Grey

Happy birthday, fool. I'm sure if Moth was kicking around, he'd offer you a one black hunan fire salute. Go easy on the booze.

Yes, internet arguments are very "serious" which is exactly why I'm quite finished now. Ad hominem attacks and I'm suddenly done.

Let's have some fun with quotes, shall we? I respond with this battery of quotes from my own post: Yes, I am such a bitter, cynical internet tough guy that I take every possible chance to mock Pixar. I actually did commend them for what they did, I just did not find it worthy of crying as the topic said that I would. I found that pledging to support whatever Pixar did next as fanatical, because I personally don't swear fealty to a business based on what they do or do not do. Only to suddenly find that my opinion is somehow wrong because I'm not busy noisily blowing my nose in a tissue, eyes bloodshot from a good cry. I gave my opinion and it appears as though it is unacceptable just because it is not as praise-laden. Out of curiosity, might it not be that what praise I did give it was hard-won and that I am just not the type of person to gush about such things? Or are you just going to label me as someone acting tough and cynical just so I can fit into a neat stereotype that does not clash with your view of the internet and the behavior trends therein? Just because we don't agree on this doesn't mean that I am wrong or that you are wrong, for that matter. It's called a difference of opinion and you should leave it at that.

I did not cry. I smiled to be sure, but that is a far way from sobbing about all these perceived virtues of Pixar. It's nice to hear that the little girl got her wish before being shuffled off this mortal coil of our's, though I fail to see what the big deal actually is. She was treated to a private screening and given some merchandise from the movie; how sweet. I am missing this life-affirming extension of human goodwill, aren't I? Pixar does something that is nice, granted, but I don't see why such fanaticism as this is warranted: It was a gesture of kindness: nothing more and nothing less. Commendable but certainly not tear-worthy.

No public criticism should be allowed without a possibility of recourse. It is in the debate forum because I believe that he should be allowed the chance to defend himself. Further, it is to show that this is not just for defamatory purposes. I also felt that the rather venomous nature of my critique should best be left for a forum where argument is encouraged. Unless the value of self-preservation in the face of the community is no longer important?

