been noticing a ton of slowness on the loading screens today, and found out this tip I'm going to try.  if you start the launcher, click options and select 'disable patch on demand' it'll download all the info it would normally only download when you visit an area.  granted you'll have a big download (I ended up having to wait for 2 gigs of files to download) but it should mean less waiting.

I did that this morning and haven't had any problems today.  Was waiting 5-10 minutes to zone the last couple days.

Let's hope they can do something to the core mechanic. The draw system was just boooooring.

I've gotten 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through this game on three different occasions before the Draw system simply burns me out.  Can't imagine I'll try it again unless is a complete graphical overhaul.  My guess is that this will be similar to the FF VII release last year.  No real improvements, just slightly higher resolution of the same old character models.

Amazing how a single letter can make an instant association to a game.

Not even sure why we're having this discussion.  It's well established fact that Obama is the libbiest lib that ever libbed.

Starting to get down to crunch time.  Mrs. Gratch had her 35 week appointment this morning, which means we're in the "safe zone" for delivery.  They weighed in at 5.2 and 5.9 lbs, and according to the doctors seem to be "a model of healthy babies".  Other than the general uncomfortableness of carrying 11 lbs of baby in her belly, Mrs. Gratch has done remarkably well through the pregnancy.  They're trying to get her to June 7 (38 weeks), but we'll be going in on a weekly basis to evaluate and that could change.

I've gone from counting down months to counting down days...hoo boy.   My biggest goal now is to max my Neverwinter toon before they show up.   

More Neverwinter for me, I'm sure.

Same.  Which server you folks on? 

There's a whole bunch of us on Mindflayer.

More Neverwinter for me, I'm sure.

Even Peggy Noonan and Chris (thrill up my leg) Matthews have started criticizing O.   Lol what a disaster.

Wait, so you're telling me people don't have to be blindly partisan 100% of the time?  Tell me more about this phenomenon...

Yeah, I totally needed that new phobia.   

...if unquestionable proof the WH had nothing to do with the IRS scandal comes to light?

My guess is that no such thing could ever exist in the Eco-verse.

[Thief]

Beyond Good & Evil 2. 

Seriously though, I'm interested to see if there's any info on the new Thief game.  The reports of that development team imploding make me nervous about it.

Didn't the IRS' IG report that come out yesterday provide unquestionable proof that this didn't come from the WH?  I've only seen the Cliffs Notes version...it's entirely possible I misunderstood.

Then I guess it's a good thing he didn't refuse?   

I'm not really seeing the issue here.  Everyone wanted someone to be held accountable and they got it.

[sought and accepted Miller's resignation]

From the article:

The president said that he expected the IRS to act with even higher levels of integrity than other government agencies and that, to that end, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had sought and accepted Miller's resignation

So he was basically told to resign, which is the same thing (to me) as getting canned.

IRS commissioner sacked.  Good response.

From this article:

Organizations are eligible for tax-exempt status if they are "social welfare groups", but they are not eligible for that status if they engage in a substantial amount of political activity.

Wait...so Tea Party groups want to be seen as "Social Welfare groups" for tax purposes?  Let the irony of that sink in for a moment...

Obviously O would denounce the IRS scandal (he'd do so even if the WH knew about it), but that isn't close to being enough.  All parties involved should be fired, and it seems that knowledge of this was more widespread than the Cincinnati office, so any other official in the know should be treated accordingly.  

IF it is proven that only Tea Party groups were targeted (*ahem* see my link above), then you and I agree that heads should roll.

In the event it comes to light that the WH was aware of it, I'd assume that would be an impeachable abuse of power.

When IMPEACH HIM isn't thrown around at least 14 times a week by the GOP, we might start taking some of them seriously.

Benghazi was clearly a politically motivated coverup and if you all still don't see it as one I guess you're taking the WH approach to heart:  "it was a long time ago" - Carney

Methinks you don't understand the definition of "clearly".  Benghazi is about the furthest thing from it...which is the crux of the whole damn problem.

Do you all feel comfortable with the IRS overseeing the travesty know as Obamacare??

