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You misspelled the title. I fixed it for you.

I am really just saying I am not worried about taxes going up for the wealthy. They will be fine. They don't need me to worry about political candidates making their lives more difficult. As you said, even Sanders would be limited in his actual capacity to limit the growing inequity of wealth in this country. Also, it is fairly personal that I can't afford a single family home on a two-teacher income. Those housing prices are driven by the disparity of wealth in the Silicon Valley.

That's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with less makeup. Its a joke about her trying to breakup the DNC.

Doesn't seem weird to me. Didn't Washington pretty much call it in his Farewell Address?

Despite clueless idiots like the 66 year old in this article (may he rot in jail, although he's likely to go free because of his age), it looks like even little ol' Denmark may end up with a wolf population again (they have been effectively extinct there since 1812) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/01/wild-wolf-shot-and-killed-in-denmark

Moved further with White March expansion today (little bit over 4 hours of playtime today ) I have finished all of the quests from Russetwood, and reaped some rewards Then I have decided to go to the location east of the Stallwart and after encountering Lagufaeth Broodmother and her pack, which completely decimated my 9th level party, I have decided to move back to Stallwart for a night at the Inn. The fight was crazy, the pack knocked out during a fight all of my characters with the exception of Edér and Durance. In the middle of fight I was able to “spell bubble” him and when Edér moved closer and closer to death, the spell ended and I cast with him last few spells in his spellbook to finish the Broodmother the reward was a small egg which hatched after a while in my backpack That episode will be uploaded tomorrow on my youtube

Wait, you were being serious?

It's true. You can't spell "Gorecci" without "gore".

I am about 14 hours into Shadow of the Tomb Raider and it's by far my favorite of the reboot trilogy -- there is a much bigger focus on exploration and puzzles compared to Rise, and the combat set pieces that I have come across so far have allowed me to go full Bat(wo)man and pick off the enemies one by one without them ever spotting me. That approach is also helped by the expanded stealth elements (mud camouflage, stringing up enemies on tree branches), making the combat encounters a type of puzzle in their own right. It's awesome. The game also looks great -- they managed to make the jungle feel real, the "tombs" (temples, caves, etc.) feel impressive and imposing, and as a setting it is so much more appealing to me than Rise's snowy mountains and broken down industrial buildings... Lara's mobility and the "feel" and flow of her movements is also the best it's ever been. They both streamlined and expanded on her repertoire of terrain traversal skills and it's great. On top of that, and as a welcome surprise, the swimming in the game is really good. I've had a few underwater sections and they were very cool with, again, some expanded gameplay elements from the previous games and much better / more responsive movement. As a final note, I also feel that their storytelling has improved -- it's still not high tier but I am more engaged than I was in the previous two games -- I arrived at the second hub last night and it opens up the game as well as the story in a very nice way that felt like a proper "moving into the second act" moment.

C-Hox seem to have no answer for Aaron Jones.

One of Trumps bosom buddies, Rupert Murdoch has landed in the spotlight for deliberately lying about the causes of fires in his conservative propaganda media empire (News Corp), trying to sell the idea that climate change isn't real, it's all arson. Trump Jr., being from a family of pathological liars, of course jumped the bandwagon, retweeting the lies. Trying to sell the idea that it's caused by almost 200 cases of arson rather than unusually warm and dry summers. The real number is 24 cases of arson, throughout 2019, none of which were related to the current bush fires but a mix ranging from mentally disturbed people who loves fire to insurance fraud, people trying to burn down property to claim insurance money.. A number of other "fire related" offenses includes violating complete fire bans by using a BBQ in your garden and stuff like that, not necessarily causing fires. If Fox News is completely untrustworthy because of their tunnel vision perspective of the world, News Corp outlets are untrustworthy because of outright lies. Funny the Trump family isn't busy labeling them as "fake news" Makes you wonder what goes on inside the heads of people like that... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51071800

I really don't know. The relationship between a person and God (whomever they acknowledge that to be) is actually extremely personal. A prayer is such a quiet thing. Words only meant for one to hear. It's ironic that such a private and singular connection is inextricably tied with collective activities such as public worship services in churches, temples, mosques, etc. I've managed to become a pretty religious man while eschewing any participation in organized religion. Going to church certainly reinforces faith. Doctrine gives it structure and differentiates on faith from another. But, to my knowledge, God himself has never issued any specific instructions regarding what those faiths or doctrines should be outside of the four eyewitness accounts of Jesus's life. And even then for those to be credible you'd have to acknowledge Jesus's divinity. Certainly something not everyone can do. And those four eyewitness accounts of Jesus's teaching do not exalt any faith over another. If anything they reinforce the idea that the relationship between humans and the divine in entirely personal and singular. When it comes to spiritual needs I think people want to know there is a meaning and purpose in life. That there are reasons why things happen the way they do. Maybe there is. Maybe there isn't. And even if there isn't it does not preclude the existence of God. And even if there is it does not mean it's something we can understand. Attending church services, salat in a mosque, shabbat in a temple, or mass in Rome will certainly make people feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. That might be called a spiritual need. The affirmation you are not alone. It's no too unlike being at a home game for your favorite sports team. I don't know if that makes you closer to God. But, IMO only, no matter what you are doing if you feel closer to God then you are. So I guess my answer is: Is there a meaning in life? Am I alone or part of a greater whole? The only two I can come up with. Edit: Just re-read this. I kind of wandered around it a little. Hope it makes sense.

So it seems that Stalker 2 is a real thing: I just hope this isn't another Rune 2. Also, we should totally have a thread for all things Stalker.

I did some test to verify old data because I'm writing guide for Pillars of Eternity (but it's in my native language). I will share results of optional means for increasing spells damage (via DR bypass talents): PENETRATING SHOT Chanter: Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept (3), So Singt thy Biting Winds o' Eld Nary (4) Cipher: Mind Blades (2), Mind Lance (4) Druid: Stag's Horn (3), Overwhelming Wave (4), Firebug (5), Avenging Storm (8), Tornado (8) Priest: none Wizard: Minoletta’s Minor Missiles (1), Thrust of Tattered Veils (1), Necrotic Lance (2), Rolling Flame (2), Crackling Bolt (3), Minoletta's Bounding Missiles (3), Minoletta's Concussive Missiles (4), Chain Lightning (6), Tayn's Chaotic Orb (7), Kalakoth's Freezing Rake (8), Minoletta's Piercing Sigil (8) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pallegina: Wrath of the Five Suns Talents: Prestidigitator's Missiles VULNERABLE ATTACK Cipher: Amplified Thrust (2) Druid: Sunlance (5) Priest: Barbs of Condemnation (1), Divine Mark (2), Pillar of Faith (3) Wizard: Jolting Touch (1), Kalakoth's Sunless Grasp (1), Flame Shield (4), Concelhaut's Crushing Doom (7) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Abilities: Grimoire Slam

Iirc the majority of PoE players who took part in the survey (after PoE and DLCs got released) wished for Aedyr or the Living Lands as place for a sequel. I think it was in that survey but maybe there was another one. Whatever... Same result in a poll we had here in the forums. Old Vailia was also among the more popular votes I believe. Not much is known about the Living Lands (seems to be a bit on the "jurassic" side - humongous beasts and plants and stuff), but it seems that all of them would have been a more classic setting than the Deadfire Archipelago is. Now I like the Deadfire Archipelago. I think Obsidian did a great job with the history, lore and worldbuilding. But if you had asked me before how I feel about the Deadfie Archipelago as setting for PoE2 I would most likely have said "meh". Man I really hope we will see some other games in the PoE universe. That world has grown on me.

And that is a shame!

