Drew a Penalty

53 minutes ago, MuddyInTheMiddle said:

 

As you are the Oracle(mean that as a sincere compliment) when it comes to prospects, was about to ask you how you sized him up compared to Ryan Graves at this point in his development?

 

He is another one that we flipped for peanuts, and has gone on to have a career as a middle pair defenseman. I will understand if they move on from Robertson as the Rangers are reasonably deep at the NHL level, but don't have much behind him below it and need to restock.  

I think Graves was further ahead at this same juncture. Graves was an AHL all star by this point whereas Robertson lost a lot of last season. I think there was a similar struggle in finding his identity as a strong skating, bigger defenseman that isn’t physical. Robertson isn’t as refined defensively as Graves was. 
 

The Rangers defensive pipeline wasn’t particularly deep when Graves was dealt, but he was pretty much in direct competition with Brady Skjei for an actual roster spot. He wasn’t beating out Skjei. Graves took a step back, was still hungry for a roster spot and they swapped him for Bigras who profiled similarly and had more of a reputation. Graves’ time in Colorado’s system is ultimately what unlocked the next stage of his development and made him the player that he is. 
 

Robertson needs a steady and healthy year. He’s at least been patient. Jones moving up/on is going to free up the 1D spot in Hartford. It’s Robertson’s if he can take it.

8 minutes ago, LindG1000 said:

This feels sensationalist and desperate.

 

First, the Rangers know he's not a top 4 D. He's a third pair guy. They don't need him to be Lindgren, Miller, or Trouba (nice as having more than one of those would be). They need him to be marginally better than Niko Mikkola was.

 

Second, he's waivers exempt. Big asset, especially when the guy most likely to compete with you for a callup is basically in a "make the team or get traded" scenario.

 

Third - he's been steady in the AHL. Steady and unspectacular is perfect for the role he would play on this team.

 

He ain't going anywhere. Not yet anyway.

Steady isn’t the word I’d use. He’s been inconsistent and never really the standout on his pair in Hartford. He’s kind of like Libor Hajek, though, in that his skating and size give you a hope that he might figure it out somehow. Hajek never did, but maybe Robertson will. His really needs to stick to the defensive side of the game and keep his play as simple as possible. The goal would be a poor man’s Ryan Graves. John Moore?

He’s not eligible for waivers until next fall so I don’t really see the big deal. Let him try and figure it out in the AHL this season. Come next season he’ll have to force his way onto the roster or end up on waivers/traded. His potential is good enough that you should at least see if he’s capable of finding that next step but not high enough that any team will trade for him. He’s an internal project that presents no harm to the team.

Now that I connected with. Still felt like nostalgia bait, but at least 

I never watched Rebels so I'm not as attached to the characters or the search for Ezra/Thrawn.

I think the series is fine. It's better than the recent Mandalorian, and at least they figured out how to balance lighting with lightsabers as opposed to Obi-Wan. I'm just not totally gripped by it. 

Adam Sykora makes the team out of camp.

I ended up beating BG3 last night. The ending actually comes at you pretty fast honestly and with less fanfare than I expected. There’s also a really weird pacing to the epilogue scenes that I can’t find the right words to describe yet. Only one character epilogue felt really impactful.
 

Had a great time playing, though, and will hopefully get a coop run through soon.

2 hours ago, H-Dreamer said:

I figured as much, it's just I felt like it wouldn't be something my party would concern itself with right now realistically. You know, since we're supposed to hunt the remaining two big baddies. Circus might still be a thing I do, the house resolved itself unfortunately. lol

There’s more to it than the house. 
 

2 hours ago, H-Dreamer said:

Yh. I haven't done much there yet, but I entered and was immediately confronted with some dude trying to get his house back from refugees and I am wondering why that is supposed to be my issue. The dialogue options sure didn't seem appealing, same for the checks to enter the circus, I was like "game hasn't even given me a reason to want to enter" lol

 

I liked the militaristic british pigeons though.

Both the house and the circus lead to some side quests. They’re not as important but you’ll probably want to check out the quest offered in the church.

