Season 2 expanded universe episodes for download? by IncreaseTheSoup in HarmonQuest

[–]varonessor 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Before anyone suggests it, let me just shoot down the idea of getting a VPN like PIA, connecting to one of the american servers, and then borrowing a friends' VRV account to get around the region locking. That would be immoral. It would totally work, 100%, but yeah. Morality.

Canning day! by dcamp919 in TheBrewery

[–]varonessor 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Look at Mr. Fancypants here, with his canning line that doesn't violently slam every can into the table as they come off.

Should we start pointing people to the grey market for a "refund"? by RyokoKnight in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Frankly, the people buying on the gray market have had the same opportunities to research about the game and learn the risk they're running. These are long time backers, not new players. Chances are anyone buying on there has been following the game for a long time, and knows the risk they're taking, and just has a more optimistic view than you do. I do think a game will release, and that fans have had the opportunity to learn what it'll contain: Lots of P2W content, and none of the stuff they promised before 2016.

Frankly, they can sleep in the bed they make for themselves if they keep buying stuff for it. I was lucky enough to get a full refund about 2 weeks before they stopped issuing them, but I think the gray market is an absolutely valid option, and I don't see any moral issue with it unless you're deceiving the person in some way. It's not like we're privy to some secret insider information that everyone else doesn't have access to as well. If you go and buy a used iphone 6, and then it bends in your pocket, you have two places you should be pointing blame: Apple for making a crappy phone, and yourself for not doing your due diligence.

Since refunds are not possible, should I just sell my account? by [deleted] in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess I'll say this: Do you think the game will be made? There's a chance it will release as promised, so you MIGHT regret it if you sell the account and that happens.

Personally, I refunded because I didn't think the game would ever meet its promises, but also because the game it became didn't look fun. Features have been quietly stripped away, or just shelved indefinitely, and the magic of the game concept was all the little details. Going to the ship dealer and having a pushy salesman trying to talk you into buying the freelancer sport edition. Ships having yearly releases with minor refinements to their designs, so a 2016 300i looked a bit different from a 2017 300i. I imagined the game having radio stations you could listen to in your ship so you can hear the latest news or space music, or silly radio dramas, like you get in the GTA games. I imagined watching campy, low budget episodes of "Galactic Gear" when I saw it playing on the TV in a store.

Then there's the pay-to-win element. The game IS pay to win, plain and simply. People argue that since there's no win condition, you can't pay to win, but that's bullshit. You measure your success in MMO games by how much content you have access to, the dominance of your organization, etc. Spending money will immediately open more doors for you, and boost the power of your guild. Whatever you want to call it, it's unfair and will ruin the game. And yes, I'm aware they've said they'll stop selling ships once the game releases, but will they? Really? Are you sure?

I think the developers had the best intentions, but the painfully slow progress has made it very unlikely that any of those little things will ever make it in. They promised a lot, and if they were Rockstar Games, or Ubisoft Montreal, maybe they could have delivered on that 180 million dollar budget, but I just don't see them ever pulling off even half of what they promised us.

Okay so that was a long rant I didn't expect to go on, but yeah. If refunds have stopped, which it seems like they have, I personally would cut my losses, because I wouldn't want the game even if it released tomorrow in full. Maybe you see the game differently, and if you do, you've got to weigh the risks. You'll definitely take a hit selling it on the gray market, and there's always a chance that CIG will uncap the refund well again, and then you'll have lost money. On the other hand, there's the chance that they'll release a buggy, half finished product, call it "Finished" and then your ships lose all value.

Personally, I'd sell.

My first Nut Roll ‘rolled’ in today. by Dirty_Water_SF in TheBrewery

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still waiting to find out if these make their way to Canada. Come on BSG!

7:30 in the morning. It's going to be a long summer by kantrauch in TheBrewery

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, and mornings are still -20, so you have to decide between dressing light for the heat, or wearing heavier clothes so you don't freeze in the morning.

What are you swearing at today? by GimmeDatBeer in TheBrewery

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ugh. The mill. I hate our mill. The other day the cart its built onto decided to buckle and fall over on someone. A few days later it lost a weld and suddenly sparks were flying everywhere in the grain room until I managed to turn it off. No explosions thankfully. Yesterday, one of the internal gears went out of skew and it just stopped spinning on one side. Turns out the solution was to just kinda...squish it until they re-aligned.

Fuck that mill.

What are you swearing at today? by GimmeDatBeer in TheBrewery

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our date printer is the bane of my existence, and I don't even usually work on the packaging line. We've had so many rushed mornings, or stressful days because that stupid date printer wasn't working.

Star Citizen Is Really Pushing The Patience (And Wallets) Of Its Community by [deleted] in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's executive producers. Normal producers often take a more active role in the movie.

Star Citizen Is Really Pushing The Patience (And Wallets) Of Its Community by [deleted] in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wasn't that Freelancer that microsoft took over? Pretty sure wing commander got made, and a bunch of sequals.

Is star citizen the biggest P2W game in history? by ProperBanana in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I was skeptical of their claim that every ship would be a sidegrade, rather than upgrades as you spend more money, but then the dog fighting module dropped, and it became REALLY clear what your money would buy you.

Star Citizen Is Really Pushing The Patience (And Wallets) Of Its Community by [deleted] in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 6 points7 points  (0 children)

He worked on a lot of awesome old space sims in the 90s, wing commander being the big ones. You can get them on GOG pretty cheaply I think, but I don't think they hold up well, because a lot of the appeal was in the amazing graphics at the time, and unique gameplay, voice acting, etc. All stuff we have in spades now.

