#but that's not dps levels of difficulty still

[avaritia-ffxiv]

I've legit lost all ability to play DPS tho, somehow. Tank I can sorta play, healers I can definitely play, but DPS? I'm a laughing stock nowadays.

Which isn't the greatest feeling when you're completely sweaty about your own performance, but when you can only make it to the freaking middle of the pack as a Viper, yeah I'm about ready to crawl under a rock and die of shame.

[dying-isnt-good-for-your-health]

DpxDc, A hypocrite's concern

A little thing I wrote about Jason and Danny interacting after Jason gets captured by the GIW:)

(Starts under cut because I accidentally made it long)

Jason didn't know what to think.

He had been walking to the bus stop to get groceries in his civilian clothes, when a white van with an obnoxious logo on the side drove by and snatched him off the sidewalk. They didn't even grab him. They just full on drove by with a giant net outstretched like some weird type of fishing to catch him.

They didn't knock him out, they hadn't seemed to find a need to, but they did call him several terms he never even knew existed. None came close enough to the net—which was made of a weird material that couldn't be cut with his smartly hidden knife—to be kicked, so he had resorted to calling them several lovely names that you could only learn by growing up in Crime Alley.

When the van full of Men in Black ripoffs finally stopped, he was loaded into a... cage? Like, it looked a bit like a cage, but it also seemed as if it was made of rubber or plastic, and its shape was also odd, like it was specifically designed for something that would escape a regular cage easily and this was their attempt to stop it. It had bars, sure, but they were at weird angles and constantly layered over each other.

The 'cage' was placed on a cart and wheeled inside a generic office building, but they didn't enter through the entryway, no, what kind of madman uses a door? They entered through the wall. The agents walked directly through the wall, wheeling him in after them, with no difficulty other than pressing a small button next to a random brick. The secret entrance led to an early 2000s sci-fi movie elevator, that had wires filled with a disturbingly familiar green, and a not-so familiar blue.

One of the agents leaned into the comm thing attached to one of the wires and murmured something that made the elevator start working.

The elevator reached what was probably the bottom of the Secret Evil Lair™, and opened with a hiss. The doors revealed a well lit hallway with white walls, floors, ceilings, and heavily reinforced doors. So, these madmen did use doors. It was modern, but in a way that would remind you of a rich person with no interior decorating abilities.

The disproportionately large number of bald men pushed the cage-cart down the hall. The second thing he noticed after the atrocious decoration was the eerie quiet. There wasn't any noise that you would expect from an evil lab, even when the agents walked it was difficult to hear their steps, while when they were outside every step they made would be heard, inside, it was as if they were in their element.

The cart stopped in front of a door with far more protection than the rest, it was dark gray with the blue accents, rather than the white and green of the others. One of the agents leading him turned to a keypad-looking thing and began typing. The door had two signs on it, seemingly to catalog what was held within, but only one had any writing on it, as if the information of the room's contents was incomplete.

"-Phantom-

-DP-001-

-Danger Class: 7-

-Ectoplasmic Strength: Level 4 (For lower level agents, the maximum is Level 5)-

-Power Set: On the DP-001 file-

-Experiment Notes: While testing, ignore any and all pleas for mercy, it is a manipulation tactic it utilizes often. Do NOT remove the muzzle, doing so will result in termination. Causing permanent damage to subject without instruction from an agent classed over Class 7 will result in termination.-"

Jason was able to read the entire thing while the agent was still typing in the code to open the door. When the agent finally finished entering the code, the door opened with the same hiss as the elevator, and revealed a decontamination chamber.

They threw him into the chamber, and quickly closed the doors behind him. The cage melted away, as if it were made of wax, leaving him standing free in the chamber.

The chamber began to fill with a blue gas that fell from the ceiling vents. Jason instinctively held his breath while reaching for his gas mask, only to realize he didn't have his gas mask. Which was not right, he knew he had his gas mask. No Gothamite leaves home without a gas mask. No smart one, at least.

The agents had somehow managed to remove all of his belongings without him noticing. His clothes were also different, instead of the outfit he had left the house in, he was wearing a white shirt, and white pants.

How the hell did they do this? Was the most coherent thought he could have, but it was short lived as the doors in front of him opened with the exact same annoying hiss as the last few.

Based on the sign, he was expecting some kind of cryptid, like a demon, or something. But rather, he was greeted by a short teenager with black hair and blue eyes. The boy wore the same white clothes as Jason, but he also wore a mask that covered half his face, but there was also a blue tinted glass that allowed him to see his mouth. He was working on something behind him.

The boy stared for a moment, before smiling and waving animatedly, like he hadn't seen anyone other than the agents in a long while.

"Hi! I'm Danny!" He said, even if it was slightly muffled, sounding something between being under a blanket and speaking through a fan, "Or Phantom. Or DP-001 or just 001, they flip flop between the last three usually, you?"

"...I'm Jason," He couldn't see why he shouldn't tell this kid his name, it didn't matter, the kid wouldn't recognize it, "Uh, how old are you?"

Danny paused before tilting his head and asking, "Hm, What's the date? I dunno how long I've been here."

"April 13th." He replied, not liking the implications of not knowing your own age.

"Oh! I turned 15 last week! What about you?"

That was way too young to be... where ever this is, this kid is a literal child.

"I'm 23." Again, seeing no reason to lie.

"Wow. You're old." Danny said with the typical teenage snark you'd expect from a fifteen year old, "Sorry, my friend used to say that whenever her parents made her socialize at rich people parties."

He filed away that information for later, even if "Rich people parties" is pretty vague.

"So, where are you from?" Jason asked, Small talk and gather info, he can do that.

He froze for a split second, before speaking, "Amity Park," The kid said, smiling, but in a sad, wistful way, "It's in Illinois."

So this kid was most definitely kidnapped, there are no doubts about that.

"I'd ask where you're from, but I kinda already know" Danny stated, "I saw you in the Gotham file back when I still tried to escape."

Still? They had a file on Gotham? Why? Why was he on the file?

"Oh, why do they have me in the file?" Subtle.

"Either you died and came back funky," He started, holding his fingers out to count on his hand, which was, just perfect, that this random shady group knows about that, "Or you have come in to contact with ectoplasm, the green stuff, or both! That happened to me."

There was a lot to unpack there, but begin simple.

" 'Came back funky' ?" That was a good place to start.

"Oh yeah, like, came back with powers, or with your body being in a better condition than while you were dead, or coming back after too long a time for it to be technically possible."

That answered nothing and everything.

"Actually, I don't even think they care if you came back at all," Danny said after he seemed to think about it for a moment, "Ancients know they only care about technicalities when it benefits them."

Every time the kid answers a question, ten more fill its place because of the answer.

It was a little hard to focus on his answers, though, because of how uncomfortable the weird new clothes were.

Wait.

"How did they get these clothes on me?" He didn't really want the answer, but he also didn't want to not have the answer. "I didn't even notice it."

"Oh! Did they bring you here in a cage?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, if you could even call it that."

"Well," He said, making a big show with his hands to enunciate his sentence, which made Jason notice the electrical scarring that lined his left hand, "I'm pretty sure the Guys In White made the cages out of some material that, when it melts, coats your clothes in some kind of ectoplasm, and then the gas basically breaks down the affected clothing, and replaces it. I'm still not sure how, though."

That, again, answered nothing and everything, but mostly nothing this time.

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard - unofficial BioWare forums post - 'Gameplay Hot Tips from Dev'

Post under cut for length.

