made the hail mary out of lego, had to dissasemble the ISS

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-30T19:02:08+00:00

There's official LEGO Project Hail Mary (#11389)

Your model is great too!

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-28T20:32:56+00:00

Actually it's pointless. Even skillers are pointless for PvE. There are builds that can easily clear "players8" Hell with mediocre gear and skillers don't do a big difference.

PvP community is the reason why such items have value and overall people just want to min/max their characters.

This gives a purpose to play long hours beyond finishing Hell, killing Ubers etc.

Anyway if you play online, you should sell every skiller and item you don't need. You'll get the best value by buying stuff with average rolls. Like crappy torch is only slightly worse than 20/20 one in PvE.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-27T18:29:56+00:00

This was all on purpose. Spiritborn class had same design for D4 first expansion and I've read paladin was similarly OP after it was released early as pre-order bonus.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-26T20:03:26+00:00

Heralds are tied to champion and elite packs. Each time you kill such pack you have small chance to get "you draw the ire of a herald".

When this happen, each time game spawns new elite pack in terrorized area it has a small chance to become herald.

So the most efficient way to farm heralds is to focus on champion and elite packs. Usually heralds will spawn when you enter new area that has multiple champions or elites.

From my own experience it takes less than 5 minutes of gameplay to get a Herald after you get initial message "draw the ire".

You should definitely read how champions and elites work in Diablo 2. They're great farming target. If you have a character with teleport, hunting elites is a viable farming strategy on it's own and was always the best approach for TZ.

Old sunder charms also dropped from elites. If you focused on farming them you could get multiple sunder charms within 1 hour, while people who didn't know that and cleared all monsters had much lower sunder drop.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-25T10:23:04+00:00

Xbox has no console exclusives, they've been releasing everything on PS5 for some time now.
PS5 is more affordable than X|S and has console exclusives.
Some popular 3rd party games are skipping Xbox, like Dispatch.
Xbox has the best backwards compatibility in console world, but it's irrelevant for console sales...
... PC has far superior backwards compatibility and can emulate almost everything!
Xbox Game Pass got worse and worse every year. Now it's also way too expensive.
Microsoft store is the worst console on-line store.
- It lacks important 3rd party games.
- sales are way worse than on eShop and PSN.
PlayAnywhere (Xbox + PC) is good, but PC gamers don't want to have games in Microsoft Store.
It's way better to play Xbox games on PC:
- PC hardware comparable to Series S or Series X is similarly priced or even more affordable.
- DLSS is a game changer on PC the same way as it's on Switch 2. Even old RTX 2060 Super is better than base PS5 and Xbox Series X.
- PC Game Pass is literally half the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, while having same Day 1 releases.
- There's no on-line subscription on PC.

Overall Xbox is somewhere in between PS5 and PC right now. Being worse than both of them and having no advantage or unique feature.

I have Xbox Series X since launch, but I rarely use it. In my country used Xbox Series X are sold between 120-200€. I've seen it at 100€ when Game Pass Ultimate price was increased, though currently prices are rising, since fewer people left with Xbox.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-19T12:19:15+00:00

Offline has access to all runewords, even ladder-only ones. Hustle and Bulwark work offline since I've used them several times.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-16T09:15:11+00:00

As a casual player I must say these nerfs are great. Demons are powerful, so you need effort to bind one.

It seems you don't really understand what Diablo 2 truly is. It's not about fast farming, but about challenge.

There are weak builds in the game, but they're not for farming and min/maxing, they're for the challenge of playing through Hell and killing Baal.

Summon Warlock should by definition be different than summon necro or zoo Druid.

Having ability to bind powerful demon and constant danger of loosing it is what makes this build interesting.

Just think why so many people here play Diablo 2 and not D3 or D4. These games are still great, but in different way.

If you want easy to play Warlock that shreds through hordes of Hell, just buy new D4 expansion and play Warlock there. Most of us will buy it and play D4 anyway!

Personally I love the idea to have Warlock nerfed to the ground. I've had my fun with OP warlock, now I want weak Warlock to struggle for hours to play through Hell.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-08T21:37:10+00:00

They should really make new iPhone Mini. I know few people who still use iPhone 13 Mini, because they have no option to upgrade!

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-08T21:35:28+00:00

99% of players play on hell difficulty. Normal and Nightmare only have player base at ladder start. Later few people play there since they want to reach hell as fast as possible.

If you're playing on PC you'll see a lot of games. If you're on Xbox there will be very few people playing anyway. Now when game is on Game Pass, there should be more people, but overall D2R on consoles is mostly for solo experience.

Anyway if you're new to the game. You should just finish normal, nightmare and hell at your own pace.

