Ravenswing

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Sketch #42: Saraya (from The Other Game...)

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My fault, it's for my partner who's playing WoW.
And she'll be quite happy, I think. Even if you do think the hand's wrong.

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its a cosmetic touch

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No, it's actually what they like to refer to as a QoL enhancement, a small, simple thing which makes life a bit easier in game.

I've had this hatred of 'cosmetic' changes since I was a young programmer and the only complaint one customer could come up with about something was that the circles weren't round enough on the UI. QoL changes (while often just chrome) are a whole different matter.

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[EDIT]: actually, what I would really like (and what I have been noticing more and more recently for some bizarre reason)... is this ambient humming drone as background noise in all zones, its like a constant bass drone, a plateau for all the other ambient noises to sit upon i think is its supposed basis... whatever it is, it is really annoying and in my opinion unnecessary, anyone else notice this noise?

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i do, i hear it all the time around atlas park when i have the IG sound at full, maybe it's a sound bug in the system.

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Just a random thought (and probably entirely wrong) but - warwall's ?

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Hmm... I do think something in the sound changes when a raid starts. Could be the walls. That adds a whole new irritating aspect to their existence.

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Its...horrible. Its all bee said above. Civvies, seats/benches...
-whispers- ...caves...-shudders-

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Just keep repeating to yourself, "it's only a game."

Hmm... Dan is going to have to get a comissions book...

I have no clue, really. Games tend to be heavily tied into what their graphics engine can do, AFAIK. It would be a lot of work, and it might be easier if they just produced a new game, with a new engine.

Theoretically, the character data should be transferable if the game concepts were kept essentially the same. I wonder whether people would go with a new iteration of the game if they could move their old characters over. Some would obviously prefer to level their toon from scratch anyway, taking into account new features, but some might like their characters enough to want to keep them.

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We've actually been told the current engine can do way more than we get, but doesn't due to worries over performance hits. Perhaps it just needs a bit of optimization...

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There are two important rules of optimisation in the software industry. These are:

1. Don't do it.
2. Don't do it yet.

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Why's that then?

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It's basically an old hacker adage. Optimising code generally results in it becoming impossible to maintain, plus, to be frank, humans suck at it. Modern compilers are almost infinitely better at optimising code than the programmer writing it is.

So, your first try at 'optimising' something should be to not even bother trying, because it's pretty likely you'll just turn the code into unreadable rubbish for a 0.000001% improvement in overall performance.

If there really is a problem, then you should try manual optimisation, but it should be left as the absolutely last option.

And with modern graphics systems, pipelining, multiprocessing, etc, those old adages are even more true then they were back in the day.

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We've actually been told the current engine can do way more than we get, but doesn't due to worries over performance hits. Perhaps it just needs a bit of optimization...

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There are two important rules of optimisation in the software industry. These are:

1. Don't do it.
2. Don't do it yet.

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Annette, contemplating her internal partner, Nitoichi; Blondie: "Always Touched by Your Presence, Dear"

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Well... I could see Annette and Ni playing hide and seek through their own joint head while the bounce Don't Let Me Get Me (by Pink) between them.

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and people NPCs walking around

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Try Talos or IP.

What can I say? I have a gift for understatement.

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and as there are quite a few PvP-only toons

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That bit is probably false. There are quite a few very loud people with PvP-only toons, and they would probably actually like 2 or 3 free respecs so they can work out a new build.

Sorry, I actually misread the start of your comment to the effect that it was a reference to... yadda. Anyway, yeah, sorry. I'm not having a good day.

Comments regarding the amount of effort people forget is needed to do it still stand though. It is a technical problem, but it's equally a large-scale resource problem. Much as it would be rather cool to be able to superspeed from Portal Corps to Salamanca without a break, I can't see it happening.

Don't do that. Smug dances result in the universe stabbing you in the back with a 2B pencil.

I don't have noble gass storage, but the door to my personal plutonium store is wedged open with a gold brick.

(If anyone understands that reference, I'll be amazed.)

Um, yeah, so what?

Next time there's a raid, try flying through them. It's a graphic effect. It does not mean that the walls will be removed and that the shards will all be glued together into a seamless landscape.

I honestly think people don't realise how much effort that would actually be. It isn't just the removing of the zoning mechanics, upgrade of hardware, upgrade to rendering mechanisms, etc. They would have to actually create a huge amount of extra city to fill in the gaps between the Zones.

The Irony inherent in the above is not lost on me.

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I give everyone my most solemn promise, on my childrens' lives, I will NEVER EVER turn up at a player meet, exhibition, or anything ELSE for that matter, dressed up as Ellie (or anyone else).

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Unless, of course, they ever do a Dune MMO. Then you really have to cosplay it...

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I dunno... Have you any idea just how expensive ankle length leather coats, in red, ARE in my size?

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Not half as expensive as the anti-gravity flotation devices?

He suggests it so much, that makes three times he's posted it.

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I give everyone my most solemn promise, on my childrens' lives, I will NEVER EVER turn up at a player meet, exhibition, or anything ELSE for that matter, dressed up as Ellie (or anyone else).

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Unless, of course, they ever do a Dune MMO. Then you really have to cosplay it...

Just out of interest, why do people think that NCW would time the release to go with Wrath?

It's also, perhaps, wise to note that the Americans don't make as big a thing of Christmas as we do. They take a big holiday for Thanksgiving and wonder why we tend to take a whole week off between Christmas and New Year.

Good article, that Wiki one.

Did anyone actually think I13 was coming out before Thanksgiving? Really?

It would be, indeed, however, that isn't the reason I likely won't be turning up afterall.

Well, that wind has dropped and the early clouds should clear over the day, but the temperature is refusing to budge. Expect a high of around 4C, dropping to -6C overnight.

Don't expect it to get warmer tomorrow.