Yea I highly doubt Rey is supposed to be trained for writing reasons. It would undermine what exists of her arc so far and doesn't so well with where I'm pretty sure she's going.
Also, when I was talking about how Rey is too superior to Kylo, I don't mean in the duel. I know he's trying to turn her and all, but I dislike how he never poses any threat to her ever. She can just use the force to overpower every plot obstacle and then has a specific technique like the mind trick after it's been said her strength is JUST raw... and she has a much stronger will than him too.
Don't get me wrong I quite like Kylo as a character but as a foil for Rey he exacerbates problems she already has as a character.
It's not like luke ever had much training. When he force pulls his sabre he's had, what, half an hour's training from obiwan on the falcon? Up until the point luke meets Yoda, Rei has had roughly as much training. (MAybe more, as their is the implication she had some training as a child that she doesn't recall).
Yes, but Luke was never shown or stated to be just broadly superior to Vader or Sidious. It's not her learning quickly that I have an issue with in and of itself, it's the whole situation.
I don't really like the impact it has on Kylo's character, either. He'd be even a bit more interesting if he had some vestige of power over her but still felt inferior on the whole.
I don't think the memories imply she was trained, I just had the notion it was her (presumably force-sensitive) family leaving her, not that she was trained at all.
For Rey's use of mind tricks, that was justified by Kylo trying to force interogate her. While she was inexperienced, she could reverse the 'polarity' of the interogation. This infuriates Ren and he leaves. She then has some knowledge of how to use mind tricks, think learning how to control a new muscle. She then tries it on the stormtrooper and eventually succeeds.
It's just a bit too much imo to give her "raw power" in the force and then also have her learn that so quickly. What's the point in even saying her powers are raw if she can pick something up so easily and is so superior to Kylo and his soldiers? It's just not very good writing; the characterization is either unclear or Rey is a protagonist with no known flaws and no potential for tension.
Luckily, Rey's status as protag of episode 7 is debatable, but I doubt that will be the case for future films.
I don't understand what it is about MOBA's that make people keep playing them even when they hate them. I have friends that have this love/hate thing with League and rage quit the game for a month, play for a month, repeat. A game is played to have fun. If you don't have fun with a game, don't play it. I don't play League (I can't play anything other than RTS' from an isometric perspective, it just bugs the heck out of me) but I do play Smite as it suites my tastes a bit better. I like that I can play it semi-competitively when I want to (Platinum in both of it's ranked modes) but I honestly far more often just mess around playing with random people in Assault (ARAM). I don't really mind losing, though, as long as I had fun playing. Sure some games can get frustrating when people are being trolls or when the skill levels are really obviously lopsided from team to team, but that doesn't actually happen too often.
TL;DR version; you should be having fun while playing the game, even if you end up losing the match. If you aren't, it probably isn't worth playing.
I'd be very surprised if you don't willingly do anything that frustrates you with your time. Frustration is a sign you're invested in something - someone who gets very mad at LoL probably takes great pleasure when things go better.
I think mobas are only worth playing much if you really want to play cooperative, competitive games with a large potential for knowledge and skill. If you don't have a thick skin mute people, if you don't like losing a fair deal of games to no fault of your own you better be a literal prodigy of solo queue.
The game frustrates me regularly, and the skill and sense I've built for the game are not that practically useful, but I enjoy being able to slowly and deliberately improve at (eventually master?) a game like this. If you don't feel similarly, and don't simply play with friends, I can't see much reason to play.
As an FYI, normal games are matched based on player skill, even if you can't see the numbers used for the matchmaking because they are hidden.
Although there is a normal MMR, the matchmaking is a lot less stringent than in ranked. It's possible to get 3-5 man premades against 5 solo queues, and much wider MMR variances.
For that reason much moreso than people playing less seriously, normals are pretty bad to practice. I made the decision a while ago to pretty much never normal queue unless playing around with friends, because it's just less enjoyable and worse for practice to play against people more spread in skill.
I finally got around to Space Brothers and... about 1/3rd of the way in, it's really really great. Easily top 5 all time if it maintains this quality, and many indications it should.
I did enjoy it but its one that I had a harder time watching on a week to week basis and an easier time watching a few hours at a time since the pacing is a little slower. I ended up sort of falling off on it quite a ways into it.
I think it was in the area where he was training in Texas. It was a little less interesting when I stopped watching for whatever reason it had felt like a while since anything seemed to have happened.
I enjoyed the show but in general you have to be ok with some episodes where not a ton gets done.
