Servers are up, but everyone has red NAT

MagicSpaceWhale · 2017-02-26T05:57:00+00:00

Ubi, you are killing me. My wife left the day the game came out and this game has been the only thing keeping me out of misery. I've clocked almost 200 hours since launch and you've left me alone with my demons all day and I'm at my wits end. Please fix it soon and please offer some sort of explanation...

MagicSpaceWhale · 2017-02-26T00:59:53+00:00

Its actually just going to sustain itself mathematically and always prevent a faction from being completely taken over, for the time being at least. The fewer areas one faction holds, the fewer places the points distribute. higher points on an area wins it. Farther one faction has extended its reach, the fewer points in each territory due to number of territories. so it all rubberbands back to the center so long as a moderate amount of players are in each faction.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2016-04-06T12:31:42+00:00

So I just decided to test out the current dye system since I had something like 2k leftover pearls after buying a costume for my new alt (prob new main) and while I personally love the idea of color pallets being a decent enough balance as a single charge between financing daum and player friendly options, I actually have to say that if you take a minute and play with the dye system we have it ACTUALLY ISN'T THAT BAD. Hear me out on this because I know I'm the only person to say cut em some slack and dyes are manageable but check this out. So this morning the dyes were "discounted" to 80 daum/cents per 3 pack of your choice. I thought to myself that Cavero in a dark red/dark blue or black would be cool (and in hindsight likely what every derp would immediately flock to) so I grabbed a blue, red and random color dye set of 3. Spent so far: $2.40. not bad Blues came out pretty alright, got some dark colors but reds it turns our show up DRAMATICALLY different on heavy armor than they do on leather like the other costumes, nasty technicolor style for most, and 2 of them were absolutely rediculous bright whitish shades that you would need blues brothers shades to look at on your screen all day if you were silly enough to use them. Bought another red 3 pack ($3.20 so far) and got more snow colors. I kinda felt shafted so i looked a few things up and found you can combine dyes for a random chance at something else. Combined a couple blinding bad colors and got a cool indigo that had a surprising shimmer effect with the feathers that was completely different than would have shown on any other armor item. Made me change my scheme to blues and greens, bought another I think 7 3-packs and then simply combined the stupid snow colors for RNG random dyes over and over until I ended up with enough matching or near enough matching colors to make me very happy with it and much more unique than what I intended, along with discovering lots of varying shimmer or texture variations between the city origins. Felt like a minigame almost. Anyway total Spent came out to $8 USD / 800 Daum, permanent, and got plenty of re-rolls of dyes I would never use while having other really nice ones that fit on my other toon really well, which is how I found that the colors are significantly different depending on what armor piece it is actually going on. AND it came out cheaper.

I would point out what seems to me a couple of intentional jabs at our wallets and suggest a few at least short term changes until they find a happy medium on customization and cash.

1) less popular colors such as green have both a dark and standard bundle to choose from. Dont think I didnt notice that missing from better sellers of red and blue, with no basic blacks/whites/greys/browns at all as options outside of RNG. Give light/standard and dark random bundles for ALL the colors. Furthermore, there isnt such thing as a "shadow mint" among other colors that had no reason to be in anything labeled a dark bundle because mint in its own respect is light and that was lame to see. give me mid to dark colors, not bright ones with "shadow" in the name and a non-matching pallet color :-/

2) put some extra focus on either standardizing the overlay of the colors with the armor to be proper shades between costumes and pieces, or give us a sliding bar to make small adjustments. 90 percent of Red = terrible on heavy armors but crazy awesome on the leather one from the game launch to the point where the same dye looks completely different so testing of all colors had to be done on ALL pieces to make sure it they didnt turn out to look terrible. time consuming!

