Aristes

I've found Jack the Ripper and the Board of Education. I think I've found the Highwayman's Friend, but I'm not sure. I didn't go out of my way to find the special weapons, but I did search thoroughly for the bobbleheads. What I couldn't find, I went to the website and looked up the location.

I've been kind of joking around because I didn't think I can play UO. I just looked it up and it turns out that it is still running. I guess if they had a free offer, I'd join. The biggest reason I don't play it, however, is that it's not feasible to play more than one MMORPG at a time. If it were, I'd be playing LotRO as it is. Hell, I've already paid for the Moria expansion. I'm not trying to get anyone's goat here, but I don't like games where the point is to screw over other players as much as games that focus on the environment. I find that too much focus on what we can do to fellow players tneds to interupt exploration and questing. I don't see why that's cause so much dissention, but I don't mind discussing it. *shrug*

I might have to watch 28 days if it's good zombie horror fun. After all that L4D gaming, I'm jonsin' for a well done zombie horror show. We watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind the other day. I have to admit, never really got much out of it.

I'd say we grab a typical dictionary from two hundred years ago... a hundred years ago... twenty years ago to rebutt your stance. ...But hey, you're the English genius not me. lol As regards my candyland game, I'm the one who suggested that Hurlshot's permadeath could be a good idea. You didn't like it, though. Does that mean you only want a candyland game? How about the fact that I never said anything about game difficulty. I merely made a comment about how players interact with each other. You have a definition that includes the idea that it's not griefing if the game allows you to do it, which sounds silly since anything you do in a game the game allows you to do. By definition. I don't have anything against experience loss or experience debt. I've played games that include such features and I enjoy them. Since you're the one putting words in my mouth regarding difficulty so you can argue against a point I wasn't making in the first place, why shouldn't I do the same. *shrug* I could say that putting in a lot of features that allow players to gri--- almost did it again! Putting in a lot of "hey I'm a prick" features allows folks like you to live out antisocial fantasies that you're too craven to pursue in real life. I could have said that, but I didn't. Frankly, I don't think it's true. So, I'm talking about players stealing from one another and looting each others corpses. I'm not talking about difficulty and I've already signed on board for far more definitive consequences than you yourself advocate. This isn't about whether you want to have a harder game. You want a game where you can steal from other players. Fair enough. I don't. That should also be fair without you mischaracterizing my position. Aw well, this thread is looking to be fun in the near future, though.

I get the feeling that definitions are important to you Rhomal. I disagree that the term is hard and defined, but then again, most terms aren't. You want me to use your definition because you've got the inside skinny? Fair enough. I'll substitute "anti-social" or "asinine" for my comments regarding players stealing crap from one another. As I said, you enjoy that design concept, go play UO. Seriously, I don't begrudge you playing the game that you enjoy. Have fun doing it. I prefer games where the design team didn't go out of its way to build in opportunities for players to screw over each other. That doesn't mean I resent you for enjoying them. On the other hand, I prefer WoW. I'll play my game and you play yours. My real comments regarded the player base of each game. I'm not complaining about player conduct in a game I don't play. Hell, I don't complain about player conduct in a game I do play. Is it merely being an arse if you see me fighting next to an ore vein in Sholazar Basin and snag it while I'm fighting or is it griefing? Where does that fall compared to going in and killing all of the NPCs in Goldshire so I have to wait to turn in quests? What about flagging yourself in a PvE realm and then standing on top of what my character is fighting so I accidently flag and you can kill my lowbie with your high level character? I don't complain about these things. I generally don't care. However, I don't tend to play games that put in extra means to screw other players. If it's not called griefing, then I'll call it "prick enabling design." I don't care that you like game that encourage grie---- oops, sorry, I meant "prick encouraging behavior." Just don't blame me if I prefer games that don't. You play your game and I'll play mine.

