Mystix123

Correction to my original post: PS3 gets it on April 16th, then April 17th for PC and 360. That seems to be it Ryan. Seraphim is the offensive mage, while the Shaman is a buffing/debuffing mage (with some healing abilities). Edit: It could be because I've been watching some Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 tournament matches lately, but does the Seraphim remind you a little bit of Storm (from X-men)?

Console players rejoice: Citadel will be out on the 17th also. Also, the "Seraphim Mage" has been revealed as the final class! Maurice is answering questions via Sacred World and Playstation Blog today also. Sacred World Thread: http://forum.deepsilver.com/forum/showthread.php/67898-Sacred-Citadel-revealing-the-Seraphim-Mage-amp-ask-us-anything US PS Blog: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/04/02/sacred-citadel-side-scrolling-beat-em-up-hits-psn-april-16th/ EU PS Blog: http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/04/02/sacred-citadel-battles-onto-playstation-network-this-month/

PS3 never received Torchlight, which is a real shame because it looks like a fantastic game.

That's encouraging news. I've been waiting for this on consoles for a while, so hopefully we won't have to wait too long for it. It'll be something for my cousin and I to play alongside Sacred 2...possibly replacing GTA4.

I second Essjayehm's analysis. Especially for an HE, I would take Constitution next (over EP). EP is one of the last things that I take for my HEs often.

That sucks man. That really does. I almost had the same issue when my old PS3 YLODed, but I'm paranoid about losing data. I run system back-ups (using the PS3's Backup Utility) once every 1-2 months. I also frequently copy my save file to a USB stick. Restarting is always an option. I tend to "restart" on new accounts every so often, simply to enjoy not having everything already at my disposal (making every drop count). You may find some fun in starting over completely fresh.

I've been using the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20120621000156/http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Fallen_Angel It doesn't have all of the information up-to-date, but it's sufficient.

The glow doesn't exist on these particular wings in the PC demo either. (I only have the demo for the PC.) I'd be really confused if they decided to implement it into the console version, but not the PC version.

Haha! That's pretty funny. I know a few people in the "rat labs" who are going through a similar situation (a project that looked promising, which is turning out null results). They'll thankfully get their Master's degree out of it though, and will change projects for their PhD. I ended up going to breakfast with my undergraduate advisor (who is now retired). He was able to guess exactly why I was leaving (despite not giving him any details), simply based on which theory my former PhD advisor supports. Apparently, fanatical behaviour towards that particular theory is rampant, and my undergrad advisor was hoping that some sort of compromise would allow me to finish my PhD. He recommended not abandoning research for industry altogether, but if I take a year off to change my focus, it couldn't hurt. In the meanwhile, he's trying to put another research group together, and would like me to join. The current plan that I'm following is to find a research job in Toronto (I've applied for quite a few, but I also have the administration/management jobs as my back-ups) and do some research for publication on the side. Sounds like a lot of work, but I'm used to more. It's strange to not identify as a "grad student" anymore...

This effect exists in the console versions (see example below). Perhaps this effect was removed in I&B.

So, we had our last meeting today, with a mediator. It went to hell pretty quickly. My advisor had an agenda to fulfill (chewing me out) and he declared that he's not willing to write a letter of reference for the other university that I'm applying to...so I had no reason to be polite to him anymore. Simply put: 1.5 years of bottled up rage released. The mediator sat there in horror, concluding that this was not going to work. My advisor and I both got everything out in the open, so we were able to look each other in the eye and shake hands. He wished me all the best and hopes that I find a career that matched the enthusiasm I showed when I first arrived. So, I think things ended relatively well. Granted, we never want to see each other again. I've submitted my papers and I am free to leave. As a side note: After that meeting, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I now feel that I can leave this behind me without any regrets. On to new opportunities...which will pay more than $4/hour!

