Monthly Archives: October 2008

2008 sure looks a lot like 2004 in MMO land.

Posted on October 20, 2008 by SynCaine

If you were given a budget of $500 million, a proven veteran dev team, a stable and established engine, 4+ years, and the worlds largest feedback group; what kind of MMO could you make? Would your list of highlights include … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, EVE Online, Housing, MMO design, PvP, Rant, RvR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 27 Comments

Mythic and Blizzard go at it. Round one review!

Posted on October 17, 2008 by SynCaine

To borrow a quote: “Shit just got real” Seems it did not take long for the gloves to come off, and for Mythic and Blizzard to go at it. Lum has a good collection of the relevant quotes (like him, … Continue reading →

Posted in beta, Combat Systems, Mass Media, MMO design, PvP, Rant, RvR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 23 Comments

Dear EQ2 bloggers

Posted on October 17, 2008 by SynCaine

STOP POSTING A MILLION SCREEN SHOTS OF YOUR DAMN HOUSE, NO ONE CARES! Thank you, -People on slow connections trying to read blogs

Posted in EQ2, Random, Rant | 14 Comments

Warhammer Online: State of the Game

Posted on October 17, 2008 by SynCaine

Today was going to be a non-MMO post day and I was going to talk about Civ 4: Colonization, but then Mark from Mythic put out his State of the Game letter, and well yea, Colonization will have to wait … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Warhammer Online | 6 Comments

Significantly insignificant interview with Blizzard

Posted on October 16, 2008 by SynCaine

Gamesindusty.biz has an interview with Paul Sams of Blizzard that’s worth checking out. Not for any factual reason, but because of the entertainment it provides. In true Blizzard fashion, Sams does his best to avoid any actual mention of an … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Random, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 5 Comments

Phoenix Gate and RvR ogranization; good times.

Posted on October 15, 2008 by SynCaine

Phoenix Gate (PG) is an interesting scenario in Warhammer Online. On the one hand, it’s very Warsong Gulch-like in that it’s basically a game of capture the flag, with the two flags being on opposite ends of the map. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, RvR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 17 Comments

My thoughts on BlizCon? Pay only $3 and find out below!

Posted on October 14, 2008 by SynCaine

BlizCon has come and gone, leaving behind a whirlwind of… microtransactions? Yes, it would seem the company raking in the cash with WoW intends to go the way of the asian and charge you a few cents/dollars for useless crap, … Continue reading →

Posted in Random, World of Warcraft | 5 Comments

Slow down, learn to play nice, and actually enjoy the game.

Posted on October 14, 2008 by SynCaine

As Warhammer Online continues to mature, players are learning the game and figuring out what they prefer to do in-game. The current ‘flavor of the month’ seems to be mass scenario spamming, with players queuing and re-queuing over and over … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Warhammer Online | 18 Comments

More ‘same MMO, different players’ talk.

Posted on October 10, 2008 by SynCaine

Continuing today’s theme of ‘are we even playing the same game?’, I want to talk about my recent experience in tier 1. Two old buddies from WoW recently started playing Warhammer Online, and to help them catch up, I rolled … Continue reading →

Posted in Warhammer Online | 3 Comments

Same game, different players.

Posted on October 10, 2008 by SynCaine

One of the more interesting aspects of playing an MMO, and then reading others accounts of playing that same game, is that two people can basically be playing two different games. Tobold hates playing his healer in RvR, and looks … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, RvR, Warhammer Online | 4 Comments