I am sure this has been posted all over the blogosphere by now but since I haven't been able to do my regular rounds to see what people are posting about I present you with some generic Blizzard type news directly from the mouth of big blue:
Blizzard Authenticator
And there we have it: The blizzard Authenticator. Essentially a means to add a little weight to your keychain by giving you a little device that can spout out unique numbers used to authenticate your wow credentials.
Basically your wow account gets tied to the authenticator which generates a random number sequence every so often. This number sequence is also kept on a blizzard server. When you log in you type in your username and password and then provide the number on the Authenticator and voila... you can play wow.
The advantage is obviously that if your account gets hacked somehow the hacker will not have the code on the authenticator and as a result not be able to rob you and your guild half blind.
The authenticator will be available from the blizzard stores but I wouldn't be surprised if they start shipping it out with the next expansion or some form of battle chest in the future.
If you don't have a tendency to lose keys and generally don't spell doom for various USB devices and if you like the thought of a little extra securit then perhaps the authenticator is for you.
You can take it with you anywhere you want so there's no real restriction in using it other than that it might be a problem for people who share accounts regularly.
Overall this is a very sound approach to providing a little extra security for their customers and I am sure it will prove to be very succesful provided there are no hidden bugs.
The little buggar will cost 6.50$ and since euro / dollar conversion charts only apply to 'normal' people I am fairly certain it'll be 6.50 euros for europeans once it's made available.
I myself will most likely get one once they've been out for a while (avoiding the wave of potential start-up problems) since 6.50 isn't a large premium to safeguard a wow account that is worth at least 100 times that much (in purely sentimental value of course...).
Make of it what you will, I for one am very happy with blizzard taking security of their customer's account serious (that or they're just trying to cut customer support cost).
Friday, June 27, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
A gamer's Warning
I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember. I remember playing pacman when it was new. I remember playing games before the advent of windows 3.11 where you still had to painstackingly configure your bat files to use mouse and joystick and a commodore was state of the art. I remember playing pretty much anything I could lay my hands on and to a certain extend I still do.
Gaming is relaxing, can take you away from the daily hassles, put your mind at ease and even elevate you from the unknown number you are to some true E-fame.
Gaming will teach you teamwork, language skills, decrease your reaction time and will give you a healthier outlook on how to handle real life things.
But gaming _is_ addictive. There's no 2 ways about it. I remember spending months on end on dune (the first rts one not the rpg), I remember perfecting my master of orion game on hard mode over the course of years, I remember playing the final fantasy series for so long I could've played through the games with my monitor off.
Ironically gaming isn't the demon that people make it out to be. Gaming doesn't turn people into social degenerates (anonimity does) nor does it incite violence or other questionable behaviour (no moreso than the violence driven daily news at any rate) but a game can appeal to an addictive nature.
Gaming is an immersion drug. It doesn't kill braincells like alcohol or kill you outright like prolonged 'heavy' drug usage; but if done excessively it will swallow up all your time. And that's what sets it apart from other 'drugs'. It's a drug that gives you goals and lets you achieve them, it lets you 'be somebody' when you are not so much someone in real life.
Millions have been spent in researching the potential harmful effects of gaming and in all this not a single piece of evidence has been found that gaming is essentially bad for you. In fact research shows more and more that gamers are generally more driven to achieve specific goals and generally make better employees.
But the game can take the upper hand. If you're past a certain point in your addiction then it quickly turns into a lackluster approach to real-life obligations as long as you can finish goal x in-game. In-game items/ goals/ fame become overpowering to the point where 'real-life' seems trivial.
I can't even remember how many classes I missed due to gaming. I can't even remember when I chose homework over a game (any game) unless forced.
For a brief time I lost control completely, my grades slipped and to amplify the problem my in-game career sky-rocketed. With the time saved from doing irrelevant chores like homework, studying and showing up on time for lectures I was able to boost myself into virtual stardom.
Luckily somewhere around that point I became more interested in the game's mechanics and the math behind it. First from a pure desire to improve my game-character but gradually moreso because I was intrigued in what made games tick.
I slowly figured out how game mechanics worked. I became interested in game theory and was already on the path of a 'software developer' by making various mods/maps and whatnot for games.
