Mor

I wasn't addressing the Australian market, or arguing for against their pricing policy, however, I was addressing your astonishment that location mater even in the digital world. That the idea that average income\cost of living, local currency\exchange-rate, various local import quirks\licensing such etc (e.g. special censored version for Australia and Germany, exclusives and iirc Microsoft had extensive cheaper programs for developing word counties with low income) can be factored into company pricing policy is not only not new, but have been common practice for ever, everywhere. With the point being, that like it or not, it is their choice. As for steam, I have no idea what you rumbling about, if your store prices are cheaper then its a no brainier buy it in the store, let them get the clue through cut in demand\profit. (assuming that they are overpricing their package there as you suggest, which hasn't been my experience here) and yes I assumed that you spoke about about pirating adobe products, just as I assume that all the above were handed as various justification for piracy, otherwise I have no idea why are you posting in this thread..

5min55sec: "if it looks like Kremlin S***, smells like Kremlin S***, and taste like Kremlin S*** too - then it's Kremlin S***" - golden. Also its not really off topic, Russian propaganda has played a substantial part in the evolution of this crisis. Some times in very scurrilous ways latest example is what Walsingham and Agiel noted there. Also that st.petersburg organization, I am pretty sure that its the same one that was involved in similar payed posters scam couple of years ago in local politics, though atm I can't find an English article to confirm.

Uhm yes.. different "IP" means: different currency/exchange-rates; different income, taxes and cost of living; and various import restrictions approval mechanisms - so yes location location location, is still a thing in the real world, I am not sure why are you surprised. Uhm.. are you suggesting that they should be price fixing? Because the absurdity here is that other companies (e.g. EA ) has been railing against steam for devaluing games with their frequent cheap sales.. and in my experience steam sales are far more excess-able, frequent and substantial, then anything I found in a store. So as far as I am concerned steam is driving the prices down not the other way around. Other that that, yes different distributors has different prices at various times, there is nothing surprising with this, wrong with them doing it, or you exploiting it which is called being a smart consumer. If they are doing anything illegal, there are legal ways to deal with it. What is certainly illegal is you pirating their products, especially when there are enough of free alternative products which you can use, so keep the retreaded excuses for piracy to yourself. ( today it seem that every kid needs to have Adobe Photoshop, so he can make his forum sig )

I don't about that.. the obvious similarities to the Witcher and torment is the reason why I wasn't comfortable calling it as the "Story of the Watcher", offering an alternative possibility first.

Fitting symbolism, thank the gods they had the sense to postpone a meeting with Puting on D-day, that cynical propaganda troll would have used it to reinforce its bogus narrative of fighting against Nazim,Fascism and the bogymen as long a it get them another piece of real estate. Also we had the first G7 (G8 minus Russia) financial group meeting, and Obama and Merkel warn of tougher sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.

The obvious problem with that analog, that in the real world we are on a tight budget, if something is too pricey we wait for the price to drop, buy another cheaper product, or not buy anything at all. Which is not true for the internet where you can easily grab it and get away with it. Indeed, just like with everything else ( e.g. hardware\gadget ) releases are always "overpriced", they are geared toward the early adopters who pay extra to the first. For the rest of us if you wait a little you usually get a cheaper, better product product - in our case cheaper, less bugged and mod ready (if you are PC user) games. Which is the problem, many want it NOW. On the foot of the last paragraph, this is exactly the reason why we see more and more aggressive licences/DRMs or why always online mechanism for games move to become standard, because many of those on limited budget will choose to spend their money on those games, because unlike the rest those they can't get otherwise. And - "There is nothing you can do to stop them. This simply means that you need to accept that the world is changing." p.s. in my posts, I mostly address the young and/or retards who live in Robinhood-esk fantasy world. However, they don't represent the whole gamer/online-consumer demographic, which I believe is a well known fact and need not to be addressed.

That would be a valid point if there wasn't a huge amount of free entertainment readily available. If you have the means to get an internet connection, you have an enormous amount of content at your fingertips without needing to resort to piracy. Its pretty much a cultural entitlement problem when it comes to the internet. As a child I used to work my ass off for my allowance (later pay check) and has to choose how to spend my limited funds, we shared\rotated everything books,cds ... even the porn mag and boobies cards However, with internet it is soo easy to pirate content and get away with it, that content practical became free for all. You can have those fat kids sitting on their ass day and night non stop consuming tens of thousands of dollars worth of free content in software\games\video\music. Plus with our connected society the moment thy have to see\check everything NOW, a new movie\game\video came out, why wait\pay when they can pirate it for free NOW and tweet about it tomorrow... *inset excuse i.e. 'old business models' or 'greedy publishers' whatever*

Yes, but with factional influence taken into account, not being forced into it, the dependent not being the PC, and without a trial by combat against McBadass being forced at the conclusion. It would be interesting if they can arrange something like that, but it was a rather elaborate trial, so I doubt we will be seeing something like that unless its an integral part of the plot. Still its obsidian ,and souls/morality appears to be important themes, so i'd buy and eat my hat if we aren't going to encounter some factions/cults who make use of such knowledge, where you would be able to weigh in on he subject, playing the judge the jury and if necessary imprint the heels of justice at their evil backsides. In fact, one of the very first areas we saw seem to be exactly such a place: That an interesting point, fueled on non-human green souls It also brings us back to the question of what is moral in the world PoE i.e. your principles of right and wrong may not be the same in the world of active deities, with similar beliefs about faithless to our ones. In medieval times, people burned witches, thinking they are doing gods work, it took a long time to root out those ideas as bollocks, and in PoE we have divine direction and the science support it..

