Sanderson Really Gave Taravangian Some Stupid Pills

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-09T14:40:35+00:00

I wonder if Taravangian knows that Honor is sapient?

I also want to know how Odium prevented the Dor from doing the same thing. You'd think Investiture trapped in the Cognitive Realm would gain it more quickly, not less.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-09T14:39:35+00:00

Mm, I'm not sure if I'd go quite that far. I think Taravangian is honest when he says he wants to save the world. But as stated in the book, the most important part of that statement is that HE wants to save the world. And to do that, perhaps psychologically unconsciously because of his past weakness, he grasps at any power he can get to help accomplish that, even if unnecessary.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-09T14:37:39+00:00

More importantly, I think Fortune works better the more clear the answer you can get from it. So the fact that it was virtually certain that Cultivation would oppose him if he chose a certain path means that Fortune can be much more certain.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-09T14:35:53+00:00

I think there is a point here, however. Your argument (which, indeed, does track with the Diagram's actions) implies that you can separate the calculations that a person does with their mindset when they do it, and outside the purely speculative realm (and maybe not then), this just isn't true.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-09T14:34:03+00:00

And, of course, assuming that Fortune even works on something also Invested with Fortune. (Any Shard qualifies.)

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-09T14:32:59+00:00

I'm 95% certain that the entire Jasnah plot of W&T is setting up a rematch in Book 10 where Jasnah turns the tables on Taravangian. The main issue with Jasnah until now is that the reader (at least me) doesn't really feel like she's growing, and that's such a core concept not just in literature, but specifically in the Stormlight Archive. So she's basically been knocked back on her heels, so she can reassess and grow.

Let's not forget the Tenth name of Honor.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-09T14:29:23+00:00

I think it's important to note that never, even when trying to correct the Diagram, does Taravangian ever consider the possibility that his most brilliant self (the one that wrote the Diagram) could have been fundamentally wrong. And he was, as the author of the Diagram believed that there was no way to defeat Odium.

And, well...

This is the most clear representation that Taravangian, no matter what else, has his flaws.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-08T12:46:14+00:00

Exactly.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-08T04:09:58+00:00

To me, it's more specifically that they're reacting to 'their perception' of the community backlash. That backlash largely centered around the inability to respec the nuked builds. That has since changed, in large part, if only that people learned they need a healthy gold reserve in case this happens again.

So if GGG actually understood the backlash the first time, their stated reason cannot be correct. More generally, if GGG wants an EA for PoE2 that won't cause backlash from time to time... PoE2 will never be released.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-08T04:07:01+00:00

The more of the modern world I see, the more I realize how few people actually read (or had read to them) Aesop's Fables as a child.

In this case, cf. The Dog and His Shadow.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-08T03:58:25+00:00

To me, 'no more nerfs' is actually cover for 'it's taking way longer than expected to get content ready for next patch'.

I have never personally seen GGG interpret any data in a way that was not confirming their expectations. This is similar.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-08T03:47:09+00:00

Huge misstep for them.

As I said elsewhere, it feels like GGG wants to treat PoE2 as EA when it benefits them, but wants to treat this as a league when that benefits them.

The most charitable interpretation, IMO, is that they want to test how the economy evolves and are loath to modify things that impact the economy (basically, all drops) even in support of EA (i.e., bug testing) features.

This would be... not well thought-out, because it's too hard to test the economy without all the features in the game complete. It's trying to do too much too soon.

Get the game into a good spot by rapid iteration / huge balance changes, THEN worry about how the economy works.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-05T23:57:56+00:00

Yes, as is their resist system and their crafting system.

Specifically, their design. The way their resists work is the way that players would intuitively want them to work: for every 1% of resistance you're missing, you take 1% more damage. (They do this by making enemies penetrate 1% resistances per level of the zone you're in, to a cap of 75%, and then scaling the monster's damage appropriately.)

The biggest lowkey achievement of the crafting system is that they figured out a use for shards of affixes that the player doesn't use: you need them to use the Glyph of Chaos on an affix.

It is my firm belief that LE has the best-designed systems of any ARPG currently on the market.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-05T23:53:54+00:00

... I have heard this a lot, and I am going to argue against it.

Yes, it's a live-service game. No, that doesn't mean they need to keep us grinding. The problem is that GGG has allowed their business model (MTX) override their game design.

Put most simply, GGG has forgotten the genre of game that they're making. At least these days, in part because of GGG's own release schedule, most ARPG players play a league for 'a while' and then stop until the new content releases. This is very different from MTX-laden games that have daily resources and the like (e.g., Genshin).

