📚┃off-topic

[jovial bane]

I feel like that vampire from Witcher 3

[fierce moth]

🤔 I don't find anything attractive in spoilers for S4 & S5 based on current info. But Mar. 27th means... I will decide should I skip S4/S5 when closer to the date

Expansion have the most contents I can expect

lol the most important step for them

EHG want to draw players back to the expansion the most, obviously. S4 & S5 maybe still keep poor incomes

S4 & S5 looks like different durations when EHG is fixing the game

[blissful token]

Honestly, LE already lost me. I saw March for next season i already dont feel good. Another delay?

And then the roadmap... update of animation, one or 2 new skills, more uniques and sets, one or 2 new mechanic tied to monolith... feels like alot but also the same thing all over again. Like a nothing burger

[fierce moth]

Yes maybe I skip S4 too

Expansion is the only thing worth us to take a try once it's released but no date available yet

I doubt S4 can gain many players back seriously...

[twilit mountain]

People keep asking for more endgame and EHG just keeps shoving more "click this interactable to spawn big guy" objects in monos for some reason. I'm not sure if maybe they just can't interpret properly or if maybe we as a community are being unclear?

[vocal frost]

l think it's not clear: I see complaints about more endgame, but what does that mean exactly? Do you want alternate systems to the monolith or more things to do within each echo?

[twilit mountain]

Alternate systems.
For PoE adjacency look at Heist or Delve, or even Blight.

[fierce moth]

Omen Windows scale in difficulty as you move through the campaign and continue into the Monolith with higher levels of corruption. Higher tiers reward players with increased item quantity and improved item quality upon completion.

Just another mechanic like Nemesis, rift beast and champions

[blissful token]

Add a new skill, try it

Add more uniques and sets, try them and see how things interact with each other

Add new boss, kill it

[vocal frost]

Yeah, that's what I was getting at, like delve

[blissful token]

New is new but nothing is new at the same thing

[fierce moth]

Paradox new :)

[blissful token]

Paying is new

[twilit mountain]

Related. Holy. Calling the final two chapters, that were supposed to be there on release, an "expansion" just seems... disingenuous at best.

[blissful token]

Ouch.. but true

also i felt the loop now. What you felt since 0.9 or something? There isnt really anything new after playing 2 and a half season (half cuz i didnt finish this season, after playing frog build half way and tried the beast mechanic. I left)

[twilit mountain]

Welcome to the club, homie. 🤝
There's a number of us who have been around for a good time now and scratching our heads on why the game has just been in this cycle (pun not intended) of promising new stuff and then rehashing the same mechanic over and over.

[summer island]

yo anyone here play pokemon games? if so can someone gimme some feedback for the app I made? trainerkit.app, it's a webapp for now but when I launch on phones i'll give it to you for free, just need some feedback

[fierce moth]

EHG don't prepare well on how to run cycles

Maybe keep le as a single-player game without servers is a good idea

[blissful token]

Aside from that, they really struggle to align with their goal. Delay again and again

[fierce moth]

Give me a seat in the club please

[fierce moth]

Anyone know if le's woven echo system is inspired from poe's synthesis? I feel they looks similar

[fierce moth]

wow I never know I can design the own toy...! The theme of e3 is quite interesting

Imagination restricted me so hard...

[placid yarrow]

I'd say Poe 2's maps are more similar to LE echoes than LE echoes are to synthesis tbh

[real charm]

bless this guy soul

[stone anvil]

when there is le drama, youtubers:

when there is better roadmap, youtubers:

[fierce moth]

They're busy to deal with dev talk hosted by TalkactiveTri

Poe 2's shining time

@junior stirrup Lots of divine orbs are needed if I want to enjoy druid so is it better to avoid meta builds? Your experience on trading is more than me a lot

I don't think I can figure out how to play druid by myself...

I can't do that in le even lol

trading requires speed... It relevant to experience more so pro players always get better experiences because the difference always here

[fierce moth]

someone told it's like delve 🤔 well... Make sense

[real charm]

i'm a bit upset with this roadmap as 50% is stolen poe content and there is no mention of bug fixed

at least if they stolen more popular poe content /s

But I don't wanna seee breach again too soon

[junior stirrup]

Not sure how PoE2 plays out, but I reckon you can get a good go on whatever you play; there'll always be some things that are a bit inflated but async trade should make trading overall more accessible.

[desert jasper]

Ouch
Late march for next season?
That's a rip for the game

[fierce moth]

what do you think about spoilers for S4, S5 and expansion, Nub?

[desert jasper]

I haven't even looked at them yet.
I woke up, had a shower and now I'm here
and soon I'm cooking lunch

I just saw that it's late march
And I think that the game honestly can't take another wait period of that long

[fierce moth]

Yes we know the timeframe is a bit longer here. We’re working simultaneously on everything needed for console (it’s really a lot) and going through process and platform changes with the studio integration. We want to make sure that the content is worth inviting everyone back for rather than rushing out content we can’t reasonably tell ourselves WILL be worth your time. Season 4 will be good when it’s in your hands

It's what Judd replied to this doubt

[desert jasper]

Yeah sure
But that doesn't mean that the player base will come back.

They promise a lot and then don't deliver on that

It has to be actually insanely good
and I just don't believe they will deliver that.
I'll still probably at least check out season 4 but

[blissful token]

I wish I can say the same, nub

[desert jasper]

Let's have a look at the actual news

Okay
It's good that they're showing some of the new skill stuff and explaining the content
But just saying "pls trust us" isn't going to fix the problem

[fierce moth]

I'm excited for playing synthesis in Poe 2 much more

[fierce moth]

My Jesus.... Oh my lord

No one tell me every Australian town have a Chinese restaurant. Chinese menu here even

干炒牛河 & 豉油皇牛河 ... Well I don't know what the difference between them

[desert jasper]

I think we have 2 chinese restaurants in my city
Pretty much every city has one

[fierce moth]

Owen never disappoint me. Build a giant pillar in 9h hhhhhhh

Too ridiculous

I'm sure I will not notice an restaurant which have a menu like that here. Too common... No food is worthwhile enough to pay

😭 All of them are common for Cantonese

[junior oyster]

I will only play le late march if sts2 gets delayed again

If not an offline game beat le 😭

[blissful token]

Whats that "3 colour pork chop rice"? 3 sauce? Black pepper, mushroom and something something?

[fierce moth]

You can diy. I never see an restaurant here will provide something "3 colours". Maybe it's inspired by...三丝

三丝 = 3 vegetable stripes

[stone anvil]

players who hates the new roadmap should wear this

[gilded elm]

Or we could just not play.

Doesn't need to be that complicated.

[mental talon]

I've employed that for over a year, and they haven't given me a reason to ever reinstall so it is what it is lmao.

[gilded elm]

It be like that. More of the same, with each update feeling like it's less than half the size of an average PoE league. It's a buyer's market right now and there's no shortage of games to play, so LE better have something compelling if they want me to reinstall and login.

The only thing I'm hyped for atm for ARPGs is Fangs of Asterkarn.

I haven't been hungry for ARPGs in a while, honestly feel like I got a lot of decent choices these days.

Slormancer is working on a new class. Looking forward to that as well.

Such an incredibly underrated ARPG.

[fierce moth]

🤷‍♀️ Sorry I just angry whatever you said

[stone anvil]

even ehg gives free car, people will hate for no reason

[fierce moth]

Van always select to hide himself when it's the key moment

[gilded elm]

Yeah, I hate for no reason. It's totally not because I am a fan of what this game used to be and care about where it's going.

[fierce moth]

I'd like to debate with him really

[gilded elm]

Keep isolating fans and see how that goes for you.

[twilit mountain]

Obvious bait is obvious

[stone anvil]

I wasn't talking about you but since you answered, how would you make better roadmap than this with the team and time left? Maybe it wasn't care about the game but being greedy? maybe you want so many things but you don't consider other aspects? and If I was comparing Poe with LE, Ofcourse I would not be fan of this game too

[gilded elm]

Frankly, that's not my job. As I like to say, players almost always make the worst game designers. We can tell developers why something sucks, we can't tell them how to make it better because we have an inherent bias towards optimizing the fun out of a game. It's on EHG to solicit feedback and ideate a solution.

[stone anvil]

I wish they were fans though

[gilded elm]

The roadmap, for how thin it's stretched out, feels very lackluster/underwhelming.

I can tell you how it feels.

I can't tell you how to make it better, nor should it be my job to.

[twilit mountain]

I glazed the shit out of LE for like, 3 years of beta. I think my negativity is just due at this point.

[gilded elm]

I feel like LE had a very long honeymoon phase across most of the playerbase.

It had a lot of good will that it squandered.

[fierce moth]

On the other hand, what the sense of telling them how to make it better is?

[stone anvil]

There are many issues but for now, especially them releasing this roadmap over latest roadmap shows them being responsible and understood of feedback, will the game be better? maybe yes or maybe no but I see what are they doing

[gilded elm]

"Why Players Make the Worst Game Designers" <- I feel like this is a good title for an upcoming Chris Wilson video.

