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is the premiere daily MMOG newsletter, only from Ten
Ton Hammer!

Welcome
to the 1,429th
edition
of Loading...

When it comes to the community
surrounding a MMOG, there are several types of vocal groups who
participate in forum discussions. Which group is the biggest deterrent
to a game’s successful evolution? It’s not the
troll-like group we have to worry about. Karen
“Shayalyn” Hertzberg categorizes community types in
today’s href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/sep/29">Loading…
Reasoners, Ravers and Defenders.

cellspacing="0" width="100%">

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:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
   of Warcraft
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest 2
   (UP 1)
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
   Online (UP 4)
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/99">Lord
   of the Rings Online (down 2)
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/115">Age
   of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
   (UP 3)

Biggest
movers today:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/73">Stargate
   Worlds
   
   - down 6
   to
   #10
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/147">Myst
   Online: URU Live
   
   - down 6
   to
   #12 style="text-decoration: underline;">
3. style="text-decoration: underline;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv">Final
   Fantasy XIV
   
   - Up 5
   to
   #17

size="-1">Recent Releases

• size="-1">7/27
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2461"
  target="_blank">Need
  for Speed World
  (release)
• size="-1">7/27
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2" target="_blank">StarCraft
  II: Wings of Liberty
  (release)
• size="-1">8/17
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City
  of Heroes: Going Rogue (release)
• size="-1">8/18
  - href="http://everquest2.com/free_to_play">EverQuest
  II Extended (release)
• 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;">10/29
  - Everquest
  2 Extended
  (release)
  
  

size="-1">Upcoming
Releases

• size="-1">September
  30, 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv" target="_blank">Final
  Fantasy XIV size="-1">
  (release)
• 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;">November
  2, 2010
  - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1407">DC
  Universe Online (release)
  
  

size="-1">Upcoming
Events

• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">10/5 -
  10/8 - href="http://www.gdconline.com/">GDC
  Online
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">10/8 -
  10/10 - href="http://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/">New
  York Comic Con
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
  10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y" target="_blank">BlizzCon
• size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
  -
  3/26 (2011) - href="http://fanfest.eveonline.com/" target="_blank">CCP
  FanFest
  

style="font-weight: bold;">World
of Warcraft:
Brewfest Tankard O' Terror Contest

October is just around the corner, so you know what that means.
It’s that festive time once again when we get to raise or
virtual tankards in World of Warcraft in celebration of the annual
in-game Brewfest event! To help get you into the spirit (or should that
be spirits?) of the event, we’ll be giving away not just one,
but two signed Tankard O’ Terror’s from href="http://www.taverncraft.com/">Taverncraft.
For full contest details be sure to race your ram over to our href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/wow/brewfest">Brewfest
Tankard O’ Terror Contest page!




Enter now as the contest ends on Friday, October 1st at 11:59pm! style="font-weight: bold;">Rift
- 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.

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Loading... Grinding out the
next level to get that mount!

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/sep/22">Last
week in Loading… I
examined the problems and frustrations inherent with Square
Enix’s convoluted subscription and billing system for href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv"> style="font-style: italic;">Final Fantasy XIV.
On a forum (not the Ten Ton Hammer forums) where style="font-style: italic;">FFXIV
fans were discussing the editorial I noticed a comment that made me
shake my head. The poster complained that articles like mine
weren’t conducive to keeping the game she loved afloat. It
occurred to me that, however good her intentions were, her logic was
flawed.



There seem to be three types of vocal people who post in forums about
MMOGs—the ravers, the reasoners, and the defenders. Ravers
will blast a game to bits, loudly proclaiming that they’re
going to take their subscription dollars elsewhere (yet it’s
strange how long those who’ve declared that they’re
going to take their ball and go home stick around to continue
grumbling) and rarely offer anything of value in their rants, which
consist of derisive comments like, “This game
sucks.” Reasoners take a more constructive approach, pointing
out specific design flaws and often suggesting ways those design flaws
could be addressed by the developers. Reasoners are more optimistic and
patient, willing to give the developers time to fix what they perceive
as wrong. (It’s important to note that feeling ignored by the
developers, over time, can turn a reasoner into a raver.)



Defenders, on the other hand, have another agenda altogether.
They’re passionate supporters of their game of choice, and
they want to believe that everything about that game is golden, or on
its way to being golden. The developers can do no wrong. Design flaws
and other issues are either non-existent figments of the
complainers’ imaginations, or something the defender
passionately believes the devs will fix, whether or not the devs have
acknowledged the problem.



Of these forum types, I see the defenders as the biggest threat to a
game’s growth. Sure, no one likes a raving complainer
(they’re pretty useless, unless you count the entertainment
value inherent in some of the more troll-like of the species), but a
defender will try to silence not only the ravers but the reasoners as
well. And reasoners--those giving solid, well thought out feedback--are
what make the player community a useful part of any game’s
continued evolution. Unfortunately, defenders are known to chase
reasoners away from communities. The more defensive a community, the
more likely its more dedicated members are to give up on their
constructive feedback for fear of being trounced, leaving only the
ravers (who don’t care about anyone’s opinion but
their own) to duke it out with the defenders.



