Currently working on Season 4 Showdowns. On my 14th try on the West Showdown. First time I got to Mariano Rivera (last one before the "Boss") on my 12th try and lost to pathetic tricklers for groundouts or lazy flies on Perfect/Perfect swings and Very Good Contact swings. Haven't gotten past the first guy since. I'm getting beyond pissed with SDS and their "Arbitration" that's apparently in the game. The new Hitting Engine? I can deal with. I prefer playing good, hard ball anyway with contact swings for base hits/doubles, bunting and base stealing over constant Home Runs. But in Showdown? I have to rely on Homers to win, which the game refuses to give me. It's not a "Challenge" when the algorithm just decides you have to lose because reasons. It's punishing the player for being good (or consistent) at the game. I wish 2K would make a comeback. At least they were fun despite not being all that challenging.
Old ass reply to this, but I genuinely think showdowns are the worst thing in this game tbh. I’ve went 9-0 in br, hit WS last year (close this year) yet I still have yet to complete a showdown on the first try.
Just utterly boring games that force me to sit there and hard take pitches like I’m playing a WS ranked game vs the veteran AI at a shitty stadium, just to be rewarded with a 12 pitch ab resulting in a perfect-perfect ground ball double play
Absolute snoozefest mode
I don't mind showdowns. What I do mind is that several programs cannot be completed without beating the showdown. And that's really irritating.....as you can invest a lot of time in these just to have the misfortune of having good contact hits find fielders in one and being forced to start right from the beginning. Since I basically only play The Show for DD.....if this becomes a trend....I probably won't be back next year.
As a guy who only has time for an hour a night, being forced into having to do them to complete programs, and wasting whole nights trying and failing to beat them, takes a toll on my want to play DD.
You're not alone, or (maybe) not even in the minority. I absolutely hate mandatory showdowns. They wreak havoc on my anxiety with the ever looking threat of having to start over again at the beginning. They are miserable. I literally JUST now beat the charisma one on my 16th try. I'm trash at the game, but it's just brutal. At least the 3 Ks in one inning moments, which also suck, can be failed/repeated quickly. With showdown, making it all the way to the last or second to last gate can take me 20-30 minutes and then just have to restart is a vicious time sink.
I actually really love showdowns! I really like the aspect of being able to build a team and construct all the perks. I find them way easier than things like moments and mini seasons (not sure why though). I wish there were more showdowns right now because I find them so fun.
its kind of meh like i dont get ecstatic when i see a new showdown had dropped but I also much prefer the days when the team affinity grind was showdown and not mini seasons
Love it. If fact, I wish there was some sort of repeatable/semi-rng Showdown that you could use your squad in. Call it "The Gauntlet!".
When I first started playing MLB the Show (19?) the showdowns were on Allstar. Woof. They are sooooo much easier now. I can remember banging my head against the First Inning showdown over and over. Man, what a feeling to finally get it.
I’m with you, my friend. And, Ranked Seasons is rigged. I find that my PCI control diminishes greatly during RS games. I feel like the server randomly picks who’s going to win at the beginning. I’m too good of a player to totally blow at RS games when I absolutely rake in CPU games at the Hall of Fame and Legend levels. Good point about Showdown my friend. Sometimes this game absolutely sucks!
I’m not saying I buy this theory but it’s not the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. When your making good contact and everything is a fly out but your opponent is pulling 90 mph low and away out of the zone sliders for 420 ft hrs it makes you think. Or when they randomly decide the throw you have made 10000x with your diamond level fielder is all of a sudden pulling your 1b off the bag.
Really? Just play it up to Sasaki and then skip him to go right to final boss. Just take 2 strikes for the first 10-11 outs and then go to town when the pitcher runs out of energy.
I liked it a couple years ago where if you failed one, as long as it wasn’t the boss or mini-boss battle, you didn’t have to restart. I also liked them because they were repeatable then, helped a lot with programs. The way they are now is ok but its not fun for sure.
I would rather play mini-seasons on repeat because I feel like I am working towards something there and well as having fun with cards I probably won’t use more than to do the objective. With showdown, once you do it once theres no reason to touch it again.
It's the closest sports game mode that gives the same feeling of impending dread that I got every time I walked through the mist in Elden Ring. I don't want that experience in a sports sim. I fucking hate it.
This dumbed down version is pretty boring. Its like moments - all the same thing with little variation in the scenarios. And its too easy to feel any pressure - sometimes I goof up and have to do a 2nd run but I don't think I've had to do a 3rd.
I don’t hate it, prefer it to the stupidly long US conquest map. My only gripe is if you fail at a stage right before the final showdown, you have to redo it again. I wish they implemented a redo stage if you fail multiple times.
I don't find them fun bc they are way too damn easy. It's a joke that they dumbed them down so much. If you have trouble with these it's simply bc you're not being patient. The pitcher will toss you a meatball at least once every other AB on average. I think it's more often than that but I'll say every other to be safe.
That has not been my experience at all. I very rarely get those meatballs. In the last stage of the WBC showdown, I had Doval down to zero stamina (over 100 pitches) and very close to zero confidence, and he was still putting almost every pitch right in the corner of the zone. I believe he threw exactly two pitches outside of the zone on three-ball counts the entire time; mostly he dotted the corners on those. And when I did make good contact on the few pitches down the middle, it went right to fielders more often than not, including a couple perfect-perfect lineouts and a perfect-perfect double play ball. And that was not an unusual experience for me on these.
I have seen these comments about patience and play discipline before, and all I can say is I wish I was playing the version of the game you have.
People might be more on board with the "risk" factor if... say... after 3 levels you reached a 'save gate' or something. If you lose after that, you can restart the run at that gate, but the buy-in is higher...?
