What Happened to Flame Notes In Rockband Blitz?????

[HeyRiles]

Whats pathetic is that you think getting rid of Flame notes will allow you to finally compete with the higher skilled players. I hate to break it to you but it won't.

Skill always wins out no matter how easy they make the game for people like you.

I don't understand this. First of all, they aren't making the game easier at all. In fact, you could say that all they're doing is making the game harder in terms of getting stars

But let's assume that literally the only thing you're talking about is #1 scores, in which case this is an exceptionally egotistical thing to say. The issue here is about the high scores that are currently on the leaderboard, and not about making people that use Flame and Jackpot resort to other methods to getting the #1 score. You're essentially whining that people can beat your Flame Note scores more easily now, when in reality it's actually made it far more difficult, or in some cases impossible, to beat the scores

Furthermore, it hasn't made the game easier for people like me, because we're still getting the same scores - ones that can't reach the now unbeatable top leaderboard scores. It may make the game more difficult for the best Flame Note/Jackpot players as they may now have to resort to different loadouts to get the top score in a brand new song, but it doesn't affect the game at all for those of us who play the game normally and without exploits, aside from apparently a few leaderboard spots higher now that people are boycotting the game because they aren't able to abuse their favorite exploit

[Ralphy2009]

so you're assuming that because people don't find a website, make an account, search for the right thread and post here, that they don't think this is a bad thing?

He's also assuming there are 30,000 people who still actively play Blitz who this change would affect. I'd be surprised if the field of people who still play Blitz four months after release is much more than 1,000.

In this thread: the 1% complaining about changes that benefit the 99%. Since we're all geeks here, I'll quote Spock

This sounds like very faulty logic to me. Based on the overwhelmingly negative feedback of the players in this thread, I think it makes much more sense to instead use extrapolation to conclude that the "1%" of players is probably those who are happy with this change and how it currently impacts leaderboards (even though I personally think that 1% liking this change is a high estimate, and it's closer to zero).

I think most people agree with the idea behind the change, making flame notes less powerful. It's the way they changed it that everyone is up in arms about. Having old personal scores and leaderboard scores that are unbeatable is a huge blow to most of the people who still play this game. Hopefully another update to the point values will fix things so that playing the game can be rewarding again.

3) Keep playing. I've seen a number of people declare that they're done playing and that this has ruined the game for them. That is obviously not what we want. If you don't think this was an effective change, you can help by showing us.

Like another person earlier in the thread, I tried several combinations. I can't get close to my scores where I had used Jackpot/Flame before. In a game that's entirely about score, I don't feel like there's a reason to keep playing when there's no way to beat my old scores. I'll be happy to return and test other power-ups if things change again, but for now it should seem obvious that this wasn't an effective change since high scores are now unobtainable on songs I've played, and I don't see how I'll be able show much by continuing to play when there's no chance of beating old scores. That's definitely not how I want to spend my time playing the game.

[cowboys282]

I don't understand this. First of all, they aren't making the game easier at all. In fact, you could say that all they're doing is making the game harder in terms of getting stars

But let's assume that literally the only thing you're talking about is #1 scores, in which case this is an exceptionally egotistical thing to say. The issue here is about the high scores that are currently on the leaderboard, and not about making people that use Flame and Jackpot resort to other methods to getting the #1 score. You're essentially whining that people can beat your Flame Note scores more easily now, when in reality it's actually made it far more difficult, or in some cases impossible, to beat the scores

Furthermore, it hasn't made the game easier for people like me, because we're still getting the same scores - ones that can't reach the now unbeatable top leaderboard scores. It may make the game more difficult for the best Flame Note/Jackpot players as they may now have to resort to different loadouts to get the top score in a brand new song, but it doesn't affect the game at all for those of us who play the game normally and without exploits, aside from apparently a few leaderboard spots higher now that people are boycotting the game because they aren't able to abuse their favorite exploit

HeyRiles this has nothing to do with being egotistical. No one can now top the high scores on the leaderboard no matter how good you are. there is no combination to do this. Thus the leaderboards no longer have a use.

Your other argument is flawed. You separate players as top flame not players and that there are others who are tops using other power ups. The reason people used flame notes were because they got the top score.

If Blast notes or pinball got the best score the same people who used Flame notes would use that Power up and be at the top.

The power up does not determine how good a player is the player determines how good a player is. Whatever the next best combo will be the same group of people will use that same combo to get the top scores.

