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I made plans with a rather cute Masters in Library Science student for a second socially-distanced date, and while I'm not trying to be overly hopeful last night's multi-hour zombie-killing escapade was mutually enjoyable (we spent around six hours on Killing Floor, not a bad first date all things considered).

Report: Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs Agree to 10-Year Contract Through 2031 Season. Holy moly! It will be interesting to see the numbers.

To be fair, there's usually a handful of cases of bubonic plague a year, and it is pretty much hammered by current medicine. It's just being considered newsworthy, well, because its 2020 and we constantly expect the other shoe to drop. With tentacles.

Josh Sawyer's tweets.

Debates about the nature of nothingness have been around since at least the ancient Greeks. Their thinking brought about the concept of the aether as a medium for light to travel through. Now, of course, we have the quantum vacuum. Emptiness can be quite a fascinating subject really.

the vendor glitch where you can't buy anything or switch party members is absolutely unacceptable. How can you release a game that has these kinds of devastating bugs. This game has been out now for a good deal amount of time...reinstalling the game and restarting the game does nothing...i want my damn money back. I shouldn't have to delete all my saved files and restart because you can't get your head out of your asses to fix these bugs...meeting deadlines to release the game for monetary gain while leaving the game fundamentally broken is crazy...get your **** together. Dev email me and I want my money back

i know it's too late for your character now, but i just wanted to clarify that it's not just your might and per that needs balancing, but really a sum of all the different +damage and +accuracy bonuses you expect to have. in other words, for a rogue there's basically no point in investing in might, because sneak attack is such a consistent extra source of +damage% that to maximize your damage output you should put points into perception instead. similarly, a ranger is going to have such a huge accuracy that you're better off putting points into might than more into perception. and as a third example, if you expect to wield medium or large shields all the time, then perception becomes extremely important compared to might, because you're effectively starting off at -4 or -8 compared to might. however, dexterity is the ultimate king damage stat. Both might and perception translate into ~2% net damage increase (it's counterintuitive, but 3% damage increase => 2% actual net damage increase due to grazes and how damage bonuses are additive). Dexterity very nearly translates into 3% net damage increase, and is useful for more than just damage. In basically any build (unless I'm going for a particular character "concept") I always prize dexterity over putting points into might and perception. that large shield modal can be a real life saver. against those damned risen archers, i tend to send out a lone tank first with the large modal switched on shortly after so that they absorb all those killer arrow hits. yeah. I tend to actually really like this angle. I wish the stats were a bit more balanced, but in general I like the ability to create non-cookie-cutter builds. It's a bit ironic that "cookie-cutter" builds in this game are actually a bit suboptimal due to how con and might work, but aside from resolve (which has increasing returns and a single point can make or break a build) the impact of stats are such that "suboptimal" doesn't mean "game-ruining" like it used to IWD or BG (or Fallout 1/2, for a non-IE franchise example).

Found the tweet (sorry sent it to myself from a screenshot on my phone, so no direct link)

Hate to be "that guy", but that shouldn't put worries to rest if that worried you to begin with. Bubonic plague is endemic in areas of Central Asia and elsewhere. It's under control, but there's a chance that an antibiotic-resistant outbreak could get out of control. Note "get out of control" rather than "appear" because IIRC, they already found cases of antibiotic-resistant plague bacteria a few years ago. Misuse of antibiotics is one of those potentially catastrophic risks that don't get nearly enough attention. But hey, at least it's not Corona.

Right on schedule!

if you are afeared of tentacles... it's already too late SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Produces Long Tentacles in Infected Cells to bring back 'round to politics Frederick Douglass Statue Torn Down and Vandalized in Rochester, N.Y. oh, and we ain't adding as some kinda stoopid, "look, the far right is vandalizing monuments too," shtick. we posted mr. douglass' famous speech 'bout the fourth and as if to commemorate, some d-bag (likely multiple d-bags) take an action which seems to drive home, with a notable lack o' subtle, the recognition that the wrongs of 1852 is not complete a thing o' the past. HA! Good Fun!

Engagement/Disengagement has a lot more impact than it had in PoE. One of my favorite tanks is still an Unbroken/Trickster with large shield who has about 5-6 engagement slots. A Crusader is very tough from the start and gets Lay on Hands + Constant Recovery + Unbending as well as multiple resistances. For most parties that's tanky enough without a shield - but you'll have to use thick armor. Pet + Armored Grace help to counter the recovery malus. Enemies severely underpenetrating you is one of the best things for your survival. If you can combine it with more dmg mitigating effects (like food - see rice etc.) you can keep incoming dmg really low. Stuff like focused gunfire can still hurt, so switching to a large shield setup during such occasions is a good idea. But against most opponents you can go with a two hander or a dual weapon setup. Another idea could be to stack some retaliation. You can stack Flame Shields of Darcozzi and Magran's Blessing. Magran's Blessing also is a bashing shield as @thelee suggested (not small though). You could also take Brand Enemy. It's cheap and it has no recovery. So in theory you could spend most of your Zeal with putting Brand Enemy on most of the enemies and leave the rest for healing. Maybe one or two for Eternal Devotion (works with the Fire Shields as well). Brand Enemy is a slow death but inevitable (can't miss, has no duration). Except against fire immune enemies obviously. The fire shields + brand stack up decently enough. You can then add some other retaliation effects (there's not too many though). Late-game shenanigans: If you have a SC Furyshaper in the party then Brand Enemy (as any DoT) will heal you with every tick once the FuryShaper casts Blood Ward... So putting multiple Brand Enemies out will give you a never-ending trickle of healing (as long as there's a Blood Ward - which lasts a really long time).

