OT: Video Games/Computers/Gadgets/Gizmos

[jschligs]

You can also turn down a good amount of settings and still have it look great and play smoothly in 4k. I know it’s not the same but my 3080Ti can run most at 5120x1440 on high with 60FPS.

That’s also part of the allure of gaming laptops. Most screens are 1080p or 1440p and with the 4070s in them can run insanely well. If I was more mobile with my gaming I’d go back to a laptop, but I spend 98% of my time gaming in my office.

MikeIsGood you make me sad, I was looking for input on PoE and got nothing

Never played a game like it, I guess BG3? But considering dabbling for fun. Does it have cloud saves? I’d play on Steam Deck and my desktop if so.

[TroyD92]

You can also turn down a good amount of settings and still have it look great and play smoothly in 4k. I know it’s not the same but my 3080Ti can run most at 5120x1440 on high with 60FPS.

That’s also part of the allure of gaming laptops. Most screens are 1080p or 1440p and with the 4070s in them can run insanely well. If I was more mobile with my gaming I’d go back to a laptop, but I spend 98% of my time gaming in my office.

MikeIsGood you make me sad, I was looking for input on PoE and got nothing

Never played a game like it, I guess BG3? But considering dabbling for fun. Does it have cloud saves? I’d play on Steam Deck and my desktop if so.

Yeah this is a good point i forgot to mention. I was considering the benchmarks with Ultra+Insano graphics

[MikeIsGood]

MikeIsGood you make me sad, I was looking for input on PoE and got nothing

Never played a game like it, I guess BG3? But considering dabbling for fun. Does it have cloud saves? I’d play on Steam Deck and my desktop if so.

What!? I guess I missed that. Or I forgot. I will talk about POE all day long, man

It can be tough to get into just because it can be overwhelming to learn. There's tons of mechanics, options, and the skill tree is overwhelming. But you don't have to learn it all in one go. I think it's more about being comfortable: following a build guide, knowing that there's a lot that you won't know, knowing you'll want to look a lot up to solve that, and going slowly.

It's free to play. In time you'd want to at least purchase some stash tabs if you really get into it, but you could play for 100+ hours without spending a penny, easily. So there's really no reason to not give it a shot.

There are cloud saves; it's server-side, so it isn't even steam sync. I don't know about Steam Deck, other than per Googling it looks like it's not verified but does seem to be playable?

It will be much different than BG3. You're building a character, but the gameplay itself will be vastly different. But I think you should give it a shot! No harm in it. If you do, I'd recommend a beginner-friendly build guide that does a lot of hand-holding (which I mean in a really good way).

First, you'll want to download the Path of Building (POB) Community Fork here: https://pathofbuilding.community/
This is an app which you can load builds into and it helps guide you through the skill tree, gear, gems (the skills themselves), etc. The quality of the build depends on its creator.

Enki's Arc Witch: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1147951
This is historically the beginner gold standard. The general feedback seems to be that it's lost power recently, but there is PLENTY there to serve you through the campaign (which could take you 50+ hours your first time through), and the build guide is impeccable. The build's style is basically casting chain lightning.

Pohx's Righteous Fire: https://www.pohx.net/ (POB links are in the upper-left)
Another historically great beginner build. This is extremely strong for not just beginners but also as a league-starter for veterans right now, but the play style isn't for everyone. Once you have your build up and running (maybe 5-10 hours in for you?), you basically just run through packs and they die. This type of build is referred to as a walking simulator

Those are really the two I would most recommend because the guides themselves are so well done, but there are a ton of other options and I'm happy to dig some others up if neither appeal to you.

Also, YouTube is your friend. Not because I won't answer questions, but because it's in a better format. Video is super helpful for POE. Pohx's build video, for example:

Watch on YouTube

;t=15s

[BMatt07]

Uninspiring dev diary from Blizzard for the first D4 season IMO.

First of all, it was a mess and that drip-fed information over the course of an entire hour (before I gave up - may still be going). The lead guy kept talking over his producers and developers, at one point they started talking about colonoscopies - it was just a total waste of time and I think I learned my lesson to wait for a one-paragraph summary next time. (Edit: Maybe POE has spoiled me. I see that sentiment, and the same for Warframe, on the Diablo sub. First 10 minutes is a ton of exciting information about the new league, pre-produced. Then 20 more minutes deep-diving into each new thing, pre-produced. Then there's a live fireside if you want that type of thing. So much better.)

Second, the season itself seems extremely shallow. Lots more uniques and aspects, which is a good addition especially for a game early in its lifespan, but the mechanic being added is barely a mechanic. Wait to find an elite that's possessed, kill it, kill what it spawns, and you get a new type of item to slot into jewelry. After promising that the seasons they planned for D4 would be much bigger than what they did for D3, this was a big let down.

Came here to post this as well. Very lackluster reveal.. gems from D3 is basically the mechanic for Season 1, just terrible.

No new endgame activity to speak of. Endgame is still going to be an absolute bore. Have my Barbarian at 100 now and I have zero interest in playing at the moment.

Can't wait for the new PoE league reveal after seeing this D4 mess.

[Ryan5UW]

Only one that can is the 4090 really. I guess the 4080 and the amd équivalent possibly? But all the benches I’ve see have the 4090 as the only one stability in that 60fps range on 4k

That’s why part of me wants to just go more budget on the computer and then buy an Xbox - much cheaper 4K gaming lol

That website you shared is super helpful btw!

