#OR GOD FORBID A DP PROBLEM...

[000png]

i just hope i get into more interviews that care about my actual work experience because boy i can elaborate forever on that and have things i'm genuinely proud of. but if they ask me to invert a binary tree well. i will probably cry and then ask to consult google dot com first

[expedition33]

like idk bro call me crazy but if u decide to one-trick main in competitive u should not be acting all egotistical. every time i see a fucking lord icon this high up ("high up" because apparently plat 1 is higher than 74% of the server) i jst know the odds of them being dogshit are so high if theyre a tank or dps. and like if you're actually trying despite it then fine whatever i'll be annoyed but at least ur putting in effort, but when u then get on OTHER people and blame them/complain about THEM not switching, the problem is actually u. why must u put the onus of YOU getting countered on your one-trick main onto us, the team, who are forced to play with u? shockingly enough if ur playing a hero shooter like this where the entire point is to switch characters when u get countered / to counter the team's comp, u are going to lose if u don't do that!!!!

damn bro i just wanted to see if i could get out of plat 1 today but i just got two stomps in a row cuz ig last day of the season brings out all the egotistical people

[queer-overwatch]

another Sombra rq!!!! I love her sm ok,, ty for the last request btw bc LLORD I LOVED IT 🛐 okay this time I'm thinkin sombra x fem reader who REALLY adores the way olivia looks and stares at her all the time but then reader is super insecure abt herself,,, as always any format!! have a blessed day!!

Sombra x Insecure!Reader

Yippie! FYI Sombras my dps main so everytime we get a request for her I'm like "MINE" and yoink it before Xorn even has a chance to see it lmao, hope your happy with me doing everything for Sombra >:3 -Frisk

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"I don't know what he was doing, something stupid obviously" Sombra, you're wonderful, pretty, smart, amazing girlfriend, was talking shit as per usual, though this time it was about Reaper.

You were trying to pay attention, really! But it was hard, especially when Sombra was in the best lighting ever, and her hair was just slightly messed in a way that makes it more gorgeous than you could put into words.

It was hard to focus on anything but her, especially with how pretty she always was. Despite how bad you knew it was, you couldn't help but compare yourself to them sometimes. It wasn't normally on purpose, it was just hard to not feel out of place dating someone so perfect. She was so smart and the absolute best at her job, even when working with people so "incompetent" as she'd say. "Hey, querida, are you listening to me?" You're snapped out of your thoughts by Sombra flicking you on the forehead, staring at you seemingly annoyed. Good lordy even her annoyed face is pretty, you've really got an obsession. "Hm? Yeah! Yeah I'm listening, sorry." You reach out and grab the hand she used to flick you, rubbing her knuckles with your thumb as you nod for her to continue talking. "Right, well anyway, I don't know why these old people keep coming to me with their tech problems, I'm not tech support! The only person who I told I'd help is Siebren!" You nod along, half listening to her rant and half in your own head. How did she manage to look so beautiful even while pissed? You had no clue what her secret was, not to mention her amazing fashion sense. One time you tried to dress like her, took one look in the mirror, and immediately put on the baggiest clothes you had.

You loved her, obviously, and were always more than happy to take her out on dates, using any excuse you could to admire her, but you refused to dress up the way she did. Dresses just didn't look right, no matter how you styled your hair it didn't look the way you wanted it too. God forbid you try and go to the beach, you'd be sitting in the shade in a hoodie and sweatpants before you let her see how...disappointing you were. "Anyway, how was your day, estimada?" She drags you around, checking on some expensive looking technology you couldn't even think of touching, let alone understanding how it worked. "Boring, I didn't do much, never do really." You laugh off her question, trying to make a bit of a sad joke to distract her. She stares at you for a bit, silently judging what you think is everything about you. Maybe she finally realized that she was far too pretty to be with someone like you. You didn't think you were like, hideously ugly, but maybe she did?! What if she was planning to break up with you, who would want to date you if you were rejected by the Sombra!? "Fair enough, a day off does sound nice, actually. I'd love to laze around all day in pajamas, lucky you!" She pinches your cheek, teasing you as she finally looks back to one of her many screens. "Really?" It was hard to imagine, the usually dolled up Sombra, lazing about and dressed so casually. You were sure she's still look just as amazing as usual despite it, she was somehow so effortlessly perfect. You were, uh, there. "Maybe you should take a day off then! I'm sure they can handle one mission without you, even if your team is as useless as you say they are!" You grab her shoulders, spinning her to be facing you with what you can imagine is the biggest smile she's ever seen on your face. Any opportunity to be able to simply bask in her glory was an opportunity you were going to make use of! You could imagine it now, her sitting there, watching tv in an oversized T-shirt and shorts. There was no way your imagination could do it justice, you had to see her like that in real life or you'd simply keel over and die. "Maybe, I should be free tonight actually" She shrugs noncommittedly, but you could see the slightest hint of red in her cheeks! That meant it was a yes!

"Perfect! I'll go find some movies for us to watch! You better hurry finishing up whatever it is you're working on! I love you, be ready at 8!" You dash off, leaving her with a peck on the cheek and a timer to set.

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Scrambling around your room, you desperately try and make yourself look presentable but also try to make it look like you didn't try and this is just how you are 24/7. Sombra was always so flawless, you couldn't ruin their night by being ugly! You check your phone and nearly throw it across the room. It was already 7:58! What if she was waiting for you and she thinks you stood her up and gets mad?! You'd never forgive yourself if you made her wait on you! Glancing in the mirror, you stop worrying about the time, or what movie you'll watch, or how your little date will go. Everything was suddenly replaced by pure shame. All that time you spent trying to look on par with your girlfriend, and this is how it came out? All that effort and energy and materials for..this? Was it even worth it to try in the first place? You loved Sombra so, so, so much, but no matter what you did it felt like you were playing the role of the ugly girl obsessed with a movies main character that's just there for comedic effect.

You're knocked out of your own thoughts again by a tap on the shoulder, getting a feeling of deja vu. You turn and see Sombra, as perfect and gorgeous as ever.

"You ready yet, slowpoke?" She takes your hand, dragging you out of room before you can bother to respond. Leading you to her own private corner of Talon's base, a forgotten storage room that she'd stolen and made her own, a password for the handmade high-tech door and everything.

She shoves you down onto a beanbag and takes her spot next to you, dragging one of your arms around her shoulders and handing you a remote for the tv she'd snuck into the room years earlier.

"You gonna pick something or not?" Again with her teasing, this time though it didn't feel like her words would sink into your brain and repeat in a much meaner tone when you looked in the mirror. This time it felt soft, less stressful.

You nod, smiling and throwing on an old action movie you were reminded of last week. You both got comfortable, and you felt her rest her hand on your stomach, head against your shoulder.

