Blizzard To Implement Easy-Button

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1. Daily Column

13 new MMOG articles today. For those of you keeping score that's 117 pieces of MMOG entertainment so far in October and that doesn't include the dozens of news stories we post. No other network comes close.

I have a hunch that you play MMOGs, but do you play those 'other' games, the ones that industry types like to call casual games and I like to call 'things I do while on a conference call'? Karen feels compelled to know the answer. Vote in her poll before she starts making Zuma statues out of mashed potatoes.

I continue my foray into Guild Wars at my the readers' request. It's become increasingly evident that Factions would have been the fastest way to level to 20 and experience Guild Wars: Eye of the North or GW:EN as the players affectionately call it. I however took the road less traveled and am playing through the original Prophecy chapter. If you missed my first impressions of the game I'll repost them here to save your lazy mouse-button a click.

* I enjoy the instanced areas, especially when going through them with another player. I don’t have to worry about the immersion being ruined by jibber-jabber nonsense in chat or the random dancing idiots.
* I dislike the instances for the same reasons. They seem sterile and single-player.
* Why can’t I jump? I like to jump? Thumbs down on this decision, though I know why it was made…see my next point.
* Invisible walls are frustrating and annoying. Don’t force me down a path that I don’t want to take. If I want to jump down six-feet then allow me to do so. Don’t make me follow the route that the developer chose. We’re not playing a side-scroller.
* Instant travel - I love it and hate it. Why is it more convenient to travel with henchmen than with other players? Surely we can be ported as a group to the same place and within the same District.

I've grown both as a person and a character, or my character has grown both personal and in-game...or something. Here are my latest impressions of this title for those of you yearning for a game to try while you wait for the next big thing...or perhaps you're just Warhammer Online beta refugees looking for a quick fix. Whatever the case, read on. I was going to quote myself, because it makes me feel important (that's important not impotent!), but I decided to go with bullet points instead.

Prophecy has a steeper learning curve than many MMOGs. You may like or dislike this. I'm indifferent. Lag tolerance seems to be poorly implemented. My wife can site beside me playing another MMOG while I rubber-band and bounce all over creation. It is annoying and frustrating. The A.I. is smart like a dumptruck. Hello Monk.. rez the damn fighter that you let die and stop flicking your staff at the enemy. If I wanted you to deal damage I'd have called you an elementalist. Graphical bugs. Sometimes I fight and fight to get to a quest objective only to find that the NPC I need to talk to doesn't exist. The green "he's right here" star is there, but the NPC, not so much. If I zone and come back (meaning I need to spend that time fighting back to the NPC again) it usually corrects the problem. The camera is sloppy, at times bordering on comic. I don't need to see that tree so much as I need to see the group of bad guys turning me into blood pudding. The environments look great! Even the offending tree mentioned above looks fantastic. Sometimes you just stop and gaze around. Quests have well described directions, while the mini-map eliminates any guesswork. Some of you will hate this. I love it. Every male character is a metrosexual that runs like he has been riding a horse for 72 hours straight.

Though I have pointed out more negatives than positives I am enjoying the game. The gameplay itself is intriguing. I find myself wanting to do just one more quest before I head to bed. Two thumbs up! I'll continue my reintroduction and report back shortly.

What would a day in the MMOG industry be without someone prattling on about World of Warcraft? Today that someone is me. The notes for patch 2.3 are out. Expect to level faster between 20-60. Frankly, since Burning Crusade came out who wants to play the old zones? Sure there is some nostalgia there, but cripes...give me the phat lewt and fancy experience of BC any day. Do I want to try out a new class, having to plod through 58 levels before I can experience BC again? Not I! Here is the scoop,

"As many of you already know we've been working on changes designed to improve various aspects of leveling for those making their way to level 60. These improvements, available in patch 2.3 will come in many forms and should significantly contribute to a more fluid and enjoyable leveling experience .The first notable change was to simply reduce the amount of experience needed each level by approximately 15% between levels 20 and 60. Please note that when the patch is released, characters affected by this change will remain at their current level percentage. For example, if a character had exactly 50% of the current level's total experience before this change went into effect, the character would still have exactly 50% of the current level's total experience; only now fewer points would be needed to level.

