Nate Dogg III

I quite like the baking stuff! It's the right balance of something that happens automatically while you play the game, and something you can specifically focus on if you want to. And personally, as I continue the crawl to being Forge-ready (I've barely played since last week so am stuck on 586 at the moment) it's nice to have something to do outside the base Forsaken rhythm – especially as I'm pickier about what I do now (Gambit can do one, heroic story takes too long, etc).

It won’t be paddles. No one wants to come out the blocks going ‘we’ve got like four more buttons on this bad boy!’ because that’s the opposite of what you do if you want to sell 100 million consoles. I love the split stuff but it won’t become the standard because it’s not iconic. The DualShock is part of the brand — as much as the console itself, if not more so. A DualShock split in two? Ehh. Where d’you put the logo? The Joy-Cons work because they can be shown docked to the Switch (which is the marketing department’s default). Same with those Oculus controllers. They work great but you can’t put them down, they just fall over. They work great in the hands but look like ass on a coffee table. I probably think about this stuff too much. I don’t really see where a massive generational leap is coming from. The biggest controller innovation this gen is the share button, so I’m guessing it’s going to be more about that kind of thing. Nothing that changes the way we play, necessarily, but things that make that play more convenient.

At the in-laws this year, where it doesn't really happen. We did Wii Sports Tennis once, all those years ago, but we all knew at the time it was a one-off, never to be repeated. I'll take the Switch but I imagine my eldest will get the most use out of it. The absurdity of my profession is that these days I see Christmas as an excuse *not* to sit around playing games all the time. Once we get back home, though, all bets are off. Lots of things I've skipped or only played a few hours this year have been niggling away at me. God Of War and Obra Dinn at the top of the list. Probs just Destiny though eh.

I’d guess at 1,000 hours of Street Fighter IV. Some of my fondest gaming memories there for sure, most of them spent with people off here. 800 hours of Destiny, 350 of D2. As above really, it was just a nightly chillout space with a regular gang of (mostly) forum bods. I have no idea how much Puzzle & Dragons I’ve played. But I’ve played it just about every day for five years. Must be 2,000 hours at least.

£6.50 is a one-off (all Future mags do a ‘premium’ issue from time to time). The new regular cover price is £6. Not sure how that translates to euros I’m afraid.

God, this is still perfect, isn’t it.

It was within a whisker, if it's any consolation.

Yes, that makes sense. Probably best if we all just play the videogame really, isn't it. (I habitually leave the dreaming city stuff til last anyway for some reason)

But if the 0.5 puts you from 581 to 582, say, then doing the 0.1s afterwards means they'll all drop at 583, rather than the 582 you'd have got if you did them first, no? It's too early for this. I need coffee.

I think it's because the 0.5 has the greatest chance of raising your overall power, which would then cause the 0.1s to drop one level higher than they otherwise would have. Can't believe that Blind Well issue, horrible stuff. Left wall is for life.

I think it’s more the realisation that new content should generate a spike in interest but this just hasn’t. It’s in the same spot on twitch. I didn’t see any headlines about it today. There’s just... nothing. And that’s because there’s, well, yeah. Nothing. Despite my better judgement I played again tonight, went up another couple of levels, had fun, but it’s the exact same fun I had a couple of months ago. Fire up twitch and it’s the same story. So weird.

Bit like this forum really. Glad they’ve reacted so quickly but now even more surprised it happened at all. Old Bungie would have had a reason for it all (to be communicated in six weeks or so).

I mean, sure, but what's the recommended power level for that and what am I supposed to play to get my level to where it's supposed to be? Like I say, I don't disagree with them targeting endgame players, but I do think they've got the numbers wrong.

Yeah I Thunderlorded it eventually, after an hour of killing multiple things with power weapons and not having a single one register as a multikill. Then another quest step involving killing orange bars and, nah, I'm good thanks. Complete waste of two hours of my life if I'm honest. This is really bad, I have to say. I totally get that 'putting the hobby back' means paying more attention to the endgame and the people that play every day, but an expansion, whether you call it that or not, also needs to give lapsed players a reason to come back. I got a cutscene and one new room in the Tower and then I was off doing the same stuff I got bored of doing a couple of months ago, with the same old loot drops, albeit at a higher tier. I finished the night on 581 in heels. I'm literally weeks away from being able to do the new content that gets me the new toys. I am standing at the bottom of a big hill and I already can't be bothered with it. It's arguably even worse for the people that did stay the course, that had three characters at 600 and were looking forward to having something new to do, because they haven't got it yet either – unless they're prepared to Gladd it up on Twitch and farm prime engrams 20 hours a day. I am totally up for Bungie trying new things – their mid-year expansions have never been as good as their September ones, so clearly something needs to change. But having essentially nothing worth doing on day one of a new content drop for 99% of your playerbase is such a staggeringly dumb move. I have no idea how it got through.

If orange bars dropped heavy like they’re supposed to, if heavy ammo finder worked, and if the game shared my definition of a power weapon multikill - that is, killing more than one thing using a power weapon - I can imagine that having power weapon multikills be one of the first things you do in a new sort-of expansion could be actually quite fun. Unfortunately, well, you know. Sounds like I’m a good 30-40 power off being able to do forge stuff anyway, so I’m good.