#the day that happens is the day i build someone that does more dmg than him

[astrxlis-archive]

Message #2 but you can answer any message in any order of course 🥰

The teacher issue wasn't really solved but he was replaced for this one subject already. He still handles the Main one crucial to our education so... Idk 😆😭 I literally don't even care to listen to his class because Why is he like That (he's very confusing and i cannot Learn)...

Woaaa goodluck on looking back to your college content!! (人´ω`*)♡ so insane how professional doctors were able to retain soo much info learned in college. Omg bass and keyboard! That is so very cool😳, i would like to learn music too (<- ambitious, and is bad at it)

IRL is so insane for me, i'm literally like a loner so social media is one medium for me to earn friends atleast(<- doesnt talk to anyone even on socmed) 🤣 i wanna make lots of friends but i obviously can't keep them all and tend to them consistently #introvert. I was one click away from making a blog but then the problem— the username... *Sweats* Interactions -> sharing thoughts comfortably is such a smart concept Fox! Didn't thought of that 😚

My... Creative projects as you described it isn't really any project that you expect😆 just fanarts here and there! <3

Your day that day is really productive already!! (to me, atleast) (๑•̀∀•́ฅ ✧ BUT LIGHTNING *INFRONT* of your house.... 😳 that's so scary! i wanna know what flavor is the cake 👀 please do tell~ i'm very hungry right now but i'll just probably sleep through this (ineffective). i drink water regularly (cant be dehydrated, nuh uh) not the 8 glasses thingy but still a nice amount! how are you today? :D

I did the lost seelie! I picked dayflower (blue) ( ^ω^ ) i really dont wanna pick the pink (not my type/too neon bright) 😅 what about you? Which color did you get? :o Nothing serious really happened! (But maybe it is for an introvert lol) I just didn't have the energy to socialize~ but i was lurking in tumblr to reblog cute carrd pngs or nice images ☺️

Have you tried fishing in Sumeru yet? Do you have a favorite fish? I personally like the Peach of the Deep Waves (only to be fished from the mawtiyama forest mushroom pool!) 🐟 I'm curious how adhd testing would go for you ! You dont need to tell the results if that's your preference ♥

— 🍰.

i feel like you should know my brain compels me to reply in order jfndknd 😅

i... am so sorry. really. i kinda wanna look at the silver lining of "oh, he's out of one at least!" but it still sucks considering the weight of the subject he still teaches. good luck 😭

thank you, i'll do my best 🥲 we review a lot. all the time. at some point the information has to stick lol i have experimental classes booked for next week, so hopefully i'll enjoy them. i used to play bass back in 2011/12 but i don't remember anything. have you tried any instruments?? or singing, maybe?

honestly the way you described your irl is a lot like mine lol #introvert, can absolutely relate. the dreaded username 😂 and even if it's just fanart, it's still a project!! and still cool!!! 💕

the lightning was both funny and scary – our porch light is still out, but the rest was normalized in the morning. i was going upstairs and met my dog halfway bc she got scared 😭😭😭 she kept following me and even camped in front of every door i went through until i went to bed, since she sleeps in my bedroom with me. the cake flavors were chocolate and fubá (apparently it's cornmeal in english?)! very tasty in my opinion uwu also!! don't go to bed hungry >:( you should eat!!!

i'm doing my best, honestly. that's all i can really say. thank you for asking 💕

ahhh, the blue seelie is really cute!! i was torn between that, yellow or green, and ended up getting green. it fits quite nicely with xiao hehe~ i can respect that; taking time for yourself is important.

i haven't yet! actually i've been ignoring the fishing mechanic for a while now loooool the same way i ignore my teapot..... i guess i'll google what fish that is 😅 i'll let you know when i get tested! i'm talking to my psychiatrist about that on friday, and i guess we'll go from there :3c

[dourpeep]

Seeing people complaining about the lack of anniversary rewards is getting so tiring. The game's ratings dropped to like 2 on Google play, all comment sections of official accounts are full of complaints. I know and understand that people are upset but it's just so so tiring to the point where I unfollowed most accounts that aren't related to fanart or fanfiction because of all that negativity

I personally spent (a little) money on the game so I get where p2w players come from but idk. I saw that we didn't get anything and moved on pretty quickly. Maybe that's just me, idk

Maybe you have a different view on this and if so, I'd like to hear it

Sorry for ranting in your inbox

hehe no need to apologize because I have quite a bit to say myself nodnod

Read if you like, don't if you don't--this is just my opinions and stuff based off my experience knowing Eastern gatcha games as well as talking about using a 5* vs 4* of the same build + slot

This got kinda long ehe-

Like really long.

Anyway

My turn for a Hot Take (tm)

Yeah I understand this--I've been feeling so drained and my enjoyment of the game and writing has diminished immensely because all I see everywhere is just that.

I understand that the event rewards suck but at the same time? I realize how gacha aren't really popular here in the West--and I have seen a lot of comparison between Genshin and Cookie Run but they're also two entirely different genres despite both being gacha. Not to mention that Cookie Run is fast at first until you get to around uhh Kingdom lvl 37~~ and you're stuck and can't go forward because things cost too many materials or your cookies aren't strong enough even though you have several stars on your team consisting of epics built as optimally as possible-

So the maintenance rewards for Cookie Run have been the only significant amount of gems I've been getting for a few weeks now compared to when I first started and could do 10 roll after 10 roll.

Also also, Cookie Run is PvP (arena, guilds, etc). Being able to get more rolls is absolutely a gamechanger. If you can't get a good defense cookie or healer cookie, you're fucked.

So!! That's why Cookie Run is more generous with rolls. You're not going to want to keep fighting other people in the Arena or doing Guild stuff if they don't add in those generous rewards.

On the other hand, Genshin Impact is an open world rpg w/ co-op (note, co-op doesn't count as pvp because you're collaborating) where you can build pretty much any of the characters to be viable (dps/vampire Barbara is one major example, Noelle is a guarantee roll character for that beginner's banner and she can easily be built to be a tank/healer/dps to fill whatever slot you desire)

So they're not going to be incredibly generous w/ rewards because the characters you have--meta or not--don't really effect your ability to play the game (unless we're talking spiral abyss which really is considered endgame anyway) when you're able to get at least one character of each element for free I mean, you start out with traveler who can be anemo, geo, or electro once you get to the respective places, Amber, Kaeya, Lisa, Barbara (iirc, you need to get to rank 20?), Xiangling (complete spiral abyss floor 3), and Noelle (reduced cost 10roll w/ guaranteed Noelle).

Which would be one of each element and a variety of one of the 5 weapon types nodnod.

Time to talk about builds and why it's not necessary to have a 5* unlike in other gatcha games like Cookie Run (again, a kingdoms builder) before going back to the anniversary stuff

But continuing, like Eula is considered a fantastic 5* character who features a kit that is based around her being a physical damage character. My sibling, C, has her built and she does some insane damage.

On the other hand, I have Xinyan built as a physical dps and if you were to compare their damage?

With crit, C's Eula deals 9k to 14k with Skyward Pride (5* claymore w/ energy recharge substat). With crit, my Xinyan deals 8k to 13k with Song of Broken Pines (5* claymore w/ phys substat) OR 7k to 10k with Prototype Archaic (4* craftable claymore w/ attack substat).

Both C and I agree that they're pretty evenly-matched in the sense of damage output.

We have similar builds focusing on physical damage, however, C's Eula uses 4pc Pale Flame and my Xinyan uses 2pc Bloodstained, 2pc Pale Flame (both have the 25% phys damage bonus for the 2pc). It's also good to note that both their Eula and my Xinyan have a physical dmg % cup.

So just by stacking up more phys on Xinyan, you get a physical dps (with some elemental support capabilities due to her E and Q) you can easily make her deal consistent, reliable damage that is comparable to a fully built Eula. Ofc, I'm sacrificing Xinyan's shield, but since she's built to be a physical dps, it doesn't matter anyway.

Another thing is Zhongli is an incredible shield support. His shield?? Absolutely insane because it's based off his hps. Guess who else has a hp-based shield and heals??? Diona. Another incredibly good support 4* with a shield and healing would be Noelle!

But with Diona, specifically since I did kinda cover over Noelle already, she can easily be built along with her shield having over 100% uptime (like how Zhongli has over 100% uptime). The fact that Diona is also a healer definitely is a perk too.

Ofc the difference with this is that Zhongli can be built as a burst support/dps while Diona is not. But the point isn't that--the point is that you don't need a 5* shield support to have a good, reliable shield support.

But regardless of 4* or 5*, to get a viable character, you need to build them well. So if your character isn't doing satisfactory damage, you just have to take a quick peek at what artifacts they're running and fix as needed!

Another thing--

Talking about the rewards and stuff for the anniversary-

Generally, gatcha games aren't really that generous with rewards and instead usually have some sort of event. In this case, I'm pretty sure that Moonchase is considered a part of the anniversary which is why it's giving so many rewards- just the primos from the first day alone with the chests and quest was enough for two rolls (40 chests * 5 primos each + 60 from the quest and a few that I forgot where they come from but are from the event) as well as the 4* Luxurious Sea Lord claymore.

