how in all that is Geekdom did this get modified as "informative"??
A short sword and a long sword are not the same blade with differing lenghts. The SS is weighted for stabbing, whereas a LS is weighted for slashing. While a LS CAN stab and a SS CAN slash, they arent as effective as they are when used properly. The greatsword, or two-handed sword, was also weighted differently, and wouldnt have been as effective as a longsword because of its balance.
That said, it was always a "convienience" rule which let, say, a halfling use a human longsword as a greatsword or a giant use a human greatsword as a shortsword. While these weapons are all "basically" the same (in that a mace is basically a fancy club), they are all used differently and require different sets of skills to use to full potential.
It makes SENSE that each race would make their own "variant" swords sized to their stature, however, the damage that a halfling longsword would do would compare to the human short sword.
all that really changes is that if you're small or large (human being medium), and you find a human sized sword, well, you're not going to be able to use it quite right.
In the end though, unless the DM is a jerk off, if he is giving you magical items that he wants you to have, you'll be able to use them.
On that note, 99% of the rules are "house approved" only... just because its in the rule book doesnt make it law.
I mean, heck, just take a page from AT&T... (actual call!)
Me: Yeah, hi, I have a cable modem through you and... Drone: You have a what? Me: I have a cable modem, its not... Drone: You have a what? Me: I. Have. A. Cable. Modem. High. Speed. Internet. You. Know? Its out, flashing lights... Drone: Oh, you have broadband. Unplug your modem for 5 seconds, and then plug the network cable directly into your computer if you have a hub/router (obvious they have no clue what either is, its probably just in their script as such). Me: I've already done that, and no, its not the hub, the hub works fine. Drone: Let me send out a technician. Me: ARGH!!!!
God I hate them. Thank you Speakeasy! At least they laugh when I tell them how much I hate the cable companies!
How many of us have ever bought a game on the PC and the FIRST thing we do is check for patches?
Yet we still buy them the first day they are out, accepting this as common practice.
Is it any REAL surprise that companies would start pushing games such as "the matrix" (der, people bought that because it was THE MATRIX, its not THAT good, although I wouldnt call it "bad" either... its just, "meh") with bugs? These games will sell, and sell well, based on name alone.
I have 0 faith in all companies, save Blizzard. At least they havent completely fscked me yet (although the latest ACCESS VIOLATION error from WC3 TFT is starting to REALLY piss me off)...
"Personally, I sit at a computer desk for 10 hours a day with very little actual work. Your also started to get a little belly and out of shape. I know it's real bad in my office, especially with all the beer I consume."
I'd suggest at least not consuming beer prior to submitting articles to slashdot...
I know for a fact that Verizon offers the "cheap" line... before they offered their "freedom" package, I had MCI's Neighborhood, which unfortunantly couldnt have DSL (stupid ILEC). So I called verizon and pressed and pressed and pressed and finally they admitted that they had a "dial tone" which DSL could be run through.
A CSR Manager is NEVER going to offer that, because its bad for their bottom line... but they DO offer it, I know for fact.
"Assumption: You already pay $35 for a cellphone. Sure, I'll take 125 channels as a perk for my decision making skills."
One. Phone providers offer a 3-10 (I forget what it was after tax) dollar a month dial tone, which is fine for DSL. If your wonderful "decision making skills" can do the math on that one, you'll realize that if you DONT need actually need the land line, its cheaper to get that instead of paying for a 30 month "DSL connector" (so to speak).
Two. I wouldnt trade my land line for a cell phone any day. I can call anywhere I want in the US, I dont pay long distance, and the calls are crystal clear. I dont have to worry about charging my phone, or is it "off time (night/weekends)" or is the call going to be disconnected. I can hear the other person, the phone isnt the size of a used bar of soap so I can cradle it without holding it to my ear (and I have a headset too, in case I need "hands free", ie, gaming). Plus I'll never be tempted to drive with the fucking thing stuck to my ear.
The only MMORPG I was ever "serious with" (I had dabbled in the free trial of AO and the AC2 Beta, but neither of those took an hour of my time total) was the SWG Beta. If you've read any of my other comments, you'll know what I think of it (as a "game" it sucks). Thats not the point, however.
