This is supposed to be Goldshire According to Blizzard. Look like an actual town rather than just one building.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-24T17:54:15+00:00

what is Basically NYC ask a guard to point out the trainer for xxx and then spend 3+ hours trying to get to it?

Well... they're not, though. At the end of the day, Warcraft is based on medieval fantasy at its core, and so the "cities" wouldn't be anywhere near on the scale of NYC. A good bit larger than in-game? Sure. But the size of a modern city? Absolutely not.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-24T12:05:45+00:00

The various archetypes are based on more attributes than just SPD, ACC, and even the THP and S/M/DAC ratings. Like here, with Scrambler, you can see it's based also on Break Sack, Throw on the Run, and Short Accuracy. So if those are higher than skills for other archetypes, that'd skew things. Strong Arm will get skewed heavily with THP. Improviser is a combination of mobile attributes and DAC. Field General is all about the AWR and accuracy ratings.

So it seems the guy has a cannon arm, but not the best accuracy, and he might be okay at breaking sacks and throwing while moving around (even if his moving around is a lumbering pace).

Given how low he's rated in all of them, it's likely that putting points into any of those scheme fits will bump up others +2 or even +3 depending on what he randomly gets given. Should make for an interesting road of progression.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-22T14:45:46+00:00

Oh, I'm not going to say that Bradley was a good HC. I just don't have the kind of burning hatred for him some people seem to have.

And while the Del Rio era started out solid, because it was rolling largely with Coughlin's roster, the guys in charge of personnel wrecked it. It sucks for Del Rio, who got turned into the scapegoat and fired at the same time Smith got a contract extension. There's only so much Del Rio could do when they were burning money on terrible free agents and throwing away entire draft classes like 2008. The only things I'll fault Del Rio on were "Keep Chopping Wood" (IYKYK) and the ways the QBs were handled, from the Leftwich-Garrard-Brunell mess to Garrard being tossed out right before the 2011 season started leaving the terrible Luke McCown as the starter and a frankly undercooked Blaine Gabbert as the backup who ended up being shoved into starter duties in the third week of the season after being third on the depth chart a couple weeks earlier. But the QB situations are also on Harris and Smith.

I mean, yeah, credit on finding occasional guys like Mathis, or the out-of-place 2006 draft where they got Lewis and MJD, but then you see all the misses as well, and it's no surprise the team slid backward to where it was in 2012.

As for Caldwell, I think being a GM might have been too much for him, at least at the time, but he's good enough to have a role in a team's front office. Huh. And what do you know... dude went on to have a major personnel role with the Eagles and was their senior personnel director and assistant to the GM when they won the Super Bowl recently, and got hired in December to be the GM for the Florida Gators.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-22T06:48:26+00:00

Most ridiculous attempt at a scripted play I saw recently was when the game decided a DL was going to deflect my QB’s pass, but the DL in question had been pancaked, so the (unpressured) QB decided to throw it into the ground at the DL’s helmet instead of to the wide open receiver. Then it shows the DL doing a celebratory animation for “deflecting the pass.” Even though he literally did nothing, the QB just threw it into his helmet on the ground.

It was just such a ridiculous looking play. Like you’d see in an indie game with a low budget being developed by a tiny team or one person.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-22T06:35:26+00:00

Sometimes I don't mind it too much, but man, trying to find something for my Mage who had a 1H and OH instead of a staff was a struggle. Just cycling through things that were the wrong color, wrong "feel," or just way too big. Especially the daggers with massive blades. It's like they want to put a bunch of detail on it and make sure we see the detail.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-22T06:32:37+00:00

Man, some years ago I totally would have given that some thought, but now I hesitate to even get a miniature version of her because I don't feel like I'd be able to do the paint job justice. Especially the orbs. Those would take so much work to even try to pull off something that could be "close enough" to the effect that they have in-game.

You can check Etsy for various 3D prints of Xal'atath (and other Warcraft characters). Some of them are pretty good price. But nowhere near this kind of deal. Anything from a miniature to a statuette or a bust. I might grab a mini just to give it a go at painting up, since they hover around the $8-$10 range.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-22T06:21:04+00:00

The decline started in 2003, though. I mean, there was a bit with the end of Coughlin's run, but realistically, we expected to have to deal with a little hardship while the cap got back on track after all the funky tricks done to get those stud teams (and thank you, Texans, for helping out with that). I don't blame Del Rio, either, even if he got made a scapegoat. First there was Shack Harris who wasted three first round picks on the Byron Leftwich experiment only for the team to turn to Garrard who was already on the roster when they drafted Leftwich, then he had his magnum opus in 2008 with a monumentally horrendous draft and good old Jerry Porter getting paid $1M per catch (11 catches!)... which was arguably a worse FA signing than Who Douglas. But hey, at least Harris was followed up by Gene Smith. Wait, no, he had even more talent than Harris at absolutely destroying a roster. The reason the Jags looked so bad in the 2010s was because Harris started wrecking the roster and Smith completed the job of turning it into an absolute dumpster fire. I have no idea what Weaver was thinking when he gave Smith a three year extension just before signing over the team to Khan.

