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A Happy F4ce

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  1. so I went to my first AA meeting today. I went to listen, ended up sharing (ever the showman). Here's some songs I listened to after the meeting. I think this song captures my feelings of fear, narcissism and abandonment better than any other. Sia wrote the night she tried to yeet herself, I've always found it so powerful. it's so simple yet complex. And She's like me. she had the same little "problem" this song really captures that sense of disappointment in yourself you feel the next day. I love P!nk. some say she's just an edgy Britney, but I think Avril Lavigne is more worthy of that charge. " we thow tantrums like parties we're not happy until everyone knows we're sick and that's just how we like it we've hurt bad enough right we've earned this don't tell the others but its all getting old how many more times must our stories be told and being lonely's only fun in a group it sort of loses it's charm when its true I meant it when I said, I wanna get well." -Misfit
  2. Intro: “Hi (Again)” Oh, Hi there. It’s your favourite (or least favourite) narcissist, Misfit, here. You may know me by the names socialmisfit1, BAZINGA or “that weirdo from the discord”. I quit this game dramatically (to myself, anyway) some months ago, but there’s still a persistent itch for it in a way I can’t fully articulate. I think it’s because there’s a deep sense of betrayal, not only to me but to the people I came to love, that I’ve never fully addressed. So I think to finally close the door I need to vomit up the full contents of the venom I’ve held in about the game and its direction for the past decade. You heard me right. Decade. I joined this game from the beginning (the socialmisfit1 account predates SM in fact being created November 2011). But enough about me. Here’s a comprehensive guide to everything wrong with SuperMechs. I’ve decided to segment this rant-essay. Wether that helped or was warranted is up to the reader, I’m drunk and bored, and looking at an old toy and calling it stupid. Am I crazy? Are you?? You decide. Arena: “Rock Paper Scissors Mechs” When I joined super mechs I remember the Bain of the community was the “Jugglers”. These were mechs used what’s now known as “Grenade launchers” and “Orb Cannons” the most contemporary survival of which is the desert snake. You pushed you pulled, you pushed you pulled. As the time went by I saw it fall out of use and several push then pulls replaced it along with several “huggers”, “pushers” and “jumpers”. Hell, in late legacy, we saw a “healers” meta based on the healer drone. My gripe is not and never has been with a chosen play style. My gripe is and always has been with the counter roulette. This to an extent is a result of power creep, sliding one slider to the max has served music engineers well more and more the more we develop new ways to make “more” sound. likewise, the more its been made accessible to deal more damage in any direction the more its seemed a logical choice to slide one slider to the max at the expense of others. But I don’t think that’s why Arena is shet now. I think it’s one of the reasons sure but it wasn’t this bad at the start of reloaded and I don’t think we reached some kind of organic critical mass in this way. Let’s go back. Some of you may not know the story of how “arena 2v2” was born. Allow me to enlighten you. Before reloaded we were told legacy items would “still be powerful". Reloaded: was released. Tacticsoft: “whoops we lied. Why are you complaining idiot? Get over it… can I have some money?”. So at the beginning of reloaded very few players could even field one complete mech. The way it used to work is you picked 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3 every battle regardless of rank. Late legacy 3v3 was prefferred, at beginning of reloaded all anyone could afford was 1v1, so 2v2 and 3v3 were empty. Everyone played 1v1. Even as 2v2 and 3v3 filled up early reloaded was defined by the 1v1 arena where late legacy had been defined by 3v3. To counter this a genius, protégée, son of the bright sun, Mohadib decided the game wasn’t “competitive” enough in arena and the solution was to kill battle type choice and replace all battles with “arena 2v2” which is the style of 2v2 everyone knows today. You build 3. You pick two. I maintain to this day, that while reloaded had definite problems, this is the moment super mechs “died”. Suddenly building wildcards and “picking right” became a viable Strat whereas in old 1v1 an unrounded mech would be punished more than rewarded and in 3v3 switching would dismantle “no en gays”. A combination of power creep and mohadib’s enablement of a “rock paper scissors” matchup opened up a pandora’s box in sm. theoretically if the community had always been committed to running hard counters and rolling dice against each other this would have been viable in the old system, but the consensus was that it was not only not fair play, but suicidally impractical, prevented a critical mass in this style of play. Mohadib turned this consensus. In trying to make arena more competitive, he killed all intelligence, honour and cunning in arena. As time went on no moves were made by Tacticsoft (or to date, Gato) to undo this critical misfire. Nay, as time went on there was only doubling down with HP stackers like the claw and damage packers like frantic brute and non heat scopes, and literal posts made by TS staff on the old forum saying