Guide to getting cheapest Game Pass Ultimate (Conversion

Mine personally is a £6 nintendo ds lite.
Another good deal I got once was a black wii with motion controller and stand plus all wires etc for £10
Also got a white wii with all wires but no stand and it had a regular controller with a motion control attachment, also steering wheel and to my surprise when I turned it on it had wii sports inside all for £10 also
The wii's I got from cash converters and the ds was from a Japanese seller on ebay.

I would perfer to build one but if theres any recomendations i would love ot

Title. I currently only own a PC and no consoles. Can the older gen consoles like the 360 or PS3 run the game?

Can you Guys Help me out here. I really want to play fighting games correctly since pad-play is kinda gross/ makes certain moves harder to pull off.

I currently have a cable box in my room that I can plug into, but I'm getting my internet changed and losing that tomorrow.
I found this surge protector but I don't need all the outlets. I just need it for the ethernet cord slot. Does anyone know a cheaper option?

I want to get the kingdom hearts final mix games but i have a U.S. console, what's the cheapest and easiest way to play them?

Summer is starting and I've got about a week before i have to head out and get some job related things done in a different state. I want to spend one of my only free weeks gaming but i don't want to be spending $60 on games i will be playing for such a short time. So what are some cheap ways you know of to rent or acquire console games you wont don't have much time to play?

So I was bored & noticed that a lot of people feel that the Designer's Cut & Director's Cut are too expensive & that got me thinking about the, imo, predatory microtransactions that Borderlands 2 had at launch that no one talks about. This led to me wondering just which game is the most "consumer friendly" in terms of paid add-on content to free add-on content ratio for each game at launch... hence this post. Do note that I am not including Tales From the Borderlands in this list since the four episodes you had to pay for were part of the overarching main game & not what I would consider paid add-on content.
Edit: pretty much every story add-on adds new loot to the game but I didn't feel like writing that for every one so I only mentioned the new rarities.
Hold on to your butts 'cuz this shiz is looong.
Borderlands 1: No raid bosses in base game, has 1 raid boss added through paid content for a total of 1
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned (comes with major story content & more backpack space) - $9.99, included in GOTY & GOTY Enhanced.
Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot (comes with the Bank & two skill points [not levels, actual skill points]) - $9.99, included in GOTY & GOTY Enhanced.
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx (comes with major story content, a new level cap [from 50 to 61], more backpack space, a raid boss, & adds pearlescents) - $9.99, included in GOTY & GOTY Enhanced.
Claptrap's New Robot Revolution (comes with major story content, more backpack space, & two skill points) - $9.99, included in GOTY & GOTY Enhanced.
Total paid add-on content if you bought the base game: $39.96.
Next-gen console upgrade: not free, must buy the GOTY Enhanced.
Freebies: New level cap (from 50 to 58 without Knoxx DLC, from 61 to 69 with Knoxx DLC).
Borderlands 2: 2 raid bosses in base game, has 8 raid bosses added through paid content for a total of 10
Mechromancer Pack (adds the Vault Hunter Gaige) - $9.99, free through pre-order, included in GOTY & Handsome Collection.
Captain Scarlett & Her Pirate's Booty (comes with major story content, adds seraph gear, two raid bosses, & heads/skins) - $9.99, included in Season Pass ($29.99), GOTY, & Handsome Collection.
Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage (comes with major story content, adds seraph gear, heads/skins, & one raid boss) - $9.99, included in Season Pass ($29.99), GOTY, & Handsome Collection.
Creature Slaughterdome (new co-op arena) - $4.99, included in GOTY & Handsome Collection.
Collector's Edition Pack (comes with heads/skins for base Vault Hunters & gear) - $4.99, free through pre-order, included in GOTY & Handsome Collection.
Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt (comes with major story content, adds seraph gear, two raid bosses, & heads/skins) - $9.99, included in Season Pass ($29.99), GOTY, & Handsome Collection.
Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack (comes with new level cap [from 50 to 61], new max difficulty [Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode], & adds pearlescents) - $4.99, included in Season Pass ($29.99), GOTY, & Handsome Collection.
Psycho Pack (adds the Vault Hunter Krieg) - $9.99, included in GOTY & Handsome Collection.
Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep (comes with major story content, seraph gear, one new raid encounter, & heads/skins) - $9.99, included in Season Pass ($29.99), GOTY, & Handsome Collection.
Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack Two: Digistruct Peak Challenge (comes with heads/skins, new challenge map, new level cap [from 61 to 72], & new max difficulty level [OP Levels 1 to 8]) - $4.99, included in Handsome Collection
T.K. Baha's Bloody Harvest (comes with minor story content & heads/skins) - $2.99, included in Handsome Collection.
The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler (comes with minor story content & heads/skins) - $2.99, included in Handsome Collection.
How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day (comes with minor story content & heads/skins) - $2.99, included in Handsome Collection.
Mad Moxxi & the Wedding Day Massacre (comes with minor story content & heads/skins) - $2.99, included in Handsome Collection.
Sir Hammerlock Vs. the Son of Crawmerax (comes with minor story content, one raid boss, & heads/skins) - $2.99, included in Handsome Collection.
Commander Lillith & the Fight for Sanctuary (comes with major story content, effervescent gear, one raid boss, heads/skins, new level cap [from 72 to 80], & new max difficulty [OP Levels 9 to 10]) - $14.99 (was free for the first month of its release), not included in any edition of the game
Each of the 6 Vault Hunters have five DLC skin packs. Each pack comes with one head & skin for $0.99 each, coming to a grand total of $29.70 in just cosmetic packs that don't include gear. These skins are only included in the Handsome Collection.
Total paid add-on content if you bought the base game without pre-ordering: $134.55 or $119.59 if you buy the season pass. Subtract $14.98 from both totals if you pre-ordered the base game & subtract another $14.99 if you got the Commander Lilith DLC during its free month for a minimum total of $89.62 in paid add-on content if you didn't buy the GOTY or Handsome Collection.
Next-gen console upgrade: not free, must buy the Handsome Collection & Commander Lilith DLC.
Freebies: Various heads/skins & gear through limited time events & having saves for other games on your system.
Borderlands the Pre-Sequel: 1 raid boss in base game, none were added after release for a total of 1
Shock Drop Slaughter Pit (new co-op arena) - $4.99, free through pre-order, included in Handsome Collection.
Doppelganger Pack (adds the Vault Hunter Timothy [Jack]) - $9.99, included in season pass ($29.99) & Handsome Collection.
Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack: The Holodrome Onslaught (comes with heads/skins, new co-op arena, & new level cap [from 50 to 60]) - $9.99, included in season pass ($29.99) & Handsome Collection.
Baroness Pack (adds the Vault Hunter Aurelia) - $9.99, included in season pass ($29.99) & Handsome Collection.
Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2: Claptastic Voyage (comes with major story content, adds glitch gear, heads/skins, & new level cap [from 60 to 70]) - $9.99, included in season pass ($29.99) & Handsome Collection.
Total paid add-on content if you bought the base game without pre-ordering: $44.95 or $34.98 if you buy the season pass. Subtract $4.99 from both totals if you pre-ordered the base game for a minimum total of $29.99 in paid add-on content if you didn't buy the Handsome Collection.
Next-gen console upgrade: not free, must buy the Handsome Collection.
Freebies: Various heads/skins & gear through limited time events & having saves for other games on your system.
Borderlands 3: No raid bosses in base game at launch, has 2 raid bosses added with free update & 2 raid boss added with paid content for a total of 4
Butt Stallion Pack (adds a grenade and gear cosmetics) - only available through Season Pass 1 ($49.99).
Gold Weapon Skins Pack (adds gear cosmetics) - $4.99, free through pre-order.
Gearbox Cosmetic Pack (adds gear cosmetics) - 4.99, included in Deluxe & Super Deluxe editions.
Neon Cosmetic Pack (adds heads/skins & gear cosmetics) - $4.99, included in Deluxe & Super Deluxe editions.
Retro Cosmetic Pack (adds heads/skins & gear cosmetics) - $4.99, included in Deluxe & Super Deluxe editions.
Toy Box Weapons Pack (adds two guns, a grenade, and a trinket) - $4.99, included in Deluxe & Super Deluxe editions.
Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot (comes with major story content, heads/skins, & gear cosmetics) - $14.99, included in Season Pass 1 ($49.99).
Guns, Love, & Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock (comes with major story content, one raid boss, heads/skins, & gear cosmetics) - $14.99, included in Season Pass 1 ($49.99).
Bounty of Blood: A Fistful of Redemption (comes with major story content, heads/skins, & gear cosmetics) - $14.99, included in Season Pass 1 ($49.99).
Psycho Krieg & the Fantastic Fustercluck (comes with major story content, heads/skins, & gear cosmetics) - $14.99, included in Season Pass 1 ($49.99).
Designer's Cut (comes with a new co-op arena & a fourth skill tree for each Vault Hunter) - $14.99, included in Season Pass 2 (29.99).
Each of the 4 Vault Hunters have a Final Form Cosmetic Pack that includes a new skin, head, & character model that are $9.99 each for a total of $39.96. These are included in both Season Passes & Next Level edition.
Director's Cut (comes with minor story content, heads/skins, one raid boss, all three Vault Cards which will be released in waves throughout the year & are selectable & permanent add-ons, & behind the scenes content) - no official price has been released yet but will presumably be $14.99, included in Season Pass 2 (29.99).
Each of the 4 Vault Hunters will have Disciples of the Vault Cosmetic Packs that are similar to the Final Form Cosmetic Packs and will presumably follow the same pricings, $9.99 each for a total of $39.96. These are included in Season Pass 2 (29.99). This would make a total of $99.88 of just cosmetics including all cosmetic packs that don't include gear.
Total paid add-on content if you bought the base game without pre-ordering: $194.81 or $104.93 if you buy both season passes. Subtract $4.99 from both totals if you pre-ordered the base game for a minimum total of $99.94 in paid add-on content.
Next-gen console upgrade: absolutely free for all content.
Freebies: New level cap (from 50 to 65), new max difficulty (from Mayhem Level 3 to 11) , new bank space, new backpack space, new ammo space, new Lost Loot Machine space, various heads/skins & gear, various limited time events that offer unique gear (two of which include new maps) but are only live for a short time each year, & two Takedowns which each add a new challenge area & a raid boss.
So BLTPS is the cheapest with BL1 being a close second though I'd consider them equal. BLTPS comes with its one raid boss while BL1 doesn't have any without paid content, but BL1 actually has a free level cap raise while BLTPS pulls a BL2 and locks all level caps behind paid content.
BL3 is the most expensive if you buy everything individually & is the most obscene in purely cosmetic packs but interestingly is cheaper than BL2 if you buy both season passes & didn't pre-order either game nor picked up the Commander Lilith DLC during its free month. On top of that, look at all the free stuff that was added in BL3 compared to BL2. BL2 literally requires 3 DLCs totaling $24.97 for max difficulty & max level cap. Even if you buy the Handsome Collection you still have to buy the Commander Lilith DLC Since it's literally the one thing not included, so no matter how you slice it you have to pay money to get max difficulty & max level cap in BL2 whereas all of that is free in BL3. In terms of raid bosses, both base games come with two for free though the BL3 ones are at the end of long challenge maps while BL2's has one you pay eridium to fight with the other one only spawning through mob manipulation. While BL2 offers more story & raid bosses I feel BL3 is equal with BL2 in terms of getting what you pay for if not better than BL2 because of all the free content. Oh, & BL3 has the best sidequests of the series & Guns, Love, & Tentacles is the best DLC of the series even over Assault on Dragon's Keep. Fight me!
Edit 2: fixed an error

