The AIE Podcast #277 – Either Aether you can’t bribe us to leave, either Aether

On this episode of The AIE Podcast…

Mkallah:: Plus Abovan is here to talk about Final Fantasy XIV

All that and more coming up right now…

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Welcome to episode #277 of the the podcast celebrating the Alea Iacta Est gaming community, the die has been podcast. This is Mewkow: To my left is Tetsemi – (One second, updating my Nerdtacular prep spreadsheet). And to my right is Mkallah: (busy making chicken thingies for the upcoming road trip). This week we are joined by special guest Abovan who is here to talk to us about AIE in FFXIV Welcome!

Ok, we’ll be digging into FFIXV shortly, but first, let’s talk about next weekend’s upcoming event, Nerdtacular and get into this week’s news…

Nerdtacular preview and thoughts:

Tetsemi:
Just a brief WoW update, I got my rogue to 110 and about ½ way through the class story (still need to finish two leveling zones) and got concordance on my other 110’s (Mage, DK, Paladin, and Druid) and now working on their off-spec weapons.

Nerdtacular is one of my favorite get together’s for the AIE guild and the greater Frogpants community. There’s a ton to do both at Nerdtacular and at the Snowbird resort as well. Non-nerdtacular activities I’d recommend. Take the tram to the top of the mountain for the view (if you’re okay with heights) and ride the mountain coaster. The coaster takes you through the forest and some very pretty sites. If you’ve got kids with you, go for the wristband.

For Nerdtacular itself, check out the game room (We miss you Ralffie) and you may find a new favorite game to play or watch.

Cyberwaif:
As always, my computer time is nil, but I am getting back into my first love, RPGs. Our old Monday group is back together, and we have gone through two weeks of a new game that was recently kick started, City of Mist. The starter PDF is available at https://www.cityofmist.co/. It’s a noir game where everyone is the mortal representation of a mythical power. Though, Tet may be the human embodiment of too much gin. We are playing through a premade adventure, trying to solve three mysterious murders and a robbery, preferably before Halloween night. My Thor’s Day thunder group has been moved to Woden’s Day, though we are on a hiatus due to real life schedules. And, my every other Friday group with the GnGs crew is in full swing! Great game so far and the DM has a good combination of battle and player development, just like I like it. Oh, and I am playing a Cthulhu powered crazy warlock from Thay, which makes things….. Interesting. If you want to follow along, we do stream and the the game is available after the fact on their Yourtube channel and on Itunes, search for Geeks and Geeklets. The D&D game is marked “The Forgotten Prince.” And, word to the wise- this game is saltier than a drunken raid night. You have been warned.

Now, to piggy back on what Tet said. Yes, if you are staying at Snowbird, it is good to plan for a free day to do all of the activities and get a wristband! In years past, if you did the buffet breakfast, you got a free tram ticket, so if they still do that, it is a great savings. We like to take the tram up and then take the mile hike down to the ski lift. As for food, it is expensive, but, we love the Aerie, especially if they have any happy hour deals going. And, the Atrium opens at 7 for coffee and breakfast. For food, we also regularly take a trip into SLC for Sushi Groove- the sushi is great, the music can be loud, and they have fun desserts. Check them out at http://www.sushigrooveutah.com/. We also hit up the Target down the mountain for room food like lunch meat and yogurt since the rooms have small refrigerators.

As for NT itself, besides all of the panels and the concert, there is the soon to be world famous game room, occasional CAH and Munchkin games in the halls- and as a word of note, bring your own games to play, and sometimes pick up D&D or Star Wars games. Usually there are a handful of vendors, I know for sure there will be the Tadpool collective, Nevermore, Jules, Gates of Imagination, myself and we will also be carrying some of Leontines crafts as welll. There is the meet and greet on Thursday which is the official start to Nerdtacular and I know a fair few of us are doing a 1920s Disney cosplay. Saturday is always the coplay spectacular, though some people do light cosplay on Friday as well.

Mewkow-
Beyond FF14, which we will focus on shortly, I’ve been spending a bit of time in WoW with the _curiously_ timed launch of Tomb of Sargeras.
I’ve finally been spending a bit of time with Zelda on the Switch. Bringing that with me.

Nerdtacular – Arriving Tuesday via plane. Getting a suv. Stopping before the climb to stock up. Bring these items…
Hills.
Central activity area.
Slalom.
Zip lines
coaster
Various food options.
WATER.
Gift shops.
Moths, and other wildlife.

Mewkow- And now, this week’s news!

