The other really fun YouTube video on FFXIV is, "What your race and gender says about your play style."
Mine was terrifyingly spot-on:
Female au ra: "These are the nicest, sweetest players in the game. I've never met a female au ra I didn't immediately like, and they're always willing to chat. On the other hand, for whatever reason female au ras are the first to die in any raid, so you really can't do a raid without having to step over a dead female au ra somewhere on the battlefield."
Which is why if the tank mechanics for a new raid are too complex I switch to Dancer for the mobility. We had a near-wipe in one 24-person raid where the last 4 people standing were two of the tanks, a machinist, and a dancer. And yet we still managed to clear the boss.
EDIT: Race, gender, nudity. It all goes hand-in-hand.
Blue mage was a blast when it first came out, but the whole, "Your damage doesn't scale with level," has pretty much ruined it for me because any blue mage you meet in the wild is almost automatically an exploitative jerk of the worst kind.
Remember the YoKai event where you were supposed to do all the really low-level fates? How many of those fates did you fail because a single blue mage showed up, cast one spell, killed everything, and ended the fate before you could get credit for it?
My experiences like that numbered over a dozen.
Remember the YoKai event where you were supposed to do all the really low-level fates? How many of those fates did you fail because a single blue mage showed up, cast one spell, killed everything, and ended the fate before you could get credit for it?
My experiences like that numbered over a dozen.
They were actually super helpful for mine. The two or three I kept running into would show up, sync, stand around in the middle of the crowd as people flew in, then start vaccuuming everything into one area for people to beat up.
They were actually super helpful for mine. The two or three I kept running into would show up, sync, stand around in the middle of the crowd as people flew in, then start vaccuuming everything into one area for people to beat up.Remember the YoKai event where you were supposed to do all the really low-level fates? How many of those fates did you fail because a single blue mage showed up, cast one spell, killed everything, and ended the fate before you could get credit for it?
My experiences like that numbered over a dozen.
For me it was about a 75/25 mix of the helpful ones and the horrible ones. And you remember the horrible ones more.
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The other really fun YouTube video on FFXIV is, "What your race and gender says about your play style."
Mine was terrifyingly spot-on:
Female au ra: "These are the nicest, sweetest players in the game. I've never met a female au ra I didn't immediately like, and they're always willing to chat. On the other hand, for whatever reason female au ras are the first to die in any raid, so you really can't do a raid without having to step over a dead female au ra somewhere on the battlefield."
Look, Ascian Prime's stupid double-spell goes a lot faster than you remember it doing.
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The other really fun YouTube video on FFXIV is, "What your race and gender says about your play style."
Mine was terrifyingly spot-on:
Female au ra: "These are the nicest, sweetest players in the game. I've never met a female au ra I didn't immediately like, and they're always willing to chat. On the other hand, for whatever reason female au ras are the first to die in any raid, so you really can't do a raid without having to step over a dead female au ra somewhere on the battlefield."
Which is why if the tank mechanics for a new raid are too complex I switch to Dancer for the mobility. We had a near-wipe in one 24-person raid where the last 4 people standing were two of the tanks, a machinist, and a dancer. And yet we still managed to clear the boss.
EDIT: Race, gender, nudity. It all goes hand-in-hand.
You might be taking the concept of the stripperific outfit a bit too much.
Think of the stats!
Why is Impus Minor screaming?You might as well ask, "Why does Impus Major sing at the top of his lungs every time he emerges from WhimseyShire?"
It is the nature of the universe.
But to be more specific, he is greatly enthusiastic about his online gaming, and his "hyena-like cackling" can be heard half a block away. He yells about everything that's happening at the top of his lungs. I would be horrifically embarrassed by it all, except every single neighbor I've talked to says they appreciate it.
Apparently in the past the noise of a town crier was reassurance to the huddled masses that all was well in the world. These days it's a screaming gamer.
And I'm not exaggerating for once: One neighbor came down with crippling clinical anxiety during COVID, and they insist that if it hadn't been for Impus Minor's joyous screams every night during lockdown they might not be here today.
So I let him scream.
So close, and yet so different.
I do not scream while gaming. I do have a case of Game Rage (TM), but I don't scream - I curse the designers under my breath, stride between my room, kitchen, and bathroom frustrated, but I don't scream.
I don't game with others online.
...man my phone messed up and posted that again.
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O good. General Election, at last.
You might be taking the concept of the stripperific outfit a bit too much.The other really fun YouTube video on FFXIV is, "What your race and gender says about your play style."
