MLB The Show 18 – Road to the Show New Features

Steve Merka from Sony San Diego Studios has released a lengthy blog post where he explained all the new features in MLB The Show 18 RTTS.

No to Microtransactions

The Devs decided to get rid of the micro transactions, an always questionable element in modern games. Merka claims it is “to remove the need to make purchases to progress your player and just focus on the gameplay and more pure experience”. This means that you will no longer be able to purchase Training Points or heal players in the same way. You will actually have to work to improve your player and wait for players to recover.

New Archetypes and Attribute Caps

Your created player will have an archetype among the many available that reflect the various types of players found in baseball. Each will have their suggested positions in addition to exclusive ones for infield, outfield, and pitchers.

Each Archetype has two strengths and a weakness. For example; a Power Corner Archetype’s strengths are Arm and Power, while the weakness is Speed.

Also, there are two types of attribute caps: Current and Max. Current caps are temporary attribute limits that can be raised by selecting the appropriate Focus Training choice. Eventually, the player will reach an Attribute Cap, which cannot be raised. There is now more variety in equipment cards to improve both balance and fun.

Expansion to Paving your Path – Focus Training

“We have brought back our narrative experience to help tell the story of what it is like for a mid-to-late round draft pick in the baseball world, with a newer minimal UI,” Merka wrote. In practice, this means progress is now a two-step thing. The first part is “on the field”. It’s pretty much self-explanatory: the more you play, the better you get. Then, you will be able to improve your player through Focus Training Choices.

Here you will be presented with a quick choice experience, where you are presented with a short list of options. You can choose a facility and in turn the attributes to improve. You can also learn from your teammates to add another dimension to the practice experience.

Customization improvements

“We know that this is the starting point of your Road to The Show experience and it should offer everything you need to make you or your ideal version of a ball player. This year, we have taken some steps to help make this process a best in class experience,” Merka explains.

The game will thus feature even more skin tones, heads and hair models to get a more realistic look. Not enough? A big addition to the player customization experience is the new Batting Stance Creator that will give you a chance to adjust that perfect batting stance to reflect your personal style.

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