Category Archives: MMO design

DF:UW – Sweet peaks

Posted on March 10, 2014 by SynCaine

I write often about the highs and lows a great MMO can take you on vs the sustained averageness of far too many MMOs today. I think in many ways that is the core difference between an MMO and all … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP | 1 Comment

Fail and try again, succeed and move on

Posted on February 27, 2014 by SynCaine

“Few people go back to content that was trivially easy; most people repeat content they failed the first time.” – Zubon I believe the above is true on average. Yes, some people rage-quit instantly, while others love nothing more than … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, World of Warcraft | 13 Comments

Themeparks: PvP is the filler between the cracks

Posted on February 25, 2014 by SynCaine

Wilhelm is asking if an MMO must contain PvP. It’s actually a more interesting question when you really thing about it, especially if you limit the discussion to themeparks (the answer for sandboxes has its own tab on this blog). … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, PvP, The Elder Scrolls Online, World of Warcraft | 27 Comments

DF:UW – If everyone had diamonds

Posted on February 17, 2014 by SynCaine

As previously noted, Darkfall: Unholy Wars took a huge step towards becoming a sustainable sandbox with the recent increase in gear loss from PvP. As some have asked, I don’t know if it’s enough, but it’s certainly a start, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP | 27 Comments

ESO: Prediction forming is at 85%

Posted on February 14, 2014 by SynCaine

This article over at Massively by Larry Everett mirrors a lot of my most recent experience with the ESO beta, in that the first area is 100% linear, the second feels like a typical themepark zone, and the third feels … Continue reading →

Posted in Mass Media, MMO design, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online | 40 Comments

Smed talks sandbox

Posted on February 12, 2014 by SynCaine

Smed has a new blog that yells at you with giant text. I wish he had named it “MMOs are still a niche market”, but no dice on that. His first post is about sandbox design. “When we first began … Continue reading →

Posted in EQNext, EVE Online, MMO design, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 2 Comments

EVE: Learning skills in a F2P world

Posted on February 11, 2014 by SynCaine

A few years ago CCP removed the Learning skills from EVE Online. To quickly recap, the Learning skills took about three months to train, and their only benefit was a boost to training other skills faster. They were, overall, a … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, RMT | 13 Comments

Pathfinder Online: What 1.9m gets you

Posted on February 6, 2014 by SynCaine

The latest dev blog from Goblinworks, makers of the upcoming Pathfinder Online (currently holder of the very distinguished “Next sandbox MMO least likely to suck” award) talks money, specifically that they spent 1.9m in 2013. Numbers are fun, especially once … Continue reading →

Posted in Kickstarter, MMO design, Pathfinder Online, Star Citizen, SW:TOR, Warhammer Online | 9 Comments

EVE: Required reading

Posted on January 30, 2014 by SynCaine

CCP dev blog about the longest and one of the largest battles in MMO history. If you consider yourself an MMO fan, consider it required reading, start to finish. A few quick notes: CCP gets it. Not only does the … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, Mass Media, MMO design | 24 Comments

The basics of RUST, and it’s lessons for the MMO genre

Posted on January 22, 2014 by SynCaine

If many recent MMOs are 3-month titles, a game like RUST is a one-monther. Now, before you start raging, that’s not an outright ‘bad’ thing; many games aren’t design for prolonged play, and that’s perfectly fine. Unless, you know, your … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Random | 9 Comments