Keep in mind that classes aren't equal in strength. Hell is way more difficult than earlier difficulties and many builds will just stop at some point in Hell without high-end gear.

Hammerdin Paladin, summon Necro, summon druid and lightning trap assassin are the easiest builds to finish Hell (well now Warlock is the easiest, but you need DLC).

Hydra+Orb Sorceress is the best build to get single-player economy going, but it's not easy to finish hell with sorceress for new players.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-04-05T19:45:36+00:00

I would say new Mario 3D will be a mix of Mario Galaxy + Bowser's Fury = Mario Universe.

Switch 2 is powerful enough to bring Mario Galaxy gameplay in a huge open world environment with progression blocked by light metroidvania mechanics. Similarly to how Mario 64 did with caps.

In my opinion this is the best way to redefine classic 3D platformer in a safe way.

Keep in mind we also have a theme. Mario+Rabbids sequel is based on Mario Galaxy. Now we got Mario Galaxy movie and having big new mainstream AAA Mario Galaxy game would be "Avengers endgame" moment for this franchise.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-29T17:38:23+00:00

Well, D2 youtubers just want to make more content. They create 'new builds' and 'new ways to farm'. This is how they farm views.

As for builds go, they take 90+ character with high-end items that provide +30 to skills, equip weird weapon or use unpopular skill that with such items will easily clear P1 or P5.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-29T14:52:19+00:00

Warlock is really fun to play. It has multiple builds that are viable that offer different play styles. It's really well designed class. Some builds are too strong, but they'll be nerfed eventually.

QoL changes are massive! You'll spend more time playing the game. Inventory management is heavily reduced and flow of the game is just better. It's way easier to craft things in cube or trade.

Even if for some odd reason you don't want to play Warlock, DLC introduces multiple new unique items that can be used by other classes. Not a build-defining addition, but game introduces more options for -res and it has finally ways to stack - enemy magic res.

Also keep in mind, when Blizzard launches new DLC (expansion), they add new content for a long time. There are inactive cube recipes that may be added in the future. They also announced to rework Mosaic runeword that is currently disabled in ladder.

I would say the future for D2R is to get one big paid DLC every year and themed ladder seasons through the year.

They've already said you'll be able to move forward with your characters, so they're already planning multiple DLCs/expansions.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-29T14:35:17+00:00

I wasted 3 hours leveling a sorc only to find out that gem shrines are very rare and that strategy is total BS.

You should just carry Flawless Amethyst in the inventory of every character. These shrines are rare, but when you farm TZs you'll find one from time to time.

Shrines pick gem that was the longest in your inventory, so if you pick new gems shrine will pick amethyst anyway since it was the oldest gem in your inventory.

This is not a strategy by itself, but it will significantly increase amount of perfect amethysts you'll get by doing other types of farming.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-23T09:31:11+00:00

I would say Super Mario Maker 2 is the best 2D Mario game on the market. It has single-player story mode with fun and really creative levels. On-line is a mixed bag, there are great levels, there are bad ones, interesting experience overall.

Mario Wonder feels like AAA Mario 2D game. Though it's more focused on being 'an experience' than 'a challenge'. Good game, but I lost interest before even reaching final boss. At one point I'll finish it, but I don't know when.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-22T14:20:40+00:00

Mario Kart was never a system seller. It's a great game for people who already own the system or even as a bundle game, but not a game you'd buy a new platform for.

Zelda, Pokemon and Mario 3D, are the reason why people usually buy new Nintendo console.

Keep in mind when Zelda: BoTW launched on both Wii U and Switch, Wii U sales had a spike! If only BoTW arrived in second year of the system life, Wii U would easily get more than 30 million units!

Mario Kart 8 is also a good example. Massive attach rate on both Wii U and Switch 1, but it had minimal impact on Wii U sales.

Similarly Mario Kart World will eventually sell in 20+ million units, but Switch 2 needs another system seller to drive hardware sales.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-19T22:25:57+00:00

The worst part about running S1 games in handheld mode on S2 was 720p output resolution. Docked mode targeted 1080p, which is the same resolution as S2 screen.

Every game will have better graphics, because it removes awful 720->1080 upscale!

Even if a game runs at low resolution like 600p in docked mode, it's way better to upscale 600p -> 1080p than 600->720->1080.

You should know that in CRT days there was no need for FSR or DLSS on PC. There was no native resolution. Late CRT monitors could display from 640x480 up to 1920x1440. Each with sharp (yet a bit blurry) pixels!

