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WoW Insider Show Episode 79: Argently competing
We had a great time as usual last weekend on the podcast -- Dan O'Halloran and BigRedKitty joined me on the WoW Insider Show, and we chatted about the most popular stories in WoW from the last week. We answered your emails, including how to fill up your guild with quality raiders and what kinds of things you can do to make leveling an alt easier (including not leveling an alt at all).And of course we talked 3.1 -- a little bit of class changes, lots of information about the new dual spec system, what the equipment manager is like (and what it can do for you), Ulduar and the bosses we've seen so far, and finally, the Argent Tournament: what we know and what we don't know just yet. And of course we updated folks on Turpster's new song (almost done, but not quite mastered yet), and on our drive to get over 9000 Twitter followers. If you aren't following us yet, head over to Twitter and hit follow so we can hit our goal and do a video podcast.Was a fun show to make, and hopefully you'll have just as much fun listening to it. We'll see you next week.Update: As promised, here's BRK's intro in mp3 form. No idea what you all wanted it for, but there you go.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
WoW Insider Show live this afternoon on Ustream
Our podcast returns yet again this afternoon -- we'll be live for your listening enjoyment over on the Ustream page at 3:30pm Eastern as always. This time around, we'll be joined by our illustrious Managing Editor Dan O'Halloran, and (assuming that he's not too busy launching shuttles into space) our good friend BRK will also be making an appearance. And of course Turpster and I will be on as well -- we'll be chatting about all of the news out of patch 3.1, including the undocumented changes and the new dual spec and gear management systems in the game. And I'm sure the Argent Tournament will make an appearance as well.Whew. If you guessed it would be a busy show, you're probably right. Plus, if all goes according to plan (I know Turpster is having some issues with some of the musicians he's hired), we will hopefully have the new song all ready to play for you, as the reward for hitting 4,000 fans on our Facebook page. And don't forget that our Twitter challenge is still ongoing -- if we can get "over 9000" followers on our Twitter account, we'll do a video version of the podcast. So join Twitter (if you haven't yet) and get all of your friends to follow us as well!Should be a good time. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern, or 20:30 GMT, or whatever time that is in your neck of the woods, either over on the Ustream page or right here on the feed after the break. Talk to you then.
A kind-of-sort-of Ulduar preview
Our intrepid YouTube adventurer Dan O'Halloran found this video posted back on the 5th of January this year detailing the Ulduar raid zone thus far. It was made using private server technology, and contains heavy spoilers. You've been warned.When you watch the video you'll notice that much of it is incomplete. Large areas are nothing more than gray swaths with no content in them. This is intentional and normal – the areas just are not developed yet.However there are areas which are vibrant and high quality. Parts of the place resemble (as expected) the ancient gods look to it. The place could (and will) be sitting right next to the Halls of Lightning.Take a watch through the video when you have a moment today. And don't forget to check out the previews of the Tier 8 gear MMO-Champion is offering.Update 7:38 p.m. EST: Looks like Blizzard had YouTube take the video down.
WoW Insider Show Episode 70: The year that was
It was a great time as always this weekend on our podcast -- Dan O'Halloran, Adam Holisky and I all went on the virtual airwaves to talk about WoW's extra half-million players, answer lots of reader emails, and run through the top 10 posts of 2008 (along with a little insight on how they came together and what was really popular on the site this year). It was a lot of fun to make, and hopefully you'll enjoy listening to it as well.Plus, this show was our first with a fanmade intro -- big thanks to Mialoha on Hydraxis for stepping up and being first. We've got a few more in the buffer, but if you'd like to make an intro to the show (and do a shoutout to your guild, toss in a plug for your own website, or just say something funny about Turpster), all you need to do is record an mp3, and email it to our email address: theshow@wow.com. That is, of course, also the place to send any questions, comments, or what have you for us.It was great to put a capper on 2008, but we'll be back next Saturday at 3:30pm Eastern over on Ustream as always (and the T tells me he'll be back) with yet another 52 shows about WoW Insider and World of Warcraft. See you then.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
Year-ending WoW Insider Show live this afternoon
Our podcast will be live once again this afternoon (3:30 pm eastern), and since it's been a relatively slow week with the holiday and all, we're going to spend today's show looking back at the top 10 posts of the last year. Co-lead Dan O'Halloran will be on board with us, as will Adam Holisky, and unless Turpster is still in too much of a haze from his holiday festivities last week, he should be around as well. Should be a great time.If you want to join us, feel free -- we'll be live over on Ustream at 3:30pm Eastern (and I've also embedded the feed right after the break on this very post). As always, you can email us as well, at theshow@wow.com (and that's also the place to send your intros, as we said on last week's show -- we've gotten a few amazing ones already, so you'll hear our first one on the show today). And if you do stop by the show, make sure to save some time to stay afterwards, as we've been doing a quick, exclusive aftershow after we stop the usual recordings.We'll see you this afternoon for the very last WoW Insider Show of 2008, and a look at the most popular posts on the site over the last 12 months.