No, that is griefing which is built into the gameplay. That was my point. If you put in something like that, then you are encouraging griefing by making it part and parcel of the game. Hey, if you like UO, go play it. With my blessings. I'll play WoW and you can play UO and we'll both be happy. And that's a good point about death, hurl. In this thread, I'm griefing you guys. lol. Seriously, I try to be one of those "decent people." I'm not trying to insult you guys, I'm just commenting on the game I'd prefer. Permadeath has the most appeal to me, but only in a game that carefully implements and supports the concept.

If you enjoy griefing, then I could suggest you get out more. ...Or I could say it's easy to grief online where someone won't pop you a few times in the mouth for being a prick. See, we can both trivialize each other's position if we really want. I was intentionally not making a value statement about folks who enjoy griefing. My point is that encouraging griefing is not going to broaden your player base. I'm not making a value statement about griefers. It's simply clear to me that griefing as an end goal in a game will not give it the sort of base that WoW has at this point.

Well, since I never liked her in the first place, and she hasn't changed, it should make sense that I don't like her now. I always thought Claire was a cutie. The women on LOST have been fairly lackluster. I think Rose, Claire, and Sun are my faves. Julliette really isn't so bad, though.

Songs and movies, huh? Well, You decided to go your own way when your guild screwed you in WoW. Music? Solitary Man. Movie? Home Alone. Apparently, you kick ass in Left4Dead. A fine song is: All you Zombies. The movie would be: Die Hard. you have bi-polar disorder. I'll say for song... Unwell. For a movie? One Few Over the Cuckoo's Nest. You were in the Navy. heh heh heh. I won't go for the obvious one by the village people. Hmm. Sink the Bismark. For a movie I'll choose Gray Lady Down. You need five? You like to read, so let me suggest Open Book for music. I propose the flik (I'm cheating, it's a made for TV movie) The Librarian: Quest for the Spear.

If they made it central to the design and implemented it properly, it could be cool. Gfted is right. It's too easy to die. I really don't like games that allow folks to grief one another. It's just not fun. In a game like Warhammer or Eve, where you know the score, it's okay. If you go into a game where you know that it's not random griefing but the other payers are required to kill you, that's different. And I don't think I'll ever play a game where other players can grief my gear from me. Okay, maybe if they could take my inspirations in CoH, I wouldn't care. ...But City of heroes doesn't have gear at all. It has powers and you put buffs into your powers. It wouldn't make sense for folks to steal your buffs anyhow. The fact is, most folks in any MMORPG I've ever played have been pretty decent. Yeah, every now and then folks can get nasty, but most folks aren't. I'm not counting a game where the intention is to kill the other side, which is NOT true of WoW, even on a PvP server. Even then, if you go onto a PvP server, you know a lot of folks will be gunning for you. Hell, I mine ore in Wintergrasp all the time on WoW and I've only had someone attack me once. ...And that was right after we fought over the place and my side won. There is a market for a game where folks are intentionally really nasty and the whole point of the game is to grief other players. It's just not going to have the kind of broad appeal that a game like WoW does where folks generally don't grief each other, even in different factions. However, just because we call ourselves hardcore gamers doesn't mean that "hardcore" games, ones that allow you to be the biggest prick in the neighborhood, are better. And a game that allows any sort of nasty thing the players want to do to each other encourages folks to be nasty to one another. First of all, because it drives away players who don't like to be griefed, it attracts a higher number of folks who like to grief. The importance of questing and exploring are diminished while griefing as a goal in and of itself becomes a primary draw for a lot of players. Hey, I don't care that you enjoy a game like that, but it's not for me.