It's sad irony that Josh Sawyer repeats during nearly every panel (at GDC, Digital Dragons etc.) that as a game director or designer he has to make a game which players want. A game that players will like and play - not the game what he would exactly like to make or play - unless he buy 2 milions copies of that game. He said that so many times! He laughed of it. Whenever someone ask him eg. why he made Sawyer's balancing mod for New Vegas and not incorporated it into base game as deffault. He said it changes what he thinks could work better but not for broader audience. So he shaped Deadfire mostly upon feedback from PoE 1 players. With some exceptions ofcourse - like Obsidian managment forcing full VO very late during development process. The only one thing he made of his own vision was took the action to exotic part of the world. Deadfire setting is less familiar (but many players I know didn't even see a difference about PoE 1 beeing more renaissance world than medieval ). What I observed while reading polish forums - people in my country didn't like Deadfire from one of two reasons. 1. "Pirate" setting (I would say it's more about explore and colonisation than pirate stuff). Seriously, even die hard fans of first PoE (like professional journalist/reviewers) were displeased by tone and atmosphere of exotic world. 2. "Divinity: Original Sin II is better than Pillars!" - It's the second argument. I finished first game and I was borred to death. I started D:OS 2 two times and both times I abandoned at the end of Act II. Maybe some day I will force myself to start over for the third time and finish it, but I doubt it. These games has very simple ruleset and repetitive combat. But Divinity OS 2 sold 5 millions copies? Maybe it's me who just don't enjoy it, maybe it's good game. Imo it's great pseudo-hardcore cRPG for casuals with full 3D graphics, console release and coop - so it's popular & awesome & fun for people who probably never played something more complex than AAA RPG. You know - like "Witcher 3 is the best RPG ever made", repeated by people who never play RPG (or only most popular AAA RPG). So many people are saying about new standards set by Witcher 3. When I think about standards in RPG, I think of Fallout in 1997. But maybe it's just me. What I mean exactly - PoE II Deadfire is niche game. I would say that Pathfinder: Kingmaker is more popular thanks to the p&p RPG build upon displeased fans of D&D 3.5 when 4th Edition hit the stores. It's very popular RPG, so it's computer adaptation - basically the first one - is huge for many fans and players arround the world. Both D:OS 2 and Kingmaker are less niche games than Pillars. I observed even third reason - but it was on polish forums back in 2015 when first Pillars came out. Many players didn't like first game as much as Baldur's Gate II. Most of them didn't play BG II since 2000. Rest of them are members of the church of the one true game and its name is BG II and nothing can be better even if it's better in some way. They just don't want anything new. It is the same situation with Heroes of Might & Magic. People who started with the third game in the series and never played first or the second or any of the newer instalment will despise anything what isn't HoMM III. Even if some gameplay changes in IV, V, VI and VII are for the better. Even if HoMM III used blurred sprites from M&M VII (or was it MM VIII?) and has nothing similar with artstyle of first two HoMM games. /sorry for bad english EDIT: So PoE was designed for fans of the Infinity Engine Games and most of them don't want anything new. Afaik there is big group of people on RPG Codex (I don't visit that place) and few different forums I actually read who just don't like RTwP because it's SH!T! They use phrases like: "Good RPG, RTwP - pick one". They took hate for RTwP to another level.

