Welcome to the 1,181st edition of Loading...
Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news, coverage, and
commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
Games come and go, but communities and friendships can last a
lifetime. It is these communities and relationships that keep us coming
back to our games, and are often more important than the game itself.
Today Benjamin J. de la Durantaye sends out a plea to bring back the
community to our games in Loading... Community Disservice.
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:
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/41"
target="_blank">World of Warcraft - Dungeons
& Dragons Online -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117">Star
Trek Online - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254">Aion
- EverQuest
2
Biggest movers this past week:
MMO Releases
-
8/25
- CrimeCraft
(release date) - 9/1 -
Champions
Online (release date) - 9/9
- Dungeons
& Dragons Online Unlimited (release date) - 9/15
- Runes
of Magic "The Elven Prophecy" (expansion) - 9/22 -
Fallen
Earth (release date) - 9/22
- Aion
(release date)
Releases
Important
Dates
- 10/1 -
10/3 - href="http://fanfest.eveonline.com/">EVE Online FanFest - 10/23 - 10/24
- Hero-Con
here to explore the best free-to-play MMORPG - Runes of Magic
The Elven Prophecy. Join now and create the ultimate fantasy hero.
Loading... Daily
I stand by the philosophy that any game can be fun if played with the
right people. I don't care if it's Pac-Man, Pong, or Pirates of the
Burning Sea; if you bring your friends with you, you're going to have
more fun than if you wade into the waters alone.
So why is it that virtually every MMOG nowadays caters to the soloing
crowd during the leveling process? By human nature, players will always
take the path of least resistance, and if that means they're better off
to grind through solo quests, or solo kill thousands of mobs, then
that's exactly what they'll do. Sure, it gives the advantage of
ensuring everyone can level up in your game to maximum level, but
should that really be the priority? Constant pandering of the solo
player has not only had a hugely adverse effect on the gaming
community, but it also affects the amount of fun
players have in the game.
Granted, no one likes to sit LFG for hours because they can't do
anything on their own. But instead of slapping in mountains of solo
content, essentially making the bulk of the game soloable, perhaps
other solutions need to be looked at. Maybe it's time to start veering
away from class reliant content, and start looking at ways that get
people playing together, socializing, and ultimately having fun. No
one's going to go away from a game saying "Wow, I remember when I was
soloing a quest to kill 10 spiders," but rather they'll remember "I
loved that group I had one night that just clicked. We never met each
other before, but everyone was on the ball. I made friends that night."
I play Aion on an "official unoffical" roleplaying server. I played
Warhammer Online on a roleplaying server. I played WoW on a roleplaying
server. The reason I do that is because I find that the type of players
that are drawn to these servers tend to be a more social, fun crowd.
With some exceptions, obviously, most people I run into in game are
helpful, courteous, and just plain fun to be around. I find there is a
lot more grouping on these servers, and a lot more opportunities to
socialize and enjoy the content. That's why I play MMOGs. I don't play
MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER games to see who out of the seven people standing
around a spawn point can get the kill first. I want to meet people, and
I want to have fun doing it.
To this day, EverQuest Classic still stands as the most fun I've ever
had in a MMOG. I've played other games all the way through to the end
game as well - EverQuest 2, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Age of Conan,
World of Warcraft and a plethora of other games I didn't play through
to the end game. What made EverQuest stand out was that it was the only
game where grouping was not an option - it was a requirement. Sure, I
had plenty of days of frustration waiting for friends to log on, or
trying to find a group, but ultimately it was being pushed into
grouping and into the community that made the game the most
entertaining, immersive and appealing game I've played to date. The
reason it was such a valuable experience is that I made a lot of
friends with a lot of people I would have never otherwise met. Several
of these have become life-long friends outside of games.
I'm going down to Las Vegas this month, and will be spending a
week with one of my best buds. We haven't gamed together in about four
years now, but we became such close friends during the EQ days that our
friendship transcended beyond the game and into our lives away from the
PC. We've always stayed in touch after that, visiting each other when
possible, or just calling each other every once in a while to say
"hey." We do what all friends do - share our ups and downs with each
other and offer support when the other is having a hard time, or
celebrating together when life takes an upswing.
That, to me, is what makes a game great. It's not about who can put
together the most efficient macros. It's not about who can clear ToC
first. It's not even about the IP or story of the game. For this gamer,
it's all about the community, and whether or not the game even helps me
to meet any of them.
I send out my plea to devs, to bring back the community to our games,
and get us into a situation where we can make more life-long memories.