Luke Barrett: "So I've been watching a lot of streams and YT channels and many people are playing on the highest difficulty, not reading tutorials, and then just trying to buttonmash/dodge their way through the combat since if you're good at dodge/block you can muscle your way, painfully, through the beginning hours of the game. Anyway, here are a bunch of random tips from me. Also worth noting almost all of this except things I denote with an * are tutorialized in the game when you encounter them. I'll spoiler wrap it all just in case anyway wants to try to learn this stuff naturally (or not be overwhelmed)"

"BASICS - Light attack base damage is the highest dps (but you can itemize the others to be higher) however it deals reduced damage to Armor (yellow bar) and Barrier (blue bar) - Heavy attacks deal bonus damage to Armor (yellow bar) - Ranged attacks deal bonus to Barrier (blue bar). Super important note: when the text says "RANGED ATTACK" it's specifically the core attack type, not anything that attacks from range. So this is Rogue bow, Warrior shield toss, Mage beam. - Charged attacks deal bonus damage and stagger as well as break Block and certain channeled abilities - [MAGE SPECIFIC] The orb light attacks build charges (Arcane Marks) on enemies, on the 3rd one it converts into an Arcane Bomb which can be popped for bonus damage with the dagger heavy attack"

"ADVANCED - *during Ability, Ultimate, and Potion usage you have iFrames (immune to damage) for the entire duration getting new copies of items automatically upgrades them, unlocking the next item mod (stat property) - items can only rank up as high as your Caretaker shop level - new items you find are automatically ranked up to the Caretaker shop level, this includes things you buy - potion effects are controlled by your equipped belt and can add a wide variety of things later (something something bees ) - *Each ability has 2 ability tags associated with it, this denotes which upgrades and items will modify them. No 2 abilities have the same 2 tags but each tag type has 4 or 5 abilities for it - Staggering enemies allows you to immediately branch into a Takedown which will instakill normal enemies at <30% (some items modify this) - *Staggered enemies are stunned, you have until the bar goes down to use your Takedown which means you can just smash them for free and then use Takedown at the end (the duration of this is modified by difficulty) - *The debuff from Primers are VERY strong and scale well, as above don't feel like you need to detonate immediately if they have lots of health still, it's more optimal to leave it on for awhile and then detonate at the end"

"MATHY - Every ability you unlock grants additional ability damage and stagger (which also applies to ultimates) Every trait you unlock grants additional weapon damage and stagger - *All stat damage is sum'd together, the things that are multiplicative after that are: Crit, Weakpoint, Sunder (primer), Enhanced Damage (buff). This means the buff/debuff/crit are ALWAYS going to be a benefit whereas eventually somethingg like +20% fire damage will actually increase your total damage by less. (I can go further into this if anyone loves damage calc theory) - [ROGUE] *Short bows fire slightly faster and regenerate more but cant be charged as much (and have slightly lower weakpoint base damage) - [WARRIOR] *Round shields deal more damage and can charge up higher, Kite shields deal much more stagger (and usually have defensive properties) I'll add more as I see people struggle with them."

[source]

Extra comments and Q&As:

"Once you get further enemies all get unblockable attacks, and theyll be more likely to use them when you're turtling like that. The 'intro' enemies are stripped down to make it simpler." [source]

User: "Parrying: I'm playing on nightmare and one thing that is difficult to get used to is the parry window. When the UI goes from white to yellow, I'll press the parry button, but it will still be too soon. Is that by design? Am I supposed to hold the parry button?" Luke Barrett: "Depends on the class as they're all slightly different for this but yes the yellow just flashes a specific time before the attack comes down so you'll have to offset a bit on Nightmare. Iirc, you can disable those warning telegraphs in the options somewhere if you want, as its a UI setting not a difficulty setting." [source]

"stats and appearance are disconnected. There is a button in the character sheet that will also hide any overrides you have so you can flip back and forth between default and your selection. (It's a little box beside the larger item equip box)" [source]

User: "For the specialization trees, do you have to unlock the abilities next to them in order to activate the specialization once you reach the level requirement?" Luke Barrett: "Yes, they still require you to connect into them with adjacent skill purchases if that's what you mean. Keep in mind full respec is free so typically what I would recommend is just make a build up until you hit 20 and then respec and redo it for the specialization." [source]

User: "I have a question about a rune that makes your weapons deal cold damage. Is it only true for warrior and rogue weapons? Because it doesn't seem to work with staff and orb/dagger. Also, and i understand that you likely won't be able to answer that, but are there any plans to add presets that let you to save abilities/gear? Enemies' resistances being important means that you need to swap abilities and weapons and it's a bit annoying to do it manually every time." Luke Barrett: "It should be working for Mage too it just doesnt override the actual visuals. As for loadouts, tbh it's something we wanted to provide but it kept getting out of scope so I'm hoping there will be time post-launch for it but no announced plans as of yet, unfortunately." [source] User: "Yeah, i noticed that it applied Chilled status on enemies, but because visuals are the same, i got confused. Another question that i probably should've asked in my original comment is about Elemental Catalyst passive. It gives you bonus damage based on the damage type of your Staff and Orb weapons. Let's say i used rune that makes my weapons deal cold damage. Does it mean that my abilities that deal cold damage will also gain bonus?" Luke Barrett: "Nope, it'll still work. The way the rune actually works on the backend is we intercept the damagetype and just switch it in the calculation so anything relying on the damagetype for checks would still pass. Basically for all purposes except the enemies resistances, the damage is the original type. (Those runes were designed entirely for getting around resists fwiw)" [source]

User: "what's the gameplay design reason behind global cooldowns? Is it to emphasize the player needing to use light and heavy attacks, or to dissuade constant detonator spams?" Luke Barrett: "As a tl;dr it would have required a resource for each follower as well. When I do my stream ask me again and I'll go into greater detail. There are a lot of things I've seen suggested that are better ideas in isolation but a lot of times something is the way it is to support some other goal." [source]

User: "Are there any traits or perks that make charging either ranged or basic attacks go a bit faster? I'm doing a warrior and would love charging up the shield to go a bit faster." Luke Barrett: "For Mage yes (staff heavy specifically) for the other ones no, it's mostly because of interrupt spamming enemies. I would recommend using Time Slow, Taunt, or Invulnerable from companions to make it very easy to get off." [source]

User: "What's the difference between an agile attack and a light attack?" Luke Barrett: "Light attack is simply pressing that button (square on PS or X on Xbox controller). Agile attacks are ones coming from sprint, jump, or roll (regardless of which input you use to attack). So an attack can be both a Light attack and an Agile attack. " [source]

"And yes, all bolded terms should appear in the additional details section. There is also a section in the glossary that lists them all, along with what each of the enemy Enhancements do." [source]

User: "Noticed something possibly weird. I forgot to respec the skills on Neve and took an ability that wasn't upgraded, while removing the upgraded one (Glacial Pace) from the bar. And suddenly she still fires her unslotted ability (Glacial Pace) during combat. It has the upgrade for auto-fire randomly without cooldown. It happens regularly now. Is that a glitch or expected behavior?" Luke Barrett: "This is intentional, yes. Soon as you buy the autofire passive (each companion has one of them) they'll fire it regardless of what they have mapped." [source]

User: "Luke, the Warrior has a trait at the lower left section of the skill tree that allows you to follow-up a fully-powered Charged Attack with a Powerful Finisher attack. However, I can't seem to get the timing down on WHEN I'm supposed to hit X or Y (I'm on xbox) after the Charged Attack. Is it as soon as the final Charged attack hit lands, or soon after? I'm playing 2H warrior btw" Luke Barrett: "I believe I saw a bug fixed for the next patch where it was picking a normal light branch instead of the charged. Try it with the heavy attack but the timing is pretty tight for all those perfect timing ones." [source]

User: "Luke, I had two questions for you: 1) A couple weeks back, I believe before launch, I had asked about what went into the decision regarding global cooldowns. You mentioned that you had another system in mind, but couldn't answer at the time due to the game not having launched. Since we're nearly a year removed now, do you feel open to discussing what you had in mind with cooldowns? 2) A lot of people who like having the ability to use a large number of active abilities weren't too thrilled about Veilguard. At the same time, I've found that most people who fall into this group tend to be mostly concerned about what fewer active abilities means for mages. Since we now have two types of mage-based weapons, could one possible solution be to have the 3 active skills for the Orb & Dagger combo, but the Staff allows you 6+ abilities by sacrificing block or the ranged attack option? Maybe I should be more general here. Is it feasible for one class of weapon to allow for more active abilities than other weapons?" Luke Barrett: "Hey, sorry been on vacation. This will be long but I'll try to be as succinct as possible. To the first one, we actually tried a bunch of different options but ones that felt better for gameplay ended up being even more overhead on the HUD as far as bars and things (which we were already bloated on). I actually did a bunch of gameplay analysis stuff back at the start of Joplin, basically just modding DAI (internally) and assessing feedback. And this will sound obvious when it's spelled out but basically for any ability system it's good to use both a resource and a time based gating system. When you only have cooldowns you typically just spam abilities off cooldown (which is why followers went Global specifically) and when you have resource only you basically just spray your most effective ability over and over. Now, you can design your abilities around these problems, for example if you make all of them situational and only having a "correct" time to use them it will mitigate the issues. But, that assumes your game is complex enough to have that many different scenarios to help the abilities have unique identities. Additionally, and we ran into this early, having a correct way to use things also means there is an incorrect way so a lot of players who didn't quite get it just felt the abilities were flat and useless (I see this constantly about the uniques when people don't understand the synergy intent).As for abilities, yes one could probably mod that in - the hardest part would be the UI for mapping them but still doable with a mod. One big concern about us officially doing it, which we did talk about, is that all those abilities are loaded into memory when you have both sets. So for our minspec systems it would have been too costly on performance. We also had a gameplay guideline that we intentionally never wanted to promote weapon swapping mid combat and that went against it. When I was in charge of that kind of stuff on Joplin waaaay back we had 6 abilities mapped (2 were controlled by your equipped items) and I preferred that but it was a different game and different target markets." [source]

User: "If staff could have 8+ abilities, they could also take my runes. Edit: Also for staff it is very important not to limit mana so much at the beginning of the game. I disliked this decision even more than only having 3 spells because it was often like having no spells and made the game very frustrating at the start." Luke Barrett: "Yes, this was unfortunately a tradeoff for not having to make the Mage abilities do much lower damage and be spammy, especially when we added iFrames to ability use - the goal for abilities is for them all to feel powerful to activate so there was some limiting factors. We actually had the mana start at 0 and build up for awhile to help with that problem but people haaaaated it from an immersion perspective. I agree though, it doesn't feel great at the start from an ability power fantasy perspective, however the entire combat system ramp up hinges on Players learning light, heavy, charged, block attacks. As above, you could theoretically mod in 8 abilities by taking the Rune input over, unhooking block or radial maybe, and making another set of modifier buttons (or make it just KBM only mod)." [source]

[snapscube]

Does the final fantasy mmo you play (i’m not good at roman numerals but i think it’s 14) have a cleric/medic equivalent? I’d like to play a mmo with my friends and i’m usually a healer in these types of games

it's 14 yeah! also yes it does have healers!! the game runs with the "holy trinity" of multiplayer party makeup, so there are tanks, healers, and DPS. they're always adding new jobs w every expansion of varying role types but right now there are 4 tanks and 4 healers! and you can play all of them at any time on a single character btw!!! they each have their own playstyle and they don't share experience so there's a LOT to chew on and progress even if u literally only play healer :)

right now i'm still catching up on getting them fully leveled, my favorite healer job AESTHETICALLY is Sage, but it's easily the most complicated healer to play since it's very focused on MITIGATING damage rather than healing it outright, and when you do heal it's usually done through offensive attacks that in turn heal a party member of your choice. it's super cool though.

the past few weeks i've also been progressing White Mage, which is easily the most standard healer job and as a result it's very easy and fun to wrap ur head around and it makes healing larger-scale or higher difficulty content much more approachable! it's all straight up health recovery and regen!

but yeah anyway!!! the healers in this game are great fun! i highly recommend giving it a shot!!!

[multitrackdrifting]

LobCorp Recommended Mod Guide (One-step install modpacks now linked below 1 for QoL but close to vanilla, and one to smooth over the progression curve/reduce grind)

As someone who played LobCorp vanilla (and strongly adovcate aganist it unmodded even for the theme of the story) these are my mod recommendations. I don't have the time to actually test these but these are what I think would help a lot of people play this game.

Basemod is a mod management platform that allows LobCorp to be modded - and because the game has a lot of jank that don't really speak to the game's actual difficulty curve a lot of it is worth modding out or adjusting even if you don't want to reduce the difficulty bad QoL is not an actual difficulty curve so some of the time you spend in this game is a result of jank and not actual mechanical depth or challenges. More below.

Original Basemod 5.1.1 guide (explains in simple terms how to install it in 2nd paragraph, unlinked mods are in here. This is the most popular mod guide afaik). A lot of the mods are translated/adapted from the forum DC Inside from the original BM creator abcdcode. Basemod 5.2 (unofficial) guide (maybe check this if some older ver. mods don't work) NexusMods (for most English mods that might help).

Make the game playable [QOL Focused, does not actually functionally change anything about the game's actual mechanics] (the game will still be hard as nails but without the jank that should be in the game):

Infinite Rerolls (95% of lategame difficulty is being trolled by RNG, if you don't want to use this mod, you can hit "return to menu" in the vanilla game to retry from last day without repo rewinding). [Checked]

Employee Group Select (the base game makes it really hard to micro departments unless you really like RTS) [Broken For Me]

Detailed Work-Related Stats (see discrete success chances as opposed to vague wording). [Checked]

Work Macro (holding Shift Auto-repeats work, great for mindlessly farming when all ordeals for a day are over). [Checked]

Agent List (Hitting TAB shows department select as opposed to an ordeal being required to do this). [Checked]

Shield Health Viewer (Shields actually show how much mitigation is remaining, notably absent from vanilla). [Checked]

Agent Recustomization (no longer costs 1 LOB to make your OCs or friends). [OLD] Have not found a working version.

Make the game approachable for all to enjoy [Removing constraints but still keeping MOST difficulty in but respecting your time because the game is absurdly grindy]:

Full-Time Employees (Your units remain if you go back to day 1) <== super good if you dont want to re-grind units every time you rewind. This means yo uwon't have to go through the bs of re-farming stats and can focus solely on gear-farm & doing the story while optimizing your Abno picks with infinite rerolls). [checked]

Overtime Pay (stat-grinding now gives extra points) [checked]

Instant Stat Gains (don't have to end a day to get rewarded with stat increases) [arguably a QoL mod too not gamebreaking]

Rewarding Ordeals (boosted EGO gift odds and stat growths after ordeals killed) [untested]

Extra Justice Attribute (justice now scales DPS) [works somewhat]

Increase Max EGO to 5 (reduces the re-roll grinding substantially) [Checked]

Speedup (increase game speed to 5 if you want) [OLD]

Suppress Leveling (suppressions actually give XP for combat). [Unsure but it seems to work for me]

Sticky Agents (agents no longer wander back & forth, caution this may make certain animation dodges very precise but will more often than not be helpful if you hate the wandering idle anims). [Checked]

Better Central Command Architecture (this department just has a bad layout imo) [Checked]

Flatten the curve to make the game reasonable [I just want to read the cutscenes but still play the game]:

Unsure if Super Agents works because it is old but if it does you will basically be invulnerable to ordeals/suppressions [OLD, replies seem to suggest it doesn't work but worth a try].

"Casual Mode Mod", a 2023 mod that makes daily energy lower and substantially reduces meltdowns to cut down the time of the grind. +100% exp rate, and LOB rewards increase. This mod alone doesn't make the game free but it cuts down the bizarrely high time requirement to play LobCorp which is one of the most substantial barriers to entry. (I'm about to beat it at around 150h). Combine this with the red and green mods and you'll basically have a great time.

Guaranteed Gifts (abno gifts will 100% trigger)

Overlapping Gifts (gifts no longer are 1 per slot)

There are mods to boost stats and EGOs, I suggest you find working ones on Reddit or NM.

