Warhammer Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

Welcome to the 1,102nd Edition of Loading...

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Two landmark patches went live yesterday for Warhammer Online and EverQuest 2. While both featured exciting new content and GU 52 in particular boasts a number of fixes, it was one of the small-print features from the patches that captured my imagination. A look at the patches and the iPhone 3.0 update, plus The Mittani delivers the latest good news for Goonswarm in EVE Online's Great War in this week's Sins of a Solar Spymaster and much more in today's Loading... Three Patch Day.

Coyote comes at you daily with his trademark wit and off-color wisdom in It's All Geek to Me. Today's topic: Top 5 Video Game Weapons, EVER.

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: World of Warcraft EverQuest 2 Aion Age of Conan Champions Online (UP 5!) Biggest Movers in the Top 20 in the last seven days: Torchlight (UP 48 to #18) Champions Online (UP 16 to #9) Star Wars: The Old Republic (down 9 to #11)	Recent MMO Releases 5/19 - Warrior Epic (launch date) 5/19 - Vanguard "Halls of Pantheon" (patch) 6/12 - Neo Steam (release date) 6/16 - EverQuest 2 GU 52 (patch) 6/16 - WAR 1.3 "Rise of the Tomb Kings" (patch)
	Upcoming Releases 8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date) 9/1 - Aion (release date) 9/1 - Champions Online (release date) Early 2010 - APB

Loading... Daily

Into every MMO a little patch must fall, but fortunately this week's patches have been long on content and short on nerf. Two major patches went live yesterday, WAR 1.3 "Rise of the Tomb Kings" and EverQuest 2 Game Update 52. Once WAR players build some airships and gain resource points (everyone can help), they'll unlock a flight route to the Land of the Dead for level 25 and up players, featuring 18 new level-up Public Quests that unlock a challeniging, loot-filled Tomb of theVulture King for level 40 players.

The EQ2 patch also has its share of tough yet rewarding level-cap content but also boasts some nifty extras - research assistants, a performance-boosting way to handle shadows by moving this processor-drain to the GPU (something a lot of games should be exploring), and persistent blank "user books" which you can write in and sell or trade.

Personally, out of all this goodness, the idea of user books captures my imagination the most. Not only is it blindingly simple to implement and something you could only do in an MMORPG, it's a lore-appropriate way to store and even monetize your experiences. Maybe you publish a book on a way your guild has discovered to beat a boss and make it required reading for new recruits. Or you sell a list of out of the way places to see in Norrath. If there's a way for paid duplication of your book, you could sell multiple copies, and maybe make some kind of Norrathian bestseller list. You and your guild could buy copies in bulk and artificially inflate the numbers, just like with certain other bestseller lists. Art imitating life.

Happy iPhone 3.0 day for those who are celebrating too. How sweet it will finally be to stop hearing it from the Blackberry types about the lack of a landscape keyboard, copy/paste, and MMS.

Are user books as cool as I think they are, or are players too habituated to using the Web for their mental flushings? Have your say in the Loading forum, or feel free to email me.

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Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our WoW: General Discussion Forum

Mountain Dew Game Fuel

Careful, kids! It rots your teeth.

We're talking about Mountain Dew Game Fuel in this epic thread. More specifically, we're talking about the YouTube video of the commercial (follow the link in the thread to find out why the thread's in our WoW forum and not our general gaming forum).

Has Mountain Dew done gamers justice, or just made us look bad? Chug some, then weigh in! (But run a few laps around the block first; that stuff's loaded with calories.)

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Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"I died a little inside."

- Koshira
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Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

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6 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 83 in June! 720 in 2009!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Features

• EVE Online: Sins of a Solar Spymaster #15: A History of the Second Great War, Part Two
  For players that want a chance to truly affect a game's environment, history, or future, EVE Online stands at the front of the pack of choices. Boasting tens of thousands of players online, all on the same server, EVE Online allows those willing to form massive corporations and alliances the opportunity to participate in events unseen anywhere else in the genre. This week, our resident EVE insider, The Mittani, breaks down the events leading up to and during the Second Great War for the masses.
• Ether Saga Online: Launch Update Preview
  As the successful open beta period that began on March 17th winds to a close, the developers at Perfect World Entertainment are busy preparing for the official launch of Ether Saga Online, which will coincide with a major content update due to hit the live servers in the coming weeks. In a brief interview with Producer Craig Beers we learned the details on what the newest update will add to the game, including an increased level cap, new skills and more.
• Comic: Geeked - "Makeover Time"
  Ten Ton Hammer's very own satirical webcomic on all things geek-related is back with a change in the way Bill, Adam, and Pappy look. Albeit minor, their makeover may or may not cause some controversy. At least where Pappy's concerned.

Guides

• WoW - Druid Healing After Patch 3.1
  Every patch has the ability to fill players with dread or anticipation about upcoming changes to their class. Patch 3.1 certainly did so with the Druid class. All over Azeroth cries of the restoration druids filled the air. But how did the changes made to our spells, abilities and mana regeneration actually affect us? Join us as we explore the nuts and bolts of the Druid changes and how the class came out on the other side.
• WoW - Boss Guide: Malygos
  WoW's Eye of Eternity is an Onyxia type raid dungeon, and Malygos is a 3 phase fight consisting of a semi-normal tank and spank dragon style, an add phase, and a mounted phase. This guide will tell you how to topple the leader of the Blue Dragon Flight: Malygos!
• WoW - Rogue Trinkets
  While it might be obvious when a piece of gear is better with 8 more agility, or more crit rating, or just bigger numbers, trinkets tend to throw everything you know to the wind with procs and highly variable numbers. One might have 1000 hit, and one might have 1000 crit, and one might have 1000 ap and a proc to summon Drizzt Do'urden to laugh at you for misspelling his name. In our next World of Warcraft Rogue article, Stow breaks down what trinkets are the best around for each gear level.

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

1. EVE Online: Sins of a Solar Spymaster #15: A History of the Second Great War, Part Two
2. Champions Online Power Interview #3 - Fire, Ice and Electricity
3. WoW - Boss Guide: Malygos
4. E3 2009 Portal
5. Paul Barnett Sums Up E3 2009 (video)
6. Ether Saga Online: Launch Update Preview
7. Atlantica Online State of the Game - June 2009 Q&A
8. E3 2009: The Agency "Bergerbilder Estate" Preview Video
9. Blizzcon Blitz 2009 Ticket Giveaway
10. Final Fantasy XIV at E3 2009

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Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

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