Sunday, December 29, 2013
ART Ep. 40: Year of the Cowbros!
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You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
ART Ep. 39: Mur-Locks (feat. Marconin)!
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You can also catch Ben on:
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You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
ART Ep. 38: Poor life choices (feat. Jocelyn)!
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Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
ART Ep. 37: The ins and outs of gear (feat. Pat Krane)! *Supersized*
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You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
ART Ep. 36: Q's to the A's!
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You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
ART Ep. 35: The savage episode!
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Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
ART Ep. 34: Judged by the mayor of Podcasttown! (feat. Remghar and Rho)
I could go on an on about the content of this episode, but there are really only two things I have to say about it.
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- I'm sorry Alliance, you know I secretly love you.
- Tune in to find out who wins our predictions!
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You can also catch Ben on:
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You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
ART Ep. 33: Live from BlizzCon!
So BlizzCon happened. This is going to be an evolving blog post of all the stuff that went down. Pictures, videos, and of course the podcast we recorded there. So keep an eye on Twitter for updates on when we will posting more stuff.
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E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
ART Ep. 32: Races War! (feat. Remghar)
Rem from Tauren Think Tank stopped by and we are having a competition to see which of us "wins BlizzCon predictions" Join us post BlizzCon to see who will gain very minor fame and watch the rest feel horrible shame.
Ben and I are going to BlizzCon, but no idea if we'll manage to get anything out or up while out of town. Keep your eyes here and your feeds updated and we can see what we will get ya.
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E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Ben and I are going to BlizzCon, but no idea if we'll manage to get anything out or up while out of town. Keep your eyes here and your feeds updated and we can see what we will get ya.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
ART Ep. 31: Night Elf Mittenhands! (feat. Tetsemi)
One of our favorite guests to wear the tinfoil hat with stopped by this week to share some BlizzCon prediction, but also get deep into player housing. Will it be a feature next expansion? Can it be nearly as cool as what we talk about here? Only time will tell.
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You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
ART Ep. 30: Salty Murloc Tears! (feat. Rho)
This week we bring Rho back to talk about all manner of BlizzCon speculation. From event predictions to what we think we might see from the next expansion, we pretty much cover it all. Also there are murlocs, many murlocs, probably too many.
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You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Friday, October 18, 2013
ART Ep. 29: Don't touch my ore! (feat. Medicakes)
Don't touch Medicakes' ore!
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You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
ART Ep. 28: #FakeLFRRumors (feat. WoWMartiean)
Last weeks episode was very well received if the majority of feedback we got is to be believed. It wasn't popular with everyone, but overall the response was very good. We certainly like to joke around, BS, and overall have fun, but sometimes it's nice to do something different.
Well this week we certainly do something different by comparison. This week we brought in Martiean (Joe) to talk about Machinima and some of the videos he's made. What followed was a lot of fun and laughs. Ultimately I think there is a really amazing message in there. It's not hidden, both Joe and myself talk very passionately about creating things and what that means to us. It is a very serious moment, nestled between some of the more irreverent discussion we've ever done.
So come for the motivation, but stay for the Pokemon, Canadian Sha, Batman, Back to the Future, the origin of #FakeLFRRumors, murlocs, and laughter. If there is one thing I've learned doing this show, I have no idea what we'll turn into.
Discussed this episode:
First up the terrifying screaming Charmander:
And a few videos Joe talked about on show:
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You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Well this week we certainly do something different by comparison. This week we brought in Martiean (Joe) to talk about Machinima and some of the videos he's made. What followed was a lot of fun and laughs. Ultimately I think there is a really amazing message in there. It's not hidden, both Joe and myself talk very passionately about creating things and what that means to us. It is a very serious moment, nestled between some of the more irreverent discussion we've ever done.
So come for the motivation, but stay for the Pokemon, Canadian Sha, Batman, Back to the Future, the origin of #FakeLFRRumors, murlocs, and laughter. If there is one thing I've learned doing this show, I have no idea what we'll turn into.
Discussed this episode:
First up the terrifying screaming Charmander:
And a few videos Joe talked about on show:
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Monday, September 30, 2013
ART Ep. 27: Stereotypes and tropes (feat. Applecidermage and Tzufit)
I sometimes feel like I have the memory of a goldfish. People tell me about things from not long ago and they feel like they happened to a completely different person. Despite this I can still vividly remember one of my first days in the first grade. My teacher sat us all down and told us that we were going to learn about the most important rule of them all, the golden rule.
At the time I can remember thinking that if it is called the golden rule, it must be important. "Treat others how you would like to be treated," she told us. That's it, the most important rule boiled down to its most basic form. It is one of the very first things I was ever taught, I imagine that's the case for most of us, and yet we still struggle with it more than anything else.
As I say in the episode I've been wanting to talk about this issue for a while. Not because I want to push an agenda or be topical, but because there is little that gets me fired up more than when I feel like people are being done a disservice. In this case, they may be fictional, but I feel like the reactions to characters like Jaina and Sylvanas show an issue with how we perceive these characters.
This topic always seems to be controversial. Part of that I find shocking, but I can also understand it to some degree. People sometimes see these issues as limiting creative expression, removing our freedom of speech, and in general forms of censorship. After all if Blizzard isn't free to have a few orcs being ass-holes in an inn doesn't them limit them in some way?
There isn't an easy answer. People fighting for the issues one way or another will tell you there is. It's either poor taste and offensive or harmless. Like most things the truth is a little more in the middle. If Blizzard puts two orcs in an inn who will rank and rate a female NPC they are inviting criticism. Because no matter how you personally might feel about that, you just don't know how it makes others feel. Where the issue comes though is asking the question, "What purpose does this serve?"
That's the way you always have to approach things. If I want to make a character racist or sexist, that's OK. I can do that, but it should always be for a reason. If I'm doing it "just for fun" or because I think it'll be entertaining, then that does invite some criticism about me as the content creator. Ultimately these criticisms are not about censorship or limiting creative control, but about exposing inequality and asking, "why?"
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
At the time I can remember thinking that if it is called the golden rule, it must be important. "Treat others how you would like to be treated," she told us. That's it, the most important rule boiled down to its most basic form. It is one of the very first things I was ever taught, I imagine that's the case for most of us, and yet we still struggle with it more than anything else.
As I say in the episode I've been wanting to talk about this issue for a while. Not because I want to push an agenda or be topical, but because there is little that gets me fired up more than when I feel like people are being done a disservice. In this case, they may be fictional, but I feel like the reactions to characters like Jaina and Sylvanas show an issue with how we perceive these characters.
This topic always seems to be controversial. Part of that I find shocking, but I can also understand it to some degree. People sometimes see these issues as limiting creative expression, removing our freedom of speech, and in general forms of censorship. After all if Blizzard isn't free to have a few orcs being ass-holes in an inn doesn't them limit them in some way?
There isn't an easy answer. People fighting for the issues one way or another will tell you there is. It's either poor taste and offensive or harmless. Like most things the truth is a little more in the middle. If Blizzard puts two orcs in an inn who will rank and rate a female NPC they are inviting criticism. Because no matter how you personally might feel about that, you just don't know how it makes others feel. Where the issue comes though is asking the question, "What purpose does this serve?"
That's the way you always have to approach things. If I want to make a character racist or sexist, that's OK. I can do that, but it should always be for a reason. If I'm doing it "just for fun" or because I think it'll be entertaining, then that does invite some criticism about me as the content creator. Ultimately these criticisms are not about censorship or limiting creative control, but about exposing inequality and asking, "why?"