I recommend looking around on Nexus Mods or even on reddit for other useful mod recommendations, but be careful, some mods will spoil you. The ones I suggested and recommended here do not contain any - but some on Nexus Mods definitely will.

If any mods don't work please check the Nexus Mods link for any similar mods that are from 2020, the 2019 ones seem to not be working as consistently or at all.

I can't attest that all the mods listed play nicely with each other but please give them a try if you find the base game too daunting, trust me, I went through the grinder and vanilla is fundamentally missing the green mods I listed here at the very least. The ones in the 1st document indicate which Basemod versions and above it will work with so if you have compatibility troubles just use the google doc that is first.

STEAM VISUAL GUIDE FOR MOD INSTALLATION:

The TL;DR for installing Basemod into the "Basemods" folder is that you need to make sure every mod has its own dedicated folder if the download itself doesn't come with one. This is an example layout where none of the mods have files outside of the folders they have dedicated to them. If they don't have an included folder, just name it after whatever the dll file is so you can tell what's in there. It will work nonetheless.

I have added the tag #lobcorpguide to make this post easier to find if it updates since tumblr hates proper-clickthroughs now. So you can find the updated details.

One-click installations (drag the files to the steam installation location and drop the minside the folder called LobotomyCorp_Data).

QoL only & Progression focused. Let me know if it works! The guide/readme file is in the "Basemods" with an s folder along with each mod. I explain what each does, and you can delete or add more at your leisure to that folder, just make sure it has a dedicated folder for each specific mod.

[melanieryssel]

How Genshin's Characters would react to seeing your build

Character: Scaramouche/Wanderer, Albedo, Bennett, Heizou

A/n: Hello it's been a while, hope everyone is doing well. I'm really happy to see likes and reblogs on my last posts, it means a lot to me ❤️ My life is getting a bit overwhelming so It's harder to write anything recently. But writing about fictional characters like this brings comfort to me. Hope you enjoy this story.

Scaramouche/Wanderer

The last thing you have ever wanted to happen if you somehow, one day meet your favorite Genshin's character is for them to find out your build on them. It will be even worse if it's Scaramouche.

If you have a good build on him, a nice ratio, constellations, or his signature weapon, Scaramouche might appear fairly pleased. He will act unimpressed anyway. However, if Scaramouche is the only character or one of the few characters you had seriously invested in, he would definitely show off to other characters how obsessed you are with him.

Don't worry if you are a f2p player (just like me) because Scaramouche won't judge you, except when you have a bad build on him. Even though it's probably not your fault that Rukkhashava Mushroom is the worst to collect or your bad luck on artifacts, he will mock at you. As rude and mean as Scaramouche is, he won't let this slide. But he is also a cutie who has no idea how to comfort or encourage people, he will use his way to help you build him again.

Just in case you have c2 Raiden or a godly build on her, please try your best to hide it from him if you don't want this to become the fourth betrayal.

Heizou

After seeing all the five stars artifacts and best weapons on his build, the detective is just too stunned to speak. Although he would hardly say anything emotional to you, but deep down, he would feel sensational and grateful for how you did your best for him.

If you have an unfinished build on him because of those damn Onikabuto, he will give you a look of surprise and say something like "Onikabuto is everywhere in Inazuma Y/n". He just doesn't get it but he will help you at the end with his detective skills. He will charge you some mora thou.

If you have a godly build on him, Heizou will secretly admire how talent and hard-working you are. You might try to tell him that the only reason why you can build him so well is that he is already a strong character in the first place, but Heizou won't believe it since he's only a detective in lore. You suggest that the best way to prove it is to do a showcase and he reluctantly agrees with you. So you call Mona, Bennet, and other support characters to come to help you.

Heizou still happily does showcase with you, but little did he know, he'd better crit or he will have to do this a bunch of times.

Albedo

As gentlemanly as he is, Albedo would never judge you, especially when he understands all the uphill struggles you have to face if you want to build him well.

Albedo would not hesitate to shower you with compliments if you have a good build for him no matter which build it is (support, dps, sup-dps, or even a healer). He would likely praise you for the smallest thing, a max-level talent, a great piece of artifact, a high-level weapon, or a good team composition. In Albedo's eyes, you are nothing different from a real scientist or a researcher because of the way you calculated to balance all his statistics. Just tell him your difficulties, and Albedo will sit down and seriously discuss it with you.

If your build is unfinished or you don't have a good artifact set yet, he will help you in the domain. Albedo would try to calculate the artifact drop rate or even the weapon banners' rate to help your bad luck.

Bennett

Bennett will be in disbelief when he realizes he is in most of your team compositions, especially damage showcase teams. "Y-you want me in your team?" He says.

He would likely to get extremely emotional if you give him 4 pieces of Nobeless Oblige artifact. He might feel he doesn't deserve all those five stars artifacts and weapons, or worry his bad luck will affect your team, but you are quick to reassure Bennett. You claim that Bennett is the character that actually carried you when you were still a newbie to this game and how Bennett keeps your team surviving in the Abyss.

He would not mind if you merely build him with four stars artifacts or a low-level weapon. If you ask for his help, he will be even more than willing to be your companion. Although it could be a pretty tough journey since you guys both have bad lucks.

[senespera-ffxiv]

also this is the only time I'm gonna post twice in a row but I finished up my thoughts about dawntrail in my media list so I'm posting them here completely unedited

//spoilers for like all of dawntrail

a more detailed rating is that this is like a 4.7/5. It’s a solid story, if a bit boring and cliche for some of the first half. I do enjoy how clear-cut the story is in terms of thematic content, though, and how through and through it is an exploration of differing cultures and the ways in which you can understand them

The second half was also an interesting continuation of said exploration as it gives you a culture that is in direct opposition to you with ways that are so alien, and yet continues to ask that you understand them while also criticizing the more inhumane effects of those cultural practices

making it about me again but it’s basically just my stance about criticizing China. A lot of the criticism becomes extremely sinophobic because it simply rejects the culture without first trying to understand it. It’s a bit easier for me since I’m deeply steeped in said culture, but I do think it’s possible for someone who isn’t Chinese to criticize China in a non-sinophobic way

Idk just a lot of the way Wuk Lamat and the others handled their reactions to Alexandria felt like a good way to do that to me

Like it’s nowhere close to being as insanely character-driven as shadowbringers and endwalker, nor is it as interestingly politically technical as heavensward, stormblood, and certain parts of endwalker, but it’s still definitely Good. Just not as good in comparison to the rest (and even then I’d rank it above Stormblood lmao I didn’t have any moments where I was actively annoyed at the characters for losing brain cells and shit jksdlfhskldjf)

My ranking for the expacs would be something like this

Shadowbringers > Endwalker > Heavensward ≥ Dawntrail > Stormblood > ARR

Gameplay-wise, though, oh my God this Fucks. This Fucks So Hard. Way better than Endwalker.

I imagine this is kind of what it felt like to play this game back in Stormblood and early Shadowbringers where things were much more complex and messy on the player side, except this time the complex and messy stuff has bled into the normal content boss design and I am enjoying it so goddamn much

(disclaimer: I started playing at the very tail end of shadowbringers so while I still remember some shit like old monk back when it had positionals on all of its buttons, I am mostly A Young'un. I did not have to experience the dreaded TP management, nor have I gone through all the stages of grief with Summoner getting reworked every fucking expansion lmao)

Part of the reason why I love doing EX trials is because at that difficulty level they aren’t afraid to do some just batshit things that would cause you to lose it in normal content

and now it’s bled into normal content hell yes

For reference my two favorite EX mechanics so far are the Biting Halberd combo from Zurvan EX (death puddle under boss → giant cone → baited aoes → tank cleave) and the add phase from Hydaelyn EX (both tanks get an add and have to pull them away from the glowing crystals while party dps’s them, rotate once the glowing crystals are dead)

Like obviously I’m biased cuz I’m a tank and those are largely tank mechanics (cuz yes if you forget to move properly in the Zurvan one as MT you just kill your entire party so I kinda count that as a tank mechanic) but more importantly I like them because of how dynamic the movement is.

