Gromnir

journalists get angry when pundits suggest that entertainment is more important than the news in news, but am thinking that it is undeniable that news outlets feel great pressure to hold the attention o' their audience. john stewart were being funny, that were his excuse. he never claimed that he were trying to be a legit news journalist. associated press, washington post, new york times and others not have the luxury o' being able to overt claim that they is entertainers, but they has exact same desire to increase or maintain viewer/reader attention and sponsorship. but again, we is talking o' rather obvious motivations and not conspiracies or government subversion o' freedom o' press. what we see is businesses trying to stay in business, and employees o' the business trying to get ahead in their field. HA! Good Fun!

Rofl, fine with me! Hell, they can even rename it "Gfted1 xp" to really teach me a lesson. Aside, how many enterable areas are there per map and how map are in the game? Surely you have some precognition ability or inside information since you already know the total. we don't need to know # o' maps. we has seen proportions in the beta and we has read developer comments. so, enjoy your title, woody. if the token grant o' xp for combat, locks and exploration satisfies folks, so much the better, but it is a joke... is just a joke that all the woodies on the boards doesn't appear to be in on... which kinda makes more humorous. HA! Good Fun!

is a fuzzy line. if you report as fact that which you know you is actual ignorant, is that not deceitful? with the internet and 24 hour tv news sites, there is such incredible pressure to be first and to be dramatic. if you ain't dramatic enough, people will switch channels or click on a different site. if you ain't fast enough, people will switch channels or click to a different site. much o' the stuff that gets reported as news today would have been dismissed as idle rumor by major newspapers and tv stations even 15 years ago. that is ok. we accept that people want up-to-the-second updates when something dramatic is happening in the world. the thing is, people expect the same accuracy today that they did 15 years ago. is not easy for reporters and news agencies to balance the need to be relevant and the duty to be accurate. we accept that initial reports is gonna contain much conjecture and error that got nothing to do with dark cabals and the monsters lurking under val's bed. *chuckle* converse, if you don't report every minute, the conspiracy nutters then claim you is hiding the truth from the public. is no-win. nevertheless, we do believe that reporting as news or fact what one knows is little more than pure speculation and/or conjecture is at least bordering on deceitful. HA! Good Fun!

This is an relevant post Gromnir but I am concerned with your comment " we bet they lie all the time", do you really believe that or are you just being diplomatic? yeah, we bet they do lie all the time, but is largely petty and irrelevant stuff that they is most frequent gonna lie about. some journalist says he saw "bodies" floating in the water outside the hotel. lie? probably. he knows bodies is floating around all over new orleans. at night he happens to see something float by in the shallow flooding in the french quarter where his hotel is at. how does he know it is a body? did he check? he don't know for certain it is a body, but the detail make his story better, and it could possibly have been a body. is a lie, but a small one and one that ain't gonna get him in trouble. *shrug* is not the story that is gonna be fabricated, but stuff such as williams claims that he could personally see dead bodies from his hotel in new orleans? how many reporters is lax 'bout checking their sources? these guys is under great pressure to get news out First. so, they get a story that sounds dramatic and they do what checking they can in the time they got and they get story on internet or on tv asap. is a lie to present a story as factual when all you got is crappy eye-witness account from an admitted biased israeli soldier or hamas member? probable. all the time? yeah, but not in the way you is worried 'bout? HA! Good Fun!

Actually my favorite post-Katrina lies the media ran with was stories of cannibalisim. If I were a resident of NO I'd be morally offended at that. If they were eating eachother after just 4 days they had to have least considered it previously. I know that was not your point Grom, I just remembered that as being one of the more outragous instances of media sensationalisim. cannibalism in the bayou... is a juicy story. worst pun ever. we expect such nonsense from journalists. get a couple residents claiming they has seen neighbors going cannibal and some journalist looking to make a name for himself reports instead o' fact checking. heck, we has mentioned before about how news outlets reported that president bush were dead following his on-camera vomiting in japan. one wacky guy pretends to be bush's personal physician and CNN is literal in the middle o' announcing to the world that "the president is dead" before somebody shouts on set to "stop." 'course the need to be first with the most dramatic story is exact why we tends to get misreporting exact opposite o' how the conspiracy theorists claims. cannibals in new orleans is not the kinda thing The Man or The Government wants, but is dramatic. covering of events in ferguson or gaza or wherever is similar. whatever story is most dramatic is gonna get reported as long as the journalist can get even a couple sketchy sources to back up the tale. misreporting in the west is rarely some kinda sinister conspiracy theory fodder. reporters is trying to be first with the most salacious story and the thing that prevents them from doing crap such as they do on rt is the fact that they know there is dozens or hundreds o' other reporters who is gonna expose their attempts to get ahead o' the competition. is personal self-interest, not sinister. HA! good Fun!

