Hot Heart

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34223157 *grabs popcorn*

It is only the faction quests that aren't giving emblems. On Twitter, Luke Smith confirmed that the subclass quests are fine and that the emblems are from later PvP steps. Edit: it's in the weekly update now too.

That was the joke. But, yeah, total jerks.

Why didn't they just call it Alias?

I think the real problem with Ghost is the writing/voice direction. One minute he's knowingly wry and sarcastic whereas the next he'll be full of awe and surprise; seems like a tough thing to manage with somewhat clunky lines. Dinklage excels at the former, Nolan can do the latter. The "We've woken the Hive!" line illustrates this, as Dinklage seemed to be panicked whereas Nolan sounds more "curious" I've not had enough experience with Nolanbot, but Dinklebot had grown on me somewhat. Nolanbot sounds just like more of Bungie's floaty AI orbs. I think the dialogue could've done with a touch up, really. I think it's a indication of the writing troubles at the heart of Destiny. It wants to present this grand, serious narrative of wonder, discovery and "becoming legend" but it also wants the humour and lightheartedness, yet hasn't quite found the right balance.

Initial impressions on update 2.0: I'm liking it. From a weapon perspective, auto rifles are now worthwhile in PvE again. I even ascended my old shadow price, my first ever legendary chestpiece (my "browncoat") and my long-serving auto rifle reload gloves for kicks. Bad Juju also became a lot more fun as well. In Crucible (although, I don't have tons of experience), pulse rifles are the new king, handcannons have been toned down just enough and auto rifles still seem fairly useless due to crap range drop-off. I used to slay with my shadow price but now it just can't do shit and at the range it's effective, you might as well being using a shotgun. I'm not really fond of rift (probably because it also takes some getting used to the new maps) but I had a go at clash on Bannerfall (tower map) and that was really cool; lots of up 'n' over bits, flanking opportunities, etc. and it favours the more long-range weaponry without being too open for camping snipers (like that moon map, First Light, I think?) In other regards, I like all the tweaks and things. Tracking quests, hearing/seeing when your weapon perks trigger, etc. I'm not too sure about how they've redone the light level stuff. It'll take some proper hands-on with TTK to get the full view of it, but I'm not liking how class items have armour stats as well as having even your weapon quality affect your light level. They've taken away that need to wear faction items (but made it cost something to initiate/change and you can only change once per week...) but then it looks like they're restricting your choices for min/maxing purposes. Which also reminds me that I don't like how the int/dis/str stuff is now tiered. While it makes it more understandable for cooldowns (why couldn't that information be shown before anyway?) it's frustrating to see yourself 1 or 2 points off a different tier thanks to bad stat rolls and things like that. However, they have narrowed the stat ranges so that shouldn't be as significant a factor. Overall, though, it looks like a step in the right direction and they've finally got a decent fucking suite of shader options.

Only thing I recall seeing was that: - Incomplete bounties will be abandoned - Exotic bounties will automatically be completed As far as I know, it should still let you turn in complete Year One bounties this week.

I think completed bounties will stay, won't they? It's only incomplete ones that are abandoned.

Waiting forever for the 18gb 2.0 update, which changes a whole heap of shit. Auto rifles are back in for PvE, heck yeah! In the meantime, this dude is streaming the new "questification" of the story mode, including Nolan North ghost. Currently showing off a new patrol mission which is a sort of checkpoint race. And in more interesting news, the armory on Bungie's site now features all the forthcoming stuff with all the exotic weapons and gear and class items.

Only just learned about this. I'd heard the name but never knew any of the history behind him (not that I expect this to be 100% factual)

Justified

I finished watching all of Justified the other day. Was waiting for Netflix to get the last two seasons but that didn't seem to be happening, so I blasted through those over a couple of weeks via "alternative means". The final season really does get to tying up loose ends, usually by killing off characters, and playing down some of the more humorous aspects, so it ratchets up the tension come the finale. Introducing a "black hat" towards the end was a neat, telegraphed touch. Overall, it was a great watch and the ending was good. It's not big and flashy. It's the sort of resolution that sits comfortably in the stomach, once it's all done.

Sending something for that even sounds like too much effort/too complicated for his housemates.

Just started this. Some more top notch work from Telltale. The King's Landing stuff is going to become suitably labyrinthine, I suspect. Fine work from the TV cast as well, and the child characters actually sound more like children now.

Was in a cafe earlier and they were playing the whole of The Offspring's Conspiracy of One album (far from their best but it was a nice surprise since I hadn't listened to it in a while) then they moved onto this, which I also hadn't heard in ages.

I think I have every Year One exotic except for Necrochasm (because I don't really care for getting it). Of course, I said that the other day, then one Nightfall later: *Radiant Dance Machines pop up* "Oh, yeah, I didn't have those."

http://i.imgur.com/YLIAMdq.gifv https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CNZYA7WW8AARAxw.mp4

Oh, cheers, dude! Honestly, though, I'll happily transfer you money through PayPal or whatever.

I watched it too, although I had no idea who Mr. Fruit was (nor do I care to now ). I quite liked the look of it. Keeps the pace up and has some interesting boss stuff going on. I dread to think of what it'd be like as a solar burn nightfall... Then again, I guess now there will be gear to work against that as well as with burns. Loving the new subclasses and the potential there (imagine everyone running void classes for a void burn!) I'm guessing strike-specific rewards might be things like emblems or shaders, perhaps artifacts, with maybe a chance of something better.

So, any people over in the US fancy hooking up me (and perhaps a couple of friends) with some Red Bull codes? I can transfer money, no problem and you don't have to drink the stuff. The bonus mission will probably be a load of rubbish, but my cousin is jonesing for it anyway

Besides buying all sorts of bits and pieces and furniture for my new flat (which is awesome!), I've treated myself to some things. First up, got this t-shirt Which I really like because it doubles as a Critical Role and Monkey Island reference, plus I used to have the nickname Grog myself. Also, since our regular group started a Pathfinder campaign, one of the guys wanted to sort ordering some custom miniatures from Hero Forge so I designed this to reflect my character:

I backed it but probably won't get around to playing it for a while.

Same. About the only thing they have balanced separately is that shotguns do 100% more damage outside of Crucible. Which was a very good thing, except some other changes elsewhere pretty much killed off fusion rifles.