Feel cheated by Rock Band

[SlapShotSal]

The Rock Band World Tour needs some sort of patch or adjustment. I have had it since Day 1, and my daughter and I had been playing, and I have been playing on the solo tour.

On Christmas night, my wife, who had ZERO interest in playing the game, asked if she could try and play bass for one song. She had a tough time, but loved the game. Next thing you know is she wants to form another band, and we have been playing almost every night since. She has progressed to be able to play pretty well on medium, and I the same. Neither of us are talented on the instruments, but we are having fun. We still have not beat Enter Sandman, but love trying.

Well now, we are at a standstill. At a certain point, you can only get more fans and open up more of the game if we move to Hard. That is not going to happen. So that means, we can't open up many of the other venues. Now my wife wants to play so we can try more songs, but we feel it is more of an extended practice mode. To be honest, I am not sure how many people can play the game on the 2 highest levels, and if you can, I salute you, and I mean that honestly.

Straight out, this sucks. I see from my friends leaderboard, that we are not the only ones stuck at 260,000 fans. I think everybody should be able to play the game on whatever level, and be able to "finish" the game. The "fans" portion of your score should be based on your difficulty. Something along the lines of being able to open the venues, but your fans are more "capped". Like 1 million on easy, 3 million on medium, etc.

Isn't the idea behind this game to feel like a rock band? Well, if so, I want to feel like the weekend player who stinks, but plays at birthday parties. I don't want to be sitting there and seeing only half a game available to me.

This may come off as whiny, but I think you only say that if you can play on the hard or expert levels. At least on GH, you pick your difficulty level, but even if I am not good, I know I can "win the game" on easy. May not be as great as expert, but at least I feel like I won something.

Sorry for the rant, but a game that the family was playing every night, now may start to collect some dust, and that is dissappointing.

I love the game and the concept. Just wish the whole game was acessible to all.

[sumboxcar182]

i do agree with you. i think that you should be pushed into medium but i think after that you should be able to complete the game. it just baffles me because i think everyone knew this would be a fun party game and as we know, it's hard to get 4 people who are good enough to play consistently at hard or above

[TribalDancer]

I agree with you.

But the good news is, there is an unlock code to get all your songs unlocked. Then you can keep playing the "make your own setlist" gigs at the venues you currently have.

Oh, and we found that even when it said we couldn't unlock anything else/get more fans, we did keep getting more venues. Just not all of them. We aren't all ready for hard, either, and so long as ONE of us is on medium, everyone is considered medium (which also frustrates me--we have three on hard and one consistently on medium, no matter what combination of instruments we each use).

[Damien]

The game SHOULD be playable all the way through on any difficulty, but the amount of fans you get per song/set/venue should be calibrated accordingly.

[admanimal]

I must have missed the part where it prevents you from playing songs and having fun with the game just because you can't get more fans. I played band quick play with my family all of Christmas day and I don't think anyone even looked at our total score once.

[DesiredFX]

The Fan Cap was discussed EXTENSIVELY in the first two weeks after launch. No indication has been made that it will be adjusted in any way.

The good news is: you don't have to go up beyond Medium to get to the Hall of Fame and complete the Band World Tour. The only thing not having enough fans does is block you from playing the bigger, "elite" venues.

It's sort of like sidequests in RPGs: you don't have to do them, but if you do, you'd better be prepared for higher difficulty levels.

[sumboxcar182]

there are some venues that you can't get to unless you hit the hard cap for fans. the one that comes to mind is tokyo

[rphtx]

I somewhat agree as well. Our family has been playing since Christmas and are nearing a 'wall' based on our abilities. I can play medium/hard on guitar (havent even tried expert) and my wife who has never played drums can get most stuff done on medium. Then we get to the kids, age 7 and 9...the girl can sing most everything on medium and hard, and my 7 year old is starting to get most everything on medium.

