Ganrich

I decided to watch the games yesterday. Both the complexity vs alliance and the fnatic vs OG games were incredibly gripping. First time watching one of these tournaments via streaming as I usually watch them (if I watch them) after the fact on YouTube, but I may start doing it more often. It's kind of like going to see an awesome concert and going home with an itch to learn an instrument. Now I am debating getting into Dota. I doubt I will, but watching it makes me want to.

Yup, between HBM memory, the new APIs, the power needs of VR (don't want to argue whether VR will succeed or not, but its presence in the landscape means AMD/Nvidia have to ensure their cards are capable of delivering in case it does), and GFX cards moving to 14nm I expect some solid gains in the coming years. For VR GFX Cards need to be capable of powering 2 screens running around 2k (IIRC) at 90fps with no dips or vomitting possibly ensues. I think Palmer Lucky said he was aiming to have 8k per eye in the end to finally be rid of the screen door effect. So, cards have to get beefier to keep up if VR does take off. Exciting times to be a geek.

Nvidia's Gameworks is still using those shenanigans to hurt AMD. They persuade devs to go bananas with certain features that AMD cards have trouble running. Tesselation is an example. Other things happen as well. This is so they look better in early benchmarks and people that don't look deeper assume Nvidia's cards are mostly on top... When it is more neck and neck. Look at Fallout 4. At launch Nvidia was handing AMD their butt on most benchmarks, and if you look at current benchmarks (after patches from Bethesda and AMD driver updates) it is more even and sometimes favor AMD. Some devs have spoken out about Gameworks, and now AMD has their open source equivalent called GPUOpen. They hope that their equivalent being open source will force Nvidia to use some transparency with Gameworks. We will see if that bears fruit. I doubt it. AMD isn't innocent either. They convinced SquareEnix to use Tressfx with the first Tomb Raider reboot. It caused the game to run like crap on Nvidia cards for a while, but you could turn that effect off. So it isn't that bad. But, yeah, AMD is more competitive with their GFX cards, but they have a stigma of having bad drivers. Something I know is far from true in the Windows environment. (Their Linux drivers are bad, but that is a whole other can of worms). AMD also has higher wattage on their cards, and that means more heat. However Polaris is 14nm, and that lowers their wattage significantly. They showed a video of battlefront using a Polaris card vs a 950, they locked FPS to 60, ran it at medium settings, and they were around 85 watts while the 950 was around 145 watts. It's pretty significant. I think DX12 and Vulkan will help AMD in this regard, though. It will reset Nvidia's perceived lead in drivers while showing a huge boost in AMDs hardware. I really don't think Nvidia is ready for DX12/Vulkan. Another thing to remember is the consoles have GCN cards in them, and that means any games ported to DX12/Vulkan will be easier to get working with cards of a similar architecture (namely GCN). So, AMD has played an incredible game of Chess here, and it should pay off as it looks like it is all lining up. On the note of AMD vs Intel. Zen had early estimations of gain 40% IPC gains for AMD. That puts them in the ivybridge area for single thread performance IIRC, but in a recent discussion on it AMD let slip that Zen has exceeded that. I can't find the video where I saw that, and it is AMD probably playing the marketing game so take it with a huge grain of salt. AMDs marketing on Bulldozer was pretty huge, and that turned out to be snake oil. It is enough that I am waiting, though. I also expect Zen will be quad core or more to force Intel to stop making I3s dual core, and/or lower prices on i3s and i5s. I hope it happens. These, not unlike their GFX cards, are moving to 14nm and they will have better performance/efficiency for it. So their CPUs will be cooler, and apparently AMD is putting a lot of time into the heatsink. So if you don't want to buy a 3rd party heatsink... You will hopefully get something decent with the cpu. I am still using an overclocked 2500k, and haven't upgraded because it isn't worth the money for such a small gain. However, if I have a similar small gain to switch to AMD to support their effort here then I will do it. Jim Keller is a magician, and I expect Zen will be solid as a byproduct. Edit: I said battlefield, but it was battlefront.

