Sorry for the weird question, felt like someone in this community would know how to deal with this.

I bought 5 packs of Dragon Shield Dual sleeves on CardMarket. They arrived fast and all packs were perfectly sealed. When I open the packs, 3 of the packs are defective. There's a black stripe on the top/bottom of the sleeves, which effectively mark them. These sleeves simply cannot be used. The other 2 packs seem decent, albeit with small defects on the side of the sleeves. Not big enough for me to complain, I think. They all come from the same batch.

I feel bad asking the seller for a refund, I don't think they had a way of knowing the sleeves were defective. The packs were sealed and the batch number is only visible after you open the packs. But maybe they have some sort of way to get the money back from their distributor or something? I have contacted them to see how to go from here but no reply so far.

I saw that Dragon Shield also has a contact form for defects but they warn me that since I didn't buy the sleeves from their store there is a very low chance they'll actually do anything. I submitted the form anyway to let them know that this batch is likely defective.

Who should provide compensation for defective sleeves? The seller or dragon shield?

Cheers!

Not affiliated with the author, I just really like their videos.

Searching for product recommendations has become harder and harder over the years. I used to google or browse reddit for reviews, used them to create a shortlist of products and then actually dig deeper and compare them.

Lets say I'm in the market for a mechanical keyboard, but I don't know much about them. I use whatever search engine to look for "best mechanical keyboard 2024". The results are really bad, and I mean really bad. It's more of a list of keyboards to avoid, to be honest. The problem is not just google. Bing, duckduckgo, Kagi, Startpage... all results suck. The results are filled with AI generated pages or outlets farming affiliate links. There are a couple of good suggestions in the middle of the garbage but if 9/10 websites recommend a random razer keyboard, I'm inclined to believe it's an option worth considering.

Some of my friends say they resort to Youtube. I can agree that Youtube has amazing content creators that give amazing reviews and produce great quality content. But if you don't know anything about the subject, how do you know which content creator is good and which content creator is just farming affiliate links?

One of the things I loved about Reddit was that I could just go to /r/whateversubject and talk to what I felt was real people discussing products they loved. I no longer use Reddit ,and Lemmy, unfortunately, doesn't have a big enough userbase to have a good community for each type of product.

So, what's your strategy to find out good products on subjects you know nothing about?

As soon as this game launched on Kickstarter, I backed it. I had discussed before with my friends that I would love for a good way to play Slay the Spire cooperatively. Yes, there are mods for the videogame which introduce co-op, but you're playing a multiplayer solitaire game. You aren't really interacting that much. The boardgame implements co-op in a really nice, interactive and meaningful way.

Context and bias

I think it's important to put a big disclaimer that I am heavily biased towards this game. I love the Slay the Spire videogame, I beat A20 with every character and have more than 500 hours playtime. I was extremely hyped to play the boardgame.

These initial thoughts were gathered from a single play two plays in Ascension 0 (no heart), all players were experienced StS gamers (A20 with at least 1 character) and each act took around 2 hours). Yeah, we played the game for more than 6h :P

TL;DR

First impressions score: 9/10

Positives:

• It really feels like Slay the Spire

• Basically zero downtime

• Upkeep is very low

• Randomness is VERY WELL implemented

• Really fun

• The box is very nice, included insert is just ok but gets the job done

Negatives:

• It takes like 2 hours for experienced players to play a single act, I can't imagine how long it would take for first timers

• Sleeving/Unsleeving cards to upgrade them is not great

• Sleeves are included, but they're very low quality

• The character miniatures are very low quality

The game loop

Slay the Spire is a deck builder game. You start with a very basic and weak deck of cards. Throughout the game you will acquire new cards, upgrade them, get relics, potions and hopefully remove a few of your basic cards. The goal of the game is to move through map and eventually defeat the final boss.

You start the game at the base of the map, where you'll fight some basic monsters. After beating the encounter you can navigate to one the 3 randomly generated map paths, whatever one you feel better suits your team needs.

Each player has a designated row and a monster (and possibly its minions) will be spawned in from of each player.

At the start of your turn you draw 5 cards and set your mana to 3. Each of your initial cards have a mana cost from 0 to 2 and you can play them however you like. There is no turn order, players can play or coordinate their actions as they please. Your attack cards can attack any monster, regardless of their row. Your defense cards usually target yourself, though some allow you to support your friends. After every player has player their cards, every remaining card is discarded and now the monsters will have their turn.

The monster turn is usually very simple, they just attack the player in front of them and it's done. The players can draw 5 cards and play again. If a player dies, it's game over. Otherwise, the game continues until all monsters are defeated.

Each monster awards a set of rewards to the player in front of them. Typically you get some coins and a new card. You reveal 3 new cards and you can add one of them to your deck. The new cards are generally better than your starter ones but you can choose to skip it altogether. You can also get potions (a 1 time effect) and relics (passive effects throughout the entire run).

After beating the initial encounter, you select one the map branches and move up. There are several types of encounters: shop, random events, regular monsters, elite monsters... It's cool to decide how to move up thoughout the map considering your current status. Low on health? Lets try to target a resting spot. Doing great? Lets kick some elite ass. Eventually you'll reach the boss and hopefully your deck is now strong enough to beat it.

Differences from the videogame

• Most stuff works exactly like the videogame

• Damage has been heavily re-scaled so the math is very easy. Each attack deals 1 damage, for instance. It was never hard to figure out how much damage you were going to deal or take.

• Several cards, potions and relics have been changed to reduce complexity and upkeep.

• Nothing ticks down at end of turn. Poison never ticks down, for instance. You don't lose focus at end of turn. Upkeep is minimal.

• Vulnerable works a bit differently. Your next attack deals double damage against a vulnerable foe, then you remove one vulnerable "token". If you applied 2x vulnerable, then your next 2 attacks deal double damage.

• Weak means you deal 1 less damage on your next attack.

• Defect (3rd character) orb order doesn't matter, you can evoke any orb you want. You can also target anything you want, it's not random.

• Dark orbs deal 3 damage + 1 damage for each power in play, to avoid upkeep

Randomness

Every randomness in the game is performed with a die roll. At the start of the turn you roll a die and every random effect for that round (your turn + monster turn) uses that die roll. You don't roll the die for every single effect. You roll once and apply it to everything.

Things that interact with the die:

• Some relics perform automatically on a die roll (eg: deal 4 damage when 4 is rolled)

• Some monster attack depends on the die roll (eg: monster might attack on roll 1-3 and buff up on roll 4-6)

• Some cards do different things depending on the die roll

The thing I like about this is that it's very low maintenance, you just roll the die once per round and you know exactly what is going to happen for the entire round. This is not something like "I'm going to attack, roll the die aaaaaand... I missed". At the start of the turn you know exactly how everything is going to pan out. I love that.

First impressions

Boardgames based on videogames are usually awful. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a boardgame adaptation. They're usually very fiddle, with tremendous amount of book keeping and upkeep effects. I was very hyped with Slay the Spire but also very concerned that this would be the case. The videogame takes care of a ton of stuff for you. I don't want to keep track of my dark orbs or to apply double damage after 10 attacks. That's just not fun to track.

I'm happy to say that Slay the Spire, the boardgame is amazing. I think the designer paid a tremendous amount of respect to videogame, it really does feel like Slay the Spire. All the monsters, their attacks, the relics, everything works like videogame. It does a really good job at making you feel at home. However, the designer also spent a tremendous amount of effort to reduce how much stuff you need to keep track off. Upkeep was usually just dealing poison damage and orb damage, that's it. No tickdowns, no doubling, no keeping track of attacks, claws or cards used.

The cooperative aspect of the game is very nice. You can really cooperate and complement your friend's turns. It's fun to coordinate which monster to kill first and managing everyone's defense. The game makes a good job at creating tension, especially in the act 2. You have that feeling you have no chance but then actually pull it off with minimal losses. And most importantly: it really does feel like a team effort. It doesn't feel solitaire.

Each act took us 2 hours but it didn't feel like 2 hours. The game felt fast paced. Since turns are simultaneous, the downtime between turns was basically non-existent. The monster's turns are VERY fast so you're back to the action really quickly.

So why is this game not instantly a 10/10? My biggest issue with the game is actually its length. 2+ hours per act is a lot. The game tells you that you can play a single act and also provides a way to start immediately from the second or third act, which is great. However, a full run is going to take you 6+ hours. Personally I don't really like to start/finish a run in the middle of the game, I'll have to get used to it.

