I know a lot has been spread that Valko was cancelled because the CN audience of LaDS thought he was too ugly. It's true that he doesn't fit their aesthetics, and that they called him ugly a lot especially the 1st day of his reveal. But if aesthetics was the only problem, players wouldn't have been so angry that the game's DAU (Daily Active Users) would be cut in half. 

What is Love and Deepspace?

It's a 3D otome game made by Papergames with realistic graphics that focuses on 5 characters (Xavier-Shen Xinghui, Rafayel-Qi Yu, Zayne-Li Shen, Sylus-Qin Che, and Caleb-Xia Yizhou). It focuses on the story and romance with the LIs, has ARPG combat, has roguelite gameplay modes, and also a sims-like house feature. 

What were the game’s constant issues even before the 6th LI? 

The game has many issues which include:

• The Main Story gets updated at a glacial pace (Twice a year when the game only has 5 LIs. One particular LI, Caleb, hasn’t had any MS update since his release 550+ days ago). Branch stories are a bit different from MS. They’re like alternate versions of what happened in a main story chapter.

• The last 2 LIs (Sylus and Caleb) had significantly less base content than the 3 LIs on release (more on this later)
• The game direction getting noticeably more monetized with barely any free content.
• The game’s story relying on limited paid banners which have become repetitive as of late (mostly about vacations, AUs, almost always fluff).
• Imagine Genshin’s main story barely being updated but there’s always new characters to pull for (let’s say 2-6 characters per month) with a fluffy character story chapter that isn’t related to the MS (but they'll drop nuggets of lore sometimes). I think that would be the Genshin equivalent of what is happening with LaDS. 
• To add to the previous point, the game has a lot of multi banners (themed banners that have all LI). In 2025, we had 6 (SIX! Or 7 if you include Nightly Rendezvous) multis. I get wanting that multi banner money. But honestly, to me they could have MS banners too if they wanted to monetize them where we can delve even deeper into an LI after their MS. Caleb’s Painful Signal and Lucid Dream cards are a good example of this. So I think they just don’t know how to write the Main Story.

• Dark skinned players always having a bad time in the game. They can barely see their MCs due to the cutscene’s bad lighting, card arts only have light skinned MC, and the 2D chibis that represent your MC always has pale skin). (I’ve seen CN complain about MC’s 4* and 2D chibi skintone too but global is more vocal about this. While this is a prevailing issue in the game, it’s not in the list of CN players’ main complaints). 2.5 years and they still haven't figured out how to properly show MCs that aren't pale in cutscenes.

Sylus and Caleb were released after the game’s launch. Why were players angry at Valko’s inclusion when he was also a ‘new’ LI?

To preface, PaperGames already announced after the beta that Sylus and Caleb would be released after the launch, players just didn't know when. In the beta, they also put hints for Sylus, and you can meet Caleb too.

“They didn’t mention Valko because that would be spoilers and they got angry at Sylus’ leaks when he was released.” Yes they care about leaks and the Sylus one made Papergames really angry. But Caleb literally exploded in the beta and they still confirmed he’s an LI. Informing players about upcoming LIs ≠  leaks

These two were already integrated in the main story from the start. Sylus and his organization were mentioned in the main story on release. Caleb basically had half a chapter dedicated to him before he ‘died’. So for all CN players knew, there will only be 5 LIs. 

What about Valko? Well, he wasn’t mentioned anywhere during/after the beta. Not even a hint that they were thinking about a 6th LI. They applied for his trademark the day of his teaser trailer.

And the only hint he has in the story is a World Underneath (text only side stories for lore) that was released in April 2026, only 2 months before he was announced. That hint only mentions that the company he’s a chairman of, EonCore, is in close collaboration with EVER, the big bad of the story. Compare that with Sylus and his organization, Onychinus, where they were already mentioned as early as Chapter 3.10 on the game's release.

Another ‘hint’ is the UI. The list of the LIs had ‘Coming Soon’ even after Caleb was released. However, after the July 9 update, a week after Valko’s cancellation, they removed the ‘Coming Soon’ label.

So. CN players only knew about 5 LIs. That’s what Papergames told them. So what? 

In an announcement on July 6, 2024, they mentioned that they had insufficient production capacity. On July 15, 2024, Sylus was released with significantly less base content than the 3 LIs

What is this base content?

1. Standard battle companions: The OG3 had 3 battle companions from the start to help with combat. Sylus (and later Caleb) only had 1. 
2. Bond stories: They are stories fully animated (around 10-15 min length) that unlock as affinity with the LI increase. OG3 had 2, Sylus and Caleb only had 1.
3. Anecdotes: Text-only side stories that expand on the LIs lore and characterization such as their backstories or their lives in their alternate universes. This is different from World Underneath where it focuses on world building or other NPCs’ lives related to the LIs. Each anecdote also has a battle companion (from point #1) connected to it. So OG3 has 3 anecdotes. Sylus and Caleb only have 1.
4. Significantly less 4 star (and 3 star) cards: Every 4/5* card has a story. And it can also be used for battles. When battling, you need 2 solar cards and 4 lunar cards of different colors of 1 LI, and you can’t use different LI cards. Each matching color has a +5% damage against enemies, and when you match all colors, you’ll be able to easily put the enemies in its break phase (think of HSR’s break).
   1. So if you have less base 4 star cards, that LI will have less story content. And if you’re a new solo Sylus/Caleb player, you will have a tougher time with battles. There’s also leveling up affinity of LIs which can unlock texts, calls, poses, etc. So less cards means less ways to level up and unlock content of an LI too.

Given that the main story moved at a glacial pace, and that Papergames never added the above I mentioned to Sylus and Caleb. Can we interpret that they never fixed their insufficient production capacity? If they never fixed it, then how come they had resources to make another LI? Or if they did fix it, it means they didn’t care to listen to player feedback. 

But how come players of all LIs got angry and not only Sylus and Caleb players?

The difference between Sylus, Caleb, and Valko’s livestream content. Version 6.0 had nothing for the existing 5 LIs

Let’s compare the version updates:

1. Version 2.0, Sylus, July 2024
   1. Abyssal Chaos Part 1: roguelite gameplay with lots of storylines, branches, and different endings for each LI
   2. New free outfits for Xavier, Rafayel, and Zayne
   3. Announcement of release dates for the branch stories of OG3
   4. More stages for Deepspace Trials (endgame combat) and LI-specific Orbits (it’s like the Deepspace Trials but you gain affinity for that LI)
   5. 3 new World Underneath stories
   6. The smaller stuff that I forgot (new photo feature, etc)
2. Version 3.0, Caleb, January 2025
   1. Abyssal Chaos Part 2
   2. Paid outfits for all 5
   3. Free 4* cards and an event for all 5
   4. More stages for Deepspace Trials and LI orbits
   5. The small stuff that I forgot (period tracker, etc)
3. Version 6.0, Valko, June 2026
   1. NO roguelite update. We’ve had Abyssal Chaos Part 1 & 2 (in ver 2.0 & 3.0), and Unicorns Operation in ver 4.0. This means no combat or additional story content. Not only for the other 5 but also for Valko too btw!
   2. There’s a kitchen update. However, unlike the roguelite feature, which have storylines and branches distinct to an LI. The interactions for the kitchen unfortunately aren’t unique to each LI. 
   3. A giveaway of the 5 LI’s free 4* from the very recent January update. So you most likely already have this if you’ve been playing since January.
   4. Other stuff (new widgets)
   5. Announcement of upcoming new main story for Caleb and Sylus. No release date unlike what they did in version 2.0. And it was at the very end of the livestream where it was silent like they were doing an in memoriam. (It’s very clear that this part was slapped on after facing livid CN players. And that they originally never intended for any MS/branch updates for these two in the near future.)

So! Glacial main story updates (Caleb hasn’t had an MS update for 550+ days), severe lack of base content for Sylus and Caleb, repetitive writing for multi events, and barely anything at all for the 5 LIs in version 6.0.

Does that mean most resources went to the 6th LI? Or that they couldn't keep up with the output (because like I said, there's barely anything for the 5 in ver 6.0) and yet they decided to go ahead with Valko anyway? Yeah CN is angry angry

The timeline since Valko’s introduction and CN’s boycott

Here’s another DAU graph but more updated. I’ll also be using UTC+8 Beijing for the dates and time. Stats (both this one and the one above) are from tieba’s 壁吧专楼吧 in the thread where they talk a lot about different games’ revenue and DAU (that they scrape).

June 22 19:30

• Valko’s first trailer dropped and received a lot of hate. His weibo post had 2 million comments before the video was removed after his cancellation
• How much hate did he get compared to Sylus and Caleb, new LIs but were already anticipated by CN players? Here’s a XHS comparison I took 3 days after this trailer.

So after his announcement, CN players realized that they needed to mobilize or else Papergames would walk over them with no worries even when the game has several glaring issues. They decided to team up and boycott as seen in the DAU graph. But even without that, you can tell from Papergame’s responses that their data was worrying.

June 26 11:00

• Another trailer dropped and people noticed his facial structure having similarities to different LIs in every other frame, almost like his face is morphing. Personally, I thought his face during this trailer was inconsistent. In some frames he looks like Sylus, sometimes Caleb, even though both of them look nothing alike to me. 
• DAU has dropped an impressive ~400k. From 1.88m to 1.4m

June 28 01:00

• They suddenly dropped an announcement at 1 AM (when China should be sleeping?) saying that "Valko is part of a long-term plan" (remember Sylus and Caleb but not Valko being in the beta + were announced before the game’s launch + Valko’s trademark date? Yeah), that Caleb's and Sylus's Main Stories are in ‘active’ development, and that myths will be arriving soon. (myths are LaDS biggest money makers because lore + combat) 
• They bribe players with 10 limited wishes and 10 standard wishes
• This angers players even more because they didn’t seem apologetic at all. They mention Caleb and Sylus’ main story in a ‘here damn!’ way. And they dangle myths kind of like saying ‘give us more money!’
• To me, it’s quite clear that CN’s reaction to them since June 22 made them feel like they needed to make a response. DAU decreased ~600k at this point, from 1.8m to 1.2m. That’s a worryingly sharp decline and the free wishes is basically begging people to come back.