Oh yea man, I love slow stuff so it's no problem for me. I almost always marathon (non-episodic) TV shows in general, I find it more enjoyable pretty much across the board.
I like ranged play, and judging from skill/hero descriptions I think I'd like Valla/Jaina/Sylvanas. Given that the first two are listed as "low complexity," I figure that would be a good place to start. Any suggestions between those, and perhaps why I'd prefer each over the others?
Valla is auto-attack based and Jaina is ability based, that alone might tell you which you'd like more. It's a bit subtle for a beginner, but for that and other reasons Valla is more focused around consistent damage and Jaina is more about controlling areas and bursting, so the skillsets and positioning are a little different.
How do you prioritize progression, and do you have tips for me? E.g. if ranged assassins are my preferred style, should I also level up brawlers and support heroes to be able to help my team in different ways? If I play with randoms, does it matter any less what role I fill?
The matchmaking takes these categorizations into account and generally builds balanced teams, so no it doesn't matter. At first you will be gaining gold fairly quickly - be careful because the level-up system throws a lot of gold at you fast and this slows down drastically long before you unlock very many heros. I would say only buy someone above 3k if you have played them and are sure you are interested. If you like the hero, no big reason not to buy it and play it.
The only direct benefit to having varied heroes is that most of the dailies are [play/win x games as warrior] or [play/win x games as hero from warcraft] and such. You will buildup gold fastest if you do these, so having at least one of each helps. If you buy most of the 1k heros it's not hard.
Any good tips on starting or resources like Youtube videos that talk about basic strats and builds?
This is a good starting point for learning specific heros. I will say: you should be careful, because a typical problem newer players have with these types of games is getting too tied down to guides and not developing a knowledge of builds, their fluidity, and the proper decisionmaking for building heros as the game progresses, BUT this type of thing really helps when you're starting out.
Anything you wish you knew when you just started?
99% of the time in HotS, priorities are in this order:
1. Go to an objective with your team
2. Help your teammates if you can see that they're going to be fighting soon or might have trouble defending something
3. Take a neutral camp if able and safe from enemy team
4. Stay near dying enemy creeps to gain exp
The most important thing in every moba I've played is positioning. In macro terms (the broader game), positioning so that you can overpower your enemies with numbers advantages and avoid fighting in numbers disadvantages dictates the game. Pay attention to the map and think ahead. In micro terms (actually controlling your character at any given moment), positioning to optimally carry out your proper role in a fight/situation is paramount. e.g. If your hero is good at dealing damage, you need to be where you can deal the highest value damage while staying safe (Valla). If your hero is good at controlling zones and bursting, you need to be where you can threaten and cutoff (or lock-down and kill if they dont respect you) the big threats (Jaina).
That's kind of a lot but if you deliberately build up knowledge and experience around that framework you can very easily get to like the top 10% players of a moba. Most of the rest is raw knowledge of the game (what abilities does that enemy hero have) and sense you build through playing (how quickly can they kill me, from where, how can I react, etc).
I finally got around to Space Brothers and... about 1/3rd of the way in, it's really really great. Easily top 5 all time if it maintains this quality, and many indications it should.
I think that although it had tonal issues, there was never anything that really broke an entire scene or major segment of plot for me. It never went extremely dumb or anything like that, just mildly silly and sometimes at unfitting times. On the other hand there were scenes that worked quite well.
I really liked when Bond infiltrated the Spectre meeting - tasteful humor, nice cinematography, and a good setup for the hulking assassin all rubbed away the mild cheesiness of the basic concept of the scene.
The overarching plotline, despite the problems we've brought up, is still pretty good at its core too (unlike see above link).
So I think it had a solid foundation and that the tone and plot were not compromised badly enough to make the issues ruin it.
All in all I thought it was alright. I usually like Christoph Waltz a lot, but not too much in this. I think it was largely the writing for the villain himself though. Lots of strange individual lines (in general, not just for Waltz).
When the burly assassin man realizes he's ****ed after Bond ropes him to the metal barrels in the train, they take that setup and give him the line "shoot". Really, you thought just "shoot" was good enough? You gotta have something full-on cheesy or else legitimately clever or dramatic for that moment.
First act was pretty good in all but then I feel like it started to drag as they tried to backfill the past few movies with plot.
Also, I get what they're trying to do, but I don't like the recent trend of "WooOOooOOOoOO spooky information stuff is supplanting agents!!!", with a basic knowledge of computers all the computer stuff looks really silly (as in most movies) and I don't know, it just smacks of riding the modern fear of big information without really taking the effort to fully make it truly fit Bond. Would've been fine for just one movie, or if it was incorporated better. I get that Bond proves the worth of individual agents in the end, but this is one deviation from the formula (Bond being somehow in control of whatever crazy events at all times, even if not obviously) that I don't generally appreciate.
