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WoW Insider Show Episode 77: The Lady Factor
We had a great time on the WoW Insider Show this past weekend -- Turpster and I welcomed back Michael Sacco (formerly known as Belfaire on the official forums and now a blogger here on WoW Insider) and manly man Matthew Rossi to talk about what's coming up in patch 3.0.9, what we thought of the dual spec news we heard last week, and our progress (or lack thereof, apparently) on the Love is in the Air event. We also answered lots of emails from listeners, and speculated on what Blizzard's future release schedule might look like.And a huge thanks to all of our listeners for hitting 4,000 fans on our Facebook page -- Turpster's song is coming soon (hopefully next week), and as a mini-reward this week, by request, here's a downloadable version of Sammy T's great "Meat of the Show" song (just right-click save as, and if you do anything with it, be sure to let us know).Our next goal has to do with our Twitter page -- as we announced on the show, if we can get "over 9000" Twitter followers there, we'll do a video version of our podcast, either with ingame video or Turpster and me on camera ourselves. So tell your friends and Twitter followers to check us out over there. Enjoy the show, and we'll see you as always next week.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 afternoon on Ustream
We've got a good show planned on the podcast tomorrow afternoon: we'll welcome back Michael Sacco (formerly "Belfaire" on the official Blizzard forums), and, after long last, we're welcoming Matthew Rossi back onto the show -- we just couldn't ignore the demand after he posted that badass picture of himself the other day. And speaking of pictures, the pic above is put together by Michael at Galefire, from Turpster's little illustration we posted last week. How awesome is that?We'll talk about all the biggest stories of the past week, including patch 3.0.9, the dual spec news, and the Love is in the Air event. Our Facebook page is less than 100 fans away from our goal of 4,000, so odds are that the new Turpster song is really close. And as usual, we'll answer your emails and hold our unofficial pre-show and aftershow, so be sure to come a little early and stay a little late. It all starts at 3:30pm Eastern tomorrow (20:30 GMT) over on Ustream, and we've also put the streaming dealy below the cut on this post, too, so you can just click through below to listen and chat if you happen to be around. See you there!
When AFK attacks redux
Matthew Rossi's triumphant tale about his wife's taming of the elusive Loque'nahak, otherwise known as the Death Star pet, reminded me of a similar scenario that happened with a guildie. This time, it was nowhere near as peaceful, nowhere near as innocent, but every bit as triumphant. See, my guildie, a Shadow Priest, had been looking for the Time-Lost Proto Drake in the Storm Peaks for almost a month. Every day, he'd log on and spend a few hours circling the rare mob's known path hoping to get the Reins of the Time-Lost Proto Drake. As the mob is guaranteed to drop the mount, he wasn't the only one on the hunt. One day, though, he got lucky and finally spotted the fantastic creature... except that it was already tagged by a Gnome Death Knight. Instinctively, he did what any red-blooded member of the Horde would do. He Mind Controlled the Gnome, used him to tank the drake, and when the drake was low on life, tossed the Death Knight off the edge of a cliff. One Shadow Word: Death and a hearthstone later, the priest was in Krasus' Landing sitting atop his pretty green drake.
Naxxramas optimization
Crygil posted an important announcement last night concerning the lag and associated performance issues in Naxxramas. Blizzard has made some recent optimizations to Naxx, and they want to know what all of our experiences are like in the instance this week. As such, they're asking everyone to post feedback in terms of performance in the thread over on the official forums.Now by performance I don't think they mean "My pocket Paladin can't tank." What they're looking for are detailed reports such as "When I was attempting to do the Heigan dance, my entire group lagged behind a good 5 to 10 seconds. We decided to go and raid Hogger after we wiped for six hours in a row." Or "The Ice Block appeared after Frost Breath when my guild was taking down Sapphiron because of the 30 second lag."Matt Rossi wrote a great piece yesterday on the need for designing the fights around latency. Hopefully this will become less of an issue as Blizzard works out their backend mechanics; and it appears this change is a major step forward.
WoW Insider Show Episode 67: Rating the rep rewards
This past week on the WoW Insider Show, we were thrilled to welcome our friend Michael Zenke of Massively.com -- in addition to his experiences in Wrath so far, we talked with him about a few other MMOs WoW players might be interested in this holiday season. Matthew Rossi was also on, and he brought his terrific insight on Warriors, Death Knights, Shamans, and itemization for pretty much all of the classes in the new expansion. And we welcomed back our old friend Turpster to the show -- you didn't think he'd be gone for long, did you?It was a good time, so good in fact that we had trouble reeling ourselves in to finish in time. But we hit on all sorts of subjects, including a look at the reputations in Wrath and what their best rewards are (the Oracles' Mysterious Egg is great), and we even got a short chat in about whether there's still a tanking shortage or not (the good news: there mostly isn't). You can follow any or all of the links below to listen to the show in its entirety (and do subscribe in iTunes if you use that -- you'll get the show automatically every week).We'll be back live next week as usual, 3:30pm Eastern on Ustream. In the meantime, if you have a comment, question, or tip for the show, send it along to theshow@wow.com, and you might hear us talking about it then. Enjoy this week's podcast!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 back live tomorrow afternoon
It seems like a long time since we've done our live podcast, and that's because it has been -- we talked to Felicia Day last week, but the interview was taped because of the holiday. So tomorrow afternoon, we're happy that we'll be back live over at Ustream to record our weekly podcast. On the docket tomorrow, we've invited Michael Zenke of our sister site Massively (it's like our site, but for all MMOs) -- he was kind enough to invite us on their podcast the other week, so we're returning the favor, and he'll be on to talk about what he thinks of Wrath so far (and we may even get in some MMO comparing, just in time for the gift season). Matthew Rossi will also be on board to talk about that Blacksmithing bug, and we'll have some good tips for reputation gear that all classes should be seeking out ASAP.The show starts at 3:30pm Eastern (time zone converter) over on our Ustream page, or we've even embedded the feed right after the break, so just come back here and you'll be able to listen, chat, take part in our polls, and join in on all of the fun live. And if you have a question or comment for the show already, just email it to us: theshow@wow.com is the address, and anything you send in, be they questions, comments, or whatever, might just end up on the show tomorrow afternoon.If you can't make it, the new show will be out in iTunes and here on the site Monday morning, so you won't miss the show itself. But you might miss our aftershow -- we've been hanging out for a few minutes after we turn the recording off, so if you can tune in live, please do so, and you'll have an exclusive chance to talk to us directly after the broadcast. See you then!
WoW Insider Show Episode 65: Death Knight moves
This week's show was a humdinger -- our own Matthew Rossi (author of our Shaman and Warrior columns) and Daniel Whitcomb (who writes the Death Knight class column), so we've got some terrific discussion for your up-and-coming Death Knights out there. We talked about whether they were OP, and how they're going to fit into our groups and raids, both as tanks and DPS. We also answered emails as usual (including a good one about voice acting in the game, and how the "umbrella factions" in Northrend work), and we talked about how much money Blizzard made last week, and those new commercials (which I just saw on TV the other day).We had a great time making the show, and hopefully you'll have as good a time listening to it. As always, you can hit up any (or all) of the outlets below (and if you like the show, please do post a short review in iTunes, we'll appreciate it), or just press play right over on the sidebar (you'll find a new one there every morning).Finally a reminder: we won't have a live show next week (November 29th) due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but we will have a new episode this week, featuring Felicia Day from The Guild as a special guest. She'll be on to talk about season 2 of her show, their big deal with Microsoft, and everything else WoW as usual. Stay tuned -- we'll post that one as soon as it's ready.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 going live on Ustream this afternoon
Our podcast hits the virtual airwaves again this afternoon, and it's going to be a good one -- Matthew Rossi, our tanking titan, will be on the show, as will Daniel Whitcomb, one of our bloggers and author of the new Lichbourne Death Knight column. We'll talk about Wrath, of course -- where we're leveling and how things are going so far, and how Death Knights are integrating into the game, both as tanks and DPS. And we'll talk about Wrath's difficulty and whether it's too easy or not, the new commercials, and the fact that Blizzard made lots and lots of money last week.And as usual we'll answer your emails (you can email us at theshow AT wowinsider dot com), and we'll have an aftershow after the show where you can chat directly with Rossi and Whitcomb. Should be a great time -- it starts up in just about two hours from now on our Ustream page, or you can jump onto the stream embedded right after the break. See you there!
