Research Poll

[Brian SCEA]

Hi, I work on parts of hitting and pitching on the Show, and also some minor features like the game log and strategy guide. I'm doing some early research for next year, and I have a survey here for anyone with a few minutes of time.

Feel free to answer only the survey questions you're interested in. Even a single answer might be as insightful as answering all the answers.

Also, if possible, I'd like to limit this thread to just survey answers. Thank you!

1) Overall Difficulty - Rate the overall difficulty of hitting/pitching/fielding/running. Is even Legend too easy for you, or Rookie too hard? Are there specific modes that too easy or hard, such as zone hitting or analog throwing, etc..? Or is one area overall okay but a specific action (hitting a slider, getting a double play, etc..) at an extreme for you?

2) Game Log - Do you use the game log? Would you like a game option that displays it in chronological order, rather than most recent innings first? At the end of the game log are some miscellaneous data about that day's game. Are there other fields of data you would like to see?

3) Strategy Guide - Have you used the in-game Strategy Guide? Would you like to see certain topics covered? Would you like to see more topics in general covered?

4) Pitcher Batter Analysis - Do you use the Pitcher-Batter Analysis tools? What kind of new data, charts, or filters would you like? Would you like more than the last 25 pitches drawn?

5) Pitching Interfaces - Of the four pitching interfaces (Classic, Meter, Analog, Pulse), which do you use the most overall? Which would you never use? Are there specific improvements you would like to see to any of the existing pitching interfaces?

6) Classic Pitching - Do you like using classic pitching, even occasionally or in the past? When using classic pitching, would you like it if the power setting phase was tied to the pitcher's animation?

For example, instead of holding down X before the pitcher starts winding up, the pitcher starts winding up as you press X. And instead of 1 second being the Max effort, it's whatever the duration of the windup is (with the stretch animation being shorter). A rumble would confirm max effort, as always. Of course, there's no timing skill involved here (i.e. no penalty for holding X down forever). It would mainly have two effects: merging the power and windup phase, and adding a certain feel of interaction with that pitcher. On the other hand, I can see this as being slightly annoying (or at least some getting used to) for people who don't want it.

7) Hitting Modes - Which hitting mode do you prefer? Which hitting mode would you never use? Have you tried timing-only hitting yet?

8) Stealing Balance - Do you play 2P offline/online? How often do you steal in 2P? Do you manual (i.e. early) steal or auto (on windup) steal? Is it too easy or hard to steal overall? In two player, do you get stolen against too easily when it does happen? Is it too easy or hard to defend against steals overall? Or are there specific situations that need balance? Are bad basestealers able to steal too effectively? How often do you pitchout? Quick pickoff? Slow pickoff? Deceptive pickoff?

9) Guess Pitch Modes - Which guess pitch mode do you prefer, if any? Do you use it always, or just in certain counts/situations? Do you think that mode is balanced for single-player games against the AI? For two-player games? Can you hit effectively without using guess pitch at all? What difficulty do you hit on? Lastly, in two-player games how do you feel when your opponent uses guess pitch against you?

10) Pitch Speed and Ball/Strike – On Allstar difficulty, are fastballs too fast or slow? Is it Is it too hard or easy to call a ball or strike? Or instead, can you usually tell if it's a ball or strike but you just want to swing anyways? What do you think about batting while in strike 2 situations? 2-0 and 3-1 situations?

I've asked people internally about the above topics but wanted to get some outside thoughts. Thanks!

Brian

Update
I don't plan on replying directly to all comments, but here are some notes:
@Perfect Zero: Thanks for all the insight, and I'll pass along your comment to the stadium guys.

@dkrause1971: We had similar discussions on the pulse meter (for months!), and I think an option to personalize the style/coloring of the meter is the best way to make everyone happy. I'll pass along the info on the player editor.

@bcruise: It's been a while, sorry to hear about high fastballs. I have the same problem, but I hear some people swear the new catcher cameras help. Not sure myself. I've found the best counter to someone guessing fastball low is to throw a fastball low and in the dirt. ;-) That, or throwing fastballs out of the strike zone and offspeed pitches for strikes on the sides. It's a situation we're always looking at, with some of it inherent to GP itself and some to sometimes-ineffective user habits (as seen by your winning record against this strat).

@spit_bubble: The two main constraints with adding waste pitches is VITA has no buttons left, and this feature has to compete with others people are proposing. The CPU itself does do waste pitches, though perhaps too subtly.

@Hannah000: I'll take a look at the game log issues. I'm not able to do anything about Replay Vault or simming, but I'll pass that on.

@jimmyl008: I'd be happy too with a better interface with game log, but this is competing with other interface requests including new ones. Maybe a hotkey that lets you jump paragraphs/innings would work.

