[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

[pokken]

styles of premier guides because they look great

I think you're looking for 'primer' but I'm excited to see how it turns out

[toctheyounger]

Nine months ago we had a hearty discussion about premiers and the state of the forum format. That got me to finally buckle down and start writing guides for my decks (before that I did attempt to, but they were often written a quarter through before being thrown out the window).

Today, I present the overarching thread for my suite of decks. My intention going forward is to start a new thread every friday/weekend (subject to my schedule) for each of my decks (under decklists of course, the main thread had no real place to belong so I just chucked it in the main section) for each of my decks, then spend the week after sprucing it up, which, if going as planned, will end along with the year.

The good news is, the text content for each and every thread is already effectively done, so it's unlikely the schedule is thrown off because it can't be thrown off because I didn't write the content. The bad news is I have no coding background/experience and I'm the type of the person who can't just copy the template because I must know how the screws work in a system bottom-up, so I'm literally reading/referencing the BBCode guide slowly. Every thread is going to be a hot mess visually (you can visit the overarching thread for a sample now) when it comes out. I'm subject to my own free time to meddle with all the coding, which is why I'm giving each thread the generous one week to make themselves look presentable-enough-to-leave-alone. If I botch something up and have no time to fix it, a thread might look worse halfway through.

Also, I'm only doing this for fun, to inflate my own ego. I'm adopting the tools and the styles of premier guides because they look great, but I've zero interest in actually making a premier. I can't guarantee the update frequencies and I've literally haven't actually played any games in over a year (although I guess that gave me the time to write all these), any experience I've written is essentially based on years past and those aren't exactly crystal-clear (and if anything I'm not motivated enough to update every time I have crystal-clear memories right after a session anyway).

My EDH decks are my vanity projects and this series of guides is just an extension of it. They may look like premiers, but you're not getting an comprehensive-expert-guide, you're getting an unupdated-vanity-project that looks like a premier on the surface, because I'm good at writing-walls-of-texts-that-mean-the-exact-same-thing-in-the-end (you'll probably find the exact same thing here worded differently somewhere else) and I want the thread to be visually pretty like a premier. There are entire sections that are literally copy-pasted across all 8 guides (I'm not explaining how card draw is good with 8 different words-of-the-same-meaning, draw is good everywhere) and I minimized individual card discussion because it's going to be a nightmare if/when I update my decks (and I tend to update them all at the same time since I time my LGS trips periodically now).

Half me is already excited of how "pretty" it looks (or rather, it can be) looking at the overarching thread, another half is like "Why are you doing this?" (it was already questioning me when I spent the past months writing the content). The duality indeed. Either way, expect endless edits in the next two months.

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

And don't worry about them being vanity projects, thats all any of them are. No deck is perfect and thus no primer is required to be the pinnacle of optimal gameplay for its respective decklist. The deck is yours and its up to you to decide whats in it and how its presented.

[DirkGently]

Just finished watching season 2 of Locke and Key. My gf and I started watching it together since it was fairly addictive, if silly, in season 1. But oh dear god, season 2 went pretty deep into hilaribad territory. I haven't questioned so many characters' decisions in a show since season 8 of game of thrones.

[Dunharrow]

Just finished watching season 2 of Locke and Key. My gf and I started watching it together since it was fairly addictive, if silly, in season 1. But oh dear god, season 2 went pretty deep into hilaribad territory. I haven't questioned so many characters' decisions in a show since season 8 of game of thrones.

Finished season two last night.
IMO the decision-making is at least 429% better than the decisions the characters make in The 100. They are seriously dumb in that show.

[pokken]

One of the things I absolutely adore about a lot of the independent fantasy novels I read these days is the willingness to abandon trope-based decision-making. Like a character will just go "Oh, I see what they want me to do here, that seems dumb, let's completely go at it from another angle."

It makes it hard to go back to watching/reading mainstream stuff that's just locked into these constant recurring patterns of narrative devices.

(obligatory plug for Cradle, you should read Cradle)

[Yatsufusa]

And my first deck thread is up.

