Now these guys are hardcore gamers

Posted on August 11, 2010 by SynCaine

They must be playing ranked matches...

Posted in Random | 11 Comments

Why MMO blogs ‘work’.

Posted on August 11, 2010 by SynCaine

In my last post I wondered aloud (or in text really) what an MMO blogger can do when he’s not playing an MMO actively and the genre itself seems to be in somewhat of a lull. Some supported the idea of writing about what I’m currently heavily playing, League of Legends, and I do intend to write at least a few posts on that game, and I’m sure I’ll have more than one post up about Civilization V when that game is released. Others asked why it seems that an MMO blog ‘works’, while it’s harder to write a more general gaming blog, and that’s the topic I want to go into today.

For starters, most of us play a given MMO far longer (in both RL days and actual in-game time) than we do a single player title. Not only are MMOs designed to keep you around (paying) longer, but the social aspect that can develop also keeps us interested and involved beyond the actual ‘content’ provided. This means that if you find a blog about whatever MMO you are playing, it’s likely you will continue reading it for months at a time. A blog about, say, Dragon Age, might have great content that you enjoy while playing the game, but with just 40-50 hours of gameplay and no strong social element, you are very likely to move on from the title, and most likely any blogs you follow about the game as well.

Then there is the issue of content. MMOs tend to be rather complex games, so posts about strategy, how-to’s, or user guides are not only common, but far more in-demand than they might be for a single player title. Usually for those a single comprehensive walkthrough is available on a site like GameFAQs, and that will likely answer 90% of your questions. The fact that an MMO is constantly changing is one of the key factors in keeping an MMO blog going as well, as every patch or proposed change is a potential source of one or multiple posts, and those also tend to be post that generate the most reader interest and feedback. That reader feedback in turn leads to new posts, and voila, you have a week+ of blogging content.

Finally the MMO genre itself has no shortage of ‘hot button’ topics that have been analyzed since the dawn of the internet, and every new title has the potential to re-ignite a debate or two. New MMO with a different take on PvP? Blogging content for weeks. New MMO that takes a strong stance on the use of instances? Blogging content for weeks. A new pricing model, a different approach to leveling, solo vs group, hardcore vs casual, etc etc; even if the new MMO only brushes one or more of these topics, it could spark some lively blog content that might spiral far beyond the original source material. Plus in the pre-release hype phase of an MMO, the discussion is often more opinion than fact-based, so it’s not hard to see why a blog post can be very, very entertaining.

Add to all of this the fact that many blog writers/readers have an extensive history with MMOs, strong love/hate feelings towards many of them, and a never-ending pursuit of that ‘perfect’ title, and yea, an MMO-focused blog works in ways a blog about single player games has no ground to stand on. Which is not to say those blogs are not possible, but they are a very different animal with a very different style.

The challenge now is how to keep this blog still an MMO-focused one while trying to integrate, at least short term, some none-MMO writing that regular readers will find entertaining. I have some ideas already, but more opinions never hurt.

Chuck-o-the-day: Chuck Norris hates ballerinas because they twirl around all day and not a single person gets roundhouse-kicked in the face.

Posted in beta, Blogroll, Random, Site update | 14 Comments

MMO blog not about MMOs?

Posted on August 9, 2010 by SynCaine

Current blogging dilemma: Basically all of my gaming time has been non-MMO since returning from my honeymoon, nothing really interesting is happening in MMO land that I care to really write about (other than the upcoming Darkfall expansion), and something tells me the people who read this blog won’t find a post breaking down the Risk 2110 boardgame (which is awesome btw) or how I play Amumu and Katarina in League of Legends all that interesting. Let me know if I’m off on the last two.

I keep saying it, but damnit one of these nights it is going to happen and I will start getting myself back into Darkfall, but it might honestly take the expansion to trigger the return. A little time away never hurts though, and the break should make getting back into things that much better. Hopefully we have seen the last delay in regards to the expansion, as I know I’m not the only one banking on it as a catalyst to either return or to increase activity.

The thing I’m most excited about in terms of gaming right now is Civilization 5. I’d be more than happy to drop $50 on a Blizzard-does-SC2 upgrade to Civ 4, but from reading some previews I’m really looking forward to the new things they’ve added, and overall it sounds like the game has really expanded beyond its military focus. I’m sure Inquisition will have more than a few epic multiplayer games going that will have us collectively staying up far longer than we intended. How Civ 5 will be balanced into all other gaming is always a question of course, as Civ 4 more or less put everything else on hold when it was released.

