[Spoiler]

Gratch,

The final potential team member is not who you think it is. We're talking the one second from the left on the lineup, correct?

Spoiler for Hiden:

You'll run into them on a particular mission without prior warning.

If you get any fish for your fish tank, make sure you go back and feed them. I didn't. 

Now I worry my space hamster needs to be fed as well, but I don't see any option.

2) a mission where the environment impacts my shields - like I want to add that gimmick to the fights. 

I just started that mission last night.  Not really looking forward to it, since I already suck enough as is.  I am, however, very much looking forward to who I recruit at the end.   

It's actually not too bad. There is plenty of cover in the shade so you aren't losing shields. And yeah, I was very happy to get them on my team.

Wait, 'them'?  Thought it was just a 'she'.  Interesting

Okay then, "she". I was using a gender-neutral term in case it was considered a spoiler. Perhaps not the best choice as it implies more than one.

Make sure you do her loyalty mission as well if you care at all about her character.

2) a mission where the environment impacts my shields - like I want to add that gimmick to the fights. 

I just started that mission last night.  Not really looking forward to it, since I already suck enough as is.  I am, however, very much looking forward to who I recruit at the end.   

It's actually not too bad. There is plenty of cover in the shade so you aren't losing shields. And yeah, I was very happy to get them on my team.

I hope some time after I finish the game there's more DLC like Zaeed, content like that would make a replay feel fresh.

I read there is a 12th team member coming with DLC. I forget the name right now, but I actually heard a news report on Illium mentioning them as a notorious "thief".

Can someone spoil the location for the fast scanning upgrade? Wherever it is, that's where I want to go first.

iirc, it is an upgrade that Mordin suggests during conversation with him in the tech lab.

So, 22 hours in already, and I've hit the second disc. Wasn't exactly a giant pivotal point in the game, either. It just sorta...happened.

Uh I got to the second disc at less than 10 hours.  And I'm not even moving the main story along.  I was doing a mission for one of the crew and it said to insert disc 2.

Edit:  I was doing Jacob's mission.

Illium is on Disk 2. As soon as I selected Land from orbit, I was prompted for Disk 2. I have the majority of my team, but only 1 loyalty mission done so far, maybe 20 hours in.

No midnight release for me. Store where I pre-ordered is in a mall that isn't open that late. I plan to get it tomorrow on the way in to work.

I recall seeing a dev diary on Youtube about the lack of inventory. As you find better weapons, you scan them and then the Normandy can manufacture them. Everyone in your team that can equip that weapon type will upgrade. So, find a new, better SMG, and once you go back to Normandy, everyone that can wield an SMG will have one available. Or, something like that anyway.

I saw a hilarious scene with Mordin on Youtube. You have to be a femshep to get it though, so I won't see it firsthand until a repeat playthrough.

did GT get a review copy?  do I get to hate someone for getting to play it early?

Sadly, both the 360 and PC versions have been leaked and showed up what on looks to be Friday.

I know when I was in a local EBGames store last thursday to pre-order, the guy said the stock had already arrived and was just waiting for release day. You KNOW staff at various stores are playing it this weekend. And I think one of the guys streaming his play at justintv said he got it at a Walmart that broke street date.

9.6 from IGn.  I'm not reading it, so be warned there may be spoilers.

The text review is pretty spoiler-free. However, do NOT watch the video review, as it has plenty of spoilery stuff, including most of the scenes from the launch trailer (but shown out of order).

On the same page is a somewhat humorous 5 minute video summary of the first Mass Effect for those who never played the game.

Just watched the latest trailer....WOW! 

Thats one great looking game. If there was any doubt as to whether I wanted to get it, its gone now. Guess the trailer worked as its supposed to.

Btw -does anyone know the music that plays?? Sounds pretty good!

The music used in the trailer is "Heart of Courage" by Two Steps from Hell. They do trailer music. IIrc they did the music for the Star Trek movie trailer last year as well.

I had no qualms about watching the trailer (again and again), as I have been "spoiled" already by watching all the recent character reveals/voicecast/artwork releases. I know which squadmates from ME1 are still in play, I know the names and some background on almost all the new potential team members. From my standpoint, it only heightens the anticipation of actually getting to play. Bioware games feel almost like interactive movies already. And seriously, that trailer could be for a blockbuster movie, not a game.

Brand new launch trailer. Warning, contains spoilers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZK9vrBNRys&feature=sub

Awesome trailer. I can feel the 'Dirty Dozen" vibe.

I've started to get that bug where you beam down as your Ship, then it eventually becomes just you, with no away team, and the reinforcemnts button isn't available.

Some people have claimed that if you end up beamed down by yourself and you wait long enough the Reinforcements button shows up.  Personally I have only seen the reinforcements button if I've got at least one crew member with me.

If you don't get the reinforcements button, type /fillpetteamlist and your away team should show up in a few seconds. I've had the same issue, and used that command, and it works.

