I've always been the helpful sort.  I spent hours creating
scrolls in Ultima Online so that I could give them away to people
who needed them.  I played a Shaman in EverQuest and I
always tossed out buffs to new players on my way to the PoK book in
Everfrost.  It's just my nature to want to help and I never thought
of it as a bad thing.  Everyone needs help every now and again and
someday you may need the favor returned.  It's just good karma.

So I was a little taken aback when I received a less than favorable

response to a recent

New Player Guide on our forums.  Our reader seemed a bit
displeased that we spent time pointing out the basics which leads me to
ask...are the days of lending a hand to newbie players fading away?

Modern day MMOGs have put the kibosh on some of the features that we
enjoyed in older games such as the original EQ.  EverQuest II
still has many of the wonderful buffs that its predecessor had, but most
are only usable by the caster or within the caster's group making drive
by buffings impossible.  They also implemented locked encounters,
something I was first introduced to in FFXI, which are great if you're
overly concerned about kill stealing, but the moment you get into
trouble and everyone is just standing around and watching you die, you
wonder if the KS prevention was worth it. 

One of the features that drew me to Aion was the feeling of
freedom in assisting other players.  You can buff random players as
you see fit, and if you see someone struggling with enemy encounter, you
can walk in and help without waiting for someone to find a "yell" key. 
There is something beautiful in a community that is encouraged to help
one another and while others may not have the time to lend that helping
hand, you can be certain that there are still many of us out there who
will.

Ten Ton Hammer won't always focus on new player guides of
course.  We will do what we can while the game is new and we hope
to work on a wide variety of content for all types of players in the
future.  Is there something you'd specifically like to see us do? 
Let us know and we'll add
it to our content ideas list!

-Savanja, Aion Site Lead

Our screenshot contest is over, but we still have plenty of
codes for in-games goodies!  Drop by

our forums and post to let us know you want one, and we will
continue handing them out until supplies are gone.

Ten Ton Hammer Features:

• 
  
  Intro to PvP in Aion - Not sure how it all works?  Get
  the basics to get you started in PvP.
• 
  
  Fodder Into Kinah - A Guide to Selling in Aion - Turn that
  loot into cash easily and quickly.
• 
  
  Good versus Evil - The Two Sides of Aion's Factions - Have
  devs taken the easy route with two faction systems?  Read about
  it in this editorial.

News From Around the Community:

• Aion
  Continues to Dominate PC Sales - Pre-sales aside, the game
  is still topping charts.
• Aion
  Celebrates First Fortress Capture - Read on how this legion
  snagged a major milestone.
• NCsoft Takes
  Action Against Player Store Abuse - 30 minute limits
  enforced to ease queue times.

Tip of the Week - Want to mark your map with locations
to share with other players?  Ctrl + Right Click on your map to
save a location (Tutty's location for example).  Click your chat
dialog box and Ctrl + Right Click the location you have saved to add it
to the chat box.  This will make a blue link to the location that
will show other players exactly where they need to go.

They Must be Roleplayers...

If you ever watched your mom work out in the 80s then you may be
familiar with Richard Simmons.  There are a disturbing amount of
his fans wondering about and while I caught one on Lumiel, I was a
little frightened to see that he wasn't

the only Richard out there.

I'm not sure he's really suited to be
a mage, but any man who can squeeze into those shorty shorts has to have
magical powers.

Have you seen a great in game name? 
Share it with us!