Respec Radio

We've been playing Cryptic's new free-to-play Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG, and we have deep thoughts to share. Or at least some observations about the lack of bards and RP servers and a comparison to the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online. I hate to disappoint, but Andy McNamara has a rare absence in today's show. You'll have to make do with GI's Matt Miller instead, though I think you'll find his ability to be baited about 4th Edition knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons to be a solid addition to the podcast. This week's bumper music is the main theme from Cryptic's Neverwinter. Find more Respec Radio on iTunes or our RSS feed and/or the hub. (Please visit the site to view this media)

We promised it forever ago, but Andy McNamara, Adam Biessener, and special guest Robert Johnson of Namco Bandai are finally delivering some of the crazy stories that have taken place in our years playing MMOs. Andy and Robert have been playing MMOs together since the glory days of EverQuest, and they reminisce about some of the ridiculous things they've done over the years – up to and including camping rare spawns for weeks at a time as a guild. As the host I get in a couple tales of my own (I finally get to tell my favorite-ever story of the Infernal Whisperer on the air), but this week I gladly take a back seat to let the old men tell their tales. Bumper music this week is the totally classic EverQuest main theme. Enjoy. Forty more episodes of Respec Radio and counting can be found on iTunes or our RSS feed and/or the hub. (Please visit the site to view this media)

The shooter MMO from Trion has had some launch pangs, particularly with its console versions, but we have some good things to say about it too. GI's Andy Reiner and Mike Futter, who have had the ill fortune to (attempt to) play the Xbox 360 version, join host Adam Biessener and his perspective from the vastly superior PC incarnation of the game. As frustrating as the lag and crashing have been for the poor Xbox players, they're not quite as full of anger and hate as you might imagine. The bumper music in this episode is the Theme from Defiance by the excellent Bear McCreary (of Battlestar Galactica fame, among others). Special thanks to Trion Worlds for supplying the music. [Note: I said I'd double-check to see if episode missions are in fact removed from the game after the episode in question airs, and it appears that that is indeed the case. Get the sexy purple assault rifle while it's hot, folks.] The rest of the years-long Respec Radio ouevre longs to caress your earbones, and can be found on iTunes or our RSS feed and/or the hub. (Please visit the site to view this media)

GI editor-in-chief Andy McNamara makes his long-awaited return to our MMO podcast this week to grill Respec Radio host and GI PC editor Adam Biessener about The Elder Scrolls Online. Anything that I can speak about from my four hours of playtime in two of the game's starter zones is fair game, and we touch on most of it in between generous helpings of snark and love for Ready Player One (which you should totally read if you're listening to an MMO podcast). (Please visit the site to view this media) Complete your collection (guaranteed to never be worth anything, ever) of Respec Radio with every episode we've ever made, available via iTunes or our RSS feed and/or the hub.

The newly appointed creative director of the live teams for The Secret World, Age of Conan, and Anarchy Online joins GI's Adam Biessener for a chat about the dramatic restructuring of Funcom's development teams, commercial disappointments, and the company's future. Joel Bylos was one of the principal designers on The Secret World, an MMO from last year that won critical praise but failed to hit sales expectations. Now he's tasked with running the recently reorganized teams that work on all three of the company's live games. Listen in for a refreshingly honest and straightforward interview in which Bylos fully owns up to the flaws in his company's games while laying out a series of ideas and goals he has for keeping his players happy and loyal. Special thanks to Funcom for supplying the Secret World theme music used as bumper beats in this episode and to Bylos for his time and honesty. Please accept my apologies for my own sound quality; Skype was being intransigent. Get all the MMO banter you can handle and then some with all of the Respec Radio episodes we've recorded, available via iTunes or our RSS feed and/or the hub. (Please visit the site to view this media)

Mike Donatelli and Mike Geldard from Wildstar development studio Carbine join the GI MMO podcast for an informal chat about housing, tabletop role-playing, and space bacon. Host Adam Biessener grills content director Donatelli and global brand manager Geldard on a variety of topics on their upcoming MMORPG. Things start to get out of hand once anecdotes about high-school tabletop role-playing get busted out, though, and really go off the rails shortly thereafter. No joke: This is my favorite Respec Radio episode I've done in recent memory. Even if Wildstar doesn't sound like a game for you, I encourage you to listen in. I said I'd dig up some Wildstar video, but the best thing to do honestly is head to the game's official YouTube channel where you can find trailers, gameplay, and more. Wildstar comes out later this year; look for a beta announcement soon since the developers have started to let fans go hands-on at PAX East as of today. For those curious, the music in the podcast is the character select track from Wildstar. Special thanks to publisher NCsoft for sending Donatelli and Geldard out to our offices in the first place and supplying the bumper music as well. For more MMO chatter from GI, subscribe via iTunes or our RSS feed, and/or head to the hub for every episode we've ever recorded. (Please visit the site to view this media) [Note: The original version of this article incorrectly listed Mike Geldard's name as Matt Geldard. Game Informer regrets the error.]

