Does anyone know where I can get some slot machine assets for a gambling app I want to make? Need a slot machine and a slot machine handle you can push down.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s when I was a young teen growing up in far North Austin, it was a popular custom for many boys in the neighborhood to assemble at the local Stop-N-Go after school on a regular basis for some Grand Champion level tournaments in Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. The collective insistence of our mothers and fathers to get out of the house, get some exercise, and refrain from playing NES or Sega on the television only led us to seek out more video games at the convenience store down the road. Much allowance and lunch money was spent as well as hours that should have been devoted to homework among the 8 or 9 regular boys in attendance, often challenging each other to 'Best of 5' matches. I myself played Dhalsim and SubZero, and not very well, so I rarely ever made it to the 5th match. The store workers frequently kicked us out for the day only to have us return when they weren't working the counter anymore if not the next day.
There is something about that which has been lost in the present day. While people can today download the latest games on Steam or PSN or in the app store on your smartphone, you can't just find arcade games in stores and restaurants like you used to be able to. And so the fun of a spontaneous 8 or 10 person multiplayer video game tournament has been confined to places like bars, pool halls, Pinballz or Dave&Busters.
But in truth it was that ubiquity of arcade video games, how you could find them in any old 7-11 or Laundromat, which is what killed the original arcades of the early 1980s before the Great Crash of 1983 when home video game consoles started to catch up to what you saw in the arcade.
I was born in the mid 1970s so I missed out on Pong. I was kindergarten age when the Golden Age of Arcade Games took place in the early 1980s. There used to be a place called Skateworld on Anderson Mill Road that was primarily for roller skating but had a respectable arcade in its own right. It was there that I honed my skills on the original Tron, Pac Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Defender, and so many others. In the 1980s I remember visiting all the same mall arcades as others in my age group. There was Aladdin's Castle in Barton Creek Mall, The Gold Mine in Highland, and another Gold Mine in Northcross which was eventually renamed Tilt. Westgate Mall also had an arcade but being a north austin kid I never went there until later in the mid 1990s. There were also places like Malibu Grand Prix and Showbiz Pizza and Chuck-E-Cheeze, all of which had fairly large arcades for kids which were the secondary attraction.
If you're of a certain age you will remember Einsteins and LeFun on the Drag. They were there for a few decades going back way before the Slacker era. Lesser known is that the UT Student Union basement used to have an arcade that was comparable to either or both of those places. Back in the pre-9/11 days it was much easier to sneak in if you even vaguely looked like you could be a UT student.
But there was another place I was too young to have experienced called Smitty's up further north on 183 at Lake Creek in the early 1980s. I never got to go there but I always heard about it from older kids at the time. It was supposed to have been two stories of wall to wall games with a small snack bar. I guess at the time it served a mostly older teen crowd from Westwood High School and for that reason younger kids my age weren't having birthday parties there. It wasn't around very long, just a few years during the Golden Age of Arcades.
It is with almost-forgotten early arcades like that in mind that I wanted to share with y'all some examples of places from The Golden Age of the Video Arcade in Austin using some old Statesman articles I've found. Maybe someone of a certain age on here will remember them. I was curious what they were like, having missed out by being slightly too young to have experienced most of them first hand. I also wanted to see the original reaction to them in the press. I had a feeling there was some pushback from school/parent/civic groups on these facilities showing up in neighborhood strip malls or next to schools, and I was right to suspect. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First let's list off some places of interest. Be sure to speak up if you remember going to any of these, even if it was just for some other kid's birthday party. Unfortunately some of the only mentions about a place are reports of a crime being committed there, such as our first few examples.
Forgotten Arcade #1
Fun House/Play Time Arcade - 2820 Guadalupe
June 15, 1975

ARCADE ENTHUSIASM
A gang fight involving 20 30 people erupted early Saturday morning in front of an arcade on Guadalupe Street. The owner of the Fun House Arcade at 282J Guadalupe told police pool cues, lug wrenches, fists and a shotgun were displayed during the flurry. Police are unsure what started the fisticuffs, but one witness at the scene said it pitted Chicanos against Anglos. During the fight the owner of the arcade said a green car stopped at the side of the arcade and witnesses reported the barrel of a shotgun sticking out. The crowd wisely scattered and only a 23-year-old man was left lying on the ground. He told police he doesn't know what happened.

March 3, 1976

ARCADE ROBBED
A former employee of Play Time Arcade, 2820 Guadalupe, was charged Tuesday in connection with the Tuesday afternoon robbery of his former business. Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Ronnie Magee, 22, of 1009 Aggie Lane, Apt. 306. Arcade attendant Sam Garner said he had played pool with the suspect an hour before the robbery. He told police the man had been fired from the business two weeks earlier. Police said a man walked in the arcade about 2:45 p m. with a blue steel pistol and took $180. Magee is charged with first degree aggravated robbery. Bond was set on the charge at $15,000.

First it was called Fun House and then renamed Play Time a year later. I'm not sure what kind of arcade games beyond Pong and maybe Asteroids they could have had at this place. The peak of the Pinball craze was supposed to be around 1979, so they might have had a few pinball machines as well. A quick search of youtube will show you a few examples of 1976 video games like Death Race. The location is next to Ken's Donuts where PokeBowl is today where the old Baskin Robbins location was for many years.
Forgotten Arcade #2
Green Goth - 1121 Springdale Road
May 15, 1984

A 23-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to a January 1983 murder in East Austin and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Jim Crowell Jr. of Austin admitted shooting 17-year-old Anthony Rodriguez in the chest with a shotgun after the two argued outside the Green Goth, a games arcade at 1121 Springdale Road, on Jan. 23, 1983. Crowell had argued with Rodriguez and a friend of Rodriguez at the arcade, police said. Crowell then went to his house, got a shotgun and returned to the arcade, witnesses said. When the two friends left the arcade, Rodriguez was shot Several weeks ago Crowell had reached a plea bargain with prosecutors for an eight-year prison term, but District Judge Bob Perkins would not accept the sentence, saying it was shorter than sentences in similar cases. After further plea bargaining, Crowell accepted the 15-year prison sentence.

I can't find anything else on Green Goth except reports about this incident with a murder there. There is at least one other report from 1983 around the time of Crowell's arrest that also refer to it as an arcade but reports the manager said the argument started over a game of pool. It's possible this place might have been more known for pool.
Forgotten Arcades #3 & #4
Games, Etc. - 1302 S. First St
Muther's Arcade - 2532 Guadalupe St
August 23, 1983

Losing the magic touch - Video Arcades have trouble winning the money game
It was going to be so easy for Lawrence Villegas, a video game junkie who thought he could make a fast buck by opening up an arcade where kids could plunk down an endless supply of quarters to play Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Asteroids. Villegas got together with a few friends, purchased about 30 video games and opened Games, Etc. at 1302 S. First St in 1980. .,--.... For a while, things, went great Kids waited in line to spend their money to drive race cars, slay dragons and save the universe.
AT THE BEGINNING of 1982, however, the bottom fell out, and Villegas' revenues fell from $400 a week to $25. Today, Games, Etc. is vacant Villegas, 30, who is now working for his parents at Tony's Tortilla Factory, hasn't decided what he'll do with the building. "I was hooked on Asteroids, and I opened the business to get other people hooked, too," Villegas said. "But people started getting bored, and it wasn't worth keeping the place open. In the end, I sold some machines for so little it made me sick."
VILLEGAS ISNT the only video game operator to experience hard times, video game manufacturers and distributors 'It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100 .
Pac-Man's a lost cause. Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Ronnie Roark says. In the past year, business has dropped 25 percent to 65 percent throughout the country, they say. Most predict business will get even worse before the market stabilizes. Video game manufacturers and operators say there are several reasons for the sharp and rapid decline: Many video games can now be played at home on television, so there's no reason to go to an arcade. The novelty of video games has worn off. It has been more than a decade since the first ones hit the market The decline can be traced directly to oversaturation or the market arcade owners say. The number of games in Austin has quadrupled since 1981, and it's not uncommon to see them in coin-operated laundries, convenience stores and restaurants.
WITH SO MANY games to choose from, local operators say, Austinites be came bored. Arcades still take in thousands of dollars each week, but managers and owners say most of the money is going to a select group of newer games, while dozens of others sit idle.
"After awhile, they all seem the same," said Dan Moyed, 22, as he relaxed at Muther's Arcade at 2532 Guadalupe St "You get to know what the game is going to do before it does. You can play without even thinking about it" Arcade owners say that that, in a nutshell, is why the market is stagnating.
IN THE PAST 18 months, Ronnie Roark, owner of the Back Room at 2015 E. Riverside Drive, said his video business has dropped 65 to 75 percent Roark, . who supplied about 160 video games to several Austin bars and arcades, said the instant success of the games is what led to their demise. "The technology is not keeping up with people's demand for change," said Roark, who bought his first video game in 1972. "The average game is popular for two or three months. We're sending back games that are less than five months old."
Roark said the market began dropping in March 1982 and has been declining steadily ever since. "The drop started before University of Texas students left for the summer in 1982," Roark said. "We expected a 25 percent drop in business, and we got that, and more. It's never really picked up since then. - "It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100. 1 was shocked when I looked over my books and saw how much things had dropped."
TO COMBAT THE slump, Roark said, he and some arcade owners last year cut the price of playing. Even that didn't help, he said. Old favorites, such as Pac-Man, which once took in hundreds of dollars each week, he said, now make less than $3 each. "Pac-Man's a lost cause," he said. "Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Hardest hit by the slump are the owners of the machines, who pay $3,500 to $5,000 for new products and split the proceeds with the businesses that house them.
SALEM JOSEPH, owner of Austin Amusement and Vending Co., said his business is off 40 percent in the past year. Worse yet, some of his customers began returning their machines, and he's having a hard time putting them back in service. "Two years ago, a machine would generate enough money to pay for itself in six months,' said Joseph, who supplies about 250 games to arcades. "Now that same machine takes 18 months to pay for itself." As a result, Joseph said, he'll buy fewer than 15 new machines this year, down from the 30 to 50 he used to buy. And about 50 machines are sitting idle in his warehouse.
"I get calls every day from people who want to sell me their machines," Joseph said. "But I can't buy them. The manufacturers won't buy them from me." ARCADE OWNERS and game manufacturers hope the advent of laser disc video games will buoy the market Don Osborne, vice president of marketing for Atari, one of the largest manufacturers of video games, said he expects laser disc games to bring a 25 percent increase in revenues next year. The new games are programmed to give players choices that may affect the outcome of the game, Os borne said. "Like the record and movie industries, the video game industry is dependent on products that stimulate the imagination," Osborne said "One of the reasons we're in a valley is that we weren't coming up with those kinds of products."
THE FIRST of the laser dis games, Dragonslayer and Star Wan hit the market about two months ago. Noel Kerns, assistant manager of The Gold Mine Arcade in Northcross Mall, says the new games are responsible for a $l,000-a-week increase in revenues. Still, Kerns said, the Gold Mine' total sales are down 20 percent iron last summer. However, he remain optimistic about the future of the video game industry. "Where else can you come out of the rain and drive a Formula One race car or save the universe?" hi asked.
Others aren't so optimistic. Roark predicted the slump will force half of all operators out of business and will last two more years. "Right now, we've got a great sup ply and almost no demand," Roark said. "That's going to have to change before things get- significantly better."

