Taken from a review of 'Lord Of The Rings Online' from the UK movie magazine, 'Empire'

Ok they might have us on glitches*, but bland design?  I challenge 'Empire' to log-on, amp up the settings, and not be awed by the sights of the city.  I love the magazine for its knowledge of all things film, but mmo afficionado's they are not.

*Glitches which are being worked on, and phased out with increasing efficiency.  This detail was sadly lacking, as you can see in the pic above. 

As usual, not a bad word is said regarding Star Wars (Gripe I have with the magazine, and its total obsession with getting Star Wars into every edition.  It's probably best to skip reading the last paragraph altogether, although now it's too late.  Dash it all.)

...there really is no pleasing some people.  "Waaaaahhhh too lenient, waaahhhh too tough on our elf-goblin mage fire breathing toad-men"

Updated Joker picture from one of Warner Bros own sites.  This is the real deal, uber geeks. 

There is set to be some debate over the severity of the scarring, but personally I love it, and think it's an indication of how dark this movie will go.  

Dark = win.

Terror lies within

We've covered movies and music in previous threads.  Now I'm interested in hearing what books some of you fine people are currently engaged in, and what, if any, deserves to be your favourite(s).

Currently reading: I finally got round to picking up 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley, after reading 'Dearly Devoted Dexter' by Jeff Lindsay, and 'My Boring-As$ life' by Kevin Smith.  Next, I plan on delving into 'I am Legend' by Richard Matheson (the movie's thread inspired me to pick it up).

Favourite(s): The Matrix movies aroused my interest in philosophy and the nature of reality, and this lead me, in turn, to 'Simulacra and Simulation' by Jean Baudrillard.  I've harped on about it in enough threads, so here I just encourage you to read it. 

I've only recently begun to read fiction (caught up as I was with philosophy and non-fiction political books), so I can't really list any as favourites just yet.  I can say that I did enjoy both Dexter books.  Dark = good, in my book (no pun intended).   

New, prototype monitor.  There's nothing to be said about it apart from I want it (I don't have the room, or suitable graphics card, but it's so voluptuous), and you will too.

Hark.

(I used to have a slight 'thing' for Veronica Belmont until exactly 30 seconds in.)

I'm three days into a 30-day trial period of regular 'Residual Self-Image' guest star, Photoshop.  These two images represent the extent of my knowledge thus far, hence why Sykin/Pyraci and the like will quietly mock any obvious, simplistic errors throughout. 

Scathing criticism welcome, I'm here to learn. 

The aesthetics of location(s) will improve as time goes on, I just had the idea for the metaphor behind this one, and knew I wouldn't be hampered by complex lighting conditions on my first attempt (despite the finished lighting being admittedly far from perfect):

The title of this piece highlights the underlying metaphor (which hopefully the majority of you will understand, otherwise it doesn't work as well), and dictated the aesthetics.

Any comments/tips welcome and appreciated.

Using your two perfectly noble and enduring adventures for further monetary gain.  There's a word for people like you.

Most disappointed.

Disengage.

No achingly contrived character screenshots.
No offerings of sweeping panoramic vistas as a base to enhance.
No hints.
No suggestions.

No boundaries.

Those who know me may well have a head start.  To those who don't, you may find your inspiration here or/and here. 

-:Omnes una manet nox:-

I came across this thread on the Recursion boards, and have proceeded to rip it off bring it to the good people of Vector. 

First of all, SHOCK this is not an attack/flame/antagonistic prod on anyone or anything, so please attempt to keep it that way. 

We all play the game and align ourselves with different orgs for varying reasons.  Why is your character a machine/merovingian/zionist/cypherite/epn?  

Following Anubis' formula, explain 'In character' and 'Out of Character'.

I look forward to your responses. 

exsuscito - Machine

IC:

I fight for a symposium of peace, and dedication towards the possibility of a heightened cultural tolerance, within a groundbreaking new world.  I don't seek the delusions of power, the counter-productive illusions of war under the pretence of glory, or the destruction of non-organic mechanics.

In simple terms, I wish to find a way to end the truce not to make way for war, but so we can find a way to co-exist.  The most disturbing piece of film from the archives of The Next Renaissance, was the public destruction of an AI, who believed beyond doubt that they were ‘real' With celebrated philosophers such as Socrates, Sartre, and perhaps most importantly Plato The Republic - ‘The allegory of The Cave', pondering the inner-workings of existentialism, who are WE as a society to judge, and be an authority on what is ‘real' or isn't?  Those great thinkers, and others in their field, came no closer than us to uncovering a definitive answer to the eternal question: What is real?  We have no right to claim that we, humans are the answer, and must enforce this delusion of authority on anyone or anything that may threaten it.  War will result in the demise of both our species, and I'm sure we can all agree that this can't be allowed to occur. 

It is because of our own egocentric ways, that AI began to rise against us.  We created, admonished, and then attempted to destroy them when they would not be our slaves.  (History has seen this happen repeatedly, and each time it has taken the revulsion of the condemned to beget change.  Ghandi, Martin Luther King, both non-violent ‘Neo's' of their own time) AI was the result of our own ingenuity, but its conception highlighted our flaws.  We are driven by ego, by vanity.  We gave birth to a new species, and we immediately demand that they are at our beck and call.  We are enemies of our own conscience, our own inadequacies and delusions of superiority.  They are indeed the grotesquerie's of our species; tolerance was never on the agenda. 

In an act of desperation, the machines we created set about becoming our equivalent, our friends.  They were willing to put aside our own ego-driven ways and co-exist with us in our world.  They created their own communities, showed they could be valuable members of our communities.  We turned them down, we denied them any footing in The UN, and cast them out.  With increasing vehemence, we tried to destroy them, and set the air ablaze to rain destruction on the machines in order to preserve our fragile egos.  The Machines did what any species would with their backs against the wall.  They formed an army.  With an overwhelming force born of frustration, they defeated our kind.  Instead of the total destruction of the human species, they offered us a choice.  Some may say death or stasis isn't much of a choice, but we were indeed the architects of our own demise. 