yes, but we thinks the developers is having a little laugh at the expense o' folks like gifted. the total amount o' xp garnered for mindlessly exploring every building on a map is extreme small compared to the objective or quest offerings. bestiary is similar but not quite as bad as exploration. to appease the folks demanding _________ xp, the developers throws in what amounts to joke xp, but some folks don't seem to realize that they is being laughed at. pop open a chest and get 150xp. complete an objective and get 12,000 xp. the objective xp in the beta is incredible inflated. so, perhaps if xp for opening locks and walking through a doorway remains unchanged in the release, then such awards will be proportional more significant in the actual game, but at the moment, what we got is the developers having a laugh at the expense o' some folks. developers throw in insignificant token rewards and that satisfies the loudest advocates o' ________ xp? am suspecting that some obsidian is chuckling about exploration xp. woody. HA! Good Fun!

some folks is playing a shell game. this ain't an example o' the evils western news propaganda or the public being mislead about issues. a journalist took credit for that which he did not do. well gosh, what a surprise? take the journalist outta the events reported and do we have substantial different reporting o' events? flooding post katrina were bad. many news outlets misreported information post katrina because the official government info drops were understandably incorrect immediate following the hurricane. private pyle reports flooding in districts 1,2,7, 9, 12. unfortunately, private pyle never made it to district 1. it were a long day and he were ordered to report in at 0500 after having already been on duty for 36 hours. he never made it to district 1, but based on flooding in district 2, he were certain that district 1 must be flooded. is five other privates reporting to sgt. hartman regarding which districts is flooded and the extent o' the flooding. sgt. reports to lieutenant or captain and captain reports to colonel or general. ever play telephone? initial info drops is often erroneous for reasons that is not the least bit sinister. the williams helicopter stuff is similar but different. were helicopters being fired 'pon in area X or Y? have williams on the helicopter to make himself seem more heroic is wrong if he weren't actual there, but act as if this is some kinda example o' state-sponsored propaganda is nonsense. what we got is the kinda crap that happens every day in every industry: a guy took credit for something he didn't personally do. is banal. is not sinister or illustrative o' some deep and dark evil. is petty. and the reason why williams gets away with his lies for so many years is precisely 'cause the fabrications were small from perspective that he weren't changing the news, but rather were simple injecting himself into the stories to advance his own career. in the west, is difficult to get away with any kinda major fabrication 'cause a dozen other guys is all reporting the same stuff and if you make a clear erroneous claim, you got twelve other reporters calling you a liar. is different with rt and al-jazerra and other state-sponsored news outlets, but some folks will refuse to see difference. does western journalists lie? sure. we bet they lie all the time, but they lie to benefit themselves and they lie in ways they is convinced they won't get caught. propaganda? *snort* is lies to get promotions or corner offices and not to advance the agenda o' the military-industrial complex... or whatever conspiracy theories some o' you jokers is fixated 'pon today. HA! Good Fun!

Bears reiterating. Emphasis mine. agreed. which is exactly why respec is needed. when developer error, obtuse mechanics, or ambiguities in descriptions o' talents or spells or whatever (examples o' some ambiguity: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/69864-on-abilitiestalentsitems-description/) result in the subversion o' player choices, there should be a way to correct the resulting inequitable consequences. now, that being said, depending on just how reactive the poe story is to your initial character generation choices, Gromnir is recognizing that complete respec would nether be practical or desirable. change sex, race, culture and background results in breaking story? we can see that potential problem. if developers were to disallow allow changes o' such stuff even if race or background bonuses is being applied incorrect in game, we would understand their reasoning for doing so. but yes, it does bear repeating that the PLAYER's choices should have consequences, which is exactly why respec is needed. thanks for reiterating. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting that more than anything, the choice to go with the current poe paper doll were a matter o' a largely uncontested cost v. benefit analysis. it would have taken effort and art resources to make an appealing 2d paper doll. why go through that effort when you already got the 3d game avatar? is there options that would look better than what we got? sure, but current paper doll is functional... and, truth-to-tell, considerably superior to the old bg and iwd paper dolls. is good enough and, from a development perspective, relative painless compared to other options. HA! Good Fun!