Well there is a lot to take from that long article, among other things, that the author confused "Dragonslayer" with "Dragon's Lair". I lol'd.
Anyone who has been to Emo's East, formerly known as The Back Room, knows they have arcade games and pool, but it's mostly closed when there isn't a show. That shouldn't count as an arcade, even though the former owner Ronnie Roark was apparently one of the top suppliers of cabinet games to the area during the Golden Era. Any pool hall probably had a few arcade games at the time, too, but that's not the same as being an arcade.
We also learn from the same article of two forgotten arcades: Muthers at 2522 Guadalupe where today there is a Mediterranean food restaurant, and another called Games, Etc. at 1302 S.First that today is the site of an El Mercado restaurant. But the article is mostly about showing us how bad the effects were from the crash at the end of the Golden Era. It was very hard for the early arcades to survive with increasing competition from home game consoles and personal computers, and the proliferation of the games into stores and restaurants.
Forgotten Arcades #5 #6 & #7
Computer Madness - 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Electronic Encounters - 1701 W Ben White Blvd (Southwood Mall)
The Outer Limits Amusements Center - 1409 W. Oltorf
March 4, 1982

'Quartermania' stalks South Austin
School officials, parents worried about effects of video games
A fear Is haunting the video game business. "We call it 'quartermania.' That's fear of running out of quarters," said Steve Stackable, co-owner of Computer Madness, a video game and foosball arcade at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd. The "quartermania" fear extends to South Austin households and schools, as well. There it's a fear of students running out of lunch money and classes to play the games. Local school officials and Austin police are monitoring the craze. They're concerned that computer hotspots could become undesirable "hangouts" for students, or that truancy could increase because students (high-school age and younger) will skip school to defend their galaxies against The Tempest.
So far police fears have not been substantiated. Department spokesmen say that although more than half the burglaries in the city are committed by juveniles during the daytime, they know of no connection between the break-ins and kids trying to feed their video habit But school and parental worries about misspent time and money continue. The public outcry in September 1980 against proposals to put electronic game arcades near two South Austin schools helped persuade city officials to reject the applications. One proposed location was near Barton Hills Elementary School. The other was South Ridge Plaza at William Cannon Drive and South First Street across from Bedlchek Junior High School.
Bedichek principal B.G. Henry said he spoke against the arcade because "of the potential attraction it had for our kids. I personally feel kids are so drawn to these things, that It might encourage them to leave the school building and play hookey. Those things have so much compulsion, kids are drawn to them like a magnet Kids can get addicted to them and throw away money, maybe their lunch money. I'm not against the video games. They may be beneficial with eye-hand coordination or even with mathematics, but when you mix the video games during school hours and near school buildings, you might be asking for problems you don't need."
A contingent from nearby Pleasant Hill Elementary School joined Bedichek in the fight back in 1980, although principal Kay Beyer said she received her first formal call about the games last Week from a mother complaining that her child was spending lunch money on them. Beyer added that no truancy problems have been related to video game-playing at a nearby 7-11 store. Allen Poehl, amusement game coordinator for Austin's 7-11 stores, said company policy rules out any game-playing by school-age youth during school hours. Fulmore Junior High principal Bill Armentrout said he is working closely with operators of a nearby 7-1 1 store to make sure their policy is enforced.
The convenience store itself, and not necessarily the video games, is a drawing card for older students and drop-outs, Armentrout said. Porter Junior High principal Marjorie Ball said that while video games aren't a big cause of truancy, "the money (spent on the games) is a big factor." Ball said she has made arrangements with nearby businesses to call the school it students are playing the games during school hours. "My concern is that kids are basically unsupervised, especially at the 24-hour grocery stores. That's a late hour for kids to be out. I would like to see them (games) unplugged at 10 p.m.," adds Joslin Elementary principal Wayne Rider.
Several proprietors of video game hot-spots say they sympathize with the concerns of parents and school officials. No one under 18 is admitted without a parent to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre at 4211 S. Lamar. That rule, says night manager David Dunagan, "keeps it from being a high school hangout. This is a family place." Jerry Zollar, owner of J.J. Subs in West Wood Shopping Center on Bee Cave Road, rewards the A's on the report cards of Eanes school district students with free video games. "It's kind of a community thing we do in a different way. I've heard from both teachers and parents . . . they thought this was a good idea," said Zollar.
Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall last year was renovated into a brightly lit arcade. "We're trying to get away from the dark, barroom-type place. We want this to be a place for family entertainment We won't let kids stay here during school hours without a written note from their parents, and we're pretty strict about that," said manager Kelly Roberts. Joyce Houston, who manages The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf St. along with her husband, said, "I wouldn't let my children go into some of the arcades I've visited. I'm a concerned parent, too. We wanted a place where the whole family could come and enjoy themselves."

Well you can see which way the tone of all these articles is going. There were some crimes committed at some arcades but all of them tended to have a negative reputation for various reasons. Parents and teachers were very skeptical of the arcades being in the neighborhoods to the point of petitioning the City Government to restrict them. Three arcades are mentioned besides Chuck-E-Cheese. Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall, The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf, and Computer Madness, a "video game and foosball arcade" at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Forgotten Arcade #8
Smitty's Galaxy of Games - Lake Creek Parkway
February 25, 1982

Arcades fighting negative image
Video games have swept across America, and Williamson and Travis counties have not been immune. In a two-part series, Neighbor examines the effects the coin-operated machines have had on suburban and small-town life.
Cities have outlawed them, religious leaders have denounced them and distraught mothers have lost countless children to their voracious appetites. And still they march on, stronger and more numerous than before. A new disease? Maybe. A wave of invading aliens from outer space? On occasion. A new type of addiction? Certainly. The culprit? Video games. Although the electronic game explosion has been mushrooming throughout the nation's urban areas for the past few years, its rippling effects have just recently been felt in the suburban fringes of North Austin and Williamson County.
In the past year, at least seven arcades armed with dozens of neon quarter-snatchers have sprung up to lure teens with thundering noises and thousands of flashing seek-and-destroy commands. Critics say arcades are dens of iniquity where children fall prey to the evils of gambling. But arcade owners say something entirely different. "Everybody fights them (arcades), they think they are a haven for drug addicts. It's just not true," said Larry Grant of Austin, who opened Eagle's Nest Fun and Games on North Austin Avenue in Georgetown last September. "These kids are great" Grant said the gameroom "gives teenagers a place to come. Some only play the games and some only talk.
In Georgetown, if you're from the high school, this is it." He said he's had very few disturbances, and asks "undesirables" to leave. "We've had a couple of rowdies. That's why I don't have any pool tables they tend to attract that type of crowd," Grant said.
Providing a place for teens to congregate was also the reason behind Ron and Carol Smith's decision to open Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway at the entrance to Anderson Mill. "We have three teenage sons, and as soon as the oldest could drive, it became immediately apparent that there was no place to go around here," said Ron, an IBM employee who lives in Spicewood at Balcones. "This prompted us to want to open something." The business, which opened in August, has been a huge success with both parents and youngsters. "Hundreds of parents have come to check out our establishment before allowing their children to come, and what they see is a clean, safe environment managed by adults and parents," Ron said. "We've developed an outstanding rapport with the community." Video arcades "have a reputation that we have to fight," said Carol.
Kathy McCoy of Georgetown, who last October opened Krazy Korner on Willis Street in Leander, agrees. "We've got a real good group of kids," she said. "There's no violence, no nothing. Parents can always find their kids at Krazy Korner."
While all the arcade owners contacted reported that business is healthy, if not necessarily lucrative, it's not as easy for video entrepreneurs to turn a profit as one might imagine. A sizeable investment is required. Ron Smith paid between $2,800 and $5,000 for each of the 30 electronic diversions at his gameroom.
Grant said his average video game grosses about $50 a week, and his "absolute worst" game, Armor Attack, only $20 a week. The top machines (Defender and Pac-Man) can suck in an easy $125 a week. That's a lot of quarters, 500 to be exact but the Eagle's Nest and Krazy Korner pass half of them on to Neelley Vending Company of Austin which rents them their machines. "At 25 cents a shot, it takes an awful lot of people to pay the bills," said Tom Hatfield, district manager for Neelley.
He added that an owner's personality and the arcade's location can make or break the venture. The game parlor must be run "by an understanding person, someone with patience," Hatfield said. "They cannot be too demanding on the kids, yet they can't let them run all over them." And they must be located in a spot "with lots of foot traffic," such as a shopping center or near a good restaurant, he said. "And being close to a school really helps." "Video games are going to be here permanently, but we're going to see some operations not going because of the competition," which includes machines in virtually every convenience store and supermarket, Hatfield said.

This article talks about three arcades. One in Georgetown called Eagles Nest, another in Leander called Krazy Korner, and a third called Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway "on the fringes of North Austin". This is the one I remember the older kids talking about when I was a little kid. There was once a movie theater across the street from the Westwood High School football stadium and behind that was Smitty's. Today I think the building was bulldozed long ago and the space is part of the expanded onramp to 183 today. Eventually another unrelated arcade was built next to the theater that became Alamo Lakeline. It was another site of some unrecorded epic Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat tournaments in the 90s.
But the article written before the end of the Golden Era tell us much about the pushback I was talking about earlier. Early arcades were seen as "dirty" places in some circles, and the owners of the arcades in Williamson County had to stress how "clean" their establishments were. This other article from a couple of weeks later tells of how area school officials weren't worried about video games and tells us more arcades in Round Rock and Cedar Park. Apparently the end of the golden age lasted a bit longer than usual in this area.
At some point in the next few years the bubble burst, and places like Smitty's were gone by the late 80s. But the distributors quoted earlier were right that arcade games weren't going completely away. In the mid 1980s LeFun opened up next in the Scientology building at 2200 Guadalupe on the drag. Down a few doors past what used be a coffee shop and a CVS was Einsteins Arcade. Both of those survived into the 21st century. I remember the last time I was at Einsteins I got my ass beat in Tekken by a kid half my age. heheh
That's all for today. There were no Bonus Pics in the UT archive of arcades (other than the classical architectural definition). I wanted to pass on some Bonus newspaper articles (remember to click and zoom in with the buttons on the right to read) about Austin arcades anyway but first a small story.
I mentioned earlier the secret of the UT Student Union. I have no idea what it looks like now but in the 90s there was a sizable arcade in with the bowling alley in the basement. Back in 1994 when I used to sneak in, they featured this bizarre early attempt at virtual reality games. I found an old Michael Barnes Statesman article about it dated February 11, 1994. Some highlights:

Hundreds of students and curiosity-seekers lined up at the University of Texas Union to play three to five minutes of Dactyl Nightmare, Flying Aces or V-Tol, three-dimensional games from Kramer Entertainment. Nasty weather delayed the unloading of four huge trunks containing the machines, which resemble low pulpits. Still, players waited intently for a chance to shoot down a fighter jet, operate a tilt-wing Harrier or tangle with a pterodactyl. Today, tickets will go on sale in the Texas Union lobby at 11:30 a.m. for playing slots between noon and 6 p.m.
Players, fitted with full helmets, throttles and power packs, stood on shiny gray and yellow platforms surrounded by a circular guard rail. Seen behind the helmet's goggles were computer simulated landscapes, not unlike the most sophisticated video games, with controls and enemies viewed in deep space. "You're on a platform waiting to fight a human figure," said Jeff Vaughn, 19, of Dactyl Nightmare. "A pterodactyl swoops down and tries to pick you up. You have to fight it off. You are in the space and can see your own body and all around you. But if you try to walk, you have to use that joy stick to get around."
"I let the pterodactyl carry me away so I could look down and scan the board," said Tom Bowen of the same game. "That was the way I found out where the other player was." "Yeah, it's cool just to stand there and not do anything," Vaughn said. The mostly young, mostly male crowd included the usual gaming fanatics, looking haggard and tense behind glasses and beards. A smattering of women and children also pressed forward in a line that snaked past the lobby and into the Union's retail shops.
"I don't know why more women don't play. Maybe because the games are so violent," said Jennifer Webb, 24, a psychology major whose poor eyesight kept her from becoming a fighter pilot in real life. "If the Air Force won't take me, virtual reality will." "They use stereo optics moving at something like 60 frames a second," said computer science major Alex Aquila, 19. "The images are still pretty blocky. But once you play it, you'll want to play it again and again." With such demand for virtual reality, some gamesters wondered why an Austin video arcade has not invested in at least one machine.