And they’re dynamic in different ways, like Zurvan’s is extremely rigid. You will dance in this specific manner (back → tank right, everyone else left) or else you die. Hydaelyn on the other hand can be a bit looser and you have at least a bit of room to do different strategies (ideally it’s a “everyone focus down one crystal at a time” situation but the like three-five times I’ve done the fight the positioning has always been very loose as long as none of the glowing crystals are getting tethered).

And a bunch of fights in Dawntrail are doing stuff like this that feels like a dance

Like the first example I can think of is Ar1/R1/whatever we’re calling it when the boss flings out a sequence of like 8 aoes across tiles before hitting you with an uppercut that sends you flying into the air and in order to not die from said uppercut you need to position yourself so that you land on an uncracked tile

The second iteration of this where it’s the clone that does the uppercut and the main boss is hitting you with line stacks is my favorite because that’s where the amount of stuff you do starts to offset how slow the actual mechanic is to make it feel like you’re in a time-sensitive dance and if you step wrong you’ll fuck things up

Another good example is the final boss The Queen Eternal which just. aughhhh I love that boss. There’s so many fun ideas being thrown around in there lol. You can really tell that Zeromus from the Endwalker patches was intended to be a test run for some of the mechanics in this fight because both occasionally devolve into randomized Chaos as you try your best to just Not Get Hit by aoes can you tell I loved the mechanic when she deploys her drones lmao

LIke okay last thing to yell about but Absolute Authority is literally just a mini Relativity mechanic from E12S/Big Bang from Zeromus but more chaotic and I absolutely loved it

Plus the more chaotic nature of the mechanics in this fight serve a bit of a narrative purpose, especially when you consider how desperate Sphene is at this point in time

Like she doesn’t give a shit about keeping up appearances she will kill you as best as she can, “random bullshit go” included

And both of those mechanics also force you to do more dynamic movement, only now it's typically erratic and panicked compared to the more methodical and freeform dances of Zurvan and Hydaelyn EX respectively

We need more insane shit in the gameplay of the normal mode stuff keep doing it Yoshi-P

[autumnslance]

for the ask game — c'oretta's feelings on urianger!

also not really relevant but i was wondering where your tumblr username originates from? guessing it's related to dark autumn but she's a bard, right? or is she a lancer too?

This is where I remember I actually have a document in my files where I figured out my OCs feelings on the main Scion cast and several world leaders, and vice versa. C'oretta on Urianger, for instance: Urianger is so smart and funny and honestly everyone needed to figure that out much sooner and if anyone ever breaks his heart C'oretta will turn them into a pretzel OK? :D He's a bro! And she appreciates his patience and his eloquent way of speaking.

Urianger finds her energy and intellect endearing, she's always been able to keep up with him and is very helpful at trolling his comrades. She also got the closest to figuring out his scheme in HW, and what his plan was in StB even, which is almost scary. She only didn’t figure out ShB cuz she wasn’t in the First with them.

-

The blog title does have to do with Dark Autumn, but unsurprisingly that simple of a title was long taken when I got around to making this side blog when she was still my only character. Dark actually did begin as a Lancer/Dragoon when I started playing in early Heavensward. It was a part of a challenge to myself to try not only DPS, but melee, as my time in WoW was entirely on tanks and healers, with some ranged DPS I was bad at, but melee was worse (I legit got angry and couldn't play my paladin if I tried to go Retribution spec, I hated it so much). FF14's longer GCD and combat play works much better for me! I took all 2 years of HW to get through ARR cuz it was my side game at the time. I tried Bard in 4.0 after finally catching up to main story and fell in love with it (as it had actually been completely overhauled in StB from turret caster to the current mobile form).

In character lorewise, Dark is a Gridanian Lancer, and studying at the lancer and archery guilds together is how she met Aeryn, as Dark got back into adventuring after a long and necessary break from it (she'd been at Carteneau as part of the foreign levy with her then-free company; all handwaved backstory, I did not play 1.0). Dark and Aeryn also sought out Jehantel together. Aeryn's the one who went on to become a Dragoon, thanks to her then-secret backstory, while Dark excelled at Bardic skills that Aeryn treats as more of a hobby/flavoring to her spellcasting. Dark's "canon" tank job is Warrior, though she knows a smattering of most of the martial jobs; while I've leveled all the jobs, she cannot IC spellcast anything beyond level 10 or so. Just no ability or aptitude for it, nor does that bug her as Aeryn's own difficulties troubled her. And in the end, Dark always falls back on the Gridanian methods of archer and lancer. They're practical.

So it's still my blogname, and it'd break far too many links to change it, it's printed in some fanzines that way now, and it'd just feel weird to try to change it to something else after *checks sideblog's age* Heck, 9 years.

[manifestmerlin]

With some more time, experience, and EXTREMELY CRUCIALLY! More nodes on the upgrade tree unlocked. I can confidently say is4 is real good. The second boss is actually so much easier if you know the one trick to deal with him it's kind of ridiculous that the first boss is what it is. (It still kinda high key sucks ngl) I haven't gotten to ending 3 but after looking it up that boss seems like a fucking NIGHTMARE so I'm not looking forward to it. Fordotals are really great, the opening was horribly designed to make you progress through the tree so slowly without the lower difficulties even giving you silent squad, and there's a lot of cool operator options although the meta ops kinda feel as string as ever. BUT a lot of lower rarity ops are more helpful than ever so it feels like it balances out somewhat. It's kind of weird to say that I think is2 actually had the best bosses so far (cept highmore was better than BSL and a biiiit better than phantom I'd say? Mayyyyybe?) But mouthpiece is better than literally every boss in is3 and so far more than is4 too. Collapses level debuffs are frankly: more punishing than the mutations in is3 and you have less control over them which is frustrating. Crisis Trigger early on if you don't get a healer is particularly punishing, but the DP gen down, -aspd tiles, and collapsal bonus stats have also wound up with me losing runs just off of one level.

[moofey17]

Dark Falz Solus

Ahead of Omen of the Planetbreaker, an easier, 8 player urgent quest version of the Dark Falz Solus fight, I thought it would be good to condense what I had learned from one of my favorite fights in the game and make some sort of informational guide on it as to what to expect, the combat flow, etc...

That being said, if you haven't run this yet and want to take this UQ blind, don't read this post or watch the video I've posted further down.

Sign of the Planetbreaker versus Omen of the Planetbreaker?

Sign of the Planetbreaker: Quest type: Major Target Suppression Mission Location: Central Retem, can be accessed anytime Boss level: 75 Required BP: 3750 No. of players: 4 Time limit: 15 minutes Additional fail conditions: Quest fails if the number of incapacitations reaches five. Sign of the Planetbreaker is the first Major Target Suppression Mission in 2NGS, designed to be an "Ultra hard difficulty" quest for 4 players against the Starless enemy Dark Falz Solus. Solus' hard-hitting attacks combined with tight phase 1 mechanics, a limit on the number of incapacitations the party can suffer and a short time limit means that players need to be properly geared and knowledgeable about the fight to be able to clear it.  The quest can be challenged anytime and can be found along the west edge of Central Retem, to the northeast of the ryuker device in Retem Alnothe. Notable weapon drops include the 10-star Flugelgard series, the 9* Tisah series and the 8* Neos Astraean series. Players can also find the Tisah Waffe Almati weapon camo here. Omen of the Planetbreaker: Quest type: Urgent Quest Location: Retem, can only be accessed when made available Boss level: 80 Required BP: 3649 Time limit: 60 minutes Additional fail conditions: None Omen of the Planetbreaker is an urgent quest that can occur in the Retem region. While still against Dark Falz Solus, the fight was designed to be easier than that in Sign of the Planetbreaker. Solus will not hit as hard as it does in Sign, and it's expected that the quest will have standard urgent quest clear or fail conditions for an 8 player quest. (30 or 60 minutes, no additional fail conditions) Drops are expected to be the same as it is with Sign, though likely will have a diminished drop rate for Tisah and Flugelgard weapons compared to Sign.

