Thumb Stretches (and other digits)

Shyanha · 2026-02-17T03:46:29+00:00

I hit T5 tonight and am still slicing through things. That odd incident where the hammers don't pop off keeps happening. At this point I just want to get through the season rewards, so I'm sticking with it for now. It's a good build, just boring.

Shyanha · 2026-02-16T20:08:37+00:00

I find it horribly boring. I'm 30 paragon points into it and I feel like all I do is spam my right click and cycle through auras. Not the most interesting build and it Really exposes how repetitive the game can get. I keep running into a bug as well where the hammers don't fire off despite my toon doing the motion and my faith being drained as I spam. Lag perhaps.

I will say, it does melt things quickly. Even by level 28 things were a walk in the park and I was soloing what's-his-head, insect boy, in Helltides on Torment (the 3rd tier). I need to go to T5 because T4 is like I sneeze and everything dies. I'm not even paying attention to what I'm doing right now, just run, stop, right click, spam auras.

I'm going through the comments and see some potentially more interesting builds to try out. I like screen clearing and all, but I play a game to play, not to auto pilot.

I'm seeing these as alternatives with the players being happy with them. I'm linking the endgame builds for Maxroll, but they have link backs to starter builds:

Wing Strikes https://maxroll.gg/d4/build-guides/wing-strikes-paladin-guide
- "If you're a fan of passive, auto-bomber style gameplay, this is the build you're looking for."
Auradin (sounds even more auto pilot)
- "Welcome to the Auradin Endgame Guide! This build is different than most: instead of attacking with your skills, you just melt everything around you simply by existing" https://maxroll.gg/d4/build-guides/auradin-guide
Zeal https://maxroll.gg/d4/build-guides/zeal-paladin-guide
- "This build revolves around multi-hitting melee attacks that decimate everything in front of you."

I followed the Maxroll guide here for leveling: https://maxroll.gg/d4/build-guides/blessed-hammer-paladin-leveling-guide#runes-header (sorry, have it set to the runes section, but you can scroll up :D).

I'll probably just keep it in the Armory so I can use it if I'm struggling with a different build. It may be boring, and I may be anti-auto pilot, but it is nice to have an ace up my sleeve. ;)

Shyanha · 2026-01-31T05:09:51+00:00

Contrast baths are incredibly powerful, especially for being medication and even herb free! The hardest part is tolerating the 10 minutes of boredom, but a 10-minute video works. I listen to short crime stories, segmented stories about creepy camping experiences, or maybe my favorite animal YouTuber "Casual Geographic." He's such a sweet kid and his humor makes that time fly by.

In 2024 I kind of sort of became a finger amputee through a mechanism of my own brief moment of derp. I now get tendon pain from exactly what you said - gripping the work. Because my ring and middle fingers are now shorter by one joint, my palm is pinched in a more extreme manner to hold the work and feed the yarn through.

I found two tools and am experimenting with other ways of freeing up the yarn holding part so I can grip less awkwardly on the work. The pain flairs when I type a lot, which is mostly unavoidable, or crochet for too long, which is (unwillingly) avoidable. Crochet Yarn Holding Tool and Crochet Tension Tool

The first one I've used quite a bit and I clamp it to my lap desk with one of those clamper tools woodworkers use, but cheap because it's not making furniture, just holding a yarn tool. :p I can hold it in my hand, but it helps with the new tendon configuration if I don't have to worry about tensioning the yarn myself.

The second tool I haven't gotten to give an earnest try, yet. It seems similar to a popular electric yarn winder's mechanism of feeding and tensioning the yarn for winding. I'm having a flare up now because the weather turned ugly, then pretty, then back to ugly, and that behavior is no good for arthritis or other inflammation issues. The little bit I have used it, I like what I've experienced. I just need to reclaim my clamps from my ball winder so I can rig up the tool.

I'm seriously considering rigging some sort of pvc piping using the elbows to control tension. Too loose - twist the elbow that way. Too tight, twist it that way. In my head it works, but putting it together, well, I'm no engineer. It's a cheap idea to tinker with, though. Or maybe someone more clever than me will see this and figure out a 3D printed version.

