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As always, notice the (not so) fine print: So you'll actually be launching it off your Origin account, and what you'll get on Steam is little more than a glorified shortcut and maybe a bunch of achievements. Hell, you'd be better off adding it as a non-Steam game because that way you'd only have to go through one layer of DRM.

You could use Galaxy for that. It's all in one launcher, at least. It'll still start Origin, Steam, uPlay or Epic in the background but you'd have only one, neat library.

Knoxville, the seat of Knox County, Tennessee. If you disagree with his policies, just remember that he's billed at 7' 320 lbs., has been referred to as a demon, and can hurl fireballs. He's also the half-brother of The Undertaker, a 7' tall undead wizard.

...Just spare yourself the pain, no human being should be forced to play Andromeda or Kingmaker. Those games actually made me feel physically ill, there should research on them for interrogation purposes.

just like every other company, they kept quiet about gay rights while the gays fought for them and were all proud supporters of the gay cause once the gays won... of course in countries where the gays do not have rights, the companies do not support their cause... they wouldn't want to lose profits after all for the sake of a minority. same goes for every other cause they claim to support. their support is just a PR stunt for the sake of marketing "look how much we care, come buy our products"

Total Annihilation for free on GOG, and both Life is Strange games released there as well..

Sadly, a slave to Microsoft. The cloud is where it's at these days, but that's a discussion for a different thread

Pretty sure the joke is that Bethesda is all about gay rights except in countries where they are needed the most.

I make the best pork sausage, bokchoy, potato and leek soup ever. It's summery and I'm out of tangerine popsicles. There are two large white herons roosting in the sycamore tree over the driveway. Sometimes they sit on our roof in the evening and stare at us. I don't know why they're doing it, it seems odd, but it's cool.

I used to be very pro-police. Then I took a 12-week community outreach course hosted by our local police department, and it changed my opinion completely. I still believe your average law enforcement officer wants to do the right thing. I still know a ton of cops in different branches, and they aren't bad people. But there are massive flaws in the entire systems. 1. Accountability: How many police involved shootings were there last year? How many officers drew a weapon on someone? You can't find the data. We do not track it. Police departments and unions have consistently stood in the way of collecting the very data that would allow them to recognize problematic trends on a local, state, and federal level. We track crime, we do not track law enforcement. I don't understand this at all. I want to see data driven changes and results. 2. Training: Law enforcement is a drill and kill environment. That makes sense in emergency response situations. When you are dealing with life and death, you want training to override panic. But it also makes for complete inability to think critically. There is not enough time spent training conflict resolution and restorative justice and too much emphasis on using weapons and force. If you had reliable data, you could direct your training properly. 3. Militarization: Is the job to protect and serve the people? Or is it to enforce the law? I believe the police should be serving the community first and foremost. The law is a tool towards serving that community. It's not Judge Dredd, it shouldn't be the other way around. Most of these police brutality situations are very clearly not serving the community. George Floyd was accused of using a fake $20 bill. Why was use of force necessary there? If it was true, it didn't serve the store to have him physically handled in that manner. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/26/trump-administration-says-that-militarizing-police-reduces-crime-is-that-true/

Aaaand before struggling on Mytha, I have encountered the easiest bossfight in Souls games so far, Covetous Demon, in less than 2 minutes was this Jabba clone beaten flat... The main difficulty of this boss, was to get to him through all of the poisoned stuff laying around...

What is this, 330 BC? Only chumps make phalanxes. A few well-led maniples and an elephant or two and their day is going to be ruined.

Supreme Commander and Forged Alliance added. Well so is SupCom 2 but who cares about that.

My keyboard layout is currently Dvorak instead of the typical Qwerty but the game doesn't recognize this. The game won't let me rebind some of the keys to accommodate my keyboard. Is there a reason for this? As a PC gamer, I should be able to rebind any key to any command. At least I would hope so. Is there a way to edit the keys through config files instead of through the actual game?

For other considerations: Fox9 - 2 Officers involved in George Floyd death were rookies, one was on his 4th day on the job It does raise a few points, you work your ass off to get into your career, a couple of days after you start the 20-year veteran you've been told to follow is telling you what to do... How much can you question?

What country other than the USA has the most players in the MLB? A) Cuba B) Japan C) Dominican Republic D) Venezuela

Not to mention, prices are amusing. 50% off Dragon Age 2 still costs 20 quid. Why? It's barely worth playing for free. And they still couldn't be bothered to release Mass Effect2 DLC on steam.

