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Posted Mon, May 11, 2009 by Ethec

Welcome to the 1,076th Edition of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Ten Ton Hammer spent the weekend at Baltimore Games Day 2009, and we have a wealth of fresh Warhammer Online and Ultima Online expansion information that we'll be rolling out over the course of this week. Warhammer Online is channeling Indiana Jones, The Mummy, Zelda, and the greatest RvR expansion of all time for their summer expansion Land of the Dead, our initial impressions of the WAR expansion, plus a brand new Aion Templar class interview and much more can be found in Loading... Player vs. Environment!

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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 for today:

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 today :

Jumpgate Evolution (UP 3 to #17)
City of Heroes (UP 2 to #13)
Free Realms (down 2 to #16)

Loading... Daily

Our first Aion class interview on the Gladiator was received very well by the community, and I wanted to point out that the Ten Ton Hammer Q&A on the Gladiator's heavy tank cousin, the Templar, is out today. But while Cody was talking Aion with NCSoft, Ten Ton Hammer's Garrett Fuller, Joe Iuliani, and myself spent the weekend just a short drive away at Games Workshop's Baltimore Games Day 2009. After taking in a Baltimore Orioles game where the scandalous figure of Alex Rodriguez shocked and silenced a booing crowd with what turned out to be a game-winning 3-run homer on his first pitch back from rehab, Mythic Entertainment had one incredible act to follow. And they did. We learned a lot about the first (and free) expansion for Warhammer Online coming early this summer: Land of the Dead.

We'll be previewing all the good stuff that makes this expansion unique (and it is truly an expansion in size and scale, not just a content patch) in a series of articles and videos all this week. Suffice it to say that Mythic hoped to channel the many addicting qualities and frantic RvR nature of Dark Age of Camelot's Darkness Falls expansion, and they seem to have done it with the level 26 and up Land of the Dead, culminating in the Tomb of the Vulture Lord.

The public quests and dungeons were also clerly inspired by Indiana Jones - for example, instead of a rolling stone chasing you through a temple, your group might be pursued by a horde of locusts, complete with Army of Darkness skeletons reaching out of the ground to stop your frantic flight (in a quick nod to Left4Dead, a nearby teammate can easily free you from the skellies). You'll also see the influence of any number of mummy movies (accursed treasuries where you have to grab all you can before the Bone Lord awakes, elaborate and instantly deadly traps, and a terra cotta army that has to be seen to be believed), and the jump puzzles call to mind platformers like Zelda. On top of all that, the opposing faction can choose to "purge" the instance, effectively attacking you from behind as you forge ahead to take out the boss mobs before they can take you out and win the spoils for themselves. The good news: you can flip all the traps you overcame against them to hopefully thin their numbers.

Possibly the best part of this expansion is that it's not just for level cap players. Anyone level 26 and up will be access LotD through the flight masters, get boosted to level 36, and start tackling the PQs (a complete set of sigils earned by completing the PQs keys you to access Tomb of the Vulture Lord, and you'll keep that key until you defeat the boss). It would be wise to use the many PQs of Land of the Dead as powerlevelling content for those reasons, In any case. it's great to see an MMORPG let under-cap players get in touch with their RPG roots by exposing them to the tactics associated with an incredible level of environmental dangers and traps, as well as some pretty excellent mob AI and boss scripting too. The expansion also seemed very stable - the only hiccup being when yours truly accidentally kicked off the power strip for the entire demo cluster. Sometimes the size 13s have a mind of their own, what can I say?

We'll have a number of feature articles and videos this week to show you how it all ties together and what might be enough to pull you and your realmmates away from the tiers to vie for control of Land of the Dead, but for now I'm just going to tease you with screenshots and concept art plus a LotD video trailer that will rock your skeletal undead socks.

What would you want to see from a Warhammer Online expansion? Does LotD have promise for you? Comments welcome in the Loading... forum or send me an email!

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our /OOC (Off-Topic) forum

The New Star Trek

I went to see Star Trek on Friday. I suspected it would be good, but I have to say I was blown away by just how good it was. This movie rocked, and it is far and away my favorite Trek film. (And this coming from me, the woman whose crush on Jean Luc Picard probably verges on unhealthy.)