Before you say that it's shitty for them to make a festival into the anniversary event, I'm certain that people would complain if the anniversary rewards were just a little more than the 10x fates and stuff and that's it because it'd feel like they're skipping over the anniversary entirely. (keep in mind, festivals don't normally give this much stuff in terms of primogems from what we've experienced so far--they're mainly focused on the free event weapon you can get and build like with Festering Desire, Windborne Ode, Dodoco Tales)

Also companies love taking advantage of festivals to make an event bigger + more fleshed out. It'd be otherwise kinda boring to have to just log in every day for a week (not to mention, not everyone does that) and encourages players to play to get rewards.

yeah, that's supposed to work in their favor because they want to keep interest.

So the fact that there's a lot of backlash on everything going on is tiring and also?? I want to make the point that they'll only listen to so much. Getting heard is important, but there will be a point where Mihoyo will just stop listening to the players entirely because all they're getting is a constant barrage of "this event is the worst" "no one likes that character" "(insert character) when???" "okay but where's (blank) rerun?" pasted over the forums, discord, twitter, facebook, instagram--

You can't keep demanding more while also talking shit constantly about the new stuff added because then they'll just not add those new stuff because we (general) seem to never be satisfied.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they end up just cutting Genshin Impact as a loss entirely if this continues as it has and gets even worse.

But I digress.

Anyway, I agree that it sucks that the daily login rewards for the anniversary are just cut and pasted from the Lantern Rite, but as someone who's played a lot of gatcha games, it's pretty much the standard.

Have a daily sign in for rewards and a big event featuring a ton of stuff you can get instead of having an 'official' anniversary event.

I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing because it's not coming to mind, but yeah. These are my general thoughts on what's happening with the discourse.

[nemrut]

Epic Seven / Re: Zero Collab Units

So, a lot of units were revealed. Three five-star collab units and five three star regular units, and it is amusing to me that the three-star units are creating more buzz.

Since I am not a big Re: Zero fan, I am also more drawn to the three-star heroes, although, I have to say, the collab units seem solid so far.

Personally, I am mostly drawn to Emilia as of now, at least on paper, simply for her more offense oriented Soul Weaver kit. From what I remember, her kit doesn't really seem to work thematically for her all that much, or to her in show capabilities, but it works for the game.

So, Emilia. Her S1 gives healing based on her own max health to the ally with the lowest health. That's solid. Nothing too special but solid. Makes counter viable on her, similar to Destina only without the potential cleanse from the EE. With the right artifact, she can either heal one target with the same effect twice or heal two different units at once.

Her S2 is her best skill. It dispells two debuffs from an ally, gives increased attack for two turns and increases their CR by 40%. It also increases her own CR by 25%. With mola, the CR on the target can increase to 50% and it is on a two turn CD. SB also heals the target unit for ten souls. That's one packed skill. Can be used for cleavers or units like Straze or LQC or any other offensive unit with no atk buff who is a bit slower than her.

Her S3 cleanses two debuffs from her whole team, heals them and gives a two turn barrier. Nothing amazing but respectable.

So, all in all, she doesn't bring any new skills or abilities on the table. I will probably give her Ray's equipment and call it a day. She is a typical cleanser soul weaver where one should focus on speed, ER, HP and Def in that order. She is still very solid and I would personally benefit because I have no cleanser who provides and atk buff and cr push at the same time. I think she is also better than ML Kawarick even though they have similar kits, lol. But anyone who already has one built could probably pass on her but dunno, she has better animation and her ER imprint does make things easier.

Her artifact is interesting, in that it gives a flat ER of 15% on top of healing an ally once a turn for what I assume is 15% with no copies at plus 15. It serves her well, but of course, soul weaver artifacts are good across the board and all of them can work there.

While her S1 might allow for a counter set, I do think speed/ER set is the way to go. You want her fast enough to use her S2 or S3, depending on the situation and she has to go before the rest of your team. She doesn't even care that much whether she goes before the enemy or not. If she goes after, she cleanses their debuffs, if now, she just uses the S2 and starts an attack with your cleaver or damage dealer. She is definitely going to be useful.

Rem is more interesting in that she is getting new abilities, but that also makes her a bit harder to predict.

Her S1 can defense break the enemy. 35% odds without mola and 50% with mola. If she is in demon mode, she attacks twice.

Her S2 is her weird new stuff. When anybody dies, she cleanes all debuffs on herself and activates Demon Mode for two turns. This can only happen once every 5 turns so, basically, in pvp/rta that means it can only happen once in a fight. Demon Mode means that she is immune to debuffs, it cannot be stripped and the debuffs she applies ignore ER.

When an ally is attacked, she has a 15% chance to counterattack with iron strike. In turn, iron strike attacks all enemies, decreases their buff durations and makes them unhealable for 1 turn. It also says that iron strike takes priority over counterattacks with basic skills, so that means she counterattacks with Iron Strike instead of her S1. Molas increase her counterattack chance to 20%

Her S3 gives herself an attack buff and aoe attacks all enemies and decreases their hit chance for two turns and increases her own CR by 50%.

Her artifact increases crit chance by 15% and whenever somebody dies, it gives the user a CR push between 12 and 24%. Not sure how much CR push that is for +15 without any copies.

Artifact is meh, tbh. I guess it can be useful, but dunno if I would give her that.

Team imprint is health and on her self it is plus crit chance which would make it easier to go for dps build but have fun getting several copies of her with three collab heroes and artifacts plus summer Iseria and her artifact around the corner.

So, what about Rem? Her kit is interesting at least. She needs for someone to die before she starts going crazy which is somewhat fitting. That means she probably doesn't want to go first if one wants to take advantage of the ignores ER thing. In fact, one can build her with no effectiveness at all, which makes things at least a bit easier. That said, she seems to be a lot more gear hungry than Emilia was in order to use her effectively.

For her S2 condition to activate she needs to be teamed up with an ally who is rather fast and can snipe at least one enemy unit before she takes a turn, in which case one can get away with a bit less bulk. Still, I do think one wants to build Rem as tanky as possible, as she should remain on the field for as long as possible and hit the enemy team with Iron Strike and attack twice with her S1.

So, I am unsure how she would interact with a counter set. Does the sentence "Iron Strike takes priority over a counterattack with a basic skill" refer to all counterattacks she makes or only those which are facilitated by her S2? If only her S2, I would probably go for a bulk and damage with medium speed. So, speed or atk sets. If it refers to all counter-attacks, maybe go with counter. I think one can give her Champion's trophy and hope for stuns on top of everything, although her skill makes it clear that the ignores ER effect does not apply to artifacts, so enemies might resist there, especially if there is no effectiveness on her otherwise.

All in all, I can see two options with her builds: Either go for dmg or go for debuffs. Either way, she wants to stay on the field for as long as possible to counterattack as much as possible. She should be fun, but I don't know how good she will work.

Think will have to sit on her kit for a while longer. I could also see the cockroach approach with her, where you accept that the one person dying is on your own team and hope Rem can turn things around afterwards. If the one dying is on their team, you are kinda wasting the self cleanse but then again, planning for someone on your team to die is not a great strategy, even if you have a reviver on your team. That said, maybe she works really, really well with Arby, who should count for the team death thing. I don't know, it seems fun at least.

Last and maybe least is Ram. She is a mage, gives her team health with imprint or effectiveness to herself.

Her S1 attacks one enemy and has a 60% chance (75% with mola) to decrease attack for 1 turn. If she is buffed, it reaches 100%. Soul Burn allows her to attack all enemies for ten souls.

S2 is a passive and increases her own Atk by 30% and reduces the effect of CR debuffs on her by 80% (100% with mola).

S3 attacks the enemy and inflicts def break on them for two turns and gives herself Greater Attack Buff (also called GAB in case you heard a youtuber say it and didn't know what they meant)

Her artifact increases her ATK by 15% and decreases dmg suffered by elite or boss monsters by 15% at +15.

So, I'll be honest, she seems a bit underwhelming. Her S1 is aptly titled How Boring. because it is a very boring skill. Decrease Attack is not useless, by any means, but it is also not that great. A possible aoe on her S1 with ten souls can be useful against enemies hiding in stealth, but there are better options. Her passive is interesting at least, since it means she can't really be pushed back, and she has a lot of atk. That said, her S3 is okay, but also not great.

With her artifact, she seems more of a pve unit, but she also should be useful in pvp. Like, with 30% atk from her s2, 15% atk from her artifact and GAB on herself, alongside a decent attack set, or a speed set with good atk, that should translate into a lot of dmg with her basic attack, especially if it can be a potential aoe with only ten souls. She can also be paired up with Lilias who benefits from her high attack to cleave, especially if she goes after her and there is someone def broken there.

Could build her with no crit chance and crit dmg in order to get her speed and atk as high as possible, or a bit less of both and go for a more traditional damage dealer for pvp.

As for pve, I don't know, maybe expedition? She could def break for Banshee, but so can a milllion other units. I don't know if she is useful after that, but can't imagine her replacing Baiken there. Also find it hard to believe that someone wouldn't have Leo or Bellona or kluri or any other def breaker for that, so can't see how she is good for wyvern. If she had been ice or fire, I would say good for either one of those two hunts, but banshee might be the one hunt her skill-set is ill-equipped for. Might be overlooking something, though.

