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There are lot of new to mining folks here, I’m one of them. Here is my journey and some of the lessons I learned

Why did I go here?

When Bitcoin hit $40k I finally decided that cryptocurrency isn’t going to go away. And if it’s not going to go away I should look into it. The sad thing is that in the early early days of bitcoin I had played with getting a miner going. I even got to the point where it was happily mining away on my computer. But then I had to get back to work and when my computer rebooted I never started it up again. What a loss!
I should also call out, the EtherMining guide is really good. If you are starting your mining journey it’s very helpful

The Wallet

I made the investment in a Ledger wallet. I’ve seen the reddit post that made it to all about poor souls that lost huge amount because of some hack or thievery. If I’m going crypto I’m controlling the keys. I did some research and determined that Leger or Trezor are the best cold wallets. After which I read on Ledger’s site that you shouldn’t mine directly to ledger because it can’t handle a large amount of small transitions (more on this later). Did some google and went with Mew for my mining software wallet figuring I’ll transfer to ledger after.
Here I learned about the magic 20 words or a Mnemonic phrase. Unlike banks, Ledger and Mew don’t hold your account. They are simply devices. If Mew is installed on your phone and if you lose your phone you’re screwed and you can lose all your holdings. Unless you can rebuild your wallet with the Mnemonic phrase that is. Alright, good stuff. I have mine and a safe wallet

And Ethereum?

Of course first I looked into mining bitcoin again. What? You need an ASIC miner these days? Holy shit they cost how much? Alright, who’s number 2. When you start researching about Ethereum it’s pretty freaking cool. This thing could overtake Bitcoin someday and you can mine it with a GPU. Hey I have one of those!

The card

I have a 2070 super which I got shortly after they were released for under $500. I’ve been using it for video games and it’s great. Who knew there would be a run on GPUs and the cards worth more than I paid for it!

The Pool

I quickly learn that solo mining is a fool’s game with Ethereum, you need a pool. I went with Sparkpool simply because it was the largest. As the new guy I don’t need to be trying out the newest pool, I want stability. I also wanted to stay anonymous, turns out all you need is a deposit address. Nice

The miner

Fees to use a miner? The heck? I’m not afraid of a CLI, let’s go with the free one. I download the latest Ethminer. Now we hit the first real challenge as the example configurations were all over the place. After some trial and error I settle on a .bat that does;
ethminer.exe -P stratum1+tcp://

[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]):3333

We’re mining!

On Sparkpool you can search by your wallet address. After ~10min, there I am. Cool! I’m mining! Change the sleep settings on Windows and I’m mining while I sleep. Now when can I get my earnings? Let’s see they pay out at 0.1 ETH….. Let’s do some math…. Yeah that’s not happening for a long time. Ahh, they pay out on the 28th of the month even if you don’t make 0.1. Just got to wait. And this is where I was for a few weeks

On to Upgrading

I’m mining, what a fun start. I’m not in a position to put together a rig though. Maybe there’s some reasonable changes I can make

The Miner

Let’s start easy, the miner. I see post on EtherMining that Phoenixminer is just the best (I’ve since read the same thing for about 3 different miners). Ok, I don’t like the idea of a fee but I have stats at Sparkpool, let’s see what it does to the average. Around this time I found the guide on EtherMining and learned about adding commands to my .bat file for etherminer or phoenixminer as well. My .bats now start with
setx GPU_FORCE_64BIT_PTR 0
setx GPU_MAX_HEAP_SIZE 100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1
setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100
setx GPU_SINGLE_ALLOC_PERCENT 100
Turns out I do get a bit better results with Phoeixminer. Nothing amazing but it is better. And the reporting in the CMD prompt is better. I can see information on my card and hashrate. Cool!
I also finally take the time to find my electricity bill to see what I’m paying. My cost per kWh is 0.09, lucky me! Plug that into mining calculators online, I’m ok. At least I’m not losing money.

How about a 3070?

Alright, this is fun and all, but what if we can could do more. My computer has some more PCIe slots. How much could I make with a Nvidia 3xxx? Turns out betterhash let’s you know. You can plug in any card there and get a hash estimate. Turns out I could make over $100 month with a 3070. At $600 the card would pay for itself in 6 months!
….There are no freaking cards for sale. Anywhere. What the heck. How late am I too this game? And the ones that are available, they want $980 for a 3070? I look deep. I make the half hour trip to Micro Center and get told to try coming in at 8am every day and I might get lucky. Not looking good.
Finally I recall I used to order stuff from CDW at my old IT job. I hit pay dirt! They have a 3070! It’s expensive but it’s not $900. Card ordered! (Since then, they’ve been out of stock. I got lucky)

Upgrade issue #1

I need to make room for the 3070. My 2070 Super is a 3 fan and it’s long. There’s not room in the 2nd PCIe slot in my case for the long card. I end up moving everything around and break off some plastic from the hardrive cage, I got it in!
I have a 3rd PCIE, can I put a card there? Not unless it’s super thin, the power supply is right under it. Looks like I’m limited to 2 cards for now.

Upgrade issues #2

My new 3070 is extra wide (PHY uprising edition if you care). The fans literally sit on the 2070. And with both cards in there my computer is hot! My computer feels like a heater right now. Let’s google on how to deal with heat. I learn about and download MSI Afterburner. Pretty cool tool! Not only can you see the temperature you can adjust a lot of settings on your GPU. I spin up my miner and start MSI afterburner. Ok, the 2070 is doing fine, let’s see how the 3070 is doing.. 90 degrees, ok, ok. Wait it’s Celsius, holy crap! What the heck! That’s 194 degrees F! It’s gotta be that wide ass 3070 making the fans sit on the 2nd card. The cooling air it’s sucking up is coming straight from the 2070…
I switch the cards (why did I break my hardrive cage?). Now the 2070 is back in the first slot which is not ideal, I liked the idea of using the 3070 for video games.. Spin up my miner, we are doing better. Both cards are in the mid 70s Celsius. That’s fine right? Do some googling… Crap, no it’s still too hot…
Time to upgrade the fans in the computer. Another half hour trip to Micro Center, I get a 140 and 120 size fan. I also get a fan controller because I noted that I only had 1 free fan plug in on my motherboard. The fan controller ends up fitting perfectly in a hardrive slot, like it was made for it. Fortunately I overbought my PSU and I have plenty of power slots for adding one offs like a fan controller.
Alright, I’ve filled every Fan spot on my case, there are 5 fans going…. And there blowing wrong…. After redoing everything because I messed up the fan directions…. (Remember kids, air should flow front to back and heat rises) Let’s try again!
Spin up the miners…. I’m under 70 degrees Celsius! Progress, progress. But high 60’s is still in the danger zone. Here is where I find some nice post in EtherMining on MSI afterburner settings. Raising my fan speed to almost 80, cutting my power to somewhere in the 70s, raising the memory clock to +500. Now I’m at 63 c! And my hash rate went up as a bonus!

Here I am and where I’m going

If you’ve made it this far, it’s been a learning journey for me. There are some things I can still do better at but I think I have the basics of Ethermining down. I’m happy with where I’ve gotten. I’ve also learned a ton about crypto currency.
Going forward, I might change from Sparkpool but I’m still on the fence. From EtherMining I know everyone and their mother is going to Flexpool. But I’m a small player (~100 MH/s) and waiting for 0.2 ETH for payout would take a long time which is risk. And I’m not sure what the PPLNs type plan would net me.
I’m also considering using the address for my ledger for my proceeds. It’s going to go there anyway and I would like to avoid fees from moving my coin around. I know ledger cautions about large amounts of small transactions but with a pool the payout is only once a month so I don’t think it applies. If the ledger can’t handle 12 deposits a year then I need to find something else anyway.
You know, I might have gone big but with staking being the future of Ethereum, the rising difficulty level of mining, not really having a place to put a rig or honestly the funds for one, I think I’m going to stay a small player and just see if I can eventually pay back this 3070 I bought. In the end it’s been a ton of fun and added excitement to the monotony of being quarantined to a house all day. Thank you for the forum post and the new hobby!
Were you entertained? You can always send things to 0xAD0cd237BDE28AF4Dc4E0D913285e74217384e29 (worth a shot)

