I was wondering how the disc direction arrows would come into play. After a quick scan of the rules doc. It seems that this has been implemented for at least two modes. The super disc mode, and the final battle against Thanos. With all three flippers in play. Getting that disc to spin how you want it should be fun.

Also, I'm really liking the alternate start option were you play a challenge mode instead of a regular game. It'd be great if there were two or three challenge modes to choose from. I think this would be even better than co-op. I know, I'm asking for a lot. Just dreaming here...

With the nylon nut on the top of that post. At least you can see if it's loosing up. If the screw starts sinking down into the nut you know you it's moving. Maybe not as helpful on location as at home. But worth noting.

Yup, thanks for the streams Jack. Just wondering why you weren't going for portal locks before gem quests to turn them into multiballs? Maybe that's just another layer of the game you haven't gotten too far into yet? I didn't watch the whole stream this time, but watched the others and have been wondering about this. Thanks!

I hope there's an option or this. Seems like the kinda thing that is usually in there.

In with LE#458!

My Captain Marvel ramp is smooth as long as you hit it clean. Haven't had any balls come off the wire form on the way back to the right inlane. Autoplunge and manual usually make it all the way around. If anything I need to plunge a little less than 100% to make it travel more smoothly. Sometimes a hard plunge will rattle and not make it all the way. Playfield looks great, no issues with clear or art clarity at this point. Yellow looks good. I wasn't over the moon about the color but it looks good in person. I did have a switch misfiring for a little while. It seems to have cleared up by itself. I think it was the side loop opto judging by the sound effect. Just trying to give some feedback here. Still learning the flow of the rules and the shots. Fun game, looking forward to many plays.

Okay. The side loop opto misfiring problem did not "clear itself up". It's not working at all. I thought maybe one of the ball guides is blocking it. But in switch diagnostics it's showing as on with both the coin door open and closed. I checked another nearby opto and that one only shows as on when the coin door is closed. Bad opto? I guess my plan to play a bunch today is scrapped. I'll reach out to Stern tomorrow. Only has about a dozen plays on it

Update. The diagnostics does not update the switch status with the door open. So I was misreading what was going on. It does appear that it was just that the wire ball guide was blocking the opto. Back in the game! Hooray!

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Is there any way to replay the soul gem quest? I know if you have the soul gem you can replay other gem quests. But it seems that the soul gem is a "do, or do not, there is no try" kinda thing?

I don't think you need to cancel. I'm sure there are way more games with no issues that you don't hear about than games with issues. I know of two other LE in my pinball group and they're both fine, no issues. I had one minor issue. In my experience Stern will make it right if you have a problem with a mech or something. Really everything I've read here is minor and fixable. Just my two cents. I've been playing the heck out of mine. I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on a great game over small stuff.

Yeah, I think there's a bug in the soul gem quest. It's happened to me 4 times. The screen says 7/8. But the tower shot is not lit anymore and additional hits to it do not complete the mode.

I tried to pay closer attention this time. Here's what I saw. Shot number 7 to Captain Marvel did not register the first time and so I hit it again and it worked. The tower shot lit up. I hit it. It seems to go most of the way up. But the magnet did not grab the ball. When the ball came back down the shot insert light went out. But I did not get credit for the shot. It still showed 7/8 on the screen. I hit the tower again and still no credit. So I was in a purgatory state until I ran out of flips.

Sometimes the extra ball callout sounds like Drac from Monster Bash. Let me know if anyone else hears that. Maybe it's just the beers. lol

I had this too.

For mine I just had to push down on the wire form rail slightly and the opto would work again. I had to do it a few times. But it's been fine for over a week now. I play it every day.

Side loop opto (resized).jpeg

I really like Sterns new lighting coming from the apron. It helps light up the flipper area and the artwork in the area. It would be cool if Stern put out a kit to retrofit other Spike 2 games with that.

Anyone been playing with the challenge mode yet? It's pretty cool. I'm not so good at it yet. But, I was victorious a few times.

The spinning disc post seems to be the big randomizer for me. I'm getting used to it. But it can send the ball in some dangerous directions. That makes it fun though, and you need to be hitting that disc for a lot of the finer points of the game.

Collected all six gems for the first time. On the first try for each as well. I guess I'm ready for Thanos when he returns. Or at least once every 200 games or so.

Yes, I have that same issue occasionally. But it hasn't bugged me enough to fix it yet. I was going to bend the arm on the microswitch a little.

raydaypinball Youtube channel has some good ones about gem uses. For the basics try Deadflip

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2JjtWMcmCVX3KhPNiR4w3Q

https://www.youtube.com/c/DEADFLIP/videos

A few weeks ago my auto-plunger stopped getting the ball all the way up the back ramp and around to the right flipper. It was about 95% successful before. Not sure what changed. It definitely feels weaker. It's coming out of the chute okay, it just doesn't have enough power. The adjustment in the menu is maxed out at default. It would be nice if they gave room to go up or down. I know going down helped some people. But in my case it needs to go up. I guess I'll reach out to Stern after the holiday. Having all the balls fall into the pops instead of going around to the flipper definitely changes the way the game plays.

On another note. The new code is great. This game keeps getting better. I'm very happy with it.

The button also gets used for using gem powers. Mind and space gems both use it. You have to collect the gem first. Then place it with a hero. The higher the level of the hero the more the gem powers do.

Change the Iron Man inserts by spinning the disk.