I was once shredded by a game community whose most vocal defenders
disagreed with a first impressions piece I wrote. The defenders
didn’t like the concerns I raised about the game, and all but
hunted me down with torches and pitchforks while questioning my virtue,
my parentage, and my gaming pedigree. Gaming journalists have thick
skins by necessity, so I shrugged it off as best I could. Still, I
worried that the community for that game was overwhelmingly led by
defenders who saw the developers as godlike creatures capable of
creating nothing short of perfection. I have to wonder where those
defenders are now. My bet would be that they’re no longer
playing the game they so passionately defended and, having silenced
fans and players with legitimate concerns, have moved on. The game is
languishing now, having suffered, I think, from too much hubris in its
development and launch stages—hubris fed by vocal defenders.



How can developers filter out the noise and listen to the most
reasonable players among their communities? Is it possible to keep
reasoners from abandoning a community, or to prevent them from being
run off by defenders who view even the most constructive criticism as a
threat to their game’s success? Which group—the
ravers, reasoners or defenders—is the most detrimental to the
development process? I’ve had my say, now go have yours in
the href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53801">Loading…
forum.

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Shayalyn's
Epic Thread of the Day

From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=561">Ten
Ton Torched Forum



href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=24282"> style="font-weight: bold;">The Daily "It Made Me
Laugh" Thread



This
epic thread was accidentally nipped out of Monday's Loading...
newsletter, and I thought it was worth running again to make sure
everyone has an opportunity to get in on the fun.



What has over 4200 posts, 141,000 views and lives in the href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=561">Ten
Ton Torched forum? It's
our Daily "It Made Me Laugh" thread, which has been making gamers laugh
since early 2008. Here's one recent href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=442671&postcount=4284">highlight,
and here's href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=442490&postcount=4264">another.
Now, go explore (fair warning: some of this humor is NSFW) and href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=24282">post
your own funny stuff. 



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

Awesome
Quotes from the Epic Thread



"I'm
taking that to uni tomorrow. Absolute gold! "



- href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=442309&postcount=4247">Anacche

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

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New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

4 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 100 Ten Ton
Hammer features in September! 1055 in 2010!




REVIEWS



Civilization
V Review - Reinventing The Wheel Yet Again.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/main/reviews/Civilization-V">http://www.tentonhammer.com/main/reviews/Civilization-V



Ahh,
Civilization. The source of so much lost productivity and laziness, the
source of lost sleep and angry spouses. It's time to do it all over
again in Civilization V. A new round of crazy changes has hit the
field, and do they all mesh well enough for the final product to be
worthy of the Civilization title? Read on to find out!



INTERVIEWS



Return
to Norrath! An Interview with Everquest 2’s Dave Georgeson

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/interviews/dave-georgeson-sep-2010">http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/interviews/dave-georgeson-sep-2010



With
the soft launch of EverQuest 2 Extended, many new players began to pour
into Norrath to begin their adventures. Because Ten Ton Hammer loves
all things EverQuest, our own Benjamin J. de la Durantaye talked to
Dave Georgeson, Producer of Everquest 2, about the state of the game,
Freeport sewers, and many other topics



REGULAR
FEATURES



EverQuest
II's Dave Georgeon on Ten Ton Hammer Live Episode 21

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/21">http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/21



This
week on Ten Ton Hammer Live Ben takes the reigns in an interview with
EverQuest II's Dave Georgeson. While it lacks that "Jesse" flavor, it
makes up for it in real content, interesting dialogue, and all the
qualities of good interviewing skills :P



Also this week, Jesse
and Dav talk about their Civ V fetish, as well as why relationships in
WarCraft just don't work, right L. Jenkins?



In the news, Star Wars dominates our thoughts, even the bad ones, as
Jesse is WTFPWNT when it comes to Clone Wars.



Then
to top it off, Jesse tests out a "caffine" tea for his sore throat, and
the boys embark on the hardest master looter ever....EVER!



FEATURES
& GUIDES



Measuring
Gear and Comparing Scores in World of Warcraft

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/reviews/character-rating-tools">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/reviews/character-rating-tools



There
are many different ways to rate and score characters in World of
Warcraft but which ones are the best? We take a look at all of the
major gear scoring websites and uncover the best and worst of each.
Find out the best way to rate your character here at Ten Ton
Hammer.

Today's
Top 10

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/shso/previews/sept-2010"> style="font-weight: bold;">Marvel Super Hero Squad
   Online - A Heroes &
   Helicarriers Preview
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/features/reviews/character-rating-tools">Measuring
   Gear and Comparing Scores in style="font-weight: bold;">World of Warcraft
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2/interviews/dave-georgeson-sep-2010">Return
   to Norrath! An Interview with style="font-weight: bold;">EverQuest 2’s
   Dave Georgeson style="font-weight: bold;">
   
   
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gnh/interviews/heatwave-interview-sep-2010">For
   the Emperor! style="font-weight: bold;">Gods and Heroes
   - An Interview with Heatwave Interactive
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/minstrel/overview">Ten
   Ton Hammer's All-New Minstrel Class Guide for style="font-weight: bold;">Lord of the Rings Online
6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/politics/incursion-pre-look">A
   Preliminary Look At The Incursion Expansion For style="font-weight: bold;">EVE Online
7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/cataclysm_patch_guide">A
   Guide to the Major Changes in style="font-weight: bold;">WoW
   Patch 4.0.1
8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/editorials/what-happened-to">What
   Happened To... href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/vindictus/previews/sept2010"> style="font-weight: bold;">
9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/vindictus/previews/sept2010"> style="font-weight: bold;">Vindictus
   Preview - Enter the Next Generation
10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/main/reviews/Civilization-V"> style="font-weight: bold;">Civilization V
    Review - Reinventing The Wheel Yet Again.

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Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Karen “Shayalyn” Hertzberg and the Ten Ton Hammer
team