by Jeff Woleslagle on Jun 17, 2009
Welcome to the 1,102nd Edition of Loading...
Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer. It takes about 10 seconds to have this newsletter sent straight to your inbox if you aren't already receiving it.
Two landmark patches went live yesterday for Warhammer Online and EverQuest 2. While both featured exciting new content and GU 52 in particular boasts a number of fixes, it was one of the small-print features from the patches that captured my imagination. A look at the patches and the iPhone 3.0 update, plus The Mittani delivers the latest good news for Goonswarm in EVE Online's Great War in this week's Sins of a Solar Spymaster and much more in today's Loading... Three Patch Day.
Coyote comes at you daily with his trademark wit and off-color wisdom in It's All Geek to Me. Today's topic: Top 5 Video Game Weapons, EVER.
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 Aion Age of Conan Champions Online (UP 5!)Biggest Movers in the Top 20 in the last seven days:
Torchlight (UP 48 to #18) Champions Online (UP 16 to #9) Star Wars: The Old Republic (down 9 to #11) Recent MMO Releases 5/19 - Warrior Epic (launch date) 5/19 - Vanguard "Halls of Pantheon" (patch) 6/12 - Neo Steam (release date) 6/16 - EverQuest 2 GU 52 (patch) 6/16 - WAR 1.3 "Rise of the Tomb Kings" (patch) Upcoming Releases 8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date) 9/1 - Aion (release date) 9/1 - Champions Online (release date) Early 2010 - APBLoading... Daily
Into every MMO a little patch must fall, but fortunately this week's patches have been long on content and short on nerf. Two major patches went live yesterday, WAR 1.3 "Rise of the Tomb Kings" and EverQuest 2 Game Update 52. Once WAR players build some airships and gain resource points (everyone can help), they'll unlock a flight route to the Land of the Dead for level 25 and up players, featuring 18 new level-up Public Quests that unlock a challeniging, loot-filled Tomb of theVulture King for level 40 players.
The EQ2 patch also has its share of tough yet rewarding level-cap content but also boasts some nifty extras - research assistants, a performance-boosting way to handle shadows by moving this processor-drain to the GPU (something a lot of games should be exploring), and persistent blank "user books" which you can write in and sell or trade.
Personally, out of all this goodness, the idea of user books captures my imagination the most. Not only is it blindingly simple to implement and something you could only do in an MMORPG, it's a lore-appropriate way to store and even monetize your experiences. Maybe you publish a book on a way your guild has discovered to beat a boss and make it required reading for new recruits. Or you sell a list of out of the way places to see in Norrath. If there's a way for paid duplication of your book, you could sell multiple copies, and maybe make some kind of Norrathian bestseller list. You and your guild could buy copies in bulk and artificially inflate the numbers, just like with certain other bestseller lists. Art imitating life.
Happy iPhone 3.0 day for those who are celebrating too. How sweet it will finally be to stop hearing it from the Blackberry types about the lack of a landscape keyboard, copy/paste, and MMS.
Are user books as cool as I think they are, or are players too habituated to using the Web for their mental flushings? Have your say in the Loading forum, or feel free to email me.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day
From our WoW: General Discussion Forum
Mountain Dew Game Fuel
Careful, kids! It rots your teeth.
We're
talking about Mountain Dew Game Fuel in this epic thread. More
specifically, we're talking about the YouTube video of the commercial
(follow the link in the thread to find out why the thread's in our WoW
forum and not our general gaming forum).
Has Mountain Dew done gamers justice, or just made us look bad? Chug some, then weigh in! (But run a few laps around the block first; that stuff's loaded with calories.)
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Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread
"I died a little inside."
- Koshira
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Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!
6 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 83 in June! 720 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today
Features
EVE Online: Sins of a Solar Spymaster #15: A History of the Second Great War, Part TwoGuides
WoW - Druid Healing After Patch 3.1Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
EVE Online: Sins of a Solar Spymaster #15: A History of the Second Great War, Part Two Champions Online Power Interview #3 - Fire, Ice and Electricity WoW - Boss Guide: Malygos E3 2009 Portal Paul Barnett Sums Up E3 2009 (video) Ether Saga Online: Launch Update Preview Atlantica Online State of the Game - June 2009 Q&A E3 2009: The Agency "Bergerbilder Estate" Preview Video Blizzcon Blitz 2009 Ticket Giveaway Final Fantasy XIV at E3 2009Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team