Join me in the plea on our forums.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=589">Aion
General Discussion Forum
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=46915">Incoming
Updates to 1.5 (XP Boosts) 'sigh :(
If
Khalus, one of our community members, is interpreting the Korean charts
correctly, there's a significant boost to experience gain coming to
Aion's post-25 levels. Which means you'll level faster. Which means, at
least to Khalus, that NCSoft has caved in to the moanings of
its
western player base who complain that the leveling curve is way too
steep.
Khalus likes the leveling curve where it is--he doesn't
want Aion to become "as easy as WoW." Do you agree with him? Should
leveling stay as it is, or is it too much of a grind at higher levels,
as some players contend?
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=46915">Discuss!
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"Umm... Khal, 30-40
range is a
mind-numbing grind, even with quests from what Ive heard. If NC Korea
is pushing this through then there is something going on in Korea that
prompted this. Not NA whiners that made NC push this through."
- kitsunegirl
==============================
Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums?
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!
7 new Ten Ton Hammer MMOG features today! 33
in October! 1,081 in
2009!
Today's New MMO Coverage and Features
-
'New
Eden' to Provide Communication, Organization in style="font-weight: bold;">EVE's Universe
We've heard about New Eden (formerly "Cosmos") for several years now,
but with CCP's redoubled efforts to expand the EVE universe into new
market segments, a social networking portal to get your "EVE away from
EVE" becomes understandable and perhaps even necessary. We'll explore
New Eden's features and what the concept will mean to current and
future players in this new article - "New Eden" to Provide
Communication, Organization in EVE's Universe - from last weekend's EVE
FanFest 2009. -
style="font-weight: bold;">EVE Online's Statistics
Revealed
EVE Online is unapologetically a game built for the spreadsheet hounds,
so we thought we'd bring you some of the more interesting stats and
figures we heard over the course of the weekend's FanFest 2009. It's
rare that you have a game developer so open about their numbers, so a
big word of thanks goes out to CCP for offering us a peek behind the
curtain. -
Video
- The Zany Adventures of Developing Fallen
Earth
Have
you ever committed yourself so much to something that at the end of it
all, you can't remember how to tie your own shoes? Of course you have,
you're an MMO player. We all have. Well, the same holds true for the
guys at Icarus Studios. Witness first hand shocking footage of
developers letting loose during a brainstorming session. Not for the
feint of heart. -
Editorial
- How Much is Too Much: A Look at the style="font-weight: bold;">Saturation of the MMOG Market
While
the influx of players into the realm of online gaming is great for the
industry, have we begun to reach a point of market saturation that will
ultimately kill it off? Has the rising popularity begun to push our
beloved genre towards being a fad that will eventually jump the shark,
or are there still more players just waiting for that perfect game to
bring them into the fold as well? Join Medawky this week as he takes at
look at the crowded spaces of online worlds. -
Scenery
Video from href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/75258">Dragon Oath
Last
week we took a look at the classes of Dragon Oath. This week we take a
look at the world. The game holds true to its story telling and renders
an ancient world filled with magic, mysticism and deities. Experience
the story first hand as you explore the geography, cities and ruins of
the free-to-play MMOG. -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/new/makingkinah">Lifestyles
of the Rich and Good Looking - Making Kinah in style="font-weight: bold;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/new/makingkinah">Aion
New
gear, fancy weapons, and a fabulous set of stigma stones; all those
Aion goodies cost kinah…lots and lots of kinah. If
you’re finding
yourself light in the purse then you need these quick and easy money
making tips that will have you soon living the lifestyle you
know
you deserve. And we won’t even charge you for it. -
Editorial
- Reviewing
Responsibly
The
subject of reviewing videogames has long been a touchy subject among
the hobby’s fans. More than console or standalone titles,
MMOGs are
extremely tricky beasts to review. There are around FIFTY reviews
already out for the recently released Champions Online and it's just
now a month old. William “JoBildo” Murphy urges the
critics of the
gaming world to think carefully before assigning their verdict to a
newly launched world in this editorial.
Hottest Content:
- EVE
Fanfest 2009 - DUST 514 Overview
and Gameplay Video - Ease
of Access - Case Studies
in Accessibility and Popularity - Goonswarm's
Darius Johnson at the EVE Alliance Panel -
style="font-weight: bold;">Fallen Earth - First
Impressions - Phasers
Set to Beta - Star Trek
Online's Craig Zinkievich Q&A -
style="font-weight: bold;">Aion - Exclusive
Heiron Zone Tour Video -
style="font-weight: bold;">From Computers to Consoles - The
Challenges of Porting MMOGs - Grind
vs. Gates - WoW's Grind
versus Gates, Attunements and You - Dragon
Age: Origins - Classes and Specializations - Global
Agenda - Recon Class Q&A with Todd Harris
Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Benjamin J. "Machail" de la Durantaye and the Ten Ton Hammer
team
