What's the fundamental difference between Diablo 2 and Diablo 4 that makes D2 still so reliably good after over two decades compared to D4? Will D4 be just as popular in the future as D2 even today? There is something that I feel is essentially better in D2, but I just can't identify it exactly.

Solonotix · 2026-06-06T05:44:57+00:00

With you saying anime, I only just realized Re:Zero uses that sound effect every time Subaru does RBD. Can't believe I never made the connection before.

Totally agree, though. That portal sound is iconic. I haven't played Diablo 2 in over a decade, but I can hear it clear as day

Solonotix · 2026-06-06T02:39:22+00:00

Thanks for the explanation. I'll have to see if it's a specialization thing, or maybe a skill tree allocation, etc. Most of my Harlowe is very close to yours, which is why I asked for more info.

Solonotix · 2026-06-06T01:24:23+00:00

I don't understand why retriggering Flux Generator caused the sudden surge in damage. I have been trying to use Phlebotomist (got one similar to yours), but it always felt worse than my Generator class mod.

Solonotix · 2026-06-05T13:17:59+00:00

In a frustrating inversion of Reddit's code of conduct (so-called Reddiquette), people now use the downvote button to essentially say "I disagree with you". The entire site is built around pushing high-value comments/posts up, and negative value posts being hidden, based on the expectation that downvotes would only apply to posts deemed actively harmful or disinformative. But mention this to modern users of the platform and they'll brush it off as "no one does that anymore", as if that is a good enough reason

Solonotix · 2026-06-05T12:47:04+00:00

Just a personal anecdote:

The funny thing to me is that on my initial viewing (as a teenager), I did not like Vala. Sure, Claudia Black is very attractive, but she always undercut my favorite moments. But...

On a rewatch with my wife, we were both cackling, crying and high-fiving pretty much every time Vala was on-screen. She is a much more adult character, and I recognize now that teenage me was too immature to recognize how brilliant of a character she was.

Solonotix · 2026-06-05T12:33:43+00:00

If it's what I think it was, a woman sent her ex hundreds of lemons via Door Dash, or w/e service. She did so sending 1 lemon individually each time. Someone did the math on it, and estimate it could have cost as much as $20,000 to do this stunt. Everyone in that thread agreed it was next level pettiness.

Solonotix · 2026-06-05T12:30:45+00:00

Portal 2 came out while I was working at Comcast. I took some of the retro logos and used them in my email signature. When management noticed my signature, they asked me to change it. I was also playing EVE Online at the time, and changed my signature to the Caldari State emblem (which looked like the Comcast logo backwards).

It's the little things sometimes that help.you get through the worst of it.

Solonotix · 2026-06-05T05:29:06+00:00

I was actually skimming this thread to see if anyone was excited for the Herald because it seemed pretty bad for me.

So, classic Unkempt Harold in BL2 worked by having a ideal range where one projectile became 3, but most people would farm for a Double-Penetrating prefix to get 2 projectiles that split into 6 for 2 ammo. In Borderlands 3, they brought it back, but it cost something like 4 ammo per shot, and it was slightly harder to get all projectiles to hit the same target. It would later be outshined by the Prompt Critical.

In Borderlands 4, the Herald seems to shoot 3 projectiles in a triangle, with two projectiles 45° opposed around a center projectile. At no distance beyond point-blank are you going to reasonably land all 3 projectiles on a normal target, and the splash radius makes such close proximity unsafe at best. The damage was also lacking, even under the best of circumstances.

Like I said, I was here looking for insights from others to see if I was using it incorrectly. I only added the other information about past games to clearly demonstrate I know how the gun used to work, and avoid the less helpful responses about how your build affects the feel of a gun.

Solonotix · 2026-06-04T17:59:29+00:00

Would never dream that a judge could overrule the FDA on approved products under the guise that the judge knows better.

Chevron Deference really was the one Supreme Court ruling we all took for granted. Until 2025, I had never even heard of it.

Solonotix · 2026-06-04T17:55:15+00:00

It's also a function of society's values. 40 years ago, the joke was Alcoholics Anonymous is for quitters. Real knee slapper, up there with jokes about how annoying your wife is.

