Mr. Magniloquent

A bit late, but that's quite easy simple. Abolish the AMA. Abolish the FDA. Abolish patent law. Abolish healthcare associated regulation. Every. Single. One. Abolish Medicare. Abolish Medicaid--in all of its forms. Abolish corporate person-hood. Number four is cheating somewhat as there are MANY laws regarding healthcare on the federal level alone. Abolishing the American Medical Association and their monopoly on the licensing of physicians is the most important. Abolishing the FDA is next in line for similar reasons but towards products. Number three goes hand in hand with abolishing the FDA. The rest are massive distortions in the market which disconnect buyers & sellers and destroy any real price discovery. I could get alot more specific about each of these, but that would be a very large novel you wouldn't care to read, and I wouldn't care to write.

Everything in USA healthcare is regulated. EVERYTHING. That's deliberate. It has been for most of the 20th century. The State gets more power over you and requires people to seek The State to access it. Corporations get anti-market practices that cartel service and prevent competition. I worked in healthcare for over 6 years--everything from clerical work, paramedic, nuclear diagnostics, and laboratory analytics. Even the BLANKET WARMERS have regulations about where they must be located. The stories I could share. State domination of healthcare is ultimately why I backed out of med school and became a welding engineer & inspector instead.

Yes that is correct, I have mentioned this several times but the Russian economy's free fall is due to the falling oil price and sanctions You don't always need military intervention to get countries to change there actions and political decisions. Sanctions can and do work, they just work slower The USA used Saudi Arabia to do the exact same thing in mid/late 1980s. They jerked The House of Saud's chain to lower oil prices, which crashed the Soviet economy that was dependent on energy exports. The secondary target is Iran, a mutual adversary to the USA, Saudi Royalty, and Israel. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-10/why-oil-plunging-other-part-secret-deal-between-us-and-saudi-arabia http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/10/us-saudi-arabia-oil-prices-collusion-calculations-and-errors-3051586.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/11/19/are_the_united_states_and_saudi_arabia_conspiring_to_keep_oil_prices_down.html They will not be able to keep oil prices this way for more than 2 years though. The Gawhar reservoir in Saudi Arabia is drying up, and with demand stimulated as it is they will not be able to keep up with it--even with the aid of Qatar and Kuwait. It's also not in their long term interests to do so, because well--all of those actors (including the USA) are totally dependent on oil for their maintenance of influence and power. The oil price shock is a desperate move made because China, Russia, Brazil, India, Turkey, and many more countries are engaging in swap agreements that circumvent the US dollar. Russia & China are actually now testing their alternative to the SWIFT system--which is very bad news for the USA. ISIS is a creation of the USA, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Britain, and Israel. America's Allies are Funding ISIS http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169117 Rebel Gas Attack Supplied by Saudis ISIS a Creation of USA & Israel Noam Chomsky: USA Created ISIS That's just a snippet from this year's news. There are so much more. Every time I read one of your comments, I'm dumbfounded by how deeply you are dominated by Western lies. You very desperately need to get rid of your television. Lybia was not about humanitarian aid! It was about two things Gold and Oil! Gaddafhi was refusing to accept US dollars for oil and was reintroducing the Gold Dinar as a standard form of physical currency in Africa. At the same time, Hugo Chavez was demanding delivery for all the physical gold that they held in foreign countries. If they hadn't delivered the gold, which they did in fact not have--it would have caused a MASSIVE worldwide financial crisis were every western currency would implode and devalue by 100% or more. This would have been a WWIII moment--instantly. Likewise, the USA cannot tolerate ANYONE challenging the Petro Dollar Standard. Ask Saddam. A few months after accepting only Euros and Gold for oil the USA brought "Democracy" to Iraq. Ever heard of the Color Revolutions? Lotus Revolution: Egypt Green Revolution: Iran Purple Revolultion: Iraq Velvet Revolution: Czechoslovakia Orange Revolution: Ukraine Rose Revolution: Georgia Tulip Revolution: Kyrgzstan All of those backed by the USA and their "Non-Government Organizations" like the George Soros Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, and USAID. Those are just the relatively peaceful sabotage of foreign governments. Russia has EVERY reason to be on guard.

