Timorous Deep and New Halas are the 2 main starting areas now and both are excellent...great leveled gear, quest hubs and a story line to take you to 19-21.  Freeport has been completely redone (all one zone, new art) and now it's a quest hub from 20-90.  There's also a "golden path" now with a revamped leveling path from 20+ on that starts in Butcherblock.  Free mounts at 20, 30, 50 and I believe 60.

So, what is the Beastlord class like anyhow in EQ2? Is it basically EQ1's Beastlord (pet does DPS, player is more or less a Shaman/Monk)?

BL is now a cross between a bruiser and scout and the pets can be offensive or defensive and solo or party buffers.  Pets also get their own AA trees. 

After thinking about it some more I am going to be dropping my pre-order.  I realized that if this was a generic MMO game and not Star Wars I wouldn't spend the money to buy or play it.  While I love the setting, love Star Wars and enjoyed the beta I just don't have any desire to play at release when it honestly brings nothing at all to the table.  No innovation (except the quest voice overs which were excellent for the most part)....just tweaks of a tired system.  Except for the voice overs there is nothing there that other recent MMOs haven't done just as well.  The CGI was great, the music/sound was excellent but where did the tens of millions of dollars and years and years of development go?  I'll hit GW2 and Secret World (both of which deserve the chance simply for trying to evolve the modern MMO) and maybe come back to this with the first expansion.  Best of luck to everyone who will be playing...may the launch go smooth and bug free.

I was thinking the same thing, but I checked recent selling prices on ebay, and I aimed lower than those - most of them used items.  I'll hold off and see what happens on ebay for a few more days.  I have a bad habit of dropping asking prices too quickly and finding out I sold things at pretty low prices.  My selling skills are the direct result of sleeping through economics classes in college.  This is why my wife handles the money!

Don't go by ebay...especially during Black Friday and December sales.  The prices have dropped through the floor on most everything computer related lately.  Your prices are normally great but this is just the wrong season (or at least month) for it.  I'd still be all over that CPU though if I had a dual CPU capable motherboard (it's the same CPU I'm using now )  Truly excellent Xeon for it's time.

I hear you. But, here's some food for thought: Sometimes the worst film adaptation a book can get... is a literal one.

Very true.  Hopefully they can strike that balance in the screenplay.

Let's see how this pans out. Hopefully, for the better. Recently, as a filmmaker, I had been thinking about the process of adaptation.. specifically after having seen Zack Snyder's inert frame-by-frame adaptation of Alan Moore's 'Watchmen' Graphic novel. I watched his movie right after having read Moore's novel.. and what I realized is that Snyder shouldn't have made a literal adaptation of the graphic novel. The movie Snyder made lacks much narrative momentum. Most of the moments from the graphic novel are there. It just didn't work as a movie. I was left wishing Snyder would have taken some liberties and actually made a more cohesive, plot-driven movie.

Another example of the perils of adaptation is Stephen King's 'The Shining'. I've always argued that Stanley Kubrick's movie is better than the ABC TV mini-series Stephen King insisted on back in 90s. The miniseries is just awful, specially the kid they cast on the part of Daniel. Kubrick actually capture the deeply haunting and creepy tone of the novel. King bitched and moaned about Kubrick's movie for years. Kubrick did capture what the book was about in his film. 'The Shining' never needed a literal film adaptation.

I love Stephen King (will probably always be my favorite author) but he is a total idiot when it comes to screenplays and movie/TV adaptions of his books.  The only decent one was The Mist and they remained faithful 99% of the book only to fuck the ending up to the point of no return.

I really liked the Trooper movie for the camp but it really was nothing like the book (which I liked much better).  I'm looking forward to the remake.

Well, everything launched today and of course everything is down.  The latest update says it's unlikely to be up before 11pm est.  Got to try out the Beastlord in the beta and it's really nice (and my next character).  The new Freeport is beautiful.  I just wish they would upgrade some of the other art assets or at least get shader 3 actually fixed.

EDIT: servers back up tomorrow now.  Still no better ETA except that it will be at least 10am est.

That expert on CNET is wrong too...there's videos out there illustrating that the software does in fact capture keystrokes and other information even if it's not transmitted which means the potential for tracking by any carrier who wanted the info is there.  It also bypasses the preferences you set on your device (like location, gps, etc). 

