#and I can give my opinions on prisons and punishment and the nuance behind those things

[sodacowboy]

I watched a couple alyson stoner videos on the hollywood horror house child edition and oof… some of those things hit just a little too close to home as an autistic person

[thecorteztwins]

(Just a basic superhero vs supervillain brawl here between Force of Nature and the ladies of the Winter Guard, with a little twist at the end! No deep character stuff, but tagging @sammysdewysensitiveeyes because Pyro and Avalanche are in it!) Russia had the largest amount of forests of any country on Earth, even more so than the famous Amazon rainforest, boasting 55% of the world's conifers and 11% of the Earth’s biomass. And yet, the logging industry, especially the illegal side, was so rampant and unrestrained that deforestation was threatening even this arboreal giant. It was for this reason that Force of Nature was sent to attack the headquarters of one the largest logging companies in the nation, and one with the most illegal activity under its belt. It was the first mission for their new recruits---two mutants, Pyro and Avalanche of the Brotherhood, representing the elements of fire and earth. Though their origins were in the very political Brotherhood, they had the right mercenary attitude for the squad. They also got on well with the two pre-existing members. Well, no, they got on well with Aqueduct, not so much Aireo. But Aqueduct assured them that no one really got on with Aireo, and that he was just glad to have a couple of “normal guys” like himself on the team at last. “It’s not that I didn’t LIKE Theary and Terraformer,” he hd said, “But you couldn’t really have a beer with ‘em attitude-wise, you know? And I literally CAN’T with Aireo, poor guy’d die of alchohol poisoning after one glass. He’s got a real weak system, Inhuman, y’know.” They knew. It was getting him to SHUT UP about it that was the issue, Pyro had found. The skinny beanpole---for once Pyro got to call someone else that!---really got under both their skins, his and Dom’s, with his superior species bullshit. Though St. John kinda had to admit there was an irony to it, given how he’d and Dom had used to run in the Brotherhood, which preached the same thing, just with regards to a different species. And it was kind of novel how Aireo looked down on them for BEING human, rather than NOT being human like most people. Pyro would give the wind-master one thing, he didn’t discriminate against mutants, just ALL humans in general. There was a fairness in it he could respect---if it wasn’t so damn IRRITATING! That aside though, it turned out they worked well together in the field---Skybreak stayed aloft where he could be hit accidentally by Avalanche’s seismic waves, and his winds helped fan Pyro’s flames from above. Speaking of Pyro’s flames, Aqueduct could put them out if they got out of hand---a much quicker way to do it than relying on Pyro to calm them, something he always had trouble with---and he could also make mud for Dom to send his shockwaves through, which made for some interesting effects you couldn’t get with just dirt and stone. It was really just plain FUN, in Pyro’s opinion, to watch some fucker DROWN in it. Right now though, a few logging employees were drowning in the wood chips that had been knocked over by Avalanche’s avalanches...the ones that Pyro wasn’t lighting up, anyway. “Talk about burning through your profits eh?” St. John yelled to his team over the din as workers and officials scattered. One brave soul tried to spray a fire extinguisher at him, Dom’s shockwave knocked him off his feet while a breeze from Skybreaker sent foam back in the poor sod’s face, just before a wave from Aqueduct washed him away clear to other side of the room. “Come on mate, your life’s not worth whatever crap they’re paying you”, Pyro called over to the guy, though he knew the Russians likely didn’t understand him. “Yeah, nobody try to be a hero here”, added Aqueduct.