For us, I realize the skill/age thing becomes a factor in progressing and yes it is disappointing not to be able to simply open new songs. We don't care about scores, money or fans, but we are forced to because we won't open any more songs sitting where we are. I know this is a crucial gaming concept and that the better you get the more you are awarded....but it has its drawbacks obviously.

I played through the solo tour and opened all the songs so we can at least play extra songs, but it's just not the same when you are doing them 'outside' of your created band. Aside from that, we have a blast playing Rock Band and thank Harmonix for creating a cool waste of time : )

[SlapShotSal]

I must have missed the part where it prevents you from playing songs and having fun with the game just because you can't get more fans. I played band quick play with my family all of Christmas day and I don't think anyone even looked at our total score once.

I did not say we were not having fun, but part of he game experience is seeing that fan list grow, or shrink, depending on how you play.

[bloozman]

I understand what you are saying but this system pushes you to get better. The first time I picked up Guitar Hero one, I failed songs on easy. It was an extremely difficult concept to gasp being uncoordinated. I played it so much that I got better. I was able to finally beat the game on hard after a LONG time of trying. It took alot of effort but I got there.

Back to Rockband, the fan cap is making me play the guitar on expert. Something that I have not had interest in past games. I am getting better at it and my buddy (with no drumming experience) is consistantly beating songs on hard. It makes you strive to be better and I think that is a good thing. I am hoping to complete the solo tour on Expert this weekend. I am about half way through.

[SlapShotSal]

The Fan Cap was discussed EXTENSIVELY in the first two weeks after launch. No indication has been made that it will be adjusted in any way.

The good news is: you don't have to go up beyond Medium to get to the Hall of Fame and complete the Band World Tour. The only thing not having enough fans does is block you from playing the bigger, "elite" venues.

It's sort of like sidequests in RPGs: you don't have to do them, but if you do, you'd better be prepared for higher difficulty levels.

Desired - Thanks for this information. Knowing that we can get to the HOF should be enough to keep the family interested in finishing the "quest".

I like your RPG analogy. Thanks, again.

[DesiredFX]

Desired - Thanks for this information. Knowing that we can get to the HOF should be enough to keep the family interested in finishing the "quest".

I like your RPG analogy. Thanks, again.

No prob. That's basically what I gleaned from (and contributed to) that enormous thread boiled down into a very few sentences and concepts.

Know that you're not alone in thinking that the Fan Caps are a pain and should be obliterated or at least tapered off rather than having hard cut-offs.

My own opinion is that it's no big deal--it's just another way of scoring. But I do understand why people find it disappointing...especially people with young kids playing.

[JMcSquared]

Last week I started my own band with Me on Bass and Me as the vocalist. I had completed Solo mode for Hard and Expert Vocals prior to starting but I figured I'd start with vocals on hard to save me in case I was having difficulty later with the guitar (which I started on easy). I figured that when the first cap came around (only after 4 or 5 songs) all I'd have to do is move the guitar up - nope it made me move up to expert vocals and medium guitar. I still did pretty well, don't think I failed once. THEN at the 260000 mark it told me to again kick it up to HARD guitar - thank GOD I'm doing Bass. I am holding on for dear life now with overdrive being used whenever possible. When I screw up on bass I usually cuss and then focus harder sometimes ignoring a line of vocals..oops. We need some work and wasn't willing to risk losing fans if we didn't do the rest of our gigs in Hard/Expert. Good to know I can do them Medium/Expert and get a little better first before I do a return proformance once we have it down.

Cool, I can say we when talking about myself. :D:p

[Highlandlassie1]

Do you actually think someone can just pick this (or GH) and beat the game on expert?

It is called practice, practice, practice.

No one can expect to be able to play in hard or expert for a while.

Put in several months to a years worth of practice before you start complaining.

Anyone can do it with enough practice.

It takes MUCH longer than that to be a real musician.

[espher]

I must have missed the part where it prevents you from playing songs and having fun with the game just because you can't get more fans. I played band quick play with my family all of Christmas day and I don't think anyone even looked at our total score once.

THIS. THIS!

