Another week and a new MS Painting. Today's inspiration is for my comments bro, and I fully expect a story about unicorns and rainbows in the comments. This week, we have a whole lot of tournaments (LCS NA and EU, TI4, EVO), some EQNext talk with SOE Live around the corner, new guides for Dota 2, Hearthstone, StarCraft II and LoL, and continued Season Two coverage for Guild Wars 2's Living World.

Just in case you're the type to set your home page to tentonhammer.com and never leave it, or you just don't get around to other sites in our network, here's a nice rundown of what's happening off site. Please note that site reports no longer cover the previous World of Warcraft site, as that content is now integrated into TTH with the new site.

Happy gaming, everyone!

 

EQ Hammer

Lewis B. takes a cautious approach at addons and how he'd like to see them in EverQuest Next. In summary, Lewis enjoys seeing what the community can come up with, but thinks there should be support within reason. He'd like to see SOE officially support addons in such a capacity that they host them themselves, rather than through a third party site, and that widely used addons become adpoted into the game's UI. I think this is a fantastic solution that would make everyone happy.

This week's edition of Landmark's Extreme Homes focuses on those with a steampunk sense of flair.

Jeff Butler is profiled this week. He's worked along side Brad McQuaid on both EverQuest when it was just starting out, as well as Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. A great thing about seeing Jeff Butler work on Landmark and EQNext is that he has been a part of Norrath as long as Norrath has been anything.

The previous ebooks reviewed in the Lore Review were fairly short and quick reads. Mage of the Tier'Dal, however, is sixty pages, which is quite more substantial than the books leading up to it. Once again, please take note that these reviews do contain massive spoilers! Tread cautiously if you have not read these yet, but plan to. If you like spoilers, or have already consumed the ebooks, dive in on the analysis and discussion!

Not everything at EQ Hammer is about the new games in the franchise or the original they are based on. EverQuest II is still quite active and highly enjoyable. Here's a recap for July's Insider, which announces June's contests winners and has a transcription for the Q&A.

So many ideas as to what happened to Dave's ankle, that will unfortunately end in surgery. There's something about a runaway shoe, but broken ankles suck and getting them on vacation really sucks. We hope Dave a speedy recovery! In other news, the 10th's patch added in much anticipated keybinding (seriously, hooray) and then there's a Q&A, answering questions about water and underwater biomes. Next week, water as a building material!

This week our wise druid answers an often asked question spoken by Norrathians: where is the EQNext news already? Since last year's SOE Live, where we first saw EverQuest Next, we got all excited. Landmark alpha came out and we dove in. Some of us stayed, some left. We're constantly getting new and exciting news for Landmark, but we're all wondering about Next. We know that we'll hear more at this year's SOE Live, but some folks are tired of all the hush-hush and Landmark-only news. The one thing that's often ignored of looked over, however, is that all Landmark systems are being tested and will, in one way or another, be part of Next. To some degree, all Landmark news is Next news, even if it just says Landmark. Personally, I have big hopes for what next month will bring and can't wait to see what's in store!

In Part Five of the Game That Shaped the Genre, Team Hammer shifts their focus from the original EverQuest and arrives at Next. They look at the game's influences, how they're pulling from outside of the general MMORPG genre, the reasoning for going certain routes, and how the team hopes SOE will pull this all together to not just be a successful MMO, but hopefully a game that will be long-lasting, fun, and break out of the stagnation the genre is currently facing. I like run-on sentences.

Getting around in Landmark isn't difficult, but there are a few things to learn, especially the terminology. Those of us who have been following the game since last year's SOE Live have a good grasp on things most of the time (I feel like I'm constantly learning so much about the game daily), but it could be overwhelming for Landmark and genre newbs. Shayalyn is here to help.

eSportsMax

EthanKairos continues his preview to TI4, this time highlighting teams and players from Southeast Asia.

