#dps player brain. awful thing.

[crowcryptid]

OW is unplayable at the moment cause every support is someone who never plays support and just wants to play the new hero

just had a match where one support had 1k healing

that means you healed a tank twice

[mdhwrites]

Was Ratio a Good Free Five Star?

TL:DR All the things that make him look bad on paper as a free five star are exactly why he was frankly a FANTASTIC choice.

But I do mean it when I say that on paper he looks like Hoyo taking an L while we get left with Ratio. Not because he's bad though. For entrenched players like me, he was exciting. A main DPS that had to have a team comp that was pretty different from a lot of the other hyper carries out there since most supports, especially the hyper carry ones, don't do debuffs. If you try Tingyun and Bronya next to him, you'll often end up missing on MASSIVE damage since you need those three debuffs on the enemies. So who supports him best? That's an exciting question for someone with a wide variety of characters.

BUT.

A free five star like this is literally never for the entrenched players. It's a nice gift to them but this sort of thing is either a sign of desperation as they plead for old players to come back or it's a marketing trick to pull new players in. As Star Rail is still one of the best in its genre monetarily and Ratio was put out specifically because of all the awards it had just won, it was clearly the latter. A way to pull people in while the buzz around the game was big. Finally convert any last Genshin players who were on the fence while also finally moving people over from ALL the other team comp focused, turn-ish based gachas out there. A flex of dominance.

With that in mind... Think about who your first half a dozen, guaranteed characters are. Only half of Trailblazer has a debuff and it lasts one turn. March 7th has her freeze on her ultimate and that lasts for one turn. Dan Heng is the only member of the team with a debuff through his skill but it's only a two turn debuff and again: requires a skill point.

Then after that, the next three guaranteed are Asta, Serval and Natasha. Asta doesn't have a debuff without her trace ability to burn on basic meaning you have to get actually a decent bit into the game to actually get a debuff through her. Serval finally gives you a long lasting debuff with her Shock DoTs and can even extend those, making her not that skill point intensive. Then Natasha is, well... A healer who eventually dispels debuffs, not adds to them.

So two planets into the game and a new player could theoretically have a team of characters who all have debuff on skill but one of those debuffs lasts one turn and they ALL need to be using their skills most rounds in order to keep up the three debuffs to guarantee Ratio has good damage... On his skill. In a game where, unless you have a limited time 5 star that ISN'T free, you only have up to five skill points a round and that's only if you used a lot of basic attacks before hand. If you invest in her, you can swap one of them for Asta who I think would have her burn on basic to help but you'd still be running at a pretty extreme deficit mostly.

That is what you're guaranteed and so the shiny five star you were given, who was pushed towards you, is... Awkward. To put it mildly. Even potentially frustrating as every time you miss with his skill is a failure and feels AWFUL. Worse yet, you can so clearly see how he could work and how he could be strong!

And that's why he's amazing as the free five star.

I've jumped into plenty of long running gacha games that had guaranteed five stars or the like and do you know what happens? They make my brain turn off entirely for the starting content because they are usually demonstrably more powerful than anything else I have and the early game content wasn't designed around them. Even 3rd Impact, which I tried to get into now that it's on PC, has this problem where early on, they actually throw so many 5 star characters at you that you have to pick and choose between them instead of literally anyone else they give you early on. It's overwhelming but it also makes any curve of power just vanish as suddenly you are tackling content already meant to be easy with a character you don't have to think about with.

Ratio (and admittedly a lot of things about Star Rail) avoids this by being a character that requires characters who can work with him to function. He DEMANDS thought and in a way that leans into Star Rail's greatest strength: The fact that team comp matters. I could do an entire blog on how I think Star Rail is genuinely a breath of fresh air for turn based combat but this really is the big one for this blog. A new player is given this new five star who not only demands intelligence as a character trait but also for gameplay purposes. Can't figure out how to make him work? Then his gift is wasted on a fool like you. Maybe find someone a bit more your speed?

And as a Seele main who's only 5 star they used (besides Trailblazer) for over a month of play was Seele when the game came out... I wouldn't have wanted to be given Seele for free. Seele is a great character but she is monstrously powerful, even when played poorly. I don't even hyper carry with my Seele and I can tell you that she'll wreck house for a LONG time just on her own. She doesn't showcase the depth and strategy of the game, especially early on, and so a new player would just think that the game is simple and basic. They'd get bored with the character they potentially see as their win button and move on to a different game.

And for those stubborn enough to go "No, I am using Ratio!" then he becomes a goal. Not only does every limited 5 star that comes out suddenly look all the more appealing if they do debuffs (Boy was Kafka a fucking perfect pairing with Ratio's banner btw) but every four star is all the more exciting because hey, do they do debuffs? How many? How efficiently? How can they fit into the dream team that made me first get into the game?

Just by existing within a player's roster, one way or another, he raises questions about the game that ask the player to dive deeper into the mechanics of the game than they would have otherwise. Makes them think more about the early game, when it's going to be at its slowest, than most mobile games would ever even risk doing until they can hope sunk cost is keeping you there. He's not just a shiny trophy but an actual hook into players, old and new.

Frankly, if I had to say anything critical about choosing him, it's that he's just not had any good content associated with him. I think his quest, especially post 2.0, will mostly be a let down for any new players who came in partially because of him, especially if they decided to force him as their main. Admittedly, he's the like ONLY good thing about that quest (I could do a blog just about why that quest is bad) but even he doesn't get to shine in it. Penacony hasn't done him any favors either with his brief appearance so far. His writing is very strong though, easily some of the best of the smart characters in Star Rail, and his personality is interesting even in those appearances so they're not all bad, just that they could easily be disappointing to those new players who had to wait a while to get to see their boy in story.

But I suppose it had to falter somewhere. Hoyo has a tough act to follow if they ever give out a free five star for Star Rail again and keeping it in the realm of those who are simply intelligent, rather than having pulled off something only a genius could, is befitting for the good doctor. Have a good day everyone and until next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[screechlikeasiren]

Playing Overwatch with the League headcannons

Things get heated sometimes during game night.

Spinner will go out to grab extra TVs, consoles, controllers... between Shigaraki's decay and Dabi's temper losing one controller per game night is a Gift™️ and other items they need to all play in one room, Toga will tag along for it but really she just wants to spy on Izuku.

Shigaraki: PlayerOne

Plays only dps characters.

Hates wearing the stupid 2-finger gloves but will.

Would be a REALLY good Mei.

Ice walls the spawn door just to piss everyone off.

Pitches a fit if someone else is Mei.

"Tomura! If you dont knock it off..." -Dabi

"Heh" -Shigaraki

Will rage quit if he loses more then 3 times in a row.

Is the sole reason they have multiple controllers.

Placed Platinum once in competitive.

Constantly brags about it and lies. Even though it's been MONTHS.

Actually places gold or silver most days.

Dabi will change it to HanDYmAn with Endeavors credit card. Spinner will show him how as they are tired of his bragging/lying bullshit.

Kurogiri: PurpleMan (Spinner helped with his name)

If you need a dps, healer or tank he is your-guy™️.

Cannot for the life of him remember which charecter does what.

*picks Ash*

"This is the one with the giant shield right?"

*picks Mercy*

"Excuse me, how do you suppose you shoot with this charecter?"

CANT PLAY FOR SHIT THO.

You have to guide him to the charecter and select it for him.

Twice: DoubleTeam

Plays whatever, whenever he wants to.

Constantly switching characters. CONSTANTLY.

Everytime he dies it's a new charecter.

He dies frequently as he never really knows what to do but hes trying his hardest okay?!

"I wanna be Soldier 76! No, BASTION."

Toga: DekuFan1

Knows about one or two in each category.

Dosent play often.

Likes to sit in Twice's lap while he plays.

Or gets Twice to sit in front of her so she rub/play with his hair/mask

Trys to help Twice pick a charecter, ends up making him frustrated and then he quits mid round.

"Just pick the pretty lady" -Toga

"But they are all so pretty! Most are ugly." -Twice

"Here, pick her!" -Toga

"Okay! *picks her* No. *back in charecter select to choose another one*" -Twice

Mr Compress: ---

Dosent play.

At all.

He would rather lose an arm *ahem* leave then deal with everyone during a game night.

As soon as he sees Spinner and Toga trying to set up the room. He will go immediately for the entire night.

*sees Spinner setting up.*

"Game night?" -Mr. Compress.

"Yup. *waves with one hand* See ya tomorrow party pooper!!" -Spinner

*walks directly out the door*

Dabi: HotSh1t

Is forced to play one night by Toga as they needed another player for a full team.

Actually really good.

Picks Mei just to piss off Shigaraki.

WILL THROW A GAME.

Played competitive once. Got WAY to into it and melted part of the controller.

Will tea bag you. Satisfaction guaranteed.

If you see Dabi playing in the common room late at night, no you didnt.

*Dabi trying to get wins for a skin to unlock during an event*

"Dude, its 3 am what are you doing?" -Spinner

"Fuck off Lizard brain." -Dabi

"Aw, can someone not get the wins they nee-" -Spinner

*lights one of the MANY controllers on fire and throws it at Spinner*

"SHIT- Alright, alright, fine!" -Spinner

Spinner: NotANinjaTurtle

Got it pre ordered.

Has every single event skin.

New skins? Hes gonna play until he gets it.

Played exclusively in his room until...

Shigaraki walked in one day and demanded to know what it was.

He got super interested.

Everyone else soon followed after.

Gets it set up for everyone all the time in the common room.

Plays on console because it's easier to teach everyone.

Ranks Grandmaster. All the time. Everytime.

If someone asks him about his ranking. He lies.

Dude is MODEST okay?

Lizard Man and Burn Victim sitting on the couch playing. Enter Man-Child™️

"What did you get?" -Shigaraki

"I got bronze" -Spinner

"Ha. Eat shit. I got Platinum. Again."-Shigaraki

"Mm sure thing boss." -Spinner

*Hand-job leaves.*

"He has no idea we can see his ranking because we are all friends on there does he?" -Dabi

"Nope. He has no idea." *checks* "He's silver again. What a liar..." -Spinner

"I 'found' another credit card... Wanna change it again?" -Dabi

"Hell yeah." -Spinner

[autumnslance]

What was it like going from World of Warcraft to FFXIV? As someone who has never played an online RPG before FFXIV I am often :0 ?! when I hear that some people found getting into FFXIV hard because of the mandatory main quest when they just want to go to endgame content as soon as possible. Is going endgame ASAP a regular thing in most online RPGs?

Have a header image of a FFXIV version of my original WoW Main, Discipline Priest Lirriel F’sharri.

Me, a concise answer? Hahaha! Sorry. This got long, so behind a cut it goes and hopefully I answer to Nonny’s satisfaction, taking the questions and breaking them down:

Is going endgame ASAP a regular thing in most online RPGs?

