The death knights are starting at level 55, but from my understanding of the beta testers, is that by the time you finish the starting area, you're basically in gear way overpowered for that level, and it's being handed to you. Great incentive to keep all those other classes... (/sarcasm)
Hence the reason for my first comment. Intelligence isn't everything, and even normal people can give comments that provide for that "open-mindedness". A normal person won't think like me, thereby providing me with a different insight or perspective into world events. It's not all about the brains, but if someone has those brains, it doesn't always mean that the conversations are better.
Most normal people aren't dull, but if you get enough drinks into anyone, that is always fun. Alcohol consumption immediately nullifies intellect, and puts everyone on the same level.
Besides, you're bound to meet idiots no matter where you go. And you're also going to meet people that are truly elitist. May as well enjoy a few drinks, have some good laughs, and go home happy, if not slightly intoxicated.
Honestly, I love playing WoW. Is it a time sink? Yes. Do I mind spending a couple of hours a night grinding dailies and running instances for gear drops? Not at all. I'm not exactly a social person, and finding a group that actually has a goal makes the game much more fun. I don't mind grinding levels because that's part of the fun for me. If players don't want to grind levels or farm gold, then they need to find a different game. Those activities are built into the game to help accomplish goals.
IMO, those people that "don't want to sit one spot and farm" ruin the game for the rest of us. Damn impatient "instant gratification" idiots who don't understand that if you want something, you have to work for it. Yes, I have gear that I bought. I saved gold to buy gear, and I run instance to get other gear. And when I do get those gear drops, I get that accomplishment, I can look back and say, "Hey, look at what I did." Banning bots enhances my gaming experience. I'm glad that Blizz is actively trying to remove them. When it comes to this lawsuit, I think that they've approached the problem incorrectly. In this case, the end doesn't justify the means. The end result is what I want, but the means by a lawsuit for that result is wrong.
I'll bite on the prot warriors, they could use some help for grinding. But if any of that help means more PvP buffs, I'm putting my lock into retirement for a Death Knight, maybe then I'll get some happiness in killing everyone.
Re:How can a culture that celebrates ignorance
on
How Do You Fix Education?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
And me without mod points... I don't think it's ignorance necessarily, but I would say that we are a culture that celebrates mediocrity than anything else. Too much coddling, not enough discipline. Those who have the ability to excel are left behind for those that can't keep up, and those that can't keep up aren't given enough of an incentive to go further.
So what happens when you don't wear glasses? I have great vision, and there's a good chance that I'll mess up said vision by wearing glasses that allow me to comment on EVERYTHING. Sorry, I'm also not going to wear sunglasses at night, I'm just not that cool.
While this may be generally true, not in my neck of the woods. I live in a small town in California, Verizon is the telco, and they don't offer DSL services, but Comcast is available. Now, that may have changed in the year since I moved here, but last time I checked, no DSL, Comcast cable only. Needless to say, trying to complete a fresh WinXP install and get patches for Warcraft takes me a day or so to complete.
Losing emails normal for a business? That's stretching a bit, but I can see that. Losing emails as normal for a government? Not at all. There are regulations in place for a reason: in case someone in the White House does something illegal, it can be traced, and that person can be accountable for their actions. As it is, I work for an ISP, and we have a county government that's getting ready to migrate to a colocation server for the purpose of following state regulations for proper back up and archiving of email.
While this screams of tin foil hat conspiracies, you can call it what you want. Gross negligence would be a start. Considering all the bullshit that the current administration has given us, it wouldn't surprise me that this is just another step up the ladder for them.
Agreed on the WoW point. I can run WoW under WINE just fine. Some of the configs will be a bit menacing if you've never used Ubuntu before, but I have gotten through those configs. My frame rate wasn't quite what I wanted, but that's a user error, not a system error. Additionally, the Ubuntu forums have quite a bit of info on getting Warcraft to work under WINE.
When Java is the first thing you learn, you learn sloppy IMHO. You just assume there is a garbage collector. You can allocate whatever you want, whenever you want, and not have to think about scope. If you ever do have to do some system work later on in your career - all of these notions will be new. You'll have to think about pointers, and the size of an object in memory, and how long you should hold on to it before you free up that memory. You'll suffer serious setbacks when it's time to program down to the wire. I totally disagree with this opinion. And the reason is that a bad instructor teaching Java will not teach pointer, proper allocation, and proper garbage collection. A solid instructor that knows low level programming will know how pointers and allocations work, and will relay that information to students. The college I attended forced me to learn basic pointers and algorithms via psuedo-code, at which point it made learning Java right afterwards much easier. But what truly helped was having the same instructor teach basic programming knowledge, basic Java, and then advanced Java.
