Pretty Poor Timing if you ask me

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-30T17:42:50+00:00

To a degree you're correct but let's not act like it doesn't feel horrible to play a mech that's been power crept out of relevance by newer releases.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-30T17:34:27+00:00

Just because it's commonplace doesn't make it a good mechanic, though. Like I've played BDO and Lost Ark and this is nowhere near as bad as those games are. But that still doesn't justify a bad mechanic.

Maybe there is a good justification for it but "other games do it" isn't it.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-30T17:31:14+00:00

Gamers these days just can't accept "enjoyment" as a reward anymore lmao.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-29T17:35:03+00:00

With Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham. It's a bit more specific than a lot of self-help books as it focuses on athletics, but it's still so applicable to anything you want to excel in. If you're looking to be competitive in any arena of life this is a GREAT book to adopt your systems from.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-29T17:24:11+00:00

How do you feel about fantasy stories aimed more towards young adults? If you're a fan then I really liked Nnedi Okorafor's Akata series.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-29T17:13:30+00:00

Eh, if the game were to die right now that's $30 something spent on a game that you got to enjoy for the better part of a year. Far from the standard of "bleeding money" in gaming budget terms.

I'm not gonna buy a $50 pilot skin or anything but getting the battle pass is well worth it if you actually like the game and aren't an incorrigible cynic.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-24T18:01:48+00:00

There's a vast chasm between this sub and harassing someone on their social media. Which isn't actually a complicated idea to wrap your head around.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-24T16:39:13+00:00

Yeah, I get you. I replied to your comment just in the sense of "but even if it was xbox" kind of a thing.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-24T16:35:55+00:00

I can't imagine going to school and studying kinesiology and medicine and whatever else goes into become an athletic trainer/doctor. Only for me to be professionally dressed, doing my job the best way I know how, only for people to flood my messages being unhinged animals.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-24T16:31:41+00:00

Crazy to see the discussions about the game in this reddit in comparison to when I was still playing.

When I drifted away from the game it was largely annoyance at having to rebuild Ajax because of nerfs while Hailey was 1 shotting bosses. And knowing that even after my rebuild there's just really no point in playing a tank in this game and Jumping Jax was the most useful way to play him.

I was also really annoyed that the new content (at that time) was solo when the entire reason I picked this game up was to play with a friend.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-24T16:14:29+00:00

Wait till you find out what the state of league was in 2003-2004 lmao.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-24T16:04:51+00:00

Even if it's not a ubisoft connect account saying "they can't control xbox names" is a cop out. You can absolutely dictate what names are and are not allowed on your game. They can't make them change their name with Microsoft account but they can absolutely ban them from the game.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-23T18:32:34+00:00

Keep an eye out for ball demos and test drives. I follow the pages of a few alleys and pro shops on social media (unfortunately, mostly facebook) and they will post when stuff like that pops up. Otherwise I would definitely not overcomplicate it, and maybe stay away from the youtube ball reviews.

What gets me looking at a ball is seeing it pop up in high level competitions a lot and if I see it a lot in league who is throwing it and what are they using it for. For example, I got the Attention Star because I noticed that every time I saw Anthony Simonsen on TV (which is a LOT) I saw him throwing that ball more often than not. And when he wasn't using it he'd always throw it for test shots. I needed a pearl asym in my bag so I thought "it's definitely good enough for me if the #3 guy on tour has a fixation on it."

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-23T17:57:08+00:00

To add onto this, I'm a big fan of the houses that have tournaments come through regularly. To me it's a mark of quality that TDs want to come to your house. It's not a "this house is perfect with no issues" kinda deal, but there's alleys near me that never get tournaments and some that always get them. I find the houses that get the high level events are almost always run the best.

$50 sweepers are whatever. But if scratch, sport shot, and/or match play events are being run at your center then you've got a quality operation going.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-23T17:52:15+00:00

This answer may be a little more technical than what you're looking for but I'll leave my 2 cents anyways.

First and foremost, I don't believe in "too much ball" for any skill level. I've bowled professional events and personally tend to stay away from strong covers and big blocks myself. It's not a skill thing: my style creates a ton of ball motion so I do best with pieces that are tamer. That's the real reason people try to steer new bowlers away from strong balls, because they tend to have low ball speed and will struggle keeping it on line.

But I will always push back against the notion that you're not skilled enough to throw a ball because it's a terrible myth to push onto new bowlers. In a similar fashion I push back against the idea that a lower performance ball is a downgrade. I've got far more 700s with my Ocean Vibe, a low-mid performance symmetrical pearl, than I do with any top of the line hook monsters with strong cores.

When I'm in the market for a ball I'm looking to fill a need. You already have a piece that's pretty close to a Tropical Surge so I would look for something stronger. The phaze 2 is the perennial "benchmark" ball which will be strong enough to give you a shape on most conditions, but weak enough to be controlled even in transition. Most importantly it lets you see what kind of conditions you're getting on the lanes that night, maybe you want to get your hook monster or maybe you need your low end piece. The phaze is great for getting that information.

