BREAKING STORY AT TURBINE!!

[Yegolev]

But in the end, he banged the hotty Rose. So it was a faux gay.

I would call it experimental, not faux.  Although "faux gay" is fun to say.  You mean he simply didn't come out.

I've read up on Tolkein and his friends, and I don't see what you're seeing.

True to my word, I'll not attempt to convince you.  As with any literary analysis, it is subject to the reader's interpretation.

[Signe]

[Alkiera]

MY EYES, MY EYES!!!

Gah, please no.

Alkiera

[tazelbain]

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Signe]

I think it's beautiful.

[Paelos]

I think it's beautiful.

You're a cruel woman some days.

[HaemishM]

My sex drive curses you from its freshly dug grave.

[Strazos]

Most effeminate picture. Ever.

[Stormwaltz]

*comes back two days later*

You guys are still talking about this? o_O

[Paelos]

*comes back two days later*

You guys are still talking about this? o_O

BACK IN YOUR CAGE, RED NAME 

[Murgos]

*comes back two days later*

You guys are still talking about this? o_O

It's been the same three conversations for 5 years now.  Seriously, what did you expect?

[shiznitz]

*comes back two days later*

You guys are still talking about this? o_O

You need to check in more or you will miss new words like "crotchpheasant."

[Bunk]

Look closer Stormy, nothing in the last two and a half pages of this thread has had much of anything to do with the original topic. Except maybe that ghey porn above.

[HaemishM]

I'm thinking that picture was taken in an instanced adventure.

[Signe]

Sorry for the derailment, Stormwaltz. 

So... what did you want to say?

[Stormwaltz]

I don't care about derailment (par for the course, that's why I've been passing the thread by) so much as the fact that a large group of avowedly heterosexual men have been discussing hobbit yaoi... for days. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Actually, I can say something on topic. It's old news by now, but I haven't seen it elsewhere on F13; Jason Booth left Turbine after at least 9.5 years there. To me, that's a far bigger deal than any of the other recent Turbine news. He was one of the few "plank owners" remaining on staff.

http://jbooth.blogspot.com/

[MaceVanHoffen]

True to my word, I'll not attempt to convince you.  As with any literary analysis, it is subject to the reader's interpretation. what the reader wants to believe.

Fixed!

Every few years or so, this nonsense comes up again.  I'd say you're in good company believing stuff like that.  My favorite recent theory is that the relationship between Frodo and Gollum mirrors the relationship between a gay man and his ugly inner self.  Homophobia 4tw.

Literary ANALysts seem to have a fixation on this sort of thing.  It's like an M. Night Fagyalan flick:  "I see gay people... They walk around like regular people.  They only see what they want to see.  They don't know they're gay."

[HaemishM]

Actually, I can say something on topic. It's old news by now, but I haven't seen it elsewhere on F13; Jason Booth left Turbine after at least 9.5 years there. To me, that's a far bigger deal than any of the other recent Turbine news. He was one of the few "plank owners" remaining on staff.

Both Booth AND Mulligan leave within a month? Am I the only one that thinks that a rather strange and not promising series of events?

[Yegolev]

I'd say you're in good company believing stuff like that.  My favorite recent theory is that the relationship between Frodo and Gollum mirrors the relationship between a gay man and his ugly inner self.  Homophobia 4tw.

Heh, you are taking me waaay too seriously.  I don't see the Frodo/Gollum thing, but hey.  You can call me a homophobe when I say something negative about homosexuals.

[Pococurante]

Both Booth AND Mulligan leave within a month? Am I the only one that thinks that a rather strange and not promising series of events?

Probably not promising but people can be pulled as well as pushed.  Mayhaps means something cool is gearing up too.

nah...

[Bunk]

I don't care about derailment (par for the course, that's why I've been passing the thread by) so much as the fact that a large group of avowedly heterosexual men have been discussing hobbit yaoi... for days. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Actually, I can say something on topic. It's old news by now, but I haven't seen it elsewhere on F13; Jason Booth left Turbine after at least 9.5 years there. To me, that's a far bigger deal than any of the other recent Turbine news. He was one of the few "plank owners" remaining on staff.

http://jbooth.blogspot.com/

Yea, I was following that detail on "the other site" but you're right, it was rather shocking.

[Stormwaltz]

Both Booth AND Mulligan leave within a month? Am I the only one that thinks that a rather strange and not promising series of events?

FWIW, I'm told the two are unrelated.

[Murgos]

Thats what they tell the peons just before they come to work and find the doors locked and thier stuff in boxes.

[Evangolis]

Well, I've enjoyed this little thread, and I'll be happy to add my own digressions to the mix.  I don't have any inside dirt on doings at Turbine, and don't know enough to make anything up, but I can do literary critisism.  It's like masturbation, but you need both hands.