Is there such a thing as too much Rammstein? (that was a trick question)

Sure Grom, because you're focused on Trump and I'm focused on therapies. Seriously, I *am* focused on therapies. I've been exposed to the virus. I have co-workers infected with the virus. I'm treating the most at risk population right now, some of whom have had the virus. ...And I don't even work in a dedicated Covid-19 unit. I work medsurg rehab, for crying out loud. It doesn't matter whether Trump did something wrong or not. This is precisely like the Russian collusion investigation, the Ukrainian debacle, and any number of Trump controversies. You guys hate this guy so much that it has simply infected your thinking. However, I'll have to disagree with Elsa. I'm going to continue talking about the drug. I'm going to do so because my underlying points will still be valid. Whether or not Trump is a jackass, we should not pile on a drug just because he promotes. Just like we shouldn't build it up for the same reason. The absolute unreasoning hatred in some quarters, and I include you, leads to perverse outcomes. Do you people realize that it hydroxychloroquine might actually end up being established treatment for Covid-19? I suggest probably not, but there is a sizeable group of reputable physicians who promote its use. We don't have enough information yet. Scaring people so much they won't participate in rigorous trials is not just foolish. It's evil. You've always been ol' reliable. You always rise up to the challenge. I find it funny most of the time. I even find your single minded perseveration admirable on occasion. That doesn't mean you're right all the time, but you put on one hell of a show. I would imagine the vast majority of people who even read this... well, vast majority of a small number of people, but whatever. Anyhow, most folks reading this will be cheering you on. Cool. :shrug: Doesn't make me wrong. Look, Gromnir, reign court for now. If it turns out that the only reasonable conclusion is that hydroxychloroquine was not only ineffective but also dangerous, I'll come here and own it. That's mostly because I don't mind people erroneously (or more likely, cleverly pretending) that I touted it myself. I never did, of course, but it must be that I did in order to straw man my arguments into a defense of Trump. I wonder if anyone who talked about the absolutely established dangers of hydroxychloroquine will be willing to come here and own it if it turns out it works. After all, while I made no firm claims about the drug, others did. As to letting go. I have to go to work, so it might not be immediately, but I'll be back. Mostly, as has been the last couple of exchanges, because legitimate news has come out about this issue. Lancet pulling its support of its own article is a big deal. If the idea is that I should let it go and not mention actual news because it doesn't matter that widely released stories ended up being wrong... well... okay. Heaven knows, the hypocrisy of you telling someone else to let it go. lol I mean, come on! Next thing you know, you'll be telling me I made this personal! .. :guffaw: ...And you'll probably get away with it. God bless you, Gromnir, you're a force of nature.

medicine dan pleads for restraint and caution, right up until there is any info which might lessen or legitimize trump's irresponsible promotion o' a drug untested for covid-19 treatment. suddenly feels chatty 'bout hydroxy. fact medicine dan can't or won't admit what he is doing is disheartening but not surprising. and still missing the point 'bout the real issue. again, the answer to the question o' why media is beating trump on hydroxy is 'cause trump, instead o' being reasonable and letting science answer the question as to whether hydroxy has value for covid-19 treatment, keeps pushing and promoting. is no mystery. President should not have been promoting a drug untested for covid-19, particular as such promotion caused serious shortages for lupus patients. period. is no way to make trump the victim w/o twisting self in a hypocritical knot. suggestion: do as you recommend for trump. trump's promotion were unwarranted and irresponsible. medicine dan defense o' trump is similar unwarranted and unreasonable. fact you can't or refuse to admit is symptomatic. perhaps unaware, you are making same fail as trump. double-down does not help you anymore than it helps trump salvage his cancer causing sound from windmill claims or his sharpie altered weather maps. elsa wants you to let it go. HA! Good Fun!

mass effect always have shadow problem it is much worse in andromeda somehow also added flare problem atleast kingmaker only have shadow problem

