This is where I wait for v25...

[HRBaker]

With 24 weeks of v24 done, I feel it's time (for me anyway) to move on. At this point in the year, as a casual player, missions are no longer productive and the price of players that can really make a difference is beyond my patience. All three of my teams have settled in Silver and are unlikely to move up from there without significant effort. In addition, the MLB season is winding down and football has started.

This is not to say I didn't have fun - it's just that investing the next 25 weeks till the release of v25 just isn't in the cards for me (pun intended). And 5 visits to Diamond were a high-point as well.

To summarize, here's my history graphs and active rosters for my three teams as they currently stand. I'll probably drop in each month and open packs to see what I might get, but otherwise will move on to other interests (including Starfield & Fallout: London) until v25.

Misc. Comments;


Baltimore was the team that had the best initial pull and the one I invested 6 months of PT+ in.

Cleveland was the worst initial pull and I never did get a break on Mission success or pack pulls.

Akron was the middle team in initial pulls, but had a lot of luck with Missions and Packs.


Good luck to all that are still in the game, and see you next "season"

HRB

[MattieSteals]

There's definitely something about the way this year is structured that has caused me to stagnant significantly as well. I'm a F2P player (well, one of my teams I got the PT+ to see how it would compare) and I'm a mission grinder for that team (my other teams are more theme oriented) but it seems like I haven't been able to make any significant additions to the roster since July. I was on an upward trajectory and a consistent diamond team then but have fallen back as my team has stagnated.

All of the missions I've completed since then have given me either cards that were only marginal improvements or packs where I've had no luck drawing any of the LE cards. I appreciate that there are LE cards to allow for some diversity in competing but man it's hard to improve your team when so many of the new good cards are LE or missions that immediately require a lot of PP to achieve and you have to rely almost entirely on luck (or having millions of PP points etc).

I'll still play because what else am I going to do during the work day but sort of feeling stuck. To be clear, I'm still enjoying it, just feeling more stuck right now than I have in previous years at this point in the season.

[rburgh]

You can always find some mission to work on, even a difficult one. There's plenty of time if you want to, say, complete 7 immortal missions and see what you get in an immortal pack. You could even work that with three teams, simply by staggering the order you tackle the missions.


Or you could decide to do all the BUNT missions, the first 2 NeL sets of missions, and the BB Ref missions. Again, you can rotate which you start first among three teams. The BUNT missions get you a useful Mookie card and a good Scherzer card. The NeL missions get you Stearnes, Wells, Mendez, Foster, Paige, Donaldson, and Gibson. The BB Ref missions get you Mize, Lynn, and Hubbell, along with the opportunity to buy some interesting cards like Bregman, Harper, and Harvey,

[bailey]

The Hamtramck Tigers only earn achievement points and login rewards. No tournaments or twitch drops. After completing live missions, Topps #1, Negro League #1 and #2 and Baseball Reference #2, it is in diamond although not likely to survive for long there (D372).

It is, however, IMHO, stuck. I think I would need at least a million points to stabilize this team in diamond, so there is nothing better to do than log in everyday and pray for pack luck.

[PunishedF2P]

100% agree. Many complained about missions last year on the board, but I thought the missions last year were so much better and more reasonable, and there were a good handful of F2P players (including myself) who made more than few trips to Perfect League (at least one even took a few championships, I believe). This year, that hardly feels possible after the Immortal mission sets, and each new mission set will make the gap increase significantly it appears.

I've completed everything except the Immortal Missions (and a few of the recent pack rewards), exclusively through LIVE Update PP this year - without any tourneys or twitch drops. But the Immortal cards are the majority of the best rosters right now, and I'm playing .500 ball year after year in Diamond League now.

I still think the real killer was nerfing the tourney rewards - if they intended on making F2P impossible, they succeeded, which IMO is just a dumb move - people dedicated to F2P may do PT+ (and would have anyways just for the extra tourney slot), but they were never going to become whales. Less competitive squads than ever. If I were still getting 15 packs a day (30 packs a day for the first few months) + placing high in the weekly and daily tourneys like I could last year, even with these mission sets, I think it would be plausible to be competitive F2P.

By this time last year, and the previous year, even after updates ended, a good player could field very strong teams in all the tourneys and continue to compete. I stuck around for the entire year.

I do have over a million in quicksell value for live cards right now (pretty much of 10+ of everyone healthy rated 96-99, 86-89, 76-79, lol) - so I'll wait until after the final LIVE update to call it a year.

Assuming they keep tourneys nerfed (99.9% safe assumption) I don't see how this will change for PT25.

