The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

[Jgainsey]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Wow, I can't believe I missed this... Had no idea it was in the game this year.

From what I've read here, it definitely seems like it would be worth taking for a spin.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Wow, I can't believe I missed this... Had no idea it was in the game this year.

From what I've read here, it definitely seems like it would be worth taking for a spin.

I never get tired of that Avatar, Jgainsey! Is that your dog?

It seems based on early feedback in the thread here that it will probably take between 10-20 games for the system to begin plateauing. With QC's, at least.

I love it so far.

[jake44np]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I have played about 15 games with it and I am now getting great games with it.

[RogueHominid]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I'm now 15 games in, so I figured I'd give a quick statistical update.

My hitting level is ranging between Rookie + and Rookie ++. My pitching level is ranging between Veteran + and Veteran +++.

My record is 6-9.

Hitting stats:
* Team BA of .231
* Team SLG of .400
* Team OBP of .302
* 523 AB, 121 H, 58 R, 12 2B, 2 3B, 24 HR, 52 BB, 131 K

Pitching Stats:
* Team ERA of 3.29
* 139.1 IP, 127 H, 63 R/ 51 ER, 13 HR, 40 BB, 136 K
* WHIP 1.20
* K/9 9.034

Impressions:

I'm getting a variety of challenging games, as my 6-9 record shows. I'm having dominating pitching performances and outings where good guys get shelled. I'm having offensive swings where I score 2 runs, then score 9 the next game.

The things that would normally make me look to sliders and make adjustments are ALL taken care of with DD. I'm getting enough BB on my own, giving up enough when I pitch, losing enough games to feel like things are competitive. In combination with QC, I feel like every game is unique and immersive.

So all in all, a continued two thumbs up! More stats at 20 games or so...

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Just a heads up....

If you guys boot up the game with the sole reason of testing something (in my case, I've been testing QC's BB to K ratio stuff), make sure to turn OFF DD. LOL! Got promoted to HOF pitching against my will and got hammered.

Had to "throw" a game to get back to AS+ so I could continue my testing. LOL!

Hope the League doesn't discover this incident and permanently ban me.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I'm now 15 games in, so I figured I'd give a quick statistical update.

My hitting level is ranging between Rookie + and Rookie ++. My pitching level is ranging between Veteran + and Veteran +++.

My record is 6-9.

Hitting stats:
* Team BA of .231
* Team SLG of .400
* Team OBP of .302
* 523 AB, 121 H, 58 R, 12 2B, 2 3B, 24 HR, 52 BB, 131 K

Pitching Stats:
* Team ERA of 3.29
* 139.1 IP, 127 H, 63 R/ 51 ER, 13 HR, 40 BB, 136 K
* WHIP 1.20
* K/9 9.034

Impressions:

I'm getting a variety of challenging games, as my 6-9 record shows. I'm having dominating pitching performances and outings where good guys get shelled. I'm having offensive swings where I score 2 runs, then score 9 the next game.

The things that would normally make me look to sliders and make adjustments are ALL taken care of with DD. I'm getting enough BB on my own, giving up enough when I pitch, losing enough games to feel like things are competitive. In combination with QC, I feel like every game is unique and immersive.

So all in all, a continued two thumbs up! More stats at 20 games or so...

Yeah, I'm getting a nice variety too. At least on offense. Are you using QC's?

Got shutout in game one last night, put up 9 in game two, and was being no hit thru 5 innings before bed in game three.

Lately I've been testing BB to K ratios with frontline starters so I haven't given up hardly any runs lately. I understand that's probably why but I hope this trend doesn't continue on AS+. Definitely NOT ready for HOF! LOL!

[DJ]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I'm now 15 games in, so I figured I'd give a quick statistical update.

My hitting level is ranging between Rookie + and Rookie ++. My pitching level is ranging between Veteran + and Veteran +++.

My record is 6-9.

Hitting stats:
* Team BA of .231
* Team SLG of .400
* Team OBP of .302
* 523 AB, 121 H, 58 R, 12 2B, 2 3B, 24 HR, 52 BB, 131 K

Pitching Stats:
* Team ERA of 3.29
* 139.1 IP, 127 H, 63 R/ 51 ER, 13 HR, 40 BB, 136 K
* WHIP 1.20
* K/9 9.034

Impressions:

I'm getting a variety of challenging games, as my 6-9 record shows. I'm having dominating pitching performances and outings where good guys get shelled. I'm having offensive swings where I score 2 runs, then score 9 the next game.

The things that would normally make me look to sliders and make adjustments are ALL taken care of with DD. I'm getting enough BB on my own, giving up enough when I pitch, losing enough games to feel like things are competitive. In combination with QC, I feel like every game is unique and immersive.

So all in all, a continued two thumbs up! More stats at 20 games or so...

That's great news!

