He's not alone. I also love tanking. I levelled as Fury and went Prot at 70 after getting some decent tanking gear. My girlfriend is a resto Shaman so we find it incredibly easy to find groups!
There hasn't been a new nVidia driver for the 8x series in months and I had simply stopped checking. I recently had Windows Update recommend an update for nVidia drivers and I was pleasantly surprised since it had never worked in the past.
Perhaps Microsoft are finally getting it together for repositories and such. Who knows, we'll see...
We were talking about this very issue in guild chat the other day. $60 AUD for Vanilla + The Burning Crusade battlechest and another $60 for Wrath of the Lich King isn't very newb-friendly for someone wanting to try-before-buying.
That said, there's always the 10-day trial (and honestly, for someone new to the game this isn't much time to really soak up the full WoW-experience). And the thing about the expansions is that even if you don't purchase them to have access to the new races/continents, you still have the same patch version giving you access to the same items, the same Auction House, the same talents etc. So you could quite easily purchase just Vanilla WoW for $20 and play to 60 and if you want to continue to 70 or 80 then buy the expansions. You get to enjoy a major portion of the full game without forking out too much for it.
The only thing you'll really miss out on with Vanilla is the new professions, new races and new class (the new continents won't matter too much since you don't need them until 60 or 70 anyway)
Wait, what? World of Warcraft has always had pvp. We didn't have battlegrounds for the first 18 months but world pvp was always there. When you have such a huge game scope that WoW encompasses, it makes it harder to balance pve vs pvp - though not impossible. Blizzard have done a fine job so far but even I can concede they could still do better.
Arenas will always favour certain class combinations more than others. A well balanced group is a very powerful force and it's no different than balancing a group for a dungeon or raid. You don't take 3 priests to Mechanar do you? Why take them to Arena? (obviously that's an extreme example but you get my point)
Warhammer's been out, what, 4-5 weeks? WAR != WoW. If you want WAR features, go play WAR. If I wanted Public Quests then I'd be playing WAR too.
So you're telling us you've been a Horde Shaman since release and you feel like the red-haired child? I could complain until Duke Nukem Forever came out about Hunter pvp viability and raid dps, and I'm sure Mages could think of a few things to whine about.
The best questions are without bias. It's all subjective and bias only makes a question interesting to yourself and a few other players who might feel they've been screwed (other players may think Shaman are fine or could do with some abilities to be toned down a little, it's not all about you remember).
* user-changeable authentication and authorisation, so it won't be enough to have just a copy of the data printed on the CC sides to make a purchase on internet.
They already have this, at least we use it quite a bit in Australia. The Verified by Visa opt-in allows end-users to set an additional password to be used for online purchases. I know Skype uses it and some other popular vendors whose names elude me right now (I work in the Online Banking team for a bank, you'd think I'd know them). Visa also use a cardholder-selected question/phrase which appears on the purchase form so they know it's an official VbV password request.
I'm not going to debate the details of the particular plan (personally, I'd stay right the hell away from Optus). But you do bring up interesting points about traffic prioritisation. I would also like ISPs to start doing (or at least offer) this kind of QoS with all traffic. It's not an incredibly hard thing to do and it allows me to just set my torrents in the background and never have to worry about shaping their speeds to accommodate what else I'm doing at the time (browsing, gaming, whatever). On the other hand, there are various programs that will allow you to do this client-side without interaction by the ISP. Why should the ISPs be responsible for this extra cost when you can do it cheaper at home with your own CPU cycles. The ISP is simply providing you with a pipe and that's the way it should be.
I do disagree that ISPs should never ever shape traffic to the end-user without express consent. That's part of the premise of Net Neutrality. What the ISPs want to do is be able to shape traffic to certain sites/services based on a subscription model with the content provider. If a site doesn't pay fees to have priority then the speed to that site is shaped. No. Just no, guys. Bad ISP!
Admittedly yes, I don't think you should have to pay for a patent license. Government developed technologies should be made available to all their citizens for non-commercial use.
