Title. I see posts of people completely owning this dungeon to power level, but I’m fighting for my life on every pull.
Running as a M/R with Devona as a W/R.
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Hello, everyone. I just finished my 4th(!) revision on my manuscript. Ive managed to shave it down substantially (believe it or not), as well as refining certain elements of the story. I'm getting closer to having the product I want to start shopping around, and I'm looking for some beta readers to give feedback for maybe one more major revision.
Blurb:
Life is rarely black and white. One person's heroism is another's villainy. This story follows several groups of people, each with their own motivations and struggles. A priestess in need of rescue, a brother with blossoming powers in need of protection, and a weapon to overthrow the established order. Each group fights for their own cause, but are pulled together into both conflict and cooperation by powers the can't yet see or understand. Where do you stand when you have to choose between duty and family? Loyalty to your faith and loyalty to your heart? Do they even have a choice? Or has their Fate already been predetermined?
In the city of Melgadria, where victory is often little more than survival, our protagonists face these questions, and people live and die based on their answers.
Content:
Moral relativity and the dilemmas caused
Found Family
Fate vs Choice
Loyalty to the State vs Loyalty to friends
Warnings:
Violence
Some Gore
Implied Abuse
Feedback Desired:
I'm looking for big picture views. Did the story hold your interest? Were the characters interesting? Believable? Relatable?
Does the dialogue feel natural?
A big question is the pacing. I do a lot of character work in the first few chapters, so that the rest of the story can play out without have to constantly explain motivations. My hope is that the reader understands each character well enough by that point, so that the "action" can just unfold. Does the story flow well at the start, or does it feel too slow?
This book is the first in an intended trilogy, so some story elements and concepts reflect that.
Timeline and Critique Swap:
I'm fully aware that this is a hefty manuscript, so I'm not a stickler on the time frame. I do ask that if you decide to read it and decide it is too much, or you just don't enjoy it, that you please tell me so I'm not expecting more. I won't throw a fit if you decide it isn't for you. Even if it does bore you, please tell me where it lost you, so I can take that into account.
I am open to full or partial swaps, as I love reading. I can provide a link to the first chapter upon request, in case you want to test it and see if you like it.
Thanks for reading this far, and I hope to hear from you. If you are interested, please DM me.
Was just in a match (ranked plat if it matters), and we had a support Nidalee. She tried to fight jungle in the river at level 2, lost, and completely imploded. I mean a full, nuclear meltdown. Immediately started spamming “gg”, trash talking our ADC, and just hurling slurs like it was her day job. I was top, so I didn’t see it how it went down, but both mid and our jg told her she had made a bad call, and she just doubled down on the hate. She took it to all chat, and the enemy jg told her he didn’t understand why she tried to contest him over scuttle when he had a level advantage and she had no backup.
The she just started running it down mid and bot, screaming at us in team chat the whole time. Notably, she was INSISTENT that we were all wrong and that she made the right call; WE had failed but not backing her up.
It was just a miserable experience all around. I reported her afterwards, and got a notice that she was penalized, which was a small comfort.
But the whole time I was just thinking to myself, “How could she not see that she was the problem?” Like, she was the villain of this story no matter how you look at it. Every now and then I get pissed and can get a little toxic, but I’m always aware I’m being a jerk, and I feel bad/stupid once I calm down.
I just can’t see how people can buy into their own BS so hard.
Highest rank I ever got to was Emerald 2, jungle main, so do with that what you will. I know to some people if you aren’t D1+, you basically aren’t ranked.
Never was I ever more miserable than at Gold 4. I would think I had escaped the Silver hellscape, but until you make it to G3, or G2 for a little extra safety, you still get the S1/S2 players pretty consistently. In fairness, some silver players are good and working their way higher. However, some genuinely belong in silver, but can’t come to terms with that fact. This leads to insane rage when their ego driven plays fail. Thing is, if they were better, they would know the play in question was bad from the jump.
I don’t know how many times I’d see a mid or ADC get caught out and die less than 20 seconds before Elder dragon spawns, thus screwing the whole 30+ minute match.
I thought of making this post after watching a friends match last night. He’s S4, and a B1 Trist lost his team that match when she stubbornly tried to 1v1 a MF who had stomped her all match, right before elder. She died, enemy team took elder in the ensuing 5v4, and that was that.
He was going off in chat about bronze players, and it humorously reminded me of my own past struggles.
What are you personal “ELO hells”?
I usually win around 55/60% of my games. Ranked Gold. Jungle exclusively. Rammus main, side picks are Warwick and Noc, when the comp calls for it. I play ranked, but I have a full time job and a family, so it’s maybe 1 game a night, sometimes every other day.
Been steadily climbing this season. Started Silver 3. I was a win from Gold 1, and took a loss. No big deal, it happens.
That was 2 weeks ago. I haven’t won a single ranked game since, and if I lose another I’m down to Gold 4. I don’t carry emotions into ranked, and my individual performances have been pretty solid, with the occasional exception. I don’t really chat unless a ping won’t suffice, and I never trash talk.
The matchmaking has been weird as well. Usually I see all golds or the occasional high silver or low plat. However, these last couple weeks I keep getting low silvers on my team specifically. It just seems unbalanced.
I’m trying to stay positive and just tough it out, but it’s starting to wear on me taking loss after loss when it feels like I’m getting teammates who should not be there, and just being set up to take a beating.
Is there a reason this is happening? Am I just having a streak of bad luck? I’m going to keep going, and I’m sure it will turn around eventually, but man it’s been rough.
P.S.- Could just be a coincidence, but several of the Silver players have been very temperamental.