AIE News

Community
Gretschen, on the forums, has started new blog about D&D, board games, and other table top RPG’s and would love to have folks check it out
http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/57428-starting-a-new-blog/

WoW
Wowhead has a good write-up of the Warcraft Class Design AMA on Reddit
http://www.wowhead.com/news=266435/all-the-developer-responses-to-the-warcraft-class-design-reddit-ama

Didn’t get your Blizzcon tickets? Well, you have another shot. The new hall at the Anaheim convention center will be useable and Blizzard opened up more tickets – Wednesday, July 5 at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time. on Universe.com
http://www.wowhead.com/news=266314/blizzcon-tickets-round-3-july-5-7-00-p-m-pt

SWTOR
SWTOR Escape Pod Cast 199: Balancing Act
http://www.newoverlords.com/swtor-escape-pod-cast-199-balancing-act/

This week @AIESema, @MaxTheGrey and Astromech EPC-199 walk through the “feedback” posts from Charles, Eric and Keith and then deep dive into the class balance outline that’s been posted recently.

FFXIV
See GAME NEWS below

STO
We have Captain Cybyl’s Star Trek Online News Summary for week ending 6/25/2017:

1. The annual Risa Summer Festival is still going strong until July 20th. There is still plenty of time to win prize vouchers for new vanity pets, beachwear, mini-powerboards, jetpacks, a new T6 Vorgon starship and much, much more. Prize lists and starship stats are available on the Star Trek Online website.

2. A new ‘Endeavor’ system will be coming soon to STO in an upcoming update. Every 2 – 3 days, a new Endeavor mini-mission will begin. No need to hail an admiral and get a lengthy briefing, just jump in and go. Captains are free to pick and choose any mini-missions, each of which earn huge varieties of immediate rewards for captains and their fleets. The STO website says it all.

3. Two new backstories were posted to the STO website blog:
The June 7th posting, ‘Cold Dishes’, hints at a sadistic Klingon prison warden’s plot to overthrow the entire Klingon Empire!
The June 22nd posting, ‘A First’s Tale’, relates a Jem’Hadar prisoner’s tale of capture, imprisonment and survival under horrific ‘experimentation’ by the sadistic Klingon warden.
Both stories are an essential must-read for the upcoming story arc.

4. Lifetime subscriptions for PC players! From now until July 27th, lifetime subscriptions are discounted by $100 to $199! Get yourself a lifetime of Star Trek bliss!

5. Star Trek Online has joined up with the Razer Paid-to-Play Program. Starting soon, you’ll have the option to play STO through the Razer Cortex gaming portal and begin earning Razer’s zSilver currency for every minute you play the game. Use your zSilver to purchase gaming keyboards, gaming mice, headsets and much more from Razer and other participating dealers. The exciting details are waiting for you on the STO website.

6. Starship news: The Constitution and Miranda class cruisers have had their looks updated to match the TV and movie configurations. Also, Ferengi starship campaigns have been added to the Admiralty systems.

7. A 23th century R&D promotion, starting June 22nd through July 5th, will give captains a chance to win a T6 faction-specific Temporal Cruiser whenever an R&D pack is purchased from the C-Store and opened.

8. Finally, don’t forget: The AIE Fleet’s Star Bases are always seeking contributions of materiel and personnel. And once again, please check out news, backstories, patch notes, forums and other goodies at the Star Trek Online website .

And with that, let’s get back to Abovan and find out what’s going on in FFXIV

GAME NEWS
Stormblood! Blood of storms!
Show notes full.
Place in queue, 2045
Oh, and a DDOS attack. Fun!

Stormblood is here!

Highlights

New lands, Al Amigho, Doma
Returning and new characters to adventure with,
New main scenario quests and OMG a lot of side quests!
Combat skill revamp! Some gained, some lost, but simplified skills and reduced skill bloat.
New UI elements for each job and for MSQ

Quick, non spoiler lore intro.

Gilgamesh? Still locked.
Cross server parties
Want to start but can’t get on Gilgamesh? We have a linkshell on Goblin. Join the FFXIV channel in discord for details.

How to get started.

PC
MacOS
Steam
PS4

Each one has a different license. One sub can cover all platforms, but you need the license to play on that platform.

Class catch-ups. Story catch-ups. Tomato ketchup.

CLOSE

And that’s our show for tonight. While the chatroom begins suggesting show titles, we want to thank Abovan for joining us.

If you have a question or comment about our show, you can email us at podcast@aie-guild.org. You can also follow us on Twitter. The show is at @aiepodcast. Mew is at @themewkow. Mkallah is at @cyberwaif,and Tetsemi is at @ivorytiger. We record live with video every other Sunday at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific. You can join the chatroom and play along with us on our website at https://aie-guild.org/podcast-live-stream/ and our Discord server for chat at https://bit.ly/AIEPodcastDiscord . Our theme was composed by the amazing Andrew Allen, follow him at @keyswithsoul or visit his website http://keyswithsoul.com

And now it’s time to play all of the great AIE member segment we received this week, including…

Overly Dramatic News – @HuntsTheWind

If all goes well, we will be recording live from Nerdtacular on Saturday!. So until then, AIE…

– This is Mewkow
– This is Tetsemi
– This is Mkallah

And this has been… The AIE Podcast.