Category Archives: Ultima Online

MMO Golden Age, death of Xfire, and a LoL Blog-o-Sphere champion?

Posted on August 3, 2010 by SynCaine

The MMO Golden Age: Justin Olivetti from Massively asks whether people who missed the early (golden?) days of MMOs regret it. A few people have commented that early MMOs were much rougher than the games of today (shocking I know), … Continue reading →

Posted in Inquisition Clan, Mass Media, Random, Ultima Online | 14 Comments

A new flavor of tears, plus an expansion update.

Posted on June 30, 2010 by SynCaine

First, the comments section on this Massively article (great piece btw, riveting topic that someone should have blogged about…) is hilarious. Usually you have to go to MMORPG.com to get such ‘quality’ comments, but it seems people’s love for Darkfall … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, Mass Media, Patch Notes, PvP, Ultima Online | 24 Comments

Bringing EVE’s Empire space to DarkFall

Posted on May 18, 2010 by SynCaine

The phrase “Play to Crush” from ShadowBane has an ironic history behind it. Before SB’s release, it was a rallying cry for the PvP ‘hardcore’, a declaration that all of those ‘soft’ features from other MMOs need not apply here. … Continue reading →

Posted in crafting, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Uncategorized | 22 Comments

Why all but 330k people should hate EVE

Posted on May 14, 2010 by SynCaine

I’m starting to really hate EVE Online. I’m starting to hate it because it makes all other MMOs look like crude kids toys, like silly side activities you dabble in before getting back to the ‘real’ game. It makes events … Continue reading →

Posted in Asheron's Call, Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Guild Wars, MMO design, Rant, RMT, Site update, Ultima Online, Uncategorized, World of Warcraft | 36 Comments

Ignorance in the sandbox

Posted on May 3, 2010 by SynCaine

WoW player and iconic carebear Tobold’s recent attempt to ‘get’ EVE (or as is clear to anyone reading between the lines, and pointed out countless times in comments, simple experience it on a surface level in order to bash it … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Ultima Online, Uncategorized, World of Warcraft | 41 Comments

PvP Systems: FFA vs Faction

Posted on March 26, 2010 by SynCaine

Coppertopper previously asked my opinion on FFA PvP versus set faction PvP, and today seems like a good day to throw out my opinions on the topic and also see what everyone else thinks. Examples of FFA PvP include Ultima … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Asheron's Call, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, RvR, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 11 Comments

The future: Farmville or bust?

Posted on March 18, 2010 by SynCaine

Scott Jennings (Lum) has another entry up on his MMORPG.com blog, this time talking a bit about Farmville and Co and what it might mean for MMO gaming. Lots of quality quotes from around the industry, and some good insight … Continue reading →

Posted in Console Gaming, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Fallen Earth, Mass Media, MMO design, Patch Notes, Random, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 14 Comments

What is Realm Pride?

Posted on January 8, 2010 by SynCaine

In the land of MMO PvP setups, we know for sure that one style, freeform PvP, works. We also know that another style, pre-set PvP, has worked, but has also has a history of failure. The one major example of … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Asheron's Call, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, RvR, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 28 Comments

Failure post is fail

Posted on December 21, 2009 by SynCaine

This post by Lum is a little funny. Funny given the source, and funny given the ideas within. It’s also funny because in parts it’s more or less a time capsule of, oh, 5-10 years ago? I won’t bore you … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Ultima Online | 122 Comments

Reasons to skip SW:TOR, +1.

Posted on December 4, 2009 by SynCaine

While I’ll very likely be skipping SW:TOR for a few reasons (It’s SW, it’s ‘casual’, it’s a mega-themepark), the news about henchmen being added to allow you to solo everything makes that choice even easier. Hopefully the idea of designing … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Rant, SW:TOR, Ultima Online | 50 Comments