First off, Season 4 was odd in that unlike previous seasons the whole thing felt less focused. The primary plot throughout the season was seeing Pied Piper working towards building a new version of the internet, which is a very lofty goal as any engineer would tell you. The actual building of this new internet as a process only makes tiny plot points here and there as the producers more than likely glanced over the details just to keep things moving forward. They might pull a few interesting ideas out here and there but the overall technical accuracy is vague and lacking, making this idea seem completely infeasible to a veteran engineer.

Instead, we’re tossed into the predictable loop of the series where one high meets and equal low. Although I believe that the intention is to embrace the so-called perception that Silicon Valley (and the tech world) values failing fast and often, the way the show implements this design wears out the viewer quickly as each episode is not so much the pitfalls of running a start up but just the stereotypical quirks that an outsider might project onto the personalities of an engineer from the Valley.

Worse yet, a few episodes just become irrelevant and irreverent in their attitude towards engineers by highlighting our sex lives (or lack thereof). For instance, Richard has awkward sex with Dan Melcher’s wife, which apparently allows Richard to secure a massive contract with Melcher’s company.  Then you had Dinesh with the hacker girlfriend, which I felt killed one of the most defining traits of his character. In that situation, it felt gratuitous. Aspects like these felt more like petty insults towards engineering culture that Hollywood enjoys tossing like the stereotypical high school football jock bullies hurling the straight A kid into a locker.

Part of the initial charm of the first two seasons for me was really nailing the true idiosyncrasies of engineering culture such as the group of 5 (which surprisingly is true), the bullshit micro managing practice called SCRUM, the research into business cases of how other companies in the Valley (and Silicon Beach for that matter), etc. By comparison, this season doesn’t have the same level of acumen and has gone off on a tangent in its own pivoting from video chat to an inconceivable idea that more than likely has caused the writers the inability to expand upon.

Now, one thing that the actors/actresses had mentioned is that this season was focused more inward on the relationships between the characters as opposed to the company fighting external forces. So there is some character growth as we have seen Dinesh evolve from a sexless, no life racial joke into a joke of a CEO and lover or rather becoming more and more of the asshole Erlich desires him to embrace.

The real problem that I see in the show at the 4th season is that it feels the writers don’t know how to grow this plagued company. Perhaps, TJ Miller’s recent departure (though rumored to be about money) was intentional in forcing Pied Piper out of the comfort zone of the little incubator space into a real office environment. The previous season showed the possibility of Pied Piper moving on but those plans were removed. And the move felt very artificial as it might have been the desire to keep the company in that tiny space due to the familiarity of the environment.

Logically speaking though, the way Pied Piper is structured it would have been long dead. No sensible engineer would stay on that low of a pay structure in that situation, living like a college drop out flunky. Also, some of the actions in Pied Piper such as Dinesh, Gilfoyle and Jared getting slapped around wouldn’t stand without serious legal repercussion.

But it’s those points that make the series feel that it loses the moment for me as an engineer just because it isn’t as real as the first two seasons. The best jokes for me were the ones that accurately reflected the world I deal with as a worker in tech on a daily basis.

The way the season ended with Gaven returning to Hooli, Jack Barker being effectively excommunicated permanently, Erlich perpetually abandoned smoking opium in Tibet and Pied Piper beginning to start another war with Gaven in all honesty leaves me with low hope for season 5. Sure, Richard’s situation ended on a high note where deux ex machina (literally a machine saving the day) entered into the picture and resolving his latest crisis is a mimicry of past seasons where we see Richard and Pied Piper built up at the last episode only to be immediately torn down once the new season starts.

What I did like was seeing the new side of Richard, the animal survivalist who will do anything to keep his company alive. The parallels between him and Gaven that manifest are not coincidental because the point is demonstrating how both manage to retain their positions and make headway in an industry built upon utter ruthlessness rather than raw merit. But will he sustain this new persona or return to his meek, pathetic and awkward form just because the writers possibly perceive that is what the audience can relate to?

The show does need to grow as do the characters and Pied Piper. How this manifests in the next season is very curious. But this season really needed something more and if there’s one thing I’d pinpoint is simply better focus with an emphasis returning to the engineering culture aspects that made me laugh in the first two seasons.

The post HBO’s Silicon Valley Season 4 Review appeared first on Kontroversial Keith.

