Loading... August 30th, 2010 - PlayerScore Enters Open Beta

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Updated Mon, Aug 30, 2010 by Jeff Woleslagle

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

Welcome to the 1,407th edition of Loading...

The last thing World of Warcraft needs is another website or addon to compare numbers. So why has Ten Ton Hammer spent the last several months creating something called PlayerScore that does just that? Because PlayerScore does a LOT more, and with your help might make WoW the social game we'd always hoped it would become. Read all about why even the non-WoW fans on our team are excited for PlayerScore (and how you can join in) in today's Loading... PlayerScore Enters Open Beta.

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:

Biggest movers today:

Star Wars: The Old Republic
- UP 10 to #11
EverQuest
- down 3 to #13
Aion
- UP 2 to 10

Recent Releases

6/29 - APB (release)
7/27 - Need for Speed World (release)
7/27 - StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (release)
8/17 - City of Heroes: Going Rogue (release)
8/18 - EverQuest II Extended (release)

Upcoming Releases

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

Loading... redressing all the needs of MMOkind, one opinion at a time.

I've never been much of a PvPer, but paintball brings out the aggro in me. My fiancee wanted to try out the game, so I dutifully signed us up without really mentioning the certainly of welts that go with getting shot full of a .67 caliber pellet of cellulose-encased paint travelling at 60 miles per hour. Thankfully I got dinged up the most, including a close range shot in the neck that was the talk of the dead zone, a sprained knee, and two hits frightfully close to the jimster.

The fun of paintball isn't just nailing an unsuspecting enemy in the mask from twenty feet away, it's about the stories you take away from the experience. My shining moment came when I charged a bunker without any ammo left (it took us 2.5 games to exhaust 500 rounds at $37, who knew?), and got two unsuspecting opponents to surrender. Whether we're talking paintball or MMOGs, those are the fun-defining moments, but too often they're lost in a sea of accomplishments and completionism.

Unlike it's MMO predecessors, WoW is said to be a game where no one has a story. No massive UO- or DAoC - style PvP battles, no EQ corpse runs or spawn camps. The more I play WoW (and believe me, I've tauted my share of WoW hatred) I don't believe that to be the case. A group of friends and TTH editors recently started a bunch of lowbie characters, and going through the low-teens Deadmines dungeon had its share of quirks and laugh out loud moments.

Today, TenTonHammer announced the PlayerScore Open Beta, an addon and website for World of Warcraft players that goes beyond rating players based on equipment. PlayerScore offers a complete picture of your character, your friends' characters, your guildmates, and almost anyone else (almost, meaning US servers are available now, with EU and Oceanic to follow soon).

You could look at PlayerScore as a measuring tape for your eParts. It's a measure of competence, for sure, but I look at it as a way to document your experiences on a per-character level - it's like having an individual forum thread for each of the thirty million plus characters in the game. Better yet, that's just one of the website and addon's many features. The addon, for example, tells you if an item is an upgrade for a groupmate before you roll need or greed.

Something like PlayerScore is all the more important now that Dungeon Finder has made pick-up groups more the rule than the exception. If your healer is an expert mana manager, extremely careful with over-healing and always using the most efficient spells, and if he or she kept the group up through areas where you've had trouble before, you can give your healer some credit. If your off-tank doesn't have the best equipment in the game, but was alert enough to switch targets and pull adds off of the healer and DPS units, give him or her due props. If, on the other hand, it's obvious that a groupmate isn't focusing - too busy eating ho-hos and watching "Friends" reruns to do much more than move and auto-attack - you can address that too.

PlayerScore is also a teaching tool, sort of like an expanded Armory. It's easy to look into better ranked players in my class and level range, see where they've been spending their time and look into the equipment that they have, and over time see what kind of ratings and traits other players have given them, then modify my play style accordingly.

My main's PlayerScore is 4103, what's yours? Share it in the Loading... forum!

