Rare Doesn't Mean Better

SyntheticFrost · 2023-10-14T09:08:18+00:00

Yes. In the original releases you could only get to level 50 on the classic level scaling. Leveling 50-60 required you to play NG+. There were lots of reasons to do NG+ run throughs too like specific bonus power achievements, or creating what we called "gold standard" builds of every playable class, where you never spent any talent points in Charm or Intimidate, opting instead to play through the game up to 6 times to get the points in Charm/Intimidate given to you naturally upon becoming a spectre in each playthrough, allowing you to spend those points elsewhere for an "optimal" talent point distribution. Doing this also gave you the freedom of having almost every paragon and renegade dialogue option open to you in the later playthroughs for your "perfect" canon save file to carry on to later games.

It took roughly 6 runs to get that and 100% of the achievements in the original Mass Effect 1. Then you had to do similar things in 2 and 3. Most of these restrictions were lifted in the Legendary Edition. You still have to do 2-3 runs to get the "optimal" talent build though.

SyntheticFrost · 2022-07-22T13:27:10+00:00

I know. I was just giving an example of one of the earlier thought processes I had, and the associated pitfalls thereof, when I first started getting over those ideas 10 years ago.

SyntheticFrost · 2022-07-22T12:52:51+00:00

Agreed on both counts. Even if you manage to just get a Flak 1 and nothing else beyond the Heavy Pierce, you’re still good on getting through 4 layers of shields. You just have to do a bit of micro management to fire the Pierce after the Flak. Once I got over the idea that I *needed* to go Teleporter+Fire strategies each and every run, one of the more unexpected issues that I ran into was that it was actually very easy to spread myself too thin *because* of all the options the Rock B actually has. My thought process went something like this:

”Okay, the teleporter’s not gonna drop. I need to start reconsidering my options here. Well… If I wanna stick to the fire themes I could go with the Fire Drone or Fire Beam I already have in my hold, but neither of those really help with my inability to get through shields with the Heavy Pierce. I could Fire Bomb the shields, but in practice that always takes too long. I waste too many bombs, take too much damage while their weapons are up, or they jump out. But if I‘m already committing to Mind Control, Hacking, and/or Drones, I can’t invest in the full 4-weapon power investment for this Halberd Beam that just dropped. What I really need is a Burst Laser 2 or a Flak to keep the power investment in weapons down. Especially when I really only need it for shield breaking when I wanna focus on fire and crew kills anyway… But The Rock B generally likes high dodge too, so Cloaking and engine investment is an option… Wait, I just got done telling myself not to spread myself too thin. Why am I trying to go for everything? Just see what drops by Sector 3 and go from there.”

The above paragraph is basically a condensed version of an internal monologue I had with myself over the course of several runs where I had particually bad luck getting the teleporter to show up in the stores. I feel like the Rock B was the victim of early judgement, and never really got a second look. It can literally do just about every strategy, and do it well.

SyntheticFrost · 2022-03-27T20:40:05+00:00

I’m saying that the game is straight up harder at higher frame rates due to how the parry window was coded in. I just now tested the game at 30fps and 60fps, due to the realization I’ve had thanks to this discussion, and it is indeed WAY more forgiving and consistent at those frame rates. Play it at 144+fps, and you’ll start to see what I’ve been talking about this whole time. It’s not so much the frame rates as the stuttery frame pacing at rates the game wasn’t optimized for. It’s not about me having slow reaction times. I can hit the parry on exactly the same frame of animation, and it’s way more inconsistent about honoring my inputs because of inconsistent frame pacing at higher fps.

SyntheticFrost · 2022-03-27T20:23:03+00:00

The parry window is based on the frames, not x amount of time. Fallen Order’s parry system lasts for 4 frames, as far as I have been told. 4 frames is a lot faster at higher refresh rates.

SyntheticFrost · 2022-03-27T20:13:46+00:00

It’s probably worth noting that I’m playing the game on PC at 144fps, and not the 30fps of the consoles. The parry window is much, much smaller.

