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

[Jango]

Speaking of which, we can expect Spyro's GP to work the same way as the previous GPs:

> Spyro will be the 5K reward (end of bronze tier) and his legendary skin will be the 42K reward (end of gold tier).

>Two whole karts and stickers in-between.

>One kart will be sold at the Pit Stop, either in an overpriced bundle with someone's legendary skin (like Back N. Time) or standalone (like Nitro Tour) by 4500 coins. The other characters will be sold separately or also in a bundle with a legendary skin, sticker and paintjob, just like the Nitro Squad in the first GP.

They probably won't change the current structure because the algorithm is likely working "good enough" to mask the real intention: push this "free" new content and hope people will buy it since that's an option now. Again, it's pretty clear the GP is just a mere excuse to hide Activision's real intention... If you take the GP element (Nitro Gauge and challenges) off the equation and simply put the new stuff in the Pit Stop it wouldn't make much of a difference. At the end of the day, people aren't all that interested in taking part of the GP simply because it's tedious and poorly made. It's nice that I can unlock some stuff by completing the challenges, but since they're pretty boring, repetitive and sometimes even glitchy, I don't feel like it's worth it, nor fun. Might as well just play a couple of online matches during weekends and wumpa time and buy the stuff at the Pit Stop. But it's no surprise that the GP isn't fun to play. The focus is selling new stuff every month, not actually creating a cool and engaging online competition. Grand Prix, more like Grand Fee-asco.

[mayday2592]

So we may have evidence for the next Crash game already.

 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

What's that? You wanted an item customization option for online?

Well, instead of that or a No-Items mode, they instead added the super engine to online races.

[mayday2592]

Eh, a no item mode sounds awful so I'm not too bothered about it's absence. About the super engine, I think that's great it should have been  there from the beginning. Just hope the rate for it isn't broken.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

22 minutes ago, mayday2592 said:

Eh, a no item mode sounds awful

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea either, but it is something a lot of fans have been requesting.

What would be smart would be an items customization mode, more like what Mario Kart 8 Deluxe provides.

[Sonicka]

Actually when this item appeared for me today I thought it was a glitch. It sure acted like one anyway - it literally blasted me for an ENTIRE lap around Cortex Castle without letting up. Is that normal? Even for this Item?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

33 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

Actually when this item appeared for me today I thought it was a glitch. It sure acted like one anyway - it literally blasted me for an ENTIRE lap around Cortex Castle without letting up. Is that normal? Even for this Item?

Well, Super Engines do give you the highest of speeds when they're juiced.

[Harkofthewaa]

This seriously isn't a glitch? Iwas about to come here and ask because I've been getting these things out the wazoo today. What the hell are they thinking? The Super Engine was NEVER meant to be used in races, and for good reason. The thing gives you USF for a few seconds when juiced up, because that's super fair on tracks like Android Alley and Crash Cove. I used one on the last lap on Papu's Pyramid and it was basically an instant "fuck you I win" button. GG Beenox.

[Sonicka]

https://blog.activision.com/crash-bandicoot/2019-08/Super-Engines-Warp-Orbs-and-a-brand-new-GP-Decal

Well, they have confirmed the Super Engine is a legit deal - for just this weekend as a trial anyway. Alongside this there are additional changes to the distribution of clocks and orbs for balance testing purposes. 

Apparently reddit testers have also confirmed that the Super Engine nerfs your reserve boosts as well, and will not help or enhance Sacred/Blue fire experts either... thank Christ.

Oddly the GP is also now ending on Sunday... despite my timer saying 4 days left. Huh. I better get cracking with that last unlockable I guess, less time than I originally thought to coast it.

I like that in the blog they also admitted the error of the back n time decal going out by mistake in advance alongside the Champion Kart distribution to the winners - however it is interesting that they didn’t disclose that they also gave out the Champion Kart to EVERYONE by mistake as well haha! 

 

[Your Vest Friend]

It was always set to end 25/8. The extra days are to give a bit more chance to get everything out the pitstop that's GP exclusive. 

[Sonicka]

Oh. I never really paid much attention to the dates to be honest. 

They should really get rid of the countdown on the GP Nitro screen in that case if it has no relevance to the GP’s actual end date as that’s then false, because the reality is that it doesn’t have anything to do with the Pit Stop.

For the Last GP the timer thing ran all the way down to zero and then Nitro then stopped filling. After that for the proceeding 4 or 5 days they then kept all the GP exclusive items in the Pit Stop.  

It does make me wonder actually if this has been done deliberately to confuse people, there is the Nitro Bar Filler Purchase for your Wumpa coins via MTX still coming right? 

[Jango]

37 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

https://blog.activision.com/crash-bandicoot/2019-08/Super-Engines-Warp-Orbs-and-a-brand-new-GP-Decal

Well, they have confirmed the Super Engine is a legit deal - for just this weekend as a trial anyway. Alongside this there are additional changes to the distribution of clocks and orbs for balance testing purposes. 

