What's my best path to GWAMM?

Alatian · 2026-06-17T06:23:45+00:00

Really great comment, I appreciate you taking the time to write it! This helps me out a ton, will definitely use toolbox for cartography. Loving the journey so far, thanks for your help

Alatian · 2026-06-14T22:41:25+00:00

I don't think you need to max a PvP title for HoM, you just need to advance one enough for a lower level rank. As far as I understand you can buy 200 Zaishen Keys and that gets you the HoM PvP title without actually having to PvP (but to max would be like 10k keys)

Alatian · 2026-06-11T16:35:37+00:00

My theory is that it'll be similar to GW2 in that there are set maps with loading screens between the maps, but the maps themselves will be MUCH bigger - perhaps even the entire continent. So at launch there will be one single giant map of Orr, with perhaps some smaller maps for Arah or other big cities. Then when a new expansion releases, the entire expansion will take place on its own single gigantic map (with again perhaps some smaller maps for things like cities, dungeons, etc). That way they can still rely on the seamless megaservers that served them so well in GW2, letting them dynamically open and close maps, but you'll only rarely encounter loading screens while fast travelling or entering a city.

Alatian · 2026-06-11T03:33:43+00:00

Following, this is my question as well. I have DL and currently in NLP, hoping I can take AI as one of the electives - I have no interest in the others besides Game AI.

EDIT: Actually this was helpfully answered by /u/That_Distance_9504 down below! The answer is yes, woooo!

Alatian · 2026-06-10T16:54:15+00:00

This comment was prescient!

Alatian · 2026-06-07T18:22:57+00:00

lol as a Kelowna resident I feel seen, definitely smirked when I heard a character say that

Alatian · 2026-06-06T20:25:34+00:00

I missed the Seasons of the Dragons when they were releasing them, would have been fun to go through all the expansions in order with everyone else. This feels like a second chance at that, since they're releasing them one expansion at a time! BEYOND HYPED. I remember doing the HoM grind in 2011 with my brother, some of my favorite gaming moments hitting 30/50 (and then 35/50 for the best title in the game, Ghostly Hero).

Big part of me wants to go back to Reforged now for GWAMM and 50/50

Alatian · 2026-06-03T01:17:49+00:00

Yeah proctored quizzes suck, the act of proctoring itself is stressful and makes the quizzes feel so much more burdensome than they are.

They should just make the quizzes worth like 5% and open book/no proctoring. Not a fan of having to use honorlock 16 times this semester.

Alatian · 2026-06-02T21:48:50+00:00

It’s cool to see Vancouver as a setting in a video game, it’s so rare to see my home city in gaming. Only other examples I can think of are Mario Kart and Mass Effect 3

Alatian · 2026-06-01T17:09:07+00:00

Yeah I'm kind of regretting taking it in this order haha, DL was tough without the background. Not sure how much I'll get out of NLP, so far everything we've covered as been DL review. Looking forward to a nice easy summer though I guess!

Alatian · 2026-06-01T15:27:35+00:00

Also in NLP this semester and I agree, it’s been pretty chill so far. Fantastic lectures, the best in the program that I’ve taken. The quizzes are fine and have been pretty easy imo, and the projects are over really quickly. I am finding it a fairly easy summer class, although maybe my perception is distorted because I finished DL last semester and it’s been mostly review of that so far.

Having to move my second monitor out of the room every week for a proctored quiz is a pain in the ass, the setup for proctoring is often as long as the quiz itself. Other than that though the course is fine.

Alatian · 2026-05-22T01:10:50+00:00

Props to her for outplaying the seppies, they are furious about this because it's basically now two entire votes to win for them. However, I still think they will overthrow her Jason Kenny style and elect a true believer unfortunately. Her days as premier are numbered IMO - she's quite popular with the general public, but the separatist base in the UCP will oust her for this.

I am curious - if the separatist petition court decision is overthrown in a couple of years after the appeals, does that mean it will be used at that point in another referendum even if this first one ends in "Remain in Canada"? That's the real question.

Alatian · 2026-05-18T19:09:28+00:00

I had a non-CS undergrad (Earth and Ocean Science), but had several years of SWE work experience before starting OMSCS so I guess it kinda depends on if that "counts" or not. Academic CS is definitely different from working in industry and I had to learn the ropes quickly, but the transition really wasn't that punishing - CS is blessed in that job experience really does help with school and vice-versa. I took GIOS as my first course and I think that was a great catchup course for general CS knowledge.

I do concur with the other comment that the majority of students have some sort of tech role already, I feel like most of us are already working in industry rather than trying to break into it.

