Loading... August 20th, 2010 - The Moral of the Story

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Posted Fri, Aug 20, 2010 by Jeff Woleslagle

Loading... is the premier daily MMOG newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer!

Welcome to the 1,401st edition of Loading...

Somewhat lost in the excitement of gamescom this week, City of Heroes: Going Rogue launched as the first game or expansion in a new "story driven" wave of MMORPGs that take moral choice seriously. Yet Going Rogue’s morality system is a departure from the faction point systems we’ve seen in BioWare games or the Fable series. A look at Going Rogue’s morality missions, plus the various ways MMO players make moral choices in today’s Loading… The Moral of the Story.

The Pulse You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is The Pulse?). This month's top 5 Pulse results: World of Warcraft EverQuest II Age of Conan EVE Online Dungeons & Dragons Online Biggest movers in the past 7 days : StarCraft 2 - UP 38 to #11 Guild Wars 2 - UP 7 to #13 Star Trek Online - down 6 to #18	Recent Releases 6/9 - Mortal Online (release) 6/29 - APB (release) 7/27 - Need for Speed World (release) 7/27 - StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (release)
	Upcoming Releases August 17, 2010 - City of Heroes: Going Rogue (release) September 7, 2010 - Aion: Assault on Balaurea (free expansion) September 30, 2010 - Final Fantasy XIV (release) October 26, 2010 - LEGO Universe (release) November 2, 2010 - DC Universe Online (release)
	Upcoming Events 9/3 - 9/5 - PAX Prime 9/3 - 9/6 - DragonCon 10/8 - 10/10 - New York Comic Con 10/22 - 10/23 - BlizzCon 3/24 - 3/26 (2011) - CCP FanFest
HOT! Get all the latest breaking news, videos, and exclusives from Cologne, Germany with Ten Ton Hammer's gamescom 2010 coverage!

Loading... you can almost smell the beer, pretzels, and sweaty lederhosen.

Ten Ton Hammer’s happy couple continues to pour out the info from Cologne for us like a fine hefeweizen. Keep an eye on the GamesCom 2010 portal for more exclusive features on games like Guild Wars 2 over the weekend!

City of Heroes: Going Rogue arrived this week, and had the poor fortune of making its live debut on a week when the attention of most MMO games fans is fixed on the latest from Germany. So, since the news from Germany will continue to pour out over the next week or so, I figured I'd try and redress the balance in my own little way, because Going Rogue is way too important of an expansion to be lost in a sea of event coverage.

Going Rogue's new level 1-20 experience, - where players are neither heroes, vigilantes, rogues, or villains - offers no fewer than 11 chances for players to waffle back and forth between the loyalist and rebellion sides (the precursor to heros and villains). I like this "waffling" system better than the faction points system that became the norm stretching back to games like EverQuest and KotOR- that is, where individual decisions push you ever so slightly toward the light or dark side. A faction points system takes most of the fun out of individual moral decisions you make, since you’ll tend to go all good or all evil to get the maximum benefit. That, or you risk gimping yourself with the sort of decisions you might make if you found yourself in your character’s shoes. Waffling, on the other hand, lets you have the freedom to act as you think best, knowing that you're only changing your story, not losing a chance to propel yourself towards an end of the moral spectrum.

RPG gamers, in general, like a constant supply of fun choices, but not too many all at once. The fun for some is escaping real life entirely and being as cleverly (or cruelly) evil as possible, for others its being altruistic at every turn, and for still others, its in playing with the same moral sensibilities one would as if oneself were the actual character. Ideally all paths lead to an equally fun outcome, but in another gaming age it wasn’t just about outcomes, it was about the choices you got to make along the way.

And some of the choices players are making in Going Rogue are far from the black or white hat decisions you’d expect from a comic book MMO. The resistance might send you to blow up the water treatment plant because Emperor Cole is spiking the water with pacifying drugs, but on arrival a loyalist explains that if you do the deed, a huge percentage of Praetoria’s citizenry could grow sick or die from the lack of potable water.

Beyond level 20, it's worth noting that a variation of the faction point system returns, and the transition from hero to vigilante to rogue to villain is a little more incremental. You'll have to collect "tips" which, once actioned, lead to a morality mission that turns you one rung more villainous or heroic. Or if you're already at one of the ends of the spectrum - i.e. a villain or hero - grants you a token towards some epic faction-based gear. The sublime joy of waffling doesn't last forever, but Paragon and NCSoft promised a more morally colorful game, and I think they've delivered on that promise.

How do you make moral decisions in RPGs? Is it all about the power and prestige you get from consistently making the same decisions, or do you evaluate the decisions using the same values you have in real life? Which approach is more fun for you? Let’s discuss in the Loading… forum, and be sure to have yourself a great weekend!

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer forum

I'm addicted to MMOs.. and I'm suing

Suing because of an MMO addiction is like suing McDonald's because it makes you fat, or, well...McDonald's again, because their coffee actually happens to be hot. Avoiding personal respensibility for one's behavior seems to be a trend. Should an addicted gamer be able to sue because his gaming habit rendered him “unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends?" (The bathing part just kills me.) Hit the forums and have your say.

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Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"Only in America..."

- Darke
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New and Exclusive Content Today at Ten Ton Hammer

5 new and exclusive Ten Ton Hammer features today! 80 Ten Ton Hammer features in August! 896 in 2010!

GAMESCOM 2010 - click here to see all the latest from Cologne!

HOT! Exclusive First Look at Necromancer Gameplay in Guild Wars 2
http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gamescom2010/gw2/necromancer-gameplay

Wanting to see what Guild Wars 2 looks like live? We've got video straight from gamescom in Cologne, Germany straight from the playable demo. Watch as we explore character creation by creating a Necromancer and then taking it into the world of Tyria 250 years from the original game. Stay tuned here to Ten Ton Hammer as we bring you more from gamescom 2010.

HOT! Class Specializations and Space Combat in SW:TOR Revealed
http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor/news/specs-and-space-combat-reveal

A few new tidbits of information came out of gamescom this year for Star Wars: The Old Republic. As press gathered into the dark BioWare show room we watched the Hope trailer which was revealed earlier this year at E3....

Look! Up in the Sky! New DC Universe Online Trailer
http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gamescom2010/dcuo/trailer

Sony Online Entertainment has just released their newest trailer for the DC Universe Online MMOG. The trailer shows some of the movement powers that players can choose, as well as some awesome combat scenes. Plus, it reinforces the fact that you have the choice to play as hero or villain. Personally, I love the bit where a guy is encased in some kind of force bubble and thrown off a building! DCUO comes out in November 2010.

Runic Games Unveils Torchlight 2 Trailer
http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gamescom2010/torchlight2/trailer

Runic Games has just unveiled their new trailer for Torchlight 2 at gamescom 2010. This sequel to the popular Torchlight action RPG adds what was lacking in the original: multiplayer. Now, you and your friends can go on endless dungeon crawls killing hordes of unsavory monsters. The dungeon graphics are stunning to look at. Too bad youll get monster blood all over them! Torchlight 2 will be released in spring 2011.

FEATURES & GUIDES

EQ2 Druid Sample AA Specs
http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/guides/specs-druid

EverQuest II's Druids, the Warden and the Fury, fan favorites simply because they are just so much fun to play. Not only do the Druids heal like champs but they can also smack down some damage when they aim to. To get the most from your Druid, alternate advancement choices should be made wisely. Not everyone has the time to do all the AA research, and that is where we come in. We've done all the asking around for you and have put together some AA advice that will help you create a spec that is perfectly suited to how you play.