Gromnir

I can't express how weird and unintuitive that is. it's a gameplay advantage rather than a reality based advantage. make damage for daggers (no short swords) and hatchets equal. okie dokie, now come up with a reason other than aesthetics to chose a hatchet over a dagger. *shrug* there were bound to be a few weapon qualities that felt a bit wrong. yeah, we agree the hatchet thing is a bit odd, but we can understand the difficulty obsidian were facing trying to make weapons balanced & unique. HA! Good Fun!

for old d&d, there were no meaningful class decisions after rolling up your character. there were no skills. you couldn't add attribute points at level 4. there were no feats or perks or whatever. other than spell book selection for mages, thief skills (which every player pretty much used identical) and weapon proficients (there were no grandmastery nonsense in d&d and ad&d 1e) level 1 choices were pretty much the beginning and end o' character development choices... and dual-classing or original bards were 'bout as likely as Gromnir sneezing out a 4 carat diamond. other than the role-playing o' the player, attributes and gear were all there were to distinguish one cleric from another. it took a Long time to level. gear were much more rare. *shrug* attributes were much more important in old tabletop. HA! Good Fun!

I ate 'em. Anyhow, now that I've had some sleep, I think I can marshal my thoughts better. My point about poverty, and this goes along the lines of what Gorth was saying, is that being stuck in the wheel well of the bus of life doesn't require any particular skin color. Grom had bad experiences at the hands of white folks. His example show that he took those experiences and transformed them into something good because of some of the breaks he had in life. Awesome! However, I would much rather celebrate his success at rising above hatred, even if sometimes he still falls into those ways, than defend folks for hating. I can understand some folks hating people of any particular group. A woman who was gang raped at a bar shouldn't assume all men are rapists, but she probably has a hard time not feeling animosity towards men. I can sympathize with her. It still ain't good. Even if I don't judge her, which I don't, my point would still remain that her feelings towards men aren't good for her. It's still something that detracts from her life. ...And, if she used her feelings as a way to excuse self destructive behavior, then the men who raped her would be causing her even greater harm after the fact than they did during the first assault. As for me, I think I've discussed enough of my childhood except for one thing that may or may not be humorous. (If it's not, bite me!) My biological father was half Mexican by heritage. My grandmother was born and raised in Mexico. It doesn't come up all the time, but when it's come out that I'm part Mexican, I've had people call me a 'wannabe' and all manner of ignorant crap. Hell, I've had Mexican descent relatives tell me I'm not *really* Mexican. Now, anyone who's met a significant number of actual Mexicans, knows that you get a pretty broad range of skin colors, hair colors, and eye colors. Yeah, by the it got to my generation, we looked a hell of a lot more white bread than good ol' Nana. Never really bothered me. Just kind of weird. am not defending hatred, but pretend that it doesn't exist or isn't warranted strike us as equal wrong. it would be nice if we could all be saints (maybe not actually) but the reality is that if you suffer because of ___________ or is disenfranchised, ridiculed and functional segregated, chances are the you is gonna dislike the person, organization or class that you see as responsible for your suffering. https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/58301-the-humanitarian-mission-in-lybia/page-3?do=findComment&comment=1132855 we got all kinds o' reasons to dislike white folks and the US and that guy who vandalized our family truck back in 76 by smashing windows, slashing tires and spray painting racial slurs on it while we were in the grocery store in town. even so, from reading a few o' our posts, it is kinda obvious that we ain't acting like a victim, and we ain't blaming white folks. when the white-cops-are-killing-unarmed-minorities threads pop up, Gromnir typical defends the cops (or at least we point out that whatever injustice occured, it ain't the result o' malice by The Powers That Be.) when nutter conspiracy theorists make claims that the military industrial complex manipulates the system to keep women and minorities on the bottom rungs o' the ladder o' society, we is at the forefront heaping scorn on 'em. we has actual litigated on behalf o' nazis and white power groups in spite o' the fact that such folks make our skin crawl. am even willing to say that we hate nazis without feeling the need to apologize, but that didn't stand in our way o' advocating for them and their First Amendment rights. people who suffer at the hands o' ___________ will very likely come to hate their tormentors. am not saying that is good, but some good can come from it. on the other hand, act as if Gromnir and other minorities who has suffered real and genuine bigotry should just, you know, let go o' our anger likes we is jedi or somesuch is pure fantasy. there is gonna be anger and hate. accept it and try to make something from it. accept that perhaps there is cause for anger and try and fix the problems. but tell folks they shouldn't feel hate for the systemic obstacles that still makes life a whole lot tougher for them is, we believe, asking too much o' most folks. we tell our younger family members not to make excuses. we tell 'em that being angry is ok, but being a victim is unforgivable. we tell 'em not to respond to bigotry with bigotry and that the best way to get back at those who did you wrong is to prove how wrong they were about you. as a minority or woman you want a complete level playing field? it ain't gonna happen. is no way to turn back the clock so that black, indian, chinese or whatever americans received the same advantages as white americans when attempting to get home loans +70 years ago and more. for generations, their families has had advantages and passed on advantages to future generations. is still old (and not so old) white men (the guys who most often run business) who thinks latinos or asians can't handle certain managerial tasks as well as whites. is clearly more than a few folks who still thinks women is less suited to be successful in the business world. #@$% 'em. it ain't gonna be complete fair for your generation or the next, but guess what, the major hurdles to your success were removed in the 60s and 70s. b!tching and moaning is just gonna prove to the bigots that they were right when they claimed you couldn't hack it. so #@$% 'em. be angry and prove 'em wrong. maybe in two generations, or three or four, the playing field will genuine be level, but if folks accept their victim status without overcoming the remaining obstacles with their own will (and anger), then 100 years from now we will still be facing the same problems. tell us the anger isn't justified? *snort* doesn't matter. tell or ask somebody not to be angry is pointless. what you say don't matter. is just air. what you feel don't matter, cause feelings is even lighter than air. it's what you do that counts. HA! Good Fun!