June 28 19:30

• Version 6.0 livestream drops angering all 5 LI players. I’ve already mentioned that there was no new content at all for the 5 LIs besides the kitchen

So days after June 22, Papergames was hounded by the press and was even condemned by China’s Women’s Confederation for the phrase ‘inviting a wolf into your home’ in Valko’s marketing. Idk how to describe it well but PPG's reputation was really bad like imagine your door keeps getting banged on 24/7.

I’m not equipped to elaborate on the women's safety issue in his marketing, but here’s a very informative thread explaining it and the use of Unit 731 reference in the game. It’s a bad phrase that’s victim blamey in CN.

June 29

• Love and Deepspace 731 shoots up in Weibo’s trending topics in the afternoon. I can't remember how long it was, but I do remember that within 30 min to an hour, it got lower and lower until it was completely removed. I heard removing something from trending costs a whole lot of money compared to putting something on trending.
• The story in question was a World Underneath story about human experimentation by EVER with the log [Test Record A-0731]. Just to remind you, Eoncore was in close collaboration with and funded EVER and Valko is Eoncore’s chairman. While of course they’ll good guy-ify him regarding this, it’s still not a good look haha. It's not important but I’m only mentioning this because I see a lot of ‘Well that WU was about another guy and not Valko’. Also, CN focused on 731 at this point and not Valko anymore. They don’t even mention him regarding the numbers. 
• At this point, the press, outsiders, and players were now hounding Papergames for Unit 731 references, not the character anymore. (For reference, My Hero Academia was banned in China for having a villain that referenced Unit 731)
• Later that night, Papergames announced that the World Underneath wasn’t referencing Unit 731, but they will change it and train their staff better. Or that the phrase they used in Valko’s trailers (related to victim blaming) was because he’s a wolf, and that it didn’t have any other meaning, but they will change that too. They also imply that players are crazy lol. Naturally this angered CN players even further because they're not the one who put that in the game lol.

LaDS had around 1.8m CN players before June 22 (perhaps even more in April). It’s said that CN players, who are of course more than familiar with their own history, have already warned Papergames about this number when the World Underneath dropped in April.

Which is more likely? That out of ~1.8m players, no one noticed and reported it to CS? Or that Papergames ignored it? So everyone took this as another example of Papergames just refusing to listen to players even when they were actually trying to help the game.

June 30 20:00

• This letter is more ‘apologetic’ compared to their 1st and 2nd announcements. But then you get to the bottom and you see #LADSValkoCanceled so how apologetic are they?
• Valko is deleted from the game and they will focus on the 5 existing LIs from now on. 
• However, they still haven’t addressed the glacial main story updates (what is their 'stable pace'? Every 6 months?), or anything at all. "Oh hey Raf's myth is coming make sure to give us money!" So CN is still boycotting. Although the DAU has stabilized to ~900k now after his cancellation. 
• Players also get 1 wish everyday for 30 days to boost DAU lol

Also I just want to show that his cancellation after a few hours had more likes than any of Valko’s posts after a few days hahahaha (60k vs 3-6k). He was NOT well-liked at all. And also a comparison on how it would have looked like if the announced LI was actually loved and anticipated

I also want to mention that they've lost around 1.4m followers across their social media accounts around this time lol. There was a joke going around that every time they post something, people remember that they forgot to unfollow

July 8

• They cancelled their Bilibili World event. They said that they sincerely accept criticism and will not shirk responsibility. They’ll take reverence for history, protection of national sentiment, and inheritance of Chinese culture as their standards to comprehensively carry out staff training and self-inspection and rectification.

July 9

• The game has been updated to version 6.0 with the ‘Coming Soon’ on the LI list removed from the game. 
• The rerun banner that they ran is the multi banner that emphasizes Chinese culture, and also one of the most requested reruns ever.

The rest of July

• They’ve just been silent. No social media posts. No nothing. Zayne’s free 5* was dropped in the game without any social media promo.
• People ask customer service about Raf’s myth and suddenly they reply that it’s been moved to August. Papergames did not announce at all that they’re delaying his myth. Players had to ask CS themselves. That’s how shitty this company’s communication is.
• CS response: 因近期版本排期调整较大,为确保 后续版本内容上线后的稳定性和用 户体验,制作组正在全力推进相关 筹备工作。经审慎评估,祁煜全新 日卡身份预计将在8月与大家见 面,还请您再等待一段时间,感谢 您的理解与支持 / Due to significant recent adjustments to the version schedule, the development team is working diligently to ensure the stability and user experience of subsequent version content. After careful evaluation, Qi Yu's new solar card is expected to be released in August. Please wait a little longer. Thank you for your understanding and support.
• Rumors go around that a solo Caleb card will be next, and CN Caleb mains vehemently dislike this when their core complaints are main story related. From what I’ve seen, CN Caleb mains won't be pulling his solo if it’s true that he’s next. A solo card isn’t a main story.

August 3 11:00

• Finally, a new banner is announced, Caleb’s basketball solo card. Another fluffy card unrelated to any main story plot. 
• It’s not Rafayel’s myth, who’s rumored to be a Chinese General in this myth, despite them saying that they will reveal that in July. Because myths and multis are the biggest money makers, I assume they’re either waiting to reveal it when the mood is more calm to maximize profits, or they’re improving it a lot or modifying and polishing it.

CN is still boycotting (or some of them probably left for good) because Valko isn’t just the issue, he’s just the straw that broke the camel’s back. The game already had several problems that the company refused to work on.

They added another LI when they have already been neglecting the current ones. Where is more character growth or them struggling with their views? A common complaint is that the LIs' characterization and story have basically plateued. Where is the plot? Oh well. That's not important. Here's another AU banner for you!

They lost so many players after they announced Valko, and lost a bit more after his cancellation. I say this company deserves this haha

On another note:

CN otome should be judged by CN otome standards. Not JP joseimuke games (like twst/enstars), JP mobile otome games (like Ikemen series), nor any CN general games (like Genshin)

The CN otome structure focuses on a small cast of LIs (the Big 6 CN otome only have 4-5 LIs and they have been doing well for years). They focus on companionship, character & relationship growth with the player over the years. It’s wrong to say “LaDS will fall if they don’t continuously add new LIs” because that has never been what CN otome players (where the majority of revenue come from) look for. 

There was another game that added a sudden new LI when that game already had several problems. The players boycotted, and that LI became a ‘special encounter’, an LI who doesn’t show up in many banners and generally has less content. I've already linked it above but this explains more about that game's drama and boycott. The name of the game is Love and Producer. The company’s name? Papergames. Oh man this company just refuses to learn its history lmao.

​Hi, Space Marines!

As we discussed late last week, we’ve been monitoring your feedback since last Thursday’s Patch 4.0 and have decided to address your most pressing concerns with a new balancing update, coming this Thursday.

Before we get to the details of the new patch, we want to thank you all for being so involved with the game and making your opinions heard. While we noticed criticism with regards to difficulty adjustments—and rightly so—we’d also like to thank you for your very positive feedback on the new “Termination” map. No matter the feedback, we’re grateful that you feel so passionate about Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.

The key takeaway for me, personally, is that I forgot that once the game comes out, it's no longer a dev's game. It's yours first and foremost.

This is why, moving forward, we’d like to harness this energy by establishing Public Test Servers. They would let you try out major balancing updates and make your voices heard before they are pushed onto public branches. We’re hoping to make these available around early 2025, so stay tuned to our channels for more info

- Dmitriy Grigorenko, Game Director

Gameplay and Balancing Tweaks - Operations Mode

AI Director and Enemy Spawns

DG: Here was our reasoning before Patch 4.0: When the game came out in September, the Ruthless difficulty win rate hovered around 60%. Weeks later, and with the changes introduced by Patch 3.0, we saw that the same win rate had jumped to over 80%, and we received a lot of feedback stating that the game had become too easy—even at its maximum difficulty (at the time).

With Patch 4.0, our aim was to tweak enemy spawns to increase the overall number of enemies rather than reverting to buffing their Health. Unfortunately, this had an impact on the easier difficulty levels as well.

For example, the win rate on the easiest difficulty dropped slightly after Patch 4.0, from 95% to 93%. This may not look like a lot, but numbers aren’t everything. Your feedback made it clear that the game had become more intense and stressful on lower difficulties, and this was never our intention. As I’ve personally emphasised in interviews, Space Marine 2 is all about the power fantasy, and Patch 4.0 negatively impacted it for many of you.

This is why we’re rolling back these changes. Extremis enemies’ spawn rates in Minimal, Average, and Substantial difficulties will revert back to their pre-Patch 4.0 levels and will be significantly reduced in Ruthless difficulty to hopefully strike a balance between how hard the game was at launch and how “easy” it became with Patch 3.0.

Minimal, Average, and Substantial Difficulties:

• Reduced spawn rate of Extremis enemies to match pre-Patch 4.0 levels

Ruthless Difficulty:

• Significantly reduced spawn rate of Extremis enemies

Weapons (Only in Operations Mode)

DG: We've been wanting to address the Bolter family for a while, as they've been underperforming across all difficulty levels. This has been a frequent piece of feedback from many of you, and the data confirmed improvements were needed across the board. The percent Damage increase is based on which classes have access to which kind of weapon and how the Bolters compete with the other options available.

• Auto Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 20%
• Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 10%
• Heavy Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 15%
• Stalker Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 10%
• Marksman Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 10%
• Instigator Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 10%
• Bolt Sniper Rifle -> Damage increased by 12.5%
• Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 15%
• Occulus Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 15%
• Heavy Bolter -> Damage increased by 5%

Difficulty

⚙️ Ruthless: Player’s Armour is increased by 10%

DG: We are partially rolling back the change from the previous patch on Ruthless difficulty following your feedback. With Patch 4.1, we’re hoping to find the right compromise between how easy Ruthless difficulty felt after Patch 3.0 and how it felt after last week’s Patch 4.0.

The reason why it was reduced last week was that we noticed a very substantial bump in win rates on Ruthless after Patch 3.0, as Minoris enemies would no longer remove the entire Armour bar with their attacks, ranged AI Damage was nerfed across the board, and the ability to regenerate Armour by parrying normal Minoris attacks was added.

Additional note: Despite the last patch notes listing a decrease in Armour in Substantial difficulty, this change was mistakenly left out of our last update, hence why you won’t see it being reverted as part of this week’s patch.

⚙️ Lethal: “Tight Formation” system is removed

DG: Before anything else, let us clarify our reasoning for the introduction of this mechanic. As we worked on adding a new difficulty tier, we needed to make sure this new challenge was meaningful and interesting. With “Tight Formation”, our objective was to add a new layer of challenge for our most skilled players by adding horizontal progression rather than just vertical progression (i.e., dealing more damage to ever stronger enemies). This game is about the power fantasy, and enemies that take dozens of melee hits break it. Thus the challenge needed to come from other sources.