The problem with Role Playing in a computer game is that you are artificially limited by the constraints of the game. If the programmers have decided that you have to get past (kill) target A to get object B, then you have to kill target A to get Object B. In a "true" RPG (DnD, or whatever "flavor" you prefer), there is a DM who may *want* (or goad) you into fighting target A, but in the end, you could at least attempt to bluff your way past it or sneak around or whatever. Also, in a PnP RPG you can interact with your environment in ways that a MMORPG cannot currently let you. For instance, I've never quite been able to walk through tables or other party members in DnD, yet in SWG you have a rather incorporealness that, well, breaks immersion. Also, the NPCs can be only so engaging. If I told an NPC to "blow off" in a PnP game, he'd "hear" me, and react accordingly, whereas unless its a specific encounter, if I type "blow off" to a random NPC he'll simply ignore me.
So it all comes down to the Game Master. Without the human interaction, its very difficult to stay in character, IMHO. Of course, one day that might not be the case, and there isnt anything wrong with MMORPGs, other than they are in fact glorified chat rooms most of the time.
Without PAYING for it? What about the dinners, the flowers, the movies (the really really really BAD girlie crap movies, like Snow Falling On Cedars::shudders::), the bad hair days, the "does this make me look fat" arguments, etc, etc...
No, sir, you are obviously dating Rosy Palms.
And for what its worth, there are some of us who do get with real women and knew what Machi-whatever was.
I got DS the day it came out, and got a little bit past the Dwarf Mines (for those of you who have never played it, thats maybe 2-3 hours into the game, IIRC).
The graphics were outstanding, you really feel like you're in a fantasy setting.
However, as PA put it around the time of the games release, you dont really play the game. Your character pretty much auto attacks whatever is in sight (handy for multiple character parties, but since you can (IIRC) pause a la baldurs gate to issue orders somewhat unneccesary), and it seemed to me that experience was only given to the character who got the deathblow. I know for a fact that my swordsman advanced hella fast compared to the mage (guess who usually killed stuff...) who was getting almost 0 Xp. The real killer was the lack of character depth. At least Diablo 2 your character was sorta different (unless you're the same class, and even then, they COULD still be different, not so with DS)...
I will probably take a look into DS 2, if they fix the XP system to be more DnDish (ie, equal shares of XP, with maybe a small *kill* bonus), because DS 1 was a good idea, just needs some polish.:)
There were 2 MMORPGs that I was looking forward to, SWG, and World of Warcraft. The first week I played the SWG Beta, I hated it (I dont play MMORPGs), but since I was submitting bugs, I kept going. Eventually, I got a few friends in, and I started learning the game, and seeing it, and it was amusing. Then after about 5 weeks, it was back to being "this sucks". The game is NOT "fun". While its breathtaking to walk into someplace like the Theed starport and see a Lambda class shuttle (a disproportionate Lambda class shuttle, btw) surrounded by 3-4 stormtroopers the first 3 times, after that its like "well, okay, great". The game has SW elements, like aliens and blasters, but it doesnt "feel" like SW.
Remember, THIS is the SW MMORPG we got. I for one am not happy with it, as it contains neither Stars nor Wars. Remember, EQ wasnt "the greatest" MMORPG when it first came out, but it was one of the only ones out at the time. It had a chance to get a player base, grow with it, and learn from its mistakes. SW came out with crap servers, little to no content, broken systems, unbalanced classes, and just about anything else you can name. Worst part is, the Beta testers KNEW it and TOLD them what was wrong, and they STILL didnt listen.
Hopefully Blizzard can come through on WoW. To Sarlacc's belly with SOE, I'm done with them.
First it was Halo.. which should have been the sweetest Multiplayer FPS for the PC.... nope.. Xbox gets it"
Well, not entirely true... the PC version will be out, just not yet.
"Now its Blizzards Starcraft:Ghost and Star Wars Knights of the Old republic..."