am not sure that is fair. depends on the system and depends on the gm/dm and it depends on many other factors. for instance, with original d&d as well as ad&d, leveling occurred extreme slow; it took literal years o' regular gameplay for us to get our first level 9 character in ad&d, and am pretty certain we never managed to get past level 7 with a white box d&d character. also, magic gear from bg and the ie games woulda' been derided as monty haul by any old-timey pnp gamer. the presence o' relative over-powered gear in the ie games resulted in the diminished importance of bonuses and penalties from attributes. also, while some ie gamers may find it hard to believe, but there were, particularly in the 80s, dozens if not hundreds o' pnp game systems, some o' which may not have even had traditional abilities. regardless, in old d&d pnp, original ability scores could be extreme important for many years o' gameplay. the ie games didn't actual reflect any o' our pnp d&d campaigns... which is likely a good thing as we doubt such stuff woulda' sold very well. HA! Good Fun! ps Gromnir is adamant opposed to rolling stats.

dunno. we think it is ok to hate white folks for past generational transgressions. white folks seemed to dislike and pity us for no other reason than real or imagined past generational conflicts. is not just the oglala that taught us to hate white folks when we were a kid. the white folks that we saw insulting our grandmother when she shopped in town taught us to hate. the white kids at the public elementary school we briefly attended taught us to hate as well. am not proud o' it, but particularly as a little kid, we disliked white folks enough to say we hated 'em. hate is a very powerful motivator if it can be channeled positive. Gromnir might not be where we is today if we didn't have hate o' white folk when we were young. every time somebody tried to tell us that we needed help o' affirmative action or implied that we had an excuse for poor test scores because our "disadvantaged upbringing," we wanted to hit'em. not joking. we don't hate white folks individually, but am gonna admit we still got lingering animosity for whites that we need push down as unfair and irrational. we saw and experienced too much as a kid. but here is the thing, what about the angry folks, much like Gromnir, who had a couple more bad breaks and a few less advantages? our advantages were few, but they were pivotal. we grew up without adequate heat, adequate food and adequate health care, but we had many books and a grandfather who had a degree from an ivy league school (dartmouth still counts as ivy, yes?) who aggressively encouraged us to get educated, though not necessarily school education. we also were lucky enough to be be a natural athlete and earn scholarships at multiple quality schools. our parents ended up making money, but at the time we went away to University, we woulda' had difficulty paying for Cal or our other top choices such as Penn. we had earned academic scholarships, but at the schools we wanted to attend, there would be a shortfall. so what happens to angry Gromnir who had a career ending injury during our sophomore year in high school? one bad break, literal. is not the first time we has considered how our life mighta' changed. HA! Good Fun!

