Episode 34 - 'Pureblood' of the Darth Hater podcast is now up for stream and download. Check the bottom of the post for the stream and download links. Podcast notes after the jump.
Download
Intro
Justin Lowe Sado @realdarthhater
Joshua Ogborn Sleeper @dhsleeper
Pete Misenus @petetrerice
Dover @doverbs
Segments
Friday Update: Blood of The Empire Issue #2
- Friday Update Preview
- DevTracker Highlights For The Week of May 3, 2010
Inhabitants Overview Dissection
Blood of the Empire Dissection
Community Comments
Voicemail
Drobu - Given the results of your community poll, so far the top classes are force users. Do you think this is how Bioware is fixing the tank and healer shortage by making them force users? I wish I could remember where I read it, but I believe it was stated somewhere that Sith / Jedi would serve as the tank role and Inquisitor / Consular would have healing abilities. If I am wrong about this, I apologize.
Caliber - TOR Official Forums Poll:
Sith Inquisitor 1,811 20.02%
Sith Warrior 1,230 13.60%
Bounty Hunter 1,024 11.32%
Imperial Agent 703 7.77%
Jedi Knight 1,417 15.67%
Jedi Consular 1,237 13.68%
Smuggler 864 9.55%
Trooper 758 8.38%
Siesta - On the comment about player bounties, I really think if something like that to be opened up they would have to open the 4 classes that aren't jedi and sith into a Political Alignment / faction that the player picks. I can't imagine only half the games player base being aloud to do something like that, but maybe I am crazy and wrong on that :D.
Danthis - More and more I'm leaning toward choosing my main by what story I want to experience the most. Right now I would choose Smuggler. Really curious how the Smuggler story line will play out, also, it seems like it might not be as serious as the Jedi archs, it should have some laughs.
Download
Intro
Justin Lowe Sado @realdarthhater
Joshua Ogborn Sleeper @dhsleeper
Pete Misenus @petetrerice
Dover @doverbs
Segments
Friday Update: Blood of The Empire Issue #2
- Friday Update Preview
- DevTracker Highlights For The Week of May 3, 2010
Inhabitants Overview Dissection
Blood of the Empire Dissection
Community Comments
Voicemail
Drobu - Given the results of your community poll, so far the top classes are force users. Do you think this is how Bioware is fixing the tank and healer shortage by making them force users? I wish I could remember where I read it, but I believe it was stated somewhere that Sith / Jedi would serve as the tank role and Inquisitor / Consular would have healing abilities. If I am wrong about this, I apologize.
Caliber - TOR Official Forums Poll:
Sith Inquisitor 1,811 20.02%
Sith Warrior 1,230 13.60%
Bounty Hunter 1,024 11.32%
Imperial Agent 703 7.77%
Jedi Knight 1,417 15.67%
Jedi Consular 1,237 13.68%
Smuggler 864 9.55%
Trooper 758 8.38%
Siesta - On the comment about player bounties, I really think if something like that to be opened up they would have to open the 4 classes that aren't jedi and sith into a Political Alignment / faction that the player picks. I can't imagine only half the games player base being aloud to do something like that, but maybe I am crazy and wrong on that :D.
Danthis - More and more I'm leaning toward choosing my main by what story I want to experience the most. Right now I would choose Smuggler. Really curious how the Smuggler story line will play out, also, it seems like it might not be as serious as the Jedi archs, it should have some laughs.
Comments
As for what I'm the most interested about playing was at first Bounty Hunter, how cool they look and act like. And the abundance of footage shown of em certainly didn't hurt their chances. But I'm also a bit like that guy, Dover is it? Can't quite recognise the voices yet, anyhow the appeal (or lack of) towards Imperial Agent has gotten me interested from that class now, and with that droid screenshot of hot armor on it is looking pretty good option right about now. And that I'm a support first kinda guy.
So those are my first choices, since my friends are totally steadfast of playing on Empire side of it so I don't have much hope for my ultimate dream of playing a 'Jedi of a smuggler'. I guess there won't even be such a possibility of playing a rogue Jedi, that is not a sith but not really a Jedi either, for example. Those gray area guys, it would be so cool if there were sort of 'cross class' character possibilites, but we'll see.
A smuggler itself seems like fun, but it would really need some more appeal to it, to somehow "sex it up" some, and maybe the problem is actually in me but somehow the footage they showed of the smuggler didn't quite cut it for me. Adding something like vehicles for use, some exquisite ones (maybe some sort of fighters or other things that can fly?) for the smuggler would rank some good points in my book.
