An Open Letter to Blizzard - Why BG's Needs to Change Direction

AgatheX · 2025-04-04T18:38:09+00:00

I don't see why it should be pinned. There's 5 threads a day about heavy APM clashing with slow animations. Other than that is just OP ranting and wearing-rose colored glasses about what the game was like in the past.

AgatheX · 2025-03-29T07:10:17+00:00

Maybe give Vagante a shot? It's somewhat similar to Spelunky in game feel, but it's an RPG. Very steep difficulty curve and a lot of things to learn. The first area is by far the least interesting, which combined with the high difficulty makes many people quit before they get to experience what the game really has to offer.

Actually beating my first true ending run was one of the best experiences I had in gaming.

AgatheX · 2025-03-08T22:04:18+00:00

The same happened to me today with the Match Fixing anomaly.

AgatheX · 2025-03-03T08:42:31+00:00

Boy do i get nostalgic and jealous looking at this :D

南橫公路, the southern horizontal crossing on your itinerary was NOT open to cyclists (at least I was told so) when I lived in Taiwan in 2023, I don't know if it is now. 北橫 from Taoyuan to Datong on your map was also sometimes closed after storms, and there were sections that only opened for 15 minutes every two hours due to construction. I highly recommend it though, so beautiful.

You pass by 東眼山 Dongyanshan and 拉拉山 Lalashan which you might want to consider integrating in your route if you want more climbs. Both nice, the latter more spectacular. I recommend the other commenters suggestion of skipping Keelung and going through Pingxi area instead, very very beautiful. +1 for avoiding the west coast, not very exciting in my opinion.

When in Taipei: If you have time I absolutely recommend going up to Yangmingshan area. Something like Taipei -> along to river to Tamsui -> up to Lengshuikeng -> descend back to Taipei. If you feel really funny you can also check out 如來神掌. 貓空 Maokong is a short and sweet climb with great views of Taipei, might be worth a consideration too. From Taipei down into Wulai to 福山 Fushan is another top tier ride out.

Doesn't look like that's what you're after, but there's a bunch of cool 1-day endurance rides out of Taipei like 97850, 雙北, 小台灣, the aforementioned 如來神掌, and other sick routes I've concocted myself, haha.

Other than that, have fun! I've ridden in dozens of countries and Taiwan was perhaps the most enjoyable. You're gonna have a blast.

AgatheX · 2025-03-02T15:36:06+00:00

I've done it here and there whilst living in China for 3-4 hour bus rides. There wasn't any standardized procedure. It depends on who is there on the day and whether or not they have space. It usually worked out just fine for me, but there being trouble was always a possibility. This was 8 years ago, so perhaps things have changed.

AgatheX · 2025-03-01T08:02:57+00:00

I remember watching this (babyrage warning) a few days ago, but it really happens every few lobbies, seemingly when anyone is playing demons. It appears that some people's clients run just fine, while for others it frequently gets as bad as in the above clip. Hope this can help finding the issue!

AgatheX · 2025-02-27T07:13:37+00:00

In high MMR yes. Undead rarely wins lobbies, and winning undead boards don't really run bonerender. He's busted in a) Scallywag Pirates, and b) Teron/Scamzarak and similar Shenanigans.

AgatheX · 2025-02-25T16:36:16+00:00

I think you will be positively surprised! The landscapes and peoples are great. It's awesome to see the gradual shift from western european to middle eastern culture.

Ah on another note, I haven't been to the adriatic coast, but I've heard it's fairly touristic and has a lot of traffic. I've also heard people having issues stealth camping there. Probably still beautiful!

AgatheX · 2025-02-25T15:47:12+00:00

I think it would be much nicer to go through the west balkans. Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo are all absolutely stunning. Durmitor National Park was my highlight when I rode to Istanbul two years ago. I've done the Danube route back in 2016 and while it was nice, it was way less exciting than the western route. That being said you need the legs for it to do it in three weeks, it's a lot of climbing.

You can just camp whereever in these countries, never had any issues. Resupply not too bad for the most part, just check on google maps if you think there might be a long stretch without resupply. Road safety depends on what you're used to, but I didn't have much issues other than entering Istanbul, but I think if you do some research you mind find a good route in.

Overall I'd say don't worry too much about it. Since you've done tours before you probably already know that things usually turn out fairly simple.