we expect improvements, but Evidence about development time may not help you the way you think it does. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66757-backer-beta-going-live-at-300-pm-pdt/ the obsidian folks had more than a few months to fix the ranger already. clearly the developers thought they had improved the ranger with 435 and all the other beta releases. 2 months during which the obsidians is obviously busy doing other things and no backer feedback regarding their fixes? there might be some cause for folks to be less optimistic than you. HA! Good Fun!

yup. is doubtful the paladin's excellent deflection potential makes up for the lack o' class-specific tank abilities the other the other genuine tank classes will eventually have access to, but at least early in the game, the paladin can be a decent tank if it is built specific for that role. HA! Good Fun!

"Nope. I used the term 'not severe' " ... have us just repeating "In any case, and since you insist: 25-30% is still 'not severe'." but it is significant, which were our claim. we used words such as painful and significant, but you wanna quibble over significant v. severe, as is your typical distraction technique. " your inane response, "complete ignores actual problems o' the crisis, but nice try." your attempt to distract with irrelevancies after you make ridiculous assertions is amusing but predictable and tediously repetitive. we wish there were a way to add the chastisement you selective lifted from your quote o' Gromnir and add it to all responses to zor. sadly, the board software doesn't allow such." funny. the sanctions made the situation severe. duh. your maths decrease the impact of oil. *chuckle* how could you not notice? by your own maths, the impact o' western sanctions doubled the devaluation countries with healthy economies Not complete dependent on oil felt... 'cause sanctions is an additional devaluation and not a replacement. oil is now, responsible for 20-26% o' the fall-off o' the ruble and you see western sanctions as not having had a severe or significant impact? hell, you even used norway as a comparison in your now infamous graph. norway sees drop from 100 to 80.04 and russia drops from 100 to 45.07? your maths and graphs is funny. you were feebly attempting to refute Gromnir's claims o' significance. you were ineptly contradicting links o' experts that said russia were in the midst of a economic crisis with the following: "“Yes, I hear that Russia is down to their last 376 billion! "“Always a good laugh, seeing US press (and especially Uncle Rupes' Yellow Journalists) talking their enemies down, you'd think dealing with the 18 trillion dollar (and currently increasing at more than Russia's entire external debt annually) log in their own eye would garner rather more attention.”" and your links show that those reserves, which were over $524 billion in october of 2013, will only last 18 months... in spite o' the yellow journalism nonsense. is it really a laughing matter? heck, bloomberg, the folks who gave us your wonderful graph, tell us that the actual "usable" reserves is much smaller... but am doubting you wanna go there, yes? HA! Good Fun!

poe tanks are fighters, monks and barbarians. however, you can make a decent tank outta a hatchet wielding sword and shield paladin. HA! Good Fun!

on the positive side, when your poe dogmeat "dies" in combat, it ain't permanent. you don't need reload every time your animal companion gets turned into kibble by beetles, or elder bears, or spiders, or skaen cultist, or... whatever. HA! Good Fun!

You may have a point if they're the only gimped class, but release is upon us at the end of the month. There's not much time left to get it right before the physical goods start showing up in mailboxes 'round the world. Gromnir observations about the ranger: "in the early bb releases, we had an extreme useful ranger that were based on an interrupt concept, but as our current ranger's summoned bear is no longer a meat-shield but rather a twisted s&m pain transfer device, our dedicated interrupter no longer has appeal." from feb 2, 2015. "personally, we tend to agree with mr.monocle at this point. dump 'em (rangers). complete opposite o' hermit, we see fixing ranger either by making 'em a ranged weapon damage dealing class without the unnecessary ranger trappings, or cutting 'em out o' the game complete. in our estimation, animal companions and stealth and outdoor affinity is not gonna make rangers better. get rid o' the ranger crap from the crappy ranger, or get rid o' the ranger. "'course it is too late for our suggestion, so at best we is gonna get half-measures that make rangers less horrible." march 8, 2015. rangers is not very good. rangers were Vastly underrated in early betas as people were, for whatever reason, not counting animal companion damage when calculating ranger damage output. the bear had superior accuracy, were durable, and did dependable damage in the 40-60 range. our ranger could be doing almost negligible ranged damage, but when combined with the bear's damage output, he/she woulda' been doing more damage than the bb rogue... by a considerable amount. at the moment... the problems with the ranger are rather large. if the obsidian developers find good balance for the ranger, we expect it to come a few months from now rather than by march 26. that is ok with us. have one class that is bad for a couple months is far better than the old ie games with multiple craptacular classes that needed dual or multi-classing to make playable. a couple months to get the 11th class genuine playable? we can wait. 'course we still think it would be better to scrap the ranger nonsense and redesign as an archer. we suspect it would be easier to balance a ranged weapon heavy-hitter w/o an animal as 'posed to the current ranger... though we would regret the loss o' a potential cassowary animal companion for expansion or sequel rangers. HA! Good Fun!

