📚┃off-topic

[twilit mountain]

Late 90s to early 2000s New Years Times Square type shit (like I said, time and place is the biggest factor for traffic in the US, India is just a generally concentrated country so it's like our holiday traffic pretty much year round)

[junior oyster]

Talking about my trip to Wales I mean

If I go to London it has to be via coach. Cheapest

[twilit mountain]

Friend of mine in the UK got mugged for his phone while in a call with me back in August 💀

[warped wren]

Yeah it's part of why I emigrated. Got tired of crowds everywhere. It's ironic, the very year I took my flight, Diwali saw the worst traffic jam in history on the very route I used to take to work

18 hrs or something. People literally left their cars on the highway and went home

[junior oyster]

Damn ngl I never heard of that

[warped wren]

I mean I've been part of like a 9 hour gridlock myself

Never even made local news

[twilit mountain]

Yeah I could never. If I don't have an "anchor" (usually just a person I trust) with me I start to crash with too many people around.

[gilded elm]

India is a big country too, in terms of land mass, right? I guess there's just huge demand to live in the cities?

[junior oyster]

Part of why coaches are better

They can't get jammed full of people and less likely to get shit stolen

[twilit mountain]

Big? Sure. Big enough for its population? Heeeeell no.

[junior oyster]

Ofc the downside is the much slower travel

Ano about to say coaches get jammed xD

In India

[warped wren]

It kind of is, if you're talking about everyone living in normal size homes

[jade jackal]

trains rule, i would take nothing but trains if i could.

[warped wren]

But population is concentrated in major cities yeah

[gilded elm]

India is 1/3 the size of the US or China, landmass-wise. Like that's still a lot of land that people don't have to live densely, it seems to mostly be a choice.

[warped wren]

The National Capital Region alone is I believe 20-25m people

[junior oyster]

I watched an hour and a half of some bros playing sts board game

[jade jackal]

in India the choice is to earn money, basically

if you are nowhere, you work nowhere

[warped wren]

Eh, it's not that simple. Wish it was, but cities are awful for most of the unskilled labor that migrate to them

[gilded elm]

Yeah I don't mean the population is necessarily making that choice directly, I just mean that's how life in India seems to work, most people just concentrate into the dense areas out of economic necessity and not a specific geographic limitation.

[warped wren]

Tfw you look back and realize that Gandhi was once again correct

[gilded elm]

Basically India is a pretty big country, so it's interesting to learn that there isn't a whole lot of development (seemingly?) outside of specific regions/cities which are seemingly very overpopulated.

[warped wren]

The necessity is often more than just economic but it's such a can of worms I will 100% get banned for discussing it deeply

[gilded elm]

I imagine a similar comparison in the US would be if the vast majority of the country decided to live in like 2 states or something, there's so much land in the country but all the opportunities are in those 2 states.

[warped wren]

More or less. Also a bunch of other factors like caste system / local corruption / labor laws / crony capitalism

Huge can of worms

It's interesting being an immigrant because I constantly feel like I'm oscillating between a pick-me turd and a nationalistic shill

[junior oyster]

Are you in the US right now?

[warped wren]

Canada

[twilit mountain]

You can see an alright representation of it depending on the state you isolate. California, Nevada, Florida, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, a few others. Vast majority of the development and subsequently opportunities to live are concentrated in 2-3 major cities and their few small outskirts.

[warped wren]

I'd be pretty terrified to be in the US rn ngl

As a brown man

[gilded elm]

I feel that lol. I mostly align with the US, but there's some things about Korea I do shill lol

[twilit mountain]

Y'all got some crazy-ass buildings! That's always cool.

[warped wren]

Yeah it's just a really weird spot to be in

[gilded elm]

Haha, mostly necessity because of very limited land available. The country very quickly learned that vertical was the only way to go to house the growing population.

[fierce moth]

@obtuse rune time for you to eat dessert 🤤

It's cream puff I mean

[gilded elm]

Japan is in a similar situation, I think

[warped wren]

I think it's the same for Beijing now too?

[gilded elm]

Unlike the US, Korea also mixes residential zones and commercial zones, there is not separation, not many suburbs either.

[twilit mountain]

Makes sense. The US lucked out with having several different climates and their topography within its territory.

[gilded elm]

Yeah, the US is still a vast, largely unpopulated mass of land.

[warped wren]

Geographically speaking, I think the US is the luckiest country on the planet

Probably the closest to complete self sufficiency

[twilit mountain]

Which we could use for a lot of good if we weren't so.... y'know.

[gilded elm]

I feel like China is pretty lucky on that front too.

[warped wren]

No, it's not close

[gilded elm]

Yep lol

[warped wren]

Nearly all of China's arable land is along the Yangtze, and the naturally livable land is all along the coasts. The lion's share of the country is mountainous and inhospitable by default

It's another matter that China has conquered so many of those challenges

And China does not have the natural river network that the US does, nor do they have as many natural resources

[gilded elm]

Oh? I figured China had tons of arable land. Does China import most of their food, then?

[obtuse rune]

this looks great. c: they taste as good as they look?

[warped wren]

Not most but a solid chunk

They're a net importer

Can't sustain their population with what they grow

[gilded elm]

Yeah, enough of a chunk that clearly their food production couldn't be described as self-sustainable, I meant

That's interesting, I didn't know that.

So while China has access to enormous landmass, a lot of it is not very useful.

[wanton sapphire]

@obtuse rune the first dish I didn’t burn is an onion crunch chicken

[fierce moth]

Potato is quite western lol

[warped wren]

This is the case with most countries with large landmasses

China, Russia, Brazil, Germany..

[obtuse rune]

niiiice! I love chicken and I see that seasoning on the greens. Onion crunch chicken
how was the crunch on a scale of 1-10?

[warped wren]

The US is a very big and notable exception

[wanton sapphire]

I got it to a solid 7 on the crunch

[gilded elm]

That actually makes a lot of sense from a geopolitical standpoint. I'm imagining land is less likely to be contested when it lacks resources and/or is considered useless.

[wanton sapphire]

Very crunch very yummy

The seasoning was salt and pepper with some ghost pepper salt for good measure

[fierce moth]

US flag. So Van can give it a try

[obtuse rune]

you are a brave soul. I cant do ghost pepper 😭

[gilded elm]

With the US, I assume it's the exception because there's effectively no border contestation.

[warped wren]

No I meant the usability of the land

[wanton sapphire]

I challenge you to a hot sauce chugging contest

[obtuse rune]

you win

easy

[warped wren]

The US also has very effective natural borders, another rarity and massively useful feature

[gilded elm]

Oh I was more remarking on how countries end up being "large landmasses" in the first place haha

When a significant portion of that landmass is not really usable, it's probably not likely to get contested

[warped wren]

I mean the US was literally purchased and assembled so

[wanton sapphire]

[twilit mountain]

"Give me that"
"No it's ours"
"Aight, killing you then"

[junior oyster]

I can go slightly higher than this spice level

That's about all

[warped wren]

cries in Kashmir, Siachen, a certain Middle Eastern territory that shall remain unnamed, Eastern European plain, etc.

[junior oyster]

Not sure how much spicier ghost peppers are

[jovial bane]

a lot more

[warped wren]

Ghost peppers are hot man

Even for my palate

[wanton sapphire]

It’s like a million on the spicy scale making it hundreds of times hotter than a jalapeño

[warped wren]

But they're just hot, not flavorful hot

Which is unfortunate

[wanton sapphire]

I crave that burning hot that stays in my mouth for a while

[gilded elm]

Naturally. As Anomander was saying a lot of countries that are large landmasses don't actually have a lot of land/resources on that land that are particularly useful, which made me think if that's because rival countries don't start border disputes over useless land lol

[junior oyster]

Lol damn I prefer to take care of my stomach

[obtuse rune]

i like hot honey if that counts?

[jovial bane]

I've got my hands on really good ghost pepper and habanero, slightly sour-sweet sauce 😄

And Carolina Reaper one

[wanton sapphire]

Hot honey is a w

[twilit mountain]

Ghost peppers are one of the peppers that were genetically engineered by humans for the sole purpose of "lol how bad can we get this"

[warped wren]

I like heat but not for the sake of it, it needs to pack some flavor with the punch

For example, Thai chilis

Love those

Habanero is decent too

[obtuse rune]

yay. good I'll take that win. I could put hot honey on a lot of things

[junior oyster]

Instead of mayo,cheese etc I like to dip my burger in hot sauce

[obtuse rune]

a legend

[junior oyster]

Also I can't stand mayo any kind lol

[warped wren]

Yeah I always keep sriracha and tobasco and a habanero hot sauce in the house

[wanton sapphire]

I love getting hot honey on fried chicken

[warped wren]

For literally anything and everything

[junior oyster]

Liquid cheese is also a biiig nope from me

[warped wren]

And a jar of chili oil

[junior oyster]

I dunno how people eat that shit

[jovial bane]

I dislike mayo, but in burger it's a must as a base.

[junior oyster]

My burger is either plain masala fish or plain fillet o fish

[gilded elm]

You should see what bananas, strawberries etc looked like ten, maybe twenty thousand years ago. They're nowhere close to looking like what we eat today and that's not something that could have changed naturally through evolution, that would've taken millions of years. Every fruit we eat today has been genetically engineered with that goal nowadays.

[junior oyster]

And then I dip it in hot sauce

[jovial bane]

mmm, sounds great

[twilit mountain]

We've got some hot sauce, sriracha, habanero, tabasco, and like three different kinds of chili... stuff. Like gochujang but... not?