I grew up in a small mountain town named Eureka. It was founded in the late 1800s during the gold rush, but after the mines dried up the town began its slow descent into decay. Half the houses are empty or abandoned now.
You can see a picture of the kind of houses here in Eureka:
First house
Second house
When a massive construction project began nearby, it was the talk of the town for weeks. Why would they build something in a sleepy dying town like Eureka? It wasn’t until my sister Selene talked to a few construction workers that we discovered they were building a casino.
A casino up in the mountains, over two hours away from Denver. None of us could understand why they’d chosen here of all places. After a few months of work, the casino was done.
I took a picture of the town with the completed casino in the background to the right. The ten-story-structure sticks out like a sore thumb off in the distance.
Town+Casino
After the casino opened, they hired a few dozen members of the town, offering high paying jobs to work as dealers or cleaning staff. I was already employed as a firefighter, but my sister Selene got a job as a blackjack dealer. She’s a widow with two young kids, so the paycheck was a real lifesaver.
Still, something about the situation seemed too good to be true. The jobs over there paid far too well, and the management was far too accommodating. The fire station where I work is located high on a hill overlooking the town, so I began watching the casino from a distance each day.
I had initially thought that the casino was located in a terrible location, but I was apparently wrong. True, Eureka was hours from any major city, but despite that, a bus full of people arrived every morning and left every evening.
One night I was over at my parent’s house and had dinner with Selene and her kids. I asked her about her experience as a dealer.
“It’s Ok,” she said. “Just a little boring I guess.”
“Boring?” I asked. “I’m surprised you don’t have your hands full.”
“Why’s that?” she asked. “It’s like you said, Eureka’s too small. I never have people playing cards. The casino is almost always completely empty.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of that. If the place was always empty, what happened to the people who I’d seen arriving on buses? “I’ve been keeping an eye on the building,” I said. “A bus full of people typically arrives around 9 AM every day.”
“Really?” she asked, looking confused. “If that’s true, I’ve never seen them.
“I can see it from the fire station,” I said. “If you head out for a smoke break at 9 AM, you’ll probably see them arriving.”
“Interesting,” she said. “I’ll do that. If they’re being processed for their organs or something, I’ll let you know.” She laughed.
“Har har,” I said sarcastically.
The next night she sent me a text calling me over. When I arrived, she was nearly breathless with excitement.
“Orin, You were right,” she said. “A big group of people did arrive, but they didn’t walk into my part of the casino. Instead, they all walked into an elevator at the back of the building. I’m not sure where that goes.” She looked thoughtful. “It was weird. They looked… How can I say it? Desperate? Something about the whole situation was very off. I’m gonna check out the elevator tomorrow.”
I told her to be careful, though, to be honest, I was excited to hear about what she discovered. When I visited my parent’s house the next night, I found her two kids there alone. They told me that Selene had never returned from work.
I called all her friends, then all our neighbors, but no one had seen her since she left for work that morning. Our conversations regarding the casino flooded my mind, then a plan began to form.
Early the next morning I walked across town in my nicest pair of jeans and a button-up shirt. I pushed through the door to the casino and saw that Selene wasn’t lying. The place was all but deserted. Three dozen slot machines crowded the walls surrounding a few tables interspersed throughout the floor of the casino. The only players in the whole building were Bob and Donald, two locals.
I walked up to a nearby table where Bridget, a girl I’d gone to high school with, was shuffling cards. She broke into a grin when she saw me. “Hey Orin, you here for a few rounds of blackjack?”
“I wish,” I said. “No, I’m here to ask about Selene. She never made it home last night.”
Bridget’s expression darkened. “Really? Have you asked around?”
“I already called around. Have you seen her?”
She shook her head. “No, our schedules rarely line up. I’ll be sure to let you know if I--” Her eyes focused on something behind me, and she cut herself off.
I turned around to see the casino’s pit boss watching us both. He was a tall thin man in an impeccably clean black suit. When I turned back towards Bridget, she was looking down at the table and shuffling cards absent-mindedly.
“Well, if you hear anything, let me know,” I said.
She nodded, so I turned around and headed for the pit boss. I stuck out my hand. The temperature of his hand was so hot that I had to pull my hand away after a few seconds.
“Have… have you seen my sister Selene?” I asked. “She hasn’t been seen since her shift here yesterday.”
He smiled. “Sir, this floor is for players. You’re more than welcome to head to the tellers for chips, but barring that I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
I stared at him for a long second before stalking towards the door. When I looked back, he was talking with Bridget.
I checked my watch. 8:55 AM, just as I’d planned. I walked around the back of the building and waited as the morning bus pulled around the building. I waited for the telltale hiss of the opening doors and the sound of people descending before I rounded the corner and joined the crowd. None of them paid any particular attention to me as I walked with them into the casino.
The crowd walked through a side door down a hallway to an elevator. Small groups of people entered the elevator as the rest of us waited for our turn. I shot a glance at the casino patrons, surprised at their diversity. There seemed to be people from all different countries and ethnicities. I heard one speaking Japanese and another speaking what sounded like an African language.
My turn came along with a few other patrons in the elevator. A sickly woman hobbled into the elevator beside me carrying an IV that was still connected to one of her veins. We piled in and rode up to the top.
The elevator rose for a few long seconds. I wasn’t sure what I would find, but I steeled myself for something horrible. The elevator’s speaker let out a TING, then the doors opened.
We all walked out onto what looked like a standard casino. Another few dozen slot machines ringed the walls, but on this floor, they were almost all occupied by customers. I took in the scene, confused at why they’d have a ground floor that was almost completely empty when this place was almost--
Selene was dealing cards at a nearby table.
I jogged over and sat down at an open seat. None of the players around me paid me much attention.
“Selene!” I said. “Are you OK? Did you spend the night here last night?”
Her eyes were glassy and confused. She looked up at me with a dumb expression and didn’t respond to my question.
“Selene?” I asked.
“What’s your bet?” she asked me. “This table is for blackjack players only.”
“I…” I trailed off, looking at the players around me. None of them were betting with chips of any kind. “What’s the minimum bet?” I asked.
“Three years,” she responded.
“Three years then,” I said, not knowing what that referred to.
Selene nodded, then began dealing cards. I shot a look down at my hand. King and a 9. Selene dealt out cards for herself, showing a 9. I stood, then leaned forward again. “Should I call the police? Are you--”
“Congratulations,” she said tonelessly.
An almost impossibly warm hand grabbed my shoulder. I spun to see the pit boss I’d spoken to earlier. He gave an impressed smile. “Orin, was it? I’m impressed, truly. Would you mind if I had a word with you?”
I shot a look back at Selene who was dealing the next round of cards. Then I got to my feet, balling my hands into fists. “What did you do to her?”
The pit boss clasped his hands behind his back. “Nothing more, and nothing less than what I’m going to do to you. That is, offer you the chance to play.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
The pit boss nodded his head towards a nearby slot machine. A woman in a wheelchair pulled a lever and watched the flashing numbers spin. They exploded in a cacophony of sirens and flashing lights. “WINNER WINNER WINNER!” The machine screeched.
The woman in the wheelchair put her feet on the ground and stood up on a pair of wobbly legs that had clearly never been used before.
“As in any other casino,” the pit boss said, “you must wager for the chance to win.”
“She... won the use of her legs?” I asked, feeling light-headed. “Wait,” I said. “I played blackjack just now. ‘Three years,’ Selene told me. What does ‘three years’ mean?” I asked.
“Three years of life, of course. Did you win?”
My mouth felt dry. “I-- Yes, I won.”
He smiled warmly. “Congratulations. I hope you enjoy them. I can tell you from personal experience that watching the decades pass is a bore. Give it some time and you’ll be back to spend them.”
I watched the pit boss’s face. He couldn’t have been more than a few years older than me, and I was in my early thirties. I looked around at the casino. No one was playing with chips of any kind. “So what?” I asked. “I won years of life. That woman won the use of her legs. What else can a person win here?”
“Oh, almost anything. They can win almost anything you can imagine.”
A cold feeling settled in my stomach. “And what do they wager?”
His eyes flashed with greed. “Almost anything. They can wager almost anything you can possibly imagine. Anything equal in value to the item they want in return.” He nodded towards a nearby roulette table.
A man stood by the table, cradling his hands. “Another finger,” he called out. He only had three fingers remaining on his left hand. As I watched, the ball came to a stop, and another finger disappeared from his left hand.
The pit boss extended his hands. “Feel free to try any of our games. Bet and win whatever you’d like.” He reached out and snatched my hand. A feeling of intense warmth passed up my arm to my chest. “There,” he said. “I’ve even given you some house money to get you started. An extra decade of life, on me.”
I ripped my hand away, staring at him in horror. Then I looked back at Selene. Something clicked in my mind. “You offered her the chance to play. What did she want?” I asked.
“Her husband,” the pit boss said. “Quite the sad story. He died two years ago. She wanted him brought back to her.”
“What did she wager?” I asked.
“She wanted the chance to win a soul, the most valuable object in existence. I’m sure you can imagine what she needed to wager for the chance to win it. What she wagered is unimportant. The important question is: What do you want, Orin?”
I stared at Selene with a flat expression. “I’m sure you can imagine.”
His eyes flashed with greed again. “How wonderful. The casino could always make use of another dealer. Feel free to make your wager at any one of our games; I’ll be eagerly awaiting the results of your night. Oh, and do take advantage of our waitresses. We always supply food and drink for ‘high rollers’.” He walked away.
I spent the next few hours trying to decide which game to play. I was going to be wagering my soul, so I wanted the highest chance possible. Slots and roulette were out. I’d done some reading online about counting cards, so I figured that blackjack gave me the best odds.
I walked up to Selene’s table and sat down. “Bet?” she asked with that same toneless voice. “Three years,” I said.
I spent the next hour or so doing my best to remember how to count cards. I knew that low cards added one to my count and high cards decreased it by one, but the casino used three decks. I had read something about how that was supposed to change my calculation, but I couldn’t quite remember how.
Every time I won a hand, I cursed myself for not putting everything on the line. Every time I lost, I breathed a prayer of thanks that I’d waited. And all the while, I kept track of the count.
I had lost fifteen years of life when the count finally reached +5.
“Bet?” Selene asked.
“I wager my soul so you can be free,” I said.
The table around me fell silent. Selene’s eyes flickered, but she showed no other emotion as she dealt the cards. I watched my first card, punching the air in excitement when I saw a Jack. My excitement turned to ash when my second card was a four. Fourteen.
I looked at her hand. One card was facedown, but the faceup card was a King. I swore loudly, staring down at my hands.
“Hit?” she asked. The entire table was silently watching me.
“Hit,” I said, not looking down. The table erupted in cheers. I looked down to see a 7 atop my two other cards. 21. Blackjack.
I looked at Selene who flipped over her facedown card to reveal a 9. 19. I won.
The glassy look left her eyes immediately. She looked around in surprise, then her eyes locked on mine. “Orin?” she asked, then almost immediately began to cry. The entire casino broke out in cheers.
I grabbed her hand and headed for the elevator. The doors had begun to close when the pit boss reached out with a hand to stop them.
“Congratulations,” he said, beaming. He seemed to be honestly excited.
“Shouldn’t you be upset?” I asked.
“Not at all. Casinos love it when we have big winners. It inspires the other players to make larger bets. I imagine I’ll gain two or three dealers before the night is through from your performance.”
“Great,” I said flatly. “Now let us go.”
“Not yet,” he said. “You didn’t just win, Orin. You got a blackjack. And blackjack pays out 1.5 times your bet. You won your sister’s soul and more.”
I stared, not sure what to say. “What are you saying? I won half a soul extra?”
The pit boss grinned wildly. “Just remember what I said. You’ll find living for decades and decades to be a boring experience. After a few centuries, you’ll be back to gamble that half a soul away. Congratulations!”
He removed his hand, and the elevator doors slammed shut.
I helped Selene back to her house. Her children were relieved. I watched them cry, then moved into the kitchen to start making dinner.
It’s been a few days since that experience. The casino is still out there, and buses full of people still arrive. I… I cut my hand pretty bad a few days later. When I checked it an hour later, it had already healed, no scar or anything. I’m not sure exactly what I won at that casino, but there’s no way I’m ever going back.
X