How is the world ever going to change with thinking like yours? Allow me to first explain my motivations before proceeding any further in this, as it is crucial to make my point. If your self-proclaimed belief on love is at all heart-felt, then I am now sure that you are the face of modern day hedonism. So you may call this an ad hominem attack, though, I would qualify that this is not so; as there is no logic to attack. Instead, I just see the dangerous type of ignorance that is not only embarrassing but also speaks of a deep-seated immaturity. Let us examine what has sparked my ire so lovingly, if you will excuse the irony… “So I believe in a universal love. By that I mean, my love for 1 thing is no different from my love from another thing.(ie: I love chili dogs and I love martial arts equally.)” This was where it all begins sadly, when I see another attempt to quantify all love as one and the same. However, this was not the gesture of naïveté that proved to be so inflammatory. No, that belongs to this adjoining statement: “So to me, in my honset opinion. If I love a woman, she is loved just as much as I would love chili dogs or martial arts or sports or my health. There is no movie romance type love in my life. My love for a woman would never be more or less than my love for chili dogs, or if I had a dog.” It is frightening that you have already equalized your potential love of another human being to that of a food. Oh, my apologies, or that of a dog. My heart goes out to anyone that considers you for romance, that’s for certain. Spoke the fool “equally” and so it is on the grounds of equality that my rhetoric arrives. When something is equal, it becomes so that it is now interchangeable. The word can be adequately be defined as “Uniform in operation or effect”. So a living, breathing human being is worth only as much as martial arts or sports? You can only ever love someone equivalent to this? This seems like a vast underestimation of life and further calls into question if you even know what love is. Addiction maybe…condescension perhaps, but love, no. “Lol, I wont love a woman more than a chili dog or anything else that I claim as a love. I feel an attachment to my friends so what is the difference? Because I can have sex with a significant other? lol, makes no sense to me.” There is nothing to be found in a compatriot human spirit that could make you love them more than a chili dog. I am starting to sense a pattern and it’s looking like it spells out hedonism. That is what this is essentially, when you cut to the quick of it: just the indulgence of pleasures. These pleasures are never greater than anything else so that it is just seen as a part of experience. What else could push someone to treat the immediately apparent facets of pleasure as one and the same, but the broken arrogance of the close-minded? “I see as. If I felt the need/wanting for a chili dog then I go get one. If I feel the need/wanting of sports then I will go play a sport or go watch it. So it goes the same for a woman. If I had a girlfriend and I felt like being with her, then I will go to her and hang out.” If you did not apparently detest all humans to being equal to food and sports, I’d fancy calling you a blithering sexist. Luckily, your derogatory treatment of your own race ensures the equality in this twisted landscape. That is nothing if not victory for the blind hate-mongering that is so neatly justified by this passive-aggressive approach to the worth of love. I really do question if you even remotely understand what the concept of need is, if you have so clearly demonstrated a lack of what love actually is. By this own quote, you are attributing that you only value something when you desire of it, which is most assuredly an excellent way for building relationships. “Thats what I mean. There is no varying levels of love for me. Everything is loved equally. I wont love a woman more than a friend and vice versa. Universal Love, as I call it. Just trying to give a better explaination, not trying to attack you or anything.” How could there be varying levels of love when you don’t even understand what it is? You are not spreading loving equally: you are denigrating equally and assuming that your great capacity is (mistakenly) for affection! You go on to say that you will not love a woman more than a friend, are you implying that you cannot have female friends? This ambiguity is disturbing if nothing else, when you use a gender specifically for grounds on which to base your flawed viewpoint. “Is that bullshyte or what? Pretty much my stance on love is neutral. Its not optimistic and its not pessimistic. I pretty much feel that what I call "love" will be on equal ground with everything else I "love". Regardless if its a girlfriend... or a regular friend. Its just that all my "loves" will be on equal ground. What I call universal love.” You can neatly slap ‘universal love’ on as the headline for your perspective on love every time and it will still not fool anyone. This is not neutrality, this is an overall disdain for that which does not please you at a given moment. Do not presume to mock what many hold so dear and as the magum opus of the very fact of existence, no less. The love you describe is the very void of what you set out to speak of: there is no love that is not better named ‘want’ in this wretched system. This is a public criticism of your shameful exposition on, arguably, what love is not. You have gone above and beyond the indecisive that are caught between the cold fingers of cynicism or the bright zeal of faith. No, this is the eschewing of all logic or empiricism in favor of something that not only denies love, but goes on to deny it even the chance of goodness. Along the way you have again brutally slaughtered language, logic, and taken all efficient rationale as prisoner. The likes of which is contemptible to anyone who avails to any method of reasoned thought. I can only hope that you have stumbled on your point, meaning one thing and saying the other. Else, I can only hope that time does what little there is to change this affront on what it is to be truly human.

Love is the deity that cynics don't believe in.

Not to go all necromancer on this thread or anything, but I just picked up this game a few days ago. So, if anyone wants to hit me up for a match or two, my steam ID is Zionward. (Yes, I'm still learning how to play the infected, steep learning curve compared to the survivors.)

I know this was moved into the spam forum, but could we focus more on brainstorming? I don't think the best solution to increasing village activity is to simply eliminate villages altogether. Believe me, the same proposal has been made numerous times and it always gets voted down because the argument just doesn't work. By the same token, why not just come up with ways to get more people playing instead of artificially forcing people into a handful of the more popular villages? I struggle to think of a situation where eliminating an entire village would be the best solution, but then, I've had a long day. I was recently pondering the issue of the level gap and it occurred to me that there are ways to reduce it, but not to any appreciable extent. One means to make the gap smaller would be to place a larger emphasis on each level, that is to say, increase the stat/skill/technique point gain but also increase the amount of experience needed for each level. Essentially making it more difficult to level but more rewarding for succeeding at doing so. Scaling back the current levels of the more hardcore characters but keeping their stats at the same volume would reduce level inflation. Sadly, it would have little effect outside of an aesthetic change to make the gap appear smaller. Though, it might also help adjust the rate of leveling to a more steady curve, as it were. Now that I've said my piece, I'd also like to say this. People who find the guide for idiots to be condescending probably need to take a lesson on satire. It was not meant to be taken seriously; it was a joke! But the joke was on me, seeing how much irony it generated in the end. Ah, the good ol' days...

