Year-end Synopsis and Where DD needs to improve

[JoshC1977]

As it appears that the major content for DD is over, I thought I'd put together my thoughts on this year's offering. I'd love to hear what others might think of this year's mode and what could be improved. As a note: I'm a strictly offline player and while I personally stay away from online play, it is an important part of the mode for most players. I've tried to keep my thoughts as reasonably balanced here as possible.

Positives of DD in MLB 20:

1. It really isn't hard to create an awesome team just by playing as there are TONS of good cards to choose from. In many modes, the best players are blocked behind pretty insane pack odds that requires a lot of pack openings.
2. There is ONE currency. This ties into number 1 as the presence of just one economy keeps the mode simple and balanced between those who grind with time vs those who grind with cash. Other modes seem to offer preferential treatment with extra currencies to those who pay cash. This is not the case with DD. Cash is available to those that wish to spend, but it's by no means required. Look at TA Stage 4; if you grinded all 30 teams and quick sold all the pack players from Stage 4, you'd wind up with 900k stubs. That's a LOT of stubs....
3. Each card has its own unique identity. I know lots of folks want "Team Chemistries" in DD, but does that make sense in baseball? In other sports, players need to function as a cohesive unit to operate well together. In baseball, there are occasions where fielders need to communicate well, but for the bulk of the game; it comes down to one batter vs one pitcher. Having a particular teammate does not directly impact how you're going to perform that AB.
4. You're not forced to play a particular way. I can play 'clean screen', classic pitching, directional hitting just like I do in franchise. I can let ratings stand-out as I prefer; whereas others may prefer a more user-influenced approach. The point is this - you can choose. If I play MyTeam, I can't use "Real FG%" or play on simulation mode on MUT and that lack of user fidelity has kept me away from those modes.
5. The card art. This is a "little thing" but it's important to me. Having real life card art from cards I collected as a kid makes the mode very cool. Being able to say "I remember that card!" brings back a nostalgia other card modes sorely lack. In addition, the SDS team has greatly improved their artwork - the "Awards series" being truly outstanding from an aesthetic perspective.
6. The "run it back" offering was inspired. It's an awesome way to introduce some of the "lesser" cards in the game. Would like to see this as a full time gig...with cards rotating every couple of months (with a new map/teams).
7. The new Monthly program structure for August/September was REALLY good. It gave you a reason to do Topps Now and added a nice mix of short missions to play in-game.


Areas to improve:

Moments need an overhaul.

Is there anyone that finishes a Moment that says "Wow, that was fun!!!" (aside from perhaps one of the signature team missions)? The power of what they can do with them is cool; but they need help. My suggestions:

1. More Moments using YOUR DD team. A person can only do so many "2 XBH" player lock missions before wanting to barf.
2. Make Team Moments accrue numbers for Team Affinity. For the Babe Ruth program, you play something around 40 games using your DD team. What did you get for TA? Nada, zippo, zilch.
3. Add a "minimum Moment pitch speed" setting for players; this would apply to Showdowns as well. Say you play on HOF regularly - going to a Moment/Showdown on Veteran (with those slow pitch speeds) is disorienting and maddening. With this setting set to HOF, you'd be able to play the Moment on Veteran, but with the same HOF pitch speeds you're used to. However, if a Moment was on Legend, you'd be forced to play on the Moment's higher pitch speed setting. I think allowing players to stabilize their experience speed-wise would make Moments far more palatable.

More reasons to play 9 inning games vs the CPU
This is a purely optional thing for those of us who strictly play offline. But give us missions to accomplish for program stars vs the CPU. Online gets a slew of stat missions; give offline players a comparable offering. Add in "Domination" style modes vs CPU teams where you play 9 inning games. It would be easy to do with the current program structure - it just needs to be implemented. Include both "beat Team X" missions and "stat missions". Adding in a offline "Season" format for your DD team would be highly desirable, but would likely be a bit of a pipe dream.

Fix the AI bullpen logic in 3 inning games (i.e. Conquest)
I'm down 1 run...get the starter out...and instead of facing an elite closer, I face a bronze long reliever? THAT has got to be fixed. Now, this has been flawed for years; and perhaps there is no way to do it without borking the AI for full games. But if it can be fixed, please do so!

More stat grinds for offline and include prestige cards
Most offline-only players miss the stat grinds. Allow for stat grinds to occur in all modes. However, to offset cheesing (i.e. playing on rookie offline); add a offline minimum difficulty requirement and increase the stats needed offline vs those needed online. Hearing about trolls that disconnect after 1 or 2 ABs to glean prestige stats is just disheartening. Those people are negatively affecting the enjoyment of other players and that kind of stuff should not happen. Trolls are going to cheese online and offline...it doesn't matter. A cool option should not be taken away from offline players just because of those kinds of players; and the "cheesability" can be mitigated for offline with the aforementioned tweaks.

