Category Archives: World of Warcraft

I actually don’t hate the new WoW expansion

Posted on November 9, 2013 by SynCaine

One of two things is happening: 1) The Blizzard interns that were running WoW have finally figured it out or 2) The genre is such crap that WoW is starting to look appealing In all seriousness the newly announced expansion, … Continue reading →

Posted in World of Warcraft | 15 Comments

MMO Future: Understanding old memories

Posted on October 31, 2013 by SynCaine

Almost all of the original MMOs worked. UO, EQ1, AC1, DAoC; all of those games had solid populations and growth in their prime. In contrast, most of the recent MMOs (AoC, WAR, LotR, SW:TOR, Aion, Rift, etc) have not. Either … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Aion, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rift, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 52 Comments

MMO Future: Suits and timebombs

Posted on October 24, 2013 by SynCaine

A lot of good back and forth dialog happened yesterday, which you should go read if you haven’t. Thanks go out to Brian (Psychochild) Green for putting up more of a fight than the hotbar salesmen from SW:TOR. I’d like … Continue reading →

Posted in EQNext, EVE Online, Kickstarter, MMO design, Rant, RMT, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, World of Warcraft | 77 Comments

MMO future: Social baseline

Posted on October 17, 2013 by SynCaine

At the time of its release, WoW was criticized for not bringing much to the MMO genre, and simply being a refined EverQuest. Refining someone else’s idea was, after all, how Blizzard made a name for themselves originally. In 2004, … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, World of Warcraft | 26 Comments

Someone should say something about WAR

Posted on September 26, 2013 by SynCaine

As you might have heard, Warhammer Online is shutting down. TAGN has a post that links to many others; use that if you still need a background or more opinions. There is a lot that can be (and has been) … Continue reading →

Posted in Aion, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments

Rift closing in China, Death accountability.

Posted on September 18, 2013 by SynCaine

Things are not looking so hot over in Rift-land, including the upcoming closing of Rift China. The mighty MMO 3.0 seems to be falling, and falling fast. I can’t do a real comprehensive “why” analysis because I’ve not played the … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EQ2, MMO design, PvP, Rift, SW:TOR, World of Warcraft | 16 Comments

Today’s Kool-Aid flavor is grape. Grape and failure

Posted on August 28, 2013 by SynCaine

A lot of funny stuff is happening in this post over at TAGN, please go check it out. My only major complaint is that Wilhelm was light on the actual insults. I’m going to try and correct that here. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Allods Online, DDO, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Mass Media, MMO design, Rant, RMT, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, WildStar, World of Warcraft | 51 Comments

Shocking news; F2P is dead

Posted on August 21, 2013 by SynCaine

Well that didn’t last long, huh? Wish someone had called F2P a fad, that would have been pretty insightful of them. Am I happy that the F2P plague is dying? Of course. Will F2P still exist in some capacity? Yes. … Continue reading →

Posted in EQ2, League of Legends, Mass Media, MMO design, Rant, RMT, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, World of Warcraft | 61 Comments

The blogs reflect the genre

Posted on July 10, 2013 by SynCaine

This post about blogging over at TAGN, along with the comments, is worth reading, even if you are only vaguely interested in the topic of MMO blogs. As the posts-per-day rate here has slowed over the last two months, it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogroll, Camelot Unchained, Darkfall Online, DDO, EQ2, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Kickstarter, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rift, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 19 Comments

The choices you can make

Posted on June 25, 2013 by SynCaine

Over at KTR, thanks to a RSS trigger from TAGN, the topic of groups has been brought up. I’m generally a “pro groups” person, but playing DF:UW has reminded me why and how most MMOs get the basics wrong. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP, Rift, World of Warcraft | 3 Comments