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is the premiere daily MMOG newsletter, only from Ten
Ton Hammer!
Welcome
to the 1,443rd
edition
of Loading...
style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest 2
servers are facing
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/90849">another
merge, says Producer Dave
Georgeson. The news is good for servers suffering from a low
population. We take a look at the evolution of server merges and the
concept of critical mass today in
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/oct/19">Loading...
Massively Critical.
The
Pulse
You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/">What
is The Pulse?).
Today's
top 5 Pulse results:
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
of Warcraft -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
Online - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest 2
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/99">Lord
of the Rings Online -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/115">Age
of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
(UP 1)
Biggest
movers today:
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1407">DC
Universe Online
- UP 8
to
#9 -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars:
The Old Republic
- UP 4
to
#18 style="text-decoration: underline;"> -
style="text-decoration: underline;">
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/47">Guild
Wars
-
down 2
to
#11
-
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">9/7
- size="-1"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion">Aion:
Assault on Balaurea (free
expansion) -
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">9/29
- Everquest
2 Extended
(release) -
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">9/30
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv">Final
Fantasy XIV (release)
Releases
-
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">October
26, 2010
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/170">LEGO
Universe (release) -
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">October,
2010
- Champions
Online: Demonflame (expansion) -
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">November,
2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve">EVE Online:
Incursion (expansion)
-
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">December
7, 2010
- World
of Warcraft: Cataclysm
(expansion)
-
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">January 2011
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2539">Test
Drive Unlimited 2 -
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">Early 2011
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1407">DC
Universe Online (release) size="-1">
size="-1">Upcoming
Events
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">
- Ask the Devs!
Have you got a question about style="font-style: italic;">Rift:
Planes of Telera?
Well, you have a chance to ask the devs at Trion Worlds directly. Just
submit your questions href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53660">in
our forums.
2 Premium Wall Graphic
To help celebrate the redesign of the Guild Wars 2 forums, Ten Ton
Hammer is having a contest where the winner receives a Guild Wars 2
premium wall graphic from LTL Prints. All you have to do to enter is
post on our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=721">forum.
This contest ends October 26th. For all the contest details, go href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/contests/ltl-post-a-thon">here.
alt="World of Warcraft PlayerScore"
src="http://images.tentonhammer.com/misc/PlayerScore/2010/PlayerScore_101910.jpg">
What's
your PlayerScore? World of
Warcraft players, find out at
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/playerscore">playerscore.com.
Loading... crafting like mad
for eventual world domination.
Up until 2005 thoughts of server merges never crossed my mind, or the
minds of my friends and guildmates. We had been happily playing
style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest
for half a decade and with a guild of over 700 finding a group was a
non-issue. Sure, in that game at the time grouping was a must as there
was very little if anything that could be soloed, but it didn't matter.
We could log in at 4am and still find a group. In fact, often it was
hard to get time away from grouping as simply logging on and typing /gu
"hey all" would net several /tells to join groups spanning across
Norrath. And those rare occasions when a guild group wasn't available?
On average it would take about 10 minutes between putting /LFG on,
sitting in Plane of Knowledge and /OOCing "70 paladin LFG" before a
friend from another guild or even new friends would offer a spot in
their AA grinding or rune-camping group.
Life was simple, and it was fun. I heard occasional stories of folks
who claimed to sit hours /lfg without getting a group, but frankly, I
never experienced it and no one from my guild ever mentioned that they
had either. In fact, it wasn't until The Great Exodus to
style="font-style: italic;">EQ2
and WoW
that many of us ever truly experienced the solo gameplay that soon
after the launch of those games in 2004 became standard.
The game was popular and populated. So it's no wonder really that none
of us had even heard of server merges before. It had never been needed.
The only event that ever involved manipulation of server population was
a server split due to overpopulation. The concept of critical mass was
the last thing on our minds as it was a simple reality that we just
took for granted. Little did we know that those final few months we
played together would be the last time we'd be blissfully ignorant of
the "critical mass" term.
When I made the decision to move over to
style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest 2
as my main game I expected the same experience as I had had with
style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest,
just with newer graphics and mechanics. I had no idea what was in store
for me for the next half decade of MMO gaming. If I had known that
every game I played thereafter apart from a very select few (read: one
or two) would at some point experience a server merge in an effort to
reach critical mass, I may have never left my original game.
Now, don't get me wrong. Server merges are typically a good thing to
avoid a world that feels empty of life. That doesn't nullify the fact,
though, that when a game needs to merge servers it invariably means one
thing: there are problems with the population. When the gaming populace
hears that they will be undergoing a merge, it is met by welcoming arms
looking forward to a more healthy population, but also with a bit of
hesitation, as the players know it means the issue of people quitting
their game has become enough of a reality that the developers are
publicly recognizing it.
