Author Archives: SynCaine

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About SynCaine

Former hardcore raider turned casual gamer.

Blood in the sand

Posted on September 17, 2009 by SynCaine

It figures that on a night Apollo planned to mine stone to build our church (SimCity!), a hamlet siege was underway and we got called in to help against our enemies The Red Alliance (TRA). As I had just been … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, PvP | 10 Comments

The WoW hate: Why 2009 is not 2005.

Posted on September 15, 2009 by SynCaine

Taken from a comment on TAGN, #16: @Syn: So was WoW the debbil when you were spending all waking hours of your life raiding MC (ca. 2005-06) or are these merely the rantings of the repentant sinner who has since … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, DDO, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rant, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 51 Comments

Community Service: Go help the old folks

Posted on September 14, 2009 by SynCaine

In his three year review post, TAGN shows that while he sends many a carebear to this blog, my little following of basement dwelling sociopaths on the crusade of the miserable don’t return the favor as often. This needs to … Continue reading →

Posted in Random, Site update | 2 Comments

Level one, and god-mode already?

Posted on September 11, 2009 by SynCaine

Why do we assume the first mob we fight in an MMO should be an easy kill? I’m serious, how many MMOs can you name where the first mob you face has a legitimate chance to kill you? I mentioned … Continue reading →

Posted in Console Gaming, Darkfall Online, EQ2, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rant, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 35 Comments

The other side of open-world accessibility.

Posted on September 10, 2009 by SynCaine

I wrote yesterday of the benefits of DarkFall’s smaller power curve and how it allows a new player to jump right into playing with his friends/guild, and today I want to talk about the other side of that equation, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP | 11 Comments

Day one accessibility from an unlikely source.

Posted on September 9, 2009 by SynCaine

It’s something that has been said before, but it bears repeating: an MMO without levels is just infinitely more accessible than one with, yet the majority of the AAA MMOs out today feature level-gating, and rather than deal with the … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP, World of Warcraft | 31 Comments

What clearing your HD tells you about the state of gaming

Posted on September 8, 2009 by SynCaine

My main gaming PC was in need of a purge (and it looks like I’m not the only one with that idea), and so on Friday I did a hard drive wipe and a fresh install of Vista (which is … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Blood Bowl, Darkfall Online, The Casualties Guild, Warhammer Online | 24 Comments

Your family vacation, McDonalds, and the MMO genre

Posted on September 4, 2009 by SynCaine

Keen has a well written post about his return to WoW and what the game is all about now. Read it made me realize the difference between some people in the real world, one that also seems to apply to … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Random, Rant, World of Warcraft | 16 Comments

The fear of impact in the MMO genre.

Posted on September 4, 2009 by SynCaine

The MMO genre is a funny place. On the one hand, it promises to let you play with thousands of other players and share adventures together, while on the other it sets you up to be a hero doing some … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Rant, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 26 Comments

Idea for binding another game to an MMO

Posted on September 2, 2009 by SynCaine

With CCP announcing Dusk 514, a shooter-based MMO that will interact with EVE Online, Tobold ask’s what other MMOs would work well with a secondary product attached to them. My initial thought was to have player-controlled mobs facing off against … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, DDO, Dungeons and Dragons Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Random, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments