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That's why I prefer the Secret World system, which has a ton of abilities, but you combine certain ones to make decks. So you are making strategic decisions out of combat, and then the combat itself is fast paced.

I counted last night, and my Jedi Guardian has 21 abilities that are somewhat useful in any given fight. Yeah, only about 6-8 of them are critical, but that's still a lot of fluff.

It's my favorite time of the year! Personally this has actually been a bit of an odd Christmas, since I've had some troubles with my parents and sisters, and I won't be seeing them this year as a result. But I've been doing my best to focus on all my friends and family that I do have around. I've already bought most of my presents and have them hidden away for the kids and my wife. I also had some extra money for presents this year, so I took part in a gift exchange, which felt good to do. I am hosting Christmas lunch/dinner for my in-laws, but I haven't decided what I will cook. I've done tri-tip in year's past, but this year with my wife on a restricted diet I'll probably do something a bit more creative.

That was probably the best part of the movie. Although I imagine that was taken directly from the book, but I never read that. Still, quoting American Psycho is a bit off-topic

That's actually been the biggest defense brought up when arguing about violent video games. Violent crime as a whole has steadily dropped in the US for a number of years.

My main concern is reducing the massacres, to be honest. Specifically the ones being carried out by mentally unstable individuals, which is why I see psychiatric care as the other big issue here. I really do differentiate between terrorism and this. Of course this is all terrible, but to have no motive at all? To be just completely senseless? These were just little kids, and they were targeted directly. There has to be a way to stop this type of thing. I have no idea what it is. I don't know enough about the way Chinese schools are run to make a full analysis, but I don't think the knife situation would be possible given the way security is handled at my school, and most of the schools in my area. Diagoras, I will have to read up on your sources when I have a bit more time, but I appreciate you sharing them and discussing them.

I appreciate the educational posts about the different types of rifles. I stumbled across this link and found it helpful. It seems like a huge amount of the weapons being used are obtained legally, which makes me think there has to be a way to prevent some of these through legal means. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map Most of the killings are done with semi-automatic pistols and rifles.

It's not so much that WoW has a horrible system, it's more that numerous games have improved on the system and it is a fairly outdated way to play an MMO.

Agreed, they'd really have to redesign the entire combat system, the way enemies act, and everything to modernize it.

Guild Wars 2, The Secret World, and Rift all do much more in combat with way less abilities. I don't mind having a lot of pre-planning and out of combat buttons, I had those galore in LotRO, but I shouldn't have 20+ combat skills. It's also about the quality of the skills, too many of them are very similar. I'd rather see some diversity in the build I use, like how in The Secret World you changed your abilities based on the situation.

I'd be pretty happy if they got rid of about 20 abilities per class.

Yeah, I'll be pleasantly surprised if they continue the individual story lines, but realistically I wonder if that is the best way to use resources. At least you know it will be two different stories with the imp and republic.

As long as every companion conversation opens with a "Why the long face?" query, I'm happy.

So is it a new unique story for every class? I doubt it, but they aren't very clear in the details. I also am a bit surprised they put this out with no video. Sounds more like an adventure pack than a real expansion, to be honest, but it's also a super low price too.

To be honest, I thought the moderate area of compromise WAS controlling assault rifles and extended clips. The extreme would be no guns period.

I'm assuming you mean 2013, and not travelling back in time I have 4 days left until my two week break. Friday will probably be odd.

I'm not sure how legitimate this was, but I remember some fans were mad that it was supposed to be a wookie planet, instead of ewoks. That made some sense. But I always loved the ewoks myself.

Hi, I have a degree in History with an emphasis in the US before the age of Industrialism. I'm always confused when people point to our past, where minorities literally had almost no rights, as some sort of golden age of freedom. We have a better quality of life and more opportunities to pursue happiness than ever before in this country right now. Can you be more specific about which right you have lost that you feel would cause the founding fathers to rebel? Because it kind of just sounds like rhetoric that radio jockeys spout to increase their ratings.

I promise to engage any unlawful shooters bent on mayhem that I encounter as I go about my daily business with the express intent of making sure that they never harm another person in their soon-to-be short lives. So should we introduce firearm training to the teacher credentialing curriculum? A few of my students suggested that as well.

The trouble I see with that is most of these mass murderers were not criminals before they committed these horrible acts. They have histories of mental issues, but no records.

I know it sounds all macho to say the government can have your guns over your dead body, but it is ridiculous. Law enforcement can take you out whenever they want, they will always have a huge edge. The fact that they haven't is because you aren't a threat. If you want the country to change, you are better off doing it the old fashioned way, which means running for office and going door to door for votes. And don't worry, crazy people get elected all the time, so your odds are good.

Hoplophobia. I'm quite certain that I am, indeed, using it correctly. No, you clearly aren't. The current reaction to guns is a direct consequence of a horrible event where children were shot to death. "May cause sweating, faintness, discomfort, rapid pulse, nausea, sleeplessness, nondescript fears, more, at mere thought of guns. Presence of working firearms may cause panic attack." Yeah, I've got none of those symptoms, I doubt anyone here does. Rather than calling names and getting aggressive, I'd like to hear some constructive ideas about how we can avoid future tragedies.

I'm pretty positive you aren't using that word correctly.

To be fair, shifting society and culture as a whole is much more gargantuan task than gun bans, parental awareness programs, and psychiatric care reforms.

Thanks for posting that, JFSOCC. It always amazes me how often people ignore the human element in these types of issues. I got to play hockey last night in the HP Pavilion, which is where the San Jose Sharks play. It was pretty awesome, we had a crowd of about 40 people instead of the 17k they normally have, but it still was an amazing experience. I scored the game winner with a couple minutes left, so it was a nice competitive game too.