Welcome
to the 1,263rd
edition
of Loading...

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

While the MMO gaming world is setting phasers to stun (or
kill, if that's how you roll) or donning mechanized suits, a few of us
noticed a rather low-key video release that seemed to come rolling out
of a mysterious Norway-based fog. Funcom has released yet another
tidbit about its upcoming MMOG, href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/265">The
Secret World
, and this one has zombies. (Zombies!)
Are we prepared for zombies? More in today's Loading... Foggy with a
Chance of Zombies.

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

Biggest movers today:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/42">Star
    Wars Galaxies (UP 26 tp 17)
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/52">Pirates
    of the Burning Sea (Up 7 to 19)
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117">Star
    Trek Online (Down 3 to #6)
Recent Releases Upcoming
Releases
  • 2/16
    - href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
    2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
  • style="font-weight: bold;">Q1 2010
    - Mortal
    Online

  • March
    2010

    - APB
  • style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2011
    - Star Wars:
    The Old
    Republic

Loading... Daily

It's been a pretty good week for gamers. As Ethec noted in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80228">yesterday's
Loading.... First href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
Agenda
and then href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto">Star Trek Online
launched. World of Warcraft's
patch 3.3.2 hit servers yesterday (details href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/patches/332">here,
download here).
The next EverQuest 2 expansion, href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">Sentinel's
Fate
, is just over the horizon and will
release on February 16. There's plenty going on to keep fans of fantasy
and sci-fi amused for a while.

But if you're tired of fantasy and not quite ready to captain your own
starship, or to get tactical in the latest sci-fi shooter, you're not
without options. Folks, there are zombies on the horizon. Zombies! The
only downside is that, at the rate they shamble along,
you're going to have to wait a while for them to get here.

We know that The
Secret World
will involve a hidden world full of
monsters and magic that somehow begins to infiltrate our own. We
know it will be set in the modern day real world, and not some
fantasy or science fiction setting. We know it pits real
people, who have somehow been able to tap into supernatural abilities,
against monsters such as demons, vampires and, as
Funcom revealed through a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80243">video
released this week, zombies. (I'll say it again: zombies!)

Funcom, true to its game's title, has been very secretive about its
latest project. They've unveiled a series of clues, each more
mysterious and open to interpretation than the last. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80243">The latest
video shows us the town of Kingsmouth, once a sleepy
community in coastal New England, and now a place where survivors find
themselves besieged by friends and family members who disappeared into
a mysterious fog and returned as the living dead. (Zombies!)

I found myself almost instantly fascinated by The Secret World.
And, so far, I'd have to give Funcom props for the way they're slowly
revealing cryptic clues to their monstrous MMOG. By contrast, the
marketing for Age of Conan was so in-your-face that I was nearly put
off by the game before I even laid hands on it. Fortunately, I
had my co-workers to convince me that it was worth a try. While I hit
the infamous level 20 wall just like other AoC players at the time, I
did enjoy my experience, the story, and the gameplay in AoC. I'm
convinced that if Funcom will be willing to learn a few lessons from
AoC this devco can and will make a great game, as well as a unique one..

I believe the time is right for a horror-themed MMOG and, looking at
what Funcom has revealed so far about The Secret World's
secret
societies
, classless, skill-based (not level-based) href="http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/thesecretworld/video/6207382">progression
structure, fun and reality-based customization (no steel
breastplates--my character can wear a tank top, a mini-skirt and combat
boots if she wants), and open world real-life setting and story-driven
style make me think this is a game I'm going to enjoy.

And, I mean, I get to kill zombies. What's not to like?

Are you intrigued by The Secret World? Is it time
for a horror-themed AAA MMOG? What other genres would you like to see
the AAA devcos explore? Talk about them in our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=49372">Loading...
forum.


Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day

From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=664">STO
General Discussion

How
much of the game is ground/space based
?