It felt nice to be touched, especially by someone like her. It was hard to imagine, someone like her loving someone like you, but if she could love you, maybe you could learn to love yourself too.

[slliest-clownmari]

i'm really glad they're testing min 1 max 2 in quick play hacked but it has all the problems i thought it would have. every game i've played is just determined by which team is playing 2 tanks. like every game is 2-1-2. overwatch subreddit is making me feel delusional rn bc they're all saying its really fun but like, what if you Don't have two tanks??? god forbid two people want to play dps? ofc people are asking for 6v6 back but i really just don't think it's all that people say it is. saying this as someone playing since 2016 btw.

[lolottes]

Okay, okay, but what if the meta-baby's appearance reminded the couple of a certain friend/villain: Livewire?

Okay, she and Ivy don't really get along, and so it's been a while since they've seen her. But to not tell Harley that she's pregnant/have a baby, gasp!!!

Or a very confused Livewire gets woken up in the middle of the night by a very indignant Harley.

Meanwhile, Dante managed to escape from the surveillance or a annoyed and frustrated Ivy. (She had spent time planning this romantic date!)

Ivy then starts to turn Gotham upside down because, god forbid, if anyone finds out she lost the baby even 10 minutes after Harley left, if anyone finds out, they'll be hearing about it for a looooong time.

She absolutely has to save her reputation!!!!

A reminder of who Livewire is and why I think they could make the connection, especially with Harley's logical jumps

mon dieu, je ne savais même pas qu'il y avait une nouvelle version qui avait une scène de transformation entièrement en lumière jusqu'à maintenant - highly DP compatible

The colors are similar + the baby glow / sparkle (?)

She can float in certain iterations if I remember correctly - the baby floats.

She rarely sees the couple but trusts them enough that in the event of a major problem, entrusting them with her obviously meta-child is a real possibility. so was able to somehow teach the baby to go to them if there was a problem / they were safe - The baby doesn't seem at all alarmed by the duo's antics

The baby's presence disrupts electronic devices.

Chao

Dc x Dp #54

Dan wondered if he was about to keep most of his mind due to his own existence being an anomly amonst time itself, or if Clockwork somehow interevened because he believed that it was best he had his mind instead of being a complete child with his ridiculous powerset. Probably both, if Dan was being honest. Or should he say "Dante" now? Honestly, he knew his momma wasn't original, but seriously? Dante was the best he could do?

Momma-heh. Dan looked up at his younger counter part as he frantically moved around their small cramped apartment as he tried to wrangle Dani into her pajamas for bed. The younger child flying around and going intangible whenever her momma was too close to putting the clothes on her after their evening bath. It was domestic, somewhat, if you didn't know more about them.

Three out of four of their only kind in hiding. Hiding from those who don't understand them. Who wants to hurt them jsut because they are viewed as non sentient.

Danny could've left him alone. Simply take Dani and leave. But he didn't. He looked at him as a child. His child. Made sure he was just as safe as Dani as they disappeared from Amity and far away from the GIW. Now playing a happy family in one of the most crime ridden towns in the United States. Far enough for the GIW to not immediately look there

Dan remembers his original timeline. When he killed every hero, vigilante, and villain that stood in his way of greatness until there was nothing but weak humans who couldn't defeat him. Every alien invasion wasn't a threat, it was a work out to him. And it lead him to crave more. His need to fight. For Power. To become the strongest until there was nothing left. And yet, even then, the only person that could stop him was him.

Honestly, Dan didn't remember much during his reign. The heroes were strong, but not enough. Even the villains that turned against him weren't anything but a small distraction of the bigger things. But the biggest threat, unsurprisingly, were the bats.

Smart. Cunning. Stubborn. Put up a better fight than anyone else and got closer to anyone else to figuring out how to stop him. How to hold him down. How to make him bleed.

Yes, they lasted the longest out of all of them, and it wasn't until Dan stood over the remains of the infamous bat family did he realize: this was his family.

While only his ghost half, Dan still remembered being Danny. And more than that, he remembered Danyal: the shadow of the heir to the al Ghul name. Twin to Damien Wayne, but treated nothing but a shadow and a bodyguard.

Congratulated none for his efforts but punished twice as much for if Damien failed. He was nothing, while his brother was anything. Scars physically and mentally that he pushed into the back of his mind when he finally left the League. It was easy to see how little how they felt about him when none of them left.

When he left and was adopted by the Fenton's, everything was great. He actually succeeded about forgetting about his past life. Especially with all of the ghost business and trying to hide his identity from his parents.

But as he stood over the corpse of his brother, the youngest Robin, he wondered if Damien ever wondered about him. Wondered if he looked for him. Wondering if the great Batman knew he had another son out there. Would he turn him away if he did? Would he haved turned away Dan? It was too late to find the answers.

Until now that is.

Now, his future was a distant timeline. Broken and forgotten with no going back. But that didn't mean that the people weren't still here. He knew his father was Bruce Wayne. He just didn't know when Damien was introduced to the Wayne family.

Dan startled out of his thoughts when momma picked him up into his arm, Dani in the other dressed and snuggled against momma's chest in a sleepy daze.

He rested his head on momma's shoulder as he was carried into their small bedroom and tucked into bed. His eyes briefly closing as he felt cool lips press against his forehead in a goodnight kiss. A soft and fond voice wishing him and Dani a good night.

Dani responded but Dan stayed quiet. Not opening his eyes until the door clicked shut and his mommas ectoplasmic presenced lessened as he went to the next room. Then, his eyes opened to reveal a glowing red as he stared out the window into the cloudy and smog covered sky that was Gotham.

He was going to get the help his momma needed. He just hoped this trouble was worth that it was.

[wormytoast]

The Hunt in H:SR

time for my weekly (biweekly?) rant/infodump/whatever on star rails mechanics! this time i want to talk about the role of The Hunt as a playable path and the intent behind it in theory versus how hunt units play out in practice. tl;dr is that hunt units should deal more toughness damage and that the current hunt kit archetype needs to evolve with the game accordingly or else the path will crumble under pressure (obv these are my own opinions and not rly concrete in fact)

my thoughts on the path were initially sparked by the youtuber/streamer OkCode (not proud to say i watch his vids but he's actually pretty good when he talks about how the game works instead of being some gooner vtuber). to be brief, he said that hunt characters should do more toughness damage, as in depleting more toughness with their attacks.

i guess i'll try to briefly explain attack types and toughness damage. toughness damage is the white bar above the enemies' red hp bar. this can be damaged/depleted as long as the ally attacking is of a corresponding combat type that the enemy target is weak to. enemies will always have a toughness value that is a multiple of 30, which can also be considered a value of 1 (30=1, 60=2, and so on). heres where this ties into the different categories of attacks: different attack types deplete different amounts of toughness.