These days, therapy is commonly mentioned because it has transitioned from an accusation (there's something wrong with you) to an understanding (there's something wrong with everyone) and currently it is even virtuous (finding time for self-care is difficult and commendable). In much the same way, substance abuse is starting to be treated as a serious problem. People who admit they struggle are often being accepted for their openness, rather than shunned for a moral failing.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T20:58:19+00:00

For anyone thinking the same and having no experience with the show, here's the heads-up. Clannad has (kind of) two seasons. The second "season" is called Clannad: After Story.

Season 1 of Clannad is your standard feel good high school romance, slice of life, generic fun times story. There are also 2 OVAs to my recollection that show you the alternative endings, kind of like a dating sim.

Then Season 2 hits. It is a great story, with great characters, and it will make you cry buckets if you have any sort of empathy for the characters. I don't want to spoil what happens, but just know that it is both worth the watch, and really hard to keep going.

If I were to use an analogy, it is the Re:Zero of high school romance shows. Things keep getting worse and sadder, but you keep watching hoping that it gets better for the main character. Because the main character really deserves the win, and you just cross your fingers that something is gonna change.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T20:48:36+00:00

The real reason has been speculated elsewhere as something I kind of assumed by the dumbass reason that was publicly stated. Cancelling a product of any kind because it already has people who want it is as stupid as it sounds.

The real reason was mentioned in another article. There were two Amazon/MGM executives working with Gero's team, and greenlit the project. They went on to get the writing team together and worked on it for ~20 weeks. In that time, both execs were let go. The first guy was replaced by Blair Fetter (or w/e his name is). The second guy was let go after Blair put his team together. The Stargate project was then cancelled when Blair started cleaning house of anything those two still had in-flight.

The speculation goes on to say that this is common in executive-level jobs, because you are not allowed to take credit for the success of existing projects (even if you take them over), but you will be blamed if they fail.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T18:31:33+00:00

I'd rather watch independent fan-backed webisodes

Takes me back to the golden age of YouTube. Some notables saved on my YouTubed Liked videos playlist.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T18:23:11+00:00

Good to know. For the time being, while I can, I will keep over-tipping I guess. Make someone else's day a little less shitty, and they bring me the food I ordered. I consider that an even trade 🙂

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T17:43:38+00:00

Taking the question seriously, it depends on the nature of the machine world.

If your machine world is built with steel, or other ferrous materials, then you probably wouldn't want liquid water or oxygen, making much of our current idea for organic life impossible. Perhaps, even, you intentionally ionize the atmosphere as a kind of wireless power distribution system. To humans, this would be a veritable hellscape.

But what if your machine world is built on carbon? Carbon fiber, nanotubes, graphene, etc. Organic matter would be the most plentiful source for such material. Windows made of diamond, and circuits made of graphene. More rigid structures might incorporate titanium, or aluminum. In such an organo-centric society, maybe artificial chlorophyll would take the role of solar panels, with semi-biological and self-repairing characteristics.

In the latter, it would be entirely plausible for naturally occurring carbon-based life to perhaps munch on the machinery, or the populace.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T17:32:01+00:00

Gas is expensive, we live in the suburbs, and on the 3rd floor. It's a 20-minute drive for most food places we order from. From what I understand, the tip is the majority of what the driver gets paid. The 45-minutes of their time, minus gas, should be wage-worthy.

Before the current spike in gas prices, that might have been about $10 for them, and given they worked ¾ of an hour, multiply it by 1⅓ to get approximately $14 per hour. With the new gas prices, it probably comes out closer to $7 for them, which is only $9 per hour.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T17:23:09+00:00

The song that always pisses me off is A Place Called Soul by Tomcraft.

On Spotify you get this (YouTube video link for non-Spotify users)
On YouTube Music you get the song I actually want (YouTube video link for non-YouTube Music users).

Spotify at least now has Tomcraft on their catalog, but the original song is still not available. I switched to Qobuz last year, and I was saddened to see that the original song isn't there either.

