Quoted from Rarehero:Well, that's a HUGE problem that the designer and the programmer should have figured out. That ring is dead center and each ramp shot brings you into it...and when you're in it, you can bat the ball around in there. Visually, the game says "GET THE BALL IN THE RING" ...but it's pointless unless you start a match? That's just terrible design/coding. Massively unintuitive. Hate to be a dick and call him out, but this sounds like Waison's MO. He's programming pinball like it's a video game. You need to to "get the key" in order to "get into that room". Unfortunately this game is designed as such so the "room" is never blocked off...so it was a fatal flaw to program the game rules this way. He did the same thing on X-Men. Originally you couldn't do ANYTHING in the game (the shots meant NOTHING) until you locked 3 Balls and played Magneto Multiball...THEN, the hero shots opened up. It was just horrific....so much so that the rules were re-written. I don't see WWE getting re-written at this point. Stick a fork in it.
If you listened to Trudeau's interview a while back, he said he basically designed the game to a certain point, and handed it over for the code to be completed. As such, this isn't a designer problem, it's the code, though it would be nice if there was an upper orbit, with diverters to lead to this area.
As for the ring, although I hate it, and I think most do, I can see where something different like this would be worth a shot, given I'm assuming that Stern was well aware that this machine would not go over great with pinheads all in all.
Does anyone who has routed it have any info on how it has been received by the non-pinheads? I would think for kids, that don't really care for pinball anyway, seeing a large in your face recognizable ring in the middle may actually be a hook/draw for them.
Ogden, UT
