Category Archives: Darkfall Online

Swing and a Miss: Dice or You?

Posted on September 29, 2010 by SynCaine

The somewhat recent re-launch of EGM magazine has, so far, delivered. The new quarterly version contains more interviews and ‘blog-like’ content than just a slew of preview and review sales hype (though it still has some of that as well), … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, DDO, EVE Online, Fallen Earth, Fallout 3, Mass Media, MMO design, PvP, World of Warcraft | 24 Comments

Removing player skill crits you for 1.034%

Posted on September 28, 2010 by SynCaine

Put this one under “accessible” benefits please. WoW dev Ghostcrawler is wondering why the meta game in WoW includes (or excludes, depending on who you ask) a large section of the player base, and more or less defines the culture … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, League of Legends, MMO design, Rant, World of Warcraft | 56 Comments

Darkfall: The expansion, ever closer

Posted on September 17, 2010 by SynCaine

Tasos posted an update regarding the recent connection issues, the upcoming expansion, and beyond. From the tone of the update it sounds like things are finally picking back up and the final touches are being put on the long-delayed expansion, … Continue reading →

Posted in Civilization Series, Darkfall Online, League of Legends, Site update | 3 Comments

LoL’ing the weekend away

Posted on September 13, 2010 by SynCaine

Another weekend in the books, and another bucket or ten filled with delicious League of Legends rage. My newest source? Trying to time Tryndamere’s ult ‘just right’ and having the screen go gray right as I hit ‘R’. Bonus points … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, Inquisition Clan, League of Legends | 4 Comments

$5,000 Darkfall contest winners

Posted on September 10, 2010 by SynCaine

At long last, the $5,000 “I love Darkfall” contest winners have been announced. Not a huge surprise that the concrete dragon statue won, anyone who saw the video when it was first posted knew it would be next to impossible … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online | 1 Comment

Freedom or Profit

Posted on September 8, 2010 by SynCaine

Trusting your players is a risky move in an MMO. Accepting risky moves is often counterproductive to turning a profit, which is why the ‘safe’ choice when designing an MMO is to remove that potential risk and limit or eliminate … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Ultima Online | 7 Comments

Previous fail breakdown was the real fail

Posted on August 31, 2010 by SynCaine

My post from yesterday was not as clear as I had hoped (that’s what happens when you rush posts at the end of the day I guess), so here we go for round two. What I wanted to express yesterday … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 3 Comments

The Trinity: Keeping the masses safe since 1999!

Posted on August 20, 2010 by SynCaine

This post by ‘I played WAR before anyone else did’ Richard Bartle (via KTR) brings up some interesting points, with the big take-away for me being that the MMO genre would be a lot cooler right now if Ultima Online … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Rant, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 23 Comments

Talkin’ Darkfall

Posted on August 17, 2010 by SynCaine

In my glorious return to podcasts, I was a guest on MMOSmackTalk with Ryan. He grilled me about my visit to Aventurine, along with some more general discussion about the game and certain features. What was planned as a 15 … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, Podcast | 6 Comments

Is the MMO genre back to being a niche market?

Posted on August 12, 2010 by SynCaine

Anyone else seeing the irony of SOE making their next EQ game a WoW clone? My my how quickly things change, and am I the only one thinking SOE is going to find a new and creative way to screw … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Darkfall Online, EQ2, EVE Online, MMO design, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 22 Comments