Category Archives: MMO design

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

MMO Future: Suits and timebombs

Posted on October 24, 2013 by SynCaine

A lot of good back and forth dialog happened yesterday, which you should go read if you haven’t. Thanks go out to Brian (Psychochild) Green for putting up more of a fight than the hotbar salesmen from SW:TOR. I’d like … Continue reading →

Posted in EQNext, EVE Online, Kickstarter, MMO design, Rant, RMT, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, World of Warcraft | 77 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

MMO future: Social baseline

Posted on October 17, 2013 by SynCaine

At the time of its release, WoW was criticized for not bringing much to the MMO genre, and simply being a refined EverQuest. Refining someone else’s idea was, after all, how Blizzard made a name for themselves originally. In 2004, … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, World of Warcraft | 26 Comments

Rift closing in China, Death accountability.

Posted on September 18, 2013 by SynCaine

Things are not looking so hot over in Rift-land, including the upcoming closing of Rift China. The mighty MMO 3.0 seems to be falling, and falling fast. I can’t do a real comprehensive “why” analysis because I’ve not played the … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EQ2, MMO design, PvP, Rift, SW:TOR, World of Warcraft | 16 Comments

DF:UW – Dungeons, not instances

Posted on September 4, 2013 by SynCaine

Dungeons in Ultima Online were much different than instances in WoW. In UO, you went into a dungeon to farm for however long you wanted (or until PvP showed up), while in WoW an instance is ‘run’ from point A … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP | 8 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

Shocking news; F2P is dead

Posted on August 21, 2013 by SynCaine

Well that didn’t last long, huh? Wish someone had called F2P a fad, that would have been pretty insightful of them. Am I happy that the F2P plague is dying? Of course. Will F2P still exist in some capacity? Yes. … Continue reading →

Posted in EQ2, League of Legends, Mass Media, MMO design, Rant, RMT, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, World of Warcraft | 61 Comments

WildStar – I can’t say it sucks, yet

Posted on August 20, 2013 by SynCaine

TAGN beat me to posting about the WildStar PLEX plan. /agree It works in EVE because EVE has a balanced economy. WildStar being a themepark, it won’t (feel free to bookmark this and come back 6 months into release and … Continue reading →

Posted in EQNext, EVE Online, Guild Wars, MMO design, Rant, SW:TOR | 8 Comments