Tonight I completely butcher the intro because my co-hosts decided to get clever with it.  Tonight we talk about a lot of stuff that is coming out ahead of E3… which in truth is the only time that matters given that the only people who care about the actual show are the ones attending in person.  We talk about the Google Stadia presser and Destiny 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 news that came out of it. We talk about the only thing from EA that matters… the progressively less vaporware Jedi Fallen Order. We talk the weird case of the Magic the Gathering Animated Series and then on to Pokemon Goodest Boy Edition.  Lastly a brief topic about how Ubisoft is dumb.

Topics Discussed:

  • Google Stadia
    • Netflix for Games
    • Xbox Cloud
  • Destiny 2
    • Season of Opulence
    • Free to Play and Cross Save
  • Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Jedi Fallen Order
  • Magic the Gathering
    • Netflix Animated Series
  • Pokemon Sword and Shield
    • Good Boy Edition
  • Ubisoft is Dumb
Direct download: aggrochat_episode255.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 9:53am EDT

We start the show off with an explanation of what exactly happened to the end of Episode 253 and why Tam had to build a brand new server for us to record on.  From there we dig into the Shadowbringers class design tweaks and how they tend to land on the side of making things less janky and more accessible to players.  Bel also has another revelation that the expansion is right around the corner. Bel talks briefly about the weird decisions Nintendo is making surrounding Super Mario Maker 2 and stopping us from playing with our friends.  This is a continued version of a long topic that is Nintendo Still Does Not Understand the Internet. They do however understand product promotion which is part of a whole discussion about the fact that E3 is starting next week.  Lastly we wrap up with a discussion about Modern Horizons and how Magic seems to be making some really interesting decisions that are paying off for them.

Topics Discussed

  • What Happened to 253
    • Building a New Server
  • Shadowbringers Class Design
    • Removing Fiddly Bits
    • More Accessible Class Design
  • Nintendo Doesn’t Understand the Internet
    • Super Mario Maker 2 Shunning Play with Friends
  • E3 Discussion
    • Does the Show Event Need to Exist?
    • Nintendo Seems to have nailed promotional cadence
  • Modern Horizons
    • Interesting Decisions MTG has Made Lately

 

Direct download: aggrochat_episode254.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:05am EDT

So just a heads up we had some technical difficulty while recording the show.  Apparently the server that we use to record on was slowly dying throughout the night and culminated in a grand crescendo at the end with us all getting disconnected.  As a result we cut off abruptly. In between these issues however we talk about Final Fantasy XIV Live Letter and the upcoming class changes. Bel talks about how Crowfall is turning into a game and feels like less of a tech demo than it did.  Tam talks about Total War Three Kingdoms. We discuss the madness that happened after last weeks show and lots more people signing on to the World of Warcraft Classic madness. We wrap up with a topic about some of the cool stuff Games Workshop is doing.

Topics Discussed:

  • …. Pation
  • Final Fantasy XIV Live Letter
    • Class Changes
    • Benchmark
  • Crowfall is Actually A Game
    • Nostalgia for Corpse Runs
    • Eve Offline Skill Progression
  • Thalen Wants a Survival Game that Cares about Correct Nutrition
  • Total War: Three Kingdoms
    • Another Romance of the Kingdoms
  • World of Warcraft Classic
    • More of AggroChat joins this madness
  • Games Workshop Continues to be Decent
    • Awesome new shading paint
    • Contrast Paint
  • Abrupt Cut Off
Direct download: aggrochat_episode253.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:20am EDT

Tonight we are down an Ammo and start off with a discussion about hosting providers and the process of moving the 77,000 files that make up AggroChat.com.  From there we talk about MMO Housing and the madness that is camping an opening in Final Fantasy XIV. Bel got into the WoW Classic Beta and talks about his experiences of relearning the game and plans to start a dungeon and raiding guild called Decades Behind once things go live.  Kodra talks about how Server Transfers started the process of destroying Server Communities which leads to some hopes of static servers in Classic. We talk for a bit about the PC RPG Pathfinder: Kingmaker and how it is close to the campaign. Finally Bel talks a bit about getting a new tablet and venturing forth into Tablet gaming.

