What is the most realistic pitching interface?

[PVarck31]

What I like about directional, is say you need to move a guy from second to third with no outs. You can influence a ground ball to the right side of the infield by holding down and to the right. Depending on that hitter's ratings he will do his best to do so. Even if he gets jammed or rolls over on one he's still attempting to do it. This to me, is realistic. In zone, it's harder to do that because you have to place the PCI to where the ball is pitched and if you don't get anything on the outer third, you will most likely pull the ball.

In directional they will at least try to push it to the right side no matter the location, which may work or it may not due to the timing. Although it's best to wait for a pitch on the outer third until you have two strikes, and try to let the pitch get deeper in the zone as well.

But this is just how I see it. I say play what you are more comfortable with. I was a long-time zone hitter until last year when I tried directional and never went back.

Like they say, once you go directional, you can be more selectional. Well Nobody actually says that. I just made it up.

[damion2721]

For DonkeyJote:


You're making my point for me. LOL. Normally, in a full MLB season, walks per 9 end up averaging around 2-4. Am I missing something? If you're aiming for accuracy, this is it.

[JoshC1977]

Quote: Originally Posted by damion2721

For DonkeyJote: You're making my point for me. LOL. Normally, in a full MLB season, K's per 9 end up averaging around 2-4. Am I missing something? If you're aiming for accuracy, this is it.

You mean BB/9, right?

[damion2721]

Oops! Yes, you're correct. My bad.

[Bullit]

Quote: Originally Posted by PVarck31

I'm curious to see what people think. In my franchise I've been using meter pitching. I feel like it's too easy, even on HOF and Legend. I have hardly given up any walks with even the worst pitchers on my team (Indians) I can't do the pinpoint pitching. I just can't do it, so I guess not including that, what is the most realistic? I changed to classic for a couple games, but noticed even Shane Bieber had trouble hitting his spots. So yeah, what do you guys think? I know this has been talked about before, but the game changes, so wanted to get the info for 21 in particular.

I use Classic Pitching and Directional Hitting and get pretty realistic gameplay and stats. At least in my opinion. But I think you can get realistic play with any setting honestly. To me it seems more of a personal preference.

I think part of the problem that a lot of players have is jumping around with sliders and different control schemes. The game of Baseball, as we all know is a game of averages. I think folks only play one or two games and think things are unrealistic. I honestly don't think you can get any realistic play or stats unless you play 10 if not 20 or so games. There are just too many variables. Any team can get hot or outperform on a given day. If you are constantly changing sliders or settings every couple of games you are not setting a proper baseline for what feels or looks right or wrong.

Personally I play all of Spring Training before I settle in where I want things to be. Then once the season starts I don't touch anything unless something drastic or major anomaly's start to happen. Then I might change a slider by One click at a time. This years game plays pretty tight I have only made small adjustments and I am actually loving this years.

EDIT

I would also like to add that this years game there is a much larger difference in gameplay from "Good" teams and "Bad" I have played several games with the O's and had a horrible time LOL. I was really struggling and was not real happy with the game. Then I played some games with the Padres and all of the sudden I could hit and field, starting winning games. That was when I really had to step back and look at player rating and such. They make a much bigger difference this year. So the question of what is realistic is even harder to get a baseline. Now you really do have to consider the team you are playing. If you are playing the O's and loosing all the time? Well get use to it. Are you playing a middle of the road team ranked right around 15th and having trouble getting a winning streak going and barely at .500? That's about right. Playing the best teams in the MLB and running away with it? Again its all in the stats and abilities. Very much so this year.

[CujoMatty]

I'm zone analog with stride and pinpoint pitching. I'm a user skill should determine results kinda guy though. I completely understand the premise of wanting realistic stats and ratings driven results but I prefer the control.

As far as not walking anyone.i do feel like the risk reward could be balanced better and I do wish penalties for screwing up the gesture or timing resulted in more balls as opposed to meat balls which would help with walks but what ive realized more than that is if im not walking anyone I'm probably not pitching right.

What I mean by that is almost any mlb pitcher could not walk anyone if they wanted but they'd get rocked a lot. I find that with myself lots in the show as well. I've gotten way more concerned with not walking someone that I forget that I shouldn't just lay one over the middle just to avoid a walk. I've given up far too many homeruns this way.

I would also add though, that I wish the AI did punish the user more for fat pitches. As I said earlier, trying to hit corners with a bad gesture or timing result in a lot of meat balls that the AI just doesn't take advantage of enough making it so pitching around guys or being more careful doesn't really need to be top of mind.

[bcruise]

Quote: Originally Posted by CujoMatty

I'm zone analog with stride and pinpoint pitching. I'm a user skill should determine results kinda guy though. I completely understand the premise of wanting realistic stats and ratings driven results but I prefer the control. As far as not walking anyone.i do feel like the risk reward could be balanced better and I do wish penalties for screwing up the gesture or timing resulted in more balls as opposed to meat balls which would help with walks but what ive realized more than that is if im not walking anyone I'm probably not pitching right. What I mean by that is almost any mlb pitcher could not walk anyone if they wanted but they'd get rocked a lot. I find that with myself lots in the show as well. I've gotten way more concerned with not walking someone that I forget that I shouldn't just lay one over the middle just to avoid a walk. I've given up far too many homeruns this way. I would also add though, that I wish the AI did punish the user more for fat pitches. As I said earlier, trying to hit corners with a bad gesture or timing result in a lot of meat balls that the AI just doesn't take advantage of enough making it so pitching around guys or being more careful doesn't really need to be top of mind.

FWIW, I feel like the CPU does a better job of punishing my mistakes with the user-driven interfaces on Competitive game style versus Simulation. Might be something to try. It doesn't really change gameplay much (unless you use the other options that are on the Competitive default) - the main thing it does is makes the interfaces more difficult to be perfect with.

I'm not sold on Pinpoint being my interface of choice yet this year, but I do enjoy it. I feel like even that interface can be realistic given the right difficulty setting, because it is hard to perfect a large number of my pitches (on Competitive, at least - like I said, there's less margin for error than on Sim) and that means the ball can go just about anywhere if I miss on just one of those three parts of the interface. It's also still very tied to the pitcher's ability - for example high K/9 pitchers will get batters to swing and miss easier than low K/9 hurlers do as long as you're working off of the plate when the pitcher is ahead in the count.

[CujoMatty]

Quote: Originally Posted by bcruise

FWIW, I feel like the CPU does a better job of punishing my mistakes with the user-driven interfaces on Competitive game style versus Simulation. Might be something to try. It doesn't really change gameplay much (unless you use the other options that are on the Competitive default) - the main thing it does is makes the interfaces more difficult to be perfect with. I'm not sold on Pinpoint being my interface of choice yet this year, but I do enjoy it. I feel like even that interface can be realistic given the right difficulty setting, because it is hard to perfect a large number of my pitches (on Competitive, at least - like I said, there's less margin for error than on Sim) and that means the ball can go just about anywhere if I miss on just one of those three parts of the interface. It's also still very tied to the pitcher's ability - for example high K/9 pitchers will get batters to swing and miss easier than low K/9 hurlers do as long as you're working off of the plate when the pitcher is ahead in the count.

Hmmmmm good to know. I always just assume simulation is the way to go. Thx for this I'm gonna give it a try.