Gromnir

This is such an ingrained mentality in your culture, that it doesn't really make sense to argue against - and it's the unique quality of American and English culture.. As for a germanic however, the answer to that question is very obvious. It HAS been fixed for the most part, what stood in the way of an individuals success, was far too often systemic challenges. Now the system, for the most part, works for the individual, rather than against him - and thus we have an empowered middleclass and much more equality. germanic surely ain't the goal. worse per capita gdp than the US, and am gonna guess that your enforced equality is hardly a selling point for gd. there is clear room for improvement in the US, but we got a relative unique set o' problems with a size and diversity of population the germanic peoples barely comprehend. recent immigration issues? HA! HA! Good Fun!

well, there is an obvious potential solution: money. the notion o' paying folks to do (or not do) what they should (shouldn't) be doing anyway is gonna face considerable opposition. pay folks to not commit crime or to maintain at least a B average in school will no doubt strike many as repugnant, and 'course there is legal hurdles, but there has been success for such programs. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/paying-criminals-not-to-commit-crime-may-not-be-so-funny-after-all/2016/02/08/151ab936-cea3-11e5-b2bc-988409ee911b_story.html?utm_term=.31429d7cbdc9 you want lower income folks to get an education rather than working at wendy's to help support their family? fine. pay'em. in the long run, am suspecting the cost to society will be far cheaper if we can lift a significant portion o' the population out o' the lower class. best way to motivate folks in this country has always been the same: money. pay folks to do what they should be doing, but aren't. HA! Good Fun!

best suggestion for durance's staff http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/84653-suggestion-make-durances-staff-soulbound/?p=1779905 HA! Good Fun!

You are correct of course. Too many people lamenting the lack of opportunity all while ignoring the wealth of opportunities available. It's like a starving man refusing a free sandwich because he'd rather have lobster. the reason why Gromnir observation gets so little discussion is precisely 'cause it lends itself to accusations o' blame and fault. it shouldn't. on an individual basis, people is very much to blame for their problems, but like it or not, there is a societal scale which makes finger-pointing a cathartic but pointless endeavour... and potential counterproductive. the US, as a whole, suffers when the lower class grows. some folks will deny this starting point, but am thinking it ain't worth arguing 'bout it at this time. there is the old cliché 'bout how insanity defined is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. so we, as a nation, keep offering the lower class programs for self improvement which largely depend on self-motivation and no certainty o' success. the lower class continues to grow. we continue to make cosmetic changes to programs which have never worked and then act surprised when the lower class grows. needs to be a change. and again, as seeming hypocritical as it may be, we agree that on an individual basis, blame is on the person who refuses to do the hard work necessary to transform their situation. we address individual and societal complete different. tell us 'bout generational handicaps and history and other such stuff is gonna generate naught but crocodile tears from us. do the work and you may fail, but is a certainty you is gonna fail if you do not try. so quit complaining 'bout how bad your government or parents were. quit trying to convince Gromnir that you were doomed before you even started. given our opportunities, you is gonna get little sympathy from us. etc. recognition o' our lack o' sympathy for the individual who fails w/o trying don't mean we is blind to the fact that on a societal scale, our personal responsibility mantra is also a fail. is not working. on an individual or limited basis we can motivate a person, or a handful o' people, with tough love and offered opportunities. doesn't work on a societal scale. there just ain't enough jaime escalantes. tough love works from a parental figure 'cause the "child" knows the parent really does care. am not a psychologist, so we don't get all the trust issue nonsense. regardless, you cannot expect thousands o' underpaid bureaucrats to be movie heroes. there needs to be a different approach, 'cause opportunities and self-help ain't working. keep trying the same fix to the same problem makes us seem, at best, insane. HA! Good Fun!

