I have spent over well over 3000 gold on each of my two lvl 80 chars respeccing from PvE to PvP and vice versa. 1000 gold is nothing in game now. The reason dual spec is nice is this:
PvE - 2 different specs in raid without having to hearth and get summoned back (Sunwell anyone?)
PvE & PvP - People who play both do not need to respec every day now.
This current patch not only addresses the need for new content but is also providing some much needed class balance in abilities.
The reason that we are only getting one new instance is because of the sheer amount of development that Blizzard are now putting into new content. They have to design encounters for 10 & 25 man raids, then within each of those they have to design and balance easy and sometimes multiple levels of difficulty. Think of OS 10 / 25 with 0,1,2,3 drakes alive. There are 8 different ways to killing one boss. I would rather see 1 well designed instance than 3 instances with no real thought put in. With the new hard modes all raiders can see new content, lower guilds can kill bosses but it takes very capable guilds to kill bosses on the hardest mode, giving the best loot.
Sorry, I play WoW, quite a bit, however I play in one of the top 100 guilds in Europe so at least I am a capable no lifer;P
This is the best chance to MS bash I have seen in ages but since hitting 30 allot of my views have changed. I have been building computers for over half my life, I have used Windows and Linux for as long as I can remember and I have had some recent thoughts about this.
If you bought a car and drove it into a wall would it be the manufacturers fault? No. Granted Microsoft's operating systems have some security issues, virus' and malware are rampant throughout the interweb but computers will never be 100% secure.
On my gaming rig that I often end up using for browsing as well I have an over clocked 2.4 to 3.2 quad core Q6600 aftermarket air cooled and Vista ultimate 64 and it has never crashed ever, not once. (Post voltage settings and prime 95 all night stress test) This machine is never switched off and rebooted very rarely. I use Symantec Endpoint Protection, Spybot, Malware bytes anti malware and Firefox for web browsing with no script and I am constantly infection free. The operating system is as responsive as it was when I installed it. If you had a car and did not service it would it stay at peak power or would it develop problems? Of course it would. Vista can work if you protect your computer and spend a few minutes a week keeping it clean.
Computers require maintenance in exactly the same way cars do, and it is nothing short of naive to consider otherwise. It is up to professionals like us to tell others that installing a few simple, free programs can protect them from the majority of web based attacks.
I guess what I am trying to say is it is easy to bash Microsoft for security but it is not their fault that there are tens of thousands (more?) of sad malicious people that want to screw over the normal user with infections. Microsoft said they would take a better stance on security and they are. Granted, the wheels are moving slowly but they are moving. Overhauling an entire operating system is no easy task while maintaining a high degree of backward compatibility. Vista was a step in the right direction for the home user and I am looking forward to Windows 7 to see how it is.
So bash Microsoft all you want, I have been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt but I will give credit where credit is due. Just my thoughtsâ¦
I am using a 5.1 system (Creative Labs Megaworks 550D THX - All mounted properly with 79 core speaker wire, hooked up to an Audigy 2ZS)and the sound I get is nothing short of amazing. I cant remember the last time I had to turn the volume up to 4/5 Lights on the remote as somewhere between 3 and 4 lights is just perfect. I have friends who like to compete on the my cpu is better than yours type of thing and one recently purchased a 7.1 system. (Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 - Onboard sound)
Being not too technical, my friend believed he had something to brag about having a superior sound setup and invited me round to sample the sound from he new speakers. (Turned out he needed them mounted as well....) 2 -3 Hours & 14 meters of picture rail later we had mounted all his speakers in his room. This is where I was greatly disappointed. The sound although crisp and spatial lacked the sheer depth of my own setup when playing Star Wars Episode 1 pod race scene. I would say that the audio was good however I would take my own speakers any day of the week over his 7.1 set. Granted his speakers where 1/4 of the price of mine, however I believe the 7.1 hype is a marketing ploy to force the ever lemming like consumer to part with their hard earned cash.