people like to throw "role-play" into these debates but am suspecting everybody gots a different notion o' what is role-play and what features would cheapen it. for example, we believe that more important than a slavish devotion to Teh Rulez is role-play. a player o' poe who gots a character concept in mind when they start the game should have the chance to role-play that character. a single respec would, to our way o' thinking, promotes role-play in that it offers a chance to correct mistakes arising from the unavoidable obtuseness o' poe game mechanics and it would further allow a fix for the similarly ubiquitous developer errors that will inevitably ruin the role-play choices o' more than a few players. example: we got a role-play concept for a hearth orlan (friendly gremlin) priest o' eothas who dual-wields flails. is not a fantastic spell caster, but the priestly spell repertoire is definite useful as a secondary buffer/healer. we want our priest to be quick in melee combat and able to interrupt frequent enough to make up for his lack pure dps. is not a powergame build by any stretch o' the imagination. *sigh* sadly, this concept is currently borked. we made such a character contemporaneous with the release o' 435, but unfortunately, the 16 points of dexterity we invested is working opposite o' how we intended, opposite o' how we intended to role-play the character. a high dexterity Decreases melee weapon attack speed in 435. so, if this were actual game release instead of last beta build, perhaps we play this character for a week or so, avoiding the boards so as not to be spoiled. we play long enough that we increasingly become aware that there is something wrong with our attack speed. we get 10, 20 or even 30 hours into the game before we become convinced that our character concept is not matching character reality? option is to wait for patch or restart? flush 30 hours o' game down the drain or possibly wait a month or more for a patch? but hey, at least we can take heart in the knowledge that our conundrum is a validation o' the role-play integrity o' the game, yes? to our way o' thinking, the technical snaffu that resulted in weapon attack speeds being generated incorrect, or any o' literally hundreds o' other current errors, is what cheapens the role-play nature o' the game. find out perhaps that lore skill is not being applied correct, or that the weapon focus talent you chose boosts the accuracy o' every weapon listed in the talent description save for the one you want your character to use? is such stuff that cheapens the Role-Play choices we made far more than the knowledge that some player we never met might be using a single respec opportunity to possibly game the game... a single-player game. there will be technical errors in the final release. numerous errors will invalidate otherwise valid role-play choices. many folks who did not follow these boards daily for the past few years will also discover that the attributes, spells, talents, weapons and other features o' the game do not have actual in-game effects that they expected after reading the brief in-game descriptions; their role-play choices will be perverted by the obscurity o' a complex, mathematics based crpg rules mechanics. given the nature o' poe as a deep crpg, many role-play choices made by players will be cheapened, contravened and crushed; it is inevitable. respec allows for a correction o' what is otherwise a perversion o' the manifest importance o' the player's role-play choices. see? invoke role-play may not be get you quite as much juice per squeeze as you wish. HA! Good Fun!

that works out perfect, 'cause we didn't want him to continue being spider-man. garfield managed to be less likable than tobey maguire, which is actual taking some effort given what a douche mr. maguire is. perhaps just as bad, andrew's on-screen chemistry with emma stone were terrible. we has never been a fan o' kirsten dunst and yet she and the aforementioned douche were a better on-screen couple than were garfield and stone, who actual happened to be a couple in real life. last couple spider-man movies were a mess in large part because o' garfield... can't blame it all on the electro character. we actual liked many characters not named spider-man in the recent movies. HA! Good Fun!

Perhaps. But my posting yielded a more positive discussion, so I have no qualms. we were making a generalization; is our opinion that use troll label is typical unhelpful and ironic. however, unless andriel clarifies, we suspect your descriptor is appropriate. at this point, andriel's post is the equivalent o' a guy driving by the obsidian offices, honking his horn and offering an obscene finger gesture to anybody who happens to be looking in his general direction. please note that we ain't particular bothered by posts that is nothing more than a general expression o' displeasure. after all, where else does he/she have to go to be offering such observations? be that as it may, without more from andriel, he/she can't expect more from obsidian or the people who seem to disagree with his/her grunt o' frustration. troll label is typical not helpful, but andriel ain't helping either by refusing to explain concerns. HA! Good Fun!