in our personal experience, the biggest hurdle is hopelessness. is difficult to generate motivation necessary to be self-educating or improving self when you got certainty nothing will change. there exists a generation who grew up learning the way humans has always learned: observation. the folks who is so perplexing to gd, the unmotivated people in the lower social class, watched parents and aunts, uncles and cousins and other peoples in the community. watch people literal killing selves through work for almost no improvement of quality o' life is discouraging. have parents and aunts and uncles and cousins constant talking 'bout how pointless it is to try when the government won't let you succeed (or other such nonsense) is gonna have impact. even w/o the internet there is all kinda programs to help those lower class folks get education, but everybody knows people who tried and failed. and those few success stories gets dismissed as "the exception that proves the rule." you wanna be the fool who believes in unicorns? go ahead and waste your blood, sweat and tears. and cycle repeats. next generation learns from the current. oh, and the folks who do succeed through a combination o' hard work, luck and help from government programs, those folks who cannot be ignored as fairytale material, they frequent become vilified rather than role models. race traitors or worse. got a whole lotta perfect reasonable middle and upper class americans who look at lower class, regardless o' race, and feel little sympathy. middle and upper reads newspaper or uses internet and discovers just how many opportunities there is for folks in the lower class to self-improve. why ain't the lower class working a bit harder? "i wish i had those opportunities when i was younger." is an understandable reaction. is also one reason why class friction in this country is increasing. http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-ft-graphic-20160320-snap-htmlstory.html the US is different than most of europe. we got real free speech, which is nice, and we also make individuals more responsible for their success and failure. great. unfortunate, the American emphasis on personal responsibility may be an additional hurdle to finding a solution for lower class problems. once you realize an entire class o' people won't help themselves simple 'cause opportunities is made available, what do you do? the gap 'tween the haves and have-nots is increasing. more and more people is becoming hopeless. gotta be careful. sure, bread and circus will keep the lower class relative docile, but there will eventual come a breaking point. will be unexpected save in retrospect. something small and seeming innocuous will be blown way outta proportion and lead to widespread violence. power corrupts, but it is powerlessness that corrupts absolutely. once enough people genuine believe they have nothing to lose, then you is gonna see real chaos. HA! Good Fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW_hGOFukMQ HA! Good Fun!

sadly, is only four states where you can gain admission to the bar w/o a degree, and even in those states you need have interned or "read" with a judge who then kinda vouches for you or somesuch. lousiana, if we recall, were the last state allow bar admission w/o a degree as long as the applicant passed the bar exam, and a rudimentary background check, but there were a few public embarrassing displays o' incompetence which resulted in a change. each state has different requirements for professional responsibility and bar exam and whatnot. is possible a few states even now only require the multi-state multiple choice portion for their bar exam, but we cannot say for certain. nevertheless, excepting having gone through some kinda special reading program with a judge in four states, you are gonna need a law degree to be admitted to the bar. the multi-state and multiple choice portion o' the bar, which we believe is administered in every state, has always made us chuckle. see, for most o' the subjects covered by the multi-state, traditional common law is the appropriate rule of law choice, and the only thing common to all fifty states is none o' them actual rely on common law. knowing the rule against perpetuities is swell and all, but chances are you are in a state where a statute has replaced. nevertheless, kinda like the usefulness o' latin as a dead language as a basis for scientific jargon, the common law's usefulness is due to its inert nature. and 'cause nobody is actual interested, we will link anyway http://abovethelaw.com/2013/04/which-state-has-the-most-difficult-bar-exam/ HA! Good Fun! ps the ca bar is becoming easier this year. were, for decades, a 3-day and 18 hour slog. showed up on many world's toughest exam lists. however, starting 2017, the ca bar will only be a two-day affair.

https://audioboom.com/posts/5471405 the role he were born for? mark hamill reading trump tweets as his joker character? perfection. HA! Good Fun!

one o' our jobs in high school and college (after we quit football) were roofing supply. utter miserable job. nevertheless, the bigger roofing supply companies tended to have trucks and never enough drivers. what the companies would do is allow their employees to train and practice on their vehicles when not killing themselves as clowns on amphetamines threw 30-40lb stacks o' concrete tile at each other as fast as possible as they were getting paid by the square. if you are genuine interested in a commercial driver's license, you might wanna consider a non-truck driving job which will train you to drive trucks. won't be any long-term contractual obligations or pay for training. 'course most such jobs is gonna suck. HA! Good Fun!