I propose a change to the current mechanics of fighting styles as a means to spruce up the rather bland existence of Taijutsu. Remove the current fighting styles that are skills and create a small subset of about four to five new styles. Each style would be picked through whatever venue is most convenient; this is outside the scope of this proposal. The focus is on the fighting styles being their own category and coming at no cost to the character. For the first few weeks of the updated form, I would imagine that characters would only be allowed to have one single fighting style. There are several possibilities for expanding this, such as offering a system that manipulates cost based on the relative mastery of the style. However, this is most likely not to become a factor until there has been some testing involved. Under this framework, fighting styles would no longer offer any modifier changing of any sort. Instead of providing a statistical gain, it would instead be an enabler in terms of skills and techniques. As I see it, Taijutsu is largely limited by its logical application: one cannot attach many status effects or free radical effects (or so I call them). It is also the matter of range and other complications that make it ultimately less beneficial than using the old, "Chakra can do anything!” argument for techniques. That is my personal belief as to why Ninjutsu is the most popular form of technique. To help add more depth to Taijutsu, I suggest that fighting styles be treated largely similar as elements. Under this, a given attack from a given style may be more or less effective against a second style. This can be somewhat cascaded down into my second, smaller proposition for ‘stances,' but I'll get to that a bit later. My argument is that fighting styles be principal forms of Taijutsu that all work under different mechanics. Just as a brief and perhaps too familiar example, I'll use a placeholder to demonstrate. Let us assume for the moment that there is a Lotus fighting style. A fighting style would add a tertiary mechanic to the combat system that only applies to each individual style. For the Lotus style, let's just say that it works off Lotus charges. When creating a technique for the Lotus style, there would be the option to have it add a Lotus charge to the character using it. This would come with an additional price, obviously, for the sake of creation. Certain moves with the Lotus-tag would either build or deplete these charges for different effects. Let's say for now that a Lotus practitioner can build, at max, about ten charges on themselves before any additional charges become redundant. A second form of technique would use any variable amount of the charges as an additional price. You could alternate between techniques that require a static amount or perhaps techniques that become stronger when using more charges. As an additional modifier, you could change it so that any technique that does not use a static set of charges consumes all of them: i.e., you cannot decide how many to use. I shall now stress that this is only an example of a style and is only to provide insight into the creation of them. I obviously used a fairly familiar mechanic and only tweaked it slightly to give it a different effect. But any mechanic for a fighting style should always be used to add more depth to what is otherwise a relatively bland mode of resource use. In addition, I would propose that there be the introduction of stances to system. Every stance would belong to a single fighting style and would further moderate the use of techniques from that style. Perhaps one wants to make sure only certain techniques can be used while in a certain stance. In addition, this would be the way to offer a shifting of statistical modifiers to better customize to a given character. Use the old system of fighting styles as stances, essentially: offering bonuses and penalties. This would also serve as a means to insure no style is better than another; switching stances could change whose style has the advantage over the other. Naturally, there would have to be a cost associated with changing stances that would appropriate to the versatility involved. Perhaps consuming the setup phase and not being as effective for the first phase you spend in a different stance. For those who are really technique-savvy, it would be interesting to create Taijutsu techniques that change your stance when you use them. All of this is just a proposal to liven up what it is a dreary existence; most Taijutsu users seem to be weapon users if my memory serves. I think it would be a wonderful means to both reign in and standardize Taijutsu to a certain extent. It would shift the idea of Taijutsu away from damage and more to the possible versatility of it, when used correctly. It could potentially add a new layer of strategy to combat without requiring a great deal of new rule text. That's all for now.