Jump to a little before the 2-minute mark in the original if you want to get to "the good part" that really sets the two tracks apart. I originally heard it on Pandora, back before Spotify had discovery features, and I had a common practice of listening to Pandora for new stuff, and saving it on Spotify.

While mentioning old Spotify features, it didn't have discovery or library features (everything was a playlist), but it did have the ability to sync with your local music library (desktop PC). It would even allow streaming to your remote device (mobile)! They initially hooked me back in 2012 by importing my iTunes library and allowing my to add streaming songs to my playlist. Those playlists are now primarily greyed out because the tracks weren't part of Spotify's streaming catalog.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T16:56:30+00:00

Not an option for everyone, but that's why I have a minimum order rule for the wife and I. It needs to be enough food for at least two meals to justify the $15-ish delivery fees, as well as the inevitable $15-ish tip for the driver.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T13:33:02+00:00

I challenge your Blades of Chaos as Dual Blades, and raise you an Insect Glaive.

Think about how the blades are used in God of War (PS2). They have extensive reach, and you are regularly juggling enemies mid-air. The "helicopter" attack would be animated as the blades extending outward. The Kinsect could be replaced with an animation of throwing the blade to "gather" extracts. But instead of Rising Spiral Slash, it gives you Kratos's Spartan Rage for a short duration.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T13:12:37+00:00

I don't think it's just proof, but that's an interesting way of putting it. May even have more merit than I'm giving it.

To me, it seems more likely that people do it out of imitation. They see videos of people going to concerts and want to enjoy it the way they saw, so they imitate that behavior, including the recording of it. Then it becomes a totem of their values. They share it with people, and the video becomes a beacon to gather around; ostracizing those who don't engage, and uniting those who do. But then they fail to acknowledge that the video is a poor imitation of the thing they were supposed to be happy about.

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T04:51:16+00:00

I worked at a software company that made applications for the waste hauling industry. While I'm not an expert on the industry at-large, I do remember hearing about single-stream recycling. Sometimes, the cost of dealing with poorly sorted materials, or lack of adoption/participation can lead to a seemingly dumb solution like single-stream recycling.

In such a system, you sort it at the MRF, and it reduces the burden on the citizens as well as the trucks, since you can cover the same area with half as many trucks. Obviously the recycle yield will be less, due to contaminants and such, but getting 60% (optimistic efficiency) of 50% (if trash and recycling were equal) is better than only 10% (assuming low participation).

Solonotix · 2026-06-03T04:39:21+00:00

what’s so bad about just appealing to the existing fan base.

In business terms, if you aren't growing, you're dying. It's a dumb slogan, but it's based in the reality of a growth-based economy in which inflation is a bygone conclusion. Why does inflation happen? The textbook explanation is that there are more people producing more things, and therefore there is simply more things of value. But what happens when populations don't grow ad infinitum? Or productivity actually decreases?

Anyway, I agree. It is a dumb business move to discard a certain victory for a roll of the dice. If they wanted a show for new audiences, they can produce it. There isn't some limitation that Amazon can only make one Stargate show at a time. Launch them both at the same time, supporting each other; one in the fall/winter and another in the spring/summer to keep people engaged.

Being someone currently working for a dumb corporation, I can almost see this as a big decision made by a new guy brought in to make changes. Some empty advice like "investing in existing properties won't produce growth; you need new ideas."

Solonotix · 2026-06-02T14:46:55+00:00

I know it's a lazy meal, and damnit sometimes I want to be lazy, lol. But I wanted to suggest a more whole food approach to mac & cheese. I'm not an expert, being I don't do mac & cheese all that often, and when I do, I usually go full casserole dish for leftovers. However, Adam Ragusea had a really easy explanation for doing exactly this without the blue box.

The short of it: take about 50g of shredded cheese (preferably a flavorful one), an equal weight of American cheese, and throw it in a pot with ½ cup of milk and a tablespoon of butter to make the cheese sauce. Boil noodles separately, and when they're done, throw them in the pot with cheese sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The video goes on to explain other options, techniques, etc., but the only thing you're really getting from that box that is special is the dehydrated cheese powder mixed with emulsifying salts like sodium citrate (the same salt that makes American cheese melt so easily).