part o' the problem is stealth. as you observe, backstab from stealthed character with the correct talents is gonna result in massive damage. now what? the backstab/stealth attacks is gonna see extreme limited use, which is why many folks trying to build an optimal rogue is gonna complete skip the backstab stuff. sure, you are still gonna do darn impressive damage with sneak attacks, but you are squishy and you are much limited to single target punishment. in terms o' tactics, poe tends to lend itself towards quick elimination o' weaker m00ks in an encounter. the barbarian and ranger and caster classes can remove multiple opponents in three attacks. you can remove one m00k in two hits. *shrug* to get most use outta your single-target supremacy, you should likely be attacking the boss/mini-boss in any encounter, but again, most simple tactical dogma o' poe combat is geared towards eliminate chumps first, and in any event, bosses/mini bosses is the opponents on the field least likely to be suffering from debilitating effects, and is also most capable o' damaging your squishy rogue. furthermore, with tanks being less efficacious at holding individual enemies in post 2.0 poe... people do get a bit worked up 'bout optimal. https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85402-rogues-it´s-over/?p=1790500 devil worked well in our party, and devil is, in many ways, a less than ideal rogue. to be a success as a poe class, the rogue don't have to be great or best, just can't be so terrible people avoid and it needs be perceived as fun. as such, it would also be nice if the rogue were less limited. people, people other than the optimal-build folks, would be far more likely to embrace the rogue if the class had a few more options. HA! Good Fun!

as an aside, am gonna note how terrible is the writing and analytical skills o' many college freshman even at well-regarded Universities. when we first went to Cal, we were shocked by how unprepared many o' our fellow freshmen were for University level work. you got no idea how annoying it were for Gromnir once the folks in our dorm found out we had skillz. so, help one and then what excuse you got for not helping other twelve or thirteen or twenty folks similarly terrified o' flunking out after first year? freaking scholarship athlete with full course load at Cal, so we had zero free time to help others. still, kinda a **** if you aren't willing to help, yes? teach self, w/o benefit o' useful criticism, how to improve writing and analysis is gonna be tough as is a good chance you are gonna be unaware o' how/why you suck at such. with m00t court and mock trial volunteerings, Gromnir has been able to see trends in university preparedness o' students at local high schools. writing and analysis is getting worse. were never great, but is trending bad. HA! Good Fun!

for many employers, a bs or ba not related to hard sciences or engineering is less 'bout what you learned and more 'bout simple fact you achieved a multi-year goal. is why so many undergrad bs and ba degrees is fungible. employers know a university grad spent considerable hours during a 3-5 year period pursuing degree requirements. in the past, schools typical graded on a curve, but in touchy-feely new century, am not certain if the norm has been altered. regardless, am gonna assume a significant 'mount o' competition is inherent in achieving a degree. if some kinda frat boy schmoozed and cheated his way through Princeton and managed a 3.0 inspite o' learning nothing 'bout anything, the achievements is still gonna represent useful skills and abilities-- social skills is often more useful in the real world than is any kind skill one will find available in a Uni catalog. furthermore, any number o' studies has shown how, regardless o' the profession, when asked 'bout stress, University/Grad School/Med School/Law finals tend to ranks as more stressful than job related stress. yeah, a +3.0 from a good school don't prove you learned anything. so what? employers is playing the odds. a general University degree is a good (not infallible) indicator o' potential future success in any number o' fields. is gonna continue to be a meaningful box need for checking on job applications for a long time to come. HA! Good Fun!

