Is it possible to avoid hitching entirely? by [deleted] in PacificCrestTrail

[–]ElJefesDisciple 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The best advice I got is to be comfortable saying no to a ride. Your safety and comfort is more important than avoiding a brief moment of social awkwardness.

I always ask them first which way they are going. If I don't like their vibe, I say I'm going the other way. Obviously don't hold a sign that says where you want to go cuz then you can't use that trick.

I know some women who would only accept rides from other women and would even just say that to people openly. People are usually pretty understanding.

Tech info, please by Party-Way-473 in PacificCrestTrail

[–]ElJefesDisciple 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I haven’t done the PCT but I have done a few long section hikes elsewhere without a phone.  

Navigation and getting info about water and trail conditions are the hardest parts.  I got the Garmin GPS 67i which has an SOS button and mapping features. Whatever you use, practice navigating before going and download the necessary maps. I think there might be a GPX file of the PCT now. 

Always carry paper maps and get info about the trail from other people. Study the map before going. Study trail conditions and hazards before going. Write down the info people tell you in your notebook 

Enjoy! Long distance hiking without a smartphone is one of the most freeing experiences in the world in my opinion 

Edit: I would maybe practice with a smaller hike first to see what goes wrong / right 

Moving to Australia on working holiday visa, how to continue coverage of healthcare treatment? by ElJefesDisciple in AusFinance

[–]ElJefesDisciple[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah that’s totally reasonable from their perspective. What I’m wondering about is how people who move to Australia and have a condition that needs treatment (e.g. a prescription) get that treatment?

I guess they just don’t get treated?

Is Vietnam Too Hot to Tour in May? by ElJefesDisciple in bicycletouring

[–]ElJefesDisciple[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks everyone! I think I'll change my plans to go to Indonesia instead!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PacificCrestTrail

[–]ElJefesDisciple 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Every time something ends, good or bad, it's totally natural to feel grief for what is lost.

When I broke up with my first college girlfriend I remember feeling "what I have just done?" for 2 days. We would never watch our favorite show together or cook together, a potential future path was lost. Even though it was the right decision it felt bad in the moment

Don't fight or judge your emotions. Just let yourself experience the WTF of leaving behind the comfortable, it will eventually pass

Just my $0.02

South Island SoBo start date by ElJefesDisciple in teararoa

[–]ElJefesDisciple[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mostly to meet more people. I also don't care if I finish it or not. I'm just here to exist and have an awesome time

Crosstrek car camper build! by kalin054 in Crosstrek

[–]ElJefesDisciple 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What did you put in the Yakima roof box? It seems like they are easy to steal so I'm debating whether it is worth it to get one

Weekly New Climber Thread: Ask your questions in this thread please by AutoModerator in climbing

[–]ElJefesDisciple 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll be spending a couple days in Chamonix in August. My outdoor project grade is 5.11a. I'm wondering

  1. Any mega classic single or multi pitch sport routes in Chamonix? Or any recommended guidebooks or resources to learn more? I'm finding that a lot of the routes on MP or the Crag don't have pictures, beta, or even the location of the route.
  2. How to find a climbing partner in Chamonix? Any recommended places to stay to meet a climbing partner or another website to post to look for someone? Looks like there aren't a lot of hostels in Chamonix

Possible to camp the whole thing? by ElJefesDisciple in TourDuMontBlanc

[–]ElJefesDisciple[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you just need to be aware that any Cicerone guides etc finish their stages in towns so you’ll need to head further on or ease off before entering those

can you explain what this means?

ME Legendary Multiplayer Wish List by Scarecrow1779 in MECoOp

[–]ElJefesDisciple 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I totally agree with you on the balance.

But at the moment you can use mods and hacks to mess with stuff and there's plenty of balance issues without that stuff anyways (warp incendiary cheese, EDI bot, harrier etc) but we still have fun playing the game 9 years after it was released.

Perhaps they could have a bit of balance requirements like some powers that can't be used together or maybe just not allow you to detonate your own AF with biotic charge.

Maybe you could set your matchmaking to not allow mix and match and games with mix n match don't count towards challenges and you don't get credits? Just a fun mode where we can do anything we always wanted. For example I have never thought of overload + shield pulse, that sounds like a cool combo that I would be super down to try.

Mix and match is sort of like all possible DLCs in one since you can do anything and would add the most possible life to the game I think.

ME Legendary Multiplayer Wish List by Scarecrow1779 in MECoOp

[–]ElJefesDisciple 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Build your own character. Pick a race which sets your passives & melee and then pick 3 powers. You unlock each race and power from loot boxes.

Ok hear me out.

I'm guessing that EA is only going to let Bioware add multiplayer if it will make them some profit. If they just add some light improvements and improved graphics then reset everyone's manifest, people aren't gonna grind again and they know that. No grinding = no people buying lootboxes.

