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is the premier daily MMOG newsletter, only from Ten
Ton Hammer!
Welcome
to the 1,400th
edition
of Loading...
You've probably heard it before: "I'd play [Insert Game] with
you,
but I'm just not into it enough to want to pay a subscription fee."
Many games are only as fun as the people we play them with, but what
happens when those people can't agree on a game? Explore this topic,
plus all the latest Really Big News from the gaming community, in
today's Loading...
Barrier to Entry.
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 -
EverQuest
II -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/115">Age of
Conan (UP 1) -
Dungeons
& Dragons Online (UP 2) -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
Online (Down 1)
Biggest
movers in the past 7 days :
-
Final
Fantasy XIV
- UP 46 to
#12 -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/860">Champions
Online
- Down 9 to #19 -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1407">DC
Universe Online
- UP 8 to #13
-
6/9
- Mortal
Online
(release) - 6/29
- target="_blank">APB
(release) - 7/13
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801"
target="_blank">Mytheon
(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)
Releases
- August
17, 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City
of Heroes: Going Rogue (release) - 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;">8/18 -
8/22 - href="http://www.gamescom-cologne.com/en/gamescom/home/index.php"
target="_blank">Gamescom 2010
-
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
News, news,
news! There was plenty of it yesterday keeping our resident
news guy, Martuk, busy. And there'll likely be more to come as
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gamescom/2010">Gamescom
rolls along in Cologne, Germany. Among the gaming news highlights, and
in no particular order:
- Bill Roper, Chief Creative Officer of Cryptic Studios [
href="http://tentonhammer.com/co">Champions Online,
Star Trek Online], has
stepped down to pursue other opportunities. [ href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/88007">...read more] - Paragon Studios surprised
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City of
Heroes fans Monday by deploying Issue
18: Shades of Gray and the Going Rogue
expansion to live servers in preparation for yesterday's official
launch. [...read
more] -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
(All Points Bulletin) developer Realtime Worlds
has had its share of financial hardships, and things seem to have
gotten a bit worse because Realtime Worlds has entered into
Administration.What's the future of style="font-style: italic;">APB? [ href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/88012">...read more] -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2623">Dragon
Age 2, the sequel to BioWare's popular href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2213">Dragon
Age: Origins announced a launch date and released
a new cinematic trailer. [ href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/88020">...read more] - Blizzard revealed its
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/88036">World of
Warcraft: Cataclysm collector's edition. [ href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/88037">...read more]
Manning the home front while Ben and Reuben are off
href="http://tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/aug/17">cavorting
in Germany
affords me the opportunity to watch the community react to the latest
news. And while community is always on my mind (it's what I do), I've
had a jumble of thoughts rolling around in my head lately. It started
with being forced to play World
of Warcraft.
Well, forced is probably too strong a word.
style="font-style: italic;">Compelled, maybe.
Not
only do we Ten Ton Hammer editors gather for regular teleconferenced
meetings, but we also get together for what we call Gaming Night. All
of us play games, but we find it enlightening when we play
together. For instance, I've learned that Ben's need to power
level past everyone else and then taunt us with his pretty mount is
deeply rooted, and that Reuben and Jeff are two of the most patient
guys I know (which is unrelated to Ben *cough*), and that, when it
comes to WoW and shooters like APB, I can get outside my comfort zone
and still have a good time.
I've made it pretty well known that
I'm not a WoW fan. I do understand why it's a success, of
course--polish, deep lore, low min spec, and easy-mode gameplay all
reduce the barrier to entry to almost non-existent. There's no doubt
that WoW is noob friendly, or at least more noob friendly than any of
its contemporaries. Blizzard has earned it's millions of subscribers.
Still...I
just don't play WoW. But on Gaming Night we editors have been running
lowbie instances because we feel it's important for all of us, even
those of us who aren't WoW experts (and believe me, our staff has
href="http://tentonhammer.com/wow">WoW experts),
to get a broader, hands-on sense of what the biggest selling MMOG of
all time (so far) is all about.
My son came into the room while I was with the boys running
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/26580">Wailing Caverns.
"Ugh," he said, "You have to play WoW again?" He knows my opinion of
WoW and, having played it himself, shares that opinion.
"It's not so bad now that I'm with my group," I replied.
"Well, yeah," he said, "Almost any game can be fun when you're playing
with friends."
And I realized that he's right. Almost any game
style="font-style: italic;">, barring the
godawful ones, can
be fun if you're playing with a group of friends. The biggest problem,
though, is getting that group to agree on one game. When I
started
playing EverQuest II at launch many of my friends and guildies were too
entrenched in EverQuest to want to follow along. Those who did bugged
out after a while, returning to the EQ they loved. I was done with EQ
and wanted something new, but EQ2 got lonely. I couldn't find a guild
or perma-group I gelled with, and so I ended up leaving and mostly not
gaming for a while.
I still long to play EQ2, but not without
my buddies. I'd play Aion, as well, if I had friends there to hang out
with. In fact, there are a lot of games I'd play if I had people to
play them with, but, like most gamers, I can't afford to buy games and
pay subscription fees only to wind up alone. I've had several friends
tell me, "I'd be willing to play [Insert Game] with you if I didn't
have to pay a subscription fee, but I just don't like that game enough
to subscribe."
