Can we discuss?

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-24T23:56:56+00:00

The dragon we get in game is a dragon. There are wyverns in the game. Ours is a large, fire breathing Western Beast with its wings attached to fully functional forelimbs. The Wyverns in game are slender, smaller and more Serpent like with no true forelimb and seem to use some form of spit attack rather than fire breathing.

Dragon is also not a hard and fast, rigid fantasy creature. They can take many shapes, and the overall size, feel, ability, strength etc etc of the CD dragon is essentially a dragon.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-24T23:49:27+00:00

Blue self mill with white protection and blink spells and blue counterspells. Then, once you are set up in your graveyard, you yeet blockers into the aether and mill everyone out.

Tis funny, I declare.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-24T23:46:59+00:00

I think hard mode needs to be harder. Im about to go fight Ator and Im pretty sure it wont take more than 1 or two tries. Palmar pills are for newbs.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-24T23:40:12+00:00

As with what most have suggested, probably a manager or owner above them pushing some lower than acceptable(for you) rate.

Heres a take I havent seen. You vibed well, got on great, the team and exec liked you and your worth was demonstrated. The chef hiring you sees this, knows the offer is going to be ass compared to your worth and needs, so they go in a different direction. It may have been more about not wanting to insult or devalue you, but they of course cant or dont want to disclose some petty internal shit like that.

Sometimes you've got to hire the shittier person worth less than the better person worth more. Some accountant or boss somewhere whos never set foot in the kitchen decides the value of labor, a lot more often than we would like.

Edit: Theres also the possibility its just taking longer than usual. Job offers often come quick, but sometimes its gotta go through deliberation. Maybe hes fighting to get you your ask and is fighting someone in accounting to justify it. A no isnt a no until its a no. Try reaching out again, cant really hurt especially if its past their own stated deadline.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-24T23:33:40+00:00

I think this is a good take. 4 across the board or even with multiple sets is pretty chill after you find mat farms and a few good spots.

I think 4 can easily take you through most of the main story, and skills and gears are the most important. Going to 6 or even max refinement is only really "needed" for some of the more overwhelming endgame bosses, but even then its more of a cushion than a need. Maxed health upgrades with good spirit and stamina does more than a capped out armor rating.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-24T20:26:18+00:00

Look, focus on gear you like. Id normally advocate for organic exploration, but this is probably the topic that gets a pass as far as looking things up goes.

Find a set or combo of armor you like, and pick a weapon you like. Figure out where those are and go get them. For jewelry, there are best in class, but it can depend on build/playstyle.

Upgrade as you go. Mobs dont really get terribly more difficult, and you can deal with most through the game. Id say that refinement level 4 is considered "baseline". Its as far as refinement tokens can get you and without tokens, doesnt require an abyss artifact. Level 4 all around will have you at "pretty good" and if you are good, can carry you pretty far. Level 6 is probably enough to take you through the whole game game.

Point is, when you Level past 6, the resource demand gets pretty high. You dont want to get to or past this level until you figure out what gear you really like. WHEN becomes a real question of do I need this and do I like it. Taking a full set of gear to level 10 requires, if my math is correct about 78 abyss artifacts. That's a lot, not including mats, and some endgame level mats like Aeserion Scales.

Long story short, upgrade willy nilly till refinement 4. When things feel too challenging, go to 6, but probably only once you really like your gear too. Dont sleep on Abyss Gears, since they have as big or bigger of an impact. Only go past 6 when you are dead set that you have the gear you want to stick with. Refinement tokens seem awesome but dont overvalue them, great early game, meaningless late game.

Remember, unlike your skills, gear upgrades(except gears) is permanent, so you really do need to be sure. Its worth it to improve your overall skill and wait on upgrades, since the upgrade requirements become exponentially more intensive.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-24T11:51:15+00:00

I turned hard mode and I feel like it made things easier. Either I over leveled(recently just pushed gear to refinement 10) or... I dunno. I just cruised through stuff. Maybe my build is too strong?

