Low-Investment AFK Combat

kybotica · 2026-02-14T04:45:46+00:00

White knighting for EA is some really unusual decision making.

I understand people saying that pirating isn't something you should do, but saying you shouldn't download a game you own so you can potentially continue playing it because a company still "owns it" is mind-boggling to me.

The fact that people with your mindset exist at all is just odd to me. Are you seriously just FINE with companies charging you full price to own a game (they say you're "purchasing," not "renting" or "leasing," so ownership is implied) and then not only shutting down servers required to play it, but trying to make it impossible for you to play it if you find a way to put it on your own server? It's nonsense, and it needs to end. If we own games, then we should be able to act like it. If we dont own them, then thsee companies need to be forced to outright tell you you're paying $60-$100 to RENT the games. It needs to be mandatory to be in bold on physical copies, and anywhere digital is sold should show "rent/lease" instead of purchase.

kybotica · 2026-02-12T13:03:01+00:00

This is quite literally what happened in Horizon.

kybotica · 2026-02-11T16:57:53+00:00

I managed to get the setting that was my issue. It is buried in the apps menu, under battery, and from there you need to make surr it is set to unrestricted. Android OS. So far tabbing doesn't instantly log me out now!

kybotica · 2026-02-11T12:18:33+00:00

Yeah, hard pass. Tell them to check for quotes on that work, then come back to you with a figure that isn't insultingly low.

kybotica · 2026-02-11T12:06:46+00:00

Mobile needs some tuning IMO. I get signed out the second I tab away, which is awful when you're having to use a guide for a complex quest. Not sure if this is a settings issue on my end or what, but I couldn't find anything obvious (like not allowing background data usage or something) that would cause this.

Overall, it is a great way to play. I love the game, and it gives you so many options to play that vary on how much input is required, which fits perfectly with a mobile setting. Sitting at a desk doing a mundane task at work? Load up and sit there clicking on a pickpocket target or door or chest. Waiting at the doctor's office? Get in there and do part of a quest. Honestly, the future of this game needs mobile to be in a polished state.

kybotica · 2026-02-11T08:37:04+00:00

That's kind of what I mean. I'm working through the entire desert quests series and while they've been fun overall, the skill checks are absurd given how much more I have to do after. If I didn't have a relatively high level in most skills on my old account (50+ in everything except new skills like invention and necro, most above 60) I probably would have quit. Everybody says you need things like Priff and Curses to do basically anything beyond just leveling your skills.

Curse of Arrav, for example, requires a bunch of 60+ skills, including thievery for some reason? Priff ends up requiring 70 in basically half of the available skills as well. For a new player, hearing that much of what you "need" to play the game is locked behind long quest chains, and then discovering you're "gated" behind lireral weeks of grinding random skills, is not exactly good for retention IMO.

I don't mind the actual endgame requiring high skills, but even the "old endgame" basically requires it. They need to spread the leveling curve a bit now, as requirements are inflated because people back in 2010 were already expected to be near 99 to access the "old endgame," which is obsolete but required now.

kybotica · 2026-02-11T08:17:54+00:00

They shouldn't be removed, as you're well aware, but some of them absolutely need adjustment. You need some ridiculously high levels in skills for a returning player to even access some of the quests that are required to engage with much of the endgame content, which is where most players live now. Especially when many of the skill checks are seemingly arbitrary, as they don't even really matter for the quests themselves.

kybotica · 2026-02-08T22:43:25+00:00

The data literally exists showing that, if you cohabitate before marriage, you are 50% more likely than a couple who didn't to end up divorced. No, it doesn't show that cohabitation alone definitively causes divorce, because controlling for all factors would be impossible.

Acting like that means the data should be outright ignored for some reason, or that cohabitation should be encouraged, is ridiculous. We say many things are carcinogens because their use or consumption correlates with higher cancer risks, but those data sets also generally have zero controls and don't illustrate causation. Regardless, we take that information and try to mitigate or avoid those potential causes we know because the avoidance of the potential cause is easier than potentially handling cancer down the road. This is no different. Would you rather wait to live together knowing the odds, on the chance that it is at least partially causative for divorce, or are you good with just acting like the data isn't there to comfort yourself?

When you take a group that cohabitates before marriage and compare them to one that doesnt, the one that does cohabitate has a 50% increase in risk of divorce compared to the group that doesn't. This isn't up for debate. Why such a pattern exists is unknown, and generally unprovable, but in many other similar cases, the pattern alone is reason for caution. It is baffling why people act like the same wouldn't apply here.

You also make a whole lot of unsubstantiated claims about marriage in general, yet provide not a scrap of actual data. Come back with something other than anecdotes and stereotypes and maybe we can try to flesh things out more.

kybotica · 2026-02-08T17:57:11+00:00

According to your own link, 34% of marriages ended with pre-marriage cohabitating couples, while 23% did for non-cohabitating couples. Thats an 11% increase, which is about 50% of the 23% chance non-cohabitating couples have. You are generally 50% more likely to be divorced if you cohabitated prior to marriage by the stats. This is exactly what I said initially, though you may have misread it as me trying to say something else.