Totally agreed on the unlimited plan. The only problem is that I live in California, which means either Comcast for my cable internet, or AT&T for DSL lines. And I play MMOs that require BitTorrent connections. I think I need to start looking harder for a new ISP...
Fully agreed with that one. I do my best to be a good human being, but in the virtual world, I want to be the meanest person possible. After all those years of tech support, I figure that doing some player killing is my attempt to balance the world.
You have a number of points that I agree with, such as artists not shooting their mouths off, and boycotting major label artists. However, a point that I disagree with is the "pathetic fanboy lemmings". The simple fact is that I listen to a number of "underground" metal bands, and to see them become major label artists is fantastic. I will continue to buy their music, because in the end, that's what I enjoy. But that won't stop me from ripping said CDs to my computer and listening to them wherever, whenever I damn well please.
I agree that it's not in Iran's best interest to use nuclear weapons against world powers, including the US. However, that doesn't mean that terrorists wouldn't. Let's look at the facts, a group of guys took over 2 commercial airliners in order to crash them into buildings. They obviously committed suicide in the process, and they were cheered by militant Islamic fundamentalists. My concern is simple: if terrorists have the money to purchase a nuclear weapon, why wouldn't Iran sell to them? It's money in their pockets, an indirect strike against the US, and complete ability to deny that they had any involvement whatsoever. We can't pin any of the new IEDs flowing into Iraq on them, what makes any of us think that we could do the same with a nuclear bomb?
While the system may still be broken, it doesn't matter. The Linux community (myself included) has wanted better open source drivers for video cards, and AMD is finally making good on it. I may not be able to play bleeding edge games on my Linux system, but the software is getting there, and that's the important part.
Ahh yes, customer service, the ban of geeks everywhere. If you think that's bad, try AOHell tech support for 2 years. I was in the Arizona office before it closed (and before AOL switched to "adware-based"). We all make jokes about AOLers, but that's not even the worst of it. When someone asks what a M-O-D-E-M is, you have to seriously ask yourself what you're still doing there...
Normally, I'm the one getting flamed, instead of flaming, but I really feel some bile coming up and after that post, I'm going to spew it at you. For those of us who are programmers, a hacker was a status symbol, the sysadmin that could throw together some code and make that new system their IT manager bought actually work right. While the English language will always allow for evolution, there are some things that have been misconstrued, such as "hacking". I may not be the 60s-70s era programmer, but my instructors in college were. They also found their word so utterly changed by the media to be insulting. I'm not going to change my vocabulary for the mass population because some other asshole decided the definition needed to be sensationalized. So do me a favor, get off your high horse, get out of the basement, and get a life. I want to be defined as a hacker, because I'm a coder, and for me, that's a worthy goal.
Currently using Comcast (bleh) and playing WoW... The downloads have a tendency to vary, at least for my crappy connection. When the PowerBoost kicks in, the d/l jumps to over 1000kbps. Since the Boost dies, afterwards I'll be lucky to average 100kbps. Now, I have a number of power lines running close to the my house, and I'm going to have to call them soon anyways as the LAN port on the (rented) modem seems to be dying off occasionally. I'll be in the middle of an instance, and the connection just drops, no activity at all. Needless to say, the power lines don't help the connection, but I'm pretty sure the connection isn't great to begin with.
This is already being done. I'm not sure what company is doing it. I work for a small ISP that does web hosting, and some people use off-site email hosting that does that procedure already. As the other replies mention, it's not a wise idea as it's pretty easy to verify that the address does work, even though no spam gets through.
Mod parent up! Ever since the inception of the current administration, I've been very leary of any new tech related legislation. However, I'm in total agreement with this. As many others have noted, about time!!
I agree that Congress should have oversight powers on the (illegal) domestic surveillance program. IANAL, but my guess would be that our Republican Congress gave all necessary power to the Bush administration to give them the ability to act quickly if given appropriate intelligence into terrorist acts against the US. As the change of guard happened, the Democratic Congress has been fighting damn near tooth and nail to figure out how far Bush et al has gone. They've already gotten the AG to resign, but it's still an uphill fight for them. After all, we don't want our own Congress to have access to national security secrets (/sarcasm).
AFAIK, Congress may not be able to legally legislate oversight into this program as doing so would violate national security, which is what the ISPs are saying. On top of which, if Congress just decided to write themselves into an oversight role, it would have to pass both the House and Senate for approval, and then get through Bush for final approval, which is extremely unlikely. Not to mention getting enough votes in House and Senate to override a veto.
