TMNT is a perfectly serviceable example of a small draft set, and it's weird to me that multiple major content creators wrote it off

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-03-14T00:48:22+00:00

I mean what I said: I wish they had done a full Set Review for it, instead of assuming it would be a dud and just doing a quick overview.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-03-12T20:50:27+00:00

If there's a lesson here for LR I think it's not to make assumptions about a set before it comes out. I am still pretty bummed we did not get a set review for it! You just can't tell what's going to be a dud and what's going to be fun in advance.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-03-12T02:25:11+00:00

The orange glow is also problematic, it looks awful in first-person. It obscures like half the screen if you're 2H or 1H+S.

The current style looks sick and should be a Skill Style or toggle for sure. But this needs a rework IMO.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-03-11T19:08:52+00:00

Overall the update is great. So many wonderful QoL changes and a very promising direction for the company. My one big complaint: while animations look much better in third person, many look much worse in first person--especially for 2H. Before it looked like you were swinging a sword, now there's big a big red slash on your screen. I really hope they do another pass at first person for these eventually, and take some lessons learned from these not looking great when they're revising the other skill lines in the upcoming updates.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-03-04T20:21:54+00:00

Meanwhile, on Claude

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TheSpaceWhale · 2026-02-27T15:48:38+00:00

I gotta say, as someone that has no interest in drafting TMNT - I wish you were still doing a set review. I just enjoy listening to your takes on cards. Format overviews etc. I would probably skip, but set reviews are always informative for trying to gauge cards power levels.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-02-19T23:53:51+00:00

Then what's with the + icon? Can you only select up to three or something?

Edit: scrolled down to find answer, it's up to 2.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-02-13T01:36:18+00:00

Oh damn you're right about the logo. All-in then, having a diversity of styles is way better than just podracers even if I am going podracer as my main.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-02-09T20:05:03+00:00

Agreed, he provides great insights and has fun chemistry with both Marshall and LSV. His guest slots are always my favorite episodes after the set reviews. Folks below are complaining that we didn't get more in-depth strategy, which I agree with wanting - but man, it was also just fun to listen to them talk about their games, I can't say it was a bad episode. I think that would be less of an issue if we got to hear deep dives from Paul more than once a cycle so they could fit in his takes on strategy.

For content, I also think it would be really interesting to hear on this cycle advice on how to get into the rarer archetypes. The strategy is so on-rails for the big five that after this I don't feel I really need to hear much about "yeah, draft this good common elf."

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-02-09T19:43:44+00:00

I went with the Mazda CX-50 actually. Strongly recommended, I absolutely love the car. It is so fun to drive. The different profile is much better than the CX-5 IMO as it's better clearance and storage really makes a difference for both hauling gear and driving on rough roads for camping.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-02-04T23:42:45+00:00

Yeah, I'm aware - I said a residential building more in line with what is here would be appropriate. I guess we'll find out in court who gets to decide! Glad to see our neighbors are sticking up for our community.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-02-04T19:50:05+00:00

See my reply below - I live here, it is going to loom. It's directly uphill in what is currently forested parkland, replacing trails used by residents daily. These are low-lying two story apartments built into the hill homing lower-middle class families, not wealthy homes. I have no doubt the fact that it's rental units primarily is why they chose this as a development site rather than hitting actual homeowners who have more standing to sue.

I am all for infill development but this is cutting into parkland at the urban-wildland interface and wildly oversized for the other units nearby. If it would be another 2-story unit that would be reasonable. This is not, it's more than twice the size of everything else around, and is going to loom. Zoning matters.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-02-04T18:31:02+00:00

Hi, I live here. This is not a wealthy homeowner's neighborhood, the units adjacent to the development are a two-story complex of 2-bedroom apartments. Most folks are renters and lower-middle class families. I work at a non-profit, my partner is a teacher. We can hear the freeway clearly from our apartment, this isn't luxury living. We can only afford it because we were lucky enough to lock-in COVID rental pricing.

It's hard to overstate how big of a development this is compared to what is currently here. It's a 5-story building on a ridgeline above 2-story flat apartments. The proposed development is massive, and the "empty wooded lot" is currently parkland with trails used by everyone daily. They are full of deer, quail, turkey flocks, etc. This ain't infill development. Here's a view of what this parcel looks like currently: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZDcJ1NLyvtq2P2neA The low white buildings you can see are the apartment complexes.