Final thoughts

If you love the Slay the Spire videogame and are looking for a similar co-operative experience, this is an absolute no-brainer. Get this game. You need it in your life. I'm really glad I backed it and plan to continue enjoying it with friends.

I'm not big on playing boardgames solo and I honestly see no point on getting this game if you're just going to play solo. The videogame is probably 10x cheaper and you can play an entire run under 1 hour. I would just play the videogame, to be honest.

What if you've never played Slay the Spire? Honestly that's a tough one. I think a big part of the experience is that this feels pretty much like the videogame. While there are some progression aspects in the form of card unlocks and increased difficulties, there isn't much to look forward to. Maybe a game like Aeon's End, which has a campaign like feeling and a story would be something you'll enjoy more. I don't know. Your millage may vary and I'd love to hear the thoughts from someone who had no idea what Slay the Spire was!

Hi friends.

I own a couple of games that are pretty much played exclusively with the Steam Deck's touch screen. There are some community layouts that do work but they honestly suck. The best example for this is Magic Arena or Football Manager 2024.

Holding the Steam Deck with one hand is a bit uncomfortable, the ergonomics aren't good. I'm sure there must be some kind I'm accessory I'm not aware of that improves this. I tend to play on the couch, a kickstand wouldn't be great here.

Thanks in advance!

I've been working with a Javascript (+ TypeScript) + Java + SQL stack for the last 10 years.

For 2024 I'd like to learn a new programming language, just for fun. I don't have any particular goals in mind, I just want to learn something new. If I can use it later professionally that'd be cool, but if not that's okay too.

Requirements:

• Runs on linux
• Not interested in languages created by Google or Apple
• No "joke languages", please

Thank you very much!

EDIT: I ended up ordering the paperback version of the Rust book. Maybe one day I'll contribute to the Lemmy code base or something :P Thank you all for the replies!!!

EDIT: Solved! Check this comment!

I use a keyboard with an american layout. I find it much better for coding and actually love this keyboard to pieces. However, I still need to write in portuguese.

The dead keys in Microsoft Windows worked perfectly for me but the Linux ones do not. Some characters are not available and are replaced by characters that don't exist in the portuguese language.

In X11 I fixed this by using an .XCompose file with the keybinds just like in Windows. Source here, it works perfectly.

In Wayland, the .XCompose file works for pretty much all apps. Firefox is fine, kitty is fine, Vivaldi is fine. Unfortunately electron apps with the --ozone-platform-hint=wayland ignores the .XCompose file and I get the default keybinds. Since I own an nvidia card I really need these flags, otherwise the electron apps will aggressively flicker and/or eat letters while I'm typing.

I've searched far and wide, there are several open bugs in chromium, electron and wayland repositories. Everyone seems to be pointing fingers at each other for years and no workaround to make .XCompose work seems to be available.

I'm wondering if there is an alternative way to customize the dead keys under Wayland. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Solved! Check this comment!

I use a keyboard with an american layout. I find it much better for coding and actually love this keyboard to pieces. However, I still need to write in portuguese.

The dead keys in Microsoft Windows worked perfectly for me but the Linux ones do not. Some characters are not available and are replaced by characters that don't exist in the portuguese language.

In X11 I fixed this by using an .XCompose file with the keybinds just like in Windows. Source here, it works perfectly.

In Wayland, the .XCompose file works for pretty much all apps. Firefox is fine, kitty is fine, Vivaldi is fine. Unfortunately electron apps with the --ozone-platform-hint=wayland ignores the .XCompose file and I get the default keybinds. Since I own an nvidia card I really need these flags, otherwise the electron apps will aggressively flicker and/or eat letters while I'm typing.

I've searched far and wide, there are several open bugs in chromium, electron and wayland repositories. Everyone seems to be pointing fingers at each other for years and no workaround to make .XCompose work seems to be available.

I'm wondering if there is an alternative way to customize the dead keys under Wayland. Thanks in advance.

Hi friends. I'm a newbie in self-hosting, though I've been managing (virtual) linux servers at work for a couple of years. I'm completely ignorant on the hardware choices out there, hopefully you can point me to the right direction.

