This week we explore the age old question of podcasting..   just how many hosts can you have before a show descends into madness?  As the title suggests we ended up with eight hosts on this weeks AggroChat and I think for the most part we exited on the other side with our sanity still in place...  or what little we actually had of it to start.  This week Ashgar and Kodra are both travelling, and as such I made plans to cover for them if they were unable to make it for the show.  However because they are the consumate professionals that they are...  they figured out a way to podcast remotely.  This left me with the choice of either backing out on the folks I had arranged or just push forward into madness.  Like usual I chose the path of madness.

This week we have quite possibly our longest show to date as we aske the question if Eight is Enough?  This week we talk about Kodra's trip to Canada, and his descent into Pathfinder Online.  This spurs a discussion about the recent crop of MMO nostalgia titles and how they all somehow miss the boat on what made those early MMOs so interesting.  Since all of us literally are playing Final Fantasy XIV we spend a good deal talking about our two groups working on turn nine of the Second Coil of Bahamut, as well as contrasting WoW and Final Fantasy raiding experiences.  Grace talks about her experience leveling a ninja and how this game causes us to play things we didn't think we would ever like playing.  I talk about my complete and total embrace of the black hole that is the crafting system and how I have managed to push all classes to fifteen this week.

On top of this we talk Sword Art Online in both the Anime and  Game forms.  We talk a bit about how each of us is trying to wrap up our  time in Shadowrun in preparation for next weeks show.  We talk Mad Max Fury Road and to a lesser extent Orphan Black.  Ashgar talks about his continued experiences with Radiant Historia, and Thalen ventures into Broken Age.  Dallian and I talk about our experiences this week playing Witcher 3, and how the Hearthstone mobile app doesn't work nearly as well as we would have hoped it would.  Finally we wrap things up with some discussion about Moonrise and the impending steam early access.  It was without a doubt one of the biggest shows we have recorded but also extremely enjoyable to participate in.  It seems we somehow were able to juggle eight people on a show without complete chaos.

Tonight we have Belghast, Ashgar, Tamrielo, Kodra and Thalen and once again we felt like we didn't have much to talk about.  However once we dug in a little bit I noticed a trend.  Each of us was busy working on this item or that in relationship to Final Fantasy XIV each with our own goals that we have been trying to finish before the expansion.  Ashgar just finished his Nexus weapon after the length grind, and talks about how it compared up against other grinds he has completed.  Kodra talks about working on Turn 9 with two different raid groups and how he hopes we can get through it within the coming weeks.  I talk about my own quest which involves me descending into the dark madness that is crafting and slowly stair stepping each and every crafting class five levels at a time.

In addition to this there is some more Shadowrun talk as we each continue our play throughs.  Kodra goes into yet another dark place by playing some Demon Souls and talks about those experiences.  He and Tam spent a good deal of time this week watching the first season of Sword Art Online and we get into a discussion about that as well.  I talk about my experiences working on the Blackhand encounter in World of Warcraft, and we talk a bit about the lackluster numbers released by NCSoft regarding Wildstar sales.  Yet another night of varried topics here on AggroChat.

It seems when I think we have nothing to talk about... we end up talking for two hours finally having to force ourselves to stop talking to close out the show.  Last night was one of those night as I was joined by Tam, Kodra, Thalen and Ashgar.  Sometimes a clear theme is presented and last night inadvertedly this happened.  As we rambled through the various things we have been playing, it turns out that a lot of us had been playing card games in one form or another.  We got this interesting peak into the secret underground gaming scene of Seatle that Kodra has now apparently gotten his ticket into.  He recorded this weeks AggroChat on a quick jaunt away from this all day gaming event that was happening in a nearby hotel.  The kind of event that isn't advertised, and that you apparently have to know someone to get into.  This is not starting to sound like fight club at all is it? 

Other than that I shift things around a bit in the show and I actually go first.  Usually by the time we get around to the games I have been playing my co-hosts are bordering on being asleep so I opted to talk about my stuff first.  Which was a large course of Echo of Souls, and beating Wolfenstein The Old Blood which is an absolutely enjoyable but exceptionally short version of the original Wolfenstein game redone in New Order style.  Machinegames has somehow created this magical mix of the glory days of the 90s era shooter mixed with the narrative power of modern gaming.  Ashgar once again is going through his DS collection and playing things that he had not beaten before, this time jaunting down a time travelling avenue.  Thalen extolled the joys of Hand of Fate, and Kodra rediscovered Heroes of Might and Magic 3.  More than that however we talked a lot about card games and board games in general.  Was a fun and chill show to record and hopefully that comes across in the production.

This week I start off the show, and even title it with a pretty massive plug for the Newbie Blogger Initiative.  What is the NBI you ask?  Well this is the time of the year when Veteran bloggers support new folks wanting to get started in this madness.  This year we are making an extra special push to try and help new podcasters, youtubers, and streamers along with the bloggers.  Additionally I myself am making a special push to try to rekindle the fire in some of our wayward bloggers who are no longer as regular as they used to be.  The entire month of May is dedicated to helping folks get started and find their niche, and since most of the AggroChat crew have participated in the past, it is time to get the word out.

As far as the rest of the show we had myself, Tam, Ashgar, Kodra and Grace.  As always we spent a good deal of time talking Final Fantasy XIV since we are all still heavily playing it.  Right now Greysky Armada our Free Company is back holding the bronze medal again for being the third most active Free Company on our server Cactuar.  This week also saw myself and Grace spending some more time playing some more Wildstar.  The Black Dagger Society the guild I am connected to has been having a guild night on Fridays and as such I have started joining in the festivities.  Additionally there was talk of Marvel Heroes, Diablo 3, Ashgar returning to his Gameboy Advance roots, Tam winning his first Infinity tournament since the move, and similarly Kodra beating VVVVVV for the first time in his new place.  Since this month is devoted to Shadowrun for the Gameclub we are also starting to play some of this.  It was a fun show in spite of being in that pre-E3 gaming doldrum.

