Rei Kuhr

My boss didnt know what April Fools day was, so I tried to explain it to him. He said that today wasnt a funny day to him because his wife nearly set the house on fire and he was busy all morning dealing with the fire department and police. I'm like 'wtf? Is everything ok?.' My boss grinned at me and said "April Fools." Goddamnit.

Just pray you dont make a divot.

Dont worry. He still has to ask his mom to give him a ride.

I was under the impression that Clarissa quit. I remember checking the inactives on Mercury and I noticed that Clarissa was no longer in the Ordo groups. If she's rejoined, then I dont know what her status is.

Psst...world 98 is the one without war enabled. Choose "medium with war enabled" and go to world 43

Fort Sill, woot. While you're there, head over to the 95th AG and tell the new recruits not to eat the jumbalaya MREs :D

Actually, this guy makes some good points. Reason 5: The problem with this is, it falls under the same argument people have been making for a long time. Games are a BUSINESS MODEL. Arguing over how payments are handled will happen regardless of how you do it. The guy fails to mention that $15 a month for ALL the content is actually quite paltry considering how micropayments can add up. Take SecondLife for example. A lot of people spend well over $15 a month on SL. Although SL has the option of having players earn money back, so that's in favor. $15 for a month of gaming is a lot, considering what else can cost that much. A meal for three at any fast food restaurant for example. Reason 4: First off, UI is User Interface. Has nothing to do with AI. Secondly, Aggro is something that will be with any group-based RPG until the AI is advanced enough to reason on it's own. It's a simple mechanic meant to mimic realistic reactions (the "argh I'm mad at the guy who is causing the most problems I'm going to go beat on his face" reaction). The author needs to keep everything else in mind. If there was no mechanic to keep players doing what they do without being dead every three seconds, then they'd have to make all the classes very similar, which would destroy uniqueness amongst the classes and players. Reason 3: While the author does have a point, he fails to mention two things. One: There are plenty of games that have flashy action WITHOUT buttonmashing. And two: There are games that are pure buttonmashers but allow players to keep their eyes on the action. The problem with most MMOs is that they give you such a varied amount of things and have a mechanic known as cooldown so you cannot just use them all at once. It's the COOLDOWN that keeps us looking down at those buttons. However, there have been many solutions to this to keep players watching what they are doing. For one, in WoW, there are addons that give audible clues and/or a message on a Heads Up Display to tell us when certain abilities are ready. And for two, games like Age of Conan have given a lot of the action directly to the player with only a few abilities that are done by button press. And those have combos that players can easily see without taking their eyes off of what is happening in front of them. Reason 2: While I agree with the author that a lot of MMOs have incredibly static worlds, this is starting to change. For example, WoW has recently introduced the Phased Instance system. With Phased Instances, areas can progress individually for people. For the first timer, one zone might look like a town being besieged by hostile forces. As they progress, the area changes along with them. When they finish, peace is reigning and all is well, but for the next player that comes along, it's a war-torn zone again. Phased Instances are done by a simple check system. The server checks whether or not a player has completed certain objectives and it will only show the pertinent objects and entities to the player. So the zone has everything already there, but things that the player are not supposed to see are hidden. Reason 1: The author fails to mention Everquest 2, which has quite possibly the best system in place. Players who are higher in level can "apprentice" lower level players. This sets the higher level player down to the lower player's level without making him lose his equipment. This means that both can group together and do the same content together without making things worse for one or the other. Age of Conan has something similar where the player being "apprenticed" is bumped up to one level below the others. This means that, while still not perfect, players are becoming more able to play with others at all times. The guy isnt a retard. However, he's self-centric on his views and fails to do his research on all the MMOs out currently. He also seemingly throws things out that really have no substance at all. The subscription fees? Does this guy not remember how they used to be? I remember subscription fees being $0.99 a MINUTE. This person needs to go back and actually do his own research and come up with his own solutions instead of coming off like a whiner. To the author: If it isnt broke, DONT FIX IT.

