Hello fine folks of Tyria! A happy new year to you all! I have some thoughts I'd like to share with you, if you are interested.
This was the reaction I got when casually playing on an alt.
Several weeks ago, I was curious what a level 80 boost could do. The boost came out with HoT if I'm not mistaken. The concept seemed to allow new players to try out a level 80 toon in the Silverwastes, and then go play the expansion right away.
From what I remember on our subreddit and my guilds at the at the time, and my memory is certainly colored, is that the general consensus was that the included exotic solider's gear was completely useless and the only way one could have ANY idea of the profession worked was with full zerker.
Even in beta, there seemed to be a general anger that anet wouldn't give the revs zerker. "Proof that aNet doesn't play their own game," ect.
Remembering this general reaction and a certain level of culture wide pissiess, I recently used one off my alternate accounts to boost a new level 80 asura ele. I simply walked into Lion's Arch and grabbed a few cheap runes and sigls. I think I used eagle runes because they were cheap. I probably used an energy sigil because asura flips delight me.
I probably used a slaying potion. I might have used [&AgGjMAAA] for more flips, and because it's almost free food. Who knows. I don't remember what my other sigil was. Probably something cheap. Maybe I just picked one functional non DPS based sigil randomly, or left it blank. shrug
It was a base ele build something like this. I change by builds whenever I get bored or feel like it. Or perhaps according to the situation. The situation includes the PEOPLE playing, and their individual tendencies and desires and resources. I think to myself: using who is in this party currently, how can I help us all have the most fun, and complete the mission in style and with big grins on everyone's face?
"Have fun playing sub-optimally." What? Sub-optimally compared to what? I do have fun playing! Do we think someone who would say something so nasty has much fun themselves? Why would anyone listen to comments like that? What do they add to our community besides a temporary feeling of rightness to the author? Ever been married? How important is "being right?" How comfortable is that couch?
I think I used a build like that. No clue now, I can't remember the password to that account, and don't feel like recovering it at the moment. I accidentally sliced my middle finger to the bone last night while hand polishing a highly modified and highly aggressive edge of my sister-in-law's old dull chef's knife they had received as a wedding gift. I'm totally fine, however, even a slight touch on a steep angle required 4 stitches to my fingerprint. And my bone dented the blade in a tiny spot, from what I can tell by examination with my jewelers loupe. (it was made in a former U.S.S.R spy satellite factory.) Lidocane doesn't seem to work well on me, however most pain and screams can be controlled with meditation I've found. However when fish hook needles plunges deep into wounds, one can 'bite the bullet' by using a spare clean hospital gown. Whatever. I'm sure I can figure out a way to still type using only some of my fingers. Besides, in nursing school, I personally treated far worse.
So please forgive me if I don't convince you. Because, that's not the purpose of this post. I don't care about being right. I would strongly suggest that being right can feel good. Being wrong can feel bad. What more of an addicting carrot and stick does one need? Have you noticed anything about the nature of many forum posts? What do these really accomplish besides making the author feel right and smart for a few moments. What intellectual growth has occurred when we echo an argument or reasoning without internal reflections and testing?
I sharpen blades freehand by grinding steel to stationary stones, which rest upon an old white terry cloth, which drapes over a couple of screwed together and sanded 2x4s, which in turn lock into my 60 year old cast iron laundry tub, which in turn is bolted into an even older concrete floor. I've spend hundreds of hours grinding in silence so that I can better hear the steel being shaped by each stroke. The stones are so fine in grit, they can rub skin right off of of fingertips without the notice or pain.
I also drink herbal teas during this. Sleepy time, or blueberry bliss, or a wintergreen lately. If it's the morning, it's tea, earl grey, hot. For some of the teas, I reuse inexpensive supermarket bags that I leave in the mug. Others were gifts from specialty tea shops in New York and further. One of my friends owns a factory, and enjoys his teas. I don't want to know the prices.
When I decided to learn to sharpen blades this summer, I read 6 books from my library. (Well, re-learn. I have sharpened easily a thousand commercial lawn mower blades to fingernail shaving sharpness while working college summer jobs.) Then I watched as many youtube totally-not ads that I could stomach. I saw many posts agreeing about specific angles, the "right" way to sharpen a blade. Discussions of the "right products." The "right" way. "Professional sharpening systems."
My wife, our friends, and I are serious amateur chefs. We dropped the moniker "foodies" years ago. Beef Wellingtons? 2 on my street. Last week. Zuni chicken? Well now, that's a start. The finest baguettes I've ever had in my life were my own after classes from bakers at the most celebrated bakery in the state. (Probably more than just this state.)
My wife was taking apple pie baking trophies off of real deal baking grandmas, while in her early 20's. We wore out a kitchen aid stand mixer in a few years. Yes. We follow individual chefs as they move. And we don't bother with every iron chef's restaurants more than once. Some just aren't what we're looking for.