Oh yeah, lets REALLY talk out of our ass here. Blizzard has stated that its NOT an Xbox exclusive, but the Xbox one LOOKS the best, so they use it for the demonstrations. As for SW KotOR, look at LA before you go getting pissed at MS. They dont want the competition with SW: Galaxies, so the PC version is being pushed back. Also note, the PC version will have an extra planet, and from screenies I've seen, will look better.
"I am just waiting to hear Halflife 2 and Doom 3 being Xbox titles first as well....."
Yeah, right, because ya know, HL 1 was an Xbox exclusive, and D1 and D2 were Xbox only.
Heres an idea... You want to play Zelda, get a GC. You want to play KotOR right NOW, get an Xbox.
Consoles have always had "their own" games, and I dont see it changing any time soon.
See, we have two groups of people in this country. Okay, well, there are lots of groups of people, but for this argument, there are two:
Anti War Stinky Peace Hippies
and
Pro War Gun Toting Rednecks
The AWSPH proclaim that we are a peace loving nation, while the PWGTR go out and beat on other countries because they can. The gov't can point to either group (ignorning the other in the process) and claim that we're "that group".
There was a great documentary on this on Comedy Central one Wednesday night at 10:00. I believe they also air it on Fri/Sat around 2:00 AM, but dont quote me on that.
" The alternative is medication (which is how I kicked the video game habit before I became the next Columbine), and that will just be more expensive to everyone in the long term. Curfews are cheap and effective. Another good approach might be to put a lower age limit on the use of Windows. So young children would have to use Linux or Mac OS, which don't have games. This has a side benefit of hurting Micro$oft, always a plus."
Come on now. Obviously, if you were so addicted to video games that you needed meds to get off of them, you have deeper issues that need to be dealt with. Just because Timmy cant control himself if he plays games till 10:15 (or 11, or 2) it doesnt mean that Billy or Bobby or Sally or Jane cant be responsible enough to know when enough is enough. Look at it this way, lets say you're sick (or have a broken leg or whatever) and are going to stay home from school the next day, and want to stay up and play games all night because you have nothing better to do, and now you cant (well, I guess you can play alone, although for some games, that sucks) because people like you cant be adult about your own addictions.
And your second statement makes no sense. "...put a lower age limit on the use of Windows. So young children would have to use Linux or Mac OS". Lower age limit? There is an age limit on using windows now? And we should LOWER it so that children should use something else? What children? Toddlers? People (not geeks) dont use Linux because *gasp* its a gigantic pain in the ass if turning ON the computer is a monumental task for you. Yes, there ARE people who can barely turn their machine on. Remember the old iMac commercial where they were like "just plug it in and its online"? Well, take someone who thought that was the greatest thing ever and give them Linux. Pray there is no baseball bat around.
I have friends up to 6 states away that I know IRL, and we gamed when we lived close using a standared phone. Now I have Verizons free long distance plan, which is like, 45 or something a month. I'd say I easily play about 40+ hours of gaming during a week, so thats a small price to pay. Plus, its nice to be able to call relatives "for free". I have found one person that I met on Bnet that I call, but it took a few months (and some Wilco chatting) before I was willing to ring up a perfect stranger.
We tried Roger Wilco and the MS one, neither were bad, but neither were as clear at the phone either.
The PC version was pushed back because of SWG from what I remember... but it will have an additional planet, and probably some extra quests or something revolving around said planet.
Also, it will be more like BG than NWN, as the NWN campaign quite frankly stunk. Note, I think that the appeal of NWN is for the toolset, not the boxed campaign.
and T2 casters, if you throw in some dryads. and T3 melee if you throw in some support, like dryads for slow and DotC for roar, plus you need to upgrade upgrade upgrade. 1v1, yes, the hunt sucks. However, 1v1 the only units that should truly "beat" another unit is T3 melee vs T1 melee, and possibly air. The problem with the hunt was she was TOOO powerful before, and now she's balanced, so people cry nerf. WC isnt SC where you can spam 1 unit and win, it takes some thought.
I have never once played a game that is a "forgone" conclusion.
