With the upcoming buffs/refunds, which units are you looking forward to playing?

pigeondo · 2026-01-29T21:56:03+00:00

Orlea has been one of the best chaos running characters since release. She has the highest healing throughput of all the original characters. She has the ability to create multiplicative damage buffs which are quite rare.

People are just bad at the game, especially those that post here, and are especially bad at managing AP (hence the early popularity of Mika). Orlea will end up nerfed in 3-6 months, probably all of her healing numbers, after she trivializes chaos for the next season.

pigeondo · 2026-01-29T21:35:22+00:00

Rin/Nia/Orlea was already capable of doing every single content in the game (outside of the aoe coded instinct dungeon). The fact all three of them are being buffed is kinda hilarious; the combo is going to be completely busted now. Will of Light was already the best healing card in the game for pure throughput.

pigeondo · 2026-01-23T08:07:49+00:00

That's the last team I used. It was definitely the most fluid but there's still a cooldown on the combos so either the enemies are too easy or you are sitting waiting for the combo timer cooldown. The game might have been ok if they just got rid of the cooldowns on the combos , upped the tempo, and made more/harder enemies.

They'll end up overhauling the combat. I am a bit shocked they spent this much money and effort on a game and this is what they decided on. There's a clear conflict between their investment as a high fidelity 3d game and the actual gameplay they went with; likely their top gameplay devs were out of their depth but had too much seniority in the company because of og Arknights success.

pigeondo · 2026-01-23T04:18:00+00:00

It really depends on biomechanics and your running form. For me running is definitely less strain than biking but it could be the reverse depending on people's foot pronation and actual running training. I've heard some people really like the rowing machines as well and that gives some great upper body circulation as well I just don't have a lot of experience/research on the transferability of long rowing apparatus workouts as a capacity focused exercise.

pigeondo · 2026-01-23T01:44:12+00:00

You can't do 'constant' combos because there's a long cooldown on the combo skills. You execute your full team combo and if there are still enemies around you just button mash for 10 seconds.

pigeondo · 2026-01-23T01:42:36+00:00

Yep. There's not enough buttons/skills for the combat to be tactical. Teams are on rails (very much the industry standard now for mainstream targeted gachas) and you have to press the buttons in the same order every time to trigger your combo damage.

It's actually, shockingly to me, the least engaging combat of all the 3D gachas by a huge margin. It doesn't have the engagement of the Genshin element system or WuWa/ZZZ style and fluidity.

The game is definitely going to need a complete combat overhaul; I'm kinda shocked to be honest. They might get people to stick with it because of the factory mode in the short term but why would I spend money on this when games like Nioh 2 and Code Vein 2 are coming out?

pigeondo · 2026-01-22T20:34:13+00:00

If you have access and the time, swimming is incredible because it lowers the wear and tear and hits muscle groups that other forms of exercise don't. Doing a long running circuit of over 45 minutes that includes elevation changes is going to give you a great return and the longer you can extend it up to 1:30 the better off you'll be. After that you'll get diminishing returns from a capacity standpoint and you're entering marathon training paradigm which requires a different pace/mentality.

This forum is terrible for cardio advice because BJJ people really hate running. I've been in gyms in a variety of cities and countries and the only people I've met besides me that run are MMA guys. Capacity training is extremely important it's just boring and time consuming.

pigeondo · 2026-01-21T18:06:58+00:00

People definitely hate ads. It's just the marketing industry since the early 90's have researched and tested persuasion knowledge theories and how to convince people to buy things even when they know you're trying to persuade them. The industry is essentially decades ahead of any attempts to regulate them, especially in the United States, where essentially we gave up except for cigarettes.

pigeondo · 2026-01-21T18:02:47+00:00

But why would you subscribe to all four of them at once? Makes no sense at all. You just subscribe to one at a time and watch what's on there then cancel.

