Today i have a confession to make: i'm a little bit of a minmaxer. And honestly, i think that's a pretty desirable trait in a DM. The minmaxer knows the rules, and exploits them to maximum efficiency.
"But wait, what does that have to do with spell use in society?" - someone, probably.
Well, the thing is that humans are absolutely all about minmaxing. There's a rule in the universe that reads "gas expands when hot", and suddenly we have steam engines (or something like that, i'm a political scientist not an engineer). A rule says 1+1 = 2, and suddenly we have calculus, computers and all kinds of digital stuff that runs on math. Sound is energy? Let's convert that shit into electricity, run it through a wire and turn it back into sound on the other side.
Bruh. Science is just minmaxing the laws of nature. Humanity in real life is just a big bunch of munchkins, and it should be no different in your setting.
And that is why minmaxing magic usage is something societies as a whole would do, specially with some notable spells. Today i will go in depth on how and why each of these notable mentions has a huge impact on a fantasy society.
We'll go from lowest level to highest, keeping in mind that the lower level a spell the more common it should be to find someone who has it, so often a level 2-3 spell will have more impact than a level 9 spell.
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Mending (cantrip).
Repair anything in one minute. Your axe lost its edge? Tore your shirt? Just have someone Mend it.
Someone out there is crying "but wait! Not every village has a wizard!" and while that is true, keep in mind any High Elf knows a cantrip, as can any Variant Human.
A single "mender" could replace a lot of the work a smith, woodworker or seamstress does, freeing their time to only work on making new things rather than repair old ones.
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Prestidigitation (cantrip).
Clean anything in six seconds. Committed axe murders until the axe got blunt, and now there's blood everywhere? Dog shit on your pillow out of spite? Someone walked all over the living room with muddy boots? Just Prestidigitate it away.
This may look like a small thing, but its actually huge when you apply it to laundry. Before washing machines were a thing housewives had to spend several hours a week washing them manually, and with Prestidigitation you can just hire someone to get it done in a few minutes.
A single "magic cleaner" can attend to several dozen homes, if not hundreds, thus freeing several hours of the time of dozens of women.
Fun fact: there's an interesting theory that says feminism only existed because of laundry machines and similar devices. Women found themselves having more free time, which they used to read and socialize. Educated women with more contacts made for easy organization of political movements, and the fact men were now able to do "the women's work" by pushing a button meant men were less opposed to losing their housewives' labor. Having specialized menders and magic cleaners could cause a comparable revolution in a fantasy setting, and help explain why women have a similar standing to men even in combat occupations such as adventuring.
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Healing in general (1st-2nd level).
This one is fairly obvious. A commoner has 4 hit points, that means just about any spell is a full heal to the average person. That means most cuts, stab wounds, etc. can be solved by the resident cleric. Even broken bones that would leave you in bed for months can be solved in a matter of seconds as soon as the holy man arrives.
But that's nothing compared to the ability to cure diseases. While the only spell that can cure diseases is Lesser Restoration, which is second level, a paladin can do it much more easily with just a Lay on Hands. This means if one or two people catch a disease it can just be eradicated with a touch.
However doing that comes with a cost. If everyone is instantly expunged of illness, the populace does not build up their immune systems. Regular disease becomes less common, sure, but whenever it is reintroduced (by, say, immigrants or contact with less civilized humanoids) it can spread like wildfire, afflicting people so fast that no amount of healers will have the magic juice to deal with it.
Diseases become rare, plagues become common.
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Continual Flame (2nd).
Ok, this one is a topic i love and could easily be its own post.
There's an article called "Why the Falling Cost of Light Matters", which goes in detail about how man went from chopping wood for fire, to using animal fat for candles, then other oils, whale oil, kerosene, then finally incandescent light bulbs, and more recently LED lights. Each of these leaps is orders of grandeur more efficient than the previous one, to the point that the cost of light today is about 500,000 times cheaper than it was for for a caveman. And until the early 1900s the only way mankind knew of making light was to set things on fire.
Continual Flame on the other hand allows you to turn 50gp worth of rubies and a 2nd level spell slot into a torch that burns forever. In a society that spends 60 hours of labor to be able to generate 140 minutes of light, this is a huge game changer.
This single spell, which i am 99% sure was just created as an excuse for why the dungeon is lit despite going for centuries without maintenance, allows you to have things like public lighting. Even if you only add a new "torchpost" every other week or month sooner or later you'll be left with a neatly lit city, specially if the city has had thousands of years in which to gather the rubies and light them up.
And because the demand of rubies becomes so important, consider how governments would react. Lighting the streets is a public service, if its strategically relevant to make the city safer at night, would that not warrant some restrictions on ruby sales? Perhaps even banning the use of rubies in jewelry?
Trivia: John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in history, gained his wealth selling kerosene. Kerosene at the time was used to light lamps. Gasoline was invented much later, when Rockefeller tasked a bunch of scientists to come up with a use for some byproducts of the kerosene production. This illustrates how much money is to be had in the lighting industry, and you could even have your own Rockefeller ruby baron in your game. I shall call him... Dohn J. Stonebreaker. Perfect name for a mining entrepreneur.
Whether the ruby trade ends up a monopoly under the direct supervision of the king or a free market, do keep in mind that Continual Flame is by far the most efficient way of creating light.
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Gentle Repose (2nd).
Cast it on a corpse, and it stays preserved for 10 days.
This has many potential uses, from preserving foodstuffs (hey, some rare meats are expensive enough to warrant it) to keeping the bodies of old rulers preserved. Even if a ruler died of old age and cannot be resurrected, the body could be kept "fresh" out of respect/ceremony. Besides, it keeps the corpse from becoming undead.
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Skywrite (2nd).
Ok, this one is mostly a gag. While the spell can be used by officials to make official announcements to the populace, such as new laws or important news, i like to just use it for spam. I mean, its a ritual spell that writes a message on the sky; what else would people use it for?
Imagine you show up in a city, and there's half a dozen clouds reading "buy at X, we have what you need", "get your farming supplies over at Joe's store" or "vote Y for the city council".
The possibilities are endless, and there's no way the players can expect it. Just keep in mind that by RAW the spell can only do words, meaning no images. No Patrick, "8===D" is not a word.
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Zone of Truth (2nd).
This one is too obvious. Put all suspects of a crime into a ZoT, wait a couple minutes to make sure they fail the save, then ask each one if he did it. Sure its not a perfect system, things like the Ring of Mind Shielding still exist, but it's got a better chance of getting the right guy than most medieval justice systems. And probably more than a few contemporary ones. All while taking only a fraction of the time.
More importantly, with all the average crimes being handled instantly, the guards and investigators have more time to properly investigate the more unusual crimes that might actually involve a Thought Shield, Ring of Mind Shielding or a level 17 Mastermind.
There is a human rights argument against messing with people's minds in any way, which is why this may not be practiced in every kingdom. But there are definitely some more lawful societies that would use ZoT on just about every crime.
Why swear to speak the truth and nothing but the truth when you can just stand in a zone of truth?
Another interesting use for ZoT is oaths. When someone is appointed into an office, gets to a high rank in the military or a guild, just put them in a ZoT while they make their oath to stand for the organization's values and yadda yadda. Of course they can be corrupted later on, but at least you make sure they're honest when they are sworn in.
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Sending (3rd).
Sending is busted in so many ways.
The more "vanilla" use of it is to just communicate over long distances. We all know that information is important, and that sometimes getting information a whole day ahead can lead to a 40% return on a massive two-year investment. Being able to know of invasions, monsters, disasters, etc. without waiting days or weeks for a courier can be vital for the survival of a nation. Another notable example is that one dude who ran super fast for a while to be the first to tell his side of a recent event.
But the real broken thing here is... Sending can Send to any creature, on any plane; the only restriction being "with which you are familiar". In D&D dead people just get sent to one of the afterlife planes, meaning that talking to your dead grandfather would be as simple as Sending to him. Settling inheritance disputes was never easier!
Before moving on to the next point let me ask you something: Is a cleric familiar with his god? Is a warlock familiar with his patron?
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Speak With Dead (3rd).
Much like Sending, this lets you easily settle disputes. Is the senate/council arguing over a controversial topic? Just ask the beloved hero or ruler from 200 years ago what he thinks on the subject. As long his skeleton still has a jaw (or if he has been kept in Gentle Repose), he can answer.
This can also be used to ask people who killed them, except murderers also know this. Plan on killing someone? Accidentally killed someone? Make sure to inutilize the jaw. Its either that, being so stealthy the victim can't identify you, or being caught.
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Note on spell availability.
Oh boy. No world-altering 4th level spells for some reason, and suddenly we're playing with the big boys now.
Spells up to 3rd level are what I'd consider "somewhat accessible", and can be arranged for a fee even for regular citizens. For instance the vanilla Priest statblock (MM348) is a 5th level cleric, and the standard vanilla Druid (MM346) a 4th level druid.
Spells of 5th level onward will be considered something only the top 1% is able to afford, or large organizations such as guilds, temples or government.
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Dream (5th).
I was originally going to put Dream along with Sending and Telepathy as "long range communication", but decided against it due to each of them having unique uses.
And when it comes to Dream, it has the unique ability of allowing you to put your 8 hours of sleep to good use. A tutor could hire someone to cast Dream on him, thus allowing him to teach his student for 8 hours at any distance. This is a way you could even access hermits that live in the middle of nowhere or in secluded monasteries. Very wealthy families or rulers would be willing to pay a good amount of money to make sure their heirs get that extra bit of education.
Its like online classes, but while you sleep!
Another interesting use is for cheating. Know a princess or queen you like? She likes you back? Her dad put 400 trained soldiers between you? No problemo! Just find a 9th level Bard, Warlock or Wizard, but who am i kidding, of course it'll be a bard. And that bard is probably you. Now you have 8 hours to do whatever you want, and no physical evidence will be left.
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Raise Dead (5th).
Few things matter more in life than death. And the ability to resurrect people has a huge impact on society. The impact is so huge that this topic needs topics of its own.
First, diamond monopoly. Remember what i said about how Continual Flame would lead to controlled ruby sales due to its strategic value? This is the same principle, but a hundred times stronger. Resurrection is a huge strategic resource. It makes assassinations harder, can be used to bring back your officials or highest level soldiers over and over during a war, etc. This means more authoritarian regimes would do everything within their power to control the supply and stock of diamonds. Which in turn means if anyone wants to have someone resurrected, even in times of peace, they'll need to call in a favor, do a quest, grease some hands...
Second, resurrection insurance. People hate risks. That's why insurance is such a huge industry, taking up about 15% of the US GDP. People insure their cars, houses... even their lives. Resurrection just means "life insurance" is taken more literally. This makes even more sense when you consider how expensive resurrection is: nobody can afford it in one go, but if you pay a little every month or year you can save up enough to have it done when the need arises.
This is generally incompatible with the idea of a State-run monopoly over diamonds, but that just means different countries within a setting can take different approaches.
To make things easier, i even used some microeconomics to make a sheet in my personal random generators to calculate the price of such a service. Just head to the "Insurance" tab and fill in the information relative to your setting.
With actual life insurance resurrection can cost as little as 5gp a year for humans or 8sp a year for elves, making resurrection way more affordable than it looks.
Also, do you know why pirates wore a single gold earring? It was so that if your body washes up on the shore whoever finds it can use the money to arrange a proper burial. Sure there's a risk of the finder taking it and walking away, but the pirates did it anyway. With resurrection in play, might as well just wear a diamond earring instead and hope the finder is nice enough to bring you back.
I got so carried away with the whole insurance thing i almost forgot: the possibility of resurrection also changes how murders are committed.
If you want someone dead but resurrection exists, you have to remove the vital organs. Decapitation would be far more common. Sure resurrection is still possible, but it requires higher level spells or Reincarnate, which has... quirks.
As a result it should be very obvious when someone was killed by accident or an overreaction, and when someone was specifically out to kill the victim.
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Scrying (5th).
This one is somewhat obvious, in that everyone and their mother knows it helps finding people. But who needs finding? Well, that would be those who are hiding.
The main use i see for this spell, by far, is locating escaped criminals. Just collect a sample of hair or blood when arresting someone (or shipping them to hard labor which is way smarter), and if they escape you'll be almost guaranteed to successfully scry on them.
A similar concept to this is seen in the Dragon Age series. If you're a mage the paladins keep a sample of your blood in something called a phylactery, and that can be used to track you down. There's even a quest or two about mages trying to destroy their phylacteries before escaping.
Similarly, if you plan a jailbreak it would be highly beneficial to destroy the blood/hair sample first. As a matter of fact i can even see a thieves guild hiring a low level party to take out the sample while the professional infiltrators get the prisoner out. Keep in mind both events must be done at the same time, otherwise the guards will just collect a new sample or would have already taken it to the wizard.
But guards aren't the only ones with resources. A loan shark could keep blood samples of his debtors, a mobster can keep one of those who owe him favors, etc. And the blood is ceremoniously returned only when the debt is fully paid.
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Teleportation Circle (5th), Transport Via Plants (6th).
In other words, long range teleportation. This is such a huge thing that it is hard to properly explain how important it is.
Teleportation Circle creates a 10ft. circle, and everyone has one round to get in and appear on the target location. Assuming 30ft. movement that means you can get 192 people through, which is a lot of potential merchants going across any distance. Or 672 people dashing.
Math note: A 30ft radius square around a 10ft. diameter square, minus the 4 original squares. Or [(6*2+2)^2]-4 squares of 5ft. each. Hence 192 people.
Getting hundreds of merchants, workers, soldiers, etc. across any distance is nothing to scoff at. In fact, it could help explain why PHB item prices are so standardized: Arbitrage is so easy and cheap that price differences across multiple markets become negligible. Unless of course countries start setting up tax collectors outside of the permanent teleportation circles in order to charge tariffs.
Transport Via Plants does something very similar but it requires 5ft of movement to go through, which means less people can be teleported. On the other hand it doesn't burn 50gp and can take you to any tree the druid is familiar with, making it nearly impossible for tax collectors to be waiting on the other side. Unfortunately druids tend to be a lot less willing to aid smugglers, so your best bet might be a bard using spells that don't belong to his list.
With these methods of long range teleportation not only does trade get easier, but it also becomes possible to colonize or inhabit far away places. For instance if someone finds a gold mine in the antarctic you could set up a mine and bring food and other supplies via teleportation.
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Major Image (6th level slot).
Major Image is a 3rd level spell that creates an illusion over a 20ft cube, complete with image, sound, smell and temperature. When cast with a 6th level slot or higher, it lasts indefinitely.
That my friends, is a huge spell. Why get the world's best painter to decorate the ceiling of your cathedral when you can just get an illusion made in six seconds?
The uses for decorating large buildings is already good, but remember: we're not restricted to sight.
Cast this on a room and it'll always be cool and smell nice. Inns would love that, as would anyone who always sleeps or works in the same room. Desert cities have never been so chill.
You can even use an illusion to make the front of your shop seem flashier, while hollering on loop to bring customers in.
The only limit to this spell is your imagination, though I'm pretty sure it was originally made just to hide secret passages.
Trivia: the ki-rin (VGM163) can cast Major Image as a 6th level spell, at will. It's probably meant to give them fabulous lairs yet all it takes is someone doing the holy horsey a big favor, and it could enchant the whole city in a few hours. Shiniest city on the planet, always at a nice temperature and with a fragrance of lilac, gooseberries or whatever you want.
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Simulacrum (7th).
Spend 12 hours and 1500gp worth of ruby dust, and get a clone of yourself. Notably, each caster can only have one simulacrum, regardless of who the person he cloned is.
How this changes the world? By allowing the rich and powerful to be in two places at once. Kings now have a perfect impersonator who thinks just like them. A wealthy banker can run two branches of his company. Etc.
This makes life much easier, but also competes with Continual Flame over resources.
It also gives "go fuck yourself" a whole new meaning, making the sentence a valid Suggestion.
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Clone (8th).
If there's one spell i despise, its Clone.
Wizard-only preemptive resurrection. Touch spell, costs 1.000gp worth of diamonds each time, takes 120 days to come into effect, and creates a copy of the creature that the soul occupies if the original dies. Oh, and the copy can be made younger.
Why is it so despicable? Because it makes people effectively immortal. Accidents and assassinations just get you sent to the clone, and old age can be forever delayed because you keep going back to younger versions of yourself. Being a touch spell means the wizard can cast it on anyone he wants.
In other words: high level wizards, and only wizards, get to make anyone immortal.
That means wizards will inevitably rule any world in which this spell exists.
Think about it. Rulers want to live forever. Wizards can make you live forever. Wizards want other stuff, which you must give them if you want to continue being Cloned. Rulers who refuse this deal eventually die, rulers who accept stick around forever. Natural selection makes it so that eventually the only rulers left are those who sold their soul to wizards. Figuratively, i hope.
The fact that there are only a handful of wizards out there who are high enough level to cast the spell means its easier for them organize and/or form a cartel or union (cartels/unions are easier to maintain the fewer suppliers are involved).
This leads to a dystopian scenario where mages rule, kings are authoritarian pawns and nobody else has a say in anything. Honestly it would make for a fun campaign in and of itself, but unless that's specifically what you're going for it'll just derail everything else.
Oh, and Clone also means any and all liches are absolute idiots. Liches are people who turned themselves into undead abominations in order to gain eternal life at the cost of having to feed on souls. They're all able to cast 9th level wizard spells, so why not just cast an 8th level one and keep undeath away? Saves you the trouble of going after souls, and you keep the ability to enjoy food or a day in the sun.
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Demiplane (8th).
Your own 30ft. room of nothingness. Perfect place for storage and a DM's nightmare given how once players have access to it they'll just start looting furniture and such. Oh the horror.
But alas, infinite storage is not the reason this is a broken spell. No sir.
Remember: you can access someone else's demiplane. That means a caster in city 1 can put things into a demiplane, and a caster in city 2 can pull them out of any surface.
But wait, there's more! There's nothing anywhere saying you can't have two doors to the same demiplane open at once. Now you're effectively opening a portal between two places, which stays open for a whole hour.
But wait, there's even more! Anyone from any plane can open a door to your neat little demiplane. Now we can get multiple casters from multiple planes connecting all of those places, for one hour. Sure this is a very expensive thing to do since you're having to coordinate multiple high level individuals in different planes, but the payoff is just as high. We're talking about potential integration between the most varied markets imaginable, few things in the multiverse are more valuable or profitable. Its a do-it-yourself Sigil.
One little plot hook i like about demiplanes is abandoned/inactive ones. Old wizard/warlock died, and nobody knows how to access his demiplanes. Because he's at least level 15 you just know there's some good stuff in there, but nobody can get to it. Now the players have to find a journal, diary, stored memory or any other way of knowing enough about the demiplane to access it.
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True Polymorph (9th).
True Polymorph. The spell that can turn any race into any other race, or object. And vice-versa. You can go full fairy godmother and turn mice into horses. For a spell that can change anything about one's body it would not be an unusual ruling to say it can change one's sex. At the very least it can turn a man into a chair, and the chair into a woman (or vice-versa of course).
But honestly, that's just the tip of the True Polymorph iceberg. Just read this more carefully:
> You transform the creature into a different creature, the creature into a nonmagical object, or the object into a creature
This means you can turn a rock or twig into a human. A fully functional human with, as far as the rules go, a soul. You can create life.
But wait, there's more! Nothing there says you have to turn the target into a known creature on an existing creature. The narcissist bard wants to create a whole race of people who look like him? True Polymorph. A player wants to play a weird ass homebrew race and you have no idea how it would fit into the setting? True Polymorph. Wizard needs a way to quickly populate a kingdom and doesn't want to wait decades for the subjects to grow up? True Polymorph. Warlock must provide his patron 100 souls in order to free his own? True Polymorph. The sorcerer wants to do something cool? Fuck that guy, sorcerers don't get any of the fun high level spells; True Poly is available to literally every arcane caster but the sorcerer.
Note: what good is Twinned Spell if all the high level twinnable spells have been specifically made unavailable to sorcerers?
Do keep in mind however that this brings a whole new discussion on human rights. Does a table have rights? Does it have rights after being turned into a living thing? If it had an owner, is it now a slave? Your country will need so many new laws, just to deal with this one spell.
People often say that high level wizards are deities for all intents and purposes. This is the utmost proof of that. Clerics don't get to create life out of thin air, wizards do. The cleric worships a deity, the wizard is the deity.
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Conclusion.
Intelligent creatures not only can game the system, but it is entirely in character for them to do so. I'll even argue that if humanoids don't use magic to improve their lives when it's available, you're pushing the suspension of disbelief.
With this post i hope to have helped you make more complex and realistic societies, as well as provide a few interesting and unusual plot hooks
Lastly, as much as i hate comment begging i must admit i am eager to see what spells other players think can completely change the world. Because at the end of the day we all know that extra d6 damage is not what causes empires to rise and fall, its the utility spells that make the best stories.
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Edit: Added spell level to all spells, and would like to thank u/kaul_field for helping with finishing touches and being overall a great mod.

