Gromnir

robert e. howard didn't spend much effort on physical descriptions o' conan. even so... "it was uncanny, but those watching knew it was no more than the reflected image of orastes' thought, embodied in that mirror as a wizard's thoughts are embodied in a magic crystal. it floated hazily, then leaped into startling clarity—a tall man, mightily shouldered and deep of chest, with a massive corded neck and heavily muscled limbs. he was clad in silk and velvet, with the royal lions of aquilonia worked in gold upon his rich jupon, and the crown of aquilonia shone on his square-cut black mane; but the great sword at his side seemed more natural to him than the regal accouterments. his brow was low and broad, his eyes a volcanic blue that smoldered as if with some inner fire. his dark, scarred, almost sinister face was that of a fighting-man, and his velvet garments could not conceal the hard, dangerous lines of his limbs."--hour of the dragon, robert e. howard so, a square-cut black mane? is perhaps ironic thulsa doom from the conan movie would more close resemble conan as described by howard than did arnold. regardless, without james earl jones to make it kewl, the haircut really is silly looking. HA! Good Fun!

am gonna suggest a less painful and more entertaining alternative to jrpgs. feel free to share your results. HA! Good Fun!

am thinking it is self indulgent for developers to be seeing an evolution o' games and crpgs in particular. technology evolves, but what makes games appealing has not. is worth noting how complete familiar all this talk o' changing nature o' crpgs is to anybody who can actual recall when diablo were first released. diablo success prompted other crpg developers to mimic blizzard, and so there were a period when seeming all crpgs were action-rpg diablo knockoffs. the few "hardcore crpgs" were terribad and so for a handful o' years we got people predicting the death o' the crpg and death o' d&d specific. ... 'course then there is fallout. as much as some folks wanna imagine otherwise, fo weren't actual a major commercial success. enoch will roll his eyes, but... http://www.nma-fallout.com/threads/briareus-speaks-out.152662/#post-3024645 point is fo were not a crpg game changer in any real sense. it were a minimal-to-moderate successful title; a reactionary outlier in a world where crpgs were evolving so as to be more like diablo. the thing is, developers loved fallout and it resulted in a ridiculous devoted fan base who wanted more such games. even so, fo and its sequel coulda' easily been dismissed as a one-off-- the exception which proves the rule. 'course bg is released and nobody is seeing the hardcore crpg as some kinda fringe fare no more. sure, bg weren't hard enough for many, but it clear showed there were a large and dedicated percentage o' crpg fans who were resisting the trends developers and publishers were so convinced as being absolute and endemic. heck, even bg couldn't escape diablo impact as the mp feature o' bg, which were used by few and were costly to implement, were only added to bg 'cause the suits at interplay mistook mp as a defining quality o' crpgs at the time. bg is released and there is then a d&d renaissance and a whole decade o' more serious crpgs being developed. might as well be talking 'bout games. yeah, tech and scale o' development changes, but games today fundamentally is familiar and even constant. to see evolution is, at best, misguided. HA! Good Fun!

gonna suggest a lock. 'tween degenerate comment and equal myopic hysteria silliness, am thinking a lock is called for as is no way this thread recovers.

we got so many hours invested in poe we inevitably smoked while playing. couldn't help but do so. 'course we rare smoked "green." am almost always using mature oak and/or hickory +________. is our opinion folks overuse mesquite nowadays. even so, in addition to the oak and hickory we will throw in more exotic stuff such as pecan or cherry. don't do ribs all that often, but am a devoted pork shoulder and brisket man. may disappoint folks, but we is relative plebeian insofar as smoking equipment and setup. got the 22" weber smokey mountain series smoker-- nothing sooper fancy. (admission: the 181/2" smokers is more than big enough for our needs, but we went larger for no good reason.) regardless, most weekends during nice weather months we is smoking something and as such there were inevitable overlap 'tween our smoking hobby and our gaming. ... our little moment o' sharing has inspired us and as such, pulled pork sandwiches will be on the weekend menu. HA! Good Fun!