Not particularly, but I'm no less concerned about it than I am getting bent over by our current clusterfuck of a heathcare system.

EDIT:  And, as Fireball pointed out below, the IRS won't be "overseeing" Obamacare outside of the tax collection aspects.

Oh wait...the IRS targeted Democratic groups too?

As for the IRS situation, Obama has denounced it in very strong terms and publicly.  What else would you have him do?  Please, inform us.  

While I highly doubt we'll get an answer, I'm also curious about this.  (P.S.  Hep, I think you were looking for this link.  )  I also might generate some outrage when this actually ties back up to the administration in some way, and is shown to be something more than just the IRS being the IRS.

My understanding of the AP case (I'll admit to not knowing a ton about it) is that the AP got a leak from someone in the Government of highly classified information and published it. It had to do with a plot to bomb an airliner over the US by the same bastards that tried the underwear bomb. Disclosure of that information was a serious violation of national security. Knowledge of the plot was from an infiltrator. Publication of the information endangered that guy, wrecked the value of the infiltrator and caused serious harm.

Getting the records of calls placed, calls received and the length of time of the calls of the AP folks was an attempt to track down the person who leaked the information.  Holder recused himself from the issue due to potential conflicts. In spite of that fact, Reince Prebus, Chairman of the RNC called for Holder's resignation - but he's just an idiot.

I understand the national media is in an uproar over this. And I'm sure the Republican leadership sees this as an opportunity and will read politics into every plausible aspect. But to my mind, the SOB that leaked the information is real culprit in the issue. Whomever it is, belongs in jail.  

On Benghazi, as soon they stop making this a political witchhunt and start looking for actual answers and accountability, we can start taking them seriously.  In other words...never.

Question for you:  Do you like the way this administration is handling these scandals?

Obama seems to have handled the IRS issue decently so far.  Strong public condemnation is all you can do until you have actual data and answers.  The AP thing remains to be seen.  With Benghazi, when you reach the ridiculous level of derp this thing has gotten to, I have no idea how you would begin to rationally respond.

Yeah, I was going to say, that wasn't the cover I remembered from that record.

It was on the inside cover of the cassette fold-out.  I remember having to hide it from my parents.

I tried getting back into Rift a while back and just found it kinda...dull.  After the active combat systems in GW2, Tera, and Neverwinter, I'm not sure I could go back to just spamming an attack rotation over and over again.

Playing single-player only, I enjoyed D3 just as much as the other Diablo games.  I'm not big on end-game content though, and typically just play through it once or twice.  I can certainly see how others who were in it for multiplayer or the super endgame stuff were disappointed. 

And to preempt the inevitable "But...but...FREE MARKET!" cry, I'll ask how you plan to comparison shop when you're on your way to the ER in an ambulance.

I don't have a problem with a highly skilled surgeon / doctor / specialist / GM, whatever making a solid wage.  I don't want the "Discount brain surgeon".  That said, looking at the surgery my wife recently underwent I'd love to see the justification of 1/3 the cost OF MY ENTIRE MORTGAGE for a 2 hour procedure.  There certainly seems to be a bit of a disconnect.   I'm so very, very thankful that I have insurance...I can't imagine how somebody who doesn't would tackle this...

I'm staring down the barrel of delivery of twins (via C-Section) and the accompanying hospital stay and follow-up.  I'm estimating that the bill for all this will likely run into 6 figures by the time all is said and done.

Thankfully, my out-of-pocket max for the year is $5,800.  I can't even imagine doing it without insurance.

A lot of folks have complained about the notion of paying so much for what is essentially an extended tutorial for a future release, I really like the episodic nature of it and think there's a lot of gameplay here.  Still looking forward to the full game, though.

Wait...what?

And to preempt the inevitable "But...but...FREE MARKET!" cry, I'll ask how you plan to comparison shop when you're on your way to the ER in an ambulance.

Yikes...hope everything turns out OK.