@jmik58: Like you said, perfect timing on outside pitches should be slightly late. Have you seen this problem with all batters? There are certain batters - pull hitters - which pull a ball on what "should have" been a slightly late swing. I've often debated completely doing away with the notion of our game even handling "pull hitters" and leaving it purely up to the user. That makes perfect sense from a hitting perspective. When I propose that however, the problem that keeps coming back is this makes no sense from a fielding, AI, or realism perspective. If a guy pulls 70% of his hits but the user flat out doesn't, why are all the fielders positioned as if he's an extreme pull hitter? And why doesn't the AI at least do this? Finally, is this realistic that all 9 batters bat the same way as the user, with only ability differences? This is the dilemma. As for stealing, I don't deal with throwing, fielding or running. Sorry. =(

@DickDalewood: Yeah, maybe we should just put a link to OS in the Strategy Guide but I don't know how much paper work that'll take. =)

@HighCmpPct: Yes, every other pitching mode has the notion of a "wild miss" except pulse pitching. Internal testers didn't like the idea of a pitch leaving the circle, even though it should occasionally happen. So we retuned it without "wild misses" by having the pulsing itself be a bit wilder. It's still pretty hard to bean the batter or get a wild pitch by accident in pulse pitching unless the stars align. In this situation, we guessed at how many people would frown if wild misses happened and it probably outnumbered the frowns if it didn't. But it's something still being deliberated. As for changeups and curveballs, another thing is the way the ball spins changes how the stiches look to the batter. These are all difficult issues for a video game, on top of the fact that my biggest concern is breaking things in an attempt to implement any of these. What sounds like a minor tell to one person could be a huge and annoying tell to another.

@sydrogerdavid: I'd like to see more stats too. Part of the limitation is apart from adding filters I have to put in requests for everything and this goes through a lot of people and departments because of the work involved. That's one thing I like about the game log - it's just text! As for striding in analog hitting, it's based on time to plate and what a typical batter should do.

@Bobhead: Good feedback, I've discussed the same point about Rookie as well and one of the compromises that came up was the "Begginer, Advanced, Expert" templates. Part of the problem was no difficulty could be easy enough..for true beginners they had trouble just using the meter pitching and knowing how to time a swing and it wasn't difficulty holding them back. So the decision was the Beginner template would start you on Classic pitching, among other things. I also wanted them to auto-show swing analysis, which we now have. I hate game log scrolling too, I'll see if it's even possible to change. The other idea was to let you skip paragraphs by hotkey. For the Strategy Guide, I have an unusual budget of 1024 characters per page, 7 pages per topic, and 6 topics. It's quite awkward. Funny you mention instruction manuals, the very reason I wanted a Strategy Guide was things I noticed missing from the manual! I also wanted knowledge posted to OS to be openly available to everyone with the game. I'll pass on the info on steals.

@dce21b: I only deal with hitting and pitching, so unfortunately can't give much insight into online matchups or DD. It sounds like DD could use improvements to matchmaking both in skill and settings. I think though it's natural for a new mode like DD to have these issues and to see them get incrementally improved.

@Cavicchi: There's definitely a steep learning curve for hitting, and it's hard to that address without Rookie-specific additions like you suggest or perhaps specific training modes. One of the solutions a few years back was the Strategy Guide, but something better would probably be a mode that specifically coaches you and ramps things up as you learn each skill (ex. fastballs only, then add in changeups, then alternate in and out locations, etc..).

@heroesandvillians: The new method for classic pitching involves no timing in the sense that you can just hold X forever for max effort (there's no "late release"). In any case though, I'd like to see a sub-option that lets the user decide the method. I know we have a lot of game options, but if done well everyone can have their way. One thing I want to mention about Guess Pitch is it's actually very deep strategically (regardless of the debate over realism). I'd like to write a strategy guide just on guess pitch, but I need to find the space for it first. It's also worth nothing that guess pitch on Legend is much much harder than guess pitch on Rookie, and that you can be sufficiently good at "guess pitch" (apart from hitting itself) to get used to Legend guess pitch.

@nusie: I also would like a way for users to export their game log (and even box score) .. it's not in my hands but every year I do mention it.

