lets put your idea to the test

http://www.jonsooy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lemonade.jpg

one is not-from-concentrate lemonade.
the other is urine.

are they both identical now craig

o shit
2 products look very similar externally

they must be the same exact thing utilizing identical parts that are of identical quality

o-rings make cherry mx switches mushy and disgusting

if you can't handle the noise, get a $10 dell membrane

p.s. leopold and coolermaster don't use the same board craig you dolt

how are you a journalist
how did you graduate
how did you manage to get a scholar like killing to give you a writing job

jump off door slide up rollout jump off wall slide out choke jump off wall die before pack cry starchy tears

blood
your post infuriates me
affect is a verb
effect is a noun
its is possessive
it's means it is

h8 u

But seriously, regarding obamacare--

Working in the healthcare industry, I'm already seeing lots of cases where it negatively impacts people. In addition to some companies dropping FTEs for part-timers, companies who want to keep their FTEs are frequently just not giving them healthcare. With obamacare, this results in the company getting fined, but the fine is substantially less than what they'd be paying for the healthcare, so they take it in stride. The onus is on the employee to obtain their own healthcare which costs out of pocket and doesn't cover much of anything.

I don't necessarily agree with how the Republicans have gone about trying to get past this, but I agree with the fact that they're at least trying.

Just a few reasons it sucks:

The $90 tax Bloodsire mentions is $95 or 1% of income, whichever is higher. That tax raises to $325/2% in 2015 and $695/2.5% in 2016.

Obamacare applies a lot of negative pressure to physicians with their own practices--it's essentially trying to dissolve family practices and the like and force those physicians to work in hospitals as employees, so many physicians are retiring, which is causing/will cause a shortage of physicians in the near future. The physicians who don't make the move are met with additional pressure to reduce costs and take on more patients, which means worse overall patient care.

Obamacare forces religious organizations (and other companies) to provide contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs to their employees even in cases where it is strongly against that religious organization's beliefs.

Obamacare cuts medicare payments down to the point that physicians are frequently losing money by seeing medicare patients.

Obamacare raises the per-household cost of healthcare, despite being called the 'affordable care act'.

Obamacare gives the government control over decisions about your health that were previously made by physicians. This is not being terribly exploited at the moment, but expect to see things like smokers not being eligible for lung transplants, overweight people not eligible for heart surgery, etc.

There are thousands of pages to the obamacare bill and this is only the surface. There are pros as well--more people will have some type of coverage than ever before, but the negatives are overpowering by comparison and the entire act is just phase one of a government trying to shift healthcare into its complete control.

Yes, aftermarket just means it's not what originally came with the hardware. If you were to water-cool, you would buy an aftermarket water block for your card. If you wanted to upgrade the stereo in your car, you would buy an aftermarket stereo, etc.

If you aren't intending to spend hundreds of dollars setting up a water-cooling system for your PC, the differences between those cards are negligible. Either one will be adequate for you. If you ARE intending to water-cool, I would recommend getting the single-fan unit (because you're more likely to find a water block that fits it).

blink
A draft works for football because football relies upon millions of fans to fund it and because the players getting drafted are financially obligated to do well with their teammates. If football was just a hobby for these people, there would be tons and tons of backlash from draft picks. A draft for TF2 would equate to teams that are more competitive with one another, but the overall quality of play would drop quite a bit. Some teams would have that one person who can't stand that one other person and the entire team would falter from it.

As it stands, if a team has the balls to stick together and improve, they will learn from their mistakes and losses and will tighten things up to the point that they're competitive with the top teams. We've seen this a few times (although not as much as we'd all prefer).

And just to clarify, in invite, you don't get a paycheck unless you take first place. You get a "here's reimbursement for most of your expenses" check.

The question that nobody has answered is that the difference between these two cards is more than just the fan(s). The card with the single fan is based on an AMD reference PCB while the card with two fans is not. What does this mean to you? Not much, unless you want to water-cool the card or use an aftermarket cooler. The card with two fans is most likely going to run cooler since the second fan is directly over the voltage regulators.