Sonic the Hedgehog: a popular video game franchise of a cocky, quick-witted, free-spirited blue hedgehog who is as fast as the speed of sound and fights the forces of evil with a colorful cast of companions. The New York Knickerbockers: a professional NBA basketball team that resides in Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York City. Now you might be thinking, “What do these two things have in common? A video game mascot and a sports team aren’t similar?” And you’re probably right, they just seem too different from each other. It’s not like they are polar opposites, but that they are just so different that it seems almost impossible for them to have similarities. They are in two totally different realms of existence. But if you are a fan of both, you start to see through the overlining aspects and can find some significant connections between the two. You come to find that a prosperous start eventually led to many miserable downfalls. You find that the ones pulling the strings and running the show are the ones that are driving these two franchises straight into the ground. You find that the loyal fans are given false hope and promises nearly every year. And you come to find that these two franchises timelines are somewhat parallel to each other.
Bright Beginnings
If we are going to talk about how it all started with these two, let’s do the Knicks first, since they have been around longer. The winter of 1891 was the year that physical educator James Naismith had an idea. It was too cold for the Massachusetts boys to go outside and get active. So, Naismith decided to nail up some peach baskets indoors, got a leather ball, made some rules and regulations, and then the rest is history. The game for young boys quickly became a trend. Recreational centers and schools embraced this new game and basketball became known to all. But playing on a school team wasn’t enough. Where do these kids and young men go with this talent? It was then decided that just like baseball and football, America needed a professional league for basketball. And so, on June 6, 1946, in New York, the Nation Basketball Association was born. And with it, a new team called The New York Knickerbockers (more commonly known as Knicks for short). Yeah, that’s right, the Knicks are as old as the goddamn NBA. The Knicks have seen it all in the NBA. The best, the worst, wins, losses. It was only until the 70s where the Knicks began to prosper for the very first time. With Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, and Dick Barnett, Phill Jackson, under Coach William 'Red' Holzman, New York got their very first championship. And even another 3 years later. They beat out guys like Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlin, and many more. After those years, the rest of the 70s were an “iffy” time for NY. Their records were great at first, getting into the playoffs and Eastern Conference semi-finals just to be eliminated each time. Then the 80s came around and things started to look up for them again. Their records improved, Bernard King was great but were eliminated in the playoff each time they got there. Then, after a terrible season, the Knicks were placed in the NBA Draft Lottery for the very first time in 1985. And got one of the greatest players and best-known Knicks of all time with the 1st round pick, Patrick Ewing. Then the 90s came around, which was also an electric and most memorable time for New York basketball. Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley, Charlie Ward, Anthony Mason, the list goes on. Coached by the famous Pat Riley, it was an unforgettable time. Did they win any championships? No. But the Garden was never truly the same after that. And for the next 2 decades, it only seemed to change for the very worst.
During all of this, and World War 2, Service Games were making coin-operated slot machines for entertainment for the war effort. After the war, the company sent employees to Japan for expansion. The company began to grow worldwide. It was then shut down when the US government found illegal business practices (which was just some good ole tax evasion). But then one of the original creators, Martin Bromley, made other companies in order to take over its assets and activities, so nothing really changed. Service Games of Japan (more commonly referred to as Sega) was bought out by other companies as time went on, but never really seemed to leave Japan. From slot machines, to photo booths, to pinball machines, to eventually, the brand-new world of video game entertainment. Competition was fierce, games were created, their famous “Sega Genesis” console was made, until the faithful day of June 23, 1991, one of the most famous video game characters to ever exist was created. In the form of an 8-bit, blue, fast hedgehog named Sonic. It was the only character to out beat the worldwide beloved, Italian, plumber, and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) that we all know far too well at the time. The fast-paced and exciting gameplay was riveting. Players awed as Sonic raced to defeat Dr. Robotnik and his robot army to take over the world and stealing the mysterious and infinity powerful Chaos Emeralds was exhilarating for all. Sonic the Hedgehog was a staple of an iconic video game and video game character. And a staple of Sega’s success. The only logical thing to do now is to ride this success, and they sure did. With a multitude of sequels both canon and non-canon, spinoff shows, comic book series, merchandise, and some reboots, it seemed like Sega’s #1 mascot was at the top and continued to rise. But it only takes so long for something to keep rising in fame. Isaac Newton said himself, “What goes up must come down.” And if Sonic was on top, there is only one other place it can go.
The Roaring ‘90s
From the early 90s to the present day, these two have coexisted at the same time, but in different worlds. One related to video games, one related to live professional sports, both in the name of worldwide entertainment. Then the universe made their paths in time parallel to each other. When Sonic was created in 1991, The Knicks got Pat Riley to coach the team. Acquiring the originally undrafted John Starks, who was an electrifying scorer, as he went hand in hand with Patrick Ewing. They went as far as to beat the Pistons in the first round but fell short of succeeding forward because of some guy from the Chicago Bulls that I have never heard of, named Michael Jordan. I guess he was big deal but I’m not too sure. They had had an even better season the following year. Going from a 51–31 record to a 60–22 record. They made it to the Eastern Conference finals only to get swept by Jordan’s Bulls. For Sega, they released Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The story of the battle between Sonic and Robotnik continued. In this game, there was a player 2 option for a friend of a younger sibling. They introduced Miles "Tails" Prower, a young, yellow fox with a knack for mechanical engineering. He would be considered Sonic’s closest friend, almost like a brother. It was a commercial success as well. It was a good year for both Sonic and the Knicks, even though Sonic many have had a better one.
1993 and 1994 was also a prosperous year for both. For the Knicks, with a 57–25 record, defeating all the other teams in the playoff (including Jordan), and returned to the Eastern Conference finals. They would have made it to the NBA finals if it weren’t for the most hated player in New York at the time, Reggie Miller, and the rest of the Indiana Pacers. With two missed free-throws from Starks, an angry/stubborn Pat Riley, to a missed finger-roll layup by Ewing, the Knicks lost 97–95. But ‘93 and ‘94 was a memorable year for the Knicks, as well as for Sega. In the same year, Sonic CD came out in Japan. In it, they introduced Metal Sonic, a robot made by Robotnik to combat Sonic, and Rosy the Rascal (Amy Rose) a pink hedgehog saved by Sonic who is madly and blindly in love with him. Metal was a great adversary for Sonic because it always kept up with him. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 rolled out in ‘94. In it, they continued the story with the brand-new setting of the Floating Island (later to be named Angel Island). Robotnik goes there to repair his “Death Egg” that was damaged in the last game. He tricks the newly introduced character, “Knuckles the Echidna”, a strong, stubborn, and at times dense, who was the guardian of the Island into thinking the Sonic and Tails were the enemies. Knuckle became a quick and notary rival of the blue hedgehog, until the end of the game where Knuckle learns the truth and is then helps Sonic to defeat Robotnik. The game, including Knuckles, was loved by fans. They found success in the game. Their new console, the “Sega Saturn”, not so much. It was outshined and outsold by Sony’s new console, The PlayStation. It couldn’t meet up to what its predecessor, the Genesis, did in the gaming industry. Funny how the Knicks and Sonic mirrored each other that year. They were both on a fiery trail only to be halted by another. The Pacers for the Knicks, and The PlayStation for Sega. They were so close to ultimate success that year. Nevertheless, a pretty solid year for both. At this point, you can’t talk about the best games without mentioning Sonic. And you can’t talk about the best basketball teams without mentioning the Knicks.
The next couple of years were a stagnant few for the blue hedgehog and the New York team. For the Knicks, Pat Riley resigned and moved on to coach the Miami Heat. After firing the new head coach, Don Nelson, the Knicks gave the position to the assistant coach, Jeff Van Gundy. They acquired the big-man Larry Johnson and pure scorer and Allan Houston. The Knicks were eliminated playoff series after playoff series due to the Bull, Heat, and Pacers. In the ’98-’99 season, things started to get cooking. They traded greats like John Starks and Charles Oakley for Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby. While Ewing was aging and having constant injuries, the new players began to step up. They climbed over all the competition and became the first eighth-seeded playoff team to make it to the NBA Finals. Sweat, but short-lived because the powerful San Antonio Spurs beat them to win it all. It proved that the Knicks were still a top caliber NBA team. Being able to dominate the entire East, while striking fear in the West. Sega after 1994 were the same as the Knicks, as they found themselves in the same position and not progressing forward. Making many Sonic titles that felt more like fillers than actual pure Sonic games. The story didn’t progress, and the games were not innovative. New modern technology allowed for new 3D modeled games. The world of 2D was starting to take a seat, and everyone wanted the next best thing. In 1998, they released the “Sega Dreamcast”, in attempts to participate in that year's new upcoming set of consoles that ran 3D games. And with it, the next Sonic title was ready to shake the world, as it did once before. Titled “Sonic Adventures”, it was so critically acclaimed, that 2.5 million copies sold in total, making it the Dreamcast’s bestselling game ever. On Knuckles home of Angel Island, the Master Emerald (one similar to the 7 Chaos Emerald but much bigger and with even greater power and the one he was sworn to protect), is in danger of Dr. Robotnik new plan to release “Chaos”, an immortal and god-like being made out of concentrated energy who was sealed away buy Knuckles ancestors, in order to rule the world. Different characters have different abilities you can play with. We all know Sonic can run fast, but now we can see Tails fly, Knuckles climb, and Amy smash baddies with her large new hammer. It showed the world what Sonic can do in the world of 3D games. Also, the killer original soundtrack to add to the fast-paced excitement, truly made it more memorable. Great level designs mixed with wonderful storytelling and amazing game mechanics, it is widely accepted as one of the greatest Sonic game ever created. The Dreamcast itself didn’t have such a happy ending. Poor manufacturing rates in Japan caused not enough units to be shipped out to please the general public and the massive amounts of orders. Plus, Sony’s new PlayStation 2, Nintendo’s new GameCube, and Microsoft’s first-ever console, the Xbox, crushed the Dreamcast’s chances at full success, despite Sega’s confidence in it. Yet again, Sonic and the Knicks face the mirror and have the similar outcome. In the forms of a superb season with failed Finals expectations, and a stellar game with failed console expectations. So close to a perfect year. It doesn’t really matter now though. Everyone did what Prince said and partied because it was 1999. It was the start of a new decade. Sonic and the Knicks were ready to leave their wonderful pasts in the past. Indicative of an era, preprepared to look ahead into the unknown future. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, just what…...could possibly…… go……. wrong.
The Dark Decade
The year 2000, a brand-new start for all. Forget what happened last year. It now a decade behind you. At the start of a new year, everyone tries to make it his or her own. Before the clock struck 12 on January 1, the Knicks drafted Frédéric Weis from France, instead of the home-grown Ron Arrest. This was done without an official General Manager though. They did hire Scott Layden later on. Charles Dolan, who was the owner of MSG, the Knicks, and Rangers, stepped down. And on November 2nd, 1999, his son James Dolan became the head, a day which will forever live in infamy. 2000, the Knicks are back where they belong in the playoffs. Allen Houston and Latrell Sprewell had amazing seasons. They swept the Toronto Raptors and were quickly denied the chance to go any further, due to nonother than the bane of the Knicks himself, Reggie Miller, and the Indiana Pacers. The Knicks were ready to make improvements. What was their first move? Trading the legendary, home-loved, adored, big man himself Patrick Ewing to (ironically) the Seattle Supersonics. A great start to the new year. Trading away the best player in franchise history, especially after he wanted an extension on his contract. The Ewing Era was officially over. It would have been somewhat reasonable, if it weren’t for the fact that it was a terrible trade deal. Overseas in Japan, despite the Dreamcast launch, it did kinder up some good sales. They did keep up with the other console at first, but the high pre-orders mixed with the poor manufacturing rates made consumers unhappy. Another problem was they were expensive. Many disappointed people traded it in and used the money to buy another console. The delayed (but high selling) Sonic Adventure was good but just couldn’t save it from the slowly declining sales. Sonic himself in 2000 had a quiet year. “Sonic Shuffle”, a board-game-based game similar too Mario Party. It had mixed thoughts. The game was alright, but surely was no Sonic Adventure. Similarly, Sonic and the Knicks’ first year in the 2000s was so-so. Nothing too special but had a slight decrease in shine.