I recorded one of my runs for reference. This video is from a Ranger POV

Up to this point, Sign of the Planetbreaker has been the ultimate challenge and will continue to be so until the second Major Target Supression Mission launches, which is currently on the roadmap for the next major update in December. Those that are able to complete Sign are rewarded with a weekly task of 20 SG and daily Leah May tasks for 10 growthment. NGS Headline described Omen of the Planetbreaker as something of a stepping stone to prepare for Sign.

Perparation

In many cases, a party consisting of one ranger is recommended as Blight Rounds gives a 20-25% damage bonus. With the level 80 cap making Sign of the Planetbreaker a bit easier, those who struggle with survivability can use a hunter or waker subclass to help. Additionally, buffs should consist of the following:

Food: 10 Crisp Meats for maximum damage output. If short on meat, combine other crisp foods from the same region to at least get the weak point damage bonus.

Region Mag: Feed the region mag in West Retem if it is not up. Nowadays it's not as important with the alliance mag and level 80 cap but if it's up, runs should go slightly smoother.

Alliance Mag: Ensure your alliance is maintaining at minimum a level 10 potency boost. Take all boosts available to you, but if you are unable to take all of them, take your potency boost first, then HP, then PP, then XP and Rare Drop.

As a reference, the required average DPS across the entire party that's required to clear Sign is around 3150 DPS. Some classes such as slayer will hit well past this mark, while others like rangers may struggle with it. As long as this averages out in this range a clear should be possible. While the level cap was still 75, the recommended potency per player was around 130%. With level 80, it's likely you can get away with less.

Phase 1

The first phase of the fight is mechanic heavy and your goal should be to clear it as fast as possible. What to do is relatively straightforward once you've seen it a couple of times. For reference, in Sign of the Planetbreaker, a party should get to phase 2 in a maximum of 6 and a half minutes (Before the clock reaches 8:30) in order to deal enough damage to clear.

When the quest starts, the party can optionally go around the back and start attacking the tail. Many groups skip this step as the attacks coming off of the tail provide an additional chance to counter. If you do leave it, Solus will periodically release a barrage of missiles at all players. Their landing points are noted with a mark on the floor. CAUTION: There is a glitch that occurs when the tail is broken as Solus is deploying the eggs out of his right arm. If this occurs and this action is interrupted, the eggs will not be deployed, and the quest must be restarted.

For parties that don't attack the tail at the start, they will typically stay on the hands until these eggs deploy.

A few seconds after the fight starts, Solus will deploy three eggs from his right arm. These eggs will plant themselves along a defined 3x3 grid around the floor (with Solus taking the middle ) and will periodically unleash an AOE attack in the shape of a square corresponding to this imaginary "grid." Every few seconds, the eggs will retract and may move one square over or stay in place and redeploy. For these, most parties stay together, following a ranger's Blight Rounds, destroying the eggs one by one. In some cases, a party may destroy the first egg together and then split up for the remaining two eggs. This is all while Solus unleashes its own array of attacks, which will be mentioned later.

Once all three eggs are destroyed,  Solus' right arm will open, exposing its weakpoint for a short period. The party must focus this point and deal as much damage as possible to break it before it closes. If it does close, the egg destroying process restarts, except with one egg instead of three. Once the right arm is broken, the process repeats itself for the left arm after a few seconds.

For runs that are on the lower end of the damage scale an issue comes up as they reach the point where the second arm breaks. For these kinds of runs it's important to have a watch over the break meter. What ends up happening quite a bit is that, as the arm is about to be destroyed, the party scores a break on Solus. This becomes a problem in two ways: One, the arm will not break during a break. Two, despite this, the arm can still close during a break. This means that the arm will end up closing during break, before it can actually break, even though enough damage has been done to break it, resulting in an annoying time loss as the party has to wait, destroy an additional egg, then watch as the arm breaks the instant it opens up. Is that enough break for you?

Once the left arm is broken, Solus will be stunned and his main weak point will be exposed. Once he has recovered, he will keep cycling through his attacks with his hands. At this time you should score your first break as well. The fight will progress from first phase when Solus' remaining HP reaches 50%.

Phase 1 attacks

Select players will be marked with a faint laser. A few seconds after this appears, Solus will grunt, the lasers will briefly turn pink and then fire for about two seconds.

Solus will make an orb appear around each player, requiring them to quickly dodge to avoid taking damage. Solus will let out a grunt before this occurs.

Solus will raise his hands above his head and slam them down into the floor, causing a shockwave that radiates outwards and covers the entire floor. This is one of Solus' more damaging attacks during this phase.

Solus will summon a pair of portals across from each other, then launch an attack through them, covering the side of the stage that's between them.

Solus will usually follow this attack up by bringing his arms back and push forward. This is something to take note of with certain counters to ensure that your attacks don't miss. Sometimes he will go into a shockwave attack instead.

Solus will wind up in one direction then sweep through with one hand through 270 degrees. This will also cause Solus to rotate 90 degrees from the direction he started the attack in.

Solus will sweep a hand over a corner of the stage. This is similar to his larger sweep attack but without a wind-up and does not cause him to rotate.

Solus will sometimes thrust or slam down with one hand, dealing damage in the general vicinity. An alternate version of this attack has him slamming his hand down twice.

Phase 1 DPS Check

At 50% HP, Solus will summon a set of "stairs" on each side of him with an egg on top of each. Shortly after, red misama will start to slowly rise from the floor. This miasma will cause a large amount of damage over time for anyone that gets caught in it. When both eggs are destroyed, the miasma will disappear, Solus will be stunned and the weakpoint on his head will be exposed. Anyone stuck in the miasma and is still alive at this point will be incapacitated If enough damage is done, it will cause a physical down that exposes the weakpoint on his body. When he recovers, the fight will progress to phase 2.

Phase 2

Solus will gain a wand and change his attack patterns. In this phase, the fight becomes less about mechanics and more about dealing as much damage as possible at opportunities that he or his wand are exposed. Solus will spend large amounts of time in this phase in places where he can not be reached so it's important to take advantage of every opening he gives you.

Attacks should focus the weakpoint on his wand first. When enough damage is done to the wand, it will break and cause Solus to be stunned. At this point, you can continue attacking the wand or move to his body.

Parties that deal less damage will find that they get their second break near the end of this phase, while those that deal more will likely get their second break in the final moments of this fight. Once Solus' remaining HP is at around 10%, the fight will progress to the final phase, at which point you should have around 3 minutes left if you hope to clear.

Phase 2 attacks:

Solus will teleport to the opposite side of the stage and start summoning three walls that slowly materialize. These walls cannot be dodged through and will close-to one-shot anyone that gets hit by them. Everyone must find the holes in each wall to safely move through them. After the third wall, solus will attack by either thrusting or swinging his wand, leaving him open for attack.

Some people tend to have trouble locating the holes in the wall while the wall is forming. Keep an eye out for a change in the block pattern, as gaps that have a sort of outline around them will be where your holes are.

Solus will toss his wand towards the stage, which will appear standing on its end and launch an AOE attack that radiates outwards from the wand. It will teleport and repeat this attack twice. The wand is open to attacks during this time.

Solus will appear on one end and launch an attack with his wand that covers roughly two thirds of the stage.

Solus will launch a ground attack along the perimeter of the stage. After this attack, his wand will teleport to the center of the stage and send out a destructive shockwave that radiates outwards and covers the entire stage. After, Solus will attack by thrusting or swinging his wand, leaving him open for a short period.

Solus will launch small square-shaped attacks in a striped pattern while launching a series of large cubes covering the entire stage. He will then repeat the striped attack on the parts of the stage that were not targeted the first time.