trump Presidency in 2:07 Congressional impotence is partial to blame for the possibility of trump. even so, is only so much trump can screw up domestic w/o Congress adopting a Three Wise Monkeys posture. am hopeful trump scares Congress outta their indolence. HA! Good Fun! Was speaking more to the possibility of a mixture of carelessness, lack of experience, and attention-seeking that could lead to an unintentional security breach, I'm reminded of this passage from David E. Hoffman's "The Billion Dollar Spy": we got what you were trying to say. am actual far less worried 'bout accidental leaks than calculated showmanship leaks. trump is a narcissistic clown, but he ain't a complete idiot. a President, as Gromnir has pointed out so many times, has far less power domestic than most people understand. power o' the President on domestic is mainly being able to influence Congressmen. the folks in Congress wanna get reelected, and a popular President being stymied by Congress is a surefire way to fail reelection. trump won his election by an extreme small margin and he managed to actual lose the popular vote. a startling high percentage o' exit poll respondents noted how they voted for trump, but only did so 'cause they disliked clinton even more. trump were arguable one o' the least popular President elects, evar. so, reports o' hacking will no doubt make some question the legitimacy o' a trump Presidency regardless o' the actual impact the hacking had on voter behavior. add in the suggestion the hacking were a result o' russian malfeasance further undermines trump 'cause the folks who voted for trump are more likely to be suspicious o' those damned soviets than younger and more liberal city dwellers. the trump Presidency starts off with a bit o' a handicap given how donald is relative unpopular and Congressman pay very close attention to such stuff. so yeah, trump is being a bit obtuse 'bout his handling o' intelligence regarding russian hacks. shouldn't be a surprise. trump were either complete unaware o' the actual powers o' the President, or... well the alternative is less appealing. most o' trumps campaign promises cannot be accomplished w/o the support o' Congress. on many issues, a republican Congress will need not be convinced or cajoled into agreeing with trump, who will no doubt take credit every time Congress votes as any sane person would have anticipated a republican Congress woulda' voted anyways. regardless, trump's popularity and legitimacy is already extreme low and he hasn't done anything as President. Razzle dazzle 'em Show 'em the first rate sorcerer you are Long as you keep 'em way off balance How can they spot you've got no talent Razzle Dazzle 'em trump ain't a complete idiot. a President depends very much on image and perception. has a candidate for President ever indulged in so much flimflammery? *shrug* it don't matter now as trump Is President. more than even during the campaign, image and perception is essential if trump wants to achieve anything domestic. the intelligence community is hurting the trump image and we do not foresee a passive President trump response. if polls show lost credibility for trump, he is gonna need respond with razzle dazzle, and the easiest way to do such is to show how flawed is the intelligence community. as President, trump has great access to intelligence info. we would not be surprised if a considerable amount o' info, particular if presented in tweet form, could make the cia or nsa look incompetent. am less worried 'bout buffoonery regarding intelligence leaks as such would likely hurt his image. clinton's lack o' concern regarding security protocols is one reason she ain't gonna be sitting behind the President's desk in the oval office anytime soon. as reflexively stoopid as trump has been with tweets n' such in the past, am not seeing him make such a blunder at this time. however, we do see the possibility o' a calculated smear of intelligence using information which would not be treasonous if divulged, but would still be considered irresponsible to be releasing public. as far as image is concerned, trump is not in a good position. he is gonna feel pressure to do something. people do stoopid when they feel cornered, particular the elmer gantry clones who has been relying on sleight-o'-hand for so very long. HA! Good Fun!

trump Presidency in 2:07 Congressional impotence is partial to blame for the possibility of trump. even so, is only so much trump can screw up domestic w/o Congress adopting a Three Wise Monkeys posture. am hopeful trump scares Congress outta their indolence. HA! Good Fun!

race issues, real o' perceived, becomes national/international news and sudden 1/3 o' the population suffers a temporary drop o' +30 iq points. on the positive side, the pandemic foolishness is not limited to any one race/culture. the ubiquitous wacky is nondenominational and is as prevalent 'mongst the disenfranchised as it is 'mongst the privileged. so give three cheers for successful achieving some kinda equality. ... no cheers? HA! Good Fun!

consider self lucky. never has our expectations been so brutally crushed. broken mechanics and terrible writing. notice the near complete lack o' arcanum additions on those ubiquitous "best crpg characters" lists? the one unforgivable sin for a writer is to be boring. the arcanum characters is universal dull, flat and lifeless. you didn't play? you win. arcanum were at its best Before we played. rare has a crpg garnered so much hype. back in the days o' print magazines, arcanum were getting frequent and enthusiastic previews. development team were universal well-regarded and the setting were unique. the developers were a bit tight-lipped (jerks) 'bout actual game mechanics, but with their fallout pedigree, most industry writers had high hopes. a bunch o' reactionary crpg fans has convinced themselves o' the greatness o' arcanum, 'cause it checks the right boxes. is a sand-box open world which lets you explore. is, for the time released, a dynamic setting. you got freedom o' classless character creation. got tim cain. etc. so how could game be bad? buggy, horribly balanced and dull. is no forgiving dull. HA! Good Fun! ps we wouldn't mind if obsidian did an arcanum sequel, just as long as they went for a kinda battlezone (1998) take on the original.

