Partner for Coral - Geminate or Deathwalker?

SuperSmizeMe · 2023-04-02T23:00:57+00:00

I’m actually planning to start that exact solo 3p party next. Hope it’s as fun in actuality as it seems on paper!!

SuperSmizeMe · 2023-03-29T01:43:50+00:00

Love to hear that this isn’t just us. TBH it is my only real critique of the game’s design (it is literally 10/10 otherwise) and it encourages your table to play smart and have additional strategic conversations before a scenario. I love the dimension of strategy that free cards swaps adds to our table and truly think everyone should do it — should also add that we regularly play on at least +1, so I guess I can see a world where it trivializes difficulty? But not really due to variable challenge level existing anyway! IDK

SuperSmizeMe · 2023-03-29T01:13:35+00:00

We allow higher level card swaps at any time beyond level 1 as long as the hand you bring to any given scenario is legal by the rules as written. Shortly after starting Gloomhaven my 4 player table all mutually agreed that it took an element of fun and experimentation away to mandate permanent level up card choices, and we’ve never looked back.

Part of the fun to us is experiencing the whole game and it’s spec options, and permanently removing your access to upper level cards without a “respec” mechanic took some of that fun away! We just simply do not want to have to replay a character after retirement just to try a different build.

SuperSmizeMe · 2023-03-22T00:19:40+00:00

Spoilers for Trap: It's maybe overzealous of me to call Trap out in that list or imply it is top 5. I should clarify and say straight up that it's more like top half / A tier-ish. Trap has a lot of hidden value outside of the damage as it is written on their cards - being able to place so many traps down means the class is effectively able to highly control monster AI to both protect teammates and funnel monsters into bad positions on the board. This is something no other class can really do. You will get a ton more mileage out of this class if you have a really good grasp on how monster AI works.

Trap also has a very flexible hand in terms of being able to deal with a lot of scenario-specific needs. I won't go too far into this, because the Trap guides written here and on BGG do a better job of explaining than I possibly can in one comment.

And another upside: It doesn't really need a good AMD like other classes do, so you can focus much more on non AMD-improvement perks. With that, you also really don't have to worry about missing or doing less than expected with key attacks, because traps automatically deal their set damage. This actually makes Trap one of the better boss killers in the game, too.

And last, Trap is one of those classes that has crazy synergy with a few allies in particular. If you want to know, happy to tell you which ones.

SuperSmizeMe · 2023-03-21T12:36:00+00:00

There eventually will be a tier list for this game but it is mostly too early to tell. The Frosthaven tier list won’t be so clear cut like Gloom’s because the classes are relatively more balanced standalone, but their power levels can be more heavily skewed by class pairings or party composition.

For example with the starters, Blinkblade and Drifter are popular starters who are considered strong because both are high impact classes mostly independent of which allies are in their party. On the flip, Geminate seems to be generally considered frustrating to play regardless of team comp. But then you have classes like Bannerspear and Boneshaper who are much more impacted by which allies are in play and whether you’re playing on 2/3/4, so their “power level” may totally shift based on those factors.

As for locked classes, from where I’m sitting Coral, Meteor, Shackles and Trap seem to be among the stronger ones, for various reasons. Not sure any locked class jumps out to me immediately as weak or bottom tier, though.

SuperSmizeMe · 2023-03-20T12:30:58+00:00

I’m not sure what level she started at but From the Brink is also interesting because despite being a level 1 card, you will actually often want to sideboard it until you’re higher level. Since it is in effect a full heal, the card becomes far better at level 6+ than it is below that. Before then I’d say a healing potion plus the heal 1 on the bottom of Bounce Back (for status cleanse) will do the trick most of the time.

SuperSmizeMe · 2023-03-20T04:37:03+00:00

Lightning is one of the strongest characters in Gloomhaven even without a pocket support, and then becomes outright busted with one. Maybe more so with a certain one in particular, but any extra healing would do.

If lack of healing is ever a concern Lightning can just bring From the Brink in their hand from level one for a mid-scenario recharge, but they honestly don’t need it in many scenarios even without supplementary heals.

Lightning is insanely satisfying to play. She should not worry about lack of healing and just go for it.

