I want to preface that the contents of this post is for informational purposes. I do not condone or approve of any harassments or witch-hunting or the attacking of anybody.

Richard Lewis recently did a stream talking about the terrible state of CS esports and I thought it was an important stream anyone who cares about the CS community should listen to.
Vod Link here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/830415547
I realize it is 3 hours long so I took it upon myself to create a list of interesting points from the stream so you don't have to listen to the whole thing, although I still encourage you to do so if you can.
I know this post is still long but probably easier to digest, especially in parts.
Here is a link to my raw notes if you for some reason want to read through this which includes some omitted stuff. It's in chronological order of things said in the stream and has some time stamps. https://pastebin.com/6QWTLr8T

Intro

"The last month has convinced me, that we are going to be heading into a dark place for Counter-Strike esports in 2021."
- "I think I've seen the scene essentially kill itself."
"For the past 5 to 6 years, we've basically been in a holding pattern of people coming into our game wanting to run it, wanting to run all of the esports and wanting to profiteer and its been sort of a concerted effort to drive them off and push them away."
- "We're spread way too thin."
"If Riot don't get involved and stop the scumbags that have moved over to Valorant from getting their feet under the table, Valorant is going to have real problems."
RL thinks too much has happened all at once for us to do anything except watch it play out, like:
- Recent CSPPA strike against BLAST
- ESIC failures and them not being supported enough
- Teams cheating i.e. coaches/bugs
- Widespread match fixing
- The Pandemic
  - "People who try to hold bubble events are so incompetent and fuck up and people get the 'rona and its their fault."
  - "People who say Flashpoint is a bubble is full of shit and is a lie and people are now suffering for that lie."
    - "To save money they let people go home and break the bubble for a week."
    - "Not just Flashpoint peoples decision, they have a partner that handles the production." (hinting FACEIT)
    - "People are trapped in hotels essentially under house arrest because of COVID restrictions and has fucked peoples lives up."
"It's all too much, all of this incompetence, all of this greed, maybe we ride it out."
- RL says he has talked to the Riot devs (the ones working on Valorant) and says, "They are so cognizant of all the fuck ups and all the problems we have in Counter-Strike."
  - He continues to say that this is factored into their business plan and that we never had a competitor, but just so happens to have one coincide, when we are at our worst.

CSPPA - Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association

"Who does this union really fucking serve?"

RL believes that the CSPPA is a mockery.
- He points out the hypocrisy that they wouldn't strike for the pros who were kicked out of ESL Pro League, or for Jamppi or dream3r.
  - He also says ESL paid CSPPA and are racketeering and many other TOs have to pay them to get their "seal of approval"
    - He says they would strong-arm TOs saying "well if you don't give us the money, these guys are so we'll just have to commit to playing their event."
  - Also points out that they will strike against a competitor they are not in agreement with (Flashpoint)
  - RL: "It's what it says about every other time you haven't done it and it's about every time you don't do it now moving forward." "The issues they've chosen to ignore this year alone are embarrassing."
  - Then he points out that there was no strike for Valve qualifiers even if we have no major but Jamppi and dream3r can't play in them.
    - "and Valve have said 'Oh yeah we know actually their stories are accurate, Jamppi didn't cheat, now in a legally binding document. Yep dream3r did have his account hacked in a LAN café', but they still can't play. Where is the fucking solidarity? Gone. Doesn't exist. It's not important [because] it doesn't affect you." "That's what the union does right now, it looks after all the tier 1 people."
He says the CSPPA doesn't represent all players all the time and has driven a divide where you have the haves and have-nots
- "We have a tier of players that operate with impunity and do not help their tier 2 or tier 3 players out at all." "If you are not a tier 1 player you do not matter, they don't event ask your opinion."
- He tells chrisJ to admit and own the fact that the reason he didn't speak up during the ESL Pro League debacle is because it didn't affect him
- "They are looking after some players at the expense of other players. How the fuck is that a union?"
He says the BLAST situation is a reasonable dispute and supports the players but is not the right time for a strike and have not even identified the correct enemy
- He thinks players are lashing out now due to previous incidents and are upset that BLAST are working with ESIC
  - He stated that CSPPA shouldn't beefing with ESIC and they should be working in harmony
- He says what they need to do is talk with the teams/organizations that have sold that right to BLAST
  - RL: "Your employers, the people who pay you that massive exorbitant salaries, when you don't stream and you don't do interviews and you offer no value beyond your ability to click heads and you get 25k dollars a month." "Why don't you talk to them about it? Oh right. You're happy to take away BLAST's paper, but you don't want to risk your own."
- "I am seeing such unbelievable cowardice from the players here with the battles you choose."
- "Where was the strike action when in the qualifiers for the world championship, there were teams and players engaged in huge conflicts of interest?" "Where was the strike action when your image rights were taken and sold to every league you've ever been in every union type organization you've ever been associated with like, WESA, to your org every time you sign a contract, to the leagues you play in."
  - "Your image rights are essentially worthless now, there's about 10 fucking separate parties that have them, and how many of them are giving you anything for it? Not much pretty much your org by the way."
  - "That's a big issue. Your image is you, your image is your brand. What are you doing about that? Nothing."
He is also angry at SirScoots who is "popping off" at people on Twitter who all want the same thing, which is 'A unified Counter-Strike scene for everybody, that works for everybody, that has a sustained ecosystem that nourishes everybody.' "We don't have that now."
He also says their rankings are a joke
- "Just so happened, oh look TACO, that very important prominent member of the board, we pushed his team artificially up when they weren't even in the fucking top 20, not by a long shot."
He also says the ineptitude of the CSPPA cost Flashpoint a monitor sponsor
"Is it really a player association or is it like a fucking agency at this point"

ESIC - Esports Integrity Commission

"They have been put in an impossible position."

RL says that Ian Smith, the founder of ESIC and who was done work in mainstream sports, is a good and honorable man who has dedicated his life to integrity and sports. He takes on both sides, ensuring match fixers are punished, but also doing appeals and ensuring those punishments were fair.
"ESIC is a tiny organization" and are in need of money, "They didn't run a grift like the CSPPA did."
- "Saying 'you want our support and you want the players to turn up you better pay us.' They don't do that."
- "Had startup seed money from MTG and since then they've been pecking shit with the hens."
  - Ian Smith made sure that the money given by MTG (Modern Times Group, parent company of ESL, ESEA, DreamHack) was nothing more than startup money and wouldn't be in debt to them
    - Ian Smith sat down with other TO's not part of MTG and wanted to partner with them. They declined and called ESIC "ESL spies and we will never align ourselves with you"
- "They only were just able to afford, hiring a PR guy on a full time salary to deal with the press and send out those releases you've seen, this year."
  - "They have a tiny group of staff investigating these things and they have taken on the biggest problems in our scene: the cheating, the match fixing."
ESIC have had "unprecedented levels of cheating to deal with, because there's something wrong with our scene ever since we went online. There's something wrong with it, everyone's lost their fucking pride and self-respect and they got no passion for it anymore, so they think fuck it, what's in it for me?"
- He calls out coaches who are talking about players rights when they would rob and steal from them.
  - Also says more coaches being banned are coming
  - He also points out flaws in community's reaction to the punishments to coaches bans: "Half of the cunts still have jobs and some of the cunts got new jobs. We didn't even shun the cheating coaches."
ESIC have "found I think another 2 or 3 exploits like that one and they are investigating them all right now, it's going on right now."
- "I know that there are going to be more names getting banned, again."
- "So they're doing that on a skeleton crew while, investigating 3 continents worth of match fixing in MDL and semi-pro level CS." "They're doing this with half a dozen people." "They don't have any money or any help. People barely even fucking cooperate with them, they are treated like pariahs. It's ridiculous."
  - "Why are the CSPPA popping off at ESIC on my Twitter timeline, when you should be working together." "because its all about what's in it in for me." "2020, the online era of CS: 'What is in it for me?' How can I cheat, how can I get my paper, how can I bleed this scene one last time before I fuck off and play shooty shooty bang bang Riot Games babys first fps."
RL says that in the CIS region, teams have gone to tournaments and have been eliminated multiple times by the same team. We found out they were cheating and those players who lost, have been cut from their roster, careers ended because of cheaters.

Stream Sniping

"They're all at it in the online era, they're all at it, they're all cheating, they're all using exploits, probably that see through smoke bug got used a bunch of times"

RL talks about how there is no integrity from dead (the player), always denying when caught doing something
- On the topic of 'BLAST never said we couldn't stream snipe': "Lies, BLAST never said you could do that, they had to sort of retcon it." "because what happened after that they fucking started snitching and squealing"
  - "Suddenly you had like, 10 of the top 15 teams in the world, staring into the abyss of being banned for 6-12 months in line with ESIC recommendations."
    - He says that ESIC was put in a tough situation and couldn't enforce the bans because it would have resulted in killing CS. What resulted was, BLAST, ESIC, and teams came together and gave them a warning and told them, in RL's words "don't do this again or you're gonna get got."
      - He then says the top teams brushed this off and didn't give a fuck
      - The new MiBR team playing Flashpoint, that wasn't involved in the previous incidents are doing it again (stream sniping). He gave credit to Flashpoint for the quick resolution and punishment and respect for cogu's response to the situation.
      - "ESIC came out and said, once more, 'Guys, zero tolerance from now on.'" RL then got upset at community's reaction calling ESIC "pussies" for their non enforcement and said if we want competitive CS we cant ban the top 10 teams.
He points out how players have no integrity and will do anything for an edge as long as they won't get detected or banned or it's within a grey area.
"All of this shit was mad avoidable, even in the pandemic era."
- He talks about why aren't we filming them. Why aren't there representatives for leagues and tournaments making sure players aren't cheating?

Match Fixing

"How many years have we let our scene be fucking pillaged by these greedy cunts?" "We just let it happen."

RL says that gambling and skins betting which existed in moderation was "accelerated and blown up by the Call of Duty greedy fucks."
- "Never forget TmarTn was on the board of EnVyUs." "His website, CSGOLotto, they had a bunch of off-the-books sponsorships." "NBK promoted them. People forget."
"Those people who had access to the skins, go to the players" "Even people like s1mple, best player in the world, even he scammed knives and skins off fucking fans."
Owners of skin casino sites would approach pros and lend them skins to use in tournaments and possibly keep them after reaching a deal
- Players would tip off inside info about matches and teams in exchange for skins. Info such as: roster changes, how they played in scrims
  - They would use this info to bet and subvert the odds on their sites. "That happened religiously, I can't even tell you how many times it happened."
    - "I had access to the biggest database of information, from an inside betting circle in NA, and it would take information and screenshots from other pro players, who were feeding them info in exchange for money or skins."
      - "Some of these players are still playing." "Incredibly, there are players still in the CSPPA today, complaining about the BLAST recordings, that were embroiled in this murky shit back then."
RL also says that there were tournaments where teams contrived with each other, who should throw, who should win.
"There's a handful of people that are trying to fucking clean it up, and you think you get something over the line and you see something like the CSPPA and it's run by corrupt fucking chuckle heads, and now you've got another corrupt body you have to fight on a fucking daily basis, it's demoralizing."
- "It's too far gone. Our entire semi-professional scene is compromised."
"It's rife guys, I'm not going to lie any more. It's not just China, it's not just Russia, it's here, it's NA, it's Europe, it's Australia, so much more than you think, so much more than we can prove."
- "I get sent chat logs all the time […] and they're morons, these players, short-sighted, amateur, morons and they're doing it on WhatsApp." People would get cut from the bets because they want to make more money, then they leak the logs. He says, from the chat logs, they spread "little" bets across every site they can (400 to 1k dollars) to prevent shifting odds
He says the scumbags who've fucked off to Valorant will do the same there if Riot doesn't do something and says Valorant "is an esports scene heading for a very early fall based on the sheer volume of scumbags that are already there."
"That's tier 2 CS in a nutshell these days. They know they're never going to play in a major, so what's the punishment?"
- "All of these tier 2 fucks that are fixing games now they are like the fucking mafia compared to iBuyPower" "These guys are working with organized criminals to fix entire seasons worth of games. That's what's going on in your tier 2 CS."
"I'm literally being told that there are players fixing games at all levels of Chinese esports and motherfuckers with guns are turning up to team houses and stuff."

North America

"Everyone in NA has left we've lost a continents worth of support during this pandemic and Valve haven't said a fucking word."