rogue rogue is obvious good choice to get you more damage production while also having a character that might be able to have enough skill levels in stealth & mechanics. you got 1-2 potential tanks, and 2-3 potential support characters in a priest/druid and chanter... and a non-tanky paladin. you are a little light on damage production, though no doubt you can make up for the shortfall by careful tailoring each party member with talents n' such. even so, a dependable heavy-hitter would be a nice addition to your group: rogue or weezard... 'cause rangers sux at the moment and you got a cipher. as we noted already, the rogue's inherent skill bonuses would allow you to add a stealthy character who could disarm traps, which may or may not be possible with your group... depending on starting skills, background, and the level they join your group. however, with a similar group, Gromnir is gonna choose a second priest. one priest for healing, 'cause the healing priest is still essential in our beta experience, and one priest to be... different. having played obsidian/bis games more than once, we know that we will be able to successful overcome combat with even an indifferent combat pc. however, we also know that if we build character wrong, we could miss more than a few quests and dialogue options. 'course we won't know what constitutes "wrong" until we play, but based on past games from the same developer, we believe that for role-play reasons, we will want a character with high perception, high resolve, high intelligence and high lore. sadly, we can't always have what we want, so we may needs play with attributes a bit. regardless, for us, we is gonna play a hearth orlan priest o' either eothas or berath... likely dual-wielding flails or maces. HA! Good Fun! ps, keep in mind that barbarians and monks is s'posed filling a tank role. and you got 1-2 already.

if amentep became a mod once more, then we might consider it an impending sign o' the apocalypse. if oby became a mod, we would assume we were having some kinda e. coli induced fever dream. however, with poe about to be released, we kinda expected one or two more mods. choosing old mods (can use "old" however you wish) makes more sense than new mods. HA! Good Fun!

one wonders if you would be able to do so if were teaching in oakland... or if you were speaking at a pta meeting. HA! Good Fun! I get a surprising amount of Asian slurs in my area, although in 7th grade it is still pretty innocent. For many years the students referred to the three different levels of math at our school as white math (low) Chinese math (regular) and Indian math (advanced). It was hard not to chuckle a bit at the fact that the white kids were our low performers. statistically, is our understanding that the single highest performing demographic for math and science in US public schools is african immigrants. *shrug* am not able to think o' a situation in which we would want or need to use a racial slur, but am always struck by how careful public figures must be. clearly in a round-table discussion on pbs there should be no need to self-censor and say "the n-word" when describing events in ferguson or nyc, and yet... use racial slurs is bad. am not sure why anybody would complain that they don't get to free use racial slurs. even so, the way public figures (and many other folks) needs fall over themselves avoiding particular words is... silly. HA! Good Fun!

one wonders if you would be able to do so if were teaching in oakland... or if you were speaking at a pta meeting. HA! Good Fun!

agreed, but am thinking the most common complaint being voiced is not how the etymology has changed over time or that words have power, but rather why hurlshot has to literally say, "the n-word." is silly precisely 'cause if hurl's mother or father had been black, expectations and punishments for use o' the situationally offensive word in question would be very different than for a white-as-driven-snow hurlshot. does it not come off as ridiculous when you see congressmen and pundits talking about "the n-word."? go to any cafeteria at any university with a sizable % o' black students and you is gonna hear "the n-word" used frequent and in its complete form. gonna find the same if you watch bet for more than 5 minutes. is numerous explanations. we get that the historically disenfranchised would wanna diminish the power of certain insults. is other explanations but whatever is causes and reasons and explanations, hurl having to say, "the n-word" is just... silly. is childish pretend. HA! Good Fun!