Mine was terrifyingly spot-on:
Female au ra: "These are the nicest, sweetest players in the game. I've never met a female au ra I didn't immediately like, and they're always willing to chat. On the other hand, for whatever reason female au ras are the first to die in any raid, so you really can't do a raid without having to step over a dead female au ra somewhere on the battlefield."
Which is why if the tank mechanics for a new raid are too complex I switch to Dancer for the mobility. We had a near-wipe in one 24-person raid where the last 4 people standing were two of the tanks, a machinist, and a dancer. And yet we still managed to clear the boss.
EDIT: Race, gender, nudity. It all goes hand-in-hand.
My outfits actually run the gamut. The gear I have for Reaper, Monk, Warrior, and White Mage of all things is pretty showy. Meanwhile Dark Knight, Paladin, Sage, Astrologian, Red Mage, Blue Mage, and Ninja has me covered from neck to feet.
Everything else is in the middle - Scholar and Summoner look ... well, scholarly, with a white suit-jacket and boots paired with a short skirt. Samurai has the same, but with a black jacket that's lower-cut. And then Machinist is just a white tank-top, brown leather jacket, and blue jeans :D
Think of the stats!
Thanks to the glamour system stats don't matter! You can save any appearance you find that you like and slap it on any piece of armor/clothing, as long as the armor you're wearing is the same level or higher and equippable by the same class/es.
A lot of the best-looking gear is statless and level-1 equip pretty much solely for this reason.
You might be taking the concept of the stripperific outfit a bit too much.My outfits actually run the gamut. The gear I have for Reaper, Monk, Warrior, and White Mage of all things is pretty showy. Meanwhile Dark Knight, Paladin, Sage, Astrologian, Red Mage, Blue Mage, and Ninja has me covered from neck to feet.
Everything else is in the middle - Scholar and Summoner look ... well, scholarly, with a white suit-jacket and boots paired with a short skirt. Samurai has the same, but with a black jacket that's lower-cut. And then Machinist is just a white tank-top, brown leather jacket, and blue jeans :D
Everyone agrees FFXIV has the best glamours of any MMORPG, period.
Personally, my character's pretty much eternally in a modest skirt. Because if I wear skirts in public even around here I'll get stares and I'm sure I would flash way too many people. In-game skirts almost behave themselves epically well, so you'll rarely see my toon in anything else.
EDIT: And considering the fashion atrocities foisted on women over the millennia, I'll cede the skirt to them. I could wear a kilt, but they invite conversations with strangers, which I definitely don't want.
EDIT 2: My favorite example is all the Neo-Ishgardian tops. Fashionwise they're amazing. Except the attached "skirt" is downright scandalous. So I sneak the Collegiate Skirt under the top and dye it to match. Voila! Modesty!
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Sweats and potato sack shirt FTW
"Are you dressed or are you in pajamas?"
"yes"
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In California it's illegal to own native fauna as pets (for good reason -- imagine someone popularizing the black bear as a pet and watching 40 million people trying to capture one), so we're doing the next best thing: Slowly training the local crows to trust us.
Corvids are smart birds. As I left food out, they quickly learned that I was the food provider. As did the local raccoons, skunks, jays, squirrels, and neighborhood cats, but meh. Purina Cat Chow is cheap.
Next they learned that if I didn't see them they didn't get fed. So now if they're hungry they fly into the back yard and perch over me. I like that I can tell how hungry they are by how aggressively they show up. They're obviously not depending on me for food (which makes me happy -- I have no idea whether cat chow is nutritionally complete for crows), but they like the treats.
Now I've got one who'll show up at the back door if I'm washing dishes in the morning to say, "Hey, hoo-man! Food!", and a second one who's learned that cawing his brains out gets him nothing (we also have falcons, so crows screaming their brains out is a near-daily occurrence), but a single well-articulated caw in the back gets him food.
And the smarter ones are getting "real" food instead of cat chow: The wet food from the day before, any other scraps, etc.
The next step'll be to get one to come within 3' of me for extra noms. The neighbor around the corner has a group that hangs out on her porch (which is what inspired us in the first place), so I want them comfortable enough to hang out around me.
"What about the Cranky Calico and the Fluffernutter, you monster!" you exclaim.
For whatever reason, the Calico doesn't go for crows. I guess they're above the size limit for what she considers edible. She watches them, but she doesn't crouch or crackle or charge them. The Fluffernutter ignores them. Life is too good to be bothered hunting for food.
Sweats and potato sack shirt FTW
"Are you dressed or are you in pajamas?"
