by Jeff Woleslagle on Apr 24, 2009
Welcome to the 1,065th Edition of Loading...
Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
For many gamers, myself included, the best computer games are actually more like hobbies, and MMOs aside, no game is more hobby-like than a flight sim. The state of development in the flight sim category over the past 10 years bears striking resemblance to that of MMORPGs, and one flight sim might hold a key to the future of MMOs. Can you create a game that can be played two completely different ways, so the hardcore types get theirs and the casual gamers get just a little more than they're looking for? We celebrate the second anniversary of one MMORPG that seems to be on the right track in today's Loading... Of Flight Sims and Hobbits.
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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 for today:
World of Warcraft EverQuest 2 Age of Conan Warhammer Online Vanguard: Saga of HeroesBiggest Movers in the Top 20 today :
Ultima Online (down 3 to #16) Star Wars Galaxies (down 2 to #9) Lego Universe (UP 2 to #13)Loading... Daily
I'll admit to anyone that I'm a sufferer of Peter Pan syndrome, especially when it comes to games. But as I get older, I get pickier - the games I play have to teach me something. When playing solo just for fun I gravitate toward sims, because whether it's Civ4, Sid Meier's Railroads, Silent Hunter 4, or Lock On: Modern Air Combat, you're going to learn something about geo-politics, history, or how to lock in your AIM-4s by setting your TAR to vertical scan mode during a tight-twisting dogfight. Tower defense games, puzzlers, and platformers just don't do much for me anymore. In a word, I'm looking for a hobby, not just a game.
I was reading up on DCS: Black Shark, a Russian attack helicopter sim that's been getting excellent reviews, and one of the most interesting features of the game is that it can be played in either arcade mode or as a grittily in-depth sim. Now, realism scaling has always been part of flight sims, but what's amazing is that the developer / marketing tandem behind the DCS games realized that there's multiple stratas of gamer out there, and that you can make one game and appeal just about equally to two different types of gamer. Lots of MMOs say they do this - appeal to both the hardcore and casual gamer, the PvP and the PvE gamer - but how many actually pull it off?
Flight sims are an interesting case study for the MMORPG industry anyway, just because the flight sim genre has been suffering from the "WoW effect" since well before WoW was born. There's about one dominant title for each era of combat aircraft and innovation has come to a relative standstill. There's just nowhere to go accept "more accessible" (e.g. Tom Clancy's Hawx) and doing that has a fair chance of alienating your core audience. DCS's solution was to go after both the core and the casual audience, and unlike most other attempts, seems to have succeeded on both levels.
As we celebrate Lord of the Rings Online's second anniversary today, I want to point out that this is one MMO that's trying to appeal to multiple levels of gamer and is actually doing a pretty good job while staying within the purview of the lore. We're all aware of freeps vs. creeps and LotRO's steep storyline immersion, but LotRO's making strides to capture the average MMO'er as well. We all made fun of the WAR's red circles last year but like it or not, guiding players to the next quest objective is now a prevalent feature in today's MMORPGs. LotRO might be the first MMO to have formally integrated this "objective arrow" into the default UI, instead of as a third-party addon. But, if you prefer to use your innate hobbit powers, you can always turn it off.
But that's just the tip of the LotRO second anniversary iceberg of goodness. Last night in Loading... Live, Senior Producer Jeffrey Steefel revealed that in Volume 2 Book 8, even though the job's not done in Moria, we'll also be going east (as the Ring inches southward) to assault Sauron's grand and incredibly evil pre-Mordor stronghold, Don Guldur, in southern Mirkwood. We also learned that small party instances are going to become a bigger part of the game with the new Skirmishes concept, which will dynamically react to your party makeup and actually allow you to command customizable soldiers in new instances. Much to the consternation of the audience last night, Jeffrey also announced that there will be a level cap raise this year, noting that Turbine has learned a great deal about how to introduce new levels in the wake of Mines of Moria.
And, though we're getting zero advertising consideration for this (just a bargain-wise FYI) now's a great time to check out LotRO with new anniversary pricing and a free week of play from today through April 30th. Prices include a special box cost ($9.99 - includes MoM and all updates and goodies) and, if you sign up, a $9.99 monthly subscription for as long as you keep it current.
What are your impressions of the LotRO 2nd Anniversary announcements? Do any combat flight sim fans think that the comparison of post-WoW MMOs to post-LOMAC flight sims is valid? You have the ball in the Loading... forum, or send me an email!
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day5 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 120 in April! 507 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Loading... Live #13 Vooncast - DDO Module 9 Dev Chat with Kate PaizReal World News
Sword-waving ninja attempts to rob dry cleaning storeThanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team