So yeah, those were the collab units and artifacts. Seems solid enough, I like Emilia and Rem seems interesting enough. A bit meh on Ram.

Still, the three stars seems more exiting, oddly enough.

[dxxtruction]

Logic-b0mb.Hc

Mr. Robot: Season 2 episode 5

Break down / Character Analysis / (No hc section but I could add one)

(This episode is an alright one sandwiched between two great ones but involves a lot of important plot development. Quite literally its setting things up like planting the bombs for later.) 

Hacking the FBI.

Elliot’s really feeling the rush because he’s been itching for this a while. He’s been avoiding getting to a terminal because he’s been dealing with getting rid of Robot, and I feel like he’s also on alert about Ray so really didn’t feel up to helping him until it became necessary. (He’s on alert about pretty much everyone though that’s just how hypervigilance is, and I wouldn’t go around trusting just anyone in prison on top of that.)

Hacking makes him feel powerful and in control, something he’s expressed he lacks feeling in his every day life (to Krista). (Someone made a post about this desire for control stemming from Elliots abuse where he lacked that control and like I gotta agree.)

“The programmatic expression of my will. I live for this shit.” (I really like this quote)

The irony of hacking the FBI on a computer within a prison. The flip side is Ray’s website is also being worked on from inside a prison. I’m not sure if this stands to symbolize something about American society and the prison system or not. On one hand he’s getting rid of a threat for personal reasons and on the other hand he’s thinking of exposing one for moral reasons. He’s able to control his own hack, but when it comes to dealing with Ray he isn’t the one in charge.

List of hacking steps he gives:

Step 1. Identify the target and it’s flaws, there are always flaws.

Step 2. Build malware and prepare an attack.

Step 3. A reverse shell two stage exploit.

Step 4. Write the script.

Step 5. Launch the attack.

Elliots first hack was a local library (WashingtonTownship Public Library) and he did this at age 11, the only thing he did was look around their database but he mentions feeling powerful. (He’s been hacking for a good 17 years so it must have been a great feeling.) (He started hacking 3 years after his dad died, awful as he is Elliot began learning his way around computers from him.) (I wonder if/when Darlene got involved in hacking with Elliot.) (To bounce off that I’d love to read/write a fic about the first hack they did together)

Elliot always writes his own script, that’s how he learned. It would be the best way to ensure the most control on the outcomes to write it yourself given you know what your doing and Elliot most certainly does. (If we remember back to the hack to break Vera out of prison he mentioned he never makes mistakes in his code). (Seems impossible tbh but this is fiction we gotta remember that.)  

The hack:

Elliot is using a zero day exploit to attack with Malware he’s coding. How I’m understood this is a process used to get data though unknown vulnerabilities (in his case from the android phones).

He needs a way to implement the malware. He’ll be using a reverse shell which joins communications with the target and attacker machines. (His Fem2cell to the FBI android network.) Two stage I think refers to additional malware he’s put in to corrupt everything upon discovery. (He can get in and erase evidence, and if he’s discovered everything gets corrupted)

This will make him own Every Android phone of FBI agents in E-corp. Plus Evil corps network. (Because they’re in the same building?)

(Seen in message to Darlene) FTP - file transfer protocol (he’s handing over his scripts to Darlene so she can launch the attack on her end.)

Elliot pictures himself working in the dark (or maybe that’s just us) but its actually now daytime so several hours have past. (if we assume that we really did arrive in Rays office at night last episode which feels true.)

Darlene breaks into Angela’s

Darlene and Angela haven’t seen each other in five weeks. (They both had a lot on their plate to be fair. Before this they were meeting at least once a week for dance I assume.)

Darlene is creating a DMG file on Angela’s laptop (Darlene doesn’t own a MacBook) (Angela-image.dmg) when she comes in but its not why Darlene is there. (DMG file types hold apps for Mac but if you’re making your own files you can encrypt other things into the file besides apps. DMG’s also can be password protected. I don’t recall if we ever know whats in the file but I wonder if this was the completed FTP. Or just Darlene messing around.)

Darlene tells Angela that Elliot covered for her tracks and involvement in 5/9.

“Why didn’t he say anything?”

(“Because that’s what he does.”)

He doesn’t let people know when he’s helping them or ask for their permission (to Elliot not saying anything = low risk of others lashing out or getting hurt)(Stems from childhood). He just does because its whats good to do to ensure people he cares for are protected. (Those are his principles). Another more obvious read could be he just doesn’t tell people things, Elliot has a hard time being open with people. Angela and Elliot haven’t really been all that close for a while now as well if you remember. (I feel there was a point in time he did share important things with her.)

Darlene wants to use her in order to plant the femtocell in the FBI headquarters located at e-corp because Angela has access to the building. She uses Elliot helping her as leverage because she gets that Angela wouldn’t just do it without reason to. (And Angela still refuses because as things appear to stand she’s already been cleared and doesn’t want to get reinvolved.) (She has every reason to see hacking he FBI as super risky too.)

Darlene lets her off. (but this doesn’t stop her from still trying)

Pre-China

FBI has found the RasberryPi at Steal (mountain) Valley. (This is later said to be a dead lead because it becomes tampered evidence)

We are lead through the FBI work environment, and its mentioned security is lax. There’s a guy on the floor who shouldn’t be. (This is here to show that even if Angela were to get on this floor she has a chance of being stopped (which eventually does happen.) (Plant and payoff)

Dom mentions she doesn’t dream. (She has insomnia. This could be stemming from her job which is stressful and would make anyone become highly alert, this case is probably always on her mind as well. And/or feelings of alienation from lost connectivity to others which she fills by staying up all night chatting, or other factors we’re never quite made aware of.) (I think this is meant to contrast with the previous episodes statements on dreaming. Dom seems to know what future she’s fighting for, but its her job to. You can’t necessarily “dream” when you already know/are told what needs to be done.) (Dom is definitely a character who represents alienation.) (I don’t wanna assume what Esmail was going for but Marx's theory of alienation describes the estrangement of people from who they are as a consequence of living in a class society. (Estrangement from self and identity.(this comes up later)) Capitalist alienation has consequences that separate us from our work building identity around our jobs rather than around ourselves.)

We see Mobley on the co-workers laptop. (I assume this is the information collected from the end of the world party)

There was an E-mail sent out to tell Dom and her partner on the case that they are going to China with Santiago (with a few other agents who are all pricks)

Darlene visits.

“The she-devil” (The guard Elliot is imagining to be his Mom) isn’t around, meaning the guard is gone for some reason?

Darlene fills her brother in on how things are moving forward. She tries to get the reluctant Elliot on board with getting Angela involved because it really is the only option. Darlene feels like Elliot talking to her would convince her to change her mind. (And Robot agrees because he’s willing to risk it to protect them from the FBI) (I may be on Darlene and Robot’s side here, though I do get Elliots POV he’s not seeing how there really isn’t going to be another way in.)

Elliot wants Angela far away from all of this. He definitely still cares about her a lot and would feel guilty if anything happened to her. (He already feels guilty about everything and is trying not to let it blow up into anything worse)(Yet in doing do this leads to worse outcomes later)(He’s unable to risk her, but still understands getting into the FBI is a priority. “Find another way.”) (throughout this season and the next season we see Elliot slides away from plans as a means of deescalating what he sees as things that will lead to terrible outcomes, effectively trying to abandon and undo them.) (Mr Robot and him have continuous conflict on this.)

China (Dom and Whiterose)

The FBI is in China to discuss needing access with Minister Zhang (Whiterose) (I’m gonna mostly use Zhang here for contextual purposes) (The Chinese Minister of State Security)

In the meeting Dom speaks up about needing access to what China has on the Dark Army (In a previous shot she sees people in the Dark Army masks at the airport.) (We’re not sure how much intel the FBI have on DA. They are the worlds most dangerous hacker group and thats knowledge to anyone who knows about them. The FBI has to have at least some things about them on file, like maybe those masks.) (Dom is suspecting Dark Army and F-society could have a connection as affiliate hacker groups) (It’s set up to imply she saw those guys in the airport and It got her thinking which is why she jumps in to say something.)

This episode deals with the idea power a lot (the lack of, gaining of, and having of power). How Whiterose is framed in scenes indicates a sense of power and control (even to some extent framing her as godlike). She’s revealed to maintain a high ranking government position, while also heading the dark army. It’s in her best interests to comply with he FBI, and shows no concern for her involvement. She knows she has the upper-hand.

Party at the Ministers house (Monday night)

Dom discovers the clock hallway, when Zhang discovers her. (I think she peaked Whiterose’s interests in the meeting and this just solidifies it) (side-note: I don’t think Dom really needed to pee all too bad she just wanted and excuse to get away from the party.)

She discusses the clock which looks like the one her parents have then introduces who she is to Zhang. (Can’t tell if Dom lied about that anecdote to not feel intrusive or if Whiterose was lied to. If Dom lied, then it’s a nice play because Whiterose ends up lying about having a sister later.)

Dom (who is naturally curious) then asks what the clocks are about. and we get this:

“Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player the struts and frets his hour upon the stage. And then is heard no more”

(“You’ve surrounded yourself with the constant reminder of mortality?”)