This is the constant, fundamental concern that I think a lot of people with "less big-picture" theories are missing. It's one thing if the question was "why did Deadfire sell 5% less than PoE1 instead of exceeding its sales?" At that point, pretty much everyone's theories might be right, even ones that I would consider to be more fringe (e.g. Avellone no longer being on writing staff); I could easily see each critique cumulatively leading up to >50k sales lost (out of a million), along with some other big picture stuff that would have prevented Deadfire from exceeding PoE1's sales as a sequel to an ostensibly-well-received IP. But that's not the question. The question is "why did Deadfire sell a mere fraction of PoE1, and even a fraction of Tyranny?" coupled with the known constraints of positive critical reviews and positive user reviews. There are also related data points! That I'm going to repeat again - Like P:K having worse reviews and bigger stability problems, but selling far better than Deadfire. Tyranny being based on no established IP whatsoever which still outsold Deadfire, though apparently still disappointed. Everyone is going to have their pet gripes about the game. I have my own pet gripes. But it's one thing to have a pet gripe, but if you're going to claim that that pet gripe is the cause of Deadfire's revenue woes, it has to be capable of explaining a massive sales expectation miss and be congruent with the known data points we have out there. For that reason I'm not going to come in here and say "power level scaling is real confusing and murky. that's the reason why Deadfire sold poorly!" even though that is my main gameplay critique of Deadfire. edit - pretty much only one person actually tried to make a case that all the smaller gripes people were talking about added up collectively to explain the massive sales drop, but it's a pretty fairly unconvincing theory (and for kanisatha's accusations about being unwelcome, the person proposing this was way more hostile than anyone else in this thread). For one thing - many of the gripes generally requires people to have played the game, and that would somehow be reflected in user reviews. For another thing - occam's razor. "Big picture" stuff explains why the audience might have shrunk significantly but left a core of enthusiastic, happy players--which explains a massive sales drop but is still consistent with high critical/user reviews--and big picture stuff requires you to assume far less than a collection of smaller picture stuff that requires a lot of scaffolding and rationalizing away of the known data points (such as - users are not actually happy but something about them prevents them posting unhappy reviews... even though for example P:K had plenty of mediocre unhappy reviews but still tons of sales). Occam's razor would suggest you go for the hypothesis that requires you to take the fewest leaps of faith and rationalizations. (Also three: it's unclear that these different smaller theories are independent of each other, which requires even more heroic assumption-making about the impact of any specific gripe since they would have to carry more weight.)

I can fix illegal immigration right now: work permits for anyone who wants them. And as long as you are employed (within a reasonable amount of time) they don't expire. Why is there a demand for illegal immigrant labor? Because they have no leverage. You can screw them on money and they can't do anything about it. Make them all legal and you have to pay them minimum wage (at least). If the war on drugs has taught us anything (spoiler alert: it hasn't) it's that you can't get rid of a thing in demand by attacking the supply of the thing. But you CAN get rid of the supply be attacking the demand. Plus not having people treated like slaves is a very good thing.

So what you are saying is that you have concluded that the game is flawless enough so that its sales weren't affected, is that right? Can you blame me for being amused? It's because mine is not a completely speculative theory, that wants to justify something mostly based on wishful assumptions which I don't have clear evidence on. That's why I find them amusing - not because I try to be edgy or critical. I just observe the problems the game has, which is the most practical/direct thing one can do - it's still a great game, but it is clear to me that it suffers as a CRPG both at quality and implementation. Already made detailed examples in the previous post and in the posts I linked in it. Reading the less-than-stellar reviews of the game, the "neutral" ones from RPS or Kotaku, or actually not avoiding reading criticism about the game, will give you some hints about how much people care about these intrinsic details. But then again, no point on leaning on reviews or the opinion of some greenhorn game journalist to indicate things that are more than obvious. Refuting my points is the easiest thing - you can just dismiss the importance of these problems - however I still think they are integral to a game of this genre.

Hey, I'd be happy to put Bill Gates in charge. But to be fair, anyone who is smart enough to do the job well is probably too smart to take the job. As I said, I don't really have much interest in taxation of the wealthy because I'm not wealthy. We should be voting in our own interests. People seem to just vote for their team instead of who represents their interests. It's weird.

Didn't notice that much torture porn in the second game, was funny how Lara became Sam Fisher though :P Making a concerted push to finish off Tropico 6, on the last mission. Probably will **** it all up when they need me to play politics as I always seem to be able to just make everyone happy enough rather than push certain groups. Played some Battletech now that I can wield the Steiner Scout Lance. Last couple of missions have had me with an allied lance so it was a nice 8 v 8 fight rather than the tedious 4 v 12 mechs and vehicles. Also somehow killed a Warhammer when his MG ammo exploded...

This is a simplistic response to a complex issue, and has zero connection to what I said.