Super Week for NA LCS is on its way with day two. Team Dignitas beat Team SoloMid, Evil Geniuses lose to compLexity, Team Curse wins against LMQ, Team SoloMid returns to beat Evil Geniuses, Team Curse also wins against Cloud 9 HyperX, and Counter Logic Gaming loses to LMQ. This puts Team Dignitas at number one for Season Standings, with Counter Logic Gaming at a very close second.

NA LCS Super Week ends with a 4-way tie at the top. Team Curse beat Counter Logic Gaming, compLexity won over Team Dignitas, Evil Geniuses lost to LMQ, compLexity then fell to Team SoloMid, and Team Dignitas also lost to Cloud 9 HyperX. Counter Logic Gaming, LMQ, Team Dignitas and Team SoloMid are all currently holding first place.

Preview #4 for TI4 is for Europe, which has five teams entering the tournament.

Week 7 in NA LCS was Super Week, where some notable players reached personal career milestones. eSportsMax has a video recount of the week.

Finally, EthanKairos makes one final stop in this series previewing TI4, where China teams and players are highlighted.

EVO 2014 is this weekend and eSportsMax lets you know who to keep an eye on for Ultra Street Fighter IV tournaments through profiling their top five players for underdog picks.

Highlight's from Hearthstone-based Gentlemen's Cup Week 8. We saw wins from Ek0p, Gnimsh, Kilento, StrifeCro, Cipher, Neirea, Portex, and Spo – and that's just Day 1! Cloud 9 came out on top for Final Standings with a 4-0 over MYM.

Jeremy Waxman interviews Cop from Team Curse's League of Legends team, their AD Carry. Team Curse performed well over Super Week and Waxman had the chance to interview Cop after their team went 3-1.

It shouldn't come as any surprise that there are fantasy leagues within the esports realm. Like any fantasy league, having a successful fantasy team takes time to learn how to beat your opponents and win the season. Here is an in-depth analysis on creating a winning team.

Week 8 of EU LCS left us watching SK Gaming fall to defeat against ROCCAT, Copenhagen Wolves beat Gambit Gaming, Fnatic wins against Supa Hot Crew, and Alliance loses to Millenium. Alliance is still first in Season Standings, with Fnatic and SK Gaming holding a very close second and third.

The International 2014, Dota 2's annual championship, is well underway and EthanKairos gives us a recap of the first two days.

GG Master

Not all damage is created equal in Dota 2. Knowing what the different types are and how to use them is one more step you can take towards mastering this MOBA.

As Hearthstone's meta game changes, so does deck popularity. As the Ramp Druid build is now considered too slow of a build for playing, other Druid builds are taking its place. Druid decks remain popular among some circles, since Druid decks can provide easy wins, but only after they've been mastered. Personally, I just have a Druid bias for every game I play.

Since being successful at StarCraft II requires that you are good at multitasking within the game, as you need to watch over several areas, rather than focus on any one front. Using the Terran Banshee as your opener can choke your enemy's economy. This guide provides a full strategy, including macros.

This is a brief overview for the five different rarity types of cards in Hearthstone, along with how they are obtained.

Through playing League of Legends matches, you earn influence points, which you can then spend in the store. This is different from the in-match vendor where you buy things as you level up and progress through a game. This store is where you can spend your points to unlock new champions, buy different skins and rune pages. Certain items can also be obtained using Riot Points, which is a currency bought with real life money. Learn more about what's in the store, which currency buys what and everything in between.

Guild Wars 2 Hub

Nomad's armor came with Season 2, which has a large list of materials needed. Since the materials rely too much on RNG from achievement chests, obtaining a full set will take time and the stats aren't very useful for current content. Lee B. asks why exactly does it exist, then?

The second episode of Living World Season Two, Entanglement, is right around the corner. What will it bring and what was Scarlet doing in Dry Top anyway? Lee B. looks at everything we know so far and makes some educated guesses as to what to expect come next Tuesday when we see Entanglement go live.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EverQuest Next Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 18, 2016

About The Author

Vendolyn's been playing MMOs since 1999, although Vendolyn in-game often becomes a long-term shelved alt. When she's not gaming, she's likely marathoning some questionable TV show or babbling about music to no end. She really likes goats.

Comments

Related Content