What’s The Beef With Diamond Dynasty?

[Gosens6]

Would love a centralized thread for everyone to express their opinions on DD. I’m seeing the hate for it in every thread on this forum and the consensus I’m seeing is that everyone seems to be under the impression that franchise is bare and neglected because of DD.

My thought process on this whole thing is, franchise mode was barebones and neglected YEARS before DD came along. The Show has always had the weakest franchise mode of the major sports titles (along with Madden, but even Madden 21 and 22 have a better franchise mode than The Show)

I can’t remember a year in which I was really invested in a Show franchise mode because of the awful progression system, and the lack of innovation/progress.

We’ve been asking for years and years and years for an overhaul to franchise mode and we’ve never gotten it. It’s never been much of a priority for The Show, and I think DD is catching all the flack and hate because SDS has never recognized franchise as a priority.

Personally, I think DD is the most fair and fun of all the card collecting modes in sports games today. I haven’t spent a single dime in the mode and I’ve accumulated quite a strong team. Clearly the dev team is stronger in certain aspects of creativity, and franchise isn’t one of them unfortunately.

Let’s discuss, though. Would love to hear others opinions on this.

[Dolenz]

This should be fun....

But I think you nailed the gist of it. Most blame DD for taking away resources that they assume would have been used to improve Franchise.

[CBoller1331]

Boy this thread sure is gonna open up a can of worms....well the can is probably already open and the thread will just be a pile of said worms.

Anyway, I think you are right that the big reason for the disdain on this site is that DD seems to be taking much of the attention away from franchise mode. Personally I agree with you that it is far and away the best card collecting mode among sports games. I like DD, but to tend to prefer a true Sim experience of trying to play a full 162 and all the challenges that come with managing a team that way.

Honestly I don't think they need to overhaul DD every year like they have been to keep that fanbase around. I think most fans of the mode are excited by the continual releasing content throughout the year. So from that perspective it does seem like they have taken away some of the creative juices from other modes, and it has shown with the product recently.

[Bonny]

DD is clearly the focus and the cash cow of the series. I'm not a fan. To me it is just a chase of trinkets and shiny things. It all seems so disposable. Get folks chasing that carrot, keep them online and they will spend money.


Franchise is an afterthought at this point. Even after the loss of Online Franchise, they gave us Custom Leagues. You can't even use custom rosters in that. But you can use DD cards. Everything steers towards DD.


The lack of y2y/roster transfer is pathetic.

[JoshC1977]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bonny

DD is clearly the focus and the cash cow of the series. I'm not a fan. To me it is just a chase of trinkets and shiny things. It all seems so disposable. Get folks chasing that carrot, keep them online and they will spend money.

Just as disposable as a championship in a franchise. Different journeys to get to a nonsensical "end goal". A DD guy buying a card is no different than a franchise guy simming a game.

(I enjoy both modes, but just making that point.)

[Gagnon39]

You have to keep in mind that we on Operation Sports likely make up less than 1% of the people that play The Show. We are undoubtedly the most passionate fans of franchise mode and many of us are long-time sports gamers that grew up loving franchise mode. It was a mode that was every developers central focus until the creation of online, card-collecting, ultimate team modes like Diamond Dynasty, Madden Ultimate Team, etc. Now developers make literally hundreds of millions of dollars on these modes with virtually no additional development time. Just by simply offering packs and players to be purchased using real money, they make an insane amount of cash every year.

So naturally, as a business, the focus would be on the mode that brings home the most money, therefore leaving us dinosaurs left out to pasture. All we get year, after, year, after year, after year, are minute changes (I refuse to even call them improvements) to our beloved mode.

Meanwhile, the developers we used to love now cater to 12-year olds who have diamond players up and down their lineups for their teams with neon green and purple uniforms and obscene logos on the front of their jerseys. Eventually every game is a battle against all-time great teams (once everyone has played for a few months) and players just quit when they get down and lose. There's no story, no drama, just game after game. And yes, it's fun every once in a while, but it's just not my (or many of our) cup of tea.

