Category Archives: Combat Systems

Agro rules: ‘working as intended’ is not working out

Posted on December 29, 2009 by SynCaine

We hear the phrase “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” often in the MMO genre, and sometimes you have to ask “Do we know what broken is?” I’d like to throw out that I believe mob AI, in particular … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, Random | 20 Comments

A closer look at what wildlife brings

Posted on December 28, 2009 by SynCaine

You learn a lot of things about a game when you stop min/max playing 24/7 and occasionally log in just to have some fun. I know, blasphemy, but it happens, and now that my DarkFall character is ‘good enough’ for … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design | 4 Comments

Failure post is fail

Posted on December 21, 2009 by SynCaine

This post by Lum is a little funny. Funny given the source, and funny given the ideas within. It’s also funny because in parts it’s more or less a time capsule of, oh, 5-10 years ago? I won’t bore you … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Ultima Online | 122 Comments

What I REALLY meant to say regarding content.

Posted on December 18, 2009 by SynCaine

It’s funny that in the wall of text below, I never actually got to what I originally meant with my line of “DF has had more content added in a year than WoW has in 5”. The straw man Tobold … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, PvP, Rant, World of Warcraft | 52 Comments

You call THAT content?

Posted on December 18, 2009 by SynCaine

Now this might be a first; Tobold starting Friday Blog Wars? Who is this guy, and where has the real Tobold/Gevlon gone? The funny thing about all of this is we are going by ‘numerical’ measure of content, as if … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, PvP, Rant, World of Warcraft | 66 Comments

Initial overview of DarkFall’s Specialization system.

Posted on December 16, 2009 by SynCaine

At some point in development, DarkFall lost its skill cap and players were allowed to train every available skill to 100 without any penalties. It’s not clear when the cap disappeared, or exactly why, but it’s gone and not coming … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, MMO design | 17 Comments

Personal and global DarkFall update

Posted on December 14, 2009 by SynCaine

I have a feeling the action in Agon will be picking up sometime soon. Since the release of CtS, siege action has been light as everyone tests all of the new options and gets re-familiar with everything, both from a … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, Site update | 11 Comments

First taste of Naval combat in DarkFall? Sweet, very sweet.

Posted on December 9, 2009 by SynCaine

Yarrr. And not a wannabe Yarrr where the only Yarrr’ing that happens is when you put on your pirate hat in town and pretend something pirate happened. No no. Real, actual pirate-like stuff happened last night, and it was glorious. … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP | 14 Comments

DarkFall: Good PvP video of after-CtS combat.

Posted on December 8, 2009 by SynCaine

In order to show off good PvP in DarkFall I’m somewhat forced to linking other players videos. I don’t record DarkFall while I play, and more importantly, because my skills are not even close to the guy in this video, … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, PvP | 4 Comments

DarkFall: “Conquer the Seas” Expansion first impressions

Posted on December 7, 2009 by SynCaine

With one gaming-heavy weekend over, I’m going to talk about what Conquer the Seas has brought to DarkFall, but first let me toss this out for everyone. On one side of the MMO dev spectrum you have Aventurine, and on … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 16 Comments