“- …As each second passes I push myself to keep moving.”

(I can see Whiterose’s obsession with time stemming from her confrontation of mortality, the traumatic experiences of her former lover. Whiterose sees time as her enemy in the race to complete her plans. Yet she also finds her ways of controlling it making it seem like she is the master of it. This is sort of the mask she wears and she wears it well. (Her plans ????)

Then she asks why Dom is in the FBI

“I was. I am disgusted by the selfish brutality of the world, but at the same time I am utterly fascinated by it.” (This line gives insight into how Dom sees the world and other people. There’s this one Florence Nightingale quote which calls out the selfish brutality on the part of the superior (those in power) as part of the true horror of war.)

Something about this discussion make Whiterose open up to Dom enough to show an artwork in her office about the anxiety within losing ones identity. (Identity has a lot of meaning to Whiterose. She lives a double life, a large part of her own identity is hidden from the world in several ways. Whiterose is alienated from herself in the sense the she can’t be herself to the world.)

“How is it that revolution can create such beautiful art yet you and I are tracking revolutionaries who’ve created nothing but turmoil?” (Another bomb planted… if she only knew.)

Whiterose pressed so Dom reveals the personal reason for joining the FBI deals with her breakup after a proposal in her final semester of law school, one thing leading to another she’s now an FBI agent. (I think Whiterose picks up that Dom gay af by the way she hides who her old flame’s gender is.) (anyway Whiterose ends up having some sort of reaction to this and shows Dom her dresses then lies about having a sister, which Dom picks up as a lie.)

Whiterose inquires about what if 5/9 never happened, mentions alternate universes, she is moved by the idea of what ifs for things to be different. Whiterose gets flustered about this showing some semblance of vulnerability, and the clocks go off on the hour. (This idea of alternate realities is planted here and plays a role into what her project may be, but we’re never quite sure. At the end of S4 when we’re in the headspace it seems her machine worked and we did enter a new reality.)

The Dark Army shoot out in China kills everyone but Dom and Santiago. (RIP)

In the court with Ray

The basketball court is fairly empty around this time but hot Carla is there in her usual spot. (Sidenote: I love her)

Elliot still has to help Ray (its the conditions he has to meet for letting him have access to a terminal)

Robot is antsy and feels this wastes time, that they need to be getting in touch with Angela. (But of course Elliot ignores him because he’s against Angela getting involved.)

To help Ray he says needs administrative access from the old IT guy. IT guy comes. Elliot finds out the guy knows what he’s doing, raising his suspicions. So he starts putting things together that theirs something fishy as to why Ray came to him. IT guy wants to just move off the subject but Elliot doesn’t have time to play games. This chatting back and forth between them is fairly funny, especially when robot just key smashes and Elliot has to back space it. The IT guy eventually yields and shows Elliot the site, which pretty much deals transactions in every type of crime including trafficking.

Later in Elliots cell he’s trying to piece together what to do about Ray, he wonders whether he is innocent or guilty. Robot wants to move on but Elliot can’t.

“You know, but your going to ignore it. You wanna know why? Because thats what we do.” (“That’s not what I do.”)

Robot is always weighing the risks at every possible turn of events, always weighing out he 1’s from the 0’s. He does it to protect them of course, but sometimes these decisions are selfish. While it may do well to ignore for their safety, the risks of not doing anything could ruin Elliots sense of morality. (Not that robot can help things are already going to blow up on them anyway). Elliot shows us he wants to act, because he’d feel sick if he knowingly enabled the things that happen on that site (mainly concerned about the people being trafficked). He’s one to take down people who are bad even if there are risks involved. It’s that part of him is driven by his desire to make a better and safer world for the host even if he’s unaware of it. I do find it curious that Robot insinuates a “we” here on what they do because MM has yet to ignore something like this before. (A hint or just a throw away plea to get him to stop?)

Logic bomb- a set of instructions secretly incorporated into a program so that if a particular condition is satisfied (or a set time occurs) they will be carried out, usually with harmful effects.

(.HC encrypted file type that needs password access)

Elliots taken by Rays goons (I cry and he cries for help)

Joanna

Joanna meets with this guys she’s paying and he confesses about his paranoia with the FBI being on his case … So she kills him. (The Wellick’s are … something. I am disgusted by the selfish brutality. Yet I guess violence is often a form of self preservation especially in this shows logic so like I get it. Some people hack others attack.)

He mentions protecting some guy in a hoodie at this meeting. (This says Joanna definitely pieced together that this tech Tyrell kept mentioning is the mysterious “Ollie” who came by her house.)

The way she just orders her security guard to kill a man and this is the option she went to, Joanna does not mess. Honestly can’t even describe all the dynamics at play here between Tyrell ,“Tyrell”, the body guard, Joanna, and Joanna’s new lover. Things are being planted for Joanna needing to find where Tyrell is (and Elliot’s been asking about the same).(Also the media really eats up this Tyrell situation and Joanna becomes an infamous celebrity for it.) (Everyone wants to know where Tyrell is.)

Joanna’s orders were to inject succinylcholine (induces paralysis) before shooting him. She sees this as giving the man time to process his final moments. “Letting him die with answers. Otherwise we’re nothing but ruthless murders.” She says this all while feeding her baby.

Angela meets with Ollie Then with Elliot Then finally with Darlene.

Angela finds out Ollie has been brought in for FBI questioning. He confessed about “the CD man” to the FBI and they’ve drawn up a sketch of him (Cisco).

This scares Angela enough to start considering compliance with Darlene. It eventually leads her to a decision based on what the best possible outcome could be.

Angela makes an attempt to reach out to Elliot before actually moving forward with her decision. This shows the contrast between them. What Angela does is make sure things are okay (at least for Elliot), though she may act separately from how he feels. By this point Angela has run down her options and decides her best option is to just plant the femtocell “Either I act or I wait to get caught.”

Elliot doesn’t say much after his initial push back, he doesn’t want to put Angela at any risk but can’t do anything about it if she’s already made her decision. Her logic also makes sense, it could even be riskier if she did nothing.

The topic then changes. Angela’s still wondering why Elliot’s been different, why he’s been pushing her away.

Instead of being direct Elliot mentions their conversation on the train platform the day he was found in he cemetery. Angela gets a bit uncomfortable, there’s lingering worries about Elliot.

“You told me to take care of myself. I wanted to be okay. I wanted to s-stop seeing him before I talked to you again.”

“And”

“And my dead father’s standing behind you right now.”

This opens up discussion again about the idea of annihilation, which was touched on in the previous episode. It seems in some part, but not entirely, that Elliot wants to stop seeing Mr Robot in order to feel like he’s improved himself, that he’s become better. That would be his way of taking care of himself. Obviously these desires turn up empty handed because there’s no getting rid of Robot. He’s still conflicting with him, and though that plot mostly takes a step back in this episode it is shown in what ways they’re still ending up disagreeing.

“I could be a friend. Someone to talk to. Someone who cares about you. Who knows maybe that will help.”  waitfortheq.ogg starts playing when she says this, it’s the theme associated with Shayla so I cry. It’s a song that carries like a special feeling of safety, a comfort in knowing that your here with someone who’s a friend, and while still being fairly somber. Elliot (and I as well) seems to agree this could help because he starts asking about qwerty and they actually smile and laugh. (My heart). I like to imagine they talked for a while after this and that things ended well. Despite them still being in disagreement by the end of it, Angela feels more confident in her decision now.

Meanwhile at F-society HQ: D.C Op is a go. #Droptheballs. This is right before Angela gets there.

Angela takes a secure route to meet with Darlene at HQ to get the tower from her in order plant the femtocell. Something to maybe note is Angela seems to only start acting once she had selfish reasons to doing so.

[lostsolsdestinyblog]

Destiny, matchmaking, SBMM, CBMM and the perspectives and attitudes of the different sides of the community

