Since August, Diamond Dynasty of MLB The Show 26 has launched a series of new events and added a large number of new player cards to the game, including two Lightning Cards - David Ortiz and CJ Abrams.
However, these two cards have sparked controversy in the player community because players believe that their actual strength has not met expectations, and they are quite difficult to obtain.
At the same time, the excessive difficulty of Hall of Fame, and a series of other issues caused by its inconsistent difficulty, have also caused controversy in the player community.
Lightning Card Controversy
First, I will analyze in detail the controversy surrounding David Ortiz and CJ Abrams Lightning Cards.
David Ortiz
David Ortiz is one of the greatest Designated Hitters in baseball history. In MLB 26, this OVR 99 David Ortiz card also boasts impressive stats, ranking seventh among first basemen currently in the game.
On the offensive end, this card's performance does reflect David Ortiz's true ability - decent hitting ability combined with powerful output, and a range of useful hitting quirks including First-Pitch Hitter, Dead Red, Breaking Ball Hitter, and Situational Hitter.
However, the problem lies in defense and base running. This card poses virtually no threat between bases, and its speed to home plate is far below average. Defense and arm strength are hardly advantages for a first baseman.
Furthermore, the first baseman and designated hitter positions in MLB 26 are already severely saturated. If players already possess other top-tier first baseman or designated hitter cards, they seem to have lost the incentive to acquire this David Ortiz card.
CJ Abrams
This 99 OVR CJ Abrams is MLB 26's first Lightning Card of the month, and boasts impressive stats on paper: he possesses decent hitting ability and strong power output against right-handed pitchers, along with quirks like First-Pitch Hitter, Dead Red, and Rally Monkey.
However, problem with this card lies in its extremely awkward positioning: his defensive stats are barely passable for a shortstop, and his arm strength isn't top-tier.
In high-level games, the shortstop position demands extremely high defensive skills, so this card would likely become a target for the opposing team if placed at shortstop.
But if placed at designated bat, his excellent base-running ability is almost wasted - after all, a designated batter who doesn't reach base makes his speed advantage useless.
Core Reason
Therefore, although both cards are brand-new Lightning Cards from MLB 26, players have generally been lukewarm towards them, and there has been ongoing controversy. The core reasons can be summarized in two points:
First, unclear positioning. For example, David Ortiz's role is redundant, while CJ Abrams is awkwardly unsuitable for either position - his shortstop defense is insufficient, and his designated hits waste his speed.
Secondly, the acquisition cost is disproportionate to the actual benefits. Both cards require players to spend a large number of MLB The Show 26 Stubs to collect multiple designated July Spotlight player cards to unlock.
However, players spend a lot of Stubs only to unlock these two player cards that are not very useful.
Hall of Fame Difficulty Controversy
Another point of contention among players is the excessive difficulty of Hall of Fame in high-ranking ranked seasons, which directly affects the enjoyment of some players and may even cause them to quit the game.
Focus of Controversy
In MLB 26, the difficulty of Ranked Seasons changes with the rankings - automatically switching to Hall of Fame difficulty in high-ranking seasons.
The core feature of Hall of Fame difficulty is the penalty for slow PCI drags. PCI, or Plate Coverage Indicator, is the core visual feedback for hitting actions.
In Hall of Fame difficulty, pitcher speed is significantly increased, while PCI (Potential Point Intake) is compressed, requiring batters to make more precise judgments and actions in less time. Besides the increased difficulty of the pitching-hitting duel, the pressure of the game is also amplified in Hall of Fame.
However, a bigger problem is that many players report Hall of Fame difficulty experience is extremely unstable - sometimes it feels like All-Star difficulty, and other times it feels like playing Legend difficulty.
This fluctuating difficulty makes it difficult for players to adapt and leads them to question whether developers have properly balanced the game's difficulty.
Frequent Quitting
This somewhat bizarre difficulty experience directly resulted in frequent quitting by MLB 26 players: many players decisively chose to quit when things weren't going well.
The psychological mechanism behind this is not hard to understand - in Hall of Fame difficulty, the margin for error in the pitching-hitting duel is extremely low; once consecutive hits are dealt, the psychological pressure is immense, thus leading to the desire to quit the game.
Worse still, this withdrawal behavior triggers a chain reaction: frequent withdrawals lead to inflated winners' scores, which in turn push players into difficulty zones beyond their actual skill level, ultimately resulting in a worse experience and even more withdrawals.
The above is an analysis of the recent player controversies surrounding Lightning Cards and the difficulty of Hall of Fame in MLB The Show 26.
As the game continues to update, controversies related to new player cards and gameplay will continue to arise. If you want to learn more, you can follow EZG Facebook. We also hold occasional giveaway events; you can participate by tagging @friends to win generous Stubs rewards.
Furthermore, while Lightning Cards have some controversy, they still possess considerable collectible value and in-game stats for fans. So, what are your thoughts on these two controversies?
