Category Archives: Combat Systems

Working ranked systems keep you at a 50% winrate

Posted on February 26, 2019 by SynCaine

I’ve written in the past about climbing the ranks in League of Legends, and how ELO hell is both a myth and a reality. What that post didn’t really talk about is win rates, and how any game with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, League of Legends, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Battle Brothers: Inching towards legendary victory

Posted on December 26, 2018 by SynCaine

I’m now 200+ days into my current campaign in Battle Brothers, and things are going well overall, though I’ve yet to complete a single legendary site. I have resolved two end-game crisis events however (orcs and noble war). What I … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Random | Comments Off on Battle Brothers: Inching towards legendary victory

Battle Brothers: Beasts and Exploration – Initial thoughts

Posted on December 3, 2018 by SynCaine

I’ve had a few requests to talk about the expansion to Battle Brothers, so while I haven’t seen all of the new content, here goes. In short, if you liked BB before, I can’t imagine you won’t love the expansion. … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Random, Review | 1 Comment

Game difficulty forces you to learn the details

Posted on October 26, 2018 by SynCaine

Az has a post up about his recent adventures in Hollow Knight and Dead Cells, two Metroidvania-style games (a style a very much do not enjoy). That post and the one before it sounded, to me, like he was playing … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, Random, Rant, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments

Inject directly into my veins!

Posted on October 22, 2018 by SynCaine

Nov 29nd. That’s the release date for the Battle Brothers DLC/expansion, costing $10. First, that price point is too low. $15 would have been my minimum, and considering the feature list, I wouldn’t have been taken aback at $20. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Random | 4 Comments

EVE: Tales from a war-dec facing CEO

Posted on October 4, 2018 by SynCaine

Interesting post over at TAGN about the latest CSM minutes out of EVE, particularly the part about war decs. As someone who has experience in this area as a former CEO of a high-sec corp, I have some thoughts. First … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, EVE Online, Inquisition Clan, MMO design, PvP | 7 Comments

I theme myself to death

Posted on September 24, 2018 by SynCaine

In games like Elder Scroll Legends, or Slay the Spire, I like themes for what I play. Probably too much, honestly, to the point where the theme overwhelms the more basic concern of ‘does this work well’. In ESL I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Random, The Elder Scrolls Online | 1 Comment

The right and wrong of game design evolution

Posted on August 23, 2018 by SynCaine

‘Evolving’ a popular design sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. Lets look at two examples for today. First up in the ‘doesn’t’ category is Castle Burn, a mobile game that tries to be an evolution of Clash Royale. Like CR, Castle Burn … Continue reading →

Posted in Clash Royale, Combat Systems, crafting, Random | 1 Comment

Pre-vacation update

Posted on July 25, 2018 by SynCaine

No, I have not given up on the blog just yet. I actually have half a dozen posts in draft form, but none of them got finished. Ah well. Updates time. I got a new keyboard during Amazon Prime days, … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Combat Systems, Random, Site update | 4 Comments

EVE: Instanced battles would mean a lot more headlines for the game

Posted on March 20, 2018 by SynCaine

I wanted to follow up on the last post, talking about the possibility of bringing instanced battles to EVE, specifically the one major area it would greatly help EVE; attention. For most of EVE’s history, the big events have always … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, EVE Online, Life is Feudal, MMO design, PvP | 7 Comments