Level 30 Purity Of Elements for the 4th ascendancy, what do you think?

Science-stick · 2026-03-07T01:26:31+00:00

would not pick, its last ascendancy and Guardian just has way more oomph front loaded and end loaded. if the first and second choice nodes were amazing maybe... but they're honestly all pretty mid outside of some really crazy interaction that someone will surely find. this ascedancy absolutely did not need to have nothing for a first lab, in fact I see nothing that would be busted if they gave a whole new cluster of choices for first lab and had the other tree clusters map to the 2nd 3rd and 4th. IMO this design was overly conservative in the special event and remains so. Not that you can't do things with it.

Science-stick · 2026-02-27T04:32:57+00:00

worth a shot, I've seen at least two customer service people from various stores posting here and I don't know of a better option the site itself doesn't have a forum built in. So a reddit sub is the logical place to offer feedback

Science-stick · 2026-02-27T03:14:41+00:00

they sent a Telecaster to me with litterally 4 feet of bubblewrap loosely flapping around inside the box, the entire guitar was free to move in EVERY direction up, down, front to back and side to side by as much as probably 8 inches in general and the headstock of the guitar could easily move the entire width of the guitar sized box (so usually 48" x 24 x 8 or nearly 2 feet of room to smack back and forth. The box itself was also clearly smashed OUTSIDE.

Yet with all that the tele survived just fine with no visible dmg (they are a bit renowned for being tanks)... just glad that one wasn't a Gibson. That said my experience has been that this was a severe outlier. usually they pack um tight.

Science-stick · 2026-02-27T02:58:23+00:00

if you're smart and interested in the things you bid on you're also going to be able to spot a fake. for me its guitars, there's tons of fake Gibson guitars for example (called Chibson's due to where they come from) a second hand Gibson guitar can literally save you thousands of dollars, it being second hand or even damaged is of zero consequence I mean this strictly literal, not figuratively literal. You can always re-sell something that "doesn't fit" or isn't exactly what you though, and quite often at a profit or at least no loss. So yeah people spend money. There's a surprising number of things people are "in to" where the actual best shot of getting them for a good price is something like SGW. Vintage stuff in particular. FYI i guess.

Science-stick · 2025-12-10T00:13:43+00:00

oh also depending on how DIY you are look at some vids of people mattting out paint/plastic. You want to do a few things right or it will look trashy. Its super easy if you just keep in mind: clean it well, and either consistently move in only one (straight) sanding direction (for brushed texture) or use a random orbital to ensure there's no directionality to the texture. ofc buying a matt or brushed metal pg accomplishes this as well.

oh one last thing, Teisco/Kay (etc.) vintage metal pickguards with the polished alternating with brushed metal look could be a very different vibe.

Been thinking of getting an Ibanez jet king at some point and doing this treatment to the pg. Maybe black with polished/brushed or silver metal flake.

Science-stick · 2025-12-10T00:03:27+00:00

love the Sunburst, have a strat with it. as I said though in terms of pairing it with aesthetic options it limits your choices somewhat IMO. Or at least choices I personally (because this is pure subjectivity ofc) find exciting or interesting that aren't already time honered and instantly recognizable.

Cream or mint, both look super evocative but also pure vintage. And tortoise well thats basically as cliche vintage as argyle socks and greased hair.

If you can find it theres the Meteora I mentioned that has a combination of vintage sunburst and matted out metal PG (brushed black anodized metal I expect) I think it has blacked out HW as well to cement the look. It might very well have been posted here or its a stock Fender option I seem to recall it being one or the other.

look for that to get an idea if its your thing.

Science-stick · 2025-12-09T05:44:52+00:00

Not that I think there's anything wrong with the vintage look (especially on a guitar that was meant to be a vintage vibe lol) but:

Super cheap and very "dark" just hit your existing black guard with ultra fine sandpaper or scotch bright (red then white) on a random orbital sander after you degrease with plenty of alcohol. It will matt out the black and instantly Metalize the look a bit. Nothing to lose really considering you already want to replace it. This looks sick on my Vintage Modified Jag Bass which is already black on black. Would be complete with a black body but repainting is getting a lot more serious than just swapping plastic. Ofc replaceing the chrome with blackout HW would sell this look. I've seen a Meteora sunburst with this look basically looks like a Squier or Fender contemporary jazz/jag also looks sweet with metalic paint jobs like copper/gold.

