The Lurker Lounge's Future

[NuurAbSaal]

Much love to Bolty for keeping the Lounge around for what seems like eons.

take care
Tarabulus

It has been eons. I remember hosting the place somewhere around 1999 for a while, before the advent of really cheap and reliable hosting.

Oh yeah, that reminds me:

Much love to all the mods that help keep this place running

take care
Tarabulus

[kandrathe]

The big hitch is the Mumble Server

I don't think that is a big issue. There are emerging many free group chat services for gamers and even Skype. It's just more ad-hoc than a dedicated constantly "open line" and needs some coordination. Also, there is no particular need for a sites services to be hosted from the same place.

[Tal]

The only thing I could imagine doing for the LL content-wise nowadays is to write a WoW Priest blog. Even then, there are already several excellent ones out there and my writing would be very off-and-on: probably many weeks of frenetic activity followed by a month or two of nothing, depending on where my Real Life™ takes me. That's a very niche interest in any case.

I think you should do it. Frequently the big blogs either take for granted that a reader understands the mechanics of the class that they're discussing and then talks over the heads of their readers, or they load up their posts with complicated math then fail to create that crucial TL,DR conclusion.

[kandrathe]

I think you should do it. Frequently the big blogs either take for granted that a reader understands the mechanics of the class that they're discussing and then talks over the heads of their readers, or they load up their posts with complicated math then fail to create that crucial TL,DR conclusion.

For WoW, I would love that, but not only for Priest. Perhaps, following a model, others could add-on.

The bottom line for me really with any class are things like;

• What actions should I be using, when, and how often?
• What are the indispensable tools (i.e. macros, addons) that help and not confuse things?
• Bar setups and keybindings - shortcuts, etc.
• How do I use this class in this specific Boss fight? (Do I switch specs, glyphs, talents for this fight how?)
• Shortest paths of progression to end game content

But, there are other things too that may appeal. For example, I like the functionality of "The Undermine Journal", but the blog comes across as a haven for gold farmers. From what I see in how people use the AH, many people could benefit from a "What should you AH, and how to get the best price, or quickest sale depending on your goals"?

And, on quest chains, and rep grinding, many of us veterans find out stuff well after it would be useful. For the less experienced it is very, very complicated to know "what is the best course of action I should take now", such as, "you just turned in the daily quest that pushed you from honored to revered -- stop, go to the quartermaster and buy the commendation before you turn in any more".

Another example, on Operation: Shieldwall -- I just found out yesterday by accident that doing the daily kill quest of the Crab/Crane/Tiger results in a hour long "Ghost Defender" buff that helps make the other daily quests a little easier. I wish I would have known that a month ago -- it was probably in a comment by someone somewhere. For half my OSW rep grinding, I overlooked some text in the quest on the lumber bot killing -- so I never zapped them. Imagine my surprise when they went from 1.2 million HP Elite to 200-250K not elite and died in 5 seconds as opposed to 1-2 minutes of hard slog. Yeah, I felt pretty dumb for not realizing it earlier. It was even just helpful to know that once you get to a point, there are a bunch of non-daily grind quests that add 1/3-1/2 of the 21000 needed to get from revered to exalted.

Anyway, I think many of us were attracted here because we like to max/min things -- we like to understand the mechanics, so from that, yes, I do like sites such as EJ, that decode the math, etc. But, it would be nice to have it summarized better. For example, it is nice to know that Prayer of Healing is still useful, but it is better to know more about when, on whom, and how often it should be used.

I think too with recent mechanics changes, they've made many things matter in varying amounts now for all classes. So, as a Hunter, I need to be concerned with agility, hit, crit, expertise, mastery, and haste. This makes the selection of gear, reforging, enchants, gems, and what not (even profession choices) all that much more important in the selection of corresponding builds. Like, until it was discussed in Guild chat, I hadn't really considered the advantage of being an Alchemist, when you are a tank build relying on the healing prowess of your team.

[GhastMaster]

I'd definitely support a Path of Exile section of the site. PoE has been my main time-waster fro the last six months.

I second that motion. I think this game is going to be a big hit. I just got into the closed beta and have been amazed. I would love to do some lurking about it.