Hello folks,
Today folks who are part of the technical alpha for Diablo Immortal had the opportunity to ask questions in an AMA style format for Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer) and Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer). Below is the full text of the AMA. Enjoy!
sVr: Will there be seasonal buffs or events ? (RedDragonFlayer)
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): So we are definitely looking to have a variety of cool events. There's actually one event in the game right now which is the Challenge Rift Event. You can see this on the left side of the main menu. The backend that drives that event can and will be used to run new events in the future. Maybe we'll make Halloween a special thing?
sVr: Will PvP have a reward system? (RedDragonFlayer)
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): We have more plans for PVP that we can't talk about just yet. But I hope you guys have been able to check out the Bilefen Zone Trial. One thing I can say now is that none of our PVP plans are going to move the game towards an eSport. What we want is a fun place that players of all types can gather and have a good time killing each other.
sVr: We have runes, however, they are just materials currently. What about Runewords and what made you "not include" them? (Swootcandy)
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): No current plans for Runewords. Runewords are super cool, but their functionality overlaps a bit with Legendary items. We wanted to include runes as a consistent thematic element so using them as a reagent in the crafting recipe seemed cool.
Leviathan: Can you speak towards Hardcore and if it will be in? If not, philosophies on why?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Hey Levi. Not only does Diablo Immortal extend character progression, but it is also an inherently social experience, in that we want to encourage players to join guilds and build in-game friendships. Having your buddy permanently disappear from your guild because their character died in an unfortunate and gruesome way could be a fun idea for some, but it's not the experience we're looking for, so we do not currently have plans for Hardcore mode.
MuggleMama: Is there a reason some legendary gear needs to be identified but some does not?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): Sometimes we identify the gear when you get it from somewhere like the free track on the Battle Pass, but the legendary drops from the rest of the game should be unidentified. Right now there's actually a bug in the game that makes this inconsistent, and we'll be fixing that in the future.
Leviathan: Some of the people on my stream notice (and love) that many of the sounds are from old Diablo games. Are they placeholders or there to stay? Great nostalgia.
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): All the sounds you hear are intended to stay unless we have a reason to change it. Personally I love the nostalgic sound of gold falling on the ground.
Leviathan: Will there be a transmog system or ways to customize characters so that people can differentiate themselves from one another?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): We are not currently looking at a transmog system but we do have a couple things which are similar. The first is that we are looking at a way for your to manage your legendary powers more easily. No details to share about this right now but stay tuned.
The second is that we are planning to have full body cosmetic outfits. These will be available as a real money purchases in addition to being on the paid track of the Battle Pass.
sVr: What are your plans to "circumvent"/"restrict" the continuous powercreep inherent to ARPGs (with each major content patch)? (Demonic Eevee)
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Hey sVr. I'll answer in two parts. We plan to cap Paragon progression and gradually raise that cap with each new content update. Legendary powers are designed to scale and will carry forward to higher level versions after content updates as well. Gems and Legendary Gems can also be unsocketed and carried into a new sweet item in the future. The second part would be with regards to the numerical tuning. Without diving too deep into the math right now, one of the reasons we have both "Attack" and "Offense Rating" as well as "Life" as well as "Defense Rating" is so that these attributes can scale linearly over time, while still making you feel more powerful. Normally you need exponential numerical growth to really feel the power difference, but the dual-attribute system should allow us to avoid crazy large damage numbers over time.
Leviathan: Will the Bestiary have statistical details on enemies (like if they have Armor and such - could help with gearing/more info) or be more flavorful/lore based?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): The Bestiary entries are going to show more about the lore of the creatures than gameplay related details. We want to reveal more of the world every time you get a new page.
Leviathan: How is the Power stat on items calculated? What does it take into consideration?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Power is calculated from all the stats on your item. The attributes on your item (strength, int, fort, spirit, willpower) are all 15 points each. Your particular build might value one attribute over another, but we didn't want to try and guess which ones you are looking for so they are all weighted equally. Then there are extra points added for magic and legendary properties. Again, we try not to make judgement calls on which property you might want for your character, the points added varies with the level of the item but not with the property itself. Finally, sockets are given a base score (I believe it's 48? Don't quote me on that) to make the socket appealing. Ultimately the "Power" of an item is supposed to give a rough gauge of which item might be better for somebody who doesn't want to do a lot of math but the actual best item might differ for somebody who wants to do a lot of min/maxing.
Dredscythe: Reforge seems to be unlocked at 45 (current level cap). Is that the plan when 60 is the new level cap, or can we get access at lower level 30, 45, etc.?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): Reforging is available when you get a Legendary item to Rank 6, not when you reach a certain level. It might not be common to get to that point before max level due to the amount of crafting materials needed to rank up your items.
Dredscythe: The XP to level ramps up after 30 quite a bit, what’s the plan going forward looking at 60. Aimed for play time in hours range?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): I can't give any specific time amounts because we'll be analyzing data and feedback from the Tech alpha to possibly go back and make adjustments to the 1-45 experience as well. However, a few high level goals: (1): The amount of XP and time required to level post 45 continues to increase in the same way that things increased after 30. (2): We like the way level 1-20 feels in that it's very fast which is great for getting people into the game. (3): As a singular data point the last level from 59 to 60 should be about 2.5 hours for most players.
Neinball: Is it possible to use the phasing tech when interacting with quest givers/story points so that we don’t get swarmed with mobs while unable to control our characters?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): In Technical Alpha we have an issue where sometimes you are attacked by mobs while you are in a dialog sequence with an NPC. We definitely will be fixing this in the future.
echohack: Upgrading individual items and gems is a major shift for Diablo Immortal from previous games. We currently know about several upgrade systems: Gems, Legendary Gems, Charms, Reforging, and Salvage. What limits are being put into place to prevent Pay2Win from dominating these upgrade systems? Are there some upgrade systems that will be driven by gameplay only, and never influenced by monetization (such as the current Blacksmith / Salvage system)? (Chaosteil)
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Echohack, great question! When we set out to make Diablo Immortal one of the first "tentpoles" we laid down is that the gear should be earned strictly through gameplay. I think the question understates just how important gear is (and by extension salvage/rank up) and how it affects gameplay... it's the majority of your power. I think it's worth noting that I don't think the "hunt" part of the item hunt feels strong enough yet and we hope to tune it more after the Tech Alpha. sVr alluded a bit to this in feedback he gave relating to the stats on items (still waiting for you to send over your details sVr!!!) The "magic" attributes that roll on items such as "+3% damage for your primary attack" don't feel impactful enough yet, and the attributes that initially appear on an item might be a bit light compared to the attributes gained from rank-up. Beyond items, Paragon is another example of a system you use to upgrade your character solely by playing the game. We don't have XP boosts and that was a conscious decision. At its core everything you do in Immortal is tied to gameplay: how you progress, acquire gear, earn various items, etc. all have to be done by actually playing the game, there's no way to bypass that.
echohack: Will bluetooth controllers, or other mobile phone controllers such as the PS4 / PS5 / Xbox / Nintendo Switch Pro / Razer Kishi be supported?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): We get this question a lot! During Technical Alpha we're focused on making the best mobile experience for our players. However, because it's been such a common request from the community we hope that we can test controller support in the future.
Lord Fluffy: It seems pretty clear that a lot of assets were reused from Diablo III? I assume work wasn’t done to actually recreate these assets exactly as they were in D3. So, assuming you’re somehow importing them... why not import everything to give us a a way bigger pool of Elder Rift maps?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): We are still in active development on the game, so the assets in Technical Alpha now will not necessarily be the versions we ship with. I'll talk about environments for a second because you brought up Elder Rift maps. The game engine for Immortal is in many ways capable of higher quality in art than we were able to achieve in Diablo 3. On top of that, we have a large talented art team that have their own creative ideas on how Sanctuary should look in Immortal. So between the tech and the team we have invested a lot in making new zones that have never been seen before, but also recreating zones you have seen so they are fresh and reflect our commitment to quality.
echohack: Can you talk in more detail about rewarding players for exploration? Specifically, can you talk in more detail about Lairs and "Legendary Monsters" (name?) -- these seem very interesting!
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): The Lairs are intended as fun side dungeons that are rewarding to explore when you come across them but not quite common enough to explicitly farm. Ideally when you're out in the world for other reasons, like main questline, a Zone Trial, or doing bounties you see a Lair and think "ooooh! Shiny!" and jump in, but we don't necessarily want you to wander the world aimlessly looking for them as your top priority. With regard to Legendary Monsters, they're a bit similar to Lairs in this regard, but with the possiblity that you may or may not ask some guild mates to come and join you if they're online. I'd love to know if you all think we're close on these goals.
echohack: Is the current hub-and-spoke model for towns similar to what we will see at release? (ie: Westmarch the main hub with minor towns in other zones)
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Yes - the way the minor towns are set up with Westmarch as the capital city is the plan for release.
Lord Fluffy: Would Blizzard ever consider a pay to play server of Diablo Immortal where you couldn’t pay to win?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Hey Fluffy! We really want to introduce Diablo to as many players as we can around the world, and we believe the best way to do that is with a free to play game. It's also important for us to make one shared experience and not split up the community. I was watching your stream when you were pushing Challenge Rifts and I know some concern was brought up that this wouldn't be as enjoyable for you when the Crests are ultimately purchasable in the future. In that regard, I think an important note is that Challenge Rifts are not going to be the ultimate end game that Greater Rifts are in D3. I don't want to spoil anything right now, but I will say it includes both PvE content and activities for larger groups of players. Grats on getting #1. BTW, in Australia there's a Barbarian who cleared 40. :wink:
sVr: For the remaining 15 levels to 60, is each class going to see new skills? (or are the current skills stretched over to 60)?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): The tech alpha does not include all the skills characters will be able to learn when the final version of the game is released. There are 2 additional skills per class and we are hoping to add more skills to each class post-launch as free expansion content.
Mugglemama: Will phasing be used to reduce the number of people you see in places like Westmarch? Or will it become overloaded with players?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): There are a few things we're doing to help combat having too many players on screen. First, when many players are in the same zone at once we do spin up a second copy of that zone and divide the players between the different areas. Secondly when a large number of players are on the screen at once we do some dynamic culling of players who may be farther away from you to help performance. Even right now we are hanging out in Westmarch and you can see how characters fade in and out depending on their proximity to you. We will continue to tweak and improve this system so that points of interest in Westmarch are not overcrowded.
ECHO Gaming: How will the battle pass work across multiple character accounts. If you purchase the pass will it only work for one character per account or across all characters on that account.
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Hey Echo. The current plan is that you purchase the Battle Pass once and it unlocks the benefits and paid reward track on all of your characters. Pretty sweet right? While we're on the subject I want to clarify that we are currently thinking of a monthly battlepass that starts at the beginning of each month and ends at the end of the month. During tech alpha the duration is set to 2 months only because we didn't want the battlepass to reset partway through the tech alpha in the event it goes past Dec 31 (duration of tech alpha still TBD. We are getting lots of good data and fixing bugs on the backend as it relates to server stability and other behind-the-scenes stuff).
Orelus: Will there be additional zones with upcoming patches once released or any plans for another classes joining the roster?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): Yes! We are planning for more of everything. New Zones, new Dungeons, more legendary items, quest lines and bounties. We will even be working on new Classes to add. All of this will become a part of the game for everyone to enjoy for free without purchase.
Raxxanterax: How will the sharing of resources (if at all) be implemented into the released version of immortal? Currently our paragon levels seem to carry over to other characters, will anything else? Shared stash? Any other shared resources?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Hey Raxx, I lurked in your stream on Saturday, it was nice to see you enjoying the game. Right now most of the progression is done on a per-character basis. Before I dive in I want to caveat that this is definitely an area of design that might change (or might not). We would love for more things to be shared between characters but the problem we ran into is that we also have bonuses (such as bounties, first kill of the day, battlepass) that reward you for activities on a daily/one-time basis. We don't want the best way of progressing your main to be rolling up a stable of alts and then funneling all the resources into your main.
Neinball: So after starting up a new character: is it meant to be a whole new experience (no shared currency, completely reset battle pass, etc) per character or a limitation of the alpha? And do paragon levels on those new character only unlock at max level?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): Paragon is shared across characters but only unlocked when those characters reach max level. We did this to have a more meaningful leveling experience similar to World of Warcraft when your main character is the primary focus. We wanted to to make sure that a level 33 Demon Hunter and a level 34 Wizard had reasons to group and tackle hard challenges and create a social environment that is beneficial to the game. If that level 33 Demon Hunter had 300 paragon points to spent they would not need to engage in leveling the same way.
Leviathan: Has there been anything from the reports, videos, streams, that has surprised you in the alpha whether pleasantly or unpleasantly?What do you think of the alpha thus far, community reaction, etc.
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): I'm really overwhelmed by the positive reception. It's definitely been a busy two years and it's very rewarding to be able to "show don't tell". I think one moment that gave me a chuckle on Sunday was opening two streams at once (I think it was Gregg and Raxx?). The two of them were partied up. I was on my anonymous-smurf account and joined them in the party. But then Gregg booted me from the party! LOL. Fortunately I could hear Gregg talk in stream about how I think he was poking around the UI.
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): We've been saying that "playing is believing" mantra for a long time. It's great to finally see you all play the game and hear their reaction. I've been watching multiple streams constantly for days and it's only made me more excited about making this game! Also I really thought I was good at CR pushing until a few days ago :frowning:
Lord Fluffy: Will there be end-game currency conversion? hitting that arcane dust blocker on the alpha right now and the progression slow down feels pretty bad. Just playing for rare drops and having thousands of reusable parts.
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Tuning the materials is one of the areas we're looking at for technical alpha. Things are constantly in flux during development, and the ratios of crafting materials is an area we wanted to learn more from this test. I don't know if running out of Arcane Dust feels any better than running out of Scrap Materials (you're always going to be blocked by /something/). One solution is to provide a conversion mechanism, but another solution is to provide different activities for different resource types. Maybe activity X is good for parts, activity Y is good for gold, and Z is good for Arcane Dust. All that said, it's awesome to see people getting to this part of the game, and this will definitely help inform decisions for the next phase of development.
Raxxanterax: How important are clans going to be? In Diablo 3 theyre mostly just another looking for group channel. Are clans in Diablo Immortal going to have more importance?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): Guilds in Diablo Immortal are a great way to group up with like-minded players and we have achievements to help guide some of the activities. But I have to say that we have larger plans for social groups beyond what Guilds are in Technical Alpha. Can't say more than that today but we are excited to share more in the future.
Megax: What information do you intend to add to the bestiary? I couldn't find a way to decipher what power each rare and elite monster brings with it. The icons help but it is still not the complete information
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): The Bestiary will contain lore information on the many enemies to defeat in Immortal, but will not contain gameplay details. The Elite monster powers are dynamic every time they are spawned in the world. I think it's a good point of feedback that we should make sure that these powers are easily understood by our players.
Wudijo: Do they plan on trying to do a low config version for like 2-3 years old phones?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): During Technical Alpha we intentionally have a pretty narrow list of supported devices that help us test compatibility, performance and stability. At ship our game will support as many devices as possible. And even after installing the game, you can customize the graphics quality to suite your preferences.
Wudijo: Items being the root of Diablo, will they add primal kinds of items in DI?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): There are no current plans to have Primals (or Ancients) in the game. That said, we do want to add more content after launch and Primals and Ancients are certainly on the table. However, I think systems like that are more interesting when they are also tied to new content (new ways to interact with the game).
Wudijo: At BlizzCon they said a fully fledged mobile game with no PC version, is it still the case or will this change?
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): We are focused on creating the best mobile Diablo experience. We are excited to bring the epic action rpg elements to Diablo veterans and newcomers alike on their mobile devices.
Wudijo: If there are no primals, what would be the other version, like uniques kinda replacing legendaries in D4, but for DI?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): For launch I feel the item system we have with game-changing legendaries and the rank up system is fairly robust. We do need to examine and tune the numerical values on attributes but no major changes planned right now. (but this is tech alpha, so things are always subject to change)
Wudijo: Considerations for another skill slot for movement or utility skill only?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): We have explored that but no current plans. We're pretty happy with the control scheme right now and want to avoid adding too much more complexity.
NotPatrick: What is the design intent, pacing and soft limits for your gameplay and paid systems? For example, gear upgrading and the amount of crafting material, paragon, and how to engage with the market?
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): The short answer is we want the game experience to be enjoyable for both players who want to remain free and those who choose to spend money. How all of these systems interact with the player experience is something we're paying close attention to, and tuning them will be important to get the balance right.
Caleb Arseneaux (Lead Producer): Hey everyone I'm going to sign off for now. It was great hanging out and getting to answer all of your questions. I just want to say that this Technical Alpha is just a part of the game we are making and have much more to reveal in the future.
Wyatt Cheng (Lead Designer): Thanks for all the great questions. A few extra tidbits of information that I picked up from watching videos and streams over the past few days.
Auto-navigation is unlocked for a zone when you complete the main questline for that zone. That's why it's not obvious at first, but then available later (most often when a bounty sends you back to a previous zone). We could do a better job communicating this.
I don't know how many of your found Guild Achievements, but I've already made a note that we need to iterate on the UI here. If you open up your guild page and hit the arrow to expand to full screen, there's a UI for guild achievements.
Thanks again for all the great questions and I'll see you around!

