Category Archives: MMO design

Rift: 1.2 Update and World Events

Posted on April 26, 2011 by SynCaine

The upcoming 1.2 update to Rift is pretty substantial, and considering what 1.1 brought just a month ago, Trion is keeping to a brisk pace for updates. Part of me wants to cheer, the other part sits here, nods, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Asheron's Call, MMO design, Patch Notes, Rift, World of Warcraft | 4 Comments

The real reason for the tank shortage

Posted on April 25, 2011 by SynCaine

Let me start off by saying I enjoy playing the tank more than any other role in a themepark. I enjoy the challenge, I find the gameplay more entertaining, and well, I’m not a droolcup so playing DPS would be … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, Rant, Rift | 14 Comments

Expansion vs Replacement content

Posted on April 21, 2011 by SynCaine

Prompted by the reminder that I massively ragequit Darkfall (account status: active), and reading this post on the Aventurine blog, reminded me of yet another reason why sandbox > themepark: over time a sandbox should get more/better content, while over … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, Rant, Rift | 24 Comments

Rift: All aboard the fail train

Posted on April 21, 2011 by SynCaine

Back to back ‘make it to the last boss, fail at 1am’ tier two runs, yay… Yes, I’m mad. Bro. On the bright side I did pick up one of the better shields in the game for 60p last night, … Continue reading →

Posted in Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Patch Notes, Rift | 7 Comments

Gear sucks

Posted on April 20, 2011 by SynCaine

Permanent gear is a massive design flaw in an MMO. Keep that in mind while reading. Inquisition on Sunrest has been running tier one experts for a bit now, and our general core is geared-up enough to start hitting up … Continue reading →

Posted in Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Rant, Rift | 32 Comments

PvE Sandbox MMO: The End

Posted on April 19, 2011 by SynCaine

I believe I’ve covered the main areas I wanted to hit on in my PvE Sandbox series. There are a ton of other, smaller systems to consider and discuss, but to keep things somewhat high-level I’ll leave it as is. … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Random | 11 Comments

Rift: Grim Harvest world event was AWESOME!

Posted on April 18, 2011 by SynCaine

This is why I love world events. It’s not for the loot, it’s not for the lore, and it’s not for the gameplay. No no. It’s for the forum rage. And Rift delivered beyond anything short of League of Legends … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Rift | 26 Comments

Rift: Soul system working as intended

Posted on April 15, 2011 by SynCaine

Quick Rift observation for today, and next week I’ll wrap up the PvE Sandbox MMO series (which, btw, I think has gone really well, so thanks everyone for the feedback so far). Last night we ran expert Iron Tombs again, … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Rift | 15 Comments

Single Serving Friends

Posted on April 14, 2011 by SynCaine

I wasn’t going to make a post about this, but then the ancient relic known as Blogger ate yet another of my comments, and well, here we are. Tobold first had a post about how the cross-server dungeon finder is … Continue reading →

Posted in Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Rant, Rift, World of Warcraft | 26 Comments

PvE Sandbox MMO: Housing

Posted on April 13, 2011 by SynCaine

If combat and the economy are the two most important areas for a sandbox MMO, player housing is the most neglected. It says a lot about the genre as a whole when the very first MMO, Ultima Online, had and … Continue reading →

Posted in crafting, Housing, MMO design, Random, Ultima Online | 21 Comments