Loading... DDO Rolls the Dice

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As the E3 goodness continues to roll out, Turbine surprised us all by announcing that DDO will go free-to-play later this year. We'll mince the details of (and possible objections to) the announcement, plus reveal the latest on Fallen Earth, The Agency, and Dragon Age Origins in today's Loading... DDO Rolls the Dice.

An attractive young woman that loves MMO gaming and all manner of geekdom, and whose voice will be featured in an upcoming MMO. Is she a myth? An illusion? Nope, she's Vikki Wong, Ten Ton Hammer's Gamer Girl of the Month for June 2009!

The Pulse

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

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results this week:

World of Warcraft Star Wars: The Old Republic (UP 4) EverQuest 2 Lord of the Rings Online (UP 2) Warhammer Online (UP 2)

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 today :

EverQuest (UP 13 to #14 ) Star Wars Galaxies (UP 13 to #16) Ultima Online (UP 6 to #12) Recent MMO Releases 5/15 - EVE Online Apocrypha 1.2 (patch) 5/19 - Warrior Epic (launch date) 5/19 - Vanguard "Halls of Pantheon" (content patch) 5/28 - Dragonica (CBT key giveaway) Upcoming Releases 8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date) 9/1 - Champions Online (release date) 9/1 - Aion (release date) Important Dates 7/23 - 7/26 - San Diego ComicCon 2009 8/21 - 8/21 - BlizzCon 2009

Loading... Daily

Turbine created some electricity yesterday when the makers of Dungeons & Dragons Online announced that DDO would become free-to-play (or rather "freemium" - since the subscription model will still entitle you to "VIP benefits") later this summer. Those VIP benefits include "priority server access, 10 character slots free, unlimited access to all adventures in the game, a shared bank slot free... plus every month we'll credit your account with 500 Turbine Points to spend any way you like. DDO VIPs also receive the highest level of customer support."

As for how the core game will change, players can purchase "adventure packs, items, and account services a la carte from the new DDO Store, or to subscribe to get unlimited access to all of the game’s content" according to the press release. So what happens if a groupmate has access to an instance and you don't? Can you party up in the same areas? We spoke with Turbine yesterday for an upcoming interview, and the answer is yes: players will get a limited number of guest passes to join other group members in instances they don't yet have access to.

We still have a number of questions about how the complexity of all this works out into something fundamentally fun for paying and non-paying players alike, and Cody will be answering at least some of those questions in his upcoming article. Other new features for the base game include a new class (current speculation is the druid), a level cap increase beyond the "natural 20", major combat improvements, and new adventure packs including a new 12-player raid (I believe that's the largest DDO has seen yet).

On a more sour note, Codemasters has adopted a wait-and-see approach towards adopting these changes, causing some consternation among our European viewers. Aside from that, there's one possibly major quibble: it looks as if DDO Unlimited might be violating one cardinal sin in the free-to-play orthodoxy: no paying for advancement or for means of advancing faster than a non-paying player. From the FAQ: "You are absolutely under NO obligation to purchase anything from the DDO store in order to play and progress in the game. Gear is available for gamers who would like to improve some aspect of their in-game experience right away."

Not to be a Turbine apologist, but this would be more of an issue in a new game where everyone's starting out on the same foot than in one that's been out for three plus years. In any case, from the wording it seems unlikely that Turbine would break the game by introducing paid-for items that impact PvP or the high-level experience. However it turns out, we can't fault Turbine for wanting to get more players into the highly underrated, action-oriented experience that is DDO today. What do you think about DDO: Eberron Unlimited? Have your say in the Loading... forum, or as usual, feel free to email me.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day


From our WoW: General Discussion Forum

What's the next expansion gonna be?

Join the expansion speculation!

Where will World of Warcraft go next?
Will the denizens of Azeroth be able to explore a cool new underwater
city? (I can't help thinking fondly of Kedge Keep from my EverQuest
days.) Or will Blizzard blast (or teleport, or magically zap) elves and
tauren alike into the vast reaches of space to explore new planets?

Until Blizzard makes some sort of official announcement (and BlizzCon
is coming up, as any good gamer knows), it's all just speculation on
the part of eager WoW players. But speculating is half the fun. Join us!

==============================
Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"Personally,
with all the work they're doing on phasing, I definately think the Old
World will play a massive part of the next expansion, and maybe even
some of Outlands. I'm actually hoping that we go more into the Emerald
Dream. Would definately be interesting. Out of the 5 aspects of
dragons, we've so far had a fair representation of the Black, Red,
Blue, Golden but not really much in terms of Ysera of the Dream."


