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The Daily Grind: When has a beta left you hungry for more?
I'm going to be completely honest and say that I logically have no real need for the Final Fantasy XIV beta any longer. I know enough about the game that I'm ready to jump in once open beta rolls around, I don't doubt that I'll enjoy the relaunch, and everything else I do is just going to be wiped away. So I find myself thinking that really, I can pass on taking part in the testing. Except every time another weekend approaches I find myself ready to jump right back into Eorzea because what I have played has just made me want more. The mark of a good beta isn't just that it allows you to provide feedback on broken parts but that it gets you excited about all the stuff that is working. There's an element of enthusiasm to this phase of testing, a desire to keep playing and keep trying new things. So today I ask, when has a beta left you hungry for more? When has the version of the game that isn't ready for launch made you feel a desire for the launch edition more keenly? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET: WWDC wish list/preview, and a whole new way to call
All-new dial-in experience! See below -- do not call into Talkshoe, we won't be there. The cone of silence ahead of WWDC is beginning to crack -- Mac Pro stocks getting lean, laptop rumors percolating, a new low-end iPod touch showing up... and of course everyone is eager to see what Jonny Ive's been working on in his underground, impeccably decorated laboratories. Tonight at 10pm, bring your best guesses and wish lists for a fun time on the Talkcast. There might even be a bulletin from Kelly's House of Crackpot Theories! In honor of the new month, we're trying a new way to connect on the Talkcast. With some help from the fine folks at Fuze, we're going to be leveraging a Fuze meeting room to record the show. This should let everyone listen in live -- and, if you want, raise your hand as you would in the Talkshoe room to get unmuted and chime in. Here's how it's going to work: You can join the call in progress (meeting # is 20099010) at 10 pm ET from any computer via this link; if you download the Mac or Windows Fuze clients ahead of time, you'll get better audio and a slicker experience, but browser-only will work fine. Using an iPhone or iPad? Grab the native clients from the App Store and get busy. (Even Android users can join the party.) Still feel like using the conventional phone dial-in? Just call 775-996-3562 and enter the meeting number 20099010, then press #. While the Fuze web and native clients have a chat channel, we'd like to reserve that for host participants, requests to talk and other real-time alerts... so the full-on chat for the show will appear in this very post at 10 pm tonight. You'll need Twitter, Facebook or Chatroll credentials to participate in the chat. We'll remind everyone to check back in at that time. This is an experiment, of course, so your patience and forbearance is appreciated in advance. For the time being, the podcast feed of the show will continue to originate from Talkshoe and should be there within 24-36 hours. See you tonight!
The Mog Log: Can't hardly wait edition
While our column last week was all about Final Fantasy XI, we're turning this week to Final Fantasy XIV and the release date that is approaching oh so quickly. But not quickly enough. Somehow knowing that it's just around the corner in September just makes the interim that much harder. I mean, we have to go through how many more weeks of the agonizing anticipation? At least it gets released after PAX, so I won't have to worry about the timing of that with traveling out to Seattle, but holy wow guys the game is coming out in two months. If it weren't already wholly obvious, I'm pretty excited. The game is shaping up to be amazing by every standard I care to use, and the fact that it's this close to release is unexpectedly wonderful news. But while I would have happily discussed some of the release details last week, there were other events that needed attention first. Now that I can sit back down and take a closer look, however, there were a couple parts that really stood out to me. I mean, even beyond the squealing joy of its oncoming release.
The best of WoW.com: December 8-15, 2009
Patch 3.3 is out in the World of Warcraft, and the game is experiencing a new influx of excitement. The new Dungeon Finder system means almost anyone can jump into an instance whenever they want, and new raiding and 5-man content means players are off and questing again. Just in case you're wondering what this new patch is all about, WoW.com has you covered. Hit the links after the break for our top 10 posts of the past week, and head on over to the site for up-to-date information about the the World of Warcraft.
Dungeon Finder reactions from players
The long-awaited Dungeon Finder is finally out on the servers, and people have had a few days with it now, so let's jump in and gauge some early reactions. Overall, it seems to be a big hit -- tanks and healers are jumping into groups right away, and while we've heard of longer waits for DPS, it doesn't seem bad at all. While of course the initial flood of people brought instance servers down (I'd expect to see the same thing happen during peak time this weekend), everything seems to be working well since then: disenchanters are correctly dropping items out, loot is getting distributed correctly, and groups are doing what they were always supposed to do: rake in the badges and rewards for players. Hots and Dots actually has a long take on the Dungeon Finder, including "15 Things You Should Know," like that tanks and healers are still as important as ever (if you sign up for DPS and another role, you likely won't be doing DPS), and that we're finding out very quickly just how skilled or knowledgeable people really are ("the Party Leader will be forced to confess midway [through] that they actually know nothing about the instance").
Poll: Are you looking forward to WoTLK more than you looked forward to Burning Crusade?
So recently, Tobold was saying that excitement around Wrath of the Lich King is visibly much less than the excitement that led up to the release of Burning Crusade. People are tired out by the 2 year wait, WoW isn't innovating, WoW isn't adding the content fast enough: there's just so many reasons that the Wrath of the Lich King is being greeted with ennui instead of excitement. My first thought upon reading that: Wait, people aren't excited over WoTLK?
Breakfast Topic: Looking forward to Wrath (revisited)
Just a week and a half or so ago, we wanted to know what you were most looking forward to in Wrath of the Lich King, and then last Friday we heard about umpteen million new things about Wrath. So we should probably ask again: considering what we learned last week, now what are you most excited about for the next expansion?New talents solidly won the poll last time around (and unfortunately, it one of the thing we haven't heard much about yet -- besides the Warlock hints, Blizzard hasn't said much about what classes will be able to do in the next ten levels), but surely the 10/25 man news (that we've been talking about all weekend) will get some more folks excited about the raids. And personally, I'm much more excited about siege engines than I was before Friday -- I previously thought it would only be a few quests in Lake Wintergrasp, but from what we heard, siege engines and multi-person mounts are going to become a big part of life all over Azeroth.So how's your outlook on Wrath of the Lich King looking now? Are you still waiting to hear about those new talents, or did all that news on Friday pique your interest in something else? What are you most excited about for the next expansion?
Found Footage: Conan on iChat
If you're a dedicated Conan watcher, you'll know that Conan O'Brien's normal bandleader, Max Weinberg, is often out on the road playing on tour with Bruce Springsteen, and away from the show for long periods of time. Conan misses Weinberg as much as we do, apparently, and so last night he decided to get back in touch with none other than Apple's own iChat video conferencing.Sure enough, it's not a fake -- while there are lots of audio and video cables coming off of Conan's MacBook Pro, when they show the desktop (Leopard) and later on bring in a third person, you can see that it really is iChat, running as normal -- the cables are likely just to grab the audio and video for the broadcast.Unfortunately, this also shows off iChat's limits -- while the technology is cool, it won't necessarily make the people you call any more interested in talking. Odds are that "drummerboymax08" isn't that interested in chatting with you either.Thanks, Sabi! Video via Macenstein
Holiday with Wii
Consoles and games are always a popular gift during the holidays, and as we saw yesterday at DS Fanboy, the reactions are often as good as -- or even better! -- than the gifts themselves. Well, if people got so excited about getting a DS, how must they have felt about the highly elusive, often-unavailable Wii? Thanks to a number of videos uploaded to YouTube this week, we can share in the holiday joy of several lucky new Wii owners.