But who's to say what was developed by the government and not? Many private companies contribute to projects and many of those provide some of their own funding. It's hard to draw the line somewhere and I'm sure the companies themselves would want to either be reimbursed for their investment or be granted a free license for commercial use (if the agreement doesn't already allow this).
Please find enclosed the 22 cents of your taxes that actually went towards developing these patents. We don't recommend cashing this cheque since the physical paper and postage is worth more than the written value.
But the last part really annoys me - I have been an Apple customer from time to time and they annoy the absolute crap out of me. They deny problems, use proprietary software, aggressively attack anyone who attempts to open up their hardware platforms, and generally act in a self-righteous manner.
I have never been an Apple customer for this exact reason. iPhone? More like the iPhail. Why use such a device that requires you use Apple-controlled software and distribution methods for 3rd party software. Not to mention iTunes is bloated even on OSX let alone Windows.
* and yes, I do know what I'm talking about, I have done several Vista uninstalls which have dramatically improved stability and performance of new laptops
I'm sorry, this kind of destroyed the credibility you had developed during the rest of your post. You uninstalled Vista to which OS exactly? Ubuntu? XP? Of course that would improve stability and performance in laptops; older software running on new hardware.
It's not like you removed a buggy application that was causing the problem but left the underlying architecture (OS) intact. You removed the whole OS that wasn't designed for this generation of hardware (people said the same things about XP, why should this be any different?)
Personally, I held off using Vista until SP1. It's been rock solid since day one though it does have the occasional wireless glitch (I haven't isolated the issue yet so it may be my router or DNS). It ran very well with even modest hardware from 4yrs ago and I was pleasantly surprised at it's stability and performance. I'm now running it on an additional laptop without issue. My own father was able to configure and use a digital TV receiver via Media Center without calling me once, good luck with that on XP or Ubuntu... but he did call me to configure Windows Mail to receive his work email which is hardly a Vista fault.
divx is easily possible. I'm sure the WinXP systems would be able to run Media Center/WMP10 well enough (bluetooth remote anyone?) and there are various other media centers you could use for the Ubuntu version.
You're probably better off using a 3rd party media server since WMC will only play Microsoft's supported formats (go figure) and won't transcode foreign formats. Personally, I'm using TVersity on my desktop server with my Xbox 360 as the client. TVersity will transcode on the fly to whichever format your device supports and dynamically adjust bitrate for your particular network; works beautifully.
When it comes to HD media, I doubt any of the current UMPCs are capable of outputting it. For one, you'll need an appropriate HD output port and VGA just doesn't cut it these days. You could get hi-res H.264 encodes which would play fine through a media server (with the appropriate codecs, of course) and assuming you have the network bandwidth to stream it.
Use the standard fonts, that's why that list is exactly what it is.
This is exactly right. We don't have multiple competing standards for XHTML do we? Why should our fonts be any different?
The reason the selected fonts are there in the first place is, surprisingly, to keep a minimum standard we can rely on. What will opening up custom fonts allow for the designer that isn't already available? I shouldn't need to be forced to override a custom font I can't read just because the designer felt like being "special."
I'm all for adding new standard fonts but let them go through a strict approval process to ensure they meet legibilty requirements.
I'm talking about the ability of the iPhone to "phone home." Do even know what kind of information is being sent? No one knows if it's just the names of installed applications (for security purposes? Yeah right.), or if it's an index of all content on the phone! Apple has the potential here to outrank Google with the means to snoop further into people's - supposedly - private lives.
What kind of information do you keep on your mobile? My SMSs tell just as much story about my life as my gmail account. My contact list contains not just someone's name and email address but also their home/work/mobile numbers/home address/DOB and are often linked to spouse/children contact as well.
There's a reason I don't share all that information with Google and I can easily keep that kind of data out of their hands. I'm sure as hell not happy that Apple can do it without my knowledge or consent.
If pirated iPhones were possible, they'd certainly be popular amongst the/. crowd, and if Apple designed a mechanism to disable/gimp pirated iPhones, they'd feel the wrath of hundreds of angry teenage/.ers too.
