Category Archives: Ultima Online

How important are levels in our MMOs?

Posted on November 5, 2008 by SynCaine

I want to talk today about the idea of levels in MMOs, and whether their time has come and gone. Many people argue Warhammer Online would be a far superior game without levels, and we have seen similar arguments made … Continue reading →

Posted in EQ2, EVE Online, MMO design, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 31 Comments

The bored WoW player wave comes and goes, leaving empty servers behind

Posted on October 31, 2008 by SynCaine

With WAR’s recent server transfers, the natural first reaction would be that since so many players are jumping ship, WAR is dying and needs to consolidate. It’s generally the statement we make whenever we hear an MMO is merging servers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 25 Comments

Mythic employee Tobold talks WAR

Posted on September 10, 2008 by SynCaine

Tobold, Mr. I’m kind of a big deal official media source and Mythic shill blogger, has an opinion piece about WAR. He is wrong, of course, but what do we expect from a total sellout. (insert random Darkfall comment, followed … Continue reading →

Posted in beta, Combat Systems, EVE Online, Mass Media, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 3 Comments

“Dude, that game is so 2004”, and other WAR comments.

Posted on September 8, 2008 by SynCaine

Reading some of the early Open Beta feedback, one thing struck me as a bit curious, and I wanted to write about it here in the hopes that someone can explain it to me. Why is 2008 so different from … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, beta, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 21 Comments

End-game content is not the ONLY content.

Posted on July 30, 2008 by SynCaine

Tobold, MMOCrunch and Random Battle are three blogs which have recently talked about solo vs group play in an MMO, and everyone brings some good points to the table. One major issue during the leveling process is that far too … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 12 Comments

Breaking down MMO burnout, and ways to avoid it.

Posted on June 26, 2008 by SynCaine

Rick over at /random expressed concern that his longtime guild may not be as hyped for WAR as he is, and that their time together in the game may be rather limited due to general MMO veteran burnout, a legitimate … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Console Gaming, Dark Age of Camelot, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online | 19 Comments

One year of blogging done, and what a year it has been!

Posted on June 25, 2008 by SynCaine

It’s been a year already? I initially started blogging for what I believe is the most common reason: to have a place to keep all my thoughts and ideas about gaming in one place. What originally started as just ‘something … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogroll, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Podcast, PvP, Site update, SotNW, Ultima Online, Vanguard, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 8 Comments

MMO history, that Bartle guy, and why WoW2 won’t blow your mind.

Posted on June 23, 2008 by SynCaine

It seems we had a busy weekend in the MMO blog world, fueled by an interview with Richard Bartle done by Michael Zenke over at Massively. As with anything remotely interesting posted on the internet these days, the responses to … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Console Gaming, EVE Online, MMO design, Perma-death, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 5 Comments

Cutting down the money tree, MMO style.

Posted on June 13, 2008 by SynCaine

This is a rather amazing back and forth. Quite a long read to get the full story, but well worth your time. It’s rather hard for me to comment on anything specific because I’ve never played SWG, but like everyone … Continue reading →

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

Focus = Fun?

Posted on June 3, 2008 by SynCaine

Lately my MMO gaming time has been down a bit, mostly due to DoTA, but also from the fact that currently I’m only actively playing LoTRO, and that’s with Aria, so we don’t log in a ton of hours each … Continue reading →

Posted in Bungie Studios, Civilization Series, DoTA, Lord of the Rings Online, PvP, The Witcher, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments