DBC 17 Batting post Patch 3

[cricket_online]

Ok folks I have spent a lot of time batting post patch 3 on PS4 across various difficulty levels and here's my feedback. First of all I must say that it's clear Big Ant have put in a lot of effort in improving the batting experience. You can now hit the ball to more areas on the field, especially through the offside & behind square on the leg side and the spinner doesn't block all the straight drives. Batting is almost there and needs minor tweak(s) to get to the next level. IMO item 3 (feedback mechanism) and details regarding the same at the end in P.S. (edited part) mention more details regarding the same.

1. Control Factor: Ability to play the shot you want to play and hit the ball in a specific area/direction consistently. In cricket one of the most enjoyable aspects of batting is to be able to hit a shot and place the ball in the gap you intended to. You can get a 4 by inside edging the delivery but it's not as satisfying as threading the gap between fielders on the off side as you intended. Result is the same (4 runs) but level of enjoyment and satisfaction is different.This is what's lacking in DBC 17 post patch 3.

Before the patch you could only hit shots a few directions but you could place the ball where you wanted to consistently. Post patch 3 the result seems a bit random. As an example I drive the ball through the covers and the ball may go to the Cover area (most times) or Extra Cover region (occasionally) or to the Point region (again sometimes). I hold the LS & RS in the same direction and I seem to get slightly different results depending on the AI field. If AI has a Cover fielder the ball tends to go in that direction, or if a Cover Point fielder is present then the ball goes there more often. Another example is leg glances. With a very similar input I can either hit a fine glance or a squarish glance. But I don't know which one will be played even though I seem to have provided similar LS & RS input. And the game doesn't help me figure out how to get which result. This takes away enjoyment from the game even though you can score in more areas. It would be great if we know when a particular shot hits the ball in a particular direction and the process is repeatable.

2. Tolerance Level or Control Input Range: The range allowed for a particular shot and handover from one shot to another. This seems to be true for leg side shots. It looks like a specific control input range is assigned to on drive and if you go beyond that range then the hook/pull shot is activated. The problem is the range for drives seems to be so limited or small that you accidentally end up playing a hook/pull shot more often than you want. Same with glance & hook/pull shot when you intend to play a glance and end up with the hook/pull shot. It would be great if there's an enhanced control input range for on drives and glances so the hook shot is not easily activated. Same issue with the footwork as you accidentally end up going front & right or front & left when you wanted to go straight forward (12'0 clock on LS).

3. Feedback Mechanism: Game's ability to let you know what you're doing wrong and how you can improve. This is one of the key omission from the game. The batting feedback mechanism is not helping and doesn't provide any valuable input. I've no idea what I'm doing wrong when my batsman moves all across the stumps to the offside and getting bowled behind my legs. I keep on getting 'Ideal' for footwork, shot selection and timing yet I get bowled behind my legs. Clearly I must be doing something wrong but I don't know what. The feedback mechanism may as well not be present the way it's functioning right now. IMO items 1 and 2 can be addressed by a better batting feedback mechanism on the lines of the one mentioned at the end in the edited P.S. section.

4. Enhanced Tutorials/Training - Another suggestion would be to revamp the batting tutorials so that it's explained how to play various shots (straight drive, various cover drives, on drives, glances, cut, late cut, hook/pull shot, sweep, reverse sweep, special shots) and how to hit the ball to various parts of the field. This should address some of the problems mentioned in point 3.

@MattW would be great if someone from Big Ant can take a look and consider these points in the future.

P.S. (Edit): IMO I wouldn't tweak the batting system too much as it's definitely much improved and comprehensive than prior to Patch 3. I suspect items 1 and 2 can be solved by a proper batting feedback mechanism and revamping the batting feedback system is the way to move forward. I would prefer a simple feedback mechanism which shows your timing along with your LS & RS position when you played the shot. This way you can figure out the exact position of your footwork and figure out where you went wrong or what you did right and it will help you in the future. As an example I can't seem to figure out how to play backfoot leg glance with accuracy. Sometimes I manage to play the glance shot but many times the weird hook shot to fine leg is triggered to a similat line & length delivery at the same height (chest level). If i could see the position of my LS & RS on the screen as part of the feedback along with the timing I would know what's going wrong or right and adjust accordingly moving forward.

@BigAntStudios , @MattW , @HBK619 was wondering if such a feedback mechanism can be incorporated as it will be extremely useful in helping with the learning curve and providing the feedback which can be used to improve. This way whenever you nail a shot down (say on drive to widish mid on) you can take a look at the feedback system, see the position of LS & RS and know what needs to be done in the future to play a similar shot. Same with when you get dismissed as the position of your LS & RS along with timing will give you much more valuable information to improve instead of seeing 'Ideal', 'Good' or 'Bad'.