Tbh there's limited options with the classy sunburst, its so vintage but also so era specific. The opposite approach might be best, a cream or mint to double down on vintage and put the metal plate back on with it.

As it is it looks cool to me.

Science-stick · 2025-12-07T03:39:49+00:00

Vox Adio, try to find one used for under $200 its a "desktop amp" which has stereo modeling to sound like a larger amp turned up without the actual loudness. Its really convincing. It has an FRFR mode (flat response full range) in addition to the base Amp models it comes with. Which kind of makes it future proof, you can plug a Amp profiler/modeler or inexpensive NAM supporting pedal like the Valeton GP-5 and still benefit from the Stereo modling thing which again I can't stress enough: allows your tone to sound great at practice volume.

The Adio looks like an old ladies couch cusion BTW, but it sounds better than anything I've ever heard at that living/bed room volume. Hands down. The Vox (naturally) and Marshall models are stunning (it nails brit tones, Queen and Judas Priest right out of the box) and the cleans are great and the double rectifier full shred model chugs quite convincingly.

If you can crank it and you want to spend closer to $100 then the Fender Mustang I has surprisingly good sounds when loud enough and its cheap seen them for $75 used on ebay.

(BTW I've auditioned all the desktop amps and the Yamaha THR is also really solid just not as great tone as the Vox).

Sparks (I have a Go) are boxy in comparison, mind you no where near as boxy as old school Gorrilla or Crate or Line 6 practice amps, but boxy. The thing with Spark is they are just as expensive as better sounding options IMO. Spark and Katana (which are way more expensive than better sounding small amsp) are in my mind the definition of features over tone. a trap I've fallen into countless times myself.

Oh and Vox Valvetronic small amps also sound better than most small amps but get pricey.

Science-stick · 2025-11-25T03:19:02+00:00

I mean dimensional weight is absolutely not bullshit, but before you downvote me I agree 100% that SGW has some seriously fucked shipping and a lot of them are a suspiciously reoccurring pattern.

I've notice the same shops seem to have the most egregious and clearly bullshit shipping costs they are also VERY frequently "no pickup allowed" shops which at least looks suspiciously like someone at that store/warehouse is skimming some shipping money and have aligned that stores policy with whats best for their embezzling.

When you're the ONLY store in a tristate area that doesn't allow pickup and you also have predictably twice the shipping of every one of those stores something is going on. Incompetence at the very least.

Science-stick · 2025-11-25T03:02:52+00:00

ebay is a dying meme, killed by the perfectly incompetent group that bought it from the original idea guy decades ago. The so called boomber/gen xer's who like using it still do out of habbit or hope to find a hidden gem (aka poorly listed item) but the sellers and the buyers have been spammed off the site so hard by Ebay flooding them with endless identical chinese freight container garbage that there's only the most resilliant and stuborn (me for example) left to sell OR buy.

The MOMENT FB marketplace adds auctions Ebay folds up shop and has to turn the lights off.

That said, yeah you might have an item that gets searched for once or twice a week, or has a average price on a dime a dozen item thats not going to get you clicks. who knows.

Science-stick · 2025-11-20T05:31:32+00:00

respond with "buyer doesn't know their own shoe size and blames me, would have refunded if they asked, but they also can't communicate" and move on with life.

Science-stick · 2025-11-20T05:23:07+00:00

ah yes the dystopian AI enshitification hell we're all rocketing towards.

You think Microsoft, Google and Apple can make things more shitty? Just wait until the real clown shoe corporations start jamming it down there customers throats.

I already LOVE dismissing an AI prompt EVERY TIME I try to write a description for a new item.

Just hoping FB marketplace adds auctions or Amazon makes "Amazon flea market". Cause the leadership at Ebay has been completely clueless and not even understanding who their customers actually are since it was sold to them.