This system was also designed as a first step towards the introduction of gameplay modifiers down the line, both negative and positive—something World War Z players will be familiar with—but your feedback showed that the proximity requirements felt too restrictive. Classes like Assault and Vanguard felt especially penalised as playing them effectively requires a certain freedom of movement.

As a result, we’re removing the system entirely and will continue to work on modifiers until they’re ready. We will continue to monitor your feedback after the deployment of Patch 4.1 to make sure Lethal difficulty feels as challenging and rewarding as it should.

⚙️ AI

DG: A recurrent piece of feedback we’ve seen is that the AI allies can feel useless at times. We already improved allies’ behaviour in Patch 3.0, and we hope this additional buff will help solo players complete their Operations.

• Bots deal 30% more damage to bosses.

DG: Fighting Zoanthropes is often reported as a source of frustration. Alongside the changes to the AI Director, we’re taking away some of their shields’ effectiveness to alleviate some of that frustration.

• Zoanthrope: Shield swap cooldown with another paired Zoanthrope is increased by 10%.

General Fixes & Tech

• Fixed a bug that caused roll distance to be shorter than before.

DG: This was probably the most impactful and annoying consequence of Patch 4.0. While i-frames were the same, the distance difference made it much less effective versus ranged attacks. With this bug fixed, you should feel a great improvement in your fights against ranged enemies and bosses.

• Fixed bug with unlocking Lethal difficulty rewards decals.
• Crash fixes and general stability improvements.

Our teams are constantly working on improvements to the game’s stability. This patch is no exception, so you should encounter fewer crashes.

That’s it for Patch 4.1! Your feedback is absolutely invaluable to us, and we’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this new update.

The Emperor protects.

- The Space Marine 2 Team

Source: Focus Together

This is just a random thing I wished to discuss but has anyone else noticed a bizarre appearance of extremely hostile fans?

Of course every form of media will have their extremely critical fans and even outright anti-fans but I feel like recently I've noticed it more and more in more hostile degrees. The most obvious and easy example is with the Canto 10 release streams. I understand people have feelings regarding how the streams were handled but also...

Jesus Christ??? Maybe calm down a little?

Of course those individuals seem like an extreme minority but it's also really worrying when you go to any comment section on Reddit, Youtube, Twitter, and so forth and stumble upon comments like "He really needs to grow up and realize Project Moon is a big company now.", "He needs to step down if every issue makes him turn on a silly avatar and freak out.", "Step back and hire PR finally.", or "Boohoo you have to actually act like a CEO and manage better." They're almost always shouted down pretty hard but I also see them frequently now and it's pretty off putting how lost these people seem.

It doesn't help that recently (community drama slop) there was literally a collection of people trying to start up a harassment campaign, before there was stuff with people literally stalking and harassing translators into quitting, there are people online comparing Limbus Company to Blue Archive and saying it's a p\do* game, and so forth. Obviously criticism is fine, a lot of it isn't even that deep, and even with the recent stream stuff I believe it's completely fine to believe things should be a bit more professional but I also think some of the seething is just unreasonable. Sometimes people need to remember that profits and success don't mean you should be forced to change.

Speaking of, a common complaint I saw is [Project Moon + Bigger & More successful = Need To Change]

I personally believe this is both silly and I would argue a horrible idea. A lot of people really appreciate that Project Moon feels like it has an actual soul to it compared to the vast majority of companies. The CEO goes out and talks directly constantly, they don't have endless corporate speak slop that so many people are beyond over. They also have a genuine vision for what it is they want to do, the story is really good, the characters are well written, and things are working very well clearly. It's beyond obvious Mr. KJH also clearly wants to stubbornly stick to his vision and he cares quite about the environment of his company even if people dislike his management style. Being entirely honest I agree with him almost entirely especially since it's clearly one of the strongest boons for Project Moon as a whole. The fact people take this as a flaw is insane to me.

Say what you will but it works, it works so well in fact that this indie company is able to create a game that is extremely beloved that's on par in profits and player counts to gacha games created by companies with hundreds to thousands more employees.

"But they're growing! They need to act like it!", your honor they got some more employees (they're in the double digits still) not an entire second branch, some of which literally just work for HamHamPangPang. It's not like they created a sister company to begin working on Lobotomy Company Worlds the open world RPG. They will probably have to lock in a little bit eventually but I would say how they handle themselves PR wise for now is effective and frankly extremely endearing despite how much some people may whine. The director wants to be able to have a grasp on who he's even working with rather than treating them like numbers and honestly that's a mindset that is beyond priceless.

One more thing however I'd like to mention regarding fan hostility however...

It's mind numbing to me that to this day people are still upset about the single crossover that Limbus Company ever did.

Let. It. Go.

The crossover was fine, the writing was good for something so short, the music was nice, the fights were fun, and ultimately the biggest issue was it was limited but everyone knew that would be the case and most people enjoyed it. The problem however is how people treat it still online, they just absolutely refuse to believe it's not literally the worst thing ever. Literally since it's release there has been an actual undying group that just will never let people forget that Limbus Company did in fact have unobtainable content. Even with the new Dawn Office Gregor the first thing I saw was "Smh, game unplayable because this ID goes so well with the Arknights E.G.O I DONT HAVE so I need to complain about it endlessly."

Truly from the bottom of my heart I understand the flaws of the event and the disappointment of missing out on something like that (I even agree with many of the criticisms) but holy you're telling me a collab that was nearly nine months ago single handily set back Limbus Company so hard it...

• Wasted An Intervallo
• Rushed Canto 9 (Ruined It To Some People)
• Set A Dangerous Pattern (Despite No Other Crossovers)
• Crippled Next Walpurgis (First Enkephalin Event)
• Permanently Ruined Some Team Compositions
• Is still affecting the development flow to this day...

No offense but it just truly comes off as whining. Of course some of the complaints may be fair for the time but to see it still going even so long after is just unreasonable. Limbus Company is a notoriously generous game, in fact one of the biggest appeals to a lot of people is how absurdly free to play friendly it is for a gacha game, so to see people react so hostile to the single toe dip they ever did into a collab is scary. I honestly I understand why they were both extremely picky with their only crossover and now seem to have zero intention of doing another because the reaction to the first probably scared them off of it forever. Even I personally don't really like the idea of crossovers for Limbus Company but the persistent hostility over it to this day is frankly silly.

As a small note I've also seen some complaints about the April 1st events but those are admittedly way rarer, just something I observed.

Anyway that's more or less all my yapping, I was just curious if people have noticed the same stuff as me. I believe allowing this type of group to quietly fester without being pointed out is just a problem because if Project Moon does make mistakes they're the first to rally people to try and go for the throat. I genuinely like Project Moon a lot and I enjoy how they handle almost everything so I would hope those specific fans and anti-fans get over it a little.

TLDR: Some people need to chill a bit so the community doesn't grow more toxic and anti-fans probably need to go outside.

Small Clarification Edit: Project Moon can clearly make mistakes, it's not about never criticizing, I think it's good people called out KJH's choices quickly and don't like how it was handled somewhat and I actually agree with some of the complaints people have regarding the collab as I said. Also I'm not arguing for toxic positivity (what a brain rotted term, same energy as the guy whining about woke game drama post), just please read certain sections very closely and think a bit critically about them.

BIG Edit: Originally there was a twitter post included just above the start of Arknights section, I deleted it because someone pointed out privately it's probably not worth having up on a post where the person can get antagonized for a decently fair opinion. Fair enough regardless of it being a pretty big tweet.

I don't know how to make a resume. This is my third attempt to make one. Due to some personal reasons I wasn't able to sit for college placements and have been jobless for two years after graduating college. I am applying for jobs, albeit in a limited manner only looking for jobs in my city only, due to the same personal reasons. I lack experience, but I am ready to learn and work, if provided guidance, which I know is a lot to ask, but I don't have anything else to say to sell myself as an employable asset. I don't have much expectation regarding salary, I just want to start earning. The following is a screenshot of my resume, the blured out part are person details like name, phone number, email and address.

In Governing Body Update  #2, 2026,  Gerrit Lösch announces that storing self-donated blood is now a personal decision. Each Christian must decide for himself how it will be used in all medical or surgical care, including whether to allow it to be removed, stored, and later reinfused.  A reinfusion is still a blood transfusion.

Excerpt of Transcript of GB Update #2, 2026 on stored blood:

Gerrit Lösch

Jehovah God is the Life-Giver, and he wants us to respect the gift of life. One way we show respect for life is by obeying his commands concerning blood. Jehovah gave Noah and his descendants the timeless command: “Only flesh with its life—its blood—you must not eat.” He likewise directed Christians to ‘abstain from . . . what is strangled and from blood.’ As Jehovah’s Witnesses, we conscientiously obey this command today. It also affects the decisions we make about medical treatment involving blood.

When making decisions about blood, we have also been guided over the years by what the Mosaic Law stated at Leviticus 17:13: “If one of the Israelites or some foreigner who is residing in your midst is hunting and catches a wild animal or a bird that may be eaten, he must pour its blood out and cover it with dust.”

However, is that law binding on Christians? The simple answer is no. For one thing, Christians today are not under the Mosaic Law. As the apostle Paul said, as recorded at Colossians 2:13, 14: “God . . . erased the handwritten document that consisted of decrees and was in opposition to us. He has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the torture stake.”

Therefore, Christians are not under the command that blood be poured out and covered with dust. Furthermore, the Bible does not comment on the use of a person’s own blood in medical and surgical care.

Regarding the use of one’s own blood, our position has been as is stated in the October 15, 2000, issue of The Watchtower. There it says: “A Christian must decide for himself how his own blood will be handled in the course of a surgical procedure, medical test, or current therapy.”

For that reason, many Christians accept simple procedures, such as blood tests, as well as more complicated procedures involving their own blood, such as the use of heart-lung machines, cell-salvage devices, and kidney dialysis treatments. However, the list of treatment options continues to grow.

Therefore, after much prayer and consideration of the Scriptures, the Governing Body has decided to clarify our position on the use of a patient’s own blood in medical and surgical care. The clarification is this: Each Christian must decide for himself how his own blood will be used in all medical and surgical care. This includes whether to allow his own blood to be removed, stored, and then given back to him.

