DMan has a surprise + 30M increase

For the second week in a row, we gained about 30M points by playing 32 unranked songs. If we use the current stats at RockBandStats.com, this moves us up from rank 46 to 38 in the "All Songs" Leaderboards (351M to 381M).

Like last week, half the songs were played with our optimal line-up and half with a different combination for Drums, Bass and Vocals (with Sylvie).

DMan had a surprise as he showed us the result of his hard work. It looks amazing and we can't wait for the final version to be released to the world... :)

Highlights:
- Stars breakdown for the 32 songs: Gold star (9), 5 stars (14), 4 stars (8), 3 stars (1)
- Phoenix gets a lot of tough drum songs in the first 16 songs, including "Burn" and "Let There Be Rock (Live)" in a row...
- We get a 4-star performance for "Devil's Island", but that is very good considering we were all on Expert
- Bongoo is the "Top Performer" for the most songs (14), followed by Raikan (9), DMan (6), Sylvie (3), and Phoenix (1)
- Bongoo has the most FCs (7, including 3 in a row to start the night), followed by Raikan (4), and DMan (3)
- Good thing we didn't miss the Big Rock Ending on "Let There Be Rock (Live)" (160K+), it's a workout in itself!

Goal for Thursday: get closer to the top 35

This week we will play another 32-40 unranked songs, which should bring us close to the top 35 for "All Songs". We need 32M points to go from rank 46 to 36. We can also try to have more Gold stars than last week (12).

The sessions will now be on Thursdays due to Bongoo having soccer on Wednesdays.

"Original 84" All-Console Rank: 34th
"All Songs" All-Console Rank: 46th

Weird battery effects + top 40

This week we gained about 30M points by playing 32 unranked songs. If we use the current stats at RockBandStats.com, this moves us up from rank 53 to 40 in the "All Songs" Leaderboards (322M to 352M).

Half the songs were played with our optimal line-up and half with a different combination for Drums, Bass and Vocals. We get around 75% of Gold stars for songs played with the optimal line-up.

There were also some weird effects with Bongoo's guitar near the end. The low batteries caused some dropped notes here and there and some flashing of the effects switch menu on and off. Replacing them with some of Phoenix's batteries gave an even weirder result, with everything working correctly except the overdrive triggering on its own all the time on the next note after being ready...

Highlights:
- Stars breakdown for the 32 songs: Gold star (12), 5 stars (7), 4 stars (11), 3 stars (2)
- Sylvie plays drums for one 8-song set and does very well on tough songs like "Vital Signs"
- We have a great run on "Damnation Game", even without our optimal line-up on Bass and Vocals
- Bongoo is the "Top Performer" for the most songs (19), followed by Raikan (15), DMan and Phoenix (2 each), and Sylvie (1)
- Raikan and Bongoo have the most FCs (5 each), followed by DMan (2)
- DMan didn't stay on Vocals the whole session, so it's worth noting that he is the only one who didn't miss a BRE (1 miss each)
- We learn that Trapper has his own song in Rock Band ("Dead" by the Pixies): "U gotta hit the Trapper, the Trapper..." ;)

Goal for tonight: move up to the top 40

This week we will play another 32-40 unranked songs. Some of our songs from last week's session do not appear at RockBandStats.com yet due to website maintenance last week, therefore we are still ranked 66th. But we are technically already on the 1st page (top 50). Our point gain from tonight's session will likely put us in the top 40.

"Original 84" All-Console Rank: 34th
"All Songs" All-Console Rank: 66th

As a bonus goal, we can try to have more Gold stars than last week (6).

The Trapper is in touch with his world!

Tonight the Trapper and Sylvie replaced sickly Raikan and DMan on Bass and Vocals, respectively. And as some of you know, "I'm in Touch with Your World" by "The Cars" is Trapper's least favorite song in Rock Band. So we happened to get that song in one of our pseudo-random sets, and lo and behold, Trapper FCed it! He managed to FC it while complaining throughout the whole song... :)

We played 40 unranked songs tonight, gaining 31 million points in the process. That will surely be enough for us to be on page 1 of the "All Songs" Leaderboards once RockBandStats.com is back up (top 50).

Highlights:
- Stars breakdown for the 4o songs: Gold star (6), 5 stars (24), 4 stars (6), 3 stars (4).
- One of our sets was a drummer's nightmare (or dream, depending on how you look at it). Phoenix had to play "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate", "Young Man Blues (Live at Leeds)" (with an impressive 90% of notes hit), "Holiday in Cambodia" and "Outside" pretty much in a row...
- Phoenix and Sylvie swap instruments for the final 8 songs, giving Phoenix a much needed rest.
- Bongoo is the "Top Performer" on the most songs (29), followed by Phoenix (8), Trapper (3) and Sylvie (2).
- Bongoo has the most FCs (7), followed by Phoenix and Trapper (2 each).

Goal for tonight: move up to the 1st page

This week we will play another 32 unranked songs, which will guarantee us a spot on the 1st page of the "All Songs" Leaderboards (top 50). We were at rank 66 last week.

We'll track "Top Performers" and "# of FCs" as usual, but we will also track some band stats like "# of Gold Stars".

Note: There are no links to RockBandStats.com in the Goals post this week due to it being down for maintenance. It will be back up as soon as possible.

One step away from the 1st page

Last night we played another 32 unranked songs and gained about 31 million points. This was enough to move us up about 26 ranks in the "All Songs" Leaderboards (92nd to 66th). We'll move to the 1st page next week (top 50).

Highlights:
- We played with the original line-up for the first 24 songs, then DMan and Phoenix swapped instruments for the final 8.
- Phoenix had 3 FCs in a row, including a great performance on "Reptilia".
- Bongoo was the "Top Performer" for the most songs (13), followed by Raikan (10), Phoenix (8), and DMan (6).
- Bongoo had the most FCs (5), followed by DMan and Phoenix (4), and then Raikan (2).
- It seemed to be a RB1 night, as our pseudo-random technique selected a higher than expected selection of RB1 songs.

Goal for tomorrow: play another 32 unranked songs

If we match last week's output by playing 32 unranked songs, we will go from 90th to 64th in the "All Songs" leaderboards. That would position ourselves for a jump to the 1st page (top 50) the week after.

"Original 84" All-Console Rank: 31st
"All Songs" All-Console Rank: 90th

We can use our pseudo-random technique to choose unranked songs (see last week's post) and we'll also track "Top Performers" and "# of FCs".