General / QoL

• Dark Mode is now available as a setting and on by default. We also tied down the guy (who wrote the flashingly bright note about seizures) in a opthalmic speculum, in a dark room while opening and closing the said bright note for 3 hours.
• Light Mode uses grayish / genshin-impact-blue color scheme.
• Users can now map keys in settings.
• New user center setting : Allow Teyvat Times to publish my in-game alias (not username) and last 4 digits of my UID (When you set a world record of hunting fowl and etc.)
• Added setting for persistent aiming mode. If turned on, your character will try to get back to aiming mode even when you dash or you are knocked back.
• Going in and out of aiming mode is now much smoother. You can still dash, cast skills and still keep the cursor on. Inspired by Tombraider? Idk why I wrote this.
• When crafting an item and you run out of materials for it, the item selected stays in place and will not scroll all the way down.
• When choosing characters for the abyss, the preview button to see which enemies you will face is also there.
• When finishing an abyss floor, you can return to the abyss menu without ending the "run" to collect rewards or browse around.
• Fixed a bug with sucrose/xinqiu bonus materials when crafting.
• Fixed a bug with razor's c1 constellation not increasing his damage and not displaying a buff indicator.
• All buffs are now grouped/stacked by icon category, attack/defense/regen etc. Hovering the cursor in the grouped icon will display verbose info. (e.g. thrilling dragon tales, character talent, gouba pepper etc).
• Daily Login Bonus is permanent.
• Claim All and Repeat Buttons are now available in Blacksmith, Battlepass, Expeditions and the Like.
• VA/CV list is displayed instead of current selected voice language in character details. (e.g. if you go to a character screen, and have english voice language, you will only see english voice actor and you have to change language just to find out who the cn and jp voice actor is)
• Hide ui/hud setting and dedicated hotkey is added for creating fan-made cinematics.
• Unless it is an artifact or a weapon, an item previously recorded and consumed will no longer display as "new"
• Added shield bar on top of health bar
• Added party icon on the top right ui and a dedicated hotkey to switch parties
• Added hotkey to switch to your saved Comps 1 to 4
• Resin is now always visible at the top of UI (without needing to open up the map)
• Moved UID a bit further down by 2px so it doesn't overlap with the buttons
• Changed UID Opacity by 75% and has grayish text color, inspired by "windows is not activated"
• Added a space character on the launcher download text (e.g. "Downloading75%" into "Downloading 75%")
• Bonus damage from element-affected status (e.g. "deal 15% increased damage against cryo affected enemies" are enclosed in parentheses
• Expedition Slot Remembers Last Character Used
• Expedition Slot Remembers Last Hour Used
• All map objects are navigatable for consistent experience. and are not overridden by quests. You will always be directed towards the one you choose.
• Navigated Map Object Always Display Their Distance and Light Beacon (e.g. Leylines not having those)
• Added enemy weakspot zones with varying degrees (green,orange,red) in the adventurer's handbook, if you kill 150 of a certain enemy type. Humanoid types generally have the head as a weakspot.
• Fraction of Fraction of a bullet time effect and a red particle glows when you hit the weakest spot of an enemy.
• Reading and Clearing Story/Voice Lines syncs across all devices you own.
• Statues' Remaning Healing Energy now Visible on the Tower Itself. Dat Glowy thingies deplete when you use them.
• Statue's First Healing Tick Revives Fallen Characters by 10hp%. Second Healing Tick is Full Restoration or until Remaining Healing Energy Allows it.
• Critical strike Indicator
• Enemies in the handbook are dynamically arranged by type , then alphabetically. All hypostasis are lined up.
• All enemies are displayed in the handbook regardless of what region you currently are.
• Journal (J) is now binded to (F1), since this is where you look commissions for rather than the Adventurer Handbook (F1)
• Journal , Handbook and Archive are compressed and combined.
• We bought a time machine and went back to the time when we did the hypostasis event. The last challenge in the event is now a new hypostasis after the three old hypostasis.
• Andrius's Boss Fight is now properly a Trounce Domain, For consistency with other weekly boss.
• Changing a Team Member in your active roster won't override that slot in your saved team comp
• Active Roster and Saved Team Comps are now a seperate thing
• Selecting a Saved Team Comp will replace the Active Roster (so you can replace one member before "deploying")
• Clicking Deploy in a Saved Team Comps will immediately send you back to the game
• Switching Party Members is smoother than an oiled tits smooth, regardless of network latency. Especially in Single Player Mode.
• Resource and Player Position in the map has better visual clarity. (Imagine klee collecting wolf berries or philly mushrooms)
• Option to adjust map size , and resource/player icons.
• PC , map pin size collision reduced. If I clicked Taishan Mansion, I meant Taishan Mansion.
• Mora , Artifact Limits and etc always visible in inventory screen regardless of which tab you are on
• Blacksmith remembers the quantity of ores you refine
• Adventurer's Handbook remembers the last filter you used when browsing enemies (all, elite ,boss)
• Adventurer's Handbook points you the next enemy you are hunting (when you kill 1 ruin guard, you dont have to open handbook again to see the next one in the map)
• Adventure's Handbook knows ALL of the elite enemy locations. The list seem to be manually added instead of dynamic, possibly due to chest concealment similar mechanic. If you hunt ruin guards, I think the book only lists 4 of them in the whole map.

Gameplay

• Training dummy added near favonius hq. You have to do a story quest and spend resource to have it constructed.
• Enemies now have a difficulty rating. The higher the difficulty rating is, the higher character xp/gold they will provide. XP scales off your adventure rank level. Extra Large enemies have a guaranteed chance to drop 1-4* artifacts. They will respawn longer as a consequence. It doesn't make sense that a huge lawachurl and smol hilichurl both give 20xp.
• First and Second Dash now have different color indicators.
• If you used 2 dashes consecutively, a subtle glow/indicator pops around your character for when you are able to dash again. Inspired by Deadcells.
• Added Treasure Compass for Dragonspire.
• All excess anemoculus/geoculus/dendroculus and crimson agate can now be traded in the antiques shop.
• Treasure Compass will automatically change depending on what region you are on. If you don't have a treasure compass for that region, it will remain unchanged from what is the last equipped.
• Treasure Compass search radius is increased region wide. It will point the "nearest" treasure chest's direction. The color of the direction changes the farther you are.
• Treasure Compass will now consider puzzles as treasure, and display a different indicator. It won't tell you what steps to take to open it, though.
• Added a domain for gladiator and wanderer's troupe artifact sets. Artifact drop rate from world bosses are FURTHER reduced. Weekly boss artifact drops are unaffected.
• Prototypes will now drop at least once in the last weekly boss you face, if you are unlucky. The chance to acquire multiple prototypes within a week is unchanged. Drop rate is reduced consequently.
• World Boss Artifact Drop Rates are now visible in the adventurer's handbook.
• Prototype Drop Rates are now visible.
• Domain Artifact Drop Rates are now visible.
• 1-3* Weapons are now craftable. They will require a shit ton of ores and materials. Cold Steel for instance will require 200 pieces of mint.
• Added 6 new craftable weapons. Of course it will require prototypes you f2p piece of shit.
• Craftables, Shops and Loot have higher priority versus signboards and npc.
• Monsters and Enemies have higher priority (when attacking or casting skills) versus ores and flaming/freezing flowers and other resource objects.
• You can now equip up to 3 gadgets.
• New Action : long pressing a gadget opens up Gadget Wheel to switch gadgets without opening the inventory. Gadget goes into long cooldown.
• Domains now consider your condensed resin before saying you are out of resin.
• After completing a domain challenge, The start challenge object will respawn in the center of the arena. Game will no longer go into a loading screen. This is for the console peasants.
• When claiming domain challenge rewards, it also displays how much condensed resin you have (so you know you can still do 1 more, or gtfo) when it asks if you want to continue or leave
• Anemo Hypostasis will die if you manage to collect all the orbs, for a more consistent experience with other hypostasis.
• Weekly boss timers are now consistent. (Some have none , some at top, some at bottom)
• Dvalin's Mini Cutscene will hold your altitude (if you are gliding) when it triggers
• Childe's Mini Cutscene is now automatically skippable (named "skip when already viewed once" found in settings).
• Food is now sortable by type.
• When choosing a revival food, the icon sizes are reduced and displayed in a grid rather than a long line. When in single player mode it slows down time. Like witcher 3 or tomb raider.
• MRE can now hold all types of food, up to 3 slots.
• You can long click/hold the MRE button and switch the food it holds. Goes into long cooldown.
• Charged Longsword and Bow Attacks (for claymoreless comps) will now allow you to mine ores more effectively. This affects rock shield wall hilichurls as well.
• No one uses claymore charged attacks, even with stunned enemies. Claymore charged attacks now deal increasing damage the longer it was charged uninterrupted. You will get staggered and take more damage as a consequence. The last attack of a charged attack deals more damage and wipes half of the planet's population.
• Constellation can now be toggled on/off

Gacha / Shop

• The first cheapest crystal top up (60+60) has been buffed to (80+80) crystals. We realized it wasn't even enough for a single pull and we laughed until our sides hurt. As a tiny token of goodwill this will retroactively affect everyone who purchased this item for n amount of times the person has purchased this item.
• All in-game currencies (primo/fate/genesis/future except mora) are always displayed in the topright corner when wishing and shopping.
• Pity Counter. When it reaches 75 it glows like christmas.
• Gifting of purchase is now possible. In the case of chargebacks , the gifter gets banned. Gifts can only be sent after 60 days of purchase, and usable by the recipient after a week. Maximum of 1 gift per month.
• Gifter must have a track record of >= $20 of purchase within the last 3 months.
• Gifting is a sensitive topic. Chargeback scams fucks up game companies, banks and third party payment platforms.
• Purchase history and total is added to track expenses.
• Gambling addicition reminders when you rage spend. Also alerts a mhy employee when huge purchases are being made in error. It displays a huge red alert on the employees screen.

In Consideration

• Reworked Elemantal Mastery to also increase Elemental Skill Damage by 25% (base, some current/future characters might interact with less or more) of your total Elem Mastery. Consequently, Skill Damage from Attack Ratios are lowered. Think of ad/ap ratios in League of Legends.
• Character skills to deal compound damage of physical+element when using a weapon (e.g. diluc smash bouncing off pyro slimes, despite his big sword being sharp and shiny)

Items

• Wind Catcher Gadget now refills with anemo energy particles.
• Prototype Aminus/Archaic's proc cooldown refinement is restored. (Used to be 15/14/13/12/10)
• Boar Traps are now craftable and equippable as a gadget. You can leave it up to 48 hours to check if you caught something.
• Cast net are now craftable and equippable as a gadget. Can be used to catch multiple fish and crystal flies.
• Crab Traps , can be left in the wild for 48 hours and catches 3 crabs per trap.
• Inflatable balloon for safe swimming. Requires anemo slime materials.
• Portable towers no longer expire.
• Portable towers max deployed count is increased up to 5.
• Condensed Resin can now be used on World Boss
• Condensed Resin cap increased to 5.
• Artifact Inventory Limit increased to 5000.
• Weapon Cooldown Indicator displayed as status icon (sacrificial sword, archaic, etc)
• Seelie Companions give 1% passive bonus CharXP(Blue), CompanionXP(Purple), Mora(Gold)
• Crafting Table no longer consumable
• Portable Cooker no longer consumable (requires fuel , 1 fire stamen = 3 uses)
• Portable Warmer no longer consumable (requires fuel , 1 fire stamen = 3 uses)
• Items mined are ores
• Refined ores are ingots
• Option to refine Magical Crystal Chunk without resin, but with immensely increased cost and time

Coop

• You can see the general direction and how far an ally is like in pubg.
• In-game voice chat for random players in matchmaking

Battlepass / 12 Episode Anime

• Battlepass can now have excess points up to 3000xp , for the times when you do your reputation bounty and missions earlier before the next battlepass comes out.
• When a new Battlepass starts, it starts on mondays , so no mission gets left out. All excess days until the next new-battlepass-monday are dynamic and flexible.
• When using a condensed resin in a domain, it counts as 2 domains cleared in the Battlepass
• Cooking ingredients (sugar, bacon, cheese, etc) counts as cooking in the Battlepass
• You don't need to switch tabs in the battlepass when using claim all. Clicking claim all, claims all.
• New battlepass campaign for 12 episode anime. Milestones are displayed on website and forum. Sales earned are transparent in game and website. Inspired by dota 2 international.
• Percentage of battlepass campaign sales will go to anime funding.
• Having at least 1 season of anime puts mihoyo in the "mainstream" status in the leagues of Fate, Princess Connect, Grand Blue etc. It solidifies the IP.

Quests

• Option to abandon story quests (restart from scratch) to prevent blocking of coop
• Repeatable Quests Ideas below. Coop and matchmaking is enabled. 15~30 minutes long, walking pace. Not mandatory for daily activity/event/battlepass for people with little time to play. Gives worthwile rewards (3 pieces of adventurer's wit, 5k mora etc)
• Long escort caravan mission, from Mondstadt all the way to Liyue. From Springvale to Liyue. People and Caravan must survive. Enjoy the beautiful world of Teyvat, optional pit stops, coop chat/discord, region guard checkpoints and enemy ambush. Multiple client routes available. Go through dragonspire for a shorter, but more dangerous path. Get harassed by Fatui at borders. Board a ship and load the caravan. Get checked by Border Patrol for smuggled goods and diseases.
• Repeatable Town defense without towers. Defend the Town from hordes of invaders. Something fun with coop.
• Fatui and Friends Battle Royale. All npcs and doors disabled. You and the fatui bots duke it out. Healing only comes from special food that you pick up. Matchmaking enabled.
• Beach Defense. Prevent the Fatui from invading the coastline. Your friends rain arrows from starsnatch cliff.
• Beach to Mondstadt/Springvale goods escort services.

