by Jeff Woleslagle on Aug 20, 2009
Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
Three excellent Ten Ton Hammer WoW writers (and I) are on the ground in Anaheim for BlizzCon 2009. Have we already reached the summit of excitement with all the Cataclysm rumors? We'll find out soon enough, but we also plan on delivering some angles not covered by the live TV presence and mainstream sites. A BlizzCon 2009 preview of sorts in today's Loading... Arriving at BlizzCon 2009.
You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is The Pulse?).
Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:
World of Warcraft Champions Online (down 1) Aion (UP 1) Dragon Age Origins (UP 6) EverQuest 2Biggest Movers today :
EVE Online (down 4 to #10) City of Heroes (down 5 to #19) Guild Wars (down 3 to #17) Recent MMO Releases 7/13 - Darkfall NA launch 7/21- FFXI "Moogle Kupo d'Etat" Addon (release date) 8/4 - World of Warcraft Update 3.2 (content patch)Important Dates
8/19 - 8/23 - Gamescom Cologne 8/21 - 8/22 - BlizzCon '09 9/4 - 9/6 - Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) 9/15 - 9/18 - GDC Austin Upcoming Releases 8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date) 9/1 - Champions Online (release date) 9/9 - Dungeons & Dragons Online Unlimited (release date) 9/9 - Fallen Earth (release date) 9/22 - Aion (release date) 10/9 - Cities XL (release date) Early 2010 - APBToday is the day four folks from the Ten Ton Hammer team will arrive in Anaheim for BlizzCon 2009. What to expect from this year's lovefest for the big B, beyond what we've already seen of Cataclysm. I'm not sure, but I imagine Blizzard has something up their sleeves. They'd be hard pressed to top last year, though - getting a raucous round of applause from announcing that StarCraft 2 would be three times the flavor, three times the retail price point at last year's event. More class reveals for Diablo 3 are likely, especially since Blizzard likely wants to shift attention away from the recent StarCraft 2 delay announcement. But Diablo 3 is, by all appearances, still a year or more from release, so perhaps as Jay "Medeor" Johnson suggested in last week's The Overpull, the focus will be squarely on WoW and its coming expansion.
There's been a lot of talk recently about growing discontentment in the WoW ranks. I am curious to know the state of WoW in China, but beyond that, I've tried to distance myself from the chatter. There's always an undercurrent of fatigue (from players) and jealousy (from outsiders that just can't get into the game) culminating in a wave of defections (then re-defections) with any successful MMO. When Dark Age of Camelot came out, I thought I was thoroughly done with EverQuest, only to return a little while later when I realized I wasn't much for RvR gameplay.
The grass might always look greener, but MMOs are more than a set of features and some fancy art, animation, and story. More often than not I've left MMOs (or at least taken an extended break) after a negative interaction with other players. I'm not really talking about griefing or a bad loss in PvP, moreso the realization that these aren't my kind of people, somehow. It's either an incredibly shallow thing or the deepest level assessment you can make about a game.
Another travel-shortened Loading.... today. Hopefully we can get you some angles on BlizzCon that you won't see on the mainstream sites or DirectTV. Anything you want us to nose into on your behalf? Tell us what you're looking for in the Loading... forum or email me.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of6 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 60 in August! 920 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today
The End of a Dragon in Dragon Age: OriginsGiveaways:
Runes of Magic Item GiveawayHottest Content:
The End of a Dragon in Dragon Age: Origins Guild Wars 2 Concept Art Revealed The Consequences of True Choice A Look at Decisions in Dragon Age: Origins Exclusive Video Q&A - SOE's John Smedley Talks Better Support for Guilds Video - Richard Garriott on Space Travel and More from The Syndicate World Conference 2009 Guild Wars - Rediscovering Tyria Star Trek Online Closed Beta to Begin in October? Champions Online: Exclusive Interview on Sidekicks, Super Groups, and Supervillains World of Warcraft - New Expansion = New Tamable Pets? Age of Conan - A Year Later, Part 2Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team