Look, there are enough asshats on/. to be up-in-arms about EVERYTHING. Maybe this group of people mostly doesn't have enough money to buy iPhones. Beats me, just a theory.
You've been around here long enough to know/. isn't Digg. We don't have half the number of angry teenagers they do. Perhaps you should give/. a little more credit when it's due.
Allow me to play Devil's Advocate here: It wasn't just the/. crowd that was pissed off about Microsoft's WGA - it was slammed all over the internet. If you had created the world's most popular piece of software, wouldn't you want to take measures to stop people pirating it? Of course you would! Microsoft are hardly the worst offenders and WGA is really nothing more than a non-intrusive (save for a couple popups alerting you to the fact), non-debilitating patch that doesn't do anything except annoy you.
Apple's Phone Home "feature" actually has the ability to lock out an application that is only deemed "dangerous" by Apple. Who should make that call? The owner of the platform who doesn't know what it's used for, or the person who pays for it, uses it, and should have every consumer right to put whatever they want on their personal device! What's to stop Apple from "bricking" entire phone handsets just because they can and don't need to provide an explanation?
Now I hate to be the one to point this out and I'm probably going to take a massive karma hit... but only in true Apple fashion can they add this "feature" and get away with it.
Remember the Windows Genuine Advantage fiasco? Microsoft got slaughtered on this very site for it, yet you all sit back and take this from Apple? If Microsoft had released the iPhone instead, and you all suddenly found out there was a Phone Home function, don't you think someone would be up-in-arms about it?
At what point does anything Apple do become evil? When is it you suppose people will figure out they don't like receiving? Must Apple start sacrificing virgins to pagan gods and donating directly to the Al Qaeda Slush Fund before people realise they're not the golden-haired child?
If this kind of behaviour is not tolerated from Microsoft, why do we accept it from Apple?
When your neighbour who has thrown rocks in all your windows, cut down your trees, slashed your tyres and poisoned your cat suddenly loses their father in a car accident then acts friendly and invites you to have dinner, what's your first move? To show support, willingness and perhaps just a little understanding?
We all have the opportunity here to be the Good Samaritan and to show we are better than this.
I don't know about you but I don't remember anything in the GPL about open source being available to everyone except Microsoft. They have as much right to be here as the next person and we don't persecute them because of it! If someone said to me "I've been a proprietary software developer for 20 years but I'm interested in looking at open source alterantives." I would say "Welcome, Brother!" and not "GTFO my lawn!"
Putting the obvious Microsoft fears aside, can we not give credit where credit is due?
Microsoft have taken a huge step into open source here and they deserve to be nurtured and supported by a willing community so that we can all make the most of it.
Apache/.NET interoperability would be a good thing but one can only assume this is one of their goals - nothing has even been confirmed yet! For all we know Microsoft could be genuinely turning over a new leaf Post-Gates and we should be so lucky to have such a major player join the ranks.
They at least deserve the benefit of the doubt right now, and if Microsoft's intentions are legitimate we should be welcoming them to make this agreement work out for all parties involved; don't you dare suggest "their past track record speaks otherwise." Are you from Microsoft? Are you in a position to know what they are trying to acheive? If not, you have one of two choices: Offer helpful contributions to the project in hopes that something goes the way you would like. Or STFU and enjoy the ride.
I can... see it now... people will... start seeing more... UFOs... because of... more... "flashes in... the sky" GODDAMMIT WILL SOMEONE STOP FLASHING THAT LIGHT IN MY EYES!
Slashdot Mirror
I'm still waiting for these evolutionary scientists to realise Spore is just a game and Flintstones was a damn cartoon.
Where's the value? Technically speaking, it's got the same hardware in it as a Windows laptop.
No no, he said "more expensive" hobbies. Not "worse."
I might play WoW myself but even I can admit that this is pretty bad when it comes to a "hobby."
He's not alone. I also love tanking. I levelled as Fury and went Prot at 70 after getting some decent tanking gear. My girlfriend is a resto Shaman so we find it incredibly easy to find groups!
