I think I finally got it working. Had to clean up the registry further and do some stuff via the command line and then repair the installation yet again. (Apparently when you uninstall and reinstall the game, it leaves the updater service entry in Windows. The problem is, the reinstall changed the install location (only EA knows why) and Windows was still pointing at the old location.

I think I got all my mods re-installed, all the DLC is there and I can load up my last save without the game crashing. So that's progress, at least.

woo hoo! How are you liking the game?

I've already played the base game all the way through twice and played all the origins. Played through Awakening a few months ago and then it glitched after I beat the final boss and I put it down for awhile because I was annoyed. Trying to get through the rest of the DLC and then play 2 so I'm ready for Inquisition. I've just run into obnoxious DRM issues every time I try to pick the game back up. (Last time I spent three different nights on hold with EA support before I could get it fixed.)

It makes me feel like I'm being punished for trying to play their game legally.

bah.

Oh hey I just remembered Wildstar sent me a one week pass for myself and a friend. (I played the Beta and it was great fun but not enough to make me want to buy the game) Are you interested in downloading another monster to try it out for a week? I still haven't decided if it's worth diving back in.

More D&D adventures with Ryan! Last weekend, he had the iconic fight from Lost Mine of Phandelver - he fought the dragon. Not sure if anyone's planning to play that, so I'll spoiler-font this one:

This is supposed to be a tough fight, indeed they're not supposed to kill it. By the time Ryan's party got to it, they were 3rd level, and this young green dragon is CR 8. The saving grace is that if the dragon is reduced to half its hp, it decides this lair is more trouble than it's worth and flies off, ceding the battlefield. (The party gets a little over half XP for it.)

Ryan killed the dragon. I did give him one fudge, being a five-year old boy - his Stealth roll wasn't quite good enough to surprise the dragon, but feeling that the fight might get out of hand, I decided the door and walls were thick enough for an additional bonus. He therefore got a surprise round, and then the dragon rolled pretty low on its initiative.

Ryan and his party got in quite a few shots before the dragon's turn, and he was rolling red hot. I think he hit on all but one or two attacks, and scored two crits (including the sneak attacking rogue). The dragon had already lost half its hit points by the time of its first attack.

My second intervention here: rather than have it flee, I decided that it would keep fighting. Taking off without any kind of effort felt wrong; and since I could now justify sending it off if it ever became too threatening. Plus, you can't fight a dragon without getting something nasty breathed all over you.

Poison gas damage was 12d6. Ryan started giggling madly as I picked up the dice, one by one, and the number just kept growing. (He understands the inherent pleasure in rolling great handfuls of dice.) The resulting damage (40) felled 60% of the party - the wizard would've been killed outright but for Ryan's cleric having cast Aid. Left standing was the rogue, and Ryan's own dwarven cleric. His poison resistance held him in good stead.

Now the fight felt like a proper life-or-death struggle, as Ryan's cleric popped around the battleground, trying to reanimate his colleagues (and bopping the dragon with his Spiritual Weapon). His dice did not desert him, and he kept up some steady daamge. The dragon got one more turn, trying and largely failing to maul the archer, and finally the revitalised wizard popped it with a Chromatic Orb (lightning). Oh, I like what they've done with the Orb spells too, though my 3.5e Arcane Trickster still bemoans the loss of touch AC.

So hurrah for little dragonslayer boys, and the 3,900 XP was just enough for him to hit 4th level. He's feeling very pleased with himself, and with some cause. (Though there's no uestion he was hugely lucky to do so well.) I don't know what I can throw at him to top this.

Laga- I'm not really an MMO person. I tried both WoW and DDO and never got into them. Thanks, though.

BT- That's crazy. Way to go, Ryan. And yeah, that will be though to top.

Anybody want to try Wildstar for a week?

Laga, I'll give it a whirl. email in my profile is good. What server should I look for to join yoiu?

I'm not sure Wildstar is big enough to have servers yet. I'll try logging in tomorrow afternoon and let you know if I have to choose one. Email incoming.

So I'm playing the Dragon Age: Origins DLC "Witch Hunt" and just recruited a mage who has a staff named "Vera".

I found a better staff, but I can't bring myself to equip it on him.