TenTonHammer.com - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Keeping your loot is part of the game in China...

In Part I of the Online Gaming in China series from ChinaJoy 2008, we took you inside a Shanghai Internet Cafe, which represents the nexus of MMO gaming in much of Asia.

Now, in Part II, we talk with Bill Pang, an executive for one of China's largest online games publishers, about the sophisticated measures Chinese gamers and publishers use in order to protect accounts and online identities. If you thought the Blizzard Authenticator was the beginning, read on to see where that nifty little device came from, and see how the future of online game security is evolving now in a corner of the globe you might least expect.

"To facilitate online purchases in the absence of direct access to credit or bank accounts, more than 90% of Chinese gamers purchase prepaid cards at their local Internet cafe or convenience store. Bill Pang explained that in addition to the prepaid cards, gamers can choose to buy a password matrix card, which has a grid on the back side of the card and a unique combination of numbers. You can bind one one of these cards to your account and configure the login system to ask you for the information randomly chosen from one of the cells every time, thereby adding an additional layer of security to your account."

Read the second part of our Online Gaming in China series right here at Ten Ton Hammer!

Extra, Extra...

Funcom released update this week that has been met with mixed reactions from the community due to the changes in combat speed for melee classes. This has led to a lot of discussion and debate about the update with some feeling it was good and others not so much. With all the activity and heated discussion taking place over the latest changes it can be a difficult job finding and keeping up with the good discussion so the Border Kingdom Cryer is here to summarize this weeks content and the top pieces of discussion across the forums. Join us as we save you the trauma of reading through the drama. Ten Ton Hammer releases new guides and maps including a level 80 Destiny Quest Guide, Funcom's latest update on combat stirs mixed feelings, Lost in Hyboria shows why people cringe at general chat, all this and more in this week's Border Kingdom Cryer.

Funcom Senior Community Manager, Oliver 'Tarib' Kunz posted this thread to give players some insight on this week's update. This includes the repopulation of resource harvesting zones and a few other changes. This thread is open discussion on the update and will allow you a place to offer up any feedback you might have and discuss it with other forum members.

• You can view the new Cryer here.
• Discuss this week's hot topics on our forum.

Be a better healer

As a healer in the World of Warcraft you are very likely to get many invitations to instance and raid groups. However being a healer responsible for the lives of a group is a daunting task to many players and requires a lot of skill and knowledge. As a result many players do not feel comfortable healing for a group. Really, once you have the gear and spec, all it takes to be a good healer, is a little knowledge. That's where Byron "Messiah" Mudry steps in, to provide this guide to healing priority for all those healers out there that collected the required healing gear, put their talent points into their classes healing tree, but then became lost or unsure of how to group heal.

Most of the 5 player instance adjustments still factor in when you go to a raid, however there are some additional ones. The biggest adjustment required for raids is the fact that there will be multiple healers in the raid. This means that in all likely hood you will have healing assignments, which will override your basic priority. Some of the basic assignments are: MT/OT Healer, Group Healer, Raid Healer, FFA Healer.

You can find all the details in our Instance and Raid Healing Priority Guide

WoW: Shaman Guide - Trainers

We have updated our Shaman Guide with a complete list of all current Shaman class trainers, now including all of the Alliance trainers and locations, in addition, some outdated information was removed.

To view our latest update, click here

To discuss this on our forums, click here!

WoW: Editorial - Daily Quests in WotLK

With Wrath of the Lich King looming closer, there have been announcements of new daily quests and how they will affect player leveling. What are some of the problems with current daily quests, and how could they improve? This editorial attempts to address some of the current issues with WoW's current Daily Quest system.

The main problem many people have nowadays with their Daily Quests is the lack of variety these quests have. Most of them are killtasks, with only a few of them being able to be completed by a healer or tank-specced class, especially if under time constraints or in a PvP environment.

To view our latest editorial, click here!

To discuss this in our forums, click here!

Young, but growing large and in charge!

Every week we at Ten Ton Hammer strive to bring you closer to the community that fills up Hyboria in Funcom's Age of Conan. This week William "JoBildo" Murphy sat down with Phalsadoom of the Brotherhood of Sacred Shadows to chat about all things "BoSS":

Phalsadoom: We're a PvE Guild on the Derketo Server. We've been around since November of 2007, and are an accumulation of several guilds from various other MMO's. For instance, I used to be in Ten Ton Hammer’s EQ II Chapter, and had been playing DDO up until Age of Conan released. We have a variety of many members from several of the other MMO's and some that have never played one before.

Be sure to read up on this very ambitious guild by checking out the full interview and their Clan Showcase via the links below!

Clan Interview - Clan Showcase

On the eve of Comic-Con, the Ten Ton Hammer staff has nabbed two new pieces of concept artwork from DC Universe Online, each of which depict an entity from Gotham City. In the artwork you'll see a artist's rendition of Harley Quinn and the Gotham City Amusement Mile, and they're incredibly well drawn. If you're a fan of DC Comics, are interested in DC Universe Online, or simply enjoy a good piece of art, make sure you check these out!

• To see all of the new artwork, click here!

The blogs just keep on rolling in! Continuing on his daily recounts of his activities at Comic-Con, Stargate Worlds' Chris Klug joins us once again in generating a vision of what his experiences at Comic-Con are like! Although it sounds like his first day was full of a few trial and tribulations, Chris also manages to recap the amazing assortment of individuals that pass through the hallowed Comic-Con halls. If you enjoy his blog, make sure you check out the rest of Chris' blog entries by clicking here!

• Read the rest of Chris' blog by clicking here!

Welcome to the 877th Edition of Loading...

Comic Con lines form to the left, to the right, criss-cross each other, then reform in Iowa, Chris Klug (Stargate Worlds) and Paul Barnett (Warhammer Online) blog, Scott Strickling (Warhammer Online) allows us to interrogate him, stories from inside a Shanhai Internet Cafe, a new comic 'UI or Die', oil in the Arctic and more, today in Loading...

It's been awhile since we've heard anything from the developers of Requiem: Bloodymare, but the public relations crew has just released a series of twelve brand new screenshots from the gory horror game. Displaying the Giont and the Rebria, the screenshots offer a great view of the Beast Possession system in Requiem and just how powerful these creatures are. Enjoy!

• You can see all the latest Requiem images by clicking here!