To tell it quickly: trying to kill children is no-no; and yet the whole point of the game is to make you love its characters, who all more or less want to kill the protagonist at some point.
I see two valid possibilities to explain why this may not be a problem:
1) The "meta" hypothesis: The whole game takes death kinda lightly, because the premise is that the player themselve may take killing monsters lightly. This way, it would be in the tone of the game for death not to be something as bad as it should be, and even "good" characters would see only a moderate problem in trying to kill a child. I do not say death is without consequence (as the whole point of the game is to prove there is), just that both the playeFrisk and the monsters have a bias towards death being somewhat acceptable.
2) The "in-universe" hypothesis: Most monsters would be... quite disfunctionnal adults; they're all cartoonishly goofy, in a way that makes Frisk, a litteral toddler, seem more mature than them in comparison. Therefore, maybe they all try to kill Frisk because they're a little to naive or dumb-dumb to realize the consequence of their action.
A third, "serious" possibility does not seem really plausible to me: the game is too lighthearted and all characters go from "I'll kill you" to "We're besties now" just too quickly and inconsequentially; it does not look like they're thinking this through, like "We've been trapped for centuries and absolutely loathe humans, which children it is legitimate to murder if it allows us to free ourselves, but this child proved by their actions that they're worthy of reconsidering our position, and now we respect them"... it's more like "Ngahhh I'm being an anime superhero and going to defeat the baddie but oh! they make nice spaghetti, yummy!". Therefore, I don't think that the "they do it out of necessity" is the most relevant one.
Let's just review the main characters:
Toriel: wants to help the child; is a bit irresponsible concerning the kingdom and Asgore.
Sans: Only attacks the player once they have gone too far. Says that, without Toriel, he would have killed Frisk... but is he just trying to sound badass or what would be his motivation? If he is this ready to kill a child, why wait for everybody to be murdered to react?
Papyrus: Does not really seem to understand what death even is.
Undyne: I likely to hot blooded to think her actions through.
Alphys: Never attacks the player.
Mettaton: Likely blinded by his ego.
Asgore: Seems "not bright enough" to think of a better solution.
Conclusion: I think Toby just didn't bother thinking too far, for a game that is firstly lighthearted and quirky; the consistency (or lack thereof) of the characters does not seem to be intended to resist fridge logic. There are scenes that are obviously there just for the sake of their effect and not in order to build a deep and consistent tone.

If your wife’s name was being dragged through the dirt and she was being humiliated by thousands of strangers online would you (a) get a job? Or (b) ruin her fuckin life along with yours to stream video games for 30 grand or so a year?

So I hadn't filed taxes in some years and felt compelled to do so this year.
When I sat down to do my 2023 taxes which I filed electronically, I also did my 2022, 2021, and 2020 taxes which I had to mail. All this took place on April 16th.
I received my refund checks for State and Federal for 2023.
I've received bills for what I owe my State already - I expected this.
When I go online to check on the other three years, the system says no records exist that match my specs. So, because I've mailed them, I have no proof the IRS recived them, processed them, or that my refund (and stimulus) checks are in process.
It has been 6 weeks and I'm getting anxious.
How do I go about getting some assurance? Is the turn around time closer to 8 or 10 week? Are they backed up? Do I need to send my documents again?
Thanks in advance.

Hello Reddit,
I am trying to play 2k24 with a friend online and for some reason when we are in a game it won't let me use my controller or my keyboard. However when I play just by myself offline I'm freely able to use my controller. I play with a PS4 controller plugged in and playing via steam. Anyone run into this issue or know of any fix? Can't seem to find a resolution anywhere.

I’ve always been extremely self conscious which seems to only get worse the older I get. I avoid looking in the mirror at all costs, avoiding seeing my reflection. When I wash my face and brush my teeth I close my eyes or look down so I don’t have to see my face. But every now and then I will look in hopes that something, somehow has changed in my mind. Disappointingly, but not my surprise nothings changes. I feel the same way which leads me into a mental breakdown. And for some reason I feel bad for my past self, but not my future self. I hate I feel this way and I wish I Could change it. But i’ve felt this way since I was 10. It does a toll on my quality of life and i’m not sure there’s much I can do to fix it other than continuing to avoid my reflection. It’s especially bad because the idea of my outter appearance was engraved into my mind since I was 9 due to my peers telling me I am ugly which had continued into highschool until I graduated which now I am in my first year of college. I took a gap year and through out that year I never had contact with another soul outside my family. I just sort of isolated my self from the world but was active in online groupchats and even then I couldn’t run from people telling me I am unattractive or not special. I am at a point in my life where I don’t feel like I fit in anywhere and I am afraid to. I lack joy in life. Things I once loved is now hard for me to do. Video games was the last thing I enjoyed but within this last month I have dreaded them. It seems everything is quickly losing any ounce of satisfaction or pleasure to me. The only thing that truly makes me happy or helps me to experience a feeling of happiness is watching birds outside my window or seeing the frogs swim in my old ran down pool with water as green as grass. That’s about it, life gets quite lonely. I got my first ever job I like that I have something to occupy me but no one talks to me the way they talk to each other. The biggest issue of all Is i applied to a store with mirrors everywhere. All in all I wish I could live a normal life and look in the mirror awhile brushing my teeth instead having to close my eyes. I just wish I could appreciate who I am and how I look but it’s impossible. Overall I am positive about everything until it involves me.

