User talk:Tanaric/Archives

On Guild Wars
Can I ask: Why don't you play Guild Wars anymore? Shandy 04:09, 2 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Sure. In short, it lacks depth.


 * But I'll expand upon that. Back during the beta events (I played in every one), a lot was promised of Guild Wars.  It was supposed to be a more tactical game, in that if you didn't think during the map, you'd perish.  I remember playing through the early versions of the post-Searing Ascalon missions.  The enemies were incredibly difficult&mdash;usually three or four levels higher than you.  The encounters were placed in such a way that you could attack them from different angles with different results.  You could approach one group from on high, assault them with arrows as they approached, and then defeat the significantly damaged group after they finally got up to you.  Nowadays, every mission is just rush in, attack, defeat, next mission.  There's no challenge.  There are a couple of "gotchas" that you have to remember&mdash;for example, not pulling all the switches at once at the Frost Gate, but other than those few tricks, no mission requires anything more than common sense.


 * I got what I could out of the game. A buddy and me skipped all the missions and explored our way to every single visitable area in the game (pre-Desert, obviously).  I ran through most of the missions (I've yet to get past Thunderhead Keep), but they were pretty tame in comparison to what I'd played in the Beta.  I started a guild, and recruited a bunch of very unique people&mdash;but I was stranded in a different timezone all last summer, and since I couldn't do much for the guild, I handed leadership over to somebody else.  When I came back, the guild was mostly dead&mdash;and the few people who did still play were asshats.  I resigned from the guild, but since I don't really play anymore anyway, I rejoined recently (I know a lot of the guys "in real life," and my not being in the guild was inconvenient).  Still, I feel as if I've gotten most everything I can out of Guild Wars, and I'm happy to relegate my Guild Wars exposure to simply maintaining the GuildWiki.


 * I should probably also note that, even though I haven't really played in the last six months, I still have over 200 hours combined across all my characters. I put in a lot of time at release.  &mdash;Tanaric 15:24, 3 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Basically, this is why I PvP. Even before I finished PvE the first time around I knew it was basically about cheesing the AI enemy.  At that point, I was just playing to unlock stuff.  (I tried exploring, but the huge amount of emptiness after Ascalon made me eventually stop.)  I guess if you don't have a good group to putz around with, then PvP isn't very enjoyable, but I think it's worth trying to find good people.  --Fyren 15:36, 3 December 2005 (UTC)


 * PvP isn't that much different than PvE in this game. There's no tactics, or terrain to take advantage of, or even any way to meaningfully hide.  It's just coordinating your builds and following a plan.  While many people enjoy that, I really don't.  The only game that had PvP I enjoyed was Ultima Online.  I could skulk in the shadows, wait for somebody to walk past, take them out, take their stuff, and laugh all the way to the home I stole from some other guy. :) &mdash;Tanaric 15:39, 3 December 2005 (UTC)


 * While there's no classic rogue profession, there are tactics and terrain advantages. Line of sight, positioning, not simply playing characters in a mechanical manner, paying attention to what the other team is doing (and who is doing what) so you can react to it, and leadership of your own team are large issues.  If you were playing in the arenas, yes, it's mostly a joke.  GvG and, to a lesser extent, tombs is where it happens.  --Fyren 16:26, 3 December 2005 (UTC)


 * If you like the challenge in PvE, you should not have stopped short of the fire islands. While, by now, there are known "tricks" tp get past nearly any mission, there is a significant increase in difficulty after the shiverpeaks missions and again after the fire island missions. Try your hand at the titans quests (without using one of the tricks) and you'll have a real challenge. --Xeeron 10:45, 4 December 2005 (UTC)


 * A mediocre beginning does not justify a great end. I won't slog through boredom to get to something fun.  I've got plenty of other games that are already fun. :) &mdash;Tanaric 14:23, 4 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I agree that the game is very "forgiving" up to the Southern Shiverpeak missions. Players can simply hack and slash and overpower their enemy in almost every mission until they get to Thunderhead keep. This teaches bad playing habits and is the main reason so many players get stuck in Thunderhead keep for long before they can advance to the Ring of Fire. The fact that players can be "run" to most of the high-level areas in the game doesn't help either. I am sick and tired of seeing level 6 players trying to get "hitch-hike" through the Desert missions.
 * But once you get to the harder areas of the game, the experience is very rewarding. Some of the explorable areas and missions starting from Droknar's Forge can be quite intimidating. They require actual preparation! :) Like you see party leaders asking for specific classes and builds. Really amazing! And of course the Fissure of Woe and the Underworld are simply sublime. There is no room for crap there. Lousy parties and poor group tactics result in a wipeout fairly quickly. --Karlos 06:29, 5 December 2005 (UTC)