July 27, 2018

I'd like to take some time to talk about Destiny, matchmaking, SBMM, CBMM and the perspectives and attitudes of the different sides of the community. This has been an issue for a long time now and it's hitting another crescendo with not just the move back to 6v6 Quickplay, but this announcement from DMG and Derek Carroll today regarding matchmaking in QP. I've posted on this issue in the past and I think it's time to take another realistic look at matchmaking within the game and how it's working and who it's really benefiting. As I wrote in that post from way back when, there is a lot that goes into matching players in Destiny. Anyone who has continuously fast traveled on Mars to try to find an EP group understands that the first criteria the game tries to match players on is region. This is also the case in PvP as players like CammyCakes would use this pre-private matches to set up scrims and Trials players will change hosts to try to find more favorable opponents in different regions. So understanding that, it then branches out to many other factors in a complex algorithm to try to put players together. This will vary a bit from PvE where if there are no favorable matchups, the game can place players in their own instance and then matchmake others in from there. PvP obviously gets more complex, but the game is still trying to match players as quickly as possible because no one wants to sit in queues all day. Now here is where things get all wonky at least on the community end. Two of the bigger factors after region are SBMM and CBMM. These have both existed within Destiny matchmaking from day one despite claims that SBMM was only added in later on. While both did exist, they have been weighted differently throughout the course of the game sometimes favoring one more than the other. However, even with that knowledge it's not that cut and dry. Fireteams. As I stated in the post I linked, you can sing the praises of CBMM or SBMM until the cows come home, but neither can account for team compositions when players are going in grouped in a fireteam. Connection based matchmaking cannot account for players who are spread out all across the country or world who are in one fireteam together, just like it also can't account for the varying skill levels of all the players within a team. Could the game try to approximate and go from a median skill level? Maybe, but the other wildcard in all of this is that other players of similar skill or good connection quality have to be sitting in orbit in queue at the same 30-45 second window as you and not still be in a match or not in queue yet. All this has been. All this is, and all this will be again. That is a universal truth. Another universal truth is that someone is going to hate whatever system is in place while someone else loves it and that puts Bungie in the unenviable position of trying to make everyone happy when it's an impossible task. That is why ultimately I still believe the D1 approach of trying to find the right balance in weighting between the two was the best approach. Unfortunately the SBMM rebellion happened and ultimately it played a huge role in the direction Bungie went with D2. I don't want to rehash completely why I still believe the SBMM revolt was fundamentally wrong and the falsehoods of many of the claims, but I will speak on the initial complaint that lit the fuse and that was players feeling they were always in "sweaty" matches. This started with prominent content creators and was picked up and echoed by viewers. I know there is a tendency to lay the blame for everything players don't like about D2 at the feet of streamers and YouTubers and while this is not the case, they are also not without fault on some things. The general sentiment was that elite players couldn't ever relax and have fun because they were constantly "forced'' to play nothing but other elite players. The flip side to that coin of course is that their relaxing and having fun was achieved by smearing lower skilled players. This wasn't fun for those players and in year one of Destiny led to a very big problem of players just quitting out of matches as soon as the score even looked like it might get tilted (leading to the increased importance of SBMM in year 2). Unfortunately when the great SBMM revolt occurred, there was a lot of weight behind the message from very high profile people in the community and the other side just didn't have the same voice to speak with; which brings me to Destiny 2 and the past couple of days in particular. People like to say in loud voices the things players never asked for like crucible going to all 4v4, weapon changes, etc. And while technically that may be correct in the literal sense, the truth of the matter is that all the changes that happened with D2 were the developers trying to give players what they felt we wanted the game to be through all of our feedback. We didn't ask for 4v4, but what the community did ask for were games with better connections, and smoother play and going back to matchmaking, fireteams and all the variables of trying to group 12 players, lowering the player count to 8 allowed for a greater chance at better matchups. This was also the reason for the move to playlists rather than static game modes to queue for. On paper it is easy to see the upsides to all of it when weighed against player complaints from D1. Life is full of variables though and another is player population and as that dipped, it threw all of it out the window. There were no longer the extra players in queue from having 4 less in each match and only 2 playlists. The devs made a decision and they took a chance and it didn't work how they wanted. That happens and I give them all the credit in the world for owning that and resolving to make the game better. But going back to the split playlists, Quickplay and Competitive, this is something that bothered me before release and will lead into where we're at today. There was very vocal call for a ranked playlist in Destiny 2 and at launch many complaints from prominent players that Comp didn't go far enough and wasn't a true ranking system to show off skill. The reason this bothered me then is that we went through the SBMM revolt because elite players didn't like having to get sweaty all the time, but then in almost the same breath they're asking for ranked play. It made no sense at the time and we've seen this throughout D2 but really brought front and center since the last update that the ''elite'' players don't want to play ranked play. I was watching a stream yesterday discussing the topic and one of the things brought up was a top level PvP player who very publicly ''quit'' D2 earlier this year now ''loving'' Destiny again because they can go into QP and put up 60 kills. And to the credit of some viewers, it was pointed out that Quickplay maybe isn't all that fun for the lower skill players on the receiving end of those beatings, but the on stream reply was that casuals should play in Competitive if they want to play players their own skill level. And THAT is why I’m tilted on the subject enough to write about this again. Beyond the hubris of that statement, let’s really break it down. Elite players wanted a ranked playlist to show their skill, but found out they still hate actually having to play equal competition on a regular basis and it's more fun for them and entertaining for people who watch their streams and YouTube videos to see them throwing down monster games against lesser opponents. So if new or less skilled players want to play even competition and not have to not just sweat, but get their heads beat in every single match, their recourse is to play the ranked comp list that was meant for the high skilled players. FUBAR and ass-backward for sure, but it also fails to take into account that ''casual'' players can't play Control or Clash in the comp playlist. So where does that leave the game? From today's announcement that currently neither CBMM nor SBMM are functioning correctly and Bungie's response that for the time being they are going to let things lie and see how they play out, it seems that player populations over the final weeks before Forsaken are going to shape the eventual outcome. But at this point I think that it's clear that Quickplay and Competitive do not function as intended and it may be time to do a deep rethink on things there. I hate having to come to that opinion because I know how much Kevin Yanes and his team put into building ranked play, but if QP becomes the de-facto stomping grounds for the high skill crowd then where does it leave Comp? And this is where I would throw questions to the community. Does the community truly feel that the game comes down to survival of the fittest and there isn't a place for players who don't live and breathe crucible (or have time to no life grinding in PvE)? Or can we accept that the game can try to find a middle ground and have something for both types of player? The calls for the complete removal of SBMM were very clearly option one there in D1 and are fortifying that position these past few days. To state that casual players need to find someplace else to play is not something I accept or endorse and it is my hope that most of the people in this community wouldn't as well. The game can always be better. Matchmaking can always be better, but I would like to see solutions that don't leave behind one group or the other and to that end maybe it's time to rethink matchmaking completely. Thank you.

[zippdementia]

Part 13 Alignment May Vary: Combat and Character Hooks

Welcome to another Journey Log! This week takes my three players through an intense combat as they wrap up some loose ends. It is the climax of the first act of Tomb of Haggemoth, after which they will truly strike out across the Moon Sea to follow the Oracle’s cryptic instructions. In this post, I’ll be focusing on how to build effective encounters in D&D 5th Edition and also the importance of using character hooks in your game. But fist, some catch up with the story...

Return to Ottoman’s Dock

The Butcher of Skago now considers the players to be his “investment,” and he intends to ensure that they make good on their promise to bring him the treasure of Haggemoth. So he decides to sail alongside their ship, while his sniper (Haymish) sails onboard the Mankey Bastard with the players.

The journey to Ottoman’s dock has one event: Abenthy has not been feeling well ever since leaving the LaCroix mansion and now the players discover why. The key they picked up from the Ooze house was actually the last piece of the Ooze and has been hiding on board their ship disguised as Abenthy’s belt. From there, it has been slowly draining him of his life! The group works out what has been happening and destroys the Ooze, once and for all, completing a sidequest and ending a possible plotline if the ooze had made ity back to civilization...

At Ottoman’s dock, the players discover that Marcus, the priest they had left to deal with Rose the Slaver, has been murdered. They are presented with a plan for revenge by Lisa, one of the slave girls they freed last time who was living with Marcus. She tells them to either help her burn Rose’s establishment to the ground, or enter by stealth and try and find evidence of Rose’s wrongdoing to present to the mayor of Ottoman’s dock.

The group vacillates over what to do. Twyin and the half-orc Rhazel are in favor of the burning—it’s simpler and, to Twyin’s mind, cleaner. But Karrina thinks it is riskier and when Abenthy realizes burning will mean the death of the innocent slaves who are still working the establishment he refuses to go along with that plan. Majority rules, and they move in via stealth, through the basement passage they found last time.

This doesn’t go quite as planned. Rose is transporting a special “guest” this evening, and so has the basement under guard by Ratzotto pirates. The players try to dispatch them quietly, but let one get away. He instantly runs upstairs to warn Rose. Worse, they try to take the special guest, a young girl, with them. This goes incredibly bad when the girl suddenly turns on them (Rose’s mind controlling orders) and attacks them with the power of her mind, killing Rahzel (their half orc, colorblind mercenary) in the ensuing fight. During this, Rose arrives with reinforcements and a massive fight breaks out that nearly kills Twyin (he becomes the target of Rose’s imp, who takes spider form and continually bites him, while Rose holds Twyin still with her spells). This battle also presents a problem for Abenthy: Rose sends her enslaved bodyguards at him. He knows these are innocents under mind control, so he tries to hold back and knock them out, but thanks to a couple HUGE damage rolls, he accidentally kills one of them, cracking his skull open like an egg. Falling to his knees in the midst of combat, Abenthy begins to pray for his salvation while the others desperately try to fight off Rose (for two whole rounds he prays, an excellent bit of roleplaying)!

In the end the players persevere and force Rose to flee in the form of a dark green magical mist (she quaffed a potion of mist form). Where she departs to is unknown to the players. In fact, she makes her escape to a ship that is waiting for her and from there across the sea to answer to her master, a person far more devious than she. How that goes you may discover in a future blog.

Defeating Rose breaks the spell on the psychic girl, a mysterious young human named Jade, who has come looking for her brother, Targaryen. Remember him?

