VirginWorlds MMORPG News Host: Brent VirginWorlds is a weekly news podcast covering Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, Eve Online, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online and many many more. The VirginWorlds MMORPG Podcast is the flagship podcast of the VirginWorlds MMO Podcast Collective found at http://www.virginworlds.com
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Welcome to the new listeners this week and thank you for downloading
the VirginWorlds weekly MMORPG news podcast. This week we have a bite
sized show of massive goodness for you.
Topics: -The Agency: How persistent is it?
-38 Studios: A new kind of studio?
-Darkfall: Beta? Huh?
-Gods and Heroes: Apocalypse Now?
-Metaplace: Raph Koster announces the plan!
-Pirates of the Burning Sea: Pre-order date is announced
-Special gifts: What could it be? Login to post a comment
'Different rig' by Brent Submitted on 2007-09-24 01:10:39 CST I used a completely different recording setup for this show. What say you? Better or worse? I think the audio is much more 'present' but I'll let you be the judge.
New setup contributed to a bit of scatterbrainedness during the show. You might be able to tell...
Enjoy.
'Sound - gets better.' by Dathmar Submitted on 2007-09-24 05:07:13 CST I like it....
You now sound....richer and deeper ?? ( if I can use those words to describe the sound - although not too "bassy" which is good )
Is it a new Mic ?
Good show again - goes without saying.
'Yup...sounded good to me' by Floss Submitted on 2007-09-24 08:21:36 CST Sounded good to me Brent. Glad to see you back as the host.
Bought two of the books from the MMORPG Book section "MMO Evolution" , which my local bookseller commmented as being a tad expensive for the size (he even double checked the price!) and "Synthetic Worlds". Enjoyed the first, enjoying the second.
Shame your listeners across the pond can't help to increase VW's coffers by participating in the store - you might have had $26.50 by now ;-)
Keep up the good work.
'Sounded Great' by DarkenedKnight Submitted on 2007-09-24 11:10:55 CST Your new recording setup seemed to of worked just fine. After listening to the podcast for the better part of a year and a half, a person can notice went Brent has changed something and "a bit of scatterbrainedness" has occured. Just kidding man, sounded great. Gratz on the Areae fortelling :P I remember laughing when you mentioned Raph said it wasn't what you thought and you were all " No I think it is"
'Another fine little show!' by Akely Submitted on 2007-09-24 12:15:15 CST Sound Quality:
Richer and deeper and a lot better resolution. You sounded a bit like you had a cold, or clogged nose at least. This could be just my ears though. And... did you eat or drink during Gods & Heroes segment? :-)
The sound range was i little too slanted towards base for me to be 100% satisfied. But remember I'm real nerdy about sound. It works at it is, I hear you just fine!
Metaplace:
I can't understand why I'm NOT exited about this. I'm all "Meh. Whatever." It sounds like a good idea... but who will make me something that is more fun than EQ2... or ArmA for that matter? Sure got potential, I'll agree on that. Nice Oracling on yours and Brendens part! "It's not what you think...". Yeah, right. :-)
Store:
I agree with Floss. Can you fix it so we Eurotrash can help out too? I'm not sure you addressed this earlier. Apologies if you did.
'Great Show' by ArtphulDodger Submitted on 2007-09-24 12:46:15 CST What does your Crystal Ball fortell for Star Trek online oh master seer?
lol. Great job on seeing the truth behind advertising. ..Now do you think you can run for office?
chuckle.
BTW the sound was fine.
'show' by Token Submitted on 2007-09-24 17:42:50 CST The new sound was easier to hear over the noise of my workplace where I typically listen to podcasts, so thats good. Also on a random note I have decided not to bother playing any mmo developed in Asia, they are just bad.
'38 Studios' by James Submitted on 2007-09-25 12:54:45 CST It will be interesting to see where 38 Studios goes with this. With heavy hitters like Salvatore and McFarlane behind the wheel creatively, and a high profile gamer like Schilling at the helm, I think they'll have the freedom to do something really daring and fun. Any interviews you read with Schilling about this project, it is clear that this is a labor of love for him. I mean, each of these guys is already an established success in their respective fields and certainly don't NEED to be doing this. As a Yankee fan, I have mixed feelings about the man when he's in uniform (they don't call him a Yankee Killer for nothing), but I can't help but admire his ferocity and dedication once he steps on the mound. I have a good feeling that he'll bring the same intensity to the MMORPG industry. Also, props to him for his policy about treating employees fairly and respectfully, especially in light of way Perpetual, Sigil, and many others have treated their employees in recent history.