RL says the Call of Duty "goblins" that destroyed CS for years are the same people who are now trying to leave CS. "The nerve to treat a game where the fans, and the community, and the TO's were nothing but good to you." "To just kick the players out now and go and leave and say 'It just doesn't make financial sense.' Oh you'll slither back when we have a major though for them stickers won't you."
There's a cascading effect in NA where people don't bother with CS anymore and people like Chaos suffer.
He says NA team owners are incompetent for always wanting it easy and always wanting a guarantee on their investment without skill or nuance.
- RL says he would be able to market a team correctly and would have a good ROI and also points out how TSM wouldn't even be bothered to tweet that their team, which was one of the best in the world, was playing at the Major.
- He also says not all NA owners are like that, compliments and respects Jason Lake who nearly lost everything to keep Complexity going.
He then calls out the incompetence in Infinite Esports when they acquired OpTic Gaming and bought an Indian CS team.
- He says HECZ is not to blame here and that they couldn't tell forsaken was cheating when it was so obvious.
  - They measured his reaction time to the likes of dev1ce and s1mple
  - When an enemy showed up on his screen he won that duel something like 44% of the time
  - "was like the number 1 player in the world statistically"
  - He brought a laptop to their bootcamp and refused to use the high end PCs that hey provided
He respects Andy Miller (NRG CEO) and HECZ but says that the attitude of not being able to easily monetize their teams is "piss weak" and there needs to be a risk.
- He says Chaos EC shouldn't be cutting their roster and should be competent enough to be able to figure out how to make money off their team.
He says there are still opportunities in NA and people are panicking and pulling out, and says Valorant will be the same if not worse.
- He also says "bums" who couldn't even get out of groups in NA competitions, are making crazy money in Valorant and says it will continue to inflate.
He also said that he heard rumors that EG (Evil Geniuses) are done.
He also thinks that the rumors of a Valve franchised league from before was sparked up from "these lazy fabled weak NA fucking team owners basically trying to see if Valve would bite at the hook if it was dangled and they didn't"
- Slasher says NA team owners are really in favor of franchised leagues because they want to make more money. "Most of the powerful team owners right now are on board with ditching this third party organization structure, or they are trying to play this power politics with all the TOs, and that is contributing to a lot of the problems there"
RL says that Riot has proved they can run a franchised league (LCS) and will be profitable in 2021 which is what a lot of team owners care about and says the competition will only serve to snatch people away from CS.
RL continues to say, "I am so sick and tired of what we have done to this scene, I am just exhausted with it." "I think we have legitimately fucked it, I really think we have. I think we're staring into almost like a CGS (Championship Gaming Series) wasteland in NA." "Counter-Strike esports is a fucking joke."

Talent

"TO's have treated CS talent like absolute human garbage for years now."

RL says that people like Sean Gares and ddk switching over to Valorant isn't for financial reasons because they are making less over there.
He points out that TO's can't even give talent a 3 month in advance calendar.
Because of the pandemic TO's won't hire certain people and some people are working more hours for the same money.
He says we as a community don't respect journalists enough which is why we don't have good journalists.
- He also says DeKay is leaving the scene soon and that Thorin is close to leaving also
He says he had to talk a caster down from quitting and was struggling to find reasons.
He says that DreamHack told Vince they would hire him but not if he wants to stick with dusT and says that this is the norm in esports. "Constant leveraging of people against each other." and says this is why we don't have a talent union.
New gen casters are getting put into shit situations and the community's reaction to them is adding fuel to the fire
He says the reason Moses left was because of the terrible conditions
He says that Anders had to constantly leave his family and kid because someone fucked up or broke promises and had to constantly tell his kid to their face that "daddy can't be home this weekend."
He says that esports has always been a lie to sell you this dream, "Meanwhile there's about 2% of the cunts getting all the checks."

Valve

"Anything that Riot does, is better than Valve's inaction"

Slasher says that the larger aspect of esports as a whole compared to other entertainment mediums and Valve's lack of inattention are the bigger problems. He continues saying that the fact that Valve let their game be ran as an esport, they need to take on the responsibilities of it.
- Both Slasher and RL wants Valve to take control but not on the level of Riot Games, there needs to be a balance.
In case it was ever a question: Gabe Newell has been to 0 CSGO Majors.
RL calls Valve out saying they could have done something during the gambling era.
He says Valve used to come to the majors, but doesn't think they do anymore.
RL had met with Valve at the Cluj-Napoca Major and had tried to appeal iBP's indefinite punishment and had also gave Brax's life story:
- A recent family member passed away, they had lost a lot of income, they had to live in trailer, iBuyPower did not pay any salaries, and was pressured by family to make money who didn't support his career.
- RL said that Valve told him, "How dare you try and make us feel guilty." "We shouldn't feel bad about enforcing the only thing that matters that we need to make players afraid of: cheating and match fixing"
- RL also tried to share other info about match fixing and nothing came of it
RL points out that Source 2 or a new engine is not something you will want based on the experience of transitioning from CS 1.6 to CS:S. "Valve's track record with brand new engines being launched, not fucking great from what I remember."
Slasher says "If there is anything the community should do, is pressure Valve to hire a community manager."
- They say that we need a commissioner, a community manager (not the person who runs the Twitter who posts memes all day), then we need to have a circuit
RL reiterates that Valve doesn't care about CS esports and says they need to change the culture at Valve to make them care about CS esports
- Slasher says a systemic problem is making it so working on CSGO would be a bad decision for you as an employee for Valve
He also hasn't talked to Valve in ages and have sent over bugs and cheats and doesn't get emails back anymore
Slasher says we should be directing attention at the developer leads, pointing out Ido Magal, if he even is still the project lead
- RL thinks that Ido and Brian are the only people that "vaguely even give a fuck about CS" and were the only people that RL recalled that actually read Reddit and paid attention from time to time
"It is really fucking precarious. Somebody has got to step the fuck up and start giving a shit"
- Slasher suggests org owners, with CSPPA, with ESIC, with TOs have a concerted effort against Valve
"Riot Games are doing better things than Valve in the esports space" which is something RL didn't think he'd say.
"People who used to be talent, working with unions, arguing with other talent, when the unions fucked them over, can't understand their perspective, TOs fucking over broadcast talent, broadcast talent wanting to leave and go and work for orgs, orgs having no money, Valve might take coaches away because all the coaches are cheating, ESIC has about 4 people in a fucking call doing the investigations, everyone thinks they're spies for ESL, ESL are just the evil fucking overlords wanting to rule the scene and will just somehow, like cockroaches outliving a nuclear bomb, and Valve are in a fucking holiday in Hawaii thinking about the next Dota character because they don't give a fuck about us."

Closing Statements

"We've peaked. If we want to sustain and exist, now is the time to figure it out. No esports lasts as long as this, we've already done 8 years. We've already broke the records. We have got to figure out a way to coexist and drive the negative forces out and we need to do it as a collective and we're not doing that."

RL compared the Counter-Strike scene to the people on the Titanic who ran around with guns robbing people while the boat was sinking.
"We have given up on being a respectable esports scene." "We are now a conduit to make money for those who want to just milk it, just have one last ride, one last roll of the dice. It's done." "What a fucking mess. What have we done to our fucking scene?"
"There's just too much self-interest driving all of this." "I don't see a way we stop the dominoes." "When it's that bad, when there's that many dishonest people that ESIC have to come out and say that if we punish them all there's no one left. What does that tell you?"
"How many opportunities have we had to clean house? How many times have we said, 'this must never happen again', and another scandal." "The entire skins betting operations was the biggest criminal conspiracy in esports ever executed and no one has been punished for it." "The people who could be driving that don't want to."
"Right now people are fans of those organizations because the scene has value. It is worth being a fan of Astralis because they are excellent at Counter-Strike. It is worth being a fan of s1mple because he is the best player in Counter-Strike, maybe the exception of ZywOo. If the scene is devalued, if the scene loses its meaning, those things lose its meaning too, and people will leave, people will stop tuning into the games. I have seen it happen in multiple esports, this is not my first time at the rodeo. I am getting big Brood War vibes right now and I don't like it."
"The role you play in all of this as fans, as viewers, as listeners, as consumers of esports content, it's absolutely imperative that you know who the good guys are. It's absolutely imperative that you use your voice. It's absolutely imperative that when things are bad, you know who, at least, is trying to make them good, and you have to apply your criticism to the right targets."
- He continues saying it's no good in continuing to attack ESIC and saying how they are bad, ESIC have it hard
He says CSPPA are on the right side of the argument on BLAST but have been on the wrong side of many arguments many times.
- "If you are not willing to stand along side the weakest member of the union, with the least amount of influence, and the least amount of power, then it is not a union at all and you shouldn't pose as one." "You wanna serve a bunch of special interest do it, everyone else in esports fucking does, but do not pose as something you are not." "We love the players. I've been fighting for players rights for as long as I've been able to, but the CSPPA is not what we needed."
  - "They are not applying the pressure to the right people, they are not fighting the right battles, they are not helping their weaker members."
He says what orgs have done by keeping or hiring coaches is bad. "When you give up on holding an appreciable standard, you've lost the scene" "Competition matters, rules matter, punishments matter, achievements matter, excellence matters" "If you start stripping that away, you have nothing" "You guys need to take that knowledge and apply it sensibly."
"Valve has sold you all down the river, they sold everyone in the esports scene down the river, tournament organizers are selling their talent down the river. Don't hate on them for sounding tired after a 16 hour day. Don't hate on them because the hype for a matchup they've seen for the 20th time in the past 3 months, they can't be as excited or it sounds contrived. Support your guys, they're there for you, these are your people."
"This community has got to start acting like one for the first fucking time. Just put the petty shit away, let's try and fix this fucking scene while we still have one to save."
"You can't rely on Valve, you can't rely on ESL, you can't rely on the CSPPA, you can't rely on anyone." "Once again, it's gonna be the likes of us, the amateurs, the people who give a fuck, rolling up our sleeves and grafting." "I'm old and tired and I don't want to have to do it again. People need to pick up the torch and do it."
- "Like Michal did, like Dudenhoeffer did. You see something wrong, fix it. You see somebody doing something wrong, call it out. If you think something could be better, let people know."
"Vote with your wallets if you're not happy with the direction Valve goes in. If when we do get to the Major, they serve up another subpar, same old bullshit stickers and signatures package again, do not buy it."
- "You're a powerful block and if you use it correctly we can fucking avert this disaster."
"I'm not doing another year in this broken, bust-up fucking scene, where everyone is miserable, everyone is broke, everyone is tired, and everyone is trying to fucking rob everyone else, blind, while the fucking people who are meant to be protecting you, are just fucking enhancing it and lining their own pockets."
- "I'm not doing it anymore and you shouldn't want to do it either."
"I stand by every fucking thing I said. I mean it, because this game fucking matters to me, this scene fucking matters to me. I put my life into this, my adult life, and to see it in this state is fucking sad."

Waaaassuupp my just start beauties?
Hope everyone is good. I am currently sitting in awe watching the stock price of GameStop & have a little bit of my own money in it. It's literally like gambling. I used to love gambling so I'm having a whirlwind of a time rn haha! (dw it's money i can lose)
Anyway!!! On with the case study. As always here are last months ones:
Month 12
Month 13
Month 14
Anyways here are the stats:

Mth	Articles (total)	Pageviews	No of Words	Affiliate Income (£)	Ezoic Income ($)	Avg EPMV ($)	Total (£)
Oct 2020	45	8475	99,603	316.68	0	0	307.29
Nov 2020	54	40,724	124,284	3865	145.80	9.99	4018.17
Dec 2020	62	20,968	145,215	799.35	112.93	18.54	911.11
Jan 2021	70	21, 743	152,633	746.34	106.79	16.66	824.22

For those of you who dont wanna read, I just started a YouTube where I'll be doing these on camera plus sharing my keyword research methods + anything you want to know.

The Google Update Did Rip My Anus (I Thought I'd Escaped)

So like last month we've seen growth!!
And that may seem just a little ecstatic, but it's because I've had to eat my own words after saying "The Google Update Didn't Rip My Anus (Hooray!)" in the last update. This time around, Google did infact rip my anus.
But it recovered in about 2 weeks to even better positions... I know these are all horrible innuendos and I'm not sorry.
Every part of me wanted to scramble to 'fix' it as best I could those 2 weeks, but I left it alone, stuck to the plan & thanked the affiliate marketing gods it was saved from the burning pits of below top 10 rankings.

My Niche is Profitable But Not Incredibly Profitable

I've learned that the niche I'm currently in is actually pretty hard to earn from. The avg RPM on YouTube is $6/1000 & the affiliate sales aren't as frequent or high in value as say the finance niche or others.
It seems I've put an incredible amount of work into this, but if I'd have chosen a different niche that work would have = more value by now (in my opinion).
So I've basically decided to pretty much outsource all of the content and start a affiliate blogging or finance niche page. Stuff about how you can make money from blogging, stock trading etc. Maybe I'll do this as a YouTube as well, but I'm unsure which I'd rather as of yet.
I quite like just having a site and not having to really show my face. I could outsource the content and put it under my name & no one would know, whereas with YouTube, it always has to be me.

What Changed This Month?

