Gromnir

we had the first amendment before we had our civil war and emancipation and the civil rights battles that lasted into the 1960s... and beyond. HA! Good Fun! ps protecting the unpopular and offensive speaker From society is the point.

Or elected to public office as a Democrat. <cue rimshot> is (not) worth noting that in a poll conducted by nobody reputable, fully 1/2 of american democrats would support a limit on hate speech. democrats. *snort* in any event, we will observe that our most frequent disappointment regarding free speech is not that bigots and lunatics get to spew hate freely but rather that most americans do not use their speech rights to respond to the villains. americans, while less passive than most, is far too willing to stand idly by while their fellow human beings is tormented by evil men. there ain't no active duty to respond to hate, but surely there is a moral obligation to do so. we all too often see americans fail to live up to such obligations. we wait for a pundits to gather in a climate-controlled tv studio, miles and days removed from any actual bigotry and hate, to calmly debate the the issues facing american society. three minutes o' quasi-scripted dialectic ensues before the inevitable commercial break. are your clothes as clean as they can be? matthew mcconaughey drives a lincoln, and so should you. sitting at home, having watched the battle o' tin knights with paper swords, we cheer democracy and free speech and america. hurrah. HA! Good Fun! You see Gromnir you are in a very fortunate position to be able to intellectualize hate speech so you defend its usage even though you don't like it I live in a country where we haven't got to that point yet and people are very much effected by words . So we ban hate speech and certain words and its makes perfect sense The truth is certain words do matter and truly hurt some people in a palpable and psychological way. So why allow them? ban hate speech does not stop hate. it is our belief that banning hate speech has a tendency to increase hate. regardless, ban hate speech does not in any way solve the larger problems that created the hate. open and vigorous debate at least has the possibility o' curing problems. also, what if the folks spewing hate is right? what if we label folks and history proves that they were correct. hell, maybe they is wrong, but if they can't speak because their message offends, how much speech is chilled? is not many decades past that american blacks marching and protesting were considered disruptive. why can't the homosexuals just use their votes to bring about change instead o' their silly parades? those folks who disagree with US foreign policy is clearly communists and we need to shut-em up and blacklist 'em and whatnot. HA! Good Fun! You right, banning hate speech doesn't stop hate speech. is not what we said. ban hate speech does not stop hate. you limit expression and you cause the hate to seethe and fester. you can't fight hate by gaging bigots. all you are doing is creating a generation o' bigots who not only hate blacks or homosexuals or whomever, but they also hate and distrust the government for limiting their ability to express themselves. folks with nothing in common save for the fact that the government is silencing them is gonna become unnatural allies. you are exacerbating problems and instead o' dealing with those problems out in the open, you is gonna eventual need find 'em, dig 'em out and... what? the positives o' silencing bigots is obvious and it actual does resonate in most o' the world. in most democracies, as between an individual's right to speak and the competing right o' folks to be free o' the vile epithet, the world chooses to side with the victim rather than the bigot. that is the obvious choice. we think it is the wrong choice. HA! Good Fun!

