MLB The Show 21 Patch #4 Available Today - Patch Notes

That's an interesting little compromise on XP. So, that should mean that at the very least, the Dynamic Difficulty sensitivity and Trade sliders shouldn't cause the 50% slash. Possibly Wind and Injuries too, although those could be considered as "gameplay" sliders.

Im happy with the 50% cut. I should still be getting XP and Stubs even though I'm using custom realistic sliders, but im good with the cut to try and prevent people from turning sliders to 100 and farming stubs and XP in RTTS.

Patch is up, though the servers are currently down due to maintenance. Here's the new warning screen when you change a slider:

Interestingly, the warning pops for when you change ANY slider still, so although it does specify gameplay sliders, we aren't going to know which ones cut XP and which don't (if any) until maintenance is finished. And, in my case I'm going to have to, uh....improvise to find out since I've already completed the 1st inning path (and therefore cannot earn any more XP until the 2nd inning comes out).
Edit: Maintenance is already complete and things are back online.

Well hopefully this stops all the crashing in franchise 🙏

So, here's how I tested this. I'm replaying the first half inning (pitching) of an exhibition game on Legend multiple times to limit the variance of XP gains over the course of a whole game. Pitching is usually a fairly consistent XP gain over a half inning - you might pick up a bit extra for strikeouts but since the main goal is 3 outs it's rarely going to vary much. Hitting is where XP gains can explode on big innings, and it would be hard to figure out what's halved there. As for difficulty, on Legend I'm getting the max amount of XP possible (outside of Legend+ I guess). And as it turns out the XP notifications still pop at the end of innings so I can still see how much I would be earning had I not already finished the program.
On base sliders I pitched this inning 5 times with the following XP gains:
336 1 K, 1 H, 2 ER
348 1 K, 1 H
612 (struck out the side, rip average)
540 2 K, 0 H
300 1 K, 4 H, 3 ER
As you can see there's a lot of variance even with normal gains, which is why I did it several times. So, with that in mind I changed the most obvious gameplay slider for this situation - human pitcher control - and repeated.
186 (2 K, 1 H)
234 (1 K, 0 H)
198 (0 K, 0 H)
234 (2 K, 0 H)
96 (0 K, 2 H)
The XP cut is pretty obvious here. I'll spare you the rest of the numbers for the other sliders I checked (I didn't check all of them because most are pretty obviously gonna do exactly what control did and halve the XP), but the only two that I don't think trigger the XP cut are Injury Frequency and Trade Frequency. That means that Wind and, disappointingly, the Dynamic Difficulty slider do. The latter is a real bummer because zeroing the DD slider to lock a difficulty in will result in the XP cut. Still, half is better than the nothing burger we were getting.

Hmm...no patch showing for me on PS5....

It only mentioned Xbox in the patch notes I seen early this morning
Edit: never mind it mentions all consoles
Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Downloaded for me on ps5
Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Thanks for doing the yeoman's work here bcruise! Very surprising about the dynamic difficulty slider. That might be a good angle to provide feedback for on the support page.

Tested the patch on my franchise this AM and the crashing issue is still occurring.
Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

When does the crashing occur and are you using custom rosters?

The 50% cut is a good compromise in my opinion. Even as a franchise player earning no stubs was preventing me from being able to earn sponsorships to improve budget. Considering some sponsorships are going for 10,000 stubs plus

Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing the game?

They need to fix Citi field seating in the backstop is way off also petco park backstop the wall is way too big ..

Play Now (live roster) games don't cut straight to the first batter anymore. They have the beginning presentation like all the other games do.
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

OCD question. Will the "Home of the 2021 All Star Game" banner be removed from Truist Park?

SDS really needs to do something about the performance of the game on Series X. There's times it runs really well and others where it's really choppy. Playing my first game post patch, live roster play now game and it's choppy as hell. It's a game from yesterday, Rays @Angels, night game. It's pretty bad.
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

it's removed. I thought they were just going to change the location of the game within franchise but even in exhibition mode it's gone. it'll always be on the disc but you'd have to delete the file and reinstall w/o patch updates to play a game there

There are a few bugs that they have to fix. I imagine they aren’t fixed yet because there are more pressing needs to be fixed first. But hopefully they will get fixed in the next update or two.
Needs to fix the commentary on the sweeps. Even the little show that recaps the scores is wrong. I lost the last 2 games of the series and he said the Twins finished a 2 game sweep.
Fix the start times.

