I was writing a superhero(ine) story and I want it to be believable so I've done my fair share of scientific research to make sure that they all work, but now I want to know whether my power scaling works, who do you think is the strongest among these and would win in a battle to the death.

1. [Character A]'s superpowers are selective super hearing, fast flight (260 kph, which is about as fast as an average helicopter), super speed (65 kph), superhuman strength (can bench more than 2 gorillas can), explosive concentrated rays from hands (shot at a speed of 2400 kph, they hurt like grenades), unnatural durability (if an average-sized truck hit her at a speed of 90 kph or 56 mph, she would maybe break a bone at best) and slightly accelerated healing.
2. [Character B]'s superpowers include aerokinesis (she can generate winds as fast as 210 kph or 130.5 mph, also she can manipulate the air around her), flight (335 kph or 208 mph) and inhuman durability (if she was hit by an average truck going 90 kph, she'd be as good as new in a month).
3. [Character C] has selective super sight (she can zoom her vision to 25x meaning that something that is 25 feet/metre away would seem like it's 1 feet/metre away), x-ray vision, super speed (210 kph or 130.5 mph), superhuman strength (could bench as much as a gorilla), cold breath (-36 Celsius or -32.8 Fahrenheit at a speed of 70 kph or 43.5), nigh-invulnerability (an average truck hitting her at a speed of 90 kph, her skin would get torn but basically no bone damage) and extreme healing factor (heals wayyy faster than anyone else but not too OP).

How do you think could I make these less OP if you think that these are too OP, or how could I make them stronger if you think that they're too weak for superheroes.

The famous baseballer, Jackie Robinson, he once said: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” I could not agree more. That is why I try to make as much impact on my faces’ lives as possible. After all, they have done so much for me. It is the least I can do. Unlike them, I need not fear what people think of me. So I can be brave where they are weak. For I will just be someone else tomorrow.

Born in Russia to the Grand Duke Nikolai Kravinoff, Dmitri Nikolaievich Smerdyakov was treated like trash by his noble father and his working class mother. Young Dmitri was approached one day by Gustav Fiers, who was impressed by the boy's impressions and paid for a trip to Karl Fiers academy. There, Dmitri would learn to master the arts of disguise, vocal impression and infiltration, becoming the Chameleon upon his graduation.
He'd move to America and use his talents to pull off high-scale burglary, working for any group that could afford his fee, including the Communist party, Hydra or the Green Goblin. His elicit activity brought him into conflict with the Hulk, Iron Man and most often Spider-Man, all of whom had to act with great caution when the Chameleon was in town. After all, which one of them could tell if that unassuming civilian or their own ally was preparing to stab them in the back?
Dmitri has some mental hangups over his time with the Kravinoffs. He’s managed to repress the memories and considered himself good friends with his half-brother Kraven. In reality, he was more like a whipping boy and slave to the Hunter, and when he has to wrestle with those feelings, he can mentally revert to that scared little boy with no strong sense of identity or independence. But when he’s able to move past these feelings, the Chameleon has proved himself as a powerful, manipulative force, finding his place as temporary Crime Master of New York and member of the Sinister Six.
Scaling

• Spider-Man
• Kraven the Hunter
• Captain America
• Daredevil
• Deadpool

Notes
During one of Dmitri’s mental breaks, he began to believe that he was his deceased half-brother, Kraven the Hunter. So exact was the Chameleon’s performance that he moved and fought with the hunter’s skill and agility. This was an extreme fringe case and there are no other examples of a disguise altering Chameleon's capabilities like this. Physical and skill-related feats from this period will be marked with [KH].
Hover over a feat to see which issue it's from.

Physicals

General

• He’s taken some of Kraven’s potions, which extends his natural lifespan and protects from disease
• Kraven later notes that he only allowed the Chameleon to drink some of his potions, enhancing his strength, although not nearly as much as the Hunter himself

Strength
Unarmed Striking

• Downs a cop with a punch to the back of the head
• Boxes Alexei Kravinoff’s ears, flooring the bigger man
• Tackles and restrains Bruce Banner
• While posing as Tigra, he breaks Mysterio’s helmet with a kick
• Knocks Finesse out with two punches to the back of the head
• [KH] Kicks Alexei in the chin mid-leap
• Hurts Spidey with a kick to the face
• Hospitalized the Shocker

Striking with Weapons

• Floors a man with a suitcase
• Clubs Captain America with a fire extinguisher, flooring him for several seconds
• [KH] Smashes through a ceiling and dives at Alexei
• [KH] Impales a man with a spear, then rams him into a wall hard enough to crack it
• Beats a man unconscious with a pistol

Grip

• Crushes one of Spidey’s tracers in his grip
• Crushes a picture frame
• Crushes a glass in his grip

Other

• While carrying Betty Ross over his shoulder with one hand, the Chameleon uses the other to smack Major Glenn Talbot
• [KH] Holds a wolf away from him
• Carries and fires this absurdly large gun

Durability
Scaling with Spider-Man

• Gets up after a glancing blow from Spider-Man
• Takes a backhand from Spider-Man
• Stays barely conscious after Spider-Man punches him into what looks like a concrete wall hard enough to break it
• Takes two punches from an angry Spider-Man
• While emulating Spider-Man and clinging to a wall with suction cups, he takes a punch from the real Spider-Man but stays clinging and makes an escape
• Spider-Man throws Chameleon head-first into a wall, then smacks him three times, breaking his mask. Despite this, the Chameleon stays conscious and manages to run off.
• Gets kicked in the head by Spider-Man (dressed as Deadpool) but quickly recovers and puts Spidey in a headlock
• Takes a sucker punch from Spider-Man in the Spider-Armor MK III
• [Limit] One casual punch from the Superior Spider-Man knocks Dmitri out

Scaling to Others

• Gets tackled by the Hulk, who was shrunk down to a few inches at the time
• Takes three heavy blows from Daredevil before falling into unconsciousness
• Takes a backhand punch from Kraven
• He gets up after Captain America throws his shield into his back
• Stays conscious after Deadpool punches him out a window
• Takes a punch from Spidey and an elbow from Deadpool
• Gets punched by Whirlwind
• Gets beat on by Teresa Parker

Blunt Force

• Spider-Man punches Vulture, sending the villain flying into Chameleon
• Gets thrown many feet into the air, then falls back-first onto stone
• He jumps off the Brooklyn Bridge and lands in the water below
• [KH, Limit] He’s KO’ed by a woman with a wooden chair
• While disguised as Spider-Man, he gets grabbed and swung around a room by tentacles, at one point getting his head slammed through a concrete wall with no ill effects

Gunfire

• He’s not noticeably harmed after a cop shoots him in the shoulder
• Stays standing after being shot in the thigh
• Twenty minutes after being shot in the shoulder, he’s not noticeably harmed

Vehicle Crashes

• Crashes his car into the Hulk
• Crawls from a crashed HYDRA aircraft
• Unharmed after crashing his truck into a wall
• While piloting a giant Galactus robot, a helicarrier crashes into the robot’s head and the Chameleon’s control room. He survives the crash relatively unharmed.

Other

• He survives after being poisoned and being left in a burning bar by the Punisher
• When Captain America breaks one of Chameleon’s stun guns, the resulting blast melts his rubber face mask, burning him
• He eats a full plate of ambien-laced cookies baked by Aunt May
• Spider-Man webs up a big gun that the Chameleon was using, causing it to blow up in his face. Dmitri gets up right after.

Agility

• Dodges some charges from Hammerhead, first with a sidestep, then by flipping over the mobster
• [KH] Dodges a tackle attempt from Alexei Kravinoff
• He lands hits on Spider-Man pretty easily once the hero loses his spider-sense

Skill

Impersonation
General

• When posing as someone, the Chameleon copies their gait and posture
• When emulating J. Jonah Jameson, not only does the Chameleon copy his personality, mannerisms and body language, but he copies Jonah’s writing style so he can turn in editorials at the Daily Bugle
• [Limit] In 2009, he took the form of Barack Obama and attempted to get sworn in as the POTUS. However, Spider-Man asked the fake and the real Obama a question that only the real Obama would know the answer to, outing the Chameleon as an imposter.
• Mimics Tigra perfectly, replicating her movements, voice and microexpressions
• When posing as a zombie Ezekiel Sims, Chameleon does something to make himself smell like a long-dead corpse

Voices

• Skilled in vocal emulation
• He perfectly emulates voices over the course of minutes after listening to audio recordings or the voices of his hostages
• While posing as the Paris police director, he fools a voice recognition system designed by Henry Pym, allowing him access into an Avengers headquarters
• Can emulate mechanized voices, like Doc Ock’s from when he was a cyborg

Limits

• Betty Ross sees through Dmitri’s Bruce Banner disguise thanks to her female intuition
• Daredevil sees through the Chameleon’s disguises because he can hear Dmitri’s distinct heartbeat
• Spider-Man’s Spider-Armor MK III has a Daredevil-inspired feature built in to the helmet that allows Peter to track Chameleon’s specific heartbeat. This allows him to see through the villain’s disguises.

Combat

• [KH] Fights evenly with Alexei Kravinoff before restraining him with a rope
• Off-panel, he killed a SHIELD agent and a doctor with a pen
• Shanks Superior Spider-Man in the neck with a pen
• While disguised as Spider-Man, he brawls hand-to-hand with Deadpool
• [Limit] Lost a fight to Mary Jane Watson with a baseball bat
• [KH] Slashes two mens’ throats with a single swipe of a spoon

Other

• [KH] Performs a handstand on a tree stump
• Using Klawe’s sound cannon, he blasts MODOK’s psionic blaster, disabling the head’s main weapon
• Leaps from a second story and lands on an awning to break his fall
• Jumps from the back of an aircraft onto the hood of a pursuing flying car
• Nick Fury boots Dmitri off of a flying car, but the villain manages to grab a ladder on a nearby aircraft
• Cracks a locked vault door, possibly using a stethoscope
• Pilots a giant LMD modeled to look like Galactus
• (Poorly) pilots the Iron Man Model 4 before being dropped by an alternate-universe Ghost Rider

Disguises

Realistic Masks

• Originally, the Chameleon employed realistic masks and hairpieces to disguise himself as individuals. He kept these pieces in a multi-pocketed vest, allowing him to alter his appearance on the fly
• After getting one quick glance at Thunderbolt Ross, the Chameleon is able to make a perfect mask of the general’s face in a matter of minutes
• When the Hulk is tearing the Chameleon’s car apart, he quickly changes into the guise of Rick Jones to calm the Hulk, then manipulate him into breaking a friend out of prison
• At one point, he used a gun that squirts fast-drying fluid, which kills victims via suffocation and leaves the Chameleon with a perfect mask of their face
• He once wore four masks layered on top of his plain, white one

Malleable Flesh

• He gets a procedure done to his body that makes his flesh completely malleable, changing in response to electrical stimuli. He also had a specially designed costume that reacted the same way to stimuli. The final piece was a control system built into a belt that could memorize and store any face that the Chameleon encountered. All of these pieces allowed the Chameleon to completely copy someone’s appearance and replicate it through thought alone.
• This exact method of changing his face depends on the comic's art style
  • Most often, the change just occurs instantly between panels
  • It can happens in a flash of light
  • Dmitri's features can melt and morph before reforming into a new face
  • The features can “slide across Chameleon’s head horizontally
• After looking at a photograph of a man, the Chameleon completely embodies him in moments
• When begging for his life, he rapidly switches between a dozen different faces
• When he’s knocked unconscious, his face relaxes and goes back to how it normally looks
• Once made a game out of pretending to be a civilian in need, then attacking Spider-Man when the hero helps him
• [Limit] One time, a very serious Spider-Man shocked and frightened the Chameleon so badly that he let his disguise drop

Other Methods

• Uses convincing costumes when posing as superheroes or supervillains
• Disguises himself as a Statue of Liberty street performer
• Some kind of hidden device emits mist, allowing the Chameleon to change masks and outfits
• Carries a canister of chemical gas that instantly changes the color of his clothing
• Later on, he wears a suit that allows him to instantly change his facial appearance and clothing
  • After confronting Spidey in public and taking a blow from the wall-crawler, the Chameleon assumes the form of a defenseless, old lady to turn the public against the hero
• A high-tech costume can resemble any article of clothing that the Chameleon can think of
• When appearing as someone much bigger than he is, like the Kingpin, the Chameleon uses an inflatable suit
• Poses as a hostage, then uses a hologram projector to make it look like Doc Ock is holding him off a roof
• When working for the Superior Spider-Man’s team of “reformed” villains, the Superior Six, Chameleon used hologram tech to aid in his disguises. This let him appear as Loki, with his massive horns and Asgardian outfit being formed with the tech. It otherwise works more or less like his powers did.
• Most recently, the Chameleon requires the use of a serum to be able to change his features at will
  • As soon as the Chameleon touches someone, he’s able to look exactly like that person. This can also make the other person temporarily swap forms with the Chameleon (or other users of the serum).

Weapons

Non-Lethal
Guns

• Uses a dart gun that instantly knocks a man out with a shot to the shoulder
• Uses a chemical gas gun to instantly knock out Captain America, keeping him out for a few minutes
• A dart gun that leaves victims unconscious and foaming from the mouth
• A stun gun

Injectables

• A syringe full of sedative chemicals that KOs Spider-Man and makes Deadpool woozy for a minute until he heals
• A syringe hidden in a prop torch puts Spider-Man to sleep immediately
• He injects Spider-Man with a poisonous chemical. It brings on extreme nausea and vertigo, then later knocks Spider-Man out for two days straight.

Other

• Snuck into Captain Stacy’s room and administered a few drops of sedatives to Stacy’s decanter. This kept him unconscious all day, allowing the Chameleon to assume his identity and steal priceless pieces of art.
• An aerosol can of sedatives
• One time, he coated his clothing in an odorless sedative chemical. When Spider-Man grabs him by his jacket, the hero falls unconscious in a matter of seconds.
• Gas grenades
• He uses some kind of electric weapon on a shallow body of water, shocking Spider-Man, Husk and Deadpool into unconsciousness

Lethal
Guns

• Normal guns like rifles, a shotgun and a handgun
• A silenced handgun
• A revolver
• A double-barreled shotgun
• He wields a one-handed launcher that carries a variety of capsules, including cyanide gas canisters and concussive explosives
• An absurdly large, Liefeld-esque gun that blows up a computer station
• A energy-based handgun with explosive firepower, used to blast a large hole through Deadpool’s torso and later turn a concrete wall into rubble

Injectables

• A poison ring that would’ve injected JJJ with a lethal dose during a handshake
• [KH] Shoots Spider-Man with a poison dart that would’ve killed him in ten minutes if he didn’t take the antidote

Other

• Usually carries a dagger or other kind of blade
• A grenade
• A small, box-shaped time bomb
• He once used a Man-Thing parasite to protect himself from gunfire and form combat applicable branch-like tentacles

Other Equipment

Field Gear

• Smoke pellets
• When posing as Spider-Man, he used a web-gun to emulate the hero’s web-shooters, although the webbing wasn’t as strong as Spider-Man’s
• While posing as Spider-Man, the Chameleon utilizes suction cup-covered gloves and a web gun to replicate Spidey’s wall-crawling and web-slinging
• A tracking device
• Nose filters protect him from a cloud of cyanide gas
• A jetpack with enough fuel to fly for nearly a full hour
• Typically restrains victims with rope and gags

Base Installations

• Uses a modified radio to send a message across New York that only Spider-Man could hear
• Uses a machine to swap memories with Captain America
• One lair boasts a chair that can be lowered into a pit of acid, used to destroy bodies
• Rigs his lairs to explode if they’re compromised
• He detonates explosives in one of his hideouts that releases napalm-like flames

Other

• He’s helped to design Life Model Decoys that look exactly like Richard and Mary Parker with the goal of investigating Peter Parker and finding out about Spider-Man’s identity. While the false Mary developed a conscience and defied her programming, the false Richard was outfitted with a combat form.
• He holds a gun to the head of a simulacra of Mary Jane. When Spidey determines it’s a fake instead of his real wife, it poofs into smoke.
• Robots that drive his escape vehicles

Miscellaneous

• After coming across a cave full of assorted scrap mechanics, Chameleon builds a missile from the pieces. He later says he “found” the missile, so who knows. At any rate, the missile is strong enough to KO the Hulk when they collide.
• One time, he inexplicably escaped from Spider-Man’s grasp and disappeared from the room
• He kidnaps Spider-Man and imprisons him in Ravencroft Asylum. He then unmasks the hero, puts a realistic mask and straightjacket on him and attempts to gaslight Peter, through the use of psychoactive drugs and fabricated evidence, into believing he’s another man named Herbert Smith. This ruse does convince Peter for a good while until he later remembers his life with Mary Jane.
• He implies that he might be able to disguise his psyche from the telepathic X-Men member, No-Girl, although the claim is not actually proven
• Off-panel, he killed a man, cut off his face and used it for a temporary mask

Monica Rappaccini: I apologize for the delay in initial payment, but we first had to verify your identity. A.I.M.’s intel had been that the Chameleon was dead- or in an insane asylum.
Chameleon: Yes, well. That would be exactly what I wanted you to think. Faded into the background, imperceptible… that’s where a Chameleon is most comfortable… and where I shall now return.