Something I wanted to point out since I just thought of it. If an Officer allows you to be informal, then that's fine. We have our own guidelines and expectations on the matter, as well as a standard to uphold. One of the responsibilities we have, and honestly a freedom we relinquish upon attaining Officer status is maintaining proper discipline within the group. This means that we ourselves are not free to run around acting like morons. Trust me, we have severe consequences if we do it. Keep in mind whenever you are talking with an Officer that if they get onto you about informality, it's not just us being assholes. If we neglect to point these instances out, it's our fault and something we can get punished for. We're all responsible adults. Most importantly, if it really bugs you guys to have to maintain a respectful tone with an officer, do not seek to call them out on it. In the end it will burn you. However, if you cannot maintain a respectful tone with an officer, then do something to cool your jets. If this means informing said officer that you dont want to speak of it right now and want to do so on a later date OR with another officer, then do so by all means. Remember, respect is a two way road. This brings me onto the subject of reporting said behavior. We all dont want to, but it is one of our duties. If you see an Officer acting in a manner not befitting of his rank, then report it. Dont handle it yourselves. Read above as to why. The best way to go about handling these issues is, if you have something to say to an Officer that may be construed as disrespectful, think over what you're going to say. If you cannot make it reasonable, then just dont say it. Keep your mouth shut. If you feel it is something needing to be said (and by the way, are willing to pay the price for saying such. Sucks huh?) then send the Officer a private message. Be as respectful as possible, and understand that the point is not to get your way, but to do your duty in maintaining discipline within Ordo. If all else fails, report. We are all understanding of the concept of compromise. Use it. If an Officer wont work with you on the matter, then it's not the end of the world. Dont take it in that direction and things will go fine.

Honestly, Kanaki is a hard worker and a great asset with us in Navis. Oh, and we have no pest problem in the Navis office because all the crumbs are cleared before the bugs show up. :p

Someone's going to have to show me how to get those boots working with my new avatar then :|

Can do General Affairs, but will go where needed.

Meet my friend, Gunau.

Dont run while hitting that button. You'll kill yourself.

Just to let everyone know, I'm going to be spending some time away from Ordo. If anybody needs to contact me, just leave me an offline and I'll get it in my mail.

I still remember the time Joseph took me up for my Astra flight trial. I had to pee so bad that I concentrated on nothing but beating him in a duel simply so I could go empty my bladder. Joseph taught me a lot about being a good officer, and about how to collect broken cars. I'm glad to have him still around, and I value the time he spent as Legates and giving us the Astra we have today.

I just wanted to point out too, that if anybody thinks that us Officers seem to be a bit uptight about rules and regs, this is why. An NCO might get a slap on the wrist for things like not wearing their tag while on sim, but if an officer is caught neglecting to catch these mistakes, we could face demotion for it. So oftentimes, we're not only doing it for the good of the Ordo, but also for the plain simple reason that we want to keep our positions.

Sera wasnt the only one.

Well it's not precise, nor should it be. Generally two to three paces away. Depends on the situation. If they're passing by, then the above rule. If they're entering the room you're in, the whole room. Just use common sense.

Incorrect. Those that hold a rank are saluted as that rank. So an O-3 in a special division that is not the Praetorians should be saluted. Dont confuse it with command authority and succession of command.

Just to help clarify: Generally if a group is waiting on an officer to show up, the highest ranking person in the group will be in charge of that group and will call the salute. However, if a group is just milling about and an officer shows up, then generally the first person to notice will announce the presence of the officer and salute for the group.

It's tomorrow but thanks D:

While the idea is not appealing to me, I do suspect that this will be an important group for all officers to join. Part of being an officer is dealing with the political aspects of the job as well as the administrative, so it's going to be painful, but that's what we knew would eventually happen when we put the uniform on.

Just.....watch it.

Look at the ground on the first picture. It's not even in Titan :P

It's Yakan btw, not Yenken :P