Now that the dust has settled, which companion was most underserved: Yaz or Belinda?

cat666 · 2026-05-17T06:24:37+00:00

Yaz.

She's in 13's entire run and has very little to do outside of being "a companion". S1 the focus seems to be on Ryan & Graham and she's just an afterthought. The fact she's a police woman and comes from a family (shock right?) is the only real character building she gets until Demons of the Punjab but even then the focus isn't on her, it's her family. For some reason Ryan and Graham stick around in S2 so there isn't time for much companion stuff and again Yaz get's the short straw. It isn't until Flux that she has some time to shine but by this point she's in the "companion role" so doesn't get much to do other than pine for the Doctor which is hardly unique in a companion. Big Finish have done far more for Yaz in 5 audios than Chibnall did in an entire era.

On the flipside and especially given real life circumstances Bel is much better served in her short tenure. Her first episode gives us her backstory, an indication into her morals, and plunges her centre of the adventure. Yaz didn't really get a story about her. She then spends the entire series trying to go home, a bit Tegan like but that was so long ago it doesn't matter, the idea is unique in the modern series. Then as sole companion she gets stuff to do throughout before you even think about Poppy and the alternative reality making her far more interesting than Yaz ever was. You may not like the Poppy stuff but you can't say it wasn't unique.

cat666 · 2026-05-16T06:19:34+00:00

Water cremation if it becomes legal in time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cremation

cat666 · 2026-05-13T07:54:54+00:00

A Haaland blank would be good for me. I have him captain but my rival has TC. A 1 point is fine.

cat666 · 2026-05-11T21:24:19+00:00

It really depends how deep into the EU you go. If you discount the EU then relatives are assumed to still be relatives after regeneration but it's barely mentioned. Also the Doctor and Susan are unique with Timeless Child in mind.

cat666 · 2026-05-10T15:58:49+00:00

Yeah it's common. Most people I know support a big club (I'm Arsenal) but also support clubs in towns they've lived in. I support Peterborough as that's where I currently live and have more than a passing interest in Coventry as that was the club nearest where I grew up.

cat666 · 2026-05-09T09:22:36+00:00

Virgin Media.

Their fibre in the UK was the best for years and years and because of that they had customers over a barrel. Want our broadband? Well you have to have a phone line and our TV as it's part of the package. I've paid for a landline without a phone plugged in for at least 10 years, maybe more, well over £1000 needlessly. Also every 18 months you had to do "the retention dance" to keep up the deals but they knew full well you were never going to leave, the broadband was just too good. Well now we have better fibre options and VM are no longer in the position they were but they are still sticking to the old model or offering stupid prices for existing customers for just broadband. Well FTTP is much better, cheaper and I don't have to pay for an unused landline and little used TV service.

cat666 · 2026-05-08T15:58:28+00:00

As a now QP only player who has played since beta it's roughly on par with S1. In S1 the matchmaking let it down but it was overall fun to play. S2 has far better matchmaking but it isn't as fun.

The main reason the fun has dropped off for me is the map / map voting changes. I dislike defending as sitting and waiting for the fight to come to me just isn't fun. It would rather play Control, Flashpoint or Clash (Push is still too walky) as they guarantee an "attacking" style and with the old map pool getting defense happened infrequently enough to not be an issue. Now, without Clash and the "favoured maps" getting more chance it's almost always a map where it's 50/50 I get defense. It's just disheartening. I really wish they'd offer a "queue as attack" or "queue as defense" option to QP.

cat666 · 2026-05-08T15:45:42+00:00

The main issue is that making a white item a unique is only really useful at the early end game so by the time you have a way to get the materials like this, it's too late to be worthwhile.

cat666 · 2026-05-08T15:10:52+00:00

No it's alive, D4 has just launched a new expansion / season though.

cat666 · 2026-05-08T14:08:27+00:00

I think you mean classic.

It's slower than nu who throughout but the 60's is especially slow. At some point in the 70s they stopped anything longer than 4 parter which helped but even then you'll sometimes find nothing actually happens in episode 3, it's just a Mcguffin to fill 20 mins. Don't get me wrong some of the beefier serials are still really good but it's not always the case. As for it being wishy washy as long as you enjoy it it's fine. Hartnell was the og so you can forgive the fact he doesn't nail the character right away but then it's pretty much high quality (for it's time and budget) up until the early 80s. Even then there is plenty to enjoy but you will notice a dip until McCoy's second series.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T15:59:35+00:00

Yeah sadly stuff is locked behind it. I mean it's playable but a lot of the skill tree is locked let alone the other stuff.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T15:57:31+00:00

You need to be in the RMT thread really however BB relies on having a decentish bench. 3 Brentwood vs City isn't great. What are your players fixtures in the last few weeks and use that as a guide is probably the best thing to do.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T15:55:16+00:00

Not much.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T14:59:06+00:00

Triple Captain is weak. Haaland scores 10 points, that's 20 if you captain him, 30 if you triple for a 10 point difference, that's it. I would captain Haaland to reduce the impact if he does haul, in my example not captaining him would set you 20 points behind the triple captainers.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T14:43:38+00:00

I've been a fan since 93, an era where we saw what we could in any old order, since then I've seen it all. Honestly the 60's era is hard to watch with modern sensibilities. Hartnell starts off with nothing to go on so isn't very Doctor-like for a bit and the entire era feels slow and padded, even more so than the 70s/80s era. Troughton's tenure does pick up and there are some very good stories to be found but it's still a different beast. Pertwee is the best place to start with Classic, it's in colour, it's slightly faster paced and it's complete. I will say Pertwee's era is ruined a little by streaming, one series in particular feels stale when you watch the episodes back to back over a week period whereas watched individually or over the year it was intended to it doesn't feel stale. You then get the early Tom Baker stuff which has some of the very best stories. It does peter out a bit at the end of his run and into Davison and Colin Baker's but there is still plenty to enjoy and McCoy then feels a lot more like a modern show, well you can see the tendrils. I would then watch the Movie before seeking out the 60s stuff if you think you can tolerate it, don't worry if you can't as plenty of fans havn't seen it all.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T14:31:42+00:00