[stone anvil]

isn't that why we have suggestion channel

[fierce moth]

🤔 It's the trust issue at the end

[stone anvil]

suggestions don't need to be in the game but it can give them ideas

[stone anvil]

An Architect's dream is an engineer's nightmare.

[fierce moth]

I can't change EHG's mind, what can I do is ask why

[gilded elm]

Simply saying "I don't like this" and then explaining why you don't like something is already more than enough feedback.

[fierce moth]

I'm a "why" and "how" fan xd

[stone anvil]

always 🤔

[twilit mountain]

It probably doesn't help that they have gone on record stating that they only log feedback they get through forums and dedicated Discord channels lmao

[gilded elm]

That's good and aptly conveys the sentiment.

[mental talon]

This shit is always so weird to me, some of us have been here for 3-5 years supporting EHG and giving them far more grace and goodwill than we give other developers. Yeah no shit we're kinda fed up after seeing the game being in a pretty subpar state for extended periods and obvious pitfalls pointed out from numerous different members of the community (and former members who have left and given up) I will not wish the game to fail, but I'm not going to give them any more rope. I've done my part for close to half a decade, I've done more than enough isn't my job to figure out and solve all their issues. If they can't figure it out, not my horse and not my stage show anymore I'll just keep watching it all unfold.

[gilded elm]

That's absolutely batshit insane to me. If you're a business intent on being successful, you need to go out of your way to (and you may have heard of this very common saying in marketing) "meet the customer where they are"

[desert jasper]

Too large language barrier for that tbh

[fierce moth]

I'm confused why he don't understand my questions

[desert jasper]

Yeah, it's honestly pretty insane

[gilded elm]

The fact that EHG isn't scouring the internet for every possible place feedback is being logged and has actually stated they are deliberately ignoring any non-designated feedback channels is just asking for failure.

[fierce moth]

Context is here
question is here
opinion is here.

what's lacked else?

[gilded elm]

Putting deliberate barriers between you and the customer is one of the dumbest things you could do as a business.

[desert jasper]

I guess they just want it to be structured in a specific way
so it's easier to log
but that doesn't mean they should just ignore feedback from everywhere else

[stone anvil]

honestly, Ive seen CMs checking twitch channels individually (more than few times) and they were chatting a lot but Idk where are they looking for feedbacks except discord and forums

I am not expecting to judd answer everything, oh and reddit, I forgot about it

[gilded elm]

A good CM would absolutely be aggregating feedback from every possible source.

[jovial bane]

idk personally, I think state of LE is why Diablo 4 is monetised like it is

😐

[twilit mountain]

I have legit had hired CMs in this very server tell me to go put feedback (which was already repeated feedback that I have seen put in the channels) in the right channel so "they can log it and get it to the team"

Like... Just write it down and send it over regardless of where you found it?

[gilded elm]

Diablo 4 is monetized the way it is because Blizzard understands who the audience for D4 actually is.

Let's not pretend D4 isn't a financial success.

[jovial bane]

it is

[desert jasper]

Honestly it tells a lot about their internal systems to me and how rigid it is

[gilded elm]

So... a CM asked you to do their job for them? That's wild.

May as well just cut the middle man out and give you their paycheck instead.

[twilit mountain]

I'm like 90% sure that if we assume by traffic averages D4 still is the largest on the market, it's just not the diehard grind 500 hours a season ARPG player base game.

[gilded elm]

I'm fairly confident if you factor in console player counts, D4 is the largest by a wide margin and it's probably not even a contest.

[desert jasper]

Someone on here told me to play the new d4 season
I touched the game when it was released and played a bit of season 1
And I absolutely hated every bit I played
Was just hopign it would get better

[twilit mountain]

I'm gonna sound stupid but I forgot console is shared there. My brain hasn't moved on from like 2018-2020 where most games were separated by platform

[gilded elm]

Honestly I think that's okay. I think D4 should stick to catering the game to their core audience and forget about the die hards.

[jovial bane]

I think what I hate the most is

If Last Epoch put more resources into good looking cosmetics plus battlepasses at the cost of fun gameplay

It probably would be in better spot

[jade jackal]

Transmog system in LE just moved from an "on the roadmap" position into "we don't know" situation

Which has me saddened

I thought that by now a transmog systems should be front and center

[fierce moth]

What I hate the most is it's like I'm talking to the air when I'd like to communicate with devs

[vagrant topaz]

@desert jasper @jade jackal

[jade jackal]

very good boy

[desert jasper]

That's a good boy

[gilded elm]

I have no experience with game development especially from an artistic perspective, but would it really be that difficult to hire talented texture and VFX artists based on portfolio concept art?

[jovial bane]

good boy indeed

[gilded elm]

The job market right now is brutal for tech jobs, I assume there's plenty of enormously talented artists looking for work right now.

[fierce moth]

money issue

[jovial bane]

Honestly ? Looking at art direction in games, yes

I don't want to start a rant over it, so I will just say that 90% of times it sucks

[junior oyster]

I opened the wrong atlas tree so now my strongboxes are trash lol

Thankfully I didn't use containment

[abstract wharf]

yeah, talent is always expensive and hard to find

[gilded elm]

What sucks about it? Like people oversell their qualifications, exaggerate their portfolio, etc?

[junior oyster]

Unfortunately I opened on t17

[jovial bane]

It's uninspired

Safe

Boring

Compare for example Elden Ring to any other AAA open world

[gilded elm]

With LE's art direction, I feel like the bar is set pretty low, that's the thing.

[desert jasper]

The thing is
I don't even think i'm a diehard (please ignore my lvl 100 that I grinded this league in PoE)
I'm honestly pretty bad at most games

Well, bad these days

[abstract wharf]

I don't know man, the level backgrounds are pretty great

[jovial bane]

In LE the terrain looks good IMO

[jade jackal]

At this point, im not expecting D4 as the bar in transmogs and gear visuals, i'd just be happy for it to be D3 level lol

[jovial bane]

Models are the issue

[junior oyster]

Could have been duped :/

[abstract wharf]

I am the weird one that thinks D4 models are the ugliest in almost any game in recent memory

[gilded elm]

Yeah I don't think the environmental art is bad, but the character art is definitely bad.

[gilded elm]

Ugly? I don't think it's ugly. But I do think D4 doesn't have the same grim dark feel of a Diablo game.

[junior oyster]

I hate d4 for the open world

[jovial bane]

Echh after D3 echh

[gilded elm]

I mean yeah fair, D3 also came off quite cartoonish.

[jade jackal]

I have the opposite opinion regarding the playing characters actually

Anything from face rigging to skin textures to body shape (Druid excluded) I think its an industry leader

along with combat animation rigging

[gilded elm]

That said, that's my gripe with the art of Diablo 4, is that it just doesn't feel tonally right. The art looks good, just not the tone.

[abstract wharf]

there is just something super offputting to me about their art. It might hit the uncanny valley for me, but it really ruins the vibe for me.

[gilded elm]

PoE2 is basically my "standard" for a "dark ARPG" art direction, now.

They nailed it.

[junior oyster]

Can't say I agree but to each their own

[jade jackal]

combat animation is where you see the contrast of an army of highly competitive developers produces something different than a small group of less experienced ones, where upper body movement of swinging or casting something can go into animation and out of it while the legs part can stop moving, or move at any other speed, or engages from standing to moving gradually and you aren't breaking the characters' entire animation, it all transissions fluidly

[gilded elm]

It's tough between PoE2 and Grim Dawn, because Grim Dawn is dated. I give PoE2 points for being modern.

[desert jasper]

I love Grim Dawn so much

[jovial bane]

I think V Rising despite being cartoonish kind of nails it as well

[junior oyster]

True but ER also exists even if we don't class it as an arpg

Sadly I'm not a big fan of soulslikes

[gilded elm]

Oh yeah I'm only scoping within ARPGs

ER has a great atmosphere, no doubt

[desert jasper]

Ooh, Elden Ring
I realy enjoyed Elden Ring
Got all achievements
didn't bother buying the dlc for it

[gilded elm]

Grim Dawn's visuals and narrative are both actually very good.

Highly recommend taking the time to read the lore notes.

[jovial bane]

IDK about narrative (haven't played it), my bar regarding it is set quite high

[desert jasper]

It has a lot of environmental story telling & notes from ppl

[gilded elm]

One of my favorite GD lore stories is the "Trip South"

[desert jasper]

Ah, the 3 part story

[gilded elm]

Yeah, that messed me up

[desert jasper]

Barrowholm was nice too

"Sumthing aint right"

[gilded elm]

Oh yeah, that creepy town lol

[jovial bane]

but yeah, despite loving BG3 I'd give its narrative a ... 5/10 I guess

[desert jasper]

the note about gamy food
blood leading to cellar with screams coming from within
The villagers talking about "the hunger" (if you're a shaman)

[jovial bane]

So, uhm. I ignore the narrative in aRPGs

[gilded elm]

Do you remember where that damn cellar key is? I forgot and think I skipped it in my last playthrough

[desert jasper]

The cellar key drops from the big guy of the town if you go against them

you only get it if you go hostile against them

[gilded elm]

I hate linking Fandom, but seems to be the only linkable source. The whole game's atmosphere sets you up for these stories: https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Trip_South_-_Part_1 and there's a ton of lore notes like this scattered throughout the game which you are supposed to discover.