The coin dropped... I realized that all games are created 'equal' on the basis of pre-defined mechanics and that once mechanics were understood games became trivially easy if not boring (due to lack of innovative techniques).
The challenge was no longer in beating the game but understanding what made the game tick. My addiction evolved into a greater understanding of software as a whole, evolved into an understanding that the game isn't there to be 'beat' but to be enjoyed. Built-in game mechanics are there to draw out your gaming experience and attempt to do this without sucking too much of your enjoyment.
In all this it is important to understand the limits of the game. You can play an open economy like wow forever as long as there are expansion packs but once you come to understand (conciously or subconciously) the game mechanics even an expansion will have precious little innovation (i.e. will not be more challenging than what was before).
Understand the limitations and ask yourself how much time the game is truly worth.
There will always be another game, but you can only ruin your grades once for them to have a lasting impact.
Don't let the game stand between you and real-life achievments, because in the end your real-life achievments will dictate the course of your life moreso than a game ever will.
I am a better software developer now than I would've been without gaming. I know more about networking protocolls, catering to large end-user bases, ui design, networking security implications and even economics than I would've known had I not been a gamer... but all this would've mean nothing had I not been able to get into my chosen profession because of shoddy grades.
In all this I know that while there's nothing wrong with gaming all day; bills still need to be paid, money needs to be made, grades need to be achieved, partners need to be kept happy and life's lessons need to be learned - Even if they sometimes have all the charm of wipe night on shade of aran.
Gaming is relaxing, can take you away from the daily hassles, put your mind at ease and even elevate you from the unknown number you are to some true E-fame.
Gaming will teach you teamwork, language skills, decrease your reaction time and will give you a healthier outlook on how to handle real life things.
But gaming _is_ addictive. There's no 2 ways about it. I remember spending months on end on dune (the first rts one not the rpg), I remember perfecting my master of orion game on hard mode over the course of years, I remember playing the final fantasy series for so long I could've played through the games with my monitor off.
Ironically gaming isn't the demon that people make it out to be. Gaming doesn't turn people into social degenerates (anonimity does) nor does it incite violence or other questionable behaviour (no moreso than the violence driven daily news at any rate) but a game can appeal to an addictive nature.
Gaming is an immersion drug. It doesn't kill braincells like alcohol or kill you outright like prolonged 'heavy' drug usage; but if done excessively it will swallow up all your time. And that's what sets it apart from other 'drugs'. It's a drug that gives you goals and lets you achieve them, it lets you 'be somebody' when you are not so much someone in real life.
Millions have been spent in researching the potential harmful effects of gaming and in all this not a single piece of evidence has been found that gaming is essentially bad for you. In fact research shows more and more that gamers are generally more driven to achieve specific goals and generally make better employees.
But the game can take the upper hand. If you're past a certain point in your addiction then it quickly turns into a lackluster approach to real-life obligations as long as you can finish goal x in-game. In-game items/ goals/ fame become overpowering to the point where 'real-life' seems trivial.
I can't even remember how many classes I missed due to gaming. I can't even remember when I chose homework over a game (any game) unless forced.
For a brief time I lost control completely, my grades slipped and to amplify the problem my in-game career sky-rocketed. With the time saved from doing irrelevant chores like homework, studying and showing up on time for lectures I was able to boost myself into virtual stardom.
Luckily somewhere around that point I became more interested in the game's mechanics and the math behind it. First from a pure desire to improve my game-character but gradually moreso because I was intrigued in what made games tick.
I slowly figured out how game mechanics worked. I became interested in game theory and was already on the path of a 'software developer' by making various mods/maps and whatnot for games.
The coin dropped... I realized that all games are created 'equal' on the basis of pre-defined mechanics and that once mechanics were understood games became trivially easy if not boring (due to lack of innovative techniques).
The challenge was no longer in beating the game but understanding what made the game tick. My addiction evolved into a greater understanding of software as a whole, evolved into an understanding that the game isn't there to be 'beat' but to be enjoyed. Built-in game mechanics are there to draw out your gaming experience and attempt to do this without sucking too much of your enjoyment.
In all this it is important to understand the limits of the game. You can play an open economy like wow forever as long as there are expansion packs but once you come to understand (conciously or subconciously) the game mechanics even an expansion will have precious little innovation (i.e. will not be more challenging than what was before).
