So that would make it the last post of 2012. Wow, that’s heavy stuff. Not that anything I’m going to post today will be like that.
MORE WORLD OF WARCRAFT SHOPTALK – For goodness sake, it takes a long time to gear up now, doesn’t it?
Playing my Monk Kongming, it’s taken me approximately since the beginning of the expansion to get my gearing affairs in order to go to Raid Finder. For those not in the know, Raid Finder basically puts 25 people into a raid instance and expects them to work together to fight gigantic boss encounters. Somehow, it works more often than not and you get good gear. The problem, unlike last expansion, is getting to the default gear level.
Basically, you need an item level average of 460 (warning: if you hate numbers, you may find the following information incredibly boring). Gear that drops in five mans dungeons, which you need to get to 460, are 463 gear. This might seem easy and convenient until you find the loot tables of every boss give a 15% chance for everything to drop. That’s relatively low, all things considered, and I’ve gone run after run without finding anything I could use. Probabilities don’t mean something’s guaranteed to drop within a set amount of runs; rather, given an infinite amount of time, there’s a fifteen percent chance said item will drop. It’s especially fun when an instance continually drops the same gear for classes that aren’t even in the party. Nobody likes seeing Plate when there’s no guy to wear it, and that’s a frustrating experience.
Furthermore, you gain Justice Points when you run instances; these allow you to buy high quality items as a sort of consolation prize, given you run enough dungeons in the first place. However, unlike before, these items are five item levels below what you can get in an instance – they’re a stopgap. Usually, due to the caprices of fate, you’ll buy an item only for it to drop in the very next instance you do, totally invalidating that purchase and making you feel dumb for thinking ahead. I suppose this keeps you subscribed longer, but it can be quite a pain at times. When that finally does drop, you might also compete with some other guy/gal for the treasured item. More often than not, you’ll lose the roll. It’s especially painful when someone rolls on something and wins an item they clearly don’t need, shouldn’t have, or simply rolled on to annoy you. My solution: pray to God for the item you want. Works for me, usually. Faith in the little things helps – still, the system can work against you at times, and turn into a grind.
Basically, the game wants you to run daily quests, get rep, run dungeons, and do everything everyday if you want even a chance to gear up quickly. I am not that crazy – I’d call myself pretty casual, all things considered – so the experience will be long and fun. It’s not a grind when it’s challenging, and heroics remain a challenge. On the convenience level, it’s not convenient; on challenge, the gear score keeps everyone on a level playing field. It’s a success in making WoW fun and last longer, that’s for sure. All these arbitrary bottlenecks to getting better gear truly add up over time. I guess that’s why MMOs aren’t for everyone!
Pierce Brosnan Bond – Look at that dashing, debonair man!
Just for fun, I’d thought I would watch Die Another Day. You know, the Bond movie with Halle Berry, an invisible car, an ice palace, a North Korean guy who change his face using gene therapy (I’m going to guess that isn’t possible) and a giant satellite that harnesses the sun’s rays to create a giant superheated beam of death. Yes, entirely realistic. I remember ten years ago HATING this movie to death. My only framework of comparison was every Bond movie that came out before it, so how else could I think?
You know what? Brosnan makes a much better Bond than Craig. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie’s complete absurdities and just loved it for what it was: a lighthearted action romp that has less a script and more a bunch of people speaking in hilarious quips and double entendres. What’s not to like?
I’m pretty aghast at myself, actually. I should be saying “I don’t like this!”, but I do. Brosnan is just the right kind of sexist, misogynist dinosaur who’s apparently invincible for a movie Bond. Sure, Craig’s more accurate to the novels with things like “feelings” and “character”, but is that really what I want out of James Bond? I prefer the superagent who gets by on a wing and a prayer with no effort on his part. Brosnan plays the smart-aleck with great aplomb and vigor. Almost like he’s enjoying himself, and that’s not something you can say about Daniel Craig. He’s got swagger, verve, and a devil-may-care attitude. The women, resistant at first, give up to him near-instanteous (must be the testosterone pheromones exuding from his manly body, I guess). And seriously, who comes up with some of those lines? Absolutely funny and greatly entertaining – that’s really all I ask for from James Bond movies. Leave the tortured protagonist at home where he belongs.
I mean, Die Another Day has a torture sequence – one that lasts fourteen months on the movie’s timeline! How does Bond react? When a general tells him he doesn’t approve of the torture that takes place in the prison, Bond quips “Tell that to the concierge”, nodding to the woman who oversaw the whole process. Awesome! That’s the Bond I want to see! Sure, I can’t really relate to him, but the point of Bond movies is that you can’t. How often do you find yourself in those terrible dangers and exotic locales? Only Bond does. It’s a fantasy film, for God’s sake!
Perhaps it’s because Brosnan seems more accurate to previous incarnations of Bond. Connery was much the same (it helps that both actors were Scottish, I bet). Moore took the moments of humor a little too far as his run went along (A View to a Kill is weirdly awful, for example), and Dalton came a little closer to Connery than most. I’m only mentioning Lazenby for completion (I don’t like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service). Brosnan may be the best Bond – a little more serious than Connery, but certainly not as silly as Moore. It’s a perfectly blend.
So yes, I’m weird. Sue me.
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That’s the last entry of the year! See you in 2013, everyone!
