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[Vector]

Also, if they would stop serving me anti-abortion ads >_>

[Bauglir]

I actually disable Adblock on most websites I visit these days. Not Youtube, though. They're too frustrating.

[Vector]

I still adblock all the time, though I know I really shouldn't (one of those things on my to-do list).  It's just when trying to listen to music at work, where I can't install an adblock, that things are frustrating.

[Bauglir]

Oh, damn, yeah. That does wreck things a bit. I'd say I hope the ad quality improves one day, but I think I'll save my hope for something a little more plausible, like world peace or spontaneous superpower development.

I, uh, I'm not a fan of the direction Youtube's been heading for a while. So, yeah, some kind of solidarity with you guys.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

I hate "builds" in games like D&D 3E and Pathfinder.

I hate having to comb through everything and figure out something that works.

I know you don't absolutely have to - you can just play a shitty character and just get by. But if it's there, I feel the need to do it eventually. And doing it makes me really unhappy. It's not fun for me, although it's clear from reading forums and stuff that it's fun for a lot of people out there.

I like playing the game. I don't like spending hours planning shit out.

My answer is to either play an earlier edition of D&D that doesn't have so much customization in your character but in magic items you find instead.

Or take 3E, strip out classes and the leveling table with its automatic BAB, saves, skill ranks, and HP from 3E and make you just spend XP to buy feats instead. Stuff like Weapon Focus, Lightning Reflexes, and Skill Focus stack to replicate the old functionality. Add feats for spellcasting: max spell level, number of spell levels you can memorize, spell save DC. Also feat prerequisites need to die in a fire, all of them. If a feat isn't good enough to take by itself, and the only reason anyone takes it is to qualify for a later feat, it needs to be better or cheaper - and stand on its own merits. Finally, nerf various exploits in the process, reinstitute the limitations on spellcasting that have been systematically removed over time, divorce players from choosing whatever magic items they want (by crafting, selection for Wealth By Level, or magic shops), and take anything that's ridiculous and stupid away from prestige classes and make them into spells or magic items. Call "epic" play "demigod" like it really is.

That is to say, you could do a better job in designing the game and end up with more customization and far less of the "build" mentality. I'm sure my implementation isn't perfect - but then again I'm not an entire team of professional game designers working full time and getting paid money to do it. 

Again, people doing their jobs badly grating on my nerves when I'm stuck with the crap they got paid to make.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Can't contact CenturyLink to update my internet account. They've been gouging me because I wasn't paying attention, gleefully charging me basically double. Their phone tree won't let me talk to a real person despite my best efforts. That's when they're actually available, which is during the normal workday. You know, when I'm at work.

If they're gonna pay pennies to an incomprehensible person in a vastly different time zone to man the customer service line, the least they could do is staff it at night for US time zones.

[Putnam]

I wonder if there are any games where there is no leveling and equipment is the only measure of progress? That could be interesting.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

God damned holiday party at work, waste of time, someone got me sick and I passed it to my girlfriend. She's just getting better. Last night I vomited in the toilet.

I loathe vomiting.

EDIT:

I wonder if there are any games where there is no leveling and equipment is the only measure of progress? That could be interesting.

Didn't FF: Crystal Chronicles do this?

[Bauglir]

Yeah, that's kind of a major problem with the system. People like me, who like Character Building: The Game as much or more than D&D love 3.5. There's still experimentation I haven't done, with character concepts I'd like to build, likely hundreds of characters into the game, although homebrew does have something to do with that. But it's so riddled with trap options, counterintuitive bullshit, and imbalanced ideals that it's impossible to navigate it "competently" without dedicating tons of time and memory to learning how. It works fine if nobody knows what they're doing, or if everybody knows what they're doing and has the time and motivation, but yeah.

The whole thing is a bizarre mishmash arising from trying to force elegance and strict numerical balance on a system that was never intended to have either while retaining nostalgic elements of old editions, written by people who couldn't agree on what sort of stories the rules were supposed to tell, none of whom had a security mindset.

That said, I still like it. It is what it is, and the chaotic lawful mess that is D&D 3.5 is just dear to my heart. It probably just got to me first, but I don't think anything will ever feel quite as right as rolling a d20 to save.

EDIT:
Also, that would. I'd like to see a game that involves the Magical Christmas Tree Effect, but instead of fighting it just owns it and makes it core to the rules. There's probably a tabletop or two out there that does that, but damned if I know about them.

EDIT:
Also, have you tried the old standby of dialing 0 on the main menu to get to a real person? I forget if that works for those bastards.

[Frumple]

I wonder if there are any games where there is no leveling and equipment is the only measure of progress? That could be interesting.

... yeah, there's kinda' plenty. I mean, freaking Zelda, man, especially if you consider hearts just a passive item. But that's just a representative example. You see it in a lot of places, especially places that aren't claiming to be RPGs. It's in roguelikes, it's in platformers, it's probably in flippin' point-and-click adventure games. S'everywhere. Item based progression is one of the basic progression schemes in the gaming world, especially among simpler mechanics systems.

[Putnam]

...I forgot to mention the whole "multiplayer-focused" thing I was thinking of. Usually I remember that kind of important detail, but here I forgot >_>

I guess Minecraft.

[Frumple]

Ah. Yeah, well... you've still got that. S'a fairly common exploitative MMO scheme even*, but there's definitely a few MUDs and whatnot that go that way, too, and other things that aren't trying to turn it into a cash grab. I've tried a couple over the years, though it's been like two or three years since I touched one so I've forgotten bloody everything in regards to names and such. Still, yeah. It's a thing!

But definitely low depth stuff has item collection as the major or only progression method... that's basically what you have in crap like Halo. Most FPSes, even, even though the progression depth is very shallow. Plenty of party games (arguably stuff like Smash Brothers, just as another example) have what in-match progression they have tied into item collection.

*It's often tied in with an XP thing, too, but I've zero doubt there's strict item progression systems out there. Probably monetized out the wazoo.

[MaximumZero]

I wonder if there are any games where there is no leveling and equipment is the only measure of progress? That could be interesting.

It isn't items only, as there are other ways to gain power, but I'm working on a game with no xp system.

[Putnam]

Ah. Yeah, well... you've still got that. S'a fairly common exploitative MMO scheme even*, but there's definitely a few MUDs and whatnot that go that way, too, and other things that aren't trying to turn it into a cash grab. I've tried a couple over the years, though it's been like two or three years since I touched one so I've forgotten bloody everything in regards to names and such. Still, yeah. It's a thing!

But definitely low depth stuff has item collection as the major or only progression method... that's basically what you have in crap like Halo. Most FPSes, even, even though the progression depth is very shallow. Plenty of party games (arguably stuff like Smash Brothers, just as another example) have what in-match progression they have tied into item collection.

*It's often tied in with an XP thing, too, but I've zero doubt there's strict item progression systems out there. Probably monetized out the wazoo.

Well, if you couldn't tell, I was also talking about a more persistent world I'm kinda bad at explaining things what be in my head.

[Avis-Mergulus]

Aaargh, my day just now started and its already 1300! That's 1 in the afternoon if you don't understand military time!

What's "military time"? It's like when you have a 24-hour day?