Oh and a special thank you to my iPhone, which cleared my Shining Force save. I’m psyched to replay those four hours again…

Chuck-o-the-day: Chuck Norris likes his meat so rare he only eats unicorns.

Posted in Civilization Series, Darkfall Online, Inquisition Clan, iPhone, Random, Site update | 20 Comments

Massive update about Darkfall

Posted on August 6, 2010 by SynCaine

Tasos put out a very lengthy update on Darkfall’s upcoming plans, basically covering what is coming in the next expansion along with some of the other additions currently in the works. It’s a great read filled with a ton of info that will hopefully satisfy ForumFall for, oh, at least a few hours. Hopefully next week or soon after Aventurine can confirm what exactly is coming sooner rather than later, but overall the next expansion will bring a lot more to the table than I believe most expected.

I won’t break down the update piece by piece, but some of the highlights for me include archers getting weapons and ammo beyond bows and arrows, improved clan functionality, and the continued expansion of crafting and customization.

I would imagine the archery additions include a crossbow, which in Darkfall’s combat engine would be interesting, assuming it’s a more straight-shooting weapon with a longer cooldown but higher damage. Coordinated x-bow assaults would be very interesting? I can also already picture a bear cavalry charge going down to musket fire. Then of course we might get things like poison, blind, or exploding arrows, which will not only expand crafting but also give archers more options similar to mages.

Improved clan functionality should really open things up and separate the great leaders from your average joe clans, as well as increase political options and give that whole area more in-game support. Player actions are what drive a game like Darkfall, and the more tools influential individuals have, the more ‘content’ they can create for everyone else. With more options, perhaps things like merchant clans, crafter clans, and more PvE-focused clans will catch on and really have the tools they need to support themselves, because while Darkfall will always be a PvP-focused MMO first, the groundwork is there for it to be many other things to a wide variety of players.

Finally, the improvements to crafting should not only give the economy a boost, but make crafter-focused character more than just clan mules to pump out goods when needed. This goes hand-in-hand with expanded customization, assuming this happens at the crafter level. Smart clan leaders will coordinate siege bags to help better identify their members in a melee, or to assume the ‘uniform’ of the enemy to perhaps give scouts one additional trick to their trade. Regardless, the addition of such customization goes deeper than simply being able to dye your armor black because it looks ‘leet’, and as always the players will come up with unexpected and creative uses when given more open-ended tools (the current use of shrapnel and stormblast as movement spells for example).

Hopefully the delayed ‘Summer’ expansion stays on track now and is delivered shortly, which will give Darkfall a much-needed boost to cure the slowdown that the summer months always bring to an MMO. And more importantly, hopefully the massive update following this expansion does not hit similar snags and arrives without too many delays. That expansion should really flesh out or ‘complete’ some of the core systems currently in Darkfall, as well as set the game down a solid path to becoming a truly multifaceted virtual world.

Chuck-o-the-day: Chuck Norris doesn’t need to cut his grass, he just stands on his porch and dares it to grow.

(DarkFall-related post disclaimer/reminder. If you click the image link near the top-right of this page and buy a DarkFall account, I get paid 20% of the client cost. If you believe this taints my views and reporting on DarkFall, your opinion is wrong.)

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design | 4 Comments

Torchlight 2 > Diablo 3? And Shining Force on the iPhone!

Posted on August 5, 2010 by SynCaine

First off, today’s amusement comes from people thinking Torchlight 2 won’t stack up well to Diablo 3 because the original Torchlight only improved on Diablo 2 slightly. If Diablo 3 improves on Diablo 2 as much as StarCraft 2 ‘improved’ on the original, Torchlight 2 is going to look like a total overhaul of the genre, and most likely you won’t be charged $60×3 to get the complete game. And let’s not forget that at any point, you might be forced to submit a DNA sample to log into Battle.net and be allowed to play the single player version of D3. First born will be the entry fee for multiplay, to clean up the forums, of course. If there are pennies to be made in selling DNA samples and babies, Bobby is the man to cash in on it.

Did you know Shining Force was recently released for the iPhone? You do now. One of the all-time classic strategy RPGs from the Sega Genesis era has held up well, and is still a charming little title today. Still waiting on Shining in the Darkness to be released though, loved that game. I’m assuming we will see Shining Force 2 released at some point as well.

