Gromnir

our greatest concern, at the moment, is skills. we liked poe. we expect poe2 to be much like poe. sure, with multiclassing and new spells and feats, there will be balancing issues, but there were balancing issues with poe and we enjoyed the game. poe2, a sequel, will be much like poe, so we expect most o' our gameplay concerns will be minor, predictable or fixable. skills. skills is being revamped and expanded. poe2 skills may be considerable different than poe skills, which is a good thing, but it is also a source o' concern. so, we want poe2 to specific avoid obvious skill pitfalls. a multitude o' skills which sound nifty but get little or no use in game? nope. a handful o' skills which every character benefits from taking? yeah, is as bad as the wasted skills. a handful o' essential skills, but only essential for one party member? hmmm. this one is a possible unavoidable problem 'cause o' expectations. there is gonna be a mechanics/lockpick skill, and am suspecting most every player will have 1 party member with the skill in question. waste. perhaps mechanics has additional (and admitted nonsensical) benefit o' making one more efficacious 'gainst constructs? dunno, but developers should break Expectation o' the skills which is essential but o' extreme narrow usage. oh, and have skill bonuses tied to classes is unnecessary and runs counter to espoused goal o' allowing player to customize. don't simple grant lore bonuses to wizards and mechanics bonuses to rogues 'cause such is expected. the poe classes ('least previous to the expansions) was highly differentiated w/o even considering skills, a result for which we is much applauding the developers. am understanding how difficult it is to keep so many different classes unique from each other, but do so with cheap skills bonuses is lacking effort and creativity. if the classes aren't unique enough w/o skill bonuses, then developers failed regardless, so why not allow players to customize as they wish? am on heavy meds at the moment, so am likely to return and edit a bit. apologies in advance if the post reads more like dr. seuss than typical Gromnir. HA! Good Fun!

highlight failures o' western media and intelligence, and offer an alternative narrative is part o' the russian propaganda playbook. russian spin don't need be right, just need be different. russians love a good conspiracy theory in part 'cause they know they is being lied to by the State. russians expect to be lied to. when one can't trust any official source, then you is more likely to believe the conspiracy, and the multitude o' (im)plausible conspiracies is far less dangerous to russia than is the truth. is sad, but russia and other nations has successful exported their lunatic fringe. heck, one need not look any further than this thread to see some hardcore denialism, eh? not a surprise to see such nonsense take hold in europe where populations is far more polarized, but the speed with which the tinfoil hat brigades has grown in the US shocks even Gromnir. 'course given how kellyanne conway advocated the notion o' "alternative facts," and our President's tendency to indulge in fabulism, am s'posing one can at least identify a contributory domestic source for the rise o' reflexive denialism and conspiracy theories. HA! Good Fun!

Personally I agree. However, the actual length of NFL contracts are smoke and mirrors. The true value can be seen in the guaranteed monies. Everything else is fluff. players ain't going into these contracts dewey-eyed and innocent. is not as if players is getting the old bait and switch, eh? keep in mind that other than the superstars, players got extreme limited leverage save through collective bargaining. only the smallest fraction 'o college players end up being drafted, and a relative small number o' those actual stick with a team. the difference in talent 'tween your typical former auburn star (and future ups delivery guy) vs a 2nd string mike backer for detroit is gonna be slim. for over 50% of nfl roster spots, there is literal hundreds o' guys who can replace nfl players in an instant w/o any measurable decrease to the quality o' the product. furthermore, even for the rare college player who makes an nfl roster, the average duration o' an nfl career is just under four years. how many former college stars sitting at home on sundays would happily play for the league minimum and no guarantee money? imagine gifted trying to negotiate a raise from his boss under similar circumstances. even so, while the nflpa has been monumental stoopid on more than one occasion, they ain't weak. heck, if the nflpa weren't so concerned with avoiding olympic-style drug testing or making sure superstars still got their stratosphere contracts, the player's association could get any number o' concessions for its members. better retirement benefits? higher minimum salaries? etc. *shrug* pro football is a stoopid way to make a living. we feel terrible for the mike websters and junior seaus who suffered cte, and owners should be held responsible for their complicity and fraud regarding head trauma and pro football. the thing is, cte is no longer an unknown. the dangers o' playing football is largely known. the brevity o' careers is known. the ability o' owners to cut players is known. is not mephistopheles hiding stuff in the fine print kinda deception, eh? players is grown men making hundreds o' thousands to tens o' millions o' dollars per year to play football. am not weeping over how nfl players has been exploited. HA! Good Fun!