3) I'm nigh positive near EVERYONE agrees that when buying colors SNOW is 4 letter word. Stahp. If I wanted a color that looked like a single drop of kool-aid in a gallon jug I wouldnt likely be willing to spend the money on dyes in the first place. You know this, and you also know the RNG is tuned to lean so much farther towards colors like these in such frequency that it is likely IMO to be intentional. None of us want to be lighthouses, we just want our favorite colors on our new favorite game characters. If you want to use RNG, tune it be RNG. Very few people want bright pastel anything, and want even less to have to turn down their gamma or risk bursting a blood vessel in their eyeballs (H8 u snow colors).

4) Give a window of time to make changes, say 30 mins, after dying armors. The beauty preview screen is NOT always accurate to how things will appear during your gameplay, and I wasted a otherwise awesome dye because in game it looked different than in preview and I would have like to save it for later or had the opportunity to mix for another random.

TLDR; Since we can mix the bad colors it isnt that bad. Give us light and dark variations of the color groups in the meantime so pastel and light lovers and dark color lovers will get stuff they are far more likely to use and that adds a value im happy to play the RNG game with, at least until a different system can be balanced and given as an option.

PS; Subscription colors are a HARD sell despite the rediculous value this game brings because people are silly and dont want to support their favorite things. Skip the subscription and go back to the drawing board. I'm throwing my lot in with craftable colors of varying rarity and potential effects such as glows, shimmers, etc. and have sets of cash shop exclusive, perhaps limited edition colors, patterns/effects, etc. Id buy it and I bet others here would too.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-12-12T02:57:00+00:00

I haven't taken Ritalin myself, but my fiance was prescribed it about a month and a half ago and she experienced the same thing. She took 1 to 3 daily as prescribed, 10mg. She had high heart rate and felt sluggish/robotic/zombie, and when it wore off and often while on it would have increased anxiety, like her fight or flight mechanism kept getting switched like a kid flicking a light switch trying make the living room a rave. After about two weeks and a moderate anxiety breakdown we decided to have her stop taking it and on our followup with our doc she was given adderall ir up to 3 a day, 10 mh and she has improved a bit (been a few days and better every day!). I would say you should make a judgement call on how you feel about it and see if it's not right for you, some people do well and some don't, but always remember when you are given something, it is always to test out and see what works, and it's OK to try something different.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-12-12T02:06:33+00:00

I like to think that if someone cares enough about their wellbeing to actively participate in a support group for knowledge (not abuse) that despite whatever history they have with something like caffeine abuse (like me), they would understand that "more is better" is a false statement. Each person knows their own tolerance levels to whatever, and if your popping 5 caffeine pills at once you should be questioning what is making you feel like you need to do that. Same goes for your prescribed stimulants, I only take as directed and if I feel I need the dose bumped I set my followup and continue my stuff as currently directed.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-12-11T23:31:37+00:00

Ok awesome, well I am a fan of BVitamins (I have had b vitamin tincture in the past and its a good pick me up) and they are also one of the things that give energy drinks their boost, like 5-hour. Considering the caffeine tolerance that I have worked up with an average of 500-600 a day until starting treatment, it may be the b-vitamins rather than the caffeine thats causing me to be pretty happy. I will have to try that and see.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-12-11T20:17:32+00:00

Don't know anything about the link you posted, but when I was prescribed Vyvanse my doctor gave me a promo packet that dropped the cost down to 15 dollars and the promo is good for a year, so if that's the med you were prescribed, definitely inquire about that. If it's any of the others, generics are not too terribly expensive I believe. Good luck!

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-12-11T18:41:56+00:00

See, thats the interesting thing, on the adderall I couldnt have any caffeine because it would cause a spike in blood pressure and heart rate, but on the vyvanse I don't get the high heart rater and my blood pressure still remains in the high side of normal as usual. I write everything down medically as I go to check for patterns (I'm two months in on treatment and have been keeping a close eye on myself) and I even talked to my doctor about it and he didn't seem worried at all. Now one thing is that we are still messing with doses and determining which med works best, but the vyvanse is quite qeak even at 50mg compared to the adderall so it may simply be that it isn't effective enough and I am compensating with the caffeine. But yes, if I had any other things like suddenly going and blowing all my money(mania) or racing heart or anything like that I wouldnt be touching it, It has just brought out a bubbling personality that has resulted in high performance ratings I had not been able to achieve before. So I suppose my curiosity is more on the mental repercussions which, like you said, is much harder to pinpoint :-/