 

Topics Discussed

  • Hosting Providers
    • AggroChat has Moved
  • MMO Housing
    • Instanced vs Physical
    • Woes of FFXIV
  • WoW Classic Beta
    • Relearning things we forgot
    • Decades Behind
    • BfA Damaged the Brand
    • Server Community Nostalgia
  • Pathfinder: Kingmaker
  • Tablet Gaming
    • Samsung Galaxy Tab S4
Direct download: aggrochat_episode252.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:04am EDT

After a week off you can effectively blame Belghast for filling the Trello full of partial topics, and the rest of the show for not replacing them with something meaningful.  As a result we have a fairly fragmented show. In importance news however Ammo is joining the team permanently. The most important thing discussed however is the fact that Tam gave us a new term…  that of the noble Melon-Snake.

Here is a quick rundown of the varied topics discussed:  Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trailer, Xur coming to Fallout 76, Monster Hunter World Iceborne and Bloodstained Ritual of the Night release dates, Unplayable Magic Decks, The madness of Arcade emulation, The sad state of Anthem.

Topics Discussed:

  • Neph’s Wedding
  • Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trailer
  • Bloodstained Ritual of the Night
  • Fallout 76 Purveyor NPC
  • Monster Hunter World Iceborne
    • Capcom Hates PC Gamers
  • Magic the Gathering Arena
    • Kodra has Teferi Problems
  • Madness and Arcade Emulation
    • The joys of finding full mamesets
    • Triggering a bandwidth usage warning
    • Abandoning GameEx Evolution
    • Moving to RetroArch
  • TitanQuest Releasing Expansions 13 Years after its launch
  • Anthem Removing Cosmetic Caches
    • Spaghetti Code Problems
  • Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers
Direct download: aggrochat_episode251.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 9:57am EDT

Tonight we are down a Grace and a Thalen but have picked up a special guest.  Ammo is the official unofficial AggroChat Artist given that she has done most of the artwork that you have seen over the last few years associated with both AggroChat and the Aggronaut blog.  First up we talk about when breaking the rules of a game makes for a better experience. From there Bel talks about Marvel Heroes notalgia and quelling it with the Mobile game Marvel Future Fight.  From there Bel talks about his new Mayflash f500 fight stick and some discussion about Mortal Kombat 11. We talk a bit about the release of War of the Spark on Magic the Gathering Arena. Ash talks about the Lancer pen and paper RPG system, and finally some discussion about Persona 5 Royal.

Topics Discussed

  • Breaking Rules for a Better Experience
    • House Rules
    • Cheating to Remove Frustrations
  • Marvel Future Fight
    • Marvel Heroes Nostalgia
    • Very Free to Play
  • Fight Sticks
    • Mayflash F500
    • Square vs Octagonal Gates
    • Mortal Kombat 11
  • War of the Spark
    • Sealed Gameplay
  • Lancer
    • Pen and Paper RPG System
    • Kickstarter
  • Persona 5 Royal
    • 5.5
    • Hoping for Switch Release
Direct download: aggrochat_episode250.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 9:47am EDT

Last week we failed to announce the 5th anniversary of our show so we start off talking a bit about that.  From there Bel goes into a discussion about the BlizzCon Spirit and how he seemingly has caught the Star Wars version and returned to SWTOR after the Star Wars Celebration announcements.  We talk about the game quite a bit and then get into a discussion of Jedi Fallen Order which we missed from last week. From there we talk Magic the Gathering Arena and how Kodra is finally playing Standard.  We also talk about doing some direct Duels and the current Magnificent Momir format. Finally a discussion about Pagan Online that devolves into a discussion about upcoming ARPGs in general.

