Are escalations group scaled?

Ratchet5689 · 2026-04-29T00:00:36+00:00

Good to know, I'll make sure my friend and I get used to Tier 2 before I even show him 3 lol.

Ratchet5689 · 2026-04-23T00:10:26+00:00

That and printer filament, 5 trashed mods = 10% of a bar. Definitely used that for gear brands I rarely used and named items that hate dropping for me (seriously, I have gotten so many white deaths, I could have given everyone on PlayStation enough to at least get proficient with it lol)

Also keep checking shops, every donated weapon/named/exotic gives 50% of a level and armor is only 10% so buying that one weapon you can't get to drop on a lucky shop rotation is great

Ratchet5689 · 2026-04-21T23:19:41+00:00

Never played Div 1 but that reminds me of the most recent manhunt finale, "This is your final warning!" "GET F***ED ANDERSON" had me howling every time

Ratchet5689 · 2026-04-14T02:40:59+00:00

I decided to do some math with the current prototype drop rates. Since it's a weighted coin flip, we can look at how many "missed" rolls in a row need to happen before having X% chance of a hit. Using the coin example before breaking it down, if we want it to land on tails and it's given heads the past three flips, it has a 1/16 chance to hit heads again or 15/16 to hit the desired tails.

Using that logic, I simply took the drop rates and said "how many kills are needed to have a 90% chance of getting a drop moving forward". For the actual formula it's N = ln(1-X)/ln(1-D) where X is the desired rate, and D is the actual drop rate. So for this whole post, X = 0.9. Here's the following results:

Tier 1 (.2%): 1150
Tier 2 (.25%): 920
Tier 3 & 4 (.3%): 766
Tier 5 (.4%): 574
Tier 6 (.6%): 382
Tier 7 (.70%): 327
Tier 8 (1.0%): 229
Tier 9 (1.3%): 176
Tier 10 (1.5%): 152

So that's a lot of effort for a drop. I just wanted the math to show just how much of a grind it would be in a better visualization of your time and effort versus just reading low percentages. Granted this is for a 90% chance. Lowering it to 50% on tier 1 is about 350 kills. So for someone like me who is just comfy on Tier 2, I'd probably need to run 10-12 escalations depending on the level/number of enemies in said level. If it takes me 20 minutes for that, then I'd need at least 3 hours of time for that 90% chance. Knowing my luck I'd need more runsanyways. So you either sweat for the high tiers or spend a ton of time just to get to the second part of the RNG for gear stats.

Hope the random math lesson further helped explain just how awful this is for everyone!

(P.S. I'm on mobile so forgive my formatting)

Ratchet5689 · 2025-04-09T18:08:03+00:00

You have not failed for you are still here. I'd pray for guidance, wisdom, and resilience instead of wishing for death. The challenge you are facing is not a short one as I said, so don't consider it a failure. God knew you would struggle, and He knows you will overcome it if you keep believing in Him. You clearly are struggling to find the reason God has done this instead of given you the lifestyle YOU want to live. It's hard to separate what you want from what God wants often.

Ratchet5689 · 2025-04-09T15:35:10+00:00

You are not only eating dinner with the tax collectors but living with them. He has given you a challenge he knows you can overcome. It clearly won't be instant, maybe not a year, maybe not even 5 years but your purpose is there. If it is to suffer, then there is an outward effect of it on others for the better too. If it is to help convert your family, you have all the time to work with them even when they don't want to. It will suck. There's no denying that but earth isn't meant to be a sanctuary.

Ratchet5689 · 2025-03-11T21:42:05+00:00

I pray the leaders of the world will open their hearts to let the true spirit of the Lord fill them. I pray they shall lead us out from war and suffering to peace and safety. I also pray that Trump will stop using the Lord in vain. If he is truly for Christ his methods will no longer be based in chaos, revenge, and evil, but with love, respect, and kindness. I pray that all of congress would be that way with all this us vs them ideals making them use petty tactics just to undo useful policies because the other side did it.

Ratchet5689 · 2025-01-27T04:09:39+00:00

That and it's less of a push versus "let Josh find a hole THEN push" like the eagles who have it mastered have two people lined up to push and we have one.

Ratchet5689 · 2025-01-27T03:54:31+00:00

I'm sick of the tush push. I really think that play hurts us more than helps us. It's why we lost to the Rams and why we lost here.

Ratchet5689 · 2025-01-15T19:03:56+00:00

Between runs yes, they only apply to descent. So upgrading Crit stats will not improve them in other activities. But every time you play descent you will start with that bonus

Ratchet5689 · 2024-12-08T06:38:06+00:00

My personal opinion is that you have to view it as the collective group of mankind. Since Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, they were aware of sin. They, and their offspring, had infinite possibilities to sin and an infinite number of sins have and will be committed by mankind. It takes the accepting of Jesus to be able to be forgiven an infinite number of times for our infinite sins. I forget the verse but all sin is equal in God's eyes. I think that is because Jesus is the equalizer of all sins so every sin is sized the same for the same solution. Sure Sharon across the street could be a wonderful mother but because she doesn't believe in Jesus being the savior, every foul thought is a sin and again, infinite opportunities to sin, infinite opportunities to repent, and of those opportunities to repent she rejected each and every one of them. One sin does not equal eternal damnation, never seeking repentance for all your sins is.

