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The Pulse

First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Hammer Pulse (What is Pulse?). Powered by the Ralsu's latest Top Ten Free-to-Play Games List, F2Ps are surging. Here are the daily rankings:

  1. World of Warcraft
  2. Runes of Magic
  3. Atlantica Online
  4. Warhammer Online
  5. Age of Conan

Here are the biggest movers in the Top 20 this month:

  1. Star Trek Online (UP 33! to number 15)
  2. Runes of Magic (UP 9 to number 6)
  3. Magic World Online (UP 6 to number 13)

Loading... Daily

Loading... starting the party early.

If you missed Loading... Live in Voon last night with Coyote and RadarX, you missed out on a good time. We'll have the podcast available on Friday, and be sure to tune in for next Tuesday's Loading... Live.

Now, it's that special day when the Loading... writer swirls the tea leaves and makes some mostly baseless predictions about MMORPGs in the year to come. All in all, predictions are sunny if mild, with a chance of Free-to-Play:

  • 2009 will be known as the year of the gamepad MMO (Champions Online, DC Universe Online, Jumpgate Evolution), just as 2008 was known as the year of the PvP-focused MMO.
  • Free-to-play MMOs of the pay-to-advance variety will continue to gobble up market share but, as with subscription MMOs, we'll see a handful of quality picks continue to emerge with a train of concept clones in-tow.
  • The focus of BlizzCon 2009 will be an MMORPG other than WoW, though the coming WoW expansion will figure prominently. Neither will be released in 2009.
  • SOE will take at least one more castaway top-tier MMORPG into its merry ship's crew. EverQuest 2 will surge when SOE learns lessons from Blizzard's latest expansion like Recruit-a-Friend and extremely rapid advancement to endgame. The Agency will surprise many, and DC Universe has win written all over it.
  • Aion: The Tower of Eternity will release in North America, temporarily shoring up NCSoft's prospects on this side of the Pacific.
  • CCP's all-in investment in accessibility for the EVE Online March 2009 retail expansion will see those peak CCU numbers skyrocketing, paving the way for an appeal to slightly different type of gamer with Walking in Stations in the fall.
  • The Age of Conan expansion will do little to dissuade gamers who've heard "the first 20 levels are great, then..." line once too often, but the AoC, WAR, and LotRO playerbases will grow as all post-release MMOS must grow - slowly.
  • The Chronicles of Spellborn will be another immediate candidate for the best game no one has heard of, at least in North America. The marketing presence just isn't there.
  • The end of 2009 will come and go, and we'll still not see Darkfall released in North America, much to the shagrin of its vocal and rabidly hardcore fanbase.

What are your predictions for MMO gaming in 2009? Share them in the Loading... forum, or as always feel free to email me directly.

Have a very happy and safe New Year's celebration! Loading... will return on Friday.


Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day


From our WAR: General Discussion Forum

Recruit-a-Friend (Trial Key) Requests

Apparently
some folks who haven't yet had a chance to try Warhammer Online got
wind of Mythic's Recruit-a-Friend program and are out scouting for
trial keys. While we discourage random begging for keys, we do offer to
put up official threads for key request. That's exactly what today's thread is all about.

If
you've been waiting to give Warhammer Online a whirl, now's the time to
head over to our forums and request a key. (Keep in mind that, although
we have a generous community, success is not guaranteed.) There are
just a couple of caveats. First, any posts containing private
information such as email addresses will be deleted, so we ask that you
connect with others in the thread via private message. Second, you'll
need at least 5 posts before you can send private messages. (This is a
tool to discourage gold sellers and spammers.) So, it's time to come
out of lurker status--post your five posts and then head over and request a trial key.


=================================

Awesome Quote from the
Epic Thread
:


Sorry, no quotes for joo! This is a utilitarian thread.


=================================



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

7 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 184 in December! 3158 in 2008!

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

Reviews

Op/Eds

Community

Guides

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

  1. EverQuest 2: The Shadow Odyssey
  2. Ten Ton Hammer's Comprehensive Look at News from 2008 - Part 1
  3. The Plague of Patches
  4. The MMO Industry's Dark Horses of 2008
  5. Warhammer Online: The Wild Ride of 2008
  6. Warrior Epic: Whispers of Hope
  7. What drives 11.5 million players to World of Warcraft?
  8. Consoles and the MMOG Industry
  9. World of Warcraft: A Year in Review
  10. Appealing to the Gamer - NHN USA's Philip Yun

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 World of Warcraft 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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