“Oh, but I think I will,” said a woman’s voice from behind him the water-wielder. It came from within the swirling black portal that had opened at his back, and poor Aqueduct turned his head just in time to get the side of his face punched by a white-gloved fist emerging from the portal, followed by a black-haired woman attached to it, wearing a red costume with a white-pointed white star emblazoned on the chest. Another black-haired woman stepped out with her, this one in a barely-there purple getup with thigh-high boots, and a younger blonde between them in a black costume with a yellow diamond star and a bejeweled headband. Pyro didn’t recognize them but he knew what they were-- “Supes!” Dom yelled. “Correct,” said the blonde in Russian-accented English, “We are the Winter Guard, defenders of Mother Russia and all her people---and we give you ONE chance to stand down and surrender!” “One chance is all I need to boil up some Russian hotpot!” Pyro proclaimed, turning his flames their way...only to have them harmlessly swallowed up by the Darkforce portal that Darkstar, the blonde, summoned to intercept them. “Wha---that’s cheating!” St. John exclaimed. “Then let’s even the score, Johnny,” growled Dom, sending a quake out from his hands towards the women...only for it to turn out THAT--- “They all can fly?!” he exclaimed. That REALLY was not fair! “They may ride the air,” scoffed Skybreaker from above, “But---can they command it?!” With that, the Inhuman hurled contained hurricanes intended to grab the women, knock them around, even break their bones inside it---or worse, hopefully. Darkstar teleported away, but the others, Starlight and Fantasma, were caught by the tornadoes. Skybreaker started to laugh, but his triumph was short-lived---a Darkforce portal appeared behind him, and he was pulled in by Darkstar, then spat out into the tornado himself, right next to Fantasma. The sorceress seized the opportunity, and seized Skybreaker himself, grabbing him and manipulating his bio-field to render him unconscious. Thus, the tornado stopped, and he dropped to the ground before Starlight or Darkstar could grab him, which Fantasma did not even try. blonde, Darkstar, ported away “Aireo!” Aqueduct yelled, “Hey, he’s got delicate bones!” “Your concern for your comrade is admirable,” Starlight commended “But you should worry about yourself,” added Fantasma “Get the ‘porter,” Pyro commanded to Aqueduct and Avalanche, having learned from what he just saw, “She’s the real threat, herd her to me and I’ll toast her!” “You like playing with fire, hmm?” Starlight had overheard, “How about nuclear fire?” And with that, Pyro found himself surrounded by flames that emanated from her body. Normally that was something he would have no fear of, quite the reverse, but this fire felt...wrong. He shrank from it reflexively, as he would something alien and dangerous. “My radiation is not something I wish to inflict on anyone---especially not one with infractions so minor as yours---but threaten the life of my teammate, and you can consider your own to be forfeit!” “Ulp,” Pyro replied, “Got it.” With Skybreaker down and Pyro caged, that left Aqueduct and Avalanche, and Pyro didn’t have much hope for them. Great guys, but not great thinkers, those two. He didn’t expect this fight to last much longer, and he was right. The last thing he remembered was one of Darkstar’s portals surrounding him, and then everything was black and cold... ...and woke up into just more darkness and coldness. “John? John!” Dom was leaning over him, his square face contorted in concern. “Ahhh...” Pyro sat up, rubbing the back of his head, “Feels like I got the world’s worst hangover...” “We all did,” said Aqueduct, “Everybody except Aireo.” “I was passed out already before that witch passed us through our portal,” Aireo said venomously. Pyro didn’t need to ask where they were. He could tell already. A prison cell. A bad one too. No beds or benches attached to the walls, no toilet, no bars, just three walls and a solid steel door. It was very, very cramped in here too, with minimal light coming only from the tiny window in the door. And he didn’t like the crusty brown rim around the drain in the center of the floor. Pyro also knew that power-dampeners must be installed, or these three would have already busted loose with him in tow.  This...did not look good. Pyro had HEARD what the Russians did to mutants, even the ones who WEREN’T foreigner criminals... “Johnny, get down!” Dom yelled, and pulled Pyro away from something. Pyro turned and saw that behind him, one of the Darkforce portals was forming. “What do you want?!” he demanded of Darkstar and Starlight, who were visible within it, though not emerging due to the cell being so small. “For you to come with us,” said Starlight. “We love our country, make no mistake,” explained Darkstar, “But the present government’s treatment of the super-powered who do not serve it is inhumane.” “Even for villains,” Starlight added. “Where’s Stripperella?” Pyro asked, noting that what had been a trio was now a duo. “Fantasma...has a harder time understanding the nuances of these things,” Starlight said, “She follows the law, and believes it is good. And it is. And you broke it. You should be punished, as the law demands. But not like THIS.” “What’s...this?” Aqueduct asked. He was apparently not as well-read as Pyro about how Russia did things. “You do not know what is in store for you?” “Er...no?” Dom said. He was also not exactly on the up and up in this department. The women exchanged looks. “Better that way,” said Starlight, “Come on---enough talk.” “We’ve just shut down the power nullifiers,” said Darkstar, “Quickly, make a mess so it looks like you escaped on your own---we’ll help make sure you get through the facility, you just leave a ‘trail’ as you go.” They did exactly that, their elemental powers wreaking havoc through the facility, while Darkstar’s portals enabled them to evade being seen or caught. The portals were bad enough though; Pyro realized now why he’d felt so terrible after going through one, why he’d passed out. It was staggering to go through them, even for a second, and all four of Force of Nature quickly protested their use, preferring to take their chances being seen. “It is the Darkforce,” Darkstar explained apologetically, “To me, it is friendly, harmless---but when others travel through it, the effects are...unpleasant. It is helpful for quickly subduing foes, as I did you before, but it makes it less than ideal for transporting friends, especially those unused to it.” “Even I’m still getting used to it,” admitted the sturdy-looking Starlight, who appeared to Pyro no worse for the wear despite the multiple small trips....while he felt like he was going to drop again, and the others looked about the same. Finally, they reached the end, a wall that Starlight instructed them to burst through, which Avalanche did with ease. They walked for awhile, Pyro burning a path through the snow---the ladies had considerately brought him a lighter---til they had left enough of a trail, then Darkstar took them all for one last ‘port, in the opposite direction, to the outskirts of Moscow, where they could find a way to contact their employers and get a flight scheduled. “From here, you must make your own way home,” said Starlight. “And never return, “Darkstar warned, “Or else you may not find us so merciful next time!” Actually they would be---but they didn’t want to risk these dumb-asses knowing that and coming back.

