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MLB The Show 16 Thoughts: Diamond Dynasty

Diamond Dynasty is a mode that began as just another Ultimate Team clone, using card collecting as a way to extend and monetize traditional gameplay. However, during the past few iterations, the mode has blazed a new trail by incorporating unique and interesting features. It's almost as if Diamond Dynasty is in a constant state of evolution; this year looks to be the biggest set of changes yet.

Here are some of my quick reactions while watching the most recent Twitch stream:

-First, while I'm excited to see what Conquest and Battle Royale bring to the game, I'm slightly disappointed they are simply new ways to play Diamond Dynasty. I was hoping for some dedicated, creative and unique ways to play. Of course, the modes may yet be all of those things. We'll have to see come March.

-Play With Friends is a much needed addition to the mode, as showing off your team is a huge part of the appeal. The team looks like they were wise enough to predict exploits, though I hope it tracks at least head-to-head record (purely for bragging rights).

-I'm of two minds when it comes to the Captain system. First, it is a unique way to diversify teams and encourage creative team-building. I love the crazy collecting and roster goals, like teams based solely around a certain skill or rating (height!); this is way better than the original Ultimate Teams, which offered chemistry rewards for playing teammates together.

-On the other hand, an additional form of currency (tickets) and a constantly refreshing store really reminds me of the free-to-play games that are rampant on mobile stores. MLB The Show has been pretty good about limiting "pay to win" strategies, and while this still doesn't seem like it will be pay to win, collecting various forms of currency is still a little off-putting.

Clarification/Correction: Ramone checked in on the forums with this info on Tickets and Stubs and how it all works: "Playing the game is the only way to get tickets period, can't buy them with stubs."


-Inside Edge brings another dynamic to the mode, which is very exciting. Again, it's another great way to encourage you to use players who may be just sitting in your collection. The IE write-ups are neat, and offer real-life rationales for stat changes.

-Flashback Cards are cool, and I love the retro templates. I'm hoping for a lot of rookie and MVP years from some of my favorite players, making guys like Ryan Howard a legitimate option. I also like the limitation of not being able to use multiple versions of one player.

-I'm still digging the radial graphs for ratings.

-Missions look interesting, especially the branching nature of the goals. This especially makes playing single-player/offline much more appealing. The focus this year for DD really seems to be about making your whole collection more usable.

-Glad to see that some changes are being made so I don't get dominated by someone's unrealistic 99-overall created pitcher.

-Persistent bullpen fatigue is one of numerous mentioned fixes for common online exploits. Glad to see the online gameplay is balanced, and hopefully the gameplay remains fluid.

If I'm being honest, Diamond Dynasty usually loses the competition for my time to Franchise and Road to the Show. However, I do really like the collecting aspect, and the Missions and Captains now give me more of an incentive to play the games. The changes to this year's Diamond Dynasty look really good, in my opinion, and may push the mode to the top of my list.


MLB The Show 16 Videos
Member Comments
# 1 Russell_SCEA @ 02/22/16 04:57 PM
Quote:
-On the other hand, an additional form of currency (tickets) and a constantly refreshing store really reminds me of the free-to-play games that are rampant on mobile stores. MLB The Show has been pretty good about limiting "pay to win" strategies, and while this still doesn't seem like it will be pay to win, collecting various forms of currency is still a little off-putting.
Playing the game is the only way to get tickets period, can't buy them with stubs.
 
# 2 NC12 @ 02/22/16 05:02 PM
Thanks for the clarification Ramone
 
# 3 mpulse24 @ 02/22/16 05:23 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell_SCEA
Playing the game is the only way to get tickets period, can't buy them with stubs.
I'm so glad you guys went about earning stubs that way. I also get put off by free-to-play/micro-transaction workarounds and shortcuts when it comes to earning in game rewards, especially when micro-transactions become forced on players. Rewarding the player for playing the game is the best way to go.