"In any case, and since you insist: 25-30% is still 'not severe'." but it is significant, which were our claim. we used words such as painful and significant, but you wanna quibble over significant v. severe, as is your typical distraction technique. " your inane response, "complete ignores actual problems o' the crisis, but nice try." your attempt to distract with irrelevancies after you make ridiculous assertions is amusing but predictable and tediously repetitive. we wish there were a way to add the chastisement you selective lifted from your quote o' Gromnir and add it to all responses to zor. sadly, the board software doesn't allow such." thanks for illustrating. but shucks, at least you ain't giving total credit to the devaluation o' the ruble to oil drop with your graph misreadings. and yes putin sees this crisis as little different from the one in 2004. unsurprising. he didn't do anything to fix the problems that made This crisis inevitable. kurdin is far more jaded, even though he is russian and understandably needing to be cautious with criticisms.for chissakes, the ruble more than halved against the dollar at one point. to slow the freefall, putin and his geniuses raised interest rates to 17% and used ten of billions of dollars o' the quickly disappearing reserve in three short months to help prop up the ruble. your math is specious and ignores that that a significant percentage o' the devaluation was Not just oil but western sanctions, and the devaluation hurt. ​oh, and you don't understand your claimed maths (trying to halve the devaluation because the devaluation were half its total value? HA!) anymore than you understand graphs or basic economics. tell you what, it would even be better if you used same horrible math/non-reasoning on recession numbers. russian economy shrank less than a full percentage point, but if we were to suggest that western sanctions were responsible for 31-40% o' the recession, that would meant that western sanctions were responsible for a mere fraction o' 1%... which to a Complete Yutz might not sound all that bad. not to mention that the nine nations you ain't giving actual examples o', didn't have sanctions. duh. the other nations, due to oil price drop and other economic factor had drops in currency value o' their own. and if similar sanctions had been imposed on them they woulda' felt an equally significant bit o pain. sure, the other nations woulda' had sanctions be a proportionally much larger hit to their devaluation because only thrid world countries (and norway) is so darn dependent on a single export, but equal sanctions would be very painful. "We mustn't downplay the impact of sanctions … It's a very big blow every year to the Russian economy," *sigh* is insane. don't bother bruce as he ain't trying to be reasonable. HA! Good Fun!

too much westerns, and is kinda complicated. for instance, while we all know crazy horse and sitting bull, that were not their birth names, and in ordinary conversation it would be less likely for any oglala/lakota to use such names. is no oglala family names, but many did and do give birth names that ain't gonna be social security card fare. giving oglala birth names is common. our father, who were military, saw no point. so no oglala birth name. but the birth name is typical temporary and other names will be acquired eventual. birth name is a kinda nickname. our grandparents actually raised us and they gave us a name that were used by everybody anyways... or rather we had a "nickname" that were used interchangeably with "boy" for the first 12.5 years o' our life. for various reasons, in oglala records, we has two recognized names, one o' which is identical to the name on our social security card, but neither o' which is the one our grandparents gave to us. 'course, typical, when speaking with family or friends back home, a complete other name is actual used and is all very natural to us, but is seeming strange. the matter is further complicated 'cause the lakota language is darn close to dying. very few folks under age 60 actual know lakota. each generation knows less. at pine ridge there is always classes for such stuff, but is much like taking spanish or french in high school or college... but less so. folks learn words or phrases, but w/o native speakers to speak to, the language skills is lost or degrade. our parents actual had college degrees, and eventual advanced degrees. one o' our grandparents had a bachelors from dartmouth and a masters from ucla. even so, our parents didn't seem to know just how advantageous it is for a child to learn multiple languages-- our grandparents were discouraged from teaching us lakota. nevertheless, while our grandparents didn't "teach" us lakota, they spoke lakota as much/more than english, so we know more than do most 40 somethings. naming is close tied to language, and genuine knowledge o' the language is near dead. so, yes to having oglala names, and yes to the practice, but the answer were necessarily more complex than you likely expected and chances are you don't have the answer you were looking for regardless. HA! Good Fun!

