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is the premier daily
MMOG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Welcome
to the 1,351st
edition
of Loading...

Two games made our news headlines today, Jumpgate Evoluation
and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, but both for different reasons. One is
reinventing itself during its development phase, and preparing to break
out a can of space-themed whoopass at E3 next week. The other announced
a merge down to one server, and appears to be content riding off into
the sunset. We talk about them both in today's href="http://tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/june/9">Loading...
Full Revival or Merely Survival?

The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse (What
is The Pulse?).

Today's top 5 Pulse results:

1. World
   of Warcraft
2. The
   Lord of the Rings Online (UP 5)
3. EverQuest
   2
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
   Online (UP 2)
5. Age
   of Conan

Biggest
movers this week:

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/52">Pirates
   of the Burning Sea
   
   (UP 39 to #19)
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/42">Star
   Wars Galaxies (UP 35 to #11)
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">All
   Points Bulletin (UP 16 to #18) style="text-decoration: underline;">
   
   

• 5/1
  - href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_17/issue_17_overview.html?utm_source=COHemail&utm_medium=US&utm_campaign=banner"
  target="_blank">City
  of Heroes - Issue 17: Dark Mirror
  (content
  update)
• 5/11
  - Age
  of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer
  (expansion)
• 5/26
  - EVE
  Online: Tyrannis
  (expansion)
• 5/27
  - Craft
  of Gods
  (release)

• June
  9,
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1004"
  target="_blank">Mortal
  Online (release)
• June
  29,
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998"
  target="_blank">APB
  (US release- July 2 in UK, EU)
• July
  13, 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801"
  target="_blank">Mytheon
  (release)
  
  
• July
  20,
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2461"
  target="_blank">Need
  for Speed World (release)
• TBA
  2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079"
  target="_blank">Final
  Fantasy XIV
  
  
  
  

Upcoming
Events

• style="font-weight: bold;">6/15 -
  6/17 - target="_blank">E3
  Expo
• style="font-weight: bold;">6/25 -
  6/27 - target="_blank">Looking
  for Group
  Expo
• style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
  7/25 - target="_blank">Comic-Con
  International
• style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
  8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/" target="_blank">SOE
  Fan Faire 2010
• style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
  9/6 - target="_blank">DragonCon
• style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
  10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y" target="_blank">BlizzCon
• style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
  -
  3/26 (2011)- target="_blank">CCP
  FanFest
  
  
  

Loading... Daily

When it comes to MMOG news, Ten Ton Hammer’s Stacy “Martuk” Jones gets
and delivers the goods. And occasionally he gets flamed by people who
don’t like said news, but the asbestos Underoos came with his Job
Security Package, so he’s good. (Remember, don’t kill the messenger,
folks!) Stacy delivered two juicy tidbits for me to dice up and serve
to you in today’s Loading….



First up, Jumpgate
Evolution news. This space-themed game, which has
oft been referred to as EVE Lite, has held player interest for a long
time. But perhaps not quite long enough to endure its sudden and
lengthy descent into radio silence. For quite some time we've heard
next to nothing about the game, and then NetDevil announced that JGE
would be shown at E3, coming up next week, leaving players anxious for
an update. Yesterday, JGE’s Executive Producer, Lance Robertson, href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51743">broke
the silence and addressed the community. He told us
that the original plan for JGE had been to update its predecessor,
Jumpgate, for a modern audience. But early friends and family testing
revealed problems. “Jumpgate Evolution’s modern ambitions exceeded
Jumpgate’s old-school capabilities,” he said, “and we knew we were not
as close to launch as we needed to be.”



He continues, saying, “That is when the team made the crucial decision
to completely overhaul JGE’s game systems, while also refocusing
specifically on the game play experience we wanted to make: space
warfare on a massive scale.”



It was a tough call NetDevil made--surely a dramatic
time in their development process--but I have to give them kudos for
realizing that what they’d done so far wasn’t working, and wasn’t going
to work, and for having the courage to scrap everything that fell short
of their goals and begin again. Announcements like this should renew
any gamer’s faith in the industry. There are developers out there who
make a quality gaming experience for players their number one priority,
(or at least keep it on par with their financial bottom line, since no
game has unlimited financial resources.)



On the other end of the spectrum, we have SOE’s announcement yesterday
that Vanguard:
Saga of Heroes will be merging down to a single
server. This announcement was not a surprise, since server mergers were
mentioned with some degree of foreboding early this year in an href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=48620">announcement
by Lead Designer Salim “Silius” Grant, which also detailed the scaling
back of content plans including dropping the development of an
Alternate Advancement system and a number of anticipated raid zones.
The general consensus of the gaming community after this announcement
was that Vanguard had been put on life support, although the faithful
still clung to the hope that it could be saved if SOE showed some
renewed interest and support. But if renewed interest is what we
wanted, it surely isn’t what we got. Yesterday's announcement of
Vanguard’s server merger seems like, at best, an admission of surrender
and, at worst, amounts to pulling the plug and leaving the patient to
slowly fade away.



I’m struck by the contrasts here. Yes, one game is in pre-launch, where
it’s easier (though surely not easy overall) to change directions and
pull off a major revamp. The other launched with nearly crippling
performance issues resulting in bad to mixed reviews and a player base
that vanished faster than Houdini doing his famous Water Torture Cell
escape. (Because playing Vanguard in those early days was tantamount to
torture, with lag, rubber banding and hitching being the rule rather
than the exception.)