You're only missing out on backgrounds by not playing hard/expert.

[Grey_Street]

THIS. THIS!

You're only missing out on backgrounds by not playing hard/expert.

But that really isn't all you are missing. I've had Rock Band parties both ways, just using quick play, and just using BWT. Depending on the crowd and the numbers of people each has it's place. With a smaller group(4-5) that is mostly there to play the game, the BWT is much more fun because you can track what you are accomplishing. W/ a larger crowd that is more focussed on partying the quick play works better cuz there isn't really a sense of group because several people are playing.

This being said, every time I've had a party w/ a smaller group, once it starts saying 0 fans gained, the wind is taking out of most people's sails. It doesn't really bother me any more cuz I'm used to it, but it is very annoying. That is usually the beginning of the end of the party...

[davidshek]

This being said, every time I've had a party w/ a smaller group, once it starts saying 0 fans gained, the wind is taking out of most people's sails. It doesn't really bother me any more cuz I'm used to it, but it is very annoying. That is usually the beginning of the end of the party...

I wouldn't necessarily agree with this part. I play with some guys from work about once a week on our days off. And while I can play guitar/bass on Expert, I'm the only one of the group who can play drums above Medium.

So I end up playing Hard or Expert on drums while the other guys play Hard on guitar/bass (neither is nearly good enough to try Expert...they still do all downstrums :rolleyes:). But being at the Medium fan cap (and now at the Hard cap) hasn't in any way hindered our enjoyment of the game or BWT experience.

I also play with our neighbors and their 7 & 9-year old daughters. The girls play guitar and sing, both on Easy or Medium, but they don't care that we're at the fan cap. They just love to play the game :)

We still get stars and money, and isn't it all about the money? ;) I mean, who cares about fake/virtual fans that only show up on some online leaderboard? I know we don't...

[Grey_Street]

I wouldn't necessarily agree with this part. I play with some guys from work about once a week on our days off. And while I can play guitar/bass on Expert, I'm the only one of the group who can play drums above Medium.

So I end up playing Hard or Expert on drums while the other guys play Hard on guitar/bass (neither is nearly good enough to try Expert...they still do all downstrums :rolleyes:). But being at the Medium fan cap (and now at the Hard cap) hasn't in any way hindered our enjoyment of the game or BWT experience.

I also play with our neighbors and their 7 & 9-year old daughters. The girls play guitar and sing, both on Easy or Medium, but they don't care that we're at the fan cap. They just love to play the game :)

We still get stars and money, and isn't it all about the money? ;) I mean, who cares about fake/virtual fans that only show up on some online leaderboard? I know we don't...

For you it is all about the money...for others it may be something else. Most of the people I play w/ will never get into all of the customization possibilities.

You could just as easy say who cares about fake money that only shows up in the game...would it bother you if you stopped making money when you hit a certain dollar amount on the different difficulties?

[Frederf]

The second I read this I knew where it was going, then I saw it: fans.

As it stands I can offer two forms of advice:

1. If you are at "the" fan cap, take it as a compliment then ignore fans till such a time as you aren't. By no means does not gaining fans means you stop progressing.

2. Don't get obsessed with beating the game. Most console gamers consider beating a game more important than playing it. It's really hard I know but try to fight this bad psychology.

On the very off chance that you are completely done with the game on medium but can't play hard (5*'d and orange-checked every set list avail.) then I give my sympathies.

[espher]

This being said, every time I've had a party w/ a smaller group, once it starts saying 0 fans gained, the wind is taking out of most people's sails. It doesn't really bother me any more cuz I'm used to it, but it is very annoying. That is usually the beginning of the end of the party...


If the primary motivation for playing the game is earning fans, to me that means one of two things:

a) You're somewhat competitive, and thus should work towards a difficulty level jump.

b) You're playing for the wrong reasons.

[JimmyRyan]

Do you actually think someone can just pick this (or GH) and beat the game on expert?

It is called practice, practice, practice.

No one can expect to be able to play in hard or expert for a while.