particularly in the 21st century, knowing specific facts is 'bout the worst measure o' judging the value o' the priorities o' a history class we can imagine. in a matter o' minutes, any yutz with access to an internet connection can give Gromnir a concise factual rundown o' importance o' the magna carta or james madison. have a child be able to simple parrot wiki-quality explanations o' important personages and events is not our notion o' enlightened education. *shrug* too much emphasis on facts and dates and places. is not what happened, but if wod's daughter told us how her 7th grade (or whatever year) class learned nothing but middle-age japan, we wouldn't be least perturbed. actual, we would take such a revelation as a refreshing change. depth o'er breadth. spend entire semester focusing on Japan from ~1000 to 1450, but actual have her learn the importance o' cultural and political developments would be amazing regardless o' whether kids is in texas or california or wyoming. what were causes o' the eventual rise o' daimyo? political? geographical? were religion a cause or an effect o' new feudalism... or both? why? how? how did rise o' feudal system impact art? did art have sympathetic impact on politics? did wod's daughter learn to see connections 'tween technological advancements and the development o' new political systems? did she learn how to actual use research tools to not only learn names, and dates and places, but to come up with her own theories 'bout the importance/value o' the japanese middle ages? perhaps teacher have kids work in groups to create their own feudal system? perhaps teacher then presents random calamity or problem and let kids decide how their feudal organization would deal with famine or mongol invasions or... whatever. can easy spend a semester or year on nothing but middle ages japan. if goal is to teach kids how to learn, is more relevant or important if a child from texas or california learns european middle ages as 'posed to japan? why? can get any basic facts from 5 minutes o' internet searching, no? learn to make important connections. learn how to learn. screw the details. wod daughter perhaps writes a few o' her own lady ise inspired poems as part o' a history class and better remembers what she learned as a whole? we would call that a major win in our book. instead o' depth o' history, we get kids learning breadth. middle ages japan likely gets a single day in a middle-school world history class. german renaissance gets a day. roman empire might get a whole week? is lucky kids can recall anything useful from such shotgun curriculum. is so many things parents and politicians demand educators teach students that actual genuine learning is sacrificed. what a waste. am less concerned 'bout what kids learn in history. repeat facts and dates and people names is so 19th century level o' education. nowadays we see more emphasis from educators 'pon how kids learn, which is good. 'course most important is if kids learned how to learn, and if a teacher manages to teach a kid to enjoy the process o' learning, then so much the better. *descend from soap box* HA! Good Fun!

Yeah, it's just weird. She kept telling me that they (my parents and sisters) are good people and I can trust them, but it seems to me you shouldn't have to repeat such mantras if they are actually true. They still don't seem very willing to accept my wife for who she is, so I'm not sure how much progress can be made. Ah well, it was a nice drama free break for a couple years, I suppose. we sympathize. other than for family, hate is a word we rare use without indulging hyperbole. have spent more o' our genuine anger 'pon family than on the totality o' cultists, ganbangers and white supremists we has represented over the years. is a terrible admission. our life is full o' petty regrets, but our failure to make peace with a few members o' our immediate family is one o' the few failures for which we indulge in true self-condemnation. it is easy to forgive good people. doesn't take much effort to grant mercy to those who deserve absolution, yes? we got no special insights. we know with absolute certainty our anger at family is/was justified. we is right. even so, we regret. good luck.

