JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

[tc020791]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

Playing with the exact OP, made the adjustment to Starter Stamina at 6 and it did not feel over powered at all. Just saw Porcello go 8 strong. He started to get a little shaky in the 8th and walked a couple of guys. He ended up around 95 pitches and had a little left in the tank if they needed him for the ninth. Luckily for them and unluckily for me they did not need him for the ninth.

On a different note, I was starting to get a little worried about the CPU offense. I had allowed 3 or fewer runs in 7 of 9 games, and had just came off a 3 game sweep of KC, where I only gave up 9 runs all series. I was hoping that it was just because KC sucks. Of course my very next game Boston puts up a 7 spot on me. They had 6 doubles and 2 home runs, including a no doubt 3 run shot by JD over the green monster. It was a thing of beauty.

I've been using exact OP all season for this Rays franchise. Almost to the end of April, I'm sitting at 16-10, only 2 games ahead of NYY and BOS for 1st in the AL East. I will give an update in where I rank in all major categories after one month, as well as how my per game averages look. Enjoying this installment of the show more than any other by far.

[JoshC1977]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

Just following up here. I forgot to mention I am 5/5 for pitcher control.

For me, I’m still looking for more CPU offense. I’m not a huge stats guy because baseball has a way of correcting stats over the 162 game season.

With that said, I am 12-3 with a 1.86 ERA. I’m 1st in walks issued, 1st in hits allowed, 12th in strikeouts. A perfect 15/15 in Quality Starts.

The walks are a user/legacy issue and largely ignored for me. I pitch to contact in 3 ball counts. Strikeouts, perfect. Brewers have a dominant bullpen with big K numbers and the. 3 solid starters with good break/K per 9.

What I find is the CPU just does not sustain rallies at all. They are largely hitting singles, or home runs. I’ve probably conceded 75%+ of my runs to the long ball, and usually solo shots.

I don’t want to tinker too much but is a solution maybe CPU solid hit 5, Hum control 6? Or a simple boost to CPU power to 6?

Human offense is exactly where I want it. It is a perfect balance of player rating and user input. When I’m focused, patient and mentally in the game, I rake. When my mind wanders and I start to chase strikes on the black, I struggle. Absolutely love this facet of the game.

Defense is spot on for both sides, IMO as well. Elite defenders stand out, especially in the OF.

Baserunning is solid. I suck at stealing bags, what’s new.

Any thoughts on the CPU offense, please let me know. I want to keep the balance of the game in tune, while allowing the cpu to punish my strike zone tendency more.

Oh, last thing is SP stamina at 6. Don’t know I can ever go back, it is just 1000x better than 5. So much more in line with real MLB.

I'll say this, it isn't uncommon to hit a good 15 game stretch and then have things revert to the mean as the hot streaks begin to fade.

That said, that IS a pretty fantastic stretch, so I can understand your concerns. It's also the kind of stretch that if it happened mid-season vs the beginning of one, we might not bat an eye at...know what I mean?

Before we go into slider-based changes, let me ask a couple of questions.

1. Do you have all UI elements turned off (including ball marker)?
2. Do you have vibration turned off?
3. Are you pitching in broadcast cam?

If the answers to any of those are "no", then I would HIGHLY suggest trying out those things before anything else. They each add a layer of difficulty by basing input on "feel" vs the game helping you out.

If you've been doing all of these things (or have strong preferences against trying one or more of them out), then you might need to try one of the following (in rough order of preference):

1. Stick with it through the end of April on the schedule and see if it reverts to the mean. Even though it sounds bass-ackwards, you might really want to consider seeing how the OP pitch control setting works....
2. Raise CPU solid hits to 5. This is the cleanest slider-based solution.
3. You can lower User pitching control to 4. It'll add a bit of "Slider RNG" to the mix, but it might work.
4. Take the OP setup for user pitching/CPU hitting but bump up the pitching difficulty to HOF.

[Madmxn]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

Are these sliders available in the slider vault?

[JoshC1977]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

Are these sliders available in the slider vault?

Naw, they are super easy to enter manually with only a couple of sliders adjusted off of default.

[JoshC1977]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

Just a super quick update guys.

