Category Archives: MMO design

Ignorance is not bliss

Posted on January 14, 2010 by SynCaine

I don’t have much interest in personally playing Star Trek Online. Between being totally happy and engrossed with DarkFall, not being a huge fan of the ST IP, generally not being a big Cryptic fan, and not seeing/reading anything about … Continue reading →

Posted in beta, Fallen Earth, Mass Media, MMO design, Random, Rant | 31 Comments

Another year, and still everyone is immortal?

Posted on January 13, 2010 by SynCaine

Speaking of death (see post below), one thing I noticed while reading everyone’s 2010 predictions is that no one (that I saw) predicted an MMO would launch or be announced with perma-death. While MUDs exist or existed with perma-death, we … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, Perma-death, Random | 24 Comments

2010: Year of the Tourist?

Posted on January 10, 2010 by SynCaine

Tobold is asking who plans to be a tourist in 2010 (continuing his new adult entertainment blog theme in the process), which got me thinking whether 2010 itself might not just be the ‘Year of the Tourist’, and furthermore whether … Continue reading →

Posted in Mass Media, MMO design, Random, SW:TOR, World of Warcraft | 21 Comments

What is Realm Pride?

Posted on January 8, 2010 by SynCaine

In the land of MMO PvP setups, we know for sure that one style, freeform PvP, works. We also know that another style, pre-set PvP, has worked, but has also has a history of failure. The one major example of … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Asheron's Call, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, RvR, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 28 Comments

Why the WoW PUG scene is so great now

Posted on January 7, 2010 by SynCaine

EZmode = happy masses. It really is that simple. The reason your PUG group today does not implode halfway through an instance like before is because short of getting the five absolute worst players on the server in one group, … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, Rant, World of Warcraft | 44 Comments

Double siege night in DarkFall

Posted on December 30, 2009 by SynCaine

The NA server had its busiest night to date yesterday, with VAMP/NEM (and basically the whole server) being involved in two city sieges. The first (Kvet) was our siege, the second (Mam) we were hired to help take. We failed … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 10 Comments

Agro rules: ‘working as intended’ is not working out

Posted on December 29, 2009 by SynCaine

We hear the phrase “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” often in the MMO genre, and sometimes you have to ask “Do we know what broken is?” I’d like to throw out that I believe mob AI, in particular … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, Random | 20 Comments

A look behind the MMO dev curtain

Posted on December 29, 2009 by SynCaine

I don’t much to add to this post by Brian (Psychochild) Green other than to say it was a great read for someone who is heavily invested in the MMO and game dev space, even if its from the outside … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Random | 21 Comments

A closer look at what wildlife brings

Posted on December 28, 2009 by SynCaine

You learn a lot of things about a game when you stop min/max playing 24/7 and occasionally log in just to have some fun. I know, blasphemy, but it happens, and now that my DarkFall character is ‘good enough’ for … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design | 4 Comments

Failure post is fail

Posted on December 21, 2009 by SynCaine

This post by Lum is a little funny. Funny given the source, and funny given the ideas within. It’s also funny because in parts it’s more or less a time capsule of, oh, 5-10 years ago? I won’t bore you … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Ultima Online | 122 Comments