How did you get it to 100%?

Mine is nowhere close to this. I have got to the point where stuck balls occur very rarely, but I still have the ball jump off the wireform far too often.

Bending the end loop up helps but doesn't fix the problem 100%.

Some people put a spacer on the last wireform mounting screw to lift the wireform and slow the ball down.
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I filed down the middle of the last two cross bars so the ball doesn't hit them and bounce out.
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Both methods fix the problem.

I've had my machine for a couple weeks now, I'm assuming this is the new wire form, works like a champ.

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Yes that is the new improved wire form.

I did the spacer method...about 5/16" tall spacer on that bottom mount. It's less about slowing the ball down and more about tweaking the angle of the wireform.

Saying that, I'll be asking for the improved wireform either way.

I don't see the etched diverter shield anymore...it's plain metal now.

hm this should be better?

i hoped a new ramp have 2 rings at the end

That looks like that is exactly what is needed.

I assume that current owners will need to contact their distributor in order to get the new wireform?

My ramp is 100%. I bent it a little and spacered it.

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Pic of old one?

Hard to make out in this pic, but it's clear plexi and etched with elvish(?) writing. Can get a close up tonight.

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Here you go.

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that piece is now metal with a decal on it

What is that etched pattern on the clear plastic anyway?

Interesting. Maybe that piece snapped on some games from pinball impact?

Have you found a buyer or received a refund? Wondering why you decided to cancel after a two year wait.

I wonder why people need to know why people decide to sell pins.

If he said "because I played it and think it sucks" would you be less likely to buy it?

If he said "It's the best game ever but I decided to sell all my worldly possessions and give to the poor" would you be more likely to buy it?

Does his lack of selling it make you nervous about owning one?

So, first post to the forum and I get the warm welcome; much appreciated. I wonder why people need to know why people need to know why someone decides to sell a pin. Or in this case, decides not to take delivery of said pin.
While it is a valid question and probably wouldn't affect my decision one way or the other, it does strike my curiosity. Typically when someone puts down their hard earned money for a deposit and waits multiple years, they are a die-hard and pretty darn committed. I am an engineer at my roots who loves to analyze everything to death... possibly to my detriment. I collect data and facts from any angle possible which does somewhat play into my decision. Will this one answer sway me... nah. Would a bunch of data that pointed to not purchasing or holding off until kinks are worked out sway my decision... maybe. Was I more curious than anything.... yes.

I think his curiosity is answered in his thread, "why you decided to cancel after a two year wait?"

I had a deposit down for a few weeks which would have been delivered a month later but i just couldnt take the wait any longer and decided that money would be better spent on family & life. So how some wait 2+ years on a game is crazy only to cancel at the last minute is crazy. But, real life happens and i understand; and i also dont think its a big deal asking people why they're selling their pin (new, used, 2 year wait or not), its a legitimate question and it shouldnt persuade a buyer one way or the other, but doesnt mean the question is out of line.

This is cool as shit.

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Welcome to Pinside.

Illegitimi non carborundum

Well my question was just that, a question. Never said his was out of line, although I find it strange that it happens so often here..thus the question.

Welcome to Pinside! I was not trying to be THAT guy but I get the reaction.

I just find it strange asking. I sold my WOZ spot because after 2 years of waiting it lost all the newness to me.

I sold my Hobbit spot because I fell for the line that there would be a deadline for it. I bought back in when shipping again was "imminent". I was supposed to get my game this week as of two weeks ago and now no news again. So there's that.

It is, but I think I would let the Goblin King go to be honest. Rest - great!

Seeing these post, I emailed Jen to ask when mine will be ready. (12/1/12 order) She couldnt even answer. Said to contact my distributor. My distributor shouldnt have to ansewr these kinds of questions 3 years and 8 months after i ordered. Cant wait till it gets here. Not because ill finally have it, but because i cant wait to finally be done with JJP!!!

You didn't buy a game from JJP. You bought a game from your distributor so yea you should be working solely with them. For all you know your distributor already resold your game and you're waiting on another one.

As for being done with JJP, why not just be done now? Get rid of your preorder and buy one that's available now. I know of a few available today. I bought mine no problem last month. They're super easy to get.

Its not my distributors fault JJP is years behind schedule. Why should any distributor have to field questions for years. There time is valuable and they are not making any money with all the time the have had to waste because of JJP's delays

Plus, JJP has the cash for these machines now, and has had it for years. Im only keeping my order because i have matching LE (haha) numbers. If someone wants to buy my matched pair now, id be glad to sell them and walk away from JJP now. Get a nice low play HOU Woz and a NIB Hobbit one day

Are you being serious?

I agree this has to be a joke (I hope).
I can get a WOZ and a THSE today and play in a couple days, or tonight in some areas.

Well a week with my Smaug LE and I LOVE it, but desperately needs a software update. I can pretty much get to everything that is in the pin right now (Killed Smaug a couple of times, and get to Into the Fire mode almost every game) Can't wait for more!!!

Have you made and valide the 30 modes ?

I don't know that I "finished" all 30 modes (as sometimes I run out of time) but I think I have played every mode for sure. And I do like how challenging some are. One in particular where you have to hit the right loop but the warg won't drop, THAT is hard!

