The wife-aggro.com Podcast

It’s become apparent that Podcast 53 was the last of what I had in me for podcasting.

The wife-aggro Podcast started out as a show were myself and Rage could talk about the MMOs that we’ve played, are playing, or looked forward to playing together with our friends.

But we’re not really playing an MMO right now, what we’ve played recently didn’t hold enough interest to work up a show about, and (personally), I’m not too worked about anything on the immediate horizon. Actually, now that I think about, I’m not even sure that I’ve spoken to Rage in the last 3 or 4 weeks.

So, I just don’t think there will be another wife-aggro podcast about MMO gaming simply because we’re not doing any MMO gaming, and I don’t want this show to turn into two people talking about games they have no experiance in. There are plenty of other shows out there like that.

I want to thank those of you who’ve supported us over the last 18 months. I’d especially like to thank those companies who took the time to talk to us about their games. This was fun for quite a long time, and for the most part, my time podcasting is something that I’ll always look back on fondly.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled lives.

I’ve had some time to think about what bugs me about Age of Conan.

I could spend alot of time talking about the muffed up crafting system, but I think I’ve already done that on our latest podcast, so I’m not going to waste time here repeating myself.

In my opinion, the number 1 problem with Age of Conan is it’s shallow level curve. Honestly, I was around level 65 out of 80 before I even got out of the 30 days of play that I got with the purchase of the game.

If this was World of Warcraft, then I think I’d be enthusiastic because, as we all know, the only good game play in WOW is at the level cap. That is, of course, after they nerfed and marginalized all of the fantastic instances that made up the mid-game like Scholomance, Upper Black Rock Spire, and Zul’Gurub.

But, I digress.

The problem with the shallow level curve in AoC is that it increases the difficulty in playing the game with my friends.

Here’s what happened.

I took a week off to play the game at launch. So, due to the tidal level curve in AoC, I was able to hit roughly level 40 in a week. That’s HALF WAY THROUGH THE GAME. In a week. My friends didn’t take the week off, so for the most part, 1 week into the game we had people spread out from level 7 to the 40s.

Initially, this wasn’t too much of an issue as there were apprentiace methods in place and a higher level character could always help a lower level character with their quests at the expense of not making any experiance to do so.

But then the Devs decided to patch the game so that any epic mob that was grey (i.e. 9 levels lower) to a player would pretty much beat the ever living crap out of the player. This was supposed to make it so that players couldn’t farm grey instances for copper (not silver or gold, mind you, but copper).

So now, I can’t do an instance with my friends unless they are within 9 levels of my character. In a normal MMO, this wouldn’t be too big of an issue. But in my experiance, any characer can gain about a level every 3 or 4 hours of game play. So every time that I play, and my friends don’t, I’m getting further and further away from being able to quest with them.

So we’ve gotten to a point where my first character in AoC is now 74 (out of 80) and I doubt that I’ve spent 10 hours playing in a group with my friends. Honestly, if I’m going to play a solo game, I’d rather play Mount and Blade.

Age of Conan is going to have to really up the game post 80 or I doubt it will interest me past the summer. As it is now, it certainly isn’t going to last past the release of Warhammer: Age of Reckoning w/out some seriously fun content.

Back by popular….

hmmm Well, I’m not sure if that’s the right word for it.

How about we say Back by Demand??

It had been so long since we last did a show, I just about had to relearn all my little editing tricks. Speaking of which, I think this will be the last show that we record and produce using Audicity. It’s a fantastic program, but as I spent so much money on Cakewalk Sonar, I may as well us it. Plus, it has some very very nice mixing tools.

But, I digress…

This show we went back to basics a bit and just talked about 4 games that we’re either playing or really looking forward to playing.

First up, is Diablo III. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but we’re really looking forward to playing in this world again.

EVE has had a pretty big update while we were away so we really couldn’t do our return show without talking about EVE: Empyrean Age. I mean, how can you have missed these awesome trailers?

Warhammer: Age of Reckoning is progressing along. Once again, I’m not going to offer up any spoilers. Just listen to the school girl like crush Rage has on this game.

Lastly, we talk about Age of Conan. The game launch has come and gone while we were gathering our collective wits, but we’ve had plenty of time to dive into this beast and talk about what we like and dislike about this game.

Hope you enjoy the show.

Music by Foreign Object Damage, Weezer, and Puddle of Mudd.