There's been a lot of talk around balance lately, particularly some (in my opinion) valid complaints about certain nerfs not making sense.
With that in mind, here are some suggestions around balance. The focus here is on fun and uniqueness.
Credit for most suggestions goes to the Helldivers community. I've mostly compiled what others have said, though I've tried to be more specific about stat recommendations.
For anyone who doesn't know, the stats shown on-screen are not the full picture. For instance, the CEO has said recoil is actually governed by 14 different values. However, I wanted to be as specific as possible.
For anyone wondering, I'm around level 50 and play on various difficulties, most often 7.
When in doubt, I've erred on the side of smaller versus larger changes, which I think is a good approach to balance in general.
Some more general thoughts about balance about the bottom, but for now, let's just dive in...
Liberator: Honestly great as-is; well-rounded starter for clearing crowds, compensated by being bad against armor.
Liberator Penetrator: VERY underpowered due to a 30-round mag (versus 45 for the Liberator), and 45 (versus 60) damage, though it does have Medium armor penetration. It's very strange that the "Penetrator" does far less damage than its "vanilla" variant. Suggest raising damage to 65 and keeping the clip at 30 rounds to emphasize its specialty anti-armor role.
Liberator Concussive: Suggest raising damage to 75. Come on... it shoots explosive, um, concussive rounds. The smaller clip would still balance it versus the basic Liberator, while the lack of Medium penetration would mean it doesn't invalidate the Penetrator.
Tenderizer: Suggest raising damage to 75 on this one too, or it will be completely invalidated by the Liberator variants (as it currently is...). This would make it a smaller-capacity, higher-caliber alternative, which aligns with the description. Also, ammo should be fully refilled by drops (as most other guns are) and the color fixed to match the trailer. Guessing these were oversights.
Adjudicator: Well-balanced thanks to recent buffs, but I do think the recoil should be more like 30-35 instead of 40. I'm a big fan (and liked it even before the buff), but it feels strangely hard to control the recoil, especially now that it's considered an assault rifle.
Diligence: Think it's great after the buffs. Not always ideal for bugs (though I use it for that too), but great for bots. No changes.
Diligence Counter-Sniper: Love it after the buffs; it was terrible before. I do think it should have 8 mags instead of 6 (matching the Diligence in mags, but still with less ammo overall due to a clip of 15 versus 20). It feels like it runs out way too fast.
Defender: Honestly not sure; I rarely use it and haven't read much about it. I suspect this means it's decent as-is.
Pummeler: Similar to Defender but less fire rate and lower damage in exchange for stun. Well-received by the community; good as-is.
Punisher: Powerful and well-rounded, good as-is.
Slugger: People were using it as a stagger sniper rifle, and somehow the balance "fix" was to remove the stagger and power, but keep the sniper accuracy? This is a slug shotgun. Suggest reverting damage and stagger to pre-nerf, but make it somewhat less accurate (or have the damage drop off more) at longer ranges.
Breaker: Good as-is.
Breaker Spray& Pray: Nearly half the damage / twice the capacity of the regular Breaker, but only 10% more fire rate? Granted this is a light crowd clearer, but I really think the fire rate should be more like 400. This would still be notably lower DPS than the Breaker, but with more ammo and much faster firing... it is called the Spray&Pray!
Breaker Incendiary: One of the best weapons imo, with a very reasonable trade-off of less immediate power for more BURN THEM ALL. My teammates often use it to set me ablaze with patriotism. Good as-is.
Exploding Crossbow: One of the worst-balanced weapons right now. The question is whether it should be more of a light crowd-clear (as it was pre-nerf), or armor penetrator (as the devs have claimed was their original intention), as currently it is bad at both. I would favor the former, only because A) that's what it was before and what people seemed to prefer, and B) that sets it apart from the Eruptor more, rather than basically serving the same role but without the ability to close holes. (I personally wish it could close them, as it is explosive, but being semi-auto that might be a bit OP.) I think it should be reverted to pre-nerf, but adding a couple more clips and keeping the faster-flying bolts (a nice change!). It was odd and a bit annoying how slow the bolts were when it first got released; even strafing could throw them off. It's a crossbow, after all, not a trebuchet. The tooltip should also say its level of armor penetration (currently it doesn't.)
Dominator: Not sure why it was recently nerfed down to 275 damage. I honestly feel the recent nerf made no difference to the balance, but I'd revert it just as a show of good faith.
Eruptor: There is a lot to say here... suggest reverting its stats and performance to the original release, but keeping the fix to it not 'imploding' players toward the explosion, and keeping the magazines at 6. I think it is potentially OK to keep the slight nerf to damage radius fall-off too (I didn't feel much difference, but it seemed more realistic somehow, whereas at release the explosion felt like it went abruptly from full damage to 0 at the edge of the radius).
HOWEVER, removing the "shrapnel" mechanic absolutely needs to be reverted. This was a massive, unnecessary nerf that removed the gun's identity and took it from being great to being awful.
A couple more points about that:
-Yes, it could randomly kill you from 30 meters away... like 0.5% of the time. Anyone claiming it didn't is wrong, though it was very rare. I had it happen maybe twice in a 10-hour period.
-No, it was not a big deal at all. However, it also did not make sense, and added nothing fun to gameplay. None of the other "explosive" guns, airstrikes, etc, work that way, and it appears from dev comments the rare weirdly long ricochets were not intended. If that could be fixed without removing the shrapnel, I think it should be... though I would personally rather have a quick revert/fix that adds back shrapnel but keeps the weird ricochet, versus a slower fix that resolves the issue completely.
-Removing the shrapnel was a dev decision. Some people need to stop blaming the community for that, because no one was asking for it to be removed completely; they just wanted the explosive mechanics to be more consistent, fun, and intuitive.
Punisher Plasma: Feels way better after the buffs; love the increased flight speed for the shots. I could see a slight buff to power or explosive radius, but think it's pretty good as-is.
Blitzer: Feels amazing after the buff to fire rate. Kudos to the devs, because this has gone from hot garbage to being my favorite gun... unless/until the Eruptor is fixed. Democracy rating: Taste My Lightning / 10.
Scythe: The buff helped, but it still feels quite weak. I'd buff power significantly (up to 450-500 DPS) and up the Fire Limit from 8 to 10. For comparison, the Sickle has a DPS of 687.5 (assuming its 750 "Fire Rate" means roughly 750 rounds per minute) and a Fire Limit of 9.
Sickle: Super fun, no notes. Great crowd clear, not so great against heavies. I think the nerf to its ammo cartridges was fine, though unnecessary. It didn't change much.
Scorcher: I haven't used it personally (literally just unlocked), but the community seems to feel it's in a good place. Looking forward to some Scorching!
Purifier: Also have not used this personally, so take with a grain of salt, but the consensus seems to be that it's like a much worse Scorcher. The chargeup is a neat mechanic, so I'd lean into that and add a lot more power... like, 400 versus the current 250. Maybe increase recoil to give it that extra kick. Also, I could be wrong, but the 250 displayed for the fire rate seems strangely high based on the gameplay videos I've seen... not sure if that's accurate.
General balance suggestions:
1) "Spreadsheet" balancing based on gun popularity is a bad strategy.
It's good to encourage loadout variety, but guns will never be used equally, and "more used" does not necessarily mean "overpowered." There are many reasons besides a gun being unbalanced that it might be used by more people. It could be unlocked earlier, or easier to learn, or just more fun to use (in which case it's the last thing you should be nerfing!). Some will be used by more people simply because they see other people using it. There are many examples of this in other games. In Rocket League, the "Octane" car is literally identical to many other cars in its stats, but it's still the most used by a wide margin. In Age of Empires 2, the French civilization has a higher win-rate among low-level players because it's easy to learn, but at a higher level, it's well-balanced.
2) Ideally balance for low and high difficulties... but high is more important.
At a high level, if a gun underperforms, you will either die, or worse, not contribute properly to your team... and Freedom.
Because there are some enemies that only appear on higher difficulties, you simply can't get away without playtesting on higher levels.
With that said, if something works well at a high level, the lower levels take care of themselves to an extent. There are some caveats (for instance, crowd-clearing weapons with low armor penetration are relatively better on lower levels), but it's hard to have perfect balance across all difficulties, and it's less important for lower levels because you can get away with a lot more and still survive. The same is not true in reverse.
If the devs don't have the time or inclination to play at a high level, a Preview server (as some have suggested) could help. Tapping skilled streamers/content creators for balance suggestions (after vetting them and/or putting some kind of NDA in place) is an option, too. Microsoft does that with Age of Empires, for instance.
3) This is a PVE game, not PVP. It's best to err on the side of limited changes... especially with nerfs. Fixes take time, but it takes 0 development time to NOT nerf something.
People emotionally invest in weapons they enjoy. (I bring my emotional support 500KG everywhere!) If you change them, they probably won't like it! This goes double for unnecessary nerfs (see 1 above).
In a PVP game, if something is overpowered, the person it's used against generally has less fun. In Helldivers, our enemies are subhuman and have no feelings to consider besides a hatred of all things free and Democratic.
If you've read this far, thanks for taking the time!
I'd love to hear what others think about these suggestions.
The CEO (Pilestedt) has made it clear that the community's concerns around balance have been noted, and the recent Discord posts indicate it's something the team is currently looking at, so hopefully there will be more positive changes soon.
See you on the front!