Here are my requisites:

• Low power consumption, I plan to have it connected 24/7 and I'm kinda concerned on how much it will impact the electricity bill
• Ethernet port, preferably gigabit but whatever
• Graphical performance is not important as I don't plan to connect it to any display. As long as I can ssh into it, I'm good.

Services I plan on installing, for starters:

• casaOS
• pi-hole, or equivalent
• Home Assistant
• Kitchen Owl (nice to have)
• Paperless-ngx (nice to have)

I live in europe and my budget is around 80 euros or so. Thanks in advance!

I've played 4 of the 12 games so far and I've been having a blast. I'm excited to play the next session, which is something I could never really say about ticket to ride.

We've been playing with 3 players and each session probably takes around 30 minutes. After each game, however, new stuff is introduced and sometimes it takes a bit to unpack and learn everything. The new stuff has been really easy to introduce and adds depth to the game. Most importantly, it adds fun.

Have you tried it? Is it on your radar?

This year I've been removing Google from my life. Today I installed LineageOS without Google Apps, taking yet another step to a degoogled life.

Due to clearly some poor planning I forgot to lookup some alternative apps for the basic stuff I never think about... I'd rather install FOSS apps that are available on F-Droid or at the very least, an app that is available on Aurora Store. Would rather not be installing random APKs.

• Dialer app: I installed "Koler", which seems decent enough

• Contacts: Doesn't need to be super fancy, just something that allows me import my contacts from a VCF file.

• SMS: Currently using QKSMS, not sure if anything else is recommended...

• Camera: I barely use my camera app, just need something to take the occasional photo.

• Gallery: The default is probably good enough, let me know your thoughts

• Launcher: I used Niagara launcher but I never got used to it, to be honest. I guess I'm looking to something more traditional.

Shoot me any other FOSS apps you think are great! Thank you so much.

For the past 5 years or so I've been using an HHKB and I've grown to love its layout. The (smaller) Delete, ~ and \ key placements is something I enjoy. The ~ key is used a lot in my native language and this placement is much more ergonomic for me.

I've been out of the keyboard scene ever since I got the HHKB and I've been considering building a new board to try whatever new switches have come out since then.

Not looking to create a PCB myself, would rather use something that already exists and preferably doesn't require any soldering. 65%-ish with arrow keys would be my preferred form factor.

Anything like that in the market? Thanks!

Hey friends. I have been using Linux exclusively for about 3 weeks. I've been amazed at how well gaming works out of the box with Steam and proton.

I only have this minor issue, I'm sure someone can point me to the right direction. I use 2 monitors, I game on the primary monitor and do whatever else on the second. Whenever I go back to the gaming monitor, the game shows the window decorations for just a second and then goes back to full screen. It flickers. Obviously not a major problem, but it's annoying.

If I go to the game settings, set it as windowed and then back to full-screen it occasionally fixes the problem but only until I start the game again.

I currently use EndeavourOS w/ KDE but the problem also happened on Manjaro!

EDIT: As always, the Arch Wiki had the answer, I just didn't see because it seems to describe a different issue. SDL_VIDEO_MINIMIZE_ON_FOCUS_LOSS=0 environment variable seems to do the trick.

I use a keyboard with an american layout because I find it much much better for programming. However, since I'm portuguese, I want to use some characters that don't exist in the american layout, such as á, é or ç. In windows I selected the US international layout with with dead keys and I could do everything.

• ' + a = á
• ' + c = ç

The US International with dead keys on linux mostly works but has some weird problems, or different behavior:

• ' + s = ś, I expected it to be 's. Ś doesn't exist in my regional dictionary. It is a problem when typing It's, which is transformed into itś. I could perform a space after pressing ' and it works, but I'm just not accustomed to do that.

• ' + m = ḿ, same problem as before.

• ' + c = ć, I expected it to be ç

• ' + t = ´t, I expected it to be 't

I found a workaround for the cedilla, that works on most apps but not on all. Is there a way to change this behavior system-wide? Maybe I can create my own "custom layout"?

EDIT: of course right after I post this I finally find a solution. I love that it's just a dot file I can bring with me anywhere. Gonna leave the post up anyway, in case anyone ever has the same problem.

Hey fellas friends. Sorry to create yet another post on this topic (maybe we should have a sticky for this?).

