I went back to DBC 17 the other day, and struggled to bat longer than 35 overs.
Don't understand why they made ashes cricket so easy on every level.
In DBC17 batting was MUCH better balanced in my opinion. I always felt vunerable early on in my innings until my confidence meter had filled up. I would leave and defend the first few overs i faced, occasionally stealing the odd one or 2 with a defensive prod shot, which was sadly and inexplicably removed from Ashes. Playing attacking shots early on in an innings was very risky and edges were frequent.
In Ashes i can literally tee off from ball one. There is zero risk so as long as your timing is ok then you can hit every single ball you face, so leaving and blocking are irrelevant really, unless you want to roleplay or some such nonsense.
In DBC17 you also had more control over leaving the ball which you don't in ashes, which makes this option even more irrelevant. It's actually safer to play shots at short balls, as ducking is random and you either get hit or the ball hits your bat as you raise your arms and you get caught.
The shot power was also better balanced in DBC17. 4's and 6's were harder to come by, especially early in an innings.
Also, some of the shots in Ashes are bugged to hell. The defensive prod for 6, square cut to mid off and straight drive being played with off drive animation spring to mind.
In short it's an arcadey experience. You have less options for defending and leaving, and more room for error when slogging and playing aggressive shots. All the design choices point to this being intentional, so fair enough if that's the direction you want to move in. I think it's the wrong direction for what it's worth.