One thing though, I would love to try the Creative GigaWorks 7.1 S750 THX speakers as I believe that these are the only set of speakers on the market that I believe warrant a 7.1 configuration.
It is my belief that a good set of 5.1 speakers will suffice for 99/100 people and others like myself would have to spend a considerable amount of money to justify (In terms of audio quality & volume) the jump to a 7.1 speaker setup. Put short, get a good 5.1 over a cheap 6/7.1 setup, if you're lucky to be able to afford it, get a really good 7.1 setup, but beware the cabling requirements to maximise the potential of the speakers!!
That depends greatly on where you live, in the UK if I make an intruder in my home cry by insulting him he can sue me for my house and have me put in jail!!
Obviously you have not kept up with the Intel vs AMD saga.
Intel started this when they approaced OEM's with a "How about you only sell Intel chips and we will give you MASSIVE discounts?" offer. This was a dirty and quite microsofty move to make. AMD is replying with a diginfied response with a fair challenge to prove who has got the best offerings on the market at the moment (and the near future IMHO)
"XP is such a joy when it comes to simply connecting a device and watching the pretty little bubble detecting it and saying "its installed and ready for use" makes the slightly high price absolutely worth it. In Linux, you have to recompile a kernel if you want to so much as change your modem! Give me a break guys, Linux is light years behind Windows XP and I am sure it will be further back biting the dust when Longhorn (now Vista) comes out."
When was the last time he used linux????
Obviously never heard or kernel modules....
This is what I hate about linux bashers, they bash an operating system they know nothing about.
It's amazing the amount of "computer literate" people that cannot perform the most basic of functions in scripts. Also categorically I can tell you that I have 100 times the power in bash scripts than windows batch files and thats perhaps the reason that windows users cant get to grips with the command line. Almost anything can be configured from Linux command line but the same cannot be said for windows/dos. That level of functionality was never there for windows users they hit a minefield when faced with all the command options inherent to linux users. Try explaining what sed, awk or grep does to a windows user and it's very hard. Also they think in simple terms of 1 command per line and cannot get their heads round && or piping and redirection. Sometimes a wimp environment is not necessarily the most productive for a range of tasks however, nearly all of these functions can be performed in X.
Another thing that I have noticed with windows to linux users is that when you explain that if you want to know about a command then use the man command and that's where the problem arises IMHO. The majority of windows users don't want to have to read up on another operating system because they already know one. In my business I have deployed linux desktops to use RDP to connect to Win2K terminal services and have had amazing results and increased productivity due to lack of spyware/virus problems on the end users machine. Also with automatic YOU updates in SUSE I am not worried about the linux boxes posing too much of a security risk. This saves money on end user antivirus/spyware/firewall programs and because they only have access to a terminal server I don't have to worry about users saving important data on local hard drives that don't get backed up. So with a linux server running the usual snort, squid etc etc you only have a few points of entry to secure and protect from the ocean of headaches that arise from web browsing these days. Of course this is for a business model and home users are a completely different kettle of fish.
Where linux is lacking these days for a home user operating system is media and games. Ask a windows user these days what he is doing with his home pc and 95% of them will tell you the following:
1) Browsing the internet (Linux has Firefox so no problem here) 2) Downloading music (Linux has music players so no problem here) 3) Downloading Movies (This is a problem IMO) 4) 3D Games (This is linux's biggest shortfall for the home user desktop market)
Games cannot be played either can downloaded movies and thats ruling linux out of the end user market.
The problems of old such as installation, drivers (especially sound!!) have all been addressed. The problems above need looking at IMHO.
It seems RIPE have a One Day Introduction Course for "DNSSEC and related tools, and the specific procedures set up by the RIPE NCC to secure the in-addr.arpa zone"
Your barking up the wrong tree here, 2 reasons being:
1: Consumerism - PC's are popular and users want the fastest pc possible. (99.9% of consumers being completly unaware of the fact that by the time you get your new PC/Upgrade ordered and delivered... its already more than likely out of date!)