- Anacche
==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

11 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 66 in June! 703 in 2009!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Featured Articles

E3 2009: The Agency "Bergerbilder Estate" Preview Video
If you've been waiting for a top to bottom overview of the upcoming espionage-fueled MMO's core co-op gameplay and more hints about how the game ties together into a massively online experience, you'll find it in this action-packed 15 minute E3 2009 video demo of The Agency! E3 2009: Fallen Earth High Level Demo Video
Rather than running us through the tutorial, Lead Game Designer showed off a bit of Fallen Earth's elder gameplay around one of the last towns your character will visit this side of an expansion Lee also revealed the faction wheel - a very novel tool for keeping FE's six factions on your good (or bad) side - and showed some high-level combat, discussed PvP, story, and what personally appeals to him about Fallen Earth at this stage of development. It's all in this excellent 15 minute video demo of Fallen Earth filmed at E3 2009. E3 2009: Dragon Age Preview
There are only a handful of upper-tier PC RPG developers, and BioWare has had a solid place in that mix since the mid-1990s when they released Baldur’s Gate and reinvigorated the story-driven roleplaying game. Now BioWare is going back to its roots with Dragon Age, and Ten Ton Hammer got a hands-on preview of the title at this year’s E3. Ten Ton Hammer's Gamer Girl of the Month for June 2009: Vikki Wong
Meet Vikki Wong, Ten Ton Hammer's Gamer Girl for June, 2009. This summer we met up with Vikki in beautiful Montreal to have a chat, take some photos, and confirm that gamer girls really do exist. Vikki was happy to oblige. Not only does this 20 year old actress love gaming, she's also done some voiceovers, including work for Webzen's upcoming MMOFPS, Huxley. We have some shots of Vikki around Montreal, so have a click. And, if you're a Ten Ton Hammer Premium Member, you can see all 10 of the photos in full size, without watermarks, and read Vikki's full bio. Summertime Gaming – Oldies but Goodies
Summer is here and for a lot of us this means extra time for gaming! With so many of the major titles waiting to launch later this year, that leaves a lot of gamers bored and with not a thing to play. I've got some ideas for you!This week we are covering established pay-to-play games. Older games on the market still have playability! All it takes is remembering why people played these games to begin with. Come chit chat with me and find out which older games you should be loading up this summer! Comic: Geeked - "Apple-Rection"
Ten Ton Hammer's very own satirical webcomic on all things geek-related is here with a look into the black heart of an Apple purist. And hopefully no view of his southern reaches. Steve Jobs has his way with Adam, take a look for yourself!

Ten Ton Hammer Guides

Free Realms Chef Guide
With over two million registered users, Free Realms is carving a hefty chunk of the MMO space for SOE. While some content is restricted to paying members, the chef job is available for free. Danny "Ralsu" Gourley finishes his account of the path to the level cap as a chef. World of Warcraft: New Druid Skins
This article features a look at the new Druid forms introduced last week by Blizzard and a deeper look into the community desire and influence on this change.

Other Goodness

New CoH Developer's Diary and Screenshots Detail New Customization Options
City of Heroes will be getting a lot of big changes with Issue and to preview some of those changes, the good people at NCSoft/Paragon Studios have sent us their next 'Developer's Diary' and an assortment of new screenshots to show off some of the new character customization options slated for Issue 15. 3 New Black Prophesy Screenshots
Reakktor Media is hard at work on their upcoming sci-fi-based MMORPG, Black Prophesy, and to show off some of the great looking content they have planned for the game they have sent Ten Ton Hammer three new screenshots. The new images show off some of the great looking spacial environments and ships in the upcoming game. The new images show a TYI fighter ship being chased by several combat drones, a burning human shuttle and a TYI fighter in close quarter combat with a Genide fighter. 15 New and Exclusive Aion Screenshots
Aion has just concluded its first Beta Weekend and Ten Ton Hammer was on hand to cover the event. This week we have 15 more exclusive screenshots from Aion to show off some of the content for the game, including flight transportation, quest givers, character models and more.

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

E3 2009: The Agency "Bergerbilder Estate" Preview Video Ten Ton Hammer's Gamer Girl of the Month for June 2009: Vikki Wong E3 2009: Dragon Age Preview E3 2009: Fallen Earth High Level Demo Video Aion: Exclusive Preview Event Screenshots World of Warcraft: New Druid Skins Blizzcon Blitz 2009 Ticket Giveaway Summertime Gaming – Oldies but Goodies Global Agenda Hands-On Preview Final Fantasy XIV at E3 2009

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team