I used mostly Lightning Arrow on my ranger, with lesser multiple projectiles, but Split Arrow is strong if you're going for more of a physical damage build.
Are you sure Fork is adding much? Chain is better sometimes if you have that, otherwise you could try adding some damage buff instead, or Pierce.

If you are going for more physical damage, Frenzy is pretty good as a single target skill, with Faster Attacks, it builds up Frenzy charges which will buff all your attacks, so even vs a group you can shoot a few Frenzy shots regularly to keep your frenzy charges up (that's 15% more attack speed).

But yeah, things get tough at the end of Act 3, you need to start finding or crafting better items. 

Fork is kind of funny because sometimes it'll ricochet in just the right way and deal tons of damage and other times it'll do nothing.
I will probably swap out for pierce (I haven't found chain yet).
Lightning Arrow (and frost) seem to be very mana hungry, but I haven't tried them yet since I got blood magic. It seems to do less damage though, but my current bow is a +phys bow with no elemental damage at all. I keep the other ones leveled up though so I can always swap if I get some +elemental damage items.

As for single target, I kind of like the woosh and particle effects of the flame arrows.... ^_^ also I have a hard time keeping frenzy stacked while kiting, keeping poison clouds and fire traps up. I really should try it again though since most of my damage is physical. 

Reviewed a few games lately.

Mirrors Edge 7.0
http://etherealhell.com/etherealhell/reviews/2013/mirrors_edge.php

Crysis Warhead 8.5/10
http://etherealhell.com/etherealhell/reviews/2013/crysis_warhead.php

Far Cry 2 7.5/10
http://etherealhell.com/etherealhell/reviews/2013/crysis_warhead.php

Who's played Alone in the Dark? Any good? 

oops correct link to fc2 is http://etherealhell.com/etherealhell/reviews/2013/far_cry2.php 

Slightly tangential but I find Leap Slam a very useful gem, not so much for attacking but for getting to power totems easier and also for taking shortcuts across the scenery. HTH. 

My 2hander Dualist in Hardcore beat most of Act2 by using Leap Slam for damage.

The dualist is great when he Leap Slams, because he does a little spin move in the air while doing it so it looks like he's this dancer in armor with a giant sword leaping around stepping on enemy's toes until they die. 

http://www.twitch.tv/redbullesports/b/482370792?t=3h38m

Red Bull semi-finals, Scarlett vs. Bomber, BO3, game 3, tied 1:1. Knife-edge game with a brilliant finish, exactly why SC2 is still such a great e-sport 3 years in. 

This was enjoyable, love the Zerg. Makes me nostalgic for Brood War though... 

Dark Souls is 6$ on steam. Picked it up since I figure if it's too hard/annoying, it's not much of a loss. :P
Dunno when I'll actually play it though. I still have Rage from last week's sale that I haven't even played once. 

Just started playing L4D1, I've only done one mission so far but um... does it get better looking? I read the graphics are slightly dated, but damn, this game looks like around 2004 standards, quite similar to FEAR.
It's just dark corridor box maps. The sewers section was utterly pathetic.

If it doesn't get better, then probably apart from Cauldron HQ and City Interactives games, it'd be the shittiest looking action game of 2008 lol.

Gameplay is fun, but I can see it getting old real quick if there's only 4 different enemies.

Hopefully there's some good user made content, although the engine seems just as much to blame. I suppose they're still using the upgraded Quake engine. 

Haven't played it in a while, but I thought it looked fine at the time, it doesn't have any silly over-the-top eye-candy like some other games, but it does what it needs to do just right. Oh and L4D2 has some of the best atmospheric levels in any FPS (Hard Rain campaign).

By the way, if you're playing alone you're really not doing it right, single-player L4D is kind of boring, 4 player coop or versus mode is where it really shines. 

The amount of times I got kicked or insulted for absolutely no reason...

(Killing Floor is more fun anyway) 

Yeah I meant playing with friends obviously.
Never liked Killing Floor much, it was ok but pales in comparison with L4D for me.