[desert jasper]

Clarity of Valor was a good set of notes too
I think it was Valor, at least

[gilded elm]

Ah, right. Yeah I might've sided with them

Siding with them gets you that one boss fight IIRC

[jade jackal]

im not evil enough to rate LE's narrative at the 2/10 it deserves because I have no other ARPGs of this kind that can be a good 6+/10 reference

[desert jasper]

Yeah, siding with them gives access to one of the über bosses
and some of the really good augments of the game

[jovial bane]

6+ ? even a 4

[jade jackal]

an ARPG's story has never really rocked me

The writing simply exists to connect the different locations

[jovial bane]

huh, actually you are right.
So that's what always irked me, and what made me think D4 base campaign was different

[gilded elm]

You kinda had to live through D2 to fully appreciate the narrative aspect of an ARPG, IMO.

That was peak.

[jade jackal]

D2's story is told in the 90's way of telling stories

I respect its cultural impact

[jovial bane]

But then Planescape Torment is from that era

and comparing those two is unfair

[gilded elm]

Yeah and that impact just kinda influenced an entire generation's perspective of ARPG story-telling

[jade jackal]

Do i think D2's story is amazing? all in all? no, most of the cool lore points are retconned in Diablo

Its something several books exist out for

[gilded elm]

Nah the story isn't that special, the delivery (at the time) was what really sold it.

[jade jackal]

Do i think the world of Sanctuary is an awesome template for potentially great stories? absolutely, it has everything a fantasy world needs

[gilded elm]

High quality cinematics with well-written scripts and a great voice cast.

[jovial bane]

I personally disagree.
I think the world is the weakest part

[gilded elm]

The world building is pretty good IMO

[jade jackal]

The geography, different tribes, landscapes and influence of events during the history of Sanctuary is enough to provide for good stories to be written

[gilded elm]

A lot of Sanctuary lore is also very obscure, too

That could be a big issue

[jade jackal]

Well, just about 92% of the lore of Diablo exists outside the games themselves

in the books

[gilded elm]

Right

IMO the actual lore and world building of Sanctuary is quite good, it's a solid take on the Angels and Demons trope

[jade jackal]

Most of the stories in the games are scriped to simply lead you into particular locations with very binary tasks

There rarely are characters with deep and meaningful lore and history, and I think that Tyrael and Lorath is the farthest the series has gone in the games with storytelling

[gilded elm]

Do any of the games even explore in significant depth the origins of the Prime Evils?

[desert jasper]

Don't think the games go there, no

[jade jackal]

The games are afraid to touch the primordial history of Sanctuary beyond Deckard Cain's notes

[desert jasper]

Just like they don't go to the origin of the angels

[jade jackal]

The books have as detailed as possible information about the creation of Sanctuary, i believe in the Internal Wars book

Its a relatively short chapter from the creator himself until both heaven and hell exist

the process is very quick

[gilded elm]

Like, we know the Prime Evils can't be killed, they can only be imprisoned temporarily until their vessel is inevitably corrupted and they are reborn anew every few decades usually. But I don't think the games even explore the depths of reasoning for any of that.

[jade jackal]

The closest thing we have is to just tell us good and evil have to always be balanced

[jovial bane]

does it need a reason ?

[jade jackal]

its some sort of a concept similar to the second law of thermodynamics lol

[gilded elm]

World building

[jade jackal]

We have prime and lesser evils being reborn - but on the other hand we have archangels dying and never coming back

Its not just prime and lesser evils, the entire demon chain of command ressurects

[desert jasper]

Well we haven't had that many dying
Maybe they do come back too over time
unless they're corrupted

[gilded elm]

Perhaps there's a metaphor in there about how good must always be vigilant against the rise of evil, because evil is forever, but good is fleeting.

[jade jackal]

That would be a weak one

because the game at least tries to dwell in the thought of - what if the good isnt really that good

[gilded elm]

But then again, angels in Sanctuary aren't exactly "good" lmao

[jade jackal]

For humans, heaven has just as bad intentions as hell

its just that hell is a little more proactive

[gilded elm]

There's Tyrael and Auriel, those are "good" angels. Any others besides them? lol

[jade jackal]

Technically Imperious, but he is proud and stupid

[desert jasper]

Naturally
Most of the angels see humans as demonspawn

[gilded elm]

Not technically wrong, but incredibly reductive

On the part of the angels, I mean

[jade jackal]

This is the point Tyrael was protecting during the D3 era

[gilded elm]

Humans are indeed "demonspawn" but they are also "angelspawn"

[jade jackal]

The bottom line is that nobody is purely good, all 3 sides have absolute crap control over their population lol

D3 and D4 shows how easily corruptable humans are

[gilded elm]

I guess humanity would be the "victim" caught between two celestial forces and their eternal conflict.

Being victimized by both sides.

[jade jackal]

by now the world is so ravaged with evil and death, what good remains to even fight for

there's a good name for this metaphor, i forgot that

Where the world forces fight for is so beyond redemption, it weakens the story

[gilded elm]

Yeah... and with all of demon leadership being periodically resurrected doesn't help.

Stuff bout to go down once Diablo and Baal come back

[jade jackal]

if i had any say about it, i would urge the Diablo team to build fully functional and thriving locations in the world

at least breath some significance in the current state of it

[gilded elm]

I think Templars will be making a strong comeback

[desert jasper]

Still can't believe they actually haven't put in Diablo to diablo4

Ridiculous

[jade jackal]

Diablo will arrive

[gilded elm]

According to Rathma's prophecy, Diablo is after Mephisto.

[desert jasper]

Yeah it'll be yet another dlc that they'll sell for like 50€

[gilded elm]

So basically, the same order in which we fought the Prime Evils in D2.

I'm more surprised that we didn't kill Mephisto in VoH.

[jade jackal]

The western continent is a good chance to enhance world building, most of the strong locations are there

[jovial bane]

yeah, name the expansion after Mephisto who already was in the story and don't kill him ???

[gilded elm]

Yeah they are really dragging out the expansions

Milking it hard

[jade jackal]

The story in that expansion was so weak and disappointing

[desert jasper]

probably working on diablo5 too :^)

[jade jackal]

not that i had high hopes but man

[gilded elm]

No Diablo in Diablo game. No Mephisto in Mephisto expansion

[desert jasper]

Baal expansion will have no baal

[gilded elm]

pls

[desert jasper]

Isntead it'll just point to diablo5 and say how we'll fight them there

[gilded elm]

It'll open a link to the store to log into Diablo Immortal

[jovial bane]

they've fixed the expansion having fun moments

[jade jackal]

Give me some raw action, some drama

Some actually memorable character and you know, if you have someone memorable like Lorath, please give him more than 5 minutes on screen

Some of us have spent hundreds to thousands of hours with this character before, and give his voice actor more work

Memorable and interesting characters in ARPGs worth their weight in gold

[gilded elm]

aka Deckard Cain

Lorath and his VA was a great choice to succeed Deckard Cain, it's a shame they didn't give him much screen time.

[jade jackal]

Lorath could have been a much more interesting character than Cain if they were to involve him more

Ralph Ineson, tremendous voice

[gilded elm]

Instead they just made out of game lore videos

I don't remember what this was called in D3, but the way they had voiced lore across the world was really cool IMO

[jade jackal]

The inter-act cutscenes?

[gilded elm]

Nah, things like bestiary lore I think

[jovial bane]

I think he means the journal scraps like in PoE

[jade jackal]

yeah there was a Beastiary

[jovial bane]

and yeah, monster lore on kill

[jade jackal]

Abd Al Hazir was the keeper

and he voiced some of it

[gilded elm]

There was some Cain in there too if I remember

[jade jackal]

Some of it was voiced by Tyrael, some by Lorath, some by Deckard

[gilded elm]

But yeah I have a fond recollection of those entries

[jade jackal]

and it would trigger on first encounter

[jovial bane]

and an angel in ROS

Auriel maybe ?

[desert jasper]

Yeah, think it was Auriel

Malthael also had good voice tbh

[jade jackal]

Auriel had a small appearance at the end of Act 4 and some of Act 5

You had to free her

[desert jasper]

Yeah
It's been years since I played the campaign in d3
but she was stuck in something in act 4, I think

[jade jackal]

She was caged by an officer of Malthael

I believe it was Rakanoth

the betrayer

yeah, it was Rakanoth in the library of faith

which is where you'd find her

Notice how i remember these things? and what a contrast it is to remember nearly nothing out of LE's events?