@allthoseships: I look often at CPU discipline, and it seems to depend a lot on how you pitch to the CPU. The CPU is often guessing or doing the right thing for the wrong reason (it takes a borderline ball on strike 2 because it thought it was way out of the strike zone). This is the same reason the CPU will sometimes stare at a deep strike occasionally. Against baseline play (both CPU and Human opponents playing a default way), the CPU chases and walks as close to real life as we can get them. And yet we do hear the same thing from some people (but not others).. it seems the most critical factor is challenging the CPU at the border more (i.e. throwing more pitches on the border without knowing yourself which way it'll end up). I generally don't run into this issue myself, but I'm using what I know against the AI. =)

[Perfect Zero]

1) Overall Difficulty - I play the game on All-Star mode, and I feel that pitching is spot on with the way pitchers tire, the way they have control, and the way they act during the game. Fielding wise, I feel that the fielders could have a little less on their speed out of the box, as I routinely see outfielders grab balls in the deepest parts of the yard when they are playing close in. Running is kind of difficult and cumbersome for new players because it's hard to grasp who is running where, but I don't think that it is a major concern.

My biggest problem is hitting. I feel that the new physics have altered the game in a way that was unintended. There are a number of balls that should be in the outfield that end up being speared by infielders making magnificent leaps. Maybe that's more of a fielding problem, but it just seems that balls going into the outfield are mostly speared by the infielder, caught by a speedy outfielder, or are a Texas Leaguer. Maybe there needs to be a little more arch on the hits for next year; however I'll defer to your opinion. Again, I love the new physics, but I think they need to be tuned again for optimum play for next year.

In addition to that, balls that get past the catcher are a bit weird this year... almost as if they have extra bounce. I've had more than a couple that bounce off a padded wall as if they were bouncing off of brick. That could be part of the new physics, but I'm not sure (it was really good in previous games.)

2) Game Log - To be honest, I don't use the game log that much. Stats wise, I would like to see some more sabermetrics in the game like ERA+, wOBA, and BABIP just to name a few. This would mean a lot more in franchise mode of course. When I have used the log before, I enjoyed seeing the first inning first.

3) Strategy Guide - I have not in the past, so I really can't comment on this.

4) Pitcher Batter Analysis - I do use the chart sometimes, but I really can't think of anything more to add at this time.

5) Pitching Interfaces - I used to use meter pitching for the longest time. I tried analog last year, and although it was alright I just felt more comfortable with meter (there's nothing wrong with analog, it just wasn't for me). This year, I'm using pulse pitching and I think it accurately portrays pitching in baseball. The only thing I can think of to change it would be to chose if you wanted a control pitch or a power pitch with tradeoffs. Perhaps that already happens, I can't tell. Sometimes, I want my pitcher to have a little more control and to give up some power to focus on that. Other times, I want to power it by the batter and let my fielding do the rest.

6) Classic Pitching - N/A

7) Hitting Modes - I should try timing-only hitting? Would that improve the game to where it plays better to the new physics engine? Perhaps that's why people are having so many problems... perhaps that plays to the batter's stats... In any case, I use zone hitting. Again, I'm having problems getting balls into the outfield or into the gap, but maybe that's because of the mode that I'm using.

8) Stealing Balance - I have played some games online (which, I'm sorry to say needs a lot of work for me to keep playing it), and the only time I steal is when a) the other player isn't good at keeping me on base, or b) I have a Ricky Henderson clone on first. I find that I can keep players on the base online, but throwing to second... it doesn't pre-load for me sometimes. In fact, I've had more problems pre-loading this year than last year. Perhaps I still need to shake off some of the rust, but last year I was Pudge Rodriguez behind the plate. Now, I'm below average.

9) Guess Pitch Modes - I used to use guess pitch, but I find that it's a crutch. Online, I can dominate players who use it because they are focused on one pitch. If I have a two seam fastball and a four seam fastball, I'm going to really confuse them on the mound. When I did use guess pitch, I was okay with it (no major issues to report). However, I find that without it, I'm more focused on what the pitcher is doing, and I get more hits without it.

10) Pitch Speed and Ball/Strike – Heh, yeah it's a little too fast. I had to turn it down three notches in order to be comfortable with it. I find that with it down like that, I can read the ball much better, and I can take more balls. There are some times that I don't want to swing, but I do anyways because I just get trigger happy (especially against sliders and low pitches), but that's really my fault for not having a good at-bat. In hitter's situations, I let the ball come to me and if I'm wrong, it's no big deal. In neutral situations, I let the ball come to me, but I'll foul one off if it's close. In pitcher's situations, prayer helps some

By the way, I know this isn't part of the survey but give the guy who did the stadium art a raise. Rangers Ballpark looks amazing, and the details on the big board in left have not gone unnoticed.

[dkrause1971]

1) Overall Difficulty -
I think initially the game is quite difficult but if you spend the time you can greatly improve at this game. The recognition of the pitches when batting i personally think is the hardest part. Especially, low change ups and sliders.

2) Game Log -
I do not use the game log.

3) Strategy Guide -
Have you used the in-game Strategy Guide? I do not use this.

