Loading... The Call of Nature

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We all have to answer the call of nature sometimes, and it seemed like a good weekend to put E3 and a couple hectic weeks of MMO news and events behind me and head for the great outdoors. Little did I know that my outdoorsmanship rating has suffered a couple dozen minus points since my backpacking days. Adventures in faulty tick repellant, sleeping bag kayaking, and a little more insight into what's going on with DDO Unlimited in Europe round out today's Loading... The Call of Nature.

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 (UP 1) Aion (down 1) Age of Conan Guild Wars

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 today :

EVE Online (down 3 to #12) Champions Online (UP 16 to #11) Atlantica Online (UP 2 to #14) Recent MMO Releases 5/19 - Warrior Epic (launch date) 5/19 - Vanguard "Halls of Pantheon" (content patch) 6/12 - Neo Steam (release date) Upcoming Releases 8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date) 8/25 - Aion (release date) 9/1 - Champions Online (release date) Early 2010 - APB ?? - Jumpgate Evolution (release date)

Loading... Daily

Here's hoping you had as pleasant of a weekend as I did, a weekend of tent camping gloriously devoid of the Internet and its trappings. After getting set up in New Jersey's thin strip of Appalachia on Friday, we broke the outdoor mood a bit by finding a local hole-in-the-wall pub to watch Game 7 of the NHL finals. If you read this column regularly, you know that I'm a lifelong Pittsburgh fan. So when Crosby hoisted the cup, I bought a celebratory round for everyone in the place, both to cross that item off my bucket list and as my way of saying thank you for tuning out the subway rivalry heating up on the Yes network. The Mets were clearly the local favorite over the Yankees, and baseball the preferred sport since the NJ Devils were eliminated something like two months ago.

The fun persisted much longer than the beer buzz, and a plague of face-sucking dog ticks and mosquitoes didn't dampen the mood. A torrential rainstorm Saturday night and a leaky tent did. Well, not leaky, but cramped enough to make it physically impossible to move without touching the sides, therby opening yet another temporary conduit for freezing rainwater to pool on the tent floor before being sucked into the surprisingly absorbant sleeping bags. This in turn sucked our body heat away, leaving our wretched, shivering forms tussling for a dry spot in increasingly soaked sleeping bags and praying for an end to the rain or for the dawn's feebly warming light. I come from a family that prescribes mild deprivation as the antidote for all forms of depression, from that modern self-pitying ennui to the more sinister forms. My own bed at home never felt so cozy last night, so they might be on to something.

On to business. In our coverage of the Dungeons & Dragons Online Unlimited (DDOU) story last week, we noted that DDO will be going "freemium" with purchasable content areas and an item store. I intimated that one dark spot on this otherwise sunny notion was that Codemasters had no plans to bring a free-to-play version of DDOU to Europe at present. Codemasters in turn wrote us a note saying that should pry a little deeper, that the decision wasn't entirely their call. So we brought the matter to Turbine's Adam Mersky, and he responded with this:

"As in the past, we run our Closed Beta tests on our servers here in North America. As we progress through beta, we are continuing to work with our European partner to localize the content as we prepare to make it available to players in that territory. Players in Europe will get access to all of the new content including the new levels, class and dungeons and the service will continue to operate the way it does today. We will announce our plans to roll out the new business model globally at a later date."

So rest assured DDO Europe, whether or not you'll have a free-to-play option, neither Turbine nor Codemasters will leave you behind, and more news is coming soon. It's good news for us, too, our European viewers are some of the most active folks on our dev chats and hosted Q&A sessions and often come up with some great questions for the ever engaging Kate Paiz and company.

Have some camping tips, besides that I should save my beer money and buy a bigger tent? Are DDO players assuaged by Adam Mersky's comments? Your voice welcome in the Loading... forum, feel free to email me.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day


From our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer

Brad's got an itch!

That little itch could be...