This unexpected revelation gets more complicated when the players head back out onto the open seas, searching for the ice land that the oracle hinted at. Halfway there, they are attacked by Ratzotto pirates, and they seem to have a new leader—Targaryen himself, revived from the dead or saved from its brink, commands the pirates from the bow of the ghostly Red Hand ship Karrina helped sink over a month ago. Holding the Jade Figurine Karina recovered from the watery temple aloft, he seems to use it to gain control over some monstrosity of the deep, a tentacled horror that tears apart the Butcher of Skago’s ship while the players fight off an attack of pirates.

The battle ends with Haymish gripping the rails of the Mankey Bastard, watching his master’s ship sink below the waves as the players make their escape from this frightening new Targaryen. 

Lesson: Building Encounters in Fifth Edition

Despite its dual emphasis on story and gameplay, D&D has never truly left behind its roots as a one-shot tactical battle game. Which is great, when you play out a battle and then go home at the end of the day with a winner and a loser, back to do it next time y’all meet up. But when you mix character and story into that mix... well then things get a little complicated, don’t they? There are times you don’t WANT your party to die, because it would wreak havoc on your story. Yet, if every battle is a guaranteed win, then your game suffers, because there is no more risk.

I struggled with this for years as a GM, until one day I came to a very simple conclusion: it is okay to let your players die. In literally any situation, it is okay, because you can’t predict what those players are going to do. This is a roleplaying game, which means if your players are doing it right, they are following an internal narrative you won’t always have access to. That narrative may dictate they run head first into certain doom (”Barbarian smash!”), or that they do not take an opening to escape when they have the chance (”My creed is that I will never flee from justice!”), or they bring the proverbial knife to a gunfight (”Die fire elemental! Fear my fireball!”), or they provoke the Brass Dragon into eating them alive (”Damn, but you are hideously ugly!”). Your job isn’t to hand hold the players, improvising ways for them to survive against all odds. Leave that to the natural 20s they roll!

However, it is your job to roleplay the monsters as well as they play their characters. Do that, and you will find that instead of your story coming to a dead halt when you unexpectedly get a total party kill, it will feel like a part of the story. When your monsters act like monsters instead of figurines with the knowledge of the Dungeon Master, it won’t feel unfair if your players fall to them. This also lets you change the difficulty of encounters on the fly.

In the pirate battle in our session, for instance, Abenthy leapt immediately onto the pirate ship and taunted all of them. They chose for many rounds after this to focus their attacks on him, even after he retreated—which worked in the party’s favor because Abenthy is a tank who is hard to hit and can soak up damage even when he is. The players took further advantage of this and used clever positioning to keep Abenthy in front while Karrina gave rear support as an archer and Twyin came in from the side, doing devastating damage with his multiple attacks. 

The pirates lost that battle, badly, but things could have gone differently. What if I had rolled well enough to take Abenthy down and suddenly the remaining players were faced with overwhelming odds? If I felt the battle was no longer fun, I could have used in world explanations to slightly make things easier—given courage by their success, perhaps the pirates split up and start rushing heedlessly into battle, spreading out where their sneak attack damage isn’t as useful.

In fact, I did use tactics to make things harder: once Twyin started taking down a pirate each turn, they started focusing their attacks on him, which did make things more tense. By doing this, I was able to break away from pure statistics and use changing tactics to keep our battle balanced throughout the fight.

To go along with this, here is some mechanical advice I have found in the last two years of tinkering with the D&D 5 system:

Go harder than you think: The Unearthed Arcana encounter builder does a much better job of giving appropriate challenges than does the complicated CR calculator that the DMG provides. That said, any kind of guideline someone publishes is based on average characters. It can’t take into account a player who rolled above average stats, or who selected powerful feats, or who took the best options their class has to offer, or is playing perfectly in synch with the rest of their party. It also can’t take into account items, magical weapons, and improved armor. Thus, I find that players tend to outperform these charts. It has often happened that combats I thought, on building them the day before a session, are far too deadly for the players to take on end up dealing no damage to them at game time. So, don’t be afraid to make combats hard! If the fight comes about and it is truly brutal, you can always use the above mentioned “change of tactics” mid fight to tone things down. Don’t underestimate the tendency of your villains to stop and give mighty speeches on their turns instead of attacking, when they realize they are wiping the floor with the players. After all, what villain can resist a good taunting of fate? In all seriousness, though, it is easier (and more acceptable to players) to describe how some of the goblin horde they are fighting back off because things got too hard (”a hush suddenly falls over the goblins as their champion comes forward, chuckling darkly that he will take down these fools himself”) then it is to scramble to roll up reinforcements when the players are making what you wanted to be an epic fight too easy. Oh, by the way... if they do make the epic fight too easy, don’t try to “fix it” and take that victory away. Just make a mental note that future fights will probably need to be tougher because you underestimated your players, and prepare the next session accordingly.

Action economy is king: I say it, designers say it, players say it, and it is worth saying again—in D&D it is the character who gets to strike the most who will win the most. Not all bonuses are built equal. High health points don’t matter much when a team of players can easily dish out 60 damage a turn. The damage your monsters can deal doesn’t matter much when the players can heal it all in a single cure wound spell. And the players will eventually get these powers, if they don’t have them already. But what never stops being powerful is when one of your monsters gets six attacks per turn. Do you want TPKs? Because that’s how you get TPKs. D&D 5 does a great job of making it harder for players to get seven attacks a turn (in Pathfinder, this tendency led to many monsters having ridiculous resistances and ACs just to stay alive) and instead gives such powers to the monsters. I’ve talked in the past about how doing this effectively brings back the “boss monster,” meaning that a single higher CR monsters can take the place of what in older versions would have been a horde of high CR monsters. I like this a lot, as I think it lets individual monsters have more personality. Some DMs dislike it, because it gets harder to build hordes with higher level monsters. And that is fair, because it does get much harder. And so, that is my advice—as you start to look at higher level monsters, just keep in mind that their multi-attack ability, if paired with high damage, can wipe a party in the first round of combat. As your monsters get more attacks, things are going to start scaling upwards in difficulty exponentially. So pay attention to these monsters when horde building. Similarly, remember that your players have access to extra attacks and will get exponentially tougher as they get them. If you have a party with a lot of fighters or other classes that grant extra attacks, you may need to adjust your difficulty higher.

Magic is a wild card: Somewhere on Reddit I read a great thread about all the ways a CR 5 enchanter could kill a party of higher level adventures without ever entering combat. Once you start getting into enemies with spells, you can really start messing with your game’s difficulty. On its basest level, magic in combat can buff your monsters, debuff the players, or deal damage. But think outside of the box, and the possibilities become far more interesting—and deadly! Picture the mage who follows after the players, taking on their appearance using disguise self, and visibly killing guards in every city they are to visit, so that when they arrive, they are immediately targeted by the King’s best men. What about the divination mage, who scries out the seas the players are sailing on, and uses her powers to summon a storm the likes of which hasn’t been seen on those seas in ages? There is the warlock who plants an item in the bag of holding the players carry with them, an item stolen from a powerful demon, a demon which will kill anyone who it thinks has the item... there is the illusionist who makes it look like the bridge across the chasm of doom didn’t collapse last week... there is the crazed evoker who has placed a rune of blasting on every door in his tower, and who has rigged the entrance to be one way only, emptying players out onto the elemental plane of fire when they try to leave...  Some of these possibilities go far beyond simply rolling a dodge in combat and using your massive reflex score to avoid damage. Magic is unpredictable. Because of this, there is really no good way to give a CR rating to a magician based purely on what magic they have. More important is to think about how they will use that magic in your game. A magic who is going to stand in one place casting fireball... well, you can easily factor in their added damage per round to their CR using the DMG and figure out their difficulty rating is. But far more deadly may be the mage that the players don’t even know is targeting them...

Lesson: When to Use Character Hooks

Short answer: whenever possible.

Anyone who has ever been a player in D&D knows that there are two characters you build when you make a new character. The first is one of stats and numbers, a list of abilities. The second is a story, a reason to journey, a purpose, a personality. The first is easy to bring into play—any time there is combat, or an obstacle requiring a roll, you get to use this character. When you level, you directly affect it, adding to stats and gaining new abilities. The second is harder. It doesn’t level up at specific milestones, or gain experience from killing monsters. There aren’t monsters that are weak to it, or campaigns pre-built to favor it. The first character will never go away. It will always be there on paper, easy to access and analyze until it falls beneath the axe of some crazed Drow. The second character, if not tended to, often is dead long before the axe falls, forgotten after a session or two of not being used.

This second character, the story of a character, is often what has separated memorable games from forgettable ones in my player experience. When I build a character, I am building a set of hooks and suggestions on the kind of story I want to play out. If I say I am a gunslinger searching for his father, then I am telling you (a) that the easiest way to get me to go anywhere in your game is to drop a hint about my dad, and (b) that I’m hoping this search will be a part of the game. Maybe not a huge part, but at least get enough of a focus that I will feel like I’m really playing a man on the hunt for family. Because obviously I have some interest in that, if this is the story I’ve come up with. Here’s an example...

