Monthly Archives: August 2009

WoW: The cows not coming in from pasture, sorry

Posted on August 17, 2009 by SynCaine

Ah WoW expansion rumors, is there anything more fun than to watch people nerdrage over clearly faked leaks, both from those praying it happens and those in the “slap in the face” community? The idiot pool gets quite large when … Continue reading →

Posted in Patch Notes, World of Warcraft | 31 Comments

The story of going red in DarkFall

Posted on August 14, 2009 by SynCaine

Last night, after a little bit of crafting, I grabbed by PvE bag from the bank and headed towards my favorite dungeon in DarkFall. Not only are the mobs inside soloable and drop decent loot, but I’ve never seen anyone … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, PvP | 16 Comments

DarkFall? More like GRINDfall!1!!one

Posted on August 13, 2009 by SynCaine

No, this post is not about the skill grind in DarkFall (that was yesterday), but rather the final step in the Wisdom title quest chain. I had previously mentioned how I screwed up step two, thinking I just had to … Continue reading →

Posted in crafting, Darkfall Online | 16 Comments

Repeating the same mistake: Why EVE’s skill system is the way to go

Posted on August 12, 2009 by SynCaine

If you have a skill based (as opposed to XP/level based) character development system, is there any reason NOT to use EVE’s real-time progression? How many of DarkFall’s “it’s a huge grind” problems would be resolved if you gained skills … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Ultima Online | 61 Comments

iPhone gaming: Paper Toss, Field Runners, and Defender Chronicles

Posted on August 10, 2009 by SynCaine

For a while now I’ve been meaning to talk about some of the iPhone games I’ve been playing, as it’s somewhat amazing how much gaming you can get for such a low cost (at least for the games themselves, the … Continue reading →

Posted in iPhone, Random | 5 Comments

Warhammer Online 1.3.1 patch: Will it fix Tier 4?

Posted on August 10, 2009 by SynCaine

As frequent readers here know, I’ve been playing Warhammer Online casually for the last few months now, alongside DarkFall and Blood Bowl. While I originally pegged WAR as my ‘full time’ MMO at release, the games issues with population and … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Patch Notes, RvR, The Casualties Guild, Warhammer Online | 5 Comments

Warhammer Online vs DarkFall: Combat

Posted on August 6, 2009 by SynCaine

Expanding a bit on yesterdays post about combat, I think it will be worthwhile to compare what I currently do in Warhammer Online versus what combat looks like when I play DarkFall. In a somewhat odd twist, most of my … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, RvR, Warhammer Online | 10 Comments

When the combat system in 1997 was better than what we have today, you know we have a problem.

Posted on August 5, 2009 by SynCaine

Now that his resurrection is complete, Tobold has started a multi-part series of posts talking about why we play MMOs, with today’s topic being gameplay. In most MMOs today, gameplay generally means combat, and so the type of combat system … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 19 Comments

DarkFall: Taking the carebear path for now

Posted on August 3, 2009 by SynCaine

With a weekend where I had a healthy (or unhealthy, depending on who you ask) amount of gaming time behind me, DarkFall was the title that received the most time, while both Blood Bowl and Warhammer Online got their share … Continue reading →

Posted in Blood Bowl, Darkfall Online, Warhammer Online | 3 Comments