But in the end, it's the overall feel to the game and the gameplay experience itself that matters the most, not all the fancy rubble if i could call it that, that's in the outside, that determines if it's a success or a fail. I hope that this will be the one that doesn't fail all the hype that's being built around it, like quite a few other games have.
As for the survey... love it, all polls and things like that are good time for me, haha.
They have already stated you can play a gray jedi or gray character in general so smile :)
"Adding something like vehicles for use, some exquisite ones (maybe some sort of fighters or other things that can fly?"
They also stated if space combat will be in the game it will be from the beginning so hopefully we find out soon.
And yeah, I think that space combat might be a bit stretch, not really looking forward to seeing it in this game. But what I was thinking was that smuggler's could fly some fighters to ground battle's, like in that movie where they were fighting on that ice planet, Hoth was it? And those scout thingies the droid's have been seen flying, for example. And then some Bounty Hunter missiles would be needed to bring em down, or some Imperial Agent gadget. Or just some planted AA cannon. Hope the Bioware guys don't fry their brains with all the possibilities.
P.S. And yes, we do want 3h long PodCast if you have something interesting to say. I'd also like listening to you all twice per week.
I also would love to have podcasts that continue driving deeper into your opinions and speculations. Sometimes I feel left wanting as you curtail discussion in fear of being long winded.
Regardless you guys are fantastic and your contribution to all of us is appreciated.
BTW, I've been noticing a ... hesitancy ... when it comes to "unknown" or unconfirmed aspects of the game. I'd just like to express my desire to hear MORE of just good old fashioned opinions or speculation. I understand the staff's concern about potentially misleading someone, but you've got to get past that folks.
If people want "absolute" confirmed facts ONLY then they can just head over to the official site. One of the main attractions of your site (for me at least) are the things like the dissection articles (would prefer vivisection but hey... there are limits...) and the editorial articles that are simply expressing a considered and well thought out opinion. I'd just really like to hear you folks approach personal opinions and speculations with more enthusiasm. I understand you've got to throw a disclaimer in there as well so folks don't get the wrong idea, but just throw it and then get to the good stuff.
Whether I personally agree with the opinions or speculations has absolutely zero impact on my enjoyment on hearing them. Heck, half the time I get more enjoyment out of hearing something I definitely DON'T agree with just so I can examine it, as well as my own opinions again, or more closely.
Just saying... don't be afraid to swing at a few fast balls... folks rarely remember how many strike outs you've had... it's the homeruns that stick in the memory, and you can't hit it out of the park unless you swing for the fences.
Next though I had was; if a Trandoshan becomes a possible player Companion I can almost imagine that an Empire player could get them whilst a Republic player could get a Wookiee instead. Take it even further with the historical hatred between the two species then add the classic BH & Smuggler rivalry between Han & Boba, I could honestly see the Trandoshan being a possible pickup for BH (& IA?) with the Wookiee as a counterpart to the Smuggler (& Trooper?) aka like Chewbacca for Han (*RAWR!* for Pete here).
Oh, and like Malgus, I can SO see especially the Sith Warrior as having slave Companions as potential apprentices and love interests :-)
Great show, seemingly as always...
hb
PS Readership Survey - check.
However, you may have a point.
Ether way i plan on being a jedi knight... and i am calling out all bounty hunters and Sith inquisitors
Bring it on
Oh and love the postcast another great show
And yes, 'Forum QQs' will be strong than the Force itself. :-p
Lol at the SI = Hunter in Wow.
Readership Survey - check.
Also, does DH have a pending list of species they think will be playable?
Btw, I already fear the first days of the IA forums: "how do I use the force?" "where's my lightsabre?"
1) Just more regular ground combat, flashpoint demo. - It's possible that it could be that dull.
2) All or a lot of the playable species doing pvp combat - them in pvp combat is the easiest way to show off many of the species while doing something exciting.
3) Space combat - This is self explanatory and is my choice of what they're going to show at E3.
I may have mentioned this before, but last week's update and this week's update are sort of a let-down to me. I would have preferred spreading out the updates evenly instead of bundling them up for two weeks and then having two rather small updates the following two weeks. Sean's developer comment even made it seem like he even thought these two smaller updates would not be "enough" for us after the previous two updates.
Anyways, I still look forward to the developer blog. Hoping for some new images too!