BeardyHat's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentMy feelings as well. I've been on Turtle for something like 7ish years now, starting just before the Pandemic; it wasn't my first Vanilla Private Server, but it was certainly my favorite. Funny...My feelings as well. I've been on Turtle for something like 7ish years now, starting just before the Pandemic; it wasn't my first Vanilla Private Server, but it was certainly my favorite. Funny enough, I don't think I played as much as you, as my hardcore WoW days are over, but I'd drop in a couple times a year for several weeks to a month or two and play. I always had fun discovering new stuff they added (even original stuff I hadn't seen in my 22 years playing the game) and absolutely agree with you; I'm not sure I can go back to a normal Vanilla server when I get the itch again.
I'll probably give it a go anyway, but I may try out a Wrath server. I do like Wrath, though I prefer Vanilla so much more. But we'll see what happens, I may actually be all done with WoW for the first time in two decades.
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Comment on World of Warcraft private server Turtle WoW to shut down May 14 2026 in ~games
BeardyHat LinkBeen on Turtle most of those 8 years off and on and I figured it was the beginning of the end when they started hyping up the switch to Unreal. Figured there was no way that wouldn't catch the eye...Been on Turtle most of those 8 years off and on and I figured it was the beginning of the end when they started hyping up the switch to Unreal. Figured there was no way that wouldn't catch the eye of Blizzard and it's lawyers.
I'm mostly done with WoW right now anyway, but I always come back eventually. Thankfully there's no shortage of Private servers, but Turtle was something special.
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Comment on Amazon killing purchasing, borrowing and downloading books for older Kindles in ~tech
BeardyHat Link ParentAh ok, KUAL sounds familiar, you're probably correct. I gave up pretty quickly at any rate, since it wasn't syncing my Libby book and all I really wanted to do was read. Either way, I'd been...Ah ok, KUAL sounds familiar, you're probably correct.
I gave up pretty quickly at any rate, since it wasn't syncing my Libby book and all I really wanted to do was read. Either way, I'd been considering replacing that Kindle for over a year, so it just gave me an excuse when I reformatted it anyway and it wouldn't reconnect to Amazon.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
BeardyHat LinkOn March 10th, @semsevfor asked me to give an update if I played Half-Life: Alyx and I wanted to return and say that I finally had. However, I've kind of given up on it. Not because it's bad or...On March 10th, @semsevfor asked me to give an update if I played Half-Life: Alyx and I wanted to return and say that I finally had.
However, I've kind of given up on it. Not because it's bad or anything, in fact, I think it's pretty great. I just struggle with it, because the time to play it is around 8:30pm, just after my wife and I have put the kids down and all I really want to do is vegetate on the couch. Though I've also had some issues with my slow processor speed causing issues with Textures not loading and needing me to Save and Reload to get them to load correctly. I've actually been thinking about using my less powerful laptop next time I do play because while the GPU is worse, the CPU is better and I figure that could maybe help. But then again, I haven't felt the motivation to actually get it installed and functioning on there, due to what I mentioned above.
Anyway, I think it's a lovely game, I might just need my kids to get a little older before I play it in earnest.
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Comment on Amazon killing purchasing, borrowing and downloading books for older Kindles in ~tech
BeardyHat Link ParentYeah, I don't know what it was. I like the original Kindle interface, where I just see my books and can easily find them to read; with KoReader, I felt like I was drilling into Menus and stuff,...Yeah, I don't know what it was. I like the original Kindle interface, where I just see my books and can easily find them to read; with KoReader, I felt like I was drilling into Menus and stuff, but again, I hacked my Kindle several months ago and then didn't use it, so I couldn't remember what the hell I was supposed to be doing. So maybe I wasn't even in KoReader or whatever? I just ended-up in a Menu where I could see the file system and I just didn't feel like putting in the effort to figure out how to navigate it.
I'm a born tinkerer, but a lot of times these days with my technology, I just want it to work when I'm ready to use it and after jailbreaking my Kindle, I didn't feel like it "just worked" anymore.