4) Pitcher Batter Analysis -
Would you like more than the last 25 pitches drawn? I would like to see more than 25 pitches drawn. I would like to see a few options. 25 pitches. All for a pitcher and then total for all pitchers.

5) Pitching Interfaces - I used Pulse the most. Then Classic. Meter i just found too easy. On the Interfaces, maybe a different color for the pulse. I use broadcast and the pulses can be hard to read with the white at certain angles. Maybe an option of Red, Black, etc.

6) Classic Pitching - Do you like using classic pitching, even occasionally or in the past? I use it from time to time. I am fine with the current system but i do like the example you posted.

7) Hitting Modes - Which hitting mode do you prefer? I use timing and sometimes zone.

8) Stealing Balance - Do you play 2P offline/online? I play single player. I am fine with the stealing balance but i only play single player games.

9) Guess Pitch Modes - Which guess pitch mode do you prefer? I do not use guess pitch.

10) Pitch Speed and Ball/Strike – On All-star difficulty, are fastballs too fast or slow? I am having a harder time this year with fastball. I don't know if i am just getting that much slower with reactions or if the speed increased. I think part of the problem is so many change-ups are underrated for speed when you look them up at fangraphs, etc. The disparity of the speeds makes it even harder than it should be.

The ball and strike recognition. I find it difficult to tell a ball and strike on certain pitches- change-up to fastball for example but that is understandable. But my biggest beef is the ability of pitchers to locate pitches so consistently well. Especially, when its a relievers 4th pitch for example and its poorly rated. They seem to pound the bottom of the zone way too often in my opinion. Also, i think the confidences in these pitches improves too quickly. Those two points are likely tied together. I get that if i am struggling with change ups the CPU will throw them. I just would like more wildness when its the pitchers 4th pitch and not rated well, then him pounding the black and the bottom of the strike zone with it because his confidence has grown.

[bcruise]

What's up Brian!

1) Rate the overall difficulty of hitting/pitching/fielding/running. Is even Legend too easy for you, or Rookie too hard?

I'm finding a good balance on all factors (hitting, pitching, and fielding) in the All-Star - HOF range. I'm actually playing a bunch of games between the two to try and narrow it down to one difficulty for each.

Are there specific modes that too easy or hard, such as zone hitting or analog throwing, etc..? Or is one area overall okay but a specific action (hitting a slider, getting a double play, etc..) at an extreme for you?

For the most part I can get similar results from each different interface, given the same difficulty level. The exceptions are Zone Plus Anlog (because I'm terrible at it), and Analog fielding (because I'll occasionally double clutch a throw I didn't mean to, or miss the angle of throws too often (I'm especially good at this with Starlin Castro!). Also, always and forever, the high fastball is the bane of my existence as I'll swing at it all day, even if it's over my head. It's been my problem in just about every baseball game I've ever played though, so it's really about me and not The Show.


2) Do you use the game log? Would you like a game option that displays it in chronological order, rather than most recent innings first? At the end of the game log are some miscellaneous data about that day's game. Are there other fields of data you would like to see?

Pretty happy with the game log as it is. I think there's a bug where the new umpires are getting listed last name first, but that's really about it.

3) Have you used the in-game Strategy Guide? Would you like to see certain topics covered? Would you like to see more topics in general covered?

I've definitely used the stategy guide, and make it a point to mention it on OS whenever I can. I don't really have any suggestions for adding to right now, though - maybe someone else can help with that. Well, maybe one thing - an explanation of what all the advanced stats mean. A google search on "Hoban Efficiency Quotient" doesn't bear much fruit.

4) Do you use the Pitcher-Batter Analysis tools? What kind of new data, charts, or filters would you like? Would you like more than the last 25 pitches drawn?

Yes, I use the analysis tools, and have for many years. It helps me find patterns in what I swing and miss at (not that I need any help determining that I whiff high fastballs), as well as what I get burned by when pitching. The Last 25 pitches thing is an interesting problem, because if you put too many on there it would clutter it up. I could see it bumped up to 30-35 without too much clutter, but beyond that I think people need to use the filters to find more specific info.

5) Of the four pitching interfaces (Classic, Meter, Analog, Pulse), which do you use the most overall? Which would you never use? Are there specific improvements you would like to see to any of the existing pitching interfaces?

Mostly analog as it really grew on me from last year. I used pulse and thought it was okay, though it was much easier to use on the PS3 than the Vita (it seemed like I had to press the button when the circle was at its largest in order to actually have it stop at the smallest.

6) Do you like using classic pitching, even occasionally or in the past?

