EQ2-Guides

It’s been a while since I posted an update. This week’s show will be evolving once again with some new segments. I have not given them a name just yet but they will be more or less sections that cover quick topics in both Everquest and Everquest 2. Some of those topics could cover a small zone, small quests or even a tips and tricks. Tipa from West Karana also had a good suggestion in that I should introduce a topic that compares the original Everquest zones with the new ones found in EQ2. I think I will call this segment “Then and Now”. I figured it would not always be good to devote the whole show to just one topic. The core of the show will always be the main subject of the show and reside at the second half of the show. I am also still looking for some listener segments that I can also insert into the show. I would love some in both Everquest and Everquest 2. Please send me an email if you’re interested. 

Also I am proud to announce I am now a part of the Virgin Worlds Podcast Collective. Thanks to Brent and Troy whom I have consulted during my development of the EQ-IQ show for allowing this to happen.

This week’s show will be covering the mid level zone of The Sinking Sands. This zone was introduced with the Desert of Flames expansion pack released in 2005. The zone was most closely tied to the Desert of Ro from the original Everquest. I am about ready to start to record the show but need to brush up on some of the content. Stay tuned!

Well it’s been awhile since I have posted my progress. I am close to having the first show up and running shortly. I had a little bit of a set back this week. I seem to have caught a very nasty common cold from my son which stole my voice so I had to stop working on the show. I am 2/3 of the way thru the content of show #1. The reason this is taking so long is due to the fact that I am taking my time. I am in no rush to produce the show. I only made a goal I felt that was reasonable to obtain which was June. I also have been planning several shows at once and rerecording segments of the show for various reasons. After all I want a solid show #1.

I am starting to pull things together and the recording sessions are getting easier. I am finding it quite hard to keep the length of the show around 1 hour in length. Even when I am trying not to dive to deep into the subject matter it seems I am under estimating how much content is there to be discussed. I think show #1 will be about 90 minutes.

I was talking about the Podcast with a Tipa over at West Karana and we were discussing some of the topics I choose to cast on in the early going of the show. One of the zones I wanted to cast about is Antonica. She thought that was an unusually choice since everyone knows that Timorous Deep is by far the best starting zone in EQ2. Yes I know this to be true but if I do a show right out of the gate on the best zone for newbie’s then when I did get around to Antonica it would seem so dull. I wanted to talk about topics that I was solid with to help me become more comfortable with podcasting in general. Then once I was more comfortable with the casting I can move onto more glamorous and complex topics down the road. Not all is lost by discussing the old zones since there is a bit of nostalgic value to the show on Antonica. Plus I hope to discuss or touch on points that may not be common knowledge such as the new Quest line that was put into place back in GU43 called the Gnoll Investigation Series of quests. Over 17 quest were added to the old zone.

Well I may have the show ready before June 1st however I need to run some tests on the RSS feeds and a few things so June 1st may still be the date I stick too.

Today I decided to work in the shows banner or logo. I have also recorded some of show number one last night. So far things are moving along very nicely now.  My recording session was very productive and I think I am getting more comfortable with speaking into the microphone. Once I get a routine down these shows should be produced more effortlessly. I am shooting to record some more of show number one today if at all possible. I would love nothing more than to completely record the show so I can begin editing it. I am still way ahead of the scheduled release of June 1st.
 
Last night I was also rolling another character in the original Everquest to possibly use in the Nostalgia Guild I am in. Not sure they need a Magician but I may just use that alt just to explore the world with. I was running quests in the Gloomdeep mines when this player kept sending me invites to group. I accepted but the guy would not talk and just keep trying to get me to help kill mobs way out of my league. Finally I disbanded and set him to ignore. Later he was still trying to get me to group so I join since I was a little higher in level now and again this guy seem to not have a clue. Then out of the blue he gave me 100 plat. So I stayed in the group and tried to help a bit. He seem to be goofing off more than anything and still did not seem to have a clue to what he was doing. I went on my way while still in the group and here he came again and gave me another 100 plat. Not sure what the guy wanted but I certainly can use the 200 plat!! After that he logged off and I decided to head out and into Crescent Reach.

Finally real life has given me a chance to post an update. All is still on track even though I lost some productive time this week. Spring time is here and sport activities are in full swing. Anyways I am on track for the June 1^st release date of the Podcast. This week I plan to get some shows in the books and edited. Also need to create the Logo for the show for iTunes.

In the meantime I have got myself into a nostalgic guild with Tipa over at West Karana. We play EQ1 each Friday night. It is a lot of fun and it’s not too late to get in on the fun. If you ever wanted to go thru the original Everquest content from the ground up this is your chance. We meet On Fridays at 7pm EST and there is another group that plays on Tuesdays. Check out West Karana. for more details.

I think by getting involved in this guild it will only enhance the EQ-IQ shows, it will give me a deeper look into the lore of EQ and how it relates to the EQ2 universe. I am planning to work to add more content to the Website as well in the coming days so stay tuned!