My mothers day crashed and burned when my 4-year-old said to my wife during lunch on Saturday, "Mommy, are you excited to get your iPad?" (she was with me when I bought it).  It got worse when Mrs. Gratch replied "I don't want an iPad".  So her Mother's Day gift consisted of a card and me telling her to pick out what camera she wants and I'll go and buy it.

Who doesn't want an iPad?     So much for my cool big gift. 

2) When I group it tends to be with people who just keep plowing through their quests without seeing what anyone else has or needs.

This is one of my biggest issues with groups.  I'm the odd person who actually enjoys finding out of the way places, actually reading quest text, and generally taking in the atmosphere of a game.  Every time I've grouped, it's all about running from quest marker to quest marker as fast as possible and never bothering to smell the virtual roses.  That's not what I enjoy, hence why 99% of my MMO playtime is solo. 

3) I never know how long I will play for and don't like abandoning a group right away.. sometimes I might only play for 1 quest or sometimes for 4 hours...

Yeah, MMO's and small children in the house are a particularly bad combination. 

Hey that's me!

I stole it from the OO thread.   

Nada.  I spent way too much $$ on Neverwinter goodies over the weekend.

liking Talisman Prologue, though.

I picked that up on Saturday and played through a few games.  I'm not familiar with the original board game, but this seems like a very well-done port.  Not terribly crazy about the completely luck-based gameplay, but would still recommend it.

Is it ethical to put your name on game reviews you didn't write?

Hey, at least your reviews still show up.   

Working on that too.      One botched move with no rollback is making for some unpeasant cleanup afterwards.

  Just giving you a hard time. 

Dinged level 32 in Neverwinter last night...still having a blast.  It's not a perfect game by any means, but is a hell of a lot of fun.  User-created content in an MMO is a fantastic way to keep things fresh and interesting.

Mind you, this was on vinyl:

That's the second album I ever bought.

I didn't get that one until later, my first Weird Al was "Dare to be Stupid".

Same here.

I am confused about some equipment levels... I have a blue L9 dagger, that no matter what seems to be recommended over my found green daggers, even though the damage is higher on the greens and so are the bonus effects.. any idea why?

Because Cryptic is stupid.

Price to the vendor is the ONLY thing the 'recommended' system looks at. The ONLY thing.

Proof:

To The Moon.   

Played it.   Beat it.    Very moving story...

Highly recommend it.

+1.  I adored this game.

[way]

I'll be putting a bunch of time into Neverwinter, since it's a double AD weekend.

What happened with Devil May Cry?

It's way too twitchy for me.  I was having fun until the point where simply getting from point A to point B required 17 different button/trigger combinations.  Two different grapples, wings, short flying bursts, using 4 weapon combinations...my simple old brain was having trouble processing it all.   Might go back to it eventually (I hate setting aside games I paid full price for), but it was becoming far more frustrating than fun.

Gratch Gardens is a wasteland.  Not only did the tsunami scour its primary distribution facility and a half dozen farms from the map, it also critically damaged three offshore oil rigs so the ocean current carried a tide of toxic black crude with it.  Even Wall-E couldn't survive there now.

My gardens!  My beautiful gardens!   

Dead Giveaway music video

That is so damn awesome.

Impromptu gas pump karaoke.  Probably staged, but still pretty funny.

Is it ethical to put your name on game reviews you didn't write?

Hey, at least your reviews still show up.   

Is there any way to restore ethics and journalism to an industry that has clearly turned into an entertainment industry?

I can't imagine how.  It's a 24-7 cycle that is constantly competing for eyeballs.  Multiply that need by internal bias (either left or right), instant consumer reaction, and momentary worldwide distribution, and it all becomes a game of who gets there first, not who gets it right.  You can always retract later, but they need people to be looking.

The first album I remember buying with my own money was Van Halen - 1984.  My mom took one look at the smoking baby and promptly banned me from listening to it.


The first one I was actually able to keep was Men Without Hats - Pop Goes the World.  Cheesy as it is, I still have a soft spot for this album and listen to it quite often.


First CD's I ever bought were on the same day:  NIN - Broken and Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick.