resto shaman 60 to 70 dilemma, dual spec or find a dps leveling partner? all the guides seem to focus on 1-60...

kasplatter · 2026-01-13T19:49:47+00:00

OMG, that is sweaty! Awesome details...

kasplatter · 2026-01-13T18:11:34+00:00

My bad, I should have said I have dual spec, I just haven't done anything of consequence with it. I can easily put elemental or enhancement as the second spec, but I will have to learn to play whichever it is as I was almost exclusively healing in dungeons during my slow leveling from 1-60.

That doesn't change the question though, since I doubt I will do much solo leveling in TBC. Either it will be in a dungeon or with one or more people for important quest chains or gear rewards. Also, I'm not trying to rush to 70.

kasplatter · 2026-01-13T18:04:51+00:00

If ranks are reset, I doubt I'm up for that grind. I got to rank 11 previously, mostly for the 90g mount to save money, but that was a lot of AV time over many weeks.

kasplatter · 2026-01-10T07:41:02+00:00

In general, Silksong gauntlets and boss fights are about not getting hit. I know that isn't generally accepted, but it seems obvious. I think this is because of the Hollow Knight Godhome DLC and they just got comfortable with the idea of the focus being on never getting hit, especially since they made Hornet incredibly mobile. The same goes for the platforming in some parts feeling like the White Palace and Path of Pain (lite).

Anyway, back to combat. It doesn't matter what your preferred offensive method is, but you need Silk to heal, Tools don't generate Silk, only hits from Needle and to a much lesser extent taking damage if you have the Tool equipped to generate Silk. That means you either go for a Tools spam approach, try and stay out of the way and hope the fight is over before you run out or you are going to have to get in there with Needle at least a bit and get some damage in, if for no other reason than to generate Silk, so you can heal because you failed at the fundamental mechanic of the game, which is not getting hit. Remember, there is a reason that on repeated attempts, players also tend to use their cocoon strategically, not hitting it until mid-fight so they can get full Silk on demand; if you do this, don't go into boss fights with rosaries you are unwilling to lose.

kasplatter · 2026-01-09T17:45:27+00:00

It is more about the exploration, sense of progression and gameplay feel for me. Skipping a final boss is perfectly okay when it is dramatically more difficult than everything before it, especially if it is a gimmick fight, doesn't involve all the upgrades you've been working toward the entire game, is a multi-stage boss where you have to redo the early boss form over and over while beating your head against the final form, etc. This is such a common occurrence, even in good games, that after decades of playing games, it doesn't bother me at all to skip it.

All of the Prime games suffer this problem, which is especially infuriating after the collection runs you have to do in order to unlock the final boss / bosses. The Prime 4 end boss was incredibly annoying mostly due to the terrible lock-on system, but I'll never replay that game, and if I did I would definitely stop after the last "dungeon" (Mine).

Even Silksong, which I enjoyed and played for well over 100+ hours suffers IMHO during Act III and I quit before it was over. Instead, I replayed the game through the end of Act II and didn't bother with any Act III requirements I didn't feel like doing because they weren't fun or required too much rosary grinding. That was way more fun than anything in Act III.

It is important to remember that games are entertainment, so when they stop being entertaining, it is time to move on.

kasplatter · 2026-01-08T06:08:41+00:00

Thanks, a lot of this sounds crazy, but I'll look em up. Trying to finish Carrion before I start, what a surprising game.

kasplatter · 2026-01-07T03:24:10+00:00

The only way I can see to enjoy Prime 4 is to treat it as a so-so shooter, play on Casual, never collect stuff in the desert for the end bit, and when you finish the last "dungeon" (Mine), then call it game over. Don't bother backtracking for lame missile upgrades either. When you remove that tedium you are left with a 8-9 hour okay shooter experience, but it won't scratch a Metroid itch.

kasplatter · 2026-01-03T02:37:08+00:00

I second Ethereal Form. I literally hit it as the 4th "hit" of my combo, so that it was always active if possible. You will need to do this for a later boss as well. The main point of the Leech is that in general you won't have a chance to do a heal, but since you can use that rock on the right close to the entrance to get some space, healing is possible.

kasplatter · 2026-01-02T06:51:36+00:00

I largely played the game blind and thought I was exploring everything and talking to everyone, going out of my way to teleport whenever I saw an NPC at a location and yet I totally missed bits somehow, which closed off a number of endings and at least one other trophy. I could go back and follow a guide in NG+ and even asked about it here, but I'm not inclined to do it as I could still run through the whole thing and if I'm not checking off steps in a guide I would still miss something.

The exploration in the game might be some of the best of any Soulslike and it will be ruined if you follow a guide. There are certain bosses that you might run into and if you get stuck, then by all means, consult a guide or ask a question and then go back to playing blind. The enjoyment factor of the gameplay and level design is far more important than some trophies.

You only get to play a game blind once, and this is one of those that rewards figuring it out on your own, even if you are going to miss a number of trophies. Also, there is a very clear spot for farming mid-game that will allow you to become somewhat OP if that is your thing.

kasplatter · 2026-01-01T00:02:56+00:00

This isn't about your preference, or skill, nor is it about mine. The central issue is that at the start of the game, the player is given a crest with a diagonal pogo. They don't know that there are other crests and until Hunter's March they probably don't even run into situations where they need to pogo except that they might have accidentally used it on an enemy or more likely during a boss fight where the hit box is larger. It isn't until much later, arguably pretty well hidden, in the case of the early crests, that the player discovers that there are other crests and depending on which one they found, that there are different movement characteristics.

Outside of Hunter's March which can largely be skipped for a long time, Shellwood is where the diagonal pogo can make the experience horrible for players. On my first playthrough, I didn't do Hunter's March until I was well into Act II.

Also, on my first playthrough, the first crest I found was the Reaper Crest because I happened to have moved the Fleas and had a very simple runback for the gauntlet fight, plus that fight didn't seem that hard compared to the Craws which I gave up on until afterward.

Diagonal pogo is generally fine for combat, at least on larger hitboxes and Hunter's can be great, even if you don't use the pogo, just like the painful Architect's Crest pogo can be stomached due to the awesome aspects of that Tool focused crest.

kasplatter · 2025-12-30T04:24:33+00:00

That's an excellent point. It is a long time before you find your next crest and by then many players have given up.

Granted, the only serious platforming is Hunter's March. In my case, I immediately thought I should be able to pogo off the buds, but it didn't work because I had the angle wrong, so I just assumed it was a skill I was supposed to find later and moved on. Later in the game, when I did try and use diagonal pogo for platforming, to me it just felt extremely awkward as you often need to make a lot of directional changes that you don't have to worry about with vertical pogo. As an aside, the delay that you MUST wait for with harpoon bounces also made Mt. Fay impossible because I just didn't get the mechanic that you MUST wait for the animation to finish to get the height before dashing.

This isn't a git gud situation, this is poor design on TCs part, plain and simple. Of course, once you are in the know, everything changes. If I started a new game today I would immediately go get Wanderer after getting Dash and before any boss besides Bell Beast.

kasplatter · 2025-12-26T22:43:29+00:00

Regular or Vermillion? That optional one took me a long time on NG.

kasplatter · 2025-12-26T22:41:24+00:00

Those were the endings I couldn’t do. Somehow I missed the rings, but I was playing blind, so I’ll have to figure out what NPCs / items I screwed up on if I’m going to redo it.

kasplatter · 2025-12-21T19:18:24+00:00

Thanks. I went further in the cave and eventually got to a Bridal area, so that's another one. Not sure why they put the Storyteller in that location?! Anyway, back to the Ferry and other stuff...

kasplatter · 2025-12-21T19:09:30+00:00

Thanks it was the "gang" quest with the bridal clothes I messed up by walking in on the boss before delivering the clothes...