And my primary use for it these days has been with Libby, so it didn't really make sense to continue using it and leave it Jailbroken if I couldn't use that.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentI've also been playing a bit of Starfield and also apparently have the Premium edition (it came with my GPU three years ago), but I'm not sure I'm enjoying it or not? I had minimal complaints...I've also been playing a bit of Starfield and also apparently have the Premium edition (it came with my GPU three years ago), but I'm not sure I'm enjoying it or not?
I had minimal complaints about the game back in 2023 and enjoyed it enough to play over 85-hours of it. I ended-up starting a new character here, because I can't remember anything about what I was doing or what was happening and I'm kind of just feeling, "eh", about it so far. Not to say it's bad, but so far it doesn't feel markedly different to me from where it was when I last played it.
I did do a little bit of the traveling through the systems and that seems cool, very similar to Elite: Dangerous, but I'm not sure that alone is enough to keep me invested. I did finally have my first Zero-G encounter after 90-hours of total gameplay, so that was neat, though again didn't feel very game changing to me.
I can't decide if I want to continue or not. I do like Starfield, but I'm also not really feeling like it's pulling me back in for more right now; however, that could be due to my general mood at the moment, where I'm not feeling like playing a game that is heavy on dialogue. I'm kind of in a mood as of late where I want to play stuff in short bursts and I don't really feel like Starfield lends itself to that very well, so it may just be me.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
BeardyHat Link ParentI've put about 10-hours into this game in the past two weeks and I have to agree with your criticism, especially as a person who worked in the video section of a grocery store around 2001-2003....I've put about 10-hours into this game in the past two weeks and I have to agree with your criticism, especially as a person who worked in the video section of a grocery store around 2001-2003. And I actually thought it was Early Access, so the fact that they may or may not be adding more to the game (which I guess EA is no promise of anyway) is a little...eh.
That said, I have enjoyed my time with it and it does feel good to just kind of turn my brain off and relax with. It's been working for me on the level that it's a game that's not constantly trying to talk at me or show me stuff, it just opens the doors and lets me go at my own pace, which suits me right now. Though I do feel like it's run out of stuff. I've hired my first employee and that kind of feels like where the gameplay ends; the employee checks people out and every day I simply run around handing out flyers to people to try and get more business into the store. At the end of the day, I scan in all the returns and then close. If I hired another person to do returns, it really feels like I'd have not much else to do, so adding stuff like you mentioned would really change things up.
One of the things I used to do in the video store when I worked there was add fake people (Jesus Christ to name one) and put notes on their account about how they often returned tapes and DVDs late or broken.
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Comment on Amazon killing purchasing, borrowing and downloading books for older Kindles in ~tech
BeardyHat Link ParentI hacked mine (per my post the other day), but actually didn't like it. I don't doubt that increased functionality, but for me it just ended up being too fiddly. My Libby books wouldn't sync...I hacked mine (per my post the other day), but actually didn't like it.
I don't doubt that increased functionality, but for me it just ended up being too fiddly. My Libby books wouldn't sync anymore and I didn't like trying to navigate the Koreader interface. I generally don't mind tinkering, but I just appreciated that the Kindle interface just worked and was easy to use.
I won't argue that jailbreaking brings some extra stuff, but it also feels like there's something in terms of easy useability that's lost in the process. But maybe that's just because mine is 14 years old.
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Comment on Amazon killing purchasing, borrowing and downloading books for older Kindles in ~tech
BeardyHat LinkI thought this was apropos. A couple of months ago, I jailbroke my 2012 Kindle Paperwhite, which was functioning just fine. No real reason to do so, I just thought it could add extra...I thought this was apropos.
A couple of months ago, I jailbroke my 2012 Kindle Paperwhite, which was functioning just fine. No real reason to do so, I just thought it could add extra functionality; but after finally picking it back up again, I couldn't remember how to use it properly and realized I didn't really care about any extra features of the jailbreak.
So I factory reset it and tried to register it again with Amazon. It kept turning me down. I deleted it from my account and tried over the next several days, figuring there was maybe some issue on Amazons end.
Turns out, they maybe already disabled support for it, per this article. Ah well, I figured after owning it for the 8 years I have, it was time for something different, so I picked up a used Boox Go 6, which I've been pretty happy with. I like that it runs Android, which feels like it'll end up having decent amount of life in it and I enjoy that I can put whatever I want on it, given it's a more open platform.