we is a reasonable guy. we read your post. we read indira's post responding to you. you liked indira's response. indira has not been shy about opposition to respec. *shrug* based on a four-corners reading o' the post, and your liking inidra's response, we took you serious. perhaps that were a mistake, though am suspecting based on your most recent post that you were being somewhat sardonic about the notion that your previous post were meant sarcastic. you does in fact show opposition to respec save as a mod o' some kind. HA! Good Fun!

for obvious reasons, Gromnir believes the troll label is not particularly useful. label somebody a troll w/o actual addressing their concerns is, perhaps ironic, very trollish. the thing is, we can't actual identify the specific concerns being voiced by andriel. we could take a stab at deciphering the complaint, but it makes far more sense for the poster to clarify than for Gromnir to try and craft an argument from implication before we address it. HA! Good Fun!

http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/01/31/dnt-part-dachshund-part-pit-bull.walb HA! Good Fun!

am attempting to see how adding a respec option into poe would prevent you from being able to restart & do-over. respec possibly would prevent you from wanting to restart, which kinda undercuts your suggest that restarting is the best part o' the game. if, when given an option that would diminish the investment o' time and effort o' replaying 1/4, 1/3 or even 1/2 o' the game to correct some perceived error in your character build, you chose to take such an option, that would seem to be, as the kids say, on you. you weigh and measure consequences o' replay and respec and find tedious replay wanting? ... you do realize you is NOT making an argument in favor o' replay, yes? regardless, even with respec, we suspect there will be many reasons for a chronic restarter to restart. you chose wrong skills or attributes for a substantial portion o' the game? you realize after only many hours that your low perception and low resolve character missed dozens o' potential dialogue options and attribute checks? and woe is wanderon 'cause he did not have enough lore skill. option to respec won't fix perception o' the chronic restarter that he borked the first dozen or more hours o' gameplay. all respec does is give the player the Option to prevent future suffering from potentially unavoidable and unknowable character creation errors. and as we already noted, many character creation errors will be technical or balance issues. each patch has the possibility o' invalidating some vital aspect o' your carefully planned character concept. a built-in respec option gives the player a user-friendly option for mitigating developer blunders. crpgs is about making meaningful choices, yes? well, if is developer error that subverts the meaning of player choices, we feels that respec is a harmless and painless way to mitigate the damage o' developer error. regardless, we do not see how availability o' respec can be used to prevent you from restart. at worst, respec would diminish your desire to want to restart. am hopeful you recognize the problem you is creating for yourself by admitting that respec diminishes the want-to o' restarts. HA! Good Fun!

Are you implying that Obsidian is exhibiting unprofessional conduct or that they are amateur game developers? You know what im implying am gonna admit that we don't know what you are implying. we got some guesses, but am not certain. some o' our guesses strain credulity, so we would choose to give you the benefit o' the doubt before we made claim that you is wrong. perhaps it would be better to say rather than imply. am not being snarky with that advice. implication leaves considerable more room for misunderstanding than does clear statement. HA! Good Fun!

in a rpg or crpg, when failure to take a feat or spell or race becomes a handicap, you have a balance problem. if is immediate apparent that your fighter should be race A and your chanter should be race B, you have a balance problem. if choosing race C for your paladin is a functional self gimping and the only reason to do so is "hardcore role-play," then you likely got a balance problem. the developers o' poe specifically observed that they were hoping for better balance from poe compared to d&d crpgs. have one race or class or weapon or whatever that is clear superior is not what the developers were trying to create in poe. have all races be equal powerful and/or useful? am not seeing that as a problem, but is difficult to do so. fun is also a consideration, but is much more difficult to guess fun w/o knowing the player personally. a crpg developer don't have the luxury o' being able to tailor the game to a specific player. HA! Good Fun! ps am thinking some folks get too focused with the power aspects o' balance and forget utility.

thanks. your response is reassuring and disappointing. am glad that what you think is bestest ie artwork is in line with what Gromnir believes were the best ie art. taste is subjective, but we applaud your taste eve so. conversely, am saddened to hear that in some ways, the excellence o' the ie environments is difficult to replicate for technical reasons. ah well. good luck... though am suspecting you is likely working on the expansion or some other project at this time. HA! Good Fun! ps add more snow and ice. http://thewayofbeauty.org/files/2010/06/turner-snowstorm.jpg