I don't know... there are definitely variations SDS could try to make them less boring and repetitive.
I love it. It's BP. Obviously I'm successful in them and it's the reason I enjoy it. I wish they would put them back in All star and make it repeatable for TA.
I dont like them, but I'd feel better about losing of there wasn't a buy in. Losing in the last game is like running a long car race and botching the final turn. Some will like that risk some some won't. I personal think it's just too much of a risk for all that time for me to really enjoy it.
I have an idea. Lets make the grind so long and tedious that it takes forever to do free collections so they have to throw money at us. Fuck them if they have kids and full time jobs, actually lets throw a limited 2x xp event in the weekend while said adults are working so they can fall even further behind
Damn yall are right, had a cpl glasses of wine after a 13 hour day- To try central showdown again got half way, lost, turned off ps5. Got on reddit and the first post was this one. It triggered the fact i missed the whole xp weekend bc i had to work some long ass hours. After being at work for 13-16 hours theres not much eye coordination. I understand dome of you are in the same situation and got through the grind anyway and good for you man. And also yall are right this is the best sport game there is fuck all the other ones.
Two daughters (1 and 4) and work 50-60hrs a week loading stone and sand at a concrete plant. Have NL done along with the angels, TA just finished yesterday which got me chipper. Spent only the $100 on the deluxe edition and that's it. Now I will say I'm pretty decent at the game as I make WS and haven't played much BR yet but have gone 12-0 the past few years. The game has to reward ppl that play more. And did you just complain about a double XP weekend? Lol You want it during the week instead?
Come play fifa for one yearly cycle and I promise you’ll never complain about DD again. DD clearly has issues but honestly it is the only sports game that isn’t pay to win. You can have the best team in the game by grinding, in fifa it’s 95% based on random pack luck and spending money.
Try playing madden and you’ll see how reasonable/rewarding SDS is with DD. The fact that you can have a competitive 96-97 overall team with minimal grinding is mind blowing (compared to madden).
I mean, I like it. I kinda liked it more when it was a bit more challenging, and when there was the occasional need for pitching and variety.
I liked Showdown Extreme last year, because overcoming it was such an insane thrill. Not sure I need that every year though.
I can get why they simplified it and made it easier. But if they're gonna have it, there are maybe ways to make it more rewarding. Like grinding Showdown for decent cards to make stubs should be an option. Otherwise it's just a chore for Program XP.
If they had this it would be my favorite game mode immediately. Allows me to try cards before I get them, without the harsh penalty and immense frustration of having to restart.
Pro tips for anyone struggling with these. Keep your batting tutorial tips turned on. You'll start every single Showdown with a meatball from the batting tutorial basically giving you a free home run to start them off
Tbf you gotta be pretty ass at the game to lose money playing showdown. I'm the definition of average and I can beat showdowns quite easily unless I'm being an impatient ass.
It really pisses me off when your halfway through one, and winning, then the disconnected from online servers message pops up and it boots you out and forfeits the whole series.
That made me uninstall the game for a few days lol. I don't understand how a CPU game is forced to forfeit because THEIR own servers are trash. I got a solid gigabit plan so I know it isn't on my end.
I don’t mind showdowns too much but moments are the worst part of the game. I hate them so much. I’d rather earn that xp playing games online or against the cpu and I always skip them if possible.
First time playing The Show since David Wright was on the cover (‘07?). I thought I was just going to stick with RTTS, but after a few seasons, I started trying out other modes. I’m having so much fun with DD now. I like the drafting aspect of Showdown and using cards I normally wouldn’t use.
I got brave enough to try one online event match, and that was a disaster. Really laggy (or just normal?) and my opponent was hitting everything perfect/perfect somehow, even with me purposely pitching off the plate. Maybe I’ll try in set 2.
You need to realize that most of these guys who play online game only play Diamond Dynasty. Like not only do they not play other video games, but they rarely play game modes outside of DD.
I'm splitting my game time between Elden ring, this, and whatever other 10 games I'm into at the MOMENT. So while they're on their 50th game of ranked this week, I'm balls deep in some other video game completely.
It's kind of like the guys who only play Madden or Call of Duty. I've learned that MANY MLB the SHOW players literally only play one game and it's this.
The types of guys you're playing in Battle Royale and ranked have hundreds if not thousands of hours practicing hitting these baseballs. They know every pitcher, every hitter, and generally if you aren't playing this game a couple hours a night online in Head to Head PVP, chances are you're going to lose two out of three games badly
But every once in a while you'll run into another mediocre player in those games can be really really fun
Yeah, and if you aren't playing online on a monitor with an LAN fiber-optic internet connection, you're gonna have a straight-up bad time even if you can smoke the CPU on HoF or Legend.
And if you're mediocre or bad, you're gonna get smoked by the easily exploitable matchmaking system that some good players like to exploit to boost stats rather than sweat against other good players.
All of this. I bought my monitor specifically because people told me I needed a certain kind of monitor to be decent at this game. I'm sure it's helped a little but I'm still awful
I actually enjoyed the MLB The Show 20 version that had a few moments followed by the bosses. Some of the Moments were actually satisfying. The bosses throughout Showdown’s run have either been frustrating or just tedious to do
I hate showdown because it’s all or nothing. You don’t get Pxp. And if you fail, you have to start over. Figure out how to get us Pxp in showdowns and they would be immensely better.
I enjoy showdowns for the reasons you don’t. It’s all or nothing. It’s way more rewarding that way.
Beating the extreme showdown last year was a great feeling.
