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The Pulse

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

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:

  1. World of Warcraft
  2. Warhammer Online
  3. Age of Conan
  4. Lord of the Rings Online
  5. Tabula Rasa

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 today :

  1. EverQuest (UP 12 to #19)
  2. Aion (UP 6 to #7)
  3. Ultima Online (UP 5 to #14)

Loading... Daily

Loading... because 1,000 Loadings wasn't nearly enough.

While we were busy with the thousandth Loading festivities (eating cake), here's some of the biggest news that popped this week around the MMORPG nation:

  • Congratulations are in order for Flying Lab Software as Pirates of the Burning Sea turned one year old yesterday, offering players a special anniversary coat and a special live event to help celebrate. FLS noted that the game has had "11 feature and content updates, which have included a major overhaul to our Avatar Combat system, new epic group missions for high level players, new Pirate careers, numerous art and UI updates, and much, much more." FLS continues to prove that a small-budget studio with a solid, new concept can make a quality MMO, and everyone interested in the future of MMO gaming should be thankful, whether or not slower-paced sea combat is your thing.
  • Game Director Craig Morrison remains upbeat on Age of Conan's prospects, saying that the X360 version and an expansion to the game are still in the works. Morrison cites EVE Online's explosive growth in North America long after the game was released, but unless Funcom has plans to market AoC in a major untapped region up its sleevies (CCP bought back EVE's publishing rights and in many ways pioneered digital distribution in early 2004 with great success), the metaphor might have to be sacrificed on the tree of woe.
  • Following the host of changes patch 3.0.8 brought earlier this week, US WoW servers were brought down for emergency maintenance this morning. Things should be back up for the weekend by the time you receive this newsletter.
  • FusionFall reportedly had 1.5 million signups in its first weekend. No official confirmation yet, but in any case the number figures to be frickin' huge.
  • Details continue to emerge on LotRO's upcoming Book 7 patch, which looks to substantially affect Monster Play especially for the Creeps.
  • Earlier this week, John Smedley announced that SOE had acquired Octopi, makers of the browser-based collectible card game PoxNora. Along with such SOE Denver projects as Legends of Norrath, Stargate Online Trading Card Game, Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, and the newly announced Free Realms Trading Card Game, you might say that SOE is going after the TCG niche in a big way. Hopefully in-development MMOs like The Agency and DC Universe Online won't suffer from the apparent shift in corporate focus.
  • In the not-quite-yet news department, rumors are swirling about two new classes in Warhammer Online, and those close to the source told us that the official word is coming very, very soon. How's that for a tease?

As always, have your say in the Loading... forum, or fill my inbox with comments and naughty pics.


Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer Forum

Anyone else think that WoW is running its course?

Sure,
it's got approximately 11.5 subscribers, but all good things must come
to an end, right? Eventually, WoW will fade into our collective
memories as the once-great MMOG that brought so many gamers to Azeroth.
Wihtgar wants to know if that time is approaching sooner rather than
later. "I don't know about you guys," he says, "but I found Wotlk
to be dull as hell.
I got to 80 quick enough, but just couldn't get into it. After I
leveled up, the instances and terrain just didn't do anything for me.
It
just didn't hold my attention the way the last 2 xpacs did, and I
quickly quit playing again."

Is WoW beginning to fade? Did
WotLK leave you cold? Or is Wihtgar out of his mind? After all, 11.5
subscribers seem to think WoW is still worth $15 per month. Head over to this thread to have your say.

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

Awesome Quote from the
Epic Thread
:


"I don't think anyone here is
trying to say that WoW is not a good game. The general discussion is
simply - has WoW gone as far as it can go in terms of success,
subscriptions and content fun/quality?



Naturally, WoW is not going to 'end' or 'close-shop' anytime soon.
However I seriously believe the cap is at or near its subscription peak
and the formula they use is starting to get stale
."

- Barbarious

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



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


4 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 96 in January! 96 in 2009!

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

Op/Eds

Community

Guides

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

  1. In the Trenches: The Draw of the World of Warcraft Arena
  2. Loading... Live Episode #3: "In the year 2009..."
  3. Goob & Begud: "Out of the Bag"
  4. Age of Conan: Server Merges - Is the sky falling?
  5. Forever Fantasy: Replaying the Older Games
  6. Review of FusionFall
  7. Review of Empire of Sports
  8. Aion: Exclusive Flight and Archetype Interview
  9. Ten Ton Turnip: Issue #5 - Apple Enters MMO Market!
  10. Tabula Rasa: A Chronicle of the Rise and Fall

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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