[jovial bane]

I like fish burger with the ghost pepper sauce

[desert jasper]

None of the crop looks like what it used to look like

[warped wren]

Oh gochujang is awesome

Koreans are geniuses

For gochujang and kimchi alone

[junior oyster]

I've said this before but I don't eat any other meat so fish is my only real option here

[jovial bane]

Avocado begs to differ

[twilit mountain]

Hey, let's give some credit to coconuts. It's a big ball. Been a big ball.

[wanton sapphire]

when are we getting a cooking skill tree in Last Epoch

[jovial bane]

Well it's a bit different, but still very close

[wanton sapphire]

shout out to apples

[warped wren]

need some more unscientific anti GMO propaganda in the house

[desert jasper]

I've some buldak noodles, sister bought me 3x spicy ones from her trip to UK
I think I'm going to regret eating this at 10pm

[warped wren]

what's this normal acceptance I'm seeing

shame on you all

[gilded elm]

I don't mind GMO at all tbh

[twilit mountain]

I see my mother's been talking to you /s

[junior oyster]

Grapes no longer having seeds children can choke on is a good thing for us

Not sure about the crop itself though

[gilded elm]

With fruits, we've significantly increase their fructose content for the most part.

[jovial bane]

rip
I love spicy food, but even 2x Buldak thanks to sauce amount is too much for me to enjoy it

[warped wren]

GMOs literally saved entire populations from starvation before asshat movements significantly curtailed their ethical development

but let's not go there

[gilded elm]

Yeah when I see cheap GMO stuff I buy it tbh

It's cheap and I got no problem with the science lol

[junior oyster]

Organic is the biggest scam imo but I might be wrong

[twilit mountain]

I had to tell her to stop sending me paragrpahs of "are you okay" type texts just because I didn't answer her for a week. I'm gonna be 24 in a few months and have been living fine without y'all for almost 3 years, I do not need to give you daily check-ins 😭

[jovial bane]

I rarely ever see GMO

[warped wren]

uhhh yesn't, it really depends on the laws of the region and how they're enforced

[jovial bane]

nah, organic flavor wise is different

[desert jasper]

Tbh I'm glad I bought this milk

[gilded elm]

If it doesn't say "Organic" then it's probably GMO

[junior oyster]

Yea I'm not good on it but I've had organic and non-organic fruit. Can't tell the difference in taste at least

UK

[warped wren]

like for example, I know in Canada the organic label can be kinda eh because their implementation of its standards is a little loose. But it's not so bad because their food laws in general are incredibly strict in comparison to say the US

[jovial bane]

I believe GMO has to be clearly labeled in EU ?

[twilit mountain]

Having worked in a "high rep" grocery store and spoken to people who'd worked in others and other locations of the same chain, they're not enforced very well here

[warped wren]

yeah I had a prof here who had spent 34 years in the food industry

[jovial bane]

But best example from the top of my head is eggs

[junior oyster]

Laws are generally enforced quite strictly in the UK when it comes to food as far as I know

[warped wren]

he was telling us about how, let's say if you run a farm that neighbors a proper "organic" farm, you can also easily get the organic certification yourself

kinda funny

[jovial bane]

Depending on whether chicken was stuck in a tiny cage, or whether it was allowed to roam the flavor is different

[gilded elm]

People who hate GMO but also don't want to pay Organic prices

[warped wren]

that's free range, different classification from organic

[junior oyster]

I generally go for what's cheaper when it comes to fruit lol

[warped wren]

and much more implementable

stuff like free range / grass fed you can actually observe

[jovial bane]

usually free range also happens to be organic as well

[junior oyster]

^

[warped wren]

but the claims behind organic alone are much more loose

[warped wren]

yeah there is overlap for sure

[twilit mountain]

I go for what I can afford👍

[gilded elm]

You can also taste things like grass-fed, it's different.

[junior oyster]

That's something common in the UK too. Organic = free range when it comes to hens

[sudden anchor]

Organic also means more animal rights, such as straw for pigs to play in, more free roam, etc. Atleast in germany.

[warped wren]

ah idk about Germany, good that they have strict implementation for it

[desert jasper]

I remember trying to explain that to a friend of mine who is very much against GMO
He eats a lot of potatoes, chicken, wheat stuff and so on
but apparently it's "different" when it's selective breeding over longer time

[warped wren]

though I know EU is REALLY good in general for food laws

we used to order our baby formula from the UK specifically

even though it cost an arm and a leg lol

[junior oyster]

Cow and gate 🥹

[twilit mountain]

I wish someone had selectively bred one of my cats to be smarter, he's screaming at me for food because he hasn't noticed the bowl just across the room

[junior oyster]

My cat begs for food. Takes a bite. Begs to be let out

[jovial bane]

she just wants an option of having food closer to her

[desert jasper]

My old cat always had food so he'd just go and eat when he was hungry
I still gave him snacks as he got older

[twilit mountain]

Real. I have to leave my room open most of the time because otherwise I'm getting up every minute to let one of them in or out.

[wanton sapphire]

real

[junior oyster]

I always love giving snacks to my cats lol

[gilded elm]

There's a lot of garbage nutrition "science" out there, GMO is actually one of the few very useful and real food sciences that is helping feed the world lol

[junior oyster]

It feels nice when they grab your arm to try to steal the food from your hand

[twilit mountain]

Depends on which one. Two of the cats in the house understand they are sharp. The other two do not.

[junior oyster]

I literally got a scratch on my hand the other day lol

He was playing with me and he cut me while playing

[gilded elm]

I miss cat scratches, kinda

lol

[twilit mountain]

I really hate them. Super low pain tolerance and it makes my skin freak out.

[warped wren]

I have simply accepted that my cat is a demon from hell sent by god to teach me patience

[twilit mountain]

Unfortunately I love the critters too much. So they stay.

[desert jasper]

My cat never bit or scratched me
My brother's cat once accidentally scratched me. It wasn't bad but since then he hasn't done that

[warped wren]

my cat nips all the time

but 99% of the time playfully

once or twice she's actually hissed and fought, but then I realized what part of my behavior was triggering that so I stopped and so did she

pets really do teach you to work on yourself

[desert jasper]

Managed to finish that buldak

I feel surprisingly fine, currently

[twilit mountain]

I have never had any cat scratch or bite me out of anger or intentionally.
I can count on one hand the amount of times any of them even hissed at me.

They're just

Excitable

[desert jasper]

They were pretty young, right?

[twilit mountain]

Two of em are about a year and 4 months now. One is about 5 and a half but he spent most of his life pretty cooped up til he got here last year. Last one is the "family cat", she's like... 8 or 9? Old lady, mostly sleeps.

[desert jasper]

Ah, yea the youngsters will be like that for about year or two more
the cooped one will get used to it sooner or later

The family cat, precious

[wanton sapphire]

my family's cat used to have a hard time understanding the different between play and attacking

it got fixed when we got a second cat and that cat explained the difference in cat language

[desert jasper]

I remember one friend had a family cat too
he just kept gaining weight so they put him on a diet
but.. he didn't end up loosing any weight.
Turned out some neighbor was also feeding him
so they ended up telling the neighbor about the diet

got some progress
and then the cat started dragging in pheasants

[mental talon]

Time to watch Sinners and see what all the hype is about

[fierce moth]

I heard someone said "scratch"

A bit blood dropped on the floor in that day. 3 days ago

[junior oyster]

You now have corrupted blood on you

[fierce moth]

Hhhhhhh yes 🙂‍↕️

[desert jasper]

Be careful with cat scratches & bites
They can very easily be infected

Or worse

[ebon meadow]

cute asf

took like two weeks for a chest scratch to heal for me last time i tryed stop a fight, yet again half wild cat yep

mains are wild and my other one is a hardass dull as well witch never back down a fight

when they do i m the only person that can lock them in diferent rooms and they dont give a slight fk my size and go on me

i have longer legs though

[mental talon]

Early March

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3905372/page/1#p26545236

[abstract karma]

you probably finish Sacred 1 and others to take break before it

Wait when was Last epoch release again ?

[desert jasper]

the maine cats?

[desert jasper]

march 26th?

[junior oyster]

Ok good hopefully sts2 releases end of march

[abstract karma]

where is there "synchronization" which they boosted off previously then

[junior oyster]

I play 2-3 weeks of poe and then sts2 time

[ebon meadow]

i cant spell full name here second part of word is muted

mainecun

that works

[desert jasper]

Yeah see, they're not necessarily violent by nature
you just raised them wrong

[ebon meadow]

oh no he is not violent , he just goes mad sometimes playing

also complete street found with like 8 days or less

[desert jasper]

And you didn't teach him that it's not okay to give bad scratches

[ebon meadow]

me yes but he stil gives 0 fs

he doesnt like to be picked up and he doesnt like people sneeze and also very loud noise

apart from that he is a sky never meows

[desert jasper]

No cat likes sneezes or very loud noise.

[ebon meadow]

why the seneezes lmao that is so weird to me

[junior oyster]

Our cat is unfazed by sneezes

[ebon meadow]

mine trys to meow and he cant, like insulted

it geniunly sounds like stfu

[desert jasper]

I guess it's kinda the same effect as opening a can of coke?

