While we often praise The Show series for its small but meaningful changes, MLB 15: The Show does offer one giant change: Diamond Dynasty has been completed revamped.

The core system of the past, which featured fictional players who evolved over time, is gone. Instead, we are given a much more streamlined approach to collecting cards and building a team.

The Basics

While playing any mode of The Show, you can earn a virtual currency. These "Stubs" can be used to purchase packs of cards or single cards on a user marketplace. Of course, you can always buy Stubs with real money.

Cards range in rarity from common to diamond; the rarer the card, the better the player. Once you've unlocked a player, he's yours -- there are no contracts or injuries to manage.

You then take all of these cards and form a team. The user interface for team creation is very slick, putting all of the relevant information on one screen. It's very easy to view your entire collection, move players in and out of your squad, and make lineup changes.

One more new wrinkle is the availability of a created superstar, who gets better as you "feed" him extra cards. This player can play any position, and is customizable like a Road to the Show character.

Old systems return, like the relatively detailed uniform and logo creators. I wish the logo creator was a bit easier to use, but it is very deep and flexible if you are willing to spend time fine-tuning your creation.

Initial Thoughts

Upon first hearing about the "distilled" Diamond Dynasty, I was excited. This has been a mode that I always expect to like, but then never end up playing very much. The simplified collection system and connections to other modes make it a nice diversion from the other more "serious" modes.

I love opening virtual packs and seeing what cards I pull, just as I enjoyed doing the same thing in real life as a kid. There are two goals beyond collecting good players: collecting duplicates to feed your star and completing a team's roster of cards. Collecting all of the cards from one team unlocks a legend for your team.

As fun as the card system is, I'm worried about how long this mode will hold my interest.

First, it is a primarily an online mode. Even though you can play single-player again an MLB team or other user-created team, the game does require a server connection. During my first evening with the game, even navigating the menus could be slow. While this wasn't the case later, the slow screens were a definite strain on my enjoyment. My head-to-head experiences weren't great either--certainly not unplayable, but really laggy at times.

I also question the decision to have players not "expire." On the surface, this sounds fine -- no need to micromanage contracts or worry about a player's remaining games. However, with no team degradation, how long will it be until every team is full of superstars? What value do the common or bronzes have after you acquire a better player?

Two teams I faced online had at least one legend, which are supposedly hard to get. One team had four of them, with the rest of the line-up spots being filled with modern stars (Trout, Cabrerra, etc.) What fun is this mode when every user team will eventually be a virtual all-legend team?

This could be mitigated, similar to how Diamond Dynasty randomly selects your starting pitcher from the five in your rotation. Perhaps a salary cap of sorts could limit how many legends, diamonds, golds, etc. could be on one team. Maybe the game could assign injuries to players that keep them out of the line-up for so many games.

As it is, it's really just about maximizing your team with the best players available; you can even use the "auto-generate" button which seems to do a good job. After that, there aren't many decisions to be made.

Conclusion

I really want to like Diamond Dynasty. I will certainly have fun collecting the cards and fiddling with the line-up. Seeing my created star grow will provide some enjoyment, especially if I focus his development on one area (the created players can play anywhere).

But I just can't see investing time in the long-term, at least if it means playing other user teams. I have no desire to spend real money to increase my chances of unlocking a great card; nor is it fun to have my mixed team of silver and bronze players get mashed by Nolan Ryan and his cronies.

So I predict that when I play, it will be against CPU-MLB teams, even though that lacks the appeal of both human competition and seeing the assortment of players the mode encourages.

Overall, I'm a little disappointed. There's a lot to like in this mode, but it may have been distilled a little too much for long-term entertainment.

What are your thoughts about the revamped Diamond Dynasty mode?