Semi-drifting 29/3/19

So... I’ll just be messing a bit (?) with my creativity. After all, I don’t mind being called the Vincent van Gogh of Singapore.

https://www.msn.com/en-sg/news/singapore/teenager-claims-mental-illness-among-students-in-secondary-schools-and-jcs-is-overlooked/ar-BBVkfOt

So what will this post be all about?

Firstly, Safari and Apple are conspiring against me again. Hence, headers won’t have bold letters and underlining. Thankfully, my mind is made of sterner stuff. When you’re the only Jewish guy from primary school to ITE, you have no choice but to stand alone in a world of well-intended ignorance and callous people.

Well, guess it’s not so bad being me so long you got the Notorious UBG.

This post will be about me messing around with the reworked Neverwinter Six plus chucking in the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition rules.

Actually, it’s no longer about Neverwinter. It’s too tiring trying to play catch-up with Neverwinter Online. When you’re sick and tired with a system, it’s only natural for apathy to set in. So yeah, it’s not my fault. *shrugs*

The Left Hand And The Edge 

Current characters: Arylos; Cyrea Durothil; Myrreas; Sheallyn Melarn

Character breakdown:

“Very well then. From this very day, you shall be my Chosen and I shall be your god.”

~Kelemvor 

“Your god is never my god and your people is never my people, Lady Durothil. I follow Kelemvor, not the Seldarine.”

Name: Arylos

Race: Wood elf

Class: Ranger

Class archetype: Gloom Stalker

Patron deity: Kelemvor

Personality: Cynical, clearly dickish, and sees the world as a tragedy. 

“If you can only have one wish in your lifetime, what would it be?”

~Mystra 

“I could not save him, but that does not mean you have the right to mock Ilyath’s death. The world will never revolve around you, Kelemvor’s dog.”

Name: Cyrea Durothil

Race: Sun elf

Class: Cleric

Divine Domain: Light

Patron deity: Corellon Larethian

Personality: Idealistic, naive, and always attempting to strike a balance between pragmatism and optimism.

P.S: Can’t progress any further. Safari and Apple are now treating me like a Jew living in a schoolyard democracy.

Semi-drifting 26/3/19

So far so good, I’m coping well from PC withdrawal symptoms. Actually, there’s none at all. Which means compared to the typical Singaporean and salty Korean, I’m more of an Ainu. Not that you’ll get to see one in Singapore or either half of the Korean Peninsula.

Now all that’s left is for the funny Hokkien PC repair guy to update me on whether a power supply box transplant is needed or a motherboard transplant. But at least this means my made-in-China PC doesn’t require life support. In case you’re wondering, Lenovo is indeed made in China unlike China Wine. Speaking of made in China minus the wine...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8LQqzQdjAcw

Warning: Above link content is rated NC16

Dick move?

The past few weeks have been full of turmoil. Last time something big happened involving the Malay people, Pak Mat got away. Earlier than Pak Mat, Pak Lah was renamed Pak Buang after a season of political elections. So why so many Paks? That’s not important.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/watain-singapore-concert-ban-imda-reach-decision-soon-claim-compensation-organiser-132246609.html/

http://ricemedia.co/culture-people-10-questions-guy-wants-ban-nas-daily-singapore/

The question for the day is this: Which move is the greater dick move?

The answer lies in 1955 and a photo involving someone who weirdly resembled royalty.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/5zsqxq/japanese_traveler_holding_hands_with_a_bear/

If the Japanese guy looks familiar to you, it means history truly means something to you. In fact, the reason why I mentioned royalty is due to this man below.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirohito

From Nanjing to Sook Ching and from one half of Korea to the other, the only ones spared from his reign would be the Jews. Which didn’t mean much to the Axis Powers-that-be.

The photo triggered my curiosity for a reason. I’m no war zone journalist, but that didn’t prevent me from emulating Ronan Farrow. In Japan, there’s an ethnic minority called the Ainu. Even though they got themselves conscripted for the two World Wars, they’re most likely still known to the Japanese majority as “those big bastards”. If you still don’t know what it means, it’s called discrimination since 300 AD when the Yayoi crossed the sea and first said hi to the Jomon people. Weirdly enough, the Yayoi seemed to have no problems making peace with the Jomons. Makes you wonder how racist the descendants are compared to their ancestors.

