Category Archives: MMO design

3000+ players playing lag-free? Ha, that’s impossible!

Posted on November 10, 2010 by SynCaine

A bit of a follow-up from CCP Veritas on that record-breaking fleet battle in EVE can be found here. I found it an interesting read overall, but it also once again highlights some of the major benefits EVE has going … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, Mass Media, MMO design, PvP, World of Warcraft | 36 Comments

From UO to WoW: A look into the who and why

Posted on November 8, 2010 by SynCaine

Thursday Ob asked whether someone who enjoyed 1997 Ultima Online could enjoy 2010 WoW, which is a great question on many levels. First, it’s worthwhile to talk about the core differences between the two games in terms of enjoyment (obviously … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 32 Comments

Mythic beats SOE for Cash Shop stupidity

Posted on November 4, 2010 by SynCaine

In the race to see which studio is more incompetent at cash shops, Mythic surges past current champion SOE to claim the Clown Crown of Crazy (the highly coveted CCC). Congrats, let the server shutdown party commence! Here is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, MMO design, Rant, RMT, Warhammer Online | 14 Comments

Earning the crown

Posted on October 26, 2010 by SynCaine

Note: Someone please inform work that I have a blog to write, and hence I can’t be actually working all 8 hours of the day. I mean, come on! And actually, being busy at work feeds right into today’s topic, … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, World of Warcraft | 7 Comments

Darkfall Re-Launch

Posted on October 18, 2010 by SynCaine

Tasos has clearly started trolling ForumFall. With his brief mention of Darkfall 2, new servers, and ‘future plans’, ForumFall has been working itself silly speculating and trying to figure it all out. He somewhat ruins the fun with this explanation, … Continue reading →

Posted in beta, crafting, Darkfall Online, DDO, MMO design, Patch Notes | 19 Comments

PvP Hotspots

Posted on October 15, 2010 by SynCaine

If you build it, they will come. With sharp objects. And the intent to murder. That’s how PvP in MMOs works, yet so many attempts to create PvP hotspots fail. Too often the approach is to design something that is … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, RvR, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 16 Comments

WAR, SW:TOR, and the ‘death’ of the MMO genre

Posted on October 14, 2010 by SynCaine

God, where to start with this debacle? My anger at WAR has actually increased since leaving the game, for a number of reasons. When I left the game I thought it had a good base and was just missing a … Continue reading →

Posted in Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, Mass Media, MMO design, Perma-death, PvP, Rant, SW:TOR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 35 Comments

30 minutes with Hellfreeze

Posted on October 8, 2010 by SynCaine

I’ve only managed to log about 30 minutes or so into Darkfall since the expansion, but even in EuroGamer time I’ve seen some good things. With the upcoming weekend, I should have a much better report come Monday. The first … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, Patch Notes | 9 Comments

The value of the player behind the character

Posted on October 4, 2010 by SynCaine

My writing style at times makes for perfect troll food/bait, generally much to my entertainment. That said, it’s always surprising when non-trolls bite as well, missing the entire point of a post to go after the bait like the trolls … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Inquisition Clan, League of Legends, MMO design, World of Warcraft | 25 Comments

Swing and a Miss: Dice or You?

Posted on September 29, 2010 by SynCaine

The somewhat recent re-launch of EGM magazine has, so far, delivered. The new quarterly version contains more interviews and ‘blog-like’ content than just a slew of preview and review sales hype (though it still has some of that as well), … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, DDO, EVE Online, Fallen Earth, Fallout 3, Mass Media, MMO design, PvP, World of Warcraft | 24 Comments