[lostsolsdestinyblog]

Destiny 2: Forsaken Initial impressions after one hell of a first week of play

We are officially one week into Forsaken and though I have previously waited to post detailed opinions until after the first month, since there is just so much that we’ve experienced in the last week, I’m going to give a take on this initial experience.

First and foremost, Forsaken is so far in my opinion the absolute pinnacle Destiny experience we all hoped it would be. This expansion is incredible and there is almost too much to do and take in, and to that end it can get a bit overwhelming at times. That is not a bad problem to have though and is really a testament to everyone at Bungie and the work they put in to all aspects of the game over the last year.

Story/Campaign

There are many things to cover but I think the first should be the story, lore, campaign and endgame story. This has been nothing short of magnificent. Forsaken took a real hold on me right from the opening cinematic and maintained it all throughout the campaign, through the closing scene and kept going. From the speech Ikora gave when we got back to the tower, to the dialogue when we visit planet vendors, it is deep, it is rich and it is heartfelt. I haven’t even had time to begin thinking about digging into the new lore section of the Triumphs, but all the responses I’ve heard from those who have are nothing short of glowing.

Art/level design/worlds

I don’t know exactly what I pictured as exactly what the Tangled Shore would be like, but it managed to exceed any thoughts I may have had. From the real look at the full Prison of Elders to the wreckage of the Queen’s assault on Oryx, It is just phenomenally done. The crashed Tomb Ship in particular was just a complete OMG moment for me and really managed to hit me in the feels being back in that environment.

The weapon and armor designs are really fantastic this go round too. I know the return of some of the old D1 gear has been hit or miss with people, but I feel like it fits the narrative and there are enough brand new designs to really give people a choice of aesthetic.

The Dreaming City

To the art and design, as GLaDOS would say, this is a triumph. The zone is very reminiscent to me of WoW’s Timeless Isle and that is such a cool thing to have in Destiny because it was easily the best zone I ever played in WoW. I haven’t gotten to do a ton of exploring there yet, but it is a much larger space that I envisioned and full of way more secrets and challenges. I got to finally do quite a bit of the Blind Well yesterday and, after a dozen or so completions now, I think the event is awesome. I think the last 3; Archon’s Forge, EP and now the Well have all been incredibly fun and have managed to have uniquely different reasons for being so. I think these events are a great thing for the game and look forward to each new one we get, but I wish they could get the matchmaking right.

The one place this falls short again is that it’s so difficult to get a larger group of friends together to play and I know the matchmaking in the Well has already been covered by Paul Tassi and others, but I think it goes beyond matchmaking in this instance.

The Dreaming City is the raid zone. Everything there is building up to the raid and yet we are limited to 3 player fireteams and this to me if I could change one thing about Forsaken would be #1 on the list. It should have been a 6 player fireteam zone. I understand all the technical reasons for how Destiny’s worlds work and the challenges of moving us between the different public and private bubbles while matchmaking seamlessly and also keeping us able to be joined at any time by those in our fireteam, but this is not the regular patrol zone. The Dreaming City is a standalone area from the Tangled shore and as such I wish could have been designed to accommodate the bigger groups.