aoe skills will deal 1 toughness damage to all enemies; a blast skill will deal 2 toughness damage to a single enemy and 1 toughness damage to adjacent enemies. this follows a general rule that the more enemies hit, the less toughness depletion dealt, and vice versa... except single target skills also only deal 2 toughness damage.

we can also compare the toughness depletion of ultimates; aoe deals 2 to all enemies, blast deals 2 to 3 enemies, and single target deals 3 to 1 enemy. this is the only place where a single target ability deals more toughness damage.

the problem is that, with this information, we can deduce that hunt units are dealing less overall toughness damage. if there are 5 enemies, an aoe skill can deplete a total of 5 toughness (spread out). if there are 3 enemies, a blast skill can deplete 4 overall. a single target skill... 2.

the same goes for ults. aoe ults have the capability to deal 10 toughness damage if there are 5 enemies; blast ults deal 6 if there are 3 enemies; single target ults... 3.

this also goes along with the toughness values of enemies (excluding bosses). weak enemies will have toughness values of 1; standard enemies, 2; and strong enemies 3. the problem here is that, even against one strong enemy, a hunt unit will not be able to weakness break by themselves and they lose out on a bunch of needed damage. this would be forgivable for a destruction or erudition character, whose jobs are generally to do more damage over a large spread of enemies, and therefore are expected to do less damage to a singular enemy. but for a hunt character, its almost crippling.

then there's xueyi—her ult is single target and deals 4 toughness damage—but the catch is that she's actually a destruction unit. her kit revolves around dealing toughness damage. the reason her ult deals so much toughness damage is because her ult also ignores type weaknesses to ensure that her talent, a toughness-depletion tally, can be added to even when she's up against non-quantum weak enemies. however, i really think that her ult is what all single target ults should be able to accomplish. if a hunt unit can only attack a single target, then why shouldn't they deal more toughness damage? locking single target skills, especially those of single target dps, to deplete the same amount of toughness as blast skills (or god forbid aoe and blast ults), feels extremely bad for the player, which is also why hunt units like topaz and dr. ratio feel so good to play and generally do better—it's because they have the capability to deal more toughness damage to the target.

topaz's skill does 2, and then numby will deal and additional 1 (or 2 if buffed) damage; dr. ratio can reliably deal 3 damage with his skill if the enemy is debuffed, and his ult + the resulting fua deal 5 toughness damage in total. seele is a bit special since she can essentially deal 4 per skill and 5 per ult if she scores a kill, but if not, her skill only does 2 and her ult does 3. the other hunt units struggle in comparison: sushang and dan heng can only deal 2 on skill and 3 on ult and yanqing is the same, although he can deal an additional 1 damage from his talent depending on rng, but it generally doesn't trigger.

this brings me to my next point about the mechanics of hunt units in practice. the general definitions of each dps path are: hunt units deal a lot of single target damage, erudition units deal a lot of aoe damage, destruction units generally deal blast damage (but this can vary since the destruction path is basically the gimmick path).

however, the hunt and erudition paths also have other functions: the former tends to rely on turn skipping/turn manipulation mechanics to get as many turns as possible to deal damage, while the latter tends to utilize out-of-turn damage capabilities. both of these methods are to maximize the amount of damage dealt. it's basically two sides of the same coin.

for hunt characters, there's dan heng's self-speed buffs and enemy slow debuffs; seele's resurgence extra turn; sushang's 100% advance after ult; and topaz, who is a special case since numby is moreso the main unit while topaz is there to aid numby, as are other support units—the more fua performed, the more numby will attack. i didn't mention dr. ratio, since his abilities are more in line with erudition units (a fun play on his character) but his fua can be considered as stronger skill, so the fuas essentially become an extra turn for more damage. yanqing... kind of has nothing despite being the standard 5 star hunt unit. his only turn manipulation mechanic is the freeze in his fua, but this is extremely unreliable since it requires the rng for both his fua to trigger and then his fua's freeze to successfully be applied, which is a super low percentage.

erudition units with out-of-turn damage (usually fua) are: herta and her aoe fua; himeko's aoe fua after achieving 3 weakness breaks; and jing yuan with his lightning lord that performs a bounce attack. obviously there are more erudition units who dont rely on this, like qingque, serval, and argenti (although serval's shock dots could be considered as out of turn damage), who have other gimmicks in their kit, which i think really expresses the needs for these functions. this can be summarized in a statement:

erudition units don't inherently need out-of-turn damage to be good, but hunt units do need turn manipulation to be good because they are locked to single target attacks. if they cannot dish out enough damage within their turn they essentially become worthless.

tbh honest i'm interested in how hoyoverse deals with this path in the future. while i wish they would retcon the path a bit for all their attacks to deal more toughness damage, i know it's never going to happen, so instead it's better to be apprehensive and wait to see how the path matures. topaz and dr. ratio are already much better than the previous hunt units so hoyoverse is heading in a good direction, it's just sad to see the original standard hunt units flounder in comparison since we still have erudition units from launch who are viable even outside of pure fiction (specifically referring to himeko). that being said pure fiction was a godsend for erudition units so hopefully we will get a gamemode in the future that finally allows hunt units to shine.

[gachagen]

People on Tiktok be so bad at building characters and then just blame the characters kit for why they are so shit at doing dmg. I've seen people say all sorts of ridiculous things about the various DPS units in the game.

"Heizou's the worst DPS in the game"

"Itto's the Worst DPS in the game"

"Ayato is the worst DPS in the game"

And then you ask them why they think that only to find out that they're building the characters completely wrong and that they truly have no idea what they're talking about or even what they're doing. And it also amazes me when it's a character like Itto that gets shafted into the "bad DPS" category because he's insanely easy to build. You don't even HAVE to try that hard to find good pieces for him unless you are suffering from success and just have no def pieces to spare whatsoever.

"Oh but he relies on Gorou to be good-" Yeah because he's a DPS and they don't usually come with prebuilt in support units, you're supposed to put them in a team of characters that will boost their dmg to make them even better. It's like saying none of the DPS characters are good bc you have to use characters like Bennett or Nahida to make them do good dmg (God forbid a Genshin player plays the game)

And even if you DON'T have full geo itto, you don't need to. Gorou alone can fix Itto's energy problems and even heal if you have cons, and you only need another Geo character on the team to really get Gorou's max stacks. And if you don't have Zhongli, Noelle is just fine and she herself can even be a mini-Itto if you don't even HAVE Itto.

[checkitoutmikey]

Dwayne headcanon:

Just a silly headcanon... But I firmly believe 90% of it is canon.

Warning: slight NSFW

• So he’s the strong silent type huh?