What's the answer, then? More AAA-to-free-to-play conversions such as
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo">Dungeons &
Dragons: Eberron Unlimited,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/interviews/going-free">The
Lord of the Rings Online, and the upcoming
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/editorials/EQ2-Extended">EverQuest
II Extended? Maybe. Or perhaps more quality free-to-play
games ala Free
Realms (only more adult-friendly) are the answer. There's
also a lot to be said for the subscriptionless games like
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/47">Guild
Wars and the upcoming
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2">Guild Wars 2.
When the only barrier to entry is the cost of a box or a digital
download it's far more likely that people are going to be willing to
give a game a try. Raise your hand if you've played an RPG that you
paid $60 for and spent maybe all of 24 hours total (or less)
playing.Yeah, me too. So, the same applies to a subscriptionless game
like Guild Wars--you pay the box cost, you play for as long as you
enjoy the game, and you've gotten your money's worth and likely even a
whole lot more if you stick around to play with friends.
We
see the cycle over and over again of hype-launch-fail. I firmly believe
that this cycle occurs not necessarily because developers are making
bad games (although don't get me wrong, some are) but because they're
failing to gather strong communities around those games. Any game is
more fun when you play it with friends, and trying to keep hundreds of
thousands of players entertained without a thriving community is a task
approaching impossible.
How would you suggest developers go
about making games more accessible to the people you want to play them
with? How do you keep your friends gaming alongside you? Discuss it all
in the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=52976">Loading...
forum.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6">Articles,
News & Events Discussion forum
Dragon
Age 2 Launch Dated, New Trailer Available
While Dragon Age may not be a MMOG, we've chosen to cover it because it
is
an RPG and because you've shown great interest in it. Given that
interest, you might want to note that Dragon Age 2 has been assigned a
launch date, and you can now view a new trailer for the game. You can
also discuss
it with our community.
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"Overall I can't wait
for the game, the PC market is really lacking in decent RPGs.
Even if DA 2 will be
more like Mass Effect 2 than DA 1."
-
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=439324&postcount=3">WZT
==============================
New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer
3 new and exclusive
Ten
Ton Hammer
features
today! 68 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in August! 884
in 2010!
HANDS-ON PREVIEWS
The Beginning of the End:
A Hands-On Preview with End of Nations
title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/end-of-nations/preview/aug-2010-hands-on"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/end-of-nations/preview/aug-2010-hands-on">http://www.tentonhammer.com/end-of-nations/preview/aug-2010-hands-on
Longtime MMORPG and RTS personalities like Chris Lena (EverQuest),
Mike Legg (Command & Conquer series, Empire
at War, and Gary Wagner (Supreme Commander)
guided us through our first hands-on session with End of
Nations, the ambitious near-future MMORTS project from
Petroglyph Entertainment and Trion Worlds.Would our experiences with
character creation, early and late game PvE, and 5v5 PvP live up to the
game's promise? Read
title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/end-of-nations/preview/aug-2010-hands-on"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/end-of-nations/preview/aug-2010-hands-on">The
Beginning of the End: Our First Hands-On Preview of End of Nations
to find out!
INTERVIEWS
Myth No More: A Mythos
Beta Update and Bloodletter Class Q&A
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/mythos/interviews/bloodletter-skills">http://www.tentonhammer.com/mythos/interviews/bloodletter-skills
In
development since 2006, the fanbase surrounding the action MMORPG
Mythos is as dedicated as ever, and at a time when the action RPG and
co-op multiplayer scene is only getting bigger. At the center of the
excitement is Redbana US Project Manager Demian Moreno, who graciously
answered our questions about the reincarnated fast-paced dungeon
crawling MMORPG. Demian also revealed new and exclusive information
about the damage-dealing, AoE casting, teleporting, all-around
awesomeness that is Mythos's Bloodletter class.
FEATURES & GUIDES
EQ2 Cleric AA Sample Specs
http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/guides/specs-cleric
Priests
are absolutely essential in EverQuest II and, if you play one, you know
that your gear and spec is of vital importance and part of
being a good
healer. To help you customize your Cleric to how you play, we have put
together two different alternate advancement builds for each class. Get
advice on how to AA spec your solo Cleric or if you group more, we have
a spec for that too!
Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv/preview/aug-2010-hands-on">New
Final Fantasy XIV
Hands-On Preview -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/end-of-nations/preview/aug-2010-hands-on">The
Beginning of the End: A Hands-On Preview with style="font-weight: bold;">End of Nations title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/end-of-nations/preview/aug-2010-hands-on"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/end-of-nations/preview/aug-2010-hands-on">
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/mythos/interviews/bloodletter-skills">Myth
No More: A Mythos
Beta Update and Bloodletter Class Q&A href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/mythos/interviews/bloodletter-skills">
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/interviews/georgeson-destiny-of-velious">Flying
Mounts, and Memories: An EQ2: Destiny of Velious Video
Q&A with David Georgeson -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/interviews/season-two-stahl">Exclusive
Season Two Q&A with Star Trek Online's
Executive Producer Daniel Stahl
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/hands-on-preview-part-1">Rift:
Planes of Telara First Hands-On
Preview - Part 1 -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/dcuo/previews/hands-on-aug-2010">DC
Universe Online Hands On Preview -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lineage/interviews/crack-of-time-chris-mahnken">Crack
of Time Interview
with Lineage's
Senior Producer Chris Mahnken href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/features/interviews/pet-system-neil"> -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/features/interviews/pet-system-neil">Aion:
Assault on Balaurea Interview with Associate Producer Sean Neil
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/reviews/wings-of-liberty">StarCraft
II href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/reviews/wings-of-liberty">:
Wings of Liberty Review
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg
and the Ten Ton Hammer team