The end of yet another chapter. "The career path I seek can no longer be pursued at [this university]." - Excerpt from the e-mail I just sent to my advisor this morning I may be able to salvage a publication out of the past 1.5 years, as I've been working on another project with the professor who brought up the term "Professional sh*t-starter", and he wants to publish it when it's finished. Of course, nothing that I've done with my advisor will ever see the light of day. I'm applying to another university to start a new PhD in Human-Computer Interaction (hopefully in the realm of "the effect of virtual environments on perception and cognition"). I have 1 month to create a rough research proposal, so I'll be doing a lot of reading over the next week or two. I also have a few job options in Toronto, which I'll take if the salary is impressive enough. Despite having future alternatives, I haven't been sleeping well lately (around 2-3 hours each night). I've been having dreams about the whole situation (I rarely remember my dreams) and I wake up in a fairly foul mood from each of them. They usually revolve around one of two themes: "This is something that I can do, but I'm being completely screwed out of it." and "My friends will be able to finish their PhD and publish, I won't." Both, of course, involve lack of control over my life, but an element of jealousy in the latter case. What misfortune that I managed to pick the one advisor in the whole department that acts this way. It's to the point where I don't want to sleep some nights (like tonight), but fatigue eventually wins that argument. However, in the end, I keep in mind what the last graduate from my lab said in our conversation: "If I'd known I was in for 7 years of hell working with [my advisor], I wouldn't have even gone to grad school." So, this is my current reality...and what a reality it is.

There are a few, but I can't remember them all. The ones with images up on the Wayback Machine are the following: http://web.archive.org/web/20100707110015/http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Thunder_Staff http://web.archive.org/web/20101120235503/http://sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Zardonn%27s_Pulverizer I'm pretty sure there are 1-2 more, but the Wayback Machine doesn't have the images, so I can't confirm it.

In terms of a EW only build for a Seraphim, I've observed that the best damage per second build is a DW Seraphim using Pelting Strikes alone. DW Pelting Strikes consists of 6 hits with a shorter animation. Any other weapon reduces the number of hits (and usually increases the animation time). I don't use SH+PS, as in the same animation time for Soul Hammer, you can get 2-2.5 hits with Pelting Strikes. Of course, all of this assumes that you land every hit. As mentioned earlier, accuracy is important (hence I take Speed Lore). Now, this isn't to say that Polearms won't work, it's just addressing why some favour DW.

Sometimes I think the game knows what you're looking for and purposely makes those drops rarer... Curse those Psychologists! I frequently come across them with my Seraphims (2 and 3 star versions), but less so with my HEs and SWs.

Props to Robb for doing being able to do something like that. Watching that makes me want to kiss the ground and never leave it...

Indeed. I've never hidden the fact that this is why I believe this is happening. The attitude extends not only to his work, but the work of his friends (and I've been denied publication for both). It's simply about protecting the theory that he supports, no matter how much credit for another significant finding he would get (as his name would be on the paper, and he would likely get most of the credit for it). The behaviour in general isn't scientific, which is a general problem for our field. Our field has so much "bad science" (due to this issue being wide spread) that any new ideas will likely attack the work of someone else, so it's very hard to do anything that's both new and interesting without conflicting with someone. However, this is part of science. As Wolfie's examples suggest, this situation has occurred from the beginning of science. My undergraduate advisor spent his whole career disproving his PhD thesis (which included helping students who find contradictory evidence). Part of my former hopes in academia was to find a young researcher who comes along and challenges (or disproves) some of my work. I was hoping it would be within the span of my career too, so I can shake their hand and offer them a Post Doc. So, while part of me understands why my advisor is reacting this way, part of me doesn't and 100% of me shows no sympathy towards it. Fortunately, the final idea which I'm proposing as a thesis lacks my trademark confrontational approach. Ideally, it will provide the data for a group of us to create 1-2 pieces of software that can be sold to companies (and we'll get some royalties for a long while). It will also get me a PhD and I can move on to get a secure job with a research company. As I've discussed with my Post Doc friend: Choices being made with funding and tenure-track positions are going to turn the dream of academia into a nightmare (at least within Canada, and for our generation of researchers). However, my final thesis proposal also completely removes any and all possible variations in interpretation (the data from the 1st phase will tell us what to do in the 2nd phase, and the data in the 2nd phase will not be flexible in interpretation), so I'm not confident that he's going to think that this is a "safe" move to make. Thorin: As for my advisor's last PhD graduate, she didn't support a theory which conflicted with his. I think she supported the same theory actually. However, crucial experiments turned out with opposite results, which created powerful evidence against his theory. She wanted to publish this data, and that ultimately led to her PhD taking 7 years to finish in return. I believe she had to change thesis ideas (like I'm pursuing) in order to finish entirely. The same thing is happening to a current lab-mate. While he supports my advisor's theory, his last experiment turned out in a way they did not predict (which is, again, powerful evidence against the theory). He has to re-structure his entire thesis to exclude that experiment, so he'll be spending a 6th year in PhD. If he was allowed to include that data into his PhD (which he easily could have), then he would have graduated already. Edit: Etherian, in regards to "Never give in, never give up. Even if you have to play by the rules to rise up later. So be it..." My Master's advisor originally gave me this advice 2 years ago (play by the rules now for the PhD, tear the field a new one later). Unfortunately, he's had to withdraw that advice this past summer (because of the current state of academia in Canada). Most PhD students of my cohort are being told to prepare for industry jobs, because funding changes and attempts to remove tenure-track positions are going to remove job security from all new professors (at least in Psychology). This will eventually correct itself (I believe the UK attempted something similar and they're in the process of reversing it now, which will take years), but my cohort will either be nearing retirement age or will have already retired. Unfortunately, it's basically "now or never" for my cohort, and most of my friends are receiving the support to make it "now", as this could open the doors for them to demand job security upon applying for jobs (otherwise they'll go to another university, perhaps in another country, which will offer them job security). We're in need of the high-impact publications now, to secure a job for our future.

