Ep. 15 Leaving Early Access

Mix a passionate fan base with the internet and you are going to get conspiracy theories. For HLL, these fall into two main thought groups, either Team 17 the publisher exploited Black Matter the developer or Black Matter exploited the fan base.  Evil Inchon makes his introduction by tossing out suggested evidence and Digishadow provides the a counterpoint. Do you agree with Evil Inchon or is this a lot of smoke with no fire.    We discuss patch 16 and if this kind of delay is something the community has been asking for (Smaller, more frequent changes). Mosca is back with a airhead cartoon, and we review all the competitive HLL news to include a new 18vs18 champion.

Two major HLL competitive events are about to kick off and we tackle the challenge of trying to power rank the 23 teams involved (plus Exodus). For a task this big we need to bring in our friend from Germany, DasAltberg who has broadcasted competitive HLL for well over a year. Besides bringing his unfiltered commentary he also provides insight into some of the lesser known European competitive teams. Prior to the rankings we preview patch 16 changes which are significant. There is a new bug with American windshields that you should know about. Digishadow provides up an update on his most requested addition to HLL, shotguns. All of this as a whole lot of drinking on Episode 18 of Hell, Lets Talk.

Finally, the tankers episode! We're joined by General_T and Koleto, plus notes from Chokarion to discuss tanking changes in Update 10, armor tactics, and get a few suggested changes from them. Did Update 10 reduce the skill level for tanking but make it more accessible? Digi and myself do our best to not make it about destroying tanks.   Before that we dive into some recently discovered suppression reduction mechanics, talk about the freak out over possible paid future content, and discuss the Hound Dog vs Hot Dog controversy. Packed in is updates for all four competitive HLL tournaments, too much good stuff.

Welcome to the Eastern Front with Update 10 and if you're a commander, welcome to resource overload. Digishadow and Inchon answer four questions after a week of update 10: 1)  What is the biggest change to the metagame 2) What is the biggest change at the individual player level (positive or negative) 3) The change you may not notice, but should 4) The change that left us most confused.    Prior to this we discuss the newly issued and long awaited New Player Guide with Mosca.  Get a behind the scene's look at the art and process of making the guide.  We also dive into the DLC conversation and provide an update on competitive HLL.

In our final episode before HLL leaves early access, we look back at the most influential dev briefs, updates, and milestones of the Early Access period.  In reviewing these we are able to see the journey HLL has been on and what ultimately it is now. Guest co-host Johnny Gunner provides his insights on the heavy armor in the game.  Show friend Dbl0Douche joins us for insight on what's the same and what is different.   Of course we're brining you the HLL news, changes, and community feedback.  Stay tuned for the bonus content, it's meme worthy.

HLL will leave Early Access on July 27th, 2021. Where does the game stand after the last 2 years in this period of development?  To answer this Digishadow and Inchon (with assistance from the live chat) break down the first EA Road Map and their 15 goals, along with 5 of our own.  Some topics receive some high marks, others... well not so much.  The tier list ranking is available for you to make your own and share!   Also we discuss our feedback from PTE#3 which tested new SMDM and Stalingrad.  JohnnyGunner is back with a side by side lethality comparison of an M1 Garand vs a Carbine round.  And back by popular demand, hero and zero segment.

A key generation of HLL players, referred to as Veterans, are leaving the game or simply getting exhausted. For such a serious topic we take the time to discuss this and it’s impacts with two pillars of the HLL community, Wild Bill Jammin and Heidegger.  They provide their in-depth perspective on game mechanics, the Meta changes since Update 3 and how these changes removed choices and added rules.  We address the recent changes in Update 9 and the last PTE to determine if it fixes, mitigates, or ignore critical issues to this player group.   This is a long one so settle in.   We provide our first feedback of the PTE and speculate on a release date. A wrap up of the Currahee Cleanup Project is provided along with highlighting the winner of the HLL video creation competition.  Congratulations to Easy who combined Company of Heroes with HLL to take the top spot.

A foundation of HLL marketing is history, but World War II history isn't balance and during the time period HLL is set-in.  The HLT crew brings back our resident history buff JohnnyGunner to discuss if the current game his historically authentic (period appropriate), accurate period appropriate and used at that particular time and place, or strives for asymmetrical balance. Should Sherman76's and Tigers even be in Foy? At the end we provide some of our suggestions on how to find some balance while keeping true to the historical roots. (Hint: Moderation tools).     As normal we have all the HLL news that you may not have caught up on such as Stalingrad confirmed (?), Russian contact PTE announced, and Mosca's 1 year HLL Cartoon birthday.

t's not easy being passionate about an early access game. In this episode we cover some of the highs and lows that the community is currently feeling.  We've got (4) dev briefs worth of new Russian content and a new patch (high), but Spring Seasonal is cancelled and performance is still suffering (low).    What has always continued to improve is the great community we have and we spotlight 116. Pz D (Greyhounds) for their work in running the Greyhound Cup.  We learn about their structure, history and custom discord badges!?! Mosca captures everybody's favorite HLL sound with his newest cartoon. and we introduce our first history segment with none other than Johnny Gunner.  As a true WWII enthusiast and reenactor, he provides a unique perspective about Foy and the fog during the battle.

Did you get a chance to go through the 998 comments from the Developer Question and Answer Post?  If not, you know the HLT research team has you covered.    We’re breaking down what were the biggest questions answered, not answered, and what went against the community opinions.  For such heavy lifting we’re joined by one of the largest HLL personalities, Monoespecial as a special co-host.  Fresh off his appearance from the Dreamhack invitational, he is bringing his unique perspective and answering questions about being a content creator.   We’ve got news from the competitive scene across the globe, Mosca’s newest artwork, and a special hero segment from the lead organizer of the Currahee Clean-Up Project.