Hey everyone... I'm a tier 3 plat level scrub who has been playing Rampart for the last 3 weeks and I gotta admit i'm quickly falling in love with Rampart! I would consider myself slightly above average at Apex, but still feel like sharing my experiences as my skill in this game continues to grow. When Rampart first came out I played her for a day or two and quickly agreed with everyone online that while she had potential, she was a lack luster legend with a cheesy campy playstyle who felt slow and clunky next to mobility based champs like Horizon or Wraith and I went back to my more comfortable picks. In Apex legends gun fights can change and flow very quickly and in a fast paced game Like Apex Rampart's ult and her tactical felt like it was always far too slow! Slow to setup and activate her ult or her Q, slow to wined up & start shooting her Ult Sheila and slow to reload the big gun. The cone of fire for her ult was WAAAY too narrow in season 6 and 7. Her ult left your flanks totally exposed and tunneled your field of view. I'm Sure in higher skilled games you just get lasered in the face playing Rampart because her kit is more of a turtle style in a game where high mobility Legends are the flavor all the Pro players use to make big stylish plays and big twitch views...
But I dunno y'all, I think a lot of people are not playing her correctly. She is currently the Dark Horse of Apex. I think she has a lot more depth to her kit and her abilities that dont get abused enough in game...Like I said i'm not in high diamond or masters or anything, but I feel many people who sleep on Rampart are not using her abilities intelligently and are using her in a more reactionary way... Her strength Lies in knowing where the fights will pop off before it does. I wanted to talk about a few things I noticed about Rampart since I picked her up seriously...
Her tactical cover Q is super super powerful. Like Ohhhh WOW!! I thought it was kind of underwhelming at first, but once you get comfortable with using her Q in the heat of battle...WOW it's a big game changer! her Q is good in tight close ranged indoor fights and in wide Open areas where you have little cover. The trick lies with dropping the cover in smart locations BEFORE the fighting gets serious and is right on top of you. you push forward for easy clean angles, do some damage, pack up your cover and Use enemy sounds and your map knowledge to know when and where to drop the cover. Drop her cover in areas that make sense as you use rampart you will start to get a feel for where the best times and places are, High ground is obvious, areas where you have extra cover that you can build your Amped cover off of Boxes, crates Rocks.
One thing about Apex that I have learned is looking for angles of attack on a squad, positioning yourself for a Flank attack on an enemy team where they have little cover and are exposed so you get free shots on them while your team mates distract them. After a while I can hear the close range gunshots and gauge where to drop the cover so as the enemy team runs towards me or peaks me, I'm already setup and waiting for them! Rampart takes this even further advantage of these flank attacks when using LMG + amped cover. Her faster reloading speed + large mag size + her amped cover means you can damn near obliterate a team by yourself or at least lock them down and force them immediately on the defensive! abuse angles of attack and push up when they flee from your endless mag size. Factor in the new Gold Mags and Rampart becomes a never ending whirlwind of amplified Bullets. Using Rampart FORCED me to use LMGs that I normally hated in past seasons. Guns Like the L-star and spitfire are insane now! I love them! Devo was always good, but with Rampart it's just disgusting!
If an enemy throws grenades and blows up your door your, as long as the door is closed, your Amped cover still stands strong even if the door get's blown off the wall. I cant tell you how many times I was able to 1v2 or 1v3 a team who engaged me in tight indoor fights because I was able to block doors and abuse the angles as they chased me indoors, control the push and slow their aggression. I Set up my ult at the mouth of choked entryway and wait for them to confidently try and ape me only to get blown away by a mini gun the second they turn a corner they eat mouthfuls of hot lead death because they think im trapped and solo
she is also REAALY good at medium distances and pushing with her Q when your engaging an enemy team one on one...The added amped cover gives you MORE angles of engagement and flanking points that the enemy team just DOES not expect to see coming...And when you get two or 3 tactical covers dropped it's hard for the enemy team to ignore you when your doing amped poke damage from their flank and pushing up on them, they are FORCED to respond to your pressure and it allows your teammates to be aggressive while you get all their attention from your cover....just watch for the 3rd party as rampart is weak as she has no additional mobility. She has No get out of jail free Q. Her power is that of a tactician, her power lies in the setup...seeing where the fight will flow BEFORE it pops off. Stay Mobile with your cover. Learn to stay glued to your team, setup up cover for not just yourself but your team and then quickly packing up your cover when it's time to move. Now with Season 8 adding an immediate 45 health to her cover as it builds, her tactical can be used in MUCH more of a reactionary way then was possible in season 6 and 7. It's a lot harder to deny her setup then it was before! this is HUGE for Rampart as denying her cover is how you defeat her
Also with season 8 her amped cover got a HUGE secret buff that no one but the Rampart mains are talking about. In Season 6 and 7 the amped cover had issues when being placed on ramps or steep hills and other areas with bumpy uneven terrain. Sometimes I would be stuck in areas fighting and placed my cover in an area that looked clear and her cover would just NOT work and you would lose 4 precious seconds fidgeting to place cover properly... Well, I think Respawn took notice and REALLY improved how her Cover Drops on the map...Now in season 8 it's buttery smooth and I feel like season 8 was almost a Re-Release for Rampart as every part of her kit was touched up and tweaked in some way. This secret Buff is HUGE as her Clunky cover was what turned a lot of people off to putting in time with her when she launched in season 6
I always thought her Q was kind of weak and her ult was useless in most situations because it's easy for enemies to just shoot the cover down before it builds and I would feel discouraged and useless in gun fights, cover felt like it Just takes too long to build...But I had a realization after putting in many hours with her ...When you drop Rampart's Q you have a window to CONTEST the cover as it builds. DONT SIT BEHIND THE COVER OR HIDE AS IT BUILDS (which is instinctual) FIGHT TO KEEP IT UP!. So many times I see streamers or other solo que players just drop the cover and they just LET it get shot down! They hide as it's building and don't make use of the opening the amped cover creates ... if done properly the enemy now has to choose in that split second between shooting YOU (who is peaking them adjacent to the building cover with shots) or shooting the cover that you are building. It leaves them exposed for a small window of time! If the enemy lets it build, you have the advantage because if they peak you can stand in the open fully protected by the cover AND you're doing amped damage. If they destroy your cover before it fully builds use the time as an opening as they peak get that chip damage in or get a lucky headshot... Even if they shoot the cover AND you don't get any damage shots in...Rampart is a defensive legend but the best defense is a STRONG offense. Rampart's cover allows you to Push and be aggressive while abusing the cover's defensive power! You lead and you push forward for your team Laying down cover at chokes, corners and high ground for your team to take advantage of
Now that the cooldown of Rampart's Q was lowered it allows you to still push and be very aggressive, even if you lose one or two Covers in the process, you have more charges back very quickly. I noticed when building her cover vs enemy team with multiple Snipers/long range poke is a bit of a problem and not ideal unless you have a sniper as well to contest them. If the enemy snipers makes it a priority to focus on you and they destroy your cover then it's better to just forget about dropping the cover for the time being and play normally. Poke them from long range and wait for the perfect time to try and redeploy your cover, wait until attention is off of you, then you set up one or two covers and then light up the enemy team once again. Once they see your trying to set up cover from long range enemy teams will REALLY punish you for that. I feel like a lot of new rampart players only really set up amped cover in LONG range engagements or areas where they are turtling in a building where they have the height and can do easy poke on enemy teams like trainyard skyboxes or skyhook/city building rooftops. They only throw down amped over when the whole team is turtling in one building. They don't know how to use the cover to push forward with their team, check and setup multiple angles of attack and ALWAYS PICK UP YOUR UNUSED COVER WHEN POSSIBLE...it's precious! Get used to picking up your cover as you move, Quickly throw it down and then Quickly pack it up, don't just leave it there in the open because it can be used AGAINST you if your team get third partied. Obviously not ever cover you drop is worth picking back up, but don't leave cover in stupid places for other enemy teams you use against you
Rampart is AWESOME at pushing UPHILL into enemy teams. Obviously this is not an ideal situation to EVER be in, but if your FORCED to push uphill or fight into a team from the low ground, you want a rampart with you! her cover evens the playing field and the height advantage that the enemy has is not as impactful when a good rampart player is Constantly dropping cover as they advance uphill, just watch for throwables as they will scatter you out of cover and allow you to get picked off as you scramble away.
...I try and find a rock, a bin or some kind of cover to build my amped cover off of and then IMMEDIATLY contest the cover and take poke shots at an enemy who is engaging me...EVEN if the enemy breaks my cover, I have learned to constantly wear down an enemy squad down with skilled shots because every time they look to break my cover, I try and contest and chip them for free damage and close the gap and push up as much as I can when/where it makes sense. Obviously there are times when you just miss a shot or cannot position yourself to contest the cover that's building, but it seems like Rampart's Q really works well after you get used to it. Mix this with a Wraith portal or Rev ult and you can aggressive push teams WITH amped cover and u can set up cover to GUARD the Totem/portal with cover so even if you die you respawn at totem with health and shields with amped cover to protect you while u heal. Drop a few near the wraith Portal so if you have to take it back you have some cover watching your ass ...Then if they push your guarded totem or take your portal it now has cover and they my die trying to finish you off if they ape. Her tactical can be used to Turtle and lock down a location easily, but I like to use Rampart to stay mobile push aggressive and claim high ground or block off doorways for us to fall back to if we get hit hard.
Once you start mastering Rampart's Q you start to see the code in the Matrix.... you start to notice there are THOUSANDS of areas literally BUILT into the map for her Amped cover EVERYWHERE. Some of the BEST vantage points and angles to shoot teams from are from inside buildings that have height and windows overlooking wide open areas where teams fight all the time. Respawn designed and tweaked these viewpoints on purpose ...Areas like Skyhook, Trainyard, East and west fragment, all the Bridges, train Tracks and tunnels on maps like world's edge with lots of high ground and cover to build amped cover off of. The grey chain link fences with the Walls that are all over world's edge are perfect! There areas were designed to give teams angles and vantage points for teams to fight from...They also happen to be PERFECT slots for your amped cover to fit into. Abuse them, abuse them!, ABUSE THEM!
Before you res a team mate, always drop a cover or two to watch your back, this has saved me and my wounded team mates from an unseen shooter more then a few times. after some practice you can drop cover super fast and res downed teammates
In end game Rampart can power turtle and drop up to THREE miniguns for her team with UNMILITED ammo...Ranked games get super sweaty late game. Have a crypto, bloodhound or pathy scan final zone locations... knowing were the last two zones will be will be huge for your Setup grab high ground at a choke and get free kills...having 3 miniguns protected from all sides and angles with amped cover and high ground... Good luck killing that team
If your in trouble and need to heal mid combat try putting your back to a corner and drop amped cover in front of you to create a little triangle or a little cube corner and you can seriously 1v2 or 1v3 if your smart and a cracked shot
Block Doorways and Ziplines with your cover all the time. If the Enemy team is flying up a zipline to kill you they will be surprised to get body blocked by your cover and shot by your teammates for amped damage as they fall back down
Did you know that if you get Bang or Gibby Ulted and are caught out and cannot make it to indoor cover, Jump into a nearby corner or put your back to a rock or a wall and drop an amped cover or two to box yourself in as much as possible. If the cover does not finish You will still take 45 less damage from the ult itself, but you will still get concussed.
If the cover finishes before the bang or gibby ult hits you, you take zero damage and suffer no slow or blurry effect as long as you got the cover up in time. If your in a ranked game and your team get's ulted to flush them off their highground you dont need to scatter anymore...stack on the rampart with her back to the wall in a tight corner and have her protect the entire squad with her cover AND keep your high ground position! It's like an instant gibby bubble!!
Sniping with Rampart is also really really powerful for two reasons...
Hitting someone with a Charged sentinel shot, Kraber or raining triple take rounds from amped cover is absolutely glorious, sniping with amped cover really gives you that extra kick you need to down targets faster at range
her passive works well with sniping because it help alleviate the one of the HUGE downsides to using a sniper weapon! Your no longer forced to Weapon switch to your side arm in close range situations! No one wants to use a Sentinel or a Triple take in close range fights unless they have to. Every now and again you get a lucky shot close range but your at a huge disadvantage in close range because if you miss with the sniper the enemy can now burn you down and switch to their OTHER SMGs or Shotgun and blow you away while your still reloading your slow firing sniper.
Rampart's Passive speed reloads LMGs...using a devotion or fully kitted Spitfire gives you an advantage as reloading these weapons is almost just as fast as weapon switching to a side arm!...When your gun runs dry in close fights you don't really want a sniper as your side weapon, no need to worry as Rampart because your LMG is pretty vicious at close to medium range and if you are using amped cover smart, it makes up for the LMG's lower frontloaded DPS. I don't have the math or anything but LMG's have Large Magazines at the expense of Raw upfront DPS. I think Rampart's Passive with larger mags and faster reloading, used with amped cover makes the LMG's almost as good as the SMGs at close/medium range like the 301 or volt, Find a devo with a turbo charger as rampart with a bruiser scope and it's a Death Ray gun that never stops shooting. A Spitfire with a 2x and Gold mag? fucking nuts and Season 8! Respawn gave Spitfire a nice damage buff! that means on low profile legends I'm doing 20 damage per bullet!! I can down TWO full health enemies in one clip and reload in a flash and have ANOTHER 63 spitfire rounds ready to go instantly. Remember...While everyone else has purple/Gold mags Rampart with an LMG in hand has what is the equivalent of a unique Red mag for her LMG...That's an extra 8 rounds in the Mag MORE then everyone else. That's HUGE! USE LMGs with Rampart always! I know LMG's are not way most people play, But DAMN it's good on rampart! any Buff to LMG's is a buff to Rampart because no one uses them like her!
Now for her Ult...Wow her ult takes some getting used too, It's slow and clunky at first because once you master it, it's fucking game over for anything and everything in front of you. When I first started I did not even know you could Zoom with her ult and I would hop on and then accidently reload or hop off the turret at the worst times. But once you get used to it it becomes your Ace card...you can 1v3 easily with smart play. I just forced myself to use her ult every chance I could so I could learn when and where using her made sense... and I quickly started to see how insane it is. Once I pulled a team inside...They downed our crypto indoors in skyhook. I dropped sheila in a corner inside, let them hear me ressing him, as they ran in jumped off the res and quickly onto sheila sitting in the corner and they just ran upstairs and into in the room like apes and all three got obliterated in one clip as they rounded the turn. crypto was crying on voice chat at how awesome that was!
The amped cover does a good job of camouflaging sheila, the Enemy REALY has to look to see that the turret is behind the amped cover.
There is a subtlety to using her ULT correctly, First of all it's only good at medium/semi-long range, If it's too far out you will only do mild chip damage before the enemy just ducks to cover and focus all shots on you. Not only that, but now you have just wasted your Ult and loudly announced to the entire server where you're team has set up. If your going to Drop sheila it better be for a guaranteed kill or to at least do enough damage to shut down an all out Ape attack on your position or a third party who thought you did not see them pulling up.
Drop sheila but DONT immediately zoom in and start firing unless it's for a kill you KNOW you can get. The enemy team can see the laser beam of where your pointing when zoomed in and they can HEAR sheila humming as you wind up the minigun...This will cause them to stop and run for cover from JUST the sound of the minigun spinning up alone. You want them to only notice sheila was dropped and firing on them when it's too late to react. Sheila will down a full health Gibby in seconds...I see some players drop their Sheila Ult, panic and shoot targets not fully exposed, do some lame chip damage and waste the ult where as if they were a little patient or timed it better, they could have wiped BOTH enemy squads in one Mag...
They blew their load too early for only a small amount of damage and a cracked shield or two... so what I do is I sit on sheila and DONT zoom in...DONT start shooting... I wait and sit in silence...Let my team draw them towards me or from out of cover...They only see my amped cover and dont notice sheila is setup...they are too busy fighting my team to notice me...and I wait a second or two for the enemy to fully commit to pushing out and expose themselves before I start shooting...Now I have one guaranteed down and possibly a second or a full squad wipe which never gets old! it sucks if your team dies and your sitting on your ult because your out of position to help...takes practice and experience to know when to drop her Ult and when to jump off her ult and push up with your team.
ALMOST NEVER USE SHEILA WITHOUT AMPED COVER TO PROTECT YOU, I dont need to explain why...your a sitting duck with a GIANT target on your head without any cover...Rampart's strength lies in her ability to setup for the big fight.
ALWAYS PICK UP YOUR TURRET WHEN YOUR DONE!!! You Wiped the whole enemy squad, your feeling good and you Jump off Sheila to loot up with your team... suddenly and enemy team rolls up on the low low and jumps on the turret you conveniently left for them at the high ground. your team is looting in the open and your sitting ducks all because you did not take the 1 extra second to pack up the turret and your cover... ALWAYS pack up the turret unless your planning on returning to Sheila.
Sheila is great when you have high ground over multiple enemy teams who are fighting and unaware of your team at all or if you can get a team on a narrow bridge or locked down in a tight area...feels so dirty but it feels so good to see a caustic jump, shit his pants and do a jump spin towards you totally panicked as you drop him from full health into thin red and green paste before he can even reach for his shield battery
...if you can catch a Gibby drop his bubble in the open to save himself or his team...PERFECT time to drop amped cover, time it so you drop Sheila just before the bubble falls. just wait for the Bubble to expire and Gun them down. She is the perfect Anti Gib
Oh and the new Champ Fuse is the Anti Rampart...He can clear her cover very easily with just one of his tactical's if used correctly. But i hear this is changing very soon to only do 50% of the damage it currently does to rampart's cover. so fuse wont be able to get away with that against rampart much longer
rampart works GREAT paired with Revenant's ult, drop cover as you push enemy in ghost form...if you die you can run back and reuse all the cover you just dropped in their faces to finish the kill
Gibby bubble gives you time to setup your Ult or Reset your cover in peace. Bangalore Q can give you smoke cover to setup for close range ult in their face that the enemy wont be expecting as well. rampart and Wattson works great together for obvious reasons.
Any tracker legend that can use survey beacons works good with rampart as well because the Zone will show you where enemy teams will be forced to be running in from zone and it lets you gatekeep them with Sheila or setup for the late game and pick the perfect areas/buildings to hold for final rings