The gameplay looked like this.
Bonus Article #1 - "Video fans play for own reasons" (Malibu Grand Prix) - March 11, 1982
Bonus Article #2 - "Pac-Man Cartridge Piques Interest" - April 13, 1982
Bonus Article #3 - "Video Games Fail Consumer" - January 29, 1984
Bonus Article #4 - "Nintendoholics/Modems Unite" - January 25, 1989
Bonus Article #5 and pt 2 "Two girls missing for a night found at arcade" (truly dedicated young gamers) - August 7, 2003

EDIT - one week after i posted this, Britain's most successful hedge fund manager Michael Platt has taken a 6.5% stake
tl;dr
At-NAV new SPAC with world-leading expertise in online gambling. Worth a bet on potential to be next DKNG on the hype train
   
+++++++
Hi all - have had a lot of great tips from this sub. Hopefully this pays some of you back. I have been watching and researching this since 23 December when it first filed S1, awaiting the units to be listed - they are available today trading as ADERU
Positions - 500 units @ 10.42 to start. Will be monitoring and building position below $15, especially if attention starts to build ahead of units and warrants splitting and shares coming available to Robinhood.
(My other SPAC positions are OPEN, IPO-E-F, PSTH, FUSE, PIPP, ACTC, CCIV and DMYD, 100 to 1000 shares each mostly around NAV and numerous warrants and options around these.)
As ever, this is not investment advice and do your own research
+++++++
   
26 Capital Acquisition Corp or ADER
is a 240m SPAC with usual terms - 10$ units, 1/2 warrants. Seeking a merger in "gaming and gaming technology, branded consumer, lodging and entertainment, and Internet commerce sectors".
I think this is highly worth a play on the online gambling hype if you can get in at near NAV, based entirely on the management which is unbeatable in its knowledge of the gambling industry
   
CEO Jason Ader
has held director level positions at Las Vegas Sands Corp. ($42bn one of biggest casino groups in world), IGT (£3.72bn multinational gambling firm specialised in software and slot machines) and Playtech (£1.4bn multinational gambling software firm)
Before starting his own fund in 2013 he was regularly ranked Wall Street's top analyst on the gambling and leisure sector
His fund, Spring Owl Capital, is a small activist fund focused on gambling and leisure. They are probably most famous for ousting the CEO of Viacom in 2016 and a crusade against Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer in 2015.
Ader knows the gambling - and online gambling - industry inside out. He drove bWin to a £1.1bn takeover by gambling giant GVC (now Entain) in 2016, and has been driving similar change and demands for improvement at board level at Playtech
The fund mostly manages money for a select group of wealthy families, which could be a positive sign for the SPAC (although I don't know how much skin in the SPAC the fund has, if any)
Here is a video of Ader from November talking about how he's excited about SPACs. He talks about how he has been advising certain States about legalising sports betting and how to maximise value and liquidity by linking up with European companies in the space (Playtech e.g.??).
Ader is extremely bullish on US legalising online casino and more sports betting options, accelerated by need for revenue because of pandemic
   
Rafi Ashkenazi
One of the most highly respected names in the online gambling world, including COO and CEO positions at major online gambling firms such as Playtech and Stars Group (a world leader in online poker and casino). At Stars he led the $4.7bn takeover of Sky Betting to create the world's largest publicly listed online betting firm in 2018. Most recently he led the £10bn merger between Flutter (biggest gambling company in world by revenue, market cap £26bn), and Stars Group (Ader also involved). Also has connections into the booming Israel tech space which is interesting
   
Joseph Kaminkow
Special Advisor to the Chief Product Officer at Aristocrat, a leading gambling software provider and games publisher, previously Vice President of Game Design at Zynga Inc. This guy is a former video game / pinball designer who is credited with revolutionising the slots industry after moving into gambling software from video games in 1999. Regarded as a "legend" and "hall of famer" in this niche. At Zynga he designed so-called 'social casino games' which don't involve real-money gambling but are otherwise basically gambling apps (revenue from microtransactions etc). 130 patents on gambling/gaming design inventions
   
Greg Lyss
This is a very interesting but extremely low profile person. He was Bill Ackman a.k.a SPACman's right hand man at Gotham Capital. Ackman respected him so much that when Ackman set up a personal hedge fund to invest the Ackman family's money, he put Lyss in charge of it. To repeat - Bill Ackman thinks this guy is such a good investor and trustworthy that he put him in charge of investing his family's money. Don't know anything more about him, but I like this association with Ackman, which suggests to me some integrity around management of this SPAC, especially as the gambling world can be very murky.
The other member of the team is the CFO of SpringOwl with 20+ years' hedge fund experience and not notable (although clearly competent)
   
Thesis / potential targets
Based on the above experience and many public comments by Ader over the past year, I would be very surprised if ADER is not looking to merge with an online gambling technology provider / existing online betting website / social casino app / possibly a supporting technology provider
They are activist inventors, and specifically say in the IPO prospectus that they could look for businesses that can benefit from turnaround or are not being run well. I speculate that their deep knowledge of the European / global online gambling industry means they have a target in mind that they think would benefit from their expertise and US liberalisation of gambling legislation.
   
1) Ader believes the listing of UK-listed gambling companies in US is immediately big in terms of market cap because of the premium on online gambling stocks in US. He has pitched DraftKings to takeover Playtech and called on Playtech to spin off non-core business. This makes me wonder if he would spin off some element of Playtech to list in US to cash in on gambling hype.
This might be Finalto.com / TradeTech which is an online financial platform owned by Playtech. Playtech has been trying to sell this for 200 - 240m since August so it fits. This company provides liquidity and trading to brokerages and runs markets.com a trading site. I wouldn't be that excited although apparently the business has been booming during COVID and there could be a decent pop just on fintech hype.
   
2) This could be a 'picks and shovel' type data/B2B betting software play a la DMYD, or something like e.g. Israel based CRM software Optimove which works with some of biggest online gambling cos and has links to Ashkenazi. This would be interesting but probably not a huge pop
   
3) Possibly - given Ader's links to Sands - an online gambling tie-up with one of the big Vegas casinos who are desperate to get into the online betting space (see MGM's attempt to buy Entain for $8bn last week). Interestingly, Sands' owner Sheldon Adelson, previously a major opponent of online betting, has just died. Ader predicted a few months ago that Sands would be moving in this direction.

“There’s no stopping online gaming,” Ader said [before Adelson's death]. “(Las Vegas Sands’) initiatives to stop online gaming, at this stage, are largely historic. There hasn’t been a lot of spending recently to do that, especially post-pandemic.”
“I think the company will see the value created by DraftKings and FanDuel and Penn (National) Gaming and others. They’re not foolish,” Ader added. source

   
4) Ader is very confident that Macau will legalise online gambling in next year or two. Sands is big in Macau, the biggest gambling market in the world. A SaaS-type product positioned to capitalise on Asian gambling would be MASSIVE - at present however, China's attitude to gambling and local regulations mean this is unlikely
   
5) I also wonder if they might try to take legitimate one of the offshore bookmakers with big customer databases and brand recognition but which have been grey-area/illegal under US gaming legislation. For example, Five Dimes recently announced a settlement with the FBI to attempt to transition into newly legalised US markets. This might have the most hype potential
   
Potential upside
This is entirely a play on management experience and the meme factor / hype around online gambling in the US. I think if they pick a good target - which given their experience and connections seems likely - and get the right publicity and attention from retail investors looking for the next DKNG this could easily 3x and maybe 5-6x if on DKNG-type hype levels.
There is currently little spotlight on this and it is a good time to get in at NAV
   
Potential Downside

• Ader has been vocal that he thinks US online betting is overvalued and in a bubble - why is he starting his own SPAC in the space then? Does he just want to cash in while the hype is at all-time high or does he have a legitimate business goal?
  
• If he just wants to dump a part of Playtech which he does not like onto retail investors, this is a bad deal.
  
• Other targets could be e.g. hotel industry or other leisure sector which would be zero sexiness to retail. Given Ashkenazi and Kaminkow's background this seems unlikely though
  
• Usual SPAC caveats apply about potential difficulty finding a target, locking up your money for unspecified period of time, and the fact I may have completely misread the potential and my above thesis might be totally wrong
  

So I've been a fan of roguelikes for over a decade. Starting with Spelunky and the Binding of Isaac, I've likely spent half of my gaming time over the last decade just playing roguelikes.
Before we move on, I'd like to set a definition for "roguelike". The genre broadly describes games that are "like Rogue", with Rogue being an ASCII-based game from 1980. The definition has changed a lot over the years, but yeah. Here's my definition:
Roguelikes are games that prominently feature procedural generation, permadeath and player progression.
Although I'm sure a lot of roguelike purists won't agree with this definition, I'd argue that it's the definition most people are using these days. Consider Steam's list of roguelikes. Essentially none of the top selling roguelikes are "classic roguelikes". Same if you just Google "top roguelikes".
Anyway, this genre is very, very varied. From twin stick shooters, like the Binding of Isaac or Enter the Gungeon, to platformers, like Spelunky, to deck builders, like Slay the Spire. There are roguelike first person shooters, there are roguelike rhythm games. I'm sure if you look enough you'll find a roguelike carting game or fighting game
So, what makes a roguelike, a roguelike? It's not the moment to moment gameplay, that's for sure. The moment to moment gameplay of a game like BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE couldn't be more different from that of a game like Slay the Spire.
Allow me to introduce Luck be a Landlord. It's a game I stumbled on a couple of days ago. I consider it a distilled roguelike. In my opinion, it has everything that makes a roguelike a roguelike, without much of the gameplay of other roguelikes.
What is Luck be a Landlord? It is essentially a roguelike slot machine. The gameplay consists of essentially 3 things: You spin the slot machine, after every spin you get to choose a symbol to add to the slot machine, and every few spins (if you've got enough money to survive), you get to choose an item that (usually) gives you passive bonuses.
It's worth noting that, unlike normal slot machines, you don't get money for having several of the same symbols in a row. Instead, symbols give you money every spin, as long as they are visible on the slot machine.
Most symbols react to certain specific other symbols, if they happen to be adjacent on the slot machine. So, instead of going for multiple of the same symbol in a row (which usually doesn't actually do anything), you want to be going for synergies between symbols. For example, one of the symbols is a chef, which gives adjacent food symbols 2x their value.
The ultimate goal is to get a lot of synergies between your symbols, as well as with your items. If you get a good synergy going, you'll likely breeze to the end, but if you don't, you don't really have a chance to make it
This game isn't fair. Because you don't know what symbols you'll be offered in the future, you have no idea if the symbols offered to you at the start will be any good. Despite this, I really enjoy it.
It's interesting to think that this simple slot machine setup is so similar to other roguelikes. It has a lot of the same risk/reward systems in place... Which brings me to the ultimate question of this long post: if you're a fan of roguelikes, do you just like gambling?
There really is something so thrilling about picking an item that might pay off later instead of one that will pay off a tiny amount immediately. In many roguelikes, you often get given choices where you can make your life harder in the short term to hopefully make your life easier in the long term. It's about risk management, about knowing when to risk it all or when to walk away. It's about counting your losses when they happen, or celebrating when your risks pay off.
I think, to me, that is a big part of the appeal of roguelikes.
Of course, there is also a lot of joy in mastering the systems of each roguelike. Unlike Luck be a Landlord, most roguelikes have constant skill checks, which are often extremely enjoyable as well. It's not all gambling. However, in every roguelike I've played, a large factor is the risks involved throughout the game. Decisions between going a hard route for more money or an easy route for less money. Decisions about buying health or saving money for upgrades.
What are your thoughts on this? Please let me know
P.S I don't ever gamble in real life. If roguelikes have taught me anything, it's that I suck at gambling. In real life, you can't just restart if your gambles don't pay out.

As someone with an addictive personality and obsessive thoughts.... holy fuck these things aren’t good for me. Not good at all.
I feel like a gambling addict at the slot machines.
I feel like a vulture competing for roadkill.
No part of it is remotely enjoyable until you’re literal on the date with someone, and even then in my experience they’ve been a catfish, had kids, still been in a relationship...
And it’s so monetised you basically have to pay to play. I get a decent amount of matches but it’s all so monotonous...
I actually preferred life 2 weeks ago when my phone was stolen and I could just live in the moment.
But of course if you turn notifications off and go a day or two without replying you get unmatched or ghosted, and delete the apps you feel as tho you’re potentially missing out on meeting someone great, because you literally are.
I don’t think they’re worth the time and energy though.
Going out takes effort, it costs money, people aren’t always friendly and rejections can be brutal and so on, but at least it feels like I’m being a normal 26 year old instead of doing almost all of my dating through a phone screen (covid isn’t an issue in my city anymore).
Right now I’m sitting here hoping I match with this sexy girl I superliked an hour ago, wondering why this other girl unmatched me midway through our conversation, wondering whether to ghost someone or criticise them because I found them on social media and they’re still in a relationship...
I have better things to do. I have actual friends to talk to. I have books to read, jobs to apply for, music to write...
I don’t think I can balance these apps with my life... they’re making me feel like shit.
Who else relate?

~~~NOTE: some new information has been discovered since writing of this guide, mainly bounces almost certainly using basic attack attack rating, meaning adex is way more valuable than thought before, and weapon speed being averaged rather than going off main hand. I have tried to update as much as I can but will provide more thorough information soon. Important new update is the inclusion of WSM (weapon speed modifier) bugging, which I have included information on in the end game gearing section. ~~~
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Throwing barb has been my favourite class in Diablo 2 for years, and thankfully we finally got the best change it needed in PD2 in the form of infinite throwables. We used to have to run to town to repair every two minutes, and then usually have some sort of bug involving having to re-equip our weapons thirty-six times until they worked properly. Despite still having anxiety that the red arrow icon is going to pop up on my screen and ruin my day at any minute, throwing barb is loads of fun and very powerful (contrary to popular belief) in Project Diablo II.
First of all I'd like to address a lot of this community's idea that throw barb is terrible. It is not. YOUR throw barb is terrible (lol). The main problem stems from it having always been (and still is) a very, very gear dependent build. No guide has ever really recommended you play throw from day 1, and if so has warned you that it's going to be rough. I decided I was going to start with it anyway, to see how viable it was, and because it was what I wanted to play the most. What I'm trying to say here is *WITHOUT GOOD GEAR (primarily weapons) YOU WILL HAVE A BAD TIME* Thankfully, this is fairly easy to avoid, by banking with our good friends at GHEEDMAN SACHS (gambling!)
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1. EARLY GAME SKILLS AND STAT ALLOCATION

• 1 point Frenzy
• 1 point Double Swing
• 1 Point Double Throw
• 1 Point Leap
• Put 1 point in everything in the Warcry tree as you level
• 1 Point in Iron Skin/Natural Resistance/Increased Stamina/Increased Speed
• Max Throwing Mastery

I basically went 5 str -> 5 dex -> 5 vit repeat for levelling up stats. Str and dex both give us the same amount of damage, but more gear will require a higher strength value. I tried to just have enough stdex to equip gear, dump everything else in vit, NEVER put points in energy. Ever. Mana pots. That is all.
You can play throw from level one. It's actually very strong on all classes to do this. Pick up the first white javelins and set your right click to throw. Plonking off quill idiots and dickhead shaman is very enjoyable. You can also run up and stab them. It's great.
This will define the main gameplay loop that we use throughout the game: Run in to hit with frenzy and gain the frenzy buff, run out, throw till the buff falls off, repeat. Frenzy is the most valuable tool you have, allowing you to kite better, move between packs better, and wildly increase your dps. Use Howl or leap out if you're getting overwhelmed.
We do not max double throw or frenzy early as the mana costs become way too steep way too quickly. You know what my grandma always used to say: "No mana no murder!" (she had dementia) and as throw barbs we love murder. Throwing mastery gives us lots of great stats at the cost of NOTHING BUT POINTS. Fantastic!
2. EARLY GEARING
Pick up all magic (blue) and rare (yellow) throwing weapons of any variety you find and identify them. Pick up all caster items (druid/barb helms, sorc orbs/staffs, necro wands/offhands, pally scepters, etc) whether they're white or magic or rare. Identify and sell these. This will keep your gold numbers high throughout the game. This is very important as besides from extracting beautifully carved weapons of destruction from the corpses of our enemies, our other main source of death sticks is GAMBLING.
What is gambling you ask? In every act there is an NPC vendor who will let you throw away your hard earned blood and goop-covered coin in exchange for items that will probably be shit. Besides committing demon genocide, this is our favorite pastime. If you don't spend at least a little bit of time doing this, you will probably not succeed as a throw barb. Top end damage on our weapons is the crucial thing separating us from unstoppable killing machines and:
You have died, Death has taken its toll of Gold and Experience.
So how do we know if we gambled something good or got totally ripped off?
The most important things are Enhanced Damage % and + Max damage. You don't really care about poison or elemental damage. Attack speed is very nice as well but this is why we have our good friend FRENZY permanently assigned to left click at all times. All the stats that amplify damage on your skills and on gear only affect PHYSICAL ATTACK DAMAGE. That nifty 1-50 lightning on your weapon STAYS THAT NUMBER AND DOES NOT INCREASE. That is why it's shit and we don't care about it.
The number printed as damage on the top of the weapon is what gets run through all of our multipliers addifiers and exponifiers. That's all we care about. Whether it be a javelin or a knife or a throwing axe, whatever gets you the highest max damage is king (if you are comparing similar top end weapons and one is massively faster, I would use the faster one) Mana leech is also nice.
Gamble frequently for weapon upgrades, especially if you feel your damage starting to sink, or if the next class of throwing weapons starts dropping. There's Normal, Exceptional, Elite tier weapons, with higher base damage in each tier.
https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Throwing_Knife
Battle Dart is the exceptional version, and Flying Knife is the elite. When these start becoming available, you should gamble some more, and also pick them up off the ground a lot. These usually represent a massive increase in damage.
Do not stop picking up lower class weapons though, as if they have a high enhanced damage % you can UP-TIER them in the cube, I am currently using a 395 top end damage 20% increased attack speed Ghost Glaive that I got as a Glaive and shit my pants and then up-tiered to Spiculum and then again to Ghost Glaive.
Familiarity with the names of the base types and what tier they are is nice, I just relied on Sawyer's loot filter that told me if I could "up tier to exception/unique class weapon" but I have now switched to Kryszards filter and wish it had this functionality. I will probably add this in and post it myself.
DO NOT USE YOUR IMBUES. The best way to prepare yourself for hell is save all of your Charsi Imbues for the first sets of white Elite Class throwing weapons you find. I got two weapons with about 90 top end damage doing this and it got me through a lot of hell. Some loot filters are hiding white bases beyond level 10 or some stuff, make sure you read what the filter is doing and edit or comment it out if you have to. You can imbue eth items and they stay eth! If you find some definitely do this. If you find high ed % damage eth rares you should up those.
3. EARLY GAME GEARING SUGGESTIONS

• Stealth chest: FCFHFRW dex and some resist. Not bad. I used this until I made lionheart. You can keep remaking it in higher defense bases because the runes are so common.
• Any gear with life or mana leech, gloves with increased attack speed, boots with faster run/walk; and then anything with resists.
• Angelic ring/ammy will give you very high AR that will carry you through a lot of the game. They are cheap and easy to come by so you can corrupt a bunch of these and get good stuff on them too.

Early game most important stats while levelling in somewhat most important order:

• Strength: damage and allows us to equip better gear, usually chests
• Dex: damage and allows us to equip better gear, usually throwing weapons.
• Attack speed: while we get a lot from frenzy, before it's maxed we won't be hitting highest IAS breakpoint, and it's nice QOL to have good AS if frenzy falls off.
• Life/vit: can't be a knife-throwing gatling gun of destruction if you're dead
• Life/Mana leech: very high QOL. I played most of the game without much mana leech besides what happened to roll on weapons. I had hand of broc early, those are nice (3%life/mana leech) but you need a bit more than that. I spent most of the game with 1 column of health pots and 3 mana pots.
• Faster run/walk: get through game faster and run away from things trying to kill you faster
• Faster hit recovery: get less fucked over and be able to run away quicker if you end up getting hit
• Early game merc: I used act 1 fire arrow merc lvl 18+ for vigor aura until late nightmare. The movespeed is great for getting from place to place, kiting things, and running away to snipe things from a distance.

4. MID GAME
After maxing Throwing Mastery max Double Throw. Then max Frenzy. At this point if you're having some issues late nightmare or early hell with resistances (capping them is THE most important thing you can do to succeed in hell. My inventory is ENTIRELY full of resistance charms) you can put ~4-6 points in Natural Resistance, but it starts to get hit HEAVILY by diminishing returns after that. Then max double swing.
Have about 110 st110 dex, rest in vit.
If you have found anything of any tradeable worth, acquire a Raven Frost ring as soon as possible. Great damage/ar ring with CANNOT BE FROZEN which is a 100% must have state to get through hell on this build. There's a lot more sources of this now in PD2, and raven frost is one of the better ones.
Make lionheart chest as soon as possible. This chest is absolutely insane now for the investment, and I am still currently using it having completed hell, tier 2 maps, and ubers.
As much attack speed/resists/leech on gear as possible. Boots with faster run/walk is very important. Jewellry you mainly want resists and leech. We don't really give a shit about + all skills in this build, but it's nice.
You should be feeling the attack speed power of Throwing Barb by now, and most of your enemies should be getting completely destroyed. Embrace the frenzy - run -chuckalotofpointythings - repeat playstyle for highest chances of success. Use the tools barbarian has at its advantage like Howl, Battle Cry, Grim Ward, Leap, Find item (mostly on travincal council, you can skip this though if you want) and kickin' ass to destroy your enemies. I would recommend also keeping thawing potions in your inventory if you don't have CBF.
Around this time you can switch to the act 5 barbarian mercenary. He has might aura in PD2, which for me is around a 50% damage increase. It is absolutely insane. This is ultra important. You get a tank, and a huge damage buff. If you are neglecting your mercenary, don't expect to make it through hell, period. Pd2 is harder but one of the tools we got is Boots Gloves and Belt slots on mercenary, use them to your advantage. This is another reason we pick up all the caster items and vendor them because if he's dead, you're gonna have a bad time.
Starting gear on merc is anything you have with resistance, and a high damage/attack speed weapon with some source of leech. You want his resistances capped. Honor runeword is a nice starter weapon, as well as pieces of sigon/Immortal King set. Note that barb mercs can now use 2h axes and maces.
5. END GAME OVERVIEW
You should have 1 point in all shouts, 1 point in the four barb passives, maxed throwing mastery, maxed double throw, maxed frenzy, and dumping the rest of your points into double swing by now. Aim to have at least 90+ top end damage weapons, and that is bare minimum.
Act 1 Hell is the hardest part of the game for us. I struggled the most here. Getting frozen all the time and a huge toughness spike in enemies. Farm nightmare until you can get high resistance and a merc that survives for a bit. I farmed Eldritch/Shenk from a5 frigid waypoint, then did Travincal Council. Repeat. Cows is pretty shit farming from my experience but anecdotal bias is strong in this game.
Before battle, pre buff with Battle Command, Battle Orders, and Shout. (make sure Battle Command is first in your rotation). Having + to Warcry skills or + barbarian skills weapons on your weapon switch is great for this. You can shop +3 Warcry glaives at a5 anya or marah (malah?)
To kill things, run in, hit with frenzy, apply battle cry, run back, double throw until everything is dead or on top of you, at which point run/leap away, or howl. Pay attention to your mercs health, the Health Potions on my belt are mainly for him. shift + Potion hotkey to force feed the potion to your merc instead of you. In sustained fights use grim ward on a nearby corpse, in groups I ask necromancers to cast desecrate for me on bosses so I can have grim ward up.
Battle cry is highly undervalued, use it as much as possible. It breaks phys immunes (some phys immunes in maps seem to be more stubborn to this, and I plan to take points out of natural resistance and frenzy when I have more resists and IAS to make better use of this)
You should be aiming to have 250+ top end damage weapons here. Any of the elite throwing weapons are great, but rares or magics will be better than them (corruptions aside). Glaives tend to have way higher top end damage and frenzy will make up for the shit attack speed. Wraith flight is also a great option.
Cannot Be Frozen is mandatory. I didn't have this in act 1 hell and fighting through catacombs and andariel was absolute pain. I filled my inventory with thawing potions. It sucked. Do whatever nefarious deeds you need to do to get Cannot Be Frozen. Raven Frost is usually the easiest option, it's gone down quite a bit in price now.