From the sounds of the article, Rasa feels that grinding is dominating MMO gameplay and that it's time to innovate. Having never played UO, but spending plenty of time in EQ and Warcraft, I can't say that all MMOs are dependent on grinding. I can understand a want to innovate and create a something completely new for MMOs, but in order for characters to advance, they need to be given waypoints to show completion. I agree that grinding doesn't have to be the only way, it's just the easiest way, and easily understandable to any MMO gamer out there.
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The death knights are starting at level 55, but from my understanding of the beta testers, is that by the time you finish the starting area, you're basically in gear way overpowered for that level, and it's being handed to you. Great incentive to keep all those other classes... (/sarcasm)
Hence the reason for my first comment. Intelligence isn't everything, and even normal people can give comments that provide for that "open-mindedness". A normal person won't think like me, thereby providing me with a different insight or perspective into world events. It's not all about the brains, but if someone has those brains, it doesn't always mean that the conversations are better.
Most normal people aren't dull, but if you get enough drinks into anyone, that is always fun. Alcohol consumption immediately nullifies intellect, and puts everyone on the same level.
Besides, you're bound to meet idiots no matter where you go. And you're also going to meet people that are truly elitist. May as well enjoy a few drinks, have some good laughs, and go home happy, if not slightly intoxicated.
Bruce Willis can't be in the second one, he died in a nuclear blast in the first one! Besides, you'll upset Liv Tyler you insensitive clod!
Honestly, I love playing WoW. Is it a time sink? Yes. Do I mind spending a couple of hours a night grinding dailies and running instances for gear drops? Not at all. I'm not exactly a social person, and finding a group that actually has a goal makes the game much more fun. I don't mind grinding levels because that's part of the fun for me. If players don't want to grind levels or farm gold, then they need to find a different game. Those activities are built into the game to help accomplish goals.
IMO, those people that "don't want to sit one spot and farm" ruin the game for the rest of us. Damn impatient "instant gratification" idiots who don't understand that if you want something, you have to work for it. Yes, I have gear that I bought. I saved gold to buy gear, and I run instance to get other gear. And when I do get those gear drops, I get that accomplishment, I can look back and say, "Hey, look at what I did." Banning bots enhances my gaming experience. I'm glad that Blizz is actively trying to remove them. When it comes to this lawsuit, I think that they've approached the problem incorrectly. In this case, the end doesn't justify the means. The end result is what I want, but the means by a lawsuit for that result is wrong.
I'll bite on the prot warriors, they could use some help for grinding. But if any of that help means more PvP buffs, I'm putting my lock into retirement for a Death Knight, maybe then I'll get some happiness in killing everyone.
And me without mod points... I don't think it's ignorance necessarily, but I would say that we are a culture that celebrates mediocrity than anything else. Too much coddling, not enough discipline. Those who have the ability to excel are left behind for those that can't keep up, and those that can't keep up aren't given enough of an incentive to go further.
So what happens when you don't wear glasses? I have great vision, and there's a good chance that I'll mess up said vision by wearing glasses that allow me to comment on EVERYTHING. Sorry, I'm also not going to wear sunglasses at night, I'm just not that cool.
While this may be generally true, not in my neck of the woods. I live in a small town in California, Verizon is the telco, and they don't offer DSL services, but Comcast is available. Now, that may have changed in the year since I moved here, but last time I checked, no DSL, Comcast cable only. Needless to say, trying to complete a fresh WinXP install and get patches for Warcraft takes me a day or so to complete.
Losing emails normal for a business? That's stretching a bit, but I can see that. Losing emails as normal for a government? Not at all. There are regulations in place for a reason: in case someone in the White House does something illegal, it can be traced, and that person can be accountable for their actions. As it is, I work for an ISP, and we have a county government that's getting ready to migrate to a colocation server for the purpose of following state regulations for proper back up and archiving of email.
While this screams of tin foil hat conspiracies, you can call it what you want. Gross negligence would be a start. Considering all the bullshit that the current administration has given us, it wouldn't surprise me that this is just another step up the ladder for them.
Agreed on the WoW point. I can run WoW under WINE just fine. Some of the configs will be a bit menacing if you've never used Ubuntu before, but I have gotten through those configs. My frame rate wasn't quite what I wanted, but that's a user error, not a system error. Additionally, the Ubuntu forums have quite a bit of info on getting Warcraft to work under WINE.
Totally agreed on the unlimited plan. The only problem is that I live in California, which means either Comcast for my cable internet, or AT&T for DSL lines. And I play MMOs that require BitTorrent connections. I think I need to start looking harder for a new ISP...
Hey now, I'm not fat or bearded, but I think my girlfriend would agree with slob. Unfortunately, I'm not level 70 yet, just a measly 47.
