Gromnir

not taboo. complex. the US is almost unique when it comes to police. we do not have a national police force. police power is reserved to the states, which is actual one reason why national mask mandates for covid is functional impossible, 'cause as odd as it sounds, such mandates is considered, from a law pov, a police power. the fed may mandate for fed employees, but not state citizens. each state has its own police, and boy do they ever have police... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_law_enforcement_agencies_in_California you are never gonna see us post wiki as basis in fact, but the link provides a rough notion o' how many police forces there is in ca alone, and those numbers is hardly a california thing. check for wisconsin or missouri if you wish. similar extreme numbers. gonna use covid again to stress another point and that is that municipal and county sheriffs departments is beholden to their own constituencies more than the governor, so when governor newsom passed mask mandates, a fair number o' municipal police departments and county sheriffs simply announced they were not gonna enforce the mandates, and there was little the governor could do 'bout such violations o' the rule o' law from a practical perspective. sure, its illegal for the sacramento county sheriff to refuse to enforce covid mandates, but what then? ok, so the fbi asks state and local departments to keep records and share data on all sorta crime data and is then up to state and local departments to decide if they wanna share such data. there is fed grant money often tied to sharing data, but state and local departments are often creative or just plain lazy when it comes to how accurate and detailed is the data they share, and there isn't a damn thing the fed government may do to compel the yuba county sheriff to be more diligent in transmitting numbers and reports. is not taboo. is federalism. is complex. is almost uniquely american in its perversity. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing there is more than a few obsidian posters who agree with martha and larry, and am admitting the last four years has disabused us o' the arrogance o' being confident in any "most americans" observations, but we would hope many americans realize there is an unconscionable large % o' american children who only get one decent meal a day, and that one sufficient meal is available only 'cause o' free school lunch programs. nutrition is kinda essential for brain development as a child matures. ... am recalling a happier time when pundits were self conscious enough to be embarrassed if they let slip their prejudices regarding social welfare programs which benefited children and others objective unable to bootstrap themselves out of hunger and poverty. in 2021 we got fox news anchors casual bemoaning those damned lazy first graders being conditioned to look for the next handout? HA! Good Fun!

politicians already are subject to litigation for slander and libel. however, am suspecting what you want is to make it easier to sue such folks. “when the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.”-- oscar wilde you do realize the diminishing o' the nyt standard would impact not only politicians but message board posters as well, yes? in fact, anybody who publishes a lie may also be sued and the only thing preventing such publishers from being buried in litigation is the ny times standard. obsidian is technical a publisher o' all o' our posts. no more special protection for speech regarding public figures or issues? well then, dp is gonna need be much more careful and obsidian would need police their boards far more close... both o' which is unlikely. most immediate relevant impact to obsidian boardies is these boards would be gone immediate. HA! Good Fun!

it is a good question. a few vanilla class companions are effective, but am recalling a few o' the suggested level-up choices for feats appeared... curious. am recollecting there was a wotr developer who were doing a core walkthrough stream and only got through half of the end of chapter one grey garrison assault, likely because work on the game became an every waking moment endeavor in the final months before release. however, am gonna observe she most assured did not take suggested feats at level-up and she were also getting roll-stomped by othirubo before her walkthrough streams ended. am suspecting a few o' the optional encounters, on core, with recommended feats and spells for mc and companions would be a tough slog for most developers who admitted would have spent far more time working on the game as 'posed to playing. we had many hours invested in wotr beta, and after beating the pathetic quasit battle on core and hard, am wondering how frustrating such a battle could be for many players... and more than a few developers. HA! Good Fun!

by now is obvious Gromnir is not a meme guy, and am also old. nevertheless, our first thought after viewing your linked tweet were as follows: HA! Good Fun!