Add Topps Now, Monthly Award, current year All Star, current year Postseason, and Finest cards to CPU "Live" lineups
By the end of the cycle, playing the same old "Live Series" CPU teams is ridiculously tiresome as there's virtually no parity between those Live Series cards and your team. But imagine playing the Dodgers now with their slew of 2020 card upgrades. Instead of facing the Live Series Seager and Betts, you play vs the Postseason and Finest versions, respectively.

Add Legend/Flashback Squads to the list of playable opponents
In addition to the "Live" teams mentioned above, each franchise will have a second team that you can play against. This team will consist of all Live Series, Flashbacks, and Legends currently available in the game at that time. That will double the effective number of CPU opponents we can face (and give the SDS team a chance to create some seriously cool Conquest maps as well).

Change the BR reward structure
This is the one "online-focused" area I will touch upon. If you go 12-0 in BR, you're a combo of lucky and good; you deserve to be rewarded. But baseball is a game of chance at times; one (un)lucky bounce can change the outcome of the game. Instead, how about this? If you go 12-1 in a BR run (which is STILL darn good), you get a RANDOM BR reward from those eligible in the pool (you may or may not get the guy you want). If you hit the magical 12-0, you get a choice pack where you can choose the player you want (and perhaps two). In an economy where BR rewards are unbuyable (with 100s of max offers in the queue), adding more to the mix would keep them desirable but allow more people to have a shot to get them.

Now, there are other areas I think need addressing (like divorcing MtO from DD) but they are things that are more complicated and debatable. I think the majority of the items above would be amenable to most players and would greatly enhance what is already a fantastic mode.

What do you guys think?

[kenp86]

agree with pretty much everything. New to DD this year and it was amazing. My fear is that content takes a dive with a full season next year.

1. Offline Prestige is HUGE. Its needed.

2. This is the one that ABSOLUTELY needs to be fixed... Pickoff attempts in moments. Cut the crap out. lol

[brunopuntzjones]

1. It should be possible to complete programs (or at least get the primary card reward) without playing moments. Some combination of Conquest, Play vs CPU, or stat grinds should get you there.

2. More sub-diamond legend/flashback cards, including in packs, add new tier for 95+ overall cards.

3. 9 inning online competitive alternatives to RS that allows plays to find their skill level and stay there
4. Open all daily missions to offline completion
5. More player programs like this year's Jackie Robinson, but again with more options for completion.

[kenp86]

AND ANOTHER THING..

LET US SAVE OUR ROSTERS IN EVENTS

START US WITH THE RIGHT ROSTER AT THE START OF THE EVENT TOO. Tired of having to go through and switch players to get under the team overall restriction

[BigOscar]

Agree with most of what you've said. What I would add, is add a ton more variety to missions.

Essentially this year, they released the 1st inning program, then just repeated it 10 times. Zero creativity, zero difference, just the same thing repeated 10 times. Beat the conquest map, get 30 points. Beat the Showdown, get 70 points. Beat the player programs, which will definitely just be "beat 7 moments and then the players team on All Star" for 20 more points each. Win 10 games of Ranked seasons, 20 points. Play 15 innings with x teams players each day for 2 points. Etc etc etc, rinse and repeat.

It's lazy, it's dull and just a complete absence of creativity. Every now and then they actually bother using any creativity, like the PS program, and it's great, but most of the time it's just lazy repeating of the exact same thing again and again. Made worse tbh by the fact it's pretty much just a repeat of last year, so it's about 20 times they've released the exact same thing

[Seltaeb9091]

I agree with finding a way for offline players like myself to prestige their cards without having to pay for PS+ to do so. I'd be happy to do offline games/moments/showdowns on a high difficulty level if it means I can chip away towards a shiny red card.

I also have never paid attention to Conquest maps besides the main one until this year. There's a ton of hidden packs on them which makes each map like an easter egg hunt, and with the bigger packs coming out in the later innings, you can field a pretty good team with a little patience. I know the maps are redundant for some, but I like marching my troops into a corner of the map that may just have a Ballin' or better pack hidden within. If you have the expendable income to buy stubs and the cards you want, then more power to you, but I have never spent a dime on stubs and never will (even though that may be the only way I'll get MVP Mays).

But yeah, at least introvert players still have enough to do in DD to make it worthwhile.

[brunopuntzjones]

Oh also:
1. Add DH option (use in online games decided by home team's decision or maybe special event rules) and include DH as a primary or secondary position (only for guys who have actually appeared as a DH).
2. If it's possible to economically license some fun but not great retired players (i.e. Mario Mendoza in 18), please do!

[Madden08PCgmr]

Aesthetic more than anything, probably not in the spirit of the thread. But with the partnership with Topps, and having licensed players, I would LOVE to see more cards.

I can't even count how many cards I've collected simply for the sake of nostalgia. Specifically the mid-late 80s sets.