Trust me I have used every power up. Jackpot/Flame was the most difficult. the other Power ups are easier for all of us to use.

I am happy for you that the change has not affected you. But I assure the game is now easier for all of us. Almost to a point that it is boring. Add in the fact that none of us can top our high scores and the reasons to play the game are not there.

[zage1337]

AJayN85 how about you find 25 people that are happy that flame notes are now useless. Have you actually bothered testing flame notes after the nerf, or are you just pulling the "you are the 1% you mean nothing to the overall fanbase" card that fanboys tend to pull when there is a disagreement going on. This isn't the first time I saw this. You really seem to bring the 1% vs the 99% like this is Occupy Wall Street. This has always been highly faulty logic. I can easily get 25 people who completely disagree about this change and these are people who invested highly into this game and Rock Band in general. Can you get 25 people who are happy about this change? I think you will find more people who just simply don't care one bit about it and don't really care about the game enough in general to have a passionate debate and discussion over the mechanics like we are doing right now.

Flame Notes were not always the most overpowered powerup on every song. As I said earlier about 1/2 of my cross plat 1sts on RBW were achieved without using flame notes and I have a lot of them.

People who were never skilled in using flame notes effectively aren't being positively affected by this at all, in fact if they actually want to try out flame note combinations and test their skills, they can't do it anymore because the nerf closes the doors down on them. What is the point of practicing bandflame and jackflame playstyles when they are now in fact useless in this game. Even Runaway Note playstyles which was never taking seriously in the competitive scene now makes more sense.

I think you are highly mistaking the difference between balance and making a powerup downright useless. HMX did the latter. Flame Notes are not balanced right now. The points they give is completely pathetic and if you are playing a song which has decently high mulitpliers..get this...

You are actually getting LESS points for hitting the flame note then if you were just hitting a regular base note. Yes you read that correctly. LESS points. This of course happens later in the song when the multiplier is at least 35 but still. Not to mention already risking yourself of not raising up multipliers and straying away from your super instrument in order to catch them. There is a reason why no one uses Runaway Notes. The risk far outbalances the reward. 350 per flame note is pathetic and not worth your time. I didn't even gold star Shout when I got 100% on all instruments and stayed in blitz throughout the entirety of the song when I used jack/flame after the nerf happened. I currently hold the top score on it on PS3. I don't think it has to do with my skill that i can barely GS it now with that loadout.

[MaximusDM]

3) Keep playing. I've seen a number of people declare that they're done playing and that this has ruined the game for them. That is obviously not what we want. If you don't think this was an effective change, you can help by showing us. Keep playing and we can track power up use, scores, leaderboard progress, etc. Having more data to work with will help us make a more informed decision about how to handle this in the future.

Give me a reason to.

• I can't best my old scores.

• I can't compete on most leaderboards with many scores being unobtainable.

• You are forcing me to play with power-ups I don't want to use because the ones I used don't work anymore to the extent of rewarding me for my efforts.

• With the possibility of leaderboards being RESET, why should I even bother playing songs if I know my scores will mean nothing once you wipe all of them out?

• If leaderboards aren't going to get wiped out, then power up values will be changed again, meaning I will have to replay a bunch of songs again. I try to get a good score on a song and move on.

• Only songs worth playing are songs released AFTER this change because leaderboards are all fair game.

• I don't like the idea of openly being used as your test subject in essence testing the balance of a game that is likely to be rebalanced anyway. I'll wait until you figure out solutions to the problems created from this nerf before coming back to play Blitz.

• I want open communication of all buffs and nerfs in detail. SPECIFIC Point value changes, percents changes, SPECIFIC details in changes of power-up behavior. I want to the see the numbers. If you are making us play by new rules. Tell me the rules. Don't have me figure them out and then start changing them and have me and the rest of the players congregate here to make sure we're not all crazy.

[jaystonepk]

I knew something was up when I loaded my standard Band/Flame on a Foo Fighters song and I couldn't even 5 star it. Prior to the change, I could routinely score 175k-200k on Flame with only a 15k-18k score for Bandmate. Most of the time now they're about equal. I don't know how you could possibly GS a song with that load out now.

That was my regular load out, no matter how many lanes. I would occasionally drop a RR/Blast for a change of pace but Band/Flame still seemed to yield consistently higher scores. That being said, there was no way I could ever achieve scores higher scores with that load out when compared to a Jack/Flame run. I'm actually pretty terrible a Jack/Flame, and I also didn't even know you could play 2 lanes simultaneously until reading this thread.