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Amazon killing purchasing, borrowing and downloading books for older Kindles
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Comment on Used electric vehicles are a bargain right now in ~transport
BeardyHat Link ParentI don't own an EV, but I do have a small car. Sizing up the tires in width actually made a pretty good impact in snow. Previously I was using the stock size tire, which I think was 185/55r16 and...I don't own an EV, but I do have a small car. Sizing up the tires in width actually made a pretty good impact in snow. Previously I was using the stock size tire, which I think was 185/55r16 and after twelve years of owning the car, I finally made the choice to go with a wider tire, which I think was a 205? I can't recall exactly and I can't check as the my wife took the car to work, but it handles significantly better and handles the snow significantly better than those skinny stock tires.
I've noticed most EVs have pretty skinny tires, I'm assuming to eliminate rolling resistance, but if I were to own one, I'd definitely size up and take the hit on range so I could have something that performs better in a general context.
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Comment on Mamma mia! ‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ karts $372M+ in global debut, best for Hollywood pic YTD; ‘Project Hail Mary’ on path to half billion in ~movies
BeardyHat Link ParentWe took our kids to see Goat relatively recently and this was how both myself and my wife felt about that movie. Fast moving nonsense. At the end, I found myself just kind of mentally exhausted...We took our kids to see Goat relatively recently and this was how both myself and my wife felt about that movie. Fast moving nonsense. At the end, I found myself just kind of mentally exhausted and I kept having to resist the urge to pull out my phone during it.
I imagine this one is much the same. My kids saw it, I didn't take them, but apparently they both fell asleep in the car on the ride home, which isn't a terribly typical thing for them anymore, so maybe they felt as I did after Goat.
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Comment on Competence is lonely. Nobody talks about why. in ~health.mental
BeardyHat LinkOut of curiosity, those that see themselves in this article, are you the type that Work becomes all encompassing? I ask because I see this in people I know. My sibling is highly competent, but all...Out of curiosity, those that see themselves in this article, are you the type that Work becomes all encompassing?
I ask because I see this in people I know. My sibling is highly competent, but all she does is work, her life centers around it and not much else. She goes in early, stays late and does paperwork at home. She's a doctor, so I can appreciate the need to take care of her patients, but I rarely see her and she rarely sees my kids and doesn't socialize much at all.
I also have a friend, who was my colleague at one time, who seemed lonely for a period and a large part of that (they could answer for themselves, if they see this post) felt to me like it was because they were very engaged with work, often working even when home. This is another person I would consider highly competent.
But in my friends case, they finally had an epiphany that what we were doing wasn't crucial, wasn't life saving and the company didn't actually give a shit about us (I'm going to credit myself with trying to hammer this into them for the years we worked together) and since then has very much expanded their social group and become something of a social butterfly, I'd say.
Anecdotally, it seems to me that highly competent people are also Workaholics and this is what often compromises other areas of life, such as being social and I can see that leading to loneliness.
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Comment on Boomer hate in ~society
BeardyHat Link ParentI got to do it to a teenager whom I played against in a tournament not too long ago. Our score at the end of the game ended-up being me 6 points, him 7; so I was like, "Oh hey, you know what...?"...I got to do it to a teenager whom I played against in a tournament not too long ago. Our score at the end of the game ended-up being me 6 points, him 7; so I was like, "Oh hey, you know what...?" and dropped it on him. To watch him cringe was absolutely hilarious to me as a 40-something year old man.
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Comment on Boomer hate in ~society
BeardyHat Link ParentJust anecdotally, it's a mixed bag, as every generation is. I know a lot of Boomers who are quite conservative and a lot that are pretty liberal. I know a similar handful of younger folks...Also it's a little confusing if you look at the 1960s and see how progressive they were when they were young, and they seemed to forget all that once they had money.
Just anecdotally, it's a mixed bag, as every generation is. I know a lot of Boomers who are quite conservative and a lot that are pretty liberal. I know a similar handful of younger folks (20's-40's) who are the same gamut.