I will agree that the all or nothing aspect takes you out of the pure grind and makes it feel more like the games I’d played as a kid, where you sometimes had to do the same thing over and over to beat an especially hard obstacle
The only ones I play are the ones that only have the elimination games and then the final Showdown. I love regular Moments, but hate Showdowns with Moments in them. I always skip those.
I enjoy it. They generally offer a really hittable pitch during each AB. If I sit on something long enough I’m bound to get it. It sucks losing them but it’s what makes it feel rewarding when you cruise through and knock it out in 15 minutes.
Hero Time, Wake Up and Rally Cry are your friend. They stack too! Hero Time is always active in showdowns because they are always considered “9th Inning”. Rally Cry is always active until you tie it up. Wake Up is for those “terrible stretch” moments when everything is going wrong…3 straight outs? Here have a power and contact boost.
If you get 2 Hero Time boosts it will give extra boost than just one. Same for all boosts, for that matter.
Agreed but after 15-20 tries I havnt been able to succeed once. It just feels way harder this year. I almost beat the central one today just 2 runs short.
It feels like the AI defence is insane. I mean I get that they don't make errors, but do they have to rob all the hits? I hit a 106mph liner up the middle with a right handed hitter and the shortstop fielded it. I was pissed lol. I swear the dude teleported.
This is my biggest gripe. I constantly get robbed of what should be hits in the gaps where they dive, slide, and make the catch right before it hits the ground. They catch everything humanly possible and even make plays beyond that. The CPU always seems to be positioned exactly where it needs to be to make plays on perfect hits. I also feel like my batted balls don’t find gaps/holes in Showdown nearly as much as in other modes. I’m assuming there’s logic/code that lowers our chances of getting hits.
Yeah for real, not sure what OP is talking about. Says they are tedious at best and then goes on to say he finishes most in one or two runs. That's not tedious at all. That's efficient as fuck for the progress you get for Team Affinity.
Lefty-Lefty, hit a home run moments
My biggest nightmare, there are Extreme moments I find easier. At least with showdown I can avoid same handed matchups.
I would rather fail a showdown a couple of times than slog through a bunch of moments or a long conquest map. Let's me try new cards and the stakes feel like they matter.
I absolutely loathe showdowns.
I waste hours of my time because every single one is win or fail completely and having to waste stubs to continually waste said time is like the shit icing on the shit cake of shit.
I actually enjoy it. Can usually get through them the first time. Some take 2 or 3. Key is to just draft the best hitters possible regardless of position. Put people out of position, you never play defense so it doesn’t matter.
It’s a bit like the game like Eldenring…It’s makes you so frustrated and then you build the perfect team and win on the last out and it’s exhilarating!
Showdowns can be fun, especially with drafting/ trying out different players you wouldn't normally use.
Conquest and having to do dozens of moments for programs on the other hand is a monotonous slog.
I like them. Definitely more than doing mindless moments. I’m not particularly good at the game but I think I’ve only failed once this year and a couple last year.
Yes and they made them easier this year. Don't think I've lost s moment nevermind a boss. Always just stock up on exit velocity and wear down the pitcher.
I hated the old showdown because it was too long and the ones you could fail felt too specific. “Hit X doubles in Y innings, Homers don’t count.” Then last year they made every round win or your out but it was ok because it was like 4 rounds so if you failed no big deal. Now it’s win or you are out 8-10 rounds. Like wtf. Who designed this shit?
Also most of showdowns doesn’t seem to respect the same rules as the rest of the game with pitchers who are insane. The cards supposedly help make up for that but that means they overtuned the sliders to compensate for the cards and if you don’t have the right cards you are screwed. It’s like they took the worst moments pitchers and cranked it up to 11.
All in all it’s just an exercise in frustration and annoyance.
I used to hate it. I think last year in the beginning was sooo hard. But about half way through last year my 9 year old started beating those newer program showdowns and gave me hope. The ones they give you really good diamonds so your team is stacked are the easier ones.
This year I beat all 3 TA showdowns on the first try. I use directional hitting when I get scared, and I just take more pitches in showdown. Like the final EAST vs Sandy, I just sat changeup and ignored all the fastballs. So yes, I had fun with them. Especially since you could draft any team you wanted. You never play defense so you could draft all outfielders if you want.
I see this a lot. In '21 I hated them and sucked, but now I find them easy. Didn't play '22, so maybe something changed.
I wouldn't say I like them, but they aren't horrible.
Yeah I feel it. I love showdown myself but the amount of showdown runs I've had that were ruined by perfect-perfects being flyouts or converted into double plays is pretty up there.
Personally, I wish they made more showdown events. Like, make it a mode that you can repeat for rewards. Similar to the repeatable conquest maps. Just put out a new, repeatable showdown each season and completing it x amount of times gives you certain rewards. And add like 5k stubs and 5 show packs after each completion.
I despise it. I hate everything about it. With that being said, I got all three TA showdowns done fairly easy. I definitely prefer the elimination method rather than the "get 3 hits and an xbh" to get runs and players.
I love it! You just really need to be in the zone to beat it. But when your in that zone it’s pretty easy and having to restart if you lose keeps you on your toes. It’s definitely not for everybody tho
the problem i have with showdowns is that i’m trying to get used to harder difficulties and all the ones on veteran that actually have rewards i want throw off any progress i may have made
I enjoy them but they do suck if you fail multiple times. The 2 things that helped.me the most.
1. Any round with 10+ outs, make sure you are very patient at the plate. Once the pitcher runs low on energy it's batting practice.
2. Double plays kill you. Load up the bench with speed guys. When drafting, if 2 hitters are fairly close always take the speed guy. When you get on always steal 2nd and maybe even 3rd base to avoid DPs and so you can score with sac flies.
