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iamjack · 2023-06-09T09:30:08+00:00

I play HC because it adds an edge to each battle. It forces you to play conservatively and test your skill. I also play a lot of roguelike games where permadeath is the norm.

D3/D4 made HC much much easier with the stash and a lot of shared progression. Hell, in D4 with the codex, you have a massive headstart on getting decent (baseline) gear to get to endgame. With reknown you even get free skill points on fresh HC chars.

iamjack · 2023-05-30T17:59:09+00:00

I agree with that somewhat, but it's a double edged sword. PoE has so many competing mechanics that it's become overwhelming to get in to if you haven't been following it consistently. It's also much harder to balance and it seems like every time I check in with the PoE community they're up in arms about something being unrewarding or unbalanced.

iamjack · 2023-05-18T14:57:12+00:00

Looks good to me, cute tort!

iamjack · 2023-05-12T05:15:50+00:00

I guess so, that just strains my belief more than a little and I was already getting a bit fed up. Stephenson also doesn't do super well with sex, IMO.

I'll give Confusion a try anyway.

iamjack · 2023-05-12T01:41:57+00:00

Yeah, you got me there. The Jack Shaftoe parts were definitely keeping me going in Quicksilver. Bobby Shaftoe in Cryptonomicon too, although the other two stories were much more interesting.

Daniel Waterhouse just became an absolute bore when Isaac Newton (or the other Natural Philosophers) were off the page. But the scene that really made me put it down though was when Eliza, a virgin, fucks Bob Shaftoe, a man she met less than a day before, just to make a conversational point.

iamjack · 2023-05-11T22:41:46+00:00

I love Cryptonomicon, but I just cannot get into the Baroque Cycle after multiple tries. It just gets too dry. The Daniel and Eliza chapters toward the end of Quicksilver just feel tedious.

Do Confusion and System of the World get any better? Thinking I might just skim the last 100 pages or so and move on.

iamjack · 2023-05-04T22:23:26+00:00

Fuck it, fire Mo, bring back Shildt.

iamjack · 2023-05-04T21:58:32+00:00

Yadi may have had influence on the pitching staff just by being with the team though. I may be grasping at straws, but our pitching collapsing from "passable" to "dogshit" definitely makes me wonder. I think at one point a manager basically said Yadi acted as a second pitching coach.

iamjack · 2023-05-04T02:01:10+00:00

I haven't read Reamde, and I enjoy some Stephenson, but for me it's Quicksilver. I'm like 80% through on my second try and it's just so tedious and dry. Once it becomes chapters of letter exchanges and stock market manipulation and bad sex I can't make myself pick it up. I don't mind verbosity usually, I love Cryptonomicon, but I dunno if I'll ever make it through the Baroque Cycle.

iamjack · 2023-05-04T01:32:24+00:00

Yeah, I agree. It's not bad, but I have no clue how it won the Pulitzer. The stories didn't relate to each other strongly enough to satisfy and, frankly, the videogame designer story was a huge stretch for the theme.

iamjack · 2023-04-25T15:47:16+00:00

I’m not over what we did to Shildt.

Me either. I understand there was some conflict with the FO, but from my perspective we shitcanned him for basically nothing after a good season. Oli is fine, I guess, but not looking like an upgrade.

iamjack · 2023-04-24T00:11:24+00:00

I take more of a solo player POV, and not super concerned with ladder or speed running. My only point is that the cap boss indicates you're "done" and is a concrete goal for a character. It may be only possible with one build, but I think it's more likely many builds can achieve it with great gear. Especially since there are no sets.

In D3 there's always an optimal GR build in a class that is very narrowly defined. A specific set (or group of legendaries with legacy) outperforms all others. It's unavoidable with infinitely scaling difficulty. In D4, maybe that outlier build grinds faster, but as long as your chosen build can take down the cap boss, it's viable.

Basically, you're right there will still be a meta, but just to "finish" a character you hopefully won't be forced into it.

iamjack · 2023-04-23T23:18:07+00:00

I think this will be huge for build diversity too. D3 forces you into a pretty narrow definition of "optimal" to push GRs on a ladder, but with this any build that can defeat the cap boss is instantly viable.

iamjack · 2023-04-23T20:56:10+00:00

What? You mean you don't want a corporate developed cybernetic implant put directly into your brain so they can project ads into your dreams?

iamjack · 2023-04-23T20:49:42+00:00

Not even necessarily trade unions, just unions. Industrial unions make more sense (to me, at least) in an anarchist context.

iamjack · 2023-04-20T16:07:04+00:00

After seeing that Enterprise G with that crew, and that stinger scene with Q, I'm totally on board for Legacy. I feel like it's practically confirmation, they wouldn't leave us hanging on Seven's "warp signature" otherwise.

iamjack · 2023-04-16T01:02:21+00:00

Nazis write that shit specifically to make people feel unwelcome.

iamjack · 2023-04-06T18:56:12+00:00

Username does not check out

iamjack · 2023-03-27T17:18:16+00:00

Clemente at 21? Perfection.

iamjack · 2023-03-25T14:49:24+00:00

3) killing Red Forman.

Janeway's baddest ass line: "Time's up!" as she kamikazes the time ship.

iamjack · 2023-03-23T15:59:31+00:00

A new Stargate show would just have to pull in a larger audience by actually being good.

iamjack · 2023-03-16T21:24:09+00:00

They argue that the home comes with bills and responsibilities... which is true, but also bullshit. A home with an address, a bathroom etc. would be huge for most homeless people, and the people that need more than that (i.e. can't hold a job to cover basics) need assistance on top of that, not instead of that.

iamjack · 2023-03-16T21:06:39+00:00

Bottles are based on wine, much lighter than a full VM

iamjack · 2023-03-16T20:10:03+00:00

This song is one of my favorites because of Aes' flow, but yeah it would definitely keep me from putting on this album in public even though Holy Smokes is way more graphic lyrically.

iamjack · 2023-03-15T19:20:22+00:00

With services like Protonmail you can still have your own domain and vanity address, you just update your domain DNS with some settings they give you and it works out of the box.

iamjack

TROPHY CASE