Not much of a classic user unless it's forced (online leagues and such)

7) Do you play 2P offline/online? How often do you steal in 2P? Do you manual (i.e. early) steal or auto (on windup) steal? Is it too easy or hard to steal overall? Is it too easy or hard to defend against steals overall? Or are there specific situations that need balance? Are bad basestealers able to steal too effectively? How often do you pitchout? Quick pickoff? Slow pickoff? Deceptive pickoff?

I've played about 15 games online through DD. Personally, I only steal when the situation calls for it - fast baserunner with good basestealing ability, and I only use auto steal as I feel it's the safest and most realistic option. The difficulty depends on the runner's speed and ability - if I try to send a guy with low BRA, he might stumble out of his leadoff and get nailed at 2nd easily.

On the whole, I think the balance is pretty good as long as the pitching user knows his controls and what he can do to shut down the excessive basestealing present in online games. I step off, I pitch out, I use deceptive pickoffs and, for the most part, I don't get worked over on the basepaths. The deceptive pickoff in particular is amazing at taking out guys who take more than a one step lead (you don't need any more than that guys, really!!). I don't have the stats, but I nail at least one a game with that move (and most stop trying to lead off after the first one)

8) Which hitting mode do you prefer? Which hitting mode would you never use? Have you tried timing-only hitting yet? (you should!)

Haha, nice plug for timing. I use that as a base for what my results should be in the other modes (see this post from '11: The Holy Trinity of Hitting Options). But when I'm playing for real, I tend to use zone as it gives me the best chance of being rewarded for good PCI placement and timing. I'd use Zone for any online games I play. Analog is fun for offline play and controls the offensive output some, but still gives you some control. ZPA.....I just can't do it. Props to anyone who can.

9) Which guess pitch mode do you prefer, if any? Do you use it always, or just in certain counts/situations? Do you think that mode is balanced for single-player games against the AI? For two-player games? Can you hit effectively without using guess pitch at all? What difficulty do you hit on? Lastly, in two-player games how do you feel when your opponent uses guess pitch against you?

Ah, GP....I've used it in the past to help control my high fastball K's (it does do that, at least), but in the end it ends up changing the AI pitcher's strategy so much that it just doesn't feel like I'm facing the same pitcher. When they just stop throwing them entirely after a few right guesses I might as well not be using GP at all. I go back and forth on this from time to time though (and between the different GP modes as well. Since I can hit well enough without it I don't HAVE to use it, but I tend to walk less than I should when it's turned off (because I'm swinging at...you guessed it )

I don't know what to think about it for online play....virtually everyone I've played in DD guessed down + fastball nearly every pitch, and it's blatantly obvious that they're doing so. My 12-6 record would indicate that it's not a win button though - obviously if I see that I'm not going to throw a fastball down. For that matter, I try not to even throw fastballs in the strike zone - I leave them just off the plate and get a lot of weak contact. And I throw a lot of off speed on the corners and just off them - they can't hit those either. It's only the ones that hang over the plate that get mashed on two incorrect guesses, which seems like how it should be. Myself, I only use it VERY sparingly, if I'm picking up on a pattern. It's not even enough of a factor in my hitting game to really even talk about, though - about 95% of my online swings do not use GP. If somebody uses it against me I really don't care - If they're going to guess in the same place/pitch everytime I'm certainly not going to throw that pitch/location, and if they're mixing it up then it's my fault for getting too predictable. JMO.

I've asked people internally about the above topics but wanted to get some outside thoughts. Thanks!

Welcome!

[bcruise]

Adding the last question as it was edited in (and I'm afraid my reply will get missed if I edit into my own post):

The default pitch speed on allstar might be a little fast, but I don't have trouble recognizing balls/strikes anywhere but high.

I try to swing at only strikes. I do chase on accident though, of course, and at a fairly average clip. More often on 2 strike counts. MUCH more than that on high heat. Contact swings help reduce the K's on these some. Ahead in the count, I start looking in hot zones and occasionally power swinging. I'd actually be interesting in finding out exactly what the difference is in the three types of swings are (like what % of a batter's power does he lose on a contact swing, stuff like that)

[spit_bubble]

4) Pitcher Batter Analysis - Do you use the Pitcher-Batter Analysis tools? What kind of new data, charts, or filters would you like? Would you like more than the last 25 pitches drawn?

Yes, I would absolutely like to see more than the last 25 pitches drawn. Ideally I'd like to see all pitches for every category, if that is feasible.

5) Pitching Interfaces - Of the four pitching interfaces (Classic, Meter, Analog, Pulse), which do you use the most overall? Which would you never use? Are there specific improvements you would like to see to any of the existing pitching interfaces?

I use classic, and it's the only one I ever use.

