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is the premier daily MMOG newsletter, only from Ten
Ton Hammer!
Welcome
to the 1,409th
edition
of Loading...
In the lull between launches, most every MMOG player has a
fall back game--a game they return to when nothing else captures their
interest. Although no MMOG developer aspires to create a fall back
game, there's no shame in it, either. Join Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg
for Loading...
In Praise of the Fall Back Game.
The
Pulse
You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse (What
is The Pulse?).
Today's
top 5 Pulse results:
- World
of Warcraft -
target="_blank">Everquest
2 (UP 1) -
EVE
Online
(UP 1) -
target="_blank">Dungeons
and
Dragons Online (UP 1) -
Lord
of the Rings Online (UP 1)
Biggest
movers today:
- 6/29
- target="_blank">APB
(release) - 7/27
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2461"
target="_blank">Need
for Speed World
(release) - 7/27
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2" target="_blank">StarCraft
II: Wings of Liberty
(release) - 8/17
- City
of Heroes: Going Rogue (release) - 8/18
- EverQuest
II Extended (release)
Releases
- September
7, 2010 - Aion:
Assault on Balaurea (free
expansion) -
September
30, 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv" target="_blank">Final
Fantasy XIV
(release) -
style="font-weight: bold;">October
26, 2010
- LEGO
Universe (release)
-
style="font-weight: bold;">November
2, 2010
- DC
Universe Online (release)
Upcoming
Events
-
style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
9/5 - href="http://www.paxsite.com/paxprime/index.php" target="_blank">PAX
Prime -
style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
9/6 - target="_blank">DragonCon -
style="font-weight: bold;">10/8 -
10/10 - New
York Comic Con -
style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y" target="_blank">BlizzCon -
style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
-
3/26 (2011) - target="_blank">CCP
FanFest
Giveaway
We have eight codes for Warhammer
Online.
These codes will give you a Bottomless Bowl of Custard to chuck at
people, a Skaven Skin Cloak and a Razored Skinning Iron trophy. Want
one of these codes? Simply send an email to href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]
with
the subject line "WAAAGH". Eight winners will be picked randomly at the
end of the week and contacted through email with their code.
Loading... better than a badger to the face!
It's that time of
year--none of the games I'm jonesing for are quite ready to either
launch or give me beta access, and last year's launches have burned
themselves out in a blaze of glory. It's a real conundrum for a gamer
who wants something to play.
Enter the fall back game.
I
believe that most MMO gamers have a game they default to when the
inevitable boredom between launches sets in. For me, that game is
href="http://tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest II.
I first entered Norrath in 2000 or so as an EverQuest noob, and I've
been enamored with it ever since. And recently, Sony Online
Entertainment made it even easier for me to fall back to EQ2 by kicking
off its free-to-play iteration,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/88125">EverQuest II
Extended. Now, not only can I head back to Norrath; I can do
it for the relatively low cost of free.
(I may be tempted to load up my Station Cash wallet with $25 to buy a
premium mount, though. I mean, c'mon--not only would I be much faster,
but I could float around Norrath on a black storm cloud complete with
lightning bolts.)
Returning to a fall back game is a little like
going back to your home town after being away for a few years; there's
a certain comforting familiarity, but you're soon going to find that
things are different. Where there was once a well-loved
hole-in-the-wall diner there's now a Starbucks. Lenny's Gas &
Groceries is now a thriving new Mobile station with a slushy machine.
Things change, and the changes can be either subtle or startling. I
didn't find the Norrath of EQ2X particularly unsettling. My newbie
character had one new spell I didn't recall having before, and some of
the quests were a bit different, but all in all, I returned to find the
Norrath I knew and loved. (Sometimes, however, the changes to a game
can invoke shock, as today's Epic Thread indicates.)
The other
side of the fall back game is the revisited game. We've all had those,
too. Remember that game you were excited about, preordered at launch,
played eagerly (between patches and server crashes) during the
pre-launch head start, consumed voraciously for a month or two, and
then
set aside because the game just didn't meet your
standards yet?
Yeah, that's the one. (For more on the topic of our high gaming
standards, keep an eye out for Jason "Medawky" Bolton's
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/features/microcosms">Microcosoms
column this week.) Often, we revisit games to find
them changed for the better.
href="http://tentonhammer.com/aoc">Age of Conan
provided a pleasant surprise for me in that regard recently. I hope
that Aion
will soon, as well.
I'm
sure no MMOG developer launches their title in the hopes that it will
be
a fall back game, but I believe it's a worthy aspiration. No gamer
relegates a game to fall back status without having first loved and
enjoyed that game, or without being continually intrigued by its
potential. For instance, I consider EverQuest II one of the best MMOGs
in existence, with one of the finest communities I know. There's
certainly no shame in that.
What's your fall back game? Which games have you revisited lately to
see how they've improved? Hit the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53264">Loading...
forum to chat about it.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the
Day
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=254">WAR
General Discussion forum
Curiosity
kills cats...
