127992-morning-coffee-615-malgrave-is-the-best-edition

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COME AND GET IT!!!!  *rings cast iron triangle* *serves scoops of beans and bacon onto tin plates*
 
Well, Lola made it to level 46 yesterday - and the worst of all possible things happened.
 
I was forced to leave this:
 
for THIS:
 
I just can't handle it again. Not right now. Not so soon. Ugh. Grimhavenblightvault is just so ... so ... AWFUL. So ... purple and pink and eyebally ugly.
 
I just stopped playing. Retreated unto my plot and logged out for the rest of the weekend. Yes. It's that bad. I just can't stand anything about these zones and given that there is no PVP before 50, I guess I'm just stuck until something else comes along. I am seriously boycotting everything after Malgrave until I am supplied with some alternate means of leveling. I don't know if there is enough shiphand/adventure content to do to get me through the last few levels or not. I expect probably not but hey, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all over it.
 
What I don't get is why so much of Malgrave is dedicated to that level 50 area. I mean, seriously, stop. Backtrack that entire section of the map, from Sandstone Hold north. Take all that level 50 crap out of there and turn it into a level 47-49 questing hub, maybe with some dailies or something to push us into Crimson Badlands. Something, anything, to better use that big, empty area and allow us to to just skip over the entire Grimhavenblightvault zones.
 
I know, I am sure some developers worked very hard to make those zones, but really, I don't care. I am likely never going to see the Raids, and someone made those, too. Grimhavenblightvault is just ... well ... it's just bad. It's not appealing in any way. It's visually repulsive and the entire "disease and corruption" thing is just done to death. I get it, the Strain is bad, m'kay. The Entity is bad, m'kay. Gotta stay away from the Strain ... so ... yeah. Let me say away from the Strain completely!
 
*sigh*
 
Sorry to rant.
 
All the complaining aside, I love Malgrave. I love everything about Malgrave. It's my favorite zone in the game, possessing all the things I like best in WildStar and going almost completely without the things I hate.
 
Malgrave has Lopp getting revenge on Dreg and Falkrin. It's got a big mountain to climb and kill things along the way. It's got a Ghost Town. It's got a Beach Party. It's got Protostar doing Protostar things. It's got Freebots. You get to explode cattle with a big gun. Vultures, cubigs, lost pages from forgotten tomes, a vision quest. The Gauntlet is out there. The Hellrose Bowl. MARSHALL YATISH!!!
 
And Grimhavenblightvault has ... eyeballs. Everywhere.
 
So, Nexus, tell me why you think Malgrave is the best and everything after makes you want to cry. :lol:
			
				
	Edited June 15, 2015 by TexArcana	
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I do agree, Grimvault is just..., somehow not fun. "Here we go again" is what I think when I dragged my characters through there after the first.
 
I thought Malgrave was not fun, but it's actually pretty good, I started to like it more and more with each toon I run through it. Grimvault? Ugh.
 
Some of the Grimvault story elements are good, the crashed ship and the Phagelabs have some nice parts, but the rest seems like 99 kill quests and none are fun.	
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Good Morning Everyone!
 
 
I didn't log in at all this past weekend. Decided to take the weekend off and read. Read 3 very good books and started a fourth one. Yeah I read fast LOL.
 
As for Malgrave, yeah that's a zone I really didn't get in to. Not a big fan of all the dirt scenery. But it was a much better zone than Grimvault/Blighthaven. I agree with Tex, the eyes everywhere are just creepy. There is too much purple, and I like purple. Not a fan. Grimvault would have been much better if they had carried the Malgrave theme over for part of it (through South Grimvault), with some strain theme thrown in. And as you got closer to Blighthaven (North Grimvault), the strain becomes more prominent. That way when we got to Blighthaven, we wouldn't be sick of the strain theme. With Grimvault being so big, it was a little too much.
 
My favorite zone is Wilderrun with Celestian being a close 2nd. The colors and density of them both are awesome.
 
Hope you all have a great day!	
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			I really don't mind grimvault/blighthaven/defile, but I've only leveled 2 characters to 50. 	
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Oh, I am glad everything is okay, Fitchy! We was worried you'd fallen and couldn't get up!
 
