Episode 14: Avoiding Winterhome

The first Episode of 2011 by TTP comes roaring out the gates without a main topic!!! But fear not for we have much content! Catch up with Ivaneus, Matthrim, and Drilorin as they describe their exploits over the break and get into an in depth discussion on the new raid content slated for Quarter 1 and Instance reward systems. So buckle up and hang onto your eyebrows 'cause we are back!

You can download Episode 14 here.

We Have Returned

Well despite all of our grand aspirations to record sometime in December nothing came of it for a variety of reasons.

First and foremost, Matthrim and I also moved (from one end of Singapore to another but a move is a move!) and this caused us to have no internet access/time for stuff from January 1st until the 5th or 6th (whatever that Thursday after the 4th was).

The second was that even though he moved well before us, Drilorin continues to languish in a network less domicile. Naturally, this makes recording anything difficult.

However we hope to have Drilorin provided with access to the Internet and all of its . . . stuff, s00n.

In other news Drilorin's account was hacked. He has submitted tickets for all the lost items he could remember but damage has been done. Once again we at Through the Palantir would like to remind you that:

1) Safety is never 100% guaranteed

2) Keep your password secret, and keep it safe! Upper and lower case characters; numbers symbols and letters; English, Chinese, Arabic, and Korean characters. All of these will help keep you safe from being hacked but refer to point #1.

3) Make sure your virus scanning and firewall protection are up to date and working as a key logging program will render all the work of point #2 worthless.

We hope to record and post Episode 14 ASAP and Matthrim and I will have a new segment done shortly. In the meantime, Good Luck and Have Fun.

-Ivan

Episode 13: Set Phasers to Stunning!

Probably our most delayed yet still fairly current on news Episode yet. Join Ivaneus, Matthrim, and Drilorin as they discuss Isengard, Defending squishy little healers, and the Rise of Wheaton on this, their thirteenth episode of Through the Palantir. In addition they also go through several dev diaries and dissect them before going into the Defend the Healer segment. Defending the healer is the final installment of the combat mechanics series, which will be followed by a return to the Ettenmoors in bite-sized pieces.

You can download Episode 13 here.

-Ivan

Status Report - December 1st and the November Update

Well things have been pretty crazy lately on this side of the Palantir. We just finished off a collaborative segment with Lotro Reporter this week and Drilorin is in the middle of moving to the USA.

We recorded Episode 13 almost 2 weeks ago but I have not had an opportunity to even start editing it yet.

As for stuff coming out: Well we have tenative plans to record a bit more for Segment 13 relating directly to the launch of the November Update and how that has gone as well in addition to a few things we did not get to in the first recording session and we'll also talk about the results of the poll if we can manage to record.

The other thing coming is our next Bundle of Superior Tictacs and the exclusive Behind the Scenes of those Segments! This will also require more recording with Drilorin which will be difficult while he is traveling but might not be impossible. However don't expect anything to suddenly appear next week.

The final thing to address is that because of Drilorin traveling, busy schedules, Turkey overload, etc. we are taking a short break from recording the podcast. We will not be recording again before the 20th of December at the soonest so don't hold your breath. I personally will try to see if we can get anything done around then but don't expect anything. But we will certainly be back to recording in January so don't worry that we'll be leaving. We will continue to record Lotro Reporter segments in the interim since those are easy to record due to the short recording sessions involved.

Anyway, you can catch us in-game and we will be back to recording soon. In the meantime, good luck and have fun in game!

-Ivanmog

Episode 12: Please Don't Arrest Us

Episode 12 of Through the Palantir features our first guest interview! Who we interviewed twice because Ivaneus lost the first interview! We also cover the November update and reams of feedback to discover that 1) Nobody Cares 2) Some people like our musical tastes 3) We have a european Audiance and 4) We are directly responsible for Free-to-Play launching in Europe. To find out all this and many things about the secret life of Gagmba, dive right on in!

You can download Episode 12 over here.

Behind the Scenes: TTP Superior Tictacs 1-10

In this exclusive look into the making of Through the Palantir's Lotro Reporter Segments, you'll learn more than you ever wanted to know! In this 3 hour and 20 minute look we will go into the origins of all the main characters of these segments, show our creative process at its best (and worst), and settle once and for all what Drilorin adds to the segments.

While we certainly hope you enjoy this "interesting" tour of our inner machinations we also want your feedback on how these behind the scenes things will come out in the future! How many segments in each? Do you want our commentary? Do you not want bloopers? Do you want background music? All this and more is to be decided by you, our listeners, right now! So leave a comment on this post, send us an email, or get in touch by smoke signals but we want to know how you want these done! And please also remember to fill out the polls.