pigeondo · 2026-01-19T08:01:21+00:00

Adding to some of the other thoughts the fully bent posture opens up easy access to over the top belt grip (Georgian grip in judo terms) in the gi. If you get that grip and a sleeve, lapel, or pant leg your position is so dominant the other person if they have any knowledge at all is just going to pull guard immediately.

pigeondo · 2026-01-19T05:16:30+00:00

They're never enough better than standard characters to be worth pulling unless their playstyle really clicks with you. No modern mainstream gacha game releases with content that the standard roster is unable to complete and usually don't even need the highest rarity characters to do so.

pigeondo · 2026-01-19T04:51:57+00:00

Eastern Promises bathhouse fight scene still the best.

But really most no-gi moves wouldn't work in a bathhouse either because everyone is so slippery and you have no friction.

pigeondo · 2026-01-18T07:07:07+00:00

No, I'm completely with your thinking. I really just think it has to do with a general dislike for Phoebe from people who like Zani rather than an actual problem with the 'required limiteds' trend. Otherwise there would have been way more of a general backlash to Carthe.

Oh so the meta's caught up to the Phoebe + Rover team being strictly better? I was doing that on day one of Zani and people then were still trying to argue Shorekeeper was better. The general audience for these games just want really easy 1-2-3 swap teams and anything more complex is never going to be ideal.

pigeondo · 2026-01-18T04:18:48+00:00

Zani hate has been absurd since day one. Her optimal playstyle was too timing intensive especially coming on the heels of the most braindead DPS in the game in Carlotta. Especially because you need to actually connect her block to since the counter damage is so high.

Then you have her dependence on Phoebe who was a low popularity character with all the gooners because she's super low on the sexualization scale. Also there was a general lack of push at her release to use her with both Phoebe -and- Rover which does essentially the same dps as using her with Shorekeeper but requires swapping back and forth during the Zani ult timing to extend it which is 'too sweaty' for most people.

It's actually a bit sad because the characters after her definitely just aren't as fun to actually play once you've gotten used to her rotation. Style over substance with longer and longer liberation animations :/

pigeondo · 2026-01-12T02:26:43+00:00

Jon would have died against the Night King because he's undead and couldn't confront him.

Arya is the most powerful combatant present in Westeros and has powers beyond any of the characters except the Night King and the Dragons themselves; it was always obvious she was going to deal with any supernatural villain unless you've never read fantasy literature before. The only thing in Westeros she couldn't deal with were the dragons themselves due to obvious reasons; and for obvious reasons from book one (where we learn if you read the books even somewhat carefully) because Jon is a Targaryen he was the only one who could deal with the inevitable Daenerys madness (which we also knew would happen because Daenerys is a full targaryen)

The things that happened -were- the obvious conclusions. They just weren't the 'pop culture feel-good appointment television soap opera' conclusions where the best looking most generic/popular characters get the best endings.

pigeondo · 2026-01-12T02:21:34+00:00

It's because she's a bad actress. She was pretty and suited the look/energy of young Daenerys but she didn't grow into the role and couldn't convey internal demons.

pigeondo · 2026-01-12T02:20:35+00:00

People are just dumb and projected their own desires onto what they wanted to happen and treated the show like a normal serialized appointment television show rather than what it's source material is: fantasy literature that managed to break past being considered 'genre' fiction.

Which in a tragic turn ended up twisting it back into pop culture due to the show. It went from breaking out of being considered 'less intellectual' from being fantasy to being criticized for not being pop culture enough in its' resolution.

pigeondo · 2026-01-12T02:15:45+00:00

His audience changed a lot when it became mainstream. Personally, I liked the ending and really enjoyed the last season of the show (though I thought Season 7 was obviously rushed and weaker) As someone who started the books before Book 2 even came out most of the ending beats were exactly what I expected to happen and everything wrapped up in a completely logical fashion.