The 5.2 update to World of Warcraft introduces the Thunder King and his raid tier alongside a whole bunch of other stuff for Mists of Pandaria players to keep themselves busy with. Lead encounter designer Ian Hazzikostas joined the prestigious GI MMO podcast to tell us all about the juggernaut MMO's latest content patch. Prodded by host Adam Biessener, Hazzikostas gives some insight into how raid encounters are designed, the point of the new Thunderforged mechanic, why Blizzard is pumping out more world bosses after avoiding them for years, and the long-awaited debut of green fire for Warlocks. (Please visit the site to view this media) Please accept my apologies for some minor distortion on my own voice on this one, gracious listeners. I can only plead ignorance of the finer points of ProTools. To make it up to you, I'll post more episodes on a more regular basis. I promise. I'll retweet you making fun of me on Twitter if I don't make good on it, pinkie swear. For more Respec Radio, head to the hub or check us out on iTunes.

We are alive! Now that the Game Informer editors have survived the annual onslaught of holiday games and news, Andy McNamara finally had a minute or fifty to sit down with Respec Radio host to chat about PlanetSide 2. Between Andy's war stories from the original game and Adam's gushing about the sequel (read more here), there's plenty to convince you to drop the zero dollars it takes to start blasting fools in PlanetSide 2 in the podcast. (Please visit the site to view this media) We won't let it go this long between Respec Radio episodes next time. Promise.* * probably

Join Adam Biessener and Andy McNamara for a freewheeling discussion of ArenaNet's brand new smash hit MMO, Guild Wars 2. Whether you're looking to have your own opinions validated or more interested in picking our proclamations apart, we've got you covered with plenty of jibber-jabber on everything from crafting to World vs. World and why Andy is so uncharacteristically late to the party. As always, you can find classic Respec Radio episodes (and by classic, I mean...old) at the hub or at our iTunes page, and subscribe either via iTunes or through our RSS feed. (Please visit the site to view this media)

Host Adam Biessener and Respec stalwart Andy McNamara are joined by GI's Ben Hanson in a wide-ranging exploration of the consequences of the recently announced free-to-play move for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Also, we shout at each other about PvP and healing UIs. Before Hanson's questions lead us far afield from our normally laser-focused MMO podcasting (ha!), we even slide in a little Secret World discussion. We know the critics love it, but how is it doing? Is Funcom healthy? Who knows! More MMO podcasts await at the Respec Radio hub, our RSS feed, and on our iTunes page. (Please visit the site to view this media)

Funcom's Ragnar Tørnquist joins Respec Radio host Adam Biessener for a discussion on his soon-to-be-live MMORPG. The Secret World puts players into one of three secret societies warring over control of hidden magical energy in our modern world. Tørnquist and his team are trying to build an honest-to-goodness story around the struggle -- except that they're not casting the player as the hero, just another warrior in the battle for mankind's future. Tørnquist doesn't channel his rage on the mic like our own Andy McNamara can, but did you really expect a Norwegian to compete with our editor-in-chief on that front? The Secret World launches on PC on July 3, but you can start playing the head start right now with a pre-order from the retailer of your choice (may we suggest our parent company?). Special thanks to Tørnquist for joining us on the podcast, and to Funcom for supplying the (awesome) main theme from the game for bumper music. Check back for a much more detailed critical writeup of The Secret World in an upcoming issue of Game Informer. Also, swing by the Respec Radio hub for more MMO podcastery than anyone really needs, and subscribe to our RSS feed or on iTunes to get new episodes as soon as they're fired out over the Internet. (Please visit the site to view this media)

