by Jeff Woleslagle on Nov 04, 2008
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The Pulse
First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse.
World of Warcraft Warhammer Online Age of Conan Star Wars: The Old Republic EVE Online City of Villains (UP 4) City of Heroes (UP 1) EverQuest 2 (UP 9) Tabula Rasa (down 2) Chronicles of Spellborn (UP 22)Top 20 Biggest Movers - Daily
The Chronicles of Spellborn (UP 22 to no. 10, top article: ) EverQuest 2 (UP 9 to no. 8, top article: Coyote's Shadow Odyssey Expansion Preview) Stargate Worlds (down 6 to no. 12)If the Top 10 isn't enough, we also show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)
Daily Column
Loading... the only real choice for change.
Tonight America will elect a man that will single-handedly solve our nation's problems. Where's the holiday event for Election Day, developers? You could make November 4th a patch day, promise a laundry list of improvements, then deliver on next to none of them. Or have a PvP quest where you take turns planting your faction leader's campaign placards and ripping up signs from the opposing side. Or maybe your gameplay experience could be interrupted every 5-10 minutes with attack ads from both sides, paid for primarily by donations from bankrupt players. Or maybe party hardliners on both sides could be turned into the zombies they already are, or maybe we've had enough zombies recently.
Either way, election day is way more fun than Halloween, except for the real world consequences and all. And while we're on the subject of promises and consquences, Messiah (one of our talented WoW CMs) wrote a fine article explaining and editorializing on the recent patch woes in World of Warcraft, a game that's had its share of patches gone wrong to some degree. Whether you're dealing with a game or a country, fixing what's wrong without breaking what's right is the real challenge. Has WoW answered the call in a timely manner, or are Blizzard's fixes too little too late? Read the article and click through to the forums to share your opinion.
Speaking of Blizzard, former Blizzard exec Bill Roper has joined forces with Cryptic Studios. If you've enjoyed any of Blizzard's three franchises before 2004, you've likely benefitted from Roper's design know-how and even heard Roper's voice, as I understand he did some voiceover work as well. To date he's probably known best for driving Flagship Studios (Hellgate: London, Mythos) aground financially, but hopefully his work at Cryptic's ambitious, newly revamped Los Gatos studios will help redeem a very worthy reputation.
And finally, for some November change that you really can believe in, EverQuest 2 will celebrate its 4th birthday later this month with its fifth expansion (8th if you count adventure packs), The Shadow Odyssey. Ten Ton Hammer's own pretty, pretty Princess, Coyote Sharptongue, was on-hand for a recent press tour of the expansion, and he shares his impressions in a very entertaining EQ2 Shadow Odyssey preview. With unicorns and poop jokes, I don't think there's anything I can add beyond what Coyote's written, so check it out!
Vote early, vote often, post your thoughts in the Loading... forum, and email me if you like.
Ten Ton Hammer Epic Thread of the Day6 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 18 in November! 2815 in 2008!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Images/Video
Chronicles of Spellborn: Audioscapes Video EverQuest 2: Shadow Odyssey Screenshots - A Shot of Evil JuicePreviews
EverQuest 2: Shadow Odyssey Tour - Doing it Coyote StyleInterviews
Fusion Fall: Interview with Matthew SchwartzOp/Eds
World of Warcraft: Did Blizzard Address Patch Issues Well Enough? Age of Conan: Playing on the Test Server - Making Friends and Influencing PeopleHot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
Fusion Fall: Interview with Matthew Schwartz World of Warcraft: Did Blizzard Address Patch Issues Well Enough? Age of Conan: Playing on the Test Server - Making Friends and Influencing People Perfect World: Exclusive International Interview - Raising the Bar Age of Conan: Community Coordinator Wayne 'Yakomo' Soong WAR Torn: Issue #11 - The Dress Code Warhammer Online: Holiday Content - A Challenging Necessity Vanguard: Dalmarus' Chronicles - All Good Things... Regnum Online: Attack of the Skinny SmurfsReal World News
Flowers and tributes left for dead chicken [Courtesy of Tristan M.]Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer Team