I'm actually eyeballing AMD for the first time in a while. Spec wise Polaris looks to be on an even footing, but it seems (probably because of Mantle's fingerprints on Dx12/Vulkan) their cards are more feature rich for the new APIs. Most of the Dx12 comparisons show a larger gain for AMD while using more features, and this is with their current lineup of cards. So, these new cards are likely more compliant, and will have more gains. Also, AMD have more partnerships with companies using the new APIs than Nvidia. It's an odd turn of events as AMD couldn't get as many partnerships as Nvidia prior to dx12/Vulkan. I will likely wait till Zen to see if I can make my new rig 100% AMD for the first time in nearly a decade. Both Zen and Polaris look promising. I may snag a Polaris card before then, though. I'm not knocking team green, as both my current rigs are both Intel/Nvidia, but the GFX industry is starting to look a little too much like a monopoly at the moment. We need AMD to not fall.

Intellect is great for Chanters. I am unsure why you aren't seeing a difference in numbers. The way it works is complicated, but: Duration: A chant Phrase has 2 parts. It has a cast time and a linger time. The first level ones (the ones you listed) have a 4 second cast time, and a 2 second linger time. Intellect increases the linger time, but has no effect on cast time. So, to keep it simple, if you have a +50% duration increase from intellect then you will have a phrase with a 3 second linger time. Once your cast time on your first phrase is over, you will automatically start casting the second phrase you have set up, and the linger from your first phrase overlaps. It should look something like this. "-" indicates cast time and "_" indicates linger. "^" doesn't mean anything. I am on a tablet and can't get spacing right so used it instead. P1) ----__ P2) ^^^----__ If you only have 2 phrases composing a chant then the first phrase will repeat upon finishing the second phrases casting. With linger you have around 75% uptime of both chants. It should only be 50% uptime (where your duration would be +0%) at 10 intellect. AoE: If you hover over your phrase on the quick bar you should see the AoE size. At 10 intellect you should only see a single circle. That is the base AoE size. At a higher intellect you should see a lighter circle outside the base AoE circle. That lighter circle is what your intellect bonus adds. You may have these AoE circles disabled in your options menu depending on the difficulty, but I recommend you at least eyeball it once to get an idea on a first play through with your chanter. I hope this helps. I agree the combat log can be convoluted when dealing with some abilities. How dots work in this game is odd to say the least.

Game has collision detection for choke point blocking. They are debating having archer classes manually aim their abilities, but it isn't set in stone. Out thinking an opponent is just a different kind of skill compared to twitch. Gear progression in the game is supposed to be pretty flat as they don't want new players getting stomped by the old guard. The progression system is also supposed to take a long time, and is supposed to be more horizontal vs the typical MMO with Vertical power gain. Skill spam will be minimal and is baked into design unlike daoc and eso. Also, it isn't like many mmo player don't also play other genres. I play FPSs just as much as the next guy (and I am pretty good if I play a game I like, if I do say so myself), but most FPS games are too much about getting kills and not enough group play. There are exceptions of course. I enjoy different kinds of games.

Have you played it in alpha? Because a lot of abilities and whole sections of the combats systems aren't finished or in place. The game has systems in place to stop spamming, or it will. Players are currently complaining it is heavy handed. Alpha is Alpha. I have grown bored of the tightly controlled, instanced PvP of other MMOs. I am not looking at this to be competitive, but to do something that no other games currently on the market allows. Build, siege, large scale battles, and classes designed to do large scale battles (ESO's problem is their classes aren't designed with it in mind). It isn't like you being with 200 fellow faction members could ever be competitive when you lose so much control and coordination.