Put in several months to a years worth of practice before you start complaining.

Anyone can do it with enough practice.

It takes MUCH longer than that to be a real musician.


This is kind of missing the point of not only the thread, but I would suggest the game itself. Like GH, it's got its Solo aspect, where of course the player who owns the game or uses it frequently would like to advance to the most difficult setting. And sure, everyone who plays it wants to be good at it.

But first and foremost, RB was made to be a party game, or at least a multiplayer game. The average person who plays RB is not going to be able to jump into it at Hard or Expert settings. They will be lucky if they can even pass most songs on Easy drums for example. In order for the game to be accessible, it has to be enjoyable for the casual users as well as the hardcore ones. It's much easier than GH for that purpose, but BWT does suffer from some annoyingly low fan caps and diffculty requirements.

At the very least, they should make BWT finishable on Easy, as now it's only finishable on Medium and higher. They should also be more generous with the fans and allot more of them depending on what the highest difficulty level a bandmember is playing on, not the lowest. i.e. If 3 bandmembers are on Easy, but one is on Expert, soem fans should be allotted even if over the Easy fan cap (but not as many as if all were on Expert.)

Simple things like this would give BWT tour more longevity amongst more casual players, who, lets face it, are far more numerous than those who can 5 star GGaHT on Expert.

[SlapShotSal]

Do you actually think someone can just pick this (or GH) and beat the game on expert?
It is called practice, practice, practice.
No one can expect to be able to play in hard or expert for a while.
Put in several months to a years worth of practice before you start complaining.
Anyone can do it with enough practice.
It takes MUCH longer than that to be a real musician.

Don't want to be a real musician. Also do not want the game to be "dumbed down". If you can play on hard or expert, I salute you, and I mean that honestly.

My point was, that for a family experience, we are bummed that the "fans" stop accumulating at this point. Now that we know we can keep playing and make the HOF, my wife and I are looking forward to moving ahead.

As for your practice, practice, practice comment, my wife and I are in our 40's with a 9 year old. Our practice is having fun playing the game. I have no desire to get to the expert level, and if we can plug away a few songs on hard, great.

[Liger_Trainer]

I wholeheartedly agree about the BWT limitations.

I am playing through all of the individual tours. I've been heavily involved in music my whole life and I think it's a lot of fun. I wanted to be able to play with my eight year old daughter and occasionally with other friends. The sad fact is that I'm the only person I know with this game. One other guy I work with has the GH games, but that's it.

I drum (midway through Hard tour) and my daughter sings on easy. She can sing medium on a few songs (Maps, So Sick, Suffergate). We maxed out on fans real quick. Now the game is forcing her to play at medium on the Random lists so we can get the jet to go to newer venues.

To me this is lame. I don't think the game should force you to a higher difficulty setting. The tracks are already varried in their difficulty (i.e. Say it Ain't So vs. Next to You).

Getting better on you skill setting is "difficult" enough IMO. I think they should let you complete BWT on whatever difficulty you want. Make the rewards greater for those at higher settings. For instance - less fans spread out over time if you are playing on Easy.

The overall problem is I don't want to sit my daughter in front of the XBox to have her "practice, practice, practice" when she could be practicing real guitar or reading. I just want us to be able to enjoy the game without feeling like we hit a brick wall that will only be overcome by hours of practice.

Any other game you play is set up like this. Imagine playing Halo 3 - You do something (I'm trying not to give away plot info here) and then they say - "ok good job! But, to finish the battle you have to play on Legendary!!"

Just my thoughts...

[Touwe]

you dont need fans to open up new stuff, you could go all the way through it on easy if you really wanted to but you just need stars to open up new venues, cities, and gigs

[espher]

But first and foremost, RB was made to be a party game, or at least a multiplayer game. The average person who plays RB is not going to be able to jump into it at Hard or Expert settings.

If we're to be completely fair here, BWT is a co-operative campaign mode, which by definition implies a long-term commitment. People turn it into a party-mode setting, but that really isn't how it's designed (whether or not that was the intent, I don't know, but it's certainly not the design).

