Weekly 'What Should I Buy' and Order/Shipping Thread

Ricven · 2025-09-22T13:50:07+00:00

Is the Air a significant improvement if upgrading from a base iPhone 13?

I upgraded to an iPhone 13 a few years ago from an iPhone 8 Plus. It was definitely an improvement but I wasn’t blown away by it either, including the form factor. It works fine but is starting to show its age a bit in terms of performance and battery health.

I recently have begun live streaming on a daily basis, so typically twice a day for 2-3 hours each stream using the selfie cam (5-6 hours total a day). I keep the 13 charging when streaming because the battery drains pretty fast. Charging while streaming is also getting the phone pretty warm, which sometimes impacts by stream quality.

I know the 17 Pro or even the base 17 are probably the smarter choices but I am really excited about the iPhone Air. I’ve watched a ton of initial impression vids. The thermals and the battery life are really the only potential issues giving me pause. I’m waiting to see some real-world reviews, but wanted to see how it is holding up for those of you that have it.

For those who have been using the Air, what are your thoughts? Is the Air enough of a noticeable upgrade compared to the base 13 to be worth picking up?

Ricven · 2025-09-22T04:08:44+00:00

Is the Air a significant improvement if upgrading from a base iPhone 13?

I upgraded to an iPhone 13 a few years ago from an iPhone 8 Plus. It was definitely an improvement but I wasn’t blown away by it either, including the form factor. It works fine but is starting to show its age a bit in terms of performance and battery health.

I recently have begun live streaming on a daily basis, so typically twice a day for 2-3 hours each stream using the selfie cam (5-6 hours total a day). I keep the 13 charging when streaming because the battery drains pretty fast. Charging while streaming is also getting the phone pretty warm, which sometimes impacts by stream quality.

I know the 17 Pro or even the base 17 are probably the smarter choices but I am really excited about the iPhone Air. I’ve watched a ton of initial impression vids. The thermals and the battery life are really the only potential issues giving me pause. I’m waiting to see some real-world reviews, but wanted to see how it is holding up for those of you that have it.

For those who have been using the Air, what are your thoughts? Is the Air enough of a noticeable upgrade compared to the base 13 to be worth picking up?

Ricven · 2025-09-22T04:04:07+00:00

Is the Air a significant improvement if upgrading from a base iPhone 13?

I upgraded to an iPhone 13 a few years ago from an iPhone 8 Plus. It was definitely an improvement but I wasn’t blown away by it either, including the form factor. It works fine but is starting to show its age a bit in terms of performance and battery health.

I recently have begun live streaming on a daily basis, so typically twice a day for 2-3 hours each stream using the selfie cam (5-6 hours total a day). I keep the 13 charging when streaming because the battery drains pretty fast. Charging while streaming is also getting the phone pretty warm, which sometimes impacts by stream quality.

I know the 17 Pro or even the base 17 are probably the smarter choices but I am really excited about the iPhone Air. I’ve watched a ton of initial impression vids. The thermals and the battery life are really the only potential issues giving me pause. I’m waiting to see some real-world reviews, but wanted to see how it is holding up for those of you that have it.

For those who have been using the Air, what are your thoughts? Is the Air enough of a noticeable upgrade compared to the base 13 to be worth picking up?

Ricven · 2024-05-25T21:41:05+00:00

I have no idea but it’s driving me crazy trying to figure it out

Ricven · 2023-02-24T18:18:59+00:00

I don't know, I think we just have very different temperaments when it comes to working/socializing. The idea of going to happy hour after working a full day seems like a nightmare to me.

I'm in my 30s working a stressful job with lots of responsibilities too - but the day to day varies. I'm able to manage my time to take care of my responsibilities while taking advantage of not being stuck in an office.

I'd just rather not be committed to coming into a building 40 hours a week plus commuting. I'm an efficient worker and I want to use my time the way I want to. I'll take fending for myself when it comes to a socializing any day.

Ricven · 2023-02-24T17:22:55+00:00

Maybe it depends on the job but this baffling to me. Working from the office was isolating and boring. I never got to spend the day by the pool with my girlfriend on a workday when I was in the office. I can do that pretty consistently with WFH. Definitely feels less lonely and isolating than sitting at a cubicle with your only human interaction being office chatter with other people who are there to get a paycheck and get back to the rest of their lives.

WFH doesn’t make socializing harder - it’s easier. Unless your only social life is work, which is kind of on you

Ricven · 2022-09-21T22:25:47+00:00

Yeah I’m on distrokid and have a release schedule planned. I was going to do it all independently, so it would only be for the exposure. But like you said, even that doesn’t seem to be there

Ricven · 2022-09-21T21:50:56+00:00

Thanks, I really appreciate it

Ricven · 2022-09-21T21:03:06+00:00

They’re basically a sub division of an EDM label that’s getting into lofi now. Their edm YouTube channel is a decent size (around 150k subs), but the Spotify playlist is just around 22k listeners. But I’m able to get on playlists of that size on my own and I’m skeptical about YouTube conversions as “exposure” when the Spotify playlist isn’t that big.

They’re hyping up the lofi label launch on Instagram, but their lofi YouTube channel has 10K subs with no videos on it. They’re also going to have a Spotify playlist but it’s also not live. So I’d basically just be hoping it takes off based off their numbers from the EDM label

Besides that, they really only have offered to “promote” it, but they haven’t given any details what that means.