[TaMeOlta]

I have seen a Bolty-Gnome in Warcraft .... is that a mini-Bolty ?

[MonTy]

I just wanted to say thank you for all the years you've supported the site. The LL is a small corner of the internet I truly love. If you were to open up donations I'll gladly chip in.

[Bolty]

Been looking at HostGator lately. I read loads of bad things about Hostica. Anyone with experience using HostGator?

[shoju]

Really? Where did you read? I'm curious to see what people are saying. You can PM me if you like.

[Bolty]

Really? Where did you read? I'm curious to see what people are saying. You can PM me if you like.

Boy this was a while ago - basically Googling "Hostica Review" comes up with things like this. The general gist of it seems to be that if you know what you're doing, awesome. If you don't or if your site becomes unresponsive for whatever reason, you're SOL.

I'm not expecting to get the level of service I get now for only a tenth of the price. And I know not to pay too much attention to "outlier" reviews - no matter how great a product is, somebody's going to complain about it. However, I found a pattern of consistent complaints about absolutely horrible customer service.

[shoju]

Well I have to say, after being with them so long, I'm starting to run into the same problem. A simple Http1.1 Protocol Changeover with paypal, Approved Script changes by both the shopping cart company, and Paypal, and the 1.1 protocol still isn't working on my site.

Needless to say, After being with them for a very long time, I'm starting to look elsewhere. The past 13 days have been incredibly frustrating (It's funny, I started having my problem the day I posted that).

Slow response. Snide Responses. Talking down to me like I don't know anything. I'll admit, I'm not a Web Server Genius, but I can at least handle the basics, and understand things. It's an unfortunate end to a long standing relationship

[Bolty]

On writing a Priest blog:

I think you should do it. Frequently the big blogs either take for granted that a reader understands the mechanics of the class that they're discussing and then talks over the heads of their readers, or they load up their posts with complicated math then fail to create that crucial TL,DR conclusion.

I thought about this some more and decided against it. It sounds elitist as all hell and I'm sorry about that, but my perspective on World of Warcraft in a US top 30 25-man guild is so radically skewed off of what is more "normal" for most players of the game that such a blog would have two problems:

1) I don't think, even if I tried, that I could write at a fully understandable level to a more casual player, and
2) It may attract more elitist players to the site and change its dynamic

Even at a basic level, there are so few 25-man guilds left in the game compared to the whopping majority (something like 90%, right) of 10-man guilds. Advice given on how to gear and play for 25-man healing is very different for 10-man and what I'd write would naturally only apply to those 10% of raiders to start with. I've told other Priest players on more than one occasion not to simply copy what I'm doing on my Armory because I'm geared and spec'ed for heroic 25-man raiding. It doesn't always apply the same way to 10-man raiding, never mind LFR vs Normal vs Heroic modes.

Sites like Icy Veins and HowToPriest are great resources already. Heck, I use Icy Veins all the time for my alts just to get a basic idea of "glyph this, talent that, use these abilities and win."

[Mirajj]

1. NEWS
a) On the front page portal, have a news ticker to the right of the main "news" page with current news.

b) Once a week, have someone post the most intriguing political happenings that really deserve more insight and feedback from our stalwart crew here. More details? Alright; I'm talking about someone with moderator status who, on a weekly basis, makes either a single post with the most pertinent news available, or several short posts (no more than, say three) describing the event by quoting an article, then commenting about it. Already being done, you say? I disagree, and feel there are always noteworthy articles that mightn't have been given their own thread by members because the contents didn't seem that inflammatory, however that does not mean the piece is not worth discussing.

c) Invite others to join our conversations at the LL in the comments section below the news articles used. You'd be surprised how well this works. Not spam botty, but more like, "<insert opinion of the subject here followed by> it would be cool to continue this conversation at the Lurker Lounge." Of course, the person (or persons) finding the news would be the ones posting in the comments. <IDEA> I was just hit with an idea; maybe if three people wanted to find one story for the week, this whole process wouldn't be much of a burden, maybe something done in ten minutes or so.

