Sorry if this has been asked already, but did stern do away with the coin door safety switch? My KISS has one, and the GB manual still lists it. My newly purchased GBPrem doesn't have one.

Ok so you can confirm your GB doesn't have one? That's really what I am looking to figure out.

I might be losing my mind, but I don't think I see all the "Light ..." awards. For example, with the Tobin's awards if I get "Light Negative Reinforcement" nothing obvious happens. This is typically when I hit the flipper's buttons to skip the animation. Another example is with collecting 20 ghosts. The insert "Light Tobin's" lights up, but nothing happens with the left scoop. Is there something else you need to hit to activate these awards? I looked through the bug list for the latest code and didn't see anything listed. What am I missing?

Interesting. I know that doesn't apply to light EB, so at the very least it is inconsistent.

Seems like a bug to me. When an award says "Light X" I would expect it to light without condition unless otherwise stated. I confirmed that both Tobin's and NR will not light if a mode is running. This means that if a mode is completed on a shot that immediately starts a new mode, they stay unlit. It seems unlikely it was intentional as this could mean never being able to collect these awards. All other "Light X" awards seem to light immediately; EB, Storage, Jackpot, PF mulitipliers, PKE. GB is heavily mode driven like you mentioned. You are supposed to be running modes and shouldn't be punished when they are running.

In any case, thanks for the insight you answered my original question!

I think so, yes. I bought the lane protector/center post mod before I picked up my GBPrem with the anticipation that it the gap was going to be a big problem. A year later, it still sits on the shelf. To my surprise, after a bit of getting used to the game the gap doesn't bother me that much anymore. I think the two things that helped mitigate it for me was 1) raising the flipper angle to line up with the ball guides and 2) relaxing the tilt sensitivity. The first one helps with catches to keep the ball under better control to start with and the second lets me fight back against this evil machine

I tend to have more drains from the outlanes or the fun random shit that happens on this game (jumping flippers, popping over lane guides, magna sling hijinx, etc.) rather than STDM. The one exception is a straight roll from gozer out of the pops. THAT is a pain. I am planning to experiment with some kind of ball guide to help prevent this. It is the one time I am thankful slimer is out as he does a good job knocking ball off path.

My suggestion is to dial in the game with pitch and the mods I mentioned and play it for a while as stock. If it is a big pain for you then by all means give the carrots and center post a try.

-Rob

I agree and hope they don't change this in the rules. I like the challenge of planning the mode completion shots. Makes sense to have it a game option to auto start the next mode.

*However* I absolutely think there is a problem when the last slimer hit is in the ecto goggles and collecting it forces the start of the next mode on the right ladder. This is random behavior and is extra frustrating when there is only one mode left in one of the other two sets.

I don't think you understand the scenario I mean. If you complete some number of modes and your current one times out, you will need to hit the ghost target to bring down slimer and bash him in order to start the next mode. There are times when on the last slimer hit, the bash toy swings up and he moves to the ecto goggles. At this point there is nochoice on how to complete slimer, you must shoot the ecto goggles. The problem is, clearing slimer on the ecto shot will immediately start the next mode in the right ladder. That, I think is a problem. Of course this is only a Prem/LE issue.

Now that I have this annoyance at the tip of my brain, I will send a note to Stern while they are (supposedly) working on the GB code update. If anybody has Dwight's direct email, please send a PM.

Maybe I am just the only one who can't finish modes on time It's more common to see this behavior on the first ball if you miss the skill shot to start the first mode. Slimer jumping to the goggles is not a frequent occurrence. It is less of an annoyance on the first ball as most of the time people are aiming for the ecto skill shot and are resigned to starting the game with WBTD anyway.

Great advice in general. I will say aligning the flippers with the inlane on GB provided the single most improvement to game play for me. As mentioned, it gives a fighting chance at catch and cradle. I did not notice any additional difficulty to hitting the extreme angle shots (gear targets and right scoop). So for me tat least here have been no negative trade offs.

Yep this is right. There are animations that are new and will not be colored until the colorDMD team has a chance to provide an update, no biggie.

Grayscale mostly.

My opinion is that even if you only casually enjoy the game play as it sits today, you will be very pleased with the update. For those that have really enjoyed the game over the past 3 years, they will only love it more. I doubt there will be much disappointed from these two groups. Anybody who hates the game play today, I suspect will continue to hate it and we will see the avalanche of complaints from them no matter what.

It never hurts to check your expectations and go in with a blank slate.

I am expecting them to go over the game play changes in the stream and the actual code to drop be a few days later as they finish up fixing last minute bugs.

Yay beta testers! Thanks for the callout Dwight!

You guys pretty much got all the high points. I didn't see mentioned the addition of flipper and auto launcher coil power controls. Turning these down have really improved overall gameplay for me anyway. Another subtle change is that to start the right ladder the ball has to go all the way around the full orbit. Starting this ladder is no more a gimmie with a backhand.

Also the 'K' skill shot advances the multiplier, not auto light both 2 and 3. I think the red inserts flash more, but I don't remember when.

Yes there is a setting for this.