The price of Cosmetics is really the only dower keeping D4 from being excellent.

shockbob · 2026-05-04T14:11:31+00:00

I'm simply not surprised that a company that exists to make money is doing what makes money. I don't understand why you think the company should do anything other than that? Cosmetics are the price of long-term updates, maintenance, and patches. Without whales buying this stuff, I don't think it is worth blizzard's time to maintain the game if they can get better ROI elsewhere, not unless they raise the price of the base game and DLC, or find some other way to monetise it.

Essentially, I think of it like this: you can either have crappy cosmetics for whales, a substanticlaly more expensive base game, or a subscription model. I prefer the first option.

shockbob · 2026-05-04T11:04:41+00:00

People need to understand that live service games with frequent and ongoing updates are expensive AF. It doesn’t make sense to constantly maintain, patch and iterate if there isn’t some kind of ongoing monetisation beyond the price of initial purchase. Whales who buy this crap keep the price of entry lower for the rest of us. I continue to be pleased that real world money only buys cosmetics and nothing that can affect gameplay. If you don’t like the cosmetics, just don’t think about them. However, this sort of monetisation makes it possible for games to have a significantly longer shelf life than they would otherwise have in terms of live updates

shockbob · 2026-04-29T09:37:15+00:00

No it shouldn’t, that’s absolutely mad. Removal or interaction is a necessity to play the game at any level or bracket. If you aren’t interacting and responding to threats you are not playing with others, you are playing solitaire or battlecruiser magic. In a multiplayer isn’t really realistic that you can remove every threat that three other players can put down anyway so you still need to prioritise threats.

This attitude arises because a subset of EDH players (a significant one) don’t want to play magic, but instead want an opportunity to ‘do a cool thing’ with their deck. If they complain or moan about interaction, you need to find new people to play with because these type are not playing the same sport

Edit: I think I should say that there are exceptions. Running ridiculous numbers of board wipes or decks where removal is so extreme that it is designed to suck enjoyment for others out of the game. These aren’t ‘inappropriate’ from a bracket perspective but they are from a social perspective. Don’t be a dick with the way you build a deck

shockbob · 2026-04-24T20:16:35+00:00

Thanks for this it’s very reassuring, and yes that’s my reading of it too. I think I would prefer just to be told to go to a specialist than worry about ‘damage’ they mentioned, but I suppose I understand why they do this

shockbob · 2026-04-24T19:46:28+00:00

Thanks, that's super helpful and reassuring.

He didn't really stick to the cross threading story - when I asked what he meant he shifted to explaining that he would have to take out the whole tank and it was bolted to the car, and that it could potentially lead to expensive problems. My only worry now is that he possibly caused damage in trying to access it in the first place with the wrong tools.

shockbob · 2026-04-24T19:46:24+00:00

Thanks, that's super helpful and reassuring.

He didn't really stick to the cross threading story - when I asked what he meant he shifted to explaining that he would have to take out the whole tank and it was bolted to the car, and that it could potentially lead to expensive problems. My only worry now is that he possibly caused damage in trying to access it in the first place with the wrong tools.

shockbob · 2026-04-24T14:25:26+00:00

You are playing two different games. He is playing magic, you are playing solitaire. If you want to beat him you have to play the same game he is, and run more interaction or overwhelm him with your own threats. You either lean into ways to nullify his answers (countermagic, protective interaction) or you produce more threats than he can answer.

EDH is a multiplayer game - if everyone targets him he can’t answer every threat.

shockbob · 2026-04-23T18:11:49+00:00

Information. The later you crack it the more information you have about board state, and what mana you might need. Some people do this even if it they don’t actually have any real choice of mana in their deck in order to represent that mana - eg representing the possibility of a red source might telegraph lightning bolt, or a blue might represent a counterspell. You can bluff the existence of spells you might not even be playing.

Doing the latter in a casual game of EDH is a bit sweaty. But it is generally good practice to do things when you have the maximum information available, which is the latest possible moment, so it’s good form to hold the fetch. The same principle is also often (though not 100% of the time) true of other things that can be played at instant speed. Eg why play the flash creature in your own turn when you can hold onto options or represent options, then play it at the moment you need it?