Topics Discussed:

  • The Blizzcon Spirit
  • The Star Wars Spirit
    • Star Wars the Old Republic
    • Fallen Empire
    • Eternal Throne
    • Overall Tweaks to the Game
    • Jedi Fallen Order
  • Magic the Gathering Arena
    • Standard Format
    • Direct Duels
    • Playing with Jank
    • Magnificent Momir
  • Pagan Online
    • Early Access
    • Potentially Eventually Free to Play
    • Wolcen
    • Last Epoch
    • Torchlight Frontiers
    • Grim Dawn
Direct download: aggrochat_episode249.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:08am EDT

Going into the show we had what seemed like a pretty slim set of show notes… but somehow we actually ended up bumping topics.  We start off with a discussion of Grim Dawn since Bel and Grace have been playing it. This leads into a talk about loot generosity spawned by the loot filters in both Grim Dawn and Path of Exile and that ends up going off in its own direction.  We talk a bit about the Star Wars Episode IX trailer which spawns a discussion about the Star Wars Cinematic Universe… which winds its way to the Marvel Comic Universe… which winds its way to a general discussion about Comic books. Finally a brief topic about a Warframe learning from its mistakes and trying a do-over on the Hildryn event.

Topics Discussed

  • Grim Dawn
  • Loot Filters
    • General Loot Generosity
    • Loot Management in Games
  • Star Wars Episode XI Trailer
    • Star Wars Cinematic Universe
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe
    • Marvel Comics
  • Comic Books in General
  • Warframe Hildryn Event Redo
Direct download: aggrochat_episode248.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:01am EDT

Tonight we delve into the esoteric talking more about concepts than concrete things.  Bel leads off with a discussion of a game he has been playing lately Outward, and how it feels like we remember Everquest feeling even though it is not entirely certain if that was the purpose.  From there we delve into a topic that has been sitting on our list for awhile but kept getting bumped due to time… namely Focus-Consuming Games as in the games that as a lot out of the player. This starts a discussion about the constraints on our time and how occasionally a game is just expecting you to be playing it as a hobby.  From there we delve into a topic spawned from a YouTube video linked below… discussing how a lot of Games as a Service titles are manufacturing discontent among the players to spur them into making purchases. We discuss that there are a lot of lessons to be learned in how to do this well from the Mobile Gaming space and how in many cases Genres don’t matter the way they used to.

Topics Discussed

  • Outward
    • Feeling like we remember Everquest
  • Focus-Consuming Games
    • Games that want more attention than we are able to give at a time
    • Looking for that neutral state in games
    • Limited attention span or ability to focus
  • Manufactured Discontent
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPHPNgIihR0
    • Games as a Service and the psychology that goes into putting us in a position to buy things.
    • Lessons that need learned from Mobile Gaming
    • Genre’s matter less than they used to
Direct download: aggrochat_episode247.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 9:56am EDT

Tonight we are down a Tam and also down having a constructed list of topics to go from.  The only roll forward topic left on the list is decidedly a “Tam” topic so we end up more or less winging it.  There is a decidedly Pax East flair to the show given that a number of topics we discussed circle things announced at or going on during Pax.  However none of the crew actually attended this year. Related to this we talk about The Outer Worlds, Magic the Gathering Mythic Invitational, Wolfenstein Youngblood Trailer, Borderlands 3 Trailer.  There is a brief interlude about returning to Final Fantasy XIV which Grace has done this week, and another oddball topic as Bel discusses getting Cemu the Wii U Emulator up and running and playing Breath of the Wild rendered in native 4k.

Topics Discussed

  • Pax East
    • The Outer Worlds Gameplay Stream
      • Questions about it actually releasing in 2019
    • Magic the Gathering
      • Mythic Invitational
      • Current State of Standard
      • War of the Spark Rumors
    • Wolfenstein Youngblood Trailer
      • Juxtaposition of Teens and Ultra-Violence
    • Borderlands 3 Trailer
      • Weird reveal live stream
      • Can Borderlands happen with none of the original writers?
      • Lessons learned from Pre-Sequel
      • Appearance of Tell Tale Characters
    • Cemu - Wii U Emulator
      • The Breath of the Wild Emulator
      • Rendered in Native 4k
Direct download: aggrochat_episode246.mp3
Category:gaming -- posted at: 10:01am EDT