The first isn't an issue unless you make it into one. Save games from ME2 on Steam can be imported into ME3 on Origin without issue. The later is a personal issue.

Thanks for spelling that out, as if I didn't know.

I'm voting to Origin with my dollars on what I think of not having a Steam release.

That is perfectly valid, especially if you're familiar with their newest disaster, Sim City.

I'm crying about that, BTW. It looked soooooooooo good and would be a major timesink that I need right about now!

Oh well, Mr. Torgue is entertaining me at the moment.

I hope you didn't actually buy it, Ray.

<edit> got a double.

SimCity or Borderlands 2?

Everybody seems to make the mistake of under provisioning server capacity at launch.

and then expecting all those that buy at launch, to stick around while they polish the turd that is Simcity

all the hype, all the fail

and as for ME3 ... what a horrid railroaded disaster compared to ME1/2 .. I was sick (despite buying it at discount for 10 quid) that I spent all my time runnign round essentially apologising and saying goodbye to everyone .. like it was a foregone cnclusion that I was literally minutes away from death.

It was like I'd gone Canadian or somethin' !

Blizzard has never provisioned enough server capacity for a new expansion launcher. They fumbled on D3 and SC2 launch with server capacity.

The complaints with Sim City have more or less revolved around the fact that people have gotten on after 20 minutes played and got kicked without cities being saved (server capacity issue). There's been some complaints about why make a single player game multiplayer (which is just an extension of the server capacity issue) but there haven't been a lot of complaints regarding the game play itself. In fact, most of what I've heard regarding the game play is rather good.

The game itself was designed from the ground up to be a multiplayer experience. From the direct and obvious local region interplay between cities to the significantly less obvious export/import of trade. Sim City 4 had the basic mechanics but it was too reliant on the single player to construct all the cities (too tedious). A mod permitted multiplayer abilities in Sim City 4 and that mod was quite popular. Maxis simply included it as a standard feature this time around.

To be fair, D3's fumble was only SLIGHT, and they had assets mobilised and functional before the first month was out. Heck, they had a lot of extra capacity within the first week, IIRC.

Slight in duration. The magnitude was greater. People were playing first thing in the morning but once you started seeing everyone on the east coast getting home, installing, and logging in they were basically unable to log in due to the load and other issues. Sim City was at least playable (by some metric of playable) since people were at least able to log in (even if it took 20 minutes) and play the game, even if their cities weren't getting saved due to getting booted.

Well, yeah, I meant in terms of duration. They were adding assets the day after Launch, maybe sooner.

<-- one of the people unable to log in AT ALL, on the day of Launch. Kept timing out on me, because of the extra step to use my Authenticator I think.

Right. I'm not sure of what continued issues have been happening with Sim City past launch day. I don't own it. I've heard a lot of news related to launch but nothing about it in the days after launch. So I'm not sure if steps have been taken to provision more infrastructure to deal with the problems or not.

Basically, these companies seem to provision resources for what they think will be normal usage and never bother to provision for launch day by using the various server hosting services to get a temporary increase. Then you end up with a horrible launch that drives negative reviews and blah blah blah.

Yeah, I agree with you there.

Back to Borderlands, SVP.

SORRY FOR THAT BRIEF INTERVENTION. I BEAT THE EVER LIVING S*** OUT OF THAT GUY FOR GOING BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH ABOUT SOME BORING GAME INVOLVING MANAGING A CITY! WHO THE F*** WANTS TO MANAGE A CITY?! THE ONLY REASON TO BUILD A CITY IS TO BLOW IT THE F*** UP!

Yarr, I be finding the treasure of Cap'n Blade!

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd... Done. *Sighs* Waiting for DLC now.

Guess I'll start again with Salvatore. I loves me my guns akimbo!

Now that I got my ASUS gaming laptop, time to fire up this game and get past the first area.

Mr. Torgue: "S*** JUST GOT REAL!!!"

I keep starting over to try the other characters, and last night I bought the mechromancer DLC, which seems to be one powerful cooldown.

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep dropped today. It. Is. AWESOME!

Mister Torgue Flexington drops back in to be a questgiver, then he gets thrown in the stocks. And he's still a questgiver. EXPLOSION NOISE!

Further proof that Torgue should adopt Tina.

A gigantic, explosion-obsessed borderline-sociopathic manchild adopting a tiny, explosion-obsessed far-off-the-deep-end-psychopathic girlchild.

