User blog:ShinnyShin/The Problems with the Fifth Anniversary Update

My fellow players.



First off - WOW. Who among you thought Asphalt 8: Airborne would make it to 5 whole years?

Show of hands, please. Or not, since I can't see them anyway. So here we are, still playing 5 years on since its release, and what do we make of it so far? What does the game have to show for itself after all this time?

This special anniversary-style TPW blog will dig into what we've experienced over the years.

Asphalt 8 has been one hell of a ride since the early days. This Free-to-play game provides a smooth ride for a privileged few, and a rough ride for the vast majority. And yet it has attracted tens of millions of new players daily from many corners of the world.

It has somehow even managed to straddle that fine line where games improve and go downhill at the same time, in the most bizarre fashion. It has somehow become both easier and harder to get rewards and new vehicles, especially for those who joined the game late last year.

Yet despite some of these flaws, we still keep coming back to play.

Undoubtedly, it is an international mobile-racing phenomenon. Asphalt 8 started out from humble beginnings with a few tracks and just a handful of cars (47 to be precise), and has since grown exponentially. There are 237 cars and 13 motorcycles in total as of September 2018 (several popular and previously available cars were taken out of the game due to licensing issues, while two motorcycles are on hold indefinitely, and one car was tied to a one-off TLE).

The game's creator and publisher, Gameloft, started out and operated independently until its hostile takeover acquisition by Vivendi, which has brought about some major changes to Gameloft’s business model, as well as the game itself.

Some of these changes have been welcomed by the fans, others have not. At times, these changes have gone out of hand and inspired petitions from the fans in the hopes of keeping Asphalt 8 a fair and enjoyable experience.

In August 2018, Gameloft dutifully released this update as a thank-you to the hordes of players who have helped to keep it exciting, and most importantly, alive over half a decade.

But how does it hold up with the advent of the game's fifth birthday? Let's get down to business!







<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-2-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/fed/1/28/1f620.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😠  ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - 5 YEARS ON THE ASPHALT!  <p class="MsoNormal">One of the first introductions to the Fifth Anniversary Update was the Anniversary Cup.

<p class="MsoNormal">A fortnight-long series of sprint challenges, issued forth by some of the “best players in the world”, with all sorts of prizes for the taking.

<p class="MsoNormal">Each race lasts for 3 days, with a choice of 2 pre-selected MAX+PRO rental cars with which players beat the time limits. Sounds simple, right? Just beat the time limit set by the “pros” and win all the prizes. No sweat, right? Only one small problem though.

<p class="MsoNormal">Ok, maybe that’s an underestimation: two small problems.

<p class="MsoNormal">One being the time limit itself, and the other being the supreme skills needed to beat said time limit. These challenges are offered to everyone, but by design, they’re geared towards elite-caliber players. There’s practically no room for error whatsoever, and god help you if your device suffers from lag.

<p class="MsoNormal">The first race itself is an absolute headache, frankly speaking, and it gets progressively worse from there.

<p class="MsoNormal">The prizes themselves aren’t very lucrative either, except for the very top reward which gives over 500 Tokens. In order to get the best prize, you have to beat ALL of the sprint challenges. Which would be crazy hard, if not outright impossible for players with average skills.

<p class="MsoNormal">Because of this, the Anniversary Cup has been a huge bone of contention among scores of players on various social media platforms about how the Event essentially excludes the vast majority of the fan-base with its extreme difficulty. For those with very little hope of clearing the time limits with laggy devices, the Event has proved to be a waste of valuable resources, with very little gains to be made.

<p class="MsoNormal">If it helps, each attempt will cost you just 2 Fuel bars. So, uh, there’s that.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kinda makes you think what will happen if this game makes it to 10 years.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-2-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/fed/1/28/1f620.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😠  LATE TO THE RACE - AGAIN!! <p class="MsoNormal">Word has it, that as soon as the new Update rolled out, the levels of lag experienced by Android players went back to the horrific levels last seen during the 2018 Spring Update.

<p class="MsoNormal">For some, especially those using low-performance devices, this has made the game virtually unplayable. Certain tracks seem to suffer from lag in particular locations, making some of them very dangerous choices to pick when playing multiplayer races.