Warning: Mentions of violence, blood, and some self harm near the end.
While browsing some random conspiracy site, I found what is a supposedly leaked file from the Nevada County Sheriff's Department; however, nothing has been confirmed. According to the OP, it is believed the following is the personal account of a 21 year old Jonathan Ashford of Grass Valley, California. Normally I would write stuff like this off but this one is...different. I’ve done my best to correct most of the grammar and misspelling while at the same time trying to avoid skewing the original account.
-September 15, 2022
I’ve never really been an outdoor person. Well, I guess that’s because I’ve never really been outdoors much in the first place. And that’s because I guess…I've never been invited? I don’t really have any friends. So, needless to say, I was surprised to find myself on a backpacking trip with a group of 5 other students from my university. The plan was five days in Tahoe National Forest some place called Mystery Lake. Monday-Friday. I don’t know why they decided to do it during the week. Most of us had okay grades at best and part time jobs on the side so taking a week off of it all seemed at the very least a bit irresponsible; and yet, I went anyway. Listen, I didn’t plan it, okay? This was one of my only chances to get to know people. The hike wasn’t too long but my genius self who had only been backpacking once when I was around 9 years old or so decided to carry 60 pounds of bullshit up the mountain resulting in my shoulders being sore and raw for the foreseeable future.
-10:11 PM
To be honest, I don’t really know why they let me come with them. I only know one of them and the group has been ignoring me for pretty much the entire trip. I was always bringing up the back on the hike in and I set up my tent outside of the main camp behind some trees. I haven’t eaten any meals with them or talked to them or, now that I think about it, anything really. Regardless. The trip has been an experience. Hopefully things get more exciting tomorrow.
-September 16
I’ve only ever slept in a tent a couple times so the new environment and lack of sleeping pills resulted in quite a restless night. I woke up at about eleven; everyone else was gone. I remembered they were talking about a day hike on a trail headed north so assuming that’s where they went, I hurried to get dressed and grabbed some granola bars. I’m about to head out. I hope I find them.
-12:21 PM
I’d been briskly walking for around an hour and was feeling quite exhausted so when I heard the group’s voices off in the distance I was very relieved. I started to jog in their direction when–when this jolt or–wave of energy flooded my mind. My head instantly started throbbing and my vision went blurry. The best way I could describe it is–TV static? Like the old TVs that would go all staticky when the signal got bad. I could barely make out shapes and a space in the middle of my vision was especially dark to the point where I couldn’t see past it. That wasn’t the worst of it, though. God no, if only I was that lucky. I can still hear the shrieking. That goddamn shrieking. In an instant all I could hear was this sharp, scratchy shrieking. It pierced through my ears and rooted itself in my head. I think I cried out in pain but even if I did I couldn’t have heard it. It was as if the damned souls of hell all cried out in eternal pain all at once and begged for death. I gripped and pulled at my hair, hardly noticing the pain that resulted from it as I fell to my knees in agony before…
I slowly opened my eyes. My head hurt and there was a slight buzzing in my ears. I lay in a pile of ivy next to a fallen log, my back dampened from the cool soil beneath me. I stood up, the hill on which I previously stood was nowhere in sight. As I leaned my shoulder against a tree to steady myself I heard voices. Cautiously, I walked through the foliage as the low vines dragged along my ankles. As I walked, I looked up. The falling sun cast a soft orange glow across the sky. It was probably around five O’clock or so. I climbed up on a large rock only to realize I was near the main camp. I pin-pointed the voices of my fellow campers as they huddled around a low-burning campfire. As I sat down to listen to them speak I could sense a strong feeling of uneasiness resonating from the group. Then it hit me.
“Are you sure you haven’t seen her since earlier this afternoon?” One of them said, I think his name was Matthew? He was tall and lean, by far the tallest in the group.
“I’m sure! It just doesn’t make sense. One minute she was behind me going on about who knows what and then the next when I turn around she’s gone!” A girl with light brown hair said. I didn’t know her name. I could see tears forming at the corner of her eyes as the wind blew her hair into her face.
“We need to find her before it gets dark. Groups of two; stick together!” A shorter man with brown hair said. Ryan. He was the only one I knew. We weren’t friends. Definitely not. But he was nice enough to me in the classes we had together and I was grateful that I was able to go on the trip with him. As he walked past the boulder I sat beside, paying me no mind, I saw his lower lip quiver as his wide eyes looked straight ahead. He was more nervous than he led on. I zoned out for a few seconds, the static from earlier crawling its way into the corners of my vision when a chipmunk climbing a tree snapped me back to reality and I realized I had been left at camp. I looked around at the tall forest but the group was nowhere in sight. I assumed they wanted me to wait at camp in case the missing girl, Alice, came back, but as I moved toward the dying campfire the call of nature occupied my thoughts. I found a spade and a roll of toilet paper and strode briskly into the forest, the cool Autumn air rushing against my chapped lips as I walked. I reached over to scratch an itch on my arm when I saw it.
“The fuck?” I wondered out loud. There on my upper forearm was…a bite mark. I rattled my brain trying to think what could have made that kind of mark. As I examined it more I confirmed my suspicions. It seemed human. At least I think it was human. It’s not like there are any goddamn monkeys native to Middle of Nowhere, California. There was also a dark purple bruise on my lower forearm. Didn’t remember getting that either.
I looked around for a good spot. Stepping over a log, I set my foot down on something soft. It was Alice. Her right hand crushed and mangled and a dried trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth had pooled on a flattened leaf. I screamed, tripping and falling back in the direction I hoped was the camp. As I jumped over a rock I landed hard on my left ankle as a streak of pain shot up through my body. I was trying to get back up when I heard it. The screeching. It steadily yet quickly faded in until it flooded my hearing. My vision was clouded by that same static. I curled up into a ball, kicking at the air. My eyes watered and I felt the urge to vomit…
A wave of dizziness hit me as I opened my eyes and fell on my tailbone, pain shooting up my back. I lay down on my back and looked up at the trees, my nose bloody. It was still dark. Had I been standing? I tried to recall what I had been doing but all I remembered were faded images. One thing I didn’t forget was the screeching. All that I could remember was covered by that screeching and a faint veil of that static. Just thinking about it made my head throb.
A groan. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I turned to look in the sound’s direction. It was David. He looked injured, lying on the ground, but quickly crawled back in what looked like fear when he saw me.
“You bitch!” He muttered between gritted teeth. Before I could react he was up on his feet charging in my direction. I tried to doge him but the wind was quickly knocked out of me as he headbutted me in the stomach. I fell back onto the ground and between coughs I saw him running towards me. Before he could deliver a heavy stomp to my chest I caught his foot and kicked up into his groin. He stumbled back with a low yelp of pain and, taking my chance while he was stunned, I stood up as fast as I could and prepared to block another attack. He ran up to me and attempted to deliver a blow to my stomach with his right fist, leaving his upper body undefended; I used the opportunity to send a hard punch into the side of his neck. He fell back choking, tears in his eyes. As he tried to sit down he tripped on a root and hit his head on a nearby boulder with a sickening crack. He squirmed for a moment, then nothing.
Silence. There was a faint red stain on the side of the rock, and beneath his blood-stained hair, his head seemed unnervingly misshapen. The closer I looked, the more I saw. Bruised neck, flowing blood, even some pinkish bone exposed near the worst of the damage to his skull. The fall must’ve been worse than I thought. Why would he attack me? What was wrong with him? Had he mistaken me for someone else? I sat against the blood-stained boulder and leaned my head back. I’m exhausted. Everything hurts. My ankle is throbbing. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve slept and I don’t know what to do. I should probably go try to find the camp but…I’m too tired. I think I’m going to go to sleep now.
-September 18
I slept through the entire day and most of the night! Or, at least I think I did. The more I think about it I’m not so sure. It’s like 2:30 AM, glad my phone still works even if my brain doesn’t, just wish I had signal. I’m not sure what to do but I might try to go find
-4:29 AM
Something’s definitely out here with us. Or–me. Not sure how many of the others are left out here. I’m sure that shrieking is tied to something. I heard something off in the distance while writing and decided to go check it out. It was Matthew and that other girl. They were walking briskly and their eyes seemed to be darting around frantically. They were talking in hushed tones but from what I heard they found Alice's body, and they were worried. I was about to reveal myself to them when the shrieking came back. It hit me like a train, and sometimes I think a train would have hurt less. It felt like it lasted for hours, I bit a hole through my lip and fell off of the boulder I was sitting on. I couldn’t see anything except a dark patch of static in the middle of my vision surrounded by more static. All the cuts and bruises in my body seemed to amplify and I could barely breathe. I just wanted it to stop but it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t stop.
The two were dead when I came to. I wasn’t much better off myself. No matter how much I spit I can’t get the taste of blood out of my mouth. My arms are covered in cuts and bruises and my shoulder was dislocated. That was a fun half hour figuring out how to put it back in place. I think whatever is out here with us clouds your vision and makes it impossible to hear anything as a way to hunt you. I’m amazed it hasn’t killed me yet. I hope Ryan is still out there.
-6:06 AM
It’s been a long night. A really long night. I found Ryan but–but now I wish I hadn’t. It was around five AM I think, I had been aimlessly wandering through the forest looking for something, anything. By the most unlucky luck Ryan came stumbling around a tree. When he saw me his eyes went wide.
“Jon, what the hell?” Then he squinted his eyes and seemed to notice the wounds on my arm.
“Oh god,” he said. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small knife, glaring at me during the process. Before I could reply, he charged me, knife in hand. I–I didn't want to kill him. I really didn’t. He tackled me to the ground, forcing the knife close to my chest. I desperately tried to push him away and being the stronger one, I knocked him off me. As he hurried to get back on top of me I sent my right leg flying into his arm, knocking the knife from his hand. Before he realized what was happening I grabbed the knife from the ground. In what seemed like a last desperate attempt he tried to force me down again but, already having the knife in my hand, I quickly slashed his chest and one of his wrists without thinking. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t mean to kill him! I was just defending myself. I don’t know why he attacked me, what’s gotten into him and David? Is that thing controlling them? They didn’t seem like they were under some kind of spell…I don’t think so at least.
After a soft cry of pain he collapsed and rolled down the steep hill we were standing on. I didn’t bother looking for his body. No point. Odds are that thing would use his body as a trap for me or something. I don’t know anymore.
Somehow I found my way back. I don’t remember how, all I remember is collapsing against a tree out of exhaustion but, here I am at the trailhead. I guess my half dead brain forgot most of it. I don’t know what I’ll do now, I don’t think I’ll tell the police. If they hear that some creepy ghost creature is hiding out in the forest killing my friends I’ll probably get locked up in who the fuck knows where for who the fuck knows what. But, no matter how many or how few believe me, I know something is out there. And I know it’s dangerous. I doubt the bodies will ever be found. That forest is huge and I buried Matthew and Elizabeth, found her name in a backpack she had on.
This will be my last entry. My name is Jonathan Ashford, and I survived something dangerous in the Tahoe national forest. Whatever you do, do not go there. Goodbye.
-September 22, 2022, 5:06 PM
Ryan survived. The police are after me. Apparently he told them I stalked them in the forest and picked them off when they weren’t together. I don’t know what’s happening. There are some gaps in my memory but I know that I didn’t kill those people. I only killed David, and that was self defense. I’m not sure what I’ll do. The police don’t know where I am but I’m sure that won’t last long.
-8:19 PM
I saw an interview with Ryan on the local news while browsing channels. He seemed–off. There were bags under his eyes and his skin was pale. He seemed nervous, shaky. I hope he’s ok. I still don’t understand why he thinks I killed them.
-September 23, 3:12 AM
ok ok. I have a theory. I’ve been up all night thinking and it makes so much sense now. That thing can shriek. Terrifying right? But explainable. The static I still can’t make sense of, there’s no feasible way it could naturally do that. What if whatever supernatural force causes the static can also control people? Maybe that’s why Ryan looks so crazy. It must be controlling him. But why would it want me? Am I immune to its effects? Maybe.
-6:04 AM
They didn’t notice it. It didn’t hit them. When I was spying on Matthew and Elizabeth, right before they were–anyways.
The shrieking hit my ears before the static hit my eyes and in those few seconds, they didn’t notice. It didn’t affect them. They didn’t hear the shrieking. Maybe the shrieking is that monster thing's abilities failing to control me. Maybe that's why ryan-whatever’s controlling Ryan wants me. It’s because I’m a threat to it. Because It can’t control me. When I woke up I was injured, but never killed like the others. Maybe it doesn’t have as much power over me as others.
But why would the authorities believe Ryan? There’s no way his story can add up. Even if that creature, that thing, is intelligent, it can’t be that smart to fake a story. Why are they after me?
-11:42 PM
The police came by today. I was about to update this log again when they started banging on my door. I was able to sneak out a window before they noticed me, glad I live on the ground floor.
Something seemed off about them. I can’t say what but, something, like the uncanny valley effect, where something looks human but isn't. Whatever. It’s probably just my imagination. I need sleep.
-September 24, 2:20 AM
Something is wrong–something is definitely wrong. How did they find me? Holy shit that was close! I was dozing by a couple of dumpsters behind a gas station. Figured it was safe enough since it was out of the way and partly blocked by a fence until I heard dogs barking. Not sure how many of them there are, at least two–maybe three, I can still hear them barking. I figured they were just strays that would hopefully leave me alone until I saw the lights. Damn things half-blinded me!
“Son, what are you doing back here? Can we walk to you?” one of the officers said, his face was clammy and pale, he seemed tired, he seemed–off. I didn’t respond or wait for them to try and get closer, I dashed past them before they could call their dogs on me and jumped the fence, running into the tree line. I managed to climb my way up a tree a ways into the woods before they could get around the fence and send their dogs out. They haven’t found me yet, but they’re still looking for me. I can see their flashlights periodically bathing the tree line in a pale glow. I think I’ll try to wait them out and then climb down and run for as long as I can. Not sure where I’ll go yet but they keep finding me so I’ll have to get creative. Not sure how they’re finding me so quickly and easily, but maybe I can come up with something. Is that–thing finding me? Does it always know where I am? Is it controlling the police? Maybe that's why they looked so…wrong. I don’t know. I’m starting to think I don’t know anything anymore. I keep noticing the static in the corner of my vision occasionally, not sure why.
-September 24, 5:03 PM
I fucked up. Big time. Last night, somehow, I fell asleep. I don’t know how, guess I was just too exhausted. The sound of a helicopter pierced through the top of the tree line. Before I could register everything, I slipped and fell down the tree. I was able to slow my fall a bit by dragging my hands along the tree–hurt like a bitch–but I still landed hard. Can barely sit down. I think I was able to avoid being detected by the helicopter. I’m going to start walking. Not sure where but, I need to go somewhere. The static is constantly in the corner of my vision whenever I focus on it now. Why is this happening?
-10:44 PM
This doesn’t make any sense, I don’t know what's happening anymore! I was wandering through the forest when the static came back. God, it was awful, forgot how bad it was. Hell, maybe it was worse this time. Who knows. This isn’t the weirdest, or worst, part. I woke up in my apartment, I’m exhausted, but don’t have any new visible injuries despite how shitty I feel. Not sure why that thing didn’t try to hurt me, maybe it gave up on trying.
The news was on when I woke up, God I’m so fucked. They found the bodies–the ones that I buried. Of course they found my DNA all over them, used their forensics or whatever to try to explain how I killed everyone. I’ll have to admit if it wasn’t all a setup by some evil entity out to get me it would be pretty convincing. Sometimes–I find myself believing it. I don’t know what to think at this point, nothing makes sense anymore. The static is far more noticeable now. My head is starting to hurt, too.
They haven’t come back to my apartment yet, probably don’t think I would return this soon after they searched the place. I know they’ll be here eventually but I’m too tired to care right now. My brother and his kids used to live a few hours out of town, I think he built a treehouse for his kids somewhere behind the house. Maybe I’ll go try and hide out there for as long as I can. As if that will be very long at all.
-September 26, 6:24 PM
Everywhere I look, everything I watch. They’re always out for me. Everyone is looking for me. The things the police and the media keep saying about me–the evidence that gets released every day, the testimonies, officials saying I have symptoms of psychological problems like psychosis and DID, of Bipolar. More and more–I’m starting to believe it myself. Surely it's that thing. Surely it’s getting in my head…right?
-September 27, 1:03 PM
Made it to the treehouse, glad it’s still here. Had a few close calls along the way when trying to steal food from gas stations but I made it ok. Glad I did, the static is starting to really cloud my vision and my head hurts so bad my ears are starting to ring. I’m not out of the woods yet, that’s for sure. I can sense them...it. They’re trailing me. I think they’re getting close.
I’m so tired, so confused. I don’t know what to do, what to think anymore. What’s next? Maybe I’ll try to get some rest…if I can, that is.
I could try to come up with something, some silver bullet or whatever. I have this one idea, it’s not smart or clever, not even close, but it’s an idea, and it won’t let it–them–it, whatever, win. At least I don’t think it will; besides, surely it has a bigger plan for me, right? There’s no way it would go through all this effort just to kill me…
-4:39
They found me. I can hear them outside. They’re getting closer.
To be honest, I don’t know anymore. Maybe I did kill all those people, maybe I am insane. I don’t know what to believe. There’s so much being said, so many people saying it. I’m just so confused, so tired, so scared.
There's a bomb on the chair beside me, homemade. Glad I grabbed enough supplies to build it. Took me a while to figure it out as well as a few close calls but I think I got it working. They’ll have quite the surprise waiting for them once they find me…
They’re at the base of the tree now. The static has almost completely consumed my vision and my head feels like it’s about to explode. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore. I’m not sure why I was made the target of this, why this is happening to me at all, but regardless of the reason, I won’t let them win.
To the creature, or entity, to whatever is doing this to me: I’ll see you in Hell.
Goodbye
Aside from some generic legal stuff to conclude the report, that’s where the document ends. I’m not sure what to make of it. Definitely a lot to take in. I contacted the OP on the site I got this from but haven’t received a response yet, will update if I receive one. For now my only advice is be careful, and don’t go backpacking in Tahoe National Forest. If anyone has any thoughts or info, please, let me know.

I have mid gun skill and bad recoil control but Twitch is my highest K/D op this season.
I’ll be quick and list the reasons why in bullet points.

• The F2 (from someone who sucks at recoil control) is amazing. My highest K/D gun this season is the F2. Again, I know I’m kicking a dead horse, I’m bad at recoil control. Spend some time using it in shooting range and arcade, get good with it. It is very possible, don’t be discouraged if you don’t have good recoil control. It’s not so much about recoil control, more about having discipline and understanding you can’t compete in most long range fights. I use the holo to help me with taking closer fights. If you can just barely even come close to managing the recoil, and you’re disciplined with the fights you take, you’ll do great with the F2.
  
• If you like DMRs, the 417 is great. However I highly suggest giving the F2 a lengthy shot, I tried it on and off for years but when I finally decided I’m gonna get good at this gun even if it takes a while of playing her.
  
• 4 drones means double the intel. If you’re a support player it’s probably because you’re not very comfortable taking 50/50 fights. 2 more drones means 2 more opportunities to get an advantage on someone.
  
• 4 drones also means you can be impactful for a decent chunk of the round without having to use your gun. Obviously if you’re losing people get in the building and get to work. Use the drones properly, and if your team does their job to take site, it makes it extremely easy to force close range fights as you have space and map control to work with. That last part is why I think the F2 fits Twitch much better.
  
• Obviously, the shock drones are great for clearing utility. Dont undervalue how good this is. You can completely delete very oppressive utility.
  

I know it doesn’t sound like all that much, just try her for a couple weeks. If you want to raise your K/D get good with Twitch. She lets you play easy support and clean up for easy kills in gunfights that are easier than you’d expect because you get to choose the range.

Written 5/8/2024- updates attached below

I tried posting this on kendrick almost a week ago and it got no response, I messaged the mods to ask about Karma restrictions or account age requirements and they never replied. I made a new account and it was the same issue, but I found out last night I wasn’t fully banned, so I figured I’d throw it up and see if anyone finds it valuable. It’s written for people who have no prior knowledge of the rap game/music business. I don’t have to go as hard on obscuring names this time. One of the influencers I mentioned in my last post is known for doxxing and threatening violence against people who mention the many contradictions in their stories. (Sorry for any typos/mistakes I want to go to bed.)
Origins
I believe the current Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef is either completely or partially fabricated by certain industry leaders or the parties involved in an effort to distract from something bigger going down behind the scenes. If you were an influential label owner facing major accusations, and you needed to deflect media attention from yourself, recreating one of the most defining moments in rap history during the social media era would be a way to do it. It also wouldn’t hurt that two of the biggest rappers in the world were already sending shots at each other in their music for years prior. The public consensus is they are simply two famous rappers who hate each other and fighting over the spot for the top like in the 90’s. Only people who were directly involved could paint a more cohesive picture of the whole story. Even when all the cards drop, there is a good chance the average person won’t be able to find direct sources on their own and will continue to support their favorite artists and dismiss any evidence of their crimes like the drizzy subreddit or Ak fans.

As I said the beef between Kendrick and Drake has been brewing in the background for years, with both rappers sending shots and sneak dissing each other over the course of at least 8 years. The most agreed upon origin story is the first diss was the 2016 Big Sean and Kendrick collaboration, “Control,” and Drake responded with, “The Language”. Things stayed relatively lighthearted for a while and both were intentionally vague for many years. Before I go deep into the Kendrick and Drake stuff, it’s really important to examine some of Drake’s prior beefs because they add a ton of context to my theory. In my opinion Kendrick and Co. started scheming all of this some time around Mid 2020-Mid 2022, well after the whole Pusha T beef had transitioned into the Kanye beef.

What exactly started the beef is debatable, but at the time many attributed it to rumors of Drake pursuing Ye’s ex Amber Rose. Unfortunately the timeline isn’t 100 percent clear, and if I included every detail this would be at least 200+ pages so I’ll stick with the important stuff. The ultimate outcome of the Pusha T battle in 2018 was the revelation of Drake’s son Adidon that he had previously been hiding from the world along with getting Ye directly involved in the beef.

