Author Archives: SynCaine

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About SynCaine

Former hardcore raider turned casual gamer.

Old Blizzard teaching New Blizzard the same old tricks

Posted on November 7, 2019 by SynCaine

There are two ways to take the news that New Blizzard is finally learning from Old Blizzard about how to make an MMO. On the one hand, maybe it gives you hope that New Blizzard can turn Retail around and … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Rant, World of Warcraft | 9 Comments

The Outer Worlds: A few more thoughts

Posted on November 4, 2019 by SynCaine

A few more thoughts on Outer Worlds as I continue to play it: To start, I’m still very much enjoying it overall. It’s not flawless, but has far more good than bad, and even the bad isn’t ‘oh god this … Continue reading →

Posted in Random | 7 Comments

Blizzard and J Allen Brack reverse course on the Hong Kong situation

Posted on November 1, 2019 by SynCaine

Blizzard, and more importantly, J Allen Brack, have publicly apologized for incorrectly handling the Hong Kong / Blitzchung situation. If we are being 100% honest, this is about as much as Blizzard could have done at the very opening of … Continue reading →

Posted in Inquisition Clan, Mass Media, Site update, World of Warcraft | 19 Comments

Early Impressions: The Outer Worlds

Posted on October 28, 2019 by SynCaine

I’ve started play The Outer Worlds via Microsoft Game Pass, because paying $1 to play a new release that I’m interested in seems like a decent deal. So decent, in fact, that I fully don’t understand how the economics of … Continue reading →

Posted in Fallout 3 | 6 Comments

WoW Classic: New Blizzard removes layers with New Blizzard execution

Posted on October 23, 2019 by SynCaine

My motivation to blog about Classic is obviously down thanks to the whole Bliz/China issue, which sucks on multiple levels that I’ve already written about. Blogging today because New Blizzard continues to screw up Classic, which at this point is … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Rant, World of Warcraft | 7 Comments

LoL TFT: Diamond Rank achieved

Posted on October 16, 2019 by SynCaine

Back in July I posted that I hit Gold rank in Teamfight Tactics. This post is about me moving into Diamond, the rank above Plat, which is above Gold. According to this site, that puts me just about in the … Continue reading →

Posted in League of Legends, PvP, Site update | Comments Off on LoL TFT: Diamond Rank achieved

China takes a loss, lapdog Blizzard is still a problem

Posted on October 14, 2019 by SynCaine

Blizzard apologized with their actions, but not their words. That’s… something. Let me be very clear about what the words and actions mean before I dive into what I think of it all. China, via Blizzard, reduced the penalty, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Mass Media, Random, Rant, World of Warcraft | 7 Comments

Blizzard picked a side, I’ve picked mine

Posted on October 8, 2019 by SynCaine

Blizzard recently banning a Hearthstone player due to a statement they made about Hong Kong has now put me in a personal quandary. On the one hand I’m really enjoying WoW Classic and want to keep playing. On the other … Continue reading →

Posted in Inquisition Clan, Mass Media, Random, Site update, World of Warcraft | 30 Comments

WoW Classic: The game-changer expansion

Posted on October 3, 2019 by SynCaine

I posted my initial thoughts on what a Classic expansion might look like. It was basically ‘more of the same’, and avoiding what WoW gets wrong with WotLK and beyond. But the more I think about it, a lot of … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, World of Warcraft | 4 Comments

WoW Classic: Nostalgia or Design?

Posted on October 2, 2019 by SynCaine

What Blizzard feels is the correct answer to the question “Why are people playing and enjoying Classic” will go a long way in determining the game’s future direction. If the answer is heavily towards ‘nostalgia’, then the key to Classic’s … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, World of Warcraft | 9 Comments