This really isn’t a guide per say as my setup pretty much replicates various high end builds. Thus, if you’re looking for a perfect guide, you’re probably better off checking out DiabloFans or one of Quin69’s video guides. The stuff here focuses on limited game play as I dive deeper into this build.

The main two aspects of Uliana’s build centers around Exploding Palm and Seven Sided Strike. However, you’re given the freedom to use a generator in applying Exploding Palm rather than mixing spending Exploding Palm, a generator and Seven Sided Strike. You use Seven Sided Strike to detonate your Exploding Palm, which with the correct gear, pretty much triggers a massive chain reaction.

Outside of using the six pieces of Uliana’s set, you pretty much need [d3]Gungdo Gear[/d3]  for spreading Exploding Palm, [d3]Binding of the Lost[/d3] for damage reduction, a cubed [d3]The Flow of Eternity[/d3] for reduction in cooldown for Seven Sided Strike, [d3]The Fist Of Azturrasq[/d3] for increasing the damage of Exploding Palm, the new season only [d3]Lions Claw[/d3] for increasing Seven Sided Strike to 14 Sided Strike and finally a cubed [d3]Madstone[/d3] for auto-applying Exploding Palm via Seven Sided Strike. Some people recommend [d3]Broken Promises[/d3] and using a zero critical chance build since you’re mostly attacking with generators. Pretty much that’s up to you but I’ll explain the philosophy behind that in a moment.

Much of the game play is simple. You use your generator three times on your enemies and apply Exploding Palm. You want to do this for a huge group of mobs then set off the chain reaction via Seven Sided Strike. With a large number of mobs, you can clear huge sections of the screen within seconds.

While Exploding Palm is auto-applied via your generators, you want to place Exploding Palm with a rune on your action bar. Most builds go cold and in this case use Impending Doom. Pretty much with this setup you’ll be one-shotting many mobs right after activating your Seven Sided Strike since Impending Doom and the set with Seven Sided Strike just cause a tremendous amount of damage.

In my case, I’m still behind a few pieces of key gear. Right now, I lack the Flow of Eternity and have cubed my Fist of Azturrasq just to get the multiplier damage. Also, I use an [d3]Ingeom[/d3] and [d3]Obsidian Ring of the Zodaic[/d3] for some cooldown reduction (mostly Seven Sided Strike). I did read that the cooldown for Obsidian Ring though does not really apply to Seven Sided Strike, but I’m using it for Epiphany and Dashing Strike (which may not work in this case). For the most part, I’m still experimenting with this build. My In-geom, for instance, is actually a strength one but I’ve simply not had enough materials to re-roll the strength aspect.

I realize that The Flow of Eternity probably will make this build more than anything because of the high cooldown on Seven Sided Strike. Without that cooldown reduction, the build slows down tremendously. At least with an In-geom, you can reduce some cooldown in killing elites. Ideally, you shouldn’t be in that situation.

I do find the build to be squishy. Most of the time you’re hitting a ton of mobs while being surrounded and vulnerable. So your only real defense is either Epiphany, if you face tank mobs, or Dashing Strike, if really dangerous effects happen like Frozen. The belt helps a little but not by much. For myself, I use Simplicity’s Strength for some life on hit since I’m mostly using my generators. Even then I find my health dropping rapidly quite frequently.

But that’s where the Broken Promises ring comes into play. One alternative popular version of this build eliminates Critical Hit Chance through the Broken Promises ring’s passive, which you cube. By doing this, you can move stats around on your gear. For instance, going more CDR on spots you normally would take CHC.

The game play for me was a lot better once I understand the real mechanics behind this build. Originally, on the PTR I used the revamped Shenlong’s Fist weapons but didn’t handle the build correctly. So I was trying to spam Exploding Palm rather than utilizing the 2 set bonus. The gratifying aspect of this build is being able to trigger your Exploding Palm via Seven Sided Strike. Having tons of Exploding Palm icons up on your foes then flattening them with a single touch of a button is immensely satisfying.

That said, the thing I dislike about this build outside of squishiness is the slowness factor. Compared to Raiment, this set is very plodding. I suppose I’m still at a point where I need to figure out how to optimize my gear properly such as sacrificing CHC for CDR. But that aspect will require more scrutinization and hunting better rolled items. Getting CDR just is so critical at this stage since I’m missing out on being able to fly through mobs the same way a basic Whirlwind Barbarian can.