You generally don't have leaderboards and long-term objectives for a pick-up-and-play mode. :p

[ManOwaR]

It's hard to say I feel cheated by a game that has brought this much fun into my living room. Furthermore it is a customizable masterpiece.

So.. I won't say that.

[DesiredFX]

But first and foremost, RB was made to be a party game, or at least a multiplayer game. The average person who plays RB is not going to be able to jump into it at Hard or Expert settings. They will be lucky if they can even pass most songs on Easy drums for example. In order for the game to be accessible, it has to be enjoyable for the casual users as well as the hardcore ones. It's much easier than GH for that purpose, but BWT does suffer from some annoyingly low fan caps and diffculty requirements.

If you're treating it as a party game, you want Band Quickplay, not Band World Tour.

Who's going to want to take the time in a party atmosphere to wait while the players all design and create their characters? Who's going to want to spend the time figuring out which gig makes the most sense to play next, or to limit themselves to only the songs that are available at the different venues rather than picking the song they want to play RIGHT NOW from the list of songs in Quickplay?

The only thing I can see missing from Quickplay that would make it more fun for a party atmosphere is a "build your own set" Quickplay mode which would allow you to pick, say three to eight songs that you could play non-stop. I think that would fit a party atmosphere better than having to pick a new song as soon as the last one finished.

You could even play Fire Drill between songs and swap instruments quickly to play the next one.

[Maggot_Brain]

The Fan Cap was discussed EXTENSIVELY in the first two weeks after launch. No indication has been made that it will be adjusted in any way.


No indication has been make that ANYTHING will be adjusted in any way. But we gotta try and hope.

[Tarzanman]

I can't believe how many crybabies there are on this thread.

Your complaint isn't that the game is too difficult on 'easy' or 'medium', but that 'hard' is too... hard? ... and that you can't progress in the game because the game expects you to get better at it?

Why don't you go buy yourself a 'WAAAH'-mburger and some French-'Cries'? There is nothing wrong with the game. It has 4 difficulties to make it accessible and playable to a large number of people and it is designed to allow people who are better at the game to reap larger rewards.

This isn't kindergarten, that is how life works. If you suck at something that you enjoy doing (whether it is school, sports, cooking, whatever), then you practice it until you get better. THE IDEA IS THAT THE PRACTICE ITSELF IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN SINCE YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING THAT YOU ENJOY (but apparently many of you are too empty-headed to realize that).

Let me reiterate... YOU GET BETTER AT ROCK BAND BY....*surprise!*... PLAYING ROCK BAND (omg!). No patience, and no quarter should be given to lazy whiners who complain that a video game should be made easier because they don't have the time or inclination to make themselves better. 'Hard' is called Hard for a reason, you dimwit! And if you can't accept that fact then maybe challenging video games just aren't your thing.

Sell your copy of Rock Band and go play the sims, or some other game that requires no skill, reflexes or practice to make it through. Be sure to enjoy yourself whilst wallowing in your sty of mediocrity.

[Maggot_Brain]

LOL. Teenagers are so funny!

[shank1982]

Don't feel cheated just yet... if you can push through the endless song set which is 58 songs on hard w/o stopping then you have all kinds of options!!
Hang in there! We stayed up til 6 a.m. determined to make it.. now we have all kinds of songs and venues unlocked, and we aren't forced to play on Hard anymore...
The thing I feel cheated about is the guitar... I am on my second guitar and still having the same problem as I did with my first... what can I do about that?? I really dont' want to pack up the entire package and return to the store for a third time!!
Any suggestions? Someone told me that Rockband or EA Games would send a new replacement, but I can't find information on that.....

[RyBu]

I don't think I've changed my mind more times than I did just now reading this thread. I agree with both sides, but in the end of it all, I'm going to have to go with Tarzan. Although he's a total dick about it (haha) he IS right.