is just not a meme worthy topic. musk is not cheating on his taxes or taking advantage o' some kinda rich person loophole, at least not at the fed level which is what the meme is addressing. and the bigger issue is that the vast majority americans support the current scheme which allows musk to pay at a relative low tax rate. even after the great recession, americans is overinvested in their homes and small business owners is understandably even more dangerous tethered to the financial success o' their business. too many americans got a retirement plan which is large dependent on the sale o' their home or business, and while home ownership is becoming more difficult, most americans still foresee themselves as future homeowners. capital gains. have mentioned previous, so is kinda a broken record thing, but where the us tax scheme is most obvious in need o' a fix, other than hedge fund exception which wouldn't apply to musk anyways, is the exceeding low capital gains tax rate we got in the us. 0/15/20. depending on your income, you pay either 0%, 15% or 20% when you sell a long-term investment and that investment makes money. if you make over ~$445k per year, then on your capital gains you pay 20% (with a possible 3.8% increase), which is considerable less than 37%, no? 'course most americans face capital gains tax as a relative small % o' their yearly tax burden, unless they sell a house or business. many americans depend on capital gains being low as is part o' their retirement plan to sell house and/or business. fed income tax bracket for musk is 37%, but chances are for the majority o' the money he makes in a year, the rate he pays is gonna be in the 20% range. add in fact that the ultra rich has business and foundation resources which means they as often as not they ain't personal paying for travel or even housing expenses. is not sneaky. americans is always reluctant to pay taxes. no doubt you has heard the wails ' o the taxation is theft persons, yes? so when is explained that rich people in california and ny, 'tween state and fed, is already paying more than 50% on income tax and that those rich people is paying more than the vast majority o' americans for capital gains, americans end up finding themselves defending the musks, bezos, buffets and gates from the dirty scoundrels in washington trying to steal the money they earned. tax the rich plans from Presidential candidates is rare practical. such plans is meant to appeal to people in same way as slogans such as make america great again. is puffery. however, there is solutions to taxation inequity but such requires a bit o' education and patience and those qualities is in short supply on both sides o' the aisle these days. a good start would be overhauling capital gains, which is actual part o' the biden plan that would raise the capital gains rate substantial, but only for those making $1million per year or more. unfortunate, capital gains is not meme worthy, so is likely doa. HA! Good Fun!

is a little known fact that 'ccording to dante's notes regarding "the divine comedy," he were ambivalent 'bout whether fifth cirlcle of hell should be for anger or for those who abused puns. HA! Good Fun!

dunno. a general criticism o' the poe maps when you admit "plenty" don't fit the generalization is a dubious starting point. regardless, would say the longwatch observation is hyperbole. the broodmother mob is not trash. a single difficult combat to complete a quest is not trash. is when the combat becomes repetitive filler am believing the trash label becomes appropriate. most o' the other encounters on the longwatch map is avoidable or not trash. is dlc, so is understandable the maps is packed tight with quest related encounters. spectres ain't trash and neither is the mercs. galvino's did feel like a slog and it woulda' been nice if there were a way to avoid at least a fair portion o' the repetitive combat, but again, for those complaining 'bout the fail o' obsidian to match the "spiritual successor" not promise, that is exact what the ie games offered all too often. poe developers specific did not compare to bg2 'cause bg2 were the culmination o' multiple ie games and developers knew there were no way they were gonna achieve some kinda parity with bg2 level o' depth and breadth. poe were s'posed to be deriving inspiration from bg, iwd and ps:t, and even ps:t had a whole lotta trash. is arguable most ps:t combat encounters were trash 'cause were extreme few which offered unique challenges. arguable the worst aspect o' ps:t were combat, and there were a significant amount. that said, galvino's, cad nua dungeon, and a few other locations woulda' benefited from less homage to the ie games and more emphasis on alternative quest resolutions. get no argument from us on such an observation. HA! Good Fun!

... then why fight? is a few o' the outdoor poe trash mobs we never bothered to engage, 'cause... why? you could go around. sneak past. whatever. the thing is, most crpg players is skinner box victims. kill everything on the map is part o' your conditioning. now a few o' the cad nua encounters were different; different in a bad way. developers admitted they never expected to need create so many levels, so they slapped a few o' the cad nua mega dungeon levels together w/o much effort or planning. no excuse. IF you are one o' the folks imagining obsidian promised a "spiritual successor" to bg, iwd AND ps:t simultaneous, then am s'posing you could look to iwd dragon's eye and see that cad nua were no worse for inexplicable placement o' trash mobs one after another after another. get your ie game nostalgia the hard way, eh? even so, unlike the wilderness maps and as 'posed to the dryford ruins or raedric's hold, there were no options for avoiding the trash in more than a couple cad nua dungeon levels. tedious. am thinking the biggest problem with the few poe wilderness maps and the trash mobs is that players couldn't unlearn decades o' crpg behavior. you have been trained. if there is monsters on a map, you kill 'em for l00t and/or xp. in spite o' being told there were no reward for killing trash mobs on wilderness poe maps, people went ahead and killed everything anyway, 'cause maybe there were a special quest or l00t cache behind that next group of wicht. when the player discovered there were no reward for their effort, they blamed obsidian for putting the trash mob on the map. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

is one o' those few recurring issues which has us sympathizing with developers. no right way to do it so far as we has seen in +20 years o' following these game developments. too little xp for late game conquests and people complain they were getting similar xp for killing a pack o' wolves as they did for the sub-boss near the end o' the game. most rational approach is to exorcise the per kill and per action xp, but a significant % o' gamers will argue, quite vocal, that being treated like a skinner box participant is part o' the ineffable fun o' crpgs-- need the insular rewards to encourage further gameplay. if there is a perfect balance or even a good solution, we ain't seen one... though am gonna admit that post poe, there were few complaints 'bout quest xp save that a few o' the cad nua bounties were indeed providing far too much xp. whatever else it were that stopped people from playing poe, the lack o' per kill xp became an afterthought hardly worthy o' mention. xp rewards is kinda like "exploration"-- is no right amount. put too much empty space or time fillers in game and many people complain. reduce the gaps 'tween encounters and quests and many people complain. HA! Good Fun!