There’s a problem, though: The Emishi and Ainu refused to play along. This was the start of conflict, distrust, and mistrust. The Emishi are no longer around. Ironically, the same goes for the Jomons considering the peaceful manner of racial assimilation. But the Ainu are still around.

This comes to mind a very vital question: What in Izanami’s Yomi was someone clearly from Honshu doing in the photo?

The photo was possibly done during the 1940s, but considering war was raging until 1945 when defeat could have easily resulted in a hanged Emperor, it could well be done as late as 1955. To shrug off the presence of a mainland Japanese in the photo would be more insensitive than Elizabeth Warren. While it’s theoretically possible for a mainland Japanese to pay a visit in the name of local tourism, going one step further by taking a photo with an old Ainu couple while holding hands with a little bear would be tantamount to racial treason and a national insult. Lest we forget, the Ainu were called former indigenous people. Simply put, that’s the jiken way of calling them the second-class minority.

So was the guy in the photo truly Hirohito who happened to have aged greatly due to whatever personal reason? The temerity displayed was far more of a two-finger salute than what we saw in that photo involving Swedes and Malays that got Shanmugam talking and tongues wagging. His willingness to pose for a photo involving two Ainu and a bear was much greater a dick move than what Rachel Chan did.

If that guy wasn’t Hirohito, he should be nicknamed The Sun Of A Gun. Otherwise, that’d explain why he got more balls than the entire Boeing boardroom combined.

Safari and Apple doing a dick move again

The inevitable has happened once again. As a result, I have no choice but to end this soon. But before I do so, I decide to point out the fact that the Ainu bear sacrificing ritual was effectively banned starting from 1955. In the name protecting animals from cruelty, no less. But there’s a problem: Animal anti-cruelty laws were only slotted into the Japanese penal code (or whatever you want to call it) in 1973. This means 73-55=18.

In other words, this was an illegal pachinko slot machine manufacturered by the majority powers-that-be. This was surely a far worse dick move than whatever we’ve seen so far involving angry Malay metalheads, Swedish rockers, Chinese Ah-Sengs from Gan Eng Seng School during the 90s, and Minister Shanmugam.

It makes you wonder whether Yamato Kamui was involved in the whole pachinko scheme.

P.S: Are things now looking up for the Ainu people starting from the year of Akihito’s abdication? Note that I didn’t insinuate who is the real Yamato Kamui.

Semi-drifting

Okay, be prepared for wonky posts here, there, and everywhere. The reason why being that my PC had to be sent for repair. As a result, I have no choice but to give John L’Otter some much-needed rest. But no, that fellow won’t be euthanised. That’d be animal cruelty. As for the repair guy, I have to say he’s funny. He’s a Chinese, he’s a Singaporean, and he’s Hokkien. Trust me when I say my sense of humour is dark and full of terrors. Ever wondered why Aeravor has a dickish sense of humour?

Because I’m using my sis’ IPad, this also means I’ve got issues trying to understand how the whole Safari browser interface works. Unlike Chrome on PC, you can’t get to play YouTube vids on another tab in the same window. I’m really a tech Amish. Either that or I’m a tech Ainu.

A/N: Due to Safari and Apple hating me like how a Japanese hates an Ainu, such posts will be like very short. In fact, I’m actually writing this part after finishing this post. To prove I’m not lying, allow me to risk my traditional Asian neck by upping a clip related to the last part of this post. Any similarity to Ken Jeong’s most famous Mr Chow is Hollywood’s fault btw.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ddvw1lpjKHA

Stuff you won’t get to see until the PC gets fixed

There will be no vids and no pics. As I’ve said, either I’m a tech Amish or a tech Ainu. I may end up upping URLs depending on how well I’m able to master the art of Safari usage.

Stuff you get to see until the PC gets fixed

Random stuff. Stuff so random, there’s no way for me to classify posts like this. Also, posts like this will be as short as possble.

White line, brown line, or red line?

So now we have it. The emergency Don T had promised the nation all the while. Will he prevail at the Supreme Court? Will Brett the Hitman get himself in the firing line once again? After all, he’s no Dr Ronny Jackson who somehow became the second Yue Fei and the next Yuan Chong Huan.

To be honest, this is going to be a disaster. Unless there’s a way to deal with the aftermath, that is. This is the only way to avert the second greatest national disaster in the history of United States of America. The greatest one? A culture giving birth to the far-right, radical left, and a hanged Congress in many years to come because even the central voters are declaring civil war.