Here are some more examples of Drake antagonizing Ye and of him trying to use women as pawns to get material for his diss tracks. The Drake line, “Yeah, I probably go link to Yeezy, I need me some Jesus, but as soon as I start confessin' my sins, he wouldn't believe us," could be a reference to sleeping with Kim Kardashian, trying to double down on his threats to harm him or his family, or it could be a double entendre. Another example is using the name Kiki in another song, which was apparently one of Kim’s nicknames. Some other possible examples include the theories he may have tried the same thing with Kendrick’s wife Whitney around 2020-2021 in an attempt to use as ammo against Kendrick, which I’ll go into later. I don’t listen to much of either artist's music, but there are probably many of other examples in Drake’s catalogue that I’m leaving out. There is also his song Omerta released in 2019, which I'll go into below.

“Your baby mother call me when she lonely My tailor see me twice a week, he like my homie Forever grateful, forever thankful Diamond necklace, but she wears it on her ankle”

(Probably referring to Kim Kardashian since she had a few pictures with her wearing diamond ankle bracelets and was trying to make it into a trend.

“I plan to buy your most personal belongings when they up for auction”

(There were various rumors floating around for a while that Drake was blackmailing Ye with something and he was fighting to keep it from the public. I thought about it and this line might be referencing a sex tape with Kim or her little sister who me was very touch before she turned 18. In 2022 there was a whole storyline on Kim’s show where Ye flies to LA to prevent her second sex tape from being released.)

West Hollywood, know my presence is menacing
Cosa Nostra, shady dealings
Racketeering, the syndicate got they hand in plenty things The things that we've done to protect the name are unsettling But no regrets, though, the name'll echo Years later, none greater
Death to a coward and a traitor, that's just in my nature, yeah
(Drake and Ye both frequented the Delilah Nightclub located in West Hollywood and lived closeby on the same street for a while.)
"I don't carry cash 'cause the money is digital
It's the American Expresser, the debt collector"

(Sounds a lot more like it could be crypto to launder or send large amounts of ill gotten gains. It started becoming mainstream around them)

"Last year, niggas really feel like they rode on me
Last year, niggas got hot 'cause they told on me
I'm 'bout to call the bluff of anybody the fold on me"

These lines stood out because they could be referring to Ye telling the public about Drake's alleged threats a couple months before the songs release. This happened not long after the release of Sicko mode which was towards the end of 2018 as well. Ye was discussing the incident on Twitter and reached out to Drake and Travis to talk to him in private. In the next set of tweets Kanye publicly accused Drake of threatening him and his family in a major way. Surprisingly Ye seemed genuinely scared and amongst his, “crazy rants,” some of the stuff he said makes a ton of sense in hindsight. This also the beginning of his second serious public struggles with Bipolar disorder after being committed in 2016 shortly after an on stage rant where he calls out Jay Z for selling out and says he's afraid he might kill him.. As someone who shares the same diagnosis, I have a pretty good understanding of mania and psychosis and firmly believe that it's important not to write people off right away due to their mental illness. Some of my most thoughtful, creative, and productive periods were inspired by mania. Industry bigwigs have also been using mental illness to discredit influential black celebrities and visionaries going back decades, but it really picked up in the 80’s.

Dave Chappelle has gone into this a lot in the past and claims he experienced something similar before he quit show business and dipped to Africa. Their stories have a lot of interesting parallels if you’re familiar or curious. I remember he actually visited Ye at his house in Wyoming after he was reported to have had a, "mental breakdown," during his presidential run in 2020 thus marking his third breakown in six years.. The reason I put it in quotes is because it happened right after he publicly accused Kim of cheating and delivered his legendary speech on abortion. Dave went as far as going on live tv and telling the public he wasn’t crazy, he was just really struggling because he was the only one at the time fighting against the narrative, which can often be a suicide mission or a ticket to obscurity. These are three examples of someone speaking up and being deemed crazy, two years later came the nazi stuff and I'm sure we'll have plenty in store for 2024.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the very common pattern of artists dying or having their careers destroyed either after they try to leave their label or threaten to reveal industry secrets. A few more interesting industry connections I made in my research include the connections between:

T.U.G. records and J Cole's independent label Dreamville are both managed by Interscope Records, whose parent company is Universal Music Group.

Universal Music Group also hac Drake's label OvO label as well as Ye and Kendrick's old labels on their roster before they left to form their own independent labels in 2022 (around the same time the disses between Kendrick and Drake started escalating). Finally Bad Boy Records, which is owned by Diddy, and Motown Records who own Diddy's other R&B label Love Records, are also both owned by Universal. This means every label I mention is currently or was previously owned by Universal Music Group.

Ye tried for years to get out of his contract with Defjam, which happens to be ran by Jay Z who is known to be a close associate of Diddy. Jay would always used his money and power to fight against it. Ye even spoke out publicly on a few occasions, including when he said Jay Z was trying to kill him during one of his concerts. My theory is after years of getting nowhere and having his reputation skewered, in 2022 Ye finally said, "Fuck it," and dropped all the anti- Semetic stuff intentionally in a successful attempt to force his label to into using their morality clause, which requires labels to drop an artist if they're accused of any major controversy that could hurt the label’s profits. For the fourth time in four years the media reported he was having a breakdown. Even though they tried to punish him by cutting off all of his sources of income and freezing his accounts he still managed to bounce back pretty quickly. It was often reported how much he was losing, but it rarely discussed how he still was filthy rich in spite of the retrictions. His label wanted to discourage other artists from trying the same thing. My theory is he might have bought Kim or Kylie's alleged sex tape and used it for his own leverage. For Kendrick, his transition to his independent label ApLang went a lot smoother, but he had to split ownership of his new label with the previous manager owner Dave Free. Sadly it's still difficult for new or more niche artists to establish themselves without the some help.

He may be a lot of things but Ye isn’t dumb just because he has a mood disorder and the guys at the top know this, which is why I think he has really played up his diagnosis when it benefitted him. He’s still one of the most talented musicians in the game and I really think he sees his bipolar like a superpower as he says. It’s like his own invisibility cloak. He can go off his meds for a little, make an album after staying up for 72 hours, go on a “psychotic” twitter rant dropping facts throughout, then start up again once he makes enough news headlines. I think it’s worth noting the first divorce rumors in 2020 coincided with Ye’s abortion speech during his presidential run and the cheating accusations. that led to him dropping out and moving to Wyoming, and a couple months ago in February 2024 he was committed again.

The point I’m making is bipolar is complex, but pretty manageable especially if you have a ton of money to find meds that work for you and a good doctor and can keep substance abuse and stress at a manageable level. I think Ye is smart enough to know this, but it’s just safer for him to really play up the mental issues in the media. He’s proven he can literally say whatever he wants after getting cancelled and the average person is just going to write it off as psycho babble. While bias in health care is a sad fact of society, if you can use it to your advantage I say go for it. It might’ve just kept the microscope off of him long enough to plan his attack.

Ye v. Drake: Quotes of 2018
(Start of the beef, drake threats, and suspicion towards Kardashian family. )

“ It’s not about rap. It’s about family. We have to be close as a family and never let these people infiltrate just for radio spins”

“We need to show the world that people can talk without people ending up dead or in jail.”

”This is a man speaking to a man that has been placed in the program to fuck with Kanye West head and set me up“

”See when you care about your family you don’t let no man push you to do nothing that could risk your freedom“

These first four tweets by Ye were all in reference to perceived threats made by Drake after their beef escalated circa 2018. He began speaking on the industry and talking more about his psych hospital commitment two years prior and how he thought they were going to kill him. It's pretty obvious how the whole thing was planned by the sketchy doctor who called it in and his physical trainer who has a ton of connections to weird shit involving his celebrity clients.

I found interesting that Ye might not have been the first major league rapper whose life Drake threatened. During a similar period of mental illness the up and coming rapper XXXtentacion accused Drake of stealing his flow and dissed him a few times. Not long after he made a post online saying if he dies, it was Drake who did it. There are tons of conspiracies online, but none of the evidence is strong enough to draw a definitive connection. Also while it maybe be coincidental, Kendrick’s latest album Mr Morale also painted the picture that Kendrick was dealing with some serious personal issues. Some lines throughout the album may have been used to bait Drake into escalating, but it wasn’t until The Weekend, Future, and Metro Booming dropped, “We Don’t Trust You,” then Drake and J. Cole dropped, “First Person Shooter,” which was followed a couple days later with, “Like That,” where Kendrick started the chain of events that has led us to today.

Kanye vs. Drake: Quotes of 2020

Summary: Ye runs for president and gets suppressed for saying what very well could be the truth and was immediately deemed insane by the media. Kim did a couple interviews and everything he said was immediatly false. There is almost guarenteed to be some sketchy shit going down revolving her and her family. Ye was absolutely terrified of her keeping the kids away from him and it seems like there are still efforts being made to this day to paint a certain image of him for ulterior motives.

Below are six more quotes from a fan taking a deep dive into his 2020 tweets courtesy of u/ thehatstore42069 on Yeezy
”NORTHY I AM GOING TO WAR AND PUTTING MY LIFE ON THE LINE AND IF I AM MURDERED DON’T EVER LET WHITE MEDIA TELL YOU I WASNT A GOOD MAN,” West, 43, wrote in the tweet, adding, “WHEN PEOPLE THREATEN TO TAKE YOU OUT OF MY LIFE JUST KNOW I LOVE YOU”

"I need a public apology from J Cole and Drake to start with immediately... I'm Nat Turner... I'm fighting for us."

"the utmost respect for all brothers" and said "we need to link and respect each other... no more dissing each other on labels we don't own"

"Ye is constantly trying to tell people that his family does not have his or his kids best interests at heart. He goes on to list others, linking them together with the thinking emoji. These people include rap artist Drake and Larsa Pippen, wife of Scottie Pippe. Kim K is goddaughter to Pippen's daughter, showing how close the families actually are. All of these families that associate with Ye through Kardashian connections, as well as Drake, have been accused of the same thing Kris has. EVERY SINGLE ONE of these people have mixed race children that are groomed from a young age to fuck around with celebrities so the parents can remain famous. Drake on numerous occasions has been accused of grooming girls and then getting handsy on their 18th birthday.”

“These labels want their artists to make them money and they dont care about anything else. When Kanye says things like this in an attempt to expose him, the first thing they wanna do is drug him up and put him back in the studio.”
“Righteous indignation is typically a reactive emotion of anger over mistreatment, insult, or malice of another. It is akin to what is called the sense of injustice. This is how they keep the black man down. Keep people outraged about trivial things and distract them from the real issues in the world. The real problems in the industry. If you tell people enough times that they are unequal or discriminated against they start to believe it. Drug them when they step out of line and toss them aside when the checks run out. Ye is realizing he is pawn in a bigger game, and now that he has all these roots in the game such as Yeezy or the Gap or his music, too many people cant risk (Afford) a Ye who speaks his mind.”
(End of quotes)

Amongst the twitter rant, Ye warned about the predatory nature of record deals and discussed trying to get out of his own deal, and said again how his life may be in danger if it wasn’t already and was doing anything he could to protect his kids. The most fascinating part to me though is the public call to arms he made to Drake, J Cole, and Kendrick on twitter. After inviting them to all link up, he said, “It’s time to get free, we will not argue amongst each other while some guy we don’t know in Europe is getting paid and putting that money in a hedge fund.” I believe if Ye was able to pull off this meeting, there is an ever so slight chance that all four artists might be working together to take down a greater enemy. Weirdly there have been times throughout the last couple years where these supposed enemies were photographed together being friendly or praise each other in interviews, then out of no where the disses would start flying again.

To wrap things up I want to share my a few of my theories about the Drake/Kanye beef

A. Everything is exactly as it seems and the beef is over. Ye let his mental illness ruin his life and career so Drake simply picked another target after Ye stopped putting out disses. All of these connections are just a coincidence and all of this was choreographed to boost Drake and Kendrick’s music sales and possibly distract people from the Diddy trial and possibly the complicated geopolitical issues currently facing the U.S.

C. There is also the possibility that all four rappers are in cahoots and Drake’s dirt isn’t as extreme as people are theorizing, at least in comparison to the rest of the business. This could explain why everything has played out like a movie and how they were able to predict each other’s moves so well. This could either mean they’re all just trying to boost their sales or they’re all trying to take down the “slave masters,” as Ye calls them, and change the dynamic of the music industry in favor of the artist.

D. They may be trying to help their friends in the industry who are being abused or in shitty contracts. I know a lot of famous rappers have done a lot of collaborations with Jhene Aiko and Anderson Paak, who were both signed to T.U.G. records which I mentioned above in the connections to Universal Music Group. Considering they are both frequent collaborators with all of the artists involved on both sides, it’s not unlikely they may have played some part in influencing the takedown.

T.U.G was started by Chris Stokes with his partner Ketrina Askew. Back in the early to mid 90’s were gaining popularity attracting lots of young up and coming talent. They often collaborated with Diddy and his associates. In the 2000’s Raz B from the boy band B2K claimed he was molested by Stokes and his friend Marques Houston, then quickly retracted his claims. Years later he came forward again and said we was bribed into silence and that the rest of the victims were bribed with hush money and had another singer corroborate his story and they came forward together to level the accusations. After some of his former B2K members made fun of him for his claims and accused it of being a shakedown, Raz B revealed Stokes and Houston had preyed a lot of the children associated with the label including at least one of the former bandmates and paid them off.

I thought it was worth noting that the second whistleblower named Quindon Tarver died young in a car crash after mentioning his abuse again a few years prior. He seems to have left the industry not long after the incidents occurred and has few credits to his name. To this day Raz B is still trying to get his justice, while Stokes and his partner Askew, who was also involved in the abuse are still running the label to this day. Askew also has a ton of lawsuits, accusing her of using shady tactics to try to foreclose on houses. (Don’t quote me if a lawyer wants to take a look just google her full name), and has been tied to a ton of LLCs, similar to Drake. This is a good example of a shitty record deal, but I'm sure they have countless other friends in the industry who have even worse. While they were never convicted even Chris Stokes' wife confirmed it to be true.

E. The theory I personally think fits the narrative best and is the most realistic conspiracy is that Kendrick and possibly J. Cole went to the meeting, but not Drake due to his close relationship with Lucian Grange, the president of Drake’s label. Silence often speaks louder than words and this could explain why Kendrick was so ruthless and put so much effort into finding dirt on Drake. Ye, Cole, and Kendrick co-writing would be like the rap allstar team and if J. Cole wasn’t involved, it would also answer the question of whether or not he baited Drake into the battle by asking him to feature. I don’t think Drake is really their primary target though, which would explain letting him off easy. Compared to his bosses and their bosses he’s a small fish. If you take the big guys down you stand a better chance of landing a bigger blow on their operation.

Another really interesting connection is Kendrick and Ye were both signed under Universal Music Group and they both got out of their deals around couple months apart in 2022. As we speak U.M.G’s CEO Lucian Grange, who is often acccused of giving Drake special treatment, is facing charges related to sex trafficking by no other than P Diddy. This could very well explain the timing of it all. The craziest timeline would be Diddy masterminding all of this and using his connections to get it done and all the allegations are bullshit. The guy does seem pretty confident all things considered and constantly posts himself in his Batman costume which could mean he’s a vigilante.

It seems like there's a slight religious angle as well. (Ye and Diddy are both very vocal advocates of Christianity and Drake and Lucian Grange are both Jewish.) Obviously this is a reach, but they’ve been saying rap music was specifically promoted by mostly white label owners in the 80’s to help in the ongoing effort to expedite the systematic oppression of those living in black neighborhoods and the destruction of their family systems. Apparently it was an intentional decision to heavily promote rappers that promoted the very things that were destroying their neighborhoods. (So people know I'm and atheist and have zero agenda, I just thought it was interesting, please stay away from anything antisemitic. War is wrong on both sides.)

*** If my favorite theory is true, there is a possibility the Kendrick and Ye are going after Drake due to their mutual disdain for him and because he’s got a ton of power to dominate the charts and hog the radio airtime like Meek Mill and OG Maco claimed years ago. Even him dropping a record the same day as you could really fuck your album sales up. I’m also sure some of the many rumors throughout the years have had a least some truth and he will most likely snitch to avoid cell block one. I think that Drake could have been instructed to instigate this whole mess in order to draw attention away from the UMG charges brought about by Diddy. Or on the other hand it could be that Kendrick, Ye, and possibly Cole, may have had intel that Drake was going to be involved in the Diddy trial and are just gonna let the receipts show themselves. It might not have been the original plan, but they’ve already accomplished their mission of humiliating him, assuring he couldn’t use his influence to slide through the cracks, and taking over the throne.

