When did specials etc stop earning EB's?

[Storm Chaser]

It seems like it must have been quite recent but it seems like overall, specials and "reaching high score" just award pointless credits and not Extra Balls, any more. I can see that this is more towards reality but I liked it much better before. I can't imagine how much more difficult Atlants will be now!

When did they do this? Does it affect all tables?

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

It only affects Whirlwind, Terminator 2, and all the tables from September to now.

 

[Dumpstar]

And it's the best change ever. I actually would like it if they went back and made all the tables behave this way.

 

[Korven]

Haven't played Ripley's much lately, they changed special to give a pointless credit? Are you sure? It really would be nice to be notified about rules being changed. Instructions still say special gives an EB. Don't have time to test it right now.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Most of the tables from Pack # 14 onward do not award extra balls for replay and special. Some award points instead for specials, others award nothing.

 

[Jeff Strong]

And it's the best change ever. I actually would like it if they went back and made all the tables behave this way.

+1

 

[smbhax]

Yeah, points for specials is the way I likes it. : D Then again I play without extra balls so I suppose I'm biased.

 

[Bowflex]

Definitely a change for the better. It would be nice if there was one toggle mode with a replay extra ball at a much lower score for beginners only. Most of the scores are at a decent level for most intermediate and even advanced players where I doubt the majority would get it everytime but I'd rather not have it at all except as mentioned - an option for beginners learning the table.

 

[Dumpstar]

Definitely a change for the better. It would be nice if there was one toggle mode with a replay extra ball at a much lower score for beginners only. Most of the scores are at a decent level for most intermediate and even advanced players where I doubt the majority would get it everytime but I'd rather not have it at all except as mentioned - an option for beginners learning the table.

I think for beginners there should be even more options that make it easier. Have 3 levels all up. Beginners, Standard and Tournament (All 3 with separate leaderboards).

 

[Punisher]

To be honest, I like how Specials and Replays give extra balls in most pins. It allows the player to get to the wizard mode more easily, provided they can't hit the right shots too well, and end up getting SDTMs or powerdrains down the outlanes. Hell, all the free play pins I've played had this setup. It should stay, in my opinion.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I think for beginners there should be even more options that make it easier. Have 3 levels all up. Beginners, Standard and Tournament (All 3 with separate leaderboards).

Agreed.

To be honest, I like how Specials and Replays give extra balls in most pins. It allows the player to get to the wizard mode more easily, provided they can't hit the right shots too well, and end up getting SDTMs or powerdrains down the outlanes. Hell, all the free play pins I've played had this setup. It should stay, in my opinion.

Yeah, but it also makes some of the tables go on forever, so that's where difficulty options are gong to be nice, especially for the tables that don't have Pro Menus.

 

[Zorgwon]

RBION gives EBS and Specials (=EBs) - and more than you would think.

I like the EBs. They're something to go for. I don't like celebrated EBs that I don't get (like in EATPM).

 

[Jeff Strong]

If EATPM gave out more extra balls, it would never end. It's already way too easy to spam it in TPA. The real pin is much more brutal in comparison.

 

[norbert26]

I think for beginners there should be even more options that make it easier. Have 3 levels all up. Beginners, Standard and Tournament (All 3 with separate leaderboards).

i would like to see this. Its not just a matter of a lower level for beginners but think in terms of a "party mode". How about if beer (or something like that) is being served in a festive atmosphere it would be nice to lower the difficulty for that session. Let the end user choose these options along with pitch of table and adjust outlane posts.

 

[Storm Chaser]

I don't really agree, I think there are too many flaws and bugs in the tables that make them more difficult than they need to be (as compared to their physical counterparts). The number one thing being how difficult it is to nudge properly on iOS. I think Special = EB is one thing that helps balancing this out. Also, specials are typically quite rare and this doesn't really affect the games that much.

Why not make specials act as "Buy-in" which will include Goals but not Leaderboards?

 

[Jeff Strong]

I don't really agree, I think there are too many flaws and bugs in the tables that make them more difficult than they need to be (as compared to their physical counterparts). The number one thing being how difficult it is to nudge properly on iOS.

You honestly believe these tables are harder than the real pins? Even with touchscreen nudging, I can score way higher in TPA than I ever can in real life. Take T2 for example. On the real pin, I've never even hit 100 million, and most games I'm lucky to get 25 million. On TPA, that's a piece of cake. My highscore on iOS is over 400 million...and that's nowhere close to the top of the leaderboard. As always, I'll be the first to say I'm not that great of a player.

There are certain pins in TPA that I can do everything there is to do on the first ball (Funhouse, BOP, and EATPM come to mind). These are the pins that need the option to disable extra balls completely because they don't have very deep rulesets, so it just becomes a grueling session of spamming the same shots over and over.

 

[brakel]

You honestly believe these tables are harder than the real pins? Even with touchscreen nudging, I can score way higher in TPA than I ever can in real life. Take T2 for example. On the real pin, I've never even hit 100 million, and most games I'm lucky to get 25 million. On TPA, that's a piece of cake. My highscore on iOS is over 400 million...and that's nowhere close to the top of the leaderboard. As always, I'll be the first to say I'm not that great of a player.

There are certain pins in TPA that I can do everything there is to do on the first ball (Funhouse, BOP, and EATPM come to mind). These are the pins that need the option to disable extra balls completely because they don't have very deep rulesets, so it just becomes a grueling session of spamming the same shots over and over.

I completely agree. I've only made it to midnight a few times on the real Funhouse even when I lived next door to a real table and played it several times a week. On TPA its a bad game that I don't make it to midnight at least once and get the multiball.

 

[Dumpstar]

To be honest, I like how Specials and Replays give extra balls in most pins. It allows the player to get to the wizard mode more easily, provided they can't hit the right shots too well, and end up getting SDTMs or powerdrains down the outlanes. Hell, all the free play pins I've played had this setup. It should stay, in my opinion.

That would be the point of having a beginner's setting that has heaps of extra balls for specials and replay score, as well as the settings making the game as easy as possible. You could still finish all the wizard goals etc on it, but it would have a separate leaderboard for it (and I would suggest that the current leaderboards should be the default beginners ones). Then the next level would be standard, which has no extra balls for specials (but possibly a point score for achieving it if the settings allow for that) or for achieving a replay score, and maybe some tinkered settings to make the game a touch harder. Tournament settings would be whatever PAPA suggests for it to make it very challenging.

 

[WFurman]

My take on this is that awarding credits for Replays and Specials are pointless since all the games are set to Free Play, and once you own a table on The Pinball Arcade, it is yours to keep. Replays should always be set to Extra Balls, since awarding a credit or ticket is moot. However, since Specials can also award points, I have no objection with this setting even though awarding a Special through an outlane drain can give a "rescue ball" feel that the player has an additional ball to play.

 

[Espy]

My take on this is that awarding credits for Replays and Specials are pointless since all the games are set to Free Play, and once you own a table on The Pinball Arcade, it is yours to keep. Replays should always be set to Extra Balls, since awarding a credit or ticket is moot. However, since Specials can also award points, I have no objection with this setting even though awarding a Special through an outlane drain can give a "rescue ball" feel that the player has an additional ball to play.

I never understood the idea of putting special in the outlane. If the game makes you aim for the outlane then something is wrong. I generally hope that a ball goes that way during multiball.

NGG does it right by combining it with a kickback.