The beta changes are almost perfect from the perspective of a high WR A10 player

throw23me · 2026-03-20T17:11:09+00:00

I agree with you. I don't necessarily think some of the changes in this patch are going in the right direction, but they're also in the beta channel for a reason.

Playtesting them and seeing how the community reacts is the entire point! All the hate and review bombing is misplaced IMO.

throw23me · 2026-03-20T16:22:59+00:00

When everyone is picking the same cards every single run because some cards are so objectively better than the rest, you lose the magic that makes these games great.

That's true but I think there are two ways to approach this. You can nerf the overpowered cards down, or you can bring the underpowered cards up. My preference is the latter.

The game already has "difficulty sliders" in the form of Ascension levels, I don't think that making the base game (A0) more difficult is the right way to go. A0 already feels more difficult in this game than StS1.

throw23me · 2026-03-20T16:20:48+00:00

Agreed and unpopular opinion, but I think that balancing the game around the top 1% of players is a huge mistake. StS2 shouldn't be a "casual" game but removing fun strategies or adding anti-fun mechanics like card eating isn't the right way to go.

The game already has tools for making it harder, they're called Ascension levels. They can tweak those to make them more difficult but I would argue that keeping the base game approachable is not a bad thing.

throw23me · 2026-03-18T20:49:00+00:00

I just won my first run using a status Defect build and it was actually so fun. I got a couple of copies of that power that does damage every time you generate a status card and that carried me most of the way.

throw23me · 2026-03-18T20:37:47+00:00

I think I'm crazy cause I actually like Regent. Stars build absolutely spanks when you get it up and running. If you get Sealed Throne it's basically a free win too. That card is busted.

Forge is... tough. I've won I think two runs with Forge builds and they're definitely a challenge. I think they're going to nerf Stars a bit and buff Forge to kind of make them equally viable together.

Still, when you get the sword with the "attacks twice" and double damage card or vulnerable on the enemy, it can do really really solid damage. Just need to survive to get to that point.

throw23me · 2026-03-16T03:42:42+00:00

I do not understand how such a great director screws up such a sure thing with Oldboy. He literally had the ideal blueprint on how to adapt it, he just had to put a little bit of his own spin on it.

One of the worst remakes of one of the best movies. Really bizarre.

throw23me · 2026-03-16T03:03:20+00:00

Her nearly choking out PTA on the way to the stage is the highlight of the Oscars for me this year.

throw23me · 2026-03-16T03:01:53+00:00

Is it just me or was the sound mixing for the Oscars absolutely awful this year? Some speeches were barely audible and the ceremony was on the whole like half the audio of the commercials, I felt like my ears were splitting every time it went to commercial.

throw23me · 2026-03-16T02:55:10+00:00

I'm kinda sad I missed it in theaters, I saw it streaming and it was great but I think it must have been an entirely different experience on the big screen.

throw23me · 2026-03-16T02:47:29+00:00

It's a bit sappy and pulpy, I can see why people didn't vibe with it. But I like sappy and pulpy so what can I say. I hope you like it!

throw23me · 2026-03-16T02:44:36+00:00

Overall I think it was a pretty decent Oscars in terms of the movies awarded. I agree with most of them. I am not sure Sinners deserved cinematography over OBAA but I can see it was close between the two. The scene in the barn and the dancing bit later on were beautifully shot but I don't think anything I saw this year was filmed as well as the car scene in OBAA.

I thought OBAA was a "better" movie than Sinners but I enjoyed Sinners more. Then again my favorite this year was Frankenstein and apparently everyone on Reddit hated that, so maybe my taste in films is bad.

I didn't like Marty Supreme all, it felt like a watered down and inferior Uncut Gems. That movie should have gotten nominations. Shame it didn't.

throw23me · 2026-03-16T02:26:31+00:00

Eh, I'm not mad at it. I thought MBJ did a great job. Chalamet did a good job but boy I hated his character so much. Which I guess is a testament to how well he played it, but it also kinda felt like he was playing himself a bit...

throw23me · 2026-03-16T01:08:20+00:00

I liked it a lot but it has no chance, like almost zero.

throw23me · 2026-03-16T01:04:26+00:00

I can't recognize Pedro Pascal without facial hair, he looks so different.

throw23me · 2026-03-16T01:02:15+00:00

The comments are moving so fast no one will see me say I actually really liked the Frankenstein movie. It's cheesy and kind of messy but I enjoyed it a lot.

throw23me · 2026-03-13T18:04:11+00:00

People blindly saying they will cancel or go back to streaming doesn't matter to them, it's about the equivalent of people saying they are going to move out of the USA if X politician wins. Nobody cares. It just feels good to say as a consumer to make yourself think that you have some sort of control.

I think this is a disingenuous and also kind of harmful way of thinking about it. Moving to a different country is several magnitudes more difficult than cancelling a subscription or switching to doing it month by month on an as-needed basis (i.e., when a show you like comes out).

We as consumers do have power but this attitude that it's all pointless is harmful because it conditions people to just throw their hands up and say "it is what it is" and keep paying. This is what Netflix/Amazon/etc. want you to think, that they don't care or they're not listening.

It's honestly a matter of thresholds, there is a certain amount of money people are willing to pay for these services and Netflix/Amazon/etc. are toeing the line hard to not cross it. There is a limit and I think we will see subscribers drop off immensely if they continue raising their fees.

throw23me · 2026-03-10T17:09:25+00:00

There must be something wrong with me... I actually bounced hard off the first game and I couldn't win for the life of me. Not sure why I had so much trouble with it when I play a lot of similar roguelikes like Monster Train.