In a lot of games it can be, yes. WoW doesn’t really have a linear overall storyline; each zone has its own story, and each expansion has its own story arc. Nowadays, with how long it’s been running and how big it’s gotten, WoW has revamped their questing so that you decide if you want to go through 1-50 in a specific expac (Burning Crusade, Cataclysm, Wrath of the Lich King, etc), and then catch up to the newest expac for the newest levels, since they also recently did a “level squish” as well as a stats squish, as they had gotten well over 100+ levels in the last couple expansions. Numbers are a problem for long running games (which is why experienced MMO players nodded and some even sighed in relief when the stat squish for Endwalker was announced).

I don’t think FFXIV will be able to do anything similar since their overarching story is so linear; it’s more like playing a single player traditional JRPG with some MMO features attached. I can see them perhaps scaling experience point gain with quests the way they have with the side quests in Shadowbringers, or with Beast Tribe dailies; that would work going forward I think. Unless we get the option to start with the new storyarc starting in 6.1; that could be interesting!

The only other time I had a linear story to go through similarly to FFXIV was early days of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which I played briefly at launch. Even then, each planet had its own storyline, the overall storyline was the individual class questlines. There was, I think, an overarching plot, but it didn’t really come into play until level cap? I don’t even remember and never got to cap because the grind in that game at launch was awful.

And that’s a thing about many MMOs; the leveling experience is learning about the world, introducing characters and setting, but it’s mostly filler until you get to the endgame where the raiding is--and in WoW, the story is only completed via seeing it in raids (thank goodness for Looking for Raid) and was the main focus mechanically as well. WoW didn’t really have an overarching story in Classic, it was a lot of disparate elements setting up and holdovers from the original RTS games and led to random raid content. Burning Crusade gave us an overarching plot with going to Outland to face Illidan--which honestly wasn’t all that well done storywise. BC is remembered fondly for the quality of life changes and allowing smaller groups to raid, rather than requiring wrangling 40 people. And the raids were challenging and fun--or frustrating, but mileage varies there. But the impetus for “the Dark Portal opened and Illidan’s in Outland being bad” was...pretty much it? Later expacs like Wrath had much better story setup and throughlines as they went, and my one friend described Shadowlands as having something like an MSQ. There are, however, a lot of retcons and putting necessary plot information in supplemental material, which was always frustrating. I’ve likened it before to “imagine going from defeating Tsukuyomi at the end of 4.3 and all the separations and set up there...and then the next patch picking up with getting warped to the First because everything that happened in 4.4 and 4.5 occurs in a novel.” That’s too often been WoW’s method of connecting expansion stories while players languish for a year or more in the last raid content.

I wish I was kidding. FFXIV having a set, quick release schedule, that they keep to so consistently with such good quality--and cosmetic and RP stuff added too!--is astounding to me. I worry for the devs’ health at times--then I hear things like Yoshida turning down requests for crunchy overtime to keep said devs from burning out, hence why the next Ultimate is pushed to 6.1. I appreciate that greatly. Getting anything not pertaining to endgame raid and PvP content in WoW was often impossible, coming with complaints from the raiding community that frivolous additions for sheer fun cost them whole tiers, and seriously 18 months between patches was not unheard of.

What was it like going from World of Warcraft to FFXIV?

I started FFXIV at the beginning of Heavensward...but I was still playing WoW. FFXIV was my side game, as I was still invested in roleplay and raiding with my WoW friends. So I mostly enjoyed playing through the story at a leisurely pace, but I didn’t finish ARR for like 2 years. When Stormblood came out I was hitting burnout in WoW despite mostly enjoying Legion, and the quality of life changes for StB really invigorated my interest and ability to play. The longer GCD for FFXIV was actually one of the biggest challenges for me, especially since I had primarily tanked and healed in WoW. I am not an aggressive or competitive player, nor very manually coordinated, so DPS has always been a challenge for me. I find DPS easier in FFXIV thanks to the longer GCD--I’m still not great, but I don’t feel overwhelmed by trying to hit my rotation buttons instantly. It’s taken me a while to get used to tanking, and I still don’t do it in 8man content, except once or twice with my friends. Mostly cuz I’m just enjoying my DPS jobs, really, so haven’t invested in learning.

...And some of my old fear of random roulettes as a lone tank/healer; WoW’s LFG was a toxic pit for various reasons FFXIV has mostly avoided and even my worst day in FFXIV’s roulette is better than a good day in WoW’s, which gave me anxiety and I stopped doing without friends. FFXIV has no Public Test Realm that people expect you to get on pre-patch to not only spoil story moments, but also learn all the fight mechanics ahead of time and if you don’t know them Hour 1 Day 1 of a new patch release you’re deserving of abuse.

I won’t say never, but I just haven’t found myself interested in going back to WoW or feeling invested in that story, though I do sometimes miss my RP characters (and may write more stories for them sometime). I do keep track of certain beloved NPCs and events--a friend streamed a beautiful moment in Ardenweald for me because I did play through what happened to that character in Legion, sobbing the whole time. I’m tracking what’s happening to Anduin Wrynn closely; we’ve literally watched that character grow up in real time over the years from boy prince to king of Stormwind and I’m still a bit heartbroken about his father. But I play for story and characters, and Blizzard’s way of telling those stories and handling those characters lost me, and with how the Acti-Blizz execs and higher level devs act lately (Hazzikostas keeps striking me as out of touch), they don’t give me much incentive to go back. I may not even pick up Diablo 4 at this rate.

So FFXIV’s story hits the right narrative and character focus for me, especially when I buckled in and replayed...and then replayed again...and now have NG+...Anyway, I like how they build the lore and characters and while it’s far from perfect and they have their own flaws, coming from WoW, it’s a lovely change of pace. Not to mention just how Yoshida and his team interact and communicate with the player base, and see the players’ trust as paramount post-1.x.

...I hear that some people found getting into FFXIV hard because of the mandatory main quest when they just want to go to endgame content as soon as possible.

Some people play only to raid; they like mechanics, and challenges, and feeling powerful at max level with the best gear. They don’t care about the overall story--in some cases because they don’t realize it’s so in depth and linear and sensible after/compared to the constant retcons and revamps in games like WoW!--and are just here to play with friends. Cool for them, if that’s what makes them happy! If that’s how they relax and have fun, power to ‘em so long as they aren’t being nasty to others less advanced/able/willing to put in the time and effort for gameplay. But for me, story and characters are far more important, and I raided quite a lot in WoW at various levels of difficulty and raid size. I am old and tired and want to relax and have fun with friends and write stories that get away with me when my characters get a mind of their own. So I rarely do more than Normals, avoiding Savage and Extreme cuz that grind doesn’t interest me. I’ll do stuff I can do on my own to get my progress fix for my brain (like leveling jobs).

The trouble we’re running into now is FFXIV’s linear story is well over 100 hours long. Even with the ARR revamp cutting a lot of chafe, there’s a LOT to get through to reach HW, and then a lot to get to StB, and then to ShB. And there will be a bunch to get through to EW. That’s JUST MSQ, not counting all the side content a new player may also want to catch up on, like the Alliance and Normal raids, PvP, Relics, Hildibrand, side quest stories like Mail Moogle, Beast Tribes, Crafting...the list goes on and on!

Content in a successful MMO must be varied for multiple styles and preferences for the long term health of the game. Roleplayers and story-focused folks tend to be the ones who stick between patches, farming content at a slower pace to get rewards they want for RP or to see story info, as opposed to raid-focused folks who push new content at release for the challenge and glory. Some of those folks also RP or like story though, so go back to farm between blowing up new content. There’s room for all kinds, and there has to be, and while I am sometimes annoyed by people who skip story (or outright dislike it!) while demanding to know how X works or why a character did A thing, they play their way and pay their sub to keep things running same as me and my obsessive need to know the lore and see it for myself. I can certainly understand those players who story skip that much content to get to where their friends are, if that’s the primary reason they play is to raid with pals, and with New Game+ it’s easier than ever for someone to go back and catch up the story later anyway.

[athela-3]

After… oh goodness, how many months??—I finally remembered that I still had not done Zhongli's second story quest. Which means, yes, I've only faced Azhdaha for the first time this weekend, despite having played since before the update introducing him even dropped 😬

I have also, since the same version update, been a Zhongli main pretty much nonstop.

This made doing the story quest a bit… surreal.

(Also, what follows is just my rambling, for my own posterity's sake. You have been warned~)

Let's bullet point this as usual, shall we?

(Cutscene begins as the Traveller approaches Zhongli) Oh no. Oh, no, this is so weird. I feel like there's two of me. I've never seen both of you at the same time in ages! Except for that one bugged quest.

(Zhongli: You appear to have taken his claim quite personally on my behalf.) That's because I'm no longer sure who the player character is by now! I mean, I can't talk for Paimon, but I'm having trouble!

*spends the entire first chapter of the quest mumbling that this is all so surreal; for these past nine months I've only ever seen him when he's "me", and suddenly he's standing right there next to the Traveller and my brain forks out an error message*

Aw, I wish Kun Jun sticks around. Let the old man have a geologist buddy!

Wait, I thought you needed a geologist? This is a missing persons case! Why aren't you calling the Millelith?!

Detective Zhongli is on the case!!

[No, seriously: I love mysteries. Grew up on detective fiction. So to see him suddenly turn into a whole detective at the drop of a hat… as if I didn't like him enough already!]

Now I'm definitely glad to have him on my team. To see him personally walk around the scene, examining the clues and interviewing the witnesses, that feels Right. Now when he shows up in cutscenes, it's no longer surreal, it makes perfect sense~

(Most of the quest proceeds in an orderly fashion. The mystery segment has totally loosed me from the previous confusion by giving me something more pressingly intriguing to consider, until…)

*start of the Azhdaha battle, trying to switch to Zhongli but ending up with Childe instead*

…eh?

EHHHH???

No no no no I forgot they give trial characters, they overwrote my Zhongli with their own, what's he—level 82, Vortex Vanquisher, c3, 4pc Noblesse???

Noooooo give my own Zhongli back!! Childe will take forever! He's my main DPS and now my team doesn't have a proper DPS! GIVE ME BACK MY SENSEI!

Hhhh I'm gonna need food buffs for this…

Tch—and they moved him to slot 4! He's always slot 1! Gah!!

I'd rather have my measly shields but big NA damage than this!

(I survived. Somehow. Had to use Adeptus' Temptation to boost up my half-built Childe's dmg [other party members were Thoma and Albedo, also not fully built and all three at lv 70], and poor Childe had to eat HP recovery food at least three times because either Azhdaha really hits That hard, or the trial Zhongli's shields were surprisingly fragile. And this coming from someone accustomed to that shield only being able to take 5k dmg!)

Hey look, I can't get past the barrier, but I can spawn my pillar inside!

