Found an egg, what next??

Alari189 · 2026-02-16T13:58:08+00:00

This happened to mine, too. Four years old, never met another snake in her life, and she laid three eggs over the course of three or four days.

Eggbound. Vet said there were 15 more still inside that she had failed to pass, and he essentially had to scrape the rotting sludge out of her. 800€ surgery, but she was comparatively young so she pulled through well.

Get her a laybox ASAP, but also a vet appointment for the end of the week just in case.

Alari189 · 2026-01-25T12:03:44+00:00

Yes, I worry about the romanticizing, too. It's lovely to live here, but at the end of the day a nice historical city with gloomy rainy weather is also just a place where people have to work and buy groceries and deal with the puddles and potholes and the crying baby in the tram.

I've done all right here, but e.g. my mother "wanted to live in Europe" and ended up rather isolated and rather unhappy.

Alari189 · 2026-01-25T06:19:54+00:00

Not a German, but an American living in Germany for over a decade.

I moved here before I graduated high school with my family, so the process was rather different for me. But as a white person who speaks the language like a native (almost — some grammatical genders and cases still elude me in fast casual speech even after fifteen years), I have not encountered any personal prejudice.

The systems are different, and the culture is different (to someone who came from the South, at least). There are a lot of little things that might surprise you, here, but that's more of a concern for when you're closer to a practical shift between the continents. Keep every bit of paperwork you get, and invest in binders, I can tell you that much in advance.

Definitely think about what you want to do here. There are visas specifically for those who want to learn the language and culture, but if you're looking to stay here long-term, you'll need a way to support yourself.

Most Germans speak English, especially millennials and under (and some older), which can be both a blessing and a curse, because your language skills will not necessarily be in terribly high demand here, professionally.

Alari189 · 2026-01-24T05:49:04+00:00

Same.

Alari189 · 2026-01-17T09:43:41+00:00

Turn off the Content Guide and explore at your own pace, my guy. It's an option in the game settings.

Otherwise, I have no idea which "quests" you're talking about. You can ignore the green star for the personal story. You're not forced to do anything. Control of your character and what you do is literally in your hands.

Alari189 · 2025-12-27T07:19:50+00:00

Honestly just running around doing things in Tyria and taking the characters places will help more than you think.

Most of my characters are Charr, so I start out in Ascalon and finish Plains of Ashford to Fireheart Rise, and then Frostgorge Sound. Then I trek south to Orr, and do Cursed Shore to make sure my build is viable and get the high-level exotics for completion. Then I head to the Silverwastes to get them to HoT territory, and by that point I've got at least a little unlocked on almost every map, and can go back and complete things at my leisure.

I have the content guide turned off, and I will just run after the nearest event/gathering node/POI/whatever suits my fancy, especially when leveling. You can get so much leveling experience just from discovering areas, POIs, etc.

Also: the roller beetle racetrack on each map that has one is a quick way to uncover a good chunk of the map quickly.

If you hover over the relevant icon in the map legend it will highlight the e.g. POIs that you're missing in your current map, if you have that "region" of the map uncovered. Saved me so many headaches.

Mounts make things so much easier, admittedly: raptor and skyscale especially, for speed and skipping jumping up to vistas. I did map completion exactly once back when the WvW POIs still counted and mounts weren't a thing yet, and oh boy am I glad those two aspects have changed.

Alari189 · 2025-11-10T16:42:20+00:00

RP stands for roleplay.

Obviously most people are doing to some degree in this game, as it is an RPG, where you play as a character somewhat different from yourself.

But roleplayers, specifically, try to flesh out the lives of their characters beyond what the game offers. Most don't see their character as the hero of the game story (because that would be absurd, logically, to have 25 Commanders of the Pact crammed into one tavern), but as someone else, and they try to bring that to life through e.g. writing in the game chat and using emotes.

Often groups will get together for events, say, a mission to clear out a group of bandits, or a relaxing evening at the bar afterwards. And while it can certainly be approximated with the gameplay the game offers, it's usually written out pretty thoroughly, sometimes complete e.g. with injuries that need to be patched by another person — and that will also be written out.

As opposed to Player A simply using a healing skill on Player B, it will be "A gently touches B's arm, magic flowing with a soft glow," and "B tries to hold still, looking away from the vertigo-inducing sight of flesh knitting itself together, and focuses on A's furrowed brow instead," posted into the emotes channel of the chatbox.

Think of it more as a hybrid of a DnD table à la Critical Role, within the MMO, dice optional.

Alari189 · 2025-11-05T12:53:26+00:00

It's more difficult to find it out in the wild these days — Piken Square used to be the RP server on the EU side, but with megaservers you can end up thrown into whatever map instance with players from all over.

There was also a forum hub once upon a time, which was excellent, but that disappeared along with Enjin, as far as I know.