Elemental Reactions

• Vaporize's Steam deals aoe damage
• Overloads damage (electro->pyro) now deals x1.5 (pyro) damage
• Overloads damage (pyro->electro) now deals x2 (pyro) damage.
• Overload's knockback decreased significantly
• Superconduct's damage (electro->cryo) now deals 2x (cryo) damage
• Superconduct's damage (cryo->electro) now deals 1.5x (cryo) damage
• Superconduct's negative armor debuff is moved to Melt
• Melt gains the negative armor debuff due to the sudden temperature change, making surfaces brittle.
• Melt damage consequently reduced. (pyro->hydro) at x1.4% , (hydro->pyro) at x1.8%
• Geo New Reaction : Smoldering Rock or something (pyro->geo)(reverse not applicable) deals x0.3 (pyro damage) on top of crystallize
• Geo New Reaction : Mud or something (hydro->geo)(geo->hydro) deals x0.1 (geo damage) on top of crystallize, slows enemy movement
• Geo New Reaction : Snow or something (hydro->geo)(reverse not applicable) deals x0.2 (cryo damage) on top of crystallize, slows enemy attack speed
• Geo New Reaction : Seeds or something (dendro->geo) deals x0.1 (dendro damage) on top of crystallize, restores 3% of your hp. Or entangle. Prevents enemy movement (can still attacc and cast spells)

Enemies

• Enemies inside domains and abyss have their return-to-spawn-point-then-regenerate-to-full-health disabled.
• Enemy AI a bit smarter. Those with mobility skills (whopper, smol geovishap, cycin mages) won't follow you to drown in the water. The game will not check if you are wet , but if you are in a swimming state.
• Enemies attack cycle improve. Fixed bug when enemies stop attacking. Baedou Problems.
• Hydro Abyss Mage's and Hydro Fatui Gunner's Hydro Barrier now takes the same damage rate/ratio from opposing elements (cryo,electro) for consistency.
• Hydro barrier new opposing element : Geo. It makes it harder to maintain the water shield due to the mud soaking up the water and adding weight.
• Boss Childe's Spirit Whale Attack generates water in the sides of the arena, pushing you towards the center. You must have enough stamina to keep dashing to the sides before he does this, or you will have to perfectly dodge the spirit whale attack.
• Hydro SamaChurl now heals at a rate of +300/HoT per AR Milestone instead of percentage. This is for when you are hunting a LawaChurl Bounty that is near dead and healed to full health in 3 seconds. Having a fixed amount of healing ensures that it is big enough for the intended smaller enemies and portionally good enough for large enemies. The other option is to use different healing ratios for small and large enemies.
• Queen of Pain , I mean Cycin Mages have a stagger window when they are about to cast their almost-undispellable shield
• Zed , I mean Shadow Fatui Agent makes use of his shadows to dodge your attack sometimes.
• Smol Geo Vishap now drops less geo shields
• Smol Geo Vishap now uses his rolling attack near you, not 150m away from you.
• Smol Geo Vishap now burrows a bit less frequently
• Ruin Hunter doesn't stay in the air up and raining artillery forever , in consideration of bowless comps
• Fatui Cryo and Hydro Gunner Turn Rate Reduced by 10% when on Spray Mode.
• Primo GeoVishap now has a tired/exhausted animation, instead of standing still and looking at you and what life could have been for 10 seconds.
• Primo GeoVishap spin attack now has a 0.2 dodge window (previously none) and Spin Radius Decreased by 100m.

Characters

• Dvalin's Cutscene when you dispel his barrier is removed and much smoother. He just falls in place and no clipping.
• Character's "Main Stat" is now visible in attributes. Previously you can only know it when ascending or when using google, or if you really have a big brain.
• All characters passive talents are now combat related.
• All characters now have their own cooking/exploration/crafting/smithing talents. It is possible not to have OR have multiple talents in each category. We get it , everyone can taste what a good gravy is, but not everyone can make a good gravy.

Ayaka

• Alternate sprint binded to a different hotkey.
• Yes I came from the future.

Albedo

• Elevator can be activated to go up and down by using the F key.
• C2 stack counter / indicator via particles (think of razor geo sigils)
• C4 plunged attack covers albedo's sword in geo energy (like noelle, but smol)
• C6 crystallize shield has a different shape (leaf)

Amber

• Increased ultimate radius by a tiny bit.
• Allow targeting of ulimate by holding the ultimate button.
• If baron bunny is present in the ultimate radius, it will absorb all pyro damage and deal it as bonus damage when it blows up.
• If baron bunny was "charged" with pyro rain and hit with a C2 charged shot, it will trigger a micheal bay explosion animation.

Barbara

• Restored Barbara's Energetic Voice Lines
• New Lines sold seperately as Dark Barbara™ , comes with a Dark Dress
• C6 Revive indicator is now visible as a buff.
• C4 now generates flying energy particles instead of instantly regaining energy. Mind you that this is a fucking nerf to this piece of shit healer that freezes you. It's just that there's no flying particles when you use this hero.

Beidou

• Casting the elemental skill applies a strong taunt and re-initializes enemies attack loop.
• Bullet Time effect added when triggering a perfect counter, when playing in single player mode.
• The ultimate's chain lightning deals tiny spark damage if it didn't jump.
• C2 chain lightning has a different color.
• C4 buff is triggered when you do a perfect counter (Taking damage to activate a skill promotes bad gameplay)
• C4 perfect counter grants the maximum damage bonus
• C4 shield has a different color.
• C6 has aura on the ground (inspired by Dota 2's Necrophos , but purple)

Bennet

• C6 Ultimate pyro infusion just adds pyro damage to your attacks, and won't convert them fully into pyro.
• C6 Ultimate restores up to 100% hp.

Childe

• Improved manly posture when in aiming mode
• C4 Riptide slash and flash uses different coloparticles/animation
• C6 has an indicator when it works and when it is available

Chongyun

• Cryo Field's Cryo infusion just adds cryo damage to your attacks, and won't convert them fully into cryo.

Diluc

• What seriously? You really want more?
• Fuck this guy in particular
• Elemental Sword Duration Indicator added
• C6 his flames has some bluish tint

Diona

• Fixed shield duration bug and increased by additional 1.1 seconds per claw.
• Shield ratio based off max hp increased by 10%
• C2 reduces skill cooldown by -2 seonds (press) and -4 (hold). The coop shield is added by default out of the box. Anything coop should not be locked behind a paywall because it will hurt the game and fanbase.
• C4 has been reworked to grant normal and aimed uncharged shots 25% chance to deal charged attack shots.
• C6 radius is increased and uses a different color.

Fischl

• Ultimate now deals tiny bit of damage per 0.2 seconds tick when making contact with enemies (aside from getting hit by lightning once)
• Ultimate can fly/pass through thorn walls. I'm looking at you Dendro Samachurl.
• Shadow Raven Let Night F---!!!
• C4 Ultimate hp restored now scales off damage dealt by the ult.

Ganyu

• holding the elemental skill allows you to aim and won't make you backdash
• C4 Freezing Field changes color intensity per damage increase
• C6 free frost charged arrow now works with normal unaimed attacks.
• C6 uses a different particle color. Sometime it turns into a bazooka.

Jean

• Reduced Increased swaying of boobs by a tiny amount while holding the skill. You can kinda feel them slapping against your face. You can almost describe their softness and warmth in a minimum of 10 pages apart from you going sommelier describing how deep her sweat tastes like.
• Jean's Charged Attack Launch Height is too damn high that you cant even hit the enemy, so - Reworked Jean's Charged Attack : Holding the attack button launches the enemy in the air. If you keep holding it down you will perform 3 slashes in the air. If you let go early you will stay on the ground.
• Base Attack Increased by +5
• Jean can now pick up the slimes dropped by enemies and use it against them for a bighead move
• Ultimate radius is increased
• Ultimate Wall Mechanic Reversed. Enemies are now trapped inside. When you use your skill (usually to regain energy) you can air-wall slam them. Block Projectiles from outside.
• If any of you actually played jean support, a normal person would use ult to heal, cast skill to regain energy, then switch back to other characters. It doesn't make fucking sense to push them outside your wind arena because you want to fight inside the swirl/healing zone.
• Ultimate swirls every 0.2 seconds , depending on what elements are inside. Field Changes Color Each Time Like a Disco Ball
• Ultimate now slowly succs enemies to the center(without lifting them up)
• Ultimate Damage is consequently reduced.
• C1 Uses a different colored windblast
• C2 Buff Indicator
• C4 uses a different color wind field
• C6 Ultimate is now an aura and moves with you. To break away from "buffed area" convention.
• C6 Ultimate will get you to keep the windsaber for the ult's duration
• C6 Shield Buff Indicator via Particle and Status Icon

Kaeya

• Base attack incresed by 5
• Elemental Skill (Hold) Sprays Ice , think of Igni but Ice in Witcher 3 or DND's Burning Hands
• C2 Icicles light up when you defeat an enemy indicating that it really works
• C4 Barrier is of different shape
• C6 uses a different icicle particle for bling purposes

Keqing

• Aiming mode feels a lot smoother. You can aim while moving and cursor immediately shows and the kungfu pose is only done when throwing the stilleto.
• When in single player mode, casting your ultimate produces a bullet time effect.
• C4 Buff Indicator
• C6 Description is confusing as fuck.
• C6 Buff indicator
• C6 Makes your sword light up like a lightsaber.

Klee

• Imroved Torch/Bonfire/Campfire and the likes Lockon (if there's any to begin with)
• Throwing Jumpty Dumpty provides 0.1s iframe during her spin
• Ult is now no longer greedy. Pyro satellites remain when you switch characters, making our lovable klee open up for support options. Child support.
• C4 is now manually triggered, Pressing q again will make her explode, bigger damage based off remaining duration. less duration left, less damage.
• C6 klee uses different bombs

Lisa

• A lingerie shop is opened in Mondstadt to change her pantsu, socks and garter belt style and colors. Black Leather Tight Suit™ Sold Seperately.
• Option to wear glasses as a Librarian added.
• Climbing voice volume is re-mastered in asmr microphone, in all languages.
• Requires "i am of legal age" consent in the user center
• Elemental skill (press) aoe slightly increased.
• Base attack increased by 15.

Mona

• Alternate dash is now binded to alt key.
• Hydro Puppet now deals half damage upon cast and half damage upon explosion.
• C6 normal attacks use a different attack animation.

MC (Anemo)

• Palm vortex can be casted in midair to break your fall (but not propel you up)

MC (Geo)

• When you overlap geo boulders (aimed mode) it will trigger the geo explosion of the older rock, then replace it with a new one

Ningguang

• Holding the skill button surrounds her in mini jade screens , unable to perform any action until it is released or ends. Useful for cinematic stuff. Imagine tanking childe's whale attack. Or someone wants to recreate triple rashomon scene.
• C6 has a chance to use different attack animation.
• C6 star jade now resembles a primo gem.

Noelle

• Elemental Sword Duration Indicator added
• C1 heals have a special effect and voice line when conditions are met.
• C2 upgrade uses a different charged attack animation.
• C4 uses a different barrier color
• C6 upgrade uses different ult (possibly red with the same hue as her skirt) color.

Qiqi

• C2 reworked as -15% attack debuff
• C4 reworked as -20% elemental resistance debuff
• C6 cooldown/availability indicator.
• C6 has a different bling/color

Razor

• Transformation Duration Indicator added
• C1 increased damage now really works
• C1 now has a buff indicator that it really works
• C2 now has a special crit indicator
• C4 armor shred now has a (claw mark) armor shred indicator that it really works
• C4 (hold) has increased damage so it doesn't feel left out. It also has electro explosions similar to when you mine an electric ore as a special effect to indicate that you are C4 and have a big PP.
• C6 covers your sword with electricity (like diluc) when it is charged and ready
• Yes I play razor a lot.

Sucrose

• Fixed crafting bug not producing any bonus when using large quantities (say 100+)
• Improved lock on when blowing off dandelion flowers. Idk how she keeps missing them even at point blank range, Hell , at any given range.
• C1 if you overlap the wind nukes the second one will be a 0.1s delay then it will go off with a slightly bigger radius
• C2 ult has a different color
• C4 has an indicator that it works
• C6 buff indicator

Venti

• Wind current generated by skill (hold) allows him to fall slower without gliding, and allows him to shoot wind lasers. Ehe
• C2 Charged Shot produces a bullet time effect when shot at point blank or if all 3 arrows hit a single enemy. Sometimes he draws the holy lyre and it transforms into a primitive shotgun.
• C4 buff indicator.
• C6 uses different vacuum color

Xiangling

• Ultimate deals additional damage when cast at point blank because you get stab and bonk while she is twirling her spear.
• C2 last attack leaves a flaming trail special effect (inspired by kyo or iori from king of fighters)
• C6 upon cast, Xianling automatically does a speed-up full normal attack combo and then releases the pyronado normally (while covered in flames or some shit). If you are in single player mode and there are no other enemies within 150 radius the ult will cause the screen to black out, like in legend of legaia.
• C6 during the ultimate if it contacts with gouba's flames it produces micheal bay effects while raining carpet bombs and shit.
• Yes flat is justice.

Xingqiu

• Floating Swords Duration added
• Fixed crafting bug not producing any bonus when using large quantities (say 100+)
• C4 Allows you to hold the elemental skill for double backflips (inspired by law from tekken) cooldown is 1 month.
• C4 Elem Skill leaves a faint rainbow (when ulted)
• C6 Swords emit faint rainbow color. Rainbow power motherf-

Xinyan

• Hitting large enemies counts as 2 enemies.
• C1 buff indicator
• C2's level 3 shield has some bluish flames
• C6 charged attack uses a diffent attack animation or has an indicator that it works

Xiao

• Transformation Duration Indicator added
• C2 now leaves a trail of anemo energy that deals tiny bit of damage , trail lasts for 1 second and deals at 0.2s intervals.
• C6 plunge attack counts large enemies as 2.
• C6 plunge-attack-no-cooldown-empowered-dashes uses a different particle color and produces a bullet time effect when used for the 3rd time onwards. useful for cinematic purposes
• C6 during the bullet time you can sneak in a normal attack once per dash
• Bullet time is always disabled in multiplayer

Zhongli

• Increased pillar aoe by a tiny bit
• Generates energy particles per pulse, maximum of 1 enemy per pillar
• Base attack increased by 5
• Travelers can redeem promo code "WHOSYOURDADDY" for additional +5 damage, regardless if they have the hero or not.
• Attack ratios increased by 3% per attack category.
• C1 has a slightly bigger dong eherm statue
• C4 Chaos Meteor errrr I mean Order Meteor has a different rock color
• C6 shield uses a different color , come on you get the drift already.
• C6 Meteor is affected by the element of the barrier you are wearing. The element is dealt as secondary damage, primary damage is still geo. (flaming space rock?)

Why different coloparticles/animation when you have C1-C6 upgrade?

