LadyCrimson

Ok I downloaded from one of the partner sites, which was much faster (3.5MB/sec, 12-15 minutes) but their launcher version is slightly older and so the launcher puts up a box saying it's trying to update itself .. and it can't connect/fails. I can't connect to the game forum either tho, so maybe it's just them. At any rate...maybe the next version.

Interesting read. The Foundry is intriguing. Sounds like a better/complex end game along the lines of PoE's (simpler) endgame is these days (ability to make map instances to play in using certain parameters or something). I'm not reformatting for a single game. I don't think it's an OS issue, anyway. The game may not be browser related, but I feel like the launcher is, so it's probably some weird browser issue. Or if it is OS, it's because of some Win7 feature I've disabled and have no desire to turn back on. Or whatever. I could try redownloading it to see if a file got corrupted or something, but I haven't bothered.

Has it been two weeks already? Dang it ... I swear I wake up on a day in June and the next morning it's a day in Nov. So thanks for the reminder, Forlorn Hope ... now I have something to look forward to later.

I now have one of each class in Path of Exile. Highest is lvl24, so it's not a big achievement. Just checking them all out. Shadow class still my fave ... I like hybrid classes. The Ranger is pretty awesome with the bow tho. The STR-based melee's are ok but 2H and maces are so slow. Plus early on, the run speed penalties for heavy armor/shields sucks....

I was so annoyed by the game not working for me that I forgot it had micro-transactions. Are they ones that affect actual gameplay/character ability (pay to win), or are they non-ability related, like Path of Exile's decorative and stash space options?

Yeah...I think they could've limited the sockets a bit more. There's the support gems, so having plenty of items with the right color linked sockets is important later on, but it does get a bit silly. And the way they do the tree now, they could only show you about half the tree per chr., since there's no way you're effectively going to use 120 points to get all around the thing w/out being a total gimp chr. Early on going the crazy off-beaten path was more doable, but not so much now.

Path of Exile ... it's what Diablo-3 should have been. Sorta. The only problem with the passive skill tree is it's so huge I can never remember what path I wanted to travel with a chr. You can't even see it all on one "page" in the game, have to scroll around. Passive tree is for boosting dmg and specializing (8% max life, 5% dmg with melee wepaons, extra minions allowed, etc), as well as adding to your STR/INT etc. stats (there's no "stat points" per level up). Skill gems (gear socketable/removable) are how they do the actual combat skills (skill gems level up separately from chr. lvls) (vs. Diablo's "skill trees" concept). Edit: P.S. - the game website has a passive planner where you can mouseover and see what all the dots are. http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree Each class starts at a different spot in the tree. 2nd edit: fixed link I hope, darn it, not enough sleep...

Yeah, I know what you mean. aRPG's and story do not go together. If it was, that would be a very long story, tho!

Hm, where to go, what to do... (this chr. is clvl 17 out of a possible 100...) Ewwww..... Why are the brawlers in games always hulking, tattooed, loincloth wearing dudes who talk in monosyllables? So I made him wear a cloth cap, because nothing says macho like a fisherman's hat.

Insomnia again the past few days. Haven't been od'ing on caffeine or marathon gaming or anything like that. Sometimes the body says "sleep" but the mind says "no." So then you're awake but too mentally tired-wired to do anything productive ... or even make your breakfast without doing it wrong. It does make some of the spousal conversations pretty amusing, tho.

Hubs and I used to use this song (The Thrill is Gone) as our joke relationship theme. I'm going to be SO sad when he's gone from the world (Clapton too). At least the music is forever.

That song has been around and used a lot long before Watchmen ... it could be a reference to something else/I don't personally associate it with a movie. Altho with the narration vibe I'll take your word that it probably is (wouldn't surprise me, media loves to reference, heh). Oddly I never think of it as a Dylan song, even tho I know he wrote it/performs it ... Dylan to me = awesome songwriter of songs for other people to sing.

Only from the voice-over, a bit. The cutscene gives me more of an Asimov robots + Skynet future 'bots vibe, or something along those lines.

Finally played enough of the current version of Path of Exile where, despite the latency issues, I'm starting to "get into it" more. Tried all the classes but the barbarian-type, to check out how the passive tree works for each, and I'd have to say that while the Duelist is still fun, the Shadow is my new fave class (he didn't exist last time I played for any length of time) because of where he starts out on the passive tree - he's the best for speed-based melee + magic caster hybrid. Altho it probably helped that on the day I started him, I found 4 low-level unique/legendary items which helped him blow through to Act2. First time I've found any of those and that was an odd run of finding so many. I'm sure I'll never find another one now, haha. So good to play when I'm waiting for other games. One of the other pets I was interested in went on "sale" so I blew my remaining "points" on it...thinking of spending a little more real cash on the game for some more points, mostly for stash and chr. slots-per-account features.

That's some very yellow hair. And another ponytail.

Good luck, Calax! ...I'm sitting on the couch, alternating between watching TV and having staring contests with a certain black cat.

So I skimmed through the 1st 15-20 minutes on YouTube. Not really my style of game, as usual, but those cutscenes are hilarious. The game is really....purple. Heh. Also, Biehn tossing something past an animal and saying "Fetch" ...

What? Michael Biehn is a lead voice? **interest suddenly heightened**

I wish I could try that Neverwinter MMO everyone seems to be playing, but I still can't. So back to Path of Exile and grinding for those currency/gear-altering items with a blue frog for company, while still mostly wishing the Planet Explorers beta .6 was out already. Oh and I've decided the melee issue in PoE is mostly latency. I don't mean big jerky lag spikes, just the overall response time ... I don't know where their servers are compared to where I am, and it's not off by a lot/terrible, but definitely not as good/consistent as Diablo3 or even Diablo2. Another reason I don't like online games most of the time. I hate latency.

One thing I used to like about the internet was helping people when they had questions about ... whatever it is I might have some personal knowledge or experience with. But since I'm not a rocket scientist or encyclopedia, these days that occurs less and less often as most of the time the "just Google/wiki it" mentality kicks in and thus a lot of questions are rarely asked to begin with. Probably why I like gaming forums right after a game is released ... for a couple weeks at least, people can't "just google it" and info questing/help discussions still takes place.

Since you're posting here, I assume you're all right? Hope so. I had an accident similar to that once, except the other car was making a turn across traffic lanes (someone else in my directional lane had waved him on) and crashed into my driver's side as I was moving past. Impact smushed my little 70's Toyota, both side doors wouldn't open. I still drove it for a little while, tho, via crawling in from the other side. I was actually surprised how well that center beam/support between the driver/passenger door held up.

Had extra PoE points left over...so I got one of the blue frog pets. Isn't it cute. You can have it be visible or not visible and it "works" with all characters. And I still have enough points to buy 6 more stash tabs if I want, because I'm a lazy packrat.

Hey, Woldan stole my bunny! ...Peter was my "first pet" when I was a kid. Then I was allowed to have a cat. They liked to pal around. --@Raithe - that 1st dog pic is great because of the awesome "doggy smile." --@Hurlshot - I know little about hockey, but those are nice action shots. Did your wife take those?

While they may share some genetic traits or whatever, no one is ever going to convince me that sauropods were giant ducks or flamingos. I'd like some non-flying dragons. They can be tough skinned like a rhino if you want, instead of scaly. Charging rhino-dragon...I can see it.

Is that one of those mini-horses, or an actual pony?