guess you weren't done after all. *chuckle* this is all just gamer opinions, so state such axiomatic is transparent facile. if you now choose not to defend your opinion, for reals, that is your choice. HA! Good Fun!

being charitable means you are eventual gonna get scammed. is those kinda people no matter the social or economic strata, regardless o' race, creed, color. hopeful this lesson doesn't discourage you from future acts o' goodwill. HA! Good Fun!

you seemed quite interested in having the conversation as you replied multiple times. nevertheless, is kinda common for us to face the , "you aren't responsive" nonsense when a poster runs out o' arguments or realizes they never had much reason to defend a position in the first place. and if you don't wanna debate the issues you raised, you is never gonna convince anybody that doing your way would make for a "better" game. surely wouldn't be able to convince owlcat with that kinda silliness... but you don't care 'bout any o' that, so there, yes? am not liking 1e pathfinder and the bloat which necessarily accompanies such a system, particular in a crpg where there is no gm to reign in the impulses o' players. however, am not so arrogant as to tell the many folks here and elsewhere who very much like pathfinder 1e that a switch to 2e, or something else, is warranted 'cause would make for a "better" game. not take much effort to scroll up a page or two and see multiple honest and intelligent people proclaim the pathfinder games as their favorite (or near favorite) crpgs, and tell 'em they is wrong for liking. that said, we do agree that you trying to debate with such folks and tell 'em that they is wrong would be undesirable... and foolish. HA! Good Fun!

*sigh* nope, not "everyone" bought wotr for the pathfinder 1e ruleset, but if you didn't realize, especial with the addition o' mythic, you would get more o' what you appear to dislike o' the pathfinder ruleset, that is clear on you for failure to notice what were so patent obvious. alien from another planet goes into MacDonalds and buys a big mac. our alien friend has an excuse if she/he/it is surprised by ___________ regarding big macs. buy a second big mac expecting different result? you bought wotr, like all the people who bought wotr, and that multitude includes the people we referenced in the playful darkness thread. you clear bought the wrong game. kingmaker exists. wotr were in development for a considerable amount o' time and were no secret it would be what it is. have personal been critical o' the shortcomings o' pathfinder here and elsewhere. have lamented the bloat, particular at high levels. have criticized how unintuitive and nonsensical is the rules. have marveled at how many people defend crpg anachronisms without any seeming self awareness they is being irrational. have pointed out how obvious it were that add more archetypes and mythic would necessarily increase bloat as developers had to deal with an increasing unwieldy and unbalanced game. however, our disappointment with pathfinder as implemented in two games by owlcat doesn't change fact we knew exact what owlcat were offering with wotr and nobody has any right to feign surprise that wotr would be what it is... and we most definite ain't so obtuse we would fail to recognize that if wotr is commercial successful, then there is little motivation to build a "better" mousetrap. criticize the bugs and the writing but owlcat did a good job, for the most part, o' implementing 1e pathfinder, which is exact what many players wanted and is why they believe wotr is a better game. owlcat is not obtuse. owlcat ain't gonna make a game for everyone when they know they got a devoted fanbase o' 1e pathfinder fans. when the question o' 2e pathfinder came up multiple times in developer walkthroughs o' the wotr beta, those developers admitted 2e pathfinder were not being considered for a future product from owlcat. why would they? 'cause kp wants better? HA! Good Fun!

you want a different game, which is fair. 'course the fans, the folks paying owlcat, thinks wotr is the better game. HA! Good Fun!