 :lol:	
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Oh, I am glad everything is okay, Fitchy! We was worried you'd fallen and couldn't get up!
 
 :lol:
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LOL I must be showing my age again :P
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I don't think there's much in the world worse than being stuck at chuck e cheese. *shudders*
 
WILDSTAR!	
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I don't actually mind the Strain zones. To each their own! Not that I don't want more leveling paths, of course. xD
 
Speaking of Malgrave, yesterday Jack and I had a very successful Malgrave Trail! Wooo. I actually like that adventure. I don't really do much healing in it, but at least there are other things to keep myself busy. We were super close to getting gold, too, but when our caravan camped, they one of the dudes decided to camp right on the telegraph of a hellrose. Wat. Oh well. xD
 
The only thing is, I'm not sure I can remember the path we took, but it was relatively painless.
 
Oh and that meant we were able to advance our attunement quest! The little battle with a mechsuit was fun, but now Jack and I are on the dungeon requirement. Just need vet Skullcano and SSM. :3	
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I don't think there's much in the world worse than being stuck at chuck e cheese. *shudders*
 
WILDSTAR!
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I still don't get the level 50 crap though. Makes no sense to me and honestly, it makes me think the zone was left incomplete and the devs just had to put some fluff in there to make it look finished.
 
I mean, what happens in Sandstone Hold? I have yet to see a quest-giver out there, but there is sure a flight path ... so what's it for? Why have it if nothing is going on there?
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I love Malgrave! But I REALLY love the Grimvault stuff and storyline... and at least half of Blighthaven and The Defile are lavish in the golden beauty of exanite!
 
I honestly forgot all about the event in Northern Malgrave... since it's for max level, I don't recall being reminded of going back there, but seems like a cool event. I do like how it gives a reason to go back to older zones though, something I always feel is missing from these theme park games.
 
Had an awesome weekend in WildStar, btw! Got some friends up to level and we went through Blighthaven and some of the Defile, into the Lightspire. They were blown away! More WildStar fans for life.	
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Agreed 100%. When Jack and I first went through there, we were baffled by the northern half of Malgrave. There are a number of places even outside Sandstone Hold that look like they were supposed to be quest hubs but serve no apparent purpose.
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			Northern Malgrave is for the R-12 Containment event. Sandstone hold serves as a quest turn-in point for the associated daily, rep vendor location, and drop off locale for phase 1 of the gathering part of R-12. 	
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I just can't handle it again. Not right now. Not so soon. Ugh. Grimhavenblightvault is just so ... so ... AWFUL. So ... purple and pink and eyebally ugly.
 
I just stopped playing. Retreated unto my plot and logged out for the rest of the weekend. Yes. It's that bad. I just can't stand anything about these zones and given that there is no PVP before 50, I guess I'm just stuck until something else comes along. I am seriously boycotting everything after Malgrave until I am supplied with some alternate means of leveling. I don't know if there is enough shiphand/adventure content to do to get me through the last few levels or not. I expect probably not but hey, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all over it.
 
What I don't get is why so much of Malgrave is dedicated to that level 50 area. I mean, seriously, stop. Backtrack that entire section of the map, from Sandstone Hold north. Take all that level 50 crap out of there and turn it into a level 47-49 questing hub, maybe with some dailies or something to push us into Crimson Badlands. Something, anything, to better use that big, empty area and allow us to to just skip over the entire Grimhavenblightvault zones.
 
I know, I am sure some developers worked very hard to make those zones, but really, I don't care. I am likely never going to see the Raids, and someone made those, too. Grimhavenblightvault is just ... well ... it's just bad. It's not appealing in any way. It's visually repulsive and the entire "disease and corruption" thing is just done to death. I get it, the Strain is bad, m'kay. The Entity is bad, m'kay. Gotta stay away from the Strain ... so ... yeah. Let me say away from the Strain completely!
 
*sigh*
 
Sorry to rant.
 
All the complaining aside, I love Malgrave. I love everything about Malgrave. It's my favorite zone in the game, possessing all the things I like best in WildStar and going almost completely without the things I hate.
 