So,

I’ve been asked a few times lately why we haven’t put up a show in a while. Which makes me think I’m overdue for a “What are we doing now?” kind of post.

Rage’s life has gotten pretty busy lately. So it was getting harder and harder to find time for him and I to record together. We looked at a few options, but basicly couldn’t find a way to put together a schedule that we could both meet.

I did a couple of shows while he was busy elsewhere, and found that it just wasn’t fun for me. The concept behind the Wife-Aggro podcast is basically that Rage and I have been playing *alot* of computer games over the years and we just enjoy talking about the ins and outs of the good and bad ones.

Initially the show was really just for the people that we play with, but it kind of blew up from there. In fact, a couple of the people we’re playing with today, we wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t heard one or more of our shows and took the time to find us in a game that we’re playing. Podcast 52 was probably downloaded by about 10 people that the show was originally intended for. But it was also downloaded by several hundred of you who just liked what we were doing here.

I’m not trying to imply here that we’ll never do a show 53. Or 103 or 883, for that matter. Just that it might be a while.

My own interests in audio recording have continued on. However, they’ve sort of taken a wierd left turn. I learned alot about digital recording doing the podcast and it sort of re-kindled my interests in music production. Some of you probably already knew that some of the music in out shows was created by me. Using the worst of tools and typically out of tune, but I was really getting back into something that I use to really enjoy.

So, during this extended break, or hiatus, or vacation, or whatnot, I’ve spent some money and I’ve started to put together a pretty decent home digital audio studio. I’ve purchased Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio XL, some MIDI tools, some new gear for my guitar (I call her Gia) and I’ve started creating some music again.

Once I get some of it to a point where my wife stops making a face, I’ll be sure to put it out here for you guys to love, hate, or whatever.

Keep checking back here, folks. There will be more podcasts and whatnot, but think of us as being on a summer schedule for awhile.

-Seth

I’m joined this week by Keen of, “Keen and Graev” fame. Big thanks to him for taking up the guest co-host challange and pulling it off so aptly while we both just really wanted to be playing Age of Conan.

First up this week, we disucss Blizzcon. Actually, what we really talk about was whether these things actually do anything for the game’s fans, or if they’re just the MMO version of a timeshare presentation.

Next up is the concept of “Legacy” servers. DAoC is doing it. I thought Everquest was as well (before Keen accused me of being wrong.) The question of the week is whether or not you all feel that this is a trend that would benefit other games out there.

GamesIndustry.biz posted some data regarding MMO subscriptions and the money they generate for the industry.

Lastly, we spend a good portion of the show discussing the issues Funcom has been having getting their game out to the masses. As I write this, the “Early Entry” is currently delayed 3 hours. That’s really only the latest in a long road of mishaps. Rusty said last week, that alot of games have that hardcore audiance that’s willing to let the devs throw some mud at them. I’d like to personally thank Funcom for showing me that side of myself.

I guess.

Enjoy the show.

Music by: American Hi-Fi, Danzig, and Seether

While it’s certainly not always the case, I find that right now, my gaming life is doing good.

EVE is capturing some of my time. Mostly through the scanning and exploitation of exporation sites. If you’ve never played EVE, or even if you have and haven’t spent the time to learn the exploration skills, then it’s kind of hard to describe how the game mechanics for exploration work. It’s a bit like mining, I guess. You have to scan systems using a series of probes until you track down a signal close enough to see the site. Then you clean it out. Something about how that game mechanic works just appeals to me.

Grand Theft Auto IV continues to satisfy. I’m roughly 50% through the game now and each chance I get to play is just as fun as the last. I do kind of have to structure my time with this game as the 360 is set up in the middle of our living room. And, honestly, it’s just not a game that a 9 year old can listen (or watch) as I play. But those late night GTA IV sessions are happy times, indeed.

Lastly, the early entry version of Age of Conan is all installed and ready to go. Not only am I happy to be going into another (imho) decent MMO, but I have next week off to spend exploring the game. The series of betas that Funcom marginally pulled off slowly ramped up my excitement for this game. It’s been so long since I’ve played a fantasy MMO, I’m not even sure where my old, “Quest cup” is at.

On the podcast front, I want to thank all of you who’ve sent me comments on the last two shows. I have to admit to a bit of apprehention coming back after taking a month off. However, judging by the bits of email that I’ve received, the show seems to have come back in stride with were it was in March. Thanks, as always, for your support.