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Episode 27 - GDC Week
Posted March 23rd, 2010

In this episode we cover all of the GDC related info, the new webcomic, and tidbits from the DevTracker. We also spill the beans on our plans for E3.
Episode 26 - Live Q&A
Posted March 18th, 2010

This episode covers the live Q&A we held on March 15th. It contains only the Q&A and is not a regular podcast episode. We hope you enjoy this special episode of the Darth Hater podcast. Thank you to ...
Episode 25 - Funny Hat Talk
Posted March 8th, 2010

Timeline, Developer Blog, and Afterlife with a side of funny hat talk. We also spill the beans on the new Darth Hater project coming to you soon.
Episode 24 - Tunnels, Taris, and Threats Oh My
Posted February 28th, 2010

This week on the podcast we dissect the Taris Developer Dispatch. We also have a very special guest, he of the green text: Engrey. We also talk a bit about the lore of Sluis Van.
Listening to: Episode 23 - Oh Montana
Posted February 21st, 2010

In the 23rd podcast, we'll get the community's opinion on death penalties in MMOs, and cover our dissection of the Threat of Peace comic series
Episode 22 - Talking TOR with Veronica Belmont
Posted February 15th, 2010

This week's special guest is Veronica Belmont. We'll discuss TOR, World of Warcraft, and Mass Effect 2 with her. We also touch on the latest planet, Taris, and our interview with Ensidia.
Episode 21 - Turbo Buttons
Posted February 7th, 2010

Episode 21 will be great fun for all you techies in the TOR community. We discuss PC hardware and how it affects the enjoyment of the game.
Episode 20 - Mass Republic
Posted February 1st, 2010

The 20th episode of the Darth Hater podcast is here. We'll talk class speculation, and the latest timeline entry Also tune in for our impressions of Mass Effect 2.
Episode 19 - The Hype Train
Posted January 17th, 2010

This week we got a potential hint as to the release date of Star Wars: The Old Republic. How does the community feel about the news? Listen in to find out.
Episode 18 - The Emo Planet
Posted January 11th, 2010

On episode 18, we have David Ellis as our special guest. We talk TOR with him, as well as cover the latest planet reveal: Dromund Kaas, capital of the Sith Empire. We'll also touch a bit on Mass Effe...
Episode 17 - Speculation Station
Posted January 3rd, 2010

This week we talk with Emlaeh about the thinking behind Darth Hater's speculation, and touch on class customization. We'll also dissect the Designing the Dark Side Dev Dispatch.
Episode 16 - Sado Orange
Posted December 27th, 2009

Tatooine and the Dark Side are the hot topics this week on the Darth Hater podcast. The latest planet reveal and a great developer dispatch are examined in detail.

Episode 23 - Oh Montana


Posted on February 22nd, 2010

In the 23rd podcast, we'll get the community's opinion on death penalties in MMOs, and cover our dissection of the Threat of Peace comic series

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9 Comments
Comment by dalak made on February 24th, 2010 at 10:07pm
Great points.... I had not considered the finite xp issue with a mostly quest based progression system. Obviously the penalty system has to meet the design of the game.
 
Comment by Raithnor made on February 24th, 2010 at 4:35pm
After listening to the podcast I have some honest questions for you guys:

Why does an MMORPG need a "Death Penalty"?

Would you want death penalties in Single-Player games? Would a death penalty have made the original KOTOR a better game?

Here's the problem I have with Death Penalties: If not done correctly it can cause a spiraling decline in the gaming experience. If you die, you've already lose whatever consumables you've lost in the encounter that lead to the character's death. To add a penalty on top of that doesn't improve your chances at completing the task.

Then there's the issue of PVP, where the more successful PVP titles generally are FPSs like TF2 who generally don't bother with death penalties. For the average PVE-player PVP can be an aggravating waste of time.

Then there's also the issue of TOR replacing KoTOR as a single-player game and using the MMO platform as a Co-Op/updatable enviroment.

I'm also not a fan of armor/weapon/equipment decay so much as "obsolesence". Unless you're at the endgame, ideally you should be constantly upgrading and recycling your equipment. Having to continually worry about your equipement breaking down on top of whatever penalties you incur if you lose isn't my idea of fun, unless a system is in place to repair the equipment instead of continually replacing it.

