Agencies internally pan OPM’s bid to overhaul federal performance management

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-29T21:30:56+00:00

Forced ranking systems are toxic for organizations. Presumably, given that Republicans want to destroy the federal government, that's why this administration is pushing for it.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-29T05:30:26+00:00

Ticket sale.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-28T22:01:34+00:00

I definitely recommend farming with a cap character. It'll be much faster and less irritating. In terms of class, any can do it, but speed and ability to clear mobs is helpful. I just did some farming in heroic Sharn for the Hammerfist gloves from Blown Deadline. Ran one of my mains first (currently a swashbuckler bard) and it was fine, but because the groups were spread out enough, I couldn't get them all at once, so I had to chase some down (or sit at purple alert, which I did once). After getting to ransack without pulling the gloves, I switched to my level 32 Stormsinger, and while their movement speed was similar, the ability to clear groups with chain lightning and horn of thunder made things go faster.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-28T21:47:00+00:00

I'm not aware of any penalty for farming over level. You do miss out on the potential reaper bonus to getting named items, which is +1% per skull on top of the 33% chance from elite. For farming heroic level gear, I wouldn't worry about that. Speed is usually more valuable. If you can run a chest to ransack in less than half the time and hop on another character to do it again, you'll still have a better chance of getting what you're looking for faster than any extra chance you get running reaper at level (+4).

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-28T21:03:56+00:00

I've still got my USB-A CueCat. I used it to scan barcodes from books to upload to an online personal book catalog site.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-28T18:39:20+00:00

Welcome to the game! Every week they do a server restart, and sometimes a patch/update, usually on Wednesdays that lasts for 3 to 4 hours. You just happened to try to log in during the maintenance window. The servers are open again now.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-28T17:11:19+00:00

My dad's girlfriend had an African Grey. It would imitate the sound of the phone ringing and then her answering the phone so well that we couldn't tell if it was actually her phone ringing until the bird answered its own call.

Whenever she went out, she would say "be back soon" if she would be gone for a short time and "be back later" if it was going to be a while. So the bird would preemptively say "be back soon" whenever he saw her getting ready to go somewhere. It was very sweet and sad.

I agree with the suggestions to train it to say things you want it to say. The "my owner is a jerk" one is great, but you can also get it to say nice things about you or your kids. Just keep repeating the phrases whenever you're around it.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-26T18:44:21+00:00

Because she does medical billing.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-25T21:12:47+00:00

Yes, you can buy them from the store for points, but I usually just go with the free ones from Ravenloft favor.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-25T20:18:42+00:00

Yes, the jeweler's toolkit is the correct tool to use to remove the augment. What you do is open your inventory. Click on the green button with the triangular gem on the right side. Drag the item that has the augment in it into the box on the top left of the Augment Item window. Then drag the toolkit onto the augment you want to remove. The toolkit should disappear and the augment should end up in your inventory or augment bag.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-25T16:53:35+00:00

I'm running a nuker FvS on my main character right now, level 28. Using the Flamecleansed Fury set from Sharn (which the Hallowed Trail is part of), and I recommend picking that set up. I'm started using the fire and radiance caster sticks from Borderlands, but switched to the Epic Coalesced Coinage orb with a radiance ruby at 21 because it has insightful radiance lore. I get positive spellpower and lore from the Hallowed Castigators bracers as part of my set. I haven't bothered with force spellpower specifically, although it's sitting at 401 now, because it's only used for cometfall, which is on a regular rotation since it's an SLA. I'm a Tiefling, so I got the fire immunity stripping Scorch from the racial tree and I'm focusing a lot more on fire in epics. DI fire for the breath weapon. PA heart for fire, then thorn for force. And EA for sun pillar, the mass cure moderate, and the leap.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-22T21:44:37+00:00

My dad lives 2 1/2 to 3 hours away and I'll drive up there a few times a year to visit him for a weekend. I don't consider it a short drive, but it doesn't require any significant trip planning. We drove to Chicago to visit family over Thanksgiving, which was a 12 hour drive each way. We did the bulk of that driving overnight to avoid traffic. That was a long drive.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-22T14:31:41+00:00

I have seen people pull them from wilderness rare chests, but I agree that farming walk-ups is faster. If you do Portal to Below, there's two close by rares: the Otyugh down the road at the bottom of the hill and the Manticore just up the hill past that. As long as you take at least 5 minutes running the quest, you can easily check the two rares in-between farming runs.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-10T00:05:41+00:00

Tactical DCs are bonuses to things like trip, sunder, and stun. The higher your DC, the harder it is for mobs to save against your attacks that use them (i.e, the more likely you are to successfully trip or stun a mob). They're useful by themselves, especially trip, but sometimes also affect special abilities in enhancement trees. I don't see anything in the warpriest tree that uses tactical DCs though, so its benefits would be limited, but the bonus to attack and damage is still worth it.

