Episode 22: Killing the Noise

Despite the fact that we were both sick – me with bronchitis and Ophelie going through withdrawals from not raiding for over a month – we managed to pull it together long enough to record another informative episode of the Double O Podcast!

With us is Valen, GM of <Temerity>, who came on to discuss guild drama or more specifically, why drama happens and what a guild can do to prevent it.  We also discuss the meaning of “drama,” the types of conflicts that are healthy for a guild, and how those in charge can sometimes even perpetuate the “noise.”

Temerity is recruiting!  If you’re interested in running with Valen or his peers, feel free to visit their website and see if they might be a good fit for you.

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Episode 21: Preparation O

This podcast took a month of research to prepare.

After all, in order to share our adventures in Pandaria, we actually had to spend some time immersed in Azeroth’s newly discovered continent. And after 4 weeks (at the time of recording) of collecting wolf pelts, making arts and crafts, reading quest text, and killing 12 Mogu, we were finally ready to share our thoughts with the world.

Tune in to enjoy our appreciation of leveling in Mists, the never-ending dailies story, and the choices we had to make in order to fit a more demanding expansion into our lives.

PS by Ophelie: Before I get skinned alive for this (mainly by my guild, ha!) I say at one point that I don’t need any gear from Valor points. That’s an incorrect statement. I tried cutting out that part of the conversation, but it would have totally derailed the show. In case anyone cares, the gloves and chest are currently minor upgrades.

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Episode 20: Parting the Mists

Did you miss us?

Ophelie and I are back with an all new pre-Mists of Pandaria episode of the Double O Podcast!  With us we have Serrath, who wrote an incredibly informative post over at Cannot Be Tamed, talking about all the ways that you can properly prepare for the inevitable leveling grind that comes with each new expansion.

We start off by talking about how we spent our summer vacations, then move on to discussing sleep patterns, and whether pulling an all nighter is really the best thing for you.  Next, we cover the important role that nutrition can play in things and how to make sure you stay in top physical and mental form during the potentially exhausting leveling process. 

Lastly, we dish about how to let your loved ones know what you will be up to and what are some reasonable expectations that you and your guild should set for yourselves going into Mists of Pandaria.

Our guilds are recruiting!

Apotheosis, Eldre’thalas - A (Serrath)

Occasional Excellence, Quel’dorei - A (Ophelie)

Requiem, Drenden - H (Oestrus)

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Episode 19: A Few Last Words

This is Ophelie here, apologizing profusely for the delay in getting this show up. I may have recently gotten sucked into a very entertaining video game and refused to do anything until I beat it…

We actually recorded this show a few weeks ago, shortly after your humble and gracious hosts finished their raid progression through Dragon Soul and, at the same time, Cataclysm. As we turn the last page on this expansion, we reflect on the encounters we faced, what we thought of them, and how we approached them.

Our friend Kelesti joined us, accepting a last minute invitation to give a 10s perspective on Cataclysm. Except that we didn’t tell her we were looking for a 10 man perspective. You can hear the shock in my voice when we discover, mid-recording that she’s a 25 man raider, just like us.

This is likely the last episode of the Double O Podcast as we know it (though you wouldn’t be able to tell by the episode – we didn’t make this decision until a couple of days ago, long after the recording). It’s been a blast and we want to thank everyone who has supported the show, listened to us, encouraged us, left us comments, left us reviews, and linked to us through the course of this adventure.

Personally, I am not able to invest myself in the online community to the same extent anymore, but Oestrus is still going strong. If you would like to get in touch with her regarding potential or future projects (or even another podcast), you can find her contact info on our contact page, or on her blog.

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Episode 18: Choose Your Own Anniversary!

Yep, it’s been just over a year since your two favorite hosts (we’re not above fluffing up our own egos) decided that it might be fun to start up a podcast to talk about the things they felt like talking about and that the rest of the world might get some amusement out of. Now here we are on Episode 18 (or 19 if you count episode 0)!

We invited back some of our most memorable guests from earlier episodes to chat about how things have or haven’t changed since they last visited us.  Lady Erinia, Codi, and Vidyala were kind of enough to share some birthday cake with us and to pick up where we left off on the topics they originally talked about on our show (notably gaming addiction, the gaming industry, and guild leading).  We also slide in some talk on the Norway Killer, on the legacy of Mass Effect 3 as “that game with the bad ending”, on creating a web comic, and on the Calgary Expo.

Find our guests!

Vidyala: Manalicious, From Draenor with Love and @_vidyala
Lady Erinia: @LadyErobria
Codi: She’s elusive, but her blog still exists at Moar HPS!

Some Thank Yous

We would really like to thank all of our guests that we have had on our show over the past year.  You have all helped make each and every episode fantastic. It is wonderful and humbling to know that our WoW community has so many interesting, knowledgeable, and generous residents. As well, a huge thanks and a hug to Clockwork Bard/Skip Cocoa/whatever he wants to go by who graciously hosts most of our episodes and, more recently, our website.  Also, big thanks to Jadissa and Matticus who originally hosted our website and early episodes, respectively.  Lastly, thanks to Fimlys and Frandierty for all their invaluable help and advice on podcasting.

It’s been a fun ride, thus far and we don’t expect it to end any time soon!

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Choose Your Own Anniversary!

Believe it or not, Ophelie and I uploaded our very first episode of the Double O Podcast on April 3rd, 2011, which means that we have been in the business of podcasting for a full year!