Malgrave has Lopp getting revenge on Dreg and Falkrin. It's got a big mountain to climb and kill things along the way. It's got a Ghost Town. It's got a Beach Party. It's got Protostar doing Protostar things. It's got Freebots. You get to explode cattle with a big gun. Vultures, cubigs, lost pages from forgotten tomes, a vision quest. The Gauntlet is out there. The Hellrose Bowl. MARSHALL YATISH!!!
 
And Grimhavenblightvault has ... eyeballs. Everywhere.
 
So, Nexus, tell me why you think Malgrave is the best and everything after makes you want to cry. :lol:
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I was very disappointed with how Malgrave to Grim was handled, imho, at least for Dom side. Already in Wilderrun it got strange, going along fighting Torine and then suddenly, Strain! Out of nowhere, for no reason.
 
Then comes one of the coolest zones, which captures the Wild West feel so perfectly - Malgrave! And here we see the conclusion of the Elder Cube quest, fun Lopp relations, great fights with Augmented...and then suddenly, you get a call and are dropped into Grim, already in progress.
 
Just think how different it could have been. After arriving in Grim, I ran down to fill in the map, where I saw the broken wall of Exanite, the fade from Malgrave sand to plains grass to sickly Strain purple...
 
How cool would it have been instead if you're going along happily in Malgrave, heading north to help some fellow Dommies against the bots, when you encounter the containment zone. "Containment for WHAT?" your character would ask, and like any good peon they'd send you in to investigate...the land surrounded by lazer gates, patrolled by robots, where the caravans stop...
 
There you'd see the broken wall. "Was that holding something back...or something IN?" you'd ask, and head in. The early quests would be to establish Dominion camps. Suddenly, a scout would look over the horizon..."What is...that?" they'd ask. A herd of wild animals, fleeing from...something. Then they'd come, the Strain creatures, attacking the camp perimeter in open world Events.
 
As you made your way deeper into Grimvault, you'd find out that the growths in Wilderrun were not an isolated incident...that the infection was far more widespread than you originally thought...
 
Instead it's like, "Thanks for helping with the Elder Cube. You'll never hear about that again. By the way, head up to Grimvault where we're fighting Strain. Oh yeah, they're all over and it's a big danger to the planet, etc. No need to travel; we'll fly you in."  :(
			
				
	Edited June 15, 2015 by VidPrime	
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I mean, what happens in Sandstone Hold? I have yet to see a quest-giver out there, but there is sure a flight path ... so what's it for? Why have it if nothing is going on there?
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Northern Malgrave is for the R-12 Containment event. Sandstone hold serves as a quest turn-in point for the associated daily, rep vendor location, and drop off locale for phase 1 of the gathering part of R-12. 
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			It's all good feedback, just remember this is WildStar 1.0. If they could start with 5.0 I am sure they would, but the only way to get there is to go through the first 4 versions and bring all of the experience and feedback with you!	
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			I honestly see alternate leveling zones for whitevale/farside/wilderrun coming first. The strain story is pretty central to WS lore atm, so I'm not sure the devs are going to put in a zone that just skips that whole deal. 	
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Northern Malgrave is for the R-12 Containment event. Sandstone hold serves as a quest turn-in point for the associated daily, rep vendor location, and drop off locale for phase 1 of the gathering part of R-12. 
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Good morning US, and good evening EU ;)
 
Happy to write this post from Italy, where I'm on vacation right now, taking a week off from WildStar.
Secretly been keeping up with all the changes that have been happening the past few days.
 
Welcome to Grimvault Tex :D
You'll learn to love the place eventually, don't worry.
Despite the strain, it also has some very nice things.	
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I honestly see alternate leveling zones for whitevale/farside/wilderrun coming first. The strain story is pretty central to WS lore atm, so I'm not sure the devs are going to put in a zone that just skips that whole deal. 
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Instead it's like, "Thanks for helping with the Elder Cube. You'll never hear about that again. By the way, head up to Grimvault where we're fighting Strain. Oh yeah, they're all over and it's a big danger to the planet, etc. No need to travel; we'll fly you in."  :(
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			Ya know, once today's thread is over ... I wonder if Chillia can merge it into my Malgrave/Grimvault feedback thread in the PVE Quest section.Or maybe y'all should give this same feedback over there. I know we're not supposed to dupe posts, but since this is really good feedback and  it's going to get locked down and never seen again, I'd like preserve it for posterity sake.	
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			In other news, here's to hoping we don't lose power this afternoon/evening. Stupid tropical storm. xD It better let me play mah vidya gaemz!	
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Wildstar is part of this year's E3 Humble Bundle Promotion: http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/news/2015-06-15-humble-bundle-promotion/
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			Wildstar is part of this year's E3 Humble Bundle Promotion: http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/news/2015-06-15-humble-bundle-promotion/	
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I'm one of those who find the Strain areas extremely dull and bleak (purple over MORE PURPLE!) until you get to the Defile. Then you get some nicer variety in places.
The main problem is that many MMOs follow the same design idea that the end-game MUST happen in some kind of monochromatic wasteland. WoW did it. TERA did it... It's cliche, lazy and tiresome. The fact that the Strain is basically the zerg from Starcraft but with a thousand eyes and body 'horror' mixed together doesn't help matters, either. 
 
