Interesting. I've seen little lag, don't feel pressured to spend money I don't have, and haven't really encountered the bugs aside the from the fact that the sparkly path occasionally leads me to the wrong place. I'm not meaning to contradict you, I just had no idea the game was having the problems it's had and I'm glad that you brought them up.

I don't do PvP (and love that I can advance easily in the game without it, unlike in Lord of the Rings Online), so I didn't know it was so bugged. I don't use the exchange (I know I'm losing in-game money, but I really can't figure out how they do the exchange in Neverwinter in the first place--far more complicated than in STO--and just sell all my stuff back to merchants instead). The only real problem I've had in the Foundry is finding missions that are clearly designed for group player, given the number of foes and all, but are not marked as such.

I really hope they clear out the bugs, because I am absolutely in love with this game. STO has felt very workmanlike for me lately and I've loved the change of pace.

I love dating.
When I was single, I think I loved it even more.
I've always been the type of person to enjoy woo'ing, surprising and making an event out of dates. It is what you make it.
If I expected things, instead of making things happen, I probably wouldn't soon be celebrating 11 years together.
My "advice" would be that, if you really want a relationship, you might want to bite the bullet and be to someone else what you want for yourself. Change it up. Dating can be very diverse and exciting.

I'm really happy you've enjoyed it, and learned a lot from space STF tactics. Unfortunately though, I long ago made the decision not to make more things for the fleet.

I am however happy to make a non-affiliated revised compendium in the future including ground. :)

Take care buddy! :)

My partner and I have been playing it for the past week.

I'm enjoying the fresh combat and I like the pvp and foundry. Still, the game has some huge issues.

Lag. This has been the biggest problem for us. As exciting and fresh the pvp has been, it's usually ruined because of lag. My melee character has one hell of a time fighting ranged opponents. They easily dodge and outrun my attacks even though the game visually shows me hitting. The problem isn't limited to pvp though. Just running from one side of the city to another will frequently cause my character to 'rubber-band' back to somewhere in the middle.

MACROtransactions. I know this topic has been beaten to death but it's still a big deal. The game isn't shy to ask you for zen or astral diamonds where ever possible. I sprung for the Founder's pack and I still feel like I am required to drop more money.

Here is just a brief example of their microtransaction strategy:

I purchased a key (125 zen) to open a lockbox. The item inside was a purple (highest quality) rank 7 enchantment that could be used to enhance a piece of armor or weapon. However, the enchantment is actually upgradable to rank 9 which gives even greater benefits. In order to do this, you require four of the same quality items. Then, you have a 1% chance to succeed in the upgrade process. If you fail, you lose the item. The Zen store offers two alternatives to prevent this. For another 100 zen you get 10 chances which will prevent you from losing the item if you fail. Or, you can blow 1000 zen to have a 100% success rate. Yes, $10.

The entire cash shop is full of overpriced items. The fastest mounts available are 4,000 zen each. They can only be used on one character. They are not account unlocks unlike starships in STO. They also offer healing stones which will heal you in combat. The most expensive one is 1,500 zen for 200 heals. And worst of all, resetting your character's powers (abilities) is only possible by spending 600 zen.

Bugs. I realize that the game is in open beta. Still, they have basically made this a soft launch by allowing players to keep their characters and permit money transactions. Saying 'this is a beta' simply isn't a valid excuse in this situation. There are huge problems with foundry missions not working correctly. In fact, my foundry mission which I created several days ago still isn't publically searchable. I've also had errors entering instances, parties, receiving credit for kills and quests. The Auction House is barely usable with several filters not working at all. The queue system needs to be addressed. If someone leaves your party, 95% of the time you'll never get a replacement. In pvp this is detrimental.

The biggest known bug to date has been an exploit which instantly kills and respawns boss encounters; rewarding the player with end-game items. The exploit has existed for this entire week, persisting through several patches. Because there will not be a character wipe after open beta concludes, these cheaters have effectively ruined the economy. Even now, you can purchase the best gear in the game for a few thousand astral diamonds (dilithium).

Despite my gripes, the core of the game has a lot of potential and I really hope Cryptic can turn things around. I love the foundry, gameplay and really want to give them more money. But I won't be able to bring myself to do it until they actually fix these problems.

LOL you can date at any point of your life the key is simply being honest. If I'm dating someone who is watching their money or doesn't have the same ideas about paying then I do it's not a problem because like adults we'd have discussed it. ;) The real key Siran is making sure that you're ready for someone in your life. Ask yourself the question, "Does my life have room for someone else?" If you do then it's time to take the plunge and just accept that dating for some people at some points of their life is like looking through a deck of cards for aces. You know for a fact there are at least four in there you just need to flip through the deck till you find them...also don't get hung up on the Kings, Queens, and Jacks, recognize they aren't aces and move on!!

Quote by SiranNataan

And yet every time I suggest I should resign myself to being a lifelong bachelor, everyone has a snitfit that I can't give up and have to hope and am a great guy etc etc.

That's because 1 ) they're schadenfreude, enjoying in your misery. Or 2 ) they are so co-dependent and can't possibly fathom themselves being single and happy, and so they refuse to believe you can be happy as well.

