Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

[bloodyredsox]

Hey everyone,

I have been playing MLB The Show now since the very first day it was released in 2006. I love it, i really do from the graffics to all the diffrent types of games, and most of all season mode. Since i started playing this game i have played with default hitting sliders and adjusted the glodbal sliders as only needed. I felt last years version was by far the best version of any of the show series. I have played over 200 games so far since this years version was realeased, and i CAN NOT figuere this game out. I have litterally no clue what to do. I always play on All star level with pitching and hitting. I can not play on any other level its either far to easy or far to hard. Since Pcychobulk has realeased his sliders i always use his global sliders and use default hiting sliders. This is just not working.

I have continuously tweaked contact from 5 to 6, power from 4 to 5, and from timing hitting to zone. I'm almost certain that I want to play on zone as this is what I have done every year. I just cant get any consistent offense to matter what I try. These are the sliders I have been using for the most part.
Contact - 5 or 6
Human Power - 5 or 4
Human Timing - 5
Human Foul Frequency - 5
Human Solid Hits - 5
Human Starter Stamina - 5
Human Reliever Stamina - 2
Human Pitcher Control - 5
Human Pitcher Consistency - 5
CPU Contact - 5 or 6
CPU Power - 5 or 4
CPU Timing - 5
CPU Foul Frequency - 5
CPU Solid Hits - 5
CPU Starter Stamina - 5
CPU Reliever Stamina - 2
CPU Pitcher Control - 5
CPU Pitcher Consistency - 5
CPU Strike Frequency - 5
CPU Manager Hook - 5
CPU Pickoffs - 5
Pitch Speed - 5
Fielding Errors - 7
Throwing Errors - 5
Fielder Run Speed - 2
Fielder Reaction - 5
Fielder Arm Strength - 3
Baserunner Speed - 4
Baserunner Steal Ability - 4
Baserunner Steal Frequency - 5
Wind - 3

I really do not like playing with sliders but the lack of offense and scores of games are so limited it has made just not want to play any more. Its not that I cant hit its that iv always been able to hit and hit very well, but for some reason I just cant get the hang of this years version. Although I can not say for sure this might be the dumbest thread iv ever read on this site, but I don't know what else to do. Whatever advise any one could give would be apreciated.

[Bobhead]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

Can you be more specific? What's actually happening? Are you striking out too much? Hitting balls but flying out too much? Timing issues? I can't really give you a definite solution without a definite description of the problem.

Looking back on the problems I used to have, my first suggestion is usually to lower Contact and increase Solid Hits. Don't use Power Swing, and don't use Guess Pitch - no, not even once - until you've gotten comfortable behind the plate.

Why lower Contact? Well first of all sometimes missing the ball can be a good thing. It will turn that first pitch fly ball into just strike 1, and give you a few more chances to get things right. It increases foul balls (technically speaking, they are staying the same, but since everything else is decreasing, this becomes a relative increase), and does a few other things that will take some of your stress away.

This explanation could go on forever (not that I fully understand myself), but all in all my summarized theory is that it is so easy to put balls into fair play on Veteran/All Star difficulty levels, that you end up hitting pitches you completely misread, and putting things in play that have no business being put in play, and of course while this increases your chance for a hit, it also increases your chance for an out, and since outs are already more frequent than hits (.300 hitters are making outs 7/10 times), you are going to notice the former more often than anything else.

I also want to make it clear that I'm only talking about Zone hitting here. When you are aiming your swing, you'd prefer to completely miss a pitch for strike 1 or 2, than put one in play for an easy out. This doesn't at all apply to Timing or Analog, since the higher Contact only helps you, since the game aims the PCI for you, and this slider is part of the equation.

Try a Contact of 3 and a Solid Hits of 7 for starters... Also try reducing the Fielder Speed slider by a few points, not really relevant to your troubles, but it is almost a unanimous opinion across this board that they run too quickly, and a speed reduction will surely add a few hits per game.