[desert jasper]

No, rakanoth was in act4, not Malthael related

[jade jackal]

Yeah Rakanoth is Auriel's soldier

[desert jasper]

Served Andariel, apparently

[abstract karma]

hmm either change for while gerne to take break from ARPG or just take one which you havent played or played some time ago

[jade jackal]

oh yeah Andariel

Which wasn't actually present there

And the turned angel was Izual, its Izual the betrayer

[gilded elm]

I still don't even know what LE's actual story is.

[abstract karma]

to me is franchise Diablo rotating around same plot.. Diablo started interesting, Diablo 2 was basically "end" and D3 / D4 is just repeat..

PoE 2 did basically same things but it took interesting route..
tho.. If beast has such "infinite" power how the hell we were able slay it in PoE 1

[gilded elm]

Even PoE's story is interesting enough for me to seek out supplemental lore info like lore videos

And to be clear, PoE does have great lore IMO

[jade jackal]

There's this thing called The Epoch and uh... the world is called Eterra

and uh.....

[abstract karma]

As new player you will never be able understand Lore just from "reading"... Parts of Stories and "gameplay scenes" are cut from endgame...

You can only reach Act 1 - 10 fully

Introduction to Elder or Shaper is already in void

Same as other entities which are now just as side content to run in endgame

[gilded elm]

PoE lore is scattered, but you can definitely form a coherent picture from everything available in-game.

The question is whether you would be motivated to do so.

And that really depends on how compelling the lore thusfar has been for you.

LE never really reaches that threshold for me.

[abstract karma]

Two entities - brother and sister.. One created life, second wanted just to be two of them..

Basically interperation of "God" and "Darkness"

as one of idiots which saw some supernatural serials sometimes i read these myths while not being religion based..
IF i look back and abstract some stories.. you can see pretty much simple Lore behind LE, to spice whole story there is tool "Epoch"

[junior oyster]

I accidentallym lost my perf tiger cuz I clicked on my gloves by accident

Please ggg add a lock option

[desert jasper]

@fierce moth you know that normal items do not have "lp"
That's only uniques

LP is legendary potential.

or whatever it stands for

[fierce moth]

Ohhhh good point

[desert jasper]

An item can't just have 50LP

[fierce moth]

? I typed lp yes

Oh part 2...Thanks

[gilded elm]

I wonder... if I own the license to an audiobook and use AI to transcribe that audiobook to text, is that stealing? 🤔

Locally, of course. Can't have myself being accused of distributing an audiobook to an unlicensed third party lol

I want to transcribe my whole collection with something like Whisper, then use a chat model to fix transcription errors after feeding it relevant context for that book, then convert that into an ebook so I can basically have "WhisperSync" without paying Amazon even more money, heh.

[junior oyster]

Wtf all that wow40k

[sudden anchor]

They set him up. 3 magikarps is all he had.

[fierce moth]

......Holy god. I slept 3h

Noon is a uber sleepy time

🤔 wow another platinum pro artist. 6 years ago.

From 6 years ago to 9 years ago

And he...He is a fan of lussebullar too, I bet

wow this church which located in the capital of Sweden have an unique colour combo, white and brown. Like it.

...alright Yarn don't care them at all. She just want food

[fierce moth]

Cool, I think I find new inspiration from E6S7 lego masters Australia

Cinematic scene when explosion is triggered by a car which driving through the desert is a good idea

Oh I need to do some sketch this time

[fierce moth]

No, nononono... Sad, Owen is out. The biggest pity in this season...||Due to his trap fail to work|| :(

[desert jasper]

Ah, ZiggyD uploaded druid gameplay preview

[desert jasper]

I hope it'll feel fluid to play
Also it's gonna be so weird to use the weapon set passives if going hybrid with it

[junior oyster]

No offence to ziggyd and not that he gives a damn about what I say but I refuse to watch anything involving him 😭

[desert jasper]

Yeah I'm not really a fan

[junior oyster]

If I did watch a video he made I'd 100% watch it on mute

[fierce moth]

🤔 I'm curious about Ziggy's story about GGG

How he become the only streamer who free at entering GGG and talk with Nick and Jonathan?

[jade jackal]

He is a Kiwi, and relatively local

and is in good relationship with em

[desert jasper]

I'm also quite sure he was the voice for Janus Perandus

[fierce moth]

Oh nevermind. 100% poe pro fan.

Being a Kiwi is won a lot already

I just owned my steam account for 6 days while he posted that video xdddddd

oh sorry. No. The video is released on May 11th and I sign up steam on July. 11th

🤔 That day just one of common days to prepare the most "important" exam in my life

[twilit mountain]

He also fostered a personal friendship with Chris very early on so he has been in good graces with GGG as a whole for many years

[fierce moth]

Why Quin69 don't have this level of privilege

[mental talon]

Because he is a brand risk. ZiggyD is one of the people that was integral to PoE's early success as one of the earliest streamers for the game many years ago.

[twilit mountain]

Quin's kind of a stain on the community imo

[fierce moth]

Brand risk?

[mental talon]

Along with obviously Kripp who's pretty much the key component of POE's success.

[twilit mountain]

He says and does things that would reflect very poorly on the company if they associated with him directly

Things I cannot say in this server without repercussion

[desert jasper]

extremely poorly

Like his "sequels are terrible" is not even bad on the scale of things he has said

[gilded elm]

Quin's entire streaming persona is about being obnoxious and controversial. I like Quin, but his stream character is not friendly to brand promotion.

[sand wigeon]

wait why do you like him then

lol

isn't that the guy who like. tells women not to wear, uh,"revealing clothing" so they won't be, uh, "attacked"

while being the father of two daughters

[gilded elm]

As far as GGG and Quin, I kind of assume GGG actually likes Quin as a content creator, he's just not the kind of creator they want to associate their brand with in promotions.

[sand wigeon]

oh so you're ignoring me lol

[jade jackal]

He wasnt like that always

he learned to be what he is today from how chat reacted to his actions

I remember his first streams

[sand wigeon]

i think the "now" is more important then "was"

esp in a statement about actively liking this guy

that's just a huge red flag ngl

[gilded elm]

I take nothing Quin says in his streams as a reflection of his actual personality.

[jade jackal]

I watched some of his early D3 RoS stuff, but nothing after about 2018

[sand wigeon]

???

the promotion of an idea doesn't need to be your personality or not

you're still promoting that idea

i think promoting the idea that women deserve to be "attacked" if they wear revealing clothing is probably an indicator of a Bad Person, whether or not it reflects their "personality"

[gilded elm]

I'm able to consume offensive content without associating the underlying beliefs for that offensive content to the person's personal beliefs. Honestly I can't really think of anything Quin has said as part of his streams that is actually worse than even the worst things say... someone like Dave Chapelle has said on his show and in his comedy acts over the past couple decades.

[sand wigeon]

yeah and dave chapelle is also bad

and also, promoting ideas you don't agree with for a profit incentive is the definition of grifting

so you're saying quin is a grifter

and being a grifter is not smth i think is good

[gilded elm]

Quin monetizes hate watching. His streaming persona caters to that.

[sand wigeon]

that's grifting

[gilded elm]

When I consume his content, I know what he's selling and what I'm "buying" and I'm under no pretense about what that dynamic is.

[sand wigeon]

okay???

i just don't get why you'd like a grifter promoting sexual assault

[desert jasper]

Dream also did say that Gaben is racist

[sand wigeon]

he is...

[gilded elm]

Probably because you assume that I think he's promoting sexual assault.

[sand wigeon]

he's said many racist remarks in interviews...

[sand wigeon]

i mean. he is tho?

[sand wigeon]

that's what he's doing

gaben is also anti-gay

do we want to get into that

not to mention i think gaben would be a bad person regardless of that

given he's. a billionaire lol

[desert jasper]

Ah yes, everybody that's not in your group is a bad person

[sand wigeon]

no?

[gilded elm]

It's impossible to reconcile any difference of opinions when someone has already decided that Gabe Newell and Dave Chapelle are evil, heh.

[sand wigeon]

they. they are

i feel like i'm going insane

[gilded elm]

Man, I miss Chappelle's Show.

[sand wigeon]

Dave Chapelle is a known douchebag, he's just unkind to the people he works with, regardless of his comedy

Gaben is a billionaire who has made casually racist and anti-gay remarks, he's just smart enough to not destroy his own business by promoting those ideas publicly

[desert jasper]

Honestly, I haven't heard those remarks

[sand wigeon]

that's kinda the point!

i can find them soon

give me a bit tho

[desert jasper]

Are you sure you're just not looking too deeply into stuff?

