In this very special episode of the Instance, Scott interviews the man behind the music of Blizzard, Russell Brower. This interview turns out to be quite a bit more than just music, it’s a personal story about how these very creative people get to where they are. Worth the listen, indeed.
Do you have questions? Be sure to email us at theinstance at gmail dot com or leave us a voice mail at 206-202-3-WOW (206.202.3969)
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Scott, Dills, and Turpster have joined us once more to give everyone their steady diet of WoW-iness. First, pirate-enthusiast, Mr. Scott Johnson, describes the light show that is cataract surgery and what a difference a bionic eye makes for 3D gaming. Blizzard makes it quarterly earnings call with a few interesting tidbits about the health of WoW and what’s in our gaming futures. Also, in response to a player-filed class action lawsuit regarding player’s information security, Blizzard’s defense is a firm “Nuh-uh!” filed in California court. Finally part-time assassin, Colleen Lachowicz, is now also a part-time Senator from the state of Maine, and let us all be looking forward to the impending Alliance death camps.
Our trio also gets a chance to weigh on a few important questions you folks have had. How should WoW be archived when the time comes to shut it off? Does WoW have ghosts? Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? All of this… (sound effect)… and more.
Do you have questions? Be sure to email us at theinstance at gmail dot com or leave us a voice mail at 206-202-3-WOW (206.202.3969)
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After a wonderful Blizzgone we decided to celebrate even further with a much more chipper and alert Turpster and Dills for this edition of The Instance. In Johnson news, Scott has much less reason to be ashamed for running a top World of Warcraft podcast, as last week his main toon has finally hit 90 (Dills still hasn’t by the way). Also, Blizzard execs tease the next WoW expansion, hunters get buffed (kinda), our alts may get flying sooner, and more.
We should have some contest info coming soon via Facebook where you can win T-shirt via a collaboration between Scott and Doghouse Systems. Once we do, I’ll post in the info here and Scott will definitely post the info on the Twitter.
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The following is my own interpretation of past events and is mostly likely wrong, and supposed to be funny. We all miss Blizzcon. We all expected it, and then Blizzard unceremoniously announced that there would be no Blizzcon this year. Many were depressed by this news and while in the depths of depression, as an offhand remark, one Tom Merritt said “Hey wouldn’t a show from The Instance in place of Blizzcon be awesome?! We could call it Blizzgone!” Then Mr. Scott Johnson, not realizing this was a joke, decided that he should actually do something about it in a moment of weakness. This event is that man’s moment of weakness. Thankfully, it turned out fantastically.
In our first segment of Blizzgone we join the big three for our Instance episode. Some folks were hung over, some were obsessed with America’s most boring sport, but good times were had by all. The Brawlers Guild is on it’s way, but the Fight Club jokes are already here, and something tells me they’ll continue to be here long after people are amused by them. Also, did I mention that neither Scott nor Dills is 90 yet?
Starcraft is the name of the game in our second segment. Scott and the gentlemen from Starcast are here to discuss the future of South Korea’s economy, also known as Starcraft. Many speculations are out about Heart of the Swarm and when we can expect it. One leaked timeline from Blizzard suggested that the second Starcraft II game would be released at the end of this year, but given the state of the beta, it will most likely get pushed until next year. Also, the crew looks at the current state of eSports and we what we can expect in the future.
For our final segment, strangely no one wanted to discuss Diablo… weird. So instead, Scott joins the folks from Convert to Raid to discuss WoW’s endgame content and how the MoP raids stack up to the endgame of old. Also, they discuss LFR and how it’s changing the face of what raiding looks like in Korea and the rest of the world. Are you comfortable failing with 25 strangers, would that even matter? And, in other news, there are a few dailies in MoP.
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Scott Johnson and Mark Turpin have returned to your ear holes for your WoW edu-tainment. Dills is feeling a bit under the weather, everyone is hoping that his rash clears up soon. In this week’s discussions, everyone in Azeroth drops dead due to hackitude, Maine Republicans seem to hate WoW players, and trade chat is still as trade chat-y as ever (aka useless).
Also, the Craft Azeroth Minecraft project beta has been released. As you may have gleaned from the title, this is a quest to build Azeroth in Minecraft form, and it’s massive. The current version of this is about 275 square kilometers and contains over 68 billion blocks. You can download the latest version here (2.17 GB), but be careful, once it’s extracted to your HDD it’ll be closer to 24 GB. Which is bigger than WoW itself, by the way.
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Turpster has re-joined our crew to bring you another great addition of The Instance. Gerp’s Perfect Arrow has been acquired, and strangely, it’s actually useful. Too many people people have an opinion about the subscriber numbers, mostly financial analysts. Lastly, video game monkey enthusiasts finally have another reason to rejoice since Donkey Kong…
Also, the first raid in MoP is now open to us all, Mogu’shan Vaults, and may God save our little broken bodies. Here is the current schedule for these Raid releases:
Wednesday, October 3 – Normal Mogu’shan Vaults Wednesday, October 10 – Heroic Mogu’shan Vaults and first half of Mogu’shan Vaults on Raid Finder Wednesday, October 17 – Second half of Mogu’shan Vaults on Raid Finder Wednesday, October 31 – Normal Heart of Fear and Normal Terrace of Endless Spring (Must clear Heart of Fear first) with Heroic and Raid finder versions unlocking one week later.”
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Mr. Scott Johnson and one William Gregory have graced us with another Instance episode complete with impressions of the Mists of Pandaria release. It is a tale of hardship, escape from the jaws of death, monkey-tech, and the licking of hobo armpits.
In other news, Blizzard is offering free transfers to less populated servers, “Offline Mode” will soon be in the hands of the anti-social, world first level 90 gets rolled back to 87, and the time of in-game binge drinking justification is here with the annual Brewfest.
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We had a chance to chat with Cory Stockton, lead content designer for WoW, and what a conversation it was. Really great insight into the game at large, and some MoP specifics we were surprised to hear about. Ever wonder what happened to that DOTA style BG they talked about ages ago? We have the answer to that, and a whole lot more. Don’t miss it.
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Is activision / blizzard watermarking your screenshots, Pargon has a new 10 man paradigm, the Monk pet is on sale, Dev Reddit happend, WoW2 wold be what exactly, what of mass summon, will Azeroth advance, LFR is or isn’t working right, Locks can rename their demons, listener caught in a RIFT, megabloks giveaway, and an AWESOME interview with the creators of Pearl of Pandaria!
AND, if you want to win the Doomhammer we talked about on the show, listen to the end of the episode and enter to win! All the rules are there.
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There was a time when Mists was not even gonna happen, LFR loot feedback, Blizzgone is still a thing, Multiboxing question, our favorite expansion, naming your water dude, thoughts on The Secret World, Mega Bloks build on youtube now, and MORE! Also, Turpster’s birthday is today. Yay!
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