I picked up GH1 and started on Expert, ever since then I have played GH2, GH3, and RB(Drums) ALL on expert, never dumbing down, and I must admit I've got skills at them all.

I get friends requests and people asking me all the time how I got so good at drums with no experience in real life, and I say the same thing to them "I just started on expert and I learned it from there".(I'm not where near the best RB drummer btw)

Our bodies are physically capable of doing these exercises, but people like to start on easier things because intimidation, laziness, and frustration. Bottom line is YOU CAN DO IT. It also DOESN'T TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS YOU THINK.

People think "oh man oh man I don't want to put the time into getting good.... gawsh, this is going to take hours and hours of practice mode blah blah blha..."....

That's the attitude that's holding you back. I have a friend who is ****ing ******ed practically and he picked up GH2 without ANY experience, beat it from easy to expert in like 1 months, and he didn't even play that often. I just kept telling him not to be a ***** and cry about it, and just try and it will happen.

The problem isn't (in most cases) physical inability to move your fingers/arms/legs, it's the inability to read the notes, and with time.... that comes. Just don't give up, and maybe let your wife do easy, and you try hard. Just up the skill every here and there. You CAN do it.

In any game, you aren't going to make it to the play-offs without beating teams and getting a high seed, you aren't going to kill the last boss without getting gear and better moves, you aren't going to snipe the last target without getter adjusted to the sensativity and cross-hair radius, you aren't going to bang a chick without sweet talking/impressing/getting her drunk first, and you aren't going to be able to get Big In Tokyo ach without learning how to play on higher difficulties. There's my rant

[SlapShotSal]

I had a feeling that the discussion would turn this way, but you need to read my initial post and a couple after it.

Tarzanman - My whole point was that we were disappointed that the "fans" stopped accumulating. We thought our game experience would end, but now I know we can play through to make the HOF on medium. End of our "problem".

As for your statement to go play another game, that's garbage. I don't want the game dumbed down, or changed for those that can play at the higher levels. Those of you that can play and/or put in the time to practice and make yourself better on hard or expert, my hat's off to you. No time, or desire to do that at this point.

I thank those who helped answer me in earlier posts. My family will still enjoy the game, and will work towards the HOF on medium.

As for my initial statement of feeling cheated, maybe that was harsh, but I would still like the fan accumuation for those of us not on hard or expert.

[Maggot_Brain]

At some point, some of you people are going to realize you're not alone in the world.

Also, you're going to realize that the ability to push 5 buttons and strum real fast aren't going to really do anything for you in the "real world."

(Anyway, I hope that HMX is making all kinds of neat improvements that their faithful customers have asked for. :) )

[stonicus]

Well, that's not been a problem for me so far. As a matter of fact, it's ok. I don't honestly seee any problem with having to practice more and more in order to improve...
Whenever my friends come over to my place, we just play Band Quickplay. Now, I realized I needed a good band in order to play BWT, so my brother and my sister have been`practicing with bass and drums. The result? Still a long way to achieve perfection, but we're on it. Bottomline, even though we don't have a lot of time to play, we get better every day. Just don't feel frustrated and practice as much as you can, and everybody will be able to get to hard, or even to expert soon.

[GloriosoZoso]

As for my initial statement of feeling cheated, maybe that was harsh, but I would still like the fan accumuation for those of us not on hard or expert.

When I initially encountered the cap I was also annoyed. But as you mentioned, you can still enter the HOF and play the endless setlist. Once I discovered that I was fine. I knew I could still "finish" the game.

The reality is that all the accumulation of fans does is:

1) Make you feel like you are accomplishing something. I would suggest that you make earning $ and stars, not fans, your goal. This way you still have obtainable goals to shoot for. My wife and I stopped worrying about fans about a month ago when we maxed out on Hard. Like you, we do not have the time and/or skill necessary to play on expert. Now we just want to earn more stars and play the new DLC.