Ezoic Money Machine Didn't Brrr:
I've heard this is pretty normal for most blogs around Jan, but yeah Ezoic dropped heavily for me. Alongside the Google update, it really fucked my chances of getting to my goal of 1000 beautiful Queenie pounds (GBP).
Oh well, next month I think I'm definitely gonna see it get to 1k or at least high 900.
I'm getting about 700-850 visits a day now which is wicked.
Google update, then #1:
Google was a little cunt & threw all his toys out the pram & then tidied them all back up in different positions.
I am grateful for this because, although I didn't see it at the time, I've come back stronger than ever before. I've taken lots of #1 slots for affiliate terms so alllllll good.
It's been interesting to see the shift in amount of money made in each affiliate completely turn on its head. The one I made 90% of my income from most months is now projected to be among the lowest.
Christmas Period Traffic Drop:
So finally the Christmas period traffic has fully gone & I've seen a hit in affiliate earnings on the one I pretty much earned 90% of my income from last month.
It has gone back to its regular 1-5 sales/day, but the commissions I'm getting for these sales are much lower. I am ranking number 1 for quite a few positions containing links to this affiliate, but I guess I'm either not converting for some reason - or the buyer intent isn't really there.
It's a listicle and showcases the best 50 x products - maybe there's too much choice for the buyer? I'm not sure how I'd continue to hold top slot if I cut it down though. I would really appreciate some thoughts here.
I'm trying to rank for a better buyer intent keyword rn with 1k search vol. There's not a lot of competition so I think I can easily take the 3rd slot.
Work Focus Shift:
This month has looked a little different for me work wise. I've now said to myself that I have enough to start outsourcing most of the content on the site, & to step away from it a little bit to start building out other things and diversifying.
If there's one thing I know now - it's that Google's scythe is remorseless. And it can make you wanna be a Chad and punch multiple holes in your dry wall at the flick of a switch. This game is a rollercoaster both rankings and emotion wise lmao.
To combat this I've been focussing a lot on YouTube, & other social media like instagram. I've put out 14 videos this month. And fuck me does video editing suck so much more than writing?!
On Instagram, I've been posting up to 9 times a day, using reels a lot and also posting around 2-3 times on TikTok.
I've grown a lot on IG doing this. I went from 100 - 300 followers this month & only really started 2 weeks ago. I also had a video go viral on TikTok which was good.
Another thing I've done is set up an Etsy shop for one of my IG accounts. I'm happy to share this niche with you bc it's more of an experiment than anything. It's dogs; Labradors to be specific & I'm selling custom shirts to the Instagram followers. I have around 1.15k on there so far & have been growing fairly rapidly.
People love dogs more than people & it's quite crazy the amount of engagement it gets. I can see it being pretty profitable in the future.
New Investment Plans:
The money I make from the site will all go back into content & feeding me. I have plans to get my writer on YouTube with me at the early stages of this channel. I feel like if I involve him at a later date, people will feel cheated. But, if it's 2 people from the start, it will have always been that way.
Maybe that's just me thinking too much, but I sure as hell stopped watching =3 when Ray William Johnson was no longer the main dude. It was shit before, but fuck me did it get shit after he left.
I've also been trading on a Forex demo account for 2 years now & have gotten pretty good at it. I feel like this is another way to expand my income from earning online.
I'm going to get into crypto & forex with some money I won in a competition. I have around $300 to play with, so I'm hoping to get it to $1k investing in DOGE or XRP, & then move that 1k into the more stable currency markets.
Anyway me old fruit...
Hope you enjoyed reading; thanks for reading; and see you in the next episode-sode-sode-sode
*dr dre plays*
Bye!

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Does your dating app want you to stay single?
They promise to help you find a match. But do apps really want us to find someone?
by CATRIONA INNES and REBECCA TWOMEY
JAN 2, 2021
It’s 2am, the tingle in my right wrist threatens long-term damage (RSI – repetitive swiping injury), and I’m not sure I’m even blinking. Yet I keep going, staring at my screen. Why? I’ve sent 35 messages so far – to men of varying attractiveness – and they all remain unanswered. I look for another match, hoping he’ll appear on my next swipe. I’ve been doing this – on and off – for the past five years. Why am I still single? It’s a horrible thought that leaves me reeling. But then another idea springs to the surface... what if the apps want me this way? We’re in the age of the tech giants: Deliveroo and Uber are making billions off us. Yet food and transport are commodities, we’ll always need them (yes, I know I could learn to drive and cook...), while dating apps rely on me not finding anyone – I’d delete them as soon as I did. Dating apps boost the UK economy by £11.7 billion a year, thanks to a steady influx of singles and repeat business. If apps have monetised dates, and most technology is designed to keep us on it, could it be that the apps are hoping I’ll stay single? It’s time to find out. The first thing I discover is that getting dating apps to reveal their matchmaking algorithms is like asking KFC to share its secret recipe – it just isn’t going to happen. But what I can do is ask coders and engineers for their theories when it comes to how our most-used dating apps are designed. There is a consensus that most use similar technology, which – behind the scenes – is doing a lot more than checking your location and set preferences of what you are looking for. “Most apps use ‘collaborative filtering,’ which was first developed by Amazon,” tech expert Rhys Maddocks tells me. He’s the founder of JobSwipe – an app that allows job seekers to swipe their way through different potential roles in the hope of a mutual match (sound familiar?). “[Collaborative filtering] assumes if you buy the same product as someone else, you’ll also be interested in the other items they purchased.” We all recognise it as “the shopper who bought this item also bought this” and, translated into dating terms, if you like someone you’ll then be shown recommendations based on the preferences of others who also liked that person. They’ll appear first on your feed. It could be the reason why you end up seeing carbon copies of the one person you liked over and over. I’m also told that some apps use face-mapping, pinpointing physical features you have a preference for and then sifting those with similar features to the top. Others use language- matching – so when chatting about travel, food or fitness, you’ll be shown matches who have put similar things in their profiles. It all seems very clever and makes sense; the apps show me who they think I’ll like the most.“The more popular people will be put at the top of your stack because you’re more likely to swipe on them, because everyone else has,” says Rhys. “That’s the general rule of any shopping site – the products that most people are buying are shown on the first page.” This could all be well-intentioned. Algorithms can’t be sure who I am going to click with, but they can try their best – is it the apps’ fault if I like someone and they don’t like me back? Still, there are rumours that it’s possible to “game” the system – I was once told you can cheat Tinder’s algorithm by liking one person, then rejecting five to ensure your profile climbs up the hierarchy. But this claim was based on the now-defunct Tinder Elo Score – the more likes you got, the higher your score and you would only be shown to people with a similar score to you. When asked about the hierarchy of its algorithm, Tinder says,“We prioritise potential matches who are active. We don’t want to waste your time showing you profiles of inactive users.” But just because that method is extinct, that’s not to say apps don’t control our positioning in someone else’s feed. The main apps all clearly outline their privacy policies on their websites – and are also clear that they use your data to help give you the best matches. “They know what times you’re active and can tell which accounts are being used to make real-life connections,” says Rhys. “The goal is to put people who are very active on the app high in the stack.” This helps the dater, he explains. “They want you to get a message back when you send one.” You know those prompts on Hinge asking if you met the person you’ve been messaging? Rhys tells me I should say yes. He reckons more active users and those who meet up with people in real life will be shown to more people. It will help me climb that stack. The app’s tagline is “designed to be deleted” – and they ask you these questions so they can learn more about your type. It makes sense that they’d favour those who are actively trying to meet people, rather than those who are perhaps only using the app for a bit of light browsing. Whenever I quit an app, for the first week or so I feel bored and wonder what I did before I compulsively swiped every spare second I had. I watch my single friends swipe through TV shows, during a dinner together and even mid-workout. I’ve been there, too – if I’m out with a friend and they pop to the loo, straight away I take my phone out to see who has swiped right on me. Behind the algorithms, is there something physically addictive about how I feel when I get a match? I’ve felt sky-high when someone hot likes me – but then, 10 minutes later, I want more. One isn’t enough... I want so many matches and yet I only want to be in a relationship with one person. It doesn’t make sense. Psychologist Dr John McAlaney from Bournemouth University likens my need for validation to the high that gamblers get – they keep spinning the wheel in the hope they’ll scoop that one big win, while I keep swiping in the hope the perfect person lands in my matches.“The harms of gambling are well-known and there are the same dangers with any immediate validation and gain,” he tells me. “Feeling rewarded is a basic psychological desire. It’s not really that complicated that making people feel good is a very powerful and basic concept.” The difference is, of course, that with gambling, you might lose your savings. With swiping, the most you’ll lose is an evening of your time (and the feeling in your swipe-tired fingers). There have been no studies into what a “like” on a dating app does to your brain but there are numerous ones into gambling and how its addictive qualities have the same effect on the brain as drug and alcohol cravings. And, more so, our brains quite simply like looking at hot people – it’s been said that when we see attractive people, an area on the left side of our brains becomes active and pumps out dopamine. That rush can even make us feel slightly giddy. It’s not to say that all dating apps are designed with this in mind, that the developers wanted them to be addictive, but simply that they may have ended up this way.
I’m starting to see how my desire to be desired may well subconsciously outweigh my desire for a relationship. I have to admit, I spend more time swiping than speaking to my matches. With three billion swipes around the world per day on Tinder alone, and limited data on how many chats happen per day, we might have become a nation that swipes... and never actually speaks to those we are craving. But, of course, there are those who do meet and find love on apps. Hinge told me that its users spend more time on first dates than they do on the app, and three in four dates on Hinge lead to second dates. Last year, the Future Of Dating report found that a third of relationships that started between 2015 and 2019 began online, and that if the trend keeps going the way it is then by 2035, more than 50% of UK relationships will begin online.“If we’re feeling compelled to check things, like our matches on an app, this is a psychological issue – it doesn’t come from tech,” adds McAlaney.
In the past few years I’ve given up trying to meet people in real life; no one really interacts with strangers the way they used to. They don’t need to – we can just get our phones out. But, yet again, are the apps to blame for that, or us? It’s the same way you can barely get through a conversation with friends without one of them Googling something on their phone, taking a photo or showing you a photo of the thing they were just Googling. Plus it is convenient – and a lot less scary. After all, it’s much easier to message someone and have them ignore that message than it is to go up to them (gulp) and take that rejection to your face. Seeing someone’s preferences can also help you suss out if they’re going to be into you or not. “As a lesbian, I definitely find it easier to approach someone on an app who I wouldn’t necessarily have spoken to in real life simply because it’s not always apparent that they like women,” my friend Mandy muses. But while the apps make meeting multiple people easier and rejection seem less bruising, I’ve found – over the years – that whether it’s in real life, or online, I still feel the impact of someone brushing off my advances. App dating has slowly eaten away at my confidence. Even if I do meet someone and go on dates, I find myself constantly thinking about how they are messaging and meeting lots of other people. Feeling like I’m one of many means I often hold back so as not to get hurt. It might sound paranoid, or unromantic, but just under half of online daters admit they find it hard to commit to a partner because of the breadth of dating options “Modern dating can chip away [at] your self- esteem and your sense of self,” Dr Zoe Strimpel, historian of gender and dating, tells me. “We become very dependent on external validation. That’s notorious for being a bad starting point for attracting the right kind of person. It’s a vicious cycle because you feel bad about yourself, go back to the app to try and get that validation and the same thing happens, it doesn’t work out.” I feel as if Dr Strimpel is articulating what’s inside my head – it’s very easy for me to moan to my dates about how I’ve been ghosted and have felt disposable, but I also need to look at how I have behaved on apps, swiping past perfectly eligible people, and not replying to messages because someone else shinier and newer got in touch. “Apps tap into a very basic need to keep searching,” Dr Strimpel adds. “But the sense that you have a lot of choice really is an illusion.” “You do develop an ideology of the certain person you would like to match with, which can become a little unrealistic,” adds Mandy. “I would rather not have to rely on a dating app in order to find my future wife but until I’m able to meet her in person, I feel the sad reality is that I will have to persevere and continue swiping.” It’s not difficult to look at the parallel between how tech has infiltrated so much of our lives and the fact that we’re now in the midst of a loneliness epidemic – 97% of Cosmopolitan readers said they felt lonely. Studies have also found that compulsive use of dating apps made those individuals feel lonelier than they did before they started. However, 2020 would surely have been a much lonelier place – particularly for singles – without these apps allowing us to stay connected and date, even during the lockdown. There’s also a human element at play here, according to academic and author Dr Nikos Sotirakopoulos.“We tend to overestimate the effect of technology in the short-term, and underestimate the impact of technology in the long- term,” he says. “There’s this hype that dating apps are going to change everything, and we do now have less romantic and sexual encounters. But it’s not only because of dating apps. What used to happen in a club isn’t miles away from what is happening on dating apps – people would go to a bar and say, ‘OK, yes, no,’ to people, based on very little. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. With dating apps it becomes official. It’s just mating rituals playing out online.” It’s hard to think of a single person’s world pre-dating apps, but I met every boyfriend I had before them organically – in the park, in a queue, through work – and the interactions and connections felt more emotional. Now when I look back, I don’t think I’d have swiped right for any of them had I seen them on an app. It would be nice to blame my lack of luck with love entirely on dating apps, but I don’t think I can. Apps are certainly steering me to behave in certain ways, but can they alone take the blame for my quest for endless choice? In my search for validation I feel I have somehow come to value matches over meaningful connections. Yet I keep spinning that wheel...