[sand wigeon]

and what does "looking too deeply into stuff" mean to you

[desert jasper]

Well I've had coworkers assume I mean something when I say something
kinda "read between the lines" when I'm not even saying something anything related to what they're thinking
and got reported because of that

[sand wigeon]

because i'll be real, the majority of arpg players are quite privileged people who often do not need to confront the reality of other people's struggles

[sand wigeon]

gaben still uses "gay" as an insult

it's pretty direct

[gilded elm]

Honestly one of the reasons I tend to avoid casual conversation with coworkers outside of my team lol

[junior oyster]

I was about to post my uber exarch kill but nvm lol

[gilded elm]

Grats :D

[desert jasper]

Yeah
It turned out that that specific person has the habit of doing that
and I also know for a fact she didn't even try to talk to me that much

meanwhile I asked my superiors wtf I should do about it when I'm autistic
I got blamed. that I should "just know" that people will assume you mean something when you don't

Yeah, sure I'll get right on that

I'll change my entire behaviour, sure

[sand wigeon]

i can no longer find the remarks so it can be taken as second-hand information and discounted, but there is grey matter in the manner of how valve interacts as a whole, influenced by newell's "libertarian beliefs," which also involve not taking a stance on politics

now anyone with basic political education understand that neutrality is endorsemenet regarding politics

so there's definitely a stark grey line there

[sand wigeon]

this is called masking

and yes. that is what you do as an autistic person.

i'm autistic and i have never gotten in trouble for my "political views" or what i have said to coworkers

[desert jasper]

it wasn't even politics

[sand wigeon]

and what was it

[jade jackal]

Hurdy Gurdy break

[gilded elm]

Because you were too blunt, or what?

[desert jasper]

"he's hard to approach and hard to talk to"

and i know for a fact that that person didn't even try to talk to me enough

[sand wigeon]

well yeah, people will like you less if you're hard to approach and hard to talk to

[sand wigeon]

you do get this very sentence makes you sound hard to approach and hard to talk to, right? lol

[desert jasper]

she didn't EVEN TRY TO TALK TO ME

[gilded elm]

The main thing I learned about autistic people is that they prefer to be spoken to bluntly and they tend to speak bluntly and get misunderstood.

[sand wigeon]

like as someone who fashions myself to be hard to talk to and hard to approach, it has its downsides, and you have to deal with them

[desert jasper]

Yes, you're making it very clear that you try to be hard to talk to.

[sand wigeon]

good?

is that... okay?

[desert jasper]

Yeah, I probably shouldn't even bother trying to explain anything to you.

[sand wigeon]

no i get that was meant to be an insult

i just chose to take it as a compliment

so thank you

[gilded elm]

Kinda sucks that the average person might see rudeness where it's just autism making the speaker more blunt, direct, less social filtering.

[sand wigeon]

this is why we need more autism awareness

unfortunately autism awareness has lead in part to autism infantilization

[desert jasper]

Also especially when that other person has a habit of reading in between lines and just assuming you're a rude

[gilded elm]

Right, which to be fair, is also a somewhat normal human behavior.

[desert jasper]

But apparently it's still my fault according to that other autist

[sand wigeon]

where the "bad or dangerous sides" of autism are blacked out leaving only he "haha, so quirky, hyperfixate, yeah! so socially awkward, how adorable!" parts

[gilded elm]

But yeah your employer sounds kinda sucky for that

[sand wigeon]

people still get just as upset at autistic people if they have a meltdown or react violently thanks to that

[gilded elm]

Sounds like your employer needs more "autism awareness" tbh

[desert jasper]

Well I'm not working there anymore

[sand wigeon]

(Just a note, this is one thing that might get you in trouble: saying "autist!" This language has fallen out of favor due to its objectifuing and degrading nature, as it deligates a person to existence as a neurological disorder. In the future, "autistic person," would likely be better language, and risk less people being upset at you.)

[desert jasper]

I do not care, dream

[sand wigeon]

Then ignore me

What is your problem, jeez

[desert jasper]

You already made it clear that you don't care about insulting me

[junior oyster]

Would not be ideal to just stop right now?

[sand wigeon]

When did I insult you?

[jade jackal]

It can be, let me try another animal clip

[sand wigeon]

I apologize for insulting you, I did not intend to, but my intentions do not always matter

I did not mean to speak that way of you and I am sorry

[sand wigeon]

RATS

I adore rats.

It's really sad what we've done to domesticated rats, there are so many wild partly domesticated rats because people just let their pets loose.

[gilded elm]

Good! Hopefully you're with a better employer now lol

[sand wigeon]

Sadder what we've done to pigeons, though.

We kinda abandoned a whole domesticated species.

[desert jasper]

Pigeons didn't deserve the treatment they got

[junior oyster]

I spent more than 1kc on trying to kill u exarch

[desert jasper]

Currently unemployed

[sand wigeon]

What kinda jobs are you searching for?

[junior oyster]

I just couldn't survive against his balls

And then the channeling skill he does with those flame thingies that chase you

But I finally managed to do it

[gilded elm]

I hope you don't work in tech... the job market sucks atm

[desert jasper]

Well I'm an accountant
but I did also work as secretary and at construction
some personal training
rehab

[sand wigeon]

oh, hey, i do accounting sometimes

not a bad field rn

[gilded elm]

Taking a break or are you actively looking? Curious what the job market feels like atm in other fields

Seems like service is one of the few thriving industries in the current economy.

But wonder what accounting is like

[sand wigeon]

Accounting can be good, but very tiring

[gilded elm]

Guess it kinda depends what part of accounting. Like you could be handling customer accounts, or you could be handling company bookkeeping, at least that's what I assume

[sand wigeon]

i do personal accounting but my mother handles company bookkeeping

it can be a lot of drama and very stressful

[jade jackal]

I couldnt bother with a uni degree for accounting, too much for me

[sand wigeon]

i don't even have a high school degree lol

[jade jackal]

I couldn't bother with a uni degree for anything

i had to work extra 6-7 years to make up for that

[sand wigeon]

there's becoming less and less reason for people to generally go into graduate degrees or anything

at least in the usa

[gilded elm]

I'm of the opinion that degrees for desk jobs in this age of information is largely a waste of money unless you are in a highly competitive field that requires every little bit to standout against the competition.

[sand wigeon]

yep

[jade jackal]

Electronics can be a desk job

[gilded elm]

At this point the main benefit of a degree is the rigid curriculum that keeps you on track. This is something you can emulate and force upon yourself.

[jade jackal]

If you do stuff like board or silicon design

and that's always in very high demand

[gilded elm]

Yeah electrical engineering isn't exactly a cheap hobby to get into even as an enthusiast with disposable income.

[sand wigeon]

disposable income? in the big 2025? tell me you're rich without telling me you're rich!

[jade jackal]

Well, depending on culture, the degree is a must to even get in

Me not having a degree actively prevented me at a fully adequate state form getting certain jobs

[gilded elm]

True, could highly depend on the culture, country, regulations etc.

[jade jackal]

In many places you cannot call yourself an engineer if you aren't registered as one after a proper uni degree, same goes for other professions

In software those things are a bit more lax

[sand wigeon]

its only a general rule that degrees are less needed in the states

[jade jackal]

You can be a degree-less QA engineer

[sand wigeon]

you obv still need them for things like engineering, nursing, etc

[gilded elm]

I'm a "software engineer" in the US but technically I can't legally use that title in say, Canada, because an "engineer" title legally requires a degree.

[jade jackal]

or in many other places, correct

The only way for me to claw up the ranks is to have my CV's history and work protect my case lol

also, lots and lots of connections

[sand wigeon]

im hopefully going to be going into food delivery soon

[gilded elm]

That's not a profession I often see expressed with hopeful eagerness.

[sand wigeon]

it's 20 and hour plus tips

and it's consistent work

[jade jackal]

We all gotta work somewhere

I wasnt happy doing retail, but i gained a lot

[sand wigeon]

no this is just like legit a great option for my area

iirc it also gets my tax benefits on my car payments

[gilded elm]

Yeah I mean I value my retail experience too. I just meant that I found it a bit odd to be eager about getting into food delivery. But yeah, if it's because of good pay and hours, I can understand that.

[desert jasper]

I am actively looking for a job
Not necessarily accounting because I haven't actually done any of that (outside of my own) in about 5 years now
I did also work as a chef for a while but I kinda hated that

[jade jackal]

money is money, sort of a bottom line deal

My current job hardened my stance on making sure you give risky chances a try

after quite the ping pong

[gilded elm]

Kitchens sound like a nightmare tbh

[desert jasper]

They are

Anyway, I worked as a secretary for the largest hospital in the area
but it turns out, they have a really annoying habit of just letting people go and then taking in new unexperienced people for the secretary stuff
they didn't let me train anybody new in the 2 years I worked there, in case I'd be sick
and apparently some of the ppl still ask about me "Wait, where's nub? I thought he was the secretary of that place"

I do miss most of the old coworkers
They were good people

[sand wigeon]

im thankful i've never had to work in like, a company culture type place

where i'm expected to talk to coworkers

[jade jackal]

different companies have vastly different cultures

[desert jasper]

It's not too bad to talk with your coworkers if it's generic stuff
When it comes to stuff like "Hey you have to hold a teams meeting for 2hours to explain how this thing that you're the only specialist in works"
That's when it's annoying

[sand wigeon]

im there to do my job and not talk to anyone unless i have to

[jade jackal]

That's what many of us do who work surrounded by people

[sand wigeon]

so

i've worked around people too

im saying im thankful i've never worked in a place where you're expected to talk to your coworkers

[jade jackal]

The idea is to find a place that nurtures a people culture

Corporations are usually not that, which is why i prefer startups

[sand wigeon]

if my coworkers know my name i'm probably failing tbh

[gilded elm]

Sounds... kind of scummy. Do you know why? Is it because every once in a while they see things are running smoothly and they look for places to cut cost and then realize "oh no, those people actually did stuff" and hire new people to correct their mistake?

