Top Spin 4 - Player Balancing Updates

[edlglide]

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.

Yeah, there are still less errors than a real tennis match -- but there are definitely more than before, and the balls that aren't errors but are mishit/hit from a poor position are much easier to put away.

[Rob ITST]

They really shifted the crosscourt/down-the-line dynamic, which is a big plus in my eyes. And if it's truly more difficult to hit down-the-line off deep shots, then I think this is the first tennis game to be realistic in that area.

I think we'll still see mostly crosscourt battles, but not short-angled crosscourt battles. You're going to have to push your opponent back before you can open up the court to really go on the offensive.

[BrokeAddict]

while its now harder to shoot good angles, i get the feeling that the shot down the line got less effective.


its still all about angles

[SBR Ironik]

Great update so far !
Much more errors, on both side.
Defending is much harder for me as my shots are shorter and shorter meanwhile attackers are loosing stamina : less and less effective shots.
My flat counter control shots are harder to pull off a strong shot : it's harder for me to reverse the rallye even if I make perfect timed shot.

On the other side returns are better for me (strong fh) even against wide sliced serve.
The stamina have now a real impact on the shots which gives my defensive player an advantage on longer rallies.
Short crossed shots are harder to pull... I made errors trying to do some with too soon timing. Good timing short crossed shots are risky and perfect ones are rewarding, but not always.

This update makes the game much more rewarding and various... love it

[ANILTJE]

I played some TI guys and I have to admit that the short angles from those players are still to heave to deal with.

I play with a shotcounter , return of serve counter and it's rather impossible to out hit them. But well get there lol.

[jayl0ve]

I dunno much about custom characters but wouldn't 'reach swings expert' be really good against TI guys who hit really short angles??

[SeanTayla]

I played some TI guys and I have to admit that the short angles from those players are still to heave to deal with.

I play with a shotcounter , return of serve counter and it's rather impossible to out hit them. But well get there lol.

That was a really good match Anil. He had shot counter and return serve counter and I had longer, better and topspin invasion. He ended up with 33 winners and 16 UE while I had 41 winners and 10 UE.

To be honest, it wasn't the short angles. It was the timing. There were numerous times where I thought you had the point won because I was so far off court and then somehow instead of it being the winner, my guy got back just in time to save point with the slice.

Before the update, it didn't matter if I had hit perfect or good timing every shot before your winner. It would still be a winner. Onto the next point.

Now it seems like if you get good or perfect timing for most of your strokes, it's extremely difficult to be "put away" as shot counter does.

That being said, I must also point out that basically whenever I was too late, I had a UE. I'm sure you were also surprised at some of the instances when yours occurred as well but again I must attribute this to the timing as I remember getting multiple perfect's on a lot of your UE.

I don't know if this will hold true yet but I really do think too late's and too soon's completely screw you now while good's and perfect's benefit you tremendously.

[ANILTJE]

Sure I thought it was a good match.

But the angles were still hard to deal with. But it will come I guess Need some new tactics.

[Hawkeye Miihawk]

Yeah, the strokes/angles tweak has also affected some skills, and it needed to be done. Shot counter, smell of blood, diesel hard hitter, etc have been toned down. They can still work, but not all the time like before. This, imo, is a good change. Shot counter nullified pace easily, redirected the ball with great speed and precision, and with no UE it made sense that it was that good before the patch. After the tweaks, I'm guessing you're(anil) experiencing the same thing I am with smell of blood. Smell of blood was really good b4 the patch. It's still good, but it doesn't give me that easy rally advantage that it used to before. It still works, but to a lesser degree. Which is needed to go with the current system.

They weren't tweaked per say, but I'm guessing the angle tweaks and not being able to hit the lines as often is what's affecting them from being as good as they used to be. If they remained unchanged, then they would be too powerful imo.

[ANILTJE]

I guess. Ok my fear has been confirmed. PLaying against a netrusher is kindda impossible Hard to pass against a S&V guy.

[SeanTayla]

I just played a WT match against the coach with Instant Rocket and MD (Samala I think?) and his setup is insane. It was like 94 FH, 70 BH, 80 P, 90 Stamina, 85 Speed. His serve and volley may have been low but the rest were sky high.

I read someone say that it seems like you must play like your coach says basically and now I'm sure that this is the truth. When I tried to hit flat shots against him, he crushed me every point. But when I stuck to topspin almost exclusively, I was able to keep myself in the point until it got later when I was finally able to hit the short angle and he couldn't get there because he had spent all of his stamina trying to hit through me the entire rally.

In essence, they've done exactly what they said in the updates. Play to your COACH'S style and you WILL be rewarded.

[ANILTJE]

Yup...that's why the shotcounter doesnt work against the TI

[SeanTayla]

Sure I thought it was a good match.

But the angles were still hard to deal with. But it will come I guess Need some new tactics.

Honestly, I didn't like your setup. You didn't have an edge on me in any stat category. Yes, your guy was all around and that's how you played too but like I said before, those shots that used to be automatic winners are not automatic anymore.

Also, I wasn't able to hit the short angles that I wanted until either late in the rally or after you messed up. I spent most of the points just getting the balls back deep so I could get back into the rally. If topspin invasion really affects anything now, it's the Height that you can get on the deep ones.

[ANILTJE]

I don't think it matter for all the other setups I guess. But the shotcounter dudes rely on control flat shots.
It was hard to play against the TI. But now it's harder as you cant hit good angles either with the flat control nor the topspin. But I guess it will just be another way of playing. That's fine.
But the TI stays rather too strong.

[Hawkeye Miihawk]

I guess. Ok my fear has been confirmed. PLaying against a netrusher is kindda impossible Hard to pass against a S&V guy.

Hahaha, it's not impossible. S&V in harder to beat now because of the returning tweak, and the fact that it's harder to hit towards the lines more consistenly.
You have to have good returning stats. If not they will go to town with you. Even with good returning stats you still have to return well. At the same time they have to s&v good as well.
I lost 7-5 to rocketsfalls earlier today and it was really tough to take a pt off him. He broke me and was serving 5-4 to take the set. I mixed up my return and got the break back, only to get broken again because he kept rushing to net on every pt. It's definitely harder to beat a good s&ver now.

I might be a bit biased, but I kinda like this. I got passed too easily whenever I s&ved with my all rounder/S&Ver, so it's good to know that good netplay is harder to counter now.