<p class="MsoNormal">Players are still reporting late starts which are now as bad as 30 to 45 seconds, and the game is crashing more frequently. A lot of the time, the game crashes are random, and they can cost you dearly in Ticket-race Multiplayer sessions.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tinkering with your graphics settings might help a little bit, but then you can’t enjoy the delicious effects and you’ll be prone to suffer more from random glitches (which can sometimes cause unexplained wrecks) in pursuit of smoother frame-rates. It’s a rock and a hard place for sure.

<p class="MsoNormal">It’s bad enough that some racers are basically limited to a select-few tracks in order to compete, but if your chances are further stifled by the game taking too long to add your car to a race that’s already halfway done, then how do you survive in this harsh war-zone that is the Multiplayer League?

<p class="MsoNormal">Not only that, but MP Time-Limited Events too? I hate to say this, but unless this situation improves, we can all prepare to kiss any chance of topping the Leaderboards goodbye if we can’t even catch up to the competition.

<p class="MsoNormal">Coming soon – Asphalt 8: Slowcoach Update.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-2-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/fed/1/28/1f620.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😠 ' THANK YOU, RACER. BUT YOUR CAR IS IN ANOTHER GAME' <p class="MsoNormal">We got introduced to yet another, ahem, celebratory “Event”: the Asphalt 9 Championship, released to celebrate Asphalt 8’s successor, and a thinly-veiled attempt to push more players to that game.

<p class="MsoNormal">This time, a new piece of German engineering was up for grabs. Plus, there was an opportunity to use another car in order to get it. However, this Championship was plagued with issues right from the get-go.

<p class="MsoNormal">For starters, there was no actual prize available in Asphalt 8 despite the rather confusing promo image. That’s right, fellow racers – NO PRIZE.

<p class="MsoNormal">Historically, every Championship has had a vehicle on offer. Not this time… unless you play Asphalt 9, where the reward can be claimed. More painfully, the car you use throughout the Event can’t be won at the end, and is provided at stock rank. If you upgrade it but don't own it, it will be a total waste of your hard-earned resources.

<p class="MsoNormal">Plus, the small rewards consist of just a few Credits and a single Engine Card. With sufficient skills, thankfully, the Championship can be finished with no Upgrades applied at all.

<p class="MsoNormal">One can only hope that this isn’t an upcoming trend for this game.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Now for the middle of the road stuff…

== <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-3-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f4e/1/28/1f610.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😐    <span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">ASPHALT ON TOUR - THE ENCORE  == <p class="MsoNormal">Not seen since half a year ago, the World Tour mode has returned.

<p class="MsoNormal">Only this time, it’s not associated with a famous celebrity ensemble or anything. The supercar on offer, one of Britain’s latest innovations, is a pretty well-rounded performer, and definitely worth getting if you can.

<p class="MsoNormal">But as for the World Tour itself, it seems to lack the excitement that the storyline of the previous one brought. Part of the fun of the FOB World Tour was that it gave us a story to enjoy, a band to help promote through our racing and an antagonist whose plans we got to foil. Whether or not one cared much about the band or genre, it was at least a refreshing addition to the game.

<p class="MsoNormal">The McLaren 720S World Tour is straight-up no frills, down-to-business, plain-old, challenge-beating racing. It has no soul. Now that has no bearing on the actual gameplay, but it lacks the pizzazz that set the World Tour aside from the other Event types that the game has to offer.

<p class="MsoNormal">Where it falls apart, nonetheless, is that the prize is not always guaranteed. The special Elite Supply Boxes that contain the necessary Blueprints (BPs) to assemble the McLaren 720S give varying amounts that are often not enough to complete the set.

<p class="MsoNormal">''As a rule, the Elite Boxes give the highest number of BPs out of all the Box types. However, if they start giving you only 1 BP per Box, then the finished car is just a pipe dream. The outcome of the smaller rewards and number of BP cards is just too random, and as a result, there are scores of players who have invested tons of resources only to face bitter disappointment and a potentially lengthy wait to collect the remaining BPs. Basically, it’s either a worthy prize or a huge resource vacuum depending on your experience.''