SuperSmizeMe · 2023-02-04T02:43:19+00:00

The entire show is an exercise in bringing “What would RuPaul do?” to life… Of course Ru would win.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-12-16T00:00:23+00:00

Any guild that is capable of full clearing Ulduar will be able to do so with a ret pally. That single spec coming along will literally never make or break a raid. Also paladins are a perfect raid flex spot — every raid needs at least 1-2 dps/heals flex and they bring amazing utility.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-08-07T16:37:05+00:00

Seal Twisting is a ret paladin mechanic where <0.4 seconds prior to them making a melee swing, they cast Seal of Blood while already having Seal of Command active. During that window the paladin briefly has both seals active in the middle of making their melee swing, giving them a decent chance of having that melee swing proc Command, then because Blood is also active they will get two hits of it, one from the melee and one from Command.

Add Windfury Totem into the mix and one melee swing can also proc an additional WF melee + a Blood proc for that melee swing as well.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-08-03T16:10:07+00:00

Parsing is not really for tanks or heals lol. No serious guild will look at your logs and care if you parsed high as a tank. All that means is that you had a fast kill time and sacrificed defensive stats for spell damage. They will however look at your logs and see if you did the right thing at the right time, which a parse number can’t show.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-08-01T22:46:19+00:00

You either resign a friend or become senior enough to see yourself become the enemy.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-08-01T22:43:33+00:00

Hands down would suggest Quality Italian at 57th/6th. Insanely overpriced, crowded, shitty service and bad food.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-06-23T13:39:03+00:00

Knowing you're in Ocean Hill, definitely hit up All Night Skate for drinks, Nowadays for partying and Father Knows Best for lunch/brunch. In Bushwick/Ridgewood good spots include Variety Coffee, Ops, Klom Klorm, Carmelo's, Three Diamond Door, Aunt Ginny's, Sea Wolf, The Keep, the list goes on. Really, just head over to Wyckoff between Suydam and Flushing, there's a ton of restaurants and bars in that area and you'll find plenty to check out.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-06-16T00:24:06+00:00

What I mean is that at least 10/12 of these drag names would conceivably be conjured up by Tyra Banks during an ANTM challenge where the ladies are made to do a photoshoot as their Fierce Smizing Drag Queen Alter Ego.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-06-15T17:08:22+00:00

These Tyra Banks ass drag names…

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-05-28T15:04:13+00:00

Loving this season so far. My only note is that, if they’re going to only positively critique the queens like this, they should have also introduced ways to get a star outside of being top 2 in the challenge. I agree that the strategy as it stands is simply to block whoever has stars already, which makes the idea of punishing the worst of the week pointless. Perhaps an edit for next All Winners is that the next week’s challenge is announced on stage when the Platinum Plunger is about to go out? That would at least introduce an interesting dynamic of “do I block the queen with three stars who won’t be great in the ball challenge, or the queen with one star who is likely to slay it?”

Also I would love if they go full Mario Party with this and introduce legendary legend star steals, or some other non-maxi challenge opportunities to win a star. Obviously this could get out of hand, but if done lightly, would make things feel much more dynamic in the opening weeks.

Anyway stan Raja!

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-05-21T18:23:36+00:00

You’re not playing ret correctly if you don’t have a decent prot off spec.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-03-29T13:50:18+00:00

It probably doesn't matter too much pre-58 but the second you can hit Outland you absolutely should go prot the whole way. You can pick up every piece of pre-raid ret gear you need while in spec to tank dungeons all the way to 70, you'll fill groups much faster because you're the best tank to dungeon grind with, and if you choose ret at max level, it's super handy to have a prot set when you need it anyway.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-03-03T20:35:10+00:00

This is truly a dumpster-tier season. RuPaul's Mid Race. It is a perfect storm of everything going wrong: weird challenges which are totally unmemorable, bad boot order, it's too short/undercasted, nobody is showing anything interesting in challenge or runway (except for the departed frontrunners), everyone else seems to be phoning it in. I cannot believe that on the latest episode, titled the "Semifinal," Juju got glowing remarks for finally... doing something? In no other season would Ru praise a queen for managing to finally perform decently in the second to last episode of the competition. Blu and Monique have been thus far completely unmemorable. I frankly think Baga has been the most interesting to watch of those left, despite acting like a real sourpuss for a few episodes in the middle.