Flat Tax is the way to go. 15% flat tax on all income and everyone pays. From the burger flipper to Jeff Bezos. No exemptions, no deductions

Taxing the wealthy wouldn't be the biggest thing, fixing the tax system so that their massive corporations actually pay taxes would make a bigger dent, provided of course it is implemented well which, let's face it, it won't be because Republicans exist. There are megacorporations with negative tax rates in the US. The taxpayers pay them millions. Where does that make sense?

Hi, Alesia! Nice to see you back safe and sound! I'm sure, your trip was pleasant and full of new experiences. Meanwhile Gloomy Face is on the verge of finishing his shadow Completionist (except those stupid Mega Bosses)/Trial of Iron/PoTD/Upscaled All/No Berath's Blessings Deadfire run as Lifegiver Druid/Blood Mage Sorcerer (after several failures/restarts along the way and running Pathfinder: Kingmaker as a side trip). Once I'll finish this run I think I'll be ready for a new full saga no-reload run (most likely with Priest of Eothas in PoE following Priest of Eothas/Blood Mage in Deadfire this time).

I use Kana as Dragon Thrashed tank most of times. Not as the main tank though. Some things to consider (just pointing out generally): Chanters get +12 ACC on their offensive chants (like Dragon Thrashed) when using a single one handed weapon. When withdrawn they keep on chanting. A Chanter with a Preservation shield and another Preservation item gets +100 to all defenses when withdrawn. You can use this for Defensive Mindweb. If I have a Priest in the party I often use this to create an invisible chanting "totem" with high ACC and invulnerability. I will take Withdrawn as spell mastery then. White Worms: sometimes enemies will leave no body if you kill them with a crit. That's the case when the "gib" option is turned on in the game options menu. It gibs enemies' corpses. If you plan to use White Worms you should turn that off. In my opinion it's ridiculous anyway. Also corpses can explode over and over again (if you reload they are gone though). Because of this behavior White Worms is one of the most powerful tools to clear out maps with lots of enemies (like Raedric's Castle). You can lure them to a spot over and over again - and the more bodies pile up the quicker they die. This way I can kill Raedric very early and clear out his whole castle which gives me a lot of money from loot (esp. from plate armors).

@Shyla Just wanted to give another +1 for ultrawide support -- I'm on 32:9 and the game is difficult to enjoy.

Just wanted to give another +1 for ultrawide support -- I'm on 32:9 and the game is difficult to enjoy.

Pretty much the same as I do. I tend to try and keep him as 2nd line, especially early with his CON and RES he isn't tanky. I tend to focus on making sure Priest is immune to CC and mind control but yeah having a dragon thrashed chanter turn on you is painful. With his MIG + INT scrolls are great. I like the reach 2 hander weapons rather than ranged weapons, especially the staff with 3x fireballs per rest. Sun-Touched Mail of Hyran Rath is the typical armour I use for even more fire spells! Typically I'll use the 1st level damage chant then add a higher level chant at end so get a quick paralyze type invocation or 7 nights etc. Lots of options depending what group needs, CC, buffs and debuffs! The worms invocation does work well but some enemies dont leave corpses and I think enemies who should leave a corpse sometimes don't or it's just a UI bug and doesn't highlight them when aiming worms. The level in endless paths with all the skeletons and the 3 coloured symbols to open the locked door, you can kill the initial enemy group near the narrow entrance and pretty much one shot the next group if you pull them to the piles.

Are you drawing a comparison between two these two facts.? Because one has little to do with the other. So is this a statement envy or a faulty understanding or economics? Or just frustration.? Because it's not like the 1% took anything away from you personally right?

Marketing for Tyranny was abysmal. As someone who followed Obsidian, PoEs, and Tyranny specifically, I had little to no idea what Tyranny is (aside from borrowing PoE engine) and what I did know, turned out to be untrue. Little to no surprise there, that the game didn't find it's audience.

