Arlen

If you’ve played Black Desert Online, then you probably know that feeling when you grind for 3 hours but walk away with your inventory filled with silver and not a single rare item you was hoping to get. That’s because there’s more to loot planning than simply increasing your grinding speed. There’s probability math, pet … Read more

At some point during your Dungeons and Dragons campaign, math goes awry. You’re looking for a way to track your progress, you’ve plundered the bandit camp and now you’d like to pillage the goblin lair, and everything looks off. Despite having epic magic items worth more then the yearly budget of a kingdom, they’re still … Read more

In Old School RuneScape, you stare into the abyss of hopelessness that is the Tempoross reward pool. Your inventory’s stuffed with spirit flakes. You’ve got hundreds of permit stashed away. And yet there it sits: the ever-elusive Tiny Tempor pet just out of reach. It is unfair that this game punishes you for working so … Read more

Remember what it was like opening that very first Overwatch launch? You ground up those first couple of boxs, earning enough to open some new cosmetics on your favorite hero. Open the box, get a Rare emote you already have and three more Commons. Twice maybe, but by the fifth box its no longer about … Read more

In Last War, the Bullseye event makes you anxious, but it is not just about luck; real skill lie in understanding how guarantee tiers work and planning your ammo around them. Time ticks down and you spend your ammo sparingly, watching for your shot, but relying on luck doesn’t work out all the time. Next … Read more

Until you view hunting as a ledger in Tibia, it will feel like a grind. You kill monsters for hours, but without tracking your actual input costs against your output value, you are just gambling with time. If you’re not keeping track of the value of your output compared to cost of your input, you’re … Read more

In the Argos lobby, you see raid timer tick down. The last boss crumbles away into light. An engraving book appears. It is legendary. It is tradable. And eight folks sits there silently staring at it. Ultimately, Lost Ark progression are about social economy: Who will get this? Is it worth bidding on? Will I … Read more

Old School RuneScape’s Delve interface has an inviting look but it’s hard to run the numbers. I spent three hours digging deep and getting killed often, only to come up with one scrap of fabric. That barely covers supply costs. And yet that anger is not strictly due to bad luck. Most of the time, … Read more

Dark Souls 3 is very much a game about farming. It’s not just about being good at it. It’s about having enough stamina left after standing around hacking silver knights to death over and over until some random item drop onto your screen. And you wonder, “Am I doing this right? Or am I barking … Read more

You get that Legendary item you don’t want instead of the one you’re saving for. It’s personal but there’s no collusion against you. There’s just probability at work, and it doesn’t care about your collection plans. For most players, Apex Packs are slot machines. Throw some money in, pray for a jackpot. That won’t last … Read more

Diablo 4’s RNG feels like a bottomless pit. Farming legendary aspects can be like staring helplessly at a void of randomness. Kill the same elite packs over and over again. Run through the same nightmare dungeon for four hours. And yet, all you have to show for it is common junk. It’s maddening; the game … Read more

If you’re running out of resources, you might be tempted to rush through upgrading a Town Hall. You notice someone has a weak-looking base. Before he can stock up on more loot, you think: Attack! But how much do they realy have? What’s displayed above their storage buildings isn’t the whole total. It doesn’t count … Read more