Please take everything I say with a grain of salt I have no connection to this world or lifestyle. Regardless I believe all of the knowledge above does a pretty solid job at painting a picture of what may have let up to this and what may have been the source.
——————————-
More details found the last couple days…

Drake and Diddy Connections+Coincidences

Drake- In the P Diddy wig video from 2016 he talks about going to party with Drake, Cash, and The Weeknd in Toronto. Drake is also one of Birdman’s protégées who is known for being a predator and is rumored to have used label artists to lure young women.

Travis Scott- Interview where he comes out and says Diddy tried to lure him. Still has a long history of associating with him, video of him running from Diddy, his connection to Ruby Rose while underage.

Tim Westwood- Diddy had connections with sex offender Tim Westwood who also inspired the Drake song, “Westwood”. They also both were victims of drive by shootings along with The Weekend and they were all facing some type of allegations.

T.I.- Also has been associate with Diddy through the years, in 2021 his kid died and 11 women can forward at the same time to accuse him and his wife of drugging and assaulting them. Clearly someone wanted to fuck his life up. Possibly due to him getting arrested so many times for wild shit and people wondering how he continued to get away with it shining a light on how powerful industry lawyers are. He also had recently talked about having a gynecologist check to see if his daughter is still a Virgin, which sounds like it could have been an industrty secret. Could have been because he worried about someone trying to take advantage of her to get to him? Regardless that shit is fucking insane.

50 Cent- Has been saying pretty much the same thing as Travis Scott and has trolled Diddy for most of his career. It came out that his wife was a sex worker who was possibly recruited Diddy to help ruin his career. It sort of worked, which raises the question if 50 Cent is the only victim.

Ray J- Him and his sister worked with T.U.G. records when they were very young. Chris Stokes in the nineties who had connections with Diddy. He has been involved in a lot of sex scandals and allegedly may have played a part in Whitney Houston's death. (Which is also allegedly connected to Michael Jackson's death and both were deemed suspicious and happened during their final tours when their masters (song rights), became more valuable than their lives. Sony Records and Tommy Motolla, who also abused Mariah Carey when she was trying to start her career. These are just a few of the alleged examples of labels taking out musicians when they were worth more dead, another is the signing of high risk artists and requiring them to get life insurance so they can profit beyond releasing all their posthumous records. Also the ever so common story of the rising star artist that die at 21 after their first album or two.

He also partied with Diddy in Vegas with along Floyd Mayweather and a bunch of other famous industry people and athletes.

Tory Lanez- Tons of blackmail, also was signed by Interscope under UMG. got sent to prison for ten years after trying to leave his label. Also history of SA and and other allegations of violence towards women.

French Montana- On Diddy's label, close with Rick and Khaled, tons of drug and sexual assault allegations, also dated a Kardashian. Generally grimy.

DJ Khaled- Diddy said he could get anything in Miami, either referring to drugs or women, could explain his connections and lack of any notable talent. (New update, he was one of the first to promote Chris Alvarez’s instagram not long after he turned 18).

Rick Ross- Diddy said some weird shit about him and licked his lips and kissed him at a show. Ross is also signed to Bad Boy under Diddy. He ended up getting involved in the current feud and spamming social media nonstop dissing and threatening Drake.

A lot of the back and forth was both of them threatening to release dirt on each other. One strange coincidence I found was Drake recently trolled Ross about the 20 million dollar renovation to his home on Star island, where Diddy is currently residing. It’s rumored back in the day that P Diddy was caught in a room full of rich guys on ecstasy possibly at the beginning stages of a gay orgy. Drake also mentioned in the same tweets about Rick Ross that Birdman owned a house on the island and asked Rick Ross why he didn’t help him out.

Considering Ross is so sketchy and Drake claims the house isn’t that big, that’s a ridiculous amount of money. He may be covering up evidence, or creating tunnels in his house to escape if shit pops off and Drake might know what’s good. Interestingly enough Ross is very close with French Montana and also signed to Bad. He said his beef was related to something involving French, and Drake’s tweet popped up the same day the info came out concerning the Chris Alvarez stuff.

The famous line from U.O.E.N.O.

Meek Mill- “OG Maco called himself defending his friend Quentin Miller by substantiating the ghostwriting claims and agreeing with Meek. He hit up Twitter saying, "Some of us been knew. Meek just put it in the air. Sucks to have to compete with 6 n****s and get compared to”

Meek mill also had a short beef with Drake, some disses included lines referring to TI’s homie pissing on Drake at the movie theater, which is also interesting considering the current case against him. He also dropped a line saying Diddy almost got a domestic charge when he smacked Drake, which could either be saying that Drake is like a woman, or saying he was Drake’s boyfriend/sugar daddy.
( If you made it to the end comment with the number 8)
I thought it was interesting how the beef just kind of disappeared and even Meek said it didn’t seem genuine. Considering the allegations against Meek in the Diddy trial, and his rumored affair with Kim contributing to ending Kanye’s marriage, Meek Mill definitely did some dirt on him.

“Niggas frauds I told the truth, don't ask me shit
All this industry fake enemy and rap shit”

“Money make a sucker that told look trill again”

One of the many chapters in Drake's history in which he is seen paying his way out of trouble and starting beefs randomly.
“Now when that shit went down with Chris, you wrote a check”
This line is referring to Chris brown beef, another beef that was lost to time. All I can remember off the top was someone throwing a champagne bottle at the other’s entourage.

Ty Dolla $ign- Huge feature artist, close with Ye. Grew up in the industry and talks about growing up on the road and being in the studio with his dad and Rick James who was should have already been in prison for life for dragging, torturing, and S assaulting multiple women and children throughout his career and was himself a victim of the industry. May be part of Ye's motivation, considering their recent close working relationship.
The end.
Courtesy of,
The Randomest Moniker

Rulers of the Outer World was stumping me to no end and while I am by no means an expert gamer, I prefer completing difficult challenges with my own strategies before taking to YouTube and seeing what the pros do. After a particularly harrowing night staying up until 4:30am and getting wrecked by Virtual Sephiroth, I decided to take a break and switch to the Legendary Challenges. Cait Sith was the most annoying but still, I managed to clear it which opened up the Zack and Sephiroth fights…
Nevertheless, I decided to give them a whirl because I had gotten sick of Rulers at that point.
Enter To be a Hero.
Cleared it on my first attempt via a casual “mess-around” run where I just wanted to play with Sephiroth (our time with him in the first chapter was way too short) and take virtual photos. You can see in the video that I was practically re-learning to play Sephiroth on the fly and was amazed that I was getting through each round in spite of the rocky start, not to mention Cloud is running a Buster Sword build purely for aesthetics.
Now it’s time for the big one, Bonds of Friendship.
Okay. From everything I was reading, the Sephiroth Challenge is more fun than anything else considering how OP he is so it is perfectly reasonable to clear it even on a blind run with enough luck on your side. Zack? Different story and oooof, did this challenge throw me through the wringer. Still, I managed to clear it after two days and was absolutely flabbergasted watching speed run videos afterwards with the vaunted “Wind Killer” build. Suffice it to say, I probably should have sucked it up and watched a guide or two beforehand as that would have saved me a lot of headache but still, it was a nice feeling of accomplishment knowing that I was able to clear this bout my way.
Finally, I came back to my most hated enemy — Rulers of the Outer World.
After some more failed attempts, I cracked and looked up a few guides. The “Yuffie Dance Attack” seemed perfectly viable and I was this close to implementing it until I stumbled upon a video that showed how to perfect parry Shadowy Chains for those of us (mostly old guys like me) who have lost the lightning fast reflexes from the days of their youth. It’s an infinitely sound strategy that I had never thought of and upon utilizing it, I finally managed to take out Virtual Sephiroth and earn the Götterdämmerung. My run through Rulers was a protracted battle of attrition that required two parts to encompass but still, I am proud of this achievement and will be happily spamming Brumal Form or any other meta setup the next time I give this challenge a whirl.
If you are curious, here is Part 1 and Part 2.
I am curious to know if anyone else here has had a similar experience to my own. From everything I have gathered, it would appear that the majority of the player base cleared Rulers first and then used the Götterdämmerung to make life easier with Zack and Sephiroth. After seeing so many rage about Bonds of Friendship, I am somewhat shocked that I managed to clear that before the Outer World.
To conclude, I have always been intimidated by FromSoft games due to their high difficulty spike and the fact that I would have an extremely difficult time fitting it into my busy schedule. I was this close to purchasing Sekiro back in the summer of 2020 but work finally picked up again so of course, I had to put gaming on the back burner. A lot of my friends have tried to convince me to give Elden Ring a shot but again, the learning curve dissuaded me. I enjoy platinuming games but usually prefer simple affairs as I am far from being an expert gamer. Remake was definitely challenging but fair as there were only a couple trophies that truly tested me. With Rebirth, I was tested over and over again to the point that I got numb to it. Hell, I spent an entire weekend on the Chocobo Races alone as I am basically crap at the racing genre.
Now having earned the Platinum, I have a question for all the FromSoft players on this forum. How would you rank Rebirth’s platinum compared to Elden and Sekiro? If I was able to survive the Brutal and Legendary Challenges here, would I stand a chance against Malenia even without elite players carrying me? What about the Sword Saint?

So way back when i was a kid in 2012, i was having a very great birthday (i was turning 11 years old) And when it was time to open my presents, i was a little confused because there was this random game called “Call Of Duty Black Ops II) I didn’t know what the FUCK a Call of Duty was, i didn’t know if my parents were asking me to go to WAR or something. But since i got my new Xbox 360 a while ago, i decided to play this game for a while to see how good it is, and HOOOLY SHIT, still one of the most fun games i’ve ever played in my life. Within a few weeks i quickly got addicted to this game and got my whole friend group to friend me on Xbox and just join up and play. It was the best fucking game ever, i remember the cool zombie mode, playing on Nuketown, my friends blasting new music and joking around, the lobbies getting insanely heated, all the cool trick shots we would watch on YouTube, it was the best and funniest shit ever. That game is literally the goat of shooting games, back then when we didn’t have stupid Overwatch shit. Fast forward to 2017 and i had just gotten my Xbox One. This random game on YouTube was trending and it was called Fortnite. I didn’t understand what the hell the point was and i thought i was too old for the game because it looked weirdly cartoony, but i still gave it a try because i thought i could relive memories from the Xbox 360. So i grabbed some of my friends and played the game for the first time and HOOOLLY SHITT it was amazing. I remember when the double pump first got popular, the dance moves like the floss, and trick shots were finally back on YouTube. New battle passes and skins would come out, new weapons, and new locations and glitches which would make everybody flip out. The lobbies were not as heated as Call of Duty were, but they were still funny and i remember trolling videos on Fortnite being on YouTube. And best of all? The game was FREE, no money spent to get better or anything. It was like living in 2012 again, i miss waking up everyday during Summer and hopping on with my friends on some Fortnite. I actually was good at the game too, i remember doing Boxfigjts with my friends when Creative was being released too. I even remember doing it with random people also. When i would win they would get so mad and i would record it and show it to my friends, i even made a YouTube channel out of it that got like 500 subscribers, which was pretty fucking cool.
Fast forward to now, and i’ve just gotten a Nintendo Switch OLED to experience some games, and i was looking for some multiplayer shooter games that could make me nostalgic for playing both of those games, and i found this random game called “Splatoon” What the fuck is this??? No, seriously, what is this? Why are they octopuses? Octopuses in a shooter game make no sense, i thought they were supposed to be real people. Apparently you can phase through walls if you turn into an actual octopus, which i guess makes the people in the games half humans, half kids, so i’ll give them that. But why would you want to teleport through walls? This isn’t Portal, and i’m pretty sure they had that in one of the Fortnite seasons too, but that season came out after the games came out, so again i will give them that. And why are they fighting with PAINT?? Does. the paint hurt the kids or something? Is it their kryptonite? What’s the single player campaign like? Is there a civil war? How does the American Navy fit into this shit? Are they in the Cold War? What countries are involved in this shit? America? China? Russia? North Korea? Not only that, but what about Multiplayer? Can you get into boxfights? What’s this games version of a victory royale? Can you hit the gwiddy once you kill some me? I guess with paint. I’m pretty sure you can’t do online voice chat anywhere on Nintendo Switch. Which is a shame, but what about trickshotting? Is there any clans? Do FaZe Clan play this game? I remember them playing Fortnite way back. How do you get skins and characters in this game? Is there Battle Passes? Events? I’m just assuming you get them in the singleplayer campaign. How does this compare to Call of Duty? I might get some friends and hop on this game, trying to relive some memories. But i just wanted to know some stuff before i decided. Thanks random sub.