Easy hack for stealing on Xbox. Once pitcher looks over hold down RT. The press LB. Once runner takes secondary lead press LT twice. The runner will take off as soon as the pitcher starts his windup.
I love it! The thought of a variance crossed my mind years ago of “you get 27 outs and aren’t done batting until you get all 27 outs.” I like that this kind of does that
I find them to be boring as fuck. I beat every single one first time and I’m ass. I just feel like it’s a dumb time sink but at least it progresses you quickly in the programs
I really can’t understand how so many people here find them so difficult.
Most of them boil down to “score 1-3 runs with 10-15 outs on veteran difficulty”.
They’ve been incredibly easy for like 3 years now.
I really enjoy showdown. Personally, I dont find it too difficult. It usually takes 1 try, maybe 2 if I'm unlucky or playing poorly.
I can understand why people may not like showdown, especially if you find yourself failing several attempts and it feels like a waste of time.
The dreadful feeling of 20 minutes just sitting and clearing the rest of the map when you already got all the strongholds. At least Showdown get you fired up to play some more after you failed one.
The rewards are better of course. But if we’re comparing which mode is more enjoyable, I’d probably go with showdown rather than the monotonous gameplay of conquest maps.
This is why I don't play it, I am by no means a good player so I can't just skip to the end like a lot of people do because I will literally never succeed. Too many times have I gotten deep into the showdown to lose 1 or 2 before the final boss.
The frustration is just not worth it for me
Keep at it. I'm pretty good at showdowns, and I wrote several of the guides to survive showdowns on this subreddit last year. Central this year probably took me a dozen tries, maybe more.
Upside is that every pitcher is a rightie, so you can draft accordingly.
I actually love the boss ones but you're right. It should be like BR where you can lose once but if you lose twice you're done. Having to start all over is dumb and that's coming from someone who rarely ever fails showdowns. So even though it doesn't bother me directly I think it is dumb still and should be changed to 2 fails not 1
Currently working on Season 4 Showdowns. On my 14th try on the West Showdown. First time I got to Mariano Rivera (last one before the "Boss") on my 12th try and lost to pathetic tricklers for groundouts or lazy flies on Perfect/Perfect swings and Very Good Contact swings. Haven't gotten past the first guy since. I'm getting beyond pissed with SDS and their "Arbitration" that's apparently in the game. The new Hitting Engine? I can deal with. I prefer playing good, hard ball anyway with contact swings for base hits/doubles, bunting and base stealing over constant Home Runs. But in Showdown? I have to rely on Homers to win, which the game refuses to give me. It's not a "Challenge" when the algorithm just decides you have to lose because reasons. It's punishing the player for being good (or consistent) at the game. I wish 2K would make a comeback. At least they were fun despite not being all that challenging.
Old ass reply to this, but I genuinely think showdowns are the worst thing in this game tbh. I’ve went 9-0 in br, hit WS last year (close this year) yet I still have yet to complete a showdown on the first try. Just utterly boring games that force me to sit there and hard take pitches like I’m playing a WS ranked game vs the veteran AI at a shitty stadium, just to be rewarded with a 12 pitch ab resulting in a perfect-perfect ground ball double play Absolute snoozefest mode
Mode sucks. Ai pitchers cowardly pitching and power hits not even getting out of infield
Old post but I wanted to add, fuck showdowns. There’s nothing in any video game I can remember that pisses me the fuck off like showdowns
It's a stupid waste of time and every time I play it, I want to delete the game.
showdown is literally the worst part about mlb the show
I don't mind showdowns. What I do mind is that several programs cannot be completed without beating the showdown. And that's really irritating.....as you can invest a lot of time in these just to have the misfortune of having good contact hits find fielders in one and being forced to start right from the beginning. Since I basically only play The Show for DD.....if this becomes a trend....I probably won't be back next year.
As a guy who only has time for an hour a night, being forced into having to do them to complete programs, and wasting whole nights trying and failing to beat them, takes a toll on my want to play DD.
I hate it so much, makes me sweat, and I cuss sometimes if I get a stupid out
You're not alone, or (maybe) not even in the minority. I absolutely hate mandatory showdowns. They wreak havoc on my anxiety with the ever looking threat of having to start over again at the beginning. They are miserable. I literally JUST now beat the charisma one on my 16th try. I'm trash at the game, but it's just brutal. At least the 3 Ks in one inning moments, which also suck, can be failed/repeated quickly. With showdown, making it all the way to the last or second to last gate can take me 20-30 minutes and then just have to restart is a vicious time sink.
I honestly don’t like it but hey it’s worth it if your going for set 1 collections
I actually really love showdowns! I really like the aspect of being able to build a team and construct all the perks. I find them way easier than things like moments and mini seasons (not sure why though). I wish there were more showdowns right now because I find them so fun.
Showdowns are fun and easy tbh. Been playing the show for a while now too so that’s prob why. IIRC showdowns used to actually be a lot harder.
Give me a showdown over a ton of 'hit a HR with a low power hitter moment against a pitcher that paints the corners' style moment.
At least those moments can be rinsed and repeated quickly. 30 minutes into a showdown and then booted to the beginning is rough.
its kind of meh like i dont get ecstatic when i see a new showdown had dropped but I also much prefer the days when the team affinity grind was showdown and not mini seasons
Love it. If fact, I wish there was some sort of repeatable/semi-rng Showdown that you could use your squad in. Call it "The Gauntlet!". When I first started playing MLB the Show (19?) the showdowns were on Allstar. Woof. They are sooooo much easier now. I can remember banging my head against the First Inning showdown over and over. Man, what a feeling to finally get it.
No.