The real problem is that we don't have any substantiated studies. That's been my whole point all along. I mean, I expect another diatribe railing about how urging calm patience in letting research happen equates to loving Trump. OMG! I accidently uttered Voldemort's name. Quick, sharpen you keyboards! lol Okay, I kid. Well... maybe I'm a *little* serious. Seriously, though, we have to wait for real research to be done to determine what impact, if any, some of these drugs have. Hell, Remdesivir isn't thoroughly vetted either, although it looks promising. I wish that Gilead Sciences were a little less involved in the research that pushed it ahead, but I understand that things were looking pretty desperate at the time. The bad press that hydroxychloroquine received, contrary to my exchange with... Mal? *did* have an impact on research. It dissuaded people from participating in trials for fear for their lives. It caused the WHO to halt research. :sigh: my point has *never* been and has never been stated that I think the drug works. My point was and still is, it has been politicized in a way that has actually been counterproductive. Solid research may still establish that hydroxychloroquine might be harmful to Covid-19 pateints. It might establish that it's ineffective. It might show that it is effective as either a stand alone medication or in combination with other drugs. The point is, people in this thread have been making definitive statements about hydroxychloroquine that are simply not established. It is no more dangerous in a general sense than a wide variety of medications in common use. To claim it is a particularly dangerous medication is simply foolish. Hell, *aspirin* is considerably more dangerous in more situations than hydroxychloroquine. Any medication can be dangerous, including hydroxychloroquine. The question for all medications is whether the therapeutic value is sufficient to overcome the risk. I have *not* made definitive claims about the drug. I have merely urged caution in believing initial media releases. I anticipate that my past comments, when read in their entirety, prove that. The most I've done, and I still kind of feel this way, is that I would not be surprised if hydroxychloroquine were helpful for specific cases of Covid-19 (which I would call the periphery). On the other hand, I would not be surprised if it did not. Trump doesn't get the blame or the credit either way. I mean, I wish he'd kept his mouth shut. Then again, I really wish the haters would have had a little restraint also, but we don't live in that world. I know I'm kind of setting up a bunch of angst by typing this, and I'm always prepared for some angst coming my way, but people should at least recognize that some of what I was saying about the research has been substantiated by legitimate and reputable organizations. Hell, if I remember right, Lancet was the journal that published the study in the first place. They certainly withdrew their support, but I think they actually retracted it. I don't have time to look it up at the moment.

Previously Origin-exclusive EA games are available on Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/sale/electronicarts?snr=1_4_4__118

Wait, inexpensive industrial cleaning agents are harmful? Shocking.

Kane is already a mayor. Of Knox City, iirc.

This is really helpful and I humbly think that this post should be pinned.

Nice try, Skazz. 😛

Joe DiMaggio has the MLB record for most consecutive games with a hit with 56. Who has the second most? A) Pete Rose B) Ty Cobb C) Willie Keeler D) Paul Moliter Answer

Today in games that probably only Shady plays

Irony is my favorite form of humor. Hypocrisy is a close second though

this is fake, everyone knows that wheat sharks have stripped fins

What is the oldest continually operating team in the MLB? A) Atlanta Braves B) Oakland Athletics C) Boston Red Sox D) Cincinnati Reds Answer:

Just nine players have 600+ career homeruns. Of those nine only two never had a 50+ HR season. One is Albert Pujols. Who is the other? A) Willie Mays B) Hank Aaron C) Jim Thome D) Alex Rodriguez Answer:

A general comment on work hours.. Maybe I'm not "most people", but as someone who spent 30 years of his life working 60+ hour work weeks, I think I'm qualified to reflect a bit on whether it was worth it or not. With the benefit of hindsight, I doubt it. Sure, it ended up paying well, gave some truly unique and interesting experiences (traveling around the world, twice, in the literal sense of the word, winning Microsoft best of world wide awards, getting invited to private Oscar parties, all memorable stuff), but was it worth paying 30 years of my life for? No social life, no time for friends etc.? Nah. If I could chose over, I might have chosen differently. 40 hours is a good compromise between overworking yourself and not working at all. edit: the last 5 years, I've worked "reduced time" (40 hours) and for the first time in living memory actually started enjoying life, getting home int he evenings and having weekends off to do stuff of my own choosing.