Solus will teleport to one side, and swing across the stage with his wand. This attack coves about two-thirds of the stage. The direction of attack will be marked but will always be from his left to right.

Solus will plant several pillars in the stage, then fire a barrage of small cubes while moving 360 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise around the stage, requiring players to move to keep him behind the pillar. He will then launch a destructive laser attack, then attack by thrusting or swinging his wand, leaving him open.

Solus will hover over the stage and slam his wand into the ground. He will do this 2-3 times, slamming twice the last time.

Solus will attack with a combination of large square-shaped attacks along a 2x3 grid while firing projectiles.

Final Phase

When Solus' HP reaches 10%, he will back away from the stage and plant 9 eggs, covering the entire stage with their AOE attacks. These act in the same way as phase 1 but will not periodically move around. While the party is busy destroying the eggs, he will attack with his wand blast/swing, striped square/block attack and large ground/projectile attacks. Dodge the attacks as they come in and continue focusing the eggs until they are all destroyed.

When the last egg is destroyed, Solus will become stunned and lay at the edge of his stage with his head weakpoint exposed. He will not get up from this state but will sometimes unleash a last-gasp shockwave attack that can deal massive damage to the party. When enough damage is done to the head, it will cause a permanent physical down. He will continue to attack with his shockwave but it will involve a longer startup, allowing you to anticipate it further in advance. Continue attacking until Solus is defeated. If the party's damage is on the high end, the second break will happen around this time, or might not even happen at all.

If you had just beat Solus in Sign of the Planetbreaker, congratulations! As of writing this guide, you've completed the hardest challenge in the game so far.

General Tips:

Don't give up! Sign of the Planetbreaker is very difficult but not hard to figure out. Keep running Omen of the Planetbreaker when it comes up and, if/when you feel like it, go into Sign alone and practice.

Solus' attacks are many and hard-hitting, but their visual and audio cues are very apparent and not hard to read.

Be comfortable with dodging! Running from lasers and other attacks results in precious loss of DPS and time. Even at level 80, the consequences of even a couple of party members evading attacks instead of using their counterattacks can be costly and result in the quest failing due to time.

Be supportive of your party! There are many parts of this fight that require cooperation and coordination. If someone is struggling with a part of the fight, help them out. Exchange advice with your fellow party members and be encouraging as you make it further and further with each run.

Make sure you're geared! Your weapon should have a level 6 potential, and all your gear should be enhanced to +70 with six relevant potency (and potency floor for non-Verschmelz builds) augments on each. (ex. Stat IV, Gigas Stat IV, A relevant Soul IV, a Domina etc...)

Know your class! There's no clearing Sign if you're not playing it properly and efficiently. Know the best PAs for the situation and your strongest counters. (As a ranger main I'm obligated to remind anyone reading this that spamming rifle normals is not an efficient or proper way to play Ranger or any other class)

I highly doubt that I've covered exactly everything in this, but I hope at least it provides some benefit to those getting into Solus for the first time.

[tirsden]

Been playing Aloy lately (f2p challenge version, main account Aloy is still sitting at level 20), since the bug fix got her bombs working again. Sort of. Her infusion has always been fiddly, but Sucrose helps. I regeared Aloy for DPS since she was previously running a high-ER noblesse build as a niche cryo applier for superconduct and I've felt lately like that just doesn't do her justice. Her new artifacts are rather copium but for now they're better than what she had. After Jean's talents are done, it's gonna be time for a massive session of upgrading all the chars who have been waiting for better artifacts for longer than is sane.

Meanwhile, the No Wish challenge gang on Asia finally got into Spiral Abyss floor 11 with Layla's help, and smacked into the "not enough stars" wall at the end. Boo. I'm honestly not sure it's worth it to push that far right now as the difficulty is kinda insane for their roster and primogems have no use when you never wish. Yeah, I could be burning them on refreshing resin but I kinda don't do that on principle and at this rate, seeing how many primos they end up with over time is mildly amusing.

[feralphoenix]

WELL! finished my first run of steam edition yggdra union the other day, so as promised, heres the final roster as of the bf48 setup screen:

no surprises for anyone here i think. yggdra’s stats maxed out at level 17 in this playthrough as is inevitable for the best allied unit in the game. she would’ve maxed even earlier if the game didnt remove mvp bonuses when she rejoins the party at the beginning of chapter 5 but that never matters in the end, So Like

FUNNY STORY: i decided to work on item manual completion this run which actually requires you to actively use milanor a lot during the early game, which led to a lot of hashtag milanor-typical mvp theft... but the rng distribution this time was unbelievably funny and gave him like all atk and luck, never MIND that if theres ever any stat milanor ACTUALLY needs its tec to make sure steal always works. so despite being capable of decent dps/tank work he STILL wound up useless, just in a highly atypical fashion compared to the usual on my save files where hes stuck in mostly 4s and 5s lmfao

nietzsche ate one (1) zero reset right before level up while i was shaking off the rust of not having played for, like, 8 years or something, but also look at that hottt gen score. tank mermaid. will probably try this again for future saves where i dont have to leave my doping items to rot for item manual completion and when i dont need to raise durant for item fetching purposes

old reliable... roswell always winds up as such a solid damage dealer whenever im able to give him proper attention. if you prefer aggro tactics why ARENT you going with roswell as often as possible. he and yggdra took point most of the time on this file, with a little help from...

elena, who was absolutely the goat here; relatedly, sorry about everything, elena. a fun thing to do if you like to use elena is to make sure you get the rainbow arc from her in bf17 with steal and then actually equip it on her in chapter 8 and let her clean house/rake in the mvp. Im Sorry Elena. yggdra and milanor have to pay for her therapy sessions now i think

guess who ALSO got an inopportune zero reset while i was still shaking off the rust... mistels stats always suffer when youre letting your doping items go bad for collection purposes but it doesnt help that one of the best of those is locked to 2nd playthrough onwards, so whatcha gonna do

i played on hard mode because it was there and other difficulty levels are honestly way too easy for me, but since pamela & golden dozeu are locked your first play on steam regardless of difficulty i took these caps on bf48 because i assumed ending d would be 2nd playthrough onwards exclusive too.

IMAGINE MY DELIGHT WHEN I WENT FOR ENDING C AND GOT A NORMAL RESULTS SCREEN... means i am forced to play normal mode AFTER all to get ending c, but i will never turn down a surprise trip across heavens gate because i love to go hit hector with sticks. “youre not actually hitting him with sticks” ive sent yggdra to go do it and i Will join nessiah in yelling YAAAAAAAAAAS QUEEEEEEEEEEN SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY from the back row of the bleachers while she does that.

anyway.

over 80% item manual completion in one run is not bad for the first run after an 8 year blank. dabs. its good to be back. sting please put gloria union and blaze union on steam too

[beardedmrbean]

GERB has designated representatives to organize leadership negotiations, which will only proceed if aimed at forming a government. The party’s executive committee decided this after assessing the recent positions of “We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria” (WCC-DB). According to GERB, there is no visible readiness from WCC-DB to establish a majority or agree on a parliamentary speaker.

Boyko Borissov, GERB's leader, emphasized that his party would not yield on the prime ministerial position, reiterating his view that he should assume the role to help Bulgaria advance toward Schengen and eurozone membership. Borissov proposed a formula where WCC-DB would provide the parliamentary speaker, while GERB would nominate the prime minister. He also noted his compromise in stepping back from the parliamentary speaker position in favor of Democratic Bulgaria leader Atanas Atanasov.

Borissov stated that forming a government is still possible, excluding “DPS - New Beginning,” APS, and “Revival” from the ruling coalition, leaving them in opposition. He dismissed the notion of engaging in public spectacle negotiations, stating he would attend leadership meetings only if they serve a clear purpose.

Daniel Mitov, a senior GERB member, expressed concern about preparations for another early election, accusing WCC-DB of maneuvering to install an alternative caretaker prime minister rather than focusing on governance. He reiterated GERB’s commitment to productive talks aimed at forming a stable majority. Mitov also criticized WCC-DB for allegedly seeking alliances with Revival and TISP, warning this could lead to a fragmented government.