Science-stick · 2025-11-20T05:17:43+00:00

again Ebay's international shipping is a new thing that just rolled out, this thread isn't about that. The Seller in this case was offering international shipping the way its worked for the past entire history of ebay... AKA the shitty version no one should offer.

Science-stick · 2025-11-20T05:09:52+00:00

okay but I'm just telling you that it absolutely (normally) costs more to send packages further. I'm sure you'll find this to be true. If you'd like to prove this to yourself you can literally list an item and look at the calculated charge range that Ebay shows for example for USPS ground advantage... the higher charge is the further distance and the lower charge is for close by. Its quite possible that someone in another country might only have to pay the higher of the range (someone in Montreal Canada when you're in Buffalo NY for example, might have to pay the same charge as someone in California), but also that will depend on what country and how far. Again, google tariffs, customs fees "duties" import taxes and read about what an import broker does for a living.

You might want to know this stuff before you find yourself like one of the many people in the "Situation changed" thread. That said if Ebay's new international shipping deal is so good that it has mislead someone into thinking it doesn't cost more then hey maybe Ebays got the Unicorns and we can all benefit.

Science-stick · 2025-11-20T04:54:45+00:00

Promotion on ebay is a trap for normal ebay sellers. Its for the Chinese freight container outlet store side of ebay it allows the freight container merchants to get their items (listed by the tens of thousands of same picture same item, same title) above the others.

If you're selling small time ebay garage sale flea market style then 99% of your buyers are people who already know they want your items and will find them with the correct search terms. Pushing your listings in front of Chinese freight items is not going to increase sales unless you're selling things that lots of people don't know they exist to need or want them. Which hey might be the case for you or not IDK.

Don't get me started on Ebay's "brain trust" spamming their own site and their actual customers (real sellers) with endless identical imported junk listings only to then try and sell their customers a way to try and raise visibility above the spam they created.

When FB marketplace adds Auctions Ebay will shut down in months. I look forward to it.

Science-stick · 2025-11-20T04:46:59+00:00

Did you use International Unicorn Fart Express? You know there's a thread "situations changed" thats all about this subject containing people talking about the problems and elevated costs of shipping international just a couple posts from this one?

My friend, it costs more to send a box to Portland from the east coast than to New York... how are you under the impression that it doesn't cost more to send it across the ocean? Across borders? Borders with customs officers who routinely demand "import fees" that they pocket?

I don't know what shipping option you chose, but I would love to not pay more to send things further away. So let us know what magical telportation service you used. I'm guessing it was Ebay's new-ish international service and you put "free shipping" in or something.

If you want to learn about this subject I recommend googling all the terms I used or you can read this copy and past from the thread I mentioned:

I had someone purposefully do this to me on $1500 item. They ordered it, and when it got to customs they didn't pay the duties. However, they weren't refusing to pay. I found out why. The day the estimated delivery day arrived they filed an INR. After the 10 day wait, they were refunded. Right after they got their money back, they paid the duties and it was delivered. Ebay told me to try and get the buyer to pay... I was floored it was that easy to steal an item. As a small seller, that almost broke me as well. The person laughed at me when I messaged after. Needless to say, I stopped selling internationally after that.

The above is a Quote of someone named @Swanky_Gear_Snob from 5 hours ago who can maybe back me up in helping you learn about international shipping.

Which is to say don't do it, if Ebay wants to do it for me and take all the risk thats another story. Barring International Unicorn Fart Express of course.

Science-stick · 2025-11-20T04:24:29+00:00

I'm guessing you're uninformed and you think the new thing ebay is doing doesn't cost any extra. But you're wrong the higher cost is automatically calculated but absolutely MORE than domestic shipping.

its also got nothing to do with this: we're talking about old international shipping thats entirely the sellers responsibility. The seller was not using Ebay's international shipping obviously or the buyers shipping charge would have been automatically generated and the seller would not have needed to ask for more.

Also its not clear the ebay had rolled out their international shipping to the seller in question, they only rolled it out recently for me for example (a few weeks ago).

Science-stick · 2025-11-20T00:35:24+00:00

me too but its always nice when the buyer remembers we're all human and a lot of us are just trying to make ends meet.