2001: After losing to the Raptors in the playoffs, the Knicks needed some time to regroup. During the offseason, Layden decided it would be a good idea to opt-out of the draft (missing many great players) to resign Allen Houston to a 6 year-100-million-dollar contract. Keep in mind, this was the biggest contract in franchise history at the time. Oh, and he got rid of Glen Rice (one of the guys acquired in the Ewing Trade). He replaced him with guys who also had beefy, long contracts for no reason. Larry Johnson retired, the Knicks new season started badly, and the promising Jeff Van Gundy resigned, and AC Don Chaney was promoted. He didn’t do much to help. To end off on an even worse note, the Knicks had themselves a 30–52 season and missing the playoffs. Fun fact: it was the first time since the 1986–87 season they did not qualify for the playoffs. On Sega’s end, the production for the Dreamcast was discontinued. They took a major step back and became a third-party developer, meaning they will only make games for other consoles and no longer make consoles of their own. They lowered the price of the remaining stock they had, and their net-worth decreased greatly. It just couldn’t keep up and hurt Sega more than it helped it. Just like a dream itself, the Dreamcast was sweet, short-lived, and then faded away. The Sonic game they released, however, would be a fan favorite for generations to come. They released “Sonic Adventure 2”, the official sequel to the first Sonic Adventure. It had extremely high reviews and Sonic fans adored it. It introduced any new characters and innovative game mechanics the series has never seen before. The game can be played more than once, due to it having 2 campaigns that overlap in parts and conclude at the same time. 50 years in the past, Gerald Robotnik (the grandfather of Dr. Robotnik) works on the “Ultimate Life Form” in “Space Colony ARK.” There, his granddaughter, Maria, is born with Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome making her unable to leave the ARK in fears of her dying. Gerald (who is actually a genuinely good soul) tries everything to cure Maria. He creates “Project Shadow”, a powerful hedgehog with immortality. He and Maria bond and become close friends. Then the “Guardian Units of Nations”, or G.U.N for short, saw that Shadow was too dangerous and raided the ARK in attempts to liquefy all information and personnel involved. Instructed to escape, Maria puts Shadow in an escape pod before being gunned down in the crossfire from G.U.N agents to kill Shadow. He escapes, is recovered by the government, put into stasis until Robotnik reawakens him 50 later to use him in his plan for world domination. Shadow, having amnesia, can only remember the last moments with Maria. Filled with hate and anger, he believes Maria’s wishes were to get revenge on humanity. He helps Robotnik acquire the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic is framed for doing so, and thus he and the rest of the team venture out to stop Robotnik once again. The character Rouge the Bat, the independent and flirtatious jewel thief made her first appearance. Playing multiple sides as she helps Shadow acquire the emeralds, works as an undercover agent for G.U.N, and even stealing part of the Master Emerald from Knuckle, making for some interesting and funny interactions. It ended as Shadow realizes that Maria wanted Shadow to give people another chance for a better future. His alignment changes as he and Sonic team up to defeat the final boss and save the day. Shadow was last seen falling to earth after the battle, and the day was saved. A great/complex story and a legendary OST with Crush-40 helping with it. gave the Sonic series a little bit of a mature look. Fans fell in love with Shadow’s serious and edgy personality. Quite possibly, the already amazing Sonic Adventures was matched with an amazing sequel. This year, Sonic and the Knick’s outcomes were quite different. Sonic seemed to get the better end of the stick. But this luck won’t last forever.
2002: an overall poor year for both. The Knicks extended Don Chaney’s contract. They had the seventh pick in the draft (which is solid at most), but instead of rebuilding through the draft, the front office made the terrible decision of packaging the pick the star Marcus Camby and Mark Jackson for veteran Antonio “the-dealing-with-knee-problems” McDyess. Did he play for them during the season? No. He ended up destroying his knee in an exhibition game and missed the entire season. Latrell Sprewell broke his hand on his yacht due to the rough waters. Or he punched a guy, not sure. Doesn’t really matter he missed the beginning of the season. “Fire Layden”, would echo through the garden because of his poor and rash decisions. Their season ended with a 37–45 record, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row. Over in the land of the Rising Sun, Sega executives were comprising a deal with pachinko machine developer, “Sammy Corporation” and Japanese video game company, “Bandai Namco Entertainment.” The president of Sammy had a history with Sega in the past, so it was likely for some agreement to go through. Namco on the other hand withdrew. Sammy was upset with Sega as they attempted to persuade Namco more. This prompted both companies to withdraw, and Sega gained nothing. In the States, some high business workers left Sega due to being unhappy with Japan's refusal to shift with the demand for more mature games. As for Sonic, they had to now make games for companies they once rivaled. They released the “Sonic Advanced” series (from 2001-2003) for the Nintendo “Game Boy Advanced.” It had mixed reviews. Fans enjoyed them while criticizing them for being too short, having imbalanced gameplay, and some bad level designs. The total net-loss even forced them to file for bankruptcy around this time. It could have been all over then. Things are starting to slowly dip for these two. No improvement, no noise in the world of games. The tides are starting to shift.
2003-2009: (let’s just group together these painfully terrible years altogether since they are all painfully terrible) the quicksand has now gotten a firm grip on the iconic red shoes of Sonic and the Nike Air Force 1s of the Knicks and was slowly sinking them down to their necks. Knicks continued to give girthy salaries to C tier players, were bad enough to get to the playoff but good enough to get high draft picks, Sprewell was given up for Keith Van Horn and an old Dikembe Mutombo. This was the last straw for Layden. Retired NBA legend Isiah Thomas became the Knicks president after the chants in the garden have finally been answered. He got right to work. He fired Chaney for Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens. Great. Then made a big move in releasing McDyess, NY legend Charlie Ward, and 2 future first-round picks for all-star Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway. After no real sign of rebuilding and a bad start, the Knicks miraculously snuck into the playoffs. Perfect. Except they got swept by the New Jersey Nets. That season was sort of like the Sega Dreamcast. High expectations and then shockingly short-lived. The newly acquired ball-handling wizard, Jamal Crawford wasn’t enough for the Knicks the next season. Wilkens stepped down and the Knick missed another playoff season. Larry Brown was the new coach, but Isaiah made the best of their draft picks and trades. They fan-favorites like Trevor Ariza, David Lee, and Nate Robinson (who was not fighting Jake Paul yet). They also got Channing Frye, Jerome James, and Eddy Curry, in hopes that they could acquire a reincarnation of Patrick Ewing. This move would have been almost 100 percent perfect. Maybe if they didn’t give them unnecessary contracts and lots of first rounds picks away. Maybe. Allen Houston also finally retired. It was good, since he was washed-up and still had a ridiculous contract, but at the same time sad, since he was the last Knick to come from a beautiful time period in the history of the franchise. So how was the overall team? Pretty trash. They couldn’t rack up a good number of wins, there was that whole feud with Marbury and Brown, the players didn’t form good chemistry, even Isaiah and Brown bumped heads. So much so, Isaiah fired him finishing with a 23–59 record. And then (if this didn’t sound like some crazy written soap opera) he literally hired himself as head coach. Isaiah had a tremendous amount of pressure on him. James Dolan (every time I say his name it just makes me ball my hands into fists) wanted improvement or he was gone. The new season was going well at first until the big brawl that took place against the Denver Nuggets where multiple players received suspensions for it. They did have that one play that David Lee did where he put the ball into the hoop at 0.1 seconds in double overtime, which was one of the most stellar plays in franchise history. It was quickly looked over when a former MSG executive sued Isaiah ad MSG for sexual harassment, which they lost. The old “Fire Layden” chants were turned into “Fire Isiah.” The season once again started terribly, and the Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics in 104–59 game.
Remember that mess of a deal with Sega and Sammy that never happened? Well, Sammy ended up buying 22.4 percent of Sega's shares anyway. That same year Sega shifted all focus on the arcade business side of the company in order to patch up the open wounds that the home-console development left on them. Sammy then completely took over Sega, becoming “Sega Sammy Holdings.” They now split the company into 4 special quadrants, Consumer Business (video games), Amusement Machine Business (arcade games), Amusement Center Business (Sega's theme parks and arcades), and Pachislot and Pachinko Business (Sammy's pachinko and pachislot business). Even though the main focus was on the arcade aspect of Sega, the video game branch was still at work, and so was Sonic. Comic books, TV spinoffs, and of course his favorite platform, games. Only a few really made any real impacts. For example, “Sonic Heroes.” 4 separate and interwoven storylines, the return of lovable and familiar faces, the long return of Team Chaotix (originally from a game back in 1995 which is a surprise), the ability to switch characters mid-level, and the continued story, it had high expectations from the last blockbuster game. Team Sonic races to defeat Robotnik’s new weapon, Rouge finds a though-to-be-dead Shadow and the robot, “E-123 Omega” who form Team Dark who set to defeat Robotnik while Shadow tries to uncover some of his past, Team Rose finds Amy, the comically slow “Big the Cat”, and the sweat young pure-hearted “Cream the Rabbit” who go off in search of Sonic, and Team Chaotix, a band of quirky detectives, “Vector the Crocodile”, “Espio the Chameleon”, and “Charmy Bee” gets a mysterious job offer that they can’t refuse. A fan-favorite for sure, but to the extent of mixed reviews. Fans loved it; others hated it. Overall, it was a serious game in the franchise, but a very, very mediocre one.
After some filler games, Sega saw all the popularity Shadow the Hedgehog has received ever since his debut. He was as famous as Sonic was (maybe even more at the time) and fans loved his personality, as it accompanied a lot of the angsty/emo/goth/rebellious/alternative-punk rock/edgy teen personality of the early 2000s. It supported what was about to come. “Shadow the Hedgehog”, his very own standalone game. Shadow laments his existence, trying to figure out who he really is. An alien armada invades the city. Shadow is confronted by the leader of the “Black Arms” alien forces, “Black Doom” and tells him of some old agreement made to bring him the Chaos Emeralds, in exchange for the truth of his past. Shadow goes on to slowly regain memories. This game is unique in the series, with its branching stories that affect how the game ends through what missions the player chooses. It has a good ending, a bad ending, or a true ending, in which Shadow learns he was created with Black Doom’s blood. Shadow is reminded of Maria to break from Black Doom’s mind-control over him and defeats him. This game is a major addition to the series. Unfortunately, it received a poor review. Some people thought Sega tried too hard to be edgy and dark and ended up making it somewhat cringeworthy. Now Shadow was being made fun of for this reason. They also ruined his character a bit. Going from a broken victim, blinded by hate and anger to realize that his promise to the person he cared about was to protect others and giving them a second chance, to a gun-toting, I-hate-everything-and-everyone-so-don’t-get-in-my-way, anti-hero, edge lord (Oh yeah he uses guns in this game). The next line of titles will be more mediocre than the next. Until one unholy game was created.
Only titled, “Sonic the Hedgehog” (more commonly known as Sonic 06), was the game for the new generation of consoles, the “X-Box 360” and “PlayStation 3”. “Silver the Hedgehog”, a pure, determined young hero is from the doomed future. Engulfed in flames from the monster “Iblis” he, and his close female friend “Blaze the Cat”, try to save their present. A mysterious person gives him the chance to go back in time to stop the sequence of events that will eventually lead to the futures doom. Desperate he is assigned to kill a blue hedgehog from the past in order to stop it. The villain, “Mephalis the Dark” manipulates the many heroes in the story to get to his goal. It turns out that the artifact Rouge steals contained him in it. He is released to get to his godly form of nonother than Iblis and tricks Silver into thinking Sonic was the reason for the future being destroyed. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver then team up to defeat him once and for all. This game……was absolutely horrendous. Buggy glitches, some bad voice acting, a nearly impossible boss fight to beat with Sonic and Silver, and one of the worst chopped up and overly complicated stories with an unbelievable amount of major plot holes and bad story planning. It is easily considered the worst Sonic game ever created. Sega and Sonic’s reputation will forever be stained by this awful game. The good that did come out of it was smothered by how terrible it was. Silver was a good character (and my personal favorite). Mephalis was actually a good villain that used manipulation (who also killed Sonic (he was the only one to do so)). Shadow’s character was fixed a little. But now, this colossal failure will scar the franchise for eternity. It doesn’t matter how fast Sonic runs; he will never live past it.
For the remainder of the decade, Sega put out more either bad or mediocre Sonic games. They go so far as to turn Sonic into a Werehog. A werehog! Literally a werewolf/hedgehog. They have no impact on the gaming world, as for the games during the classic era did. Sonic is drowning (and he actually can’t swim) and Sega is throwing him uninflated floaties in attempts to save their iconic mascot. The Knicks also ended up firing Isaiah Thomas and replacing him with Mike D’Antoni. They made many trades, including traded Jamal Crawford for Al Harrington, and then traded a bunch of guys that barely played or barely made in impact for others who will later do the same. These two failing and failing badly. The Knicks and Sonic are now the laughingstocks of sports and gaming. The once-powerful Knicks who once had a titan-like grip on the East, are now a small, non-serious threat to all. It was once mainstream to be a fan of Sonic, now it's mainstream to point and laugh at the cringy/bad games it produces. There seems to be no let-up. Every time they try to turn it around, they end up 10 feet from where they last were. These two got lost walking down a long dark tunnel and there is no light at the end. What will become of them? Hope is fading away by the second. I’m getting nauseous, I think I’m going to be sick.

