by Jeff Woleslagle on Mar 31, 2009
Welcome to the 1,047th Edition of Loading...
In this issue, we get our first look at Huxley gameplay and share some first impressions. Also, two Ten Ton Hammer exclusive interviews were posted today: an open beta Q&A with Champions Online's Bill Roper and a ship customization & bridge officer interview with Star Trek Online's Craig Zinkievich. We'll sum up our thoughts on these two must-read interview and invite you to comment, plus link you to new Atlantica Online and WoW guides, a new epic thread, and real world news you won't believe in Loading... The Good Ship Pwnage!
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 Warhammer Online (UP 1) EverQuest 2 (down 1)And here are the biggest movers in the Top 20 today:
Champions Online (UP 4 to #9) Darkfall (down 3 to #13) Lineage 2 (UP 2 to 15)Loading... Daily
Loading... our content is green-grocer fresh, it's our readers who are spoiled.
Apologies to those who haven't been receiving Loading... regularly. We've fed the squirrels powering the mail server and our tech team reports they're looking much more spry, so this Loading should arrive as planned.
In yesterday's Loading I mentioned that crafting in Fallen Earth might be the most exciting thing I've seen come out of a disappointing GDC 2009 yet. IGN Vault's first look at Huxley gameplay proved me wrong. Huxley, like Global Agenda and APB, belongs to that cadre of present day or near-future shoot 'em up MMOs that has a lot of promise for online FPS fans. From what we can see and hear, Huxley has a sort of X-Men appeal to it, with Dr. Huxley as a sort of neutral and currently AWOL Professor Xavier. The Main Street Disneyland-inspired setting has me wondering, though. Who takes the streetcar to work when there are jet-powered motorcycle mounts to be had? I'll let you watch the video and draw your own conclusions.
We have two brief exclusive interviews right here at Ten Ton Hammer that are well worth a read: a beta interview with Champions Online's Bill Roper and a bridge officer & ship customization Q&A with Star Trek Online's Craig Zinkievich. CO is on the cusp of open beta - the very cusp, I say - of open beta, and Bill shares his thoughts on how to conduct a successful beta and open beta to get the difficulty of the content, the fun and challenge, just right. Like many of you who wrote me after the poaching Loading..., Bill feels that there was zero wrongdoing when Cryptic went after beta testers using the City of Heroes official boards. And will Champions Online be the first MMO to implement one of the most notable innovations of Warhammer Online - public quests? Will they admit to filching PQs? Yep, but read on.
Our GDC 2009 Star Trek Online Q&A is one of those interviews that as you read, you can just feel the excitement building. I'll confess that I get inordinate jollies out of managing ship's crew and ship loadouts in the slender assortment of games where it's possible. On the loadout side, certainly EVE Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea qualify, but the prime example for me is Silent Hunter 3 & 4. It's not like those sub crews have personalities or dialogue trees. But when you have time to dive and instead try to duke it out with a Kate bomber on the surface and one of your AA guys gets strafed and killed, it's a much more immersive touch to see that crew member grayed out on the crew management screen and see that your Bofors gun loading 50% slower rather than, say, seeing your crew strength bar tick down by one and the penalty effect applied ship wide. Or maybe that same gunner was an expert marksmen and you based your decision not to dive on the fact that he routinely takes planes out before they're in skip bombing range - chalk up one more flying meatball for the conning tower.
Bridge officers seem to have that kind of effect on ship function, decision-making, and tactics, and Craig goes into detail on the interplay between you and your bridge officers in this Q&A. Apart from your crew, Cryptic has long been known as the company that gives you just about all the cosmetic customization options you could ever want at the very beginning. STO will be no exception, but as Craig notes, your Galaxy class may have a unique look, but will still have the silhouette of a Galaxy class no matter what you do. Craig also speaks to the death penalty for ships and crews for (I believe) the first time ever in this interview, too, so have a look!
Those of you that are into vehicular styled MMOs, what are your thoughts about ship and crew management? Are you a micromanaging min-maxer like me, or will your starship have one of those "Get in, sit down, shut up, and hang on!" bumper stickers? Share your thoughts in the Loading... forum, or feel free to email me.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day5 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 127 in March! 387 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Exclusive Star Trek Online Interview with Craig Zinkievich - Ships and the Impact of Bridge OfficersHot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
Paul Barnett's GDC Blog #3 - Elvis is in the GDC Ether Saga Dev Diary #2 - The Quests Sins of a Solar Spymaster #5: How to Infiltrate a Hostile Alliance geeked: "Paul Sitting" Warhammer Online: Paul Barnett's GDC Blog # 2 - WAR Pants Beginner's Look at Darkfall - Or, How to Get Ganked Vanguard: State of the Game World of Warcraft Comic: Gooob & Begud - "May Cause Leakage" Exclusive Game Update Q&A with Aion's Brian Knox from GDC 2009 Exclusive Interview with EverQuest 2's Ryan FavaleReal World News
Police return suicidal man's belongings to his widow - package includes the hanging ropeThanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team