silence is an oppressive and unrelenting film. the characters is broken and unsympathetic. the film is thematic religious but does not appeal to traditional religious viewers-- there ain't no triumph o' faith. the film is long and unconventional silent with a unique "score" comprised almost entire o' deliberate interwoven ambient nature sounds. scorsese's vanity project is masterful but is a difficult film to actual enjoy. highly recommended by Gromnir, but silence makes the mission (1987) feel almost like a mel brooks film by comparison. HA! Good Fun!

much o' heller decision folks point to were dicta and Court since heller has refused to grant cert for the vast majority o' 2nd amendment cases, but there is multiple states with assault weapon bans which prohibit sales and purchase o' "military-style" weapons based on largely cosmetic alterations. the right kinda case has not been available 'til recent. HA! Good Fun!

neverwhere by neil gaiman. can't think o' other options we would genuine recommend. perhaps a few charles de lint books? had the dresden books suggested to us. terrible. 'course terrible can be fun and entertaining if you ignore obvious shortcomings. heck, we enjoyed a few seasons o' buffy and angel. in fact, the final episode o' angel is one o' our all-time favorite tv series finales. much o' the buffy and angel writing were terrible, but it could be fun. not an obvious option, but we will note how there is more than two decade's worth o' hellboy comics. am not much o' a comic fan our self (with a few graphic novel exceptions) but we thought a number o' hellboy story arcs were entertaining. HA! Good Fun! ps am thinking the graveyard book by gaiman would be worth shady's time. is only borderline urban fantasy, and is technical for young readers, but is actual well-written and evocative.

your confusion is understandable. assault rifle and assault weapon is, in addition to plain english descriptors, legal definitions which may be elastic and even illogical. largely cosmetic changes, which have no impact on a weapon's lethality, create a transformative potential converting an otherwise legal firearm into an assault weapon for the purposes o' bans 'pon such weapons. add a pistol grip and a telescoping stock to the ruger mini 14 ranch rifle pictured below and you will violate assault weapon bans. why? does a stock and pistol grip addition make the above weapon more lethal? is the changes gonna make the ruger more effective as a mass-shooting weapon? the ruger, with a few cosmetic alterations, will maintain calbre and muzzle velocity and rate o' fire, but the cosmetic changes expose the ruger owner to extreme harsh legal punishments. as an aside, we use the ruger mini 14 'cause it performs virtual identical to an ar-15. the ar-15 looks so much more sinister and deadly, but hurl is gonna be no more dangerous with the ar-15 than with the ruger mini 14. would hurl be shocked to see a ruger mini 14 in the home o' your average red-stater? in addition, the media can be misleading regarding this topic, but often it is a matter o' simple ignorance rather than some kinda sinister motive. personal, we don't get the appeal o' owning an ar-15. am s'posing ar-15 purchases is much cheaper than pen1s enlargement procedures. dunno. handguns is actual responsible for far more homicides and suicides than is rifles o' all varieties. in point o' fact, in a typical year, blunt objects such as hammers and baseball bats is accounting for 2x as many American deaths as all rifles. too much misinformation and misunderstanding. too many images o' school children killed by sinister looking weapons. *shrug* if gorsuch joins the Court, we expect to see a sea change regarding 2nd amendment jurisprudence. HA! Good Fun! ps the heading o' the don lemon video is particular amusing as the uploader clear were as ignorant and misinformed as don lemon.

you are likely "screwed" in the same way we all will be regardless o' background choices. chances are the backgrounds will be o' similar importance in poe2 as they were in poe1. sure, we expect improvements regarding deadfire's reactivity when compared to poe, but not enough to genuine alter gameplay. if you are expecting significance, you will indeed be screwed-- just opposite o' how you might believe. won't be a matter o' too much reactivity, but too little. the absence o' meaningful impact resulting from character development choicess will be the cause o' disappointment and disquiet. HA! Good Fun!

what is with you? point to where we claimed or implied schulz is an intellectual prodigy. ... we can wait. we made a limited claim. we observed how absence o' a degree is insufficient proof of mental deficit. our support o' such a claim were varied, but we did indeed give examples o' giants in multiple fields o' study who were undereducated by any reasonable measure. we recognize how you ain't "seeing." lord knows we is attempted to help you. and to stay on-topic, we got a few new alternative facts from trump regarding the recent health bill fail. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/factcheck/fact-check-trump%e2%80%99s-misleading-claims-on-the-health-bill-failure/ar-BByIuUZ?ocid=spartandhp HA! Good Fun!