[bailey]

As someone who spams quicks every day I can say that nerfing tournament rewards did not hurt me. Thanks to extra tournament slots, twitch drops, PT Live packs, and login rewards, I earn the same number of packs per week as I did last year. (I know this because I keep track). Am I supposed to be bitter that I have to pay $7 a month for something I was able to get last year for free?

[PunishedF2P]

Originally Posted by bailey

As someone who spams quicks every day I can say that nerfing tournament rewards did not hurt me. Thanks to extra tournament slots, twitch drops, PT Live packs, and login rewards, I earn the same number of packs per week as I did last year. (I know this because I keep track). Am I supposed to be bitter that I have to pay $7 a month for something I was able to get last year for free?

Takes a lot longer to spam tourneys that have 1 and 3 pack rewards vs. 5 and 10 pack rewards. That's just an obvious fact. You need to get on approximately 3x as often. That's VERY significant. And you're saying w/ the extra slot it evens out, so that's even less for more.

And yes, the $7 a month should obviously be for more, not to get what you got last year for free, lmao.

Who's bitter? I'm not. Making observations or critiques doesn't mean one is bitter. I've still had a great time playing, though my time is about up this year as well, and I've frequently complimented/defended the devs and the aspects I enjoy.

[bailey]

I didn't say it evened out. I said it didn't hurt me.
And it is not just the extra slots, but the whole PT+ package that reduces the gap. And everyone benefits from increased achievement PP, one-time promotion PP, and better login rewards.

It also helps to close the gap that my tournament team is better this year than last year.

[PunishedF2P]

Originally Posted by bailey

I didn't say it evened out. I said it didn't hurt me.
And it is not just the extra slots, but the whole PT+ package that reduces the gap. And everyone benefits from increased achievement PP, one-time promotion PP, and better login rewards.

It also helps to close the gap that my tournament team is better this year than last year.

Oh yeah, I agree that PT+ does a good job evening things out overall after the nerfing of tourneys. PT+ is a really great deal; the only weird part is that it took them so many years to implement such an obvious business model (affordable monthly subscription for added benefits). You can go back to PT23 and PT22 and I recommended it multiple times in comments, and I've seen others do so as well.

I haven't subscribed to PT+ only because the F2P element, and how good I can make the team that way, has always been the fun challenge for me.

[steamrollers]

Also agree with OP. There really isn't much point left to continue until the new game comes out. Early on almost anyone can make a race to the top and be competitive but PT has gotten to the point this year where they clearly jumped the shark. The new immortal cards are so laughably juiced and though things are catered to whales anyway it is getting to extreme levels to widen that gap. And it's not just league play, this has unfortunately ruined a lot of tourneys that most could compete in just a few weeks ago but now unless you have tremendous pack luck you can't compete with the whales just grabbing whatever steroid induced card they want.

Yes, you can still finish some missions as referenced above like NeL and BBRef but for the most part those cards aren't even playable anymore if you want to have a competitive team at the top. I do feel bad for the people that may come in to the game around this time as they have no chance unless they fork over a lot of money. Hopefully the team figures out a way to fix what has been a problem for years and continues to get worse. There have been some good suggestions on the discord how to make it more playable for all, lets just hope there are positive changes in the future.

Can't wait for the next batch of 150 across each category cards going for 600k LOL

[bailey]

Originally Posted by steamrollers

Yes, you can still finish some missions as referenced above like NeL and BBRef but for the most part those cards aren't even playable anymore if you want to have a competitive team at the top.

Honestly, if you want a competitive team AT THE TOP at this time of the year, you better plan ahead to figure out how are you going to get 10 million points. This is the way the game is, and it should be no surprise if you've played before.

As far as just having FUN, now is the best time of year to start a team. All of the early meta cards are now dirt cheap and easily obtainable. You can take a team to diamond on achievement points and login rewards alone and that is FUN.

[LeeD]

Originally Posted by bailey

Honestly, if you want a competitive team AT THE TOP at this time of the year, you better plan ahead to figure out how are you going to get 10 million points. This is the way the game is, and it should be no surprise if you've played before.

As far as just having FUN, now is the best time of year to start a team. All of the early meta cards are now dirt cheap and easily obtainable. You can take a team to diamond on achievement points and login rewards alone and that is FUN.

Yes, says my new Rookie league team. Over 200 missions completed, including Negro League 1, Topps 1, and the entire Baseball Ref series. 147-12 record, Carl Hubbell with 31 wins, Fred Lynn at .391/.498/.785 and 13 WAR, Johnny Mize with 52 home runs and 188 RBI. Running out a lineup of Turkey Stearnes, Mookie Betts, Lynn, Mize, Willie Wells, Buck Leonard, Louis Santop, Alex Bregman, and Tommy Harper. The rotation is Hubbell, Harry Brecheen, Rube Foster, Johan Santana, and Jose Mendez. That's a competitive Gold level team in less than two weeks.

