by Jeff Woleslagle on Feb 25, 2009
Welcome to the 1,023rd Edition of Loading...
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The Pulse
First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Hammer Pulse (What is Pulse?). Here's the top 5 MMORPGs today:
World of Warcraft (down 1) EverQuest 2 Age of Conan (UP 5) Warhammer Online (UP 1) Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (UP 1)Here are the biggest movers in the Top 20 today:
Lineage (UP 12 to #15) Star Trek Online (UP 7 to #15) Star Wars: The Old Republic (UP 6 to #12)Loading... Daily
Loading... more fun than a celebrity deathmatch between Richard Simmons and, well, anyone.
Every time I write more than a sentence about World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online, I get at least five emails saying that game X is the most polished, most complete, best MMO experience out there and I should write about it. This particular column is especially for the authors of those emails.
Seeing the latest on City of Heroes has put me in a nostalgic mood. The franchise that phallic-minded folks are prone to abbreviate CoX was the fifth MMO I played, after my sometime girlfriend left me for a big swinging CoX account. I tried not to feel inadequate.
City of Heroes is one member of the five-year club not content to live in its past, and I spent all day Tuesday learning about the franchise's future. From a skeleton crew at Cryptic to a talent-infused live team of over 30 devs at NCSoft, City of Heroes is growing as newer and far more hyped MMOs are dying. And NCSoft is giving the game its due. More on that tomorrow when the embargo drops.
Older MMOs are no doubt harder to get into. During the hands-on period for City of Heroes, I spent a full minute trying to figure out how to invert the mouse - the escape key doesn't bring up the game options like in just about every other 3D game known to man. Instead, you click Menu on the game's crowded interface. It's one of those small things that a long time player and developer would never notice that nonetheless frustrates the crap out of new players.
Older MMOs made no effort whatsoever to disguise the grind, either. Today's MMOs attempt to offer two units of reward for one unit of effort (achievements, titles, public quests, randomly awesome loot from unnamed mobs - all of these are attempts to double up the carrot on a stick), for older games it was straight xp and maybe a quest if you're lucky.
Yet for all that sweat equity - for the hours spent camping mobs, recovering your corpse, waiting for the boat, each and every time sink - if you stuck with the game and looked for it, you were rewarded with something of inestimable value: a community that cared about you beyond your level and equipment. My in-game community made my last day in EverQuest one of my saddest ever. By the same token, my last day in EverQuest 2 (playing with any seriousness) was a happy one, such was the snarling, drama-wracked state of my server community in that game. I still keep in occasional contact with friends from both games, but only one left me feeling a little homesick.
What do you think - is it more gratifying to sweat your way through an older MMO with an established community or fly through the first sixty levels of an MMO which has no real spontaneous sense of community to speak of? Share your thoughts in the Loading... forum, or feel free to email me.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of6 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 114 in February! 250 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Reviews
NostalePreviews
Jumpgate Evolution: Hands-on Report - In the Eyes of a Veteran Darkfall: Hands-on Report - The Rise of the Ninja (Looter)Features
The Comic Book Guy: Are Pirate MMOGs in Davy Jones' Locker?Community
Geeked: "Mainstream"Guides
World of Warcraft: Soloing the Mage, Lvl 41-60Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
Nostale Jumpgate Evolution: Hands-on Report - In the Eyes of a Veteran Darkfall: Hands-on Report - The Rise of the Ninja (Looter) The Comic Book Guy: Are Pirate MMOGs in Davy Jones' Locker? Geeked: "Mainstream" Lineage: Re-entering the West Atlas Online: Unveiling Neo Steam Loading... Live Episode 5 - NY ComicCon Wrap-up Premium Content: NY ComicCon Panel Downloads (Video and mp3) Age of Conan: Game Director Craig MorrisonReal World News
"Tasers save lives"Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team