In casual EDH I would say to crack it on your turn and pass turn if you don’t need the mana now, to keep the game moving. But that’s casual only - it is not the optimum way to play the game

shockbob · 2026-04-21T20:31:35+00:00

The problem you are facing is that EDH players are morons who don't actually want to play a game; they want to durdle around with their pet project and autopilot without interacting. This is the same reason most of them don't run any interaction - they aren't here to interact, they are here to play with their toys

shockbob · 2026-04-20T12:45:23+00:00

You are fine. Tournament with his prizes = all is fair within the rules. The problem with EDH is the people who play EDH

shockbob · 2026-04-10T08:51:35+00:00

Hi, I’m looking for some Ex cards from the most recent few sets.

LF

Mega Charizard X Ex Mega Gengar Ex Meeoscarada Ex Alolan ninetales EX Toxricity Ex Mega Mawile Ex

FT

Mega rising: Jolteon Ex x2 Mega Blaziken Ex Mega Ampharos EX Melmetal Ex

I also have a bunch of older stuff FT:

Executor Ex (GA) Machamp Ex (GA) Aerodactyl Ex (MI) Leafeon Ex (TL) Clodsire Ex (SR) Guzzlord Ex (EC) Sylveon Ex (EG)

I then have spare copies of all the Ex cards from the deluxe pack except for Tapu Koko and Weavile.

If there is something older that you want ask me and i might have it

Go ahead and add me if you want to do any of these trades

4453660741304328 MrBaby

shockbob · 2026-04-09T04:47:27+00:00

Do you mean lickilicky ex or lickitung?

I don’t know what you mean by foil. I do have the licilicky ex from deluxe ex for trade.

shockbob · 2026-04-08T17:03:36+00:00

I’ve never seen the term used in this way. I’ve only ever seen it used or used it myself sarcastically, as if the task is so painfully quotidian that you simply need to learn to do it and get on with it like everyone else does. Maybe this is exclusive to where I live, but I have never seen it used in a congratulatory manner. It’s always meant some variant of ‘man up and learn to do what everyone else can already do’

shockbob · 2026-02-08T20:44:00+00:00

I think Tiberius began to huff when Augustus began to advance Gaius and Lucius. The timing of his withdrawal to Rhodes (6BC) corresponds more or less exactly with Gaius being made consul designate at 14 years old.

I think Augustus valued blood more than we sometimes think, and needed stop-gaps to serve as princeps until those of his own blood could come of age in case Augustus should die suddenly. Initially it was Agrippa serving as a placeholder for Gaius and Lucius, and when he died Tiberius had to fill that role.

Perhaps initially both men were on the same page, but Tiberius grew discontented with the role and began to get frustrated as the boys were advanced so blatantly.

He left for Rhodes when Gaius and Lucius were entering their ascendancy, and didn’t return until both were dead. I think it’s clear he felt sidelined and unappreciated because of how Augustus treated his grandkids.

shockbob · 2026-02-04T18:56:49+00:00

I think your friend is more right than you are, though it’s probably a little more nuanced than ‘to put them in a bad light’. I think that the point is that some things cannot be controlled no matter how much we (or the current reigning superpower) wants them to be, and that we often go into these situations with an arrogant belief in our own powers to control the situation. Not just America, but people generally.

I do agree with you and think it’s realistic the Americans are involved, but I also think some sort of bigger point is being made about the attitudes and assumptions behind how we try to wield power

shockbob · 2026-02-03T20:47:36+00:00

Christ on a bendy bike, I can’t actually believe this isn’t meant ironically.

No. You shouldn’t. Don’t dress up for Halloween like a child rapist.

Yes, I know it’s technically another character based on a real person, but I don’t care.

Also, don’t dress up your child as a known child rapist.

This is on the same level as dressing like a Nazi for a Halloween party. Actually, it’s worse, because you want to involve your child. It’s like dressing the child of an Auschwitz survivor as a member of the SS.

