Aristes

I'm not exactly an achievement whore, but I enjoy getting them. We managed to luck into the Northern Exposure achievement. We were questing in Grizzly Hills near the coast when I saw one of those hunter chics like you find in Howling Fjord. I'm thinking, "I don't recall seeing those vrykul hunters up here," so I go take a look. Sure enough, she's a rare, so I run as fast as I can, sure someone else will nab her. I managed to charge her and we minced her in short order. Found blue leather leggings that fell far short of my badge leggings from BC, and a blue sack that was choc ful of crafting mat goodness! I've done hardly anything in Storm Peaks except mine ore for crafting. I'll have to look into that giant thing there and report back how it worked for me.

That was rude, borish, and totally hysterical! hahaha Good Lord, Gfted! lol Anyhow, now that I think about it, the quests I've mentioned all come from alliance flagged npcs. I DO remember the quest you're talking about, though. That's the one where you have to grab the thunder cloud things to get your health up? My res is set at 1600x1200, so I didn't have to swing between the giant's legs, but you have to kill three elites on that giant and a boatload of undead uglies. The one is Zul Drak, right? I loved picking up bad guys and heaving them at their friends.

There are a lot of "mount" quests, and some of them require the player to essentially go it alone. For example, the quest in Grizzly Hills where the character sits on the back of the horse on the ride to Amberpine Lodge was really tough for my brother to do. That quests requires the player to use flaming oil, gallop, and thunderclap to defeat the enemy and safely return to the Lodge. We couldn't figure out a way to do the quest simultaneously, so I jumped off my horse and managed to take the heat off of my brother at the point where the largest number of enemies ambush. Even then, he BARELY made it. Another one that I find irritating is the one in Dragonblight where you find the munitions and then man a cannon. You call out for survivors to make a run for safety while you cover them with the cannon. Sadly, your speech bubble obscures your view of the survivors and the throng of undead that jump out to attack. I didn't have any particular problem finishing the quest in short order, but trying to look around the bubble was frustrating anyhow. Did it cause a huge problem? No. ...But it did cause irritation. I mean, I could have changed the settings to remove the speech bubble. For one quest, though? Nuts! So, I end up having to do a lot of these damned vehicle quests for guildies and there's really only so much I can do. Many of them are phase quests, so I can only help folks as long as I have a character at the right step, which means I have to choose four folks to help. Some of them, I can't help at all. For my wife, I'll just run over and do them for her, which she appreciates on one hand, but resents on the other. I think WotLK did a good job, but some of the mount/bombing quests just suck. I loath the "Disneyland" quest where you're stuck on a slowly moving sky boat while you bomb pirates and cannons. That's in Howling Fjord and I'm far too impatient to wait while we slowly move along on the quest. It's a million times worse than the flying bombing quest in Quel'Dannas. Heaven forbid that you miss one of the cannons or a sailor. You're stuck waiting on the boat for ANOTHER long arsed trip. It's not a problem to get all your targets unless there's a competing player or two on the boat. Best to group up and hope for the best at that point. Let's not forget the huge number of feces related quests. What the hell is wrong with the designers at Blizzard? It's just ridiculous to diminish the creative and literary value of your work by including quests that require you to walk behind animals picking through their droppings, eating a bunch of weeds in order to look through your own droppings, or any number of odd and quirky quests that fixate on defecation. Okay, I can see one or two for effect if you're REALLY into that kind of humor, but there must be more than a handful (forgive the pun) of these crappy quests. Nevertheless, these are relatively small issues for me. By and large, I really enjoy the gameplay. WotLK is what BC wanted to be when it grew up.