"yes"
My waistline-to-hips ratio and married status precludes sweats. GothBard would permit a tasteful skirt. I tried sweats for a couple of months and was finally informed they were unacceptable.
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(And Orthos, if you ever need extra players for dungeons you can PM me and I'll give you my player info.)Mine's in my profile!
Ugh. We're on different data centers. I believe that means that never the twain shall meet. I'm on Primal/Brynhildr.
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Unforeseen downside of losing 4 employees in 3 weeks-- I'm now the smallest guy in the company, which means I have to sit in the middle seat in the truck.
(And Orthos, if you ever need extra players for dungeons you can PM me and I'll give you my player info.)Mine's in my profile!Ugh. We're on different data centers. I believe that means that never the twain shall meet. I'm on Primal/Brynhildr.
Alas! :(
EDIT: And considering the fashion atrocities foisted on women over the millennia, I'll cede the skirt to them. I could wear a kilt, but they invite conversations with strangers, which I definitely don't want.
I actually own two kilts, and wear them semi-regularly in the summer when it's warm enough. Bought them on an impulse a couple years ago and they're really comfortable if it's not too cold.
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The barter system in action:
Built some compost bins and raised beds for Woodraven's brother out of scrap materials from work in exchange for some specialty lumber. Traded specialty lumber to my dad for 40 pounds of elk meat. Brought some of the meat to a buddy in the next town over who turned it into jerky, and we split it 50/50. That's how I like my world to work.
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I could wear a kilt, but they invite conversations with strangers, which I definitely don't want.
A reasonably common one-liner on the Irish-American side of my family: "The Irish invented the kilt and the bagpipes, but the Scots haven't gotten the joke yet."
Wolfs hanging in a meadow chewing on last weeks leg o critter.
Crows fly out of a tree and land around him in a circle.
Wolf in back goes up and nips his tail. They all take off with a lot of flapping of wings.
Crow in front grabs the meat and they all fly off to share it.
In D&D terms, they synched their inits, had two aids for armor class in back and 2 assists on a pick pocket in front...
I could wear a kilt, but they invite conversations with strangers, which I definitely don't want.A reasonably common one-liner on the Irish-American side of my family: "The Irish invented the kilt and the bagpipes, but the Scots haven't gotten the joke yet."
The Scots were originally from Ireland (so far as I'm aware - there might be more recent research complicating matters). Telling this to a fervent Rangers supporter late on Saturday night may not be a good idea, though...
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My waistline-to-hips ratio and married status precludes sweats. GothBard would permit a tasteful skirt. I tried sweats for a couple of months and was finally informed they were unacceptable.Sweats and potato sack shirt FTW
"Are you dressed or are you in pajamas?"
"yes"
Please tell me it was a hand written cursive memo.
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Please tell me it was a hand written cursive memo.My waistline-to-hips ratio and married status precludes sweats. GothBard would permit a tasteful skirt. I tried sweats for a couple of months and was finally informed they were unacceptable.Sweats and potato sack shirt FTW
"Are you dressed or are you in pajamas?"
"yes"
A strongly worded letter?
It does get frustrating when you become so jaded that you mistrust anything you're told, but at this point I have to believe my utility companies are intentionally lying to me.
A few years ago I read an article in Scientific American describing psychological studies in consumer habits. The conclusion was, "The best way to change consumer behavior is to compare them to their peers. People have a strong tendency to want to outperform their neighbors."
Both PG&E (gas and electric) and EBMUD (water) took this to heart, and every quarter I get a report on how my usage compares to "similar households".
And of course on every single report I'm doing significantly worse than all my peers.
I was fairly convinced that they were out-and-out lying to me, but last week along came EBMUD's report that I'm using more than twice as much water as "similar" households.
Hmm...
(1) We don't flush #1s. We don't water. We don't run the dishwasher nor the washing machine every day. The only way we could be more conservative would be to take fewer or shorter showers.
(2) Our per-person use is consistently under the "55 gallons per person per day" allotted for extreme drought conditions.
And yet somehow, "normal" households use half as much as we do.
Congratulations, EBMUD. You have 100% convinced me that you're lying to me.
EDIT: The Alameda County water bureau came to my rescue: The average household in Alameda County uses 399 gallons per day. So somehow in my neighborhood the 4-person households use 33% as much as average. Wow! Those are some households!
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Everyone agrees FFXIV has the best glamours of any MMORPG, period.
Personally, my character's pretty much eternally in a modest skirt. Because if I wear skirts in public even around here I'll get stares and I'm sure I would flash way too many people. In-game skirts almost behave themselves epically well, so you'll rarely see my toon in anything else.