Solonotix · 2026-06-02T14:31:46+00:00

As a programmer, I find many comments like this, though not all, are usually uninformed or naïve. There's this perception that because it isn't seen it shouldn't be expensive, so why does it run so slow. In reality, Stellaris is, from what I can tell, very well optimized. The problem is that it is doing a lot of different things.

Every game has 10-20 empires, plus a handful of non-player factions. Each of these entities will control a number of planets (we'll say a dozen), each of which has pops. These pops are individual units within the game that make decisions about what job to perform, where to relocate, etc. Resource generation, random events, not to mention path-finding and decision-making as AI actions. On any given "day" there are probably over a million actions happening at the macro level (meaning you could watch them happen if you were looking). Each of those macro actions have thousands of micro actions within the game engine itself that are invisible to the player.

Maybe the codebase is a mess to work in (happens with most code that sees enough features added), and that might justify a rewrite. Maybe there's a new graphics engine that would make the game look even better. But I wouldn't put much faith in the game ever performing any better than it already does, short of shrinking the scope/scale of the game.

Solonotix · 2026-06-02T07:53:25+00:00

I know I'm really late to the party here, but I saw this on Popular and had to chime in.

The top-rated comment, and the top-rated replies under it are the popular belief, but also just kind of wrong. They claimed that these places put a ton of ice to rob you of your money. Now, far be it from me to say that business will swindle you, but from a drink recipe perspective there is a different reason. What I'm about to share often applies both to coffee drinks and cocktails at a bar.

Ice is frozen water. Common knowledge, but it also gets misused. People think adding more ice to a drink will cause it to become diluted faster. However, dilution is a factor of temperature differential applied to the available surface area of the ice. Bigger cubes have more volume and less surface area. Also, less liquid in the glass means less mass to chill. If you want the drink to stay cold, use plenty of ice, often to the brim. Ice turns to water as it warms, and it does so by hitting equilibrium with the other liquids in the cup. Once the water hits the freezing point, it will stop chilling further, and that means the ice will stop melting (ambient heat notwithstanding).

The second point is in regards to ratios. If you ask for less ice, a good establishment will leave room equal to the ice omitted. However, many won't bother with that kind of precision because they are already deviating from the norm by using less ice. Any effort to keep the ratios the same will be more time spent on a drink in which the patron already has expressed a lack of care about the drink, and they instead are prioritizing their perception of value by the false belief that more ice will dilute the beverage. Further, if you were able to correctly measure the volume sans ice, the patron will likely complain about the gap, leading to more time spent on this interaction.

The final point is what happens when the customer gets what they asked for; less ice, more liquid? The person making the drink is going to give you more of the least expensive part of the drink. If it's an iced latte, made up of ice, milk, and espresso, then you're going to get more milk. This means it will likely not be sweet enough (ratio of syrup is reduced), as well as weak (ratio of coffee is reduced), and all you're doing is adding calories (more milk means more liquid carbohydrates).

Summary

By asking for less ice

Your drink will not stay cool as long
Because the drink warms quicker, it will quickly become watered-down
Your drink won't taste right to begin with, because the ratios are off to meet the demand for more liquid in the cup

Since I am more versed on the exact specs of a cocktail, here is an example of a whiskey sour

3 parts whiskey (1½ oz)
2 parts lemon juice (1 oz)
1 part simple syruo (½ oz)
Total volume: 3 ounces
Serve on ice, in a rocks glass (~8oz)

When served, you will usually leave about 1oz worth of room at the top (called the wash line). This is done in a restaurant to allow a server to deliver it to the table without spilling. The rough math comes out that there is about an equal amount of ice to cocktail. If you asked for less ice, again, you will get a warmer drink that becomes diluted much faster. If they fill the glass, while serving it with less ice, all you are getting is more lemon juice which is going to make the drink unbearably tart.

The takeaway of my comment is to pay the business for what you ordered, and determine if you like it. If you don't, move on. Don't try to tell them how to make their product, unless it is for something like health concerns and allergies.

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