'New rig' by Scott Submitted on 2007-09-25 14:28:24 CST Sounds great, seemed improved over the previous shows but even those had good sound quality.
As far as 38 Studios I'll be real curious to see what direction McFarlane takes the games Art style. His fantasy style is often pretty off the wall IMO, and the work he did for UO 2 prior to it being canned wasn't exactly my cup o' tea. This is another future title that needs to be judged on the merits of the game, not the team as they still need to prove themselves in the MMO game development space, even if they're so well acomplished in other fields.
'Sounds Great, Lasts Long Time' by Talyn Submitted on 2007-09-27 18:31:55 CST Granted, last week's episode was recorded outside with the iAudio (or was that the week before last?) but I didn't notice any background hiss or white noise this time. You sounded very rich, perhaps with a *touch* more bass than usual but that's fine -- bass carries voice better. I'll give the new equipment a thumbs-up.
One question, though, and it's for both Brent and the listeners:
In the segment about the Agency you ranted a bit about repeatable missions, comparing that to DDO. Hardly a fanboy here, but I just started DDO out of curiousity, and there are plenty of people who have never repeated anything other than the raids. Which brings me to: bashing repeatable quests/missions then praising repeatable dungeons/raids doesn't quite make sense to me. What exactly is the difference? Some raids have one (a few if you're lucky) one-shot quests to them, otherwise you're just grinding for gear ad infinitum. Some repeatable quests make sense, like Vanguard's crafting or faction kill quests. Others are just in the nature of the game design such as DDO. Either way, it's the same thing to me, you've either been there, done that, or you do it once and move along.
'Why didn't you like DDO?' by DDOcast Submitted on 2007-09-28 06:38:25 CST As a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons Online, I also didn't get your offhanded comment about "reminding me of DDO"? What, other MMO's never allow you to repeat a quest, even if you want to? At this point in DDO's life, you can go from start to level-capped (74 ranks, 14 levels) without having to repeat a single quest. Of course, some people like certain quests and WANT to repeat them. Are you saying they shouldn't have that choice? Just seemed like an odd comment to me, especially since most MMO's require all sorts of repeating and grinding that DDO does not. One of DDO's strong points is that it doesn't require grinding and has a diversity of quests, outdoor areas to explore, etc. Oh, well. Disappointed to say the least.
'show 88' by Brent Submitted on 2007-09-29 00:07:31 CST Thanks for all the comments. Wanted to let you all know that I'll be addressing a number of these, particularly those DDO and STO questions on the show this weekend.
Thanks for the feedback on the audio. I guess it was better according to pretty much everyone. I'll do that again.
'Different rig' by Brent
Submitted on 2007-09-24 01:10:39 CST
I used a completely different recording setup for this show. What say you? Better or worse? I think the audio is much more 'present' but I'll let you be the judge.
New setup contributed to a bit of scatterbrainedness during the show. You might be able to tell...
Enjoy.
'Sound - gets better.' by Dathmar
Submitted on 2007-09-24 05:07:13 CST
I like it....
You now sound....richer and deeper ?? ( if I can use those words to describe the sound - although not too "bassy" which is good )
Is it a new Mic ?
Good show again - goes without saying.
'Yup...sounded good to me' by Floss
Submitted on 2007-09-24 08:21:36 CST
Sounded good to me Brent. Glad to see you back as the host.
Bought two of the books from the MMORPG Book section "MMO Evolution" , which my local bookseller commmented as being a tad expensive for the size (he even double checked the price!) and "Synthetic Worlds". Enjoyed the first, enjoying the second.
Shame your listeners across the pond can't help to increase VW's coffers by participating in the store - you might have had $26.50 by now ;-)
Keep up the good work.
'Sounded Great' by DarkenedKnight
Submitted on 2007-09-24 11:10:55 CST
Your new recording setup seemed to of worked just fine. After listening to the podcast for the better part of a year and a half, a person can notice went Brent has changed something and "a bit of scatterbrainedness" has occured. Just kidding man, sounded great. Gratz on the Areae fortelling :P I remember laughing when you mentioned Raph said it wasn't what you thought and you were all " No I think it is"
'Another fine little show!' by Akely
Submitted on 2007-09-24 12:15:15 CST
Sound Quality:
Richer and deeper and a lot better resolution. You sounded a bit like you had a cold, or clogged nose at least. This could be just my ears though. And... did you eat or drink during Gods & Heroes segment? :-)
The sound range was i little too slanted towards base for me to be 100% satisfied. But remember I'm real nerdy about sound. It works at it is, I hear you just fine!
