Archetypes in MMORPGs make it easier to group. In City of Heroes, for example, I know what I need to make a successful group by looking at the archetype: Scrappers deal a lot of melee damage, Controllers control mobs, etc. Without that, you might spend a longer time looking for the right people than playing the game.
The problem, of course, is when you have classes that are neither one type nor another. The Friar, for example, in Dark Age of Camelot: "I can heal, but not as well as a cleric, and I can fight, but not as well as a Fighter." Then everyone in your group can hate you for not healing good enough or beating up mobs enough.:)
"I've been curious about Slingbox for TV on the go. I was also wondering if you could run DVR software without hardware with one as well. It'd solve some problems at home as well as on the go. I'd be curious to hear from anyone familiar with Slingboxes? Seems like a good solution, just not sure if it works as advertised."
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "run DVR software without hardware" question. The Slingbox hooks up to a video source, say a Tivo, and allows you to control that video source as if you were in the same physical space: so, hooked up to a DVR, you can play, record, watch, just as if you were doing it from home. But you aren't recording to your computer, you are just telling the Tivo to start recording, etc.
A popular television series is using a plotline based upon bad information to enhance its ratings during sweeps month? Tell me it isn't true. Next thing you know, they won't be throwing their main characters into bikinis and making them kiss!
Battlezone was really great: it was like an RTS/FPS with very good control. Star Trek: Bridge Commander was also a fine game: definitely one of the best Star Trek games.
I do enjoy both City of Heroes and Villains, but CoV really isn't all that different from CoH: nearly all the mission instances are just retextured versions of CoH missions. It is a good thing that there's not an extra fee for CoH players, since there's very little that's new.
The problem with CoH is that there's nothing to do after level 50. There's only one raid level encounter in the entire game and the risk-reward ratio of it isn't all that great. Once you've done it, though, that's it. There's nothing else, other than running lower-level missions.
Cryptic really needs to introduce some more high-level PvE content for CoH to remain viable.
"While being driven to meetings, Pfizer's CEO says, 'I don't look out the window. I use my BlackBerry and answer my email.'"
I do that too! Unfortunately, since I'm the one driving myself to meetings, the cops aren't particularly nice. Hmm, maybe I should email our CEO and ask for a personal driver, too, so that I can email while being driven to meetings.
This, however, leaves us with more free time that we just have to fill with something. That's one thing that all those "back in my day we'd milk the cows instead of sitting on our arses and watching TV" nostalgics just don't seem to understand. Yes, they had to milk the cows and do all sorts of other tasks. I don't. It would cost me more to actually have a cow in my flat, than the milk is worth. This leaves me with time to fill with _something_ or I'd go nuts.
All this talk about milking cows is giving me an idea for a great video-game! Perhaps a MMORPG where the currency is cow-milk and the only way to get it is to milk cows.
I think I might be onto something. Or on something.
Chances are good that with a set up like this, some boneheaded upper-level management person will force you to make sure they always glow green when customers are around.
When you go to the store to buy the cards, you have to wait in a queue.
Sometimes, while waiting in the line, a guy from the store comes out and tells you the card game is down and you'll have to go home and come back in an hour. By "hour" they mean "day."
Playing the actual card game is great, once you buy the cards, but the cards burst into flames randomly.
You can play all the game strategies in about two months. Then you just throw the cards at your friends while they throw theirs at you.
Penny Arcade declares it the best card game ever.
A month later, Penny Arcade strips the game of the "best card game ever" title, citing the problems with queuing for buying cards and the aformentioned cards bursting into flames.
Penny Arcade and PvP Online form a card game rivalry, meeting each other in cities across the nation and throwing cards at each other.
Every time you play, some jerk starts yelling "Hey, anyone want to play with me?"
Cries of "Nerf the Card Draw Phase" become common.
"I agree about the thumb buttons. I have an old Logitech M-BA47 from around 2000. It has a nice thumb button right where I rest my thumb (i.e low)."
Ah, the M-B447 is one of the best mice ever made, I'd say: I'm actually using one at work currently and you are absolutely right: the thumb button is in the perfect position on that mouse.
I'd also love to see a mouse button on the pinky-side of the mouse, though I suppose the natural squeezing action would also tend to make me mash the thumb button.
Still, I don't see these new Logitech mice as being all that innovative. They certainly are evolving, but I was hoping for a little more.
I own a few Logitech mice based on the same shell, and they don't fold a candle to the comfort of the MX1000 Laser Mouse shell.
The 510 518 and G5 shells have buttons above the scroll wheel that are hard to use and two thumb buttons that require moving your thumb up (or up and back) to use. As a result, I barely use any of those buttons.
I was hoping that the new Gaming mice would use the MX1000 design, only corded, but it does't look likely.
Still, I'm likely to try this one: the weight cartridge looks interesting. And they seem to have addressed the thumb button somewhat. But I still want a corded MX1000 style mouse.
* I ended up leaving late, because my car was having problems. * I finally got to where I was going, and my Dad made me look all over the car, to make sure it was still working correctly. * When I found a problem, he made me fix it. * When I went inside, my Mom made me take out the garbage. * On the way back home, traffic was so bad, it prevented me from getting home at a reasonable time.
I'm like an trip in space away from being an astronaut! I think I'm fully trained now.
"Except that most busty women in computer games are unnaturally busty, to the point of defying the laws of physics."
Is that before or after the character they are playing has jumped twenty feet in the air, spun around five times, pulled out a glowing sword of pure energy and impaled twelve robots in 3.2 seconds?
Unfortunately, this doesnt help me with my helicopter flying ability in battlefield 2: I still keep doing the same thing:
"Hey, you guys in my copter, I'm pretty sure this thing can break the mu-1 barrier! See, check it...."
For some reason, I get a ton of "You have Teamkilled some guys" messages, then a little later, I'm back at the server browser. I think Battlefield 2 is dumping me whenever I get close to the mu-1 barrier.
Slashdot Mirror
I picked up a copy yesterday, so I'd say it's out now at your local comic book store.
Archetypes in MMORPGs make it easier to group. In City of Heroes, for example, I know what I need to make a successful group by looking at the archetype: Scrappers deal a lot of melee damage, Controllers control mobs, etc. Without that, you might spend a longer time looking for the right people than playing the game.
:)
The problem, of course, is when you have classes that are neither one type nor another. The Friar, for example, in Dark Age of Camelot: "I can heal, but not as well as a cleric, and I can fight, but not as well as a Fighter." Then everyone in your group can hate you for not healing good enough or beating up mobs enough.
"...yeah, but how does Walt Disney's cyrogenically frozen head feel about the merger?"
Initially, I suspect he'll be cold to the idea, but I think that will thaw after a while.
"complete with little pictures of the device in question displaying something characteristic of Windows...."
The Blue Screen of Death?
Using the patent-pending method of determining worth by comparing terms plugged into Google, I get the following:
Search for "Windows Bugs": 45,800
Search for "Linux Bugs": 23,400
Search for "Bunny Bugs": 31,100
From this method, I can determine that I should NOT watch Looney Tunes cartoons on my Windows Media Center PC. Or drink while posting.
I'm sure that after installing the "Restart Manager" you'll have to restart, though.
"I've been curious about Slingbox for TV on the go. I was also wondering if you could run DVR software without hardware with one as well. It'd solve some problems at home as well as on the go. I'd be curious to hear from anyone familiar with Slingboxes? Seems like a good solution, just not sure if it works as advertised."
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "run DVR software without hardware" question. The Slingbox hooks up to a video source, say a Tivo, and allows you to control that video source as if you were in the same physical space: so, hooked up to a DVR, you can play, record, watch, just as if you were doing it from home. But you aren't recording to your computer, you are just telling the Tivo to start recording, etc.
A popular television series is using a plotline based upon bad information to enhance its ratings during sweeps month? Tell me it isn't true. Next thing you know, they won't be throwing their main characters into bikinis and making them kiss!
In a related development, the Guardians of the Universe have announced that they've solved the problem of finding suitable Green Lantern candidates.
Daredevil's press representative, though, had no comment.
Battlezone was really great: it was like an RTS/FPS with very good control. Star Trek: Bridge Commander was also a fine game: definitely one of the best Star Trek games.