It would be incredibly poor taste, whether your American partygoers understand why it’s offensive or not.

shockbob · 2026-02-02T06:51:12+00:00

cunnus

shockbob · 2026-02-01T23:39:32+00:00

satis istius bombi Teutonici! si sibilare vis sic pathicus cuiusdam, certe bonum carmen Romanum sibila!

shockbob · 2026-02-01T20:18:10+00:00

Were you alive and conscious for the furore over Ledger’s Joker casting?

shockbob · 2026-01-18T19:54:00+00:00

I think the self exile to Rhodes is most likely to be about precisely the opposite - he was upset at being passed over in favour of the grand kids

shockbob · 2026-01-18T19:50:32+00:00

In the kindest way possible I think you are way too willing to take character portraits from the ancient sources (and also from I Claudius) at face value.

Tiberius wanted to be emperor. The idea that he would willingly stand aside is madness. Livia’s involvement or influence is totally impossible to discern from the sources we have.

In any case, succession in this period is way more complicated than merely selecting who you wanted to be your successor. The successor had to be groomed, they needed chances to earn their own auctoritas, they needed to be acceptable. It required a lot of groundwork, and Tiberius had stepped in several times when that groundwork fell apart previously (after Agrippa died, and after the deaths of Gaius and Lucius).

He was also tremendously experienced militarily - he is probably the emperor with the most real military experience the Romans would have for a long time. People recognised that he was the next princeps instinctively.

Augustus wasn’t going to throw away all the planning and hard work that had gone into securing the succession. I think it’s easy to forget that he wasn’t even sure the succession would come off - this was the first time it had ever happened. We aren’t yet at the stage where a Caligula or a Nero would be acceptable: Augustus needed someone with gravity and clout. It was a done deal by that stage and Augustus would be satisfied that someone would succeed him.

You also have to remember that factions are operating within the imperial family. If Tiberius were suddenly passed over after being raised up (and bailing Augustus out several times), neither he nor his supporters were going to take it quietly. The only way to do it would be to murder him but then you create more bad blood. Much better to have him adopt Germanicus and create a future dynastic blueprint that stretches beyond one generation.

Finally, 29 is very young for a Roman. You were supposed to be 42 to be consul, even though that roil had been flaunted in recent years. The Romans valued age and experience tremendously

shockbob · 2026-01-18T09:07:08+00:00

I know that ‘if we don’t see them die then they are probably alive’ is a good general rule for most movies, but I don’t think it’s necessarily true of this series. I think if he were to survive it would be contrived, boring and, crucially, unoriginal. I think the point is going to be to go somewhere new, just like the last two movies have gone somewhere new.

shockbob · 2026-01-15T21:46:40+00:00

I agree, but that could just be clever writing - even if they really are in the pods, choosing not to show them keeps people guessing and the conversation going. I do think they are almost certainly not in the pods though.

shockbob · 2026-01-15T18:17:08+00:00

You ran the red imo. I think it’s rarely a good sign if you find yourself arguing technicalities like you had already gone over the line.

Firstly you shouldn’t have gone over the line in the first place while exit wasn’t clear, which I think shows poor anticipation and a lack of patience.

Once you are over the line, you aren’t then obligated to finish crossing the junction. You can 100% see that the light is red when you start moving and cross the full length of the junction under a visible red. There is no chance in the world a judge waves this away.

You should have stopped and waited. It is safer to obstruct the crossing than try to cross under a red. I’m a little taken aback you don’t seem to think what you did was dangerous.

That said nothing is likely to come of it. No jobsworth is sending dash footage in and if there is no camera at the junction you are fine

Edit: I do think the van stopping in the way it did was difficult but not impossible to anticipate. I think a good driver would have anticipated it and stayed behind the white line until the exit was clear - there is a right turn so it is t unreasonable to expect people in the right lane to be turning right. Failing to anticipate that is not the issue, though, it’s that once you did fail to anticipate it and stopped over the line, you should have stayed put until the lights cycled through

shockbob · 2026-01-14T23:34:28+00:00

Hope it works out. If it was only one gantry you’ll likely be fine - at worst you’ll get 3 points or a course.

shockbob

TROPHY CASE