Welcome
to the 1,317th
edition
of Loading...

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

What do Warner Brothers Entertainment and Turbine have in
common? What's the deal with SOE and their new $5 EverQuest II
subscription option? We'll explore these not-so-mysterious mysteries in
today's Loading...
MMOG Industry Shake Up
.

width="100%">

The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse ( target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:

  1. World
    of Warcraft
  2. EverQuest
    II
     
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/115">Age of
    Conan (UP 3)
  4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
    Online (UP 2)
  5. Dungeons
    and
    Dragons Online
    (Down 1)

Biggest
movers today
:

  1. Star
    Wars: The Old Republic
    (UP 6 to #14)
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City of
    Heroes (UP 6 to #15)
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest
    (Down 6 to #17)
Recent Releases

Upcoming
Releases


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1004">

  • April
    2010
    - href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_17/issue_17_overview.html?utm_source=COHemail&utm_medium=US&utm_campaign=banner">City
    of Heroes - Issue 17: Dark Mirror
  • style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801">Mytheon
  • Summer
    2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
  • TBA
    2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079">Final
    Fantasy XIV





Upcoming
Events

  • style="font-weight: bold;">6/15 -
    6/17 - E3
    Expo
  • style="font-weight: bold;">6/25 -
    6/27 - Looking
    for Group
    Expo
  • style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
    7/25 - Comic-Con
    International
  • style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
    8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/">SOE
    Fan Faire 2010
  • style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
    9/6 - DragonCon
  • style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
    10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y">BlizzCon
  • style="font-weight: bold;">2011: 3/24 -
    3/26 - CCP
    FanFest





Loading... Daily

Sometimes shake-ups in the MMO gaming industry seem to prophesy doom
(emphasis on the “seem to”), and sometimes they’re an indication of
developers looking for new and creative ways to attract or retain
subscribers. Any way you slice it, yesterday was an interesting day.
Perhaps the biggest news came in the form of an href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83555">announcement
that Warner Brothers Home Entertainment has acquired Turbine,
developers of href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/209">Asheron’s
Call
, Dungeons
& Dragons Online
and href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">The Lord
of the Rings Online
. The acquisition of the rights
to LOTRO completes Warner Brothers’ collection where hobbits, elves and
wizards are concerned--it previously held the rights to every Lord of
the Rings property except the MMOG.



There’s really not much to examine yet where the Turbine acquisition is
concerned, other than to acknowledge that it is indeed Really Big News,
but if you want rampant speculation and/or cries of “Oh noes,
microtransactions!” you’ll find plenty of that in our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50880">forums.
And who knows? Perhaps we’ll get a Harry Potter MMOG out of it.



The next tidbit
of news
 comes from Sony Online Entertainment and its
flagship MMOG, EverQuest
II
. SOE has opted to acknowledge that people might
long to play EQ2, but…not enough to pay a $15 monthly subscription.
They’re offering veterans with currently closed accounts a sort of
subscription microtransaction called the EverQuest II Passport--a
payment of $5 buys you 3 consecutive days of gameplay in a 30 day
period.



Good idea? Maybe. To me, $5 for 3 days doesn’t seem like much of a deal
when I can buy a whole month for $15. And yet, the option might appeal
to my husband who has recently expressed an interest in playing EQ2
with me again but can barely find time to squeeze in a few hours of the
game, let alone a month’s worth. With SOE's new pricing plan, he could
pay $5 for what amounts to a weekend pass and join me for some
adventuring in Norrath. Since he works 10 hour days and attends college
3 nights per week, one weekend is probably all he can spare, anyhow.



There are other solid reasons why the EQ2 Passport might make sense to
some people. It would be a great boon for multi-boxers who don’t want
to maintain multiple 30-day subscriptions but do want the occasional
advantage of rolling up an alt-bot to support their main. It’s also a
good way to take advantage of seasonal events, if they appeal to you,
or for /claiming login bonus items. But…



On an internal Ten Ton Hammer news discussion email, Jay “Medeor”
Johnson commented that he felt SOE had made an interesting move, but
that the new pricing option had too many constraints. He proposed that
a number of non-consecutive hours for the $5 fee might be a better
approach. I have to agree that I’d be more tempted to play if I had X
hours to kill at my leisure than if I had to burn a weekend (or any
other 3 days straight) to get my money’s worth. Who knows why SOE
didn’t do it that way. Perhaps it’s much easier technically to flag an
account by the consecutive day than by hours played. Or maybe a
passport by the hour didn’t make monetary sense.



Still, it’s encouraging to see SOE thinking outside the $15 per month
subscription box most AAA MMOGs find themselves in. I’ve played a few
MMOGs in my day that left me thinking, “I enjoy this, but I don’t play
often enough to justify a monthly subscription.” I’m not sure SOE’s
found the right answer to dilemmas like mine, but it does my heart good
to know that at least one AAA developer is searching for them.



Would you purchase a 3-day pass for $5? What other creative MMOG
pricing strategies can you think of? Share your answer, as well as your
ideas, in the href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50891">Loading…
forum.




Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day




From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6">Articles,
News & Events Discussion



Warner
Bros. Home Entertainment Acquires Turbine




Animaniacs meets The Lord of the Rings? Well, not quite...although I
think that would be hella interesting. ( href="http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/animation/watch/v19402037cTnFkygA">What
are those Animaniacs, anyhow? Warner Brothers Entertainment
has acquired Turbine, and that's a big piece of news to digest. Our
forum community is chewing on it right now. Won't you href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50880">join
us?



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

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread




"This deal fills me with dread. Major paradigm shift incoming."



- Darke

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



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

New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

8 new Ten Ton Hammer
features
today! 81 in April! 440
in 2010!

REVIEWS



Chatter Like the Mad Hatter – A WoW U.I. Mod Review

http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/uimods/reviews/chatter



This
week Mem and Messiah review two of the major chat mods available to
World of Warcraft users: Chatter and Prat. Chatter claims to be the
more lightweight, while still providing most of the important options.
Will Chatter be knocked out of the park by it’s heavyweight cousin, or
will Chatter be able to overcome Prat with it’s light and speedy antics?



World of Warcraft Review Portal Launches

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83587



We've got tons of excellent reviews of addons and World of Warcraft
related products. Now we've got them organized into one easy to find
location. Looking to redesign your interface or try out a new gamepad?
Then check out Ten Ton Hammer's World of Warcraft Review Portal.



FEATURED EDITORIALS



Tanking with a Vengeance – Semi-Hardcore #2

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/semihardcore/vengeance">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/semihardcore/vengeance



Welcome to the second edition of Semi-Hardcore, a World of Warcraft
column found only at Ten Ton Hammer. Join us this week as resident
tanking expert, Messiah, takes a look at something near and dear to his
tanking heart. A new ability called Vengeance is set to hit the game
with Cataclysm, and is Blizzard’s new way to solve tank threat in the
end game. We’ll take a closer look at what we know about this ability,
the math behind it, and what it should mean to you as a tank.



FEATURES & GUIDES



EQ2 Guild Life – The Perks of Community

http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/guides/guilds



Guilds
in any MMOG are the backbone of the gaming community and this is
certainly true in EverQuest II. Whether you choose a small family
friendly guild or a large hardcore raiding guild, the benefits of being
in such an establishment go far beyond the enjoyment of friendship and
companionship. Learn about the perks and keep reading to find out what
makes guilds so appealing in our EQ2 Guild Guide.



Dungeons and Dragons Online: New Character Build - The Dwarven
Ranger


http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo/guides/dwarven_ranger_build



The
Dwarven Ranger is a curious thing; a sneaky, agile, and quiet dwarven
bad ass. He’ll sneak up on you and be cutting you down to size with his
twin axes before you even know he’s there. Think elves are the only
good sneaks out there? Not anymore.



The Terran Army of StarCraft II

http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/terranunits



The
Terrans have always held a special place in the heart of StarCraft
players, and former players will feel right at home. You can still pop
some Stimpacks on your Marines and fill Zerg full of holes before they
even reach you. You can still unleash hell from miles away with Siege
Tanks. The mighty Battlecruiser can still create big gaping holes in
opposing defenses and capital ships with the Yamato Cannon. Aside from
these iconic units, the rest of the Terran forces are new and unique in
some way, and you'll have to come up with new tactics and strategies to
put them to good use!



Actions-Per-Minute in StarCraft II: Balancing Strategy with
Activity


http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83581



Efficient
use of time is the bread and butter of RTS games. StarCraft II is no
exception. Here we look at how the action aspects of the RTS collide
with strategy and tactics to create the unique challenge that is
StarCraft II.



WoW: The 5 Best and Worst Things to Do as a Tank

http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/5best-tank



In
World of Warcraft there are good tanks and there are bad tanks, what's
the difference between the two though? What I find it boils down to is
a few simple things that a tank can do well or poorly that makes all
the difference. Here are a list of 5 really good things that a tank
should do and 5 really bad things that a tank should avoid. 
If all
tanks followed at least this basic list life would be far simpler for
everyone.


Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/uimods/reviews/chatter">Chatter
    Like the Mad Hatter – A WoW U.I. Mod Review
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/cryptic/interviews/roper_cco">From
    Capes To Beyond! A Q&A with Cryptic’s Bill Roper
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/3">Ten Ton
    Hammer Live Podcast 3
    href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/3"> -
    Project 1999's Nilbog and Rogean take us back to EverQuest 1.0
  4. Actions-Per-Minute
    in StarCraft II: Balancing Strategy with Activity
  5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/5best-tank">WoW:
    The 5 Best and Worst Things to Do as a Tank href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/5best-tank">

  6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/why_cant_mmogs_start_small">All
    Things to All Players: Why Can’t MMOGs
    Start Small?
  7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorial/5rpgs_kickass_mmogs">From
    Tabletop To Online: 5 RPGs That Would Make Kick-Ass MMOGs
  8. WANTED:
    Your Questions for TERA's
    Developers
  9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo/guides/dwarven_ranger_build">Dungeons
    and Dragons Online: New Character Build - The Dwarven Ranger

    href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/business/capitalizing">
  10. Pure
    Artistic Vision - A Guild
    Wars 2
    Concept Art
    Q&A with Daniel Dociu

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg
and
the Ten Ton Hammer team



To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

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