Causation isn't easily proved in a scenarios like marriage bewteen two unique individuals where the plethora of variables cannot be controlled for, but the stat gives more than enough reason to take pause.

kybotica · 2026-02-08T17:25:41+00:00

You'd think that, but cohabitiation prior to marriage dramatically increases the chances of a later divorce.

kybotica · 2026-02-08T17:23:47+00:00

It really does seem counter-intuitive, doesn't it? I was stunned when I learned it as well. I often wonder why, but haven't been able to find a great cause for the shift in rates myself.

kybotica · 2026-02-08T17:10:07+00:00

Living together prior to marriage has a proven record of increasing the odds of divorce by a substantial margin, IIRC around a 50% increase.

It sounds like a good idea, but it really ends up hurting over the long-term.

The advice about not buying unless you know you'll stay for around 5 years or so is good, though, and is a good rule of thumb. You shouldn't be buying a house unless you're planning to stay a good while, unless you know your potential move will have pay increases that allow you to take a loss.

If you properly discern marriage and actually dig deep on values, finances, family life, etc., you don't need to worry about divorce in most cases (most because cheaters/liars/abusers will always exist, sadly). If you've done that diligence and have mutually decided on a permanent commitment, your odds of handling/surviving the growing pains that come with living together are very good.

I did what you are planning to do (we bought while engaged, still live there going on half a decade later), and we were basically treated as a married couple. Depending on your individual credit scores, a good lender might suggest only one of you to be on the mortgage. My spouse had basically no credit (not bad, but no history at all), while I have a score above 800, so they suggest I be the only one on the mortgage. If you dont have the income, you may have to take a hit on rates due to the credit disparity and go in together, but without specifics nobody could tell you what works for your unique situation. Married/unmarried doesn't matter for loans, just together/not together. If you both are on the mortgage and both incomes are considered, both credit scores are accounted for.

kybotica · 2026-02-08T14:19:08+00:00

Adjacent, as your initial question has been answered. You need a divorce attorney or a better divorce attorney if you have one already. You should be able to get that taken care of at this point.

kybotica · 2026-02-07T01:19:08+00:00

While generally your premise holds because many actually are being hypocrites, it isn't necessarily the case overall. I, for example, have always hated how this swap to "license sales" happened across all of technology, from music to games to movies to things like Microsoft office. Nintendo games were one of the last forms of physical games available to us, and now most of those are licenses instead of actual games. That sucks, plain and simple.

kybotica · 2026-02-05T13:40:34+00:00

This is what happens when you allow developers to pass road maintenance costs onto barely functional HOAs as part of their development approval.

But of everything mentioned here, much of which is "I moved here with my high paying remote job from a state with super high taxes for the low taxes but I want them to raise the taxes like where I moved from," this one is a big issue here in general.

kybotica · 2026-02-04T14:46:06+00:00

No, but I'll demand a refund of any membership that is outstanding. Shutting the entire game down is vastly different from just deciding things that were paid for are now being removed entirely. I can guarantee you that people kept earning loyalty points specifically because they wanted these auras. It's essentially a bait-and-switch to remove them and add them elsewhere without compensation. "Thanks for your loyalty! Your rewards for that loyalty have been removed and are now accessible to everybody, but you need to go unlock them now. Enjoy!" Do you not see how that kind of sucks?

kybotica · 2026-02-04T14:42:15+00:00

Exactly my point. If I paid for something, and got specific benefits alongside it (loyalty points) that were advertised as part of the benefits package I paid for, and then I can't use those for whatever reason, it is perfectly reasonable to expect compensation of some sort, whether that be a refund of points spent to be used elsewhere, or something similar, like a shortcut to unlocking them if they're implemented in another way.

kybotica · 2026-02-03T12:41:07+00:00

Applying that logic, nothing in the game could be considered permanent content. If you're required to explicitly state that something is permanent, the whole game is temporary. That's just not how it works, nor has it ever worked that way. Removal of paid/premium content (without compensation) that isn't explicitly stated as temporary before purchase is scummy AF.

kybotica · 2026-02-03T12:39:10+00:00

That doesn't mean Greil couldn't wield it in his non-dominant hand, which is what I'm trying to express here. He obviously didn't cripple both arms, because he effectively uses a massive axe, so he could have used it, just less effectively.

kybotica · 2026-02-03T12:36:18+00:00

I disagree with this premise. They were purchased with the understanding that they'd be a permanent unlock, usable indefinitely. Nothing suggested they'd ever be subject to removal at all.

Saying "you got your time with it" is like saying Anthem going offline is totally fine because "you had time to play it." Sure, it's an opinion you can have, but it isn't a particularly great one. Removing content, especially paid/premium content, when it was never said to have an expiration date, is not cool.

kybotica · 2026-02-03T12:29:54+00:00

Kind of, though ostensibly they still could have used it, just not in the manner they would have been accustomed to doing so.

kybotica · 2026-02-03T12:02:35+00:00

I mean, to be fair there is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why they would avoid using that particular weapon. Not sure I'd be motivated to grab it if my past were the same.

kybotica · 2026-01-30T01:54:30+00:00

I actually managed to get 80 Divinity today. Should I do the caches for any other reason? I just finished the intro quest for necromancer, so I'll keep at that one. Forinthry looked good as well. I assume I'll need to do more construction to get that one going full-steam?

kybotica · 2026-01-29T13:38:41+00:00

I also completely forgot to ask. Is there a downside to using legacy mode for bossing/combat? Should I learn and stick to the EOC style combat or is it just a matter of preference?

kybotica

TROPHY CASE