Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (June 21st, 2019)

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Just had an idea for when the Spyro content hits: since they went above and beyond and bothered patching in the Velo mask, what if, instead of being protected by Aku Aku, Spyro and friends are helped out by Sparx? It'd be a cute extra touch. (Not sure who'd protect the bad guys, though.)

[Fire-N-Space]

This game is so much better now that they added Liz, Isabella and the other girls before I just played play Coco all the time.

[Meta77]

I agree the game is much much better than launch but lord make a damn non item mode. The fact items are not balanced is insane. If I get hit by a triple barrage of items in first again im going to throw something or someone. It bites you can literally be a better driver but get hit by a warp orb every lap, then a missle, oh and dont forget that nut with a aku aku that just has to hit you while still spinning out dropping you from 1st or 2nd down to 6th. A non item race honestly would just be power sliders and the first to make a mistake would lose I figure honestly.

[Jango]

On 7/6/2019 at 1:38 AM, Sonictrainer said:

...you ever go so fast during a race that you throw a Bowling Bomb in front of you and almost crash into it?

Not bowling bomb but I swear I got hit by my own missile one time. The homing missile in Nitro-Fueled is completely drunk.

[Sonicka]

Was Grinding offline then I noticed I wasn’t building anymore Nitro. Unless it’s now the end of July and I don’t know what day it is I presume this must either be an error in the servers or they’re doing an update. Even the shop has returned to normal.

On the plus they seemed to have dished out yet again another lot of 2500 Wumpa Coins I didn’t have previously (not complaining!).

[8ther]

1 minute ago, Son-icka said:

Was Grinding offline then I noticed I wasn’t building anymore Nitro. Unless it’s now the end of July and I don’t know what day it is I presume this must either be an error in the servers or they’re doing an update. Even the shop has returned to normal.

On the plus they seemed to have dished out yet again another lot of 2500 Wumpa Coins I didn’t have previously (not complaining!).

Are you on Xbox? 

[Sonicka]

Nope, PS4 (Pro). Has the same thing occurred over there as well?

[TheOcelot]

52 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

Was Grinding offline then I noticed I wasn’t building anymore Nitro. Unless it’s now the end of July and I don’t know what day it is I presume this must either be an error in the servers or they’re doing an update. Even the shop has returned to normal.

On the plus they seemed to have dished out yet again another lot of 2500 Wumpa Coins I didn’t have previously (not complaining!).

I'm playing on PS4 and the grand prix is still going for me (still says it's ending in 21 days).

[Sonicka]

Well, whatever the issue was... a hard reset seems to have worked. I kept the coins though. So nice bonus for whatever happened there.

[Jango]

I did only one online race today, on Tiny Arena, and I won. Got both the 2x weekend bonus and 5x wumpa hour bonus. Felt good, man. 750 coins all at once. Got Liz (only the character) and Pharaoh Cortex skin, so good. Guess I've missed Isabella's pack, the first slot still shows "empty" to me

[KHCast]

Are they ever going to fix online, cause I was being targeted repeatedly by missiles and bombs by I’m pretty sure everyone in a online match. I wasn’t even in first.:/ That’s not fun nor is it skill. At the very least, the option to play online matches without items would be nice. But then again, not many Kart racers even do that

[Sonictrainer]

Good News: Somehow, I'm still in the 5% of the Championship/Trophy & Nitro Leaderboards.

Bad News: I really hate that if you mess up the jump for the biggest ramp in Oxide Station, you can end up in a earlier part of the level and will probably end up in 6th-8th Place.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

12 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

Good News: Somehow, I'm still in the 5% of the Championship/Trophy & Nitro Leaderboards.

Oh? Does the game tell you what percentile you're in? How did you reach that?

[SonicWind]

6 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Oh? Does the game tell you what percentile you're in? How did you reach that?

It doesn't, but it's not too hard to find out on your own. Just search "percentage calculator" like I've been doing.

And it hasn't been much trouble for me to stay within 5%, either. May have to check to see if I'm still there, though.

[KHCast]

1 minute ago, SonicWind said:

It doesn't, but it's not too hard to find out on your own. Just search "percentage calculator" like I've been doing.

That’s like, basic shit the game should be able to tell you though. Like F2P games will tell you very clearly if you’re in a certain tier in the leaderboards, you shouldn’t have to go out of your way to do the calculations yourself.