The whole campaign aspect of L4D is really nice (Hard Rain in L4D2 is so good), and the versus is one of the most original FPS team vs team variant out there (but it can get very competitive = lots of dickheads). 

We actually set up LAN parties for L4D1.

I think the reload times and power of the weapons was made too xbox friendly for the sequel, but it was still good.

Best played with people you know really, the AI can be pretty shite at times - their navmesh system is a joke.

Not sure why they opted for something so deprecated; we investigated here (back in the day) and google showed up handful other methods for doing it that are far more robust. 

L4D doesn't have graphical flash, it has hordes of zombies. And it's awesome.

Although, the additions in L4D2 are enough for me to recommend skipping L4D1. The new enemies and weapons make the game feel more ... complete. 

It's a good game still.

I remember the No Mercy campaign from the first one being very good.

And yeah, Hard Rain obviously wins in the second one.

Here's where I used to get user content from:

http://www.l4dmaps.com/

It's hit and miss though, many custom levels are stupidly difficult. Can't remember the names of any of the good ones just now.

You also need to install some custom content support thing through steam to play the stuff. 

Gon be good. 

But L4D2 rocked more. 

Finished it. I started to look through custom maps but it looks like all the good ones (what few there are some of them look like someone threw up on the screen) were converted to l4d2 anyway.

Did a review but no one much will agree with me, haha, 8/10 being generous.

Also reviewed X-Blades: 5/10, Wolverine: 7.5/10 and Ghostbusters 7.5/10. 

....and she likes a fuckton of particle and smoke effects:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RURQSR788Dg

Not sure which I prefer in the final comparison shots to be honest... 

That back when Quake was being developed the z-buffer was being described as a low-tech means of doing hidden surface removal, while nowadays we do all kinds of absurd stuff inside of it. 

Re Bailey, yeah the final comparison just seems to be an overkill of effects, I can't shit except sparks/light/smoke. 

Really liked them and was lucky enough to play them regularly with real life friends. The only flaw is the aural pollution aspect. The sounds are all extremely annoying and it's a constant barrage of weird ass zombie groans, stupid music firing to alert you of specific enemies or situations- I always found the aural aspect of it "cacodemonic". Just very annoying sounds and musics rapid firing constantly. Does anybody here understand what I'm talking about? 

L4D has the same issues like all of their other games. Lack of individualist playstyles. You're forced to stick to your team, there's no room for splitting up and try new coop strategies from a distance. Same with TF2, I like exhausting the possibilities and trying new ways of doing thing but I'm forced in the same cookiecutter templates with another slight variation on the shotgun. There's no room for creativity, you just stick to your team and do the same routine over and over again. Same with Half Life, the level designs are inventive, the puzzles are a great addition and it's great with economy of gameplay. But you play it a second time and everything is already so predictable you can't be bothered. I really enjoy the production values, but apart from that... meh

I really don't get why most people like their games so much, I got this friend that's hooked on TF2 and play together with her and I can tell she's having fun, but all the while I'm just sitting there hoping it'll finally click for me. And I've logged 150 hours on it so it's not like I didn't try, hah. 

For L4D I agree on the coop a bit, once you've done the campaign once, they aren't as interesting to re-do.
It does become more interesting when changing your playgroup, different people play differently. If you role-play a bit, or just try goofing around it's usually quite fun. Nothing is forcing you to always play the same way, I've had quite a few situations where I've left the group and tried to do something on my own, even if you fuckup and get caught, it's fun to see how the rest of the group will react, leave you to your stupid bravery, or try to save you.

Where it really shines for me is the Versus mode with proper teams, the trap setups you have to prepare as an infected team are really interesting, and nothing like it exists in any other FPS.


For TF2 I just don't know what to say, to me there's no other multiplayer FPS worth playing these days. It's funny, the different classes offer lots of different play-styles, and it has some great maps... Again playing on the right server / with the right people helps.