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Comment on DORF: The last, best hope for real-time strategy in ~games
BeardyHat LinkSounds neat with the logistical aspects and multi-weapon aspects of the units. I'll buy it if it ever makes it out the door. I have felt pretty fundamentally disappointed with every RTS that's...Sounds neat with the logistical aspects and multi-weapon aspects of the units. I'll buy it if it ever makes it out the door.
I have felt pretty fundamentally disappointed with every RTS that's come out the door since the original C&C/RA. Not that I've played a ton of them, but I bought Act of Aggression and it was pretty meh and then last year I picked-up Tempest Rising, which was better, but I ultimately fell off of after 10 or so hours. The only "recent" RTS game I stuck with was the rerelease of the original C&C/RA back in 2020, which I've put well over 100-hours into and still regularly go back and play.
Nothing else has really scratched the itch for me, though Dorf looks pretty interesting.
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Comment on CGA-2026-04 🕹️🚀🧑🚀 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Space Rogue in ~games
BeardyHat LinkSo I haven't officially started just yet and just as in previous CGA's, I intend to participate, though probably won't make it very far if I know myself, which I'm pretty sure I do. At any rate,...So I haven't officially started just yet and just as in previous CGA's, I intend to participate, though probably won't make it very far if I know myself, which I'm pretty sure I do. At any rate, I'll fill out the Friendship Book anyway:
Your Callsign: Iceman.
It's something that started for me long ago when I first played Descent and has just stuck with me through any space themed game I play; I never use the name anywhere else. I'm guessing I chose Iceman because I was a big fan of Top Gun and saying "Callsign" just made me think of that rather than, "Name." as an input box.Pilot's Choice: I much prefer to game on a Gamepad these days, which is odd for me. I switched to PC only when I was about 11 and thought I'd never turn my back on Keyboard (and later, Mouse), but as I've aged, I'm so much more comfortable with a Gamepad. Probably because I dislike sitting at a desk or using my laptop on my lap or on my couch arm. I'll probably play on Steam Deck, because I love that I can customize the controls pretty drastically. Looking forward to Steam Controller 2...someday.
Your Origin Story: Again, I have to say, "These days", because I prefer slower paced games today, having cut my teeth on FPS games when I first started PC gaming. I still like FPS games and will play them here and there (just finished a rerun of the Half-Life series), but I much prefer a slow strategy game today. I'll probably enjoy the Rogue parts the most...
Previous Missions: I've played a good amount of Elite: Dangerous and a little bit of Ultima 7. I did know of Space Rogue before this, but if I'm honest, I mostly avoided it because while it was intriguing, I don't think it'll be a game I play for very long. Never did play Wing Commander, though I bought Privateer not too long ago on GOG and have yet to play it.
First Flight: Doom. Doom was when I switched to PC gaming full time, because I'd never had an experience like that before coming from the NES and Genesis. Doom was so scary to me at the time and even after I'd clear a level of monsters, I'd just walk around and explore, feeling like it was a real place and imagining what kind of stuff was beyond the boundries of the levels and into the Skyboxes.
A World to Call Home: Dun Morogh in the Vanilla World of Warcraft. I've started and played so many Dwarf characters over the years in that game, being in that space is just warm and cozy to me, in spite of the snowy cold of the zone.
Your North Star: Games for me are always a personal insert and being that I'm a service oriented person, I tend to help people at the cost of myself. I do take things for personal gain, but if there's a Beggar or someone in a game asking for a handout, I give it to them, even if I'm broke. I'll help people, often to my detriment, because I feel that it often becomes a trap in game (literally. You get mugged).
Preferred Mission Type: Probably the Socio-Political? Star Wars bores me, but I loved The Expanse and I'm a huge fan of Star Trek; I've been recently going through Deep Space Nine for the first time. I hated it as a kid, but as a 40-something year old man, I'm just soaking it up, love it. I don't engage with a ton of SciFi, but I definitely like it.
Liftoffs: Used to be very into it when I was a young adult. Followed a lot of space exploration and news, but I've kind of fallen off that as an older person; I care less and less about space the older I get. I probably will not be following the current Moon mission, given I actually wasn't even aware of it until it was mentioned here...