NE is no weaker against UD than they are against HU or Orc or NE. What, they go ghouls and you go archers? Duh, of course you die. Hunts > Ghouls. Oh, they went all fiends and you went Hunts? Duh, Fiends > hunts. They went all necros? Duh, you have fairy dragons, which IIRC DO stack. Couple that with some hunts, moutain giants, and a Druid of the Claw, boom, one dead undead. The other thing is that NE has the best Tier 1 unit in the Huntress PLUS they get Tier 1 Siege, which utterly owns the UD (most undead players fast tech, for some idiotic reason).
Yes, NE suffers from a severe lack of AoE spells, which UD has plenty of, but NE has a few other tricks up their sleeve.
One, they have the Druids. Get a Druid of the Claw, roar before battle, couple that with a Priestess of the Moon, you're looking at about another 6-10 points of damage for each of your units, if not more. Two, they have the Mountain Giant now. Even a competant player has issues when there are 2 MGs taunting one after the other. Three, T1 siege. Four, Moon Wells, its very hard to kill a NE hero in the right hands, especially the Warden. She gets hurt, blinks back to base, refreshes, boom, you're battle damaged, shes at full. Five, the dreaded Keeper of the Grove Entagle rush. UD has problems countering that, unless they try to counter it, in which case they spent minerals that doesnt really help them.
I was in the Beta too. The game isn't 100% balanced, but its not as unbalanced as you seem to think.
I mean, do you only play Type 2 at home? Do you have an official judge preside over every single one of your games?
I play for fun, and from my understanding they are charging the same price for the online cards as for the offline cards, only I can KEEP the offline cards.
Slashdot Mirror
how in all that is Geekdom did this get modified as "informative"??
A short sword and a long sword are not the same blade with differing lenghts. The SS is weighted for stabbing, whereas a LS is weighted for slashing. While a LS CAN stab and a SS CAN slash, they arent as effective as they are when used properly. The greatsword, or two-handed sword, was also weighted differently, and wouldnt have been as effective as a longsword because of its balance.
That said, it was always a "convienience" rule which let, say, a halfling use a human longsword as a greatsword or a giant use a human greatsword as a shortsword. While these weapons are all "basically" the same (in that a mace is basically a fancy club), they are all used differently and require different sets of skills to use to full potential.
It makes SENSE that each race would make their own "variant" swords sized to their stature, however, the damage that a halfling longsword would do would compare to the human short sword.
all that really changes is that if you're small or large (human being medium), and you find a human sized sword, well, you're not going to be able to use it quite right.
In the end though, unless the DM is a jerk off, if he is giving you magical items that he wants you to have, you'll be able to use them.
On that note, 99% of the rules are "house approved" only... just because its in the rule book doesnt make it law.
Yeah, I wouldnt want to be associated with Vivendi either... its not like they own the best gaming company ever conceived. *Kof*Blizzard*Kof*...
I mean, heck, just take a page from AT&T... (actual call!)
...
Me: Yeah, hi, I have a cable modem through you and...
Drone: You have a what?
Me: I have a cable modem, its not
Drone: You have a what?
Me: I. Have. A. Cable. Modem. High. Speed. Internet. You. Know? Its out, flashing lights...
Drone: Oh, you have broadband. Unplug your modem for 5 seconds, and then plug the network cable directly into your computer if you have a hub/router (obvious they have no clue what either is, its probably just in their script as such).
Me: I've already done that, and no, its not the hub, the hub works fine.
Drone: Let me send out a technician.
Me: ARGH!!!!
God I hate them. Thank you Speakeasy! At least they laugh when I tell them how much I hate the cable companies!
How many of us have ever bought a game on the PC and the FIRST thing we do is check for patches?
Yet we still buy them the first day they are out, accepting this as common practice.
Is it any REAL surprise that companies would start pushing games such as "the matrix" (der, people bought that because it was THE MATRIX, its not THAT good, although I wouldnt call it "bad" either... its just, "meh") with bugs? These games will sell, and sell well, based on name alone.
I have 0 faith in all companies, save Blizzard. At least they havent completely fscked me yet (although the latest ACCESS VIOLATION error from WC3 TFT is starting to REALLY piss me off)...
hehehe... good comeback :)
""My captian... My Kin -rewind- THWAP! THWAP!" Die, boromir, DIE!""
