Welcome to the 1,228th edition of Loading...

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

From new quest and instances to food, clothing, and (of course) snowballs and even some City of Heroes ski challenges, a number of MMORPGs are starting to get into the holiday spirit. See how your favorite MMO is celebrating the holidays, plus link to a new and exclusive Star Trek Online crafting Q&A and an Aion expansion interview in Loading... MMO holiday events 2009.

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Loading... Daily

It's once again time to see your favorite MMOs decked out with boughs of holly, or at least... at the very least, throw a snowball or too (for best results, wait until your guildmate is sitting down to logout). Here's our annual rundown of holiday events, many of which have started or begin tomorrow.

• EverQuest 2's Frostfell - Even our resident holiday event bah-humbugist admitted that Frostfell is well done, full of scalable content including a solo / heroic zone and a handful of elaborate questlines that will take you all around Norrath, with very decent X, loot, and plenty of novel crafted goods and festive house items too. Runs through Jan. 10th.
• World of Warcraft's Feast of Winter Veil - Starting with tomorrow's patch, WoW's Winter Veil event begins. Greatfather Winter will be handing out presents in exchange for milk and cookies, kiss a reveler underneath the mistletoe for a surprise, harvest gifts left underneath decorated trees, toss snowballs, and enjoy a few special quests and special Goblins' Fare shops. Take down certain bosses and get the holiday hat their wearing. Select events run December 25th through January 2nd.
• Aion's Solorius Festival - Hot off the presses today, NCSoft just announced Aion's holiday event. Some of the goodies promised: a huge piano requiring one player per key, plus special baked goods and toys are available for the holiday. Head to the capital cities to take advantage.
• Runes of Magic Snowflake Festival - Frogster will again be decorating Taborea for the holiday season, including festive furniture and Christmas tree seeds for house decoration.
• EVE Online Snowball Fights - After the ridiculous fun that EVE Online's high slot snowball launchers have been bringing EVE's beautifully cheerless galaxies since 2006, it wouldn't seem like Christmas without seeing the launcher and snowball ammo x 100 magically appearing in our accounts. How about another year, CCP?
• Guild Wars: Wintersday - The Tyrian New Year will be celebrated once again with festive decorations, gifts, holiday treats and winter-appropriate weather of course. The locations of Ascalon City, Lion's Arch, Droknar's Forge, Kamadan, Jewel of Istan and Eye of the North will all be joining in the festivities and a few lucky players will have the chance to receive a Miniature Polar Bear from the Wintersday Chest.
• City of Heroes Winter Event - Snaptooth has kidnapped Baby New Year and the citizens of Paragon City will have to rise to the challenge and aid Father Time once again by fighting snow beasts, winter lords, taking on ski challenges and more. New this year for all to enjoy will be the appearance of Lord Winter – a giant foe players will have to band together to defeat – as well as the new “throw snowflakes" emote and a character respec (both bought by candy cane salvage), and two new holiday badges—Festive and Lord of Winter/Lady of Winter.
• Lineage 2: Raising Rudolph - Santa's reindeer have gone on strike in an attempt to earn themselves extra vacation time! Instead of bowing to their demands, old St. Nicholas has turned to the brave adventurers of Lineage II. Help Santa raise brand new reindeer in time for Christmas and reward the children of Aden for all the good deeds they've done this year and get special gifts for your help.

Other holiday novelties include a Runes of Magic Advent Calendar and Twitter contest, the annual World of Warcraft holiday dessert contest, and a Guild Wars Wintersday art contest. As for a Age of Conan holiday event, Funcom's scrooging out to push the next update (here's the official response).

Have another MMO holiday event to report? What's your favorite? Discuss in the Loading... forum!

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day



From our WoW Rant Forum

Runaway tanks

"Why is it that hardly anyone tanking can read a mana bar?" cries Stormbrjnger.

