Author: aabicus

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5 Useful Battle Pets in World of Warcraft

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Since Pokémon has still somehow not released an MMO, World of Warcraft has remained the perennial title any monster-collecting MMO gets inevitably compared to. Its completely-optional minigame of traveling the world capturing pets, choosing their movesets, leveling them up and doing turn-based battle with NPC trainers and even other players is one of the most straightforward adaptations of the monster-collector formula, and I don’t know of any WoW players who didn’t sink an embarrassing amount of time into obtaining their favorite critters. While there are far, far too many battle pets to ever make a case-closed list of “The 5… [Continue Reading]

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Final Fantasy XIV: First Impressions in 2020

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Breaking News: Yesterday the devs revealed that FF14 is raising the free trial’s level cap from 35 to 60, as well as adding the whole base game, the Heavensward DLC, and all related races, classes, and content permanently free to play. This is the best opportunity to try this game out if you’re on the fence! Two months ago my boyfriend asked if I’d be interested in trying Final Fantasy 14. The coronavirus had completely zapped all semblances of a social life outside the confines of our apartment, and the rest of our local friend circle had already subscribed just… [Continue Reading]

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The Making of a Demoman

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Three years ago I indulged in a full article about my Medic cosmetic loadout, since it had remained remarkably consistent throughout the years and each piece held a lot of sentimental value to me. But only recently did I realize that there’s a fair amount of personal history in my Demoman loadout as well, considering I’ve been offclassing him for almost as long. Much like with Medic, my first few years were spent playing completely cosmetic-free; I was so addicted to stats I couldn’t fathom caring about something that didn’t change the actual gameplay in any way. It also took… [Continue Reading]

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5 Reasons to Use the Bow in Payday 2

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I’ve covered a lot of weapons in these 2-minute Payday guides. I’ve gone over rifles, shotguns, pistols, melee weapons, throwables, akimbos…and yet in none of those videos, none of my many lists, has my personal favorite weapon ever come up. The weapon that I consider the most versatile and single-best option in the game, something I’m amazed more people don’t use, something I’m usually using in the other slot in all the videos. I’m talking about the Plainsrider Bow from the Western Pack, and by extension all bow-type weapons in the game. In this video, I’m making my case for… [Continue Reading]

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8 Minutes 46 Seconds

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“The defendant had his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in total,” the criminal complaint against Derek Chauvin reads. “Two minutes and 53 seconds of this was after Mr. Floyd was non-responsive.” There are scary things happening right now. Even before these protests broke out around America, we (and everyone around the world) had been riding the uncertainty of a future afflicted by pandemic and quarantine. Millions have lost their jobs, the worst possible time for that since America ties its healthcare so closely to employment, and that single $1200 stimulus check from April is… [Continue Reading]

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How to Become a Top 500 Artifact Player (Today!)

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Hey gamers, have you ever wanted to be among the top 500 players of a video game? And not just any game, but a Valve game? Well, now you can with their 18-month old release, Artifact: a DOTA card game! It hasn’t broken 500 players since the first ninety days it came out. Here’s how to reach the top in 5 easy steps: #1: Purchase the game on Steam. Artifact costs $19.99 and has never gone on sale. This will be the most difficult part of your path to pro. #2: Install the game. This’ll take 5-10 minutes depending on… [Continue Reading]

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The 5 Best Throwables/Grenades in Payday 2

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The throwable slot is a very important part of any heister’s inventory, with a lot of versatile options that complement any build. Throwables can be used as a fallback weapon when you need to reload, as an area-of-effect attack when you’re surrounded, as a focused high-damage attack for eliminating specific dangerous enemies, but it all depends on which one which one you bring. Today, we’re covering The 5 Best Throwables in Payday 2. #1. Matroysha Grenades If you want a standard frag grenade-style throwable, the best option is the Matroyshka grenade. All the frag grenade reskins have the same stats,… [Continue Reading]

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5 Ways to Stat Out Your Lucario

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Poor unloved Conkledurr. Before it came out, the pitiable pillar Pokemon was destined to rise to the top of everyone’s list and finally unseat Machamp, the perennial king of Fighting types. With strictly better IVs and the exact same ideal movepool, there was seemingly nothing that could stand in its way… until Niantic randomly granted Aura Sphere to Lucario with unexpectedly ridiculous numbers. Even after a slight nerf, Aura Sphere is so insanely powerful that it singlehandedly made up for Lucario’s unremarkable stats. This makes him the best Fighting type available. Poor Conky found himself out of the ring before… [Continue Reading]

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The Medical Necessity lore nobody asked for

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Remember Medical Necessity? It was a game development project where I had my first ill-fated experience as a project manager. In the end, we got canceled due to lack of progress during the first quarter of production. The only surviving product is the purchasable sprite sheet on itch.io. The design document and production wiki note that the default names for the player’s allied soldiers are Homer, Berenson, Collins, and Cunningham. And while digging through a lifetime of old boxes preparing for my move to Portland, I found the original action figures those names came from. Their plastic has gone gummy and… [Continue Reading]

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My Early Years in Videography

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Today’s article is very self-indulgent, so apologies in advance. I’m just in something of a self-reflective mood because yesterday I chewed through a lifetime of old storage boxes in one evening. I didn’t really have a choice. The Goodwill van was coming in the morning, and lord knows I didn’t want the donatables sitting around for another two weeks before the next time they’d swing by. But I’m honestly glad they spurred my hand and made me sift through it all, because I found a bunch of diamonds in the rough. Old things I’d long lost and never thought I’d… [Continue Reading]

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