Avoid Skewing Stats in Full Play Franchises?

[pokerplaya]

I have long been looking for a game since the MVP days that would enable me to start a franchise that I'd be comfortable playing for years because of the quality of the game. I have that now, but I am concerned that with Pulse Pitching and Pure Analog hitting that I will completely skew the statistics... at least by what I'm hearing.

I'm looking to play 10 full seasons over 2-4 years so it makes sense to get as much information as possible before throwing around 2000 hours into something. What do you think? I was always a X360 guy, and now with the PS3, I'll admit I have only played The Show this year and don't know what to expect out of all the hitting/pitching options as far as franchise statistical realism for full play.

Thanks for reading, and in advance for your comments.

[Heroesandvillains]

This is quite a task! Good luck.

Personally, I use Timing hitting/Classic Pitching/Auto Fielding on All-Star for my Franchise. This is because I want player ratings to matter more than my ability to move a joystick or time a meter.

Have you played enough games yet to see if/where your stats are skewed?

I'm sure with whatever interface, if you select the appropriate difficulty for yourself, your stats will be very good. I just like to remove as many human elements as possible. Some people like that; some people don't .

[pokerplaya]

Quote: Originally Posted by Heroesandvillains

This is quite a task! Good luck. Personally, I use Timing hitting/Classic Pitching/Auto Fielding on All-Star for my Franchise. This is because I want player ratings to matter more than my ability to move a joystick or time a meter. Have you played enough games yet to see if/where your stats are skewed? I'm sure with whatever interface, if you select the appropriate difficulty for yourself, your stats will be very good. I just like to remove as many human elements as possible. Some people like that; some people don't .

Well, I'm guessing I'm striking out more than I should. No, I haven't gotten a ton of games into my franchise yet... just have read a bit about the skew and I honestly think I want to go somewhere along the lines of what you are doing, except that I like to field.

I still want that human element though... I don't want to feel like I'm only "hitting the button to advance the sim" -- I still want my skill to play SOME part. Currently, I'm using Pure Analog hitting and Pulse, both on AS with assist fielding. Current franchise, I'm 0-2, losing both my first two to Boston with Detroit, scoring only 3 off Beckett and Buchholz, 2 being on a moonshot by Prince. I struck out 21 times over the two games against Beckett, Bucky, and Aceves.

[Heroesandvillains]

Gotcha.

You just need to get whichever interfaces you want to use down. With practice, things such as excessive strikeouts will decrease. There is definitely a learning curve and that alone will skew anyone's stats. Fortunately, it's a long season.

Now...what exactly and where exactly did you hear about chronic stat skewing?

[pokerplaya]

Quote: Originally Posted by Heroesandvillains

Gotcha. You just need to get whichever interfaces you want to use down. With practice, things such as excessive strikeouts will decrease. There is definitely a learning curve and that alone will skew anyone's stats. Fortunately, it's a long season. Now...what exactly and where exactly did you hear about chronic stat skewing?

Honestly, I think its just been from a collection of posts, I read a ton on here. Just see a lot of people only using timing/classic in an effort to make the ratings mean more (like yourself.)

This is what I want as well, as I know in my current franchise in MVP, I'm hitting like .230 with Miggy Cabrera in 2014 because of my own at-bats. So, it's probably both a collection of posts I've read, and seeing the phenomenon appear in front of my eyes so often. I've got like 600 games played in my franchise in MVP modded to 2011, and its present there with very similar hitting...

Haven't been TOO concerned personally yet, as I'm still getting used to the show, but I have like 90 games online so its not like I'm a rookie any longer.

[rymflaherty]

Hopefully this year's game will be like MLB09 for me.
I was able to have the experience you were explaining......My Franchise was like my alternate Red Sox universe and I loved playing it so much I didn't need to move on to the next game. I was in my 3rd full season and would have still been playing if my PS3 didn't die.

I use meter/timing, so I can't speak on improving with pulse/analog......and it's too early to tell with this game, but I can say with timing/meter that year the overall stats were not skewed. I also had players that really went downhill, improved and some that stayed the same from year-to-year, so there was a great variety/unpredictability which gave the motivation to continue.

[pokerplaya]

Quote: Originally Posted by rymflaherty

Hopefully this year's game will be like MLB09 for me. I was able to have the experience you were explaining......My Franchise was like my alternate Red Sox universe and I loved playing it so much I didn't need to move on to the next game. I was in my 3rd full season and would have still been playing if my PS3 didn't die. I use meter/timing, so I can't speak on improving with pulse/analog......and it's too early to tell with this game, but I can say with timing/meter that year the overall stats were not skewed. I also had players that really went downhill, improved and some that stayed the same from year-to-year, so there was a great variety/unpredictability which gave the motivation to continue.

My only concern is having the issue I mentioned earlier -- where I am "just hitting the button to advance the sim." I still want MY actions to matter, but I do want it to be more off player ratings as well. For example, in that franchise I mentioned in MVP, I've got Cabrera swinging around a .240 stick, with Austin Jackson batting a cool .428 in like June. COULD it happen? Sure, I guess it COULD.

A ten year franchise is just such a huge undertaking, and it is going to occupy me for years, so all I want is the ability to have those "MVP" type years with guys -- but not ridiculously unbalancing like being able to hit .400 every year with someone or multiple, 80 HR, etc...

[pokerplaya]

To be fair, I haven't tried either timing hitting or classic pitching yet. I'll plug them in to my just started franchise and do a test game. Figuring I'd have to restart at least once anyways, may as well do it early if I don't like what I see.

I just hate testing franchise settings in non-franchise games. I don't know if The Show is like that, but in my years of testing sliders and settings in sports games, I've always found that Play Now type games and franchise games have different behaviors.