I'm a hardcore Trekker, but I'm not quite a purist. I didn't mind the things in the movie that didn't stay true to its lore (especially because the reason for the deviations made sense). The video kitsunegirl posted in today's Epic Thread expresses a concern (albeit humorously) that Trek fans might not like a movie that doesn't quite stick to the tried and true formula. Fortunately, the early buzz seems positive.

Have you seen Star Trek, and do you agree that it's a killer flick? What do you think of the casting? Can a movie that isn't 100% faithful to Star Trek lore bring new life to the franchise, or will it frustrate hardcore fans? Lock coordinates and transport yourself over to our version of Ten Forward to talk about it.

==============================
Awesome Quote from the Epic Thread

"This movie felt like Star Trek. It didn't feel like politically correct Next Generation garbage. It felt like the OG Star Trek and I completely enjoyed it."

- Wihtgar
==============================

8 new and original MMORPG articles today! 32 in May! 559 in 2009!

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

Aion: Class Interview #2 - The Templar
Without a doubt, boasting a set of extreme-looking armor is one of the coolest elements of any fantasy MMO. Many of those "Whoa" moments come when a player first observes a special type of in-game armor. Out of all the classes in Aion, the melee-based Templar sports the best armor in the game, and according to the NCsoft devs makes them look like "metal gods." In our second exclusive Aion class interview, it seemed appropriate to talk about the Gladiator's more heavily armored brethren, so the Ten Ton Hammer staff quizzed the Aion team about the Templars. The answers we received were excellent. Armor, abilities, lore and more subjects were all explored, so make sure you check it out!
Warhammer Online: Land of the Dead Trailer
We're on the cusp of public testing for Warhammer Online's first expansion, Land of the Dead, and while WoW's Wrath of the Lich King has its Arthas, Land of the Dead has a similarly megalomaniacal arch-fiend, King Amenhen... something. We'll just call him the Vulture King, leader of the newest army to grace Warhammer Online (the Tomb Kings). Rest assured that he's just as ferocious as the pronunciation of his name, and this new video proves it!
Warhammer Online: Baltimore Games Day Image Gallery
Baltimore Games Day 2009 is in the books, but our Warhammer Online and Ultima Online coverage from the event is just kicking off! First up: dozens of excellent screens and concept art from WAR's premier upcoming expansion: Land of the Dead - and Ultima Online's eighth expansion, Stygian Abyss. This is just the tip of the iceberg of Ten Ton Hammer's Baltimore Games Day coverage, so check the portal early and often!
Warrior Epic: Closed Beta Giveaway
Ten Ton Hammer has teamed with True Games Interactive to bring readers the Warrior Epic Closed Beta Giveaway. 500 Ten Ton Hammer readers will be added to the Warrior Epic closed beta on a first come, first served basis. Premium Members get 48 hours head start!
geeked: Pass the Torch, George
Ten Ton Hammer's very own satirical webcomic on all things geek-related is preparing a battle of two of Nerdom's biggest forces. Trek versus Wars. Kirk versus Skywalker. Or better yet, Abrams versus Lucas. Within today's strip, you'll find out who Bill's rooting for. Be sure to catch up on any issues of Geeked you've missed by visiting our Comics Portal. Don't forget to rate your favorites while you're at it!
World of Warcraft: Updated Mage Talents
Staying up to date with talents in World of Warcraft is vital. Every time a new patch comes around everything is thrown around like when you stir a bowl of alphabet soup. David "Xerin" Piner has refreshed our Mage talent guide to give you the latest builds and tips for Mage talents. Come check out our other class guides which all have gotten the latest treatment this patch.
World of Warcraft: Warrior Tanking Glyphs and Rotations
With the basis for being a solid tank at level 80 now clear to you from a gear standpoint, it's time to get down to the what separates the men from the boys, or the night elves from the dwarves. Actually, that analogy doesn't work at all in this game... but you know what I mean. In our first in depth article to tanking as a raiding Warrior in World of Warcraft, we analyze what glyphs are worth your gold and what attacks should be done in what order to make the most of our threat generation.
World of Warcraft: Death Knight Guide Update for Patch 3.1
The talents and abilities for Death Knights changed with Patch 3.1. To keep up to date many of the pages of our Death Knight Guide have been refreshed.

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

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