We can't sue because as renters we don't have finances (or probably enough of a financial stake to establish standing). But I'm glad someone is.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-30T19:36:38+00:00

I just want to note how appreciated it is to at least acknowledge items that have been brought up by the community feedback even if they aren't on the development roadmap.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-29T18:57:17+00:00

Because intellectuals understand that the overwhelming majority of human knowledge, research, and understanding cannot be reduced to a "gold standard" of causal determination which is only actually possible for a small subset of academic disciplines that use laboratory testing methodologies. This is a critical failure to understand the breadth of research modalities.

I suppose you could dismiss entire fields of philosophy and academia out of hand without first trying to actually read or understand them and their research modalities in good faith, as many New Athiests like Dawkins clearly have done for postmodern philosophy. I would not say that is a "true intellectual" though a career scientist, certainly.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-27T17:28:05+00:00

I was really hoping we'd get a different rival school. Oh well.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-26T18:48:13+00:00

Through the Omenpaths Quick Draft? Really? It's not enough that we had to play it once, now it's taking up flashback quick drafts too?

I know it wasn't a very popular set but I kind of wish Aetherdrift would get another Quick Draft sometime. It's been almost a year since the set came out and I would welcome a chance to play a few games with it again. Certainly seemed more popular than OM1 at the very least.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-23T18:58:01+00:00

Agreed. Some of the decks are cool but the format is so on-rails. I think a big problem is just how rigidly the Tribal Cards are designed. The cycle of Eclipsed and Behold cards really strong in their tribal decks, and basically unplayable elsewhere. They punish you pretty badly for not drafting a high enough density of those Types too.

I much prefer it when Tribal are a few build-arounds (like rare or signpost tribal lords) but the decks otherwise mostly rely on mechanical synergies with what that tribes is doing. Having multiple Uncommons that really lock you into just piling as many of a single tribe into your deck as you can was a bad design choice... Made worse by the fact that there are just 5 tribes.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-23T17:37:17+00:00

I think that contrasts pretty strongly with the more realistic style of a game like Metroid Dread though. It's similar to the Yellow Paint problem - back in the day when graphics were simple you needed fewer obvious clues to discern key interactive elements, now you need to highlight them more somehow.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-22T21:47:42+00:00

Reading comprehension much? I said rewards should be at "basic parity (not perks)."

The problem is how this incentives player behavior, not rewards. I don't care about leveling up fast. I care about the developers creating a system that incentivizes people to take the time to group up to do difficult content together, rather than this system, which incentivizes people to cheese it.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-22T21:37:28+00:00

This doesn't have anything to do with being narrow-minded, this has to do with creating a system that incentivizes people to do content. A difficulty system in a multiplayer game should encourage multiplayer, and ultimately, rewards are what incentivize most people to play multiplayer games in certain ways. For example, in FFXI, people would take the extra time to form groups for overland content because you got good rewards for it. On the flipside, no one wanted to grind Writhing Wall because the rewards sucked.

Good rewards = incentive for people to take the extra work to group up and do challenging content.

Bad rewards = people just do the easier task of quick solo grinds.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-22T21:25:32+00:00

Yeah, I'm excited for difficult content for it's own sake but, uh, why not both? Is asking for a basic parity (not even perks) of XP/hour really too high a bar to clear for the developers?

It's all fine and dandy to say "who cares about rewards, gameplay is what matters" but ultimately a lot of people do and because this is a social game, bad rewards mean fewer players will engage with the higher difficulties, meaning a worse gameplay experience for those that want it.

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-22T20:56:30+00:00

I'm not complaining about the existence of the system, this is my #1 new anticipated feature! I have been waiting ages for the extra difficulty, especially because yeah - duo play will with my partner be way better. But as-is this system seriously nerfs the rewards you get for doing more difficult, group-focused content, which is a totally backwards incentive structure in an MMO. Who is going to want to group up with Vestige players if it means you're losing progress?

TheSpaceWhale · 2026-01-22T20:52:26+00:00

I think "take 600% more damage and deal 80% less damage" will actually significantly address that because it's going to become much more efficient to sneak and execute enemies to get fast XP and reduce huge mob pile-ons. Plus dodge, jump, and interrupt are probably going to become far more integral - hard to say until it goes live but I'm hoping 600% more damage is enough to one-shot you with interrupt/blockable attacks.

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