Not sure if they adjusted the drop rate during the last downtime, but tonight I've been getting plenty of drops while doing system patrols. 3 or 4 weapons, a tactical console, plus the usual assorted batteries. More tonight in 3 hours than I saw the previous 3 days.

Shardana@Aristarchus
USS Sun Fire

Also note that the Commodities vendor, who sells stuff like "Medical Supplies" used in some missions, is in the Requisitions quadrant.

BTW, Blackjack - I wanted to comment in the other thread, but that's for screenshots and stuff - but being next to an enemy ship when it goes kaboom is VERY bad for your ship. There is some serious exploding damage you can take when a warp core goes critical. Go try it next time you fight and then you'll see that being near an exploding ball of doom is a bad thing.

Yeah.  I finally beat a Negh'Var cruiser that had been holding up one of my missions for quite some time (he had beaten me twice two levels ago).  But I was too close to it when I took it down, and it took down what was left of my shields and what was left of my hull integrity and I blew up along with it.  It was epic!

I accidentally killed a team-mate that way yesterday. He was right under a damaged Negh'Var and had been hammering its shields down. As the rear shield dropped, I pumped 2 torpedoes into it and it blew up. Alas, it took the guy's Miranda with it, as he didn't have time to get clear. He laughed, so I didn't feel so bad, but yeah, important safety tip.

Reminder...third season of Chuck premiers tonight, 9E/8C.

Wonder how they're going to get Yvonne into her underwear tonight???

Okay, does 8 minutes until a bikini shot count? 

They easily topped that in the second episode. 

Indeed. Carina and Sarah. 

Reminder...third season of Chuck premiers tonight, 9E/8C.

Wonder how they're going to get Yvonne into her underwear tonight???

Okay, does 8 minutes until a bikini shot count? 

Rumors flew for years after Titanic about a True Lies 2.  I can't remember the exact reasons why it never got off the ground, though I think a lot of it was Cameron losing all interest in revisiting that territory after 9-11.

I could be remembering incorrectly, but I recall hearing that they had finally settled on a script, gotten commitments from the actors who would be returning, and then Arnold decided to run for California Governor. I even remember a friend of mine saying, upon hearing Arnold had won "Crap, there goes True Lies 2!"

When doing the daily Galadhrim rep quests, make sure you do the ones from the npcs on Haldir's flet as well as the ones at Echad Andestel. The ones up there actually involve killing orcs, not just vacuuming filth and retrieving/carrying arrows. I mention this because I know people who ground out rep without even knowing those extra 2 npcs existed.

To enter Mirkwood, you need to talk with Haldir, who sends you to a guy near the Lorien docks, and onward into "the Landing" instance in Mirkwood. (Sort of like Archet or the West Gate area outside Moria in that once you complete it you have access to a timeline-advanced zone).

this weeks episode?  woooo boy.....

yeah...should be very interesting to see where they go with that one...

Yeah. Too bad we have to wait until spring to find out.

Understandable.  An old friend and I happened to log in at the same time to check out the Skirmish mechanic and sure enough sat there outside Esteldin going, "Where the hell should we go to find non-grey level stuff we need?"

It ended up being more of a chore than I anticipated just to get things kicked off.
 

I was really surprised by their decision to do it this way too. They introduce an entirely new game concept and mechanic, which is a lot different than anything else in the game and they start it out by doing the most redundant and cliche thing you can do in an MMO. Oh well, at least once that is done the skirmish mode is good. I'm amazed at it's scalability. A solo instance is much different once you bump it up to a 6 man. I haven't tried an y12 mans yet, but I imagine they are crazy.

Apparently the 12-mans are indeed crazy. I read a report on the Turbine forums where an established kin wiped on the end encounter doing the 12-man Thievery and Mischief (the south Bree one) since there are 3-4 bosses of Arch-Nemesis level in front of the town hall. Not sure I'll ever do a 12-man, but I'm looking forward to 3 and 6 man versions. So far I've only done a few solo.

As for the skirmish-gating being a kill quest, yeah that was unnecessary. Just let people start the tutorial.

Simplest way to make sure you got the adventurer pack (that combined with a lifetime account gave Mirkwood for free) is to see if you have 7 or 9 character slots. If it's 9, you got it. You should also have a cloak (Harbinger), and the dusky goat. The skirmish quest starts with a letter you get in the mail.

I've had a blast with the skirmishes so far, just doing solo level 60 versions of Gondamon, Weathertop, and liberating southern Bree from Sharkey's minions. Some of the random lieutenants are pretty deadly - I hate Stormcrows. I advise tier 1 until you get your soldier buffed up a bit.

Stick with it, the series is great.

Croaker is indeed the only Annalist/narrator for the first three books, but over the entire series there are at least 3 more I can think of (no names to avoid spoilers).

I actually enjoy the first person style, so that was not a deterrent to me at all. (Tangentially, I'm re-reading the Stainless Steel Rat books right now, which are also told in 1st person, and one of my other favorite series is Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos cycle, also told from the main character's perspective.)