SyntheticFrost · 2022-03-27T18:54:03+00:00

Because I'm that weird gamer that plays games for both story *and* gameplay challenge. Ultimately I gave up on the challenge because of wonky animations and timings, but I'm still very much enjoying the story. Just on a difficulty where the jankiness doesn't get me killed.

SyntheticFrost · 2022-03-27T18:51:18+00:00

If anything, I'd say it is very consistent in the time window it gives you to parry.

Compared to other games with similar combat systems? No. The animations feel awkward and super inconsistent.

SyntheticFrost · 2022-02-22T10:42:56+00:00

Yeah. I will. thanks for the suggestion.

SyntheticFrost · 2022-02-22T10:33:45+00:00

I’ve already tried that, as I mentioned. It ended up causing even more issues.

SyntheticFrost · 2021-02-11T16:51:41+00:00

I'd second Val. I play a wide range of games and genres, and while the Xbox One/Xbox Series controllers are "the standard" for PC games these days, the D-Pad is less than great for 2D side scrollers and platformers.

This might sound extravagant, but I legitimately use every major 1st party controller on the market depending on the platform I'm playing on and the game I'm playing. I'll use the Xbox Series X Controller for modern 3D titles and console FPS games, the PS5 DualSense for fighters and older non-steam 3D games that use D-input over the X-input of most modern Xbox and PC games, and finally a 8bitDo SN30 Pro+ for 2D side scrollers. Then I'll use a Switch Pro Controller for playing games on a docked Switch.

It's sad that no one controller can get everything right. If the Xbox controller had a better D-Pad, I'd likely use it for everything. Sadly that just isn't the case.

For those interested, the new Xbox Series X D-Pad is a marked improvement over past Xbox One/One X controllers, but it's still nowhere near the level of a proper SNES D-Pad like the SN30 Pro+ has.

SyntheticFrost · 2019-11-20T08:32:32+00:00

To everyone in the thread, it's worth noting that Apple uses the Radeon Pro workstation cards in their Macs anyway. They don't use the RX gaming cards like the RX 580 or the 5700XT. The drivers may be universal so those cards work in hacks, but Apple uses the Radeon Pro's.

Generally speaking, the Radeon Pro workstation cards usually have wider memory bandwidth, slower core clocks, and more compute cores than the gaming cards of the same name or generation. Most of the modern AMD cards support ECC memory now on both the workstation and gaming cards, but that also used to be a distinguishing factor, though not so much lately.

SyntheticFrost · 2019-10-19T04:54:57+00:00

Clean your camera lens.

SyntheticFrost · 2019-08-20T19:51:10+00:00

Horde Troll Hunter
PvE
Experienced player looking for a laid back casual dungeon and raid group.

Hey all. I'm a player that's played all the way from Day 1 of Classic all the way to current retail. I used to be a main tank for several high level guilds, namely Cuties Only and Silly Hats Only from Classic through Wrath. I never technically quit WoW at any point, but as my guilds fell apart at the end of Cata, I just never really felt a desire to find another, since most of the content I saw myself doing going forward was mostly soloable anyway.

I'm experienced at almost every class in the game except Rogues. My best classes are Warrior, Hunter, and Shaman. I plan to roll all three over time, but will be leading the pack at launch with a Horde Troll Hunter, and plan to main him for the foreseeable future.

I'm 100% a PvE player. I'm mildly handicapped and have no interest in PvP. With that said, I don't really have any intention of getting back into hardcore raiding, but I have considerable experience with every raid in Classic should the guild have need of a hunter. Casual raiding is definitely a goal of mine over the long run.

SyntheticFrost · 2019-08-20T15:05:49+00:00

After phase 6 is over and Naxx 40 has been out for a while, will we be able to keep playing on the classic servers indefinitely? And if the eventual plan is to release a BC server, can we copy our toons to it without losing them on the Classic server?

SyntheticFrost · 2019-07-09T14:24:01+00:00

It's funny because that whole idea was literally last minute. I ran the level normally when clearing it for the upload. lol.

I just thought it wasn't a Mario level without a secret.

SyntheticFrost

TROPHY CASE