We set out five weeks ago on a mission. As a semi-casual, mostly offline player, could we grind for the best prizes that 2K had to offer? After what was probably the best season of content in recent memory, we emerged with two Galaxy Opals, and immense excitement towards what season 4 could have to offer.
I’m going to briefly touch on some of the cards we used to get us to the finish line. At the same time, I’m going to review the journey for Dwyane Wade in a more holistic view.
Pantheon
Scottie Pippen - Keep
Scottie really shined here in this set, especially at the two guard position. He was big enough to not be dominated on any mismatches and HoF Clamps was just an absolute godsend against lineups chock full of Ja Morant, DeAaron Fox and some players who got GO Wade very early. He held his against just about all of them. His shot is okay, but he has gold catch and shoot and corner specialist to help him spot up a bit. Finishing, Scottie is very strong. Equipped with HoF QFS, I had little to no trouble scoring with Scottie at will when I was driving to the basket. The slow jumper took a little bit of getting used to, but he has a very strong 87 three ball. If you got used to his shot, you could really surprise online opponents by draining threes with him in the corner. I had all intention of selling him back, but I just couldn’t after seeing how he bolstered my lineup defensively. I needed him to lock up certain meta players, and he really had no true weaknesses. With the XP grind over for some, you may not need to try him out, but if your team needs any sort of help defensively, you need to take him for a spin. Unless you’re running PG, Kobe, or another top tier uber expensive card, pick up Pippen.
Season of Giving
Clyde Drexler - Sell (very close)
Offensively, Clyde the Glide was everything you could hope for in a Diamond SG/SF. Great shooting, first off. I thought his jumper was smoother than Scottie’s and he ties him with an 87 three ball. He doesn’t have corner specialist, but more than makes up for it with gold flexible release, which I think is the significantly better badge. Finishing wise, Clyde is an absolute god. Has to be in the conversation for best finisher in the game. HoF badges galore on the finishing side, including HoF Showtime and Fastbreak Finisher. Combined, these badges make it insanely easy to achieve Clyde’s takeover. That isn’t even the best part. This man has 96 driving layup, and 98 driving dunk...and a dunk tendency of 100. That’s ONE HUNDRED. If it is physically possible for his player model to dunk, Drexler is slamming it down with authority. Wow was he fun to use and abuse in TTO. Alas, looking past the offensive prowess, Clyde doesn’t have clamps...Heading into season 4, in January, if your 2 guard doesn’t have clamps, you need to upgrade. Everyone else in the meta is too hard to guard without it. Was a close call for me, but as strong as an 87 perimeter defense stat is, it feels naked without it. If clamps was cheap, Clyde would be top tier. It’s not cheap, and for that reason, Clyde is a sell.
Cliff Hagan - Sell
On paper, Cliff shouldn’t be a sell at all. HoF Range, C&S and Corner, with Gold clamps and intimidator. What more could you want in a card like this? 92 three ball, solid finishing stats, and he can defend. He’s even got QFS for a more balanced offensive attack, he doesn’t have to just spot up and shoot. Cliff is a great example of why you should try cards out...he just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know if I couldn’t get used to the shot, or how he moved, but I did not click with Cliff. I fully expect much of the community to potentially disagree with me here, but I didn’t care for this card, and it’s a shame because he’s absolutely loaded with good badges. He’s not too expensive, give him a shot. Wasn’t a keeper for me.
Gerald Wallace - Keep
Gerald quickly became a fan favorite defensive card upon release, and for good reason. Your standard assortment of gold shooting badges, to go along with gold intimidator, clamps, and qfs. His 83 pt shot is okay, and to be honest, his shot didn’t really jive with me either. The difference here is, he’s only an Amy, and he has a more balanced offensive attack than you would originally think. In fact, he’s probably a better finisher than a shooter, with 90 driving dunk and 89 driving layup. He’s got the stats to back up the badges, he’s at a good price point, and doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses. Perfect budget beast. Between him and the free Jrue Holiday, that’s quite the defensive backcourt you can have for cheap.
Pascal Siakam - Keep
Pascal is a very well rounded forward with strong ability to play the 3 and the 4 in the current meta. I actually preferred him at the 3 because of his size, and would take him there over Gerald Wallace. He can certainly hold his own in the post, defensively at the 4, and can also defend well on the perimeter should he have to switch on a screen. I love gold heart crusher to go with intimidator, clamps, and his 85 block rating. You could also add gold pogo on him for not too much MT and have an absolute beast defending the paint as well. Offensively, I also think Siakam is very good. A respectable 86 three ball with a jumper that I really like. He’s got good finishing stats and some nice badges and dunking tendencies. Pascal was really fun for me to use and I can see him staying on the bench for depth if I need some defensive help. Great budget beast, and just a really high end tool in the toolbox for even advanced lineups (11th or 12th man perhaps?). My kind of player.
Stephon Marbury - Sell
Another Marbury without clamps, another Marbury that I don’t really think is worth using. Finishing badges and stats are great. Shooting badges are okay, not really up to where we are in the season for an Amethyst to be rocking. With a 79 three ball and no defense, this was an easy choice for me. This card would be a sell even if he was a ruby. He just can’t fit in with the current state of the game and has no strength that’s impactful enough to overcome the many weaknesses. Pass.
John Collins - Keep
Great budget stretch big here that I really enjoyed using. His jumper is okay, but his shooting stats are very solid for an Amy 4/5. His dunking stats are also top tier and felt very smooth attacking the rim. Defensively I think he’s great in the post, love gold Pogo and Rebound Chaser. He is missing intimidator, and clamps, so be wary running him at the 4 where I think he’s more susceptible to mismatches on a switch. He’s a nice budget stretch that’s still better than the likes of Bol Bol/Thon. A nice in between if you don’t want to spend on the likes of Bosh.
Davis Bertans - Keep
Best shooting ruby PF since Scalabrine, in my opinion. Silky smooth shot with an outstanding array of gold shooting badges (including range extender!) to go along with a 95(!!) three ball. His finishing is okay, but no badge support. Let’s be honest though, you’re not driving to the basket with Bertans. He lacks too much defensively and athletically to really play the SF position, but he can play the 4 and spot up quite well. His height helps a bit defensively in the post, but there’s no denying he’s weak there. I think his shooting is so good that it would be worth trying to hide him defensively at the 4 on a budget squad and you might be alright.
Idols Series 1: Magic
Gary Harris - Keep
Another outstanding budget Ruby that can be a problem in limited. Gary is in the same vein as Matisse Thybulle, but probably a bit better shooting wise, and a bit worse defense wise. His shot is quick and smooth, and he’s got the standard array of gold shooting badges. Defensively, he boasts gold clamps, but not really much else. I like him at the SG position, but prefer Matisse. I will say though, Thybulle is more of a 3 and D type player. Gary is much more balanced offensively, and can attack the rim a bit more effectively. Regardless, he’s worth a slot on your limited roster any time you can get him on there.
Lonzo Ball - Keep
Community loved Lonzo upon release of this card, and I somewhat agree with them. He’s a great amethyst SG (I think there are better options at PG) and well balanced on both sides of the ball. A great counter to the speedy rim runners, Lonzo can clamp up with the best of them and has a nice defensive badge combo in gold clamps and interceptor. Shooting is good, not great in my book, but certainly sericable. He also has gold dimer which I really like as well, and is a bit more rare of a badge than you may think. Personally, some of the rubies may be better than this card. I’d rather have Gary Harris, Matisse, and even Iman Shumpert over Lonzo. But he’s cheap and serviceable, with no glaring weaknesses. He can be a keep.
Dennis Rodman - Sell
Rodman was a niche card, and always will be. Primetime defense, great rebounding, and mediocre everything else. His dunking stats are solid but have little to no badge support. Shooting is terrible, and I even had trouble knocking down some mid range jumpers with his shot. I guess if you need a budget defensive specialist, he’s okay, but there are many better options out there.
The Culmination of the Dwayne Wade Journey -
After doing the grind for Steph in season one, and seeing how many add’l xp options were available in season 2, I was surprised at how much of a grind season 3 still was for me. The goal was this: Prove to the community that a NMS, semi-casual, majority offline player can get to level 40 and enjoy the prize at the end of the season. So, can it be done given these stipulations? I would actually say...no. I don’t think it can. Now, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the grind, I really enjoyed the content and the journey for Wade. But I played a LOT of NBA 2K. And that’s alright, I love the game. But, in the sense of proving my hypothesis correct, I don’t think I did that. We logged many hours grinding for XP, and had to venture online quite a bit to get D-Wade. It was challenging and relentless, full of ups and downs. (The Baron grind especially, I’ll post a separate review on that). Was it worth it? Absolutely. I have one of, if not the best card in the game, and certainly got a lot better at a game I love. Is it for everybody? Absolutely not. We had to be smart with our MT. We had to grind at specific times and rent cards carefully in the market. We had to enter every locker code and do every moments challenge we could to stay ahead of the game.
With all that being said, Season 3 was the best time I’ve had in ultimate team mode for a sports game ever. I’ve played them all. Started with MUT and expanded to NHL and MLB The Show, and last year was actually my first year in MyTeam. For a while now, I’ve loved this game mode, but thought MLB’s Diamond Dynasty took the cake. Better currency system, great content for NMS players and money spenders alike. This year, in particularly season 3, 2K has taken over the top spot. Between the season of giving rewards, to the 12 days of giving, to the moments events to the Baron Davis grind. This season had something for everyone and it was enormously fun. I’ve gained a stronger sense of community since writing these and posting more on here. And as toxic as people say the 2k community can be, I find the MyTeam community to be exactly the opposite. You all are supportive, constructive, and really make the game fun to play. Here’s to season 4, and if it comes close to being as good as season 3 was, we’re in for a hell of a ride!