[jade jackal]

Some roles, like mine, demand i not just talk, but get to meet people pretty much all across the company, and I like it

Often times finding myself doing office crawls just to catch up to people, mostly because this isnt about needing small talk, you meet faces of people you dont hate

[desert jasper]

Nah it's just that they for some reason
think that it's valuable to get the experience there
But then want to cycle in new people
also why they basically give no permanent contracts at all. because then if they suddenly don't renew your contract and hire a new one you can sue the shit out of them

[sand wigeon]

see i do hate all my coworkers which is where we differ lol

[jade jackal]

This is where culture differences exist between companies that recruit workers differently

we get to pick our coworkers

and company culture is an effective factor

[abstract karma]

hmm i more interested in statements why PoE will never get autoloot feature

[gilded elm]

Ah. Honestly, "contract" is kind of a red flag for me when looking for work. Obviously it varies by field and country, but the idea that as an individual I have to constantly fight to get my contract renewed sounds exhausting.

[sand wigeon]

because it's anti-fun

(it's an old game design concept where too much QoL "optimizes the fun out of the game," which can also be done by people)

(features like that often end up having more drawbacks than positives)

(esp in a game so centered around dopamine spikes from seeing high tier things drop)

[desert jasper]

Well
I didn't need to fight to get it renewed... until they decided to essentially say "yeah no we are done"
Then when I applied to work there again it took them 3 months to respond after the time to send applications ended... and it was essentially just "No"

[sand wigeon]

3 month response time isn't bad

[desert jasper]

It is bad though

[sand wigeon]

not rly

i guess it depends where you are tho

[desert jasper]

when they're looking for someone for summer
and then they respond after summer time is over

[sand wigeon]

i've seen people get one years response times

oh well yeah

seasonal jobs are different nvm

[gilded elm]

Do contractors in your country have basically the same incentives and benefits that comes with formal employment? Not sure what the differences are in your country.

Basically here in the US, the difference between a contractor and formal employment is that in a contractor scenario, you are your own business so you can write off business expenses to exempt them from taxable income, but you also don't get any of the tax benefits that often come with formal employment. Can be good or bad, depending on situation.

[desert jasper]

it very much depends on the lenght of your contract
Like sure, since day1 you have insurance etc
but getting some benefits can be gated behind time
like at that job I only got the "pass" worth of about 300€ after 6 months of consistent contract
and that's per year

[jade jackal]

I used to be a contractor on my previous workplace and i just kept constantly getting shit on, its why i left

[desert jasper]

So I could use that 300 on stuff like gym, museums, public transport, lunch

[gilded elm]

Interesting, so you do get things like insurance

Contractors in the US are responsible for their own insurance

[jade jackal]

The US is an insurance hellscape, that makes sense

[desert jasper]

oh I was working directly under them, not as a contractor as you'd put it
but it was just a very temporary contract

[gilded elm]

Ah, so your situation might still just be "formal employment" as we understand it here in the US. You just refer to it as a contract because it's a temporary contract with an end date.

[desert jasper]

Yeah, pretty much

[gilded elm]

So you still have an "employer"

[desert jasper]

I guess I would've said contractor if it wasn't that way

[gilded elm]

In the US, a contractor doesn't have an "employer"

They work for themselves

And they contract clients

[desert jasper]

Why do I suddenly get a dejavu feeling

[gilded elm]

You're in Sweden, right?

[desert jasper]

No.
Finland

[gilded elm]

Shit

Maybe it was Cyborg

[desert jasper]

Cyborg is a swede, yes

And I hope you know how big an insult it is to call a finn a swede (it's not really, it's kinda a meme these days. but we don't exactly like it)

[jade jackal]

its ok, could have been worse

could have been mistaken with Danish

[gilded elm]

Yeah I was hoping I didn't unintentionally cause offense there lmao

I don't actually know how serious Scandinavian rivalries are... I assume not serious, since all of those countries seem very chill lol

[desert jasper]

Fun fact: Finland isn't a part of scandinavia

We are nordic, yes

but not scandinavian

[gilded elm]

Damn, TIL

[desert jasper]

It's honestly something I'm used to

[fierce moth]

@south gust Can you show it to Ave please? I made a gif form by all voxel art I made in 2025 :)

@neon sigil Would you like to share which artworks have you did this year? I want to know how your game is going.

(I still don't figure out which colour of light is the best for Aggorat... huh)

[desert jasper]

What makes you think that Ave isn't still here
maybe under a different name?

I am giving you false hope.

[fierce moth]

we will have a full year without Ave soon

The power from Ave is less and less here

[desert jasper]

Time passes
You will get used to it.

You might not like it
but it's something you'll need to get used to anyway

People change over time
Things change
Sometimes your favorite restaurant might stop serving the thing you loved

[junior oyster]

Or it might close down in its entirety

I've had that happen to me a few years ago

[desert jasper]

That too
I'm saying this jsut so Kirra might get used to the idea

[junior oyster]

Been going during my lunchbreak and then one day they closed

Yea

Ok by restuarant I meant chippy

[desert jasper]

That must've sucked

[junior oyster]

Lol

[desert jasper]

what's a chippy?

[junior oyster]

I mean initially yea but then I realised I was spending too much money so I was like I'll either bring my own lunch or go hungry

Chippy = fish and chip shop

Or in this day and age chicking and chips

Chicken

[desert jasper]

Ah, right
I thought so but wasn't sure

[junior oyster]

Yea here restaurants mean curries and stuff like that

[desert jasper]

differences in slang and all that

[junior oyster]

Honestly they are interchangeable as some restaurants also serve fish and chips

But chippys don't usually serve curries

[desert jasper]

never went to a restaurant for curry

[junior oyster]

Yea well parts of the UK have restuarants serving curries

[jade jackal]

Well, that's one of the most British foods of our time

[junior oyster]

Lol

[fierce moth]

I'm afraid Ave will be forgotten as like as Shtrek, that's it

People stay here are changing all the time, sure

The only person will not be forgotten here is Judd

[jade jackal]

My advice - don't get overly attached

people move on

[desert jasper]

Mission failed
We'll get them next time

[fierce moth]

🙃 I want to grab something immortally with happy memories

[neon sigil]

Im sorry im not in a good place rn. My grandpa died today.

I'll share some stuff when I'm feeling better.

Nice work kirra.🙂

[desert jasper]

Sorry to hear that, mate

[junior oyster]

My condolences to you and your family

[mental talon]

https://youtu.be/tgt61QQcCJg?si=Ee3Cwon67OmhpDrd

Cool Bear Volcanic Fissure at home skill.

[fierce moth]

How will you draw lines?

[fierce moth]

poe 2 can be negative on experience even... Interesting

[abstract karma]

Poe 2 = for free cosmetics - Dark patterns is reason

[jovial bane]

PoE 2 campaign was peak

Then the rest of the game ... well, let's just say it puts both LE and PoE1 into perspective

[junior oyster]

Act 1 was good

I hate act 2 and 4

[jovial bane]

PoE2 act I is definitely on the strong part

The best in aRPGs IMO ? Maybe safe for the opening 15-20 minutes, which I'd give to D4

then D4 dives off the cliff

[junior oyster]

I still think d2 act 1 is the best

[jovial bane]

might be, found it hard to get into D2

[junior oyster]

And I'm not even that big on d2

[jovial bane]

D3 pulled me back after Sacred days, and really hooked me in the genre

[junior oyster]

But yea for me poe2 a1 comes second for sure

[jovial bane]

I'd play D2 Resurrected, but

Let me just say I don't like the idea of giving Blizzard $$$

[junior oyster]

I love d3 but not for the acts lol

Story is trash aside from RoS

[jovial bane]

Even D4 I've played only on gamepass

[junior oyster]

Honestly I'd say d2r is worth it

[fierce moth]

A new choice for "milk tea" time I guess. Oooooo my hands are quite ❄️...
I need a cup cover for the future.
@placid yarrow it's better than that nitro peach one 👍 Close to the original flavour one

On the other hand, this drink is much more expensive than any milk tea I drunk before hhhhh

[junior oyster]

Otherwise you can probably get it free wink wink

[jovial bane]

Oddly enough not a fan of that solution either lol

I might grab it one day

Once my backlog gets cleared up, I still have not finished KCDII and E33 tempts me

[junior oyster]

Yea I'd say it's ok in that situation because they didn't butcher it like that wow inspired game

[placid yarrow]

This one is flames

[jovial bane]

That's one Monster I've never tried

[junior oyster]

E33 despite the popularity is a game I'll probably never play

[jovial bane]

Fair enough

[placid yarrow]

It's kinda rare here. Only some stores have it, might be that way in general

[jovial bane]