It makes whales feels special, and it gives F2P players something to aspire for. It makes you want to spend with all the bling. Particle recolor is easy peasy and can be deployed within minutes. Attack animations on the other hand are time consuming. It almost always put smile in people's faces when a whale shows up in a ferrari. "Dude check this out a C6 GeoDaddy joined my domain run. Look at the size of his statue. Oh my what a BIG meteor."

Why are you doing this?

It's just for my amusement. I'm still adding random thoughts now that 1.3 has launched. I don't care if nothing gets implemented. I would nut hard in my shorts with QoL and alleged bug/bugfixes mentioned in this post more than anything.

Afterword

Leave your thoughts below. Sorry and not sorry for the broken engrish , feel free to copy and paste whatever, use it wherever idc as long as it doesn't annoy or harm someone. Translate it in your language etc. No credits needed etc. Let your mind flow

After-Afterword

• Thanks for the awards and all kinds of reception
• You guys are awesome and insane that's a shit load of awards thank you.

I’m an American, by the way. I understand this has already been true on a global scale.
What happened to PC gaming being the cheapest option?
The new consoles are now as powerful as my current pc, an RTX 2070 and 3700x, after only built for a little more than a year. Because they’re manufactured by multi billion dollar companies with exclusive platforms, consoles can just charge 500 for what’s otherwise 1000+ in pc hardware. It’s ridiculous.
Edit: the business model of consoles allows them to charge 500 at a loss, if that wasn’t already clear.
Account for the added performance of console optimization and my pc will be baseline for modern games within 2 years. 30fps at high settings is what I fear most.
I’m looking at these new tariffs and every new Nvidia graphics card is over 500 dollars, every user’s flairs are gtx 1080’s or above. “Oh, guess I’ll stick with my gtx 1080ti” I hear.
What is going on? Are gaming pc’s relegated to expensive toys? I remember mid ranged pc’s being dominant in 2016-2017, over 20% of gaming pc’s had a gtx 1060, but now all of a sudden the high end market is the only focus of the internet.
It’s deemed acceptable for RTX 3070’s to be the baseline for playing games like Cyberpunk. People are buying RTX cards for $650+ dollars on Ebay, the bang for your buck “500 dollar gaming pc” is dead.
Even more apparent is the fact that all of this is happening in one of the biggest human economic disasters in decades.
Are video games on pc a joke? I refuse to use a console for a variety of reasons but pc gaming doesn’t seem sustainable, prices have only gotten more rough each generation.
The only sustainable path is using used hardware but I’ve never encountered a gpu without dropping frames or blue screens at one point in their lives.
I’m really sad to see this space go, pc building has been one of my most favorite hobbies, I’ve gotten so many friends to switch from consoles over the years.
But it seems this space won’t run parallel to consoles ever again, just as something that richer people get to enjoy as a more expensive option.
Here’s hoping things are better in the middle of the console generation, but Nvidia and AMD’s stock always has to go up, so we’ll see.
What do you think of this? Am I over reacting to a temporary downward shift or are we really seeing the end times?
TL;DR: I’ve noticed a larger swing towards high end systems in the pc building space without proper attention to the mid range market. On top of that, said computer parts are only getting more expensive against increasingly more competitive console options. It’s not better performance for the money, it’s just more money and better performance.
EDIT: Thank you for everyone that's partaken in the discussion so far, many of you have raised some great points. I know not everyone will agree with me (which is fine), and I think this topic has a lot of ground to cover so it's been interesting to go through it.
EDIT 2: I’ve gotten the “100 upvote notification” multiple times so I know this is controversial lol. I’m reading all of your responses but I can’t get around to responding to all of them.
EDIT 3: I should make myself absolutely clear here, I am not saying what I have now is obsolete, it’s just that once games start optimizing for the consoles in the future they will become much harder to run on any pc. It’s only due to extraordinary circumstances that I have the hardware I do now, and I’m extremely fortunate for my current situation. If you’re going to come into the comment section to lash out at me, save the breath.

Note: Many of the links are to the Amity Arena Library, a website devoted to the game which includes tracking the history of it through patchnotes and a running history of what cards entered and left the meta. Their website was a valuable resource for this post.

Mobile gaming has taken off like a wildfire since the advent of the smartphone boosted the average processing power a phone could carry. Initially it took the form of crossing over older, more easily runnable games onto the mobile market to... mixed success, but in recent years we've seen both the West and East use mobile gaming to replace the old fashioned movie tie in game. It's easily accessable, has a much wider reach than consoles or PC, you can take it on the go and standards are inherently lower for mobile games than they are a full 60 dollar game.
Since the 2010s, mobile gaming has shifted to what's called the "Freemium" module. The game itself is free to download and start playing, but is insideously designed with obnoxious paywalls or artificial limiters put in place to limit how much you can play each day. If the game is part of a pre-existing franchise, additional money can be made through a premium currency or a chance to obtain high-powered units by rolling a slot machine random chance mechanic. And thus, gacha gaming was born. This sub has had several threads in the past on high profile gacha games, such as the monolithic Fate Grand/Order, Pokemon Go or Genshin Impact. One of the more popular things to roll for in gachas as a consequence is wallpapers for your homescreen, especially for high-grade units as they're usually animated to move a little bit on the homescreen. Today we're looking a low to mid-tier gacha game that rose and fell with the advent of one catgirl. Let's talk RWBY.
RWBY is an online web anime made by Rooster Teeth focusing on four prospective monster hunters who get embroiled in a world-spanning shadow war. It's of debatable quality in matters of animation, combat, voice acting, story, worldbuilding, romance, and it's kind of a little racist if I'm being honest, but one of the major positives of RWBY is that the series tends to have good character design. Series creator Monty Oum set in the guidelines for the show while making it that most if not every design should be made to be cosplay friendly, hence why most of the outfits have things most costume designers haven't heard of like... pockets. And Rooster Teeth, above all else, likes making money. So they know people like RWBY's character designs, enough so that in 2017 plans were made to release a gacha game themed around RWBY called Amity Arena, which would be developed by Korean company NHN Entertainment.
Amity Arena is a PvP tower defense game. Each player controls two turrets and a tower and has three minutes to use units themed from the show to destroy the other player's structures. Whoever took out more wins, destroying a tower is an instant victory. When the game launched, it had three tiers for units- Common (generally held for mooks or low-tier characters in the show), Rare (roughly protagonist-level or elite mooks go here) and Epic (High tier characters usually with an active ability that did lots of damage or stopped enemies in their tracks). The game launched in October 2018 to generally positive reviews from both mobile game players and RWBY fans alike. Fans were happy to get a lot of new official art for the characters in the game and the base gameplay loop was fun. Criticism at the time was largely themed around the lack of content besides PVP matches and some issues with the meta but overall, the launch went well. Each month, the developers would add new units, including popular characters like Neopolitian, Cinder Fall, Zwei the dog, and more.
But everything changed with February 20th 2019, which introduced Neon Katt, the titular catgirl (RWBY characters are themed around fairytales, except for Neon, who is themed around Nyan Cat, and her partner Flynt Coal, who is themed off a potentially racist joke made by Rooster Teeth).
Neon is a character from RWBY Volume 3 who's part of a team that RWBY face during a tournament arc. Her partner, Flynt Coal, was part of the game at launch, and Neon would join him a few months later. Neon in the show is a cocky fighter who taunts the heroes and zips around on rollarskates, which in-game is represented by Neon skating towards the nearest enemy structure to her and hitting it, while all units within a radius of Neon are taunted and provoked into attacking her above all other targets unless they-selves are coded to hit structures. On its own, not a bad idea for a unit, but Neon came with four big caveats:

• Neon was the fourth corner of the square that became known as the Artillery Arena meta, which saw Neon, Cinder (who had an AOE ability she could use which was wide enough to hit a turret and tower and single-handedly killed the entire launch meta of using fragile swarm units), Zwei (an on-summon high damage AOE on any part of the map) and Penny (another AOE ability that instead did chip damage and locked a location down) turn the game's meta into a chip game. Every player ran at least one of the above cards, if only to counter the others. Neon was the universal counter in being anti-swarm and the hardest to stop, especially at launch where her taunt range was so large, it could grab units from the other lane.
  
• Neon launched with a unit weight of "Heavy", which meant that if she was behind a unit she could push it on her way to the turret. This launched a sub-meta where Neon was placed behind a larger unit such as the Ursa (which like Neon was a unit that focused on structures but was made slow to cover its tankiness), to push them towards the turret faster. This was called Disco Bear. They eventually patched this so Neon phased through units by making her a lightweight.
  
• Neon couldn't die. She was invincible until she hit a structure, which combined with her taunt meant that Neon was very annoying to fight and could lock down an entire lane of the battlefield by being placed well and taunting enemies to let you prepare a counter.
  
• Neon was a very cheap unit to summon. Amity Arena uses a mechanic called "Aura" where all units cost a certain amount and it recharges over the match- for instance, protagonist Ruby Rose has a Rare card that costs four Aura to summon, while Weiss Schnee has two rares that cost three and five. Neo only cost two Aura, which made her one of the cheapest units of the game and thus disproportionately powerful for her cost and easy to cycle through your deck so you could spam her.
  

From the word go, Neon is an unpopular unit; she's clearly overbalanced and elements such as the Disco Bear glitch have players thinking she'll have to get knocked down in a nerf- she'll either be made slower, more expensive, or able to die pre-hitting a structure, right?
Neon doesn't show up in the next patch. Instead, before she's fixed, an entire new class of units called Legendaries are introduced, and this is where the game goes full gacha. Legendaries were meant to represent the highest tier characters in the game, the ones who were either the most popular characters or the highest-tier fighters in the show. Or in some cases, the popular ships such as combo cards for White Rose (Ruby/Weiss), Bumblebee (Blake/Yang) and Flower Power (Ren/Nora). Legendaries, representing their value, were impossibly rare and had an infinitely small chance of actually appearing (The most reliable method was to buy the premium chests and hope you'd roll a Legendary, which often cost tons of money), and if you did get one, there was no way to guess which Legendary you'd actually get. Some such as White Rose and Adam were high tier units, others like Hazel or Checkmate were... kinda broken at launch. The playerbase isn't happy at this, especially as free to play players are left out in the cold and reliant on the game giving them high tier units effectively out of pity.
Neon would get a small nerf in the April patch which lessened her taunt range and killed the Disco Bear meta, but her invincibility would be left untouched, even as players submitted feedback regarding how to make it more efficient. The official Amity Arena discord has a weekly feedback section on Tuesdays where players could submit up to four suggestions on how to nerf/buff units and general requests for quality of life such as "Can this character get a new skin from this part of the show," or "Can we have an option to lower music volume that's not just muting all music?" (they never did add that second request) Neon would then remain in this state until the November patch, despite constant weekly requests for a Neon rework, and all it would do is make Neon functionally mortal, in that she had a flat shield bar of 20 that would be lowered by one for each attack before the next hit would kill her. Neon could now die... but your chances of actually doing enough damage to stop her were slim, and regardless, you were now at a serious Aura defecit.
It took seven months for this one unit to get a substantial nerf, all while the game added new units every week and the number of units being affected by patches each month began to gradually sink. To round up some of the major issues people had with Amity that developed throughout 2019 alongside Neon's general existance making life hell:

• Common units were meant to be chump fodder, but could level up the most amount of times with a level cap at 13. This meant longer-term units that had a long time to level such as the Xiong Family card, the AK-130s the Beowolf Pack, or the White Fang gunners, could become shockingly strong if players grinded the money up to reach max level.
  
• A pre-existing divide between free players and players willing to burn money IRL to get access to premium currencies led to a huge disparity in play. Free players have long complained about how hard it is to scrounge money together to level up units at higher costs as even the basic currency of Lien is hard to get large quantities of (you get a certain amount every match win but otherwise you need to burn the Schnee Premium Dust currency for the highest payouts, but SPD is also needed for shop resets, buying crates or unlocking cosmetics). The developers used to do frequent double weekends where all gains were doubled for a weekend, but these became less and less frequent as time went on. Legendaries only added to the divide, as their rarity was bad enough for players willing to spend money (one player, known as one of the largest whales in the community, in trying to get Sienna Khan, reported burning nearly nine hundred dollars on her, while taking nearly six hundred to get the Ice Flower card).
  
• One actual counter was born to fight Neon in the Argus Shield, a stationary unit that existed solely to stall units and take damage. At 2 Aura, it was the first structure to counter Neon, which allevated one of the primary problems with Neon in that no way to counter her was cost-efficient for an enemy player. They buffed the Wall to 3 Aura eventually which killed that hope, and all this happened before Neon's November nerf.
  
• The Summer of 2019 saw a large number of defensive units released; alongside the Argus Shield, several different units were released themed around turrets for the technological kingdom of Atlas, such as the Beam Turret. The Atlesian Burrow Gun was the straw that broke the camel's back and made for a miserable meta as the Burrow Gun would only appear (and be available to take damage) when a unit entered its range. These three units together were all very overpowered on launch and led to a large exodus of players sick of defensive and chip-based metas, especially as what few offensive units that were good enough to counter these metas (such as Professor Port and Adam Taurus) were often nerfed into the ground within a month of release.
  
