John Caveson

....which ones would you choose? This has been on my mind for a while, and I thought it would be fun to ask. Here's the scenario: Valve snorts more portal conversion gel than usual and decides to delete all cosmetics and all but three weapons per class, which would become the new achievement rewards for each class, of which would be the only way to get them (so no more crafting, trading, or store). They ask you, (hallucinating you're GabeN himself) what weapons to keep for each class and what order you can unlock them. Which ones would you keep? Keep in mind, these will be the only weapons you and everyone else will keep forever and ever. So choose wisely. Three rules: 1.) Only three weapons per class. 2.) Only the current pool of weapons available can be chosen, no custom weapons. 3.) The weapons will be in their current balance states, no re-balancing. Self-impose other restrictions at your own peril. As for myself, I'm self-imposing the rules: - Only one weapon per slot (Primary, Secondary, Melee) - No re-skins - No multi-class weapons Additionally, my picks will be based on several factors (of varying priority): Aesthetics: Does the weapon looks like it belongs in the world of TF2? No? Auto-banned. So the Deus Ex and Gordbort weapons would be a definite no. Additionally, if a weapon has a model entirely based on a previously released weapon ( e.g. Soda Popper to FaN) then that has less of a chance. Balance: Pretty self explanatory, too powerful (which is actually pretty rare these days) or too useless (*cough*volcanofragment*cough*) will probably not be chosen. Exceptions being weapons that bring good buffs to a class that makes them better but not broken, e.g. most alternatives to most stock melees, and certain secondaries. Playstyle & Fun Factor: How does this weapon change how you play the class? Weapons that fundamentally change your playstyle and are fun to use, (e.g. Gunboats) will be prioritized over boring +/- stat weapons (e.g. Family Business). Synergy: How well does this weapon synergize with the other slots? Some weapons simply do better with other weapon slots? Is it entirely dependent on another weapon to be viable? e.g. Big Earner synergizes well with the DR, as they negate each other's weaknesses, however it still is a solid choice with the stock watch. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Steak, goes great with the KGB, but doesn't really stand up on its own very well in any other context. Overall Game Flow: Finally, how does this weapons affect the game overall? In other words, how fun is it to fight against? The Rescue Ranger is a fantastic sidegrade to the shotgun, however, a skilled Engie can use it to really slow the game down by negating the risk of having to be by his sentry to fix it during an Uber push, combine this with the Wrangler/SC and the support of his team, it'll be stalemate city. As expected, Engineer's and Medic's picks will be the most scrutinized in this category. And with that, here are my picks both TL;DR version and a spoilered detailed breakdown* of each weapon's acceptance/denial. Offence: Scout: Primary: Force-A-Nature Secondary: Bonk! Atomic Punch Melee: Sandman Order: FaN>Sandman>Bonk! Soldier: Primary: Original lol Direct Hit Secondary: Gunboats Melee: Escape Plan Order: EP>Gunboats>Direct Hit Pyro: Primary: Dragon's Fury/Backburner Secondary: Flare Gun/Thermal Thruster Melee: Axtinguisher/Back Scratcher Order: Axtinguisher>Flare Gun>Dragon's Fury/Backburner>Back Scratcher>Thermal Thruster Defence: Demoman: Primary: Loose Cannon/Bootlegger Secondary: Scottish Resistance/Chargin' Targe Melee: Ullapool Caber/Eyelander Order: Caber>ScotRes>LC/Eyelander>Targe>Bootlegger Heavy: Primary: Brass Beast Secondary: Sandvich Melee: Fists of Steel Order: Sandvich/Brass Beast/FoS Engineer: Primary: Frontier Justice Secondary: Wrangler Melee: Gunslinger PDA: N/A Order: FJ>Wrangler>Gunslinger Support: Medic: Primary: Crusader's Crossbow Secondary: Kritzkrieg Melee: Ubersaw Order: Ubersaw>Kritz>Crossbow Sniper: Primary: Huntsman Secondary: Jarate Melee: Tribalman's Shiv Order: Tribalmen's Shiv>Jarate>Huntsman Spy: Secondary: L'Etranger Melee: Big Earner PDA 2: Cloak and Dagger Building: N/A Order: L'Et>CnD>BE *details tba

hype

The Sonic Team just posted this on their channel, and I gotta say, it was pretty cool. It also let me discover this: Why didn't I notice this before?

The Golden Triangle baby, here I come.

ART

I'm upset he faked his death, but I'm also impressed he got away with it for 3 whole years. Longest respawn time ever. I actually never noticed this before, huh. >tfw you fake your death to get the Axtinguisher buffed 9000 IQ plays. Next, Stabby fakes his death to get the DR and Amby buffed. Seems like a winning strategy.

It's my headcanon that he died, went to hell, the devil watched his YT vids and went "Nope.avi" and brought him back.

Just roll with it and embrace your inner Patrick Stewart.

Sakurai Thanos. It just goes with everything.

Heretic! We all know Kwanza is the most wonderful time of the year.

