Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

[Mr EliteL]

Ooh, didn't think about using a second controller. Those will be easier then.

Other than today, all the other times sound good, apart from maybe tomorrow night which depends on what time I'm back home, but would also mean only a couple of hours. Monday too for couple of hours, because of my sister wanting to go to bed early (well, 11). Thursday is easily the best time, but we can try the times before then. If I'm on my PS4 playing CTR then jump on Discord.  =3

[Moonface]

Monday too for couple of hours, because of my sister wanting to go to bed early (well, 11).

Is the PS4 in her room or something?

[Mr EliteL]

Nah, she has her own now. Just that she's in my brother's old room now, and I usually heard things he did and if she's watching TV, that too. I keep my volume down, but it's the button pressing, and other noises that could disturb her trying to sleep. I should ask really if it does.
*asks*
Yeah, she can hear. So 11-11:30 latest is when I can play until.

Can we make Tuesday the possible first day we try online together? Better to have more time then.
EDIT: Scratch that, we both need the Weekly Challenge of Friendly Meeting at least, which runs out tomorrow. D: Then I assume the challenges will update similarly like Quick and Daily where it'll be more or less the same thing. But it's missing out on 300 Nitro Points, and we must have that! So I'll be up for that.

[Moonface]

As a note, you need to be roughly in the top 37,000 as of now on PS4 in the Nitro Points leaderboard to make the top 5% for the kart. Also, the championship kart will appear as the reward for every Grand Prix for being in the top 5% of players, however the decal it comes with is exclusive to its respective Grand Prix. So the next GP will have the kart sporting a different decal. However it's pretty easy to get into the top 5% for Nitro Points since anyone playing the game will end up in that leaderboard, whereas Online Races relies on people playing online, which right now seems to be sitting at almost half the number of people in the Nitro Points leaderboard.

I was going to explain how boosts work for building stupid speed and chains, but this video series will do a better job of explaining the under the hood mechanics of CTR. It uses the original game but the mechanics don't change enough for it to be outdated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1OAW_ucXD8

[Mr EliteL]

Feel like I've been getting better at the game recently. Won some more race online, although there are a few tracks I'm still not good at. N. Gin Labs being one of them.

Got all the sets for the Nitro Squad, completed the Gold Tier in time (about 3 days before?) and ended up at 44786 total Nitro points which landed me at 31,000th place exactly this morning when I checked before work. Although for some reason turning the game on now, I'm sitting at 31,017th and the total number of players is still going up even though the Grand Prix has ended. Also, no sign of the Championship Kart being unlocked even though I'm in the top 5%. Perhaps it'll be handed out later?

[Moonface]

The final numbers have been jumping about a bit since the GP ended. I'm guessing it might be down to syncing up all the true final scores or something. As for the Champion Kart, it'll be handed out at some point but no precise time frame was given. I assume it'll come along before the next GP starts, if not at the start of it.

I didn't manage to get every GP item from the Pit Stop before the event ended, and although there's four more days before those items leave the store, I know I can't get everything I didn't get because of the way item rotation works. If Biker Tiny for example doesn't appear in the store, I won't be able to get it.

The Pit Stop rotation bugged me slightly prior to the GP, but after this GP the system is absolutely terrible. I hate having to log on every day to maybe see the item I want in the rotation when the items are limited time only. For the regular items I don't care, they'll never leave, but GP items will leave and god knows when they'll come back, so having to wait for what I want to appear is a nightmare. I dread to think how bad it is for someone without online play and having to grind coins offline trying to obtain all that stuff. I don't think you could possibly obtain everything through just offline earning before the items disappear from the store.

[Moonface]

Back N. Time Grand Prix and Microtransaction Details
Today Activision published a blog detailing all of the content coming in the upcoming Back N. Time Grand Prix for Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, which starts this Friday, August 2nd at 7pm PT / 10pm ET / 3am GMT.

The new track for this Grand Prix is called Prehistoric Playground, which "will immerse racers in an epic world with Jurassic-sized flora, violent geysers bursting from the ground, caves with mysterious wall-paintings, and of course, giant dinosaurs roaming the land. There are also some other, strangely familiar, characters throughout – let’s just say that Fake Crash would feel very comfortable in this Prehistoric world home to an ancient tribe that bears a striking resemblance. Ramp yourself off a “Fake” Diplodocus’ tail, launch into the air with one of the violent geysers, or get ahead with one of the track’s shortcuts!"