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
ART Ep. 26: Jon's Polyjuice (feat. Ashanka)
Doing a podcast can be weird. Sometimes it almost feels like acting, except the role you play is yourself. When I started all this as the "Achievement guy" on Arcanum of Azeroth I pretty much just came in and was me. When that show split into two shows, one being live, and the other being pre-recorded I gained an appreciation for what podcasters do.
I'm not suggesting that we're fake. Odds are if you talked to me in my day to day you probably wouldn't notice a disparity in my personality or anything. It's more that when you are on a show, trying to offer opinions, ideas, feed off the co-hosts, and try to be entertaining all at once your personality gets turned up to 11. More specifically aspects of your personality.
We all have our roles to play I guess. Ben is our mild mannered host. There to guide us from point A to point B no matter how far off track we go. The guest is something of an X factor although it tends to be safe to say that they are playing the part of participant in the trip Ben is leading. Offering their own thoughts and ideas as we go. That leaves me as something of a wild card. Now I'm not saying that I am not this way by default, but when everyone is looking out the right side of the plane saying, "oooh," or "ahhh." Sometimes you need a guy to look out the left side of the plane and say, "I like it over there more." Typically this guy is considered the troublemaker of the group.
I guess that's the part that I find so odd. Looking back at what I think now is almost a year of doing this I don't think of myself as particularly bitter, angry, or overly opinionated. I tend to see myself as open. You ask me to be on a show about WoW and want my opinion on the game, well I'll tell you when I think it's great, I'll tell you when I think it's terrible, and I'll tell you what I'd do differently. I've never seen a reason to do otherwise.
This episode contains what I guess could almost be called a rant, but it really isn't. This episode has me telling you probably the most bare bones truth I feel about this game. It seems weird that everyone thought it was so out of character. Although to be fair I willingly played up that it might have been. It all boils down to this though. Ben and I have known each other for a really long time. We've been co-workers, friends, and now collaborators. I don't think either of us would continue to do this if we thought the other was putting on a show.
So I'm happy to be the voice of criticism (or reason) just as I'm sure he's happy to be our upbeat guide. They are roles we play, but it's also us, even if some parts show a little more than others. Just some food for thought the next time you think I'm too harsh or Ben too soft.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
I'm not suggesting that we're fake. Odds are if you talked to me in my day to day you probably wouldn't notice a disparity in my personality or anything. It's more that when you are on a show, trying to offer opinions, ideas, feed off the co-hosts, and try to be entertaining all at once your personality gets turned up to 11. More specifically aspects of your personality.
We all have our roles to play I guess. Ben is our mild mannered host. There to guide us from point A to point B no matter how far off track we go. The guest is something of an X factor although it tends to be safe to say that they are playing the part of participant in the trip Ben is leading. Offering their own thoughts and ideas as we go. That leaves me as something of a wild card. Now I'm not saying that I am not this way by default, but when everyone is looking out the right side of the plane saying, "oooh," or "ahhh." Sometimes you need a guy to look out the left side of the plane and say, "I like it over there more." Typically this guy is considered the troublemaker of the group.
I guess that's the part that I find so odd. Looking back at what I think now is almost a year of doing this I don't think of myself as particularly bitter, angry, or overly opinionated. I tend to see myself as open. You ask me to be on a show about WoW and want my opinion on the game, well I'll tell you when I think it's great, I'll tell you when I think it's terrible, and I'll tell you what I'd do differently. I've never seen a reason to do otherwise.
This episode contains what I guess could almost be called a rant, but it really isn't. This episode has me telling you probably the most bare bones truth I feel about this game. It seems weird that everyone thought it was so out of character. Although to be fair I willingly played up that it might have been. It all boils down to this though. Ben and I have known each other for a really long time. We've been co-workers, friends, and now collaborators. I don't think either of us would continue to do this if we thought the other was putting on a show.
So I'm happy to be the voice of criticism (or reason) just as I'm sure he's happy to be our upbeat guide. They are roles we play, but it's also us, even if some parts show a little more than others. Just some food for thought the next time you think I'm too harsh or Ben too soft.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
ART Ep. 25: Bane Bloodhoof vs. Batman
Welcome to our episode 25 super grand spectacular! OK, not really, more or less this is just a normal show sans a guest. I guess that means we're actually being less interesting for our 25th. Still we are keeping with the grand tradition of talking about patches right after they come out, but this time we've actually played a lot of it before recording.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
I'm loving 5.4 which is somewhat surprising because it's probably the patch I was the least excited for. Maybe that's because I didn't did the last two patches, but this one offered a lot. As I say in the show Timeless Isle, might be my favorite thing added in a patch, maybe even ever. I'm really digging that place. Flex raiding feels awesome and the perfect level of difficulty for what I want in raiding.
Overall it has gotten me from playing other MMO's to logging in on a near daily basis. Which makes me happy, I'm sure makes Blizzard happy, and it means I have stuff to talk about besides Hearthstone.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
ART Ep. 24: Would you like your episode super sized? (feat. Tetsemi)
I hope you like hearing us yammer, because yammer we do this week. This week's "super sized" episode clocks in at just over two hours. We kinda knew it was going to be though. Tetsemi had a small novel of notes added to our show notes and the several hour long discussion we had that inspired the topic. These were all good indicators that maybe we'd run a bit long. All that said we haven't actually had complaints about the show being too long and a select few have pushed us for longer, so maybe all this preamble is for nothing.
I actually really loved this discussion. It was a lot of fun, but I also feel like it really touched on how dramatically an "old and tired" system could be updated and changed to alter the overall gameplay experience.
We also touch on player housing, in what will clearly need to be a future topic.
So that about covers it for this week, we'll be back next week with just Ben and myself to talk about 5.4 and celebrate 25 episodes.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
I actually really loved this discussion. It was a lot of fun, but I also feel like it really touched on how dramatically an "old and tired" system could be updated and changed to alter the overall gameplay experience.
We also touch on player housing, in what will clearly need to be a future topic.
So that about covers it for this week, we'll be back next week with just Ben and myself to talk about 5.4 and celebrate 25 episodes.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Sometimes it's about the small things...
I recently went on a bit of a tangent about how I'm worried the next WoW expansion is going to feel "watered down" compared to previous Blizzard expansions. From Ben and Ghemit it certainly felt like I was the only one with this fear and so after the show released I posted an acknowledgment that maybe I should have given Blizzard the benefit of the doubt. It tends to be a good practice really. I've only ever felt "let down" by one expansion and even then I spent almost, if not the entire expansion cycle as a subscriber.
However these doubts and concerns are back in full force again today. MMO Champion recently posted another summary of topics discussed by a developer roundtable from Gamescom. The original posting was from Vanion. Below are the relevant links.
Vanion - Original Article
MMO Champion - Summary
So why does this concern me? Going off of just the summary of topics alone we see Blizzard use "time would be better spent" (or some variation of it), talk of a feature being pushed back, cancelled, or facing an unknown future around eleven times.
That's a lot. However it is not exclusive to this interview, you hear it a lot. Why is this one of the most common answers that come from Blizzard interviews? Simple, it's our fault. We keep asking them about player housing, new racials, dance studios, new hero classes, new races, spectator modes, holidays, transmog options, soloing old dungeons, lore, offline features, trade skill improvements, cinematics, the list goes on and on.
If we could all just stop talking about that stuff, we'd be able to get much more interesting interviews from Blizzard. Will there be new quests and questing zones? Can we expect new raids? Will there be new bosses to fight? See, isn't that a better set of questions? Not really.
