What table/season should I buy?

[Alex Atkin UK]

As this will be the last chance I wanted to get the advice from people on here.

I have the option of potentially buying one table and/or one season from 4, 6 or 7.

Considering I already have The Addams Family, Jack Bot and Doctor Who (both), plus I'm not really a fan of electro-mechanical preferring the more modern digital tables, what would people recommend?

I don't feel I have the time to properly try out all the tables I don't have to get a feel for which I would prefer long-term.

 

[Citizen]

Let's do a breakdown.

Season 4 SS WMS tables:
The Party Zone
Earthshaker!
Cyclone
Xenon
Red & Ted's Road Show
Safe Cracker

Season 6 SS WMS tables:
Indianapolis 500
Eight Ball Deluxe
Swords of Fury

Season 7 SS WMS tables:
Paragon
Firepower II
World Champion Soccer
Fathom
Sorcerer
Banzai Run


Season 4 has 2 tables you already own (Addams Family and Jack•Bot), 0 EM tables, and 2 non-WMS SS tables (Phantom of the Opera and Starship Troopers)

Season 6 has 2 tables you already own (the 2 Doctor Who tables), 2 EMs, and 5 non-WMS SS tables (Big Hurt, Al's Garage Band, Gladiators, Bone Busters and Cactus Jack's)

Season 7 has 2 EMs and 3 non-WMS SS tables (Wipe Out, Ghostbusters and Pistol Poker)

Personally I think Season 7 is your strongest option. The 5 non-WMS tables in Season 6 are very mediocre, in my opinion, and it only has 3 WMS tables you don't already have. Season 4 gives you the same numbers of WMS tables as Season 7, but in my opinion, the Season 4 ones are weaker.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

That's very helpful, thanks. As it also suggests just buying the WMS tables could be a good option (I think you can on Steam right?).

The only other consideration is that those tables I own are via Farsight directly, so does owning them via Steam leave me in a more secure option in case the worst happens and Farsight close down?

 

[Citizen]

That's very helpful, thanks. As it also suggests just buying the WMS tables could be a good option (I think you can on Steam right?).

I've only purchased whole season packs, but I'm pretty sure you can purchase the DLC packs seperately through the Steam TPA app itself.

The only other consideration is that those tables I own are via Farsight directly, so does owning them via Steam leave me in a more secure option in case the worst happens and Farsight close down?

I really don't know anything about direct purchases from FarSight, I never did that myself, sorry. I don't even have a FarSight account. That being said, if, worst case scenario, FarSight went out of business, I'm pretty sure every network would lose TPA.

 

[Kolchak357]

When choosing between seasons, here is my advice. Compare the two best pins from each season and go with the pair you love the most.
No matter how good the season, I always play my couple of favorites more than the others by a wide margin. So I’d put a lot of weight on the two best from each season. But that’s just me.

 

[wolfson]

Alex you couldn`t have asked for 2 better people in Citizen and Kolchak , there advice and opinions are always very sound !!!

 

[shutyertrap]

I was asked a similar question on Twitter. My answer was that Seasons 1 and 2 are musts. Season 4 and 7 are my next choices. Then just pick up 8 Ball Deluxe, The Getaway, Fish Tales, and Fireball from the other seasons.

It truly does come down to your own taste in pins though.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

I've only purchased whole season packs, but I'm pretty sure you can purchase the DLC packs seperately through the Steam TPA app itself.

I really don't know anything about direct purchases from FarSight, I never did that myself, sorry. I don't even have a FarSight account. That being said, if, worst case scenario, FarSight went out of business, I'm pretty sure every network would lose TPA.

It doesn't work like that as its the same principle as the WMS license expiring. Its withdrawn from sale but everyone who already bought it can still re-download it. I'm fairly sure there are tons of games on Xbox Live which effectively have lost their publisher/publishing rights but they never become unavailable for people who already bought them, unless they are online only.