If you haven't yet set given the command to "Engage!" and you've yet to
join your crew on an away mission (Data would advise against a captain
leading an away team, but the captain always does, doesn't he?), you
may be wondering how much of the combat in Star Trek Online
takes place in space versus on the ground. We answer this question in
today's epic thread, and discuss the space vs. ground game in STO. Join
us!

==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread

"I'm really looking forward to beaming down to planets no one
else has discovered in the future. That should be a lot of fun."

- Dalmarus
==============================

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

5  new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 20 in February! 135
in 2010!

INTERVIEWS

Daring to Dev - The Journey from Fan to Game Designer
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80275

Making games is arguably one of the coolest jobs around. Not only do
you get to do what you love and get paid for it, but sometimes it can
make you a rock star...or even a legend. So how does one get their
dream job? Ten Ton Hammer's Dalmarus spoke to Game Designer M. Margaret
A. Krohn, aka Luper, of Sony Online Entertainment to find out how she
was able to work her way into the industry. 

SECOND LOOK

WAAAGH! Warhammer Online Revisited - A Look at WAR's Free-to-Play Intro
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80266

Mythic is tempting new and returning players with a free-to-play
introduction to Warhammer Online that allows players to play the tier 1
Empire versus Chaos zone up to level 10. Your pals at Ten Ton Hammer
logged in to see what’s new, split some skulls, and bring you our
report.

DOWNLOADS

WoW: Patch 3.3.2 Available for Direct Download
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/patches

Patch 3.3.2 for World of Warcraft just came out at we here at Ten Ton
Hammer have it available for direct download. It weighs in at over 150
megabytes and could take awhile from the Blizzard Downloader. So skip
the queues and long waits and snag the patch from our speedy servers.
While you're waiting to fight the Lich King be sure to check out our href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/patches/332">3.3.2
Overview and the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80221">Patch Notes
here at Ten Ton Hammer.

Global Agenda Class Overview : The Assault
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/globalagenda/guides/assault_intro">http://www.tentonhammer.com/globalagenda/guides/assault_intro

When Hi-Rez Studios went to create the heavy weapons class of Global
Agenda, they came up with some great ideas. Let us give them a giant
blue ax that resembles the classic Hexen fighter weapon. Let us give
them the ability to take less damage, absorb damage, and just go full
on invulnerable on command. Perhaps most importantly, let us give them
weapons that cause people to flee at the moment they hear the gun
barrels begin to spin up or the rocket leave the chamber. Such is the
foundation of Global Agenda's Assault class, a powerhouse in every way
possible!

WoW Guide to the Vault of Archavon Update
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/raids/voa">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/raids/voa

The Vault of Archavon is a raid dungeon found in Wintergrasp Keep in
the World of Warcraft. As of todays patch it now contains four
bosses with the addition of Toravon the Ice Watcher. If you haven’t
beat the raid yet, it’s time for you to learn all the
strategies and defeat it before the next expansion comes out!

Today's
Hottest Articles and Guides

  1. Mass
    Effect 2
    href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80183"> (PC) Review
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/globalagenda/editorials/betaimpressions"> style="font-weight: bold;">Global Agenda Beta
    Impressions
  3. Daring
    to Dev - The Journey from Fan to Game Designer
    href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80275">
  4. WoW
    Patch 3.3.2 Available for Direct Download
  5. style="font-weight: bold;">Star
    Trek Online: Ground UI Guide
  6. Conquest
    Agenda - A Global Agenda
    Q&A with Todd
    Harris
  7. Flying
    Stealth Bombers In
    href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80215">EVE Online
  8. WAAAGH!
    Warhammer Online Revisited - A Look at WAR's
    Free-to-Play Intro
    href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80266">
  9. Getting
    Ready
    for Earthrise
    - A Q&A with
    Atanas Atanasov
  10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/space_combat_guide">Star
    Trek Online Space Combat Guide

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!

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


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our The Secret World Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

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