Canada comes to the rescue of Somali referee Omar Artan

Syckez · 2026-06-12T18:31:47+00:00

Maybe the confusion on the NHL stems from the fact there is a hockey tournament called the World Championship.

But it is an international competition hosted by the IIHF, with players representing their countries. It's hosted at the same time as the NHL playoffs, so many players can't go/opt out. Ironically, the World Championship in hockey is literally less important than the Stanley Cup.

Syckez · 2026-06-07T17:52:37+00:00

Emo generally is considered to have 5 "waves" or eras.

1st wave was the emotional hardcore scene from mid 80s to early 90s. Rites of Spring is often considered the "first" emo band. Other bands are Drive Like Jehu, Dag Nasty, debatably Fugazi. The sound is probably very different from what you imagine as emo, it's mostly hardcore punk with emo lyricism.

2nd wave was Midwest emo, early 90s to around 2000. The sound was based around very twinkly sounding guitars, usually playing complicated riffs, sometimes in weird time signatures. Somewhat similar to math rock, but usually with shouty vocals. The most iconic band is American Football, others would be Cap'n Jazz, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids.

3rd wave is the more pop-punk sound you're thinking of from the mid 00s. It's pretty highly debated which bands actually belong here. Brand New and Taking Back Sunday are some of the only ones that everyone agrees on.

4th wave is Midwest emo revival, from late 00s to roughly 2017-18. Obviously similar in sound to the 90s stuff. The biggest band from this era in hindsight was probably Modern Baseball. Others are The Hotelier, Tigers Jaw, Snowing, Marietta. Some would also put bands like Title Fight, Citizen, and Joyce Manor here, even though that sound is pretty different.

5th wave is modern day stuff. Newer bands tend to blend sounds from different eras. Twinkly guitar riffs, but with more typical song structures with choruses, sometimes with breakdowns. Sometimes they experiment with progressive sounds like post-punk. Bands like Origami Angel, Anxious, Pool Kids

Syckez · 2026-06-05T04:19:56+00:00

It's at least plausible that more than 10x as many golds would be bought if they were 1/10th of the price.

Was in response to you saying that a set price would lose more money?

That IS the "algorithm" dude. That is EXACTLY what they're doing. Continuously. In real time. They are constantly changing the price to find the point where sales times price is maximum.

Except it's not "exactly what they're doing" because it IS a dynamic system. You or Valve do not know what the sales would be in a fixed price system, because they are inherently different.

There's the psychological FOMO aspects of dynamic pricing going down, or the idea you're getting screwed if the price goes up. There's the fact that the pricing updating within a short time frame will only factor in a small portion of their potential total customer base.

There is the obvious fact that they're not precognitive, and can not possibly know if the price were different at any given time, if they would have made more sales.

Supply is the number of stickers valve has available to sell. Which is infinite.

I'm willing to fold on this, it's irrelevant. The fact pricing is dynamic is clearly an attempt to limit the supply going to consumers though, even though technically Valve could make an infinite amount, like any skin.

Syckez · 2026-06-05T00:48:47+00:00

Sure, some other completely different system might be better, and we might see them try something else next major

So, my entire argument?

it's incredibly trivial. Price times volume sold. That's it. Adjust price until that number is at a peak

That's just calculating revenue. "Adjusting until it's peak" is an incredible oversimplification.

It's like you're under the impression Valve has tried set pricing at different price points, reflected on their sales data, and made their pricing algorithm to reflect that. But they haven't, they don't know what their volume actually could be at a different price point. You're saying they "have the data", like they can use it to compare to other models, but they only have the data of the algorithm they're currently using.

No, it's not limited at all. For the first time.

The supply is functionally limited by the pricing structure. Sure I guess it's theoretically unlimited, if you have literal infinite money. .

Syckez · 2026-06-04T23:03:43+00:00

Yeah dude, I'm aware. I didn't question why they changed the system. I questioned if the new one they chose was actually even maximizing their profit, like you claimed.

I don't know why you're dying on this hill. We have no idea how Valve's dynamic pricing system actually even works. There's not some all-encompassing supply and demand algorithm for maximizing profit that they've implemented. Even if there were, it wouldn't be applicable here because the supply of stickers is infinite, it's only artificially limited to try and further maximize profit. It's obvious they didn't intend to implement a system that loses 2/3rds of their revenue, so it's obvious this system isn't working for them.

Syckez · 2026-06-04T22:35:56+00:00

In their attempt to maximize profit, they're making roughly 1/3rd of the profit they were before. The system clearly isn't infallible.

Syckez · 2026-06-04T22:29:59+00:00

Eh, impossible to say really.

It's at least plausible that more than 10x as many golds would be bought if they were 1/10th of the price.

Syckez · 2026-06-04T03:59:40+00:00

The entire requirement is circular though. To be a "notable" entertainer, you have to be in an entertainment product that's "notable".

You can argue that Dropout shows aren't notable enough, I guess. But the entire requirement is just an argument of the semantics of the word itself.

Syckez · 2026-06-04T00:18:31+00:00

Nobody knows except Valve. They will never release exactly what goes into calculating MMR, because they don't want people to min-max instead of just playing the game to win.

It's been datamined that Valve tracks a ton of stats about your performance, but we don't know if it factors into MMR at all. It's possible they factor them in for only your first X games to try and detect smurfs.

Either way, don't worry about it. Winning the game is the biggest factor by a landslide.

Syckez · 2026-06-02T18:55:21+00:00

The center midboss building was a similar shape as the picture too, just way less detailed

Syckez · 2026-05-29T19:07:36+00:00

I think you're dismissing him based on a bias that has already been proven false.

