MickMixon'sMetaphors

Eagles got him

100% agree on ALL points. I was excited about the XFL. I knew it was coming and was interested. I ended up watching quite a few games on TV and they were fun to watch (the interviews, the beer snake, etc..). I was going to get some tickets at some point and take my kids who have never seen a professional football game. The ticket prices were affordable. Like you, I felt the XML might just catch on! Really unfortunate for them on the timing. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise as I do feel the new XFL ownership is going to be a better ownership group than prior and it gave them time to really be retrospective on what worked and what didn't in their first rebooted season. USFL? Yeah, I don't see it lasting. I haven't researched the investors in that league, but seems the return outcome would have been very obvious.

and I just got a badge. The first time I've ever started a thread and I joined in 2019.

I had NO idea that there was a such thing as the USFL going on right now. I happened to see what looked like a professional football game on TV at a restaurant and thought "replay of old NFL game?". Took a closer look and it's actually a league. I'm just kinda shocked that it exists and is playing. Also curious how this will work with the XFL v3 kicking off in 2023. If either league has a chance, I would think they would have to merge the two. Anybody caught any of the USFL games? Thoughts?

Sorry to hear that! At the same time, you’re almost done!

An interesting tidbit from the article @CRA linked *Dated March 7th* " Despite these alleged setbacks, Vehaun [That's city manager, David Vehaun] says everyone was on the same page and the city was ready to issue the bonds. ”We were honestly two weeks away from issuing the debt when we found out that the Panthers asked us to stop,” he explains. " According to the city, after conversations, Tepper said he didn't want the city to raise capital via bonds. They then discussed alternatives. It's seems like the city was planning on issuing the bonds, but didn't do it fast enough or inline with Tepper's timing. So he hit the pause button to force the issue. Probably was floating too much money and simply didn't like it. That's what it looks like to me, but the facts will come out and the devil is in the details.

I clicked the tweet, but the video seems private. Is there another source that can be linked?

How's it going? After finishing NG+, leveling up tons of weapons to try different things, doing some things I didn't do 1st game, etc... I think I've had my fill for now. Ended around level 270-280 or something. Ended up staying sword and shield for the most part, but leveled up faith, arcane, and int to the extent of being able to equip basically any weapon and playing around with incantations and spells. Looked something like this (sorry from memory) vit :~50-60 End: ~50-55 Mind: ~20-25 Str: 60 Dex: 60 Faith: 30-35 Int: 35-40'ish(?) Arcane: 23 I believe The bloodhound sword is still a beast. I boosted a LOT of weapons to +9/+24 and the scaling for dex/str (+ bonus of bleed) makes its damage one of the best. However, I found that the The Blasphemous Blade is my go to for exploring where bleed isn't as big a deal. The HP vamp is actually legit and it hits harder than bloodhound at base. My biggest pet peeves/areas that I absolutely hated: Castle Sol - the screaming guys, the knights, the boss, ugh. The Halingtree - All of it. That place is absolute hell to navigate through. I first tried it on NG+. Not sure if it's significantly easier regular, but I bet it's not. Ordina, Liturgical Town - As a sword n shield player, having to use a slot for a torch just ruined my whole playstyle. Then add in the archers. The assassins. I hated this place. Zamor Ruins - The "knights" there are brutal and they gang up on you. Elden Beast - sorry, running around a huge map to catch him is just frustrating. Beat him twice, so I did my part Other than that, really enjoyed the rides and glad I was able to beat even NG+. We'll see if I circle back around for a NG++. If you guys want me to test level any weapons or such and let you know the stats/feedback, let me know.

Will be checking this one out! Morbius? Not so much.

wow, me too until I just read your post HA

As much as it PAINS me to say it, I do think Rock Hill is on the wrong side. If they agreed to something, they should hold their end up. This is coming from a guy who works as a director for a $391b+ asset management firm in Charlotte (I know these "guys" and am VERY cynical on the investment management industry), lives in Rock Hill, and is a Panther fan.

Ouch...zing! Separately on Tuesday, Climer ripped Tepper in comments to the Charlotte Business Journal. “The bottom line is that our community deserves answers,” Climer said. “The city, the county, the state and the Panthers worked together constructively for a considerable period of time at great effort to bring to Rock Hill a world-class sports entertainment center. David Tepper came to Rock Hill promising us Jerry Jones and ever since then he’s given us Dan Snyder. I live in Rock Hill, but I'm also a Charlotte native. I grew up near UNCC, so a lot of my childhood was zipping around Charlotte. Upper York County is part of Charlotte-Metro (Fort Mill, Rock Hill, Lancaster). Playing the SC v. NC thing doesn't make sense, it's "Us" now. Also the perception that SC residents are a bunch of country bumpkins doesn't make sense either. There is a lot of wealth that has moved into York County from New England and Midwest. Everyday, I see a New York plate. Home values have skyrocketed. Land is getting harder to find. Residential zoning is sprawling. Anyway, the construction down there is balls deep. I drive by there all the time. They have already worked on the new interstate exit, acres and acres of land has been cleared. Construction is well underway. It'd be an absolute shame for ALL of us Panther fans (regardless of your physical location) to see this just end.

totally agree. I mean, the uchiganga is still killer good!