[ebon meadow]

ohh sound wise maybe

that is actually a decent example imagine it x20 louder

This one doesn't have this issue but yet again this guy used to go out with wild cats for few days living outside town

U can sledhammer next to him he will mostly just move an ear and go back to laying

Now this one u make wrong noise it's up for a fight

And sometimes she started it all xdd them act innocent

[desert jasper]

Ah, right
I should go & get some sleep

[ebon meadow]

GN

[desert jasper]

gn

[twilit mountain]

Cat scratch fever is a real thing yeah. Cats carry a lot of bacteria in their claws (and saliva).

Just be safe and wash any cuts or scratches you may have, whether they were from the cat or already there and just been touched by the cat

[fierce moth]

Early March 🤔

But I don't want to play Poe anymore because it's too hard to adapt the outdated control

[fierce moth]

It's a bit not normal that fan art competition for poe 3.27 have no news yet

I wonder when the 2nd fan art competition for poe 2 will hold too

[real kayak]

holy shit

[warped wren]

isn't that huge money

[twilit mountain]

Smth like 130d

[real kayak]

220 div

[fierce moth]

Rich friend in poe 2 club +1. Congras!

[twilit mountain]

Ah, it went up a good chunk

[fierce moth]

*Siphon a bit good luck

[real kayak]

not bad for not having ran one temple

[twilit mountain]

Temple needs to be taken out back imo. It's dogshit content that's basically negative reward until you invest like a week and a half to set it up, which is itself an extremely unfun process, and then it's an unmatchable amount of profit

[real kayak]

it really is dogshit, it's worse than harvest 1.0

[fierce moth]

you just...Do t15 mapping?

[real kayak]

yea abyss farming, and cleansed area/ fractured farming

[fierce moth]

I wonder are you max boss difficulty

[real kayak]

abyss pays the bills, really profitable and I enjoy it so

[twilit mountain]

I have one fractured orb in 130+ cleansed T15s :))))))

[real kayak]

oh damn lol I've had 7

[twilit mountain]

I'd have many more if Immured Fury wasn't bricked

[real kayak]

saving my immured fury spawns

I've got a bunch ready to go

[twilit mountain]

I don't think it's getting fixed

[fierce moth]

how much your boss difficulty is?

[twilit mountain]

We're getting single line hotfixes as panic responses to previous hotfixes breaking, patch is basically set

[real kayak]

ggg still on holiday, New Zealand don't mess around with Christmas break

[twilit mountain]

They've been back in office over a week

[fierce moth]

I mean the boss passive tree. I wonder is it no sense to 8/10 if I'm struggle to kill bosses

[real kayak]

I dunno, this is mostly a map blaster build, blood mage spark coc

oh 6/10

need big upgrades but I might make a spear build

staff I want is 450div

[fierce moth]

The level I never reach

[twilit mountain]

Be funny, do 100% reduced duration Titan shenanigans

[real kayak]

ugh

not that bored yet

[fierce moth]

My budget for leveling my ritualist up is 25d only

[real kayak]

that's a solid build then, I'm still using a 10 div staff lol and lvl 19 gems

I finally switched to soul tether es leech setup and never die now it's nice

[twilit mountain]

I paid 110div for a +3 Spearfield jewel 👍

[fierce moth]

spearfield is the most fun skill I played so far

[real kayak]

I haven't tried Spears, or huntress

I want to

that spear on reddit is bonkers

[fierce moth]

I can imagine every builds Deias played in this league is spent 50d+

At least

[twilit mountain]

Triple that.

[warped wren]

50d doesn't get you far in this game, especially at this stage

well I guess it kinda does but it just sets you up for more moneymaking

and then before you know it you've spent 500

[twilit mountain]

I'm about 380 deep on the current thing

so

[warped wren]

I have only the 1 build but I think it's like 900d or something worth by current market standards? I might have spent uhhh perhaps 300-400 myself?

[real kayak]

I love tink sounds

[warped wren]

eh crap the kind of positive rarity Ventor's I want to swap with is 80d now

bleh

hopefully something sells

[real kayak]

I spent some money

[desert jasper]

That's sick

[fierce moth]

are you farming abyssal with t14 maps?

[fierce moth]

hah? That's too interesting... She's Chinese?... 🤔

Otto, the art director of EHG is her connection

🤔 First time to know this world is quite small

Chinese with English... Classic habit lol

[desert jasper]

Well you have to be able to speak a common language if you're working at an international company

[fierce moth]

No, we're not on the same channel. I mean Chinese with English is happened on Chinese whose settled in EN countries for years/decades commonly because of different language environments. You will lose some memory of meanings of these English words so you have to speak English words instead.

It's why balance the native language and the 2nd language is hard.

(Plus Chinese and English are under different essence systems completely. You must build a new system for this language if you want to learn that well, so Chinlish is here)

[desert jasper]

Finnish & English are also completely different and a lot of finnish people talk finglish

[fierce moth]

Yes so I always appreciated your English skills. I heard most people in North Europe are good at English

SiChuan art college is the school she have studied in 🤔 lol another pro with professional art education background

[desert jasper]

Meanwhile I can't talk our 2nd native language almost at all.

[fierce moth]

lol I'm doubt if we use the same app... Holy Jesus, huge difference

I never know pureref can add notes until I watch this video

Holy it can show me greyscale directly so I don't need to open ps

[jovial bane]

My surface level understanding says that chinese to english is a lot harder. Simply because chinese is different on fundamental level, like Kirra says.

[jovial bane]

hmm ? What's the difference ?

[fierce moth]

emmmm no difference? Interesting...

[jovial bane]

Unfortunately I've never used art portfolio sites, and I'm quite bad at understanding art in general

[fierce moth]

It just a app which for saving all references you collected for your project. It's common to use in the group of game environment artists, the name is pureref.

Where to find this level of amounts of reference is a problem lol And it's just for single project. The app will be exploded if multiple projects are here...

(The invisible rule behind details of an environment art project is you must find 4 references+ per object. Everything must come from something which combined features of them. So 30-40 references per map is common)

[jovial bane]

at least it's a fun kind of problem

[fierce moth]

... No. Not fun to have zero clue what should I do

Be lost is quite painful

I have been almost died because of be lost too much... Know what can you do is quite important

[jovial bane]

ah, that step.
Yeah figuring out what to search for is the hard part

[fierce moth]

Artstation never lack of pro's works

it's the level of art director for a game🙏

Make sense that I'm attracted by this artwork easily.

[jovial bane]

pretty

[fierce moth]

....I just knew this game

[fierce moth]

...Odd strategy EA had

[desert jasper]

Not that odd
if you view it as "we want to suck the wallets dry"

Harder to do that with a game that's one time purchase

Because they're not above such things as making mechanics that essentially force you to spend real money on it

[fierce moth]

Which way help online-service-forced games become machines to get money?

Subscriptions for the plan?

[desert jasper]

Well no, subscription doesn't bring that much money

[jovial bane]

Usually microtransations

So skins and stuff like that

[desert jasper]

But imagine that "oh hey I can just buy a stronger weapon in the game with real money"

[jovial bane]

Or gacha

[desert jasper]

because they love doing that

[fierce moth]

😂 Poor imagination I have on money-machine-like games

em I agree with gotcha. It's why I dislike mobile games.

[desert jasper]

They're very... special kind of people

[fierce moth]

hhhhhhh poe 2 not on GOG. Interesting

Oh I forget to play occultist demo... 🫡

[desert jasper]

... ofc it's not on gog

[jovial bane]

I don't think gog has any online only game

[junior oyster]

GOG has no need for trash

[fierce moth]

🤔 I guess I must run and dodge in this game? I dislike that if so

Well yes. game over because I don't exit the framland in time

||...Take the golden ring to the hand statue on the table which on the 1st floor is the goal.
...But I need to go through near a window.
...The undead female owner will jump scare on the window when I close to the window with the golden ring.
...Another timer test. Game over if I can't escape her attack. ||

... Not fun to play this part. Quite stressful.

I dislike this window because of that.

🤔 Game over in a unexpected time, alright.

[desert jasper]

Well it is a demo
not a full game

[fierce moth]

it will be released in Q2, so it's summer

My laptop will be suffered

[fierce moth]

1. Which mods will you prefer on the abyssal tablets?
2. Are you use 3 abyssal tablets per map?

[real kayak]

uh the 14s were for clearing paths around corrupted areas/ shit layout maps (fu molten vault and sun temple), for tablets I'm not picky but extra rares, additional abyss mobs, extra abyss rare mods are good. the one with more difficult abyss mobs per closed pit can get REALLY spicy fast especially on overrun maps. honestly it's more about speed / quantity done for me than perfect min/maxing, kinda always been my philosophy in Poe. also the amanamanunu guys you pull out of the void to kill, only way to get omens of light, which is a really annoying mechanic but worth it. if you see omens of liege drop it means they died inside the void circle and those could've been omens of light / abyssal echos.

really depends on your clear ability for how much you juice, my damage is tripled now so 8 mod/ 3 rare tablet t15 is gonna be default now that I'm blastin.

cleansed maps with -quant / +rarity are great too, really stack mob density in those for fractured orbs, those are selling for near 30 div a pop now lmao

[ancient lark]

@south gust

[south gust]

Perfect. Thank you!

[south gust]

I just checked the bug report system and the team is on it already!

[ancient lark]

thank you!!

[fierce moth]

... Don't know this update. Alright vaal temple is bad since now

[desert jasper]

That's not new since some update

[desert jasper]

Hey Deias, I'm kinda still thinking about making one more character
what's yours like? 🤔

[twilit mountain]

Hi, I played Anthem years ago when it was still relatively new. It was a very, very good concept with poor execution held back by a combination of development hell and executive meddling.
At one point they had a huge revamp update to get their initial plans and systems they designed into the game but EA shut that entire project down before they could ever see the light of day. I had a brief talk with one of the lower ranking devs on the team once upon a time and it really sucked to hear the conditions they were left in because they had genuinely amazing ideas as a team but just weren't allowed to execute them.