With the recent (ish) announcement of a physical edition of Final Fantasy IX coming to the Nintendo Switch, I thought it might be interesting to have a discussion about potential future Square-Enix projects that might yet appear on the system. The ‘pick up and play’ nature of the Switch makes it very compatible with JRPGs, and Square-Enix already has a pretty sizable collection of its games on Switch. It seems likely that there are more to come, but what and when is an open question.
I’m going to start this off by listing a number of potential projects, and my sense of how likely or unlikely they are to materialize. Curious to read all of your lists as well. I’ll say up front that some of the games I’ll be talking about I know like the back of my hand, and others I know only by reputation. Hopefully, we can all fill in each other’s knowledge gaps. Thanks for stopping by! :)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars: This is the game I always have my fingers crossed for whenever Nintendo announces new additions to the NES/SNES Online apps, but unfortunately, we haven’t seen it yet. I still think it more likely than not that Seven Stars will eventually be available this way—it was included with the SNES Classic system, after all—but the longer it’s absent, the more I wonder if there’s some sort of legal/financial dispute standing in its way. (This was Square and Nintendo’s last major collaboration before their bitter mid-90s split).
Would Seven Stars instead be released as a standalone download for purchase on the Eshop? Given how beloved this game is by its fanbase, (myself included) I tend to think it would turn a profit. I suppose it could be given a slight visual touch-up and add things like higher difficulty settings, bonus dungeons, a boss rush, additional superbosses, access to all minigames from the main menu, etc. A similar approach to how Final Fantasies I-VI have been re-released since the GBA era.
There was a rumor I read fairly recently that a direct sequel to this game was under consideration, as a collaboration between Square-Enix and Nintendo. I am extremely skeptical of this, however, since Seven Stars has a nicely contained little story, with few if any loose threads to be tied up, save for perhaps exploring how Mallow adjusts to his newfound role as Prince of Nimbus Land. Certainly wouldn’t object to a sequel, though, as Seven Stars still contains my favorite overall incarnation of the Mario world.
Chrono TriggeCross: A ’Chrono Collection,’ which would include Trigger, Cross, and perhaps even Radical Dreamers as a bonus, seems logical, if not necessarily inevitable. This series may never have reached the commercial heights of Final Fantasy, but Chrono Trigger is among those very rare games where it’s hard to find even a word of negative criticism, a reputation I think still draws people in. (That was the effect it had on a young me in the early 2000s; I missed it the first time around on SNES, but as soon as I heard about Final Fantasy Chronicles for PlayStation, which included both Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger, it was an instant pre-order). Chrono Trigger has since shown up on the Nintendo DS and mobile devices.
Chrono Cross, on the other hand, is more divisive, with passionate admirers and detractors. This might explain why Square-Enix has yet to bring it to mobile devices, despite the availability of Trigger on these platforms. The fact that an enhanced version of Final Fantasy IX is available on mobile devices suggests that technical considerations are not the reason for Chrono Cross’s absence. (And of course, none of this would be a barrier of entry with the much more powerful Switch).
All this leads me to speculate that Square-Enix is holding off on releasing Trigger or Cross for modern platforms at this point because they are planning a ’Chrono Collection’ at some point down the line. I can’t help but picture a very attractive physical edition, perhaps featuring a black and gold case with the familiar clock design, and a companion booklet containing artwork and development history for the series. (Trigger’s development history is particularly interesting).
The visual novel Radical Dreamers, which could be described as something of a rough draft for a key early episode in the story of Cross, is non-essential, but would still be a nice little bonus—a window into the creative process. Including the excellent soundtracks for both Chrono games (ala Super Mario 3D All-Stars) would be an even bigger draw.
Of course, this is all just speculation on my part. Outside of Chrono Trigger being made available on Steam and mobile devices in recent years, this series has not shown signs of life in quite some time.
Secret of Evermore and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Grouping these two together because they are both lesser-regarded Square SNES titles that might still be interesting additions to the SNES Online app. The likes of Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV, and Final Fantasy VI are unlikely to pop up there, both because they have a proven ability to sell individually, on multiple platforms over the years, and because the initial SNES releases of these games are no longer the optimal versions available. (Especially true in the case of Final Fantasy IV). The popular Secret of Mana is also unlikely, given that Square-Enix has already released a remake, as part of an ongoing project of remaking the Mana series games for modern platforms.
So why these two? Well, with little if any demand for either to get the modern treatment, bringing them to SNES Online isn’t likely to step on the toes of any future remake/re-release projects. While neither are great games, both are semi-interesting ‘relics.’ Evermore a Secret of Mana clone with a different aesthetic; Mystic Quest designed as a beginner-level RPG for audiences outside of Japan. Not the sort of games many would go out of their way to find and play, but if made available on the SNES Online app, I suspect that many would happily give them a spin. Little if anything to gain, but nothing to lose either.
For the record, I don’t see either as a likely inclusion to SNES Online, which has slowed down considerably in terms of adding new games to its roster. But aside from possibly Seven Stars, these are the only SNES-era Square games I can picture them giving Switch owners more or less for free.
Final Fantasy Tactics/War of the Lions: Quite possibly my favorite video game of all time, I’m both disappointed and a bit surprised that it has yet to appear on Switch. Tactics debuted on the original PlayStation; the enhanced War of the Lions version, featuring an updated translation, beautifully animated and voice-acted cutscenes, and a respectable amount of bonus content, made its first appearance on PSP, and was later adapted for mobile devices. The mobile versions operated with touch controls, and the Switch in handheld mode has touchscreen support built in. Theoretically, at least, War of the Lions would translate well onto Switch, but perhaps there are more potential technical complications than I realize. Alternately, Square-Enix might have made the calculation that those who love Tactics already have it on iOS/Android, and would be less likely to ‘double-dip’ and buy a Switch version.
I really hope this isn’t the case, though, since I’d love to have it on Switch. This is another game where I think Square-Enix could make some extra money by releasing a physical version that includes artwork, maps, the soundtrack, etc. A full visual remake, with the production values of the gameplay graphics matching that of the cutscenes, would be even better, but I don’t think that’s very likely.
The Final Fantasy VII ‘Expanded Universe:’ The original Final Fantasy VII is available on Switch, but what is probably the most famous and popular entry in the series has branched out in multiple directions since its debut in 1997. Most recently, of course, was the Final Fantasy VII Remake for PS4. Whether a downgraded version of that game could possibly be adapted for Switch, I honestly don’t know, but even if it technically could, I wouldn’t particularly like its chances. Reason being that Final Fantasy VII Remake is, from a narrative standpoint, incomplete, since it doesn’t cover the range of the original’s story. (Not even close). In theory, this necessitates at least one more entry, and probably two or more. With the ‘original’ being a late PS4 title, that means that its follow-up(s) will likely debut on PS5, which the Switch will be much further behind from a technical standpoint. Would Square-Enix want only one part of a two- or three-part story workable on Switch? If they thought it would sell well enough, perhaps. But I think it’s more likely that if anything from the FF7 Remake series ever makes it onto a Nintendo system, the Switch’s hypothetical successor is more likely to see it than the current model.
Remake is not the only video game expansion of the FF7 universe, of course. If any of the others are to make it to Switch, I think Crisis Core is much more likely than either Before Crisis or Dirge of Cerberus. Wouldn’t rule out the possibility of any of them, but Crisis Core was originally designed for a handheld: the PSP. Zack Fair’s story was and remains compelling to fans, despite anyone who played through Final Fantasy VII knowing full well how it ends. The popularity of Vincent Valentine was not enough to save Dirge of Cerberus from some pretty harsh criticism.
Working against all of these? Well, Remake throws the continuity of the original and its spinoffs into question. It’s possible that Square-Enix might be planning to scrub the existing canon clean as part of this ongoing project.
Vagrant Story: I’ll admit, this is pure wishful thinking on my part; I’m under no illusions that this is even remotely likely. Still, it’s behind only Tactics/War of the Lions on my own Square-Enix Switch wishlist. (Switchlist?) What’s not to like about a dark Renaissance detective story? (The block stacking/rearrangement puzzles required to progress through dungeons can be a bit tedious, but nothing awful).
Star Ocean Games: With First Departure—a enhanced PSP remake of the first Star Ocean game—already on Switch, I think it’s a virtual certainty that Second Evolution—the PSP counterpart to Second Story—will eventually make the leap over as well. (Frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t already). The Switch prospects of post-Second Story/Evolution games are iffier, but with the second installment often regarded as the highlight of the entire series, it is a very strong candidate to pop up on the Eshop.
Kingdom Hearts Games: The first games on this list I know only by reputation. My understanding is that they have done very well in terms of both sales and critical reception, and even that feels like an understatement. The recent announcement of a Kingdom Hearts rhythm-based spinoff for Switch seemed to spark disappointment in these parts that nothing from the main series was coming. This suggests that there is a potential market for mainline Kingdom Hearts on Switch; I’d certainly be willing to give them a shot.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Games: I can’t help but wonder if the original Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was hurt at all by Fire Emblem making its debut appearance outside of Japan around the same time, to positive press and public reception. The success of Fire Emblem on GBA likely overshadowed Tactics Advance a bit. Still, there are other reasons why this game tends to be held in lower overall regard than the original Final Fantasy Tactics. While the first has the air of a Shakespearean epic, the central conceit of Advance is that a group of kids, presumably from the ‘real world,’ get sucked into a fantasy world, and the main story goal is their trying to somehow get back home. Some saw this as a major step backwards from the original, while others praised the writers for thinking outside the box. Also controversial was the ‘Judge’ system, where every battle would start with the announcement that certain abilities could not be used. Some saw this as a fun challenge that kept players on their toes; others found it irritating and contrived. I know less about the DS sequel, Grimoire of the Rift.
If we ever see anything from the Final Fantasy Tactics sub-series on Switch, War of the Lions seems far more likely than any of the Advance titles. If a hypothetical War of the Lions Switch version was to sell well enough, however, perhaps Square-Enix would release one or both of the Advance games in the hopes of piggy-backing off its success.
Final Fantasy XIII Games: Doable? Probably. Worth it for Square-Enix financially, given the mixed reputation of these games? Tougher call.
Final Fantasy XV: Another recent Final Fantasy I know quite little about. I know that the downgraded ’Pocket Edition, which I first became aware of via the iOS App Store, is also available on the Switch Eshop. This perhaps suggests that Final Fantasy XV in its original form would be difficult to adapt to Switch. Difficult, however, does not necessarily mean impossible, so I would be surprised, but not shocked, if Final Fantasy XV was eventually brought to Switch.
Threads of Fate & Brave Fencer Musashi: Grouping these two because they are both mid/late PS1-era games that have virtually no chance of re-emerging on Switch. Still, both are cute, family-friendly action RPGs that would be right at home on the system.
Xenogears: Another PS1-era longshot...noticing a pattern here? Legal difficulties aside, I could see Xenogears potentially doing well on the Nintendo Eshop, riding the coattails of the popular Xenoblade games. (Which I definitely need to get around to trying one of these days; my understanding is that although there are no direct narrative links between them, Xenogears, and the Xenosaga games, they are considered to be ‘spiritually’ connected).
I last played Xenogears myself about two or three years back, and my experience then left me with the sense that the game might be a bit more ‘digestible’ on a handheld-hybrid like the Switch than its home console origins. Engaging, thought-provoking story; complex, well-written characters; a wonderful soundtrack. No one can take these things away from Xenogears. That being said, Xenogears often employs long (winded) cutscenes and dialogue sections to tell its excellent story, has a pretty high rate of random encounters throughout its large-scale dungeons and overworld areas, and requires frequent micromanagement and shopping to upgrade ‘Gears’ (combat robots) so the player remains competitive in battle.
In other words, an average Xenogears play session can leave the player with the sense that they have accomplished relatively little compared to the amount of time they just invested in it. Because of that, I often found myself feeling ‘burned out’ by the game, engaging though it was.
While a Switch version of the game could not be expected to totally resolve those issues, it could alleviate them, both by its ‘pick up and play’ nature and by increasing opportunities to save progress outside of the designated save points and world map of the original. (As was the standard of the time). Ideally, one would be able to save during a lengthy cutscene, so they would be able to take a break from the story without being forced to later watch (and process) the entire thing from the beginning.
Dissidia Games: Admittedly, I don’t know much about these games other than the very basics: they are a fighting game spinoff of the Final Fantasy series. On paper, though...doesn’t that sound like something that would sell like hotcakes on Switch? Dissidia may not be at the top of my personal wishlist, but outside of Kingdom Hearts, it is perhaps the most puzzling Square-Enix exclusion.
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings: A definite longshot, but there are two factors that could theoretically, at least, work in its favor: a) its ties to Final Fantasy XII, which is on Switch via The Zodiac Age; and b) the fact that, unlike XII itself, Revenant Wings was originally released on a Nintendo platform: the DS.
Working against it? Radio silence. I admittedly have never played this one myself, but the fact that so few people seem to talk about it suggests that it didn’t make much of an impact one way or the other. It would have been a cool bonus—as an unlockable or DLC—to include with Zodiac Age, but no such luck, and Revenant Wings seems to be more or less forgotten. I quite like XII, though, so if Revenant Wings did come to Switch, I’d be inclined to give it a shot.
Front Mission Series: A not especially famous, but long-running, somewhat prolific Square-Enix series, with entries spanning from the SNES to the PS4. File this one under surprised but not shocked if something from the Front Mission series eventually lands on Switch.
Parasite Eve Games: The last PS1-era longshots, I promise! (And the second-to-last entry overall...Hallelujah!) Right down there with Threads of Fate and Brave Fencer Musashi in the ‘never gonna happen’ column. I totally missed out on the original and its sequel during their initial run, which I kind of regret now, since many of their basic elements—a more gritty/realistic tone; a female detective as the protagonist—sound really cool on paper. The sort of thing I glanced over as a child/adolescent, but would be right up my alley these days.
Final Fantasy I-VI: If you’re still here, thank you very much! This will be the last section of my list today...but also the longest. I decided to group the first six mainline Final Fantasies together here not because I think each is of equal importance—far from it—but more to highlight the curious fact that, despite the fairly widespread availability of these games on multiple platforms over the course of many years, the earliest Final Fantasy game up and running on the Nintendo Switch at the time of this writing is VII. So, what gives? Thinking back to the Tactics/War of the Lions section, this could be a matter of Square-Enix calculating that, with the first six Final Fantasies already available on mobile devices, there would be little incentive for Switch-owning fans to ‘double-dip.’
I’m not sure if that theory holds up as well here, however, since we are talking about six individual games of varying importance, as opposed to one.
Final Fantasies I & II have often been bundled together, in the case of both Final Fantasy Origins for the PS1 and Dawn of Souls for the GBA. If we ever do see a Switch re-release of these games, my guess is that we would get another two-pack, if for no other reason than a bundle is probably the best means of selling the ambitious yet deeply flawed Final Fantasy II. My first experience with both games was via Dawn of Souls, but one thing I didn’t realize until some time later was that, at least in the case of Final Fantasy I, the adaptation was quite different from the original experience. The Dawn of Souls version had a traditional MP system for spells—each spell used x-amount of MP, which could be recovered via certain items and by resting at town inns and tents/cottages on the world map. The original release, on the other hand, featured limited spell charges, which could apparently only be recovered by resting in towns, forcing the player to be much more strategic/conservative with magic use. Thinking back to the high encounter rate and maze-like dungeons, my first thought was: ’My God, that sounds like an absolute nightmare!’ For others, though, it could be a fun challenge, so it might be nice for future re-releases of Final Fantasy I to include both magic systems.
I’m not sure to what extent, if any, Square-Enix might be influenced by Nintendo’s recent decision to re-release the first NES/Famicom Fire Emblem game on Switch, with no apparent changes aside from it being available in languages other than the original Japanese, but I suppose this could theoretically compel them to release the first three NES/Famicom Final Fantasy games with the original NES/Famicom graphics, at least as an optional setting. (Hopefully not completely replacing the ‘prettied up’ versions). That being said, I wouldn’t want any downgraded graphics settings to strip a future Final Fantasy I re-release of the fun superboss cameos, including but not limited to the dragon Shinryu and the eccentric swordsman Gilgamesh.
A quick aside about Final Fantasy II, since we’re here. There are very few games I’ve ever wanted to like more, and I think it deserves credit for thinking outside the box with its leveling system, and for having a story more on the human folly/political intrigue side than the straight ‘good versus evil’ side. Unfortunately, though, it falls a bit flat in both areas. The game does have its bright spots, including a pretty strong supporting cast—Princess Hilda and Minwu the OG White Mage are standouts—and one of my favorite music tracks in the series: the Wild Rose Rebellion theme.
Onward to Final Fantasy III, which is probably best known for its more complex/sophisticated take on the ‘Job System’ introduced in Final Fantasy I, and for how long it took (sixteen years!) for the game to first release outside of Japan. The last of the NES/Famicom Final Fantasies, my understanding is that, after the largely failed experiment that was II, the next game in the series was intended as a return to form—going back to the concepts of the original and expanding on them. A similar approach, one could argue, to both Super Mario Bros. 3 and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. With the SNES/Super Famicom set to release within the same timeframe, however, and Square’s plans to bring the ambitious Final Fantasy IV to that new platform, it was ultimately decided that releasing III outside of Japan would be unwise. Fast-forward to 2006, and the Nintendo DS would see a full remake of Final Fantasy III, complete with both 3D graphics and an expanded story—where the four playable characters were nameless avatars in the original, the remake gave them established names and backstories. (This version was also later adapted for mobile devices). The sheer novelty of this ‘lost’ Final Fantasy game finally showing its face outside of Japan, and of a Nintendo system finally being able to boast having a 3D Final Fantasy of its own, led to the game getting some decent attention early on, but long-term, it doesn’t seem to have made much of an impact. Perhaps in large part because it’s difficult to think of anything Final Fantasy III did that Final Fantasy V didn’t do as good or better.
And on that note, I’m going to skip ahead briefly to Final Fantasy V. (IV will get its time, don’t worry). Like the odd-numbered Final Fantasies before it, V is remembered more for its gameplay—an even more sophisticated Job System than that of III—than its story or characters. This is the most common criticism of the game, and while I think there’s something to it, it should also be noted that Final Fantasy V had the misfortune of being sandwiched between the epic, story-driven IV and VI, so it had some stiff competition in that area. There’s still a pretty good story to be had here; a likable, if not super-memorable cast; and a handful of interesting plot points and twists.
One interesting aspect of Final Fantasy V is that, in terms of gameplay, it is almost a mirror image of IV. Where IV is very linear and allows virtually no opportunities to customize characters, or even choose which party members to go with at any given time, V encourages frequent mixing and matching of classes and secondary skills to adapt to the current situation. One might go in expecting, consciously or unconsciously, the obvious male lead to function best in a Knight/Swordsman class, and the obvious female lead to be most effective as a mage. In truth, however, anyone can be anything. All characters have access to the same Job classes, but their visual design in each class varies to reflect their personality. Take the Monk/Martial Artist class, for instance—where both male characters go shirtless when assigned to this job, the more ‘girly’ of the two female characters dons a bright red athletic dress, while her more ‘tomboyish’ counterpart instead chooses a plain white robe/karate uniform. Given the relative obscurity of Final Fantasy V, it’s difficult to picture Square-Enix investing many resources into a future remake project, but it would be cool to see a modern take on all these character designs.
As for why I skipped right from III to V? Well, despite the fact that these two games, as far as I know, have never been bundled together, I think they would make pretty logical ‘running mates’ in the future, given that both are centered around a version of the Job system. (Maybe they could call it ’Final Fantasy Labor Collection’).
Now let’s tackle what is arguably the heaviest hitter of this group: Final Fantasy IV. Of the pre-VII Final Fantasy games, IV is probably the one that has gotten the most love from Square-Enix, which one could argue is a mixed blessing. While the original release is almost universally well-regarded, its direct, seventeen years after-the-fact sequel, The After Years, is often considered among the weakest titles to fly under the Final Fantasy banner. It has its good points, and I think there would a pretty engaging story here if they had just trimmed the proverbial fat and made >!Kain Highwind the undisputed main character.After Years is kneecapped by its original format of downloadable ‘episodes’ that were released gradually, and these chapters are by no means created equal. (Some are interesting, but others are a miserable slog).
Final Fantasy IV would eventually appear on both the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS, but the competing handhelds were not to receive the exact same product. The DS version featured the 3D visual style of Final Fantasy III DS, while the PSP’s Complete Collection employed a more traditional 2D art style with redrawn sprites and locations. Complete Collection, unlike FFF 4 DS, also contained both After Years and the aptly-titled mid-quel Interlude.
If Final Fantasy IV ever does make its way over to Switch, Complete Collection seems like the better overall value, but my guess is that the DS/mobile device 3D version is a bit more likely. It might be worth noting that, despite After Years debuting with a 2D style, it was re-released for mobile devices with a 3D ‘makeover’ back in 2013. This move also suggests that Square-Enix would sell the original IV and its sequel separately on the Eshop if they ever do bring them to Switch.
And now, the biggie: Final Fantasy VI. The most recent mainline entry to debut on a Nintendo system, and simultaneously one of the most beloved by fans and most neglected by its parent company. To this day, the definitive version of Final Fantasy VI is the enhanced GBA port, from all the way back in 2006. (Advance takes that crown in my book solely because, unlike other re-releases that contained the same bonus content, it included a run button from the beginning, in place of always needing to have one party member’s Relic slot taken up by the ‘Sprint Shoes’ if you wanted to get anywhere fast).
The sad reality of Final Fantasy VI is that, more than probably any other entry in this series, it is hindered by its graphical limitations. Not because it uses a 2D sprite-based presentation, to be sure—both Chrono Trigger and the first two Suikoden games managed to convey a large-scale world with a similar art style—but I think the best illustration of this shortcoming is to compare the the city of Vector in VI to Midgar in the original Final Fantasy VII. Neither locale would win any beauty contests these days, but even the rather primitive 3D visuals in VII were enough to convey that this was a massive, massive city. The Imperial capital, on the other hand? Not so much. Save for some slightly larger, plain-looking buildings, a lack of flowers and trees, and what looked to be pieces of industrial equipment in an area just beyond the line of apartments and stores, there wasn’t a whole lot to distinguish it visually from the average town a player visited.
Beyond the basic set pieces, though, there are a multitude of scenes in Final Fantasy VI that absolutely demand a greater visual spectacle than what the SNES/Famicom could achieve at the time. Especially the whole Floating Continent sequence of events. (Can you imagine?) As I admitted earlier, I don’t know much about the Dissidia games, but one thing I have seen of them are the amazing 3D models of VI’s Kefka and Terra. To have all those elaborate character designs given a modern (ish) touch, whether they used 3D models or 2D sprites, would be a thing of beauty.
Do I think a modern remake of Final Fantasy VI being developed for the Switch is likely? Sadly...no. But I can’t ignore how poetic such a thing would be. Considering that the first the world saw of the eventual Final Fantasy VII project was an N64 tech demo showing 3D models of Terra, Locke, and Shadow in battle, this would really bring things full-circle.
Again, if you made it this far...frankly, I’m surprised I made it this far! Five thousand-plus words, more than a month of fiddling with this ‘script,’ and I’m sure there’s still plenty I missed and got wrong. Still, it feels good to finally wrap this up, and if nothing else, I hope it will be a semi-enjoyable read. Curious to hear your thoughts, and many thanks!

