Loading... False Start

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Posted Thu, Aug 27, 2009 by Ethec

Welcome to the 1,153rd edition of Loading...

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

A few days' head start has been a popular MMO marketing tactic ever since Dungeons & Dragons Online offered the benefit in early 2006, and is a rare instance where marketing and tech objectives align. But is having a wave of your most experienced and dedicated players go through the game long before public launch players arrive the best thing for the game in the long run? We'll examine the question in today's Loading... False Start.

The Pulse

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

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:

Biggest Movers today :

DUST 514 (UP 108 to #17)
CrimeCraft (UP 18 to #16)
Runes of Magic (UP 4 to #11)

Recent MMO Releases

7/21- FFXI "Moogle Kupo d'Etat" Addon (release date)
8/4 - World of Warcraft Update 3.2 (content patch)
8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date)

Important Dates

9/4 - 9/6 - Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)
9/15 - 9/18 - GDC Austin
10/1 - 10/3 - EVE FanFest

Upcoming Releases

9/1 - Champions Online (release date)
9/9 - Dungeons & Dragons Online Unlimited (release date)
9/15 - Fallen Earth (release date)
9/22 - Aion (release date)
10/9 - Cities XL (release date)
Early 2010 - APB

Loading... Daily

At the Syndicate World Conference, SOE President John Smedley told the story of the first 11 minutes of EverQuest in 1999. EQ had 10,000 concurrent users online in the first 10 minutes (a gargantuan number for 1999, mind you), and all went smoothly until minute eleven, when everything crashed due to an overage in bandwidth demands. That the provider had sold a dedicated T1 line to SOE and 4 other businesses in the San Diego area despite only having one actual pipeline was only part of the reason. It turns out that all the work SOE had done to optimize bandwidth had worked except for one important thing - someone had forgotten to do the bits & bytes conversion, meaning that EQ was using an order of magnitude more bandwidth than was needed.

MMOs have only become more complicated since EverQuest, which designed by a 56-person studio in 3 years for an incredibly petty sum of $4.5 million (according to John Smedley in the same talk). You could build 5 EverQuests, inflation adjusted, for what Turbine is suing Atari for. In-game bandwidth demands may not have grown on the same scale as the rugged filesizes we see with more recently released MMOs. To take some of the strain off of launch day (or perhaps to use a game's most dedicated players as guinea pigs), pre-order head start programs became popular when DDO announced the initiative prior to launch in February 2006. It's one of those rare moments when the stars align for marketing and tech, so Guild Wars and just about every MMO since has followed suit. Two of the fall's biggest MMOs haven't taken exception with the practice. Aion just announced their pre-order program (2 days of character selection on Sept. 18th-19th followed by a pre-order headstart on Sept. 20th-21st), and Champions Online's headstart begins tomorrow (yup, that soon!).

I don't fault NCSoft or Cryptic for taking advantage of what's become a popular marketing gimmick, but I do want to raise the question of whether having a wave of your most diehard fans sweep through the game two days before launch is the best thing for the game. There are plenty of folks (more than you might think) that take vacation days around a game launch and power through the content, find themselves a guild, and get quite comfortable well before the walk-in public, which would benefit the most from the beta-fueled experience of the pre-order crowd, finds their way into the game. I imagine that many of the public launch folks could be swept into a more hardcore mindset if they were playing alongside the most hardcore folks. As it stands, having a pre-order wave seems only to widen the leveling gap at the most crucial point. That could have long-term consequences too, as the most hardcore - the vocal minority - clamor for more endgame content while the bulk of the playerbase is still poking their way through the vanilla game.

What do you think? Is a head start a false start or a good start for an MMO? Voice your opinion in the Loading... forum.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Champions Online General Discussion Forum

Champions Online Beta Impressions

The Champions Online beta is wrapping up in preparation for the game's launch. Ten Ton Hammer's own Mattlow, JoBildo and Sardu discussed their impressions of the game's beta, and now we bid you to do the same. Did Champions Online deliver the fun? Are you sold? Or will you wait for the next big MMO launch to come along? Tell us and give us your own thoughts on the Champions beta.

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Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"It's nice to hear the positive highlights of CO instead of the usual negativity on the forums or in some articles I've read. I think you've done a great job pointing out the innovative points of CO such as: no killing boars (although you do kill some wolves and bears in Canada, but hey they're Mutated Wolves & Bears!); instant gratification (with travel powers early, usable & useful powers early on in the game); [and a] huge amount of customization in your character's looks, powers, and weapons."

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

4 new MMOG home-grown articles today, many from BlizzCon! 78 in August! 938 in 2009!

New Coverage and Guides At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Features:

Fallen Earth Beta Key Giveaway
A little less than a week remains in the Fallen Earth open beta, so seize your chance to test out the game prior to launch with a key from Ten Ton Hammer!
Hands-On Impressions and Overview of World of Warcraft's Cataclysm
Blizzcon may be over, but the Cataclysm is still on everyone's minds. We take a look at the highlights of the newest announced World of Warcraft expansion and its possible implications on the game, and the industry as a whole. An industry first in many respects, the reshaping of World of Warcraft promises to be one of the biggest and most important expansions in MMOG history. Find out what's in store for the game, and share some thoughts as to how the game will be changed forever.
Turbine Sues Atari Over DDO, Seeks to Recover $30 Million
With Atari and Cryptic's Champions Online prepping for deployment next week, this is the worst possible news that they could hear on a relatively quiet Wednesday. Turbine is seeking to recoup $30 million in losses that Atari helped to perpetuate. For those of you that always wondered about the seeming lack of distribution efforts concerning DDO in stores around Europe, you may have your answer. The PDF explains that although Turbine took control of the North American distribution of DDO, Atari was the exclusive distributor in Europe and didn't live up to their end of the bargain.

Guides:

Champions Online Guide: Millennium City Tutorial Guide
The tutorial zone in Champions Online is not your typical festival of "press this button to move forward" commands. No, there's a full-scale alien invasion going on right as you enter the game. William "JoBildo" Murphy has compiled this handy little quest guide to help you either get every last detail, or to burn through the tutorial and into the real world as quickly as possible. Take a look!
Aion Zone Guide: Verteron
After ascension, every Aion Elyos player will find themselves in the big and dangerous lands of Verteron. There is much to see here from levels 10 through 20 and lots to miss if you don't know where to look. Get all the vital zone info and some great tips for adventuring the lands along with a list of available quests in this all-inclusive Verteron Zone Guide!
World of Warcraft Glory of the Hero Achievement Guide: Ahn'kahet the Old Kingdom
Achievements are a fun and interesting addition to World of Warcraft. There are a variety of achievements that players can aim to achieve, Glory of Hero is one of these. With 2 patches and gear upgrades, getting these achievements have gotten easier. Most of these can still be difficult if you do not know how to do them. Yadiera is working towards writing a complete guide of all the different instances and achievements and what you must to in order to gain the achievement.

Screenshots:

New Dungeons and Dragons Online Screenshots: Favored Soul and Reaver's Reach
Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited (DDO) is set to go live on September 9th, 2009. In preparation for the free-to-play version of DDO, Turbine has released a new batch of screenshots depicting the Favored Soul class and the new Reaver's Reach adventure pack.

Hottest Content:

Real World News:

New park offers X-rated views of hotel guests [Link courtesy of Joshua McC!]
Certainly not the craziest idea for a theme park ever, I suppose. Just look at EuroDisney.
SPCA CEO's dog dies in hot car
How the dog came to be in possession of a stolen vehicle is anyone’s guess.

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