• Also around this time it became apparent that the developers were unable to meet the quotas that Rooster Teeth was forcing on them. The social media team admitted that a certain number of units needed to be in the game in time for Winter 2019 when Volume 7 was set to start, and as the year went on more and more game-breaking bugs were being found in units, or they were at best horrifically undertuned or overpowered. The Apathy was perhaps the largest case of this, as an unfound bug pre-release meant that the Apathy (who have a passive ability that let them self-duplicate) had no cap on their power, meaning that they could immediately overwhelm defenses and in the case of some phones, be such a resource hog the phone would crash. Many Legendary units were especially guilty of being under-tuned due to low Legendary availability meaning they were simply weren't powerful enough to compare with high-levelled units. Checkmate's ability simply didn't work at launch, and Neon made several more such as Hazel Rainart a joke. May Marigold's invisibility bubble would have been an interesting game changer... were it not for a bug that made it that units placed in the bubble still played their sound lines, meaning players knew what to expect. Things were so bad that when Flower Power launched and wasn't broken or needed an emergency patch, the playerbase were shocked.
  

Unfortunately, the Novemember patch did little to stop the problems with Neon, and a new problem would rear its head for Christmas: Jinn. This unit embodied many of the problems players had: She was a Legendary so it would be hard for free players to get her, and only added to the sheer number of Legendaries that were out there. She was another structure card, and she was horrifically broken. Stopping time for seven seconds in an area around any friendly units, Jinn broke the game overnight, with players horrified at how little playtesting she'd clearly had. Most chip units now couldn't damage structures as Jinn simply could stop time and freeze the turret for the duration of the attack. And to make matters worse? She cost two Aura, meaning it was very easy to cycle a deck and start Jinn spamming.
And yet at two aura she was still one of the only cost-efficient Neon counters... until they patched her to be worth three Aura instead. Talking of the feline menace, January saw Neon get a HP nerf that set her shield at 14. Finally, Neon could be realistically be taken out, still at an Aura defecit but at least it can be countered and now they just have to raise her Aura- why are you buffing her game?
Less than a month later, Neon got, of all things, a buff. Her HP shield was set at 20, and her attacks now did double damage. This is around the point where a lot of players begin to suspect the developers aren't listening to feedback and more long-term players dip out or drop the game. Neon got touched one more time in April, which slowed her down (which itself was a problem as Neon's lessened speed on spawn simply made her better at generating aggro), she dealt 10% less damage and made it somewhat easier to hit her enough to kill her, but a new problem was on the horizon. Because Neon was now no longer the game's White Whale for patches.
Meet the White Fang Gunner Barracks. Added in September 2019, the Barracks fell under many player's radar simply because they were horrifically undertuned. Their gimmick was that every few seconds, a White Fang Gunner would spawn, with three spawning on death. In April, as Neon got her last appearance in the patches, the Barracks got a huge buff and became the centerpiece of the meta; they now spawned two Gunners, which made them immensely valuable for just five Aura. You could overwhelm many anti-swarm units before they had a chance, and shred your way through turrets.
The Barracks would then go six months before this overtuning was rectified, barring one nerf in August that lowered their health to try and stem the tide of units. To sum up every other thing that went wrong during the year meta-wise:

• The playercount was getting so low that players were able to make lists of the AI bots the developers had in place so lower-level players had a challenge (Amity breaks up players by a trophy system where you gain trophies with every win, and by this point most of the active players were in the 2500 to 3500 range. This also meant new players steamrolled through the lower levels only to hit a brick wall in the 3000 range, with the only reliable solution being to willingly lose matches until you were in your optimal range and grind victories until you reached a certain level.
  
• The patches became more and more threadbare, going from 8+ units getting changed each month in early 2019 to three units at most getting changed in 2020 patches outside of the anniversary patch going back to the golden days of eight. The only area where they didn't get more threadbare was in the cosmetics and emotes that the developers were cranking out, all of which were only available through hours of grinding or premium currencies. This was despite the fact that the units were being released slower, going from once a week to once a fortnite.
  
• The majority of units added in 2020 were Epic or Legendary tier, which were the hardest to get for free players unless they got lucky and they were added to the store (and if they had the lien as a Legendary in the store costs a flat 40,000 Lien). One Common and four Epics were released compared to twelve Epics and seven Legendaries. The release of Moonslice Adam especially was annoying for this regard, as Adam already had a Legendary released (at least for Team RWBY, each of them headlined a Legendary when it came to the team attack cards), and this was clearly done to pander to Adam's fans again as his first unit saw a spike in interest in the game. The math was done and showed how artifically scarce Legendaries were made.
  
• The undeovertuning was still in play. Colossus is seen as one of the worst cards in the entire game because of its gimmick. I have literally never seen anyone play it. Flynt became overtuned and now he's a staple thanks to his trumpet's AOE attack being able to hurt turrets and shred most units. Launcher Nora was an especially overtuned unit thanks to her high-damage constant AOE barrage and long range meaning she could annhilate most anything if given enough cover. Even after patches she's still dangerous. September saw the White Fang Dropship Formation added, which was widely seen as a terrible unit and done as an emergency addition because the planned unit for September in the Grimm Seer had to be cut last minute for technical reasons.
  
• The game has barely had significant content added since launch, with the primary gameplay still just being PVP. Barring Battle of Beacon (a mode where you can play as Ruby and Weiss and fend off Grimm which most players just use to grind chests, and no, they still haven't added Blake or Yang) and Plaza (a lobby where you can dress up as a character and run around Beacon), the game has added no new features and quality of life content players have requested since launch (rerolling in the shop, Superior Crates having guaranteed Legendary spawn rates) have been released at a snail's pace (you still can't reroll Legendaries if you're looking for a specific unit). Academies where players can unite to trade units and chat still lacks features that have been requested for years such as the ability to delete messages. And Plaza immediately went to hell because players were doing erotic role play in the chats and after people came forward with proof that minors were being sexually harassed in the Plaza or being coerced into side-channels, the dev response was to... just turn off the chat entirely instead of banning the accounts or implementing moderation. This also removed the chatlog which deleted a lot of the evidence of said harassment.
  

As OctobeNovember comes in, the players are getting more and more furious. The weekly feedback includes a near constant demand for an acknowledgement from the developers given how often it feels like the feedback is being ignored. The social media team get caught several times hyping up how the coming patch would address player concerns, only for said patch to lack those units. The meta has been locked down to the Xiong Family, Flynt, Launcher Nora, Spider-Mines and the hell-cat herself in Neon. Everyone runs at least one of these, people run meta decks not because they want to, but because it's the only way to have a chance of victory.
And then in December, things implode. The patch for the month was set to launch on December 10th with the monthly event missions. But when the clock rolls around, the event missions (which usually take about two weeks to do if you're doing as many as you can a day)... has a six day timer. And the update doesn't come out. The art team doesn't release new unit art. The shop has no special timed bundles. There's no patch notes. And then the Twitter team who've been hard carrying the game through... actually talking to the players and acknowledging the grievances they have... admitted that they don't know what's going on either. The best guess is that the devs have come down with Covid, but no statements to confirm or deny this leave it as guesswork. The timer eventually got reset and people could do the event, but then on Christmas itself, another issue.
Ruby has appeared in the plaza on Halloween (her canonical birthday) and Christmas, and if you go talk to her you get free stuff. But on Christmas people, people discovered that Ruby was talking as if you'd already talked to her. Because they hadn't updated Ruby yet for 2020. She still thought it was 2019 so if you'd talked to her then for goodies, she had none now. They patched it eventually but a lot of people didn't see this fix before the timer ran out to get the free stuff.
Some have resorted to memes to cope with the fact that the game just seems to have died out of the blue. Others have been trying to desperately rally the players and find a way to save it. Some resorted to friendly mockery of the whales who'd spent thousands on a game that seems to be dying (seriously though gacha games need to curb this shit but they won't because whales are godsends for their bank balances).
If the game doesn't get an update in January then two months without new content will mark the end, and the already significant playercount drops will only increase. And it's hard to say if any one thing could have turned Amity Arena's fate around beyond just "Have a better balancing team who can respond better to feedback." Neon began the time of death, but by the time December rolled around the meta was in a horrifically toxic place where if you wanted to make any progession, you had to get down and dirty with the pigs. The team just constantly failed to balance problem units outside of their emergency hotfixes of Jinn, and more often then not they went after units and buffed or nerfed them at random going off playcounts to determine what needed fixing instead of the actual written feedback they were getting. It's clear from the references to the show and some of the attempts to reach out to the community that at least one person in the team genuinely wanted to make the good appealing to RWBY fans, but somewhere during the game's lifespan, they lost their way. Less focus needed to be put on how to milk the players, and instead focusing on making a game sustainable and enjoyable enough to warrant the cosmetics and emotes. The game's failure ultimately isn't on the playerbase. It's on the people who were actually making the game who chose to slack off because they thought it acceptable to do so.
Thanks for reading.
EDIT: HOT OFF THE PRESSES, I JUMPED THE GUN
Had I waited one more day, my story would have had a far more sudden ending, as the game just announced its shutdown for January.
RIP.

So I am 100% a noob at PC’s. My pc is a Dell computer from 2013 that doesn’t even have a separate pc, it’s all in the monitor. I play pc games but running Minecraft with like 3 small mods is a stretch and Skyrim won’t even start. I can tell you how to disassemble an AK style weapon system and every part in it. But when I look on this sub Reddit at all the computer parts and number so get so confused. I’m trying to get more into pc gaming for modding mainly but also be able to play games I can’t on my console. Yes I play console, I won’t stop but I do want to branch out. I’m one of those people that’s not a PS or Xbox elitist, I like playing video games no matter what they are on.
So I’m really looking for some advice on just how to learn what makes a pc tick. What price can I expect to be spending on a pc. Because I’ve heard that 1,000 is the cheapest a low end gaming pc is. And that’s waaaaaaay to expensive for me.
So all I’m asking for is just some clarification on what this whole pc thing so really about, and where I might be able to find more information.

I thought the current “considering your first HOTAS guide” was lacking, so I decided to update a post I made over 5 years ago (mods add this to sticky? :D)
I’ve tried to be somewhat objective in here, but overall, this post represents my opinion. I’m not a hard core flight simmer (though I used to be an IRL pilot).. Just a guy who enjoys flying WWI, WW2, modern, and space games that started with Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe with a Gravis Phoenix when he was a kid. I do have experience with some of this gear, but a lot of it is information I’ve collected over the last 8 years or so of trolling various posts and places on the internet. If you have more accurate information than what I’ve posted here, please reply and I’ll happily update what I’ve written. This is also a very high level overview, so please keep that in mind.
With that in mind, lets get started. You’re considering your first HOTAS…
First, forget what you think a HOTAS or joystick should cost based on some other item (like a console controller or cell phone). They’re not either of those, and they don’t compare for a variety of reasons. A joystick is an electromechanical device that is subject to a huge amount of force when gaming. Key word being mechanical. Good, strong, smooth mechanical devices cost money. As such, good sticks are expensive, though not prohibitively so. You don't need to start with a $1,000 setup. But there's reasons you might not want to start with the cheapest things you can, either.
Some issues you should consider:

• Deadzone. That is, a "dead" area around the centre where you get no reaction from movement of the stick. Deadzones are bad. A good stick should have zero deadzone. Some people might tell you this is because a stick uses potentiometers and any stick that uses pots will have a deadzone. This is wrong. Good potentiometers require zero deadzone.
  
• Quality. Better sticks are just built better. Unlike mice, a joystick is a mechanical device that gets a lot more abuse when gaming. Cheap sticks don't stand up to abuse very well. The best quality sticks can last 15 years and still function like the day they were bought. Cheaper sticks sometimes don't even make it 6 months before they start to develop issues. Cheaper sticks sometimes even have buttons or axis that are DOA or don't work properly after a very short period of time.
  
• Precision. Cheap sticks generally have poorer internal components. They're not precise. They don't calibrate well, they'll develop 'spiking' over time (spiking is a quick and uncommanded "blip" in the stick's motion). Expensive sticks use significantly higher quality internals, and the motion on them is much smoother. This means it's easier to game with. Imagine using a mouse that would randomly move your cursor a couple of inches every now and then. That's what joystick spiking is like.
  
• Gimbals. This is really what you’re paying for in a joystick and is the single most important part of it. This is the mechanical device that the stick grip pivots on. Cheap sticks use poor gimbal designs (cup and ball) that have a high contact area and are often prone to stiction and/or other issues. More expensive sticks use better engineered, stronger, and better built gimbals. See this excellent post here by TrueWeevie about gimbals.
  
• Expensive sticks have better control software. Far, FAR too many people underestimate the usefulness of a joystick's control software. This software lets you do things like assign keymaps for programs, macros, custom sensitivity and response curves, axis reassignment or axis inversion, and depending on the software other more complex functions. However this can be somewhat mitigated with programs like Joystick Gremlin and VJoy. But you can do some really cool stuff with joystick software.
  
• Expensive sticks have better resale value. You can probably reclaim 80-90% of what you spent on a good stick or HOTAS if it's lightly used and you decide you don't like it. I've seen 5 year old CH gear go for a mere $20-$40 less than brand new stuff. Right now (2020-01-28) second hand quality gear is easily selling for MSRP.
  