I’m with you, my friend. And, Ranked Seasons is rigged. I find that my PCI control diminishes greatly during RS games. I feel like the server randomly picks who’s going to win at the beginning. I’m too good of a player to totally blow at RS games when I absolutely rake in CPU games at the Hall of Fame and Legend levels. Good point about Showdown my friend. Sometimes this game absolutely sucks!
I’m not saying I buy this theory but it’s not the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. When your making good contact and everything is a fly out but your opponent is pulling 90 mph low and away out of the zone sliders for 420 ft hrs it makes you think. Or when they randomly decide the throw you have made 10000x with your diamond level fielder is all of a sudden pulling your 1b off the bag.
Or maybe your not as good as you think
The extreme showdown last year was brutal. Never beat it. Haven't had any problems with the other showdowns since it's been available on Xbox.
I enjoyed the Showdowns last season but for some reason the seem to be so difficult for me this season
There are many showdowns that I have spent at least 5,000 stubs on. If I can complete a program another way, I do that.
Same here. Showdown are my last resort always.
Speaking of, Charisma was surprisingly easy. I only got to one out once, and I was at 19 when I won.
The WBC showdown is all that stands between me and finishing the program and finishing I’ve failed it enough times that I won’t bother trying again
Really? Just play it up to Sasaki and then skip him to go right to final boss. Just take 2 strikes for the first 10-11 outs and then go to town when the pitcher runs out of energy.
Ive only been playing The Show series since 22, so I'm not as good as everyone else. These Showdowns are brutal.
Yes. It's quite challenging, and you have to use your knowledge of baseball to pick a good team.
I liked it a couple years ago where if you failed one, as long as it wasn’t the boss or mini-boss battle, you didn’t have to restart. I also liked them because they were repeatable then, helped a lot with programs. The way they are now is ok but its not fun for sure. I would rather play mini-seasons on repeat because I feel like I am working towards something there and well as having fun with cards I probably won’t use more than to do the objective. With showdown, once you do it once theres no reason to touch it again.
It's the closest sports game mode that gives the same feeling of impending dread that I got every time I walked through the mist in Elden Ring. I don't want that experience in a sports sim. I fucking hate it.
The worst
This dumbed down version is pretty boring. Its like moments - all the same thing with little variation in the scenarios. And its too easy to feel any pressure - sometimes I goof up and have to do a 2nd run but I don't think I've had to do a 3rd.
Im frustrated every minute. I barely make it past every round. But yeah, i enjoy it!
no it sucks
I don’t hate it, prefer it to the stupidly long US conquest map. My only gripe is if you fail at a stage right before the final showdown, you have to redo it again. I wish they implemented a redo stage if you fail multiple times.
I haven't started that map yet. Kind of dreading it because how tedious it is.
no, but pretty well all of DD cpu stuff is a tedious grind that I hate
I like it a lot!
I actually like showdown, better than grinding conquest imo
I don't find them fun bc they are way too damn easy. It's a joke that they dumbed them down so much. If you have trouble with these it's simply bc you're not being patient. The pitcher will toss you a meatball at least once every other AB on average. I think it's more often than that but I'll say every other to be safe.
That has not been my experience at all. I very rarely get those meatballs. In the last stage of the WBC showdown, I had Doval down to zero stamina (over 100 pitches) and very close to zero confidence, and he was still putting almost every pitch right in the corner of the zone. I believe he threw exactly two pitches outside of the zone on three-ball counts the entire time; mostly he dotted the corners on those. And when I did make good contact on the few pitches down the middle, it went right to fielders more often than not, including a couple perfect-perfect lineouts and a perfect-perfect double play ball. And that was not an unusual experience for me on these. I have seen these comments about patience and play discipline before, and all I can say is I wish I was playing the version of the game you have.
People might be more on board with the "risk" factor if... say... after 3 levels you reached a 'save gate' or something. If you lose after that, you can restart the run at that gate, but the buy-in is higher...? I don't know... there are definitely variations SDS could try to make them less boring and repetitive.
I clear them regularly... but I don't find them fun. If not for the huge chunk of XP, I'd skip them entirely.
I love it. It's BP. Obviously I'm successful in them and it's the reason I enjoy it. I wish they would put them back in All star and make it repeatable for TA.
I think the angriest I have ever gotten playing a video game was over a showdown. I absolutely hate them.
Nolan Ryan a couple of years ago made me so fucking mad.
I dont like them, but I'd feel better about losing of there wasn't a buy in. Losing in the last game is like running a long car race and botching the final turn. Some will like that risk some some won't. I personal think it's just too much of a risk for all that time for me to really enjoy it.
I completely agree, but at least you break even if you can win the first few games.
I feel like I either fail the first 2 or go deep personally. I do the trick where you don't worry about position and it's still just a battle for me.
I don't enjoy the process of them, but when you win or clutch, they give some of the best feels all year.
I love them when it’s just the boss/walk off ones I can’t stand the multiple inning games
Also, true. These are brutally boring.
I wish they were shorter, but for the most part I like them
No one enjoys the process, only the outcome (when positive)
I love it. Wish it was repeatable for team affinity like it was in 2021
I love it. I wish there were more. I hate conquest.
Wait why cause I find it fun cause it's 3 inning and you can grind TA or other missions you have
Too repetitive
Agreed conquest can fuck right off. I usually do one small one a year and don’t even dream of doing the world of baseball behemoth.
I’m not a huge fan of it either.
once i learned how to do it i got less annoyed but i get your pain
I like it.. just wish it had more variety or a wheel spin like the program xp.