... had a nerd moment. saw image for the trailer and we thought o' validus from the fatal 5. wondered if we would get a chance to play as mano or the persuader too. am not even much o' a comic book fan. wouldn't be surprised if we lost our mondavi center season tickets over this. HA! Good Fun!

Was expecting either a holiday or January 2018 release myself. After all, I remember it taking forever between the first major gameplay reveal of Inquisition to its final release. excepting end-of-year, Publishers o' aaa games try to release near start or end o' a fiscal quarter. plans don't always go as, well, planned, but a noteworthy % o' me:a sales is gonna happen day one or first week. get a good week o' sales in before march 31. tuesday is still typical software release day, yes? so, tuesday before end of fiscal quarter woulda' been one o' our favorite possibilities/guesses. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68877-delayed-to-early-2015/?p=1519237 HA! Good Fun!

the 2e d&d kit made illiteracy an unalterable quality o' the skald. the notion o' Gorion's Ward, raised in a library, could possible be illiterate offended karzak. unfathomable. ... shoulda' saved the story as it actual managed to shut karzak up for a bit. HA! Good Fun!

skald. illiterate. HA! Good Fun!

shouldn't an evil alt be difficult to spot? sure, spock can pull of the van dyke, but am thinking amentep photoshopping beards onto his movie starlets and using a vague egyptian nom de guerre might be a bit obvious, no? go with something outta character. GibberingMotha alternative, take bart simpon's advice 'bout how "nobody suspects the butterfly." Fr.Flanagan? nice hat. dunno. only alt we ever used were decided obvious... were back on the Co6 boards and in post we used alt, we also revealed self as Gromnir. were long time ago. karzak suggested it weren't possible to envision a skald bard raised in candlekeep, so we wrote an origin story o' such a character with alt of "storyteller." used the alt a few times to pen mini stories. never saw much use for alts. HA! Good Fun!

odd http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85411-faith-convictions-now-still-always/ npc hireling has same base faith and convictions as a main character paladin: +4 deflection/+8 all other defenses. however, hirelings have faith and convictions modified by level as 'posed to disposition: +1/+2 every 5 levels. thus at level 15 an npc hireling will reach +7/+14 for faith and convictions. faith and convictions for a main character paladin, as you can see from the linked thread, is suffering rather peculiar math. for purposes o' faith and convictions and priestly holy radiance, dispositions max at 3 even though your character record sheet allows you to reach 4 in a disposition. as such, with 2 relevant paladin dispositions, there is six total opportunities to modify the base +4/+8 faith and convictions bonus to defenses. +.8/+1.6. a main character paladin will therefore be able to achieve +8/+17. as such there is not a large gulf 'tween main paladin faith and convictions bonuses and hierling, although a main character will likely max out dispositions far earlier than level 15, which is when a hireling finally achieves their ultimate faith and convictions upgrade. HA! Good Fun!

what are your assets? can't help you if am not knowing what you got at your disposal. without gimmicks the battle is doable with a level 4 party. we typical head to raedric's immediate after reaching level 4 'cause, well, "look at all that cheddar." can fill our digital coffers early in the game by killing every raedric defender and looting their corpses. don't hesitate to use food and potions. hire a henchman if you don't have a full party. kill weakest m00ks before trying to kill raedric. etc. *shrug* what are your assets? am gonna be able to give more useful tactical guidance if we know what resources you have available. HA! Good Fun!

the corrode damage from rakhan does not supplant fire, but rather is in addition to the +% burn damage from FoD. so take scion of flame and spirit of decay and wield bittercut or an arquebus for impressive crits... if that is your thing. even so, the paladin were not designed to provide impressive dps http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85484-help-me-build-a-dps-palidan/?p=1791272 paladins were envisioned as a low-maintenance support class. nevertheless, paladins can be built to do other stuff. a dps paladin will never be optimal, and pallegina is still your best bet for a striker who is not meant to be an on-kill healbot. nevertheless, a poe striker paladin, melee or ranged, can be highly efficacious. HA! Good Fun!

Jnpc? joinable npc. and yeah, she ain't one o' the better written characters in the game. flat. however, we will note how from mid levels onward, initial attribute scores is far less significant when measuring relative combat efficacy than is talents and abilities. pallegina's attributes do not prevent her from fulfilling multiple roles, which we suspect were part o' the rationale behind her scores. HA! Good Fun!