Random Thoughts.....What Are You Thinking?

Man, it's kind of disheartening in XIV to solo POTD or HoH for me. I don't want to learn the hard to do technique/exploit to spin monsters and stop their AI. Mainly because it's an exploit.

But that means that it's more difficult.

MCH, RDM, and any of the tanks have a pretty good go of it.

I've been to the 180 boss on MCH and DRK, and back in Stormblood I got to 176 on RDM. I just can't seem to not flub the 180 boss. I get so close that it hurts.

On MCH I had it lusted, had my STR and STL pomanders on. It was at 17% going into Ecliptic Meteor, and I fumbled it by being ever so slightly too close and got auto attacked on the meteor impact and died. I had a raising and more STR/STL but I was out of Lust, so when I got it back down, I tried to creep with auto attacks to lure it lower. It started casting Ecliptic Meteor at 15% this time, and I got it to 6% before the second meteor came crashing down. Ugh. *Super Smash Bros. Announcer* Failure.

On DRK I did everything right, but I remembered that the auto attack would kill me, so I disengaged, but DRK's DPS is so much lower than a DPS's that they can't afford to do that. On review, if I had stayed in melee range, I would have survived the auto attack, and then I could have used Living Dead to live through the second meteor as I had anyway. The life remaining on the 180 boss was 0.4% Failure.

In Heaven on High(HoH) I only really try it on GNB. I've been to floor 92, where I died. The next time I tried I got to floor 94 and I ran out of time, because I had no more pomanders to speed it up. Gunbreaker is alarmingly good, so durable with so many cooldowns and just enough healing that it can 1v1 some of the mobs that guides say are rated, "Impossible" for soloing.

The only thing I can think being more disheartening is that I saw a screenshot from a Japanese player's Astrologian attempt at solo POTD to 200. Astrologian is the worst job to take, because its DPS is so absurdly low that you start running out of time without a lot of good luck in the 150s. They got to floor 200, but within sight of their crest item, the time on the clock ran out. I've also heard of people getting to 200, and then disconnecting before getting their item. As *** as that is, that's still the whole dungeon.

Since the new relics are linked to POTD or Delubnum Reginae for the final step that's currently out, I reckon I'll try a time or two more for POTD. MCH was very very fast and interesting. DRK is slower but safer. I could take GNB, PLD, or RDM too, and I might. They don't really have much advantage over the other two though, other than PLD and GNB being able to use Landmine traps to score quicker clears if invuln is available.

I hope I make it to 200 one of these days, but I'd even just settle for actually beating the 180 boss solo. Been to 200 plenty with Drac, Ina, and others. Still need to convince Kali to go again sometime. *sigh*

I never liked POTD. I forgot about it completely.

I like it for the little smidgeon of story and the Ogre Battle Tactics crossover with the Necromancer on Floor 100. That and the Ogre Battle music injected directly into the game. Fog of Phantom among them.

I also enjoy the design for floors 151-200, 1-10, and the atmosphere when Gloom is active. 81-100 are also pretty neat with the corpses of knights hanging from the ceiling, and they even sway and swing a little.

It is pretty boring though, especially if you're using it for any purpose that's outside of it, like grinding EXP or building a Padjali or Kinna weapon for glams.

The sense of danger in the deep floors is both welcome, because it makes it exciting, but the work you gotta do to feel that excitement is only really worth it when you're with friends. But then, if you've been soloing down there, when you have friends, it feels effortless.

It's not usually something I choose to do over other stuff in the game unless there's a multi-task thing to gain from it. Like I did a ton of solo attempts on it on RDM on multiple characters in Stormblood, just to level RDM and just to see if I could make it to 200.

Same thing for Gunbreaker in SHB.

Now this relic quest. I think if I tried to dedicate my time to just getting the achievements, I'd probably be so sick of the place after a week or two, that I'd never want to see it again. I don't know how the guy that's obsessed with it does it. He's been to 200 and 100 on nearly every job, and he's even flexed on the place doing some of the deep bosses on RDM without Sustaining Potions at all.

I'm still really annoyed that I haven't cleared 200 PotD yet. I had a static a couple years ago that got really far before failing. We did another set of runs, got really high up... and then one member of our group just couldn't commit to even one more scheduled run to finish it off (RL complications, couldn't remember the exact details).

I occasionally see people calling for statics in Discord or Party Finder, but they either want to run at a time of day that doesn't work for me or they want to do 50-200 all in one go, which would take hours that I don't have to spare.

Some day I'll get there!

Welp seems I'm losing the rest of my rectum. Recovery is going to be so severe that I think I'd rather be dead.

I'm not sure of an appropriate way to respond, but I do hope there's a light at the end of the tunnel for you.