"Actually, the way I chose to formulate my response was to address the notion that "since Israel is a Jewish state, if Israel does not have predominantly Jewish population, it will cease to exist". You will find ideas similar to that one of you look around a bit on the Internet. If "Wrath of Dagon" (or anyone else!) is no adherent to that way of thinking, I am happy." Now that I understand your position a bit better, I'm less hostile to it. I am, however, no more aligned with it than before. The point isn't that Israel would not benefit from diversity. Israel cannot open its borders and invite diversity without welcoming their own demise. The difference between Sweden and Israel is the motive behind potential open border immigration. One would assume the folks moving to Sweden would have a variety of motives, such as employment, education, or political asylum. Folks moving freely into Israel would undoubtedly include many whose primary/only motive would be the destruction of the state. It's not the same thing and there is no way to compare immigration to western democracy with immigration to Israel. As far as targetting civilians goes, I still think it's farcical to say that Israel would gladly fire on civilians in order to kill terrorists when Hamas gladly targets civilians without regard to military targets. My biggest beef is with folks who act as if anyone who doesn't castigate Israel revels in the bloodshed of all arabs. This is simply not true. Imagine for a moment that you're safe and happy there in, I dunno, Stockholm, when a group of people avow that their one unifying wish is the destruction of your community. They hate you with an unreasoning passion. Lacking the military strength to attack you directly, they undertake a variety of terrorist acts such as blowing up civilians with car bombs and, when you have taken measures to protect yourselves against such methods, lob missiles at civilians in your city. So ardent is their loathing that they find willing recruits to sacrifice their lives in order to kill your fellow citizens. There is no negotiation and it is quickly and abundantly clear that they will gladly kill as many of you or all of you given the chance. You and some of your fellow citizens, feeling the depths of your hearts, advocate negotiation and concession. That approach actually holds some sway with a portion of the people, but as these attempts repeatedly fail to achieve any results and the attacks continue, you and likeminded people find your position undermined. Unfortunately, people outside of Sweden, seeing that the Swedes are better organized, better armed, and have a distinct advantage militarily heap scorn on you and your fellow citizens. The terrorists hide themselves amongst "civilians." Sadly, many of these civilians have actively and overtly supported the terrorist organization that currently targets your people. As time progresses, you fight back as best you can and try to carve out some normalcy. It's distressing to you that folks who have never faced such recalcitrant foes can so easily condemn you. It's as if you are held responsible for being the victim of unmitigated hatred and violence. Because no gesture of peace suffices to cool the unwavering insistance on the destruction of your people, the folks who advocate a military response gain power in your community. When you respond, because your self avowed and sworn enemy hides themselves in and amongst civilians, you cannot help but cause civilian casualties. You are embittered because of this outrageous double standard by which you are judged evil for harming civilians whereas your self identified enemy targets civilians as a matter of preference. However, no matter how many people pass judgement on you, you cannot fail in your resolve because, unlike those people in far away places, you know that your resolve is the only bulwark that stands between you and the complete destruction of your community. I don't have any personal animosity for you, Rostere. I mean that sincerely. However, I despise your position. Poverty and despair do not exculpate Hamas from responsibility for the current military conflict. It's hard for me to condemn Israel for their heavy handed response, and I believe their response can sometimes be heavy handed, when the enemies of Israel actively, overtly, and unapologetically desire nothing less than the complete destruction of the state.

With the latest patch, it's easy to use the panic buttons because the cooldown is so low. I haven't had a chance to play any WotLK today, but I have to say that I'm certainly happy with my decision, a long time ago, to sacrifice my hunter for gathering in order to make my Warrior a blacksmith/engineer. Those goggles are great, even without the upgrade, especially considering you can equip them at level 72. The tanking gear on the blacksmithing side is great and, while most of the gear is BoE, the extra BoP sockets for the wrists and gloves are awesome. In fact, the extra sockets are prismatic and won't screw up the socket bonus if you're deadset on worrying about the socket bonus at any rate. My defense is approaching 540 already, and I'm only 77. Those extra sockets help a lot. I'd like to worry a little less about defense and up some of my other stats, but defense is king when you're trying to stay on your feet. Anyhow, in addition to my WotLK forays, I've been trying to get Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches to work on either my or my wife's computer. No such luck. So far it's more like Rhiannon: Curse of the crappy cd. I don't know if it's the medium or the programming that's bad. I guess I'll have to head to frys to return the damned thing.