=================================== Arcane Hunter =================================== Difficulty: PotD v5.0.0.0040 -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Hunter (Blackjacket + Arcane Archer) -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Hearth Orlan -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: White that Wends, Mystic -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats (char creation, no Berath's Blessings): MIG: 10 CON: 7 DEX: 18 PER: 21 INT: 18 RES: 3 -------------------------------------------------------------- Active Skill: Acana (!) Passive Skill: Metaphysics ® -------------------------------------------------------------- Weapon Proficiencies: Arquebus ® Hunting Bow (!) Dagger ® War Bow (!) Mace ® Flail ® Saber ® Battle Axe ® -------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities ( r=recommended, !=important) note: You don't have to get the skills in the order they are listed. Some of the Abilities such as (Quick Switch or Beast's Claw) won't help you until later in the game. PL1 Fighter Disciplined Barrage (!) Arms Bearer Ranger Companion Bear ® Wounding Shot Marked Prey Resilient Companion ® PL2 Fighter Fighter Stances ® Confident Aim ® Two-Handed Style Ranger Marksman ® Protective Companion PL3 Fighter Disciplined Strike (!) Penetrating Strike ® Ranger Accurate Wounding Shot ® Evasive Roll or Charge (!) PL4 Fighter Vigorous Defense® Quick Switch (!) Weapon Specialization ® Ranger Hunter's Claw ® Stalker's Link PL5 Fighter Armored Grace (!) Conqueror Stance ® Unbending Ranger Driving Flight (!) PL6 Fighter Clear Out (!) Improved Critical Ranger Beast's Claw ® Survival of the Fittest ® PL7 Fighter (if you don't take Arms Bearer you can take Weapon Mastery here but I like the flexibility of having 4 weapons choices) Ranger --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (*=additional enchantments; !=important, r=recommended): Weapon set 1: Magistrate's Cudgel + Sun and Moon ® Weapon set 2: Scordeo’s Edge (Blade Cascade*!, Strategic Shot*!) (!), Slayer’s Claw (!) Weapon set 3: Frostseeker(!)(!) Weapon set 4:Essence Interrupter(Thermal Conduit, Soul Diplomacy) (!) / Vielpiercer(Weightless Draw!, Disruptive Arrow®) ® Chest: Miscreant's Leather / Devil of Caroc Breast Plate / Gipon Prudensco ® Helmet: Heaven's Cacophony (!) Amulet: Strand of Favor Cloak: Shroud of the Phantasm (!) Gloves: Firethrower's Gloves/ Left Hand of the Obscured ® Ring: Ring of Clenched Muscle (!) Ring: Ring of Prosperity’s Fortune (!) Belt: Gwyn's Bridal Garter Boots: Rakhan Field Boots (!) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Basic Goals: This build has a surprisingly easy start considering it is somewhat of a glass cannon cannon and has several huge power spikes along the way. In the very early game Blackjacket and Ranger have a few tricks that can make life much easier for you than it would be for most characters. As a Blackjacket you can take advantage of the Arquebus Weapon Modal and start combat with a well aimed Wounding Shot before switching to a Hunting Bow with Rapid Shot. If needed you can always switch to a Dagger with Modal and Shield (a great time to use scrolls) to survive a dangerous situation. This combined with having an extra Tank from the Ranger Companion means you should be able to cruise through your first fights. Also don't forget to use scrolls (you have the Arcana for it!) in my opinion some of the first fights are among the most difficult all game and a well timed scroll can tip the tide in your favor. The first power spike comes from getting Essence Interrupter. This is probably the best Hunting Bow in the game and will get you through Port Maje no problem and is useful vs enemies that are weak to Electricity all game (just be sure to focus down far away enemies E.g Spellcasters/Ranged, first so the Summons don't attack you). It isn't cheap but if you do some pickpocketing around Port Maje you can afford it before even having a real fight. Before long you will get access to Imbue: Web. This isn't the most game changing ability but at this time in the game you will cast it with about 15 bonus Accuracy (10 from Arcane Archer Arcana bonus and 5 from Fighter stance) not to mention your high perception, this WILL hit most enemies you encounter at this stage giving you the opportunity to focus down enemies one at a time. Opening combat like this makes things easy. Your next big power spike comes from Frostseeker. You have slowly been stacking Accuracy and Hit to Crit buffs and Frostseeker will Crit ALL the time! After grabbing Frostseeker go buy Heaven's Cacophony and once per Rest you can cast Avenging Storm and absolutely shred through mobs. This may only come once per rest but soon you can cast Avenging Storm scrolls and don't have to plan on resting nearly as much. The next thing to look forward to is level 13 where you get Armored Grace and Driving Flight, your electric ice storms are now almost twice as effective. Now would be a good time to pickup Magistrate's Cudgel, Sun and Moon and Veilpiercer. Getting the Cudgel is a little tricky but there is more than enough ways to stack Resolve temporarily (Cloak of Poverty +5, Pet +2, Rings +2, Amulet, +2, Boots +1, Resting +2, Berath's Blessing +2 ). Magistrate's Cudgel gives you a random bonus of +1 Armor, +1 Penetration or -20% Recovery when you first engage an enemy and instantly kills lower level Kith on Crit. Combine this with its Weapon Modal,a Flail using the Modal and Clear Out ( later No Quarter) and you can open combat with a Buff for yourself