I bought the Violet/Scarlet combo pack around Christmas last year but just recently started taking the game seriously. And holy COW why does this game feel so big!! In fairness I started my Pokemon journey with Sword/Shield but the absolute comparison of story paths and missions is insane!
I don’t like looking too deep into the game online since I wanna experience it fairly raw but as I research more about the game, there’s 3 different paths you can focus on (I think?) a DLC, AND now I’m finding out about these swords in various colors??
The game seems so big and long it gives me anxiety sometimes 😂 but it’s also so fun because I feel like there’s no end and I’ll just be playing forever!

I'm trying to find this game, but I barely remember the details since I was a toddler that time. Interestingly, it's one of my earliest memory, watching my mother play it. I’ll try my best to give all the details that I tried to remember, The casual PC game from the 2000s to early 2010ish?. It involved viewing rooms with people, featuring a classical or Victorian aesthetic. While not a hidden object games or Big Fish Games title, it had a similar vibe. The game's perspective was isometric, allowing players to see all the rooms. Despite searching for hours and days, I only stumbled upon it again in a Twitter post way back from 2020, but unfortunately, I forgot the name and content… Thanks to ADHD.

I was just play an online match with Jason (my main now) and was doing pretty well. I was playing a match when the game crashed on me. Thats fine, i guess. Restarted the game, got into another match. It’s going well. I asked for a rematch with a person playing Garnet 4 times. Within those 4 times, the game has crash twice. Funny thing, even in the PVE the game crashed on me. My wifi is really good, my xbox is really good, but the game is not, but at least i can enjoy it sometimes.
Tl;Dr: MY GAME CRASHED 4 TIMES 3 WHILE ONLINE 1 WHILE OFFLINE
I HOPE THERES NO PENALTY FOR “QUITTING” CUZ I JUST HAD TO DO THAT 3 TIMES. ITS NOT MY FAULT THE GAME CAN RUN AS WELL AS MY FAST ASS CAN DO A MILE. I WANT TO ENJOY THIS GAME, BUT I CAN’T WHEN THE GAME FREEZES UP ON ME.
anyways, how fix?

Hello everyone I'm fairly new to the game I've only been playing for about 5 days now and I know a lot of the best characters in the game and I've actually gotten quite a few especially with the sixth anniversary going on but there's a lot of characters that I don't know for sure if they are actually good or not I was wondering if anyone knew if there were any updated accurate rankings anywhere online that I could look over?

Just hosted a Bots Level 7 operation at level 28, and the three lads that joined were tremendous. They were super friendly, focused on the objectives, and very communicative. Enjoyed my time with them so much that I sent friend requests to each of them - first time since I began playing that I've done so.
I haven't been playing a ton of HD2, but have been lurking around a bit on the main sub. The difference between online personalities and in-game players can be very stark. Not to say they're aren't great people on Reddit, or that there's no bad players in-game, but the experience was completely refreshing and made me extremely happy that there's a great game and playerbase to enjoy.
Big thanks to all you positive players, discord and reddit users, and everyone in between. This is what Managed Democracy is meant to look like!

Six months ago, I underwent rhinoplasty, and post-surgery, my nose remained swollen. Impatient to reduce the swelling, I sought a steroid injection at a clinic in Toronto. However, the experience was less than ideal. Following the injection, I noticed a concerning development: a dent forming on the side of my nose, near the bridge. The dent then spread across the bridge slightly and felt almost like a fracture in the silicone of my nose, creating noticeable irregularities in the nasal contour (I had to get emergency fillers this weekend for the indent across the bridge so you can’t see that here). I find that the dent is less noticeable if there isn’t direct light shining on top of my nose, but if there is bright light you can clearly see a shadow forming which makes my nose look crooked.
Despite reaching out to the nurse with my concerns, his response was dismissive and unhelpful. He adamantly denied any association between the injection and the resulting dents, leaving me frustrated and without answers. Eventually, I decided to take matters into my own hands and did some research online.
I discovered that dents like mine can sometimes occur with steroid injections, and there’s a possibility that they may heal over time. However, the waiting game is incredibly stressful, and I’m desperate for some guidance and support. I’m wondering if anyone else in the community has experienced similar complications following a steroid injection post-rhinoplasty? Have you found any effective treatments or interventions? Will my nose go back to normal at some point ? I know I was stupid and it was my fault for rushing into this and I will be speaking to my surgeon about it. I just want to get insights before hand. I would truly appreciate any advice or shared experiences you can provide. Thank you for taking the time to read and please be kind.

To get this up early, I’m splitting the two days of round 2. Here’s Wednesday’s ATP. The WTA Wednesday matches will go up around 12:30AM EST.

Rublev vs Martinez :

For a good chunk of his career, Rublev has made quick work of matches like this. When he’s the bigger hitter and his opponent doesn’t have a huge serve, he’s supposed to thrive. Lately though, Andrey hasn’t been automatic in these spots. He’s always had a temper, but it’s been on display following his errors lately and it has given his opponents belief. Taro Daniel won a set, and Martinez is at least as good as him. 5 sets with Tirante doesn’t indicate he’s ready to upset Rublev, but I would expect the bulk of this to be fairly competitive. Rublev in 4.

Muller vs Arnadli :

Muller scored a comfortable victory against Luca Nardi in the opening round, and he will continue to battle the Italian federation in round two against Matteo Arnaldi. Arnaldi had a fairly easy time with Arthur Fils, despite getting broken 6 times. Fils is a solid player with all the attributes to be a top player on clay, but he has no patience. He’s extremely willing to go for broke from any position, and when the rally stretches long he tries to hit the big shot as soon as it appears. As a fan, I want to see big shots, but to win on clay you need to play a more conservative approach. Arnaldi is way more stable from the baseline than Fils, but bailing out of rallies early isn’t the right plan because it means Arnaldi doesn’t really feel like he has to do anything special to win.
Muller will hang in rallies longer and is a good bit better than Fils on clay, but he doesn’t have this level of win on his resume yet. Arnaldi’s register is very high and I mostly only see him losing to players who hit bigger. I expect him to have to work harder and longer than he did against Fils, but this should go to Arnaldi in 3-4.

Sonego vs Zhang :

Immense power. A huge forehand. Inconsistent results. A cannon of a serve but a slightly subpar backhand. Which player am I describing? This is a matchup that is very close. Humbert fell apart against Koepfer last week in Lyon and his slump continued, allowing Sonego to get a much-needed win. Zhang had a great draw and took advantage of it, besting Vukic in 4. The big difference I see in these two players is the speed. Sonego is a bit quicker around the court and that might allow him to win a few extra points. Given they both have the ability to protect their service games I would expect a tiebreaker or two, and at least 4 sets. I’m a big Zhang fan but he hasn’t been as good on clay as he was in the Challenger grind, so Sonego in 4-5.

Altmaier vs Tsitsipas :

Tsitsipas was clinical in beating Fucsovics in round one. He’s back with Badosa, he’s a dark horse to win this event, and he’s playing great tennis. Having that focus is big for a player who’s struggled for confidence, and Altmaier is a player he can probably beat. Daniel has always been capable on clay, and he has some amazing clashes with big name players like Sinner in the past, but lately I haven’t loved his level. Beating an inactive Djere was honestly good, but I think Tsitsipas is fresh and will be hitting the ball bigger the entire match here. Altmaier moves the ball well but he will very likely get worn down as this progresses. Tsitsipas in 4.

Shelton vs Nishikori :

Nishikori pulling up and beating one of the better qualifiers was impressive, but I guess if we’re being honest Diallo isn’t automatic yet. He has a bright future, but big hitters can often be undone by a slick defender and Nishikori has all the experience in the world. I think this will be fun because Shelton is a lefty. Attacking Nishikori’s backhand will get him punished up the line and cross-court, because Kei has one of the best backhands the tour has ever seen. The downside is Kei just played a five setter so he might be a bit tired, and he’s not serving well enough to score easy points. Shelton’s team hopefully has told him to take his forehand inside out and down the line as often as possible. Shelton in 4.

Auger-Alliassime vs Squire :

Gutsy performance in round one from Squire. Even in the fifth set tiebreak he was still hitting his backhand down the line for effect, and while he double faulted in a few crucial moments he served effectively the entire match. I’m not sure how his game will fare against Felix. FAA is inconsistent but he’s had a good month and he does everything a little bigger than Squire here. Felix in 3-4.