Even if it entailed limiting each area within the Dreaming City to a max of 6 rather than 9 and tuning the enemies/challenges accordingly, I think it would have been worth it. One of the biggest mistakes D2 made for me at launch was forcing raid teams to fracture to do anything else in the game and I think it ended up hurting the game. This is something we discussed at the Summit including wondering if we could get a 6v6 Gambit (the response being that while the idea is good, the mode had been developed, tested and perfected to feel good for 4v4 and they didn’t want to chance changing things and it not feeling as good so close to release.

The return of 6v6 QP and IB has done a lot to give those groups more to do, but I just can’t help but think about what a bonding experience this could have been for raid teams to all be together playing through the Dreaming City and unlocking the secrets around the raid before going in together and I hope it’s something that is considered for the future.

Gambit

I was extremely fortunate to have been a part of the first group to get to play it and it was incredibly fun when we did, but also a bit overwhelming to really get a full sense of everything that was going on. During the Gambit stream a couple weeks ago and then in the free trial day I really got a chance to pick up a lot of nuances and rules of play that I didn’t catch going in blind and it has been exactly what all the rave reviews throughout the spring and summer have suggested. The mode is incredibly fun and deep, the maps are fantastic and the different map/enemy combos really do make it feel quite different every time.

I know there are the complaints we see about sleeper, etc, but honestly I haven’t seen any strategy/weapon that can’t be countered by adjusting your own teams approach so far. The only issue I’ve had with Gambit has been the networking and rules around players dropping/joining. I don’t know how unique my experience has been, but when I play with friends I get zoo errored out of almost every match and usually a game or two in, right before the rewards. In a two day span I was only able to successfully complete two matches. It cost me hours of leveling and not only did I lose out on a bunch of powerful engrams rewards, it also punished my clan mate playing with me as she didn’t get credit for doing the matches with me towards her clan bounty when I kept getting kicked at the end.

To this end I don’t know if the issue is server side or with my Xbox, but it’s been painful. My other issue is with the systems surrounding the disconnects. It has given me a message asking saying I got unexpectedly removed and would I like to rejoin each time, but I have never successfully made it back into a match. I get another zoo error every time and once that fails; there is no way to just join on teammates in an in-progress match. The other issue is with the ban system. I understand that it sucks when people quit and there should be some way to curb that, but I think that right now the system is punishing to many players who’ve been kicked/had the game freeze/get stuck flying in from orbit forever. When the system becomes a punishment to players who are at no fault, then I think it’s time to rethink the system.

Bounties/dailies/ weeklies

There are so many and this is both awesome and overwhelming all at once. I like that bounties are back. I think they give a real reason to go to all the places within the game and have given me reason to actually go do heroic story missions, strikes and adventures. I think to that end these have been a grand slam, but I also think they are a bit overly complex.

I think here the biggest issue for me has been the removal of goals from the milestone page. I was so lost the first few days trying to figure out where I needed to be and what I needed to do to level up and progress and I really wish that we could track more than one bounty at a time and that when tracked, they would be pinned to the milestone page. I know there is only so much space there so it may be a limited number, but I miss not being able to just pull up that tab and see where I need to go next and my progress.

I didn’t even know the daily heroic adventure existed until day 4, and again, there is so much to do now and it is awesome, but it could be a little more defined how things work and when they reset. I know there was also the unintended rested on Saturday that threw a wrench into things, but it’s been hard to prioritize what to do when to not lose things because of the 4 day vs weekly resets. I think it would have been better to just have 7 unique daily events that reset each week along with the weeklies.

Progression

This one it’s still early to really be able to fully give opinions on as one week isn’t enough to get a sense of a 200 power level climb, but I can give my thought on things so far. The first thing is the initial grind from 35/380 to 50/500. I thought this was done really well and the pacing particularly on my second and third characters was really good. I enjoyed the repeat trips through and was able to be perfectly setup for the next grind on each of my 3 characters.

Initially I was taken aback by the high cost of infusion like everyone else, but that has become a bit less of an issue post 500 and I understand the reasoning behind the changes and trying to change the way we think about choosing/upgrading gear. I do have some reservations on upgrading gear still though. Some people had the luxury of having huge stockpiles of masterwork cores, mod components, planetary mats, etc going in and I understand it would be kind of broken for them to basically be able to buy as many of whatever they needed while other have to grind, but I really can’t imagine this system not being punishing for new players or those who didn’t have stock piles.

I’m currently almost our of masterwork cores and not finding many in the world and it’s got me to where I’m just equipping whatever gear I find at higher levels and not wearing the armor I want or in many cases using the weapons I want to. I didn’t mind this on the journey to 500 going through various blue gear, but I don’t like having to play the real endgame using things I don’t really want to and wearing gear I don’t really like.