I'm fine with how predictable C being allied with Christoph was - in fact a lot more cool stuff might have been done with it - but it's always annoying to me to figure things like that out far before professional spies in the movie do, when the director doesn't establish it deliberately.
Eh, not like I'm a big Bond fan anyway. It was okay.
Yet Aliens would have to make use of natural laws to cause an anomaly, just as much so as nature.
It's very interesting, but I find it funny that when confronted with something inexplicable in our current knowledge so many people jump to an intelligence we don't yet understand instead of simply something natural we don't yet understand.
Also, when I was talking about how Rey is too superior to Kylo, I don't mean in the duel. I know he's trying to turn her and all, but I dislike how he never poses any threat to her ever. She can just use the force to overpower every plot obstacle and then has a specific technique like the mind trick after it's been said her strength is JUST raw... and she has a much stronger will than him too.
Don't get me wrong I quite like Kylo as a character but as a foil for Rey he exacerbates problems she already has as a character.
I don't really like the impact it has on Kylo's character, either. He'd be even a bit more interesting if he had some vestige of power over her but still felt inferior on the whole.
I don't think the memories imply she was trained, I just had the notion it was her (presumably force-sensitive) family leaving her, not that she was trained at all.
I liken it to being a fan of a sports team.
The game frustrates me regularly, and the skill and sense I've built for the game are not that practically useful, but I enjoy being able to slowly and deliberately improve at (eventually master?) a game like this. If you don't feel similarly, and don't simply play with friends, I can't see much reason to play. Although there is a normal MMR, the matchmaking is a lot less stringent than in ranked. It's possible to get 3-5 man premades against 5 solo queues, and much wider MMR variances.
For that reason much moreso than people playing less seriously, normals are pretty bad to practice. I made the decision a while ago to pretty much never normal queue unless playing around with friends, because it's just less enjoyable and worse for practice to play against people more spread in skill.
The only direct benefit to having varied heroes is that most of the dailies are [play/win x games as warrior] or [play/win x games as hero from warcraft] and such. You will buildup gold fastest if you do these, so having at least one of each helps. If you buy most of the 1k heros it's not hard. This is a good starting point for learning specific heros. I will say: you should be careful, because a typical problem newer players have with these types of games is getting too tied down to guides and not developing a knowledge of builds, their fluidity, and the proper decisionmaking for building heros as the game progresses, BUT this type of thing really helps when you're starting out. 99% of the time in HotS, priorities are in this order:
1. Go to an objective with your team
2. Help your teammates if you can see that they're going to be fighting soon or might have trouble defending something
3. Take a neutral camp if able and safe from enemy team
4. Stay near dying enemy creeps to gain exp
The most important thing in every moba I've played is positioning. In macro terms (the broader game), positioning so that you can overpower your enemies with numbers advantages and avoid fighting in numbers disadvantages dictates the game. Pay attention to the map and think ahead. In micro terms (actually controlling your character at any given moment), positioning to optimally carry out your proper role in a fight/situation is paramount. e.g. If your hero is good at dealing damage, you need to be where you can deal the highest value damage while staying safe (Valla). If your hero is good at controlling zones and bursting, you need to be where you can threaten and cutoff (or lock-down and kill if they dont respect you) the big threats (Jaina).
That's kind of a lot but if you deliberately build up knowledge and experience around that framework you can very easily get to like the top 10% players of a moba. Most of the rest is raw knowledge of the game (what abilities does that enemy hero have) and sense you build through playing (how quickly can they kill me, from where, how can I react, etc).
So I think it had a solid foundation and that the tone and plot were not compromised badly enough to make the issues ruin it.
Also, I get what they're trying to do, but I don't like the recent trend of "WooOOooOOOoOO spooky information stuff is supplanting agents!!!", with a basic knowledge of computers all the computer stuff looks really silly (as in most movies) and I don't know, it just smacks of riding the modern fear of big information without really taking the effort to fully make it truly fit Bond. Would've been fine for just one movie, or if it was incorporated better. I get that Bond proves the worth of individual agents in the end, but this is one deviation from the formula (Bond being somehow in control of whatever crazy events at all times, even if not obviously) that I don't generally appreciate.
It's very interesting, but I find it funny that when confronted with something inexplicable in our current knowledge so many people jump to an intelligence we don't yet understand instead of simply something natural we don't yet understand.
I am okay with this.