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Kurabara returns, ready and rested, on this episode as we catch up on what's been going on this week in Apex. We discuss whether a new mobility "glitch" should be patched or not, and the importance of high level mobility, as well as a brand new tier list that ranks all of the weapons of Apex by how difficult it is to get value from them, or their "skill floor". Keep in mind, this does NOT mean that weapons in the lower tiers are "worse" in any way, only that weapons in lower tiers are more difficult for unskilled, or newer players to get kills with.

Nick, Chip, and Kurabara are back and ready this week to begin talking about the loyalty missions! This week, they focus on Miranda’s and Jacob’s missions. Nick mentions that he was about to do Miranda’s loyalty mission on Illium when the Illusive Man rudely sent him to check out a “derelict” Collector vessel. First, they give a brief overview of the loyalty missions. Then, they jump into some of the new quests available on your second trip to Illium.

On Illium, Shepard encounters a Quarian struggling with the concept of indentured servitude with the Sirta Foundation. They discuss how Illium allows for legal slavery. Kura mentions that he would have welcomed another quarrian onto the Normandy. Kura talks about how she gambled her way into her servitude situation. This leads to a discussion of Quarian gambling and an attempt to understand Quarian poker. Chip compares the Quarian to Draenai from Warcraft, which is logical since both are based off Eastern European culture.

Next, they get into Miranda’s mission. After reviewing the mission, they talk about Niket’s betrayal and how much of a surprise that was. They wonder why Miranda didn’t just bring in a trusted Cerberus agent to help her, but Chip points out that Miranda has trust issues. Kura brings up that Enyala, the Eclipse mercenary, is terrible. Chip talks about how he let Miranda kill Niket while Kura did not. They talk about how Miranda struggles with her self-image and is cold to everyone as a result. Kura and Chip struggle with Niket’s motivations. They all agreed that Miranda needed to talk to her sister after the mission. Nick appreciates the Jack-Miranda rivalry. They finish up discussing the mission by talking about an asari trinket that is discovered on the mission.

Finally, they discuss Jacob’s loyalty mission to track down the crew of the Hugo Gernsback. They review the mission and then Nick talks about Jacob’s cynicism. Kura talks about the dawning realization of what is going on with the crew. Chip mentions how easy it is to skip checking out the ship itself and getting additional background information. Kura compares the events to what we’ve recently been learning about some developer corporate cultures. Chip brings up the absurdity of Jacob’s father surviving ten years on rations. They wonder about why there are no children on the planet after ten years, and also wonder if cannibalism occurred. They talk about the different outcomes for Ronald given Shepard’s paragon and renegade choices. Kura points out the meaning of the name Hugo Gernsback.

Thank you for listening to Squad Goals - A Mass Effect Legendary Edition Podcast! Please send any comments or questions to [email protected] or @squadgoalsN7 on twitter.

We start off by recapping the past month of Overwatch League moves, signings and departures. Roster are starting to solidify as nearly all teams have solidified their rosters for Season 4. We go over the most recent swath of player signings and transfers as several notable Contenders talents make the jump to Overwatch League.

Next, we go over the past month of Activision Blizzard King news. More news continues to spill out about CEO Bobby Kotick and his role in the company's allegations. We talk details concerning his hiding of important information from the board of directors, their continued support of his leadership, and the storm of outrage calling for both parties' removal. We also cover the far reaching events of this story as the company continues to remove employees without warning.

The wait is over! ... or is it? We've been enjoying what time we could with Endwalker and we've got some initial reactions! This is a spoiler-free episode, we'll save story deep dives for later. Instead, we discuss the leveling speed, other basic impressions, the Game Awards .. awards? We guess? Oh, and yes, the queues.

Crashtag and StaticGorilla return after watching the Video game awards, where Guilty Gear: Strive won best fighting game! First in the Fighter's Corner, we look at two character trailers from GranBlue Fantasy Versus, for Vira and Avatar Belial. Then King of Fighters XV released a trailer during the game awards for Krohnen and another online beta, and also DNF Duel announces more characters and a beta for the same weekend. In the Randoms of the FGC, we take a look at Princess Slim's coaching page. Finally, in the focus attack, we finish our show with 3 more listener's mains for "What do my mains say about me?"

Pull up a stool, charge your glasses and get comfortable as Happy Hour Episode 39 is here for your listening pleasure. That's right - Mike, Luke and Rob are back for more podcast-based shenanigans, with alcohol aplenty. Luke was out drinking before recording tonight, and finally owns his "King of the North" title, while Rob sips on yet another bottle of red wine. Mike doesn't admit to this during the podcast, but we can exclusively reveal he drinks Budweiser throughout tonight's episode. Yep, the lowest of the low when it comes to lager. Shame! Shame! This week the lads talk about what they've been up to and watching for the last couple of weeks. They also chat about what they want to watch during the coming couple of weeks - including The Matrix:Resurrections, Operation Fortune and Spiderman:No Way Home. Like what you hear? Join our Discord for more behind the scenes chatter and banter at https://discord.me/bulletsandbeer.

This week we talk about all sorts of stuff! Everything from Hardcore, the recent news surrounding TBC Classic and WoW Classic Season of Mastery as well as strategies for gearing up for Road to Rag.

Time Stamps

0:00:00 - Intro

0:06:40 - Reviews and Emails

0:16:20 - What have we been doing in TBC Classic and WoW Classic Season of Mastery Hardcore?