Korda vs Kwon :

Korda winning in straight sets is honestly surprising the way it feels like his season is going. Checking his history though he’s been winning his fair share of matches, it’s just watching his losses that makes me feel he’s struggling. More surprising is Kwon winning in straights. Ruusuvuori continues to struggle on clay and Kwon returning from a layoff to black him is a great result for him. His insistence on pushing the pace and hitting to the open court will bother Korda a bit, but he’s a bit out of his weight class here. Korda’s serving is good enough to get him through here, but Kwon winning in straights means expecting him to just lose in straights is pretty unreasonable. Korda in 4-5. The problem here is Korda is supposed to win this in straights, but Kwon is supposed to lose round one so he’s at a level beyond what we’re estimating him at when we say Korda in 3.

De Jong vs Alcaraz :

Jesper De Jong won the best match of his career in round one, getting past Jack Draper and setting up a matchup against the current tournament favorite. It almost has to be the end of the road, but De Jong will give us our first look at how Alcaraz is playing. Carlos was immaculate in round one, losing only 4 games, but Wolf is just not good on clay, and is having one of his worst runs ever on tour. Alcaraz in 3 is likely again because De Jong doesn’t have the hugest serve, but this will be much more competitive than the Wolf match. Alcaraz in 3-4.

Hurkacz vs Nakashima :

Considering Mochizuki took Hurkacz to 5, Nakashima has to like his chances here. Mochigoat is one of the fun players to watch on tour and his volleys at net are unreal, but Hurkacz is supposed to win that match in a safe manner. Now he’s playing Nakashima who won against Moreno De Alboran in a solid performance, and has been grinding clay events the entire year, using them almost exclusively to earn his way back into the top 100. Hurkacz won’t necessarily struggle as much in this one; it’s fairly common on tour for players to squeak through a strugglebus performance and feel like they’re freerolling in the next round. You already should have been out, so you play with no pressure and your best tennis comes out.
Hubert’s serve can get him to the finish line against pretty much anyone as well, so Nakashima will have to lock in and try to wear Hurkacz down. It may sound silly, but Isner used to struggle more against the guys that couldn’t ace him. Putting the serve return in is great, but if the other player is a solid baseliner, it means you’re playing 6-8 shot rallies over and over. This can take the legs away from a big server, and Nakashima fits this bill. While I’m bullish on Nakashima here, I think it’s more likely that this will be close enough that anyone can win, and whoever plays the big points better will. A server like Hurkacz in tiebreakers is pretty efficient, and playing a servebot in a 5th is a really tough ask if they’re serving first. Honestly, I saw this match in the draw and thought Nakashima was 50/50, so I’m sticking with it. Nakashima in 5.

Shapovalov vs Tiafoe :

Shapovalov is winning tennis matches again. It’s great to see, but he’s in Dimitrov territory for me. Sure he’s winning, but I’m not going near it because I don’t want to get hurt again. His opponent this round is a player whose range of play goes from “does he even play tennis anymore?” to “omg he’s going to win the US Open” Bellucci almost had Tiafoe, and a few big returns for Tiafoe ended up being the key in the end. Tiafoe will probably be competitive here, and playing a lefty the round before means his backhand got a good workout and he’ll be comfortable with the generic patterns that a lefty will bring. Shapovalov hits bigger than Tiafoe regularly, and it will take a big step up in effort/consistency from Tiafoe to win this. Given his serving ability and the underlying ability to play top level tennis, being sure Tiafoe will lose here doesn’t make sense. I’m expecting a match where both players will be pretty frustrated at times, and I think the one who’s more willing to lock in and play stingy defensive tennis will win. For once, that seems to be Shapo. Shapovalov in 4-5.

Bergs vs Marterer :

There were some wild first round results, but Tabilo losing quickly to Zizou Bergs was one of the biggest. Not only does he get a huge result, but he’s a favorite to win his second round also. Marterer has gotten a lot of respect and fallen short on tour for a few seasons, but he made good on the respect and beat Thompson in 3. Marterer is a powerful lefty who crushes the ball, and the one problem with his game is he sort of plays at one speed. Hitting big is great but he sometimes plays his opponents into form by showing them the same pace over and over. Shapovalov had a similar problem during his slump as well. Marterer shouldn’t be counted out of this match at all, but Bergs is much quicker around the court and I think Maximilian’s backhand will get worn down eventually. Bergs in 4.

Maroszan vs Dimitrov :

I’ll take tickets to this match. Both are through in straight sets, and both hit extremely clean and play skilled tennis. Maroszan can win this match, but I think Dimitrov’s ability to defend will eventually get him through. Maroszan’s power and forehand are good enough to hit some winners, but he also scores a lot off of dropshots. I think it’s still a viable option, but Dimitrov’s speed will make it a risky option. Expecting a high level clash here and when both players are extremely skilled sets usually get traded. Dimitrov in 4 is what I suspect, but since it’s his defense I expect to get him across the finish line this could easily go 5. Maroszan is really good, and it’s just fitness and decision-making that are left for him to work on.

