Mexal

I'm playing a ice shards sorc. At level 72, not finding any issues with it though I've only done a level 24 nightmare. I haven't tried to push further. I'm level 72 now, have only done level 24 Nightmares like once and have almost all Ancestral gear (unique chest and sacred amulet only). Between Helltides, grinding renown and a few NM dungeons, I haven't had much issue finding upgrades. I think at this point, the grind is a lot to get even more, which is possible I guess, but not sure how much better it'll be over time outside of maybe some level 800 weapons. For most part, I sell or salvage everything right now.

For me, I never went back to tier iii once I got to IV at around level 65. Rather than do nightmares and helltides, I focused on renown so finished up a lot of side quests / aspect dungeons to get the +4 paragon points - have done that for everywhere except Dry Steppes. The combination of that plus upgrades in gear from killing shit has given me a boost in tier iv. I’m level 72 or so now and did fine in helltides and level 22 nightmare dungeons.

Yea. Seems unlikely to be honest but I like the idea. There is a fascinating chain freeze ice shard build I want to try but single target dps isn’t as good once you clear out some stats for uniques/new aspects. Cool build to play and burn through helltides but maybe not as good in nightmare dungeons. I’m just way too lazy to make all these skills/gear changes to try these, only to change back since it’s not as great for every situation.

Think it’s timing on players too. Lots of teams won’t sell until they have a replacement or they can’t buy until they sell. Been an issue with Arsenal previously. Couldn’t afford who they wanted early so waited to sell some players or get a deal towards end of window. This summer they’ve just spent and are now looking to sell to recoup some of the investment.

I would love loadouts. I have three sorc builds I’d like to try and they require slightly different aspects/skills/gear. These builds matter depending on what I’m doing.

Arsenal doing some serious business this summer regardless of whether people think it’s good business. Wage bill becoming under control has contributed and they clearly have the full backing of KSE. Most importantly, they are getting some major signings in early and before preseason with PL experience so integration should be fairly seamless. Pretty exciting time to be an Arsenal fan given youth of squad and upward trajectory.

Yea I haven’t kept anything really, just gear with good aspects (even if not highly rolled) so I can extract when I find an upgrade. Prob not great for other aspects that I will need for alts but I find so much gear, I’ll find what I need.

Probably my next character, or a rogue. Just want to get my sorc to a decent spot. I’m in tier iv now running through all my renown things so I can get all my free paragon points. I did a level 23 nightmare at 65 and got rocked but finding open world and aspect dungeons fairly easy now that I upgraded one or two pieces of equipment.

I don’t think Carmen and Syd is a romantic thing. Everything about them is professional and her annoyance with Carmy over Claire was that she was taking him away from what they were building and that spawned jealousy. Syd is more likely to romantically end up with Marcus.

It’s an absolutely abysmal show. The further it goes on, the worse it gets.

I’m annoyed by Flo. I get he got a taste of first team play and wants that exclusively, but that’s the point of loans. Fight for your place, make an impact. Annoyed that we are going to sell a 21 year old talent who had 20+ goals.

Totally agree with this. They very much do, which is unfortunately the problem every team has with City. Every misstep in the transfer market puts them further behind because they can't just replace that person with someone of the same cost the following season if they fail like City can. Arteta has a pretty good record so far so I'm hoping for the best.

The big thing there that Arteta wouldn't like is "Possession Lost". 8 for Rice vs 12.6 for Neves. That matters. Also, for the record, I like Neves a lot.

Mac Allister can't do what Rice can. They're just not the same players. Rice was bought because he: Intercepts passes at the highest rate of anyone in his position which is super important in Arteta's compact pressing scheme Successfully completes the most long passes in his position, constantly switching play after intercepting, which is critical for quickly turning defense to attack with Martinelli/Saka isolated out wide One of the best in his position at taking on players and driving forward - critical for breaking press or after intercepting, breaking lines before distributing Is a leader on the pitch which we lose with Xhaka leaving This is just not Mac Allister. I like Mac Allister and I get the point of comparing him with Havertz given we bought him as an 8, but not to Rice. For what Arsenal was looking for, think the only option in the PL was Caicedo (which I would have loved) but I think Arteta views the English leadership as a very strong need. If City bought Rice as an 8, think it's entirely possible he could play there, similar to Xhaka, but think he's better used as an engine behind. Think it's funny City bid 90m, Bayern wanted in for Rice and yet we're arguing that Arsenal could have bought a better player in Mac Allister for half the price for a different position than they bought Rice for. ETA: What I will say is that teams are reloading with some exciting talent and next year will be super competitive. Looking forward to it.

That would be really good for them if it turns out to be true. I guess we shall see.

Watched first two last night, really enjoying the fight scenes and Ciri. Going to miss Henry

Fixed fee for Havertz for arsenal is like 50m with 15m add ons. The media shifted the reporting on to just talk about total package but that was the bid.

I love this signing.

Nah, fee was in range of like 90m I think.

Yea, I use Frigid Breeze (3/3), Avalanche and the aspect that goes with it plus the lucky hit aspect when barrier up. My mana is fine at 61 but it’s not unlimited yet hence the extra protection. Love the character though.

Makes sense. I haven’t tried it, might need to just for fun. I tried Inferno but didn’t love it so went back to Deep Freeze. Given I haven’t entirely sorted out my mana issues, the 4s invulnerability helps with mana regen and cooldown. Think if I had more mana reduction and/or cooldown reduction, that’ll help. Think I’m only at 16% for mana and 20% for cdr.

And yet still taking a massive loss on Havertz. Hilarious really but then we spent 70m on Pepe and are getting nothing back from that.

Pep is great. Arteta is doing something insane right now with Arsenal, akin to what Klopp did with Liverpool. Honestly, I don’t care to compare, as an Arsenal fan, I’m thrilled we are relevant again (with an incredibly young squad) and I believe in the whole club (manager, front office, youth set up) in a way I haven’t in my time following them. That’s Arteta and he has my complete loyalty.

At moment, I’m not using either. I have Deep Freeze for when I have cooldown issues (or mana), Frostblitz aspect for extra frost nova and I just use my ice shards to melt. So I teleport in, pull, drop a frost nova and melt. Do it again and maybe drop a deep freeze to give me a few seconds and repeat. I really don’t have much issues right now so kinda sticking with this. I see the value of Meteor but I don’t really need to add it to the rotation so haven’t played around with it yet. Maybe at higher levels I will need the dps, not sure yet. Thoughts?

The big thing about Rice is he had 65 interceptions last season. The most our midfield had was Partey and that was 26. He had 315 forward Carrie’s, Partey had most and it was 250. I think given Artetas push to run a high line, compact midfield and instantly get the ball back in the opponents half, Rice will bring an immense amount of strength to the midfield that will create lots of opportunities. That’s why he’s worth it for us (that and breaking a press through driving forward). To your point about being the deepest, think this is why he wants Timber, a player that can easily invert on the right side into the midfield, similar to Zinchenko. Not sure if Havertz will be capable of sliding back into Rice’s spot similar to what Xhaka would do. That’ll be a gap. Anyway, should be interesting how this all works. One thing I will disagree with is I think we are clearly stronger in our starting XI than we were last season. And I think we are more versatile, could put Rice and Partey/Jorginho in midfield together and that’s pretty damn good.