My favorite roasted chicken I've ever tasted is my own, using only a small chicken, salt, pepper and all the technique I can muster. I based it on the dry brine technique found in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Sure, maybe we could have found a recipe online, but we've found that chefs like Suzanne Goin and Amy Thielen put significantly more information and recipies in their printed books. My favorite french omelettes are my own. When I was obsessed, I probably went through a dozen-dozen eggs, passionately exclaiming about "des catastrophes dans le frying pan! An insult to the very core concepts of an egg and God himself!" in an somewhat involuntarily increasing French sounding accent before launching yet another trial into the garbage bin. It started off as mock outrage. I slowly lost the mock. I hope to return to French omelettes sometime this year. But I dunno. Maybe it will be worth the time and emotional investment at this point. Maybe not.
One of my dear other cooking club members taught at both Harvard and MIT, and not as a graduate student. And not for a single semester. ;-) When her students received their first non-a paper in their life, they approached her confused "What do I have to do to make this an A?" To which she replied, "I suppose you could try writing an A paper. Actually, you might try writing several if you wish to average out this C paper." She can real all of the books. She read all of Proust for fun. And while in Cambridge, people approached her, because her bookmark in "Infinite Jest" moved. Fast.
One of my other cooking friends teaches master's level industrial design, color, and materials at one of the top design colleges on the planet. He's built pizza ovens in Italy, to replace their Old ones. Using laser thermometers, he analyzed the temperature of the old brick ovens. One of his ancient relatives, and I wouldn't say anything too harshly around her about Mussolini. He drained swamps didn't he? I don't know, my Italian understanding is mostly derived from French, which is rusty to say the least! He can make civilization from dirt, and has about 600 functioning industrial patients on the market. When his Ancient relative tests the temperature of an oven, she throws flour into it. Then counts the seconds until it flashes into flame. His newly designed oven is now used by his family and other area families. He was able to design something new. And they love it. His family there grows these little pigs they've developed because the entire pig tastes like bacon. I would ask you if you're totally sure if you've actually experienced the flavor of bacon before. Are you sure? Super sure? The entire hill grows editable food. Why? The population has pulled non-editable weeds faithfully since before the Romans. His father learned the passion of concrete work by walking on roman roads as a child. Their wine cellar has sides of salted pork hanging curing into prosciutto, and OHMYGOD wine ageing in custom barrels.
One of my other close friends happens to be is a hard nosed Boston trained lawyer. (I challenge you to pirate anything after he gives you a Judgmental stare in his formidable and obviously tailored suits... ;-) Try asking anything other than "I bet your pardon your honor." belly laugh
He's the kind of guy who seems to know every judge in the area, not just by name, but by history and personality and tendency. He doesn't seem to loose cases. And he is not for hire. He has a very special clientele. We love to call BS on nonsence over 23 year old rums, and not quite legally imported vinegar. He smokes the best damn ribs I've had in my life, hands down. As a point of refrence, I was born in Texas. For years, my father worked in the kitchens of a famous barbecue joint there. We like to call BS for fun.
Our main small town group continues with wonderful people like this. Most of us just want to chill in peace and figure out new and fun ways of solving problems we didn't notice in the first place.
Sharp cutlery matters in fine dining and cuisine, as many chefs here can no doubt testify.
Finally annoyed with all this blade sharpening forum nonsense, I learned from a man named Murray Carter. He's a chill and peaceful man, and happens to hold the official title of the official 17 generation Yoshimoto blade smith as well as some other north american mastery designation. He hand forges blades in a brick oven after apprenticing in rural japan for 8 years learning to make the most legendary blades and swords that exist. He only buys steel derived from chemical analyses of when the Hatichi corporation in Japan cut open legendary samurai swords of old to test and see exactly how they had been forged. (Remember the Kill Bill blade smith?)
I suspect Murray Carter can speak for himself:
"I believe I am the only Caucasian ever to have had the honor and privilege of this position."
His kitchen knives are used by Alton Brown when he's not busy endorsing Shun. You may have seen wild and exotic looking shun knives near the ceiling as in a Williams-Sonoma or maybe a at a Sur La Table, or maybe were still finer cutlery is sold.
Carter knives are used in the White House Kitchens. His organization was so inspired by my at home work, that they asked me to be featured in that forge's news letter. I politely declined because that would only inflate my ego instead of redirecting me toward continued sharpening excellence. Is that possibly worth considering in relation to Guild Wars, to anything?