So, this game has been out of Kickstarter for a while, and, although it has been discussed a little, it hasn't had its own thread. At least I didn't find one in a search. It is a RvR based PvP sandbox MMORPG, for those wondering. It's being head up by Mark Jacobs (creator of DAoC and former CEO of Mythic Entertainment). Around the end of 2015 there has been a great deal of info released on the game. It has 3 realms: Arthurian's, Tuatha De Dannan (sp?), and Vikings. These factions all play differently as a whole. Arthurian's based will be defensive (trying to be the last standing), the Vikings are offensive (best defense is the best offense), and the TDD will use Guerilla tactics. It will have around 10-12 classes per faction. They will be themed to fit their faction. Most will be in before launch, and some will come after (spirit mage and Shapeshifter classes possibly coming post-launch). Classes are non-mirrored between the realms. They are bringing back old MMO classes like support, speed, and so on. They also are having ranged classes capable of hundreds of yards reach. So mages can assist sieges alongside siege engines. The economy is player driven. There is a dedicated crafter class that seems to hold similar ideas to SWG crafting. Save the starting safe zones (which are islands) for each faction, all other cities will be player made. These player made cities can then be seiged by the other 2 realms. The game starts with the world being an Archipelago. As a faction takes control of an island, that island can have an anchor placed on it to pull it toward its starting island. Thus the world map will be ever changing as islands are won or lost by the 3 factions. One of the more interesting part of the game is a system called AIM. This stands for Action, interaction, reaction. Using their servers to run a PhysX system, the game physically tracks spells, projectiles, and so on. Also, I believe it monitors collision detection. Anyway, if a fireball is cast, and it contacts a waterball, then the water will turn the fire into steam. Then players can use air magic to push the steam cloud. All magic types and projectiles will have unique interactions with all other types. They are doing unique things with spells and abilities where you can craft your own. They are doing horizontal progression (no levels) to keep new players viable. They are slowing combat down (compared to other games in the genre to be more tactical, allowing players to aim at certain body parts (head, torso, either arm, or either leg), etc. It is an interesting title doing a lot of unique things in the MMO sphere. Even if you aren't into PvP in MMOs it is worth looking at. http://camelotunchained.com/v3/ Apologies for any errors. I'm at work, I'm bored, and i did this from my phone Edit: I forgot to mention that they built the engine from scratch, and the server is capable of battles that range from small skirmishes all the way up to thousands of players. In alpha the client is holding around 30 fps.

Pretty much how I feel. I am not irritated with the oculus price because it's expensive, but because they said for years that it would be around $300-$400 for the consumer release. I never expected the Vive to be cheaper than OR because neither Valve, nor HTC, said anything to infer that.

So I'm not the only one who gets annoyed at their own music! I feel somewhat relieved by this! Ps: I love your PoE soundtrack as a whole: it's just so evocative! Yeah, I do this too. I think it's part of any artistic trade. I still think the score is my favorite part of PoE. It's perfect. It is everything it needs to be (as an IE spiritual successor score). Yet unique, fitting to Eora, and so on. It's masterfully done. Kudos Mr.Bell.

I have 2 PCs. One is my Windows machine that is a traditional desktop configuration, and the other is a self built Steam Machine running Steamos. I play equally on both. I was dual booting into Ubuntu, Mint, and a few other distros prior to building the steam machine. I kept changing around to get use to different distros and see what I liked. I am a gamer, and could care less what OS I am running. However, I am tired of my graphics API being locked behind a new version of Windows. There are a handful of issues I have with MS and Windows that have developed over the past decade. (Too many to go into honestly). D3D has been nothing but very minor upgrades until Mantle came on the scene, and then MS started listening to devs and scrambled to make DX12. They need a competitor, and god I hope Vulkan is actual competition to succeed where OpenGL floundered. MS having a threat in pulling gamers away from Windows will do nothing but benefit gamers. Especially since Vulkan will work on every version of Windows, Linux, and OSX in the wild. Other than the graphics drivers (which isn't in as bad a state with Nvidia)... I honestly have grown to prefer Linux. It's repository system, simplicity of the command prompt, how the home file works, plug'n play of nearly everything, etc. They were a little of a learning curve, but in a week they felt just like a better way of doing things. The gaming sphere on Linux has always been a Chicken and the Egg paradigm. It didn't have users because of a lack of professional software, but it didn't have professional software because of the lack of users. I have been more and more only purchasing games that are on Linux, or coming to Linux. Devs have to keep making games on Linux and eventually I believe things will change where they have a decent population on Linux. I am already there more or less. Where 5 years ago I would have laughed at the idea of being on Linux. I would jump completely, but unlike Boeroer I still play a AAA game or 2. I also am waiting for AMD to get their Linux drivers in a better state (and release Zen and Polaris) so my new desktop build can be a 100% AMD system (and hopefully a Linux only system as well).

No, chant speed is increased via a passive ability called Brisk Recitation. For the tank build you can easily dump Dex to 3, and use scrolls, chants, and invocations for most of your damage. Edit: the chanter doesn't have to spec for Brisk Recitation. I think you first get it at level 4 and it scales as you level. I think it decreases chant time by 40% in the end.

