Loading... All That Glitters

by on Jul 07, 2010

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is the premier daily MMOG newsletter, only from Ten
Ton Hammer!

Welcome
to the 1,370th
edition
of Loading...

Some of  us have to have every new bit of
technology that comes along while others are slow to adopt the
newfangled goodness. Some walk around with the same utilitarian phone
for years while others have to be first in line at the Apple store to
pick up an 8 GB iPhone on launch day. The same principles apply to
MMOGs, but Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg has found that even though she's
content with the tried and true much longer than most, she finds it
very difficult to turn back once she's seen the light. She explores the
pursuit of shiny things in today's href="http://tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/jul/7">Loading...
All That Glitters.

width="100%">

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010"> src="http://images.tentonhammer.com/misc/Loading/e32010.gif"
alt="E3 2010"
longdesc="http://images.tentonhammer.com/misc/Loading/e32010.gif"
height="90" width="210">

The
Pulse

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

Today's
top 5 Pulse results this week:

World
of Warcraft
EverQuest
II
Lord
of the Rings Online
(UP 3) href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/88">Warhammer
Online (UP 3) Age
of Conan
(Down 2)

Biggest
movers today
:

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/42">Star
Wars Galaxies

-
UP 12 to #18 href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/154">Ultima
Online

- UP 9 to #17 href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest

- down 8 to #7 Recent Releases
5/1
- href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_17/issue_17_overview.html?utm_source=COHemail&utm_medium=US&utm_campaign=banner"
target="_blank">City
of Heroes - Issue 17: Dark Mirror
(content
update) 5/11
- Age
of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer

(expansion) 5/26
- EVE
Online: Tyrannis

(expansion) 5/27
- Craft
of Gods

(release) 6/9
- Mortal
Online

(release) 6/29
- target="_blank">APB
(release)


Upcoming
Releases

July
13, 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801"
target="_blank">Mytheon
(release)

July
20,
2010
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2461"
target="_blank">Need
for Speed World (release) August
17, 2010
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City
of Heroes: Going Rogue (release) September
30, 2010
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv" target="_blank">Final
Fantasy XIV
(release) style="font-weight: bold;">October
26, 2010
- LEGO
Universe
(release)

style="font-weight: bold;">November 2, 2010
- DC
Universe Online
(release)


Upcoming
Events

style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
7/25 - target="_blank">Comic-Con
International style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/" target="_blank">SOE
Fan Faire 2010 style="font-weight: bold;">8/18 -
8/22 - href="http://www.gamescom-cologne.com/en/gamescom/home/index.php"
target="_blank">Gamescom 2010
style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
9/5 - href="http://www.paxsite.com/paxprime/index.php" target="_blank">PAX
Prime style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
9/6 - target="_blank">DragonCon style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y" target="_blank">BlizzCon style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
-
3/26 (2011) - target="_blank">CCP
FanFest


Loading... Daily

I’ve never been an early adopter when it comes to most technology.
Don’t get me wrong--I like technology just fine, it’s just that my
frugal side will not allow me to spend money on new tech when the old
tech I have is perfectly functional. For example, I had a cell phone
that I used mostly for its primary purpose--to make phone calls while I
was away from home. Why would I want to spend, say, $600 to snag an 8GB
iPhone on launch day?



For a long time I thought that SmartPhones were cool, especially when I
saw commercials for Android and all of its spiffy apps, but I was
convinced I didn’t need one. Until I got one. My dearly beloved picked
me up a shiny new myTouch slide in candy apple red. Now I have no clue
how I ever lived without it.



“Check this out!” I say to my daughter. “I’m watching YouTube videos.”



She thrusts out one hip, twirls a strand of white-streaked blonde hair
around her index finger, rolls her eyes at me condescendingly,
in the way only a 13-year-old girl can, and says, “Mom, I watch YouTube
videos, like, all day.”



“Yes,” I say, “But I’m watching them… style="font-style: italic;">on my phone.”



And many of my conversations about my new phone go the same way:



“Ohmigawd, look! I’m doing this cool thing”



“So?”



“…on my phone




So, see? I'm not immune to the lure of new technology. It's just that I
can avoid nearly any bit of technology for quite a while before I
become a raven craving the shiny object she spies out of the corner of
her eye. I think my resistance to shiny new things is actually pretty
high (hell, my family only just recently got an HDTV because I’ve
muttered for years that our 32” CRT was good enough), but once I’ve
witnessed the glories of anything new, especially if it’s particularly
useful, it’s very difficult for me to look back.



