So, our standard podcasts can probably fairly described as fun mindless drivel. But, we have access to incredibly smart and talented people, so we (Travis and I) have decided to try and make use of them and put out a new format and try to do them every month or so. This is the test/pilot run, and we're looking for feedback on what everyone thinks.

It's about 2 hours of us talking about what big erratas/FAQs bannings etc have been in other games, what happens when you try and rip part of tier 1 out of a meta, and where we think it's going to take X-Wing and the competitive metagame in general. If you get a chance, take a listen and let me know what you think, even if you hate it!

http://carolinakrayts.libsyn.com/listener-one-a-carolina-krayts-story

Unrelated, Episode 7 is also out. It is not full of analysis, but it is full of me being terrified Jeremy and Duncan are going to kill me on the long car ride home from Naboo(we recorded it in the car, so the audio quality is atrocious. Sorry!)

http://carolinakrayts.libsyn.com/episode-7-the-paul-awakens

Tagging @Tlfj200 so he can find the thread, since he is clearly much better at this whole recording and discussion business.

/shamless bump

Also, we're planning to look more into game and balance design issues, if anyone has any feedback or specific topics of interest.

If you're going to talk about balance design, it'd be interesting to hear your opinions on how far the designers should go with errata/FAQ - based nerfing and/or buffing, and how much of that balance adjustment should be coming from new releases, in the forms of fixes and counters?

In terms of game design, what kind of design space is left to work with? Do you think there are any interesting statline-action-dial combinations left that are interesting and haven't made it into the game yet? Any reasonably star-warsy ship actions, upgrade types, etc that aren't in the game yet, and could add something interesting?

On 3/23/2017 at 8:46 AM, Brunas said:

It's about 2 hours of us talking so the audio quality is atrocious. Sorry!)

sign me up!

snide comment aside, I wish I had more time for podcasts but 2 hour chunks are personally difficult to find (busy job, young kids, adorable wife, great pals, lots of hobbies that I already don't get time for). For the time-constrained, I'd prefer shorter but more focused podcasts. - I have had to give up on too many as they became rambling conversations between friends that were often more fun to make than to listen to and although the nuggets of info were great, there was a lot of chaff to wade through to get them.

Love seeing constant growth in the community, however, sincerely hope you find an audience

2 hours ago, Babaganoosh said:

If you're going to talk about balance design, it'd be interesting to hear your opinions on how far the designers should go with errata/FAQ - based nerfing and/or buffing, and how much of that balance adjustment should be coming from new releases, in the forms of fixes and counters?

In terms of game design, what kind of design space is left to work with? Do you think there are any interesting statline-action-dial combinations left that are interesting and haven't made it into the game yet? Any reasonably star-warsy ship actions, upgrade types, etc that aren't in the game yet, and could add something interesting?

That's the first thing to follow up with at Stele actually - still don't know how I feel about this

1 hour ago, Bojanglez said:

sign me up!

snide comment aside, I wish I had more time for podcasts but 2 hour chunks are personally difficult to find (busy job, young kids, adorable wife, great pals, lots of hobbies that I already don't get time for). For the time-constrained, I'd prefer shorter but more focused podcasts. - I have had to give up on too many as they became rambling conversations between friends that were often more fun to make than to listen to and although the nuggets of info were great, there was a lot of chaff to wade through to get them.

Love seeing constant growth in the community, however, sincerely hope you find an audience

Come on, quit your job, divorce the wife, drop it all for X-Wing. Don't be a filthy casual! Funnily enough, we already have a large audience, way more than I would have believed if you told me a month or two ago.

They're just quiet, so we're trying to hear back from them!

It's possible that your audience is quiet because they are embarrassed to admit listening to you.

It's funny, because your podcast content quality is dispersed more like a dumbell curve than a bell curve. Most podcasts have a lot of middle ground, some nonsense, and some quality insights. You guys have a lot at the nonsense end, but also a lot at the quality insight end, with comparatively little in between.

That's my take at least.