6 minutes ago, Keirik said:

White on white. Like the invisible ink feel forcing me to change to the dark side theme

 

very similar to the league I run. Let me see if we are doing that league again this year. No IR+ spot btw? 

Dark mode is just better. You’re welcome. 

And yeah we have IR+ as well. I guess it just wasn’t included in the post I copied from.

19 hours ago, H-Dreamer said:

Well, my clothes issue came from the button each char has, you can toggle between "default" and "camp clothes" there, I don't remember toggling it, might have glitched out.

So far I haven't noticed mayor issues though, outside of getting stuck in dialogue mode a few times, but that hasn't happened in a while, so it might be fixed.

 

You do know about the button on the left that tell your party to stay together or stay seperate? Some movements can auto-toggle it, like when you do something not all your members can do. For example if Lae'zel uses her special Gith-jump-powers and makes jumps others can't do.

 

Finally entered the outskirts of BG today and yh it was the laggy mess I expected. I hope I can spend a lot of time in confined areas and not on streets full of people or this will soon turn unplayable for me or at least the hours I can play in one sitting will have to be reduced, can't have my GPU at 92°C all day.

 

edit:

btw seems the easyness of the Romance subgame wasn't quite intended

https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/23858507/baldurs-gate-3-horny-bug-gale

There’s a crowd setting you can toggle that might help with some of the strain. But I think pretty much everyone playing experiences a near 50% fps drop in Act 3.

All I can say is good luck. I’ve been on Act 3 for a little while now and it’s like hitting a wall. It’s not bad, it’s just that there isn’t the momentum from the first two acts. A lot is left up for you to explore and there’s little quest prioritization. You really need to figure out what’s important to you and if there’s a time constraint that forces you to reprioritize certain quests over others. 
 

I’ve been very conservative with my long rests since I got to the lower city. I’m using different team comps just to put off short and long tests and not progress to another day if possible. I may be playing it a little too safe, but I don’t want to miss any story at this point or face certain consequences.

Act 3 is by far the longest and slowest. There’s some payoff, just don’t expect any of it very quickly.

4 hours ago, Keirik said:

What is the format? I may be interested but I’m not sure my time with the new addition to the family. 

• Type: Head-to-head, daily
• Skater Scoring: Goals (G), Assists (A), Plus/Minus (+/-), Powerplay Points (PPP), Shorthanded Points (SHP), Shots on Goal (SOG), and Blocked Shots (BLK)
• Goalie Scoring: Wins (W), Goals Against Average (GAA), Save Percentage (SV%), Shutouts (SHO)
• Roster Positions: C, C, LW, LW, RW, RW, D, D, D, D, Util, G, G, BN, BN, BN, IR, IR
• Max acquisitions per week: 2
• No max acquisitions
• No max trades on the season
• Trades are reviewed by league and can be vetoed by majority vote
• Players are on waivers for one day
• Minimum goalie appearances per team, per week is three
• Roster changes are daily, effective tomorrow

14 hours ago, Phil said:

@lefty9 you're the last man standing. Let me know if you're in when you get a chance.

 

Also, we have two open spots this year — is anyone interested in joining?

@Keirik

@siddious

@Pete

@pws85nyr

@Vodka Drunkenski

You guys have expressed interest in the past so now is your chance.

44 minutes ago, LindG1000 said:

Just looking forward to which one of you two has to call yourself OohLaLaFreniere for a year.

Weak.

Y’all ready know.

4 minutes ago, Cash or Czech said:

 

Pretty much this. I have 34 hours in and I'm part way through Act II, definitely not halfway through the game. I am definitely not gonna do another save to fix one or two things. It's kind of nice living with action consequences too

 

  Hide contents

Like the fight at Last Light Inn

 

I’m willing to deal with more severe consequences in later runs for sure. My problem is not wanting to miss out on the utility or story of certain companions.
 

I was absolutely going to off Lae’zel at one point and I’m glad I didn’t. I also almost lost her during during one really important persuasion check that kept failing.

