mmaestro

Nope, just got through Inferno. I just don’t have time to plough into games to replay again, and again, and again.

Right now, just level 16. I simply don’t have a ton of time to put into playing, unfortunately. I think right now the thing I’d love to have access to is some sort of KB shortcut that I could create a Macro for for switching skills quickly. I may be able to fix that through Elective Mode (wasn’t aware that existed, thanks, all) but I expect it’ll still feel a little limiting.

Aha. I hadn’t found elective mode. I need to have a play around with that: it might sort one of my big complaints.

I feel like I’m one of the few folks who’re disappointed. I don’t like the new skill/rune system, and playing a barbarian I really feel like I lack the versatility I was able to build into my character in Diablo 2 (who was a Barbarian axe/throwing axe character with great ranged abilities as well as decent close combat skills and could switch very, very quickly). It may still be that I’m early on in the game: I’ve probably put in less than 10 hours, still, and only just finished the first act, but overall the loss of the skill system to me removes a lot of what made Diablo 2 great: the ability to create a character who didn’t fit into the stereotypical mold.
I mean, it’s good. I’m having fun. But it doesn’t feel great to me in the way D2 was.

If they made an offline-only single player mode… Then they would have to restrict you from ever bringing that character online…

I’d be fine with that. Maybe even prefer it, at least in terms of being able to play on a laptop in a hotel room.

Yes. The 1366×768 near universal resolution is a joke. Sounds like this would be a great laptop, if only the screen were better, I think this would be a great option.

PSU calculators seem to give a result far higher than you actually need. I have an i7 2600K that I’ve OCed to 4.6Ghz (1.3V) and a GTX 560 Ti OCed to 900Mhz. 2 HDDs and an SSD, card reader.. you get the idea. I’m also plugged in to a UPS that helpfully shows power draw from the wall, so I can tell you that in heat testing, running Furmark on the GPU and Prime95 on the CPU (7 threads – one left free to avoid CPU bottleneck for Furmark) I never drew more than 400W from the wall. With an ~85% efficient PSU, (Antec HCG 620) that means the PSU was probably only getting about 340W – at most – pulled through it. You could SLI and still not hit the limit.
Save your money. You don’t need a bigger PSU.

Oh, and because I just skimmed that Anandtech article again: most of the folks I’ve heard of who’ve had the best performance from SRT didn’t get the Intel made 20GB drive, but a 60GB one. That has the advantage of keeping more stuff in cache, so the downside of things being pushed out is significantly lessened. I’ve also not done this myself, although I’ve recommended it to other folks: as always, YMMV, proceed with caution, back everything up.

With that board, it might be possible to get the additional speed on the cheap by grabbing a 40 or 60GB drive and just using the Intel SRT for caching.

I expect it’ll be cracked by someone finding a way to run a server locally alongside the main game. But anything you do on that server won’t be available if you try to connect back to the mothership. Still, if that option becomes available, I’ll probably use it. If I’m stuck with only hotel wifi, the game will probably be unplayable (I already had a couple of moments where my character skipped in single player I assume due to some sort of latency issue, and that’s from home).

Or just manually install it yourself. Also avoids crapware.

I remember at one point there was a suggestion of a 24 hour charity Vergecast-a-thon. I would chip in for that.

So I’ve only gotten a few hours of gameplay in so far, but right now I’m feeling like it’s a pale shadow of Diablo 2. The lack of stats and a skill tree, to me mean I’m less attached to my character, because no choice I make is permanent, and the sense of development dies with that, too. There was something about Diablo 2 that made you jump out of your skin on occasion due to the speed and ferocity of enemies charging across the landscape. At least thusfar, that’s completely missing. Finally, and most annoyingly, there’s no really quick way to switch gear or skills. If I want to go back and forth between a bash and slash attack as a barbarian, I need to open the skill screen, click the appropriate skill button, switch skill (optionally change rune also), click accept, and then exit out of the skill screen. It feels clunky as hell, and IMO really spoils the game.
All that said, it is fun. But it’s just a basic dungeon hack. Dip in, dip out, don’t get too invested. It’d decent. It’s not great.

