Category Archives: PvP

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

DoTA talk.

Posted on April 21, 2008 by SynCaine

Monday already huh? Played a good bit of DoTA this weekend, mostly getting my ass handed to me in TDA games while still re-learning everything. Due to the game being basically 100% player skill, the learning curve depends almost completely … Continue reading →

Posted in PvP, Random | 1 Comment

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

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

Damn you DoTA!

Posted on April 9, 2008 by SynCaine

Quick update today: DoTA is evil in it’s addictive nature. Every time you have a quality, down-to-the-end 5v5 game, it just adds fuel to the fire. Amazing that something of such quality was created as a mod, and also amazing … Continue reading →

Posted in PvP, Random | Tagged | 13 Comments

Unite casuals with the hardcore, don’t separate them.

Posted on March 28, 2008 by SynCaine

Listening to the latest Drone Bay podcast, a thought came to me while listening to the ‘mail time’ section. A new player basically asked what he can do about older players having tons of money, and an inflated economy making … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, World of Warcraft | 10 Comments

It’s everyones favorite topic.

Posted on March 20, 2008 by SynCaine

RMT talk time! Tobold has a post up today about the subject, quoting a well written article from Zen of Design by Damion. I’ve made a few comments on Tobold’s blog, but felt the need to get into more detail … Continue reading →

Posted in EQ2, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, World of Warcraft | 12 Comments

Focused goodness or cheap clones?

Posted on March 18, 2008 by SynCaine

I forget who made this comment, but some developer stated he would rather make four 10 million dollar budget MMOs than make one $40 million dollar budget MMO. My first reaction to that comment was somewhat negative, as I imagined … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, World of Warcraft | 5 Comments

To the time machine, we need to correct a grave mistake!

Posted on March 14, 2008 by SynCaine

A good topic making the rounds in our blog community asks the question ‘what MMO would you unmake?’ The point being what game do you feel the MMO space would be better off without? Too many blogs to link here … Continue reading →

Posted in Dark Age of Camelot, DDO, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, PvP, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 4 Comments