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• Alam Simith

  • 4 posts
  Posted in the topic U4GM How to Earn Free Rewards in ARC Raiders Guide in the forum Introduce Yourself

  December 19, 2025 12:58 AM PST

  I hopped back into ARC Raiders this week and, yeah, it's different in a way that actually matters. The new flow takes a run or two to click, but once it does you start wondering why you stayed away. If you're the type who cares about gear plans and progression, keeping an eye on ARC Raiders BluePrint chatter makes sense because the patch has shifted what's worth chasing, and when. It's messy, it's loud, and it's been a blast.

  Blueprints Aren't Raining Anymore

  People still talk about that early Cold Snap window like it was a myth. It wasn't. You could walk out of a raid with multiple top-end recipes and barely feel the pressure. Embark pulled that back fast, and now you've got to earn it the hard way again. Still, it's not the old launch grind either. Drops feel steadier than they used to, just not ridiculous. And the little holiday currency handout helped more than I expected—suddenly "okay, I didn't hit the jackpot" stings a lot less when you can still buy yourself a few attempts at progress.

  Cold Snap Hits Hard, But It Pays

  The event itself is the real story. Cold Snap isn't a cute weather filter; it will straight-up drain you if you hang around too long. You can't autopilot it. You're watching your bar, ducking into cover, making quick calls with your squad, and sometimes you just leave early because you're not dying for pride. The upside is obvious the moment you start crafting again: rare materials come in faster here than anywhere else right now. Stick with it and you'll unlock the Space Wrench, which is the first melee weapon skin that actually feels like a reward instead of a checkbox.

  Blue Gate's Key Hunt Changes The Clock

  Blue Gate also got a nice twist. It's a simple loop: find four keys, open the Gate Control Room over in the Warehouse Complex, grab what you can, and decide whether you're pushing your luck. The loot isn't guaranteed to be insane, so don't go in expecting a pile of Epics. What you do get is time—ten extra minutes on the raid timer is massive for Trials. That extra breathing room lets you play smarter, take one more fight, or just finish objectives without sprinting everywhere like a maniac.

  Nerfs, Resets, And That Weird "Should I Even Bother?" Feeling

  Not everything landed cleanly. Security Breach used to be a reliable money route because you could count on locker spawns, and now it's a roll of the dice. It forces new paths, sure, but it also means more wasted runs when you're trying to bankroll upgrades. With the Expedition reset coming up, that timing hurts. Hoarding millions in gear just to watch it wipe feels rough, and a lot of players I've run with are doing the same math: what's the reward really worth, what do you keep, and what do you let go. If you're jumping back in, chase what's fun and profitable now, keep your stash flexible, and don't get too precious about it—especially if you're still hunting the right BluePrint in ARC Raiders for your next build.

• Alam Simith

  • 4 posts
  Posted in the topic U4GM What Are BO7 Cursed Mode Relics Tips in the forum Introduce Yourself

  December 19, 2025 12:58 AM PST

  Cursed Mode in Black Ops 7 is where you learn fast whether your route is real or just vibes, and if you're the kind of player chasing every hidden Relic, you'll probably end up looking for shortcuts like CoD BO7 Boosting while you're still stubbornly trying to do it the hard way. You spawn with a sidearm, no minimap, and that "I'll be fine" confidence lasts about one bad corner. The Relics are the real hook, though, because each one forces a very specific kind of clean play: timing, positioning, and not panicking when the game starts messing with the rules.

  Ashes of the Damned: Getting Your First Set

  Start with the Grim Relics and treat them like training wheels made of knives. For Dragon Wings, the headline is Round 20 plus Pack-A-Punch, but the make-or-break moment is the jump pad run between Vandorn Farm and Janus Towers. While you're airborne, you've got to snap to three purple orbs and shoot them before you land. Miss one and you'll feel it. If you do it right, the trial flips your instincts because power-ups hurt you instead of helping. Next up is Lawyer's Pen: light three red candles, one in the cabin by Blackwater Lake, one around Ashwood, and one inside the Vandorn farmhouse. A Molotov works, Napalm Burst works, but wandering in under-geared doesn't. The trial leans hard on Shock Mimics, and they don't let you breathe.

  Ashes of the Damned: The "Annoying but Worth It" Steps

  The Teddy Bear Grim Relic is less about aim and more about prep. Bring Aether Shroud and the Necrofluid Gauntlet, then pop Shroud to spot those hidden bears tucked into places like the Vandorn Farm silo or the Ashwood church wall. The following trial is cruel in a quiet way: every shot drains Essence, so you stop spraying and start counting. After you've got all Grim Relics on, the Sinister chase opens up. The VRIL Sphere wants you at Level 40, then asks for a jump-pad kill on a Doppelghast—bait it onto the pad, and let the pad do the final damage. The trial locks out buying, so people usually stack Gobblegums and build a loadout first.

  Long Hauls and Wicked Relics

  If you're going further, expect marathon rules. Focusing Stone begins with a melee kill on a Zursa—soften it up, then commit—then you're solving a wine bottle puzzle in the Blackwater Lake cabin while everything wants to interrupt you. Wicked Relics are where your patience gets tested: the Bus asks for Round 60 and a full flawless round, so most players cling to safe loops and use Ol' Tessie like it's a lifeline. Blood Vials is pure attention span: a ringing phone pops every 10 rounds from Round 20 onward, and you need to answer it five times without slipping into autopilot. Then the Dragon ties to beating the main quest boss after Round 60, with a trial that forces explosive-only damage, which changes your whole upgrade plan.

