Welcome
to the 1,259th
edition
of Loading...

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

After
the relatively slow year for gaming in general last year, things are
definitely starting to heat up in 2010. This week the betas for href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto">Star
Trek Online

and href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
Agenda

wrapped up, with both
titles'
early start programs set to kick off this Friday. Not only that, but
the second installment of BioWare's Mass
Effect
trilogy was unleashed
on
Tuesday,
making this one of the more eventful weeks for RPG fans in
recent memory. We'll
take a look at these three sides of the
sci-fi coin and more today in Loading... Beam Me Up for some
Conquest, Shepard.

cellspacing="0" width="100%">

The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
    of Warcraft
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve">EVE
    Online
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest 2
  4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo">Dungeons and
    Dragons Online
  5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto">Star Trek
    Online

Biggest
movers today
:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/34">City
    of Villains (UP 12 to #15)
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/287">Free
    Realms (UP 7 to #19)
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">EverQuest
    (UP 6 to #9)
size="-1">Recent Releases
  • size="-1">10/8
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2129">Cities
    XL (release date)
  • size="-1">11/3
    - Dragon
    Age:
    Origins
    (release date)
  • size="-1">11/10
    - Final
    Fantasy
    XI Ultimate
    Collection
    (release date)
  • size="-1">12/1
    - href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/464-answer-the-call-of-war">LotRO:
    Siege of Mirkwood (expansion)
  • size="-1">12/1
    - href="http://www.eveonline.com/Dominion/">EVE
    Online: Dominion (expansion)
  • size="-1">12/2
    - DOFUS
    2.0

    (update)
  • size="-1">12/15
    - href="http://everquest.station.sony.com/everquest.vm">EverQuest:
    Underfoot (expansion) 
  • size="-1">1/26
    -
    href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2389">Mass
    Effect 2
    (release date)
size="-1">Upcoming
Releases

  • size="-1">2/1
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
    Agenda
    (release date)
  • size="-1">2/2 size="-1">
    - Star
    Trek Online

    (release date)
  • size="-1">2/16
    - href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
    2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
  • size="-1">March
    2010

    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
  • size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2011
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars:
    The Old
    Republic

Loading... Daily

The first few hours of gameplay
in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2389">Mass
Effect
2

have been nothing short of
epic. While I won't give away
any plotline spoilers, fans of the first title in the trilogy are in
for a pleasant surprise as just about every major element from Mass
Effect
has been improved upon in
some way. Perhaps most surprising is
the dramatic shift towards a much more visceral, fluid pace of combat
than I've experienced in any previous BioWare titles. The
keyboard controls are laid out much more effectively so that you can
spend less time pausing the game to plot out tactics and more time
engaged in combat that reminds me much more of a modern shooter than
the slow, methodical pacing of earlier RPGs. This bodes extremely well
for fans curious to see what BioWare
will be able to achieve with
combat in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star
Wars:
The Old
Republic
.

While my time with the game so
far has been relatively brief by
comparison, so far Mass Effect
2
has last year's Ten Ton
Hammer RPG of the year href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2213">Dragon
Age: Origins

beat hands down.
Everything
from the storyline, enhanced combat and more streamlined approach to
equipment and upgrades is a welcome leap forward for the genre.
I'll reserve my own final opinions on the game until
I've managed to see Commander Shepard's mission
through to the end, but be sure to keep an eye on the site next week
for Ten Ton Hammer's full Mass
Effect 2
review.

Speaking of epic, the Star
Trek Online
beta came to a close
earlier
this week, complete with all the chaos and dev controlled mayhem of
last year's href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co">Champions
Online

end of beta event, only with one
major twist. Rather than enjoying what could have been a fun, engaging
way to cap off the beta experience, instead many players discovered
that it's no fun at all to be a Klingon in Federation space.
Mind you the entire premise of the title's timeline pits the
two opposing sides against one another on the verge of all out war, but
it still surprises me that the event devolved into a
griefer's paradise rather than keeping the focus on rising up
to defeat a common enemy in the Borg. For a full rundown on the event
and the rampant Klingon ganking that ensued, be sure to check out
Dalmarus's excellent href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/editorials/end_of_beta">overview.

Last but certainly not least,
the early start for Global
Agenda
is set
to kick off this Friday giving preorder customers a chance to play for
a full weekend before the official launch next Monday. Without a true
open beta period for the game, I'll be interested to see what
kind of response the title receives since many MMO gamers these days
have been spoiled by the "try before you buy" approach of open betas
leading up to
major game launches. That said, if you're curious to learn
more about what makes Global
Agenda
tick, be sure to check
out our
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79984">exclusive
Q&A with executive
producer Todd Harris on the
Conquest system, as well as our href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/globalagenda/guides/robotics_intro">overview
of the Robotics class.

In a completely unrelated chain
of events, SOE announced that href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest
II
will
be getting a new
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80016">battleground
system. While I do tend to enjoy
the short-burst-o-fun nature of instanced PvP in MMOGs, for some reason
EQ2 has never really struck me as a title that needs PvP. Maybe things
have changed with the player base over the years, but looking back at
how the arenas in Desert of
Flames
saw less than stellar
participation
from players, it will be interesting to see if the new battlegrounds
will become as big a staple of endgame content as they are in other
titles, or will simply be a passing fancy that's largely
ignored once the shiny newness wears off.