Or elected to public office as a Democrat. <cue rimshot> is (not) worth noting that in a poll conducted by nobody reputable, fully 1/2 of american democrats would support a limit on hate speech. democrats. *snort* in any event, we will observe that our most frequent disappointment regarding free speech is not that bigots and lunatics get to spew hate freely but rather that most americans do not use their speech rights to respond to the villains. americans, while less passive than most, is far too willing to stand idly by while their fellow human beings is tormented by evil men. there ain't no active duty to respond to hate, but surely there is a moral obligation to do so. we all too often see americans fail to live up to such obligations. we wait for a pundits to gather in a climate-controlled tv studio, miles and days removed from any actual bigotry and hate, to calmly debate the the issues facing american society. three minutes o' quasi-scripted dialectic ensues before the inevitable commercial break. are your clothes as clean as they can be? matthew mcconaughey drives a lincoln, and so should you. sitting at home, having watched the battle o' tin knights with paper swords, we cheer democracy and free speech and america. hurrah. HA! Good Fun! You see Gromnir you are in a very fortunate position to be able to intellectualize hate speech so you defend its usage even though you don't like it I live in a country where we haven't got to that point yet and people are very much effected by words . So we ban hate speech and certain words and its makes perfect sense The truth is certain words do matter and truly hurt some people in a palpable and psychological way. So why allow them? ban hate speech does not stop hate. it is our belief that banning hate speech has a tendency to increase hate. regardless, ban hate speech does not in any way solve the larger problems that created the hate. open and vigorous debate at least has the possibility o' curing problems. also, what if the folks spewing hate is right? what if we label folks and history proves that they were correct. hell, maybe they is wrong, but if they can't speak because their message offends, how much speech is chilled? is not many decades past that american blacks marching and protesting were considered disruptive. why can't the homosexuals just use their votes to bring about change instead o' their silly parades? those folks who disagree with US foreign policy is clearly communists and we need to shut-em up and blacklist 'em and whatnot. HA! Good Fun! ps bruce is the one who is lucky. you got the opportunity to bring about real change at a time when it genuine matters. the other day, when the Court ruled in favor o' same-sex marriage, we saw folks cheering 'cause the Court had defended an "underrepresented minority from the tyranny o' the majority." is not the role o' the Court to be swayed by polls, but even bruce observed that the majority o' the US public is actual favoring same-sex marriage. were no tyranny by the majority. what we had were the Court being impatient with the indifference o' the majority... which hardly makes for a profound battle cry, eh? your problems in your country is open and notorious and raw, just as ours were not so long ago. in a sense, we envy you 'cause now is the time when you can bring about real change. by comparison, our social evils is massive and entrenched and largely kept to the shadows. example: blacks didn't get the same home ownership advantages decades ago, which has led to endemic wealth disparity. ok, fix that. fix it with a march on washington or protests? how? get it right. learn from mistakes and do it right. Gromnir is envious o' your opportunity.

developers like to say, "it will be done when it is done." unfortunately, publishers don't live in the same world. publishers need release dates. personally, we would rather the developers make white march a quality release without over much concern for a specific release date. is not a box item that needs shelf space. even as a direct-to-consumer product, there won't be no physical production, so you won't need a release date in the conventional sense. not need allocate distribution resources ahead o' time. only reason we can see for a release date is 'cause fans who is wanting something, anything, will be mollified if they get to hear a release date that is other than remote. *snort* finish the development and then release. announce release date and then (predictably) realize that development requires more time? does that kinda thing happen? HA! Good Fun!

Or elected to public office as a Democrat. <cue rimshot> is (not) worth noting that in a poll conducted by nobody reputable, fully 1/2 of american democrats would support a limit on hate speech. democrats. *snort* in any event, we will observe that our most frequent disappointment regarding free speech is not that bigots and lunatics get to spew hate freely but rather that most americans do not use their speech rights to respond to the villains. americans, while less passive than most, is far too willing to stand idly by while their fellow human beings is tormented by evil men. there ain't no active duty to respond to hate, but surely there is a moral obligation to do so. we all too often see americans fail to live up to such obligations. we wait for a hand-picked collection o' pundits to gather in a climate-controlled tv studio, miles and days removed from any actual bigotry and hate, to calmly debate the the issues facing american society. three minutes o' quasi-scripted dialectic ensues before the inevitable commercial break. are your clothes as clean as they can be? matthew mcconaughey drives a lincoln, and so should you. sitting at home, having watched the battle o' tin knights with paper swords, we cheer democracy and free speech and america. hurrah. HA! Good Fun!

