So I still get a choice then? Neat.

You've no idea.

And where are the clones? There ought to be clones. Quick, send in the clones. Don't bother - they're here.

Lured or not, when "alternative" approaches have a high rate of failing to market, and the market for luxury items is strained due to a similarly strained economy, well... When walking a tightrope it's usually not one's first instinct to flail one's hands around wildly.

Why? We already drive invisible taxis anyway. I see no reason for all this hatred of Mimery...

Insightful. QED?

Risks taken with a population demographic that is famously capable of being unhappy with anything often don't go well.

I have comment regarding anyone basing performance expectations solely on the brand their hardware wears. It is this: lol

Oddly enough this is how I pretty much feel about PvP that objectively has outcomes, stakes and objectives. I'm guessing these are one of those things that you must at least to some extent internalize in order for them to seem meaningful to you.

Noted.

That significant differences are a matter of perspective, nothing more. You say some things are the same. I say they are different. This isn't a matter of right and wrong, really. Operational conditioning. I'm intimately familiar with it. If not because I studied psych extensively in college, then because I spent most of my high school years (as well as a couple of my middle-school years) inside a Skinner Box- not literally, mind you, no, but the private school I attended used a Behavioral Conditioning approach in all disciplinary dealings. I've seen first hand how well it works over long periods of time and under different circumstances. What did I learn? While I'm sure 'ol B.F. would disagree with me, I'd have to say it was: Environment does not trump Will (where there is enough Will present to make any difference, anyway). Operant conditioning is surefire on dogs, and even young children to some extent. It does not work very reliably on adult human beings. The ability to choose tips the scales rather handily in every case. Skinner would of course insist that my choices were only illusions and that my environment was always the big mover and shaker in what I "chose" every time- I just wasn't consciously aware of it. Maybe. But I think that's as much bad science as the empirical proof that exists in favor of a bearded sky-man's will being the prime mover and shaker in everything that possibly can happen in the universe- even if I don't know it. By which of course I mean that empirical proof doesn't exist. It sounds awfully pretty, though. Well, that and B.F. Skinner put his own daughter in a LITERAL Skinner Box and ran experiments on her. If that isn't enough to call his primacy of knowledge on the human psyche into some degree of fallibility, I don't know what would. Practical upshot? Whether the same mechanics are in play in both instances doesn't really much matter. Those same mechanics are present just about any place where one human being is attempting to influence the actions of another- because they have a significantly high rate of success- if not an entirely perfect one. In short the rate of success is high enough to make ignoring it as a strategy a mistake. It works about as reliably every time. I wouldn't much worry about it. And more chance that the House will win it back the longer I stay. Again, "significant differences".

In fairness, what's the worst that could happen if you offered any? Grand Theft Sympathy?

No idea, but I do know that it's a popular perspective amongst amateur builders (of systems, that is) that... bigger numbers = better performance ...and that is all there is to it. Kinda weird to me, really. SSDs are neat tech, but they come with their own issues for anyone who's dealt with them more than drooling over the specs for one on NewEgg.

Yet you compared the boxes to gambling. The word "significant" is up for grabs here, clearly. Interestingly enough, if asked about my feelings on gambling, I would say I am a believer in the Roadside Lottery- which is to say I feel I am as likely to find a million dollars lying on the roadside as I am to win it. I have two casinos within spitting distance of me, yet I won't step foot in them. I won't even buy lottery tickets on a I-happen-to-be-passing-through-a-gas-station-whim. I don't believe in it. Yet I buy boxes on occasion. Either I'm an enormous hypocrite, or I see a "pretty significant" difference between those things. That would be a matter of perspective, I think.

You can say the same of pretty much any RNG mechanic in games. Assuredly Unrelated Pop Quiz: About what percentage of MMOs are made up of RNG-based mechanics? Sleep tight, you addict you.

You also get to try before you buy- truly try before you buy. If anyone recalls, before this became a market standard, free subscription offers were generally one-to-three months- of time. If you're a casual considering playing, this is rarely enough time to sample even a small fraction of the product. And if you're considering buying a luxury product in a tanked economy, well, you consider such purchases much more carefully.

And we (speaking of the collective 'we' here) bought it. There is a relatively unknown (and underrated) option not to buy into hype. This isn't a one-way relationship. I expect games like this to be hyped. I'm also rarely disappointed (though I am occasionally pleasantly surprised).

Not complaining here. Not interested in it as my primary motivation for playing the game. I might possibly take a spin at it once in a while- once in a great while, but I prefer to enjoy things on my terms, and I tend not to mix activities. In the short form: I don't like being interrupted while doing something. Most often I'm doing PvE things, sooooo... All that said, I can both see your point and see where your assertion could be challenged. As others have said, there are things the Devs can do to encourage, or make it more attractive to PvP in world for players. But this is very much a horse to water scenario when you get right down to it, and sure, a good deal of motivation must come from the players themselves. This attitude isn't unique to the PvP demographic either. Roleplayers also frequently blame others for their own lack of motivation. Shifting blame is what we do best.

In fact, I'd go as far to suggest that you stop licking the interior of your computer case if you've got a setup like this, yet still can't squeeze satisfactory performance out of it. To use the vernacular: you done goof'd.

First they came for the XxSSJGokuxXes, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't named XxSSJGokuxX. Then they came for the Iswearshewas18s, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't named Iswearshewas18. Then they came for Leroy of the Jenkins Legacy, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't in the Jenkins Legacy, nor was I named Leroy. Then they came for me, and marveled at how not-dumb my name was by any comparison.

Glad you're certain. I happen to be certain that anyone with those three letters on the brain generally has nothing constructive to offer in a conversation like this- yet are invariably eager to wax poetic about the apparent lack of constructive responses. Hardly seems fair, if you ask me. Let's not forget, it's not the only pointless comparison made so far here. There was also the comparison this began with. No. This game is not WoW, it is also not SWG. Why yes, it is a game, and it even happens to be in the MMO subgenre along with a lot of other games. True, it resembles some of those games more than others in ways. Then again, not all resemblances are negative, an indication of a lack of creativity, or serve no purpose at all. With the obvious bits out of the way, I'll make you an offer to bring up something constructive. Go on. I'd welcome interesting discussion on this subject, truly I would. Or we could just continue retreading old arguments here that hold about as much air (if not less) than when they were first mounted on the rim.

This guy approves.

Fortunately, most people with those three letters on the brain have a tendency to succeed at it handily nonetheless.

Because many people need to shore up their sense of being justified in playing whatever MMO they are currently in the love half of a love/hate relationship with by enumerating all those mmos which fall mostly into the latter half of that relationship dynamic. Or, in layman's terms, people are galactically insecure about what they do with their spare time. Not speculating here. If you want proof, try standing completely immobile, doing nothing productive in the middle of a very busy place for ten minutes (in fact, don't even think about anything productive if you can manage it). Then tell me how that experience made you feel. Most people- even the least motivated individuals in society- will report feeling awkward. Often guilty. That's it in a nutshell. If you're wasting time, you must at least delude yourself into believing it is somehow justified. "Well yeah, sure I'm playing a silly game, but at least I'm not playing that silly game like those poor saps!" /monocle

Ah, this old chestnut. If your sense of achievement (because you share the same requisites in life for feeling achieved with precisely no other member of your species) takes a dramatic body-blow because of how you acquired a collection of pixels in a game with arbitrarily determined rules for how hard or easy something is, I'm not so much concerned with the fact that you're not happy in this situation as the likelihood that you will never be happy, in any situation. EVER. The butterfly effect is supposed to precipitate hurricanes, not slightly damp farts.