Welcome to the 1,150th edition of Loading...
Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news, coverage, and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
For all my ranting about the rampant commercialization at BlizzCon this year, the announcement and details regarding Cataclysm, plans for Battle.net and Diablo 3, and how Blizzard artfully dodged most of the critical discussion surrounding StarCraft 2 combined for a stroke of absolute genius. If you're not still processing what happened this weekend (and it's not because of hangover, event plague, and jet lag of epic proportions), or simply don't care because WoW's not your thing, then there's a few things you should know. Catch up in Loading... Blizzard's Master Stroke!
The Pulse
You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).
Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/41"
target="_blank">World of Warcraft -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/860">Champions
Online - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254">Aion
- EverQuest
2 - Age of Conan
Biggest Movers today :
MMO Releases
- 7/13
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/109">Darkfall
NA launch - 7/21-
FFXI
"Moogle Kupo d'Etat" Addon (release date) - 8/4 -
World
of Warcraft Update 3.2 (content patch)
Important
Dates
- 8/19 -
8/23 - Gamescom
Cologne - 8/21 - 8/22
- href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blizzcon.com%2F&ei=xiVnSvL0HMKGtgfl-rGyAg&usg=AFQjCNGKwU-RZTKNzQpx97Vd3r9jBIAQRg">BlizzCon
'09 - 9/4 - 9/6
- Penny Arcade Expo
(PAX) - 9/15 -
9/18 - GDC
Austin
Releases
- 8/25
- CrimeCraft
(release date) - 9/1 -
Champions
Online (release date) - 9/9
- Dungeons
& Dragons Online Unlimited (release date) - 9/15 (NEW) -
Fallen
Earth (release date) - 9/22
- Aion
(release date) - 10/9
- Cities
XL (release date) - Early 2010
- APB
Loading... Daily
Post-BlizzCon second pot of coffee greetings to you. Even a day later we're still processing all that happened in Anaheim and I'm sure you are too. If you aren't, you might have missed some of the key points and the absolutely dramatic effect they'll have on Blizzard's games, for good or ill. Our coverage continues to roll out, so let's look at some of the bold print bullet points from this year's BlizzCon, which was anything but a snoozer like last year's BlizzCon.
First of all, it's a shame that the Cataclysm's leak blunted the groundshaking effect of the announcement somewhat. If you're takeaway was that there will be two new races - one interesting in a Wolverine kind of way, one not-so-much (except for the extremely cool goblin means of travel, rocket-belts for flight and combat and the badass race car mount) - 7 new zones for levels 78-85, and guild advancement (hurray for catching up to EverQuest 2 six years later on this feature), you missed something. Every single existing zone is changing - some in large ways (The Barrens and Desolace were cited as examples of zones that will completely change, graphics and all, with more dynamtic graphical phasing too, depending on the state of gameplay), some in small ways (all zones will be flight-enabled, for example) - and the changes aren't simply cosmetic. The leveling flow is changing profoundly too, and new race / class combos might make re-rolling that much more interesting burned out on the elder game ratrace. To put it succinctly, Blizzard is making WoW 2.0 - it's called Cataclysm.
This might not seem like a big thing to powergamers who will rush the endgame content and the rest of the game be damned, but Blizzard's smart enough to know that you can't grow the game by catering solely to the endgame crowd. That's how you maintain an MMO, that's how you make it cool and make the intervening levels meaningful, but the trickle of word-of-mouth prospectives willing to brave the same old and somewhat desolate leveling treadmill to get to the goodies is nothing compared to the massive influx WoW will get with a complete revamp. To those of us on the outside who maybe played WoW and couldn't get into it, WoW won't just continue to be someone else's game, there's a real chance to get in on something like the ground level again. And, knowing Blizzard, they'll be targetting players of other MMOs moreso this time around, since their die-hards may or may not re-roll. I'm guessing they probably will, no matter what they're saying now.
It's not all roses and exclamation points, though. If poorly done, Cataclysm could be true to its name. Look no further than NGE or Trials of Atlantic for examples of dramatic rewrites that, to many players, broke more than they fixed. If there's one developer that has a decent chance of pulling it off, though, it's Blizzard. For more on Cataclysm check out the Opening Ceremonies coverage, the preview panel video, and an in-depth article coming out in the next day or so (it takes a little time to wrap up everything we heard into one nice, neat package).
A distant second in terms of explosiveness, but fairly cool nonetheless, is Battle.net. As Medawky noted over the weekend, while signing in to play a single-player game isn't the most exciting thing in the world, it beats DRM. I'd note that the friend notifications Steam's implementation gives the evil editor Ethec evidence for who's playing Steam games when deadlines are being missed. Battle.net looks to be a much more complete integration of games and client than the Steam model as well, with cross-game chat and replays in addition to staples like achievements and matchmaking.
As Stow pointed out in his article, the ability to create a private game with your friends and fill it out with public gamers is very cool as well. I'm not as pleased about the mod marketplace - many of the Q&A sessions had at least one person that asked why a StarCraft 2 mod marketplace when commercializing World of Warcraft add-ons is so strongly discouraged. The complaint is fairly legitimate - I'd like to see add-on authors be compensated for their good work, and there's little doubt that WoW would not be as popular or accessible today without at least a dozen worthy mods - and it was fairly enjoyable to see Mike Morhaime et al squirm a bit before playing the copyright infringement and creative property card. I'd like to see a decent centralized Blizzard-run add-on marketplace for WoW, but if Blizzard had announced WoW was going down that same path we'd see some politics in action as the Curse and WoWInterface lobbies (among others) start screaming.