the charlie fox is what many owlcat fans want. the longest current thread over at the owlcat forums is 'bout playful darkness, an optional boss (though you don't know it is optional when you first encounter) you stumble 'pon midway through the game. even players who know pathfinder inside and out is most likely gonna be indulging reasonable wtfness 'pon first encountering playful darkness, 'cause the ac o' the boss on core is ~bout 60 and it has stratospheric sr and saves which is unlikely a party at level 14 will have any chance o' dealing with... save for by playing at the extreme margins. there is numerous ways to beat playful darkness at level 14 with owlcat's version o' pathfinder, but is much akin to defeating a demilich in the original tomb of horrors d&d module. an astral wizard casting power word kill will dispatch a demi-lich outright, but first time playing the module, having never even heard o' a demi-lich previous, makes most unlikely a party will have done the necessary preparation for such an encounter. 1st and 2nd edition demi-lich is bass akwards metagamey nonsense but is more than a few d&d purists who will defend such as fun. if you so desire, you may hear same arguments regarding playful darkness. not surprising, the pathfinder sages at the owlcat boards sneer at those questioning what could possible be fun 'bout an encounter such as playful darkness which functional requires dumb luck or meta-knowledge to survive. as levels increase in an ordinary pathfinder ap, the need to resort to metagame and ultra-specialization increases. owlcat faces the additional spectre o' reload-- no matter how subtle the ai, an encounter is only gonna be surprising a player the first time they try and beat it. so owlcat almost necessarily has resorted to stat bloat, which magnifies the metagamey nonsense already baked into pathfinder. ... but again, is a Large % o' folks at owlcat defending encounters such as playful darkness and near as challenging critical path encounters. for much o' the fanbase, the normalization o' charlie fox is what makes the owlcat games old skool. the metagamey is mistaken seen as the answer to all the "dumbed down" crpgs the sheep seem to be satisfied with these days... or somesuch nonsense. *eye roll* like it or not, reasonable or not, the charlie fox is a serious selling point for a great many wotr players. would be a mistake to ignore the fanbase. HA! Good Fun!

is worth noting that a fork, pretty much by definition, is two tines. fork in a road. military fork. etc. a trident has three tines. am not sure o' the etymology o' the word, but wouldn't be shocked if the pitchfork is where things all fell apart. even so, back in the day when we first saw those wooden euro fast-food forks, we thought they were something an unapologetic evil doctor might use in their practice. "stick out your tongue and say "ah."" HA! Good Fun!

last few days o' buggy wotr gameplay has had the following song playing on a loop in our head. sure, play game is nothing like turn-of-century coal mining, but still feels more like work than entertainment at the moment and is not like we got control o' the crazy connections our sleep deprived brain makes. on the positive side, compared to the "songs" which usual spawn inexplicable and get stuck in our head, am calling this a win... though we gotta admit that for the past few months, in the hall of the mountain king is the music (not song) which plagues us unbidden and most frequent. given the theme o' peer gynt, this subconscious selection is disquieting on multiple levels. HA! Good Fun!

based on our previous posts you may no doubt surmise am not shocked stuff is busted. however, more than a few busted classes/archetypes has been busted in same way since at least the first beta. is stuff owlcat were made aware o' long before release. ... when do such fixes become a priority? HA! Good Fun!

never said that. what we keep saying, and what recent events should make abundant clear is that The People is the single biggest threat to your rights here in the US. look at texas and their abortion law. the law were passed democratic, and is hardly a solitary example. all you need is a simple legislative majority to do all kinda stoopid. the stuff folks think o' as their rights is coming in one o' two flavours: 1) democratic passed laws like the Civil Rights Acts 2) Constitution the problem with the democratic legislation stuff is that a majority o' americans, acting outta fear or anger, may take away rights at any time. heck, 'cause o' gerrymandering and our representative system, you not even need a real majority o' texans or Americans to create or remove legislative rights. on the other hand, the Constitutional rights is extreme limited because those rights is a bar on democracy and most americans find the notion o' limits on democracy to be repugnant. the thing is, most americans never stop and consider the nature o' those Constitutional Rights most o' us think is sooper important. right to free exercise of religion or need for reasonableness for police searches and seizures is purposeful protected from democracy. wanna change free exercise clause? need a Constitutional Amendment to do so. is not some tension 'tween the Government and The People. such is a gd narrative and decided not Gromnir position. HA! Good Fun!

kinda embarrassing. am playing angel path and am kinda hitting a stoopid wall. more o' a hurdle. HA! Good Fun!

seems kinda spoilerish, but as an aside, am gonna once again repeat that anybody complaining 'bout wotr cheese had not been paying attention. even if owlcat had a collection o' the best crpg writers on the planet and unlimited time to implement ideas, given the insular and tangential nature o' crpg quests and dialogues, were no way owlcat were gonna do more than make minor improvements to the fromage fest which were the pnp adventure path. wotr pnp were purposeful and apologetic over-the-top. am suspecting such were intentional 'cause any kinda serious introspection amidst the cheese board which were wotr woulda' come across as wholly misplaced and silly navel gazing. "you want to talk about your daddy issues? now?" HA! Good Fun!

HA! Good Fun!

is anecdotal, but we finished the chap 4 woljif companion quest earlier today. we had given woljif wings for the ac bonus. no visual quirks from cloaks or wings... so far. HA! Good Fun!

what works most for us is the décor. got an opportunity. don the armour and then get a picture o' self knitting mittens or a tea cozy while seated in one o' those chairs. cats would help. multiple cats. just an ordinary english dark lord enjoying the weekend. HA! Good Fun!