Another PAX has come and gone, but we are still here! MER dings at 50 with Josh “Mr. Crayon Eater” returning to the show to share, along with Zach, some thoughts, impressions, and contagion fears after the con. Evan asks them about TOR news, some Warzone and Operation questions, and then we hear about EVERYTHING else they got to play, including more League of Legends and some cool new contenders like Firefall.
Feel free to discuss this podcast on our forums as well.
Music for this show was provided by General Fuzz.
Discussion Topics
– Penny Arcade Expo
– Huttball Live
– Return to Alderaan Warzone
– Bioware Interviews
– Non-TOR Games and News
11 replies on “MER Episode 50: Over The Dune”
Raiding has been around MUCH longer than ThreatMeters and people managed just fine in EQ and even vanilla WoW without them. Personally I think ThreatMeters dumb down the encounter and the game all together instead of learning the capabilities of your class. I sincerely hope that add-ons such as ThreatMeters, DamageMeters and so on do not make it into SW:TOR.
With regards to the Shadow and Assassin “tanks” they are not “evasion” tanks. They get a buff that increases their armor (was most recently 150% – rumored increase to 300%) to bring them up to par with the Knight and Juggernaut with respect to Armor.
I 100% agree with Steve’s threat comment. Everyone needs to chill if this isn’t in the game. Hardcore types are constantly worrying about this game being too easy, and lack of an in game threat meter will definatly increase the challenge while in no way making it impossible.
These games were created without things like DBM in mind. They can be done without “cheating”. =D
Great show guys. Keep it up!
Agree completely with Steve here. Threatmeters, damagemeters and a million other addons have been added to WoW and effectively now do half the work for the player. We don’t need SW:TOR easy mode the minute it’s out the door. For those who want WoW, let them play WoW.
Personally I really don’t see what the big deal is. Single player RPG’s like Dragon Age don’t have this “threatmeter” thing of which you speak and yet the same basic party composition works fine.
*waits patiently for the laughter to die down.*
Yes, yes, I know that serious MMO gamers always roll their eyes when Single player games are compared to their Massively Multi-player siblings, but in the case of TOR I believe some comparisons are valid. (If only for the reason that it being made by a Bioware studio.)
I wouldn’t be surprised if we say a number of similarities between TOR encounters and the encounter design in, say, DA & DA2. And this is a good thing! Say what you want about DA2, the variety in it’s encounters were great! Everything ranging from “several humanoid-sized elites” to “gigantic Dragons”, and even a super tough “normal sized humanoid” with gigantic-sized mobs backing her up.
My point here of course, is that through all of these encounters, not having a “ThreatMeter” was never a problem. Generally you knew if the Tank had lost aggro, since the huge Dragon (or Dwarf assassin) would stop beating on them and run over towards you! (forcing you to quickly change tactics in order to survive, something MMO’s could use a healthy dose of).
PS: For those wondering about my MMO experience, WoW – minimal, WAR – substantial, & several “F2P” titles – minimal.
WOW u had to stand in line at Pax’s
I have listened to you guys from the beginning and it seems that you guys are starting to get more and more negative… just sayin! It’s good to have all differnet opinions, but be careful not to become too negative.
Was there anything in particular you found negative about this episode? We certainly never intend to come off that way, but if there are specific things that are bothersome, please let us know.
Last podcast you guys said that every planet from KOTOR except Manaan had been confirmed to be in The Old Republic. That’s not true. Dantooine has also not been announced for the MMO. Which I find surprising since the planet played such a big role in KOTOR. (It was also my favorite planet in the game)
Not to mention Kashyyyk.
I enjoyed the podcast but was disappointed that KOTOR and KOTOR II were not discussed at all. Hopefully next podcast (hint, hint).
Now we know who spread the pax-pox at this years PAX haha! Good show as always gents!