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

[Sonicka]

Hope it stays. It would be a pretty big headache for them to remove I imagine.

But if it happens at least I got to pretend to be one of the cool kids for a bit haha! 

[Sonictrainer]

Ok...it seems like the Nitro Gauge is tracking missions but not filling up correctly on the Leaderboard?

I already have the Nostalganator Body unlocked despited the Bar not showing I did. 

EDIT

I just added up all of my currently received Nitro Points (NP):

• 3 Quick Challenges = 300 NP
• 3 Daily Challenges: Multi Hits (75 NP), Power Slide Master (100 NP), & Sliding Your Way Through (100 NP)= 275 NP
• 2 Weekly Challenges: Crate Breaker (250 NP) & King of Boosting (250 NP) = 500 NP
• 1 Themed Challenge: Check out my New Ride = 400 NP
• 1 Pro Challenge: Twice the Fun = 500 NP

So 300 + 275 + 500 + 400 + 500 = 1,975 NP

However, the Bar says I have 1,915 NP...

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Honestly, I can't find the motivation to even bother doing anything this go around. Did a run on the new track, got the new kart (the one in bronze tier), took a look at the challenges and immediately got annoyed that a ton of them is the same garbage challenges from last month (Back in the Race, etc). None of the new characters interest me in the slightest (I really wish we got Baby Cortex/N Tropy), and on top of all that, there's several glitches already emerging with nitro not properly storing, challenges being prematurely finished and not counting towards the Nitro meter, etc. 

Not to mention if this new 10k bundle is any indication, we're about to see extremely overpriced packs appear right on the advent of this bullshit microtransaction nonsense. I think Activision's just officially killed any of the care I had for CTR.

[Meta77]

Where are the MTX i was hoping to buy some tonight for my video on them to show my channel?

[Graystripe2000]

They don’t start until a later date.

[Meta77]

Well damn there goes my mtx video for the weekend @.@

[Sonicka]

Well, didn’t quite make that 9900 pack option. Quite close though. But too burnt out to complete another 20 or so online races - it will rotate around again if not as separate items (the back to the future Kart was mainly what I wanted anyway.

Still, it allowed me to at least purchase a lot of other things with leftover coins to boot.

As ever, reaching Baby-T was pretty easy for tier one. So the real grind begins now. Baby T has a very strange voiceover though, I have to admit I was expecting vocals to be much more wildlife based or something akin to Yoshi... instead he sounds like a teenage kid.

I am also super surprised there is no Baby Cortex or Tropy, that would have made sense considering they actually existed in a game (and would round the additional characters up to the same number as the last GP). I can’t imagine they won’t come eventually however, whether it be this GP or a future one.

At the very least the Prehistoric Park Track is great fun. I enjoyed Twilight Tour and aesthetically it was a great track, but this is just much more fun to race around with more obstacles and tricky shortcuts to take that are actually rewarding if you master them.

[Jango]

Prehistoric Playground is one of my favorite levels right now! Love the aesthetics and the nostalgia I'm getting from Tag Team Racing  I used to love the prehistoric tracks in that game, they were among my favorites. But man. Next month is Spyro's GP. HNNNNNGGG. Dreamweavers, Beenox, Dreamweavers. Don't disappoint me.

[Sonicka]

Ok Beenox, you’ve basically proven yourselves with the remake and NEW content already.

So considering Nintendo are pretty much ready to evolve their Mario Kart Series into Nintendo Kart, you may as well just go and make Crash & Friends Team Racing your next entry. 

Ideally I’d love to see them license or include any 3rd party characters outside of Activision publisher label like Nintendo does with Smash. But realistically just the inclusion of Spyro’s franchise into the next entry as a whole would be more than enough for loads of new content.

[Jango]

Sewer Speedway working like a charm now, I manage to access the shortcut from multiple angles in every lap, leaving my opponents in the dust! Man, if only they could fix the online issues...

[DarkRula]

I'm a seventh of the way through after just two hours, though to be fair, I did have a 30% boost right away for this one and was actively engaging in the challenges - already getting a few of the themed ones out of the way.