As a point of interest, the only thing that makes a Cipher preferable to a Wizard for a gish build is that they can replenish their casting resource. The cipher class is all but totally devoid of defensive spells & abilities, which I find makes it risky to take into melee.

It's more about than just the principle. Do I have anything illegal to hide when I change clothes within my own home? No, but that doesn't mean I don't highly value my right to privacy in doing so for other reasons. This is a very good point but I could possibly counter it by asking you if you really consider someone observing your nudity in the space of your own home, which is an egregious invasion of a persons privacy IMO, to someone being able to read your emails? Are they really the same thing....for me the obvious difference is that one is a physical invasion of privacy and the other is more electronic invasion of your thoughts and communication ? How much money is in your bank account? Give me your medical records to browse through. Show me what you look like naked. Confess to me your deepest anxieties. Tell me the secrets you hold in greatest confidence. You do not own yourself. I am your Master. I am privy to everything you own, think, and are because you are my property. In knowing everything you own, are, communicate, and think, I have to tools to both control you and destroy you if need be. Now return to rejoicing your chains, Slave. Cordially, The US Government

Agreed on so many levels. I picked them up on a steam deal and just couldn't get into it. If driftwood mated with a zombie, you'd get Geralt. Worst protagonist ever. Combat was also very dull for me. The story, which is supposed to be a selling point couldn't pull me in because I could not care less about any of the characters, factions, or their motivations. I also found the binary choices very forced in a world that was supposed to consist of shades of grey. I like the poker dice game, and I thought atmosphere was very well done--the environments were fully realized and alive. Beyond that...*yawn*.

While I enjoy it, the demigod aspect is not precisely what I appreciate. I like how magic is...magical, and allows me to approach things from an clever angle that would have otherwise been insurmountable. I do believe that magic should be potent and capable, but I think the best way to balance that out is through verisimilitude that does not scale. In the original Deadlands RPG rules or with Fate RPG where everyone basically can be killed and maimed by everything--even devastatingly sometimes. Phenomenal cosmic power can still be stopped by an unsuspecting dagger or a lucky arrow.

I picked up Divinity: Original Sin with the 33% Steam discount. This game is incredible. I wish I had backed it. I was unfamiliar with the studio when it was kickstarted, so I didn't back it despite the promising look. I will most certainly entertain Larian Studious in the future. This game is everything right with an RPG. It doesn't hand hold, it give you total freedom, lots of problem solving/solutions, classless design, great sense of humor, copious detail for those who explore, and--oh yeah, IT'S FUN. Like a really good time. This is probably the best game I've played in over a decade. Let's hope the industry takes note!

Please do, I'm interested in hearing your response. I am fairly confident that you believe Al-Qaeda didn't plan and commit 9/11 but I may be wrong Considering 9/11 has absolutely no bearing on this thread, it sounds like you use that as some sort of litmus test for psychological dysfunction. The Soviets used to do that for anyone that criticized The State. If you didn't like the Soviet system, you were insane and had to be committed. The glory of the Soviet system was obvious, and disagreeing with it was self-evident of western sabotage or insanity. Your insertion of 9/11 is eerie in that regard.

#1: Quoted myself. #2: No taunts or aggro, but AI may be including some "aggro-lite" evaluations in the upcoming patch. #3: They can move, but any movement or action that had been in process will be interrupted when engaged. Should the engaged character move away, they will be subject to a free "disengagement attack".

Absolutely. Its what governments and bankers do when the fraction reserve system has created catastrophic debt and liabilities that endanger their positions. It's also a useful tool for quelling dissent and controlling domestic populations to boot. Declare a war and suddenly people seem to be aquiesent to things like...ignoring the law, human rights, morality, you know it. That's a bit historically speaking though. To be more specific, the foremost reason presently is preserving hegemony through the Petro Dollar Standard. The importance of this cannot be understated. It gives those whom create the dollar and those with easy access to it the ultimate power in the universe, "something for nothing". With it, you can rule the world.

He was suspected of not paying protection money to his self-proclaimed masters. The NYPD ended up killing him in pursuit of it. Capiche? We are told that this is both Freedom and Civilization. Laugh if you want.