This is my problem folks. Blizzard is focused on giving us new zones, new quests, new items, new bosses, and new levels. That's all really good. I would be out of my mind to tell you it isn't, that is the backbone that makes up the game. However it is a backbone that takes time and effort. While Blizzard ramps up getting more and more of that stuff the list of other things we'd like to see grows and continues to be pushed aside.
If the only thing you care about are new raids then Blizzard is making a game that scratches your itch, but they continue to say they want to be more than that. Yes player housing and dance studios are silly little features. Expanding new hair styles to the barber shop is too. Giving players a new way to spend a holiday in WoW is very easy to cross off the list of important things, and Blizzard already showed us how important they think pre-expansion events are.
If it isn't really important though, why do people keep asking about it? Why is you have to give the "time better spent" response over and over again? It's because new content should always come first, it should always be the top priority, but at some point Blizzard you need to remember that WoW is about having fun and sometimes doing something stupid or seemingly unimportant, leads to the most fun you can have in game.
-Jon
Remember I've been playing since vanilla, I host a podcast on this topic, and consider myself a total Blizzard fanboy. However being a fanboy doesn't mean that no wrong can ever be spoken about a thing. I write because I care, I criticize because I care, and I want WoW to be the best game it can possibly be. Ultimately it falls on Blizzard to make the hard calls, they are far better at it than me, but like anyone else out there, it's ok to have and to voice that opinion. If you agree, disagree, or just want to debate with me you can reach me at Revendawn@gmail.com
However these doubts and concerns are back in full force again today. MMO Champion recently posted another summary of topics discussed by a developer roundtable from Gamescom. The original posting was from Vanion. Below are the relevant links.
Vanion - Original Article
MMO Champion - Summary
So why does this concern me? Going off of just the summary of topics alone we see Blizzard use "time would be better spent" (or some variation of it), talk of a feature being pushed back, cancelled, or facing an unknown future around eleven times.
That's a lot. However it is not exclusive to this interview, you hear it a lot. Why is this one of the most common answers that come from Blizzard interviews? Simple, it's our fault. We keep asking them about player housing, new racials, dance studios, new hero classes, new races, spectator modes, holidays, transmog options, soloing old dungeons, lore, offline features, trade skill improvements, cinematics, the list goes on and on.
If we could all just stop talking about that stuff, we'd be able to get much more interesting interviews from Blizzard. Will there be new quests and questing zones? Can we expect new raids? Will there be new bosses to fight? See, isn't that a better set of questions? Not really.
This is my problem folks. Blizzard is focused on giving us new zones, new quests, new items, new bosses, and new levels. That's all really good. I would be out of my mind to tell you it isn't, that is the backbone that makes up the game. However it is a backbone that takes time and effort. While Blizzard ramps up getting more and more of that stuff the list of other things we'd like to see grows and continues to be pushed aside.
If the only thing you care about are new raids then Blizzard is making a game that scratches your itch, but they continue to say they want to be more than that. Yes player housing and dance studios are silly little features. Expanding new hair styles to the barber shop is too. Giving players a new way to spend a holiday in WoW is very easy to cross off the list of important things, and Blizzard already showed us how important they think pre-expansion events are.
If it isn't really important though, why do people keep asking about it? Why is you have to give the "time better spent" response over and over again? It's because new content should always come first, it should always be the top priority, but at some point Blizzard you need to remember that WoW is about having fun and sometimes doing something stupid or seemingly unimportant, leads to the most fun you can have in game.
-Jon
Remember I've been playing since vanilla, I host a podcast on this topic, and consider myself a total Blizzard fanboy. However being a fanboy doesn't mean that no wrong can ever be spoken about a thing. I write because I care, I criticize because I care, and I want WoW to be the best game it can possibly be. Ultimately it falls on Blizzard to make the hard calls, they are far better at it than me, but like anyone else out there, it's ok to have and to voice that opinion. If you agree, disagree, or just want to debate with me you can reach me at Revendawn@gmail.com
ART Ep. 23: She turned me into a cow... (feat. Ghemit)
Hi everyone, Jon here.
This week we bring you what I'm sure will be another episode where people accuse me of being too negative or hard on Blizzard and personally I just want to tell you all that I think you are probably right. That's right, I think you are totally right if you got that impression off this week's episode.
While listening to the episode again I think I didn't do a very fair job of giving them the benefit of the doubt, which after four expansions I think they've probably earned. I still feel worried that this fast turn around time will ultimately lead to a lesser expansion, but it is a bit silly to get riled up this early.
All that said it's only one of a few topics we came up with this show and ultimately I think we had a lot of fun. I hope you all enjoy the episode and we'll see you next week.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
This week we bring you what I'm sure will be another episode where people accuse me of being too negative or hard on Blizzard and personally I just want to tell you all that I think you are probably right. That's right, I think you are totally right if you got that impression off this week's episode.
While listening to the episode again I think I didn't do a very fair job of giving them the benefit of the doubt, which after four expansions I think they've probably earned. I still feel worried that this fast turn around time will ultimately lead to a lesser expansion, but it is a bit silly to get riled up this early.
All that said it's only one of a few topics we came up with this show and ultimately I think we had a lot of fun. I hope you all enjoy the episode and we'll see you next week.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
ART Ep. 22: Because Worf was on the Enterprise... (feat. Jules)
Hiya folks, Jon here with another exciting blog post about an episode we recorded. OK mostly this one is going to boil down to me saying, "Hi, here's a show."
...Hi here's the show!
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
...Hi here's the show!
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
ART Ep. 21: The place where demons come from (feat. Jocelyn)
Leveling is always in interesting topic. Personally it is my favorite part of MMO's and it also tends to be the area that most easily falls into the "same old, same old" category. We've talked about it a little here as well as on the other show, but we've never had a guest who legitimately just got to experience the entire leveling process fresh and free from any other predispositions.
It is a very unique and interesting experience getting to hear Jocelyn's perspective. I rarely think Blizzard should listen to our show, but if there ever was one, I'd say it was this one. She represents the kind of customer they want to understand, that they need to consider, because they're the audience that will build the WoW numbers back up (although I'm not implying we are in dire straights or anything).
I think this episode brings up a lot of interesting points and ideas. I had a lot of fun and I hope you all will too!
Discussed on the show:
We mention Jocelyn's three part article on leveling. You can find that here.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
It is a very unique and interesting experience getting to hear Jocelyn's perspective. I rarely think Blizzard should listen to our show, but if there ever was one, I'd say it was this one. She represents the kind of customer they want to understand, that they need to consider, because they're the audience that will build the WoW numbers back up (although I'm not implying we are in dire straights or anything).
I think this episode brings up a lot of interesting points and ideas. I had a lot of fun and I hope you all will too!
Discussed on the show:
We mention Jocelyn's three part article on leveling. You can find that here.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
ART Ep. 20: Always bring extra socks (feat. Lanctharus)
Hi folks, Jon here with a show. Technically the show is already out there, but I always get to feel a little extra special by typing something out and saying "hey look here's a show". Actually these are a lot harder to write than you would think. Technically it should be OK to just tell you that we did a show. We talked about in game events, how they form, and what we can get out of them. We also talk a little bit about what we are playing and if you make it all the way to the end you'll get to hear about "poop socks".
So I guess that does kind of cover it. Alright maybe this part isn't as hard as I thought it would be.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
So I guess that does kind of cover it. Alright maybe this part isn't as hard as I thought it would be.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
ART Ep. 19: Sylvanas is Coocoo for Cocopuffs! (feat. Matthew Rossi)
This week WoW Insider's Matthew Rossi stops by to talk lore with us. It is one of the more interesting conversations we've ever had. In fact you might notice that this episode is really about Ben and I getting out of the way and letting Matthew run, which honestly was for the best because it was fascinating for us. We might not agree on everything, but his take on lore, characters, and events is really fascinating.