Now I've never seen the Frodo/Samwise relationship as being crypto-homoerotic, rather I view it as an extension of the paternalistic old English master and servant relationship.  Tolkien was a man who remembered history; indeed, English history, and by extension Northern European history, was his life's work.  His inspiration for his writing was Northern European myth, and that is exemplified by his villians, particularly the bit players.  From Bill Ferny's swarthy friend in Bree, on to the Moorish Southron Knights, and beyond to the black hided Orcs and their dark master Sauron, the bad guys were people of color, excepting the savage Easterlings, who had red hair.  You don't have to know much about the British Isles to know where that one points.  Meanwhile, the god guys are all Northern European types, and one of the rewards the hobbits gain after the war is a marked increase in the number of blondes in their children.  One need not be much into deconstruction to see where this is headed.

Mind you, I don't actually believe it.  It was all based on Northern European myth, written by a Northern European, so of course the good guys tended to be Northern European types.  And of course the bad guys tended to be Mediterannean types, since those were historical foes of Northern Europeans.  When you take history as an influence, your stories are likely to look like history.  So I don't think Frodo and Sam were gay.  They were just English.

[Trippy]

Thats what they tell the peons just before they come to work and find the doors locked and thier stuff in boxes.

Turbine just raised $30 million more in VC funding so I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

[Evil Elvis]

A little birdy told me Booth got handed his walking papers.

[Soln]

A little birdy told me Booth got handed his walking papers.

== "cha ching"

I smell early buyout

[shiznitz]

What would be painful is if Turbine bought his shares back then resold them to the VCs at a premium to what they poid Booth. It has been known to happen.

[Llava]

Well, how many big time Blizzard names left in the middle of WoW's production?

Maybe they're just copying the formula?

[Margalis]

Actually, I can say something on topic. It's old news by now, but I haven't seen it elsewhere on F13; Jason Booth left Turbine after at least 9.5 years there. To me, that's a far bigger deal than any of the other recent Turbine news. He was one of the few "plank owners" remaining on staff.

http://jbooth.blogspot.com/

Sorry to derail the hobbit homosexuality, but the above website is pretty cool. Some good reading on design that is informed without being "ivory tower" stuff. Too bad his "about me" blurb is so awful. (Kids, count the mis-spellings!)

I've been thinking of applying for a job at Turbine actually, but I really need to get back into C/C++ programming first, something I haven't done a lot of if a few years now.

[shiznitz]

Turbine (and all MMOG devs) need ideas, not programmers.

[Margalis]

I have ideas too but good luck applying for a job as an ideas guy. It's 100x easier to apply as an engine programmer then have people say "wow, this guy has some great ideas" than apply as a designer, especially since most low-level designer positions are level designers which I have below zero interest in.

[HaemishM]

Turbine (and all MMOG devs) need ideas, not programmers.

No, MMOG devs have plenty of ideas, good and bad. What they need is someone who can actually execute those ideas without the execution turning into a pile of steaming monkey ass.

[schild]

I sent Turbine a question regarding some videos on IGN.

Twitch: Obviously there's some elements. When the little wizard girl is running away from the golem, as soon as she gets out of reach, he misses - seems like he had no chance of hitting. Wizards aren't that dextrous. Do you have to be in range? Also, you can obviously dodge traps. In addition, it seems you HAD to aim with the longbow, can you actually miss? Is it based more on a dice roll? Are you all actually doing the right thing before anyone else?

The Response:

Basically, there are two components to each attack in DDO's combat system:

Making the attack connect -- if an attack doesn't physically connect, nothing's going to happen. So if a hill giant's about to attack you, and you back off or tumble away in time, the giant won't even get a to-hit roll against you. We will rarely if ever be moving your avatar for you, but some skills, like Tumble, will help you get out of the way faster. Also, some attacks are impossible to dodge, like magic missile.
Resolving the attack -- when an attack connects, we go to the D&D rules and figure out whether any damage was actually done. This is more-or-less by the books -- if your attack connects with a monster, you'll get your d20 roll, add your attack bonus, and compare it to the monster's AC. If your number comes out on top, you'll do some damage. If not, you won't.

Note that getting the attack to connect, or getting out of the way of an incoming attack, is basically the "player skill," while resolving the attack is where the "character skill" component comes into play.

Also note that we can adjust the player skill/character skill balance by making it easier or harder to connect attacks. In fact, we did just that recently by slowing our monsters down somewhat; character skill has a little more weight in our combat system right now. We'll continue to make adjustments and tweaks throughout alpha and beta, but this base system should remain.

It's, at the very least, a step in the right direction. Having to be in range means running away is a reasonable form of escape and there's some player skill in simply getting close. It's a better translation of the AD&D rules than I expected.

[Calandryll]

Quick update:

The new site has been launched with the new name and new logo. We haven't released a lot of details (yet), but there are some new screenshots and the Gamespy article linked from the site has some info about gameplay as well.

http://lotro.turbine.com/