Ok might be a long one so sorry in advance,About 10 months ago I worked dispatch and transport for a company who was in the steel reinforcement industry.... I generally worked with customers to have their steel arrive when they needed it so they wouldn't be delayed as best I could and occasionally would have to ask other customers if they could reschedule or if their delivery was time critical.
My original supervisor had left for a better opportunity at a rival company about 5 months prior and I now had to report to the higher ups because they refused to either promote me or hire someone to fill HIS position and instead just transferred someone from interstate who was from another department (not transport) to do the easier parts of my job; (calling customers who had multi level buildings to pre plan an approximate date of when they would need certain work plans put into production) while I had to continue to do the bulk of the delivery planning, truck scheduling, Driver Manifests and booking any small courier work although during the week leading up to this MC she was on leave and I had been doing EVERYTHING.
Now rule of thumb was account customers who paid a premium delivery got priority then standard account customers followed by one off or "cash sale" customers unless the customer happened to pay for the premium delivery service... unfortunately sales and management had started getting the idea that they could get every delivery done whenever the customer said JUMP because I had been hitting the target with about a 99% hit rate with the exceptions of when weather or machine breakdown became a factor. 🤷‍♂️
Sorry for the backstory but I feel it was needed to get the full context of the job (those in transport understand)
So I got a call from one of the customers we'll call him John Doe who happened to be a cash sale telling me he needed his steel on site approx 80 kilometres away (50 miles for those not yet caught up with the rest of the world) at 7am on Monday on a truck with a crane but couldn't accommodate a Semi as there wasn't room on site, problem was that this was on Friday... in the afternoon ... 90 minutes before my finishing time!
I tell the customer I'm sorry but there is no way I could get 23 tonnes of steel produced, and delivered to him by 7am as his site was at least 60 - 90 minutes away depending on traffic and our crane truck drivers start at 6am so they first need to check and tie down their load before getting the OK to leave by the safety officer on site but also, all our production capacity was full and his steel which was originally booked for Tuesday afternoon was pre-approved for a semi with no crane as they had one on site. Now the silence was deafening as I knew exactly what was coming, JD had started a huge tirade about how his steel needed to be there or he'd miss the concrete pour and his steel fixers needed it ready to go the moment they finished their site meeting (I guess they had an hour long site meeting?) and that their crane was not arriving on site until the following week when the prefab walls arrive.
Now to be fair I had just had a week of hell already and this guy was the last thing I wanted before I was to enjoy my weekend so I simply responded with the "I'm sorry sir but my hands are tied at this point, if you had called yesterday and I had time to try and rearrange some jobs it would have had a slight chance of being pushed up but as it is now I wouldn't be able to;A) have the steel produced or B) have two crane trucks spare to dedicate to one delivery"
Before he can resume his rant I tell the customer "I can try for Tuesday morning but again at this point only half of the order would get there and I would first need to have a driver agree to start early to be there by 7am."