A quick note on prices: This stuff is very subject to regional pricing, some of it extremely so. Don't be surprised if you go on Amazon or whatever and see different prices listed than what I have down here. For the most part I've used CAD regional pricing for what I could find around where I live as a guide. I’ve also used pre-2020 pricing history so people get an idea for what this stuff should ACTUALLY cost, since the last 12 months have seen a MASSIVE spike in HOTAS costs. It’s up to you to decide if the current “premium” is worth it. As for budget and what you “should” spend, my advice is to get the best system you can afford. Almost across the board more expensive systems are better quality, and that curve is exponential. You’ll never regret buying a better quality HOTAS.. But you may regret buying a cheap one.
Also note that, as with any mass produced device, there WILL be failures across all the manufactures. Buying a $1,000 HOTAS doesn’t guarantee you’re not going to have issues. HOWEVER, it DOES guarantee that you’re significantly less likely to. Some of the cheaper HOTAS systems have an extremely high failure rate.
Note that this is also not an exhaustive list. I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as I can here, but it’s impossible for me to cover everything. I’ve also decided to ONLY cover things that are currently in production (so you won’t see any of the old Saitek stuff on this list). I’m also not going to talk about very high end enthusiast gear like Winwing and Brunner, as these generally aren’t even considered by first-time HOTAS buyers (and this post is long enough as it is).
Under $100 Bracket

• Logitech Extreme 3D: Cheap stick. Low quality pots. Basically the same stick Logitech has been making for 20 years with minor cosmetic changes. Common to develop spiking and drifting. However they do seem to work poorly longer than many cheap sticks work at all. My 25 year old gameport Wingman Extreme still works.. Just poorly. TBF, some work quite well for years.
  
• Thrustmaster T16000m: Plasticy build quality. Very stiff stick (IMO). Uses magnetic sensors on the X and Y axis which is a HUGE plus, makes the stick very accurate and not subject to calibration issues. Uses a potentiometer on the Zr (twist) axis with very weak stops. Not uncommon for the twist to break under… the rigours of combat. Prior to the Gladiator NXT was probably the best lower-cost stick on the market. Main drawback is the VERY limited buttons on the stick itself.
  
• Thrustmaster HOTAS X/One/4: Personally not a fan, as it has all the problems of a cheap joystick crammed into a HOTAS form-factor. Maybe only useful to see if you like the HOTAS setup.. but keep in mind it's a sub-$100 HOTAS when "proper" HOTAS systems start around $160. For a full HOTAS that cheap, you are compromising on a lot. Is not compatible with TM's TARGET software. Very poor component quality across the board. Early failures (< 6 months) are common. If you’re a console gamer, this is one of your only two options (the other being the Hori). If you're seriously considering purchasing one of these be ready for early failures. DO NOT buy one of these used unless you can test it first.
  

$100 - $200 Bracket

• Flashfire/Gamestrix/Titanwolf/Asia-Games: Ok, I’m lumping a bunch of different products under the same entry here, because they’re all built by the same OEM. You’ll find a throttle unit, a Defender Cobra M5 joystick copy, and a Gladiator Mk.II(?) joystick copy, sold individually or as a system (generally) under $200 USD. These are not the systems that were built under the VKB name or by the VKB design team. They’re the same molds, but use much, much cheaper components with lower resolution electronics. Reports are that they’re not overly reliable. But they’re also not overly expensive. There are some minor differences between the various models, so if you’re considering one, read all the literature so you know what you’re getting. See this discussion here for some more comprehensive information. Opinion seems to place the overall quality of these to compete with the T.Flight HOTAS.
  
• Saitek/Logitech x52: With the Pro available, don’t bother. It's cheaper than the Pro (not by a lot), but the Pro improves on it in some pretty important ways.
  
• Saitek/Logitech x52 Pro: Old design. Generally requires magnet mod to make it a really decent stick. Known for throttle quadrant failures. On the plus side, old design improved over the original x52. Pro has more metal (internal) construction and they seem to hold up decently enough over time. Personally I always liked the aesthetics of this one.
  
• Saitek/Logitech x55/56: System is on par for the cost if you get one that works. Very large stick with sub-optimal button layout if you have small hands. Throttle unit is better in this regard, however the throttle unit has some design flaws that increase the chance of failure over time. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest components in the system start to consistently fail around 600-700 hours of use.
  

Note about Saitek/Logitech: Be wary of any Saitek branded X52/x55 and very early logitech X55s. Saitek under Mad-Catz had terrible quality control, with issues ranging from button ghosting, buttons not working, sticks DOA, throttle issues, and other problems. I’ve seen multiple posts from different people having to RMA x55 HOTAS’s 3 times before they got one that worked. Others got one that worked out of the box. If you’re looking at one of these, go with the newer Logitech x56. It doesn’t fix the throttle design issues but the QC is somewhat better.

• VKB Gladiator NXT: Probably the best lower cost stick currently available. Easily the best stick on the cost:quality ratio before you move into enthusiast level gear. All axis use contactless sensors, good build quality, great quality electronics, and you’re not getting price-gouged since you buy them from VKB directly. There’s a reason it’s the most recommended stick on /hotas. Grip is available in two flavours to suit two different price options. Go with the more expensive one if you can, but the less expensive option is still great.

$300 - < $500 Bracket

• CH Products HOTAS: Must be bought in pieces (throttle, stick, pedals). Near ancient design that uses potentiometers and 8-bit electronics across the board, so accuracy suffers. Probably one of the most reliable HOTAS systems ever made. CH’s parent, APEM, builds stuff for industrial, agriculture, and military use. CH gear is made out of the same stuff. Their gear lasts forever (20+ years, no joke). Looks like “cheap plastic” -made out of fibre reinforced nylon polymer. Looks like something “your Dad gamed with” -because he did. Throttle unit has a fully analog thumbstick that’s great for 6DoF. Excellent control software. All components have some odd ergonomics some users don't like. No twist on any CH stick. Uses pots, so still requires re-calibration every now and then, but they're excellent quality pots, so you won't run into the spiking and drift issues common to cheaper sticks. Very subject to regional pricing and difficult to find outside of North America. Other than the throttle (Mexico), made in the USA for my American friends that like to buy local ;).
  
• Thrustmaster FCS HOTAS: A package containing the T16000m (above) with the TWCS throttle. By all accounts, the TWCS throttle is a good buy. Decent quality with a good number of functions (including a rocker that can be used in place of a rudder). Can “stick” a bit, requiring lubrication.
  
• Thrustmaster TCS ‘Airbus’ Edition: The stick is a T16000m with a single button moved to a different location. Changes are cosmetic only. The throttle hasn’t been out very long so not too many reports on its overall quality. Modeled after the A320 throttle quadrant. Cool if you fly the A320 in sims. Terrible (IMO) if you fly anything else. VERY limited functionality on the throttle.
  

>$500 Bracket

• Thrustmaster Warthog: Stick licensed copy of the one in the A-10C Thunderbolt II aeroplane. Very sturdy exterior build on the stick -where it doesn’t really matter. Not only is the gimbal plastic, it uses the same design as the much cheaper T16000m with a single centering spring. Has a heavy throw weight and suffers from stiction issues. No twist. Grip is nice and works well when paired with a better gimbal. Throttle OTOH is well regarded and well designed. Thrustmaster seems to be trying to position the Warthog as a “high end” stick simply by pricing it similar to better sticks. I've watched the price of this thing creep up over the years by about 80%. Better suited to jet/DCS/BMS sims than WWII or space sims.
  
• VKB Gunfighter Line: The Gunfighter Line has 4 different grips available on the same base. Excellent quality gear across the board. Uses all-metal gimbals that allow a degree of customization. Interchangeable grips.
  
• Virpil: Newer company. Manufactures high quality grips, bases, and throttle units. Offers two different bases (WarBRD for desktop use and T50 for floor mount) with 5 different grips available. All but one grip (T-50CM2) are available with twist. Recommendation is the T-50CM2 or Constellation Alpha grips, as the other two available are much more limited in functionality. High quality all metal gimbal.
  

For most intents and purposes, VKB and Virpil are very similar in design, function, and quality. My research leads me to say that VKB probably has the edge, but not by much.
Others
As I said, this was a non-exhaustive list. There are quite a few others. If you encounter one that doesn’t seem common, do your research. Read the literature and ask. If it seems a lot cheaper than the "main" manufactures above.. there's probably a reason for it.
My Personal Recommendations

• Best Budget Stick: Gladiator NXT.
  
• Best Budget HOTAS: Gladiator NXT paired with a TWCS or CH Pro Throttle.
  

In either case, you can sub a Gladiator NXT with a T16000m if you’re really price conscious.
Throttle Units
Quick overview of the various throttle units that are independently available.

• Thrustmaster TWCS Throttle: Good unit on par for the price (pre-COVID screwage). Not the best out there but not the worst either. Only consistent complaint is the slide motion can catch and may require periodic lubrication.
  
• Thrustmaster TCA Quadrant Airbus Edition: See my earlier comments. Seems great if you fly an A320, extremely limited if you want to do anything else.
  
• CH Pro Throttle: Ancient CH product like everything else they make. Lasts forever. Has a thumbstick that’s great for 6DoF. Like the TWCS, I like it because you can access all the buttons without removing your hand from it, making it great for VR. Requires periodic recalibration.
  
• Warthog Throttle: Can be bought separate from the stick (if you can find it). Generally regarded as the better part of the Warthog HOTAS. I’ve heard most people aren’t fond of the mouse stick on it, but that seems to be the only consistent complaint.
  
• Virpil CM3: IIRC this is actually the 4th iteration of the Virpil throttle in a very short period of time. I own an original Mongoose Throttle (the big one with the detents). It’s a huge chunk of very high quality metal that has worked flawlessly so far. I can’t say much about the CM3, but people seem to like them. Looks like Virpil solved the detent problem (original Mongoose ones tended to fail).
  
• VKB: They’re coming out with one. It’s not out yet.
  

What about pedals?
If you don't have a twist stick they're pretty much required. Even if you have a twist stick I can't recommend pedals enough. They give you far more control and feel much more natural, not to mention you don't end up killing your wrist over longer gaming sessions.

• Saitek/Logitech Pro Flight Rudder Pedals: Honestly, I don't know a lot about them. Better suited to Saitek's civvie flight sim line. Retail for around $150. Same internals as the PRO Flight Combat Pedals, but different layout.
  
• Thrustmaster T-Flight Rudder Pedals (TFRP): Alternative to Saitek pedals. Lightweight build. 3-axis, potentiometer based. Works with TARGET software. Prior to 2020 retailed for around $150 USD. Compatible with some console systems.
  
• Thrustmaster TPR Pedals: Not overly common. Expensive for Thrustmaster. Seem to be good build quality (lots of metal) with a very realistic feel (for GA aircraft). Apparently quite heavy -commonly suggested upgrade is locking wheels for your desk chair.
  
• CH Pro Pedals: Good quality pedals, like all of CH's stuff. Smooth but stiff motion with very abrupt centering. Nicknamed "nutcracker" because of how close together the pedals are (8" on centre). If you're thick in the thighs this could be a problem. Otherwise on-par with the rest of CH's gear. Come with stops so you can use them as gas/break in car or tank sims or something (I use mine in American Truck Simulator). Compatible with CH's software. Retail for around $160.
  
• VKB T-rudder MkIV pedals: Responsive pedals with a simple push down action (adjustable), but with no toe pedals. All metal, well constructed and not insanely priced. A mid-tier step between Saitek/CH Pedals and MFG or Slaw device.
  
• Virpil WarBRD and ACE Pedals: WarBRD are single axis, whereas the ACE are 3 axis (toe brakes). Differences between ACE versions are largely cosmetic. $300-$550 CAD.
  
• MFG Crosswind: Very high quality pedals. Second only to Slaw Device pedals. Retail around $500-$600.
  
• Slaw Device Pedals: Generally considered the best pedals on the market. Very expensive, but hand-made, all metal. Extremely high quality. Around $700 IIRC.
  

Twist vs. No Twist
This is largely an issue of personal preference, and there's valid points of view for it either way. I'll outline a couple based on my own experience:
Pros of Twist:

• Saves desk real-estate.
  
• Twist sticks are widely available by comparison.
  
• Don't need to invest in pedals.
  
• Arguably easier to use.
  

Cons of Twist:

• Axis bleed is a real issue.
  
• Torquing motion is unnatural for the wrist, and it can start to ache after long gaming sessions.
  
• Not as accurate as pedals.
  
• Generally leads to weaker sticks (not for Virpil/VKB -design is different than less expensive sticks).
  
• Can exasperate calibration issues.
  

After switching to a non-twist stick and getting pedals I'll never go back, but again, personal preference.
Calibration vs. No Calibration
There seems to be some confusion around what calibration is and when/what requires it, so here’s a real quick primer. Calibration is the act of resetting the interpreted centre and range of motion on a potentiometer using software. It will periodically be required on any axis that uses a potentiometer. No exceptions. If you’re using a stick or throttle that uses POTs and it starts to drift slightly/is slightly off center, or doesn’t quite move through it’s full range, that’s not necessarily a problem with the stick! The axis may just require calibration. This should always be your first course of action if you start to experience joystick drift or throttle range issues. I see multiple posts a month where people think their (T.Flights, specifically) are broken and all they really require is a recalibration.
Sticks and throttles that do not use potentiometers may require a setup through their control software to “learn” the range of motion and center of the magnetic sensors, but this should only be required when the software is first installed and when the device firmware is updated.
Compatibility and Control Map
Another common post I see from gamers new to HOTAS systems is around the issue of compatibility (particularly since the release of MSFS2020 and Star Wars: Squadrons). It’s common these days to plug a KB/M or console controller into a game and have everything mapped out, all the axis properly mapped and all the buttons assigned. Due to the massive variation in HOTAS gear, it is not uncommon for there to be incomplete or no maps at all for popular titles for certain HOTAS systems. This does not mean the gear or game is incompatible! It means you need to take some time, go through the control map screen in the game, and map the buttons and axis yourself. Some games may also have some odd programming traits that means they won't recognize your equipment -for example, X4 didn't like joystick or throttle axis that didn't have single-letter names (such as Rx, Zx, etc.) Quirks like this mean you may have to spend some time in the HOTAS control software tweaking a custom configuration. Do not expect your HOTAS gear to be fully and properly mapped by default in the vast majority of games.
A note on HOTAS Reviews
I hope this isn’t too controversial to say, but the vast majority of HOTAS reviews online, both written and video (at least the ones that are easy to find), frankly suck. They’re by people who don’t have a lot of experience with the gear or games. If you’re looking for a good and accurate review of HOTAS equipment, try to seek out pieces from people who actually play simulation games, and ideally who have used multiple pieces of equipment. I say this because those kind of people will be a lot more familiar with how a HOTAS has to actually function to be useful, including things like the button layout, rather than just the aesthetics or perceived build quality.
A few things to watch out for:

• Any review that doesn’t say anything about downsides to the equipment. For the type of HOTAS gear us plebs can afford, pretty much everything has a couple of negatives. I could write a paragraph on the stuff that annoys me about my Virpil throttle unit, for example, despite the fact it’s overall an excellent piece of equipment. A good reviewer should state what they don’t like about the gear.
  