Understand the limitations and ask yourself how much time the game is truly worth.
There will always be another game, but you can only ruin your grades once for them to have a lasting impact.
Don't let the game stand between you and real-life achievments, because in the end your real-life achievments will dictate the course of your life moreso than a game ever will.
I am a better software developer now than I would've been without gaming. I know more about networking protocolls, catering to large end-user bases, ui design, networking security implications and even economics than I would've known had I not been a gamer... but all this would've mean nothing had I not been able to get into my chosen profession because of shoddy grades.
In all this I know that while there's nothing wrong with gaming all day; bills still need to be paid, money needs to be made, grades need to be achieved, partners need to be kept happy and life's lessons need to be learned - Even if they sometimes have all the charm of wipe night on shade of aran.
Protection Paladin PVP - Part II
With my paladin now having dinged 70 I decided to toss myself into the AH and grab myself some gear to bring my defense rating into the 490 range. I am still not sure if it will carry significant benefit to boost DR for PVP over other stats like resilience + agility but at least I can savely do some 5-mans when I feel like it.
In the meantime I spent a few hours doing Eye of the Storm and AV in order to get some honor together for the PVP merciless gladiator weapon and shield which is bound to hit the honor vendors on wednesday night.
I am starved for stamina at the moment since all that extra defense rating came at the cost of about 1500 HP but there is something to be said for the extra dodge/parry/block rating.
A few matches in I decided to drop my green spell damage mace for something more substantial namely a main hand fish.
Ironically I couldn't really feel the difference between using a fish and an actual weapon so I spent most of the day slapping people across the face with a large smelly fish hoping they would get annoyed enough to start bashing my shield and taking some real damage.
And it went well... no... better... it went excellently. The protection paladin makes for an excellent protector of flag spots or anything else that needs defended. Those sneaky rogues that would rip my warlock apart in mere seconds now skewer themselves on my holy shield unable to do much damage if at all unless I am actually stunned.
Tunnel vision turned out to be my greatest ally. I could toss myself into a crowd of melee players and they would go crazy on me without taking into regard other people around me or as much as consider disengaging after they see I am practically taking no damage.
At some point I was holding the flag point in EotS against 2 warriors a rogue and an enhancement shaman (I think) and managed to tie them down long enough for reinforcements to arive.
Even in shoddy outland greens and blues the survivability of the protection paladin is amazing to the point where they dedicated a priest to mind control me and jump me into large gaping holes in the ground (although I suspect I am not the only victim of that deplorable tactic...).
The prot pally also seems to make an excellent flag runner. With temporary immunity to movement impairing effects blessing of freedom is great and those pesky arrows hunters shoot at me result in little more than a lovely block sound.
There's 2 significant problems with the protection paladin as is though.
1. Damage: You do appaling damage unless you funnel your reckoning charges into a cloth wearer and even then it's not amazing
2. Disengage: People do disengage once in a while (especially rogues) and there's almost nothing I can do about it.
I am thinking a few modifications on my paladin spec to include pursuit of justice and some heavy investigation in Engineering bombs and other goodies might be able to at least partially solve my problem. A rocket launcher, a net-o-matic, an oversized stack of frost grenades and fel iron bombs should give me some of the utility I need.
I wonder what else engineering has that could be useful.
In the meantime I spent a few hours doing Eye of the Storm and AV in order to get some honor together for the PVP merciless gladiator weapon and shield which is bound to hit the honor vendors on wednesday night.
I am starved for stamina at the moment since all that extra defense rating came at the cost of about 1500 HP but there is something to be said for the extra dodge/parry/block rating.
A few matches in I decided to drop my green spell damage mace for something more substantial namely a main hand fish.
Ironically I couldn't really feel the difference between using a fish and an actual weapon so I spent most of the day slapping people across the face with a large smelly fish hoping they would get annoyed enough to start bashing my shield and taking some real damage.
And it went well... no... better... it went excellently. The protection paladin makes for an excellent protector of flag spots or anything else that needs defended. Those sneaky rogues that would rip my warlock apart in mere seconds now skewer themselves on my holy shield unable to do much damage if at all unless I am actually stunned.
Tunnel vision turned out to be my greatest ally. I could toss myself into a crowd of melee players and they would go crazy on me without taking into regard other people around me or as much as consider disengaging after they see I am practically taking no damage.