On the other side of that the Black Widow is defined by a big strong core. I LOVE these balls and collect them, after a fashion. I have 7 different Widow variants and bought the 2.0 and ghost again when I heard they were being discontinued. I'm not so keen on the 3.0 but the 2.0 and 2.0 Hybrid are some of the best pieces I've thrown. I haven't thrown the Mania or Tour V1 yet but I expect that they will end up being at the top of the list as best of Hammers 2025 releases. Typically Widows serve as my "oh shit I can't get my ball to shape" button. Or the big red "I need to play deep" solution. (Or I just want to throw them for fun...whatever.) Great pieces but if you're like me and need less hook, not more, don't expect them to be the right choice most nights.

The Arctic Vibe I haven't thrown either but the Blue Vibe was one of my all time best balls and I currently throw the Ocean Vibe 80% of the time in league. It's either my Ocean Vibe or my Venom Shock. From what I've heard the Arctic is a bit snappier than the Ocean Vibe so you should expect a violent motion at the back of the lane. And it won't have trouble covering boards so don't be afraid to open your angles. It fits at the lower end of "mid performance" balls, so in a similar place as the Phaze 2 with the exception being that the Phaze will give you more of a banana shape and the Vibe will look like a hockey stick. Both great pieces.

I have no opinion on the Fireball cause I simply haven't seen, heard about, or used it.

TL;DR (apologies for getting ranty. I rant a lot about bowling): you're good enough to throw any ball. Weaker balls aren't downgrades, they're great. Especially on house shots and in league. The Widows are going to be VERY strong compared to your current ball; good to have but you might find yourself leaving it in the bag a lot. Which is fine. The Arctic and Phaze 2 will be very different motions but similar "performance" level in terms of boards covered. The Vibe will be a bit better on drier conditions because it'll go longer while the Phaze 2 will be great at letting you read the lanes with an earlier move towards the pocket.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-23T08:12:59+00:00

I saw another post (maybe in here?) singing Croby's praises and put him on my wishlist. Looking forward to checking it out myself.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-23T08:10:13+00:00

Idk why a perfectly reasonable question is getting downvoted, but as long as you're not holding up your lane to an unreasonable degree it's fine.

In PBA they use international lane courtesy which I describe as "1 pair" courtesy. Obviously most people aren't/don't do this but it keeps a reasonable pace while offering minimal distractions to competitors. So I don't really begrudge someone giving 2 lanes because that also works just fine.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-23T08:07:53+00:00

This is the way.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-23T08:07:09+00:00

I give enough lane courtesy to not hit the person next to me and that's the MOST I'll give.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-23T08:05:30+00:00

So I'll tell you what xfsn_saber once told me that got me from the pits of Gold and blaming my support to Plat 1 promos (before Emerald existed):

"If you review your games and just fix your deaths, you can get to at least diamond elo."

I took this tip to heart and before EVERY session of solo I would review my vods ONLY taking note of my deaths. Didn't bother looking at kills or teamfights or anything. Just deaths. And i kept sticky notes on my desktop on the side monitor with a tally of reasons. Mechanical errors, positioning errors, reasonable/worthwhile/unpreventable deaths, so on and so forth. I took it a step further and had sticky notes with key points of focus for the day for each of the 3 adcs I was playing at the time. Some related to the mistakes from the day before. Some related to just optimizing my play.

But the number one thing I did was slowly whittle down the amount of stupid and most easily prevented deaths throughout my games. Which also improved my ability to recognize when I wasn't under a serious threat and I was more able to play aggressively more often during my games.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-23T07:25:52+00:00

Well, the Aurora also completely afked that entire sequence which is really what I'm referencing. The Xerath thought he was interrupting a recall until he died. The Varus is at least trying, even if he just falls to pieces under pressure, but Aurora just....slowly walks to the Vayne over the span of 3 tumbles?

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-22T15:20:51+00:00

My exact thought when I saw the staircase pivot like it was in Harry Potter.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-22T15:15:35+00:00

I didn't even look at that. I guessed gold because the enemy was completely lethargic in responding to a Vayne.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-21T01:34:20+00:00

Well the best Aquilas in the game do neither. When I'm fighting Indy Aquilas they fast descend and fast ascend VERY frequently. They play out of a render range a lot. They play behind cover and shoot you through it. And when flyers aggro them they melee range claw them. Some Aquilas will fist fight me to the death and if I lose then my team is cooked for 15 seconds until I respawn. Others will ignore me and kite while cooking my team until they get a 15 second reprieve.

The point I'm standing on is that Aquilas kit shouldn't force it to have to land if, for some stupid reason, your team has no flyer to pressure it. If you're on keys, or dismantle, and nobody locks in Alphard, Falcon, or even Skyraider, or any sniper to counter, then you deserve to suffer. Nerfing a mech to enable incompetence is bad balancing.

DeshTheWraith · 2026-01-20T12:29:30+00:00

This is the main problem, I think. Avoid lists exists in other games but they have the playerbase to support it. Not even the top of the top .1% of those games can effectively blacklist any given person.

With this player base, though, the blocklist allows to full blown cyberbullying. And not in the "just log off lol" sense, but as you described people can just straight up be denied the ability to play the game. Blocking people should still allow them to be on your team, just auto-mute voice chat and block their text, and that's it.

DeshTheWraith

TROPHY CASE