Did low level Nexus twice over the weekend. Once on Saturday, no deaths, full clear. It was fun. A nice, easy dungeon for folks just getting into the WotLK. Todays wasn't so good, but no fpws. My brother has a fury warrior and he just doesn't do the damage and can't take the heat. Good Lord, my rogue outlasts his warrior. What the hell is that? I'm rightly sick of the Nexus, though. I've taken four characters through and I've had to go every single time as either dps or tank. One of the few people who's joined the guild from outside the family couldn't finish the quest in Wintergard to save the townspeople. She had to have her son do it so she could get the WANTED quests and whatnot. A lot of guildies have complained about that quest and I don't know why. Anyhow, I'm rightly sick of the WANTED quests also. Two DPS warriors and a rogue and they can't take the damned last magnataur in that Wyrmrest line? Hell, I think my warrior could solo the guy. I know my hunter did. I've played some L4D with PuGs on normal and advance. Haven't done expert yet. The biggest beef I have is that some folks want to do a speed run and others want to look for pipe bombs and whatnot. The results can be pretty ugly. On the other hand, a couple of times I've had folks on voice who coordinate, and those have gone well. We managed to do Death Toll with no deaths and everyone made it out alive. That was cool. Even the barest amount of planning really helps. I'm probably not good enough to get into expert at this point. Sadly, I don't know that I ever will be. ...But I do enjoy joining a game or two and I might try one on expert one of these days. Some of the PuGs really aren't that bad and sometimes it makes for good comedy when they are 'that bad.'

My reflexes are just terrible. I can't get through L4D on expert. At least the no Mercy. I've tried like 5 times and the second map is killer. I've gotten through it a couple of times, but then the next map after that is just as bad, although maybe not as long. I've only managed to get through there once. I figure if I can't get through the single player campaign on expert, I need not apply to a multiplayer group. On the bright side, I've gotten my headshot percentage up to 19%. That wasn't even trying to milk the headshot percentage. I think I'd get it higher if I used the sniper rifle, but it just doesn't seem to make sense for the really big battles and I can't switch in between.

It's hard for me to comment on a game I haven't played. I will say that there is one idea I like about Eve, which is the fact that every player knows that there are no real rules in how the players treat one another. Now, don't get me wrong. I like to play the good guy. Moreover, I hate playing the bad guy. ...But, much like Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, I appreciate it when the designers make it crystal clear that the other players will try to screw you. Now, my experience with online games is that most players are really decent folks. They try to help one another and are even decent about letting other folks gather mats and whatnot. We hear about how folks are terrible, but the mass of players don't try to screw each other. That's probably true even for Eve, but I can't be certain. It has a peculiar reputation and, like I said, I can't intelligently judge a game I've never played. Still, I think Purkake is right in that it's probably not much better or worse than other Online games, although I tend to agree with Crashgirl in that the mechanics seem a bit sterile. I have a conflicted opinion about these Eve news stories. On the one hand, I think it's terrible for folks to dedicate that much time to screwing one another. On the other hand, Eve is very clear about how thoroughly the other players can slip you the Big Johnson. Let the buyer beware. ...And at least I haven't heard about real world mayhem resulting from the game, unlike the weird stories of divorce and "infidelity" and whatnot that arise from some games.

Since Jack's dad is dead, folks assume that Claire is also. After all, they have the same mannerisms now and whatnot. I'm not convinced that Claire is dead, though. That whole prophecy thing about raising her child alone makes me think that she's just been taken captive or something. ...But, yeah, they're in Jacob's crab shack. The series has a lot of bolts to tighten before the end, but it's been pretty entertaining at any rate. Favorite LOST moment? Sawyer: "I've never killed a man." (Kate drinks) (Sawyer drinks) and Sayid: "Unfortunately for us both... you are wrong."