So the beef with Diamond Dynasty is exactly that, it has caused franchise mode to be stale, lackluster, and see virtually no improvements for well over ten years now. The frustrating thing is, there's really no hope that it will change. Madden promised this new focus on franchise and it's an absolute sham, that I fell for. It won't happen again.

[Armor and Sword]

I happen to think Diamond Dynasty is a very cool card collecting mode. Very well designed, a lot to do if that is your thing.

Me? I just collect the cards.....that is pretty much it. I can’t stand the way this game plays online so I will never use the cards to “compete” online.

Offline there is simply no interest for me. It is basically grinding and not baseball.

Baseball for me is the story weaved in franchise mode where I own, manage and play as my favorite team/teams and allow my universe to evolve the way I want it to and the way it just happens as well. I play the way I want to play and make no bones about it.

I really have no issues with Diamond Dynasty......but let’s be honest here. The clear focus of this game has shifted heavily to Diamond Dynasty.

I completely disagree with the sentiment that this is a weak franchise mode. On the contrary. I think it is quite good, has plenty of depth and tells a great story.....for me.

Franchise mode for me encompasses things other than....stats. For me it is the player story’s and what is going on around the league. Also The Show has all the CBA rules and features needed to run a good multi year franchise.

Where it is falling short is:

1) Roster expansion - I have wanted to see a full single A level. Which would help the CPU immensely too with our next major issue that has gone untouched

2) CPU Logic - The claim of 21 as it was better......nope it was not IMO. Sorry. Simply no. This needs a much needed overall in terms of lineup logic, contracts, free agency.....it needs a lot of love and yet seems to never ever get it! Why? Why in this day and age we cannot get better CPU management. Why must I be forced to run a 30 team control franchise to maintain lineup integrity as well as undo some doozy trades from time to time? It happens across all sports games make no mistake.

3) Rotating interleague schedules - Come on already.

Diamond Dynasty can’t be taking away so much resources that they cannot work on these things right? The Show’s franchise mode does not need an overhaul.....god no. It just needs some attention.

All of that attention year after year is being poured into DD and now March To October. It is a fact.

They have not given franchise players anything to go gaga over in years.

Have they made small but impactful improvements? Yeah they have.

I did not expect much for 21.....new console, transition year etc. I have always been one of the most positive, enthusiastic supporters of the game.

If the gameplay and design decisions were up to the standards (it was not for me not getting into it) I have gotten used to I would be playing 21 too....no doubt. But it fell short.

And it was not solely because of DD....not going to blame that. But DD has a big impact on the “focus” of the team and I keep hearing well....different guys work on different things etc etc etc etc.

The priorities of the person or persons working on the franchise end.....are simply not aligned with a lot of players at least in these parts (Operation Sports). I don’t need OOTP depth nor do I expect it.

But I expect a little more from the standards they had set in prior years......it just has not happened lately.

My sincere hope is 21 was an outlier for me. I would love nothing more than 22 pulling me right back in because the gameplay is so incredibly great I cannot say no to it.

But why do I feel like that is not happening? My gut usually never lies to me. In fact it never has.

I don’t tread on DD players......the game is clearly geared to those players and it is “their” time.

Plain and simple.

[Madden08PCgmr]

Its a nice little niche.

I enjoyed my brief dip into MUT, same with DD.

It will never fill the void for me. Not unless the content REALLY takes off.

If you want me to relive/replay the 'MOMENTS' of Juniors career, it will require the Kingdome! It will require the REAL 1995 Yankees roster. Not belting homers off Aroldis Chapman in Safeco. I want an experience. If I want to check boxes, I can do menial tasks at work.

Maybe the'll switch gears someday. Not betting on it in the near future.

I'm content to fire up a retro roster, which much more thought and effort went into.