Blizz takes a hacksaw to the WoW talent system

Well here is some surprising news: unsatisfied with earlier attempts at expanding and tweaking the talent system for the upcoming Cataclysm expansion, Blizz has decided to fundamentally redesign the entire talent system for each and every class. The biggest change is that "signature talents" for each class will be available immediately once you hit level 10 and select one of the three class trees as a "mastery." So instead of burying Shield Slam or Mutilate deep within the talent point system, unlocked at level 50 or 70, a warrior or rogue would get these abilities immediately. The idea here is to make classes feel specialized and distinct right from the beginning of the game, rather than making it a "delayed reward" for leveling.

wise frog says...

Blizzard loses their shit

By now you've no doubt heard the announcement from Actizzard that posts to the official forums will only be allowed using real names once the RealID system is up and running. This is obviously a bad thing for many good reasons.

Unfortunately, these many obvious reasons were lost on the Actizzard forum moderator who, to show everyone that real IDs are a good idea, unveiled his real identity.

The resulting disaster has been tracked, quite hilariously, by GameRiot. It is a bona fide internet shitstorm.

An Omega "Omega Supreme" Supreme

I hear it takes this mofo 10 cubes of energon just to get out of bed.

Four times the height of the standard Optimus Prime model from the 80s.

Fully articulated.

Transforms into a goddamned Battlestar.

And best of all: the modeler purposely left the little screws visible to maintain the toylike appeal. An appeal that says "play me, you 31 year-old manchild."

world cup around the world

Just kind of interested -- how crazy are you guys finding the World Cup madness in your neck of the woods?

Toronto is pretty diverse and pretty dense, so there is almost always someone either partying or crying at the latest results. In our situation what mostly happens is that nationalities congregate at their preferred bar by the hundreds, then parade up and down two or three of the main commercial streets to party afterwards. It's pretty fun.

My own enthusiasm is mostly linked to the betting pool I'm in. Winner takes home 60 beers and $100. Booyah.

Too bad I'm getting my ass kicked.