(Zhongli immediately hits me with his osmanthus wine idle, causing me to leave the arena at once. It is not an idle you wanna hear in Azhdaha's arena…)

Seriously though… what was that build? 4pc Noblesse is a buff support set, but his ult isn't even on often enough for it to really be useful. He's c3, so two pillars and can shield up via meteor, so you'd think they'd give him more ER or something. But he also has VV, and innit that a DPS kinda thing? Also, didn't they change his first story quest weapon to Homa recently? Why is it still VV here? Why—

[v-mundi]

Thar be dragons! Metalseadramon and Seadramon were re-posed by my lovely fianceé, Danielle and she’s also my art and design partner for this project. Snakes are super hard to fit in a square frame. You basically have a couple tricks you can do. There’s the S-shape as seen by Metalseadramon (and old Seadramon). Those old arts were just screenshots of DMO (Digimon Masters Online) cut out by someone, so not great. You have the C shape as Metalseadramon DATA and Seadramon above (C-dramon...?). And you have the corkscrew shape not pictured here. There are more but we are sticking to ones that still give good model visibility through perspective.

That DATA card is a preview for the upcoming TOY set, which has some heavy Dark Masters themes. It’s only appropriate that we rework the design of Metalseadramon as well. In fact, all the Dark Masters will now be present and upgraded. I’ve previously shown off the upcoming TOY set with Fakedrimogemon, so...go digging for it ;D

If you play the game, you may have noticed this DATA has “Any Support Phase” instead of just Any Phase. That’s a change that’s coming down the pipeline for many DATAs. There’s some logic errors with certain effects being literally any time you want them. Confining effects to the Support phase will bring a bit more importance to the choice of playing the card. For example, if you could play this “Any Phase”, then you could wait till the Battle Phase when attacks are revealed before throwing down Triangle to 0. Since this game is based a lot on wagers and bluffing, that goes against the spirit of the game and provides a disgustingly easy shut-down as a hand trap. I do not like hand traps. That concept is from Yugioh and means cards being played directly from hand in response to something, with no indicator that your move will trigger this awful response. Their existence usually leads to hand control, which is a death spiral for metagames. Once people are trying to remove and control each other’s hand, they’re trying to stop the other person from playing the game as hard as possible and that’s no fun for anyone. So just one word makes the difference in an entire game’s death spiral.

For Seadramon and many other cards, I’m trying to make it so mixing types is less punishing. During the base release of the game, there wasn’t a lot of actual support for cross-type decks. The ones that you could make would be creative and good, but limited due to type-limited effects. Ultimately, most of them sought out to make the most broken combos possible which is a nightmare to balance and anticipate. Now that the game has existed for about 5 years, I have some experience with what players are actually abusing or not. I’ve tried replacing most of them with comparable conditions that type has no problem making but others might have to bend over backwards to get. Clever girl.

Lastly we got EBEmon or as the contest winner that created it said “Vademon Kai”. Again, all done up nice and neat by Danielle. If you’re wondering why there’s proportionally way more art from her lately than me, it’s not because I don’t have time. It’s because she’s way faster and better at this than me. She can usually do 3 to 4 poses in the time it takes me to get one right. We actually figured out that brown xenomorph bubble on its head isn’t just a Freiza reference, it’s supposed to be translucent and contain a long brain. No thanks. So...as it’s a rebuilt mecha Freiza...I mean Vademon, I wanted to do some cool stuff with the errata. Originally, it would get a DNA to increase the use of Omekamon’s effect, but instead I realized this is unnecessary since almost every Enigma Level U or M is getting one. So I stuck to the path. Forget DP -20 cost reductions, those are boring. Let’s remove the concept of your own hand size while you have access to draw 2! :D And I buffed every one of its “response probes” in the Passives section. They were all pretty good, since it’s not really a question of if an opponent will do these things but when. But more importantly, you don’t get to choose which ones happen. It’s completely dependent on what effects your opponent has (except the draw). So instead, it has a built-in Attack Chip and Recovery Floppy. Yay! The x3 VS was also reworked. We have cute little element names for each combination of types. When something has an attack that gets powered up versus something else, we give it x3 VS [that thing] mixed from our types, as if they were elemental blocks. Marine + Nature + Metal is “Grand” and refers to planetary things. EBEmon’s gun is a Planet Destroyer. Oh no.

Anyway, enjoy the new art and card preview!

[digimon-digital-adventures]

Digimon Spotlight: Thundermon

What’s this? It’s been a year and now it’s time to do another Spotlight because I’ve been neglecting things and been busy, but I did it guys! I’m sorry for the wait but I hope things are more worthwhile.

Note for everyone who isn’t in the Discord; 1.3 is mechanically done, there simply isn’t a PDF yet. This does include the TCG Tamer packet and the Tamer Qualities (although the latter two may require tweaking as the PDF comes out.) This spotlight will be using those mechanics, and if you want to find the new rules try this link:

Main book: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ltxa4nx_ghGl4LjI6WYrT47MDdS7dQVj2PWLVRt0fpw/edit?usp=sharing

TCG Tamers: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zp-E9SDgkRJromTB45jXwjzZM6RZcSEntT5xlMptILA/edit?usp=sharing

Tamer Playtest Packet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/181uzmwn94XqkKkTWomM3TbZCGd53sUJVUUFW8Geb-vc/edit?usp=sharing

Either way I put this off for a bit, but it’s time to enjoy a new spotlight. I’ll be only using the fluff from the direct lines from here on out, because I want to avoid redundancy with what I’ve posted. I’ll also be updating the spotlight catalog ASAP.

As per usual, artwork not mine, builds not final.

“Also known as the "Digimon Dynamo", it is conjectured to be a member of the Mamemon-species. Its tiny body has the properties of a magnet, and is always clad in electricity and discharging lightning.” - Thundermon’s Wiki page

There isn’t much about Thundermon’s personality or general environment, but going with what we know about the Mamemon-species, it’s safe to assume it has a generally friendly demeanor but it has a nasty side with immense destructive power.

This might also generally lead Thundermon to have a bit of a trickster or mischevious personality. This fits with it being a somewhat smaller species of Digimon with deceptive levels of power hiding behind its outer appearance. This can make for some really fun roleplay scenarios, similar to how the Icemon line works.

Evolutionary Line Ideas

Fresh: Leafmon, MetalKoromon, Botamon In-Training: Minomon, Koromon, Tsunomon Rookie: Elecmon, Kokuwamon, Kunemon, Toy Agumon, Thundermon* Champion: Thundermon, Mamemon* Ultimate: Mamemon, BigMamemon, CatchMamemon, MameTyramon, MetalMamemon Mega: PrinceMamemon, BanchoMamemon, TonosamaMamemon Burst: Various custom Burst Modes.

*While Mamemon may canonically be an Ultimate level Digimon, I feel like the line’s most direct evolutions have a bottleneck at the Champion stage. Since most of the other Ultimate-tier Digimon are a subspecies of Mamemon, it feels acceptable to potentially shift Mamemon down to the champion stage to avoid this. But be sure to talk to your GM about it.

“It digivolved in a harsh environment. Contrary to its cute appearance, it conceals a terrifying destructive power. With the exception of one Digimon, it is perhaps the most powerful class. The large hands attached to its small body are capable of turning into powerful bombs and detaching themselves. Its nickname is the "Smiley Bomber".” - Mamemon’s Wiki Page

“It exists as the boss of Mamemon. As a matter of fact, it's suggested that it is an aggregation of Mamemon. Since normal Mamemon are the same size as Rookie Digimon, they possess a degree of power that couldn't even be imagined from their appearance, but as its name suggests, BigMamemon is dozens or even hundreds of times the size of a Mamemon. However, the reason why a "Mamemon" is this size is still unclear. Its personality is extremely gentle, and it hates conflict and battle, so it is always playing with its Mamemon followers. The text on the soles of its shoes reads "BIG" and "MAME".” - BigMamemon’s wiki page

“A Mutant Digimon resulting from the evolution of Mamemon after it was fused with the data from a file management software. It has a serious personality and an uncompromising side, and seems to think that managing Digi-Eggs is its duty. It is also capable of walking without needing to float, by using its arm parts as legs.” - CatchMamemon’s wiki page

“It is a tiny Digimon feared as the "Small Tyranny" (Tiny Tyrant). It condensed Tyrannomon's data into its tiny body, pushing its ferocious nature and combat instinct to the surface, where they have strikingly manifested in its behavior. While its body may be tiny, rather than assaulting opponents en masse, it always acts by itself, swooping down on Digimon roaming its own territory without wasting breath on discussion, and always making a show of being the strongest in its domain. However, because its body is tiny, its territory is not very wide. With its physical strength condensed several hundred-fold into its tiny body, and its tenacious jaw that can crunch even super-hard armor, it possesses fighting strength that surpasses even that of gigantic Dinosaur Digimon.” - MameTyramon’s wiki page

It digivolved further in strength than Mamemon, who holds the alias of "Smiley Bomber". As usual, if one is deceived by its cute appearance, they will have a terrible experience. Nine-tenths of its body is mechanized, and it has the Psycho Blaster equipped to its left arm.” - MetalMamemon’s wiki page.

Thundermon and subverting expectations

Thundermon is one of those tiny Digimon who pack a real wallop, making it a really good way to mix a bit of humor in with your build without having to go full meme mode. If even Mamemon is only the size of the average Rookie, and judging by its appearance in Adventure 02, Thundermon is only about the size of someone’s eyeball at best. It’s tiny! This makes the damage it can dish out all the more amusing.

However you can take this in other ways besides size; giving the digimon an upbeat and carefree personality only to have it turn around and destroy the obstacles in its way. This can also make a wonderful partner concept; but don’t put too much into the idea of plowing your way through every encounter, a GM always has the ability to one-up a player’s Digimon.

“Having taken in data on the Net concerning a royal family, it is a prince of the Mamemon world. Partnering with KingEtemon, it plays the part of a mock royal family of the Digital World, and that's why it looks so gorgeous. Although its personality isn't awful, it was incited by KingEtemon and is convinced that it truly is a member of the royal family, and the embarrassing thing is that it considers even the "Royal Knights" to be its subordinates. Despite its appearance, the part that it boasts is its tremendous destructive power, since it is a Mega, after all.” - PrinceMamemon’s wiki page.

- no information given (BanchoMamemon)

- no information given (TonosamaMamemon)

Variants and Subspecies

Being an element based Digimon, Thundermon is a really easy Digimon to make variants of, although this list will also go over a few new Mamemon variants to boot.