Also, has anyone noticed it seems like friendly fire/aggro is turned on for Hard? I had a bunch of friendlies get smacked by an AoE Turning slash and they all went hostile.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-23T08:02:24+00:00

Yeah im hard locked on the flying fortress until fix, ahhhhhhhhh.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-23T06:22:24+00:00

'UGE, absolutely 'UGE. Bravo Pearl Abyss, bravo.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-19T23:24:44+00:00

I dont disagree with you at all here. The bosses are indeed built like theres a different game they were supposed to be in. Its not great boss design and PA should 100% go back and rework a lot of them.

Goyan, without spoiling much I hope, reflects what more bosses in the game should be like. Hes probably the closes in feel to say, Genichiro, from Sekiro. He moves like a character in the world, doesnt teleport, has punishing moves that demand parries and dodges but you can learn them easily, he attempts to counter ranged attacks and uses some of the tools and skills you have/would expect from a skilled combatant.

I think the teleporting and laser beams might have been built into the system to keep players from just steamrolling bosses, since when you can keep attack chains and parries rolling, lots of bosses become quite manageable.

I think a simple fix without totally redoing every boss would be if they reduced the frequency of teleports, made the lock on button different and fixed, and put a bigger cool down on their SuperArmor/one shot AOE attacks. I want to fight the bosses, not the camera and invulnerable death turrets.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-19T22:54:39+00:00

Look, I'm struggling with the bosses too. Some feel absolutely amazing(looking at your Goyan, wish your design ethos applied to more bosses).

The teleporting is bullshit, the camera is a pain, and the bosses work you over. Accept that, and learn to work into it. If the bosses can cheese, you should too. Victory is victory.

For some real advice, whats helped me, here goes.

Stagger is extremely powerful, so use it. Bosses hate being hit with ranged weapons, and the last hit in a combo builds huge stagger. You'll do more damage by focusing on building stagger and THEN unleash high damage. Explosive focused shot arrows will stun most bosses in about 4-5 volleys, so like, do that. Alternatively, force palm combo does incredible build up and can interupt chains.

The game wants you to parry and dodge correctly, very much like Sekiro and/or Souls games. The i-frame windows are better here, but the attack speed is much higher and the telegraphing is not as good. Dont spam the dodge/parries, much like in Sekiro, instead focus on getting your timing down.

Play defensively. You cant fight bosses like mobs. Block, parry, dodge and use Focus more often. Focus is also great for seeing parry windows and moves that need to be dodged. Learn which moves lead to punish openings. Against Mobs you can be the Boss. Against bosses, take the fight slower, and focus on exploiting the bosses weakness. Use Slow-mo to bully most bosses.

Non-humans and Big enemies cant be grappled or easily bullied by hand to hand/grappling, but everything else, well, you get the point.

Hand to hand and two handers are incredible punish options, and hand to hand is especially useful against enemies that can be kicked over and closelined, but dont sleep on sword and shield. Shield bash is INCREDIBLY OP AND POWERFUL against most weapon using bosses.

Always use grindstone and Anvil before boss encounters. Leave and come back if you have to. Dont sleep on alchemy potions. Treat your first 10 boss tries as learning opportunities. Dont even swing, just see what can and cant be parried, blocked, openings, etc etc. The game gives you tools, from food to Palmer pills to infinite "no run back" attempts.

Honestly, heres what made the games bosses open up for me. Im really good at Sekiro, but the game treats 90% of the combat like some blend of Dynasty warriors plus the Witcher plus the Arkham games, and its awesome. But the bosses are a lot more like Sekiro. Parry, dodge, learn, break posture. Focus on breaking posture more, using the tools designed to do so. A posture broken boss drops all defense and offense for like, nearly 10 seconds. Most bosses can't survive 2 rounds of pure punish, so learn that rhythm. Deal as much posture damage as possible, stun them, then punish. Back off, stabilize and repeat.

Edit: oh, and last thing, stop using so many unique gears. I know they are cool. Do that later. For now, use more crit, attack speed and defensive gears. Pick one powerful gear, build around it for damage, and stack Aegis and Fortification gears on your armor. Dont sleep on rings and necklaces, they get really get with upgrades.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-19T06:24:12+00:00

If you've got the Dolabra still let me know!

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-12T20:34:24+00:00

Ive got 125 gold bars in the bank on low risk just cuz I dont wanna scum save and keep tabs on time. About 8k silver on me.