To whom it may concern I have been drinking since 11 AM so if I am a bit more argumentative that usual... something something

I'm so guilty. I sometimes oppose posters who want to start their forum career with a childish and irrational rant and then I insist on being reasonable. I know, I know: super lawful evil... Or I called out SonicMage when he used the words "fact" and "truth" every time he voiced his subjective opinion. But so did everybody else... so maybe Sonic doesn't count. But hey @xzar_monty - we clashed one or two times. Did you feel "put down" or "denigrated"? I mean I cried a bit but I got over it. I also disagree with @thelee from time to time. It's a miracle he's still here after all those nasty attacks I launched. He def. took Thick-Skinned or Stoic Steel. Or both...

Heya! It's me, Alesia- making a sheepish and apologetic return. Those of you who've known me for years are aware that I regularly vanish, often for long periods of time. My last disappearance was especially abrupt, however, and I feel pretty bad about it. I'm sorry, everyone! Life just unexpectedly took me elsewhere (an ecovillage in Central America, to be specific). I really should have let y'all know, though. Despite appearances to the contrary, I do and always have valued your friendship. Once again, I apologize! (And if it's any consolation, I'm known for Irish goodbyes in RL, too...) Anyhoo, I'm back now and I kind of feel like playing again. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that this challenge is still active! I see Serg is still posting, as is Ivanfyodorovich. And we have some new friends. Who else is still following along? Best, A.

This is the guy who advised Theresa May in her surprising loss against Corbyn, lost Matteo Renzi his referendum that led to the Five Star Movement and Northern League coming to power in Italy, and thought Hillary was going to destroy Trump in 2016 so I'm not going to put much stock in what he says.

Ah I actually know the real reason... it's because there was no full dwarven companion!!!!

I have corrupted a fellow forumite into also calling it Torture Porn Raider.

I found a mod that does something really cool but I don't like one part of it. I don't like spirit shifting into a tiny wolf in wolf form when the other forms are werewolves it's inconsistent and doesn't make sense. I'm not sure if linking the mod would break any rules or upset anyone so I'll leave it out until further notice. I replaced the section following "NewFormAppearance": from "Assets/Art/Character/Creatures/Wolf01/a_Wolf01_V01.asset" to "art/character/creatures/druid_wolf01/a_druid_wolf01_v01.asset" because that's pretty much what the guy did with the cat, boar, and other spirit shift forms. The only thing is I can't find the relevant bit to replace "AnimationController": "assets/art/animation/animationcontrollers/creature/wolf.controller", with. In theory, if I was able to replace it with the relevant information it seems like it would work (unless I'm absolutely wrong.) Anyone have an idea as to how I can find this? Because I can't see an assets folder anywhere and I've been clicking through files in the game data folder and looking for archives but I got nothing after going through everything except the lax1 through lax i exported files. Of course, I may be doing this all wrong as I'm not a mod maker. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. Scratch that I'm an idiot it was in front of my eyes the whole time. "art/animation/animationcontrollers/creature/druid_cat_wolf_boar.controller" unless that's not it hopefully it is. Now to check if it works in game. Edit: I'm guessing its "assets/art/animation/animationcontrollers/creature/druid_wolf.controller" Edit: I got it to work visually but it still has that slow looking dog bite without the arm swings or fast ferocious bite? Maybe I need to get into longer fights to see if it actually works. Okay, it works I'm just slow and have streetfighter. How do I delete this post?

Why? You've waited ten years. You can wait one more, which comes with the added bonuses of patches and a mature modding community.

Hard to believe - but I made it my New Years Resolution to get back to this - and so begins Season 3 - the final season of our beloved show... http://neverendingnights.com/archives/3574

I'd say spiritual needs are definitely a thing. Asking 'why we are here' is a big part of what separates us from all the other lifeforms kicking around on this planet. The 'what' is a lot more complicated.

it's ironic that however much effort they put into demurk a lot of mechanics from poe1, pl scaling is probably the murkiest mechanic between the two games. before i understood it i considered it a horrible systems design failure. now that i understand it, now it's more of a UX or UI failure.