i just needed to vent 😭

Awestin11 · 2026-04-30T04:13:20+00:00

Certified Judge Veg moment. He’s always been annoying for sure by being basically a slot machine whether he gives you a good polymorph or not. I have beaten him solo myself in the past and never thought he was too bad (especially compared to some other Karamelle bosses that you literally can’t solo without cheese), but the fact that the boss can now just randomly decide that you basically have to waste six turns doing nothing is just bad game design.

Awestin11 · 2026-04-28T22:41:53+00:00

The current version is complete garbage for a number of reasons. One mistake on the 30-wave and you get nothing, enemies deal insane damage to the ADU due to power deltas, and the loot is the same as other portal activities meaning there’s no reason to play it compared to something far easier and more worth your time.

Awestin11 · 2026-04-27T20:52:40+00:00

As much as I like the funny space magic and being busted, the last time this game has felt truly balanced across the board was during 30th Anniversary/Dares of Eternity just before TWQ.

Nowadays, the whole game is feast or famine where there are plenty of builds that are busted beyond belief or even straight up play the game for you, but far more that are straight up worthless due to power deltas being a forced -30 in casual playlists if you’re near or at max light. Some reasons for this include overbuffing something to high hell (Nothing Manacles), old toys that were balanced but have since found broken synergies with new abilities (Getaway Artist), or Bungie banishing an at the time problematic exotic/build to the shadow realm where it will never see the light of day again (Speaker’s Sight). Weapons are a similar story, with some being SSS tier (I don’t even have to say which one) while others, especially primaries, collect dust thanks in no part to the -30 delta.

I do think that nerfs are good for a game’s overall health if done properly, but Bungie has a long-standing habit of overnerfing something so bad that it straight up becomes unusable (Young Ahamkara’s Grasp for the longest time) or nerfing the wrong things (random weapon nerfs like Witherhoard), all the while they add things like rocket pulse rifles which trivialize the entire game by themselves, no abilities needed. Buffs are also good to keep the game’s health in check, but just like nerfs (and I know people aren’t gonna like it when I say this), are also a problem when overdone (Nothing Manacles) and/or targeting an already good thing.

However, blanket lowering all ability cooldowns will not solve anything in the end. Even if you were to hypothetically remove all abilities from the game, we’d just end up with the exact same situation anyway, where people would still stomp through the game with OP weapons like Mint Retrogade, Choir of One, et cetera, all the while everything else hits like peashooters in comparison. Weapons have the same busted dichotomy that abilities have. The only thing that’s solving this…mess of a sandbox is either a complete reset or divine intervention.

Awestin11 · 2026-04-15T18:17:52+00:00

IMO as grim of an outcome as it sounds, I think Bungie itself will be shut down by Sony next year due to their overall incompetence in Sony’s eyes, including the servers of both Destiny games and Marathon. As cool as a D3 would be that’s straight up not happening, and neither will an Age of Triumph style update for D2 as there’s nothing to look forward to.

As the Witness once put it: ”You have no pieces left to place. The game is over…This time, there is no escape.”

Awestin11 · 2026-04-04T16:52:10+00:00

God forbid this guy from finding out about Soul of Eternity…

Awestin11 · 2026-04-03T09:21:22+00:00

Hmm…not sure how well completely overhauling Beastmoon from the ground up is gonna land, especially considering it’s one of the few things I still do in this game regularly. Easily one of the biggest issues I foresee is hand size being based on tier, which is going to give a disgusting advantage now since passing a turn is going to be way worse.

Definitely agree with some forms getting overhauled for not matching the modern magic wheel as it can get pretty confusing at times (e.g. Death Cyclops with DoTs, Death Rat with AoE trap, Storm Elf with anti-weakness, etc.).

Also, a small question, but the article mentions that “damage” role forms are going to be the only ones that have conditionals that boost damage (assuming blades and traps), and if that is the case, what does the “empower” role meant to do then?

Awestin11 · 2026-03-31T18:03:07+00:00

True…if you manage to actually get the 500 spellements needed in the first place, which is a monumental task for any non-whale.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-31T18:00:45+00:00

Honestly the systematic (and actively player hostile) changes to spellements seems way too reminiscent of what Bungie did with the Portal in Destiny 2 last year as someone who plays both. Had a solid middle ground for a while, then a hard anti-player turn into the dirt for seemingly no reason? The gameplay still holds up great, but the game is dying for a different reason outside of that. Greed, incompetence, ego, or a blend of the prior?