[desert jasper]

and what kind of gear did you have to lvl it up

[twilit mountain]

100% reduced duration Titan poison Spearfield

Idk, I just converted my existing Titan

You can just do my usual setup for leveling anything near the left side; click the Thorns buttons until like level 65-70 or even higher

(I'm bad with directions)

[desert jasper]

There was those boots you showed earlier with like corrupted lightning thorns on it

oh wait, that's not an corruption is it

[junior oyster]

Just watching a live of Kitboga damn they are really annoying the scammer

[twilit mountain]

Gimme a moment I can put together a leveling tree if you want

[desert jasper]

I would appreciate that, yes

[twilit mountain]

(I need to get a drink and take meds, I overslept)

[desert jasper]

All the time you need mate

[fierce moth]

A big shame.

Hard to say I want to play games recently

[desert jasper]

hmm I'll go and get a drink too actually

[junior oyster]

I'm kinda the same but I do have some good games to fall back on

Slay the Spire, Stardew Valley, Terraria, Grim Dawn, Palworld etc

[fierce moth]

The amount of audiences whose watching streams of a new game, hytale is insane

[junior oyster]

Oh it's out?

[fierce moth]

Checked, ea is out

[jade jackal]

Hytale has been "marketed" like crazy by the community

am i crazy for not fully grasping its appeal

All i know is that its a spinoff of a Minecraft mod

[desert jasper]

What's Hytale? Never heard

[jade jackal]

There's another voxel game in development im following and funding, its called Lay of the land

a young and relatively promising developer, looks great

[junior oyster]

It looks like minecraft on the surface

Not sure about the differences though

[abstract karma]

Basically Minecraft with more deep focus on RPG ? so-so

Its previously created from modders which made minecraft hub "Hypixel".
They focus except main core game on free modding (idk if free) with their tools which they will release later
So basically not as minecraft you will be able create and import mods/addons to game "faster"

more freedom i guess.. I mean they already showcased what could can be done..

So basically i think they basically making own game while keeping idea of Hypixel server

[desert jasper]

I see, ty

[twilit mountain]

Not even a mod, it's just a Minecraft offshoot made by a large and very old Minecraft server team.

[gilded elm]

@twilit mountain

[abstract karma]

Reminds me i should push myself to finally choice and buy new laptop upgrade otherwise there wont be anything with Rizen 9 128MB cache versio n

[twilit mountain]

https://pobb.in/zwF4WdBYS9ah
Trees are set up, items are named with priority stats (just update the bases/levels as you go). Spear has a note on it. Jewellery is just "whatever works".
Can be fine as a Titan just swap ascend points to small passive effect, max life, and armor from body or the stun damage thing. I just like Warbringer since it's consistent and has baked in defense, and swapping is stupid easy since active block is hilariously broken in Sekhema.
(OH don't update spear base. The lower the dex req the better)

[twilit mountain]

Hell yeah

[gilded elm]

I felt bad donating only $5 after spending $35 on a membership card, so had to do at least $15 lol

[desert jasper]

Thank you 🙂

[fierce moth]

When I watch a video about how expensive the cost for anyone who want to study in UK on bilibili, I can't control myself to envy at any Chinese appear in the video... It's a top expensive country to learn in a college but you must admit someone just better than you on studying and own better economy conditions :(

[gilded elm]

So, I used to run Minecraft servers professionally, as in it was my job and that's how I earned a living for several years. I still remember the exact context that led to the announcement of Hytale many years ago.

Just before Hytale was announced, Mojang made a controversial decision to update their EULA and start enforcing it against servers that violated it. Basically, the EULA update stated that Minecraft server operators would no longer be allowed to monetize anything that could be perceived as an advantage in-game. This included all forms of advantage, not just the blatant P2W. For example, if PoE was a Minecraft server, it would've been blacklisted by Mojang because they sell stash tabs.

This controversy led to a huge amount of creator backlash and Hypixel Studios (who operates the largest Minecraft server network, called Hypixel) was concerned for the future of their business and decided to take it upon themselves to develop a new Minecraft-like game that embraced a creator-driven marketplace, thus Hytale was announced.

Development of Hytale eventually stagnated when the project was acquired by Riot Games. The game was stuck in development hell for many years due to mismanagement and eventually Riot cancelled the project. Recently (late last year?), Hypixel Studios managed to reacquire the rights to Hytale and resume development from an earlier stage of the project's history prior to the Riot mess and finally today the early access has released.

[twilit mountain]

Most times it's not people being better. They just were lucky enough to be born into a family that could afford to send them.

[twilit mountain]

Note: this enforcement is rather lax and it is very easy to point to many, many, many servers that still have P2W, including Hypixel itself (source: I have the highest rank on Hypixel and it gives me a tangible advantage over non-paying players)

[gilded elm]

This enforcement was initially not lax, it became loosened over the years though. Mojang used to be extremely aggressive about enforcement, there used to be Twitter accounts that would track changes to the blacklist (the blacklist is checked in the Minecraft client to block access to specific servers).

And on these Twitter accounts tracking the blacklist, you would see a flood of daily updates with servers being blacklisted.

I think Mojang eventually realized how unpopular this was.

[twilit mountain]

Idk, always seemed lax to me. I was around when it started, and if the server was large enough they just turned a blind eye

Like ManaCube has been around since before it started and has always been very P2W, no changes were made to their structure then or now

[gilded elm]

ManaCube made efforts to comply, I believe. They reduced P2W at the time. I'll have to ask my friend who I used to work with from another network who eventually moved on to work at ManaCube, and probably still works there. Is CullanP still at ManaCube? We used to work closely together.

[twilit mountain]

Pretty sure they are. It's pretty blatant on how P2W the server is right now. Not to mention the effective black market the staff don't tackle.

[desert jasper]

Sweet that they managed to reacquire the rights

[twilit mountain]

There's been notable "middle men" who have covered 5 digit USD transactions in that server lol

[gilded elm]

I have no doubt that ManaCube is super P2W now and has been in the past, but I'm fairly sure that during the initial controversy, ManaCube did make attempts to comply (like many other servers).

[junior oyster]

This was £154 yesterday lol

[gilded elm]

A lot of big servers had periods where they removed a lot of the P2W stuff and then eventually re-introduced it.

[junior oyster]

It keeps jumping up and down by £1

[twilit mountain]

Shrug. I have my experiences, you have yours. One's word against another, nothing to come of it.

[gilded elm]

We could just ask Cullan lol

I think I'm in the ManaCube Discord still, so maybe I'll see him on there and if he still works there I can DM him

Ayy, he does still work there. I see AlexMl too, another dude I used to work with (alongside Cullan).

[gilded elm]

There's actually a timeline as well: https://manacube.com/threads/the-manacube-timeline.71450/

Factions and Prisons game modes tended to be the most egregious offenders, so unless you played those kinds of servers, you may not have seen much change.

[twilit mountain]

That could not have lasted very long then, I was on there that May (which was when I managed to get an account of my own, prior to then I was sharing with an old friend)

[twilit mountain]

Hi, that be my primary server inclination until like.... 2021? After that I kinda burned out, moved to more "casual" modes

[gilded elm]

The panic wasn't very long-lived, yes. Eventually bypasses to the blacklist were discovered (SRV records in DNS) and enforcement eventually wound down IIRC.

See also this: https://manacube.com/threads/removing-p2w-from-factions.57809/

From Dacon himself.

[twilit mountain]

And now I sell my soul to whatever skyblock catches my attention and isn't information overload (looking at you Hypixel, please make the returnee experience not hell)

[twilit mountain]

(Yes I know I could just make a new profile and start from scratch but then I have to redo the hundreds of hours of work I already did)

[gilded elm]

This has basically been an on-and-off controversy in Minecraft. Mojang would enforce some, not others. It went on for years but it was very inconsistent.

[fierce moth]

99% chances for me never will have a chance to visit these British schools

Fane maybe know the right one, Harrow school

[gilded elm]

Don't know what the scene is like today, but SkyBlock outside of Hypixel has always been terrible lol. The plugin (ASkyBlock) that every other server was using has been severely outdated for years back when I was still active in Minecraft development.

I'm surprised anyone can tolerate playing SkyBlock on anywhere other than Hypixel tbh

[twilit mountain]

Scene's fine mostly. Just gotta shop around to find one that isn't awful. There's some more unique ones kicking around, some similar to Hypixel's without the hellscape of "if you leave for a month you come back to sixteen updates and no ability to reorient yourself"

[junior oyster]

What?

Is that Hogwarts?

[twilit mountain]

Spent 150 hours farming out the best possible armor set, left for a couple months to recuperate, came back and I'm power creeped to hell and have an extra 6 mechanics and 5 sub-menus to navigate. Very cool.

[gilded elm]

Surprised you still have stuff left after a couple months. SkyBlock servers used to operate on seasons much like Factions and Prisons game modes.

[sand wigeon]

she's talking about hypixel skyblock

hypixel doesn't wipe

[gilded elm]

Ah

[twilit mountain]

Most of the servers do still wipe just like... once a year maybe. Sometimes less.

