Top Spin 4 - Player Balancing Updates

[Chederer]

Man, they SERIOUSLY cut down on the amount of spin you get on slice serves. Should be much harder to really pull people off the court.

Is this a negative or a positive in your eyes Rob?

[brazegoesmoo]

looks like WT is trending towards power/server now thata lot of the higher level TI/MD players can't win as easily.

[VillaJ100]

I noticed that when i was getting a lame amount of spin with federer. When SV ing it will leave you less open court to hit into if you can't drag the opponent away with a slice.

[jayl0ve]

Haven't tested the new patch out but this is getting real f**kin old. I better not have to completely relearn this game

[BrokeAddict]

just played an hour and it looks like it changed for the better.

[dsavbeast012]

All I can say is OMG UNFORCED ERRORS! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!

[VillaJ100]

I'm gonna throw a conspiracy theory out there... anyone think TS4 was maybe a little rushed and what we have now resembles more the finished article?

[Rob ITST]

You shouldn't be pissed Jon. Stuff like this make me really believe they are supporting the game, and trying to fix it's flaws. It would be much easier for them to just sit there and count the money we spent.

The game is better, 100%. More errors, harder to hit good shots from bad positions, WAY harder to hit good shots when you're tired, and it seems to punish you much more for bad timing.

There's nothing new to learn, you'll just see a bigger difference when you screw up. If there's anything new to learn, it's different strategies. When you go for the short angles, they better be good otherwise your opponent can take them up the line more easily. It's like it should be: a poorly hit angle is just a short ball opportunity for your opponent. Also, it seems harder to hit down the line off of good, deep crosscourt shots. So more fundamental tennis should apply.

As far as the slice serve, I think it's a positive overall. When serving wide, it's better since it won't give you so many cheesy points, but it's still effective enough to give you the free points a good serve should.

[Coolhand Texas]

Its great that there are finally errors, can finally make my opponents miss

[Capriatifan]

I freakin LOVE the patch! And I definitely have more succes using S/V now. Before I got passed with return all the time, now I almost always have a shot. Also more errors and more thinking on the court. I played Dyonysos in 2 test sets tonight and I had a LOT of fun on both of them, first I used my Edberg, then my baseliner. Both close matches with different setups and it's a way more tactical game now. Somehow dropshots also seem to work better. Probably because of the improved drainage on players. Love it 2K, GREAT work!

[L Sanchez MD]

This seems to be a very positive update, so far.
The main and most obvious improvement is that there are errors now... Can't hit ridiculous shots on the run every time, and much more punishment for poor timing.

The timing also feels different, though. Going to take a while to adjust...
Time to hit the practice courts

[Coolhand Texas]

I totally take back what I said. played a custom match. my opponent hit 23 winners, with no errors.

[Hawkeye Miihawk]

I'm really liking the patch so far.

-The inability to hit great short angle shots all the time is a plus.

-Stamina drains faster. Making it easier to miss during tough situations.

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· Good shots in defensive situations are harder to perform.

When a player makes a shot in a difficult context (powerful ball, low ball, after a long and fast run …), it is more difficult for him/her to turn the situation around and return an efficient shot. Timing and attributes are more critical and a good shot selection (putting the opponent in a difficult position) is often rewarded.

This is one of my favorite. Now when someone is on defense they aren't going to hit a blistering 120mph missile down the line/outwide while on the dead run or lunging at the ball. This awards the attacker, and makes approaching the net off a good shot much easier. I always stayed at the baseline cause approaching the net off a good shot was a terrible thing to do pre-patch. Now the points can play out in the game just the way they play out in my head.

-Haven't really done extreme testing on the returning tweak, but I like it better now. I seem to be hitting better returns than most people in WT with my 80fh 69bh 65rf. It seems easier for me to attack serves now. I also used my diesel returner 64fh 54bh 83rf, and his returns are better than my other characters.

-Slicing also seems to have been toned down. The slicey dicey tactic doesn't seem to be as effective anymore. I had some topspin invasion monster defense guys slice and slice all day. The ball seems slower, and it's easier to come in on slices and be more offensive on them now. Using slicing as an offensive weapon is much harder as they seem more floaty. This is wonderful. You can still hit offensive slices, but they are harder.


@Villa
I don't think so. Stuff like this happens all the time. I think they really thought we would like the initial product, but then there were things that made the game a bit too arcady for many of us (lack of UEs, angles were too extreme, etc). Which greatly took away a lot of aspects of real life tennis.

Like Rob said, I'm just happy that they aren't sitting down and just counting those bills. They are listening, and rather than "put it off till the next game", they are releasing updates to make the game better.

[VillaJ100]

I agree. That's why ts3 was a shame as it was such a great game which could have been patched but fell into the abyss of "abandonware"

[Rob ITST]

I totally take back what I said. played a custom match. my opponent hit 23 winners, with no errors.

I think the errors probably aren't still where a lot of ITST hardcore players would like, but you hit some seriously weak shots when you mistime or are out of position.

If your opponent never hit any weak shots, he's probably just damned good.