Borissov highlighted the urgency of forming a government by December 12 to ensure a 3% budget deficit and pave the way for eurozone accession by March. He shared discussions with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev about green energy projects, emphasizing Bulgaria’s potential role in regional energy initiatives. He warned that prolonged political stagnation could further mire the country in difficulties.

Addressing questions about his absence from negotiation meetings, Borissov clarified that he had participated in previous high-level talks but refused to engage in public confrontations. He stressed the importance of focusing on solutions rather than political theatrics, reiterating his proposal for a GERB prime minister and a WCC-DB parliamentary speaker as a possible path forward.

[ibglobaltutor]

Latest updates on IB Physics

In the DP courses on biology, chemistry, and physics, the theme of "Nature of Science" (NOS) delves into conceptual understandings about the nature, characteristics, and significance of scientific knowledge. 

Students taking DP Physics will have the chance to examine, debate, test, and improve their comprehension of the scientific theories and concepts covered in the course. Being an IB Physics tutor in Delhi-India from IBGA, I strongly suggest that gaining knowledge about NOS is beneficial on multiple fronts:

It increases scientific literacy.

It offers a structure that makes the course material for physics easier for students to obtain.

It facilitates learning for students.

Experimental Programme Working in practice A major component of the DP Physics curriculum remains practical work. Instructors are invited to create engaging lesson plans that will help students comprehend the material and related ideas more deeply and provide them the chance to use a variety of investigative and practical skills. 

To allow students the chance to experience a broad range of assignments, from closed open-ended inquiry, from hands-on testing through to the utilization of simulations and modeling, and where appropriate, including technology, the practical plan of work should be comprehensive and balanced.

Project involving collaborative Sciences A refresher on the group project from the present course will be provided. The collaborative sciences project, an interdisciplinary scientific endeavor, tackles contemporary issues that can be investigated across the spectrum of disciplines within the sciences group.

Students will learn the following through this project:

Incorporate the conceptual, procedural, and factual information they have gained from studying their science discipline(s).

Employ their combined knowledge to create problem-solving, solution-focused tactics.

Gain knowledge of how linked systems, mechanisms, and processes affect a given issue.

Analyze and consider the difficulties that come with solving challenges in the actual world.

Gain knowledge about how interrelated local, national, and regional communities are on a global scale.

Be equipped to take part in global citizenship and become active citizens

Learn to value collaboration between nations and collective action

Enhance their ATL competencies, such as leadership, teamwork, and negotiation.

Students have a great chance to collaborate with peers in different DP scientific courses, whether from other IB World Schools or their own school, thanks to the collaborative sciences project. 

Modifications to the Evaluation Framework External Assessment There will only be two external exams taken by each student. Multiple-choice questions are included in Paper 1A, and data analysis questions are included in Paper 1B. These papers offer the chance to evaluate certain graphing, unit, and uncertainty skills.

Paper 2 will start with several short-answer questions that concentrate on specific curriculum topics. It will conclude with one extended-answer question (standard level) or two (higher level) that draw from various sections of the guide and use one of the 3 concepts in each question.

The choice subjects have been eliminated, among other modifications. Some of the content from the four current option topics—engineering physics, astrophysics, imaging, and relativity—was either included to the course at a normal level or at a higher level. Internal Assessment

I have been an IB Physics tutor in Gurgaon, so I could say that there will be a shift in the "scientific investigation" (internal evaluation) as well. Students will have the chance to work together and help one another in small groups. Learners will be enabled to share comparable methods when appropriate as long as each student's data collection is distinct and the independent and dependent variables are different.

Students will still be required to turn in individual reports that are no more than 3,000 words long.

The new criteria will give more weight to higher-order thinking abilities, allocating 50% of the possible points for Conclusion and Evaluation.

[hadoriel]

OH and Remix ended with me cramming the last weekend of content for it lol

I got every achievement, ran Mythic SoO twice, got pretty much everything I wanted. The only things I couldn't afford were a couple of non-exclusive mounts and toys, but I'm fine with that. I got all the exclusive stuff and the normal items I really wanted

Overall I was pleased with the event, but mostly the fact that I could explode raid bosses so easily. Stupid ego boost of doing 80% of the dps in a group and not even running the lifestorm gem lol. A couple times, especially on the harder difficulty raids, it was funny seeing the undergeared people get one shot while I could survive several nukes going off. The only time I'd die is when a dot was still applied to me but everything was dead so my leech couldn't save me. I was running an aff lock btw and not even max geared (I was i391, max being i476 I think)

The only thing I didn't like is the whole weapon recolor debacle. I'm thinking they're likely going to be appearing on the Trading Post in the future and that's why they never did arsenals, but it was still kinda :/

When Remix was announced I really hated the FOMO of it but ultimately the buffs to bronze acquisition and the time period it was around for seemed to be decently ample time to do things and, like I said, feeling powerful was nice in a way that's different than what out-leveling old content feels like on live

Anyways onwards to TWW in... jeeze only a week away

[miasma-my-asthma]

I saw someone commenting on elden ring's balance saying that fromsoft didnt wanted to add difficulty options (aka easy mode) but still wanted to help less skilled players that were gonna play their first fomsoft souls game, so they added a lot of tools to make the combat easy, but they overall balanced the game considering those things as the default way to play, and dude it fucking shows.

Even at the start of the game you can notice that:

Parry focused players got completely neutered in elden ring since most main bosses(and even some side bosses) that you are even able to parry require 2, some even 3, parries for you to riposte them, and it doesnt even matter that much bc riposte damage for bosses in general got so weak compared to other games that parrying doesnt feel worth it anymore. The first main boss (margit) already needs 2 parries to riposte and he is supposed to be the "tutorial" guy.

Why did they did that if parries were always seen as a great skill expressive high risk high reward playstyle players enjoyed and few dedicated themselves to master?

Simple, bc its really easy to break enemies and bosses stance to riposte them if you properly gear yourself for that: lots of ashes of wars and some spells can break stances easily, quick heavy jumping attacks of heavy weapons that are really easy and safe to do break stances easily while also doing lots of damage, some weapons charged heavy attacks can also break it easily, so they were forced to make most bosses less vulneareble to ripostes in general so they wouldnt be that easily trivialized: imagine someone with a colossal weapon just making a single parry to malenia or radagon (both needs 3 parries for riposte in vanilla) getting the riposte that does lots of damage and instantly break the boss stance again bc they spammed stance breaking ashes of war or charged heavy attacks while the boss was trying to get up from the riposte attack. You would basically be able to stunlock your way to victory without much of a struggle.

And the hole game is balanced thinking abt the expectation that players will intentionally seek to approach each challange with the broken tools everyone theoratically can use.

Some common and relativetly easy tactics obliterate most bosses: some players abuse how some weapon's jumping attacks (specially when powerstanced) deal tons of damage and constantly spam them to quickly melt bosses or constantly stance break them; some ashes of war do ridiculous damage both pvp and pve; some spells are extremely powerful against some bosses to the point they can cheese the fight so hard the boss die before even attacking you (azure comet cheese for example); some bleed builds can proc it so quickly bosses' health just disappear in a few combos; you can stack so many damage buffs with relativetly low investment that you basically gain almost 50% extra damage (sometimes more depending of the build); and spirit ashes basically gives you all the benefits of playing co op without any negatives (chance of being invaded and increased health and stance for bosses).

So if regular guy who doesnt have a speedrunner or challengerunner skill level plays the game solo with a simple character that doesnt abuse any tools or cheese, regardless if its by choice or lack of knowledge, will have a unecessarily hard time against enemies with inflated numbers and hostile movesets that are usually very fast and hard to play around because he wont be doing the fast huge ammount of burst or dps damage and neither will have split aggro with a summon or coop friend fromsoft was expecting.