[sand wigeon]

i do not share the same difficulties when it comes to reorientation that she does, i will note

[twilit mountain]

IMHO it should. It would make returning so much easier and also prevent economy bloat (we have things going for almost trillions lol)

[sand wigeon]

arpg's figured this out a while ago

have a wipe and a non-wipe server

[desert jasper]

Wait, can thorns crit in poe2?

[fierce moth]

🤔 Hogwarts is fair for everyone because everyone can enjoy the vibe. Harrow school don't. It's a high school.

[junior oyster]

I was joking

I have no idea what Harrow is

[twilit mountain]

Yes, if you have base crit for them (hence the boots and flat crit on tree)

I have spares of the uniques if you want em

[gilded elm]

Tempted to play Hytale, but also kinda don't want to play early access now that it's here lol

Also maybe I'm not too in the mood for survival atm

[desert jasper]

oh I already bought the boots & helm
and stuff

[fierce moth]

🤔 ....Maybe know less things is a good thing, indeed. I know too much

[twilit mountain]

Oh okay xdd

[desert jasper]

Just 5 more lvls until the hat

[twilit mountain]

Yeah that's the biggest downside of the process

https://pobb.in/JxgPmWBNoqHe
This is what I transitioned into; ignore spirit cost, it's a lie. Also damage is not accurate at all, it's considerably higher.

[desert jasper]

I see
It's been pretty smooth so far
ranged enemies annoy me for now

[twilit mountain]

Soon they will know fear

[desert jasper]

Oh yes

Think I'll try & get lvl 16 before finishing act1

Do you first go for scavenged plating or the magma thingy?

[twilit mountain]

Depends. Scavenged is damage, Magma is defensive.

[desert jasper]

I see

First time I make it to the architecht's chamber in act 1

Holy
Geonor fight was 10/10

Hilarious

[twilit mountain]

Yeah isn't it funny?

[desert jasper]

The fastest kill I've ever done on him

Btw, on the spear
"gain 10% of damage as extra dmg of all elements"
that's the rune, right?

That was nerfed to 5%

[twilit mountain]

There's two of em in there

[desert jasper]

Ooh

[twilit mountain]

Cheap if you just don't care about mods like this stuff

[desert jasper]

gonna snag one soon

[abstract karma]

funny tho.. You know what is now common in Minecraft - marketplace >.> with f.. ad's pop-ups

[desert jasper]

oh but the saqawal's rune of the sky is limited to 1
can't have 2

[twilit mountain]

Oh damn, that's new

And very cringe

In that case just chuck in Fenumus of Agony as second rune

[desert jasper]

Ah well, a few more lvls to go for that anyway

[warped wren]

Yeah all the special socketables are now restricted to 1 each

They need some way to justify making over a 100 of them to sell a stash tab after all

[desert jasper]

But yeah that's new since the druid patch

[gilded elm]

Ah, feels like playing Minecraft for the first time again lol

[twilit mountain]

I should get a free copy for giving them a couple hundred dollars already /s

[jovial bane]

how can you even make a Minecraft server p2w

[twilit mountain]

It's, really easy

Give items or commands that give an advantage over other players.

[abstract karma]

special skins, stash, premium benefits

[gilded elm]

Most of it comes from ranks and rank upgrades, as well as loot boxes / crate keys.

Ranks will have things like daily kits you can spawn into the game as well, among other OP things like access to more vault storage, the ability to set one or more homes etc

[twilit mountain]

Yup.

[gilded elm]

Think of Minecraft not as a game, but more as an arcade platform where people host different game modes.

So depending on the game mode, there's different things you could sell.

[jovial bane]

Ewwww

You are right

But ewwww

Point taken, it's very easy

[gilded elm]

In my experience, and probably unsurprisingly, the vast majority of revenue for Minecraft servers comes from the whales who want to flex on the plebs, like any F2P P2W business model.

[jovial bane]

I'm pondering whether they should be introduced to gacha or tcgs instead, because I feel like that would be a little less odd

whaling in Minecraft sounds so bizzare to me

fascinating

[desert jasper]

The first trial was easy
but time to sleep and go through more tomorrow

[twilit mountain]

I've paid in... four servers total I think? And I continue to go back to them years later. I don't pay for TCGs often because 1) playing with physical cards is pretty hard in my area and 2) it's too expensive to actually build the decks I play (I'm talking 4 total cards could run me over $200). I don't like gacha games, none of them have gameplay I enjoy.
Granted I don't consider myself a whale, I make one time purchases.

[jovial bane]

oh yeah, one timed purchases I get. Even in gacha. Personally I buy monthly cards, rarely battle pass.
Whaling however ?

Now thats wild

[junior oyster]

I bought battlepass for sonic racing crossworlds

[gilded elm]

Yep, all of the major revenue for Minecraft servers comes during the first couple weeks of a new season/map reset. Most of the top spenders are the same people.

Same people every season, I mean.

[jovial bane]

jesus, especially considering the resets

[junior oyster]

Didn't even know Minecraft had seasons lol

[jovial bane]

spending two digits on Minecraft server sounds okay to me

[gilded elm]

Depends on the game mode and server, but yeah most if not many do.

[jovial bane]

three, let alone 4 ?

[junior oyster]

I'd only played a bit in single player mode

Like 10 min tops

[gilded elm]

I've had many players spend thousands of dollars over the lifespan of servers I worked for.

Most of the playerbase are teenagers, so it's not just normal whales, it's teenage whales.

[junior oyster]

Elon musk

Top poe2 hc player

[twilit mountain]

I've seen a 19 year old on ManaCube drop, no exaggeration, over $30,000 in a day. I have no idea how tf they just had that.

[jovial bane]

[gilded elm]

Damn, never seen that before lmao

Some of these kids got parents with deep pockets

[junior oyster]

Wtf

[jovial bane]

might be a hot take, but I think unless you are say 21, you should not be legally able to spend more than, lets generously say 200$ in a month on mtx

[twilit mountain]

The top ranked guy on that server has an account value over 6 digits

[jovial bane]

I'd joke that it's an oil prince playing Minecraft, but in reality that person might be in debt

[junior oyster]

Or musk

[gilded elm]

Could actually be the kid of an oil prince lol

[jade jackal]

what's a manacube?

[twilit mountain]

Nah, this guy actually talks while playing the game and isn't just sending his info over to a Chinese player to do the work for him

[junior oyster]

Lol the rpm of my phone fan go crazy when I'm charging it

[twilit mountain]

Decently large Minecraft server with shady monetization and backed by an actual tech investment company lmao

[jade jackal]

ew

[twilit mountain]

Yeah. I hate the monetization of it because I actually do enjoy some of their systems in game

[junior oyster]

Yea I was just taking jabs at that buffoon

[jovial bane]

BACKED BY WHAT !?

[desert jasper]

me

[jovial bane]

The lore is crazy

[desert jasper]

Not really me

[twilit mountain]

There's an RMT black market in that server 👍

[jade jackal]

when i first started playing MC and helped a server, our donation goals were covering the month's server cost

we had a good 3-4 year run

2011-2015, about

[jovial bane]

yk, if you then added you can pay with crypto and purchase illegal stuff I'd believe you at this point

[gilded elm]

You probably can make payments with crypto. Most Minecraft servers use Buycraft (Tebex) as the payment gateway, which supports numerous payment processors.

[desert jasper]

I hosted my own server for a while in mc for friends
One gave the info to his little brother... who then destroyed some of my stuff because "you weren't using them"

I nearly went and kicked him irl

Like you don't just take apart things for rare materials bcs "you're not using it currently"

[gilded elm]

Had to zoom out to take the screenshot, but these are all the possible payment options. I'm sure one or more of these support crypto lol

Not that I necessarily see a problem with that. This is something I actually really like about Buycraft, they have really good payment options.

[jovial bane]

blik my beloved

jesus, so many options

[gilded elm]

Yep, Buycraft makes it extremely easy for people in every different locality to make payments to your Minecraft business.

They can show very niche local options too.

Interesting little area when I got to around y36, I wonder if this is how it looks at this depth most of the time or if it's more of a special area

[gilded elm]

I might have to dust off my Java skills and look into modding Hytale

[twilit mountain]

Java....

I thought people collectively decided not to use Java after Minecraft did its whole "running progressively more ass with every update" thing

[gilded elm]

With Minecraft, this is 100% a Mojang skill issue. Java doesn't compile to machine code, so you can actually decompile the source code for Minecraft and they basically put zero effort into client or server optimization.

There are entire projects whose existence is to optimize Mojang's spaghetti code, for example Spigot which is a performance fork of the Minecraft server and Paper which is the most popular Minecraft Java server software (I used to be a core developer for the Paper project).

The only reason Hytale was able to launch this early access is because most of the game was already built in Java before Riot acquired it and tried to rewrite the whole thing in C++ (with Unreal? not sure on engine) and got stuck in development hell for years until they cancelled the game. So far, it seems to perform well for me.

[twilit mountain]

The urge to get into a Mojang hate spiel for other reasons (their handling of the game and its updates is atrocious and I will die on that hill)

[gilded elm]

Minecraft owes a large part of its success to Java, and Hypixel Studios decided to go with Java for Hytale in part because they (IMO, rightly) understood the value that Java brought to Minecraft.

The ability to easily decompile the game, make changes and recompile your own build is the exact thing that transformed Minecraft from a game into a platform. Mods like Feed the Beast or really any really popular mod likely wouldn't exist if not for the total freedom to mod the game's source code.

C# could've been a good option, but it didn't actually have mature tooling for this level of modding back then. Things like Harmony, BepInEx, MelonLoader are more recent tools.