John D: "That's not good enough, I've paid good money for this steel so I expect it when I need it"
Me: "I understand you need the steel however you're asking me to prioritise your work over another that was already booked and confirmed"
John D: "and your point? just get me my delivery!"

Me: "My point is you're asking me to sit here at my desk for another 2 hours while I attempt to find the trucks needed from outside hire companies, ask the production team to work overtime tonight and tomorrow to complete the extra work loading onto two separate trucks and try to convince two drivers to start at least half an hour earlier to have a chance at being there by 7am if they are quick at tying down their loads. as well as the extra work the morning crew will have on Monday to load two other trucks that couldn't get pre-loaded as they're outside hire and won't get here until 6am at the earliest and THAT'S assuming I can even find the trucks on such short notice considering most companies have their trucks completely booked out by Midday for the next business day"

John D: "F**K you, don't tell me you can't do it, last week I ordered 50 lengths and it was here 3 hours later, so don't F**king tell me you can't do it"
ME: "May I ask who you ordered it through?" - (we have a few sites around the state that hold stock materials that can be couriered and assumed correctly that this is what had happened)
John D: "Dave is the guy I normally speak to about that stuff"
Me: " oh from our site that is literally 20 minutes from you that had the stock on hand so only needed to put it on a truck that was going that way?"

Apparently this is where my smart ass nature had pushed him over the edge because he hung up on me and I had wrongly assumed he got the message that he was asking the impossible and conceded but no..... I had gotten a call from the "Big Boss" asking me to come up to his office about 10 minutes later. When I got there the sales manager was there also.

Boss: "what's this I am told you refuse a customer their delivery?"
Before I can respond
Sales Manager: "I just got off the phone to a customer who I was about to put on account telling me that you were rude and offensive and he expects his delivery"
ME: "Hmmm OK, so in answer to your question boss yes I have refused a customer their delivery on the grounds that we can't make that time slot as we are already booked up till Tuesday afternoon and no SM I wasn't rude or offensive but if he took offence to anything I said then that's on him as offence is taken not given."
Boss: "OK, why can't we make that delivery?"
Me: "Well because the 23 tonnes of steel he ordered was originally confirmed for Tuesday afternoon on a Semi with no crane as they apparently had a crane on site however he asked for it to be Monday morning at 7am split onto two rigid crane trucks only 25 minutes ago"
thinking this was a satisfactory answer I had assumed they would realise what a douche canoe this guy was
Sales Manager: "What do you mean? that's no reason we can't get the steel to him!"

At this point I had lost my patience as the sales team seemed to think they could get their way no matter what because management always backed them. I don't know what it's like in other countries but here in Australia we have two ways of reacting once we lose our patience.... get angry or become a downright smartass, I chose the 2nd path.

ME: "Apart from the fact we have 280 tonnes of steel already booked for other customers, all our crane trucks are booked to confirmed slots and I would have more chance of meeting the Queen of England at a local pub while Ozzy Osbourne was biting the head off a bat then getting another two trucks booked before I finish
Boss: "There's no need for that, but surely we can resolve this so everyone is happy"
Sales Manager: "Get the steel to the customer and I'll be happy!"
ME "Stop thinking that I have a magic truck spawning wand that I wave every time you guys place an "URGENT" order or a customer rings complaining they can't change the date and time of their delivery and I'll be a little less annoyed"

this is where things went south

Boss: "Well this is a potential account customer so here's what needs to happen, you will find a way to get this done or you will find another job effective immediately"
Me: "Well looks like I'm finding another job because there is no way I can get 2 trucks from here to site by 7am Monday morning AND keep my other job deadlines that I have already confirmed.

I then stood up and walked out of the office back to the dispatch office where my desk was, wiped my personal files (my own notes and spreadsheets I kept that helped me in my job) from the computer I worked on shut my computer down and collected my personal belongings from the tea room and desk drawers. The guy who also worked in the office (he worked as the driver safety check and made sure the trucks were always maintained and compliant - Maintenance guy or MG) asked what was going on to which I shrugged and responded

Me: "you know that Clyde North guy from before? he just complained to his Sales rep who in turn complained to Big Boss and they told me to find a way of getting it done or find another job so I guess I find another job
Maintenance guy: "yeah but you haven't printed any of the Manifests or done the courier bookings for Monday morning"
Me: "I'm just following instructions and finding another job effective immediately because they did tell me to do that if I didn't find a way"

the desk phone rang but I didn't answer because it was the sales manager then it rang again this time Big Boss but I still didn't answer because as far as I was concerned I was now fired effective immediately. My mobile rang next from a number I didn't recognise but I answered because of my Karate School and being a potential new student however, it was Big Boss on his personal mobile.

Boss: "Why didn't you answer your desk phone?"
Me: "Oh because effective immediately were the words used hence I no longer work here and am not obligated to answer the phone at the desk I no longer am employed to sit at. Thank you for the employment Boss..... btw you may need to send someone to organise the manifests and courier bookings for Monday as I normally do that in my last 90 minutes to ensure any cancellations are caught before I leave and good luck finding a way of delivering that steel to Clyde North at 7am on Monday morning"

I hung up the phone and said my goodbyes to the few people I actually liked and got along with on my way out however, as I finished putting my things in my car I had the SM and Big Boss stop me at my car telling me I had to finish out the day to which I smiled and responded with "Effective Immediately are words I am happy to comply with" got in my car and drove to my Dojo where thanks to my leave payout I can now run Full time Karate and Kobudo (traditional weapons) classes.
A far as I was told they had to pay a stupid amount of money to the competitor to help them cover the various deliveries that had to be moved around to accommodate the douche canoe that wouldn't accept his original agreement.
**** Clyde North is the suburb of the delivery *****

Read the full Patch Notes here: https://www.pubg.com/2020/08/10/update-8-2-patch-notes/
We’re bringing some new toys to the Battlegrounds in update 8.2, along with some visual improvements to a few weapons, a nostalgia hit in the main menu, and more!

