Complaints from a New(ish) Player
I started playing this game right before the Cars season, so I never got to experience some of the earlier negative changes this game made like removing racers from the Season Pass. I also just watched a video where a veteran player was complaining about things like having to level up his roster from 5 to 6 stars now and too many tabs in the store. None of that matters to a new(ish) player. So here are the negatives I have experienced that should be rectified:
1. Too Difficult to Upgrade New Racers: When I started, I could unlock a character and instantly get them 1 star to activate their Crew bonus. If I liked the character, I'd upgrade them to 2 stars fairly easily to activate their Special. The Special is what really makes the character (and the game) fun. Now when I unlock a new character, I have enough shards to get them to 2/5ths of a star... IF I have enough Tune Coins which I never do now.
Racing in Ranked with a sub-1 Star racer is the opposite of fun. It's killing my enjoyment of unlocking new toons and playing with newer characters. When I first started, I spent a little money towards some of the racers I wanted. Now, I see a few racers I want, but have zero urge to spend to get them because I don't have the currency to level them up. What's the point of getting new characters if they all suck? Spend MORE money to make them not suck?
2. Requiring 3 Medals to Progress: Before, we could get all the way through a chapter, sometimes by the skin of your teeth with 1 or 2 medals on a rather tricky race. Now, you are hard locked if you can't get 3 medals. It has killed the seasonal event and the new Adventure Road mode. Last night I shut off the game after getting stuck at a race that requires 9 drift boosts in a FOG RACE. Who wants to suffer through that? Fog races are not fun and 9 DRIFT BOOSTS?!?!?!
3. Dumb Bugs: There is a Prize Box on Adventure Road I cannot claim because there is no way to select that node. It's in the middle of two—one above and one below—and no direction on the controller selects that box. How does something like this pass QA? There is an early race in Chapter 1 (maybe even the very first race) where you are forced to use Scrooge McDuck and there is one jump on that course he misses about 80% of the time. How? How does that happen?
4. Stingy Rewards: This actually ties into #1 a bit, but the Tune Coin rewards are simply pathetic. I can't earn enough to level the characters I need to progress in chapters, let alone level any new characters I unlock. Since the change to Tune Coins, I have unlocked 17 new characters... 16 haven't been touched. I only leveled 1 character and that's because I needed Mrs. Incredible for the chapters. Getting rewarded 5, 10 or 15 Tune Coins when characters need 500+ for one star section is laughably ridiculous.
When I first started playing I suggested to some friends to download this game cuz it's fun. I would NEVER recommend this game to a new player in its current state. Why would anyone start to play this game when they'd be stuck with low-powered racers forever?
5. Cheapskate Shortcuts: And I don't mean shortcuts in the races. I mean I can see where the budget ends and they stop spending money to give players the bare minimum. Why are so many racers without voices? How much could it possibly cost to get 5 lines of dialogue from Lewis Black? Why doesn't every franchise have its own track/music, like the Muppets or the upcoming Encanto? Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Refueled had new maps every season and they weren't milking the players with a dozen season passes every month.
In conclusion:
I really want to continue playing this game because it's a fun racer beneath all the scummy FTP garbage. But I just feel like I haven't progressed at all since the big update and the game isn't respecting my time. I want a fun game to relax to after working all day, not a second full-time job. Early progression shouldn't be a grueling nightmare—save that for stars 4-6. And fix your bugs.