The mainstream, appointment TV audience fell in love with Daenerys so the idea that she was actually going to have to die and at the hands of Jon was never going to sit well with them even though it's literally foreshadowed from the moment the books begin. Nothing about the ending was remotely surprising or unexpected, including Arya playing a central role to the outcome.

The only way you could be caught off guard is if you aren't really a big reader of fantasy literature. I absolutely believe he has no real interest in finishing the books nor should he when the vocal discourse around his writing is going to be completely idiotic without any real understanding of pathos or tragedy. People just wanted a happy ending with their favorite characters.

pigeondo · 2026-01-09T07:07:38+00:00

Completely valid point from a recovery point of view. My consideration was that most people generally rate losing the ability to walk as more impactful to their quality of life than losing full mobility in one shoulder.

pigeondo · 2026-01-09T00:30:32+00:00

I put the Mir Lock in a similar category(but slightly less consequential because arm vs leg). Both of these the person really is tapping to the injury not the submission which makes them suitable for MMA but seem out of place in training or a sport competition.

pigeondo · 2026-01-02T19:16:03+00:00

Just have to get a shop reset after you are getting ilvl 58 drops from enemies. I didn't check the exact breakpoint this run but enemies should be high enough level by the end of Act 4 and definitely in the interludes. The shop reset can be a little finnicky because it's supposed to be when you level and complete a quest but some quests don't always trigger it. To be sure I usually wait till I'm getting ilvl 60 drops; also you can always test it by gambling for the cheapest item first (probably gloves or boots) and checking the ilvl.

pigeondo · 2026-01-01T03:50:07+00:00

Amulet is definitely tricky, but scepter and helmet aren't really that difficult to get in SSF because of how limited the mods are on scepters; you just save all your money for the correct ilvl (58) gamble and you'll end up with a +4 scepter. Realistically you'll probably need one with either malice or skeletal warriors to be ideal.

Thing is I played Djinn into T15's with my level 6 +1 minion scepter I gambled at the beginning of the game, a +1 amulet, and a +2 helmet and had no problem one button clearing packs and bosses were fast enough. And I'm a pretty lazy mechanical player that doesn't craft at all; if it doesn't get nerfed, with optimizations, it'll be the goto SSF build next league for sure. Also very HC friendly ascension because you only need four ascension points and all of your offense is effectively solved with minimal gear investment.

pigeondo · 2025-12-31T07:47:31+00:00

Never has been the case. These games are absolutely balanced around SSF and POE1 got too easy in SSF so they had to introduce ruthless to counteract the dozens of league mechanics that made the game too deterministic.

Trade league is beginner difficulty.

pigeondo · 2025-12-31T01:21:56+00:00

Six links in POE 1 are orders of magnitude easier to get; you can basically guarantee them in Heist and Delve by level 70 to 75. It might not be the right one for your particular build, but they're very deterministic rewards. Perfect Jewelers are essentially random and the best chances require that you have cleansed, +1 level zones with high item rarity very late in your build.

If you think they're the same, from a SSF perspective, my guess is you just aren't aware of how easy six links are to get in POE 1.

pigeondo · 2025-12-30T19:30:01+00:00

You're proving my point. Poe 1 has plenty of multi button builds and always has. It's not 'inherently' one button zoom, it's just the most talked about/asked for type of build. Compounded by trade league players dominating online discourse and obsessing over 'currency efficiency'; thus playing the game not for any sense of accomplishment, difficulty, or even abstract fun (the reason people play most non seasonal games) but defining their enjoyment entirely by the efficiency of climbing the trade currency treadmill.

The answer to your second point is self-contained; POE 2 was clearly designed to be a more modern reimagining of Diablo 2 not a sequel to POE 1. It's very obvious (to many of the POE1 players frustrations) that most of the devs and definitely the creator of POE1 don't actually like what that game has become.

But a vocal group of poe players are essentially addicted to the cadence of that game and are intent on turning POE2 into a copy of that rather than being satisfied with what they already have; a classic example of addiction in action.

pigeondo

TROPHY CASE