AggroChat #546 - Bouncing Balls of Death

Featuring: Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Hey Folks! It is that weird time between holidays, and we are down about half of our folks for various reasons.  We push forward and record a pretty focused show around a few topics.  We start off discussing Q-Up, a game that effectively has a lot of things to say about League of Legends, and also discuss other games like Rabbit and Steel that are themselves commentaries on other games.  From there, Kodra takes Bel to task about Path of Exile II, and mostly how the game seemingly has no interest in making sure you can beat Act 1 with any build and player experimentation.  Thalen has been back in Warframe and attempts to recruit us all to the fold, and honestly…  it is working.  Lastly, we wrap the show with some discussion about the genre that evolved out of MMORPGs…  where the games are far less massive, but still sort of feel like they are a multiplayer experience in spite of only focusing on a handful of players.   Topics Discussed: Q-Up Path of Exile II Still Uninterested in Experimentation Board Games Returning to Warframe The MMO Successor Genre

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, and Thalen   Hey Folks! We are down a Tam and a Grace this week but push through with a limited crew.  Bel gets called out by Kodra for being entirely too comfortable with excessive grinds…  this time specifically talking about World Completion in Guild Wars 2.  Kirby Air Riders is a weird game and we talk a bout it.  Bel shares his extended thoughts about Path of Exile II and its current state as well as the Demon Bear being pretty freaking great.  Kodra has been trying to wrap up Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and talks a bit about that.  Ash is doing dumb things in Guild Wars 1 and apparently so is Kodra… so we talk about Guild Wars Reforged again.  Ultimately Sheep Raccoon is the sequel to podcast favorite Ultimate Chicken Horse and we once again recommend it.  Bel talks about the Paladin in Diablo IV and how it is almost as silly as the Last Epoch thorns build.  Kodra talks a bit about Blitz Chess and Thalen is back in Warframe and talks about that.   Topics Discussed: Bel's Grind Quotient Kirby Air Riders is Weird Path of Exile II Bear is Great Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Guild Wars 1 Nonsense Ultimate Sheep Raccoon  Diablo IV Paladin is Silly Kodra and Blitz Chess Thalen back in Warframe

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, and Tamrielo   Hey Folks! We are down a Thalen this week but continue chipping away at our massive backlog of discussion topics after taking two weeks off due to holiday and illness.  We start off with some talk about Dwarven Realms Season 5 and how it allows you to get all the loot without gating your access.  From there, we talk about Star Citizen and how it has mostly kept all of its promises during the 2025 release schedule.  Most of us have been playing Guild Wars Reforged, and we talk a bit about how much better the game looks and what we are playing.  Grace discusses a Vampire-Survivors-like that has building sim functionality in the very long-named Monsters Are Coming! Rock & Road.  Bel has ventured forth into the realm of FDM printing and talks about various lessons learned.  Lastly, a quick topic as Bel shares that the POE2 bear is really good, but so is the recently shadow-dropped Paladin in Diablo 4.   Topics Discussed: Dwarven Realms Season 5 Star Citizen 2025 Releases Guild Wars Reforged Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road Where Winds Meet Bel Loves FDM Printing POE2 Bear and D4 Paladin

Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Hey Folks! Bel was partially dead, and then holiday travel happened, and as a result, we ended up taking a few weeks off without really intending to. We are back and hopefully for more than a few weeks, but given another holiday is looming, who knows. This week we talk about how all of the various ARPGs out there seem to have a contingency of aggro fans, and discuss the reasons why, but also why we are not quite as doomer on them.  Bel talks a bit about the release of the Druid and the Vaal league coming up in Path of Exile II.  Tam discusses a new Chinese MMORPG called Where Winds Meet, which seems to push Gacha elements aside and produce a really wild experience.  From there Grace discusses a Raid Healing Simulator if the form of Wild Growth, and Kodra, an alternate universe Donkey Kong Country in the form of Windswept. We have a revisiting of a topic we have discussed more than once, about why PVPVE fails… this time, how it ruins the otherwise joyful experience of Arc Raiders.  We wrap the show up with some rapid-fire topics about various books and media we have been consuming.   Topics Discussed: ARPG Players Angry Last Epoch Path of Exile Diablo IV Path of Exile II Druid and Vaal League Where Winds Meet Wild Growth Windswept PVPVE is Bad Revisited Short Topics

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Hey Folks! We recorded a massive show where we effectively burned through our entire backlog of topics.  We start off talking about the new character, Maru, in Destiny Rising, and how this seems to be leading us to finally getting off the planet.  Kodra discusses Broom Sweeper, which is effectively the Roguelikeification of Minesweeper.  Bel got sucked into a local pen and paper game for Public Access and talks a bit about the setting.  Ash is doing a "Three Job Fiesta" run of Trials of Mana, and Tam has been playing some ArcRaiders.  We are all pretty pumped for the announcement of new Steam Hardware and what this means for PC gaming.  Kodra and Tam talk about It Takes a War, and Bel revisits his Freezy Boom character in Path of Exile.  We wrap up the show with some rapid-fire discussions about Gunfire Reborn, Winter Burrow, and Ambrosia Sky.   Topics Discussed: Destiny Rising Pirate Queen Maru Broom Sweeper Public Access TTRPG Trials of Mana Three Job Fiesta Arc Raiders More Steam Hardware It Takes A War Path of Exile Freezy Boom Revisited Gunfire Reborn Winter Burrow Ambrosia Sky

