by Karen Hertzberg on Jun 28, 2010
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Passion is a cyclical thing--we go through periods of being
happily hyped and then cycle down toward disappointed and disillusioned
only to swing back up again. The MMOG climate is shifting now, and
fortunately, by most accounts, it's turning toward a new level of
excitement for the future of the genre. Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg
relates her passion for other hobbies and obsessions to her love of
gaming in today's Loading...
href="http://tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/jun/28">MMOG
Climate Change.
You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse (What
is The Pulse?).
Today's
top 5 Pulse results this week:
Biggest
movers today:
Upcoming
Events
Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg here, back from a short vacation
and stepping in for the lovely and talented Jeff "Ethec"
Woleslagle who is no doubt struggling with one end of a sofa and a
too-narrow doorway as we speak.
As if the dirt under my fingernails and my respectable knowledge of
Latin plant names isn't enough, the mini-vacation I took last week saw
me and my husband traipsing north to Minnesota to attend an event that
proves beyond a doubt that I am a gardening geek. (I went to the NHA
National Convention, if you must know. And if you're into shade
gardening and you actually know what the NHA is, come sit down
by me and talk shop.) To me, the gardener, it was exciting. When I
returned from my adventure, my head was buzzing and I was giddy about
plants and plant culture.
I was also tripping about some of the fascinating weather phenomena I
got to see this weekend around the Twin Cities. Looking out my hotel
window to see a well formed wall cloud with a distinct "beaver tail"
(meteorological lingo for a super cell storm's inflow band) and
cyclonic rotation the amateur storm spotter in me was practically
peeing herself, both with enormous respect for
nature's process and with abject glee because I was seeing it
in action. (Yes, there was some storm damage and flooding in
the area. No, no one got hurt.)
Until this year, it had been a while since I'd felt quite so
enthusiastic about MMO gaming. Sure, I still called myself a gamer, and
yes, I was still in hot pursuit of the perfect game to play, but I
haven't been as excited about so many games in development at one time
in, well...ever. Games like
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars: The Old
Republic,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2339">TERA,
Rift:
Planes of Telara,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxiv">Final Fantasy XIV,
Guild Wars 2,
not to mention The
Lord of the Rings Online's conversion to free-to-play and
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
Agenda's conversion to subscription free all have me feeling
like a truly geeked-out gamer again. I'm talking to gamer friends
saying, "Have you heard this? Wanna try this? Keep an eye on this!"
The past several years have ridden an endless cycle of
hype/launch/disappointment. I've watched gamers grow progressively more
jaded about the MMO genre. The climate of the past couple years has
changed us, and we're not the same excitable crew we used to be. We're
more reserved, and more inclined to say to developers, "Prove
yourself," rather than, "Oooo! Shiny! Gimme gimme gimme!" the way we
once did. If anything, we're less impulsive and more savvy about how we
spend our gaming dollar. But despite our newfound consumer
consciousness, I see a lot of excitement growing in the ranks. We're
looking forward
to MMO gaming again instead of viewing our options
with cynicism. And that gives me hope that the future of MMOG
gaming is stronger than ever.
Are you looking forward to one or more upcoming MMOGs? Are you keeping
an eye out this event season for those things that excite you and make
you happy to be a MMO gamer again? Talk it up on the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=52109">Loading...
forum.
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=546">SWTOR
General Discussion
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=52057">Beta
Begins this Weekend?
Yes, this thread was epic last week. But it's getting even more
epic since the "this weekend" the title refers to was last weekend.
(Are you with me so far?) Did the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta
begin last weekend as rumored? Step into the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=52057">speculation
chamber.
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"The thought of beta going
on
right now without me being a part of it would make my head asplode, so
for my own sanity I've decided to think of SWTOR as vaporware and
everyone that actually [says they have] a beta invite is just doing it
to mess with my head!"
-
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=435237&postcount=36">Chilidawg
==============================
Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums?
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!
5 Ten Ton Hammer
features
today! 116 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in June! 706
in 2010!
INTERVIEWS
Exclusive Interview With Creator of Sherwood Dungeon
http://www.tentonhammer.com/sherwood-dungeon/interview
Have
you ever wanted to make your own MMOG? Have you ever thought if only
you knew how to code you would make game that rocks? Few of us
really believe we could do something like that on our own, but for the
past 6 years, Gene Endrody has pursued the dream. He has painstakingly
single-handedly created his own free to play MMOG called Sherwood
Dungeon. Growing to over 1 million unique players per month, Gene has
shown how far one man with a dream and a little know how can climb. Ten
Ton Hammer recently sat down with Gene to discuss the success of
Sherwood Dungeon.
FEATURES & GUIDES
APB for Dummies - 10 Tips & Tricks to Help Get You
Started
http://www.tentonhammer.com/guides/apb/10-tips-for-noobs
In
most MMOGs it's very easy to tell how experienced a player is simply by
looking at them. As they gain skill and get better looking gear, and
you can usually tell exactly what level they are compared to you. APB
is a different animal all together. While there are levels, or Ranks in
the game, a new player skilled in first person shooters can
quickly
look like and compete with many veteran players. We've provided you
with 10 tips and tricks to help you separate yourself for the teaming
masses of noobs, and get your criminal or enforcer career off on the
right foot.
Flying The Ishkur In EVE
Online
http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/ships/flying_ishkur
Drones
are basically the best ships in EVE Online. Tech two resistances and
zooming around in a speedy little bastard of a ship are both close
seconds, though. Space Junkie offers this guide about the Ishkur, a
ship melding all of the attributes into one unholy gestalt from
mission-running hell.
StarCraft II - The Art of Fast Expanding
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/fast-expanding">http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/fast-expanding
It's
one thing to expand when you're prepared to and have a nice standing
army, but it's a whole new ball game when you're building an expansion
with nothing but workers making up your population! An early second
base can seal your opponent's demise essentially... so long as it's not
quickly crushed. We give you the tips and tricks needed to survive the
inevitable offense coming at your early expansion!
WoW Ruby Sanctum Guide
title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/instances/ruby-sanctum"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/instances/ruby-sanctum">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/instances/ruby-sanctum
With
the World of Warcraft 3.3.5 patch we see the release of another raid
instance for players to try and complete before the release of
Cataclysm. The new raid is designed in the same way as the Obsidian
Sanctum in that it hosts three mini bosses and one main dragon boss.
The fight is multi phased and challenging for anyone not kitted out
with Icecrown Citadel Gear. Luckily Byron "Messiah" Mudry is here to
walk you through to fights so that as soon as the raid goes live you
can get in there and grab some shiny new loot.
Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg
and
the Ten Ton Hammer team