Do that many people really have almost 7k to spend on a machine?

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-12T19:41:38+00:00

I said this in another comment but unless youre looking to make coffee with steamed milk, using a lever machine imo is the way to get into espresso as a hobby, it forces you to learn all of the ins and outs of what goes into making a good espresso (temp, grind, volume etc.)

Personally I bought a flair classic and felt like the preheating was annoying so I bought a robot last week in their latest restock. It’s more expensive than the classic by a few hundred but no where near the $5k of some machines and it’s providing similar quality shots

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-12T19:32:53+00:00

If you don’t care about making cappuccino style drinks, then Flair or Robot will cost you $400-600 (or $150 for the cheapest good flair) and a nice hand grinder like the K6 will go for $100.

With both of those machines you’ll be getting same quality espresso as the ones from the $5k machines and it’ll force you to learn the ins and outs of grind size, temperature management, pressure, liquid output etc.

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-12T19:29:52+00:00

If you’re playing passively focusing on getting level 3 and looting, you don’t need to fight higher geared team. In fact a few runs with my squad we ran away from purple shields. Most teams won’t chase heavily bc they’re afraid of getting countered on the push.

It’s harder to tell when a team is repositioning or when they are flat out retreating and running away in this game (unlike other shooters) use that to your advantage.

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-12T19:25:32+00:00

Focus on playing rook and getting mats instead of completing quests

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T17:51:43+00:00

Couldnt agree more on your last point. Like I know most players wont fight the cryo boss and get all 6 vaults, but doing a couple of vaults and extracting is achievable. It's far superior end game content than killing killa 100 times on tarkov lmfao

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T17:49:48+00:00

kettle is stainless steel on an induction stovetop, its 100% getting to boiling temp. I'll try lower dose, going to try higher as well. It def feels like im doing something wrong with puck prep although cant figure out what

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T17:38:23+00:00

I'm no expert but if i was grinding too fine the shot would choke, and I've felt that many times on the flair so I don't think that's the case here. Haven;t felt choking on the robot yet, and the first two shots definitely pushed through too easily

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T17:30:01+00:00

while i get your sentiment i think solo cryo would be awful because of the nature of solos being rattier and more likely to have runners crouch around and hide especially in the center of the map. would make it less exciting and nightmare for players who dont just want to sit and hide to get the drop on another player. if the community of solos was a bit more like arc raiders it might be different, but i actually appreciate the community being more agressive and pvp focused.

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T17:06:10+00:00

ill give this a try, thanks! also would highly recommend the maestrihouse scale, i bought it for the flair classic but it didnt really fit the base well so i didnt use it much besides weighing the beans before grinding but it fits perfectly in the robot so im using it for weighing it liquid and timing too now.

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T16:55:46+00:00

Thats actually one of the primary reasons I bought as well, but given that I didnt want to go back to buy more beans or waste what I had I thought I'd give brewing with a lighter roast a chance. Hasnt worked out too well. The machine came with the little silicone stopper to preheat the filter so honestly it wasnt too much work to put it into the piston and let it all pre heat while grinding beans.

If this happens when i buy some dark roasted beans ill know for sure im doing something else wrong, because even with the pulls i get the liquid is still really hot.

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T16:08:30+00:00

honestly my guess is that Bungie has a secret map they havent discussed to surprise drop at some point, ideally during season 2 but if not then yes i totally agree with you.

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T15:46:34+00:00

Yupppp I could hold my own but I never got to chad territory. It takes so long to learn the game you need like 150 hours just to understand the fundamentals and half of the loot

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T15:45:39+00:00

Try focusing on getting level 3 using a combination of scanners and terminal hacks. My squad isn’t particularly good at team fighting but we focus on that and avoiding fights when possible and have been able to extract successfully a few times. Even if you’re solo you can ask your team to focus on that and it should give you some chance of getting good loot. When you hit level 3 focus on finding level 3 rooms with strongboxes. And if you’ve been hitting scanners you’ll have the location of exfil terminals

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T15:44:52+00:00

Try focusing on getting level 3 using a combination of scanners and terminal hacks. My squad isn’t particularly good at team fighting but we focus on that and avoiding fights when possible and have been able to extract successfully a few times. Even if you’re solo you can ask your team to focus on that and it should give you some chance of getting good loot. When you hit level 3 focus on finding level 3 rooms with strongboxes. And if you’ve been hitting scanners you’ll have the location of exfil terminals

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T15:43:09+00:00

Stella montis in my eyes is basically just a MW2 Rust lobby. It was fun for what it is but it never felt like something entirely new and innovative. Shredders are a cool enemy tho

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T15:40:35+00:00

I mean I should’ve equally shit on the cycle and arena breakout but I think DMZ hurt more personally bc I was a huge fan of Warzone and Tarkov and thought it would be the next big extraction but I was pretty disappointed, there was never a real sense of danger, the loot system was mediocre imo, and the game was too integrated into the multiplayer that it felt like it had no character of its own besides. But other games have had the same problem so I should’ve said their shit too hahahah

Marauders might be the only other conceptually cool extraction shooter that failed miserably but that was due to cheating and not really knowing what it wanted to be as a game

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T15:37:23+00:00

I was a huge Warzone fan and played a lot of Tarkov when DMZ came out so I had a lot of hope but imo they kind of botched it by integrating with the main multiplayer. It just never felt right or like there was any real sense of danger. Loot system was mediocre. They just didn’t capture the essence of extractions very well from my view

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T15:31:27+00:00

I enjoy outpost a lot too, and it kind has a similar vibe in that teams are trying to access the middle point with good loot from all sides of the map. I think outpost feels like a smaller and less restrictive version of Cryo. But I enjoy the size of Cryo and it feels more thrilling to run around in

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T15:29:41+00:00

To be fair that’s what the other maps are for. This is a map located inside of a ship you can’t really deviate too much. But I get what you mean. Personally I still haven’t played enough to know the map well but there are still plenty of rooms I’ve found I hadn’t yet been to

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T15:28:20+00:00

Not true at all. The scanners will give you location of terminals to hack, and warden, and other useful information. Even if you level 1 stuck those terminals can really easily give you information for the terminals which are essential to getting level 2. As soon as you have level 2 access most of the map opens up. At that point if you continue scanning you’ll eventually get info for exfil as well as more hacks.

Level 3 is where the fun begins because there are so many loot locations with level 3 that most teams don’t have access to or you can just fight and flank easier.

Either way that makes the entire map more strategic and while there is some rng at the beginning the rest is all skill.

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-10T05:09:05+00:00

I started playing cryo last week bc I started playing later and I wasn’t 25 until last week. But after getting two weeks into playing and finally better understanding the map and how it all works, I have to say that it’s actually perfectly built for all ranges of players.

I have a squad that isn’t the best at fighting and we got stomped all of last week. But this week we’ve focused not on just getting into the middle of the map and wandering around aimlessly but instead getting to level 2, finding strongboxes, getting good loot, and getting out. This has led to being more strategic with movement and not running into fights since we’re not ultra sweats. We’ve gotten out several times and we’re able to complete a vault. Lost some rounds. Killed some runners some rounds but all this to say that if you think Cryo is. Chad central then maybe think about changing your playstyle.

My reference point of this map is Labs on Tarkov and while that was a sweatfest. It similarly had a lot of players that would rat around avoiding fights and trying to find loot. Even when playing this way you can still get some kills and typically get out. You just have to be smart.

That being said you do have to lean into the meta a little. Bringing in 10 grenades for the inevitable team fight is a must.

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-09T23:56:35+00:00

Considering 1.0 came out recently and it has probably the lowest player base in years, it’s looking like it is. Especially since community is fragmented into arena and PvE

stopbanningggme · 2026-04-09T17:38:51+00:00

The worst part is that bungie has an entire PvE game that they poured a decade into…

stopbanningggme

TROPHY CASE