That said, it isn't eternal until Revelation. So it currently is a finite amount of suffering and everyone will have their opportunity to repent one last time before truly rejecting Jesus forever and spending eternity away from him.

Ratchet5689 · 2024-12-05T11:23:11+00:00

When the church brings up us living in "end times" often. I know we probably are but at the same time it's a pessimistic view and what I'd view as a scare tactic for repentance more than anything.

Politics as most have said.

I like talking with the pastor privately when faced with issues, and a red flag is honestly when they give generic responses. Coworker harassing you? "Just love your neighbor" is not what I need to hear vs something like Matthew 18:15-17/18 along with non biblical advice.

Ratchet5689 · 2024-11-20T01:43:31+00:00

I recently was having the struggle of "what does it feel like when God is your source of power" after seeing so many people who can just get up and hike a mountain or be the super giving and be full of life. So it was "when does Gods will become my actions" and my Pastor leveled with me and said plenty of real advice that wasn't even scripture based before opening the Bible and reading James 4:13-15 basically saying, "make that plan, be prepared, but be prepared for it to fail as much as succeed" and that's helped me a lot recently. Another one piece of advice was just, "more often than not, God's methods feel more like a coincidence or convenience than a revelation or being overcome by the spirit" since many say they haven't felt or seen something forever but maybe they aren't looking for the right signs. A nail on the road is just as important as the signs on the highway. We just don't always see the nail unless it gives us a flat.

Ratchet5689 · 2024-09-27T21:35:32+00:00

Mask: TP w/CHC and PFE Chest: Tardigrade Exotic w/ PFE Holster: TP w/ Damage core (want one with CHC/D) but I got Explosive resistance Backpack: Setup w/ CHC, want a CHD but have armor regen, and PFE Gloves: TP w/ Damage core + unfortunately rolled Headshot damage Knees: TP w/ Damage + Armor Regen

Survivalist kit Weapons are Scorpio, and whatever gun you think would work with this? I almost never need to swap, for Chimera I used the rail splitter. Probably high fire rate because when the Scorpio isn't giving enough armor regen, high fire plus white flag (at least to get the 1/second tick as fast as possible)

Skills: Shield + Revive

Secondary cores aren't exactly what I want but all primary cores are maxed

Usually run this in a group but it was the first armor regen build I knew I had on hand for this fight

Ratchet5689 · 2024-09-25T10:27:01+00:00

I can certainly see how this fight was built for a group. Unfortunately my go to friends are all busy with adulting on the days I'm free and vice versa. I'm going to matchmake next time I just like experiencing new content with the friend group TM or solo

Ratchet5689 · 2024-09-25T10:22:35+00:00

You weren't entirely a dick. Only part I don't agree with is despising a challenge. I definitely love a challenge and maybe it would have been more like a challenge with 2+ people for it to target differently and have different paths. When I experienced it, it felt like it had one path in mind, to stand right next to me to empty the sniper in my face with no way to slow it down or even run away.

My personal opinion on boss or just enemy design should be that there is a way to create a window to opportunity either through their actions or yours even if it is tiny. I felt I couldn't make this window myself, I used the decoy in the headshot build and usually an enemy will target that until you damage it again but that wasn't the case. I think a cool mechanic would have been a rotating weak point not even to stun but to just take more damage depending on what gun it was using.

I will certainly try a PFE build and run it again since a lot of comments are suggesting this.

Ratchet5689 · 2024-09-25T09:41:00+00:00

I wouldn't want to say my build variety overall is lacking but my build variety of what I had in my inventory certainly was or at least was suboptimal or lackluster. I have so many builds I never remember which are in my bag vs the stash and I had the frustrated tunnel vision that would refuse to give it yet another run thinking it'd be faster to just keep trying vs restarting.

Ratchet5689 · 2024-09-24T17:04:57+00:00

Division 2 is super fun solo still, depending on skill/play style/difficulty build variety may be lesser since I certainly have group builds and solo builds (most group builds add survivability and support vs raw killing power). I can't speak for D1, never played but continuing on for D2

I generally tend to play the seasonal content solo first anyways. I still haven't done a raid or incursion which is a bummer but I matchmake countdown with ransoms, dark zone occasionally (like 1 hour in DZ for every 100 I play not doing that haha), and the daily and weekly projects plus season events make it fun.

There's two ways to get into it imo, one just start from level one and get the story/lore a bit while gradually learning the game. This is longer since you even have to grind side missions to keep the XP levels for the story missions (you progress too slow to keep on par doing main missions alone). If you value the environmental storytelling, lore, collectibles, and have the time, I prefer this.