Fireballmon (Red): this species of Thundermon emits shocking amounts of heat and flame despite its small size, and is significantly more aggressive than its normal Thundermon cousins. However, if Fireballmon aren’t careful they’re liable to wear themselves out much quicker than other variants, becoming exhausted and unable to produce much more heat. Many tamers who partner with Fireballmon will carry it in their pocket, where its aura of heat can keep the tamer warm even in the coldest environments. (+Accuracy, +Damage, -Armor, -Dodge)

Snowballmon (Blue): this type of Thundermon is the polar opposite of its red cousin; the Digimon is naturally cold to the touch and quite shy. It uses its tiny size to avoid conflict by hiding in crevices that only Digimon much weaker than itself could fit into such as Fresh and In-Training stage Digimon. However, due to living in the unforgiving arctic environment, Snowballmon are exceptionally hardy and able to go long distances through meter deep snow without tiring. Many Snowballmon also cover themselves in discarded furs similar to Gabumon, in order to stay warm in their icy environment. (+Health, +Armor, -Accuracy, -Damage)

Smokeballmon (Green): this variant of Thundermon repels intruders with its constant emission of toxic fumes. Very few Digimon can stand to be near the stench, with the exception of Digimon such as Numemon and Sukamon. And in the event that an opponent gets close enough to be a threat, Smokeballmon is capable of firing blasts of debilitating toxins from the Mame Blaster on its arm. (++Accuracy, -Armor)

SkullMamemon (Ultimate): A Mamemon whose body has worn down to almost nothing, it’s resorted to dark magic in order to keep moving its body, spells it stole from Wizardmon. This bouncing skull Digimon is no less dangerous for it, combining Mamemon’s terrifying offensive potential with the utility of a variety of magical skills.

JetMamemon (Ultimate): A Mamemon who appropriated technology from Andromon. In this case, a jetpack and a specialized cannon which fires hyper-compressed air at the opponent strong enough to dent Chrome Digizoid. JetMamemon combines terrifying melee potential with devastating ranged power and mobility.

BanchoMamemon: Burst Mode (Burst)

EmperorMamemon (Burst): through decades of diligent training and discipline, PrinceMamemon has gone through a terrifying change. Clad in shining armor, this variant of Mamemon rules its domain fairly, but without mercy to those who oppose its laws. Its optimistic and naive nature makes it very easy to manipulate, and many evil Digimon of shrewd nature have used an EmperorMamemon as a figurehead to further their own goals.

Building the line from Champion Up

Thundermon

Wound Boxes: 10 Stage: Champion Size: Tiny (+2 Agility, -2 Body) Speed: 11 (Jump 11/11)

Health: 5 Accuracy: 6 Damage: 5 Dodge: 5 Armor: 5

Body: 3 Brains: 8 Agility: 7 BIT: 2 RAM: 2 CPU: 2

Misc. Qualities

Speed Striker Optimization (1 DP) Armor Piercing Rank 3 (3 DP) Certain Strike Rank 3 (6 DP) Charge Attack (1 DP) Extra Movement: Jumper (0DP*) *For everyone not aware, Champion stage Digimon in the current version get a 1DP discount on their first purchase of Extra Movement.

Attack List

Thunderball [Ranged][Damage][Blast][Armor Piercing 6] Thunder Bomber [Melee][Damage][Charge] Thunderbolt [Ranged][Stun][Line][Certain Strike 3]

Build Breakdown: Thundermon is a solid all-rounder type Digimon. It doesn’t excel in any particular area of combat, it’s not incredibly durable but it’s not likely to go down in one hit either. It’s got a mixed bag of tricks to utilize; Thunder Bomber to deal some melee damage or reposition itself, Thunderball as your go-to attack for damage, and Thunderbolt to provide a bit of support in slowing down the enemy.

This means Thundermon is best to fill in the gaps for what your party needs at a given moment; if you need someone in the melee fray, it’s got an option, if you need to stand back and bombard the enemy at range, it’s got an option, and if you need to slow down an enemy, it’s got an option.

Just be careful: with the new rules you can only use a given attack once per round unless you’ve entirely run out of attacks.

Mamemon

Wound Boxes: 14 Stage: Ultimate Size: Tiny (+1 Agility, -1 Body) Speed: 10 (Jump 10/10)

Health: 6 (7) Accuracy: 7 Damage: 7 Dodge: 7 Armor: 5 (7)

Body: 6 Brains: 11 Agility: 8 BIT: 4 RAM: 3 CPU: 3

Misc. Qualities

Close Combat Optimization (1 DP) Flurry (3DP) Armor Piercing Rank 3 (3 DP) Certain Strike Rank 3 (6 DP) Charge Attack (1 DP) Extra Movement: Jumper (0DP*) Weapon Rank 3 (3 DP) Chrome Digizoid Weaponry (1 DP) Chrome Digizoid Armor (1 DP)

Attack List

Smiley Bomb [Melee][Damage][Armor Piercing 6][Weapon] Strike Upper [Melee][Knockback][Weapon] Buster Drive [Melee][Burst] One-two Rush [Melee][Charge][Certain Strike 3][Weapon]

Build Breakdown: Mamemon has entered the fray as a bruiser; a melee striker with some solid survivability, but it’s not exactly something you would want to be your main tank unless you entirely lack one for the fight.

It still has a bit of that utility that Thundermon had; it can cover a few more things than its main job, it’s specialized significantly better for melee combat now. With One-two Rush and Smiley Bomb with another free basic attack from Flurry, it can really dish out the hurt.

It has a few other tricks up its sleeve; if it has to push something back a bit for one reason or another, Strike Upper can be your saving grace, and if you’re surrounded by enemies, Buster Drive might be a good trade-off over the single target power of Smiley Bomb and One-two Rush.

BanchoMamemon

Wound Boxes: 19 Stage: Mega Size: Tiny (+1 Agility, -1 Body) Speed: 16 (Jump 16/16)

Health: 7 (9) Accuracy: 9  Damage: 9 Dodge: 9 Armor: 5 (9)

Body: 8 Brains: 14 Agility: 10 BIT: 5 RAM: 5 CPU: 4

Misc. Qualities

Close Combat Optimization (1 DP) Flurry (3DP) Armor Piercing Rank 3 (3 DP) Certain Strike Rank 3 (6 DP) Charge Attack (1 DP) Extra Movement: Jumper (0DP*) Weapon Rank 3 (3 DP) Obsidian Digizoid Weaponry (3 DP) Red Digizoid Armor (2 DP) Speedy Rank 2 (2 DP)

Attack List

Bukkomi Otokodama [Melee][Damage][Armor Piercing 6][Weapon] Strike Out [Melee][Knockback][Weapon] Senbon Dokkān [Melee][Burst] Golden Rush [Melee][Charge][Certain Strike 3][Weapon][Pass] Ougon Batto [Melee][Stun]

Build Breakdown: BanchoMamemon combines the best of both Thundermon and Mamemon; still taking that all-rounder statline that lets it be a solid frontline bruiser with supporting aspects. By taking a few ranks in Speedy it’s now got Thundermon’s mobility, and with Ougon Batto it has that stun potential. Golden Rush takes the place of One-two Rush, but this time Mamemon can use it for even more positioning potential with the Pass keyword. Other than that, it takes a very similar role of its lower stage, it just does it significantly better. It isn’t afraid to get into the middle of the fray, but on the other hand it doesn’t have the survivability to soak up hits like a proper tank.

Starter Pack: Bean Machine

The starter pack Bean Machine plays up on Mamemon’s cute outer appearance and devastating combat power by having it play a mix of defense and utility early on, then turning around and hitting the opponent as hard as possible. The goal is to keep your enemy on their toes if they know what’s coming, and make them underestimate you if they don’t.

Note: this is using the updated TCG Tamers Splat. In short, each card may only have a single negative quality now, deck sizes are cut in half, and some mechanics have changed. For anything more specific, please go check out the book!.

Digivice x1 (Common, Evolution)

Ruined Meal x2 (Common, Power) Delayed Reaction Rank 2 (-2 Rarity), Trick Shot (+1 Rarity), Assisted Boost (+1 Rarity) Applies Fear, +2 Accuracy. 

Bean Sprout x1 (Uncommon, Power) Iron Wall (-2 Rarity), Alias (+3 Rarity) +2 Dodge

Something Lost, Something Gained x1 (Uncommon, Power) Sacrifice Rank 2 (-4 Rarity), Potency Boost Rank 2 (+2 Rarity), Duration Boost Rank 3 (+3 Rarity)

Mamemon x1 (Rare, Attack) Last Stand (-3 Rarity), One-two Punch (+2 Rarity), Potency Boost Rank 3 (+3 Rarity) Grants: Smiley Bomber [Melee][Damage][Certain Strike 3][Armor Piercing 6][Weapon] (purchased Signature Move)

The deck has two ways to cycle through it, and both of them have to be thought through. After Digivolving to the Champion stage, you can either apply a Ruined Meal to an enemy, or use Bean Sprout on yourself. This will depend on who you’re fighting; if you want your opponent to not come anywhere near you, use Ruined Meal. If you know your opponent is definitely going to attack you and doesn’t have an AoE, you can also use Alias to get a free turn instead. Once that’s over, use Something Lost, Something gained to remove the rest of your deck and get a massive boost. Last it’s time to use Mamemon for a massive finish: with the previous bonus still active you’ll be hitting like a truck! Smiley Bomber’s Signature move status combined with your two normal attacks will put a dent in any opponent.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Up In Smoke by Annabeth Albert

Hot Shots #4

 This book left a smile on my face. It was a steamy-sweet romance between two men that so deserved to find happiness. No major drama for the couple though taking on the care of an infant baby girl was definitely not easy…but so much easier together than it would have been for either to do alone. It almost had a fairytale feel to it and was perfect reading for me the day I read it!

 What I liked: * That the backstories of the two men had commonalities

* That I felt both men were “equal” and brought qualities that would support the relationship

* That the two men communicated openly and maturely

* Shane: good brother, musician, loving uncle, has goals and dreams, a good person

* Brandt: firefighter, a bit of a rambler, professional, caring, team player, a good person

* The growth in both main characters

* How the two dealt with the situation they found themselves in

* That they were there for Jewel, the baby, and for one another

* That there was no major drama between the two men

* That it felt believable – mostly

* The fairytale feel of the story that might have been less believable but that was very nice indeed

* The happy ending

* Seeing/hearing about some of the characters from previous books in the series

* Wondering if there will be more books in the series

* That there was no “bad guy”

* All of it really except…

 What I didn’t like:

* Being reminded that firefighters have a tough life and that they sometimes die as a result of the job(s) they do.

 Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more in this series? Yes

 Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Carina Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 4-5 Stars

Up in Smoke by Annabeth Albert is available in eBook, mass market paperback and audiobook formats on April 27th!

  Book Description

Three Men and a Baby meets Backdraft with explosive chemistry and heartfelt feels.

 Freewheeling smoke jumper Brandt Wilder thrives on adrenaline. He’s never met a parachute he can’t repair or a dangerous situation he couldn’t wrangle his way out of. He’s popular and fun-loving and not at all looking to settle down or form lasting relationships. It’s a lifestyle that’s served him well…right up until the day he finds a baby on his doorstep.

 Shane Travis is used to putting his country music career—and his own happiness—on hold after his sister rolls through his life. Like last spring when she convinced him to try skydiving for his birthday—and she walked away with the hot parachute instructor.

