Azniac

I ended up preloading the game on my Xbox, since it's my platform of choice, but hearing about framerate issues has made me a little apprehensive. I'll probably pick it up on Steam on a sale eventually, but I'm hoping it still runs fine on consoles as well. Ahhh, I'm looking forward to tonight.

This is a good thread. Gunpoint. The Wolf Among Us.

I downloaded Hong Kong earlier today (while it was still technically on it's pre-order sale), I had no idea it was launching already. I'm excited to play it, Dead Man's Switch lost me about 50% of the way through, but Dragonfall was a delight. I have no idea what class I'll play though, I went with a decker/rigger build through Dead Man's Switch and then a mage when I played through Dragonfall.

Halo Wars was, without a doubt, the killer title for the Xbox 360. None of the other last generation games stood a chance. However, around the game's launch, Ensemble Studios shut down. The game was supported by Robot Entertainment, but hopes for a (much desired) second installment were slim. At Gamescom 2015, Microsoft triumphantly announced that Creative Assembly was working on Halo Wars 2 (launching fall 2016; on Xbox One and Windows 10). Jokes aside, I did have fun with Halo Wars, and a sequel makes me happy.

I generally don't consider games as a whole to be too expensive. I have a big enough backlog at any given point that I always have something to play, so if I can't justify paying launch price for a game, I don't mind waiting for the price to drop. Regarding DLC, I'm totally on board with the concept, but once I've 'finished' a game, it's hard for me to go back to it. I feel like I'd be better off waiting, in some cases, for all the DLC to launch before I buy a game. I don't mind the extra cost associated with the DLC, I just don't return to games I've finished very often. I also think The Witcher 3 was discounted if you preordered it digitally on the Xbox One. I remember paying $55 for it as opposed to $60 when I preordered it the day before it launched. I liked that.

Some of the commands I use at work include the Insert key, but I've never used it in any other situation.

Is this heavy weapon a sword? It also looks like Light levels are being ditched in TTK in favor for experience progression all the way to level 40. This should make leveling feel less asinine, which I'm thankful for.

I've spent the last two months working this summer internship, and just finished my first project this past weekend. The code we deployed was mostly mine, and I was terrified that everything would break, even after the extensive testing we did. It all ended up going smoothly, so I'm feeling pretty good. I'm starting up a new project for my last month on the job. I didn't think I'd be able to adjust to working 8 hours a day in an office, but now that I'm in the groove, it'll be weird to go back to school at the end of August. There's also a possibility that my manager will extend an offer to me to work part-time throughout the Fall/Spring semesters, which would be fantastic, but it's all kind of up in the air at the moment.

Thanks for the tip! I didn't know you could cancel the reload application, that's neat. I ran a strike with it earlier, and I still don't think I've gotten used to it's scope yet. It'll probably become my go-to gun for Strikes and Vanguard Bounties until I get most of the perks. It looks like it'll be a fun gun to use in Rumble.

Almost went Flawless last night in Trials, but one of our members disconnected during our 9th match. We had already used up our Mercy, so we were out of luck. I got an NLB from one of the Trials packages, so that was a nice upside, but the loss was frustrating. Probably going to try for it again tonight. I've almost finished upgrading The Last Word (just damage left), so I'll give that a spin. Also, Burning Shrine is a fun map.

You can get Etheric night from Iron Banner, from PoE (I think level 34?). You can also get it from Trials packages. It also drops from Nightfall sometimes. If you have a piece of Exotic armor, you can also ascend that with an exotic shard if you're willing to scrap another exotic. EDIT: And I was too slow~

I had some great luck with drops last night. While trying to farm out PoE 28 for the sniper, I actually got another Hopscotch to drop, so now I can safely roll my second one and try to get the "perfect roll". With the weapon update nerfing the stability on Pulse Rifles, it'll be nice to have the upgrades that max out stability. As I was starting the Nightfall, I joked that this would be the Nightfall that dropped The Last Word for me, and I almost lost my mind when it actually did. I've been leveling it up, and I'm excited to max it out and give it a whirl in PvP, especially with how much handcannons are dominating PvP. What're your preferred ways to level up guns? I usually throw on bounties and activate a telemetry before turning them in en masse. With Iron Banner going on, thankfully there isn't a shortage of bounties. I'm actually at this point now. Someone told me that farming/maxing out your glimmer and then buying a weapons for cheap can be a good way to get some extra parts, but I'm not sure how time-intensive it'd be. But it's an option.

I was out of town for most of the weekend, so I didn't get to play much of Trials - only a few hours late last night. I didn't have too much luck, but I think that was a combination of how late it was, as well as the fact that the rotating maps threw me off. I've only played Trials one other time (last week, Cauldron), so I didn't have any familiarity with the other maps in the hopper. I've also tried toying around with snipers for the first time, mostly in Rumble/Skirmish so I can get some practice in. I'm using the Eye of Sol right now. It feels really good, but it's not capable of killing someone through a revive shield, so I might try and run some PoE to get a Her Benevolence to drop. My Hopscotch Pilgrim has also been treating me well, but it works best when I'm mindful enough to avoid getting too close to enemies. I tend to default to this mindless "rush the opponents" style of gameplay when it comes to shooters, and while I can trade effectively most of the time, I do a lot better when I play smart.