EDIT: And considering the fashion atrocities foisted on women over the millennia, I'll cede the skirt to them. I could wear a kilt, but they invite conversations with strangers, which I definitely don't want.
Dare I ask what your idea of a modest skirt is, or what you get up to that you’d be worried about, um, unnecessary … exposure?
Not that I’m philosophically opposed to a bit of thigh-flashing, as Aristotle (iirc) infamously inveighed against in condemning the scandalous freedom of Spartan women, but it’s not really my style. Then again, having imbibed too much of the pre-Raphaelites and Anne of Green Gables at an impressionable age, I may not be a very representative young(-ish) lady. My kid brother giving me up as hopelessly schoolmarmish is one thing, but my minister mum thinking I might incline too much to old-fashioned or church picnic styles does sometimes give me pause. :)
Anyway, I wouldn’t climb a tree in some of my favourite short-skirted dresses unless the weather permits of leggings underneath, but that’s about it.
On a tangential note, I have a trip to Philadelphia to plan for early next year, and I'll have to see if I can work in a detour to the fashion museum at Shippensburg. They have some lovely pieces (that would make my brother roll his eyes at me).
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Dare I ask what your idea of a modest skirt is, or what you get up to that you’d be worried about, um, unnecessary … exposure?
Not that I’m philosophically opposed to a bit of thigh-flashing, as Aristotle (iirc) infamously inveighed against in condemning the scandalous freedom of Spartan women, but it’s not really my style. Then again, having imbibed too much of the pre-Raphaelites and Anne of Green Gables at an impressionable age, I may not be a very representative young(-ish) lady. My kid brother giving me up as hopelessly schoolmarmish is one thing, but my minister mum thinking I might incline too much to old-fashioned or church picnic styles does sometimes give me pause. :)
Anyway, I wouldn’t climb a tree in some of my favourite short-skirted dresses unless the weather permits of leggings underneath, but that’s about it.
On a tangential note, I have a trip to Philadelphia to plan for early next year, and I'll have to see if I can work in a detour to the fashion museum at Shippensburg. They have some lovely pieces (that would make my brother roll his eyes at me).
It's not especially modest: Anything that drops to just above the knee is fine. If there's "full coverage" underneath, going to mid-thigh is fine. For example, in FFXIV both the Collegiate Skirt and the Quaintrelle's Ruffled Skirt stop mid-thigh. But the Collegiate Skirt has built-in shorts and the Quaintrelle's Ruffled Skirt has built-in hot pants so you're not flashing large portions of your nether regions whenever you bend over to pick something up. The aforementioned Neo-Ishgardian gear has a wide-open split going to just above the hips so you're showing off whatever you happen to have on underneath.
A significant percentage of players like to explore the world in butt thongs. Not me.
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Proof that humans are genetically predisposed to cafés:
The morning crow food is whatever the cats didn't eat the previous day. I dump it in a bowl and put it in the yard.
And yes, the moment the cats are out they make a beeline for that bowl and wolf down all the food they refused the day before. Because outdoor food tastes better.
(OK, in the Cranky Calico's case it may just be because it pisses off the crows so much that she forces herself to eat it just to be hateful.)
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At a con. Walking passed the bus stop to hit the hotel
Someones laundry bag riiiiIIIIIIIIps dumping clothes everywhere
"well (#$*#$ what now?"
The ONE time I leave my duct tape in the geek bag and leave that at the con...
Alright plan b. Take one of my unused spare shirts from the backpack. Stuff laundry into it. Here you go, new bag.
At a con. Walking passed the bus stop to hit the hotel
Someones laundry bag riiiiIIIIIIIIps dumping clothes everywhere
"well (#$*#$ what now?"
The ONE time I leave my duct tape in the geek bag and leave that at the con...
Alright plan b. Take one of my unused spare shirts from the backpack. Stuff laundry into it. Here you go, new bag.
Which Con are you at?
Which Con are you at?
that was a long time ago sorry. It was at Council of five nations. the potato sack shirt reminded me of the incident.
I'm running more or less on stream of consciousness and not much else these days.
Hey Folks. Long time no see. ^_^
Aah! The triannual phoenix flyby!
Nice to see you!
Funny coincidence you peek now.
Earlier today, I considered writing a post on facebook that we (the gaming community/designers) might consider pushing a Creative Commons/No AI license, or something like that, and you were on a list of creators who I would tag along with Crystal, Owen, and others.
I didn't write the post in the end, though.
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Funny coincidence you peek now.