is also largely irrelevant seeing as how in practice the greeks enslaved europeans and fellow greeks as well. "as terrible as were ancient practices o' slavery, it weren't based 'pon some kinda notion o' the fundamental inferiority o' a particular people based 'pon the color o' their skin." sure, you can find isolated quotes 'bout the inferiority o' other cultures and races, but the institution o' slavery were not actual tied to such silliness. again, irrelevant. and gd is again resorting to moral relativism while defending nbf. never suggested you had claimed nbf innocent, but you did reject our characterization o' him and you chided folks for their ignorance o' the man. am no self-proclaimed pundit or expert, but am thinking gd would hesitate to suggest Gromnir is wholly ignorant o' those notable men who prosecuted war in north america during early-to-mid 1860s, nbf 'mongts 'em. have us repeat nbf flaws? the men under nbf command slaughtered prisoners o' war. am feeling the urge to link a scene from a few good men. however is nice to see you ain't just shrugging off the whole klan thing as you did earlier when discussing the moral turpitude o' nbf. am also unaware o' any tradition o' peaceful prisoner exchange 'tween US soldiers and the lakota during the indian war. perhaps fleeing soldiers is, as a rule, off limits? that is news to Gromnir. many a foolish commander has been suckered in by "fleeing troops." regardless, one wonders how many US soldiers requested to be taken as prisoners o' war? the few eyewitness accounts don't support such. seeing as custer's attack were launched at what he thought were a group o' women, children and old folks, and as the US soldiers under custer's command had made few attempts to take prisoners o' war, one can't help but wonder what the heck you is speaking 'bout. converse, nbf actions during the civil war violated understood conventions o' war and basic tenets o' humanity as he and his men understood 'em. can you tell us how you believe longstreet would view nbf actions at the fort pillow massacre? careful. nbf actions after the war as a founder and first leader o' the klan is even more damning. even so, am glad you continue with the moral relativist wackiness as by doing so you will no longer be able to claim people hereabouts don't know nbf. the more folks hear, the more reason they is gonna have to be shocked and appalled by tennessee's desire to maintain the dignity and status o' monuments dedicated to one o' those folks we hesitate not even a moment to label as evil. HA! Good Fun! ps there were evil done by the indians at the little bighorn. weren't killing o' soldiers or failure to take prisoners, but were the mutilations. the indians who mutilated soldier corpses did so as a terrible punishment meant to endure beyond death. those mutilated soldiers would need endure their mutilated bodies in whatever afterlife they might achieve. were a shameful and dishonorable act and there is many lakota who claim it never happened, but it did and it were an evil.

is kinda funny as we are talking 'bout tennessee. http://www.nashville.gov/Parks-and-Recreation/Parthenon.aspx is a colossal statue inside. is a nonsense argument however. and as terrible as were ancient practices o' slavery, it weren't based 'pon some kinda notion o' the fundamental inferiority o' a particular people based 'pon the color o' their skin. such silliness is a relative new rationalization. regardless, by the time o' the civil war, one cannot serious claim that slavery were such a fundamental and unquestioned part o' society that its existence were beyond question. also, while we realize gd will no doubt roll his eyes, nathan bedford forrest's villany were not simple slave ownership in a time and place when slave ownership were legal. nbf directed and carried out the massacre o' prisoners o' war numbering hundreds and he were the founder and first leader o' a domestic terrorist group which has carried out innumerable acts o' cruelty and violence 'gainst civilians, including children, o' for the purpose o' protecting a heritage o' hate. regardless, am thinking the most obvious thing we can take away from all this is tennessee is a strange place with its legislation to protect statutes o' the first grand wizard o' the kkk and full-sized recreations o' the parthenon... not to mention graceland. HA! Good Fun!