I'd at least finish the first book, so you meet all of the Ten and The Lady. If it hasn't grabbed you by then, maybe it's not going to.

Found this weapon, which is obviously some in-joke. There is also a sound effect whenever I pick it up and move it.

The other sword is the highest dps item I've seen so far: 550. My own equipped Railgun pales in comparison.

Pulled up a purple set piece from a fishing hole. That was a pleasant surprise. And I just got a unique sash that adds to luck when fishing, so maybe I'll eventually pull up a whole set. 

So far I have a Vanquisher to 22 on normal with a unique gun that is insane, and an alchemist to 12 on hard. "normal" really is too easy - that character has never died, or really even come close.

I noticed they raised the cap to 79. Yikes. It was a grind by level 25. Who gets into the 70s?

It is pretty good looking for a f2p MMO. There's not really much horror to the "horror" part of the game though. Admittedly the mobs are pretty twisted, and there is a particular time in-game when powerful "nightmare" mobs spawn (10pm-2am in-game time). It's a port of an Asian game, and some of the translations could use a little more work. I have laughed a few times at the genuine humor in some of the quest text.

It was a mild diversion from my regular MMOs, but it does turn very grindy. If you pay a monthly sub, the mobs are worth more XP so it becomes less of a grind, but I've only played it for free. Looks like this new patch has streamlined some things. Between Aion, LOTRO and Champions though, I have no time to check out the changes.

I sorta rushed to 20, although I have been doing a fair amount of crafting too. I wanted to be able to equip stigma stones.

Hit 20 tonight, and noticed I need a million XP for 21. The climb is getting steep. There are a handful in my legion who are 24 and have been PvPing in Mordheim and getting some points. I see a few people in the high 20s, and I noticed there are a couple over 30 already. yikes.

To track nodes, there is a guy in the Aether training hall who sells special hats. Wear the hat, and it puts the nodes on the minimap, iirc. There are 4 tiers of hats. The cheapest is only a few thousand kinah and finds nodes that need 99 or less skill to harvest.

Flux - just seems to be a random drop. I always seem to get the ones I don't need for crafting. I tailor and so need armor flux, but I get 2-3 times as many weapon or accessory flux drops. They definitely made crafting non-trivial. I'm on Asmo side and crafting some leather armor for Legion-mates, I had to ask for donations of the armor flux to be able to make even one set of armor for one guy.

I'm glad I stayed logged in. A guildie logged for dinner and ages later he was back, reporting a 3 hour queue. yikes! The Asmodian side of Lumiel was jammed. Some quests took ages to complete while waiting for camped respawns, and that was with a dozen channels of the lowbie zone.

Finally got to Pandemonium and it was already packed as well. The training hall was a sea of names clustered around the trainers. Last I looked Lumiel was 54% Asmo, 46% Elyos. I think that's the largest they allow the gap before they cap.

After launch can you play Asmodian on a different server?

The only restriction I'm aware of is you can't play both sides on the same server. So yeah, once launch is done, you can pick a different server and go Asmo.

Seems to be working fine now. Grabbed 2 names I wanted, no problem.

Hmmm. Now I get to hunt you down.  I'll be Asmodian on Lumiel.

The Legion I belong to has picked Lumiel (Asmodian), so I'll be there. for Elyos-side I have no idea yet.

And yeah, too many games! Argh!

Very sad. Pancreatic cancer is brutal indeed. Both my dad and an aunt went that way. 20 months after diagnosis is a good run. It's usually less than a year.

I sort-of met him back in the 90s when I was working at a theatre where one of his films had a premiere screening. He was shorter than I'd expected. Very affable guy though.

I'm in the camp that figures they sold their 5,000 or 10,000 or whatever Lifetime subs and that is all the room they have for the STO beta.

I did see the note on their front page last night that said only 1,000 Lifetime and 500 6-month deals left. Looks like that tipped a lot of people over into pulling the trigger on whatever deal they wanted. All I recall from their earlier advertising was that the special offers would run through to September 1st, so anyone who didn't see the note last night would expect to have another week to decide.

Dark Seraphim, looking for trouble, and using her Darkness powers.

I asked for more landmass as well, even if it is quest-light. The more to explore the better.

I'm sure they are too busy doing the zones just for the upcoming books (I'm very much looking forward to what we will see of southern Mirkwood), but I'd also like to see places that are eluded to on the map, like Far Downs, Grey Havens/Lindon, South Downs to Tharbad, etc.

It always seems the Turbine team is struggling to keep up to their original content schedule. I wonder how many are working on "live" updates vs those that are doing the next full expansion, vs those that have been hijacked to work on their next project, rumored to be a console MMO.

account name: Aristarchus

character: Dark Seraphim

aside: the name "Dark Seraph" gave me a "restricted" warning during chargen. I have since seen a "Seraph". Is there a copy-writed "Dark Seraph" somewhere?