• Well he’s more of a furniture really.

• As in – he always plays the bed. Someone’s getting head? Come here. Lay on my comfortable lap and let me hold you while you squirm around. Someone’s getting fucked? Lean on my titties. I got them just for you, love. My chest is out and naked for your pleasure.

• David too lazy to get out of his wheelchair while he’s going down on you? No worries. Dwayne’s here and he’s got you. Somehow he’ll lift you by your thighs, spreading them wide open with your back against his chest. Suprisingly it’s way more comfortable position than you might think.

• DP? You bet he will give you the D, darling, but first – lay down on him and relax. He’s not even gonna move. Why? It’s DP. He’s big. He’s not going to risk making you uncomfortable or God forbid hurt you by wiggling around his huge dick around. So he just lays there with his peepee shooter in your ass while one of the other boys fuck you from the front. He’s not passive though. Dwayne’s likes to kiss your neck, lips and whisper soft encouragements. He’s here to make your experience so much better babe.

• Sentient bondage equipment…

• Oh you misbehaving? Too bad. This guy is hella strong – an immovable rock of pure muscle. Ain't no way in hell you are getting out of his arms if he doesn’t want you to. Even if you are a vampire the power imbalance is simply unfair. It’s just… David is sometimes a bitch and will include his boys in your punishment. So Dwayne’s basically there to restrain you. Abuse of power sayin something to you, David?

• Sometimes David likes to literally torture you with overstimulation and Dwayne is happy to be a part of the whole ordeal. Placing you on his lap, your wrists trapped in his hands and your legs hooked over his knees while David is working on you. And it’s usually fun for everyone. Usually.

• If you get tired on the boardwalk he doesn’t have a problem with giving you piggyback rides.

• Although his favorite is carrying you around like a princex. If you fall asleep while you two watch a movie he’ll gently scoop you up and carry you to your bed like a gentle giant he is. He savours those moments.

• Have you ever climbed a tree? Do you want to? Marko and Paul will egg the two of you to try. Dwayne just shakes his head but doesn’t protest when you actually try. He will just stand there while the terror twins cheer you on. He keeps an eye on you though. If you are about to fall he’ll catch you so don’t worry. You are always safe with him.

• As stated before – Dwayne is a strong boy. If you are into it he will carry you around like were a child. He’ll position you so that you sit in the crook of his elbow, your legs encircle his waist and he will walk around with you on his hip without batting an eye.

• You don’t like it? He won’t do it… unless David’s pissed at you, in which case sux to be you. David has no problem with humiliating you just a little bit so he orders Dwayne to just hoist you up and prevent you from running off.

• You don’t even need to ask just climb on his lap and he’ll rearrange so the both of you can be comfortable. He could be reading a book on the couch and all it takes is for you to be in 5 feet radius, he’s already making room for you. Get between his legs, babe, hug his hips, push your face between those firm tiddies.

• Dwayne is totally your preffered mattress. You can literally sleep on him.

• He’s a giant teddy bear. Sure he’s all cold muscles but his hugs are the real shit. Drag him to your bed and wrap yourself around him like a koala and he just might become emotional. It doesn’t matter if you drool all over his chest, it’s not the grossed thing to end up over there, being vampire and all… actually he might like the drool thing a little bit but don’t tell anyone.

• Dwayne is on another level. He will sit on the couch, prop his legs on the table and you can just plant your ass down on the new seat. He made it just for you. Just plop down on his outstreched legs like it’s nothing. No matter how much you weight, he’s made of steel and love.

• All in all he’s a great piece of multipurpose furniture and in the summer heat he counts as a cooling pack.

[doufuhua]

i’m gonna rant a long in-depth opinion about childe’s gameplay, sorry, feel free to ignore, or if you are thinking about pulling for him soon maybe my thoughts can provide insight.

i’m not a metaslave, honestly following meta is dumb in genshin impact, especially when the game is pve, you should enjoy the game the way you want to enjoy it. but, BUT...that being said, with childe banner coming, i have to say he does feel underwhelming to play sometimes. regardless of how much you like his character, the criticisms about his gameplay that people are bringing up have some truth in it. i agree that his kit and constellations need a revamp.

his constellations don’t provide dmg boost but a different playstyle which renders his range stance kind of useless because the constellations favors his melee stance more, hell even his kit favors melee. so in my conclusion, doesn’t it look like the fact that he wields a bow is counterintuitive? he should’ve just wield a spear in the first place if he’s gonna utilize it the most regardless of lore giving a reason why he uses a bow. and there’s the cooldown on his skill, now to me it’s manageable, i don’t have an issue with it, i think it’s a nice challenge to have a time limit, but not everyone thinks my way. actually based on observation, i see that when someone has an initial interest in childe’s gameplay, when they find out that his skill has a time limit, they give up, they just don’t want to bother, which is just a mentality thing unfortunately.

his constellations are i think a great example of how scummy mihoyo can be, they really gave him lackluster constellations at the top, c1 really only shaves off 4 seconds of cooldown and c2 is just...energy recharge....it’s not until c4-c6 does he get something interesting and it’s not more dmg, it’s a different playstyle. it’s obviously a money scheme to entice players to invest in pulling in gacha, it’s nearly predatory. in other words, if you’ve seen his playstyle and you really like it, he requires expensive investment. hu tao at c0 is basically childe’s c4 constellation, it’s pretty unfair. because of hu tao’s kit at c0, childe users feel cheated because his c4 should’ve been his c0.

now, speaking of c4, that is also a separate problem itself, especially if you’re a person who utilizes elemental reactions constantly. everyone knows that vaporize and melt are the strongest reactions in the game, and childe’s c4 has proven to be problematic when it comes to vaporize comps. childe’s c4 ability applies hydro to enemies every few seconds, and on the surface that sounds great, but players with c4 have realized that the comp is difficult to set up because he applies hydro too fast for pyro to take into effect, normally you have to apply pyro and then hydro, not the other way around. you basically sacrifice one playstyle for another, ultimately you have to choose which comp you like more, which is either you play vaporize comp or you pick something like permanent freeze. i don’t even want to get into the fact that, to get rid of the cooldown on his skill requires c6, which to reach that point, you’ll have to whale for it.

i hate to say it but i do feel like childe got powercreeped especially with characters like xiao, ganyu, and hu tao being released right after him, specializing in weapons he uses. ganyu is arguably the better bow user of the two, with her charged attack doing aoe dmg and having huge crit dmg modifiers. xiao’s gimmick is his plunge attacks which hilariously reminds me of the fact that childe’s melee stance has no plunging attack whatsoever. and hu tao...i’ve already said my piece above.

look i don’t hate childe, i actually like his character, maybe not at first, but after his story quest and learning about what he went through at age 14, he seemed like an okay guy. i’ve had him at c1 since version 1.1, he was one of the small amount of dps characters i had at the time who happened to use hydro. i didn’t have diluc, a highly sought for dps unit, at that time, i didn’t have xingqiu, a great support, until last month, i even have mona from losing the 50/50 on some character’s banner, i haven’t even built her yet. childe carried me through all the way up to this point, and yet i still think he can be improved. i’m criticizing mihoyo, which is the point of this post really.

don’t let me keep you from pulling his banner, he is a viable unit. his greatest asset is his aoe dmg, he’s great against large groups of enemies. he also hits as fast as polearm users, giving no chance for the enemy to counterattack. he can reach large numbers of crit dmg when you commit the effort for his artifacts. he works great with cryo and electro users, like beidou and fischl. i bring up his drawbacks because at the end of the day, mihoyo is a company and money is always foremost, they aren’t always on the playerbases’ side. honestly speaking, the decision to give zhongli a buff is an outlier, something that mihoyo didn’t anticipate doing. it wasn’t the efforts of western fans’ criticism that they gave him the buff, because america’s playerbase is small, it was the chinese players that complained the loudest, and god forbid a chinese company pisses of their own native players.

do i think mihoyo will give childe a buff? no. childe isn’t very popular, gameplay wise, on the chinese players side. so they most likely are not listening to any outcry by childe mains for example, mihoyo will keep releasing new characters, and these new characters will most likely powercreep some others. we barely made a big of a crack in the main story, we’re in the prologue stage of a sorts in a 6 or 7 act story, and so that definitely means new characters will just keep on coming. i just want you guys to keep in mind that you should always keep a distance, gambling can become an addiction, and never be bootlicker for a corporation who ultimately doesn’t care about you. like, i have a suspicion that the reason childe has a banner, why rosaria is on his banner, this time around on an event that’s all about mondstadt is, first, yes lorewise he is involved with the main story somewhat, he was accidentally in the abyss (the chasm?) when he was younger, that he was taught to fight by some woman there, and an upcoming main story quest with dainsleif reveals we will be fighting the abyss order at some point. but the second point, the “it’s just business” point, is that they know childe is a character phasing out in players’ interest, they put rosaria on his banner, to entice us to pull for her and by extension, childe, to make sales on his banner. this is basic business strategy. be aware of games like genshin impact, that are free to play on the surface, but have underhanded motives.

[talkingtea]

CP has received a lot of praise in the reviews so far. DP on the other hand only got comments about her new suit...Also I found it hilarious she tweeted and retweeted about everyone but CP 😂 I find it too funny how they both act like the other doesn’t exist. God forbid DP give her any praise for a great performance. I think what we the issue between them is goes a lot deeper than anyone knows.

Here’s the thing, Candice made it clear a long time she wanted nothing to do with Danielle when she unfollowed her on all social media platforms knowing good and damn well we could all see her. Obviously she doesn’t care if we know or what we think about her doing. She’s just keeping it real.

Danielle, on the other hand, wants to keep up appearances that there is no problem while at the same time ignoring Candice and refusing to give her props even when she can do it for everybody else on the cast. What she does is sneaky and underhanded and that’s been her MO since day one with Candice.

[libertariantaoist]

Israel’s champions owe us an explanation. First, they insist that Israel is and always must be a Jewish state, by which most of them mean not religiously Jewish but of the “Jewish People” everywhere, including Jews who are citizens of other states and not looking for a new country. To be Jewish, according to the prevailing view, it is enough to have a Jewish mother (or to have been converted by an approved Orthodox rabbi). Belief in one supreme creator of the universe, in the Torah as the word of God, and in Jewish ritual need have nothing whatever to do with Jewishness. (We ignore here the many problems with this conception, such as: how can there be a secular Judaism?)

The definition of Jew has been bitterly controversial inside and outside of Israel since its founding. The point is, as anthropologist Roselle Tekiner wrote, “When the central task of a state is to import persons of a select religious/ethnic group — and to develop the country for their benefit alone — it is crucially important to be officially recognized as a bona fide member of that group.” (This is from the anthology Anti-Zionism: Analytical Reflections, which is not online and is apparently out of print. But see Tekiner’s article, “Israel’s Two-Tiered Citizenship Law Bars Non-Jews From 93 Percent of Its Lands.”)

Second, Israel’s champions insist that Israel is a democracy — indeed, the only democracy in the Middle East. They vehemently object whenever someone demonstrates how Israel-as-the-state-of-the-Jewish-People must harm the 25 percent of Israeli citizens who are not Jewish, most of whom are Arabs.

Israeli law uniquely distinguishes citizenship from nationality. The nationality of an Israeli Arab citizen is “Arab” not Israeli, while the nationality of a Jewish citizen is “Jewish” not Israeli. Are citizens of any other country distinguished in law like that? The prohibition on marriage between Jews and non-Jews is not the result of political bargaining with religious parties but of a desire to protect the Jewish people from impurity. These contortions are required by Israel’s self-declared status as something other than the land of all its citizens. Early Zionists said they wanted Palestine to be as Jewish as Britain is British and France is French — a flagrant category mistake that has had horrific consequences for the Palestinians.

The insistence by Israel’s supporters — that Israel can be both Jewish and democratic — thus is puzzling. What does it mean for Israel to be a Jewish state if that status has no real consequences for non-Jews? If all it meant was that the Star of David was on the flag, we might hear far fewer objections to Israel. But of course it means much more.

To see what it means, one has to look beyond Israel’s Declaration of Independence, Basic Law (its de facto constitution), and specific statutes, which contain language that on its face forbids discrimination against non-Jews. We should know better than to take official documents at face value. What matters in any society is the “real constitution,” the principles that underlie commonly accepted behavior. The old Soviet Union’s constitution listed freedom of the press among the “rights” of Soviet citizens, and the U.S. Constitution says that only Congress may declare war and that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

More pertinent, the 1917 Balfour Declaration, wherein the British government “view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” also stated that “it [was] clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.” We know how that worked out.

So what’s the story inside Israel? (I’m not talking about the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel has occupied for 52 years and where Palestinians have no rights whatever.)

After doing an interview recently about my new book, Coming to Palestine, I was challenged by a listener over my statements that the Israeli government treats Arab and Jewish criminals differently depending on whether they shed “Jewish blood” or “Arab blood” (no such distinction actually exists) and that political parties can’t call for changing Israel from a Jewish state to a state of _all _its citizens.

Who is right?