The only potential problem are Kickstarter tables which were unlocked in your Farsight account rather than Steam, that and how TPA has a nasty habit of crashing on startup if it fails to login to your Farsight account.

Thanks everyone for your help, I think I have it covered now and for less than the cost of a table pack. Seems there were only around five tables of much interest in all that. I mean sure I'd like the others but I can't see myself playing them much.

 

[Ben Thebear]

I am trying to decide which tables to buy from Seasons 6 and 7 (I own all the rest). I am leaning toward buying all of Season 7 since it contains many WMS tables and also includes Ghostbusters, but it concerns me when Farsight says in their announcement that "Season 8 will launch later this summer and will feature all of the recent Stern tables in Stern Pinball Arcade". Does that mean Season 8 will also include Ghostbusters? If that is the case it's probably better to just buy the individual WMS tables I want.

 

[shutyertrap]

I am trying to decide which tables to buy from Seasons 6 and 7 (I own all the rest). I am leaning toward buying all of Season 7 since it contains many WMS tables and also includes Ghostbusters, but it concerns me when Farsight says in their announcement that "Season 8 will launch later this summer and will feature all of the recent Stern tables in Stern Pinball Arcade". Does that mean Season 8 will also include Ghostbusters? If that is the case it's probably better to just buy the individual WMS tables I want.

Ghostbusters is already part of TPA, so that won't be part of season 8. All the seasons are getting rebundled before 'season 8' is a thing, so I think it's safe to say you won't be buying it twice. The other thing is FarSight has said they won't be doing season passes anymore so you'll be able to pick and choose from the new Stern that get plopped into TPA anyway.

 

[Ben Thebear]

Ghostbusters is already part of TPA, so that won't be part of season 8. All the seasons are getting rebundled before 'season 8' is a thing, so I think it's safe to say you won't be buying it twice. The other thing is FarSight has said they won't be doing season passes anymore so you'll be able to pick and choose from the new Stern that get plopped into TPA anyway.

I see, so "Season 8" will probably just be a pack of Stern tables that weren't in the other TPA seasons? If that is the case it's probably worth it to buy Ghostbusters along with Season 7 rather than individually later. Thanks.

 

[shutyertrap]

I see, so "Season 8" will probably just be a pack of Stern tables that weren't in the other TPA seasons? If that is the case it's probably worth it to buy Ghostbusters along with Season 7 rather than individually later. Thanks.

Don’t hold me to it, but that’s what I believe. The Switch is our first glimpse at what will happen to the table packs, so any new Stern would obviously be packaged separately.

 

[yespage]

Based on how SPA was organized, it would seem likely that there wouldn't be a whole season, as the price of $10 per new table is a bit high for 10 tables. And they can't (shouldn't) reissue tables already available in TPA like they did with SPA to provide the illusion of a better bargain in SPA. So I would guess that Season 8 would consist of packs, not just a single season. That is unless, they bulk up a season with older Stern machines.

 

[Gorgias32]

I believe the only "Stern" machine not currently in SPA is Flight 2000 - I personally would LOVE to get some older Stern SS machines, there are some gems there.

 

[shutyertrap]

In case you guys didn't hear, Bobby King indicated that SPA will be changing into a free-to-play model. He also said they'd like to eventually be day and date on releases with Stern. So expect SPA to become kind of a test bed for tables and TPA to be where you can buy them outright.

 

[Gorgias32]

Listening to the podcast this morning (great interview, guys), I am feeling better about all of this - it's still puzzling what the WMS license holder is doing, but the "free to play" model for SPA with earning tokens and being able to play to buy tables is actually pretty fun, that's the model that Zen used for Bethesda Pinball on Android, and even through I have bought the Bethesda pack in the Zen app, I still play the standalone "free to play" much more often. The challenge of earning gold to buy tables really adds a feel of competition that makes it more fun.

I have bought both table packs on SPA on iOS, I do hope that Farsight does a cross-purchase from SPA to TPA (they already do the other direction) for tables like STT and Phantom (which I only own in SPA).