I am a pleb, and I know it.
That's the weird bit. So did I.
GasBandit
Staff member
Well, the good news is they say when it comes out it will be free, and they'll find other things to monetize inside it (I assume song packs, maybe avatar cosmetics)
GasBandit
Staff member
I doubt that will happen. If you watch the video, you'll see that scoring is based on pitch accuracy.
However, they do have audio filters to choose from... so those might be monetized.
My recent playthrough of Sleeping Dogs got me in the mood for more open world gangland shenanigans. And you know what game epitomizes "open world gangland shenanigans"? Saints Row: The Third.
Still very much as fun as the last time I played (which, according to the cloud saves, was back in 2013). There are some things to get used to after playing Sleeping Dogs, such as driving on the opposite side of the road, and people actually shooting at me instead of just trying to punch/kick/stab me, as well as re-adjusting to the interface, but all in all it's a blast.
Plus Shaundi is so hot.
Still very much as fun as the last time I played (which, according to the cloud saves, was back in 2013). There are some things to get used to after playing Sleeping Dogs, such as driving on the opposite side of the road, and people actually shooting at me instead of just trying to punch/kick/stab me, as well as re-adjusting to the interface, but all in all it's a blast.
Plus Shaundi is so hot.
GasBandit
Staff member
Fun Shaundi > New Shaundi
Personality-wise, I agree.Fun Shaundi > New Shaundi
Décolletage-wise, I respectfully dissent.
Im confused. What did you do, pee in a bottle between reloads?
GasBandit
Staff member
I just didn't pee. I guess I'm kinda dehydrated.
Afterwards, though, I DID go to the bathroom... sitting on the pot, I closed my eyes, and felt like I was simultaneously spinning both clockwise AND counterclockwise. Normally I would have had to be pretty drunk for that to happen.
I'm going to continue singing the praises of Final Fantasy 14. It's the best MMO I've ever played, and one of the better final fantasy games I've played as well. Character customization is great, there's a surprising amount of story and roleplaying to be had, and overall the game is just a ton of fun.
If anyone plays on the primal data center, hit me up. And if you happen to be in the the malboro server, I've got a sweet free company you can join.
If anyone plays on the primal data center, hit me up. And if you happen to be in the the malboro server, I've got a sweet free company you can join.
I will warn, if you didn't like WoW, you won't like this. It's very wow-like, but as someone who liked wow I find it to be what I wished wow was
To give a more in-depth judgement, FF14 is the most straight forward theme-park style MMO I've ever played but in a good way.
Pros
- You only NEED one character because that character can do every class and trade. You switch between them by changing your active weapon outside combat. Leveling other classes is pretty easy compared to WoW because you get an in-built XP bonus for other classes depending on your highest class.
- Every class feels distinct and has it's own mechanics. Red Mage and Thamaturge/Black Mage are both long range casters, but the "gimmick" of each class gives them a unique role and feel.
- Every class and trade has it's own sidestory that you unlock as you progress.
- An expansive, single player story that's comparable to any Square Enix game. Less so in ARR, but I really love the Heavensward and Stormblood stories.
- A pretty good tutorial on how to play your role in a dungeon. When you hit lvl 15 and the game is getting you ready for your first dungeon, go to the training hall they direct you to and do EVERYTHING. You get some good armor and a super useful ring that gives you bonus XP up to lvl 25 for any combat class.
- Lots of side stuff to do that unlocks as you level. Beast Tribe quests, raids, bonus hard mode dungeons... you even have special side stuff for crafting and gathering classes. They even got a series of comedy questlines that exists for no other reason than they were screwing around with the in-game models one day and realized they could do some wacky shit.
- Fight mechanics that actually mean something. Assuming you have a decent healer to do AOE healing when it's their time, most of your success and failure in big epic fights is tied to your ability to understand and avoid targeted attacks. It's not WoW where you just die because someone didn't do something random.
- An English translation team that actually gives a fuck! Damn near every mission has a punny name. Expect to see references to not just other games from Square Enix, but the Simpsons and even the musical Hamilton.
Downsides
- You wanna DPS? Prepare to (routinely) spend 5-15 minutes waiting for a dungeon pop. This is a problem early on because you will do almost every dungeon as part of the main story. They are changing this in the upcoming Shadowbringers expansion (you can bring your NPC allies along for MSQ dungeon runs instead of waiting for players) but it can be an issue.