15 Minutes of Fame: Badger Badger Badger
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.... mushroom, mushroom. So why have we just bombed you with this tired yet perversely persistent earworm? Because like the proverbial mushroom, WoW Insider reader Badger has kinda grown on us, unanimously capturing the enthusiastic accolades of the WI staff when we decided to feature a WI reader/commenter on 15 Minutes of Fame. We discovered that fellow WI bloggers keep their eyes peeled for Badger comments on their posts because he's warm, funny, thoughtful ... All the traits that make other readers (and us!) want to pause to engage in a little World of Warchat.So Badger, this is your 15 Minutes of Fame – but not before we carve out a few seconds for the other readers our staff felt deserve a WoW Insider shout-out: Angus Manatank Tchernobyl J Parris Heilig Thanks, guys, and thanks to all our readers who help make WoW Insider a responsive, congenial community rather than a mere gaming information dump. We're glad you're reading -- and we're glad you're joining the conversation, too.
WoW Insider Show Episode 61: Filling the achievement tank
Here's episode number 61 of the WoW Insider Show, recorded last Saturday over on our Ustream page. On the show last week, we welcomed WoW Insider's Matthew Rossi back to the virtual airwaves, along with blogger Amanda Dean and our good friend Duncor of WoW Radio. And we talked a little more about achievements and which ones we liked the most, what was going on with all the zombie action, and of course since Rossi was around, we churned up some good discussion about what's up with Warriors, other tanks, and Shamans since the big Wrath patch.Lots of people have been asking questions about how to get the show, so after the break, I've included an exhaustive guide to how you can get our show nowadays. I apologize to everyone who's had problems so far -- obviously, with the switch from WoW Radio, we've had to deal with some tech roadblocks, but if you check after the break, you should find a way to listen to the show that fits what you want to do.Thanks for listening -- we'll be back as always next week![Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Or listen to Episode 61 right here:
WoW Insider Show live tomorrow afternoon
Another big show on the podcast tomorrow -- this week we'll welcome back Matthew "Who needs a shirt?" Rossi, who hasn't been on with us for a while. And since he's on, you know we'll be talking about tanking and Shamans, specifically what things are like in patch 3.0.2. Amanda Dean will also join us, and we'll chat with her about how Hallow's End is going so far, and what else she's been up to in game. And while Turpster is off at a wedding this weekend, Duncor from WoW Radio has kindly agreed to join us, so we'll chat with him about his experiences at BlizzCon, the "zompocalypse," and what else might be in store for the big world event going on.Plus, we'll get some talk in about achievements, since we still need to give out that loot card from last week, and we'll have the usual good times, including checking out your emails (feel free to send them to theshow at wowinsider dot com) and putting a few polls in. Don't forget, the action all takes place over on our Ustream channel (I've embedded a stream after the break), and the show kicks off promptly at 3:30pm Eastern. You can use this handy time zone converter to figure out when that is in your neck of the woods.Should be fun -- we'll see you right back here (and on the Ustream page) tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern.
WoW Insider Show, Episode 44: Live from Paris (kind of)
Excellent podcast this week, if I do say so myself. Last Saturday, right smack dab in the middle of the Worldwide Invitational, I took to the virtual airwaves with Duncor of WoW Radio, and Matthew Rossi and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli of WoW Insider, and we chatted about all of the news coming out of the Worldwide Invitational. On this show, which is now live on WoW Radio, you can hear us talk about: What Turpster is up to -- we talked live with him directly from Paris about what he thought of the convention and what he'd seen out there. The announcement of Diablo 3, and what is isn't (an MMO or a console game) All the class changes that we saw on Saturday, including Warriors' Titan's Grip, Shamans' Hex, and Warlocks' Demonform, and what they meant for each class. And finally, what Blizzard meant exactly by that little talent trees comment they threw in on one of the panels. It's a rip-roaring show, and no matter what you love to do in the World of Warcraft, Matthew, John and Duncor definitely hit on a topic that will interest you. Definitely give it a listen, and don't forget to subscribe in iTunes if you want to get the podcast sent to you automatically every week.Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to hit on any email because of all the amazing WWI news, but that's OK, because we'll just talk about twice as much of it next week. If you want to ask a question or have a comment for us, drop us a note at theshow@wow.com, and you might even hear it on next week's show. We do this every Saturday at 3:30pm over on WoW Radio, so tune in next week to hear more commentary and insight about all the news from the last week of WoW.