Regarding criminal justice, Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy shows anecdotally that Arab Israeli citizens who kill Jews can spend more time in prison than Israeli Jewish citizens who kill Arabs. “Arab blood is cheaper in Israel,” Levy wrote in 2014, “and Jewish blood is thicker.” He says things are the same today. Over the years, many articles have been published documenting this de facto, though not de jure, disparity. Indeed, Haaretz reported in 2011 that

Arab Israelis who have been charged with certain types of crime are more likely than their Jewish counterparts to be convicted, and once convicted they are more likely to be sent to prison, and for a longer time. These disparities were found in a recent statistical study commissioned by Israels Courts Administration and the Israel Bar Association…. The [unpublished preliminary] study is unique in that it is the first of its kind to be commissioned and funded in part by the courts administration, and in that it sought to examine claims by attorneys that Israeli judges deal more harshly with Arab criminals than with Jews.

Note that government discrimination against non-Jews across the spectrum of issues is not usually written into the law, although it may be. Mostly flagrantly, discrimination is legally applied to the “right of return.” People defined as Jews, no matter where they were born or live, can become Israeli citizens/nationals virtually on arrival, while Arabs driven from their ancestral homes in 1947-48 and 1967 may not go back, much less become full-rights citizens/nationals. Put concretely, I, an atheist born in Philadelphia to Jewish parents born in Philadelphia (with roots likely in the vicinity of the Black Sea), can “return” [sic] to Israel and become an Israeli citizen at once, while my friend Raouf Halaby, a naturalized American citizen born to Arab Christian parents in west Jerusalem three years before Israel was founded, may not. The only difference is that my mother was Jewish, making me, a Spinozist, a Jewish national in Israel’s eyes, and Raouf’s mother was not.

Regarding restrictions on political parties, the Basic Law: The Knesset states:

A candidates’ list [party] shall not participate in elections to the Knesset, and a person shall not be a candidate for election to the Knesset, if the objects or actions of the list or the actions of the person, expressly or by implication, include…:

1.

1.

1.

negation of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state;…

Before proceeding, let us note a conundrum. The issue I’m raising here is whether a state be both Jewish and democratic. The root of the word democracy _is _demos, _people. _So if the raison d’être of Israel is the welfare of only _some _of its citizens and millions of certain others who are citizens and residents of other countries, how can Israel be a real democracy? Strictly speaking, considering that word and, the law’s language legitimizes a party that “negat[es] the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish … state” but not as a democratic state. Would the Israeli election authorities accept that distinction? I don’t think so.

In the past the Israeli Supreme Court has reversed government bans on a party’s or candidate’s inclusion in an election. Particular cases will revolve around the exact wording of a party’s mission statement or candidate’s platform, and legal language is subject to endless, unpredictable, and political interpretation. But, regardless, the government has the power to ban at its disposal, and future Supreme Courts may not be so liberal. So the threat of a ban always looms. Incidentally, a party or candidate that engages in “incitement to racism” is also ineligible to participate in elections, yet this provision has yet to be applied to Jewish parties and politicians, such as Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu, that routinely spout racist rhetoric.

Israel’s champions also deny that Arab Israelis — citizens, mind you — have grossly inferior access to land, most of which is owned by a “public” authority and the Jewish National Fund (very little is privately owned); building and village permits; public utilities; education; roads; and other government-controlled services and resources. The Israeli government has carried out programs in the Galilee and Negev, known as Judaization, from which Arab Israelis, especially Bedouins, have been cleared to make way for Jewish Israelis. Such restrictions inside Israel have the stink of apartheid.

In his book Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination, and Democracy, Ben White documents that the Israeli government allocates resources — unsurprisingly — just as one would expect, considering that Israel by its founding doctrine is not the land of all of its citizens but only of some. This doctrine was reinforced last year in the Nation-State Law, which declares that “The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.”

So, as Israel’s champions say, all Israeli citizens are indeed equal. It’s just that some — those whose nationality is “Jewish” — are more equal than others — those whose nationality is “Arab” or anything else but “Jewish.”

Read More

[agoddamn]

For some reason I loved FF12’s battle system. It felt like it acknowledged the tedium of most battle and gave you the option to automate the most brain-dead options (ie yes, I want to attack the fucking enemy) while still allowing you to pause and take tighter tactical control in more complex battles.

Conversely, I hated FF13's. It managed to combine the unfairest parts of an action RPG with the most tedious parts of a turn-based RPG. Chip away at stagger gauge, then unleash big dick damage when it's full--seems simple enough. But the first problem is that it was active in-battle menu flipping that didn't offer any convenient shortcuts like KH for something that you would be doing constantly--you spam Fire Fire Fire with the occasional Cure until the gauge fills. There was, however, the autopick option, which was objectively better than any human can be because it's faster, while also being inexplicably dumber and less efficient.

And god forbid your reflexes get dull after the ten minutes of manually spamming Fire Fire Fire you had to do to fill the gauge, because every precious second of staggered boss that you waste by being a human and having to think about what your next move should be and then physically move to select it is nothing but a great big FUCK YOU in wasted DPS. Yes, of course you have to go through the mind-numbing Fire Fire Fire spam again to be able to damage the boss's last pixel of fucking HP.

And inexplicably, you're fully healed after every combat. That sounds nice, but what it means is that instead of expecting you to conserve resources while you journey the game is balanced around you putting 100% of your resources and attention into every single last random monster encounter. And it's fucking exhausting! FF13's difficulty curve had two settings, tedious and nightmarishly tedious.

I was hugely disappointed by it because I loved FF10-2's battle system (done by the same person), even though it looked absurd. In retrospect it was probably too easy to break the game--you could basically put the controller down once you had all the counter skills. I did 100% that game, although I don't remember exactly how many superbosses I bothered to beat. At any rate, 10-2's combat felt fluid and wildly customizable, offering a ton of options. It was active time, so while being slow in menus did disadvantage you it felt much less punishing than 13 because it didn't revolve around the stagger system. Even random monster fights weren't all that tedious because you could change your jobs up and stay mentally engaged without every battle becoming a massive timesink.

[softgrungeprophet]

i don’t plan on harping on about this because i’m tired and this whole plot makes me feel gross and reminds me why i feel unwelcome in mainstream comics but like

it’s interesting (not in a good way) that the current Venom run Donny Cates is writing has so far only featured women as literal plot devices who either don’t exist or are dead and have been retroactively rewritten into a place of violation and that’s just supposed to be No Big Deal

It’s not great

and it sucks that like.... Venom alone has some great female characters who would benefit from their own solo mini-series, and then--the Venom comics in which Andi Benton saw the most care and growth as a character, and comics like Silk and the Kate Bishop Hawkeye solo all get canceled. (at least we have Ms Marvel)

But this Venom comic where women are basically just objects to further the plot and offer redemption arcs that--as eabevella pointed out--cannot even be forgiven by the affected character due to her being dead--this is THE best seller? it rubs me the wrong way. why is it that the comics about (or at least including) women that approach them as people get canceled and the ones where women are objects and targets of violence and erasure are the ones that get to sell a million billion copies and are heaped with praise and the author is some flawless perfect wonderful god? stupid.