During development of a game one really needs to consider market trends
and the importance of critical mass. Single player games have the
luxury of a world that won't be at all affected by the amount of people
playing it, but MMOGs, by their very definition, require a lot of
people to be playing in order for it to be a rich experience. So it
becomes tricky when a game is designed to be its most fun with a group
or guild or healthy public participation - expecting that there will
always be enough players to participate in group activities, public
quests, or world events. If the population ever suffers, then you're
faced with even more frustration from the current players as they
become overloaded with things they want to do, but can't, due to lack
of people.
So now we're seeing more and more solo content pumped into the MMOGs we
play in large part because critical mass is far from guaranteed with
any new title. This, though, has created a different issue. Now we're
all so used to solo gameplay we've come to expect it. In fact, often
when a game throws in a group quest or event in the middle of our
leveling experience we become panicked or disappointed because we then
have to somehow find others to join us for a portion of the game that
so far has allowed us to be independent.
For myself, being of the old-school MMO generation, I would prefer to
see a studio take huge risks and develop a game that does require a
critical mass to be enjoyed, and focus their efforts on how to ensure
the masses will come to the game and stay. Realistically I know that
few will ever accept that challenge today considering the gargantuan
investment a MMOG is in terms of both financing and time. But I hold
the utmost respect for a company that says "MMOGs are meant to be
played with others, so we will encourage group play, socializing, and
relying on others. Since we won't fall back on standard soloing to keep
our players busy, we're going to find new ways to get people playing
together and enjoying it."
Some companies are taking those strides. Scott Hartsman from Trion
Worlds for Rift:
Planes of Telara
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/19">recently
told us that they're aiming to
make a world where seeing other players come into the area is a
welcomed experience. Sure, it's going to mean that critical mass can't
be blurred, but it will also mean that the "MM" portion of "MMOG" will
be a fundamental consideration during development. Other games are
shooting for similar goals.
style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars 2's
events follow the same sort of idea.
style="font-style: italic;">TERA's
rich and complex battles are hinting at requiring a good group makeup.
If these developers can make the game fun and rewarding enough and
offer systems to allow for easy, enjoyable grouping then even though
critical mass will still be important, it may again become something we
can once again take for granted. As long as the game is fun and
polished there will be players playing.
How do you like your MMOGs--focused on fun group gameplay to ensure
critical mass, or plenty of soloing to avoid the need of critical mass?
Let us know in the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=54235">forums.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the
Day
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=724">Guild
Wars 2 General Discussion forum
New
Poll - How Many Hall of Monuments Rewards Points Do You Have?
Now
that ArenaNet has officially unveiled the reward calculator for the
Hall of Monuments, Guild Wars 2
fans are understandably eager to see just how many rewards they can
unlock for their characters. The
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2" target="_blank">Ten
Ton Hammer - Guild Wars 2
team has put together some resources for our readers covering both the
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/guides/basics/hall-of-monuments-rewards-calculator"
target="_blank">rewards calculator
and a basic
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/guides/basics/hall-of-monuments"
target="_blank">guide to the Hall of Monuments
in
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/47"
target="_blank">Guild Wars
for those of you just getting started on your journey.
But we were also curious to hear how many points you may have collected
so far, which is the topic for our newest Guild
Wars 2 poll. Be sure to
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/90867" target="_blank">cast
your vote, and then
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=54230">join
the discussion in our fourms!
=====================================
Awesome
Quotes from the Epic Thread
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=54230">Make
some!
=====================================
New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer
8 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 66 original features in October! 1126 in 2010!
style="font-weight: bold;">CONTESTS
style="color: red;">HOT!
Win a Guild Wars 2 Premium Wall Graphic
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/contests/ltl-post-a-thon">http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/contests/ltl-post-a-thon
We
here at the Ten Ton Hammer - Guild Wars 2 community site understand the
importance of having an interesting place for fans of the game to
congregate and discuss ArenaNet's upcoming MMOG. As such, we've
recently unveiled the first phase of our all new GW2 forum redesign. To
help celebrate, we're giving our readers an exciting opportunity to win
one of the recently announced
href="http://www.ltlprints.com/guildwars2">Guild Wars
2 Premium Wall Graphics from LTL
Prints. As with our previous post-a-thon, entering for your chance to
win is simple - just
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=721">post
on our forums!
EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW
DCUO's Jim Lee and Chris
Cao Talk Green Lantern, a Moon Mission, & more!
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/dcuo/interviews/2010/jim-lee-and-chris-cao">http://www.tentonhammer.com/dcuo/interviews/2010/jim-lee-and-chris-cao
Ten Ton Hammer recently met
with legendary comic book artist, writer, publisher, and DC Universe
Executive Creative Director Jim Lee and Game Director Chris Cao. Read
on as DCUO's dynamic duo addresses questions ranging from the size,
scope, and origin of the DC Universe in DCUO, to the potential for a
Green Lantern expansion, to whether DCUO owes more to console action
games or traditional MMORPGs, and much, much more!