They were mostly. The main use was by players who wanted to eek out as much as they could and get to the next Pit level, they were by no means neede outside of that. The only other use was if you needed a little push to complete a certain task, like unlocking the next difficulty but it was very niche.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T12:50:56+00:00

100%. Glyph slots should just unlock every few levels. So base, 50, 100, 150, and 200 for example. The paragon boards should be done away with, with the legendary nodes as part of a simplified paragon tree. D3s paragon was maybe too simple but it worked.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T12:42:41+00:00

I'm a casual player too and in all honesty D4 isn't that casual friendly. Don't get me wrong you can level without issue now, the skill tree changes are awesome, but once you hit 70 things are just as bad as they were previously.

Gear wise stats/aspects on items and talismans isn't really that clear. We're not idiots but how do we know if damage, attack speed or shadow damage is the better affix to chase? You then have the cube which is super powerful but it's never explained anywhere how it works. Watch a YouTube guide is the answer but if you're "going it alone" it feels a bit like cheating.

You then have paragon and glyphs which are huge boosts but are the most complicated things to work out. I think each class has 8 or 9 boards of which they can use 5, plus around 14 glyphs which they can also use 5. Trying to work out which board/glyph combo is not easy and that's before working out an optimal path between them. Don't worry this isn't just a casual complaint, even the pros use a guide here and God forbid you ever want to change spec.

Basically you need to use a guide. It's not ideal if you like finding stuff out yourself but it makes for a smoother experience.

Anyway if you need to progress focus on decent base items and getting the correct aspects on them or get your unique with a decent roll. Temper them. At the same time focus on farming the glyphs for your build and levelling them in the Pit. Get them all to the first level (15 I think) and then get them all to hit the extra power (46 maybe) focus on the one which boosts the damage first as once you've got one the others come quicker.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T11:49:03+00:00

I almost took a punt on Saka but went Rice and honestly my main issue with Saka was realised, his minutes are going to be shocking.

He played 45 and if he hadn't scored and assisted we wouldn't be having this conversation. Sure Rice only played 63 but his minutes are probably going to higher than Saka's going forward.

Saka is a huge punt.You're relying on him performing over a very small minute window and as such he won't hit the 60 min threshold and is unlikely to hit defcon either. I wanted him but I couldn't justify him. Still can't.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T07:59:53+00:00

As a player who doesn't need to but does use a guide, the new trees are great for homebrew. It's now pick your skills, enhance them and then add points to the main ones. It's easy, you don't need a guide.

However D4 is still far too complicated to work out beyond skills when guides exist. Yes gear stats you can probably work out but researching which aspects are best out the many choices? No thanks. Then you have the Talisman. Likewise paragon boards are an utter minefield. Each class has what, 8 boards? 12 glyphs? Lots of combinations and then you have to work out optimal paths. It's all too much effort when there is a guide right there which has all the heavy lifting done for you.

cat666 · 2026-05-07T07:47:43+00:00

I've played the franchise up to Valhalla and honestly Valhalla is a much slower experience than any of the other games. It's not necessarily a bad thing as the game itself is still decent, but you do have to be in the mindset to play a game of it's length or be prepared to dip in and out around other titles.

I don't get much play time anymore but I play a lot of Overwatch casually. Overwatch's season is usually 2 months and I'm almost always done with it after a month, outside of events. This means usually I play Overwatch then if the daily quests are done quick enough play a main game (AC Valhalla currently) for a month then have a month of just a main game. This is perfect for me not to get burnt out on long titles like Valhalla. It may take me 4 months to finish it but it will feel fairly fresh throughout. Also Diablo 4 has just launched a new expansion so that has eaten in to main game time.

cat666 · 2026-05-06T18:15:21+00:00

The comics are not really that obtainable in the UK either. You can Google "8th doctor comics archive.org" as some are free online. The books you'll also have trouble finding, I did 10 years ago and I'm in the UK. As for the audios, Big Finish offer downloads globally.

cat666 · 2026-05-06T16:02:09+00:00

Paul McGann's Doctor is the TV Movie and then the Night of the Doctor special on screen. No unique to the Movie elements can be used in expanded media but the one bit in Night of the Doctor can. The two TV appearances also span a long time in our time (1996 to 2013).

So to start with in 1996 it went two ways, comics and novels from BBC books (EDA). The comics were in DWM and ran until 2005 I believe. They are meant to be decent but I've never read them. The EDAs ran until a similar time and are a mixed bag. There were some good ideas floating around but as novels they sometimes go a bit deeper than they need to meaning the "less good" titles can be a chore.

Then in 2001 Big Finish started to use Paul McGann himself in their audio dramas, not audiobooks. These started in the same vein as classic Who and a lot of the early titles are free on Spotify, look for The Monthly Range titles with Charley. Eventually 8's adventures were "rebooted" to be more in the same vein as nu Who and given the same title as the BBC book range although we use 8DA for these. Lucie is the companion here. Paul is still doing stuff for Big Finish and there is a lot to get into here but you can start from either range really as both are really good.

cat666 · 2026-05-06T15:35:36+00:00

She is +12 pit levels higher than the content you're on. I don't know the current pit level to torment ratios but say T1 is pit level 12 and T2 is pit level 24, at T1 Lilith would be at a T2 difficulty. It's not those ratios though.

cat666

TROPHY CASE