Category Archives: Lord of the Rings Online

Subtraction by addition

Posted on September 3, 2014 by SynCaine

One of the lazier strawmen in MMO blogging land is to dismiss the success of an older MMO by stating that fewer people play it today. I’m sure you have read some version of “If UO did so many things … Continue reading →

Posted in Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, DDO, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Ultima Online | 6 Comments

What happened to all those WoW-babies?

Posted on August 4, 2014 by SynCaine

TAGN, in a post about the closing of Vanguard, brings back a theory that was pretty popular around the 2006(ish) timeframe; mainly that those who played WoW would ‘grow up’ to eventually play a ‘real MMO’. Let’s revisit that theory … Continue reading →

Posted in Clash of Clans, EVE Online, League of Legends, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Pathfinder Online, Rift, Star Citizen, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 8 Comments

Turbine finally updates us on the continued success of their F2P conversions

Posted on February 13, 2014 by SynCaine

Instead of linking to that old PR release about how great LotRO and DDO are doing thanks to F2P, please use this updated link. F2P ALL THE WAY!

Posted in DDO, Lord of the Rings Online, Mass Media, RMT | 50 Comments

EVE: CCP you are the worst, besides everyone else

Posted on February 7, 2014 by SynCaine

Jester has, as always, a great post up about the reaction to the real life EVE monument CCP recently unveiled, which as his post shows, has largely been negative. EVE is famous for having lots of bitter vets, and as … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Darkfall Online, EQNext, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Rant, SW:TOR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 7 Comments

Closing out 2013. 2014 predictions

Posted on December 30, 2013 by SynCaine

2013 ends much like it began for the MMO genre, with a collective ‘meh’, and this blog overall has reflected that both in post volume and the number of posts about MMOs vs other games. My most played MMO this … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EQNext, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, Ultima Online, WildStar, World of Warcraft | 22 Comments

LotRO: Still creeping towards inevitability

Posted on December 13, 2013 by SynCaine

Better hurry, LoTRO is selling lvl 50 characters ‘for a limited time’ everyone… Aside from “Lulz, LotRO”, the question I have is when will Turbine just fully embrace P2W for the game? They keep creeping towards it one update at … Continue reading →

Posted in Lord of the Rings Online, RMT | 16 Comments

MMO Future: Understanding old memories

Posted on October 31, 2013 by SynCaine

Almost all of the original MMOs worked. UO, EQ1, AC1, DAoC; all of those games had solid populations and growth in their prime. In contrast, most of the recent MMOs (AoC, WAR, LotR, SW:TOR, Aion, Rift, etc) have not. Either … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Aion, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rift, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 52 Comments

People of F2P MMOs

Posted on October 23, 2013 by SynCaine

Nope. First, can we stop linking to that 2011 LotRO announcement of how great it’s doing? Please link to the 2013 “still doing great” announcement. Same goes for DDO. Last I heard, Turbine was releasing a response to in-game protests … Continue reading →

Posted in DDO, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rant, RMT | 38 Comments

Today’s Kool-Aid flavor is grape. Grape and failure

Posted on August 28, 2013 by SynCaine

A lot of funny stuff is happening in this post over at TAGN, please go check it out. My only major complaint is that Wilhelm was light on the actual insults. I’m going to try and correct that here. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Allods Online, DDO, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Mass Media, MMO design, Rant, RMT, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, WildStar, World of Warcraft | 51 Comments

The cure for F2P disease is quality

Posted on August 22, 2013 by SynCaine

In the comments section from yesterday’s post, Rohirrim raised the issue that with so many failed MMOs being demoted to the F2P minor leagues, gamers today might be weary of jumping on a new game that is sub-based for fear … Continue reading →

Posted in Camelot Unchained, EQNext, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rant, Rift, RMT, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online | 33 Comments