 * PvP is the only reason I play. Although as I'm in a social guild I don't get to GvG, the Arenas are still very interesting. I look forward to Chapter 2 and the accompanying change in the state of play. At the moment things become fresh rapidly in the PvP world, as builds rise in popularity and get nerfed or countered. PvE-wise.. well, I'm having trouble finding the determination to finish the game with my Me/E - I've reached the last mission and I've been waiting for inspiration for a number of weeks :P. There isn't much incentive to complete the game more than once. In PvE I simply farm SF, FoW or the Underworld, these days, just for the hell of it. In short, PvP has amazing depth, once you get into it. Shandy 06:55, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Busy night. --Fyren 23:49, 11 December 2005 (UTC)


 * You're telling me. I don't really mind, though; I've been slacking off around here, I deserved a spambot attack. :) &mdash;Tanaric 00:18, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

ThK
Anytime you need help with it, seek me out. See my characters are listed in my user page. Lamees is the one on most often. --Karlos 22:31, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

Conversation
Hey Tanaric, sorry about earlier, FoW is hard! Anyway, was there anything you wanted to know? On another note, what do you think of Talk:Morale_Boost? 10:39, 8 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * What timezone/region you play in, what your focus is, if you're recruiting people, etc. &mdash;Tanaric 23:30, 9 Aug 2005 (EST)

Thank you for your welcome :) Nectarine 01:13, 26 October 2005 (EST)

Amnoon
Requesting your input in Talk:The Amnoon Oasis. --Fyren 06:14, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * Done, sorry about that. &mdash;Tanaric 20:02, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)

Sysop
I should've done it awhile back, I'm sure, but I just thought I should say thanks for all the work Tanaric, and in honor of all the edits and discussions and helpful info, you're a sysop now. Congrats. Gravewit 02:24, 3 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * Hey, thanks! I appreciate it.  I was wondering when we'd get another sysop, as Biro seemed a little overworked. :) &mdash;Tanaric 19:34, 3 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * Tell me about it :P 22:30, 3 Aug 2005 (EST)

Axe Attack
I was looking at the deletion log and saw you deleted this and Ollj remade it two days after. Is this the same content you axed? --Fyren 12:18, 8 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * "Axed"... heh. Anyway, mostly the same, yes.  I restored the deleted edits so you can see (though you should have been able to see anyway).  I should have dereferenced "Axe Attack" everywhere first, as it's a completely meaningless page (as the  mentioned).  *sigh* I see another battle in GuildWiki talk:Style and formatting/Skills coming. &mdash;Tanaric 23:29, 9 Aug 2005 (EST)

Game Update Archival
Category:Game Updates has an archive of all games and it is sorted chronologically. Just reference it at the top of the Game Updates article. --Karlos 18:38, 15 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * Didn't know that existed, but regardless, it's very unreadable, and not so useful. I thought we did away with categories for updates for that very reason. &mdash;Tanaric 18:42, 15 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * We did? I am sorry, I wasn't aware. --Karlos 19:30, 15 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * Well, clearly we didn't. :) But there were notes about it on Talk:Game updates.  &mdash;Tanaric 22:15, 15 Aug 2005 (EST)

Older
That wasn't just cos I messed your name up on Biro's talk page, was it? I made sure to get it right when I did the credits ;p Nunix

lol :D LordBiro/Talk

Hehe, I didn't notice the thing on Biro's talk page. I don't see me mentioned anywhere on it now, but I'm tired and easily confused. Tanaric

just read you got a new job tanaric, what you doing? :) LordBiro/Talk

oh, and thanks again for -writing- that big long guide! It's a serious chunk of info that I know I'd never have gotten around to compiling due to chronic oh-look-a-shiny-thing Nunix

I'm the Summer Hire Program Coordinator for the US Department of Defense deployment in Stuttgart, Germany (and surrounding areas). I coordinate the hiring and placement of about 180 14-22 year old students who have parents stationed in the area. I also coordinate with their supervisors, giving training, advice, and helping in employee/supervisor disputes. I just sent out offer letters to the applicants today, so headaches abound as I get calls from irate parents (many of whom are high-ranking military and civilians). I just haven't been up to working on the wiki in my free time because of it, so... sorry. :) I'll eventually get back to contributing to this thing.  @Nunix: To be fair, I think the side quests were stolen from another site.  I don't remember writing them.  If I had written them, they'd have a lot longer descriptions.  I meant to go back and fill them all in, but I never got around to it. Tanaric