Other than full time professionals, bots, colluders, etc, people estimate only 0.5% of people profit long term from Poker Online in 2020. At the end of the day it is Gambling. Never forget that. Here's the story of my friend who is an amazing guy, hardest working guy I know, and how he got treated with Poker.
My friend lost $10,000 playing online poker, despite going to college on a full ride for advanced math that I'm not even capable of understanding. At first I was skeptical, and then he sent me his 150,000 hand history. My friend had a 24% win rate with pocket Kings in showdowns, 22% overall. He also had less than a 50% win rate with Queens and Aces. I sat down with him for a few of his sessions, since I was the one who got him into poker. I sat by, feeling super guilty, as he got coolered and river rivered roughly 70-80% of the time, when the chance of this stuff happening is about 4-20%.
So if you're a losing player online, and you've come to these forums and hear the 'success stories' lots of these shills or braggers say... just realize it's not the entire truth.
The truth about variance is... the same way a Royal Flush is a 1 in 650,000 chance, you can simply be a losing player for 650,000 hands, no matter how you play. Variance has no guarantees.
Something Poker players don't like to let the new community realize is, Poker is just gambling with a side of bluffing. At the end of the hand, you either have the cards, or you don't. You will eventually get called no matter how clever you are. Phil Ivey lost $10+ million playing basic rooms online. Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk are both losing players online, even at microstakes.
Now, if you search Online Poker Rigged on google, you'll get about 650,000 (royal flush odds, ironic!) pages and testimonials of people saying online poker is rigged. Then you'll get the waves of people coming at them, calling them stupid donkeys, etc. My friend is one of the most disciplined and smart people I have ever known. He went to college on a full ride, apparently makes 6 figures right out of graduation.
Got his house at 24 years old. We were best friends in high school, so I was having a lot of fun with poker and decided to get him into it. I actually told him, because of how guilty I feel about his online poker experience, that I'm going to personally pay off the $10,000 he lost online. During the two sessions I sat down with him, things were happening that just cannot be explained. I'm talking runner runners in 80% of his hands during a 6+ hour session.
If you are new to poker, or think you are getting close to that skill level to being a professional, just know it won't last. Phil Ivey, considered NUMBER ONE in the world at one point, was 'losing' online to no-name regulars at mid-stakes. He no longer plays online.
Moral of the story. The same way people win the lottery, or run good... someone can run the opposite. There's the exact same chance of running bad continously, in fact it's higher because you are at a table with 2-9 other people. Doyal Brunson won the world series of Poker 2x in a row donking out using trash hands like 10-2 offsuit. Someone said that Doyal didn't even know the math for open ended straight odds when he won. Can you imagine that? Losing to someone who doesn't even know gradeschool math because he donked out with 10-2, a hand that is "negative equity".
Don't get fooled by incels, shills, coaches, who gaslight you and try to make you feel bad. Eric, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I got you into online poker. Glad you quit when you did. I will pay off the $10,000 you lost with pride.
Go watch the world finals of Poker in 2018, and 2019. A guy with a neckbeard punts 33 into JJ and runner runners a straight. Same neckbeard guy appears in the final table, where he flops a full house and then Quads to 'win' the tournament.
If you do choose to try to play Poker for a living, your best bet is to play LIVE poker. People are worse and the deck is not rigged. Do yourself a favor and google 'online poker rigged'. 650,000 results.
And before some incel shill gets mad. Black Friday, Pokerbros, skillbet.com, Pokerstars. All caught literally cheating and rigging the game. Online poker is not your friend, they have a very carefully designed system that identifies users based on their hand playing behavior to get the most $$$ out of them. There is also a handicap implementation on many Poker sites, which will deliver coolers to skilled NITS and high level GTO players, making sure that Donkeys and fish are able to win some hands they should've folded - so all parties keep depositing. This has been proven.
Google 'russian bot rings'. Essentially, either run by the poker sites or by Russian programmers, the russians all have the same statistics. The reason these bots are sourced in Russia is the laws there make it impossible to prosecute them. Many people also believe the Poker sites simply have a deal with them. These bots keep rooms full.
Another fact to keep in mind is, right now, take the time to go to Global Poker, a site that is supposedly one of the biggest poker sites in the world. Something they don't tell you, is not only is their Poker 'sweepstakes' aka not legally poker, but if you start clicking on their rooms, you'll see the exact same names over and over. You'd think a site with a million users would have more random people playing vs you at micros or midstakes... but it's always the same 20 people. That is because many of these people are bots, and you are selected with a small group of other people to always play vs these bots. They are called 'house bots'. Many poker sites have been caught using them. Not only will the bots beat you, they are not very profitable even if you have the edge. Don't believe me? Go check out Global. Biggest site in the world, same 6 ppl at every stakes, 20 hours a day.
Again, regardless of all these facts regarding online poker, Variance is variance. There is no guarantee you will ever get lucky at all. My friend played 150,000 hands and had less than a 30% win rate with Aces. What do you tell that person? Oh, just play 2 more years straight and if it doesn't get better... that just means you're bad.
One quote stuck with me from my friend. "My variance in online poker is so bad that I actually feel lucky to win with Aces, and when I do, I feel like I even sucked out on them". What a joke, right?
Again, Eric. I'm sorry I got you into Online Poker. I learned so many things about how corrupt it is between last year and now. It all makes so much sense now.

Something imperative to do when you are picking a gambling club is to investigate it. The most ideal approach to do this is by perusing on the web club surveys or conversing with other gambling club players. At the point when you have discovered a solid survey, ask them how well they play their cards, what sort of gambling clubs they typically play at, and what kinds of games they have. It is additionally a smart thought to peruse online club gatherings to perceive what individuals are stating about a specific online club. On the off chance that somebody is griping about a club, odds are they would have been at their most noticeably awful to play there!
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Something else to look at when attempting to discover gambling club audits is simply the standing of the club. You should discover a gambling club that has been around for some time and one that offers a reasonable month to month enrollment charge for a wide range of gambling club games. Don't simply go with the least gambling club because there are likely better gambling clubs out there that charge less. It's more significant that you get a reasonable club than one that charges you an excessive lot!
You may likewise need to investigate free gambling club preliminaries. Numerous gambling clubs offer these for new players who are simply beginning or are as yet attempting to discover their balance in the club world.
One thing to look out for when playing on the web club is individuals who utilize counterfeit profiles on various locales. You ought to abstain from utilizing a record of someone else under any conditions.
On the off chance that you will play an online gambling club for cash, you should set aside sure to installment assets into your financial balance consistently. This is likewise significant if you will play computer games on the web. When you discover how a site functions, you will have the option to play without gambling a lot of cash.
There are additionally a few online gambling clubs out there that offer "pay-to-play" games. These can be fun and an incredible method to begin in the gaming scene. It's likewise an incredible method to check whether an online gambling club is truly mainstream before you focus on playing with it for genuine cash.
Picking a decent online club can be troublesome however it tends to be done on the off chance that you comprehend what to search for. At the point when you are prepared to begin playing for genuine cash, begin investigating an online gambling club that has audits and is known for acceptable client support.
Keep in mind, this will require significant investment and a ton of games so don't anticipate a high level of winning on the primary game. Be ready for certain misfortunes also.
Additionally, ensure the online club offers a decent assortment of games to browse. Some online gambling clubs just have spaces while others offer roulette, poker, bingo, blackjack, and an assortment of other gambling club games.
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Source: https://elitecasinoblog.mystrikingly.com/

Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.
PREVIOUSLY:


1-7-2002	1-14-2002	1-21-2002	1-28-2002
2-4-2002	2-11-2002	2-18-2002	2-25-2002
3-4-2002	3-11-2002

Going into Wrestlemania 18, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the WWF. While the return of the NWO managed to spike a big buyrate for No Way Out and Rock/Hogan is probably gonna be huge for WM buyrates, it hasn't really affected TV ratings in any meaningful way. And this is the big part of the year. That doesn't bode well for the usual decline in business that always comes after Wrestlemania. From here, Dave just spends paragraphs talking about how bad booking over the last year has tanked the company from the peak they were at the previous year and what they should be doing different. And he's not wrong. In retrospect, with 18 years hindsight, pretty much all of this is right on the money. Way back as far as late '97, Dave was pointing out all the cracks starting to form in WCW and was trying to sound the alarm. Here in 2002, he's trying to do the same with WWF and sure enough, he ends up being right. The next two decades have been one continuous slow decline in popularity, for pretty much all the reasons Dave is warning about here. It's all really interesting, but it's not news. It's just business analysis.
Which brings us to next week's Wrestlemania. Dave says there's never in the past been a Wrestlemania where the world title match had so little buzz going into it. Jericho as the WWF champion has been rendered completely secondary to the Triple H/Stephanie feud. But as of now, that match is still expected to go on last, even though all the advertising and mainstream publicity for the show is built around the Rock/Hogan match. Even Steve Austin, the biggest PPV draw in company history for the last 4 years, isn't being heavily featured in the promotion of the show (and boy, was he salty about it as it turned out). The NWO angle has pretty much been seen internally as a flop and there's not much further for them to go as a group after the show. After Mania is the brand split, which in theory should freshen things up and lead to some developmental stars being called up. But Austin and Rock are supposed to anchor each show respectively and Rock is expected to take a few months off this summer to film another movie (The Rundown) so that's gonna hurt the star power on whatever show he ends up on.
More worrisome is that there have been pay cuts. Several wrestlers were approached this week and asked to take cuts to their downside guarantees. Dave talks about how Vince never wanted to pay anyone guarantees in the first place and only started doing so in 1996 when WCW forced his hand. So far, all the wrestlers asked were developmental stars or former WCW/ECW Alliance members who haven't been used on TV since the Invasion angle ended at Survivor Series. But it's expected more pay cuts are coming, especially for anyone who's contracts are coming due because obviously, no one has any negotiating leverage anymore. Chris Jericho is probably the biggest star who's deal is up for renewal soon and obviously, he's not exactly in a prime spot to play hardball. He's a much bigger star now than he was 3 years ago, so he'll probably still get a raise. But it won't be nearly would he could get if WCW still existed. (For this reason alone, I can't comprehend why anyone would want AEW to fail if you're a wrestling fan. And yet.)
The pay cuts seem to be about $25K-per-year each. So for instance, the guys making $125K per year are being cut down to $100K. Then $100K guys down to $75K. Or in the case of the lowest paid guys, the $75K guys are being cut to $52K. WWF tried to soften the blow by saying that if/when these guys start working on TV and working regular house shows, then they start getting merch money and house show cuts and so they'll probably make more than their downside anyway. But anyone who's ever gotten a pay cut knows that's some corporate doublespeak bullshit. With nowhere else to make a living in wrestling, most of these guys are pretty much forced to smile and take it, but needless to say, they aren't happy. These people aren't rich and a $25K-per-year pay cut makes quite a bit a difference. And it's not like WWF needs to do this. They're still very profitable and they just offered the NWO guys monstrously huge contracts. This is just what happens when you have a monopoly on the industry and you don't have to pay your employees fairly. You could. But fuck them, right? (Man, this sure feels prescient in a world where a company light years more profitable now than at any time in its history just fired a bunch of people when they didn't have to.)
Oh yeah, back to Wrestlemania preview. Dave runs down all the matches and what we know. Rock, Hogan, and Pat Patterson spent all day together at a gym in Florida last week choreographing their match. Apparently during his comeback house show match with Rikishi in Tampa last week, Hogan broke a rib and tried to keep it secret from everyone, but they found out. He's still expected to work Wrestlemania (he wouldn't miss it under any circumstances) but they're concerned about how much he'll be able to do. Also, because this is Toronto and he's so beloved there, WWF is expecting Hogan to get a huge reaction from the crowd (yeah, that's putting it mildly). Jericho/Triple H on paper should be a great match (they've had some classics together in the past) but the build-up has killed Jericho and the result is a foregone conclusion. Austin/Hall should be fine. UndertakeFlair has had the best build and for storyline reasons, Flair should win. But Dave ain't holding his breath. So on and so forth.
Yup, this is definitely a slow news week. Now Dave writes a huge piece on the history of major shows in wrestling and how that led to the birth of Wrestlemania. How Vince gambled everything on the first WM and how closed circuit was such a vital part of the success. Talks about the history of closed circuit with wrestling, with the first national pro wrestling-ish event being broadcast nationally on CCTV was the Inoki/Muhammad Ali match, which featured other wrestling matches on the undercard. The inclusion of Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper were critical to the success of the first Wrestlemania and Roddy Piper's racist promos to Mr. T turned him into an mainstream celebrity along with Hogan. And then WM2 and WM3 and oh god, I'm just realizing as I type this that Dave has written multiple paragraphs about each Wrestlemania. This is fascinating stuff to read as a history buff and I seriously can't recommend it enough if you're subscribed to go read this. But I ain't recapping all that haha.
More news on Jerry Jarrett's planned promotion, with the idea of doing $9.95 weekly PPV shows. Jerry and his son Jeff are now both fully involved with this, with the idea that they would be co-owners. Despite rumors, Jerry has denied that Vince Russo is involved in the company, but others are saying he'll be writing for them secretly (as mentioned last week, Time Warner execs only agreed to represent him in his lawsuit with Hulk Hogan if he doesn't work for any other wrestling company, so he can't openly be working with the company). The idea seems to be to pay the wrestlers $1,000 to $2,500 per show and run about 26 shows per year. In the meantime, the wrestlers would be allowed to work any other indies but wouldn't be allowed to work PPV or TV for anyone else. The problem here is the WWA promotion is still trying to gain a foothold in America and they want to use a lot of the same talent and Jeff Jarrett has involvement in both companies. Jeff is reportedly trying to work out an agreement where they can all share stars and get along but Dave says that's problematic when you have two companies using the same guys and trying to book different storylines and run separate PPVs. Jarrett's new company is looking to sign a core group of names to build around and Dave says you damn well better have them signed, because WWF will pluck away anyone who starts to gain any success. Jarrett is said to be interested in signing Scott Steiner, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio for the new company. Anyway, Dave crunches the numbers and being very conservative, this new company would need to make at least $125,000 per week on PPV just to break even. And that's being optimistic. Once you take out the PPV company's cut, Dave estimates they would need to pull 31,000 buys at least to even think of breaking even. And again, that's being extremely conservative and assuming this company runs an extremely low-cost production. To have something with good production values that can be taken seriously as competition, you'd probably have to do double that. And even with national television, WCW and ECW weren't doing that many PPV buys by the end. So Dave is skeptical that this Jarrett promotion is gonna manage it without any TV. Not to mention, where are they gonna tape? Multiple cities? Gotta promote them and draw crowds. Dave thinks you'd have to heavily paper the crowd. And it takes months for PPV money to come in, which means Jarrett is gonna have to eat all these costs at the start. Basically, this idea is gonna be difficult to pull off (yup. If Panda Energy hadn't bailed them out, they were gonna be dead within the first 6 months under this plan).
Big story about how the Vitor Belfort vs. Chuck Liddell fight has been cancelled. Why? Well, Belfort's lawyers sent a letter to UFC officials claiming that the fighter was sick with a malaria-like disease (ended up being dengue fever) and due to the medication he was on, he wasn't able to train properly. Sounds reasonable enough, yeah? Well....turns out Belfort isn't too sick to collect a paycheck in other ways. Belfort is the newest cast member of a Brazilian reality show called "Casa dor Artistas 2" which is basically exactly like Big Brother, in which a bunch of people are locked in this house with no contact to the outside world and are on camera 24/7 online, with daily edited versions airing on TV. So Belfort has now committed to being locked in this house for the next 90 days for a TV show, which means he couldn't make the fight with Liddell, scheduled for May. The winner of that fight was expected to face Tito Ortiz later this year, and Belfort vs. Ortiz is the big fight everyone has been clamoring for, and has already been postponed or canceled two other times (don't end up getting Belfort/Ortiz until 2005, and it ends up being a controversial split decision win for Ortiz).
Former Memphis area wrestler The Dream Machine passed away of a heart attack at age 47. Dave says he was possibly the greatest talker of the last 25 years who never made it big nationally. Dave recaps his career in the 70s and 80s, with lots of quotes from Jim Cornette and Jimmy Hart. I pulled up a promo just outta curiosity.

