Welcome
to the 1,250th
edition
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Loading... is the premier daily
MMORPG news, coverage, and
commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
What would it take for PvP
gameplay in MMOGs appeal to a broader audience? Do advancement and
reward systems need to be twice removed from the PvE metagame, or can
the two sides of the MMOG coin peacefully coexist? We’ll take
a look at this aspect of the current Star Trek Online open beta plus
links to our latest guides and the Global Agenda launch trailer today in
Loading… Casually Hardcore.
cellspacing="0" width="100%">
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
are today's top 5 Pulse results:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
of Warcraft
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto">Star
Trek Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest 2
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">Lord of the
Rings Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve">EVE
Online
style="text-decoration: underline;">
Biggest
movers today:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars:
The Old Republic (UP 3 to #15)
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rom">Runes of Magic
(UP 2 to #14)
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest
(Down 3 to #18)
size="-1">Recent Releases
size="-1">
9/22
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254">Aion
(release date)
size="-1">
size="-1">
10/8
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2129">Cities
XL (release date)
size="-1">11/3
-
Dragon
Age:
Origins (release date)
size="-1">
11/10
-
Final
Fantasy
XI Ultimate
Collection (release date)
size="-1">12/1
-
href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/464-answer-the-call-of-war">LotRO:
Siege of Mirkwood (expansion)
size="-1">
12/1
-
href="http://www.eveonline.com/Dominion/">EVE
Online: Dominion (expansion)
size="-1">
12/2
-
DOFUS
2.0
(update)
size="-1">
12/15
-
href="http://everquest.station.sony.com/everquest.vm">EverQuest:
Underfoot (expansion)
size="-1">Upcoming
Releases
size="-1">
1/26
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2389">Mass
Effect 2
(release date)
size="-1">
2/1
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
Agenda
(release date)
size="-1">
2/2
size="-1">
-
Star
Trek Online
(release date)
size="-1">
2/16
-
href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
size="-1">
March
2010
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2011
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars:
The Old
Republic
Loading... Daily
With many MMOGs it seems that
if there’s the option to log in for shorts bursts of PvP
action rather than getting too majorly involved with standard end game
PvE
content such as large scale raiding, then that’s what
I'll usually end up doing. At least that’s
been the case over the past few years at any rate, thought that
certainly wasn’t always the case. Years ago I’ll
admit that I spent a fair amount of time either raiding or running
dungeons, or if I got into PvP at all it was far from a casual pursuit. Then again, that was also back when time was much less of an issue and I
placed much more personal emphasis on achieving end game goals with my
characters.
More recently, however,
I’ve come to realize that with many
MMOGs where PvP is an aspect of gameplay twice removed from the PvE
metagame, at least in terms of the how or where, I’ve
discovered much more personal satisfaction when I can simply log in and
dive directly into some quick action. While the carrots of end game
achievement are still there for me, they’ve once again taken
a back seat to the instant gratification that the short burst nature of
PvP can provide.
The only real sticking point
tends to be that in many cases your
effectiveness in the realm of PvP will be influenced far too
heavily by those same PvE carrots that require a much larger time
investment, at least in terms of things like stat enhancing gear. So
long as PvP doesn’t occur in a self contained environment
where player skill is the primary determining factor for success, the
playing field can never be even by design.
This topic has been swirling
around in my head for the better part of
the past week, primarily due to the open beta for
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto">
style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek Online
where many players have spent the past few days feverishly working to
unlock the Klingon side of the game to see what Trek style PvP is all
about. I plan on spending this weekend completing the unlock missions
myself, so hopefully by this time next week I’ll have a much
better handle on whether or not STO’s take on PvP provides a
rich enough overall system for the achiever types while still offering
a somewhat level playing field.
When I first heard about the
system I had
visions of
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">
style="font-style: italic;">Lord of the Rings Online’s
monster play, where if
you wanted to start out on the side of the creeps you were essentially
signing on to be a player-driven trash mob for the freeps to beat up
on, at least until you’d gotten a fair amount of experience
under your belt. If nothing else, I hope that the scales of balance are
at least a bit more even for the Klingon side in STO to avoid the same
type of frustrations inherent in a
system where some players are given
an unfair advantage, be it due to relative power based on advancements
in PvE or otherwise.
By now I’m sure a
good number of you have been working your
way through the Klingon ranks, so I look forward to seeing you on the
virtual battle field over the weekend. In the meantime, be sure to
share your experiences with the STO beta right here in the
Loading… forums, and have an excellent weekend!
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=664">STO
General Discussion
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=48975">Anyone
else surprised?
It all began with SirRobin saying that he's pleasantly surprised to
be having fun playing the open beta of Star Trek Online. But then the
topic had to turn to the fact that STO will be a subscription-based
game with extra "fluff" available through microtransactions. Things
kind of went downhill from there, but downhill is where the fun's at
so, whether you're in it to discuss STO or participate in the
microtransaction rant,
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=48975">go
join in!
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"1st Get off your high horse."
- Landric
"I promise to the moment
anti-MT people get off their principled precipice."
- Ralsu
==============================
Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums?
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!
New and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer
3 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 56 in January! 56
in 2010!
NEW GUIDES
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/federation/ships">Star
Trek Online - Federation Fleet
Repository
The
Borg have returned, the Klingons have withdrawn from the Khitomer
Accords, and war is brewing in every quadrant of the galaxy. If you
have any chance of surviving the coming battles intact, you need to
know the vessels you’ll be commanding and fighting beside.
While you
were dozing in class at Starfleet Academy, Ten Ton Hammer was busy
gathering data on the Federation fleet. You’re welcome.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79321">Getting
Rich Off Market Staples
in EVE Online
Not
all of production needs to be complicated or a logistical nightmare.
Sometimes, just focusing on the basics is all you need to keep your
bank account swollen with space money. Ten Ton Hammer Contributing
Writer, Space Junkie, shows us one way to go about it.
NEW MEDIA
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79310">Global
Agenda Launch Trailer
With
the launch of Global Agenda set for next month, Hi-Rez Studios figured
it was about time to unveil the launch trailer for their upcoming MMOG.
The latest trailer shows some of the battles players
will be engaging
in along some of the heavy weaponry and vehicles that will be available
to blast your enemies into a smoldering heap of ash. How can you go
wrong with heavy armor, robots, jetpacks, and explosions?
Today's
Hottest Content
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79046">Star
Trek
Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79046">
Q&A
with Al Rivera - All About Ships
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79269">Star
Trek Online Beta Journal #4 -
No Tank, Healer or DPS?
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78979">Carved
in Stone
or Written in Pencil: Developers'
New Year's Resolutions
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79051">Star
Trek
Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79051">–
Ten
Ton Hammer’s Hands-On Beta Impressions
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo/guides/warchanterbuild">
style="font-weight: bold;">Dungeons and Dragons Online:
New
Character Build – The Warchanter
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78752">Global
Agenda
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78752">
Mission Types Interview with Exec. Producer Todd Harris
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/reviews/addons/spartan-ui">WoW
Spartan U.I. Addon Review
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79042">WoW
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79042"> -
Creating
the Perfect
U.I.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78791">The
Anatomy of
Fleets in
EVE
Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78760">
Dungeons
& Dragons Online:
Eberron Unlimited Review
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!
- Reuben "Sardu" Waters
and the Ten Ton Hammer team