Judging by how it sounds, earning stubs and captain rewards in MLB 16 is going to feel really rewarding and satisfying. I still don't think it will top the feeling of pulling my first Diamond rated card ever last year though, that was a really great feeling! haha

I just can't wait to get my hands on the 2016 version of Diamond Dynasty! Last year's entry was the first to truly pull me in and change the way I play the game as a whole (being strictly a RttS player before last year).
 
# 4 Steve_OS @ 02/22/16 05:41 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell_SCEA
Playing the game is the only way to get tickets period, can't buy them with stubs.
Thanks Ramone, updated.
 
# 5 AceAmy @ 02/22/16 05:47 PM
I am curious about the uniform customization, I hope there is just one addition, I have trouble making outlines on the front of the jersey text. Any tips?
 
# 6 MrOldboy @ 02/22/16 05:53 PM
For me if logo transfer isn't in I will be very bummed. Excited to get into DD early, but not without my logo. Even if they just let us import our old one as a flattened image layer into the editor that would be good enough for me as long as it was a high quality image they import. They flatten it and display it on theshownation site, but those are pretty low quality.

If its not in I'll probably play other modes until I can muster up the strength to recreate it. For those that spent a lot of time designing their logo it is a tedious process to go through.
 
# 7 mpulse24 @ 02/22/16 05:54 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by AceAmy
I am curious about the uniform customization, I hope there is just one addition, I have trouble making outlines on the front of the jersey text. Any tips?
For jersey logos, I usually make a solid color script logo for the front, group it together, duplicate that group of layers four times over and then change the color of the fonts on those duplicate layers to whatever color I want the outline to be. Once I do that, I bring the colored original script logo to the front and then adjust the placement of the duplicate groups behind it, moving them out diagonally, all in opposite directions until they create an outline effect.

The end result looks really good, especially if you stack up multiple colored outlines. If you look at it closely in the logo template, its not flawless but on the uniforms in game, they look damn near perfect.
 
# 8 baseballsim @ 02/22/16 06:07 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrOldboy
For me if logo transfer isn't in I will be very bummed. Excited to get into DD early, but not without my logo. Even they just let us import out old one as a flattened image later into the editor that would be good enough for me as long as it was a high quality image they import. The flatten it and display it on theshownation site, but those are pretty low quality.

For its not in I'll probably play other modes until I can muster up the strength to recreate it. For those that spent a lot of time designing their logo it is a tedious process to go through.
It was nice that Nick at least mentioned that they'd look into it during the DD stream. It doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to transfer logos across versions but we obviously don't know what is involved to make that happen.
 
# 9 Turbojugend @ 02/22/16 06:27 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrOldboy
For me if logo transfer isn't in I will be very bummed. Excited to get into DD early, but not without my logo. Even if they just let us import our old one as a flattened image layer into the editor that would be good enough for me as long as it was a high quality image they import. They flatten it and display it on theshownation site, but those are pretty low quality.

If its not in I'll probably play other modes until I can muster up the strength to recreate it. For those that spent a lot of time designing their logo it is a tedious process to go through.
I'm in the same boat. I probably spent around three hours finessing my DD logo and unis (yeah, I'm pretty meticulous) and it would be cool to not have to go through that again. I will if I have to, but I wouldn't look forward to it.
 
# 10 MrOldboy @ 02/22/16 07:05 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by baseballsim
It was nice that Nick at least mentioned that they'd look into it during the DD stream. It doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to transfer logos across versions but we obviously don't know what is involved to make that happen.

That is why I would be more than satisfied if they just let us import the image of our logo. One that is flattened with all the layers like on TheShowNation. I know they want to implement things "right", but in a case like this after several years I'd take a cobbled together import. At least so we could trace over our old logos if it was just an image import from 15. It would save DD players from 15 hours. Hours they could be playing DD and possibly even spending cash...
 
# 11 volsfan39 @ 02/22/16 09:48 PM
Just not my mode..I hope they put as much time and effort in franchise mode this year as they have the gimmick modes...
 
