Category Archives: DoTA

Blizzard confirms that Blizzard stinks now

Posted on December 14, 2018 by SynCaine

It took longer than I expected, but Blizzard has announced that Heroes of the Storm’s days are numbered. I’m sure all three current players are very disappointed. The news is significant for one major reason; this is the first time … Continue reading →

Posted in DoTA, EQ2, League of Legends, Mass Media, MMO design, Rant, SOE being SOE, World of Warcraft | 16 Comments

Gaming is pretty great right now

Posted on March 20, 2017 by SynCaine

The “Gaming is in a great spot right now” trend continues, at least outside the MMO space (and in that too, if you happen to be flying a spaceship), so lets talk about a few of the items. Overall if … Continue reading →

Posted in Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Crowfall, DoTA, EVE Online, Inquisition Clan, iPhone, League of Legends, MMO design, Random, Steam Stuff, World of Warcraft | Comments Off on Gaming is pretty great right now

Burnout is a myth

Posted on November 25, 2014 by SynCaine

When WoW was declining due to one crappy expansion after another featuring accessibility-inspired dumbing down, some people tried to write this off as not being about the content, but just due to ‘burnout’. They would have you believe that after … Continue reading →

Posted in Clash of Clans, DoTA, EVE Online, Final Fantasy XIV, League of Legends, MMO design, Random, Rant, World of Warcraft | 36 Comments

So dumbed down its just dumb

Posted on November 3, 2014 by SynCaine

There is a good post and fun comments thread over at K&G about Blizzard’s upcoming League of Legend’s clone (get it), Heroes of the Storm. Here is Keen’s basic statement of the game: Heroes of the Storm is, essentially, a … Continue reading →

Posted in DoTA, League of Legends, PvP, Random | 42 Comments

I find it really sad how the dominance of World of Warcraft has led so many people to believe that the way WoW does it is the only possible way to make a MMORPG.

Posted on January 4, 2012 by SynCaine

I still don’t have an answer for how SWTOR will do. But increasingly I think the playerbase for MMOs won’t ever let another game do a WoW, they just have lost the patience we used to have for long term … Continue reading →

Posted in DoTA, EVE Online, League of Legends, Mass Media, MMO design, Random, Rant, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 48 Comments

Breaking news: Games pitched as MMOs are not actually MMOs!

Posted on August 31, 2011 by SynCaine

Borderlands is more of an MMO than Global Agenda. It has a bigger “open world”, a longer character progression path, more itemization, more quests, more lore, etc. Both games are limited in how many people can be in one area, … Continue reading →

Posted in DoTA, Global Agenda, League of Legends, Mass Media, MMO design, Random, Rant, Rift, RMT, World of Warcraft | 17 Comments

LoL-cloning should be amusing

Posted on August 18, 2011 by SynCaine

Attempting to clone LoL has been the FOTM in the gaming industry ever since Riot started seeing it’s amazing success. Luckily for most dev studios LoL is not an MMO, but the fact that it is a PvP game will … Continue reading →

Posted in DoTA, League of Legends, PvP, RMT | 5 Comments

I’m back, and the games I’m playing

Posted on August 5, 2011 by SynCaine

Finally back from vacation. The plan to blog while there did not exactly work out (you might have noticed), but the blogging break was nice as well. I’ve got the “how to get RPG players who turn to MMOs into … Continue reading →

Posted in beta, Combat Systems, DoTA, iPhone, League of Legends, Mount and Blade: Warband, Random | 10 Comments

The future of DarkFall.

Posted on April 26, 2010 by SynCaine

During my week of vacation Aventurine was busy on the forums making posts about upcoming changes to DarkFall, along with a new initiative to drive more developer-player interaction as related to the design of the game. They also gave more … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, DoTA, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP, Random, World of Warcraft | 10 Comments

Wolves and Sheep

Posted on March 3, 2009 by SynCaine

With the release of Darkfall, the terms ‘wolves’ and ‘sheep’ have been thrown around frequently on forums and blogs. I figured this might be a good time to dig a bit deeper and try to find out just who really … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, DoTA, EVE Online, Mass Media, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 25 Comments