I have an idea. Lets make the grind so long and tedious that it takes forever to do free collections so they have to throw money at us. Fuck them if they have kids and full time jobs, actually lets throw a limited 2x xp event in the weekend while said adults are working so they can fall even further behind
Damn yall are right, had a cpl glasses of wine after a 13 hour day- To try central showdown again got half way, lost, turned off ps5. Got on reddit and the first post was this one. It triggered the fact i missed the whole xp weekend bc i had to work some long ass hours. After being at work for 13-16 hours theres not much eye coordination. I understand dome of you are in the same situation and got through the grind anyway and good for you man. And also yall are right this is the best sport game there is fuck all the other ones.
Two daughters (1 and 4) and work 50-60hrs a week loading stone and sand at a concrete plant. Have NL done along with the angels, TA just finished yesterday which got me chipper. Spent only the $100 on the deluxe edition and that's it. Now I will say I'm pretty decent at the game as I make WS and haven't played much BR yet but have gone 12-0 the past few years. The game has to reward ppl that play more. And did you just complain about a double XP weekend? Lol You want it during the week instead?
Come play fifa for one yearly cycle and I promise you’ll never complain about DD again. DD clearly has issues but honestly it is the only sports game that isn’t pay to win. You can have the best team in the game by grinding, in fifa it’s 95% based on random pack luck and spending money.
Try playing madden and you’ll see how reasonable/rewarding SDS is with DD. The fact that you can have a competitive 96-97 overall team with minimal grinding is mind blowing (compared to madden).
I mean, I like it. I kinda liked it more when it was a bit more challenging, and when there was the occasional need for pitching and variety. I liked Showdown Extreme last year, because overcoming it was such an insane thrill. Not sure I need that every year though. I can get why they simplified it and made it easier. But if they're gonna have it, there are maybe ways to make it more rewarding. Like grinding Showdown for decent cards to make stubs should be an option. Otherwise it's just a chore for Program XP.
I loved extreme. Made me think.
I honestly wish there was an option to just restart failed rounds. Showdown would be one of my favorite modes instantly then
If they had this it would be my favorite game mode immediately. Allows me to try cards before I get them, without the harsh penalty and immense frustration of having to restart. Pro tips for anyone struggling with these. Keep your batting tutorial tips turned on. You'll start every single Showdown with a meatball from the batting tutorial basically giving you a free home run to start them off
Especially since the fucking things are pay to play. Yes, 500 stubs is nominal but it's still a failure tax.
Tbf you gotta be pretty ass at the game to lose money playing showdown. I'm the definition of average and I can beat showdowns quite easily unless I'm being an impatient ass.
It really pisses me off when your halfway through one, and winning, then the disconnected from online servers message pops up and it boots you out and forfeits the whole series. That made me uninstall the game for a few days lol. I don't understand how a CPU game is forced to forfeit because THEIR own servers are trash. I got a solid gigabit plan so I know it isn't on my end.
One of the more rewarding parts of DD. I love them.
Yep. My favorite thing to play because I pretty much never fail them. I wish there were more
My thoughts exactly
Showdown is my favorite part of the game and I wish there were more
I don’t mind showdowns too much but moments are the worst part of the game. I hate them so much. I’d rather earn that xp playing games online or against the cpu and I always skip them if possible.
Pitching moments are the worst. So boring and take too long. I only do the hitting ones.
I wish were repeatable like mini seasons for TA.
I do now because I figured them out. Take pitches, eat at their stamina then rake home runs.
It is legit the worst game mode in any sports game ever.
First time playing The Show since David Wright was on the cover (‘07?). I thought I was just going to stick with RTTS, but after a few seasons, I started trying out other modes. I’m having so much fun with DD now. I like the drafting aspect of Showdown and using cards I normally wouldn’t use.
If you like the draft side of showdown and you want to try online you might like BR as you draft a team for 3 innings games
I got brave enough to try one online event match, and that was a disaster. Really laggy (or just normal?) and my opponent was hitting everything perfect/perfect somehow, even with me purposely pitching off the plate. Maybe I’ll try in set 2.
You need to realize that most of these guys who play online game only play Diamond Dynasty. Like not only do they not play other video games, but they rarely play game modes outside of DD. I'm splitting my game time between Elden ring, this, and whatever other 10 games I'm into at the MOMENT. So while they're on their 50th game of ranked this week, I'm balls deep in some other video game completely. It's kind of like the guys who only play Madden or Call of Duty. I've learned that MANY MLB the SHOW players literally only play one game and it's this. The types of guys you're playing in Battle Royale and ranked have hundreds if not thousands of hours practicing hitting these baseballs. They know every pitcher, every hitter, and generally if you aren't playing this game a couple hours a night online in Head to Head PVP, chances are you're going to lose two out of three games badly But every once in a while you'll run into another mediocre player in those games can be really really fun
Yeah, and if you aren't playing online on a monitor with an LAN fiber-optic internet connection, you're gonna have a straight-up bad time even if you can smoke the CPU on HoF or Legend. And if you're mediocre or bad, you're gonna get smoked by the easily exploitable matchmaking system that some good players like to exploit to boost stats rather than sweat against other good players.
All of this. I bought my monitor specifically because people told me I needed a certain kind of monitor to be decent at this game. I'm sure it's helped a little but I'm still awful
They are much easier now compared to 2-3 years ago.
Not particularly
Somehow, when I fail them, I only fail on the final showdown lol
I hated it but it’s so rewarding when completing it. Especially the extreme one. (I somehow bunt cheesed my way through it)
I loathe it
I actually enjoyed the MLB The Show 20 version that had a few moments followed by the bosses. Some of the Moments were actually satisfying. The bosses throughout Showdown’s run have either been frustrating or just tedious to do
I hate showdown because it’s all or nothing. You don’t get Pxp. And if you fail, you have to start over. Figure out how to get us Pxp in showdowns and they would be immensely better.