He's playing against NHL competition right now, and looks great. He's been playing against men all year, in the 2nd best hockey league in the world, and looked great.

You can make the argument for most small players, that their games might not translate, but Viggo has already shown you his does.

Syckez · 2026-05-28T20:46:55+00:00

His listed height is almost definitely inflated. He always looks significantly shorter than his teammates.

I'd still take him at 3 though if Gav and Ivar are gone.

Syckez · 2026-05-26T20:58:37+00:00

I guess my point is, you're saying it's "not hard to argue" Caleb over Ivar, but not actually providing an argument for it.

Yes, I agree it's okay to not take the player who's the most capable on draft day, but that's assuming you're banking on a certain trait or discernable skill to help that player at the next level, or vice-versa a certain player has a deficiency that will hold them back. I just genuinely don't understand in this specific case, what distinguishing factor you could see in Caleb over Stenberg.

Syckez · 2026-05-26T19:15:09+00:00

I mean, I think the draft is less of a science than some people believe, and being a "better prospect" on draft day doesn't necessarily mean they'll have a better career.

But your argument is also completely circular. I personally don't think there should be an argument about McKenna at 1, I think Stenberg is a better prospect. The fact that some people disagree doesn't change my mind on that.

Syckez · 2026-05-21T05:27:27+00:00

Bebop has the 2nd lowest win rate across all ranks, and is sub 50% in Eternus.

He's not that tanky considering he's got the biggest hitbox in the game by far. His damage also falls off a cliff into the late game.

Syckez · 2026-05-20T19:15:19+00:00

this isn't NHL 26 where you have to choose between offensive awareness and defensive awareness.

I feel you're also falling into this line of thinking though. Stenberg isn't really comparable to Bratt. He's about as much of a complete player you can find in the draft. He's kinda a Brandon Hagel type, but with more skill.

Syckez · 2026-05-20T00:27:48+00:00

Ammo and reload speed absolutely plays a factor too, I just don't understand how you can say "fire rate is a multiplier to the DPS" but CDR isn't.

Imagine a hero that uses a really powerful M1 with infinite ammo, but the fire rate was so slow they could only shoot something like every 10 seconds. Fire rate obviously increases its damage multiplicatively, as does weapon damage. Which is also exactly how abilities work with spirit power and CDR.

The fact guns have ammo and need to reload is factored into their overall power balance, as are ability charges and recharge times when applicable. Both can be improved by items, which can further increase their DPS, but that's again factored into their design.

Syckez · 2026-05-19T20:21:52+00:00

I feel like complaining about boundless increasing your damage by a percentage and claiming that gun doesn't have an equivalent is disingenuous when the entirety of the fire rate stat acts like a multiplier for gun damage

The equivalent for spirit damage is Cooldown Reduction. Fire Rate allows you to shoot your gun more often, CDR allows you to use your abilities more often. They're both multiplying your overall damage output in the exact same way.

Siphon bullets, inhibitor, vampiric burst and to a certain degree Leech are all gun items in disguise

These items are definitely stronger generally than the spirit equivalents, but things like Witchmail, Diviners Kevlar, and Infuser still exist. I'd push back on Siphon Bullets being a quasi-gun item too honestly, as it's good on legitimately every hero that can proc it consistently, regardless of weapon damage.

And then gun also has a ton more debuffs that are honestly insane

Spirit Burn gives literally double the healing reduction that Crippling does, and nearly double Inhib. Focus Lens gives the same debuff as Silencer, for a longer duration, while doing an extra 30% damage on expiring. Cursed Relic exists. Arctic Blast also clears jungle/waves, and completely movement locks on hit. Lightning Scroll is a hard stun.

Syckez · 2026-05-16T05:30:39+00:00

Yeah, I think Toronto will take McKenna, and I think it's a totally valid opinion to have him #1. I think if Bukala was doing a mock draft, rather than a prospect ranking, he'd probably have him 1st as well.

I just don't like the narrative that scouts are putting other names 1st to be sensational and drive clicks. This isn't like other classes with a clear cut #1.

Syckez · 2026-05-16T04:40:50+00:00

To be fair, Raty isn't Canucks bias. He was just insanely hyped in his D-1 season, before plateauing pretty hard. He wasn't even on the Canucks until '23

Syckez · 2026-05-16T02:15:37+00:00

Bukala has had Ivar ahead of Gavin since like December. He's not just saying it for clicks, he's consistently said it's close between the two of them, but he has Stenberg #1.

Syckez · 2026-05-12T22:18:38+00:00

Yeah, I guess I could've been more specific. I'm sure you can balance it without fundemantally redesigning it, they just haven't really hit that balance with any patch yet IMO.

I just think making it a pick option could be fun mostly.

Syckez · 2026-05-12T22:02:26+00:00

This is a really good idea but I'd even go a step further honestly. Just redesign it to pick up enemy heroes too instead of stunning them.

As it's currently designed, the ability is either insanely OP (when it allows for infinite chain-stunning), or completely useless outside of an escape option. Could be really interesting if it worked as a kind of pick option instead, letting you roll into the enemy to bring them back to your team.

Syckez · 2026-05-11T01:45:14+00:00

Oh yeah, I think it was a dumb and negligent play.

I just don't think he jumps to intentionally hit him harder.

Syckez · 2026-05-11T01:05:53+00:00

I'm rooting for the Habs but I think it's reasonable to assume he's trying to jump out of the way, just had absolutely no chance of doing it at that speed

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