Welcome to the 1,207th edition of Loading...

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

With Funcom’s recently announced incentive to revitalize interest in
Age of Conan, the developer joins the swelling ranks of studios
attempting to sweeten the deal on multiple month subscriptions. But are
bundled beta access offers for upcoming titles all they’re cracked up
to be, or simply a new take on the concept of paid betas? The latest
industry trend plus a look at the changes being made in the StarCraft
universe, our latest hands on impressions of Runes of Magic and much
more await in today’s Loading… Bundled Betas.

The Pulse

You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:

1. target="_blank">World of Warcraft
2. EverQuest 2
   
3. Dungeons
   & Dragons Online
4. EVE
   Online
5. Age of
   Conan

Biggest movers over the past week:

1. Dragon
   Age Origins (Up 2 to #7)
2. Torchlight
   ((Up 2 to #13)
3. Aion
   (Down 1 to #6)

Recent Releases

• 9/9
  - Dungeons
  & Dragons Online Unlimited (release date)
• 9/15
  - Runes
  of Magic "The Elven Prophecy" (expansion)
• 9/22 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/177">Fallen
  Earth (release date)
• 9/22
  - Aion
  (release date)
• 10/8
  - Cities
  XL (release date)
• 11/3
  - Dragon Age:
  Origins (release date)
• 11/10
  - Final Fantasy
  XI Ultimate
  Collection (release date)
  
  

Upcoming
Releases

• 12/1
  - LotRO:
  Siege of Mirkwood (expansion)
• 12/1
  - EVE
  Online: Dominion (expansion)
  
  
• 12/2
  - DOFUS 2.0
  (release date)
• 12/15
  - EverQuest:
  Underfoot (expansion) 
• 2/2
  - Star Trek Online
  (release date)
  
  
• Early 2010
  - APB
• Feb. 2010
  - href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
  2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)

Loading... Daily

Providing customers with additional benefits for a larger upfront
investment isn’t a new concept in MMO gaming. Collector’s editions of
new releases, once a rare practice, have become an industry staple over
the past few years as one such example. Even multiple month
subscription offers that reduce
the cost of a single month’s fee have become more commonplace. Lately
though, there’s been an interesting trend on the upswing as an
increasing number of developers attempt to woo players into these
long-term subscriptions by bundling them with other unique promotional
offers.

Hot on the heels of Turbine’s href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/75059">announcement that
multiple month
subscribers to Lord of
the Rings
Online would be able to play the
upcoming Siege of Mirkwood expansion for free, Funcom has taken
a
similar approach with their href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/76591">latest promotion
geared towards swelling
the ranks of the Age of
Conan servers. While a free copy of the Rise of
the Godslayer expansion is certainly a worthy incentive for players
to
dive headlong into a 12 month subscription to AoC, it’s the inclusion
of a guaranteed spot in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/265">The Secret World’s
open beta with the 3 month
plan that will no doubt pique the interest of a much larger number of
MMO gamers.

While it doesn’t come as a total shock that Funcom has opted to
bundle
beta access for their upcoming title with an effort to revitalize
interest in one of their current live games, it will be interesting to
see what type of beta access the $35.98 subscription to AoC will buy
you. Only time will tell whether this will be the newfangled marketing
hype style open beta that serves as a ‘soft launch’ a couple weeks out
from the official release date, or if players will be given a larger
chunk of access for their cash. Either way it will be interesting to
see if Funcom can successfully renew interest in AoC via the inclusion
of TSW open beta access in their latest promotion.

A few months ago Cryptic made a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/72275">similar offer to
lifetime
subscribers
of Champions Online.
Minus a few minor hiccups in the last few days
prior to launch, that promotion could certainly be viewed as a major
success for the industry vets at Cryptic. Of interest here though is
that the inclusion of guaranteed beta access for upcoming href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117">Star Trek
Online no doubt played a sizable role in the lifetime
subscriptions
selling out in a relatively short span of time. That particular offer,
however, was also somewhat vague in terms of what type of beta access
it ultimately entails. 2 ½ months into my lifetime of super powered
mayhem and I’ve yet to receive an STO beta invite. That gives Cryptic a
month and a half to honor the “before the end of the year” beta access
component of the promotion. While still well within the bounds of the
original offer, it does lead me to wonder if that access will come even
a day sooner than December 31st. Meanwhile the closed beta for STO is
already well underway.