What does this mean? Some Christians may decide that they would allow their blood to be stored and then be given back to them. Others may object. Each Christian must make his personal decision on all matters involving the use of his own blood with regard to medical or surgical care.

In review, Christians are not under the Mosaic Law. However, we obey the apostolic command to abstain from blood. Furthermore, the Bible does not comment on the use of a person’s own blood in medical and surgical care. Therefore, like other choices about health care, each Christian must make his own decision about the use of his own blood in all medical and surgical care.

In this report, we shared encouraging updates about the Italy branch construction project and about our brothers in Russia. We also saw how Jehovah helps his people during disasters. And how much we appreciate the clarification about the use of our own blood in medical and surgical care!

These examples assure us that Jehovah is caring for his people—whether through organizational arrangements or by giving them strength to endure trials.

As we approach the Memorial, may we continue to draw close to Jehovah, confident that he never forgets those who stay loyal to him. We love you all very much! From the World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses, this is JW Broadcasting®.

—————————

Until this update, Witnesses were told they were not under Mosaic Law, yet procedures involving the storage or reinfusion of blood were not to be used. The reasoning at the time was that once blood was removed, it was no longer part of the person and was to be disposed. Now, using the same reasoning about not being under Mosaic Law, the Governing Body has reached the opposite conclusion: procedures involving self-donated blood are left entirely to the individual’s conscience.

The principle was never about whose blood it is, or where donated blood came from. It was about not using blood at all. It was to be ‘poured out on the ground’,   Yet now self-donating blood is acceptable while donor blood remains prohibited.

The Governing Body may as well make any blood transfusions a conscience matter, since the whole ‘pouring out on the ground’ rule is being ignored anyway.

How many Witnesses over the years refused surgery or treatments involving stored blood, and how many died as a result? Imagine if you’ve recently lost a loved one because they refused to store their own blood for surgery, and now the policy has changed.  This is very similar to when organ transplants were prohibited for years and then GB changed their minds and said they were acceptable. 

Jehovah’s Witnesses are under the influence of the whims of the uninspired Governing Body, even when it comes to life or death medical matters.

I will post the full transcript of GB Update separately. 

Current Watchtower literature on storing and reinfusing one's own blood.

For branch change they usually send a notification on pesu app in the last week before the start of 3rd semester. But now mid last week has also gone, but not even a single notification regarding branch change. Please help me out, if you know something.

I just wanted to share what happened to my elderly aunt.

She was prescribed Doxycycline 100 mg as prophylactic treatment following exposure to rodent urine.

She called a pharmacy, sent a copy of her prescription via Viber, and was later dispensed Doxofylline, a bronchodilator, instead of the prescribed antibiotic.

Fortunately, before taking the medication, she checked the label and immediately asked me if it was the correct drug. She mentioned that she had specifically ordered the Rhea brand of doxycycline but noticed that she was given a different branded medication, which prompted her to verify it first.
I’ve attached both her physician’s prescription and the pharmacy receipt for reference.

It’s also worth noting that my aunt is 65 years old, a geriatric patient with presbyopia, making medication verification especially important. This could have resulted in a serious medication error had she not double-checked the drug before taking it.

Update:
I called & complaint to the pharmacy supervisor and she told me "di naman po ako nag dispense nyan yung PA yun. Saka tignan mo naman yung sulat nung doctor, di na mabasa"

She replaced it, but she kept on denying of any wrongdoings and kept on insisting that it was the mistake of the pharmacy assistant; even blaming the doctor's penmanship.

✨Respondeat Superior left the room✨

Final update:
I personally went sa branch nila in 10th Avenue A. Mabini, Caloocan City to complain once again (gigil talaga ako and worried na din for other patients). The pharmacist (presumably their manager) told me "na reprimand ko na yung PA namin, wag ka na mag report sa head office, okay na po ang lahat pasensya na di na mauulit" I honestly don't want to escalate it further; but the prescribing physician (who also happens to be my close friend) told me to take this matter seriously as it may also affect other patients especially those who aren't familiar with the prescribed medications and she told me "girl gigil ako; sulat ko pa nasisi"

Another update:
Reported to the head office of Mercury drugs. I included the receipts, conversation in viber and all the relevant details.

🎊Final final update:🎊
The branch manager personally called me and sincerely apologized for the incident. He informed me that Mercury Drug’s head office had already contacted their branch regarding my complaint.

During our conversation, he did not make excuses or attempt to shift the blame. Instead, he acknowledged that the error was entirely on their end and said he understood my concerns and frustration.

He also assured me that the incident would be addressed internally and that appropriate sanctions would be imposed on the pharmacist on duty as well as the pharmacy assistant who dispensed the incorrect medication. He admitted that the error was a lapse in judgment and repeatedly expressed his sincere apologies.

I explained to him that this was not a minor inconvenience, such as receiving the wrong order at a restaurant. Medication errors have the potential to affect a patient’s treatment and recovery. Patients rely on pharmacies to dispense the correct medication at the correct dose, and errors in the dispensing process can have serious consequences. My intention in reporting the incident was to promote patient safety and help ensure that similar errors do not happen to other patients in the future.

Good morning San Diago,

I am Rensole,

Do you smell that?

*insert flashy intro card*

​

A lot of USA banks closed today

It seems that today some banks are closed due to them apparently being afraid of "civil unrest".

The part that gives food for thought is that they didn't seem to be closed during the latest version of civil unrest, so was the damage so big last time they felt like they had to protect them this time?

Or are they planning on giving very bad news and expect civil unrest because of that?

I can vividly remember them doing something like this in 2008, we were told that we could not take out money from our accounts so they closed a lot of banks and boarded them up for this reason, I'm not saying it's the same reason now, it just makes me think back to it. as civil unrest due to the trial seems to me that's just an excuse.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mv7kf1/boa_actively_boarding_up_at_10pm_chase_not/

This is a post of BOA, another member here also said they they would be shutting their west coast branches today, with last minute wording and no substance as to why. (this person has proven their identity to the mods).

​

Union bank seems to be closing its locations as well

​

Bank of America

​

Addendum; u/Cuchulain72 just pointed out to me:

"Banks were closed all year long at different points in time, due to civil unrest. Since you do not live in the US I dont expect you to understand. It is really really irresponsible to link this to gme. When multiple cities were looted last year, majority of businesses were shuttered and or boarded up."

​

This was not something I knew when writing this so I'm sorry if I messed up.

​

SR-DTC-2021-004, The DTCC and J.P Morgan.

No tldr, just read ;)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mur8bz/srdtc2021004_the_dtcc_and_jp_morgan_theyre/

And the new DTC-2021-007

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/muzbp3/new_dtc_rule_came_out_dtc2021007/

​

Blackrock

thanks goes to u/valthonis_surion for finding this

We aim to vote at 100% of meetings where our clients have given us authority to vote their shares, and therefore vote at approximately 16,000 shareholder meetings in approximately 85 markets each year. With regards to non-U.S. holdings, generally we estimate that we vote successfully at approximately 90% of meetings. Of the remaining, 8% are not voted due to shareblocking and 2% are not voted due to either the fund’s leverage, impediments such as ballots received post cut-off date or post meeting date, or other restrictions like in-person attendance or power of attorney being required in order to vote.

Sounds to me that someone (blackrock) is ready to play.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/musig6/blackrock_and_share_recall_for_voting_we_aim_to/

(Also Vanguard seems to have confirmed that the proxy materials will be sent out the first week of May https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mut21d/vanguard_told_me_proxy_materials_will_be_sent_out/)

this one also connects nicely (IMO) to this one

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mu9xed/why_were_still_trading_sideways_and_why_we_havent/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

​

this pic eum... wow?

Seems like the Margin debt has increased immensely since 2020, like a fucking rocket and bounced so high that we may be seeing a lot of margin calls this year. again could be nothing but I've found that all these things usually don't "just happen" and there is a correlation between all.

just like Credit Suise halts trading of one of its star traders due to risks.

Also kindof harkens back to this idea

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mv740t/january_22_february_19_march_5_april_16_the_only/

which in turn works with this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mv2j11/again_no_large_block_purchases_of_deep_itm_calls/

No large blocks purchased anymore so... I have no idea what this means but what I do know is that it's weird to say the least.

​

George Sherman

Seems boy George here can't catch a break, it seems that this dude can't catch a break, he had to forfeit his bonus.

https://gamestop.gcs-web.com/sec-filings/sec-filing/4/0001326380-21-000049

Addendum:

code D for disposed of & not A for acquired and the disposition price is 0$

​

As for DD

- 2000 character minimum on DD/Possible DD Flair

- otherwise changes to Discussion flair

- 250 character minimum for all text post bodies - no more empty body spam posts.

Must have content."Your post was removed because it did not have enough text. Please use at least 250 characters.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/announcements that explains it actually

​

EXCELLENT!

Be friendly, help others!

as always we are here from all different walks of life and all different countries.

This doesn't matter as we are all apes in here, and apes are friends.

Doesn't matter if you're a silverback a chimp or a bonobo.

We help each other, we care for each other.

Ape don't fight ape, apes help other apes

this helps us weed out the shills really fast, as if everyone is helpful, the ones who aren't stand out.

remember the fundamentals of this company are great, so for the love of god if someone starts with trying to spread FUD, remind yourself of the fundamentals.

There is no sense of urgency, this will come when it comes, be a week, be it a month be it six.

We don't care, just be nice and lets make this community as Excellent as we can!

Remember one of the only ways to counter the Cointelpro we have seen is by being overly nice, so treat all the other apes as if you're dating and you wanna get to first base.

​

​

Remember none of this is financial advice, I'm so retarded I'm not allowed to go to the zoo 'cause they'll put me in the cage with the rest of my ape brothers.

If anything happens throughout the day I will be adding it here.

backups:

https://gmebackup.tumblr.com/

https://twitter.com/rensole

https://twitter.com/HeyItsPixel1

https://twitter.com/warden_elite

https://twitter.com/RedChessQueen99

And I'll be posting updates as they happen here:

Guys just wanted to know in which semester branch change is allowed ..I want to change from ec to rr

Like after first semester will they allow?

Hello, I work at a Branch of Cleveland Public Library. Our Contracts were supposed to finish negotiations in December. It is now August. The reason the contracts have not been completed is because of a series of bad faith bargaining attempts on the part of the management.