At some point I was holding the flag point in EotS against 2 warriors a rogue and an enhancement shaman (I think) and managed to tie them down long enough for reinforcements to arive.
Even in shoddy outland greens and blues the survivability of the protection paladin is amazing to the point where they dedicated a priest to mind control me and jump me into large gaping holes in the ground (although I suspect I am not the only victim of that deplorable tactic...).
The prot pally also seems to make an excellent flag runner. With temporary immunity to movement impairing effects blessing of freedom is great and those pesky arrows hunters shoot at me result in little more than a lovely block sound.
There's 2 significant problems with the protection paladin as is though.
1. Damage: You do appaling damage unless you funnel your reckoning charges into a cloth wearer and even then it's not amazing
2. Disengage: People do disengage once in a while (especially rogues) and there's almost nothing I can do about it.
I am thinking a few modifications on my paladin spec to include pursuit of justice and some heavy investigation in Engineering bombs and other goodies might be able to at least partially solve my problem. A rocket launcher, a net-o-matic, an oversized stack of frost grenades and fel iron bombs should give me some of the utility I need.
I wonder what else engineering has that could be useful.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Beyond Raiding and PVP
After following the blog roll (yes I link to blessing of kings and BoK links to everywhere else for me :P) and being confronted with a seemingly endless discussion on various blogs about why you need to enchant and gem your gear or 'please transfer off of the server noob' I started to wonder a little.
I've gotten my share of whispers commenting on my enchants and my gem choice as well as 'lol what's with the green pants' and frankly I am a bit confused.
What prompts people to comment on your gear out of the blue? They don't know what you do in WoW. They merely assume you either raid or you pvp and that you're serious in either direction. And of course... if you are serious in either direction that enchanting / gemming your gear will help you towards your goals.
On top of that if you're serious in PVE you get laughed out of even 'casual' PVP and PVP geared people are very rarely welcome in PVE instances (at least that seems to be the general behaviour I see).
I've always been a 'freeform' player. I enjoy the ability to solo things as much as I enjoy the grouping aspect. I enjoy PVP and PVE but can also regularly be spotted sitting at a remote pool just fishing or flinging myself off of a mountain repeatedly for that 1 nice to have screenshot.
I am never going to hold a 2000 arena rating nor will I ever be invited to raid sunwell with the T6 guilds and my gear reflects this. It is not uncommon to see me walking around in PVP gear that is gemmed for PVE or vice versa. I take from both worlds what I can because I am not on a specific path of progression but need to be viable in solo, multiplayer and pvp alike.
People have become so pidgeonholed in their end-game specific class / spec / aoproach that they exclude more flexible freeform choices as viable options.
Have people really become so narrow minded that they exclude any possibility of gameplay beyond end-game raiding and pvp?
How satisfying is end-game raiding really? Do you enjoy the challenge of teaming up and taking down a boss? Of course you do... but after the 20th run on the same boss the challenge is gone, you may still have some fun but you're there for the gear.
Freeform is finding the fun without chasing after the gear. Gear is a means to an end, a thing you may need to do what you want but not something that should dictate your game.
Your gear will become invalidated with every expansion. I for one don't want to look back at 200 Karazhan runs and decide I did it for the gear. If you can run Kara 200 times for fun, then by all means do. If you're just doing it for gear then you're on the path that blizzard laid out for you and you should curse your lack of creativity.
Come WotLK your brutal gladiator set and your T6 epics will be for looks only (and they're not all that pretty)... but the ability to polymorph something into a turtle will still be priceless and that sporregar tabard will still be one niftiest tabards around.
By all means, claw your way to 70, burn through the instances you want to do and then look back... because there is a world beyond Raiding and PvP.
I've gotten my share of whispers commenting on my enchants and my gem choice as well as 'lol what's with the green pants' and frankly I am a bit confused.
What prompts people to comment on your gear out of the blue? They don't know what you do in WoW. They merely assume you either raid or you pvp and that you're serious in either direction. And of course... if you are serious in either direction that enchanting / gemming your gear will help you towards your goals.
On top of that if you're serious in PVE you get laughed out of even 'casual' PVP and PVP geared people are very rarely welcome in PVE instances (at least that seems to be the general behaviour I see).