I played my first game last night. I didn't budge off of Rookie + for hitting and was Rookie ++ for pitching (used Timing and Classic as I was playing on the a Vita). Was close to moving up to Veteran for pitching but gave up a 3-run HR late so the final score wound up being 6-4.

The combination of QC and DD already makes MLB 14 like a completely new experience from all of the previous MLB games I have played. While MLB. 10-13 were all great games, I don't know if there was a big year-to-year leap. I feel like 14 made that leap.

[NinjaGigolo]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Like others, I am enjoying QC a lot. DD I can't figure out. I am at rookie using timing only hitting but I seem to only score due to HRs. I never string together 4-5 hits for a nice rally. Pitching is at Veteran +++ and feels perfect. I also see a little rubber banding going on. I am 14 games in and think it should start doing that less.

Anyone else seeing any of this.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I'm seeing a lack of walks on both sides. Are you guys seeing this? I use classic pitching, and I have a good eye in this game over the years; I usually average a walk every 10 AB's. I think I have 2-3 through 3 games. Granted, I'm still early in the DD game here, but I don't think walks should be that drastically different.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I'm seeing a lack of walks on both sides. Are you guys seeing this? I use classic pitching, and I have a good eye in this game over the years; I usually average a walk every 10 AB's. I think I have 2-3 through 3 games. Granted, I'm still early in the DD game here, but I don't think walks should be that drastically different.

I've only used QC's this year and walks are plentiful. Are you speaking of full games? If so, if you're still on Veteran, at least from years past, hitting-wise, walks tend to be low on that level.

As for your pitching with Classic, if you're on Veteran, expect to give up a ton of walks as DD advances you. That said, the game can only do so much if you always aim at the heart of the zone.

[Mabster]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

My hitting level is ranging between Rookie + and Rookie ++. My pitching level is ranging between Veteran + and Veteran +++.

I played my first game last night. I didn't budge off of Rookie + for hitting and was Rookie ++ for pitching

Pitching is at Veteran +++ and feels perfect.

These confuse me. Using DD with RTTS there are only regular levels and one + level. i. e. Rookie then Rookie+ then Veteran then Veteran+

There is Rookie with +++ progress towards advancing to Rookie+. Then you could earn your way up to be at Rookie+ with +++ progress towards Vet.

There are no Rookie +++ or Veteran ++ etc.

Using TM's post as an example, I don't understand if on Rookie with + progress or Rookie+ with + progress. Veteran with + to +++ progress or Veteran+ with ++ progress....

[bcruise]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

These confuse me. Using DD with RTTS there are only regular levels and one + level. i. e. Rookie then Rookie+ then Veteran then Veteran+

There is Rookie with +++ progress towards advancing to Rookie+. Then you could earn your way up to be at Rookie+ with +++ progress towards Vet.

There are no Rookie +++ or Veteran ++ etc.

Using TM's post as an example, I don't understand if on Rookie with + progress or Rookie+ with + progress. Veteran with + to +++ progress or Veteran+ with ++ progress....

Yeah, people might want to specify whether they're referring to the difficulty or the progress. Brian did like my post about the progress + and -'s not affecting difficulty, so we can probably assume that's true.

Just seperate the difficulty from the progress when you mention them and I think we'll all be on the same page.

[nemesis04]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

Yeah, people might want to specify whether they're referring to the difficulty or the progress. Brian did like my post about the progress + and -'s not affecting difficulty, so we can probably assume that's true.

Just seperate the difficulty from the progress when you mention them and I think we'll all be on the same page.

Yeah it looks like people are getting their progress and difficulty all tangled up!

Also, I thought this mode started on Rookie+?

[nomo17k]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I think the idea of DD (not to be confused with Diamond Dynasty) is great, but I agree with the frustration of having to start over from Rookie+. Having an option to choose the starting difficulty level would have been nice.

An idea to accelerate the initial process before your DD plateaus is to play a very good MLB team against a poor AA team. If the only criteria that the game uses is OPS, then this should help.

[duc748s]

Re: The Dynamic Difficulty Discussion Thread

I've only used QC's this year and walks are plentiful. Are you speaking of full games? If so, if you're still on Veteran, at least from years past, hitting-wise, walks tend to be low on that level.

As for your pitching with Classic, if you're on Veteran, expect to give up a ton of walks as DD advances you. That said, the game can only do so much if you always aim at the heart of the zone.

So far I have noticed a mixture of No walk games and games where I walk 3 or 4 batters. But the weird thing is that the walks don't feel cheap like in previous years (using Meter Pitching) when it felt like the game threw your pitch off course to get that walk. On the other end I am seeing a lot more chases out of the zone, especially when I set up batters. This is on Veteran + (with ++ to +++ )

Did hitting get harder this year? spent time in batting practice to just get the hang of it. I never was great, but I can't seem to string together hits. Guess DD will stay on Rookie for that one :-)