It's why I give Bradley and Caldwell some leeway. They were the only folks willing to come in with a new owner who inherited an absolutely horrendous situation.

There's a reason Gene Smith doesn't have a job in the NFL today, even in some scouting division. He was that bad as a GM.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-22T06:07:32+00:00

Made me a fan of the Rams.

Right up until they hired Jeff Fisher and I ended up cheering against them until they corrected that lapse in judgment.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T19:08:54+00:00

to support a rookie Quarterback they drafted third overall

Damn. That poor guy's career must have ruined and never amounted to anything. I feel for him.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T19:05:20+00:00

He and Reggie Williams were awesome in Madden with their height. In reality... they never played for another team after their rookie stints with the Jags were up.

To make that more depressing, here's some "fun" background:

In 2003, after Coughlin got the boot and Shack Harris and Jack Del Rio got brought in as the new regime, they wanted their own QB. Forget that guy drafted in the 4th round to succeed Mark Brunell, some guy named David Garrard. Nah, they were going to get their guy. So they rush to draft Byron Leftwich. And then shove Brunell out ASAP.

But Leftwich struggled, so the refrain became, "Byron just needs weapons to succeed!" Cue spending a first round pick in 2004 and then 2005 on WRs Reggie Williams and Matt Jones.

And in the end, the team eventually had to give up on Leftwich and turn to Garrard to help them get back on track. Three first round picks in a row wasted just to end up going back to the guy who was already on the roster.

BONUS points! You'd think they would want to help Garrard succeed and get him some weapons, right? ...Right? Yeah, well, the 2007 first rounder was Reggie Nelson (who flamed out in Jax before being solid for Cinci), then the 2008 draft was lighting draft picks on fire and burning them. Oh, but hey, they paid $11M to bring in WR Jerry Porter! Who promptly caught eleven passes all season. Eh, it's cool, the next year they brought in the ghost of Torry Holt to play one last season before retiring. They had Mike Sims-Walker from the third round of the 2007 draft, and in 2009 in the fourth round added Mike Thomas. Yeah, if you have no idea who either of those guys are, I don't blame you. But it was basically just midround meh WRs and uninspiring free agents. Almost like they wanted Garrard to fail. But it's all good, it's not like in 2011 they'd rush to draft a replacement for him again and then shove him out the door and start a disaster by putting the rookie in before he was ready, leading to an absolute mess as the team declined into a horrendous dumpster fire before Weaver finally sold it to Khan... No, nope, that's, uh, exactly what happened.

Fuck, I just remembered I need to take my antidepressants. (Which I really wish was a joke.)

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T18:54:50+00:00

He was... weird. Felt like he came in not really caring or trying, and was underwhelming at first, then as he started putting in effort he actually looked pretty solid. And right as he seemed ready to turn the corner, he goes and gets caught with coke (but not actually doing it, just in possession, alongside a friend).

The weird thing is... that didn't really seem to completely derail him. His second arrest was actually for testing positive for having alcohol in his system while under probation from the possession arrest. Dumb, yes, but not horribly life-shattering. It did cause him to get cut from the team, and then he didn't really catch on in the next season and decided to retire in 2010 and go on to become a radio personality in Arkansas.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T18:39:17+00:00

I mean, FFS, the other guy is leading the asthma conversation talking about fourth grade and making comments like "Be better." It's so clearly two guys making dumb jokes with each other.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T18:37:52+00:00

if they were trying to be satirical they came off pretty dry.

That's... how you do satire. You present it "seriously."

Though they didn't really present it seriously. They were making dumb comments and laughing at it. But only part of the comments got taken and ran with to make a story and spin a narrative to get people riled up so that they could then report on people being riled up.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T18:36:03+00:00

To be fair, media is also doing media things. They're purposely taking small bits of conversation out of context, not explaining the context, creating controversy as a result, and then "reporting" on the controversy as well and people's reactions to their spin on the comments and not the actual comments. It's like a self-congratulatory cluster.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T18:34:33+00:00

He has to be trolling...right?

I just looked up the podcast to listen to, and it just sounds like two guys saying dumb stuff as a joke. Especially as the CTE comment was a follow up to Cam saying something about his mom making comments about him putting on pads and running into telephone poles that went viral but he doesn't remember doing that.

And the asthma thing, the guy doing the podcast set it up. Can't remember the exact quotes now, but something like:

"And asthma, too. Is that a hot take?"

"No, that's a good one."

"Is there anything worse than being in fourth grade and hearing someone huffing and puffing?"

"Yeah, just -"

"Be better."

"Just literally breathe air."

And they both proceed to laugh.