Blighthaven is better since you get to see the contrast between the 'golden lands' of Drusera, and the Globellum's area is pretty neat (I find the water bubble really cool). But then it goes monochrome again (gold over GOLD!). At least there the place looks nice and there's two or three distinct landmarks that are...you know, distinct.
The Defile would be better if less of the zone was so similar to Grimvault. But it's, comparatively, fine.
			
				
	Edited June 15, 2015 by Ildur	
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			I actually find Grimvault/Blighthaven/Defile quite visually beautiful. It's more the story that I'd critique. xD	
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Yeah, I like the Defile just fine ... The Globellum bits were good fun. Probably the ONLY Strained areas worth my time. I like the exanite and prairie areas just fine, too. Scorchwing's area is very eye-pleasing, except you have to climb that plain, gray, featureless hill to get there.
 
I dunno. I'm usually very forgiving of art assets and terrain. I know it's a tough job.
 
At the same time, I'm not usually one to get cranky about "unfinished" zones, because I've learned the Devs almost always get back around to fleshing them out some more. But here we are, a year down the road, and I'm not convinced that the Open World that is, isn't is the Open World That Always Will Be.
 
And that makes me sad to think those wide, open, empty, pointless areas of the map will remain wide, open, empty and pointless for the life of the game. :(
			
				
	Edited June 15, 2015 by TexArcana	
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Yeah, I like the Defile just fine ... The Globellum bits were good fun. Probably the ONLY Strained areas worth my time. I like the exanite and prairie areas just fine, too. Scorchwing's area is very eye-pleasing, except you have to climb that plain, gray, featureless hill to get there.
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I actually find Grimvault/Blighthaven/Defile quite visually beautiful. It's more the story that I'd critique. xD
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Yeah, that's a good question. Just before I logged out last night (in Southern Grimvault) I noticed folks were recruiting for one of the group quests out in the Defile.
 
*sigh*
 
Maybe I should join those groups and just soak up the XP ... That'd get me part of the way to 50 with minimal involvement!	
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			The chat connection is probably due to Carbine thinking they want to make sure folk doing end game stuff could always communicate (e.g. if you're running around Blighthaven, you could catch someone advertising for a quest in the Defile or whatever).
			
				
	Edited June 15, 2015 by Naunet	
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Morning all!  
 
I'm sipping my first coffee of the day and reading your guys' comments on Grimvault.  My biggest disappointment with that area was the sheer amount of 5+man quests.  Too much, way too much!  It hurt my completionist heart to the core, that entire zone.  The other area with Scorchwing was another big disappointment what with the dailies being raid level events for the most part. SIGH.  The other beef with Grimvault are the damn teleport pads... so many times I stepped into them backing up from a fight or whatever, AHHHH, and I'd be so confused about where I was!
 
I didn't do any dungeon this weekend as I was busy.  I did login and do one shiphand and GOT GOLD again.  I seem to nail that particular shiphand every time, something I cannot say about some of the other shiphands (oh please to kill a billion minions AND find some random ship part that is randomly placed somewhere random... we get the point, no?).
 