New Weapon: MG3

The latest weapon available in Battlegrounds Care Packages is the fast firing MG3 Light Machine Gun. With two different rates of fire, a bipod for stability, tracer rounds to help you keep track of your spray, and increased weapon damage to vehicles, there’s a new reason to fight over the big red box.

• Spawns in Care Packages on all maps, in Normal Matches only
  • Not currently available in Ranked Matches
• The MG3 has two firing modes which change the fire rate between 660 rpm and 990 rpm
• Chambered for 7.62mm, holds 75 rounds and has a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s
• 1.25x damage multiplier when shooting vehicles
• Tracer rounds are fired every 5th round, as well as for the final 10 bullets of each magazine, letting you know that ammo is running low.
  • Tracer rounds can only be seen by the shooter
• Supports optical attachments up to the 6x Scope
• The MG3 has an attached bipod, deploying automatically when prone to greatly improve weapon stability

New Throwable: Decoy Grenade

Disorient your enemies and cover your movements with the new Decoy Grenade. Available as world loot on Sanhok, the Decoy Grenade will make fake firing sounds for about 10 seconds after thrown, giving you a few moments to make your move.
The Decoy Grenade is a new throwable which mimics gunshot sounds. Purposely made to be used as a tactical item to distract and outwit your opponents.

• Available only on Sanhok in Normal Matches, as a rare world spawn item
  • Not available in Ranked Mode
• Decoy grenades can be cooked to reduce their detonation time out of the hand and are thrown just like other grenades
  • Upon detonation, Decoy Grenades emit gunshot sounds for 10 seconds and eject shell casings to add to the guise of real gunfire
• Beware, they’re not waterproof! Dropping one into water will disable its effects
• Decoy Grenades don’t currently spawn in Training Mode

Gameplay

Weapon Remodel and Retexture
M416, SKS and Kar98k has been remodeled from scratch to improve their visual quality. Along with their visual update, firing sounds of these weapons have also been overhauled.
Care Package Updates

• C4 has been added to Care Packages on all maps, except Karakin
• MG3 has been added to Care Packages on all maps
  • The C4 and MG3 are not available in Ranked Mode

LMG (Light Machine Gun) Balance Adjustment

• Vehicle damage multipliers have been added to LMGs.
  • MG3: x 1.25
  • DP28 : 1.15x
  • M249: 1.10x
• Camera shake when firing LMGs while prone has been reduced
  • There has been no changes made to the weapon recoil. However, players may feel the weapon is more stable due to reduced camera shake.

World

Erangel Docks

• Four docks have been added to Erangel
  • Two docks have been added to existing wharves, one at Novorepnoye and the other at Ferry Pier
  • The southern beaches of the Erangel mainland and Sosnovka Island have also had docks added

Quality of Life Improvements

Throwables Wheel Menu Improvements
The Throwables Wheel has been updated to better facilitate multiple recent additions to the PUBG throwable arsenal.

• The wheel now has 6 slots and allows access to all throwables
  • 4 slots are permanent locations for the most common throwables; Frag Grenade, Molotov Cocktail, Smoke Grenade and Stun Grenade
  • 2 slots are dynamic. The dynamic slot on the right side holds either Sticky bomb or C4 and the one on the left can hold either Decoy grenade or Spike Trap
    • If your inventory has both the Sticky Bomb and C4, the wheel will prioritize the Sticky Bomb. With Decoy grenade and Spike Trap, the Decoy grenade takes priority
    • If you have a Sticky Bomb or Decoy equipped in your throwables slot, the dynamic slot on the wheel will display the other corresponding item, C4 or Spike Trap

Helmet Hide Function
Sometimes you just want to look good for YOU. For those moments, you can now toggle off your helmet to maintain your default costume pieces, even after you protect your noggin with a fine Level 3 helmet. This functionality is purely cosmetic, and other players will still see you with a helmet on, but you’ll at least get the satisfaction of enjoying your chicken dinner in full Alex the Dinosaur costume glory.

• When Helmet Hide is enabled, your hoodie, hat or other head covering will remain visible even when wearing a helmet.
  • To all other players, you’ll still be seen wearing, equipping and otherwise interacting with your helmet.
  • This is a local visual change, only showing for players who enable it.
• Helmet Hide is disabled by default. You can enable it in the Settings, or by clicking the option in the Inventory.
• Equipable slots for Head and Helmet are now separated.
  • Equipping a helmet now won’t automatically drop your hat, or other cosmetic item in the head slot.

Performance

The Following performance improvements have been made:

• Improved font loading process to reduce game stuttering/hitching
• Optimized the process for loading character data to reduce instances of stuttering/hitching and ensure a more stable framerate
• The item table is now preloaded on the client backend which results in items loading quicker
• Refactored the onscreen Key Guide widget to reduce potential instances of stuttering/hitching
• Improved the game from hitching when loading a character on the inventory screen

Esports Tab – PCS 2

The Esports Tab has been updated to include PCS2 information and the next Pick em challenge!
When the challenge unlocks, you can head over and make your predictions just like before. Grab as many points as you can and pick up some of the great new PCS2 items! The Esports Tab will be available until September 23rd!
Menu Breakdown

• OVERVIEW
• Overview page will now feature a total of 4 pages.
  • 1st page
    • An introduction to PCS 2 and thumbnail image which when clicked will redirect you to the live stream and event information.
    • Now each day with a match on a schedule will be highlighted.
  • 2nd page
    • Introduction to the Pick’em challenge. Here, you will be able to learn how to participate and preview rewards.
  • 3rd, 4th page
    • PCS Focus which features certain players who successfully advanced to PCS 2 from each region (APAC/ASIA, EUROPE/NORTH)
    • A player who has recorded the best PCS 1 PEPS+ stats from the region
    • A player who has recorded the most kills in PCS 2 preliminary
    • A player who has been selected as a dark horse

TEAMS

• All participating teams and their players (including team’s reserved players!) can be found here.
• Under the team name, the title of the preliminary where that team went through and their final placement is displayed.
• Weekly team stats will be updated weekly.
• STANDINGS
  • Up to date standings with a per region breakdown (APAC, Asia, North America, and Europe)
  • Until the start of the event, countdown to the very first match of each region is displayed.
• PICK’EM CHALLENGE
  • Event page for the PCS2 Pick’Em Challenge where you can vote on who you think will take home the event victory.
  • All details can be found here on how to participate for a chance to unlock exclusive rewards. We’ll also be sharing a separate announcement with more details before this goes live

Want more info? Read the PCS 2 event announcement here. Stay tuned for another announcement on everything you need to know about the Pick’Em Challenge.
For everything PUBG Esports, head over to pubgesports.com, or hit the PCS2 logo in the esports tab for an easy shortcut when you’re in-game.

UI/UX & Menus

Background Music Selection
Players looking for a bit of nostalgia when they log in can now choose their lobby music! We’ve added a selection of themes dating from all the way back to Early Access for you to choose from. After all, there’s no better way to get hyped for the Battlegrounds than by rocking your favorite tunes!
Select your Background Music under Settings.

• Previously used background music is now available for selection
  • Each Season, BGM is reset to default
• Ranked Mode and the Esports tab will feature their own exclusive BGM which cannot be changed

Match History

• New Match History section has been added to the Career tab
• You can view your most recent 20 matches
  • Review match records from both Normal and Ranked matches
  • Records over 30 days old cannot be viewed in detail
• Leaving a match early or disconnecting due to an error will prevent that match from being recorded in your Match History

New Loading Screen and Guide for Training Mode

• New splash art and text has been added to the loading screen
• Additional informational text has been added to the minimap

In-game UI Improvements

• Unified the style and location of round buttons to improve the visual experience
• Improved irregular title locations on some screens
• Design of badges, tags, wide pop-up screens and drop-down menus has been improved

Emote Settings Improvement

• Now you can double click to equip/unequip an emote from your emote list.
• Drag & drop emotes in the emote wheel to change slots or unequip emotes.

Improved System messages

• Improved system messages displayed in case of server maintenance, server overload, external provider authentication failure etc to be more clear.

Store UI Update

• When bonus items are included in sets, they are now displayed in the Bonus Gift section of the item preview screen.
• Now all set items are displayed on the character while previewing an emote.

Social

Friends List Rework

• The friends list has undergone a visual and functional rework
  • More detailed status friend statuses are now displayed, such as ‘On your team’
  • Friends tab now displays the last online state of an offline player on your friends list
  • Information on when you last played with someone on your recent tab is now displayed
• Invite
  • Now players can invite a player already in a team
  • Accepting this invite will make the player move from the existing team to the new team.
• Follow friends renamed to add/remove friends

Custom Matches

Team Deathmatch is now available in Custom Matches

• Now you can enjoy TDM in custom matches

New system message for Custom Matches

• A new message has been added for when players are kicked by match observers
  • This is to clearly distinguish messages in situations where a player has been kicked by the host, versus being kicked for cheating or another Rules of Conduct offence

Replay System

• The replay system has been updated. Replay files from previous updates are now unable to be used

Skin & Items

New Items

• Night on the Town
  • Sets
    • NIGHTCLUB DRESS SET (+ Victory Dance 23 emote)
    • BOW TIE AND SUSPENDERS SET (+ Bundle of Hearts emote)
• Individual items
  • Nightclub Dress (White)
  • Nightclub Stockings
  • Bow Tie and Suspenders Suit
  • Shiny Shoes and Socks

​
PCS Item sets (8 sets – Each comes with 1 voting coupon)

• PCS2 SLR BOX
• PCS2 BERYL M762 BOX
• PCS2 S12K BOX
• PCS2 BUGGY BOX
• PCS2 MASK BOX
• PCS2 EMOTE BOX
• PCS2 ALL-IN-ONE SET
• PCS2 WEAPON SET

Metal Plated M416 Skins

• Gold and Silver Plate M416 skins are returning to the store! Over the years, we’ve released dozens of skins on the PUBG store, only to have them never show up again after the initial sale. Some players have been asking for another chance at some of these skins, so after some thought, we’ve decided to bring a couple items back to the store. We’re starting off with the Gold and Silver Plate M416 skins from quite a while back and will consider additional skins in the future if these go over well.

We hope this gives our new players, and those of you who missed out the first time, another chance!