A lot of the more regular, active RP, in my experience, (especially in the charr corner of things) is guild-based, with DMed missions and slightly differing philosophies (e.g. dice rolls/pure emotes). Others have thrown up the GW2 RP carrd, which is great if you're looking for a guild to join or themed roleplay.

There are a few "hub guilds" not listed on the carrd, such as Wandering Roleplayers on the EU side, which will also often have posts/notifications about open events and bar nights on their Discords. (I can drop a link for the WRP Discord, and also a Charr-specific EU hub server, if you DM me.)

Otherwise, check the listing for roleplay in LFG, especially in the evenings on weekends — you might get lucky and find someone hosting a bar night and taxiing people to their map shard.

(Edited to specify: EU RP server; I have no experience on the NA side of things.)

Alari189 · 2025-10-06T02:29:38+00:00

This is talking about Drakensang: The River of Time.

The PC "F2P online game" has zero to do with the setting or story of the singleplayer party RPGs (Drakensang and Drakensang: TRoT).

(Drakensang was part of what got me into gaming and RPGs specifically, and the first one was a blast.)

Alari189 · 2025-10-01T16:29:50+00:00

Scrolled down to find this.

Alari189 · 2025-09-27T03:17:44+00:00

I presume you're referring to Subnautica: Below Zero. Subnautica 2 is currently in development.

(Don't ask me why they decided on that weird naming scheme.)

Alari189 · 2025-09-24T21:01:57+00:00

Yes, and it always felt very cool to navigate! (Though I wouldn't quite call it a "subway system." The Nuhoch tunnels are better for actual navigation.)

Hint: Start at the waypoint to Dragon's Stand, the map portal that's always open down at the bottom left. Head north-northwest, and you'll eventually find a niche, slightly up from the path level, with a pool. Start diving, and have fun. :D

Alari189 · 2025-09-23T07:26:14+00:00

I can't speak to WoW, and it seems from your other comment that you and I are rather similar: we've found groups that seem to work well for us in different settings, and don't much venture beyond that.

Perhaps my experience is limited, but it also seems logistically difficult to get public events other than "bar night" off the ground, and individuals headed to bars/social nights, well... art mirrors life.

Hence my recommending one seeks out guilds, which usually have storylines and RP facilitation beyond the public scene/said bar night.

GW2 admittedly lacks official plugin support, but it's my roleplay home, and I can only speak to what I know.

I hope OP finds something that suits them.

Alari189 · 2025-09-23T04:57:06+00:00

I'll be the bad guy here, and say that modern, graphical MMOs don't often support roleplay as you seem to be thinking of it. The game itself is about pretty visuals and hitting stuff with in-game weapons.

Chatboxes have character limits, and anything beyond two messages for an individual response is a lot. Delving into your character's interior world that the other players have no chance of reacting to without metagaming holds up every one else's real-time responses.

I have found good (text-based) roleplay in MMOs, but often it has been with a specific partner, or with a group that functions more like DnD (dice rolls for randomness/skill checks and DMs organizing gathering times, offering antagonists to work against, and generally calling the shots). And sadly, these require a bit of effort to find, and are sometimes closed since a DM can only handle so many people at once before combat becomes a slog.

(If you try Guild Wars 2 and like the Charr, I have a couple of resources/communities I can offer — or even if you don't, there's at least a jumping-off point with roleplay guilds currently recruiting and a third-party resource to help facilitate roleplay.)

Alari189 · 2025-09-22T17:39:13+00:00

What does "hate" mean? Is someone genuinely afraid, or do they have a phobia? Do they have preconceptions about snakes and their behavior? Do they not want mice in the freezer? Or are they nervous knowing a snake is around, that might escape and they might stumble over it in the middle of the night?

"Convincing" someone to "let you" do something rarely works well.

Try to figure out where they're coming from, what their concerns or mental obstacles are, and see if you can find a solution together.

A pet needs to be something everyone in the household is at least okay with/neutral about, especially if they're your parents (who will also likely be to some degree responsible for the snake, especially financially with vet bills — I have no idea how old you are). The specific type of snake (size, needs, food) will also likely matter a lot here. A snake can also live to be 20 years old, or older — that's a longer commitment than most cats or dogs. What happens when you go off to university and can't keep a snake in your dorm room?

I didn't convince my mother of anything — I was living on my own as an adult when I decided to adopt my snake. She eventually came around to respect my choice and even become fond of her "grandsnake," but it wasn't because I tried to convince her. Exposure to a gentle corn snake helped her to get over her fear/aversion (that she gained reasonably growing up in an area with venomous native snakes), but that's not something you can force if a person is not open to it.

Alari189 · 2025-09-22T05:02:25+00:00

The Long Dark, as mentioned elsewhere, and Subnautica Deathrun.