But Vanguard coulda been a contender. I still believe this. The game is
solid at its core. The quests are engaging, the visuals are appealing,
the music and sound are often remembered as some of the best, combat is
interesting and the world is vast, diverse, and beautiful. A few
Loadings… ago I stated that if SOE would take the time to pour some
money into finding a way to monetize Vanguard as a free-to-play
game--following in the footsteps Turbine trod when they went
free-to-play with Dungeons
& Dragons Online and, just recently,
announced that the same conversion is in store for href="http://tentonhammer.com/lotro">The Lord of the Rings
Online--they would likely revitalize the game. Instead, SOE
appears to have all but abandoned yet another promising title.



Perhaps SOE is pouring its energies behind the scenes into the rumored href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts/list.m?topic_id=154451">EverQuest
Next which, if you believe the speculation, is the
next iteration of EverQuest complete with a console angle. Whatever the
case may be, SOE is surely directing resources into projects other than
rejuvenating Vanguard, despite Vanguard’s potential and despite the
fact that the bugs and performance issues that plagued its launch are
now mostly just bad memories. I believe that SOE’s approach is hurting
player morale. I’d love to see them refocus and stop trying to milk
every last drop out of the games that are part of href="http://station-access.station.sony.com/">Station Access.



Are you eager to see what Jumpgate Evolution has in store when NetDevil
reveals its better, faster, stronger new platform at E3? What are your
hopes for Vanguard? Should it go free-to-play, go sailing off
gracefully into the sunset, or just plain go away?  href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51759">Discuss
it in the Loading… forum.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day

From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3">Tavern
of the Ten Ton Hammer forum



Does
anyone play MMOGs using a smartphone?



Do
you have experience playing MMOGs via your smartphone with a mobile hot
spot? Dangrel wants to know, and he has a few questions. Here's his
dilemma:



"I moved a while ago to an area where I'm not able to get broadband
internet," he says. "My only option is to buy a smartphone with a
mobile hotspot and connect it to my computer. The only thing that's
stopped me so far is I don't know how much data online gaming uses up.
I'm with Verizon right now and their biggest data package is 5 gb a
month. Can anybody give me a rough estimate of how much gaming time
that would equal? Life without MMO's makes me sad."



It would make us sad, too, Dangrel. Let's see if we can help. Anyone? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51754">Give
advice!



==============================

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread



"I
would avoid gaming on any plan that has a maximum monthly data package.
I had this issue living in the wastelands for some time a couple years
back."



- OneEyeRed

==============================



Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!

New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

4 new Ten Ton Hammer
articles today! 30 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in June! 620
in 2010!

INTERVIEWS



HOT! MMOtoring
Along - A Need for Speed World Q&A with EA Black Box

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/nfsw/interviews/gaudechon-jun-2010">http://www.tentonhammer.com/nfsw/interviews/gaudechon-jun-2010



The
staff at Ten Ton Hammer has always secretly longed to be world-class
race car drivers who thumb their noses not only at their rivals, but
also the police who dare to stop their urban racing exploits.
Naturally, when we heard that the Need for Speed franchise was racing
their way into the MMOG market with Need for Speed World, we knew that
we had to get more details. To that end, we managed to corner
Jean-Charles Gaudechon, lead producer for Need for Speed World, and
Dana Sissons, Public Relations, in their garage after sabotaging
Jean-Charles’ Porsche in order to get some answers.



FEATURES & GUIDES



StarCraft II - The Art of Expanding

http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/expanding



Time
and time again, StarCraft II players trip up when it comes to
expanding. Whether it be too early, too late, or when a massive force
is waiting to welcome their worker, expansions determine the outcome to
the game. Getting that income edge is one way to victory in StarCraft
II, and this guide was built from scratch to help you expand at the
right time and in the right place!



STO: Looking Ahead to Season Two

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/editorials/looking-ahead-to-season-two">http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/editorials/looking-ahead-to-season-two



With
season two of Star Trek Online rapidly approaching, players are
anxiously waiting to see how the new content will shape up. To that
end, Jeffprime examines some of the announced additions to STO and
considers how these additions will enhance the gaming experience. Warp
speed ahead!



Measure Twice, Cut Once – Double Checking Your Character in WoW

http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/doublecheck



There
is an old carpenters' saying that goes, “Measure twice, cut
once.” Byron “Messiah” Mudry looks at how this simple motto,
in
praise of double checking things, can apply in World of
Warcraft. 
If you have ever been caught in a talent build you shouldn’t be using,
or wearing the wrong gear, or any number of other embarrassing
situations this guide is for you. Even if it has never
happened to
you, maybe your turn is coming and checking out the most common
mistakes will help you avoid them.

Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/nfsw/interviews/gaudechon-jun-2010">MMOtoring
   Along - A Need for Speed World Q&A with EA
   Black Box
2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/features/editorials/recent-gameplay-reveals">Analysis
   of Recent Guild Wars 2 Gameplay Reveals
3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/reviews/machinima/whos-the-tank">WoW
   Machinima: Who's the Tank?
4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/business/optimize">Four
   Tips For Optimizing Your Business In EVE Online
5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/alpha-protocol">Alpha
   Protocol (PC) Review
6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/editorials/looking-ahead-to-season-two">STO:
   Looking Ahead to Season Two
   
7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/fallenearth/devdiaries/fast-travel">Fallen
   Earth – Limited Fast Travel
8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/doublecheck">Measure
   Twice, Cut Once – Double Checking Your Character in WoW
   
9. target="_blank">Ten
   Ton Hammer Live Ep. 9 - TERA's
   Sam Kim and Matt
   Atwood
10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/apb/impressions/community-day-2010"
    target="_blank">APB
    Community Day Q&A and Hands-On Impressions

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg and
the Ten Ton Hammer team