Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

Actually made a few more changes I'm currently testing out. Looking for more human offense (pitch speed default), and more strikeouts but also less control for human pitchers. Things are close, but these tweaks should see less foul balls by the AI for more swing and misses, but also more BB for their hitters.

If human offense becomes too overpowered, I'll adjust again.

The idea with pitch speed is to represent the fact that the majority of MLB players are pull hitters.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

I also just uploaded these to the vault. OS HoF Graduated Sliders.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

Checking the injury setting shows we're getting good results compared to real MLB. Could be better though.

MLB has 15 players on the 60 day DL. This does not include the minors. That's a 50% long-term/teams ratio.

In my franchise game I counted 35 guys who are injured for 2 or more months in MLB, AAA, and AA combined. That's a long-term injury/team ratio of 39%.

According to that math, the injury setting should increase to about 8.5. So I'm thinking of trying 8 or 9.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

Made some changes to the first post. I'm very happy with where these are right now!

I'm finally seeing the proper balance between LESS foul balls and MORE swings and misses, especially when the AI is batting.

I also brought AI power back to 5 as too many low power guys were going deep.

I'll be keeping a close eye now on the AI offense, but I think it should be fine as they still had 11 hits including a HR in this most recent game with Shane Greene starting.

Pitching now takes some serious focus to hit your spots with accuracy, and I had a couple of frustrating walks in this most recent game.

Anyway, I hope you like the changes. These are now updated on the community slider vault.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

The last two games have been the most realistic games of the season since making the last changes. Absolutely beautiful results since moving foul ball frequency down to 0.

I've also made the following visual changes which was a BLAST to play with:

Pitching Ball Marker: Off
Pitch Select Display: Off
Vibration: Off

[Picci]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

Mike - Just checking your sliders. Very similar to mine. I too am a Hall-of-Fame player for both batting and pitching playing with just 1 team. One of the best thing about pitching in HOF is how tough they made meter pitching this year. Not so easy anymore to hit precisely. More walks than I've ever issued before.

Some things I've noticed that were different.

- I have fielder run speed at 0. I've noticed more bloopers drop in front and more batted balls go over the OF's head. I was afraid this would be exploited but it's been more of a revelation to see.

- I have Fouls for both Human/CPU at 5. I like the toll it can take against your pitcher's stamina and the CPU. At times I get a great pitcher/batter with 10-12 pitch battles. So far for me, it hasn't been overdone. This also works well with MOM if you wish to manage your game. No need to for me to adjust between playing and managing.

- Injuries is just a personal choice. Some days you see 4-5 injuries from the 30 teams. Some days are clear. I've been hit with day to day injuries. I know there's a chance that a player on my team can get months so the uncertainty is there. I couldn't imagine 10 but like to hear some of your experiences you're having.

- CPU pitching is different from yours. I would probably have to say its because of the pitch speed. I have it at 10, and it's challenging. It's also minimizes the pass-ball/wild pitch frequency.

Good Luck towards Legend

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

Mike - Just checking your sliders. Very similar to mine. I too am a Hall-of-Fame player for both batting and pitching playing with just 1 team. One of the best thing about pitching in HOF is how tough they made meter pitching this year. Not so easy anymore to hit precisely. More walks than I've ever issued before.

Some things I've noticed that were different.

- I have fielder run speed at 0. I've noticed more bloopers drop in front and more batted balls go over the OF's head. I was afraid this would be exploited but it's been more of a revelation to see.

- I have Fouls for both Human/CPU at 5. I like the toll it can take against your pitcher's stamina and the CPU. At times I get a great pitcher/batter with 10-12 pitch battles. So far for me, it hasn't been overdone. This also works well with MOM if you wish to manage your game. No need to for me to adjust between playing and managing.

- Injuries is just a personal choice. Some days you see 4-5 injuries from the 30 teams. Some days are clear. I've been hit with day to day injuries. I know there's a chance that a player on my team can get months so the uncertainty is there. I couldn't imagine 10 but like to hear some of your experiences you're having.

- CPU pitching is different from yours. I would probably have to say its because of the pitch speed. I have it at 10, and it's challenging. It's also minimizes the pass-ball/wild pitch frequency.

