The Grouch's Trash Pile [Baldur's Gate 3]

Making the extracted objects actually work is going to be a pain in the ass -- the main modding tool makes it impossible to disable pack dependencies on cloned objects (and their developers are very corporate bootlicker about it to the point of kneejerk yelling at anyone asking about it even when the question is 'I want this to have a pack dependency but for some reason it went away??'), so I have to do it the long way around. 'S funny, when I cloned a bunch of Batuu stuff I swear I didn't have to go through this much rigamarole, but here we are. It remains to be seen how long my patience for converting holds out.

In other news, Iolis Bun has pvp series rank at 22, while the real Iolis only has his at 20. It's just been ridiculously fun to murder as a cute bunny! I mean to get the archfiend armor for both of them, which means I should probably hustle a bit to ensure I hit 25 on my main.

 

I think I've become a PVP gremlin. I'm fine with this (assuming they don't do anything really weird to Frontlines balancing with 6.2).

Not interested in playing anything ranked, though. Only casual chaotic murdering for me, thanks.

 

Out of interest, what class do you enjoy most for pvp? I'm considering trying to get more into Frontlines, thinking maybe on Machinist?

 

I mainly use Astrologian. I don't like it (anymore...) in PvE, but in PvP I enjoy the strong support skills, as well as the ability to help absolutely murder the shit out of a group that's already low with its big boom skill. White Mage is good in PvP too, but I like Astro better in general (esp when I have a group that makes good use of its buffs).

I couldn't get the hang of Machinist, but I do know it's very strong in the right hands. Honestly, I haven't tried out much in PvP since I had to get used to the different flow current PvP has from previous expansions' iterations, and decided to stick to my comfort zone of healer (even though healers are strong support DPS in PvP currently with actual heals being emergency only -- except for Sage, which apparently has none). I've been meaning to try out some melee, though -- Ninjas are fucking brutal!

 

To be fair, one of the reasons I like Astro in Frontlines is that in the evenings I have some ridiculous lag in there -- on the order of skills sometimes going off up to a second after I pressed them -- and being able to stand more in the back doing support-y things keeps me from getting focused down and obliterated. :')

Also, I just was in a group with a Machinist who was VERY effective, so it's definitely a good PvP job if you get the hang of it.

 

Sometimes PvP goes hard, and sometimes, it... goes.

 

(Fortunately my next two groups pulled it together. I don't mind losing as long as people are trying to play decently.)

 

I'm just hoping that Frontlines will allow me to be a little less visible as a new pvp player. I took a run at a training dummy at the Wolves Den with Machinist, but I never feel like I get a handle on abilities until I'm using them in active combat, tbh.

 

Mood. Smacking a dummy just isn't the same, especially with the more freeform way PvP skills are used.

You can do okay for yourself by:

• Stay with the group, or if the group is split and spread out, stay with the largest clump, or failing that, the people who look most like they know what they're doing -- this is often people with battle high
  
• Don't be the last one out -- if a situation looks like it's bad, scram!
  
• If your team is focusing down an enemy, help out by throwing everything you've got at that same enemy -- melees and tanks have a considerable damage reduction so it takes a multiple people unloading on them all at once to kill them
• Use recuperate liberally! You're in charge of your health in PvP. MP regens fast and spamming recuperate can let you survive running out of a bad situation
• Speaking of running, sprint is infinite duration until you use a skill
• Keep moving! Erratically moving targets are more difficult for enemies to hit, especially if you're in the middle of your team
  
• Keep your map open at all times so you can keep track of nearby enemies and objective spawns, and regularly check chat for callouts

 

The one thing that genuinely bothers me about appearance mods for FFXIV is that I carefully cultivate the looks of my characters and don't like that people can drastically alter that on their end. None of my male characters have washboard abs because they aren't half-starved and dehydrated, thank you very much. My au ra is an au ra and not a peeled abomination, you're playing a fantasty game, fucking deal with it. My butch catgirl is absolutely not wearing lingere and girly-girl makeup, and she doesn't have giant titties (I set her bust size at 0 for a REASON). Yes, my male viera is wearing a fancy dress and not whatever bland-ass robe you think is 'appropriate' for the setting because you've mistaken European history for the only possible technological and cultural progression of any fictional reality.

There's absolutely nothing I can do about it, obviously, but it still really irritates me. If you want a world full of people tailored to your very particular tastes and fetishes, Sims 4 is right there.

 

If I could make my FFXIV characters look exactly how I want while still fitting into the game's aesthetic:

• Everyone BUT Iolis would have some amount of Actual Ass. It makes sense for his to be flat but very toned, but the rest? Not so much.
  
• Iolis would have a slighter build, more like m! viera but with elezen longness. He's supposed to be willowy and a bit frail looking b/c one of my major influences for his design is Elric of Melniboné. He'd also have a bit more youthful face -- slightly fuller cheeks, more distinct freckles like m!viera can have, and less in the way of eyebags -- the other face preset that's very similar in features would have been more appropriate, but the lips were differently shaped and I wanted the ones on the preset I went with. He'd also have loosely wavy hair (but more wavy than the long hair with a headband, which is only wavy if you're being very generous about the term). He'd run more like f!viera (their emotes would honestly be really appropriate for him).
  