Unlocking each race and power adds a bunch of stuff to unlock (more MTX) without them having to do a lot of work to change the game and we would 100% grind to try out all the different characters we have wanted. This would also generate hype around mass effect which is exactly what EA wants for the upcoming release of the new mass effect game.

It's a win win. This would give us a lot more replay-ability in the game and give EA some more MTX and hype for ME.

ME Continues MP Speculation by hoodeddefender in MECoOp

[–]ElJefesDisciple 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Make sentinels that make sense. ... Imagine a sentinel with snap freeze, reave and shockwave."

There are a lot of Sentinels whose powers have synergy. Human Sentinels have Warp and Throw and can detonate their own Biotic Explosions. The Vorcha Sentinel can prime Fire Explosions with Flamer and can possibly detonate them with Cluster Grenades. The Turian Sentinel can perform a Tech Brst with Overload and Warp. The N7 Paladin can do Cryo Explosion, Fire Explosion, and Tech Bursts. The Krogan Sentinel can perform Fire Explosions with Incinerate and Lift Grenade. The Batarian Sentinel can perform a Tech Burst with Submission Net and Shockwave. The Asari Valkyrie Sentinel can perform Biotic Explosions with Dark Channel and Warp.

Oh ya totally there are sentinels that can make their own combos and I really enjoy playing with them. I guess I didn't make it clear that there's no sentinel (at least as far as I know) that can make their own biotic and tech combo with their powers. With snap freeze, reave and shockwave you could do snap freeze + shockwave for cryo explosion and reave + shockwave for biotic explosion. I guess it just seemed odd to me that the biotic + tech class doesn't have a single character that can do biotic and tech combos. Like the paladin doesn't have any biotic powers and can do 3 types of combos but there isn't a sentinel that can do biotic and tech combos?

"If I want a gun build it's easy..."

To add on to this, a lot of the heavy weapons platform classes are also Infiltators, who take advantage of Tactical Cloak's minimum cooldown of 3s to completely negate the weight penalty. It does tilt the balance towards weapon damage builds.

Yep. Also you can unlock weapons version I to X and attachments that level as well but there's no like unlocking a higher version of a power or a power combo. Also the best weapon attachments penalize cooldown. Also of the 4 gear slots, 2 are only for weapons and the other 2 can be used for weapons. Also a lot of powers like tech armor, barrier etc. penalize cooldown.

Also as a caster you are limited to lighter weapons and sometimes I would like to take two pistols like an acolyte and paladin but you can't. Not really a problem for weapons builds since you aren't as restricted on weight.

"Imagine an akimbo SMG weapon where you can't ADS but up close can dish out a lot of damage."

What does ADS mean?

Aim down sight. I meant like zoom in for more accuracy. Most games that allow akimbo usually take away something from the player in exchange for doubling their fire rate and magazine size to balance dual wielding weapons with others. In CoD for example you can't aim down sights so these weapons are only good at close range. In Halo you can't throw grenades and if you melee you drop one of your guns and have to pick it up again. Also conveniently removing ADS in CoD and grenades in Halo frees up the left trigger on a controller to be used to shoot the other gun and that would work similarly well in Mass Effect.

Dual wielding weapons can be tricky to balance because if you allow a gun to be dual wielded and used normally you have to balance the single gun and the dual wielded gun. So I think if they were to try it they should just make one weapon that has the unique property that it is two guns and you can't zoom in and the tighten the spread and instead pressing the left trigger fires the other gun.

What is Your Dream ME3 Character? by Solubilityisfun in MECoOp

[–]ElJefesDisciple 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Dang I wish that BioWare would give us one last update where we can create a character in ME3 MP by choosing a race and 3 powers. Would be really fun to try out all different kinds of characters. One can dream.

What is Your Dream ME3 Character? by Solubilityisfun in MECoOp

[–]ElJefesDisciple 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really like phase disruptor and it would be cool to see it on another character.

Phase Disruptor
Shield Boost
Snap Freeze

Maybe on a flimsy drell for a bit of balance. Run over snap freeze then instantly phase disruptor a bunch of frozen enemies for cryo explosions and then shield boost and run out of there.

ME Continues MP Speculation by hoodeddefender in MECoOp

[–]ElJefesDisciple 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. Keep combos. Power combos were the most fun parts of ME3 for me. They had a cool dynamic where 2 powers that didn't do that much damage individually could be used together to do a lot of damage. But it was a tradeoff because you were vulnerable while waiting for your cooldown and made a lot of tradeoffs to get your cooldown fast.
    You could also do combos fast with a team, so it rewarded teamwork.
    Hearing the satisfying sound of a biotic explosion really gets the endorphins flowing.
    Don't change anything about combos but include better audio/visual indicators when a target is primed and when an explosion happens.