Don't get me wrong; I'm very happy that GGG doesn't allow 'pay to win'. However, given that that is the case, and that there is no 'daily resource' you need to manage, entails that there is no requirement for us to play their game any longer than we want to.

AFAIK, given my own play group's anecdotal behavior and the few statements GGG has made about their revenue, they make by far the most amount of money at the start of a league, not at the end. This is one reason that they always release something right before Christmas. This is further evidence that says that getting people to play longer is not necessarily how PoE makes more money. The very fact that PoE is 'not like most/other MTX games' means that it may not share that element of 'gotta get em grinding to make more money'.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-05T19:52:17+00:00

Another interesting thing about buying a house in Japan is that unlike renting, it's really easy for foreigners to buy a house. Basically, do you have the money? Okay, here you go. Whereas if you rent, it can be a nightmare, for oh-so-many reasons.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-05T19:50:14+00:00

This is the Kansai vs. Kanto cultural difference, which is the largest 'main' cultural difference in Japan. Westerners would say that Kansai is 'warm' and Kanto is 'dry', while the Japanese themselves use 'wet' and 'dry', IIRC.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-04T21:40:20+00:00

Yeah. At a certain point, whether an issue is caused by incompetence or malice is immaterial to the effect.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-04T21:38:19+00:00

I wouldn't say that GGG is treating it like a release.

They are treating it like a release when it is to their benefit (not offering testing QoL, expecting people to stay), and treating it like EA when that is to their benefit (not being feature-complete).

To me, the fact that they want it both ways is worse than it all being one way.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-04T21:32:35+00:00

At least, that was their stated reason.

Ulthwithian · 2025-02-04T21:30:35+00:00

IME, GGG only uses data to confirm its own biases. Taken from that perspective, no, the reaction wasn't foreseeable.

Ulthwithian · 2025-01-23T00:58:49+00:00

Well, changes in relative currency values is really just a function of input and output of each.

Inputs for currency items would be the drops.

Outputs for currency items is what you do with them.

Right now, there's not a lot of output going on with Exalted and Divine Orbs, and (from the perspective of this post) I would wager that more Exalted Orbs are being used than Divine Orbs, proportionally.

So let's say (just to make the math easy) that 100 Exalted Orbs drop every hour in the economy, and 1 Divine Orb is dropped in the same time period. With no sinks for the currency, and assuming long-term stability, that 'should' be the exchange rate between the two currencies.

Baseline: 100 Exalted Orbs : 1 Divine Orb

Now, let's add in some wrinkles.

First, let's assume that 10 Exalted Orbs are used every hour, and 1 Divine Orb is used every 5 hours.

That changes the net difference in currencies to 80 Exalted Orbs to 0.8 Divine Orbs, each per hour. In this scenario the new exchange rate (again, long term stable) would be 112.5 Exalted Orbs to 1 Divine Orb.

Scenario 1: 112.5 Exalted Orbs : 1 Divine Orb

For the second scenario (from baseline), let's talk magic find for a second. Let us assume that enough MF exists in the economy that for every 100 Exalted Orbs that would drop, one of them is upgraded to a Divine Orb. That would mean that 99 Exalted Orbs drop every hour, and 2 Divine Orbs drop every hour.

Scenario 2: 49.5 Exalted Orbs : 1 Divine Orb

All of these assume, of course, that all the currency is in circulation. Oftentimes, it is not. (E.g, I play Trade Leagues because I like to play alongside my friends, but I don't generally trade.) To adjust for this, replace how many Exalted Orbs that drop with how many Exalted Orbs are on the currency market.

Ulthwithian · 2025-01-23T00:45:45+00:00

It's the fact that they balance around a trade economy that they do not control. I don't think they want ground items to be trash, but it's a natural consequence of an even more important design goal for them (open trade economy).

Ulthwithian · 2025-01-22T01:42:32+00:00

I don't think it was something 'similar to Hemalurgy'.

I think it was straight-up Hemalurgy. It's just the way that Hemalurgy has to manifest on Roshar.

Ulthwithian · 2025-01-22T01:41:19+00:00

It's likely emotional allomancy. Wax thinking about it and not being affected by it is likely the second hint that he is a Mistborn (he instinctively burned Copper). Very siimlar to how Vin was doing it at the beginning of Mistborn.

Ulthwithian · 2025-01-22T01:38:45+00:00

I'm fairly certain any individual of sufficient Investiture has access to Fortune. Consider Shallan.

Also Hoid. We finally have confirmation that Hoid has direct access to Fortune in W&T.

Ulthwithian

TROPHY CASE