they’re fine with players who rely entirely on RNG. Arena took a nose dive, and has never stopped diving into the abyss since. Players who blame individual builds, please consider that TS killed arena, not the players necessarily. They forced mutually assured gambling. If I don’t play counters, then my ENEMY will, so I MUST. It’s the prisoners dilemma. Mohadib made humanity’s natural suspicion of each other destroy the competitiveness of what he tried to save. Because he’s stupid. It COULD have been reversed but it never was. Now, it’s institutionalised. I’m not going to get into blatant cheating, but boosting is a natural consequence of this mindset shift. People don’t play arena to have fun or show skill any more for the most part. They play to make pixel number go up. Its shameful. Its frustrating. And Gato simply watches and cashes in after years since the TS exodus. Campaign: “Chores, but for fun!” Hey, buddy, just get off from work/school? Oh you look tired. Long day? Ah I get it. Hey, I know! What you need is to watch an autopilot fight dumb robots for 2 hours! You still have to click like 3 times every 2 minutes but it’s mostly automated now at least! And hey, we added double speed (while reducing base speed by half) to make it go quicker champ. Seriously. Does ANYONE honestly enjoy this game’s “campaign”. Chores, chores, chores. The solution to a boring campaign? Asked tacticsoft. More chores! Said they. Titan, clan wars, raid battles. Same every time. OD 6, Titan, clan wars setup, clan wars attacks, raid, raid, OD6, raid, tian battle, OD 6, same every time, Clan war setup, titan tickets, raid, OD6, raid, Clan war Attack, same every time, OD6, Titan attack, raid, titan tickets, clan war, titan, raid, OD 6, clan war AAAAAAAAAAA Who likes this sheet? It’s not entertaining. And the amount of time investment, if you really consider it, per Max item is simply a scandal. Really think about how much time you’re putting into every jet black item. Really. You may disagree now, but think about it. Value yourselves, value your time, my friends. Don’t get me started on upgrading. If you enjoy that sheet you’re on the spectrum. Management: “A Tale of Two Heads in Ancient Sand” Don’t we all love Tacticsoft? What a story, man. Small Israeli startup, starts with battle dawn then finds success with the spinoff SuperMechs based off the BD mini game. Nah, we don’t. Let’s not get into the angel investors wich propped the company up, after they started pulling in from super mechs the fundamental issue always was they never understood the game they managed. They grew increasingly out of touch with how it was played, what was enjoyable about it and the opinions of the players who paid their wages. At the start of reloaded TS got a shock when a consumer revolt lost a majority of the existing base. I don’t think they expected that. They expected the majority to be okay with them betraying their word that their items would “still be powerful”. And it was a lie. It was a betrayal. There’s no other way to put it. Converting it for the chance of a valiant isn’t the same as it still being valuable. We all put a lot into that stuff. Real money even from many (myself included). So they lost a lot but the game was going g well they created something fresh eh? Sure to draw in new blood. And at first I agreed, I thought that the ability to get a guaranteed epic and a chance at a leggy from the big boy mission made it the first truly free to play game (that didn’t require ridiculous time investment). That went away. Everything defensible about reloaded went away. They doubled down on the betrayal. Every time they were challenged they almost said hold my beer watch me piss you guys off more. Slowly it became more and more obvious the whole thing was about paying back investors more than honouring the old guard. The players who cared and stuck around for along time. As they leaned more and more into new item releases and rock paper scissors mecs, it was obvious - they had no loyalty to us. So we cheered when they left. TS didn’t fizzle out, they went out like Saddam, to the cheers of their own subjects. Hey, Gato owns the game now. Great. They’ll undo the bad decisions of TS and reform the game right? Right? Wrong. Okay, what will they do then? …nothing. Gato has done pretty much nothing. They did one balance change which changed nothing in arena. They released a lot of new offers but not much else. They have ignored calls from the players. They ignore the staleness of the game. They don’t care that it’s boring and frustrating. Why though? They are of the players for the players? Because battledawn 2. Okay fine Battledawn2: gets released Gato:… So are you gonna work on sm now? Gato:… The only thing Gato achieved was destroying the old forum. Say what you will about TS, they atleased let their critics have fun. Gato has been defined as negligent and the “no fun allowed” owners. Honestly, it was better under TS. At least they did…. Something. Ya know? Quality of Life: “All the Small Things” Gonna make this one bullet points. Inviting people to battles in chat still doesnt work Mech order changing is still limited (whereas it previously wasn’t) Quad Core Booster should be called Quad Core Engine as it is an ENGINE module The game frequently loses connection and needs to restart (sometimes mid battle) The mass select function is poorly designed and therefore useless Replay codes often don’t work The chat often censors words which aren’t obscene because they contain a string which is on its own