Just another reason I'm glad I switched to a custom rom with all of this crap taken out and disabled (besides the days of extra battery life and faster speed).

  Awesome 

I'm a little irritated...the queue screen lists all servers as having a queue time of 10secs to 2 mins...but almost everyone I've tried puts me in queue around 800-1000 and that's really close to 20-30 minutes.  Found one that said 10 secs and I was only 200 and that was 10 minutes ago.

I am getting excellent latency times when I do connect.  Yesterday I was averaging around 42ms and never hit any of the lag spikes.

I'm a little torn on the game itself.  I like parts of it but the actually cartoony graphics are throwing me off a little.  The pre-game cut scenes and movies are beyond fantastic though.  I can get used to the graphics but it was really not what I was expecting at all.

The early parts of the game just scream MMO from 2-3 years ago though.  From the UI to the limited characters/races available to the really kinda bad character customization I would not rate my first impression as this being a AAA MMO especially from Bioware/EA.  It's nice and it works but again not what I was expecting especially given the development time.  

Want to add:  the music and sound effects are spot on perfect.  Love them.

More second impressions.  Really like the visual indication of better loot.  Also like the light/dark indications in chat.  Auto loot and auto area loot are nice.  Game itself runs great.  Smooth loading and no lag or fps issues even with most everything turned to max.  No problems with lag and the queues are gone compared to earlier.  Still averaging under 50ms which means the servers are pretty close to me (in WoW I average around 50 when the servers are in New York). 

Bounty hunter area really bugged compared to some of the others I've played.  Blasters with no visual blaster, people getting stuck, dead guys blinking and lips not moving.  Noticeable but nothing major.  A few cookie crumb quests would really help out too (trainer after leveling, advanced trainers, etc).

This is not a WoW killer though regardless of what anyone else says.  I can see it having a million plus subs even after the first month but this is only going to put a dent in WoW at best.  Still disappointed in the extreme price of the CE.  I will probably keep my pre-order though of the middle option (digital plus or whatever it was) though I considered cancelling it at first.  I see refinements but pretty much nothing ground breaking or even risky which is too bad because it will have the audience where it could have made a difference.

System specs (dual core Intel pre i series, 64 bit win7, 6gb, AMD 6950, non ssd hd, onboard sound)

Skyrim with the new Deus Ex right behind it.  While both have some issues and need tweaks they are head and shoulders above the majority of everything else that came out.

And every one of them probably makes more money than you (for their expert opinions) 

I'm so glad I signed up for beta the first day it was available...and so glad I did the pre-order the morning it was available...so I can sit here with no beta weekend yet again.  But hey...I've been selected for some future weekend event which I'm assuming is the public stress test since they are now giving out keys like candy.

I think one of the first things I'm going to look for it a mod that changes the leveling from non-combat skills.  I started over and went more pure stealth-bow with a wood elf but I'm still feeling the pinch when I go up a whole level doing nothing but enchanting and lockpicking.  Maybe 1/2 points or not counting at all would work.  Or I could do it myself if they would ever release the construction kit (the one supposed to be available 11-11-11).

Sorry, but it's flat out wrong.  Screw the world of retail noise and other bullshit...there are certain days that a department store should be closed.  Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day are two of them.  Anyone who thinks otherwise is part of the problem.  Choosing to work on one of those days is just that...a choice and should not be mandatory.  I personally refuse to shop anywhere on either day regardless of the sale or awesome amazing once a year prices.  What the hell happened to companies even having a shred of common decency.

One step closer to the southern tip of Florida becoming it's own state/country 

Your know, the game was failing and going F2P was the only way to save it!  At least there will be more people playing (until SWTOR releases anyway  )

Free to play Q&A: http://everquest2.com/news/read/current/5027

    Many of you reading this letter are long-time EverQuest and EverQuest II players. You’ve been part of the SOE family for a long time (earlier this week was EQII’s 7-year anniversary!) and our aim is to take care of you and keep you entertained for years to come.

    Part of caring for our customers is listening to you and hearing what you have to say. Additionally, we need to be aware of changes in the industry, changes in player expectations, and larger economic trends in general.

    We’ve listened to your concerns about the complexity of the subscription structure, how the separate forums between EQII and EQ2X divide the community unnecessarily, that the Live Gamer servers are under-populated, and that many people want more flexibility with payment options so they can better manage their personal budgets.

    We believe the key to meeting your expectations is to provide more flexibility and to deliver what you want when you want it, whether it’s basic game content, full subscription access to the game, or something in-between. So in early December we’re going to change things to be “Free to Play. Your Way.” Let me explain what that means…

    Membership and Pricing Changes

    There will no longer be an up-front fee for downloading and installing the game. You no longer have to buy the software in order to use it, and game content through the Sentinel’s Fate expansion will be available to all players without charge. You simply download, and then launch and play the game for free.

    Last year, we created a successful, but separate, “free to play” service for EQII called “EverQuest II: Extended” (EQ2X). However, now that all servers are becoming free-to-play, we are combining both services together and EverQuest II (including the EQ2X servers) will operate as a single game with a single membership structure.

    The new membership structure for EverQuest II is simpler and easier to understand than the one we used previously, and we’ve adjusted the model so that Gold members in EverQuest II will get everything that current EQII subscribers do currently.

    Here are the differences between the new EverQuest II membership model and the prior EQ2X membership model:

        Gold membership in EverQuest II will provide access to all races and classes (except the Freeblood race and the Beastlord class) and is identical in all ways to the current subscription status on EQII Live servers.
        The free membership level will be called “Free” instead of “Bronze.”
        Silver membership now costs 500 Station Cash instead of 1,000 Station Cash. (If you purchased a Silver membership in EverQuest II: Extended within the 60 days before the launch of this change, 500 Station Cash will be refunded to your Station Wallet.)
        Players can no longer purchase a Platinum membership. Existing Platinum memberships will continue until they expire.
        A matrix showing the details of the three new EverQuest II membership levels – Free, Silver, and Gold – is available here: (insert link)

    So basically, you can play at the Free level (with restrictions), upgrade to Silver to remove a bunch of those restrictions… or sign up for Gold membership and remove *all* of those restrictions, depending on which expansions you have on your account.

    Additionally, Gold memberships are no longer required to recur each month. We will have non-recurring memberships that you can purchase with Station Cash or real-world currency. Recurring and non-recurring Gold memberships will be available for 1, 3, 6, and 12-month durations. Recurring memberships are still available for those of us who don’t like having to remember to pay each month, and recurring memberships also get the perk of a Station Cash bonus grant each month.

    The aim is to give you as much flexibility as possible, without drowning you in a sea of confusing options. Free, Silver, or Gold at whatever duration and recurring state that you desire. It’s up to you to play EQII your way.

I keep forgetting that I'm in.

This just screams a "that's what she said" quote 

In other news...I'm still not selected for the beta (or really any damn beta I've applied for in the past year).

Speaking of Mars   The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson was pretty good and considered hard SF too (no whipping around the galaxy in FTL, etc)

Dual 580s would be stupid...dual 560s would run the cost of one 580 and the extra $500 could be used towards a bigger SSD and more memory (both of which would make a huge impact).  Go with the i7 (quad with hyperthread), at least 8GB of ram (maybe 16 if you're going to be using this the next 2+ years) and the biggest SSD you can afford.  Don't forget a really good power supply and lots of extra cooling.

Going to be hard to hit $1500 using a i7 though if you go with dual video cards though.  You can do it if you really shop around, get the free shipping and find the sales that include rebates.  Also depends on anything you're going to re-use (case, dvd burner, etc).

Best Buy is at least pretty much guaranteed to have another PS3 in stock...I think my K-Mart has one PS3 total and the box is dusty

Also want to mention David Weber...can't believe no one has brought him up considering the way Space Opera has been thrown around   The Honor Harrington series is up to 12 books with the 13th coming soon (along with 5+ anthologies).  This is the series that pretty much defined the modern space opera.  Also, the Safehold series is excellent if you like your sci-fi mixed with revolution and massive book spanning non-space naval battles.

Also, any of the books by Harry Turtledove...lots of sci-fi series mixed with the best alternative histories series out.

I was hoping Dead Island would be a little cheaper...still not ready to pull the trigger at $38.

Don't know your network situation but don't forget built-in wireless if you don't already have ethernet to your existing TV.

I lucked out since it appears I'm off the 11th anyway (federal holiday)   Now to find a good price between now and then.

3,994,044,444th

My daughter is 6,239,049,348th though

That's insane...I know dropbox, box.net and other cloud storage solutions aren't the most secure but it's a damn sight better than losing weeks or months of work.

I never sensed he was physically vulnerable in the movie. He'd just walk into a room, everybody dies but him, and he moves on. Maybe in the 2nd film, he does have a hair of vulnerability.

that was part of the charm-  he was an utter bad ass.  he was fucking Qui-Gon Jinn back from the dead, Rob Roy with his kilt in a bunch, Michael Collins sober, Schindler making a list and kicking ass, Zeus shoving a motherfucking lightning blot up their asses......

I loved it...I'm so tired of these heroes having to have their asses kicked for ten minutes before they get mad enough to fight back.  He's a trained bad ass killer.  Walk in, neutralize the threat and leave.

Maybe I missed something but his post specifically says he didn't eat the bacon...much less all two pounds of it?  And from what he's posted so far it appears that bacon would be on the diet anyway (in small quantities )

I got plenty of fake invites (Diablo III too) but no real ones.

Not being active I've still lost 12 pounds in the last week and a couple of inches (yes lots was water weight but then again 42" pants that were tight now need an extra belt notch to stay up). 

You lost 12 pounds in one week?  That ain't healthy dude.

Second most important is track every single thing that goes into your mouth.  I don't know how many people think they're eating 1800 calories in a day until they write it all down and find out it's really 2500.

This is very true.  I'm amazed at how many calories I'm consuming, even when I'm trying to eat healthy food.  Today, for example, I had:

-  Breakfast:  Cheerios & small glass of OJ
-  Morning snack:  Cherry tomatoes, Powerbar Protein Plus, string cheese
-  Lunch:  Lean Turkey/Ham sandwich (wheat bread, fat free Miracle Whip, no cheese), cup of yogurt, apple
-  Afternoon snack:  Baby carrots, blueberry Nutrigrain bar
-  Dinner:  Chicken breast, brown rice, corn, 2 glasses of milk

There's a few things I could cut out (mainly the dairy), but that's pretty healthy, for the most part.  Just checked my counter, and it totals up to just over 2,300 calories and waaaaay too many carbs.   

True on the 12 pounds but I know it's mostly water weight (and I have quite a bit of total weight to lose too).  I'd say 2/3 at least judging from how often I go to the bathroom and I've upped my water intake to compensate.  I have no idea what causes some of my problems (severe bloating and severe indigestion) but both go away close to immediately when I'm low carb so I'm assuming it's probably either a dairy or gluten allergy (or both).

You would cut quite a bit of calories dropping the OJ and one glass of milk and replacing it with water.  After reading how they make orange juice (some of it sits for up to a year) I'm not too hot on it anyway unless I'm squeezing it myself.  Some green veggies instead of orange and yellow wouldn't hurt either   

Overall it's not that different from a normal day meal plan when I'm trying to diet the "normal" way.  About the only difference is I use spicy mustard instead of mayo and drink less milk but everything else was pretty spot on.  I can lose weight that way too but it takes much longer which can be discouraging when you looking at a 70 pound loss goal like I am.  Just have to remember to use the method that works best for you...better to stay on the path where you lose 1-2 pounds a week consistently but stay on it vs low carb losing 5-6 pounds a week but give it up after a couple weeks.

I started later but I'm approaching the end of my second week on low carb.  The cravings are very bad this week but I know they'll go away.  I've also used this in the past and lost a good 60 pounds and can keep it off with a better diet once I'm "maintaining".  Of course my diet has gone to hell in the past few years which is why I'm on it again now

Say what you want but there are multiple people in here that prove that it works.  There are plenty of medical studies out there that prove it works.  Plenty of other studies out there proving many of the high carb, low fat diets don't work (and in some cases were faked or just plain wrong).  You only need to walk the street of any average town to see that something has dramatically changed over the years.  I do know that since low fat high carb has been pushed (what...70s, early 80s) that obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other problems have steadily risen. 

Still, everyone who needs to lose is free to try it or not but I don't understand the hate and attacks from the anti low-carb people.  Prove your point with results not insults and attacks.   