Out there - Patreon (for all those curious or wanting to support :))
At the Beginning
Adventure Arc - Arc 2
Wilderness Arc - Arc 3
Academy Arc - Arc 4
Nobility Arc - Arc 5
Previously on Leveling up the World...
ACADEMY GUARDIAN
Species: COLOSSUS
Class: ELECTRON
Health: 64%
Traits:
- BODY 150
- MIND 80
- REACTION 95
- PERCEPTION 50
Skills:
- ATTACK
- GUARD
- ACROBATICS
- ATHLETICS
Weakness: EARS
​
An all-out fighter… there could be no doubt that the colossus had been created specifically for this purpose. It was very possible that the emperor had somehow removed all the needless skills during the leveling up process. The choice of material was no accident, either. Combining sun gold with another magic metal to negate the effects of magic was just what someone distrustful of mages would do.
This had to be a secret that even the archbishop didn’t know, otherwise there'd be more examples of it. A metal that rendered a target impervious to magic. Quite a feat, unless the person who had discovered it also happened to be a mage.
It must have been quite the dilemma for you, Jeremy, Dallion thought, amused.
Given enough time, Dallion might uncover the exact composition of the alloy and make use of it. For the moment, his goal was to defeat the colossus.
Flying up to the guardian itself, Dallion performed a dual spiral attack. His harpsisword, as usual, was infused with magic, while the aura sword had magic threads within its blow.
Taking advantage of its high body trait, the guardian swiftly moved to the side. Despite being enormous, the body easily managed to evade the most devastating effects of the attack.
​
MINOR STRIKE
Dealt damage has been increased by 10%
​
The spiral attack barely singed the chest of the being, while the magic attack bounced off, completely repelled.
“Have you fought anything like this before?” Dallion asked, filling the air with spark infused line attacks.
The glowing threads of destruction sliced through the vines and vegetation of the realm like a scythe through grass. Unfortunately, none of them managed to touch the Colossus.
Without warning, one of the being’s massive fists blocked out the sky, flying straight towards Dallion. Thanks to his reaction trait, Dallion was able to spot the attack. His body movements alone would have been too slow to escape, but thankfully the flying spell he had cast was affected by thought alone.
For half a second Dallion flew back, the colossus’ fist mere feet away from him. Aether barriers appeared by the dozen, cast by a single slash of Dallion’s aura sword. All of them were shattered, not even remotely slowing down the guardian’s attack. Finally, after what felt like minutes, the distance from the golden knuckles widened.
Leave it to the emperor to come up with something like this, Adzorg said, almost with admiration. The perfect counter for a mage. With such a high body trait and invulnerability to magic, there wouldn’t be anyone capable of stopping it.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Dallion snapped. Yet, even he had to admit that the counter was perfect. Remove spells from a mage and they become extraordinarily weak. Even the noble exceptions would hesitate, which was more than enough time for the guardian to dispatch them.
A relatively safe distance away, Dallion cast a series of spells to boost his speed and strength. Once done, he followed up with a quick spell to create an aether blade. The new weapon was quickly covered with a series of illusion spells with the goal of removing the colossus magic invulnerability.
Splitting into two hundred instances, Dallion darted back down, then thrust the blade straight at the guardian’s chest. The enhanced speed prevented the being from evading the attack. Unfortunately, that was all it did. The aether blade shattered, turning to dust the moment it came into contact with the sun gold alloy.
“You’re skilled,” the guardian admitted as he went on a multi attack, attempting to snatch Dallion from the air.
The actions were fast and precise, not to mention covering a vast range. It was purely thanks to the large number of instances that Dallion managed to retreat into the sky unharmed.
“The most skilled I’ve seen,” he added, leaping into the air.
Suddenly, the distance between the two disappeared.
​
MAJOR WOUND
Your health has been reduced by 50%
​
Dallion felt the hard surface slam into him, sending him flying miles away. Normally, that could be considered as a good thing, but a colossus of this size and speed could easily catch up to him no matter where he was thrown.
Lux! Dallion thought.
Without needing further instructions, the firebird emerged, wrapping Dallion with its blue flames and propelling him up, faster than even the colossus could manage.
That was too close. If it hadn’t been the few moments in which Lux had healed Dallion back in the real world, the battle would have been over. Right now, Dallion was barely at one percent of his health. The only times he’d fallen so low were back in the first awakening shrine. There, losing only meant being ejected from the realm. As a domain ruler, if he were to have his health depleted, he’d die on the spot.
“Better than your creator?” Dallion shouted—a desperate move to make use of his music skills. To his great surprise, it worked.
Several strands attached to the guardian as he fell back to the ground with a slam. The entire realm shook.
“Better than he was when he created this realm,” the guardian replied. “Even I was weaker when I chose to become the realm’s guardian. You could have taken me easily. My skin was granite and my speed, just over half what it is now.”
Focusing, Dallion skimmed over the surface of the mountain, using his forging skills in an attempt to spot any crack or weakness he could use. If any existed, they had been mended centuries ago. It was obvious that the emperor had kept improving the guardian multiple times, but it was more than that. During the improvement, he had changed the material until reaching its current composition. There was no telling how many times he had gone through it. Reaching simple gold was a difficult task. Achieving any of the magical materials required magic forging, and even it was not a given.
You know its weakness, don’t you? Dallion wondered. There was no way Jeremy would allow anything, be it a guardian, to be stronger than him. There had to be some weakness—a blind spot that only he could take advantage of.
With the music strands fading away, the effects ended, sending the guardian up again as he attempted to reach Dallion yet again.
There was no doubt that Lux had taken him dozens of miles above the ground, but that alone was not enough. Dallion felt the sky itself move down, bringing the ground closer. Had this been an overseer, the fight might well have ended. As things stood, there were several possibilities for success.
“Here we go!” Reaching through his personal realm into his wider domain, Dallion summoned a rocket crossbow. Although the colossus had the power to reflect all spells, he didn’t have the power to negate them.
The massive weapon emerged in front of him, already loaded with four deadly charges. Dallion held his breath. Waiting for the colossus to get fifty feet from him, he shot all four rocket bolts straight at the guardian’s head and shoulders.
​
AVERAGE HIT
Dealt damage has been increased by 50%
​
AVERAGE HIT
Dealt damage has been increased by 50%
​
MODERATE HIT
Dealt damage has been increased by 150%
​
AVERAGE HIT
Dealt damage has been increased by 50%
​
The force of the blast pushed the colossus back down before he could reach his target. All the speed he had was wasted into the air.
​
Realm section damaged!
Overall completion 59%
​
The entity slammed into the ground, sending a shock wave throughout the entire realm. Ripples formed through the mesh of magic threads that composed the ground, slowly settling once they reached its limits.
Unsummoning the weapon, Dallion immediately replaced it with a new one.
Once the dust had settled, the results were a lot less impactful as he had hoped. Some might even call them underwhelming.
In the real world, such an attack would have been enough to destroy living armor. Here, they had merely scarred the guardian. The most serious wound—located slightly above the shoulder—was barely the size of a jab. As for the rest—they were just scars.
“Jeremy must have improved you a lot.” Dallion resorted to his music skills. In his mind, he knew that this was the method, yet he had to rely on the colossus’ weakness. “How many times did you go through this?”
“Why do you want this domain?” The guardian stood back up. “It won’t increase your level.”
“If it’s so useless, why not just surrender and give it to me without a fight?” Dallion smirked.
The colossus didn’t react.
“See? It only doesn’t matter as long as you have it. We both know that no one will allow so much magic to go unused.”
“You just want to feed your dragon.”
“I’m sure that Jeremy did the same.” In his mind Dallion was calculating possibilities of how to get the guardian to face the right direction so he could initiate a killing shot.
“He did, but you’re greedier.”
The response was surprising on several levels. When he said it, Dallion didn’t believe it to have been true. According to everything he had learned in the Learning Hall, the first Emperor Tamin had transformed his companion familiar into a great dragon, through lots of magic and leveling up. Nowhere was it said that the entire domain of the Academy had been used as a grazing ground. Yet, that would explain why the area was so sparsely built in relation to its size.
​
MAJOR HEAL
Your health has been increased by 50%
​
A green rectangle emerged. Lux had managed to restore a large chunk of Dallion’s health, and not a moment too soon.
“Get me to his ear,” Dallion ordered, bursting into instances.
Hundreds of versions circled the guardian’s head, yet each time the result was the same. The Colossus’ speed was just too fast for Dallion to do anything about it, even with his magic boost. Of two hundred instances, forty-one managed to get anywhere close to the guardian’s head. Less than a third of them managed to fire, and in all those cases, the guardian twisted his head, causing the rockets to explode on his face. Damage was dealt, though it was a far cry from the kill shot that Dallion needed.
“Jeremy used that millennia ago.” The colossus grabbed a patch of ground and threw it in Dallion’s general direction.
The speed was impressive, fading half of Dallion’s newly created instances.
“He did, did he?” Dallion unsummoned the empty crossbow. “Then how about something new?”
Summoning his usual two blades, Dallion spun in the air, casting point attacks throughout the realm.
“Predictable.” The colossus dashed from one place to another, using his left arm to shield himself from the magic attacks, while avoiding the spark infused ones. “Jeremy used that twice.”
Not quite this, Dallion thought.
The issue with someone incapable of seeing magic was that they couldn’t tell the difference between a destructive and an effect spell. A large part of the aether point attacks were not mere attacks, but effect spells surrounding a small magic core. Coming into contact with the threads on the ground, they changed into symbols, patiently waiting to be connected. There was no way for the guardian to see that, and because of the devastation to which the area had been submitted, there wasn’t anyone nearby to tell him.
Got you! Dallion said to himself, completing the magic circle. It extended for miles, only visible from high above. The effect, though, was something no one could miss.
In a split second, the ground that the guardian had been running on lost its firmness. With a massive splash, the colossus vanished beneath the surface, like a carriage falling through thin ice into a river.

Hey all. I hope everyone is safe and sound with their loved ones in this crazy world.
I've been lurking the subreddit for a time now and all i see is repetetive complaints about the game. Couple memes here and there, maybe a cool or mediocre play that made the playing guy excited but other than that it was all "cheaters ohoooo, matchmaking ohoooo, lon ammo is op ohhooo, shotguns are unjust" etc. It was last couple days that people making noises for the good of this game. So i thought i might share my hunt experience with all good and bads.
Well, i'm not saying this game is not making me rage time to time. 3 minutes loading + 5 mins of running just for getting a weird headshot is always frustrating and i think we all understand this or maybe spiraling a compound and getting pumped easy from a nonsense corner does the same, i think we are all in the same ship on this one. Lastly i know that while you're trying to take maybe 1 kill and extract in a 4* just to realise there were 2 teams full of 5-6* ~5k hours sweaty players, when u get a sparks pistol headshot from 130 mt is giving you existential crisis.
Here is my sanity checks about this topics
1- There is a reason ammo types are separated to types.
°Compact ammo is low damage but generally faster than any other types. Means if both parties shoot non stop with optimal aim, compact ammo would win a tight fight. Also you can spam it, means you have much more scans than a long ammo. °Shotgun ammo. Well, if you hear a shotgun and came close to it ~15 mt, with equally talented aims, you're gonna die, i'm sorry but that's how shotguns work (even in irl) °Long ammo looks the most advantageous but except mako and krag, they are fricking slow and their ammo is scarce. If you hear a mosin and if you try to bite each other from 80 mt, man... Its not the long ammo, close the fricking distance.
EVERY AMMO TYPE HAS A PLAY AGAINST IT.
2- Hunt mmr is like chess.
You killed a cowboy better than you? voilà! you get more points. You get killed by a cowboy worse than you? ehh, kudos to the underdog they landed a good shot and took a good bit of your mmr. Most of the time i'm very happy if i'm playing against better players. It forces me to learn angles, make rotations or use a strategic way to approach rather then brute aiming.
3- They are problably not cheating.
Sometimes you just land an insane shot, don't you? i meant the ones that make you go "oooiiii" in such a tight angle or vision. Are you trying to shoot from same angle 2 time with exact body movement? or are you sure that no body heard/saw you while rotating? hmm maybe we couldn't form a consensus of snipers are snipers for a reason and that's the scope advantage. Some folks watching you running 4k with an aim on your head. i played this game for 600 hours now, never seen one.
Idk if you realise but, hunt is problably the most unique fps game out there. The world design, bosses, gameplay loop, guns, atmosphere, sound desing, gunfights, even the ammo system you are complaining about... Do we have anything like this in fps genre? Every major fps game has its own clone but not hunt and that's for a reason.
I guess most of the complaints are coming from people that wants to warp reality's terms rather than copping with it. it's rather a fundamental approach problem than the game's lack of something and it's not a stance of 'git gud'. It's a way of saying "Stop complaining we are in a fight, do your job with what you have"
Also... HUNT IS A ROGULIKE GAME until you reach a point that you feel very comfortable about swinging your gun. So get used to die in most absurd ways you could imagine. Re roll a hunter, get some perks and try to beat the dungeon again.
TLDR: Hunt is one of a kind. It's an incredible game if you come to accept it's own reality. Everything has an answer against it. Change the way you approach things, not just hunt. You can't bite while you are talking and you should take a huge chunk out of enemies, so it's better for you to stop complaining and think 'hmm what can i do to this problem'. They are problably not cheating and hunt is a rogue like until you have the self esteem of a cowboy.
See you in the fields bois and gurls. Don't forget the check your angles, people be sitting at weird places out of stress i guess.

An issue I've begun to notice as more weapons have been introduced or changed, many simply are downgrades or are performing their role worse then other weapons. The Liberator Concussive is worse then the Pummeler, the Tenderizer is worse then the Liberator, the Breaker Spray&Pray is worse then the Breaker Incendiary, the Purifier is worse then the Scorcher, the Liberator Penetrator is worst then the Adjudicator, and so much more. The issue is that we have too many weapons performing the same role without diversifying these weapon enough to allow them to perform these roles differently then another. Why change the Exploding Crossbow to a "medium armor killer" type weapon when it offers nothing new that the Dominator, Slugger, and Eruptor already do to fulfil this role? Why change the Adjudicator to a medium armor penetration assault rifle when the Liberator Penetrator already exists? Why add the Tenderizer as a "assault rifle with a restrictive magazine but more stopping power" when that describes the role the Adjudicator already has? Too many weapons have been adjusted, added or changed, causing overlap issues between many weapons, which in turn have weapons be outperformed rather then be a proper side-grade. I understand not wanting to have primary weapons be too powerful, but too many weapons have been made redundant by nerfs, buffs, and changes because of this. Therefore, I wanted to throw out my ideas for weapon changes/balancing. When I was considering weapon balancing, I had four goals:

1. Give each weapon a defined purpose and role
2. Make sure each weapon is an overall side-grade
3. Prioritize making new roles to avoid overlap
4. Try to have some slight realism

With this in mind, I came up with some ideas for all the assault rifles, as I feel like this category has the most issues compared to any other. Keep in mind that I'm 100% no game developer or expert on balancing, so do understand that the stats I came up with are just to give an overall idea and feel of how I think weapon should be, as I have no way to actually test or know if these numbers and ideas are balanced. Any feedback would be appreciated!
AR-23 Liberator

- Damage: 60 - Capacity: 45 - Recoil: 15 - Fire Rate: 640 - Light Armor Penetrating - 7 + 1 Mags - Role: All-around workhorse and baseline weapon 

Notes: The AR-23 Liberator in its current state serves as a perfect baseline when considering balance changes. Strong, reliable, accurate, ammo efficient, multiple firing modes and scope magnifications, it's everything a starter weapon should be and needs no additional changes.
AR-23P Liberator Penetrator

- Damage: 45 - Capacity: 30 - Recoil: 19 - Fire Rate: 640 - Medium Armor Penetrating - 10 + 1 Mags - Role: Takes down armored targets 

NEW STATS

- Damage: 55 - Capacity: 45 - Recoil: 28 - Fire Rate: 500 - Medium Armor Penetrating - 7 + 1 Mags - Reduced Ergonomics - New Role: Heavy assault rifle fitted with armor piercing rounds but has reduced fire rate and increased recoil 

Notes: Oh my poor baby boy, how Arrowhead has treated and abandoned you so. The AR-23P Liberator Penetrator is my favorite looking gun in the game, but from day one has been completely underpowered and underperforms in its role as a medium armor penetration assault rifle. Between its terrible damage, small capacity, and terrible efficiency, the weapon struggled against the competition and the only buff added was the addition to fire in full-auto, which barely did anything to change its lackluster performance. With these new changes, the Penetrator would now become a much stronger option compared to what it was then. First, we increase the damage and capacity to bring it up to it's standard counterpart, as there's no reason why it should have both a low capacity and the lowest damage per shot in the game. However to keep a bit of realism, we'll still have it be weaker as armor piercing rounds tend to have less stopping power for increased penetration power. And second, we give it increased recoil along with reduced fire rate, ergonomics, and spare ammo to compensate for these changes while also leaning into the heavy rifle design and new role it has. With these changes, the Penetrator is more closer to how the Adjudicator is and now should feel more like a side-grade to the standard Liberator, trading in crowd control for better performance against larger armored targets. It'll blast through the likes of Hive Guards, Brood Commanders, and Bile Spewers, but will struggle against groups of Hunters and Berserkers due to its lower fire rate and ergonomics.
AR-61 Tenderizer

- Damage: 60 - Capacity: 35 - Recoil: 10 - Fire Rate: 600 - Light Armor Penetrating - 10 + 1 Mags - Role: High-caliber assault rifle with a restrictive magazine but more stopping power 

NEW STATS

- Damage: 40 - Capacity: 60 - Recoil: 20 - Fire Rate: 720 - Light Armor Penetrating - 7 + 1 Mags - Slightly Reduced Ergonomics - New Role: Rapid-fire high capacity assault rifle with low damage and increased recoil 

Notes: This weapon is too similar to the original Liberator and desperately needs some adjustments. And with the new Penetrator changes from before, we now need to alter this weapons from it's original role to something that's missing from the assault rifles list. Enter the new AR-61 Tenderizer. This weapon is focused on one thing: throwing down as many bullets down range as fast as possible. With a massive capacity and increased fire rate, this weapon is the closest we'll get to having a primary LMG and should be thought of as the Breaker but in assault rifle form. The gun can handle larger crowds and can shred through light armored targets such as Berserkers, Nursing Spewers, Stalkers, and Warriors. However it will eat through ammo quickly, struggle against armored enemies, and isn't particularly precise so it'll be difficult to hit the weak points of certain enemies such as Devastators. It certainly won't replace a Stalwart, but you'll still get the lovely feeling of unloading a torrent of bullets upon the enemies of democracy all the same. It also doesn't replace the Breaker either, as while the Breaker can unload into a group indiscriminately and tear through hordes faster, the Tenderizer has better range and has more control over the area where their shots will land.
AR-23C Concussive

- Damage: 65 - Capacity: 30 - Recoil: 28 - Fire Rate: 320 - Light Armor Penetrating - 10 + 1 Mags - Role: Fires concussive rounds that do less damage but stagger enemies 

NEW STATS

- Damage: 55 - Capacity: 35 - Recoil: 28 - Fire Rate: 400 - Light Armor Penetrating - 9 + 1 Mags - Concussive rounds explosions have a small AOE, allowing for stagger of several enemies close together per shot - Explosions deal no damage and purely stagger. Helldivers hit by the concussive explosions will suffer from a depletion of stamina and a slow effect that fades after a few seconds - New Role: Fires concussive rounds at a slower fire rate that do less damage, but can stagger several enemies 