[Bunktown Ballers]

Originally Posted by rburgh

You can always find some mission to work on, even a difficult one. There's plenty of time if you want to, say, complete 7 immortal missions and see what you get in an immortal pack. You could even work that with three teams, simply by staggering the order you tackle the missions.


Or you could decide to do all the BUNT missions, the first 2 NeL sets of missions, and the BB Ref missions. Again, you can rotate which you start first among three teams. The BUNT missions get you a useful Mookie card and a good Scherzer card. The NeL missions get you Stearnes, Wells, Mendez, Foster, Paige, Donaldson, and Gibson. The BB Ref missions get you Mize, Lynn, and Hubbell, along with the opportunity to buy some interesting cards like Bregman, Harper, and Harvey,

Buying mission cards became less interesting to me (becoming less interesting over the years) when sellers over-priced 40-79 cards to more than the payout was. Spending 3,000 points each on several 40-79 card to get 1 pack of gold cards which that pack seems like 90% of the time gave you a LIVE DUPLICATE CARD is a no-go for me and many others I'm sure. I concentrated on 1 mission and play those only, sell the rest.

[PunishedF2P]

Finally completed the first set of Immortal Seasons missions and... I got two diamonds worth about 70K PP total after selling (Belanger and Semien). Never felt more ripped off doing missions (or playing the game, period) than I do now

I'm sticking it out through the last update, and I'll blow the million and a half PP I'll get from that on something, but man... It's like they are TRYING to give players a reason to quit playing the game. If I cared at all at this point, I'd be pretty ticked off about it. I'd be even more mad if I actually spent money on the game; all around terrible execution here, Devs.

[bailey]

Boo hoo! I'll see your 2 diamonds and raise you to 3 diamonds with a 87.5% chance of getting at least 1 perfect card by completing IS3 missions.

Right now, the thing that most irritates me about this game is reporting a player for cheating in Rookie League by playing perfect cards all week and then in the playoffs use iron cards to avoid promotion. Two months later, that team is still stomping rookie league.

Devs, I'm done reporting teams. You can find them yourself by searching rookie league by winning percentage.

Edit: Apologies to devs if this "strategy" is OK now.

[PunishedF2P]

Originally Posted by bailey

Boo hoo! I'll see your 2 diamonds and raise you to 3 diamonds with a 87.5% chance of getting at least 1 perfect card by completing IS3 missions.

I'm actually 0-3 as well. 0-2 on the first mission set (2 diamonds), and I got the first pack for IS3 that was also a diamond

[Socali]

Originally Posted by PunishedF2P

...

I'm sticking it out through the last update, and I'll blow the million and a half PP I'll get from that on something, but man... It's like they are TRYING to give players a reason to quit playing the game. If I cared at all at this point, I'd be pretty ticked off about it. I'd be even more mad if I actually spent money on the game; all around terrible execution here, Devs.

1) You, a proud FTP player, are going to 'blow a million and a half points FREE points' that THEY allowed you to intelligently obtain and yet THEY are making this game impossible for you, an FTP player, to enjoy.

2) If everyone were as successful as you in playing this game as an FTP player, THEY wouldn't make any money.

You are like a welfare recipient that is genius at gaming the welfare system and complaining that they don't give you more.



There should always be a place for constructive criticism for improvement but if I were a developer it would be hard to take your criticism seriously when you don't spend any money and complain about having to blow 1,500,000 FREE points that THEY allowed you to smartly obtain while you -itch about it.

Have Fun.

[PunishedF2P]

Originally Posted by Socali

1) You, a proud FTP player, are going to 'blow a million and a half points FREE points' that THEY allowed you to intelligently obtain and yet THEY are making this game impossible for you, an FTP player, to enjoy.

2) If everyone were as successful as you in playing this game as an FTP player, THEY wouldn't make any money.

You are like a welfare recipient that is genius at gaming the welfare system and complaining that they don't give you more.



There should always be a place for constructive criticism for improvement but if I were a developer it would be hard to take your criticism seriously when you don't spend any money and complain about having to blow 1,500,000 FREE points that THEY allowed you to smartly obtain while you -itch about it.

Have Fun.

"Durrrrr, I can't take your criticism seriously because you're exceptionally good at the game and in the top .1% of F2P players! How dare you be so good and criticize a terrible mission design from the devs!"

U mad, bro?

You sound a bit like a bitter, jealous, pathetic loser. But hey, that's just the vibes I'm getting. Sorry I'm good at the game, and you're not. Feel free to go read through my thread about LIVE updates and maybe one day you, too, can get millions of points by being awesome like me