• METAL PLATED M416 SETS
  • Gold Plate – M416
  • Silver Plate – M416

Sales Schedule

• Night on the Town sets : After the August 19th live server maintenance ~ Until September 16th liver server maintenance
• PCS 2: After the August 19th live server maintenance ~ September 8th 1700 (KST)
• Metal Plated M416s: After the September 2nd weekly maintenance (Planned) ~ September 30th 1100 (KST)

Bug Fixes

Gameplay

• Now players are able to attach Charms to Sanhok 4 weapons
• Fixed the issue where you could turn the character in the lobby by following certain steps
• Fixed an inventory issue which could occur during TDM matches
• Fixed the yellowish tint in the Season 8 menu lobby
• Fixed the issue where players sometimes couldn’t complete the following mission ‘Survive 15 minutes without taking any damage from the Blue Zone’
• Fixed the issue where sounds are not played along with the game hitching during TDM gameplay
• Fixed the issue where you couldn’t rotate the character in the customize -> emote menu
• Fixed an issue where the direction of UI arrows froze regardless of player orientation
• Fixed the issue where bots could spawn with DP-28s on Vikendi
• Fixed optics resetting to default when reconnecting to the game
• Fixed the bug where players would dive straight down when exiting the plane
• Fixed animation for when characters who were on fire held a Panzerfaust
• Fixed the grenade pin clipping through characters finger in FPP
• Fixed the issue where players were able to see behind foliage when moving their camera in certain angles
• Fixed an issue where the bullets in a Kar98 could appear outside the chamber while reloading
• Fixed an issue where specific female hairstyles could appear incorrect while holding a Spike Trap
• Fixed an issue where Gas Cans would disappear from a character’s hands if that character was on fire
• Fixed an issue with the Kar98 where the weapon cartridge could appear behind the character while reloading
• Fixed an issue where the backpack would move on a character’s back if they rotated while in the sidecar of a bike
• Fixed an issue where the fall animation could appear incorrect if the character was holding C4
• Improved the animation for moving from ready to throw a melee weapon to unequipping the melee weapon
• Fixed the animation for switching to any weapon from the Panzerfaust while in the prone position
• Fixed the positioning of scopes when aiming backwards while on a bike
• Improved the animation for discarding a Panzerfaust after use
• Improved the animation for swimming backwards while rising to the surface
• Fixed an issue where the character’s lips could appear incorrect while readying a melee weapon for throwing
• Fixed an issue where in FPP with the R1895 equipped the character’s wrists could appear incorrect while using free look

World

• Fixed Loot truck roaming around the same location near the bridge south of Camp Alpha
• Fixed the issue where players could clip through an object and die by falling in a certain location on Erangel
• Fixed characters shaking up and down when standing on a certain rock on Erangel
• Fixed an oil barrel floating in the air above a bridge on Erangel
• Fixed the awkward looking cliff texture at the north of Stalber on Erangel
• Fixed the issue where a player was not able to move past a particular building’s railing
• Fixed the issue where players could vault over a ceiling in certain underground locations on Karakin

UI/UX

• Fixed the issue where the text ‘Motor glider’ was displayed as a system string on the Last Match screen
• Fixed the issue where esports vehicles added to Ranked Mode displayed a system string on the Last Match screen
• Fixed the issue where the inventory scroll bar would not return to default location
• Fixed the issue where some rewards were not being displayed in the rewards pop-up screen when using receive all button
• Fixed the issue where ESC button was activated twice when pressed in the item purchase screen
• Fixed the issue where APAC, ASIA region title still being displayed in English in Traditional Chinese language option
• Fixed the UI overlaps on the profile screen
• Fixed the issue where some buttons displayed in white when overlapped with a mouse cursor
• Fixed the issue of the timeline UI not displayed correctly
• Fixed some visual errors on the PUBG ID screen
• Fixed an issue when attempting to switch throwables after removing safety pin which caused the following error “Inventory system error: 3”
• Fixed an issue where explosive damage done to wheels would not update the vehicle UI

Skin & Items

• Fixed the issue where character’s body would become transparent with certain face skins in Zombie Mode
• Fixed the issue where character’s legs would become transparent when equipping the Miramar Biker Jacket
• Fixed the issue where the in-game inventory icon didn’t display when equipping ‘Rapture Squad Tactical Pants’
• Fixed the clipping issue when female characters equipped ‘TUANTUAN’s Tank Top’
• Fixed the clipping issue when a female character equips ‘Route Warrior Gloves’ and gets on motorcycle with a weapon

Replay

• Fixed the export button of the replay having wrong color and highlight effect not displaying
• Fixed the player UI coordinates mismatching in certain cases during replays

To view the full patch notes with images, head to our website.
----
September 2 7PM PDT Hotfix

• Fixed an issue causing a crash connected to the Team Up Systems.

UPDATE September 2

• Updated TBR skins to include WackyJacky101 items

----
UPDATE August 27:

• Added TDM under Custom Matches
• Added Ranked Mode map frequency update

----
We're bringing some new toys to the Battlegrounds in update 8.2, along with some visual improvements to a few weapons, a nostalgia hit in the main menu, and more!
Live Maintenance Schedule:
PDT: August 26 2020 22:00 - August 27 03:00 (5 hours)
CEST: August 27 2020 07:00 - 12:00 (5 hours)
Live maintenance schedule may change. We will update you if there are any changes made.
The full patch notes are below, so let’s get right into it.

New Weapon: MG3

The latest weapon available in Battlegrounds Care Packages is the fast firing MG3 Light Machine Gun. With two different rates of fire, a bipod for stability, tracer rounds to help you keep track of your spray, and increased weapon damage to vehicles, there's a new reason to fight over the big red box.

• Spawns in Care Packages on all maps, in Normal Matches only.
  • Not currently available in Ranked Matches
• The MG3 has two firing modes which change the fire rate between 660 rpm and 990 rpm.
• Chambered for 7.62mm, holds 75 rounds and has a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s.
• Tracer rounds are fired every 5th round, as well as for the final 10 bullets of each magazine, letting you know that ammo is running low.
  • Tracer rounds can only be seen by the shooter.
• Supports optical attachments up to the 6x Scope.
• MG3 does greater damage(x 1.25) when shooting at vehicles.
• The MG3 has a bipod attached, deploying automatically when prone to greatly improve weapon stability.

New Throwable: Decoy Grenade

Disorient your enemies and cover your movements with the new Decoy Grenade. Available as world loot on Sanhok, the Decoy Grenade will make fake firing sounds for about 10 seconds after thrown, giving you a few moments to make your move.
The Decoy Grenade is a new throwable which mimics gunshot sounds. Purposely made to be used as a tactical item to distract and outwit your opponents.

• Available only on Sanhok in Normal Matches, as a rare world spawn item.
  • Not available in Ranked Mode.
• Decoy grenades can be cooked to reduce their detonation time out of the hand and are thrown just like other grenades.
• Upon detonation, Decoy Grenades generate random gunshot sounds for 10 seconds and eject shell casings to add to the guise of real gunfire.
• Beware, they're not waterproof! Dropping one into water will disable its effects.
• Decoy Grenades don't currently spawn in Training Mode.

Gameplay

LMG(Light Machine Guns) weapon balance adjustment

• Camera wobble of LMGs during prone has been reduced
  • There has been no actual changes made to the weapons. However, players will be able to shoot LMGs in prone more stably due to reduced camera shake.
• New damage multiplier to vehicles has been updated to LMGs.
  • MG3: x 1.25
  • DP28 : x 1.15
  • M249: x 1.10

Weapon Remodel and Retexture
M416, SKS and Kar98k has been remodeled from scratch to high level of visual quality. Along with their visual update, weapon sounds of those weapons has been overhauled to match the improved quality.

• To offer some more context on the gun sound changes included in this update, our goal was to increase the realism and quality of the sounds for the M416, SKS and Kar98k.
• The Kar98k and SKS had their local and remote gunfire audio modified, this is both the sound you hear when firing your own weapon and when others fire theirs. For the M416, we were happy with the remote gunshot audio, but it wasn’t very recognizable as an M416 when compared to the local sound you’d hear when firing it yourself. So, we decided to completely update the local sound and leave the remote sound as is.

Care Package Updates

• C4 has been added to Care Packages on all maps, except Karakin.
• MG3 has been added to Care Packages on all maps.
  • The C4 and MG3 are not available in Ranked Mode.

World
Erangel Docks

• Four docks have been added to Erangel.
  • Two docks have been added to existing wharves, one at Novorepnoye and the other at Ferry Pier.
  • The southern beach of the Erangel mainland and Sosnovka Island have also had docks added.

World update

• All destructible wooden shacks have been replaced with concrete, indestructible shacks. This is a temporary change due to a technical issue with destructible shacks.

Quality of Life Improvements

Helmet Hide Function
Sometimes you just want to look good for YOU. For those moments, you can now toggle off your helmet to maintain your default costume pieces, even after you protect your noggin with a fine Level 3 helmet. This functionality is purely cosmetic, and other players will still see you with a helmet on, but you'll at least get the satisfaction of enjoying your chicken dinner in full Alex the Dinosaur costume glory.

• When Helmet Hide is enabled, your hoodie, hat or other head covering will remain visible even when wearing a helmet.
  • To all other players, you'll still be seen wearing, equipping and otherwise interacting with your helmet.
  • This is a local visual change, only showing for players who enable it.
• Helmet Hide is disabled by default. You can enable it in the Settings, or by clicking the option in the Inventory.
• Equipable slots for Head and Helmet are now separated.
  • Equipping a helmet now won't automatically drop your hat, or other cosmetic item in the head slot.

Performance

The Following performance improvements have been made.

• Improved font loading process to reduce game stuttering/hitching.
• Optimized the process for loading character data to reduce instances of stuttering/hitching and ensure a more stable framerate.
• The item table is now preloaded on the client backend which results in items loading quicker.
• Refactored the onscreen Key Guide widget to reduce potential instances of stuttering/hitching.
• Improved the game from hitching when loading a character on the inventory screen.
• Gained usable memory through weapon sound audio related optimization

Esports Tab - PCS 2

The Esports Tab has been updated to include PCS2 information and the next Pick em challenge! When the challenge unlocks, you can head over and make your predictions just like before. Grab as many points as you can and pick up some of the great new PCS2 items! Esports Tab will be available from 8.2 live server update to September 23rd!
Menu Breakdown

• OVERVIEW
  • Overview page will now feature a total of 4 pages.
    • 1st page
    • 2nd page
    • 3rd, 4th page
• TEAMS
  • All participating teams and their players (including team's reserved players!) can be found here.
  • Under the team name, the title of the preliminary where that team went through and their final placement is displayed.
  • Weekly team stats will be updated weekly.
• STANDINGS
  • Up to date standings with a per region breakdown (APAC, Asia, North America, and Europe)
  • Until the start of the event, countdown to the very first match of each region is displayed.
• PICK'EM CHALLENGE
  • Event page for the PCS2 Pick’Em Challenge where you can vote on who you think will take home the event victory.
  • All details can be found here on how to participate for a chance to unlock exclusive rewards. We’ll also be sharing a separate announcement with more details before this goes live

Want more info? Read the PCS 2 event announcement here.
Stay tuned for another announcement on everything you need to know about the Pick’Em Challenge.
For everything PUBG Esports, head over to pubgesports.com, or hit the PCS2 logo in the esports tab for an easy shortcut when you’re in-game.

UI/UX & Menus

Background Music Selection
Players looking for a bit of nostalgia when they log in can now choose their lobby music! We've added a selection of themes dating from all the way back to Early Access for you to choose from. After all, there's no better way to get hyped for the Battlegrounds than by rocking your favorite tunes!
Select your Background Music under Settings.

• Previously used background music is now available for selection.
  • Each Season, BGM is reset to default.
• Ranked Mode and the Esports tab will feature their own exclusive BGM which cannot be changed.