Then there’s this issue of how much restraint Trump is going to show on Twitter and beyond.

Negaracuckoo?

Namewee. Either you love him or hate him. First famous for Negarakuku, his existence brings forth memories of the famous Japanese cuckoo poem. Given the situation America is now facing, will Americans end up seeing their Togukawa Ieyasu come 2024 or 2028? (Note that 2020 is too early for Ieyasu to declare the start of Sekighara)

The cuckoo poem goes something like this:

If the cuckoo doesn’t sing, kill it.

If the cuckoo doesn’t sing, coax it.

If the cuckoo doesn’t sing, wait for it.

https://blogs.transparent.com/japanese/the-three-major-daimy/

Don T quite obviously doesn’t have the genius of Oda Nobunaga, but it didn’t prevent him from saying, “Kill the cuckoo bird if it doesn’t sing”. The likes of Mike Lee and the famously libertarian Rand Paul quite obviously doesn’t want to follow Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s anti-Second Amendment stance, it didn’t prevent them from saying, “If the cuckoo doesn’t sing, please coax it”.

Then we have the 404 guy in the Senate. Namely, he who secretly says, “If the cuckoo doesn’t sing, I’ll just wait for it”. Quite obviously, I don’t know whether the U.S will see the day Togukawa Ieyasu proving himself to be so much more than a spineless Alaskan salmon. But it doesn’t hurt for me to assume Ieyasu is now somewhere nearby. At least I hope so.

Note: I suspect Mike Lee’s political street cred may hit Stan Lee level after the cuckoo decides whether or not to sing.

The Drifting (17th Mar 2019)

It has been a black week so far. John is not going to elaborate for obvious reasons. One thing John realises about death is this: You're entitled to make fun of the day you'll die, but that doesn't mean another person's death is worth less than a single cent.

Given the kind of otter he has always been, John L'Otter is pretty sure he's well-equipped in dealing with cynicism and everything wrong with and in this world. However, straitjacketing his fellow otters with his cynicism, be they from the sea or river, has to be the worst thing anyone could do.

Greatest sex scandal since Mr Bill?

No offence to the likes of Bill Gates and Bill Haslam. One is a genius entrepreneur while the other is Tennessee's Guan Zhong and every moderate Republican's dream VP. (mostly because Mr Bill of Tennessee decided to ownself fire ownself like Bob and Trey).

The Mr Bill John is talking about here is none other than this Bill below.

If you're to ask John, this IS really the greatest sex scandal since Mr Bill. Let's not kid ourselves, guys. We all have our moments where gawking at sexy images of K-pop girls is concerned. It's only a matter of how long it'd take for us to grow out of it. Or in another scenario, whether we can do it. Sex tapes are not okay, but seeing a sexily dressed Taeser in any 소녀시대 MV is.

A brief look through the Korean Arya's list throws us a... disturbing (for the lack of a better word) coincidence. Out of the those currently busted by Arya's list, one guy was from CNBLUE and another guy from F.T. Island. Why John calls this coincidence disturbing was due to these two idol boybands having a part in Park Shin-hye's You're Beautiful. Jung Yong-hwa is part of CNBLUE while Lee Hong-gi is part of F.T. Island. But still, we all know this is a coincidence.

Please be responsible whenever you're on the internet and social media. After all, you'll never know whether or when you will go to Changi, degree or no degree.

Right now, the question lies in how many more names are going to be outed from the KakaoTalk. It's an irony to know that in a culture where the anonymous psychology is the BFF of a highly sexualised culture in Seoul and beyond, said BFF actually became the Korean Brutus to the equally Korean Julius Caesar. If William Shakespeare is still alive like an English Highlander, what would he write? The Taming Of The Shrew has been regularly savaged by feminists for being misogynistic. However, one must remember that in The Merchant Of Venice, women were the reason why the titular protagonist was saved from a horrible fate.

And speaking fate and women...

Two sinners against each other,
One a body made of swords,
The other a man of faith.
Many are the wishers,
Only one thing can grant them all.
In the name of destruction and ire,
From a god created by us.

So will we see another Mr Bill in Japan?

Allow John L'Otter to be cynical here: John doubts this day will arrive. Japan, in general, is more resistant to foreign influences compared to its equally democratic neighbour called South Korea. If the Korean pride is all about proving itself in the face of Western cultural colonisation, the Japanese pride is nothing less than a two-finger salute in the name of racial excellence and ethnic accomplishments. In fact, the #MeToo movement in South Korea could be seen as the greatest national miracle since the economy started accelerating at a break-neck pace. If there's any greater miracle to hope for, it'd be denuking and peace in the Korean Peninsula. Just don't ask John whether that will happen. It's obvious Kim Jong-un is out to keep his nukes and ICBMs as political chips in order to facilitate a daring diplomatic strategy. The moment Pyongyang denukes itself, it means North Korea would be confident enough to move between China, U.S, and Russia. If it sounds like the nation of Silla N years ago, that's because diplomatic mobility is most likely Kim Jong-un's ultimate aim.

Recently, Captain Marvel said hi. Together with Black Widow (apparently, she survived the gauntlet and ditto for her ex) and a Wonder Woman gone Jewish, people are celebrating a new era of heroism where the only thing left would be a gender bender rated G. Surprisingly, 7 remains the sacred male number.

Now it's quite obvious that if you want to create a great heroine, the best way is to create an original one. No one is telling you to be the female version of Neil Gaiman, please don't give yourself unwanted pressure. Which now comes to an interesting question: Are there things waiting to be improved in the Japanese creative industry since it's nice to see none of the Great American Bashing: Red Versus Blue in a nation more concerned about the Okinawans' safety, Gaki Yui or no Gaki Yui?

Miyazaki Hayao has to be lauded for being a genius. Take for example Howl's Moving Castle. The heroine's name was Sophie, but she's no Sophie Turner. Her mundane bravery proved that girls don't need to be Sansa Stark or Jean Grey to be great. At the same time, he's anti-war ever since America dropped two A-bombs to break Hirohito's resolve. As for his negative sentiments towards the unrealistic 2D aesthetics, they're justified.

But if you desire a more powerful heroine, someone like Captain Marvel... you may want to watch Kara no Kyoukai. John watched all seven movies N years ago. And John has to say... yeah, plenty of visceral stuff. You have a vengeful rape victim called Asagami Fujino out to kill all her rapists in an insane show of axe-crazy telekinesis until Ryougi Shiki decided to stop her.

Spoiler: Ryougi Shiki was never a Republican.

Then you have a suicidal Fujou Kirie committing suicide. But not before Ryougi Shiki decided to... well, stop her.

Spoiler: Ryougi Shiki was never a heroine like Captain Marvel.

The beautiful thing about Magic Kinoko's heroines is never about the 2D aesthetics (again, refer back to the meme). Their beauty lies in the fact that they're 100% humane in a way few could imagine. They're never the kind of Marvel-DC fare the global majority is used to seeing and appreciating.

Say for example, Arcueid Brunestud. She could never understand humans. Then again, every vampire, True Ancestors or Dead Apostles, could never do so. Not because they're unable to, but rather because they never made an effort to. That's until Tohno Shiki rang the doorbell and... well, said hi.

Then you have Irisviel von Einzbern. Otherwise known as the greatest (?) anti-Hollywood heroine ever, Iri doesn't have the ability to fight like Diana Prince or lead like Katniss Everdeen. In a world where might is right and not the other way around, Iri was the only person capable of humanising an anti-heroic Kiritsugu. You try asking the typical might and right heroine to do that. In fact, there are only two characters in Fate/Zero which are considered... well, sane.

Erm, no. Definitely not Aoi and Kariya. Aoi is a victim in every sense of the word. That includes becoming a monster in a monstrous world. Actually, the same goes for Kariya as well.

Spoiler: The Holy Grail wasn't God. Therefore, it damned Emiya Kiritsugu.

Spoiler: The Holy Grail wasn't God. Therefore, it couldn't save Artoria Pendragon.

Ryougi Shiki has to be one of, if not the most in-depth heroine John has ever seen in a long while. And by that, he means more than 20 years coming into contact with random movies, anime, TV shows, and series wiki sites. She's powerful, yes. Much more powerful than Tohno Shiki even though both are able to see death instead of just dead people. Apparently, God doesn't exist in the Nasuverse (a useful tip for aspiring fantasy writers by the way). Which makes Ryougi Shiki's boast that she can even kill God as a hypothetical statement of arrogance. Yet, she's a protagonist full of... well, nothing. She's an empty vessel. Yet, that very emptiness was one full of holes. But how can emptiness have holes? This is not just a statement of irony. It's a contradiction reflecting the real nature of humanity. This was also why the title of the fifth episode had to be the most Kara'esque ever. The original text read 矛盾螺旋 while the English text read Paradox Spiral. Throughout the plot, the characters have to make sense out of the senseless. Sometimes, we get a tragedy. Sometimes, we get a happy ending. Example of the former would be Fujou Kirie committing suicide by throwing herself off the building because to understand life is to die and vice versa. As for the latter, Shiki and Mikiya ended up happily ever after. But not before this happened...

The reason why Shiki is humane was never due to whether she needs a man. It's never down to her tears. Rather, it's down to the brutally honest manner which she developed and exposed her fragility. At first, she represented might is right. Afterwards, she didn't change to right is might. Rather, she exposed the fact that might can easily be the strongest fighter's facade to hide his/her own weakness. In this sense, it's very likely this was where the Notorious UBG (i.e. Uro Butch Gen) got his idea from when it came to the relationship between Kiritsugu and Iri. This effectively made her grandfather into the smartest guy in the plot. He's effectively the Godo of the series.

No, not Michelangelo's ゴドー. John refers to the actual one done by Miura Doragonkoroshitaro below.

The Japanese do have the tendency to be more horribly twisted than H.P. Lovecraft most of the time. If not all the time. Tamer examples would include Goblin Slayer. Which is already bad enough. Moderate ones include Berserk. Extreme examples? Saya no Uta. Done by none other than the Notorious UBG himself. Hellsing should be somewhere between Tier 1 and 2 due to that necrophilic rape scene. John isn't joking here. You only need the series wiki info to know that, so please DO NOT view the unviewable if you're below 21.

But when they start creating humane characters, boy that's where the quality starts to shine. Guts is not morally good, but he's humane. Alucard was called an irredeemable monster, but Integra's dad turned out to be way smarter than everyone else. Characters which would have been reviled in Hollywood became human beings at the hands of a people who don't give a damn to gaijin politics. That's the best part of appreciating Japanese secular creativity. Yes, you all read it right. NOT Kasumi, Kazama Asuka, or Seong Mi-na

Back to Shiki's granddad. He famously said you can only kill one person in your life. Any more than one and that makes you a murderer. This was his final advice to his granddaughter before he died. Famous last words. Which now comes to the interesting question: What was his definition of murder? 

Murder in Kara no Kyoukai refers to the death of one's true self rather than physical death. Effectively, one could say Shiki was once dead but brought back to life. Power cannot grant life. Power can only commit murder if we're going by Ryougi Sr's famous last words. One could see that throughout the series. From Kirie to Fujino and from Araya Souren to Shirazumi Lio, the question is this: Was Shiki far more alive as a human being despite her sense of emptiness more profound than any other character? If you're alive, you're not a murderer. But if you're one, then to quote the original Shang-Chi: 

And this explains the paradox behind the existence of Ryougi Shiki. Empty, but full of holes. Inhumane, but still humane. Murderer, but not yet one. Certified dead, but nevertheless alive.

Gotta end it here

It's absurd. To think John L'Otter spent more than 1/2 or 1/3 of the post talking crap on Magic Kinoko's magic. So allow John to end this day's The Drifting with the final part. Namely, a big thank to those fellows in Cryptic. It doesn't matter whether you guys are liberals or conservatives. Thanks for rolling the D20 and give John the best score.

There will be no future posts for Neverwinter's upcoming mod until the thing gets released. The reason why was that John got an email invitation N days ago for the live preview testing. In other words, personal principles demand John to shut his muzzle up.

Again, thanks to Cryptic for rolling a 20 for this typing otter.

P.S: John searched for a certain BGM. He found it easily thanks to YouTube and the lack of copyright claim threat being generated so far.

Title of the song? Ever Cry, Never Life
Composer? Kajiura Yuki in case you fail to recognise her signature style.

Under the Undermountain

Well, it's a good thing that Under the mountain was outed by the devs. If a Youtuber named The Assist Man can do these vids below, you know it's gonna be some real dope instead of an Admiral Nodope.

A/N: Nodope should be seen as a case of what happens when you're blind to a foreign culture. The correct name should be Notobe, not some Japanese dopehead.

So what this post is all about?

This post will be adding on what The Assist Dude said. So it's going to be short. As short as... well, this vid below?

Wonder if it's possible for John to change his user handle to @emiyarou

No changes to paragon class names?

Well, the screenshot featuring a Hellbringer seemed to suggest this is so. To be honest, John has got nothing against it. After all, the last thing the devs need is to pull off another Mod 6. That'd be more disastrous than the actual Mod 6 itself. It'd be like voting out Dong Zhuo only to get either a Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu as your president.

Which now comes to the question of class features.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/11093123-developer-blog%3A-classes-intro

Note that there was no mention of class features in this post. Assuming that the paragon class details actually affect the gamer at level 40, this possibly means class features will be the feats for Mod 16. Yet, it must be stated that this doesn't mean the class features (as feats) will stay unchanged. The devs would have to change some things, take some other things away, and add some more things. This is where the possibility of 1+1 comes in. Yes, the feats as we know it are going to go. But it doesn't mean the devs won't do a cut and paste when it comes to the useful parts.

New Shift

The shielding system looks neat. Not just to The Assist Man, but to Le John as well. But there's a problem which The Assist Man brought up: So what will be given to classes which cannot shield? In other words, what would dodge and dashing give?

One interesting about dodge in the current state is that you'll get a brief moment of invulnerability post-execution. John actually accidentally discover that during Day of the Dungeon Master event where there's this mini-game involving rock dodging. But would a positive change in the invulnerability window work? Well, John won't be surprised if a longer invulnerability window would screw the gameplay. Dodging is meant to let the characters get away from being hit. In other words, invulnerability starting from the dodge animation could potentially break the game as in the only limitation lies in the stamina gauge. This may not matter much to Wizards, but it can be a very different story if we're talking about Rangers, Rogues, and Clerics. Classes whose secondary attribute is Strength.

Another way is to increase movement speed upon dodge execution. That'd make more tactical sense than upping the invulnerability stakes.

Which now comes to the Warlock dash. So what this class may get apart from running like a Bolt? One interesting observation John made when playing the Scourge Warlock was that dashing does NOT give any invulnerability status, be it during or after. So yeah, it's very likely Warlock dash would receive invulnerability for the duration of the dash. Broken? Actually, prolonged dashing isn't the best way to use a Scourge Warlock as this class doesn't have Strength as a key attribute. Of course, this is not to say invulnerability would persist throughout the 100m sprint. Rather, it may only kick in during the first few seconds.

Now let's get back to the new shielding system. Going by the text, it seems that Barbarians won't be able to run like a Great Weapon Fighter anymore. Which means no more insane Cimmerians dealing insane damage just because Conan can run faster than a cheetah. This would slow down the pace of party dps with more focus on the tactical end. In short, raiding is looking more like a case of Graeco-Roman tactical game rather than the run-and-gun style of Anglo-Saxons we're used to right now. And this is not to mention what the devs said concerning the tweaks to overall difficulty in terms of upping the raw damage and defensive stats.

(Hunter) Rangers would want to know this

One of the most annoying aspects of playing this class all the while lies in the need to stance-switch in order to maximise the damage done. But there's a problem: You can opt for the archery tree if you don't want to stance switch like a Gen. And archery is the hdps tree. See where this is going? Yes, archery did experience horrendous moments of over-nerfing, but there's a reason why such moments existed in the first place.

This comes to mind the need to strike a balance between ranged damage and melee dps. Currently, the balance is just not there. The only way for a combat Hunter Ranger to deal good damage would be maxing out Agile Combatant and using either Split the Sky or Thorn Ward to start the damage rolling. In other words, a combat Hunter Ranger is currently restricted to the role of buffer-debuffer-dps hybrid. While this is definitely a very good way to use the combat tree, it also means options are extremely limited. At the same time, people would still be looking at renegade Control Wizards and temptation Scourge Warlocks instead of throwing a D20 on a combat Hunter Ranger. The same goes for oppressor Control Wizards and righteous Devoted Clerics. The market is not there because the practical factor is not compelling enough.

Ultimately, there are two ways to fix this. Either up the melee damage astronomically or close the gap between the ranged and melee. The former is quite obviously out of the picture as it can potentially break the game. The latter is definitely a more pragmatic option. However, there has to be an incentive to consider melee as either the main or secondary dps source. Which comes to the question of stance-switching. Would damage bonus resulting from switching stance be a good idea? Like 5% damage bonus lasting 10 seconds with a 20-second cooldown when switching to melee and10% movement speed lasting 5 seconds with a 20-second cooldown when switching to ranged?