will agree most don't know nbf, 'cause if they did, they would be even more furious. am not sure what is gd's definition o' evil, but if hell exists and he ain't in it, we would be shocked... and the moral relativism stuff is water of a duck's back from our pov. but ________ was a bad man too? *snort* not wholly evil? a man o' his times? and "renounce" ain't actual accurate 'cause as Gromnir stated, nbf claimed he were never part o' the organization which he helped found and led during its formative years. can't renounce something you were never part o'. so yeah, dig up his bones and castigate him. is vital we remember and understand folks like nbf. it is too bad most do not know. he were a brilliant cavalry man and brave beyond doubt. did he like puppies? perhaps. who doesn't like puppies? tell us he was good to his mother and were dedicated to his church? fine. we need remember how brave and formidable men is capable o' the kinda villany which has left an indelible stain 'pon this nation which more than 100 years has failed to erase. it is unfortunate most don't know nbf, 'cause he is exact the kinda "mistakes of the past" which history is meant to help prevent us from repeating. HA! Good Fun!

am finding it equal cringeworthy when folks excuse scurrilous behaviour and outright villany as a symptom o' the times. if gd were arguing 'bout some o' the less educated founding fathers during the american revolution and their views o' race, we would be willing to accept such an argument. by the time o' the civil war, there were no such excuses. also, the Battle of Fort Pillow (more recognizable as the massacre of fort pillow) will be known to gd and if he wanna turn a blind eye to such then we will never be able to convince him otherwise. oh, and nbf not only public criticized the kkk in later life when such membership were hurting his railroad aspirations, but he frequent lied claiming he had never been a part o' the kkk. hardly the admirable and repentant figure gd implies, eh? nbf may not be the worst example gd could use for defense, but is not a good one. HA! Good Fun!

Battle site memorials are fine with me, and Tennessee was host to some of the bloodiest. lord knows Gromnir has specific expressed our support for such. memorials o' the enormous and tragic waste o' human life on both sides o' the war, not to mention the suffering o' countless civilians (mostly southern) who died died from starvation and disease, serve a valuable purpose and only the most extreme sjw oppose those memorials. however, am thinking we can all tell the difference 'tween such and big bronze statutes o' nathan bedford forrest on his horse which were erected during the civil rights movement o' the 20th century. HA! Good Fun!

good idea. recent past doesn't bode well for you. even the thread creator were confused by gifted's tangled and twisted reading. regardless, am thinking folks would be shocked if oldie pamphlets and texts supporting eugenics and the inherent mental instability o' women, which were sadly common educational materials in some places as recent as 50 years ago, were nevertheless taught in schools today. as a people, we grow... we learn. would never occur to us that a book revered in schools during a darker time would need be a continued part o' curriculum today. destroy books is constitutional, but is considered repugnant by most americans. as such we take those curiously misguided books and put 'em back on the shelf, but am doubting even gifted would suggest those largely rejected works need be public venerated with a place o' honor. tennessee legislature wants to force into perpetuity a place o' honor for folks such as the first grand wizard o' the kkk? shame on them. if memphis found a perfectly legal way to circumvent such a stoopid law, then we applaud 'em as 'posed to vilifying. the folks in the wrong here, though they is clear too myopic to realize, is gifted and the tennessee legislature. no surprise on either account. HA! Good Fun!

am neither shocked nor surprised by gifted's reaction... which is kinda why we needed make the post. memphis takes legal action to circumvent what they see as a wrong. scumbags indeed.

... gifted is no doubt also shocked people would consider oskar schindler's actions to be heroic. scumbag repeated circumvented laws which were specific written to protect the heritage o' his nation. nathan bedford forrest were the first grand wizard o' the kkk and his only other noteworthy accomplishment were his military prowess in a war to defend slavery. tennessee legislature is the reason we do not visit the south unless necessary.

am not sure if we is relieved or disappointed nobody has posted the following: HA! Good Fun!

this is how you ghost bear. just sayin. HA! Good Fun!

the problem with full vo is cost. full vo is, 'ccording to developers, extreme expensive. fantastic vo can make a good game better, but it can't make a bad game good. decent vo, on the other hand, is largely forgettable, and is nevertheless costly. there were a couple instances o' nice vo in poe, but fantastic were the exception rather than the rule. if deadfire vo is similar in quality to poe, it will be similarly hit and miss. as such, am not thinking full vo improves deafire much and all that money spent on vo coulda' instead been spent on more substantive aspects o' game development. HA! Good Fun!

