Best posts made by Arkandel

Mythic 0 group comment: "MINIMUM 330 ilvl"
Actual code ilvl requirement to join: 311 ilvl"

Sure enough the leader's gear was at 311. Nice try, buddy.

I had underestimated Silicon Valley so much. That series is hilarious. The second season is killing it.

@tinuviel said in MUSH Marriages (IC):

With a few exceptions, I'd say that many of our number are rather hesitant on the confrontation front - however mild it might be. Are we misinterpreting things, are we being too sensitive, are we being childish, are we, are we... we aim the blame for our discomfort at ourselves.

I know, and it's why we keep getting drama. It's a direct effect of people perceiving this hesitation as weakness so they prey on it.

Which is unfortunate because a tiny bit of showing resolve upfront can save a ton of headaches down the line. Don't argue your lines - it's as simple as that.

@jaded said in General Video Game Thread:

@wretched
What's funny is going into a mythic under-geared and out DPSing some of the people in better gear than me as a tank.

I have not seen that toll shit going on but that is...well that's fucked up.

People are insane about efficiency based on what they read online. I get everyone wants fast runs but this is mythic0; it's hardly challenging content at all. For example everyone wants paladins and priests for reasons that have nothing to do with that difficulty level; they are rated they way they are in top guild/player posts because of the extra utility they bring, extra damage, strong survival cooldowns, etc... which are completely unnecessary for what we're currently doing.

The only specs who don't care about any of this atm are tanks. I'm pretty sure if I queued up as a tank even at 20 ilvls lower than I am I'd get instant groups. Which I actually would do if people weren't absolute shits to tank players in PUGs.

@tinuviel I don't know if it counts but a friend a while ago was telling us about a dream he actually had in which he could control Starcraft units with his mind, thus making himself the best player.

People dream of riches, sex, superpowers... but hey, he shot for what truly mattered in his heart of hearts.

@roz Yeah, I remember when @surreality had a light bulb moment and made a connection about us having played before. I had no clue until she did.

First raid in Battle of Azeroth scheduled for tonight!

I'm pretty primed for it, and although I prefer mythic+ dungeons (or large group PvP), the first raid in a new expansion is always special.

@HelloRaptor said:

People say that a lot, @Arkandel, but it rarely comes up how much money those fat cat CEOs bring into the company. Through their connections, through their influence, through any number of things that have a vastly wider scope and impact on the bottom line than the blood and sweat of Faceless Workerbots 1-500.

Sometimes they make money. Sometimes they lose money - way more than any single employee could possibly lose it, yet the golden parachute clauses ensure they go away still making a killing. While the random guy who gets laid off for whatever reason (it can be that he got sick and they didn't give a shit or that he's a lazy jerk) gets peanuts.

In other words, CEOs - or highly ranked managers in general - don't necessarily generate revenue for their company.

@packrat said in Favorite Minigames:

I have to admit that the gear levels/upgrades system on Arx is one of the things that I really, seriously, do not like about it and definitely a mental barrier to my playing on the game.

I don't want to dig into that one system any further in this thread, but on a more general point for me I think what made a difference was being given the chance to work on something long-termly.

Most games don't have anything like that. We are so very focused on XP we've stopped providing any other venues for advancement in games - it's all of our virtual effort eggs going into this one basket, for better or worse, then we either let it run too full (if everyone has infinite eggs no one cares about them) or cap/automate them (if no one ever has much fewer or more than ten eggs then no one cares about them) into oblivion.

But the games I enjoy are the ones where I have goals - things I want and I can work towards every week. If I can do that through RPing that's awesome - I want to get hooked. It's just that usually there isn't much there to latch onto other than the same systems endlessly recycled and rehashed throughout each new game.

TL;DR - I liked Arx's gear not because it was flawless but because it existed, and gave me reasons to go out and do stuff.

@bobgoblin Not me. If I wanted a Diablo game on the go I could get it on the Switch. And it's not even Blizzard making it, they're contracting someone to do it.