But overall thanks for Patch 3 Team Big Ant. We appreciate your backing the game and the improvements made

 

[Zaneo]

My only thing I'm noticing is like you said same stick directions different shot i think it may be the variety in length angle ball type which is a good thing not all shots should be able to be played on demand

 

[cricket_online]

My only thing I'm noticing is like you said same stick directions different shot i think it may be the variety in length angle ball type which is a good thing not all shots should be able to be played on demand

I agree but you should be able to figure out in which direction the ball will go once you are able to play the shot. And you should know when a particular shot can be played.

 

[Zaneo]

T

I agree but you should be able to figure out in which direction the ball will go once you are able to play the shot. And you should know when a particular shot can be played.

True,, im slowly figured it out sometimes I put it down to my player not being that good yet i dont really play outside or career mode

 

[grkrama]

With a very similar input I can either hit a fine glance or a squarish glance. But I don't know which one will be played even though I seem to have provided similar LS & RS input.

WRONG

 

[grkrama]

RS has to be below 8-7 for fine glance, above 8-8.30 will be squarer leg glance.[DOUBLEPOST=1485575006][/DOUBLEPOST]

This seems to be true for leg side shots. It looks like a specific control input range is assigned to on drive and if you go beyond that range then the hook/pull shot is activated.

It is not small but realistic, i mean people want to glance from 110-10th stump what are you all viv and laxman even they can do it.

 

[grkrama]

3. Feedback Mechanism: Game's ability to let you know what you're doing wrong and how you can improve. This is one of the key omission from the game. The batting feedback mechanism is not helping and doesn't provide any valuable input. I've no idea what I'm doing wrong when my batsman moves all across the stumps to the offside and getting bowled behind my legs. I keep on getting 'Ideal' for footwork, shot selection and timing yet I get bowled behind my legs. Clearly I must be doing something wrong but I don't know what. The feedback mechanism may as well not be present the way it's functioning right now.

4. Enhanced Tutorials/Training - Another suggestion would be to revamp the batting tutorials so that it's explained how to play various shots (straight drive, various cover drives, on drives, glances, cut, late cut, hook/pull shot, sweep, reverse sweep, special shots) and how to hit the ball to various parts of the field. This should address some of the problems mentioned in point 3.

Absolutely agree with these, the feedback is not at all in sync with batting for ex with leglance vid i made earlier even when you will certainly miss with 12 o clock when ball is outside off, but it will show as ideal. that really needs to be looked into.

I dont know if i have time but may consider doing a tutorial series for bating if possible.But a official tutorial series from BA would be Dope.

 

[grkrama]

may be people having difficulty with getting proper footwork can lower footwork difficulty or increase marker appear timing, may be then it will help to play with front foot at 12 and go for shots.


right now this is a question of people wanting either a footwork were you can just have 2 options push up and down or one with 8-12 options were footwork matters.I like the later.

The only way you can improve is by practicing and not just practicing but being aware while practicing observing what you are doing and experiment with it to get your shots right.

I mean all wanted a change for the batting with how it was before, and now BA have provided the change, shouldn't you take the chance to adapt to it. Bar some minor quibbles like, a pull animation coming when footwork is wrong and ball way outside offstump, the feedback system not being accurate dont think there is anything wrong with batting.


If BA were to repeal this detailed footwork I would be disappointed now that having experienced it.

 

[riteshagl]

I having lot of trouble leg glancing leg spinners. I keep getting bowled as my batsman moves across to the right (RHB). I have noticed that this happens as leg spinners keep bowling googlies. I dont have any problem leg glancing fast bowlers and off spinners even from off stump.
If i use 12 o clock footwork, and if a leg spinner bowls a normal legspinner (even if pitched on middle stump) i either miss it or get bowled (off stump) and if i use 1.50 o clock, and if the leg spinner bowls a doosra (even if ball is pitched on off stump) i get bowled around my legs as the batsman moves across.
There is hardly any time to figure out if its a leg spinner or doosra.

 

[LittleBigPlanet]

RS has to be below 8-7 for fine glance, above 8-8.30 will be squarer leg glance.[DOUBLEPOST=1485575006][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yeah that's fine and probably true, but isnt the truth of the matter what length and especially the line of the delivery that is the most crucial part of executing a leg glance towards fine leg or towards deep square.

For argument sake say a delivery is just on leg, or just fractionally outside, or further, that would be the ideal delivery to glance to fine leg.

Then say a delivery is on middle stump, or on middle and off, that would be the ideal delivery to glance to deep square or even squarer.