Docking Procedures: Is it cheating if I say a DOS computer? I like the old consoles, but PC gaming has been my jam for a long time and all my absolute favorite games lie there. If I was told no to a computer, I'd probably go with a SNES, I'd suppose. I grew-up with a Genesis and there's a lot of that system I still haven't seen and plenty I've come to know in recent years that I quite like (Shining Force), but there's an absolute heap I don't know or haven't played on the SNES.
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Comment on Megathread: April Fools' Day 2026 on the internet in ~talk
BeardyHat Link ParentI've been over Warhammer for quite awhile now, but I can't help but laugh at this. This is pretty damned good.I've been over Warhammer for quite awhile now, but I can't help but laugh at this. This is pretty damned good.
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Comment on How to tolerate annoying things in ~health.mental
BeardyHat Link ParentI have this issue, as well. I have no idea if I'm autistic, but things do tend to happen and I can't help but focus on them, which causes me great annoyance. But sleep, yeah. I used to stay-up...I have this issue, as well. I have no idea if I'm autistic, but things do tend to happen and I can't help but focus on them, which causes me great annoyance.
But sleep, yeah. I used to stay-up late all the time and tried to continue doing that when I got into my 30's and had kids and it just doesn't work, I'm a miserable person if that happens and I can't cope with anything. Now I just go to sleep if I'm tired, because I know nothing good is going to come of me staying-up late anymore.
I've been back to dabbling in Abiotic Factor continuing my run, which I left off at the Reactors. I spent maybe another ten hours or so in it in the last two weeks, steadily working my way through the area and now I'm finally towards the end of it and exploring the next Portal World, which I made some progress in. I've grown a little bored of the game again, however and the only thing that's really keeping me going is that my oldest Son enjoys watching me play, so I usually only play when he asks me to.
Otherwise, what I've been absolutely hooked on is Pillars of Eternity; they finally added the turn based mode to it, which I've been waiting literal years for. I had previously played about 42-hours between a couple of characters and enjoyed it well enough, but never really felt super compelled by it. But, in the past two weeks, I've somehow put nearly 14-hours in (which is quite a lot for me at this point in my life) with a new character and I'm just constantly eager to go back to it and thinking about the game a lot. I only just now unlocked Defiance Bay, which I'm steadily making my way towards.
The turn based combat really changes the game up for me. I've played plenty of real time games in the past, such as Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, etc, but they never really hit for me in the same way. I tends to feel like I'm just playing an RTS game, because I just highlight all my characters and send them to attack and don't think about it much beyond that. Turn based mode really gets my juices flowing and I end-up thinking about each combat encounter and how I'll approach them; where I'll position people and what skills I might use as their turns come-up. Something I really like about how they've done the combat in it this time around is that people get turns based on their weapons and initiative level, but not in that D&D-style where a higher Initiative just means you get to act first in combat. Initiative means you will get to act more in combat.
For example, I often start combats off with my Warrior firing off his heavy crossbow. This usually does heavy damage to whatever he hits, but my Warrior is often then stuck there until his turn comes around again and he can switch to his sword and board. Contrast this with someone like my Rogue, who is using light weapons, always gets the first action, but also gets to usually act two more times before my Warrior gets another action. I love this, because against heavily armored enemies (who usually will smack my Rogue down in a few hits if I let them), my Rogue can swing around and just stab the crap out of them repeatedly before they even get a chance. And often, hitting enemies with Daze's and the like, you can pretty much lock them down into never being able to act before you kill them.
Couple this with the fact that now positioning is a lot easier and matters more to me. I'm able to lock down a doorway and force enemies to fight my Warrior while everyone hits them from the backline and any enemies that want to attack anyone else have to go all the way around the room, if that's even an option. This is, of course, still a thing in real time, but it feels so much more impactful now.
Of course, the flipside of this is that I also get a little fatigued from the combat, personally. Especially exploring a dungeon or wilderness area, it can become kind of grueling, because you're stepping into fights very frequently and they can take five minutes per, depending on what the enemies are and how many of them there are. So I find myself taking more frequent breaks just to break off the combat. I do believe I can switch over to Real Time if I want, just to get through a lot of this, but I haven't actually tried that yet.
Anyway, still loving it and can't wait to get back to it.