All that said, so far progression post 500 has felt very good. I’ve managed to gain at least 3-5 levels each day (high of 518 atm) and I’m struggling to complete everything I can that gives powerful gear across all 3 characters before they reset… and that is with the fact that I didn’t do my initial weeklies before the Saturday reset and so lost out on a week’s worth of those activities. Whatever issues Warmind had with capping our progress and particularly in making it difficult for solo players to progress after their milestones were finished have been not just corrected, but made infinitely better in Forsaken.

I actually had to force myself to take this break from trying to finish everything I need to do in order to write this. There have been some bumps in the road so far with the accidental reset, players glitching things and for me, the issues staying connected to Gambit, but as a whole I think it has been easily the best leveling system Destiny has had so far for both solo and fireteam play.

Random Rolls/Exotics/mods

To random rolls, I think they’ve been handled very well since being brought back. I think the possible variations along with the perks themselves have made getting a good version of any weapon a pretty safe bet when they drop. As far as armor rolls, I really haven’t even begun to really look at or care what the perks are at this point as there is no way I can find a set and wear/infuse it as I go with the infusion economy as it stands now, so I’m currently just infusing exotics/ like-kind-items and my few crucible pieces on my titan that have my grenade cooldown mods. Unless there are changes I don’t see myself really trying to build full sets until I hit 600.

Weapons I wish just has glimmer cost associated when infusing say any hand cannon to hand cannon and not just the same kinds of them. I think that would help things a lot and allow us to use what we want more often as we level.

Mods are so much better than before and exactly what I had wished they would be for a long time now, but I am worried that the economy system here is going to be too punishing. I did not have a stockpile going in and I have been able to but 6-7 so far, but I don’t have enough to buy anymore at this time and I’m not finding them as I play. I think I’ve gotten only one or two the last two day. That isn’t going to cut it.

Sandbox/balance

Again it is so early to really get a full sense of things but from what I have played so far of PvE and PvP, this is really, really good. There are so many incredible weapons in every weapon slot/archetype and the ways we can set up to play are just crazy deep. I know there have been the complaints about Sleeper, Telesto, shotguns, etc, but honestly I have not seen any weapon stand out in what has killed me. I’ve seen so much variety and even when I run into a player who is really good with whatever they have equipped, I don’t feel like I’m lacking in ways to combat and counter them. When there are weapons in literally every class that you can say is truly phenomenal, the devs really knocked it out of the park and I really hope that the philosophy of putting it on players to find great weapons that fit their play within the sandbox stays and we don’t see things start to get nerfed because players feelings get hurt when they die to (x) weapon/ability/super.

Supers/new subclasses

These have been nothing short of spectacular. I decided to play my Warlock first at the last minute and on a whim went with the new arc subclass. I can’t even adequately describe how much it exceeded my expectations for what it could be. It feels so powerful and just perfect. I have since unlocked the solar and it’s also amazing (though seems to take a bit too long to level each node compared to the other subclasses).

I did the void Hunter first and outside of a garbage right bumper on my xbone controller it’s been really fun, but probably the biggest surprise so far is the Titan. I decided to do the defender first and it’s the first time in all of Destiny that I can truly say I love the subclass. It just feels so spot on now both in its support capabilities as well as being able to really hold its own offensively.

The only thing that has been an issue I’ve seen is the way we acquire the ability to unlock new supers. I understand tying them to the Blind Well to encourage players to really get in there and try it, but I hope that isn’t the only avenue and that we will have chances for them to just drop anywhere the further we progress with the odds getting higher. I cannot imagine this not being the case and us somehow reaching 600 without unlocking everything.

Final thoughts

Again it is still so early in this expansion and there is still so much to see and do in weeks and months to come, but this has been such a Triumph for pretty much every aspect of the game. Yes there are things like Blind Well and the Dreaming City that I think can be even better, but that is the key phrase, EVEN BETTER, because they are already great. I think at this point that would be the area I’d like to see the game grow and improve from here. Weapons, balance, leveling, investment, story, lore, design, new modes… all those things have been taken to entirely new levels of greatness. Now I want to better be able to experience it all with more of my friends and our full 6 player fireteam, be that in areas like the Dreaming City, PvP, and hopefully eventually patrols.

It’s been a hell of a ride so far and we’re a week in. I can’t wait to see what this week brings and into the future :)