I'd hate to see that brain go to waste. I think our imperfections and pain are what build our character, so it may be helpful to focus on what you've built, rather than what's lost. Hang in there.

Does CBD help with your discomfort at all? Option outside opiates that work very well for some people.

work work work

I really recommend for anyone considering CBD therapy in a medical cannabis legal state to just go all out and get real flower. Most CBD products, and certainly those found in states that don't have legal cannabis, are derived from Cannabis Ruderallis or Hemp, not the psychotropic species of Cannabis Indica or Cannabis Sativa. As a result, their terpene counts are extremely low or even non-existent depending on their production methods.

What does this mean? Its actually the terpenes found in Cannabis that have the most medical value. In my case as an epileptic, I focus on strains that are high in Linalool in particular, along with a few other key terpenes that affect the brain. Linalool is found also in Lavender, which is why that is often used as a fragrance for relaxation and a sleep aid.

There are many terpenes that have been shown to help gastro-intestinal issues, migraines, joint pain, and other medical concerns. CBD is one of the primary chemicals that do affect us that is found in all strains of Cannabis, but often its biggest benefits are limited to inflammation. If you are going to stick to the CBD route, I suggest checking out Mary's Medicinals. They work in tandem with the US Olympic team in Colorado Springs, CO (home of the US Olympic Facilities) to meet or exceed WADA standards and provide products for athletes that won't get them banned, but still provide many benefits. They have some amazing things from muscle rubs to transdermal patches.

Best of luck on your journey for some relief.

You've been through so much, It's so sad life keeps hammering down on you like this. I hope you have enough emotional support and pain relief available.

It comes across so hollow on a forum post, but you've fought it this long, don't give up now.

Even my opioids don't do anything anymore. Only smoking gives me any relief and I have to stop that for now so it doesn't show up in my blood on the 19th

Refusal to do the surgery for starters.

If all the corporations that are swapping to work from home can effectively make this work and no longer need offices, why do they need to hire American workers at all?

They can hire anyone, from any country and not worry about visas or immigration problems. All they need is an internet connection, your country of birth will no longer a benefit.

It's going to be interesting to see the fallout from this being put into place in such a widespread fashion, heck the companies might even start setting up universities in foreign nations to train their future workers.

Work from home won't remain. It's unhealthy for businesses.

You can actually vote and accomplish things when you aren't stuck in an office or driving to the office the only 10 hours a day that you could've done things.

People start to... question things when they have free time, can't have that.

While there are some clear advantages on home work, one of the major aspect is surely harmed from this, and thats teamwork.

Because hiring individuals talents is one thing, but there is a limit about how much one can do solo. And the greatest accomplishment comes from big teams working on a project.

Despite how easy is to talk to someone through phone or whatsapp, its not the same empathy, and more than that, even old relationships starts becoming cold.

I joined a new department 21 days ago and im sure noticing that. The most ive been interacting is through some quick Teams video call reunions. And surely none came to me with a warm welcome. Neither anyone came to me to show me the department routines.

I think there is a heavy shift in the paradigms going on. Things are already moving too fast in just a single generation, hard to tell when the changes gonna slow down.

What are you? My boss who outsources design work to Vietnam through an American agency and then threatens us our jobs if we don't cover for them when they make mistakes so he can get away with saying "thank you for shopping local"?

Oops- did I say that out loud?

CPU tuning to take my mind off things. So far looking promising. Aiming for 5ghz @ 1.169v for a general single core setup and 4.7ghz @ 1.05v as general multicore.

My day is already ruined. Tuesday morning tradition to wake up and watch snowpiercer but there wasn't a new episode last night QQ.

Just go back to bed before it's too late!

Saw a clip from the predator earlier and it's so dumb, it was something like "Autism is the next step in human evolution" or something. That's not how evolution works.

Evolution is a system that exists purely to keep a species alive long enough to have young. That's it. It's not a system to make a species more advanced, or to turn us into beings of light. It only cares about doing whatever is necessary to promote the species onward to the next generations, even if that promotes mental and physical negatives.

If being more intelligent (in a time with BC and people choosing not to have kids because of cost) leads to less children being passed on with that trait it's a evolutionary failure. If having 4 arms, having an incredibly powerful immune system, a big head with a big brain in it, having 2 hearts does not aid you in having children then it's either an evolutionary failure or of no importance and will not become dominant. The future of humanity is whatever traits lead to people having kids, for better or worse. Any traits (no matter how good) that do not do this, are evolutionary failures and will not shape the future of humanity.

Outside of interference by society / governments / think tanks / whatever to artificially impact these things ofc.

Reminds me of that movie 2012 where they start talking about "mutating neutrinos", as though subatomic particles have DNA or something lmao

Radial, you should read "the marching morons" I think its by Fredric Pohl.

Jessi, neutrinos do mutate.