Metaplace:
I can't understand why I'm NOT exited about this. I'm all "Meh. Whatever." It sounds like a good idea... but who will make me something that is more fun than EQ2... or ArmA for that matter? Sure got potential, I'll agree on that. Nice Oracling on yours and Brendens part! "It's not what you think...". Yeah, right. :-)
Store:
I agree with Floss. Can you fix it so we Eurotrash can help out too? I'm not sure you addressed this earlier. Apologies if you did.
'Great Show' by ArtphulDodger
Submitted on 2007-09-24 12:46:15 CST
What does your Crystal Ball fortell for Star Trek online oh master seer?
lol. Great job on seeing the truth behind advertising. ..Now do you think you can run for office?
chuckle.
BTW the sound was fine.
'show' by Token
Submitted on 2007-09-24 17:42:50 CST
The new sound was easier to hear over the noise of my workplace where I typically listen to podcasts, so thats good. Also on a random note I have decided not to bother playing any mmo developed in Asia, they are just bad.
'38 Studios' by James
Submitted on 2007-09-25 12:54:45 CST
It will be interesting to see where 38 Studios goes with this. With heavy hitters like Salvatore and McFarlane behind the wheel creatively, and a high profile gamer like Schilling at the helm, I think they'll have the freedom to do something really daring and fun. Any interviews you read with Schilling about this project, it is clear that this is a labor of love for him. I mean, each of these guys is already an established success in their respective fields and certainly don't NEED to be doing this. As a Yankee fan, I have mixed feelings about the man when he's in uniform (they don't call him a Yankee Killer for nothing), but I can't help but admire his ferocity and dedication once he steps on the mound. I have a good feeling that he'll bring the same intensity to the MMORPG industry. Also, props to him for his policy about treating employees fairly and respectfully, especially in light of way Perpetual, Sigil, and many others have treated their employees in recent history.
'New rig' by Scott
Submitted on 2007-09-25 14:28:24 CST
Sounds great, seemed improved over the previous shows but even those had good sound quality.
As far as 38 Studios I'll be real curious to see what direction McFarlane takes the games Art style. His fantasy style is often pretty off the wall IMO, and the work he did for UO 2 prior to it being canned wasn't exactly my cup o' tea. This is another future title that needs to be judged on the merits of the game, not the team as they still need to prove themselves in the MMO game development space, even if they're so well acomplished in other fields.
'Sounds Great, Lasts Long Time' by Talyn
Submitted on 2007-09-27 18:31:55 CST
Granted, last week's episode was recorded outside with the iAudio (or was that the week before last?) but I didn't notice any background hiss or white noise this time. You sounded very rich, perhaps with a *touch* more bass than usual but that's fine -- bass carries voice better. I'll give the new equipment a thumbs-up.
One question, though, and it's for both Brent and the listeners:
In the segment about the Agency you ranted a bit about repeatable missions, comparing that to DDO. Hardly a fanboy here, but I just started DDO out of curiousity, and there are plenty of people who have never repeated anything other than the raids. Which brings me to: bashing repeatable quests/missions then praising repeatable dungeons/raids doesn't quite make sense to me. What exactly is the difference? Some raids have one (a few if you're lucky) one-shot quests to them, otherwise you're just grinding for gear ad infinitum. Some repeatable quests make sense, like Vanguard's crafting or faction kill quests. Others are just in the nature of the game design such as DDO. Either way, it's the same thing to me, you've either been there, done that, or you do it once and move along.
'Why didn't you like DDO?' by DDOcast
Submitted on 2007-09-28 06:38:25 CST
As a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons Online, I also didn't get your offhanded comment about "reminding me of DDO"? What, other MMO's never allow you to repeat a quest, even if you want to? At this point in DDO's life, you can go from start to level-capped (74 ranks, 14 levels) without having to repeat a single quest. Of course, some people like certain quests and WANT to repeat them. Are you saying they shouldn't have that choice? Just seemed like an odd comment to me, especially since most MMO's require all sorts of repeating and grinding that DDO does not. One of DDO's strong points is that it doesn't require grinding and has a diversity of quests, outdoor areas to explore, etc. Oh, well. Disappointed to say the least.
'show 88' by Brent
Submitted on 2007-09-29 00:07:31 CST
Thanks for all the comments. Wanted to let you all know that I'll be addressing a number of these, particularly those DDO and STO questions on the show this weekend.
Thanks for the feedback on the audio. I guess it was better according to pretty much everyone. I'll do that again.