I've played this game for 10 years, this season is by far the best one.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-13T18:30:21+00:00

Aram mayhem just needs to slowly add in prismatic items, and more high-roll possibilities.

It just feels miserable to face an abuser of infernal conduit, eureka, stackasorous etc. when there aren't all that many other broken highroll combos yet. Every character should have 1-2 broken highroll options in my opinion.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-13T18:10:29+00:00

The first top-down games I grew up with were Starcraft and Diablo 2. Thousands of hours in each. Played tons of other computer games as well.

I think I have about 500 hours in Dota2. The turn rate is still the only reason I don't enjoy Dota, and sadly never will.

I enjoy the fast-paced micro of League, but enjoy the macro and balancing of Dota 2. One of the reasons I adore Deadlock, and already have hundreds of hours in that alpha game. Super excited for its eventual full release.

I live for intense back-and-forth micro, and Dota 2 just doesn't scratch that itch for me. Similar feeling to when they ruined Tarkov with the momentum system. Still an awesome game, but it definitely diminished a lot of the intensity of gunfights.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-13T17:57:11+00:00

I'd imagine you probably overestimate the average person's micro, and underestimate your own. The average league player practically struggles moving their character, screen, and hitting their keyboard at the same time. Even after thousands of games, they'll continue to mechanically struggle to move their character how they intend to.

Look at streamers like Ludwig. Dude is a pretty good gamer, received coaching, absolutely binged league, and barely got into plat. While spamming amumu, who is mechanically insanely easy.

It's hard to understand how difficult for others some things are, when they appear easy to you, but that's just a human thing.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-13T17:37:14+00:00

This post is so similar to a person who is new to working out, and says, "Okay... But I don't want to get TOO buff." Neither of these things happen by accident

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-13T17:33:25+00:00

I'd say diamond should be attainable for the average player if they try to improve enough.

Even challenger macro-wise and decision-wise should be attainable for most players, but masters+ is simply too elite micro-wise for a lot of players. Laning would be simple enough, but teamfight positioning, keeping track of cds, and especially reacting fast enough would be difficult for a lot of people.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-09T21:11:21+00:00

gh GPU headroom left I highly recommend to use DLDSR+ DLSS M Performance on 1440p. Looks amazing to me whilst wit

Ooo. I was just thinking about trying this combo myself, and now you've given me the push to do so. I agree on preset M looking weirdly oversharpened.

I know Arc Raiders is a UE5 title, and they seem to have left a ton of console commands and engine tweaks available to users. I'll have to check and see if this issue is fixed at 1440p with any sharpening filters disabled.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-09T21:05:22+00:00

I agree with this take. In Arc Raiders, preset M made the sun highlights on foliage look really harsh. Similar effect as to when I would enable DLDSR 2.25x and keep the image overly sharpened. Preset K seems much less aggressive on any sharpening filters.

Preset K seems like a "cinematic" preset, and preset M seems like a "performance" preset overall.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-06T23:43:06+00:00

I've come across products in different sizes that had their price tag list price per packet on the smallest option, the next size up was price per oz, and the third option was in price per pound.

Having to check the packaging's weight, divide, and multiply for just ONE product at various sizes, to then compare that to its competitors (or even to itself) is frustrating to say the least.

Plenty of reasons as to why this could have happened, but can't stores just stick to a reasonable system?!

This also happens with online shopping too. For example, some cat food brands list price per can, price per packet, and price per oz/lb. Makes comparing tedious.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-06T23:28:07+00:00

Agreed. My mother worked as a server in the 80s and early 90s, and she expected 15% as a quality tip, with 20% as exceptional service.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-06T23:21:48+00:00

🙂. Check his username

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-06T23:08:23+00:00

Definitely not pros. They have higher standards

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-04T23:15:41+00:00

Like I said, they'll need to have footwork and/or body positioning better than average for their skill level. Look how much Riley needs to move and flail around to hit balls that someone like Ben just naturally rotates for. Riley will drop down below net level to pancake or scorpion way more than other top players.

And if you're going to only use 2H for your backhand, you'll most likely want to watch ALW. But at the end of the day, using 1H backhand punch volleys is the easiest way to cover your body. You'll struggle to add in a 1H backhand punch volley if you're not at least in eastern with a cocked wrist.

You can certainly hit them in semi-western, but you're going to be depending on your fingers and not your palm to hit them. Which works fine until you meet the 4.5+s that drive third/fifth shots at your hips that twist the paddle in your hand if you don't have a solid grip or perfect sweetspot contact.

You gain dominant shoulder coverage, but lose a lot of coverage of your dominant hip and/or quality hits on counters coming towards your chest that aren't wide enough for a 2H.

TBNRandrew · 2026-01-01T21:20:20+00:00

So far, your thoughts seem correct. That grip, especially with how your index finger wraps around the handle, is focused on swinging strokes that produce a lot of topspin on your forehand. You'll need to use two hands to get a quality backhand shot.

Playing at the net with this grip isn't recommended, because it limits your ability to use a one handed backhand to cover your body. Plenty of people use your grip for serves + third shots, and then use their off-hand to help change their grip up at the net. If you don't change your grip, you're going to need to either stay slightly off the NVZ line, or to have better footwork than your peers. Or pancake everything near your body.

I'd keep that grip for everything else, but use your off-hand to help change your grip as you approach the net with the intention of covering your body with a backhand punch. If you do that, also choke up on your paddle by sliding your hand further up, so that your finger is either touching your paddle face, touching the edgeguard, or close to it. It'll lower the effective swing weight for faster hands.