:P
its captain... not captian... sheesh
"Personally, I sit at a computer desk for 10 hours a day with very little actual work. Your also started to get a little belly and out of shape. I know it's real bad in my office, especially with all the beer I consume."
I'd suggest at least not consuming beer prior to submitting articles to slashdot...
You'd think, but then they have to service the line... which means both physically as well as pay for you to call Customer Service, ya know? :(
:)
They are bastards. I hate them all.
I know for a fact that Verizon offers the "cheap" line... before they offered their "freedom" package, I had MCI's Neighborhood, which unfortunantly couldnt have DSL (stupid ILEC). So I called verizon and pressed and pressed and pressed and finally they admitted that they had a "dial tone" which DSL could be run through.
A CSR Manager is NEVER going to offer that, because its bad for their bottom line... but they DO offer it, I know for fact.
"Assumption: You already pay $35 for a cellphone.
Sure, I'll take 125 channels as a perk for my decision making skills."
One. Phone providers offer a 3-10 (I forget what it was after tax) dollar a month dial tone, which is fine for DSL. If your wonderful "decision making skills" can do the math on that one, you'll realize that if you DONT need actually need the land line, its cheaper to get that instead of paying for a 30 month "DSL connector" (so to speak).
Two. I wouldnt trade my land line for a cell phone any day. I can call anywhere I want in the US, I dont pay long distance, and the calls are crystal clear. I dont have to worry about charging my phone, or is it "off time (night/weekends)" or is the call going to be disconnected. I can hear the other person, the phone isnt the size of a used bar of soap so I can cradle it without holding it to my ear (and I have a headset too, in case I need "hands free", ie, gaming). Plus I'll never be tempted to drive with the fucking thing stuck to my ear.
The only MMORPG I was ever "serious with" (I had dabbled in the free trial of AO and the AC2 Beta, but neither of those took an hour of my time total) was the SWG Beta. If you've read any of my other comments, you'll know what I think of it (as a "game" it sucks). Thats not the point, however.
The problem with Role Playing in a computer game is that you are artificially limited by the constraints of the game. If the programmers have decided that you have to get past (kill) target A to get object B, then you have to kill target A to get Object B. In a "true" RPG (DnD, or whatever "flavor" you prefer), there is a DM who may *want* (or goad) you into fighting target A, but in the end, you could at least attempt to bluff your way past it or sneak around or whatever. Also, in a PnP RPG you can interact with your environment in ways that a MMORPG cannot currently let you. For instance, I've never quite been able to walk through tables or other party members in DnD, yet in SWG you have a rather incorporealness that, well, breaks immersion. Also, the NPCs can be only so engaging. If I told an NPC to "blow off" in a PnP game, he'd "hear" me, and react accordingly, whereas unless its a specific encounter, if I type "blow off" to a random NPC he'll simply ignore me.
So it all comes down to the Game Master. Without the human interaction, its very difficult to stay in character, IMHO. Of course, one day that might not be the case, and there isnt anything wrong with MMORPGs, other than they are in fact glorified chat rooms most of the time.
Without PAYING for it? What about the dinners, the flowers, the movies (the really really really BAD girlie crap movies, like Snow Falling On Cedars ::shudders::), the bad hair days, the "does this make me look fat" arguments, etc, etc...
No, sir, you are obviously dating Rosy Palms.
And for what its worth, there are some of us who do get with real women and knew what Machi-whatever was.
I got DS the day it came out, and got a little bit past the Dwarf Mines (for those of you who have never played it, thats maybe 2-3 hours into the game, IIRC).
:)
The graphics were outstanding, you really feel like you're in a fantasy setting.
However, as PA put it around the time of the games release, you dont really play the game. Your character pretty much auto attacks whatever is in sight (handy for multiple character parties, but since you can (IIRC) pause a la baldurs gate to issue orders somewhat unneccesary), and it seemed to me that experience was only given to the character who got the deathblow. I know for a fact that my swordsman advanced hella fast compared to the mage (guess who usually killed stuff...) who was getting almost 0 Xp. The real killer was the lack of character depth. At least Diablo 2 your character was sorta different (unless you're the same class, and even then, they COULD still be different, not so with DS)...