Is Cataclysm the best of all possible Worlds of Warcraft in the future? What's not to like? Load up on information at the Ten Ton Hammer BlizzCon 2009 coverage portal then share your thoughts in the Loading... forum while I take a nap.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day
From our WoW: Cataclysm Discussion forum
Female Worgen...
Unless
you're not a World of Warcraft fan (and probably even so), you're aware
that Blizzard announced its third WoW expansion, Cataclysm, and with it
two new races--the goblins for the horde, and the worgen for the
alliance. It's the wolf-like worgen today's epic thread focuses on,
specifically the female worgen. Our forum member, Khalus, has posted an
image of a female worgen character model, and our community seems to
agree she looks particularly cool.
Are you ready for a couple of new WoW races? Come comment on the worgen, and join us in our new Cataclysm discussion forum.
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"I think every furry out there is going to have pleasant dreams tonight!"
- Beerkeg
==============================
Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell
us!
7 new MMOG home-grown articles today, many from BlizzCon! 67 in August!
927 in
2009!
New Coverage and Guides At Ten Ton Hammer Today
BlizzCon 2009
-
Blizzcon '09 Opening Ceremonies - WoW's Cataclysm and Diablo 3's Monk Class
As we fought our way through the crowds (and admitedly found the press entrance eventually, which was MUCH faster), we made our way to the Opening Ceremonies of Blizzcon '09. To the cheers of 20,000 fans news of Diablo IIIand the upcoming WoW Expansion, Cataclysm were all announced and confirmed. -
Behind Closed Doors with Blizzard - The 2009 Blizzard Summit
Our very own Adam Stow was at Blizzard's Summit yesterday and has reported back with a ton of goodies about Diablo 3 and World of Warcraft, the inside scoop from Ghostcrawler himself, and other exclusive goodies. Did Fan of Knives deserve the nerf? What about Synergies in D3? What about Hunters? Find out all of cool juicy details in our look inside of the Blizzard Summit. -
BlizzCon 2009 - The Changing Face of Battle.net
Battle.net has become almost synonymous with multiplayer gaming. As the industry grows and evolves, it only stands to reason that the platform on which gamers coordinate and communicate evolves too. Blizzard Entertainment has recognized this, and have put full effort into redesigning and upgrading Battle.net to bring gamers to the new generation of online gaming. Adam Stow sat in on the Battle.net panel at Blizzcon this year, and is here to report some of the surprising changes that are coming. -
BlizzCon 2009 Screenshots: Diablo 3, StarCraft 2, and Cataclysm
Now for some amazing screenshots or artwork from Blizzard's main three IPs straight from Blizzcon: we've got artwork and screenshots from Diablo and WoW's latest expansion Cataclysm. We've got screenshots from StarCraft 2 and the upcoming WotLK patches. -
Blizzcon '09 Costume Contest Gallery
Ten Ton Hammer has been out and about in Anaheim, California these last few days as we continue to cover one of this year's biggest gaming events, Blizzcon '09. Our reporters have snagged a ton of pictures of the entries into this year's costume contest. We've got shots of everyone from "From Raynor, with love" to cardboard box space marines and posh elves. Why brave the lines and the heat when you can enjoy Blizzcon at home with all of Ten Ton Hammer's coverage? Stay tuned as we continue to bring you more of what you desire from Blizzcon '09. -
WoW Cataclysm Preview Panel Video from BlizzCon 2009
Hungering for more information on World of Warcraft's newest announced expansion, Cataclysm? While at Blizzcon '09, a panel of Blizzard developers went into detail about the expansion, and we caught it all on video. Find out what's in store for Azeroth in the near future with this full-length video of the Blizzcon Cataclysm panel.
More Articles:
-
Guild Wars: Rediscovering Tyria - Battle Isles Edition
The face of PvP in Guild Wars has changed quite a bit over the years. From a lower barrier of entry to a plethora of new arena options the system has grown to offer something for players of all skill levels. Continuing our series of second look editorials, Reuben “Sardu” Waters recently traveled to the beating heart of PvP in Guild Wars, the Battle Isles, offering some insights as to how the competitive aspects of the game have changed and what challenges await new or returning players.
Hottest Content:
- BlizzCon 2009 Coverage Portal
- Behind Closed Doors with Blizzard - The 2009 Blizzard Summit
- BlizzCon 2009 - The Changing Face of Battle.net
- BlizzCon '09 Opening Ceremonies - WoW's Cataclysm and Diablo 3's Monk Class
- WoW Cataclysm Preview Panel Video from BlizzCon 2009
- Guild Wars: Rediscovering Tyria - Battle Isles Edition
- BlizzCon 2009 Screenshots: Diablo 3, StarCraft 2, and Cataclysm
- Blizzcon '09 Costume Contest Gallery
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/72961">World of
Warcraft href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/72961"> - Paladin
Upgrades from Call of the Crusade -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/73023">Age of Conan
target="_blank" href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/73023">
a
Year Later - Part Three
Real World News [Thanks Phil! Find some RWN? Email it to Phil at [email protected] ]
-
Hunter charged with mistakenly killing man during monkey hunt
Profusely apologetic, the man says he’s very sorry and should be gibbon another chance. -
Cornhole Craze Keeps a Lot of Folks Busy Between Races at Speedway
What happens between consenting adults at the racetrack is none of our business. -
Westin hotel survey says people would pick good sleep over sex; Canadians the only group to favour sex over sleep
No tagline, I just wanted to point this out as a proud, sex-loving Canadian.
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.
