Author Archives: SynCaine

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About SynCaine

Former hardcore raider turned casual gamer.

MMO sounds (of your doom!)

Posted on September 28, 2009 by SynCaine

It’s difficult to really explain how big an impact sound has in DarkFall to anyone who has not played it, yet has played other MMOs that promote sound as being important. Usually in those games the sound is ‘important’ because … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP | 19 Comments

The RL housing grind wins this round

Posted on September 25, 2009 by SynCaine

Sorry for the lack of updates the last few days, house construction is almost finished and the amount of calls, paperwork, and bs one has to deal with in order to complete this whole process is unreal. Nerf RL housing … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, Patch Notes, Random, Site update | 5 Comments

Under the bright lights

Posted on September 23, 2009 by SynCaine

As each day passes, DarkFall gets more and more carebear. First it was patch notes, then it was scheduled down time that actually stayed on or ahead of schedule, and now the final ‘slap in the face’, dev-to-fan communication. WTF … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, Patch Notes, Site update | 7 Comments

Launch Day: How to deal with day one in the post-WoW MMO space

Posted on September 22, 2009 by SynCaine

From an outsider’s perspective looking in, Aion’s launch seems to be having the same issue Warhammer Online had a year ago; dealing with the huge initial rush of players and tourists flooding the servers on day one. In the post-WoW … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, beta, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, SW:TOR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments

Impact PvP: Are you part of the niche?

Posted on September 21, 2009 by SynCaine

Due to the length of both Tobold’s post about impact PvP and my reply, I’ll just quote him below and write my response here. Doesn’t “meaningful PvP” automatically mean a form of PvP where you really hurt other players’ progress … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, RvR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 55 Comments

Majesty 2 quick hit.

Posted on September 21, 2009 by SynCaine

I just wanted to make a quick post and let everyone know that Majesty 2 is now out (I got my copy from Direct 2 Drive, got to love 1mb+ download speed), and having played it a decent amount on … Continue reading →

Posted in Random | 4 Comments

Warhammer Online: The more Mythic talks, the less hope I have.

Posted on September 18, 2009 by SynCaine

Too much stuff going on today that I want to talk about, and on a Friday no less. Jeff Hickman from Mythic talked at GDC about Warhammer Online and what he believes are some of the mistakes made with the … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, RvR, Warhammer Online | 22 Comments

Blood in the sand: battle video

Posted on September 18, 2009 by SynCaine

Here is a quality video of the battle I talked about in this post. Most of what is recorded here is from the parts of the battle Apollo was not involved with, as we were working on the other side … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, PvP, Random | 7 Comments

The carebears of DarkFall.

Posted on September 18, 2009 by SynCaine

At times (or maybe just on blogs/forums) we get too focused on the type of player we expect to play a certain MMO. WoW is for carebears, LotRO is for role players, DarkFall is for hardcore PvPers, Aion is for … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, PvP, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments

Aion end-game, way ahead of WoW and WAR.

Posted on September 17, 2009 by SynCaine

Found this interview about Aion Abyss PvP after following a few links. After reading it, the WoW PvP grind pre honor revamp sounds tame and fun compared to high-ranked Abyss ‘PvP’, and WAR’s keep swapping has NOTHING on Aion’s PvQ … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, beta, Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP, Warhammer Online | 41 Comments