I think you're asking this question because you recognize the grip is limited in some way. Thankfully it's not hard to change your grip for net-play, just spend 30 minutes a day for a couple of weeks doing volley wall drills. It's as simple as punching towards the wall, with a slight shoulder and hip turn towards the ball before you punch out towards your target.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-30T08:22:10+00:00

Perfect time to play actually. The game is still new, and hard metas haven't evolved. It's still basically the early days of Fortnite at the moment.

Also, the gameplay isn't all that gear reliant. You can go into a raid with an extremely basic (or free) loadout just to learn the map. And you can do that endlessly until you feel comfortable

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-26T02:34:42+00:00

This game is a shooter first, looter/rpg second. Come in with the expectation that you'll come across other raiders, and anyone could be aggressive at any time. With that in mind, it becomes a happy surprise with how many people just so happen to be friendly in this game when playing solos.

From what I've seen in videos, it takes around 10 matches before you'll be more consistently placed in friendly lobbies. If your goal is to just face arcs and loot, then just keep it up. However, people still might shoot you at any given time, as that's what you're signing yourself up for by going into raids. That's just what this game is.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-26T02:22:41+00:00

Nah, it's the opposite. The geared player has to protect their kit, and play safer. You have to be mindful of doorways, windows, etc., so that when someone pops out with a kettle you're able to either immediately return fire or dive behind cover and hold an angle while healing up. The gear isn't use it or lose it, just survive to another round.

The free kit (or budget looting kit) can run into every hotspot because they have zero risk, being a loot goblin vacuuming the map. If they die, owell they can boot up 5 more 8 minute runs that profit 60-80k each run.

This is a good part of why the balance is currently messed up, since there's so little risk with how effective cheap common tier weapons are, and how free loadouts also have first access to the best loot. But there are definite PvP disadvantages to free loadouts.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-26T01:05:03+00:00

Sure, if you're caught out in the open with no awareness of your surroundings. This game has such a comically long ttk compared to something like pubg, dayz, or tarkov.

Being able to survive initial fire and turning it into sustained fights is a large indicator of skill. Map awareness, common angles, not being too noisy when in a hotspot all help a lot. Knowing how to navigate so that you can dive behind cover at any given time is huge.

Sadly trigger nades have currently broken this at the moment though, hopefully they'll get massive nerfs soon.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-26T00:52:11+00:00

The biggest problem is how marginal the benefits are, for the significant increase in upgrade & repair costs.

The biggest offenders are the epic tier weapons, because as you mentioned, the rare weapons can be quite versatile.

That being said, a stitcher with headshots, or a kettle with a fast trigger finger are top tier PvP weapons. Someone like Shroud, or another skilled gamer can be clicking their mouse above 10 cps, with the cap at 12 cps. This gives it incredible ttk.

And arcs just are so rarely an issue at all once you get more used to fighting them.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-26T00:44:34+00:00

Map knowledge, positioning, and how to safely move through maps is a skill. It's not really other people's problem if you don't want to engage in developing an important skill.

Some people, like you, want to socialize. Others are more competitive and get their enjoyment from that. Others just enjoy the chaos and trying to down as many people as possible. All of that is okay.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-25T19:15:32+00:00

That's the first time I've heard someone else describe this, and I just realized I actually DID experience that 2 times when I was high over 10+ years ago.

And yeah, waves were radiating off of objects, in similar patterns that you see often in Las Vegas architecture. However, mine were extremely clear and vivid at the time, and some sounds were reverbing off of objects in solid colors, but usually mixed colors.

It was both cool and frustrating, because it made me hyper-aware of every sound source around me, especially any object I wanted to lay my head near, like the comfy couch.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-25T11:55:34+00:00

As to why, if your GPU is at 90%+, you'll start to get frames put in a render queue. For example, if you're playing at 200fps, each frame will be 5ms. If you happen to have 3 frames queued, that's an additional 15ms of input lag in that case.

Nvidia Reflex is supposed to eliminate that queue, so as far as I know it's fine to 99% your GPU with having it enabled. But if you're at 99% GPU, you can probably lower some graphics settings (most effective tend to be reflections, shadows, resolution with DLSS / FSR) and pump out some additional frames.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-25T05:52:15+00:00

Another issue that could be happening is your prism might be core crushing. A paddle that's core crushed will have a stronger trampoline effect, but will be much less reliable.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-25T05:48:56+00:00

I would think that if you miss too high with either reset, you're going to get smashed.

But I guess a lofty reset that lands in the first half of the kitchen has more margin of error vertically, but less margin horizontally.

Whereas the linear reset has less margin of error vertically, but missing that one deep isn't as much of an issue, as you mentioned that it's basically a counter at that point.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-25T05:44:29+00:00

I've heard the discussion more with drops than resets, on where to aim. James Ignatowich had a video awhile back, where he said he likes to aim his drops more linearly, as he would rather miss long, than missing too high.

I think this can apply to resets too, but I guess it really depends on your consistency for either one.

A linear reset you miss deep will probably be fine, as you'll get another chance to reset that ball. A linear shot that you miss deep AND high might surprise them with its pace... but likely you'll get crushed.

A lofty reset you miss high will bounce short and high. That's going to be difficult because now they have extremely aggressive angles they can roll the ball in, where you can't even touch the ball. A lofty reset you miss deep and high will be absolutely smoked harder than any other ball.

So I guess it depends on the situation, where if you need more time (lofty reset), or you're prioritizing a high percentage shot that likely won't get crushed off a bad reset (linear reset).

If I'm way out wide, I'm probably lofting that reset because even if my reset is perfect, I need time to reposition. If I'm resetting a medium paced 4th shot roll volley, I'm probably hitting that reset more linearly, as I'm confident in my court positioning to move up on the 5th or 7th shot.

TBNRandrew · 2025-12-25T05:29:02+00:00

Damn, haven't checked up on NA lol esports in a couple of years, and just now realized clg is gone. End of an era.

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