I like Star-comm basin so far, I don't even know why.  It's just funny in some ways... or maybe I'm biased towards zones with robots and actual military structures.	
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I like Star-comm basin so far, I don't even know why.  It's just funny in some ways... or maybe I'm biased towards zones with robots and actual military structures.
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https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/127998-wildstar-in-e3-humble-bundle/
 
If you'd like some giggles at Crabin's PR ineptitude. All the very best drama, courtesy of the Three Stooges that make their promotions.	
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			Don't think I really have a fave zone or any one in particular that I tend to avoid. For me, they all have their good and bad bits, so when leveling I just follow the quests and see where they lead me.	
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Good Afternoon Everyone  :)
 
I really enjoy most zones up until Grimvault, and it's not that Grimvault is really awful IMO it just has....issues. Things like the quests don't lead you around to the next area very well. Maybe it's because you start running into a lot of 5-man quests as Dea pointed out. So you end up running in between those quests and often get turned around and unsure of where to go next.
 
As far as the Defile and Blighthaven go there just are not enough quests. There are too few things to do if you mainly run solo while pushing to 49-50. Grinding rep out in those areas is hard due to the lack of soloable quests. I just finished Defile reputation and there was maybe 4 quests, 5 if you count the one called....ummm...Shirts and Strains (20-man)?? that could be completed by starting the Lightspire Event and killing the normal mobs outside of Hopes Dare. 
 
I get to do Gaurdian of the grove next and when I was there yesterday, I found only 2 soloable quests. That should make it fun to hit esteemed  :mellow:
 
What I'm really not crazy about in any game is war or anything medieval. To me it's just over-used and boring.
 
Tex- I won't be online tonight, they released my brother from the hospital and I need to go see him to make sure he's got what he needs but I should be on for a few hours in the evenings this week and would be happy to have Lola trail along anywhere you want to go and I'll kill pixels with you  :wub:  	
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The main problem is that many MMOs follow the same design idea that the end-game MUST happen in some kind of monochromatic wasteland. WoW did it. TERA did it... It's cliche, lazy and tiresome. The fact that the Strain is basically the zerg from Starcraft but with a thousand eyes and body 'horror' mixed together doesn't help matters, either.
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Khandi, you can solo the Drusera tree event. It says it's 20+ but you get full credit even if it utterly fails. Hence the reason why it's called the Fail Tree. Start the event, let the strain kill the tree, and all you need to do is clear out the neutral primals that spawn around the tree in between phases (and those are just hit boxes with no attacks).
 
So basically you do the two daily quests and the tree event, then Scorchwing and the swamp giant dude when you have the chance. It's not fast by any means, but you can also use your vouchers there to speed it up, which is what I did.	
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Khandi, you can solo the Drusera tree event. It says it's 20+ but you get full credit even if it utterly fails. Hence the reason why it's called the Fail Tree. Start the event, let the strain kill the tree, and all you need to do is clear out the neutral primals that spawn around the tree in between phases (and those are just hit boxes with no attacks).
 
So basically you do the two daily quests and the tree event, then Scorchwing and the swamp giant dude when you have the chance. It's not fast by any means, but you can also use your vouchers there to speed it up, which is what I did.
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Hurgh I think our transformer got too excited/nervous about the upcoming tropical storm. >_< It was still sunny and not windy at all and then POP! There went the power. Wtf, power?
 
So much for my goals of playing WildStar today. D: It happened right as Jack and I logged in, too. And about 15 minutes into the baking time of some caramel brownies I'd put together. >_< Just had to leave them in the oven and hope it stayed hot enough to finish them. But they ended up being more... pudding-gooey than I'd been going for because of it. Ah well. xD
 
Ah well. Perhaps I shall find some time to log in tonight and continue work on the remodeling of Jack's housing plot anyway.	
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Oh, sweet merciful light of the universe ... I logged back in, put on my big boy undies and did my best to make some progress. And then THIS HAPPENED!
 
What a massive pain in the butt. Oh well, at least that means the Widowmaker isn't far behind. That's not the greatest, but if I close my eyes, I can pretend it's a Shiphand and that almost makes it better.
 
Wish me luck! 
 	
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Oh, sweet merciful light of the universe ... I logged back in, put on my big boy undies and did my best to make some progress. And then THIS HAPPENED!
 
What a massive pain in the butt. Oh well, at least that means the Widowmaker isn't far behind. That's not the greatest, but if I close my eyes, I can pretend it's a Shiphand and that almost makes it better.
 
Wish me luck! 
 
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