2: Commercialism/Capitalism - Companies want to make money.. This is indeed the essence of a company and to do that they have to monopolise on a supply/demand basis. Consummers want faster chips, companies supply faster chips. If consumers _really_ wanted cooler chips then intel and amd would be busy researching processors that are endothermic [not likely, but it would be nice:) ] Until people start voicing their opinions on their hatred of noisy coolers and "computer case/room heater syndrom" then nothing will be done about it for the masses.
I run a Pentium 4 2.8C chip at 3.3 GHz (Hyper Threading enabled) cooled by a Volcano 7+ cooler on medium setting which has a tolerable noise output at 1 hour load temp of 60 Degrees. Having worked on _many_ athlons I have seen default 2400 XP athlons run hotter using mainstream coolers. I used to be an athlon enthuiast but later realised that I was kidding my self because not only are they slower and not as smooth running, but having 5 x 7200 rpm fast drives in my machine and a full complement of PCI cards i realised that Intel chips run cooler than their AMD alternatives. This also increases the product life of all the other components in a computer system as the internal case temp is reduced dramatically.
Any Athlon users out there notice drives just "dissapearing" from explorer... thats your cause, plain simple overheating. Swallow your pride and pay the money for an Intel Chip, I assure you you wont regret it.
âoeI feel this technology looks all set to replace PCI, and we
really do need some new bus technology to keep up with the bandwidth demands of
today's applications. Or is this just yet another way to force us into a new
upgrade cycle?
When I look back at the explosion of technology within the
past decade and the ever-continuing attempts to eradicate the bottlenecks that
computer systems have had PCI Express is a breath of fresh air.
For example lets take a look at processors; within the past
ten years processor speeds have doubled every eighteen months if we go by
Moores Law. Itâ(TM)s hard to believe it was a little over ten years ago that Intel
released the First Pentium Chips. HDD speeds (physical read) have also
increased dramatically from about 2 MB/s for a 635MB HDD to over 45 MB/s for a
modern HDD. Graphics were given a face lift with the introduction of the AGP
bus pushing the speeds of transfer up from PCIâ(TM)s 133 MB/s to 2.1GB/s however
many systems are used for a LOT more than video rendering capabilities and are
geared more towards storage markets were data access speed is of the utmost
importance. 64 bit PCI gave us a boost to 266 MB/s transfer speeds to be used
in conjunction with high speed U320 SCSI but even then we cannot take full
advantage of the capabilities offered. PCI express opens up the horizons for
computers letting us transfer substantial amounts of data in less time.
This can only be a good thing.
More Information * Shorter Time = Greater Efficiency
Therefore I donâ(TM)t see this as another way to force us into
the upgrade cycle but a good solid advancement in computers. Also, the good
thing is that it is coming wither we like or not.
Its not that Microsoft are being criticized for offereing Windows XP at $50 its the reason behind them offering it for that price... They want the lindows market and are prepared to offer Windows XP at a greatly reduced price to get it. Think about all the loyal windows users who paid the full price for Windows XP when it came out and are still doing so at this very time. What incentive were they offered to upgrade to the latest and (questionably) greastest release ever...since the last one of the Windows operating system, They are offered an upgrade pack but they have to pay alot more than $50 to get it. This is why i think M$ are being criticized.
Slashdot Mirror
So by your logic Papua New Guinea and Indonesia are the same country simple because they are part of the same island?
Or shall we start calling Canadians Americans because they are on the same Continent?
Yea I concur,
It's a really bad idea to fire on a US patrol when they are in a country that has 100 million barrels of oil in it.
Are you saying /. regenerated an old story into a fresh new one?
If we can do it with mice and stories then chances are we will have half the worlds population claiming pensions in no time!!
I say we take off and nuke the entire laptop from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
This doesn't even suprise me, wtf is happening to the world?
I have spent over well over 3000 gold on each of my two lvl 80 chars respeccing from PvE to PvP and vice versa. 1000 gold is nothing in game now. The reason dual spec is nice is this:
PvE - 2 different specs in raid without having to hearth and get summoned back (Sunwell anyone?)
