New PSN tourney starting on 5/16

[shutyertrap]

Here we go again...the big question is, will we finally get the timed tourney or is it more of the same marathon tourney? Really hoping for the timed, as the marathon is just not fun to me. Anyways, here's the table list...

Space Shuttle
Monster Bash
Star Trek: TNG
Attack From Mars
Whirlwind
Goin' Nuts
Centaur
Harley Davidson

I hate being forced to play Goin' Nuts and Harley! Monster Bash, AFM, and Whirlwind are the marathon tables that are just grind, grind, grind for me. If that 20 minute timer comes into play though, all new strategy needed.

 

[neglectoid]

i may do ok in this tourney. the biggest hump for me would probably be sttng. I just plain suck at that table. I actually don't mind going nuts and Harley Davidson. im not the best at whirlwind, but im ok at it, and im glad to see it in the tourney. it gives me an excuse to get better at a table I rarely play.
20 min timed would be great! im also excited to see some new names in the gold division. good luck to all.

 

[Tann]

Monster Bash, AFM, and Whirlwind are the marathon tables that are just grind, grind, grind for me

And HD. If you play only the bumpers to visit cities (in order to reach Milwaukee multiball), the game can last very long (+easy rider and video mode).

the biggest hump for me would probably be sttng.

Played a game of ST:TNG after the megapatch, and it seems the left outlane eagerness has been toned down. No more this "left-flip-bump-on-the-right-ramp-straight-to-the-left-outlane" shot.

 

[neglectoid]

Played a game of ST:TNG after the megapatch, and it seems the left outlane eagerness has been toned down. No more this "left-flip-bump-on-the-right-ramp-straight-to-the-left-outlane" shot.

still wont help me.

 

[DarkAkatosh]

They have a 20 minute timer now? What a joke.

 

[Tann]

They have a 20 minute timer now? What a joke.

Why? Isn't it a good idea? Time attack rules!

I hope it will be activated for this PSN tourney.

By the way, the all-time tournament ranking (tournament menu then square button) has been at last fixed (with the megapatch I guess).

But the "my score" filter doesn't work, so you have to scroll to find your ranking. -_-

I took the time to scroll all down the list: 2608 players are ranked on PSN tourneys.

 

[DarkAkatosh]

With the timer it's simply a matter of activating the same thing over and over again until it runs out.

 

[neglectoid]

I'd love to see a timed tournament, but I don't think its gonna happen this time. the latest news letter mentioned a timed tourney for mobiles but not for the ps3.

 

[shutyertrap]

With the timer it's simply a matter of activating the same thing over and over again until it runs out.

So you'd rather have to play AFM for over an hour or 2 just so you can get a score that might be competitive? And if you even wanna think about chasing the top five scores, you know you're gonna have to devote 3+ hours? It has become a war of endurance, and it sucks the fun right out of the tournament.

With a timed attack, knowing that the top scores are achievable in only 20 minutes means you aren't wasting so much time. It gives you a goal with a finite limit. It also brings up whole new strategies needed for playing. Do you take the time to go for super jackpots and such by completing wizard goals, or do you just try and hit small jackpots over and over again? It also takes away the advantage of securing unlimited extra balls on certain tables.

 

[DarkAkatosh]

I see where you're going with that but look at a table like STTNG. Borg Borg Borg until you die. For the other tables, its whatever scores the most points in the least amount of time.

I personally want to see a limited plays tourney. You get three or so plays to achieve a good score, that's it. Pressure is REALLY on.

 

[nstalkie]

I'm happy that they didn't include Fish Tales or Black Rose for this tournament as they may not be out in Europe by that time.

This looks a lot like the previous tournaments I think, lots of tables are repeated
For my ranks in these tables, check out one of my previous posts http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...-all-time-rank?p=142393&viewfull=1#post142393
I have improved my ranks since then though.

Space Shuttle: decent at this one I guess. (547th on the leaderboards).
Monster Bash: 500th on the leaderboard or so. I don't get how so many people think it's an easy table. I just seem to get fluke games where I suddenly score over 2.000.000.000, but on average I score MUCH less.
Star Trek: TNG: 122nd on the leaderboard for this one but that was during a time where I played this table a lot. Right now I'm not as good at it anymore.
Attack From Mars: Despite what my previous post says, I got a top 100 score on this one now (a big jump in score for me post patch due to super jets being easier + no more right orbit drain). Long games, but I absolutely love this table so I don't mind.
Whirlwind: I got a top 100 score on this one but it was a fluke game where everything went right. I also got a ball stuck during multiball which helped bigtime
Goin' Nuts: not again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! noooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Centaur: love the table, haven't played it much but did decent in the previous tournament, though it's one of the worst leaderboard rankings I have.
Harley Davidson: I don't own this one, time to bite the bullet and buy the last of the season 1 pack that I was missing I should have bought both season 1 and 2 season passes, but I didn't will end up buying everything anyway in the long run.

Wouldn't mind a timed tournament!
But either way is good for me.
I'll be happy to be finally in gold level to play against the big boys

 

[Tann]

I personally want to see a limited plays tourney. You get three or so plays to achieve a good score, that's it. Pressure is REALLY on.

+1, better than a time attack.

And even a one single play... like in a real tournament!

Or if there are 3 plays, only the last achieved score is saved: let's say you score 2B on MB on your first game, but you think you can do better. But you score only 1B on your second game. The 2B score is lost, and the 1B is kept. Like in PHoF.

Monster Bash: 500th on the leaderboard or so. I don't get how so many people think it's an easy table. I just seem to get fluke games where I suddenly score over 2.000.000.000, but on average I score MUCH less.

The table is easy as you can grind quickly monster bash/rock multiballs.