Moutet vs Shevchenko :

Moutet’s coach got a bit spicy before the Jarry match, allegedly mad about fans’ behavior in the Moutet Jarry clash in Chile. It seemed to work, as Moutet played some of the best tennis he ever has and beat Jarry in 4 exhilarating sets. That same level should win this contest, but a slightly different style of opponent can complicate things. Shevchenko is a plucky baseliner and he will make Moutet earn all his points. He managed to outlast Karatsev in round one in a 5 set clash that had a million changes in momentum and 21 breaks. Moutet’s level was higher, but besting another offense is sometimes a simpler task. Shevchenko is going to put the ball in annoying spots and try to outlast Moutet, so this is a mental test. I think Moutet is up for it, but I could see it taking some time to happen. Moutet in 4.

Ofner vs Baez :

Gustavo Heide should be on everyone’s radar now. He hits the ball huge and clean, and has one of the better serves from the young crop of talents on tour. Honestly, when I first saw him 2 years ago I think he was a servebot and an old guy, and now his baseline game has developed in a major way and somehow he’s 22. Stay still Gustavo! Baez had this mostly wrapped up and Heide was tired, and then he won 2 lopsided sets in a row. I was expecting Baez to go on a run here, and he played Ruud close in Geneva so this is a good reprieve for him (playing Ofner). Ofner beat Atmane in 5 and he has the power to compete with Baez, but not the consistency. The 5 setter with Heide was surprising, but I’m willing to chalk it up to Heide’s high level rather than Baez being a flight risk. Baez in 4.

Kotov vs Wawrinka :

Hehe. Kinda fair for these two to play each other. If there were any two players to look both ways during a changeover and then sneak a cupcake out of their bag and scarf it, it’s these two offensive wizards. Kotov managed to outlast Norrie which is honestly a tremendous win, and Wawrinka continued his clay dominance against Murray in a straight set win. Kotov is a little better and has more stamina at this point, but Wawrinka is serving well and I expect him to win at least 1 of the first two sets.
Wawrinka has been losing to a lot of players right around Kotov’s level recently (Martinez in 2, ARV in 3, Borges in 3) so it’s tempting but tricky to declare him a winner. Tennis-wise, my brain won’t let me see Kotov winning. Pavel serves well and hits big, and for a guy who appears out of shape he wins a lot of marathon matches and has good power late in the game. 5 sets with Norrie isn’t going to help him here, and if Wawrinka can get up 2-0 or 2-1 it could easily be goodnight just because he can then open up. Norrie is a tough out, but on clay his shots don’t really clear the court. Wawrinka is almost a clay specialist at this point in his career, and he serves a lot bigger than Cam also.
This is wide open, and if I could skip a match, it’d be this one. Wawrinka in 4 or Kotov in 5. Stan needs to win quickly, but his recent results don’t make it realistic. You can point to him smoking Murray, but Murray is really a gimme these days on clay.

Gasquet vs Sinner :

Jannik Sinner has filled the void that the gradual departure of the big 3 is creating. He was always a tremendous player, but now he’s become extremely reliable at that level. His returning is world class, his serve is constantly improving, and his baseline game is now measured and tactical rather than an all-out assault. He knows when to just put the ball in play, and his footwork is constant. I love it. Gasquet turned back the clock and smoked Coric in straight sets, but the road probably ends here. This will be a high-level match and the crowd will be behind Gasquet in a major way. Jannik is a classy kid and will understand the atmosphere and respect it enough to navigate to the finish line. Sinner in 3-4.

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Before everything, english is not my first language, so I apologize if there are some mistakes in my post.
I’ll try to be short as I can.
Back in 2020 I used to play Apex Legends a lot, and one day I met this guy, he is from another country so we never actually met in real life. But we became friends and we have kept playing togheter kinda everyday for the two next years.
Then we eventually get bored of the game and slowly stop playing and interact with each other.
Flash forward to today, I came back from a long day and I’m two or three beers up, I decide to call my friend and play a game of League of Legends (I played this game a lot when I was in high school, but now its only for fun.
First game with my friend and we get a troll teammate, and everybody notice so we start chat with the enemy team.
At some point an enemy player ask if i was playing apex, and i say yes, same nick, did we met before? And he say yes and the username and i went silent while i was talking with my friend.
I mean what were the odds? Billions in Billions.
I told him we mist met because there is something that has to happen, or the other option is that he is a fed, but I’m not doing anything strange so I guess is some sort of glitch/destiny.
I’ll keep you posted

So, I feel like this daily log in thing is just prepping us for Project Rene, I don’t see how on earth mods will be a thing in an online cross play multi-platform game.
Anyone else think there will be a paid and free version of the “pass”? It’s slowly working it in. I can almost guarantee it.