PvE & PvP - People who play both do not need to respec every day now.
This current patch not only addresses the need for new content but is also providing some much needed class balance in abilities.
The reason that we are only getting one new instance is because of the sheer amount of development that Blizzard are now putting into new content. They have to design encounters for 10 & 25 man raids, then within each of those they have to design and balance easy and sometimes multiple levels of difficulty. Think of OS 10 / 25 with 0,1,2,3 drakes alive. There are 8 different ways to killing one boss. I would rather see 1 well designed instance than 3 instances with no real thought put in. With the new hard modes all raiders can see new content, lower guilds can kill bosses but it takes very capable guilds to kill bosses on the hardest mode, giving the best loot.
Sorry, I play WoW, quite a bit, however I play in one of the top 100 guilds in Europe so at least I am a capable no lifer ;P
This is the best chance to MS bash I have seen in ages but since hitting 30 allot of my views have changed. I have been building computers for over half my life, I have used Windows and Linux for as long as I can remember and I have had some recent thoughts about this.
If you bought a car and drove it into a wall would it be the manufacturers fault? No. Granted Microsoft's operating systems have some security issues, virus' and malware are rampant throughout the interweb but computers will never be 100% secure.
On my gaming rig that I often end up using for browsing as well I have an over clocked 2.4 to 3.2 quad core Q6600 aftermarket air cooled and Vista ultimate 64 and it has never crashed ever, not once. (Post voltage settings and prime 95 all night stress test) This machine is never switched off and rebooted very rarely. I use Symantec Endpoint Protection, Spybot, Malware bytes anti malware and Firefox for web browsing with no script and I am constantly infection free. The operating system is as responsive as it was when I installed it. If you had a car and did not service it would it stay at peak power or would it develop problems? Of course it would. Vista can work if you protect your computer and spend a few minutes a week keeping it clean.
Computers require maintenance in exactly the same way cars do, and it is nothing short of naive to consider otherwise. It is up to professionals like us to tell others that installing a few simple, free programs can protect them from the majority of web based attacks.
I guess what I am trying to say is it is easy to bash Microsoft for security but it is not their fault that there are tens of thousands (more?) of sad malicious people that want to screw over the normal user with infections. Microsoft said they would take a better stance on security and they are. Granted, the wheels are moving slowly but they are moving. Overhauling an entire operating system is no easy task while maintaining a high degree of backward compatibility. Vista was a step in the right direction for the home user and I am looking forward to Windows 7 to see how it is.
So bash Microsoft all you want, I have been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt but I will give credit where credit is due. Just my thoughtsâ¦
...I am guessing they do not use an Apache Cluster :)
Thats the best laugh I have had in ages!!!
Very good, I want one of those babies vs my pesky neighbours
I am using a 5.1 system (Creative Labs Megaworks 550D THX - All mounted properly with 79 core speaker wire, hooked up to an Audigy 2ZS)and the sound I get is nothing short of amazing. I cant remember the last time I had to turn the volume up to 4/5 Lights on the remote as somewhere between 3 and 4 lights is just perfect. I have friends who like to compete on the my cpu is better than yours type of thing and one recently purchased a 7.1 system. (Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 - Onboard sound)
Being not too technical, my friend believed he had something to brag about having a superior sound setup and invited me round to sample the sound from he new speakers. (Turned out he needed them mounted as well....) 2 -3 Hours & 14 meters of picture rail later we had mounted all his speakers in his room. This is where I was greatly disappointed. The sound although crisp and spatial lacked the sheer depth of my own setup when playing Star Wars Episode 1 pod race scene. I would say that the audio was good however I would take my own speakers any day of the week over his 7.1 set. Granted his speakers where 1/4 of the price of mine, however I believe the 7.1 hype is a marketing ploy to force the ever lemming like consumer to part with their hard earned cash.
