Category Archives: Rift

Trion’s RoN will be MMORTS 2.0!

Posted on August 11, 2011 by SynCaine

Are you as excited for RoN not being pay-to-win as you are about Rift (1.2 and beyond) not being in Azeroth anymore? I know I am!

Posted in Random, Rant, Rift, RMT | 5 Comments

Speaking of innovation…

Posted on July 19, 2011 by SynCaine

The (not really all that) new MMO business model: Is your MMO ‘good’? If you lied and said “Yes”, go to A. If you ran out of money, need to ship the alpha, and said “No”, go to B. A: … Continue reading →

Posted in Allods Online, Mass Media, MMO design, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Random, Rant, Rift, RMT, SW:TOR | 17 Comments

Rift: EG review of 1.4

Posted on July 14, 2011 by SynCaine

One small step towards F2P, one giant leap towards Azeroth.

Posted in Patch Notes, Rant, Rift, World of Warcraft | 1 Comment

The side-grind of raiding

Posted on June 28, 2011 by SynCaine

Back when Molton Core was the first raid in WoW, Blizzard ‘nerfed’ it by introducing fire resist gear. These days they nerf raids by turning god-mode on for everyone and letting them breeze through the content. Trion also elected to … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Rift, World of Warcraft | 10 Comments

The metrics made me do it!

Posted on June 24, 2011 by SynCaine

One of the justifications from Trion concerning nerfing difficulty in Rift was to allow Dungeon Finder groups to complete them. That statement contains a lot of value when broken down, and directly relates back to the topic of accessibility and … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, Rant, Rift, World of Warcraft | 13 Comments

Rift: -Insert dramatic quitting title here-

Posted on June 23, 2011 by SynCaine

Rift patch 1.3 is out, along with the ‘new’ world event. Phase one has, more or less, the same exact daily quests as the previous event. And the one before it. Collect stuff around Sanctum, travel to a zone to … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Patch Notes, Rant, Rift | 32 Comments

‘Accessibility’ killed Rift

Posted on June 16, 2011 by SynCaine

Some very perceptive readers have picked up on the fact that Rift has somewhat fallen out of favor with me. It might have been my post about patch 1.2. I did drop a few hints there. Patch 1.2 brought the … Continue reading →

Posted in Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Patch Notes, Rant, Rift, World of Warcraft | 42 Comments

Rift: How bad is the PvP?

Posted on June 8, 2011 by SynCaine

Rift PvP is bad. I don’t know if it’s historically “all time” bad, but it’s at least close. It has, more or less, nothing going for it. The warfronts are meh, the balance is off, and the entire end-game aspect … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, PvP, Rift | 29 Comments

Rift: Today and tomorrow

Posted on June 7, 2011 by SynCaine

The release of the 1.3 update trailer seems like a pretty good time to give everyone here an update on my status with Rift, and the plans going forward. The 1.2 update, quite simply, killed 5 man dungeons for Inquisition. … Continue reading →

Posted in crafting, Darkfall Online, Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Patch Notes, Rift | 19 Comments

Fun with lists

Posted on May 26, 2011 by SynCaine

What do the games listed below all have in common? Age of Conan All Points Bulletin Dungeons & Dragons Online Lord of the Rings Online Global Agenda Ragnarok Online Champions Online Everquest 2 Extended If you answered “failed to meet … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Allods Online, Darkfall Online, DDO, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Mass Media, Rant, Rift, RMT, World of Warcraft | 36 Comments