Basically its a shape and colour game the faster you can figure it out the more enjoyment you will get out of batting, plus pitch conditions play a part aswell... for those that struggle I would recommend playing on "custom difficulty" and putting the "coloured line and length indicator" slider to 100 or whatever your comfortable with and figuring out what is what, until gradually decreasing.

A very vague rule of thumb (no pun intended, but it works, so I'll run with it),

Green, Yellow, and Dark Blue lengths:

* full circle, no gaps in circle at all, play it anyehere from cover to square leg.

* 3 quarter circle towards off, play it anywhere from mid off to 3rd man.

* 3 quarter circle towards leg, play it anywhere from mid on to fine leg

Red length:

* full circle, no gaps at all, play it from 3rd man to fine leg (all depends on the true length of the red delivery, and also pitch type, in short, the shorter the delivery or the more bounce the pitch has the squarer you need to play it, say from point round the back through to square leg. Alernatively the fuller delivery or the less bounce a pitch has the straighter you need to hit it, say from point from round the front to square leg.)

* 3 quarter circle towards off, play it from from 3rd man through to mid off. (Once again depends on true length or nature of pitch)

* 3 quarter circle towards leg, play it from mid on through to fine leg. (Once again same as above bracket notes)

Also just to stress the point, you have to wait for the right delivery to play the correct shot, there should be is no interpretation about it, you will either get it immediately or have to teach yourself how to bat again in this game. It is not dbc 14.

As @Finchell pointed out very early on when the game was released on consoles, and now gkrame and funnyadit, precise footwork will minimise outs and maximise shot timing and placement.

* shot directions/placement is reliant on what fraction of the circle is missing or not missing, what length, what pitch type, and footwork. Thats the key.

 

[grkrama]

but isnt the truth of the matter what length and especially the line of the delivery that is the most crucial part of executing a leg glance towards fine leg or towards deep square.

say a ball is down the leg you can choose between a glance and fine glance. My post was with regards to cricketonline saying he plays them randomly, my point being you cant play fine leglance shot unless you want to which is by pulling RS below 8 o clock. The line and length and angle, timing, pitch variation, footwork decide how the fine glance now travels how fine it can go.

with regards to shot directions and variations both are true and equally important, one part is judging other part is executing, and they do influence the direction. length doesnt matter as much as line to execute, as you can rock to backfoot and play a backfoot glance instead.


I would say like this, you get best results when you play the best shot for that particular line and length, but you can get away with shots a bit even if its not the ideal shot if you get your footwork and timing right. Like sweeping from outside off. or fine glance one with full circle.

Also one more important thing with those would be the ANGLE, for ex a full circle straight one from left armer will be cover drive friendly without much foot work,[though you do have a chance of edging to stumps if it swings] than from a right armer with whom you have to make room.

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

Would like to see your gameplay @cricket_online

 

[LittleBigPlanet]

say a ball is down the leg you can choose between a glance and fine glance. My post was with regards to cricketonline saying he plays them randomly, my point being you cant play fine leglance shot unless you want to which is by pulling RS below 8 o clock. The line and length and angle, timing, pitch variation, footwork decide how the fine glance now travels how fine it can go.

with regards to shot directions and variations both are true and equally important, one part is judging other part is executing, and they do influence the direction. length doesnt matter as much as line to execute, as you can rock to backfoot and play a backfoot glance instead.


I would say like this, you get best results when you play the best shot for that particular line and length, but you can get away with shots a bit even if its not the ideal shot if you get your footwork and timing right. Like sweeping from outside off. or fine glance one with full circle.

Also one more important thing with those would be the ANGLE, for ex a full circle straight one from left armer will be cover drive friendly without much foot work,[though you do have a chance of edging to stumps if it swings] than from a right armer with whom you have to make room.

Yup... I think we're on exactly the same page mate

 

[sami ullah khan]

So I have batted for a long while today. The patch certainty has opened up a lot for new areas in the field. I can hit drives square of the wicket but as @cricket_online has suggested I can't hit those crisp drives through extra cover as I used to. I do hit drives there but they seem a lot less powered than before.
I could play through onside. Getting bowled behind my legs was also an issue but with time I could certainly glance pretty well. The LS has to at 10 o clock to glance the ball with accurate timing.
I think we will have to go through another learning curve to truly understand the new and improved batting mechanics. Like @cricket_online, I have found placement to be a bit scripted but I would take that over the limited stroke play pre patch 3.
Also I think advance down the wicket shots are too overpowered and easy to play. I can hit sixers virtually every delivery if I want to with my 30 rated career batsman on pro difficulty.
With time and practice and a few more patches, I am sure I will have a blast with this game. As of now it is the best cricket game I have ever played and I have played almost all. Hats off to @BigAntStudios

 

[sami ullah khan]

To add to above, fine leg glances are so beautifully done especially off the backfoot.