Moments when a piece of entertainment completely lost you.

[nockermensch]

Except Phil Foglio is both a good artist and a good a writer. Burlew pretty much just makes an occasional funny that is sort of based on D&D rules.


.... Why the fuck do we still read OOTS?

I don't, but you guys keep me updated on whats happening, anyway. I lost the drive to look at it since the art upgrade that turned the characters into tube figures. It's disgusting.

But hey, the forum is still a great place to read about 3.Xe.

[violence in the media]

At this point the only reason anyone still follows OotS is they've followed it for years and they want to see the ending goddamnit.

Goddamn I want this comic to [limp along to its, likely, stupid and unsatisfying] end. It's nuts that you can go for a month without checking it only to discover 1-3 updates, if that, when you do. How is it that OoTS ever became a thing when it's author/artist is such a flake? How has he (apparently) never considered the idea of just hiring an artist to get updates out on a more timely manner?

Did anyone ever discover, or did Burlew reveal, what his mystery illness is that prevents regular updates of stick figure drawings?

It's slackassitis, isn't it?

[virgil]

Meh, OotS is more regular than Erfword or Goblins for most of their life, or Dresden Codak's ever been. Those webcomics support their creator, so it's not a huge surprise.

[angelfromanotherpin]

He had his thumb mangled in an accident that left him with persistent loss of function; he seems to use drawing as long-term phys therapy.

[Shrapnel]

He had his thumb mangled in an accident that left him with persistent loss of function; he seems to use drawing as long-term phys therapy.

That's an excuse for bad art, not bad writing.


Anyway, I tried Cruncyroll today... and I fucking hate it. I fucking hate how they play ads that interrupt your show, and I hate how they do three fucking ads per break. Even YouTube, which also has interruptive ad breaks, at least only plays one per break, and even then it (usually) lets you skip those ads after a few seconds.

So I have to sit through about two minutes of fucking ads just to watch some godfucking anime... unless I pay to remove the ads. Can't afford to do that? Well, FUCK YOU, then. Seriously, the people who run this shit are fucking [EDITED] and they should all choke on their own syphilis-coated dicks.

Fuck Cruncyroll. Next time, I'm just buying my fucking anime on DVD's straight from Japan.

[Mechalich]

Anyway, I tried Cruncyroll today... and I fucking hate it. I fucking hate how they play ads that interrupt your show, and I hate how they do three fucking ads per break. Even YouTube, which also has interruptive ad breaks, at least only plays one per break, and even then it (usually) lets you skip those ads after a few seconds.

AdBLock blocks Crunchyroll adds, the screen just flickers for a second or so.

[name_here]

Could be worse, could be Hulu.

They have four ads per break, their ads average like three times longer, they respond to adblock by wasting MORE of your time, and you can't skip them. Fuck those guys.

[Josh_Kablack]

Could be worse, could be Hulu.

They have four ads per break, their ads average like three times longer, they respond to adblock by wasting MORE of your time, and you can't skip them. Fuck those guys.

Well the real dealbreaker for me is each and every one of their ads somehow has a >50% chance to crash either of my Android tablets. So, uh yeah, I can't even legitimately watch the Hulu original show that my brother worked on anywhere but my desktop.

[Kaelik]

Uh Shrapnel... Like, cool if you want to buy DVD that's fine, but umm, Crunchyroll shows entirely shows made by large corporations and large teams of individuals working together.

Complaining that a site that shows only show made by entire teams of designers for lots of money doesn't use the same structure as a site that gets 100% of it's content free from the users who make the videos is basically nonsense. Crunchyroll money for adds goes not just to crunchyroll, but to the actual anime studios. You know, the ones that have at least a director, a writer or six, and a bunch of animators for every single show. Pewdiepie can make any amount of content between zero and infinity, and every person watching that produces some amount of money that is divided between youtube (google) and pewdiepie. Youtube maintenance costs are pretty similar in kind to Crunchyroll (maybe more per minute of content, since Crunchyroll has to sub things?). But in place of pewdiepie, there is a corporation that spent 100k-300k US fucking dollars to make that episode. Instead of you know, zero fucking dollars.

[Shrapnel]

I really don't give five shits. Their ad models are fucking awful.

[Kaelik]

I really don't give five shits. Their ad models are fucking awful.

No, you are just an idiot. You are complaining that their add model gives them small amounts of money instead of zero amounts of money.

You get that having zero fucking adds, and skipping adds, means that the people showing adds don't get money for that. Youtube only works as a revenue source at all because it has a gigantic fucking volume and making the content is free.

Pewdiepie has more than 42 million subscribers and made hundreds of videos this year. He made over 4 million dollars in add revenue. If no one who isn't currently a subscriber watched a single video, and all his subscribers watched 100 videos (and he probably made more than 100), then he made way less than a cent every single time someone watched his video. How much less than a cent? When I do the math in my calculator I get an answer with e^-4 at the end. Technically it has a nine as the first number, so let's round up. He makes .1 cents per view. Not ten cents. A Tenth of a Cent.