I want to see Astarion’s story through but it’s the only thing keeping him around for me. Otherwise I’d totally let a story based segment take him out.

9 minutes ago, Cash or Czech said:

 

I'm here to have fun and play through the story. I'm too old to be a gaming tryhard lol

 

I'm not even this good in my weekly IRL DnD game.

Yeah. Get the experience you want out of it. You can do multiple playthroughs but the time cost of just one playthrough is significant enough. If the change only requires minutes of backpedaling as opposed to hours, just do it.

If I do end up doing a coop run, I'm willing to deal with whatever repercussions come with that. I want the storyline I have in mind for at least my first full playthrough.

6 hours ago, Br4d said:

The Rangers are doing something wrong.

 

They are overly dependent on talent infusions from other teams and over time that just doesn't produce the best results because most other teams hold on to their real talent.

 

 

What "real" talent have the Rangers not held onto? The entire reason they've had to go out and pursue talent is because of the failings described in the OP of this thread. Their strength for the last 20 years or so has been drafting grunts and complementary players. Too many years of middling teams and then no first-round picks obviously don't lead to the same results as bottoming out entirely and accruing capital.

There are role players the Rangers should've held onto over the years, but the McDonagh + Miller trade is the only one I can think of where it probably would've just been better to hold on. I'd still have traded Miller anyway.

Listen, I'm all for some content during the offseason, but there are some things you can just Google.

1 hour ago, Cash or Czech said:

 

I've done that on several fights lol. Is it right? Meh. Is it more fun? Absolutely. 

Nothing wrong with it. Might as well find a better approach to a fight if you can.

26 minutes ago, RJWantsTheCup said:

Cuylle, Bonino, Vesey or Goodrow could be a good 4th line.

For sure. I just don’t know that you need to push him ahead of Pitlick or Belzile unless he really stands out in camp. It’s not like he’s undeniably ready. 

16 minutes ago, Pete said:

Nah. You don't get the assignments he gets unless you're a real pro.

 

Even last season, the Rangers lost 51 games due to injury, next closest was Calgary at 105. It's just an odd time to fire him, if nothing else.

Short-term health vs. long-term health is also a thing. Yeah, he might be great for a quick fix but that could lead to compounding issues. Just because you can send a guy back out on the ice doesn’t mean you necessarily should. Lindgren most recently comes to mind with that.

54 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

You can. It's just rare, which I think is your point anyway.

Right. Cap league. Embrace the cyclical nature of it all. Rebuilds are how you stock up on talent at more reasonable rates.
 

I don’t give a fuck about the Devils or Islanders success. Are the fans annoying? Absolutely. But anyone who thinks either of them were destined to be permanent Mickey Mouse franchises is living in a dream world. They’re going to be better than the Rangers at points. That’s just reality. Be an adult and fucking suck it up. It shouldn’t affect the team’s approach to business. The Rangers aren’t in competition with the Devils and Islanders, they’re in competition with the entire fucking league. People accuse Devils and Islanders fans of an inferiority complex but a subset of Rangers fans are in a permanent state of denial. Don’t care about what they do if it means sloppily trying to surpass them.

3 minutes ago, Pete said:

But this is impatience/instant gratification. Both kids have shit to work on and would be fine in the A. What's the rush?

  

 

Whoa. Yeah, I skimmed over this I guess.

Let’s pump the brakes on Cuylle a little bit. He had a good AHL season, especially down the stretch, but he’s a guy most teams are probably integrating on a fourth line not third. Third line is his maximum potential if anything. He’s a heavy body who gets to dirty areas and can provide some solid but not standout defense. None of his skills are standout. How effective he’ll be is dependent on how much of a solider he can make himself.

1 minute ago, Br4d said:

 

If this is the case then we deserve the team we're getting.  Instant gratification is worth exactly one season of semi-good results.  Repeat Ad Nauseum...

NY sports, particularly the Yankees, have provided some with the sense that you can buy your way or speed your way through a process. Some around here only want to “win” if it means spiting the Devils or Islanders. You don’t build your team out of jealousy.