a5 merc is even more important here. Invest heavily into him. Lawbringer runeword in a legend sword and treachery armour are cheap-ish gear that will carry him to victory. Lawbringer in a legend sword base lets him leech, do high damage, do ele dmg, break undead phys immunes (this lets you easily farm Hell Countess) and generally slap shit around. Treachery will give him huge attack speed bonus, poison damage, and the lesser fade buff which is almost always active now with 30% chance to cast on being hit, giving him huge resists and Physical Damage reduction. Use the rest of the slots to fill out resists, attack speed, and leech.
My current merc setup:

• Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest: Life Leech, all res, defense, life. Fantastic. GG is probably 3 OS Andariel's with like max res or ED jewels.
• Lawbringer legend sword: Sanctuary aura, leech, damage, attack speed. Make in 15% Enhanced Damage ethereal base if you can. More important to just hurry up and make it ASAP though
• Treachery chest: Attack speed, poison damage, Lesser fade. GG is probably 4 OS upped shaftstop. Corpsemourn also good for wall of skeletons (credit to u/Flappy_Pancakes)
• String of ears: Leech, physical damage reduction.
• Laying of hands: Attack speed, damage to undead, resists. I use Lava Gout gloves on myself and swap them off to him and take the laying of hands when I want to kill demons better
• Boots: some shit rare boots with resists. GG is probably Gore Rider. Need to look into this more.

He can tank almost anything including bosses and map monsters. He can solo hell blood raven zombies and blood raven herself easily.
Most of the gear you'd want to use can be put on your merc, and you can swap gear between the two of you depending on the situation.
End game merc setup:

• Vamp gaze (3 os preferably): Life Leech, massive physical damage reduction. This helm has been the most consistent in keeping my merc alive from what I've used. Crown of ages has also been pretty good.
• Ethereal Beast Berserker axe or similar 5 socket weapon: Fanat aura is required to hit highest breakpoints without relying on frenzy. It also gives you more ED%. This weapon rolls 8-10, while 10 is nicer 8 can definitely get the job done. Ethereal gives more damage to the weapon and mercenaries don't use up durability. A5 mercs have special damage calcs for 1 handed weapons that makes them do double damage. I will link an in-depth guide on these mercenaries at the bottom of the post. Berserker axe may not be bis, please check said guide, but berserker axe is very common on the market and the easiest to acquire through trade currently.
• Shaftstop chest (ideally 3 os): Huge defense and PDR. I tested many chests and again this seems to keep him alive the most. Guardian angel, fortitude in an eth base, chains of honour, also work very well. (Note +all skills does increase their might aura, by 10%ed per point. It is not really worth building around this, but you can if you like)
• String of ears: Leech, physical damage reduction. Verdungo is also a valid choice. If you just want him to output more dps Nosferatu coil is good too.
• Laying of hands: Attack speed, damage to undead, resists. Still very good. Glove slot still very open to preference.
• Boots: Gore rider. Synergizes well with his high attack speed and damage. Try to get cannot be frozen corrupt here on on helm. (Once a5 merc gets frozen his ability to do damage and leech goes way down, and frequently ends up dead because of this)

Act 1 Faith bow variant:
For those of you have GG end game gear and kill everything basically immediately, this is the common go to for multishot bowazons and is valid here too due to the vigor aura, that allows you to run way faster and to get to more demons to kill faster. You get this from act 1 fire arrow merc. Using a faith bow gives you higher level fanatacism for better attack speed, but less ED.

• Templar's might: Gives your merc might aura, to make up for some of the lost damage from the high level aura from a5 merc. Try to get highest level possible. Will need at least one hel rune socketed in it to be wearable.
• Faith runeword bow: I just used a great bow 4 os, not sure the best base for this, but make sure you don't make it in an amazon-only bow, as the mercs cannot use that.
• Andariel's gaze helm: attack speed, leech, and strength for templar's might.
• Immortal king belt: Strength for templar's might
• Dracul's grasp: Attack speed, strength for templar's might
• Boots: Up for debate but I use goblin toe to give them at least some CB (even though its nerfed) to be useful
• Cheaper setup can be M'avina's helm and gloves for str. You might have to socket Amethysts in helm.

6. END GAME STATS
Tanky build for killing ubers and general safety:
~150str
~150 dex
Rest into vit
High dex and ar build for 95% chance to hit vs everything and bounces hitting more frequntly:
~200+ str if you use steelrend/veil/giant skull
Rest into dex, no vit, no energy. Fill inventory with life small charms + torch + anni
There is a rumour that bounces go off basic attack AR and not double throw AR, and from my testing this seems to be true, I have switched to a mapping centric build that gets enough str for gear, and dumps literally everything else into dex, giving very high damage and ar. My inventory is all small charms with life, gheeds, torch, and an anni if I had one. This is reccomended only as an endgame build, and you will want Chains of Honour for sure for the resists, and you will want as many skill points as possible. This version takes everything out of frenzy and maxes battle command, and then dumps everything else into Battle Orders. I currently have 1400 life with this version of the build, but the damage is very high, and hits everything. I would not attempt ubers with this version until you have anni and maxed BO and about 2000 life.
https://youtu.be/8f5U4z0mMBU <--video of me killing ubers solo with said build. It would go smoother if I used any of the gear I had stashed specifically for uber killing but felt like just trying it with my normal gear + 3 Prubies. (they did keep me alive lol I went to 3 life at one point)
Talent tree in above video:
Combat: 1 frenzy 20 double swing 20 double throw
Warcries: 1 all besides grim ward 20 battle command, dumping in BOrders
Masteries: 1 all (including general and polearm mastery, incase that boosts my thrown ar, there's a rumour about this so i decided hey why not) 20 throwing mastery
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7. END GAME GEAR SETUP

• Helm: Guillame's face. To me this is irreplaceable. 30% FHR, Deadly Strike, Crushing Blow, strength. Amazing for straight up damage. I lucked out and hit Cannot Be Frozen on my third Gface, and am waiting for a puzzlebox to socket it with some IAS/ED jewels or lightning Max Res runes for Ubers.

Other options: Arreats, Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest, Halaberd's reign, anything with leech and resists and lifedamage. I really would just get Guillame's though.

• Chest: Chains of Honour. This is what I'm working towards currently. Damage to undead/demons (most of the improtant enemies are one of these) 65% allres allowing you to take out your points in natural resistances, stop filling your inventory with res charms and get dex/amax damage/life ones. Also helpful for when ubers reduce your resistances by a crapload (i forget exact number). Physical damage reduction. Increased defense. Amazing chest. I have 4 OS 15% enhanced defence dusk shroud I am saving for this. Wire fleece is good too.

Before that, just use Lionheart. You can just keep remaking it to get higher enhanced
damage.Fortitude is a good in between though too. If you wanna use treachery yourself, go for it, but don't complain when you go into blood moor and get gibbed by a quillrat cause Lesser Fade didn't proc yet.

• Belt: Nosferatu's coil. Deadly strike, leech, attack speed. Godlike. With belts, anything with 20% increased attack speed is a good start. I used goldwrap for most of the game, and now swap between String of Ears and Nosferatu's coil. Coil being my mainstay for damage. Having a Thundergod's vigor on hand for ubers is gonna be nice as well. Goldwrap is my current belt for MFing.
• Gloves: Any of the 20% Ias gloves. I currently use a 26% Enhanced Damage corrupted Lava Gout, but switch between that and Laying of Hands/Ghoulhide depending on the situation. You have more freedom with gloves, I plan to have all of these in my stash: Dracul's Grasp, Soul Drainer, Steelrend, Laying of Hands, Lava Gout, Ghoulhide. ---As of 2021-01-13 I am using crafted 20% ias, life leech, crushing blow, and magic find gloves. (kill speed in maps in groups is pretty much capped out, so using some MF gear)

Barring these, use the Blood Gloves recipe to craft gloves and pray for %IAS.

• Boots: Gore Riders. Deadly Strike, Open Wounds, Crushing Blow, Faster Run Walk. Everything we want. Beautiful. These are also one of our best sources of Open Wounds for Ubers or else diablo and co will out regen you and you will fucking die, a lot. War Travelers are also a solid option, and what I currently am using mostly for the magic find.
• Weapons: Warshrike/LaceratoWraith Flight/Gimmershred/Demon's Arch/200+ top end damage rare throwing

I planned my build to have 100% deadly strike with warshrike, gface, gore, nosferatu, and corruptions/glove slot. That's a lot of damage. All of these weapons are good though and will carry you through hell. I don't value Lacerator as high as other people because as soon as you group with a necromancer you're casting some shitty amp damage overwriting his amp and other curses, and the strength requirement is very high.
You could also get amp from Atma's Scarab if you wanted. Gimmershred is nice for phys immunes, Demon's Arch should perform very well also. (credit to u/Flappy_Pancakes) As of time of writing this guide I was using Gimmershred in mainhand and a 395 top end ghost glaive in my offhand, and all monsters and bosses die basically immediately.
****NOTE: Through much testing I'm 99.9% sure weapon speed is averaged and thus BIS is most likely Warshrike + Lacerator. The only way I could hit a breakpoint where frenzying didn't make me throw any faster was with Lvl 8 Fanat from beast merc, Warshrike Main + Lacerator offhand, and 105 ias from gear (20% gloves, 20% belt, 20% amulet, 45% helm). If you have lvl 10 fanat you can drop the 20% glove. All IAS calcs I can find are useless seemingly. ***\*
Per above, WSM bugging is an important thing to understand and decide if you wanna use:
"When dual wielding, whichever weapon equipped first is your primary. Normally, your average WSM would just be the average of the 2 weapons equipped. For exmaple, Lacerator [-10] and Warshrike [-20] would give you an average WSM of [-15].
WSM bugging means that instead of placing your primary weapon above the glove side, you put it above the boot side first, and then place your secondary weapon above the glove side. When you do this, your new average WSM becomes...
''original average + (boot side WSM - glove side WSM)''
Ideally, you'd want something fast as your primary such as Lacerator [-10] or Warshrike [-20], and as your secondary you're looking for a sloooooow weapon, e.g. the previously mentioned Wraith Flight, which has a WSM of [20], the slowest of them all.
This means you can use much less attack speed to get to the highest breakpoint. This will cancel out when you weapon swap, so you will have to re-apply it after buffing with warcry sticks or summong wisp with dual oath. I personally cap without using this, but many people choose to use it. I do use it for ubers, or if my merc dies and I'm lazy, or what have you. I asked senpai what he thought of this and he would like to one day get rid of it, and I'm personally not a fan of its existence, but it is what it is. As an example of what it allows you to do:
"with WSM bug and lacerator[-10] + wraith [20] its 55ias (+30iaslacerator) and lvl8fanaticism "
as per u/PersonalityMountain (who also supplied the information on WSM bugging, thank you for your contribution)
I would reccomend this combination of weapons as your end game weapons if you don't mind WSM bugging.
​
​
Try to get ethereal weapons if you can

• Rings: Raven frost. Pretty much the best source of Cannot Be Frozen barring a Cham in helm or a Cannot Be Frozen corruption on helm or other piece of gear. This item is S-tier. I stopped my hunt for one when I got CBF on my Gface, but otherwise I would be using it. If you acquire CBF on other gear you can use Wisp Projector ring(s). This also gives more value to + skills. You can make dual Oath runeword offhands for summoning wisp, which will give +16 to heart of the wolverine.
• Crafted rare rings: Use blood ring recipe to craft rings. GG is high life and mana leech with damage stats and resist. I'm using two of these. I've made about 40 rings, and probably only 5 were good, but they are really good. I will link to a page on crafting at the end of the guide. Wisp projector I'm pretty sure should still be pretty good.
• Amulet: Highlord's wrath, essentially. You have some freedom here, right now I'm just using a +1 barb, mana leech, and quad res amulet. You can use the Blood Amulet recipe for some life leech. Highlord's wrath is insanely good. Atma's scarab is great. Crescent Moon can get you mana leech. GG flex-tier baller mode amulet is Metalgrid with an Iron Golem made out of Last Wish or something. Will update with more info on this when I find 3 Jahs, and a Faith to put on an act 1 merc.
• Weapon Switch: two +3 to Warcry glaives shopped from Anya in a5 using the Nihlathak portal to reset shop. I got two of these in about 10 minutes time spent doing this, and found a 285 dmg glaive in the process. Two Oath runewords if you're using wisp. Venom runeword if you choose to use grim ward (it has desecrate charges to make corpses)

Aim for 86 FHR breakpoint, highest IAS breakpoint, and 8%+ life/mana leech, preferably more. Especially life leech.
If you wanna be super pro you can shop for a wand or knife with life tap charges and swap to it and life tap bosses and swap back. I did this in beta a lot. It's difficult, but very effective. You can also hand it to one of your friends and tell them just to life tap stuff while you mow it down. Great for carrying people through Hell ancients.
I also keep a Demon Limb in my stash for prebuffing for Ubers.
Note: to have a nice life you need mana and life leech SOMEWHERE. You'll be fine without them, but you'll be in town a lot because Double Throw drains mana like a ***** on *** with ***.
ALSO you may be wondering why I advocate for maxed frenzy, yet have all this IAS recommended on gear. First, we want the maximum IAS breakpoint on gear. Until we have super end game GG gear, this is not doable without max frenzy, or some high level of investment into frenzy. For ease of playability and mental tax, I say max frenzy. The duration of 28 seconds at level 20 makes it easy to keep up at all times.