I am fucking DREADING the moment this man gets his hands on a character like Andi or, god forbid, Jubulile, who are both young women of color and therefore so much more likely to be mistreated by the author whose only approach to women is death, non-existence, or sexual assault.

And DO NOT tell me “oh it’s not sexual assault” no. it fucking is. nonconsensual pregnancy is a form of sexual assault.

I don’t care whether it was “shown” or not, my issue is not that; my issue is that it’s being retroactively presented as really not that big of a deal and something worthy of forgiveness even though this kind of thing happens in real life (not exactly the same for obvious reasons) and literally ruins people’s lives. (and still irl the news focuses always on how sorry these boys are, who ruined these girls’ lives, how they just made a mistake... ha ha ha) AND in fact Anne DID die, her life WAS ruined, so like?

This isn’t even particularly personal for me! But it still makes me feel gross. Anne dying way back when for Eddie’s manpain was bad enough. This makes it worse. An apology to fall on dead ears, regret, blah blah, that’s not... really.... that doesn’t really make it okay.

(ON TOP OF years’ worth of emotional and mental manipulation and mind control (ALSO retconned in) also being part of this potential “redemption arc”?)

Anyway, we’ve had redemption arcs, actual redemption arcs and character growth. But apparently those don’t matter. All that matters is that Cates fabricates his own unforgivable history of manipulation and abuse that is somehow supposed to be worthy of redemption.

I don’t like this Eddie, I don’t like this symbiote. They are bad people. I don’t want their happy ending because their happy ending necessitates the suffering and sacrifice of everyone else.

And not to be an asshole, but I’m an asshole, so I’m gonna add in that they’re not the only characters in this comic I don’t like.

I don’t like Dylan because he’s a symbol of everything I hate about this run, of replacing Mary despite making no more sense than her, of the skewed plot and dropped twists and insensitive approach to literally every topic this man takes on.

It’s a comic steeped in white male privilege and the complete lack of being affected by any of the topics it “addresses” (though it doesn’t actually address any of them, just throws them onto the page)

(not that mainstream comics being overrun by privileged cishet white men is new and I don’t know what I expected lmao)

And you know what Don. Yeah, you’re right, not everything has to be canon and I’m definitely not accepting any aspect of this run--not even the first six issues--into my interpretation of canon, but that doesn’t change the fact that this comic is going to have some effect on the following comics, so--what am I supposed to do? Just stop reading Venom comics until someone steps in and retcons the retcons or makes a new timeline? Is that your answer?

Don’t like; don’t read? Like fanfiction, which is well-tagged and thoroughly warned for, and has no effect on the comics’ continuity?

I’ll stick to Toxin with a Vengeance and Carnage 2016 and Space Knight and Lethal Protector but I am allowed to be annoyed that things like this are just fun plot twists and not handled with even the remotest amount of care or thoughtfulness, that they’re supposed to just be something characters can move on from no problem (amidst all the dropped plot threads and constant soliloquizing)

I’m all for tackling serious subjects in comics and all other media but lmfao

I guess I’ll go back to previous comics and stay there in my little nook which is simultaneously belittled and expected to be the place i stay, ignoring this as much as I can (even though it’ll most likely be inescapable)

now i’m gonna go back into making my own backstory for a side character from SM/DP and probably read some more Daredevil

[whatisonthemoon]

Why I don't believe that UC or institutional Religion can really bring the K of H on earth..

1. I once did think it was possible -but I had to deny a major part of my inner being. We have to have a personal experience and embracing relationship w/ God the infinite and eternal. [My experience in UC of 35 years and relations with so many UC good people reflected NOT personal relationships with God but with man/ leaders and traditions. [The Subject] was not God; if God were members would question many things and sense their inner being. ] It became clear to me that their inner being had to me silenced in order to speak the traditional text of DP and UC internal guidance. Not that it was all wrong, no, but many of us had a relationship with God before the UC & then it was forsaken of course because we were of Satanic lineage. I am not in agreement with this [forsaking what is good form the past]

The essence: denial of consciousness/awareness of Gods presence substituted my a rotation to the outer faith in someone.

2. Invalidation of potential: even though I’ve experienced times of growth and gifts in the spirit maturing with members and my self - -there is a threshold, a barrier so to speak, that we are not allowed to get through. I’ve seen that if you try to advance and really experience God in a unique way, not imitating someone else, then  the institution will suppress you, period! Institutions in their nature control and have their rules. Rules you must follow. Of course there are some exception, I’m sure among the growing faiths in the world, and there are priest and monks that have shown the free will growth process with responsibility. The essence: Institutions say do it, then cause you to suffer by their hand if you try.

3. Closed systems: Just as a lake will die if new water isn’t getting to it so spiritual institutions also become stagnant without new expressions and insights from the bottom up. The idea that only insight comes from the authorized is part of the problem. Are we back in the 1,500s. Over and over again we are suffocated by leadership that disregards those who are just regular people..Of course God forbid if you have stained your image by any means you are disqualified. Regardless of the nice spiritual forgiveness sermons...the reality and facts of history are clear. Leadership has become arrogant. (there are exception for sure) The essence: God is eternal and infinite...a closed system where ideas and insight is limited to the "special" ones will too often limit and or distort Heavenly hope for true objective insight through which we could find answers. 4. Theology: unquestioned theologies become dogmas and errors become facts.

David Fastiggi, 2012

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

The RCAF Officer Who Brought Hitler’s Waffen SS to Canada

By David Pugliese

In May both the Globe and Mail newspaper and CBC’s As It Happens radio show carried laudatory reports about a Royal Canadian Air Force veteran and his efforts to bring Ukrainian refugees to Canada in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Flight Lt. Bohdan Panchuk was the man behind the Ukrainian Canadian Servicemen’s Association (UCSA), which supported the cultural and social needs of Canadians of Ukrainian heritage serving overseas during the Second World War. Panchuk was also involved in the effort that saw as many as 30,000 Ukrainian refugees brought to Canada after the war.

The media focus on Panchuk, who died in 1987, came about because Ukrainian groups in Canada and the United Kingdom were honouring him and the UCSA by unveiling a stained glass window on the 75th anniversary of the Victory in Europe.

By all accounts Panchuk contributed to Canada’s war effort and helping Ukrainian refugees from war-torn Europe.

But missing from the accolades in the Globe article and the CBC broadcast were the details about some of the Ukrainian “refugees” that Panchuk managed to convince the Canadian government to accept – 2,000 members of Adolf Hitler’s Waffen SS.