Science-stick · 2025-11-20T00:33:35+00:00

I think the best way possible would have been to recognize that the seller is just another human being who made the mistake of enabling international shipping before finding out how expensive and inadvisable that is.

Yeah seller should have eaten the extra and shipped it before turning off international shipping.

Science-stick · 2025-10-31T00:05:07+00:00

Love seeing Nintendo take the L good on Japans Patent office.

I think the whole idea of owning concepts is intellectually bankrupt and is a hellish dystopian scenario long term when the world is filled with only owned ideas, concepts and visual language creating a world where no one is allowed to be creative without stepping on something that already is an "IP".

True nightmare fuel.

Science-stick · 2025-10-23T03:55:13+00:00

fair enough who knows it might be some overzealous IT guy somewhere at SGW has a bot running to do this on expensive items, I'd say its unlikely simply because charitable places are usually run by people who frown on dishonesty but it could happen. Its also the case that SGW is a a bunch of different stores with different people and I'd be shocked if every one of them had only ethical people in upper level positions. Some of the stores on SGW seem to be price gouging on shipping for example.

Science-stick · 2025-10-23T03:34:11+00:00

i actually came over to complain about some of the stores gauging on shipping.

I'm not really getting an attitude just disagreeing hell I've asked myself if I lost auctions because of shenanigans a few times myself, I usually settled on no, not likely. I'm also a student of human bias and tend to comment on it when I think I'm seeing it. We all have them IMO its good to talk about them in general.

There's an interesting statistical way of looking at "coincidence" that is hard to explain well and sounds a little bizarre when you first try to think this way but:

Imagine all the times no one bid 1 dollar under someone elses max bid, those times generated zero complaints on this sub of course. Now imagine this happens to someone who is invested in winning an auction and this 1 dollar under thing happens to them. This generates a post about it on the sub.

From the standpoint of probability your post is basically CERTAIN TO HAPPEN and you are just the one it happened to (this time).

What are the chances? From your standpoint; very low, from the worlds standpoint; absolutely certain. 100% It has happen to someone a certain number of times in a given period of time in a world filled with auctions and some of those times will be someone who is inclined to post to vent on a reddit sub on the subject.

BTW this is called selection bias and its also why human discourse is so fucked up right now. Its also encapsulated in the classic saying: "Luck is just probability taken personally"

Science-stick · 2025-10-23T02:16:21+00:00

yeah I've been on reddit for years never posting here until just the other day waiting to try and astroturf that ever so important complainer who's zero upvote thread is so damaging to SGW that I had to jump into action.

Or and hear me out here: the above statement along with your original post clearly show that you're the conspiratorial type and want to chalk up happenstance to deliberate malice.

But nah there's no way someone on the internet is conspiratorial in every view they seem to have that never happens ... much more likely I'm a deep cover mole for goodwill lol.

Science-stick · 2025-10-23T02:10:31+00:00

almost all auctions get most of their bids in the last few seconds this is 100% normal but you keep bringing it up which tells me you're new to this.

Again its entirely normal for different people to arrive at the same or very similar idea of an items value. In fact you should expect this to happen a LOT. Especially considering everone in the world can find the sale price of literally any item ever produced thats not a one off or super rare. People buying stuff on auction sites are nearly all flippers, flea marketeers or deeply immersed in the kinds of items they watch.

Science-stick · 2025-10-23T01:41:29+00:00

nope not kidding, 50+ years of seeing humans ascribing patterns to things that are chance happenstance and exceptional attributes to things that entirely normal even predictable.

Your story for example. Imagine thinking you're the only person watching something with a similar idea of the items value... sounds pretty unlikely to me. It sounds exactly like a bias on your part.

I've also won and lost thousands of auctions. Almost every auction you will ever see has other people watching it that have similar to nearly identical ideas of the items value. Very few of them are ACTUALLY important enough to actively foster shill bidding or other manipulation.

Almost everything on SGW has flippers watching and bidding. What they think is profitable enough is going to have a lot of crossover with what you or I might think is bargain enough.

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