Now, I suppose once I have sufficient gear, I’ll be able to start tackling greater rifts. Currently, my focus is just getting enough gear to make it through the front door. Also, I’m still getting a better feel for how the playstyle works and want to take another pass on some mistakes I’ve made with rerolls. Until I get to that point, I probably will just continue farming T6.

The post Diablo 3: Uliana Set Build Review appeared first on Kontroversial Keith.

The Vyr’s build centers around the Archon ability. With the two set bonus, you gain all the runes to Archon and that’s what starts to make the set. The four piece bonus has been revamped to increase your attack speed, resistances and armor per stack, where stacks is defined as the number of enemies you kill while in Archon form. The six piece bonus, which now includes shoulders and a helmet, gives you stacks when you hit with an Archon ability. As the damage scales based on your stacks, it’s important to keep up your stacks.

To compliment the set, the Chantodo’s Resolve set has been redesigned as well. While in Archon form, you will expel a Wave of Destruction, dealing 350% weapon damage to enemies within 30 yards. And while not in Archon form, you can stack up to 20 itmes 350% weapon damage to the Wave of Destruction. So in other words, you have a method to compensate when Archon is on cooldown to do damage.

There are two more key items to use with this set. One item is [d3]The Swami[/d3], where the bonuses from Archon stacks now last for 15-20 seconds after Archon expires. Also, you will find the new seasonal [d3]Fazula’s Improbable Chain[/d3] which you automatically start with 40-50 Archon stacks when entering Archon form.

Most people I’ve seen who use this set often compliment it with the [d3]Focus[/d3] and [d3]Restraint[/d3] Bastion of Will rings for the damage increase. Your amulet slot can be anything but probably will end up being a Hellfire Amulet or a damage immunity amulet.

For the Cubed items, you probably will end up going with The Swami. Weapon-wise, there’s not a lot of really stand out choices. The obvious one is [d3]The Furnace[/d3] but beyond that you can go with [d3]Aether Walker[/d3], [d3]Wand of Woh[/d3] or perhaps the [d3]Light of Grace[/d3]. The Wand of Woh I don’t think is that great here since the effect has been diminished (and I’m not sure if any of the other abilities you use in Archon trigger it). That leaves the Aether Walker for freebie teleports or the Light of Grace for the piercing Frost Ray. I haven’t tried Light of Grace but the idea of having the piercing effect is that you’ll most likely using Frost Ray when you’re out of Archon form. So that provides more DPS in allowing you to hit more enemies.

Truthfully, I’m not a huge fan of the Bastion of Will being used with this set since Archon doesn’t really focus as much on generation as it does on cooldown. Pretty much you’ll be using a generator like Magic Missile when you’re out of Archon form so keeping up your damage will be difficult as you switch in an out of Archon.

Your ring slot pretty much has to be [d3]Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac[/d3] because you will have to find ways to maintain your Archon form. Your stat priority will be on cooldown for your shoulder, hands and weapon/offhand slots. And you’ll probably want to prioritize a Gogok of Swiftness to help continue reducing your cooldown to keep Archon up.

Game play-wise, your goal is to maintain Archon form as much as possible while keeping your stacks up for damage boost. Since your main ability is a channeled one spender, you probably can use a Taeguk for the armor/damage boost. You will have a traveling Slow Time bubble for additional defensive capabilities. Anytime you swap back into Archon, you should push that thing up immediately. More than likely you’ll want to be in melee range so your Chantodo’s set can damage the area around you. Also, your explosive blast ability requires melee range.

For myself, I wasn’t all that happy with the play style. I think it felt a bit awkward and far slower than the Delsere-Tal Rasha 3/5 set. The game play requires a lot of management on your end when it comes to Archon form and keeping your stacks up. It might work out as a reasonable damage build for groups but solo-wise it feels klunky and doesn’t output as much damage as a Delsere-Tal Rasha. Perhaps, the missing component for myself was the seasonal belt since I was testing this build on non-season. But there definitely was something missing to make me truly enjoy this build. I definitely wouldn’t suggest using this build in a non-seasonal setting though compared to Delsere-Tal Rasha.

Every second while in Archon form you expel a Wave of Destruction, dealing 350% weapon damage to enemies within 30 yards
Every time you hit with an attack while not in Archon form, 350% weapon damage is added to the Wave of Destruction, stacking up to 20 times

The post Diablo 3: Vyr’s Archon Wizard Build for Patch 2.3 appeared first on Kontroversial Keith.