WATCH: Dream Machine cuts a promo on Dutch Mantel from 1981

All Japan Women held its first ever show on PPV this week, while facing an uncertain future. AJW is the 3rd longest-running promotion in the world (behind CMLL and WWF) but they've been struggling financially for years. And at the end of this month, they're losing their TV deal with Fuji Network, which has aired their show for 25 years. Anyway, the PPV was fine but something was missing. Manami Toyota, unquestionably the greatest female wrestler to ever live, stole the show in an excellent match, but otherwise, nothing memorable.
Kiyoshi Sagawa passed away at age 79 this week. You probably don't know Sagawa's name, but he was the largest shareholder of NJPW and was the founder of Sagawa Kyubin, which is basically Japan's version of FedEx. Sagawa was a billionaire and owned the largest percentage of NJPW stock. He alone owned 40% of the company. It's believed Sagawa's shares will be bequeathed to Antonio Inoki, who currently holds 15%. This would give him Inoki a 55% stake in the company. But Dave doesn't expect much to change because Sagawa always backed Inoki anyway, so it's not like day-to-day is going to be any different.
Eddie Guerrero debuted on the latest NJPW tour, teaming with Minoru Tanaka and Black Tiger. It's interesting because several years ago, Guerrero portrayed the role of Black Tiger. This time, it was played by Silver King. During the match, Guerrero and Black Tiger turned heel on their partner and joined their opponents in a 5-on-1 beatdown of Minoru Tanaka. Word is Guerrero looked really good on this tour so far (yeah, he was on fire during this time. Guerrero only works about 10 shows for NJPW on this tour and then WWF re-hires him and the rest is history).
Hayabusa is said to have regained feeling in much of his body and can move his left arm somewhat, after suffering the career-ending injury back in October that left him paralyzed.
Speaking of, Atsushi Onita and former FMW star Kodo Fuyuki are working an angle together over the dead FMW promotion. At an indie show, Onita came out and accused Fuyuki and FMW general manager Sakichi Nakamura of mismanaging FMW and using the company's money to make themselves rich while allowing the promotion to die. Onita also talked about how they stopped paying Hayabusa's hospital bills and used the money to enrich themselves. This is all leading up to Onita vs. Fuyuki soon, and of course Onita is using Hayabusa's injury as part of his angle. Because Onita is the carniest carny to ever carny.
A made-for-TV movie about the life of Nobuhiko Takada and his marriage to TV personality Aki Mukai aired in Japan this week and was a huge ratings hit. Takada of course is a former pro wrestler turned MMA fighter who, frankly, should have stuck to worked fights because his reputation as a shoot fighter has been destroyed time and again in real shoots. He married Mukai, who is the host of a popular morning TV show (she's basically Japan's Katie Couric, Dave says) and she has been battling cancer recently. The movie was a tearjerker story about their inability to have children due to her cancer. The couple is looking to adopt a kid in the U.S. because adoption is apparently extremely difficult in Japan.
Dan Severn regained the NWA title from Shinya Hashimoto at a Zero-One show in Japan this week. NWA president Jim Miller was there and a NWA Jersey (and American) referee officiated the match. The match ended with a screwjob finish, with the American ref fast-counting Hashimoto to give Severn the victory, which the fans haaaaaated and Dave thinks pretty well tarnishes whatever legacy the NWA title still has, in the one country where fans still sorta respect that belt. Dave says the idea here is Hashimoto is such a bigger star than Severn that he couldn't feasibly do a clean job to him in his own promotion. But Hashimoto doesn't want to go to America and defend the NWA title on a bunch of tiny indie shows for 100 people either, so he agreed to drop it back to Severn this way.
Remember that Matrats promotion Eric Bischoff was involved in that sorta disappeared off the radar? It's not dead! Yet. Bischoff, who hates dirt sheets, thinks they're all lies, and has never confided in Dave Meltzer, did an interview with the Wrestling Observer website this week and talked about the plans for the company. It has been renamed Next Generation Wrestling and Bischoff talked as if they still plan to go into production for a TV series later this summer, but he admitted everything isn't yet finalized. Bischoff said the matches won't have pinfalls or submissions but will instead of have ringside judges awarding points for creativity and execution. Dave doesn't seem to be super on board with this concept (yeah, it goes nowhere).
WWA promoter Andrew McManus claimed after the PPV disaster in Las Vegas that he would never again advertise anyone for a show that he doesn't have signed to a contract. So needless to say, the upcoming tour in Australia has names like Sid Vicious, Jeff Jarrett, Road Dogg, Buff Bagwell, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Scott Steiner, Sabu, Juventud Guerrera, and others being promoted. Needless to say, almost none of them have contracts with this company (most of them end up working the shows, but several do not). Speaking of WWA, after claiming they didn't get paid for their appearances at the Vegas show, both Terry Taylor and Larry Zbyszko have now been paid.
Sid Vicious is in a commercial for an Alabama chain of restaurants called Jack's Hamburgers. The commercial shows a guy golfing when Sid comes in and slams him. Then it says "some things don't mix, like golf and wrestling" but then it says some things like the new Jack's bacon and cheddar do mix. The commercial ends with the golfer choking Sid with his golf club. I can't find this commercial, so I'm counting on you Wreddit. FIND THIS VIDEO! I need this in my life.
Remember the story last week about the confrontation at the WWA show between Bischoff and Juventud Guerrera about a petition in WCW that Guerrera signed to have Bischoff fired? Well Dave has more details. The petition wasn't actually to get Bischoff fired, necessarily. After the incident at Bash at the Beach 2000 with Hogan, naturally, Bischoff took Hogan's side and it led to a big blow-up argument between he and Vince Russo. As a result, Bischoff pretty much walked out and said, "Here, let Russo run it and watch him hang himself." Which, of course, he inevitably did. But the point is, when Bischoff walked out, it looked as if there was going to be yet another power-change in WCW. Several of the wrestlers were fed up with their bosses changing on a monthly basis and never knowing who was in charge. So they put together a petition to give to Brad Siegel, basically asking him to give Russo a fair chance to succeed on his own and to let him remain in power in the wake of the Bischoff/Russo split. Bischoff wasn't even mentioned in the petition, it was mostly just a "don't fire Russo yet" petition. Of course, in siding with Russo to be the one in charge, that meant they were siding against Bischoff being in charge, even if that wasn't explicitly spelled out in the petition. Anyway, it apparently worked. Russo got to remain in power while Bischoff went home again. And then Russo spent the next few months booking himself to be WCW champion and screwing up everything else and within a few months, all those same guys were wishing Bischoff would come back. Anyway, a lot of people at the WWA show thought it was funny that Bischoff lashed out at Guerrera over it, because several other WCW wrestlers at the time, including Scott Steiner, also signed it.
XWF's planned house shows for later this month in Michigan and Ohio have been cancelled. Everyone has pretty much been told to sit tight for now until September and have been given hints that a TV deal is imminent. But people have been saying that since this promotion launched (yeah, this obviously never happens. Unbeknownst to anyone, XWF is already dead at this point, they never ran another show).
The plan for now (and it could always change again) is that the brand split will finally take place on the 3/25 Raw the week after Wrestlemania. It was originally supposed to be the very next night but they once again pushed it back a week, so that's where we stand for now. Promotional material for the Backlash PPV is already out and references Vince owning Raw and Flair owning Smackdown (and funny enough, it ends up going the other way) and split house shows are already scheduled for April. Dave still hates the draft idea because when guys (like Hurricane, for example) get drafted 28th, that immediately establishes them in the fans eyes as lower-card nobodies. The idea of a brand split is that it will force them to push new people and create new stars, but they've spent so long telling fans that only 3 or 4 guys matter and everyone else is minor talent. Doing a draft where guys get picked way down near the bottom just hurts them more and makes it harder to rebuild them as major players.
Notes from Smackdown: Flair had a brawl with Undertaker and during the fight, there was a "fan" played by indie wrestler Paul London who got punched. London also worked a dark match against Perry Saturn at the show. Rock returned, with not a scratch on him after being murderdeathkilled in an ambulance by the NWO a couple weeks ago. Rock challenged Hogan to face him right then and there, but of course that didn't happen because c'mon. Vince isn't crazy enough to take Hogan's first televised WWF match in 8 years and just give it away on free TV less than a week before Wrestlemania, right?