Thanks for sharing Thorin. This is probably the concept that bothers me the most right now. Finishing is just in reach, but it keeps on getting pushed further and further back. Thankfully, I have contacts who are willing to offer me jobs in companies (some of whom have discussed hiring me before/after graduation). In one case, one contact's son quit medical school because of a similar issue with his residency supervisor, so they'll completely understand where I'm coming from. His defense to turning down the other 2 thesis ideas is simply "I don't think they'll work as a thesis". Unfortunately, as he's a well-established, tenured professor...this is considered a sufficient reason. It also still leaves the responsibility on me to find a topic which we agree on. Done and done. And I mean done!I definitely have my previous (and 2 current) thesis ideas saved. I also have all of the data and stimuli for the previous 2 thesis topics (as well as the written proposals). Paranoia of losing any data comes in handy. While I see where you're coming from, it's the opposite in academia. If a professor lets you go against your will, that means you weren't cut out for graduate school (aka: weren't productive). Its actually better to quit having officially stated that you chose to withdraw for some other reason (medical, financial, family), as those leave the door open to re-join the university at a later date, or go elsewhere with minimal issues. Again, another example of something completely contradictory between business and academia (or at least Psychology): "Professional sh*t-starter" is actually a great title to have. My Master's advisor had a saying: "It's our job to push science forward...and to weed-out bad science." (By "bad science", he means things like faulty experiments and incorrect interpretations of data, which can lead public knowledge astray. For example: The studies which concluded that vaccines can cause autism turned out to be mistaken.)Some professors may not want to work with a sh*t-starter like myself, but those professors are far, few and usually don't have a lot of grant money anyways. Unfortunately, I've looked at both options already.I've been offered industry sponsorship in return for running some applied experiments which they would like data for. Essentially, they would like to hire me, but don't have the money to give me a position as an employee. However, they can afford "grad student wages". However, all contracts of that sort require the permission of the advisor, and my advisor does not support industry involvement (including, in the case of his last PhD student, seeking industry employment after graduation). Also, my university does not support part-time graduate studies (I asked), so that's not an option either. The university does not have a good track record of providing student-friendly solutions to student-advisor conflicts. I had a lunch meeting with a friend of mine (who is currently in a Post Doctoral research position). He's actually looking to make a similar move, so we're looking to help each other out as much as possible. Also, the aforementioned "last PhD student of my advisor" apparently had similar issues with my advisor. We're going to have a conversation over the phone on searching for applied research jobs, as well as potential ways to handle my advisor. Basically, everything comes down to the meeting on next week.

One of my shoppers has no problems surviving in Niob, and has the following build: Exalted Warrior Focus Combat Discipline Tactics Lore Dual Wield Speed Lore Armor Lore Constitution Toughness Enhanced Perception Bargaining (Note: I didn't take the skills in the order above, but I took EWF, Bargaining, Armor Lore and Constitution to Mastery first...though I can't remember the order.) I've been using a lot of experience+ equipment and sockets (so her defenses are minimal). I just have Battle Stance with the Gold mod for Reflect Close Combat, 2 HP+ amulets socketed, and some Damage Mitigation (mainly from socketed Battle Stance runes). She's also my highest level shopper, so she's providing her own HP+ amulets (no support from a higher level character).