  Astra Malorum: Precision Over Brute Force

  Over on Astra Malorum, the Relics feel more like weird dares. The Seed Grim Relic is a math check disguised as luck: after Round 20 you hunt an uncommon gun, and the kill count has to match the round you picked it up on—grab it on Round 22, get exactly 22 kills, then stop. People mess this up by "just one more" tapping a zombie. The Spider Fang Sinister Relic is even fussier: you need Wisp Tea and Aether Shroud, then melee kill OSCAR while a wisp is actively hitting him. Pulling that off clean can take longer than the trial, especially since perks get blocked. And yeah, the Gong and Samantha's Drawing are still the community's headache—if you're tired of waiting, you're not alone, which is why some folks decide to buy CoD BO7 Boosting and spend their time actually playing instead of re-running setup steps for hours.

• Alam Simith

  • 4 posts
  Posted in the topic U4GM What Makes Path of Exile 2 Combat Different Guide in the forum Off-Topic Discussions

  December 19, 2025 12:57 AM PST

  Anyone who's spent time in the ARPG crowd lately can feel it: Path of Exile 2 isn't just "more PoE." The moment you hear about PoE 2 Currency chats popping up alongside mechanics talk, you know people are already planning their whole league life around it. And the big reason is control. For years it was click-to-move, then hope your character didn't path into a nightmare. Now it's WASD. You push, you stop, you cut a corner. It sounds basic, but it changes how your brain reads a fight.

  Movement That Actually Lets You Play

  WASD on its own would be huge, but the Dodge Roll is the part that makes it feel like a proper action game. You'll notice it fast: bosses don't just "check your stats" anymore, they check your timing. Roll early and you're still in trouble. Roll late and you eat the hit. There's also this small but important thing—your mistakes feel like yours. Not the game's. In hardcore, that's not a minor detail. It's the difference between learning a pattern and losing a character to some clunky step forward.

  Weapons With Real Decisions

  The weapon lineup looks way more distinct this time. Spears, crossbows, heavy flails—each one has its own rhythm, not just a new skin on an old swing. What I'm really watching is the automatic weapon-switching. It's the kind of feature people will either break wide open or ignore until a streamer shows the trick. But think about it: you pin a pack down with one setup, then swap into single-target without fumbling your bar. That's less menu time, more fighting. And it pushes builds into weird, fun territory.

  Gems, Sockets, and Build Habits

  PoE has always been about systems inside systems, but the gem changes in the sequel look like they'll mess with our habits in a good way. Skills leaning into weapon types means you can't always slap the same solution onto every character. The socket setup sounds cleaner, but also less forgiving if you don't think ahead. Veterans will still theorycraft, sure, but it won't be the same copy-paste comfort. You'll test something, it'll feel wrong, you'll tweak it, and that's kind of the point.

  Why the Hype Feels Different

  Put it all together—WASD, roll timing, smoother swapping, the reworked skill logic—and it feels like the game is asking you to stay awake at the keyboard. People are already arguing about what'll be busted on day one, and half the fun is watching that chaos unfold. I'm just looking forward to that first moment you dodge on instinct, swap weapons without thinking, and realise the old muscle memory is gone; if you're the type who likes planning ahead, the talk around poe 2 currency buy is basically part of the pre-launch ritual now, because everyone's gearing up for a fresh kind of grind.

• Alam Simith

  • 4 posts
  Posted in the topic U4GM How to Sanctify Gear in Diablo IV Season 11 Guide in the forum Off-Topic Discussions

  December 19, 2025 12:56 AM PST

  Season of Divine Intervention throws you into Sanctification pretty fast, and you can feel the trap the moment you open the menu. It looks like one more upgrade step, but it isn't. It's a lock-in. Once you Sanctify a piece, that item's story is basically finished, so before I even think about it I treat it like I'm shopping for Diablo 4 Items—slow down, check the rolls, and make sure it's actually the version I want to live with.

  What "Locked" Really Means.

  The game doesn't sugarcoat it, but it's still easy to underestimate. Sanctification shuts the door on all the usual tinkering: no more Tempering, no more Masterworking pushes, no "maybe I'll reroll that annoying affix later." You can still swap sockets and gems, sure, but that's like changing shoes after you've already poured concrete. So the practical rule is simple: only Sanctify gear that's already polished, tested, and feels good in real fights, not just in your head.

  Early Teases Versus Real Endgame.

  While leveling, the system gives you a soft introduction. You knock out seasonal threats in Helltides or a big world event, and you get a little taste—enough to see the power spike without risking your whole build. Then Torment opens up and it becomes a different mood. That's when Heavenly Sigils start to matter, because they're the real "go" button. You earn them by repeatedly farming the seasonal bosses—Astaroth, Belial, Bartok—and suddenly you're deciding when to spend them, not just whether you can.

  Why Players Keep a Backup Copy.

  The upside is huge, and that's what keeps people pulling the lever. You might land an extra Legendary power that changes your rotation, or watch a normal affix jump into Greater Affix territory with a ceiling you can actually feel. Sometimes you hit a Sanctification-only affix that doesn't exist anywhere else, or you just get a clean Quality boost that quietly bumps the whole item's baseline. But the downside is real too: if the roll doesn't match your build, you've basically "bricked" a near-perfect piece. A lot of players handle that stress the same way I do—stash a second pair of gloves, keep a spare weapon, and only Sanctify the one that's already winning in your current setup.

  How I Decide When to Pull the Trigger.

  I do it in a boring order on purpose: first I lock my build idea, then I finish Tempering, then I push Masterworking until the item feels "done," and only after that do I spend a Sigil. If I'm hesitating, I wait. The game's not going anywhere, and neither is that forge. And if you're trying to round out a setup while you're farming, knowing the best place to buy diablo 4 runes can help smooth out those annoying gaps so you're not Sanctifying gear just because you're impatient.