- Outside of dungeons, trials, and raids... you're gonna be soloing virtually everything. That's just how the game is designed. That said, it's VERY solo friendly so it's just fine to play by yourself.
- Some parts of the story are just... ugh. Everything post-ARR/pre-Heavensward is THE WORST. It's long and your running around not doing a lot for a good period of time until the story rights itself. This is because THIS part of the story was hastly written when they had to remake the game for 2.0 after 1.0's troubled launch. Grit and get through it though and you'll hit some of the best stuff.
Let me or @Ravenpoe know if you decide to sub after/during your trial and we'll hook you up with a friend code for some nice stuff. I recommend starting on a server with the low pop XP bonus (it'll let you know which those are when you make a character).
GasBandit
Staff member
In yesterday's patch, Vermintide 2 added "weekly challenge" mode, much like KF2 has had for a while (and not to be confused with the weekly quest rewards, which are still present, unchanged, and independent). The aim seems to be to add a little more spice and replayability, which I suppose I can understand that some people need (though I was having fun still and hadn't gotten bored of anything in the slightest).
This week's challenge is "Tzeenchian Twins." Basically, any enemy, when killed, will split into two enemies of the next rank down. So, for example, you kill a gutter runner, it will become two stormvermin, who each will become two clanrats when killed, who each will become two skavenslaves when killed. If you kill a chaos warrior, he'll become two maulers, who each become two marauders, who each become two zealots.
And yes, that applies to bosses/monsters, too... you kill a Spawn of Chaos, it becomes two chaos warriors, and so on and so forth.
It made even just veteran difficulty a LOT more challenging. Suddenly stamina mattered, where it'd never really been a factor when I was playing before, because unlike a conventional horde that collide with each other and have to "queue up" so to speak, the new split enemies spawning right in melee range means they can attack before the backswing of my 2 hander can hit them. So instead of being able to swing my hammer back and forth to mow down people like Sauron in that LOTR scene, I actually have to swing-block-shove-swing-block-shove, which chews through stamina FAST. Playing as Foot-Knight Kruber, I usually in the past have not worried about his special ability (the knockdown charge) very much unless we were facing a boss... but I used it A LOT last night just against regular schmoes as we were getting swarmed. And since even small pairs of stragglers take much longer to deal with, the game hits you with more horde waves because it thinks you are lingering around more. And every "patrol" is now exponentially dangerous.
Definitely added a new twist to the gameplay. I just wish that playing the new mode didn't deny you a quickplay loot bonus (though I understand why it is implemented how it is).
This week's challenge is "Tzeenchian Twins." Basically, any enemy, when killed, will split into two enemies of the next rank down. So, for example, you kill a gutter runner, it will become two stormvermin, who each will become two clanrats when killed, who each will become two skavenslaves when killed. If you kill a chaos warrior, he'll become two maulers, who each become two marauders, who each become two zealots.
And yes, that applies to bosses/monsters, too... you kill a Spawn of Chaos, it becomes two chaos warriors, and so on and so forth.
It made even just veteran difficulty a LOT more challenging. Suddenly stamina mattered, where it'd never really been a factor when I was playing before, because unlike a conventional horde that collide with each other and have to "queue up" so to speak, the new split enemies spawning right in melee range means they can attack before the backswing of my 2 hander can hit them. So instead of being able to swing my hammer back and forth to mow down people like Sauron in that LOTR scene, I actually have to swing-block-shove-swing-block-shove, which chews through stamina FAST. Playing as Foot-Knight Kruber, I usually in the past have not worried about his special ability (the knockdown charge) very much unless we were facing a boss... but I used it A LOT last night just against regular schmoes as we were getting swarmed. And since even small pairs of stragglers take much longer to deal with, the game hits you with more horde waves because it thinks you are lingering around more. And every "patrol" is now exponentially dangerous.
Definitely added a new twist to the gameplay. I just wish that playing the new mode didn't deny you a quickplay loot bonus (though I understand why it is implemented how it is).
Dave
Staff member
Well, since I have to be pretty selective about what I put on my SSD, it's time to take a few things OFF. Like Ring of Elysium. You think Apex Legends hurt PUBG? Hell no, but RoE has been decimated.
For example, right now on Twitch the viewers are as follows:
* Apex Legends - 217K
* Fortnite - 142K
* PUBG - 36.2K
* Ring of Elysium - 690
For comparison, Class Royale has 700. GeoGuessr has 782. Russian Fishing 4 has 668.