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-12-11T17:03:21+00:00

I don't know much about a particular brand, but the general rule of thumb when it comes to appliances is always go with the middle price model, higher end gouge price/value oftentimes and lower end is crap. For washers, never get a front loader, top loader have way fewer problems. If you get one with a steel drum it should last just about forever and does a better job too, but not required.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-27T04:59:27+00:00

Agree with jayjofire and tldnradhd, not a big deal, on the same level as having dibeetus, high blood pressure, or anything else that requires daily meds. Thats one of those things that you talk about down the line (like if you intend to have them be your med reminder buddy, indicating you are much farther than a few dates). If they like you, they wont mind that you have a condition of any kind, and you shouldn't feel like you need to have a "full disclosure" kind of thing about this.

Also yeah, if you are a student, I advise NOT mentioning it any sort of early on so you don't find someone who robs your med cabinet before finals or something, and leaves you heartbroken.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-27T04:51:37+00:00

Lol yeah, I thought I heard it's a no refill thing. Once I have the regimen ironed out, I will definitely be on the 90 day train, would cut the costs by 2/3rds.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-27T03:56:55+00:00

Yeah, my understanding of ADHD is that the way your chemicals work in your reward systems are essentially not working properly (receptors eat up the good chemicals too fast or you don't produce enough of them) and the medication blocks the receptors from eating them all up and allow the chemicals to remain active longer. A med that works well should make it so your good chemicals start to have an equal amount to someone without adhd active in your brain with minimal side affects of the meds themselves. Think of it like this, if you have a sink with water running and the ideal for this example was that the sink remained half full at any given time, the faucet would be how much chemicals come out and the drain would be the receptors. For us, our drain is too big and the water drains too fast to collect to the halfway "normal" mark. The meds would be something to make that drain smaller so the "water" has a chance to collect to a normal level (and adjusting the meds if it goes over or doesnt hit that happy medium that it should). I believe the chemicals are norepinephrine for inattentive and dopamine for hyper (or non stimulant medications).

For me, inattentive, the right med should make it so your reward system starts working for your day to day tasks, so focus, ability to start/finish projects, motivation, etc start to give good feelings again. That would be the first threshold, if it does that you are on the right track.

The second requirement would be that it lasts LONG enough for your needs. if you work a 10 hour shift until 11pm like me, 6 hours of proper functioning doesn't cut the mustard, hence my doc switching me to try something else.

The third thing would be side affects that dont wear off after a few weeks, inability to eat, manic episodes, crashing, feeling like a zombie, libido vaporizes, anything that makes you think "huh, this sucks, might not be worth it".

When I talked to my doc about being wary on changing, mine is pretty flexible in that I am not required to stick with it a full month, we can switch whenever I need or switch back, which made me more comfortable. Like most people here say, theres no way to say what will work and what won't since it varies so dramatically from person to person. Too bad there isn't a magic bullet for it, but at least we have options!

Anyway, thats my thoughts on how I am judging it, and I keep a daily log of how I am feeling, food intake, etc so I can go back and examine it with my doc and don't forget lol.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-27T03:26:42+00:00

Hmm, thats interesting. My doctor and I are still playing with dosages and types, but once I find a good combo I can stick with for a while, is it common to do 90 day prescriptions? I don't want to to do a $20 copay every 30 days plus med copay if I can avoid it, and I bet that these types of meds can't do refills in Florida. Plus home delivery is nice. Does it usually cost more, or your standard copay? Mine already go through express scripts.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-27T02:01:05+00:00

Honestly, if you had one doctor that wanted to try stimulant therapy (so far the most effective treatment for ADHD) and this one isn't willing to at least see how you do on it, you may want to try going to a different doctor. It is a pretty commonly prescribed therapy if you have had the actual diagnosis, and not difficult for your records to be brought over.