I'm moving back to default pitch control. After an extended series of games, I just felt like the the patches have re-balanced the hitting properly and no longer necessitates the pitch control adjustment to counter over-powered hitting. That said, the previous value of 6 plays a nice "controlled" brand of baseball. If you're a fan of more pitching-dominant games, this is 100% the way to go.

Now, I am early stages of testing on default pitch control, but I think this is a step in the right direction.

[tc020791]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

Just a super quick update guys.

I'm moving back to default pitch control. After an extended series of games, I just felt like the the patches have re-balanced the hitting properly and no longer necessitates the pitch control adjustment to counter over-powered hitting. That said, the previous value of 6 plays a nice "controlled" brand of baseball. If you're a fan of more pitching-dominant games, this is 100% the way to go.

Now, I am early stages of testing on default pitch control, but I think this is a step in the right direction.

Makes sense. I was having a lot 0f 5-3, 3-2 games post patch. Hadn't seen any 12-10, 9-7 games. I may move my control down to 5 and keep CPU's at 6 for extra challenge, plus I don't think I would strikeout nearly enough, any thoughts?

[GoBlue81188]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

Just a super quick update guys.

I'm moving back to default pitch control. After an extended series of games, I just felt like the the patches have re-balanced the hitting properly and no longer necessitates the pitch control adjustment to counter over-powered hitting. That said, the previous value of 6 plays a nice "controlled" brand of baseball. If you're a fan of more pitching-dominant games, this is 100% the way to go.

Now, I am early stages of testing on default pitch control, but I think this is a step in the right direction.

After a heavy weekend of playing I think I’m at:

OP set; Pitch control 6, HUM/CPU Power 6.

Has increased offensive production for both teams. After allowing 2 runs in a 3 game set vs Dodgers I had to try something. Spent yesterday isolating settings based on the OP. Best solution was the power boost, for me.

Trying to avoid the jump to HOF, but we will see how the next 10-15 games play out with these adjustments.

Thanks for the great tips Josh, the base is phenomenal

[JoshC1977]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

I was wondering if you were seeing the same thing. I think the game is playing really well, I just want to see if we can get a little larger spread of results. The 'difficulty' is not an issue at all (for me) - I'm like 6 or 7 games under .500 in my Reds franchise. I just feel like weaker pitchers have CONSISTENTLY been just a little too good overall - I think the default pitch control can help us (I just need to be sure that it isn't going to bring good pitchers too far down).

Ironically though, my two games with the PC back to default (for both sides) were 1-0 and 4-2 losses to the Padres. Now, my Reds are struggling mightily on offense (and the scores have been eerily similar to real life) so that is certainly playing a role here. I'm going to ride it out and see if I can get some of those 'outburst' games. I think this is hard for a lot of folks (myself very much included); they see a lot of 4-3, 5-2, 2-1 games (which is actually quite realistic) and begin questioning the settings (the ole "I don't feel threatened" meme) and don't give the settings enough time to let you see that crazy 12-10 game.

To your question, I DO think an offset could work fine if that's the approach you want to take. Now, I have a HUGE mental block when it comes to offsetting user/CPU values; even if it isn't the case, I begin feeling like the results are 'forced' by the sliders themselves and not the ratings. That sends me spiraling down into 'slider oblivion' and I stop having fun. Now, that's a "Josh thing", it's not an issue with this game. I think what you're proposing would be the one way to amp-up hitting challenge without making the results feel 'forced'.

[JoshC1977]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

After a heavy weekend of playing I think I’m at:

OP set; Pitch control 6, HUM/CPU Power 6.

Has increased offensive production for both teams. After allowing 2 runs in a 3 game set vs Dodgers I had to try something. Spent yesterday isolating settings based on the OP. Best solution was the power boost, for me.

Trying to avoid the jump to HOF, but we will see how the next 10-15 games play out with these adjustments.

Thanks for the great tips Josh, the base is phenomenal

(I just had a series like that vs the Dodgers too...they sucked worse on offense than any team I have played this year - too many low vision guys.)

Interesting tweak though, I've not seen the power as an issue. The MLB average is around 1.2 HR/9 (it's up to 1.3 in a small sample size this year) and I would say I'm right at that (if not higher on the CPU side).

Keep us in the loop on how the testing goes - especially keeping an eye on CPU batter tendencies.

[GoBlue81188]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

My thought process behind the power boost was this:

I needed a way to generate more hits and runs for both user and cpu.

