Monthly Archives: February 2012

GW2: The best epeen measuring stick yet?

Posted on February 17, 2012 by

The more I think about it, the more I like the server ‘matchmaking/ELO’ aspect that Guild Wars 2 has announced. Instead of just coordinating what server your guild is going to be playing on, larger communities can now do this. … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Guild Wars, MMO design, PvP | 9 Comments

GW2 WvWvW – The new Alterac Valley!

Posted on February 16, 2012 by

This looks familiar. Three-way Alterac Valley that persists for two weeks, with an ELO system and DAoC relics/keeps. Not that the above is bad. God knows we have seen far worse attempts at MMO PvP (Hi WAR/AoC/Aion). Maxing out at … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, beta, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Guild Wars, MMO design, PvP, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 37 Comments

Great games are not great MMOs

Posted on February 15, 2012 by

I’ve often commented that I believe a part of WoW’s success was a perfect storm scenario. I’d like to add one additional factor to that formula: My-First-MMO-ness. For many MMO gamers, WoW was their first title. This is a very … Continue reading →

Posted in Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rift, SW:TOR, World of Warcraft | 22 Comments

EVE: Scanning down options

Posted on February 13, 2012 by

One of the defining and critical features of a sandbox MMO is options. Options are different than layers in that options don’t fade or get replaced by “the next thing”. You ‘finish’ layers. You can’t ‘finish’ options. EVE has a … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, Inquisition Clan, MMO design | 18 Comments

EVE: 1400 in local, no big deal

Posted on February 9, 2012 by

Great battle report, and good example of TiDi in EVE. I’ll keep hammering the lag point until every last person understands what’s technically possible, and why MMOs with servers the size of a game from 97 are doing it wrong. I … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, Rant | 18 Comments

Skyrim’s uncanny valley

Posted on February 9, 2012 by

If you have 40ish minutes, watch all of this. If you are pressed for time, watch the first section. Either way, it’s awesome stuff. Listening to the design behind Skyrim, I think I’ve pinpointed one of the long-term issues I … Continue reading →

Posted in Mass Media, Random | 10 Comments

EVE: Trailer, Corp update

Posted on February 8, 2012 by

Good new trailer for EVE. Even better are the comments in that Massively article, clearly showing how so many ‘MMO’ gamers just don’t get an MMO like EVE. Expecting the PvE missions to be ‘impact’ content, the old “you get … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, Inquisition Clan, Mass Media | 10 Comments