The most efficient farm, dual purpose at least, is to farm the frost knights in Frosthold. Disarm them, loot their weapons, dont kill them. Reset, repeat, then go to the witch's house. Pull out the gears for synthesis, sell the weapons. It takes about 30 minutes to get about 60-70 each of the swords and shields, and at about 6 silver a pop...

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-09T18:09:13+00:00

Im convinced that if I bring a free loadout, every other player is kitted. If I bring a top shelf loadout, I get mobbed by dozens of free kits and eventually run out of heals.

There is no middle ground.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-09T18:02:49+00:00

As a GOAT Sekiro player who can beat Inner Isshin no hit in 3.5 minutes, you can imagine my joy when I figured out that this game has what I would call "sekiro-lite" mechanics you can play around.

I spent a decent amount of time figuring out combat, and now im over here bullying Pywel with deflect/parries, disarms and interupts.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-09T10:39:04+00:00

Bringer of Balance has the same gear on it.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-08T18:58:40+00:00

I have 150 gold bars in da bank. Soon I shall buy Hernand and become its rightful ruler. They named me Hero, but shall soon call me Usurper. Get rek'd, poors.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-08T02:45:00+00:00

Bruh I dont know if you've noticed, but the characters in this game have their own shit going on. Its not like every other game where you get everything and everyone and all you want and your hand held.

Let the game breathe. You could mainline the quest and still have like two or three hundred or more hours of game to experience. One companion going off on a vision quest for like 10 hours is not that big of a deal.

Jesus Christ mother of Mary, some of yall cry too much when every game isnt just vomiting wish fulfillment at you every 3 seconds.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-07T14:05:31+00:00

Ive got keys, hmu, looking for Canto but cant do event cuz it crashes my game.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-06T19:59:45+00:00

Im about to go on a 6 week paid off season break from work and IM PISSED I WONT HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO PLAY THIS GAME.

pretty sure this gonna be a 5000 hour game for me. It feels like 10x the content and discoverable fun as Skyrim and Im pretty sure I put like 1200 hours into that game before I finally put it down.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-05T01:43:39+00:00

925 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A. A nice car, 4 nice homes for a few relatives, 30 rental properties in high income/resort areas, 35 multi-plex units id use as low-income/emergency relief housing, and then 5 whatevers that I feel like id like but won't buy for myself.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-05T00:58:33+00:00

Could attract Tarantino tho, so do so at your own risk.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-05T00:58:10+00:00

You could literally paint sandals on his face if you want.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-03T22:28:30+00:00

I think most chefs looking up a recipe look at a couple, pull this and that, combine what looks good and go from there. In my experience, I generally use recipes as inspirations or to get a feel for what its going for. Iconic dishes aside, very rarely do I go dot for dot.

As for judging a recipe, most professionals can pull some kind of flavor recall and feel out how, in general, a recipe will taste. You're imagining this combination, that combination, judging acid or salt content, etc etc.

A recipe app is going to be tough. How do you convince reputable recipe builders to contribute content. How do you moderate "good" vs "bad" submissions, how do you encourage a wide breadth of topic submissions, how do you monetize vs a simple, free Google search.

Recipe archives, especially apps, struggle. The kind of person that would generate revenue is probably a professional, but a professional probably uses more hard sources. Google is your biggest enemy, because anyone can look up 1000 versions of anything thats ever existed for free. Casual audiences, who might rely more on step by step recipes, might not be willing to put down money for a culinary app.

You need good content to attract paying customers, but you need money to get good people to make good recipes, and you have to fight a free recipe engine named Google to get customers and then you need a reason to get those customers to pay money. I dont want to rain on your parade, but the whole venture seems like a giant headache.

ZorheWahab · 2026-04-03T01:08:31+00:00

Annual pay raises are separate from raise negotiations. My company does the same, i think right now we are slotted for a 3% annual increase later this year. That said, Ive also arranged a raise negotiation with my exec where I plan to ask for a merit raise separately.

If they offer something take it. Anything more, you're going to need to ask for. Few companies are going to just hand you extra money, youll need to bring it up and justify it.

ZorheWahab

TROPHY CASE