when our sister went to Cal, she lived at rochdale for a few years. "roachdale" were a +200 person co-op with units that had 1- 4 apartments attached to a common living area. our sister had between 6-7 lesbian and transsexual roommates. we learned stuff from visiting sis. we visited frequent. we actual enjoyed most o' her roommates company, and for some inexplicable reason, they always wanted to play basketball when we visited. Gromnir is an indifferent basketball player, but it were nice to feel like michael jordan for an hour or so. anyways, one thing we learned is that lesbians, at least back in the early/mid 90s, had a peculiar fascination with calling each other b**** and c***. it were not an attractive habit, but even the "lipstick lesbians" would use that crude identifier. we surmised that the lesbians used such a vulgar descriptor for two reasons: 1) say c*** makes folks uncomfortable, and the lesbians wanted us to be uncomfortable. 2) they believed that their use o' the word robbed it o' its power to hurt. *shrug* am suspecting most disenfranchised groups do similar stuff. also, words do have different meanings depending on who says them to you. we had a college roommate that called us tonto, if you can believe it. now, Gromnir is an easy going kinda person, but we would be a bit offended if a random stranger called us by the same name as the lone ranger's companion. random guy calling us tonto would be meant as something other than a compliment, yes? nevertheless, our college friend, for reasons we don't feel like explaining, could call us tonto without us getting the least bit angry. we knew our friend were saying without malice, so no harm. stranger says and we is obviously gonna assume malice or at least some level o' scorn or derision. same word, but we felt perfect justified in having a different reaction. now, keep in mind that we were in University, and our friend that we mentioned above were a football teammate. we were dumb and he were dumb. now that we is a bit older, am pretty sure we would discourage our adult friends from calling us tonto, even if we knew they bore us no ill will. ... point is that we thinks there is many reasons to explain why a group could feel like a particular bit o' language is an insult when used by anybody but themselves. am not advocating such a position, but we understand and even have some experience with something similar... not same. some o' the local communities near pine ridge developed insults for the lakota, and we still get a bit hot when we hear such. we would never call our relatives by such names and am certain they would be extreme offended if we did so. so, our experience is different, but we try to understand. HA! Good Fun!

are you a zor dopple? am wondering if you is doing on purpose. in the ie games, the paladin were very effective as a front-line combatant who could both deal extreme melee damage and absorb similarly extreme amounts of damage. the ie paladin did not get spells until level 9, which meant that his capacity as a support class were limited to know alignment (HA!), protection from evil buffs, and the ability to heal.. heal 2 hp per level... once per day. support class? you aren't serious. and no, people were not choosing paladins thematically to play a support role. their paladin got exceptional strength and had best thac0 in the game and had damage potential similar, and not similar to a poe fighter. the main difference between the bg paladin and the bg fighter is that the bg paladin automatically had dialogue winning charisma and likely had closer to optimized stats without requiring re-rolls. in the ie games, the fighter were also an extreme effective front-line combatant who could deal and absorb extreme amounts of damage. the only difference in the damage potential between fighters and paladins were the potential to put five stars into a weapon proficiency for fighters as 'posed to two for paladins. thac0 were same, and potential for exceptional strength were same and so to were your weapon choices available. the ie game fighter shared the damage potential o' a poe rogue and the durability o' a poe fighter. don't confuse. is actual some irony in your assertions. grandmastery were significantly nerfed for bg2: the extra attacks per round for * beyond specialization was removed. so by the time a paladin might be starting to develop support class abilities, the disparity between fighter and paladin damage output had been significantly reduced. most of the paladin and fighter's damage potential came from strength bonuses and magic bonuses provided by weapons and other gear. the +3 damage from grandmastery became a non-factor halfway through bg2 when damage potential for a single strike with the holy avenger were a mater of dozens o' hps o' damage. grandmastery, the one advantage for fighters over paladins, was a relative non-factor by the halfway point o' bg2. so, while BG grandmastery were significant, the BG paladin had near O potential for being a support class. however, in bg2, when a paladin, but not an inquisitor, might have enough spell power to offer some meager support , the grandmastery aspect were almost complete irrelevant. and again, why compare to fighters? its the name that has your head messed up, yes? the poe fighter has a tank focused role. the fighter's role has also changed from the ie games, so what is the point of comparing dps potential o' paladin to fighter... though with correct talents, the fighter is still the clear winner. regardless, both fighter and paladin roles have changed from bg and bg2... shoulda' changed the names o' both classes as folks such as you has legacy issues that you can't shake loose. HA! Good Fun!