New items include the Nostalginator and Mammoth Karts, the “Dashing” Fake Crash skin, and Cave Painting stickers. Baby T. will also make his debut in CTR as a Grand Prix reward character for completing the Bronze Tier of the Nitro Gauge, with a “Fake” Baby T. skin being the final item in the Gold Tier. New Pit Stop items will also be available, including baby variants of Crash and Coco, the Probulot 2000 from Crash Tag Team Racing, and new skins such as Mad Scientist Crash, Sabertooth Pura, and Stone Age N. Tropy.

Players will also be able to obtain Wumpa Coins to buy those items by purchasing them in bundles from their game consoles online store; however, no changes will be made to the earn rates for Wumpa Coins in-game, so you can still play the game as you did before these microtransactions without any differences.

After this Grand Prix will be the Spyro Grand Prix. No details have been given on that yet, but Activision did share that following that Grand Prix, characters such as N. Brio, Nina Cortex, and Komodo Moe will be added in future Grand Prix seasons.

[Mr EliteL]

Dang, already here soon. Kinda wanted a break from going on almost everyday, as my left hand/wrist aches a little bit after playing now. Not every time, but sometimes. Just need to keep on using my Hand Grips then, as that helps.

GP is looking good. Mad Scientist Crash and Ripper Roo, yes. Only thing I'm disappointed in is that new skin for Fake Crash, when there's a better design to the left before you unlock that as a sticker. No idea why that wasn't done as it's more related to the Prehistoric theme than putting spectacles and braces on him. OK, scientist isn't but kind of is if we're imagining Crash/Ripper Roo are discovering artefacts/travelling back in time.

Excellent on the mention of Brio, Nina and Moe.

Today I actually did well on N. Gin Labs online for once, so that's cool. Going to practice that more.
As for GP, is this the last day or is there tomorrow as well before the new one hits for getting an Nitro items? Like you Moony, I still need some or at least one of the Biker skins. Crash specifically, got Tiny's yesterday.

[Moonface]

The Pit Stop will remove all Nitro Tour GP items tonight when it refreshes for the new GP. I didn't get everything, but I got all the skins and tyres; I just couldn't get all the paint jobs, but I don't really care about those as much.

The addition of MTX's doesn't shock me (nor should it shock anyone else) and provided the Wumpa Coin rates aren't lowered, then I don't have an issue with them for now. I will be interested to see what the pricing is going to be for them though.

From what I've heard, this new track is much like Twilight Tour where it's basically just a constant blue fire track. I just hope the blue fire pad isn't like the second one in Twilight Tour where it has a very narrow access point that can be blocked by whoever gets to it first, because a lot of my races on that track became very one sided if someone broke away from the pack by placing items in narrow areas of the track while having blue fire.

For skins, I mostly care for Sabertooth Pura, and Mad Scientist Ripper Roo/Crash. Not a big fan of the pink car, since it doesn't really match with anything else visually in the item pool. I expect Baby Coco is going to dominate most lobbies unless Baby T. is also an acceleration class. Balanced/Turning class really doesn't stand much chance in online lobbies unless the track is highly catered to tight cornering.

[Mr EliteL]

Managed to get Biker Crash today, plus Pink Electron Wheels. Missed out on some or most of the paint jobs, Red, Orange, Green, Purple and Blue Electron Wheels, N. Gin Crash Dummy (I think it was), and Pharaoh Cortex. Oh, and Dingodile painter skin. I should've played more on the weekends, kinda wanted the rest of the wheels and skins, wanted to prioritise Nitro Squad stuff, Biker Crash /Tiny and Le Chaux. Will aim to play more this next GP so I don't have to rely on possibly doing a micro transaction for coins. I know I said I'll do that if I really want to, but would prefer to avoid, and probably will avoid anyway.

I'm still pretty poor at maintaining blue fire, so I'm not too bothered. More chances for me to try and keep it.

Sabertooth Pura's great. I'm wondering if Baby T could be the speed class out of the three, being slightly bigger and all. Baby Coco probably will be acceleration like her normal self, Baby Crash could either be balanced or turning, Baby T could also perhaps be balanced....or any of them really. Probably less likely to be beginner. Will find out tomorrow.