Look, Sweden recieves a lot of refugees (immigration is about three times as high as the US, if you compare it to the total population), and I'm certainly not ceasing to exist. On the other hand, I get new friends, kebab and Albanian folk music. Last time someone tried to create a country where the inhabitants' rights were judged by their race, things went bad. But I guess to some people, crazy ideas like that will never cease to exist. And yes lol, I'd prefer a heart that is bleeding over none at all. How insufferably foolish. Do you contend that allowing Palestinian immigration into Israel is the same as allowing immigration of all sorts into Sweden? Are you trying to establish some sort of parity between the dangers facing Israel and those facing Sweden? It's hard to answer your statement because it's so absolutely ridiculous on its face. Furthermore, the greater good in the long run is served by letting your brain run the show. Everyone should have a heart, but not one so big it makes all the decisions. Your heart, well fed and safe up in Sweden, might be big as all outdoors. However, the hearts of the terrorists are certainly not filled with brotherly love. Earlier, folks cited the safety of passing such judgements on the Israelis from the security of your European homes. There were plenty of responses, but all of them sound hollow. I'd rather you drop all pretense and become an avowed apologist for Islamic terrorists than try to claim the high ground. I was showing actions and attitudes which were close to genocide (Different races have different rights + one is looked upon as a "threat"). The emphasized sentence makes me sick to even read... You obviously have no concern for other people's right to live at all. You should read the different news reports where Israeli military are reported firing on ambulances who try to get to injured (or dead?) civilians. Don't you have a family yourself? Can't you relate in ANY way to what's happening? Do you really think that, with all the fighting, Israel could not have killed more civilians if they had so intended? Do you even recognize the terrorists' strategy of hiding in and among civilians to the greatest extent possible in order to create more civilian casualties? Will you even concede that folks who have willingly put Hamas in place must expect some repercussions from actions taken by Hamas? I will go so far as to say that you make your statements in good faith. You believe your way will result in lasting peace. However, your solutions, crafted by your heavy heart, are no solution at all. Apparently that sickness you feel when reading posts is spreading, because your position makes me ill.

So, any predictions on these games? Personally, I'm all for the Ravens taking the whole enchilada, but I don't really care much now. It's funny to watch folks talk up the Ravens and the Eagles. Does anyone really think any of the wildcard teams are going to take the day? Personally, I think the Cards are out. Eagles will probably end up out also, even with their "momentum" against the Giants. On the other hand, Ravens are actually a little scary. I think they might topple the Titans, which would leave the Bolts. Meaning no offense to Kelverin, the Steelers are the better team. The only wildcard that has anything more than a thin veneer of momentum going into the next round is Baltimore. Of course, that's my take and I think that a lot of the talking heads disagree with me. Hell, I would like nothing more than to eat crow since the team I'd like most to win at this point is Tennessee.

Aw, hell, I wanted to punish you for reading my block o' text. Anyhow, I know how you feel about the gear issue. You need to have some solid kit to do the damned raids, but you don't get awesome gear, even from heroics. You can get currency to buy awesome stuff from doing many heroics, but heroics don't drop much worth a damn over half the time. Until you can get into a raid, and have folks who will work with you, you're going to be at a disadvantage. Still, it would seem to me that you should be able to at least off tank for a raid. I don't know much about the Northrend ones, but they can't be THAT much different from BC, can they? dum dum doooooom! Good luck with Naxx, bro.

