For Those Who Are Not Buying MLB The Show 18, Why Not?

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Quote: Originally Posted by Unlucky 13

Franchise is certainly not as good as the PS3 days, but I find this year's to be the best since then.

I disagree. The budget system alone is worst than two years ago being very vague as to what the budget is.

The franchise bug of not signing high rated players in the future is back. 5 years down the road teams run out of money and do not sign 95 overall talent(I documented it the first week)

August waiver claims are always pulled, been like that since they introduced the feature. Then all players claimed were picked up. The quick fix at the time was to pull everyone back.

Add all of the legacy bugs and the mode is actually regressed.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Unlucky 13]

Quote: Originally Posted by tabarnes19

I disagree. The budget system alone is worst than two years ago being very vague as to what the budget is. The franchise bug of not signing high rated players in the future is back. 5 years down the road teams run out of money and do not sign 95 overall talent(I documented it the first week) August waiver claims are always pulled, been like that since they introduced the feature. Then all players claimed were picked up. The quick fix at the time was to pull everyone back. Add all of the legacy bugs and the mode is actually regressed. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I agree that there's a lot to be fixed. A lot that I wish the game had, and a lot that hasn't changed a ton since the move to the PS4 in 2014. I did not play the title in 17, but compared to the other PS4 titles, I do think that 18 is an improvement.

I have never played as far as five years into the future, so I'm not sure what happens at that point or not. I do agree that there are bugs with the offseason between 17 & 18 (which Im hoping can be resolved), but the offseasons following 18 & 19 seem to flow as would be expected.

[consecutive27]

Quote: Originally Posted by tabarnes19

I disagree. The budget system alone is worst than two years ago being very vague as to what the budget is. The franchise bug of not signing high rated players in the future is back. 5 years down the road teams run out of money and do not sign 95 overall talent(I documented it the first week) August waiver claims are always pulled, been like that since they introduced the feature. Then all players claimed were picked up. The quick fix at the time was to pull everyone back. Add all of the legacy bugs and the mode is actually regressed. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

And this is why I am not buying this year. I will go back and play 16 when I want to play a baseball game. I had a couple franchises go to around 2030. There were some workarounds I had to employ, but the league was still running pretty well. High rated players were always signed, and the budgets were workable. Fixing some of the franchise legacy issues combined with improved gameplay would have enticed me to buy this year, but it looks like I am passing for a second straight year.

[taterskin]

Quote: Originally Posted by Yari

I had previously bought the '15, '16, and '17 versions of the game but after seeing the direction that MLB The Show went this year I felt that I'm better off holding on to my $60. I say this because while I'm a fan of franchise mode, I have a more complete product in OOTP which I can still play just as effectively after a long day and not have to tune down the difficulty to compensate for reduced reaction time. Additionally, the changes to RTTS were a major factor in my not buying '18 due to the forced nerfs even for transfers. If I wanted to play "be an average shortstop" I can already impose my own attribute caps and don't need the game to do that for me. While I do like the idea of the various templates, I do not like that they are forced upon you without a choice. I have spent a lot of effort getting my RTTS player to all 99's through three versions of the game and I'd prefer not to have that work eroded away by an artificial cap (though I could live with aging eroding it). Finally, while some of the Diamond Dynasty changes are neat, the fact that this mode still requires an internet connection even for offline play is extremely disappointing to me. I'd like to be able to complete the mode but I would not be able to do so before the servers get shut down entirely and all of my progress is lost. It is my opinion that any card collecting mode must be available offline and Diamond Dynasty does not meet that criteria. Additionally, the additions to this year's mode with having to get nonfunctional collectables is another turn off. If this were like the Skybox/Crib from the now defunct 2K sports series, I could live with it because at least I'd have a neat place to store my stuff in that I can view offline. However, I don't particularly care to look at nonfunctional jersey or bobblehead cards. In summary, MLB the Show '18 is a good attempt, but it's not for me. Now if RTTS gets rid of the forced caps, franchise mode gets some major love, and DD is available truly offline with a little skybox to decorate and personalize, then I'll be interested in returning to the series again.

I think people read too much into the cap system and don't give it a chance. I have a "defensive cannon" that is an absolute beast. I steal 40 bases, hit 40-50 HR, bat around .350, etc. Same for the fielding.... plenty of range, diving catches, robbing HR's, gunning down runners, etc. The equipment that you can equip to your player carries you into the 90's on most attributes other than ones you will never use.

As for the game.... it's the most fun I've had with the game and RTTS in a long time. When I settle in for the evenings I've played everyday since it dropped. There are more "little things" that I'm seeing in games that give it an awesome touch. I love the variety of hits.... line drive missile HR's, towering shots, bloop singles, etc. Also love the added emotion for strikeouts, poor AB's, etc. I have held off buying some of the titles I've been looking forward to (Far Cry 5, God of War) because right now I have no desire to play anything else.

[JTommy67]

Well, unfortunately I pre-ordered and got a digital download before I realized they removed my favorite game mode without uttering a word. So while my situation doesn't fit the thread title perfectly, this might be the place to post to avoid cluttering up the board with a "tell us why you're not going to purchase next year's version" thread.