• Yisun would have dark sclera and a fade from black to pale ivory on his horns and the scales on his extremities and tail, like a colorpoint cat. His ass would be more appropriate to his thick thighs and the fact that he's a goddamn dragoon.
  
• Coco'a would be a bit chubby and have wider hips, thicker thighs, and a bit of a bosom that's easy to pass off as manboobs. (He's trans and while his Potions of Trans Your Gender have long since altered his aether and thus his form appropriately, he didn't start them until late adolescence/early adulthood.)
• Lorne would be a little bit shorter, since although the measurements on min height m!viera are shorter than max height catboy, in practice they're the same height, which is a couple of inches too tall. They're otherwise (aside from ass flatness) perfect.
  
• Mimir would have the broader nose and thick eyebrows of his f!viera counterpart and shorter, wavier hair.
  
• Jai would be taller -- max f!midlander height at least -- and genuinely built like the build the lionsliege armor gives her. She'd also have a more mature face, although I don't know how, exactly, one would accomplish that with f!miqo'te. (At least at her in-game height she's still taller than like, 50% of the catboys I come across, which delights me.)

Iolis I'm pickiest about because he's the character I've had persist across games and concepts the longest; Yisun, Coco'a, Mimir, and Jai only came about because of this game (even if Jai ended up being kind of an expy of one of my OCs). Lorne was already one of my OCs, but I wouldn't have been able to fit them in if it weren't for m!viera.

 

Between heat and allergies I could barely think today. I managed to scratch out a few paragraphs on my book, and that's it. I wanted to wait until tomorrow (when it's supposed to be a little cooler) to vacuum, but I realized my headache and having trouble breathing was not going to allow that. Felt like shit afterward and had a hard time cooling down, but I can breathe again. Really wish I didn't have to vacuum every two or three days but it can't be helped with how much Gordon sheds.

Poked around with the FFXIV chargen for a while as well. Creativity is at an all time low, but I had fun making a lala.



Genderless icon, tbh. I don't really have the wherewithall for another alt, though, so they'll just have to exist as a chargen file for the foreseeable future.

 

*rolls around gleefully in your FFXIV character lore like it's catnip*

 

I am Greatly Encouraged by your glee! Once it's not so goddamn hot and I can think I'll write out more.



I decided I'd better try grinding Orbonne for this robe before the moogle event ends and the queue times are ass again -- very first run of the night it dropped and the other caster in the party passed on it. :D

I may try for the tank chestpiece from there, but we'll see. I have a couple of new games I'd like to try out before the patch drops.

 

Oooh, they're gender unlocking some cash shop outfits with the patch... the first thing I'll do when the game comes up is previewing this one via dreamfitting >_>

 

Oh I missed that in the announcement, thank you for alerting me ^_^

 

Patch tomorrow!

I am admittedly kind of cranky that the group I usually do the new (normal mode) raids with has a new member now that DC visit makes it possible, and he's a healer so I've been asked to switch. I can flex and I'm going to, but I've been realizing that I'm kind of unhappy about it and halfway wishing I'd let my other gear lag so I could have gone "ohhh nope sorry the only job I have geared enough is sage :(". But since I said I'd flex, I'm going reaper... probably. My maiming gear is better than my caster gear, although I'd certainly be more useful as red mage. On the other hand, as reaper I can just vibe and press buttons and have everyone's hp be someone else's problem, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I've also got my autistic NEW PERSON SUS >:( hackles up so that's not helping lol. Giving myself full permission to make an excuse and bail if I find him too annoying -- it's not like it'd hurt the group, there's going to be plenty of randos queueing up.

 

Raids went fine and were a lot of fun, although I know I won't remember more than 10% of the mechanics since I was on melee :') Oh well.

Island sanctuary is very good. Haven't done msq yet.

Also:

 

Poor J. He was doing a leveling roulette on white mage, and after a little bit I heard him fussing, "Why is he dying so fast?! Oh god he just died. Why can't I keep him healed? Oh my god, he died AGAIN, his health just dropped to 0 out of nowhere!" I knew J's gear was his lv 50 AF and lv 48? weapon so his gear wouldn't be the problem, so I went over and watched for a little bit.

It was Sunken Temple of Qarn and this paladin:

• had okay but not great left side gear that ranged from lv 24 to lv 34
• pulled wall to wall
• only used sheltron for mitigation

I told J all of this and reassured him that if he knows his own gear is up to date but the tank is dying faster than he can spam heals on them, then the tank is at fault. Also, since it was Qarn and considering where the second death happened, I explained that what got the tank was probably the Final Sting attack the Temple Bees do if they aren't killed fast enough. Plus, the tank was pulling everything in a dungeon with a healer on a job that has NO instant heals at that level, so it's no surprise J was struggling. (He came out of that dungeon with three commendations, so at least those players appreciated him.)

J can get really hard on himself when he thinks he's bad at a game, so if it sounds like he's struggling I come over and watch what's going on, and then break down what's happening for him. So far his problems have overwhelmingly been either a quick fix or other players playing poorly and making his life hard.

 

New hairstyle conversions mean I can make Iolis Bun look closer to his OG version:



I kind of like the fluffier one better on him, except for how very high the forehead is on viera, and the mandatory hippie headband. Oh well, this is good.