I'd like to see waste pitches added. In real life there is a clear distinction between a normal pitch and a waste pitch, and this distinction isn't really captured in MLB 12. Yes, you can aim your pitch outside the zone, but all too often I will want to waste a pitch only to have that pitch go wild and end up being in the zone and very hittable. And while it is true you will see this happen on occasion in real life, it's rare compared to what you see in MLB 12.

I think a possible solution would be to simply add a "waste pitch button" that could be selected after the pitch type was chosen. These pitches would have a greater chance of missing the strike zone. So the sequence would be: press "x" for fastball, the "R2" for waste pitch, aim pitch with analog stick + "x" to throw.

Again, MLB pitchers are very capable of throwing waste pitches, and they are very much a part of the strategy. Waste pitches have a bigger target area than normal pitches because normal pitches have to be within a very specific area, while waste pitches are just there as a show me pitch, to give a hitter a look at a certain pitch to set him up for something else.

6) Classic Pitching - Do you like using classic pitching, even occasionally or in the past? When using classic pitching, would you like it if the power setting phase was tied to the pitcher's animation?

For example, instead of holding down X before the pitcher starts winding up, the pitcher starts winding up as you press X. And instead of 1 second being the Max effort, it's whatever the duration of the windup is (with the stretch animation being shorter). A rumble would confirm max effort, as always. Of course, there's no timing skill involved here (i.e. no penalty for holding X down forever). It would mainly have two effects: merging the power and windup phase, and adding a certain feel of interaction with that pitcher. On the other hand, I can see this as being slightly annoying (or at least some getting used to) for people who don't want it.

Yes I would like to see it tied to the windup, without any penalty for holding "x" too long. I think it would add a nice feel of interaction, as well as providing an unobtrusive on screen visual indicator as to how much effort was put into each pitch. Sort of like using the pitcher's windup as a meter. I definitely like this idea.

10) Pitch Speed and Ball/Strike – On Allstar difficulty, are fastballs too fast or slow? Is it Is it too hard or easy to call a ball or strike? Or instead, can you usually tell if it's a ball or strike but you just want to swing anyways? What do you think about batting while in strike 2 situations? 2-0 and 3-1 situations?

The one thing I'd say about this is that often times a pitch will look strange coming out of a pitcher's hand, and so it sometimes becomes difficult to pick up. This is really dependent on each pitcher's release point and the pitch type chosen, but I've watched some pitchers in slow motion replay and what I sometimes see is pitchers holding on to the ball too long, or the ball coming unnaturally out of the pitcher's hand. These slight visual discrepancies make it so you pick up a pitch just a split second later than you should. I imagine this would not be an easy thing to fix as you would have to go through each windup in the game on a pitch by pitch basis, but I think it might be worthwhile to do so, to iron things out a bit.

[Hannah000]

Thanks Brian and the entire SCEA team who gave us MLB 12 : The Show. Thanks for caring about us and allowing our input to matter.


1) Overall Difficulty - I think the difficulty levels are excellent.

2) Game Log - Do you use the game log? Yes, I like the Game Log. Would you like a game option that displays it in chronological order, rather than most recent innings first? I think that the way it is presently arranged is good. Inning by Inning is the right way. It has bugs where it only displays two of the three outs of the Inning. Also, when a Pitcher is Substituted to pitch at the beginning of an Inning, it will register the opponents pitcher as entering the game, instead of the other teams pitcher. In the Replay Vault, it would also be nice to have it return to the way it was in 09 and 10 where you could look at each play that pertained to each pitcher, also, instead of just to the Hitters. At the end of the game log are some miscellaneous data about that day's game. I would like a Game Log or Box Score similar to that which you would find on espn.com or mlb.com. I liked that you added LOB and LOB % to the Game Log this year. However, stats are sorely lacking in the game. It would be nice to see in the Box Score or Game Log these stats : 2-out RBI; Overall Team RISP (Runners-in-Scoring-Position); HomeRuns hit with player name and distance(s); 2-out men left in RISP; Inherited Runners-Inherited Runners Stranded. Are there other fields of data you would like to see? I also would like you to change these two persistent errors : #1 - In the Batter/Pitcher Analysis, outs (put-outs or assists) recorded by the Shortstop appear as 3B, and out recorded by the Third Basemen appear as SS. And #2 - Please sim a season and check the overall team RISP averages. They are .25 to .35 points below what they should be per team. This leads to each team scoring 60 - 80 runs Less than they should. Finally, it would be nice to be able to see stats by month and be able to see team Starter's ERA and team Bullpen ERA. And to be able to see League and Team Leaders in these stat categories that I listed, as well as for the Saberemetrics stats, would be greatly appreciated. I did not mean to go off subject, but, I needed to say these things. Thanks

4) Pitcher Batter Analysis - See above post.