I remember one game I played where I built a thief (Xaviee) whose village had been burned down by werewolves. One of the werewolves Xaviee remembered, because the beast had bitten his mother and turned her into a werewolf. It was a simple back story I just came up with for fun, in the hopes that if we ever ran into werewolves or any supernatural creature, I could roleplay treating them with extreme prejudice, maybe even attacking them on sight. I figured, too, that my mother might be used sometime as a hook—for instance, if the GM needed us to go to Phandalin, maybe a werewolf attack would be reported in the area. My player would easily agree to go, just on the off chance that the attack involved his now lupine mother.

With all this, I was pleasantly surprised to learn the GM had actually selected a werewolf campaign for us to play. Good fortune! Except in twelve sessions of the campaign, my mother was never mentioned. I mean, we FOUGHT werewolves. We came across tribes of them. At first, I just waited for the GM to throw some hint in, like “that werewolf over there, you recognize from the attack!” As time went on without any of this, I started asking for it: “Xaviee asks the tribe leader if he recognizes the name of his village or of his mother...” without hesitation the DM would say, “nope.”

We had fun at the table. It was a good game. But by the time it was over, I had stopped caring about Xaviee’s werewolf mother and, in doing so, stopped caring about him, too. When he eventually was killed by a quagmire troglodyte, I rolled up a dwarf who hated elves and liked getting drunk a lot. The DM seemed much more comfortable working this into the game.

This is why I like to work in as many of the hooks my players have given me as possible. I will add new scenes to bring their bonds into the campaign. I will replace blah NPCs with people from my players’ history. And I can’t think of a reason NOT to do this. It doesn’t take much time, and the sense of involvement it will bring your players is incredible. Otherwise, you really might as well just be playing a tactical battle game with their stats.

Stats are fun to play around with. They are what make your character feel powerful. But story is what makes your character feel alive.

And now, some news. This post will mark the end of the adventure blog... for a while. The game continues, but I am currently trying to design and publish the Ooze adventure for DriveThru RPG and I want to devote my attentions to that in the free time I have for writing. When I complete it, I may well return to the blog—either weekly again, or as a once in a while thing, if I think a session has some particularly good lessons in it for GMs. Until then, happy gaming!

[miuplays]

FAN AMA WITH MIU!

What is your morning routine like?

Pretty simple. I wake up, exercise, shower, eat breakfast. Then I start preparing for my stream. Setting up my camera and OBS, deciding what to play before I go live.

How does it feel to stream for a lot of viewers? Do you get nervous before you go live?

I don’t really get nervous. Whether it’s 500 viewers or 5000 viewers, I’m always pretty relaxed going into any broadcast. The only time I’m ever nervous is when I’m doing collaborations or shows with other people, like GeekGen or Drop Frames. It’s only on occasions like those that I feel out of my element, but otherwise streaming is a comfortable experience.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a streamer, and what is your greatest weakness?

I would say my greatest strength is my patience. Being a streamer, especially a female streamer, you’re bound to get a lot of rude comments and negative attention. Whether it’s about my appearance, my voice, etc., there are some viewers in the chat that will do anything to try and tear me down or just flood the chat with the most obscene things. But it’s very difficult for people like this to get under my skin, so it’s easy for me to just ignore them or brush them off with a cheeky remark.

As for my greatest weakness, I’d say it’s my perfectionism. I’m blame myself for even the smallest mistakes. I tend to focus so much on my shortcomings that it’s hard to appreciate any victories. If the stream is down, or viewership is lower than normal, or I’m consistently making small mistakes in the game, it can put me in a very bad headspace. And once my mood suffers, my stream will too. The way I work through this is to constantly remind myself that no one and nothing is ever perfect, that it’s better to focus more on successes than failures and try not to be so hard on myself. A good broadcast should be fun and engaging for both me and my fans. If I’ve at least succeeded in that, then it’s enough for me.

Career-wise, what did you do before becoming a professional gamer?

I didn’t really have a “career” prior to becoming a pro gamer. This was always my dream, something I worked towards as soon as I left high school. I worked as an IT tech at different companies for a few years, both before and after moving to Japan. I also did commissions for PC builds.

What are your plans for after you stop streaming full time? Will you still be competing?

I don’t plan to stop streaming or competing for a very, very long time. This is something I hope to do for as long as I can. But in the event that I do, I think I’d still try to be involved in the gaming industry in some way. I’m far too passionate about video games to give up on them completely. I’ve always taken interest in the tech industry, particularly when it comes to PC rigs and other gaming equipment, so maybe something along that route. I have no interest in returning to IT though.

In previous installments of the Street Fighter franchise, you were a hardcore Chun-Li main, but lately you’ve taken a liking to Ibuki. Why the change?

Simply put, I just love Ibuki’s playstyle. It fits for the type of game SFV is. She’s a tricky character, fast-paced and close-to-mid-range so I love the freedom I have when it comes to trying out new things and coming up with combos and reversals to use in practice. While I certainly agree that she’s one of the hardest characters to play, this shouldn’t deter new players from picking her up. Mastering her movelist is such a rewarding feeling.

Not only this, but I’m unhappy with the state of Chun-Li in SFV. She was terribly overpowered in season 1, I’ll admit it. But in season 2, the changes they made required me to play with a level of patience I’m not comfortable with in a fast-paced game like Street Fighter. And it was difficult to punish effectively when her dmg output was so low compared to other all-rounders. Overall, I enjoyed playing her less and less at the same time as my love for Ibuki was started to grow. Ibuki is just what feels right to me for now. I think Chun is in a better place for season 3, so it’s likely I’ll return to using her as frequently again. All hope is not lost, lol.

Name 3 objects that you just can’t live without.

1) My PS4 Pro – I think this is a given considering the nature of my job.

2) My signed Shinkawa Yoji artbook – one of my most prized possessions. Everyone knows how obsessed I am with the MGS franchise. Being able to meet one of the geniuses behind the series and get his autograph will forever be one of the highlights of my life.

3) My phone – I have friends that live all over. From the US, to South Korea, to Japan. It’s hard to keep in touch when there’s so much distance between you and your loved ones, but I do my absolute best to text and call and facetime any chance I get. I’d honestly be lost without my friends and the endless love and support they’ve given me. They mean the world to me, no matter how far away they are.

Where in the world would you like to travel to next?

Hawaii, Greece, Jamaica, Brazil, and South Africa!

What was your gaming childhood like?

As most people already know, my love for gaming started in arcades, playing on Street Fighter and Tekken arcade cabinets since I was tall enough to reach the buttons. When we got our first home console (PS1) for Christmas, I spent most of my time on that. Same thing happened when we got a PS2 and a GameCube. I loved games like MGS, Suikoden, Resident Evil, Shadow of the Colossus, Half-Life, SFIII 3rd Strike, and way more. I played some GameBoy titles too, but for the most part it was Metroid. I wasn’t a huge PC gamer as a kid. We had a home computer, but I wasn’t allowed to use it as much. I didn’t get into PC gaming until I was about 14, when I built my very first rig. It was then that I got addicted to Quake, Diablo, and literally any FPS game I could get my hands on.

What is your favorite platform to game on and why is it PC?

Hah. I see what you did there.

My favorite platform actually isn’t PC, despite playing on it so often. It will always be Playstation. I’m a bit biased, since I grew up primarily on Playstation and Nintendo games. But it is the system I still play the most. I get the best experience out of fighting games on console. Some of my all-time favorite games are PS1 and PS2 exclusives. While I will always love PC gaming for its competitive scene and the huge variety of indie titles I’ve discovered on Steam and other places, I’ll always feel a sort of personal attachment to Sony and the content they’ve put out on their systems.

Period in your life where you changed the most?

My move to Japan. I was fairly young at the time, only 19 years old, but it was a huge transitional period for me. Living on the other side of the world, in a different culture far away from home is rough for anyone, no matter the age. I learned a lot of life lessons and a lot about myself during that time, and I internalized those lessons and grew as a result of them.

What other hobbies do you have outside of gaming?

I game a lot, so I don’t have time for very many hobbies outside of that. but I do love surfing when it’s warm enough. I’ve been surfing since high school. My schedules are really full during the summer, but I hope I have a chance to go surfing soon. Maybe in Jeju or Okinawa if I get a chance!

What have you learned from streaming that you have been able to apply to your everyday life?

I’m definitely more outgoing. I have an easier time now at conventions than I did before at things like speaking to strangers that come up to me, networking with game developers and tech companies, or meeting with fans that are excited to see me. I’ve gotten a lot better at small talk and just having conversations with people, which I used to be terrible at. Hopefully now it’s less awkward speaking with people in public. ^^;

Since you’ve went full time, have you ever had a feeling of regret?

Not so much regret, but there are times where I miss having normal working hours. Streaming, and by extension competitive gaming, can feel like a 24-hour job at times. When I’m not streaming, I’m practicing. When I’m not doing either, I’m preparing for the next day, or traveling, or answering emails, planning events, and so on. It can be a lot to handle at times, so there are moments where I kind of miss the regularity of a routine 9-5 job. But, as much work as it is, as hard as it is, I really love being a pro gamer. It’s something I’m still very passionate about despite the number of hours I have to put into it.

How are you liking Seoul? Do you miss Tokyo?

I love Seoul! I’ve loved exploring the city, visiting PC bangs, the food, all the friends I’ve made. It’s been an awesome experience. But yes, while I’ve loved living in South Korea, my heart and home is still in Tokyo. I can’t wait to return.