Well just for reference PC's graphics are significantly better. Just because it runs at 4k doesn't mean its the same experience. For reference. Also pretty sure most ps5 game's get limited to 30fps at 4k, but could be wrong there. I think the real value for PC is at 1080/1440 where you get similar graphics, but also run games at over 100fps

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

I did not realize that, thanks. I was playing around with that builder website - would an NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti card be overkill? It’s like $300 more than the one you had picked out. Is the difference worth it?

[TroyD92]

That’s why part of me wants to just go more budget on the computer and then buy an Xbox - much cheaper 4K gaming lol

That website you shared is super helpful btw!

Well just for reference PC's graphics are significantly better. Just because it runs at 4k doesn't mean its the same experience. For reference. Also pretty sure most ps5 game's get limited to 30fps at 4k, but could be wrong there. I think the real value for PC is at 1080/1440 where you get similar graphics, but also run games at over 100fps

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

I did not realize that, thanks. I was playing around with that builder website - would an NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti card be overkill? It’s like $300 more than the one you had picked out. Is the difference worth it?

There’s a lot of nuance in these questions lol. Welcome to modern GPU markets. If you check the link below you can compare parts. This includes performance(which the 3070ti is certainly better) as well as the value proposition(the 3070ti checks in pretty low there at about 70% vs the 3060ti’s 101%).

So the answer is up to you for this. I think in the new mid range of graphics cards the 3070ti is an okay value, but the 3060ti is a great value. However there is certainly some performance differences but is it worth the cost for your dollar is your choice! You can also check out the AMD equivalents(I’m sure some people here have AMD builds) as they are usually a better overall value, but you do lose certain things.

I’d recommend gamers nexus, Hardware Unboxed, and Daniel Owen for reviews on cards/cpus/etc. Really great resources.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-3070-Ti-vs-Nvidia-RTX-3060-Ti/4116vs4090

[TroyD92]

Baldurs Gate 3 looks so nuts.

[MikeIsGood]

Ooooh yeah, I am very heavily leaning starting this Monk Shadow class. Looks awesome.

[GoldenAntlers]

Ooooh yeah, I am very heavily leaning starting this Monk Shadow class. Looks awesome.

I wish it were possible to create an entire party, other than that I am super stoked for the game to finally release. I've been sitting on the early access for.... Three years now?

[ReasonablySober]

I didn't know BG3 was coming to PS5. Excited to finally check it out.

[chonestown]

Read on Twitter

Worthless.imo

[ReasonablySober]

Read on Twitter

Worthless.imo

If it doesn't become a place for news breakers and opinions on breaking news, it is indeed worthless.

That said,

Still, it seems inevitable that politics and news will trickle onto Threads in some way, especially if politicians and journalists use the platform during the 2024 presidential election cycle. And Instagram is working on a feed just for people you follow and a chronological feed, which, at least for me, should make Threads a much more useful place to find news.

if it functionally ends up working just like Twitter of old, news breakers will make their way over.

[chonestown]

Read on Twitter

Worthless.imo

If it doesn't become a place for news breakers and opinions on breaking news, it is indeed worthless.

That said,

Still, it seems inevitable that politics and news will trickle onto Threads in some way, especially if politicians and journalists use the platform during the 2024 presidential election cycle. And Instagram is working on a feed just for people you follow and a chronological feed, which, at least for me, should make Threads a much more useful place to find news.

if it functionally ends up working just like Twitter of old, news breakers will make their way over.

Agreed, but taps sign:

No chronological timeline
No way to filter out non-followers
No dice

Threads has the potential based simply on infrastructure but that same infrastructure seems hell-bent on discarding the positive attributes of twitter. Might be good reasons behind it: wary of moderation, potential of running afoul of IP issues, who knows.

Maybe Threads evolves into something more useful, but considering Facebook's recent forays I am less than hopeful.

ETA: Hey Chones, maybe read the quoted section RS includes, dumbass. Nonetheless.

[Matches Malone]

Read on Twitter

[MikeIsGood]

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

“Have you ever considered the joys and pleasures of sexual congress with a wildshaped Druid?” added lead writer Adam Smith. “Because at Larian, we have, and ultimately landed on the side of giving the people what they want: tender, consensual romance with a man temporarily transformed into a grizzly bear.”

[Sauce Boss]

Ooooh yeah, I am very heavily leaning starting this Monk Shadow class. Looks awesome.

I wish it were possible to create an entire party, other than that I am super stoked for the game to finally release. I've been sitting on the early access for.... Three years now?

If you have friends it’s technically possible with co-op. But yeah can’t do it solo.

[MikeIsGood]

Ooooh yeah, I am very heavily leaning starting this Monk Shadow class. Looks awesome.

I wish it were possible to create an entire party, other than that I am super stoked for the game to finally release. I've been sitting on the early access for.... Three years now?

If you have friends it’s technically possible with co-op. But yeah can’t do it solo.

They did mention today (and maybe previously?) that there are hireling available for each of the 12 classes that are otherwise fully customizable. I didn't see a reference to how many of them you can have (my guess is one), but at some point in the story it sounds like you can at least create one other character to your liking.

[Couch Potato]

I ordered Kill Zone 2 for PS3 on EBAY for $10.50 and free shipping. They have community servers up for it I hear.

[StickeeFingaz]

Just downloaded Halls of Torment. It's $3.99 and looks fun.

[ReasonablySober]

Just downloaded Halls of Torment. It's $3.99 and looks fun.

As someone who's put a crazy high amount of hours into Vampire Survivors, I'm pretty bummed this is PC only right now. It looks awesome.