-Ivan

You can download the Behind the Scenes pack here.

Status Update:

Hey Everyone, as you all are keenly aware, the blog has been quiet and there is no Episode 12 out. I'm here to tell you why, and why the why is good news!

Let's start with Episode 12 being MIA. We recorded it as scheduled, and I then got busy editing everything but the Episode and before I knew it I was out of time to get any editing on it done this week. On the other hand, I finally caught up on the segments and Finished most of the editing for the Behind the Scenes of Lotro Reporter Segments 1-10.

This leads into the second question, if you finished editing the Behind the scenes, where is it? Well I said "most" of it. Matthrim, Drilorin, and myself still had to record our commentary for the segments and we only finished that up Friday night. So i haven't been able to finish that up, but it's close to being done.

The last question would naturally be about the blog itself, after all we promised new "pages" about your hosts and other fun things didn't we? Yes we did and you can blame Matthrim for the host bios not being finished. Drilorin and I both wrote our own bios for everyone while Matthrim did not, but once he writes his we will take our three works (which were all written completely separately mind you) and blend them into cohesive, whole pages for the hosts. Our other pages will follow soon after, especially since we had our discussion about what the Segments are during our making of Segment.

So basically I've told you that all this stuff is close to being done but not yet done, how is that good news? Well it's good news because it means we are on the verge of catching up on all this stuff! But even more important are the ramifications for Episode 12, which was supposed to feature a guest. When we recorded it we were unable to get a guest on short notice and were, naturally, disappointed. But, because the editing has been delayed 1 whole week . . . we have a guest!!! Just today, Matthrim and I conducted the interview with our guest (who will remain anonymous until the Episode is released) and that entire section will be put into Episode 12!

Some of you may still be doubting that this was good news, but you'll just have to decide for yourselves over the next week as we get this stuff rolled out.

-Ivaneus

Lotro Reporter Bundle 1: Segments 1-10

The first 10 lotro reporter segments are now up in an easily accessible package! The warranty is good until you remove the shrink-wrap, so feel free to mount this as a trophy or add it to your arsenal of hand-powered ballistic weapons!!! Batteries not included, terms and conditions apply.

You can download this bundle right here.

Some extra stuff coming soon

Well unfortunately we have been delayed in recording Episode 12. We postponed last weekend so that we could talk about the fall festival instead of just the festival dev diary, and this weekend there were some sudden schedule changes that kept us from being able to record.

But in the interim we do have the first bundle of Lotro Reporter Segments coming (just as soon as we fix an erroneous skill name in Segment 11) and we are also working on a behind the scenes of the segment recording process! Currently, we have not decided whether or not we will combine the segments and the extras in one bundle. We will most likely release them separately, do another version where they are together, and allow all of you guys to pick which format you prefer.

In addition to this, I have something special planned for Episode 12, but I'm not going to say anything more about it at this time.

One final note is that I am currently looking into a way to put up additional blog sections and/or links in the history area so we can write up some general information about stuff and leave it in a easily accessible location (while still being part of the blog). If any of you know how to do this with blogger (we are not moving to a different platform at this time (AAAAHHH!!! Marketing Speak!!!)), please let us know.

*Edit I already figured this out. But if anyone knows how to increase the 10 page limit that would still be usefull information to possess*

So where does this leave you? Well in summary: 1) Episode 12 is delayed and will be recorded (not released) next weekend

2) There is something planned for Episode 12 but it's a secret

3) Before Episode 12 is out you will have the first Lotro Reporter Segment and our special Behind the scenes/making of for the first bundle, complete with bloopers and other fun stuff.

4) We are working on putting some more stuff into the blog along the lines of "About Matthrim", "About Grimmfungle" or "About Drilorin talks about Drilorin."

And for those of you wondering, the first episode of Drilorin talks about Drilorin is slated for release S00N. =P

And please fill out the polls.

-Ivan

Episode 11: Tea in Rivendell

What do Tell the Community Team threads, physics, elves, and the new forums have in common? No! Not bistronomics! It's Episode 11 of Through the Palantir! Join our crew of three as they tackle some game news, the lack of player news, and the next part of the Combat Mechanics focus: Target Assisting. And continue to keep supporting The Fellowship Walk and Child's Play over on CstM!

You can download Episode 11 here.

-Ivaneus

You can create an alias by following these simple steps:

Which will be added by Drilorin later.