I can't see any way that could end in anything but AWESOMENESS. EXPLOSION NOISE!

WHY? REASONS!!!

They also advertised a cool "Platinum Edition Loot Chest" or something like that, full of decals and a mask and some in-game unlocks and junk. If the thing wasn't $100, I'd be sorely tempted.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Stupid Dwarven Mines!!!

What's wrong with the Dwarven Mines, CanRay?

I kept getting lost. Figured out what I was doing wrong now. Finished the DLC, save for sidequests.

It is very well done!

Um, did they change the goliaths gamewide or just in the Torgue DLC? They are no longer guys with tiny heads that pop up like Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots when you shoot their helmets off.

I think they misused the name, but I can attest to the fact that Goliaths are as they were in the rest of the game.

Actually, oddly, it seems it's hard/impossible for them to change content once released. Dunno why. They claim technical reasons.

I am a knight of justice and cupcakes and stuff. Because Roland said so. For shizzle.

Tina's DLC - daaaaamn.

Best extension to a game since Blood Dragon. And the "realistic underwearmod" for Fallout 3.

The flavour grenade mods are screamingly funny.

Moxxi's new gun is Smexy as well!

I actually shed tears during Tina's breakdown over Roland's death.

Aye. I'm editing my save files to give me Firestorm, Chain Lightning and the four-ball Magic Missile from the get-go in the main game.

It's a pity they don't scream "Magic Missile!" or whatever outside of Tiny Tina's, though.



Aye, but don't use it multiplayer, because it WILL slip out of your hands, and some right rat bastard motherfucker will swoop in, grab it, "lol thx for the gun" at you, and slip off into the digital aether.

No, I'm not still bitter and angry. (Yes I am. Even though I used a save editor to replace it. >_<)



Aye, that was poignant, and unexpected given that Tiny Tina is legitimately a sociopath, if not an outright psychopath. Do remember that this is a thirteen-year-old girl who escaped from a heinous megacorp's clutches, and then cold-bloodedly tortured and executed the man responsible for her family winding up there, while his chums stormed her cave of Boom to try and rescue him, and hired mercenaries to defend her while she had her vengeance...

Actually, that would be an awesome Shadowrun story. Would your players take nuyen from a thirteen-year-old traumatized, mentally-broken but functional girl, to forcibly extract a gang-member, and then take more money and a bribe of guns to protect her hideout from his gang while she has her way with him?


[e]

How many DLCs are out for BL2 now?

Fffffive, I want to hesitantly guess? Scarlett, Torgue, Hammerlock, Psycho, Tina...right? I think?

Bah. That means I have psycho free of charge but I'll have to pay for Tina. Damn. Sly devils.

Did you get the Season Pass? If so, you should have Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep already. Character packs and suchlike were not included in the Season Pass, only story DLC.

I got the Season Pass, and was able to pick up Tina for free, yeah. Haven't PLAYED it yet (waitin' until Mrs. Crit and I can sit down and tackle new stuff together), but we're all downloaded, updated, and ready to rock.

Mister Torgue puts in an appearance. Like, an actual in-game-model appearance. I expected him to be taller.

"IT'S NOT THE SIZE THAT MATTERS, IT'S HOW BIG AN EXPLOSION YOU CAN MAKE!!!"

On a side note, we're now saying..."'cause, you know...reasons..." for everything.

..it just works!


-Tir

Hmm. I thought the season pass, through steam, was only for 4 DLC.

It is: Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty, Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage, Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt, and Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. The Psycho Pack only adds a character, like the Mechromancer Pack, it doesn't add any story or missions.

i think i might buy the GOTY Version of this.

4 Specific DLC, the Expansion Packs.

So, I succumbed to my unnatural lust for Steam sales once again, bought all the DLC I didn't already have for Borderlands 2, and started a new game as Gaige. I've been trying to think of another villain as hateable as Handsome Jack, and I'm drawing a complete blank. Most villains have some kind of redeeming feature, or at least a Pet the Dog moment; not Jack. Even the rage he shows when you kill Angel just makes me despise him more. You imprisoned and tortured your own daughter in order to advance your own power and wealth, and then expect me to see you as a devoted father? Yeah, come a little closer and speak into the shotgun. Everything about him, everything he does, every word out of his mouth, every little mannerism says, "I am a mound of pestilent skag feces masquerading as a human being."