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@Boeroer I usually don’t use any mods so I’m going to follow your advice and take out the talents that you found redundant or can be obtained by other methods as items and such. But now I almost don’t want any talent from the rogue side, but I still must take them on level up; so passives it is. I used to use arterial strike as an opener against melee opponents, but I dropped for some reason, I will give it another chance then. Penetrating visions I completely forgot that only work with damaging spells, I usually don’t take them because most cool ones target fortitude and the others that target other defenses are a bit meh. I also forgot that ciphers could buff allies so I’m taking Pain Block as you said. Slippery Mind I didn’t find useful since, maybe on occasion but if Ydwin is blooded or worse the combat is going bad. Do you recommend any ranged weapons? I used to use frostseeker but the weapon bug made me change to veilpiercer/essence interrupter.

Hormuz is conclusively Persian in origin already, and it's already the Persian Gulf so Trump might need to make another concession. Though one suspects Trump's idea of concessions would be offering to build Trump Tower Tehran. Really Bruce, even for you that's weaker than a homeopathic dilution drink. So the sole reason the US and Israel's attacks weren't cowardly was because they were not targeting Iran's economy explicitly? Well then, who bombed the Pars gas field first, Iran or Israel? Was that to cause economic chaos or not? The US and Israel definitely attacked a country weaker than them, without a declaration of war etc. But not cowardly because they didn't attack economic targets? Until they did, and most of Trump's rhetoric in the past week has been explicitly about economic/ civilian targets. Anyway, Iran's President has released a speech I'm sure everyone will appreciate. Source (Maybe not quite the Pearl Harbour reference Trump was going for with Takaichi)

Postscript: I'm definitely of the opinion that this is a game where one has to give it 10-20 hours before it starts to shine. You can judge two things in two hours: whether you're going to put up with/let yourself get used to the interface UI, and whether the way any story/chr stuff is done appeals to you. The rest is a slow burn. Combat gets more interesting, exploration gets more interesting, puzzles get more interesting - in a way, the 1st castle-region/starter area gives some bad impressions but get past that and there's a pretty good game. Not GOTY material tho. Unless continued and rapid patches turn that around.

**** me but the ending of Chainsaw Man is bad... Ending Part 2 was a mistake...

Crimson Desert - they patched it again. there's now a personal stash function, although it seems mixed with the auto-collect wayward-loot function (it's the same chest), plus some control changes, plus some boss nerfs I guess (some will like that, some won't). A lot of other small things. Kliff now no longer feels like a 3-ton brick - maybe now he's a 1-ton brick. It's still an improvement. Anyway, I'm around 20-25 hours now, although much of that time initially was wandering starter castle region to amass lots of food (your heal potions) and revive orbs (ability to immediately continue boss fights, with a bit of health, if you die), and upgrading weapons/armor where possible. Because I'm a wuss and figure I'll need extra. :P So far I'd call this a 7.5/10 game. Higher if you like the mechanics/environment, lower if you dislike them etc. ---Main questline goes in chapters, with multi-parts to each Chapter. Doing these quests is pretty important for the first 4-5 chapters to unlock stuff, including some crafts, stores, npcs. Don't have to if you don't want, but you won't be able to access/do everything you may wander into, otherwise. ---definitely a sandbox-action game, with RPG elements. The story cutscenes are there, but yeah. ---exploration and mechanics (outside of the crazy control UI) are good and yes it's very desnse vs. empty. But they ARE a lot of MMO or fetch or "go kill the bandits for me" stuff. A few sidequests are more than that, and MQ stuff can be more involved. --- the main process of improving gear is upgrading with crafters and resources. So your sword gets +1 or 2 per upgrade - do that often enough you can way outlevel current mobs. But it does take some resource-gathering time. If you don't upgrade your gear periodically and try to rely on randomly finding something better, you're likely gonna rapidly die to mobs/mini-bosses the farther from the starter-castle you go. Diablo/PoE/or even some more focused story-rpg type loot progress this is absolutely not. I'm having fun. It's kind of obsessive, but for me, not the "sleep, what's sleep" type of obsessive. It's more the load-save, 3-6 hrs blink by, then I feel like a 12+hr break. EDIT: oh - I have the particles effect at around 30-40%, which so far hasn't felt too busy/ostentatious etc. I think if you have it at 0, it starts to affect things like visibility of rain. EDITEDIT: weather sometimes affects resources found. Rainstorm - toads/salamanders and other such appear to collect, sunny, it's butterflies and insects, which have different purposes. Small stuff like that.

ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 AMD Ryzen 7 5700X G.Skill Ripjaws V - DDR4 - 32 GB INNO3D RTX 5080 X3 OC Crucial MX100 512GB Seagate Barracuda ST4000DM004 - 4 TB Dell U3415W 2 Dualshock 4 gamepads Antec P101 Silent Seasonic CORE GC 650 And now I upgraded the gpu, while rueing not following majestic's advice last year.

Maybe they can just ask for it to be on US maps alone as the Straits of Iran, like the Gulf of America.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-toughens-negotiating-stance-amid-mediation-efforts-sources-say-2026-03-24/ "In any talks with the U.S., Iran would not only demand an end to the war but concessions that are likely red lines for U.S. President Donald Trump - guarantees against future military action, compensation for wartime losses and formal control of the Strait of Hormuz, the sources said." Compensation for losses would be hilarious to see.

And closing down the Straits, do you also think that is a suitable target?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/woman-says-bill-cosby-drugged-182950365.html A long waited but appreciated legal verdict around the Bill Cosby story for one of his victims " A woman who claims Bill Cosby drugged and raped her in 1972 won a $59.25 million jury award on Monday, decades after first stepping forward as Jane Doe Number 8 in the 2005 lawsuit filed by former Temple University athletics director Andrea Constand against the disgraced comedian. Jurors found Cosby liable for the sexual assault of an intoxicated woman as well as sexual battery. They awarded plaintiff Donna Motsinger $17.5 million for past mental suffering and $1.75 million for future suffering in their initial verdict Monday morning. Later in the day, they added another $40 million in punitive damages after finding that Cosby acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud.”

Sorry, but in this case I don't see it as cowardice. The conflict between the Sunnis and Shia is older than the US has been in existence. We shouldn't be that surprised that the conflict spilled over into Sunni gulf nations. I'd expect many of the gulf nations are US allies in large part because of Iran. When you attack a nation, you can predict that your allies become fair game. The Sunni Gulf nations provide basing rights for US forces, which also makes them suitable targets.

General Dynamics-led team unveils self-driving truck with microwave counter-drone tech - Breaking Defense No mention of its power supply. *sad trombone noise* F-22 Raptor "2.0" Spotted Undergoing Flight Testing

Iran is attacking Gulf States that have allowed the US to launch attacks on Iran from their territory. Completely justified position IMO.

Oh I absolutely agree, the Original Pillars of Eternity I know was primarily a single class game when it first came out, and only after the White March were level expanded and "Cross Class" Talents Introduced at all. It wasn't until well into development of Deadfire that Multiple Classes were even an option, and personally I believe those aren't truly so much "dips" like what you can expected in the original Pillars of Eternity but true Split Classes where you share leveling between each class as you progress. Its part of why trying to figure out a fun build from one into the other has been such an interesting exploration on builds and progression as one can contemplate the "rebirth" before Berath from one game to the other as a chance to reforge your character once entering Deadfire. Personally, I loved the idea of being an Island Aumauan Storm Chanter having been trapped in the politics of the Vailian Republics who possibly had somehow been cast out originally during the first game. With all the transpired my character could have been called back (Possibly as a Chanter/Druid?). I'm still playing around with the idea.

Played some more Death Stranding 2. Also listening to the Soundtrack on the off and there's a song where Troy Baker is singing. This made me realize - I'm swooning now - this guy is so cool. He is great in everything I've seen him. First really noticed it in the Indiana Jones game, but it's really wherever I see him pop up. Guy is amazing at his craft.