The other part of the decision to use Java for Hytale is obviously to attract all of the Minecraft developer talent who are still mostly Java devs.

[sand wigeon]

i like the new update

[warped wren]

sell your fractures

[real kayak]

already dumped earlier

[fierce moth]

Atziri's Chambers now correctly connects to any room placed next to it.

ah?

I can't access Atziri's chamber all the time because it's not connect to any room correctly???????

...What GGG have done before, My Jesus

[junior stirrup]

The old requirement was that you needed path tiles, not room tiles.

Some people placed a room in front of her and ended up with a door that wasn't usable until the room destabilised, if ever.

If you use path tiles like the gods intended, it's always been fine.

[fierce moth]

I doubt that because I just a direct path yesterday but I can't connect that tile with Atziri's chamber because near rooms don't support that

...Artstation's server is shut down now

[fierce moth]

30-40 US dollars if I want to play minecraft... Alright

what make poe 2 fun for me?... Good question.

[jovial bane]

nobody knows that.
It's 10/10 torture device

[gilded elm]

Fun little quantum computing puzzle game.

[fierce moth]

I think it's common in Europe and US... Lasagna.

Mine is frozen food so 100% can't compare with homemade. The pasta is too white so I'm sure it's not like the original version at all.

It's like... Eating some minced pork with tomato sauce and a bit Mozzarella cheese. Pasta is provide a type of different texture. Pasta and minced pork are separated.

... I wish I can eat original lasagna noodles in Europe one day.

Black thing on the top is fried mushroom from Yunnan

[fierce moth]

I'm not sure how to hold that...a bit heavy lol

Lol the size of the 🎨 is 🙀

OoO

(It's the 1st palette I purchased) Mix colours is become easier since now yo
I'm not sure how to hold that...a bit heavy lol

Plus the contrast with old palette I used

[desert jasper]

Hmm
Almost made a path to atziri chambers before even finishing act2
I wonder what's in there before you meet Doryani

[desert jasper]

It turns out
it's empty

Also, if you manage to drop a medallion before meeting Alva it still says "Summon Alva" and she'll give the usual speech of let's try it at the console but ofc she's not actually in there

[jovial bane]

pasta should be white-ish, but the cheese and sauce make it slightly different colors

tbh I've never had trully authentic one, but I've made it close enough

[fierce moth]

😂 that's quite fun to watch a mad artist do some drawing in a violent way...

First time to see this behavior art, it's so interesting 🤔

(The point is everyone know real life drive artist into 💢. He's quite good at expressing this mood with his solid skills)

This artist know how to stream and keep people's attention clearly

The update of the horse

👀 Interesting soul he have. Good relax I got. Ok go on painting damn branches

[desert jasper]

Is thorns dmg considered a hit in poe2? 🤔

[fierce moth]

lol Funny detail

lol ceo of sleep. Nice title

[fierce moth]

lol ok I understand a new thing, why travel cars are popular in Europe and US. Because people love trips and they can always drive to a place near their home to spend vacations

I love the shape and the capacity of travel cars but I never know why car brands would like to produce them

[fierce moth]

lol head out into the spot we saw on tiktok in the tunnel. Tunnel. TUNNEL. Damn it's childhood's memory... I used to like walking in a tunnel while I'm studying in a primary school.

That was a tunnel with lots of doors on the both sides because it's a line-shape garage. Garage for motorcycles.

[sand wigeon]

we literally cannot go anywhere without driving

cars are made because we literally cannot go anywhere without driving

[fierce moth]

so you and Deias know how to drive in a early time?

I know but I never drive a car after got the lisence

[gilded elm]

The US is almost like 50 different countries, there is no centralized metro or centralized public transportation. Homes and businesses are segregated into specific residential and commercial zones, separated by kilometers of road.

For the average American, owning and driving a car is required.

[obtuse rune]

Some locations have really good public transport, others not so much. Like Byte mentioned some places (like where im based out of) you're gonna need a car to get around

[gilded elm]

Yep, and even the places that have good public transport, it's still usually not nearly as good as what you see in Korea or Japan (and I imagine China).

[fierce moth]

Do your location have good public transport so you don't need to drive a car?

[gilded elm]

Public transportation also has a bit of a bad reputation in the US, even in states/cities where it's good. A lot of people consider it unsafe lol (as in, sketchy people)

[obtuse rune]

No, we need cars here

[fierce moth]

can you show your car?

[sand wigeon]

no, we were both delayed in life for different reasons

[obtuse rune]

I will not for various reasons 😆

[fierce moth]

Various reasons like?

[gilded elm]

He's embarassed to show us his Cybertruck lol

[sand wigeon]

not doxxing themselves

[obtuse rune]

I don't have one of those

[gilded elm]

Sus

[fierce moth]

Oh change an angle. Which car are you own? I can search the car model online

[obtuse rune]

You can look it up though, I have an Subaru WRX 🚙

[real kayak]

what the hell is this servers content block rules

trying to post a description of Atlanta's public transport

[obtuse rune]

Was it a certain word that got caught maybe?

[gilded elm]

Usually bad words (even if they're part of a greater, not-bad word) get filtered, it's a bit overaggressive.

[real kayak]

shit man I just sold my 2007 sti limited

[sand wigeon]

the classic scunthorpe problem

[gilded elm]

Well, scunthorpe works at least lol

[real kayak]

testing murder

[gilded elm]

Also if you try to use Markdown link format, that also gets filtered I think

[sand wigeon]

can't say fuc[insert k]

that's one of those ones

[fierce moth]

interesting, hear this model for the first time. Plus the brand.

[real kayak]

I was carless for a year in Atlanta, GA. Walked on avg 14 miles a day. Saw a lot of weird stuff, a few pee-peess, a lot of drug use, attempted murder on me twice. but overall not too bad. Busses here suck, but the train is reliable.

[sand wigeon]

trains are weird

i've never been on one but they're weird

[obtuse rune]

I just like having full control of where I'm going and when.

Unlike larger cities that have terrible street parking or pay to park, here everything has parking lots, etc.

[real kayak]

@obtuse rune

[fierce moth]

MT or TS?

[gilded elm]

Living in Korea long enough makes you wonder why anyone would ever want a car. Basically the same situation in Japan too haha

[obtuse rune]

this is pretttty

[sand wigeon]

i mean trains can't run everywhere

[fierce moth]

2 versions here

[obtuse rune]

Oh I get that. I like knowing how to drive a car, esp a sports car but the convience of being able to walk everywhere would be awesome. I need to visit Japan and South Korea so bad

[sand wigeon]

plus there's some things trains can't do

like sail.

[gilded elm]

Well yeah, obviously in the US we have a crappy public transportation situation in many ways, but also geographically. But in Korea and Japan they do go everywhere :P

[obtuse rune]

I have an older model about like arpawocky's

[real kayak]

the best models

[sand wigeon]

tbf my impression of "everywhere" is also "to the middle of nowhere" because the middle of nowhere is often where i'm trying to get

[real kayak]

04-07 best

[sand wigeon]

trains don't really have a reason to run into uninhabited woodland, so

[gilded elm]

Countries like Japan and Korea don't really have a "middle of nowhere" anymore haha

[sand wigeon]

that's not true

[gilded elm]

And even in the "middle of nowhere" there's almost always bullet trains that will get you there within an hour's proximity.

At least in Japan/Korea

[sand wigeon]

we're talking about different things

[fierce moth]

very interesting

Never see a similar car or just models from this brand on the street

I wonder the Chinese name of this brand

Ohhhh 斯巴鲁. Very unpopular here lol

[gilded elm]

Even the most backwater places are getting connected to the subway nowadays. It was already very far reaching even back in the 90s, nowadays it's harder to find actually secluded places that aren't just untraversable mountain ranges :P

[obtuse rune]

Cars in the West will probably be very different than ones in China

[sand wigeon]

that's horrifying

i didn't know it was that bad

[gilded elm]

I think it's great tbh. Because screw Korean drivers, first of all. And second, transportation being so widespread, reliable and practically free (it's super cheap) is amazing.

[sand wigeon]

sure if you ignore the loss of native terrain and general encroaching of civilization in every possible place which is proven to disrupt local ecosystems thanks to all sorts of pollution and generally damages the native japanese fauna and flora, eroding the native species

[gilded elm]

Dunno how else to accommodate the vast population within the extremely limited geography. People need homes, businesses need offices, people need to commute. Sure, there's national parks and wilderness, but it's not going to be far removed from civilization in a country like Japan or Korea.

[sand wigeon]

i think we have different perspectives

and i don't feel like arguing

because i view the growth of civilization as a world failing lol

[sudden anchor]

I would aree enerally, but trains are very reen compared to individual people drivin teir cars everywere. So idk wat is better. But enerally you're rit about tis.

[sand wigeon]

not rly about how clean it is

it's the matter of setting up the infrastructure, continued maintenance, continued use, noise pollution, etc

all things that disrupt ecosystems

but i live in a place where outside of a few highways its just woods and maybe the occassional residence or small town

and that's the entire place lol

i have a very different experience than the average person ig

[gilded elm]

The only actual way I can think of slowing down land reclamation in those countries is population control. That's a whole other thing :P

[sand wigeon]

there is no moral measure anymore

we reached that tipping point a long time ago

and no i do not think immoral measures should be used, i think the world is how it is and that is fine

[fierce moth]

will you usually check out news/introductions/tests about different cars?