There hasn't been a new nVidia driver for the 8x series in months and I had simply stopped checking. I recently had Windows Update recommend an update for nVidia drivers and I was pleasantly surprised since it had never worked in the past.
Perhaps Microsoft are finally getting it together for repositories and such. Who knows, we'll see...
We were talking about this very issue in guild chat the other day. $60 AUD for Vanilla + The Burning Crusade battlechest and another $60 for Wrath of the Lich King isn't very newb-friendly for someone wanting to try-before-buying.
That said, there's always the 10-day trial (and honestly, for someone new to the game this isn't much time to really soak up the full WoW-experience). And the thing about the expansions is that even if you don't purchase them to have access to the new races/continents, you still have the same patch version giving you access to the same items, the same Auction House, the same talents etc. So you could quite easily purchase just Vanilla WoW for $20 and play to 60 and if you want to continue to 70 or 80 then buy the expansions. You get to enjoy a major portion of the full game without forking out too much for it.
The only thing you'll really miss out on with Vanilla is the new professions, new races and new class (the new continents won't matter too much since you don't need them until 60 or 70 anyway)
Wait, what? World of Warcraft has always had pvp. We didn't have battlegrounds for the first 18 months but world pvp was always there. When you have such a huge game scope that WoW encompasses, it makes it harder to balance pve vs pvp - though not impossible. Blizzard have done a fine job so far but even I can concede they could still do better.
Arenas will always favour certain class combinations more than others. A well balanced group is a very powerful force and it's no different than balancing a group for a dungeon or raid. You don't take 3 priests to Mechanar do you? Why take them to Arena? (obviously that's an extreme example but you get my point)
Warhammer's been out, what, 4-5 weeks? WAR != WoW. If you want WAR features, go play WAR. If I wanted Public Quests then I'd be playing WAR too.
So you're telling us you've been a Horde Shaman since release and you feel like the red-haired child? I could complain until Duke Nukem Forever came out about Hunter pvp viability and raid dps, and I'm sure Mages could think of a few things to whine about.
The best questions are without bias. It's all subjective and bias only makes a question interesting to yourself and a few other players who might feel they've been screwed (other players may think Shaman are fine or could do with some abilities to be toned down a little, it's not all about you remember).
* user-changeable authentication and authorisation, so it won't be enough to have just a copy of the data printed on the CC sides to make a purchase on internet.
They already have this, at least we use it quite a bit in Australia. The Verified by Visa opt-in allows end-users to set an additional password to be used for online purchases. I know Skype uses it and some other popular vendors whose names elude me right now (I work in the Online Banking team for a bank, you'd think I'd know them). Visa also use a cardholder-selected question/phrase which appears on the purchase form so they know it's an official VbV password request.
I can imagine if they just called it "IMP" people would still attach some sort of prefix based on the operating system...
WIMP? (Windows)
LIMP? (Linux)
I'm not sure which one I'd rather be =\
I'm not going to debate the details of the particular plan (personally, I'd stay right the hell away from Optus). But you do bring up interesting points about traffic prioritisation. I would also like ISPs to start doing (or at least offer) this kind of QoS with all traffic. It's not an incredibly hard thing to do and it allows me to just set my torrents in the background and never have to worry about shaping their speeds to accommodate what else I'm doing at the time (browsing, gaming, whatever). On the other hand, there are various programs that will allow you to do this client-side without interaction by the ISP. Why should the ISPs be responsible for this extra cost when you can do it cheaper at home with your own CPU cycles. The ISP is simply providing you with a pipe and that's the way it should be.
I do disagree that ISPs should never ever shape traffic to the end-user without express consent. That's part of the premise of Net Neutrality. What the ISPs want to do is be able to shape traffic to certain sites/services based on a subscription model with the content provider. If a site doesn't pay fees to have priority then the speed to that site is shaped. No. Just no, guys. Bad ISP!
I'm sorry. That means nothing to me. I'm Australian, y'see =\
Admittedly yes, I don't think you should have to pay for a patent license. Government developed technologies should be made available to all their citizens for non-commercial use.
But who's to say what was developed by the government and not? Many private companies contribute to projects and many of those provide some of their own funding. It's hard to draw the line somewhere and I'm sure the companies themselves would want to either be reimbursed for their investment or be granted a free license for commercial use (if the agreement doesn't already allow this).
Dear Eric Smith,
Please find enclosed the 22 cents of your taxes that actually went towards developing these patents. We don't recommend cashing this cheque since the physical paper and postage is worth more than the written value.
Sincerely,
U.S. Government.
But the last part really annoys me - I have been an Apple customer from time to time and they annoy the absolute crap out of me. They deny problems, use proprietary software, aggressively attack anyone who attempts to open up their hardware platforms, and generally act in a self-righteous manner.
I have never been an Apple customer for this exact reason. iPhone? More like the iPhail. Why use such a device that requires you use Apple-controlled software and distribution methods for 3rd party software. Not to mention iTunes is bloated even on OSX let alone Windows.
* and yes, I do know what I'm talking about, I have done several Vista uninstalls which have dramatically improved stability and performance of new laptops
I'm sorry, this kind of destroyed the credibility you had developed during the rest of your post. You uninstalled Vista to which OS exactly? Ubuntu? XP? Of course that would improve stability and performance in laptops; older software running on new hardware.
It's not like you removed a buggy application that was causing the problem but left the underlying architecture (OS) intact. You removed the whole OS that wasn't designed for this generation of hardware (people said the same things about XP, why should this be any different?)
Personally, I held off using Vista until SP1. It's been rock solid since day one though it does have the occasional wireless glitch (I haven't isolated the issue yet so it may be my router or DNS). It ran very well with even modest hardware from 4yrs ago and I was pleasantly surprised at it's stability and performance. I'm now running it on an additional laptop without issue. My own father was able to configure and use a digital TV receiver via Media Center without calling me once, good luck with that on XP or Ubuntu... but he did call me to configure Windows Mail to receive his work email which is hardly a Vista fault.
divx is easily possible. I'm sure the WinXP systems would be able to run Media Center/WMP10 well enough (bluetooth remote anyone?) and there are various other media centers you could use for the Ubuntu version.
You're probably better off using a 3rd party media server since WMC will only play Microsoft's supported formats (go figure) and won't transcode foreign formats. Personally, I'm using TVersity on my desktop server with my Xbox 360 as the client. TVersity will transcode on the fly to whichever format your device supports and dynamically adjust bitrate for your particular network; works beautifully.
When it comes to HD media, I doubt any of the current UMPCs are capable of outputting it. For one, you'll need an appropriate HD output port and VGA just doesn't cut it these days. You could get hi-res H.264 encodes which would play fine through a media server (with the appropriate codecs, of course) and assuming you have the network bandwidth to stream it.
And the voice of reason speaks up. Nice one, mate. If I had mod points...
Use the standard fonts, that's why that list is exactly what it is.
This is exactly right. We don't have multiple competing standards for XHTML do we? Why should our fonts be any different?
The reason the selected fonts are there in the first place is, surprisingly, to keep a minimum standard we can rely on. What will opening up custom fonts allow for the designer that isn't already available? I shouldn't need to be forced to override a custom font I can't read just because the designer felt like being "special."
I'm all for adding new standard fonts but let them go through a strict approval process to ensure they meet legibilty requirements.
They did the same thing? Explain
I'm talking about the ability of the iPhone to "phone home." Do even know what kind of information is being sent? No one knows if it's just the names of installed applications (for security purposes? Yeah right.), or if it's an index of all content on the phone! Apple has the potential here to outrank Google with the means to snoop further into people's - supposedly - private lives.
What kind of information do you keep on your mobile? My SMSs tell just as much story about my life as my gmail account. My contact list contains not just someone's name and email address but also their home/work/mobile numbers/home address/DOB and are often linked to spouse/children contact as well.