I just like turn based games, and I still have my idk which playthrough of BG3 in backlog >.>

Honour update with mods made it so damn fun

I legit think BG3 is best played on honour

[placid yarrow]

Have you heard of a game called stoneshard? One of my favourites

[junior oyster]

Ngl I'd never drink energy drinks aside from irn bru but the art on that monster can is kinda cool

[jovial bane]

Yes, and I avoid launching it yet again because I will sink too many damn hours into this thing

[placid yarrow]

:P

[junior oyster]

I loved dos2 but sadly I got to a2 in bg3 and lost all interest

[placid yarrow]

I'm downloading war tales right now for a fresh playthrough

[junior oyster]

Might be because I couldn't play as some undead skele

[jovial bane]

The pull I have towards BG3 is my crippling addition to D&D, especially with mods that add 2024 edition

[junior oyster]

The vamp guy I don't like tbh

[placid yarrow]

Fane ftw

[junior oyster]

Yes sir lol

[placid yarrow]

I loved playing lone wolf fane

Just walk in and obliterate everything

[jovial bane]

Astarion is such a great character. I think getting his redemption is so satisfying

[junior oyster]

I accidentally made sebille fall in love with fane and they did the deed lol

[junior oyster]

Tbf I'm like that with all male characters lol

Don't like any of them

[placid yarrow]

I never got BG3, I honestly don't think it's quite what I enjoy. I still recognize it as an amazing game but I find myself not really enjoying DND adaptations very much, same went for pathfinder kingmaker, great game but I just couldn't really get into it because of the DND adapted mechanics

[jovial bane]

tbf I dislike both Wyll and Gale

[junior oyster]

I might be the same

[placid yarrow]

DoS2 was amazing and hooked me really hard though

[jovial bane]

I think you'd enjoy it way more. I've played both kingmaker and even much better WotR. Great torture devices

[junior oyster]

I've also never done irl dnd

[jovial bane]

BG3 is a great game on the other hand

[junior oyster]

It was the music and the narrator for me

[placid yarrow]

Maybe. I'll likely grab it once it goes on a big sale and I have nothing else to play

[placid yarrow]

True the DoS music and voice acting in general was amazing

[junior oyster]

Yea

[placid yarrow]

I really hope they continue the series

[jovial bane]

Pathfinder games are too crunchy and have tons of unfun design

[placid yarrow]

And keep what makes it distinct mechanically from games like bg3

[junior oyster]

Anyway gotta get to work

Cyall

[placid yarrow]

Gl

I need to give battle brothers a proper go as well

I really enjoy war tales but the lack of direction in battle brothers made it harder to get into

I just feel like I'm wandering aimlessly

[fierce moth]

It's flame because 4 different juices are included?

[placid yarrow]

No because it tastes good

🔥 = good

[jovial bane]

well Divinity 3 got registered

[fierce moth]

Let me find which flavour should I try next...

[placid yarrow]

Oh fr? Dope

[jovial bane]

They might show it tonight

[fierce moth]

Ok bad apple ✅, flavours I 'll try next are

[jovial bane]

I should try punch one day, I think I've seen it somewhere

[fierce moth]

I should try Chinese architectures one day 🤔

Time to go back to buff Chinese power from here

I need to figure out how to create fantasy Chinese architectures with three key words, love, obsession and altruism + based on Chinese myth/traditional stories... It's tricky

I still want to travel in cultures from another countries and don't want to go home

[jovial bane]

I find it hard to describe architecture with keywords to begin with, I guess I'd associate Taj Mahal with love ?

But that's thanks to the story of the monument, rather than architectural style

[fierce moth]

I'm struggling with what should I eat for dinner, Japanese dipping noodles or Italian salami pizza... Both of them are similar on price, but the Italian restaurant need to wait one more hour (it's closed now)

Emmmmmm

I'm lost when I have a chance to eat something good because too much good food I didn't tasted.

[jovial bane]

Depends on how hungry you are. I'd go for noodles personally

But generally I dislike buying pizza, cons of being able to bake amazing one

[fierce moth]

Maybe I should try iced chocolate at first. Not dinner time yet but I'm hungry already

[jovial bane]

sounds good

[fierce moth]

I don't know should I try hot chocolate or iced chocolate... Lol

[jovial bane]

iced IMO, but I dislike how sticky hot chocolate feels

I just like food in general.
Thankfully my bucket list of foods I need to try is small rn.

Only fugu

[fierce moth]

One more question... I can choose 45%/60%/70%.
Which one should I select?

Zero experience...

[jovial bane]

have you ever had dark chocolate ?

If no, avoid 70%

[fierce moth]

No

[jovial bane]

If you want it bitter go for 60, is sweeter 45% is a nice balance

70% and higher chocolate only if you got used to it

[fierce moth]

😂 I have no idea do I want it sweeter or bitter

[jovial bane]

Then 45%, because it's a nice balance

Dark chocolate (so 60+) is like with dry wine. Takes getting used to

[fierce moth]

you're right, good balance 45% have.😋

I don't think I can accept more than 45% 👍

[jovial bane]

I like 45% the most as well

[fierce moth]

Just walked into a mini bar, chatted with the owner for a while, drunk 2 types of beer, showed him my voxel art, talked about the plan of board game parties in the New Year and added WeChat

An interesting encounter with a stranger...

[jovial bane]

nice

I really love board game cafes

[fierce moth]

Splender is the only board game I have been played...😔

It was quite interesting regardless original or duel

[jovial bane]

Splendor is great

idk what board game I like the most, but I'd really love to play Twilight Imperium again

[fierce moth]

An interesting Christmas tree, a few Santa claus are climbing to the top 😄

[desert jasper]

Hmm I should probably read through the patch notes for PoE2

[jovial bane]

Are they complete ?

Afaik last time they weren't, for example they did not list that some omens are getting removed

[desert jasper]

They did get some update just today

[jovial bane]

I really want to give Oracle Druid a shot

but I have bad feelings about the league

Hopefully unfounded

[vagrant topaz]

Can't wait to howl at the moon

[desert jasper]

I'm just gonna slamjam as a bear

[fierce moth]

All of you decide to play druid blindly?

[desert jasper]

Naturally
It's the new thing

[fierce moth]

I find rain to shock is interesting but I'll wait a build guide before I tried that :)

[vagrant topaz]

Yup, and if I cant finish the campaign because my build sucks that fine

Ill blame the game and GGG

[fierce moth]

Not fine for me

[vagrant topaz]

I find more pleasure in exploring and testing than in succeeding

[mental talon]

I was going to play Druid regardless. In 0.3 I had no idea what the tree changes were because we didnt get it until 1 hr before launch and I did quick napkin math and POBed my starter and played. Do I enjoy doing it that way, no. But I can adjust on the fly so it is what it is.

I know I will make something that will be good enough to make it to endgame/boss content regardless because the game is still shit easy.

[desert jasper]

I'm probably not even doing any pob before it
get to like lvl 70 and then look "Okay, how badly did I screw up"

[jovial bane]

Yeah.
I'm a bit tired of INT classes, don't like the fantasy of pure dex ones, I want break from merc.

And I'm not masochistic enough to play Warrior again

[vagrant topaz]

Go monk Werewolf ^^

[jovial bane]

I gave monk a shot last season

If only it had more than 1 ascendancy I'd try it

[desert jasper]

werebear Titan

That could actually be decent 🤔

[vagrant topaz]

Yup

[jovial bane]

Doesn't use the mace, so it likely is decent

memeing ofc, some skills for it are k

[desert jasper]

Just go all in on slams
the ... talismans are 2handed, right?
Wonder if they learned it this time that the 2h weapons should use 2h rolls instead of 1h
like crossbows when they rolled dmg values for 1h weapons

it was cringe

[jovial bane]

yeah, all the downsides but none of the upsides

[vagrant topaz]

Sadge you cant DW talisman

[desert jasper]

Just get enough stats and get a shield to go with it

[jovial bane]

you cannot

Titanblood states what weapons can be used with a shield

😦

[desert jasper]

oh
I forgot that

[vagrant topaz]

Axe , Mace , Sword

[desert jasper]

maybe they'll update it

[vagrant topaz]

Arent Maces the only one in the game rn ?

[jovial bane]

Considering they've updated it to just those 3 ? I doubt it

[desert jasper]

Yes

[vagrant topaz]

Kinda funny

[desert jasper]

I wish we had axes and swords tbh
can't wait to speeen

[vagrant topaz]

But you can already

And it got buffed too

[desert jasper]

But that's not cyclone

[vagrant topaz]

Cyclone at home

[desert jasper]

Imagine how funny it would look if bear could do cyclone

[fierce moth]

I'm blind at new skills for druid

[vagrant topaz]

https://tenor.com/view/urso-bear-voando-flying-hurricane-gif-8969045431806046796

[fierce moth]

I think I will learn them when I leveling up lich

[jovial bane]

inb4 on cyclone relase the cyclone at home will be better

Abyssal Lich was the class I went for last season after ditching monk

Monk felt too glassy

[fierce moth]

what the difference between abyssal lich and non-abyssal lich except the art on the ascendency panel?

