Lord Tingeling

Kill Bill sucked.

Fallout sucks. Pick up ToEE instead. Yes, yes- I'm totally serious right no... well, ok. Maybe not.

I'm playing WoW right now, actually. Killing scorpions in desolace for yet another quest, I guess.

It is a small part of a game if you plan on spending over 1000 hours at level 60. Mosh (the most prominent warlock poster at the official forums) has spent about 18% of his total playtime (if memory server) on one of his characters leveling, for example. Therefore it shouldn't come as a suprise as the quality of the gameplay at level 60 might be a wee bit more important than the gameplay while leveling to some people. And why is that so strange? If the complains are warranted (I'm not saying either way, here), it should only be natural to complain over a lack of gameplay that has a very large impact on the game at large rather than over a stage that is over relatively quickly. It's no different from complaining over that game X has a good tutorial and first stage and then falls apart afterwards. Quite tedious, as I indeed *did* say in my post. Or wait, the exact wording was "quite boring". Look it up if you don't believe me. I've played this time since US open beta. The "magic" of being level 2 and whacking kobolds with a rusty sword has been gone for ages. Nowadays insanely hard instances where you're actually challenged (such as MC/BWL) or PvP, because to me, that's where the fun is. And I'm certainly not alone in thinking this way. You said that the endgame was less "important" than the leveling stage of the game. Without having played said endgame, how would you know? Keep in mind that most people say that Guild Wars *starts* at level 20, for example. The same holds true for WoW to quite a lot of people.

Well, if I act like an arrogant idiot, it's because I care. Or somesuch, anyway. I think you should keep in mind that WoW isn't Warcraft III and vice-versa, and this extends to gameplay issues and balance as well. Currently only druids have a IC res, and it's on a 30 min cooldown. There are other ways to jump out of combat for drinks/resurrections (soulstone, reincarnation, DI), or you can simply sit out until you're needed as a rezzer. Again, se the above point.

Mordechai, the #1 ranked pvper on EU Darksorrow has maybe 40-50 days /played on that character. How many of those days were spent leveling? Perhaps 10. Face it, leveling is to many a very *small* part of the game. And if you have no concept of what the "end game" is, it seems rather far-fetched that your claims regarding said end game would carry much weight here, now would it? You might find the time you spend as level 60 to be boring, or you might not- but I'd advice you to cross that bridge once you actually get there. For me, yes, leveling is getting quite boring, as I've already leveled with other characters before. Right now I'm looking forward to Zul'Gurub with my warlock, and after that MC/Onyxia and loads of pvp. And call me crazy, but I find that much more fun than grinding murlocs or doing the same quest over and over again.

You're level 33. Paladins are teh win at lower levels- their damage doesn't scale nearly enough as that of the other classes later on. Which is as it should be, really. Sure they can, but endgame, warriors and rogues are usually first in line for the heavy hitters. And their set equipment (lawbringer etc) are firmly healbot-oriented. As it should be, really. A jack-of-all-trades has no place in Molten Core whatsoever.

Then you haven't read the lore. Teldrassil is Teldrassil. The (now ruined) Tree of Life on Mount Hyal is another thing entirely. Teldrassil was planted after RoC. Wrong. Northwatch Hold lies just south of Ratchet. They do get defensive items, and quite good ones at that. They are a plate-wearing class, remember? I fail to see how a DoT would help with a paladin in his support role. It might be useful for solo pulling/PvP, but otherwise, no. This is completely faulty. I assume you haven't invested in any sort of intelligence/+healing gear, which, suprisingly, healing classes wear in order to heal effectively. With blessing of light and appropriate gear, paladins become very, very mana-efficient healers. Wrong. They can, just not as good as warriors, and certainly not good enough for MC/BWL/ZG etc where effectiveness is key. Priests can't either, shamans can't either. What's your point?

Right, I'm currently playing SS2 as well. Not that scary, but it has given me a few jumps so far. As well as the standard paranoia that comes with facing those small spiders/worms etc. I don't know why, but I have this gigantic, irrational fear for facehuggers and their clones in various games. Any time I see one of those enemies, I freak out. (I absolutely*hated* the egg incubator part of AvP2, by the way). The irritating thing is that nowadays *every* game seems to have those bastards. Oh well, I'm a techie and it r00lz. Hacking up cyborg midwifes with energy rapiers = fun.

Sound is very important, but I would hold that the immersion good sound can generate greatly depends on the game itself, as Fishboot said. Take Thief, System shock 2 (which I'm currently working myself through) or Band of Brothers, for example. Sound here plays a very vital role, as it helps discern enemy positions. locate threats, noisy items of import, what have you. Essentially, the immersion many developers strive for is one that makes the player identify with and feel like the guy on the screen as much as possible. You're experiencing the character's senses by using your own, so to speak. And hearing a footstep or a creaking door with your own very ears often feels more "real" than watching a bunch of pixels on a screen. In other games the audio/music might be around to inspire emotion or simply be there so the player has something to listen to. While I would put immersion/sound as a prime criterion for a good Thief-esque game or a realistic WWII shooter or something similar, the sound part would to me be of much lesser import in a game such as Age of Empires. Edit: typos galore!

Since when has roleplaying been about stats?

GG NUBZ!!!!

I thought he worked in the housing buisness or something, so I doubt it's his work rendering him unable to post. Oh, and he's been gone like this before, for months if I recall correctly. He's probably on vacation or something with his wife.

Just got back from Wacken Open Air where I saw, among others, Ensiferum. Coolness. Currently listening to Bright eyes with Blind Guardian.

That's why you should always back up important stuff like that. Anything else is just stupid and frustrating. That said, in this regard, I'm very, very stupid, so I'll just shut up now.

The wit! It burns, it burns!

Thank god you aren't an american, volo.

You unlocked *everything*!? Oh. My. God.

You never used your sanity, anyway.

I will get the lewd, depraved version we have here in swedenland, and then I'll offer it up to passerby kids in an effort to corrupt them and give their souls to Satan while they are still young! And then I'll drink lots of Red Bull. Boo-yah! You should all watch this movie and repent before it's too late! http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3006 (note: even though SA is usually not work-safe, this review is)

Finntroll. Oh my god. Teh cheese. That said, I'm currently listening to a quite wonderful remix of the song of storms from OoT. All you Zelda fanboys should check it out, as it can be gotten from this site: http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01153/

Yet the game has only been given a higher rating in the US, while being banned outright in Australia. I never thought of the Australians as particularly prudish, but it just depends on who manages to sneak which silly law through parliament. It was always rated 18 here in the UK, which is why it hasn't attracted so much publicity. Is that so? Just goes to show, I guess.

One thing springs to mind... of all those supposedly game-inspired school shooters and whatever, how many of the deranged kids have claimed that "IT WAS THE PR0N THAT MADE ME DO IT!!!111ESHIFT+w1321ONE!11!!" ? I'll never understand the sort of stigma associated with sex in amerikaland.

Depends on which difficulty level you play on. If I recall correctly it is very possible to get hit on a semi-regular basis with an AC of 40+ or so in the latter stages of the game on hard mode. And dex bonus is highly overrated.

If you're going defense, then for Darque's sake, don't equip robes. Go grab the heaviest armor you can find and then mod it with energy resistance, as you'll get hit when playing hard no matter what, really. That said, there's no reason whatsoever to go defensive when it comes to feats et al.