WATCH: Perry Saturn vs. Paul London - 2002

Notes from Raw: Dave calls it Raw Is Dog Shit. Oh, this should be fun. Turns out it was literally dog shit. The show was built around Triple H and Stephanie fighting for custody of their dog Lucy and at one point, it pooped on the floor. Stephanie ordered Jericho to walk the dog, because ya know, gotta build up the world champion for his Wrestlemania main event next week. The rest of the show was built around Vince and Flair in a boardroom arguing over ownership of the company with the board of directors. Jericho (while running another errand for Stephanie) accidentally runs over the dog. Riveting television here. They said the dog had a broken leg, which leads Dave to point out that Rock got practically murdered by the NWO a few weeks ago and we never got a medical update on his condition (he just sorta returned and was fine), but we found out about the dog's medical condition just minutes after it happened. As a result, Triple H came out and started attacking Stephanie, pretty much committing spousal abuse while the crowd cheered wildly, leading to Jericho attacking Triple H's quad with a sledgehammer, which would have been a fine angle if it hadn't been proceeded by weeks of making Jericho into Stephanie's whipping boy. And the main event was the 3-on-2 of the NWO vs. Austin & Rock. So yes, turns out Vince is crazy enough to book Hogan's comeback WWF match on a throwaway Raw 6 days before the biggest show of the year on PPV with no buildup whatsoever. It's the first time ever that Hogan and Austin have ever squared off against each other in a match (and it never happened again). Crowd was way into Hogan and Nash as well, since they were in his hometown.
There's a Divas special airing on UPN this week and if it does strong ratings, UPN is interested in doing a whole Divas series. Dave suspects that won't hold up long in the ratings. But for what it's worth, the original idea for Smackdown waaaaay back when it was originally conceived was for it to be an all-women's show based around Sable (who was drawing monster ratings for her segments at the time). They even held auditions for new women before scrapping the idea and making it a second show like Raw.
WWF's recent show in Japan was supposed to air on the TV-Tokyo network but it got canceled and then the network announced it was cancelling all WWF programming on the station. Turns out there was a big misunderstanding. The entire show was filmed by the network and they planned to broadcast it (with Keiji Muto doing commentary). WWF was under the impression that the show was being filmed only so they could air highlights of it as part of a sports recap show or highlight package (basically just a quick few minutes of clips on the news). WWF didn't approve for this show (a house show without all the bells and whistles) to be aired on TV in full, and when they found out, they contacted the network and said.....hey, uh, no. The network was pissed and in response, they canceled ALL WWF programming, effective immediately. This was the channel that aired Raw and Smackdown and this cancellation completely eliminates WWF's only television exposure in Japan.
Speaking of that show, before the event, Antonio Inoki told the media that he hated what WWF had become and expected the show to be a flop. He specifically talked about the Vince McMahon kiss-my-ass club angle, with Jim Ross and William Regal kissing Vince's ass and said that sort of product would never get over in Japan and thus the show would be a failure. As we learned last week, it was actually a HUGE success. In response, Inoki has admitted he was wrong and says that he has lessons he needs to learn from WWF and maybe he shouldn't have been so dismissive of their style. Dave is flabbergasted. He talks about when AAA came to the U.S. in 1993 and outdrew both WWF and WCW by a huge margin for several shows. Can you imagine if Vince McMahon had looked at that and admitted that maybe he could have learned something from it rather than ignoring it? ECW and WCW sure learned from it, and those Lucha Libre stars became a huge part of their success in later years, while WWF still hasn't learned anything from it 9 years later.
Nash and Hall are pushing hard for X-Pac to be included in the NWO and most people in the company figure it's inevitable that it will happen because Nash is pretty much undefeated in backstage political battles. He always gets what he wants somehow. Last Dave heard, X-Pac was expected to interfere at Wrestlemania in some fashion and then join the group the next night on Raw (didn't quite happen like that, but close). Lots of people in the locker room aren't happy about it because, for starters, it proves that Nash is still there to politic for his friends. And also, prior to his injury, X-Pac had fallen to a lower-card nobody status. So there's a lot of people not happy that he's expected to return and leap-frog the entire locker room and be put in the main event faction ahead of everyone else because of who his friends are.
Mick Foley signed a book deal to publish his first fiction novel, which will be titled "Tietam Brown." It's expected to be out in early 2003 and it's not about wrestling. That's all Dave seems to know so far. Foley is also now the full-time host of TNN's Robot Wars show. Foley was also involved in a TV project that was being shopped around in which he would play a former pro wrestler adjusting to real life now that he's retired. Barry Blaustein, who directed Beyond The Mat, was involved and ABC was interested, but they eventually passed and the idea seems to have died (this is basically what that new Big Show show is on Netflix. The Observer Rewind Curious Timing Effect™ strikes again.).
An idea that was pitched for Wrestlemania was for Stephanie to reveal she had been cheating on Triple H with Chris Jericho. Of course, that didn't happen. Dave talks about the Triple H/Kurt Angle storyline from a couple years ago where that almost happened but Triple H nixed it because it wouldn't be "believable" that Stephanie would cheat on him with Kurt Angle....a goddamn Olympic hero and the most legitimately bad ass athlete in the entire company. So of course, it wouldn't make sense for her to cheat on him with Jericho either. Sure, why not?
On OVW television, they hinted that Ric Flair will be coming in soon to team with his son David against Prototype and Sean O'Haire. Looks to be scheduled for next month (indeed, this does happen but for the life of me, I can't find video of it).
Another note from Eric Bischoff's interview with the Observer website, a dirt sheet website ran by a guy who he definitely never would talk to. Bischoff seems to be angling for a WWF job, saying contrary to popular belief, he wouldn't even ask for that much money to do it. He just wants to do something fun. He said they made him an offer last year, right when the Invasion angle was starting, but said he turned it down because he wasn't in good shape and didn't want to appear on TV. That's the story now. At the time, a year ago, Bischoff denied that he was ever given an offer and said he would never consider working for WWF. Dave says, in Eric's defense, the storyline they pitched last year was horrible and Bischoff was right to turn it down (they wanted him to come in and work a match with Vince at the Invasion PPV, get his ass beat, lose, and then that would be it). Adding Bischoff to the NWO angle now would be the obvious idea, but Dave says "invasion" angles never work in WWF because Vince McMahon doesn't commit to them, so adding Bischoff would likely just be another disappointment added to an already disappointing NWO return.
WWF confiscated a "Nash is horrible" sign at the TV tapings this week. Dave doesn't get it. In the past, WWF used to criticize WCW like crazy for "censoring" fans and violating their freedom of expression and all that shit. But then they started doing it too. At first, it was anti-Rock signs that were being taken away, which Dave can kinda understand because he's a top babyface. But Nash is a heel. Don't you want people bringing signs trashing them?
Scott Steiner's WWF physical showed several health issues that still need to be addressed before they sign him. The deal isn't dead yet and Steiner could still come in eventually, but that's the situation right now.
WWF has reached out to both Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio and talked to them about coming in for the new cruiserweight division. Eddie has been busting his ass on the indies in hopes of getting re-hired while Rey has been working in Puerto Rico as of late.

WEDNESDAY: Fallout from Wrestlemania 18, the Hogan/Rock match, Steve Austin walks out (the first time), Vince McMahon talks about failed plan to bring Bret Hart in for Wrestlemania, and more...

It is a huge post. Those things sitting in my head for a very long time. So, I decided to get rid of it by writing it down. I deeply hope it won't hurt anyone's feelings. Enjoy.

(#@#@#@#@ PART I @#@#@#@#)

CREATING A CHARACTER

Name: Snow
League: HC

INTRO

Somewhere in the field of the Internet some gaming news telling a story to people there is a new (kind of) mind-blowing ARPG. The news was around me a couple of years until I tried to play this game on my laptop. Believe me or not I almost burned it. My journey begins with the "Prophecy League" (06.2016).

I started to play the PoE on Hardcore, I am playing Hardcore (HC) and I will die on Hardcore. This is only because it is impossible to play on Softcore (SC) for me. I really wanted it. I tried. During the game on SC in 10-15 minutes I am finding myself lying down on my chair, my eyes almost closed, I am so relaxed what if any minutes more and I will be sleeping. I tried many things to avoid this state of sleeping but seems I just can't do it.

Here are my flashbacks through 5200 hours of experience in the game:

ACT I (0-500 hours)
ENJOYMENT

This graphics, music… the character actually piece of trash lying in the mud. Ahahaha Get up! Take a stick and kill it. Nice. I feel alive. Gem? WTF is this?! Clearing the area I got that bastard under the camp. Wow! There are a lot of people inside. Everything is a whole new experience especially the currency system and gems. Compare to this game D3 looks outdated. It was almost the end of the Prophecy League. I spend 95% of the time in a wiki, 1% in the chat, 4% on a battlefield. Every new boss encounter is 100% RIP. Jeez, how many times I died when I figured out when to have to stay under the dome in a Dominus fight… Malachai gave me a new disease - claustrophobia. The disease will be stronger with each new boss encounter in the future. Figuring out how to zoom out the camera, because the size of my character feels like is taking 50% of the screen. In the corner blinking exclamation mark.

ACT II (500-1000 hours)
MELEE

Toughness, sword, and shield… I will crush them all! Slow, but I will. I felt this way until I got one-shot from nowhere again and again like 100 times. Trying new melee skills, learning mechanics I am with Forsaken Masters cutting my way through acts and difficulties to reach maps. Those are like a legend, it is somewhere, everybody speaks about it but no one can describe them. What is it? Maximum I knew I need to have a map device. Breach League is tough. Many RIPs wouldn’t give me to reach maps. Didn't even get "Breach Footprints Effect" MTX. I am not sure If I even knew about the challenges at that time.
Somewhere at this time, I figured out how to trade with other players. I think I spend several weeks to understand how to do it properly through the game interface. Hello poe.trade!
Still figuring out how to zoom out that camera a little bit upper. The exclamation mark in the corner still blinking the whole time.

ACT III (1000-1500 hours)
MELEE DPS WALL

Finally, since "Legacy League" I reach those maps. The one rule to get into the maps safe is - ignore fight with Malachai on Merciless difficulty. Everything good but DPS. Still playing melee with Glacial Hammer skill. I have 6k DPS in the game tooltip. By the way, I am playing with my brother. I just forgot to mention it. Most aspects of the game we are learning together. That DPS wall was up to 10k DPS. Somehow I did yellow maps. It was a maximum of my melee builds. Thirst time I tried something different - Saboteur with Vortex traps. My pillar of melee builds got cracked. I will go back and forward with melee and range builds shortly but prefer range. Oh, and of course it was Energy Shield build. In a near-future, ES will be destroyed as an "original mechanic".
The camera seems "ok"… But that exclamation mark in the corner got me. I found a way to clear it fast - just hover over the cursor on it and use the right mouse button to make it disappear. Did you know you can turn off that way buffs like annoying lightning shrines? You can turn off a shrine buff even in the labyrinth. After joining a new zone or rejoin an old one you will have it again.

ACT IV (1500-2000 hours)
DAWN OF THEORYCRAFT

With the 3.0 update, I was thunderbolted by the new content. New 5 Acts, removed difficulties, Pantheon, rebalanced Labyrinth, damage over time rework, etc. The hit was so hard what I understood I know nothing. I mean It was like 50% what you knew just went to the void and you need to start learning again. Ok. Remember when I get claustrophobia disease, yes, with new act bosses I really need a doctor. Doedre (Act 8) scared me like hell. Just imagine to find out there is a valve to click on after countless deaths… Remember I am playing only HC. To find out what is going on there I need to run from Act I to Act VIII again. My body still gets wet when starting to fight her even I don't have problems with her these days.
With new knowledge comes new tools as Path of Building, PoEDB, PoElab, PoEninja.
Suddenly that exclamation mark in the corner still blinking. I thought maybe I can put a piece of tape on the screen but found unpractical because PoE is not the only application on my computer. Ahahaha

ACT V (2500-3000 hours)
RANGE SKILLS

I have a strong conclusion about what melee = unpredictable death. So, since that time I tried to avoid it. Main time about 60-70% I spent in Path of Building and PoeTrade. Can find myself playing PoB a couple of days without touching PoE at all. SpectralTrow, FreezingPulse, Arc, PowerSiphone those skills I preferred to play. My DPS went way higher than with melee builds.
Abyss league is fun, simple, and enjoyable. Its everything I remember. Nothing too bad and nothing fancy either. Can't tell the same about the Betrayal League and Delve. I like to have overpowered Eighnar at my side on maps, and 100% non-RNG craft on my flasks. But that’s it. Delve. Khm… the day I wouldn't be pushed to do it you will don't see me there anymore. Kind of fun but in my humble opinion, it should be reworked somehow. I enjoy it but something missing, can't tell what exactly.
Overall I am on peak of my fun with this game even after so many hours in it. Still learning something new, planning new builds. Making my hideout second time. I like it when people appreciate hard work. When we are doing Forsaken Masters missions or I just trade with someone they surely say something good about my HO. Small thing but you feel a little better each time.
Sometimes I am still thinking about what my character still to close to me. Any hacks to lift the camera up? Eh… Maybe someday I will see a miracle…

ACT VI (3000-4000 hours)
THE END OF MULTIPLAYER

Blizzard in the mud of shame with their Blizzcon because they just realized what their community is PC gamers. Soon or later we will have the Betrayal League which destroys last string to the multiplayer experience, for me at least. But why? I realized it later maybe a couple of leagues after. "LFM" is key. We did the master's missions together with my brother and others. Just write a message in the chat and you will have a whole group in a minute. The most exciting experience I had with Zana missions where a group should go to the map. OMG, I was laughing and crying so hard at that time. 90% of those missions someone dies. Even me. Once we took a mission to the unique map Underground River. We reached the boss's room. Three wolfs bosses were waiting for us. Go? Yea! Go go go! Things went differently than we expected them to be. We finished one wolf but at the same time, we started to panic. Everyone is running around and trying to escape. A finishing blow to one guy makes the rest of us panic so hard. We all trying to open portals at the same time. No one can escape because portals are opening here and there, but one escaped. Two disconnected. I found myself accidentally destroying all portal scrolls. Still running from wolfs I run out of flasks and they killed me. Just a couple seconds after I realized what I could quit the game and save the character, but didn't have that option in my head in a panic mode. Ahahahaha… Jeez! I was really laughing. Overall you could see another builds in an action. I had fun, but everything went to the void with the Betrayal league. Since the 3.5 I will never have a single party. Can't play with brother either. The clusterf**k of effects make it impossible to play even with one player. You see nothing.
I remember we did the Incursion and the Delve missions too. But it has gone with Betrayal too. Speaking about the Incursion League it was the only league I fully enjoyed, stayed until the end of the league, and had 36 challenges completed (Thank you for help Seulgi_Red_Velvet =)). Maybe because that beautiful voice of Alva kept me… Who knows…

ACT VII (4000-4500 hours)
A LITTLE TIME

Despite all critics to the Synthesis League, I like the whole idea and it should go to the core. Still like music from there. I use it in my HO. But of course without the "craft" part. I tried it for one or two days and just ignored it completely. Build a map then run it. Simple and fun.
The Legion League seems enjoyable as Synthesis. Like the idea of incubators. I was busy at that time, and had a little time to play but enjoyed every moment I had with both of them.

