Should the leaderboards be regularly wiped (like annually)?

[switch3flip]

What makes people think the annual leaderboard won't be dominated by the same people who dominate regular leaderboard now

I can agree that instances where scores get posted on wrong table leaderboard should be cleared. But I don't even think leaderboard should be wiped if physics are changed. If you think about real pins, some scores might be more or less impossible to reach on a particular pin, because the pin is not as in great shape that is used to be. But then again, maybe something else changes, maybe a flipper gets weaker, which might make a particular important shot easier or pin gets dirtier and ball rolls slower and that might actually make the pin easier as well. Pins change A LOT in behaviour over time.

 

[invitro]

If I was worth my salt, there are times when I could have taken advantage of a bug during beta and posted a huge score. Would that be fair? Because 2 builds later, that advantage could be eliminated but my score would still stand.

Can you give some examples of scores where this was done? Are there current top ten (or other interpretation of "huge") scores on tables that were made during beta by exploiting bugs?

I agree that this wouldn't be fair, but it is irrelevant unless it actually happens, and more than once.

 

[shutyertrap]

It hasn't happened in beta as far as I know, but I use that more as an example of what has happened on some of the early tables. Like when you could score a jackpot on Frankie just by nudging the table with Monster Bash.

 

[JPelter]

It hasn't happened in beta as far as I know, but I use that more as an example of what has happened on some of the early tables. Like when you could score a jackpot on Frankie just by nudging the table with Monster Bash.

The biggest potential example of this being relevant is if they ever fix the extra ball bug on Genie. If that happens I'd say it would be fair to wipe the leaderboard for that table, since it changes the scoring of the game a lot in how easily large scores are attainable. Cases like that are different than what is being suggested though.

 

[vikingerik]

What makes people think the annual leaderboard won't be dominated by the same people who dominate regular leaderboard now

That the people who dominate have simply said here that they wouldn't bother to re-play the same tables over again to re-post a score.

 

[Dedpop]

Voting for an option which isn't there:

[x] I don't care

You convinced me.
[x] same vote.

 

[rehtroboi40]

What makes people think the annual leaderboard won't be dominated by the same people who dominate regular leaderboard now

I can agree that instances where scores get posted on wrong table leaderboard should be cleared. But I don't even think leaderboard should be wiped if physics are changed. If you think about real pins, some scores might be more or less impossible to reach on a particular pin, because the pin is not as in great shape that is used to be. But then again, maybe something else changes, maybe a flipper gets weaker, which might make a particular important shot easier or pin gets dirtier and ball rolls slower and that might actually make the pin easier as well. Pins change A LOT in behaviour over time.

While digital pinball may not change, per se, FarSight has announced new flipper physics which debuted in Xenon. It's too early to tell if it will change the existing table behaviors enough to where scores can change.

I doubt it will change much, but we'll just see.

 

[switch3flip]

While digital pinball may not change, per se, FarSight has announced new flipper physics which debuted in Xenon. It's too early to tell if it will change the existing table behaviors enough to where scores can change.

I doubt it will change much, but we'll just see.

Yeah hope it will be great. They said it will have a separate lederboard.

Edit: sorry, I was thinking about the harder physics and setting that are yet to come. The current new physics you are talking about won't get a new leaderboard afaik. I don't think they change much. If anything it's a little easier. Not enough to make a difference in scores though. Anywat, real pinball machines change a lot over time, sometimes from day to day. GC score usually remains.

 

[Kratos3]

absolutely yes.

1) real machines don't keep high scores for years
2) discourages people playing for hours and hours to rack up crazy high scores (the tables are too easy).
3) keeps things fresh
4) as tables are patched and scoring bugs removed - the leaderboards should be refreshed to reflect accordingly.
5) makes the leaderboards and challenge more accessible to new comers.

I suspect it wont happen due to players ego.


we also need greater granularity of leaderboards based on platform.

+1

I suspect it won't happen. Most likely due to the fact that we're getting new leaderboards with the new difficulty settings.

 

[Slam23]

I voted no but I think there is a valid point to make if a table's difficulty ramps up a lot because of (exploitable) bug fixes and harder physics. Wiping those scores would be an option for me. There is a lot of grey area to explore there though, because beside from the very obvious situations, slighter and more gradual changes over time can be perceived very differently in respect to difficulty. Credibility would be high if the majority of the top 10-20 players on that table would agree on wiping. Also very difficult to implement offcourse.
For purposes of discussion I like the PAPA high scores record analogy the best for voting no: this is our history. When playing VP we would post our scores to a high score thread and had somebody make Excel sheets to keep track. All honour system offcourse because of the editor and other ways to cheat. What we would do is keep track of scores sorted by version of the table and version of VP. This was a bit cumbersome, but let people compete on the same machines essentially. I held the record on LOTR for a while on a particular version by JPSalas, and that got obsolete over time because of the upgrades to table and VP. It's too late to backtrack for TPA to do something like this but there is precedent in a lot of sporting scoring records that have an asterisk besides them if they were put up under very different circumstances. The NBA is a good example where scoring was helped or hindered depending on if the 3-point shot existed at the time (Jerry West's famous 60-foot shot anyone? Would have won a Finals game instead of tying it), or where the 3-point line was at (they shortened and then widened the distance again). They still compare all records, but somtetimes with asterisks. So knowledgeable TPA people would someday say something to their grandchildren - who are offcourse still playing TPA- in the line of: "that's indeed a very nice score, but....it was made when TPA version xx.x was around and those were simpler days".

 

[Gorgar]

I say NO. Of course, wipe them if they change the physics of a table drastically or maybe if they emulate the unemulated tables, but please DO NOT wipe them regularly.