Funcom's Ragnar Tørnquist joins Respec Radio host Adam Biessener for a discussion on his soon-to-be-live MMORPG. The Secret World puts players into one of three secret societies warring over control of hidden magical energy in our modern world. Tørnquist and his team are trying to build an honest-to-goodness story around the struggle -- except that they're not casting the player as the hero, just another warrior in the battle for mankind's future. Tørnquist doesn't channel his rage on the mic like our own Andy McNamara can, but did you really expect a Norwegian to compete with our editor-in-chief on that front? The Secret World launches on PC on July 3, but you can start playing the head start right now with a pre-order from the retailer of your choice (may we suggest our parent company?). Special thanks to Tørnquist for joining us on the podcast, and to Funcom for supplying the (awesome) main theme from the game for bumper music. Check back for a much more detailed critical writeup of The Secret World in an upcoming issue of Game Informer. Also, swing by the Respec Radio hub for more MMO podcastery than anyone really needs, and subscribe to our RSS feed or on iTunes to get new episodes as soon as they're fired out over the Internet. (Please visit the site to view this media)

Three GI editors tackle the three big names in shooter/MMOs that were the highlights in massively multiplayer gaming from E3 2012. Host Adam Biessener is joined as always by Andy McNamara as well as Matt Miller. Listen in to find out what we think the most promising massively multiplayer game from the show is this year, and why. Also, we complain that there isn't enough variety in free-to-play business models. Yes, really. We provide all Respec Radio episodes directly from the hub. You can download this episode courtesy of this link. To get new episodes as soon as they appear online, subscribe via RSS or iTunes. (Please visit the site to view this media)

Three GI editors tackle the three big names in shooter/MMOs that were the highlights in massively multiplayer gaming from E3 2012. Host Adam Biessener is joined as always by Andy McNamara as well as Matt Miller. Listen in to find out what we think the most promising massively multiplayer game from the show is this year, and why. Also, we complain that there isn't enough variety in free-to-play business models. Yes, really. We provide all Respec Radio episodes directly from the hub. You can download this episode courtesy of this link. To get new episodes as soon as they appear online, subscribe via RSS or iTunes. (Please visit the site to view this media)

Editor-in-chief Andy McNamara interviews GI PC Editor Adam Biessener about the recently launched, action-heavy MMO. Is this Korean import worth your time? Listen to the podcast for 20-plus minutes of Tera details and analysis on why this is the best MMO combat I've played – and why that may not be enough to bust Tera into the top echelons of subscription-based MMORPGs. (Please visit the site to view this media) Be sure to swing by the Respec Radio hub or our iTunes RSS feed for 29 more episodes of MMO of only the highest quality.

Editor-in-chief Andy McNamara interviews GI PC Editor Adam Biessener about the recently launched, action-heavy MMO. Is this Korean import worth your time? Listen to the podcast for 20-plus minutes of Tera details and analysis on why this is the best MMO combat I've played – and why that may not be enough to bust Tera into the top echelons of subscription-based MMORPGs. (Please visit the site to view this media) Be sure to swing by the Respec Radio hub or our iTunes RSS feed for 29 more episodes of MMO of only the highest quality.

Two things make this a very special edition of Respec Radio: our guest, Guild Wars 2 designer Jonathan Sharp of ArenaNet, and the last appearance of Phil Kollar as an editor at Game Informer. You'll have to do without Andy McNamara's customary ranting this week, but we like to think that Sharp's commentary on every corner of Guild Wars 2 from character creation to the unique event system and the epic "world vs. world" battles that pit entire servers against each other in open world PvP makes up for it. Check back to gameinformer.com later this week for a video preview of Guild Wars 2 featuring Sharp taking us through a never-before-seen PvP arena and more, and head to the Respec Radio hub or our iTunes RSS feed for more MMO-related snark than any one person really needs. Happy trails, Phil. (Please visit the site to view this media)

It's been a slow year for MMOs so far, but things are about to heat up. On this episode of Respec Radio, we share our experiences with the Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria betas. As always, I'm joined by Andy McNamara and Adam Biessener. In addition to lots of gushing about Guild Wars and ranting about pandas, we discuss our slow but certain loss of interest in Star Wars: The Old Republic, which may be directly responsible for the lack of Respec Radio episodes of late. Tune into the show below, catch up on old episodes on the Respec Radio hub page, and subscribe to the show on iTunes or your RSS service of choice via our RSS feed. (Please visit the site to view this media)

We're back from break, and would you believe we wasted most of our holiday time off playing the freshly-launched Star Wars: The Old Republic? Of course we did. Adam Biessener, Andy McNamara, and Andrew Reiner join me on this episode of Respec Radio to discuss the first few week's of BioWare's massive new game. We go over the combat highs, the buggy lows, what we think of the class storylines so far, and even our progress on romancing our companions -- or, well, mine at least. Listen to the episode below, and then go back and catch previous episodes of Respec Radio on our hub page. You can also guarantee that you don't miss an episode by subscribing to the show on iTiunes or via our RSS feed. (Please visit the site to view this media)