D4 or bust.

@Misadventure said:

I should make an MMO called "You go out, go to clubs, visit tourist locations, go to bars, get food, go to shops, pay $10/month to be told what to do.."

Worst. Name. Ever.

@apos said in Favorite Minigames:

I don't think it's too off topic if we redirect it very slightly. How about from a perspective of someone that really dislikes minigames and sees them undermining the narrative focus of storytelling on MUs, what would be games that aren't a big deal and aren't disruptive even if they aren't something someone is into? In other words, what would be ones that are tolerable for people that dislike them, and what are ones that would send them running to the door?

I wanted to make a quick disclaimer here - sometimes all kinds of systems - and definitely ones not designed as minigames - can influence or even disrupt RP to an extraordinary degree just because their designer didn't think of everything in advance (which ties into @faraday's clause about us all being amateur designers). Carrots in general absolutely work that way.

For example Haunted Memories implemented a +vote system with diminishing returns at some point to provide a source of XP. This almost immediately made large scenes the best way in the game to farm XP - and as anyone could guess, it turned nearly every scene overnight into a gargantuan 12+ player affair, many of whom were completely silent but present to benefit from +vote/here. This absolutely influenced the kind of RP people did, and those who couldn't handle those were left behind.

There's always risk when we introduce new things. They could work as intended or they might lead into unforeseen directions, but you don't know what you'll get beforehand... whether you're a amateur or a professional. Diablo 3 launched with a real money auction house thinking it'd be amazing for players to generate an income through play (from which they'd get a cut) and it was an epic disaster that almost sank the whole franchise before they got rid of it. It happens!

Ultimately we pick the games that reflect what we want from them. And I want my damn carrots.

I've been thinking about Gloomhaven.

Is it as good as the reviews claim? Is it worth the price tag?

What bugs me about events is that they keep rebooting characters and replacing them with newer, temporary versions. I hate that.

@thenomain Can you define 'restart' in this context? Are we talking bringing back an old game from no longer running? Same or different staff or theme... or is any of this negotiable?

At some point, given enough changes, 'restarting' could mean a new game with an old name, for example.

@tragedyjones said in Vampire the Requiem turns 15 in 2019:

Just realized this today. There is now more time between today and VtR than between VtM and VtR.

Also Cleopatra lived closer to our time than the making of the pyramids in Egypt!

Iron Fist is cancelled.

I wish I liked it more myself but very little about either season worked for me - there were just too many weak points, and unexpected at that. The protagonist's acting was piss poor, which did no favors to the show, but I can excuse that since maybe he had good reads and they hoped he'd develop with time.

However the story and pacing itself didn't work well either, which had a major impact, as secondary arcs and support characters irrelevant to the main story were given too much focus and screen time. The poor choreography - for a martin arts show of all things - really put the nail in that coffin; Daredevil's in its first season blew this series' right out of the water in comparison.

They also never portrayed Dany as someone... well, powerful. We never saw it. Every other Netflix character was a badass in different ways, but all he seemed to do is struggle to beat second stringers - he wasn't even given the chance to fight the main villain in either of the show's two seasons' finales! Come on.

RIP, but deservedly so. A shame.

@nemesis said in Real life versus online behaviors:

It doesn't actually detail any bad behavior on MSB's part

I don't know either. I wasn't even bothering banning him again even though his accounts were very obvious because I didn't really care, until Auschwitz. Then I cared again.

I don't care too much for writing with an agenda. But I quite intensely dislike judging writing based on an agenda, too, let alone going out of one's way to damage writing one is somehow offended by by proxy.

A villain is defined by performing villainous acts. If they happen to not be to your liking then don't buy the product, but this trend of actively campaigning against products - or writers - because of the material itself gives me the creeps. It's no less than organized attempts at censorship.

There is certainly material that shouldn't see the light of day and that's covered in many countries' hate speech laws.