Wall of text warning: I was writing a comment on another post but I figured I'd just make my own topic on it with my full thoughts on each faction and their skills, balancing, etc, after about 20 hours of playing (enough to get a decent idea). Personally I don't feel like any particular faction is especially strong currently and I think the balance of the factions is actually pretty decent overall.
Cleaners are the weakest by far (not very far, though) and seem to suffer from some confused design choices. The Firebomb is great for punishing bunched enemies or denying area but this is a ranged game at the core so it often is completely useless on many maps or just makes you vulnerable if you try to use it aggressively, and particularly in mobile modes like Escort where there is high kill turnover and less opportunity for anyone to keep a strong foothold. The Incendiary Drone is decent, does what it should, not a lot to say about it. Strong alternative skill to Firebomb for mobile modes. Their Incendiary Ammo is a bit useless in a vacuum due to the nature of the TTK because most of the time it will not result in a kill you wouldn't have already gotten and it doesn't deal enough damage on its own to really speed up the TTK in any meaningful way. You still have to shoot someone the same number of times to get a kill and if you stop shooting to let the DOT tick instead you'll just die. On top of that, Incendiary Ammo actually reduces your weapon optimal range, and as mentioned before, this is typically a ranged game. The Incendiary Ammo shines more in situations where someone is running away and a teammate can finish them off instead since then it may have done enough damage or canceled their regen enough. It seems as though the Incendiary Ammo might be meant to offer a counter to Libertad's healing-oriented skills but it usually doesn't make a great deal of difference even there. Weirdly, the best weapons for taking advantage of Incendiary Ammo are snipers since it more or less guarantees a kill no matter where you hit someone with the Tac-50 even if it's a leg or arm shot, and guarantees a kill with the M44 in the body, in spite of the "reduced range". Personally the times I've seen Incendiary Ammo end up killing me is right after I had already killed them first anyways, so it was more of a kill guarantee after death than a true advantage in the fight itself. The Cleaners are still playable, just kinda why would you choose them over anything else if you aren't playing them because you like them. Also the Cleaner ultra is ridiculous if you get in a good spot to use it because it instantly kills anyone you hit but again its range makes you vulnerable. The Cleaners biggest strength at the moment seems to be that they have messed up hitboxes, honestly. I think that the Cleaners really need some kind of help on their skills as they are now, they are weirdly situational and difficult to safely employ, but I suppose that is the real philosophy of the Cleaners as it is, they run around with explosive tanks on their backs that instantly kill them in The Division so an exploding flaming firebomber that may or may not live through their skill is oddly appropriate.
Echelon is strong by nature of being a crutch. Intel Suit lets the enemy team know you're nearby and can see them thanks to the notification, smart/skilled players will just listen for you and it's not a huge advantage against them, below average players won't pay attention to it though and it's quite strong against players that don't have good audio or are unaware of where their flanks are. However, the main advantage of the Intel Suit is that it reveals the enemies for your whole team no matter where they are. While you have to be in closer range to detect enemies with it, your teammates can be on the opposite side of the map and still see exactly where the enemy is which is a massive advantage. Digital Ghillie Suit is honestly a pretty balanced skill, someone paying attention will still notice you and Intel Suit counters it (weirdly, same faction counter) but it has a lot of outplay potential and lets you reposition or get into weird spots that the enemy team might not expect if they are distracted. It offers a similar advantage that Phantoms skills do in that it can easily be used to disengage a losing gunfight back into your advantage for a kill instead. Not much wrong with it, it's a well designed skill-expression skill. Echelon passive is kind of whatever, I don't feel like it's a great advantage because it gives you no direct benefit in a gunfight or even while traversing the map most of the time, it's another thing that is strong against unaware or distracted players. The Echelon ultra is of course quite strong in even an average-skilled players hands thanks to real-time wallhacks and a Golden Gun, although the sound it makes and sonar waves effects do put a bit of a target on you and sometimes the OHK gun doesn't actually get a OHK (somehow) but even being guaranteed just 2-3 kills for the duration is still enough to wipe an objective and some players will even try to hide from it. Echelon is overall a strong faction to use against players that are worse than you (likely why it is the most popular faction seemingly at the moment) but it doesn't provide any major meaningful advantage against equal or more skilled players since that will come down to your more practical gunfighting skills instead the majority of the time. Digital Ghillie offers some potential to outplay even skilled opponents but aside from that their skills heavily depend on their opponents being distracted to take advantage of them fully. Given that, the faction is pretty well balanced even with multiple players spamming Intel Suits on one team, since it only offers opportunities, it doesn't exploit them for you.