In a perfect world, you will use an attack speed calculator to see what level of frenzy you need to hit IAS, and only be at that, and dump extra points into Battle Cry, Iron Skin, Grim Ward, or Battle Orders. I have yet to respec once, but once I get chains of honor and hit level 90, I will be doing this and dumping points probably into Battle Cry or Iron Skin. (Iron skin gives 1% physical damage reduction per 2 hard points now, which is great). The attack speed calculator I use is: https://diablo3.ingame.de/diablo-2/calculatoren/angriffsgeschwindigkeit/
You want to be at 3.4 attacks per second with frenzy up.
You should be tearing through everything at this point. I can easily farm anything in hell quickly and without any issue. Group play you will be a DPS king. Tell necromancers to life tap everything and you can basically turn your monitor off and go do something else while delivering swift death to all the denizens of Wraeclast. Erm, Azeroth. I mean Sanctuary. Farm up loads of gold then go on gambling sprees. Pay attention to classes of weapons you get and if you get super high %enhanced damage and max damage roll and it's normal class, GOOD GAME. Now up that shit twice. Hell yeah.
Hope this guide has been useful to you, and helps take you from "oh my god throw barb is ass" to "oh my god I wish there was an app to find hot single throw barbs in my area!" This is my first guide so any comments on formatting, further clarification, or any criticism you have, please leave in the comments and I will be sure to make it more readable and informative. If you have questions, I'm Flymanxoxox in game, character xxxObamaGokuxxx
Thank you very much for your time
Flymanxoxo
Information on item types, crafting, and other calculations can be found at the best site on the
a5 merc guide: https://reddit.com/ProjectDiablo2/comments/kpmqnc/act5_merc_guide/
internet Arreat Summit: http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/
Crafting math: http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/crafteditems.shtml
Blood item crafting recipes: http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/crafted/blood.shtml
Gambling guide: https://www.reddit.com/pathofdiablo/comments/ea2nxg/the_complete_overview_guide_to_gambling_in_diablo/
http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/basics/gambling.shtml
NOTE: There is a visual bug where bounces from Double Throw don't display visually on the enemies health bar. They are still taking damage. When you hit them with a main throw the damage will display. Mods confirmed this bug, and this has been a bug on these types of skills since Lightning Javazon in D2. I have tested this a bunch myself, don't worry, you're doing damage.
There is a bug where corrupting throwing weapons has a chance to do nothing. I have reported this on bug report section and to mods, they're aware of it.

The playoffs continue to rage on, but there are 26 teams sitting at home with nothing to do but twiddle their thumbs, watch the Conference Finals, and wait for next season to start.
For their sake, we wanted to look ahead with the next edition of the OFFSEASON BLUEPRINT series. In each, we'll preview some big decisions and make some recommendations for plans of attack along the way. Today, we're looking at the Detroit Pistons.
step one: weave a new narrative
Some teams are good, some teams are bad -- but almost all of them have a general direction. Are you a young team on the rise? Or a veteran team trying to squeeze out as many wins as possible?
Right now, the Detroit Pistons are in a wonky grey area. They're missing an identity. When they tried to make the playoffs, they were fairly mediocre (records of 37-45, 39-43, 41-41). When injuries hit this past season, they plummeted down to 20-46. While that generally suggests a young and rebuilding team, the roster doesn't reflect that yet. Their marquee players are Blake Griffin (age 31) and Derrick Rose (age 31.) They also have a veteran coach in Dwane Casey who's more accustomed to competing than rebuilding. All in all, they feel like a confused, forgotten franchise.
Fortunately, there's a new sheriff in town. The team hired a new GM in Troy Weaver, who had been Sam Presti's right-hand man in Oklahoma City. Weaver's been on the verge of a GM job for several years now, and his hire represents something of a coup for this embattled organization.
Going forward, the franchise needs to hold the keys over to Weaver and allow him free reign to do whatever he wants. Back in OKC, he had experience with a variety of makeups: with a rebuilding team, with a contending team, with a rebuilding-wait-whoops-we're-accidentally-pretty-darn-good team. It's up to him to look at this roster and this payroll and determine the best path forward from here.
step two: hold a garage sale for your old homeowner's property
Presumably, Troy Weaver will treat this project as more of a teardown than a remodel. Mainstay center Andre Drummond is already out of the door, and the other veterans may join him on the bus out of Detroit.
Unfortunately, that may be easier said than done. It makes a lot of sense to trade star PF Blake Griffin to a veteran team, but his injuries and his contract ($37M + $39M player option) would make that difficult from a logistical perspective.
There's a chance that a desperate team may be willing to roll the dice on Griffin. Throughout his career, he's been one of the more misunderstood players in the league. People want to treat him as an athlete-dunker only, but he's actually a skilled ballhandler and passer. In his last healthy season in 2018-19, he averaged 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 5.4 assists, and even showcased an improved three-point shot (36.2% on 7.0 attempts per game.) If healthy, he'd be a major difference maker to a team like Portland.
Still, teams aren't going to give up major assets for Blake Griffin until he proves that he is healthy. From Detroit's perspective, it makes more sense to wait to trade him. They need him to come back, put up some good stats, and then float him in offers. Right now, you'd be trading Griffin for 20 cents on the dollar.
In contrast, Derrick Rose's stock may be at a high. He put up good raw numbers this year (18.1 points, 5.6 assists), and he's on a reasonable $7.5M expiring contract. He'd be a positive addition to a playoff team, best served as a Sixth Man scorer. The Pistons and their fans like Rose (and he likes playing here), but it'd be irresponsible for them to not consider trade options. If they get any decent offers, they have to pull the trigger. If the offers are weak -- R2 picks or so -- then the team can keep him around as a veteran leader and placeholder starter.
step three: don't let your breakout break out
As bad as the Pistons were, they had a few bright spots. Derrick Rose played better than expected. Luke Kennard looks on track to be a rising starter. And, most surprising of all, rando Christian Wood broke out as a legitimate NBA player. As a starter, Wood averaged 21.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Wood is a springy, energetic player who also has an improving range (40% from three as a starter.)
You can read a longer deep dive about Christian Wood here, but to sum it up. A) His production looks legitimate, as he's been putting up numbers in virtually every stop as a pro. But B) His breakout may be poorly timed for the Pistons, because he's slated for free agency and about to get more expensive. He's a 24 year old whose best days should be ahead of him.
Based purely on his stats and scouting profile, you could talk yourself into a contract closing in on $15M a year for Wood. However, players with his "pedigree" (undrafted, limited sample size) rarely get that type of contract right away. To me, paying him somewhere in the range of 3 years, $36M would be a fair deal on both sides. There's too much uncertainty to justify much more of a commitment.
Of course, the Pistons should know better than any of us whether to trust Wood. Prior to this year, he had a mixed reputation in terms of his basketball IQ and work habits. If Coach Casey can sign off on Wood's character, then the team can feel more comfortable with him as a building block. If there are still red flags, perhaps it's better not to get too attached. The Pistons have more cap room than most teams this offseason, so the money shouldn't be a major deterrent to this decision. It should be entirely about Wood as a person and a player. If you believe that he's the real deal, then you keep him around.
step four: find your next field general
Christian Wood is a solid young player -- Luke Kennard is a solid young player -- but these aren't franchise players. They're secondary scorers and members of a supporting cast. To truly advance to the promised land, the Detroit Pistons are going to need to find transcendent talent, somehow and some way.
Unfortunately, the NBA Draft Lottery didn't help. The Pistons slipped down from the # 5 slot to the # 7 pick, making it unlikely that they'll land a future star.
On the bright side, the "supply and demand" may be on their side. This draft class happens to be heavy with point guards. There's LaMelo Ball (the # 1 prospect on ESPN), Killian Hayes (the # 1 prospect on The Ringer), and Tyrese Haliburton (one of the safer picks in the class.) If any of them slip down to # 7, the Pistons should strongly consider them. It usually takes a point guard a year or two to find their footing, but they can sit behind Derrick Rose for a year and then get unleashed in 2021. From a personality standpoint, Rose isn't going to mentor and educate like Aristotle, but he's capable of soaking up 25 minutes and allowing the next PG some time to develop.
If those top guards are not available (and they are unlikely to be), the Pistons may have to take some chances. One name I'm intrigued by is R.J. Hampton.
On face value, that'd be a "reach." Like LaMelo Ball, Hampton was a top high school prospect who went off to play in the Australian league. Unlike Ball, his NBA stock suffered as a result. While Ball put up numbers (17-8-7), Hampton put up weak stats -- 8.8 points, 2.4 assists on 41-30-68 shooting splits. As a result, Ball is now locked into top 3 pick status, and Hampton is seeing his name ranked around the 10-20 range in mock drafts.
However, I'd defend Hampton to some degree. We have to consider the context here. LaMelo Ball joined a struggling team called Illawarra. With Ball, the team went 3-9 (and finished 5-23.) When you're playing on a bad team like that, you can be the "star" and jack up as many shots as you want. In contrast, Hampton joined the New Zealand Breakers, a better team that relegated him to 20.6 minutes a night and a more limited role. His raw stats may not do him justice.
No doubt, Hampton has a long way to go, especially as a shooter. At the same time, he's a big lead guard (6'4" with a 6'7" wingspan) who flashes a lot of explosive scoring ability when he's getting downhill to the hoop. He's also a smart kid and allegedly a good worker. There's some legitimate "star" potential here, even if it's a narrow bull's eye. Hampton doesn't have the same athleticism as Russell Westbrook (hardly anyone does) but maybe there's a parallel here. After all, Weaver and OKC selected Westbrook after he'd been a little under the radar after playing off the ball at UCLA.
To be clear, I'm not urging Detroit to take R.J. Hampton at # 7. I'm not endorsing him as a future star like Westbrook. I don't know enough to do that; I don't sit around and splice up tape of New Zealand basketball. Still, the point is, the Pistons should be looking at upside players in that vein, knowing that they're going to need to hit a home run in the future.
step five: keep one hand on the detonator
The Detroit Pistons only have $68M committed on the books for next season, which means they could be players in free agency even if they re-sign Christian Wood.
If the team decided to go "all in" in a desperate attempt to compete, then you could maybe talk yourself into retaining Blake Griffin, handing out a big contract for Fred VanVleet, and shooting for the playoffs. That may work. But to what end...? The 7th seed? The 8th seed? Is that the end goal here?
More realistically, the team should (as discussed) try to get Blake Griffin back and fully healthy in order to showcase him for a trade. After that, they'd then dive into a full rebuild.
Presuming that's going to be the ultimate destination, then the Pistons may as well get a jump on that with free agency. With their remaining cap space, they can take on a toxic asset that comes attached with future picks, or take some fliers on young and promising players. Among my favorite gamblers of this offseason may include PG Kris Dunn (CHI), SG Denzel Valentine (CHI), SF Josh Jackson (MEM), and C Harry Giles (SAC.) None of them should draw huge money offers, making them reasonable purchases and lottery tickets.
If the Pistons end up blowing it up, then they should play their younger players over the course of the season. That should mean a lot of Sekou Doumbouya (entering Year 2) and even some Thon Maker (entering Year 42). If that means you only win 25-30 games, that's all right. It'll only help your odds for next year's lottery.
I've mentioned this before with some potential tankers (CLE, CHA, etc), but next year's draft could be quite strong. The group is headlined by point forward Cade Cunningham (heading to Oklahoma State) and scoring swingman Jalen Green (heading to the G-League), but there are about 4-5 other players who have the potential to join the # 1 pick conversation in time. The Detroit Pistons aren't likely to be bad enough to get a top 3 pick on their own, but the flattened lottery odds make it possible for the 7th or 8th worst team to leapfrog into that territory.
Of course, before Weaver and the Pistons officially press the detonator and go into full-blown rebuild/tank mode, they need to have a heart to heart with Coach Casey. He's 63 years old already, and entering the third year of a five-year deal. Is he going to embrace the rebuild? Is he going to be the scapegoat if they rack up losses? They need to get on the same page, out of fairness to Casey and out of fairness to this franchise. A reasonable solution would be to promise Casey that, if he does tank like a good soldier, he'll still be retained for next season. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will chrome.
previous offseason blueprints
ATL, CHA, CHI, CLE, DAL, IND, GS, LAC, MIL, MIN, NYK, POR, SA, SAC, UTA

I'm obviously not the right marked as I just don't get it. How are the Slot machine games on the play store constantly number 1 2 3 and 4 on the top grossing games? Do you make real money? I get Barbie dolls, I'm a male but I can see the interest how they're popular. I can't see how a slot machine game that Dispences no money as fun. What am I missing? Edit: spelling

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“Are you absolutely sure about this, sir?” Aida, the Fluffy Mart attendant, paused for an answer. One click of a button would be all it took to bring an end to this mess.
I looked down at the crate in my hands. A pair of large, light-green orbs peeked from within the shadows. Eyes welled with tears, brought on by fear, shame, regret. My brow furrowed, and I buried my face in my hand.
“You know what? I’m--”