Good Luck towards Legend

Absolutely, Picci. There are games I'll walk 5 and then David Price will come out and walk 0-1. It's a nice, unpredictable yet reliable mix. I love that HoF really makes you focus while you're on the mound and makes you work to get out of tough situations. If you play your cards right and perform, more often than not, you can get out of it--just like real life (and the sometimes not, as like my Tigers last night with 2 outs in the 9th!).

I've seen some nice bloop hits now via the IFs not getting to the balls on weak fly balls, which has been cool. I haven't seen a bad mix in the OF personally. I remember seeing Mike Trout JUST run down a ball to LCF and it was frustrating because he BARELY made it. I felt that was perfect. Damn Trout! Plus guys still have just enough time to make it to the wall for an attempt at a jumping catch.

As for foul balls, it came down to two things: First, the AI percentages of swing/misses was way off; they simply rarely swung and missed unless they had 2 strikes on them. If you watch a baseball games, swings and misses happen on other counts all of the time, obviously. Now with foul ball frequency set to 0, I'm seeing both swings and misses, and the AI is still fouling off about 15% of the time which is right where it should be. As for the human player, if I'm accurate I'll make contact, if I'm just off, I'll foul it off. If I'm nowhere near it, I no longer get the phantom foul balls. So you can still get into foul ball battles, but you have to truly work for it. As it is at default, I was seeing probably 2 foul ball battles of 10-12 pitches which is just too frequent.

Injuries was set using 2 test sims and comparing it to the real life MLB long-term injuries list. I found that percentage and found the sweet spot which should probably have the slider at 8.6. However, since I was only testing long-term injuries, I figured 9 would collect what was needed for a realistic comparison. So far so good!

Pitch speed at 5 is definitely easier than 10, but with the increase in swings and misses it balances out. Plus, the biggest reason I went with 5 now is because the vast majority of hitters in baseball are pull hitters, and now I'm seeing that for my guys. I'll still see plenty of hits the other way in situations such as the hitter having 2 strikes and sitting back in the zone and putting a ball in play for a single to the opposite field.

Thanks so much for your feedback. It really helps to hear others' perspectives on the game and its sliders.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

Updated a few sliders based on some of the feedback I'm receiving.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

Also, I'm going to stream today's gsme against the Cubs right now!

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

These are getting very close to anything I'd ever consider final. I recommend always reviewing your results against the rest of the league, but this is playing great baseball.

With that said, I've made one final adjustment which is amln optional one: Directional hitting.

The reason I'm using this lately is because it simply better represents the hitter's true ability and avoids all of your players having the same hole in their swing. It provides for even more uniqueness and the results stand up using either set...it really just depends on your own ability.

First post updated to reflect.

[milldaddy]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

I'm getting fine results with zone hitting.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

I'm getting fine results with zone hitting.

I usually do too, but my team was so cold at the plate, and the issue I was noticing was that all of my hitters had "developed" the same bad tendency since I was the one controlling them all. I'm testing around some with directional to see if I get more uniqueness for each batter, and so far, it's been amazingly accurate.

The issue with zone is that I either would develop a bad tendency (I'd swing low and outside all of the time, even on a high pitch) or once I get very quick at moving the cursor, I'd move it too far, so I'd be in the right area, but would break my bat, for instance. I also suck at swinging at high pitches and would either watch a TON of high strikes, or would pop something up on the infield.

In the end, it's not a knock on zone whatsoever--it's great. I just have developed some bad habits, but the most frustrating one is when I'd overshoot the location. With directional, that doesn't happen now. I'm rewarded for the right location and timing, but still punished if I go the wrong way. I was worried I wouldn't see enough strikeouts while batting with directional, but these sliders really make you pay the price if you're off with your location, so I'm getting great results still.

For those using directional, I turn off the camera shift. I doubt it would make much of a difference though.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

Oh, and for RTTS, I still use zone! Nothing better as now I'm only influencing one player's patterns!

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

Bumped up reliever stamina back to default for both sides.

[milldaddy]

Re: Graduated Sliders: MLB The Show '15

I tried out Directional hitting to see how it works. (All-star difficulty) and I have been scoring a lot of runs, and have seen a lot of homers. In my Marlins franchise since changing I have scored 7,9,6,11,8. Not sure if I need to go to HoF or what. What do you think Mike?