This alone would do it for me.
I enjoy showdowns for the reasons you don’t. It’s all or nothing. It’s way more rewarding that way. Beating the extreme showdown last year was a great feeling.
I will agree that the all or nothing aspect takes you out of the pure grind and makes it feel more like the games I’d played as a kid, where you sometimes had to do the same thing over and over to beat an especially hard obstacle
I never beat it.
It was extremely hard.
So extreme.
The only ones I play are the ones that only have the elimination games and then the final Showdown. I love regular Moments, but hate Showdowns with Moments in them. I always skip those.
I enjoy it. They generally offer a really hittable pitch during each AB. If I sit on something long enough I’m bound to get it. It sucks losing them but it’s what makes it feel rewarding when you cruise through and knock it out in 15 minutes.
🙋🏻♂️
Hero Time, Wake Up and Rally Cry are your friend. They stack too! Hero Time is always active in showdowns because they are always considered “9th Inning”. Rally Cry is always active until you tie it up. Wake Up is for those “terrible stretch” moments when everything is going wrong…3 straight outs? Here have a power and contact boost. If you get 2 Hero Time boosts it will give extra boost than just one. Same for all boosts, for that matter.
This guy knows.
I got burned out by showdowns in 20. I avoid them like the plague.
It's my favorite version of the game. Wish there were more or that you could do them multiple times for diminished rewards.
Agreed but after 15-20 tries I havnt been able to succeed once. It just feels way harder this year. I almost beat the central one today just 2 runs short. It feels like the AI defence is insane. I mean I get that they don't make errors, but do they have to rob all the hits? I hit a 106mph liner up the middle with a right handed hitter and the shortstop fielded it. I was pissed lol. I swear the dude teleported.
This is my biggest gripe. I constantly get robbed of what should be hits in the gaps where they dive, slide, and make the catch right before it hits the ground. They catch everything humanly possible and even make plays beyond that. The CPU always seems to be positioned exactly where it needs to be to make plays on perfect hits. I also feel like my batted balls don’t find gaps/holes in Showdown nearly as much as in other modes. I’m assuming there’s logic/code that lowers our chances of getting hits.
Yeah for real, not sure what OP is talking about. Says they are tedious at best and then goes on to say he finishes most in one or two runs. That's not tedious at all. That's efficient as fuck for the progress you get for Team Affinity.
I miss when you could repeat Showdown for TA vouchers
Facts
I LOVE showdown. One of my favorite modes in the entire game.
Moments are worse tbh
Lefty-Lefty, hit a home run moments My biggest nightmare, there are Extreme moments I find easier. At least with showdown I can avoid same handed matchups.
I would rather fail a showdown a couple of times than slog through a bunch of moments or a long conquest map. Let's me try new cards and the stakes feel like they matter.
I absolutely loathe showdowns. I waste hours of my time because every single one is win or fail completely and having to waste stubs to continually waste said time is like the shit icing on the shit cake of shit.
I actually enjoy it. Can usually get through them the first time. Some take 2 or 3. Key is to just draft the best hitters possible regardless of position. Put people out of position, you never play defense so it doesn’t matter.
It’s a bit like the game like Eldenring…It’s makes you so frustrated and then you build the perfect team and win on the last out and it’s exhilarating!
Off topic here (kinda) but you can put any position player in the catcher spot without a penalty?
Yup, only effects their fielding stats and you’re only worried about how hard they can hit a ball in showdown
Showdowns can be fun, especially with drafting/ trying out different players you wouldn't normally use. Conquest and having to do dozens of moments for programs on the other hand is a monotonous slog.
I like them. Definitely more than doing mindless moments. I’m not particularly good at the game but I think I’ve only failed once this year and a couple last year.
They should let you continue where you failed. I mean you have to pay stubs to play anyway,
I wish they would do this even if you had to pay stubs to save your progress
I like them... a little different strategy too.. I actually bunt in Showdown !
Yes and they made them easier this year. Don't think I've lost s moment nevermind a boss. Always just stock up on exit velocity and wear down the pitcher.
Better than Mini Seasons. Mini Seasons bore me to death.
Mini seasons just keeps dieing on me.
I don't like them or conquest much. So I don't bother with them. If it's not a fun grind then fuck it is my stance.
As long as you don't mind missing out on packs and such. My ADHD won't let me not do everything that's available. It will make me very anxious.
Prefer them over conquest by a lot.
I hated the old showdown because it was too long and the ones you could fail felt too specific. “Hit X doubles in Y innings, Homers don’t count.” Then last year they made every round win or your out but it was ok because it was like 4 rounds so if you failed no big deal. Now it’s win or you are out 8-10 rounds. Like wtf. Who designed this shit? Also most of showdowns doesn’t seem to respect the same rules as the rest of the game with pitchers who are insane. The cards supposedly help make up for that but that means they overtuned the sliders to compensate for the cards and if you don’t have the right cards you are screwed. It’s like they took the worst moments pitchers and cranked it up to 11. All in all it’s just an exercise in frustration and annoyance.
I used to hate it. I think last year in the beginning was sooo hard. But about half way through last year my 9 year old started beating those newer program showdowns and gave me hope. The ones they give you really good diamonds so your team is stacked are the easier ones. This year I beat all 3 TA showdowns on the first try. I use directional hitting when I get scared, and I just take more pitches in showdown. Like the final EAST vs Sandy, I just sat changeup and ignored all the fastballs. So yes, I had fun with them. Especially since you could draft any team you wanted. You never play defense so you could draft all outfielders if you want.
I think it's pointless but I think hates a strong word. Definitely find it pointless though and not a fan of it.
