Category Archives: World of Warcraft

Time to make WoW accessible, end the elitism!

Posted on May 6, 2011 by SynCaine

Blizzard needs to stop being elitist with WoW, and allow the 100m or so Farmville players access to the game. Clearly tab-1-2-2-3 is too difficult. Assigning talent points is hard. Getting to 85 is a ridiculous grind. How is anyone … Continue reading →

Posted in Rant, Rift, World of Warcraft | 28 Comments

Little Billy and his trophy

Posted on May 5, 2011 by SynCaine

I’m not a fan of the “everyone is a winner” approach, be it Little League Baseball or MMOs. Handing out a trophy just for showing up is, to me, silly at best. I don’t care that little Billy is 6 … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, Rant, Rift, World of Warcraft | 26 Comments

Is faster always better?

Posted on May 4, 2011 by SynCaine

Currently in Rift to zone into a dungeon one member of the group has to actually travel to the portal. Is this meaningful travel? Is it nice that only one person has to do it or a pain just for … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Rift, World of Warcraft | 31 Comments

Back to Azeroth?

Posted on May 3, 2011 by SynCaine

With the upcoming addition of the Looking for Group tool, we’re also in the process of tuning our Expert Dungeons to be completable with one appropriately geared healer per group, instead of frequently requiring a second full healer on top … Continue reading →

Posted in Patch Notes, Rant, Rift, World of Warcraft | 51 Comments

Fun Builds: Not that fun in end-game content

Posted on May 3, 2011 by SynCaine

A guildmate who shall remain nameless (Obmar) recently discovered that he had not upgraded his dps-based skills in Rift since, oh, level 5. In essence, he was gimping his damage output by a solid 50% or more. This was noticeable … Continue reading →

Posted in Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Rift, World of Warcraft | 16 Comments

Rift: 1.2 Update and World Events

Posted on April 26, 2011 by SynCaine

The upcoming 1.2 update to Rift is pretty substantial, and considering what 1.1 brought just a month ago, Trion is keeping to a brisk pace for updates. Part of me wants to cheer, the other part sits here, nods, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Asheron's Call, MMO design, Patch Notes, Rift, World of Warcraft | 4 Comments

The future looks so bright!

Posted on April 14, 2011 by SynCaine

Kinda sad when even your own fansites accept reality and just cave in. Comment thread is off to a good start too. If you re-re-introduce NAX, do you hope it’s a 5 man, or go all out for an ‘epic’ … Continue reading →

Posted in World of Warcraft | 17 Comments

Single Serving Friends

Posted on April 14, 2011 by SynCaine

I wasn’t going to make a post about this, but then the ancient relic known as Blogger ate yet another of my comments, and well, here we are. Tobold first had a post about how the cross-server dungeon finder is … Continue reading →

Posted in Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Rant, Rift, World of Warcraft | 26 Comments

Burnouts Anonymous

Posted on April 11, 2011 by SynCaine

Quick break from the PvE Sandbox series to make an observation about Rift, but no worries (you were worried, I could tell), another post in that series is coming soon. Over a month in and I’m still having a ton … Continue reading →

Posted in Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EQ2, EVE Online, Fallen Earth, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rant, Rift, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 27 Comments

Shades of blue

Posted on April 5, 2011 by SynCaine

Back then I was on the ‘red’ side, now I’m firmly on the ‘blue’ side. Guess the player along with the game evolves. Wise words from a wise man, minus the grammar fail on the original. The first part of … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Rift, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 13 Comments