I've always been a 'freeform' player. I enjoy the ability to solo things as much as I enjoy the grouping aspect. I enjoy PVP and PVE but can also regularly be spotted sitting at a remote pool just fishing or flinging myself off of a mountain repeatedly for that 1 nice to have screenshot.
I am never going to hold a 2000 arena rating nor will I ever be invited to raid sunwell with the T6 guilds and my gear reflects this. It is not uncommon to see me walking around in PVP gear that is gemmed for PVE or vice versa. I take from both worlds what I can because I am not on a specific path of progression but need to be viable in solo, multiplayer and pvp alike.
People have become so pidgeonholed in their end-game specific class / spec / aoproach that they exclude more flexible freeform choices as viable options.
Have people really become so narrow minded that they exclude any possibility of gameplay beyond end-game raiding and pvp?
How satisfying is end-game raiding really? Do you enjoy the challenge of teaming up and taking down a boss? Of course you do... but after the 20th run on the same boss the challenge is gone, you may still have some fun but you're there for the gear.
Freeform is finding the fun without chasing after the gear. Gear is a means to an end, a thing you may need to do what you want but not something that should dictate your game.
Your gear will become invalidated with every expansion. I for one don't want to look back at 200 Karazhan runs and decide I did it for the gear. If you can run Kara 200 times for fun, then by all means do. If you're just doing it for gear then you're on the path that blizzard laid out for you and you should curse your lack of creativity.
Come WotLK your brutal gladiator set and your T6 epics will be for looks only (and they're not all that pretty)... but the ability to polymorph something into a turtle will still be priceless and that sporregar tabard will still be one niftiest tabards around.
By all means, claw your way to 70, burn through the instances you want to do and then look back... because there is a world beyond Raiding and PvP.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
2.4.3 patch notes
I wouldn't be a good blogger if I didn't regurgitate everything everyone else has already said so...
Behold the patch notes for 2.4.3 with some very very interesting changes.
I'd repeat them all here but instead I refer you to mmo-champion for a pre-formatted list:
Patch Notes 2.4.3
I'll let you draw your own conclusions from the patch notes as usual. If you're not in the habit of reading patch notes then take from me the knowledge that your standard mount will be available at level 30 when the patch goes live.
An interesting read I'd say.
Behold the patch notes for 2.4.3 with some very very interesting changes.
I'd repeat them all here but instead I refer you to mmo-champion for a pre-formatted list:
Patch Notes 2.4.3
I'll let you draw your own conclusions from the patch notes as usual. If you're not in the habit of reading patch notes then take from me the knowledge that your standard mount will be available at level 30 when the patch goes live.
An interesting read I'd say.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Bring your B-Game
Raiding is an interesting animal within the burning crusade. Unless you outgear content so significantly that it becomes trivial it has been said that every person in the raid needs to bring their A-game for a lot of encounters (sunwell probably being the case to point).
To a certain extend this makes sense. If you're in a bid to save the world you need your 40 or 25 or even 10 people to be the best they can be in order to defeat a high level boss and if they're not. You fail.
You don't want every fruitloop group that comes along to be able to kill illidan, magtherion or kael'thas because that would be game breaking to those who invest a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears into the game and would invalidate content at a pace too fast for development to keep up.
But the requirement to bring your A-game has some very disturbing consequences: They don't take into account personal emergencies, illness or untimely disconnects.
If your entire raid is dependant on everyone bringing their A-game then someone disconnecting will more often than not result in the entire raid wiping and a personal emergency can spell doom to a good night of raiding.
This puts more pressure on the rest of the raid who all of a sudden will have to bring an A+ game to the table to make up for the difference.
But other than those immediate consequences of wiping a raid there are also a lot of 'unexpected' side-effects. If you need to field an entire raid with players that can hold their own then all of a sudden you're looking at stringent requirements in terms of gear, time availability and even skill in order to have a good shot at progress.
This means that the friends of the guild, the somewhat less skilled, the undergeared and people with lower reaction times will either have to be trained and geared or sidelined for the raid.
This in turn puts pressure on the guild to gear and train people to a level where they can participate in raids.
Strap these training requirements to usually hefty raid loads (it's not uncommon for guilds to raid every day) and farming requirements for consumables and you end up with a very volatile situation.