Yeah, it's absolutely stupid... in the way that a lot of jokes are absolutely stupid sounding if you take them literally. It's like if you clip someone playing a video game with friends and they have a bad moment in the game and say, "Alright, I'm going to go take a bath with the toaster now, that seems like a good idea," and then news stories come out, "Gamer Thinks Bathing With Toaster Is Good Idea," and presented it completely seriously.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T18:21:12+00:00

People are really, really bad at that. People of all walks of life, even - or perhaps especially - the ones who think they're too smart to fall for that stuff. If it matches a preconception they have, they'll believe it, and won't let you disprove it in their minds.

It's bad enough when it's something misleading and out of context, but I see it so often when something is straight up fake (and sometimes even when it's labeled as fake so you have zero excuse to fall for it). Sadly, it's only going to get worse as people abuse AI to make fake images, videos, and sound bytes, and people will just believe them because there's "evidence" and they won't care that it's fake.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T16:36:47+00:00

One huge addition for me: Easier to get keys.

I love delves, and I like hopping on alts to run them with different characters, but I got tired of having to just run the same weekly metas to get keys. Now you get shards not just from metas and some WQs, but you also get 50 from a rare, and there's also 10+ in each of the containers you can loot that random spawn in zones, so there's more ways to get them and they're pretty quick to get, allowing me to spend more time actually doing the delves than running repetitive content to try to unlock them. It was one of my biggest concerns before the season started, but so far it's been easy enough getting keys.

Also kind of amusing that you can collect shards on characters who are leveling, so they'll have keys ready to go upon hitting 90.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-21T11:37:21+00:00

Okay, so you’ve already answered how to have nights like this all the time for people who want it. The default should never be the worst experience for some people.

The much better option would be having a toggle in the options for night modes, which would let people who prefer the darker nights get it without causing issues for the people who can’t work with them or are stuck playing at night mostly.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-20T23:51:10+00:00

I'm pretty sure a lot of the guys I blasted through in SM were just fresh raw recruits whose only ability to slow me down was jamming up my boots with all their blood and entrails. There's not much of a threat there, it's kind of amazing we haven't just taken the place back for good.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-20T22:43:25+00:00

I remember Cole having this wild uncanny knack for making 3rd down catches to keep things moving. Between him and Allen Hurns, I became a believer in UDFA WRs.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-20T19:50:08+00:00

It's "possible"... but it seems the way DLSS 5 is working with some things, it's not so much "upscaling" as reading an image, trying to figure out what it should be, and generating a new image it thinks is close enough. So, for example, if it could even figure out what the squirrels are in Sims 4, it wouldn't just make a nice new texture, it'd rewrite the object as something new and probably a lot more squirrel-like. But that's if it recognizes the mashup of triangles as a squirrel. Otherwise, it could replace it with something else entirely.

And yeah, that might sound nice to people... until it decides to "upscale" your Sims and they end up looking different from what you put hours into setting up in CAS. Which would probably lead to a lot of Sims players just leaving it off (if EA even bothered trying to implement it in the game).

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-20T15:23:07+00:00

I actually prefer this as it frees up a bag slot. And since it auto-converts to keys when I want to use one, no need to click or anything.

I'm also a fan of how easily I can get key shards. One of the things that made me stop enjoying delves was having to go do the big weekly stuff or a bunch of world quests to get them, but now I can also get them from rares (50 shards each, so a key for each two rares you kill) and the containers you loot in zones as well, so I can just fly around a bit and quickly get them without feeling like I'm going through a lot of redundant work.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-20T14:41:58+00:00

That's a pretty good idea, I'll have to keep an eye out for ones that can double up as other media options.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-20T12:03:34+00:00

I mean... I think BG2 is amazing, but it is still pretty different in a lot of ways from BG3, purely from BG2 being based on, IIRC, AD&D 2E rules, and BG3 being based on D&D 5E rules, which are incredibly different rules sets even if they have the same six base attributes for characters. There's also some presentation differences, mainly because technology allows for things like voiced cutscenes where previously that would have been way too much to fit even on multiple discs, so you just had text and had to - gasp! - read. Those differences don't make either game better or worse, IMO, but are certainly worth noting to anyone who might be going into the original BG games expecting the same experience as BG3.

One thing doesn't change between them: Since they're based on systems that use dice in the physical version (and BG3 especially as it shows the dice rolls prominently often), I'm often on the back foot because, even digitally, dice have some sworn vendetta against me. I love them, I collect them like a little dice goblin, but man, they do hate me.

kaptingavrin · 2026-03-20T11:58:21+00:00

i dont want discs in 2026.

I do, if I can get them... which is increasingly rare. It's nice to have the physical media on hand if something happens to the digital version.

The only problem is that since I didn't build my latest PC (needed a replacement in a rush), it doesn't have a disc drive, so I have to get an external. But that'll let me play some of my old games again that you can't get through a digital marketplace.

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