Yeah, I've always run an exotic primary and its been fantastic to switch it up. Once I end up getting a good set of perks on my Matador, I think I'll try running Hopscotch/Matador/Truth. Truth was my first exotic, so it had a special place in my heart (and loadout). I'm also interested in trying to make snipers work. A lot of high-level players seem to use them and I've never actually tried them in PvP. I might try to pick up Her Benevolence and get a good set of rolls. (Shortgaze/Hidden Hand/Snapshot maybe)

After exactly 50 Dragon Strikes (I was using a counter to keep track), Hopscotch Pilgrim finally dropped for me. I had to reforge about ~20 times until I got an acceptable set of perks, but this gun is insane in PvP. I'm going out of town for the weekend, so I won't be able to finish upgrading it for a couple days, but it's definitely going to become my go-to primary. It's stability is ridiculously high, with perks only boosting it even more so. It's basically a laser, virtually no kickback at all. If you roll good aim assist perks (I'm using Hidden Hand and the Sureshot IS scope), you just need to vaguely aim towards their upper body to score the headshot. At two headshots a kill, I ended up on an easy 15 kill streak on one of my first "serious" matches with the gun. I'm still trying to decide what secondary to roll with it. I don't have any good snipers, but I think a closer range weapon might pair better with a pulse rifle. I'm running with the Vestian Dynasty right now because it's a load of fun to hip-fire in PvP, but I'll probably default to a shotgun when I'm actually trying to perform well.

I was pleasantly surprised to see all the burns were on, after no burns last week. It made this week's Nightfall a cakewalk.

Yeah, I roll bladedancer and blink's definitely the way to go. MIDA's mobility boost combined with agility perks in the class makes for a super mobile hunter. The only thing that'd make it better are a pair of Radiant Dance Machines. I still need a bit more practice with using scout rifles in PvP though. It's powerful, but I should consider hanging further back when I'm taking shots with the MIDA. I could just be a little rusty too, after months of not playing. Regardless, I'm glad there's a high-level PvP mode. Vanilla Crucible matches doesn't hold my interest for too long, and I love the fact that Trials is Elimination. A Hopscotch Pilgrim dropped for a random that I matched with during a Strike and my jealousy was palpable. It looks like some of the perks you can roll on it are absolutely amazing, and you can end up with enough Aim Assist that you'll land headshots almost every time. I need it.

So I stopped playing Destiny a little while before The Dark Below released, and I just got back into it last week. Wow, a lot's changed. Some thoughts: 1) It's so much easier to hit the level-cap now. I was one of those "forever-29's" before I stopped playing. I never could get the last piece of gear I needed to hit 30, and it only dropped from Vault of Glass. The same day I started playing again, I jumped to 32 and a half, as a result of buying Vanguard/Crucible gear and upgrading one of my exotic helmets. A few friends backpacked me through Prison of Elders, and I ended up hitting 34 a couple days after I started. I'm still looking to replace some of my armor with pieces that have better perks, but at least now I can participate in end-game content. 2) Everyone. Uses. Thorn. It's a monster in PvP post-buff. The Last Word is also insanely powerful. I'm already looking forward to the 2.0 update to balance the weapons a little bit. 3) Trials of Osiris is really fun. I'm not amazing at PvP, but I'd like to think I'm not terrible. Haven't gone flawless yet, but I've gotten close a couple times. It's hit-or-miss. Sometimes there's a string of horrible teams we'd play against, and other times we'd get destroyed 5-0. I run the MIDA Multi-Tool in PvP, and it's a nice gun, but it can't stand against 3 Thorns being fired through doorways. I also started grinding for the legendary pulse rifle that drops after Dragon Strikes: the Hopscotch Pilgrim. Aside from the amazing name, it looks like it's a fantastic weapon for PvP. I've been keeping a counter of the number of strikes it'll take before the gun drops - I'm currently at 13. So far, I've had several legendary engrams and a couple other legendary weapons drop, so I'm glad that Bungie finally added decent rewards to the Strike playlist. I'm definitely going to end up picking up the Taken King, but I'm not sure if I'll play regularly until then, or if I'll stop once I feel like I've gotten my characters decent gear.

That one was also fantastic!

I'd agree with that. I still enjoyed it, but there weren't as many memorable episodes. The Spanish soap opera one (second season?) is definitely one of my favorites.

I love Psych. I couldn't bring myself to watch the series finale, I just started watching it from the beginning again. It's such a fun show.

I came here to see if anyone was talking about this. I picked it up last night on Steam. I'm not particularly great at it, but it's been a blast so far. I wouldn't think a game like this would be something I was into, but apparently it is.

I'm not sure if it's been posted before, but I thought this was a good series about a lot of what went wrong with Fallout 3: http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=27085 I think there's a lot of good points in there, and it surprised me how little I actually remembered from Fallout 3's main quest. Here's hoping four will be a little more internally consistent.

Dishonored's nonlethal options made me feel uncomfortable at times, especially when contrasted to just killing the target. I can't help but wonder if that's just general desensitization to murder in games, or if there's something inherently disturbing about keeping someone alive but subjecting them to a horrible fate.

I'm a little conflicted. On one hand, I feel a little uneasy. It seems like they mean for some (or a lot) of the content and story to come after launch, albeit at no additional charge. What does this mean for the game at launch though? Will it match the general threshold for a AAA game's amount of content, or will it be a smattering of missions, with the of the game being pushed out after release? I guess what I'm curious about is whether or not the content will be the *actual game* or just supplemental/additional content. On the other hand, I kinda dig the idea of new missions/locations being pushed out post-launch. There's always a possibility of more player feedback being taken into account, and a cool community could end up forming, especially if there are 24-48 hour challenges. It's an interesting idea of theirs, regardless, I think.