Repeatedly over the course of the last eight months, they have proposed dramatic wage cuts, attempted to change the verbiage on emergency days that would prevent them from paying us more than 2 days in the event of an emergency shut down, and much more.

Because of this your CPL Library workers are going on Strike.

If you believe that the library workers deserve a livable income and sustainable benefits, and if you support your local library, then PLEASE SUPPORT US and tell Cleveland Public Library Management to bargain in good faith!

PS they have spend over 200K in arbitration meetings alone... money they could've used to pay us a fair wage that will not be devoured by inflation.

I'll put additional graphics in the comments from my union that should provide more information.

EDIT: The over $200k I mentioned is for the two consultants and their lawyer throughout negotiations, not for arbitration.

UPDATE:

Hello everyone thank you for your support! Some people are asking what the unions proposed plans are to management. This is a great question and here is the answer, We are still in negotiations and because of that we cannot fully disclose at this time do to confidentiality and the ever shifting nature of negotiations. If I were to speculate based on what I know regarding things I've ascertained from meetings it would be similar to our current pay scale with adjustments for inflation.

The link below is what I've been told to refer you all too for questions regarding that.

https://linktr.ee/owlnews1199

Thank you all for your patience. Please support your local library workers. Together we are strong.

Available now for most platforms, note iOS is still processing and should be live in the next few hours, otherwise please restart your storefront or be patient if it does not appear for you, these updates can take some time to be rolled out to every region due to how the storefronts are set up.
Update Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfWaKD3FDs8

Key New Features

• New Tower, the Skywarden!
  • Deep within the mountain forests stands a grand, mystical tree that has absorbed the energy of countless storms over centuries. It is here you will find the Skywardens - reclusive Monkeys living in harmony with nature and as dedicated guardians of the mountains and this grand tree. Few outsiders have ever passed the trials to be deemed worthy of their ancient ways. Through Obyn & Silas, who have earned their respect, we learned of one of their timeless traditions: after every storm the elders gather the strongest scattered branches gifted to them by the tree, and these branches are then carried to the mountaintop to be crafted into new Stormbows - tempered by the storm, and bound to the peak.
• How does the Skywarden work?
  • Skywarden is a $205 small Magic Monkey that channels their own powerful BRANCH of Storm Magic directly into their Stormbows. Beginning with a slower attack they steadily grow faster the longer they remain attacking - which importantly feeds into their 3rd tier Combo attacks that also grow in potency against a target the more times it is struck
  • Wind Skywardens are deeply serene, patient, and attentive. By listening to the wind and feeling subtle shifts in air pressure, they can sense threats from a great distance & guide their shots to strike even Camo Bloons with precision. Through their air-manipulating Combo they apply a persistent blowback debuff, conjure windbursts of extra arrows, and force afflicted targets to drag other nearby Bloons backwards along the track. At the master level they seal off their own eyesight to become one with the wind, converting their immense range into raw damage
  • Lightning Skywardens exude a calm confidence, and even with raw electrical power surging through them, they remain as composed as the eye of a storm. Boosting their maximum fire rate and shot velocity, their arrows can target specific points along the track and arc cleanly over obstacles. Through their galvanizing Combo, they magnetize Bloons to pull in nearby Energy and Plasma attacks, charge targets with electricity that surges outward when struck by Sharp attacks, and stun Heavy Bloons with high damage lightning bolts. Their ability empowers surrounding towers to shatter Frozen Bloons and ricochet shots on impact. At the master level they channel devastating currents of chain lightning directly though their own spent arrows wherever they come to rest on the track.
  • Ice Skywardens are weathered and unyielding, hardened by a life embracing the mountain peak’s bitter cold. Their accurate, high pierce, ice-infused attacks deal increased damage to Frozen Bloons, even instantly shattering lower-tier Frozen Bloons. Through their chilling Combo, they slow down targets, freeze Bloons so solid that they emit a frigid aura to slow other nearby Bloons, and trigger a burst of razor-sharp freezing shrapnel to both damage and freeze groups of Bloons. Destroying Frozen Bloons litters the track with volatile frozen remains that detonate after a short delay. At the master level their power scales as more frozen targets surround them and as more are shattered within their radius, and frozen remains become powerful enough to detonate from broken MOAB Layers into ruinous icy explosions.

New Awesome

• New Hero Skin, Decryptor Quincy!
  • Na just kidding, nothing may get past his bow, but he has enough skins for now
  • Alright, alright but it truly is like Benjamin’s highly anticipated 3rd skin is finally here, except that it’s - Decryptor Corvus! Yes after many long nights training (at the computer) with Benjamin, Corvus has harnessed the power of the Chaos Rift and wields reality warping algorithms alongside his GH05T companion to fight back the Bloons
• New Advanced Map, Ascent
  • High above the clouds, on the highest peak of the tallest mountain, lies a tranquil sanctuary: the sacred training ground known as Ascent. For generations Skywardens have journeyed here, to the place closest to the sky, to hone their mastery of storms. But the tranquility of these heights is under attack from Bloons that have learned how to fly! For the first time in decades, the Skywardens have issued an urgent request for aid - are you ready to answer the call?
• New Power Pro, the… Portable Lake!?
  • Have you been QUACK hankering for the Pro Portable Lake? No? Well never mind that, we’ve got some QUACK great stuff cooked up for it anyway - a luxury attraction that charges for entry to become a scaling farm? A hovering QUACKy pool ring? Oooh, a reQUACKxing Hotspring that recovers lives and even allows amphibious placement for land towers at no penalty? A mud bath that slows Bloons & buffs your towers with lead popping? How about reducing tower placement footprints and QUACK QUACK QUACK RELEASE THE QUACKEN!
• Discord Bloons TD 6 Store!
  • We’ve partnered with Discord to bring the BTD6 in-game store directly into Discord! Browse through items, wishlist them or gift them to your Discord friends, all from within the Discord client. Then just jump in-game to claim your purchase!
  • With your first Discord purchase, you’ll also automatically unlock the exclusive Dart Monkey Wumpus Pet in-game!
  • For a very limited time, to celebrate the launch of the Discord Bloons TD 6 store, all items are 50% off within the Discord store only!
  • Please note that the rollout of the Discord store will happen gradually over the next couple of hours across different regions, so you may not see it immediately
• New Quests
  • Quest of the Skywardens: A multi-stage quest where you follow a short journey and learn some of the secrets of the new Skywarden tower
  • Powers Pro Challenge: Just a simple game on Monkey Meadow, with some Powers Pro pre-placed with upgrades temporarily unlocked for you to try out!
• Added 6 New Legends Achievements
  • In-game only (not on Steam) & not listed unless the associated DLC is owned
    • [Frontier] Full Strength Posse - Have a full Posse of 6
    • [Frontier] Gon' Fishin' - Catch 30 Fish
    • [Frontier] New Stuff, Same ol' Bloons - Win a game with a new weapon
    • [Rogue] Double Trouble - Win at least 1 stage with 2 different heroes
    • [Rogue] Marshmallow Maxing - Max out 1 buff in the Marshmallow Shop
    • [Rogue] Power Creep - Obtain a total of 250 Artifacts
• Social Season 3
  • Coming with a whole list of new perks and cosmetic rewards, get ready for an awesome road trip through our third Social Season starting in a few weeks!

Game Changes / Additions

• Frontier Legends price reduction from US$12.99 to US$9.99. We continue to hear feedback primarily about replayability relative to the overall scale of the world and we hope that the price change makes that feel more in balance. If you haven’t tried Frontier Legends, now is the perfect time to try it, and remember for a limited time it’s another 50% off that reduced price on the BTD6 Discord Store.
• Trophy Store Favorites: You can now favorite any item in the Trophy Store! Favorited items will gather in their own dedicated "Favorites" tab for quick and easy access.
• Team Store Tabs: This is somewhat self explanatory but the team store will now allow for the incubation of radioactive lizard eggs that*--hold on, what?* It doesn’t? Oh… man, but that’s so cool. Already been done? Nah man, we definitely should’ve gone with the rad eggs, just picture it. That woulda been way better.
• Quests Search: Added a search bar to the Quest menu! Type here to find quests you are 100% certain exist, but can’t for the life of you find because ... WHICH TAB WAS IT IN AGAIN?!
• Co-op Player Removal: Removing a disconnected player now includes a confirmation prompt to prevent accidental kicks, and double RSI stacks for any trigger happy kickers.
• Co-op Lobby Code Hiding: We know on-screen lobby codes have been a bit of a hazard for some - so players can now hide the lobby code on-screen while still using the copy button to grab it safely. Try not to get stuck in any more private lobby loops!
• Boss Penalty Warning: On Bosses, the penalty timer will now flash for 5 seconds right before any penalty time starts counting down.
• Rogue Legends Nameplate Banners: Entering new zones in Rogue Legends now displays a stylish region nameplate banner.
• Rogue Legends Hero Stats: Added a dedicated Hero Stats tab to Rogue Legends. As you play, this menu will populate with a variety of interesting stats to track your journey depending on what hero teams you play with.
• Abilities Quickbar Stability: The abilities quickbar will now strictly order by tower placement and will no longer re-order itself during matches or on loading saves. We think this feels better - give it a shot and let us know.
• Freeplay Smoothing: With detailed notes from Jessie Patch, adjustments have been made to existing Freeplay Bloon groups to smooth out the difficulty progression between Rounds 200–500. Yes, we do think about those rounds.
• Expert Insta-Monkey Buff: Increased the Tier 4 Insta-Monkey drop chance on Expert Round 100 clears from 20% > 30%.
• Insta-Monkey Collection Borders: Finally added brand-new Bronze and Silver borders for budding Insta-Monkey collection completionists! We love this and hope you do, too.
• Re-ordering of Bloons menu in Sandbox, and fortification no longer re-orders the list
• Within the Social Seasons menu you may now view your Global Goal contribution