Don't worry...some of us are out here supporting you (and losing along with you).  Ignore the rest and the signal to noise will get much better.

I would also recommend low carb because it works for me (your mileage may vary).  Not being active I've still lost 12 pounds in the last week and a couple of inches (yes lots was water weight but then again 42" pants that were tight now need an extra belt notch to stay up).  Read up on the new low carb plans...they are nothing at all like the plans that came out in the 80s/90s.  You still get just about everything except sugar and flour (and there are low carb breads and noodles).

The best results are going to be eating dense, non empty calorie foods and exercise no matter what way you go.  Avoid the empty calories and eat more fiber and protein so you're not as hungry and stay full longer.  Avoid the low fat and "diet" crap out there...they are substituting something in those to make up for what they take out and you really don't need it. 

Most important...get rid of the junk in the house and remove the temptation.  Doesn't matter if you're on a lifestyle change, veggie, atkins, paleo, whatever...you will have a bad day, come home and see that ice cream or that bag of chips there and you will break and eat it.  Make it difficult to cheat and you'll have time to realize you don't need it.

Second most important is track every single thing that goes into your mouth.  I don't know how many people think they're eating 1800 calories in a day until they write it all down and find out it's really 2500.

Third most important is take you time.  Remember you didn't put on the weight in 3 months (or even 6) so it's not coming off that quick either.  Yes, low carb will help it come off quicker but even still a 3-6-12 month plan is used there.  Don't get discouraged and don't weigh everyday.

Some of the other questions:  Wal-Mart carries pre-measured salads with nutritional information if you want to eat a lot more salads without measuring everything yourself.  Find low calorie snacks you can eat a lot of if you're an impulse eater.  And drink lots of water (very rare to find anyone who is actually getting enough these days )

Ok, when I get settled I may resub to play those.  It's very cool that they've made a way for people who can't commit to raiding (or want to deal with the drama) to experience the endgame content.

Well.. I wouldn't call it experiencing end game content.  Truth is I found the Chronicles to be something of a let down and they are short and not very "epic."

True...these are supposed to be intro dungeons to help a new 50 get gear to run dungeons and introduce content more than anything else.  They are adding more in later patches though and they are adding the new difficulty level (with higher gear) to the older dungeons eventually (think it's only two of them now).  The game itself is much better than when I left it a couple months ago and fun but the population is down an unbelievable amount.  The bad thing is I don't see it getting any better with SWTOR, GW2, Secret World and even Diablo 3 all on the horizon.

Steam has a special right now that has all three DS games for $28. 

This is BS

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.

As someone who works with and on Oracle at the Enterprise level I can say this is a total lie.  If anything they are running the opposite direction as fast as possible (and their patching program sucks total ass compared to Sun). 

Funny press releases though

So I just got some emails insinuating that I should be testing.  One asks me to take a survey about my testing experience.  The other says that I should pre-order (which I already did the day they were available) if I have been enjoying what I am playing.  The thing is...I never got any email about beta testing. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Same here. I assume they made a goof in their e-mail lists.

Or if you want to be REALLY optimistic, maybe you and I are on the "future testing list" and that got mixed up in their mass e-mailer tool.  

If this happened to everybody, I suspect the forums will have some sort of explanation perhaps tomorrow.

Massive tease...I got the same email.  Had to look through my old ones to make sure I didn't miss an email

Anyone still active and playing on a decent (actually populated) PvE or RP-PvE server?  I've started back again and really like the changes but my server appears a little dead during the week.  I love some of the recent changes (the LFG tool, ability to transfer your rift shards to other characters if you out level them, cross shard warfronts, etc) but approaching 50 on my warrior it's looking bleak.  My guild has one other person logged in during the past week and it's got 100+ unique members.  Would love to transfer to a more active shard (Guardian) and more active guild.

I think it says a lot about how much people care when they loudly declare how they do not care anymore. 

I think people care about the genre, and it's painful to see another 'failure' to them

Yes but the actual everyday gamer that has managed to get into the beta is glowing and loves it.  It's all I hear in general chat in just about every other MMO I've played.  While you can't discount the very vocal forum gamer (look at wow) TOR is going to be a huge monster hit and will probably rocket to second place without even trying.

I'm looking forward to it but I don't consider it the second coming of MMOs.