I can't really say how many are concurrently playing because they are on different platforms. But the viewership on Twitch shows the interest level. They thought RoE might be a PUBG killer and instead they are dead.
Edit:
More comparable numbers using last 30 days numbers (average concurrent players right now) Numbers are not available for concurrent players for Apex or Fortnite since they are on Origin & Epic, respectively, and don't release numbers.
* PUBG - 451,588 - down 9.28% (516,145 on right now)
* Ring of Elysium - 19,942 - down 21.88% (11,814 on right now)
For example, right now on Twitch the viewers are as follows:
* Apex Legends - 217K
* Fortnite - 142K
* PUBG - 36.2K
* Ring of Elysium - 690
For comparison, Class Royale has 700. GeoGuessr has 782. Russian Fishing 4 has 668.
I can't really say how many are concurrently playing because they are on different platforms. But the viewership on Twitch shows the interest level. They thought RoE might be a PUBG killer and instead they are dead.
Edit:
More comparable numbers using last 30 days numbers (average concurrent players right now) Numbers are not available for concurrent players for Apex or Fortnite since they are on Origin & Epic, respectively, and don't release numbers.
* PUBG - 451,588 - down 9.28% (516,145 on right now)
* Ring of Elysium - 19,942 - down 21.88% (11,814 on right now)
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GasBandit
Staff member
I just picked up a third SSD, 240 gigs for 30 bucks. I'm going to see about making this one a windows 10 drive. Because it's finally getting to the point where some enough things are requiring things that only 10 can do to be irritating to me. The final straw that broke the camel's back was Bigscreen audio streaming.
The way I figure it, at least if Windows 10 has another one of its all-too-common "fucked everything up" moments on an update, I can always switch back to my untouched win 7 install on its drive, which will still be good to go for everything else I want to do.
The way I figure it, at least if Windows 10 has another one of its all-too-common "fucked everything up" moments on an update, I can always switch back to my untouched win 7 install on its drive, which will still be good to go for everything else I want to do.
I prefer that solo play at least be a VIABLE OPTION, none of this “you are gated off from further progress until you can round up at least 2 other people to press these two levers that are a mile apart so you can go through the door.”
—Patrick
In 14, it's basically "Okay, solo for awhile.... okay, dungeon time. Open up the Duty Finder, pick your dungeon, and wait for 3 other randos to do the same." It's bad for DPS but if you play Tank (GLD/PLD or MRD/WAR) or Healer (CON/WHT or SCH) then it's basically instant or a few minutes. None of the dungeons are so hard that you'll feel like you can't do it.
Short answer: yes.
Longer answer: perfectly possible to tank a new dungeon if you've watched the video for it. And they're all linked from wikis: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Copperbell_Mines But if tanking COLD, you're doomed.
I'm not currently playing, but I played for over a year. Good game.
If you ever tanked in WoW it's easy. Most of the early dungeons can be group pulled and tanked in your sleep. And most of the people you get randomly assigned are leveling a third or fourth job and can keep you alive through anything.
Early game tanking:
-Get to 15 and get Shield Throw/Tomahawk before you do your first dungeons.
-Watch boss bars for things you can interrupt with a stun (this becomes less important later on).
- If doing Marauder (I prefer it over Gladiator) learn the range of Overpower, it's your main aggro tool. If Gladiator, do the same for Flash.
- Use your aggro weapon combo until you learn your sustain combo, then use you'll use that 90% of the time.
- Things get tough, use your off cooldowns.
That will basically carry you until Aurum Vale at lvl 47, which is the first boss that WILL kill you unless you know the mechanics. And yes, it's very easy to compare it to WOW tanking. Gladiator/Paladin= Paladin, great party defense and surviability. Marauder/War= AOE tank with great personal midigation and damage. Dark Knight= Death Knight.
I've only played the first two dungeons, but I'd say if you know how to tank in WoW, you'll do fine. Same for healing and dps, they're new mechanics to learn, but the ideas and strategies are the same.
I don't understand.
This isn't heaping endless praise on Blood Bowl.
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It does get harder during Savage and Extreme content. Then you need to know when tankbusters are happening, when to trade off aggro, and the like. But normal stuff is easy.
I started the trial, but TBH MMOs really don't excite me anymore. I burned out from a decade and a half between hardcore EQ and WoW, and games that are basically hopping from quest hub to quest hub and grinding exp and gear just bore me fast. It doesn't matter how pretty it is, they are all basically the same in my mind.
I just want you to know that I’m so jealous you came up with this before I did.
—Patrick