 Now he gets to deliver the piece of news that will upend Brandt’s carefree life: he very well might be a dad.

 Shane’s niece is safe in Brandt’s strong, capable hands, but too many questions remain unanswered. Co-parenting while they sort it out leads to late-night talks, and soul-bearing confessions lead to a most inconvenient attraction. Still, Shane can’t leave this makeshift family behind—even if it means playing house with the one man he can’t resist.

 Hotshots

Book 1: Burn Zone (available now!)

Book 2: High Heat (available now!)

Book 3: Feel the Fire (available now!)

Book 4: Up in Smoke (coming April 27)

  Read on for an excerpt from Up in Smoke.

 Brandt’s deep chuckle rumbled straight through Shane. Damn. This was torture. Then the other man wrapped an arm around Shane, positioning his muscled forearm where Shane could see his fancy-looking watch gadget. “Now this is my altimeter. It tells me when we’re at five thousand feet and ready to deploy the chute.”

“Got it.” Shane wasn’t about to study that meaty arm any more than he absolutely had to.

“Okay, it’s go time.” Dallas’s voice echoed though the room. Brandt quickly unclipped them, but as soon as he stepped away, Shane’s pulse kicked up. Maybe he couldn’t do this. Jump out of a plane? Who was he kidding? He was a ground dweller, through and through.

Right when he was about to turn away, though, Brandt grabbed his biceps. “Nerves hitting you? Trust me. You’ll be just fine. I haven’t lost a jumper yet.”

Shane barked out a laugh. “Not exactly making me feel better.”

“Listen, I can tell you all day about how awesome this is.” Brandt looked him dead in the eyes, gaze serious for once, all his charm turned to raw intensity. “But until you do it, you’re gonna think it’s all BS. Sometimes you gotta take a leap of faith.”

“Not very good at those,” Shane admitted quietly as he stepped free of the other guy’s grip. He couldn’t keep meeting his eyes either. Too much power there, like a shot with an extra kick.

“Okay. You want me to tell Dallas you want out?”

A yes was right there on the tip of Shane’s tongue, but then he heard Shelby’s laugh ring out. She’d love it if he chickened out. Not only would she get bragging rights for all of eternity, she’d get what she’d wanted and get to go with Brandt. And for whatever reason, Shane hated that most of all. “Nah. I’m going.”

He white-knuckled his way out to the small plane, spared a nod for the female pilot, and squished his eyes shut until Shelby jostled him into looking at the valley underneath them, the green canopy of the national forest contrasting with the pristine blue sky. Random snippets of lyrics danced through Shane’s head, ways that he might try to describe this view. But then, right as he was settling into something resembling comfort, everyone started shuffling around, getting ready to go. The wind rushed in as the hatch opened, and a full-body shiver raced through Shane.

Then Shelby gave him and Brandt one last coy grin before she and Dallas were away, her whoop echoing across the sky.

“Ready? Here we go.” Brandt nudged Shane closer to the open hatch. Shane wanted to say no, wanted to drag their clipped-together bodies back inside the plane, wanted to both hurl and yell. But in the end, all he could do was nod. Only one way down.

His knees had locked up even as his thighs trembled. Behind him, Brandt was sure and solid. He could push Shane out the hatch pretty easily, but he didn’t. He was letting it be Shane’s choice. And somehow that patience and restraint gave Shane a jolt of courage. One step into nothingness. That was all it took.

Brandt was right behind him, smooth as if they were on a dance floor, not open sky. And now they were fall­ing. Falling so fast. Faster than a car on the interstate with the windows all down, faster than a dirt bike on a steep incline, faster than the whoosh down a water slide. There was no describing the feeling of the wind on his cheeks, the roar in his ears, the shout that probably be­longed to him, the adrenaline that crashed through him as he tried to remember what they’d practiced about po­sitioning. Damn. Hard to think.

Which was funny because that was the one thing he was good at. Shelby was forever teasing him about overthinking. But now, his brain couldn’t even pull two words together as they rushed through the air. Brandt yelled something, but Shane was too busy hurtling through the sky to focus on it. And then he was pulled backwards, a hard yank as the parachute deployed. No more freefall. And the oh-my-God-about-to-die adrenaline quieted enough that he could look down, really look.

“Oh my word. It’s… .”

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Brandt’s voice was deep and rich, like warm honey over Shane’s still jangling nerves. Now that the air wasn’t rushing so fast, he could hear him better. Almost too much better, because it felt like they were soaking up each other’s awe and wonder. Sharing something warm and tender and perfect.

“Yeah.”

“Nothing like it.” Brandt whistled low, a sound that hit Shane somewhere soft. “Never gonna get tired of this view.”

“Me either.” Shane almost didn’t recognize his own voice, up this high, this far removed from everything that usually weighed him down.

“Hey, Superman. You want a turn steering?” Brandt didn’t wait for Shane to reply, grabbing his arms, guid­ing his hands.

“Whoa. Wow. I’m doing it. Look at us.” They swooped gently from side to side, and it was quite possibly the best feeling Shane had ever experienced.

“Look at you. Didn’t know your smile muscles even worked.”

“Screw you. I can smile.” Shane was feeling so good that he had to laugh.

“Well, then get ready. The landing crew will snap your pic as we land. It’s your rock-star moment.”

“Feels like it,” he said right before Brandt took over and set them down softly in a clearing, barely even jarring Shane’s knees. “Damn. That was…”

“It was something.” Brandt was looking right at him, like he could see straight through Shane’s layers, strip him bare. And Shane held his gaze, held the moment as long as he could.

 Copyright © 2021 by Annabeth Albert

 Add Up in Smoke to your Goodreads!

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  About Annabeth Albert

Annabeth Albert grew up sneaking romance novels under the bed covers. Now, she devours all subgenres of romance out in the open—no flashlights required! When she’s not adding to her keeper shelf, she’s a multi-published Pacific Northwest romance writer.

 Emotionally complex, sexy, and funny stories are her favorites both to read and to write. Annabeth loves finding happy endings for a variety of pairings and is a passionate gay rights supporter.  In between searching out dark heroes to redeem, she works a rewarding day job and wrangles two children.

 Connect with Annabeth Albert

Website: http://annabethalbert.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnabethAlbert

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annabethalbert

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annabeth_albert/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6477494.Annabeth_Albert

[cordiformation]

Mercy Main, btw

“No aim, no brain, Mercy main.”

“I wish Mercy would be deleted from the game.”

“What a stupid hero.”

“Low skill hero.”

“It’s unfair that one button can counter an extremely high skill play.”

“Boosted.”

“Carried.”

“They have a top 500 and we have two Mercy mains, we’re going to lose.”

“Can you play anything not Mercy?”

“I hate Mercy mains.”

Anyway, this is just off the top sampling of conversation that happens pretty constantly if you’ve ever watched an Overwatch streamer who isn’t a Mercy player. The memes (ha ha, jokes) are permanent fixtures on the Overwatch reddits, of course and even make it into the “pro Overwatch” scene commentary (”And then Sherlockey swoops in from hiding and presses Q” -- which is related to the idea that “all Mercy does is Hide and then Press Q” which is the default ultimate use button on the PC). It’s a huge constant in any conversation on Overwatch (also seen in many of the popular youtube commentaries as well) and on the ladder a little less so but still “Can you play someone not Mercy” is fairly. . . well, common up until the most recent patch.

And I’m constantly fucking pissed.

There’s an interesting article here on Mercy but I thought I’d expand on it. The recent Mercy changes have really added to the conversation and just as people who played Mercy knew before, it wouldn’t really change the conversation.

A Lot of Arguments Against Mercy are that: 1. she doesn’t require aim 2. she’s very easy to play/low skill 3. she is too powerful 4. but on the other hand she’s not useful enough because she hasn’t been in higher tier conversation meta since like season 2 where she had a brief rein because of Pharmercy 5. ew grill gamers lol mercy main lol 6. I A DPS Main Feel Cheated When She Resurrects The Team Because My 5K Was So Impressive OH My God

One of the things I have liked and enjoyed immensely about Overwatch is that it isn’t Call of Duty 2.0. It isn’t the FPS only FPS can you FPS and only FPS game. It’s a game that to excel at requires a huge amount of map sense / strategy / game sense / educated guesses about the enemy so forth and so on. Every game is different because of your team and the enemy team and the map. You have to be able to predict who has what ults and what is going to be combo’d and what routes do you want to take on maps. It’s easily accessible but has a continual learning curve in what you can do.

Many characters who have ‘easy’ kits also have extremely high levels (in my opinion) of strategy involved. Winston is another example, of whom for a while was considered “low skill” because you don’t have to aim with his weapon, it does AOE auto-cleave damage. However, that has faded after the double Winston meta from like... season 1? And also because in Korea he’s seen as being one of the most important characters in the game. And it’s true. Winston is immensely powerful when used correctly. Just because his kit is “I don’t have to aim my gun to be effective” doesn’t mean anything in what ‘effective’ means. A good Winston needs to know engages / disengages, his own hp limits, other heroes cooldowns and ults, the bubble placement and how to block damage and ALSO enemy healing or LoS, how to utilize the jump combos to kill people etc. Another hero that the American (and I believe EU) sides of Overwatch had devalued for 800 years was D.Va but she had her revival in triple tank but only because “her defense matrix is overpowered”. However, it should be noted that while Winston has shaken off the ‘low skill’ title, D.Va has continued to keep it. Low skill, just needs 1 click (her defense matrix) to nullify everything! Low Skill! Awful Hero!

Strange how both D.Va and Mercy are female heroes and continue to get these comments repeatedly where similar male counterparts have been able to have that removed. Strange, isn’t it. A lot of other people have sort of spoken on the sexism in video games and the article I linked above also talks about it, so I won’t focus too much on it. But a real ha ha isn’t it.

The Mercy situation, I feel, is Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t. The only other burst healer in the game is Ana -- and Ana does have an extremely high skill cap. She requires fairly good accuracy and is also the only healer who can’t heal herself and the only healer with an offensive support ult, rather than a defensive one. Ana was op for a season or two and despite being thought of as ‘a bad choice’ for the first few weeks she came out, she became a ‘must pick’ and also a highly skilled character that was cool to play. She shoots people. And her ult enables DPS to do cool things. But outside of Ana, there is no way to heal quickly and consistently -- Lucio and Zenyatta both have much lower amounts of healing outside of bursts with long cooldowns (amp it up / transcendence).

For the longest time meta was just Lucio/Zen, if you ran anything else you were stupid. And then Lucio/Ana or Ana/Zen. This is with the top say, 20% or something of players, but Mercy has remained an incredible consistently high picked hero. For some obvious reasons -- tanks and DPS need healers to live. Even though Mercy has a high pick rate and many people making commentary outside of the pro players/streamers play with Mercys who save their asses... well, she’s still A Bad Hero to them. Some of this has to do with the echo chamber of these communities and the begging up after some dude says something and everyone else wants to repeat it. And, the sort of healer position in all games, as many people know, no one thinks healers have value, but they always need healers to heal them.

Anyway, people hated the rez. It brings people back to life. It means if you killed 5 people at once with A Cool Ult then Mercy could run in and rez them all. The idea often was that ‘Mercy hides and then comes out and rezes’. Which is honestly kind of silly since a good Mercy has always used rez for tempo and been with her team, since her job is... healing. But somehow the idea that Mercy Mains Are Good at Hiding And Doing Nothing But Rezzing and also that Mercys could Climb the Ladder By Only Rezzing Five People At Once spread.

Believe me, if climbing the ladder by getting 5man rezzes was possible, there would be a lot more Mercy one tricks in top 500 for the past few seasons.

But it stuck in commentary. Mercy was easy. Every Mercy player in the higher levels of play was boosted. After all, Mercy takes no skill, she just hides and presses Q. It’s ridiculous commentary and some of it has to do with the way that DPS players feel that all you need to do is frag harder, who needs strategy and whenever they get a ‘kill stolen’ from them they’re mad and Feels Bad. (Related, though, is how Trans and Sound Barrier can both nullify cool DPS plays as well, but no one complains about that... weird, huh....). I weirdly was watching a tank player’s stream where the exact problem was that all the DPS just wanted to frag harder and not follow strategy and shockingly they lost. Wow. It’s like Overwatch is a game that has more than just shooting to it??? Go figure.

Now, hilariously. While Mercy was too easy and constantly boosted she was also out of the higher tier levels because... she wasn’t that good. Why have Mercy when you can have Ana. Why have Mercy when you can have Lucio? So forth and so on. The only time Mercy was pulled out in higher levels for a very long time was “to babysit pharah” and even then you’d see Pharahs without Mercy.

Fast forward to now where Mercy got a rework because people kept complaining about how 5 person Rezes were unfair. The dev update is on the OW yt here. It should be noted that part of the ‘hide’ conversation is also your team telling you to hide when you want to stay and heal them. “Mercy go hide” listen don’t tell me how to play my character -- but it was pretty common at the elos I played at (gold/plat) and also the higher elos I watch streams for (masters/gm/top 500). People wanted her to hide because she is very easy to kill. Her 2016 Halloween victory pose is a gravestone with a hand reaching out going in for the rez and I’m never changing it because it’s Too True to Reality. Rez & die is pretty common. (example of both).

Now Rez is an ability and her ult is Valkyrie. When the changes were announced people who didn’t play Mercy were like Looks Cool and a lot of other people were like This wilL Take More Skill. A lot of Mercy players I know were... disappointed. Because what this change does is make Rez a single person rez (every 30 seconds) and Valkyrie lets her fly + shoot faster and resets the rez cooldown + her healing/damage boost beams connect to teammates instead of just one person. But what this did was take away her ability to save her team. So there’s no “I can save my team from an ult” ability she has anymore. Rez was the defensive ult she had to ‘team save’ like Sound Barrier and Trascendence.

But she’s been live for a while now and the answer people have now is: she’s too easy and too op. Her rez nullifies picks and it’s Unfair that Mercy’s Rez is So Easy and nullifies a High Skill Play Like a Pick. Her Ult is Too Good. She Does Too Much.  We Need a Mercy in Every Game or We’ll Lose. 

With that last one, let me tell you, I have watched all these top 500 DPS and tank/off tank players playing Mercy and they are so bad. Or having other GM players play Mercy because “we can’t win without one” but then the Mercy is so bad they lose. I mean, but if she was so easy wouldn’t she be able to be picked up immediately? Easy victory right? All Mercys up in higher levels have no skill, huh?

I won’t disagree that her ult is possibly too long or a little overpowered. Resetting the rez I think is fine. The 10 second cooldown is good. After all, that’s what makes her ... well, her. The rez. But her ult lasts for 20 seconds. They could cut it to 12 seconds or 15 and it would be much more balanced. Even that much would be enough imo, but if they needed further nerfs, they could also nerf the connected beams to teammates and have them have a drop off or something. I.E., main person gets the full heal, the connected people get less of a heal. But while people complain deeply about new Mercy ult... no one works too hard to counter it. As much as people complain about Mercy, very few people have ever tried to counter it. In fact, popular streamers have said: My team doesn’t know to kill Mercy, so I hate her. 

My DPS doesn’t know to kill the other teams support, so I hate the support. Thinking.

Mercy was given invul when she rezzed because it was too easy for her to die during rez. This has been removed for her current update and the rez distance is melee distance. So if you just killed someone and  Mercy goes in for the rez... you should also be able to kill her. It’s extremely valuable then. Her ult is easily countered by tac visor or deadeye. She herself is countered by anyone who can aim and Sombra. If DPS is so skilled, doesn’t it seem like they should be able to deal with a 200hp hero? Hm. At my elo (Plat/Diamond rn) you can still hunt her down with Pharah and kill her.

Now, the skill part of Mercy. When Mercys changes came through, they were extremely easy for me to adjust to. My friends have had varying experiences -- many have said she’s much harder. I feel that she’s much easier because the hardest part of Mercy is strategy. Which of your teammates are the most valuable to rez right now, will rezzing them be productive, what ults do the enemy have which cooldowns do they have, where are we with progress, where are the rest of my teammates, what ults do we have, where are we on the map blah blah. Tempo rez has always been good but before you had to balance it with “will i need a team rez later”. 8/10 of my rezzes previous have been tempo rezzes because team rezzes often just set your team up to get wiped again.

But with her changes, that has been removed. You can only tempo rez. That decision has been removed. The weight is more on who and when and why -- but honestly, it’s also relieving because instead of “my DPS loves feeding jesus christ stop dying now we have to wait for you to respawn so we can push again” the fights are a lot quicker to engage. You can make up for your teammates bad decisions with rez. If you’re good with it.

Who do you rez? Well, it’s a pretty easy answer for me which is “depends”, lol. It’s a nice place to be as a solo healer if you have 2 tanks, you can let one of them die and heal the other. You can continue pushes when people make mistakes. You can rez your DPS carry or second support. There’s so many more options to enable your team to do well.

You have to know your distance and teammate positions intimately so you can escape and go in. Her new Guardian Angel lets you slingshot around and it’s nice but also tricky to use (?). The skill part of Mercy has always been strategy and positioning, and this change hasn’t change it at all.

I suppose, people who were mediocre or bad at Mercy continue to be bad at Mercy.

I guess... this is the parting word here. I’m not exactly sure where I meant to go with this except I’m tired. I’m tired of people bagging on Mercy. Of complaining but wanting to be healed and rezzed. I’m honestly tired of maining who seems to be the most hated character in Mercy. The more people complain about aspects of heroes in Overwatch who clearly have a place and are generally not OP people just haven’t at all considered actually countering them the more it feels like the community never wanted you. And honestly, maybe they never did. I jokingly bag on Mercy all the time in hopes that I will become immune to it. It doesn’t work. I play fill in most competitive matches and often it’s support that needs filled. Or, say, a tank but there’s no support so playing tank will be difficult and suck.

I think I had more to say. But I’m sure anyone reading this can guess what. I’ve always enjoyed that OW isn’t just about fps. I wish the rest of the community would catch up with that.

[itsbenedict]

No Driver’s License: Session 2

[adventure log]

Last time on No Driver’s License, our heroes got into a big battle! This time on No Driver’s License, we spend three and a half hours finishing up said big battle! As the GM I’m tempted to say it’s because people kept waiting until it was their turn before thinking about what they should do, but. Let’s be honest. It took two sessions because I’m the idiot who thought “Oh, yeah! Let’s throw eighteen separate enemies at the players as a tutorial battle! That’s reasonable!”

Anyway, here’s where we were last time:

They’d just performed a daring rescue, snatching new PC Takamine Seina out from the midst of a swarm of snelephants, and dealing a few hits to the foe in the process. Makoto’s unfortunate rolls landed her in peril, though, and the team was left in a precarious position! Let’s get into the blow-by-blow of how they managed to get themselves out of this one.

First thing we did, before resuming the fight, was distribute Minor Advancements. Since we ditched the various incomplete skill mechanics in Magical Burst 5a for a custom ability system, there were only three real options available, and one was obviously the right choice- everyone took a Specialization, which gave them a few useful abilities to make the fight more survivable. Knight/Priestess/Sorceress are Magical Burst’s answer to the tank/healer/DPS meta from other RPGs. For reference:

Knights: Tsutsui Makoto, Takamine Seina

Priestess: Gomu Sakura

Sorceress: Kotono Yukari, Kazama Ibara

(I let Ibara take a modified version of Sorceress, allowing her to Aim melee attacks instead of ranged attacks, since she’s a very melee-focused build.)

So, when we left off, it was the enemy’s turn. The snelephants charged, targeting Ibara and Sakura. The archers also focused on those two, not quite blotting out the sun but forcing me to make a LOT of 2d6 rolls. Sakura’s armor and good rolls let her get out completely unscathed, but Ibara got pretty heavily wounded- to the point where one or two good attacks would finish her off.

Ibara responded to this circumstance, of course, by charging in deeper to attack the stronger enemies that had advanced during their turn. What’s “retreat”? What’s “defense”? Do you even know who you’re talkin’ to? Do you have any idea- any idea, who she is? You listening? OK. Grass grows, birds fly, sun shines, and Ibara? She hurts people. So, stupendously awful tactical decision, excellent bit of roleplaying.

Yukari does... pretty much what she’ll be doing for the entire rest of this battle, which is: comboing Prophecy and Strike the Future to make a spillion attacks per round. She has the ability to roll to get loads of extra Support Actions, and then use those Support Actions to make Ranged Attacks, albeit on a one-turn time delay that risks missing or hitting allies if she fails to predict the battlefield properly. It’s pretty bonkers, and her bullets from last session take out a couple snelephants.

Sakura and Makoto, meanwhile, play defensive- Sakura locks down the enemies in her zone with Morasses Taffy and heals up Makoto, and Makoto creates a stone labyrinth in their zone to block ranged attacks from the archers in the back. She also uses her Support Action to protect Ibara with Camouflage, saving her ass from the advancing glass tigers (Waneki-nekos).

The enemies get a turn, and all flub their rolls spectacularly, doing no damage whatsoever. Great work! Another cat advances, though, and Ibara is a little bit surrounded.

Nishi-chan capitalizes on Ibara’s decision to charge ahead by editing the battlefield again! She raises the elevation of Ibara’s zone, trapping her up top with two waneki-nekos and keeping her allies from backing her up.

By the end of the enemy turn, the battlefield looks like this:

Makoto, though, decides: fuck cliffs! Who cares? She’s going to use her turn to get both her AND Sakura up there- first by tossing Sakura using the Throw rules I created last session (a Support Action), and then by using her Main Action to scale the cliff herself. Sakura locks down the tigers with taffy, and then offers a heal to Ibara- which, in fluff terms, manifests as her offering Ibara a magic healing chocolate bar embossed with her own face.