Not even two weeks since our last episode, and Respec Radio is back! This time, Matt Miller and Adam Biessener join me to discuss the beta for Star Wars: The Old Republic. In this hour-long talk, we dive into the first 20 levels of our Empire-side characters, including how close to World of Warcraft the combat is, why the companion system is awesome, and whether BioWare's promise of storytelling we'll actually care about seems to have been delivered. Sound like a show you want to listen to? Check it out below or subscribe to our RSS feed, and be sure to take a look at the Respec Radio hub for all past episodes of our MMO podcast. (Please visit the site to view this media)

We're back! After an extra-long summer break, Andy McNamara and Adam Biessener join me for some long-overdue MMO talk. On our dramatic return episode, we take a long look at all of the details surrounding Mists of Pandaria, the latest World of Warcraft expansion. Listen to this hour-long episode of Respec Radio to hear why Andy isn't interested in pandas, whether adding Pokemon to WoW is brilliant or terrible, and how our podcast is a stand-in for everything Andy hates about the average MMO player. NOTE: At the beginning of this episode I mention that we're going to talk about Star Wars: The Old Republic, but by 30 minutes in it became clear that we were going to have a lengthy enough episode without that segment. Look for another episode devoted to our impressions of the Old Republic beta in the coming weeks. Listen to the episode below and if you like what you hear subscribe via our RSS feed or check out old episodes on the Respec Radio hub. (Please visit the site to view this media)    

After a Respec-worthy length of time without a new episode, Adam Biessener and I return on this week's Respec Radio to run down the MMOs of E3. From the more traditional Star Wars: The Old Republic to strange MMO genre combos like the MMORTS of End of Nations, we discuss all the major massive titles we saw at this year's show. Special props go to Tera, which was our pick for both best MMO and best PC game at E3 this year. Adam explains the reasoning for that choice during the episode. If you enjoy what you hear and don't mind waiting a bit for a new episode, be sure to subscribe to Respec Radio via iTunes or our RSS feed or check out the Respec Radio hub to listen to old episodes. (Please visit the site to view this media)

A few readers were surprised to see that we are giving away beta keys for APB: Reloaded given my strong, negative feelings regarding the original game. Despite the game's problems, I'm always willing to give an MMO a second chance, and publisher GamersFirst is saying all the right things about their upcoming APB relaunch. We invited producer Jonenee Merriex and community liaison Cesar Gatica onto Respec Radio to plead their case for why gamers should take another look at this action MMO. Tune in for a discussion on APB: Reloaded's business model, how the game is being rebalanced, and what kind of new content GamersFirst is planning to add in the future. If it's enough to make you interested all over again, there's still time to try to grab a beta key. If you enjoy this episode of Respec Radio and want more MMO talk, be sure to subscribe to our podcast via iTunes or our RSS feed or keep an eye on the Respec Radio hub. (Please visit the site to view this media)

If you listened to our last episode of Respec Radio, you heard our largely positive impressions of Trion's debut MMO, Rift. On this week's show, we invited our first ever special guest for an interview -- Trion executive producer and chief creative officer Scott Hartsman. Listen in to hear Hartsman go in-depth on Trion's development philosophy, Rift's endgame, and the importance of a good turtle foundation. You can listen to the full interview below. To make sure you never miss an episode of Respec Radio, subscribe to the show on iTunes or via our RSS feed or just bookmark the Respec Radio hub. Also, to celebrate this fantastic interview, the kind people of Trion provided us with an awesome Rift statue to give away to one lucky listener. If you want a chance to win this beauty, leave a comment on this story explaining why you deserve the statue. (Please visit the site to view this media)

This week's episode of Respec Radio is one of those rare treats for the World of Warcraft haters in the audience -- an episode of Respec Radio not devoted to WoW! Instead, we discuss the newly-launched, heavily WoW-inspired MMO Rift. Adam Biessener leads Andy McNamara and I on a tour of all of Rift's features, from the impressive world and complex class system to the sketchy animation. Listen to the full episode below and then read Adam's lengthy write-up of his first impressions on Rift. If you dig the show, be sure to subscribe via our RSS feed or iTunes, and check out older episodes on the Respec Radio hub. (Please visit the site to view this media)