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/index.html well, we looked at freshman profiles for all o' the UC campuses and we did note that the gpa averages is, across the board, mighty impressive, but the sat scores don't look all that different than what we recall from ancient times when Gromnir did matriculate. there were no essay requirement in ye olde days, but 1380 sounds 'bout right for Cal for math and verbal. we would need ask hurl if grading has been skewed upwards in the past decade(s). in any event, we suspect that manifested could start a blog and become an industry insider by next comic-con w/o too much effort... even as a state school grad. HA! Good Fun!

The convention is now a reservation for industry insiders. No longer does locality guarantee inclusion. That's my fancy way of saying if you don't win the ten-minute ticket sell-out lottery in February ... SOL is all you get. Which I already have plenty of. I shoulda called myself ManifestedSOL. Was forced to drive downtown this morning for work, today being the first preview day of SDCC, although work had nothing to do with it. I made it out by 2pm without too much hassle. Public parking quadruples this week, from ten bones a day to $40 per. I'm a nerd and I love comics and cosplay but they need to expand the convention center so normal people can visit Artist's Alley. I'm also envious ... I'd like to shorten my insufferably long name to short and kewl. I'll think of something, I didn't get this English degree for nothing. No, yes I did. well, am guessing we lost nerd cred. had no idea that sdcc were so exclusive. that is san diego comic-con and not san diego city college, right? back in the early 2000s, we went to a sdcc. we got a friend who builds all kinda star wars stuff including replica lightsabres, blasters, stormtrooper armour and genuine looking costumes o' all kinds. the guy is a serious craftsman, though we typical refer to him as being an accomplished "seamstress" when speaking o' his hobby. the seamstress invited us and while the convention itself had middling appeal, we like san diego, so we went along. it were a fun experience. regardless, our friend continues to go to sdcc every year. we had no idea that he needed a special "in" to get invited. HA! Good Fun!

multicultural hostspot? ... you are gonna bring up multicultural when comparing austria to the USA? HA! classic. and again, no, as an austrian you cannot say what you want if you have laws that prohibit holocaust denial, national socialist party propaganda and "denigrating religious beliefs." oddly enough, you also got some laws that specific prohibit anti-islamic speech, but anti-jewish speech seems to be okie dokie. weird. am not sure what kinda public shaming you are imagining. we went to berkeley for chrissakes. anti-government and anti-american (whatever that means nowadays) rhetoric were so common at our university that you tended not to notice such stuff. is not too much "I Hate America" speech 'mongst the general population, but disagreeing with the government is less likely to be a problem than rooting for the cowboys if you live in nyc, or being a cubs fan if you live in st. louis. *shrug* we spent a couple years in europe and we were initially startled by the misconceptions folks had 'bout the USA and americans. we rare go to europe anymore as our trips abroad is almost exclusive asian, but am betting that the internet has not improved misconceptions. regardless, you do not get it. hate the USA if you wish... many americans do. however, free speech in the USA is different than in austria and most o' the democracies o' the world. that don't make the USA superior, not by a long shot. USA free speech is different. ... we have this same discussion every year or so. http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?showtopic=56176&p=1069777 read the thread from the linked post. is off-topic from cosby though, so we kinda apologize. nevertheless, you did ask for an explanation o' how USA is different. congrats. HA! Good Fun!

Wait. How is my free speech not like yours? In fact i can say what the **** i want, about what the **** i want without less restritcitons than you do, without fearing a goverment agent knocking on my door. I can tell a police officer to **** off with out getting arrested. ****, you are living in a police state that can bring you into prison without much of an offense. I think you are being ironic but i can´t tell, because your link is useless and doesn´t prove anything. :> *sigh* no you can't say what you want. as an austrian (yes?) you can be criminalized if you deny the holocaust or spout nazi propaganda. there is also austrian laws that prohibit you from "denigrating religious beliefs." perhaps you watch too much tv or read too many internet posts about the US? you don't get it. HA! Good Fun!