I learned the Ash of Wars can change "elements" or scaling way too late in my first playthrough. I was already at the Leyndell capital (ugh). Initially, I thought they only added the skill listed, so I never really cared much. I purposely tried to avoid the internet on this game to truly explore and immerse. Once I got stuck a bit, I had to finally break down and read some things. That's when I learned the REAL power of the ashes. I also regret not buying a shitton of smithing stones before starting NG+. You can't get the later bell barings untli late game, so all new weapons I want to try are stuck at +12 normal or +4-5 (w/e) special. I thought about rolling the winged scythe. I read a lot about it online. I haven't messed with poison weapons yet because the scaling damage takes a huge hit for me. But as I grow all my stats up, that won't be as big a deal. What's nice about the game is you can eventually have all stats at 50, 60, or even 99 if you have the patience!

Analysis & Hot Take - orange based teams have more arrests. Correlation does not imply causation...or does it.

Nice progress fellas! As for me, I’m enjoying ng+. You go in so overpowered. It’s fun just wrecking face. Feels like payback compared to the slog you went through for months. It will get tough again as I advance of course. I have bumped up int. Been casting some spells. Not feeling it as much still. Kind of using the character more like a spell sword. Magic at range then swapping in the great sword. Pretty fun setup.

FINALLY beat the game. Took a lot of tries on the final boss. My mimic would die and I just couldn’t get the boss killed. I did some research and I finally learned that the mimic has infinite FP. Never realized that. So I equipped him with a couple healing based spells, summoned him with a left hand faith thing and right hand sword. I then switched to my shield. This prolonged his life and “we” did it. Felt good. on to NG+ and will level up int for an arcane play through Though I’m tempted to double wield blood hound swords since I can get a duplicate ha!

I made it to the final boss tonight. Got fairly close but a tough boss for a melee fighter. Felt like I just chased it around for 15 minutes barely able to ever catch it.

Yeah man! I think I had 9 at one point.

So one thing I learned and didn't realize is that the stats are soft capped. So once I realized that, I kind of sought out best "value" in leveling. Bang-for-the-buck. I'm using the bloodhound curved great sword which scales on str and dex. Sometimes I use a cold katana which scales the same I believe (mostly dex?). I also use a great shield - the golden one that drops from banished knights I believe (the highest guard value I have found to date). Off the top of my head, I'm somewhere like: 60 vigor 50 endurance ~35-40 strength (can't recall exactly) ~35-40 dexterity (can't recall exactly) ~15 faith (for erdtree bow mainly) Base int Base Arcane Base mind I use the mimic as my "ash", so I don't need a lot of FP. I may one day respec to an arcane/X or faith/X weapon. I have switched once or twice, but I keep going back to the good old bloodhound sword. It slaps. It bleeds. It has a wide arc for mob control. Dunno, just works for me. I have a bunch of larva still, but I think I will just finish the game and do a NG+. Then see where it takes me.

Most teams lose because they don't know why they lost. It is what it is. They were exactly who we thought they were!

It was a lot, but I am not the best dodge-roller/timing player, so I tend to eat some poo. The rolling chariots in the dungeons? You can actually tank a hit with 60 vigor ha. I may respec at some point, but the build seems to be working for me at the moment.

You sound similar to me. Have you ever played “Dofus”? It’s a slow paced MMO game that has turn based combat. I always found it so enjoyable given my schedule. They recently released “Dofus Retro” which is based on their first version and has that nostalgia appeal for me. Retro is much simpler (and more enjoyable IMO) than their current version.

Yes, vigor! I dropped points to get to 60. It helped tremendously. I’m in a similar build. I use a katana sometimes or a great sword. Not really using magic or faith. I killed the tree sentinel tonight and the boss after him (black maliketh or w/e). For the sentinel, I 1/2 cheesed him. I almost beat him straight up, so this time I rot arrow him till about 1/2 hp. Then I closed in and sealed the deal. Sad because I found the boss easier than this guy.

I'm countless hours in at this point. Level 120 ish I believe? I'm nearing the end of the main quest line. I'm currently cockblocked by a draconic tree sentinel in Crumbling Azula ha. Yes, I can run past him, but NO I CANNOT.