Monthly Archives: December 2009

2010 Predictions

Posted on December 31, 2009 by SynCaine

While I’d love to do an overarching 2010 predictions post, covering all things MMO, the fact that I’m basically playing one game right now and not really following anything else makes that somewhat difficult. I mean sure, I could make … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, PvP, Random, Site update, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 21 Comments

2009 predictions: BINGO! (not exactly)

Posted on December 30, 2009 by SynCaine

Can you believe I had trouble finding my 2009 predictions post. I know, how hard is it to find a post titled “2009 Predictions” on my own blog, but um, it took a lot longer than I care to admit. … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Aion, Darkfall Online, DDO, EQ2, EVE Online, Fallen Earth, FreeRealms, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments

Double siege night in DarkFall

Posted on December 30, 2009 by SynCaine

The NA server had its busiest night to date yesterday, with VAMP/NEM (and basically the whole server) being involved in two city sieges. The first (Kvet) was our siege, the second (Mam) we were hired to help take. We failed … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 10 Comments

Another epic naval battle (video)

Posted on December 29, 2009 by SynCaine

Why did this have to happen on Monday, the night I don’t play. Damnit. Video really picks up at around the 4 minute mark. The on-deck ship fighting was amazing, ValRoth is a beast. Hopefully in an upcoming Sea Fortress … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, PvP | 6 Comments

Agro rules: ‘working as intended’ is not working out

Posted on December 29, 2009 by SynCaine

We hear the phrase “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” often in the MMO genre, and sometimes you have to ask “Do we know what broken is?” I’d like to throw out that I believe mob AI, in particular … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, Random | 20 Comments

A look behind the MMO dev curtain

Posted on December 29, 2009 by SynCaine

I don’t much to add to this post by Brian (Psychochild) Green other than to say it was a great read for someone who is heavily invested in the MMO and game dev space, even if its from the outside … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Random | 21 Comments

A closer look at what wildlife brings

Posted on December 28, 2009 by SynCaine

You learn a lot of things about a game when you stop min/max playing 24/7 and occasionally log in just to have some fun. I know, blasphemy, but it happens, and now that my DarkFall character is ‘good enough’ for … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design | 4 Comments

It’s the holidays, go out and gank someone!

Posted on December 23, 2009 by SynCaine

What you can learn about DarkFall from this holiday image from Aventurine: 1: Two people are fighting, three are combat looting, and one is standing around being ‘kind of a big deal’. The best geared guy is doing the least. … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, Random, Site update | 2 Comments

Community Publisher update #2

Posted on December 23, 2009 by SynCaine

Holiday break time, which likely means no blog posting for a few days (unless someone calls DF crap, because then I’ll have to throw up a post showing how I’m genetically superior to them and that their opinion is completely … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, Site update | 14 Comments

300k subscriptions to fail, 50k to profit.

Posted on December 22, 2009 by SynCaine

Much like Tobold’s knowledge of MMO blogging history (Lum invented it, if you did not know…), his understanding of business success also seems to be a little off. Actually I’m going to go out and say the above-linked post is … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Rant | 63 Comments