welcome to our world. is repetition and nonsense. possible clarification: shakespeare and faraday didn't have the ordinary level o' education o' their contemporaries. dunno, were that the hangup? *shrug* perhaps level o' formal education is a noteworthy measure o' societies. perhaps. is ill-suited to measuring the intellect and ability o' individuals. google srinivasa ramanujan if the shakespeare and faraday examples is too english. HA! Good Fun!

*cough* 1984 *cough* we would gladly make blood sacrifice to raven and shiva that we never need read another compare/contrast o' 1984 and bnw. however, we will observe (opine) how "orwellian" has always been hyperbolic, thus diminishing its actual value. sweaty-toothed revolutionaries see every State action which infringes 'pon liberty as orwellian. States can safely wear down personal freedoms w/o ever actual approaching genuine orwellian. 1984 is comforting to all. is no surprise 1984 is on required reading lists in many western nations. HA! Good Fun! ps am not saying we dislike 1984.

is not actual 'posed to be a "negative utopia." you are very much intended to see the allure o' an ordered society which is successful at satisfying the wants o' the populace. keep in mind the book were written during the great depression, so the appeal o' a world state o' near universal peace and happiness woulda' had even greater allure. one reason bnw has continued relevance is 'cause it ain't offering a cartoony dystopia with obvious good v. bad. HA! Good Fun!

what does mandatory have to do with anything? lack o' mandatory actual enhances our example. the human animal weren't dumber in faraday's or shakespeare's day. more ignorant as a whole? sure, but ignorance can be overcome whereas stoopid is a whole different kinda obstacle. regardless, are missing the point o' shakespeare and faraday as it sure weren't the formal education they received which made 'em intellectual giants, and in any event, shakespeare and faraday were both finished with their formal education before completing the equivalent o' elementary education. am believing education is extreme important. am not diminishing the value o' education. if everybody were a faraday or shakespeare, we wouldn't need national education programs. the thing is, even in this thread, we can see how education doesn't necessarily make a person smarter. on an individual basis, as 'posed to societal, it is foolish to overestimate the significance o' highest level o' education attained. back on-topic, the following freebie link does a better job o' explaining the nyt headline issue. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/factcheck/fact-check-trump-misleads-on-times%e2%80%99s-surveillance-articles/ar-BByEaOr?ocid=spartandhp HA! Good Fun! ps formal and mandatory education, even to this day, typical fails at most important goals. the vast majority o' people finish their educations w/o ever having learned how to learn effective and w/o a goodly grasp a basic problem solving scheme. nowadays we got such an emphasis on making all learning modalities equal viable that ironic, people seem less able to learn beyond the boundaries o' schoolhouse gates. as for problem solving, it always amazes us how many folks fraudulent believe they has well-developed critical thinking skills and analytical skills in spite o' the emphasis modern schools place 'pon development o' "critical thinking."

hmm. if by "here" you mean the obsidian forums, then am gonna suggest you is setting a low baseline. bolster shaq by comparing with a few o' the more obdurate, obtuse and opinionated loons from these boards? am no longer knowledgeable 'bout what constitutes the obsidian demographic insofar as purchasers o' their games is concerned, but the wot portion o' the board has attracted... colorful personalities. but getting back to basketball, the wins by wisconsin and xavier actual has peaked our interest in the tourney. seeing how deep a genuine cinderella can go is almost always what keeps us watching the tournament. HA! Good Fun!

