loopgru

joined 1 year ago
[–] loopgru 4 points 2 months ago

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2:_Janthir_Wilds#Additional_releases

There's a raid/convergence and a legendary spear releasing in November. Another map in Q1, and at some point (TBA) a legendary back, another raid/convergence, and another map. So maybe something to start working on in a few months (spear) and sometime another project (back), though that TBA seems like it's getting close to the next expac release.

 

So to preface/disclaim, I love the new zones. JL is a gorgeous zone with great music and reminds me strongly of Grizzly Hills from WotLK back in the day (still one of my favorites there), and JS has serious Diablo vibes, which I absolutely adore. The encounters are interesting, and at least the first of the antagonists was interesting. There's a lot to like here.

That makes it worse, then, to say I am done with them after just a few hours. Story quests done, map complete, got my Falling Star, did the meta. Could always grind more mastery XP, but I've got the ones that mattered to me.

With the old "full" expacs, you had elite specs and hero points that pulled you back to those zones on alts, some- eg guano, frogs, shroom, chak- that were actually fun challenges to tackle. I've been back to HoT / PoF / EoD a dozen times and more over the years.

It just really seems a shame, then, to spend all of this time on awesome art and music and encounters for it to be rendered pointless so quickly. There will be a legendary back at some point in the cycle that will be interesting for a bit of poking like the living world legendaries, but even that's just a 1-off.

At least in SotO there was the prospect of obsidian armor to give it some legs, but unless interior decorating is your thing, this one really just doesn't have a shelf life. I finished up, looked around, and immediately went back to working on stuff elsewhere in the game.

[–] loopgru 2 points 2 months ago

I've tried a few of them and they seem a mixed bag. Mostly talking from a WvW perspective here.

Rev's is stupid strong, like 53k on the dummy and going to get severely beaten by the nerf bat strong. The kit is a bit awkward though- the AoE of the 5 is really a bit too small to be usable in any situation where there's lag, though, so blob fights are right out. It could be an OK replacement for M/A in a pure condi build, but I think you'll still wind up mostly on SB anyway. For a cele build it will have trouble displacing either the range and area denial of SB or the mobility of GS.

Ranger's is a really fun, slippery kit with a lot of snares, and all the stealth is very silly with Relic of the Unseen Invasion (600 range AoE superspeed for 2s on stealth). Downside is that the damage just isn't there for it to be a threat.

Warrior's is solid, great upgrade from rifle for a ranged kit. Still some issues with lag and it's all projectiles so it ain't it for blobs, but I could see it seeing some use in a roaming kit. Tough to give up the sustain of staff or the mobility of GS, though.

Necro is really just sword with a different coat of paint and more to manage. I like the idea of it as a ganking / engage-and-burst option, but I've had the 2 dodged enough times now to be grouchy about having that much of the damage bound up in a single ability. I could see it being useful to land the 4, precast either the 5 or CttB, then port on and swap to shroud to finish the burst.

[–] loopgru 12 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Portland or Seattle would for those criteria well as long as you don't mind rain. Both very progressive cities, weather is generally mild (rarely above 85, rarely below 30, usually less than 2 weeks a year with snow).

[–] loopgru 54 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Why on Earth would they make it Nvidia exclusive given how thoroughly that company has screwed the pooch on open source drivers and consequently how dominant AMD has come to be in Linux gaming?

[–] loopgru 13 points 6 months ago

The demographics you describe in 1 and 2 are de facto an incredibly small minority compared to other, more typical forms of immigration. Just think about what percentage of the population is wealthy enough to emigrate, let alone engage in borderline sex trafficking.

As for #3, yes, we have a party who is currently succeeding in pitching populism and proto-fascism dressed up in culture war nonsense. The job of progressives is to address those same economic concerns in a manner that actually works rather than the trickle down myth from the right that has so thoroughly gutted the middle class.

[–] loopgru 13 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Just saying, if 45's acts are deemed political activity protected from prescription, 46 is still in office and is handed carte blanche to engage in all manner of unseemly counterfuckery. At the extreme, I believe Seal Team Six was mentioned, but I'm sure Biden could find lots of fun and creative ways to abuse unfettered executive power.

[–] loopgru 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There's no reason this has to be binary. You don't have to choose between her being a makeovers and mimosas pal and being an enemy or a stranger. There's a lot of space between those poles, and there's no reason that you have to choose a static point on that continuum and stick with it forever.

Right now, you're hurting and reestablishing boundaries and your sense of self. If she's the friend she says she wants to be, she will respect that and give you space. After you've had some time to heal, maybe you can be more friendly, but for now she should accept your need to insulate a bit.

For me, the primary, immediate goals would be to a) heal and b) avoid making things worse for the kids.

[–] loopgru 1 points 7 months ago

Yes, but if baseline generation goes up there are fewer peak demand events that exceed available baseline capacity so fewer revenue generating opportunities for peaker plants. But I agree the real answer is less overbuild and more storage- unfortunate given today's Tesla news.

[–] loopgru 6 points 7 months ago (3 children)

This.

For those not in the industry, the drivers for this are green tags and production tax credits (more common in wind).

Green tags are basically attaboys for funding the generation of renewable electricity, and are tradable.

Production tax credits are a $/MWH tax incentive for generating renewable power, and are, again, tradable.

In both cases, then, there are incentives for renewable projects to keep producing power even when the wholesale power price at the point of interconnection is negative, as there are generation incentives that still make it better than idling.

From an environmentalist perspective, this is fantastic, as virtually all of this renewable generation represents offset coal and gas peaker plant generation.

[–] loopgru 44 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Best part here is that it's a nonsense statement. Generated electricity is measured in watt hours (be they kilowatt, megawatt, or gigawatt).

[–] loopgru 2 points 7 months ago

Might want to make the bottom prong of that E a bit longer, I spent a few moments trying to figure out why we were barfing our fangs.

[–] loopgru 3 points 7 months ago

Don't bet on it- I've been playing since release (11.5yrs) and can't claim that. ;)

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