I did this for a while with the news section of WoW. It's a lot harder and much more time consuming that one would think.

Also, much thanks and props to Bolty for keeping this place going.

[Bolty]

Hey all, just an update. Trying out a new host now and the site will likely be moving within a week or so. I don't think the Mumble server will survive the trip, but I won't know for sure until the move completes. The Lounge isn't going anywhere and should be here for years to come.

Now let's figure out what to do with the place, hmm?

[NuurAbSaal]

The Lounge isn't going anywhere and should be here for years to come.

take care
Tarabulus

[shoju]

You rock Bolty.

Well, I would humbly request maybe a POE Forum. I'm sure it doesn't need broken down into classes, and all that, but just a place where we could get some POE discussion going.

Maybe we could better ultilize the news portion of the forum, and get content going, or we could try and turn it into a commentary type thing, I like the Devil in the Details Videos, and I'm not even a Diablo Player.

[Bolty]

Maybe we could better ultilize the news portion of the forum, and get content going, or we could try and turn it into a commentary type thing

I'm quite happy to allow someone to post news regarding PoE IF they're willing to make regular updates (at least 2-3 a week) and follow the game closely. What usually happens is someone says "sure, I'll do it, I love <game X>," posts bits for two or three weeks, and then disappears.

We have a nice thread going on PoE - I've noticed the activity - but I'm not sold yet on whether that warrants a forum of its own. If someone's going to drive news on the Lounge for PoE, then I'd agree it should have its own discussion area.

Are there guilds in PoE? If so, is there going to be a Lurkers guild?

[shoju]

Guilds are not... "Actively" supported in POE.

There are a few, that have sites that you can join, and be a part of. Guilds would actually, maybe, force me to turn chat back on, and be social. With the way looting works, I'd just as soon not party with strangers (it's sort of cutthroat)

I admit, I tried my hand at WoW posting, and it just sort of... well... I sort of forgot about it. (whoops!)

I have Lennylen, and BLDavis, Jabber, and Frag on my friends list. I haven't talked to them lately, because I shut off the Chat because I was tired of the Trade Spam. I'm sure it would be pretty easy to coordinate events with Lurkers who are of a "close" level, and in the same ladder.

I've not yet felt comfortable enough to play hardcore. Probably for the best, since I've only ever made it into my 20's before getting met with a massive crater that had my name on it.

[kandrathe]

Are there guilds in PoE? If so, is there going to be a Lurkers guild?

Not in the same sense as WOW or Everquest. They've developed "league" where some may be permanent, other may be just open for a Saturday contest (race -- 1st to level x hardcore). Some leagues may be purchased by a group of like minded players who don't want the influence of a farmed items -- or might have special rules. Beyond selling vanity items, this is where they'll make some money in selling access to special leagues and PVP arenas. But, everything required to play the game is free.

http://www.pathofexile.com/leagues

It feels much more like Diablo. A cadre of friends can group up 2, 3, 5 in a party and work together... I think max party size is five, but I don't know for sure. The good loot drops are designated to a specific player for about 30 seconds, so unless you are near the kill you'll miss the best loot and experience.

[Ruvanal]

It feels much more like Diablo. A cadre of friends can group up 2, 3, 5 in a party and work together... I think max party size is five, but I don't know for sure. The good loot drops are designated to a specific player for about 30 seconds, so unless you are near the kill you'll miss the best loot and experience.

Party size is 6 from the player count for groups on the message boards. for example, players 3/6 level 14-16.

For the drops, only the 'higher' quality loot is set for specific players and it has a harsh short timer. Much less than the 30 seconds you are thinking. A developer post indicated that they were looking a timer of about 1 second if it was for a melee player and about 2 seconds for a ranged character so that they had a 'little' time to run over and pick up. From the run that Magi and I did with you last Sunday, it seemed like a little longer than 1 and 2 seconds; but definitely less than 3 seconds for ranged. I often saw the timers for Magi's or my loot run out before we could have gotten over there unless we stopped in the middle of fighting and bee lined to the drop to pick up.

Game designers notes on the loot dropping and some 600+pages of griping about it here. http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/392/page/1