Questing plays a very large role in World of Warcraft, especially while leveling and we felt that improvements to this front were necessary as well. Experience gained for completing quests (on average) between levels 30 and 60 is being increased. The increase becomes more substantial as you make your way towards 60. Additionally, many outdoor elite mobs will become non-elites, making many quests which were previously too difficult or required a group much easier and offer the same rewards (in some cases better!). A good example of this change would be Stromgarde Keep in Arathi Highlands, which will become a solo friendly environment when patch 2.3 goes live.

We've also added approximately 60 new quests in Dustwallow Marsh. This should help players who find themselves lacking quests in the 30-40 range. The Steamwheedle Cartel is building the new town of Mudsprocket in south-west Dustwallow Marsh, so you'll have to wait until construction is complete to learn more about these changes.

We're making other improvements to pre-bc leveling dungeons that players will likely find most agreeable. The level range for most every dungeon is being adjusted so that there is a much smaller range between the level of mobs found early in the dungeon to those found towards the end. For example, Shadowfang Keep is currently designed for levels 18-25 which means that right now, players who are towards the bottom of that range (18) will find it nearly impossible to complete the dungeon, while players towards the top of the range (25) will find most of the dungeon trivial. Using our new model (similar to what you'll notice with Burning Crusade leveling dungeons), Shadowfang Keep is being retuned for levels 18-21.

We also want to make running a leveling up dungeon more worth while. In addition to increasing quest experience for dungeon quests, we're also upgrading all pre-bc dungeon boss drops to blue quality items. Some examples are listed below:

Ragefire Chasm
Robe of Evocation old: +3 Stamina, + 4 Intelligence
Robe of Evocation new: +4 Stamina, +5 Intelligence, and +5 Spell Critical Strike Rating

Deadmines
Smite's Reaver old: +2 Strength, +1 Stamina, +1 Spirit, 11.1 dps
Smite's Reaver new: +2 Strength, +3 Stamina, +2 Hit Rating, 14.5 dps

Shadowfang Keep
Robes of Arugal old: +3 Agility, +5 Stamina, +9 Intelligence, +10 Spirit
Robes of Arugal new: +3 Spirit, +5 Stamina, +9 Intelligence, +12 Spell Damage

As you can see there is much in-store for the next major content patch, particularly a number of changes designed to benefit players who are leveling a character. Though we've given you a few examples of the things to come, we think everyone will pleasantly surprised when they see the full extent of the changes discussed above."

Do you have some Guild Wars commentary? Is the WoW Patch 2.3 a good thing? Do tell, in the blog or via e-mail!Comments, questions or naughty pictures? Hit the blog or hit my mailbox. --Boomjack

2. New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

City of Heroes/Villains: Dev Diary - Weapon Customization EverQuest 2: Achievement Abilities Fury: Chronicles of the Fury Challenge Lord of the Rings Online: Lore-master Legendary Traits Guide Lord of the Rings Online: Deeds of the Lone-lands Tabula Rasa: Wilderness Daghda's Urn Missions Vanguard: Quick Guide To Starting Attributes Vanguard: Cleric Creation Guide Vanguard: Monk Creation Guide Vanguard: Rogue Creation Guide Vanguard: Shaman Creation Guide Warhammer Online: Cartographer's Corner World of Warcraft: Horde Leveling Guide Update

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

Comics: Listing Comics: Borat Plays WoW Ten Ton Hammer Gallery Warhammer Online: Beta Servers Closed For Two Months Comics: My Little Pwny Tabula Rasa: Pre-Launch Q&A With April Burba Comics: WoW In 5 Years Gods and Heroes Canceled: Official Comment Comics: Frozen Sword Comics: Not A Spammer

4. Real World News

Hungry Six-Year-Old Crashes Grandmother's Car Into Transformer [Thanks Phil]
Optimus Prime reportedly in stable condition Shock Burns Cable Thief Beyond Recognition [Thanks Martuk]
You could say he was electrifried by crime. Velociraptor Season Is Here [Thanks Matt]
Elmer Fudd unavailable for comment.

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com

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