My warrior is 446 blacksmithing and 442 engineering now. My hunter is 450/450 mining/skinning. My mage is only 395 tailoring and 411 enchanting. My rogue is 401 engineering and 407 leatherworking. My druid, the lowbie of the bunch, is 375 herbalism 371 alchemy. Overall, I'm very happy with crafting in WotLK. Yes, folks will be angry as hell about the fact that the mats are so much easier to access and the immediate epics aren't BoP, but I'm glad it won't take me forever and/or a fortune to max my professions. Right now, I'm really cash poor. In fact, my warrior doesn't even have an epic flyer. My hunter and rogue do, but my warrior is really the lynchpin of any instances we're going to do in the near future. As far as other things go, the quests are super easy and any character can get to level 80 long before they need set foot in any 3 of the zones. hell, do Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Dragonblight and choose two from Grizzly Hills, Zul'Drak, and Scholazar Basin and you're 80 before you ever need to set foot in Ice Crown or Storm Peaks. Hell, you don't need to set foot in Wintergrasp ever if you don't want, although I think the area is cool and it has wonderful mining in or out of battles. I've known a lot of folks with several 80s, but my hunter is my only 80. That's mostly because I don't have a lot of time and the time I spend online is mostly used to monger ore for my warrior. Hunters still have a good edge for leveling, of course, but my tank is awesome. I think it's my favorite class right now. The other reason I'm taking my time leveling my other characters is because I end up running guildies through dungeons. Even though there are other high level people to do it, I seem to have a certain felicity in remembering the basic layout of the dungeons even after only a couple times through. Not really an issue for the dungeons I've seen so far in northrend, as they're all pretty straightforward, but can be a real lifesaver for the outlands dungeons and, heaven forbid, places like Kara. I still think, in terms of all around fun game design, Kara is the best, but I haven't seen everything to judge. Anyhow, I'm at 80, 77, 75, 74, and 65 right now. I'll have to take that druid and level her to Northrend. Once you're in Northrend, leveling is super easy and the quests are generally quite interesting. I was hoping some of you guys might share some of your experiences from WotLK also. Just for ****s and giggles.

I'm still playing WotLK with guildies. I have my warrior up to 440 Blacksmithing and 441 Engineering. After that, it gets ugly. I'll probably prostitute my art and offer to blacksmith for free with mats. I don't feel like wasting all of my titansteel on leveling. There's some great gear there I WANT. I've also played some Deus Ex. Good game, but really dated. They really went out of their way to provide multiple solutions to problems. Sadly, I like to sneak around and headshot folks, so a lot of good stuff is wasted on me.

I love Greek mythology, but it can be pretty confusing without any modern help. Kaftan mentioned a city that actually predates classical Greek history. That's the problem with Greek mythology. It borrowed heavily from other peoples in the area, added some Greek flavor, and then commenced to change over a very long period of time. Homer included several causative factors, including both mortal and divine motives. And so adding a few modern twists probably isn't completely terrible. I agree that designers play fairly loose with the material at hand, but even Virgil and Ovid have alternate accounts of the same "events," and some of those accounts might draw from tellings more or less contemporary to Homer Iliad and Odyssey. No matter what, you have to enjoy the rant. Good Work Kaftan B.

Lol They have no control over who is in their division and who they play. Records are as meaningless as stats. As long as you get to the dance, it don't matter how you get there. A whole new season starts this weekend, lets see who wants it more. Well, sure, you don't get bonus points in playoff games for having strong stats, or having a better record, or having played a stronger schedule, so it certainly doesn't matter to the teams and players involved. But as fans and as rational analysts, all of those things are bits of evidence that we should use to set our expectations for playoff teams. I really really hate the kind of sports analysis that attributes success in hindsight to meaningless concepts like "wanting it more," "momentum," and "swagger." They're all shorthand for lazy analysis that looks accurate in hindsight, but that actually fails to provide any kind of predictive insight to games that haven't been played yet. Sure, emotional and motivational factors have great effects on NFL games, but unless they're hanging out in the locker rooms of both teams for the entirety of the week leading up to the game, nobody has anywhere close to enough information upon which to base a prediction on the relative emotional states of the teams. Two caveats: First, real analysis of NFL games is very hard to do. The gap between the understanding of the sport that coaches, players, and management personnel have and the understanding that fans and sportswriters have is larger in the NFL than it is in any other sport. (Sadly, most sportswriters covering NFL football are not interested in brigding this gap with study of their own when they can simply crank out ill-informed columns on how Team A will win because it has Swagger.) So, unless we want to devote all of our free time to charting play-by-play results like NFL scouts do, we're left with educated guesses, aided by a few useful tools like DVOA. Second, all the analysis in the world is only going to get you 3/4ths of the way there. A heck of a lot of what goes on in a football game is attributable to nothing but dumb luck. Given a couple random bounces of an oblong ball, a few a random trips over divots in the turf, or a few gusts of wind at the wrong time, and you can see teams that are clearly inferior by any objective or subjective assessment pull off an upset victory. You won't hear many analysts, coaches, or players say it openly because it sounds like a cop-out, but random chance plays a huge role in who ends up the champion of a single-elimination playoff. And this is why the worse team can beat the better team on any given day. By the time teams get to the NFL level of play, luck should be the deciding factor. Sometimes it will take a lot of luck, because one team is that much better, but we're not talking about pitching the local high school team against the Steelers, either. For my part, I don't think Miami is a particularly tough contender this year, but I would love to see them go all the way. If folks want to say, after the fact, that they only won by dumb luck, so be it. There's a reason folks don't dwell on that factor. To overstate it, or even state it sufficient to its impact on the game, diminishes the efforts of all the teams. Furthermore, some teams do go in "wanting" it more. It's often impossible to say which psychological factors created "luck" for one team or made the other team "choke." I probably sound like I'm in violent agreement. I am in agreement and don't wish to sound combative. I just like to keep in mind that there is virtually no contest in which luck does not provide a factor, and no contest at all between human players in which psychology provides none. How's that for our Latin double negative?