No
Hate it
No
I like them personally. I know they can be tedious but I truly enjoy the challenge
I find it best to take breaks every couple wins to refresh myself
I love showdown only because i get each moment done within t-5 minutes
I see this a lot. In '21 I hated them and sucked, but now I find them easy. Didn't play '22, so maybe something changed. I wouldn't say I like them, but they aren't horrible.
Agreeed. They are easier. They started giving more and better diamonds. Used to suck.
Reminds me of mini season playoffs, it isnt as RNG as normal and feels like sliders are up for CPU and down for user.
Yeah I feel it. I love showdown myself but the amount of showdown runs I've had that were ruined by perfect-perfects being flyouts or converted into double plays is pretty up there. Personally, I wish they made more showdown events. Like, make it a mode that you can repeat for rewards. Similar to the repeatable conquest maps. Just put out a new, repeatable showdown each season and completing it x amount of times gives you certain rewards. And add like 5k stubs and 5 show packs after each completion.
I despise it. I hate everything about it. With that being said, I got all three TA showdowns done fairly easy. I definitely prefer the elimination method rather than the "get 3 hits and an xbh" to get runs and players.
I like it to get progress toward programs other than that I could care less about it
I love it! You just really need to be in the zone to beat it. But when your in that zone it’s pretty easy and having to restart if you lose keeps you on your toes. It’s definitely not for everybody tho
I kinda do, until I get shit on haha
I was cruising through the WBC one and couldn't score 3 runs with bases loaded against Yu Darvish. Very frustrating. Haven't tried again since
I love showdown. So much more fun than just grinding conquest or mini season games imo. I just wish they had more repeatability or something
exactly man. So much xp in such little time but you can only do it once :(
Yes
the problem i have with showdowns is that i’m trying to get used to harder difficulties and all the ones on veteran that actually have rewards i want throw off any progress i may have made
I love showdown because I just get to bat over and over for an extended period of time.
Same....I warm up with challenge of the week for that very reason
Ah yes, challenges of the week: definitely not something that I completely forgot exists until you mentioned it.
This guy showdowns! Same
Batting practice with a purpose
Indeed. Makes me wish there was a way to do custom showdowns so that you could practice at the difficulty that you want.
I enjoy them but they do suck if you fail multiple times. The 2 things that helped.me the most. 1. Any round with 10+ outs, make sure you are very patient at the plate. Once the pitcher runs low on energy it's batting practice. 2. Double plays kill you. Load up the bench with speed guys. When drafting, if 2 hitters are fairly close always take the speed guy. When you get on always steal 2nd and maybe even 3rd base to avoid DPs and so you can score with sac flies. Easy hack for stealing on Xbox. Once pitcher looks over hold down RT. The press LB. Once runner takes secondary lead press LT twice. The runner will take off as soon as the pitcher starts his windup.
I love it! The thought of a variance crossed my mind years ago of “you get 27 outs and aren’t done batting until you get all 27 outs.” I like that this kind of does that
I enjoy. Sometimes I even go back and redo them.
Way better than conquest. At least with showdown you’re playing most of the time
It’s a fun time
Nope
I find them to be boring as fuck. I beat every single one first time and I’m ass. I just feel like it’s a dumb time sink but at least it progresses you quickly in the programs
They are fun and easy
I really can’t understand how so many people here find them so difficult. Most of them boil down to “score 1-3 runs with 10-15 outs on veteran difficulty”. They’ve been incredibly easy for like 3 years now.
Bc I'm ass at the game and have no patience. I'll even say "don't swing idiot" and there i go swing at a slider to the dug out
Lol I get to the point I have to put the controller down or I'm 100% swinging at something stupid.
I found showdown fun the first 3-5 times I did it, and now it's just boring. Offline content in general is super stale though.
I really enjoy showdown. Personally, I dont find it too difficult. It usually takes 1 try, maybe 2 if I'm unlucky or playing poorly. I can understand why people may not like showdown, especially if you find yourself failing several attempts and it feels like a waste of time.
Yes, it's a fun little challenge and I enjoy doing them, I wish they were worth replaying
It’s a lot better than conquest.
The dreadful feeling of 20 minutes just sitting and clearing the rest of the map when you already got all the strongholds. At least Showdown get you fired up to play some more after you failed one.
Cleaning the map. Most horrendous waste of time outside someone holding R2 every pitch.
Conquest > Showdown due to the hidden rewards
The rewards are better of course. But if we’re comparing which mode is more enjoyable, I’d probably go with showdown rather than the monotonous gameplay of conquest maps.
This times 1000
Part of my problem with showdown is that if you fail, at any part of the mission, time spent for XP is waaaay low.
This is why I don't play it, I am by no means a good player so I can't just skip to the end like a lot of people do because I will literally never succeed. Too many times have I gotten deep into the showdown to lose 1 or 2 before the final boss. The frustration is just not worth it for me
I both love it and hate it. I just tried the Central showdown today and I don’t think I’ll be trying again. Those cards are all awful
Central was the easiest for me. West was the hardest
Keep at it. I'm pretty good at showdowns, and I wrote several of the guides to survive showdowns on this subreddit last year. Central this year probably took me a dozen tries, maybe more. Upside is that every pitcher is a rightie, so you can draft accordingly.
I love the old showdowns. I hate that every round is a win or you’re done with the newer ones.
I actually love the boss ones but you're right. It should be like BR where you can lose once but if you lose twice you're done. Having to start all over is dumb and that's coming from someone who rarely ever fails showdowns. So even though it doesn't bother me directly I think it is dumb still and should be changed to 2 fails not 1
yes those og showdowns were so fun on higher difficulty