I assure you that your advice makes sense, as it's what I'm debating about and pursuing. I would definitely like to finish my PhD. I'm 2-3 years away from finishing it. Unfortunately, he's shot down all of my thesis ideas so far, and hasn't provided an alternative that he likes when he sees the data, so my chances of finishing are dwindling quickly. As for helping the Golden Child: There's no promise of a PhD in return for working on that project (as she'll get first dibs on all of the data, which could potentially leave me without anything)...and she's a real piece of work. That topic is another rant (including the 6 months that I was forced to work on a project with her...which was denied publication). She's in her 4th year of Master's (it's supposed to be a 2 year program) and hasn't finished a single project on her own. She'll need a Master's thesis and a PhD thesis, from a field that she's never done any work in before. The only reason why she's in our lab is because her original advisor was going to kick her out of grad school for lack of productivity (and my advisor thinks he can "save her", for lack of a better term). If I'm looking to enter the job market, a PhD might make it more difficult to find a job (over-qualification for certain jobs, incorrect specialization for other jobs). I might also find less offers which will lead to a secure job, as I'll be potentially closing off options from contacts that I have right now (various companies, law firms and accounting firms in Toronto). In reality, I may make more money in the long run if I quit grad school now and work. As for university resources: I have appointments booked with a few administrative-types to discuss my situation and what can be done. This wouldn't be the first time a grad student has been put in this position (most have quit in the end), and I'm not the only one from my department who has an appointment booked (4 of my friends will also be quitting grad school before September for similar reasons). This is what's making the decision much more difficult: There's no path which is clearly the better option. There's a lot of "might" and "maybe" on every path.