5) Pitching Interfaces - Classic is the only way I play and it is great.

6) Classic Pitching - Yes, what you state below would be a very good addition.

For example, instead of holding down X before the pitcher starts winding up, the pitcher starts winding up as you press X. And instead of 1 second being the Max effort, it's whatever the duration of the windup is (with the stretch animation being shorter). A rumble would confirm max effort, as always. Of course, there's no timing skill involved here (i.e. no penalty for holding X down forever). It would mainly have two effects: merging the power and windup phase, and adding a certain feel of interaction with that pitcher. On the other hand, I can see this as being slightly annoying (or at least some getting used to) for people who don't want it.

8) Stealing Balance - I have my sliders at SB Ability at 3 and SB Aggressiveness at 9 and it is a great balance. It should probably be easier to steal with guys like Bourn or Gardner, however.

I've asked people internally about the above topics but wanted to get some outside thoughts. Thanks!

Brian

Thanks and God Bless, Brian

[jimmyl008]

2) Game Log I think the game log would be more streamlined with a tabbed interface similar to a web browser, where each inning's log is on a separate tab. This would be much quicker to flip through than having to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page as we currently do.

3) Strategy Guide The strategy guide is fantastic. I read it a couple nights ago and learned a few things. At first I didn't realize that there were multiple pages for each topic (flipped through with L1/R1), and some of the most useful information is buried in those deeper pages.

5) Pitching Interfaces I've been using pulse pitching most of the time, though I've tried all the interfaces. Analog is too challenging for me to use well consistently. Meter looks and feels straight out of 2003, so I avoid that.

6) Classic Pitching I tried classic pitching holding the button down just until the pitcher strode and snapped his arm forward. It felt really good... until I learned that matching release time with the pitch animation has nothing to do with power or accuracy.

I think it would be great if button timing correlated with the pitcher's release point. Hold the button too long and the ball will end up low or even in the dirt. Release too soon and the ball might soar over the catcher's head in an extreme case. The perfect timing would be releasing the button just as the pitcher's arm snaps forward. This timing has a very satisfying, organic feel to it and would allow significant user interaction while also leaving a lot to attributes.

7) Hitting Modes - Timing seems too random as far as PCI placement, but I've been using zone hitting with good results. I like how the ball's spin can be influenced using the PCI, however that bright yellow blob can be distracting. A major improvement would be to allow full user customization of the batter's eye color and transparency.

9) Guess Pitch Modes - Which guess pitch mode do you prefer, if any? Do you use it always, or just in certain counts/situations? Do you think that mode is balanced for single-player games against the AI? For two-player games? Can you hit effectively without using guess pitch at all? What difficulty do you hit on? Lastly, in two-player games how do you feel when your opponent uses guess pitch against you?

I was guessing the pitch (classic 1/4) on certain counts (guessing fastball up on 0-0 or breaking ball down when I was behind). I was also having a lot of trouble getting offense. Balls in play always went directly to fielders even with solid contact and perfect timing, which was extremely frustrating. But I stopped using guess pitch and my offense got better (14 hits in my last game). I can only assume that the penalties associated with guess pitch were causing a low BABIP, to an unrealistic extreme of having every fly ball caught or every line drive snagged by a fielder. Perhaps this can be tuned next year so the penalties do not have this effect.

10) Pitch Speed and Ball/Strike I have trouble catching up to fastballs inside (pitch speed on 4), but I don't blame the game for that. It's also quite difficult to recognize curveballs/changeups below the knees and sliders outside unless the guess pitch interface tips me off, but the purpose of those pitches is to be hard to read and I don't think it's overdone.
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Also, this probably isn't your department, but could you please ask whomever's responsible to bring back offline user profiles with stat tracking? I play a lot of exhibition games and like to keep track of my stats which isn't possible in this year's game. I'm trying to do it in Excel but it's really tedious. This feature has been in previous Show games and is still in 2K's game, so I hope it can be brought back.

[jmik58]

1) Overall Difficulty -I play on All-Star and would say it's a solid challenge. I probably win at about a 75% clip without any slider adjustments. Hitting is something I do well with using zone hitting. I have zero interest in analog hitting because of how anatomically difficult it is to do with the thumbs. I love the pulse pitching. It reminds me of zone hitting in that I have control, but not complete control. Fielding is much better and smoother this year (I use classic controls for throwing) and base running is fairly easy as I use the classic controls as well. I like being able to select the runner with a button press and then control them individually with the d-pad. I feel like too many of the perfectly timed or hit balls go straight back up the middle and get very frustrated at the lack of variety and accuracy of a well timed hit. Another example would be a hit on a pitch on the outside corner. Perfect timing on the outside corner results in a pulled hit. Slightly late is always a foul ball. Well which is it? lol Slightly late is actually perfect timing; and if not, then perfect timing shouldn't be "back up the middle" every time. Not to mention, the pitcher gets hit with way too many batted balls.