• Any review that repeats marketing points: I see this commonly in written reviews. The reviewer will talk about some “feature” the device has and how awesome it is, and it’s pulled straight from the website of the manufacturer without any explanation or commentary. Some marketing fluff is actually accurate, but a good reviewer should also tell you why it’s good and possibly explain what it does. The reason it gets left out is because the reviewer actually doesn't know what it does or why it is or is not important.
  
• Any HOTAS review (usually “best HOTAS of…” lists) that leaves off major brands: Anyone who’s been around for a while knows that article to which I’m referring. Like my own post here, you can’t cover everything, but when a compilation article leaves off brands that have been a staple in simming for 30 years and gushes over one or two brands specifically, I’d question it’s source and motivation.
  

There’s a few Youtubers that make really awesome HOTAS review content. I’m not going to post anyone specifically (feel free to do so in comments) because I don’t want to leave anyone out, but if you look at their channels you’ll get a good idea for the types of games they play and equipment they use. I’d trust someone who plays a lot of different sims and has reviewed lots of different equipment over the years over a much more popular channel that has a one-off review of an Extreme 3D as their only point of comparison. Check the channel (or ask). I found Youtube algorithms are really hit-and-miss when you search for reviews, and the way the algorithms work doesn’t mean you’re going to get the best results at the top.
That's all for now. I'll update this post periodically as required.

My best friend told me that he wanted to start producing things in EVE. While I have only played 2-3 months, and have not even started to consider industry a viable way forward, he has used many years to hone his skill in research, resources processing and production. He would like to focus and PvP, and instead of ratting, he thought that doing industry and earning your ISK in that way would be a better deal.
So, to see whether it would be profitable for him to start producing ships, we had a look at the the numbers. Even though it feels very meaningful to create something in the game, you won't be able to keep doing it, if you invest a lot of time and effort in it, but only end up in a break-even scenario when you start selling stuff. I understand that this is a tumultuous time in EVE, as markets are still adjusting to resource scarcity. Still, based on the current picture, the two of us concluded: It seems that it's rarely worth it to build smaller tech I ships, and the profit of tech II ships does not really seem worth the effort, unless you have a network set up that makes the production easier.
Since I'm new to the game, I am sure that I will have overlooked a lot of elements, which is why I wanted to post here. I realize that the following factors might impact on whether you can profit from building ships:

• Variety and opportunity: If you gather a significant hoard of blueprints, you can allow yourself to produce the ships when the resources they require are cheapest, and only sell later when the price of the ship is high.
• Build everything yourself: If you have blueprints for all parts of what you want to make, you can sometimes make it cheaper than the market price. This means a greater profit, but also means that you will need an even greater influx of minerals.
• Finding profitable markets with less competition: Some markets with less competition will allow you to earn 50% more than other markets. However, you must never flood these markets with product, and you will need to have an infrastructure that allows you to get product to these markets easily.
• Buying ores to reprocess them: If you buy resources to reprocess them, you can, with good reprocessing skills, facilities and implants, get 5-15% added value from this, thus profiting more from the ships you produce. However, as I looked around the markets and did the math, only 3-4 ores occasionally allowed for this benefit (best case was plagioclase). Most ores don't break even if you buy them at the estimated compressed price, and they are often sold at way above the estimated price. I suppose that instead of buying from sell orders, you can place buy orders to just get ores from the casual miners that just want to get rid of their stuff, but I haven't seen much success with that so far, at least not where the time transporting stuff is worth the effort.
• Niche industry production: If you combine other modes of play, for instance using faction warfare to gain LP to then buy blueprints, you have an easier path to making products that will land you good prices. Still, this wouldn't realistically allow you to mass produce.
• Trading: If you use market manipulation, and have a lot of product, I'm sure you could manipulate prices to your advantage, but this would require significant financial muscle and a big volume of produced ships.
• Rely on your alliance: If you're in a big alliance, it's much easier to profit. You can make deals to exchange ships through direct trade or contracts, and you can have everything delivered to your doorstep. You can build a whole ecosystem around selling to your own alliance and getting your resources from them, and if your alliance is in an area without any competition (as would often be the case in null sec, where the only competition is likely other ship producers in the alliance, who you can coordinate efforts with), you can allow yourself to set higher prices.

Given all this, I see how it can be done, but it seems that you really need the right set of circumstances to make it work. My friend has access to a sotiyo where he can build ships with 4,2% material efficiency and has access to a refinery, where he, with implants, can reprocess at 89,3%. And still, the numbers don't look good. The profit is really in the margins, and that makes transporting resources the biggest challenge, since the small margins mean that the time and effort spent doing this not worth it. Then again, I haven't used deep space transports or jumped between keepstars yet, so it might be this part I'm missing.
Also, one thing we quickly noted was that it was never really profitable to produce frigates and destroyers if you compete on the main markets. Jita is in some case the exception, since prices are often inflated for some products there (due to high demand and market manipulation, surely), but I gather that it would be hard to find a good null production facility from where you can easily move stuff to Jita. It seems that some people sell frigates and destroyers in mass, for prices where surely it would never be profitable to produce them. I would guess that to be down to four factors:

1. Since frigates and destroyers are give as starter gifts, those with good programming skills, who create mass accounts and "farm" the starter gifts, will end up with a lot of frigates and destroyers and will want to sell these cheaply to get they money quickly.
2. Alliances in faction warfare will often use alliance taxes to produce stuff that supports the war effort. Spitting out frigates and destroyers and selling them without any profit, in your faction areas, seems to be the way they sometimes do this.
3. Some people have probably stockpiled a lot of ships back from when they were cheaper to produce. They might no longer be in the business, and are happy just to sell quickly, as long as they're getting a profit. Since frigates are cheaper, the margins seem less signficant.
4. It seems that some places in low sec, like Misaba and Konora, use extremely cheaply priced ships as way of getting "content", as EVEsuleers like to call it. Wait until you get a notification that people are buying your stuff, and them camp the station and shoot them when they undock. This might not have a direct influence on the high sec markets, but surely selling that many cheap ships will put pressure on prices, and will influence the in-game estimated prices, which has an impact as well.

Below I will go into a few cases that studies to see if it would be possible to profit, based on the fully researched blueprints he had. In the numbers used, I based the mineral prices off the cheapest places where you can buy these minerals in larger quantities in high sec. That means the following prices:

Isogen - 40,99 ISK/unit Megacyte - 655 ISK/unit Mexallon - 133 ISK/unit Nocxium - 1.085 ISK/unit Pyerite - 17,39 ISK/unit Tritanium - 5,89 ISK/unit Zydrine - 1.388 ISK/unit 

So, in other words, even that is very optimistic, since it would mean a lot of resource transporting. Since suicide ganking in high is a very straightforward and low effort activity, where CODE have shown the way by doing it so well, and often very profitably, it seems to be all the rage with the kids these days. You can call yourself a pirate and laugh at the poor "infidels" in high sec, as they squeam under your rightful wrath. The frequency of suicide ganking has gotten high enough that transporting enough stuff to make yourself gank-worth is simply not worth the risk. This sadly means that everyone has to spend more time transporting less stuff. I reckon that in some places, placing a buy order to buy at a lower price might give you the minerals at a lower price and enable you to buy "locally", but I doubt you'd be able to get enough minerals to mass produce that way.
Either way, to the specific cases. Mind you, I didn't include brokers fee and sales tax in these calculations, since you might not sell the ships directly on the market or might sell them at a low tax rate. So, add that into the equation yourself (normally, you would subtract around 5% of the market sell price you expect).
Some of the numbers below factor in a 4,2 material efficiency. Those that do no are noted after the ship:
Tech I ships: Vexor

8.631 x Isogen = 353.784 ISK 304 x Megacyte = 199.120 ISK 35.092 x Mexallon = 4.667.236 ISK 2.466 x Nocxium = 2.675.610 ISK 113.811 x Pyerite = 1.979.173 ISK 531.116 x Tritanium = 3.128.273 ISK 1.120 x Zydrine = 1.554.560 ISK Mineral cost: 14.557.756 ISK Job fee: 263.060 ISK Total production cost: 14.820.816 ISK Market sell price: 14.990.000 ISK Profit: 169.184 ISK (1,1%) 

Tech I ships: Caracal

8.915 x Isogen = 365.425 ISK 475 x Megacyte = 311.125 ISK 31.299 x Mexallon = 4.162.767 ISK 2.845 x Nocxium = 3.086.825 ISK 104.327 x Pyerite = 1.814.246 ISK 464.726 x Tritanium = 2.737.236 ISK 1.196 x Zydrine = 1.660.048 ISK Mineral cost: 14.137.672 ISK Job fee: 253.108 ISK Total production cost: 14.390.780 ISK Market sell price: 12.000.000 ISK Profit: -2.390.780 ISK (-16%) 

Tech I ships: Raven

141.618 x Isogen = 5.804.921 ISK 5.368 x Megacyte = 3.516.040 ISK 567.155 x Mexallon = 75.431.615 ISK 35.357 x Nocxium = 38.362.345 ISK 2.264.259 x Pyerite = 39.375.464 ISK 9.055.325 x Tritanium = 53.335.864 ISK 16.864 x Zydrine = 23.407.232 ISK Mineral cost: 239.233.481 ISK Job fee: 4.433.426 ISK Total production fee: 243.666.907 ISK Market sell price: 275.000.000 ISK Profit: 31.333.093 ISK (12,8%) 

Tech I ships: Osprey

506.333 x Tritanium = 2.982.301 ISK 120.900 x Pyerite = 2.102.451 ISK 28.934 x Mexallon = 3.848.222 ISK 8.164 x Isogen = 334.642 ISK 1.448 x Nocxium = 1.571.080 ISK 826 x Zydrine = 1.146.488 ISK 166 x Megacyte = 108.730 ISK Mineral cost: 12.093.914 ISK Job fee: 213.824 ISK Total production cost: 12.307.738 ISK Market sell price: 13.000.000 ISK Profit: 692.262 ISK (5,6%) 

Tech I ships: Stabber

436.274 x Tritanium = 2.569.653 ISK 161.232 x Pyerite = 2.803.824 ISK 34.144 x Mexallon = 4.541.152 ISK 8.821 x Isogen = 361.572 ISK 2.372 x Nocxium = 2.573.620 ISK 1.062 x Zydrine = 1.474.056 ISK 209 x Megacyte = 136.895 ISK Mineral cost: 14.460.772 ISK Job fee: 264.567 ISK Total production cost: 14.725.339 ISK Market sell price: 13.500.000 ISK Profit: -1.225.339 (-8,3%) 

Tech I ships: Noctis

3.349.411 x Tritanium = 19.728.030 ISK 936.044 x Pyerite = 16.277.805 ISK 276.937 x Mexallon = 36.832.621 ISK 50.714 x Isogen = 2.078.766 ISK 24.631 x Nocxium = 26.724.635 ISK 6.876 x Zydrine = 9.543.888 ISK 3.161 x Megacyte = 2.070.455 ISK Mineral cost: 113.256.200 ISK Job fee: 1.941.915 ISK Total production cost: 115.198.115 ISK Market sell price: 124.000.000 ISK Profit: 8.801.885 ISK (7,6%) 

Tech I ships: Iteron Mark V

69.233 x Tritanium = 407.782 ISK 12.814 x Pyerite = 222.835 ISK 8.061 x Mexallon = 1.072.113 ISK 1.086 x Isogen = 44.515 ISK 310 x Nocxium = 336.350 ISK 93 x Zydrine = 129.084 ISK 21 x Megacyte = 13.755 ISK Mineral cost = 2.226.434 ISK Job fee: 34.877 ISK Total production cost: 2.261.311 ISK Market sell price: 2.260.000 ISK Profit: -1.311 ISK (-0,057%) 

Tech II ships: Cerberus

1 x Caracal = 14.390.780 ISK 143 x Morphite (73.260 ISK/unit) = 10.476.180 ISK 143 x Construction Blocks (6.500 ISK/unit) = 929.500 ISK 378 x Gravimetric Sensor Cluster (28.000 ISK/unit) = 10.584.000 ISK 37 x Graviton Reactor Unit (119.800 ISK/unit) = 4.432.600 ISK 72 x Magpulse Thruster (39.990 ISK/unit) = 2.879.280 ISK 1.281 x Quantum Microprocessor (59.280 ISK/unit) = 75.937.680 ISK 18 x R.A.M. - Starship Tech (370 ISK/unit) = 6.660 ISK 427 x Scalar Capacitor Unit (58.100 ISK/unit) = 24.808.700 ISK 427 x Sustained Shield Emitter (45.360 ISK/unit) = 19.368.720 ISK 5.335 x Titanium Diborite Armor Plate (11.520 ISK/unit) = 61.459.200 ISK Mineral and part cost: 210.882.520 ISK Job fee: 4.262.736 ISK Total production cost: 215.145.256 ISK Market sell price: 219.200.000 ISK 