obscene (think Pass being made P***) The battle starts zoomed in when everyone prefers zoomed out adding an extra button click It won’t let you change parts in a convenient order because “X requires jump” or mech is overweight The outcomes of battles are often dictated by pads There are no reminders for the many chores You get a ridiculously restrictive inventory limit as well as a box limit that leads to a death spiral of stagnation The game is really ugly Constant popups Ever present ! If you didn’t enable base Its formatted upside down on mobile It scrolls far left when you enter campaign and you have to manually drag to the right Worskshop stats don’t reflect actual arena stats You can accidentally buy arena slots when opening boxes The animations are uninteresting and too long Given the massive growth in player base its hard to believe that inv limit is necessary It takes a long time for reports or help requests to be actioned if at all Community: “Passive, lame, guardians of the Rot” I love you all, I really do. But a lot of you make me so annoyed. So many are happy to see fellow classmates cheat lie and steal for a start. So many were happy to support the game direction when it suited themselves instead of confront the behemoth. We let TS divide and conquer when it could have been stopped. I am a shamed to say I’m included in that. So many of the people reading this even will without quad commit to dice mechs because “its how it is” this same attitude allowed the TS rot to set in. If we had decided to act in an appropriate way with etiquette the rot would not have spread half as far as it has. I myself am proud of my clan HTK and what we achieved and what I personally achieved for them but I also agree the clan politics became “toxic” along the way. One upmanship allowed too many cheaters to thrive. rivalry has destroyed too many genuine friendships. But is this my main issue with this community? No. Not by far, My main issue is that super mechs used to be a community of vibrant, creative, free thinking, unique, incredible people… and now it’s lame. The forum is boring, its boring, its so offing boring. My God its boring. Im bored through my teeth here. We used to be funny. We used to be creative. We used to be interesting. Yes, I know, Gato holds a lot of that blood on their hands, but man, I never realised how willing we were as a diverse and interesting group to roll over and take it. Final Note: “Misfit’s Postscript” I’ve been here a long time. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that before if we’ve spoken for 5 minutes or longer. But it MEANS something. Or at least it should, to the developers of the game at least. I didn’t quit on the mass exodus. I haven’t quit through most of the rot. I quit recently for personal reasons. And I can honestly say if it weren’t for this place I wouldn’t be the man I am today. The people Ive met on battle dawn and super mechs are some of the funniest most interesting, genuine and incredible people I’ve met. I still remember staying up till 4 am on school nights with Iggy and Conner on bd servers. I still remember meeting maxx and fluffeh on sm. I remember meeting G and E. I remember the night I thought about ending it all and the late Michelle staying up to talk to me. I remember laughing as I talked to Alexander. I remember Carter. I remember Zelly and Fluxeon. I remember trolling Sarah’s comics competition. I remember so many things. And this place is filled with people so much better than what it’s become. And its owned by creators so much better than those which would be proud of it. Just take it back man. I know it’s been a long time and it’s hard to undo it all, but what’s even the point now? Just take it back. You took a beautiful thing and made it ugly. Just take it back. At the very least, apologise.
  3. one of the most underrated songs of all time
  4. ignoring this post. its not funny. its not anything. Do better. and grazed freely upon the glossy green pastures of the family farm's expanses. bleeting, grunting, I was happy in those days, my opium became those blades of emerald green. greeting, chewing, I bame a sober eunuch. Slobbering, grinding, I was an unsatisfied slut. I was an averous and insatiable beast, never satisfied the field had been fully grazed. Wishing, hiding, I shrunk into my winter coat and vomited the dandelions.
  5. I saw Peter skinny (on the smack) and fat (post-first-successful-rehab) by the way
  6. being a writer is all about belief in yourself. and about shutting your mind up for long enough, try it you can do it as well as I or anyone can, just start typing. you will make something beautiful. if for no other reason than it was authentic
  7. [meta] you liked my writing but decided to ignore it then? okay I concede, I'll do it by your guys' rules where the writing is secondary to the shitpost (in the non affectionate use of the term) [/meta] and vulgar penis shaped meat sausages composed of the discarded corpses of the homesless and the discarded purple limbs of war vetrans
  8. [Voldemort] I think I deserved more than your cold shoulder - That's true. If I'm wrong, than prove my point. I thought I deserved more than nothing from you - so sue. I poured my every kindness into your cup you spilled it on thy highnesses dress and if I'm a stranger, count me not blessed - know I don't. I hope you are still smiling as you did when I was there pretend you might your sight was blind to every kiss I laid upon your cheek you know who you are, My Voldemort. EDIT: grammar.
