Episode 36 – Feedback

YAY DOUBLE UP CASTS!

Another comment.

Regarding CoV being linear. Back in issue 3, when Striga Isle was created, all the players raved about how the zone was laid out and there was a linear progression (Do Mission 1, which leads to Mission 2, etc…)in the story. After that, the Devs decided to make all new zones follow a linear arc. Linear isn’t a bad thing, it just makes more sense. Much like a mini Task Force or story arc where each mission leads you to the next, linear format flushes out a story that writers are trying to tell.

It makes more sense otherwise you’d have a comic where Spider-man fights Doc Oc’s minions who say Doc is coming but doesn’t, followed by a dramatic, yet unrelated fight with the Vulture, and then he has to go take some photos of a bridge. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

The Devs originally were viewing missions as small vignettes, much like a Newspaper comic of Spider-man (small, short stories that are unrelated to each other). The linear format is much more like a full comic which follows the steps from page 1 to page 20-something.

So please don’t take it as a slam villians (no pun intended) when we say “linear.”

Also, 3-star review?!?! Did the guy hear the Knupple episode? Fluff? Bah! I say, if Chooch and Viv they would be reading crazy comments like this one, not what I typed about linear format, but this right now? Are you reading this part Vooch? Uh oh, gotcha. That’s okay. A little fluff a day, keeps the debt badge away.

Hey, one more thing, RulAAAAAAAAAAAAruu related. You did tell Wendy that sadly, she couldn’t get Rularuu weapons unlocked until she was level 40 and could do Rularuu missions (I assume Villains get instanced Shard content at level 40, heroes get the Shard at level 40 for Rularuu hunting, which you know…)

Technically, that is true, that level 40 is the barrier to unlocking Rularuu weapons right now. There was a brief period when defeating 100 overseers could be done without entering the Shard or Shard instanced content.

Within the first year of CoH, Soldiers of Rularuu attacked Paragon city, across most of the Zones, I remember that most people had no idea what they were (I assume training room savvy people did) and a lot of non-beta testers thought they were the Rikti returned, which lead to confused broadcasts.)

Anyway, I only bring this up in the hopes that one day, we can have another widespread Rularuu invasion. If so, an aggressive team could rack up some Overseer kills, and possibly unlock lovecraftian looking weapons pre-level 40.

RuLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRuu

Oh, I meant to highlight a previous comment asking for a feature on Dark Astoria. I second that.

What? Fluff? Excuse me while I take that notion outside and use it to fertilize my petunias. Look, part of what makes this podcast unique, and what kept me listening from early on, is the humanity that comes through from you two, and the sense of community we have.

If you remove that, you risk turning a great show into a bad message board thread, full of number-crunching poindexters with a bad attitude and even worse personal hygiene. We’re family here, from our cousins Chooch & Viv to our wisecracking sister MentalMaden to our dear old Uncle Pat, known for his good humor and extensive Swedish porn collection.

You guys do a fantastic job dispensing information, but I can get info a zillion other places. I’m here because of the little bits of yourself and your listeners that I can get WITH that info, which makes all the difference in the world.

I guess I can sum this all up by saying this:

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Re: 3 star I-tunes review

I am a loyal fan of the COX game, the COH podcast, and the whole Chooch and Viv experience in general. I am also a steadfast member of the Podcaste SG.

I don’t mean to attack the person who did the 3-star review. That’s not the point. Here’s the point–I don’t want the folks who think you should stop reading I-tunes reviews to be the only voices heard.

I run a tabletop Champions superhero roleplaying game every two weeks for 8 of my friends. It takes a lot of work. But it is a labor of love. There is one particular reoccurring short feature of my game that a couple of my players don’t really like a whole lot. When they brought it to my attention, it stung. But after the stinging went away, I stood up to them. I told them I run this game to entertain them. I run it for them. I run it for hours. I run it for free. Considering the preparation and writing time that I put into it, I would like to have a little fun for myself while I’m running it too. As the person doing all the work, I felt like they should let me have my little moment. With that statement alone, I put my detractors on the defensive, if not on the run.

I do all the work: I make all the rules.

They can do it their way, when THEY are running a game of their own.

The feature stays.

Amateur writers, podcasters, game-masters,…we’re all just entertainers who work for free. If we take a small indulgence here or there in the course of entertaining our audiences, what’s the harm? Our audiences should cut us a little slack in light of our ceaseless efforts to entertain them. After all, the indulgence comes from our enthusiasm, and our enthusiasm is what drives us to start down the entertainer path in the first place. But the fuel that keeps us going is the positive feedback from our audience. I see no problem with you sharing that positive feedback–and the “big happy” that it brings you–with us, your loyal listeners. It’s positive feedback, hard-earned, and well deserved.

You’re doing the right thing by keeping the feedback portion of the show at the end. By doing that you’ve already given a nod to the people who aren’t interested in that portion of the show. Let them tune out when the feedback portion of the show starts. No one is forcing them to listen to that. Let those of us who are interested in what our fellow fans have to say about the show listen to the whole show, including the feedback, and the I-tunes reviews.

More than a podcast, it’s a community.

Don’t let your labor of love be shaped and guided by your detractors.

Hear them, but don’t fear them.