We talk about a few things this episode that you might want to take a look into so here are those:
EverQuest Next Revealed
Blizzard starts "The Burdens of Shaohao"
You can find more articles by our guest at WoW Insider or follow him on Twitter
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
We talk about a few things this episode that you might want to take a look into so here are those:
EverQuest Next Revealed
Blizzard starts "The Burdens of Shaohao"
You can find more articles by our guest at WoW Insider or follow him on Twitter
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Monday, July 29, 2013
ART Ep. 18: Experimenting with Role Playing (feat. Odynus)
Last week we gave a little preview of the small ways Ben and I look at our characters. This week we bring in Odynus to dive all the way into roleplaying. It has been a topic I've been anxious to touch on because it, for me, has one of the more rewarding aspects in the game.
We all hit low points in our playing. Times where it gets a little harder to justify the monthly subscription fee and one of the best ways to fight this is to try out new things. It's a good time to try out PVP, try your hand at raiding, or roll a new class. I can say for me I've tried all of them and the only experience that truly transformed the game for me was trying out roleplaying for the first time.
That is not to say it is for everyone or perfect. I think we touch on plenty of weirdness and pitfalls in the episodes. However all aspects of the game come with their negatives, the importance is that whatever you get from the positive outshines it. This episode was a fun way to introduce a new aspect to the game and I hope it compels a few people out there to give it a go.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
We all hit low points in our playing. Times where it gets a little harder to justify the monthly subscription fee and one of the best ways to fight this is to try out new things. It's a good time to try out PVP, try your hand at raiding, or roll a new class. I can say for me I've tried all of them and the only experience that truly transformed the game for me was trying out roleplaying for the first time.
That is not to say it is for everyone or perfect. I think we touch on plenty of weirdness and pitfalls in the episodes. However all aspects of the game come with their negatives, the importance is that whatever you get from the positive outshines it. This episode was a fun way to introduce a new aspect to the game and I hope it compels a few people out there to give it a go.
Update: Also we discuss this picture on the show... so I should pry include it.
AzerothRT on Twitter
E-Mail us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
You can also catch Ben on:
Geektopia and Battle Pets
You can find me here and on my writing show Parallel Words.
Finally if you don't already please feel free to subscribe or give us a review on iTunes.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
ART Ep. 17: Me, myself, and I. (feat. Leeta)
Leeta Stopped by this week to get a in depth look at how we look at our characters. If you wanted to know the trials and tribulations Jon goes through every time he creates a character, hear Ben swear instead of saying the word "spreadsheet", or hear Leeta's naming conventions, this is the episode for you.
We also have two celebrity murloc theater bits for you. Pick a winner to our contest and do our best transformer voices thanks to bad weather.
Show Info
AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
@AzerothRT
Subscibe to Azeroth RoundTable on iTunes
Ben
AltheMage@gmail.com
@AltheMage
Subscribe to Geektopia
Subscribe to BattlePets
Jon
Revendawn@gmail.com
@Revendawn
Subscribe to Parallel Words
Leeta
@leetawow
Subscribe to Behind the Avatar
We also have two celebrity murloc theater bits for you. Pick a winner to our contest and do our best transformer voices thanks to bad weather.
Show Info
AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
@AzerothRT
Subscibe to Azeroth RoundTable on iTunes
Ben
AltheMage@gmail.com
@AltheMage
Subscribe to Geektopia
Subscribe to BattlePets
Jon
Revendawn@gmail.com
@Revendawn
Subscribe to Parallel Words
Leeta
@leetawow
Subscribe to Behind the Avatar
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
ART Ep. 16: Reggie for Warchief! (feat. Markus Kobold)
Oh right... blog that I forgot to do. More will be coming soon, but for now this!
Sunday, July 7, 2013
ART Ep. 15: Big Topic, Small Things (feat. Jules and Rho)
So despite what you may or may not have heard we actually did a show this week. Things were a little nuts with Ben out of town and I wasn't sure if I'd have time to get guests and set up enough time record. As it turns out maybe we she fly by the seat of our pants more often because I think the episode turned out great.
We completed our Tauren think Tank collection by bringing in Jules and long time go to back up host for any and all shows Rho. We decided to talk a little about the small things that make WoW great, the minutia. I think the discussion was fun and hit some interesting ideas, including one that I want them to implement so bad that I think it might be causing physical pain.
This is also the longest post show we've ever done. Hopefully you are aware we always stick something hopefully entertaining after all the segments run, but if not make sure you stay until the very end for a shocking appearance by Remghar!
Anyway for all the Ben fans he will be returning for the next episode. Which also means you wont be subjected to my questionable production values and editing. Until then I offer only this:
Show Info:
E-Mail: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Ben
E-Mail: AltheMage@gmail.com
Twitter: @AltheMage
Shows: Azeroth RoundTable, Geektopia, and BattlePets
Jon
E-Mail: Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter: @Revendawn
Shows: Azeroth RoundTable and (Coming soon)
Jules:
Twitter: @JulesRPG
Shows: Tauren Think Tank and That TV Show
Rho:
Twitter: @RhoWoW
Shows: Realm Maintenance and All Things Azeroth
We completed our Tauren think Tank collection by bringing in Jules and long time go to back up host for any and all shows Rho. We decided to talk a little about the small things that make WoW great, the minutia. I think the discussion was fun and hit some interesting ideas, including one that I want them to implement so bad that I think it might be causing physical pain.
This is also the longest post show we've ever done. Hopefully you are aware we always stick something hopefully entertaining after all the segments run, but if not make sure you stay until the very end for a shocking appearance by Remghar!
Anyway for all the Ben fans he will be returning for the next episode. Which also means you wont be subjected to my questionable production values and editing. Until then I offer only this:
Show Info:
E-Mail: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Ben
E-Mail: AltheMage@gmail.com
Twitter: @AltheMage
Shows: Azeroth RoundTable, Geektopia, and BattlePets
Jon
E-Mail: Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter: @Revendawn
Shows: Azeroth RoundTable and (Coming soon)
Jules:
Twitter: @JulesRPG
Shows: Tauren Think Tank and That TV Show
Rho:
Twitter: @RhoWoW
Shows: Realm Maintenance and All Things Azeroth
Sunday, June 30, 2013
ART Ep. 14: Time Traveling with Garrosh (feat. Remghar)
Ben posted this episode at 1am, because for some reason he was still up at 1am. I'm writing this post at a little after 1am, because for some reason I am still up a little after 1am. What follows is about the best I can manage in my exhausted state.
This week we had Remghar from Tauren Think Tank on. We had an absolute blast, some might accuse us of having too much fun and not getting down to business enough, but to them I say this. If we can't talk about the time traveling adventures of a jerky warchief, then I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Show Info
Email: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Guest Info
Twitter: @Remghar
Website: taurenthinktank.com
Host Info
Ben:
Email: AltheMage@gmail.com
Twitter: @AltheMage
Jon:
Email: Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter: @Revendawn
This week we had Remghar from Tauren Think Tank on. We had an absolute blast, some might accuse us of having too much fun and not getting down to business enough, but to them I say this. If we can't talk about the time traveling adventures of a jerky warchief, then I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Show Info
Email: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Guest Info
Twitter: @Remghar
Website: taurenthinktank.com
Host Info
Ben:
Email: AltheMage@gmail.com
Twitter: @AltheMage
Jon:
Email: Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter: @Revendawn
Sunday, June 23, 2013
ART Ep. 13: In the Dungeon (feat. Matthew Rorie)
Let me give you a little behind the scenes on how Azeroth RoundTable works. Ben and I typically think of a topic and then go down the list of people we'd like to talk to in order to see if there is a really good match. That's the normal way of things. This week was a little different. This week I invited someone mostly because I thought they were an interesting person and we brought them up with no preordained topic.
