Welcome to the 957th Edition of Loading...

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The Pulse

First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is Pulse?).

  1. World of Warcraft
  2. Warhammer Online
  3. Guild Wars
  4. Guild Wars 2
  5. Age of Conan
  6. EVE Online
  7. Lord of the Rings Online
  8. Atlantica Online
  9. Lineage 2 (UP 5)
  10. EverQuest 2 (UP 1)

Daily Biggest Movers in the Top 20

  1. Tabula Rasa (down 8 to no. 17)
  2. Warrior Epic (UP 8 to no. 18)
  3. Runes of Magic (UP 6 to no. 12)

Daily Column

Loading... expansive and expanding daily.

Today marks the release of expansions for two top-tier MMORPGs. Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria and EverQuest 2: The Shadow Odyssey will hit store shelves and servers in major markets this afternoon.

While the prospect of seeing what otherworldly things have happened to Innothule Swamp in the game years since EverQuest in The Shadow Odyssey, I have to admit that I'm pretty excited to see more of Moria. Dungeon environments usually leave me feeling a little claustrophobic, but by all accounts (including our Mines of Moria preview) Turbine has done an excellent job of creating the perfect feel of faded dwarven majesty and lurking evil in Moria proper. Good zone or level design is all about balancing tension, challenge, and safety, and MoM scores high marks from everyone I've chatted with in the media. And what better reward for successfully navigating Moria than to emerge in Lothlorien? We'll have a video depicting Lady Galadriel's own little paradise up this afternoon.

One aspect of the MoM expansion that should become standard, in my opinion, among fantasy MMORPGs is Legendary Items, items that level with use, gaining abilities and even titles as you progress (Sting and Glamdring are taken, sorry folks). Some long-term attachment to your equipment fuels the imagination (something like the idea of sentient weapons which add such dynamism to D&D fiction) and is welcome in a genre where level-capped players work tirelessly to get a drop that is obsolete in next month's content patch.

Speaking of which, we have a couple legendary items of our own to give away in celebration of all the expansions this week:

Be sure to enter, it's free!

And I certainly didn't mean to short-shrift the EverQuest 2's The Shadow Odyssey expansion. I know there's plenty of EQ2 gamers out there (that yesterday's five free keys went in something like 15 minutes was a clue), so let's continue the discussion from yesterday's thread about what excites you most about TSO.

Share your thoughts in the Loading... forum or, as always, feel free to email me with your thoughts.


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.

====================
From our AoC: The Courtyard (General Discussion) Forum

How is Age of Conan now
?

Since Age of Conan launched in May, a couple of  things have transpired in the MMO gaming universe: Warhammer Online launched, followed by World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King
expansion. A new Ten Ton Hammer member, Emperor, stopped by our forums
to ask about the status of AoC. "I'm specifically wondering," Emperor
asked, "what has been improved (if it has) on the
gameplay side: class balance? New content? End game content added?"

Perhaps
you're wondering some of the same things, and trying to decide whether
venturing into Hyboria is worth your time. Or maybe you have an opinion
to voice. Stop by this thread to gain (or share) some insight, or maybe just play My Game's Better Than Your Game.

Awesome Quote from the Epic Thread:

"Truth is, there were many people on this forum that had nothing
but bad things to say about AoC, but when I tried the game out for
myself I found many of them totally baseless. On the other hand, there
are some very serious issues that still need to be addressed
."

- MireiJun
====================

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

15 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 102 in November! 2900 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Reviews

Images

Giveaways

Guides

Editorials

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

  1. WoW: Where to Adventure Guide - Northrend
  2. WoW: Violet Hold Guide
  3. World of Warcraft - Death Knight FAQ
  4. Ten Ton Hammer's Atlantica Online Review
  5. Creative Hear to Believe Giveaway
  6. Razer For Gamers. By Gamers™ Giveaway
  7. Exclusive Jumpgate Evolution Closed Beta Interview with Hermann Peterscheck
  8. WAR: Tier 3 Scenario Guide: Tor Anroc
  9. Age of Conan PvP Exploiting: The Nature of Winning
  10. WAR Editorial: Factoring in a Third Faction

Real World News


Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

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


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

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Jeff joined the Ten Ton Hammer team in 2004 covering EverQuest II, and he's had his hands on just about every PC online and multiplayer game he could since.

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