<p class="MsoNormal">Compared to the FOB World Tour, there’s a noticeable spike in difficulty, especially towards the end. The BMW M2 Special Edition’s event was at the very least doable for players of average skill, and for the most part so was this one, but one slip-up (or game force-close if you’re really unlucky) would set you back big time.

<p class="MsoNormal">*In my experience, the game froze while loading the Ultimate AI challenge in the Port of San Diego, and while I forked out   2400 Tokens  '' to skip the run after a few failed attempts, a glitch killed my Hype streak and made the rest of the Goals a worthless endeavor. I never got the car as a result.''

<p class="MsoNormal">

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-3-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f4e/1/28/1f610.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😐  GUESS WHO'S BACK, BACK AGAIN, TRAFFIC'S BACK, TELL A FRIEND <p class="MsoNormal">Another surprise that came, or more accurately returned, with this Update was the missing traffic from the Iceland and London tracks.

<p class="MsoNormal">It was presumed for a while that traffic in London was removed on purpose out of respect for the recent spate of tragic incidents involving vehicles in the real-life city of London, while traffic in Iceland was removed for unknown reasons.

<p class="MsoNormal">It was eventually discovered that the missing traffic was due to a glitch that came with the Championship Update. Now, this errant traffic may be a blessing or a curse depending on your point of view.

<p class="MsoNormal">In some respects, racing in Iceland and London was a lot easier for a while, especially if you were trying to get as many Perfect Runs as possible, and Flawless races would be ideal on these tracks. They were pretty accommodating even to cars with very bad handling and wide drift radiuses.

<p class="MsoNormal">Now these feats are a bit riskier to achieve since Iceland has slippery road surfaces and London has a few sharp turns as well as some narrow stretches of road. So you better practice your traffic-dodging skills!

<p class="MsoNormal">''Ever feel like you’ve been hit by a bus? No? We’ll just have to see about that! - Gameloft''

<p class="MsoNormal">

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-3-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f4e/1/28/1f610.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😐  THE NEW FACE OF MULTIPLAYER <p class="MsoNormal">As the more seasoned players among you may have witnessed, the Multiplayer landscape has changed quite a few times over the course of its existence.

<p class="MsoNormal">Starting out with the competitive World Series Multiplayer feature which pitted players with fairly balanced opponents and somewhat lackluster rewards, the mode evolved into the Multiplayer League which brought much less balanced competition but with better rewards.

<p class="MsoNormal">This third iteration launched on August 30th is essentially the second version but with the fair balance of the first and the fruitful rewards of the second. Confused yet?

<p class="MsoNormal">As opposed to the previous version, the priority here is the vehicle’s Top Speed instead of the vehicle’s rank. Now while this allows for virtually any car from any Class to compete more than ever before, it’s fast becoming common to see strong cars like the SIN R1 going head-to-head with the DS 3 Racing.

<p class="MsoNormal">Ye gods.

<p class="MsoNormal">It appears to be a polarizing topic for the fan-base with some praising the revival of long-dead Multiplayer favorites that had not seen the light of day since before the debut of the more OP cars. There are even petitions for and against this change, it’s just that divisive. Granted it’s still skewed in favor of fast-accelerating cars, but now a greater number of cars have a fighting chance. Gaining rewards points is now easier due to the more evened-out balancing.

<p class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately, the new setup also makes it more difficult to gain rating and rise up in the Leagues, even with some of the recent OP cars, and the matchmaking will most likely throw you into races with severely low-ranked opponents in high-end multiplayer beasts. It’s also difficult to gauge the competition too. Seriously, we’re talking Amateur/Challenger League players in Vulcans and MP4-25s.

<p class="MsoNormal">If you’re in the Pro League and you beat these guys, you’ll be lucky to score even 3+ rating points. Most of the time it will be “=”. And if you so much as place 2nd, you can expect a rating loss of 10 or more.

<p class="MsoNormal">This new Multiplayer Season didn’t arrive without its fair share of problems.

<p class="MsoNormal">It’s usually the case that no matter what rating you finish a Season at, the next one will always deduct 200 points at the start. So if you’re finishing up in the Champion League at, say, 2100 rating points, you can expect to start the new Season at 1900.