hello there, here is my story of how nzxt bld is as of now a very disappointing service. (i basically wrote a story, and this is the longest timee ive spent writing womething on reddit. to skip my backstory and everything leading up to the disappointment start to read at the last 3 paragraphs)

this begins in september 2020 when I first got into pcs through youtube. one video at a time I became hooked. i started to watch only computer videos and basically spent all my free time learning more and more about pcs and pc parts. and this led me to the decision to want my own pc. initially i was going to go for a 2060 and ryzen 5 3600 and was about to buy my first parts, but when i saw the announcement for the 30 series nvidia cards i was stunned. for $500 i can have a gpu that is more powerful than the $1200. i knew i needed it, but t would be extremely hard to get since im only a junior and dont have a debit card to buy it online. i thought the best way would be a local, yet great computer shop that has suppliers who i thought could get the gpu, but after wasting a month with them, i knew they wouldnt be able to get it for months. i also need to say im very impatient so i could not wait that long. and this is where nzxt came into my life. i remember seeing a ad for nzxt pcs on instagram a month before I decided to go with them and i was impressed. great pcs for almost no overcharge, i thought they were great. and after my idea with the computer shop failed, i was looking for a prebuilt with a 3070. after looking for a few days i decided on nzxt bld which i thought was a great deal, for only a $100 build fee i could have an expertly build and cable managed pc that most importantly had a 3070 in it. i convinced my parents to have them put it on their credit card and id pay them back (which i did fully), and the order was put in, with its estimated shipping date 2 weeks after my order. 

here is where shi% hits the fan

these series of events take place on december 29th. i am on a 5 hour car drive home from a christmas getaway and im excited, after all after 3 months im finally getting a pc. and my hype is at the highest its ever been when i get a text from fedex that my package has been delievered. i am super excited, but one problem, we have 4 hours til we get home. so i fall asleep and wake up when we get home. i bring the package in my room, cut the tape, pull it out, plug it in to the power and my monitor, flip the switch, and finally press the power button. i was happy to see the fans start spinning and the rgb come to life, but there was no video output on my monitor (and no i didnt do the mistake of plugging my hdmi into the motherboard hdmi slot). i mess with it a little longer and shut it off. this time i try to boot i try to get into bios. i turn it on, smash the delete key and get ingot bios, perfect. nothing wrong, all the parts are showing and it looks fine. i exit bios and am glad to see the windows spinning wheel to see it boot into windows, but there is something else im not glad to see, green lines, everywhere. i have no clue what it is and look it up. i find a reddit thread about the same issue and the same exact gpu. im distraught to find out my gpu in my $2k pc is faulty after waiting months, saving money, paying for a “professional build” just for this. i remember watching a video by jayztwocents ( link https://youtu.be/tSDpawYkqAo ) where he goes through the process of how they build their pcs, and at one point they literally turn on the pc and test it out. if they turned on my pc for literally 10 seconds they could have known something was wrong with this pc. but no, they send me a faulty pc. this is widespread too, the one reddit post i mentioned wasnt the only one i saw. the nzxt customer support is terrible, if one thing should be improved it should be that. i waited a half hour on the phone with nzxt and was told to go somewhere else, i went to the live chat and waited a half hour and got disconnected by it telling me to log in when im almost up, that was another half hour wasted. and its too late by now since the customer support closes in a few minutes. i did email nzxt but i dont even think that went through since i did it in the gmail app and its not showing up in my sent box ( that one is probably my fault tho ). so to end this story i am pissed at nzxt. not because they had a faulty part, it happens and its not their fault, but because they couldnt have just turned the pc on and know something was wrong. and nzxt’s (built to work out of the box with little effort) is just infurating to think about. im sitting next to my pc covered in green lines while typing this story. thank you for reading since im putting major effort into this story. so to finally conclude my view on nzxt if heavily damaged after this mess, and its a shame since i love(d) nzxt. but now i dont know what to think of them. 

Hello & thanks for your interest in our server :)
This posting has 5 main sections, feel free to skip to whatever section you want more info on:

• Who We Are
  
• Server & Plex Information
  
• Pricing
  
• Reviews
  
• How to Join
  

Who We Are

• enjoythestream is provided as a FREE service with optional donations & additional features.
  
• We have giveaways on our Discord which give out month long membership trials.
  
• Donators gain immediate access to the share. The reason for this is the income generated from donations allows us to spin up additional resources to support those users and their streams without adversely effecting the current members.
  
• enjoythestream is NOT a reseller of anyone else's services (Elysium, Everly, Zetris etc) - We are the root operators of our hardware and data storage.
  
• If you have a solid internet speed, you will not have any issues streaming from this server. While we do utilize GSuite for our data-storage back-end, we vigorously monitor our API usage and have multiple alerts setup if we start to reach pre-set thresholds.
  
• Other "Megaservers" that host hundreds of terabytes of content, appboxes, and shares, simply cannot do what we do in regards to monitoring our resources.
  
• We like to consider this service a small, boutique, streaming experience. We work with each individual user to troubleshoot their issues and get them resolved in a timely manner. If you want stuff to "just work" right out of the gate, this is the server for you
  
• We have a centralized Discord server to handle everything from signing up, to support, to requests & general discussions.
  
• We have limited slots available to ensure performance stays at the level we desire to best serve our users. If performance begins to show signs of being negatively affected, all inviting processes will be put on hold to make sure you have the best experience possible.
  

Server and Plex Information

• Dedicated Server in North America connected to a 10G pipe
  
• Cloudflare CDN Enabled for Global Peering - You shouldn't have issues streaming from this server anywhere in the world.
  
• Ping tests from AUS/SE Asia/Europe have all come back as perfectly acceptable for streaming. Users in these locations have not reported any issues with buffering.
  
• Over 630 movies, and 270 Complete TV Shows (20k+ episodes), constantly growing!
  
• Regularly airing TV shows added within minutes of appearing online. We have access to the highest tier trackers and providers.
  
• 25+ Anime Series (2k+ Episodes, also growing!)
  
• 90+ Masterclass.com series (Donors Only)
  
• All media is either 720P or 1080P, with the majority being 1080P. Additional 4K content is available for donors.
  
• Plex Autoscan installed, requests (barring large seasons of TV shows) show up in ~15 minutes from the request time.
  
• Discord Support for all users (including a #plex-quality-help channel to assist users with changing their quality settings)
  

Pricing

• This share operates on a "Freemium" model.
  
• Standard free tier users have access to the Plex Library and Discussion channel on Discord. Free tier users are required to stream via DIRECT PLAY only, and are required to stream a minimum of 10 hours of content every 2 weeks to maintain their free tier membership.
  
