Can you change your DNS again to test? Just pick Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) or google (8.8.8.8) or something. It’s plausable that you actually can connect to the internet and are instead just unable to perform name resolution. Presumably the vpn is using a different dns server, hence it solves your problems when connected.

Or I guess you could try to ping a known good ip to see if the dns is the problem. I just pinged google and got this if you want to try it. 142.250.72.14

Counterpoint: Evo Moment #37

Some folks don’t care about having the ‘‘unpradictability of human players’’. Or at the very least don’t think that benefit makes up for the downsides of an always online game, such as always having to have an internet connection, server downtime, lag, the pricing models that pay for those servers, game modes that require you to interact with other players, etc.

I like multiplayer games, and I like single player games, I like couch co-op, and pvp, mmo’s, and fighting games, but I think it’s about having the right tool for the job.

But online multiplayer games that are spin offs or sequels to single player games have a well deserved bad reputation. Due to the numerous instances where the motivation wasn’t to make the game better, but instead to force the more profitable monitary models that online multiplayer games allow for. Fallout 76 stands out as a prime example.

It’s not always a bad change mind you, sometimes it really adds a lot to the game… like… uhhhh… er… Ultima Online? Im sure there are other examples too.

So maybe you can take that stick out of your ass and let folks enjoy what they like? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

And you took it upon yourself to be the 6th link in the chain huh? That’s a bold strategy Cotton!

Ah, fair enough.

are… are ‘‘easy to hate reasons’’ somehow inherently ‘‘not good reasons’’?

Not that I specifically disagree with anything you said. But reviewers loved to call Skyrim “as wide as an ocean, but as deep as a puddle” as well. And while Starfield suffers from a worse case of this, it’s hard to argue this hasn’t been Bethesda’s main problem for a long while now.

Maybe this flaw finally caught up to Bethesda thanks to the march of time. But gotta hand it to em, they had a great run for a team the refuses to change with the times.