Having
played caster types fairly frequently in my MMOG career thus far, I
feel I need to stand up right beside him and shout, "Um...yeah! What he
said!" But I actually haven't encountered this problem much since back
in the days of EverQuest. Are tanks getting better? Is mana
regenerating faster? Are some MMOGs just easy enough that stopping for
a mana break is no longer essential because a group doesn't necessarily
have to be firing on all cylinders all the time to be effective?
Or are runaway tanks still a problem, after all? Have your say!

==============================

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread


"Lets be honest here... Most 5 man HCs are that easy you can 3 or 4 man
them. Just drink up and let the tank wail on the bad guys. Once you
have mana go help DPS.



However a good tank would be aware of his team's needs and wait for a
MB. Esp if the healer is OOM. I just think that its a case of the
content being a little easy and it means that players don't think about
how to play properly that's all."

- Rahl
==============================



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

8 new Ten Ton Hammer MMOG
features today! 57 in December! 2,238 in
2009!

Exclusive Interviews

• Building Starships - A Crafting in Star Trek Online Q&A with
  Al Rivera
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/77956
  This
  week Ten Ton Hammer had a nice lengthy chat with Al Rivera from Cryptic
  Studios who revealed details about the unique tradeskills in Star Trek
  Online that go where no MMOG has gone before.
• Aion "Visions" Interview with Lance Stites
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/interviews/visionsinterview
  After
  NCsoft's release of the "Visions" trailer the Aion gaming community
  went up in a flame of curiosity, excitement, and undoubtedly a little
  concern. Not much has been said regarding the trailer but Ten Ton
  Hammer was afforded the opportunity to ask a few questions about
  it, and about the future of Aion.

Editorials, Features, & Guides

• Frostfell in EverQuest II - Holiday Hell or Festive Goodness?
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/77970
  It's
  that time of year again and despite the best efforts of McScroogle and
  his lackeys all over Norrath the Frostfell holiday season has landed in
  EverQuest II. No matter where you look, there are giant candy canes,
  piles of presents, and more lights strung on every building than there
  are stars in the sky. Can Eric "Dalmarus" Campbell survive his
  banishment to this winter wonderland? There's only one way to find out.
• Worst Class in the World of Warcraft?
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/77985
  If
  you look hard enough you can find faults in almost every World of
  Warcraft class. It’s with this in mind that Mem takes on the challenge
  of answering the question: what is the worst class in World of
  Warcraft?
• Aion Newsletter - Bring on the Holidays
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/77950
  In-game
  holiday events can help break up the everyday rut in an MMO. Catch
  Savanja's thoughts on the holidays in gaming and get the latest Aion news in this week's Aion
  Newsletter!

• WoW: The Forge of Souls Video Walkthrough
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/instances/forgeofsouls/video
  You've read our Forge of Souls Guide for one of the latest instances in World
  of Warcraft but now you can watch it as well. We've posted a video
  walkthrough of the first in the three new five man instances in patch 3.3.
  
  
• WoW Guide to the Halls of Reflection
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/77961
  The
  Halls of Reflection is the third and final of the three new instances
  that make up the Frozen Halls in Icecrown Citadel. Ten Ton Hammer
  provides a timely guide to help you explore this new patch 3.3 content.
• WoW Guide: Hunter Equipment
  http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/77992
  Wondering
  which stats to look for, which gems to socket, and which enchants to
  use on your level-capped Hunter's gear? Our equipment guide makes
  putting together the best gear for your play style perfectly simple.
  

Today's Hottest Content

1. WoW Guide to the Halls of Reflection
2. Building Starships - A Crafting in Star Trek Online Q&A with
   Al Rivera
3. Aion "Visions" Interview with Lance Stites
4. WoW: Guide to the Pit of Saron
5. WoW: Icecrown
   Citadel 5-man Attunement Quest Line Walkthrough
6. WoW:
   Guide to the Forge of Souls
7. WoW: The Forge of Souls Video Walkthrough
8. Global Agenda PvE and Class Balance Video Q&A
9. Ten Ton Hammer's
   Gifts for Gamers 2009
10. Champions
    Online Exclusive Nemesis Confrontation Q&A with Bill Roper

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!

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