  9. or at least it tasted terrible at first. that bitter vinegar twang, that undefined alcohol content of a home brew. Another 3l jug emptied of its orange juice sat beneath the kitchen sink fermenting between the kitchen bleach and the fresh unsoftened sponges. This jug however felt smoother than the first, its berry notes, the full body, the viscous soup tasted less of vinegar on this occasion. It conjured images of a Florentine summer, in the hills of Arezzo, rugged, yellow, with green bushels bursting with deep purple grapes, arrayed as soldiers on the battlefield before your vision which eeks out meekly from the slunk over branches of a weathered ambrosian tree. Could I be deceived? Have I mastered the craft? or have I merely become accustomed to my own vile swill? the toxic moonshine slid down the grasping throat like lubricating oil, and the resultant stupor was a delusion of heaven dreamt by a pilgrim of purgatory. Or was it hell?
  10. decreasing weight would be another way to go to make it more viable, but I'd still preffer the increased explo for heat cost trade. it is quite heavy, its 1kg heavier than red rain and 25kg heavier than space invader which are the two most popular heat top weapons at present and arguably it doesnt deserve to have a higher weight than either since its range barriers are a lot more awkward and it doesn't synergise as well with the most popular heat side weapons. However, I dont think people are MAINLY held back from using it because of the weight. I think the main reason is it doesnt live up to its own mission statement as a weapon. like for space invader the mission statement is "I can close the gap, I have a low weight and a reasonable explo damage, but I cost a LOT of heat to use and put out very little heat in return and only have 2 uses" so its a "makes other weapons easier for cheap" kinda weapon (for heat atleast). for Redrain its like "my cooling damage and close range make closing the gap and overheating a doddle, but I'm heavy and I cost energy to use". As I see it desolation should be "at the long range I provide excellent explosive damage, but I'm not intended to enable other weapons and the heat exchange isnt exactly favourable". currently it has the drawbacks but it doesnt live up to the mission statement because the benefit simply isnt there. It USED to have that, but as more and more powerful heat weapons were introduced and I believe it was even nerfed once if memory served it simply does not live up to the task set for it as being a long range explosive damage battery.
  11. 4/10. its purpose is confused. it desires to be a jack of all trades and ends up schrodinger's cake (neither or eaten nor not eaten untill the box is opened). It at once makes agressively closing its range and maintaining an even distance its priority. at once it makes costly damage output and mediated overheating its strategy. At once it is tactically a tank and a sniper, and becomes neither. The module setup is omitted, but any house built on sand is precarious, it must come to peace with its foundations first, and the errors present in this base
  12. I use desolation as part of my standard fixtures. Main reason being I have abundant premium mods and torsos but in terms of usable weapons I'm kinda lacking. its free cheap and a welcomed bridge to the past. However, pound for pound it is always beaten by other weapon options. Its main purpose as I see it is pure explo damage. Its heat output is almost irrelevent and always outweighed by its cost _always_. To give it extra explosive impact while widening a bit more the heat output profit (or at this point deficit) is a good trade. I do think it would make it viable for what is now a niche purpose in heat play (suicidal explosive damage in terms of heat exchange at the long range).
  13. I think you're confused mate. the 'unicorn' is NOT the same as the 'GOAT' tournament. the Unicorn portal is a portal. Marija has little to no influence on wether a unicorn portal is done again or not as she is not a developer.
  14. you've reached the point where even minor improvement requires hours of chore-work
  15. I understand why the powers that be want a neutered forum. I do. and I sympathise. its not a good look when casual or prospective supermechs gamers search the game on google and find flame wars. I get it. I really do. But also, this place sucks man. its soooo boring. its like mind numbingly boring. this place is so fucking boring. is there a happy medium? can we realise a happy medium? probably not. its just sad. It's just really fucking sad that this place sucks so much now. checking the old forum used to be the highlight of my day. and was it so bad? yeah there were flame wars , but it was mostly just bizarre avant guarde humour. it was mostly just strange people connecting in strange ways. what do we have now? adverts for interchangeable youtube channels run by 14 year olds and bland inoffensive posts about the game which dont excite, inflame or entertain. This isn't a call to action. This is a call to mourning. Something that was once great, something which was once an amazing, uncontained firework, spectacle and in many ways, and to many people, a miracle now sucks. - Misfit
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