That is so true. Blacksmithing is, in my opinion, the most expensive and/or time consuming profession. ...And I've got many to 450 and I have characters with ever profession over 350 EXCEPT for Inscription. Blacksmithing can be aweful, especially, as Calax says, getting over the Azerothian hump. However, a lot of the professions don't require you to hit 375 (Burning Crusade max) to learn the new Northrend stuff and some of them are quite a bit easier and/or less expensive in Northrend. Basically, it's easier to level at the begining of a cycle than the end. That's why, even though it's normal level, the Azerothian haul from, say, 265 to 300 is far worse than the haul from 300-350. Since you can train a lot of Northrend stuff at 350, you're saving the last painful bit of ramping up on late xpac Burning Crusade stuff. My engineer/blacksmith is at 450 in both right now, and Blacksmithing up to the max is so much easier than maxing it out in classic and Burning Cursade that I thought there was some catch. So, once you push through the Azerothian stuff, you're pretty good. Engineering is harder to level in Northrend than blacksmithing and every single basic epic I can craft as a blacksmith is BoE, so I can trade or sell it. Hell, ALCHEMY is harder to level to the end. As far as gathering professions go, as long as you keep at it, and make sure you can mine stuff at level, you're good. The only thing that some folks find painful is the last bit with the rich thorium veins. Since you're a blacksmith, and you'll be going through a huge amount of ore, you probably won't have any problem maxing your mining super fast. As far as the rich thorium veins, there's a circle in the EPL that you can run. If you start at one point, the first vein will respawn before you're back from the last one. Hey, what do you guys think of the new one whack and you're done change to mining? It's like herbalism now!

Desmond was a great addition to the show. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Hurley, that shaggy haired, fat arsed hippy. ...But Kate drives me crazy, and I can't stand Jack. Sawyer is okay, which isn't okay, since he's supposed to be so hard. Instead, he's so damned sentimental. Actually, that's realistic. I've known some really rough characters (as in kick your arse twelve way from tomorrow rough... yeah YOU, tough guy) who would cry over stupid crap. I like Sawyer anyhow, I guess. I also like Locke. Too bad he's completely INSANE. I also really liked Charlie. Now that Charlie is gone, Desmond is the only character I unreservedly enjoy. Well, and Sayid and Hurley, I guess. Anyhow, the opener for this season was great. I'm thinking of getting the whole series on brd. I got a player for Christmas, and the show is good and I don't have it on DVD already. Keep up the great work, ABC. As usual the good outshines the bad in LOST.

I have a couple of miners already. My hunter is a miner and I've stockpiled some titansteel and titanium. Until I can get the guild into shape for raiding, which might be never, those engineer goggles are probably the best head piece for any class I've played. I'm just hoping they keep crafting useful and don't make it obsolete by pushing arena gear out en masse by making it available season by season as honor purchases. I think kirottu said something about them upgrading crafting to keep pace with S gear. Altogether I have every profession represented, from fishing to flower picking. It's a lot of fun. It was genius to give gatherers special abilities. Now my dedicated gatherers don't have to feel like everybody's bitch. As far as what I've been playing recently, more L4D. Great game. I can't seem to get through No Mercy on expert. I can survive some of the maps, but a straight run could take freaking forever and I don't want to skip maps. I want to start the campaign and play it beginning to end. I think it would be easier with four players than the AI companions. That assumes that the players actually communicate and don't resort to backbiting and recrimination, but I think having more pipe bombs and being able to get everyone to a redoubt would make a huge difference. That and things like not letting the tank beat you down. After Calax shared that about spreading fire onto the tank, I've come up with clever ways to get him on fire. For example, I lure him over flaming debris, shoot a gas can, throw a molotov, or get him to run over a flaming trash bin. The problem is that my companions don't just run and let him burn. I'd say, just stay together and run back to the nearest door and close it. Just make sure he doesn't hit you when he throws something.

I suffered while my wife watched the last boleyn chic. It had some decent moments, but mostly it just sucked. We started Blade Runner, but didn't get to finish so that's tonight. Watched Independance Day on Blu ray disk, just to test the player. The HD aspect is great, but the movie is really kind of lackluster. Not the acting. The cast was good. You can only do so much with dialogue like that.

You would have all casters be spointaneous? Wait, that sounded like I was incredulous, which I'm not! I'm just curious. It's a completely neutral question. The only downside is that spontaneous casting is the big claim to fame for sorcerors. What happens to the dynamic if that changes. Otherwise, even on tabletop, it might not be a bad idea.