Well another week has gone by and I have made some progress with the podcast. I was able to record a 15 minutes segment just to find my podcast voice and practice my audio recording/editing. It seems I had a number of common mistakes and I am glad I spent the weekend recording these test casts.

First I was struggling with finding the right levels on the mixer. I had either too much reverb or bass. While listening to the playback in my Zune I started to hear more mistakes such as too much breathing sounds, pops and the S’s were very noticeable. I also expected I would have a lot of uhmss and ahhs but I found out that editing them is not all that bad. I had some lip-smacking as well. This too was editable.

I did some research on how to reduce these common mistakes so I feel very confident that I can get this under control. I seemed a bit nervous at first so I had to record several times before I started to get a good flow for the content. All in all I learned a lot this weekend that should improve the final recordings. I will make the necessary adjustments and try to get a complete show recorded here soon. I am still on track for the June 1st release date I set for myself. I will see you soon.

I have decided to open the forums. I have had a few people register and I figured since I am getting very close to recording the first shows I should open up the boards for feedback and suggestions. I have never posted this but my original plan was for the 1st show to be up and running on June 1st. I am very glad that I set that date as a goal since it has taken me a bit of time to get everything setup and stay on track without too much pressure. I have written topics for 7 shows and have been researching many topics for those shows.

It may not seem like I have done much other than post a small update each week but once the shows start flowing I hope you will all have a quality show that was well thought out. Then again that’s why I want to open the forums so I can fine tune the shows before my June 1st date. I will post a more detailed listing of the show format in the forums to get things started.

Stay tuned in the next few weeks as there will be a lot of activity here at the EQ2-Guides.

It’s been over a week since I last posed and no I have not faded yet. Very much has been done behind the scenes to solidify the show. I have now planned out 6 shows and been doing much research on the content. I have also decided on the format. The shows will start off at least as a series of podcasts. Each show can be one of any of the following series and more.

Deity Quest Series
Learning Series
Class Series
Zone Series
Tips Series
Quest Series
RAID Series
Social Series
Tradeskill Series
PVP Series
Etc…

Shows will follow the naming format for the RSS feeds as follows:

EQ-IQ Show#6 – Tips Series (Making Gold)

I wanted to be more focused within each show instead of having segments around these same topics. This list is not all inclusive and there will be more series to come. If this format does not work out or is not found to be very popular I can always incorporate these series shows into segments of a single show. I have listened to many podcasts and really haven’t found many shows that focus on one topic. Instead I here a lot of shows that are segmented which is quite fine however with so much information I have on various topics I don’t want to short change the listener when my goal is to be a podcast of information and practical guides. I want to go deep into some of these topics. So by electing to go with shows based on Series I can be quite flexible with my topics. I hope this will allow me to keep the information fresh. This also gives the advanced listener a choice if they do not want to listen to shows based on the newbie topics or the noob the choice of not listening to the topics on RAIDS etc.

ka·ta·gel·o·pho·bi·a — n.  1.  The fear of ridicule.

When in the EQ2 chat channels have you ever wondered what the hell RoV or even BB meant? I became tired of always asking people in the chat channels “what is RoV?” Of course this makes me look like a noob (new player) so I pulled together some of the most common abbreviations used in the EverQuest 2 chat channels. I compiled this list from many different site forums as well as the chat channels themselves. Feel free to download this sheet and print it out. This list defines the more common abbreviations used for the Zones and Dungeon Instances of EQ2.  Enjoy!

EQ2 Zone Reference List (225)

 

 

With a nice week of relaxation it’s time to get back to the planning of the podcast. I hope this week I will at least record a pilot show or even the very first show. I am close to finishing the outline and show notes.  I have to still work out how the format of the show will be developed. This takes time and I want to do it right. I also want to set the right tone for the show from the get go.

In addition to the audio podcast I have been playing around with FRAPS this week and have been considering releasing video podcasts. I use to edit and create animation for DVDs (Not professional) as a hobby so I figure I could use some of my video editing experience and throw together some useful podcast guides. I am sure I will be working on at least one of these podcast this week.  

I also am still hard at work on learning CSS and PHP so I may really customize this website temple. I need to make this site a little more unique. There are many sites out there that use this Wordpress theme because it has an excellent layout.  Once I get more proficient with CSS and PHP I may design my own theme. Well that is it for this brief update!

Well I have been offline for three days now. Here in Northeast Ohio we have suffered a very serious ice storm that has toppled many trees and power cables this week. It was a surreal event. It was about 1:30 in the morning when I continued to here strange noises of debris hitting the roof of the house. We had lost power earlier that evening due to the ice. I went out to investigate and to my disbelief tree limbs were falling every couple of minutes all around the street. There is a small forest along my property line and you could here in the distance the cracking and collapsing of trees. It sounded like something out of the Blair Witch project. So we finally got the power back on this morning. It was a living hell let me tell you. No heat and no power were murder on us all. I spent most of yesterday sawing up the tree limbs that had fallen on to my property. I now seem to have a flu as a result of the events now. So obviously I have not worked much on the Podcast or site this week and worst of all we have another winter storm approaching. I think I will take this weekend to rest the best I can.

These are not pictures of my home!