Now let's say that the above numbers are off in a huge amount in favor of pewdiepie (even though they are almost certainly off in a way that makes him appear to make more money per view), youtube takes some huge cut that crunchyroll wouldn't (even though crunchyroll has to pay subbers), and crunchyroll using youtubes skip based add systems would make an entire cent for the studio that made the anime episode for each view.

According to an investigation by Media Development Research Institute Inc., at least one 30 minute episode of a TV anime in 2010 totaled about US $145,214 to make. Even if we assume that crunchyroll only need to pay 20% of that cost to make up for a loss in US sales by it's existence, if they were making one cent per view they would need 2.9 million views to make up that 20%.

Crunchyroll needs an add system that pays out more than youtubes add system to even function. It needs an add system where, heaven forbid, you have to actually watch the adds that make it the money it needs to function instead of skipping them.

TL;DR: You are an entitled piece of shit who is getting pissed off that there exists a site that provides you with 30 minutes of content that cost over 100k to make, and provides it to you for free. But because you aren't capable of refusing to watch any adds at all, you are pissed off about this free fucking content that costs a lot of money to make.

You are a piece of shit. You are in the wrong. You deserve to be punched in the face repeatedly until you stop fucking whining about how you aren't allowed to bankrupt a struggling industry because a minute to a minute and a half out of your fucking life (where you can actually do other things, like argue on TGD) is just too fucking much to take for providing your fucktons of free content to your whiny entitled ass.

[Omegonthesane]

...What Kaelik said.

Even before you get into the maths - oh no, you might have to get up and refill your coffee/tea/vodka while watching a show, here's the world's smallest violin.

[Ice9]

How is it that OoTS ever became a thing when it's author/artist is such a flake?

OoTS used to update a lot more frequently than it does now. And also, I think it used to get to the point a lot faster.

This current plotline is really annoying me. I've sort of resigned myself to the Order passing around the idiot-ball, but now a bunch of gods have to do so as well? I'm sure there'll be some excuse, but those excuses are getting increasingly flimsy. Really, the strip is reminding me of a railroading GM making up crappy fiat-reasons for things to happen.

[RobbyPants]

How is it that OoTS ever became a thing when it's author/artist is such a flake?

OoTS used to update a lot more frequently than it does now. And also, I think it used to get to the point a lot faster.

Yeah, I think when I first started reading back in 2006 (damn), he was updating something like every MWF. I think he would even try to stick to posting at midnight (or something). People would flip out if it was an hour late.

In the past year or two, I've taken to just removing GitP from my speed dial, so I don't even think about it. Seeing the thumbnail there daily would just aggravate me, because I knew there was less than a 10% chance I'd find an update if I clicked on it. I've come to enjoy the comic a lot more when I just forget it exists for two months at a time. Then, I go, and catch up on the last three strips he posted in that time, and go back to forgetting it's a thing.

[Ancient History]

The way I hear it, it was the kickstarter campaign that killed OotS. It was massively over-successful, wracking up over a million dollars and basically saddling Burlew with a slew of pledges to fulfill, not to mention still running his company and doing the strip.

[Prak]

That sort of makes a depressing amount of sense, actually. I mean, it wasn't updating frequently before the campaign, but yeah.

[CapnTthePirateG]

Oh, look, new oots, and the stupid hole keeps digging deeper and deeper.

So now all the random dudes Durkula and other, annoying vampire can find have been turned into vampires! Who are apparently instantaneous priests of Hel now despite other death gods apparently being able to send vampire clerics (and Hel only being able to send Durkula because he's a dwarf).

And suddenly the High Priest of Hel can randomly not be the high priest and pick some random person...and everyone is ok with this. But wait! Those priests from the Creed of Stone were all out of high level spells and you need to be able to cast Summon Proxy for your god to show up! Do they even have that prepared? Can Hel stay in the room? Isn't it a clear violation of the rules that Hel got to bring a jillion dudes, when Thor was allowed only one (and they were going to prohibit Durkon as a Thorian priest?) Why are we bringing a pack of vampires against the high priests of all the gods who all have turning or rebuking?

And of course, some other issues arise. If the vamps attack and someone commands the new High Priest of Hel, can't they make her leave the room and remove Hel's vote?

Fuck, every single move Durkula makes makes me think he's more of a moron. Can we have competent villains back please?

[Omegonthesane]

Oh, look, new oots, and the stupid hole keeps digging deeper and deeper.

So now all the random dudes Durkula and other, annoying vampire can find have been turned into vampires! Who are apparently instantaneous priests of Hel now despite other death gods apparently being able to send vampire clerics (and Hel only being able to send Durkula because he's a dwarf).