There's probably a dozen wording errors (I didn't exactly proofread everything and just went ahead with it since the content was already done) and another two dozen coding errors in there (because I honestly didn't learn much aside from the basics from the overarching thread). I'll take my own sweet time to fix up problems and spruce them up, although I think I might keep some aspects (like headers) generic for now because it makes it much easier to import from one thread to another without too much customizations.

If all goes to plan I'll launch a new thread each week (give or take a day before/after depending on my schedule/free time) and get all eight out before the year rolls over.

[Hermes_]

I'm now level 36 and I screwed up at character creation with my skills and I used CON as a dump stat lol

[Ulka]

I'm now level 36 and I screwed up at character creation with my skills and I used CON as a dump stat lol

Oh no....

[DirkGently]

Amusingly, some of the most fun I've had playing D2R is making bots for it. Haven't done any programming in years but it's been cool brushing back up. Just finished building one that can do Nihlathak runs with my light sorc in about a minute. Today I added fully configurable loot retrieval, so I can just add its name to the list of its type (unique, set, magic, rune, etc) and the bot can pick it out. Even with 50-60 items it's looking for, it can scan the whole screen for all of them in about a quarter of a second. Building up the alphabet was a huge pain in the ass, though.

So far it's found 38 dkeys and some other assorted loot (rings and charms and such - nothing that ended up being good but wygd). Sounds impressive until I remember that I probably spent 50 hours coding the thing.

[pokken]

Just got my second cold of the season and thankfully covid test is negative How lucky am I to pick up two non-covid colds in 3 months of leaving the house occasionally? First my kid picks one up at an outdoor masked thing and then I pick one up the second time I go out to play magic. So infuriating. It's like people have completely given up on staying home when they're sick. I'm hyper-sensitive to hygiene too - never touch my eyes or face and always wash hands thoroughly. So had to have just been someone being a damn plague rat.

I am going to set up our damn table now that we're finally (after 1.5 years of bleeping covid contractor delays on our second floor remodel) and start hosting I think.

[Ulka]

Just got my second cold of the season and thankfully covid test is negative How lucky am I to pick up two non-covid colds in 3 months of leaving the house occasionally? First my kid picks one up at an outdoor masked thing and then I pick one up the second time I go out to play magic. So infuriating. It's like people have completely given up on staying home when they're sick. I'm hyper-sensitive to hygiene too - never touch my eyes or face and always wash hands thoroughly. So had to have just been someone being a damn plague rat.

I feel this. Im on noncovid cold number 3 of the year. But my fiancé is a teacher so its kinda expected that we get sick especially after a year of isolation and no illness,

[pokken]

I feel this. Im on noncovid cold number 3 of the year. But my fiancé is a teacher so its kinda expected that we get sick especially after a year of isolation and no illness,

ugh, my god, when I met my wife she worked in a daycare. We were sick more than not. Kids are so gross

[toctheyounger]

People seem to have given away all pretense of empathy with staying home and such here. We've been locked down for 2 months now and people are getting ornery about it, which is a bit pathetic given how long other countries have done it. But it means between people just not caring and everyone having had less interaction with each other in the last 6 months, there's a bad combination of 'couldn't care less' and no herd immunity to the seasonal stuff.

I can sum it by saying people are incredibly selfish most of the time and its incredibly disappointing, but wholly unsurprising.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

People seem to have given away all pretense of empathy with staying home and such here. We've been locked down for 2 months now and people are getting ornery about it, which is a bit pathetic given how long other countries have done it. But it means between people just not caring and everyone having had less interaction with each other in the last 6 months, there's a bad combination of 'couldn't care less' and no herd immunity to the seasonal stuff.

I can sum it by saying people are incredibly selfish most of the time and its incredibly disappointing, but wholly unsurprising.

Here in the deep south, we're having an issue just convincing people there is an actual problem going on. I feel your pain.

[DirkGently]

People seem to have given away all pretense of empathy with staying home and such here. We've been locked down for 2 months now and people are getting ornery about it, which is a bit pathetic given how long other countries have done it. But it means between people just not caring and everyone having had less interaction with each other in the last 6 months, there's a bad combination of 'couldn't care less' and no herd immunity to the seasonal stuff.

I can sum it by saying people are incredibly selfish most of the time and its incredibly disappointing, but wholly unsurprising.

It's hard for me to get a good idea of people's orneryness...I get the feeling a lot of the people who drive out to our beach and don't seem to pay any attention whatsoever to social distancing are pretty petulant about the lockdown, but that's sort of a selective sample.

I do think we've kinda botched the delta thing. We ended level 4 (full lockdown) too early, so now we're stuck in this pointless middle level where I can get delivery pizza (woo...) but the numbers keep going up and up and there's no path out of lockdown for the foreseeable future. But people are babies and would have pitched a fit if we admitted we screwed up and went back to lvl 4, so instead we're just...waiting...and if we'd stayed in lvl 4 for a few more weeks we probably could have avoided all of this...erg.

[toctheyounger]

People seem to have given away all pretense of empathy with staying home and such here. We've been locked down for 2 months now and people are getting ornery about it, which is a bit pathetic given how long other countries have done it. But it means between people just not caring and everyone having had less interaction with each other in the last 6 months, there's a bad combination of 'couldn't care less' and no herd immunity to the seasonal stuff.

I can sum it by saying people are incredibly selfish most of the time and its incredibly disappointing, but wholly unsurprising.

It's hard for me to get a good idea of people's orneryness...I get the feeling a lot of the people who drive out to our beach and don't seem to pay any attention whatsoever to social distancing are pretty petulant about the lockdown, but that's sort of a selective sample.

I do think we've kinda botched the delta thing. We ended level 4 (full lockdown) too early, so now we're stuck in this pointless middle level where I can get delivery pizza (woo...) but the numbers keep going up and up and there's no path out of lockdown for the foreseeable future. But people are babies and would have pitched a fit if we admitted we screwed up and went back to lvl 4, so instead we're just...waiting...and if we'd stayed in lvl 4 for a few more weeks we probably could have avoided all of this...erg.

Yeah, I think you're on the money there. We should've just sucked it up and stayed in strict lockdown an extra fortnight. But. it's a delicate balance, people are the only part of the equation that can't be predicted. You ask them to be patient and diligent, and there's always going to be some element of society that just won't, and we needed to be all in.

As far as orneryness goes, there's members of my extended family that are done with it, and I've heard tales from all over Auckland of beaches packed with no sign of social distancing. so I think as a restricted population most people are just done. I get it, people are sick of it, and it's kinda funny (meaning no offense to anyone here) but I compare it to the cartoonish notion of how non-Americans see Americans - 'muuh Freedom pew pew pew' - that's literally Aucklanders here. For myself I'm gonna miss lockdown. I'm not a social person and in my current role I travel a long way to the office, so I'm definitely gonna miss remote work.

End of the day having changed tack to just vaccination to mitigate economic and health detriments is probably the more rational approach, purely because all it requires of people is to get a needle in the arm, twice. Asking people to stay home shouldn't have been that much to ask, but apparently it was. Idk, the whole thing is a bit of a disaster, but I don't feel like we've got anyone to blame but ourselves, which is laughable.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I get it, people are sick of it, and it's kinda funny (meaning no offense to anyone here) but I compare it to the cartoonish notion of how non-Americans see Americans - 'muuh Freedom pew pew pew' - that's literally Aucklanders here.

No offense taken. My country is totally bonkers right now; half the country sees a legitimate threat looming, the other half would rather die than do what their government says is necessary. Frankly, I figured our previous 20 years of lackluster leaders and frequent warmongering would doom our international reputation eventually but covid really showed our true colors and it is not a flattering pallete.

The craziest thing? Nobody here even cares that we look like the globe's most well-armed dunces. Nobody. I feel bad for everyone who's counting on us, cause we're drowning ourselves.

[toctheyounger]

I get it, people are sick of it, and it's kinda funny (meaning no offense to anyone here) but I compare it to the cartoonish notion of how non-Americans see Americans - 'muuh Freedom pew pew pew' - that's literally Aucklanders here.

No offense taken. My country is totally bonkers right now; half the country sees a legitimate threat looming, the other half would rather die than do what their government says is necessary. Frankly, I figured our previous 20 years of lackluster leaders and frequent warmongering would doom our international reputation eventually but covid really showed our true colors and it is not a flattering pallete.

The craziest thing? Nobody here even cares that we look like the globe's most well-armed dunces. Nobody. I feel bad for everyone who's counting on us, cause we're drowning ourselves.

I mean despite the blanket impression that all Americans are like that I want to assure you that I know enough that are intelligent, kind and polite that I know that you're not all like that. You just have a lot of em, and they shout louder than anyone else. It's the sad truth of it that the loudest voices are the ones that get the most attention. And to be fair we have a constituent of our population that does the same thing. Same response here too, when really, if these people don't wanna vaccinate they ought to just be left behind instead of everyone else suffering for their bullish indignation.

Hell if you want a chuckle Google Brian Tamaki. Hes the leader of a very questionable pentecostal church whos been protesting our governments covid response. But thats not all, he's one of those guys the more you look into him the more silly he gets.

[BeneTleilax]

Hell if you want a chuckle Google Brian Tamaki. Hes the leader of a very questionable pentecostal church whos been protesting our governments covid response. But thats not all, he's one of those guys the more you look into him the more silly he gets.

Cult leaders are fun like that. He seems to genuinely believe his own hype, which cannot be healthy.

[toctheyounger]

Hell if you want a chuckle Google Brian Tamaki. Hes the leader of a very questionable pentecostal church whos been protesting our governments covid response. But thats not all, he's one of those guys the more you look into him the more silly he gets.

Cult leaders are fun like that. He seems to genuinely believe his own hype, which cannot be healthy.

Yeah I think he's the legend of his own lunchtime. No one outside of his constituency gives him the time of day, and he's said some pretty atrocious things in the past, specifically towards the LGBTQ community.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

@toctheyounger

So I just got off work and googled that Tamaki guy... And wow, maybe I feel less alone in our problems but I'm not sure I feel better. Some people are just such a hateful kind of nuts, man. It's wild.

Feel free to ship him over here anytime though, I don't think he'd even stand out much if he landed south of Georgia. No reason for you fine people to be trapped on an archipelago with a monster like that.

[Hermes_]

I think i'm gonna sell off the non-deck cards after the new year.

[pokken]

I think i'm gonna sell off the non-deck cards after the new year.

Hold off til tax time. Best time to sell magic cards.

[toctheyounger]

@toctheyounger

So I just got off work and googled that Tamaki guy... And wow, maybe I feel less alone in our problems but I'm not sure I feel better. Some people are just such a hateful kind of nuts, man. It's wild.

Feel free to ship him over here anytime though, I don't think he'd even stand out much if he landed south of Georgia. No reason for you fine people to be trapped on an archipelago with a monster like that.

Yeah he's a crazy dude. He'll get his eventually I'm sure though. You can't put that much hate jnto the world without some sort of comeuppance.

[kirkusjones]

I get it, people are sick of it, and it's kinda funny (meaning no offense to anyone here) but I compare it to the cartoonish notion of how non-Americans see Americans - 'muuh Freedom pew pew pew' - that's literally Aucklanders here.

No offense taken. My country is totally bonkers right now; half the country sees a legitimate threat looming, the other half would rather die than do what their government says is necessary. Frankly, I figured our previous 20 years of lackluster leaders and frequent warmongering would doom our international reputation eventually but covid really showed our true colors and it is not a flattering pallete.

The craziest thing? Nobody here even cares that we look like the globe's most well-armed dunces. Nobody. I feel bad for everyone who's counting on us, cause we're drowning ourselves.

I feel like I've said this before, but do you think the Romans living in the last days of the empire were aware of it? Or did they see the approaching germanic tribesmen and think "oooh, that's a creative take on clothing!"