If you intend to do aftermarket cooling, you would need to make sure your cooler fits the proper PCB.

Single fan PCB [AMD reference design]

http://img.hexus.net/v2/graphics_cards/amd/XFX/R7870/r7870-03.jpg

Dual fan PCB [XFX proprietary design]

http://cdn.overclock.net/7/71/71092f71_FX-787A-CDFC.jpeg

So many of you are taking my post and trying to refute what I say or simply state that most of those items aren't used because they're bad. You are missing the point entirely. The question was, "why do so many people bash 9v9".

Yes, I have played on platinum highlander teams and for the most part, it is somewhat enjoyable. The fact remains that even high level games do have a higher degree of "pseudo-randomness" (a quote that was bastardized) that 6v6 players find to be less than fun.

You argue that mini-crits are never actually "random" and I don't disagree--I said "pseudo-random" for a reason. If you do not know the difference, I urge you to look it up. A pyro who right-clicks to puff an enemy up in the air and happens to reflect a pipe or rocket that he did not see (which in turn becomes a critical and kills an enemy) does not result in a random critical, but it is definitely pseudo-random.

My list of weapons is not intended to be the end-all be-all list of overpowered weapons. It is merely my opinion of what's included in the UGC 9v9 HL ruleset that results in people thinking the game mode is a joke. Some of them are ridiculously strong, while others make an individual's ability to maintain aiming and dodging less valuable by adding little to the game other than excessive amounts of pseudo-randomness.

This is the very point! Many people agree that a full-time sentry gun adds nothing fun to the game. It is precisely why they do not play HL and is one of the many answers to the original question in this thread.

Yes, this is exactly what I mean when I say pseudo-random. Sure, the server sees it as a backstab due to many different elements, but frequently neither player sees it as a backstab and that is why it is pseudo-random. A pyro fires a flare across the map at an enemy... That flare ignites a cloaked spy who happened to be in a straight line of sight between the pyro and his teammate. Are you telling me that is not the very definition of pseudo-random? Your comment about good pyros checking spots is what I meant when I said that one reason people bash 9v9 is because one of the -primary- roles is to have a player who spins every few seconds clicking pseudo-randomly in hopes that he will ignite a cloaked/disguised spy. Spy checking is not a "skill". It is not something you need to take time to master. You simply have to spin and click frequently. Sure, you can check common spots, which you will learn by playing, but I'd be hard pressed to call that a skill. And yes, players being out of position will happen in 6v6 as well. The chances of it spoiling an otherwise great play are lower because the player making the great play is more likely to win the altercation due to fewer total enemies and fewer pseudo-random events.

1) You are trying to validate why things happen, but this is not an argument. I understand facestabs are not a fault of highlander in and of itself. Among other things, I am trying to get the idea across that the prevalence of facestabs is much much higher in HL because there are always 2 spies and that is one of the reasons why 9v9 is so frequently bashed or passed off as a joke.
2) Caber does 149 + 35 for the hit itself, which means instantly killing a medic. Yes, bombing is a mechanism in every game mode. The only weapon in 6v6 that will allow you to bomb and instakill a medic is the market gardener, which is just as stupid and unnecessary as the caber. The difference? You have to hit the medic with the market gardener before you land (or exploit the bunnyhopping bug which is quite difficult) whereas a demo just has to touch a medic. Sure, the demo is putting out no other damage, which would be devastating in 6v6, but in 9v9, when you are going for a medic pick/force, is it a problem? Not really.
3) No. Just, no.

Are...you...serious?!?!?!?!? If you think jarate is anything less than absolutely incredible, I run the risk of sounding elitist by telling you that you have no clue about anything at all.

Once again, I will say--
You are welcome to disagree with my assessment of the weapons and situations. I am not presenting them as things that immediately need banned. I am not even presenting them as weapons that are so overpowered they should be used all the time. The UGC 9v9 ruleset is yours and I am not urging anyone to change it. I am merely saying that their absence in the UGC list of prohibited weapons is one (or 45) reason(s) people look down upon 9v9 UGC HL.

