Category Archives: Combat Systems

Passing MMO judgment

Posted on December 1, 2009 by SynCaine

I few days ago a wrote a post about why I believe Warhammer Online failed to live up to it’s potential/hype, and Tobold took the following line and ran (out of context) with it: Because unless you are a believer … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, beta, Combat Systems, Console Gaming, crafting, Darkfall Online, DDO, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Fallen Earth, Mass Media, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 76 Comments

DarkFall: Lessons from the fall of TRA

Posted on November 30, 2009 by SynCaine

Sunday night saw VAMP and co (the alliance either has no name, or the name changes on a daily basis, so I’ll just refer to our side as VAMP going forward) siege another TRA city on Yssam. While there was … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 10 Comments

DarkFall: Spotlight on ship-related changes

Posted on November 25, 2009 by SynCaine

For the TL:DR crowd, I’ll just sum up the new spotlight for you: bla bla bla pure gold bla bla bla. I’m curious to see how the new collision detection works with bigger ships pushing smaller ones, and whether this … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 2 Comments

Dragon Age: Thoughts after the finish.

Posted on November 25, 2009 by SynCaine

I finished Dragon Age last night, and I must say the ending was somewhat disappointing. I mean the actual ending, not the events leading up to it and the final fight with the Archdemon (did I just spoil that for … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Random, Site update | 5 Comments

Life Evolution in the sandbox

Posted on November 24, 2009 by SynCaine

Pacing and gameplay evolution are very important and at times overlooked factors in any MMO. The actions and motivations of a day one player are very different than those of a two year veteran, and good game design takes that … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Aion, Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 20 Comments

Why a sandbox makes life more difficult for a griefer

Posted on November 23, 2009 by SynCaine

If you only know one thing about DarkFall, you likely know that a LOT of people just outright hate the game, or more accurately, the supposed playerbase behind the game. If you have been playing MMOs for any decent length … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 36 Comments

Are you sure that’s really an expansion?

Posted on November 20, 2009 by SynCaine

In the comments of a previous DarkFall-related post here, the question of whether the next update should be considered a patch or expansion was brought up. Now I’ve already written what pushed the update from patch to expansion for me … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP, World of Warcraft | 26 Comments

DarkFall caravans = roaming mobs or economic tool?

Posted on November 19, 2009 by SynCaine

So far so good on the DarkFall twitter front, with little updates on what certain teams are working on. I’ve said this before, and it comes up again here, but Aventurine loves toying with ForumFall, with the latest example being … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 25 Comments

It’s now officially an expansion.

Posted on November 10, 2009 by SynCaine

Each Spotlight post on the DarkFall forums about the upcoming expansion (it’s now officially an expansion in my mind, given the bat-shit crazy amount of stuff included. I know MMO games with shorter feature lists than what has been mentioned … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, Ultima Online | 4 Comments

Little more Dragon Age, and some DDO F2P thoughts.

Posted on November 6, 2009 by SynCaine

As I stated in my Dragon Age review, I was very impressed with the combat engine when, after finally defeating the first boss, one of my characters jumped on him and put his sword through the Ogre’s skull. All of … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, DDO, Dungeons and Dragons Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, Random, RMT | 13 Comments