*Stands up.* “My name is Justin. I am a Grad Student. Perhaps not for long...” As many of you may know, I’m currently a Ph.D. student in Cognitive Psychology. Many people may wonder what grad school is like. Perhaps you have friends or relatives wondering if this is a path for them. Perhaps your own children are debating this future. Perhaps you’re in academia and wondering what the current generation of students think their future looks like. Grad school is a wonderful place for most grad students. It used to be for me. However, one's dream world can turn into a nightmarish hell very quickly. What did academia in Canada used to mean? Working with your heroes. Contributing knowledge to an area that fascinates you. A small financial struggle as a student. Post Doctoral studies where the pay is average. A tenure-track faculty position, which originally requires a lot of pressure to publish but quickly becomes a secure job where you have a lot of freedoms, get to pursue research which is interesting to you (without worry if it fails), and to shape the researchers of the future. What does academia in Canada mean now? The above, only a longer Post Doctoral studies with a lower than average pay...and now a lower chance of a tenure-track faculty position (as there is a trend of removing the “job security” aspect from new faculty positions, in order to reap the productivity benefits of the “publish a lot or we fire you” mentality). However, what happens to those who aren’t like “most grad students”. Allow me to share my experiences over the past few months with you. I was a highly productive graduate student. I’ve always carried 5-9 projects at the same time, worked 16+ hour days, 6-7 days a week. I finished my Master’s degree in under 1 year (it’s normally a 2 year program). I enjoyed it and my future in academia was bright. However, the projects which showed the greatest promise were not within the knowledge of my advisor, so he suggested that I switch universities to work with an expert in my field. At this point, I moved and continued my Ph.D. in a well-funded lab, with a well-respected advisor. I continued working 16+ hours per day, 6-7 days per week, but my productivity was slowly dwindling away. I stopped enjoying research. I started to cut down my hours and projects. Things became worse. I’m now currently working 4-5 days per week and barely 8 hours per day. Why did things change so drastically? Working with someone at the top of your field has a downside. What happens when your research begins to falsify theirs? What happens when you see so many flaws in your field and structure projects around addressing those flaws...but the authors of those papers are your advisor’s friends? Contribution of knowledge is limited by what your advisor allows you to publish. One loses interest in research quickly when yet another project is described at a conference as “a future high impact paper which will guide future research”, but is put to an abrupt end and denied publication, simply because the findings are “problematic in light of past research”. What happens when your advisor picks a “Golden Child” and wants you to be the “#2” (who does all of the work for the Golden Child), but you refuse? (See: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1019) I use the term "child" because the "Golden Boy" is female in my case. What happens when your advisor poorly manages the funds for the lab (leaving your lab with very little resources compared to 1 year ago), in a department which already has financial issues...at a university which is “...facing significant financial problems”? (That is a quote from a statement by the Principal in 2009...the situation has gotten far worse since then. I believe the university is nearing bankruptcy, if it's not already there.) What happens when you are 2 years into your PhD and have started 2 thesis ideas, to have them rejected upon examination of the initial data (alongside 4 publications and several conference presentations)? What happens when you attempt to switch advisors, to find out that no combination of advisors actually have enough money to fund you? (Government funding is increasingly given to neural imaging labs and “rat labs”...whereas I’m in the behavioural and human performance area.) The answers to all of these questions: Prolonged and increasing frustration. Depression. Your funding (to cover living expenses) being cut year after year (despite having a contract). I currently live on around $18,000 CAD each year (on a contract which is supposed to guarantee more). Yes, we make less than minimum wage, if you assume a 40 hour work week. My actual pay equated to just around $4 per hour last year. Oh, and this number also excludes the $7500 per year in tuition that we have to pay back to the university. Another scholarship rejection due to your area of study not being interesting to the government for multiple reasons, such as a) your field not being ready for quality neuroimaging studies (as the behaviour itself isn’t well understood...but research councils increasingly want fund neuroimaging studies) and b) the importance of the field not promoted in Canada by your advisor and his friends (because they’re getting most of their funding from US resources). My "lack of recent publications" doesn't help my application either. A short trip to the hospital to have a tumour removed from your stomach (turned out to be benign, but was caused by stress). Additionally, the need to return to the lab only 4 days after your operation, to an advisor who expects that you’re already well enough to show up every day of that week (and questions you when you need take 2 sick days that week). Having your research abilities questioned (again) because your data, interpretation and explanation does not match the theory that your advisor supports. Ultimately, being told that if you were to quit now, it would be “best for everyone”. So, one might ask why I wrote this. I’m not trying to say that my advisor is a horrible ogre to everyone. Only to those who don’t believe what he believes, and those who refuse to help his Golden Child get an easy Ph.D. I’m not trying to say that graduate studies are a waste of time and money, because it’s really not. It’s a wonderful experience in most cases, which can be marketed correctly for a very good job. In fact, I’ve written replies against articles which claim that graduate studies are a waste of time (as they are often based on very weak cases of PhDs who gave up on becoming a professor around 6 months after graduation...without having started the required Post Doctoral studies). I’m not looking for pity, because I’m much better off than some my friends who are stuck in comparable situations as myself, but lack the resources to escape (whether those are financial resources, contacts, or the ability to market themselves to a market much different than academia). I am, in the words of a retiring professor who I frequently chat with, “a professional sh*t-starter”. My job in research is to simply expose reality for what it is, no matter who doesn’t like the results. In some cases (like this post), my job is to simply present a view which no one may have thought about (or thought existed). ...I also wrote this because it’s now almost 3 AM and I can’t sleep, for good reason. What does my immediate future hold? Currently, fulfilling a request for a meeting with my advisor, who asks that I write a thesis proposal for my last idea before deciding whether or not to quit. This scenario may result in a middle-finger (or two) after he rejects the idea. Likely, a hunt for a short-term job to hold me over until I can find an applied research job. On the positive side: I’ll likely have more free time available for playing Sacred 2 and working on new projects for the Wiki.

Actually, depending on the answer to the next question, what Tybudd found shouldn't be dismissed that easily. Tybudd: Where were you in the Campaign progress when you ran this test (before or after crossing the wall)?

Sometimes it's just an issue of accessing the HD. Not sure what causes the struggle, but it's easily solved at least!

I've seen the couch co-op menu hang for a minute or two before, but never completely freeze. Try waiting for up to 10 minutes and see if the menu loads. I'm not sure if the public game issue is related to the couch co-op issue. Joining public games as a diagnostic measure isn't the ideal choice, as you don't know the quality of the host's connection (which makes a huge difference in this game, as the host's PS3 becomes the server). Joining someone's game that you've played a few times with is a better choice. Alternatively (to address the joining public games issue), try rebooting your network. It never hurts.

Haven't gotten the chance to read over everything yet, but regarding your last point: http://web.archive.org/web/20120214083309/http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Bargaining_Tips Not the latest copy (I corrected of the 100+ Niob All Skills bonuses in the most recent version, not copied by the Wayback Machine), but it should help.