No outlane saver per say. But there is a super ball saver you can get from the drops computer feature.

The alignment of both the rod and the auto-shooter mech seem fine. I can manually plunge all the way around no problem. Thanks!

I sometimes get BW and Gauntlet ramp rejects from the ball taking off at the top of the ramp. Hitting the top plastic shields and coming back down. This happens more often for the first few games after a novus cleaning. Not a big deal. But, I'm wondering if those shields at the tops of the ramps were curved instead of flat. Would that help the ball make the shot and not reject?

Yeah, sometimes Thor arrives to the party a little early when you're not quite ready for him yet. He's very excitable. On the other hand. Thor or IM can be used to delay the start of Soul Gem so that you can level up your team beforehand. Even when the portal is open to start Soul Gem. If you start a multiball it will close and you can get a few things done. For example. It's handy when you have Mind Gem but it's on a character that's only collected. You can use the multiball to get to level 1 so it's more helpful during Soul Gem.

I had to adjust the metal arm of the microswitch on mine to get it to register every time. I just bent it toward the ball path a little bit. It's located on the wire form ramp return. Just above the Ant-man kick out.

My 2 cents

Love the new Thanos modes. This fight just got real.

Love the Graphics.

It would be nice if some of the characters voices were more distinct from each other. I don't think they are bad on their own. It just took a little while to figure out who's talking. I always pictured Dr. Strange as sounding a bit aloof.

Someone posted about having the main screen when not in a mode changed from the trophy room. Maybe having the drops grid awards visible there instead of having to go to into the info menus. That would be cool. Maybe have Vision sitting at the computer with the grid showing or something.

All in all I'm very grateful for this amazing game, it keeps getting even better.

I was just thinking that a mirror blade mod for the subway would be awesome.

The last two LE code updates did the same for me. Disc was staying up. A power cycle was all that was needed in both cases.

Digging the Capt. Marvel enhancement. As well as the rest of the update. Time to go play some more. Weeee!

Anyone hear anything about when the gem shooter rod will be available?

Extra ball lights at around 8 trophies. An extra ball is useful for getting to the wizard modes.

I just noticed this IE Pinball video on youtube. Oh my...

3.8 Billion points before starting Soul Gem. Umm, I'm doing it wrong, lol.

I think the points came as much from, if not more from, the Time Gem + Super Combo's running. If they do make a change (nerf) I would think it would be more directed at the Time Gem. Maybe make a short waiting period before it can add time again or something. Or a limit as to how much the time bank can be increased over a given number of seconds. I'm sure the experts will know what to do.

I've had mine since Dec. So I'm sure they are out there. The mode is pretty cool but not a must have. At least not yet. You have to do well in it to get a lot of points out of it. Or at least I have not gotten a lot of points in it yet. It's a switch hit mode where jackpots light up at certain switch hit thresholds. I'm glad to have mine. It adds something to the game with the new mode. It can come into play if doing dollar games with friends or just something else to do. Progress toward the mode is saved between games. Which is a cool feature.

Love the game. Here are a couple minor suggestions.

Usually when the "Collect Gem" insert is lit. Hitting the gauntlet ramp will raise the post and pause the ball there. So I'm used to that behavior. In the topper mode. Hitting that last hurry up shot at the gauntlet does not raise the post. But since the insert is lit it fakes me out. Minor stuff to be sure, but I thought I'd mention it.

It would also be nice to have the current playfield multiplier displayed on the screen. When you stack a multiball with a gem quest multiball it's not always clear what the current multiplier is. Also just a minor "quality of life" type thing.

It's just nice to know where you're at with regard to the multiplier. Sometimes I start a gem quest as a multiball but drain down a ball or two just as I'm bringing in Thor or IM multiball. So I'm not entirely sure what the multiplier is at. It can come into play if your going for a high score on a specific mode. Or, even playing competitively. 3X multiplier during Thor may change how much focus I put on it. Especially if I have a gem victory laps running. I sometimes prioritize overall progress in a game over finishing modes. Priorities can change during a game depending on how it unfolds. It's not a big thing though, just a nice to have. I'd like to see tilt warnings on the screen too. On a long ball I loose track. But that's kinda part of pinball in general and another topic altogether.

I think the 3x would apply to Thor and the gem mode. At 3x it would make me more likely to take risks to rack up points and stay in multiball for as long as possible. If I'm at 1x I may just play for winning the gem and play it safe. Using Thor to help me win the gem and then move on. Not worrying about points or completing Thor as much.

Yeah, that makes more sense now that I think about it.

Yeah losing a gem is a bummer. But it's awesome when you defend your gems in Thanos attacks and then you are awarded a gem that you failed to collect earlier. So, you can take his too! It's a two way battle with both you and Thanos having something to loose, or gain.

On a wider note. With games being as deep as they are these days. They can feel harder than they actually are. Given similar ball times. You get much further in a 90s game than a modern game with deep code. This can make it feel harder because the wizard mode is so far away at the end of the game. But the good news is that's where mini-wizard modes come in!

I do the same. Also sometimes hit Black Panther to get from left to right. Or even Captain Marvel if I'm feeling it. I rarely feel the need to post pass on this game. On JP2 I do it all the time because it's less risky than making a shot. But for AIQ the shots are easy enough that the risk seems about the same as a post pass. So I might as well get credit for a shot. Especially for the Black Widow shot. Unless of course I don't want to level up a character any further.