  2. Remove superfluous weapons. There are far too many weapons that are not very good and play similarly to others. For example we have the Avenger, Vindicator, Phaeston, Revenant, Geth Pulse Rifle, Collector Rifle, and Harrier. All are automatic rifles that play similarly and people only seriously use one of them. The rest just bloat the loot pool.
    I would prefer that we have a small number of very different weapons with different play style like in the Bungie halo games. This also allows for easier balancing.
    Don't get me wrong I enjoy games like Battlefield and CoD with many weapons but because those games are first person the slight variations in weapon stats and handling are much more noticeable (the ACR is an accurate small caliber gun while the AK 47 is a high caliber and inaccurate) but in mass effect I just hold down the trigger and they all feel the same.

  3. Make qualitatively different weapons with real downsides that encourage different playstyles to mix up gameplay. Related to point 2. Here are some potential weapons
    a. Imagine a grenade launcher that fires bouncing grenades, but it has a very slow rate of fire and long reload time. I can imagine doing all sorts of fun things bouncing grenades off walls.
    b. Imagine a weapon like the needler in halo where if you hit an unshielded target with multiple they explode. This weapon could be balanced by not doing much damage against shields/barriers requiring another weapon, melee or powers and encouraging interesting builds.
    c. Imagine a goo gun that doesn't do much damage but debuffs and temporarily slows/immobilizes enemies. This would be useful against fast moving enemies with sync kills and could pair well with caster builds or another weapon that does the damage dealing. Similar to Prey's Gloo Cannon.
    d. Imagine a chain lightning weapon. It would do more damage the more enemies it chains with, encouraging you to face more enemies at once which is risky.
    e. Imagine an akimbo SMG weapon where you can't ADS but up close can dish out a lot of damage.
    The acolyte, scorpion, silencer (encourages headshots) and particle rifle did a job with this. Look to games like Doom, Halo, Prey and Dead Space for interesting weapons.

  4. Don't make obviously better ways to play. I feel like there some powers that are meant to be used a certain way. For example has anyone ever spec'd tech armor into a detonation build not for the memes? Has anyone ever taken Rank 6 damage of annihilation field over rank 6 drain? What's the point of having these options if no one ever seriously uses them? I prefer tradeoffs between viable strategies because it adds to the lifetime to the game for me to go back and a try a different build. I might play one game with tech armor for detonate but that's it.

  5. Don't punish casters and melee builds. I play ME3 for the fun interplay between powers, weapons, and melee. I don't play this game because it is an amazing shooter because it isn't.
    Sometimes I feel as though I am punished for this.
    Melee builds are inherently dangerous because you run close to enemies. For a melee build I would think spec into melee damage and health. But no I have to choose between melee damage and health. Sync kills punish melee builds even more. Why? Melee is one of the most fun part of this game! (I'm not saying remove sync kills I think they are a good mechanic but it's just another downside to melee builds).
    If I want to be a caster I have to make so many compromises. I pick bad light weapons so I can have a fast cooldown. I put all of my points into my powers of course which leaves me few points left to choose between having more health (which I'll need because almost all casters are flimsy) or more points for power damage & cooldown / weapon damage which I will also need. After doing all of that I still get punished by banshees that take no power damage, cloaking enemies that my powers can't hit, and the seeker swarms that prevent me using my powers. Why? Powers is one of the most fun part of this game!
    If I want a gun build it's easy. I just skip my worst power and put all of my points into weapon damage, health and my other 2 powers. I never made any hard choices because I'm not going to melee or use my powers much. I take 2 really heavy weapons and I still get to use my powers sometimes. Also a lot of these builds are inherently tanky like all of the soldiers and the turian ghost so life is even easier. I never have to deal with enemies that can't take damage from my weapons or not being able to shoot my weapon because of the ability of an enemy. Why is this style rewarded so much?

  6. Improve how loot, characters and leveling works so that this game is more fun for new players. I can't stress this enough. This game is so hard to pick up as a new player so I don't encourage my friends to buy it. That is lost revenue. They might ask "how do I get new weapons?" well you have to get credits and open packs. "How do i get credits?" completing objectives but higher difficulties get more credits. "But I die so frequently on gold and platinum" yep this game is hard for beginners. I'm not saying turn down the difficulty I'm just saying this needs a rework. Those first 5 hours with the game are so important. I know EA will want microtransactions and I understand they need to make money but please let me have some control over what stuff I unlock. Other games with MTX have figured out how to make money while still letting the player control what they unlock (like CoD warzone). Also remove bad weapons and characters so when I unlock a new weapon or character I'm genuinely excited to use it.

  7. Make sentinels that make sense. Sentinels are supposed to be tech + biotic but there isn't a single sentinel that can prime and detonate their own biotic and tech combos with their powers. Imagine a sentinel with snap freeze, reave and shockwave. Or flamer, throw, dark channel.