There is a long history of attacking vulnerable targets if it weakens your opponents economic base. None of those on the receiving end did anything to the attacker other than being part of an economic base. From the razing of farms and complete depopulation (i.e. butchering the villagers) of villages during the hundred years war to "pre-emptive" actions like Mers-el-Kebir to make sure you don't have to fight a potential adversary later. Real-politik has no morals, only objektives.

In general I think your ability and especially your spell choices are fine. Here are some abilities I personally would probably not take: Since you don't use any damaging spells besides Recall Agony and Disintegrate - which both deal raw damage - you can drop Penetrating Visions. Unless you are using the Community Patch, Improved Critical is absolutely not worth the ability point. Uncanny Luck: same as Improved Critical. Okay if Community Patch is active, not worth it if not. Deep Wounds doesn't generate focus. Still a good ability for damage, but maybe it could be skipped on a Mindstalker who's focused on delivering debuffs/afflictions. Combat Focus is not worth it in your case imo. You can get Concentration layers elsewhere or even become immune. Also as a ranged Mindstalker you might not need it in most fights? I personally would pick Crippling Strike over Blinding Strike. Just because Blinding Strike is two times as expensive - which means you can only use it half the times you could use Crippling Strike. Besides the bonus PEN, Crippling Strike also has one more Power Level for scaling which leads to higher base dmg and base PEN than Blinding Strike. I wouldn't even upgrade it and thus spare +1 ability point (compared to Blinding Strike + Confounding Blind). Bear's Fortitude is not worth it that late imo. Might as well use a +3 CON belt and get +6 Fortitude without spending an ability point. What I might take instead: Ciphers usually struggle a bit in tough fights against high defense foes. Empowering an attack or a spell can help. You didn't pick any of the Empower related abilities like Accurate Empower for example, maybe something to consider. They can make a difference in tough fights. An empowered, high accuracy Disintegrate can be pretty brutal. Lasting Empower stacks with Lingering Echoes, giving you very long affliction times on something like an empowered Secret Horrors for example or an empowered Puppet Master. Psychovampiric Shield reduces enemies' Resolve by 10 points. This can be very useful in boss fights against foes that have very high Resolve. Because a giant those all afflictions and other hostile effects (Disintegrate for example) won't stick long. -10 Resolve means an increase of duration of 30%. On top of that you get more Resolve yourself (yay). For a ranged character it's only useful occasionally but maybe something to consider if boss fights are something where Ydwin doesn't perform too well. Keen Mind lets you use a better/higher focus spell (+1 tier) right away at the start of battle which can make a difference in tough battles. Use it in combination with stealth: a stealthed character gets a -80% recovery time bonus for his first action from stealth. If you can cast a better spell from stealth and that have basically now recovery that's an advantage. You can also combine it with Empower. The Complete Self is nice with big AoE spells such as Phantom Foes since it most likely procs. In case of Phantom Foes it cuts down the cost in half. Escape is a cheap but effective mobility tool which also grants you a +50 deflection bonus; it can be pronged with Salvation of Time. In combination with a Priest who benefits from your Ancestor's Memory, you can make yourself a lot more sturdy for very cheap. I find Slippery Mind to be very useful later in the game. If you use Potions and Scrolls then Deep Pockets is great in combination with either The Amazing and Truly Incredible Instant Potion Belt or Spellkeeper (belt). I personally like to pick Fast Runner. It helps to outrun enemies and make them stop chasing you (because they quickly realize they cannot catch up and turn to somebody else. Not needed with Boots of Speed though. Bull's Will stacks with Iron Will. So if you want to invest in a defense passive I would maybe pick those instead of Bear's Fortitude. Snake's Reflex can be combined nicely with Adept Evasion instead of using Bear's Fortitude. If you want more versatility and lose the one trick pony feel a bit you can try to pick one or two support spells besides Ancestor's Memory. Pain Block is very good for example. It's very nice to have a good healing (and bonus AR) spell at hand on a character who normally isn't the party healer. That way you can improve action economy in a pinch when it comes to healing. If you only have one healer in the party you can get into situations where more than one party member would need healing - but the healer cannot cast two spells at the same time and maybe doesn't have a powerful AoE healing left. In those cases it's great to have somebody else be able to deliver the occasional healing effect. If you want to try something completely and utterly different you could check out if the Whispers of the Endless Paths with Offensive Parry combined with Riposte is something you would enjoy with a Mindstalker. I did this with a Streetfighter/Soul Blade recently and had a lot of fun with it. I'm sure it could also work with Ydwin. Give Ydwin all the deflection she can get (items, spells such as Psychovampiric Shield and Borrowed Instincts) and put on Nomad's Brigandine with the enchantment that raises melee deflection and the other that grants immunity to disengagement attacks. Use as Boots of Speed. Boost INT with items. You can then attack enemies from the flanks with a cone - and if they attack you and miss you can harvest focus passively with Offensive Parry and Riposte. The action economy of this is pretty nice because you don't even have to attack to generate focus. In this case Blinding Strike and a blinding spell are great because they lower enemies' accuracy (leads to more misses). Secret Horrors is also great for this. If you get damaged too hard you just run away. Since the armor turns all disengagement attacks into misses you will proc Offensive Parry every time somebody does a disengagement attack against you - and sometimes Riposte will proc, too. In this case Persistent Distraction is good to have of course. If you want to use an occasional backstab and don't have the Community Patch: Run Through (enchantment of Whispers of the Endless Paths) in combination with Backstab (and Sneak Attack + Deathblows) can do absurd single target damage 1/encounter. Secret Horrors to unlock Deathblows, pop a Smoke Veil or Shadowing Beyond, use Run Through and watch a very high danger number float up. ;) This also delivers a lot of focus of course. Cheers!