I will probably take a look into DS 2, if they fix the XP system to be more DnDish (ie, equal shares of XP, with maybe a small *kill* bonus), because DS 1 was a good idea, just needs some polish.
There were 2 MMORPGs that I was looking forward to, SWG, and World of Warcraft. The first week I played the SWG Beta, I hated it (I dont play MMORPGs), but since I was submitting bugs, I kept going. Eventually, I got a few friends in, and I started learning the game, and seeing it, and it was amusing. Then after about 5 weeks, it was back to being "this sucks". The game is NOT "fun". While its breathtaking to walk into someplace like the Theed starport and see a Lambda class shuttle (a disproportionate Lambda class shuttle, btw) surrounded by 3-4 stormtroopers the first 3 times, after that its like "well, okay, great". The game has SW elements, like aliens and blasters, but it doesnt "feel" like SW.
Remember, THIS is the SW MMORPG we got. I for one am not happy with it, as it contains neither Stars nor Wars. Remember, EQ wasnt "the greatest" MMORPG when it first came out, but it was one of the only ones out at the time. It had a chance to get a player base, grow with it, and learn from its mistakes. SW came out with crap servers, little to no content, broken systems, unbalanced classes, and just about anything else you can name. Worst part is, the Beta testers KNEW it and TOLD them what was wrong, and they STILL didnt listen.
Hopefully Blizzard can come through on WoW. To Sarlacc's belly with SOE, I'm done with them.
"Is there no end to there treachery....
:Ghost and Star Wars Knights of the Old republic..."
First it was Halo.. which should have been the sweetest Multiplayer FPS for the PC.... nope.. Xbox gets it"
Well, not entirely true... the PC version will be out, just not yet.
"Now its Blizzards Starcraft
Oh yeah, lets REALLY talk out of our ass here. Blizzard has stated that its NOT an Xbox exclusive, but the Xbox one LOOKS the best, so they use it for the demonstrations. As for SW KotOR, look at LA before you go getting pissed at MS. They dont want the competition with SW: Galaxies, so the PC version is being pushed back. Also note, the PC version will have an extra planet, and from screenies I've seen, will look better.
"I am just waiting to hear Halflife 2 and Doom 3 being Xbox titles first as well....."
Yeah, right, because ya know, HL 1 was an Xbox exclusive, and D1 and D2 were Xbox only.
Heres an idea... You want to play Zelda, get a GC. You want to play KotOR right NOW, get an Xbox.
Consoles have always had "their own" games, and I dont see it changing any time soon.
See, we have two groups of people in this country. Okay, well, there are lots of groups of people, but for this argument, there are two:
:P
Anti War Stinky Peace Hippies
and
Pro War Gun Toting Rednecks
The AWSPH proclaim that we are a peace loving nation, while the PWGTR go out and beat on other countries because they can. The gov't can point to either group (ignorning the other in the process) and claim that we're "that group".
There was a great documentary on this on Comedy Central one Wednesday night at 10:00. I believe they also air it on Fri/Sat around 2:00 AM, but dont quote me on that.
(and yes,this WAS a reference to South Park)
changes from 1st ed to 2nd ed... found on google...
"The THAC0 system is now standard; combat charts with six 20's no longer exist. A natural 20 always hits, a natural 1 always misses."
the premise was the same (roll D20, add modifiers) but the term "to hit ac 0" or "thac0" wasnt added until 2nd ed
THAC0.
:P
Wow.
To Hit Armor Class Zero.
Real geeks know that this "thac0" thing was a 2E crap term and has no place in "real" (1st and 3rd) DnD.
" The alternative is medication (which is how I kicked the video game habit before I became the next Columbine), and that will just be more expensive to everyone in the long term. Curfews are cheap and effective. Another good approach might be to put a lower age limit on the use of Windows. So young children would have to use Linux or Mac OS, which don't have games. This has a side benefit of hurting Micro$oft, always a plus."