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer forum

That MMO Itch

That little itch could mean...gaming! This is the epic thread in which Darke confesses a "condition/affliction/whatever" that makes him re-subscribe to MMOGs he once dumped. Sounds like a playah to me. Do you get that MMOG itch? It's okay, don't be embarrassed; you're among friends. Talk about it!

=====================================
Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"...it doesn't feel right anymore to not be subscribed to one MMORPG... even if I don't do that much with it. Which reminds me. Hehe unsubbed from CoH again but will probably resub later...again."

- SirRobin
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New and Exclusive Content Today at Ten Ton Hammer

7 new and exclusive Ten Ton Hammer features today! 118 Ten Ton Hammer features in August! 934 in 2010!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

Take Me Out to the Reckoning: A Video Interview with 38 Studios’ Curt Schilling
http://www.tentonhammer.com/syndcon10/interviews/curt-schilling

Curt Schilling defies all the usual myths and stereotypes about gamers. The future Hall of Fame pitcher has long been an avid gamer, playing wargames such as Advanced Squad Leader (which he now owns), RPGs, and online games from Ultima Online to World of Warcraft. His new game company, 38 Studios, has two titles in the works. Ten Ton Hammer’s own Ethec sat down with Curt Schilling at SyndCon 2010 to talk about 38 Studios’ upcoming projects and gaming in general.

EVE Senior Producer Answers Community Concerns - An Exclusive Q&A
http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/interviews/gylfason-at-gamescom2010

Last year Ten Ton Hammer awarded EVE Online as the Best Community in a MMOG of the year. Why? Because the community knows what it wants and has had a fundamental part in designing the future of the game. Ten Ton Hammer caught up with Arnar Gylfason, Senior Producer of EVE at gamescom 2010 to address some concerns that have been going about the community. Lag, features backlog, and the future of the game are our topics in this exclusive EVE Online interview from gamescom 2010.

TEN TON HAMMER NEWS

Announcing the WoW Ten Ton Hammer Forum Revamp
http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53171

Our Ten Ton Hammer community forums are the place to be to talk about all kinds of online games (and more!). We've taken our popular World of Warcraft forums and given them a complete overhaul to prepare for the upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. So why not head on over to our forums and have a chat with some of our friendly community members? Get your questions answered, share your stories, discuss the latest events, and more here at Ten Ton Hammer.

MEDIA

New DC Universe Screenshots Show Iconic and Player Created Characters in Action
http://www.tentonhammer.com/dcuo/screenshots/august2010

DC Universe Online (DCUO) is just a few short months away from launch and one of the key selling points of the game is the ability to create your own customized superhero or villain to fight alongside some of the iconic characters in the DC Universe, something we had the chance to experience first-hand at Fan Faire. Sony Online Entertainment is continuing to hype the game and recently released a fresh batch of new screenshots that show some of the player created characters, combat using Batman, and several other iconic DCUO characters in action. Check them all out here.

FEATURES & GUIDES

EQ2 New Player Mount Guide
http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/guides/newbie-mounts

A staple utility in EverQuest II is definitely the mounts. Nearly every player has one for the look, the status, the run speed, and the stats that they provide. Traditionally you had to wait until you were in the mid levels before you could get your first mount but not anymore! With new quest additions, even low level players can enjoy the benefit of having a trusty horse mount, and we can tell you how to get yours.

Guild Wars 2 Profession Preview: Necromancer
http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/previews/necromancer

Necromancers return for Guild Wars 2 as the bringers of death and destruction along with the unique ability to return life to those who have perished, as mindless undead zombies of course. We take a look at the Necromancer, how its changed from the original Guild Wars, and more.

WoW: What’s New in the Beta? A Look at Cataclysm Beta Build 12803
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/cataclysm/patch-notes/build-12803

There have been a few patches to the Cataclysm beta this month, and last week saw the release of patch 12803. This patch pushed some major changes to the game and how it plays. Byron “Messiah” Mudry walks you through some of the critical changes to the game, the effect they will likely have on the game, and explains why you should care about them.