I can tell you right now that you haven't beat all 30 modes in a week of ownership. LOL.

Some are very difficult. The Bait is damn near impossible as is the Defeat of Azog. Mirkwood is another tough one. I have beat a lot of them, but doing it in one game would be monumental.

Indeed. I wonder if that will be the requirement to get to the ultimate wizard mode? If so, it would be harder than getting to Valinor.

As the software stands now, I don't feel any incentive to try to beat all 30 modes. I am also waiting for more software to play the game again.

Yep, there is no incentive except to beat ONE to qualify the Arkenstone modes. There's a little strategy to save the easy ones (The One Ring, Radagast, A Thief in the Night, Demise of Bolg, Resurgence of Sauron for example) for each Arkenstone mode attempt. Code has a bit to go yet.

By the way...had another bug last night. Was playing Into the Fire and drained down to a single ball but hit Beorn on the way out for the add a ball. Into the Fire ended but I still had two balls in normal play. Stayed that way until I started another multiball...then it returned to normal.

I wouldn't be surprised if anothet update comes out by the end of the month. The past 3 updates were released about a month a part and its now been just over 1 month since 1.21 was released.

I agree about their needing to be incentive for playing as well as beating all the modes, and / or sets of them. Right now you only need to be 1 mode to unlock a jewel for Into the Fire, another for Barrel Escape (not in game yet) and one more for Battle of the Five Armies (not in game yet). So only 3 of the games 31 modes need to be beaten to unlock something as of today.

Hopefully Keith implements a reward system similar to LOTR for beating modes. It would also be great if beat X number of modes, say 3, 6, 12, 24, led to unlocking a MB / mini wizard mode.

Received my SE today and I didn't know if anybody else posted but the fix for the pop ups was already installed on mine!

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Looks like the fix is different to the beta fix

I haven't been following close enough can you elaborate what fix there is? Is this something JJP has been supplying for earlier orders if they didn't have it?

Just had the most incredible game, literally played it for an hour. Settings are stock. First picture was after first ball ended (I won 3 extra balls during that first ball, but that score was just after 1 ball). I honestly had fatigue by the end of the game lol. I killed Smaug and got into the fire several times. I can't fathom how great this pin will be as long as they give the code the same effort they did WOZ!

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Wow, I suck!

Me too...damn! My game can be extremely brutal at times. A ton of modes got played on that ball 1 (errr, 4). How did you get the third extra ball???

Same, 4 million is insane!

By the way - starting a mode isn't too hard - finishing them is hard as hell (for me). You must be able to hit shots quickly all over the playfield - there are alot of shots (and Keith puts those damn pop ups right in the way - many times you have to knock them down to get your shot).

Also I have had to rely on the third flipper a lot to get the left hole as well as the DWARF targets. Sometime I have to use it to make a last second shot because I don't have time left to get the shot off from the bottom right flipper.

There is one mode - not sure what it is - but the drop targets are dropping and rising in tune to the music of the mode - or the machine is doing something mechanical - not sure what. Very cool! Anyone know what that mode is?

Oh, and one more thing. For those getting it one day. The machine is heavy as f*ck.

I got to play RobT's hobbit LE today. Awesome game, I like it a lot. You guys that have one are lucky. You can tell a lot of work and effort went into this game. But I do hope we see some more code updates, the game does need it.

Question; is there any incentives for completing modes right now?

Another thing I forgot to ask rob is, what does super X do? And how do you get it?

Lastly, during beast frenzy it seemed thorin captive ball would flash red, then if you hit it would start flashing blue, then hit it again and it'd start flashing more intensely. Seemed like a staging up or jackpot building shot of some kind? What's it do? It seemed very important but lacked sound effects upon hitting so while it felt satisfying to hit, it had an unfinished feel to it.

If you finish a mode you do 1/5 things needed to get into an arkenstone mode (into the fire with 2 more modes to comes)
Final wizard you need to complete them all and apparently of you do them in the same order as the movie it's easier or something? No news on this.

Super x is double scoring. I think you get from hitting the drops after the ball rolls out of the pops.

Not sure about beast frenzy scoring. Generally red =jackpot. And blue is super jackpot.

Definitely needs more code. No incentives for completing modes except collecting the arrowhead for the Arkenstone mode...hope more incentive comes soon.

Super X currently is a double pf multiplier awarded after a certain number of captive ball hits (it's the 3rd or 4th award). Time this right with modes/multiballs and it can be pretty lucrative. Not sure if there is any other way to get it or if you can move it past 2x. I'm sure more code to come.

Not sure on the Thorin rules during Beast Frezy, though I think it just acts like a 5th beast? I'm hazy on the Beast Frenzy rules as its a pretty crazy quick moving multiball without much thinking time.

I believe the colors match WOZ...so blue = jackpot, yellow = double, red = triple. But I might be totally wrong. There's solid and flashing colors thrown in too, so I don't know...

Yes, Super X is the one thing that I answered SKB correctly about when he asked...that's double scoring, started by hitting the captive ball. Many other questions that he had on the rules (SKB is great when it comes to trying to understand and explain rules) I couldn't answer. I'm glad to see that at least I'm not alone in that.

I'm not super motivated to learn all the rules and nuances of them at this point, because there is so much more code that is needed and things can and will change.