Category Archives: Age of Conan

GW2 WvWvW – The new Alterac Valley!

Posted on February 16, 2012 by SynCaine

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

Rebuilding the genre on SW:TOR’s ashes

Posted on January 18, 2012 by SynCaine

I get the feeling that people misunderstand me when I say that I hope SW:TOR is the death of the AAA themepark MMO. I’m not saying the genre would be better if people did not spend 300m to make an … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Darkfall Online, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rant, Rift, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 48 Comments

Getting back to the source

Posted on January 11, 2012 by SynCaine

Jester has a post up about how Sovereignty works in EVE, and how the game might benefit from borrowing some ideas from Perpetuum in that area. A good read as always, and it brings up a larger point: competition amongst … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Asheron's Call, beta, EQ2, EVE Online, Guild Wars, MMO design, Rant, Rift, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 45 Comments

30 minutes to cap

Posted on September 23, 2011 by SynCaine

Tobold’s post today does a nice job of summarizing what’s gone wrong with MMOs in the last few years in terms of design. The best example is this part: If you consider a theoretical MMORPG with an infinite number of … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Asheron's Call, Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Rift, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 20 Comments

Fun with lists

Posted on May 26, 2011 by SynCaine

What do the games listed below all have in common? Age of Conan All Points Bulletin Dungeons & Dragons Online Lord of the Rings Online Global Agenda Ragnarok Online Champions Online Everquest 2 Extended If you answered “failed to meet … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Allods Online, Darkfall Online, DDO, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Mass Media, Rant, Rift, RMT, World of Warcraft | 36 Comments

Celebrating 12 years of themepark hate

Posted on May 12, 2011 by SynCaine

My enjoyment of virtual worlds goes back to Ultima Online, in large part because I loved the sRPG Ultima games, growing up on Ultima V and always being jealous of a friend who had a PC and had Ultima VI … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EQ2, EVE Online, Inquisition Clan, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Random, Rant, Rift, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 36 Comments

The anti-WAR/AoC/Aion factor

Posted on March 18, 2011 by SynCaine

Somewhat following up on my previous post about Rift and the different perceptions of the game between current players and those on the outside glancing in, I think the game’s momentum will continue in the months to come due to … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Aion, Rift, Warhammer Online | 8 Comments

“It seems much easier to make interesting, sandbox PvP content then it is to maintain and create PvE treadmill content”

Posted on November 30, 2010 by SynCaine

Every now and then you come across something shocking it’s just too hard to ignore. Today is one of those days. This is a comment from a post Keen made, waiting for WoW to embrace its PvP nature (pro-tip: HKO … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Aion, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, DDO, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 39 Comments

One too many gaming options

Posted on June 22, 2010 by SynCaine

Having too many games to play might seem like a silly thing to stress over (it is), but man can it be annoying/frustrating/great all at the same time. Between Darkfall being about as exciting as its ever been (with an … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Civilization Series, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Random, Site update, Wizard101 | 7 Comments

Chasing sheep money

Posted on June 16, 2010 by SynCaine

My comment yesterday about Warhammer 40k looking like WoW in the future was only partly based off the fact that, well, it looks like WoW in the future. The other factor in making that statement was the fact that in … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 24 Comments