additional bad(s) obsidian overshot the goldilocks zone insofar as their changes to penetration and cipher focus generation is concerned. initially penetration were the alpha and omega o' deadfire combat, which were admitted bad. first beta release forced players to find ways to maximize penetration to the exclusion o' most other factors as, at best, secondary or tertiary concerns. unfortunate, penetration is a relative negligible factor as of beta 4, which makes armour (friend or foe) a meaningful consideration for countering overpenetration, and possible for a few as yet unseen boss battles. yeah, pistols might be non optimal 'gainst a foe with high piercing resistant armour, but even so, pistols, affected by fod or other accuracy and penetration boosting powhaz, makes 'em effective 'gainst all save to most heavily armoured o' foes. works for player armour in a similar fashion as there is little reason to wear heavy armour as medium armour will be enough to prevent overpenetration... though am admitting we believe folks is underusing daze affliction at it significant boosts armour benefits. focus generation for ciphers has also become comically easy for ciphers. am s'posing the changes to penetration and to ciphers had a complimentary and additive impact on focus generation. after the first couple moments o' a combat encounter, a vanilla cipher will have generated considerable focus and will be having little difficulty generating more focus as need be. negligible gameplay impact. regardless, as we previous stated, most o' the beta4 game mechanics improvements is not. customization has ironic suffered as there is now essential passives intermixed between bloat options-- once folks play deadfire and submit their ideal builds we are gonna see more than a little repetition o' a small handful o' passives. the return o' might has given a power up to more than a few multiclasses which didn't actual need such, while genuine op paladins didn't get any real changes to mitigate their dominance. etc. the game is playable in its current form and is even fun, but btea 4, as a whole, were an overreaction on the part o' obsidian. a slight nerf to cipher focus generation and/or weapon penetrations as well as addressing paladin opness (at the very least, could return the malus to paladins) should be considered. am not expecting any meaningful balance changes by may 8, but obsidian will make balance changes post release, and am hopeful they ain't too reluctant to swing the nerf bat at deadfire, 'cause at the moment, the game needs a southie-style smackdown. HA! Good fun!

ok, so we were a bit more exhaustive in completing the beta with the beguiler than the rogue-- had a few more combat encounters such as angfor and the spirits and the extra blights on the poko map. relative damage totals is thus a bit inflated for the cipher. looking back at our impressions from yesterday, there is little to add. will once again stress how focus management, save for when fighting the spirits on angfor's isle, were a non issues. as a ranged cipher we couldn't help but feel as if we were kinda cheating with the hunting bow as we were receiving consistent excellent damage from a simple fine weapon... and we were using draining whip 'stead o' biting. chose mechanics for our cipher and traps count as a ranged weapon-- go figure. with the pirate eyepatch we were getting an additional accuracy boost for traps in addition to paladin accuracy bonus and mechanics skill bonus. our cipher traps were hitting hard, critting frequent, and adding injuries + afflictions. am thinking we were doing the ranger wrong as we expected better better damage numbers from her. sure, a different weapon woulda' been a better choice, but maia is wielding a arquebus in the concept art, so we were trying to stay faithful to deadfire characters. we did try other weapons and had only slight better luck. might need try a ranger run within the next week or so. concussive shot for the ranger were a nice pickup as we were kinda missing our rogue interrupts. there is party dynamics which we suspect would be less beneficial for a beguiler. as we noted yesterday, the druid and mage were making focus generation a bit easier with all the debuffs available. regardless, beguilers is not weak or suck. will answer any questions 'bout our beguiler run if folks think o' something we didn't address but should have. as an aside, am also half through a enchanter run. ... initial primary impression regarding the enchanter is the benefit for specialization is largely wasted, and the cost for specialization is indeed steep. however, am kinda glad we played as an enchanter 'cause has shown us how we have been underutilizing our deadfire wizards. will go into more detail later, but am further convinced grimoires is kinda excessive given the talent limits other classes face, and all those enchantments do indeed make a wizard far more formidable during combat encounters. HA! Good Fun! ps we never bothered to empower a beguiler talent during our beta run.