and great Debuff (-25 Reflex, -1Armor) to a group of enemies, making them extra Vulnerable to your elemental storm and then quickly Evasive Roll to safety. Veilpiercer won't be your main damage dealer but it can be very useful against bosses or high level spell casters and being able to swap it in and out with no penalty is incredibly useful. Disruptive Arrow is especially useful vs Mega Bosses. Your next goal should be to pick up Shroud of the Phantasm. This gives you another once per rest "god mode". Living Illusions summons 4 copies of your character including your weapons and buffs! The most hilarious part is it also summons a copy of your Companion Animal so not only do your enemies have to deal with the heavens erupting with ice and lightning but also 5 hungry bears come charging as well! Around now you can switch from using Imbue Web to Imbue Eora. This packs everyone nicely together to make your elemental storm all the more effective. Make sure to give your companions immunity to Pull effects if they are going to use Melee. Next you should be able to pick up Rakhan Field Boots and Scodeo's Edge. You can combine these to start combat jumping in to a group of enemies, doing a Full Attack to each one, potentially using Clear Out to do even more Primary Attacks before Evasive Rolling to safety. You should easily get between 5 and 10 Primary Attacks in, which increases your ranged Accuracy between 15-30 and has a 20-40% chance to cast Blade Cascade. Blade Cascade is insane especially when you can instantly switch to a bow. With all your Intelligence you should have time for a Priest to throw on a Salvation of Time to keep it going. The last three things you should work towards is Ooblit, Slayer's Claw and Ring of Clenched Muscle. Ooblit increases your beneficial effects by 3 seconds which is great since your most powerful abilities (Blade Cascade, Living Illusions) have a fairly short duration. 3 seconds might not seem like much but its actually really really good its a 60% increase on blade cascade and 30% on Living Illusions. Slayer's Claw is great because after getting a priest to cast Champion's Boon on you, you will now Interrupt on Crits even from range and it also gives you access to another No Quarter style attack which significantly increases your chances of triggering Blade Cascade. Ring of Clenched Muscle turns you into an absolute Affliction king. You hit so many enemies so quickly it doesn't take long before they all have all tier 1 Afflictions. If things still aren't easy enough for you make sure to "prep" with Hunter's Claw/Beast's Claw before your bigger fights. The best way to do this is to use two one handed weapons including Sun and Moon. This will get you 3 stacks per use saving you some time. A Blunderbus used to work better for this but I think it got fixed. Another weapon that can be fun in certain situations is Lover's Embrace. Attacking from stealth and using No Quarter from your boots you can do an area of effect permanent Raw Damage over time attack and have a good chance of giving yourself Frenzy before Evasive Rolling to safety. Miscellaneous Thoughts: Once you get Brilliant having access to both Penetrating Strike and Accurate Wounding Shot becomes very useful because you can rotate between them since your Resources replenish fairly slowly. You also never need marked for the hunt. Marking is only really useful vs hard to kill bosses. You will Crit most enemies easy enough without it and far too often the Mark moves to a Tank when you should be focusing on something squishier. Vigorous Defense and Unbending don't have the longest duration but most of your best buffs aren't too long and you want to use Salvation of Time to extend all your buffs anyways. Anyways you should have enough Intelligence and fire power that it is rare things expire before the fight is over. You don't have the highest deflection but Vigorous Defense and Hunter's Claw can get you over 120 of each type of Defense. This Build is fully viable the whole game but it does get a bit silly towards the end. I had fun with it but sometimes it feels a bit like cheating. The biggest weakness is the need for an optimized party to really take advantage of the builds strength. You need a Priest for Salvation of Time, some way to access Brilliant because of how quickly you can go through Resources, a good Tank especially early game because you can be quite squishy and a reliable source of healing. You can solo as well but you have to rely on a lot of cheese in the early game and vs mega bosses. I hope you have as much fun testing this as I had making it. I feel like Blackjackets and Arcane Archers don't usually get that much love around here but they offer so much versatility and really encourage you to use more weapons and scrolls than you normally would.

Would say the genre died rather evolved with MOBAs

Heh, this would be one for the unpopular gaming opionions thread but I never cared much for TA or any of its offshoots. The allure of early RTS games was never the gameplay for me, but everything else. Sadly the genre evolved into being all gameplay and no story, what with the success of MOBAs.

That's the snake lady in the poison windmill, right? Since you asked for no spoilers, all I'll say is that it's considered one of the sorer points of the game design-wise, .

Kane 2020

Hey, I have that wishlisted. It's just that I am broke and Shady hasn't put it on the giveaway list yet

So that's where the deep voice announcer went.

Civ6 is one of my fav games, I'm playing it right now