I do enjoy both City of Heroes and Villains, but CoV really isn't all that different from CoH: nearly all the mission instances are just retextured versions of CoH missions. It is a good thing that there's not an extra fee for CoH players, since there's very little that's new.
The problem with CoH is that there's nothing to do after level 50. There's only one raid level encounter in the entire game and the risk-reward ratio of it isn't all that great. Once you've done it, though, that's it. There's nothing else, other than running lower-level missions.
Cryptic really needs to introduce some more high-level PvE content for CoH to remain viable.
Not to pick nits, but since the person in the picture isn't blindfolded, it must be an initial request and NOT a password change request.
"While being driven to meetings, Pfizer's CEO says, 'I don't look out the window. I use my BlackBerry and answer my email.'"
I do that too! Unfortunately, since I'm the one driving myself to meetings, the cops aren't particularly nice. Hmm, maybe I should email our CEO and ask for a personal driver, too, so that I can email while being driven to meetings.
Walking is something I do in reality all the time, why would I want to simulate that in a virtual world? Give me flying!
This, however, leaves us with more free time that we just have to fill with something. That's one thing that all those "back in my day we'd milk the cows instead of sitting on our arses and watching TV" nostalgics just don't seem to understand. Yes, they had to milk the cows and do all sorts of other tasks. I don't. It would cost me more to actually have a cow in my flat, than the milk is worth. This leaves me with time to fill with _something_ or I'd go nuts.
All this talk about milking cows is giving me an idea for a great video-game! Perhaps a MMORPG where the currency is cow-milk and the only way to get it is to milk cows.
I think I might be onto something. Or on something.
Chances are good that with a set up like this, some boneheaded upper-level management person will force you to make sure they always glow green when customers are around.
"I agree about the thumb buttons. I have an old Logitech M-BA47 from around 2000. It has a nice thumb button right where I rest my thumb (i.e low)."
Ah, the M-B447 is one of the best mice ever made, I'd say: I'm actually using one at work currently and you are absolutely right: the thumb button is in the perfect position on that mouse.
I'd also love to see a mouse button on the pinky-side of the mouse, though I suppose the natural squeezing action would also tend to make me mash the thumb button.
Still, I don't see these new Logitech mice as being all that innovative. They certainly are evolving, but I was hoping for a little more.
I own a few Logitech mice based on the same shell, and they don't fold a candle to the comfort of the MX1000 Laser Mouse shell.
The 510 518 and G5 shells have buttons above the scroll wheel that are hard to use and two thumb buttons that require moving your thumb up (or up and back) to use. As a result, I barely use any of those buttons.
I was hoping that the new Gaming mice would use the MX1000 design, only corded, but it does't look likely.
Still, I'm likely to try this one: the weight cartridge looks interesting. And they seem to have addressed the thumb button somewhat. But I still want a corded MX1000 style mouse.
Let's see:
* I ended up leaving late, because my car was having problems.
* I finally got to where I was going, and my Dad made me look all over the car, to make sure it was still working correctly.
* When I found a problem, he made me fix it.
* When I went inside, my Mom made me take out the garbage.
* On the way back home, traffic was so bad, it prevented me from getting home at a reasonable time.
I'm like an trip in space away from being an astronaut! I think I'm fully trained now.
Whew, with an "h" added, I'd be in big trouble. But I don't even know what "pornograpy" is, beyond a reason for a spell checker.
"Except that most busty women in computer games are unnaturally busty, to the point of defying the laws of physics."
Is that before or after the character they are playing has jumped twenty feet in the air, spun around five times, pulled out a glowing sword of pure energy and impaled twelve robots in 3.2 seconds?
Defying physics is what games are all about.
Unfortunately, this doesnt help me with my helicopter flying ability in battlefield 2: I still keep doing the same thing:
"Hey, you guys in my copter, I'm pretty sure this thing can break the mu-1 barrier! See, check it...."
For some reason, I get a ton of "You have Teamkilled some guys" messages, then a little later, I'm back at the server browser. I think Battlefield 2 is dumping me whenever I get close to the mu-1 barrier.
Next time, I think I'll try the apache...
"How do other Slashdotters back up their important data?"
I memorize it.
Wow, you could replace "Russian" with "American" in the parent and it would still be true.