So....let's talk about this. Based on what I saw from pre-release streams and now my first couple games played, I feel like HR's are traveling far too long on average. Lots of 450+ foot shots, and a few tremendous blasts like my 501 shot with Bryant in my first game. Nice to look at, sure (and to show off Showtrack) but I feel like the frequency of these blasts is going to wear on me quickly.
I believe these are happening because the new ball physics have "unshackled" the game's fly balls, so to speak. With the huge number of new ways for the ball to fly off the bat, we're seeing carry like we've never seen before in this series.
So, if this continues to be an issue beyond our initial sample size, let's look into some possible slider remedies. Obviously most people are going to knee-jerk to the power sliders, and I'm certainly not opposed to taking those down a notch or 2. But the one I believe might really solve this problem is Solid Hits. This slider effectively increases/decreases the size of the "sweet spot" within the PCI, determining the frequency with which you'll be able to put a batter's full power potential behind a swing. On default, I feel like we're seeing that full potential too often, and that's what's causing the long HR's. Some tests I did with that slider down at 2 in CPU vs CPU games looked very promising. The CPU could still hit HR's (I believe there were 5 of them in my first game with this setting), but they weren't moonshots.
Solid hits does affect more than just HR distance of course, and that's where this gets tricky. I don't want to kill off extra base hits for the sake of lowering HR distances, but so far at least I've still been seeing a few doubles as well as HR's. And, since I am actually seeing HR's I know the potential is still there for doubles and triples as well, even with that slider turned down. Lower launch angle + same hit speed = a likely 2B or 3B instead of a HR. The last thing I want is for this to turn into whack-a-mole slideritis where it fixes one thing but breaks others, so ultimately if this doesn't work I'm willing to live with extra-long HR's for the sake of overall game balance.
The reason I don't want to mess with power sliders too much is that Exit Velo (aka Hit Speed) still looks very good to me. I can barely break 120 mph with Stanton squaring a ball up perfectly. I did a post about Hit Speed last year in the Little Things thread, and it still applies here in '17:
http://www.operationsports.com/forum...&postcount=169
I didn't have a whole lot of time to test this out last night, but I'll be playing around with it extensively today. And I wanted to put my thoughts out there to start up some discussion. Would love to hear the slider makers' thoughts on this situation once they get a few games under their belts.
I believe these are happening because the new ball physics have "unshackled" the game's fly balls, so to speak. With the huge number of new ways for the ball to fly off the bat, we're seeing carry like we've never seen before in this series.
So, if this continues to be an issue beyond our initial sample size, let's look into some possible slider remedies. Obviously most people are going to knee-jerk to the power sliders, and I'm certainly not opposed to taking those down a notch or 2. But the one I believe might really solve this problem is Solid Hits. This slider effectively increases/decreases the size of the "sweet spot" within the PCI, determining the frequency with which you'll be able to put a batter's full power potential behind a swing. On default, I feel like we're seeing that full potential too often, and that's what's causing the long HR's. Some tests I did with that slider down at 2 in CPU vs CPU games looked very promising. The CPU could still hit HR's (I believe there were 5 of them in my first game with this setting), but they weren't moonshots.
Solid hits does affect more than just HR distance of course, and that's where this gets tricky. I don't want to kill off extra base hits for the sake of lowering HR distances, but so far at least I've still been seeing a few doubles as well as HR's. And, since I am actually seeing HR's I know the potential is still there for doubles and triples as well, even with that slider turned down. Lower launch angle + same hit speed = a likely 2B or 3B instead of a HR. The last thing I want is for this to turn into whack-a-mole slideritis where it fixes one thing but breaks others, so ultimately if this doesn't work I'm willing to live with extra-long HR's for the sake of overall game balance.
The reason I don't want to mess with power sliders too much is that Exit Velo (aka Hit Speed) still looks very good to me. I can barely break 120 mph with Stanton squaring a ball up perfectly. I did a post about Hit Speed last year in the Little Things thread, and it still applies here in '17:
http://www.operationsports.com/forum...&postcount=169
I didn't have a whole lot of time to test this out last night, but I'll be playing around with it extensively today. And I wanted to put my thoughts out there to start up some discussion. Would love to hear the slider makers' thoughts on this situation once they get a few games under their belts.
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