Er... what about George Bush Snr.? But i agree with your general point. Work in the security services should bar you from overseeing them. Of course Bush Sr. is corrupt evil. So was his NAZI collaborating, and military-coup attempting father. Just because I recognize Putin for the cloak-and-dagger, fascist, autocrat that he is does not mean I fancy Anglo flavors of the same evil(s). Right now, it's the Anglo branch that's begging to bait Russia into WWIII so that it can preserve The Petro-Dollar Standard and provide cover for the collapse of its eviscerated and mostly illusory economy.

I'm sorry but that's nonsense, Garner wasn't assassinated by the police for not paying protection money. You are starting to sound like Vals, next thing you will be expecting us to believe that 9/11 wasn't committed by Al-Qaeda He died while resisting arrest, you do know that arresting arrest is illegal right? See the video here. NYC maintains that it has a monopoly on the sale of cigarettes. The "privilege" to participate in this monopoly comes with many costs, mostly notably the tax levied on their sale which much be collected and remitted to the government of NYC. Eric Garner was SUSPECTED OF competing with NYC's monopoly by selling cigarettes at a lower price by not adding the extortion surcharge, also known as protection money, or taxes. Eric Garner was incidentally murdered in process of the NYPD enforcing its cigarette racquet. If he hadn't been murdered, he would have been merely assaulted, kidnapped, then extorted through the "justice system" in enforcement of said cigarette racquet. The ultimate reason this scenario happened, is because he didn't pay his protection money. Plain and simple. Is selling cigarettes illegal in NYC? No. Is selling cigarettes without collecting/paying taxes illegal? Yes. Ask yourself why that is.

I'm genuinely intrigued. Do you get drunk before these posts, or do they get you high in their own right? Eric Garner was killed for not paying his protection money. He simply wasn't paying his dues. NYC government considers itself head of the cigarette cartel in the city, and killed this man while enforcing that cartel's position. One has to be intoxicated on koolaide to not see that for what it is.

Russia is just a neofeudalistic duchy. Modern Russia exists as many western politicians can only dream off--unapproachable oligarchy and openly corrupt bureaucracy sitting high above the peasant and serf population. Putin has more economic sense than many of the fascists around the world, but he's still a fascist autocrat. He came to power through the ranks of the secret police. There are never good people working in secret police and intelligence agencies ever--for any country, entity, at any point in history. Just the corrupt and those waiting for the opportunity to become corrupt. Just ask Alexander Litvinenko.

I'd like to see engagement changed, but not removed. I don't like the it operating outside of weapon reach, the damage nor the accuracy bonus. I can live with the free attack and zero recovery time--even if that's arguably the greatest culprit of it being exploitable.

How so? i always liked the BG2 one more( in appearence and on design/functionality,), but as i was talking about how the areas were depicted both games are about the same. I just find the BG2 colored icons pretier The BG map was superior to the BG2 map in that it had greater character. It fleshed out the lay of the land better, because the areas populated and covered the map in a semi-contiguous manner. To be fair though, if BG2 had the same style map, it would have felt empty and devoid because the areas were designed much differently. I imagine that's why they decided to add color and a more vivid background.

The Priest is very much a "heal bot" in PoE. Their offensive spells incur no friendly fire, but they aren't particularly worthwhile either. Personally, I prefer the per encounter healing/status purge of the Paladin over the cleric. With the full release, I may find encounters to be challenging enough to where I might need healing but that's doubtful. Healing Endurance is ultimately immaterial and a waste of time in PoE so long as one character is left standing when victorious.

I just made a party of 6 orlan rogues specialized to attack speed/critical hits using pikes. Absolute murder. I would stealth my party into position around the enemy in pairs, then ambush. The only thing that caused them to even momentarily blink was engagement. Considering this party needed to be highly mobile, I found engagement irritating for the first time. Not really making a point of any kind, just sharing.

Combat hasn't been chaotic for me since v300? I've lost track of the iterations, but I believe it was the second update. I think most of the ability activation and recovery times still need tweaked, but otherwise I'm fine with the pace of combat.