2) Game Log - Do you use the game log? Would you like a game option that displays it in chronological order, rather than most recent innings first? At the end of the game log are some miscellaneous data about that day's game. Are there other fields of data you would like to see?

3) Strategy Guide - I don't use this much, but if I wasn't as experienced with the game of baseball I'm sure I would utilize it. I love that it's there.

4) Pitcher Batter Analysis - I honestly only check it to see how bad I've been hosed by the umpire Sometimes I'll check to find patterns in how a guy pitched. I think the thing that would make me want to use this would be if there was a way to see how "Pitcher X" has pitched against "Batter X" over his lifetime. I want to know what Tim Hudson has done throughout his career against David Freese, etc. That would be awesome.

5) Pitching Interfaces - I absolutely love the new pulse pitching. It gives me a sense of control, but not complete control. There is always an element of uncertainty with it which makes it real. I don't like analog because of the anatomical issue of the thumb not being made to do that. Meter pitching seems to easy once I get the routine down, and classic just doesn't have the skill challenge I'm looking for.

6) Classic Pitching - I tried it in the past, but again, it's just too simple and doesn't challenge me enough to feel rewarded by it.

I'm not the best to give feedback on it because I'm not that interested so I'll leave it to the others who like to use it.

7) Hitting Modes - Zone hitting is what I use. I like that my stick skills come into play, but there is a level of uncertainty still. My reasoning here is just like the pitching modes. Analog: no because of the anatomical issue. Timing: no because it's not enough of a skill challenge.

8) Stealing Balance - I usually look for the runner to take that 2nd step lead before I start trying pick-offs unless it's a super speedy baserunner. I do think, however; that a guy can have a base nearly stolen and somehow his last couple steps and slide take FOREVER and he gets thrown out with a lazer guided missle throw. I feel like the base stealing experience is stuck in the old days of predetermined outcomes. I can almost always predict if someone is going to be out based on the animation of the guy receiving the throw and it seems as if the base runner is then forced into "slowing down" to meet that animation. This definitely needs some work.

9) Guess Pitch Modes - I used it religiously before this year but I don't use it at all anymore. I felt it was necessary because the hitting camera was so horrible that it was impossible to read pitches. I would guess fastball and down everytime and react accordingly. I always knew if it was a fastball/offspeed or high/low. It felt cheap, but so was the hitting view. This year's hitting view changed that so I'm done with guess pitch.

10) Pitch Speed and Ball/Strike – On Allstar difficulty I think pitch speed is way too fast. It's one of the very first things I always adjust. I have to lower the pitch speed to 1 or 2 clicks from the far left. I still want the 95 MPH heat to be tough so I don't zero it out. I think the ability to read ball/strike is reasonable. My key has been to find and focus on the release point of the pitch and it helps a lot. I think hitting in two-strike situations is good. I usually will always use contact swings in this instance unless I have 2 or 3 balls and/or a better hitter. In 2-0 and 3-1 situations I'll use power swing, but a lot of times I take automatically. I've established rules and these help me get deep in counts and get starters out of the game with high pitch counts soon.

[DickDalewood]

1) Overall Difficulty - Last year I played on All-Star, this year I'm playing on Veteran, although the more I've played, the closer I'm getting to moving back up. The game definitely seems harder this year, but I'm ok with it. I definitely wouldn't INCREASE the difficulty any more though.

2) Game Log - Never use it.

3) Strategy Guide - It's been helpful, but I can find just as much help, if not more, just coming on here.

4) Pitcher Batter Analysis - This has been fine for me, but I don't dive as deep into the data as a lot of guys on here.

5) Pitching Interfaces - I've been all Pulse this year, although some slight control over pitch power might be nice. I loved Analog last year, but that graphic is just downright ugly, and gets in the way/overlaps the pitcher in half of the broadcast cams. I'd prefer the meter be locked to the far left of the screen ala 2K and take place before the pitch so I can still watch the pitcher's motion.

6) Classic Pitching - Never use it.

7) Hitting Modes - Like pitching, last year I was all Analog, but have fallen in love with Timing this year. I would love if I could influence fly balls/ground balls ala MVP 05 with the left stick DURING the hit instead of pre-pitch.

8) Stealing Balance - Seems fine to me.

9) Guess Pitch Modes - I turn this off.

10) Pitch Speed and Ball/Strike – I find the pitch speed too fast for Analog, which is why I switched to Timing. On Timing, pitch speed is fine for me.