Notes: With the release of the new Pummeler SMG, the AR-23C Concussive has been made completely redundant in almost every way. Because of this, we have two options: nerf the Punisher or buff the Concussive. I choose the latter, and so this is what we get. As the concussive rounds are stated to do less damage, we'll first sightly nerf the damage to make this accurate. Second, we slightly increase the capacity and give a small bump to its fire rate to make it a bit more usable, while also taking away a spare mag to compensate. And now onto the big addition to differentiate it from the Punisher: AOE stagger. While the Punisher has higher damage and better single target capabilities, the new Concussive has lower damage but can hold off several enemies at once with AOE concussive rounds. This allows the Concussive to have two roles: A support role for your team that can slow the advance of groups of enemies, and a weapon that provides a safe but slow way of killing enemies when by yourself. Of course, the weapon isn't meant to hold back a bug breach or anything. The AOE is meant to be small and not be a "get out of jail free card". If your surrounded, you'll still die horribly and the AOE will cause an effect similar to the "Tremor" environmental effect when hitting yourself or allies with the concussive blast (depletion of stamina and slow effect that fades after a few seconds), but it can stagger a few of those Berserkers or Hive Commanders chasing after your friend to give them some breathing room, or hold back those two Stalkers sneaking up on your fellow Helldiver while they reload their Autocannon. It won't kill, but your fellow Helldivers will thank you when you save them from danger.
BR-14 Adjudicator

- Damage: 80 - Capacity: 25 - Recoil: 40 - Fire Rate: 550 - Medium Armor Penetrating - 7 + 1 Mags - Role: Accurate, medium armor penetrating rifle with limited effectiveness against large groups 

NEW STATS

- Damage: 90 - Capacity: 25 - Recoil: 40 - Fire Rate: 480 - Light Armor Penetrating - 7 + 1 Mags - Changed to Marksman Rifle Classification - Semi-auto/3-Round Burst only - New Role: Accurate, light armor penetrating rifle that trades damage for improved effectiveness against large groups 

Notes: The change to the BR-14 Adjudicator from a Marksman Rifle to a Assault Rifle never really sat well with me, especially because it ended up being everything the Penetrator was supposed to be and still wasn't great. In the real world, a battle rifle tend to sit somewhere between assault rifles and designated marksman rifles, though they usually are closer to marksman rifles. Notable examples are the FN FAL, M14, and Heckler & Koch G3. With this in mind, figuring out how to balance the rifle is a bit tricky. I wanted it to have higher single target damage then Assault Rifles to move it away from that role, while also having better crowd control then the Diligence to give it a new role the Marksman Rifle category lacks. First, we increase the damage and recoil slightly while reducing the fire rate to move it more towards being a marksman rifle. Second, we change it from medium armor penetration to light armor penetration. We don't want it to compete with the Penetrator or Counter Snipe, but instead want it to be a faster firing but lighter hitting option for the Marksman Rifle category. Finally, we remove the full auto firing option and replace it with a 3-round burst option as while there are battle rifles that do have a full auto setting in the real world, it's usually extremely impractical due to the immense recoil, though I'll admit keeping the full-auto feels like something that would be done in-universe. With these final changes, we now have true battle rifle that bridges the gap between assault rifles and marksman rifles. Want the crowd control of an assault rifle, but the high damage of a marksman rifle? This is the weapon for you.
SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray

- Damage: 192 (12 Damage per pellet) - Capacity: 26 - Recoil: 45 - Fire Rate: 330 - Light Armor Penetrating - 7 + 1 Magazines - 16 Pellets per shot - Role: High capacity shotgun firing birdshot 

NEW STATS

- Damage: 420 (12 Damage per pellet) - Capacity: 24 - Recoil: 40 - Fire Rate: 350 - Light Armor Penetrating - 6 + 1 Magazines - 35 Pellets per shot - Increased spread - Role: High capacity shotgun firing birdshot that was designed with "accuracy by volume of fire" in mind 

Notes: A fun little bonus addition to this list. The SG-225SP Breaker Spray&Pray is a bit notorious for being a direct downgrade from the Breaker Incendiary after it got buffed. Therefore, in the spirit of democracy and fun, I came up with these changes. In real life, bird shot is quite weak, has huge spread, and a single shell can have upwards of 70+ pellets in them to maximize the chances of hitting a bird in flight. While the idea would be really funny, having the game calculate the trajectory and impact of 70 individual projectiles from just one player would be a lot for the game to do, and each pellet would have to do around 5-6 damage each with an enormous spread to be balanced, so this is the next best thing I came up with. The new Spray&Pray is designed to litter a battlefield with a hail of pellets, encouraging the user to indiscriminately fire in whatever direction the enemy is in. It's inaccurate, will likely not land more then 6 pellets on the same target unless your up close, and will likely hit your allies if they're anywhere in the direction your firing, but that's the entire point. This is for the insane, the wacky, those who truly embody the chaotic nature of Helldivers and want a fun gun. You close your eyes, pull the trigger, and blindly fire into a bug breach knowing Lady Liberty guides your every shot.

People keep moaning that “Cymanti is Op” or “Cymanti is unstoppable”! Whilst I agree that the tribe could do with a couple balance changes, they are beatable!
So im gonna give some tips on how to beat them from my own personal experience, so next time someone gets beaten by a cymanti main and doesnt wanna blame it on skill issue, you guys can direct them here.

1. Try and play more aggressively;

Cymantis late game units are powerful, but their defence stats are lower than their offence. A swordsman attack can easily cripple a doomux’s capability to one shot most units. and Cymanti troops will struggle to fight off a giant if you can support them properly. A centipede can be easily worn down by archers.
Point im trying to make is: try and make the first hit

1. Riders, use them!

If you are playing oumanji or yadakk, then use your mobility to your advantage! Hexapods hit hard, but cant take a hit, and arent any more agile than your riders. All you gotta do is whack the hexapods then they will go splat, then you can bail out! Keep your riders behind your warriors so your riders dont become a target!
Depending on the tribe you picked, getting riding should be a priority if you know you are up against cymanti (or most other tribes really)
So those wannabe arachnids have 2 choices: either f**k off, or die to your superior cavalry.

1. Archers vs Fly

Phychis only have 2 purposes: to explore, or to be a nuisance. In a field battle, an archer and warrior will do more damage than warrior and phychi. And like riders, they go splat fairly quickly!
If you have archers in the early, mid game, you got the upper hand! Even if you spot some of Cymanti’s more poweful units existing nearby, or in your territory, archer spam shouldnt be considered entirely out of the question. If you got a catapult in range, feel free to shatter the ego of that centipede with a boulder.

1. Naval combat

If you happen to be playing on a map with a good amount of water, that water is your friend! Try and get sailing as soon as you can, especially if you happen to be playing kickoo.
Cymanti is essentially hopeless in water, even rayachis can be easily cut down if you know what you are doing. All you need to do is get several scouts (and maybe a rammer or 2), then sit back, relax, and raise the cymanti mains blood pressure higher than SSSniperWolfs ego.

1. Watch Gully

Hes beaten many cymanti players, you will get many tips and tricks from him!

Hi, after a long time I bring another solo, and as far as I can tell, this is the first legitimate (albeit Emboldened) solo kill of Cardinal Adina, one of raid bosses in Wing 7. It took about 30 minutes, although that could be improved.

Video

Scourge PoV

Emboldened

Emboldened is the easy mode added to raids 2 years ago. While it is generally not used within GW2 raid records and lowmans, it is still interesting to see what is possible with just a stat boost. Getting a kill with Emboldened will still net you full rewards.
This was done with the maximum 5 stacks of Emboldened, which is +100% health, +50% damage, and +50% healing. It can be done with fewer stacks, although it would make mistakes noticeably more punishing.
The hardest part and only one that really needs Emboldened is at the end of the fight, at 20% and 10% of Adina's health when hands spawn. These apply a temporary debuff increasing damage you take, and it increases in intensity if you take long to kill them.
The 50% and 25% hand phases which feature two hands applying this debuff and two hands throwing rocks at you are also tricky, but once learned can be done without losing barely any health.
The annoying part about Emboldened is that you can only attempt this one week out of seven, as you need the correct wing to have the buff.

How hard is this solo?

It is on the easier side, because most mistakes have easy recovery due to a massive health buffer, but don't expect to one-shot it by any means. The hard part is also at the end, which can be frustrating.
It took me 28 attempts to kill this, total time spent in tries was 6 hours and 38 minutes.
However, I have also tried this in the past. In 2022, I got to enrage at 82% with Specter without Emboldened and to first split phase with Emboldened. And in 2020, it took me 130 attempts to get to enrage at 80% with Renegade. That one was the hardest, as it required perfect play for dealing with the 5 pillar start. Thankfully, no such thing here.

The challenges

The pillars

The fight starts with 5 pillars, which get cracked initially, which means Adina has a 5 stacks of Pillar Pandemonium, eachs tack granting -20% incoming damage, and +20% outgoing damage. Thankfully you can use her conical attack to destroy pillars and then merge further pillars to eventually reduce pillar count to just 1 pillar you keep breaking and placing repeatedly. You can see this in the first minute and half of the video.

The conical attack

To do this solo, you need to learn the timing of dodging the red conical attack. If you fail this, you end up knocked back, and you will likely fail to place the pillar in your desired location, as you have to do it right after. It isn't too hard if you watch her animation.

The mines

Adina places a cone of mines as her last attack before starting the "eye" attack which requires you to hide behind a pillar. Make sure you do not place mines in the direction of your pillar, or you may not have anywhere to hide. Even with Emboldened, an exploding mine will take half your health. Furthermore, all mines from the previous set will explode at the same time you are hiding behind your pillar, so make sure to place the next pillar away from old mines.

The mines, again

If you explode a mine by getting too close, it will destroy the tile until the end of the phase. If you overlap two sets of mines, you can destroy a whole cone of tiles at once. Do not fall into the hole. Do not fall into the hole.

The eye / hiding behind pillar

Do not look into the eye and do not forget to hide behind your pillar. Should be easy. However, you likely want to get some hits in when moving out, you probably have some ranged attacks. Do not greed too much, it's a 30 minute kill, at least if you only care about killing. If you are optimizing time, this is a great place for skill expression.

The 75% hand phase

Kill the debuffing hand first. Potentially wait until the debuff runs out if you can kill the throwing hand that fast.
Adina is doing an attack in a very obvious pattern going clockwise. This is evadeable and with careful positioning and timing a dodge, you can avoid taking any damage from it.

The 50% and 25% hand phase.

You may want to dodge the initial shockwave, just don't dodge off the platform.
Your first priority is to kill the debuffing hands. You might get up to 8 stacks of the debuff depending on your speed, so take care not to take unnecessary damage from Adina's platforms.
You can blind the throwing hands, you might not have enough dodges to dodge every throw without Vigor. Make sure not to get knocked off.
When done correctly, it looks easy, when something goes wrong, it can easily kill you. Although to be honest, that applies to the whole fight.

The 20% and 10% hands.

In the last phase, one debuffing hand spawns when Adina reaches 20% of her health. A second one will spawn when she reaches 10%. There is no respawning, contrary to what many people think (I have already fixed this on the wiki).
You need to kill this hand as quickly as possible so you don't gain too many stacks that increase incoming damage. Just don't forget that Adina is still doing her mechanics. This is by far the trickiest part, as mistakes are more punishing due to the debuff and you have multiple things to focus on.
Do not forget that Adina gains Might, and it has a pretty significant effect. You may want to strip her from time to time while dealing with the hand.

Optimizations

The pillars at the start, again

If you merge the pillars towards each other, you can use one conical attack to break multiple pillars. You can see the whole setup I used in the first 1m20s of the video. There may be a better way to do this, I haven't tried that hard, this just came to mind as I was learning the fight.

Avoiding pillars cracked early

To do this solo, it is a good idea to learn how the pillars work, in detail. They have three possible states - not damaged, cracked (2hp), more cracked (1hp). Only the cracked states apply the Pillar Pandemonium debuff. Adina's autos will crack pillars early, so you want to avoid that. Placing the pillar 2 tiles away from Adina makes this significantly easier.
You likely want to avoid placing it right next to Adina, if you do that, you will need to get significant distance or you will get blinded.

Pillar positioning

Do not be dumb like me and notice that the platform isn't four-way symmetrical. Placing the pillars east/west is likely a way better idea compared to what I was doing, as you wouldn't have to jump.

The build

The full build is shown at the end of the video
This has been done with a Condition Scourge in Celestial gear, running the recently reworked Death Magic traitline. I haven't done too much optimization of the gear (there are even a few infusions missing, I forgot), the goal was to show it's killable, and not to get the fastest possible time. As usual, do not forget Reinforced Armor and a Jade Bot Core Tier 10.
I went with a comfortable Relic of the Chronomancer for quickness, although I doubt its optimality. I took a Frailty sigil to fix up Vulnerability uptime and a Sigil of Battle to fix up Might (although Strength might be better, I didn't check) .
For skills, I took the vulnerability well for obvious reasons, the blindness/chill well because it helps with the hand phase, it has decent hits (for the bleed trait) and unique condis on boss improve critical chance slightly, which also helps the bleed trait. It may make sense to run the aegis snake or even Sand Swell to place a pillar without taking hits after. Any Punishment skill could be decent as Adina almost always has Might. One day I might bother to learn the names of Scourge skills and traits.
For food, I went a damage reduction expertise/condition damage feast, and for utility, I went with a writ for 100-25%, and then swapped to a Tuning Icicle.

Downvote me all you want, but powerscaling varies from verse to verse. These so called "OP" ocs that can maybe one shot your entire verse could be just a side character of their verse.
The problem is how the owners go on a power trip by putting them in combat and then run into a stalemate with another powerful character and instead of just stopping, go "No, they oneshot you" without an explanation.
What exactly is it that they do? Why is their punch able to kill someone who cannot be killed by physical means? Does it hurt the soul of the opponent? Does it sap away the life force? Is it something else?
Is there a fix? Yes. A very simply one. If it's a direct combat rp, we could always just equalize the stats and have a match of abilities and skill. Example: I had a character of mine named Aiden fight an OC with a see through stomach region and a robotic mask and limbs the other day and it was an intense fight and the only reason Aiden won is because after establishing both our characters can rip each other's bodies to pieces, I had Aiden jam artificial claws into the opponent and instead of escaping, they mirrored the action, giving me the ability to tank it and behead the opponent. This fight was barely city level all things considered and was a fun one. Me and the other creator even talked later about abilities and stuff... and now for the bomb... Aiden is an Overkill character... and she was nerfed in the RP. Same for most of the times I use characters like Agnes and Ceres. Recently used Ceres to combat u/somthing-somthing134 's character Uriel and it was a fun rp... even if Ceres was nerfed. You could say he oneshotted Azrael, but it was established that it was a puzzle with a timer in an inescapable dimension with all aspects of powers locked away and if it was solved, it could be escaped. Not my fault that they didn't solve it and the timer was up. If you're wondering, yes my characters have also lost battles they were nerfed in. Don't take it to heart, it's simply for fun.
One has to realize when and how to use their characters properly.
Have a powerful character you wanna use in an rp but can't cuz you know you'll solve the entire issue alone or win immediately and end in a boring way? Nerf them as long as their character isn't hampered. In the above examples, I did this with Aiden and Ceres.
Of course there are prompts where you have to be vastly stronger or smarter or versatile such as rescue rps. A good example here would be when InterestingTea posts a prompt where you gotta save Aiko from characters like Akemi, Daiki and Tokinari. I use Ceres there to mainly act as an impenetrable shield instead of just kill Akemi and get done.
Use your characters properly. Don't try to make a statement about your character being superior in every way and you'll be good. If your character is invincible and it's a part of their personality, then please just don't go into death battles as it is stupid. You already know the outcome and it won't be that fun.
This is a place to interact and have fun, not make imaginary enemies. Your characters are not the problem, the way you use them however... could be
That'll be all, I rambled too much

So unlike a lot of my usual posts, this one is going to be more selfish, negative, and not as constructive. I just have a lot of feelings about the way this subreddit has progressively become hostile towards Rose, not just as a hero in the game, but as a viable and justified way to play the game. I won’t fault anyone that thinks Rose is annoying or toxic (I can agree with that), but I feel like people take their feelings against her too far
Also, a warning for ahead; swearing, aggressive language, and hyperbole
With that all being said, OH MY GOD do you people hate Rose too much. Is she annoying? Sure. Is she good? Yeah. Is she impossible to play against? Not by a long shot. Are the people who play her on ladder even good at the game? Hell no
Whenever I see people complaining about her online, it’s always about the most mediocre, tired points. Freeze is broken, heal is broken, legendary cards are broken, etc, etc. Except I know what you people are losing to, and I can confidently say that it’s a massive skill issue. Granted, the game doesn’t teach you how to play against her decks. When I see the same few people always talking about this hero like she’s the anti-christ, though, I find it strange that none of you would at least have a clue on how to play against her. I assume that you play against Rose enough to complain about her, so not thinking to counter the game plan that she always goes for is kind of stupid
Ladder Rose players don’t even run optimal decks. I mean, freeze? Really? Are we really so backwards as to go back to complaining about freeze decks? And the heal decks they run are bricky as hell. They crumble against cards like Zomblob and Cowboy, or even just any environments. Or god forbid someone play an aggro deck and win before they can even do anything. I also see people complaining about her legendary cards, and while that justified to some extent, the cards people praise and/or complain about are so fucking mid. DMD is expensive as hell, Aloesaurus is slow and weak, Astrovera isn’t even worth its price, and Winter Melon just sucks. There’s so little to complain about outside of Cob Cannon and maybe Lima Pleurodon, the former of which people for some reason don’t run half of the time? It’s like just seeing a legendary card is enough for some of you to complain about it
Finally, and this is a **BIG, IMPORTANT ISSUE THAT I WANT TO ADDRESS*\, is that some people in this community *actually attack others for playing this character. So much harassment is thrown at anyone who even plays something shitty with Rose. People on this subreddit don’t just hate Rose, they don’t allow anyone to like her, and then harass and shame the few people who do in spite of their bias. You can’t even ask for advice on Rose without some rude-ass comments towards OP, which is probably a new low for this community’s awful deck advice
One community member I want to talk about is diseasion, who’s been uploading fun, well edited posts about Rose. More specifically, they like to play freeze and control decks. Every single one of diseasion’s freeze posts has death threats directed at them, whether it be telling diseasion to kill themselves or threatening to hurt diseasion themselves, and so many more of diseasion's posts have people complaining about their content. I find that both upsetting and disturbing. It’s not enough that people want to harass “Rose players”, but you can’t even run run something like GS Freeze or Carrotina Control without people posting some tacky reaction image as a threat
If you skipped to the end, let it be known that I don’t even play Rose. Most “meta” heroes aren’t the ones I play, and I’d much rather enjoy heroes like Neptuna and Spudow that have more interesting and fun decks for me to play. However, that doesn’t mean that I’ll just sit idly while people get harassed out of our community over something as trivial as playing Rose to any extent
As a community, can we at least acknowledge that we’re taking this too far?