Why? Most of europe has free speech. Historicaly speaking long before the US, which is no suprise because the US constitution is based on the Magna Carta Libertatum and it´s various interpretations. Long before the US even existed. I will never understand this. US people are so high on their "freedom" of everything, which compared to us, is just a given thing. In fact considering some laws you have, and the the goverment can do what it want, i would say your idea of freedom is even less than what we consider freedom in europe. Or Russia, which, surprise is also a democracy. I don´t get that "we are the land of the free we can say what we want" when this is standart in europe and factual isn´t even the case in the US. I just don´t get it. it is true that you don't get it, but it likely ain't your fault. what you call free speech, isn't. sorry, but you haven't bothered to learn the differences 'tween US freedom and yours. hmmm. probably easiest to provide a link http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11254419 to folks in the USA, we realize that it is the speech that offends that is requiring protection. simply because we, the majority, dislike or even loathe the message, does not mean that we should limit the speaker. "those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. they did not fear political change. they did not exalt order at the cost of liberty. to courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion. if there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence." you don't get it. HA! Good Fun!

am not gonna take the opportunity to pat our self on the back. we thought we had reasons to dislike white folks, particularly as a kid. that reflex, learned through harsh experience, were/is difficult to overcome. is a flaw in our character. that being said, our sense o' intellectual honesty precludes us from dismissing the value o' the United States Constitution 'cause o' the bigotry or character flaws o' the authors. as we noted already, Gromnir has issues o' our own. US flavor o' free speech is almost unique in the world. every democracy claims to protect free speech. even China has a constitution which protects free speech. our considerable time abroad gave us the opportunity to recognize that we took US Free Speech for granted. ... am gonna note that most o' our paying work comes from free exercise and establishment clause cases. freedom o' association is also more likely to result in paying jobs than is free speech. in any event, it takes a particular kinda idiot to get into Constitutional law for the money. HA! Good Fun!

as noted afore, certain folks were missing the forest for the trees. am much relieved that amentep recognizes the actual problem... or the absence o' a problem. HA! Good Fun! ps if you explicit explain the error, a person will be less likely to learn. he gots to make the connection, or the exercise is pointless.

Forget that example, thats not the point What about pedophile rings that get busted? Don't you automatically assume they scum and guilty ? no, we don't assume they are guilty or scum. however, depending on the evidence made public available, we might protest or boycott. we might even use our First Amendment rights to criticize the State if it appears to us that there were a failure on the part o' lawyers or police or whomever that made it possible for seeming guilty folks to go free. we need be convinced that a person is scum... need more than mere accusation. however, what convinces Gromnir is likely gonna be different than what is required to convince gifted or bruce. good. am not seeing a problem if evidence made public is unconvincing to gifted but satisfies Gromnir that _________ is scum and we will henceforth never voluntarily do business with the d-bag. stuff such as "innocent until proven guilty" is not a standard for the court o' public opinion. if __________ is an accused pedophile, then how much evidence do we require to convince us that ___________ is not somebody we wanna leave alone with our pre-teen cousin, regardless o' whether or not we is certain that they is legal guilty? chances are that we need little such evidence in that situation, eh? for us, legal guilt is a complete different query. there can be any number o' reasons why the State fails to prosecute a scumbag. is even more reasons why the State may fail to gain a conviction o' a scumbag. am understanding that such a pov can seem self-contradictory. HA! Good Fun!

Interesting answer, you see when it comes to my personal views on Cosby I can't separate the guilty and the fact he is a dirtbag You do have more temperance than me but that doesn't surprise me because of your life experiences. For me its simple, if a guy commits rape on this scale I cannot show much restraint if we believe he has done wrong, then we want to see the process applied fair. we don't need legal punishment per se. ... am gonna admit that there is cases in which we suspect that the process has been subverted. is the State v. Defendant in a criminal case. is not victim v. Defendant. is society as a whole that is s'posed getting justice. however, as a complete random example, a wealthy defendant might be able to convince a victim to refrain from testifying. is pretty much 0 chance a prosecutor is gonna try and nail a defendant for rape w/o the cooperation o' the victim. so, am much bothered when we see a professional basketball player (again, is complete random example) possible escape justice by what amounts to paying off the victim. such results offend us. HA! Good Fun!