Match History

• New Match History section has been added to the Career tab
• You can view your most recent 20 matches.
  • Review match records from both Normal and Ranked matches.
  • Records over 30 days old cannot be viewed in detail.
• Leaving a match early or disconnecting due to an error will prevent that match from being recorded in your Match History.

New Loading Screen and Guide for Training Mode

• New splash art and text has been added for loading screen.
• Additional informational text has been added on the map screen.

In-game UI Improvements

• Unified the style and location of round buttons to improve the visual experience.Improved irregular title locations on some screens.Design of badges, tags, wide pop-up screens and drop-down menus has been improved/

Emote Settings Improvement

• Now you can double click to equip/unequip an emote from your emote list.Drag & drop emotes in the emote wheel to change slots or unequip emotes.

Improved System messages

• Improved system messages displayed in case of server maintenance, server overload, external provider authentication failure etc to be more clear.

Store UI Update

• When bonus items are included in sets, they are now displayed in the Bonus Gift section of the item preview screen.
• Now all set items are displayed on the character while previewing an emote.
• Hashtag feature
• Items will be filtered by each hashtag then displayed on the items list.
• Item preview
• If an item is on sale, a tag with the discount rate will be displayed on the top left corner of the item.
• An item that has been released within the last seven days will get a "NEW" badge indication on the top left corner.

Added CPP Icons for each Platforms

• Previously, platform icons only showed “My platform” and “Other platform” in the ingame friends list. We have now added platform icons for all three platforms to help distinguish which platform other players are playing on.

Social

Friends List Rework

• The friends list has undergone a visual and functional rework.
  • More detailed status of a friend such as 'On your team' is now displayed
  • Friends tab now displays last online state of offline player on the friends list
  • Player on the recent tab now displays the point of time last played with
• Invite
  • Now player can invite a player already in a team
  • Accepting this invite will make the player move from the existing team to the new team.
• Follow friends renamed to add/remove friends.

Custom Matches

Team Deathmatch now available in Custom Matches

• Now you can enjoy TDM in custom match

New system message for custom match

• New message has been added when players are kicked by match observers.
• This is to clearly distinguish messages in situations where a player has been kicked by the host, versus being kicked for cheating or another Rules of Conduct offence.

"Custom Match Update! Part 2!"

• New modes and presets are added
• Zombie Mode
  • Default Preset
• War Mode: Conquest
  • Default Preset
• We are planning to provide match configuration and observing

Ranked Mode

• We have reduced the frequency of Sanhok and Vikendi being selected for Ranked Mode matches.

Skin & Items

New Items

• Night on the Town
  • Sets
    • NIGHTCLUB DRESS SET (+ Victory Dance 23 emote)
    • BOW TIE AND SUSPENDERS SET (+ Bundle of Hearts emote)
• Individual items
  • Nightclub Dress (White)
  • Nightclub Stockings
  • Bow Tie and Suspenders Suit
  • Shiny Shoes and Socks

PCS 2

• PCS Item sets (8 sets)
  • PCS2 SLR BOX (+ Voting coupon 1 EA)
  • PCS2 BERYL M762 BOX (+ Voting coupon 1 EA)
  • PCS2 S12K BOX (+ Voting coupon 1 EA)
  • PCS2 BUGGY BOX (+ Voting coupon 1 EA)
  • PCS2 MASK BOX (+ Voting coupon 1 EA)
  • PCS2 EMOTE BOX (+ Voting coupon 1 EA)
  • PCS2 ALL-IN-ONE SET (+ Voting coupon 5 EA)
  • PCS2 WEAPON SET (+ Voting coupon 3 EA)

Metal Plated M416 Skins

• Gold and Silver Plate M416 skins are returning to the store!
  • Over the years, we've released dozens of skins on the PUBG store, only to have them never show up again after the initial sale. Some players have been asking for another chance at some of these skins, so after some thought, we've decided to bring a couple items back to the store. We're starting off with the Gold and Silver Plate M416 skins from quite a while back and will consider additional skins in the future if these go over well. We hope this gives our new players, and those of you who missed out the first time, another chance!
• METAL PLATED M416 SET
  • Gold Plate - M416
  • Silver Plate - M416

TBR Items

• Mazarin1k's Hoodie
• Mazarin1k's SLR
• Mazarin1k's Tactical Gloves
• NeoticaCH's M416
• NeoticaCH's Shirt
• WackyJacky101's VSS
• WackyJacky101's Hat
• WackyJacky101's Shirt

DLC
PUBG - PlayStation®Plus Drop Pack (PS Plus Exclusive)
Introduction of the Killer Clown Sets on PS4: PS4 players never had the chance to get the Killer Clown Set as it was introduced before the launch on PS4. It is finally here and it's now yours to get.

• Killer Clown Pants
• Killer Clown Shoes
• Killer Clown Suit
• Killer Clown Wig
• Killer Clown Mask
• [BATTLESTAT] Rip Tide - SLR
• 5 Levels

Note: We have free perks planned for Xbox players in October so please stay tuned!
Sales Schedule

• Night on the Town sets : After the August 27th live server maintenance ~ Until September 24th liver server maintenance
• PCS 2: After the August 27th live server maintenance ~ September 8th 17:00 (KST)
• Metal Plated M416: September 2nd ~ September 30th 11:00 (KST)
• TBR: September 2nd 11:00 KST ~ September 29th 10:59 KST
• DLC: September 1st 10:00 KST ~ October 7th 02:00 KST

Bug Fixes

Gameplay

• Now players are able to attach Charms to Sanhok 4 weapons.
• Fixed the issue where you could turn the character in the lobby by following certain steps.
• Fixed the inventory malfunction happen in certain cases during TDM gameplay.
• Fixed the game lobby generally displayed in yellowish color.
• Fixed the issue where being unable to accomplish ‘Survive 15 minutes without taking any damage from the Blue Zone’ mission in certain cases.
• Fixed the issue where sounds are not played along with the game hitching during TDM gameplay.
• Fixed the issue being unable to turn the character in the customize -> emote section
• Fixed an issue where the direction of arrows stuck in characters was always the same, regardless of the character's orientation.
• Fixed the issue where Bot character spawning with DP-28 in Vikendi.
• Fixed the settings of the optics resetting to default when reconnecting to the game.
• Fixed the bug where players would jump vertically straight down from the plane.
• Fixed the animation for characters who are holding a panzerfaust and on fire.
• Fixed the grenade pin clipping through character finger in FPP.
• Fixed the issue where players were able to see behind the tree leaves in certain camera angle of rotation.
• Fixed an issue where the bullets in a Kar98 could appear outside the chamber while reloading.
• Fixed an issue where specific female hairstyles could appear incorrect while holding a spike trap.
• Fixed an issue where the jerry can would disappear from a character's hands if that character were on fire.
• Fixed an issue where the fall animation could appear incorrect if the character was holding c4.
• Improved the animation for moving from ready to throw a melee weapon to unequipping the melee weapon.
• Fixed the animation for switching to any weapon from the panzerfaust while in the prone position.
• Improved the animation for discarding a panzerfaust after use.
• Fixed an issue where the player character is sometimes not properly synced(e.g. dead body standing upright).
• Fixed an issue of M416 iron sight aimpoint is obscured in ADS.
• Fixed an issue of the trajectory of target moves downward when you are done getting ready to throw C4 in FPP.
• Fixed an issue of the phase image (round) on the timeline and the background (the black area) are not located correctly.
• Fixed an issue of Woodland Ghillie Suit clips through the vehicle roof.
• Fixed an issue where the hit zone-based damage reduction was not applied on the UAZ (closed top).
• Fixed an issue when ADSing Julie's Kar98k equipped with a 4x scope looted by destroying Loot Truck, the reticle looks the same as when adsing a 5.56mm gun equipped with a 4x scope.
• Fixed an issue where the suppressor of Lunchmeat's AKM, one of the unique weapons of Sanhok does not work properly.
• Fixed an issue where the moving bluezone is not in sync with the actual bluezone.
• Fixed an issue where throwables were usable inside the airplane in Warmode.
• Fixed an issue where cancelling the reload of MG3/M249 was possible.
• Fixed an issue where the player character's animation is not properly displayed.
• Fixed an issue where the 'SCAR-L''s skin texture was displayed improperly.
• Fixed an issue of improper display of 'Hairstyle 21'.

World

• Fixed Loot truck roaming around the same location near the bridge south of Camp Alpha
• Fixed the issue where player could clip to an object and die by falling in certain location of Erangel.
• Fixed the character shaking up and down when standing on a certain rock object in Erangel.
• Fixed an oil barrel floating in the air located on a certain bridge of Erangel.
• Fixed the awkward cliff texture at the north of Stabler, Erangel.
• Fixed the issue where a player was not able to cross over a certain railing of a building.
• Fixed the issue where players could vault over a ceiling in certain underground locations of Karakin.
• Fixed an issue where spawned items were not visible to players.
• Fixed an issue where items are spawned under the train in the Port area of Vikendi.
• Fixed an issue where the player can be stuck in the ground near the Ruins area in Sanhok.
• Fixed an issue where the collision is missing on the ground of the bridge near Cave in Sanhok.

UI/UX

• Fixed the issue where the text ‘Motor glider’ was displayed in system string in the Last match screen.
• Fixed the issue where esport vehicles added to the ranked mode being displayed in system string in the Last match screen.
• Fixed the issue where the inventory scroll bar would not return to default location.
• Fixed the issue where some rewards not being displayed in rewards pop-up screen when using receive all button.
• Fixed the issue where exit button input is activated twice when pressed in an item purchase screen.
• Fixed the issue where APAC, ASIA region title still being displayed in English in Traditional Chinese language option.
• Fixed the UI overlaps in PUBG profile screen.
• Fixed the issue of the timeline UI not displayed correctly.
• Fixed the abnormal displays in the PUBG ID screen.
• Fixed the issue of When attempting to switch throwable after removing safety pin, “Inventory system error: 3” message appears.
• Fixed an issue where explosive damage done to wheels would not update the vehicle UI.
• Fixed an issue where menu was displayed in English in the Esports PCS2 tab when switched to Simplified Chinese.
• Fixed an issue where the you could rotate the player character in lobby (Stadia keyboard/mouse only).
• Fixed an issue where you can see ranked mode emblem above the character from public mode and training mode after cancelling ranked mode matchmaking.
• Fixed an issue of extra space visible in PUBG ID Pose area.

Skin & Item

• Fixed the issue where characters body becoming transparent and using certain face skins in zombie mode.
• Fixed the issue where characters legs becoming transparent when equipping Miramar Biker Jacket.
• Fixed the issue where in-game inventory icon not displayed when equipping ‘Rapture Squad Tactical Pants’.
• Fixed the clipping issue when female character equipping TUANTUAN’s tank top item.
• Fixed the Clipping issue when a female character equips Route Warrior Gloves, gets on motorcycle and grabs a weapon.
• The preview doesn't show when selecting the "Redzone" UAZ skin in Customize > Vehicles > UAZ.
• Fixed an issue in Esports store where multiple items cannot be purchased.
• Fixed an issue of the bottom area being clipped when wearing 'Rabbit Season Hoodie' and 'PGC 2019 Combat Pants' at the same time.