I am a retired raider, though I still hold a raiding rank in my main rep guild. If you look on LFG, you'll probably see our guild tag offering safe passage through the Forsaken Thicket, or whatever achievement you'd like. Who else but the royal family maintains safe roads? Who else but Ceasar? Who else but the Queen of England herself? They're super fine folks, and super nice! <3
I soloed my Mordrem Loop for fun. There isn't anything special one earns for doing this if you were curious. When I play piano these days, I might improv and throw in a various parts of Chopin études, or just play fun jazz chords. I don't care about being good. However in 2008, I wheeled my IV down from the chemo therapy infusion area to the lobby piano every day. Even the 12 hour beasts of day, of which there were many. The nurses started moving my IV's insertion location so that it wouldn't interfere with playing. It was a crystal 5 foot something Yamaha black baby grad, beautifully maintained. I was asked to return by the music director there. (this place had violinists regularly setting up performances on the upper levels) It had that crystalline vibe, the type of piano that you don't really want to explore the resonating overtones unless it's RIGHT in tune. A loosey goosey warhorse Baldwin this was not! After I started entertaining blad children, and near by phlebotomists, volunteer music teachers started getting complaints about playing too loud. They insisted that the piano was a "powerful instrument," and that was just the way it must be played. I never noticed. Hum, didn't receive complaints either. Am I good at the piano? Nah, practice practice! =D
Same thing with Guild Wars. Every single person I've met who I would consider good at Guild Wars, and there are many who would school me, every single person continually adapts and practices. Do they follow metabattle, or do they curate it? Do you think they care what build they're running. Sure, I guess. shrug
I run whatever I want. I play however I want. These days, to give back to a community I love, I mostly stay in low level fractals and dungeons to chat with and play with newer players. They are PEOPLE deserving of respect. I love meeting fine folks in all areas of the game! Fresh faced to gnarled vets, I salute you all! o7
I get kicked out of dungeons all the time by folks who die, and then blame me. I'm there to help. I have little use for gold, currencies, or any other reward other than enjoying the game and bringing smiles. I've soloed most dungeons and fractals, so I have some of idea the flexibility of the game. I've soloed 100's more times that I can count. Why on Earth would I follow orders from a person who can't seem to stay alive for 4 seconds. It's fine if they are still a beginner, however perhaps more improvement would come from focusing on improving one's own skill before barking orders at others.
I've been kicked out, re joined, kicked out, and rejoined again and again in a single dungeon. I do my best to be polite, and bow, wave, and generally be fun! I'm a bit of a smart ass, so I do have my limits. However, my goal is fun. In a video game. How novel. The other day, I was kicked out RIGHT before the final boss. I insisted on returning. I didn't bother to report this for LFG abuse. However, I intend to continue to use LFGs and play however I want. Even if you are just a beginner, I urge you to consider trying the the same. If another player has an issue with this, I would consider that if one believes they require a full party then perhaps they do not know the game as well as they believe.
LoL. Elitist? Elite what? Elitely doing things the easy way? Who's impressed with that?
I invite you all to play however you want. I've gotten more thanks and complements than I can remember running random builds. And by that, I mean random green gear, a nice looking yellow weapon or two, and traits and skills picked by random.org. I still have so much more to learn!
The next time someone tells you the "right" way to play this game, the next time somebody tells you what to do, I would suggest that their level of game knowledge and skill level might not be as excellent as they would like to believe. I see it all the time. Incorrect or misunderstood info, not just given, but demanded to be follow. Where does this mentality come from I wonder. Just because something was done a certain way in a 3 year old video, doesn't mean it's the ONLY way to play the game. They can keep all of their arguments about "optimal" and "right" and "stack here," because my friends made those videos. They rolls their eyes at such current behavior.
When a player tells me "I wish you get cancer and die," I wonder if they knew how many years I spent in a wheelchair. I wonder if they know the darker and more sinister depths of hellish human suffering. I wonder if they know I'm now healthy enough to be in be training aerial silks with a local circus. I wonder about their current level of skill. I wonder if maybe this person would consider playing the game instead of hiding in a corner and hoping again hope that the group will somehow magically have enough DPS, blinds, reflects, might, fury, condi clear, stun breaks, and whatever else to make that old magical spot work. I wonder when they bark orders from a downed state, if they know it's solo-able. When groups rush past me and wait impatiently, then complain, I wonder if there wasn't some other use of their time. How I wonder how much they think. I wonder if this sort of behavior will ever help them improve.
Next time somebody talks the talk, I invite you to consider the source. Next time someone dies, and then blames you, I invite you to consider just how well this person knows the game and if you want to possibly end up dead next to them. Are they walking the walk?
Next time you feel self doubt creep in, and it happens to everyone because we are all human, we are all PEOPLE, I would suggest considering the lyrics this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PX9SIQdCjs
TL:DR:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Submitted January 01, 2017 at 09:27AM by Sockso_Wattson http://ift.tt/2hGL1eB
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