I am always understanding of those with complaints concerning things here and there, with legacy issues, with things that go wrong or don't work out correctly - I get it, perhaps more so than most, and so I never comment when I see people venting frustration. Asking the company to be more responsive to its customer base is not out of the ordinary, and so I think we have to allow for some degree of criticism that might no sit so well if it's not an issue you particularly care about.

With that said, I've always continued to buy and support the best option available for a particular gaming need. If resources are scarce for companies in a competitive market, and you want to see certain things implemented or fixed in a title, then you have to pay for it, and this means you may have to wait years to see it come about. Regulars on this board know this very well. Some of the things we see in the game now were pipe dreams back in '08, but because people supported SCEA they are where they are now...I've no doubt the devs work extremely hard and are unbelievably talented..but they have to get paid. This game is nothing if there is no profit in it. That's just the way the world works.

So I can handle fielding being subpar, or problems with hitting mechanics, or not having the right color socks, even. No big deal to me...to others it is but such things don't arise because devs don't care...it's a resource problem, of course, and they have always been responsive to the community, asking people to point out things that are wrong with uniforms, or things we'd like to see. They have always listened and they seem to care about feedback...that much has been obvious to me. To those devs who work hard...my respects and a very big thank you.

For that reason it is troubling to see what happened this year. Sometimes a decision can be made that really must be interpreted as a bad sign. When an entire game mode gets removed without uttering a word about it, then something is really, really wrong.

Exactly who or what is responsible for this...we have no idea. For the support given by a community of dedicated players for years the best we can hope for is dead silence...this is a rotten, rotten development. Not because they simply removed a game mode that was there previously and said nothing about it...but because they assured the fan base a feature (year-to-year saves) was being established so that season or franchise files could be continued from year to year...you no longer have to worry about losing your progress when the next year's game is released.

Without the year-to-year save feature, removing season mode would not have been near the issue, I suspect. But the entire point of creating the feature in the first place was to assure us something like this would not happen.

I cannot stress this point enough - and the total silence on the issue (or near...have they even said a WORD about it?) paints a terrible picture.

Loyal customers don't deserve anything other than to get a working title from year to year...I get it and I understand...me paying $60 doesn't entitle me to anything outside of that. Nor are they entitled to my $60 next year which they are well aware of...so let's dismiss that whole line of thought.

It's just a terrible precedent to set for future behavior...it will erode trust over a period of time...to be removing something like this without saying anything...if by some miracle they decided to put it back with a patch (not possible, anyway, but set that aside), not only would it be silly to presume it would always stay, it would also be silly to assume they'd let us know beforehand if they we're going to take it out.

So I can't hand over any more support for future titles. A modicum of decency and respect requires that you disclose major changes to gaming modes before people pay their money.

A bad, bad sign.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Quote: Originally Posted by JTommy67

Well, unfortunately I pre-ordered and got a digital download before I realized they removed my favorite game mode without uttering a word.

Just to comment on this specific aspect of your post--I would never, ever, ever pre-order a video game. It is such a swindle that the gaming industry has made this standard operating procedure in this day and age. The whole rent-before-buying cautious approach is totally dead. To those who enjoy the perks and getting the game a few days early for pre-ordering and all that, great. I'm sure this works out fine for a lot of people. But, I also imagine that plenty of people got burned on this. Specifically this year.

In my ideal world, not only is a beefed up Franchise mode the developers' only focus , but customers don't pay for a product/service without knowing exactly what they're getting, getting it at the time of purchase, or being able to get a full refund no questions asked. That pre-ordering doesn't check any of these boxes makes it a somewhat predatory business practice, in my personal opinion. I wish and hope people will start to realize that, particularly people who felt cheated about Season mode this year. You know the old saying about fool me once and fool me twice...hopefully we don't get fooled again (great song btw).

[Caulfield]

Quote: Originally Posted by WaitTilNextYear

Just to comment on this specific aspect of your post--I would never, ever, ever pre-order a video game. It is such a swindle that the gaming industry has made this standard operating procedure in this day and age. The whole rent-before-buying cautious approach is totally dead. To those who enjoy the perks and getting the game a few days early for pre-ordering and all that, great. I'm sure this works out fine for a lot of people. But, I also imagine that plenty of people got burned on this. Specifically this year. In my ideal world, not only is a beefed up Franchise mode the developers' only focus , but customers don't pay for a product/service without knowing exactly what they're getting, getting it at the time of purchase, or being able to get a full refund no questions asked. That pre-ordering doesn't check any of these boxes makes it a somewhat predatory business practice, in my personal opinion. I wish and hope people will start to realize that, particularly people who felt cheated about Season mode this year. You know the old saying about fool me once and fool me twice...hopefully we don't get fooled again (great song btw).

the only reason I preordered this year was for the All Rise cap, if I had known season mode was left out, I probably would have stuck with 17 thru at least most of the summer. But now I'm satisfied that 18 was worth the price. I'm sure I'd feel different if I had season mode carry overs from 17 to 18. As it stands, I only have one continuous carry over & it's a franchise carry over.