[Harkofthewaa]

So why is it that the only two Accel characters with a Nitro Boost are N-Trance and... uggh, Baby Coco? Could they seriously not think of another skin for any of the others? For that matter, if you want to use a "balanced" character your stuck with one of the adult Crashes. It's great that they tweaked the system to make some of the older characters more viable instead of just the new GP characters like last time, but maybe get in a little more variety next time guys. Having like five or six speed characters get the boost while everyone else gets the shaft wasn't the best idea.

[Jango]

An easy solution would be switching the Nitro Bonus characters every week (heck, maybe every day) instead. I realized I'm not too good at using handling characters, despiting winning a few matches using Baby Crash. I still like the way they did, but they could add more accel characters to balance things. There's too many speed and handling characters.

Edit: just casually unlocked Baby T. Wasn't even focusing on doing challenges, I'm doing time trials xD

I like his raspy voice! But he should be renamed to Teenager T hehe

[Meta77]

I honestly wish Baby T was  more roars and growls. He sounds like a rouger version of polar. The crash doctor skins went away faster than i thought. i was playing friday and by the afternoon they were gone.

[TheOcelot]

2 hours ago, Jango said:

I realized I'm not too good at using handling characters, despiting winning a few matches using Baby Crash. I still like the way they did, but they could add more accel characters to balance things. There's too many speed and handling characters.

Funny you should mention this. I've tried so hard but can't win a race with Baby Crash for the life of me (had a few 2nd places). One of the challenges is to win an online race of Prehistoric Park with Baby Carsh, but everytime I try I seem to lose so much time. I've also encountered some horrendus bad-luck and bizzare glitches when racing with Baby Crash.

Gonna take a break from CTR because the Online mode is really pissing me off. 

[Sonicka]

So, it looks as though I’m playing with the new Mammoth Kart already. Not because I somehow arrived on Gold Tier insanely early... but because the game glitched when I simply took a look at it in the menu screen whilst it was locked.

Lots of players suddenly dropped out at once forcing me back onto the main lobby, this must have bypassed the lock and confused the system into thinking I chose it as my ride. Neat. Even though it still shows as locked on the menu I can still switch my characters, colours and wheels. Not giving this up now haha!

[Meta77]

The game is still fun but damn if online mode just does not piss me off cause there is not a mode yet that is simply racing. The fact I go from first to 7th cause i get by bombs lagging so i can judge my beaker drops to stop them or when you get ready to make a jump and someone hits you with a missle dropping you off the map cause you do not have enough speed to make the jump with the game places you right back down on the edge  and proceed to be hit by a player in 4th place rolling a bomb into you.

[Sonicka]

A pure racing mode in theory sounds good and is also something I want... But I know why they haven’t done it, and that’s because players that are overly skilled with Sacred Fire will simply dominate a race. And that’s not fun.

The higher tier levelled players just don’t slip up. Its bad enough online a lot of the time and it takes those at the back to put a stop to them via the weapons.

So in essence they could put it in, but then it just kinda becomes a time trial mode. I dunno, it’s a bit of an odd one. 

Unless it’s already available they should at least put in an option to race player ghosts like in TSR.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

On 7/30/2019 at 9:18 PM, Sonictrainer said:

*See Nitro Tour Pack 5 in the Pit Stop for 1,575 Wumpa Coins

*Play some online races to get enough coins

*Try to buy Nitro Tour Pack 5

*Select "Yes"

*Nothing happens. My Wumpa Coins are still there and the Paint Job & Brazil Flag are still sitting there in the Shop

Can you imagine someone buying one of their Wumpa Coin deals and this happens?

Considering how many bugs this game is riddled with that they refused to fix because micro transactions were apparently more important,  yes, I can see that happen. 

There's also been some reports of the save corruption glitch still not being properly fixed. 

There's this too, as well as the wonky hit detection of walls which is annoying when trying to maintain top speeds.

What's more. Despite this patch bringing N. Trance back from his Twilight GP disappearance, and apparently fixing Sewer Speedway at long last, there are reports showcasing that done things like the netcode and the items have gotten even worse.

Oh, and for another fresh bout of stupidity,  wherein consumers suffer for the mistakes of the producer:

Turns out we won't be getting Tawna Pink this GP, and we have no idea when.  Despite never showing up last GP, much to many people's anguish. Now we are plum out of luck it seems.

Every now and then,  more defenses for this game's faults are rendered moot.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

On 8/1/2019 at 1:12 PM, Ryannumber1gamer said:

A quick update on the situation - Activision also lied out of their teeth pre-release. At E3, apparently the devs were going on that they were going to avoid Microtransactions entirely and stay true to the original. 