• We have 3 "Tiers" of donations, each unlocking more content and functionality on the server for you. All Donors get immediate access to the share even if new free memberships are on pause.
  
• Tier 1 Donors unlock the ability to request Movies & TV on Discord and 1 Transcode Stream
  
• Tier 2 Donors unlock Unlimited Direct Play streams (simultaneous!) and 4K Content in addition to all Tier 1 Donor Perks
  
• Tier 3 Donors unlock 3 Transcodes, the MasterClass Share, in addition to all Tier 1 & 2 Donor Perks
  
• We encourage all Tier 2 and Tier 3 donators to share their Plex login with any friends & family to take advantage of our unlimited simultaneous Direct Play streams perk.
  
• We offer a 48 hour money back guarantee if you run into issues with any of our Donor Perks, or are not fully satisfied with the service.
  

Reviews - Don't take our word for it! Here is what some of our Discord Members have to say about the service

• The server is organized with a wide variety of content. Since becoming a member, the up time has been impeccable with negligible amounts of buffering in the month I’ve had access.
  
• Server is smooth and well organized. Admin is totally awesome with help and answering questions. A++
  
• Server has a good amount of content. Request channel works well for what I want, stuff shows up fast. Good experience so far, will probably renew next month!
  
• Looks like a ton of content! Seems awesome.
  
• just joined friendly staff and no buffering and loads of content
  
• Works well with Southeast Asia. For reference I have 40-50Mbps download speed. Admin is also really helpful and nice. Thanks.
  
• Requests show up lightning fast, support is great. Honestly, that's all that matters!
  

How to Join / Questions?
Join our Discord Server at the link below to get started!
https://discord.gg/rQ2VDhApyN
No communication will occur on Reddit - PMs will go unanswered.

Okay so I decided to create this guide with the hopes of it becoming a sticky thread for all newbies to the online slots world, to read as we deal with the same topics repeatedly and the same answers/advice are given repeatedly. Not that we do not want to help, but these would prevent you from getting into situations before its too late, or blaming casinos when you were in the wrong.
Signing up or Registration
Registration – Please carefully read the general terms and conditions about every "Right" the casino has and please note that you accepted these terms upon signing up, which means you are saying you are okay with it and agree with what the casino state about what they can and cannot do.

• No Deposit bonuses/Signup bonus – Many players are still NDB (No Deposit Bonus) hunters and register simply for these reasons. Please read the NDB/Signup Bonus terms carefully to make sure your country is eligible to receive the NDB/Signup bonus. We had many players getting upset about this factor and then end up closing their accounts immediately out of anger which leads to SE (Self Exclusion) at times. which I will address later in this thread. However, we do have instances where a casino does not list the eligible countries that can or cannot receive the NDB/Signup bonuses.
• More than one player in 1 house Hold – Many casinos only allow one player per house/IP address to register at a casino. You can ask a casino if you and your partnesibling who stays together can both signup and some casinos would give the "Ok". Just make sure you have this in written confirmation via email or something and not live chat.

Claiming Bonuses
Read the bonus terms carefully before claiming any bonuses and look for the following pointers when reading the bonuses rules:

• Wagering – Many casinos have increased their wagering on bonuses lately which makes bonus wagering very difficult to complete these days. Decide whether the wagering attach to the bonus is high or low for you since you know your game play and strategies. Many factors can influence whether you will be able to meet wagering, which is the x amount of wagering, game providers availability and deposit amount just to name a few. Also note that wagering for "certain countries" are higher than others. For me personally I think wagering between x35 – x50 on the "Bonus" amount "Only" is reasonable and fair.
• Max Bet – 99% of casinos have a max bet rule in place when claiming a bonus. Note what the max bet is for the specific casinos as it can range anything from 1 – 5 euro/$ per Spin. Deposit methods can affect the max bet as well as some casinos limit the max bet rule between 1 – 2 euro per spin for deposits using e-wallets, however that same casinos allow a max bet up to 5 euro per spin for credit card/Alternative deposits. Even though a casino state the max bet rule another tricky rule in the terms that we tend to miss is the coin value. Some casinos state that the max "Coin domination/value" should be $0.20 or $0.50 per spin which means if you want to bet higher you would need to adjust the "Level" portion in the slot if the coin domination/value limit is reached according to the terms. If you breach the Max bet rule and it is stated in their terms, you do not have a case, period. There are some casinos who you can explain your situation if it was a mistake and they do sometimes make exceptions.
• Deposit methods – Many casinos lately have restricted the claiming of bonuses using e-wallet deposit methods such as Neteller, Skrill etc. Note they mention these 2 as they are most popular, but that also means any other form of e-wallets are not eligible to claim bonuses. I have seen a lot of players complain that they did not receive the bonus simply because they did not read the terms before claiming the bonus and the deposit has already been made. Also make sure you deposit using your own card, do not use your parents or any other siblings credit card to make deposits as this would cause a problem during verification which in the end results in to winnings not being paid out.
• Deposit Methods Additional Info – Many deposits are available from Casinos or let's say most casinos have the same deposit methods available, however the country that you reside in has the influence on what deposit methods are available and the same counts for withdrawals. So, for instance if AskGamblers website state deposit by phone which is "Boku" is available at that specific casino it does not mean that it will be available for all players, as that is depending on your country. Deposit by phone is mostly available for the UK players basically as an example.
• Max Cash-Out – Many players claim bonuses and after they complete wager, they tend to withdraw immediately. Some players are left with substantial amounts only to find out they can only get x2 the bonus amount (Casinos like "Viks" casino and "Quasar Gaming" have this rule) or x10 their deposit. I understand this is frustrating and upsetting, but the problem is with the player itself. Stop blaming casinos because you could not do the simplest thing in the world which is just take 5 minutes to read the bonus terms.
• Restricted games – Please check which games are allowed and not allowed to be played with bonus funds. Some casinos have a feature where bonus money is not even visible on the restricted games, but other casinos bonus money will show on restricted games. In many instances these would not lead to confiscation of winnings, it just that it would not count towards wagering. They also have a term where they would say that bets place on all "Other" games other that "Slot machines" will be deemed in violation of the terms and condition and your bonus winnings will be voided – So watch out for this one.
• Double up feature – The only thing to say here is that this will not counts towards wagering.
• Cashable and Non-Cashable bonuses – This one is another tricky one, some people call it a "Sticky bonus". This just means where you receive the bonus you can use it to place bets and for wagering purposes, but the bonus amount can never be withdrawn. I find this term ridiculous and always avoid this type of bonuses.
• Bonus Abuse – This is a very complex/broad subject but mention the basic ones (Thanks for forum members tips which I included on this one), the rest you can do your own research about the rest associated with bonus abuse as we all have different opinions
• Bonus per player, per account, per IP address etc. If you take that same bonus twice or more times, using different accounts under your name, then it's an abuse.
• Claiming free spins offers – Deposit to get free spins and withdrawing deposit after claiming free spins but continue to play free spins is also some form of bonus abuse.
• Accumulating bonus rounds and start playing them when your bonus balance reach zero, and you win those money as real cash.
• Anything you can think of that disadvantages the house (Casino).
• Bonus wagering period – This never really is a problem, but just make sure you complete you bonus wagering with the set time frame the casino provided. This can range anything from 3 – 30 days otherwise winnings will be voided.

There are other bonus terms that I have not mentioned but I think the above ones are the most important as these could affect you in terms of confiscation of your winnings should you breach any of them.
Verification
This is pretty much standard for a casino to ask for some form of Identification, proof of address and proof of deposit when requesting a withdrawal. Depending on the amount win, some casinos might not need documents, however when a substantial amount has been won additional verification or security checks might be done which means a longer withdrawal time frame. Verification or KYC is necessary, however I feel when casinos ask for selfies with your ID next to you etc. in my opinion is just ridiculous. Also, I have noticed some casinos requesting your source of income to see where you get the money to make deposits etc. This seems standard and you would need to do it to get your withdrawal, however all of us have different opinions about this verification procedure.
Withdrawals
Many casinos have different withdrawal time frames and when you accept the general terms and conditions you have to a abide by them, by this I mean stop being impatient and complain that the casinos withdrawal time frames are the worst etc. As you knew this before you started playing provided you have read the terms and condition. You decided to deposit and play so then wait for your money, eventually it will come unless you breached some rule, or the casino is a rogue casino.
Here are some of the tips you should note when it comes to withdrawals at casinos:

• Verification – This is standard procedure and you have to do this if the casino request it.
• Time-frames – This one I feel can be interpreted in many ways but let me give you my version of how I View things. When a casino says e-wallets 0 – 1 or 0 – 24 hours. This means that the casinos use that time-frame to process your withdrawal and after it being processed your money should be instantly available. Credit cards that state 3 – 7 business days and this is where some newbies get this wrong – This simply state the time frame they take to process the payment to your card, it does not mean you will get your money within 3 – 7 days, however this is possible. Prepare yourself for the longest waiting period to avoid becoming impatient and upset – So if a casino says 3 – 7 days expect to get it in 10 days max, however you can get it within 4 days, but sometimes casinos just stretch it to process it on the last day possible with the hopes you would reverse the withdrawal and continue to play. This technique of casinos sometimes works. So, if they process your withdrawal it can take another 3 – 5 days to hit your account based on your location and the banks in your country as they have internal controls with foreign currency. There are however hiccups with payment providers/processors etc. but these are at times out of the casinos control. My best is advice is "Patience".
• Reversing Withdrawals – With the timeframes explanation I just gave above and being impatient, players tend to reverse their withdrawals. They continue playing and end up losing their winnings. Stop blaming casinos as this is your own fault that you Lost the funds. You made the decision to reverse the withdrawal. If you really need to play, make a deposit at another casino or sister website and play there while you patiently wait for you withdrawal. Some casinos have the lock feature, so lock down your withdrawal so you do not reverse the withdrawal or play at other casinos which has quicker withdrawal time frames of 0 – 1 hour instead of days. The key here is "Patience".

Self-Exclusion
Self-Exclusion is a big thing these days and most cases substantial amounts are involved that are being confiscated. There are at times very little that us forum members or even AskGamblers can do when a player self-excluded and played at a sister website or similar, as we know the result and of course the house is kind of right. However, I think it's bad that a casino only realizes the self-exclusion portion on a player profile once it reaches withdrawal stage, because I feel they should have something in place that can detect that you self-excluded upon registration or before you even make your first deposit. People with gambling problems tend to self-exclude but the alternative is to read this guide - https://www.askgamblers.com/forum/topic/2152-sos-i-am-addicted-to-gambling-what-to-do/ . My advice is to keep your casino account open and do not play there anymore, because even if you request a permanent account closure, some casinos tend to self-exclude you without you knowing it and this would cause problems in future since you opened another account at their sister website or something.

I spent the last weeks downloading every single app offer on Swagbucks UK to sort through the ones that are, and are not, worth doing. These are all available on Swagbucks 'Discover' page.
If this list helps, and you are not on swagbucks already please consider joining using my referral link here for an extra 300SB when you make your first earnings, worth £3ish, (non ref, no bonus ). If there's anything I've missed please comment!

• Board Kings Android lvl11 - took 1 week, add the max friends, check the Boardkings subreddit for help adding friends
• TikTok - SB for downloading tiktok, joining, and keeping on your phone for 2 days. Easy.
• Elvenar Academy, reach Magical Academy - took 3 days with active gameplay, however can be done 99% passively with very little gameplay whatsoever, as you just need to wait until you have enough books to upgrade the research tree to magical academy.
• Lords Mobile: Kingdom Wars - took about a week to upgrade to 14, active gameplay and regular checking in..
• Club Vegas: Online Slot Machines with Bonus - about 3 days, leave on minimum spins and leave your phone running. Semi-passive.
• Pop! Slots Level 26 - about 5 days, leave on minimum spins and leave your phone running. Semi-passive.
• King of Avalon - about 1 week, join a powerful guild.
• Harvest Land: Farm and City Building - About a week of active gameplay. I'd only advise this if you actually somewhat enjoy the game, as this one can be a slog if you're not enjoying it
• Star Slots - Lvl 110 - this one was long, required leaving phone running spins overnight, unsure if worth the time/effort.

For each of these games there are usually free coin link aggregate websites, or links on the apps official Facebook group - Just google '[Game Name] free credit/coins'. You will find this for many of these games, and it will level you up faster. It is also worth checking any subreddits dedicated to the games, as there are usually helpful redditors about.

• The Walking Dead: Road to Survival (requires 99p spend, but conversion is worth over £2 in Amazon vouchers). I used free Google Play credit I made from Google Opinions app for this. (these 'purchase required' offers are actually a good way to convert your unwanted Google Play credit into over double their value in Amazon vouchers).

Avoid: Trumps Empire (worst game ever, took too long), King's Throne Game of Lust (took too long, and was gross), Game of Kings: Blood Throne lvl22 (almost impossible without purchases, level 20-21 takes 6 months without power-ups apparently), War Games: Commander lvl21 (seems easy enough at the beginning, but then becomes almost impossible without purchases, you won't find out until it's too late)
Note: Make sure to compare between: ayeT, OfferToro, Revenue Universe etc. as some of Swagbucks Partners offer more SB than others for these apps and it changes constantly. Offers come and go, and fluctuate in value all the time. 130SB=£1 in Amazon vouchers at the best conversion rate (converting to £10 vouchers). So figure out if something is actually worth your time.
When you reach the required level: Take a screenshot as proof, close and reopen the game (I read this updates your progress on their servers), and wait 1 week for SB to credit, do not delete the app right away, wait until credited. If no credit after 1 week, contact SB support with the screenshot. Have never failed to be credited, but have had to chase up a couple of times.