One thing though, I would love to try the Creative GigaWorks 7.1 S750 THX speakers as I believe that these are the only set of speakers on the market that I believe warrant a 7.1 configuration.
It is my belief that a good set of 5.1 speakers will suffice for 99/100 people and others like myself would have to spend a considerable amount of money to justify (In terms of audio quality & volume) the jump to a 7.1 speaker setup. Put short, get a good 5.1 over a cheap 6/7.1 setup, if you're lucky to be able to afford it, get a really good 7.1 setup, but beware the cabling requirements to maximise the potential of the speakers!!
That depends greatly on where you live, in the UK if I make an intruder in my home cry by insulting him he can sue me for my house and have me put in jail!!
Thanks for pointing out the typo in that specially unique sophomoric way you seem to have. ;)
I read that and I wasnt one bit suprised in the least.
Somethings wrong...
Obviously you have not kept up with the Intel vs AMD saga.
Intel started this when they approaced OEM's with a "How about you only sell Intel chips and we will give you MASSIVE discounts?" offer. This was a dirty and quite microsofty move to make. AMD is replying with a diginfied response with a fair challenge to prove who has got the best offerings on the market at the moment (and the near future IMHO)
What processor you running out of interest?
"XP is such a joy when it comes to simply connecting a device and watching the pretty little bubble detecting it and saying "its installed and ready for use" makes the slightly high price absolutely worth it. In Linux, you have to recompile a kernel if you want to so much as change your modem! Give me a break guys, Linux is light years behind Windows XP and I am sure it will be further back biting the dust when Longhorn (now Vista) comes out."
When was the last time he used linux????
Obviously never heard or kernel modules....
This is what I hate about linux bashers, they bash an operating system they know nothing about.
You should try it, its great fun mixing music together. However I agree that it has to be done on turntables.
It's amazing the amount of "computer literate" people that cannot perform the most basic of functions in scripts. Also categorically I can tell you that I have 100 times the power in bash scripts than windows batch files and thats perhaps the reason that windows users cant get to grips with the command line. Almost anything can be configured from Linux command line but the same cannot be said for windows/dos. That level of functionality was never there for windows users they hit a minefield when faced with all the command options inherent to linux users. Try explaining what sed, awk or grep does to a windows user and it's very hard. Also they think in simple terms of 1 command per line and cannot get their heads round && or piping and redirection. Sometimes a wimp environment is not necessarily the most productive for a range of tasks however, nearly all of these functions can be performed in X.
Another thing that I have noticed with windows to linux users is that when you explain that if you want to know about a command then use the man command and that's where the problem arises IMHO. The majority of windows users don't want to have to read up on another operating system because they already know one. In my business I have deployed linux desktops to use RDP to connect to Win2K terminal services and have had amazing results and increased productivity due to lack of spyware/virus problems on the end users machine. Also with automatic YOU updates in SUSE I am not worried about the linux boxes posing too much of a security risk. This saves money on end user antivirus/spyware/firewall programs and because they only have access to a terminal server I don't have to worry about users saving important data on local hard drives that don't get backed up. So with a linux server running the usual snort, squid etc etc you only have a few points of entry to secure and protect from the ocean of headaches that arise from web browsing these days. Of course this is for a business model and home users are a completely different kettle of fish.
Where linux is lacking these days for a home user operating system is media and games. Ask a windows user these days what he is doing with his home pc and 95% of them will tell you the following:
1) Browsing the internet (Linux has Firefox so no problem here)
2) Downloading music (Linux has music players so no problem here)
3) Downloading Movies (This is a problem IMO)
4) 3D Games (This is linux's biggest shortfall for the home user desktop market)
Games cannot be played either can downloaded movies and thats ruling linux out of the end user market.
The problems of old such as installation, drivers (especially sound!!) have all been addressed. The problems above need looking at IMHO.
Just my 2 cents.
It seems RIPE have a One Day Introduction Course for "DNSSEC and related tools, and the specific procedures set up by the RIPE NCC to secure the in-addr.arpa zone"
They are on it already...