WoW Insider Show special WWI '08 edition going live
A special Worldwide Invitational edition of the WoW Insider Show is about to go live over on WoW Radio in just a few minutes -- myself, John "BigBearButt" Patricelli, Matthew Rossi, and Duncor from WoW Radio will be live on the air talking about all the announcements we heard at WWI '08 this afternoon, and we'll be speaking live with Turpster all the way from the convention in Paris about what he's seen. Subjects of discussion will include Diablo 3, everything we heard at the two dev panels today (Titan's Grip! Two talent trees! Pet talent trees!), as well as all the other news coming out of WWI.We're also chatting live on IRC with players and listeners -- join us in the #wowradio channel at irc.mmoirc.com. And you can email us any questions you have (for us or Turpster in Paris), at theshow@wow.com. Should be a great show. Come join us right now over on the WoW Radio website.Update: Show's over and we covered pretty much everything (and got some good info from Turpster). Keep an eye on the site -- there will be a recording posted on WoW Radio later this weekend and on WoW Insider next week. And if you missed the show, you can always subscribe to it in iTunes and get the new one whenever it comes out.
WoW Insider Show goes live (from Paris, kind of) tomorrow
Tomorrow's podcast is going to be a big one -- not only am I back on the air after being away last week, but Matthew Rossi and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli are both going to join me, Duncor the Dependable will likely be on from WoW Radio, and oh yeah -- by the podcast tomorrow, we'll know what the hell Blizzard has been hinting at for the past week. And there's more: not only will we be talking at length both about what Blizzard announces tomorrow and also what they don't announce, but we've got an ace in the hole: Turpster is live in Paris at the Worldwide Invitational right now, and if we can get our telegraph machine working correctly, we'll have a live-on-the-spot report from the T himself. He'll probably be drunk on French wine, but still, he'll give us a Turps-eye-view of what's going down in the land of croissants.We'll probably also chat a little bit about Arena Season 4, as well as what's going on with the Midsummer Fire Festival, but my guess is that whatever Blizzard announces tomorrow will pretty much dominate the conversation. Tune in over on WoW Radio at 3:30pm Eastern for the very first audio words in what's going on in Paris.And as usually, we'll be answer your questions via email (theshow@wow.com), and chatting live on IRC at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel, so you can ask Turpster what France smells like (I'm guessing frog's legs and the burning fires of the revolution, but I've never been, so who knows). Tune in tomorrow to the WoW Insider Show for all the news that's fit to talk about on WWI '08!
WoW Insider Show Episode 42: Arena, addiction and Turpster's ding
Yes, we went live on the WoW Radio airwaves last weekend, and the recorded results are live on their site right now for your listening enjoyment. It was a full show -- Zach Yonzon came on to talk about Arena PvP, as did Amanda Dean (to defend her points from last week), and Matthew Rossi. Turpster was on as well, and if you weren't around on EU Sporeggar last weekend, you missed quite an event -- there were a ton of Gnomes and Dwarves who turned out to take down Turpster right as he dinged 70 on his Shadow Priest. Also on the show, we chatted about: The new Arena season -- why Zach things "L2P" isn't the biggest problem Hunters have in the Arena, what we're looking forward to with the new season, and why the timing on this season is actually just right PvE to PvP transfers and why Blizzard finally did them WoW addiction and exactly what we think of it A few things we've heard officially about the expansion -- the idea of Unified Spellpower, and what's up with Shamans. And finally, we answered email as usual from readers, including why I was completely wrong about the Gnome/Dwarf starting area, and what kind of good WoW and game-related music is out there to listen to. It was a good show -- a lot of fun to make, and hopefully a lot of fun to listen to. If you have a question or comment about the show, don't hesitate to email us: just drop a note to theshow@wow.com, and you might even hear it on the podcast. And if you haven't ever tuned in live to chat with us on IRC during the recording, mark your calendar: we do this live every Saturday at 3:30pm Eastern over on WoW Radio.Thanks for listening as always, and enjoy the show this week.
WoW Insider Show goes live tomorrow afternoon
Yes, It's almost Saturday yet again, and that means that our weekly podcast is going live on the airwaves of WoW Radio. This week on the show, Zach Yonzon just had to come on, because last week, apparently Amanda Dean said some things about Arena that he had to talk about. Amanda will be on to defend her position that Arena is broken, and Matthew Rossi will be in tow, possibly to keep the peace if we need him (probably not the best guy to do that, though -- he kind of likes a fight). And Turpster will join us as well -- he'll be promoting the big Dingstravaganza that he's hosting right after the show over on EU Sporeggar.We'll talk about WoW addiction, as well as the aforementioned Arena news (and oh yeah, some season 4 thing got announced), as well as everything we've learned about Wrath so far, and what's up with these PvE to PvP changes. You should never say never, but didn't Blizzard say never?And as usual we'll be answering your emails (theshow@wow.com is the address), and chatting live on IRC at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel. Tune in tomorrow at 3:30 Eastern on WoW Radio to hear this week's episode of the WoW Insider Show -- it's going to be a good one.
WoW Insider Show Episode 38: Lunatic edition live tomorrow
For tomorrow's WoW Insider Show (which you can hear live at 3:30pm EST on WoW Radio), the lunatics have taken over the asylum! Mike Scramm is on vacation, and he has left the show in the hands of John Patricelli (the Big Bear Butt) this one time. Since one chance is likely all I'm getting for this, we're pulling out all the stops by having the Turpster, Matt Rossi, AND Dan Whitcomb on hand to talk about all things hot in the news of WoW Insider from the last week. We'll of course be talking about Patch 2.4.2, the 'epicness' of ten manning Arthas in the upcoming expansion, changes to scare beast and growl, and the possibility of Wrath mounts with passengers. We may also be able to fit in some time to talk about the recent break up of the guild Death and Taxes. And as is the tradition on the WoW Insider Show, we'll have reader mail, which you can send to us at theshow@wow.com, and we'll be chatting in IRC as well at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel.It promises to be an experience, so make sure you don't miss it. Tune in tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, at 3:30pm EST over on WoW Radio. See you there.
WoW Insider Show Episode 34: Blizzard's listening in
Q: How many Warlocks does it take to change a lightbulb?A: Just one, but he needs two other people to click on it.Yes, that's the kind of quality humor that you'll hear on this week's podcast (and the best joke is right at the end of the show). It's now available for listening on WoW Radio and also in iTunes. This past Saturday, Turpster joined me, Eliah Hecht, and Matthew Rossi for a little discussion about all things WoW in the past week. We got in some good discussion about speccing as a mage and lots of other reader emails, as well as: A chat about just how much information Blizzard keeps about us Whether old world PvP nostalgia is just that, and what can happen with world PvP in the future Will Naxxaramas' migration to Northrend mean Tier 3 is going bye-bye? And we chatted about the "brutal" ratings required on Brutal Gladiator items in season 4, and why they're there. Plus of course instant feedback from the IRC channel, and the usual wackiness. If you liked the show or have a comment for us, feel free to send along a note to theshow@wow.com, and we might even read it next week live on the virtual air. Thanks for listening, enjoy the show.
WoW Insider Show live tomorrow afternoon on WoW Radio
The WoW Insider Show returns to the virtual airwaves tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm EST as usual, and this show is going to be a good one: not only will Turpster and I be on, but Eliah Hecht (he of the great Death Knight review posted recently) will appear via voice, as will the one and only Matthew Rossi. And we'll be chatting about all the news in the last week of Warcraft, including but not limited to that silly rabbit who tried to trick the GMs, Naxx maybe going bye-bye, and Chilton's nonsense about nostalgia.And we'll be answering your questions and queries as well -- you can email the show at theshow@wow.com, or just join us live in IRC over at irc.mmoirc.com. Listen live tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 pm EST over on WoW Radio -- with Rossi and Hecht on, it's sure to be a barnburner.
WoW Insider is back, HKO Insider canceled
Apparently HKO Insider hasn't worked out as well as we originally thought it would. After a day full of covering Hello Kitty Online, readers have sent us an overwhelming message: they love WoW Insider, and World of Warcraft is the game we all want to see covered.So you get your wish: starting right now, WoW Insider has returned, and HKO Insider is no more. And none too soon -- our writers, especially Rossi, who would rather wrestle a tiger than write about the Flower Kingdom, were planning a revolt if we didn't change the site format back. And our poll this afternoon pretty conclusively showed what you all felt about the changeover.So we're changing things back. From now on, we'll stay WoW Insider, and be your number one source for news and views about World of Warcraft and the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion. From classes to professions to strategy and community news, we'll only cover World of Warcraft all day every day, from level 1 to 80 and beyond.Unless, that is, they create a Spongebob MMO anytime soon...