While I think it is a positive sign that staff is moving away from the current worldwide plot that has so fantastically dragged on, I believe alterations to the site’s methods will do little to attract newcomers. I find it interesting that any character’s beginning is the paradox of N.A.: it is simultaneously the most important and most forgettable part of the site. In theory, it should be a splendid thing focusing around the squads that were used in the manga. Unfortunately mimicking that requires not only very active, capable roleplayers to assume the role of the leader, but also that there are enough available players. Consider for a moment that a squad consists of four people: the leader and the three starting characters. Coordinating a relatively well-paced roleplay requires a decent synchronizing of details like time zones, roleplaying styles, player activity, and the dedication of each member. That is not to say a squad cannot survive without all of those being aligned perfectly, but it makes it much easier when everyone is on the same page. What I believe it comes down to, is that many aspects of the site need to be re-evaluated again. Staff should identify the given strengths and shortcomings of some of the more important systems and come up with ways to improve them. This is not a call for a total appraisal of the site as a whole, as I don’t think that is warranted by any means. But it could be rather beneficial to examine the problems areas and come up with solutions. Another example being the clouded perception of stat and non-stat based roleplaying that has become so pervasive. The level gap, as many have noted, has gotten to the point where it has made stat-based battles useless to many low(er) level characters. I imagine that the high level characters who dominate the stat-based roleplay are so statistically superior as to make any attempt to fight them worthless. The situation works out to no one’s advantage: it leaves the fresh, enthusiastic new members to play in the shadow of the higher level characters. Meanwhile, the high level characters have no one to really fight outside NPC’s and each other. Such deities largely squander time coming up with ways to counter each other via specific skills and techniques, I would imagine. Is it any wonder, then, that the remaining members that actually roleplay are either chronic character-creators, the hardcore, or those who merrily skip through the meadow of non-stat based roleplaying? I do believe this is a good step forward, seeing staff being able to call upon the members to help come up with solutions. If we can find the problem areas and address them, we can make the site more attractive to newcomers and help keep the roleplaying here. I’ll be interested to see who actually has the attention span to read this post…

While I be none too keen on dem movin' pictures, I shur can recom'ind a few books. Neuromancer by William Gibson: A nigh legendary cyberpunk novel that basically started the whole genre and won many of the most sought after awards of its time. It's a fairly heavy read that is going to require a lot of patience and the ability to connect clues on nothing but context. It's also definitely not the sort of novel that I'd choose for casual reading, either. The story deals with a number of abstract concepts from philosophy, technology, and psychology, so if you are well-read it should be no problem. A great example being that the idea of consciousness is often discussed in relation to virtual reality. Be warned that there is a heavy emphasis on drugs and sex, with a light amount of gore. This is not a children's book in any sense of the word. One last thing, this is not like anything else you have ever read. Enjoy the ride. The Diamond Throne by David Eddings: This novel is the beginning to the trilogy known as the Elenium and has not won any awards as far as I am aware. It is, however, one of the few fantasy series that has made me actually respect the main character. The author did a stint studying the tactics used in medieval times, so the combat is based more around utilizing what is available and pressing advantages over the usual 'the main character is incredibly gifted for no reason' school of thinking. There is a fair amount of political intrigue in here, however, so if that isn't your forte, then steer clear. If you can swallow it or actually enjoy it, then the intrigue is pretty well done and the plot twists are decent. For those who are uncomfortable reading about magic, you'll be glad to know it is very subdued here. Magic always takes a backseat to battle tactics and is more often than not used for subterfuge, not combat. Heavy gore in this one, so be careful if you have a weak stomach for that sort of thing. I may or may not edit a few more novels in at a later point.

