>> ^NordlichReiter:

It has a Cloverfield feeling to it.
My firs thought? The Prawn had come back for vengeance.


Yeah mine too. Is this the official sequel to D9?

I've seen little in WoW that has surprised me. There are a few things here and there, but it really is a game copied from another game that, that game copied from yet another and then they polished it. And..as The Mythbusters proved you can polish a turd; so taking this old-outdated-prehistoric-you-get-the-point concept of go fetch times 5 per level and go gather times 5 per level plus the times 5 per level go kill stuff -- this is WoW's main feature o'fun and is the core to leveling.

The items are okay, some quests are awesome: there's a Plants vs. Zombies type quest that is well done and VERY refreshing, some of the NEW new newbie areas (goblins and furry humans) have great opening quests and have "phases" which are essentially instances "on the run" -- you don't notice it load and others don't know your in it unless they're grouped -- essentially a personal instance, there are a few "red pill" vs. "blue pill" such as making you realize you need to jump off a cliff to complete it, some of the class specific are great due to their obvious care and attention to detail in teaching you how to play your class effectively (the rogue has some of these that are a joy to play), etcetera -- oh wait, there isn't really much beyond that except instances, raids, and "PvP".

Instances can be great with your buddies and when the group size is a nice manageable size, but the fact they don't have randomized group size and level based dungeons is ridiculous, with this much time having passed. The fact that some of the boss fights start of at super hard and never bother to ramp up is stupid (as wiping should minimized to affect only idiots; trust me it doesn't matter if everyone has l33t gear, everyone should have the chance to have a character they feel is special and a force to be reckoned with). Where the hell are unique, non-soulbinding items; i.e., there are these "named" (I know they've made a few, laughable, *requires a raid* to get the guild leader the super item, which means you've got a better chance to win the lottery if you're an average player ) items that could be made into the thousands available (non-soulbinding so that they can be sold on the auction house -- which would fight gold-farmers and allow ANY player to get: THE GOODS) that drop once per server and have a 100% chance of being found for everyone...?

I could go on, but I think my point is made. There is little thought going into game creation and mechanics. Everyone stole from the MUDS, Ultima Online, and what little originality Everquest had; and no-one ever looked back. I know it will take some hard work to make a NEW TYPE of MMO that isn't guaranteed to be a slight upgrade in graphics, item crafting, or *pick your one "special" thing* the next MMO does...

So many of the current crop of MMO's have their own original and great ideas. If it would be sifted through and made into a "best of all worlds" (which is what WoW did, but they left in aggro which is a HUGE disservice to ALL players) we might get something unique and great; it would only need expansions as the core would not need much change ever (unless the engine becomes the "hindrance" to development).

Right now the aggro system n e e d s t o g o . It's archaic and mystifyingly still used though it was made for games that couldn't handle AI running (Ultima Online, Everquest,etc...) full-blast. But, with the power servers have available plus the bandwidth and the users' computer this should be a very easily solved or solvable issue. Second, comes two things that walk hand in hand: dungeons and loot. I addressed both above and what I propose should solve a lot; but imagine semi-random dungeons created that lead to great cities (very doable just from what I've seen in Warhammer and WoW's "phasing"), think: D&D's Forgotten Realms - Undermountain™, anything approaching something that massive would be equal to creating a dungeon the size of the world map, but every-time you enter you procedurally move forward to a new creation (so if you join a party your "dungeons" join to make a "seed" that is unique to those to characters. I'll stop there as it would into full-on programming techniques that aren't used either because of the complexity, non-skill, or doubt that they can make a "performance" acceptable version. Items have just as much ability to be enhanced (their own level-ups with skills, AI weapons, vehicular type, etc...).

Quests are the last concern. Fetch should only be around if you're character is going there anyway. Collection type quests should ONLY be used if you are keeping some of said items and are useful in some way. Hero quests do need to teach you to be a better "x = your class + type of class + modifiers", using instances or "phasing" (which I like more as I hate load screens). Quests need to have an main-arch that branches, but it needs to available to even the solo player; not the 60 man raid (which is a joke in the first place). Quests need to be rich in diversity: send, fetch, lead, fight, find, steal, games, test, challenge, dungeon, redemption, vengeance/wrath, ability, skill, un-lockable/lockable, class, species/race, race/time, item, creation, destruction, defend, follow, help, should I keep listing....?