[sand wigeon]

cars aren't really things people look into unless they're planning to buy

the average person is just going to use the same car for as long as possible until (likely) it breaks so bad it cannot be used

[fierce moth]

lol last time I check out these info is 12 years ago

[sand wigeon]

cars are very expensive for the average us citizen

[fierce moth]

So I feel everything is fresh when I open the web again

[gilded elm]

Wouldn't surprise me if most people just buy used lol

[sand wigeon]

yeah i'd say most people try to buy lightly used at least

[obtuse rune]

Many people buy used cars

As mentioned Cars are not cheap and keeping/upkeeping it isn't either

It is quite normal to keep a car foran extended period of time like 10 years and so

[sudden anchor]

I'm lad I ot a car for my job (it's mandatory, as I need to drive to clients). Savin undreds of € eac mont and I et to use it for roceries, if it's on te way. Also te less I own, te less worries about breakdowns, stealin, etc. I'm very privileed in tat reard.

[gilded elm]

Yeah most people don't want to buy a new car, they only do it because they have to.

[fierce moth]

yes I don't want to settle in a city for too long time so cars never be the thing I will buy

Fly like a bird is fun

[gilded elm]

Depends on the city, but you're less likely to need a car in a city than outside of a city.

[hidden walrus]

I swear I thought jetpack or flying cars would have been invented by now.🤔

[real kayak]

most people drive like idiots and you want them flying through the air?

[gilded elm]

ChatGPT will be my driver, EZ

oh wait

[hidden walrus]

I mean, yeah, probably would be AI guided. Traffic is terrible with an ever scaling population😩

So have you guys also quit LE and just spend all day in the off topic?

[sand wigeon]

that’s what most of the people active in this chat do

a lot of us got fed up with the game’s lack of anything over the last few years

[hidden walrus]

Yeah, I hate to be a pessimist but I dont hold much excitement for future LE stuff. It will have to be a miracle.

[gilded elm]

Presumably Krafton has given EHG ample leeway to cook, just guessing but maybe a year or two of funding to get the game together and work towards profitability before they pull the plug :P

If EHG manages to push out some strong updates / seasons or making meaningful progress towards that goal, there's a chance they turn the situation around. Ultimately people just want good content to play, question is can EHG deliver.

[hidden walrus]

I think Judd should step down. If every season has been unprofitable...pfft...and its the same head chef.

So when is Orybos again?

[gilded elm]

Hard to say where exactly the gaps are, but yeah I do think Judd had plenty of warning signs over the years to steer the ship.

That said, who knows how much EHG's cohesion would be affected by Judd stepping down, it's even possible that Krafton required Judd to stay onboard for some period of time as part of the acquisition's terms, specifically to reduce disruption among teams.

[hidden walrus]

He can stay as CEO, maybe just be less "control everything" mode. I dont know. Ultimately I think the failure has to always fall on the leader.

But like you said, they have massive leeway with the Krafton funding etc. Lets see if that can do "something", finish the campaign at least, God.

[fierce moth]

@neon sigil Do you know what type of art it belong to/any webs for traditional paintings specially? I have no idea what type of art it belong to after I converted my acrylic painting from a paper to a picture.

I own physical (paper) version and I convert it to digital(picture) version already. But I don't know where should I post the digital version. I need to match special tags with that before posted that online. Tags mean subtypes on artstation (topics) or behance (creative field)

I feel traditional painting always lack of ways to be seen.

[gilded elm]

I don't get the impression that he's trying to control everything. It seems closer to the other way around... things are too lax, there's seemingly no real accountability for consistently poor performance. I don't think Judd is out there micromanaging everything, I think he might just be too trusting lol

EHG, like many (or most?) companies of similar size seemingly has a standard organization hierarchy. Maybe not a full C-suite, but there's teams and teams have managers and leads. I'm hesitant to say that he's directly involved at the team level most of the time and seemingly the turnover rate isn't that high, which potentially hints at a good culture and strong employee loyalty. A micromanaging CEO doesn't normally foster this kind of work ethic.

My own career experience tells me that executives and leaders (e.g. directors) who try to micromanage the creative or development process instead of delegating to and trusting managers end up being unpopular in the company.

[hidden walrus]

Bro, you're right, I didn't think of it that way.

They spend more time in the general chat. So many there. Hopefully, we are out of their radar here, hehe.

[gilded elm]

I mean in either case, you're still right to say it's a failure in leadership ultimately IMO. It's just possible that he's too nice of a boss and maybe that leads to less pressure being applied when it should be.

[warped wren]

Seen the game decline from 0.9 till now, so I'm basically over it

[hidden walrus]

You think POE 2 is a worth a try?. Or is it life sucking.

[gilded elm]

It's life and soul sucking.

But it can be fun.

It can also be very tilting.

[hidden walrus]

I think my dopamine receptors are burnt out from LE and these Arpgs. Still need to recover tbh.

[warped wren]

it is better than it ever was, but there is a ways to go

I would recommend giving it a shot

I crib about many things in it but it has many fun things as well

[gilded elm]

Overcoming pain and suffering can be fun once you do.

[hidden walrus]

Okay, I'll give it some thought

[gilded elm]

If you go into it with the expectation of there being some pain and suffering, you'll probably be able to enjoy it.

[hidden walrus]

Anyway, good night guys. See you tomorrow to once again lament the state of things.

[warped wren]

tbh the campaign as a new player is actually nice, barring maybe the first couple zones where you can sometimes get really screwed if you follow recommended stuff and get bad RNG

[gilded elm]

Yeah, first-time campaign is just its own unique experience. The novelty definitely wears off though haha

[warped wren]

coughs quarterstaves and xbows cough

[gilded elm]

Geonor is definitely one of my favorite campaign boss fights of all time for any ARPG.

First-time playing it was quite the experience.

[warped wren]

I liked Vaal Iron Man as well

Tavakai sucks though

total ass fight

[gilded elm]

Same, wasn't big on Tavakai either

[junior oyster]

I'll probably get this only because of VS https://store.steampowered.com/app/3669620/Warhammer_Survivors/

[gilded elm]

Been on my wishlist, they need to release fast

[junior oyster]

It would be my first and only warhammer game

[gilded elm]

Hoping I can play as other factions too, not just the Imperium

Or rather, characters from other factions

[junior oyster]

I have no clue who any are lol

[warped wren]

good thing it's pixel art else I'd have bought it and sunk my life into it

[junior oyster]

I'd have preferred if it was another VS dlc though

[gilded elm]

Ugh, of the three 40k characters they teased, two of them are Ultramarines. Of course.

[warped wren]

blueberries always winning

[junior oyster]

The megaman side!

[gilded elm]

GW needs to stahp

[junior oyster]

GW?

[warped wren]

James Workshop

[gilded elm]

Games Workshop, IP holder for Warhammer franchise

GW is strict about licensing and what content licensees can use and release.

[junior oyster]

Yea I had a feeling

[gilded elm]

So the fact that Ultramarines are being pushed here initially is likely because GW dictated it.

[junior oyster]

I wonder if poncle are making the game though

[gilded elm]

Seems to be a different studio that has some ties to Poncle

And when they say engine, I assume it's more like a "framework" because VS has been Unity for a while now if I remember.

[warped wren]

strict
more like anally retentive

[gilded elm]

So they probably are borrowing whatever Survivors framework they built on top of Unity

[junior oyster]

Yea cuz the maps and items look very similar to VS

[gilded elm]

To be fair, probably for the best though lol

Just wish they didn't push blueberries so hard

[warped wren]

yeah can't fault them in this day and age

[junior oyster]

I mean I can kind of understand with how big WH is I guess

[gilded elm]

I think they try to line up various releases like video games with tabletop releases, and tabletop has been getting Ultramarine stuff recently I think

[junior oyster]

So they using Poncle tech but it's definitely their own game then

[gilded elm]

Poncle's tech built on Unity, I assume, yeah

[junior oyster]

Honestly secret level was cool

Not as good as the Megaman one but I think the WH one was pretty cool

[gilded elm]

That's the thing, if your first interesting exposure to 40k was Titus or Ultramarines in general, you'd probably think it's badass. But once you immerse yourself into the universe, you realize there's so much more cooler stuff in it.

Titus is badass, Ultramarines are badass, to be clear.

[junior oyster]

Yea I'm not going deep into the lore

[gilded elm]

But the universe is just so much more than the Ultramarines, wish they brought more of it out front and center.

I'm probably going to totally ignore the Warhammer Fantasy/Age of Sigmar side of this game though lol

[junior oyster]

Same

[gilded elm]

Got no interest in fantasy side of things

[warped wren]

WH fantasy holds no appeal for me either

[junior oyster]

For me it's the same with VS ode to castlevania

[warped wren]

it's just a more stereotypical variant of a dozen fantasy books I've read

[junior oyster]

I have 0 knowledge on castlevania 😂

[gilded elm]

Yeah exactly, there's already so much material out there which is similar thematically

40k is a crazy ass blend of fantasy and space opera

With the most absurd lore ever lol

[junior oyster]

Wishlisted it as it will be a good game to play on the steamdeck

[gilded elm]

I pray that it's Q1

I pray...

To Slaanesh

[warped wren]

wow someone I know just got 2 Garukhan's back to back

[gilded elm]

lol, publicly shaming jailed players?