The results were really good in my opinion. What started as a typical show quickly became a interesting discussion about a play style that neither Ben or myself has. Obviously WoW has a ton of fans and as a result there are going to be a lot of different opinions on what makes the game great and what we'd like to see change. Our interview with Matt really opened my eyes to a type of play I knew existed, but hadn't encountered.
I don't think this a new format for the show or anything. We'll still probably be bringing people in as subject experts, but it was a good experiment for what this show can be when people just get together and talk World of Warcraft.
Contest: Next episode a lucky winner will get their pick of the litter from the official Warcraft Pet and Mount store. How can you be this winner? Simply e-mail us your own submission for our Celebrity Murloc Theater segment and you are entered. We will pick one winner to choose one mount or pet from the pet store.
**Please note that while Ben and I will do murloc requests, requesting a murloc does not actually get you an entry. So feel free to send requests, just know we need an actual audio file from you in order to be entered.
Show Info
Email: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Guest Info
Twitter: @Frailgesture
Website: GiantBomb.com
Host Info
Ben:
Email: AltheMage@gmail.com
Twitter: @AltheMage
Jon:
Email: Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter: @Revendawn
The results were really good in my opinion. What started as a typical show quickly became a interesting discussion about a play style that neither Ben or myself has. Obviously WoW has a ton of fans and as a result there are going to be a lot of different opinions on what makes the game great and what we'd like to see change. Our interview with Matt really opened my eyes to a type of play I knew existed, but hadn't encountered.
I don't think this a new format for the show or anything. We'll still probably be bringing people in as subject experts, but it was a good experiment for what this show can be when people just get together and talk World of Warcraft.
Contest: Next episode a lucky winner will get their pick of the litter from the official Warcraft Pet and Mount store. How can you be this winner? Simply e-mail us your own submission for our Celebrity Murloc Theater segment and you are entered. We will pick one winner to choose one mount or pet from the pet store.
**Please note that while Ben and I will do murloc requests, requesting a murloc does not actually get you an entry. So feel free to send requests, just know we need an actual audio file from you in order to be entered.
Show Info
Email: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Guest Info
Twitter: @Frailgesture
Website: GiantBomb.com
Host Info
Ben:
Email: AltheMage@gmail.com
Twitter: @AltheMage
Jon:
Email: Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter: @Revendawn
Sunday, June 16, 2013
ART Ep. 12: Undead Monkey Babies (feat. Tetsemi and Alachaas)
AKA Tanking part 2 of 2
We finally got to the round table topic! All we had to do was drastically cut down our 5.4 talk and totally leave out what we've been playing. Seriously though, we've been having a lot of fun and hopefully you guys have been too. Personally I like to joke about our missing things here and there, but ultimately the discussions have been amazing.
Check out the new episode below as well as our guest info.
One more thing before I go. Every week Ben mentions his other show Geektopia so hopefully you've checked it out. This week we had Alachaas on and he is the other host of Geektopia, but that's not all! Literally minutes after recording this episode of Azeroth RoundTable I weaseled my way onto their E3 episode to talk XBone vs PS4 and other E3 goodness. If you want to hear me attempt to destroy all of Geektopia I recommend you check it out.
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/om/podcast/geektopia/id597138388
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/geektopia
PodOnatic (stream): http://geektopia.podomatic.com/
That should cover it until next week!
Show Info
E-Mail: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Hosts
Ben
E-Mail: AltheMage@gmail.com
Twitter: @AltheMage
Jon
E-Mail: Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter: @Revendawn
Guests
Tetsemi
Twitter: @IvoryTiger
Alachaas
Twitter: @Alachaas
We finally got to the round table topic! All we had to do was drastically cut down our 5.4 talk and totally leave out what we've been playing. Seriously though, we've been having a lot of fun and hopefully you guys have been too. Personally I like to joke about our missing things here and there, but ultimately the discussions have been amazing.
Check out the new episode below as well as our guest info.
One more thing before I go. Every week Ben mentions his other show Geektopia so hopefully you've checked it out. This week we had Alachaas on and he is the other host of Geektopia, but that's not all! Literally minutes after recording this episode of Azeroth RoundTable I weaseled my way onto their E3 episode to talk XBone vs PS4 and other E3 goodness. If you want to hear me attempt to destroy all of Geektopia I recommend you check it out.
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/om/podcast/geektopia/id597138388
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/geektopia
PodOnatic (stream): http://geektopia.podomatic.com/
That should cover it until next week!
Show Info
E-Mail: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Hosts
Ben
E-Mail: AltheMage@gmail.com
Twitter: @AltheMage
Jon
E-Mail: Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter: @Revendawn
Guests
Tetsemi
Twitter: @IvoryTiger
Alachaas
Twitter: @Alachaas
Sunday, June 9, 2013
ART Ep. 11: Who is the host with the most? (feat. Tetsemi)
AKA: Tanking Part 1
Another week and another RoundTable, just full of great discussion, but no actual topic in sight. I promise we are going to get to tanking next week, but for this week we hit Battlefield Barrens and Flex Raiding hard. We've been known to get passionate about our opinions here, but I think this is the first week where Ben and I couldn't be more opposed on a part of a topic. Just remember folks, it's all the spirit of fun.
That said, as the person who writes the blog I do get the opportunity to talk a bit more on topics from the show. Listening to the show before posting it here I can say I don't think I did the best job explaining what bothered me about flex raiding so please see below to see the blue post that kind of set it all off for me. Again it's not an issue with flex raiding, I think it's a good idea. However the blue post below sells it as something for the type of player I am and I just don't think it's a solution for me and I think a lot of the features they are saying will appeal to me are just not true, but you can judge for yourself.
This isn’t for LFR folks, it’s for Normal folks (ahem... you know what I mean) that were going into LFR and weren’t having an enjoyable raiding experience or that just wanted an easy way to play with friends and family without spending too much time organizing it.
These players would go to LFR only for gear, not for the experience, and that’s not really what we want to see happening.
I’m hoping that players who are looking for more challenging content, but have no time to get into the usual guild raiding schedules, will start to switch from LFR to Flexible Raids.
Highly skilled players with heavy time constraints have always felt a bit left out from MMORPGs, but maybe there are ways we can deal with that.
Ideally, skill should be equally or even better rewarded than time, but there needs to be a balance between the two, we can’t provide 30 minutes of insanely difficult content with the best rewards that only 0.001% of the player base would be able reach, but we also can’t do the opposite and make rewards exclusively and directly proportional with time spent. Skill needs to enter into the equation and needs to have a pretty strong weight.
LFR still has its own place, some players are quite content with it, some have no intention of going any further than LFR in terms of raiding and are happy with the experience it provides. We’re just trying to provide content for everyone to enjoy.
This is just a preview, 5.4 isn’t even on the PTR yet, many things can still change. This is also part of the reason why we’re sharing this information with you all; the feedback we get will help us to better shape our next major content patch. I've already seen quite a few interesting and unexpected arguments in this thread and we'll share them with the devs, so keep it up! ;)
So that to me is the real issue with flex raiding for me. I don't agree that this is a solution for players like me, but I do think it is an important feature and I do think it needed to be added to the game. However I think you all should judge if flex raiding is for you. You can read Blizzard's post about Flex Raiding here.
Enough on that, let's get to the show...