(You’re all horrible. Horrible.

This marks, by the way, the first of a recurring pattern wherein Gomu Sakura cannot escape the gay thoughts. She is lowkey crushing on every one of her teammates and I guess everyone is going to have to just deal with that!)

So, after that debacle, Ibara attempts to hit a homerun with- not a ball, not a bat, but a cat. She uses Glide Curse to whack a Waneki-neko out of the zone, and over at Nishi-chan. Nishi-chan, though, disintegrates her own monster before letting it hit her.

Hahahaha! You think you can use THEM against ME? I made them, idiot! Use your brain, for onc- oh, I'm sorry. That was insensitive of me. I forgot you don't HAVE one!

Ibara is not pleased.

On Yukari’s turn, some of her predestined bullets land and wipe out a handful of the weaker mooks. She also uses her signature move- Consign to Oblivion, which is like her other future-bullet move- except instead of landing the next turn, she rolls every turn, and every turn the roll fails and the bullet hasn’t struck, the enemy suffers -1 to its rolls from nervousness. She targets Nishi-chan.

The surviving snelephants split up- one heading for Yukari, Tama-chan, and Seina- and the other climbing the cliff (a giant porcelain teapot) to join the fight in the center. 

The battlefield is thinning out, but the Waneki-nekos and archers still get to move- and move they do. One climbs to join the teapot fight, and the other attacks Sakura- who takes her first damage of the battle, and it’s a doozy. That- combined with arrow fire- drops her down to 4 Resolve, and she’s feeling the burn.

On seeing Sakura get so badly hurt, Takamine Seina decides she’s had enough of being a bystander- and right then and there, makes a contract with Tama-chan to become a magical girl. She wishes for the power to make other people more caring- and with that, she’s in the fight. I’ll give y’all a placeholder drawing and a bio next update, when we get to know her a little better.

Purple dress, the skirt resembles an upside down flower. Yellow shoes. Soul gem is also purple, located on the back of her neck.

So now it’s the PC’s turn to try and finish the fight! Ibara starts us off by... not knocking the cat off the teapot, but instead trying to use her Shear Force ability to dissolve it. She... flubs her roll, and deals one damage. She isn’t happy about this.

Then Yukari’s bullet lands- and she uses both of her Sorceress Boosts- exploding the damn thing’s head and dropping everyone’s jaws. She also fires off another Consign to Oblivion, leaving two bullets to hang over Nishi-chan like swords of Damocles.

The next couple turns are a whole bunch of bad rolls and not a lot happening. Sakura, using her Gumdrop Goggles ability, is able to pierce the illusion of the Waneki-neko.

Sakura- through your Gumdrop Goggles, you can see the minor enchantment on these guys- when you're looking at them, you can only see them as they appeared the instant you started looking at them, but in reality, they move like living creatures. waneki-nekos are basically like Weeping Angels except they only look frozen in place when you're looking at them if you turned to look at one right before it hit you, you'd see it all snarly with its claws outstretched and then if you kept your eye on it, it'd stay in a weird attacking pose

Then Ibara knocks it off a cliff and it dies. Yukari and Seina manage to finally finish off the lone snelephant that came to harass them. It’s down to Nishi-chan, her archers, and one wounded snelephant that’s just trying its best.

Finally, a Consign to Oblivion bullet lands, striking the boss for 2 damage! ...Which she instantly heals off by draining health from one of her archers.

To end the fight, Sakura- after cutting down the poor innocent snelephant, may it rest in peace- uses that Throw action I’m going to regret introducing to the game. This is just going to be how they move around, now! Constantly Fastball Specialing each other to where they need to be! I was clearly premature in giving a title to this campaign, because apparently it should be named Mahou Shoujo Pinball.

So Ibara is thrown right up in Nishi-chan’s face. 

"Y'know what?" "I'm havin' a real good day." Of course, Nishi absorbs power from its little buddies, the archers. Which meant the tried-and-true measure of what she had to admit she now was. That is, a magical girl. "Finishing move..." (Even delinquents crave their chance to say shit like that, after all.) "...something something EAT RAW SKULL HAMMER!" (But delinquents aren't great with names.)

She dumps her Boosts and Power Strike into the attack, which- hoo boy- severely fucks up Nishi-chan.

Nishi-chan takes 7 damage, and consumes... 3+3+1 HP from the falling archers, which evaporate. Hey! Fuck off! Nishi-chan rolls with the blow, hackles raised. You know what? You're all cheaters! Every last one of you is a cheater! This sucks!

At that point, I declare the combat over, and allow the party to converge on the lone adversary, who Ibara has snatched up by the scruff of her neck. They debate what to do with her- Makoto suggests skinning it alive, horrifying the party- whereas leveller heads suggest just killing the damn thing painlessly. (Mako takes a point of Trauma from the party’s freaked-out reaction to her suggestion, on her “Feeling alienated from “normal” people” track.)

Yukari- being the only girl here who’s ever been in a real fight before, the only one who’s hunted witches, the only one who knows the truth of the PMMM setting- has an interesting concern.

Someone suggests imprisoning Nishi-chan in a cat carrier. Tama-chan points out that she’d just teleport out- and that reminds Nishi-chan that she can teleport. Which she does, out of Ibara’s hands. Somehow, though, Tama-chan is able to block her teleportation, forcing her to rematerialize feet away. There’s a bit of slapstick chase-and-grab going on, while they all argue over just how they’re supposed to deal with this monster-summoning magic cat, when...

Hey, did you forget about the second time Yukari fired a Consign to Oblivion shot? Because I SURE DID! What happens next wasn’t even my idea. Thanks, Zero!

A bullet flies out of nowhere and instakills Nishi-chan, taking the decision out of the party’s hands. Everyone’s a little shaken by this- until Tama-chan groans and points out that Incubators can’t die for good- Nishi-chan will respawn later, in a location they can’t predict, and they’ve missed their chance to deal with her more permanently.

That’s around where we ended the session- but not before everyone rolled 2d6!+Real to see if they noticed anything strange. Makoto was the only one to pass her impromptu Insight check with a crit 15 (everyone’s Real is a pretty neglected stat.)

What Makoto noticed is that Nishi-chan’s corpse had two eyes. Nishi-chan, before dying, had three eyes, just like Tama-chan.

That’s weird, huh? That’s ominous? I hope it was ominous. Chew on that one, until next week!

[vampirerafa-blog]

Major Quest 004: See You At The Crossroads

What: So much awkwardness. Bickering. Banter. Pop culture references.

Who: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aka Leonardo Flynn and Rafael Alvarez

Where: So far away from where they should be.

Notes: Mobile time stamps. I’m lazy, sue me.

Status: not finished

viktor . – 25.02.17 05:45 > This was the first time Rafael didn’t finish a quest and to be honest, he felt utterly lost. He wasn’t used to not getting all the necessary clues handed to him as a reward for his hard work, instead having to go with whatever rumors pop up on the message boards. Closing the user interface with a grunt, he decided he’d have to find a better way to obtain information. It was just in that moment when a somewhat familiar dark-haired man passed him by, the translated note in his hands. Blowing all caution to the wind, he decided to follow him. “Hey, wait up!”, he called out, obviously struggling to keep up with his wide steps. “Hi. We know each other. You’re Leonardo right? I’m Rafael. We met in the tavern once? My friend dragged me into this awkward conversation between-”, it was rare that Rafael caught himself rambling, usually not even noticing when he gave too much information in too little time for any brain to comprehend, but it seemed that miracles still happened. “I- uh- just wanted to ask if maybe I could take a look at that?”, he asked, his voice becoming more and more quiet the further he got into the sentence, motioning towards the note.

Ro – 25.02.17 22:00 > Leo had been minding his own business when he was suddenly accosted by the random other player. Coming to a sudden stop, all he could do was stand there and blink at the onslaught of babbling. Is this how others felt when they spoke to him? And Leo was taken aback with the confidence that he had when he stated they knew each other. Honestly, Leo barely remembered whatever encounter the man was referencing until he felt a brief flicker of recognition at Rafael’s name. “Rafael? The teenage mutant ninja turtle guy?” he repeated back with a raised brow. He hadn’t expected to ever encounter him again. “I suppose you could take a peek…” he agreed grudgingly, reluctantly releasing his tight grip on the paper. “For a moment.”

viktor . – 25.02.17 23:15 > “The one and only,” he said with a bright smile before snatching the note out the Leo’s hand before he had the time to change his mind. Reading it, he nodded between making small humming noises. “This is fascinating,” he commented with his eyes still glued to the paper, raising his hands to push up his glasses out of habit only to be reminded that he didn’t need them in game and hence wasn’t even wearing them. “Seriously, fascinating!”, he repeated as he handed it back, his expression going blank. “You got any clue what this is supposed to mean?”

Ro – 26.02.17 00:04 > Leo watched with a tense frown, arms crossed. He didn’t have any reason to suspect Rafael would take off with the clue but he still didn’t want to take any chances. But he couldn’t help the slight curl of his mouth upwards when Rafael pushed up his nonexistent glasses. Leo was having the same problem, he was used to wearing reading glasses. Taking the paper back with a shrug, Leo put it back into his inventory. “Seems to be a riddle. Word on the street is that the answer is ‘crossroads’.” he replied.

viktor . – 26.02.17 02:58 > Rafael gave a small laugh in reaction to Leo’s reply. “Wow, someone is super invested in this, huh?” Maybe he was just overly excited, driven by this whole you-want-what-you-can’t-have mentality, but the other man’s disinterested still seemed somewhat odd. “Are you not doing the quest?”

Ro – Monday 05:23 > “Eh. I figure if I don’t do it, somebody else will.” Leo offered indifferently. Wasn’t that what had happened with this quest? It was all over the message boards anyway. But Leo had to admit, after getting the run around for the clue he kind of felt obligated to see it through. “I honestly hadn’t though about it yet.”

viktor . – Monday 12:40 > “That’s the downside of MMORPGs, isn’t it? You don’t really have to think for yourself,” he commented with a shrug. “Dude. Are you serious?” he asked with an almost offended expression, quickly turning into an enthusiastic smile, “You can’t just not do it. You traveled miles just for this piece of paper! It would be a shame not do it!”

Ro – Tuesday 20:35 > Leo’s eyes widened at the sudden enthusiasm. Raphael seemed to go through more emotions in a single conversation than Leo did in an entire day. “Err….” he hedged, taken aback. “I guess? If you’re that keen, did you want it?” Leo held out the paper. Rafael seemed ten times more interested than himself, he probably deserved it more.

viktor . – Tuesday 20:48 > “Are you serious?” At this point Rafael was basically bouncing with excitement. “That’s awesome! God, I’m excited,” his expression faltered a little. “How are you not excited? What are you, some kind of quest Grinch?”, Rafael asked, slapping Leo’s arm lightly.