Phantoms are my personal favorite faction because I feel as though they have the widest degree of skill expression over any of the others. Mag Barrier used smartly can completely turn a lost gunfight around in your favor, especially if there is a choke point or corner you can use to make enemies chase you. Mag Barrier is one of the few skills in the game that is actually a punish skill when you use it correctly by letting an enemy get caught out if they try to ego on you or think they are winning the fight. That's on top of everything else it does. The EMP grenade is only a "counter" to it if someone is mindlessly spamming it because when used correctly you don't have time to throw an EMP grenade. You would have to pre-emptively EMP the Phantom player for every encounter if they use it well and that's not very feasible in a dynamic scenario. That said, Mag Barrier is fairly weak in terms of pure cover and a determined player can chew through it in a few seconds if you carelessly use it without exploiting the advantage it gives, or grenades can be thrown around it, enemies can run through it, its strength comes down entirely to the user. Blitz Shield is also a strong punish skill but currently the way player collision works makes it difficult to use against anyone that is experienced or skilled because no enemy player collision means they can jump through you. You can't really use the shield to turtle 1v1s since enemies can just run through and behind you, even if you're in a corner. Most players won't do this or know it's possible, so it can be a bit of a crutch against less skilled players at least. The Blitz Shield is mainly strong for punishing around corners if someone chases you since you can typically swap to it fast enough to surprise them before they get around the corner. It's also good for absorbing damage at range or aggressively disrupting enemy players on an objective for your team to pick off but that depends a lot on how good your team is and less on the shield itself. Phantoms passive is honestly extremely strong, and IMO the best passive in the game currently. Having 20 more health is massive when 110 damage OHK body shots exist since it allows you to survive hits no other faction can and combined with the other skills it offers retaliation and outplay potential no other faction has. The Phantom ultra is a bit mediocre in terms of kill potential, due to lack of range or mobility, vulnerable to grenades, and various other problems that come with moving slow and telegraphing yourself to the entire map as a giant target. The ultra's primary purpose is of course simply being a big shield to deny area to the enemy team or offer your team a safe place to stand on objectives for pushes. The Phantoms are a well-balanced and strong faction currently that offers a lot to players that know how to take advantage of their skills properly.
Libertad is probably the most well-balanced faction in the game at the moment. It's very straightforward and easy to grasp for players of all skill levels and doesn't depend on a lot of gun skill, map knowledge, or general experience to perform decently. Since none of their skills are directly offensive, they are easy to employ in a variety of situations, like fortifying an objective or pre-emptively giving your teammates an advantage for a push, refreshing a teammate after a close gunfight, using mid-gunfight for a surprise comeback, etc. El Remedio is such a strong heal that it can greatly increase your EHP in a straight gunfight to the point you need multiple extra hits to kill if the enemy misses any shots, and if you manage to break contact with them briefly you can set up the heal on yourself for a surprise punish similar to the Phantom Mag Barrier. It forces the enemy to decide if they try to kill you or break the canister first and assuming you are equally skilled, you will usually end up winning the 1v1. The main downside to El Remedio is its fairly long cooldown so you have to use it smartly or else you won't have it for major moments when your team might have needed it. It's strong and has some skill expression to it in a variety of ways. BioVida Boost is one-time instant version of El Remedio with similar uses, but it works much better with a unified team push and has a shorter cooldown which makes it much more useful for a more mobile style of play. Not only that but its heal is essentially instant, again being very strong if you manage to break contact for a moment in a gunfight to come back with full health before the enemy got their natural regen. Libertad's passive has no strings attached, simply natural regen with no downtime for you and any teammates near you, doesn't require you to do anything and is always active which makes it great for people of all skill levels since it's always being taken advantage of. The Libertad ultra is literally just an even bigger version of El Remedio that also increases your and teammates max HP massively, it can guarantee a last second payload push or let you lock down a critical objective to break out a losing zone match. Libertad is generally the best faction for anyone that's really new or isn't that great at FPS games since it doesn't depend on your technical skill too much aside from simply staying alive to give your team a constant advantage. Another nice thing about Libertad is they synergize incredibly well with the Phantoms' huge health pool. The only outstanding weakness of Libertad is the old classic: your teammates. It has very little potential to actually carry and under focused fire their healing is pretty irrelevant so you're not exactly going to go tank a payload by yourself. Even with the ultra on, a single person can chew through it and kill you if you give them long enough (not very long).