2) Reward the best of the best with the 1M fans achievement. If anyone (myself included) is not good enough to reach this achievement, then we simply have to admit that we are not professional RB players. If we don't have the ability to earn the most prestigious achievement in BWT, we surely cannot expect to receive the achievement without earning it.

Hope this helps.

[sporkBrigade]

A few straightened out facts I like to inject into every one of these Fan cap discussions. When ever discussing it, I know you don't mean to, but everyone is misleading whenever they use the word "Expert". To be clear, you never have to play on Expert in WBT.

To be extra clear. You never have to play on Expert in WBT.

The Hard cap is 600k. At 600k, you have access to every gig in the game, including all the challenging Hard Level gigs. Expert is never required though fan requirement, or during a gig. Expert is purely for the challenge of getting more then 600k fans and competing on the Leaderboards. No one respects the people who do this. :P

Second, everyone really wants to compare WBT to Halo 3. Halo 3 is what's known as a Linear game. For all the illusion of 3dness, you're really just running in a straight line until you finish. These games are AWESOME for difficulty levels to control. However, BWT is nothing like that. BWT is what's called an open ended Sandbox game. Think Grand Theft Auto, funny enough. The way these games break down are a string of "Core" Missions. In GTA:SA, this was the story of your mama's death. Very moving. In Rock Band, it's the story of your raise to fame! These core missions are always very middle of the road on the challenging scale in these games. In Rock Band, this was best achieved by only requiring the Medium difficulty. Genius!

Also in these games are challenge missions/side quests. In GTA, they're races and various side missions. Not required, and usually MUCH harder then the core misisons. The only way to do this in Rock Band is by requiring Hard. The fan caps manage this quite nicely, though it's a little confusing at first since everyone assumes Fans control progression. The reality is that stars control progression, but if HMX needed to do one thing in this game, they needed to make that clearer. Fans control how much access to each Zone of the Sandbox you have. Zone? WTF?

Back to GTA. You had 3 massive cities spread out before you. Each one was a Zone. As you progress through the core missions, you get access to each zone in turn, and you find more and more sidequests. The hardest sidquests of all were in the 3rd and final city. You might be tempted to think that each city in WBT would be a Zone? Wrong! In WBT it breaks down just like GTA, there are 3 zones. You're starting zone, which is always America or Europe. You're over the seas zone, which is the opposite of whatever you chose. And then the International cities. Moscow, Tokyo, etc. The core missions will lead you through each of the 3 zones. But the 3rd zone is going to be the most restricted, as it contains the hardest of the sidequests. If you can't get the fans to get in those cities, you aren't going to have anything to do there anyway. Hard level arenas contain hard level gigs. You're truely not missing much.

So after reading this, if you're still crossing your arms and frowning, I have one last thing to offer. Try getting a check mark on a venue. As in, you complete everything in that venue. Then choose another venue, and try to get a checkmark on there. It won't take too many checkmarks before you learn that the checkmarks are the gameplay of WBT. Completing gigs is what matters, not fans OR stars. I mean, HOF is awesome. But the only thing that's going to keep you going after that is a love of checkmarks. If you develop that love, I think you might be surprised how much is available not only on Medium, but on Easy as well. You will be a busy beaver, I assure you.

[Hanover]

Denis Leary? Is that you? LOL. I laughed at this.


I can't believe how many crybabies there are on this thread.

Your complaint isn't that the game is too difficult on 'easy' or 'medium', but that 'hard' is too... hard? ... and that you can't progress in the game because the game expects you to get better at it?

Why don't you go buy yourself a 'WAAAH'-mburger and some French-'Cries'? There is nothing wrong with the game. It has 4 difficulties to make it accessible and playable to a large number of people and it is designed to allow people who are better at the game to reap larger rewards.

This isn't kindergarten, that is how life works. If you suck at something that you enjoy doing (whether it is school, sports, cooking, whatever), then you practice it until you get better. THE IDEA IS THAT THE PRACTICE ITSELF IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN SINCE YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING THAT YOU ENJOY (but apparently many of you are too empty-headed to realize that).