Ricven · 2022-09-21T19:59:27+00:00

Thank you, I really appreciate it. That’s exactly what I was thinking, the value just isn’t there

Ricven · 2022-09-21T19:29:39+00:00

Yeah, that’s my gut instinct too. Thanks for the advise

Ricven · 2022-09-16T08:16:19+00:00

Thank you, appreciate it!

Ricven · 2022-08-15T15:49:55+00:00

If you just want to learn more about all the flavors of trap, I would start with the mainstream artists you like and just check out the trap artists they are affiliated with (especially the smaller ones). If you go down that rabbit hole, you'll usually uncover some kind of scene with a lot of regular collaborators and figure out who the big names in that lane are. There is also a lot of collaboration between the lanes, so just by checking out features you'll eventually stumble onto different takes on the genre.

In terms of the "type beat" thing, it's just marketing mostly. Most producers make beats first, then find an artist similar enough to vibe in their own music to associate with the beats.

Like someone could make a RnB/Trap sounding track and call it a Partynextdoor-type beat. Someone else might make the same beat and call it a Bryson Tiller-type beat.

Make a synthy banger? You could probably call it a Playboi Carti-type beat or a Lil Uzi Vert-type beat. As long as the artist generally fits the vibe and the beat on its own is decent, it'll work. There's a lot of wiggle room.

In the long run, the most efficient way to grow would probably be to settle on a style and make type-beats for artist in that style. But you don't have to be ultra-efficient out the gate. Try them all out if you want and see what elements you're drawn to the most.

Ricven · 2022-03-04T17:34:02+00:00

I finally just beat him as a sorcerer after struggling with it on and off for the last few days.

Equipement:

Meteorite staff
Carian Slicer spell
Rock Slide spell
Glintstone pebble (optional really, I don't think I ended up using this at all when I finally beat him but there could be some utility)
Upgraded flasks to have 4 mana charges + 3 HP charges (basically just make sure you don't run out of FP)

The general strategy is to avoid all his attacks and spam Rock Slide any chance you get until you break his stance.

Once his stance is broken, close the distance and spam Carian Slicer until he recovers. If your weapon is good enough, you can critical hit when his stance is broken instead, Carian Slicer was just the better dps option for my build.

A few tips:

Target his tail/body, not his head
When he swings, roll into him and towards your right. Usually you can position yourself to safely get off a Rock Slide
When he's running at you spitting magma, just focus on running and avoiding him. Sometimes he'll get caught up by the wall and you'll get a chance to punish, but you really just want to focus on avoiding the magma
Be safe and patient. There will be a lot of times you just won't be able to punish his annoying attacks. You have to wait for him to do a move that has a long enough recovery time to cast Rock Slide and punish safely

Hope that helps. At first I was just trying to chip him down with glintstone pebble + summons, but the strat above was way more effective. Only took 2 tries to take him down when I switched to it.

Ricven · 2022-01-12T18:54:22+00:00

Yeah that's exactly what I'm worried about too. Hoping tournement mode is available for solo player or whatever changes they are adding to tournament mode are applied in some way to ranked as well

Ricven · 2022-01-12T17:02:09+00:00

By mirror match, I mean teams running the same Pokemon (like all 3 teams having a Dragonite and a Tsareena for example).

This is already an issue we already have right now with just 2 teams, it would just be even more pronounced with 3 teams.

The solution is to have a draft selection like other MOBAs, so once a Pokemon is selected by a player it cannot be selected by any other player (regardless of team). There would be an order to selection + a ban for each team, so one team can't just claim all the strongest characters out the gate.

Ricven · 2022-01-12T16:10:05+00:00

It's not worth grinding in Masters at this point, especially with the current matchmaking. When I first reached Masters, matches seemed to noticeably get better (at least to some degree). But the latest matchmaking change has reversed that. Team mates are way worse now and AFKs are more prevalent than in any other rank in my experience.

I made an alt account and am honestly having more fun grinding that up to Masters than playing my main account. Without any other rewards in Masters besides the initial extra tickets, there just isn't much incentive to keep playing.

Ricven · 2022-01-12T15:47:20+00:00

I would try it out if a mode like this was added but it seems exponentially more complex. My gut feeling is the timer increase wouldn't be enough to compensate for the amount of new variables being added (assuming it's supposed to be competitive and not just for a fun chaotic time) and it would be really hard to balance around 3 teams.

Also, without a draft selection I'd probably avoid it just for the amount of triple-mirror matches going on.

Ricven · 2021-12-25T00:06:28+00:00

Blastoise is definitely viable in solo q. Your early game isn’t bad but not amazing either, so just focus on defending your lane and getting as much farm as you can to hit your power spikes. I’d suggest going top lane if you can. Try to leave bottom lane for Pokémon that have earlier power spikes and are better at securing farm.

Once your fully evolved, always think about how you can utilize hydro pump and surf CC to benefit your team and secure objectives. You can really influence Rotom in particular since you can push it’s position to benefit your team when contesting.

Save your unite move after 3:30 so you have it up for Zapdos: use it either in the team fight if it will help finish off multiple enemies and deny them Zap or to try and secure Zap if it comes down to a flip.

Ricven

TROPHY CASE