I've not gotten to play around a ton with DedSec yet but my initial impression is that they are very similar to Phantoms in terms of skill expression and offer a ton of flexibility that other factions don't have through being able to hack enemy deployables and regenerating devices. I would not call them imbalanced, but I do think they are the one faction that currently does lean the most into that because they counter every single other faction. Being able to shut off enemy skills and ultras is huge, even if it takes their own ultra to do it. But you are effectively turning everyone on the enemy team into the Rookie from Rainbow Six Siege temporarily while all the players on your team get to keep their skills. If you have multiple DedSec players on your team and properly chain the ultras then you are looking at a free objective push every single time. The Spiderbot is fairly alright, but it's currently bugged and sometimes enemy players can't destroy it properly which makes it stronger than it actually is, and that's on top of it taking more than one hit to kill anyways which I personally think shouldn't be a thing either. In its current state it is basically a guaranteed kill on anyone you hit with it if you use it aggressively, though, and I do think it should be adjusted in some way after they fix the desync issues with it. Hijack isn't always super relevant because at the moment deployables aren't very long-lived or common, but being able to flip a Phantom Mag Barrier is wildly strong and is the only counter play to a choke point punish in that it punishes the punish. Hijack is fairly useless though if the enemy team all happen to pick Echelon or Cleaners (which is a fair possibility). I think the skill is still a good skill expression skill and fine, though. The DedSec passive is unsurprisingly very strong because being able to throw two proximity mines on an objective or get multiple uses of grenades is obviously something no other faction can do and those things are one per life for a reason. The passive doesn't benefit if you don't live long enough to use it, though, so it can be kinda useless depending on the situation: if you never throw your grenade or mine, the passive literally does nothing. DedSec is currently in a very strong state overall, while I wouldn't say it's imbalanced, it's definitely one of the better factions if only for the fact it can shut off every enemy skill and ultra and has a way to essentially guarantee a kill.
If I had to "tier" each faction in terms of their effectiveness in a vacuum regardless of skill, I'd probably rank them (from best to worst): DedSec > Phantoms/Echelon > Libertad > Cleaners. But that is a very shallow slope with all factions being very much viable to play and do well with.
All of this is also given without thought to the current state of weapon balance generally speaking, while I do feel that Phantoms have a particular advantage currently due to the prevalence of Tac-50s. Echelon's Digital Ghillie also helps them get in close to employ some of the better weapons in the game currently like the MP7 or double barrel. DedSec's spiderbot sets them up for kills with all kinds of weapons, particularly the Tac-50. I don't see any of these skills being worse off without the existence of those weapons, however.
If I were to speculate on any adjustments that should be made: Spiderbots need to be fixed ASAP so they always properly appear on the targets screen to destroy them (not really an "adjustment", a bug fix). Libertad needs some kind of light buff in my opinion, maybe a bonus effect on a skill like slightly increasing max HP (good to help deal with prevalence of OHK snipers) or an alternate mode that poisons or debuffs enemies (Viviro would make sense because it's the chemical weapon made by the same company in Far Cry 6). Cleaners need a little bit of help, maybe allow them to also select Molotov cocktails as grenades that make small fire puddles that aren't quite as strong as their skills as a form of area denial to sort of solidify their "stay the fuck away from me" presence as a faction. The big one people talk about is the Intel Suit for Echelon but I honestly don't see much issue with this. The game literally highlights enemies for you already as it is, seeing them through walls briefly isn't a huge stretch when you can already hear people running around anyways since (thank god) we don't have anything like Dead Silence/Ninja/Covert Sneakers in this game. Echelon is a noob stomping faction and that's why it's generally popular right now but I think once more people get access to DedSec we will start to see more of them instead.
Anyways, that's all for today. I do really hope Ubi upkeeps this game well and makes smart balancing decisions that keep the game fun and engaging without oversimplifying or nerfing anything for the sake of salty people. If it were up to me, they'd reduce the TTK to 4 body shots max like original COD4 and then we'd really be cooking (after they fix the netcode, that is). Also hoping for The Division themselves to be introduced as a playable faction with deployable drones or even seeker mines...

Fuck EA. Seriously, fuck EA. I bought this game through Epic Games because it's on sale right now but even if I launch it from there, I get redirected to EA's stupid launcher. Annoying, but fine, whatever. Wouldn't be THAT big of a deal if I could actually play the OFFLINE game OFFLINE. I recently flew and tried to play Dead Space through Epic/EA on my steam deck, but I wasn't able to actually load the game because I had no Internet connection. For an offline game. In order to go offline on EA's app, you have to first go online and choose to go offline. If you try to open it without connection it just won't open.
Anyways..I'm pissed off. Is there anyway to play this game, preferably through Epic, without having to deal with EA's bullshit? I'm flying back home on Friday and would like to play this on that plane at least.
TL;DR: Fuck EA. How to avoid

Just curious about session frequency. Though we began by saying it’d be weekly, my main game generally plays every 1.5-3 weeks depending on player availability. We only play online outside of a rare in-person session. I’ve found it to be a sweet spot given the reality of how busy people are (including myself, at times) that doesn’t allow the game to escape us or fizzle out.
Anybody found success in a consistent weekly game or other schedules?