I hope the programmers, I don't really care who hits the trump card first (although a low monthly cost team would be nice), figure this out. As it is getting boring even though there is "more" to do, how it's presented in WoW makes me less inclined to get involved, because it requires dedication and at that point, as he pointed out is almost as fun as shooting yourself.

As @MilkmanDan points out there is a lot of content that I don't use and at the lower levels I believe this to be fine as you'll make a mage, a shaman, a warrior, etc... Doing the same quest over and over is terrible. However, much of the high level content you CAN see, but you'll never get the riches (lottery again) and doing THE SAME EXACT DUNDEON 30 times to find that one head piece is ridiculous -- that is their idea of fun "high-end" content. F*%K YOU! This is all due to the notion (and I believe you see this in action at the auction houses, if you can compare the past to present) of inflation; the numbers go higher for the sake of going higher -- if it's higher it's better, right?!?. I'm better due to a number increase and I'll add to that number continually, mainly, because as is said above I'm now level 10 and no longer 5. I want the numbers to be in a "set" range so that you know, whenever you find or get something new, immediately how this new addition (or subtraction) will affect you. (Ultima Online got that partially correct and it made fighting on their a unique experience, STILL, although Warhammer Online uses a set number of action points instead of mana so it has a fun PvP experience, but ultimately fails due to the level problem. Oh and PvP is a joke as level and gear are the deciding issues in battle (which is funny as the winners get the better gear, thus making them win more and you can see where that goes...) and as long as you aren't stupid your talent specs (you really can't screw this up anymore as Blizzard decided that you can only go down one tree at a time rather than all three, until you've got talent point 32).

I'll stop there as I'm getting nauseated talking about this much (which is a lot). But, this is my view point on almost any RPG. Why is it so hard to make a fun system -- it seems obvious how to go after these issues. I think they're (the programmers and publishers) are lost in the woods with 100 foot tall pines and I'm on a outcrop that can see over the forest -- I see them occasionally, but even if I yelled (and I've made some of these points before) they'd still never gather a clue of what I mean. Or as it's usually said at this point:

"I'm afraid you can't see the forest for the trees."...

Damn, that was long, phew (hopefully a programmer reads it -- or I'll just cut & paste ) !

Do you mean District 9? Because Cloverfield sucked and this looks like it doesn't suck.>> ^NordlichReiter:

It has a Cloverfield feeling to it.
My firs thought? The Prawn had come back for vengeance.

It has a Cloverfield feeling to it.

My firs thought? The Prawn had come back for vengeance.

awesome performance but I'm not really getting a "Hell's Vengeance" feeling from it.

No, no, no, no, no...

It's not necessarily the story that I'm pointing out. It's just that in the last film the Weasley's house, which is supposed to be surrounded by gardens, trees, etc, was suddenly placed in the middle of a prairie somewhere in the American west circa 1800. I don't know why they suddenly changed it from the way it looked in ALL the other movies and from the way it's described in ALL the books but the effect was that when the house was burning down and Mrs. Weasley is standing there in her shawl, with the sunset and the prairie wind in the background, I was expecting Clint Eastwood to appear at any moment and swear vengeance on old cattle-rustlin' Voldemort.

It's weird. I don't know why they did it but it's weird. I feel like it's 1984 and nobody is supposed to remember anything from the past except that they like Harry Potter and want to pay money to see the movie.

But on another note. Little-Weasley-house-on-the-praire aside. Anyone who would watch that last movie and say that they didn't leave out more of the story than they included should go back and read the book again. Not to mention all the shit they just threw in out of nowhere.