There's a reason I don't share all that information with Google and I can easily keep that kind of data out of their hands. I'm sure as hell not happy that Apple can do it without my knowledge or consent.
If pirated iPhones were possible, they'd certainly be popular amongst the /. crowd, and if Apple designed a mechanism to disable/gimp pirated iPhones, they'd feel the wrath of hundreds of angry teenage /.ers too.
Look, there are enough asshats on /. to be up-in-arms about EVERYTHING. Maybe this group of people mostly doesn't have enough money to buy iPhones. Beats me, just a theory.
You've been around here long enough to know /. isn't Digg. We don't have half the number of angry teenagers they do. Perhaps you should give /. a little more credit when it's due.
Allow me to play Devil's Advocate here: /. crowd that was pissed off about Microsoft's WGA - it was slammed all over the internet. If you had created the world's most popular piece of software, wouldn't you want to take measures to stop people pirating it? Of course you would! Microsoft are hardly the worst offenders and WGA is really nothing more than a non-intrusive (save for a couple popups alerting you to the fact), non-debilitating patch that doesn't do anything except annoy you.
It wasn't just the
Apple's Phone Home "feature" actually has the ability to lock out an application that is only deemed "dangerous" by Apple. Who should make that call? The owner of the platform who doesn't know what it's used for, or the person who pays for it, uses it, and should have every consumer right to put whatever they want on their personal device! What's to stop Apple from "bricking" entire phone handsets just because they can and don't need to provide an explanation?
Now I hate to be the one to point this out and I'm probably going to take a massive karma hit... but only in true Apple fashion can they add this "feature" and get away with it.
Remember the Windows Genuine Advantage fiasco? Microsoft got slaughtered on this very site for it, yet you all sit back and take this from Apple? If Microsoft had released the iPhone instead, and you all suddenly found out there was a Phone Home function, don't you think someone would be up-in-arms about it?
At what point does anything Apple do become evil? When is it you suppose people will figure out they don't like receiving? Must Apple start sacrificing virgins to pagan gods and donating directly to the Al Qaeda Slush Fund before people realise they're not the golden-haired child?
If this kind of behaviour is not tolerated from Microsoft, why do we accept it from Apple?
Let me rephrase that for you:
When your neighbour who has thrown rocks in all your windows, cut down your trees, slashed your tyres and poisoned your cat suddenly loses their father in a car accident then acts friendly and invites you to have dinner, what's your first move?
To show support, willingness and perhaps just a little understanding?
We all have the opportunity here to be the Good Samaritan and to show we are better than this.
I don't know about you but I don't remember anything in the GPL about open source being available to everyone except Microsoft. They have as much right to be here as the next person and we don't persecute them because of it! If someone said to me "I've been a proprietary software developer for 20 years but I'm interested in looking at open source alterantives." I would say "Welcome, Brother!" and not "GTFO my lawn!"
Putting the obvious Microsoft fears aside, can we not give credit where credit is due?
Microsoft have taken a huge step into open source here and they deserve to be nurtured and supported by a willing community so that we can all make the most of it.
Apache/.NET interoperability would be a good thing but one can only assume this is one of their goals - nothing has even been confirmed yet! For all we know Microsoft could be genuinely turning over a new leaf Post-Gates and we should be so lucky to have such a major player join the ranks.
They at least deserve the benefit of the doubt right now, and if Microsoft's intentions are legitimate we should be welcoming them to make this agreement work out for all parties involved; don't you dare suggest "their past track record speaks otherwise." Are you from Microsoft? Are you in a position to know what they are trying to acheive? If not, you have one of two choices: Offer helpful contributions to the project in hopes that something goes the way you would like. Or STFU and enjoy the ride.
A little too playful if you ask me ;)
I can ... see it now ... people will ... start seeing more ... UFOs ... because of ... more ... "flashes in ... the sky" GODDAMMIT WILL SOMEONE STOP FLASHING THAT LIGHT IN MY EYES!
Stop stealing New Zealand jokes! It's the only thing us Aussies have on them y'know =(