The "Bride" instrument is the only difficult event (8 ramps in limited time if I remembered well), as you can be stuck with only the mic unlighted if you miss. You can achieve the others monsters instruments almost without aiming for it.

If you manage to start simultaneously the Bride and a multiball, it's not a problem anymore (as there timer is stopped during a multiball). And you can stock hair dryers if you really need it (press X to use when the Bride mode is activated)

My highscore on MB is about 5B (ranked #35): a lot of monsters of rock and a LOT of extra balls. Pretty boring at the end (not as much as Scared Stiff though ).

 

[nstalkie]

The table is easy as you can grind quickly monster bash/rock multiballs.

The "Bride" instrument is the only difficult event (8 ramps in limited time if I remembered well), as you can be stuck with only the mic unlighted if you miss. You can achieve the others monsters instruments almost without aiming for it.

If you manage to start simultaneously the Bride and a multiball, it's not a problem anymore.

My highscore on MB is about 5B (ranked #35): a lot of monsters of rock and a LOT of extra balls. Pretty boring at the end (not as much as Scared Stiff though ).

I really don't have the same experience LOL.
Different tables suit different people better I guess.

Limited plays I wouldn't really like.
Timed I think is a nice challenge, as for example on Twilight Zone / Scared Stiff, I can get very long games, but especially TZ I play kinda slow. Trapping the ball to a complete halt all the time, just going for LitZ the whole time, ignoring most of the modes. In a timed tournament, that might not give the greatest scores. Again one of my favourite tables is Attack from Mars and that could be interesting to try to figure out how to maximize your score in a limited amount of time. That's what I think is an interesting thing about the Timed challenge: to get you to think about tables in a different way.

 

[shutyertrap]

I would ultimately like a rotation of different tournament styles. Timed attack, one try only, last score is your best score, 3 attempts only, or even a Challenge Mode (where you only get your score after playing all 8 one time through).

The ultimate though would be to have tournament ROMs in effect, with the appropriate difficulty set on outlanes. In the meantime though, I just want something other than what we've had!

 

[ER777]

That's what we all really want isn't it? Tournament mode settings with no extra balls, open outlanes, and maybe tighter tilt would make all the difference.. Those alternative formats wouldn't hurt either though..

 

[sukmytoe2]

My palms are already sweating for this one
Have to try and keep the gold status and that may not be too easy knowing the competition.

 

[Morg]

Sure, having to play Goin' Nuts again doesn't fill me with glee... but very glad to have another tourney, and one I don't have to get anything new for is a nice surprise. This should get me playing again after a slow couple weeks.

I won't be expecting to reach gold, but maybe I can get into the top 50% of silver this time, was just a bit short of that last time. I honestly think it was a hell of a lot harder to get into silver by the skin of my teeth than staying there was.

Hopefully you can expect some more gold tier players this time. As I recall from what was posted in the thread here there were only perhaps 25 gold scores, and there were around 45 people (including a couple who may have been suspect) who advanced out of silver, assuming most of them still play. Whether that will make it easier or harder to stay gold... who knows?

 

[nstalkie]

I didn't see anyone on the PS3 tournaments with obviously hacked scores last time in Silver. I ended 15th, so I was also in the top of most tables (with a legit score).

I'm not sure if people with 0 scores are counted towards that 10% you need to stay in the same level. I'm very curious how high I can end up in Gold level, but I'm sure I won't get anywhere near sir moovenstein or touge_killer. I will not be competing very hard, because my favourite fighting game has just received a patch yesterday (Blazblue: Chronophantasma in case you are wondering).

 

[Morg]

Ok, typed out a way too wordy post and got logged out before I posted it AGAIN. I'm so good at that.

I'm not too bothered about the scores one way or the other honestly. I just play for fun, and it's nice having some random people to track and try to catch and stay ahead of and to help me improve. I'm also not good enough to know whether anything is possible or not. I remember some strange glitches happening with the same person posting multiple scores of exactly the same value at the top of several leaderboards, along with one 1st place score being more than triple the next competitor which certainly surprised me at the time. The all-time boards showed it was one of but less than the top scores anyway. Several top players waiting until late in the tournament to bother playing is probably a big part of why I remember things seeming odd. That and the constant discussions of suspect scores on these forums making me paranoid. I certainly know there are a lot of people who are infinitely better than me, so it's not that at all.


I wouldn't think people who are eligible but don't play would count towards those who get relegated to a lower level. Isn't there a mark to show the ones who are getting dropped just like the ones who will be promoted? I have wondered about the people who don't play but would assume that they get automatically demoted.

 

[nstalkie]

I don't know if they get to see a special mark next to their name, because I'm just too damn good to end up there !!!!
(joking ofcourse .. now I'm sure to get demoted LOL).

I also play them for fun ofcourse (as there's nothing to win anyway except for a shoutout on facebook hah).

What I like about the tournaments is that they give you a bit of a goal.
In the leaderboards, the goals are sometimes far away or you just don't get much satisfaction from going from place 150 to place 140. In a tournament, you can get the sense that they are actually achievable. It's also fun to beat the scores of people that regularly post here too. Reminds me of those times when I was a kid and me and this other guy were the best at all the pinball tables (Twilight Zone, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Addam's Family, ...). That other guy was quite a bit older than me (I was 14-15, he was 35 or something). The look on that guy's face when I beated his TZ score from 1.400.000.000 to 2.000.000.000+

It also helps me in learning tables a bit better. For example I got a score of 2.000.000.000 on CftBL during the first tournament where I played all tables (so the first I took a bit seriously). Posted about it here because I was pretty pleased with the score (my previous score was some crappy 400.000.000 or something). I also mentioned I never score a jackpot on the table to which people replied that they were very impressed with my score considering my multiballs where amounting to nothing. Intrigued I learned a bit more about the table multiball mode and now I have a score of almost 14.000.000.000