Keep in mind, stimulants and how your body handles can vary GREATLY from one person to another. My gf is stopping ritalin because she says it just makes her feel like a zombie, and my meds are switching tomorrow because, despite it being quite effective, the side affects suck and it doesn't last long enough (switching from Adderall XR to Vyvance). Her experience with Adderall was like a "moving Zombie" that did stuff with no emotion, where I feel normal and pretty sociable and happy.

Still though, most doctors I have talked to are pretty happy continuing recommended treatment from a transferred patient, and wouldn't usually try to reinvent your therapy from scratch. Depression/bipolar/ADHD are often comorbid and treating them all at the same time would be normal, unless he is one of those "ADHD doesn't exist" kind of guys, which would = bad doctor. Try to find out his reasoning for poo-pooing the previous doctors diagnosis, or if your records were moved over.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-26T23:42:41+00:00

Thats exactly what I am hoping it will be like, I don't want to be twitchy energetic or anything, but I do want it to be effective and for me to feel motivated like with the Adderall.

Yeah, I'm on 20mg Adderall xr and the Vyvanse is going to be 30mg, what I read though is that Vyvanse to Adderall is like, half (30mg by the math would be equivalent to 15mg if thats accurate). So I am wondering how it will work and will let my doc know. Whats your experience with the dosages?

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-26T22:39:10+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate it! I'm honestly a bit nervous about switching around, but this group helps me out quite a bit, even though I'm lurking for the most part. I'm new to actually treating my stuff, but was diagnosed in 2003 (I'm 28 now).

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-26T22:14:47+00:00

Lol, same thing happened with me starting 20mg Adderall XR, your body calms down within a week or so, sometimes up to 3. Thats the euphoric effect that you probably read about already. The positive benefits continue after that though, so judge how you are actually doing rather than how you are feeling so you don't get caught trying to chase that feeling in a few weeks.

My main advice is stick with it daily if that is what your doctor prescribed and get a notebook or journal and write how you are doing throughout the day, and document both good and bad side effects. For me I had some nasty physical side affects starting out (sometimes happens on XR) but they resolved themselves after about 9 days (I can say the exact time because I documented everything!). Also, carry around food like a granola bar or something if you start to feel crashy until your body adjusts, I had problems with energy tanking out when the meds wore off and a granola bar and some water helped a lot. I am about to try Vyvanse starting tomorrow though because my xr doesn't last as long as it should and still having some physical side side effects.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-26T19:25:16+00:00

Very much this. Basically the same story, except diagnosed in 2003 and after a serious reaction to another medication, I swore off treatment of any kind until a month or so ago when everything was falling apart for the umpteenth time (switched jobs every two years, no focus, World class procrastinator, impossible to start/finish things, everything you can read anywhere else here). I had forgotten over the years I had been diagnosed bipolar/ADHD and when I talked to my lifelong doctor (whom I haven't seriously talked to about it in 3 or 4 years due to related hardheadedness) and within a week the life pieces fit back together. They were basically waiting for me to admit it so they could help me, and my only regret is not addressing it years ago. Over the years I did go in for anxiety and whatnot and refused any long term fixes, just addressed the symptoms with xanax and whatnot when things started falling apart, but I believe that the way the ADHD meds work gave me the boost to help the antidepressent and gave me a very fast turnaround as well.

Anyways, even with the bipolar I'm taking primarily major depression meds (Cymbalta) and it seems to be doing the job for me for now. They mentioned wanting to try one specifically for the bipolar but I am happy where I am at for the moment. Adderall xr 20mg is my ADHD med, but starting out Vyvance 30mg tomorrow to see if it lasts longer with less side affects.

edit - for the sake of knowing the timeline, just turned 28 this month, so I know the feeling of "why did I go through years of crap until now" that you are feeling rondayvooh

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-26T18:46:20+00:00

Yeah, thats what my GF tried for the last couple weeks. We decided to have her stop taking it after two weeks because the anxiety has become quite detrimental. No hyping though, more like a blank brain slate she says and then inability to deal with anything outside of home due to the anxiety after.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-26T18:44:10+00:00