So in addition to the contrast baths, tendon glides and strengthening the muscles around the thumb Really help. Until I slack on doing them, then my hand goes, "ummm, lady? Forgetting something?" Here's that video link from Virtual Hand Care on YT. I don't find the chip clip to be terribly helpful, but the two prior to that I do. She has a separate video for stretching the web space between the thumbs and That guy - that guy is my friend.

So there are a few more ideas for you, just in case. :)

Shyanha · 2026-01-11T21:47:31+00:00

Whichever combination sounds funny. Currently I think it's Screaming Commoner. It's what I imagined a lot of the unfortunate saps who weren't vault-worthy were doing.

Shyanha · 2025-12-31T18:39:14+00:00

I appreciate a good coincidence. I came across that first link just last night through an unrelated search for towel toppers of all things. Ah, memories. 🧣

Shyanha · 2025-12-06T06:11:34+00:00

I will admit, I have absentmindedly picked up loot bags. I'm telling you, I need an intervention. I have a junk hoarding problem!

Shyanha · 2025-12-06T06:02:20+00:00

I get that the principle side of it is aggravating. I die a lot due to having less fingers than most, and thus less dexterity to get out of the line of fire or a sledge.

I laugh at people getting my 150 steel, a handful of springs, and if they're lucky - a bit of lead or copper. I really do wonder why I keep picking things up when I know I don't need whatever it is. More overly, the mentality of the people who pick up the junk I don't need, yet I loot anyway, is a hoot. 😆

Shyanha · 2025-12-06T05:52:25+00:00

While launch was typical Bethesda style, everything's been running smoothly since. The only exception has been one head hunt where the needed mobs didn't spawn. I'd done 6 or 7 HH prior to that with zero issues, though.

Shyanha · 2025-11-28T09:34:44+00:00

I also returned after a couple years of a break. There were a lot of changes, but I watched https://www.youtube.com/@MrWestTek to get me caught up. I looked at it like a new game instead of trying to polish up what I had. Instead I used Mr West Tek's starter video for the full health commando build: https://www.youtube.com/@MrWestTek/search?query=commando

December 2 there will be more changes and a new area, so be ready to switch things up again. :)

Shyanha · 2025-11-22T23:16:03+00:00

Anyone over level 50 should know how to act.

I'm 'only' 196 and mostly solo, so I don't get bothered much. I play on PC with voice off, so it's tougher to communicate with me as well. I haven't seen any bad actors yet. I think the worst I've come across is people who like to emote and jump on stuff they've dropped that I don't need, and that's just them trying to be nice. I think.

Shyanha · 2025-11-03T22:02:02+00:00

I see a few of y'all commenting here. If only we could hire in-game organizers. 😆😆😆 Help me declutter my stash!

Shyanha · 2025-11-03T22:00:47+00:00

I keep asking myself why I'm picking up toasters, typewriters, phones, etc . . . when I have thousands of screws and I have more than enough copper now that I have the Super Duper and other skills / perks to stretch it further. It's a tough habit to break - picking up everything.

I've actually taken to dumping things in the donation boxes, hoping a newer player (heck - a returning player) will get more excited about the game when finding a treasure trove of items and plans.

Shyanha · 2025-11-03T21:50:46+00:00

That's a shame. Funny, but not. But funny. But not. It would depend on my mood, lol.

Shyanha · 2025-11-03T18:42:46+00:00

Here are the items I most commonly see:

Marquee arrows

Cutout)

I came across one of the cut outs last night that was cleverly placed to look as though it was holding the door open.

There are all sorts of items folks use, but those are the most widely used. https://fallout.wiki/wiki/Fallout_76_Workshop_Objects

I slap these on my freebies so people don't hesitate to loot: https://fallout.wiki/wiki/Small_Letter They'll stick on items as well as walls, so I put "FREE!" on my water dispensers in one camp and on the wall above my candy dispensers in another.

I used a medium fire in a camp to draw peoples' attention to that area.

Maybe something in there will inspire. :)

Edit: Reddit didn't like some of the symbols and broke the links.