"It’ll be entertaining, informative. Like the two old guys on the Muppets." - Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) getting amped up for the Trump-Biden debates.

Quality Control

Republican dreams of recapturing the Senate are shining a little brighter today, after primaries in West Virginia and Maryland handed nominations to less-crazy-than-usual candidates.

• Republicans have a longstanding tradition of picking (how can we put this…) unfortunate candidates for key Senate races. Just think back to the doomed Georgia campaign of the, um, mercurial football star, Herschel Walker, in 2022. Or the downright goofy candidacy of Dr Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania (who can forget the time he wandered around a grocery store, on camera, as if he’d never seen one before). Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is on record saying the GOP has a big problem with what he calls “candidate quality.”
  
• The GOP made no such self-defeating fumbles on Tuesday. West Virginian Republicans nominated Governor Jim Justice (R-WV) to flip the seat of departing Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). In Maryland, they picked former Governor Larry Hogan, who will face off against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, a county executive of Prince George’s County. Hogan is pretty well-liked among moderate voters in this blue state, making him a tough matchup for Alsobrooks, who is looking to become Maryland’s first-ever Black female senator. Dems are defending a wafer-thin 51-49 majority, and will likely have to hold Maryland in a tough fight to stay in power. And it matters who runs the Senate, especially for future Supreme Court vacancies. Things may be turning around for Money Mitch.
  
• Disgraced former President Donald Trump, however, didn’t have such a great night. He just can’t seem to outrun Nikki Haley’s zombie presidential campaign, which brought in 20 percent of the vote in Maryland and almost that much in Nebraska. As we’ve noted before, the fact that lots of GOP voters continue turning out in primaries to vote for Haley, who isn’t even running anymore, is not a good omen for Trump.
  

The persistent Haley support, months after she quit the race, suggests plenty of lingering unease among moderate Republicans about Trump. The question becomes what those voters will do in November.

Look No Further Than Crooked Media

Want to know the latest internet stories but can't seem to get past the Kendrick vs. Drake debacle? Us too! Break out of your eco-chamber with Jon Favreau on the latest episode of Crooked's subscriber exclusive show Terminally Online, where Jon asks staffers around the office about their most recent internet rabbit-holes. To hear this exclusive series, join our Friends of the Pod community at https://crooked.com/friends or subscribe to Crooked’s Friends of the Pod on Apple Podcasts.

Under The Radar

A very spooky new CBS News investigation found nearly 80 election deniers are working across key battleground states in important election oversight positions. Cool! Love that!
So there are folks in charge of running elections in places like Nevada that either don’t believe the 2020 election results, pushed election conspiracies, refused to certify past results or publicly supported the January 6th insurrection. One can only imagine what people like this would do if Trump or other MAGA Republicans lose their races come November. (Spoiler: they might try to deny!)

What Else?

The old boys have decided to duke it out face-to-face once again. The Biden v. Trump debate showdown is confirmed, at least for now, for June 27 on CNN. They even agreed to meet again on September 10. Both candidates had scoffed at participating in the traditional schedule from the Commission on Presidential Debates, and have now opted in to at least two network events. RFK Jr. said he feels excluded. Poor thing. Must be tough! We are surely in for a respectful classy healthy debate amongst gentlemen, right?
The publicity around Trump’s criminal trial led a majority of Americans (52%) to believe, for the first time, that he did falsify business records, according to a new poll, endorsing prosecutors’ key charge against him. The big question now: will the jury agree? Also, how is this guy ahead in the polls???
The number of abortions in the U.S. actually grew during the 18 months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to a report by the Society for Family Planning. A major factor: telehealth visits, which are now responsible for 19% of all abortions in the U.S., compared to 4% in mid-2022. Research has found telehealth abortions are as safe and effective as in-person visits.
Oligarchy alert: just 50 American billionaire families have dumped over $600 million into the 2024 election, according to a new report by the progressive nonprofit Americans for Tax Fairness. Almost 70% of those contributions went to (you guessed it) conservative candidates and causes. C’mon, rich folks, shouldn’t you spend that dough on a new set of polo ponies or something? Dressage horses? Whatever freaky stuff you guys like.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico remains in critical condition after he was shot multiple times in what officials are calling an apparent political assassination attempt. The 59-year-old pro-Russian leader was shot in the abdomen and is still in the hospital.
A jury has been sworn in for the bribery trial of Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ). A prosecutor told the court on Wednesday that Menendez “put his power up for sale.” A defense attorney countered that Menendez was “not as an agent of the Egyptian government,” took no bribes, and is “an American patriot.” Then a bunch of gold bars fell out of Menedez’s pockets.
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) scorched his fellow Republicans for “prostrating themselves” outside Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan this week. Romney said: “I think it’s a little demeaning to show up in front of the courthouse — and particularly one where we’re talking about an allegation of paying a porn star. And it’s really, really very difficult to watch.”

What A Sponsor

Did you know you swallow 5-7% of our toothpaste every single time you brush your teeth? That is an entire blob of toothpaste every 7 days.
Most commercial toothpastes are filled with harsh chemicals, artificial flavors and preservatives - not stuff you'd want to be putting in your mouth, let alone eating.
That's why Bite makes dry toothpaste tablets made with clean ingredients that are sulfate free, palm oil free and glycerine free. Bite Toothpaste Bits are so convenient, you just pop a Bit in your mouth, chew it up and start brushing, it will turn to paste just like you're used to but with no plastic tubes or messy paste.
They also come in refillable glass jars and they send refills in compostable pouches, so they're better for our bodies AND our Earth.
Bite makes plastic-free alternatives for everything on your bathroom sink - from toothpaste, mouthwash, toothbrushes, and deodorant so you can cut out the harsh chemicals and plastic waste without compromise.
Bite’s sleek glass bottles and jars look amazing on your vanity and elevate your shelfie game - no hiding gooey plastic tubes here.
Receive 20% off your first order with code WAD.

Light At The End Of The Email

The Supreme Court ordered Louisiana to use a congressional map drawn with an additional majority Black district in this upcoming election, stomping out a lower court ruling that called the map an illegal racist gerrymander. This is good news for Democrats hoping to gain control of the House in November. And we need all the good news we can get these days.
Inflation eased for the first time in 2024, in good news for consumers and the economy. Stocks closed at a record high.
The number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. fell 3% last year, marking the first annual decline since 2018.

Enjoy

Allium on Twitter: "i wish the orcas knew how many of us were rooting for them"

As a long time Fallout fan, who has completed and loved all the main Fallout games (1, 2, 3, NV), I was looking forward to Fallout 4. But then it came out, the reception was very mixed, and it just didn’t click with me even after many tries over the years. But recently, thanks to the renewed buzz from the awesome TV show, I decided to give it another shot. This time I ended up loving it, and I thought I’d share what I did differently in case other fans are having a hard time appreciating FO4.
Let’s get this out of the way first: the writing, dialogue, and player choices are not as good as previous games. Not terrible, but not as good. Much has been written about this, so I won’t belabor the point, but if you absolutely need these aspects to enjoy a Fallout game, you best move on.
But trust me, the game still has a lot to offer: the world is vast and densely packed with interesting, lovingly-crafted locales. The VATS combat, while very different from 3/NV, is still immensely satisfying and rather unique among FPS games. This makes for a great looter shooter loop. And it’s still dripping with the thick atmosphere and dark humor the series is known for. It would be a shame for any Fallout fan to miss out on all this!
So here are some tips that helped me see the light. Hopefully they’ll help you too.
Building for VATS: I’ll start with this, because this is a big one. In FO3/NV, VATS was the main way to play, so Bethesda probably made sure it worked well in most builds. But for FO4, they clearly invested a lot into the real-time shooting as well, and the game seems to be balanced such that you can specialize your build for VATS or for real-time. This also means that you can accidentally create a build that’s really bad for VATS. I think that’s what happened during my first attempts, and I was left feeling like FO4 really wants you to avoid VATS. That was a huge turn off - I loved it in 3/NV and wanted more. So this time around, I watched some guides on YouTube and spec’d for VATS from the get go. Make sure you do this! The TLDR is to invest heavily in Perception, Agility, and Luck.
Another thing about FO4 VATS is that it is…a bit weird. Sometimes you’ll queue up some 95% shots and they’ll just all miss. This mostly stems from the fact that it no longer freezes time, so that 95% becomes outdated by the time the shots go off, but I’m also convinced it’s just a little buggy, especially on Xbox. Whatever the cause, the upshot is that if your shots are missing, just cancel VATS, get a better angle, and try again. Try to get as clear of a shot as possible. Unless, of course, you’re triggering a critical…
The critical hit system in FO4 is totally different from previous FO games and most RPGs in general. It really should be called a “super meter”, like in fighting games, because that’s what it is. Every successful hit in VATS fills the meter up a bit. Once it’s full, you can use it during any VATS shot, and that will make it a “critical hit”. There is no RNG involved at this point. The hit will do much more damage and BASICALLY NEVER MISS - EVEN THROUGH WALLS. Like I said, it’s basically a super and honestly feels a bit OP. Once you get the hang of it, it is TONS of fun. Watch out for perks and legendary weapons that make it even better. There’s a lot of depth here, and it’s probably my favorite new mechanic in FO4.
Honestly, after the initial hump, I’m having more fun with VATS in FO4 than 3 or NV!
OK, more random tips to help your enjoyment:
Most of the Minutemen quests suck. It’s unfortunate that they are the first faction you meet (major design flub, IMO), and if you just do their quests, you will have a bad time. You should do some of the early ones, but once you’ve got a bare minimum base established (I just did Sanctuary), you can ignore the rest. Some of them are good, or so I hear, but there’s a reason why the FO4 community universally hates on Preston Garvey. Instead, start heading to Diamond City or just wander around and explore random places. Undiscovered markers will show up as outlined icons on your compass, so let yourself gravitate towards them. This way, you’ll stumble upon new side quests and cool new places to explore and clear.
As you explore, don’t ignore random junk. Pick it all up, use your companion when you’re over-burdened, and periodically return to Sanctuary to dump it all into the workshop. You can use it all for weapon and armor crafting, and those systems are actually really cool. Unlike many loot-based games, there is an underlying logic to the huge variety of weapons and armor you’ll find in the wasteland. Once I understood how the mods worked, I really got into it. Again, watch some good YouTube videos on it, as the game doesn’t really explain it enough. Also, the UI isn’t great, but here are some small tips that may help: Sorting by damage is basically sorting by ammo type. Use the renaming feature in the weapon crafting UI to help. For weapons I want to keep, I prefix them with a dash along with the ammo type and damage. Find some system that works for you.
You can ignore settlement building. Maybe you’ll enjoy it, but I didn’t, and it’s really not necessary. I just made a bed near the crafting stations in Sanctuary so I could easily sleep between outings.
When exploring locations: the local map is useless. I have no idea what they did here and why they did it, but it’s horrendous. Maybe it was as bad in FO3/NV - I don’t remember. If you do get lost in a dungeon, just find a play-through of your current quest on YouTube and follow it. Most dungeons are fine, but some are pretty confusing (looking at you, Corvega Plant).
You can largely ignore the power armor. It’s tempting to use them, but I found them to be pretty tedious due to the power cores.
Finally, the early game can be a bit tough, so here are some combat tips:

• Conserve ammo. Make sure you have guns for at least 4 different types of ammo. Don't use higher damage ammo on lower enemies.
• Some enemies are really fast, like feral ghouls, so be ready to run to cover and let your AP recharge. Don't let them get close and swarm you. Use stealth and sneak attacks to take out as many as you can.
• The best tactic I found for bullet sponges is to kite them around a large object. That first deathclaw you encounter? Kite it around a wrecked car. It won't move fast enough to catch you around a large object, even without you sprinting. So run around, let your AP recharge, then hit it. Rinse and repeat.

Alright, hopefully this will help more people enjoy Fallout 4. The Commonwealth is really worth experiencing.

Hi All,
Wanted to share with you all that I launched an expansion pack for Hill Hill today! See links below:

• Hill Hill Expansion Pack Vol. I
• Hill Hill (original)
• Website (more info on Hill Hill if you’re new to the game)

What’s included in the expansion pack (75 cards total):

• New RUN cards (45) – I made many of these a bit harder
• POWER RUN cards (6) –pocket balls in order, no ball in hand
• KICK cards (8) – kick off rails to make your object ball, avoid obstacles
• SOLOSHOT cards (8) – one shot, plain and simple, designed to mimic an 8 or 9 ball “end of game” shot
• LEAVE cards (8) – make a ball and leave the cue ball in a designated “safe” area

How the expansions pack can be used:

• The game is going to be best used integrated with the original Hill Hill game. For example, if you’re successful with a POWER RUN card, it gives you abilities/protection that can be used when playing Hill Hill with a group. You'll need to work for it, though.
• These new cards also add more variety to a Hill Hill game. Bring in the card types/RUNS you want, blend the decks, and make each game a little more unique.
• That being said, the majority of people I hear from are using these cards as consistent practice tools. Tracking their success rates on multiple attempts using the consistent patterns. The goal isn’t being successful once, it’s being about to complete a RUN/pattern 80-90% of the time. If that’s your goal, the expansion pack is very much for you.

Using your feedback:

• First off, I really can’t thank you all enough for the feedback I’ve gotten on here since launching Hill Hill. I am still learning how to run/improve this while also managing, well, life.
• The price is down about 10%. I know in the grand scheme of things it’s not much, but just starting year 2, I’m a little smarter and more efficient, so I’m just passing those savings I’ve realized on.
• These new card types (leaves, kicks, etc.) were derived from feedback/discussions from all of you. Again, thank you!

Finally…

• Please keep the ideas/feedback coming. I’m equally as interested in hearing what you like as I am hearing what you don’t like or how this game can be improved.
• I’m very appreciative of the support. Whether it’s buying the game, providing feedback, or just mentioning it to a friend. A review on Amazon (again – positive or negative) – is probably the #1 thing you can do to help me and other players.
• Hit me up with any questions.