I'm gonna re-emphasise this part, and also add to it that it violates the established rules of OOTS-iverse vampires for that many to have been made so quickly. There is approximately no fucking way Durkula had enough scrolls of Malack's custom spell to do them all, it is trivially obvious that none of the new vampire clerics would be able to cast it with their no spell slots, and now I think about it Durkula definitely didn't have time to teach Malack's custom spell to all the new vampire priests.

A meaningful number of those are dwarves, but crucially not literally every single one. Though admittedly Durkula hasn't released them from his control at this point.

And suddenly the High Priest of Hel can randomly not be the high priest and pick some random person...and everyone is ok with this. But wait! Those priests from the Creed of Stone were all out of high level spells and you need to be able to cast Summon Proxy for your god to show up!

This one's easier to gloss over, Summon Proxy can be assumed to not have to remain near the caster once it's been cast once. Unless it's an existing game mechanic that doesn't work that way.

Do they even have that prepared? Can Hel stay in the room? Isn't it a clear violation of the rules that Hel got to bring a jillion dudes, when Thor was allowed only one (and they were going to prohibit Durkon as a Thorian priest?)

Possibly? It wouldn't be the first deliberate anticlimax in this fucking arc. Rich meant to evoke frustration in Roy and instead evoked it in the audience.

Why are we bringing a pack of vampires against the high priests of all the gods who all have turning or rebuking?

Again, that one's more excusable - "vampires are what we got". And with that many, enough of them might manage to Dominate nearby clerics.

Not that there SHOULD BE THAT FUCKING MANY OF THEM.

And of course, some other issues arise. If the vamps attack and someone commands the new High Priest of Hel, can't they make her leave the room and remove Hel's vote?

Alternately, the high priest of one of the gods who initially voted "Yes" not thinking it would actually matter can go "The fuck with this, there actually absolutely is a way for my master to go back on what they voted for as was their clearly expressed desire" and leave the room, invalidating their god's vote and causing the No party to win. Even if they aren't allowed to harm the blob of vampires.

Fuck, every single move Durkula makes makes me think he's more of a moron. Can we have competent villains back please?

Competent writing back, anyway. Less of a problem with getting to watch the pay-off when Durkula's plans blow up in his face assuming Rich ever fucking gets to that instead of wanking to how terrible this new threat is.

[MisterDee]

And here's another enormous problem:

There actually was a world-destroying threat. It's the fucking point of the story. Ergo, everybody fucking knows that Hel's ploy is going to fail. And not in a complicated, epic way, in a handful of pages once Burlew gets to near the end of a physical book.

[hyzmarca]

The way I hear it, it was the kickstarter campaign that killed OotS. It was massively over-successful, wracking up over a million dollars and basically saddling Burlew with a slew of pledges to fulfill, not to mention still running his company and doing the strip.

Yeah. Getting a professional fulfillment service to handle the rewards is pretty much the first thing you should do with a kickstarter campaign for anything popular. And if you can't afford that with your reward tiers, then you seriously need to change your reward tiers. It's the single biggest cost of kickstarter and something that people screw up on all the time.

[Occluded Sun]

It's not dead, just on a ventilator and IV drip.

[CapnTthePirateG]

As much as vampires are what we got...why so many?

We need one vampire to be the high priest of Hel in the room, and that one vamp can seriously stay in gaseous form up near the ceiling (or spider climb!) to not be killed by Roy. We know ootsverse vampires can talk in gaseous form, so she can just chill up there and give pronouncements as needed.

So the only reason I can think of for that many vampires is to launch a full scale assault on the high priests of every single god. Which is totally unnecessary and stupid, and will undoubtedly lead to a five month fight scene followed by a strip where the vampires and the clerics talk out their differences through peaceful mediation and agree to give love a chance.

Although I think the staff gave enough charges of Malack's custom spell to rez all the vampires.

[Omegonthesane]

So the only reason I can think of for that many vampires is to launch a full scale assault on the high priests of every single god. Which is totally unnecessary and stupid, and will undoubtedly lead to a five month fight scene followed by a strip where the vampires and the clerics talk out their differences through peaceful mediation and agree to give love a chance.

If they can pick new bodyguards, then sure there's no reason, but the current holder of the position of "Bodyguard to the High Priest of Hel" has expressed and acted upon the desire to murder all High Priests of Hel, even though each could abdicate when they think the fight is going south, so it could simply be the assumption that Roy can't kill eleven vampires who are relatively low on spell slots in the time it takes Durkula to Dominate the vampire elders.

Which we have no reason to think will work - for all we know King Dorf returns and says "I swore to consult with the elders and I have, they were all dominated, Hel is trying to unfairly influence this vote".

[Prak]

Well, by the same token, the Order could bust in all "Screw the rules, we're adventurers!" but it's not likely to happen...

[CapnTthePirateG]

I have to ask, if they can switch high priests in the middle of the Godsmoot, why not switch bodyguards?

Though I concede that Godsmoot rules are made outta bullshit anyway.