I don't think Retribution is doomed to mana issues and RNG-based DPS, although I can see why you would make that deduction. Before anything else, step back and think about the nature of the Seal of Blood/Martyr. Pre-3.1 it is a relatively nice mana engine so long as you have healers up and about. The synergy between Spiritual Attunement and Seal of Blood/Martyr is undeniable, I admit. Look no further than the Glyph of Seal of Blood to confirm that this was intended: Glyph of Seal of Blood (Pre-3.1): Your Seal of Blood or Seal of the Martyr increases the mana received from Spiritual Attunement by 10% while active. Now, obviously this glyph would become useless after 3.1 if not changed, so Blizzard re-tooled it to keep it a relevant choice for retadins. The new version is slated to read as such: Glyph of Seal of Blood (Post-3.1): When your Seal of Blood, Seal of the Martyr, Judgement of Blood, or Judgement of the Martyr deals damage to you, you gain 11% of the damage done as mana. This is obviously meant to ease the loss of Spiritual Attunement, though it has made many persons question whether the backlash portion is still needed or not. After all, if the backlash was a creative means to generate mana from Spiritual Attunement by way of heals from healers and Art of War/Divine Storm heals, why is it still there? The seal now feels a lot less creative but will still get the job done and I imagine that it is going to remain dominant over the Seal of Command, as is par for the course. I would not expect to see haste and armor penetration replaced anytime soon on melee DPS gear thanks to another rather innocuous change in the patch notes. Haste Rating: shamans, paladins, druids, and death knights now receive 30% more melee haste from Haste Rating. Armor Penetration Rating: All classes now receive 25% more benefit from Armor Penetration Rating. So while I'm sure straight Strength would be appreciated, it won't be as bad when the inevitable truckloads of haste and armor pen remain on most melee sets. As for the fact that retadins are going to be somewhat crippled by the loss of the the tier seven bonus, I think Blizzard actually made a push to make sure that does not happen. I wouldn't be too impressed with this statement, as it seems the rather unintentional side effect of what was almost assuredly a PVP change. Seal of Blood/Seal of the Martyr: The damage done by these two seals has been increased but the damage done by their judgements decreased. The balance is now roughly 60% from either seal and 40% from a judgement on total damage done. The total damage done should be roughly the same. Won't remove the pain of losing that set bonus, but it makes it significantly less painful and also evens out the backlash of the seal to be more steady. This naturally further improves the effect of haste on the seal and will most likely ensure the dominance over Seal of Command. I would, however, agree that there is a very good chance that Seal of Command could become better were retadin tier gear itemized with more strength in mind. Only for so long as mana was available, which might be suspect... But I would not worry about the days of blowing your potion CD on Potion of Speed (500 Haste for 15 seconds) going away just yet. Blizzard has already announced the following change to further deal with the removal of Spiritual Attunement for retadins. Judgement of the Wise: The immediate return of base mana from this spell has been increased to 25%, up from 15%. Will Retribution DPS be the fairy tale world that it was pre-3.1? I doubt it and would expect that complaints still flock in record number. There is also little to indicate the retadin DPS will see a significant increase to match the big boy's DPS, though a few talent changes should help that. If you think retadins feel bad about dropping their tier bonus, may I remind you of what feral druids faced for our tier four bonus for cat DPS? We had to carry at least two pieces of tier four even in Sunwell; the bonus was that necessary of an upgrade for us. Lower cooldown judgments are nice but not necessary and thank God for that.

Looks like someone didn't do their homework on a few of the paladin mechanics for the Holy spec. You see, Holy Shock has been buffed considerably since TBC and has been made to be far better than that version ever was. We're talking more healing, lower mana cost, and even a reduction in cooldown to make it a spell that better defined Holy. Though it is still best left for emergencies or when regular casting would be impossible, the set bonus allows it to fill another niche. At the moment, Holy paladins still lack a healing-over-time effect which is a sore spot, I'm sure. If nothing else, it at least adds a bit of extra healing to a typical Holy Shock crit and at best, adds some needed utility for the spell. I imagine two piece tier 8 will be an attractive choice for PVP, depending on how high holy paladins can keep their crit and maintain a decent level of resilience. As for the four piece bonus, you need to just relax and take a moment to think. Sacred Shield has always had a spellpower coefficient and was recently nerfed (or slated to be nerfed) for the reason that it was actually scaling too well. So it does not amount to a paltry sixty extra absorption, but actually much more if you have any kind of spellpower beneath the hood. If I had to take a stab at it, I would imagine that it would work out to be at least 140 extra absorption and that's not bad for a spell that has no cooldown. You figure, it originally had about a 75% coefficient from spellpower and hence, you'd be gaining about 1,500 absorption from 2,000 spellpower or so. It's not quite the pie-in-the-sky sort of set bonus that some classes got, but it adds that much more utility to Sacred Shield. Which is more than you can say of some tier eight bonuses...like those poor, poor death knights. I won't comment on Protection, as I am unfamiliar with most protadin mechanics. But I will ask what you mean about Retribution pallies being RNG-based DPS? Last I checked, Seal of Command was the only real source of RNG and it has been obsoleted by the introduction of the Seal of Blood/Martyr. But then, perhaps I am missing something...? (Exorcism is still intended to affect all targets, except it auto-crits on undead and demon targets as per patch 3.1)

Warning: Flimsy rationalization of stereotypes in progress. Contemplate at own risk.