WoW Insider Show Episode 64: Wrath of the Launch King
This past week on our podcast, Wrath was the topic -- getting it, playing it, loving it, hating it. Our own co-lead Dan O'Halloran and rogue blogger Chase Christian joined us, and we talked Wrath of the Lich King. Dan was at the midnight launch in Anaheim, so we asked him about that -- not only were there about 2000 people (and 100 Blizzard employees there), but there was a bubble sword and a hot dog-on-a-stick stand, so listen in for that. And we talked about what the starting zones were like (including two don't-miss quests in Howling Fjord) and our main annoyances with the game so far (none of which include, surprisingly, lag -- despite the queues, Blizzard has really kept the game alive).And we answered emails, including whether a listener should play through his Warlock or Death Knight, and the perils of going after Mr. Pinchy. Don't forget, if you'd like to send us email, the address is theshow AT wow.com -- drop a note, and you might hear it live on the show next Saturday, which we'll stream right on our Ustream page.And finally, we're back up and running at full steam -- as of right now, every way you need to listen to the show should be completely fixed and functioning. So if you've got iTunes, head over to our iTunes page to subscribe to the show and make sure to leave a review while you're there. Or, you can even listen to the show right over there on our sidebar -- you'll get a new show there every Monday.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
WoW Insider Show live tomorrow at 3:30pm Eastern
It's that time of the week again, and even though Wrath is out and we're all playing up a storm, we'll be taking some time out of our schedule to put out our weekly podcast, the WoW Insider Show, and you should come join us. We'll be live on Ustream tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern (time zone calculator), and this week, we'll welcome the site's other co-lead blogger, Dan O'Halloran on with us -- he was live on the scene in Anaheim with Blizzard and about a thousand fans during the launch, and he got to talk to Tom Chilton, so we'll get him to tell us all about that. And Chase Christian, who writes the Encrypted Text rogue column, will be joining us as well to talk about his experiences from 70-72 so far. Additionally, we'll be chatting about Blizzard issues with server downtime and how they've fared post-launch so far (very well, I think, queues notwithstanding), and we'll talk about that first to 80 player and all of our other experiences in Northrend over the past few days.Should be a terrific show, definitely tune in on Ustream, or just come right back to this post, as we've embedded the stream after the break. If you've got a question for the show or something you'd like us to talk about, just drop a note: our email address is the show AT wowinsider dot com. And of course we'll be on for our usual aftershow -- after the show ends, we turn off the recording and chat directly with the people in the channel, so if you haven't listened live before, there's a great reason to tune in tomorrow. See you there!
Dell announces machinima contest to win a XPS M1730 WoW Edition laptop
Earlier today, I posted a huge roundup of links to get you started on your first machinima, or just polish your current work. The reason behind that post was to announce the incredible contest that Dell is having! They're offering up not one, but two systems as prizes, but I'm getting ahead of myself. WoW Insider is lucky enough to have two of their staffers, Dan O'Halloran and myself, as judges for this event.How to enter: Download the Dell XPS asset package from their site. Create a World of Warcraft machinima under 3 minutes long that features their system. Upload the video to YouTube and put it in this post on their forum. The submission deadline is September 23rd, 2008 by 11:59pm EST. The prizes: Grand Prize: Dell XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition laptop Second Prize: Alienware desktop, Dell monitor, and Logitech gaming mouse, keyboard, and surround sound system Third Prize: Complete first series of World of Warcraft action figures, plus a Logitech gaming mouse and keyboard Read on for the fine print and some things you should know before entering ...
WoW Insider is at E3 this week
We're not expecting very much WoW news out of E3 this week (especially since Blizzard has taken a pass on the event), but nevertheless, my co-lead Dan O'Halloran and I are here in Los Angeles for the week (and we brought all of our coolest stuff), to see what we can see. And of course if we see anything related to Azeroth at all, you'll see it, too.Activision Blizzard is planning a press conference on Tuesday evening, and we'll be there for sure, so keep an eye out for that. And we'll be paying attention to WoW competitors as well (Warhammer Online is set to make a big splash at E3, though the recent news that Mythic is cutting the game back a bit may overshadow any other announcements) -- our sister site Massively will have coverage of any and all MMOs at the show this year. And on Thursday, I'm getting a hands-on demo with the Novint Falcon, so we'll see if it controls WoW as well as they say it does. And if you're one of those who wants to see the big picture, Joystiq's E3 page has all the E3 news you need and then some.It won't be all work there -- we'll also be at the big Joystiq meetup on Thursday, so if you're in LA and want to come by and say hi, please do (I'll try to wear my BlizzCon t-shirt so you can find me). For us WoW fans, the big events of the year are the Worldwide Invitational and BlizzCon, of course, but WoW Insider's got you covered at E3, too.