I tried the solid hits, pitch control, and even fielder reaction individually, none of which worked.

Then I tried a altering a few of the above at once and it just seemed to predetermine results.

So, I said OK HR totals are closer to .8/game for me, so let’s try that +1.

Yes, I’ve seen more homers, but I’ve also seen more solid contact that results in hit.. if that makes sense. Instead of “Good/good” or “good/ squared up” resulting in shots to a defensive player, they are now finding holes and gaps.

Again could just be limited sample size, but just trying to exhaust all of my variables at the moment.

Again, I’m not purely stats driven, but literally every single game was a pitcher duel. Neither team had scored more than 5 runs in a game previously.

[JoshC1977]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

There has been something bizarre going on here with the sudden lack of offense. I was initially very happy with the offense with patch 1.09, 1.10 should've added even more potency...but it went downhill. The game is balanced, don't get me wrong, but the hit "purity" is really off; there is too much weak contact. Lowering the pitch control isn't the answer, nor is raising the power. Raising solid hits brings us back to video game style hitting (line drives galore and it isn't necessarily effective).

I did a retrospective, went back through my notes. When did it go downhill? It was around the time of the patches, but I had games initially that looked really good. What happened?

It dawned on me, I DID make another change; violating the first commandment of sliders, I changed something without testing it (though I doubt I would've connected the dots). I changed the stolen base frequency/effectiveness sliders to 6. And it was there that everything went into this weak contact/pitching duel thing. (IIRC balla had been using it longer and had been having weaker offense issues when using it before I made the change).

I got one game in last night with those two sliders back to default. From a "feel" perspective, the bat-to-ball impacts felt/looked SO much better. You want to cry 'placebo', I totally get it (I feel that way too). But the fact remains that a) I have a number of correlating observations in the timeline and b) I frankly don't see any other option I feel comfortable with.

Now, I'm not claiming this is the issue or that correlation equals causation but I'm going to do a "Reset" here. We have nothing to lose and I've seen stranger things with sliders....though this is the first (if I am right) with SDS.

Pitch Control from 5 to 6 (User and CPU) - we may wind-up reverting back to 5 at some stage, but I still believe in the initial premise of these two values.

Stolen Base Frequency and Effectiveness from 6 to 5

I'm going to ride with these changes all the way through the holiday weekend and collect the sample size. I do ask that if providing feedback that you please utilize the exact OP so we can get some consistency.

I have updated the OP.

[xnavytc]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

First Josh great sliders, love the feel they give during games
Second, after the last patch i made the changes u put out in the last post. I am playing spring training games and i notieced that the cpu pitchers were throwing 95% strikes, and not just first pitch all thru the game and in all counts. so i changed strike frequency to 4 and I'm seeing better mix of strikes and balls.

I am wondering if anyone else is seeing something similar?

Again, thanks for all the work you put into these.

TC ET1(SS)

[JoshC1977]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

First Josh great sliders, love the feel they give during games
Second, after the last patch i made the changes u put out in the last post. I am playing spring training games and i notieced that the cpu pitchers were throwing 95% strikes, and not just first pitch all thru the game and in all counts. so i changed strike frequency to 4 and I'm seeing better mix of strikes and balls.

I am wondering if anyone else is seeing something similar?

Again, thanks for all the work you put into these.

TC ET1(SS)

I monitor strike frequencies very carefully (always have). CPU strike frequencies have NEVER been an issue for me at default. I get tremendous variance in outcomes there...you have to be very patient. Sometimes taking a first-pitch strike (when thrown in a less than ideal zone) can lead to more pitches (and balls) being thrown.

Lowering that slider can be tricky as it will affect pitching AI (even the game description states that). Not saying it won't work, but I have seen nothing to warrant a change.

[xnavytc]

Re: JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

Thanks Josh i will give it another try and see what happens with Freq back to 5.

Thanks for the reply.

TC ET1(SS)

[tc020791]

JoshC1977's MLB 19 Sliders

I know you think it’s the BR slider possibly causing the lack of offense. I didn’t see you mention anything about the Pitcher Starter stamina. That would make a whole lot more sense than BR sliders. If I remember correctly they were changed around the same time. Just a thought.

I’ve played 5 games with Starter Stamina at 6.

5-3 L
5-3 W
4-3 W
5-3 W
7-3 L


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