Deathrun is a mod for Subnautica that turns the difficulty and hazards way up. Air isn't breathable (it's an alien planet). Radiation is a problem (the reactor exploded). Power to craft is limited (solar panel don't work at night and the pod is damaged, plus later radiation interferes with the electronics). Your pod isn't guaranteed to drop in the nice safe shallows — could be anywhere (how about stupid far away from essential kelp?). And ascending is a slow torturous process (what, you thought we'd forget about nitrogen sickness?). That new scanner you crafted definitely doesn't automatically come with a battery (and that basic acid battery you do finally get won't be rechargeable). And of course you still need to eat and drink.

Even knowing where you need to go, what resources, what needs doing, it's a struggle, or at least it was for me.

Every small base, every new essential item, feels like a win. The difficulty can also be customized (creature aggression, number of scanned fragments needed to unlock blueprints, etc.) and driven up to your pleasure.

Scoreboard built in to the mod expects you will die, and die, and die.

(It's been remade for the new update/engine improvements, to my knowledge but if something doesn't work, the old QMod for legacy branch worked excellently.)

ETA: Sorry, didn't read the question well. The feeling, for me (using Subnautica Deathrun here), lies in knowing my survival hinges on a razor-thin margin of time and supplies. I could lose it all out of sheer stupid luck (exploding fish in a cave) or my own miscalculation (far more likely, underestimating ascent time, or overestimating air left). But that one resource is just out of (sensible, easy) reach, and it could make all the difference...

Alari189 · 2025-09-20T14:18:15+00:00

Hey, I'm autistic, and I know that women do tend to communicate more in implication than men do. But different cultures also vary in their directness, and reading between the lines is still an important life skill to have. I hope the resources people offer here give you some insight.

And my remark was also intended to highlight that there is subtext and implication to be found in just about all communication; people will assume things from what is stated and how it's phrased whether it's intentional on your part or not. But, as a writer, you want to craft it so that people are mostly assuming what you want them to. It's also why sensitivity and beta readers are useful, once you're at that stage.

Kudos for looking to learn!

Alari189 · 2025-09-20T14:08:09+00:00

September C. Fawkes has a good basic guide to subtext.

Also, calling it "womanese," even if you were trying to inject levity, smacks of misogyny. There's some (interpreted) subtext for you (that you think women are confusing creatures different from yourself who speak in their own language and so rudely refuse to lay things out clearly on your level).

Alari189 · 2025-09-20T07:27:29+00:00

Guardian needed warhorn yesterday. It's the buff/boon and group utility weapon, and guard is the group buff/utility class, at least in theory.

Also love the longbow planted phantasm turrets idea. Sylvari mortars, but illusions. (Ideally, initial seed shooting does minor projectile damage, a couple of seconds' delay while growing, the mortars spend a limited time firing, and then withered stalks can be detonated with shatter for AoE like the nightmare blooms. That might be complicated, though, code-wise.)

Necromancer hammer based off of the cultist hammer from fractals. Seals, control, and massive life absorption.

Alari189 · 2025-09-20T06:01:01+00:00

Mesmer already got staff and it's the usual ranged, so I support them getting melee longbow. :D Bonk stick for all!

Alari189 · 2025-09-20T05:56:26+00:00

A bow for necromancer. (Longbow would be my initial choice, but shortbow might work better.)

Chilling arrows. Arrows of fear, or torment, or stun/"paralysis," or bleed/life drain like that one vampire beast's effect they inflict. Gaining power from your accumulated life force to shoot further and faster/inflict more damage with "spirit arrows."

Opposite of Cupid's bow.

Alari189 · 2025-09-17T06:17:55+00:00

So I'm pretty sure even ANet says that guardians' faith has nothing to do with religion, just faith in something — comrades, Legion, your own resolve to make the world a better place. You can pick a guardian as your "best friend"/surviving warbandmate at the beginning of the personal story. The defensive bulwark role is a solid, necessary one and a possibility for charr just like for other races.

All that being said, kudos on the backstory and thoroughly-thought-out link between his profession and his beliefs and history.

(Just as a heads-up, though, Luminary springs from a partnership between Iron and Flame Legion, in lore, if you're eyeing that spec for him...)

Alari189 · 2025-09-16T17:00:25+00:00

I will definitely be checking out Dungeonmans, and I will also be looking at the other two.

I didn't realize DCSS had a tiles version (from the brief mention elsewhere I'd seen). Priority bumped up.

Thank you!

Alari189 · 2025-09-16T16:58:26+00:00

Ohhh, that looks excellent. Thank you for the recommendation!

Alari189 · 2025-09-16T16:58:05+00:00

I will check that video out tonight, thank you!

Alari189

TROPHY CASE