Nope. Lumia 710.

Right. Since the family doesn’t seem to have said anything about it, surely the headline should be “was lost.”

Cut and pasted from the Battlestations thread on the Microsoft forum:

NZXT Guardian 921 RB, (probably my biggest regret for this build – bought for the aesthetics, but just not good enough, even with different fans.)
Asus P8P67 Pro (gets weird, weird voltage readings that I can’t track down, sent back to Asus, came back saying they couldn’t find any issues)
Core i7 2600K (3 profiles: stock that I use 90% of the time, 4.2Ghz normal OC, 4.6Ghz OC occasionally)
16GB (4×4GB) G.Skill DDR3-1600 CAS8
ZALMAN CNPS9500 Cooler
EVGA GTX 560Ti FPB (Stock 850Mhz, 900Mhz & 950Mhz OCs available, want to add a second)
Intel SSD 510 120Gb (Windows 7)
WD Caviar Black 500GB
Dual booting with a 2TB Samsung HDD running Server 2008 r2 (recent addition, if I can ever beat the drivers into working)
Razer Naga mouse
Logitech K300 slim KB (which is crap, and needs replaced)
I also added a USB3 card reader into the front of the case, and a Samsung Blu-Ray drive.
Some crappy Gateway 21" 1600×900 monitor that I need to replace.

What I learned: spend money on the case and PSU. Only get an i7 if you really need it, and 8GB of memory is plenty unless you run VMs (I do, so the 16GB is worth it). Overclocking is mostly so you can say you did it, rather than any practical application (for the CPU – GPU overclocking on the other hand is well worth it). Buy an SSD. Just do it.

I might accept 180,000.

What processor are you pairing that with? It seems like it’s a bit of a tossup right now between the PCI-E 3.0 of Ivy Bridge or the easier overclocking of Sandy Bridge, but you’re stuck with PCI-E 2.0 then.

Well, the company I work for charges ~$90 an hour for my time. I think I lost 2 hours of my time last night. So I think Blizzard owes me $180. That seems reasonable.

was Blizzard supposed to say " ya we need 2 more weeks to make sure our servers are ready", imagine the hate mail then! just cant win with some people

Yes. Yes, this is exactly what they should have said. Launch when you’re ready. Don’t piss away my valuable time when I could be doing something productive with it. I wanted to spend all evening playing, and I made the time. If they weren’t ready, they should have delayed.

Blizzard: fuck you and your DRM debacle. I paid $60 for this? Inexcusable.

Yes, he’s doing well now, thanks.

Oh, and also, I found the T-Mo reps to be the most helpful and pleasant, especially as it was clear I wasn’t spending a lot of money. I know that can vary by store, but I was exhausted, sleep deprived, and an emotional wreck at the time (I’d had to fly out due to a serious illness my dad suffered that almost killed him) so I needed way more of a walkthrough than I’d normally need. They were pretty patient helping me get set up.

I was recently in the UK and had to pick up a pay-as-you-go SIM. I had problems finding somewhere that would either sell me, or had in stock, a MicroSIM (I use a Lumia right now). A couple of the carriers (Orange, 3) said they wouldn’t supply MicroSIMs off contract, Vodaphone didn’t have any at the store I went to, and I didn’t make it as far as O2. I got a T-Mobile MicroSIM without any issues, though (I don’t know if this is relevant to you or not, but I figured it might be).
The T-Mo system could be a little complex, as when you topped up a certain amount, you got a certain bonus (10UKP gave 100 free minutes or unlimited texts or 60 minutes of international calls, in addition to the 10UKP credit you actually had on your account to use). You could then activate additional features by spending money, 5 days “unlimited” internet for 2.50 or 30 days for 5. For me, spending 10 for my week’s visit, and burning 5 of it immediately for internet, worked perfectly. I don’t know how that compares to other plans in the UK, but compared to what I pay in the US it’s an absolute steal.