Welcome to the 1,203rd edition of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news, coverage, and
commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Once upon a time in the magical land of MMOGs, in-game anniversary
celebrations set the bar for what would become one of the staples of
the industry in the years to follow. Much of the more recent flood of
holiday themed events came into being thanks in large part to how
developers formerly opted to commemorate milestones in the overall
lifecycle of their creations. With two such major milestones just
around the corner, we take a look at how one of these events stacks up
to the celebrations of yesteryear today in Loading… Fabled or Forgotten?


The Pulse

You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:

  1. target="_blank">World of Warcraft
  2. Dungeons
    & Dragons Online
  3. EverQuest
    2
  4. Dragon
    Age: Origins
    (Up 1)
  5. Age of
    Conan
    (UP 4)

Biggest movers today:

  1. Diablo
    3
    (UP 139 to #15!)
  2. Champions
    Online
    (Down 5 to #9)
  3. Lord of the Rings
    Online
    (UP 2 to #6)
Recent Releases
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Loading... Daily

This weekend marks the 5th anniversary for href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest 2 - has it
really
been that long already? It seems like only yesterday I was casting
Swarm of Rats for the first time on my necro and shaking my head in
dismay when I discovered that the “swarm” consisted of a single rat,
but I digress!

While the game clearly lost the epic tug of war over forced grouping
vs. solo friendly MMOG gameplay long ago, any current players who were
around for the game’s launch will no doubt wax poetic about the equally
epic round of changes EQ2 has seen over the past 5 years. In a somewhat
bizarre turn of events though, the big anniversary celebration for the
game is being held on the Test server next Monday and Tuesday. You read
that right folks; the big party is going down on a server the bulk of
you likely never play on.

EverQuest II will be celebrating its 5th Anniversary very
soon! In
honor of this, we'll be hosting a birthday celebration on the Test
server! There will be one party on November 9th at 5pm PST and another
at 11am PST (7pm GMT) on November 10th. The party will be held in the
Community Lounge and there will be cake, fireworks, and some trivia
with prizes! Make sure to update Test well in advance, especially if
it's your first time on the server.


Back in the old days when dinosaurs still roamed the earth I was a
fairly hardcore player of the original href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest.
I still consider the
5th anniversary for that game to be one of the best examples of
live
events in MMOGs. Not only were entire zones full of noobs slaughtered
each and every time the undead army would claw its way out of the
ground near the Wayfarer camp in Butcherblock (and elsewhere), but
fabled versions of some of the most notable mobs in the original game
also made an appearance, complete with fabled item drops for those
lucky campers able to get a good spot in line to take a crack at the
mob during the event.

The lands of Norrath were thrown into a temporary state of chaos,
and
it was a total blast. Mind you my necro’s corpse summoning business
also went into overdrive for the week, but the pleasant byproduct of
aiding numerous players recover their corpses was that my social circle
on the server expanded exponentially during the event.

Perhaps it’s simply too soon after the latest round of href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/76315">holiday festivities,
or maybe there is indeed some new sigma surrounding major MMOG events
occurring
in November as Ethec discussed href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/76250">earlier this week –
whatever the reasons may be, I for one am somewhat surprised that SOE
isn’t going all out for their latest milestone anniversary. Give me
giant armies of red Skeletal Commanders and Fabled Fippy Darkpaws any
day of the week – you can keep the virtual cake and fireworks.

Do you think developers should go all out for anniversary events for
their longer running titles, or is the market already far too saturated
with seasonal events for them to retain their former impact? Share your
thoughts right here in the Loading… forum!


Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day




From our   href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4">/OOC (Off
Topic) forum



style="font-weight: normal;">Fort Hood Shootings



Today's
epic thread offers solemn condolences to the friends and families of
the fallen and injured in the Fort Hood shootings. I ask that you
please limit your comments on the tragedy to this thread and, of
course, keep them respectful and sane.



==============================

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread




"My thoughts go out to the
families of the injured and fallen. My wife was there today and was
supposed to be working in the dome, but decided to work in her office
instead. I'm so insanely grateful, I can't express it. The base just
lifed the lockdown and she's safely on her way home now.
"



- Dalmarus

==============================



Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!

3 new Ten Ton Hammer MMOG
features today! 22 in November! 2,094
in
2009!



Today's
New Features & Guides

  • World of Warcraft: Hunter Guide

    http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter

    Fresh new information has been poured into several of Ten Ton Hammer’s
    Hunter guide pages. Currently the main page, basics page, and the
    combat page have all been brought up to date. If you are just starting
    a Hunter and looking for some information on how to get started this
    guide is for you.
  • Aion Weekly Newsletter: The Fanboi vs. the Hater

    http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/76379

    While most of the Aion playerbase stays quietly tucked away in their
    blanket of innocence, and epic battle grows between the two sides of
    the vocal minority as we watch it play out on gaming forums across the
    web. Agree or disagree with the vocal, it is hard to turn a blind eye
    to the bickering. Get in on the discussion and catch up with this
    week's Aion and Ten Ton Hammer news in the latest newsletter!
  • World of Warcraft Instance Guide Portal

    http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/instance

    Our Instance guide portal for World of Warcraft has all of the info you
    need to know about instances in one place. We've got a large list of
    available guides to help you through the various instances and raids
    along with a guide on just what instances are, how to prepare, and
    more. So don't struggle to work your way through the instances when
    we've got all of the instance guides you need to get to the next level.

Today's Hottest Content

  1. Managing
    Fan Expectations - An Interview with Vanguard
    Visionary Brad McQuaid
  2. Star
    Trek Online
    Space Combat Q&A with Craig Zinkievich
  3. World
    of Warcraft
    Patch Patch 3.3 Preview
  4. Champions
    Online
    : Blood Moon Hands On Impressions
  5. Champions
    Online
    Developer Diary - Systems Balancing, Pt 1.
  6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/classes/cleric_healing">The
    Cleric's Guide to Healing in Aion
  7. Lord
    of the Rings Online
    - Siege of Mirkwood Live Preview
  8. DOFUS
    2.0
    Beta Key Giveaway
  9. EVE
    Online

    - Ten Tips to Go From Noob to Noobtastic
  10. EVE
    Online
    Sins
    of a Solar Spymaster #31 - Lessons from a Failed Invasion

Thanks as always for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network! 

- Reuben "Sardu" Waters and the Ten Ton Hammer team


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EverQuest II Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Reuben "Sardu" Waters has been writing professionally about the MMOG industry for eight years, and is the current Editor-in-Chief and Director of Development for Ten Ton Hammer.

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