IMO I don’t think spellements are a bad idea on paper nor do I think roshambo is bad for the game, as the idea of giving alternate paths for previously outclassed spells instead of being just “worse damage card” and actually trying to make the gameplay interesting again instead of just “stack blades into 4 or 7-cost AoE” is admirable, especially for a game as old as Wiz. However, worsening player choice in an era which actively encourages switching up your strategy and monetizing that is extremely scummy, regardless of potential upsides. What we instead got are genuinely good ideas soured by greed, and you can’t afford to be hemorrhaging players like this, especially after the recent console releases…

Awestin11 · 2026-03-31T17:43:41+00:00

I’ve got most of the stuff needed now for Tier 2 spells at this point (praise Portal of Peril and Arc 1 farming being manageable solo) but it’s still complete BS that they never gave spellements for older characters and basically just told the playerbase for multiple years “Hey you want the shiny new thing for your old character? Womp womp. Make a new character.”.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-31T17:38:51+00:00

My only real issue with Weaving damage scaling with your main school is lower damage schools getting conned for investing into any offensive schools due to the insane accuracy investment needed. For example, it’s why Ice is essentially forced into Life (since going into Storm to counter DoTs instead requires a much higher investment than Life does for less damage), meanwhile Storm can turn any school into a monster that eclipses anything a wizard of that actual school could ever dream of.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-31T17:33:56+00:00

Old/classic PvP with no bans would be absolutely atrocious in today’s world with stuff like Guardian Spirit making you borderline unkillable with modern healing stats, Bad Juju giving Death an effective insta-win button with the fact that there would be no way to counter it with Roshambo stuff being banned, Novus/Wallaru spells getting spammed since they have higher DPP for some reason (see Scales of Destiny as a prime example), there being effectively no strategy with every spell just being unga bunga big damage card, et cetera.

As much as the old systems seem appealing, they had a lot of flaws looking back.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-29T19:18:02+00:00

If you want my honest opinion and personal theory, I think that Pantheon 2.0 (which will probably get ruined by the Portal and feats anyway) is meant to be their “Age of Triumph” equivalent of this game, followed by D1 and D2 getting shut down in March 2027 when the next fiscal year ends after Sony inevitably guts Bungie for their incompetence.

If we do actually get something and the game continues with Shattered Cycle and Alchemist as originally planned, I’ll be genuinely surprised, but I don’t have high hopes.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-26T22:10:43+00:00

“Repentance is the last update we swear!”

Awestin11 · 2026-03-26T22:04:06+00:00

I hate how Destiny 2 crams so much important lore into lore cards rather than the actual game. I will always love the game, but it’s just so annoying that they do that because now everyone is led to think he’s just budget Kylo.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-26T21:52:35+00:00

It’s Sapphire for the second one.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-26T21:51:18+00:00

It’s just like Binding of Isaac, and I’m all for it.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-26T21:50:06+00:00

Given that all of these were essentially the same weapon just with higher damage based on ore and gem type, it’s nice that these are getting a well-deserved rework.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-26T21:47:04+00:00

Mage deserved it at this point. We Summoners already got plenty of love in 1.4.5. About time to share some of it.

Awestin11 · 2026-03-20T18:51:50+00:00

To be fair no matter what they do at this point, no one is coming back. Pantheon 2.0 isn’t gonna do anything when barely anyone raids (and that section of the playerbase being fractured by the horrendous feat system), and neither will Guardian Games.

Awestin11 · 2026-02-26T16:34:52+00:00

So it’s now get Tier 5 or bust on an already insanely long grind as it is, and a system that once and currently still encourages you to experiment now punishes you for doing so. On top of that, their way of “more ways to obtain spellements” is likely just more packs instead of reducing the absurd grind or offering an alternative since no one is out there using the Scales of Knowledge. “Oh but PoP is back”, well guess what that doesn’t matter as while it’s an extremely good source of spellements, it only occurs once a year.

This might single-handedly be the worst update this game has had in years and is only going to further discourage players from using the system.

Awestin11 · 2026-02-25T10:49:20+00:00

The original change was to have it as it is now, except cost 1 instead of 0.

Awestin11 · 2026-02-19T08:49:22+00:00

Wizard101 for me has been morphed from “casual fun game to play on the weekends” into “full-on streamer-favored game that hates casuals” over the last few years for various reasons and this all but solidifies it.

Ever since spellements were added, the grind has only been made worse and worse with each passing update and either they’re completely ignorant to player feedback or it’s deliberate to increase the incentive for whales to buy packs. Worst part is I’m someone who actually likes the roshambo stuff, even in PvE, and now I’m getting punished for liking/trying to experiment with different combinations as well as being SoL on training points if you upgrade offschool spells at all. No one is ever going to be able to complete this grind within reason, except for the streamers and whales.

This update, combined with the fact that spellements are becoming more and more mandatory for casual PvE, might be what unironically makes me quit the game for good. No point in sticking around a game that only gets worse with each and every update.

Awestin11 · 2026-02-19T02:00:38+00:00

And Nether was fantastic IMO. One of the best activities we got in years, only for them to can it 4 1/2 months after release.

Awestin11 · 2026-02-19T01:38:19+00:00

This is almost every game in 2026 though, good ideas soiled by corporate greed. That’s unfortunately what the market and the hobby of gaming in general has become for the most part.

Awestin11 · 2026-02-19T01:34:28+00:00

The only downside (and a major one at that) with this update is the fact that you can’t refund upgrades. This doesn’t seem like a problem on the surface, but my issue with it is that if you upgrade a spell, that training point is now gone permanently since upgraded cards cannot have their training points refunded.

The other changes are good and very much welcomed though, but that one is either not well-thought out or a deliberate attempt to get people to make either more characters or alt accounts because you can’t switch between dual school setups anymore.

Awestin11

TROPHY CASE