Tanaric, would you be able to call categories "Contains Iron Ingots" rather than just "Contains Iron"? BTW, I like the way the templates are shaping up :D good stuff! 06:53, 16 Jun 2005 (EST)


 * You know, I thought about that, but decided against it initially. The item itself doesn't really contain ingots of iron -- we simply make the iron into ingot form after salvaging for convenience.  The more practical argument is that I don't want to have a category called "Contains Piles of Glittering Dust" when merely "Contains dust" is sufficient.  Think about it; I'll change if you're not swayed. :) Tanaric 15:30, 16 Jun 2005 (EST)


 * Hehe, well I do see your point, I hadn't thought of that. But there are some crafting materials that have similar names, for example there are wood planks and there are spiritwood planks, you could say that items that salvage into spiritwood planks also contain wood, which wouldn't be unreasonable ;) 20:00, 17 Jun 2005 (EST)


 * Also a good point. Hmm.  I still favor using "Contains wood" and "Contains spiritwood" and even "Contains Deldrimor steel", because I'm a grammar/verisimilitude nazi.  Not to mention, I got there first. ;) Tanaric 20:17, 17 Jun 2005 (EST)
 * I'm late to the discussion, but I suggest "Yields Iron Ingots" instead to preserve the in game name. --Fyren 20:10, 2 Jul 2005 (EST)

Could you please exlain your "Case Crusade"? Is this a mutual agreement? I can't find anything in that direction in the Style & Formating instructions. I thought we agreed that only "minor" words should be lowercase. --Tetris L 18:29, 15 Jul 2005 (EST)


 * Nevermind. See my notes in Style & Formating talk. --Tetris L 19:03, 15 Jul 2005 (EST)


 * Will do. &mdash;Tanaric 23:41, 15 Jul 2005 (EST)

Just curious: As an American living in Europe, do you play on the American or European server? --Tetris L 19:14, 15 Jul 2005 (EST)


 * I play in the American region, because I live in America for most of the year. &mdash;Tanaric 23:41, 15 Jul 2005 (EST)

Another mention of SQL problems
I suppose you've noticed the MySQL errors that are popping up all over the place, just wondered if you had any ideas regarding them. 07:05, 25 Jul 2005 (EST)


 * I've no idea. I would have suggested restoring from a recent backup, but I doubt such a thing exists.  I'd also suggest upgrading to the latest stable version of mySQL, but that seems pretty impossible too.  Table repairs might be our only chance here. &mdash;Tanaric 07:22, 25 Jul 2005 (EST)


 * I've been offline for several days and just noticed this reference. What're the problems? Can someone paste what they're seeing? At $dayjob I manage mysql servers with several hundred gigs of data so I might be able to help with whatever is going on. Also re: Backups, someone with shell access should setup a cronjob of "mysqldump --quick --add-drop-table -u root --password='$password'" on a daily basis. I'd also recommend an offsite sync of that data (which I'm more than happy to contribute server space for) MartinLightbringer 07:42, 25 Jul 2005 (EST)


 * n/m I just saw one. It's definitely a table corruption issue. I'd recommend stopping mysql and running mysiamchk -r on the appropriate table (or run REPAIR TABLE while mysql is running). As an aside does anyone know what version of mysql is running here? MartinLightbringer 07:49, 25 Jul 2005 (EST)


 * A cron job is a good idea, and colocation too. Btw, i think that should be myisamchk -r, please correct my if I'm wrong. I guess only the hosts can do this though (afaik cheap(er) hosting typically doesn't come with shell access). Is REPAIR TABLE an SQL command? And if so, are there any advantages to stopping the server and using myisamchk instead? 09:32, 25 Jul 2005 (EST)
 * Yeah just a typo. myisamchk is correct. REPAIR TABLE is a mysql command. It does essentially the same things, although I have seen it fail to correct problems that running myisamchk -r with the db shutdown will fix. See REPAIR TABLE syntax for details. Re: the hosting, I'm not aware of the details of what's in place now but I've seen dedicated server (with root access) pricing at various hosts in the $30/month range.  MartinLightbringer 10:41, 25 Jul 2005 (EST)
 * Thanks Martin, some good info there! Yeah, looking at the ledger it seems Gravewit pays around that amount for hosting, so perhaps he does have shell access. 21:23, 25 Jul 2005 (EST)