"Up to" 40%; omitting the "up to" significantly changes the meaning because one says "this is the exact figure" and the other says "this is the maximum figure". and again, what were the Context you most obtuse and paranoid o' putin parrots? in the same quote you hypocritically complaint o' irrelevant but missing verbiage, you left out how putin agreed that sanctions were having a significant impact, which, *sigh* you repeated denied. blame all on oil drop alone? HA! the 40% were evidence that even russians were admitting the impact o' western sanctions on the collapse o' the ruble. we might as well add the following to every post responding to you: your inane response, "complete ignores actual problems o' the crisis, but nice try." your attempt to distract with irrelevancies after you make ridiculous assertions is amusing but predictable and tediously repetitive. we wish there were a way to add the chastisement you selective lifted from your quote o' Gromnir and add it to all responses to zor. sadly, the board software doesn't allow such. am not sure if you is doing on purpose or not. very repetitive, is plain to see that you don't know how to read graphs, don't understand basic economics and clearly don't get that predictions o' a russian fail in 6-12 months is hardly more or less compelling that russia is facing a sever economic crisis in 6-18 months. ... "*to whit: use 'everyone agrees with me' argument" nope. we said nobody agrees with you. is a difference. we keep need pointing these simple things out o you. is tiresome and should be unnecessary. oh well. go ahead and keep channeling timmy. HA! Good Fun!

... we watched the video. no mention of the problem. josh, whom we still ain't gotten acclimated to the seeing with hair, said he is trying to keep loot items appropriate tiered. is not the same issue. sure, josh wants folks to get better gear at an appropriate rate and as necessary to deal with new challenges, but that is a different issue. however, we will note that optional side-quests, which allow a clever, determined and resourceful player to gain 1007 disproportionate powerful to their level, is a problem worth addressing. is not excess gold though. HA! Good Fun!

Yo, Vinnie D, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Michael Clarke Duncan had one of the best Kingpins of all time! One of the best Kingpins of all time! only two good things from the daredevil movie... maybe three. 1) michael clarke duncan were indeed a good kingpin. an enormous, heavy-set guy who fought (literally) his way up from the mean streets? mr. duncan, god rest his soul, were selling tough w/o needing to speak. d'onofrio oozes crazy far more than tough. if kingpin we s'posed to be a big, white, straight-jacket bedecked psycho, d'onofrio would be our first choice... top three at worst. 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15qc3_joy5A we got a weird soft-spot for somewhat silly, angry and irish rap. 3) ... jennifer garner were hawt. HA! Good Fun!

oh, yeah, the first level bless spell that were complete eclipsed by superior party buffing spells from genuine support casters. a spell, btw, a paladin couldn't even cast in BG because he/she wouldn't have access to it til 9th level. yes. thanks for bringing paladin's eventual ability to cast bless, cause it works exact like zealous focus. poe is having us reach level 11 or 12? excellent tack to take. and yes, the holy avenger were a known quantity in bg2. it were revealed in print previews, and on the interplay boards the developers had announced, quite early, that the holy avenger would be a 2-h weapon... for balance, because it were so powerful and we were knowing ahead o' time that it would be extreme powerful. so, yeah, we suspect a great many players who chose to play paladins knew there would be a holy avenger in bg2, and even more had a pretty freaking good working knowledge o' almost exactly what the weapon would be capable of doing in the game. heck, we recall that the Holy Avenger even got mentioned in a couple of advertisements that gave examples o' traditional monsters and magic items that would be included in bg2. and the thematic reasons for playing a paladin were most likely tied to the Warrior o' goodness who were charismatic and capable o' going toe-to-toe with demons, dragons, liches and wizards, oh my. the thematic appeal o' a ie game paladin were bit different from, a bg cleric, a genuine support class. but at least you is no longer bringing up poe fighter to paladin dps comparisons anymore. baby steps. HA! Good Fun!

been here before and the answer(s) is not gonna change. no matter how long the game is, many folks will say it were too short. no matter how brief the game is, many folks will claim the game is having a grand duration... if you know how to play crpgs "properly." only if the game is ridiculous short and underdeveloped will we get any kinda consensus that the game were anemic in scope and application. only if the game is having unparalleled breadth and depth will we get consensus that the game has substantial duration. "according to steam, i finished it in 20 hours, and it only took that long because i mistakenly left the game run while i answered a phone call and it stayed on all night ." "it took me 120 hours to finish it, and i skipped at least a third of the quests. i don't know what you people are talking about." is no excuse for not being prepared for the inevitable. HA! Good Fun!