On that note, it's time for me
to begin the ever so exciting
process of watching the progress bars slowly do their thing to get my
game clients prepped and ready for the early starts of Star
Trek Online

and Global Agenda.
Thankfully there are still plenty of crazy aliens
for me to recruit to Commander Shepard's cause to keep me
entertained in the meantime. Are you planning to spend your weekend
with any of the newest titles on the block? Or maybe even scratching
your head and wondering whether EQ2's new battlegrounds will
see more action than your dusty pile of neglected arena champions? Let
us know right here in the Loading... forums!


Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day




From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6">Articles,
News & Events Discussion



href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=49220">Top
10 Improvements the Next Great MMO Needs to Have



Matt "Mattlow" Lowrey's href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79964">editorial
listing his top 10 improvements fo the next great MMOG has our forum
community talking. Do you agree with Matt's assessments? What's missing
from your MMOGs that you think shouldn't be missing in the future? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=49220">Tell
all!



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

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread




"For any Game Designer and
Developer reading this, get off your lazy arse and try to take on some
risks.

Leave the comfy established roads and try something new or at least try
to leave the trail of suck."




- Kralle

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



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

6 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 114 in January! 114
in 2010!

HARDWARE REVIEWS



Comparison of 2 Hot Game Pads

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80022">http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80022



In
order to bring you honest reviews of the latest and greatest gaming
hardware and peripherals, Ten Ton Hammer took two of the hottest
gamepads on the market through their paces to see which one is worth
your hard earned cash. To that end, we’ll examine both
gamepads in a
variety of aspects, and see how each one stacks up.



FEATURES & GUIDES



Aion - Heiron and Beluslan Rift
Locations


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/pvp/heiron-beluslanrifts">http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion/guides/pvp/heiron-beluslanrifts



Rifts
are your gateway to PvP in Aion and your sure fire way to get some
player on player action. Now, if only you could find one! Rifts can
definitely be elusive, but not if you know exactly where to look. These
rift maps of Heiron and Beluslan are your reference guide to finding
the rifts you need. Bookmark them, keep them on hand, and you'll always
know right where to look.



High-End PVP: Combat Boosters
In EVE Online


http://tentonhammer.com/node/80052



Combat
Boosters are one of the more esoteric ways to increase pilot
performance in EVE Online. Space Junkie gives new players a first look,
and old players some reasons to consider "recreational" use.



Global Agenda Class Overview -
The Robotics


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/globalagenda/guides/robotics_intro">http://www.tentonhammer.com/globalagenda/guides/robotics_intro



Robotics
are a defensive force that excels at taking over an area with
deployable turrets and stations, and excels at supporting an
offensive with their fire-and-forget Drones. Combining those roles
makes them the true support class of Global Agenda, and we'll give you
the rundown on how they earn their keep.



Star Trek Online: Klingon
Racial Traits


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/klingon/traits">http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/klingon/traits



Creating
the character of your dreams involves knowing which traits are
available to you, what they each do, and which races can utilize them.
Can Klingons choose Seductive? Can Letheans use Bite? Ten Ton Hammer
has all the answers for you.



WoW: Warlock Guide

Portal: href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warlock">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warlock


Basics: href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warlock/basics">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warlock/basics

Combat: href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warlock/combat">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warlock/combat



Our
Warlock guide for World of Warcraft has been updated with a ton of new
content. We've got two new pages that go over what Warlocks are and how
to use 'em in combat along with a brand new landing page. If you're one
of those who have an affinity for the demonic side of magic then this
is the guide for you.



Today's
Hottest Articles and Guides

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79985">Conquest
    Agenda - A Global Agenda
    Q&A with Todd
    Harris href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79985">

  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79844">Getting
    Ready
    for Earthrise
    - A Q&A with
    Atanas Atanasov
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/space_combat_guide">Star
    Trek Online Space Combat Guide
  4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79897">Another
    Leap
    Forward - A Preview of style="font-weight: bold;">DDO
    Update 3
  5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79840">The
    Rise of
    Free-to-Play - Industry Insiders on the Future of MMOGs
  6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79841">Gamer
    Rehab
    - An Interview with
    the Founder of a Video Game
    Addicition Clinic
  7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/uimods/reviews/WIM">WoW href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/uimods/reviews/WIM">:
    UI Mod
    Review - WoW Instant Messenger
  8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79964">Top
    10 Improvements the Next Great MMO Needs to Have href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79964">

  9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/79308">Avoiding
    the
    Progress Trap - An MMOG Retrospective
  10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/space_ui_guide">Star
    Trek Online
    href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/space_ui_guide">
    Space
    UI Guide

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!

- Reuben "Sardu" Waters
and the
Ten Ton Hammer team


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EverQuest II Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Reuben "Sardu" Waters has been writing professionally about the MMOG industry for eight years, and is the current Editor-in-Chief and Director of Development for Ten Ton Hammer.

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