I came home.

No, Killian, most military personnel want to complete the mission and complete it well. Of course, that doesn't mean that they don't want to receive their paycheck, or that they don't want to have funds for college or to see new places or any other number of incentives for joining. I myself used the GI bill to pay for some of my schooling. I also liked receiving a paycheck, even though the lion's share of it went home to my family. We humans are pretty complex and our motives are complex as well. Still, the vast majority of the servicemen I've known have wanted to do a good job. Furthermore, the servicemen in Iraq right now didn't get into this without knowing what they were doing. Morale and a desire to see the mission succeed is always higher in front line troops like the Marines and Airborn. Add that to the fact that it's been long enough, many of them knew they might end up in Iraq when they enlisted and you've got a highly motivated force. I think it's perfectly legitimate to cite your personal experiences, but mine lead me to believe that most of the soldiers over in Iraq want desperately to succeed and, while they would much rather kill the enemy than be killed, they sure as hell don't want their brothers in arms who have already died to be pointless sacrifices. And I think you misunderstood. I never said that American servicemen wanted to go over and die for their country. They want to accomplish a mission. Rather than believe you wanted to put words in my mouth in order to have an easier argument, I'll just assume you didn't exactly understand what I was saying.

It depends. If it's something as simple as what Crashgirl says, then I will be pretty cynical myself. In other words, if all Bethesda does is allow the player to ignore the current ending and continue, then I will call it what it would undoubtedly be: a slick ploy to make money without offering a damned thing to the customer. If they provide more, then it might be worth something. The difference is, in Nightshape's scenario, the player gets something they wanted to put in the original but did not have the resources to include. In Crashgirl's scenario, they claim a major change but it's literally no different since the player can currently ignore the main story line and explore without any penalties. Hell, the player can stop in virtually any place and go exploring and resume the main story at will. There are very few places where the player seems forced to complete something in the main story. I don't mind giving Bethesda the benefit of the doubt, but I hope they don't give me a reason to doubt them.

Good Lord, Walsingham. I mean that your post was poignant commentary on how soldiers view a mission and the sacrifices they make, not just in giving up their lives, but in all the ways that the war effects them. Soldiers aren't flawless angels, but by the mass they desire success. They want the mission to succeed.

"The second reason is that if you do shoot the wrong guy, you've not just killed an innocent man, but you've probably set back the local mission by a year, if not indefinitely. That means you've either got to stay doing the job for a lot longer, or maybe the job just doesn't get done. And if the job doesn't get done then every man who has made sacrifices, got divorced, got injured, lost a limb, or died gets flushed down the lavatory of history. And that's the kind of thing which does not make a proper army happy. "

Rumsfeld is an imbecile who managed to alienate our allies before we even set foot in Iraq. Your previous response struck me as touching in a way, Walsingham, you crazy bastard.