[bloodyredsox]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

Thanks Bobhead,

The main problem is an overall offensive problem. Batting averages are way to low, i don't ever get a big innings. when i play with default hitting sliders i might hit the ball with more authority but far to little amount of hits such as 4 runs on 6 hits. when i use contact at 6 and power at 4 i get more hits but mostly all singles no power. when i reduce power its a pitchers duel every game and the computer really struggles. The following are the sliders i used from last years version, i posted a thread " how to make the sliders like last years" but no one really commented on it. Yes i would say i pop up to much, and hit ground balls far to often.
Contact - 5
Human Power - 5
Human Timing - 5
Human Foul Frequency - 5
Human Solid Hits - 5
Human Starter Stamina - 5
Human Reliever Stamina - 3
Human Pitcher Control - 5
Human Pitcher Consistency - 5
CPU Contact - 5
CPU Power - 5
CPU Timing - 5
CPU Foul Frequency - 5
CPU Solid Hits - 5
CPU Starter Stamina - 5
CPU Reliever Stamina - 3
CPU Pitcher Control - 5
CPU Pitcher Consistency - 5
CPU Strike Frequency - 5
CPU Manager Hook - 5
CPU Pickoffs - 5
Pitch Speed - 5
Fielding Errors - 5
Throwing Errors - 5
Fielder Run Speed - 1
Fielder Reaction - 10
Fielder Arm Strength - 3
Baserunner Speed - 5
Baserunner Steal Ability - 5
Baserunner Steal Frequency - 5
Wind - 5

[Bobhead]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

Your description screams the same thing I've always noticed, which is that the CPU pitchers become empowered with the spirit of Jesus when there are runners in scoring position. You are still welcome to try what I said earlier, but now I definitely believe your problem is not in your incompetent offense, but in the overly competent pitching you are facing.

Try lowering CPU Pitch Consistency and CPU Pitch Control each a few points, and I can almost guarantee it will feel like a new game. If I remember correctly, I had Control and Consistency at 4/2, respectively (you probably could also do to drop Strike Frequency 1 point, to counteract the increased number of "meatballs" this brings).

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

"Empowered by the spirit of Jesus."....

LOL!

I've been playing on pretty much default HOF (Timing/Meter), with the exception of CPU Consistency and Strike Frequency at 4.

I've recently run into a stretch where I've had slightly too MUCH offense in my end, and decided to bring them both back to default.

Uh...see Bobead's quote above.

I'd suggest tinkering with these and reducing the pitch speed.

[pberardi]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

"Empowered by the spirit of Jesus."....

LOL!

I've been playing on pretty much default HOF (Timing/Meter), with the exception of CPU Consistency and Strike Frequency at 4.

I've recently run into a stretch where I've had slightly too MUCH offense in my end, and decided to bring them both back to default.

Uh...see Bobead's quote above.

I'd suggest tinkering with these and reducing the pitch speed.

after studying Bobead's sliders and playing a few games, I'm convinced on HOF and higher, I need to lower cpu control and consistency. This has revitalized the game for me. At default, the game was becoming predictable and generic in the sense that once the cpu's meter reached a certain point I was either shutout or no hit for a good part of the game.

Aces would no hit me for the first 4 innings, sometimes into the 7th. This was becoming common as I was not being rewarded for taking tough pitches on the black.

By lowering these sliders, I notice fatigue affects control and consistency alot more where I can draw some walks and even put together a rally when the cpu's confidence is still high. In other words, I'm rewarded to a degree for good at bats and plate discipline but by no means does the game become easy and arcade like.

My games now range from 10 hit games (which were rare) to 4 hit games, high scoring and low scoring. Hit variety is not compromised.

My only test is to decide how low I want to go with consistency. I find with it at 1, the cpu will throw too many pitches well off the zone where there's no risk involved on my part. I still like most of my at bats to experience close balls to challenge my plate discipline but not to the extent default was.


I might try raising strike frequency to 4 from 3 with lower consistency so that the cpu won't throw too many easy pitches out of the zone.

[bloodyredsox]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

Thank you for everyone advice. My problem really isn't with the computers consistency or control I walk and get plenty of pitches to hit. Right now I have the following hitting sliders
Contact 6
Power 4
Solid hits 5

Since sticking with these changes I have been shut out and scored as many as 12 runs in a game. The only problem I have with this is that the amount of home runs and the distance of home runs are reduced significant. I play with the St. Louis cardinals, and players like Albert Pujols and Matt Holiday really are not hitting with any power. Doubles and triples are present but not as many dingers. I'm not going to restart a new season so I suppose I will just stick with these sliders as I said when I posted this thread I'm just sick of changing sliders. When I was using default hitting sliders it was hard to get good contact and missed far to many pitches that should have been at least fouled off. The power was there but not to much offense. Thanks everyone, have a good day

[crques]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

Can you be more specific? What's actually happening? Are you striking out too much? Hitting balls but flying out too much? Timing issues? I can't really give you a definite solution without a definite description of the problem.

Looking back on the problems I used to have, my first suggestion is usually to lower Contact and increase Solid Hits. Don't use Power Swing, and don't use Guess Pitch - no, not even once - until you've gotten comfortable behind the plate.