Panchuk was able to get members of the 14th Waffen SS Division Galicia into Canada by lying about their past.

Members of the unit had surrendered to Allied forces and were being held in a camp in Italy. In an attempt to hide the SS connection, the unit had changed its name in the last few days of the war to the First Division Ukrainian National Army. 

Panchuk was trying to get Canada to accept large numbers of soldiers from the unit but he had a major problem. The Canadian government would not accept as immigrants anyone who voluntarily served in the German military. Not only had the Ukrainians voluntarily served in Hitler’s war machine but they had eagerly signed up for the Waffen SS, which had been declared a criminal organization by the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal.

Those who served in the 14th Waffen SS Division Galicia had taken an oath to Hitler and had received education in Nazi doctrine. Ukrainian officers had been trained at SS facilities in the Dachau concentration camp. In fact, some of the division’s members have noted in their memoirs that concentration camp prisoners were required to remove their hats as a sign of respect for the Ukrainian SS. Unit members were given SS tattoos under their left arm indicating their blood group. Leadership of the division included some key figures who had been directly involved in the Holocaust.

As part of his efforts to have Canada accept the Ukrainian SS soldiers, Panchuk pushed a “positive narrative portraying the former Galicians as an anti-Soviet” German Army unit, noted Ukrainian historian Olesya Khromeychuk. She is the author of the book “Undetermined Ukrainians” which looks at the various narratives surrounding the 14th Waffen SS Division Galicia.

No mention was made of the SS. Instead, the Ukrainians were portrayed by Panchuk as being victims, having been forced into the division against their will.

If Canadian immigration officials had actually probed deeply into the background of the 14th Waffen-SS division they would have found few victims in its ranks. “The volunteers (of the Galician Division) committed themselves to German victory, the New European Order, and to Adolf Hitler personally,” explained Per Anders Rudling, a historian of Eastern European history and Associate Professor at the Department of History at Lund University, Sweden. The division not only fought the Polish Home Army but it took part in the crushing of the Slovak National Uprising and hunted down anti-Nazi partisans in Slovenia. There were also allegations of war crimes being committed by division members.

While some in the Canadian government didn’t probe deeply into the background of the Ukrainian “refugees,” British government bureaucrats knew who they were dealing with and were more than happy to dump the SS troops into Canada’s lap. “The Division was an SS division and technically all of its officers and senior NCOs are liable for trial as war criminals,” noted a report from Britain’s Under-Secretary of State. 

The British government also knew only cursory background checks had been conducted into the division members and their activities during the war. In 2005 the release of new documents from the British archives outlined the extent of the efforts in the late 1940s to pawn off members of 14th Waffen SS Division Galicia on to Canada. “What little we know of their war record is bad,” wrote Beryl Hughes, who was handling the issue for Britain’s Home Office. “We’re still hoping to get rid of the less desirable Ukrainian PoWs either to Germany or Canada,” Hughes added in another note in 1948.

Even Panchuk knew he was dealing with some unsavoury individuals but that didn’t stop him in his deception. “We must defend the principle of the refugees and DPs (displaced persons) and victims of war, but, in actual fact, God forbid and protect us if some of these parasitic bandits ever get into Canada,” he wrote to a colleague, John Karasevich.

Not everyone was fooled. Some members of the Canadian-Ukrainian community knew exactly who these “refugees” were and Panchuk’s campaign faced strong opposition from the Association of United Ukrainians in Canada, Khromeychuk, the historian, revealed in her book. “It is clear that Mr. Panchuk and his Association either forgets the facts, that no Canadian could forget or feels that Canadians have already forgotten their sons who have fallen on the battlefields of Europe,” the association wrote to Canadian immigration officials. “Ukrainian Division (Galicia) was part and parcel of the Hitler army. It was against them that our Canadian boys fought on the battlefields of Italy. Many a Canadian son remained over there, shot by the VERY ONES that Mr. Panchuk would wish your Department to bring to Canada.”

But pressure from the nationalist Ukrainian lobby in Canada as well as the British government was too great and Panchuk was successful. As many as 2,000 members of 14th SS Division Galicia arrived in Canada in the 1950s and immediately started to whitewash and cover up their past.

The effectiveness of that whitewash was on display in 2020 – neither the CBC nor the Globe and Mail appeared to have a clue about the SS connection to Panchuk’s “refugees.” The Globe article even has a photo of Panchuk visiting members of “Ukrainian Division Galicia” in 1947 as they awaited their release from the PoW camp in Italy. Globe journalists and photo editors were oblivious that those in the photo were members of the notorious 14th Waffen SS Division Galicia.

[funtime--error]

🎮 Battlefront II is broken no matter what EA does to the microtransactions

EA announced changes to Star Wars Battlefront II’s loot boxes.

Star Cards and all items affecting gameplay can only be earned through playing the game, not purchase.

Loot boxes contain credits (the “free” in-game currency) and cosmetics. They cannot be purchased with real money.

Players can buy cosmetics directly with Crystals, the premium currency that can be bought for real money.

These monetization changes apply to the base game and may change when EA adds new gameplay modes, some of which it said will be “radically different.”

Battlefront is still not balanced

Removing the abysmal pay-to-win loot boxes Battlefront II had is a start. Here’s the thing: This “improved” scheme screws new players. It’s not pay-to-win, it’s grind-to-win.

God forbid you start playing Battlefront II today. Veterans have had months to upgrade their Star Cards. They will be quantifiably more powerful than you. They will have more health and more firepower in addition to being more experienced and skilled. Here’s how bad it is:

The Heavy trooper has an upgrade that increases the strength of his shield by 40% when fully maxed.

The Specialist has an upgrade that reduces her mine’s cooldown from 30 seconds to 16.

An interceptor has an upgrade that can increase its rate of fire by 20%.

A bomber can get an upgrade that gives it 40% more health.

Boba Fett has an upgrade that reduces his damage taken while using his rockets by 100%.

You get what I’m saying here. Many of the upgrades found in Battlefront 2 are massive power boosts, either offensively or defensively, and they stack on top of one another. In a starfighter, for instance, you can combine maxed fire rate, damage increase and heat sink cards to deal absolutely insane DPS that people without those cards cannot keep up with. You can dump a bunch of maxed cards into a hero that takes them from a nuisance to an unkillable death machine.

Being new in Battlefront II means being a target dummy. It means you get the honor of competing with one arm tied behind your back. It means you’re going to lose.

Battlefront II is fundamentally broken because it ties progression to game balance. A competitive multiplayer game that lets you “pay” to win, whether through real money for loot boxes or grinding experience points, is a bad game.

Until DICE and EA tear out the Star Card system, the root problem will never be fixed.

🎮