WoW Insider Show Episode 28: Lifetap, Lifebloom and online antics
The 28th episode of the WoW Insider Show included myself, blogger Amanda Dean, Druid columnist John Patricelli and Turpster in an hour of lively discussion on this week's hot topics. Stories covered included: The debate raged on over when, or even if, is it acceptable to go afk without notice? The latest rollbacks on the PTR for Warlocks and Shaman and why players shouldn't be ready to quit over temporary tests on that server Blizzard so cleverly dubbed the Test server. The effects of the Lifebloom nerf and how Blizzard may have not seen the results they were looking for. Amanda Dean talks about introducing her Mom (hi Amanda's Mom!) to WoW and how she is handling her first few levels in Azeroth Each participant on the show gave their personal opinion on what playable race they would choose if a new one were introduced to the game. If you missed the show, there are plenty of ways for you to listen today including the Flash player on the WoW Radio site, free iTunes download or mp3 file. And you can listen in live every Saturday at 3:30p ET on WoW Radio.[Listen] to this week's show.[iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.[RSS] Get your favorite reader in on the fun.
WoW Insider Show live this afternoon
The WoW Insider Show is live this afternoon at 3:30pm ET on WC Radio. I'll be leading the hour along with Druid columnist John Patricelli (aka Big Bear Butt Blogger), Amanda Dean and the always-inappropriate Turpster. We'll be talking about the hot issues surrounding WoW this week including the recent rollbacks of the Warlock Lifetap nerf on the PTR, the back and forth on Druid Lifebloom and more.Join us live for all that plus reader mail (you can send it in right now at theshow@wow.com). You can also participate through the IRC channel #wowradio on irc.mmoirc.com. It all starts at 3:30pm ET and doesn't end until we've alienated half the listeners!
About the Bloggers: Dan O'Halloran
What do you do for WoW Insider?I'm one of the Lead Writers of the site. Which is fancy talk for a lot of behind the scenes administrative work. But the fun part is I get to hire writers as well as oversee a staff of exceptionally talented people who not only are passionate about the game, but who also know how to put words together in a coherent and entertaining fashion. And occasionally I get to test drive $5k laptops for a few brief, but glorious weeks. Not a bad gig if you can swing it.What's your main right now?My main is my very first character in the game, a Druid. I was Resto for the first 60 levels. Hey, don't knock it, Feral wasn't really an option pre-BC. But with the arrival of Burning Crusade (which, yes, I stood in line at midnight for) I went Feral and never looked back except for a brief flirtation with Moonkin spec in my mid-60s. I can currently be found switching specs between Feral and Resto as needed by my group, but I mainly like to be in cat form.For the Horde or Glory to the Alliance?Alliance, thanks.Favorite thing to do in Azeroth?Run a 5-man with my friends. I've been playing MMOs with this group on a regular basis after we met in EverQuest 8 years ago (taking out the trash in Unrest!). They are a joy to work with. Not because they are particularly talented players, but because they don't care if we wipe, accidentally pull the whole room or forget to bring a much needed reagent. We take gaming for what it is: fun. But, boy, they're hell on my repair bill.
WoW Insider Show Episode 18: New Year's resolutions
Dan O'Halloran, Turpster, and I all sat down for the 18th episode of the WoW Insider Show (and we got circular for the end of the year, since we had the same cast on the very first show), and it is now available for listening over on WoW Radio's website. We chatted about: Marcie's new raid healing column, and our new hardcore raiding content The big Ron Paul rally scheduled for tomorrow afternoon If summoning stones need neutral guards (they do not) and how mining will get easier We also talked about our suggested battle cries for the Alliance (my favorite is still "Grab Your Sword and Fight the Horde," and finally someone made a Tshirt for me-- thanks, Arek!-- but we found a lot of support for "You No Take Candle!" so I guess it's up to the Alliance what they like best). And we shared our New Year's resolutions for 2008-- Turpster's resolution is 1680x1050 (funny guy), Dan resolved to try some PvP, I resolved to play my good old Night Elf Hunter more, and see if I can't have a look at some high level content from the Alliance side.Definitely check out the show if you're bored while off work tomorrow, and don't forget-- we do this show live on WoW Radio every Saturday afternoon, so be sure to listen in again this coming Saturday at 3:30pm EST.
WoW Insider Show goes live this afternoon
Yes, it seems like the week flew by, but it's that time again-- the WoW Insider Show is going live on WoW Radio this afternoon at 3:30pm EST. This week, myself and Dan O'Halloran from WoW Insider are at the helm from our side, and from WoW Radio... well, we're not sure if Turpster's going to be on or not. No matter who shows up, it's sure to be a good time-- we'll be chatting about political figures making appearances in Azeroth, how to make mining and other gathering easier, and what's going on during the New Year's holiday next week (not to mention our own personal New Year's resolutions).So join us this afternoon, won't you? You can listen live at 3:30pm EST on WoW Radio, and be sure to fire up your IRC client as well to join us in #wowradio at irc.mmoirc.org. See you there.
