Category Archives: MMO design

WAR crafting prediction, and Civ4 multiplayer.

Posted on May 29, 2008 by SynCaine

Warhammer released a bit of info about their crafting system. It sounds like all other crafting systems from un-released games: awesome, new and useful. Odds are good that come release it will be like all other crafting systems: boring, old, … Continue reading →

Posted in Civilization Series, EVE Online, MMO design, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online | 6 Comments

Quest pacing, and why killing boars is cool.

Posted on May 28, 2008 by SynCaine

Being part of the blog community, and spending a decent (read: too much) amount of time reading other blogs, you pick up on trends and common rants. Having been around the MMO block since UO, I’ve also seen my fair … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 29 Comments

Finally, Syncaine has come BACK to blogging!

Posted on May 27, 2008 by SynCaine

Ah finally back. After so many days off, the ‘blogging itch’ has certainly hit me hard, especially with MMO land finally seeing some activity with the AoC release. I’m still not sold on the idea that AoC will become a … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Site update, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 11 Comments

Can my toaster run AoC? – Concerned Wal-Mart shopper

Posted on May 13, 2008 by SynCaine

There has been a good amount of debate lately about Funcom’s decision to release a high system requirements game with Age of Conan. The debate often drops into the very familiar ‘gameplay vs graphics’ debate. Leaving the gameplay aspect aside, … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Console Gaming, MMO design | 27 Comments

WotLK, too little too late?

Posted on May 12, 2008 by SynCaine

Blizzard went on a bit of an info spree this weekend, flooding sites with news about WotLK. Most of it sounds good, like the 10/25 man raid changes, better heroic itemization, and inscription. Some of it sounds a bit suspect, … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 17 Comments

Remember the LoTRO beta?

Posted on May 7, 2008 by SynCaine

Quick thought that popped into my head just now: remember how polished and smooth the LoTRO beta felt? The game levels 1-15 seemed amazing during beta, with great quests, landscapes, and story. It was not until release that we all … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, MMO design | Tagged | 5 Comments

Too WoW-like, a positive or negative?

Posted on May 5, 2008 by SynCaine

Tobold has a post up today questioning the wisdom of designing an MMO with features too similar to WoW, speaking specifically about Age of Conan. His point is that why would someone play something WoW-like when they could just play … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Dark Age of Camelot, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Pirates of the Burning Sea, PvP, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 23 Comments

MMO gaming from the ultra-casual perspective.

Posted on May 1, 2008 by SynCaine

At the request of my bf that is swamped at work, I am writing my first blog post ever. And ironically, it is about something that a year and a half ago, I knew virtually nothing about. I am a … Continue reading →

Posted in Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Site update, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments

Quick thought of the day.

Posted on May 1, 2008 by SynCaine

DoTA is a better version of WoW’s Arena PvP? Set map, 5 v 5, class/skill/item balance dependent, fairly twitch based, team unity/communication being key… Seem fairly similar to me, other than the fact DoTA is 100% fair pre-game, while the … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, World of Warcraft | 1 Comment

Wearing your sunday dress on mondays.

Posted on April 29, 2008 by SynCaine

As my head is still spinning in full PvP mode, I realized most games, and perhaps most MMO gamers, ignore a potentially very interesting gameplay mechanic, which I will refer to (very likely unoriginally) as the ‘Sunday dress’ mechanic. In … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design | 15 Comments