[Moonface]

Baby T is confirmed to be speed class. Baby Crash is turning class, Baby Coco is acceleration. Not mentioned in the roadmap image are new costumes for Tiny (Gladiator), Krunk (Jurassic), and N. Trance. Also, any character with a new skin for this upcoming GP gives a Nitro Point boost now, so unlike GP1 it isn't tied to just new characters, thank god. The Pit Stop and Grand Prix menus can also be accessed during online play. Japan had the patch go out early so people found out this information from that.

Also, Funko just announced a new line of CTR Pops and I need every single one of those kart ones!

[Karo]

I actually have a question what is your opinion about the microtransactions added into the game?

[Moonface]

I actually have a question what is your opinion about the microtransactions added into the game?

The addition of MTX's doesn't shock me (nor should it shock anyone else) and provided the Wumpa Coin rates aren't lowered, then I don't have an issue with them for now. I will be interested to see what the pricing is going to be for them though.

Also, those Funko's I posted appear to only be sold in randomised four packs, so fuck that. I'm not paying for something where you can't tell what you're getting. I'd rather pay $80 and get all six guaranteed. Sucks, but I'm not spending money on that bullshit.

I played the new track today quite a few times (yay for online lobbies) and it is far better than Twilight Tour. I was worried the blue fire pads were going to make it very one sided, but so far it's actually tough to keep blue fire going. The one at the start is hard to hit at an angle where you can go into it drifting to build reserves to maintain the blue fire you get, and the other one at the end before the finish line is right before a long straight, so your reserves are pretty much gone by the time you get to a point where you can build it up again with combo drift boosting. I've found it's best to save a powerup for the shortcut towards the end and drop it on there so that the person behind you hits it and gets thrown off the course. I did that today and secured a chunky lead because of it.

Also it appears the new decal is unlocked for everyone who has the champion kart. I really really would love if anyone with that kart automatically gets every decal for it, but I'm waiting to see a new patch go out that locks it behind the 5% leaderboards.

[Mr EliteL]

@"Yuri"
The micro-transactions of Wumpa Coin would be only good if you're really wanting every item immediately, but building it up online instead feels better as you're earning them as the GP moves along. Also depends on price, 10,000 for every dollar/pound or 2? (I don't currently know the actual price, and hasn't been announced yet or at least I can't find it on my PSN) The cost for Pit Stop items are pretty high.
If you don't have/want PSN, and want to unlock Pit Stop items then yeah, although only if you're into the game already and plan to pay for a long time.
Nitro Points have more earnings offline, so don't have to worry too much about that unless you're not good at the game/don't have time to play enough during the GP month. Also there's not micro-transaction for that anyway.

The Funko items getting sold in randomised packs sucks. I was expecting they'll come in boxes like those mini Pop figures.

The new track's pretty good. Haven't decided which I like best out of the two, as I haven't done really well online on either yet. I haven't tried the two routes either side of the middle one a little after the first blue fire pad yet, but assume that is the best one. My ratio of making that shortcut has been about 50/50, more like 30/70 actually, so far.

Didn't notice about the decal until you mentioned it. Haven't used the kart until today, and assumed it was behind the 5% already. Interesting, but yeah, wonder if there'll be a path on that or not. Will suck for those who didn't make the 5% last time, and most of the people who did may make that position again'll make it harder for the players who missed out.

[Moonface]

The new track's pretty good. Haven't decided which I like best out of the two, as I haven't done really well online on either yet. I haven't tried the two routes either side of the middle one a little after the first blue fire pad yet, but assume that is the best one. My ratio of making that shortcut has been about 50/50, more like 30/70 actually, so far.  

The area of track to the far right when you make the jump after the blue fire pad area is only really accessible with blue fire going. The best way to keep blue fire off that pad is to just drift boost over it and do not jump off it. If you jump you'll lose any reserves before you hit the ground and the blue fire will disappear.

The pricing for the Wumpa Coins packs came out a few days ago, and they're not terrible. It mostly works out at $1 per 1000 coins or so. I wouldn't pay for them, but at least they're not a complete rip off. I was expecting to see double the price.