...and server mergers kill toons? Well, not exactly. Darke's curiosity
prompted him to re-up his Warhammer
Online
account, only to find the servers that held his characters grayed out.
The answer to his dilemma and commentary on the state of WAR lies in
today's Epic Thread.
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53137">Go!
=====================================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"If it has been awhile
since you played get ready for a whole new experience."
-
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=440552&postcount=4">linuscalling
=====================================
New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer
5 new and exclusive
Ten Ton Hammer features today! 131 Ten Ton Hammer features in August!
947 in 2010!
GAMESCOM 2010
gamescom 2010 Image
Gallery
http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/tid/2675
As
we wind down our coverage of gamescom (and get ready to start on
coverage from PAX!) we leave you, dear readers, with a photo gallery of
gamescom 2010. You'll see booth babes, some of the booths themselves,
some screenshots, and some things that are just plain weird.
INTERVIEWS
A Video Q&A with
Rift's Scott Hartsman, Part 1: Just for Starters
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/scott-hartsman/new-classes-and-starting-areas">http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/scott-hartsman/new-classes-and-starting-areas
Rift:
Planes of Telara Executive Producer Scott Hartsman discusses a number
of never-before-disclosed details, including Rift's newest classes, the
lowdown on starting areas like Shadowlands, Silverwood, and Free
Marches, and also about other unique game concepts like the Soul Walk.
Join us for a new look at what promises to be one of 2011's most
promising titles in Just for Starters: A Video Q&A with Rift's
Scott Hartsman, Part 1.
Put Up Your Nukes! An End
of Nations Video Q&A with Executive Producer Gary Wagner
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eon/interviews/aug-2010/gary-wagner">http://www.tentonhammer.com/eon/interviews/aug-2010/gary-wagner
Ten
Ton Hammer goes nuclear with End of Nations Executive Producer Gary
Wagner, who discusses what End of Nations offers RTS and MMO players
alike. Gary also discusses the PvE battle between players and both
regional factions and the tyrannical Order of Nations, how aggressive
the Order will be in taking back territory, what players will do to
progress if the war turns against the Resistance, our recent hands-on
with 5v5 PvP, and everyone's favorite post-apoc topic: superweapons!
It's all in our latest EoN Interview: Put Up Your Nukes! An End of
Nations Video Q&A with Executive Producer Gary Wagner.
MEDIA
New Videos Preview Aion
Expansion Zones Inggison and Gelkmaros
http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/videos/inggison
http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/videos/gelkmaros
Aion's
first free major content expansion is set to launch on September 7th
with Assault on Balaurea and NCsoft has revealed two video previews of
new areas slated to go live with the new expansion. The first video
previews Inggison, the Elyos foothold in Balaurea, and is filled with
aggressive wildlife and plants not found in Atreia. The second video
previews Gelkmaros, an area claimed by the opposing Asmodian
faction.
FEATURES
& GUIDES
Hunter Pets in
WoW Cataclysm: A Walk on the Wild Side
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/cataclysm/new-hunter-pets
The
Hunter is possibly one of the most changed classes in Cataclysm, and an
exciting, though often overlooked, change is on the way. The additon of
new mobs to the game, which always comes with any expansion, means that
Hunters will have a plethora of new pets (and old pets with new skins)
to choose from. Our look at hunter pets explores all the wild
possibilities.
Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/scott-hartsman/new-classes-and-starting-areas">A
Video Q&A with Rift's
Scott Hartsman, Part 1: Just for Starters -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eon/interviews/aug-2010/gary-wagner">Put
Up Your Nukes! An End of
Nations Video Q&A with Executive Producer Gary
Wagner href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eon/interviews/aug-2010/gary-wagner">
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/interviews/gylfason-at-gamescom2010">EVE
Online href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/interviews/gylfason-at-gamescom2010">
Senior Producer Answers Community Concerns - An Exclusive Q&A
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/previews/dancing-with-destiny">Dancing
With Destiny - A First Look at Guild
Wars 2 -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tsw/interviews/tornquist-london"
target="_blank">London Calling - An Exclusive
Interview for href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tsw/interviews/tornquist-london"
target="_blank">The Secret World -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/newsletter/issue82"
target="_blank">WoW
Weekly Report - PlayerScore arrives at TenTonHammer! -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/cataclysm/tanaris-preview"
target="_blank">WoW
Cataclysm Preview: Tanaris, the Jewel of the Desert -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/mythos/interviews/gadgeteer-skills"
target="_blank">Ready Aim Fire!
A Gadgeteer Class Q&A for Mythos -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/syndcon10/interviews/curt-schilling">Take
Me Out to the Reckoning: A Video Interview with 38 Studios
Curt Schilling
-
gamescom
2010 Image Gallery href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/tid/2675">
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg
and the Ten Ton Hammer team
