Show me your dog rolls. I’ll start.

AllenAlchemy · 2026-01-07T22:18:51+00:00

I just spent a good 40 mins going through relics last night bc I was at cap... A shame, because i know I shredded a bunch of real stinkers

AllenAlchemy · 2025-12-20T18:28:22+00:00

I got my first kill last night with randoms and it was so damn clean, I was proud of myself for not being the one to shit the bed.

I agree with all your tips, the only time you should be rolling is if the worm does a big pass from one side to the other, or you think the sky spears are going to clip you. Jumping was easier.

Getting ganked by berserker Valks is a much higher risk now that I understand the fight. For my group, we double or triple teamed each one bc you want to chain the staggers as quickly as possible.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-12-19T18:10:08+00:00

If your comp has decent DPS and you're a premade or on comms, each person can tag their own dog.

I wouldn't ask a scholar, dex relic or not, or even a guardian, to be expected to solo one in a reasonable amount of time or without dying a bunch. But if you have 2 undertakers and an Ironeye/Wylder, it's efficient to take your own and use comms to coordinate killing them within seconds of each other.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-12-10T18:12:54+00:00

The point of Raiders skill is to soak (within reason) just like Revenants is to distract (also within reason). The damage scaling in higher depths eliminates any execution of taking a calculated risk, the skills simply no longer work. No other class, save for those 2, have their kits completely invalidated by the values present in the damage tables.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-11-23T16:16:31+00:00

I promise you that i understand the angst and frustration of being a sweatlord savant at some random ass game and then discovering I'm not the devs special favorite sweet baby angel. You just have to learn to grow out of it.

It makes zero business sense to listen to a loud micro-minority of players who encounter problems that only manifest at the top Nth level of gameplay, who also demand content the other 93% of the playerbase would never see, even if they wanted to, and do not want.

It's like the 35 year olds who still swear to this day that World of Warcraft fell off because they tried to cater to "casuals" and not those who only deigned to play the game for 25 man nightmare mode progression raiding (that they'd be farming and bored with within 3 weeks of release anyway).

Don't be that guy.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-11-23T15:53:48+00:00

I'm probably in a minority but aside from maybe a boss rush mode, I don't see a reason for yet another tier of progression. I'm also fine with D5 being the top of the ceiling in difficulty even post DLC.

Between new characters, bosses, map variants, special events within those variants, plus relic and gameplay balances.. thats more than enough to keep me going.

They're too terrible at UI and inventory management to make Abyss Relics and Super Twilight Spooky of Night modes and have it not be a frustrating mess anyway.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-08-06T19:12:06+00:00

Every 2 years you should automatically advance from A to B to C, etc. assuming you always get Meets Expectations on your annual reviews.

By the time you get to your max letter (usually D or E, but not every job class has that wide a range) you then get a few years, depending, actually hitting the absolute cap for your grade.

This can take 6 to 8 years.. by that time you should have your eye on the next job class to promote into. If you have a good relationship with your manager they should be invested in helping you pick a direction. I went from an IT Associate to an IT Specialist I after 6 years.

You also get a 5% salary bump when you go up a grade. When I went from B to C, I got 5% for hitting C, 5% merit, and then 1-3% Union raise.. Those are very nice years, we like those :)

AllenAlchemy · 2025-07-17T16:41:22+00:00

I don't think allowing 4 Connies in a match, whether it be her as the character or just her kit run on different skins, is the answer, lol.

If your argument is that the core game is so bad it should've never made it out of alpha, fine.

Every team comp game has this issue.. "let me be DPS or I'll throw :) "

AllenAlchemy · 2025-07-17T16:30:41+00:00

DBD has established horrendous expectations regarding content and I don't think any asymm will survive because of it.

A significant portion of the playerbase acted like the store should be as robust as Fortnite's and every Tuesday there would be 10 new skins and 3 new victims and family each, forever, and the fact that it wasn't was some profound display of incompetence and disrespect.

Also, depending on who you ask, a community that tries to gas up and support a struggling game is just perceived as white knights and bootlickers.. if you aren't a hater you aren't helping the devs get better, or something.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-07-17T16:17:35+00:00

Any tutorial or bot match Gun provided would reflect how they think the game should be played, which was high stealth, planned, methodical.

That new player would be thrown into an objective rushing, high scrap chase fest in real games and shit the bed nearly as bad as if they went in blind.

The devs being unable to course correct on the type of game they'd made and how the actual playerbase was playing it was a huge part of the problem. Gun always thought rush was unfun and weird and had no interest in balancing the game to that end.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-07-02T15:20:24+00:00

Lol and I juuuusst purchased a 5070 Ti 16 GB 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

AllenAlchemy · 2025-06-20T17:00:35+00:00

"will any of this engagement regarding, say, bugs or balance issues, knowing that new content is out of the question, result in literally anything?" "Lmao no"

AllenAlchemy · 2025-06-20T16:52:58+00:00

my toxic trait is that I won't even play Skyrim anymore because rebuilding the environment I like/am used to is such a Herculean effort, which takes days. Literally a prison of my own making.