This evening we held the third episode of the AggroChat Game Club where we talk about my pick the early access rogue-like Darkest Dungeon.  I personally chose this game because so many of my friends had been talking about it, and purposefully delayed playing it in the thoughts of this eventually becoming an AggroChat title.  The result is that each of us played the game slightly different, and walked away with a very different perspective and feeling about the game.  Some of us loved it, but even among those that loved it...  we brought with it a completely different outlook and as such a different reaction.  Of course some of us absolutely hated the game, enough to actually Alt-F4 out of the window.  

The end result however is what I feel like our most successful game club title to date, because it certainly spurred on some conversation.  Next months title is announced towards the end of the broadcast and I am sure it will be an equally interesting discussion.

This week we are without Tamrielo and Rae for various reasons, but joining us once again are the ever amazing Grace and Thalen.  For awhile I thought we would be missing Kodra, but he shows amazing determination and podcasted anyways.  This is the week that he moved across country from Atlanta area to Seatle, and thanks to the magic of living in the same appartment complex as Tam, was able to "borrow a cup of internet" and a chair and pretty much everything else needed to make the podcast function.  This weeks episode is called "Get Hyped" because we spend a lot of time getting hyped about various things we are excited about.  

During the course of the episode we talk about so many board games in the wake of International Tabletop Day.  This discussion managed to make a very sleeply Kodra u enough to continue podcasting.  We also talk about how amazing the new Netflix Original Daredevil series is.  We talk about the Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer that was released, and cannot get through a single podcast without talking about the new tidbits of information floating about regarding the Heavensward expansion that is looming ever closer.  I talk about the new Wildstar promotion asking players to buy up "dead stock" and get rewarded heavily for it.  Some see it as an act of desperation but personally I see it as an act of sheer genius.  I also go on at length about how great the new Wardrobe system is in Rift.  It was a super fun podcast to record, and as such we ran fairly late.

Since August 2013 Final Fantasy XIV has been a fairly significant part of our lives.  While we had a break in there, we have been in place for at least the last eight months soaking up every ounce of content that Square Enix can throw at us.  Throughout this game the story of the game has been a constant topic of conversation among the aggrochat crew and friends.  Each time a new tidbit of story was released it would start rampant speculation as to where the story might be going.  As we made our way through the current patches content, I think it is safe to say that none of us could have guessed how this would have ended.

As the credits rolled on the conclusion of the 2.0 storyline... the first reaction is that you absolutey have to talk to someone about it.  This week we do a complete no holds barred spoiler filled romp through the Final Fantasy XIV storyline to date, talking about its conclusion and some of the elements from previous patches that might play into the future of the Heavensward expansion.  If you have not reached the climax of this story arc, then I highly suggest you file this show away and return to it later.  During most shows we try really hard not to directly spoil any content, and we will be returning to that next week.  This week...  we need to get this out of our systems, and if you have finished the storyline, chances are you do too.

Tonight we have a bit of an unusual show considering that for the majority of the week we thought this was going to be the Bel and Ash show.  Kodra is prepping for his move to Seattle and as such flew out this weekend to look at housing options.  Tam is playing host which took them both out of the equation.  Rae on the other hand is travelling and visiting friends over the extended weekend.  Thankfully our long time friend and AggroChat.com poster Thalen was willing to step in and offer his services.  Tonight we talk about a whole slew of topics ranging from epic dungeons and dragons sessions, to the lengths we have gone to in order to get just the right outfit in a game we are playing.

Some of the games we touched upon:  World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, Axiom Verge, Darkest Dungeon, Shin Megami Tensei IV as well as covering some of our favorite April Fools Day jokes from the past week.  Hopefully the show is as enjoyable to listen to as it was to record.

Tonight was the night for our second AggroChat Game Club game review, and for those who might not remember during our first Game Club show we chose Trine 2 for the March game of the month.  Our views on the game ranged from really enjoying it, to mixed to not really liking it at all.  We talk about this exceptionally pretty game and what we liked and disliked about it.  We also delve a little bit into our April game pick, and talk about a few of the things we played this week.  It is a bit of a short show since Trine 2 itself is a bit of a limited game.

Tonight we are joined by our normal cast of Belghast, Rae, Tam, Kodra and Ashgar as we devote the majority of the show to lots of different things Final Fantasy.  We talk the release of the Final Fantasy XV Demo and how this has sent Tam back into the 90s.  We talk Final Fantasy Type-0 and how we are enjoying this very different Final Fantasy Offering.  We also talk about how the Final Fantasy franchise going to more "on rails" games turned several of us off the franchise for awhile.  Ashgar beats Ori and the Blind Forest and talks a bit about his feelings regarding the ending.  Tam talks about his enjoyment of Dreamfall Chapters and how it isn't really required that one has played the previous games.  Rae talks about her new Noms website, where they plan on making a recipe a week and reflecting on what the various authors think of it. 

I talk about my current funk with my World of Warcraft raid and how the frustrations there are harshing my enjoyment.  We also delve into a deep session once again where we talk about the differences bertween WoW and FFXIV raiding.  We also have a session of "Tam Told us So" now that the news about crafting specialization has taken some of the focus away from us all becoming Omni Crafters.  I talk about my return lately to Elder Scrolls Online and the conversion to a Buy To Play system.  I talk about a game I did not expect to like but find myself begrudgingly enjoying, and that is ZMR:  Zombies Monsters Robots.  Finally we close out the show with some discussion about the League Championship Series and the introduction of the new roaming support champion... Bard.