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   We start off the show with some discussion about Geek Girl Con and how it is a great experience for the entire family.  From there, Ash has played a bit more Daggerheart and discusses how not having initiative in that game actually works out really well.  Kodra is trying a new mine build in Path of Exile 3.2,7 and we talk a bit about how Rolling Magma Mine has been working. Bel has finished most of the endgame prep and discusses the state of his build and how Breach has been working as a league mechanic.  Touhou gets a little less difficult to engage with as Fantasy Maiden Wars attempts to present twenty years worth of assorted games into something more approachable. Tam revisited VTM Bloodlines 2 and thinks that maybe we are misremembering the first game, and how the thing that exists is actually pretty good if you give it enough time.  Lastly, Bel finished Frieren this weekend and talks a bit about it being really good and well worth watching.   Topics Discussed: Geek Girl Con 2025 Daggerheart Initiative is Overrated Path of Exile 3.27 Rolling Magma Mines Breach So Far Fantasy Maiden Wars Super Robot Wars With Shrine Maidens Touhou VTM Bloodlines 2 Revisited Frieren is Great

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   This week, we start off with some discussion around Path of Exile 3.27, the Keepers of the Flame league, and how we are doing breach to make things with the tree tree. From there, we talk a bit about the murder of Amazon Game Studios and how New World is essentially a shambling corpse now…  spooky. After that horror story, we needed something chill, so we talked a bit about Powerwash Simulator and its interesting method for delivering a story.  Grace and Bel finally finish the Destiny Rising raid and talk a bit about how good it is at teaching mechanics in lower-level content.  Dispatch is a wildly good game that is being delivered in an episodic method that feels like you are playing a really good television show.  Guild Wars 2 Visions of Eternity launched and we talk about some of our early thoughts, namely around the builds introduced by the new elite specs.  Finally, we talk a bit about Outer Worlds 2 and how it makes good on the idea of Obsidian's very own Fallout New Vegas that the first game started.   Topics Discussed: Path of Exile 3.27 Keepers of the Flame The Tree Tree New World in Zombie Mode Powerwash Simulator Destiny Rising Raid Dispatch GW2 Visions of Eternity Early Thoughts Outer Worlds 2

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Good Morning, Folks! This week we had the entire crew and a stacked list of topics, forcing us to bump several to next week.  Tam starts out talking about Time Flies, leading into Grace talking about Ball X Pit.  Bel shares his thoughts about the Path of Exile 3.27 reveal stream, and Ash discusses the Session Zero for the Critical Role Daggerheart system. Tam has been playing Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2…  and how it is very much not a sequel to the first game. Bel talks a bit about the CSGO Gambling Crash, where the illicit market lost some 3 billion dollars of value in a single day. Ash discusses playing Entropy Effect, which is set in the BlazBlue universe, and Bel shares some further bad news about the self-destruction of Xbox, with some new updates and Halo officially being announced for the PlayStation 5. We wrap things up with first impressions of Dispatch and Outer Worlds 2, which we are likely going to be talking about next week.   Topics Discussed: Time Flies Ball X Pit Path of Exile 3.27 Reveal Daggerheart Session Zero VtM: Bloodlines 2 CSGO Gambling Crash BlazBlue Entropy Effect Halo on PS5 Dispatch First Impressions Outer Worlds 2 First Impressions

Featuring: Ammosart, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Hey Folks! This week, Grace and Bel start off the show talking about how good Destiny Rising has been now that they have arrived at the endgame.  They also talk a bit about Helhest, the new banner character. Grace shares her initial thoughts about He is Coming a roguelike that they have been playing. Bel shares some of the early spoilers for Path of Exile 3.27 Keepers of the Flame, which we are getting a full reveal for on the 23rd and is starting on the 31st.  It seems like we are maybe getting a Breach expansion league, with a bunch of quality of life changes.  From there, we dive into the topic that got bumped from last week about how there are so many good games… that it makes it really hard to play less-than-excellent games anymore. We also talk about how players are seeing through pointless grinds, and how AA games are back with a vengeance, while AAA games are floundering.   Topics Discussed Destiny Rising Helhest Banner Master and Grandmaster Mode Content Trikora Happened He Is Coming Path of Exile 3.27 Spoilers Keepers of the Flame Breach League When There Are Too Many Games Players Rebelling Against Grind The Rise of AA Games The Floundering of AAA Games Questionable Business Decisions

Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo, and Thalen   Hey Folks! We start off the show with a discussion about how we all dogpiled on Discord and attempted the pre-release version of the MIT Mystery Hunt… and for those completely lost about the show title, one of the clues to one of the puzzles… was just the specific color of the Charlie XCX Brat Album. From there, Bel talks a bit about the Halloween event in Guild Wars 2 and how some folks take the Mad King's Labyrinth way the hell too seriously.  Tam discusses what seems to be a complete rework of how the factions work in Infinity, and Bel discusses the launch of World of Warcraft Legion Remix.  We talk a bit more about Hades II, and more specifically playing the game AFTER beating Cronos.  Finally, Bel talks just a little bit about his early experiences in Blue Protocol, where he is trying to find the fun in the game.   Topics Discussed: AggroChat vs Mystery Hunt Mad King's Labyrinth in GW2 Infinity Major Factions Update World of Warcraft Legion Remix Hades II Blue Protocol