>> ^raverman:

I was going to say this video summed up the cycle of hate in under 1 minute. From an angry child to wanting to kill israelis for the rest of his life.
Then i read the comments ... I'm amazed you all think it's ok to run a child over for throwing rocks. kids do dumb stuff. Any child? your child? your brother? your sister? Or just palestinian children.
Learned consequences? More likely he learned to feel no compassion. In 5 years when he launches a rocket into an Isreali school he'll feel vengeance and justification...
He'll have learned from personal experience: Children are valid targets for violence.


"I'm amazed you all think it's ok to run a child over for throwing rocks."

Are you blind? A large and angry mob is throwing stones at cars because of the driver's nationality. If the driver stopped and waited they stand a very good chance of getting rocks in their face after their windows have been smashed. They've also got a decent chance of being kidnapped or killed. Stopping was very possibly suicide.

"In 5 years when he launches a rocket into an Isreali school he'll feel vengeance and justification."

Which is exactly what all the adults encouraging and filming these kids are hoping for. Both the driver and the child are the victims here, though the child is plainly old enough to know the driver probably doesn't appreciate being pelted with rocks.

>> ^raverman:

I was going to say this video summed up the cycle of hate in under 1 minute. From an angry child to wanting to kill israelis for the rest of his life.
Then i read the comments ... I'm amazed you all think it's ok to run a child over for throwing rocks. kids do dumb stuff. Any child? your child? your brother? your sister? Or just palestinian children.
Learned consequences? More likely he learned to feel no compassion. In 5 years when he launches a rocket into an Isreali school he'll feel vengeance and justification...
He'll have learned from personal experience: Children are valid targets for violence.


Lesson for the kids that don't get hit by cars: Stoning people is a perfectly cromulent way to express your disappointment.

Also, the driver didn't seem to care that he struck a child. Had he done the right thing, he would have ran out and made sure he was alright, despite being pelted by rocks. And what does that teach? Totally what this guy already said:
>> ^raverman:

I was going to say this video summed up the cycle of hate in under 1 minute. From an angry child to wanting to kill israelis for the rest of his life.
Then i read the comments ... I'm amazed you all think it's ok to run a child over for throwing rocks. kids do dumb stuff. Any child? your child? your brother? your sister? Or just palestinian children.
Learned consequences? More likely he learned to feel no compassion. In 5 years when he launches a rocket into an Isreali school he'll feel vengeance and justification...
He'll have learned from personal experience: Children are valid targets for violence.

I was going to say this video summed up the cycle of hate in under 1 minute. From an angry child to wanting to kill israelis for the rest of his life.

Then i read the comments ... I'm amazed you all think it's ok to run a child over for throwing rocks. kids do dumb stuff. Any child? your child? your brother? your sister? Or just palestinian children.

Learned consequences? More likely he learned to feel no compassion. In 5 years when he launches a rocket into an Isreali school he'll feel vengeance and justification...

He'll have learned from personal experience: Children are valid targets for violence.

A marine hell-bent on vengeance.

There's a story here.

Personally, you can never go wrong with shaving cream.

Strategically placed saran-wrap is probably a secret I shouldn't divulge.

I've said too much....

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
On the other hand, O'reily is an patronizingly, mean bastard. Even Glenn Beck is a nice guy even though he panders to a different audience, I wouldn't mind having a beer with him or her, but O'Reily can bask in the radiance of his own piousness.


Really? I agree what you say about O'Reilly, he's arrogant and pompous but at least he maintains a modicum of consistent in his beliefs and I can remotely respect him for that.

In a far fetched way I can agree with what Jon Stewart said about O'Reilly when he was on his show, that he's the only sane voice of reason on the network, even though he's for the most part a wing-nut.

Beck on the other has shown he's more than willing to change his views for the highest bidding network, goes on personal vendetta to destroy people's lives purely for vengeance or otherwise incidental personal or strategic gain and generally comes off as a genuine sleaze-bag.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'she, bears, vengeance, bald, head' to 'she, bears, vengeance, bald, head, elisha, 15 gigs' - edited by kronosposeidon

>> ^kurtdh:

vengeance


Fixed

*vengeance