taken LOTS of borderline strikes and have been the victim of variable strike zones quite a bit, so they will come down and are a product of an approach to hitting that emphasizes seeing pitches and working for walks and OBP.

The takeaway here is that DD is giving me a good challenge, as evidenced by my record, and that it's giving me stats that make sense when all factors are considered. I feel no need to mess with sliders, as my focus there is typically on trying to find ways to make the CPU give up walks. That problem is gone. I think my own P should give up some more walks, so that's the one thing I'll keep an eye out for going forward, but I can tell that pitching is getting harder and I'll likely opt to paint the edges more and risk walks rather than challenging elite hitters too often.

Not having to worry about tweaking has really allowed me to cut loose and enjoy the game, and that's pretty terrific. Instead of worrying about numbers, I'm immersed in the emergent narrative of my team's progress.

I will be happy to answer any more specific questions, give more stats if you just let me know which ones you want, and generally be as much help as possible for those of you curious about the DD experience.

Also, please feel free to critique my results and offer a purist's perspective. I'm new to baseball as a serious fan so I have a less developed sense of what all these numbers should be than many of you do. Remember, though, that the sample size is still relatively small.

Aside from answering specific questions, I'll offer more stats at 20 games.