Yeah, it may have been me not explaining it efficiently. The chant number is still shown, but the bar that shows the progression of a chant is obfuscated by the UI. If you want to see when "Come, Come soft winds of Death" ends and the next chant begins (and watch it a bit like a stop watch) you have to hover the chant icon. It irritates me, but if you are just checking the number periodically then you will be fine.

I peruse this site with my iPad when I'm lying in bed (Trying to sleep. Yay! Insomnia!), and it is hit and miss with videos being visible in safari.

Yes, please. Also, I'd be fine with one set in the world of Kingkiller Chronicles or the Dresdenverse.

As someone with absolutely zero problems with the idea of "multiplayer only games" (at least on PC where I don't pay for Live or PS Premium) I really miss bots. I would much rather have bots than a tacked on campaign with a terrible story and no challenge. I prefer single player only or MP only games. To me, games that try to straddle both lines tend to suck at one, the other, or both.

Yup, ironically the point use to be added before you got to the background screen, and if you changed background you had to back up and fiddle with points. It caused me some confusion when it was like that. I still wish Background selection happened before attribute allocation to streamline it some.

Don't like the UI changes. I hate having to hover my Chanter's chants with the mouse to see where he is on chanting to quick fire an invocation. I will break auto-attack sometimes to cast the moment it is ready and knowing when that is coming lets me make that judgement. Where I use to be able to check it every time I paused by just glancing at the bottom left corner. Neither here nor there on the debuffs from being incapacitated. It hasn't changed much for me. I have very little opinion on the Cipher as I have never played one because they were so OP at the onset of the game, and I like balanced or even Under powered classes. I do think the nerf was a bit heavy handed, but I think it was because of the Spell Mastery change to Druids, Wizards, and Priests. I understand the why, but not to the extent it went. I think the passive that reduces Chant times is a band-aid fix at best. New chant levels will bring longer chants that are immediately reduced by the talent. I have ideas brewing on how to fix them, but I think it is a large enough change to be an idea for PoE2. I still think they need some interesting "Chanter only" Talents. Ancient Memory and Beloved Spirits are boring and only marginally useful, and that's it. How many talents/abilities do other classes have? Cipher's have a slew of neat talents, so do Druids, Wizards, Priests, and every other class. These talents let the class stand apart and differintiate themselves. The Chanter picks spells and the same generic talents every other class has access too. The talent I have recommended multiple times that lets Chanters cast a scroll once per encounter without consuming the scroll is still something I would like to see. Talents that increase their personal weapon damage, elemental damage, speed, or whatever while chanting would be cool too. They could use more phrases and invocations as well.

I This is what I meant. You put it better, for sure. You have my thanks. I agree about Dota Keyrock, but Titanfall is a different creature. Dota has a slew of options, play styles, etc. Titanfall is much more tightly controlled from a design standpoint. It doesn't have the options of different builds for your hero or team compositions that Dota has. It does have different builds, but they are minor in their effect. Parkour increases your running speed, and that speed could be maintained via the good ole arena shooter bunny hop. However, if you just run on the ground... You are slow. Titan weapons come in 3 categories IIRC... 1) a bullet hose chain-gun, 2) insane splash damage from a handful of rockets, 3) a rail gun. The missiles and rail gun were one shot kills to a pilot while the missiles had splash damage. The chaingun was more or less an instant kill, but I think to a few bullets, but they came out fast. A pilot with no Titan vs a pilot in a Titan is dead if they stay on the ground. They must parkour, flank, attack from above, etc. Even then it tends to favor people in Titans. It usually took team coordination if your team didn't have a Titan in the area, but not always. Mediocre players in a Titan weren't much of an issue. However, many players said to themselves "A shooter made by a company formed by 2 of the major players of Infinity Ward? I will play it like CoD and wreck people." They then proceed to run on the ground as slow as can be and not jump, not parkour, etc and they got ROFLstomped. Then they said it was a bad game and left. It's bad enough when a player with a smart pistol, shotgun, or smg was jumping all around you landing a bunch of rounds, and you can't hit them with those typical CoD aiming skills.... But when that player is in a Titan that are resistant as all get out to Standard weapons and come packing with weapons that one shot kill and do crazy splash damage? It's game over. To kill a Titan as a Pilot you had to 1) use anti-Titan weapons that did very little damage, had long reloads, or exposed you. 2). Rodeo the Titan rip open a panel to expose it's core and fire into its brain pan. 3). Get a Titan of your own. All the while avoiding chainguns, rockets (varying types), a rail gum, electric smoke, the Titan's punch, or whatever could be coming your way to one shot kill you or get you exposed. That was a major issue Titanfall had. People thought "CoD with Mechs", and it wasn't. It's only similarity to CoD was hit scan weapons. They then, not using the major tool the Pilot had to save themselves from Titans (Parkour), turned to the Internet and said the game was bad, was a CoD wannabe, and unbalanced. Even the reviews made comparisons to CoD. It was a helluva lot better than any CoD I have ever played, and so much so that BO3 is Titanfall without mechs. Anyway, in Clan vs Clan I am sure those team strategies were developed by creative people that at the time went against the grain. However, I bet every single one of the, was using parkour. Also, they were probably using similar tactics to kill Titans because their aren't a plethora of ways to do it.

