Professor Video Games

Uh, I totally got a Crux. But it was like 3am for you, so I'd understand you tuning out a bit at the end there. I saved off a video of our successful attempt, plus the weird glitches where the crystal didn't load in and where the Gatekeeper decided to rush us, mainly because I kinda like messing with the Sharefactory app. So feel free to watch if you wanna see some pro swordbearer moves (except the part where I'm killed). Sadly I don't have it set to save voice chat so you can't hear what JonCole sounds like after a few margaritas or me squealing when the Crux dropped.

Just got finished watching all the Contradiction videos they put up. Watching them transition from being totally dismissive to completely engrossed was just the best.

Yeah I'll join in. Had plans for tonight but am sidelined with a stomach bug. What better cure for that than video games?

Yeah I'm well aware of Crota's stinginess and I don't have it in me to aggressively farm so I'm not going to go nuts trying to get the thing, but it's definitely an incentive to run HM Crota. I've had pretty good luck with the VoG drops at least. The only thing I'm missing from it is the Praetorian Foil, which I don't really care much about getting so I just run it for fun at this point, at least until I get an alt leveled and want some Heavy Ammo boots. I wonder how the Crota AR will be post-buff. The perk to blind wizards sounds cool and I'd love for it to be useful in the Hive PoE levels.

The thing with Black Hammer was that it was basically an ultra Ice Breaker vs bosses. The perk was that landing three precision shots refilled the magazine. When you are up against a mostly stationary boss, this translates to infinite sniper ammo with no reloading required. Now you still get the no reloads benefit, but the refilled magazine bullets come from your ammo store. Probably still a useful weapon vs bosses but not amazing like it was (I wish I had one). What I really want to get my hands on is a Necrochasm. Thrall explosion on every precision kill? Time to start hitting HM Crota every week...

I don't think they say when the rebalancing patch will hit. Go ahead and read their update on it if you're interested. It's pretty interesting and there's a ton of changes coming. AR buffs, HC nerfs, and a bunch of weapon specific tweaks. It sounds promising to me, but it always takes time for the real impact of these changes to emerge once they're released. One thing that seems clear from it is they don't intend to make year one weapons obsolete when Taken King comes out, which some people had been speculating might happen. https://www.bungie.net/7_Destiny-Weapon-Tuning-20/en/News/News?aid=13147

He says of his state-of-the-art autonomous killing machine.

I need to knock out a sub-35 PoE first so I can get past the first step on the Elder Cipher (didn't play at all last week). I'd rather not squander the progress I could get from a Skolas kill. I'm not a fan of small arms in general. I want to use all of my guns! Oh! I've been trying out bumper-jumper my last few play sessions. Aside from popping off my super on accident now and then (it's remapped to x), I kinda like it! It will take a while to rework that muscle memory though...

Activision, a staggeringly huge budget, and big talk/hype is a recipe for hating. Agree that it's fascinating. Twig man, console FPS controls just take getting used to. It's just one of those things that takes Patience and Time (a little Destiny humor there for ya guys).

This still exists and they are actually expanding it.

A fun one: http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/11/technology/uber-fake-ride-requests-lyft/index.html

Yes! It was a total Dan moment. And I see what you other guys are saying, but I just found his comments frustrating.

I think from a business model perspective, both companies are equally shady ("disrupt" ie sidestep expensive regulations and employee benefits), but Uber seems to be run by total amoral shitheads well above and beyond what I've heard about Lyft (they don't use the mustaches anymore btw). Personally, the taxi service in my city is/was total garbage so having a good alternative has been a godsend. I've used both services and never had a driver complain about one or the other, but that's totally anecdotal obviously.

There was a point in the latest Beastcast where they talked about gaming mice and Alex was at his absolute worst. Like, I totally get the apprehension about any marketing with "gaming" or "gamer" attached to it, but he was so negative and unwilling to listen to the other guys that it really killed the entire discussion. Boo.

Speaking of controls, does anyone use a non-default setup? I've always thought about switching to bumper-jumper, or whatever it's called now, so I'd be able to jump without moving my thumbs of the sticks, but I'm afraid rewiring my brain for that might result in a stroke.

The radical change will be when Destiny 2 comes out and everyone moves on. Very curious to see how that whole thing will be handled. I've got a Husk that I got pretty early on but is maybe 1/3rd of the way there. I'm slowly leveling up an alt right now, and just for fun I plan on using the Husk for the Hive missions as I come across them, but I'm sure not planning on getting a Nechrochasm anytime soon. Not only is the Crux a pretty rare drop, but the Nechrochasm isn't a great gun. Maybe they'll buff it someday?

For those that didn't join our the100.io group, we're planning a NM Crota run today at 2pm eastern. Still two spots open if anyone out there is interested.

I watched the GB quicklook of this and it looks super fun. Once I get through my current backlog (haha) I'll probably pick it up.

Yes! And if anyone can make that happen, it's Hideo Kojima.

It's weird in the No Man's Sky context because it seems like the whole "get to the center of the galaxy" thing is pretty explicit. So it's no more a meta-goal than the missions in, say, a GTA game. Sure you don't technically have to do them to play the game, but they are the goal of the game. Also while I'm being pedantic about No Man's Sky podcast talk, I felt like "galaxy" and "universe" were being used interchangeably. I think it's been made pretty clear that the game takes place in a single galaxy.

Raiden's alright. Anyone who can do a naked somersault while keeping their naughty bits covered up deserves some respect. I just remember the back half of the game feeling rushed. The cutscene to gameplay ratio gets a little crazy, and the path gets much more linear due to what I assume is cut content. Years ago, when I had time to do such a thing, I watched a really great Let's Play of MGS2 where the guy mentioned the original plans for the game and points out where content got axed along with a bunch of other interesting stuff i.e an insane number of easter eggs. Maybe I'll try and track it down when I get home.

In PvP if you've got an exotic that has a "spawn with grenade energy" perk, then discipline won't really get you anything. I'll likely die before my grenade would recharge anyway. There is a thread in the Multiplayer Networking subforum, but we've used this one for game setup before so don't worry about it. Most everyone here is on PS4 though so you may not get much additional interest

It won't make it any better, but I hope you can unlock a Quiet outfit for Snake.

Totally agree. I just wish they'd do it already!

Yeah while enabling level advantages sounds cool, all it really means is that only people at level 34 will play and that they will only use weapons they've completely leveled up. So what's the point? And I'm not saying Thorn breaks the game. There are ways to kill people with it for sure. I just think it's current abilities/stats make PvP less fun (this goes for TLW too, which I really do love using). I want to use and go up against a variety of primary weapons and for weapon choice to actually depend on things like map and play style. As things stand right now, you generally put yourself at a disadvantage by not using Thorn or TLW all the time. By the way, did you guys see Bungie's update today? A special emblem for completing a bunch of the endgame content before TTK comes out. Guess I'll spend this weekend finding those gold chests (I feel stupid for doing it, but I will).