Yep,
it's true. Brad McQuaid, one of the primary creative forces behind
EverQuest and Vanguard, is back. Or  at least his website, which
has been on hiatus since around the time of Vanguard's disastrous
launch, has returned, complete with Brad's photo and bio. The bio
concludes thusly:

Are
gamers ready to forgive Brad McQuaid for, if you find the rumors
credible, mismanaging Vanguard? Are they ready to hang their hopes on
another game that Brad McQuaid is involved in? I'm keeping most of my
opinions to myself on this one, but I invite you to share yours here.

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

"Maybe he can start a new MMO [with] Richard Garriott."


- AngryBeaver
==============================

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

5 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 75 in June! 712 in 2009!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

Features

Returning to Bind Point: Death Penalties in MMOs
(Now for standard as well as premium members) We’ve all experienced it at one point or another; that sinking feeling you get the first time you realize that you’re staring down on the ragdoll body formerly known as your character. Whether you bit off more than you could chew or simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time, nothing quite compares to the sudden realization that not only has your beloved character died, but that there are... consequences. But how much punishment is too much?Ten Ton Hammer contacted two of the leading developers in the current MMO space race; Noah “Hammerhead” Ward, lead game designer for EVE Online and Hermann Peterscheck, lead producer for NetDevil’s upcoming Jumpgate Evolution. Atlantica Online State of the Game - June 2009 Q&A
Atlantica Online is turn-based strategy MMO from NDOORS that combines combat with character and party development and city management. Players take on the quest to destroy the Oriharukon energy, a powerful sensor from Atlantis that is poisoning the world. Atlantica has spent most of the time at the top slot in Danny "Ralsu" Gourley's Top Ten Free MMOs list, and the title continues to grow its fan base. Ralsu recently had a chance to catch up with NDOORS Interactive CEO Peter Kang. Ralsu peppered him with questions about the past, present, and future of Atlantica. WoW: Death Knights, the New Huntards?
Back, way back, at the dawn of time, the dawn of the World of Warcraft’s time anyway, there were players and then there were Huntards. Just to be clear, not all Hunters were Huntards, just the vast majority. Then along came the Burning Crusade, and the reign of the Huntard continued. However, when the Wrath of the Lich King was released a strange thing happened. The Huntard faded into the background and the Deathtard (or Death Noob as they are sometimes called) was born and supplanted the Huntards place as the most numerous and annoying class on most servers. Our very own Byron "Messiah" Mudry looks at the Huntard and Deathtard to see what they are and what you can do to ensure you don't become one. Comic - Geeked: "The Instant He Blew It"
Ten Ton Hammer's very own satirical webcomic on all things geek-related is back with the thrilling conclusion of Bill's date with a member of the opposite sex. Okay, by thrilling I mean pathetic, but now we're just splitting hairs. Take a look! Champions Online Heroic Giveaway
When Ten Ton Hammer asked Premium Members which upcoming MMOs got them excited, Champions Online from Cryptic Studios was one of the top vote-getters. Now that we know how excited you are about Champions Online, we’ve prepared a giveaway to get some great Cryptic Studios prizes into your eager hands. In the Ten Ton Hammer Champions Online Heroic Giveaway, we have two prize packs: one for the gamer who likes to stay in the gaming cave, and one for the outdoor enthusiast.

Guides

Free Realms Wizard Guide - Levels 10 to 20
Free Realms has been taking the world by storm and now boasts over three million registered players! Those that are paying members have access to some of the coolest quests and classes in the game, including the Wizard. Learn how to find the Wizard trainer and become a master of the mystical arts with this essential guide!

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

E3 2009 Portal Paul Barnett Sums Up E3 2009 (video) Atlantica Online State of the Game - June 2009 Q&A Ten Ton Hammer's Gamer Girl of the Month for June 2009: Vikki Wong E3 2009: Dragon Age Preview Free Realms Wizard Guide - Levels 10 to 20 E3 2009: The Agency "Bergerbilder Estate" Preview Video Blizzcon Blitz 2009 Ticket Giveaway 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