poe rogues are not necessarily "thieving." poe paladins are not holy and do not need be righteous. rogue is nothing more than a descriptor o' a brutal fighting style. paladins derive power from the strength o' their convictions, but they need not be dedicated to a deity and they sure don't need be loyal to a code o' conduct which includes helping old ladies across the street and defending puppies and children from evil doers. obsidian made a nomenclature error with a few o' their poe classes. in an attempt to evoke nostalgia o' the ie games, obsidian used ie game class names without necessarily carrying over the ie game class roles. is unfortunate, but some folks has never been able to overcome unrealistic class expectations based on nothing save class name. probable shouldn't poceede much further as this is not only well tilled soil, but is largely off-topic. HA! Good Fun!

am close to finished with a beguiler run but am heading out for the eve and won't finish 'til tomorrow. party composition: nature godlike paladin tank, moon godlike druid with bear form, coastal aumaua ranger with wolf, wood elf wizard. quick observations: --beguiler specific penalties and benefits were a non-factor. maintaining focus were never a challenge regardless o' powers used and enemies targeted (qualification o' first observation: particularly due to druid tanglefoot, wizard chill fog and cipher phantom foes, rare were a soul whip affected foe anything other than subject to sneak attack.) --beta 4 ciphers may have skewed a bit too much in favor o' a more forgiving focus generating scheme as there were almost no need for us to manage focus. am thinking the cipher woulda' been more fun with less generous focus building. whereas other classes we played need manage guile or zeal or whatnot, focus were so plentiful as to largely negate any impact 'pon gameplay. -- started out with a twin pistols and twin clubs weapon loadout with two weapon fighting to enhance. however, the weapon we got most use from were the hunting bow. woulda' benefited more from two handed route. --have used whisper of treason in the past to great effect, but didn't much bother. the three powers we used most were phantom foes, secret horor and soul shock, in reverse order. silent scream were a great interrupter o' groups, but we didn't face many beta foes who were needing raw damage to hurt so were typical more efficient to utilize soul shocks. "frightened" for secret horrors is a bit quirky insofar as what constitutes a hostile action, but is highly efficacious regardless. --after having played a rogue most recent, we kinda missed the interrupts from our main pc. will provide more feedback tomorrow, but weak is not an appropriate descriptor for a beguiler. HA! Good Fun!

Fix her? There's nothing to fix in her old portrait. It's perfect! I still prefer Grieving Mother though. indeed. fix michelangelo's david? fix chopin's prelude in e-minor? fix the in-n-out double-double with cheese? feminization changes to maia? only difference we would consider for maia is perhaps tone down the lipstick redness. if we were told the particular shade o' red were called trollop, we would not be surprised. HA! Good Fun! ps serafen and maia is reaching our high water mark for poe franchise portraits.

there is a functional exception. spells which can be cast before combat but which have a long enough duration to remain in effect following repopulation may be empowered for what amounts to two empowers per combat. for example, a priestly seal spell has an incredibly long duration and may be cast and empowered outside of combat. wait a few seconds before beginning combat and the per encounter empowering will have refreshed... and you will also have your X level ability available for use. regardless, it is possible to have a single character benefit from multiple empowers during a single combat encounter, but the exceptions is limited... and a bit exploitive. HA! Good Fun! ps full disclosure: am gonna confess, have used pre combat empowered warding seal more than once when fighting the greater blights. follow up short thereafter with a second combat encounter use o' empower... pillar o' faith dropped on blights clustered by a wizard's empowered pull of eora.

