FunstuffofDoom

Hell, she only heals a couple hundred of hitpoints per pop, and she pops it, what, every thirty seconds, at the fastest? If a scrapper can't deal that back interim, he's either criminally negligent, or AFK.

You argument seems, to me, to be something along the lines of, "We're saving the world, so in light of that fact, we need people capable of saving the world, which is why we need to make the hard choice to leave everyone not on their A-Game behind."

Now, if you're speaking of player competence, fair enough. I can buy that, because I think there is consensus on these boards that given an abundance of skill, the STF and LRTF are completable by any combination of characters.

If, on the other hand, you're speaking to prioritizing some builds/sets and excluding others, I cry foul. For basically the reason above, actually.

I actually prefer a variation. 8 go in, as many as possible come out in Boomtown, ten levels later. It's good times.

That's a really cool catch you made, there. Almost as cool as the fact that the coordinates are actually in Rhode Island. Well played, devs.

I dunno, but I suspect it tastes like roofies.

Yeah, I snickered, there. Well played.

NCSoft says the top one is invalid, but the bottom leads to the creation of a new European account.

Yeah, it does seem that few seem eager to continue this line of dialogue --and I hope a review of my thoughts on the subject vindicates me when I say I was partially in it "for the lulz", as it were -- so the quick and dirty rebuttal is that all of these things by themselves are concerning, problematic, and bad. But they don't, by themselves, actually mean abuse of power, and so they don't actually make him a tyrant.

Ya know what, though? On the level, yeah, Cole is probably a tyrant. Just as there's no way he could gear up for a war without his government not noticing, there's no way his government could display the levels of corruption it does, while retaining the levels of competency it does, without him noticing. And even were he not a tyrant, he's still a complete dick, and a moral sinkhole, and a jaggoff who had to be retcon'd out of bonking his granddaughter so he'd be repulsive for his authoritarian regime, not his taste in consenting adults. There are things I find appealing about Praetoria, but their ruling class is not one of them, and indeed, would really, really need to go before I considered living there. And any continued argument denying that is grounded in splitting hairs and solipsism.

Or, to put it simply, Cole's tyranny is irrelevant; he's still horrible.

If a dev told you to get in the white van, 'cause there's some candy in it, would you?

Everyone grows up with bias and influence from the society they grew up in. Would you be chomping for radical and universal freedom as hard as you are if you grew up in Soviet Russia twenty-five years ago? (Hint: there are two answers to that question. The one that isn't ridiculous is 'no'.)

In a moment of meta... something, I've quoted your quote. Unfortunately, I don't really have any context for it, or even a work it came from, so that's about as snarky as I can get. Sorry.

Of course it's not a legal, democratic election. It's a damned dramatization. Regardless of what kindergarten teachers might lead you to believe, people are not in power based solely on the fact that they can shout loudly.

True, the UN doesn't have the right to elect a Consul of the Earth, but societies are constructs. They are, on a very fundamental level, subject to the will of the people within them. Cole was empowered. He didn't seize it; it was given to him. And the fact that the reconstruction that happened did, in fact, happen only speaks to the popularity of this decision.

Cole did not stage a coup, and he did not act without the consent of the world around him. Thus, he did not usurp. Perhaps not legal, but only in the sense that there was not yet a law for the occasion. Perhaps not democratic, but only in the sense that he did not campaign. Perhaps not a good ruler, but also, not a tyrant.

Fallacious. Dissent does not equal a majority dissent.

No, it makes him a ******. He's not an abusive ruler until he actually uses his political power to enforce these things.

Again, while there's plenty of evidence that people in his government do these things, there's less that he, himself, participates, or condones.

Careful how you throw around the g-word there, missy. Even if we suppose that the war is purely Tyrant's doing, I see no evidence whatsoever that he's deliberately targeting a specific racial, ethnic, whatever, group for elimination.

As to the war claim, I suggest cautious skepticism. It's not a mystery why there's that saying, "The only thing worse than a war won is a war lost." War is costly, inefficient, and destructive. Emperor Cole strikes me as potentially many things, but stupid is certainly not one of them. So, if this war is his doing, and I agree, it would seem to be, I submit that there must be a very, very good reason for it, because were Praetorian society subject to that level of whimsical tomfoolery, it simply would not function to the degree it currently does.

