Author Archives: SynCaine

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About SynCaine

Former hardcore raider turned casual gamer.

EVE: Space Famous

Posted on April 21, 2014 by SynCaine

The latest EVE Blog Banter topic is about “space famous” individuals and everyone’s thoughts about them. Jester has his entry here. The topic reminded me that I had previously talked about the importance of such players, here in more general … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Site update, The Elder Scrolls Online | 4 Comments

Steam number crunching

Posted on April 17, 2014 by SynCaine

Ars Technica has done some really nice work around Steam and what players are buying and playing on that service. If the stat that Steam makes up 75% of PC sales today is even remotely true, it only makes this … Continue reading →

Posted in Mass Media, Random | 5 Comments

DF:UW – Those who don’t learn from history

Posted on April 16, 2014 by SynCaine

The big announcement recently from AV about DF:UW is that they are doing away with the class system and going back to a more free-form character skill system. The perception on Forumfall was that due to classes, balance was poor. … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online | 9 Comments

DF:UW – Levy

Posted on April 14, 2014 by SynCaine

Just as ESO went live, AV released a major update to Darkfall: Unholy Wars that included a new Area of Influence (AoI) system and a levy system. I’ve talked about the current flaws in the AoI system, but even flawed … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design | 7 Comments

SOE: This is not the dying-trend clone you are looking for

Posted on April 10, 2014 by SynCaine

What are many gamers sick of? Zombies. Specifically DayZ-clone zombies. This sentiment will only grow as more and more clones get dumped out. What is SOE working on? A DayZ clone poorly titled H1Z1! Do you SOE, do you! PS: … Continue reading →

Posted in Random, Rant | 8 Comments

ESO: Genre meld

Posted on April 8, 2014 by SynCaine

In the post below this one, one line of questions revolved around what percentage of ESO’s content is ‘themepark’, and at what percentage does an MMO go from having themepark elements to just being a themepark. This post won’t have … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, The Elder Scrolls Online | 39 Comments

ESO: Don’t call it a themepark

Posted on April 4, 2014 by SynCaine

One way to judge a recently released MMO is by how often the devs need to patch in the first few days to fix things. ESO has had one so far, so while no game to date has been perfect, … Continue reading →

Posted in The Elder Scrolls Online | 44 Comments

SOE: All of the great MMOs are F2P, like…?

Posted on April 3, 2014 by SynCaine

Dave “Doctor Creepy” Georgeson, fresh of his “MMOs should live on forever, so we are shutting down four SOE MMOs!” declaration, is back trying to cram more foot into his mouth, this time trying to defend the minor league MMO … Continue reading →

Posted in EQ2, EQNext, FreeRealms, Mass Media, Rant, RMT, Vanguard | 31 Comments

DF:UW – Ushering in the play to crush era

Posted on April 3, 2014 by SynCaine

“Play to Crush” was the marketing pitch for Shadowbane (SB), a somewhat short-lived MMO that was based around PvP conquest. The core reason SB died? The players crushed it. Server by server, one alliance would rise to dominance, and that … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, Random | 7 Comments

ESO: Exploring without a guide

Posted on April 1, 2014 by SynCaine

When the topic of exploration in an MMO comes up, it causes me to massive eyeroll. Usually what ‘exploration’ means in an MMO is heavily pre-planned, pre-set, and usually pre-marked locations for you to ‘explore’ off a checklist. It’s not … Continue reading →

Posted in The Elder Scrolls Online | 6 Comments