<p class="MsoNormal">However, players have reported HUGE LOSSES before they’ve even begun. Several veteran Champions have started out dropping around 500 to 800 points, sending them back as far as the Amateur League, and with the unpredictability of the Multiplayer right now, matters only get worse from there.

<p class="MsoNormal">And because this is happening to scores of people, it’s not surprising to see racers who have 200+ vehicles, a Challenger League badge and racing skills that you’d normally see in the upper Pro and Champion League.

<p class="MsoNormal">According to Mina_FromGameloft, this was only a trial demo to see how well-received (or not) it turns out to be.

<p class="MsoNormal">And as of an update posted by Asphalt on September 19th, it seems that the format will be reverted despite its popularity, and some improvements "may" be added.

<p class="MsoNormal">WARNING : ''This may come across a bit late to some of you, but hold off on MAX+PROing some of your MP tuned vehicles for the time being. If the Multiplayer is indeed changed back, you will be screwed. Instead, just wait and see what the next Season has in store before you make that jump.''

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-3-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f4e/1/28/1f610.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😐 OH LOOK, A SIDE QUEST! <p class="MsoNormal">What, you thought we were done talking about the Celebrations? Nope! It doesn’t end there.

<p class="MsoNormal">Another gift in Gameloft’s sack of presents (golly, is it Christmas already??) is the Anniversary Quests.

<p class="MsoNormal">Here, you go on well, Quests, in order to claim some decent prizes. All you’ve gotta do is collect scores of Coins that are scattered along the tracks. Wonder [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros. where] we’ve seen that before?

<p class="MsoNormal">Anyway, there are Coins to be gained from Time-Limited Events, Multiplayer races and Mastery Challenges. Each track has a certain quota of Coins that can be collected per day, and this is true for whichever mode you select.

<p class="MsoNormal">The Coins you collect go towards a choice of special Boxes that contain some unique rewards like certain Rare and Legendary Engines, Tokens and even Blueprints for the 3 Special Edition Cars.

<p class="MsoNormal">And when you spend those Coins from each completed Quest, it fills up a bar that enables you to claim a Shuffle Box, a Champion Kit Box and an ultra-rare Exclusive Box. You can even watch ads to get more Coins.

<p class="MsoNormal">'' All you have to do is collect the damn Coins, CJ. ''

<p class="MsoNormal">Now, this all sounds good on paper, right? Everyone has an equal chance of getting the best prizes, right? WELL, that depends on who you ask.

<p class="MsoNormal">First off, the Anniversary Quests have some pretty simple goals for the most part, but the further you progress, the more of a grindfest it becomes. And 10 days may seem like plenty at the beginning, but if you have things like sleep, school, work and life itself to worry about, the duration suddenly isn’t enough.

<p class="MsoNormal">The Quests start off pretty reasonable, like, “Upgrade your vehicle 3 times”, or “Play Moto Blitz 10 times”. But then, they get ridiculous. Like, “Place 1st in a Career Race 250 Times ”. That one Quest will take you at least 3 hours, so it’s recommended to have a few good vehicles for Season 9 and Tag Racing so you won’t get bored.

<p class="MsoNormal">But the Quest is still quite taxing either way. Or the “Place 1st in an Event Race 75 Times ”, which is only slightly less demanding, but still quite challenging as you have to work out the best TLEs to grind over and over again with the limited Fuel that you’ve got.

<p class="MsoNormal">If you’re lacking the bikes to do bike-related quests, you’ll be missing out on a good portion of the goals. If you haven’t unlocked the Mastery Challenges yet (for you newer players out there) then you’re also screwed.

<p class="MsoNormal">Furthermore, you need 7000 Coins  to fill up the bar, which unless you don’t sleep or have work/school, is NOT an easy task. The spike in effort required is akin to your average R&D Event. So if you play and complete all 90 Quests without meeting that amount, you’ll be denied the best prize of all.

<p class="MsoNormal">Not to mention that the prizes themselves, while decent as they are, are still quite random. You can buy the Elite Supply Box all the time to get those much-needed Audi R8 e-tron Special Edition Blueprints, (it needs 150!) but if your luck is bad, you most likely won’t get them all. And don’t get your hopes up if you’re trying to get a certain Legendary or Rare Engine either.