Apparently reddit testers have also confirmed that the Super Engine nerfs your reserve boosts as well, and will not help or enhance Sacred/Blue fire experts either... thank Christ.

Oddly the GP is also now ending on Sunday... despite my timer saying 4 days left. Huh. I better get cracking with that last unlockable I guess, less time than I originally thought to coast it.

I like that in the blog they also admitted the error of the back n time decal going out by mistake in advance alongside the Champion Kart distribution to the winners - however it is interesting that they didn’t disclose that they also gave out the Champion Kart to EVERYONE by mistake as well haha! 

 

Giving players behind a super engine instead of clocks and warp balls? I'll fucking take it, amen. That's actually a good trade. I think warp balls and clocks should be ONLY sorted when the player is in 8th place, but I see players getting them in 4th, 5th. I got one when I was in SECOND PLACE. I was like "-Well, m'kay". Anyways, glad they're finally taking an action.

Also, nice that they took the higher road and didn't took the mistakenly given Champion decal away from the players ^^

Just played a race and no warp balls or clocks in sight. Left everybody in the dust.

9 hours ago, mayday2592 said:

So we may have evidence for the next Crash game already.

 

ALSO THIS.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS.

[mayday2592]

So i played for around an hr online and so far the clock and warp rate has gone down significantly, in fact I think I only was hit by the clock maybe  twice the whole time. The super engine came up more than i liked though tbh.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Just now, mayday2592 said:

So i played for around an hr online and so far the clock and warp rate has gone down significantly, in fact I think I only was hit by the clock maybe  twice the whole time. The super engine came up more than i liked though tbh.

Heh, I even got one while in 3rd place. Bit of a game changer.

[Sonicka]

I hope they consider this experiment successful. It looks as though they’ll be judging it based on community feedback this time. 

Although admittedly I thought the Super Engine was a bit broken at first, clearly I’m not used to using it (i rarely play battle mode). Its refreshing to have this instead of 3 warp balls and several time stops on my ass during a race when I’m leading (and also not). Orbs especially just aren’t fast enough to touch the blue flamers that are waaaay ahead anyway, so a lengthy boost mechanic to get you back in the game actually works much better.

[Jango]

They definitely changed the weapons' rotation as a whole. I've been getting a lot of missiles in 4th and 5th, where before I would normally get potions and TNT which didn't helped much. That's pretty nice (eventhough the missiles still act drunk).

Also, I got a super boost at the beggining of Hyperspace Speedway and needless to say I went to the moon. I actually went TOO fast and flew over the second portal because the first of those two ramps (the ones with the lasers) sent me too high. It was amazing xD 

IDK about you, but this change is feeling pretty good already, at least to me. And I've only played 5 races so far. When I loose now, it at least feels like the player had more skill instead of more luck pick-ups. The super boost feels overpowered, but since it can be TOOOOOO fast you have to get a handle of it.

Edit: another great couple of races, holy shit it feels great without that clock madness. It's as close are pure racing as we can get right now.

The shields are been giving more often too. 

Edited August 24, 2019 by Jango

[Sonictrainer]

Anyone one else experience a glitch where the Map Vote changed from 3 choices to 8?

[Sonicka]

Interesting - I still seem to accumulating Nitro... so I presume the GP hasn’t ended then? Apparently there’s still over a day to go according to the schedule too, not to mention I’m getting double Wumpa coins for a 4th day in a row as well.

Huh. 

Well regardless, this works for me - some extra grinding to get in before Spyro starts with a Pit Stop ‘deal’ for 20,999 Wumpa coins.

[Jango]

Gotta say, the changes they made to the weapon rotation are a good step in the right direction. Playing online now feels much better without the time stopping and warp balls tagging your ass all the time. Races now feel faster and tighter too. Good stuff. I hope they keep improving, there's still the glitchy collision in ramps (happened to me twice this weekend).

[Perkilator]

This isn’t an entirely recent video, but TheGamersJoint had a bit of rage in an online lobby.

 

[Sonicka]

Quite accurate. I mean the video is obviously edited over several races as they don’t appear THAT often but it is still annoying when you are bombarded at once by everyone. 

Heres to hoping the Super Engine is kept... And also if they can fix those goddamn (non) homing missiles too I would be happy. 

[Graystripe2000]

New addition.

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

What a fucking shock.

Granted, I might just save up my wumpa coins from now on to do this, but still, it's fucking ridiculous I have to now do one grind in order to avoid an even longer grind. 

[Graystripe2000]

A bit of an addition. 

 

[Sonictrainer]

1 hour ago, Operationgamer17 said:

A bit of an addition. 

 

Yeah, I was 2 Unlockables away from getting everything and the Nitro Fill Up only cost me at least 2,700 Wumpa Coins to get the Baby T. Sticker & Fake Baby T.

I'm curious about how long this option is available for though.