The Law doesn't matter. It suits the purposes of those in power. Like the many rulings from various courts, the police have no obligation to protect you or anything else. The only good thing about this Ferguson ordeal, is that it has shown what the police are actually paid to do. They stand idle while looters pillage, ransack, and immolate property across the street whilst wearing combat armor, automatic machine guns, sniper rifles, and armored combat vehicles keep the actual protesters monitored.

Voted for Baldur's Gate, but only because that's the best amalgamation of the mixture they presented. There is much to like about any of these games listed. The narrative of PS:T and NWN2 MotB, the adventure of NWN2 SoZ, the mood, steampunk, and crafting of Arcanum, quest structure/outcome of both Arcanum and the Fallouts, the superb combat of ToEE, etc. While I did like IWD 1&2, they are my least favorite of any of the games presented here. I played them, and enjoyed them well enough, but they were merely consolation for my lack of any new BG games. I've never actually played KotOR 2 though. I've been meaning to, but just never got around to it.

Nonsense. You don't understand his philosophy. The mirror images can be torn down fairly swiftly with a variety of attacks (including mundane attacks), hence it is not a hard counter. The Mirror Image spell in PoE, all things being equal, is actually more powerful than its AD&D counterpart. Several images with the same poor AC versus one character with very high Deflection that goes down piecemeal with every hit - the former are easier to destroy. Hardly. +20 Deflection that decreases with each hit is far inferior to a high percent chance that the next attack will be totally invalidated. That it doesn't scale makes it even worse. With the AD&D Mirror Image, no matter how powerful the attack or how far outclassed by an opponent your character is, you've got a reliable time-frame to (likely) avoid all damage from weapon attacks. That is tremendously powerful. With PoE, +20 Deflection (for one attack) could potentially push an equal opponent's accuracy to where they may actually be able to miss--but overall will not accomplish that much. You're still going to get it. You're still likely to take damage. If that opponent far outclasses you or has high innate accuracy/damage (relative to level), then it's not going to do much of anything for you. The AD&D Mirror Image functions like a lesser AD&D Stoneskin in that the damage type it protects against is absolutely negated. Critical hits, dragon claws, knockdown...all negated (for a time) by each image shed. Compare that to a <=20 Deflection bonus against a monster in PoE with >70 Accuracy....meh. You'll be slightly adjusting their graze and critical range down. That is the design difference. That is what has become of the no hard counters design. Nothing is absolute, everything is a threshold. Furthermore, those thresholds are balanced to be low enough so that they shall be overcome. It's a world of difference. Agreed.

Building a gish with the wizard class is not quite as easy as it once was. I find that in making one, I don't assign attribute points much differently than a conventional wizard. Might: Not very important. Keep it at 10. Dex: Difficult call. It's desirable to minimize your casting and recovery time, but I feel it is ultimately a lesser choice to other stats. I keep it at 10. Con: Not necessary. I put lower it to 3. Particularly with the low health multiplier, it's more important to avoid damage than endure it. I imagine many would disagree with this. Per: Maxed. Necessary to do anything, and you need to compensate for the wizard's poor innate accuracy. Int: Maxed. Deflection is essential. Res: Maxed. Many of the spells suited to this style have a duration, and keeping from being interrupted is important. For talents, I like Peasant weapon focus primarily to get bonuses with staffs for the Concelhaut's spell. Using reach weapons like staffs and spears doesn't hurt either--even if they are slower. A hatchet and shield works fine for when you need to be more defensive and/or quick as well. Grimiore Slam doesn't seem to be working for me, otherwise I would select it. Talents that improve deflection are advisable. For spell selection, use Spirit Shield, Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff, Curse of Blackened Sight, Miasma of Dullness, Expose Vulnerabilities, Ironskin, etc. are your bread and butter. Don't bother with Wizard's Double or Mirror Image. Only use Eldritch Aim if you are using fast weapons, like two daggers. With how short durations are and how ineffective most of the self-buffs are, gishing with a Wizard isn't very satisfying right now. Having to recast all of your short-lived protections and enhancements each battle is taxing and inefficient--even with no recovery time from your defensive spells. You're much better off flanking with a reach weapon and casting select debuffs than anything else. Tanking can be done though. Heavy armor with Spirit Shield and Ironskins will allow you to take on the hurt.