Welcome to the 931st Edition of Loading...
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Daily Column
Loading... your first 'ding' of the day.
First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry. World of Warcraft wrested the top spot from Warhammer Online for the first time since before WAR's launch. In addition to some great new Wrath of the Lich King content, we and everyone else seem to be gearing up for BlizzCon later this week. Lord of the Rings climbed to number 4 on the strength of Cody Bye's latest exclusive Mines of Moria video.
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?)
- World of Warcraft
- Warhammer Online
- Age of Conan
- Lord of the Rings Online
- Tabula Rasa
- EVE Online
- Stargate Worlds
- Atlantica
- EverQuest II
- Dungeon Runners
There's an old rumor about Blizzard dating from the pre-Warcraft I days, the early nineties, that goes something like this. Either Blizzard briefly held and lost the Warhammer Fantasy license, or the folks at Blizzard tried to get the Warhammer license from Games Workshop to develop a game, and GW said "no sale." Depending on the version of this modern-day folktale, you might also hear that Blizzard developed the Warcraft series in spite and that's why orcs are green in Warhammer and Warcraft instead of a more traditional Tolkienesque gray like you'd find in, say, EverQuest.
Whatever the truth (and if you can find something official supporting or denouncing these rumors, I'd like to see it - we're dealing with Internet pre-history here), it's safe to say that there's plenty of room for potential overlap between WAR and WoW.
In playing WAR, I was encouraged by the fact that the game doesn't really come alive for you until you fall in with a group and start winnowing away at public quests, scenarios, and RvR objectives. It's not as fun to solo in WAR as in WoW not necessarily because of fewer quests or less things to do, but because you can level faster and have more fun pulling your weight in RvR. Its the first game I've played in a long time that doesn't feel "massively single player" through the low and mid-levels.
Given the continuing drive and vision to make WoW the pan-MMORPG (first - forgivably - with a laundry list of features taken from previous MMORPGs, then with AoC's siege engines in Wrath of the Lich King, now with WAR's RvR features), I guess it's no surprise that Blizzard wants to copy some of these distinctive WAR elements. From WoW Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan:
"We're also planning on improving some Battleground and PvP features in general. For example, we want to give you the ability to queue for Battlegrounds from anywhere in the world. We're also going to explore EXP gain through the PvP system as well as low level itemization to support that."
Thankfully, public quests - even with all their current flaws - are a project on too massive a scale to be integrated into this generation of MMOGs. And the truly enveloping feel of Order vs. Destruction is still something I never got with Alliance and Horde, but then again I never really played WoW for PvP.
Fortunately, our WAR lead writer RadarX predicts that WAR will continue to innovate, but at the risk of starting yet another WoW vs. WAR thread, can the two successfully coexist as they stand? How often can WoW borrow from other games without losing its authenticity? Hit the Loading... forums and have your say.
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To go along with our WAR Atlas and Guide Review, we have three of these atlas / guide bundles to give away to our Loading... community thanks to the folks at Prima Games. You might recall that much of the large-scale multiplayer work on these guides was done by our friends at The Syndicate. If you'd like one, just email me today . I'll toss your names in a hat, choose three, and send them out this week!
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Ten Ton Hammer Epic Thread of the Day
Sometimes they're funny; sometimes they're foolish; sometimes they're flaming;
sometimes they're cool. Whatever this one happens to be, it's
our Epic Thread of the Day.
====================
From our WAR: General Discussion Forum
PunkBuster
As
this is Warhammer Online, a massive PvP/RvR/PvE MMOG, and could blow
your mind straight out, you've gotta ask yourself, "Do I feel lucky?"
Well, do ya, punk?
PunkBuster, a third-party anti-cheating
program used in many MMOGs including Warhammer Online, may not have
much in common with Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry persona other than
busting punks. But there's still a lively discussion of the former
going on in our Warhammer Online General Discussion forum.
Is a program that scans your computer's memory to make certain you're
behaving a good cop or just another thug? Head over to our forum and
share your opinion.
Awesome Quote from the Epic Thread:
"Who cares? I mean seriously if Mythic wants a record of my crazy pron fetishes then they are pretty courageous."
- Spare
====================
Do you have a favorite Epic Thread? Let us know!
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11 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 78 in October! 2574 in 2008!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Images/Video
- World of Warcraft: WotLK - The Violet Hold Gallery
- Zu Online: Area Occupation Event Screenshots
- Knight Online: Expansion Lore and New Screenshots
Features
Reviews
Interviews
Op/Eds
- Warhammer Online: Future WAR - What's Next?
- World of Warcraft: Is Nerfing Raid Content Really a Good Thing?
Guides
- Age of Conan: Thunder River Prison Colony Quest Guide
- Age of Conan: Dark Templar Group Tank Preset Feat Build
- Age of Conan: Dark Templar Preset Solo Feat Build
Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
- Age of Conan: Behind the Scenes with the Official Soundtrack
- Warhammer Online: Strategy Guide and Atlas Bundle
- World of Warcraft: Is WotLK Content in Patch 3.0 a Good Thing?
- Age of Conan: Game Designer Craig 'Silirrion' Morrison
- Stargate Worlds: Date Announcement!
- Champions Online: Dev Q&A with Daniel Stahl
- Otherland: Q&A with Sr. Producer Kevin Buckner
- Jeff Lyndon: An Interview with an Ex-Gold Farm Operator
Real World News
-
Man shoots himself in arm after being denied sex [Courtesy of Matt N.!]
Not very wise, since now his arm is denying him sex, as well -
Lingerie model found guilty of 'bra-bery' [Courtesy of Matt N.!]
Defence claimed she was part of a sting operation, as she was wearing an underwire -
Man breaks into house, fondles woman's buttocks
Suspect in custody, but still says he feels cheeky
Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com.
- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer Team
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.