[SonicWind]

4 minutes ago, KHCast said:

That’s like, basic shit the game should be able to tell you though. Like F2P games will tell you very clearly if you’re in a certain tear in the leaderboards, you shouldn’t have to go out of your way to do the calculations yourself.

Yeah, that's a fair point. Still, it's not too much trouble for me.

[KHCast]

14 minutes ago, SonicWind said:

And it hasn't been much trouble for me to stay within 5%, either. May have to check to see if I'm still there, though.

Also no offense, but this kinda comes off a bit gloat-ish that you can stay within 5% of millions of players no problem....again not trying to be rude, that’s just kinda how it comes off when I read it. 

I mean in general I find it problematic Activision is gating content to a select lucky few (people that play nonstop/pros) that’ll undoubtedly show it off online, creating that “haves/haves not” psychological frustration, as not everyone has the time and patience to sink that much time to maintain their position, but I digress. It’s just another annoyance I’m having with this game. It feels like F2P game honestly with these things.  Like yeah, it’s cosmetic sure, make that argument, but these cosmetics are some of the driving collectibles within the game, which focuses on customization very much unlike the original.

[SonicWind]

15 minutes ago, KHCast said:

Also no offense, but this kinda comes off a bit gloat-ish that you can stay within 5% of millions of players no problem....

I should mention, I'm only in the top 5% of the Nitro Leaderboard. Been playing at least a little every day since the GP began, trying to do as many challenges as possible. This isn't so much about my skill as it is wanting to get Nitro Points, and honestly, I'd chalk this up more to the number of players participating (which currently sits at 706,079 on PS4), which makes the 5% fairly large.

I don't want to rub it in people's faces or anything. Sorry about that.

[Sonictrainer]

1 hour ago, KHCast said:

5% of millions of players

According to my account (US Account), the Championship Leaderboard has 289,967 Players and the Nitro Board has 707,970 Players:

5% of 289,967 is 35398.5 or 35,399th Place or higher.

The person currently in 1st Place in the Championship Leaderboard has 11,750 Trophies.

I'm in 4,084th Place with 1,214 Trophies.

 

5% of 707,970 is 35407.1 or 35,407th Place or higher.

The person currently in 1st Place in the Nitro Leaderboard has collected 109,320 Nitro Points.

I'm in 11,607th Place with 22,385 Nitro Points. I was originally doing worse.

To unlock all of the Tier Unlockables, you only need 42,000 Nitro Points.

Seriously, the tournament has only been up for 6 days and people have played enough to unlock all 3 tiers of unlockables twice!

[KHCast]

21 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

To unlock all of the Tier Unlockables, you only need 42,000 Nitro Points.

Seriously, the tournament has only been up for 6 days and people have played enough to unlock all 3 tiers of unlockables twice!

This is under the assumption it’s a simple task that doesn’t require much effort to do. And like you said it’s only 6 days in so will naturally get worse especially towards the end. Getting to gold tier as it is is a grind fest that requires time and patience, so for the average gamer probably won’t be immediately accessed. This game uses F2P tactics, and this is one of them, it knows very well only super dedicated hardcore players that sunk their time in this game are gonna go for this(the top 5%), cause ultimately it’s gonna get repetitive and exhausting for most 

also, isn’t 5% of 289967, 14498.35, not 35398.5 ?

[Red Hot Jack]

...Wait, the Grand Prix event is over? Or is it a glitch? Sorry, I haven't been following recently, but the event was still going Yesterday when I played the game.

[SonicWind]

16 minutes ago, Tangled Jack said:

...Wait, the Grand Prix event is over? Or is it a glitch? Sorry, I haven't been following recently, but the event was still going Yesterday when I played the game.

No, it's still going. It doesn't end until the 25th.

[Jango]

8 hours ago, KHCast said:

This is under the assumption it’s a simple task that doesn’t require much effort to do.

It's not assumption. 80% of the tasks can be done offline, a bunch of them are piss easy and you can complete multiple tasks at once, you can even cheese the harder ones with a second controller and no AI. 

8 hours ago, KHCast said:

And like you said it’s only 6 days in so will naturally get worse especially towards the end.

And that's bad because? It's natural.

8 hours ago, KHCast said:

Getting to gold tier as it is is a grind fest 

It really isn't.

8 hours ago, KHCast said:

requires time and patience

Near an entire month is a lot of time. Write down your objectives and use the correct customization itens to boost your Nitro Points earning up to 50%, it will help immensely.

8 hours ago, KHCast said:

so for the average gamer probably won’t be immediately accessed. 