 

On 8/2/2019 at 10:12 AM, Plasme said:

I really hate this insidious tactic of waiting a month or so to add micro transactions. It's a really insidious way to avoid player backlash.

That's not the only thing they've kept hidden.

So, get this. Renowned dataminer BetaM did a datamine and found some interesting things of stuff yet to come apparently. 

Get this. He found the skins for Gnasty Gnork and Hunter in there. But the real kicker is that within the game, there lies a blatant pay-to-win mechanic. 

The ability to fill up the nitro gauge and then some with wimps coins, which means, the more coins you have, the more you can boost your nitro gauge and ramp up ranks on the leadership boards, this trivializing the hard effort anyone else puts into legitimately completing tasks.

On 8/1/2019 at 10:40 AM, Son-icka said:

There probably will be a transaction for Nitro this GP as well, so essentially that is paying to advance to the goal without taking part in any challenges to reap the rewards

Congratulations on indirectly calling what they have stored away in the game.

On 8/1/2019 at 11:33 AM, Jango said:

Since all these cosmetic itens are a huge selling point of the game, it feels like pay-to-win. 

That said, pay-to-afford-x before it disappears isn't really better to a level of significance. It's still scummy.

Also, it's a bit like when the makers of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite tried to pass off characters as just "functions". Some of these "cosmetics" are actual characters, something many fans really desire depending from case to case. Heck, even the costumes function slightly beyond just cosmetics by definition,  as they give off new victory animations.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

7 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

But the real kicker is that within the game, there lies a blatant pay-to-win mechanic. 

"It's just cosmetic!!" 

Activision: 

[SonicWind]

Are there no lows this company won't sink to? Jeez.

I'm still gonna try to enjoy playing this, but it's getting harder. That said, I love this game, despite its flaws and Activision's greedy ways.

[Jango]

One of today's decals has a very neat reference: Pitfall, one of Activision's first games, for the Atari! Loooong before they become douches xD

[Jango]

15 hours ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

 

That's not the only thing they've kept hidden.

So, get this. Renowned dataminer BetaM did a datamine and found some interesting things of stuff yet to come 

Hm...

On 8/1/2019 at 4:49 PM, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Looks like that data mine suggesting Baby Cortex and Baby N. Tropy, along with IGN, were all wrong.

I'd save the assumptions for later.

15 hours ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Also, it's a bit like when the makers of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite tried to pass off characters as just "functions". 

I get your point, but that wasn't a great example if your intention is to make a comparising. All the extra characters and costumes in MvsC Infinite can't be unlocked in no way, shape or form (up untill this point at least) unless you grab your wallet and pay for. Same thing with Dragon Ball FighterZ. Neither company is right tho' (Bandai Namco, Activision, Capcom), MTX are their favorite bait to taunt and lure people with addiction (heck, they put the characters you need to buy in the character selection screen just to taunt you). I doubt this will change any time soon, unless countries create laws to forbid it. At the very, very least the content CTR offers can be unlocked by playing the game (of course this won't stop people with anxiety and compulsive behaviour disorders, which again, is a real issue and shouldn't be exploited by the gaming companies and we should fight against it). The GP content is limited indeed, but there's arguibly more than enough time to unlock a healthy amount of itens as last season showed. 

As for the whole "pay to fill the Nitro Gauge" discussion... Well, of course it would be a thing. Hopefully this will not affect leaderboards (perhaps it will only serve the purpose of unlocking the stuff in the Gauge, instead of rising the Nitro Points). But again, both possibilities are assumptions right now. 

[Graystripe2000]

15 hours ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

 

That's not the only thing they've kept hidden.

So, get this. Renowned dataminer BetaM did a datamine and found some interesting things of stuff yet to come apparently. 

Get this. He found the skins for Gnasty Gnork and Hunter in there. But the real kicker is that within the game, there lies a blatant pay-to-win mechanic. 

The ability to fill up the nitro gauge and then some with wimps coins, which means, the more coins you have, the more you can boost your nitro gauge and ramp up ranks on the leadership boards, this trivializing the hard effort anyone else puts into legitimately completing tasks.

 

Supposedly, from what I’ve heard, this only works AFTER the season ends.