Is there a game that you absolutely hate?

Metal Gear Survive. With every fiber in my being.

What are your thoughts on being seen by younger viewers as a role model and even having some come to you for life advice?

It honestly makes me really nervous because I don’t feel like I have everything figured out. I’m worried that if someone comes to me for advice I could give them the wrong advice or advice that may not work out for them the way it did for me. This isn’t to say I dislike being a role model. I know are large portion of my fans are teenagers, a lot of them young girls and LGBT+. As a gay woman, I know how important representation is, and it makes me happy knowing so many people look up to me. But I’m still human, and I’m afraid of potentially being a disappointment to them. It weighs mentally on you too, being scared to say the wrong thing. But I do my best to be really encouraging and relay my knowledge to them and hope they’re able to find a solution to their problems.

Every person has had a bad experience that changed them. Knowing who you are today, would you go back in time and change that moment?

If we agree that both bad experiences and good experiences contribute to making us who we are, then I don’t think there is ever a moment in my past that I would want to take away from myself because I’m proud of who I am. Forgive me if I sound self-absorbed because I know I’m not a perfect person, and that there’s a lot of things I still don’t like about myself and I still need to work on. But I think that everything I’ve been through up until this point has really shaped me into who I am. And a lot of the reasons people see me as someone who is honest and caring and confident in myself is a result of the bad things (and the good things!) that have happened to me. So, I don’t think I would want to take those things away from myself, no matter how bad. Because I’m proud of who I am.

Thank you to everyone who sent in questions! If you don’t see your question here, it’s probably because I didn’t want to answer it here, or it’s something I’ve answered before. But feel free to send more questions through Twitter, CC, or here on my site! I’d be happy to answer it for you. And as always, thank you guys for the constant love and support. From the bottom of my heart, I truly appreciate each and every on of you. ♡

[nemrut]

Epic Seven - Balance Adjustment Patch 02.09.2021

So, some interesting units getting adjustments there.

Don't care much about ML Ravi since I do not have her. I'll be honest, I didn't think she needed a buff, but then again, I rarely saw her, so maybe she did.

Her S1 now inflicts injuries, which is interesting enough. Her S2 now gives her a CR push and her S3 gets stronger the more people die, although it only stacks up to three times.

It looks like a pretty good buff, should make her more annoying, at least, although it was never fun fighting an ML Ravi even before this buff. Now, the longer the fight goes on, she will do increasingly more dmg, cycle faster, have an easier time reviving teammates who also revive with more health. So yeah, looks good, too bad I do not have her.

Luna is more interesting to me, because I have her, and she is almost at max mola. I got her when she was first released and back then, Luna was the wyvern queen, and you basically used her everywhere. Lab, wyvern, grinding and even PVP arena. She was cycled out rather soonish though, what with the Commander Lorina SC, who could do her job in PVE better and more reliably and a lot of units who were way better in PVP. At the latest, Luna was unfeasible for Wyvern 13, so, with that, she lost her last useful job. She can be used for one of the expeditions, and many do, but it was mainly people making use of a unit they already had. No one was going to build Luna specifically for expeditions, and even there, Lorina could do a better job imo.

That said, her updates. Her S1 had always been unreliable due to the RNG factor. If she attacked multiple times, it was great and if she didn't, it kinda sucked. Now, she can soulburn ten souls to increase the number of attacks to the maximum amount, which is actually pretty solid. It firmly locks her in as a hero you have to manually control though, since the SB is very important.

Her S2 now always gives crit hit chance by 30, no matter her HP and also additionally 30% crit hit resistance, which is new, as a modicum of protection. Guess pairing her with Diene is now even better than ever. The ATK and Def increase modifiers are the same as always, depending on her health.

Her S3 now penetrates defense by 50%, and she gains an additional five souls if the enemy is defeated. Seeing that the attack always attacks using an advantageous element, having the 50% def penetrating on top of that is pretty song.

On paper, the buffs are looking good, even if they are not going overboard or anything. I am doubting we are entering a Luna renaissance where she will be dominating the meta, but at the very least, it seems like she will be feasible. Personally, I would probably be building her like a bruiser herself, so she would have decent hp and def. Beefy counter build with her EE which gives CR push still seems feasible, especially since she now is less likely to be hit by a critical attack and her S3 now hits a lot harder, making it dangerous to ignore her if she can snipe a unit. She probably can't kill a full health bruiser but since she isn't very fast, by the time it is her turn, the enemy would ideally have accumulated some dmg and it should be enough to finish someone off at least. So, I am interesting to see how this goes. Always feel bad for benching a unit with so many mola investments, so all the better if she becomes viable again.

I do have Kawerik, but I never really used him, and I only fought him a handful of times, so I don't know if this moving stealth from one attack to another and is going to do much, but the attack buff on his EE seems like it would make him better at least.

Same with Mort, never really used him, but I might try him out. SB moved on his S1 so he can apply def break for two turns which is always useful.

His S2 now always gives him a 30% chance to counterattack and his chance to activate his blessing has increased by 10% to 50%, which is fair enough.

His S3 now deals 5 % more injury, 20% in total every time he uses his skill and it deals more dmg.

So yeah, I don't know if this will make him good or worth using but it does make him better, no doubt.

I am also part of the tiny minority of Epic Seven players which is 99.5% of the player base who has never used Roaming Warrior Leo. His buffs seem to make him better, both as a unit in general and to do his job as a bomber, but it really depends on the bomb mechanic being feasible now. With Summer Iseria coming out with bombs as well, could be that they work very well together, making RW Leo a meta unit of sorts but that is very hard to say before seeing Summer Iseria and the new improved bomb mechanics in play.

Ice Dominiel got a pretty significant rework though. Her S1 now can stun and has an SB with which it has a 100% guarantee to stun with only ten souls which is pretty good. Furhtermore, her S2 is now a passive with a 35% of triggering after an ally is hit by a critical attack as opposed to always when she activated it but it is actually a huge improvement because now she doesn't need to go first to activate it. I actually tried Dominiel before, and her reflect barrier strength was based on her atk. That meant, not only did she need a lot of speed so that she could go before the enemy dmg dealers, she also needed a solid atk base since otherwise her reflect barrier would be worthless. So you needed her with high speed, attack but also HP and DEF since her play style revolves around being hit by the enemy and reflecting the dmg back at them and ideally, she kinda needs to survive for that. She also wanted effectiveness for her S3 stuns.

That's a lot of stats for a unit whose stats were already not great, since she is a 4 star. But now, well, now she doesn't need ATK and speed anymore. Now she just wants HP, Def, and maybe effect resistance and some effectiveness. Now she just needs to say alive on your team before she grants your whole team a reflect barrier, one that is based on an ally's max health by the way, which means that if she is paired with soul weavers, knights and bruisers, that's going to make it hurt at least somewhat for enemy attackers. Landy, Arby, SSB and others now have to actively watch out for her.

On paper, at least. Oh, her S3 now also decreases combat readiness by 15 % and gives her increased speed for two turns, even compensating for the loss of speed due to the new gear requirements. I am rather excited for her, since I always liked the idea of killing the enemy with reflected dmg.

Lastly, Mercedes. Now, the only time I used Mercedes was in the first few days of playing epic seven before I replaced her and never looked back.

Her S1 now increases her CR by 15% which is neat. Her s2 now also has a 70 chance to dispel one buff and if she has increased Attack her s2 attacks again. This attack also deals more dmg the fewer enemies there are. Her s3 increases attack of all allies and does more dmg than normal with a critical hit.

Overall, this definitely looks like a buff to result in a stronger Mercedes but I am kinda doubting this will lead to a Meta feasible Mercedes. Maybe the increased dmg and functionality will result in her becoming used more often in RTA or arena, her s2 being able to attack twice and remove one buff from every enemy each time alongside more dmg overall seems to be good on paper at least.

Two artifacts are getting some changes as well. Merciless Glutton which to my knowledge was a more or less useless artifact so far, is changing to increasing single attack dmg by 16% which is pretty good. And when defeating an enemy with a single attack, it increases the CR of all allies except the caster by 12%. Honestly, this is definitely an improvement and on first glance, I kinda want to give this artifact to Luna. I don't know if I have it, tbh, but if I do, I will definitely try it with Luna. Ravi would also benefit from this. Basically warriors with single target attacks who are on counter sets will benefit the most from this. Okay, upon checking, I do not have this artifact. That's a bummer but good for those who have.

Now, Secret Art Storm Sword is confusing me a bit. It says that the effect to grant increased atk to the caster is 100% but that is only the case if you have max limitbroken the artifact which is definitely not the case for most people. So, I am assuming this will still be the case and the text here just was talking about a max limitbroken artifact.

Or, will it change so that the increased atk will always happen but the value which is increased by limitbreaking the artifact is the CR push?

Either way, the artifact was pretty solid on Celine and I don't think on anyone else and CR push can only help there. I still need like 4 more copies of it to make it actually useful because so far, it rarely triggers.

Overall, not my most wanted units who got overworked but some interesting stuff. Hope this all works out positively. The Violet buff for example has proven to be frustrating since the bugger is everywhere and is dodging like crazy. It's no fun fighting him. He is way better than Riolet now.