<p class="MsoNormal">The game knows what you need and will often deny you those Cards until you no longer need them.

<p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes, watching ads might not work, and unless you have godly skills for this new Multiplayer, you won’t be able to get every single Coin on the track. When you do collect Coins, however, you have to defend your catch as other racers can steal it by knocking you down. You can do the same to them too, as long as you keep your eye on who’s collected the Coins up ahead.

<p class="MsoNormal">So again, depending on who you ask, the Anniversary Quests are either really profitable, or a complete waste of time and energy. It does feel like a kick in the teeth when you manage to achieve all the Goals but still don’t get the ultimate prize.

<p class="MsoNormal">In a way, it’s a lot like the McLaren 720S World Tour in the sense that completing all the Goals still leaves you wanting, simply because the prize drops are too random. Rewards are offered, but NOT guaranteed.

<p class="MsoNormal">But it still offers you a better chance to actually win something than the Anniversary Cup, and it at least shines in that respect. Every day, a new surprise from Gameloft.

<p class="MsoNormal">''Your mileage, barrel rolls, flat spins, perfect nitros, backflips, knockdowns and drifts may vary. ''

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">And here’s where they did it right …

<p class="MsoNormal">

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-0-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f30/1/28/1f601.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😁 '  IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE SPENDING SOME TOKENS. WOULD YOU LIKE SOME HELP?' <p class="MsoNormal">We’ve been literally bleeding at the knees, begging for this feature since the days Tokens first appeared.

<p class="MsoNormal">A spending cap’s finally been introduced for those elusive blue diamonds.

<p class="MsoNormal">Gone are the days when you’d accidentally buy an expensive car or Pro Kit Box by tapping a corner with your over-sized or twitchy fingers.

<p class="MsoNormal">Gone are the days when you’d leave your devices unattended for a few moments and return to find that your kid or pet cat bought that Tokens-Only Upgrade on that R&D car you’ve worked so hard on, or spent your Tokens on that pricy decal for the Torq that you were only just looking at, but then you had to go and get a drink.

<p class="MsoNormal">Now, you can control your spending!

<p class="MsoNormal">You can set limits to how much you fork out and the game will give you a friendly reminder before you make that jump. Be advised, though, that you can’t just leave your device alone for your kid or pet cat to mess with when you go to receive that delicious pizza delivery at your door.

<p class="MsoNormal">That button can still be pressed accidentally in those cases, so it’s highly recommended that you still keep an eye on things, even with that extra little bit of help.

<p class="MsoNormal">''Phew! Only took a couple dozen Updates … ''

<p class="MsoNormal">

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-0-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f30/1/28/1f601.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😁   THE NEW RIDES <p class="MsoNormal">It’s still early days on this one, but we’ve since gotten a taste of 3 new cars out of a possible 6 vehicles.

<p class="MsoNormal">I say possible because the remaining two cars and one bike aren’t out yet, and given the track record with some of the bikes, it’s best not to come to conclusions so soon.

<p class="MsoNormal">The general consensus among players seems to be that the new German ride is a decent contender (if referring to the old Multiplayer League format) or a worthless contender (if referring to the new Multiplayer League format). As for the new Italian ride, it’s only just made its debut R&D Event but so far, it seems promising.

<p class="MsoNormal">Time will tell when it comes to the other new vehicles and their performance, so patience my fellow racers!

<p class="MsoNormal">

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-0-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f30/1/28/1f601.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😁   YO DAWG, WE HEARD YOU LIKE ASPHALT 8, SO WE PUT ASPHALT 8 IN YOUR ASPHALT 8 SO YOU CAN RACE WHILE YOU RACE <p class="MsoNormal">OK, memes aside, Gameloft decided to treat us to something entirely different when rolling out this new Update.

<p class="MsoNormal">Now normally, you have to wait an age when downloading an Update, and on some devices that can take upwards of half an hour, so it’s not uncommon to put down your device and go do something else while you wait.