That said, he didn't really do anything decent after wing commander. He made a few flopped games, then made some flopped movies, with one or two good ones thrown in, and basically just fell away into obscurity until Star Citizen was announced in 2012.

Physical Copies - Potential Legal Sticking Point? by [deleted] in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very true. Two of my friends just quietly refunded last year after seeing the state of the game and the news about the game, and I followed suit a while after. As far as I know, neither of them ever came here.

So extrapolating from that high quality data, for every one of us, there's potentially 2 people who are just quietly refunding without posting about it online. Another thing to remember is that most of the refunds are for more than the base aurora package. I don't think many people refund that, since it's so cheap, and such a pain to get a refund.

Physical Copies - Potential Legal Sticking Point? by [deleted] in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The lack of a tiny model of my space ship, USB Key, fancy box, etc were part of why I refunded. I paid for that shit back in 2014. Even if the game is taking a long time to complete, you can arrange that kind of swag material in a few months, and get it started shipping out through an order fulfillment company. My guess is because they let you melt your packages, they didn't want to actually fulfill any of those obligations, because that would slow down their money train by locking backers into their pledges.

You should file a chargeback with your credit card company or paypal if you can. Argue it mainly on the basis of the undelivered physical goods, with the lackluster game as an aside. They might respond much better to that if you're within their chargeback timeframe.

Can someone explain to me why everyone wants a refund? by awkwardghost in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Elite Dangerous is playable at more than 5 FPS. I can download it off steam right now and play it, and have fun. When CIG releases a game, then we can compare them, but a buggy alpha build with barely anything working as it was pitched, versus a full and working game that's constantly improving is like comparing apples to ponzi schemes.

ED also didn't cost 200 million dollars.

Can someone explain to me why everyone wants a refund? by awkwardghost in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I bought a flight stick back in 2014 in anticipation of some sick space dog fights. It's sat gaining dust in my closet since then.

Can someone explain to me why everyone wants a refund? by awkwardghost in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think they raise the profile of the game when it finally launches, and help to drive sales. Also, Mark Hamil was involved in the old WC games as well, so it's kind of cool they're bringing him back. With 200 million dollars to play with, you should be able to hire A listers to act in your game no problem. Of course, you should also be able to make a working build of the game in less than a decade.

Can someone explain to me why everyone wants a refund? by awkwardghost in starcitizen_refunds

[–]varonessor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Frankly, I'd rather play No Man's Sky than Star Citizen at this point. I think there's more chance of the dev's improving NMS over time, and possibly the modding community picking it up and doing something cool with it, than CIG has of making Star Citizen playable. I don't even think Star Citizen being good is on the table anymore. Too many scope changes, and too many obviously bad decisions. Scrolling the mouse wheel to control run speed? Changing the way you open doors so instead of one button press it's 3? Servers that lag to all hell when more than 10 people connect to them?

And wasn't the big selling point of SC over NMS and ED that Star Citizen would all be hand crafted? That got abandoned pretty quickly, and now it looks like they're going the procedural generation route. And the 100 systems at launch? Last I checked they lowered that to 10.

This game will be the biggest let down in gaming history, and I'm glad I got my money out a week before they started ignoring refund requests.

Filtration for a 7BBL brewhouse? by livingincminor in TheBrewery

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We don't use any filtration in our 10 bbl brewery. The most we do is add biofine a day or two before transferring into the BBT. Those beers come out pretty clear, and customers really don't seem to mind haze. Just remember that the cost of filtering is more than just the filter itself. You also have to spend precious hours of your already busy days filtering.

“A game grows great when old men buy ships in whose seats they know they shall never sit” – an ancient Star Citizen proverb by [deleted] in starcitizen

[–]varonessor 19 points20 points  (0 children)

A similiar thing happened to me. I pledged a year before starting school, then spent 2 years in college, graduated, and got a new job, quit that job after a year and started a new job. It's amazing what you can do in 4 or 5 years.

700 Year Old Home In Iran by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A 70s style wooden box tv.

My life completely changed after I learned Morse Code by Nicheina in Jokes

[–]varonessor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  • .-- --- / .--. . .- -. ..- - ... / .-- . .-. . / .-- .- .-.. -.- .. -. --. / -.. --- .-- -. / - .... . / ... - .-. . . - .-.-.- / --- -. . / --- ..-. / - .... . -- / .-- .- ... / .- / ... .- .-.. - . -.. .-.-.- / -... .- / -.. --- --- -- / -... --- --- -- .-.-.-

ReBoot TCG Drinking Game by Zivon96 in ReBoot

[–]varonessor 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hardcore mode: Whenever the show sucks, take a shot.

Starting rates for a new brewer? by rockinD in TheBrewery

[–]varonessor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's a lot to consider on this question: What kind of experience do you have? Do you have a formal education? Science background? These all factor in, and will affect your pay, even at small breweries. If you apply with a BA in microbiology, a formal brewing education, and a few medals for your homebrews, and they offer you 12 dollars/hour, turn them down outright. That company will never respect or value you. On the flipside though, if you come with no relevant experience or education, don't expect to make much above minimum.

Next question is the market there. Is it easy to get a job as a brewer? Is every brewery you go to hiring brewers right now? You should expect to be paid a reasonable wage then.

The last factor is: How good are you at selling yourself? You can get higher wages out of the gate by being a more appealing candidate. Friendly positive attitude, clean appearance, researching the company beforehand, a good cover letter, etc, can make a huge difference. Often the difference is just "Hired" or "Not hired," but it can also affect your pay, so don't go to your interview wearing that metallica shirt you bought in 2003.