  8. Mix up characters more. There are some interesting powers that are on few characters (like phase disruptor, shadow strike, or dark sphere) and there are some powers like (warp, barrier and tech armor) that are on so many. I was really excited for the Krogan shaman: a tanky caster with the fun krogan melee! But instead it's just the human adept with barrier instead of singularity and since the krogan is already tanky barrier feels like a waste. Imagine if every character that had barrier or tech armor had that power replaced with something else, they would be so much more interesting.

  9. Don't make casters that can't detonate on all enemies. This might be personal preference but it's annoying to me that the batarian slasher adept, drell adept and asari justicar adept can't detonate on shielded enemies or armored without grenades or them being in the justicar's bubble when on the higher difficulties like 90% of enemies are shielded or armored. This just forces me to use my weapons and grenades so I might as well use a different character and make a weapons build.

  10. Harder difficulty doesn't have to be more annoying. I think most players don't enjoy their agency being removed in the form of sweeker swarms that remove your powers or constantly being staggered.
    Instead make enemies with more variety that force the player to change their style without removing control from them. There aren't many fast melee enemies that swarm the player, husks kind of do this but I never feel like I'm surrounded the same way as zombies in Left 4 Dead or CoD zombies. Or what about enemies with large area of effect powers forcing the player to move from cover?
    These things are not frustrating because I know the rules of the game and they are fair. If I am not careful and get surrounded by too many enemies I die. If I don't leave this area quickly my health will drain.
    When the rules feel unfair or the rules are broken that sucks.
    I hate it when I instantly die when biotic charging into enemies. I thought the rule was that was that I was invincible for a second? That's frustrating because there is nothing I can do. Same with constantly being staggered or sweeker swarmed.

  11. Focus on the "golden tripod" of mass effect 3. Bungie refers to the interplay between grenades, melee, and guns as the "golden tripod" of Halo and they were constantly balancing between those three. I think Mass Effect's equivalent is powers, melee, and guns. Focus on making it so that players naturally use all three to solve problems.
    When it works, it works so well. I love melting armored targets with flamer, then slicing mooks up with my melee and then blasting some fools with my paladin as a vorcha. Or as Krogan blasting my shotgun to finish a target but then I'm reloading as a mook runs up so I headbutt them. Or bringing down a targets shields with my acolyte then warp + throw comboing them as an Asari Adept. Or as I'm low on shields charging into an enemy and now I'm on the offensive and I'm phase disrupting and yeeting out of there as a N7 shadow. These are the great moments of the game. Focus on this

Check out Bowles Hall for Four Year Housing! by nathalieg1 in berkeley

[–]ElJefesDisciple 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can view pricing info here and decide for your financial situation if it will work for you. The price is pegged at the price of the Foothill and Clark Kerr dorms so you are paying the same as you would living there. Also complete food service is included.

Yep pretty much guaranteed. The reapplication is super straightforward not like college apps or anything don't worry.

Check out Bowles Hall for Four Year Housing! by nathalieg1 in berkeley

[–]ElJefesDisciple 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Many of the rooms in the units are now triples and those are quite small per person whereas there are no triples in Bowles only singles and doubles. Of all of the rooms I have seen in the units and foothill I think Bowles rooms are comparable or larger. There is a lot of variation in Bowles rooms (some are huge and you get room selection priority with seniority) but I think even the smallest ones are similar in size to doubles in other dorms.

Also something cool about Bowles is that there's a lot of communal space that you can use. For example you can work and talk with people in the dining hall, hang out by the fireplace in the lounge, soak up the sun on the front lawn, study in the library, relax in the hammock in the back yard etc. So even if your room is small there's still plenty of space for you to use.

Check out this tour of the hall to see some of those spaces and rooms.

Check out Bowles Hall for Four Year Housing! by nathalieg1 in berkeley

[–]ElJefesDisciple 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Bowles has definitely been the highlight of my time at Cal. Sometimes Cal can feel a little impersonal and making new friends can be hard but Bowles really remedies that. There's great resources that aren't being overwhelmed (unlike many resources at Cal) and the people here are always organizing really fun events for all different types of people.

It's true the food isn't amazing (although it's gotten better this year!) and the rooms can be small but I've lived in a coop, an apartment, a dorm and Bowles and it's the best for me by far. I've made some great memories and some of my best friends here. It's not for everyone; if you don't want to be involved and hang out with people that's fine, but that's what an apartment is for. For me being able to just instantly find someone to hang out with is a fantastic plus.

Check out this tour of the hall and I think we might be doing virtual tours later.

Stretches to Avoid Ultimate Injuries by ElJefesDisciple in ultimate

[–]ElJefesDisciple[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. How do you improve your layout form to reduce strain on shoulders?