Show Info
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Twitch: twitch.tv/azerothrt (there may be some fun bonus stories post show for this episode)
E-mail: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Guest Info
Twitter: @IvoryTiger
Host Info
Ben
Twitter: @AltheMage
E-mail: althemage@gmail.com
Jon
Twitter: @revendawn
E-mail: revendawn@gmail.com
Another week and another RoundTable, just full of great discussion, but no actual topic in sight. I promise we are going to get to tanking next week, but for this week we hit Battlefield Barrens and Flex Raiding hard. We've been known to get passionate about our opinions here, but I think this is the first week where Ben and I couldn't be more opposed on a part of a topic. Just remember folks, it's all the spirit of fun.
That said, as the person who writes the blog I do get the opportunity to talk a bit more on topics from the show. Listening to the show before posting it here I can say I don't think I did the best job explaining what bothered me about flex raiding so please see below to see the blue post that kind of set it all off for me. Again it's not an issue with flex raiding, I think it's a good idea. However the blue post below sells it as something for the type of player I am and I just don't think it's a solution for me and I think a lot of the features they are saying will appeal to me are just not true, but you can judge for yourself.
Posted by ValkariaWe just made tech which could made life of 25-men a lot easier. Let's give it to LFR folks. -.-
This isn’t for LFR folks, it’s for Normal folks (ahem... you know what I mean) that were going into LFR and weren’t having an enjoyable raiding experience or that just wanted an easy way to play with friends and family without spending too much time organizing it.
These players would go to LFR only for gear, not for the experience, and that’s not really what we want to see happening.
I’m hoping that players who are looking for more challenging content, but have no time to get into the usual guild raiding schedules, will start to switch from LFR to Flexible Raids.
Highly skilled players with heavy time constraints have always felt a bit left out from MMORPGs, but maybe there are ways we can deal with that.
Ideally, skill should be equally or even better rewarded than time, but there needs to be a balance between the two, we can’t provide 30 minutes of insanely difficult content with the best rewards that only 0.001% of the player base would be able reach, but we also can’t do the opposite and make rewards exclusively and directly proportional with time spent. Skill needs to enter into the equation and needs to have a pretty strong weight.
LFR still has its own place, some players are quite content with it, some have no intention of going any further than LFR in terms of raiding and are happy with the experience it provides. We’re just trying to provide content for everyone to enjoy.
This is just a preview, 5.4 isn’t even on the PTR yet, many things can still change. This is also part of the reason why we’re sharing this information with you all; the feedback we get will help us to better shape our next major content patch. I've already seen quite a few interesting and unexpected arguments in this thread and we'll share them with the devs, so keep it up! ;)
So that to me is the real issue with flex raiding for me. I don't agree that this is a solution for players like me, but I do think it is an important feature and I do think it needed to be added to the game. However I think you all should judge if flex raiding is for you. You can read Blizzard's post about Flex Raiding here.
Enough on that, let's get to the show...
Show Info
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Twitch: twitch.tv/azerothrt (there may be some fun bonus stories post show for this episode)
E-mail: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Guest Info
Twitter: @IvoryTiger
Host Info
Ben
Twitter: @AltheMage
E-mail: althemage@gmail.com
Jon
Twitter: @revendawn
E-mail: revendawn@gmail.com
Sunday, June 2, 2013
ART Ep. 10: Have some Cho Juice! (feat. Amijade)
So we never really get out of the "What you've been playing" segment this week. I want to just say that while it might seem like I just took way too long talking about what I've been up to, the truth is we already knew going in that we probably would not be hitting the RoundTable this show. As a matter of fact the topic we had was only a backup topic we decided on during the pre-show as a just in case. I just want to make sure that gets out there before people start telling me to shorten my part in the what we've been playing bit.
In a lot of ways this show was somewhat experimental. We all did very similar things this week so the idea was we'd all talk about what we did if someone brought up a topic. As a result it sounds like my segment was huge and Ben's was super short, so it pry won't remain the format.
Anyway a huge thanks to our guest Amijade for guesting this week. Storms attempted to have him only partially available or on a delay, but we powered through it and had a lot of fun. We managed to talk a lot about pet battles, farming, scenarios, my anti-social MMO issues, and in what I'm sure will bother a lot of folk, MMORPG's top 5 most anticipated MMOs of 2013.
So I'll let you get to listening, check below the player for all the relevant links to things discussed on this show, including a picture of Ben as a dead Jedi, YAY!
Important Links and Pictures:
First off the link to MMORPG's top 5 MMOs of 2013 ((Wildstar!!))
http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/7462/MMORPGs-Most-Wanted-MMOs-of-2013.html
Here is Ben as a dead Jedi
Guest Info:
Amijade - Twitter: @Amijadethelock Website: http://warlockery.com/
Host Info:
Ben - Twitter: @AltheMage E-Mail: Althemage@gmail.com
Jon - Twitter: @Revendawn E-Mail: Revendawn@gmail.com
In a lot of ways this show was somewhat experimental. We all did very similar things this week so the idea was we'd all talk about what we did if someone brought up a topic. As a result it sounds like my segment was huge and Ben's was super short, so it pry won't remain the format.
Anyway a huge thanks to our guest Amijade for guesting this week. Storms attempted to have him only partially available or on a delay, but we powered through it and had a lot of fun. We managed to talk a lot about pet battles, farming, scenarios, my anti-social MMO issues, and in what I'm sure will bother a lot of folk, MMORPG's top 5 most anticipated MMOs of 2013.
So I'll let you get to listening, check below the player for all the relevant links to things discussed on this show, including a picture of Ben as a dead Jedi, YAY!
Important Links and Pictures:
First off the link to MMORPG's top 5 MMOs of 2013 ((Wildstar!!))
http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/7462/MMORPGs-Most-Wanted-MMOs-of-2013.html
Here is Ben as a dead Jedi
 |
| Sith - LinzyPoo Dead Jedi - Ben |
Guest Info:
Amijade - Twitter: @Amijadethelock Website: http://warlockery.com/
Host Info:
Ben - Twitter: @AltheMage E-Mail: Althemage@gmail.com
Jon - Twitter: @Revendawn E-Mail: Revendawn@gmail.com
Friday, May 24, 2013
ART Ep. 9: Battlefield 5.3
Our first episode without a guest host! Ok maybe it's not a huge deal, but thank you to the listeners in advance for going along with us on this. We don't plan on doing many of these (unless you asked for them for some reason), but this week our schedules were just too restrictive to allow for a guest host.
E-mail:
Show - AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Ben - AltheMage@gmail.com
Jon - Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter:
Show - @azerothrt
Ben - @AltheMage
Jon -@Revendawn
Personally I still had a lot of fun on this episode and hopefully you'll like it. Please keep in mind that we recorded Wednesday after the patch hit. I say this because there may be hotfixes in place now to stuff we talked about then. I really enjoy doing the post patch episodes, I wish we had more time with the patch before having to record, but thankfully both Ben and I had experienced a good chunk of it before recording began.
Next week we should be back to our class discussions assuming guest plans all work correctly. Remember if you have someone you want to hear on the show or want to try and guest yourself please e-mail us at: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
E-mail:
Show - AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Ben - AltheMage@gmail.com
Jon - Revendawn@gmail.com
Twitter:
Show - @azerothrt
Ben - @AltheMage
Jon -
Saturday, May 18, 2013
ART Ep. 8: I can't commit to pants! (feat. Hathorr and Special interview with Cory Stockton!)
This week on Azeroth RoundTable we talk to Hathorr from Low Pop WoW. This "Healing" episode quickly turns into something very different, but we talk in depth about class and role hemoginization and the challenges Blizzard will face as they try to differentiate classes without excluding players from content.