@Osvir, if we are the watcher (or on the way there), then we could have an ability to "see lost souls and perceive an individual's ancestral lives", not exactly flashbacks, but it can be an additional way they can relate events in narrative, after all there is a limit to how many diary pages of former adventures they can leave conveniently placed on each dungeon floor If we aren't the watcher, then we are likely seeking him out due to whatever supernatural phenomena we observed. With all the focus on souls, I suspect that this phenomena is the Biamhac and has something todo with either sheering part of soul or possession by a lost soul. It certainly seems that way, a long time must have passed since the last Watcher for the folklore to become so obscure, still it is possible that its some kind of secret/dying organization e.g. the Witchers, which might also explain why would anyone give some unknown newcomer to take over stronghold and the surrounding areas, raising taxes and levies ..

I agree, but to be fair literature is poor analog for video games discussion, and unless you are into God of War kind of games, no one likes the "crazy-powerful" protagonist, regardless if its low or high magic setting, it is just basic game balance. And while I don't necessary agree that in literature low magic fantasy settings are better, I also prefer them because they usually tend to be less about flawless sheepherders that become the one, and show more our imperfect selfs and explore various motives in moral ambiguous setting e.g. Song of Ice and Fire characters. However, as far as computer games goes I wouldn't want to play asoiaf, games aren't great in relating overreaching political intrigue and human aspects, and without that you are left with very much real life like experience aka boring, which is why they usually either "Sexed up" with action (in our case magic allows allows more options, allowing a more tactical/planing elements then straight up action)

Here is a recap on what we know on the watcher, might have spoilers so just in-case I am posting it here and in spoiler tags:

You mean something like the trial in NWN2 OC?

@KaineParker, Morality or view on tradition vs progress. Right now everything seem to to suggest that in couple of hundred years or so, the technological advancements would turn it into a "steam punk" sort of setting and with every rapid technological advancements, rapid cultural change follows. It would be interesting to see how those view would be represented withing the setting. Also IMHO if such trial take place it would be in a court of public opinion and limited to a specific faction think Wizards vs "Red Wizards of Thay". @curryinahurry, We don't know if everything has a soul, on the other hand we do know that some humans can be born without souls, that certain materials can be used to bind\house souls, and that some old trees in Eir Glanfath has souls (possibly related to the former, although it would be arrogant to assume that only what we perceive as alive can have souls\intelligence) We also know that souls exist in endless cycle and sometime seem to maintain their old memories, while the human body seem like a shell/Vessel, I suspect that its symbiotic process that we gain consciousness while what they gain related to power of gods i.e. "Rather than illuminate the presumed higher purpose of this cycle, the gods have obfuscated the truth, at times spreading cosmological lies, pitting believers and empowered chosen agents against each other, and tacitly approving the prejudices of their followers to maintain power." I also mentioned eugenics as a probable consequence of souls having specific characteristics/strength and "pure" lineages, various breeding are very likely among power groups, although this is not related to Animancers (who are researchers who don't necessarily have powers) but more like wizards/priest/etc.. Also it would be interesting to learn who is the watchers(same update), according to legends they was able to see lost souls and perceive an individual's ancestral lives. If so they would be a great asset. @Gromnir, get a life, don't let your ego or internet person to hold you back.

Separatists in eastern Ukraine, mounted an assault on a border post near the city of Luhansk. (link) According to the report: the separatists ambushed a guard post near the city of Luhansk early Monday morning. About 100 gunmen took part in the original offensive, with some firing rocket-propelled grenades from the roof of a nearby residential building. The border guards returned fire. The battle raged for hours, with 400-500 rebels reinforcing the attack. - Although i'd take the numbers with grain of salt until it can be confirmed, though here is a video: According to Ukraine: "Russia is secretly sending armed men across the border, including volunteers from Chechnya. The Kremlin – which denies involvement and has called for peace talks – is using its intelligence agencies to coordinate the anti-Kiev insurgency" The goal of the attack was to: "destabilize the capability of border guard servicemen to coordinate action along the Ukrainian-Russian border" Meanwhile everything else is the same, Russia is still parking huge force on the Ukrainian border, playing at training exercise. While in Eastern-Ukraine the fighting goes one, and some more local editor/journalist have been "taken for questioning" by pro-russia forces.

I think its more about exploring the fantasy setting to make it more interesting than badassery. Real life combat isn't that exciting to play from iso, so unless you want to play a first person game with focus on combat simulation (hopefully with stealth) i'd go with some magic.