My equipment still resets in rttd when i check my loadout. I thought this was fixed in patch 3

Got that same issue and filed another ticket about it

Yes, I have done that along with deleting the local save file and a full factory reset on PS5.

The crash occurs with a custom roster downloaded on 5/1 (with a number of additional local edits done by me). It happens anywhere from 2-5 pitches into a game. I have tried simming ahead one day, one week, and one month and each time the game crashes on the first batter.
A bug report was filed on Sunday.
Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

I love that we can now use custom sliders and still earn some XP but what are considered gameplay sliders and what not ? I mean no matter what slider I touch even if only injury frequency then it still says xp is reduced so not very informative what sliders are safe to touch to keep full xp.

They don't do structural stadium stuff like that in patches. Send it in as feedback for the future.

The sponsorships cost stubs now? Weren't they free last year? I use 30-team control and adding sponsorships for big-market teams helped keep budgets more realistic.

Yes they cost stubs. I got a bunch of stubs by playing offline dd stuff. Urgh.. I hate that I did it, but I had to as I'm not paying for stubs and I need the sponsorships for Franchise as well. Pro tip, don't buy the sponsorships at asking price, put in a sell order and you'll get them cheaper.

I'm using sponsorships and they dont cost stubs at all, sure they cost stubs if you need to buy them but if you unlock them simply by playing and earning packs with them in it then it doesnt cost you at all. No idea why he said that it cost stubs to use sponsorships

Hopefully they can fix the 1st baseman's arm clipping through the body of the baserunner when diving back to base on pick off attempts in the next patch. Kills immersion. Also outfielders running right through the body of ball boys to catch fly balls & pop ups. Collision detection needs to be cleaned up.

I'm interested to know more about this. I've been reserved from buying 21 due to not being able to earn XP through Franchise. I assume it's any slider you touch immediately now cuts it to 50%. At least from reading the patch notes.

It says Non-gameplay sliders do not impact XP so that is why i wonder what they consider non gameplay sliders

these are the same. he’s not saying you need to spend dollars. He’s saying they cost stubs. Which they do.

True, but the original question that prompted those answers also seemed to imply that they were free last year (and no one corrected it). They weren't, they were acquired in the same way - through packs or on the community market.
They aren't any different from last year.

I see a new face scan for Bobby Dalbec, as a bonus.
Anyone else notice him, or others?

They changed it on the last/first update

Good news about the sliders.
Really wanted to turn the trade frequency way down for my franchise but didn't want to lose out on xp or change the slider before every game.

yeah, I was so happy. I didn't want to shelve 21 so early over something seemingly so trivial but I thought yesterday was my last day w/21 for the time being. nothing so satisfying as a last minute reprieve from the guv'nor lol

Have you figured put where to put the slider for trades? I hate seeing top guys get traded like its nothing.

all good and well, but they should patch in the amount of innings we want to play during franchise, march to october and post season mode. Imagine being forced to play 15 minutes quarters in NBA2k, 12 minute quarters in Madden or 45 minute halves in FIFA.. Utterly weird. We had these options till MLB 16, but after that game they removed it... :jpshakehe

March - 1
April - 2
May - 3
June - 4
July - 5
Aug./Sept. - 1
Oct. - 0
Nov./Feb. - 5
but I actually like a lot of trades so my preference is oppo:
March - 3
April - 4
May - 6
June - 7
July - 8
Aug./Sept. - 2
Oct. - 1
Nov./Feb. - 5

Newer to the show, what’s the purpose of 30 team control? Is it just to control the ****ty trade logic?
Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

trade logic
lineup logic
bullpen logic
really anything the cpu does you disagree with, 30 team control is where it is

Adding onto that list, it also makes it possible to switch teams if you decide to manage a different team without having to get fired first. I always enjoy playing franchise mode where after a couple years i decide to resign and sign as GM with a different team. I dont know why they havent added that simple option yet to resign and switch.

