A Train By Any Other Name

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1. Daily Column

Friday is here. Enjoy your weekend!

My EVE Online reintroduction continued into Day 20 yesterday. I have reached another "plateau" where my training time to get the skills required to buy and fly my next ship are measured in days rather than hours. As a player this forces me to

a) Continue doing the missions and mining with my current ship and loadout for 13 days (yes that's 13 days)

b) Play some other game while I wait for the new skills and the newfound joy of EVE

c) Forego the fancy new ship and instead train in skills that will give me more immediate gratification.

The problem is that what I really want to do is fly a battleship, yet no amount of time spent or skill used will get me to that goal faster than 13 days from now. I can't affect the speed at which I can reach my goal. I have a great amount of respect for the EVE advancement system. The skills that you choose to learn and the order in which you choose to learn them dictate which ships and equipment you can use. This is a great system except for the times when a player reaches a plateau where they aren't having any fun. At those times the player can work diligently to get past the plateau and back into a window of fun. In EVE Online that isn't possible. Every system has its drawbacks.

There is an excellent article on Terra Nova regarding scarcity of resources in EVE. The article proclaims (and I agree) that security is the rarest commodity in the game. It may be a difficult read for a EVE neophyte, but stick with it.

In a few days I'll be switching from EVE to reintroduce myself to another game. I'm curious if my readers have any requests or suggestions. My current list of possibilities looks something like this:

EverQuest 2 Vanguard Guild Wars City of Heroes/Villains Dungeons and Dragons Online

Is there a game that you would like me to cover next month?

Comments, questions or naughty pictures? Hit the blog or hit my mailbox. --Boomjack

2. New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

AGDC: Fallen Earth - Preview - Cody "Micajah" Bye Blog: I'm a Legend (of Norrath) - Cody "Micajah" Bye Editorial: The Cutting Edge #2 - Grinding To A Halt? - Garrett "GimmeANick" Fuller EverQuest 2: 25 Signs That You Might Play Too Much EQ2 - Coyote Gods and Heroes: Guild Etiquette - Todd "Charabis" Davis Gods and Heroes: Exclusive Screenshot - Greg "Darkgolem" Stanley Lord of the Rings Online: Weekly Troll Report - Stacy "Martuk" Jones Mixmaster Online: Images - Cody "Micajah" Bye Tabula Rasa: Guide to Options Part 2 - Kertain Vanguard: Hot Topics - Eric "Dalmarus" Campbell Wiki: Release Dates and Tales of Pirates Updated - Amber "Aurael" Weldon

3. Hot Content - What our readers viewed the most yesterday! Did you miss anything?

Comics: Listing Ten Ton Hammer Gallery Warhammer Online: Mark Jacobs Interview Comics: Death Knight Leipzig 2007 Awards Vanguard: Re-Review EverQuest 2: Re-Review

World of Warcraft Overview World of Warcraft: Re-Review Comics: List By Rating

4. Real World News

List of Countries By Current Account Balance
Somebody has been watching too many Capital One ads. Lunch Boxes Given Out at Health Fairs Contain Lead
Menu included pesticide punch and salmonella sandwiches. Des Moines Police Investigate Attack By Onion
The vegetables revolution has begun. PETA doesn't look so scary now does it?

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team