I was at Pohang for Valiant Blitz 1990 and Team Spirit 1991. During Team Spirit I had to drive a hummer over to the AFB near Taegu to get a part for our Radar over at North Ramp. Sounds like I missed you by two years. Yep. When I arrived the currency exchange was great for Americans. It still was when I left, but the won (wan? I can't remember how to spell the name of the currency anymore. ) made some serious advances due to the Olympics. I spent about a year and a half in Korea. Great place. It wasn't all gems, but I came out of it with a decided affection for the people. In particular, I used to take long walks in a place called Chinhae. Actually, while I've been to Taegu, my memory pulled a trick on me and I had Taegu and Chinhae switched. I was stationed in Chinhae for a good chunk of time. As for the pics, I think they're great. I'm glad you decided to show us a few shots of your mug. Next time, you should label them "Life with Tig" or some such. haha

I absolutely agree. If it weren't for his delivery, his material would probably yield smiles and maybe a few dry chuckles. He's really more of a comic than a reviewer and much of his humor relies on folks' opinions regarding game design.

My hunter is level 80. Had to do it because he's my skinning/mining industry. I like the ranged freeze trap, but even the level 75 rogue ability, tricks of the trade, puts that freeze trap thing to shame. Of course, maybe it will mean that more hunters will be able to trap effectively now. I think I'll take a cue from Sargallath and start a new game of Torment. I feel like being tormented.

I don't know. I usually find something funny in the reviews. I guess most often I think they're funny because, even when I disagree with the underlying point, there's some truth in his observation. I mean, he can be a real yutz, but I often literally laugh out loud and, sometime, I even guffaw. No biggie. If you find them offensive, which they most certainly are, I'd just avoid them. I don't think they're actually all that useful for deciding on purchases.

I personally believe that homosexuals suffer from discrimination. However, and this is where I agree with the dog, the idea that the current discrimination against homosexuals somehow shares parity with decades... CENTURIES of civil rights abuses is ridiculous. Discrimination exists in many flavors through the world and pervades all history among evey people. How should we place discrimination of this sort in the vast array of abuses? Tell me, where are the lost tribes of native homosexuals devastated by European diseases and turned out from any refuge? Where are the enslaved homosexuals held in bondage and treated as property? In antiquity, there were many many treatises against the evils of slavery, even in societies built upon slave labor. I know of no such tradition of grievance against the evils of denying members of the same sex the right to marry one another. It is not the same as refusing the right for people of different colors to marry. Even in antiquity, there were some who championed humanity as a whole regardless of superficial differences. In all our basic and essential human rights, there was some champion in antiquity. There is no champion I know for the right of marriage between two members of the same sex. I do know of some examples in history of homosexuality playing a prominent role in warfare or poetry, but that is clearly a different issue. Yes, I think homosexuals deserve the right to marry. However, to grant the prohibition a place beside other civil rights transgressions; to put it near the pinnacle of violations against humanity is not only absurd, it is manifestly absurd to the point of creating hostility against the very movement you champion.

No, the California Supreme Court should not overturn this ammendment. And the folks who support such an idea should pause to think what the effects of this sort of rank judicial activism would mean for the rule of law. If you want to advocate something, how about advocating a state constitution that cannot be ammended by a simple majority? How about cleaning up our joke of a constitution. Yes, we should allow homosexual marriage. However, we should not allow the supreme court to impose it by fiat. The Supreme Court has acted irresponsibly enough on this issue. Just because you disagree with the voters does not mean that you should be glad when the supreme court oversteps its bounds to reverse the will of the people. That should strike as much terror in your heart as the idea of a repressive majority. These are two separate issues. The marriages carried out under standing law should remain valid. The new ammendment should stand. The people of the state should reverse the amendment and allow for homosexual marriages.

The idea that marriages entered under the law as it stood at the time would be nullified is abhorrent. No person should be willing to countenance that outcome, no matter how he voted on the measure of gay marriage.