More Questions and More Answers

A lot of fan questions are being answered these days, so here are some of them!

Will it be possible for both pump style holds and dance style holds to coexist? I’d think that would make things interesting, especially when it comes to using hands.
The hold style is based on a “checkpoint tick” system like other pump products. The Alpha software does not currently reflect this; but soon will. (most likely within the week) There will not be mixed hold types available.

Song List. K-pop is one of the main attractions of Pump, and it saddens me to see so little of it. Are there plans to add more?

This is the initial song list for Pump It Up Pro, things could change more in the future. This will depend on feedback and specific requests. If there is demand, steps will be taken. (no pun intended)

Scoring System. Does this function basically like ITG’s %? Is the scoring system that is in place pretty much final? Is the Superb window here to stay?
Classic Pump players will be familiar with the grading tiers. (they are very similar here as well –> F-S). The percentage takes place of the big score so that attack players have something to judge their performance on as well. Non-attack players should not be harmed by this. The superb window should not harm scoring concerns for common play, this is still beta and anything can happen based on play feedback.

Mines. Why? =( This is something I definitely think should stay exclusive to ITG.
These are innovative concepts that are be introduced slowly. Will they be present in a lot of charts? Not likely. There are very many songs that don’t have mines/rolls or other gimmicks. Classic players should be able to avoid these easily.

Speed Mods. C200 and C400 seem kind of…slow. Maybe C450 and C600?
The speed mods have been “Pumped up” for PIU Pro. Players will likely notice the speed difference immediately. This should be an easy adjustment for players. (Yes, scroll speed can be slow also.)

Lifebar/Stage Break: Due to the difficulty of many charts, this is of major concern. There are several stepcharts currently existing in pump it up that with stage break on, by world class players, cannot be passed. Dignity NM (note wpf05), Liadz2 CZ (less so)/NM (definitely). The guy who won $30,000 at wpf06 would have stage broke out of Canon D NM in the winning performance, and its not the hardest song. How does PPro handle this?

PIU Pro does not currently have settings for “stage break”. The current default setting is the “standard” (which also helps solve confusion by different machine configurations) This default behavior is “Fail at end of song” Even if the player fails, they are able to continue playing the song. Details are still being finalized.

(There are revamped settings for lifebar sensitivity, that will also help this solution)

Scoring/Grading: Pump has generally rewarded Combo (step-accuracy) much more than timing-accuracy. In one sentence, pump scoring is: 2*perfs, 1*greats, -1*misses, and when your combo is over 50 you get an extra perfect every step, meaning that a well isolated miss costs 100 greats. All pump players agree that system is not optimal. Still, the concept that missing two steps separated from each other means youre having more trouble with the song than if you miss two consecutive steps. Will there be a combo-related aspect to the scoring?
Scoring details are still being finalized for PIU PRO. The current plan is to have the current familiar “S” standard for not missing combo. (this isn’t related to judgment accuracy) A new grade will be available above that tier for the players who are attacking and/or have accuracy concerns. This will most likely be the SS tier.