But enough about my admittedly biased opinion of bundling beta
offers
with long term subscription plans. Instead, I’d like to hear what all
of you think about this latest MMOG marketing trend. Is the reduced
rate on multi-month subs a strong enough incentive on its own, or are
developers pushing things in a positive direction by bundling in betas
and expansions to sweeten the deal? Share your thoughts right here in
the Loading… forums!

---

Shayalyn's
Epic Thread of
the Day



From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=142">WoW News
Discussion forum



style="font-weight: normal;">Movie Title to Be - Warcraft: The Rise of
the Lich King



Blahblahblah
game movies suck blahblah. We know that movies based on games tend to
be...less than entertaining. But what fate will befall the fabled World
of Warcraft movie? After all, millions of players dig WoW and will
(hopefully) flock to a movie about their MMOG love. And this particular
movie is directed by Sam Rami of Spiderman fame. Could be a hit!
Or...or not.



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

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread



"Will it have a plot as intelligent
and gripping as Plan 9 from Outer Space?"



- Loofah

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



Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!

---

5 new Ten Ton Hammer MMOG
features today! 43 in November! 3,015
in
2009!



Today's Exclusives at Ten Ton Hammer

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rom/editorials/first_impressions">Runes
  of Magic
  - First Impressions
  
  Runes of Magic is a free to play MMO that is new to the market. We sent
  out ZeroMerc to check out the game, play a few classes and give us his
  first impressions of this latest installment into the world of free to
  play MMO's. Join him as he shares his first impressions of Runes of
  Magic.
  
  
  
  StarCraft
  2
  - A Look at What's New in the StarCraft Universe
  
  The protoss, zerg, and terran armies have unfinished business and a
  full scale war is brewing in the StarCraft universe. With all the new
  shiny graphics and enhanced gameplay, Blizzard's sequel to the popular
  StarCraft RTS game already has a legion of fans waiting in the shadows,
  but how does the game stack up to its predecessor? This week Ten Ton
  Hammer takes a look at some of the features in StarCraft 2 and what's
  changed in the newest game in the franchise.
  
  
  

New Features & Guides Today at Ten Ton
Hammer

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/classes/spiritmaster_pet_guide">Aion:
  Spiritmaster Pet Guide
  
  The Spiritmaster doesn’t believe in a fair fight. Why go mono y mono
  when you can sneak a few friends in to fight for you? Using this
  strategy of more is more, the Spiritmaster conjures both semi-permanent
  and very temporary elements of Fire, Wind, Earth and Water to fight by
  his/her side. Understanding the primary benefits of the different types
  of Spirits and Servants is critical for a Spiritmaster. Read up on the
  different types of Spirits, Energies, and Servants and the skills best
  used for each type in this week’s Spiritmaster Pet Guide.
  
  
  
• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/classes/rangerstigmas">Aion
  Ranger Stigma List
  
  Stigmas are the key to class customization in Aion. Whether you are a
  dedicated PvE player or strive to take out the opposition in PvP
  gameplay, the stigmas you choose can make all the difference in your
  hopeful success. This list will get you started in finding the right
  skills that will benefit your class the most. Use it as a pre-planning
  tool or a starting point to track down the stigmas you want!
  
  
  
• The Archer
  Comes
  to Dragonica
  
  New content for the Archer class has come to Dragonica, and we've got
  the screenshots to prove it. A master of distance combat, this class
  eventually unlocks hunter and ranger classes for even more ranged
  action. Hit-and-run, traps, animal spirits - all of these are the
  flavor of the Dragonica Archer.
  

Today's Hottest Content

1. Dragon
   Age
   Origins
   - PC Version Review
2. Champions
   Online
   Developer Diary -
   Systems Balancing, Pt 2.
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rom/editorials/first_impressions">Runes
   of Magic - First Impressions
4. In-Depth LotRO:
   Siege of
   Mirkwood Expansion
   Q&A with Jeffrey Steefel
5. Allods
   Online Beta
   Key Giveaway
6. StarCraft
   2
   - A Look at What's New in the StarCraft Universe
7. The
   Overdue
   Sequel - A Look at Diablo
   3
8. Champions
   Online:
   Blood Moon Hands
   On Impressions
9. Global
   Agenda
   Assault Class Interview
10. Torchlight
    Post-Launch and MMO
    Interview

---

Thanks as always for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!

- Reuben "Sardu" Waters and the Ten Ton Hammer team