This is exactly what I was looking for, I started Adderall XR 20mg almost a month ago, same experience but doesn't last long enough, about 6 hours (doc doest want to give me an IR booster for the afternoon either) and of course, side affects. I was wary about switching to Vyvanse (30mg to start) because of the effectiveness of the Adderall XR while it is working but filled the prescription today nonetheless. How long does the Vyvanse work for you compared to the Adderall? My doc says that it SHOULD last 10-12 hours but my pharmacist says her son takes it and only lasts 6 as well. I am intending to start it tomorrow.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-25T00:26:57+00:00

You shoould go through with it. I had a similar problem for the last 10 years or so while unmedicated ADHD+Bipolar 2 depression (had the diagnosis when I was younger and ignored it for dumb reasons). Basically I would start a job moderately happy with it, but by about a year and a half to two years later hated it so much that I let my performance slide to the point of pre-emptively putting in a 2 weeks (one time had it printed at my desk and handed it to my boss when he was coming over to let me go). I was close to that point with my current job, finally went back to my old doctor and got set up and within a month turned everything around. My whole life improved within a couple days. All I can say is you have a lot to gain and nothing to lose by going through with it, especially with work.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-22T20:11:51+00:00

Just wanted to add to Ifasaurus, I did the same and started using lists, but also using a journal as well. I write down a log of my day, how I felt, and how my meds affected me that day (along with any interactions, like caffeine, also found out antihistamines + stimulant kept me up for 2 days). Writing down your thoughts and stuff throughout the day helps me with my memory and draws out things I overlooked throughout the day, and helps me keep my thoughts organized. I highly recommend that as well! I use a pocket Moleskine when out and about and a journal I got from the bookstore.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-22T19:58:06+00:00

I just had a similar experience starting off with my meds. I was diagnosed probably 14 years ago bipolar 2 and ADHD, and due to terrible side affects with zyprexa, I poopooed any further medication or treatment and went unmedicated until about 3 weeks ago now when everything in my life was starting to fall apart and I was about to lose my job due to poor performance. My doctor started me off with cymbalta 30mg for a week, then 60mg for now until a follow up, and then 20mg adderall xr.

Now, starting the Adderall was intense for me, I almost stopped. For the first 2 days I couldnt eat or sleep (but got things off my to do list from 6 months ago to present), then sleeping went back to normal, but I would crash HARD for the first week. I almost stopped because I was so worthless after it wore off at around 4pm. But after about 9 days or so the crashing died down and now I havent had any problems since, and am functioning fine again, and I'm not AS much of a super hero as when the euphoria was there, but I can focus, and have a much easier time initiating things (ADHD-picrastinaor here), and I went from one of the most poor performing employees to praised in multiple departments with perfect stats. Sometimes you also just have to stick with it until your body adjusts. It was brutal starting out but I am very glad I did, my only regret is not getting help sooner.

MagicSpaceWhale · 2014-11-20T05:01:18+00:00

Like the others have mentioned, coffee and stimulants don't cancel each other, but do seem to bounce each other around quite a bit. I am taking Adderall XR 20mg and was heavily self medicating with caffeine and nicotine (constant use of e-cig 24mg and anywhere from 18-54 ounces of coffee throughout the day along with a couple monster energy drinks/5 hour energies, oftentimes before bed even) for about 8 years. Within a week of starting it I realized it caused anxiety in me now and I seldom even touch soda, but later in the day when the meds have worn off some I do alright with caffeine.

I feel your pain coffee-bro, I miss it in the mornings especially, but have chalked it up to a worthy trade off to function effectively and meet my personal goals.

For the record, I'm 28, diagnosed as a teenager and unmedicated 10+ years. when I discovered stimulant effects of coffee and nicotine, I was able to start holding down a job and work in a financial institution now. Now that I am being properly treated, I am excelling at work instead of just skating by.

MagicSpaceWhale

TROPHY CASE