... http://christdesert.org/MONKS_OF_THE_DESERT_CD/index.html http://christdesert.org/Abbey_Beverage_Company/ the whole martial monk thing strikes us as weird. oh, sure, there is a few orders o' combat trained monks. heck, even the catholic church had some such, but for the most part when we think o' monks, we pictures a handful o' guys living in a monastery (duh) where they can be quietly contemplative... and perhaps make beer or cheese or some such. video is a scene o' a couple franciscan friars interacting with benedictine monks. am having a hard time picturing old jorge or the assistant librarian (berengar? he were the monk startled by the rodent) being much help fighting elder lions in poe. btw, is a fantastic book. rpg game monks is too much shaolin mythology and not enough good beer making for us. HA! Good Fun!

there is something wrong with Gromnir and plants. we have a black thumb. dry Gromnir's corpse and turn us into a fine powder. make some kinda aerosolized solution from the powder and am certain you end up with a better defoliant than agent orange. is moderate embarrassing just how bad we is with plants. HA! Good Fun!

"In the U.S., police need a warrant or reasonable suspicion you've been involved in a crime to legally pat you down." this is wrong. reasonable suspicion that you have been "involved in a crime" is not enough for police to pat you down. when val talks law, just ignore. am not kidding. HA! Good Fun!

if poe doesn't look better than bg, we will be mighty disappointed. on the other hand, we thought that the artwork in iwd were fantastic. from the beta, we can't claim to know much 'bout the art of poe as a whole. take a random wilderness map from bg and compare to dyrwood crossing. given the 15 years between the release o' the games, one would expect poe to have many advantages over its more aged predecessor. sure enough, from a technical pov, poe wilderness looks better, but not monumental better. so far we has seen kinda generic maps from poe... is nothing spectacular. am not gonna spoil, but in the beta there is one dungeon crawl map w/o an ogre that we is finding kinda impressive as far as the aesthetic is concerned, even if there are too many spiders. that being said, we is hoping for more iwd level o' art. severed hand and black wolf temple and portions o' dorn's deep and wyrm's tooth were visually striking and memorable. we ain't had a poe "wow" moment yet. the thing is, as others have mentioned, art is so darned subjective. am not a huge fan o' klimt either, although 1/2 o' the girls we knew in University had a print o' "the kiss" on their dorm room wall. am more o' an impressionists or post impressionist fan, but tastes is subjective. HA! Good Fun!

And we're back to sticking it to the man. No or not necessarily in regards to anything you're saying above. As I've said a few times now, what to do, why to do it, and any given scenario is entirely situational. Sometimes they're simple scenarios, but often they are not. I'm not taking this conversation further with you as you keep imagining things that were never stated and are not true, such as equating questioning authority to 'sticking it to the man'. They are certainly not one and the same, and this has now been repeatedly mentioned. If you truly think that, then my sentiments toward you are as they are towards anyone who thinks 2+2=5. That's fine, as I mentioned before I didn't think that there was to be a productive dialgue, but I do appreciate your attempts to explain your position even if, ultimately, I cannot fathom it. However, regarding "Question Authority", I will admit that the phrase sticks in my craw; perhaps I'm projecting an incorrect analysis on your words, but my experience with people who use that phrase is that they are the kind of people who are anti-government conspiracy theorists, the kind who believe that the police are an fascist army ready to take their personal liberties away who must be defied at all turns lest any freedom (real or perceived) be lost. EDIT: This perhaps makes it hard for me to be neutral and understanding in the discussion. am a personal advocate o' civil disobedience. heck, given our occupation, we is always fighting the State. that being said, civil disobedience has become a twisted and ugly thing compared to how Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and others used the term. 'course even the more aggressive but ultimately vindicated advocates o' civil disobedience had a purpose when risking their lives and freedom. am admitting confusion when we read val posts. am not certain how civil disobedience became an end rather than a means. Question Authority is a good thing, but challenge authority carries risks. one should first educate themselves regarding those risks. once educated, one must make a choice regarding whether or not challenging authority is a proper course o' action. conscience is what makes "proper," but one necessarily is taking risks when challenging authority. Gahndi and Martin Luther king Jr.specifically directed folks to avoid insults and physical confrontations with authority. we believes that those in this thread who suggest that those who do not "Question Authority" is being "slaves," is insulting to the memory o' such men. folks can question authority and fight injustice without eating a face full of glass or getting shot by police. w/o context, slavish devotion to an ultimately meaningless phrase is stoopid and wrong. HA! Good Fun!

we always make our own salsa and tomato sauces. 'course, we also make our own mayonnaise, so is possible that we ain't typical. however, we will note that we always have a jar o' these in our refrigerator: mrs. renfero's jar jalapenos is our favorite brand. HA! Good Fun!