Earlier today, I considered writing a post on facebook that we (the gaming community/designers) might consider pushing a Creative Commons/No AI license, or something like that, and you were on a list of creators who I would tag along with Crystal, Owen, and others.
I didn't write the post in the end, though.
Oh yeah f*ck AI, honestly. Plagiarism machines, every last one of them.
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AI doesn't frighten me nearly as much as the depth to which corporations will sink in the name of AI.
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It's really the dishonesty of it all that really bugs me. It's use in art is largely atrocious. It's practical uses could be interesting if they were at all honest about it's capabilities and were ethical in the sourcing of their models, but largely they are not either. And it's frustrating being in technology watching companies throw money at a glorified database query that is often enough wrong with authority.
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Ah, it's good to have Shiro and GothBard back at the FFXIV guild, and their honesty is refreshing.
NobodysHome: I'd rather be napping, but I made 3/4 million just logging in this afternoon, so all Malena's crafting fans need their fill.
GothBard: You know I'm just going to sponge off you this entire game, right? I ain't craftin' nothin'.
NH: Yep.
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It's really the dishonesty of it all that really bugs me. It's use in art is largely atrocious. It's practical uses could be interesting if they were at all honest about it's capabilities and were ethical in the sourcing of their models, but largely they are not either. And it's frustrating being in technology watching companies throw money at a glorified database query that is often enough wrong with authority.
I write technical implementation training for a living. The moment ChatGPT came out some of my colleagues immediately tested it: "Tell me how to perform an initial implementation of Global Megacorporation's personnel management software."
The best I can say of Chat GPT's efforts was that none of them would have fully bricked the application. But none of it was even close to correct, either. And it was stated with absolute authority, as you say.
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Hey Folks. Long time no see. ^_^
Banner, is that you?! So much has changed, since last we talked! I lost my hammer, like last week, so that's still fresh! But I got a new one! And then a 2nd one just because.
How are you and Crystal doing? Still crushing it I hope! She is still my favorite adventure path director!
As far as gaming, I mostly game offline or on Elden Ring, which has a delightful community.
Otherwise if I'm gaming online I like as much chaos as possible, that includes a super toxic fanbase. Probably because I have no illusions about my skill so I'm just there to have fun and tell as many 12 year olds what it's like banging their mom and blow s$@! up.
Speaking of you playing things, cap, you might want to check something called Nioh. It's a souls-like game taking place in XVI/XVII century Japan.
I am playing Nioh 2 which I got from Humble Bundle (or H. Choice, not sure).
It's an excellent, very challenging, and superbly frustrating game that I am finishing (no, really, I am in the final mission of the third DLC).
And it is one of the few games that tempt me with new game plus, because I consider mastering more weapons and I am almost finished. It's unnatural! It's abominable!
...
Ok, ok, I actually started new game plus at second difficulty level (Dream of Strong) to get me some gear suitable for playing the three DLCs (because they were released when the playerbase was already killing NG+ the devs decided the DLCs on first difficulty level - Dream Of Samurai - should be harder than the Strong level).
At the same time, I am getting tired after 188+ hours of play.
To stress how fascinating, if deeply frustrating game it is, it makes me consider installing Dark Souls 2 and giving it another try....
What really I'd like to get, though, is a decent sale on Elden Ring which seems to be much more appealing to me than Dark Souls, which I do remember to have a messed up controls on PC.
Of course, captain yesterday might end hating it for being neither Elden Rings nor Ghost Of Tsushima.
I do have Nioh and Nioh 2 remastered for the PS 5 but I didn't play too much before the divorce (and I got an Xbox).
I tried Dark Souls 3 after playing Elden Ring and couldn't do it. The lack of a dedicated jump button was too much for me to deal with.
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How are you and Crystal doing? Still crushing it I hope! She is still my favorite adventure path director!
Yeah, I mean I am being paid a ridiculous amount of money as a swarm lead for a company that is about as progressive as a fortune 500 company can be. Writing technical docs, mentoring people, helping move stuff forward. It's a good deal.
Crystal is writing graphic novels these days and working a day job. Her Wikipedia entry is missing some stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/Cheer-Up-Pompoms-Crystal-Frasier/dp/1620109557/ref=s r_1_1
I do have Nioh and Nioh 2 remastered for the PS 5 but I didn't play too much before the divorce (and I got an Xbox).
I tried Dark Souls 3 after playing Elden Ring and couldn't do it. The lack of a dedicated jump button was too much for me to deal with.
I quit and uninstalled DS3 after 42 minutes of butting my head in frustration against the first boss.
Now I take a break from butting my head in frustration against Nioh 2's final boss. Ugh.