Category Archives: Age of Conan

Breaking down MMO burnout, and ways to avoid it.

Posted on June 26, 2008 by SynCaine

Rick over at /random expressed concern that his longtime guild may not be as hyped for WAR as he is, and that their time together in the game may be rather limited due to general MMO veteran burnout, a legitimate … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Console Gaming, Dark Age of Camelot, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online | 19 Comments

MMO history, that Bartle guy, and why WoW2 won’t blow your mind.

Posted on June 23, 2008 by SynCaine

It seems we had a busy weekend in the MMO blog world, fueled by an interview with Richard Bartle done by Michael Zenke over at Massively. As with anything remotely interesting posted on the internet these days, the responses to … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Console Gaming, EVE Online, MMO design, Perma-death, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 5 Comments

AoC bashing, LoTRO update, ISK talk.

Posted on June 20, 2008 by SynCaine

Ah Friday sweetness. Heartless and Rick over at /random both commented on a Massively report about AoC and it’s troubles with its much-hyped endgame PvP. It would seem that massive amounts of high details characters letting off fancy spell effects … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, PvP | 13 Comments

Quest pacing, and why killing boars is cool.

Posted on May 28, 2008 by SynCaine

Being part of the blog community, and spending a decent (read: too much) amount of time reading other blogs, you pick up on trends and common rants. Having been around the MMO block since UO, I’ve also seen my fair … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 29 Comments

Finally, Syncaine has come BACK to blogging!

Posted on May 27, 2008 by SynCaine

Ah finally back. After so many days off, the ‘blogging itch’ has certainly hit me hard, especially with MMO land finally seeing some activity with the AoC release. I’m still not sold on the idea that AoC will become a … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Site update, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 11 Comments

Out for a few, and a quick AoC update.

Posted on May 16, 2008 by SynCaine

I’ll be out of the country for a few days, which means no blog posts for a bit. In other news (is me not posting news…?) it sounds like AoC is improving rapidly, which is good to hear. As an … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Site update | 4 Comments

Funcom to AoC players, GTFO!

Posted on May 15, 2008 by SynCaine

I’ve been fairly harsh on Funcom and Age of Conan here on this blog. I ripped them for the whole ‘open’ beta fiasco, then for releasing a crash prone client due to a last minute ‘fix’, and finally the entire … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 42 Comments

Can my toaster run AoC? – Concerned Wal-Mart shopper

Posted on May 13, 2008 by SynCaine

There has been a good amount of debate lately about Funcom’s decision to release a high system requirements game with Age of Conan. The debate often drops into the very familiar ‘gameplay vs graphics’ debate. Leaving the gameplay aspect aside, … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Console Gaming, MMO design | 27 Comments

WotLK, too little too late?

Posted on May 12, 2008 by SynCaine

Blizzard went on a bit of an info spree this weekend, flooding sites with news about WotLK. Most of it sounds good, like the 10/25 man raid changes, better heroic itemization, and inscription. Some of it sounds a bit suspect, … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 17 Comments

Remember the LoTRO beta?

Posted on May 7, 2008 by SynCaine

Quick thought that popped into my head just now: remember how polished and smooth the LoTRO beta felt? The game levels 1-15 seemed amazing during beta, with great quests, landscapes, and story. It was not until release that we all … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, MMO design | Tagged | 5 Comments