You don't get to decide what "the right way" to play a game is for me. No one does, not even the developer. How someone plays a game is a completely individual preference. People derive enjoyment from games in different ways. In a single player environment I fully agree with this sentiment. Once you step into a competitive online game environment... You play by the rules and styles the game has setup to make you competitive. If you don't then you cannot play the game competitively and you will be at a disadvantage. This is not the game's fault. If you don't care about winning in an online competitive mode then do what you want to do. It's your game to play as you will.

Yeah, I chose my wording quite badly - since most of the article Mamoulian War linked was discussing effect of the games pricing model on its success, that's what I was trying to expand upon. Majority of those sales actually came from the console versions tho - I wonder how much do these 'internet dramas' influence sales of PC versions. As a PC gamer (I have 2 PCs) that owns a PS4 paperweight (I haven't turned it on in months), I bought and loved Titanfall because it was a fun game. I got into the free beta, and never looked back. I didn't buy Battlefront because it looked like a cash grab of a franchise I enjoyed. I waited, and the low map, scenario, etc count doesn't cut it for the price. It is a shell of the first 2 Battlefronts. I figured it would be. If a game says EA on the box I am always hesitant. On Titanfall, it died on PC partly because it was balanced and didn't have glitches galore. People got bored. To get that level of balance they had a limited weapon set, limited upgrades, limited Titans, and limited perks. People wanted more depth via unlocks and the like, but I can easily say that in terms of weapons... It had the single most balanced weapons in a FPS probably in years and maybe a decade. Never in TF did I see the typical "everyone is using the FAMAS, M416, whatever". Although weapon balance was ongoing... It was never major. Every weapon had a place. Also, the map pack dlcs had a lot pretty atrocious maps where the design was as such that the first team with Titans down won because of the lack of parkour routes and lack of verticality to get away from Titans. The initial maps were mostly great in that regard. The bad map design in DLC ushered in the empty servers more than I care to admit. Also, I don't think the masses want an arena shooter. They want a simple CoD/BF style game (mostly aiming where movement is brain dead easy) or they want Counter Strike, but not a game where 75% of the skill is learning the wall running game. I have about 10 friends that quit because they said it was broken when they got splattered by a Titan (every time I asked they said they were running on the ground, and they never listened to me when I said they can't stay on the ground when enemy Titans were down). They quit instead of learning. I also think being on origin (not Steam) hurt it as well, but that's another can of worms. Also, just to add... I don't think it not having single player hurt titanfall one bit. Titanfall is the best game EA has published since Mirror's Edge, IMHO. It is an amazing FPS. Probably my favorite EA game in 10 years... Maybe more. Any negatives I have heard on it are from people playing it wrong (reviewers and friends included), wanted single player, were on PS4 and just being crybabies, or didn't have an OP load out or glitches to exploit.

I don't think the issue is that balance approach, but combining halfing the abilities effects at double the cost. You do one or the other, but not both. But yes, I remember that video with Josh as well.