Who's the average player and how would you describe this person plays, anyways? I'm whiling to believe the average CTR player is a fairly skilled one. If by average you meant casual, I can't see why these people would get bothered / angry at not being able to win the Champions' Kart anyways.

8 hours ago, KHCast said:

This game uses F2P tactics, and this is one of them, it knows very well only super dedicated hardcore players that sunk their time in this game are gonna go for this(the top 5%), cause ultimately it’s gonna get repetitive and exhausting for most 

CTR should've been a F2P game for that to work, which isn't. When non-dedicated players get the ultimate prizes because they borrowed their mom's credit card, that's a F2P tactic. When the game allows everyone to try and get the prize without pay-to-win bullshit, that's fair. Obviously only the most dedicated players will be among the top 5%, but as far as I'm concerned, it's like this in every competitive game. The only troublesome thing about this top 5% is dealing with no-lifers that play videogames 24-7 or set turbo controllers to do their work, which again, happens in every game. Like @SonicWind and @Sonictrainer said, CTR has a lot of players already, so getting among the top 5 isn't as impossible or grindy as you're making it sound...

[KHCast]

4 hours ago, Jango said:

CTR should've been a F2P game for that to work, which isn't.

Locking content behind a timed event/leaderboard is certainly a F2P tacxtic, mobile phone games do that constantly. AAA games constantly employ F2P tactics in their game. The fucking pit stop is a Fortnite rip off, the prix is a glorified battle pass, and the coin system gives pathetic outputs unless you play during “bonus times” don’t try and fucking tell me this game isn’t employing F2P elements in every corner of it.

 

4 hours ago, Jango said:

Who's the average player and how would you describe this person plays, anyways? I'm whiling to believe the average CTR player is a fairly skilled one. If by average you meant casual, I can't see why these people would get bothered / angry at not being able to win the Champions' Kart anyways.

Making quite the blatant assumptions, you’re totally assuming the casual playerbase isn’t the majority playerbase. It’s a kart racer, not fucking Melee. Also they’d likely be bothered because it’s, again, fucking content being locked behind a needless leaderboard timed event that’s designed to exclude people.

 

Im not getting into the rest your pointless bullshit arguments here cause it’s very obvious you’re drinking Activisions kool-aid and defending the game at every corner, and discrediting genuine criticisms had. (Yeah I’m saying you’ve got a heavy Crash bias making debates with you pointless, just saying it now.) Yes it can be done eventually, but acting like doing it in 2 times over in 6 days is easy or not that hard is fucking ridiculous, especially given that some of the, if not most of the requirements that give the most Nitro do very much require high skill play and/or patience. Especially if you wanna end the month in the top 5% (Cause yes, it is grindy, I’m not gonna buy that it’s not) And since Crash doesn’t live in a vacuum and other games and media exist and compete for people’s attention and time, that’s patience many aren’t gonna have. Also if you have to cheat the game to earn shit “easily” that’s a problem. And not everyone has 2 controllers or 2 game systems so there’s that. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

5 hours ago, Jango said:

When the game allows everyone to try and get the prize without pay-to-win bullshit, that's fair. 

The very fact that players have to constantly build up coins which aren't even covered by the Nitro challenges lest they forever miss out on seasonal stuff, on a BS system of coins that got nerfed already as is, as well as completing challenges is indeed a quality seen in F2P material. Don't kid yourself there.

5 hours ago, Jango said:

Obviously only the most dedicated players will be among the top 5%, but as far as I'm concerned, it's like this in every competitive game.

You really should expand your horizon if as far as you know, "every competitive game" uses F2P tactics like that. Smash, Mario Kart, ASRT, TSR, UMVC3, other games not made by Activision,  etc, don't force that kind of grinding onto players.

And locking content behind a 5% player paywall is BS, no matter which way you cut it to try and defend this game in these circumstances. 

5 hours ago, Jango said:

The only troublesome thing about this top 5% is dealing with no-lifers that play videogames 24-7 or set turbo controllers to do their work, which again, happens in every game.

Wrong.  There's also the matter that some people are going to be the unfortunate lot still locked out if the 5% mark no matter how hard they try. Especially with not as much access to completing some of the challenges.

And others are forced to play constantly if they don't want to lose their space either. 

Let's not pretend that this all could've gone exceptionally better if Activision and Beenox weren't tackling this with the F2P mind set that's kinda plagued this game when it comes to unlocking content.