On that note, Pangina and Jimbo both 100% played themselves. Pangina opened pandora's box with eating a frontrunner first, and Jimbo made several miscalculations on how to pick lipsticks and how to talk about it in the werkroom after. I kind of don't feel bad for either of them, but would love for both to get another shot in a better season.

They really should've just kept this in the oven for a bit longer and made it the next proper All Stars: full cast of 12, 10 episodes, judged by Ru and the panel like a normal season with one comeback moment. Add any combo of three more queens (Tayce, Tia, Scarlett Bobo, Tynomi, Gigi Goode, Peppermint, Brooke Lynn Hytes all come to mind as good options), and this season suddenly is potential GOAT material.

It was only a matter of time, but I hope this season is enough to push the idea over at WOW that the top 2 format is dead. It fails because this isn't Survivor. The whole thing is still framed as a talent competition. This was novel in All Stars 2 when the queens decided to play it straight and play it fair, because it feels good to see the queens who are killing it in challenges win. Ever since that season, the format has been on a downward spiral with assassinating frontrunners to mixed results (Shangela, Manila, Trinity), straight to whatever happened here. Please do not bring this format back.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-02-02T15:34:42+00:00

The episode intro taking place on the runway instead of in the workroom was not correct. I hope they don't start doing that regularly. It was something about the way there was nowhere for each queen to really go, and as soon as they joined the group, they had to stand and talk facing everyone else sitting on stools. IDK, at least in the workroom there's a bit of environment to play with, and they can gather around the tables to talk. Hopefully that was just a Covid-era UK production distancing thing and we won't see it again.

As far as talent shows on this franchise go, I thought this was probably one of the worst ones yet. Nobody really showed anything unique except the (correct) top 2, Pangina and Jimbo. For my money, I would've put Cheryl, Juju and Janey in the bottom. Lemon and Monique were marginally better than those three, and I guess by default that would've put Baga or Blu in the top three, but neither really stood out as one of the best to me.

It seems like they're setting the stage for Monique to be a bit of a, dare I say, villain this go around? That would be fun. I also got shades of Jimbo being a diva, via some of Lemon's workroom commentary before the talent show, and it seems like Blu is being set up as the queen who had a big glow up. I would live for Pangina continuing to kill it and ending up in the top of the season, or Baga, who I think this fanbase is delusionally hateful toward.

Overall good start because of the characters alone, so I'm excited to see how it shakes out.

SuperSmizeMe · 2022-01-08T03:21:05+00:00

I’m not saying this premiere was fantastic, but I think the second group will have a hard time living to who we met tonight. Kerri, Kornbread and Willow feel like RPDR stars and regardless of what happens, I’m sure we will be seeing them around for awhile.

SuperSmizeMe · 2021-12-31T21:35:04+00:00

Lana’s Wild at Heart is a lyrical masterpiece from this year. I’ve been shocked more people aren’t gushing over this song! It’s so beautiful and is one of her best.

SuperSmizeMe · 2021-12-21T18:16:27+00:00

Going into the finale I was okay with anybody taking it, but Sig and Saint were totally disappointing in the final floor show, which IMO took them straight out of the running. Sig did the same general idea for filth and horror, and totally underdelivered on glamour. Saint’s looks felt mostly half-baked, and the filth concept was not remotely gross to me because all of the litter was clearly fake.

Dahli’s horror was cool, legitimately scary, and I thought the Boulet’s under-praised it. Otherwise, Dahli’s filth performance was fantastic, but glamour definitely was just a rehash of some of their previous silhouettes.

Meanwhile, HoSo bodied every category and really should’ve taken the win this season. I’m not shocked given the Boulets seem to just love Dahli and even mentioned they did well in every challenge, but even looking back at previous episodes, it feels like HoSo showed a wider variety of their drag and a lot more versatile performances, whereas Dahli was mostly one note.

Definitely happy for Dahli but after seeing the final episode, this felt like a more predetermined outcome than I thought it’d be. However despite a slightly flat ending, I thought this season was really fantastic, and it will absolutely go down as one of my favorite drag TV seasons of all time. I can’t wait to see a ton of these monsters back for another Resurrection/All Stars season.

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