# 12 thaSLAB @ 02/22/16 10:04 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by volsfan39
Just not my mode..I hope they put as much time and effort in franchise mode this year as they have the gimmick modes...
Gimmick modes? Definitely not.

Sent from my HTC One [M8] Marshmallow 6.0 | Tapatalk
 
# 13 aparks87 @ 02/22/16 11:25 PM
Hoping you can still play other DD teams offline. "Extra Innings" games. Didn't see that option in the stream.
 
# 14 masterchaoss @ 02/23/16 12:24 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattyp2002
For jersey logos, I usually make a solid color script logo for the front, group it together, duplicate that group of layers four times over and then change the color of the fonts on those duplicate layers to whatever color I want the outline to be. Once I do that, I bring the colored original script logo to the front and then adjust the placement of the duplicate groups behind it, moving them out diagonally, all in opposite directions until they create an outline effect.

The end result looks really good, especially if you stack up multiple colored outlines. If you look at it closely in the logo template, its not flawless but on the uniforms in game, they look damn near perfect.
There is actually a better way than that it starts the same with grouping and duplication but there is but if you look there is an option called expand you can find by Flippin past the move and scew modes, it'll make everything completely uniform and even.
 
# 15 mpulse24 @ 02/23/16 12:29 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by masterchaoss
There is actually a better way than that it starts the same with grouping and duplication but there is but if you look there is an option called expand you can find by Flippin past the move and scew modes, it'll make everything completely uniform and even.
Really?! Cool! I must have just totally overlooked that option when I was working on my jerseys last April! If it works that well and keeps everything totally even, thats awesome news, it will cut way down on my layers used!

Good lookin out, man! Thanks
 
# 16 BrianU @ 02/23/16 01:50 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by aparks87
Hoping you can still play other DD teams offline. "Extra Innings" games. Didn't see that option in the stream.
Someone asked Nick from SDS that question on twitter and he said "@MLBtheShow_Tips We forgot! You now challenge the CPU with the user's team and tendencies directly thru the DD leaderboard list"

I was worried too but this sounds awesome. Even better than last year. I wonder if you can literally challenge ANY team? that is so hype, I love the feature and how it uses tendencies. Hype 2 the max.

I also saw in the videos on the Play menu there is a Play vs CPU option which I think is something separate. Perhaps you can play versus real MLB teams with your DD team as well?
 
# 17 MatrixTN @ 02/23/16 02:11 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianU
I also saw in the videos on the Play menu there is a Play vs CPU option which I think is something separate. Perhaps you can play versus real MLB teams with your DD team as well?
Same as before, yes.
 
# 18 MrOldboy @ 02/23/16 02:17 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianU
Someone asked Nick from SDS that question on twitter and he said "@MLBtheShow_Tips We forgot! You now challenge the CPU with the user's team and tendencies directly thru the DD leaderboard list"

I was worried too but this sounds awesome. Even better than last year. I wonder if you can literally challenge ANY team? that is so hype, I love the feature and how it uses tendencies. Hype 2 the max.

I also saw in the videos on the Play menu there is a Play vs CPU option which I think is something separate. Perhaps you can play versus real MLB teams with your DD team as well?
Wait, could we not challenge specific teams last year? I thought I did that a few times.
 
# 19 BrianU @ 02/23/16 04:41 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrOldboy
Wait, could we not challenge specific teams last year? I thought I did that a few times.
I haven't gotten into DD till very late and Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I only see 4 teams I can pick at any time. It seems like he's saying you can play anyone on the leaderboard in extra innings, or at least its my guess/wish. You can't do that currently can you?

Sent from my LGLS660 using Tapatalk
 
# 20 LeftyShortstop @ 02/23/16 10:20 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrOldboy
Wait, could we not challenge specific teams last year? I thought I did that a few times.
I am pretty sure you can challenge any MLB team in '15. I think it is a great feature because it eliminates the lag from online games (like extra innings).
 

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