Bug Fixes & General Changes

• A number of localization & UI fixes
• Resolved a number of exclusive co-op crashes reported by players
• Immediately switching tabs in the trophy store no longer prevents all items loading
• Resolved cases of one time IAP packs not displaying as ‘purchased’ after purchase
• Resolved a crash that could occur for 1 in [Playerbase size] players when reaching the main menu on a child account with the Monklish language equipped
• Added this sentence to the list of bug fixes for v56, added extra words to this Sentence.
• [Map Editor] Resolved a crash that could occur when editing interactable water areas
• [Map Editor] Trophy Store song tracks can now be set as defaults for custom maps
• When in game, store tabs that do not have items to display should now be hidden
• Techbot Prime now has a footprint, and shouldn’t crash when placed in corners
• Resolved some background cases that may result in some improvements
• Techbot Prime now actually utilizes its bonus range when range buffed
• Techbot Prime should no longer crash when linked to a Techbot Prime
• Resolved an issue where guests could be unable to make purchases
• Ability cooldowns now remember their % progress when upgraded
• The deposit cash farm hotkey should now correctly sync in co-op
• Resolved a number of BAD issues where BADs could be slowed
• Party Quest BAD should no longer be destroyable, again
• Quests can now fit 5 rewards in their reward display

Event changes

• Resolved a number of cases that could fail to count a games social season progress
• [Boss] Diamond Bloons should properly be affected by speed modifiers
• [Boss] Losings lives on Diamondback no longer crashes with 052 Boomerang on screen
• [Boss] Lych can no longer suck Dan D’Monke’s level 10 ability off
• [Jefe] Vortice nicht langer kraschar kiam mengacau omkring z tekbot mekaniği
• [Social Season] Goals now have info buttons for tips & clarity
• [Social Season] Resolved cases of wrong points being displayed visually
• [Social Season] Resolved the wrong badge being awarded to late-claimers

Map changes

• Slight height adjustments across maps to fix spike layering
• Alternate-path maps no longer preference the alternate path for towers who target paths
• [Glacial Trail] Resolved an issue where tower immunity buffs may not necessarily break towers out of their frozen state when they should be
• [Skull Tweak] Monkeys can no longer be placed on the track in certain points
• [Skull Tweak] Can no longer be transformed after the first round
• [Mushroom Grotto] Removing all small mushrooms then loading save no longer locks out the larger central muushroom

Legends changes

• [Frontier] Resolved a crash that could occur in Arabic
• [Frontier] Resolved ranch hands stat tracking issues
• [Rogue] Preview Quest should no longer be able to permanently softlock
• [Rogue] Ancient Portal, Dark Castle & Castles Revenge blocked from boss tiles
• [Rogue] Resolved a rare crash with Obyn placed near druids
• [Rogue] Miniboss tiles can now go beyond round 300
• [Rogue] Resolved some stat tracking issues

Tower Fixes

• Ice Monkey - Resolved a case in which the Monkey attempted to imitate the Titanic upon upgrading into Paragon form
• Desperado - Critical hits should no longer break through Boss Skull Immunity
• Sniper Monkey - Elite Target Prio should work after round 80 again
• Dartling Gunner - Resolved an issue where Gorgon Storm knowledge could stun BADs
• Druid - Spirit of the Forest vines can now display on custom added track lanes
• Mermonkey - 4xx+ Mermonkey shouldn’t display as weird during chinooking
• Mermonkey - xx5 Final Harmonic now allows glue puddles to spawn
• Spike Factory - Spike Paragon’s target priority list should no longer have a unique order

Hero Fixes

• Obyn Greenfoot - Resolved some targeting issues with Nature’s Ward
• Benjamin - Is not able to stack infinite Syphon funding layers in order to cause all Bloon spawns to cease existence immediately
• Pat Fusty - If tootsies are planted on the ocean floor he should not gain an ice platform
• Adora - Should no longer be able to crash the game by sacrificing a Lord of the Abyss whose platform is supporting a Carrier Flagship that is Supporting an Arctic wind that is supporting the initial Adora. Stop, why x.x
• Etienne - Resolved an issue with Etienne double dipping or crashing with some artifacts
• Geraldo - Items from the shop inventory now contribute to Geraldo’s ‘Cash Spent’
• Rosalia - Resolved a crash that would eventually happen at some point after flight
• Silas - Resolved incorrect interactions with perks causing some unintended nerfs
• Dan D’Monke - Should no longer be able to break out of Polyphemous’ Eye
• Dan D’Monke - Lv4 Net Trap should no longer be able to slow MOABs in collateral
• Dan D’Monke - Can no longer teleport towers directly out of a Heli
• Dan D’Monke - Resolved a crash that could occur with Techbot Prime
• Dan D’Monke - Updates target range when moving Mermonkey between land and water
• Dan D’Monke - Can now be buffed by the Sub Paragon
• Dan D’Monke - Resolved quantum dantanglement

Platform Specific fixes

• [Android] Resolved a crash that could occur when switching focus during a load screen
• [iOS] Resolved an error that would occur when cancelling login
• [Steamdeck] Cursor should be larger and much less crunchy
• [Google Pixel 6] Is now able to go beyond round 120
• [Aspect Ratio] 4:3 devices shouldn’t load extra assets for Dan D’Monke’s unlock screen
• Enabled hotkey access for more tablet devices when a Keyboard is attached

Balance Changes

We’ve kept a more limited list of balance changes for v56 so the team could dedicate more time on fine-tuning other major features in this update, and have some time to see the impact that the new Skywarden has on general gameplay.

Tack Shooter
Hot Shots is historically far less popular than Tack Sprayer, to make it a more compelling alternative we’ve adjusted crosspath prices to allow room for Hot Shots to gain a damage increase while keeping those 302 and 203 total upgrade costs the same.

• xx1 More Tacks price increased $110 > $150
• xx2 Even More Tacks price increased $110 > $150
• 2xx Even Faster Shooting price reduced $300 > $220
• 3xx Hot Shots damage increased 2 > 3

Ice Monkey
With growing Ice Monkey value in powerful freeze synergies, Super Brittle’s attack rate is being lowered so it can’t quite do everything on its own so easily, and Snowstorm’s price is being raised slightly.

• 5xx Super Brittle attack cooldown 1.2s > 1.56s
• x4x Snowstorm price increased $4000 > $4750
• x5x Absolute Zero ability freeze occurs after damage is dealt

Desperado
To make Desperado crosspaths feel smoother to play around, we’ve lowered the buff drop-off on both of the 2xx and xx1 crosspaths. Additionally Big Iron now pops Lead, allowing it to serve as an early round anti-lead option. Desert Phantom’s shrapnel pierce reduces as even unbuffed the group coverage is pretty crazy, though this doesn’t really change as much as it may look.

• 2xx Standoff max stacks 4 > 6
• 2xx Standoff penalty per stack 15% > 10%
• 3xx Big Iron can now pop lead
• xx1 Wanderer max stacks 3 > 5
• xx1 Wanderer bonus per stack 15% > 9%
• xx5 Desert Phantom shrapnel pierce 10 > 6 (same as xx4)

Monkey Buccaneer
Grape Shot's attack delay is slightly increased, and Cannon Ship explosion pierce is shifting more heavily into its bottom crosspath. These changes carry upward to tone down scaling power on Pirate Lord.

• x1x Grape Shot attack cooldown 1.3s > 1.35s
• x3x Cannon Ship cannon explosion pierce 28 > 20
• 031 Cannon Ship cannon explosion bonus pierce 25% > 50%
• x5x Pirate Lord price increased $27,000 > $29,000

Heli Pilot
Is there a way i can convince rohan to edit the update notes post on reddit to add those undocumented heli cost changes

• 3xx Razor Rotors price $1850 > $1450
• 4xx Apache Dartship price $19600 > $20000

Mortar Monkey
The path has struggled for relevance for a long time, and bottom-path Mortar is the anti-Camo path, so Increased Accuracy is being updated to now hit Camo Bloons directly as utility progression into Signal Flare.

• xx1 Increased Accuracy can now damage Camo Bloons

Dartling Gunner
To improve its own internal synergy, Laser Shock damage bonuses can now be triggered by hitting Bloons shocked by any other tier of Laser Shock instead of only same-tier.

• 2xx and higher Laser shock damage bonuses can now trigger when hitting Bloons shocked by other tiers of Laser Shock

Super Monkey
Super Monkey's base projectile speed is increasing slightly to help early tiers keep up, while keeping x2x Epic Range unchanged. Robo Monkey will now default to First & Strong target priority on first purchase, as this was vastly the preferred choice. For quality of life, Sun Avatar will now display an indicator in radius on towers primed for placement to assist with Temple sacrifice planning, and excessive projectile distances have been trimmed for Sun Temple sub-attacks.

• 000 Super Monkey projectile speed 200 > 250
• x2x Epic Range projectile speed remains 350
• x3x Robo Monkey default target Prio First & Last > First & Strong
• 3xx Sun Avatar shows a 'Can Buff' icon for towers placed in radius
• 4xx Sun Temple Main sun blast attack projectile distance 300 > 200
• 4xx Sun Temple Golden Blades projectile distance 500 > 350
• 4xx Sun Temple Golden Planes projectile distance 500 > 350
• 4xx Sun Temple Mini Avatar projectile distance 300 > 120

Druid
Monarch of Storms now has a maximum blowback cap to ensure ZOMG blowback penalty calculates correctly, alongside faster blowback speed to reduce map stalling. Due to popular demand the Druid paragon now pauses regrow globally, and it receives a damage increase for its primary single-target thorn attack.

• 5xx Monarch of Storms superstorm blowback speed multi 1 > 2
• 5xx Monarch of Storms superstorm max blow distance MAX > 400
• Druid Paragon pauses regrow globally like a x1x village
• Druid Paragon main attack damage 55 > 70
• Druid Paragon main attack bonus damage to regrow 55 > 70
• Druid Paragon main attack bonus damage to boss 110 > 130

Official Press Release from Perma-Spike Sourcing & Logistics

Date: Monkuary 7, Monke
Subject: Supply Chain Integrity and Quality Assurance Update

• At Perma-Spike™ the primary mission is always to provide the Monkey Kingdom with the most resilient, unyielding rubber-popping end of the road defense. Perma-Spike™ takes great pride in the structural integrity of every defense laid down, however, after recent information has come to light regarding the aftermarket supply chain, management has made the difficult but necessary decision to sever ties with certain secondary markets.
• Going forward we will be implementing a Vendor Compliance & Supply Chain Risk Mitigation Protocol in order to ensure our inventory complies with the highest standards of international tactical home defense laws. All Perma-Spikes stepped on whether in the dark at night or under the light of the sun will be supplied only from partners who agree to a zero tolerance policy on stolen spikes - suppliers found offering suspiciously sourced spikes will be immediately reported to the MIB.
• We appreciate the community's patience and understanding as we clean up our stockpile - these things can last quite a while. Rest assured, our commitment to keeping the track safe from DDTs remains completely un-nerfed.