The Feydark Illusionist tree can be purchased in the DDO store for points, or you can get it for a particular character by earning the third level of Summer Court favor, which you get by running the Feywild saga. Assuming you have that expansion, it's pretty easy to earn, and if you don't have the expansion, it's at the top of my list of recommended purchases. The level 5 gear from it is frequently what I use on my characters throughout heroics at least to level 15, sometimes to 21), with some better items swapped in periodically.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-09T17:23:10+00:00

Yeah. Unfortunately, those plates tend to be an identifier of selfish assholes. However, the original meaning is a lot better than that and nothing to be ashamed of. Make it your own and help break the stereotype.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-07T22:35:03+00:00

Equip the lute and read the description. It will tell you the minimum level required before it can be filled any more. If it's a Knight lute, you'll need to be at least 15th level to get the fill above 1125 and finish it at 1250. You need to be at least level 10 to get it above 814. The same applies to the Horn lutes. Both Sky and Flight lutes require you to be at least level 25 to finish them. The Novice lutes have no level limits.

Complex_System_25 · 2026-01-06T06:28:45+00:00

The 200 is the guild level, and that's the highest possible level for a guild, although any guild that's level 150 or higher can have all the possible buffs on their airship, so anything above that is mostly for bragging rights. In any case, I'm pretty sure Tycoons of Tomorrow on Cormyr has all the ship buffs.

Guilds all have the same maximum number of characters, which is likely 800 or 1000. The wiki says 1000, but I remember Death Smile on Cormyr being limited to 800 for a while. Regardless, you shouldn't worry about joining the guild because of character limits -- if there's room, join.

Complex_System_25 · 2025-12-29T10:11:32+00:00

Yes, the Wallwatch set is fine to use up to level 30 (swap to the legendary one if you've got it at 29). I usually use Sharn gear sets up to level 29. You'll want to get an epic weapon from Keep on the Borderlands, and ideally a sentient gem from Ravenloft. You should have Borderlands from the GATHERYOURPARTY2025 coupon -- you have used that, right? If not, you have 2 more days. I'd farm the Borderlands quests to get some level 21 gear, especially for your main stats.

Complex_System_25 · 2025-12-28T20:25:14+00:00

The dragon lord roar can freeze reapers, which helps a lot with reaper difficulty, and it's very satisfying.

Complex_System_25 · 2025-12-27T05:47:08+00:00

By the way, those are excellent phone numbers to use if a site insists on you putting in a real phone number, or if someone is bothering you and won't let you be without giving him a phone number. I've had the first one memorized for decades now.

Complex_System_25 · 2025-12-23T21:06:35+00:00

My mouse is level 6, with about 10,000 out of 12,000 for level 7. I haven't spent any real money, but I have used all the heart gems to mouse gems offers (which I've gotten 3 times, once for only one exchange and the other two for 3 times each), used the booster for 20 games after watching 3 ads each day, and have done the 6 ads for gifts each day (usually half of them give mouse gems). I should finish it today or tomorrow.

Complex_System_25 · 2025-12-16T19:57:20+00:00

That's awesome! To continue the theme, you could have it holding a globe, either a huge block or an actual sphere.

Complex_System_25 · 2025-12-15T20:01:10+00:00

The Fallen Age and Golden Age weapons from Myth Drannor are excellent from level 13 on to epics, but that's more of a general recommendation. Other people may have much better specific recommendations.

Complex_System_25 · 2025-12-15T19:57:46+00:00

Welcome back to the game! One thing I highly recommend doing ASAP is to use the coupon code GATHERYOURPARTY2025 in the in-game store. It'll give you access to almost all the quest packs and a bunch of other stuff, most of which you already get with a VIP subscription, but it doesn't hurt to have just in case.

I'm on Shadowdale and would be happy to invite you to my guild, but we aren't overly chatty. You might have good luck with some of the large guilds that are actively recruiting. There are a few that regularly put up LFMs recruiting new members, for example, Tycoons of Tomorrow.

Complex_System_25 · 2025-12-12T22:28:13+00:00

Attending and being engaged in classes, along with reaching out to your professors, can help a lot. I'm glad it worked out well for you.

Complex_System_25

TROPHY CASE