swing stick experiment

[arseniotall]

Today i tried to explore how this swing stick operates. I was reading on here about this zone hitting argument and wanted to dive into this myself. First off Classic hitting is not very realistic. I sat there and pitched to myself and all I had to do was hold up and everything was gone (eventhough it was on default difficulty). I would move the pitches around and it seemed to me that the left stick MOSTLY just influences pop ups and grounders. I will say that pitch location does have an effect on how good contact you make, and occasionally when i tried to pop up a low pitch by holding up, I was fouling a bit....Im not a big fan of classic...

The Swing Stick seemed to have alot more depth. It seems that going with the pitch will give you the best results. For example, I pitched outside with Zambrano to the reds and on every batter I would swing stick and roll it in the opposite direction of the pitch. If a batter was left handed i would roll the swing stick in the direction of right field trying to pull an outside pitch. With every batter I was seeing more foul balls then i had ever seen in the game. Has anybody seen the birds on the popup foul...SICK!!! When the ball was put in play it would be either a weak pop up, an occasional line drive, but nothing hit hard.

After a couple runs through the lineup I decided to go with the pitch. This time rolling the swing stick to where the pitch was(outside). Trying to take an outside pitch the opposite way. Almost every batter was a crushed line drive or a homer. Everything was blasted. Mostly homeruns. (I was on pro and throwing nothing but fastballs on the outside edge.)

So i then switched back to swinging the swing stick in the wrong direction just to see if it was pitcher fatigue, and i went back to alot of fouul balls and popups.

What I am seeing is the swing stick gives you more depth with your swing and its best to swing in the direction of the pitch. I think the problem is that its almost impossible to roll the swing stick without registering a power swing. The manual says to release it in the direction, but thats almost impossible to do. Anyways, just thought I'd throw this out there....Try it and tell me what your results are...

[frago]

Re: swing stick experiment

Yes its true.
I find the stick much more rewarding. Many players dont even give it a chance and turn on classic too soon. They think they are helping themselves, in reality they are killing the hitting game.
Online or off SS all the way. I get sick of seeing pitches outside the zone away being pulled foul all the way across the batter. Just rediculous.
With classic people think they have an advantage but they dont.
Pure hit control in the stick and it feels good to work the ball all over the field.

[arseniotall]

Re: swing stick experiment

to each its own, but the swing stick gives a way more realistic experience to the hitting game. I just hate playing online against these button mashers that just hold up on the left stick and swing at everything. They dont realiz that the game wasnt intended to be played like that...

[OpTiOnMaStA]

Re: swing stick experiment

Since I started playing this game I have been using the swing stick. I never felt the need to go to the classic hitting style.

What I noticed, much like you, is that when you use the swing stick you are better off if you attempt to roll your hits in the direction of the ball. If you just swing, you are less likely to time it properly or make contact (in my opinion). It is really hard for me to just pull back and release the stick. I strike out a lot that way.

I too have noticed that when I swing in a certain direction (roll with the pitch) I end up taking a lot of power swings unintentionally. I wish they would fix this for next year because I hit an absolute ton of homers. They have simulated baseball pretty well in a lot of respects, so I hope they can fix it in this way. It does make the game exciting to hit a lot of homeruns, but I like that contact type swing. To me that is huge.

I have also noticed that I hit a lot of balls into the gaps this way. It is like if you time it perfectly you will hit the ball into the gap you are aiming towards and probably end up getting yourself a double. Blooping singles don't seem to happen at all, though.

[baa7]

Re: swing stick experiment

Blooping singles don't seem to happen at all, though.

That's a ratings issue. I lowered player ratings for two teams and tested them extensively. Basically solved the HR issue. And with the ratings lowered way down, all I got were high bloop singles, one after the other. It was hilarious actually. The CPU AI couldn't or wouldn't adjust to all the balls just falling between the IF and OF. I'd get 4-5 bloop singles in a row, then an out or two, then another 3 or 4 bloops...

[dacks]

Re: swing stick experiment

Yes its true.
I find the stick much more rewarding. Many players dont even give it a chance and turn on classic too soon. They think they are helping themselves, in reality they are killing the hitting game.
Online or off SS all the way. I get sick of seeing pitches outside the zone away being pulled foul all the way across the batter. Just rediculous.
With classic people think they have an advantage but they dont.
Pure hit control in the stick and it feels good to work the ball all over the field.

Apparently you haven't played the game with classic hitting with a good set of sliders. I get great results and realistic hits with classic control. I've pressed up to hit high pitches and have hit a multitude of various hits(linedrives, groundballs, etc) and i have hit homeruns by pressing down with the pitch. Its all personal preference and how well someone tweaks the sliders.

[frago]

Re: swing stick experiment

Apparently you haven't played the game with classic hitting with a good set of sliders. I get great results and realistic hits with classic control. I've pressed up to hit high pitches and have hit a multitude of various hits(linedrives, groundballs, etc) and i have hit homeruns by pressing down with the pitch. Its all personal preference and how well someone tweaks the sliders.

I get great results too. Its the old fashioned way of hitting a button to swing I dont like.

Actually having to step before swinging feels much better to me. Analog control of the bat head and hitting pitches off your shoe laces feels good. I choose to embrace analog stick controls in many games. I respect the right people have to choose.

Believe me I get my *** handed to me by button users online and I dont whine or wish they could be forced to not use it. I take my lumps and am happy to get singles while they are happy to have 5 hits and all 5 HR's. I play my way and let them do it theirs.

Swing stick is an advance in control realism for sim gamers. I hope some day we can wind the pitcher up too with the stick.

[baa7]

Re: swing stick experiment

Swing stick is an advance in control realism for sim gamers.

The idea maybe. But not the programming. The skill stick programming in 2K7 is awful. No zone hitting, plus it's ridiculously simple to direct hits wherever you want them to go. There needs to be a bat control rating for players. Very few MLB batter can direct hits around the diamond like they're Ty Cobb or Tony Gwynn.

[arseniotall]

Re: swing stick experiment

I dunno, I have power swing(the influence of a power swing on your hits) at zero and i get a ton of bloop singles. I use a tweaked version of the "perfect" sliders.

I was playing a guy online yesterday who used classic and i hit a couple rockets that hit the chalk on the foul line. He said all his hits are up the middle or homeruns. I told him to use the swing stick and stop playing nintendo.

Classic swing is just cheap as hell to me. I mean since there is no zone hitting, all you basically have to do is press the button when the pitcher throws a strike. With the stick you have to load up and actually start a process, which is much closer to swinging a bat. It be dope if it was easier to read pitches and check your swing. Just hitting the button when you see a strike is..........zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. And its so much rewarding when you get a contact, let alone a hit. But if your having fun do you.