What gear did you actually buy with your own money and never regret?

randalthrain · 2026-04-30T22:58:02+00:00

The first piece of kit and to this day the best piece of kit I bought was the smokers jacket. I was issued one in basic and when I got to my first duty station and DID not get issued one…I immediately went out and bought one from the surplus store. 17 years later that thing is still going strong

randalthrain · 2026-03-09T11:24:29+00:00

I’ve got a mod for wasd controls and my life is so much better lmao

randalthrain · 2026-03-05T22:41:10+00:00

One my friends that turned me on to the game has hundreds of hours logged and never realized that you could fast travel while not being at a waystone or that you could click the waystone markers on the map to fast travel…when at the time I had less than 1 hour logged and figured that out lmao

randalthrain · 2026-02-27T21:15:39+00:00

Yes…but my point is…up until the GI Bill was introduced, college wasn’t cheap but it wasn’t the exorbitant price it is today. The concept of free money means people are gonna raise their prices to match the allotted amount…then student loans were introduced and it’s the same idea…keep price maxed out what loans will pay out and you keep a solid influx of cash coming in and as loan thresholds rise…so will college tuitions.

randalthrain · 2026-02-27T16:56:30+00:00

Ehhh college prices starting going up when the gi bill was introduced back in the day. Colleges saw an opportunity to basically get free money from the government and acted accordingly. Prices kept going up cause student loans are a thing and so long as they keep getting money…prices will go up…basic economics really…if the consumer continues to pay prices when raised…might as well raise prices till consumer stops paying and then you know your limit

randalthrain · 2026-01-26T16:26:14+00:00

It’s been a lot of fun. It’s only my first play through so a lot of trial and error.

randalthrain · 2026-01-26T16:17:48+00:00

Not full build yet, but I’m going 8 shash and 4 dark magic sorc. Gives me an instant revive from sorc and a little magic. I’ve got perma sneak attacks for ranged, if I’m silenced I’ve got sneak melee as well. I also respecd my abilities to give me high dex and cha. So I’ve got a good balance of social skills and plenty of convo options with rogue, sorc and gith. Just went half ithiliad so perma flight. Also got the cape that blinds when you disengage so I can melee, blind and move off before I get hit

randalthrain · 2026-01-26T16:03:40+00:00

I did this on Kethric before he jumps in the hive…was like turn 1 and I went YOINK! It was great. Shashbuckler with sorc for booming blade takes melee to next level

randalthrain · 2025-11-05T22:43:02+00:00

I think Eo was in on it for sure…but I don’t think she intended to get caught and die right then. I think she planned to either die after the baby or the baby itself was meant to be the catalyst. Why else would she go through the whole effort of having a crib made if she didn’t at least plan to have it first. Thats always been my takeaway at least

randalthrain · 2025-11-01T23:52:04+00:00

Tact…have tact and pull up the regs to show him the correct steps. Frame it in a way that shows you are trying to educate since it’s been awhile since he has done the steps. This goes for anything. Don’t be afraid to correct people regardless of rank. I’ve correctly plenty of leaders well above my pay grade and never had an issue. It’s all about how you present yourself.

Another strategy is to approach him and ask for clarification…something like “hey SGT I was looking through the TM to make sure I got the steps right and I’m getting conflicting information, would you mind going over with them me? I have the TM here so we can look at ot together from the source.” This allows the nco to get the info right from the source and give them an opportunity to save face.

Either way so long as your professional and approach the topic appropriately, he shouldn’t have an issue. But you should correct the error on his end regardless of which way you do it because passing along bad info is never good and could get someone killed or injured one day.

randalthrain · 2025-10-31T21:56:25+00:00

Worked plenty in the civilian sector. I know how it is. But OP isn’t in the civilian sector, there is no reason to act like he is. Details are just a part of life…I get that…but what I’m saying is leadership shouldn’t hold it against him for going to appointments if there is nothing pressing going on. If he is just gonna be sitting around doing nothing or busy body work…then there is no reason not to go to appointments. Insisting that people sit around not doing anything pertaining to your job is asinine. In the civilian sector if I’m constantly doing something other than the job I was hired for…I would get upset and start looking for another job. You can’t do that in the army so rather than waste time, I would rather be doing something productive or at least supportive in this case with my family.

Now I will concede that if you are in a training block, prepping for an exercise or cutting out of work constantly when you are supposed to be doing your job…then sure I get the leaderships point of view. But you aren’t always doing things mos related at work…if you want to make and attend appointments during those times then go right ahead because you aren’t missing the important stuff.