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2002/021302/Tiny_wiYour barking up the wrong tree here, 2 reasons being:
1: Consumerism - PC's are popular and users want the fastest pc possible. (99.9% of consumers being completly unaware of the fact that by the time you get your new PC/Upgrade ordered and delivered... its already more than likely out of date!)
2: Commercialism/Capitalism - Companies want to make money.. This is indeed the essence of a company and to do that they have to monopolise on a supply/demand basis. Consummers want faster chips, companies supply faster chips. If consumers _really_ wanted cooler chips then intel and amd would be busy researching processors that are endothermic [not likely, but it would be nice :) ] Until people start voicing their opinions on their hatred of noisy coolers and "computer case/room heater syndrom" then nothing will be done about it for the masses.
3 Tips for successful water cooling...
1: Never fill the water cooling system reservoir with boiling water from the kettle.
2: Coffee... as much as we all like it coffee _does not_ serve as an efficient coolant. (Tastes great though)
3: Dont run your water pump when there is no water passing through it. (that one is actually a serious one...)
I run a Pentium 4 2.8C chip at 3.3 GHz (Hyper Threading enabled) cooled by a Volcano 7+ cooler on medium setting which has a tolerable noise output at 1 hour load temp of 60 Degrees. Having worked on _many_ athlons I have seen default 2400 XP athlons run hotter using mainstream coolers. I used to be an athlon enthuiast but later realised that I was kidding my self because not only are they slower and not as smooth running, but having 5 x 7200 rpm fast drives in my machine and a full complement of PCI cards i realised that Intel chips run cooler than their AMD alternatives. This also increases the product life of all the other components in a computer system as the internal case temp is reduced dramatically.
Any Athlon users out there notice drives just "dissapearing" from explorer... thats your cause, plain simple overheating. Swallow your pride and pay the money for an Intel Chip, I assure you you wont regret it.
Also note i _am not_ an intel employee... :)
seriously...
Funny this system sounds like my girlfriend!!
It gives me notifaction to brake when a car is hundreds of feet in front of me... even when doing 15 mph.
âoeI feel this technology looks all set to replace PCI, and we really do need some new bus technology to keep up with the bandwidth demands of today's applications. Or is this just yet another way to force us into a new upgrade cycle? When I look back at the explosion of technology within the past decade and the ever-continuing attempts to eradicate the bottlenecks that computer systems have had PCI Express is a breath of fresh air. For example lets take a look at processors; within the past ten years processor speeds have doubled every eighteen months if we go by Moores Law. Itâ(TM)s hard to believe it was a little over ten years ago that Intel released the First Pentium Chips. HDD speeds (physical read) have also increased dramatically from about 2 MB/s for a 635MB HDD to over 45 MB/s for a modern HDD. Graphics were given a face lift with the introduction of the AGP bus pushing the speeds of transfer up from PCIâ(TM)s 133 MB/s to 2.1GB/s however many systems are used for a LOT more than video rendering capabilities and are geared more towards storage markets were data access speed is of the utmost importance. 64 bit PCI gave us a boost to 266 MB/s transfer speeds to be used in conjunction with high speed U320 SCSI but even then we cannot take full advantage of the capabilities offered. PCI express opens up the horizons for computers letting us transfer substantial amounts of data in less time. This can only be a good thing. More Information * Shorter Time = Greater Efficiency Therefore I donâ(TM)t see this as another way to force us into the upgrade cycle but a good solid advancement in computers. Also, the good thing is that it is coming wither we like or not.
Its not that Microsoft are being criticized for offereing Windows XP at $50 its the reason behind them offering it for that price... They want the lindows market and are prepared to offer Windows XP at a greatly reduced price to get it. Think about all the loyal windows users who paid the full price for Windows XP when it came out and are still doing so at this very time. What incentive were they offered to upgrade to the latest and (questionably) greastest release ever ...since the last one of the Windows operating system, They are offered an upgrade pack but they have to pay alot more than $50 to get it. This is why i think M$ are being criticized.