Fully agreed with that one. I do my best to be a good human being, but in the virtual world, I want to be the meanest person possible. After all those years of tech support, I figure that doing some player killing is my attempt to balance the world.
You have a number of points that I agree with, such as artists not shooting their mouths off, and boycotting major label artists. However, a point that I disagree with is the "pathetic fanboy lemmings". The simple fact is that I listen to a number of "underground" metal bands, and to see them become major label artists is fantastic. I will continue to buy their music, because in the end, that's what I enjoy. But that won't stop me from ripping said CDs to my computer and listening to them wherever, whenever I damn well please.
I agree that it's not in Iran's best interest to use nuclear weapons against world powers, including the US. However, that doesn't mean that terrorists wouldn't. Let's look at the facts, a group of guys took over 2 commercial airliners in order to crash them into buildings. They obviously committed suicide in the process, and they were cheered by militant Islamic fundamentalists. My concern is simple: if terrorists have the money to purchase a nuclear weapon, why wouldn't Iran sell to them? It's money in their pockets, an indirect strike against the US, and complete ability to deny that they had any involvement whatsoever. We can't pin any of the new IEDs flowing into Iraq on them, what makes any of us think that we could do the same with a nuclear bomb?
While the system may still be broken, it doesn't matter. The Linux community (myself included) has wanted better open source drivers for video cards, and AMD is finally making good on it. I may not be able to play bleeding edge games on my Linux system, but the software is getting there, and that's the important part.
Ahh yes, customer service, the ban of geeks everywhere. If you think that's bad, try AOHell tech support for 2 years. I was in the Arizona office before it closed (and before AOL switched to "adware-based"). We all make jokes about AOLers, but that's not even the worst of it. When someone asks what a M-O-D-E-M is, you have to seriously ask yourself what you're still doing there...
Normally, I'm the one getting flamed, instead of flaming, but I really feel some bile coming up and after that post, I'm going to spew it at you. For those of us who are programmers, a hacker was a status symbol, the sysadmin that could throw together some code and make that new system their IT manager bought actually work right. While the English language will always allow for evolution, there are some things that have been misconstrued, such as "hacking". I may not be the 60s-70s era programmer, but my instructors in college were. They also found their word so utterly changed by the media to be insulting. I'm not going to change my vocabulary for the mass population because some other asshole decided the definition needed to be sensationalized. So do me a favor, get off your high horse, get out of the basement, and get a life. I want to be defined as a hacker, because I'm a coder, and for me, that's a worthy goal.
Currently using Comcast (bleh) and playing WoW... The downloads have a tendency to vary, at least for my crappy connection. When the PowerBoost kicks in, the d/l jumps to over 1000kbps. Since the Boost dies, afterwards I'll be lucky to average 100kbps. Now, I have a number of power lines running close to the my house, and I'm going to have to call them soon anyways as the LAN port on the (rented) modem seems to be dying off occasionally. I'll be in the middle of an instance, and the connection just drops, no activity at all. Needless to say, the power lines don't help the connection, but I'm pretty sure the connection isn't great to begin with.
This is already being done. I'm not sure what company is doing it. I work for a small ISP that does web hosting, and some people use off-site email hosting that does that procedure already. As the other replies mention, it's not a wise idea as it's pretty easy to verify that the address does work, even though no spam gets through.
Mod parent up! Ever since the inception of the current administration, I've been very leary of any new tech related legislation. However, I'm in total agreement with this. As many others have noted, about time!!
I agree that Congress should have oversight powers on the (illegal) domestic surveillance program. IANAL, but my guess would be that our Republican Congress gave all necessary power to the Bush administration to give them the ability to act quickly if given appropriate intelligence into terrorist acts against the US. As the change of guard happened, the Democratic Congress has been fighting damn near tooth and nail to figure out how far Bush et al has gone. They've already gotten the AG to resign, but it's still an uphill fight for them. After all, we don't want our own Congress to have access to national security secrets (/sarcasm).
AFAIK, Congress may not be able to legally legislate oversight into this program as doing so would violate national security, which is what the ISPs are saying. On top of which, if Congress just decided to write themselves into an oversight role, it would have to pass both the House and Senate for approval, and then get through Bush for final approval, which is extremely unlikely. Not to mention getting enough votes in House and Senate to override a veto.
From the sounds of the article, Rasa feels that grinding is dominating MMO gameplay and that it's time to innovate. Having never played UO, but spending plenty of time in EQ and Warcraft, I can't say that all MMOs are dependent on grinding. I can understand a want to innovate and create a something completely new for MMOs, but in order for characters to advance, they need to be given waypoints to show completion. I agree that grinding doesn't have to be the only way, it's just the easiest way, and easily understandable to any MMO gamer out there.