Why lower Contact? Well first of all sometimes missing the ball can be a good thing. It will turn that first pitch fly ball into just strike 1, and give you a few more chances to get things right. It increases foul balls (technically speaking, they are staying the same, but since everything else is decreasing, this becomes a relative increase), and does a few other things that will take some of your stress away.

This explanation could go on forever (not that I fully understand myself), but all in all my summarized theory is that it is so easy to put balls into fair play on Veteran/All Star difficulty levels, that you end up hitting pitches you completely misread, and putting things in play that have no business being put in play, and of course while this increases your chance for a hit, it also increases your chance for an out, and since outs are already more frequent than hits (.300 hitters are making outs 7/10 times), you are going to notice the former more often than anything else.

I also want to make it clear that I'm only talking about Zone hitting here. When you are aiming your swing, you'd prefer to completely miss a pitch for strike 1 or 2, than put one in play for an easy out. This doesn't at all apply to Timing or Analog, since the higher Contact only helps you, since the game aims the PCI for you, and this slider is part of the equation.

Try a Contact of 3 and a Solid Hits of 7 for starters... Also try reducing the Fielder Speed slider by a few points, not really relevant to your troubles, but it is almost a unanimous opinion across this board that they run too quickly, and a speed reduction will surely add a few hits per game.

Hey Bobhead. I have a question regarding your slider suggestion. I'm currently using a variation of TNK's All Star sliders, with human contact at 7 and human solid hits at 4. I noticed that you suggested in this thread to try human contact at 3, and human solid hits at 7. Also, I'm using CPU Pitch Consistency at 5, CPU Pitch Control at 5, and CPU Strike Frequency at 1. You suggested these at 4, 2, 4. Can you explain the difference in your suggestions, as opposed to what I'm using? I guess I'm confused about what those sliders actually do and why you and TNK seem to be leaning in opposite directions with those for the most part. Man these sliders have become nothing short of a headache for me now. Thanks.

[Bobhead]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

There isn't really a difference in opinion. TNK saw the same things I was seeing. The difference is he/she solved it by switching to Timing, and I chose to solve it by lowering the pitcher consistency sliders... I assume you are playing with Zone? I urge you to try my suggestion, but it's not necessary at all.

Note that while TNK recommends keeping the CPU pitching in the 6's, he/she also keeps the user offensive sliders in the same place, a more competent batter and a more competent pitcher equals roughly the same thing: a game of baseball. It's all relative, as long as the competitive advantage remains the same. You could up all the pitching and offense sliders to 10, and you wouldn't really change a thing, except for strikeouts.

The biggest thing I want to stress to you though is that sliders really aren't that big of a deal. "The opposite direction" really only consists of like a 3 or 4 point difference in sliders, and the sliders are not very sensitive anyway, so TNK, myself, and whoever else with a third preference for their 3 pitching sliders - I wouldn't be surprised if all 3 of us finished a season with almost identical stats.

Don't get so caught up in the sliders, just play the game. I adjust my sliders all the time, but it's not something I stress over. It's more my curiosity that keeps me constantly tinkering, but to be honest my game was pretty balanced months ago.

[crques]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

There isn't really a difference in opinion. TNK saw the same things I was seeing. The difference is he/she solved it by switching to Timing, and I chose to solve it by lowering the pitcher consistency sliders... I assume you are playing with Zone? I urge you to try my suggestion, but it's not necessary at all.

Note that while TNK recommends keeping the CPU pitching in the 6's, he/she also keeps the user offensive sliders in the same place, a more competent batter and a more competent pitcher equals roughly the same thing: a game of baseball. It's all relative, as long as the competitive advantage remains the same. You could up all the pitching and offense sliders to 10, and you wouldn't really change a thing, except for strikeouts.

The biggest thing I want to stress to you though is that sliders really aren't that big of a deal. "The opposite direction" really only consists of like a 3 or 4 point difference in sliders, and the sliders are not very sensitive anyway, so TNK, myself, and whoever else with a third preference for their 3 pitching sliders - I wouldn't be surprised if all 3 of us finished a season with almost identical stats.

Don't get so caught up in the sliders, just play the game. I adjust my sliders all the time, but it's not something I stress over. It's more my curiosity that keeps me constantly tinkering, but to be honest my game was pretty balanced months ago.

I'm actually using Timing. I've been toying with my sliders for 2 weeks now trying to find something that I'm comfortable with. Unfortunately, I am one of those that stress and obsess with them. What's even worse for me is that with my job, and family, my gaming time is very limited. I'm lucky to get in 2 or 3 games per week so I waste a lof my gaming time in the slider tweaking department rather than actually playing the game itself. It's a bad rut that I seem to always get myself into sooner or later when playing a game. I can say that the set I'm currently using has been pretty realistic to me the 3 games that I've played with them though. Maybe I'm finally getting somewhere.