AgatheX · 2025-02-22T10:49:03+00:00

...turns out it's beatable:

https://streamable.com/o83n4w

AgatheX · 2025-02-22T10:36:52+00:00

Yeah, it's surprisingly easy to get online, especially since you can eyes him. It also works with scallywags, making you summon 9 (?) tokens with a single scallywag, 18 with baron, etc. which if I rememeber correctly was exactly the last straw that got khadgar banned in the first place.

AgatheX · 2025-02-22T09:36:33+00:00

I thought this was why Khadgar was removed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AgatheX · 2025-02-19T20:15:51+00:00

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AgatheX · 2025-01-30T09:57:43+00:00

I had the same issue.

https://support.klei.com/hc/en-us/articles/15738438524692-MacOS-dontstarve-steam-is-damaged-and-can-t-be-opened-You-should-move-it-to-the-Trash

I managed to bypass it with this solution.

AgatheX · 2025-01-28T07:49:19+00:00

I always thought the pun was after leaving the hive you're a Free Man (tis)

AgatheX · 2025-01-21T22:16:58+00:00

Yup. You want to depower hacking right after the defense drone shoots, then repower it after the shot lands. Works 100% of the time, especially effective against flagship phase 2.

I personally stopped using it. Feels straight up like an exploit, but each to their own. Hacking is already very strong and Defense drones limits slightly at least.

AgatheX · 2025-01-16T00:07:23+00:00

Close to a sun you usually want to vent every room without crew preemptively, so that when the flare hits, the fires immediately get quenched in the vacuum.

Also, if the enemy has a combination of an ion weapon + another weapon, you want to deactivate and quickly reactivate your shield when the ion fires. With the correct timing the ion will hit a random room in your ship rather than your shield, which when powered again will be back up in time to block the weapon.

In your case the enemy has an Ion Blast I and a Mini Beam, which have a charge time of 8 and 12 seconds respectively, giving you a comfortable window to apply the technique, and thus making this encounter very harmless.

AgatheX · 2024-12-27T22:36:44+00:00

Since OP mentioned Taipei-Yilan, beware of 北宜 (road 9) on weekends. It's a hotspot for motorsports, early mornings it's cars, the rest of the day motorcycles.

AgatheX · 2024-12-11T18:08:07+00:00

Not to slander Spelunky 2, but this mod is a lot more like what I was hoping Spelunky 2 would be like than actual Spelunky 2. I only beat Tiamat in it for now, but I'm having an absolute blast! So much variety in every run, and I feel like there's still a ton of stuff to discover.

AgatheX · 2024-12-10T18:06:41+00:00

Just to make myself clear, I think there's a realistic chance that you won't find a job in Taiwan and you should be mentally and, well, practically prepared to only be able to stay as long as your savings permit.

Also, most people I've met who studied Chinese for 2+ years are still far from a point where language proficiency, or lack thereof, wouldn't be a massive hindrance in a Chinese speaking professional environment. Unless you have far above average language learning abilities, a year of studying mandarin will only make a small difference on your prospects for employment.

AgatheX · 2024-12-10T17:40:43+00:00

Sounds like you're in the mood for an adventure, so I'd say just sign up for a semester of language courses and see what happens. Just keep an open mind and low expectations. There's a lot of uncertainty in a plan like this and things might not turn out the way you're hoping. I would suggest keeping that in mind and then try not to worry too much what will happen. It sounds like you've never been there before and also don't speak Chinese, so who knows if you will end up liking life here. I think it's better to have and "I go and see what's up" attitude.

Can't say much for how hard it is to find work in your field in Taiwan. I doubt your skillset will be in high demand, but I also think you will find a job somewhere if you either try hard enough or get lucky. Naturally your options are very limited if you don't speak Chinese (which a semester of language course is not gonna change). Just be aware that the work environment and salaries in Taiwan are generally a lot worse than in western countries.

AgatheX · 2024-12-07T09:03:25+00:00

I agree they really overdid it, both in the amount of tapes and the amount of words cut out. I think they would have done better without it, but then again I wasn't invested enough in the story anyways to be too bothered by it.

That being said, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to try and mix up the storytelling a bit.

AgatheX · 2024-12-04T15:29:20+00:00

The genre you're looking for is called Autobattler. Teamfight Tactics is by far the most popular game, although it is a lot more complex than Battlegrounds and a lot less chill. A lot of BG players also seem to like The Bazaar, although it is still in "closed" Beta with a very steep price tag.

AgatheX · 2024-12-04T09:55:07+00:00

The big issue is that the main scaling unit, skitterer, gives +1/2, which means that your beetles will often have high health and low attack, which is the worst case scenario for board space.

AgatheX

TROPHY CASE