ACT VIII (4500-4600 hours)
REAL-LIFE

I wish I had time for the Blight League too. Same as for Legion I played a couple of builds. That's it. First tried out a bow skill. Still can't make to work any of them. I mean completely even in PoB it looks worse than my early melee builds.
The most fun and enjoy it was the Exilecon. OMG, I wish there will be an overhaul to UI. Finally, the miracle is here - the camera zoomed out. Still need waiting for PoE 2 though. But that exclamation mark makes me crazy.

ACT IX (4700-5000 hours)
DARKNESS

Since so many hours of experience, the Metamorph League felt just like routine. It is a nice league but nothing new to me. Had 6 builds so far. All of them died of course.
With the Delirium League, I played one or two weeks then quit. As an HC player, I felt the hard push to the SC league from the gameplay. There is no way to play the Delirium League at HC. It is madness. Especially endgame encounter. You are going to an arena to 100% die. Plus I should run like crazy to keep up with that fog. It seems fun but I tired of it very fast.
The exclamation mark. I swear I can write a book "! and Me". Even when I don't play I feel like it is still blinking somewhere in a corner of my eye…

ACT X (5000-5200 hours)
BURNED OUT

Wow! GGG is a generator of surprises. The tower defense league, now the garden. Ahaha. I definitely like those ideas. It is really fun to play especially now when I have a wide range of crafting affixes. It would be nice to make some tweaks for a better experience but overall I like this league. But why I burned out. It is because of "craft". I will explain it a little be later.

ENDGAME (the end of era of the flashbacks)

So, as you can see I am just a regular player. In recent leagues, I played on SSF HC. My builds something between Queen69 and Zizaran.
Online games are a big part of my life. How to describe it. I live here and there at the same time. I have friends here and there. I have a double life. In this world and in a second. Every time it is to hard manage even if I am single. How those heroes live a double life so easy…. pfff… movies…ahahaha But serious I like to play, but know when to stop =)
With all my love to the game and to the GGG's team I want to give my humble opinion on some things in the game . Here it is…

(#@#@#@#@ PART II @#@#@#@#)

[LEAGUES AND FAIRNESS]

The challenges are not fair in my opinion. For SC and HC they are the same, but why!? As I see it in terms of difficulty and time-consuming - HC SSF > HC > SC SSF > SC. Why the person who spent playing 8 hours per week with no risk at all (loose couple points of experience is not a risk, that is why almost all SC builds are glass cannon) receive an equal prize as the person who spent 40 hours per week with risk to the loose character and all crafted items on him.
I understand what not everyone wants to play on HC and not everyone has a lot of time to play either. It would be nice to separate graphically the SC challenges icon from the HC icon at least. For example, if you start your journey on the SC those challenges you can achieve only on the SC. And if you will start a new character on the HC the others can see in chat what those challenges definitely from SC. You also can't achieve them on HC as you have progress on the SC. Maybe it would be wise to give gamers to reset them if they decide to make them in another league. But anyway I feel rewards should be different too.
As the PoE, a PvE oriented game I think the community should have one enemy and work on a plan to destroy it together. But it feels like HC vs SC vs Developers. HC players hate SC, SC hate HC, and both HC and SC fight with developers. Every league the same. After reading Reddit you don't want to play. Just imagine with PoE 2 community will be divided even more. PoE I HC & SC vs PoE II HC & SC, which, of course, will make more headaches for everyone. Hard to say, but I wish it will not happens.
If add a serious PvP to the game we will see toxicity on another level. The most beautiful community I have ever seen in the GuildWars 2, because there is one server (with tricks but still one), one story, one enemy, group events which made to help adventures to each other. Yes, there is PvP but it made the way it is not harming the community. It is separate from the PvE world.
Just think about it. Maybe there is a solution to bring everything to the whole one thing. For example, one hybrid league from SC and HC where if any character dies he has a chance to lose some items on death also looses 5 levels. Have a penalty to level experience until he gets those 5 levels back. The last 5 points put into the skills tree are blocked. The character can die 3 times like this. On 4th death, he goes to the void. It is possible to extend those lives through the game content or challenges.

[GAMBLING AND CRAFT]

I really wanted to cut this part about the craft. I rewrote it many times what I wouldn't hurt anyone. But decided to keep it. I want to give my and only my personal humble opinion and feelings about it. Also, I like the craft in one or another way and I have all my respect to the team who is working on it but I wish it would change a little through the time later.

We can craft 6 affixes on a white item. 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes. Each affix has a tier and each tier has a range of numbers. I want to find out how much time I am happy with craft and how much I don't. Also, don't want to make a full research which will take a huge amount of time. So, I will simplify it to the point where I can definitely answer to my question.

The Luck. (link)
From WiKi - "…The English noun luck appears comparatively late, during the 1480s, as a loan from Low German, Dutch or Frisian luk, a short form of gelucke (Middle High German gelücke). Compare to old Slavic word lukyj (лукый) - appointed by destiny and old Russian luchaj (лучаи) - destiny, fortune. It likely entered English as a gambling term, and the context of gambling remains detectable in the word's connotations; luck is a way of understanding a personal chance event. Luck has three aspects: 1. Luck is good or bad. 2. Luck is the result of chance. 3. Luck applies to a sentient being…"
So, in our situation luck is a result of chance.

One affix. Let's craft only one affix on an item. I am looking for special affix mode. I will choose resistance on the body armor for example. It is about a 15% chance to get it. When I am rolling the mode I have a 15% chance to have it and 85% don't of course. In terms of luck, I am 15% of the time lucky and 85% of time unlucky. Let's "lucky" equal "Positive Emotion time" and "unlucky" equal "Negative Emotion time" respectively.

RNG (Random Number Generator) (link)
From WiKi - "…A random number generator (RNG) is a device that generates a sequence of numbers or symbols that cannot be reasonably predicted better than by a random chance… …Random number generators have applications in gambling, statistical sampling, computer simulation, cryptography, completely randomized design, and other areas where producing an unpredictable result is desirable…"
The RNG generates modes/numbers in one diapason in this case which is known as one layer of RNG.

Slot machine. (link)
From WiKi - "…A slot machine… is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers… Its standard layout features a screen displaying three or more reels that "spin" when the game is activated. Some modern slot machines still include a lever as a skeuomorphic design trait to trigger play. However, the mechanics of early machines have since been superseded by random number generators—most are now operated using push-buttons and touchscreens…. Slot machines include one or more currency detectors that validate the form of payment, whether coin, cash, voucher, or token. The machine pays off according to the pattern of symbols displayed when the reels stop "spinning"…. "

Six affixes. Six rows of RNG layers. With the Chaos Orb, I can roll all of them at the same time on the item. I will be paid off according to the pattern of affixes. What is the payment? Desirable affixes of course.

I am not a mathematician but I am sure how I feel when I am crafting. It is exactly 15% of the time fun and 85% of the frustration.

What is Gambling Disorder? (link)
A long time ago I worked with a man whose daughter had an issue with gambling. He worked hard 12 hours a day 6 days a week. She loses all money in gambling and every time she took credit from a bank and the bank was giving her money each time. Even if her father was begging all banks do not give her credit. Then after she couldn't pay the bank was taking money from her father. It was in a circle like 1 year on my eyes. Have you ever seen the face of a man with emptiness in his eyes who is realized he is working for nothing? I saw. You just don't have any words to say to him at this moment.

All leagues except one I quit earlier because of craft. For example, in this league, I quit when I tried to make in an str helmet 3 blue and 1 red socket. Simple right? Not quite. Even using the crafting bench with guaranteed blue sockets I end up with 4 blue or 2 blue and 2 red…. I lost sanity after I spent near 900 chromatics for this helmet in a couple of minutes. I farmed those for days.
Also, I had something around only 5 builds which had 6-link crafted or found by myself… 5200 hours btw. And still no mirror either, such a waste of currency (it doesn't deserve the reserved place in the currency tab).

I do not know what the crafting system is fine. I definitely like craft in the Last Epoch. The game is a mix of PoE and Diablo III. All affixes as a material. You can find them as shards or destroy an item to receive those affixes (there is some chance that you don't receive them all, but some of them). Crafted items have instability. The more you apply affixes the more you have a chance to fracture it. There are 3 levels of fracture. Minor Fracture: the item is locked, you can't apply affixes to it. Damaging Fracture: Each affix is randomly reduced by 1-5 tiers and the item is locked. Destructive Fracture: All affixes are removed and the item is locked. It is possible to see those fracture' chances and damage as you apply affixes. I clearly control what happened next, the item will be destroyed or I will add another tier to an affix. By the way, there are 7 tires of each affix. T1-T5 it is possible to craft, T6-T7 only find in the endgame. There are runes and glyphs which helps to manipulate a crafting result. Each item can have only 2 prefixes and 2 affixes for now. I broke many items but I have never felt rage, frustration, or any negative emotions.
How do I feel when I am crafting with such a method? It is exactly 90% of the fun and 10% of the frustration.

Thankfully the links and sockets will be gone in PoE 2. The most negative I felt because of those. I believe it is possible to build a beautiful crafting system without such a gambling element. It is fine to fight a hard enemy but it is a frustration to fight with affixes on an item.

[COMPLEXITY AND USER INTERFACE]

I like challenging games. They make me alive. It seems In PoE the complexity of the UI is core feature or developers can't/won't see as it is. I believe what complexity through the user interface (UI) is a bad design. There are several examples:
The popping out windows under the game cursor happens every league. It's become a pattern. Such mechanics is unacceptable.
Prophecy - in the middle of a battle here it comes the window "Prophecy Complete". It is blocking the view of what is going on with my character.
Delve - after an encounter is complete the cart becomes active even there are many enemies still attacking the character or after-death effects happen. It makes me accidentally click on it which opens window which blocks my view.
Metamorph - the Octavius appearing every time under my cursor during a battle and make it click by mistake which opens the window that, yep, blocks my view.
The Alva/Zana/Tane/Jun/Cassia are active if you fighting near which again makes it accidentally click on them which leading for unexpected things to happen.
Also, "move only" is not as intended and misleading. On "move only" I somehow: open every crate, chest, doors, activate league content, literally interact with every debris if it is destroyable, use portals, interact with NPCs, etc. Why I can't just "move only" and don't interact with everything possible to click on?
The UI should help the user on one side and the game itself is hard to play on another.
It would be nice if I have the ability to interact with everything above I said through [alt]+[click]. Just this possibility resolves all those issues with unexpected clicking in the past and in the future. For prophecies move that banner to the right down corner or anywhere you find it convenient.

Exclamation mark or quest mark or whatever you call it. I wish this is the last part of this. Act 10. You are going to the lair of the Kitava passing by two whole zones which have no waypoints with the second intension to kill it in mind. Before the entrance, there are two gods, brothers executioners willingly waiting to help you. At this right moment, you receive hell blinking exclamation mark telling - You need to kill the Kitava. Me: Oh really?! I thought this is a tea party and we would drink tea discussing the situation in the Wraeclast.
But seriously, I wish I would have an opportunity to turn off this exclamation mark.

Health/Mana/Flask/Abilities bar UI feels old. I have a 4k 34" UltraWide monitor. My table is bigger than usual in a market with 80cm(31.5 inches) of deepness. About 50cm distance between my eyes and the monitor. I don't care what are everyone says you need to sit at least 1 meter from the monitor. In reality, almost no one sits like this. So, from this perspective, I can't track my health/mana/es/flasks/cd abilities and especially negative attributes(bleed, poison, curse, etc) as they are completely in a different area at the top of the screen. I remember there RaizQT was complaining about it on a video. It is really hard to move your eyes from the most left corner to the most right corner then to the most top of the screen and at the same time, you need to see what is going on in the middle of the screen…. All ARPG keeping it in the middle of the screen at the bottom side. It doesn't matter for them what screen you have it will be the same experience which not a case in PoE.
It would be a better experience if you will make this bar in the bottom middle of the screen like others do. Chat will move to the left bottom corner and no longer overlap the stash tab scroll bar. The right bottom corner you can use for banners, temporary messages.
Also, the less your eyes looking up the better it is for them. "…Placing the screen so that your eyes are in slight down-gaze may help with eye dryness and irritation, as the eyelids will be slightly lower and covering the surface of the eye…" (link)

Overall the UI is incredibly huge on my screen(text, icons, etc.), it is even overlapping itself in some areas. The text doesn't have length restrictions. For example, my screen length about 80 cm, but 20 cm of it is taking the map mode description - "Area has patches of Shocked Ground which increase Damage taken by 00%". And it is not the longest one but takes 1/4 of my screen. To hide it is not a solution at all because I need it. The Challenge messages on another level. If you failed or achieved it some of them can appear crossing the whole UI from the right corner to the most left corner of the screen.
Would it be nice if it was somehow reworked? I wish there will be a new fresh and scaling UI in the PoE 2. Maybe it is possible to use icons instead of text which can reduce the length of it? The same is for monster mods, I wish there we had icons rather the several lines of text.