A situation where long-term raiders are prone to burnout. Very few long-term raiders have the patience and the thick skin to go farming and gearing up lower geared players each and every day without them seeing any return in their investment. They could be training someone who is never going to be able to bring their A-game, they could be gearing someone only to see them wander off once they're in T5+, they could be bringing people to progression raids that simply are too unexperienced and as a result prevent progress.
What inevitably follows is burnout, leaving an even greater gap of gear and skill to fill in for your guild thus resulting in more pressure on everyone else.
A game mechanic that requires a set group of people to always bring their A-game is a mechanic that is prone to failure. If you cannot make up for random disconnects or personal emergencies without failing a raid then there's something inherently wrong with the mechanic. This in the long run will simply result in less people willing to deal with the mechanic.
There needs to be room for mistakes. Not necessarily a lot of room. But an instance should only require a B-Game so that if things go pear shaped the people that did bring their A-game will truly shine.
Until that is the case (again) you might well be excluded from end-game content merely on the basis of a bad internet connection...
To a certain extend this makes sense. If you're in a bid to save the world you need your 40 or 25 or even 10 people to be the best they can be in order to defeat a high level boss and if they're not. You fail.
You don't want every fruitloop group that comes along to be able to kill illidan, magtherion or kael'thas because that would be game breaking to those who invest a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears into the game and would invalidate content at a pace too fast for development to keep up.
But the requirement to bring your A-game has some very disturbing consequences: They don't take into account personal emergencies, illness or untimely disconnects.
If your entire raid is dependant on everyone bringing their A-game then someone disconnecting will more often than not result in the entire raid wiping and a personal emergency can spell doom to a good night of raiding.
This puts more pressure on the rest of the raid who all of a sudden will have to bring an A+ game to the table to make up for the difference.
But other than those immediate consequences of wiping a raid there are also a lot of 'unexpected' side-effects. If you need to field an entire raid with players that can hold their own then all of a sudden you're looking at stringent requirements in terms of gear, time availability and even skill in order to have a good shot at progress.
This means that the friends of the guild, the somewhat less skilled, the undergeared and people with lower reaction times will either have to be trained and geared or sidelined for the raid.
This in turn puts pressure on the guild to gear and train people to a level where they can participate in raids.
Strap these training requirements to usually hefty raid loads (it's not uncommon for guilds to raid every day) and farming requirements for consumables and you end up with a very volatile situation.
A situation where long-term raiders are prone to burnout. Very few long-term raiders have the patience and the thick skin to go farming and gearing up lower geared players each and every day without them seeing any return in their investment. They could be training someone who is never going to be able to bring their A-game, they could be gearing someone only to see them wander off once they're in T5+, they could be bringing people to progression raids that simply are too unexperienced and as a result prevent progress.
What inevitably follows is burnout, leaving an even greater gap of gear and skill to fill in for your guild thus resulting in more pressure on everyone else.
A game mechanic that requires a set group of people to always bring their A-game is a mechanic that is prone to failure. If you cannot make up for random disconnects or personal emergencies without failing a raid then there's something inherently wrong with the mechanic. This in the long run will simply result in less people willing to deal with the mechanic.
There needs to be room for mistakes. Not necessarily a lot of room. But an instance should only require a B-Game so that if things go pear shaped the people that did bring their A-game will truly shine.
Until that is the case (again) you might well be excluded from end-game content merely on the basis of a bad internet connection...
Monday, June 16, 2008
Season 4
The news has been sticking in the back of my head for a while now but didn't make it to the blog yet. So for those who try not to troll any WoW news sources other than my blog (kudos to that btw):
Season 4 will be upon us probably on the 24th of this month.
You keep your arena / honor points and merciless gladiator gear will go to the honor vendors.
So it's probably a good time to go grab that extra stack of honor / arena points so you can buy yourself some spiffy goodies...
Or not and enjoy the relative quiet of other places like myself.
Season 4 will be upon us probably on the 24th of this month.
You keep your arena / honor points and merciless gladiator gear will go to the honor vendors.
So it's probably a good time to go grab that extra stack of honor / arena points so you can buy yourself some spiffy goodies...
Or not and enjoy the relative quiet of other places like myself.
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