Let me reiterate... YOU GET BETTER AT ROCK BAND BY....*surprise!*... PLAYING ROCK BAND (omg!). No patience, and no quarter should be given to lazy whiners who complain that a video game should be made easier because they don't have the time or inclination to make themselves better. 'Hard' is called Hard for a reason, you dimwit! And if you can't accept that fact then maybe challenging video games just aren't your thing.

Sell your copy of Rock Band and go play the sims, or some other game that requires no skill, reflexes or practice to make it through. Be sure to enjoy yourself whilst wallowing in your sty of mediocrity.

[Hanover]

This message should be stickied under the subject: All you need to know about fan caps.


A few straightened out facts I like to inject into every one of these Fan cap discussions. When ever discussing it, I know you don't mean to, but everyone is misleading whenever they use the word "Expert". To be clear, you never have to play on Expert in WBT.

To be extra clear. You never have to play on Expert in WBT.

The Hard cap is 600k. At 600k, you have access to every gig in the game, including all the challenging Hard Level gigs. Expert is never required though fan requirement, or during a gig. Expert is purely for the challenge of getting more then 600k fans and competing on the Leaderboards. No one respects the people who do this. :P

Second, everyone really wants to compare WBT to Halo 3. Halo 3 is what's known as a Linear game. For all the illusion of 3dness, you're really just running in a straight line until you finish. These games are AWESOME for difficulty levels to control. However, BWT is nothing like that. BWT is what's called an open ended Sandbox game. Think Grand Theft Auto, funny enough. The way these games break down are a string of "Core" Missions. In GTA:SA, this was the story of your mama's death. Very moving. In Rock Band, it's the story of your raise to fame! These core missions are always very middle of the road on the challenging scale in these games. In Rock Band, this was best achieved by only requiring the Medium difficulty. Genius!

Also in these games are challenge missions/side quests. In GTA, they're races and various side missions. Not required, and usually MUCH harder then the core misisons. The only way to do this in Rock Band is by requiring Hard. The fan caps manage this quite nicely, though it's a little confusing at first since everyone assumes Fans control progression. The reality is that stars control progression, but if HMX needed to do one thing in this game, they needed to make that clearer. Fans control how much access to each Zone of the Sandbox you have. Zone? WTF?

Back to GTA. You had 3 massive cities spread out before you. Each one was a Zone. As you progress through the core missions, you get access to each zone in turn, and you find more and more sidequests. The hardest sidquests of all were in the 3rd and final city. You might be tempted to think that each city in WBT would be a Zone? Wrong! In WBT it breaks down just like GTA, there are 3 zones. You're starting zone, which is always America or Europe. You're over the seas zone, which is the opposite of whatever you chose. And then the International cities. Moscow, Tokyo, etc. The core missions will lead you through each of the 3 zones. But the 3rd zone is going to be the most restricted, as it contains the hardest of the sidequests. If you can't get the fans to get in those cities, you aren't going to have anything to do there anyway. Hard level arenas contain hard level gigs. You're truely not missing much.

So after reading this, if you're still crossing your arms and frowning, I have one last thing to offer. Try getting a check mark on a venue. As in, you complete everything in that venue. Then choose another venue, and try to get a checkmark on there. It won't take too many checkmarks before you learn that the checkmarks are the gameplay of WBT. Completing gigs is what matters, not fans OR stars. I mean, HOF is awesome. But the only thing that's going to keep you going after that is a love of checkmarks. If you develop that love, I think you might be surprised how much is available not only on Medium, but on Easy as well. You will be a busy beaver, I assure you.

[lawman118]

Sporkbrigade.
thanks for that info. me and a buddy just got into the expert portion of BWT (+600k fans) and he was pushing his abilities to get there, although my expert guitar worries come toward the last few songs of the standard game. Now that we have unlocked all the cities we will jump back down to the hard level and depending on casusal player that might join in drop down to medium.

Although is sucks not to get more fans, it will be nice to know we can still finish the game.