Level 11 hardcore death - https://clips.twitch.tv/LittlePeppyOkapiShadyLulu-ISjM2dMxvj2nGQPe

Mel taging the Troggs - https://clips.twitch.tv/ExquisiteTiredMangetoutRuleFive-9Tl4MkFMbiVN8yLn

1:10:45 - Vargflocken raid progress

1:37:10 - Black Temple & Mount Hyjal Available for Testing on Burning Crusade Classic PTR

https://tbc.wowhead.com/news/black-temple-and-mount-hyjal-available-for-testing-on-burning-crusade-classic-325254

Burning Crusade Classic Patch 2.5.3 Development Notes

https://tbc.wowhead.com/news/burning-crusade-classic-patch-2-5-3-development-notes-325259

Path to Lady Vashj & Kael'thas Open Right Away on Burning Crusade Classic PTR

https://tbc.wowhead.com/news/path-to-lady-vashj-and-kaelthas-open-right-away-on-burning-crusade-classic-ptr-325261

1:49:45 - New Global Strings Indicate Text to Speech Features for Burning Crusade Classic

https://tbc.wowhead.com/news/new-global-strings-indicate-text-to-speech-features-for-burning-crusade-classic-325264

1:54:00 - Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep Attunements Removed Next Week with Boss Nerfs

https://tbc.wowhead.com/news/serpentshrine-cavern-and-tempest-keep-attunements-removed-next-week-with-boss-325265

2:02:05 - Lionheart (AU) Season of Mastery Realm Back Online & Disruptions Reversed

https://classic.wowhead.com/news/lionheart-au-season-of-mastery-realm-back-online-and-disruptions-reversed-325176

Long tangent about the soul of iron during this section as well.

2:20:30 - Blizzard Continuing to Fix Season of Mastery PvP Ranks - Realm Restarts Expected

https://classic.wowhead.com/news/blizzard-continuing-to-fix-season-of-mastery-pvp-ranks-realm-restarts-expected-325180

2:22:00 - Molten Core strategies for Road to Rag

2:52:10 - Closing

Nick, Chip, and Kurabara are back this week to talk about their encounter with the Collectors aboard the Collector Ship, and all the surprising reveals they learned along the way. First, Nick complains that five missions after Horizon, you HAVE to meet with the Illusive Man whether you want to or not, and talks about how he was in the middle of doing missions on Illium when he got pulled away for this mandatory meeting.

Then, after recapping the mission, the guys get into discussing the nature of the Collectors. Then they talk about how obvious it was that this should was a trap. Kura asks about the construction of the ship which Nick compares to a mudwasp structure. Chip compares the Collectors to the Keepers given their buglike nature.

Then they get into the fact that the Collectors are effectively husk Protheans, having been genetically modified by the Reapers through the ages since the Prothean extinction. The guys try to parse out how the Collectors evolved from the Protheans yet the Collector ship matches neither Reaper technology nor the Prothean architecture from Mass Effect 1.

Kura brings up the creepy nature of the pods in the ship and compares It to a horror movie. This transitions into Nick asking if Bioware has an M. Night Shamyalan problem by comparing the twists from each of the various games and how the big twist in each game seems to be less impactful as they progress.

They talk about the history of the Collector Ship, having blown up the first Normandy and then been chased off of Horizon. Kura asks about the size of the ship given it was supposed to be able to abduct the population of Earth. The squad tries to do some math to figure out how big the ship needs to be to abduct everyone. This leads to the theory that the Collectors would have to liquefy several of their victims to reduce storage space.

They also talk about the betrayal by the Illusive Man, that he knew it was sending Shepard into a trap.

Chip brings up the weapon specialization skill that becomes available after the mission.

They then talk about the next mission, which is to get a Reaper IFF from a derelict reaper.

Finally, they talk about two side quests. First is the one to get some encrypted data from Eclipse mercs, and then Shepard has to solve a puzzle.

Thank you for listening to Squad Goals - A Mass Effect Legendary Edition Podcast! Please send any comments or questions to [email protected] or @squadgoalsN7 on twitter.

On this episode, it's Christmas time, proper, with a brand new set of patch notes, a new Pirate themed collection event with some schnazzy new skins, and the return of Dropping Spicy's favorite LTM ever, the Winter Express!!!

This years Winter Express is better than ever, with changeable rotating loadout not tied to individual legends, and a myriad of counter abilities and team comps to choose from! Join us, as we talk about this, and other sick new changes to Apex out now!

Nick, Rei, and Harv are back to talk about what's been going on with Activision-Blizzard lately. Nick begins by complaining about Christie Golden getting dragged on reddit. Then, Rei talks about her experiences raiding with the other guild, and how they seem to be pulling away. She also talks about people struggling to get through phase one of a fight and getting no experience on phase three. She and Nick talk about people not doing enough outside of raid to gear up. She also talks about Eric raiding with the group again, now as a Warlock DPS instead of tanking. Also, her black dragonscale backpack has been delayed.

Harv talks about buying games off steam and being too busy at work to play much WoW. He also mentions how people that he knows outside the game are asking him about what is going on with Activision-Blizzard.

Nick goes on a rant about how he wants to defend Activision-Blizzard usually but even he is openly against what they are doing. He talks about the recent layoffs at Raven and also how BlizzJess quit Blizzard. He talks about how the company has been completely mishandling the situation, making it worse, and running the community off. He mentions that he's been playing Korthia after a several month break and he's been enjoying it. He also talks about how Blizzard needs to get better about telling stories in the age of datamining and how the slow and protacted telling of the story of Shadowlands has hurt the expansion.

Thank you for listening to WoW! Talk! Our next live show is scheduled for 12/20/21 at 10:30 pm E at twitch.tv/mashthosebuttons. For any scheduling updates, please follow us on twitter @wowtalkmtb. Send any emails about your thoughts or feedback or to answer our question of the week to [email protected].