I thi I think the great part about this game is you can play it in so many ways and there is no optimal way. I play a very aggressive style of combat. I don't use escape or shadowing beyond to get my rogue out of trouble, I use it to get her into trouble. Escape right into the middle of a pack of enemies, stun, hack away, get surrounded, but take down 4-5 before I go. I find it really fun to play like that!

Cowardly because the war is between the US and Israel vs Iran But Iran is attacking Gulf States who have not attacked it because they have weaker defenses. Its well documented the responses from all the Gulf States. Qatar has actually gone out its way to help and negotiate with Iran in the past but they still getting attacked Its not about the type of weapons you use or whether you invade a country. Its about attacking countries that are not at war with you because your objective becomes about economic chaos. Like I said I cant recall any war in the history of wars that has been fought like this, maybe someone can think of something similar? Iran is perfectly justified to attack any and every Israeli or US target but threatening, for example, to destroy Saudi Arabias oil fields is cowardly even if it an understandable Iranian strategy

So taking bets on them invading Kharg after COB on Friday ?

this war should accelerate renewable energy greatly if one couldn't profit from insider trading invest in renewable seem like the logical choice

Trump administration to pay French company $1B to walk away from US offshore wind leases Redacted is still tilting at windmills, I see.

Hi. I have been using Ydwing as a ranged mindstalker on veteran upscaled through the beast of winter and now the seeker, slayer survivor dlc but she feels a bit underwhelming. She feels an one trick pony, that's basically single target damage but even that doesn't feel very satisfying and when opponents are resistant to mental attacks it only auto attacks. This is the build that i have for her now at level 20: Penetrating visions Lingering echoes Drain whip Dirty fighting Phantom foes Blinding Strike Puppet master Confounding blind Hammering Thoughts Secret horrors Greater focus Two handed style Recall Agony Combat focus Borrowed instinct Deep wounds Rapid Casting Uncanny Luck Disintegration Improved critical The empty soul Far casting Ancestors memory Deathblows Bears Fortitude Is there a way to improve this?