Furthermore, the effort required to sustain a war is tremendous. Cole could not disguise this, which means he has the agreement of his government counterparts, which means he's still operating within his rights and abilities as a leader, which means he's still not a tyrant.

Your actions and continued condemnations of Emperor Cole are detrimental to his ability to function as a chief of state. You have certainly contributed to at least one person joining the Resistance, which means you've committed slander on this world and terrorism/treason on his (You can pick which one you prefer more.)

Worse, by bolstering the Resistance, you perpetuate the Praetorian conflict, which in turn leads to further militarization and expansion- the very things you decry in Cole. If Tyrant is evil because his actions affect many worlds, you, madam, are worse, because your actions affect just as many worlds as his in the exact same way, but at least he doesn't have the gall to put a smiley face at the end of the sentence that dooms untold millions.

I'm given to understand it was the other way around, actually. Tyrants were, originally, leaders who simply weren't elected. They tended to show up during times of high stress because that's when you tend to need a guy to make snap decisions, as opposed to bureaucracy. And, ya know, during war, leaders need the power necessary to save country, and over time people began wondering, why bother giving it up? Thus, language drift.

Please. He's a legally and democratically elected official. The first definition doesn't apply. If we jump back to the possibility that people in his government are corrupt, but he, personally, is not, then he's not an abusive ruler, either, just an authoritarian one. Which means that second definition doesn't fit.

If we're rocking the Greek definition of the word... well, you're right. But, well...

So, GG, I'm sure you've got some snappy answer for me, which may or may not have come from a fortune cookie, but on the off-chance that I'm wrong, or perhaps the decent chance that a different forumite is interested in discourse, let discussion continue, hmm?

From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

Now, it is beyond doubt that people within Emperor Cole's government are corrupt and abusive. However, it is quite easily arguable that Cole does not fall into the second definition, and the argument that he's excluded from the first definition is easier, still.

Yeah, yeah. I'm here. All I've got to say is, I don't care 'bout any of y'all, either.

'Cept you. You can stay. You, people should listen to more often.

Pure malarkey. Sadomasochism, and 'deviant' lifestyles in general, have influence on precisely one aspect of a person's life: how they happen to enjoy sex. There is no moral judgement involved.

Unless, of course, you're referring to all the ropes and leather and whatnot. That... yeah, that's more often a villain shtick, no?

In contrast, I really want to see a relationship between the two that does.

Am I? My bad. Here, let's argue a bit over whether or not we're off topic!

I'll begin with an aggressive denial containing a passive-aggressive insult at some group you associate with, and move into a sweeping generalization affirming my position.

Ya know what? Word. Anti-Matter's not incompetent, by any stretch of the imagination, but Neuron looks like he's in over his head more and more, as you follow his work more closely. What gives?

And when the hell did he become a scientist, let alone an intelligent one? Primal Berry's characterization was, more or less, that he was the everyman, no? The flip-side of that is hedonistic, not Praetor of Science.

Yeah, this really leads to a point that should mentioned. Most of the forums will tell you, with no little amount of justification, that Statesman is a ******. Not the developer, though he gets his own levels of hate around here. No, the character is a ******. If you want conflict as to whether or not you can trust him, Praetorian is a perfectly acceptable option. But, there's a much easier reason to not trust him: he's untrustworthy.

But... but I'm defending the possibility of hawt man-love? Just 'cause most people are straight doesn't mean statuesque proportions are only thing Statesman borrowed from Ancient Greece.

While the subject's being tossed around, that, too, is a fallacy. It's called the induction fallacy, after the fundamental problem with the logical process, induction, and the ruling is, you can't say something is certain because it's really, really likely. David Hume is famous for beating western philosophy upside the head with this concept, and, for a giggle, since large parts of Science are inductive, large parts of science are formally fallacious. Weird, huh?

Sweeeeet. Time for teh yuri!

Liez. My vorpal blade goes snicker-snack.

Can I get a citation on this? I'm not doubting you, I've just never run any of the arcs that really deal with the story of the Carnival, and now I might kinda want to.



He plays poker with the entire Seer network, and wins.

Fixadine addicts are said to protect his property.

Praetor Barry wishes he was one day as talented a tennis player.

He doesn't always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Budweis... Dos Equis.

He is... The Most Interesting Man in Praetoria.