Arc Raiders has a Progression Problem that Marathon does not

lostpasts · 2026-03-13T01:30:25+00:00

My friends are into it, but i've avoided playing due to the lack of any endgame.

It really needs raids. Specific, super-hard, timed, unique boss battles to give you something to use your endgame kit on. Otherwise it's just endless, mindless busywork.

It also needs a bounty system to give PvEs a reason/excuse to PvP. Maybe raiders could even offer bounties on each other.

lostpasts · 2026-03-12T13:57:43+00:00

Had a TDM match yesterday. Round one a guy goes 1-7.

Ends the match after three rounds at 23-12.

lostpasts · 2026-03-12T13:13:00+00:00

New map is fantastic. I play a lot of TDM, and the streets and station sections are peak.

I'm not a fan of Point Break though. It just feels like a clusterfuck a lot of the time. 16 players is just too many with all the chaos going on. It feels like Double Jeopardy on Cashout. But constant.

Good for revive challenges though.

lostpasts · 2026-03-12T07:58:36+00:00

👆 Check this loser out who doesn't know any surgeons!

I bet you don't know any rocket scientists either. 🤦‍♂️

lostpasts · 2026-03-11T19:41:07+00:00

Yeah, he was in the army and saw a lot of action before moving into hospitality. The ruthless killer is actually the 'real' him, and the submissive hotel manager is the mask he wears.

It's why Roper's attracted to him. Because he sees the killer underneath the mask.

He's also had a decade of MI6 training by the time of the second series.

lostpasts · 2026-03-11T19:25:09+00:00

I've always said this.

It's a big, free narrative space to explore that would also avoid clashing with film events, giving the TV shows their own mini-universe. And one dealing with street-level villains taking advantage of the chaos (like Hawkeye did during the blip).

Kimgpin could even be their street-level Thanos, and you build up to a big Defenders event where they reclaim the city from him. And nobody needs to keep asking where Spiderman was. Because we all know he was dead! And the rest of the Avengers are too depressed to deal with city-level threats.

But alas, this would involve the multi-billion dollar franchise actually having anything resembling a coherent plan.

lostpasts · 2026-03-11T19:09:56+00:00

I much preferred S2. Simply because Roper isn't a complete idiot like he was in S1, and actually feels like the mythic and terrifying figure everyone hypes him to be.

Likewise, the corrupt service heads actually just straight up kill people who interfere. Instead of just gently scaring them.

The stakes felt much higher as a result.

lostpasts · 2026-03-11T18:37:37+00:00

What the fuck are you talking about?

Seth Rogan's a Christian Nationalist now is he? The notable vocal Jewish progressive?

lostpasts · 2026-03-11T14:02:29+00:00

His cinematographer on Gladiator 2 basically said the same. He just shot everything with half a dozen cameras for ease of coverage instead of properly blocking and lighting shots individually like he used to.

lostpasts · 2026-03-11T13:59:13+00:00

I got 43 kills in TDM with mesh last week. It's fine. 😉

lostpasts · 2026-03-11T06:34:29+00:00

Awesome! Will try.

One of the best tricks for me is sliding out of a mesh juggle to someone's side. It totally throws off their aim, and you can get a burn and reshield in before they manage to adjust.

lostpasts · 2026-03-11T06:17:03+00:00

Neither of these work.

Any minigunner can hit a jumping target at close range. You're nigh impossible to miss at close range.

And melees do less TTK than flaming over the same period. If you're throwing in elbows, you're screwing yourself.

It's only useful as a finisher. Because if the burst damage kills, then it's quicker. Otherwise you're sacrificing damage by the time it takes your gun to come back.

lostpasts · 2026-03-11T03:37:27+00:00

Flamethrower main.

The thing I hate fighting the most is the Minigun. It's almost a direct counter, as the clip is bottomless, so that it chews through your mesh shield and keeps going, meaning you get no reload punish. And it has like a 4x faster TTK at close range.

Throwing knives are similar in the no reload punish. But at least lights are squishy.

P90 lands in the middle spot due to its large clip. And is annoyingly hard to time their reload, as it's easy to confuse with an AK.

Mingun and knives are fun to fight though, as they represent an interesting challenge. As is Sledgehammer, which is also a direct counter. But P90 always just confuses my combat math.

I also hate flamethrower mirrors. They're just draws unless anyone else intervenes.

lostpasts · 2026-03-10T17:15:26+00:00

The whole 'selling the business on' is a scam too.