About 2 weeks ago I decided it was time to move on from Windows and installed Manjaro. I would consider myself a newbie-intermediate level linux user.

Though I've used Windows most my life, we use Linux servers (no GUI) at work, managing them is part of job description. I also own a late 2011 Macbook Pro with vanilla Arch Linux. I barely ever use it but boy, Arch really brought it back to life!

I've been reasonably happy with Manjaro so far, feels easy and intuitive to use but the community has made me aware that Manjaro is maybe a questionable choice. Since I don´t plan on distro-hopping a lot I want to get it right sooner rather than later.

Here's what I'm looking for:

• Rolling distribution, preferably. Though this machine is also used for work, our environment depends mostly on remote servers anyway. I'd rather have a distribution that provides the most recent packages for whatever I want
• I don´t mind running a distribution that forces me learn new things or do things in a different way, I kinda embrace it. I just don´t enjoy complexity for complexity's sake.
• KDE is my preferred Desktop Environment so far, though I guess that's not very relevant. I'd love to run Hyprland, but you know.. Nvidia :(
• I play games on Steam but from my understanding this doesn´t matter either. Everything I tried worked great, I don´t think I want a ¨gaming focused" distro or anything like that
• No Ubuntu, please.

My hardware, in case you feel is relevant!

OS: Manjaro Linux x86_64 Kernel: 6.5.5-1-MANJARO Shell: bash 5.1.16 Resolution: 2560x1440, 2560x1440 WM: KWin Terminal: konsole Terminal Font: MesloLGS NF 10 CPU: 12th Gen Intel i7-12700K (20) @ 4.900GHz GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate Memory: 23313MiB / 64087MiB

Hi friends. Any news on when the next explorer anthology is coming? Is it this year? Cheers!

I'm looking for a budget (< 100 euros) USB sound card. I was told several times that I should look for a DAC instead but I honestly don´t know the difference. All I want is to plugin my existing headset (headphones + microphone), listen to music and chat on Discord.

Not sure if it matters but I have the Beyerdynamic Custom Studio headphones and the Beyerdynamic Custom headset Gear microphone (it plugs directly into the headphones, making them an headset). The headset has 1x 3.5mm jack with a splitter into 2x 3.5mm jack.

I was recommended the Focusrite Scarlett Solo but I don´t think it has a "normal" microphone input? I don´t mind getting 1/4 inch adapters but doesn´t seem like it would work. I don´t play any instrument so it really doesn´t feel like the right tool for the job.

Thanks!

Hi friends. My quest to remove Google products from my life continues.

I've always been very fearful of swapping keyboard apps. I can think of no better way to track someone than to bug their keyboard. How can I trust any keyboard software, really? My wishlist:

• Something that addresses my privacy concerns
• Supports both english and portuguese dictionaries at the same time
• Has a dark theme
• Is available on some sort of store, so I don't have to download APKs for every single update

Thanks!

Hi friends. I'm looking to replace as many Google services as I can from my life and I am currently looking for a Google Keep alternative.

I want something extremely basic, like Google Keep, that just allows me to collaboratively create to-do lists. Me and my SO have a bunch of to-do lists such as shopping, house chores or work related tasks. I want to be able to share lists with her.

I've tried a bunch of apps suggested by some friends but honestly they're more geared to creating documents or elaborate notes. That's not what I want. I just want to create to-do lists and an interface that allows me to do that as simply as possible.

Thanks!

Hi all!

I pretty much only play constructed formats, mostly Explorer. I never create my own deck because I suck at it. I play lists made by other people that look fun and engaging. For context, I rank at least Diamond every season.

I tend to play a couple of drafts per set, mostly to get gems for the mastery pass. I also play all free phantom drafts. I find the drafts fun but I'm atrocious at it. I usually go 2-3 and perform pretty terribly. I don't think I've ever gone above the silver rank, but I guess I don't play that much either.

I'd like to educate myself on how to become a better drafter. I like drafting but as a F2P player, my win-rate is unsustainable. I tend to prioritize removal and "bombs" but my decks always feels like a pile of stuff that don't interact very well with eachover. I use the free Untapped extension that ranks the cards but I think it just aggravates my problem of getting a pile of nice cards that don't mesh together that well.

Any resource for a total newbie would be very appreciated. Cheers!