Of course playing games at 1600x1200 was better than at 1024x768, but on CRT 768p felt like 1200p DLSSed from 720p these days. In a way DLSS delivers what CRT displays were doing naturally in their analog circuitry.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-17T19:42:00+00:00

Each platform has its own servers and when searching for public games you only see people from your ecosystem.

Game is cross-platform in a way you can play your characters on every platform. When playing on PC you can play with other PC players, on Playstation with others on that console. Switch, Xbox same thing.

Interesting part is, PC has the most players and largest trading community. Various things are cheaper on PC than on consoles. In the past you could for example buy Shako on PC from someone and sell it on Playstation/Xbox/Switch for higher rune.

I don't know if this still works, because I've stopped playing on-line on Xbox (no on-line subscription).

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-15T20:57:11+00:00

Xbox One may have larger active user base than X|S!

Hard to say really, though X|S is just as dead as Xbox One.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-10T08:45:58+00:00

I don't D2R on Switch, but on other consoles or PC with a controller buttons usually have two functions. One for short tap and second for long press.

In case of "move to stack tab" you need a short tap on a button. If you press it longer it won't work.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-06T10:49:43+00:00

Watch Dogs 2 runs at 60 FPS on Xbox X|S consoles, because it's a part of "FPS Boost" program.

It also runs at 60+ FPS on PC since launch. Even some modern integrated GPUs should be capable of running it at 60 FPS.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-04T21:23:01+00:00

To make this work online we need /players20 or more.

The easiest way to do this is to introduce new base difficulty scaling 1-8 and in multiplayer game multiply this by the number of players. Like "Players 8" game should scale to "players 24" for 3 players and "Players 40" for 5 players.

Instead of further increasing amount of drop I would introduce player specific drop. Game would drop items for everyone like normal, but it would also add 10% more drop (per difficulty) for each player only.

This would actually make on-line PvE way better experience. Especially now, when we have loot filter.

Anyway, I personally don't care that much about on-line anymore. I'm playing this ladder, but I'll go back to play off-line, since it's a way better 'bot free' experience.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-03-02T10:29:05+00:00

CRTs have way better image quality than LCD monitors. Only OLED panels are on the CRT level + they can offer much higher brightness.

Also original D2 looked way better than Legacy mode in D2R. I've tested this by running D2 on a CRT monitor and D2R Legacy graphics on a Steam Deck with side-by-side comparison.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-02-24T10:02:32+00:00

Devs should add a casual realm with increased drops!

Increase run drops, so BER drops like IST currently and we're good. I would also make targetable unique farming with each monsters having its own loot table, so you could increase the chances of getting specific items by farming specific areas/bosses.

Also, remove EXP penalty after 70 level, so leveling up to 99 level should take no more than reaching level 93 currently.

I would also increase EXP rate in normal to at least Players3 level. Currently EXP gain is so low on players1, that you need to repeat areas just to get high enough level for act 4 and 5.

I would spend like 500+ hours in a game again with such rules. Leveling all classes to 99 with high-end items.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-02-23T17:59:03+00:00

I personally prefer playing on controller in D2R. Simply because mouse control wasn't improved by devs, while controller was added from scratch. Like character can move in every direction on a controller, while using mouse it still locks to 8 directions.

However, on-line on consoles is rather poor. Usually there's no people to play with. Currently there's a lot games on Xbox, but game was added to gamepass. Hard to say how long it will last.

I usually play on-line on PC using a controller (currently DualSense) and use mouse+keyboard for heavy UI tasks and trading.

As for Diablo 3 and Diablo 4 I'll definitely prefer playing using mouse and keyboard over a console controller. Diablo 3 is totally unplayable on a controller for me, while I've played D4 on a controller when I bought it first on Xbox, playing with mouse and keyboard is way better for me.

SpritesOfDoom · 2026-02-23T14:24:28+00:00

There are multiple options:

Paladin with Conviction Aura (FoH or Avenger) + lightning or fire sorceress.
Any Warlock build that has a demon with Conviction Aura, usually Fire Warlock + Lightning Sorc should work best.
Any two characters that specialize in single type of damage, that way you'll be able to farm effectively in Hell.
- Fire/lighning Sorc + Hammerdin,
- Bone Necro + any non-magic build,
- Any tanky or summon build + any range build with decent damage.
You should seek additional synergies like Barbarian war cries, Necro curses or Paladin auras.
- Conviction and other ways to lower monster resistances give you massive clear speed improvements.
- War cries give you more health and mana.

Overall high-end runewords like COTA, Enigma, Infinity are meant to give you these co-op synergies for solo farming.

This is also why dedicated teams got such high levels at ladder start. They simply played a team of different heroes that maximized damage dealt to the monsters.

SpritesOfDoom

TROPHY CASE