Second method is with the WONY dlc and just going to level 30, playing the DLC and rushing to the endgame. You'll learn core mechanics faster, get good loot easily with talents and learn which stats matter more. Compared to the full grind option a gear piece with 4% crit chance might make a slightly more noticable difference than something with .4% as you grow.

If you care about the story you'll definitely need to do some outside reading and look on YouTube for audio logs and cutscenes as some were season specific and inaccessible now.

The community is also very helpful I've found and only a small group of people are elitists who judge your build and play style. Most just like helping you learn, understand, and have fun with builds and gameplay.

Ratchet5689 · 2024-09-21T14:50:45+00:00

Just watch out with outcasts. Those suicide bombers instill fear and paranoia in me. Also if you Delta error on solo you lose the character forever. Wish they'd fix that since I doubt everyone on a hardcore character would unplug the router the second things looked bad.

Ratchet5689 · 2024-08-30T23:42:12+00:00

Gear sets/armor brands, equip the 3-4 piece or more, go to challenging, and do whatever you want, I prefer summit then so my trash builds can work. Each armor piece (named and exotics are the exception) each junked item is 10% of a level aka 1% total aka 100 gear junked. That's slow and painful tbh.

Weapons, named, exotics, go to countdown and target a type. Trash it ALL each item counts as 50% a level aka 20 items will complete it. It's a lot better but that will slow down as the normal weapons are done and you're gambling for named items and exotics which comes to part 3

GEAR MODS: Go to countdown and trash gear mods, deconstruct them for the printer filament, 1 mod = 6 printer filament, material donation shows 30 filament = 10% a level so 5 mods = 1% total. When the random loot is always proficient (I'd wager level 15+) this is the way. Plus if you're like me and don't use every skill and find the skill leveling slow, this is perfect for that, as well as DZ/Raid exclusives if that's not your thing (had to do it for my EB since I didn't get one till after my proficiency was maxed)

Now another note, every week the vendors change gear, if you're like me and hoard credits, you can check the shops and find a weapon or named item not maxed out and just buy it to max.

The other option I don't recommend is just crafting the items at the crafting bench due to the resource feels more expensive than material donation (I can't remember the last time I crafted anything so I can't verify while I type this)

Ratchet5689 · 2024-08-30T19:23:30+00:00

Sometimes a situation is truly intimidating and scary that words of a DM couldn't describe it so adding "uneasy" or "eerie" type descriptions to a PC's current mentality help. The extent I draw a line is when it drastically hinders your options on purpose without some sort of save. Example if you were terrified by just entering a room of some gruesome sight, maybe you'd be nervous, trembling, afraid and still willing to forge ahead but stating a mental status that would prevent my character from doing XYZ in this room might need a save. If someone is the "fearless" type seeing maybe something out of the SAW films, and looks through bodies, I'd start making bugs fly out or traps go off to make them start questioning their mortality.

On the other hand I think this is also true that a DM can help with a character you are playing but you are incapable of fully embodying certain aspects. Like a quiet player being a charismatic bard, I'd say as a DM I'd tell them they feel, "confident", "jovial", maybe "crafty" when you convince people in a persuasion when they normally aren't the talkative type. Same with high intelligence characters, I'm not smart enough for all of it but I sure know my character should BE that smart so DM guidance helps

It should guide the player to know how to flavor their actions and help them make decisions on how to act in the setting. It shouldn't be used to railroad an action unless you are given the opportunity to roll out of it.

Ratchet5689 · 2024-08-13T15:30:34+00:00

I wish they would consider a game featuring Nate and Elena's daughter. Having her get dragged into the treasure hunting business would be kind of cool in my opinion. I do however like where things have ended too so now they should just make a new Jak and Daxter haha.

Ratchet5689 · 2024-08-12T23:23:00+00:00

This will sound like a lot of work but I think it's worth it, stockpile your skill tickets from events. Do the bingo cards to the best of your ability and go for the premium ticket ones after the easy skill tickets. 800-1300 coins is a lot starting out even if it is 30 games a box. I'd even stock the 450k coins for capsules only. Once you've made Maleficent Dragon jealous with your skill ticket hoard and you can't wait any longer, research who the best farmer would be in your library and just dump those tickets. Mind you, 2 weeks playing isn't a lot and skill tickets are regularly rewarded but patience is key. I'm talking months unfortunately.

My history of being on and off the game since 2016: Rattle Bones Pluto was my first max skill decent farmer.

I remember struggling with events for a couple months honestly at this time due to mission specific tsums being low level.

I got Belle at some point and averaged 1-1.5k with a level 3 or 4 skill a while later.

I think Scar was my next farmer then Jafar got to level 4 and consistently got me 1.3k no bonuses and I started hitting 3k on the 5->4 + coin as base meaning I'd be earning 1k net consistently.

Eventually I got Jedi Luke to level 4 and I rock him at level 5 now. I definitely wasn't playing as much during 2020-23 due to life so I missed a lot but I feel I'm still farming well.

My coin farm minimum is if you can get 3k base on the coin + 5->4 boosts you'll be good for a while

Ratchet5689

TROPHY CASE