[jade jackal]

This reminds me a bit of ArcheAge, when that existed in the west on official servers

you could go to the court and be a part of the sentencing

including city and court chat, it was absolute peak, the whole server was in on it

especially for infamous people

[gilded elm]

I guess getting veggies thrown at them reduces their sentence so they volunteer for it

[fierce moth]

Damn X is 100% toxic now, with the AI-generated feature

Impossible to defend the copyright

[ebon meadow]

X is a loss ,it was already before it changed owners

It is probably more toxic than reddits at this point

And also having "local paper news and news" verified accounts posting absolute bait and junk as BREAKING NEWS isn't helping

[fierce moth]

💀
I can't post any pictures on X anymore.

[warped wren]

social media in general is a cesspool

[jovial bane]

same, until total warhammer

the game singlehandedly revived old world

[junior oyster]

What's the difference?

Do the universes not collide?

[jovial bane]

yes, and soon your closest friend/spouse in game can be thrown in jail as well. Public shaming lowers the sentence

[junior oyster]

Aren't some of the enemies in the space stuff not some fancy shmancy mages?

[fierce moth]

Unfortunately artists need them to self-promote still

[jovial bane]

other than pretty much non-canon skaven-eldar contact it's separate spin-off universe

most of the races are the same, but in space

and just chaos gods and some of the demons are the same. Like Belakor

except afaik in 40k there are only 4 chaos gods. Fantasy currently has 5 plus Hashut who is minor chaos god

[junior oyster]

Also why is it called 40k?

What about 30k

[jovial bane]

because it's set in 41st millenium

[junior oyster]

Ahhh

[jovial bane]

30k is Horus Heresy

unironically

has books and tabletop game as well, so prequel

[gilded elm]

I think in 40k it's either Malice or Dark King (the Emperor) that would be the 5th chaos god, if it ever happened.

[junior oyster]

41st millenium? Sheesh that's a loooon waaay away from our millenium

[jovial bane]

yep, and Terra is basically our Earth

[junior oyster]

Terra means earth in other languages so that checks out lol

[jovial bane]

say Mona Lisa exists and is preserved as relic of old Terra

except yk, fantasy stuff like magic, demons and faith warping reality

[gilded elm]

High Gothic in 40k is basically Latin-like, so Terra makes sense

[junior oyster]

Terra-ria. I honestly never really made the connection till now lol

[jovial bane]

heh

I really like how different and horrifying warp travel is in 40k compared to other universes with their FTL travels

[gilded elm]

The concept of the Warp in 40k is just a very unique and amazing idea.

[jovial bane]

to put it in oversimplified terms, the ships travel through "minecraft nether". OFC that means everything tries to devour and/or mutate you

and you can easily get lost

but Emperor's light gave navigators access to coordinate check button

[junior oyster]

I have no idea about the nether either aside from the track in sonic racing cw

Lol

[gilded elm]

The Warp is basically an incorporeal dimension of the collective psychic energy of every sentient species in the Milky Way galaxy.

It happens to allow Faster than Light travel.

[junior oyster]

Ok that is legit funny

[jovial bane]

ye, and it has native fauna called demons

[gilded elm]

Thing is, it mostly concentrates negative emotions

[junior oyster]

Negative speed force my beloved

[gilded elm]

Things like murder, pain, suffering, feed heavily into it.

[jovial bane]

and it also wants to get into our dimension

so it corrupts

[junior oyster]

Nothing a Terra-rian can't handle right?

[jovial bane]

this is one of the few, if not only sci-fi universe in which there is a "young population of the planet, usually humans meets aliens. Alien invasion happens, turns out alien empire is gigantic"

Except the usual humans are aliens. And the ancient alien empire ? That's humans

[gilded elm]

You mean the Great Crusade when the Imperium set out to reunite the lost colonies of Man?

[junior oyster]

So no different to any other story then

Or are you saying they are human human

And not just looks like human but is superhuman

Kinda thing

[jovial bane]

Tau meeting Imperium

[gilded elm]

Ah, yeah

Tau, still a young, naive and mostly innocent species with basically no trace of psychic aptitude, making them practically immune to the negative effects of the warp lol

They call all that psychic stuff "mind science" because they're still extremely secular.

[jovial bane]

I love that naive outlook. They feel like normal sci-fi race thrown into ridiculous universe.

Like "there is this race of green hyperviolent fungi that talks like english hooligans and they have special power of believing stuff works"

[gilded elm]

Orks are da best

[jovial bane]

such us "painting stuff red makes them go faster, because obviously red car is faster"

[neon sigil]

Tbh, traditional painting thrives on inrl communities.

You need to reach out and find meetups. Its also where you will find most of your sales.

E.g. my current town has a very big traditional market. They host classes and galleries and there's even a museum that showcases art.

[fierce moth]

🙃 It's no hope for me to sell my traditional painting in local unfortunately.

Sad.

Make games seems that the only way to be global and without too many restrictions.

[desert jasper]

I really should get back into drawing

[gilded elm]

And their names for the other species... Humies, Beakies for space marines, Skrawnies for Aeldari lol

[desert jasper]

Not sharing any of the old drawings because I've signed them with my name

[jovial bane]

hands down, warhammer has best orks in fiction. Both fantasy warhammer and 40k.

[gilded elm]

Yeah definitely, Warhammer Orks are da best.

Gork and Mork sed so

[desert jasper]

Gork is brutal yet cunning

[jovial bane]

and Mork is cunning yet brutal

I like that in total warhammer you can have an event which is throwing a celebration for Gork or Mork

ane you get same stuff regardless of your choice

[desert jasper]

Or was Gork cunning yet brutal

[jovial bane]

But Skaven are my favourite.
They are paranoid, treacherous backstabbing rat people.
Thanquol, one of the lords is so paranoid he sabotages his own plans

They are incredibly technologically advanced, and so numerous they could take over the world. But they are too busy backstabbing and fighting each other.

[desert jasper]

I love that the Skaven mine gold
they don't even use gold for anything
But it means the people who could use it don't get access to it

[jovial bane]

yup, just purely out of spite

I also very much like the lore tidbit that Nagash was such a powerful necromancer Skaven were affraid of him.
How affraid ? They stopped backstabbing each other

[desert jasper]

Tbh I've not played too many warhammer games

Some Darktide, vermintide, 40k space marine
and uhh Space Hulk: deathwing

Didn't like Space Hulk tbh

[gilded elm]

Not creepy at all

[desert jasper]

Nothing creepy there
The water looks very inviting
Why don't you go for a swim?

[gilded elm]

Whew, just barely got it

[gilded elm]

lmao

[placid yarrow]

It do be posing

[placid yarrow]

You know you're doing things in the wrong order when an open world game hits you with this xd

They've put a big ass invisible wall that divides like half the world lmao

They won't let me get my flying mount so I can speed through the main quests in ng+

[fierce moth]

Just see a blender tutorial with 190+ episodes for building a concept environment project 😨

Oh my god. It'll a big challenge for patience and execution.

The first step, find references is enough to let me be lost

[warped wren]

ayy it finally sold

guess I can buy Rigwald's now, maybe

[fierce moth]

https://www.cgboost.com/courses/master-urban-environments-in-blender
Oh I think it's this one.

[fierce moth]

🤔 I'd better to figure out 2d painting at first

https://kitbash3d.com/collections
Oh. Another proof for why 3d environment is money-consuming lol

[placid yarrow]

Ez clap I cheesed a bird away from its family

[fierce moth]

Alright... What can I do today?

1. Visit the art college in my city because I never know what the only art college looks.
2. Go on painting more branches.
3. Grogecy day.

[twilit mountain]

Have looked into Hytale a bit more. That game's cooking, tbh. It's on my radar.

[warped wren]

think that's about it for this league: https://pobb.in/RTX3NAL07UCL

only other thing left is possibly Rakiata's but that's just astronomically expensive so whatever

[fierce moth]

Branches are done, painting many blossoms but time to visit the gate of art college

[twilit mountain]

Enjoy. Also think about asking folks there if they know any public groups for art of some sort (assuming you get opportunity to talk to people ofc), never hurts to try and make some connections or find new places to share.

[fierce moth]

I just thought about the same problem last night

My guider told me just keep painting, create more artworks at first

[jovial bane]

that's so wild

Basically the performance issue with MonHun Wilds is caused by ... amount of DLCs owned

The more you own the better the game runs, because it keeps checking what DLCs are you missing in the background

[warped wren]

literal p2w

[desert jasper]

Yeah, just saw that
And just as I was ocnsidering downloading it again because I've been getting the itch to play some monster hunter
but I guess I could just download World again instead

[fierce moth]

25c now. 25c winter :)

[jovial bane]

Yk, I started really loving instant noodles in a cup.
It feels so good when you had no time to prepare warm lunch, but you had stashed couple of them at work for such occasions.

[desert jasper]

Yeah they can be nice
Especially if you put in something extra to make it more filling

[fierce moth]

It's my daily brunch

Cheap but delicious

[jovial bane]

and warm, which is great in winter

[fierce moth]

I don't care warm or not... Due to the noon is 25c

[jovial bane]

Today it's warm, 2°C. But couple of days ago it was -16 iirc

[fierce moth]

I feel I'm in infinite summer :(

Appreciate your winter so much

[jovial bane]

It's fun until you have to dig through snow

I took the photo on monday, the chair shows nicely how much snow has accumulated

[fierce moth]

But London have the best weather

Wait. 99% humidity

[jovial bane]

At least it shouldn't be too hot in summer in London. I hope.

I don't mind cold, but the snow and ice is really annoying

Especially ice.

Stairs, icicles and seeing people drive fast makes me nervous

[fierce moth]

Doing a city walk (Just done a cup of milk tea, huh I'm full.)

I never walk in this area before