GrimmDawn
LastEpoch
Diablo III
Path of Exile
[DESIGN AND GAMEPLAY]

Honestly, I don't know what to start it. Let's say the graphic of the game is a big part that keeps me playing. I like it when everything on ultra so I can enjoy the original design. It's kind of dark-theme game but some MTX brake this darkness and the game itself feels more unicorny.
Maybe I will start with towns and camps. They are claustrophobically small. The only one I wouldn't touch it's the very first camp in Act I. How to say it. Some places are too small what you can't even walk without accidentally click on someone/something. For example, Act X, on the pier when I walk from my portal to the stash I will definitely click on someone because there is almost no free space for my cursor. Would be nice to have a feel of the deepness of the Wraeclast. It is really hard to explain. In D3 in the first village' inn is the size of the Sarn Encampment in the PoE. In the D3 you can have a strong feeling of the biggest world around, also you can say when you under the ground or above, you can see what in the village people can leave in some houses. There is even an inn! Not just a place wherein very tight space only needed for NPC which are giving quest or selling some stuff, where is no homes, nothing that gives you a clue what someone can live here. The Delve on a picture shows you are delving deeper down in the ground, but in reality, it just feels like endless horizontal tunnels. In D3 and LastEpoch it feels like the whole world with its very strong story, big towns, villages, etc. In PoE, it feels like islands of just different content from different dimensions. The same is for the storyline. I tried to read every quest, every piece of text from Act I to the Epilogue like three times. Still have no idea what is going on there. What am I doing here? It is just many pieces of text. I apologize if I hurt the writer's feelings. I didn't mean it. I just can't understand what is going on. Maybe a problem with me? But I clearly have understood the stories from D3 and LastEpoch…
How would be beautiful to have bigger towns, camps, encampments, even bigger some zones itself?
I wish we had way less debris, crates, chest on the ground. In many places, there is a horrible amount of it under feet. Debris gives you to get stacked every couple seconds in something. In my dream, there are no more than one or two chests in the entire zone. But I am ok with destroyable debris btw.

After 5000 hours the Acts and maps are kind of boring, just a little because I am doing the same content repeatedly again and again. Just imagine if we had some zone generated skins like wintesummefall/day/night/rain/storm/etc. It would be a whole new generated experience.

It is hard to understand for me some things. Why I can't visit a friend's hideout but can see everyone in town? Why I receive a book with skill points rather than directly to my skill tree like after you kill Kitava in Act 10? Why it is possible to see the enemy behind the doowall and an enemy can see you too (In D3 and LastEpoch you can't see an enemy through the walls and doors)?

In my humble opinion, the Silver Flask should be deleted from the game. It forces to click on it every 4 second whole time, I mean all-time like all time. Like you open PoE and start click on it and finish only when you close the game. Of course, you don't do it in town but still. Without this flask, the character feels slow. No matter how much speed I have I will have more with the flask. Maybe it is possible to solve it in another way. What if a character had a restriction to the maximum speed. Lets set the maximum to 40. So, we will have a nice boost with Silver Flask in the early game and we can throw it away in the end game because it would be possible to reach the max speed on gear.

Sound. I am in love with music and sounds in PoE. I never turned it off. But two things bothering me. One is following me for years. It is annoying the sound of the Shrines especially lightning one. No matter how many times it was changed, it is still annoying on an impossible level. For those who has same issue like me, you can undo the buff by clicking on its icon with the right click of the mouse. The second sound came recently. It is the sound of the character's feet. When you enter the first camp it sounds like you in the stabling. The stomp of feet is incredibly annoying and it sounds like walking horses. The more horror comes when you play for the witch which is barefoot and has the same sound. I also noticed what this sound doesn't change if you walking on snow, grass, shore, wood, etc. It is just one constant sound. It is also the element that can't give you the deepness of the gameplay if you doing it wrong. You see a character walk on snow but your brain tells you it is somewhere else because you don't hear that exact sound of stepping in on the snow. For example, in the LastEpoch if the character' one foot on snow and the other on the clear ground you hear two different sounds at the same right moment they step on a specific place. I wish it would be fixed someday.

Lootfilter. I am using only a standard one and don't want to use someone's. I want my own like in GrimDawn. Is it an impossible feature? Just imagine the new players don't even know what it is and see those hundreds of useless white items on a screen. I played like this for about 500 hours. Can't explain the experience. Frustrated? Horrible?
PoE doesn't give an opportunity to discover many things in the game. I am still don't know what exact type of damage mobs do. In theory everyone from the Vaal area doing chaos+phys? Undead - pure chaos? Spiders - pure chaos? Ghosts - lightening? How the holy cow I could understand it without leaving the game and third party programs or sites/wiki. The game has a perfect character to explain to us the types of damages monsters do at least beasts. Einhar! For example, you have an Einhar' book. It is empty at first but as you doing his missions he gives you pages. Each page gives you an explanation of some mobs damage (spider, crab, dog, monkey, bear, etc.).
Would be nice for Niko to explains fossils and regions there you can find them. Jun could tell us where the heck we can put those bastards for reward we want. So we can get rid of those cheat sheets. Zana can explain to us damages and defenses of bosses on the maps…

[HEALTH AND COMPETITION. LADDEEVENTS]

I like the idea of the Racing but the realization hurts my health. The racing is not about who is first can kill Sirius. It is about who can sit longer on a chair without food, drink, toilet, sleep. Also, it is only for gamers who don't have a work. Racers are almost not sleeping in the first couple of days. They show this to the young auditory which makes it worse. It is important to sleep properly. In this state, the race harms people's health and have inequality between gamers who has a life beyond the game and who doesn't. A couple of times I fell asleep in the chair in the position of playing the game. My brain just turned off and my hands were on the keyboard and mouse. Of course, the character was dead. This racing pushes people to don't sleep for a long period of time.
"…There are several potentially bad outcomes that are associated with inadequate sleep. Sleep influences the immune system, memory consolidation, attention, hunger, mood, response time, and many other body functions…" (link)
In a sport, we have a lot of examples of how it can be done. For example, running 100 meters distance. We have 1000 challengers but we don't need to have 1000 lines of tracks for them. We have time. You can measure it. It would be nice if in racing we finish a zone and it records time what we are finished. For example The Twilight Strand - 2min38sec. The coast - 4:24, The Mud Flats - 5:36……The Lower Prison - 11:39…..The Cavern of Anger - 17:16…. Act I finished in 19 minutes 57 seconds. The count working for each character separately. The final estimation will be made in two/three weeks. (depends on the race) [1st place - Queen69 finished the race in 11 days 7 hours 35 minutes 17 seconds]. The races can be longer without harm to the health and equal to every gamer.

Ladder. What is the point of the end game? Loot? Kill the end boss 1000 times? level 100? 36-40 challenges? Theorycrafting? No matter you choose I believe ladder should be equal for everyone even if gamer likes to do only Delve content or only Maps or Ignoring League content entirely. Long time I didn't understand how to follow the ladder. Where is it? How to find it. Who won a prize? Which place you are? Where are those races advertisements come from? I knew about them only after they finished only.
It would be nice if the position on the ladder leaning on a points system. You can get points from different encounters. Did you kill Shaper? Get 10 points for it. Atziri - 15p, Uber Atziri - 20p, Elder, Sirius, Guardians, Delve, Masters, League content, Uber Labyrinth, Challenges, etc. Everything gives you points. Of course on character death in the HC, you will lose them or maybe only part of it. On SC you loose like 10% of your points.
I wish we have ingame Ladder. Not on some site, not on the forum, not on YouTube, not on Reddit. Just ingame window where I can see my current position even if it is not the top 10. In D3 and LastEpoch the ladder currently ingame. And it would be nice to have the same window for upcoming events.

[BUG REPORTS AND REVIEW]

With all my respect and love towards GGG I barely want to report bugs and here is why.
I have to put too much effort into a simple bug report. Run a command in the game, receive some number and save it then go to the forum but before opening a topic and look if there is no one posted this bug yet. Then open topic, describe steps to repeat this bug. For screenshots, you need to register an account on an image share site. Then you upload it there. Copy the link. After you go back to your post and put the link in it because you cannot in 2020 to upload images into the forum. And then… then you receive nothing. Was my report valuable? Did you read my bug report? Any "thank you" for the free QA work I have done? Issue resolved? Anybody home? You leave me with emptiness and what my work was for nothing, not even an automated reply what you received my bug report. There is a full-time job - Quality Assurance Specialist. Yes, it is black box manual testing, still, people have a full-time job and receive money for it. And if I report a bug I receive the void. Just a simple "thank you" would be enough. I mean I had an issue and needed support but ended up writing a bug report. The best support I have ever seen it is in the World of Warcraft back in 2008 (I played then a lot). You have an issue. You can report a bug with no leaving the game at all with just a couple of steps. If you need to resolve it right now, you summon a GM and together trying to find out how to fix it in the game chat. You don't leave the game. With all "hello dear", "thank you", "would you", "could you", "have a nice day", etc. Twelve years later I still have a strong feeling I can rely on their support at any time.
Why people bring some bugs to the Reddit because it is more convenient. Make reviews possible in the game itself. Maybe I would write it there instead of Reddit. Gamers complaining in the Reddit because there is no other convenient place to do.
Also, I think it would be better to know from what kind of league people complaining about something. HC, SC, SSF HC, SSF SC? Because it can be an issue for HC but absolutely fine for SC.
So, I will take this opportunity to write a very small bug report. The bug comes from the first or second patch in this league. If I have the game minimized for 30 min the game crashes when I am trying to return to it. It doesn't happen if 15 min passed.

(#@#@#@#@ HAPPY END @#@#@#@#)

At the end of this post I realized I lost my sanity…
But you know I think everything happens for a reason, maybe during the waiting for PoE 2, I will learn a new profession and find a good job because I feel with what I currently have I will be living on a street soon ahahahah….

Sincerely,
Pavel B.

P.S. Now I know the limit of the post. It is 40000 characters. Sadly the original text was bigger.
P.S.S. Was my post valuable?

Do Online Gambling Sites Cheat Their Players - 2020 Guide

do online gambling sites cheat

do online gambling sites cheat - win

"I think I've lived long enough to see competitive Counter-Strike as we know it, kill itself." Summary of Richard Lewis' stream (Long)

Intro

CSPPA - Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association

"Who does this union really fucking serve?"

ESIC - Esports Integrity Commission

"They have been put in an impossible position."

Stream Sniping

"They're all at it in the online era, they're all at it, they're all cheating, they're all using exploits, probably that see through smoke bug got used a bunch of times"

Match Fixing

"How many years have we let our scene be fucking pillaged by these greedy cunts?" "We just let it happen."

North America

"Everyone in NA has left we've lost a continents worth of support during this pandemic and Valve haven't said a fucking word."

Talent

"TO's have treated CS talent like absolute human garbage for years now."

Valve

"Anything that Riot does, is better than Valve's inaction"

Closing Statements

Month 15 - Affiliate/Info Site (Case Study Entry 4) "I fcking hate Google" to "I fcking love Google"

The Google Update Did Rip My Anus (I Thought I'd Escaped)

My Niche is Profitable But Not Incredibly Profitable

What Changed This Month?

Poker IDN - What Does It Mean?

Baccarat Betting Online

Casino Online Betting - Why to Select Playing Online

That is explain a lot...

What you are looking for is..... (Link in the Desc.)4

What you are looking for is..... (Link in the Desc.)4

Warning to aspiring Poker players. Truths from an ex-pro. Also about online poker rigged

Good and Real Casinos – Elite Casino Blog

Wrestling Observer Rewind ★ Mar. 18, 2002

Exile's Scroll

do online gambling sites cheat video

do online gambling sites cheat top

Rigged Online Roulette - DO NOT PLAY - YouTube

Do Online Gambling Sites Cheat Their Players - 2020 Guide

do online gambling sites cheat

do online gambling sites cheat - win

"I think I've lived long enough to see competitive Counter-Strike as we know it, kill itself." Summary of Richard Lewis' stream (Long)

Intro

CSPPA - Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association

"Who does this union really fucking serve?"

ESIC - Esports Integrity Commission

"They have been put in an impossible position."

Stream Sniping

"They're all at it in the online era, they're all at it, they're all cheating, they're all using exploits, probably that see through smoke bug got used a bunch of times"

Match Fixing

"How many years have we let our scene be fucking pillaged by these greedy cunts?" "We just let it happen."

North America

"Everyone in NA has left we've lost a continents worth of support during this pandemic and Valve haven't said a fucking word."

Talent

"TO's have treated CS talent like absolute human garbage for years now."

Valve

"Anything that Riot does, is better than Valve's inaction"

Closing Statements

Month 15 - Affiliate/Info Site (Case Study Entry 4) "I f*cking hate Google" to "I f*cking love Google"

The Google Update Did Rip My Anus (I Thought I'd Escaped)

My Niche is Profitable But Not Incredibly Profitable

What Changed This Month?

Poker IDN - What Does It Mean?

Baccarat Betting Online

Casino Online Betting - Why to Select Playing Online

That is explain a lot...

What you are looking for is..... (Link in the Desc.)4

What you are looking for is..... (Link in the Desc.)4

Warning to aspiring Poker players. Truths from an ex-pro. Also about online poker rigged

Good and Real Casinos – Elite Casino Blog

Wrestling Observer Rewind ★ Mar. 18, 2002

Exile's Scroll

do online gambling sites cheat video

do online gambling sites cheat top

Rigged Online Roulette - DO NOT PLAY - YouTube

Month 15 - Affiliate/Info Site (Case Study Entry 4) "I fcking hate Google" to "I fcking love Google"