Ro – Tuesday 20:53 > Leo just watched the others excitement with mild shock. What was he, the fucking energizer bunny? “No,” he shot back with a scowl, mildly offended. He didn’t realize that was definitely not helping his case. “I just don’t really see the appeal.”

viktor . – Tuesday 21:03 > “Oh come on!”, Rafael groaned. How could someone be this pessimistic. “You don’t see the appeal of it? This is the most awesome quest yet! Venturing of into the jungle, fighting high level monsters, finding whatever this clue is hinting at”, he said, guesturing wildly. “Come on, don’t say you’re not even a little bit excited?”

Ro – Tuesday 23:58 > Leo raised a brow. “Getting our asses kicked by things way more powerful than us,” he added onto Rafael’s list. He dodged a flailing hand. “Have you read any book or comic ever? Going into the creepy jungle alone never ends well. June Moone thought it was a good idea to go into the jungle in Central America and then she got possessed by a creepy killer witch goddess. Do you want to end up as Enchantress, Rafael?”

viktor . – Wednesday 13:23 > “Well, that would actually be pretty awesome,” he said, blinking at Leo with a blank expression, obviously having trouble with wrapping his head around the idea of anyone not wanting to end up as Enchantress. “Okay. Fine. But think about it. The adventure. The mystery. It’ll be like Indiana Jones! Fighting our way through the jungle just to find some mysterious object. Doesn’t that sound cool?”

Ro – Wednesday 13:26 > Leo just frowned. “Seriously? If I had the option I’d want to be like, Captain America or something. Or Spider-Man. Significantly less creepy evil vibes.” But that was besides the point, he was getting off topic. Leo paused. When had my become our? He shifted. “Well…I suppose somebody needs to make sure you don’t get yourself killed.”

viktor . – Wednesday 13:31 > “Sure, I mean, Cap is cool. And Spidey is classic. But the creepy evil vibes are what makes Enchantress so enchanting .” He raised his brows with a wide smile on his face, pointing finger guns at Leo, anticipating his reaction to what Rafael considered a clever pun. “Oh come on. I’m a vampire. I’m tough.”

Ro – Wednesday 13:35 > Leo stared blankly before rolling his eyes. “Gesù, that’s… that’s just awful. Please stop.” Sighing, he leveled him with a flat look. “Great. So you can take it on yourself then.”

viktor . – Wednesday 16:34 > “I- uh, sure,” he started hemming and hawing. Letting out an awkward, humorless chuckle he rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the ground for a moment before looking back up at Leo. “I sure could make it on my own. Definitely. No problem. But, you know, you kinda need two people for this. So it’s not like I need help or anything because I really don’t. I can totally handle it, but, I, uh…”

Ro – Thursday 03:39 > Leo watched his bumbling with a slight smirk. “Right,” he said with mild amusement. “Lead the way then, oh fearless one.”

viktor . – Thursday 07:25 > “Are you serious?”, Rafael asked, almost surprised, but beaming with a bright smile. “Awesome!” Stretching his arm high over his head, he waited for Leo to give him a high-five.

Ro – Thursday 07:32 > Leo looked back at him, horrified. Seriously? He gave the hand a skeptical once over before sighing in defeat and reaching up for a reluctant high-five. “Don’t make me regret this.”

viktor . – Thursday 22:38 > “Yeah, there we go, big guy. That wasn’t too bad now, was it?”, he asked, patting Leo’s shoulder with a wide grin. “Oh I’d never. You’ll see, this is going to be so awesome. Just follow my lead.” He nodded towards the harbor and started walking.

Ro – Thursday 22:47 > Leo rolled his eyes to the sky, begging for the lord to give him strength, before trailing after Rafael. “Awesome isn’t exactly the adjective I’d use. Hey, what’s your class anyway?”

viktor . – Thursday 22:51 > “How about amazing? Terrific? Marvelous?” He gave Leo a quick once over before weekly suggesting “ Rad? ”, just because it seemed like something that fitted Leo’s vocab. “I’m a thief. You?”

Ro – Thursday 23:00 > “Rad?” Leo repeated as if the very word offended him. “No, I was thinking somewhere more along the lines of noioso.” There. Let him try to figure that one out. “I’m a pirate. Seems we’ve both picked classes better suited to DPS. Pity we don’t have a tank.” translation: boring/tedious

viktor . – Thursday 23:18 > “Hey, no offense. I mean, you look like a rad kinda guy,” Rafael said with a shrug. “Or swell maybe? Your expression sure fits that whole Breakfast Club atmosphere.” Squinting, he gave Leo a long, hard look. “Sorry. I don’t speak Spanish. I don’t even blame you. I get that a lot. I mean, it’s the name right? Like. Rafael? That just sounds so Latino. And I am Mexican. Also Cuban. And some Columbian. So definitely Latino. But boy, my Spanish? The worst.” Rafael shrugged lightly and gave a small wave. Sure, Leo was somewhat right, but his species perks made him quite durable. “I’m a vampire, too. So I can take a few hits. We don’t need a tank.”

Ro – Thursday 23:55 > “Breakfast club atmosphere?” Leo repeated weakly before trailing off as Rafael rambled on. Was he joking? Did Leo even look Spanish? “Look, kid, I don’t care about your long and confusing background.” he cut off roughly. “And it’s Italian. I’m Italian.” He was mildly offended. How could somebody not recognize that? Shaking it off, he frowned. “I’m a human so I guess I could make a tasty treat if need be.”

viktor . – Friday 08:20 > “Yeah?”, Rafael asked almost sarcastically. How could anyone no know what he meant with Breakfast Club atmosphere. “You know. That 80s movie? Set in a high school? Bunch of kids from different backgrounds come together for detention? Everyone is white, because, well, it’s the 80s?” For a second, he didn’t know what to say. He was used to rambling. He was used to people cutting him off, but this? This seemed a little harsh. “Wow. Sorry, I-”, he hesitated for a second, raising his hands defensively, “I really didn’t mean to offend you.” His characteristic smile was still heavy on his features but his brows were slightly furrowed, making him almosy look worry. “I really appreciate the offer mate, but I’ll pass. I try not to feed of actual people. I’m not too good with blood,” Rafael said, pulling a face.

Ro – Friday 08:29 > Leo snorted despite himself. He wasn’t wrong. “Right, well I suppose that makes you Brian then?” He didn’t even want to know who Rafael would say he was. Bender, probably. “It’s fine just - seriously? Spanish?” He was rather proud of his heritage, the idea that someone could think he was Spanish was ludicrous to say the least. “You chose vampire? When you hate blood?” he couldn’t help but ask dryly.

viktor . – Friday 08:41 > “Duh, obviously,” he said with a light chuckle in his voice. “I’d almost say Bender. Not really that whole bad boy thing, but this?”, raising a hand, he vaguely gestured at Leo’s face, “This looks like Bender material. However, I think almost everyone here is a little bit of Brian.” Obviously. Most of the other characters would never ever pick up a video game, so some Brian undertones. “I’m bad with languages, okay? Also Spanish and Italian are both Romance languages so cut me some slack,” Rafael was half whining at this point. He didn’t like to admit that he wasn’t good at something. Especially languages. Especially Spanish. Or in this case, not Spanish. “I didn’t say I hate blood,” he raised his hands defensively, “I… Just prefer to… Stay away from it?” Rubbing his neck, a sighed in defeat. “It makes me icky, okay?”

Ro – Friday 08:47 > Leo narrowed his eyes slightly at the gesture. “This? What - no, I don’t even want to know,” he sighed. Might as well just stop him while he was ahead or they’d be here all day. Rafael somehow managed to drag him into these stupid arguments without Leo even realizing. It was exhausting. His eyebrows shot up. “It makes you icky?” Seriously, what was he, five? “Don’t you need it to survive? You’re kind of fucked there.”

viktor . – Friday 09:01 > Rafael just opened his mouth to explain, but then decided he’d rather not. Offending Leo anymore didn’t seem to be the best idea after all. “Yeah,” he admitted with a goofy smile, “I noticed. Not like I could actually expect that though. That I have to drink blood or literally die. To death.”

Ro – Friday 09:10 > “As opposed to simply dying, yes,” Leo barely managed to get out with a straight face. He didn’t think it was possible to meet somebody more rambly than him, but here he was, staring Leo right in the face. He cracked a smile. “I’m just thankful I picked human.”

viktor . – Friday 09:15 > Seeing Leo smile felt like a huge accomplishment - one that Rafael knew better than to comment on if he wanted it to last. “Why did you though? Some people might just say humans are boring.” Upon reaching the harbour, Rafael quickly looked around to find a ship. “Want me to show off my cool vampire abilities to get us onto that?”, he asked, pointing.

Ro – Friday 10:43 > He simply shrugged. “I wasn’t really interested in anything flashy or complicated. I just wanted something comfortable and familiar.” Besides, boring was actually pretty accurate. Leo wasn’t really one for excitement. Trailing after Rafael, he raised a brow. “Go for it, Dracula.”

viktor . – Friday 22:00 > Rafael nodded, “Just how Leonardo chose to go with a sword. Simple, classic, effective. Good call.” A wide grin spread on his face as he passed Leo by with a pat on the shoulder. “Okay, watch this.” Walking up to the captain, he looked at him with a… focused expression? Actually, it was hard to tell what exactly what Rafel was doing. But it was obviously not compulsion. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, he just went back to rambling, explaining how he was trying really hard to make his new friend all excited for this quest and he really needed for things to work out because he while he said he could totally make it on his own he totally couldn’t and he wished he could just pay for a ride on the ship like a normal person or do anything ever like a normal person instead of being his weird awkward self - That was when the captain suddenly cut him off, rolling his eyes at him he stepped aside and motioned for him to get on board. “Come on!”, he shouted over to Leo, thankful that his charisma skill saved the day once again.

Ro – Saturday 01:13 > Leo grimaced at the use of his full name but simply nodded. “Raphael used sai so it seems we’re both conforming to our stereotypes.” He just raised his brows at the wide grin. “Alright, go work your magic.” He watched skeptically from the side as Rafael talked to the captain. Was it supposed to be taking this long? Surely the vampire compulsion was supposed to be quicker than this. Right before he gave up and moved to join him, Rafael finally waved him over. Sighing, Leo jogged over “You do realize I’m a pirate? I could have helped with that?”

viktor . – Saturday 15:24 > “What, like we have choice?”, Rafael teased, his hand immediately finding his daggers in his pockets. Funny enough how he just noticed the similarities now. He was proud enough that he actually managed to work this out for them, but Leo’s comment sure made it feel like less of an accomplishment. “I- That would actually have been helpful, but as you can see, I managed just fine,” he pointed out in a weak attempt to fix his pride.

[pentagramflowerveil-blog]

KingsRoad Bot

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