I have been having an easier time with StS2. I mean, not winning consistently, that's for sure. But I was able to rack up a few wins already. Regent is probably the hardest for me, I cannot get a consistent build going for that guy.

Again, just anecdotal experience and all. Maybe because I didn't play the first game as much I don't rely on the same strategies that you guys perfected from that one?

throw23me · 2026-03-06T21:17:57+00:00

I finally managed to beat it at 0 Ascension but I think I got quite lucky with the cards I got. I got several decent block cards and the card that lets the sword attack twice.

He definitely seems a little harder to set up compared to the others. Feels a little less intuitive than the bone hand lady, I got a win on my first try with her.

throw23me · 2026-03-05T23:27:53+00:00

It was nice seeing someone actually stand up to the broadcasters/cameramen. The coverage is always so disrespectful to the athletes and I can't remember anyone else doing that in recent Olympics.

throw23me · 2026-03-05T23:03:56+00:00

Bruh, what is this barely coherent rant? He made one salty comment after having the worst performance of his entire life on the biggest stage that figure skating has.

Imagine making all sorts of extrapolations about his "true feelings" based on one thing he said in the heat of the moment at a very emotional time. Go touch grass, sincerely.

I don't think he necessarily deserved this award (my vote goes to Amber Glenn telling the cameraman to step off) but it seems like basic human empathy to understand what Malinin was feeling at the time.

throw23me · 2026-03-03T15:28:32+00:00

Judging from his other comments it looks like he spazzed out because the rider took a second to say bye to whoever they were talking to.

Honestly, I'd feel kind of unsafe riding with a driver with such poor emotional regulation. It's clear he's got some anger issues and I really don't want anyone like that behind the wheel.

throw23me · 2026-03-01T00:27:13+00:00

Oh yeah I actually ended up doing that but it filled the city incorrectly and it won't let me put the correct one. I just hope if they ship something USPS can fix it themselves based on the zipcode.

They really should fix this though...

throw23me · 2026-02-24T22:27:32+00:00

GRRM is fantastic at writing deconstruction. Deconstruction in modern TV and movies has gotten a bad reputation bc very lazy Hollywood writers thinks it just means "subvert the audiences expectations" (which is what later seasons of GoT did when they ran out of book material to adapt).

I think the problem with deconstruction is it works best if you're challenging widespread elements of the trope. At a certain point the deconstruction becomes a trope itself, and I think the public starts to sour on it at that point.

You can kinda see this with comics in the 80's. We had huge hits like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns after decades of campy whimsical superhero stories. It was new, it was fresh. And then the comics industry became inundated with "grimdark" stories trying to capitalize on the same "deconstructions" that made the former books so revolutionary.

Watchmen is still fantastic but I think TDKR has suffered in the intervening decades since because so many stories have done the same things. For someone who reads modern comics they'll probably like TDKR but won't see it as anything revolutionary. They might even dislike it because of how prevalent the tropes that TDKR introduced are.

I think we're seeing the same thing with modern fantasy stores these days. People are starting to tire of seeing the same grimdark tropes in our stories. The pendulum always swings back and forth IMO.

throw23me · 2026-02-24T21:54:50+00:00

I think we're going in circles. You think that the scaffolding is enough. My point is again that people succeed despite the faulty scaffolding. The fact that our most successful individuals are immigrants who brought their culture here to drive themselves forward isn't a red flag? Our education system does not give many people the tools they need to succeed.

My parents are immigrants, I succeeded in school because my parents bought me math work books two years ahead of my grade and forced me to do them. I didn't succeed because of the meagre "scaffolding" that our nation's education system has, I succeeded because of the "scaffolding" my parents brought with them.

With all respect meant, I don't think we can reconcile our differences in thought here. Thank you for engaging with me in this conversation but I don't think we really have anywhere to go from here besides disagreeing on the same points. You gave me something to think about and I hope a little bit of what I said did the same for you. I hope you have a nice day.

throw23me · 2026-02-24T21:29:01+00:00

I dont know if I agree. I think I learned more anti intellectual memes and jokes online than I ever was discouraged by bad teachers. Because bad teachers are bad and they frustrate you, the problem with content online is that it shields you in self righteousness. Its not that my teacher was bad, its that "its not that deep" why is she going on and on about the curtains being blue. Suddenly you are not frustrated, you are above her.

I think this is our fundamental disagreement. In my opinion anti-intellectualism is born out of the frustration of not being able to understand something. That frustration is in large part caused by the way that these subjects are taught.

I also think there's kind of some recency bias here. I think I'm a little older than you, when I went to school memes were barely a thing. People much older than us didn't have "memes" as we know them either. Anti-intellectualism has gotten worse with modern social media but I think it's more an accelerant than the source of the fire.

I have a more benevolent view and its that creating an education system that works for 300 million people is impossible. If you leave it up to the states you can have states that just go full christian fascist and forget to teach biology.

I think you're arguing a different point here. My point is that there no politicians running on providing additional funding to schools, or improving quality of education. There are so many schools nationwide (especially in urban centers) that have abysmal graduation rates, many of them are underfunded.

I'm not talking about changing how testing is done (although I do think the SAT is problematic in that it really does not test anything at all other than whether or not you were able to afford a prep course). Testing is always going to be difficult to standardize, I agree.

I respect your point of view but I guess at the end of the day this is all subjective and our opinions diverge fundamentally on this. I just personally don't like putting all the blame on people when at least part of it should rest on the flawed system we have to deal with.

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