While we may not always record as often as we would like to, we are proud to say that we truly enjoy doing what we do and that we stand behind every show that we put out there.  It has been a wild ride and we are just getting started.

With that said – we need some help planning our next episode, which is going to be a very special one year anniversary show.  Ophelie and I decided that we would leave it up to our listeners or our readers to decide who gets to break bread with us on the next show.  You may choose any of our previous guests that we have had on the Double O Podcast before, and assuming that they agree to come back and that we can line up our schedules we will make it happen.

The top 4 people who receive your votes will be asked to join us on our anniversary show, where we will catch up with them and see what they have been up to since we last spoke with them, and we might even give them a chance to turn the tables on us and tell us what they think we should talk about on the show.

Without further ado, here is the list of previous guests, in order of appearance:

- Lady Erinia (“Hooked.”)
- Codi (“Getting Down To Business.”)
- Cynwise (“Cyn, Lose, or Draw.”)
- Vidyala (“O Chat With A Side of V.”)
- Vosskah (“O Chat With A Side of V,” and “Tank N’ Spank.”)
- Markco (“Copper For Your Thoughts.”)
- Fannon (“Parental Guidance Strongly Suggested.”)
- Hydra (“Parental Guidance Strongly Suggested.”)
- Christine (“Parental Guidance Strongly Suggested.”)
- Ceraphus (“Parental Guidance Strongly Suggested.”)
- Frostsorrow (“Tank N’ Spank.”)
- Arielle (“Tank N’ Spank.”)
- Miri (“Tank N’ Spank.”)
- Lodur (“Blinded by the Lightwell.”)
- Lynesta (“Blinded by the Lightwell.”)
- Jasyla (“Blinded by the Lightwell.”)
- Danslatable (“Blinded by the Lightwell.”)
- Thespius (“Chicken Soup for the Casual Raid Leader’s Soul.”)
- Psynister (“Eat, Game, Love.”)
- Fynralyl (“Eat, Game, Love.”)
- Stubborn (“Animal Attraction.”)

Go ahead. Pick four – any four.

Episode 17: Animal Attraction

When we saw Stubborn‘s series on couples and gaming, right away we thought “What a great show idea!”. A few e-mails and a Skype phone call later and we were recording this episode with none other than Stubborn himself.

We spend this episode delving into Stubborn’s posts, discussing tips for gaming couples, couple archetypes, and how to deal with different relationship dynamics in a guild or raid setting. And, of course, we take the time to share what we have been up to these past few weeks, our latest gaming adventures and, yes, our backup plans for BlizzCon.

As a side note, as I was editing the show, I was pretty amused to hear myself rant about the single gamer’s perspective of couples, when very shortly after recording, I suddenly became not-so-single. (Which also had a lot to do with the delay in getting this episode out!)

Stubborn’s posts: (a must-read!)
Couples and WoW, Part 1
Couples and WoW, Part 2
Couples and WoW, Part 3
Couples and WoW, Part 4 - The Finalé
Couples and WoW, Part 5 – Feedback Followup

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Episode 16: Eat, Game, Love

Despite being sick and Ophelie being tired, we still found time to get together and record another heart healthy episode of the Double O Podcast!

On this episode, our guests are the lovely Fynralyl and Psynister, who came on the show to discuss their blog, The Chubby Couple and to discuss all things relating to gaming and living a healthier lifestyle. 

We start off the show by reading an inspirational post by a former guildie, which gave us the idea for the theme of this episode, and then discuss weight loss, making the decision to blog about such a personal journey, the pros and cons of trying to lose a weight as a couple, and what it’s like to be part of a community that encourages many stereotypes about obesity.

A very special thanks goes out to Tayl, from Big Crits, for giving me permission to read her heartwarming post on the show and for being a personal inspiration for me to take better care of myself and to make better choices.  Thank you, Tayl!

Oh, and don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes!

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Episode 15: Breakup To Makeup

At the time of this recording, we had so much exciting stuff going on in our offline and in-game lives that we found ourselves talking about it and drifting into the topic of relationships.

We start off innocently enough by sharing our New Year’s adventures and challenge each other to a Dance Central duel, then get into how we handle the collision of our public and private lives, then we discuss our relationships with our guilds and guildies, and even with World of Warcraft itself.

What do you do when things in game get difficult?  When to stay, when to leave?

What are these expectations of mono-game-y?  Do they make sense?

Tune in for another action packed episode of the Double O Podcast!

P.S.  Since moving to a new host, I’m less familiar with how to do the cute linky stuff at the bottom.  So, if you want a link to our iTunes page, head over here!

Some of the posts mentioned on this episode:

Beru and “Winds of Change.”
Fannon and “Encouraging Infidelity: On Burnout And Blood Bowl.”
Vidyala’s “Business Time, Hard Modes, And The “C” Word.”

 

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Episode 14: Behind the Guild

Welcome to our new website!

We have our own fancy domain now and hosting, courtesy of Jadissa. (I think that qualifies him as a sponsor, right?)

This episode finds O and I in our natural habitat (we’re finding that we really enjoy these easy, laid back shows) talking about what’s going on in our WoW lives.  We’re both experiencing changes within our guilds, so we explore the inner workings of a guild, the dynamics of 25 man vs 10 man casual raiding, discuss which is the bigger evil between “I don’t like the person people but the sex raiding is good” and its opposite, and share the frustrations of trying to find a guild when you’re a good player, but lacking a strong raiding resume.

Enjoy!

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