Ok and so really once you’re controlling all 30 teams you can then choose how often you change things on the opponents teams I’m assuming... do notifications pop up for each team (injuries, trade offers, etc.) or only the one you’re currently controlling?
Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

You can change notifications per team, what i do is make a settings called CPU and set that for the teams i dont want to play but still control

I'm glad they changed the XP rations. I thought it was shameful to force me to play on Default. Why even give me the option to change if you are going to hit me for a 100% loss... Thank you for that...

Prob a dumb question, but if we already started a franchise, will the all-star game still be moved to Colorado?

I'm pretty sure you can just select the stadium you want to play in before any game anyway.

I agree that it should be an option. Everything should be an option, right? You should be able to play the game however you wanna play the game.
Baseball is a unique sport though. One of the very few that has no clock for periods, one in which the defense is the ONLY side that can "touch" the ball, etc. I think THE SHOW does a good job to speed up games with quick counts, quick sim, etc... but for me, baseball will always be a 9 inning game.

Yea I forgot about that. Lol.

Moved the all star game to Colorado? Interesting.

I agree what you say here, it is a special sport. To me though, 9 innings - even with quick counts - is just too long. I dont want to sim games as I want to be involved in the outcome myself. Just the fact that the option is there in exhibition games, but not in the game modes (anymore) is baffling to me.

Thanks. I was planning on putting it on default or higher near the trade deadline.

I would have had it at 67% XP, but I can live with this.
Really, the only slider changes I like are reducing both human and CPU power, so I get fewer homers and more balls in play.
I know I'm not the only one here who's sick and tired of real baseball being reduced to only homers, walks, or strikeouts.

Right on !
And instead of reinventing the big bang with MTO, why not just letting us play the key moments for a whole game (not just last inning critical moments).
Even better would be to select from a list the kind of key moments we want to play.
Something balanced so we play between 2-4 innings per game.

I'm confused. I just changed the trade frequency slider, and it said the trade slider adjusted will still cut my XP.
It says in the patch notes, its the game play sliders that effect XP gain.

Something that wasn’t fixed in patch 4, anyone getting a giant grey mountain looking thing around the skybox at Fenway? Been like this for me every since patch 3 dropped.

Looks like they will need another update, which is crazy because the things I experienced (while in Franchise, cant warm up pitcher while at bat. Just says "would I like to change injured pitcher"?) have happened previous years, but STILL??? Also had a glitch with my runner just freezing on a tweener and wouldn't advance after ball hit ground, I had to manually move him but only "advance all" which caused my runner(the hitter) to be tagged out at 2nd😡Patch incoming soon...

Yes I have noticed that also. Really makes playing at Fenway undesirable. Hopefully they fix it. I did send a bug report about it.

That is where they moved it to in real life. And it does appear they’ve updated this even for existing franchises.

I feel old compared to you guys even though I’m a millennial....can someone please explain to a guy who has only played offline previously if I still get the XP and “stubs” if I turn off internet connection to my PS4 when I play? Just waiting to start franchise snd looking to explore different modes but I feel dumb trying to navigate

You do not.

Could you explain this more? I'm about to start my franchise, and am interested in trying 30-team control. I've read in the forum about "CPU" settings before, but don't really get what this entails in terms of work I'm responsible for vs what is handled by the AI.

So you will create or make two settings. One as a user that will have everything set to manual. You will have that profile on your team. You will have 29 other teams set to CPU profile. There you can choose what you want the CPU to control or what you want to control. You can set lineups to manual where you set each team’s lineups and rotations. They will not change it except for when a player needs a rest. If you set it to auto, they will change the lineups based on performance. If you set any of those to manual, the CPU will not handle that. Like 40 man rosters, roster call ups, trades, free agents, etc.
When you go start a franchise, it will give you the 3 choices and you can set to manual or auto. You can do auto or manual. When you get to the franchise screen, you will have to make sure the settings are changed again in each profile.

Yes, it has been changed in existing franchises.
Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Question from complete MLB the Show noob here. How do I get the patch? does it update automatically or do I have to do it manual download?

If your console is online it updates automatically

If you have manual updates on for the system, you can start the app or hit options and check update. Either of those will start the download unless on auto as addressed above.

Thank You.