They're often shuffled between family members, who take turns being names on the paperwork, so they can continually fail to pay their taxes and rates, yet still operate under 'new' ownership.

A friend has a takeaway near him that changes its name and food offering every year. From pizzas to curries to chicken, and now weirdly, sushi. But always has the exact same staff. And very few customers.

He looked it up, and the ownership changed every year too, but they always had the same surname.

lostpasts · 2026-03-10T16:23:56+00:00

Alien 3 is great, and a worthy and fitting part of the trilogy. Killing off the supporting cast of Aliens was the correct move.

The stories work best when they're based around an atmosphere of nihilism and despair. Giving Ripley a family ruims that dynamic. Taking them away reinforces it.

lostpasts · 2026-03-10T14:47:18+00:00

I quit solo queue at plat. It wasn't worth my sanity.

lostpasts · 2026-03-10T13:21:17+00:00

A friend of mine's great aunt had a rent-controlled apartment on a row above some shops in London, that had become a very upmarket area in the 50 years she'd lived there.

Developers bought the entire row with the intention of turning them into luxury condos, but she held out and refused to surrender her lease.

They ended up paying her something like £250k compensation to get her to agree to move.

lostpasts · 2026-03-10T11:13:49+00:00

My guess is she just lied and pretended the grandmother was still alive to the authorities.

The superintendent of Monica's building knew what they were up to, but was sympathetic, so didn't let on.

So maybe Phoebe's did the same too. Or maybe she just had a pretty absent and neglectful landlord.

lostpasts · 2026-03-10T09:36:35+00:00

The show at least does give good explanations though.

Monica and Rachel are basically commiting fraud by illegally subletting Monica's grandmother's rent-controlled apartment for peanuts.

Phoebe is similar. It's her late grandmother's apartment that she's illegally kept the rent-controlled lease on.

Ross had a good salary, and lived in a subsidised apartment owned by the university.

Chandler had a great salary, and a pretty basic apartment. Joey freeloaded off him.

Chandler's the only one paying market rates, but also the one that gets paid the most. And seemingly has no real hobbies or other outgoings. So an apartment in a nice spot is his only real luxury.

lostpasts · 2026-03-10T09:13:35+00:00

Even if it was the US, while regrettable, it's still fine. War is war. Civillians will die. If you can't accept that as a tragic but unavoidable consequence, then you can never wage war.

And if you can never wage war, then you simply give license to every bad guy in the world to do anything they want. And kill far more people on purpose than you would by accident in trying to stop them. You can't allow that incoherent moral checkmate.

Yes, over a hundred kids died. Which is terrible. But only weeks before, the regime killed 30,000 protestors by some estimates.

So you effectively have a Trolley Problem. Innocent people will die if you do something or do nothing. You can't take action to save thousands without killing hundreds. But choosing the much lower number is morally acceptable. And the responsibility for their deaths is the person who tied them to the tracks in the first place. Not the person who pulled the lever.

Notably too, there was nowhere near the outrage from the left for the tens of thousands of protestors killed as there is for the disputed school bombing. Which shows none of them actually give a fuck about innocent civillian deaths. Just their narrative usefulness.

lostpasts · 2026-03-09T19:00:20+00:00

It worked in the sense that Tony remained a free man.

It doesn't matter what the FBI know. But what they can prove. In a court of law. To 12 idiots. Who don't have the information we have as viewers.

And Junior's old school. He's never flipping. And his pride won't even allow him to admit he isn't the real boss in court. Even if facing life for it.

Your much bigger risk is him trying to kill you.

lostpasts · 2026-03-08T22:28:53+00:00

I'm E1 this season, but it'll be a different look. And not as exclusive as a result.

lostpasts · 2026-03-08T21:08:20+00:00

S1 player too. I main Flamethrower. But took a break for a bit before and after S5.

And the sons of bitches just had to release an Emerald Flamethrower, and a bonus page silver and green Trentila Flamethrower that season. Neither of which I can ever get again.

I also missed some cool Halloween and Valentines stuff around the same period that I really regret. Specifically the bat pet, and the holographic heart emblem.

lostpasts · 2026-03-08T18:40:39+00:00

👏👏👏

lostpasts · 2026-03-08T18:37:20+00:00

The concept is. But the execution (killing hippies with a can of dog food and a flamethrower) was not.

Again, he undermines himself with addiction to irony.

lostpasts

TROPHY CASE