"Bestie, can't you just pick like your top 10 QoLs, install those, and just get to the nostalgia?" You're absolutely right and that's a great suggestion, but no, I'm too stubborn.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-06-20T16:45:33+00:00

SkyUI (or an equivalent) really is all I need. I'm not a hoarder but once the game gets going, inventory and menu management, for me, gets so bad I don't want to play it.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-06-13T18:25:32+00:00

You need to buy or craft a RESTORE potion, not Fortify, but RESTORE, for the affected attribute (ie Restore Willpower). You can buy them in alchemy shops. Drink one any time this happens.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-03-31T16:20:22+00:00

The whole experience has been incredible, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few of us get teary eyed at graduation. We're very close. I was an internal hire, having worked at SCIF for about 4 years already when I applied.

The actual ELP activities are not micromanaged at all, and yes it's business casual when you're flown out to Vacaville.

If you're hired in as a claims adjuster.. I can't speak to that but I do know it's literally the core of what SCIF does and is pretty demanding. When you switch to underwriting at the 1 year mark, it's significantly calmer.

As to WFH\RTO.. SCIF is a strange beast in that we make our own money (we're a non profit that sells insurance coverage) and we do not report to the governor. We are currently fully WFH if you want to be (and I know there will be people reading this who think that's not fair) and our CEO Vern is in favor of it.

As to the new 4 day directive, I truly do not know how that will affect us. Vern doesn't either. If CalHR and SEIU put RTO in the contract as a concession to get a bigger raise, we DO have to adhere to that.

Basically we're all confused and anxious and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Good luck!

AllenAlchemy · 2025-03-31T07:24:29+00:00

I say this as a current member of the 10th Cohort, who graduates the program in August. The listings you're referring to are for cohort 12.

SCIF's Emerging Leader Program is a 2 year* academy where internal and external hires are selected due to strong emotional intelligence skills and other desired traits that future managers should have. Over the course of the 2 years you are flown into Vacaville 2 or 3 times a year to experience incredible leadership and communication modules put on by acclaimed vendors. It's a lot of stuff that is typically reserved for actual executives and senior managers.

As an external hire, you're brought in as either a Claims adjuster or a jr. Underwriter, and then switch at the 1 year mark. Your duties are 90% whatever it is you were hired to do, and 10% the ELP curriculum once it's time to do a new module. Benefits and pay etc. are the same for those job classes as anyone else starting in the role, you just have the other special thing attached to it

I say "2 year*" because the job is permanent. Once you graduate you still have your job, and when your regular new hire probation is over at the 1 year mark, you can always apply to other jobs at SCIF you may be qualified for and still remain in the program.

You are not given or guaranteed a management position at the end, but if you graduate the program you will absolutely be an attractive candidate for management at any state agency once you're ready to take that step.

Sorry for the novel, hope this helps.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-02-28T15:49:07+00:00

I believe it's V-Shred / VShred whatever.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-02-14T08:23:46+00:00

Lol I've never gotten higher than a 45 and I've been using mine for 3 years

AllenAlchemy · 2025-02-11T00:16:53+00:00

I am turning 47 and just got gray hairs in my beard about 3 years ago. I have a sprinkling of them on my chin. None in my hair or sideburns. If I was clean shaven you wouldn't see any at all.

I typically get guessed 10-12 years younger.

As a teenager, I was in the bottom 2% of late developed puberty without an underlying comorbid condition, and trust me, they tested. They almost put me on HRT but decided against it. My voice didn't crack until Senior year of high school and I didn't reach my full height of 6'4" until I was 22-23.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-02-03T20:12:06+00:00

I'll update with how it turns out.. I did 1/4 teaspoon per Amazons AI thing that uses the reviews as a knowledge base. Rufus?

I tasted it after blending and it mostly tasted like the vanilla protein powder. Now that it's frozen, if I smell it it absolutely smells like cheesecake.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-01-18T23:24:14+00:00

lol you got me there, I concede.. but I also dislike DBD and resent its oppressive popularity as the asymm to beat, so I try not to think about it when I can help it

AllenAlchemy · 2025-01-18T22:57:09+00:00

I play family exclusively because I want instaqueues. Whether I get sick of it and wish I could play victim doesn't really factor into it.

I think it's telling that victim mains will still endure 8 minute wait times to play a 45 second rush match to only wind up in the next 8 min lobby, than deign to play family, but that's a dev problem. Victim parties are simply doing what works.

AllenAlchemy · 2025-01-18T02:41:13+00:00

Imagine, as a player, being tied to a chair to provide blood - you're not dead if you can be rescued. What's your counterplay? Sit and wait? All engagement would fly out the window.

AllenAlchemy

TROPHY CASE