World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Welcome to the 928th Edition of Loading...

If you aren't reading this in your e-mail, you could be. Sign up. Are you looking for gaming news? Look no further for all of the headlines. General industry news, right down to game specific and forum thread feeds are all yours as part of Ten Ton Hammer's news syndication program. Enjoy!

Daily Column

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First, at Ten Ton Hammer, you vote on your favorite games with what you view. The outcome is The Pulse. Today saw a huge jump for Lord of the Rings Online (Cody Bye's Mines of Moria preview and Balrog video were extremely well received). On the strength of our Otherland preview and video, this newly announced game also broke the top ten for the first time.

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

1. Warhammer Online - 200 BPM
2. World of Warcraft - 170 BPM
3. Lord of the Rings Online - 125 BPM
4. Age of Conan - 50 BPM
5. Atlantica - 16 BPM
6. Tabula Rasa - 15 BPM
7. Otherland - 11 BPM
8. EVE Online - 10 BPM
8. EverQuest 2 - 10 BPM
9. Dungeon Runners - 10 BPM

Hugh Heffner responded to yesterday's real world news bit - Playboy Empire facing possible bankruptcy - in surprising fashion. Yesterday, NCSoft announced that Playboy Cyber Girl of the Year Jo Garcia's digitized DNA would escape to outer space in Richard Garriott's Noah's Ark of entertainers, Operation Immortality.

When I saw the headline, "Tabula Rasa Adds Playboy to Op. Immortality", I have to admit I was a little disappointed that it wasn't the Heff himself. I can't shake this suspicion that hostile aliens are going to find this DNA and send a clone army, and if it absolutely has to happen that way, how funny would it be to be subjugated by evil clones of Hugh Heffner, along with the Stephens Colbert and Hawking.

NCSoft also announced that you can watch Richard Garriott a.k.a. Major Tom fly into space in the wee hours of October 12th. Check ignition and may God's love be with you, Richard Garriott.

In a delicious ruling for all real fans of the MMORPG category, MDY (makers of Glider, third parrt play-automating "botting" software) was ordered to pay significant damages ($6 million) for violating WoW's license. Six mil is nothing to Blizzard, but its roughly 3 times the revenue MDY has made off of Glider to-date. The not-so-puny punitive component of the damages should be a clear warning that creating and selling botting software is a bad idea.

Also in WoW news, Ten Ton Hammer's Medeor was all over Blizzard's decision to implement special rules for the end of the current arena season, which in turn generated the predictable gamut of mixed blessings and pure hatred in the WoW forums. Personally I've never been a fan of the Arena system; if I want pure domination at the hand of rogues and druids, I'd go to the inner peace seminar at a local hotel and let myself be snookered into buying some cleansing agents.

You have thoughts, we have a Loading... forum. I'm still anxious to know how you like the new format, so if you're receiving this newsletter via email, please take a moment to tell us what you think. Please email me if you're forum adverse.

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Ten Ton Hammer Epic Thread of the Day

Sometimes they're funny; sometimes they're foolish; sometimes they're flaming; sometimes they're cool. Whatever this one happens to be, it's our Epic Thread of the Day.

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From our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer Forum

Why are studios giving crafters the bird?

BigHud started this thread to release his frustration as a stymied crafter. He claims that the two latest major releases in the MMO gaming industry, AoC and WAR, failed to deliver a solid crafting system. Do you agree?

Awesome Quote from the Epic Thread:

"It's too hard for them to create a real playable world. Its a lot easier to make simple games with 2 dimensional characters that just run around leveling up.

The real question is when are we going to start giving MMO's the bird and stop buying them?"

- Wihtgar
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Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let us know!

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14 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 31 in October! 2527 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]

Images/Video

• Otherland: Q&A with Sr. Producer Kevin Buckner
• World of Warcraft: Lake Wintergrasp Gallery
• Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Exclusive Screenshots
• Atlantica Online: PvP Demo Video
• Atlantica Online: Open Beta Teaser

Interviews

• Jeff Lyndon: An Interview with an Ex-Gold Farm Operator
• Star Trek Online: Dev Q&A with Matt Highison
• Bigfoot Networks: The Killer NIC
• U.B. Funkeys: Industrial Designer Ethan Wood

Previews

• Otherland: The MMORPG that tries to play YOU

Guides

• Warhammer Online: Swordmaster Masteries
• Age of Conan: Barbarian Solo Feat Build
• Age of Conan: Barbarian Group Feat Build

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

1. Otherland: Q&A with Sr. Producer Kevin Buckner
2. Jeff Lyndon: An Interview with an Ex-Gold Farm Operator
3. Star Trek Online: Dev Q&A with Matt Highison
4. Bigfoot Networks: The Killer NIC
5. U.B. Funkeys: Industrial Designer Ethan Wood
6. City of Heroes: Good versus Evil Giveaway
7. Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Preview
8. World of Warcraft: Heirloom Items - WoW's New Leveling Commodity
9. Warhammer Online: First Impressions

Real World News

• Blizzard wins World of Warcraft bot payout of $6M
  The Dow closes down on the news, price of Gold expected to rise
• Dog bites lottery winner in the ass
  Claims he was in on the ticket, deserves half
• Police expecting house cat find mountain lion
  911 caller called it a 'big cat', also referred to Wall Street problems as 'a small maret correction'
• Broke Trek Mountain [Not-News Bonus Video]
  I wish I knew how to Vulcan Nerve Pinch you!

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com.

- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer Team