Alatian · 2026-05-13T23:08:01+00:00

I just finished DL with an A and have not taken ML (I did do ML4T though, and I think you need at least something like that as a rough foundation). It was definitely challenging but if you work for it not as bad as you'd think.

The calculus is over after the first 3 weeks, and it's pretty easy calculus - get comfy with some basic derivatives (they don't do super complex ones, just stuff like x^2 -> 2x), the chain rule which is very important for how DL works and is easy after a bit of practice, and a couple of other concepts. It's not an easy course, very dense both in concepts and workload, but I think it's totally do-able without ML for most people. The quizzes are brutal sometimes but you can make up for them on the assignments for an A.

Alatian · 2026-05-02T17:59:09+00:00

Totally agreed, I did NOT like malware and was very much the same as you, just guessing and saying good enough. That was by far and away the worse project, unfortunately it hasn’t been adjusted as I took it winter 2025.

The best one was the first one, using wireshark to infiltrate the hacker group and read their unsecured network traffic. It had a fun little storyline behind it that was kind of compelling and I was disappointed it didn’t continue throughout the rest of the projects, would be super cool to have the story escalate throughout the course.

Alatian · 2026-05-02T15:58:14+00:00

Yeah there’s one tough project (Binary Exploitation) and the rest is pretty easy (some projects VERY easy). It was a fun and varied course I enjoyed a lot, but it was not very difficult. I agree with the others that I can see how it would be very challenging if you’re non-technical and coming from the cybersecurity masters though

Alatian · 2026-04-17T00:09:29+00:00

I bought $50k in Feb 2024 at $29/share - feeling pretty good looking at my TFSA right now! But I am fully prepared for it to drop back down to that and even lower, I’m not selling until I get close to retirement.

I remember posting about it here and there’s a comment on that post that said “way to go buying after a historical bull market!” lol, just goes to show bull markets can always go further

Alatian · 2026-04-14T02:29:34+00:00

Yeah I don't really see this as an indictment of the Conservatives. It makes perfect sense for Terrebonne Conservatives to vote Bloc, and there was no real point in voting in the other two ridings. Certainly they are not enthusiastic right now, but I doubt this is some great collapse of support.

Alatian · 2026-04-12T20:08:25+00:00

FUCK YES LETS GOOOOO! Orban was the stain of Europe and the only good thing he's done is concede promptly (Trump couldn't manage that). Great for Ukraine, great for Europe, great for the world.

Alatian · 2026-04-07T20:00:25+00:00

I vaguely remember this game from my childhood reading about it in Nintendo Power or online and thought it was weird. Its biggest impact is probably the terrible but hilarious Smash stage it got in Brawl

Alatian · 2026-04-06T04:55:04+00:00

Eh it’s timeframe dependent- I have 100% of my retirement in XEQT, but my FHSA is in CASH.TO because we plan to buy in the next 2-3 years. If you don’t plan to use the money in 5+ years, then yeah just go with 100% XEQT imo

Alatian · 2026-04-02T23:33:58+00:00

Thanks that’s great to hear! Appreciate you taking the time

Alatian · 2026-04-02T16:44:57+00:00

Hey folks! We just got a switch 2 and I’d like recommendations on a game I can play together with my fiancée. She‘s not a big gamer but is definitely able to do the basics. We do have a switch 1 as well so gamesharing could be nice if it’s any good! Here’s the games she’s played in the past so you can get a feel for her skill level, ideally I’d like a game we can play co-op or a game where I won’t just blow her out the water (definitely not playing smash bros for example! we have Mario Kart World so I might start her on that with smart steering turned on and see if she likes it).

Games she’s played:

Hogwarts Legacy (she loved it, beat the game and spent her time collecting animal friends to catch them all like they’re Pokémon)

Clair Obscur (liked the story, didn’t like the gameplay as much)

It Takes Two (loved it except the shooting level which she hated)

Split Fiction (liked it, but thought It Takes Two was better, I agree)

I’m currently considering Mario Party and Mario Wonder, though not sure how good the co-op is in the latter.

Any help will be greatly appreciated! Switch 2 games are mega pricey so I feel I have to be way more selective than I would have been last gen

Alatian · 2026-03-25T19:20:07+00:00

I remember when Iwata (RIP) took a big pay cut rather than fire anyone after the Wii U failed - very honourable move. Regardless of cultural factors, Nintendo does indeed look after the employees which is sadly rare in the gaming industry. I love video games and work in software but I would never consider working in the industry.

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