I guess ol' Gabe is getting a lil senile. Wily is bullshit, that is, until you realize it's made trivially easy with Lucas. Since Megaman is essentially Projectiles: The Fighter, you just spam Down B, heal all your damage, find an opening to attack, gain your FS, repeat until all of the Megas are dead, then btfo "Wily" like the bitch he is, just like the games. Honestly, I found more of the Ace level fights to me more bullshit than the Legend fights, (though this could be because of bias since there a lot more Ace fights than Legends). For example, the one where you fight 1v3 against a team of beam sword wielders on the Kalos Region stage was hair-pulling for me. To me, something like that one was harder than the fight against "The Boss", a Legend Spirit. Because while The Boss was super tough, it was a lot more fair than most. The only hazard being a poison floor, and her defense going up early in the fight. other than that it was just a straight up 1v1 Stamina FD fight. Took every trick I could think of, but finally managed to spike her with Kirby's Up B. Generally speaking I find that if it's 1v3+ on a Legend or Ace class, you're going to have a bad time.

I only drink water and juice, really. I hate the taste of alcohol no matter how much you try to sweeten it, and I don't like the feel of carbonation going down my throat so soda its out of the question.

That trailer is a gift from God.

So I've searched around the gaming forum and it looks like there's no topic on Warframe here. Interesting. If you want to know what Warframe is, then I'll give you a basic rundown. Warframe is about a mystical race of beings called Tenno, who are the descendants of a post-human race called the Orokin. They were bred from the Void to battle an ancient enemy, but after the old war was done, they were placed into a dreamlike state for centuries only to awaken to a hostile world with different warring factions vying for control of the Origin System. Although they don't remember their past, they do remember of the ways of gun and blade and how to use the different power suits, the titular Warframes as they fight for both survival and restoring peace and balance to the Origin System, loyal only to each other. Basically Destiny only better because space ninjas. Now, as far as gameplay mechanics go, it's a F2P Co-op TPS MMORPG that focuses heavily on movement and well, aiming. You can have squads of up to four Tenno in a mission, with exception of what are called Trial or Raid missions, which house up to 8 people, but the enemies are a lot stronger and the missions are the most mechanically complicated in the game. But, in order to succeed, you not only have to have skill, but also good equipment, being an RPG. You farm resources, craft weapons/Warframes, level them up, mod them to make them more powerful and explore the Origin System. There is some PvP aspects, but the PvP is a WIP and is pretty crap, so I wouldn't bother wasting time if I were you. The payment model as mentioned is F2P with a premium currency. Now that may set up some alarms for some of you and I know the feeling. But you'll find that that the payment systems very fair. Everything you can use from Weapons to Warframes to companions and Sentinels can be obtained in-game using resources and currency called Credits. The exception to this are most cosmetics, however they're only cosmetic and there are plenty of chances to get them free or of low cost, inventory slots, which house more inventory space for weapons, Warframes and Sentinels. Now as for the rest of the stuff, you can buy weapons and Warframes directly through the market, so you don't have to grind the resources for it, but they are usually overpriced, so I wouldn't recommend it. Secondly, the premium currency itself, called Platinum, tends to go on discounts a lot, in fact, the best deals come through the discounts you gain form login rewards when logging in for the day (up to 75% your next purchase). It's saved me a pretty penny that's for sure. And you get 50 Plat starting out, so there's that. So, not really any P2W here, the closest being inventory space and boosters I guess. In the end though, you still have to mod your equipment efficiently in order to get most out of them anyway. There's also a trading system, and although you can't trade a lot of things, mods, Void items, certain special weapon variants, and of course, Plat, but it's better than nothing. Anyways for those of you who are familiar with the game, Update 18 just hit and a lot of awesome endgame content and lore stuff, and balance changes came out. If you're a vet who's taking a break, now would be a great time to come back to the game. Personally I really appreciate the constant support from the devs, with hotfixes expected at least once a week, and minor content updates every couple weeks to a month, while major game-changing updates seem to come out every few months (Update 18 in particular example). Hell, three new Warframes were just released in the span of like two months. Reminds of TF2 back in its heyday. Personally, it's a fun-ass game and I'd recommend giving it a shot. A couple warnings, it's a big download, has a separate launcher which can be buggy at times, and you need a Warframe account to login with when you're in-game, which means you need a constant internet connection to not get logged out which can be annoying, but worth it. For more info, here's the main site: https://warframe.com/ The latest major update: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/568455-update-18-the-second-dream/ And the excellently design wiki which rivals even TF2's wiki imo: http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/WARFRAME_Wiki So, for those of you who have played it, opinions? Thoughts? Critique? etc.? I'm personally enjoying myself, in fact, I'm starting to play this more than TF2, which is quite a first.

Guys, I think I have officially beaten TF2.

Guys, I found the new tier list.

Well let's just say I deal with nuts and bolts all day. So I thought this year it would be rather fitting something more...mechanical-themed.

How about now?

Sir Isaac Alabastor Tavington IV at your service. Was rather fitting considering where I work. Had me some good fun, despite some wardrobe malfuctions. Note to self: no more fake mustaches. After work I visited family members throughout the neighborhood to showoff my costume. Then walked down to a particular restaurant to see what their Halloween special was. Then just walked back through all the different neighborhood to see who was lively. Overall a fun night. I think I'll reuse this costume for the local Dickensfest next Febuary. Happy Halloween everyone!