As if that wasn't enough we also talk to Cory Stockton the Lead Content Designer for World of Warcraft. We go in depth with what we are looking forward to in 5.3, pet battles, and most importantly tacos. You can find that interview during the News section of this episode and I will try and have a transcript up in the coming days.
Before I go I want to remind everyone that 5.3 does launch next week. Normally for patches we devote an episode to our initial thoughts and well that wont be any different this go around. However because Ben and I will be spending our weekend at Phoenix Comicon we will be recording Wednesday. So consider our next episode to be very much a 5.3 preview, it also will be our first just us episode.
Keep an eye on our Twitter for when you can expect that episode and have a great week and productive patch,
Show info:
E-mail Us - AzerothRoundtable@gmail.com
Follow Us - @AzerothRT
Hosts:
Ben - althemage@gmail.com -@althemage
Jon - revendawn@gmail.com - @revendawn
Guest
Hathorr - lowpopwow.com - @lowpopwow
As if that wasn't enough we also talk to Cory Stockton the Lead Content Designer for World of Warcraft. We go in depth with what we are looking forward to in 5.3, pet battles, and most importantly tacos. You can find that interview during the News section of this episode and I will try and have a transcript up in the coming days.
Before I go I want to remind everyone that 5.3 does launch next week. Normally for patches we devote an episode to our initial thoughts and well that wont be any different this go around. However because Ben and I will be spending our weekend at Phoenix Comicon we will be recording Wednesday. So consider our next episode to be very much a 5.3 preview, it also will be our first just us episode.
Keep an eye on our Twitter for when you can expect that episode and have a great week and productive patch,
Show info:
E-mail Us - AzerothRoundtable@gmail.com
Follow Us - @AzerothRT
Hosts:
Ben - althemage@gmail.com -@althemage
Jon - revendawn@gmail.com - @revendawn
Guest
Hathorr - lowpopwow.com - @lowpopwow
Sunday, May 12, 2013
ART Ep. 7: Rolling in the deeps (feat. Solarflair)
This week we get a visit from Solarflair of Convert to Raid fame. He stops by to talk about DPS, but we also have a mini-roundtable where we try and figure out Blizzard should reward players who complete challenging content. Ultimately I don't think a lot is decided, but it's nice to have some differing opinions and unique perspective.
Finally we wrap things up with a little more Celebrity Murloc Theater, but unless we get listener submissions, it'll probably be the last. So make sure you get something submitted to us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com to keep the segment alive.
Celebrity Murloc Theater
Cartman & Kenny - Jon
Siri - as herlself (recorded by Ben)
Solarflair - as himself
Guest Info
Solarflair is one of the hosts of Convert to Raid, which if you haven't heard of them you need to go check them out as soon as possible. You can follow Solar on Twitter here or E-mail him here. A fun guest fact: Solarflair is looking to buy a Sugar Glider.
Hosts
Ben AKA Al the Mage can be followed on Twitter here, E-mailed here, or you can catch another show of his called Geektopia here.
Jon AKA Revendawn can be followed on Twitter here, E-mailed here, and is responsible for the Murloc drawings talked about on the show. You can see those below.
Discussed on the Show
Below are links or images that come from things talked about on the episode.
Finally we wrap things up with a little more Celebrity Murloc Theater, but unless we get listener submissions, it'll probably be the last. So make sure you get something submitted to us at AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com to keep the segment alive.
Celebrity Murloc Theater
Cartman & Kenny - Jon
Siri - as herlself (recorded by Ben)
Solarflair - as himself
Guest Info
Solarflair is one of the hosts of Convert to Raid, which if you haven't heard of them you need to go check them out as soon as possible. You can follow Solar on Twitter here or E-mail him here. A fun guest fact: Solarflair is looking to buy a Sugar Glider.
Hosts
Ben AKA Al the Mage can be followed on Twitter here, E-mailed here, or you can catch another show of his called Geektopia here.
Jon AKA Revendawn can be followed on Twitter here, E-mailed here, and is responsible for the Murloc drawings talked about on the show. You can see those below.
Discussed on the Show
Below are links or images that come from things talked about on the episode.
 |
| Iron Murloc |
 |
| Sean Connery Murloc |
 |
| Sugar Gliders |
Sunday, May 5, 2013
ART Ep. 6: Celebrity Murloc Theater (feat. Kephas)
Well that happened...
Sometimes on Azeroth RoundTable we offer in depth analysis of hard hitting topics, other times we do this.
Show Info:
E-mail: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Ben:
Jon:
Guest Info:
Kephas:
Sometimes on Azeroth RoundTable we offer in depth analysis of hard hitting topics, other times we do this.
Show Info:
E-mail: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Twitter: @AzerothRT
Ben:
- Althemage@gmail.com
- @althemage
Jon:
- Revendawn@gmail.com
- @revendawn
Guest Info:
Kephas:
- http://www.thekephas.blogspot.com/
- @thekephas
Saturday, April 27, 2013
ART Ep. 5: Born on a Tuesday (feat. Michael Gaines)
This week's show is a lot like last week. We set out with one topic in mind and instead just chat it up about WoW in general. Of course there is nothing wrong with that. That's the real way we want the show to go. So if you dig the idea of listening to us discuss merging factions, PvP, the old days, Everquest, The Old Republic, and my hatred for how Lich King ended, then this is the show for you.
Important Show Links
Find more from our guest at: http://worldofwarcast.com/
Transcript of the Dev Q&A: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/9576259/CoverItLive_Developer_QA_Transcript-4_25_2013
MMO Champion Summary: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/3226-Live-Developer-Q-A-Patch-5-2-and-Beyond
Hosts
Ben - @Althemage
Jon - @Revendawn
Guest Host
Mike - @Starmike
Contact Us: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Honestly it was a ton of fun and I can't express how happy I am that just about every episode of Azeroth RoundTable feels natural and off the cuff. It's not that Arcanum wasn't, but instead of knowing exactly what we will be talking about from week to week it's as much a surprise for me as it would be to you. That feels excellent.
Important Show Links
Find more from our guest at: http://worldofwarcast.com/
Transcript of the Dev Q&A: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/9576259/CoverItLive_Developer_QA_Transcript-4_25_2013
MMO Champion Summary: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/3226-Live-Developer-Q-A-Patch-5-2-and-Beyond
Hosts
Ben - @Althemage
Jon - @Revendawn
Guest Host
Mike - @Starmike
Contact Us: AzerothRoundTable@gmail.com
Sunday, April 21, 2013
ART Ep. 4: "I like the structure of TOES." (feat. Scott Johnson)
My first contribution ever to the internet was a short lived webcomic and after that podcasting. So it is probably no surprise that our guest host this week is something of a personal hero of mine. So I pry would have called you crazy had you told me we'd have him on our 4th episode of Azeroth RoundTable. Sure I technically knew he'd most likely be coming on right around the time we started, but I guess nobody ever really expects to talk to someone they respect and consider a hero of sorts.
Anyway enough gushing, down to business. This week we are talking all about time management... sorta. We do hit on it and there is some good discussion about it, but this episode feels like how I always wanted the show to feel. We aim in a general direction and we just go where the conversation takes us. Sometimes it's on topic, sometimes we look back at old product placement videogames from the 8 and 16 bit era.
It was a tremendously fun episode to record and I hope that translates well to the listeners. Personally I think you're in for a real treat.
Hosts
Ben - @althemage
Jon - @revendawn
Guest Host
Scott - @scottjohnson
http://frogpants.com/
http://theinstance.net/
Important Links and Notes:
On this week's show we discuss the big Blizzard Q/A coming up, here is the info:
Good people of Azeroth, lend me your eyes!
