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Welcome to the 816th Edition of Loading...

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Daily Column

Loading... It's like the tooth-fairy, without the fairy or the tooth.

First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.

If the Top 10 isn't enough, we now show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)

Age of Conan - 200 BPM
World of Warcraft - 53 BPM
Lord of the Rings Online - 22 BPM
EverQuest 2 - 15 BPM
Lineage 2 - 15 BPM
Vanguard - 12 BPM
Warhammer Online - 11 BPM
Guild Wars - 11 BPM
EVE Online - 11 BPM
2Moons - 10 BPM

Congratulations to Acclaim and the 2Moons team for breaking into the Top 10 for the first time. More congratulations and birthday wishes to Turbine who are celebrating the one year anniversary of Lord of the Rings Online.

The last congratulations go to the Ten Ton Hammer fans who have won Age of Conan Beta Keys. If you have won already we have 100 more to hand out thanks to File Planet. Don't wait, it's first come, first served!

Katie Postma, the wundergirl behind the StarGate Worlds community stopped by yesterday and before we could scream "Jaffa Kree", she hit us with this blockbuster,

"
Yesterday, I sent invitations to CREATE a Registered Account to be considered for Stargate Worlds Beta to all the members of the official forums at SGW.com.

Today I want to extend that invitation to the SGW fans here at Ten Ton Hammer!

Head to our Registration page and sign up:

http://register.stargateworlds.com!"

Start signing on the virtual dotted line before Cheyenne's laser cannons close down the registration for good.

While I'm on the topic of cannons, Bounty Bay Online has opened a Free-To-Play server for would-be pirates that prefer a game without a monthly subscription fee.

"German publisher Frogster Interactive has just launched a free2play Bounty Bay Online server. This new alternative to the existing subscription based server will allow players to join the nautical MMOG free of charge. The game client is free to download at http://bountybayonline.com.

The new free2play server called “Mary Read” features an integrated online shop where players can buy precious ingame items such as potions, figureheads, treasure maps or level boosts. Depending on their value, the price of these items range from 3 cents upwards. The new server model for Bounty Bay Online allows players with limited playing time to achieve more - in less time. Frogster has thoroughly revamped the website to better serve the players. The website has been restructured to be more clear and easier to navigate and now includes new features such the new items shop.

The new free2play server will not affect the established subscription server. All current subscribers will be able to access Bounty Bay Online the way they are used to. Yusho will be providing regular updates for both servers and the support team will be expanded, thus raising the service standards for both servers. An FAQ for the new free2play server is available on http://www.bountybayonline.com/FAQEn."

Subscription based games going Free-To-Play isn't a new phenomena (deet, dee.... dee, dee, dee), but it isn't especially commonplace either. Axel Schmidt, the PR Manager at Frogster Intereractive was kind enough to answer a few quick questions about the decision.

Ten Ton Hammer: Why move to a F2P model?

Axel: Bounty Bay Online is already running for some time on a subscription basis in Europe. It is well established within a certain core audience particularly in Germany. Now we want to open the game for a wider audience and more casual kind of players. Therefore we made the client available for all players. Right now we launch an alternative Free2Play server model parallel to the subscription server. From now on players can choose freely whether they want to play with core gamers on the subscription server or if they would like to acquire certain special items once in a while.

As you know, subscription based MMOs have been the prevailing business model in the western hemisphere for some time. But the f2p model is slowly swapping over from Asia and more and more players appreciate the possibility to play a game free of charge with the option to purchase additional virtual content. And actually Bounty Bay Online was item based from the outset when it first started in China.

There has been a lot of noise in various message forums regarding sales of World of Warcraft, specifically whether the game is now seeing declining subscriber numbers. The NPD top ten PC software sales list for April 6-12 has your answer.

Ten Ton Hammer: What sets BBO apart from the other pirate MMOGs on the market?

Axel: Bounty Bay Online offers players a lot of possibilities. As our game does not follow the traditional “I-choose-a-class-and-have-to-stick-to-it” concept, players are much freer when it comes to what path they want to follow. So you can start being a merchant and earn some money by trading valuable goods and if you decide you want to choose a different career-path, you can become a pirate, an alchemist or a warrior or whatever you would like to become. The possibilities are almost endless.

Bounty Bay Online also is not the run-of-the-mill WOW rip-off. It rather confronts the players with a lot of interesting choices. Almost any character resembles the other and every island, harbour and instance feels unique and fresh. In BBO you do not venture in instanced zones that look-a-like, but are mostly traveling with other players and discovering new zones. So the lack of generic, boring and lonely places and decisions is probably what sets Bounty Bay Online apart from most other pirate MMOGs.

Also we do not have a traditional leveling system in BBO. You rather level your different abilities and skills, than proceeding in a more traditional sense. And your ships are like a second character. You always level up both, your character working and fighting on land and your ships roaming the seven seas.

Moreover Bounty Bay Online features a very interesting trade system based on supply and demand. Smart merchants can quickly earn a fortune using the different prices for goods all over the world. The game integrates also a very challenging PVP system. Guilds are able to take over cities and then decide upon trades and tariffs.

Ten Ton Hammer: How difficult is it to make the transition into the international market?

Axel: Bounty Bay Online features a historical world of sailors and explorers. So our goal is to bring together people from all over the world in one virtual world, which we think to be a lot of fun for all players. And we really care about our community. We have an experienced team with a great international contact networks that guarantees quick response times and regular online events and updates. To promote the game further more, we are just looking for some experienced international marketing partners.

Ten Ton Hammer: The western world is accustomed to the subscription based model. Why do you feel a F2P game can break into the market?

Axel: Paying a monthly fee can be rather tiresome. Imagine, you go on holiday or you simply do not have the time to play! Usually players had to either freeze their subscription (which not all MMOs offer) or they have to continue paying. So you always have the feeling in the back of your head that you are paying for something that you are currently unable to use. We strongly believe that a MMO should be fun and not become an obligation.

And therefore the Free2Play concept is already becoming more and more popular. And that’s not surprising. For the players it is a huge advantage. You can play the game as long as you like for free and if you want to progress faster or need a certain item, you can always purchase it in the item shop. That’s especially interesting for people that work a lot but still want to achieve some success in the game. With Free2Play, they have the option to stay on the same level as their mates who might have more time on their hands.

And from a business perspective, the subscription model limits the number of potential players unnecessarily. A fair, Free2Play model where the player definitely can play without any regular charge, but has the possibility to boost his gameplay experience with items that can be bought in the item shop from a few cents upwards has no limitation at all. With its low requirements for entry, the Free2Play model leads to a more active user base and with the growing crowd on the servers to a greater gameplay experience.

Therefore we see the market moving into the Free2Play system all over the world. Publishers will learn that Free2Play comes with a lot of opportunities for everybody. We are pretty sure that there will only be a handful of games based on the subscription model in a few years.

At our recent MMOG developers panel at Comic Con New York, other developers echoed this same sentiment. We wish the Bounty Bay Online team all the best with the launch!

One title that is unlikely to ever be a free-to-play game is World of Warcraft. The never ending stream of verbal diarrhea regarding the impending demise of World of Warcraft can now end.

" 1. Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition - Ubisoft
2. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Vivendi
3. Sins Of A Solar Empire - Stardock
4. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision
5. The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts
6. World Of Warcraft - Vivendi
7. The Sims 2 Deluxe - Electronic Arts
8. Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts
9. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi
10. Portal - Electronic Arts"

WoW only holds down three of the top 10 spots. It's obviously in decline.

I rambled, now it's your turn. The The Loading... forums await you. Do you feel the need to contact me personally with naughty pictures or derogatory comments? Here's my E-mail.

13 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 230 in April! 982 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Ten Ton Hammer @ NY ComicCon 08

Interviews

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Bringing teh Funnay

Coyote Sharptongue: At the Bosom of the World's End

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Contests

Age of Conan: 100 Chances for a Beta Key!

Polls

Vanguard: Party of Conformity - Defensive Fighters

Guides

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to

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Proves that movie direction can be hobbit-forming

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com. Thanks to Phil Comeau for doing the heavy lifting with the links, headlines and taglines!

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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