On practical side of Animancy, I believe that the field of magical items and various enhancements would be largely attributed to Animancer research and mechanical tinkering. Which might include anything from items that grant passive\active abilities, soul powered mechanisms like traps or even healing ( refreshing, if they only can do the stamina part). If not yet, this would eventually become a very lucrative business (and much less dangerous to their person than necromancy) Animancers would be thought out and showered with money by nobles who would want to gain the advantage. Also Animancers are one of the few groups we know of with scholarly pursuits in a world with limited knowledge exchange, and their research already spread far and wide.

I am interested how they will approach this in PoE. Consider its time period, slave trade would likely be taken for granted as a normal and necessary feature of society, at least in places like Vailia where I assume they are prominent its economy.

Guns and fighters seep through Ukraine's porous Russian border Combatants engaged in last week's fighting say walked into the country 'to visit relatives' at poorly policed checkpoints [..] Russian fighter.. "I called up the military enlistment office and asked what I could do. They said people were gathering in Rostov and it may be possible to go to Ukraine. It's not official; they whispered it in my ear, so to speak." The Russian fighters – including veterans of the military, intelligence services and riot police – formed the core of a new unit called the Vostok Battalion, which took a lead role in the bloody battle for the Donetsk airport last week, in which 33 Russian citizens were killed. [..]

Indeed, this is not a new thing and typical for most industries, with cycle shaped from supply and demand to various competition laws. The major difference with the internet is the lack of physical product and anonymity which and thus poor enforcement which lends into what I said before "if they can break the law and get away with it, they are far more likely to break it". (ETA: the best "real" world equivalent I can think atm is the looting that happens during blackouts ) The anti piracy campaign was just typicalgood ol' stick and carrot, discouraging illegal use while at the same time making legal alternatives much more attractive. You should make a distinction between understanding why something happening and condoning it. Not every pirate is a potential consumer, many pirates are just kids who can't buy their own lunch, want everything NOW, and or going through the rage against the machine phase; and with your attitude such behavior might persist since "outdated" and "fair" are very subjective terms... So when you would make something and charge for 60$, they might just decide its crap and you are pushing it..

Those are good examples of why anti-piracy campaigns works. Some people think its about stopping it, but there is no wining with crime, it is always about marginalizing the undesired activity. In these case it requires to understand that most are selfish pigs, who care mostly about their convenience/cost and if they can break the law and get away with it, they are far more likely to break it. So their campaign was focused on several points: raising awareness e.g. those personal suits did their job well despite or because the outrage; hit the major illegal sites, even though others pop instead, it is really about griefing and lowering quality fracturing their contribute/user base; and last and arguably the most important aspect of it is creating a legal outlet that would cater to the majority needs e.g. steam offers an easy to browse/purchase/update service as well as hose of other social and technical services and are integrate with everything else we do for convenience. I agree, but since the topic is what piracy is, i'd have to reiterate that don't use publishers as scapegoats, if you don't like it don't buy it.

Soul powers is really just a fancy name for a unified theory of magic, saying that all abilities stem solely from within you i.e. Paladins/Priest/Druids/Warriors etc Yes, everybody in the world have such innate "soul power", but not everyone soul is strong enough or they experienced enough to access it. It would certainly have some every day life applications, but overall don't expect their users prevalence in the general population to be too high (otherwise it would diminish the "magical" nature of magic), IMO in this regard we shouldn't expect something vastly different from what we encountered in the Forgotten Realms setting.

^ Obsidian MMORPG might be received well by the general public, but most of the people who backed PoE has backed it because it is what it's, hence the "PoE backers doesn't seem like the target audience" for this endeavor. I am fully aware what a niche market we are, I also know that if Obsidian turn it into a MMORPG it will loose a lot of core fans, and to assume that they can compete against giant titles like KoToR is what arrogant and hilarious.

The purpose was a reminder that other allowed to have a different opinion, I already tried to ignore\change the topic, but you seem unperturbed in your anal obsession over that single term, fighting our perception of the setting, which based on everything else. Now you just being obnoxious, but I don't know what expect from 40 years old with persona on the internet, even if it is not the off topic section. Also Animancy is a field of study and Animancers are researchers who researched ways to understand souls. Abilities such as those the ciphers employ have been around for a while in various intelligent races and creatures, they have been used by Glanfathan Mind hunter as weapons of war, terrorizing the dyrwoodians. Long before the Animancers studied those abilities, or before Dyrwood decided to employ them. If you are suggesting that Dunryd Row is reason to condemn Animancy, it will be just another thing we disagree about. Otherwise we all agree that the actions of some of these researchers unethical, and this is how it is seen within the settings by many.

I wonder how extensive Vailian slave trade is, or prominent to their naval trade "empire". Any chance it will go as far as Song of Ice and Fire, Slaver's Bay? p.s. I am not sure what's would be explosive about black slave trader, slavery existed throughout the world for many centuries long before and after the the atlantic slave trade.

In our case its likely the former, because the later is governed by intellect and not something Barbarian abilities are geared for, me think. I don't get it, why it should be harder to give a Barbarian the Flanked condition, isn't Flanking is just about engaging someone who is engaged from the opposite side?