I'd actually climbed the boards quite a bit over the last 2 weeks and even managed to score in the top 10 on some lesser owned songs with Band/Flame. Flame when paired with either Jack or Band was still overpowered. It just was. But I'm still playing. After 4 months of play, I still have half my library unplayed, and I do feel I play a lot. I'm also still playing for a higher GS count and even managed my first GS with shock/pinball/sync last night. For me, it's having the affect HMX was probably intending all along, and that is trying to work with some other power up combos.

[www1221]

• I want open communication of all buffs and nerfs in detail. SPECIFIC Point value changes, percents changes, SPECIFIC details in changes of power-up behavior. I want to the see the numbers. If you are making us play by new rules. Tell me the rules. Don't have me figure them out and then start changing them and have me and the rest of the players congregate here to make sure were aren't all crazy.

There was this holiday that just happened called Christmas. You hear of it? Yeah well they were kind of not in a position to drop all this information that you demand and it was all figured out before they were able to tell us. You dont want to play the game fine but for the majority of people playing against their friends is enough of a reason to play Blitz. You dont want them "using you as a test subject" but they cant test any changes with out a community to do so. Guess what, you are in said community. Make score duels, use other setups. Flame notes arent the only power up in the game.

[cowboys282]

There was this holiday that just happened called Christmas. You hear of it? Yeah well they were kind of not in a position to drop all this information that you demand and it was all figured out before they were able to tell us. You dont want to play the game fine but for the majority of people playing against their friends is enough of a reason to play Blitz. You dont want them "using you as a test subject" but they cant test any changes with out a community to do so. Guess what, you are in said community. Make score duels, use other setups. Flame notes arent the only power up in the game.

If it is Christmas and they are not in a position to "drop all this information" than why would they make such a drastic change to the game? Don't you think it would have made more sense to make this change when the tournaments were ready and everyone was back in the office?

If score duels are fun for you that is fine. For the rest of us there is no longer a point to play. We enjoyed playing for the top of the leaderboard.

You say the "Majority" only play against their friends. What do you base that assumption on? There are no facts available to the general public to back that statement up.

There are tops probably 1000 people playing still like someone said earlier. Only a few hundred probably consistently. In my opinion most of them play to try and score on the leaderboards of DLC songs they own. Now they cannot because they will never beat the high score they got from Flame notes.

Only time will tell which one of our assumptions is correct. Harmonix will have the real numbers on the back end the whatever changes they make will be from those numbers.

[www1221]

You say the "Majority" only play against their friends. What do you base that assumption on? There are no facts available to the general public to back that statement up.

The fact that Harmonix has said countless times that us forum people are in the minority and they are getting information from more places than this just forums so they know more than you, more than me and more than anyone.

The majority of complaints ive seen about this change is that you cant be competitive with it. Guess what you can. Score duels do that. The community is a big part of Rock Band Blitz and if you dont have friends to play against find some. Play against your friends score. Play and have fun. People that are severely affected by this change are definitely in the minority.

[MaximusDM]

There was this holiday that just happened called Christmas. You hear of it? Yeah well they were kind of not in a position to drop all this information that you demand and it was all figured out before they were able to tell us.

Yet they are in a position to make changes to Rock Band World, start a tournament and make core changes to the game? Stand down.

You dont want to play the game fine but for the majority of people playing against their friends is enough of a reason to play Blitz.

My friends top leaderboards. Whoops!

Make score duels, use other setups. Flame notes arent the only power up in the game.

I like to score duel with the world, not one player at a time.
There were the only one that topped a lot of leaderboards. Not ALL leaderboards. I've changed my power ups accordingly. I am just more geared toward using skill based power-ups that offer a reward me for my efforts. Not every song is built for flame/bandmate or flame/jackpot. So please.

Harmonix will have the real numbers on the back end the whatever changes they make will be from those numbers.

I doubt that, they didn't last time and the specifics still don't exist from Harmonix. It was the players that had to play to figure out what they changed as far as multiplier changes to super instruments, and to sync, ect. It was a general response that is stickied to the forums right now. Here, it was me who actually provided the specific number change. Then I heard Blast notes got buffed. How? I don't know I haven't played the game since. But I'd love real answers with numbers.