Category Archives: MMO design

Understanding what makes PvP tick.

Posted on April 28, 2008 by SynCaine

Watching people react to all the new info about AoC’s PvP model has been rather entertaining, while also frustrating and somewhat surprising. PvP seems to be an idea that most people ‘think’ they love in an MMO, but when you … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Combat Systems, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 12 Comments

Camping for a beta spot… no thanks.

Posted on April 25, 2008 by SynCaine

Open beta does not mean what it use to in the MMO world. Back in the day, open beta for an MMO was not a big deal, and for the most part was quite similar to the most recent closed … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Combat Systems, MMO design, Pirates of the Burning Sea, PvP, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 15 Comments

PvP theorycraft, and the lessons MMOs need to learn.

Posted on April 22, 2008 by SynCaine

Playing as much DoTA as I have lately, it’s got me thinking about the general idea of PvP, and why most MMOs can’t seem to get it right. We have seen what happens when you make it too extreme in … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 11 Comments

Understanding failure, the PoTBS story.

Posted on April 17, 2008 by SynCaine

As has been well reported, Pirates of the Burning Sea is cutting down on servers, going from 11 to 4. While PR would like you to believe otherwise, it’s fairly clear that the game is underperforming, and the reduction in … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, EVE Online, MMO design, Pirates of the Burning Sea, PvP | 18 Comments

Curt Schilling on ‘The Instance’ podcast.

Posted on April 15, 2008 by SynCaine

The Instance, which is always worth listening to anyway, stepped it up a notch with this show and featured a lengthy interview with Curt Schilling. Along with a ton of WoW talk, they go into general game design, a bit … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | Tagged | 2 Comments

You can’t have everything, sorry.

Posted on April 11, 2008 by SynCaine

Keen has a post up about his recent experience in DAoC. The gist of it is that after the ‘newness’ of being back in DAoC wore off, the fact that the PvE in DAoC is not as on-rails as more … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, PvP, Site update, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 24 Comments

Daily quest, RMT, and the end-game in WoW

Posted on April 8, 2008 by SynCaine

Many people credit daily quests with making earning gold in WoW easier, and that part of the reason Blizzard added so many of them was to combat gold farmers by making lots of gold available to everyone. I’m not sure … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments

WoW’s legacy on the MMO players mindframe.

Posted on April 4, 2008 by SynCaine

Tobold has a post up today about training players in WoW, and what can be done to improve the sad state the PUG scene is in. I think the PUG scene in WoW is hopeless though, that game is too … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, World of Warcraft | 14 Comments

User created content, who needs it?

Posted on April 3, 2008 by SynCaine

Continuing today’s theme of linking to blogs from people who know a hell of a lot more about MMOs than I do, Raph Koster has a post today about the growing amount of user-created browser-based content that is hitting the … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Random, Warhammer Online | 14 Comments

Interesting read about F2P gaming.

Posted on March 31, 2008 by SynCaine

I’ll post my thought on this article tomorrow, no time today other than to say that if you are aiming for Nexon-like profits, go F2P. If you want to make serious money, the sub model in NA continues to dominate.

Posted in MMO design, Random | Comments Off on Interesting read about F2P gaming.