[HustlinOwl]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

I'm actually using Timing. I've been toying with my sliders for 2 weeks now trying to find something that I'm comfortable with. Unfortunately, I am one of those that stress and obsess with them. What's even worse for me is that with my job, and family, my gaming time is very limited. I'm lucky to get in 2 or 3 games per week so I waste a lof my gaming time in the slider tweaking department rather than actually playing the game itself. It's a bad rut that I seem to always get myself into sooner or later when playing a game. I can say that the set I'm currently using has been pretty realistic to me the 3 games that I've played with them though. Maybe I'm finally getting somewhere.

dude 3 games, baseball you need to play a minimum of 30. Glad I settled on a set a long time ago about to enter the playoffs of year 2 in my franchise

[crques]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

dude 3 games, baseball you need to play a minimum of 30. Glad I settled on a set a long time ago about to enter the playoffs of year 2 in my franchise

LOL.......some of it has to do with slider tweaking, but for the most part I'm limited on free time. I have a wife, a 3 year old, and a 1 year old, and I work 45-50 hours per week at the office and a few more from home. My free time normally comes after 10:00 at night and by that time I'm usually too tired to do anything but go to bed. I'm 35 now. I can't function on 2 hours of sleep like I used to be able to before the kids. LOL

[nickaepi]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

Stick with it buddy. I had the same problem you did. This is one of the few games I can only play effectively when I'm fully awake and "focused", otherwise I do not play well. The sliders you have posted are good and should produce realistic results.

IMHO, lowering pitch speed solves a lot problems, when it comes to hitting in this game, if you are struggling at the plate. I realized I was late on almost all of my fastballs, especially righty vs. righty so I lowered pitch speed to 3. It's not a huge difference from 5 but for me I can at least read the pitches better and react if I should be swinging or not. I don't consider it 'cheating' because my reflexes just don't match up to 5 pitch speed anymore and the CPU obviously is not effected by this.

If you start going into "slider hell", you will never come out and you will end up trading the game in. Stick with what you got and play full games only when you feel focused and fully-awake and relaxed.

I play on timing so I still feel rewarded when I am patient and swing at good pitches but also I get realistic results because it is heavy player-ratings based on timing.

If pitch speed is not the issue and you want to have more "fun" and less hardcore realism (which I know can be controller-throwing frustrating at times), I suggest zone-hitting. (Turn off guess-pitch and use power swing very sparingly) Just sharing my input. This game can be brutal at times, especially when cpu confidence gets "jesus" high. lol

GL and stick with it!

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

IMHO, lowering pitch speed solves a lot problems, when it comes to hitting in this game, if you are struggling at the plate. I realized I was late on almost all of my fastballs, especially righty vs. righty so I lowered pitch speed to 3. It's not a huge difference from 5 but for me I can at least read the pitches better and react if I should be swinging or not. I don't consider it 'cheating' because my reflexes just don't match up to 5 pitch speed anymore and the CPU obviously is not effected by this.

I have my pitch speed at 2, and am officially a Default HOF'er again (minus my error and steal slider tweaks).

Enough cannot be said about dropping this slider first before anything.

JUST when I begin the get furious about the CPU's black-painting ability, I'll do what I did last night (two games) and BB 5 and 6 times.

I'm not suggesting Default is right for everybody. I've only recently built my abilities up enough to turn those "4's" back into "5's." I'm just saying, without the ability to control how fast the ball comes in, there would be no way in Hell that I'd be able to compete on HOF. Pitches are just TOO close to the black too frequently.

Dropping the Pitch Speed has helped me on this front.

[Vashyron.]

Re: Slider Advice/Dont want to give up

I don't understand how people play at default or higher pitch speed, I'm currently using a pitch speed of 2 using the wide offset cam (which I just switched to a few games back and really makes turning on inside pitches a bit easier). Yes, I use zone hitting, but even when I would sit on an inside fastball at default pitch speed, it was way too hard to pull. To me, that's not baseball, inside pitches should be pulled more often than not. I should not have to decide before the pitch to swing to pull an inside fastball. And, it's not input lag as I'm still using a SDTV. If anyone has still has 09, put that in and see how much better the swing speed is, it's much faster allowing for you to turn on those inside pitches in a much more realistic fashion. 09 IMO had the best swing speed in the whole series.