Come on now. Obviously, if you were so addicted to video games that you needed meds to get off of them, you have deeper issues that need to be dealt with. Just because Timmy cant control himself if he plays games till 10:15 (or 11, or 2) it doesnt mean that Billy or Bobby or Sally or Jane cant be responsible enough to know when enough is enough. Look at it this way, lets say you're sick (or have a broken leg or whatever) and are going to stay home from school the next day, and want to stay up and play games all night because you have nothing better to do, and now you cant (well, I guess you can play alone, although for some games, that sucks) because people like you cant be adult about your own addictions.
And your second statement makes no sense. "...put a lower age limit on the use of Windows. So young children would have to use Linux or Mac OS". Lower age limit? There is an age limit on using windows now? And we should LOWER it so that children should use something else? What children? Toddlers? People (not geeks) dont use Linux because *gasp* its a gigantic pain in the ass if turning ON the computer is a monumental task for you. Yes, there ARE people who can barely turn their machine on. Remember the old iMac commercial where they were like "just plug it in and its online"? Well, take someone who thought that was the greatest thing ever and give them Linux. Pray there is no baseball bat around.
I have friends up to 6 states away that I know IRL, and we gamed when we lived close using a standared phone. Now I have Verizons free long distance plan, which is like, 45 or something a month. I'd say I easily play about 40+ hours of gaming during a week, so thats a small price to pay. Plus, its nice to be able to call relatives "for free". I have found one person that I met on Bnet that I call, but it took a few months (and some Wilco chatting) before I was willing to ring up a perfect stranger.
We tried Roger Wilco and the MS one, neither were bad, but neither were as clear at the phone either.
The PC version was pushed back because of SWG from what I remember... but it will have an additional planet, and probably some extra quests or something revolving around said planet.
Also, it will be more like BG than NWN, as the NWN campaign quite frankly stunk. Note, I think that the appeal of NWN is for the toolset, not the boxed campaign.
and T2 casters, if you throw in some dryads. and T3 melee if you throw in some support, like dryads for slow and DotC for roar, plus you need to upgrade upgrade upgrade. 1v1, yes, the hunt sucks. However, 1v1 the only units that should truly "beat" another unit is T3 melee vs T1 melee, and possibly air. The problem with the hunt was she was TOOO powerful before, and now she's balanced, so people cry nerf. WC isnt SC where you can spam 1 unit and win, it takes some thought.
I have never once played a game that is a "forgone" conclusion.
NE is no weaker against UD than they are against HU or Orc or NE. What, they go ghouls and you go archers? Duh, of course you die. Hunts > Ghouls. Oh, they went all fiends and you went Hunts? Duh, Fiends > hunts. They went all necros? Duh, you have fairy dragons, which IIRC DO stack. Couple that with some hunts, moutain giants, and a Druid of the Claw, boom, one dead undead. The other thing is that NE has the best Tier 1 unit in the Huntress PLUS they get Tier 1 Siege, which utterly owns the UD (most undead players fast tech, for some idiotic reason).
Yes, NE suffers from a severe lack of AoE spells, which UD has plenty of, but NE has a few other tricks up their sleeve.
One, they have the Druids. Get a Druid of the Claw, roar before battle, couple that with a Priestess of the Moon, you're looking at about another 6-10 points of damage for each of your units, if not more. Two, they have the Mountain Giant now. Even a competant player has issues when there are 2 MGs taunting one after the other. Three, T1 siege. Four, Moon Wells, its very hard to kill a NE hero in the right hands, especially the Warden. She gets hurt, blinks back to base, refreshes, boom, you're battle damaged, shes at full. Five, the dreaded Keeper of the Grove Entagle rush. UD has problems countering that, unless they try to counter it, in which case they spent minerals that doesnt really help them.
I was in the Beta too. The game isn't 100% balanced, but its not as unbalanced as you seem to think.
NecrologyX, Azeroth.
Why WOULDNT you keep them?
I mean, do you only play Type 2 at home? Do you have an official judge preside over every single one of your games?
I play for fun, and from my understanding they are charging the same price for the online cards as for the offline cards, only I can KEEP the offline cards.
it was my understanding that if you had a complete set, you could trade out the set for a set of real cards.
so if you had 30,000 cards, but only one complete set of 300 or so, thats 27,700 cards wasted...
I still have 90% of the cards I bought when I played years ago.