And that's not to mention feats capable of making closing down tactics useful.

Latest update

Came across these two articles just now. So let's talk a bit about the reworked Divinity system here. Or speculate more specifically. Now assuming all the holy encounters rely on Divinity, what are we to expect from Paladins and Clerics? For one, the damage dealing department would very likely to be more at-will'centric (yes, that's an acrual invented by Le John). As for pressing Tab for class mechanics, this is very likely to be Channel Divinity where it's possibly a case of hold-and-charge. If so, then it'd make an effective at-will game an absolute must. For Clerics, Channel Divinity should be easier in raiding and less so in solo play while the opposite would point towards the Paladin.

Let's do some speculation about the individual paragon classes here.

Devout:

This is very likely the majority choice going by this description.

[When compared with other healers like the oathkeeper paladin and the soulweaver warlock, the devout relies on straightforward powerful heals, heal over time effects, and effective divinity management.]

Effective Divinity management? Sounds like each holy encounter would take up quite a bit of Divinity. It's either that or Devouts will become top tier healers with huge Divinity consumption. It seems that Devout is going to be the more straightforward half of the Cleric paragon classes.

This calls into question the aspect of buffing. It's very likely that Devouts can be capable buffers as well. As for whether it's defensive buffing or offensive buffs... well, John is leaning towards the offensive side. 

Arbiter:

This one sounds like a whole load of a fun house here going by this description.

[Arbiters focus on providing complex gameplay with deep damage dealing rotations based on the shifting scales of their deity’s judgement. By switching between spells that deal radiant damage and spells that deal fire damage, arbiters can unleash devastating holy fire on their enemies.]

Shifting scales of judgement? Sounds like the teachings of Kelemvor to John. This statement is possibly pointing towards two damage types symbolised by two ends of the libra. The more radiant damage you deal, the more powerful the next fire damage attack and vice versa. Sounds like this to John. If anyone would be insane (?) enough to try out an Arbiter, then it's possible that the bread-and-butter dps would be on the at-wills.

It's very likely that Arbiter requires better tactical awareness. If Devouts are for those preferring a faster pace of play, then Arbiter is possiby the tactician of the party. This is not to say you can't play it fast with an Arbiter. But it's possible that any hdps Arbiter will have to learn how to plant a bomb instead of just throwing it.

Which now comes to the question of whether you can buff with an Arbiter. One possibility would be a more dps'y version of the Righteous tree where less focus is placed on the offensive debuffs and more focus will be placed in the dps.

Justicar:

This looks like a healing tank with a decent dose of buffing being thrown into the mix. At the same time, it seems that we won't be seeing the damage increment per X% max HP gone in Undermountain.

[A champion of all that is good and just, the justicar focuses on impenetrable defense and uses their divine magic to smite foes and can even heal allies in a pinch.]

This comes to mind a question: How would a Justicar pull and hold the aggro? Definitely there will be powers in charge of taunting and feats in charge of threat generating. Interestingly, divine magic may possibly become the main source of aggro control.

Oathkeeper:

[Having taken a vow to care for those in need the noble oathkeeper rescues their friends from the jaws of death with healing magic and powerful mitigative spells that shield their allies from harm.]

Description should be very straightforward. We all know Paladins are effectively clerics wearing plate armour. This means Oathkeepers would have better luck staying alive while taking aggro punishment. Also, it should be a no-brainer by now that Oathkeepers and Justicars share the same shielding system. It's very likely that compared to Justicars, Oathkeepers may need to rely more on holding shift.

Killing the bugs

The Assist Man mentioned the likelihood of more bug extermination due to the massive changes. While it's possible that more bugs would pop up for the next mod, one of the key reasons behind this massive streamlining would be making life easier for the programmers to debug and deglitch. For one, the focus is now concentrated in a smaller range of circumstances. Secondly, one can only imagine the nightmare the debugging and deglitching can cause due to a sprawling UI.

The greater concern should be this: Would gameplay synergy improve as a result of this change?

Boon(s) for the alts

The boons system is going to benefit the alts. Like big time. By removing campaign zone restrictions, this means gamers would be more motivated to use their alts. Alts are important in this game for a reason: Replay value. There's only this much replay value you can get by just using one main alone. Unless your mind resembles that of Emiya Kiritsugu, it's very hard to justify replay value based on one character alone. Ultimately, it's about how much farming you'll need. Definitely far less of a hassle in the future.