Category Archives: PvP

A bit of WoW history to explain the LFG change.

Posted on December 15, 2009 by SynCaine

Yesterday’s post received a lot of good comments debating the merits of the new LFG tool and how it changes the social dynamic in WoW. What may have been lost or unclear in my post is that I believe the … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP, RvR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 55 Comments

First taste of Naval combat in DarkFall? Sweet, very sweet.

Posted on December 9, 2009 by SynCaine

Yarrr. And not a wannabe Yarrr where the only Yarrr’ing that happens is when you put on your pirate hat in town and pretend something pirate happened. No no. Real, actual pirate-like stuff happened last night, and it was glorious. … Continue reading →

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

DarkFall: Good PvP video of after-CtS combat.

Posted on December 8, 2009 by SynCaine

In order to show off good PvP in DarkFall I’m somewhat forced to linking other players videos. I don’t record DarkFall while I play, and more importantly, because my skills are not even close to the guy in this video, … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, PvP | 4 Comments

DarkFall: “Conquer the Seas” Expansion first impressions

Posted on December 7, 2009 by SynCaine

With one gaming-heavy weekend over, I’m going to talk about what Conquer the Seas has brought to DarkFall, but first let me toss this out for everyone. On one side of the MMO dev spectrum you have Aventurine, and on … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 16 Comments

Passing MMO judgment

Posted on December 1, 2009 by SynCaine

I few days ago a wrote a post about why I believe Warhammer Online failed to live up to it’s potential/hype, and Tobold took the following line and ran (out of context) with it: Because unless you are a believer … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, beta, Combat Systems, Console Gaming, crafting, Darkfall Online, DDO, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Fallen Earth, Mass Media, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 76 Comments

DarkFall: Lessons from the fall of TRA

Posted on November 30, 2009 by SynCaine

Sunday night saw VAMP and co (the alliance either has no name, or the name changes on a daily basis, so I’ll just refer to our side as VAMP going forward) siege another TRA city on Yssam. While there was … Continue reading →

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

DarkFall: Spotlight on ship-related changes

Posted on November 25, 2009 by SynCaine

For the TL:DR crowd, I’ll just sum up the new spotlight for you: bla bla bla pure gold bla bla bla. I’m curious to see how the new collision detection works with bigger ships pushing smaller ones, and whether this … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 2 Comments

Life Evolution in the sandbox

Posted on November 24, 2009 by SynCaine

Pacing and gameplay evolution are very important and at times overlooked factors in any MMO. The actions and motivations of a day one player are very different than those of a two year veteran, and good game design takes that … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Aion, Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 20 Comments

Why a sandbox makes life more difficult for a griefer

Posted on November 23, 2009 by SynCaine

If you only know one thing about DarkFall, you likely know that a LOT of people just outright hate the game, or more accurately, the supposed playerbase behind the game. If you have been playing MMOs for any decent length … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP | 36 Comments

Are you sure that’s really an expansion?

Posted on November 20, 2009 by SynCaine

In the comments of a previous DarkFall-related post here, the question of whether the next update should be considered a patch or expansion was brought up. Now I’ve already written what pushed the update from patch to expansion for me … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP, World of Warcraft | 26 Comments