good info. manifested is in san diego, and we suspect there is a few boardies who make their yearly pilgrimage to comic-con. HA! Good Fun! ps am genuine envious that our name cannot be shortened to something kewl like "Kaz."

based on the info we got, we believe cosby is a dirtbag. if he weren't too old for it to matter, we sure as heck wouldn't feel comfortable if he were dating a family member or friend. is not the same as guilt. for us, legal guilt is needing meet a whole different standard. am suspecting that our response will be unsatisfactory. ... in many ways, Gromnir is still a true believer, even after all these years. we hold to the proposition that is is better that 10 or 100 o' the guilty should go free than that one innocent man should suffer. we accept that our system requires that men/women who has done wrong will escape justice and that such is a good thing as the safeguards that allow the villains to go free also reduces the likelihood that innocent men will accidental or purposely be deprived o' their liberty. HA! Good Fun!

is more info. for example, we know there is an option to level-scale the expansion encounters, but again, beyond the option itself, we do not recall where we got details. HA! Good Fun!

am admitting to being mighty conflicted about accusations o' rape. while rape shield laws exist to protect the accuser from being victimized by the process, the reality is different and ugly. converse http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152409/Brian-Banks-Player-falsely-accused-rape-NFL-auditions-teams.html we worked at a juvenile detention facility for a couple years. were good money and were a 24-hour facility so night hours were available-- we could go to school and work... just so long as we never slept. anywho, there were a period o' time while we worked at The Hall that accusations o' sexual impropriety on the part o' the staff became endemic. the residents learned that the mere accusation o' sexual wrongdoing on the part o' staff related to searches or showers could lead to harsh consequences for the staff. stoopid and angry kids making up terrible stories just to make their perceived tormentors suffer? gosh, what a shock, eh? how many false claims gotta occur before folks become suspicious and jaded? only one? perhaps all you need know is that some "victims" do lie for one to become suspicious o' such accusations? as an aside, public perception o' malfeasance or wrongdoing doesn't need pass same level o' scrutiny as legal guilt. nor should it. is many actions that is wrong and stoopid that ain't illegal. and particularly in the USA where we got unique exclusion rules, folks we know is perpetrator o' a crime must necessarily be found not guilty if there is a failure o' police or lawyers or the State. regardless, the court of public opinion don't need follow the same rules as do courts. good. yes, it is a terrible thing that mistaken public opinion can ruin an innocent man's life, but how many o' us know complete d-bags that has figuratively (or perhaps even literally) gotten away with murder and managed to escape justice? we know folks that lie and cheat and steal and have no criminal record. the justice system can't take away their liberty, but don't make 'em any less a d-bag. dunno, perhaps 'cause o' our profession, Gromnir is able to insulate the legal process from our personal notions o' right and wrong. HA! Good Fun!

I'm not surprised Strawnir would think that. says the guy who can't figure out strawman or hypothetical? ah well, am guessing we embarrassed you one too many times... though you did to self, truth be told. is more baffling that you don't even realize. *chuckle* we will stay on-topic by noting that honest don't recall where we heard mention o' appropriate levels for the expansion or that the expansion is accessible from the point one acquires the stronghold. am s'posing we could do a search... "Seriously, though, "hours" is a ridiculous measurement of game content. " true, but it is an inevitable yardstick. after HoW, black isle stopped mention o' any kinda specific reference to hours o' gameplay. nevertheless, if fans and interviewers keep asking for estimates in terms o' hours o' gameplay, the developers will eventual blunder into making such an estimate. HA! Good Fun!

our memory on this point is vague, but for some peculiar reason, we recall level 6 as having been mentioned in context o' the optional expansion scaling. the expansion would be balanced for levels 6-whatever, but the scale option could increase that range. HA! Good Fun! ps regardless, am believing that the expansion is accessible as long as you have the stronghold, yes?