Congrats. I have a level 28 Paladin. Engineer/jewelcrafter. Fun stuff. How does one get a dragon mount. I considered going for the netherdrake mount in BC, but I thought the amount of rep grinding was ridiculous and didn't do it.

I hovered over I don't care, but I think homosexuals should have the right to marry. I disagree that it's the equivalent of racism, but I'm too lazy to argue the point. However, I will say that I can think of no compelling reason why two people of the same sex should not be allowed to marry. In fact, I don't think marriage should be state sponsored at any rate. Have a civil union and on top of that have a religious union if you so choose. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, after all.

I haven't had a huge amount of time to play, but I've managed to complete the first couple of maps of Mercy Hospital on Expert. Sadly, I get beat a couple of times and then I don't have time to keep trying. ...But I also want to get the achievement for finishing the campaign on Expert, and so I have to restart. At least I think I do. Anyhow, I've found that the only things that are tough now are boomers and tanks. I've managed to figure out clever ways to make sure folks live through Witch fights, and smokers really only cause a problem if they get the drop on you. If your companions are handy, or you can shoot the smoker/tongue, not so bad. Hunters are only a threat when they attack you in concert with other zombies. In fact, I've shot the hunter out of the sky on expert. My stats continue to suck. I think my highest headshot count is 14%. My accuracy hovers around high 30s low 40s also. That might be because I'll pick an area to face during a horde surge, almost always one my companions ignore, and then wait until the surge gets close and let lead fly. A straight up horde surge isn't that bad, but the boomers on top of a horde surge is horrible. Hell, even the tank isn't so bad until the hordes of regular infected zombies rough up the party. That's where the AI is terrible. For example, in the room with the electronic door switch, I could run and hit the switch and we could lay all sorts of gascan, pipe bomb, molotov ****tail, compressed air, propane tanks... well, virtually anything that can explode or put down a carpet of fire. The problem is, I can't tell my companions, "You cover that hole in the back. You man the mounted machine gun. You throw a pipe-bomb/molotov over there. I'll shoot all the gas cans and then provide cover fire for the machine gunner." If I do lay down traps, they have to be way the hell out so my idiot companions, who won't run back to cover with me, won't get caught in the explosion. Yes, they don't hit you with friendly fire, but I'd trade friendly fire for better planning. I did get out and start a campaign with other players. It was going well, but one of us had to go and it was actually getting late so I bailed also. Next time I'll start early so I don't end up leaving. So far, it's great. I even managed to get a couple of achievements on Expert. haha, Ground Cover. Figures you'd get that on expert, you get beat down often enough.

I always assumed they were citing their damage meter readings. You can get raw damage output and then also damage output per second. And some of that damage output per second has to be different between different enemies depending on the character class enemy armor, resistance, and other things. If they're actually crunching the numbers in advance, that'd be interesting.

I've lit the tank on fire before, but only to get the achievement. The tanks are harder to kill on harder difficulties, of course, but the witches really chap my hide because they're so often in places you can't avoid. So, I go to the place that's hardest for her to hit me and take a shot at my head (and wish I had the sniper rifle) and then run around while my companions shoot at her. Otherwise, I try to sneak and my companions get too close and activate her.

I finished Dead Air on advanced with no wipes, only one death (Zoey), and all survivors made it out on the plane. I shudder to think what that Tank is going to do to us on Expert level, but I'm going to do all the campaigns on expert after I've finished the last one... one in the woods... on advanced. I will say that I'm convinced that four intelligent human players will outdo the AI. My reason is this, even as the sole human, which means that I can't make preset plans on how to cover avenues of attack on horde surges and I'm the only one using grenades at all, I can still do a lot of damage by throwing cans of gasoline and covering our flank with fire. I can do that effectively even having to be super careful because of the idiotic AI. I think four humans, conserving and using pipe bombs, molotov ****tails, and environmental traps would yield the best advantage where you need it most, during the surges. How four humans do against the tank is another matter. I don't know about that.