Five years, Three months, and One week ago…
I walked my usual route. A chill wind froze all moisture in my nose. The hairs became stiff, and created an uncomfortable sensation. Like, wanting to sneeze, or an itch that couldn’t be scratched. I inhaled deeply to distract myself from the irritation.
Life felt lonelier now that I was away from home. I’d moved out a half a year back, got a place of my own. Paid for by a job that sucked all the cheer and motivation out of me. I thought becoming independent would be easier than living with mom and dad.
Instead I was in a stranger’s basement, feeling alone and unloved.
Maybe that’s why I found myself drawn to that place, that machine. I stared hard at the refurbished vending machine in front of me. It was neatly placed right outside a local variety shop. The thing dimly glowed with colourful lights. Each button nestled below a thick plastic window.
Inside the machine were dozens of little, fuzzy critters. No bigger than a hamster, with teeny tiny little tubes in their butts. Some slept on a warm pad, others suckled from a rubber nipple. And others peeped and cheeped as they crawled along their tiny compartment.
My eyes settled on one with deep black fluff. The microscopic, equine-like baby was sleeping softly. With every breath his little body inflated. Slowly, he deflated as he exhaled. He looked like a fuzzy black bean.
I chuckled at the thought.
His button read $15 dollars. A bit high for a Foal-In-A-Can, but not out of the ordinary. Black foals were a rare find, and though their kind found them to be repugnant, humans adored their shades. In the wild, they would never live a very good life amongst the herd but they had a natural advantage that their pastel and neon coloured companions lacked. By the virtue of their very fluff, brown, dark and grey foals had an easier time of remaining hidden.
I debated with buying the little guy for a moment. There was no rule against pets set by my landlord. And as far as I could tell, he didn’t detest fluffies. Actually, he had a mated pair of his own. Still, a fluffy, if not properly trained, could be a hassle. If I pressed this button, I was taking a gamble for my future, based on the fluffy’s personality. Could I handle this?
The machine dinged and beeped when I tapped my debit card to the payment module. I reached for, and pressed on the black foal’s button. With nary a sound, the machine transferred the foal to the delivery slot. The Foal didn’t hear, or feel, a thing until I plucked out his can.
He began to squirm as I carried him home. The sudden movement scared him, he began to cheep loudly.
“Hey, now. It’s OK buddy. Daddy’s going to take you home.” Those magic words instantly calmed the foal. Suddenly, the most terrifying moment of his little life- after being delivered to the machine for the first time, had become his happiest.
I set the Foal’s can on the table. My only table. At times the place I ate dinner, other times my work desk. I was careful to draw out the can’s built-in legs. With them in place the Foal’s capsule would not roll away. Instead it remained stationary, effectively transforming the can into a cradle with minimal effort.
I’d been smiling the entire time since returning home. The foal hadn’t cheeped or peeped since the previous incident. Something about bringing him home, and the formative developments to come brought out a side of me I’d never known was there.
The next four days were spent closely monitoring the foal, and ordering all the items and tools we’d need when he was out. I did some research into Fluffy growth and development. Canned Foals were easier to train in comparison to previous generations of fluffies. As his owner, the foal would recognize me as his parent. No competing with Mummahs or siblings.
And without any predisposition to other fluffies, I was effectively his whole world. The only authoritative figure in his life. In any other situation, that would be predatory or even abusive. But in this case it meant that training would be easier.
Introducing him to new stimuli, people, and stressors could be done at my discretion. Maybe it’s because I had such a controlling personality that this felt so easy. I had always been like that. I needed to control everything. Maybe that’s why I was always so lonely. I couldn’t let anyone else take the reins of control.
By the second day, the foal had doubled in size, and by the third, he was about ready to exit his Can. On the fourth day, the long awaited event came. A small, red light on the can flicked to life. The Milk was fully depleted, and the foal was ready for extraction.
I followed the release instructions to the letter, and gently encouraged the foal to slide out of the Can. He wiggled and squirmed as he vacated his home. The Tube in his butt hole naturally slid out, while a small catheter remained attached. A pseudo-umbilical cord.
The Foal crawled into my hand. He let out precious cheeps and peeps, happy to finally feel daddy’s warmth for himself. I sang to him, nuzzled him, and caressed him. All the while my other hand gently massaged the remaining tube out of his penis. He barely felt a thing, just barely.
Caught up in all the excitement, he would have cried if he wasn’t feeling happy to be held by daddy. If only he could know more about his daddy. If only he could see his daddy. And that’s exactly when it happened.
The black foal’s eyes fluttered open. He blinked, blinded by the sudden introduction of light, and colour, and shapes, and blurs. In one magical moment, everything came into being. The miracle blinded him, but only momentarily.
I felt my own heart begin to race, just as the foal’s did. Our heartbeats synchronized, this was the real moment I’d been waiting for. Almost immediately, the foal, who had known only my voice, looked up at my face and imprinted upon me. The vision of his father would be forever recorded into his mind.
“Hey there, little guy. It’s me! I’m your daddy.” The Foal’s green eyes grew wide for the first time. It was expected, Fluffies were made to love humans.
“Daddeh! Babbeh wub daddeh!” The foal squeezed my nearest finger, hugging me with all the love he could give.
We were both so happy in that moment. And in the months, years to come, we’d continue to be happy.
We’d be happy together for 5 years, 2 months, and 3 weeks. Jack, as I would eventually name him, would see me through my happiest, saddest, and darkest moments. With every anniversary, new partner, and countless jobs, Jack would be my rock. My dearest companion, best friend, and treasured confidant. Jack was, and continues to be, the keystone in the foundations of my adult life.
So, last week, when the doctor told us there were unusual growths within his legs, it nearly broke us. Jack had grown tired, unable to stay standing for longer than ten minutes, at most. Which is to say nothing of walking.
My current job required me to be out of the house for most daylight hours. Hours which Jack would spend alone, suffering without complaint. He’d lay next to the litter box, passively watching his favourite TV shows until it was time to poop or pee.
The Kibble bowl and a fluffy-safe water bottle had been uprooted from their place, next to the dining table, to Jack’s new spot. His basic needs were met and accounted for.
In the mornings, I’d place Jack in his “nest” and fill his food & water for the day. I’d feed him a sketti treat as I left for work, and turned the TV on.
When I got home, I would always find Jack resting, eyes puffy from crying. But he’d always tell me he was happy to see me. He’d lie, and say he wasn’t sad. The signs were obvious.
We’d spend the rest of the evening eating dinner together, and then putting a movie on, or reading a story together. Jack loved action movies. He said he liked how the people in them were always running to save the day.
I’d clean out his litter box, always taking time to praise Jack for being such a good boy and brave little fluffy. Finally, we’d go to bed together, sleeping until the alarm rang.
Today was a little different though. Today was a Saturday. No work, no obligations.
I set Jack in his nest, he assumed the usual position, and waved me off.
“I’ll be back soon buddy. I’m going to the store to get you something.”
“Otay Daddeh. Pwease be safe!”
I drove to the local fluffy mart. It had been a long time since I’d been to one. The last time I was here, it was to pick up a special order of Sketti-flavoured kibble. That was almost a year ago now. Jack had begged me for some when he heard about it from my Ex.
He’d always been a good boy, so I made him a deal. If he could find the six things I hid around the apartment, I’d buy him the sketti kibble. It was a long hunt for those things. I can’t even remember what they were now. Painted rocks, maybe?
I do know that it took Jack about three days to find them all. I’d hidden them all over, and in out-of-the-way places. It was a routine of ours, a test to keep his mind sharp. For an Earthy fluffy, Jack had become fairly smart.
He could read a little, at a first grade level. And I’d taught him how to read the clock. It was digital, so that was easy. He even learned the basics of addition and subtraction. Though any numbers bigger than nine always made his brain melt.
Jack was my everything. He was my son. To see him suffer, alone, and in silence, cut deeper than a knife.
I walked with purpose, my eyes scanning the aisle numbers, looking for exactly the right place. Four, Five, Six… All things a fluffy could need or want. Toys, leashes, collars, food, fixtures, etc.
At last, my eyes found the aisle I sought. The In-Store Adoption Centre.
It was a large area, filled with Fluffies in cages and pens. Newborns were kept with their mothers, in special shelves. Seeing Foals and Talky foals were kept in conjoined pens, fed by rubber milking nipples that aligned the walls. Walking foals all played in their own specialized pen. It was larger than the others.
Inside, the parade of technicolor fluffy foals played games like Huggy Tag, or Hide and Hug. Others pushed balls around, and some were stacking blocks. The bad eggs, the bullies and misbehaving foals would be forcibly removed and placed into a sorry box. Said box would be placed on a special “Bad Baby” shelf. Eventually, they’d either behave well enough to be reunited with the others, left up there permanently, or bought by someone who had bigger things in mind for them.
But Mummahs and Foals weren’t what I was looking for. Jack had a special friend once, I’d introduced him to a friend who had a mare that desperately wanted babies. She’d taken to Jack quickly, eagerly courting, and seducing him. Jack, who had seen all the men, women, and other folk I’d brought home had learned a very important lesson from all my mistakes. If someone came on too strongly, they were either desperate, or in desperate need of a visit to a therapist.
It was only after he and I had a long talk about his “special friend” that we all agreed it was safe for him to breed with her. He was actually really mature about it. He knew what he wanted, recognized the warning signs, and expressed his wants and fears to me.
When he learned the full scope of the relationship, to give my friend’s mare some foals, he happily agreed to give her special huggies. They actually sired around three broods in all their time together. Every time it was a transactional exchange. She’d want his babies, He’d impregnate her, and then he’d help her raise them for a while until they were weaned.
After Jack’s last brood, I asked him if he wanted any more kids. He said to me, “Nu, Daddeh, das enuff. Jak nu wan mowe babbehs.”
With that, I explained to Jack the concept of neutering. At first he thought I was punishing him by taking away his “speshul wumps”, but after the fourth time, he began to understand. I wasn’t punishing him. I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t have to suffer after choosing to stop making babies. Without them, he’d still be able to be a regular fluffy, it just meant no more babies. And for me, it meant not having him suffer from possible testicular cancer.
I wandered toward the stallion pens. They were organized by Breeders, and Steers, and further sub-categorized by Fluffy type, colour, and “smarty potential”. The sheer number of unicorns in that last column was staggering. Out of the six “smarties” five were unicorns. The last was a Pegasus.
The one and only Alicorn in the store was in the Breeders pen, and had a price tag to match. He was beautiful. A light blue coat, with a white mane. When I approached, he was as eager to play as the rest of them, but he had this tempered calmness to him. Like he’d learned to hold back, just enough to stand out amongst his peers. If I was looking to breed some fluffies, I would have bought him right then and there.
I settled on another Earthy, like Jack. This one was a steer. Chemically castrated, so that he’d retain his testes, but would never be able to use them. He’d probably been too old to safely neuter before coming here. Maybe he’d been a poor quality breeder, or was a feral taken in and cared for by the store.
“Roger” read his name tag. The stallion wasn’t very impressive in the looks department. A very basic yellow, with jade-coloured eyes. His mane was orange, making him stand out just enough. When I picked him up, he examined my face. It was like being evaluated for a job interview. Cold, distant, and full of judgment. I had half a mind to drop him then and there.
Eventually, a smile grew across Roger’s muzzle.
“Nyu daddeh? Take Wogew tu nyu housie, an gib nummies? An toysies, an wub?” The stallion machine-gunned me with all the usual questions. If I’d ever adopted a fluffy before, maybe I would have developed a sense for this sort of thing. But all I could think about was Jack, and how happy he’d be to have a new friend.
I brought Roger to the checkout register, along with a new bag of kibble. The cashier went through the whole checklist with me. Did I have the right amount of food? And bowls? And Toys, and a safe room, and this and that? Was I ready to take a fluffy at home?
I squinted at her name tag. She was about my height, short dark hair, with tattoos on her arms. One of them looked like a Spider, another had a big heart with the word “Fluffies” in the middle.
“I have it all. Thanks for the help, uhh, Aida.”
The drive home was with filled with scared cries from Roger. He was in a carrier box, probably for the first time in his life. The movement of the car, combined with the unfamiliar sound of the engine spooked him mightily.
“Wogew nu wike sowwy boxie! Nu wike meanie munstah tingy! Daddeh, hewp fwuffy! Wan out.”
I did my best to reassure him, to calm him down. The effort fell on deaf ears. He was scared, and that’s all that mattered. Apparently, he was so scared he shat and pissed in the carrier. I groaned. That was going to take a while to clean up, and the smell would linger in the car if I didn’t perform an adequate job of it.
The eventual arrival home felt like an eternity had passed. I swore it must have taken half the day to get back. In truth, it was only Noon.
Jack nearly leapt out of his nest to greet me, if he could have. Instead he stood on his hooves, and slowly waddled over to me. Each step was carefully taken to minimize pain from the growths.