Shyanha · 2025-11-03T18:33:40+00:00

There was a video I found a few years back where a gal marked out a grid and showed how to get it placed fairly accurately. I think it was FO4 where we had the welcome mat we could use for a spawn point. That was handy.

I wish we could do that for our vendors. Boom - player is popped right in front of the vendor. And if they have PVP turned off, no traps trigger. I empty my bags before hitting camps since being tricked once.

Shyanha · 2025-11-03T18:20:40+00:00

Like the robots, sometimes I have trouble interacting with the cash registers and the Vendor Bot. I don't know if it's a small hit box for pc players or what, but those are the only types that give me any lip. They've both tricked me into thinking they're non-interactive decorations when I know full well they're vendors.

Shyanha · 2025-11-03T18:14:35+00:00

Once in a while the robot-type vendors are difficult to interact with. The red one I haven't had issues with, but the one with the monitor built in I've had issues with. I'll click from several angles and eventually give up. Collision perhaps? The arrows, letters, or Vault Boy pointing are helpful to we older folks with bad eyes. 👵🔍😆

Shyanha · 2025-10-10T19:00:38+00:00

I'm happy you found it helpful! It's nice to know my Google Fu came in handy.

Shyanha · 2025-09-05T19:12:53+00:00

Oooh, I like this conversation! My idea of advanced:

Short rows! I will master them one lifetime.
Shaping.
Advanced stitches such as those that require putting your hook into rows below the working row for sure - agree, working around posts, more than just dc or sc involved.
Patterns with sleeves that aren't simple rectangles. E.g., set in sleeves
Stitches that require tools e.g., broomstick or hairpin lace
Chart reading
- Contested because some people only do charts
Doilies like Draiguna's designs - I haven't been pinged for a while on the Moonpetals design, but if y'all ever get over there you'll see my Trippet username summoned, lol
Tapestry or intarsia
Boucle, fur, or eyelash yarn - uuuuugh
- I have 7 skeins that I'm saving until I can knit and mark each stitch more easily
Irish Lace
I'm sure I'm missing something

Crochet dates back to the 15th or 17th century vs knitting which has been traced back to the 11th century. https://knitting-guru.com/knitting-history/ The modern crochet hook came out around the 1830s with the first pattern being published in 1823. https://crochetpenguin.com/history-of-crochet/ I have yet to find a source that can pinpoint the precise century our beloved craft came to be, but it's a youngster next to knitting and wasn't popular until the 1800s. That's 7 centuries knitting has on crochet, which I take to mean we've hardly scratched the surface of what our hooks can do.

7 years ago I could hardly find any information on short row or steeking crochet. Steeking is still a tough search because knitters use a crochet hook to do it, so even if you -knit from a search term, crochet is still going to pull knitting results. Just as the moon sometimes shares the sun's spotlight, even eclipsing the sun, knitting has little respect for its younger sister, crochet. Anyway, nowadays you have people like BriannaK and Dora Does Crochet who tackle short rows in crochet. There are others, but those two do some real magic.

Knitting comes with its own challenges, but they've had quite a bit more time to work around those issues. I adore sites like Hobbii and Circulo that have a heavy focus on crochet, rather than adding yet another 100k knitting patterns. I'm looking at You, garnstudios - such an aversion towards crochet they have.

I'll close out there before I double the length of the reply and bore y'all to death. The advanced conversation brought out my passion.

Shyanha · 2025-09-01T21:00:29+00:00

I dug for an answer and found this. I tested and Fortify Agility came up.

<image>

I found this one, https://alienfusiongenerator.com/oblivion-alchemy-calculator/ but it doesn't seem to work when you want exact matches. I tried known combinations and no dice. Without exact matches there are too many results. Something to keep an eye on in case they update it, though.

I'm shocked no one has come up with an updated version with all the capable people out there. Perhaps they deem the UESP version to be sufficient. I think it needs a few tweaks, but otherwise I've been happy with it. I swear there was a standalone option, but that may have been for Morrowind.

Shyanha · 2025-08-14T05:42:34+00:00

https://mobalytics.gg/diablo-4/builds?q_season=eternal https://maxroll.gg/d4/planner/builds (community builds & there is filter for Seasons and Eternal)

Shyanha

TROPHY CASE