I admit I haven't listened to your podcast, but everyone I've talked to and I'm guessing even to your own admission, is that you guys just talk about random stuff and not much of substance, but occasionally have great insight or nuggets of awesomeness. And a few of the guys that listen to you really like the chatter, so I'm not recommending changing your style, but maybe a small addition of a recap of the important stuff discussed at the end. That way your listeners who are less entertained by your randomness could skip ahead to your truth bombs and therefore you could help all your listeners get the most out of your podcast. Just an idea.

Hey. I listen. The two hour special content edition is next on my list. For some reason I've started saying "it's fine. It's all fine." A lot. Particularly when it's not.

9 hours ago, Biophysical said:

It's possible that your audience is quiet because they are embarrassed to admit listening to you.

It's funny, because your podcast content quality is dispersed more like a dumbell curve than a bell curve. Most podcasts have a lot of middle ground, some nonsense, and some quality insights. You guys have a lot at the nonsense end, but also a lot at the quality insight end, with comparatively little in between.

That's my take at least.

We'll call that that a win! Thanks for the endorsement.

The Carolina Krayts podcast is my absolute favorite podcast. It's nice to hear the not-so-serious side of the tournament community.

Your phrases have infected my group's language. Now we say "Wrecked" "Git Gud" and "It's fine" constantly. You guys are great. Keep it up.

On 3/24/2017 at 2:26 PM, Biophysical said:

It's possible that your audience is quiet because they are embarrassed to admit listening to you.

It's funny, because your podcast content quality is dispersed more like a dumbell curve than a bell curve. Most podcasts have a lot of middle ground, some nonsense, and some quality insights. You guys have a lot at the nonsense end, but also a lot at the quality insight end, with comparatively little in between.

That's my take at least.

Haha, you probably aren't wrong. I'm sure people also just listen to us for the articles.

On 3/24/2017 at 7:55 PM, JJFDVORAK said:

I admit I haven't listened to your podcast, but everyone I've talked to and I'm guessing even to your own admission, is that you guys just talk about random stuff and not much of substance, but occasionally have great insight or nuggets of awesomeness. And a few of the guys that listen to you really like the chatter, so I'm not recommending changing your style, but maybe a small addition of a recap of the important stuff discussed at the end. That way your listeners who are less entertained by your randomness could skip ahead to your truth bombs and therefore you could help all your listeners get the most out of your podcast. Just an idea.

Oh I don't think we'll change the normal podcast, it's pretty much beyond redemption at this point. We'll just watch the train wrecks happen in slow motion every week until people stop wanting to listen! The "special" with Travis is what I'm really interested in feedback for, since it's entirely different from everything else!

On 3/24/2017 at 9:42 PM, LagJanson said:

Hey. I listen. The two hour special content edition is next on my list. For some reason I've started saying "it's fine. It's all fine." A lot. Particularly when it's not.

THIS IS FINE EVERYTHING'S FINE HOW ARE YOU

9 hours ago, Brunas said:

The "special" with Travis is what I'm really interested in feedback for, since it's entirely different from everything else!

I'd say that the it was clear that some thought had gone into the special. Despite the fact that it took a good hour or so to get past the "meta changes in other games" section (I think it would have been useful to explain that was your point from the beginning), the preparation that went into the x-wing part was evident, at least to me.

What was interesting, to me, was how different that part felt from regular x-wing podcasts. I'd say the standard format is "a handful of guys hanging out talking about x-wing", and each has their own take based on their experiences, which may or may not be useful. You get banter and a few nuggets of information, and the quality of each is dependent on the quality of the podcast members and if they're having a good day. I don't think there's much in the way of preparation of most podcasts beyond establishing talking points, although I have no experience with this sort of thing.

I would say the very special episode was more similar to Dee's "art of x-wing" sections, where there is actual prepared content that is has (presumably) been thought about and discussed beforehand. That makes sections like this have a higher than average signal-to-noise ratio, because the filler and standard off-the-cuff answers that even good player-podcasters often give.

The "other games discussion" could really have been 5-10 minutes and been just fine, though. I'm certainly prone to the rambling intro when I write, so I understand where this comes from.