However, for tech II ship you also need to do invention to turn a tech I BPC into tech II, I learned. So, you have to include the invention cost:

Create Caracal BPC: 57.731 ISK Invention fee: 75.708 ISK 1 x Decryptor consumed 8 x Datacore - High Energy Physics (1.106.000 ISK) = 8.848.000 ISK 8 x Datacore - Caldari Starship Engineering (135.200 ISK) = 1.081.600 ISK Total invention cost: 10.063.039 ISK 

So, now we have the invention cost, but factoring in the cost and the attributes of the decryptor will require us to find the optimal decryptor. So, we quickly did the math (Excel spreadsheet here):
So, in the end, we can see that using "Optimized Augmentation Decryptor" and producing eight Cerberus ship (1 run + 7 runs on the BPC after invention) will on average yield the best result. On average, if you buy enough decryptors and invention materials for the invention to succeed, and produce the ships from the resulting BPCs, you will gain 107.967.649 ISK in profit (much less, if you detract around 95M ISK in sales and brokes fees - assuming those amount to 5% for you). Mind you, collecting/build/buying all the materials for this is a great undertaking for most players, so it is not likely to be worth your time for the most part. Also note that this result hinges on you selling at an optimal market fee of 240M. People will be able to go elsewhere and buy significant quantities of Cerberus ships for around 219M ISK, so that's what you're up against (with the "convenience tax" of buying locally having to work in your favor).
​
Rigs from salvage
Since me and my friend had a lot of salvage from ratting, we felt it would be a shame not to use this as well. It seems that building rigs is quite lucrative compared to just selling your salvage. You can sometimes buy salvage quite cheaply, since the market for salvage seems less established than for other materials, and since it takes up hardly any space, you can transport it safely in small fast-aligning ship. However, due to the market not being very established, it's also hard to buy up huge amounts of salvage at good prices. Often the sell orders are so small, the time you spend click to buy or collecting it, means it was never worthwhile compared to normal ISK-making methods.
Rigs are somewhat easier to sell at a better price. Since they don't take up a lot of space, it's easy to transport them somewhere where the price is 15-30% higher than the low market price. Take it to Jita, but beware that you'll have to sell it quickly, because you'll be constantly undercut by speculative traders.
Note that some of the numbers for the rigs below are so small that they don't get to benefit from material efficiency if you produce just one rig (since you only use whole numbers, the benefit will be rounded down). So, if you produce higher quantities, the average production cost should be slightly lower.
So a few examples (beware! numbers are still based on producing from a material efficiency rigged sotiyo in null sec):
Rigs: Small Core Defense Field Extender I

4 x Tripped Power Circuit (2.400 ISK/unit) = 9.600 ISK 4 x Burned Logic Circuit (31.070 ISK/unit) = 124.280 ISK 2 x Ward Console (38.660 ISK/unit) = 77.320 ISK Total salvage cost: 211.200 ISK Job fee: 4.459 ISK Total production cost: 215.659 ISK Market sell price: 291.600 ISK Profit: 75.941 ISK (35%) 

Rigs: Small Trimark Armor Pump I

2 x Contaminated Nanite Compound (95.000 ISK/unit) - 190.000 ISK 3 x Fried Interface Circuit (1.816 ISK/unit) - 5.448 ISK 3 x Armor Plates (33.590 ISK/unit) - 100.770 ISK Total salvage cost: 296.218 ISK Job fee: 4.417 ISK Total production cost: 300.635 ISK Market sell price: 344.500 ISK Profit: 43.865 ISK (14,5%) 

Rigs: Medium Core Defense Field Purger

20 x Tripped Power Circuit (2400 ISK/unit) - 48.000 ISK 20 x Burned Logic Circuit (31070 ISK/unit) - 621.400 ISK 9 x Ward Console (38660 ISK/unit) - 347.940 ISK Total salvage cost: 1.017.340 Job fee: 22.483 Total production cost: 1.039.823 Market sell price: 1.290.000 Profit: 250.177 ISK (24%) 

Rigs: Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

11 x Contaminated Nanite Compound (91.040 ISK/unit) - 1.001.440 ISK 17 x Fried Interface Circuit (1.850 ISK/unit) - 31.450 ISK 14 x Armor Plates (35.020 ISK/unit) - 490.280 ISK Total salvage cost: 1.523.170 ISK Job fee: 19.634 ISK Total production cost: 1.542.804 ISK Market sell price: 1.601.000 ISK Profit: 58.196 ISK (3,7%) 

Rigs: Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I

13 x Contaminated Nanite Compound (91.040 ISK/unit) - 1.183.520 ISK 20 x Fried Interface Circuit (1.850 ISK/unit) - 37.000 ISK 18 x Armor Plates (35.020 ISK/unit) - 630.360 ISK Total salvage cost: 1.850.880 ISK Job fee: 25.099 ISK Total production cost: 1.875.979 ISK Market sell price: 1.969.000 ISK Profit: 93.021 ISK (4,9%) 

Rigs: Medium Nanobot Accelerator I

13 x Contaminated Nanite Compound (91.040 ISK/unit) - 1.183.520 ISK 20 x Fried Interface Circuit (1.850 ISK/unit) - 37.000 ISK 18 x Armor Plates (35.020 ISK/unit) - 630.360 ISK Total salvage cost: 1.850.880 ISK Job fee: 25.099 ISK Total production cost: 1.875.979 ISK Market sell price: 1.871.000 ISK Profit: -4.979 ISK (-0,2%) 

Rigs: Medium Ancillary Current Router I

13 x Tangled Power Conduit (43.100 ISK/unit) - 560.300 ISK 52 x Tripped Power Circuit (2.400 ISK/unit) - 124.800 ISK 50 x Burned Logic Circuit (36.500 ISK/unit) - 1.825.000 ISK Total salvage cost: 2.510.100 ISK Job fee: 29.715 ISK Total production cost: 2.539.815 ISK Sell market price: 2.520.000 ISK Profit: -19.815 ISK (-0,7%) 

Producing fits
When you produce fits, you start having another factor introduced. Since many items drop from loot, this, of course, affects the sell price, since loot will be likely to be sold at a lower value and will sometimes flood the market. Eventually, though, the price of all items should at least gravitate towards their reprocessed value.
I was looking for some cheap researched blueprints to buy on contracts for my friend while I was in Dodixie, and I looked at some common items to see how easy they would be to sell. I think a fair amount of people can settle for a tech I tractor beam (and might not have the skills for tech II), and since it seems to be very rarely sold in some regions, I bet you could turn a nice profit from producing a fair quantity of those (similarly to the Noctis).
The numbers below are without the 4,2% material efficiency of a fitted null sec sotiyo being factored in (since my friend wasn't producing these and I just wanted to check them quickly before buying them). So, to get your number, simply subtract your material efficiency percentage from mineral cost.
Fits: Large Cap Battery I

4.574 x Tritanium - 26.940 ISK 1.734 x Pyerite - 30.154 ISK 1.307 x Mexallon - 173.831 ISK 4 x Zydrine - 5.552 ISK Mineral cost: 236.477 ISK Job fee: 2.831 ISK Total production cost: 239.308 ISK Market sell price: 230.000 ISK Profit: -9.308 ISK (-3,8%) 

Fits: Miner I

1205 x Tritanium - 7.097 ISK 438 x Pyerite - 7.616 ISK 109 x Mexallon - 14.497 ISK Mineral cost: 29.211 ISK Job fee: 485 ISK Total production cost: 29.696 ISK Market sell price: 12.500 ISK Profit: -17.196 ISK (-57%) 

Fits: Small Tractor Beam I

25.001 x Tritanium - 147.255 ISK 11.000 x Pyerite - 191.290 ISK 9.000 x Mexallon - 1.197.000 ISK 2.501 x Isogen - 102.515 ISK 351 x Nocxium - 380.835 ISK 148 x Zydrine - 205.424 ISK 80 x Megacyte - 52.400 ISK Mineral cost: 2.174.204 ISK Job fee: 33.450 ISK Total production cost: 2.207.654 ISK Market sell price: 2.150.000 ISK Profit: -57.654 ISK (-2,6%) 

Fits: Inertial Stabilizers I

1608 x Tritanium = 9471 ISK 274 x Pyerite = 4764 ISK 1 x Mexallon = 133 ISK Mineral cost: 14.368 ISK Job fee: 369 ISK Total production cost: 14.737 ISK Market sell price: 19.300 ISK Profit: 4.563 ISK (30%) 

Fits: Reinforced Bulkheads I

6.250 x Tritanium = 36.812 Mineral cost: 36.812 ISK Job fee: 1.103 ISK Total production cost: 37.915 ISK Market sell price: 38.900 ISK Profit: 985 ISK (2,5%) 

Fits: Stasis Webifier I

776 x Tritanium = 4.570 ISK 713 x Pyerite = 12.399 ISK 477 x Mexallon = 63.441 ISK Mineral cost: 80.410 ISK Job fee: 984 ISK Total production cost: 81.394 ISK Market sell price: 75.000 ISK Profit: -6.394 ISK (-7,8%) 

Fits: Warp Scrambler I

452 x Tritanium = 2.662 ISK 268 x Pyerite = 4.660 ISK 301 x Mexallon = 40.033 ISK 178 x Isogen = 7.296 ISK 4 x Zydrine = 5.552 ISK Mineral cost: 60.203 ISK Job fee: 984 ISK Total production cost: 61.187 ISK Market sell price: 54.990 ISK (much more expensive in Jita) Profit: -6.197 ISK (-10,1%) 

Fits: Multispectrum Energized Membrane I

5412 x Tritanium = 31.876 ISK 4063 x Pyerite = 70.655 ISK 1451 x Mexallon = 192.983 ISK 2 x Zydrine = 2.776 ISK 2 x Megacyte = 1.310 ISK Mineral cost: 299.600 ISK Job fee: 4.178 ISK Total production cost: 303.778 ISK Market sell price: 200.000 ISK Profit: -103.778 ISK (-34%) 

Since I did most of these numbers a few weeks ago, and the market is in constant flux, I hope it's still fairly accurate. Of course, the market sell price is just the leading parameter for bulk sales, but you can always make more than that from selling at the right market, where people will buy your stuff for convenience.
A few quick comparisons I did of compressed ores with their sales price and reprocesed value (using the cheapest values in high sec that you can get them in quantities for - be aware that they be more expensive close to you) while passing through space and looking to buy some (and later regretting it, remembering that the most inexpensive ores wouldn't be worth transporting 40 jumps, even compressed) - reprocessing fees not included in calculation, since they vary:
Ores: Scordite

89,3 % of 1 Compressed Scordite (2.411 ISK): 133,95 x Tritanium = 788 ISK 80,37 x Pyerite (17,39) = 1397 ISK Reprocessed value: 2.185 ISK Profit: -226 ISK (-9%) 

Ores: Veldspar

89,3 of 1 Compressed Veldspar (1.890 ISK) = 357,6 x Tritanium = 2.106 ISK Reprocessed value: 2.106 ISK Profit: 216 ISK (11,4%) 

Ores: Crokite

89,3% of 1 Compressed Crokite (975.000 ISK) = 714 x Pyerite = 12.416 ISK 1786 x Mexallon = 237.538 ISK 714 x Nocxium = 774.690 ISK Processed value: 1.024.644 ISK Profit: 49.644 ISK (5%) 

Ores: Bistot

89,3% of 1 Compressed Bistot (350.000 ISK) = 2.857 x Pyerite = 49.683 1.071 x Mexallon = 142.443 ISK 142 x Zydrine = 197.096 ISK Reprocessed value: 389.222 ISK Profit: 39.222 ISK (11,2%) 

Ores: Dark Ochre

89,3% of 1 Compressed Dark Ochre (600.000 ISK) = 1.214 x Mexallon = 161.462 ISK 1.071 x Isogen = 43.900 ISK 285 x Nocxium = 309.225 ISK Reprocessed value: 514.587 ISK Profit: -85.413 ISK (-14,2%) 

Ores: Omber

89,3% of 1 Compressed Omber (12.390 ISK) = 80,37 x Pyerite = 1.397 ISK 66 x Isogen = 2.705 ISK Reprocessed value: 4.102 ISK Profit: -8.288 ISK (-66%) 

Ores: Gneiss

89,3 of 1 Compressed Gneiss (277.000 ISK) = 1786 x Pyerite = 31.058 1339 x Mexallon = 178.087 714 x Isogen = 29.266 Reprocessed value: 238.411 Profit: -38.589 ISK (13,9%) 

Ores: Plagioclase

89,3% of 1 Compressed Plagioclase (8.480 ISK) = 156 x Tritanium = 918 ISK 62 x Mexallon = 8.246 ISK Reprocessed value: 9.164 Profit: 684 ISK (8%) 

Ores: Hedbergite

89,3 of 1 Compressed Hedbergite (258.000 ISK): 401 x Pyerite = 6.973 ISK 107 x Nocxium = 116.095 Reprocessed value: 123.068 Profit: -134.932 ISK (-52%)