Dygz wrote: » And... again... you should expect a vanilla (pre-expansion launch) game to have vanilla (conventional) races. Steven was not trying to be innovative with races. He's being innovative with the Nodes mechanic and is focusing on large group PvP combat. He is recreating his homebrew Pathfinder game - which most likely had just the 7 core Pathfinder player races. And, he included the Tulnar as a stretch goal. Since he was planning to launch within 2-3 years, he chose where he wanted to be innovative and where he wanted to be conventional. That being said...now that it's clear it will take at least double the expected time to release, he has significantly tweaked at least two of the races, Vek and Py'Rai, to be less conventional Orcs and Elves. Can't please all of the people all of the time. Boring is subjective.
SirChancelot wrote: » Ok And I said I'm not using that definition of vanilla Quite blatantly Go to urban dictionary and look up vanilla Unexciting, normal, conventional, boring. Vanilla, a bit like this definition. That was the way I was using the word Their race choices are vanilla for a fantasy setting. Keep in mind when this thread started I said I think ashes will be fine due to the variety of appearances within each race. I can still say they went with boring choices... Or rather they went with safe choices. And then they will have the tulnar to hopefully scratch the itch for everyone else that doesn't want the same old races.
Noaani wrote: » SirChancelot wrote: » Ok And I said I'm not using that definition of vanilla Quite blatantly Go to urban dictionary and look up vanilla Unexciting, normal, conventional, boring. Vanilla, a bit like this definition. That was the way I was using the word Their race choices are vanilla for a fantasy setting. Keep in mind when this thread started I said I think ashes will be fine due to the variety of appearances within each race. I can still say they went with boring choices... Or rather they went with safe choices. And then they will have the tulnar to hopefully scratch the itch for everyone else that doesn't want the same old races. So, this is an interesting use for the word "vanilla". From a cooking perspective, vanilla is actually an incredibly important and versatile flavor. To consider vanilla boring is to outright state that you have no appreciation of subtilty, nuance or or indeed quality. Sure, some people may use the word to denote things they consider boring, but to equate vanilla to being boring is to state that you don't understand vanilla - and thus leads me to assume the person probably doesn't also understand the subject they are labeling as boring. People that use this meaning for the word vanilla are likely to have never to have actually tasted real vanilla in their life, but rather only ever had a cheap imitation of the flavor (synthetic vanillin). As to vanilla as a flavor - without it, chocolate chip cookies are bland. In fact, most of the best dark chocolates available use vanilla to bring out even more chocolate flavor. It is used to add specific notes to most top end desserts - it is rare to see a high end restaurant in Europe or NA where vanilla isn't used in at least half of the desserts on the menu (in many cases, it is used in literally all of them in some form). Then you have the different types of vanilla. While many people would have only ever have tried artificial vanilla (an admittedly dull, flat flavor on it's own), even the lowest, most common form of vanilla (Madagascar or Bourbon vanilla) has an amazing depth and nuance to it. The thing with vanilla though, is there is also a massive gap between that Madagascar vanilla and the king of all vanilla - Tahitian vanilla (try to get some that is actually from Tahiti, rather than Papua New Guinea or Indonesia). Where Madagascar vanilla is rich in flavor with little subtilty (though still far more than imitation), Tahitian vanilla is floral, often with undertones of cherry and/or chocolate. However, there is only around 30 tones of vanilla produced in Tahiti a year and is often used in high end fragrances and cosmetics, so it is hard to find for use in food. Then you have vanillas applications outside of sweet treats. You have not lived until you have tried a savory vanilla risotto with seared rabbit loin paired with a dry Riesling. No one that has compared Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla to each other would ever be able to label vanilla as being boring. Again, it is a comment about vanilla that is restricted to those that have never actually tried real vanilla. Based on the above, I would question whether the word "vanilla" should be used to denote something boring. Sure, someone at some point made that connection, it isn't a framing device of your own making. However, the person that made that connection very clearly didn't have an understanding of vanilla - so why would we use that framing device at all? It is better suited as a means of pointing out that you don't understand the subject matter enough to understand why it isn't boring. If Ashes races were as "boring" as vanilla actually is (or isn't, as it were), then we are all in for a treat when the game does come out. However, I don't see the races as being quite that exciting, honestly.
SirChancelot wrote: » Vanilla ice cream is the equivalent to plain when compared to Rocky road.
