Plunger shot in 3.9.0

[Jay]

Has anyone else noticed that with the current update (3.9.0) it is now nearly impossible to make it up the ramp from the plunger? For me, the ball now almost always hits the center target of the right stop light set. Three-ball multiball is next to impossible. Previously, the ramp was an easy shot from the plunger.

 

[Fungi]

I stopped pulling the plunger full power. Instead, I pull back then adjust forward just a bit. Goes right up the ramp.

 

[Slam23]

A full plunge in Taxi would always yield the 100k "skill" shot, now with the 3.9.0 it overshoots that to the 1k. I experimented with a lot of plunger positions, but I couldn't figure out a fixed result, it seems more random now. I feel somewhat ambivalent about this, on the one hand this feels a bit more authentic as IRL playing also is more of a random thing, on the other hand, it makes chasing high scores a bit more difficult. So I think the new update changed a core mechanic in plunging.
Slam23

 

[MWink]

It's definitely a bug. I guess they're playing with the plunger mechanics as it also introduced a bug in TOTAN's skill shot. They definitely need to fix this as it makes 3 ball multi-ball harder to start (though not impossible). Even the instructions say a full power plunge should go up the ramp.

 

[Slam23]

I played an heck of a Taxi game yesterday and found a new sweet spot halfway the plunger that yielded 100k consistently. I fire the game up today and exactly the same shot shoots over the 100k to the 1k. Experimenting with plunger positions that were near that spot also didn't yield the same results. I haven't had this happen ever on any TPA machine, the same plunger position always yields the same result. The only thing that gives variance is my own (lack of) precision, it can sometimes be one pixel difference for a different effect. I'll try my well known other tables to see if this happens more often, but something seems up!