I have added you to a short list of additional volunteers, who I'll contact at some point if we need more voices, or if the current guys fade away. I also envision a lot more people coming on once the beta's going, as we get regular hands-on reports from people who have been playing.
I just finished ep. 5. For any folks who haven't started listening to these yet, I highly recommend them. It's great to hear the fans discuss/debate/speculate on how the publicized game mechanics will/won't work (in their opinion). In Ep. 5 there was some great discussion on the "economy" for those of you that are interested.
Floyd pretty much captured my sentiments here. I thought, before reading this thread, that you guys were hard up for volunteers. Thanks for considering everyone who wants to be involved and my offer still stands! I think, however, that I will follow through on my original plan to make my own cast via Youtube. If I get the ball rolling on that I would like to be in cahoots with you guys (i.e. sharing information, quoting, etc.) to make the flow of D3 news that much more viable. Thanks again, Flux, for being in contact. Hopefully we can work together to best represent the Diablo community.
-Galaxy
Also, I would like to learn how you put your casts together so that I may emulate it. I've never done a cast before, but I would certainly like to give it a try!
To steal a term brought up by Elly and Flux, I don't want to fawn over these 'casts in this thread. Still, everything I've heard so far has been excellent, especially the unexpected interview with Seth Schiesel. His musings about how taxing and complex D3's trading system may become and the challenges Blizzard may face were extremely insightful.
A topic I would like to see discussed at some point is the battle.net experience versus that of the single player. More specifically, that it seems Blizzard has been trending toward pushing for people to use their servers and discouraging off-line play.
A Bashiok quote from October 2010:
"There is offline single player, but it’s something we’re going to attempt to discourage as best as possible."
Perhaps I'm using a skewed point of view to support my thoughts. Still, there's precedent.
The outrage of the SP community has been ongoing for years after Blizzard excluded certain features from Diablo II on numerous occasions. Single players of Diablo II did have access to ladder-only drops, but the omission of the Ubers (along with their respective charm drops) and certain rune words were extremely disheartening. The keys to access Tristram dropped in the game but were unusable, while the rune words were deliberately flagged to be inactive for off-line play.
There is no concrete evidence that Blizzard will cut content from the offline portion of Diablo III besides the obvious bits that don't work offline (namely PvP arenas & achievements), though there is wide speculation among the single player community that when Bashiok said Blizzard will discourage offline play it means there will be other more egregious cuts elsewhere.
To discuss the topic at this point in Diablo III's development stage is rather pointless, considering that the beta is mere weeks away. I'm merely tossing ideas onto the table for the future once we're able to compare and contrast offline content from what's on battle.net.
There are certain cuts that I might tolerate, things like four-player dungeons that resemble raids from World of Warcraft. Perhaps it's why Blizzard chose not to include the Ubers in Diablo II. I'd still argue that some Diablo players are tenacious enough to work their way through those challenges all by themselves no matter how impossible Blizzard may deem them to be.
However, as a single player who pays the same exact price as someone that plays the game online, it would be inexcusable if the offline version happens to be missing select content, including: gear or items, crafting recipes, quests, bonus dungeons, character customizing features that don't require further payment, or a shared stash. None of these is in any way related to online play, including the shared stash. Torchlight implemented one seamlessly after eleven months of hurried development. If Blizzard chooses to not include it in for offline players for a game that's been in the works for four-plus years, it would be a deliberate choice and an obvious slap in the face.
Again, this is all speculative. Only the future will reveal what may or may not occur. I can only hope that the fears many single players have are unfounded. If it does turn out that there are omissions from offline play, though, I feel like it could be an interesting topic for discussion.
The voice of the battle.net user is often the one that represents the typical Diablo player base; it'd be nice if someone from the single player community had a voice for once, as well. Perhaps it'd be an educational podcast for those who play only on battle.net and may not know how the offline game differs. And perhaps if the discussion is pitted against an online and an offline player, it might be entertaining, too, once the discussion becomes heated when the b.netter will fall back on the inevitable "Everyone can and should just play on battle.net" argument...
Anyway. Figured it might be an interesting topic some day.
Thanks for reading. More thanks to Flux, Elly, and all the volunteers who have participated with the podcast so far. You've all done a great job!
i would love to volunteer! sign me up! that is, if its still happening. i havent seen a new episode posted for a minute now. its either this or occupy seattle, and its too rainy for that at the moment
I wouldn't mind doing it... I don't know how hard I would have to dig to find a skype-able headset in the closet... I suppose i could always use my iPod mic...
I'm trying to think if i have anything to offer...
I have a computer degree on my wall. Although I no longer work in the field, I could speculate on specifics of their dev process more intelligently than the average fan, if you had a topic where that was appropriate (like how the emulators will NEVER reach the point of being to emulate the whole game... NEVER)...
Hey guys, Matt from Outlandish Podcast here. I would love to contribute to this podcast in any way I can. I picked you up when your "latest" episode hit iTunes. I was looking for something dealing with "end game" content and thought you guys were probably the best out there. I am a little sad to see that there hasn't been a new episode in over 3 weeks. I would like to do whatever I can to help make this a regular podcast.
A little about myself, been hosting a podcast for over 4 years now. Started off being about WoW, now it's turned into a video game/geek/nerd podcast. I've currently got a Level 60 Wizard with 45k DPS and I'm constantly bashing on Blizzard for ruining our good times. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Would like to see your podcast become a staple in the Diablo community.
Flux, I tried to PM you yesterday, I think. I loved the Demon Hunter 'cast and would like to volunteer for the Barbarian episode, if you still need any volunteers. I imagine that you probably don't, but thought I'd throw my hat in anyway.
I don't think I can contribute to any other class discussions, but would love to come on some time. Maybe to talk guild / social issues? (Would be complainy, I imagine. Fair warning.)
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