[jovial bane]

Some nodes are different. For example instead of buffing minions, skellies buff you instead of summoning them

I think it's slightly better because of that, assuming you have stupid amount of spirit ?

Depending on the build ofc

[fierce moth]

3 4 nodes are different 🫡

[jovial bane]

Yeah, I went for umbral well over that node that makes your spells stronger at the cost of ES per cast

[desert jasper]

Wait, how do you even get abyssal lich? 🤔

[jovial bane]

Because iirc skeletal mage node grants you spell power

[fierce moth]

Kill the boss under the abyssal

[jovial bane]

At iirc 4 skellies you get more power than that node with no downside minus opportunity cost on gear

I think at least.
I did only basic math, not PoB simulation

[fierce moth]

https://youtu.be/OUvaGmae9r0?si=xiz5aWjFsdQG8LWE&t=34
This npc will appear after you killed the abyssal boss so you can switch the ascendency

But zero new nodes I tried because I don't know how to play my build after the adjustment

[mental talon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm8Sqarzjkg

[desert jasper]

Thunderstorm looks neat

[mental talon]

Ok Shaman is good. I'm sold (I was already sold)

[desert jasper]

Gonna be a good gardener and water the plants

[fierce moth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD1O3R9B0Sw
Must say Americans are good at playing. Playing everything...

I'm quite envy at how good they're good at entertainment tbh

[obtuse rune]

I will say that not every american is good at every sport there are some who aren't... sport players/actors.. it's just a big place

[fierce moth]

I'm sure I can spent a whole afternoon if someone would like to play pickleball with me

[jade jackal]

Don't give them too much credit

These kinds of sports are usually ruled by Europeans

[desert jasper]

And here i was thinking you could just ask some random guy on the street and he'd run a marathon at a record time

[fierce moth]

Playing a sport with someone is a very efficient way to build and maintain the friendship

face to face + experience the same thing

[fierce moth]

which sport are you obsessed to play if you don't need to think the cost?

[obtuse rune]

I dont follow sports anymore 😅

[fierce moth]

Interesting. I think you can try some pickleballs.

[fierce moth]

You can't go back to simple level once you love with complex level like this seal pattern...

@vagrant topaz Do you know which type of cookies are they?

I don't find similar cookies by "Sabre" so I'm confused

[vagrant topaz]

Hum

Looks like cookie/sablé crumbs "glued" together with some kind of butter/fat

[fierce moth]

lol... Thanks. I searched sablé crumbe on Google, Bing and Pinterest and get nothing

Maybe this cookies is unpopular

All cookie pictures available on these platforms are smooth on the surface

[stone anvil]

it can be matcha flavoured since only see matcha nowadays

wait

it says MATCHA

WTF

ICANT

[fierce moth]

https://saltandbaker.com/moms-recipe-crumbl-cookie/
Ok I find a similar version finally

[fierce moth]

Illustrator | Voxel artist | Matcha lover

My labels.

[jade jackal]

Anyone planning to try Ashes of Creation on Steam today?

[obtuse rune]

It comes out TODAY???

I'm saying this as a fellow gamer, that's really neat. That. Druid Day and VGA to round off the week is looking to be a nice time for gamers

[desert jasper]

Memes of creation?
Haven't heard of it, I think

I wish the VGA wasn't 2am to 6:30am my time

[obtuse rune]

Ugh. Welp, you'll be able to wake up on a friday with many game announcements..that's a win right?

[desert jasper]

Don't think I have the time to watch anything until evening on Friday

[jade jackal]

im going to try my best and give AoC a chance

only becuase its creator liked ArcheAge, which is one of my favorite MMOs, sans the monetization

[fierce moth]

Good news: I paid my loan so I don't need to give money back anymore
Bad news: Zero extra money can support me to develop extra hobbies or extra events

I'm upset.

[desert jasper]

Gratz on paying the loan
it's important to do that

[jovial bane]

Yeah, having a loan sucks

[vagrant topaz]

I was looking at my home loan papers today, trying to find a cheaper insurance

Realised I'll be paying my loan until 2050

Not sure why but that hit me hard

But you know what
Life is good because my sourdough starter is giving amazing bread, and that's all that matters

[jovial bane]

Sourdough bread is amazing

Especially homemade

[desert jasper]

I'm jealous

[vagrant topaz]

My guilty pleasure
Sourdough dipped in salad dressing
I make a mean one with mustard, honey, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar

[desert jasper]

That sounds delicious

[obtuse rune]

Okay...so how much of each did you use? Asking for a friend, Vlad. 👀

[desert jasper]

Yes

[desert jasper]

Oh right
Did I already say that I really like your profile picture?
Bloodborne is such a good game

[obtuse rune]

I am unsure but thank you! Indeed, I do love Bloodborne. Very much so..and many other over penalizing Souls-like games 😆
Does that explain my affinity for ARRPGs? Probably..

Any sort of Eldritch/H.P Horror style is just Chef's kiss

[desert jasper]

friend actually paid me to get all the achievements in Bloodborne for him

[obtuse rune]

LOL

I have thoughts

You're a brave soul

[vagrant topaz]

Hum... Some
Sorry I don't weight anything while cooking

While baking yes
But cooking it just free lance

And a lot of tasting 😏

[obtuse rune]

Okay cool, so I'm used to mixing and tasting as I go. Some sauces require a ratio

Sauces are my weakness.

[desert jasper]

It honestly wasn't worth it for me

[junior oyster]

The only game I've 100% achievement in is slay the spire

Worth

[vagrant topaz]

I'll try for you

I do it in a jam jar, so I do it once in a while. And then blitz it with a hand blender.

1 finger high of soy sauce
1 big spoon of mustard
1 big spoon of honey
(if you have miso paste, can throw a spoonful of that too)
1 finger high of balsamic
2 finger high of olive oil/sesame oil
2 big splash of a sharp vinegar(red wine or cider or...)
Finish it with a easy oil like sunflower or rapeseed

[junior oyster]

Damn 12:30AM

[desert jasper]

Woo
Apparently I get to take care of a cat soon again
for a limited time but still
very nice

[fierce moth]

Yes. Sucks loan. I will never owe money to buy something again...

It started with I want to buy a 16GB RAM but I lack of money. It last...1 year 8 months 19 days

(spent 2h to adjust my mood, hard to accept the feeling of I have to be poor again though the day being rich can last 2 days only)

[jade jackal]

wait AoC wants 15 dollars per month on top of a 45 dollar buy-in price

im not gonna buy it than

What a way to get people into your early access MMORPG, above and beyond

[junior oyster]

AoC?

[jade jackal]

Ashes of Creation

[fierce moth]

No offense, but the society just admit skills which can get money... :(
It's the biggest reason I think the life is sucks

The deadly point is you have to admit it's make sense because you can't develop skills which can't get money if you don't have money

[twilit mountain]

Same reason I refuse to play most MMOs.

[jade jackal]

I wouldnt mind if this was a nearly or finished game

not a 20% done one

[warped wren]

I love how the gaming industry is literally collapsing under the weight of their customers being unable to afford both the game and the storage space required for the game

[junior oyster]

Another challenge done

[jade jackal]

im able to afford it

I just choose not to support it

[warped wren]

it's a generic statement

[junior oyster]

What's the fastest one to spec into?

[warped wren]

new game purchases are at record lows, and most of those are happening on sale only

[jade jackal]

The gaming industry isnt collapsing over being able to afford things, its collapsing because people are sick of buying crap

[desert jasper]

Niko is probably the fastest you can do with scarabs
einhar is pretty fast too

[junior oyster]

Ok I'll spec into those then

[warped wren]

Niko. You can guarantee his presence and run like 30 beaches / strands / atolls whatever

[junior oyster]

Especially since I've already done 13 missions for einhar

Glad three trees exist lol

By beyond tree for getting challenges done lol

[desert jasper]

Tbh I got the beyond one in Delve
and did the delirium beyond boss in like... tier1 maps for cross contamination
with a deli orb

[desert jasper]

Hmm... free cosmetics for the poe2 league again

[fierce moth]

The temperature cause I have no idea should I wear T-shirt or not at noon

[desert jasper]

I mean
Hopefully you'd wear a shirt instead of going out without one

[fierce moth]

I usually wear a long sleeves now but it's hot when it's noon

[mental talon]

https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExile2/comments/1pk5x8t/check_out_the_updated_oracle_and_shaman/

[sand wigeon]

People literally can’t afford to eat

We’re in a worldwide economic depression

People can in fact not afford games

And being able to do so is an inherent privilege

[junior oyster]

If I want t4 yellow I need to do blue/purple and then yellow last?

I guess I can only get to t3 in this though

[jade jackal]

That has always been the case, and in general even worse than before. The general gaming market, the sheer amount of people with access to the ability to buy games is in fact quite a bit larger than it ever was, with many markets in the world open for all gaming, and PC gaming in particular

The result of some projects failing, with and without hype, is market fatigue