I've been playing this game consistently since I got it at midnight on Tuesday. I've played between 10-15 games, so I think I've developed enough of a sample size in order to make this determination.
With the help of another forum member (Blazzen), I feel that we've come up with a solid base set of sliders in order to get this baseball season started. IMHO, everything seems to be playing realistically, at least for a base set. However, there are two very huge issues that I think need to be patched, whenever 2K decides to do so. One of them has the potential to be a GAME KILLER.
1) CPU Pitcher Fatigue - I had Roy Halladay throw a 149 pitch complete game on me yesterday. Granted, he's arguably the best pitcher in the game today, but in all the research that I've done, the most pitches he's thrown in one game is 130. This caused me to raise the Pitcher Fatigue slider to 70. It helped to a certain extent, but then I saw pitchers getting tired in the 4th inning. So, I finally settled on 65, and I've played my last five games using this setting. At first, I thought it was helping, but as the CPU begins to tire in the 4th and 5th innings after throwing 80-85 pitches, they all of a sudden are rejuvinated in the 6th because their stamina rating jumps! In effect, I've been seeing mediocre pitchers consistently go into the 7th and 8th innings after throwing over 100 pitches. Something has got to give there.
2) USER PITCH COUNTS/A.I. AGGRESSIVENESS AT THE PLATE!!!!
IMO, this is the issue that has the potential to be a game-killer. Again, I've played nearly 15 games using different types of Human Pitching sliders, and NOTHING has helped with this. I even went with the default Legend Pitching sliders, and it still didn't do anything. The last game that I played was Dodgers (ME) vs. Mets. Everything was great in that game as far as scores, hits, and CPU Pitching (except for the previously-mentioned fatigue issue), but I couldn't feel that great about it because of one thing: PITCH COUNT. Through six full innings, Clayton Kershaw threw 59 pitches. To me, that is unacceptable in a baseball sim. I know Kershaw is a great pitcher, and I'm a HUGE Dodger fan, but I also know that he is notorious for his high pitch count, which is why he hasn't usually pitched passed the 5th inning the past couple of years. The CPU doesn't work the count nearly as much as they should, and it's becoming increasingly apparent the more games I play. If I had to estimate, the CPU is seeing between 2-3 pitches per at-bat, which completely goes against the entire "Battle at the Plate" concept that 2K has pushed this whole time. It is a great idea in PRINCIPLE, but you can't have a battle at the plate if the CPU isn't taking pitches or even fouling them off. Period.
The reason I say this is a game killer is because this issue is a carryover from last year's game. I had this very same issue from the moment I bought 2K9 all the way until I traded it in a couple of months later, and that was WITH a patch.
I'm curious to see if anybody else has experience these issues, particualarly the second. I've seen the fatigue issue mentioned in other threads, so hopefully 2K will fix that.
Cheers.
With the help of another forum member (Blazzen), I feel that we've come up with a solid base set of sliders in order to get this baseball season started. IMHO, everything seems to be playing realistically, at least for a base set. However, there are two very huge issues that I think need to be patched, whenever 2K decides to do so. One of them has the potential to be a GAME KILLER.
1) CPU Pitcher Fatigue - I had Roy Halladay throw a 149 pitch complete game on me yesterday. Granted, he's arguably the best pitcher in the game today, but in all the research that I've done, the most pitches he's thrown in one game is 130. This caused me to raise the Pitcher Fatigue slider to 70. It helped to a certain extent, but then I saw pitchers getting tired in the 4th inning. So, I finally settled on 65, and I've played my last five games using this setting. At first, I thought it was helping, but as the CPU begins to tire in the 4th and 5th innings after throwing 80-85 pitches, they all of a sudden are rejuvinated in the 6th because their stamina rating jumps! In effect, I've been seeing mediocre pitchers consistently go into the 7th and 8th innings after throwing over 100 pitches. Something has got to give there.
2) USER PITCH COUNTS/A.I. AGGRESSIVENESS AT THE PLATE!!!!
IMO, this is the issue that has the potential to be a game-killer. Again, I've played nearly 15 games using different types of Human Pitching sliders, and NOTHING has helped with this. I even went with the default Legend Pitching sliders, and it still didn't do anything. The last game that I played was Dodgers (ME) vs. Mets. Everything was great in that game as far as scores, hits, and CPU Pitching (except for the previously-mentioned fatigue issue), but I couldn't feel that great about it because of one thing: PITCH COUNT. Through six full innings, Clayton Kershaw threw 59 pitches. To me, that is unacceptable in a baseball sim. I know Kershaw is a great pitcher, and I'm a HUGE Dodger fan, but I also know that he is notorious for his high pitch count, which is why he hasn't usually pitched passed the 5th inning the past couple of years. The CPU doesn't work the count nearly as much as they should, and it's becoming increasingly apparent the more games I play. If I had to estimate, the CPU is seeing between 2-3 pitches per at-bat, which completely goes against the entire "Battle at the Plate" concept that 2K has pushed this whole time. It is a great idea in PRINCIPLE, but you can't have a battle at the plate if the CPU isn't taking pitches or even fouling them off. Period.
The reason I say this is a game killer is because this issue is a carryover from last year's game. I had this very same issue from the moment I bought 2K9 all the way until I traded it in a couple of months later, and that was WITH a patch.
I'm curious to see if anybody else has experience these issues, particualarly the second. I've seen the fatigue issue mentioned in other threads, so hopefully 2K will fix that.
Cheers.
Sliders and coding changes can only help this so much. If you are throwing a lot of stirkes or a lot of first pitch fastballs for strikes (I had to break this habit myself) then you will have this issue.
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