“Daddeh came back! Su happies. Jak was gud fwuffy, daddeh!”
I knelt down and stroked Jack’s fluff. He nuzzled his head into my hand almost immediately. He let out a satisfied coo when I started to scritch behind his ears.
“I have something for you, Jack. Or, should I say, someone!” I set the crate down next to Jack. I’d taken the time to clean up while I was outside, using some wet-wipes on Roger, and some handy emergency towels to get rid of his mess.
Roger felt the carrier set down on the floor. He could smell his new daddy’s scent all over his new housie. But he also smelled another fluffy! Unfortunately, it didn’t smell like a mare, but another stallion. Well, at least he wouldn’t be too bored.
The gate to the carrier opened, and Roger surged forth, escaping its confines. He took in the sight around him. He was finally in a human housie! It had a couch, where his new daddy would watch TV with him, and a table where his daddy would feed him sketties every day, and even another fluffy for Roger to play with. Except, the fluffy looked older, tired.
“Hewwo, nyu fwend,” Jack waddled over to the young, yellow stallion. “Fwuffy namsie am Jak, wut ‘ou namsies?”
“Fwuffy am Wogew! ‘Ou be nyu fwend? Wan pway? Wets pway!” Almost immediately, Jack’s face lit up. Roger hopped and skipped around him, eager to start playing.
I stood back up and watched the two fluffies take off. Jack moved cautiously, with practised steps. Roger, meanwhile, galloped across the room, and back again in the time it took Jack to catch up.
Jack gave Roger a tour of the apartment. The older fluffy showed Roger where it was safe to play, and which places to avoid. Jack had the wisdom of five years on his side, and an authoritative tone to match. But as Roger took in every word, he began to question Jack.
“Wai nu can go dewe?” Roger pointed to a closet.
“Coz, Daddeh keep shuuz dewe.” Jack replied.
“Wai nu can pway in dewe?” Roger pointed to the washroom this time.
“Baffwoom onwy for baff times, Wogew. Daddeh say nu pway in dere. Onwy when baff time.” Jack stated.
I backed him up every time he answered correctly, and offered an explanation when Jack fell short. Roger began to understand how things worked in this housie.
And he didn’t like it.
Daddeh was daddeh, so he made the rules. But Jack is only a little, itty bitty, teeny tiny, bit older than Roger. He couldn’t know better than him, right? They were both fluffies, and Roger wasn’t going to let another fluffy boss him around. Not anymore, never again.
// AN: This came out a lot longer than intended, so I split it into two chapters. Translating "Roger" into Fluffy Speak was more annoying than expected. To be honest, I'm not fully satisfied with it either.
See you in Part 2!

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"Some Simple tips for CD devs to make CP2077 feel more alive in upcoming DLCs (Please read)
First off, this game was an aesthetic treat and compared to GTAV, it is indeed much more "dense" with the core areas so much more beautiful in that regard... But no game is perfect, nor is it realistic in this decade to expect a full "city simulator" for any dev or in any game, so that's not what I'm expecting out of Night City not even under the most ideal of circumstances... That said, there are plenty of room for improvement, bug fixes sure, but also beyond that I'd like to see more in the upcoming DLC's that make NightCity more alive, not even necessarily newer and larger maps, but just practical added-elements and additional functional components that would go a long way towards making the city appear more 'alive', and immersive and dynamic and all that was illuded to but never fully manifested...
So in terms of most bang for buck and the low-hanging fruit (80/20 principle):

TRANSPORTATION

1) Bring back (or rather develope for the first time) the promised subway system... this shouldn't be that hard to do... it would add an element of connectivity of the different parts of the city... Leave fast travel as an option, for those that want to ride the train shouldn't be forced to use loading screens
2) Air taxi(s) -- in the age of Telsa self driving cars, hyperloops, drone taxis we should have plenty of automated air taxi options in the world of CP2077, basically like the taxi hailing component in GTAIV (Liberty City) except the player can hail an air taxi that lands close to where he is standing, he gets in, and then chooses any destination and it automatically flys him to the location, while allowing him to look out the windows and enjoy the night city from above / higher perspective... this is simplier than simply giving the player ability to fly hovercars/etc since an air taxi is just from point to point and its trivial to code a system that flys the player from any point in the city to any other point without crashing into any buildings... we've seen NightCity from the ground, now lets see it from the sky!
3) Rented transporation -- user pays to be able to rent jet packs, hoverboards, scooters at different locations in the city so he can use a public transportation but on a personal level... for the jet packs cap a max height so that its still basically hovering at or around slightly above ground level, giving the user the discretion of travel but not allowing him to fly or scale above buildings etc... this requires money to rent and if the equipment is damaged, lost, stolen or not returned properly the users bank account will be deducted for the amount ( see #ECONOMY)

INTERIORS

1) Skyscrapers with observation deck -- in every major city there is a theme like this, take Seattle for example you can visit the tallest building in Seattle downtown and go up on the obs deck and see the city view from high above, I would say incorporate some options like this where user can enter some of the taller buildings in NightCity, ride up the elevator to the higher decks and see the city from that view... maybe even add a floor with fine dinning where user can take a friend/date/group to the restuarant and eat while enjoying watching the scenery of the nightcity below etc...
2) All major buildings enter-able (is that a word? lol) with at least a ground lobby.... right now most of the buildings are just fake exteriors, nice to look at from the outside but completely fake and empty with no insides... Due to system restrains its not practical to simulate every room of every floor of every building in nightcity with furnished interiors and real windows and all that... but at least make the first floor /lobby area of every large and major building enter-able so that the character can walk in and out of them... for certain buildings you may want to make a working/functional lobby elevator that leads to an underground garage and/or allows the user to ride the elevator to above ground higher floors of the building... or have the elevator only allow certain floors to be accessed and furnish these floors with realistic settings/environment and this can tie in nicely with the job/work/career paths discussed in #ECONOMY section with gives you the office space to put a number of companies in which the user can find and switch jobs and work in corporate paths etc... for example allow the user to customize and decorate his own "office/desk", and if he has a window office, then that would provide another unique view/scenery of nightcity from above ground perspective, one that can only be gotten from working at that particular company/job, and gives him an incentive to work late to see the city from nighttime while burning the midnight oil
3) Multiple apartments, the user should be able to pick and choose from a vast selection and array of living arrangements and this necessities a lot of hotel/condo/apartment options which means these buildings need to have interiors and furnished and environments fully built out...

ECONOMY

1) Ability to find and work a job, with multiple career paths and with ability to move up in the corporate world... this provides the user with a stead stream of income for which he can use to buy fancier cars, to move into newer and better apartments /condos etc.. and to buy fancier items like designer cloths and the suches... not to mention to spend on fine dinning in high end restuarants which can tie in nicely with going on datings, impressing women with luxury cars and expensive meals and "date nights out" at elaborate events.... basically there has to be a purpose and meaning to making more money, and the process of making more money has to be derived from a job or work or career of some sort as the main component...
Have a real economy with unemployment, inflation, commodity prices, and all of that impact and influence and affect the user in his everyday life... for example if a major terror event or pandemic causes the Nightcity to suffer an economic depression for a few months then its possible the company that the user is working at has to lay off people and he gets canned and has to downsize to a smaller apartment, loses his girlfriend/wife, and then has to find another lower paying job and stuck in the downward cycle for a few years until he is able to win the lottery (#GAMBLING/SPECUTLATION/BETTING) or his luck somehow changes...
Everything should cost money, it costs money to rent an apartement and it should also cost money to eat and drink... basically he user has to spend money to eat otherwise he will starve to death... and the user has to keep paying rent every month for whatever apartment he resides otherwise he gets evicted and could even become homeless and have to live in one of those nasty tents in tenty city or under a highway bridge etc etc
Grocery stores, restuarants, movie theaters, hotels, and shopping malls... There should be at least a few convinennce stores, shopping malls, restuarants and other retail places spread throughout nightcity, this is a component and element of the economy as well as a means for the user to spend all the hard earned money he worked towards... for example if you give a homeless a few bucks he should be able to use it to spend at a store on the corner to get something to eat and then that makes him happy because he is no longer so hungry... there should be a tie in for economy, money, and the ability to exchange that for goods and services (barber, tatto artists cough cough) and associate these goods and services to emotional feelings of happiness and satisfication for both the user /player and the NPCs...

SEASONS

There should be a distinction between autumn/fall, spring, summer, winter etc... This gives a big cycle sense of passage of time that cannot be simulated with the current day/night cycles along... in the winter the sun should rise and set at different times/angles than the summer...
In addition, I'd like to see an accurate night sky map/ stars. NightCity takes place in SoCal, its trivial to map the nightsky for the year 2077 in the SoCal area... even in the latest Flight Simulator 2020 the stars are now accurate at night...
Ability to choose LIVE weather based on current user location (see Flight Simulator) so say its raining in Dallas Texas where a user is playing, then in NightCity it will match that and we raining in the game as well... also ability to customize weather on-the-fly in real-time (see Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020) and have that instantly change in the game without reloading...
Along with seasons I'd like to be able to see holiday celebrations for example Christmas time espeically... I want to hear holiday music and see buildings decorated with Christmas lights and the jolly spirits of it all... Think the ambiance and environment of say Polar Express, bring that alive to Night City for Xmas...

MINI GAMES and other Microcosm

There is a "Go" board in Chinatown... but its fake... and the players aren't even attempting to play Go... See what Google Deepmind did with AlphaGo, Facebook made an OpenGo that they open sourced... there is also LeelaZero and KataGo free AI engines that have already been trained using deeplearning/machineAI to be far better than the Go masters... the same applies to Chess by the way... but I didn't see a Chess board in Night City yet... in any case all these board games the computer AI can now master... make these games playable in NightCity, so the user can watch two NPC's play a round of Go/Chess/etc (Ai vs Ai) or can join and sit down and take a seat and play against an NPC a real game of Go/Chess, (or in the future if CP gets a multiplayer than humans can play against one another etc) basically a microcosms and games-within-a-game....
Spotify/Netflix/youTube integrations... I'd like to see the user have a portable/personal mp3 player or app on his virtual smartphone that allows him to link to his personal -reallife- spotify account to listen to music while in the game... also on the TV screens at home to be able to watch netflix movies while in this virtual apartment chilling with his date/friends... and things like YouTube integration would be nice... maybe even pornhub integration....
Other simple games like darts, bowling and even toys like RC cars or DJI drones... give the use the ability to fly drones (check out DJI Simulator) or operate rc model cars etc... basically toys that he can buy at electronic stores or corner outlets that he can then use these toys in real life for any variety of enjoyments... this also ties into #ECONOMY and why its important to have a good job /career that pays good money!

GAMBLING/SPECUTLATION/INVESTMENTS/BETTING

Have some form of virtual casinos in the game, NightCity reminds me of Vegas, yet not one slot machine and not one means to gamble or bet? How about the ability to play the stockmarket, bitcoins, and make bets and well as go gambling, cards, poker, etc this not only provides a form of entertainment but also gives the user a way to quickly win / lose a lot of money and for the risk takers they may wish to invest their money in high risk high reward speculative stocks in the stock market instead of immediately spending it on a new apartment, new car, new tech gadget etc etc... this would also tie back to #ECONOMY since the more the user earns the more income he has to spend on gambling/stocks and the better the economy does the higher his stocks return on investment...

ROMANCE/RELATIONSHIPS

Should be able to court any pretty woman on the streets, to walk up to her and say hi and have a path/chance to a dialogue that leads to setting up a first date... and following that if it goes well can progress to more dates and evetnually her moving in with the user and eventually even having a kid, getting married, and the works... each female NPC should have a male preference and a threshold of compatiblity... so that for example if on the first date the guy is cheap and takes her to low end resturant, doesn't have a nice car to pick her up with, and otherwise seems like a low life then she wouldn't process/continue with him... whereas if he is already established with a multimillion apartment, supercar, takes her to most expensive restuarant in NightCity, then I could see her going back to his place on the first date and maybe even getting pregnant right then and there that night etc..."