Absolutely. Prices up, quality down. Simple. "Bashing" justified. We're the customer who they want to spend $5000-$15,000 on a large mechanical game....so if they're not providing value for that money, F yeah we're gonna "bash". Stern has many problems, but these are the most fundamental:

-Testing. This is a large piece of equipment, and they'd rather keep the title secret for marketing purposes than put it location to test. They used to test, and the games were better built when shipped because of it. They stopped around Avengers....and almost every game has had problems since & gotten worse.

-Code. These are games, and the code IS the game. They're selling expensive games in which the GAME isn't figured out yet, and they have no structure internally or within marketing that guarantees the game will ever be complete. This is massively unacceptable. $60 or less video games don't have this problem, and if a game ships with missing features or with bugs, the company always communicates and gives updates on updates. If a video game shipped buggy or incomplete and the company didn't communicate - that company goes out of business. Gamers would never buy their product again. And that's $60 or less.

Debatable.

Debatable

LOL

Some games dimple. Some games crater. There's a difference. Cratered games will never smooth out. They'll always look like lumpy clay. Stern games have been inconsistent in this way since around Star Trek. My friend's LE looked like absolute mush, mine has some dimples but was overall glassy and smooth.

So please, when people complain about dimples, don't treat them like they're newbs and don't get it. There are different levels of dimpling. Acceptable metal/wood, and craters. Craters never even out or look good down the road.

Nah, it's cuz everyone else had done it already, even boutique companies...they were dragged into it.

So far, LCD has proven one thing: It's just a score display. DMD games aren't dated because what's on the playfields is still far more advanced and impressive than anything so far in the "LCD era".

I posted these in another thread as an example of lumpy cratering. This is a TWD LE on route - so - if lots of play smooths dimples, this game should be super smooth, right? Nah, it looks like lumpy clay. And before anyone says it's a lighting trick, I've played lots of different TWDs on location & most have nice smooth glassy surfaces. So - I'm not saying this happens to all games....but it does to some, and when it does, don't tell people it's "normal", because it's not.

IMG_0191.JPG
IMG_0185.JPG
IMG_0189.JPG
IMG_0192.JPG

That's probably it, but they should have figured out by now which suppliers or which types of wood lead to mushy playfields vs. awesome playfields....and only use the good stuff.

Of course it matters....we know the same game within the same run can have awesome or shit playfields...after spending $5000-$8000, don't you think you deserve the awesome one? My first NIB Stern, a *CLEARANCE* Wheel of Fortune for $2400, had the most perfect glassy playfield I'd ever seen, and didn't dimple/crater at all. So, knowing that it's possible to have a good one, OF COURSE it matters and you should want the good one!

I remember playing my friend's clay-cratered STLE and you could "feel" it...you could feel the ball rolling on the lumps. It absolutely affects gameplay when it's that bad. Again, this isn't "look at it in a certain light and you can see it" stuff...all of my "good" games, yes - you can see the dimples if you turn on the ceiling lights and look at certain angles...but they look glassy and smooth under normal conditions...maybe visible dimple here or there...but not these massive pock-mark type ones. There is a difference.

You always conveniently ignore the facts and evidence presented.

Once again I speak to the brick wall:

NORMAL DIMPLES even out!!!!
CRATERED LUMPS DO NOT!!!!!!

These are two different issues. Lumps NEVER even out EVER.

You did it again.

Dimples are dimples.
Craters are craters.

Different issues. Stop LUMPING them together.

You're wrong. Flat out wrong. You know nothing about playfields and no one should ever trust you with quality restorations when you're so ignorant of the very thing you claim to specialize in. Not sure why it's taken a decade to do this, but it's time to throw you on my ignore list with the other useless voices who contribute nothing of value to the hobby. Farewell forever, Neo!

Actually they used to use Sharpies for touchups in the past. A friend of mine got a Tron LE with Sharpie touchup on the playfield...he had a fit! My friend's 2007 Spider-Man had some Sharpie touchups on the cabinet.

Tighten your outlanes, problem solved.

I've had AC/DC since it came out and have never had that experience. Weird.

I've never had this problem. You see the ball coming, you know it's physics and trajectory, and can nudge & save it on the right.

The "X blocks my view" phenomenon is interesting. There are some pinball players who can't track the ball unless it's 100% in sight...the people who say the hammer on Metallica blocks their view, for example. I've never felt like it blocked my view...I know where the ball is during that half a second that it's behind something and know where it's going to be momentarily.

Is that a complaint about GOTLE? I thought the main complaint was one of the orbits not working, the upper playfield slowing down flow, or the upper playfield just being lame.

I'm not saying you're wrong - I'm just saying that it's interesting how people have different experiences. For me, the cannon isn't that big, I can always see the ball coming, and for that millisecond that it's obstructed, I can "feel" the ball...I can tell where it is based on where it came from and from the ball's physics.

Same thing with glass reflection. Some people are so annoyed by it that they insist on buying non-reflective glass. Glass reflection rarely bothers me at all...my eyes can focus past the glass and onto the playfield. Some people can't do that, apparently.

Yes, the fact that it's the worst game ever made in the history of humanity should be enough to keep you away...but the falling-apart aspect and incomplete code is just the icing on the chocolate cake....oh wait, that's not chocolate!