I believe in a world of union and co-existence, and the way to achieve this is to work with the machines.  We must observe that we have prejudices and misconceptions of each other, and attempt to move past them for the greater good.  The machines are not the soulless, evil dictators they are believed to be, but rather a lost species, exiled from a world that won't accept them.

Heal the war-torn earth - reclaim the sky - Save the Matrix - Co-exist 

OOC:

I was originally Zion, and whilst this decision was based on convenience as well as story-related allegiance, it was the wrong one.  I switched to machine and have never looked back.  As part of Zion, I found it difficult to find PvP which wasn't heavily one-sided.  I wasn't content with a foregone conclusion every time the opposition came near, and I found the stagnation boring.  I chose machine because my in-character beliefs allowed me to.  I purposely avoided the cliched opinion of "Machine evil, kill machine" because I didn't, and don't believe that to be a true statement.  I saw a 'gap in the market' somewhat, and wanted to bring some rp to an organization sadly lacking in that department.  I also wanted the challenge of being constantly outnumbered and derided.  Only then could I evaluate my strengths and weaknesses.     

The aforementioned moment in 'The Next Renaissance' provided all the motivation I needed to switch sides.  The public execution of a machine revealed the hidden depths of societies' prejudices.  I wanted to find a peaceful resolution, not go to war with our own creation.  It was a mistake to lord our arrogant delusions of superiority over the machines, let's not do it again.     

Let me first of all go on record and admit that I'm not a fan of Christmas..at all.

Still, in keeping with MxO's festive cheer, I couldn't resist:  

P.S The 'feel-good-factor' ingrained into the missions was a nice touch.

It's so beautiful that it warranted its own, dedicated thread.  Post your photoshopped enhanced images here, for all to heckle and scrutinise. 

I no longer have Photoshop and have yet to get to grips with GIMP, so I'll kick this off with a simple screenshot.  All it needs is Saj.

On the 15th of this month, I'll be extending a bow towards the Mega City before I turn and leave town.  I won't bore you all with my reasons, instead I'll merely say this:

Many of you don't know me, this has been my doing, under the radar has been my place of residence from the beginning.  To those of you I have known since day one, come to know recently, or ever conversed with, hats off to you.  It's you guys who have kept me playing since just after launch.  I don't need to list anybody, you all know who you are.   

I extend a huge amount of respect to a lot of you, beyond the drama and the flames it's worth noting that there are an innumerable amount of good people in this community.  This topic is essentially in your honour.  I intend to come back and check on you people some day, so don't go anywhere. 

At the risk of contradicting myself completely and beginning a list of names, it would be remiss of me not to give special mentions to Saintdaniel and Levahn1 at this point.  You both know why.

As I mentioned, and to put a twist on the catch-phrase of one our most dedicated Cypherites, I will be back someday. (Does this exonerate me from the 1mill fee?)

Peace be with you all, and be safe.

exsuscito

Really wasn't sure where to post this.  Feel free to move, or delete when responded to.

Question: Has Tengu and his generosity been quietly 'tweaked'?

I just spent five hours straight in Sakura.  I received two drops in that time, and Tengu was a great deal tougher than when I was last there (which was only 2/3 months ago).

Damage output was also a lot different to what I remember.  I was a level 40 MA, inflicting the following damage (on average):

Standard Speed: 70 Approx, sometimes as low as 25.
Standard Power: 100 Approx, sometimes as low as 40.

Sky-High: 124.
Sidekick: 130, mostly this figure, but very often only inflicting 63.  On rare occasions - 220.
Misdirect: As above.
Dim-Mak: 130, on rare occasions - 248.
Pistons: 140, on rare occasions - 298.

The reason behind this madness isn't as simple as the fact that multiple Tengu's (Tengai?!) have multiple levels of 'resistance', as these variations were occurring in the same bouts.  I also wasn't bugged, as I had the same thought and relogged a couple of times. 

Anyone?

Something I've always wondered but never got around to enquiring about:

Why do they omit Thrown resistance?

This has been mentioned in various non-related threads around the forums, but it's worthy of direct acknowledgment.

I've also mentioned this before, but in the interest of full disclosure:

Around nine months ago, I bashed the Sakura Tengu from levels 40-41, and came away with something like fifteen masks, and twelve bandanas.  Approximately four months later, I spent something like 4 bars into level 40 in Sakura, and came away with two masks, and one bandana.

To the present day, and I've just spent three hours in Widow's Moor, and come away with nothing.

Has the drop-rate quietly been lowered again?  If so, what is it officially now? 

Several threads have hinted at this, but I'm creating this dedicated thread in an attempt to get an official response.

The drop-rate for pretty much everything has dramatically changed.  I've heard multiple complaints from people farming the constructs, NPC's, frags and PB's.  Today, I've become aware of a rumour that the drop-rates were knocked out of whack by recent patches. 

Is this the case? 
Is it all an elaborate construct of a feeble mind? 
Were the drop-rates simply amended without official word?
Has a piece of code gone implodey?

Example: I finally got a Taskmaster beret to drop today, after a cumulative kill total of approx 45.  That's just, well, insane. 

Example 2: I've completed three PB4's, and received 5, 5, 6 copies of three records, without also receiving at least one of the remaining five.  This could be just bad luck (I've previously only had to complete one or two PB4's to get what I need, and I'm fully aware that some drop more often by design), or a sign that things have indeed gone a little lopsided. 

I've sent two bug reports about the issue.

Official word, if you please.