And I’m the same way with MMOGs. I was quite satisfied playing href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest,
and indeed I enjoyed the hell out of it for several years, but once I
experienced feature-loaded EverQuest
II
it was very difficult for me to log into the Norrath of
old with it’s elderly UI, stripped down character creation, and old
school graphics. Games like EQ2, href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/115">Age of
Conan and Aion,
each a sparkly MMOG in its own right, spoiled me for more utilitarian
games, solidly constructed and fun to play though they may be.



I’ve come to think of my never-look-back mentality as a character flaw,
at least when it comes to gaming. Undoubtedly, there are great games
I’m missing out on because they’re too simplistic and lacking in all
that glitters. Are there some more basic games that you think I’ve
overlooked? Am I right to want each new game to offer a little
something new (or to at least keep up with the high standards of the
glitzy games I’ve mentioned), or am I dead wrong? Know any cool Droid
apps? Tell me in the href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=52227">Loading…
forum.




Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day



From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3">Tavern
of the Ten Ton Hammer forum



Blizzard's
new system using real names. Just amazing.




Blizzard's Real ID feature is takin' it to the forums, and OneEye Red
got angry about it yesterday:


style="font-style: italic;">"The first and most significant
change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post
on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID --
that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also
display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it."




[read
more...
]



Will
using real names discourage trolling by revoking the anonymity that
breeds it? Or is it a breach of privacy destined to inhibit
player-to-player conversation? This is a HUGE topic to explore, so href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=52222">head
to the forums.



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

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread




"I have a right to give
(or not
give) my personal information to anyone I choose. Blizzard has taken
that right from me and made decisions on my behalf. As stated in
Cyrak's article I think there is a line that has been crossed between
real life friends and 'e-friends'. I have a lot of fun with a lot of
people on these TTH forums and look forward to interacting with you
guys every day, but I don't see any need for y'all to have my first
name, last name, home address or any other information about me. If I
want you to have it, I'll give it to you myself.
"



- href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=435825&postcount=7">Chilidawg

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


New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

1 Ten Ton Hammer
feature
today! 15 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in July! 733
in 2010!

style="font-weight: bold;"> style="font-weight: bold;">MEDIA



New TERA Video Showcases
Intense Combat Gameplay


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tera/video/e3-cutdown-press-demo-trailer">http://www.tentonhammer.com/tera/video/e3-cutdown-press-demo-trailer



Gamers
have been drooling over TERA, the upcoming fantasy action MMOG by En
Masse Entertainment. With its emphasis on placement, dodging, and
player skill, TERA isn’t your old fashioned button masher MMOG.
Highlighting the play style and gorgeous graphics is the newest trailer
for the game. This trailer is a cut-down version of the press demo held
at E3 2010. In the trailer, which is composed entirely of in-game
action, five basic classes are shown, as well as the intense combat
against a fearsome pirate captain and his minions. All of us here at
Ten Ton Hammer are itching to play this game!

Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

Ten
Ton Hammer's StarCraft II
Guide Portal
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/interviews/elysean-council"> style="font-weight: bold;">Aion – The Divine
Fortress Taken! An Interview with the Elysean Council href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/dcuo/yanagi-interview">Sock!
Pow! Bam! DC
Universe
Online
– An
Interview with Senior Producer Wes Yanagi href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tera/video/e3-cutdown-press-demo-trailer">New
TERA
Video Showcases Intense Combat Gameplay
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/previews/humans">The
Races of Guild Wars 2:
Humans style="font-weight: bold;">DC Universe Online's Senior
Producer Wes Yanagi on Ten Ton Hammer Live Episode 13
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/nfsw"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/guides/apb/symbol-designer">APB:
Spotlight on the Symbol Designer
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sherwood-dungeon/interview">Exclusive
Interview With Creator of
Sherwood Dungeon
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sherwood-dungeon/interview">

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/company-of-heroes-interview">Introducing
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/company-of-heroes-interview">Company
of Heroes Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/e3/2010/company-of-heroes-interview">
- A Video Q&A with Producer Greg Wilson href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/instances/ruby-sanctum"> style="font-weight: bold;">WoW Ruby
Sanctum
Guide
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/guides/apb/10-tips-for-noobs"> style="font-weight: bold;">APB for
Dummies
- 10 Tips & Tricks to Help Get You Started

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg and the Ten Ton Hammer Team.



Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016