<p class="MsoNormal">This time, the seemingly eternal loading screen was replaced by an Asphalt 8: Airborne-based mini-game that could be played to pass the time while installing the update, while using the same car as the game's Gameplay Tutorial. The mini-game itself harks back to the older Asphalt games where wads of cash could be scooped up on the track. And that adds a nice nostalgic feel to the game.

<p class="MsoNormal">It sure beats playing other random ad-based games that give you meager amounts of Tokens, and best of all, it directly contributes to your progress in Asphalt 8. One hopes to see more of this mechanic in future Updates. And if you’re new to the game, it’s another chance to get a taste of one of the game’s most iconic cars before you start your racing journey.

<p class="MsoNormal">Gotta catch ‘em all!

<p class="MsoNormal">

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-0-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f30/1/28/1f601.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">😁 '  YOU MAY HAVE GLITCHED MY INVENTORY AND MY TUNING BUTTON ... BUT THERE'S ONE THING A RACER ALWAYS KEEPS - HIS RIIIIIIIIIDES!! ' <p class="MsoNormal">Alright, alright. So I lied about being done with the memes. But I just HAD to throw this one in.

<p class="MsoNormal">At last, good news! This has been many months as of writing, but finally, FINALLY the oft-overlooked Tuning Button has been fixed!

<p class="MsoNormal">Those players on low-performing devices should be able to see the difference, at the very least on the Android platform. One cannot speak for user experiences on other platforms, but the hope is that the fix has been released on all the platforms.

<p class="MsoNormal">It has been nothing short of pure frustration to not be able to open the Inventory and do some work on the Pro Kit Cards.

<p class="MsoNormal">This being a core mechanic of the game since the Pro Kits were introduced, begs the question – why did it take so long to fix this problem?

<p class="MsoNormal">Up until now, the Inventory could only be accessed by pressing the Tuning Button during a special Event or from the Multiplayer feature, not on its own via the Garage. And you could still play the game and use your cars in Events and Multiplayer – that is if you didn’t mind being unable to upgrade them.

<p class="MsoNormal">Now players can get down to managing their resources more effectively and quickly instead of having to work around these game-breaking glitches.

<p class="MsoNormal">''Press E to open the Inventory Tuning to break your game. You can thank me later.''

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">And now for some other things.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<h2 class="MsoNormal"> <span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="2md2h-3-0" size="28" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f15/1/28/1f914.png"); background-size: 28px 28px; height: 28px; width: 28px;">🤔 WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? <p class="MsoNormal">Now that we’ve discussed all these things that have shaped Asphalt 8 into the game we’ve stuck with for the last half-decade, how does the future look?

<p class="MsoNormal">Will it be continue to be an enjoyable experience for all of us? Will all of the issues we have raised be addressed? And given the constant plugging of Asphalt 9, will Asphalt 8 see a considerable lifespan?

<p class="MsoNormal">Will the game’s developers make it more user-friendly for new players – i.e. make some of the old favorite Tokens-only cars worth purchasing for Credits again? Some of the game’s cheapest yet most rewarding farming cars are now unavailable to new players unless they’re swimming in deep oceans of money to get them with Tokens. Or with Legendary Blueprints. Or through a Championship revival.

<p class="MsoNormal">Will they ever do away with mandatory Tokens-only Upgrades? Will we ever see a return of some of the game’s most limited-edition cars and now permanently exiled former favorites?

<p class="MsoNormal">And will they ever perfect the staggeringly uneven balance of power that continues to plague the Multiplayer League?

<p class="MsoNormal">Will there be more effective protections against cheaters and hackers (of the malevolent type?)

<p class="MsoNormal">Will we ever get that one bike we’ve been waiting ages for? Or the other one? Heck, why not both?

<p class="MsoNormal">Or will they can Asphalt 8 altogether and put all their resources and efforts towards its successor? They have said that they’ll continue to support the game as long as we keep playing it, but each time they take an action that affects our experience that results in outrage, boycotts and petitions, is that even healthy?

<p class="MsoNormal">And suppose we get to that 10-year Anniversary … will the Celebration Cups be fairer for everyone?

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Do share what you've seen in your experiences with this new Update, maybe some things I've missed in this blog, shout it out!

- ShinnyShin



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