a degree don't grant intelligence or wisdom, as the recent shaq dialogue in a different thread should attest. shakespeare had the equivalent o' an elementary school education. faraday had even less education than the bard. we had manual labor jobs in high school and college. many o' the guys we got to know on jobs where we came home covered in dirt and sweat, guys who wore jeans and tool belts 'stead o' expensive suits, were as smart as the folks we work with today. change circumstances. change luck. those folks we knew working roofing supply or doing ranch work coulda been attorneys or doctors. on the other hand, we know plenty o' folks who had every advantage and managed to get their degree(s) from the mostest prestigious universities. can have decades o' education and never gain no insights. an ivy leaguer who is as useful as a bag o' dead cats is far too common in our experience. is no special wisdom gleaned from blue collar work. similarly, fulfilling degree requirements does not make one smarty. HA! Good Fun!

eggs. give up meat and cheese would be intolerable, but the one ingredient we simple cannot do w/o is the humble egg. poached. fried. scrambled. am not certain we have a "lazy" food, but the omelet is our most common meal. is almost limitless combinations. is also a great way to make use of leftovers. duck fat home fries typical accompanies our omelets. lachrymose. am rare getting a chance to use lachrymose in a sentence. watch brian's song and become lachrymose? perhaps one becomes melancholy and lachrymose when a loved one dies? unexpected out of duck fat. lachrymose. HA! Good Fun!

yeah, we heard how shaq claimed he were joking, but in light o' charles barkley's moon anecdote, am a bit dubious. the moon-is-closer-than-LA and a flat-earth mentality is consistent, no? HA! Good Fun!

it does make one wonder. am recalling shaq's undergrad degree were one o' those "general studies" degrees popular with athletes. the mba were university of phoenix, yes? the doctorate http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/shaquille-oneal-barry-university-student-is-not-actually-doing-a-dissertation-6528603 am not certain shaq ever took education serious, which makes the doctorate in education kinda ironic. HA! Good Fun!

false equivalence has been the refuge o' putin apologists for years. crackpots would point out shortcomings in US and western legal and political institutions and then use as an excuse for russian excesses. were a ridiculous approach. to see same approach being used by trump apologists is amusing. to be clear, am not saying trump is a tyrant or despot such as putin. am saying the defense o' trumpisms is heavily dependent 'pon false equivalence. compare to obama or previous administration truthfulness and see similar mendacity. nonsense. need look at breitbart and washington post and see as equivalent journalism? hilarious. the President is, at best, a habitual fabulist. at worse he is a pathological liar. the defense o' trump truthfulness requires constant reinterpretation o' his words and reimagining of Facts. sure, even legit news outlets put unnecessary spin on stories. when you got a laundry list o' trump lies, why worry 'bout spinning one example to make trump look as bad as possible? is unnecessary. nevertheless, even the folks at time actual got the facts right. the time journalists accurate reported the change to the nyt headline, though why they would reimagine makes Gromnir a bit queasy. on the other hand, trump, and trump defenders, play fast and loose with the actual facts, and the degree to which they does so is far beyond anything we has seen from decades worth o' past administrations or legit media sources. the alternative facts lunacy is disturbing and the need for folks to defend is all too familiar. HA! Good Fun!

technically, tomatoes is also verboten. beans began appearing as a common ingredient in chili a fair bit earlier than tomatoes. *shrug* chili (and goulash) is so regional diverse, am thinking it matters very little if one is "authentic" when making such dishes... 'less one claims to be authentic. HA! Good Fun!

am still in denial regarding oregon v. smith. got penn state friends who is in denial 'bout sandusky and paterno. one o' the smartest guys we know is in denial 'bout sodium content in foods, which is kinda tragic considering his CHF. am suspecting more than a few o' us has been in romantic relationships explicable in retrospect only by recognizing a kinda lunatic's denial. am doubting charles would give you much grief regarding pluto denial. HA! Good Fun!

flat earth fun HA! Good Fun!

thing to avoid in poe2? wasted opportunities such as bestiary and exploration xp. am realizing such token xp were added late in the game to appease the per-kill xp folks, but coulda' been refined and enhanced rather than being simple mechanical. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68164-a-different-view-on-the-whole-xp-controversy/?p=1502749 http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68164-a-different-view-on-the-whole-xp-controversy/?p=1502756 utilized as part o' quests, players would still be getting mechanical rewards for completing bestiary and exploration objectives, but why not tie into an actual quest as well? HA! Good Fun!