It will be interesting to see what Bioware comes up with, but I don't really buy into the notion that you have to be like UO/EQ/EVE/WOW to have a sucessful game.
 
Comment by Roflmywaffles made on February 23rd, 2010 at 8:53pm
Great pod cast as always. I really Like corpse runs more then xp lose or ending up in hospitals . I liked how WoW did death ,but I'm always looking for TOR to put it's own little twist on rezing.
 
Comment by Macer made on February 23rd, 2010 at 8:41pm
I careless about computer spec requirements. I just want the dam game to be out for testing so that I fix the bugs and worry less about buying a new computer, in which I will buy one in 300+ days from now. :D
 
Comment by Invader Mig made on February 23rd, 2010 at 12:41pm
I have to completely disagree with the notion that buying DX 11 cards is a waste. You guys keep mentioning $400 price tags on cards when that's for the hd 5870. That's one of there top of the line. You have the HD 5850 at $300 which is actually better than the combo card mentioned on this podcast purchased for $350.

No offense to which ever one of you that purchased it, but you mentioned DX11 not being mainstream yet. There's about 4 games out that use it and that's already a much faster start than DX10. Also that combo card has a gtx250 built in for dedicated physx. If anything physx, for all the time its been out is not mainstream and a complete waste.
If you're really that much of an nvidia fan you would be better off just getting yourself a regular GTX 275 or the one with double the ram.

Aslo the HD 5770 is the best price/performance card on the Market. It has the same performance of the 4870 stock with massive overclocking headroom which gives you 80 - 90% of the performance of a gtx 275 depending how well your card overclocks. I'm not an Ati fan boy by any means, and have only owned 1 ATI card in my life time, but I have to reinforce the point that buying any current nvidia card other than the really low end models is a complete waste of money.

Also you guys would do well to check around the internet for some leaked info on the new Nvidia line. Seems they have fallen flat on their face. While this is speculation, there seems to be many sources claiming that there will be even worse availability than there is for the HD 5970. These cards seem to have worse temps than the GTX 285's, and are even bigger than the HD 5870 which is already absurdly large. I think people are going to be in for a disappointment if they think the new Nvidia cards are going to start some price wars.

Again I really hope I'm wrong and this leaked info is nvidia feeding misinformation to the gamer community. But if even half the stuff I heard is true, gamers are going to suffer from overpriced Gpu's for a while longer.
 
Comment by Flagg made on February 23rd, 2010 at 11:14am
OOPS! Almost forgot.
Great podcast as usual fellas. Keep up the good work!
 
Comment by Flagg made on February 23rd, 2010 at 11:13am
I am more in favor of Armor degradation + Runback system. If you can influx player economics AND provide a reasonable handicap system for death without gimping the toon and forcing him to stand around the AH for 10 minutes, that would be awesome.

Glad you got the ram issue figured out. Thought it might be a bad ram stick.
 
Comment by Kayrien made on February 23rd, 2010 at 6:39am
Very interesting podcast.

It seems you guys dont have a single idea of what the death penalty should be there which will suit you most. Personally (I hope its not too bad to start the same descussion that was there at the poll topic :S ) i am prety discouraged by any item degradation and exp loss as it kills the sence of achievement. When you get a quest reward, for example, a helm i would like to believe that its not going to crack in two next time a patrolling DevilRancore catches me from behind.

The other idea you discussed about having a usable ability in case you do not die for some time. I quite enjoyed the sound of it in the begining but it woulld've been quite frustrating to have an ability you worked for 2 hours and that has a single charge. It would be really getting on my nrves on when to use this OP :)

And no penalty at all is just what you said guys. If there is nothing about death you should be afraid of, then what is the purpose of all this game at all. And SW universe. Everybody just settle down you are immortal anyway. but thats just me ofcourse

So again i guess ill stick to the corpse run or resurection sickness from Kolto tank :)

And again thank you guys for another great podcast :)
 
DH Team
Comment by Sleeper made on February 23rd, 2010 at 7:58am
I don't know what death penalty I want to see, but I want to avoid death because of ×blank× circumstances