nick saban comments 'bout reuben foster before the 2017 draft. “One of the things that makes Reuben a very popular guy from a personality standpoint is, in a day and age where everybody is into selfies and ‘what about me,’ he’s a guy that’s pretty interested in the relationships that he has and how he affects other people,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “He actually cares a lot about not just how he does or plays, but he also assumes a leadership role and how he affects other people. That comes to a large degree in how much you care about others. That’s one of the reasons that he is a very popular guy. He’s a got a great personality. I think a lot of people are attracted to him because of that. I also think he’s very caring in terms of what he’s willing to do to help someone else.” fast forward to 2018 https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/12/49ers-star-reuben-foster-charged-in-domestic-violence-and-weapon-case-2-2-2/ has been charged, not convicted. much will happen before there is any kinda criminal or nfl resolution.

priest stuff works, but the problem is a priest, w/o multiclassing, is a force multiplier whose contributions is most noticeable when one plays a party w/o a priest. sure, you can play with a druid and a paladin and get all the heals you need. with a chanter and paladin you will get powerful buffs and debuffs targeting party and individuals respective. however, the priest is the most versatile affliction killer and buffer in the game as well as providing exceptional heals. best way to show priest impact is to not play a priest after having played with a priest. is no question one is able to make highly potent deadfire parties w/o a priest, but you will notice the absence. nalpazca is already targeted for changes by obsidian, so am not knowing if is worth doing... plus we got so few drugs available in the beta and nalpazca is all 'bout drugs. as for the blackjacket criticisms... we don't get it. for a tank fighter, constant recovery, particular at lower levels, would be a literal lifesaver. anything other than a tank? can't imagine constant recovery will be missed much given other survivability options, particularly as a single class gets more free talents and will almost necessarily need take survivability talents as one will be running outta dps boosting options given the surfeit o' talent points available. am willing to try the beguiler and/or a specialist wizard. obvious not a nature godlike evoker, eh? can take a stab at an orlan beguiler and a human enchanter, though am suspecting enchanter will be requiring a bit o' creativity and synergies with other party members to be useful. as we already got a party in mind for a cipher, will probable go with a beguiler firstest. HA! Good Fun!

so, contrary to beta opinion, vanilla rogues are strong. the class is an interrupting machine, has more survivability than we assumed, and once they attain devastating blow, they chunk opposition such that am wondering how much use we actual got from deep wounds and arterial strike. am thinking o' trying a couple more "lame" classes to see how they genuine perform as am suspecting many lame classes has not actual been played by those criticizing. for the rogue we saw complaints such as the following: "What major differences do you see that will make the rogue better then the first game ? You didn’t like them in the first game at all." as such am suspecting many folks is looking at numbers and making assumptions 'bout classes without having actual played 'em to any degree. Gromnir actual assumed the rogue would be kinda weak 'fore we played it through a beta 4 run. so, as with rogue, we will play 1-2 additional chump classes at vet difficulty and with a party o' companion analogs (e.g. a hearth orlan witch equivalent to serafen.) however, am not gonna start the beta run at level 9 and enable scaling as such appears to be a busted feature. will start at level 6 and progress so we reach level 8 near end o' the beta content. no ship boarding action. will skip captain angfor(sp?) and admitting we will cheese the gouda outta the titan+blights battle. no min-max-- all attributes will be 'tween 9 and 15. am not gonna use potions simple 'cause a number o' potions, particular combined with a high alchemy skill, is wacky op at the moment. am not gonna use console save to start off with enough money to outfit our party with fine armour and arms from the available merchant. am intending to play a white that wends mystic, hearth orlan, vanilla cipher, but am not wedded to any class or race or background. am willing to consider specific builds and party compositions, but 'course Gromnir is final word on such stuff. regardless, am understanding how for folks who do not have beta access, it can be confusing, frustrating and disappointing to be reading 'bout deadfire classes. wanna play a _______, but consensus from backers is universal suckage. *shrug* beta consensus is not always giving a full picture o' game reality. as an aside, we would recommend not getting too torqued 'bout damage totals, particular from classes other than pure dps. our parties including a knock-off aloth has seen the wizard casting debuffs and incidental damage spells more than he has been casting damage producing spells. for example, pull o' eora is incredibly powerful, particularly when centered on a chill fog. the chill fog does only a small 'mount o' damage, but it imparts the blindness affliction. so, any suggestions? HA! Good Fun!