What's going on these days across the TTH Network? Well, EQ Hammer is ramping up for SOE Live, the folks over at eSportsMax traveled all over the place to cover quite a few major tournaments, GG Master has a couple of new, neat guides (dug learning about the LoL meta game), and Guild Wars 2 Hub has a few new goodies to go with Season 2 Episode 2. Don't forget that discussions continue over at Elitist Jerks, which has been WildStar and DBM focused these days. New editorials and guides for World of Warcraft are now on the main TTH site now – be sure you're in the loop!

EQ Hammer

Lewis B examines the history of melee versus ranged in MMORPGs, developer reaction to melee plight, poor player skill, and how it could be applied to EverQuest Next. This article is based on an interesting thread Lewis read on Reddit, which stems from another source that is a history of melee and ranged.

In this week's episode of Landmark's Extreme Homes, Shayalyn explores churches and cathedrals across Landmark's Norrath. In her column on TTH this week, she mentioned finding a player-crafted dungeon ready for when the game becomes populated with NPCs, which we get to tour in this week's video.

This week's SOE Developer Profile highlights the career of one of my personally favorite devs, Rosie Rappaport. Rappaport has been working in the gaming industry since the mid 90s and worked on my very first MMO: EverQuest. I've always loved the amount of attention and care she's put into her work, which this profile shows.

In case you missed the big to-do, Landmark now has water as a building material! I'm so stoked. I was suffering the DNS issues from sonyonline.net lapsing, but I finally have Landmark patched up and reloaded on my new, clean install of Windows, and I'm ready to go hot tubbin (er, finish building my bathing pool in my intricate cave system). There are also recaps on the DNS issue, what didn't make it into this week's patch and much more!

This week's EQII Insider had a lot of sneak peeks in regards to SOE Live and Fil took screencaps of some really cool stuff, including a 66-slot bag (!!!!!!). During Tinker Fest, players can purchase the prestige-level home, the Tinker's Isle. It looks really sweet and there are a ton of screen caps included in this week's highlights. Go have a look!

As we arrive at the sixth installment for Veluux's Lore Review, hopefully I don't need to warn y'all about spoilers inside. But, just in case it's necessary, AMG SPOILERS Y'ALL! If you're up-to-date with the story or you're down with spoilers, head on over to see what Veluux has to say about Part 1 of the Arch Mage.

We haven't heard much about EverQuest Next since last year's SOE Live. This year's is right around the corner (like, less than a month away), so what should we expect? Shayalyn in this week's Ask The Druid makes some really good educated guesses as to what we can expect from the devs.

On this week's The Game That Shaped the Genre, the team explores what failure from EverQuest Next could mean for MMOs and SOE. It's risky launching an MMO on this scale that isn't themeparked based. Shayalyn also explores the many meanings of what failure could mean.

eSportsMax

Red Bull Battlegrounds Atlanta should serve as a prime example to the International eSports Federation that women do not need segregation from the male population when it comes to competitive gaming. While Livibee might be the only woman who entered the RBBG, she excelled at it. This had nothing to do with her lady parts, but just the fact that she's good at competitive gaming.

Week 8 for EU LCS. Alliance loses to ROCCAT, Gambit Gaming loses to Supa Hot Crew, Copenhagen Wolves beat Millenium, and Fnatic wins against SK Gaming. Alliance is still at the top for Season Standings, but now Fnatic is closing in.

Often, when reading about esports, you don't always get to see what's going on behind the scenes or the story of how someone got to where they are and where they want to go. This article is more about Sheikh and a personal journey than the Red Bull tournament, but a fascinating read nonetheless. As someone who's not that into the whole esports thing, I really enjoyed reading this. Nice STAR WARS shirt, but mine might be cooler.

EVO 2014 has a lot of goodies to go with it. We have a few interviews, a nice image gallery to go with the tournament. I highly recommend viewing the gallery in full at eSportsMax. It's pretty great and shows off an aspect of gaming that is often ignored or forgotten: the humanity behind it. Also, stuffed llamas. Due to the sheer amount of EVO coverage, not all of it will be highlighted in today's report. Go look at cool pictures at eSportsMax! DOOOO ITTTTT!!

Coverage turns back to the NA side of LCS things, which is also in Week 8. Team Curse lost to compLexity (click article link for awesome Simpson's graphic, okay?), Cloud 9 HyperX beat Evil Geniuses, Team SoloMid (my personal favorite, based on name alone) lost to Counter Logic Gaming, and Team Dignitas was beaten by LMQ. LMQ and Counter Logic Gaming are currently tied for first in Season Standings.

Coverage for Red Bull Battlegrounds continues with a Day 2 recap with tips on who to keep an eye on and must sees, an interview with Polt, an interview with RuFF on his unorthodox style, and much more!

TI4 transitions from Phase 2 to Phase 3 of playoffs. During this time, the current world champions, Alliance, become eliminated. EthanKairos covers the highlights from these phases and the transition between.

If you follow esports, you're likely already following everything LCS related. However, when it comes to fantasy teams, just following the news and stats isn't always enough. Here is an in-depth analysis covering not just LCS, but how it applies to your fantasy league.

EU LCS transitions over to Week 9, with Alliance and Fnatic continuing to hold strong. Supa Hot Crew beat ROCCAT, Gambit Gaming fell to Alliance, Fnatic wins against Copenhagen Wolves, and SK Gaming lost to Millenium. Alliance remains in first, but now has a ton of pressure from Fnatic in the second place slot.

GG Master

In Dota 2, the game allows you to look at builds others have created and pull them up for reference during a game. There is also a built-in builder so you can make your own hero builds to use. This guide walks you through creating hero builds in Dota 2.

A big part of Hearthstone comes from the crafting side of the game. Crafting is one of the ways you can obtain cards, including those elusive rares. Arcane Dust is the crafting component needed to make cards, and the more rare they are, they more they need. The same goes with disenchanting cards. Legendaries will give you more Arcane Dust than commons. Learn all about crafting and disenchanting here!

The Summoner is kind of like the meta game in League of Legends. Everyone's a summoner and summoners well, summon champions. While you're playing your game and leveling up your champ each time, in the meta, you're also leveling up your summoner. As your summoner levels, you gain access to different unlocks. This guide walks you through what to expect and how to maximize your abilities.

Guild Wars 2 Hub

Now that Episode 2 of Season 2 is in the game, a new area in Dry Top is available to players, Uplands. In here, you'll come across these coins. There are thirty in total for the achievement, and a few little things (keeping an active speed boost, for example) will make working through this achievement a far more enjoyable experience than just hoping for dumb luck to get you through finding all of these coins. Included among the tips and images is also a video walkthrough from Guild Wars 2 Hub.

This guide isn't new, but it's now updated to include all of the achievements to date, including what was added in with Episode 2.


We have an extra special MS Painting this week, one brought to you by Ten Ton Hammer's very own Kevin Christopher. Want to have your MS Painting hung on the proverbial wall at Ten Ton Hammer? You know by now that I love me some MS Paint! Send me your drawings to patsy[at]tentonhammer[dot]com and we can show off our awesome community talent! Please make sure they're appropriate, eh? If they're game-specific, they might be held on to until there's news for that game. Thanks for reading ^__^


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our League of Legends Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 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.

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