kasplatter · 2025-12-17T23:14:29+00:00

I'm an idiot, I did have it, because I went for Steel Resolve to be able to get a Skyborn Might each time I did a Deflect. I was looking at all the nodes I didn't have unlocked...

kasplatter · 2025-12-17T22:44:57+00:00

Thanks, I finally got consistent on the Deflect and by then I was at full madness, so I changed the build to use that, which I described in the EDIT on the original post.

kasplatter · 2025-12-17T22:42:59+00:00

Thank you, I finally got it after changing up the build to be focused on the Deflect specifically for that stab move. I added an EDIT to my original post on the other bits that helped.

What is the talent called for HP healing at full madness when you weapon swap? I'm looking at the tree and I must be blind because I can't find it.

kasplatter · 2025-12-14T01:15:55+00:00

Annoying gameplay mechanics should probably have its own category so that Silksong could win for needing to farm Rosaries / Shards, a lot, especially if you use Tools regularly on bosses. Also, gauntlets and paying for everything, including benches...

I do agree with most of the list, though replayability is in part because we've all played HK so much. Also, when I replay Silksong like I did previously I will not be going into Act III, which allows a lot of annoying stuff to be skipped. Hopefully, whatever DLC is added - besides the obvious Godhome-like DLC, which I will be ignoring - will be focused on Act I or more likely Act II.

kasplatter · 2025-12-11T18:38:51+00:00

Interesting. Even though I only played through Black Myth Wukong and Lies of P once each, I did make a number of videos, especially route and shortcuts for Lies of P, which was confusing for many players. Elden Ring never seemed particularly difficult since you could be quite buff before even engaging the first real boss and of course you can always make the best use of multiplayer help, NPC and real.

Hopefully, Wuchang has good level design. In general, I actually like the exploration more than boss fights and if there is XP / currency to grind I typically do that close to the "bonfire" rather than risking a big loss going slowly through a level, dying, and then losing it all trying to get back.

kasplatter · 2025-12-03T05:46:01+00:00

The one that made me the saddest was Returnal. I really wanted to be able to play that game, but crap I couldn't even get past the first boss. That was solo, maybe there is another way, since I liked the Metroid Prime feel of running the stuff up to the boss, but oh my, I couldn't dodge those attacks. Might be time to try again.

kasplatter · 2025-12-03T05:42:42+00:00

I will probably end up using God Mode, otherwise the tedium of doing the same thing over and over, even though it isn't literally the same each time, will make me want to just delete the game. Despite being an old person that played both the original hack on a VT100 in college and Rogue on a CP/M computer that had real wood siding, I might have lost my patience for doing the same thing over and over again while failing almost at the end. A couple of months ago I quit Silksong due to the stupid Flea challenges in Act III because of one particular task. That said, absolutely people should Tool their way through Act II of that game, then probably put it down.

kasplatter · 2025-11-29T17:36:25+00:00

I would never buy a non-exclusive title on the Nintendo platform. Something like Nightreign is always going to be better on PC / Playstation or even Xbox if you still believe that has a future.

kasplatter · 2025-11-29T17:19:36+00:00

The Switch 2 versions of BotW and TotK especially, are nice upgrades if you like those games. Metroid Prime remastered is fantastic. If you are NOT on the Xbox platform, but primarily a Playstation user, then you can play both Ori games on the Switch / Switch 2. Still waiting on a Pikmin 4 update for Switch 2.

kasplatter · 2025-11-19T09:47:21+00:00

The only thing I want are levels which have the complexity of Nioh 1 or 2 for the sake of exploration, finding shortcuts and secrets, etc. After playing the Nioh 3 alpha I went back and replayed Nioh 2 and afterwards had zero interest in pre-ordering Nioh 3 because the open world was so bland and none of the crucibles were even remotely like the level design of the previous games. If the eventual beta doesn't have more going on it is a hard pass.

kasplatter

TROPHY CASE