We’ll be hosting a live World of Warcraft developer Q&A open to the community on Thursday, April 25 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. PDT. Designers Dave Kosak, Ion Hazzikostas, Brian Holinka, Cory Stockton, and Greg Street will be available to field your questions about Mists of Pandaria gameplay and design, patch 5.2 and beyond. This will be a moderated chat on the Cover it Live platform hosted on the front page of our official site. Community managers Bashiok, Crithto, Daxxarri, Rygarius, and I will be there to filter your submissions for the developers.
We receive thousands of questions each time we host these events, so please be patient with us and bear in mind that we won’t get to every question. You can help by keeping your inquiries concise and focused on one topic per entry. Submissions that are well over 200 characters, or contain multiple questions on an array of topics, are much less likely to receive responses. We want to cover as much ground as possible and appreciate your assistance in helping us to achieve that.
We look forward to chatting with you on Thursday!
About the Panelists
Dave Kosak, Lead Quest Designer
As Blizzard Entertainment's lead quest designer for World of Warcraft, Dave Kosak oversees the development of all quest content for the game and its expansions, as well as contributing to the overall fiction of the game world.
Prior to joining Blizzard Entertainment, Kosak was a co-founder and original creative director of GameSpy.
Ion Hazzikostas, Lead Encounter Designer
As lead encounter designer on the World of Warcraft® team, Ion Hazzikostas’s primary responsibility is overseeing the creation of the game’s dungeon and raid content. Hazzikostas joined Blizzard Entertainment in the summer of 2008 as a game designer, and his responsibilities have included raid boss design and implementation, class design and balancing, and maintaining the World of Warcraft achievement system. Prior to arriving at Blizzard, he worked as an attorney at a law firm in Washington, DC.
In his spare time, Hazzikostas enjoys exploring Southern California in search of craft beer. Having grown up in New York City, he is a lifelong Yankees fan.
Brian Holinka, Senior PvP Game Designer
As a senior game designer on Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft® team, Brian Holinka focuses exclusively on continuing to make the World of Warcraft PvP experience enjoyable for all of its players. Holinka works with the systems and content teams to create a balanced competitive environment with exciting rewards and diverse content.
Prior to joining Blizzard Entertainment in 2012, Holinka worked on the multiplayer components of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Homefront, and Frontlines: Fuel of War. Holinka got his start in the game industry moonlighting on the “Desert Combat” mod for Battlefield 1942 while serving as a Captain in the United States Air Force.
Cory Stockton, Lead Content Designer
As Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.'s lead content designer for World of Warcraft®, Cory Stockton is responsible for overseeing the design and implementation of all exterior zones, dungeons, Battlegrounds, Arenas, and cities. He is also involved with many other aspects of the game, such as dungeon scripting and the Pet Battle System.
Stockton started at Blizzard Entertainment in June 2005 as lead dungeon designer before transitioning to his current role. Prior to his arrival, he was a lead designer on the Ratchet & Clank series and also contributed extensively to the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series.
In his spare time, Stockton plays games extensively, and enjoys collecting classic consoles and games. He holds an associate's degree in computer animation from the Art Institute of Phoenix.
Greg Street, Lead Systems Designer
As the lead systems designer for World of Warcraft®, Greg Street is one of the two lead designers on the team that reports to the Game Director. He leads a team that is in charge of World of Warcraft class, item and tradeskill design. He and his team also design the user interface for the game and handle all of the various combat calculations and number tuning.
Anyway enough gushing, down to business. This week we are talking all about time management... sorta. We do hit on it and there is some good discussion about it, but this episode feels like how I always wanted the show to feel. We aim in a general direction and we just go where the conversation takes us. Sometimes it's on topic, sometimes we look back at old product placement videogames from the 8 and 16 bit era.
It was a tremendously fun episode to record and I hope that translates well to the listeners. Personally I think you're in for a real treat.
Hosts
Ben - @althemage
Jon - @revendawn
Guest Host
Scott - @scottjohnson
http://frogpants.com/
http://theinstance.net/
Important Links and Notes:
On this week's show we discuss the big Blizzard Q/A coming up, here is the info:
Good people of Azeroth, lend me your eyes!
We’ll be hosting a live World of Warcraft developer Q&A open to the community on Thursday, April 25 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. PDT. Designers Dave Kosak, Ion Hazzikostas, Brian Holinka, Cory Stockton, and Greg Street will be available to field your questions about Mists of Pandaria gameplay and design, patch 5.2 and beyond. This will be a moderated chat on the Cover it Live platform hosted on the front page of our official site. Community managers Bashiok, Crithto, Daxxarri, Rygarius, and I will be there to filter your submissions for the developers.
We receive thousands of questions each time we host these events, so please be patient with us and bear in mind that we won’t get to every question. You can help by keeping your inquiries concise and focused on one topic per entry. Submissions that are well over 200 characters, or contain multiple questions on an array of topics, are much less likely to receive responses. We want to cover as much ground as possible and appreciate your assistance in helping us to achieve that.
We look forward to chatting with you on Thursday!
About the Panelists
Dave Kosak, Lead Quest Designer
As Blizzard Entertainment's lead quest designer for World of Warcraft, Dave Kosak oversees the development of all quest content for the game and its expansions, as well as contributing to the overall fiction of the game world.
Prior to joining Blizzard Entertainment, Kosak was a co-founder and original creative director of GameSpy.
Ion Hazzikostas, Lead Encounter Designer
As lead encounter designer on the World of Warcraft® team, Ion Hazzikostas’s primary responsibility is overseeing the creation of the game’s dungeon and raid content. Hazzikostas joined Blizzard Entertainment in the summer of 2008 as a game designer, and his responsibilities have included raid boss design and implementation, class design and balancing, and maintaining the World of Warcraft achievement system. Prior to arriving at Blizzard, he worked as an attorney at a law firm in Washington, DC.
In his spare time, Hazzikostas enjoys exploring Southern California in search of craft beer. Having grown up in New York City, he is a lifelong Yankees fan.
Brian Holinka, Senior PvP Game Designer
As a senior game designer on Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft® team, Brian Holinka focuses exclusively on continuing to make the World of Warcraft PvP experience enjoyable for all of its players. Holinka works with the systems and content teams to create a balanced competitive environment with exciting rewards and diverse content.
Prior to joining Blizzard Entertainment in 2012, Holinka worked on the multiplayer components of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Homefront, and Frontlines: Fuel of War. Holinka got his start in the game industry moonlighting on the “Desert Combat” mod for Battlefield 1942 while serving as a Captain in the United States Air Force.
Cory Stockton, Lead Content Designer
As Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.'s lead content designer for World of Warcraft®, Cory Stockton is responsible for overseeing the design and implementation of all exterior zones, dungeons, Battlegrounds, Arenas, and cities. He is also involved with many other aspects of the game, such as dungeon scripting and the Pet Battle System.
Stockton started at Blizzard Entertainment in June 2005 as lead dungeon designer before transitioning to his current role. Prior to his arrival, he was a lead designer on the Ratchet & Clank series and also contributed extensively to the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series.
In his spare time, Stockton plays games extensively, and enjoys collecting classic consoles and games. He holds an associate's degree in computer animation from the Art Institute of Phoenix.
Greg Street, Lead Systems Designer
As the lead systems designer for World of Warcraft®, Greg Street is one of the two lead designers on the team that reports to the Game Director. He leads a team that is in charge of World of Warcraft class, item and tradeskill design. He and his team also design the user interface for the game and handle all of the various combat calculations and number tuning.
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