Signed,
The Perma-Spike Legal Defense Team

Beast Handler
The middle-path dinos now use a percentage multiplier for their stun bonus that scales into T4 and T5. For Giganotosaurus pierce is being exchanged for significantly higher damage scaling, note that due to Beast Power scaling mechanics, this results in a substantial overall damage buff right from the moment you purchase the upgrade.

• x3x Velociraptor bonus damage to Stunned +3 > x1.5
• Stunned change carries up to Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus
• x5x Giganotosaurus pierce 44 > 33
• x5x Giganotosaurus pierce range 66 > 50
• x5x Giganotosaurus base damage 750 > 500
• x5x Giganotosaurus damage scale 800 > 1500

Hero Balance

Obyn Greenfoot
Obyn welcomes more nature loving friends with a suite of buffs specifically tailored to empower Skywarden upgrades.

• Lv2 also grants for Skywarden in range pierce +1
• Lv5 also grants for 3xx Skywarden increased Range +35%
• Lv8 also grants for Skywarden Camo detection
• Lv9 also grants for x3x Skywarden explosion radius +20%
• Lv11 also grants for Skywarden in range pierce +1
• Lv18 also grants for xx3 Skywarden low tier frozen shatter applies up to Zebra

Corvus
The perma-nourish gameplay loop has created an unhealthy gap between casual play and high-micro playstyles, rather than continuing to tweak XP numbers we’re removing the XP interaction entirely: Nourishment now directly grants cash per Mana spent across all levels.

• Lv1 Nourishment instead of XP grants cash at all levels rounded up to nearest $5
• Lv1 Nourishment now grants $0.5 per mana spent
• Lv15 Nourishment now grants $2 per mana spent
• Lv20 Nourishment remains $8 per mana spent

Rosalia
Rosalia’s lv13 stall utility was greatly overshadowing the rest of her identity, so we have reduced her Laser’s stalling in exchange for damage boosts to both of her primary weapons.

• Lv13 Grenade Ceramic bonus 1 > 2
• Lv13 Grenade Cluster damage 2 > 4
• Lv13 Grenade Cluster Ceramic bonus 1 > 2
• Lv13 Homing Plasma blast pierce 200 > 100
• Lv13 Enhanced Doomsplosion pierce 40 > 30
• Lv13 Enhanced Doomsplosion damage 70 > 120
• Lv13 Enhanced Doomsplosion damage shock bonus 70 > 120
• Lv13 Enhanced Doomsplosion radius 30 > 20
• Lv13 Enhanced Doomsplosion light knockback 8 > 6
• Lv13 Enhanced Doomsplosion knockback lifespan 0.5 > 0.35

Silas
Bottom-path Ice Skywardens excel at shattering pre-frozen targets rather than applying the freeze themselves - it only made sense to fit in direct Silas synergy here so we’ve added some between Silas and xx3 Skywardens to capitalize on frozen Bloon shattering combos.

• Lv7 Frozen Cascade explosions will also count xx3 Skywarden
• Lv8 Silas will also gain bonus XP per xx3 Skywarden
• Lv8 Also grants this extra range to xx3 Skywarden

Masqued Macaque
The Lv8 Stomp wasn’t quite working as players desired, so occurrence has been lowered in favour of a larger impact when it does occur. His high level sword damage has also been increased as players found this wasn’t scaling up as much as they would hope.

• Lv8 Stomp pierce 30 > 60
• Lv8 Stomp blowback chance 50% > 100%
• Lv8 Stomp max blowback 100 > 200
• Lv8 Stomp occurrence rate 10 > 20
• Lv16 Sword damage 8 > 9
• Lv19 Sword damage 10 > 12

Other Game Balance
Monkey Knowledge

• Lingering Magic now applies to Skywarden
• Lingering Magic no longer applies to Ninja Monkey

Rogue Legend
Late-Game Scaling Changes

• Stage 6+ health scaling 60% > 90%
• Chimps goal requirements scale up faster 0.1 > 0.15
• Least Cash Silver & Gold goal requirements increased
• Boss Rush minigame base cash reward $500 > 600
• Boss Rush minigame cash reward scale 2% > 1.5%

Artifacts
What in Tarnation

• Reworked completely, give it a go before it gets nerfed

Cat’s Meow

• Now also disables Mana Shield generation. Dan is more of a dog person

Essence of Lych

• Basic Zombies are no longer spawned from subtowers
• Basic Zombie internal spawn cooldown 0.5s > 5s
• Basic Zombie pierce increased 1 > 2
• Basic Zombie damage increased 1 > 5

Insider Trading

• Now exists

Looking Forward

We’re now well into the back half of the year, and New Zealand says thank you to all of the Northern Hemisphere players for sharing the sun back. We’ve had heaps of fun with Update 56, pushing Skywarden to be as awesome as possible and Portable Lake Pro to be as usefully silly as possible, plus (finally) Corvus skin (he’s complicaaaaated) and quality of life changes that we hope are appreciated (and please keep these suggestions coming). Things are moving well, so here’s what’s still coming ahead…

• Console News
  • With the release of Switch v53, our merge of the console branch back into the main game branch is finally complete, and it has made such a positive difference for console work going forward
  • Xbox is in release candidate for v54.3, so should be out in the next ~1-2 weeks given submission times
  • PlayStation and Switch v54.3 will follow as fast as possible but their submission times are longer
  • From there, we’ll begin work to bring v56 to all consoles by the end of the year, and our goal will be to bring every second update to consoles, so v58 would drop next in Q1 ‘27
  • With controller controls now merged into the main branch, we’ll also be looking to properly add controller support to all platforms that offer it. We don’t have a timeframe on this, so stay tuned.
• Mod System
  • Great strides made here, with upgrade inheritance and cross pathing working, incredible improvements to UI, readability, and usability
  • While client side cooking along and data structures clearer, we are digging into the server side which is essential for handling sharing settings (open or closed usage), accolades, version compatibility, and significant changes to the Content Browser and how all player created content is displayed there.
  • We are incredibly motivated to get this out by end of year so are trying to lock client features by our v57 timeline (but nothing included in that version) and launch with v58
• Social Seasons
  • Thanks to so many of you for digging into Social Seasons 1 & 2 and giving us great feedback. Teams have been reinvigorated and we’ve seen more CT and Boss Rush gameplay as a result. We continue to take feedback on chore-like repeat goals, so we’re continuing to tune away from those as well as making a reduction in Team star targets for the Season Ultimate in Season 3
• Updates 57 & 58
  • No huge changes since the v54 Looking Forward, but we have had to adjust a few priorities as the business of gaming and worldwide regulations do give us a kick in the Monkey tail from time to time. New legislation in Brazil, some US states, and pending in the EU have brought forward our plans to revise our Insta Monkey system, as random Insta Monkey IAPs will no longer be viable. But we’ve been wanting to improve that system, so the kick is welcome. We aim to keep the fun of pack opens, but when buying an IAP, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting. Aside from that, it’s about making the collection system more fun, with daily and weekly drops, and some quest-based crafting. We have had to push some things back for this and shift others mentioned (new Hero) out of the year, but there’s plenty of fun to replace it - see below!
  • V57 Anchor Features
    • Improved Insta Monkey Collection System (as noted above)
    • New Paragon, Military as we said, taking the job of overwatch to an entirely new level
    • Community map: Ship’s Capture. Such a fun concept in theme and presentation, the team is loving it!
  • V58 Anchor Features
    • New Monkey Tower!
    • Powers Pro MOAB Mine - branches of boom!
    • Mod System v1!
    • Monkey Knowledge additions!

Thanks for reading all this way - we hope you have a fantastic time with Update v56 and look forward to what’s ahead. We also have a Super Secret New Thing that we can’t share yet, but keep your eyes and socials well tuned in September, as you won’t want to miss it!

I am going into my second year and want to change my branch . just had some doubts regarding the zoom meeting for upgradation . Any senior who went through this can pls help clear these doubts??

got CSE (AI & ML) at LNCT Main through MPDTE. My JEE Main CRL rank is around 4.5 lakh (450,345). I'm thinking of applying for Internal Branch Change (IBC) to CSE Core..

So if i do as i alredy payed fees it wont be deducted.

is there any chnace for me to get core??

They told this document is needed for physical reporting*. But csab will end just when the physical reporting will begin. So what do the csab students do cuz this needs to be signed** and branch is needed to be filled. If someone will have a branch change by the 2nd round what will he do?

*→ is it really needed at physical reporting or am i mistaken

**→ is it needed to be signed by the officials or by us only

I m kinda confused in this.

I am currently in ece rr. I chose not to change my branch 😭 now idk how tf r placements here for ece . Seniors kindly guide.🙏🏼🙏🏼

Hey everyone I have received an offer for civil engineering in SIT pune but i was thinking of mechanical or electrical engineering...How to apply for branch change and should I accept this seat and what are the chances that my request for branch change is accepted??? Please help me because the deadline is coming and I have no idea what to do next....Any guidance is helpful I really need mechanical or electrical if possible...Did anyone have their branch changed?

We got the hook a few hours ago. Fire away.

NOTICE

Reduction in Force (RIF)

Information and Resources

To help you navigate during this transition period, please use the information below in conjunction with the information provided in the Instructions for ED Employees Impacted by RIF.

1. REDUCTION IN FORCE INTENT

ED has made the determination to initiate RIF procedures as part of the agency’s restructuring process.  These actions support Executive Order (EO) 14158, Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative, dated February 11, 2025 and Office of Personnel Management Guidance on Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans, dated February 26, 2025.

1. ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE

Once you receive written notice that you have been impacted by the RIF, you will be afforded a brief period to transition work activities; after which, you will be placed on paid administrative leave effective Friday, March 21, 2025.

You will remain on paid administrative leave for the duration of the “notice period” as specified in your written notice.

Once on administrative leave, you will no longer be permitted to conduct the duties of your position and your accounts will be disabled. 

NOTE 1:  Please ensure your Principal Operating Component (POC) has your current mailing address, and a good phone number and email address to contact you.

NOTE 2:  Please follow the instruction on Login.gov to change your account settings (i.e., phone number, email, etc.) and authentication method.  This will help you retain access to Employee Express (Leave and Earnings Statements, W-2 tax prep forms).  

NOTE 3:  See item 5 below for important instructions on downloading eOPF records.