Do I know this? Engagement actually feels very powerful to me for aggro. If you're fighting multiple enemies, you can keep the bulk of them locked down. If you're fighting one enemy and they be like "like I'm gonna hit the toughest target lol", you swap to a rapier (with nothing in the offhand), modal on, and Mule Kick the poor villain over and over. I think I was using Rännig's Wrath for this, as IIRC it has the highest accuracy of all rapiers.

I can confirm that. He wrote about it not too long ago.

definitely debauchery. the hangover effects are ignorable if either use drunkard's regret, or just rest multiple times in one sitting with some non-alcoholic stuff. (this does not work so well in rymrgand or eothas's challenge, at which point iron stomach might be worth it)

i don't have too much experience with a crusader, but I would personally max out resolve and get as much dexterity as I can, and then mostly rely on small shields versus the others. you would really lean into the tankiness of it all, and due to increasing returns of deflection, max resolve + paladin deep faith (and good role playing) + shield style + small shield would get you huge survivability returns. Small shields don't tank your accuracy, so you don't need perception as desperately. And the small shield modal boosts your weapon accuracy by +15, which can help offset your lower offensive output and the 25% recovery penalty for switching on the modal. There also a couple of small shields that you can dual wield for damage (tuolito's palm--even if it's monk focused, you can also pick up monastic unarmed training and give it a similar boost--or the best defense) and dual-wielding speedy responsiveness. (also helps with damage output if you have mob stance on) later on, weyc's oracular focus can make you very tough with either permanent +5 or temporary +10 deflection boost, combined with refreshing defense from the fighter. your points are scattered and limited, so I would reserve most other points for dexterity. Compared to might and perception it gives you all-around superior returns, and also helps compensate for the sluggishness of being a tank. I would actually eat a point or two out of constitution - early on you can use an amulet of health, and later on if you're still struggling you can pick up Tough. But IME your high defenses and paladin skills will do more for you than more points in constitution. You can use those points from constitution to put into dexterity or intellect. I wouldn't take points out of might or perception if I could help it, but at the same time I would only put points into it if I had already maxed out resolve and I was comfortable with where my dexterity and intellect were sitting at.

They should pour more money into ship combat.... that would fix everything

I think Obsidian would jump on that if they could. It won't happen though. Although microsoft does own inxile, which has the Wasteland series. So i suppose it's possible inxile and obsidian could partner up for that. I think that's the most you could hope for.

Facially, Randal look like a woman with a fake beard glued on.

"When the jaws open wide and there’s more jaws inside, that’s a Moray"

I was walking past a farm and a sign said: "Duck, eggs!" I thought: "That's an unneccesary comma - then it hit me."

An epidemiologist, an ICU doctor, and a scientist all walk into a bar. I'm just kidding, they all know better.

They're fighting global warming

Call me dim, but I don't get this one.

Wonder Woman started being able to glide through the air in 1958, she got true flight in 1985 post Crisis on Infinite Earths when she was rebooted. The Invisible Plane dates from Wonder Woman's introduction in Sensation Comics #1 from 1942.

Behold The Shawnshank Redemption of reviews...

obvious alternative: show a little restraint and instead o' subscribing to multiple streaming services, one wait and rent discs when they become available. madness. does result in being spoiled, which is annoying, but such behavior saved us from recent star trek disappointments. HA! Good Fun!

Just finished the final season of Dark. It seems it actually is possible to wrap up nicely a long, complicated story with multiple plots and character arcs. Kudos to the creators for a great story.

I need an adult.

I'm fully convinced the authorities are already spying on me via all my electronic devices, or at least have the capability to spy on me, were I worth spying on. That's why I make sure to choke the ol' chicken as much as possible in front of my phone, laptop, and desktop. I have this image of a windowless van parked 200 yards down the road. The back opens up up and a guy enters carrying a box of donuts and 2 coffee cups. "Hey Hank, what's our boy up to?" "Do you even need to ask, Bob? He's beating it." "Again!?" "Yes again. ALWAYS. Dude is always beating it." "He's inhuman." "He's something." "Well, what's his porn of choice this time; gangbang, tentacle hentai, anal? "Lesbian tribbing." "Solid choice."

More importantly, why are there no orange people in this drawing?

Last one

I want my money back...the vendor bug is unacceptable. Releasing the game with a bug this devastating is a joke

Some more stuff if not mentioned before, if you have blade cascade on and grave calling, you can permanently stun-lock mega bosses even they have body affliction resistance, dunno if this is an oversight but that paralyze from weapon cannot be resisted.

Ennio Morricone dies, aged 91, after fracturing his femur in a fall

Just stay away from "tickle stocks" though. That kind of perverse sickery can get you locked away and tortured.