INTERVIEWS
The
Ascended Class Soul System - Rift: Planes of Telara Reader Submitted
Q&A #3
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/reader-submitted-questions-part3">http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/reader-submitted-questions-part3
In
our third exclusive interview with Trion Worlds, Ten Ton Hammer
continues to ferret out the details of the upcoming Rift: Planes of
Telara MMOG. In this interview, we talk to Producer Adam Gershowitz,
who goes into great depth of the Ascended class soul system that is the
hallmark of the game. Along with the discussion of this flexible
system, Adam ventures onto the topics of the various roles that players
choose and the endless number of builds that can be constructed using
the soul system. If you have a question that you wish answered in a
future interview, please post them in our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53660">official
Rift forum.
Brick
by Brick – A Q&A with LEGO Universe’s Ryan
Seabury
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lego/interviews/ryan-seabury-oct-2010">http://www.tentonhammer.com/lego/interviews/ryan-seabury-oct-2010
LEGO
enthusiasts are in a frenzy with the upcoming mass retail release of
LEGO Universe. Already, die-hard fans who pre-ordered the game are
strutting their way through the LEGO-themed MMOG, building anything
from a castle to a spaceship and everything in-between! To gather more
details on this building-manic game (and perhaps get our hands on some
blue bricks), Ten Ton Hammer talked to Ryan Seabury, Creative Director
of LEGO Universe, who fielded questions ranging from PvP to endgame
experiences to user features, plus many others.
SPECIAL
FEATURES
What
Happened To... (Part 3)
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorials/what-happened-to-part3">http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorials/what-happened-to-part3
This
week's edition of "What Happened To..." will cover a few of these
down-but-not-out titles, including Chronicles of Spellborn, Darkfall
and Huxley. Read on to learn where these games are at and where they
might be headed.
REGULAR
FEATURES
WoW
Weekly Report - Patch 4.0.1 Explodes onto the Live Servers
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/newsletter/issue89">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/newsletter/issue89
The
WoW Weekly Report is our newsletter dedicated to giving you a
wrap-up of the previous week in news, stories, and more. This week we
look at a plethora of topics surrounding the release of Patch 4.0.1,
including a look at the first five things to do post-patch, UI changes,
Paladin changes, and more. We also spotlighted the new Reforging
ability, PVP and leveling in Cataclysm and more. In WoW news the
BlizzCon headliner has been announced, a new WoW mouse is being
released, and of course word that 4.0.1 went live. All this and more in
our WoW Weekly Report every Tuesday.
FEATURES
& GUIDES
The
Newbie's Guide to League of Legends
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/main/league/intro">http://www.tentonhammer.com/main/league/intro
A
game that has taken the genre of multiplayer online team play by storm,
Riot Games' League of Legends has gone from being a gimmick to a genre
redefiner. Whether you're a battle hardened master of the fine art of
5v5 hero battles or someone who doesn't know what the acronym DotA
stands for, there's fun to be had by all in this game. We give you what
you need to know to get started with this primer on the hit
free-to-play competitive battleground from the creators of Defense of
the Ancients!
WoW
Hunter Guide 4.0.1 Patch Update
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter
World
of Warcraft Patch 4.0.1 is live and as players settle in to the new
norm we here at Ten Ton Hammer are working diligently to bring you the
most up to date guides possible. This week the Hunter guide has
undergone the process and is now ready to once again provide the
answers to the most basic Hunter questions.
MEDIA
Explore
the Plane of Water in New Rift Planes of Telara Video
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/videos/plane-of-water">http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/videos/plane-of-water
Today's
Top 10
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/dcuo/interviews/2010/jim-lee-and-chris-cao">DCUO's
Jim Lee and Chris Cao Talk Green Lantern, a Moon Mission, &
more! -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/seasonal/hallows-end">WoW
2010 Hallow's End Guide -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/reader-submitted-questions-part3">The
Ascended Class Soul System - style="font-weight: bold;">Rift: Planes of Telara
Reader Submitted Q&A #3 -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter">
style="font-weight: bold;">WoW
Hunter Guide 4.0.1 Patch Update -
href="http://tentonhammer/com/wow/blizzcon/2010/expectations">BlizzCon
2010 Expectations
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/patch401-resources">
style="font-weight: bold;">World of Warcraft's
Patch 4.0.1 Resources -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/main/league/intro">The
Newbie's Guide to style="font-weight: bold;">League of Legends -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo/previews/update-7">
style="font-weight: bold;">Dungeons & Dragons
Online Update 7 Hands-On
Preview -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/previews/charr-arena-event">An
Exclusive First Look at the Charr Arena Event in style="font-weight: bold;">Guild Wars 2 -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lego/interviews/ryan-seabury-oct-2010">Brick
by Brick – A Q&A with style="font-weight: bold;">LEGO Universe’s
Ryan Seabury style="font-weight: bold;">
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Benjamin J. de la Durantaye and the Ten
Ton Hammer
team
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EverQuest II Game Page.