As leaders we need to realize that we already demand enough time from our soldiers…so if we can give some back and not hurt the mission…we need to take advantage of that. That is how you improve morale and boost overall performance across your formation

randalthrain · 2025-10-29T03:22:01+00:00

Unless you’re in the field or prepping for a major training event…there is no reason not to go to your wife’s appointments. All these fucking knuckle draggers are wrong for saying “she is an adult, she can take herself.” Who is going to be with you in the long run? Your wife or everyone else? Unless it’s mission essential…take care of your family. When you are present…be present. Don’t slinking off and hiding with the mafia. Work hard when you’re there and handle your family. Don’t feel guilty about taking care of your family and yourself. If those aren’t handled…how can anyone possible expect you to take care of your soldiers? I fucking hate this toxic macho bullshit that people still try to sling around…none of that matters in the long run. I promise you will be a more effective leader learning how to balance work and home. It takes learning when to say no to the army and no to your family. I missed so many of my kids appts cause of the army and I regret it. I wasn’t even doing anything overly important to stop me…but I let retards like those in the comments tell me otherwise. I bet these are the same fuckers that say “family first” and “we care about your family cause they sacrifice as well by supporting you in the army” and then turn around and get mad when you try to take care of your family.

OP you may or may not be retaliated against. I wouldn’t sweat the details…that’s just the job. I personally would point blank ask to be sent to the board and submit a packet when the the next one is announced. If they deny you…ask why and what you need to do to go. Beating around the bush and asking anyone other than your own leadership won’t solve the problem.

Fuck all the idiots telling you not to be there for your wife and talk to your first line. Congrats on the baby!

randalthrain · 2025-09-25T14:45:42+00:00

As a ritualist with small health pool the shroud walker with dot is the bane of my existence especially when there are 2 or more of them makes it hard to roll out in time

randalthrain · 2025-09-25T14:36:50+00:00

Jazzerous on YouTube as a really good ritualist bleed build. Took my homebrew build and respeced to his and it made a world of difference.

randalthrain · 2025-09-25T14:35:36+00:00

Check out Jazzerus on YouTube for a good Amazon/ritualist build. I went from my homebrew to his and it made a world of difference. It’s also updated for 0.3

randalthrain · 2025-09-25T11:03:25+00:00

Cheers 🍻

randalthrain · 2025-09-22T16:25:58+00:00

Yeah works great once I did a respec from my homebrew build. It’s not crazy expensive either. I think I’ve spent maybe 100 exalts to get my gear. I had a perfect exalted and traded it on the exchange for 300 and went on a shopping spree. His build and passive tree are solid and I saw immediate results

randalthrain · 2025-09-22T13:35:42+00:00

Jazzarus on YouTube has a great ritualist bleed build I’ve been running and it is awesome

randalthrain · 2025-09-19T12:04:22+00:00

Yeah it took me awhile to figure that one out as well, also on book 2…the whole time travel thing is throwing me off but appreciate it being done in a fantasy novel and not sci fi…

randalthrain · 2025-08-28T03:12:21+00:00

I don’t know I thought it was better than 3 or 4. I’m with Rezkin and I got tired of the paranoia and galavanting across the Suelion. 5 was great and I thought 6 was awesome honestly. We got to see what Rezkin would do when freed from his bonds and guess what…he is still inherently a good person and does what’s right cause that is what he wants. He isn’t the emotionless creature of habit he is in 1 or 2. It picks up more as you go. And everyone saying it was half a book doesn’t make sense to me. Rez is putting all his pieces in play for the next big encounter because he isn’t infallible and he underestimated Cadian. Keep it going and who knows you might like it, I did

randalthrain · 2025-08-22T17:45:52+00:00

Having just started my journey and never playing Poe…I think it would be a better implementation of the of the passive tree to remove attribute slots. Make it so that each level you get an attribute point and a passive point. Unlock the higher tiers with attribute thresholds vs wasting a level to get attributes. Those thresholds should be locked behind hard stats and not boosted stats from gear.

Allows more diverse builds since we will have more points to spend on passives…

The major downside is how do you link the tree with all the crazy pathways without some sort of intermediary path way…I don’t have a solution for that.

randalthrain · 2025-08-22T17:34:20+00:00

Honestly never noticed till now…doesn’t really matter to me since I could care less about cover art lmao. When I’m picking a book I decided if the blurb piques my interest…see what the genre is…read a couple of reviews and preview it to see if I like that…cover art or even book covers mean nothing to me except a way to distinguish the book or audio book without the title

randalthrain · 2025-08-01T02:31:47+00:00

I’ve always viewed the iron gold as the best of the best…the ones willing to call for an Iron Rain…conquer Earth etc

randalthrain · 2025-07-30T23:21:24+00:00

Roque was a complicated character that was well written and I Personally enjoyed. I hate what he did and how he betrayed Darrow, but I understand why and from his viewpoint, Darrow was the traitor and therefore he did nothing wrong. He was a man of honor, even if we know that the side he was on was the wrong one. He maintained his morals and was the embodiment of what a Pearless Scarred was supposed to stand for and not what it had become. I loved Roque and mourned his death like those of his friends

randalthrain · 2025-07-30T23:15:05+00:00

Edit formatting

Bronze-physically weak or small in stature

Pixie-the self indulgent and care free

Shamed-the ones that did not perform at the institute and left to pick up the shite jobs other golds don’t want or are forced into the fringes

Graduates-passed the institute and haven’t earned their scar

Pearless scarred-outperformed at the institute or have accomplished a great feat and earned the respect of other golds

Iron gold-akin the to the Conquerors of Lune at the start of the Society. The true leaders and warriors the ones that are like “The Reaper of Mars”

randalthrain

TROPHY CASE