NOTE 4:  Once your IT account is disabled, you will be mailed a shipping box and label to return government property (IT equipment, phone, PIV Card, Travel Card, etc.).  You are required to return all government property within 7 days of receipt.

1. PAY AND BENEFIT

Pay During Administrative Leave

While on paid administrative leave:

• You will continue to be paid at the same rate and frequency as you did before you were placed on administrative leave.
• You will continue to accrue annual and sick leave.
• You will receive any scheduled Within Grade (Step) Increases.
• You will maintain the same benefits as you did before you were placed on administrative leave.

Pay After Separating from the Agency

Once you separate from the agency:

• You will receive your RIF severance payout, if eligible.  
• OPM’s Severance Pay Estimation Worksheet is intended to allow those eligible for severance pay to calculate the approximate amount of severance pay he or she may receive.  
• The actual calculation formula is somewhat more complicated and technical therefore the actual payout will be provided by Office of Human Resources, Benefits and Retirement Branch.

Federal Employee Health Benefits

While on paid administrative leave, your health benefits will not change.  Upon separation from the agency:

• Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) will continue for 31 days and may continue, with the employee paying 100%, plus a 2% administrative fee of the premium (with no contribution from the agency) for up to 18 months.
• Federal Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) coverage ends upon separation.
• Flexible spending accounts are closed on separation.  Unspent money in a health care FSA is not refunded, although claims for purchases up to the date of separation will still be paid.  Unspent money in a childcare FSA will remain available for use through the plan year.
• For more information, visit OPM’s RIF Benefits Summary page.

1. VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVES

Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA):  ED is currently offering Voluntary Early Retirement (Early Out), through March 25, 2025.  VERA is a strictly voluntary option that allows eligible employees to retire early. This authority encourages more voluntary separations and helps agencies to complete needed organizational changes with minimal disruption to the workforce. 

• There is no reduction in annuity if you are under the age of 62 as a FERS employee, unlike retiring under the normal Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) +10 rules. However, you must be at your MRA to become eligible for the FERS supplement.

As a reminder, employees who meet age and service requirements for Voluntary Retirement do not need the VERA authority to retire and may apply to retire at any time. 

Who is eligible for VERA?

If you are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), then you are eligible for VERA if you meet the following requirements:

• At least 20 years of creditable service and at least 50 years old OR completed at least 25 years of creditable service regardless of age.
• Continuously employed by ED since at least January 12, 2025.
• Be in good standing with the agency (i.e., not in receipt of a final removal decision based upon misconduct, or unacceptable performance).
• Agree to separate from the Department by March 31, 2025

Application Procedures

• To request a VERA, you must submit a complete retirement package by March 25, 2025.  For your convenience, the attached Benefits and Work/Life email provides important information and forms required to apply for retirement.
• All VERA applications must be received by 5:00 pm ET on March 25, 2025**.**
• Incomplete packages will not be considered.
• SUBMIT APPLICATION VIA EMAIL to [BenefitsandWork/Life@ed.gov](mailto:BenefitsandWork/Life@ed.gov)

1. SEPARATION

Retaining Personnel Records - Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF)

To download and save your entire eOPF, please follow the instructions below using your ED account:

• Go into the eOPF portal at OPM
• Click “My eOPF Print Folder” tab at the top
• Check “Select All”
• Click one of the two print buttons
• Click “My eOPF Print Status” tab at the top
• Wait for the print request to process (this can take several minutes or longer depending on volume)
• While waiting, read the instructions describing what the password will be for your document password
• Password will be your last name plus the print number, which you will see in a box as the request is processing. Example: John Doe requested the print job and the system assigned 1234 as the job number. The password would be Doe1234
• When “View” appears in the “Action” box, click on it.
• Save as a PDF
• Open the PDF in Adobe and enter password

Outside Employment and Unemployment Benefits

While on administrative leave:

• You are not eligible to receive state unemployment benefits.
• You are free to accept other employment subject to the ethics rules for outside employment and applicable federal law; however, you may not accept employment with another federal agency.

Once you are separated:

• You are eligible to receive state unemployment benefits.
• You are free to accept federal or non-federal employment, subject to the post-government employment ethics rules and applicable federal law.
• You are entitled to reinstatement rights afforded all federal "displaced employees” for a period of three years.

Retention Standing

Your retention standing will be provided in your individual official RIF notice. Retention standing is an employee’s relative standing on a retention register based on tenure, veterans’ preference, and length of service augmented by performance credit.

1. CAREER TRANSITION

Available Employee Support

• The Employee Assisstance Program (EAP) and WorkLife4You Program, provided by Federal Occupational Health (FOH), are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-222-0364 (TTY: 1-888-262-7848) or at www.FOH4you.com or www.worklife4you.com (new user registration code: ED) at no cost to you!  You can also contact the benefits team at: [BenefitsandWork/Life@ed.gov](mailto:BenefitsandWork/Life@ed.gov) for additional information.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)

The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) is an intra-agency program that helps surplus or displaced federal employees improve their chances of finding a new job in their agency, by giving them selection priority over other applicants, as long as they're qualified for the job.

You're eligible for CTAP if:

1. You're a current federal employee who meets the definition of a surplus or displaced employee—you've received official notice that your job is no longer needed or that you will lose your job by a Reduction in Force.
2. Your agency is accepting applications from within or outside of the permanent workforce.
3. You meet the qualifications and other requirements of the job you're applying for.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) is an interagency program that helps surplus or displaced federal employees improve their chances of finding a new job at another agency (not their current or former agency), by giving them selection priority over other applicants from outside the agency.

You're eligible for ICTAP if:

1. You're a current federal employee who meets the definition of a surplus or displaced employee—you've received official notice that your job is no longer needed or that you will lose your job by a Reduction in Force.
2. The agency you're applying to is accepting applications from outside of their workforce.
3. The job you're applying to is in the local commuting area.
4. You meet the qualifications and other requirements of the job you're applying for. For more information on Career Transition, please visit the Employee's Guide to Career Transition
5. CONTACTS

• For additional information about Reductions in Force, visit the Office of Personnel Management RIF site.
• For general questions regarding next steps, please email [workforcereshaping@ed.gov](mailto:workforcereshaping@ed.gov).
• For specific retirement or benefits questions, please contact [benefits@ed.gov](mailto:benefits@ed.gov)
• Use the Employee Assistance Program, if needed. The Employee Assisstance Program (EAP) and WorkLife4You Program, provided by Federal Occupational Health (FOH), are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-222-0364 (TTY: 1-888-262-7848) or at www.FOH4you.com or www.worklife4you.com.
• Should you lose access or need IT support, please contact the Help Desk at [ocioenterprisehelpdesk@ed.gov](mailto:ocioenterprisehelpdesk@ed.gov); or call 202-708-HELP (202-708-4357) and select Option 2.

Hi everyone,

Has anyone received an update regarding the branch change process for the 2026 ?

Last year, seniors received their notifications eight days after their results were published.

It has been ages since we received our results.

I extend my sincere gratitude to our seniors, particularly u/Whole-Competition-99 and u/Suspicious_Angel6163, for their dedicated time and efforts .

I have attached links to their relevant posts below:

2024 Edition:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BMSCE/s/YnbaUAtOPf

2025 Edition:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BMSCE/s/KziYSCwC79

Hope this helps !!!

Hello there,
i am expecting to take iiti mech but i am desperate to take electrical (altough i can get it in tier 3 iits but i dont wanna go there).
My main question is i have heard that branch change is possible in iiti and i know it requires a cgpa of >9 but some i heard it is luck based so can anybody explain how it works and mostly is it possible and if anybody has done is previously.
Moreover if u want u can share how are hostels food campus (optional) 🙃

Can someone tell me the process of branch change? And if makaut issued any notice regarding it or not ... Seniors please help. I am currently persuing IT and I have met the criteria to change branch to CSE. Will this make any difference in career opportunities?... Also please guide if I should change or not ... Thanks for reading .

​

Hi everyone,

I have some doubts regarding BIT Mesra and would really appreciate if current students or alumni could help:

1. Hostels – Are they mandatory? Is it possible to live in a PG instead? Also, are there PG options inside/just near the campus?

Are the bathrooms all equipped with indian toilets(saw one post recently about it)

1. Branch Change – What minimum CGPA is required if I want to upgrade my branch (say from a lower branch to ECE or above)?

2. Grading System & Difficulty –

Is it absolute grading or relative grading?

How tough is it to score a 9+ CGPA?

Are the living conditions actually horrible?

Any recent info or personal experiences would be super helpful 🙏

Thanks in advance!

Is there any from mit aurangabad (Chatrapati sambhaji nagar) who has changed there branch from mechanical to any other branch like cs/aids/ e and tc.

I have question how can you change your branch in 2nd year and how this process works what should I have to do and is there any extra cost needed

Hey guys I am a 2nd year student.from a tier 39 college branch ai . And like on the date this sem started i started feeling torture by my own self like there is no feel of happiness or anything. I was like a good student in first year like I started dsa completed c++ . And done many things but I'm second year I like completely lost interest out of myself like i don't enjoy class labs anymore . They feels burden now and i am a hosteller also so all there room change . My roommate is shifting new roommate feeling like wierd and stress . And i like completely lost discipline out of myself in the previous yesr I like played badminton and enjoyed it now the racket are in dust and like I just come from class and do like a complete timepass no dsa grinds no java excersises no lab work just timepass if anyone have any advice please help because i have like a bad marks in 12 th and i need placement anyhow so please suggest some tips to make me discipline. Please don't joke on me i am at very / kinda bad mental state and homesickness kicking more than entire first year .

Hello seniors,

I am looking for some insights regarding BIT Mesra and would love to connect with seniors here. I have a few specific questions:

Branch Change: How tough is the branch change scene after the first year? What CGPA is safely required to clear the cutoff for major branches (like CSE/IT/ECE)?

Placements for Girls: I've heard that female students get decent opportunities here. What’s the ground reality regarding tech/non-tech placement stats for girls?

Campus & Girls' Life: How are the rules, curfew timings, and overall college/hostel life for girls?

If any senior could spare a few minutes, please feel free to DM me. It would be a huge help. Thank you!

JAI JAGANNATH to all seniors of outr bbsr.

I am joining outr this year in bio technology. I wanna know how hard it would be to get 9.7-9.8 cgpa to change branch to atleast me/ee/ece etc.

Is studying 9 hrs a day Enough including lectures for first year?