So to avoid these people's secret negativity, don't revel your lifelong bachelor status, stock up on cats and porn. Start dating yourself, and embrace asexuality. Good luck, lemme know if it works!

And, I'm sorry about all of this. The whole legalising-marriage-in-Minnesota thing has got me really triggered today.

What I always wish, more than anything, is that I could take a secret video camera with me on the rare occasions I go out with a guy, so someone who knows what they're doing can point out where I'm screwing up. Like I said, the "outing" or whatever you want to call it seems to go great. And the guys always seem great. So when they refuse to speak to me again, they've vanished before I have any reason not to like them, so I assume there is something wrong with me.

I think the idea that I should sit on my hands and wait until I can afford middle-class standards of dating is absurd, myself.

Never really thought about it before but I would consider a date to be a coordinated meet up to determine whether there IS any romantic interest or to further said interest. I firmly belong to the camp that once the initial meeting is over the person who invites the other person out pays unless a split check has been discussed ahead of time, I also apply this to all my outings not just romantic. For instance I had a birthday party at a restaurant and I invited all my friends but since it was my birthday I didn't pay, I also picked a reasonable joint. However, if I were to invite people to Medieval Times for my birthday I would have the expectation of covering everyone. That's just the way I was raised but I don't judge or look down upon those who were raised differently, neither should you. ;)

Quote by Six-of-Nine

What about innate abilities, such as a ferasan pounce, or lib borg neural blast, or career based innate abilities like tactical team nanite health monitor, etc?

Excellent question. If the power is melee-based/physical damage like Ferasan Pounce I'd personally be willing to allow it but must confer with the leadership a bit before it's official. Liberated Borg Neural Blast, Orion Female Pheromones, ect.. would be off limits. The same would go for innate abilities like Nanite Health Monitor and Tactical Team. Each match would be a fight to the death and a referee would then rez you once the match is over. There will be medical generators at opposite corners of the challenge floor where participants may go to be healed once their respective matches are over and before beginning new ones.

I must be terribly old-fashioned but I've never used the internet to meet, date or hook up with anyone. Plus I usually pay when taking someone out on a date. I'm 30 now and have been in a committed relationship with my boyfriend for 4 years next month. Before that I could not successfully pursue a guy to save my life but found out that I was much better prey than hunter. I guess maybe I came off a desperate (which I wasn't) when I was the one doing the pursuing.

Any other instances were from bars either in WeHo or more often in Vegas where it's still very possible to meet someone in a bar the old-fashioned way. I did get cruised once in a bookstore and that guy is now one of my dearest friends.

My boyfriend initially pursued me because we'd known each other for about a year and were working together before I was laid-off. I wasn't even sure he was gay (until he sent me some softcore manga comics he liked to read) He was very reticent to pursue things physically having never been with another man before so I had to kinda pick up the slack there and do a little more of the pursuing but I knew by then that he liked me.

My point being; sometimes when you stop looking is when it's going to happen. You're intelligent and sensitive, SiranNataan and if these guys can't see it then it is their loss, not yours.

Quote by SiranNataan

Human beings are just so freakin' weird.

Human beings!? Try dating Betazoids! The date is always over in a few minutes because, since you can read each other's minds, you know whether you're wasting your time or are really into one another. ;)

What about innate abilities, such as a ferasan pounce, or lib borg neural blast, or career based innate abilities like tactical team nanite health monitor, etc?

And yet every time I suggest I should resign myself to being a lifelong bachelor, everyone has a snitfit that I can't give up and have to hope and am a great guy etc etc.

Human beings are just so freakin' weird.

Yeah, I'd prefer that as well, but the opportunities are so rare. Most of my friends' gay friends are hooked up. It is exceptionally rare for me to encounter another single gay man through one of my friends.

Oh, I don't go to bars either. I'd rather date a guy I'm friends with first, but so many of my friends tell me that dating a friend feels incestuous. Or I try to meet new guys at parties and events.

I had that problem when I was younger, but as I've gotten older it's rarely happened. Usually one of us will say "hey, it was great hanging out, but I'm not interested in this going any farther". I had assumed it was because, as I had gotten older, I was dating older guys and they were now becoming sufficiently mature to not pull that crap.

You're definitely not alone in this frustration, though. I know other guys who have had similar complaints. I'm not saying online dating is perfect; it's just worked for me better than picking guys up in bars.

My experience of online dating:

Chat with a guy online. Get along well. Ask to meet. Guy never speaks to you again. Have this happen about a hundred times. Finally find a guy who will actually meet. Find the guy really nice and interesting. Guy seems to be enjoying himself. End with both saying you had a good time and would like to meet again. Follow up. Guy never speaks to you again. Go through this entire cycle again ad infinitum ad nauseum.

I don't have time for that garbage, and I'm worth more than that.

Do guys actually use the word "date", like, ever? I've kind of learnt to avoid it, because every time I use it, whether I've seen the guy one time or ten times, as soon as I say it, the guy says, "We're not dating."

And I gave up online dating because I finally got tired of constantly getting treated like crap.