It is -not- fun to go around a corner in HL and die to an engineer who just happened to have free criticals stored in his frontier justice so he happens to hit you for 180. Ditto the other situations where a winner is determined purely by loadout or luck.

It's not fun to lose a push in 6v6 because the other team had a heavy, engineer, and pyro; why would it be fun to play against them full-time?

Want to make HL less chaotic and introduce a more standard type of skill? Ban all the mini-crit weapons and all crit weapons that don't require something special (ie. backburner, spy knives, stock sniper rifle). Ban every pyro secondary other than shotgun. Ban the 45 weapons listed above. Make HL more about hitting shots and less about using gimmicky weapons to deal extra damage.

Hell, while you're at it, ban sentry guns. Make engineer about aiming and keeping teleporters alive. He has 200 pistol shots, dammit. He should use 'em.

:|

18 players in a server automatically means chaos. Chaos breeds randomness. It could be argued that randomness happens in 6v6 as well--and it does, but it's not a component in -every- game. I would argue that UGC HL does require as much skill as 6v6 to play at a high level, but it's an entirely different kind of skill that is generally less dependent upon the ability to outplay the enemy attacking you (DM). Instead, you defeat them because your class pops them up in the air and has 37 different weapons that give guaranteed critical hits, or you have a gun that fires from a different position and has autoaim, etc.

In every 9v9 HL game, the following are all but guaranteed:
A player will get a backstab by stabbing an enemy in the face.
A pseudo-random mini-crit will occur at some point which will either trigger or stifle a push.
A pyro will ignite a cloaked or disguised spy by pure accident.
A perfect flank will be spoiled because one of the 9 players on the other team will be out of position.

Is it fun to play heavy and get headshot by a sniper when there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent him from shooting you?
Is it fun to play scout and push only to find a sentry is in some random place which either kills you, weakens you, or gives away your otherwise perfect flank?
Is it fun to play medic and get cabered by a demo being an idiot?
Is it fun to play sniper and get focused by the enemy spy?
Is it fun to play engineer and have your buildings harassed by the spy?
Is it fun to play medic and get killed because your demo or soldier fired an explosive and a pyro intentionally or accidentally reflected it?
Is it fun to be a cloaked spy and get set on fire because you happened to walk around a corner where a pyro randomly walks through and clicks anywhere on his screen?
Is it fun to play soldier and be reflected/airblasted constantly by a pyro who then gets free criticals with any weapon he selects?
Is it fun to play medic and get stunned by a scout who accidentally hits a baseball at the right moment, then throws a guillotine causing you to drop the uber you couldn't even deploy due to the stun?

One of the required classes in HL has the role: "spin around randomly while holding m1 every 3 seconds to negate one of the other required classes."
One of the required classes in HL has the role: "right-click furiously to negate incoming explosive damage and to hopefully get critical damage with reflects."
One of the required classes in HL has the role: "run around building machines with 3 button presses (or less if you script it) that have autoaim and a potential for having 650hp).
One of the required classes in HL has the role which consists of going invisible and get instant kills on people who happen to be looking the other direction at that instant.

I think HL is a non-serious alternative to playing 6v6. I understand that many people take it very seriously, but for me, it's a joke and I play it in pugs because it's moderately less ridiculous than pubbing. I think it could be improved substantially with a new ruleset, and the vast majority of the randomness could be eliminated.

