Maria Caliban

I prefer the ME method where I didn't have to control individual party members 80% of the time.

I'm reading it right now. Paranoid a bit?

I have a level 17 warrior on WoW right now, and these are her options: Two stances: a regular stance, and a defensive stance in which I take only 10% less damage, but do 5% less as well. Normal attack Charge attack - can only be used out of combat, makes me rush to the target mob and stuns them Rend - an attack that does damage over time Heroic Strike - an attack that does more damage than usual Sunder Armor- an instant that removes a percentage of the target's armor Shield Bash - an instant that dazes the target and interrupts any spell casting. If I interrupt a spell-casting, no spell from that 'school' can be cast for a brief period of time. Thunder Clap - an AOE attack centered on me. Slows the attack speed of any hostile. Demoralizing Shout - AOE debuffer centered on me. Lowers attack power of any hostile. Battle Shout - AOE buff centered on me. Raises attack power of myself and any ally. Hamstring

It's a great system, but it's different from 3.5 in that the classes are balanced, everyone has powers, and you're required to work together to survive far more than before. A class is defined by its group role and power source, with each class having 2-3 different 'paths' that key off different attributes. Enhancement from gear is now capped off at 20%, and equipment is now given a numerical value and level so the GM knows if its appropriate for the group or not. Monsters have more hit points, are arraigned by types, and default into a group. Most every monster has a power or special ability and maneuver. Many non-combat spells are now rituals and have prerequisite skill levels in healing, religion, and spell-casting. Combat is faster, the PCs are hardier at low-levels, and there

I'll be honest and say that it wouldn't matter to me if Blizzard required a full-body cavity search on instillation, I'd still buy Diablo III at this point. It

That's unfortunate. More free time + lower sign on amount = win.

It's impressive. At the same time, my broadband connection struggled to make sure the video ran smoothly. What I'm worried about now: 1) How good a connection will I need to get all this full VO without it stuttering? 2) What about my PC voice? I'm far more interested in that than the NPCs. Still, I'm looking forward to this game when it comes out in 2013 or whatever.

I don't know why, but I looked down and was fascinated by Faith's shadow.

Huh? He's not bad looking at all. No, it's not as bad as the c-word. It's worse than jerk or **** though. Edit: Wait. The original picture didn't have his hair, and I'm not surprised.

I can't imagine that an MMORPG would have its recruiting server down for any length of time. I'll wait a bit and see if it doesn't come back up.

Thank you for the invite. Sadly, the link in the e-mail does send me to a bum page.

I will read gooder next time.

Do the women in LotR wear real clothing/armor? Can they play every available class or race?

What is the 'recruit a friend' option for Lord of the Rings Online?

I don't think times have changed at all. The average gamer might be older, but they're not smarter.

Yes. I just didn't read it well.

Your link seems to not work. *** Also, social.bioware.com launched today for those interested in using the toolset. It's 'Facebook meets SourceForge, equal parts social networking site and software development/project management resource.' You can't register until the game launches, but there's some information about it on Gamespy: Build Your Own Adventure: An Exclusive Look at the Dragon Age Toolset

They had a demo for it at my local Frys. It's neat, but not 200 bucks neat.

The average player should end around level 15-20. Though you could get as high as 22 last we heard. There's no hard level cap. I don't believe evenly spreading your point out would be optimal for any class. I don't know if there's a limit to how high you can make a single attribute. The FAQ on the Dragon Age website.

I notice the article you linked to didn't mention piracy at all. Programmers don't have a magic 'include LAN support' button. They didn't include LAN because they didn't want to spend the time and effort to develop and support it on top of the time and effort they're putting into Bnet.

Each character in the world of Dragon Age: Origins begins the game with a base score of 10 in each attribute plus bonuses from race and class. Attributes increase moderately on level-up (based on class) and the player gets 5 points to distribute at character creation and 3 more at each level-up. Attributes are: Strength Dexterity Willpower Magic Cunning Constitution

I was unclear, sorry. While Gamestop has information on the Collector's Edition, BioWare hasn't announced anything yet. Some fans are speculating that there's also a BioWare Edition in the works. If there is one, we'll probably hear about it when they make their offical announcement.

The Collector's Edition hasn't officially been announced yet.

Are you talking about Old World of Darkness (the Bloodlines universe) or New World of Darkness (the MMO)? Though the concepts are the game, White-Wolf did a major overhaul when it switched to NWoD. You create a Mortal first and then slap on a supernatural template. Werewolves, Mages, and Vampire are the 'base' creatures. Fae, Hunters, Prometheans had a limited run, and Geists are coming up. People are clamoring for a Demon game, but I haven't heard of one yet. Unlike the oWoD, the base creatures are somewhat balanced.