Category Archives: Warhammer Online

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

Mark Jacobs should have listened to his own blog.

Posted on November 27, 2009 by SynCaine

File this one under “Dark Humor”, but Mark Jacob’s (former Warhammer Online lead designer) now-dead blog was called “Online Games Are a Niche Market”, a title that at the time was used as a joke because Mark believed MMOs had … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Mass Media, MMO design, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 33 Comments

What caused Warhammer Online to fail?

Posted on November 26, 2009 by SynCaine

Today Tobold is asking why Warhammer Online failed to live up to it’s mega-title expectations (expectations that I was grossly wrong about as well), give readers either the choice that WotLK killed it (tourists) or that WAR was just a … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Darkfall Online, Fallen Earth, Mass Media, MMO design, RvR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 39 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

Niche and Mass Market: One big happy MMO genre

Posted on October 6, 2009 by SynCaine

We are at an interesting point in history with MMOs, highlighted beautifully with the recent re-release of the Asian answer to WoW in Aion and the uber-niche Fallen Earth. One is benefiting from a year of full release under its … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Rant, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 10 Comments

Localized banking: Feature or hassle?

Posted on October 2, 2009 by SynCaine

Localized banking is something DarkFall originally had on its list of features, but at some point this was changed and now banking is global. On a recent preview of the October patch, the idea of localized banking was mentioned, and … Continue reading →

Posted in crafting, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Housing, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 33 Comments

Your MMO won’t have a million subs, sorry Blizzard.

Posted on September 30, 2009 by SynCaine

Tobold and I have a friendly little challenge going (around comment 45 on that post), one that sadly won’t have a result for a few years. The challenge is simple: The next Blizzard MMO won’t reach the popularity of WoW. … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Aion, Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Site update, SW:TOR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 57 Comments

Launch Day: How to deal with day one in the post-WoW MMO space

Posted on September 22, 2009 by SynCaine

From an outsider’s perspective looking in, Aion’s launch seems to be having the same issue Warhammer Online had a year ago; dealing with the huge initial rush of players and tourists flooding the servers on day one. In the post-WoW … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, beta, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, SW:TOR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments

Impact PvP: Are you part of the niche?

Posted on September 21, 2009 by SynCaine

Due to the length of both Tobold’s post about impact PvP and my reply, I’ll just quote him below and write my response here. Doesn’t “meaningful PvP” automatically mean a form of PvP where you really hurt other players’ progress … Continue reading →

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

Warhammer Online: The more Mythic talks, the less hope I have.

Posted on September 18, 2009 by SynCaine

Too much stuff going on today that I want to talk about, and on a Friday no less. Jeff Hickman from Mythic talked at GDC about Warhammer Online and what he believes are some of the mistakes made with the … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, RvR, Warhammer Online | 22 Comments