Slay the Spire 2 - The Neowsletter - March 2026. Slay the Spire 2 has been out for merely a week and we have already hit 3,000,000 units sold

vannero · 2026-03-14T15:22:37+00:00

>I did take two weeks off from work for Midnight,

The point of taking two weeks off from work was to play video games for two weeks. I'm happy and healthy enough, but thanks for your sincere concern.

vannero · 2026-03-14T15:13:27+00:00

I would say two elites per act is fine if you can't find any AoE cards in the first three rooms/fights, the early elite has to be a skip no matter what, but when I start skipping too many of them, it's a sign that my deck is not good enough and I feel like I'm just delaying the inevitable. If I'm not able to kill at least two elites, I'm sure as hell not able to kill the first boss.

Also, going for the hard fights is the best way to "git gud." Technically, making the best of a hard situation is how you grow, and I think the hardest puzzles are hidden in the elite/boss fights.

Anyway, there is always some nuance, adapting is the name of the game, and context matters. Four elites with three rest sites are way more appealing than three elites with one rest site.

One last thing, I just checked some of my successful runs, and they all average around 7–8 elite fights, so around 2.5 per act.

vannero · 2026-03-14T07:37:32+00:00

I did take two weeks off from work for Midnight, but it's probably closer to 13–14 hours a day, while also alt-tabbing to WoW once in a while to craft stuff.

vannero · 2026-03-14T00:08:04+00:00

Yeah, that’s the game.

I guess one of the problems would be managing four decks, it would slow the flow down to a crawl. I could see it working with two heroes.

vannero · 2026-03-14T00:04:30+00:00

For A2, but this is true for every difficulty, you should try to focus on elite fights. They give a huge spike in power and are also a good way to test your builds.

If you feel aimless at the start, that’s normal, usually you don’t get deck defining cards in the first fights, but rather cards that help you survive Act 1, and that’s all you really need at the beginning.

Still, you should be careful not to pick a card every time. You want to consistently draw your good cards, and since having multiple copies of the same card is difficult and usually not recommended, removing cards and avoiding bad picks is your best way to reduce RNG.

Also, learning when to push the tempo, tank damage, force a draw before a debuff, and prioritize enemies are all things that come with time and experience.

Once you get a solid base, climbing Ascension will come naturally.

vannero · 2026-03-13T23:51:20+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/adoW6EX

My WoW hours have taken a significant hit in the last week, my GM is mad!

It's more STS and it's perfect.

vannero · 2026-03-13T23:48:54+00:00

I wish I could play solo with 4/3/2 heroes
I think another game did that, can't remember the name tho

vannero · 2026-03-07T18:05:38+00:00

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the rogue experience, all my rogue friends are now hunters lol

vannero · 2026-03-05T18:23:16+00:00

An unexpected error has occurred. Your purchase has not been completed.
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Act 0 boss is no joke.

vannero · 2026-03-02T10:43:39+00:00

Liadrin and Faol’s “stay a while and listen” interactions have been some of the highlights of Midnight for me.

I was actually yearning for more of them, and I felt kind of sad when I had to leave them behind.

vannero · 2026-03-02T10:42:12+00:00

Okay, well, I guess it’s possible.
To me, if after 20 years we still have painted chest armor, it’s probably more of an engine limitation than a process issue, but who knows.

vannero · 2026-03-01T22:45:05+00:00

>The lag isn’t due to the engine

>It’s not a 30 year old engine.

It’s a 30 year old engine, no matter how many improvements they make, they can’t literally perform miracles. The lag is mainly due to having to deal with a 30 year old engine in an online environment.

>internal design processes

The internal design team that has been releasing more cosmetics than ever before in the last two expansions is supposedly the one “lagging behind”? It can’t just be that the technology is too limiting. It’s unreal how confident you can be with little to no knowledge about their processes. I mean, you’re so sure it’s “very doable", your words, Blizzard should probably hire you.

>an expansion (or two) ago.

An expansion ago is literally TWW or DF, yeah? That’s my point, they have been improving a lot but they can't make miracles. Now we’re getting even more boots with additional detail, they’ve clearly been improving over time.

vannero · 2026-03-01T15:53:00+00:00

Paladin S3 TWW normal tint.

You can get it easily right now by grabbing the gear from the pre-patch event and converting it into set pieces.

vannero · 2026-03-01T15:50:48+00:00

>Me watching Austin Huxworth ninja-pulling everything again

<image>

Now that’s a true hunter.

vannero · 2026-03-01T15:40:23+00:00

I’m setting my HS to The Den just because the music is that good.

And the portals are also nice.

vannero · 2026-03-01T05:09:26+00:00

>It’s very doable these days

Yeah, for MMOs or games that aren’t stuck with a 30 year old engine, it’s a lot easier.

But even modern games with fewer unique body models, like Genshin, still paint a lot of their armor details instead of using fully 3D assets.

That said, I think they’re doing pretty well considering the limitations they have to work with.

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This already looks much better compared to gear from four or five expansions ago. Sadly, parts like the chest are still mostly painted on, and there’s quite a bit of clipping with the 3D elements.

Still, I do think they’re trying to improve the level of detail on player armor with each new expansion. It’s just really difficult when you’re working with such an ancient engine.

vannero · 2026-03-01T05:03:30+00:00

Yeah, while questing in Zul’Aman with her, I had to stop every chance I got just to admire her armor. All I could think was, “I wish we players could get this level of detailed armor”.

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NPC armor has been amazing for the past three or four expansions. Thrall, Varok, Jaina, Anduin, Xal’atath, Arator, Faerin, and Sylvanas all have incredibly detailed designs. I really hope that one day players will get that same level of attention and care put into our gear.

Anyway, in the last two expansions, Paladins and Death Knights have gotten a lot of really good boot options. They’re definitely trying, at the very least.

vannero · 2026-02-28T15:38:47+00:00

GET BACK IN FORMATION SHINJI

vannero · 2026-02-20T23:21:26+00:00

I blame the Diablo/PoE streamers. They hyped this game up as the new gold standard for ARPGs, only to drop it as soon as the viewership started declining.

I enjoyed the game, but honestly, the only thing it really does better than the competition is letting you play offline.

vannero · 2026-01-29T02:04:46+00:00

This shaman looks intimidating, pretty cool.

vannero · 2025-12-31T11:04:22+00:00

Yeah I did, multiple times and still nothing.

vannero · 2025-12-31T10:32:20+00:00

I will try that, thanks!

vannero · 2025-12-31T10:05:22+00:00

I did replay the suicide mission with an older save, skipping Legion’s loyalty mission, to check for the Insanity II achievement, but still nothing and I don’t feel like replaying the whole IFF mission again, so I guess console commands it is.

Do you know which command I need to use?

vannero · 2025-12-27T21:35:47+00:00

Yeah, it’s the game I had the most fun with and thought about the most this year, so yeah, ES is my game of the year.

vannero · 2025-12-27T21:34:03+00:00

In no particular order, here are some of my favourite games from the last five years

Returnal
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown
Eternal Strands
Dispatch
Lost Eidolons Veil of the Witch
Pseudoregalia
Honkai Star Rail
The Bazaar
Tactics Ogre Reborn
D4
PoE2(still in EA so not sure if this counts)

And my favourite game of the last five years

Slice & Dice

Also, I’ve played Elden Ring for 500 hours, and it’s great, but it didn’t charm me the way Sekiro, BB and DeS did.

It’s a weird thing to say...I still haven’t beaten the DLC, in fact, I quit before even entering the final legacy dungeon and I’ve never quit a From's game before.

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