Category Archives: World of Warcraft

Rift: Happy half-birthday, welcome to Azeroth!

Posted on September 1, 2011 by SynCaine

Prompted by Tobold (its Thursday blog noob, not Friday), let’s talk about Rift 6 months after release. Pre-release, Trion was hyping Rift with “You’re not in Azeroth anymore”. Yes, Rift was never pitched as more than yet another fantasy themepark, … Continue reading →

Posted in beta, MMO design, Rift, World of Warcraft | 19 Comments

Breaking news: Games pitched as MMOs are not actually MMOs!

Posted on August 31, 2011 by SynCaine

Borderlands is more of an MMO than Global Agenda. It has a bigger “open world”, a longer character progression path, more itemization, more quests, more lore, etc. Both games are limited in how many people can be in one area, … Continue reading →

Posted in DoTA, Global Agenda, League of Legends, Mass Media, MMO design, Random, Rant, Rift, RMT, World of Warcraft | 17 Comments

Options of terror

Posted on August 29, 2011 by SynCaine

Regardless of the game, if I don’t have a sense of where I should go next, I get anxious. I need to think about why this is. It’s not that I don’t enjoy an open world or freedom. I think … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, World of Warcraft | 20 Comments

Lore and Gameplay

Posted on August 24, 2011 by SynCaine

Lore should justify gameplay, rather than gameplay justifying lore. In other words, if my MMO setting does not use magic, but a level designer creates something pretty awesome that requires a hint of magic (floating platforms), you don’t scrap the … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Mount and Blade: Warband, World of Warcraft | 8 Comments

The more-of-the-same train just keeps on rolling

Posted on August 19, 2011 by SynCaine

Watching this video of the upcoming MMO Wildstar told me all I needed to know about the game (pass), but I find it interesting that what I see as “yet another WoW-clone” others see it as, well, here is one … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, Rant, Rift, SW:TOR, World of Warcraft | 14 Comments

The new MMO business model?

Posted on August 11, 2011 by SynCaine

Not to bank on financial writers for solid reporting related to MMOs or anything, but this little blurb I found interesting for one reason: how important are initial sales for an MMO? Of course they are important, after all if … Continue reading →

Posted in Mass Media, MMO design, SW:TOR, World of Warcraft | 11 Comments

Turning RPG players into MMO players: Solutions

Posted on August 8, 2011 by SynCaine

As first mentioned here, there seem to be a high number of RPG fans who turn to MMOs to get their gaming fix, yet most MMOs do a rather poor job of getting those solo-minded players into what really makes … Continue reading →

Posted in Asheron's Call, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 13 Comments

Innovation = Lowered Expectations

Posted on July 18, 2011 by SynCaine

This article is making the blog rounds today. It’s interesting enough, and also a little comical (count how many people complain about innovation, and then count how many of them are “Currently know for” a sequel). While mostly console-focused, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Console Gaming, Mass Media, MMO design, Random, Rant, World of Warcraft | 3 Comments

Wipe or Expansion: What’s the difference?

Posted on July 14, 2011 by SynCaine

Jef Reahard over at Massivily asks if you would keep playing if your MMO had a character/server wipe (side point: if a character wipe is a ‘full’ wipe in your MMO of choice, what does that say about its world?) … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, Housing, Mass Media, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP, World of Warcraft | 19 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