Scout
1) Soda popper - walking around for 13 seconds gives guaranteed mini-critical hits that have no damage falloff over distance. Gaining free crits can be controlled and can be transferred to secondary weapon as well. Run out? Run in circles for 13 seconds.
2) Bonk - 8 seconds of immunity (hello ubercharge?).
3) Crit-a-cola - gives guaranteed mini-critical hits and 25% speed boost.
4) Mad-Milk - Gives 60% of damage dealt back as health.
5) Pocket pistol - 140 base/210 buffed HP on a scout who is immune to falling damage.
6) Flying Guillotine - Gives guaranteed mini critical hits to players at long distances. Gives guaranteed hits to players who are stunned. Causes bleed in addition to the critical hits.
7) Sandman - Stuns enemies.
8) Atomizer - 3 jumps on a scout.
Soldier
9) Cow Mangler - Unlimited ammo that has guaranteed mini-criticals.
10) Beggar's Bazooka - Fires 3 rockets almost simultaneously.
11) Battallion's Backup - 35% damage resistance, full critical damage resistance.
12) Concheror - 35% of damage dealt returns as heals, 35% speed boost to teammates.
13) Reserve Shooter - Guaranteed mini-criticals.
Pyro
14) Right clicking causes enemies to lose 100% of their momentum and forces them into an upward arc that is identical 100% of the time.
15) Axtinguisher gives guaranteed criticals.
16) Backburner gives guaranteed criticals.
17) Flare gun gives guaranteed criticals.
18) Degreaser gives faster weapon swap making guaranteed criticals easier.
19) Detonator sets anyone on fire even if your aim is worse than terrible.
20) Third degree gives guaranteed criticals.
21) Phlogistinator gives guaranteed criticals and health.
22) Manmelter sets people on fire from across the map... even faster... and takes no ammo.
23) Scorch shot knocks players back and sets multiple players on fire by shooting the ground.
24) Reserve shooter gives guaranteed criticals.
Demo
25) Loch n Load - one-hits 125hp classes.
26) Ullapool Caber - Instantly kills medics (and anyone under 184 health) with no aim required.
Heavy
27) Natascha - Slows players.
28) Sandvich - Medic got hurt due to poor positioning? Give him free health! Heavy got hurt? Give him free health! ____ got hurt?! Give him free health!
29) GRU - Heavy is no longer speed penalized.
30) Fists of Steel - Bad positioning? No problem! Pull these out and retreat for free! Even a fully charged headshot will only do 270 damage.
Engineer
31) Sentry guns - Auto aim. Auto aim. Auto aim. Auto aim. Auto aim.
32) Frontier Justice - Guarantees criticals. How do you get criticals? Via the incredibly difficult task of deploying auto-aim machines of course!
33) Rescue Ranger - Heals auto-aim weapons from anywhere on the map.
34) Short circuit - negates explosives.
35) Gunslinger - Makes auto-aim machines build in 1 second. Makes auto-aim machine take 100 metal instead of 125. Gives engineer 25 extra health as well.
36) Wrangler - Makes auto-aim machine have double fire rate. Makes auto-aim machine have 300-650 health.
Sniper
37) Sydney Sleeper - Zoom for one second and hit an enemy, guarantee 8 seconds of mini-criticals on them (also nullifies spy cloak).
38) Machina - 173 damage for fully charged body shot that also penetrates enemies.
39) Jarate - Guaranteed mini-criticals with minimal aim.
40) Darwin's Danger Shield - 25 extra health as well as 15% damage resistance. Quick headshots don't kill you.
41) Cleaner's Carbine - Gives guaranteed criticals.
Spy
42) Enforcer - Tons of damage.
43) Diamondback - Guaranteed criticals after sapping a building.
44) Spy-cicle - Silent kills, immune to fire for 2 seconds after initial fire damage.
45) Dead Ringer - You already have invisibility based on a timer and invisibility based on movement. You even have a million percent extra invisiblity by using the le'tranger. Do you really need unlimited feigning and 300 health? No. Just no.

Why are these allowed? It is -never- fun to die simply because someone had one of these items equipped.

In 6v6, it's fun to play scout and die to a demo because you can say to yourself, "oh, I just approached him from the wrong angle and couldn't close in fast enough" or "I just missed my shots". It's then fun to correct the error and get the kill next time because you were clever and got the drop on the demo, or because you simply hit your shots while making him miss his shots.

Monitors definitely affect it. Colorblind tests are never "valid" on a monitor. Ishihara tests are on paper for that reason.

so what you are saying is

b4nny is the best at his class
platinum is the best at his class
tlr is the best at his class
enigma is the best at his class
ruwin is the best at his class
harbleu is the best at his class
seagull is the best at his class
clockwork is the best at his class
blaze is the best at his class
pure is the best at his class

r u high again

8 captains who are all the best players at their classes
is this real life or just highlander