This sounds like you've never played a rogue... Shields don't work. from our personal experience, dps rogue deflection don't work against the mistress below. the deflection necessary to withstand the mistress requires a character with tank abilities and talents coupled with the shield deflection bonuses and other tanky gear. as an aside, the mistress below party killer (rogues included) for us is the breath weapon. the breath does corrode damage, but am not recalling if it targets deflection or reflex. our best defenses, other than consumables to temp inflate endurance, is the options we mentioned earlier in this thread. you may also load up on scrolls o' paralysis and revival if you want an easier run at the dragon. scrolls o' confusion is also groovy as the dragon will attack confused ads. grieving mother's mass dominate is similar efficacious, particularly as a couple o' the adragan (sp?) ads can petrify. is kinda funny when battle is won 'cause the adragans keep petrifying the dragon. to torm: we suspect others will disagree, but the hand and key breastplate is not a bad option for the battle in question. sure, it slows down your rate o' attack, but the breastplate offers considerable charm/dominate protection, and the ads will try and dominate you if they can. if you do not use cheese tactics to wipe out the ads before the dragon battle begins, a rogue with meh will saves will get benefit from the breastplate. HA! Good Fun!

am thinking that Gromnir is the one justified to be using the eye-roll emoticon (again), but if it makes you happy, knock yourself out. HA! Good Fun!

eh? we already responded to colombo specific. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/80306-poe-expansion-the-white-march-part-1/?p=1711459 *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

not necessarily. in more than a few gameplay previews for poe, the obsidians were playing max level characters, regardless o' the inappropriateness o' such a level for the given content. we wouldn't read too much into the videos. regardless, if the expansion increases the level cap, then am suspecting that without playing any additional content you could reach level thirteen, or better, simple by playing a completionist run o' the core game areas. get less than 2 full levels from the additional content would not surprise us in the least. HA! Good Fun! Well even if that's true, it doesn't really change anything. When the cap is increased to 14, or later 16, does it really matter if the levels are gained from the expansion content or from the main content? actual, we suspect it matters to some folks. read the posts in this thread and you will see that some folks appear to believe that the expansion will offer enough material to level 2x. so, what if that ain't true? what if even at level 6 or 7 you do everything and it results in only a single level-up? we already see a few guesses of gameplay hours for white march part 1 that exceed any crpg expansion we can recall playing. as for guesses about adjusting level progression... hypothetical changes, eh? am doubting that the obsidians make any major changes to the way xp is provided. for whatever reason, the obsidians were confident that they understood how much xp were available in the game and they believed that it would require a completionist the entire game to reach level 12. they were wrong. however, we will note that the rather simple expedient o' cutting the bounty awards in twain had a significant impact-- the number o' folks claiming to reach the level cap before chap 3 largely disappeared. we do not foresee a major overhaul forthcoming. am of the opinion that the current xp scheme is less than ideal, but am also suspecting that obsidian has much on their plate. a simple and quick solution would be our first choice, even if such a choice would not be perfect. reducing bounty awards worked to reduce the perceived xp problem. make further reductions in the side-quest material to achieve the desired goal o' slowing level progression is a simple solution. yeah, we agree with matt516 regarding level progression, but from a practical pov, we would be surprised if the obsidians changed the xp scheme as a whole. HA! Good Fun!

not necessarily. in more than a few gameplay previews for poe, the obsidians were playing max level characters, regardless o' the inappropriateness o' such a level for the given content. we wouldn't read too much into the videos. regardless, if the expansion increases the level cap, then am suspecting that without playing any additional content you could reach level thirteen, or better, simple by playing a completionist run o' the core game areas. get less than 2 full levels from the additional content would not surprise us in the least. HA! Good Fun!