I had the enemy AI do something similar. It was a Xaurip Priest, and he turned and ran into the arms of 2 trolls. It nearly wiped me, truth be told. It luckily reset the encounter while I was chasing him, and I had all my per encounter abilities back up. It was the western side of the map with the broken bridge north of Defiance Bay. Also, I had a Lumbering Mound (or whatever they are called) root Eder, and proceeded to stand out of Eder's reach and keep whacking him. I swapped to Eder's ranged weapon and all was ok. The AI has done some interesting things so far, and I just got to Defiance Bay. It has made the game more enjoyable. It requires a bit more attention to be be successful.

So, I am a Bard player, and as such the Chanter is my preferred class. I have a few ideas to make this class a little more hands on, but I am having trouble with a few things (attributes particularly). Anyway, I am not 100% sure on attributes, but I think I will need a high perception, above average might, medium to high dex, and I was thinking of putting some points into might. This build may have a summon or two, but will not be built around those invocations particularly. This is only for a hard difficulty run, but I don't like starting without the idea completely formed and I have been thinking on this for a while and cannot come to a finished idea. Race: Wood Elf (we will see) Might - 13ish Con - 7 Dex - 14 Perception - 19 Intellect - 17 Resolve - 8 Planned skills - High Lore, High Mechanics, and High Stealth. This lets me use traps and scrolls thus hopefully allow for a more active play style. I will have a few points in Athletics to keep fatigue away. Talents: 1) Weapon Focus Peasant (hunting bows will be my weapon) 2) Marksmen (potentially will be cut) 3) Interrupting Blows 4) Bloody Slaughter (potentially will be cut) 5) Deep Pockets 6) Shot on the Run 7) Apprentice Sneak Attack is a possibility So, let me explain how this works. You scout ahead using stealth, and lay traps as necessary. Use your tankers to face pull into the traps. I am thinking of mixing my chants between buffs and debuffs and keeping the focus target at the edge of my chant circle to ensure you are getting your marksman and wood elf boni. You pluck at enemies with your bow, you will get interrupts (not crucial but it is what it is), and use scrolls to assist, and hitting enemies with offensive/debuffs/etc style invocations when available. I like this Idea because given how passive the Chanter is as a class... having some positional requirements means I won't set him and forget him. Weapons: Persistance and Stormcaller Other gear: I am unsure as I haven't played in a while, but looking at clearing Od Nua fairly quickly so perhaps Vengiatta Rugio (advice welcome of course). Voice of the Mountaintop will give a little wiggle room between the edge of a chant and the +accuracy from Wood Elf and Marksmen boni. Helmet of Darksee or the Azalin's Helmet are both decent choices I think (leaning toward Azalin's Helmet since my high accuracy will increase crits). Perhaps some gear that grants some spells casts like Spiderfingers and others like it because I want as many active abilities as I can get on my passive little chanter. Now here are the few things I am unsure of, atm. Talents: Ok, Ancient Memory and Beloved Spirits have been buffed in 3.0, and that means they could do well in the build since it will spend most of its time in the midfield between melee and other ranged thus giving the entire party coverage for the most part. Also, I think Penetrating Shot might be worth it for bigger enemies, but I am unsure to pick up that talent for a few fights. This Chanter's focus isn't pure damage but interrupts, traps, scrolls, invocations. However, I could change some things. Also, I could see picking up an elemental talent (Scion of Flame, Rime of Frost, etc) if I am focusing on scrolls and invocational damage, but they are few and far between. Thoughts? Attributes: I guess I could focus on damage, but with that... I would change a good bit. The only real necessities on the talent side are Weapon focus, Deep Pockets, and Shot on the run. So, if that is the case I would pull some perception points and load it into might. I could also see abandoning Wood Elf and Marksmen and being a more close quarters archer, and using another race such as Island Amaua (adds another weapon to use, but I don't want a quick Swap build personally), Hearth Orlan (will allow the player to be a secondary striker on critical targets), or even a Death Godlike (i would definitely pick up Bloody Slaughter with the Godlike). Anyway, I am curious what those that are more versed in the game think. I haven't played much because of work, but I want to play with WM2 around the corner. I have been playing as a Paladin and a Ranger, but really ive been biding my time for Chanters to get some love. Looking for as much insight (negative or positive) as you guys can muster.