Chuck-o-the-day: All of Chuck Norris’s teeth are wisdom teeth.

Posted in Console Gaming, Diablo 3, iPhone, Random | 17 Comments

In no way MMO related, but…

Posted on August 4, 2010 by SynCaine

Street Fighter vs Tekken (using the SF engine), AND Tekken vs Street Fighter (using the Tekken engine) announced?

Mind.Blown.

Posted in Random | Comments Off on In no way MMO related, but…

Darkfall Community Q&A2 Answers

Posted on August 4, 2010 by SynCaine

Paragus received answers to his community Q&A and has updated his MMORPG blog. A bit thin on solid details in some areas due no doubt to the DF2010 expansion not having its major details revealed just yet, but readers can still find some good bits of info, along with some recapping for anyone who has not been following Darkfall developments with a microscope.

As for Darkfall and me, I’m still debating my options in terms of what to do in-game. While Blood has gone somewhat inactive, not everyone has gone on hiatus and some nightly events still happen. On the other hand, it perhaps might be best to join up with a more active clan/alliance to get back into the siege/political game. As I’m still getting back into the swing of things overall since the honeymoon, I’m not rushing into a decision just yet, plus League of Legends is eating up a ton of time due to Aria enjoying it and wanting to play it often, which is in no way a bad thing.

Chuck-o-the-day: Chuck Norris puts the ‘fun’ in funeral.

Posted in Darkfall Online, Inquisition Clan, Mass Media, MMO design, Random | Comments Off on Darkfall Community Q&A2 Answers

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), but that misses the entire point of what made something like UO or EQ1 special: almost everyone who signed up was an MMO newbie, and the whole “learn the game” phase was much, much longer and more gradual than it is today.

If you have ever been part of an MMO launch, you know the early days feeling of everyone being excited, everyone exploring and just playing the game as intended (rather than min/maxing their 4th alt up to ‘the real game’). In UO and EQ1, this lasted for months rather than a week, and even after a veteran core was established, new players joining up still brought a stronger sense of ‘new guy’ than what happens today. That is why IMO it was indeed a golden age, and one that will never be reproduced again. When SW:TOR is released, the odds of that game being someone’s first MMO are slim, and it’s almost a guarantee that come release, we will have more than one website with a complete ‘walkthrough’ for the game, a complete breakdown on how best to min/max every class, and with every little easter egg revealed. None of that existed back in 97/98, and the sense of discovery and ‘newness’ was incredible.

The death of Xfire:

Now that Xfire has been bought out, and by shady characters at that, one of PC gamings oldest and more interesting tools is, IMO, on its way out. As someone who jumped on the Xfire bandwagon early, it’s a tool I’ve enjoyed using over the years, and although it’s been a while since I’ve had it on my desktop, I still check the website to see what games are getting played and how things are trending. Things like this happen all the time in the industry, but it’s always a sad day when it’s one of ‘you’ products.

Solid Evidence League of Legends is Awesome:

After two straight wins, which took a little over an hour to accomplish, Aria objected to us logging off for the night, still up for another game. Being the one to initiate a stoppage might be a first.

Further evidence: The day the new Amumu skin is released (Emumu, lulz), I without hesitation buy it with zero regret. Dude has a black teeshirt with a purple sad face on the back, I mean come on! I still consider a $10 MMO pony ridiculous, which says nothing about the $25 shortbus pony.

Final piece of evidence: Even with the release and purchase of SC2 by many Inq members, LoL still dominates our gaming time, and people log off SC2 to come play a few group LoL games during prime time.

If you are interesting in giving League of Legends a try, feel free to do it through this link. I’m Syncaine, send a friend request, and if just a few thousand people sign up using my link, I’ll have Riot create a MMO blogger-themed hero for the game. I think his name will be Blog-o-sphere, with abilities like Rant (Wall of Text crit attacks), EG Review (factually incorrect life drain), Link Spam (attention whore group heal), and finally, his ult, Friday Blog War (sucks in everyone to one area and unleashes massive Wall of Text attacks followed by a Link Spam assault). It could happen…

Late fail Chuck-o-the-day: Chuck Norris’s rap sheet actually rhymes.

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

It’s been three years already?

Posted on August 2, 2010 by SynCaine

And this blog turns 3!

Actually it turned 3 years old a few weeks ago, but that whole getting married thing prevented a timely update, so this one is a little late. 3 years is a rather crazy length of time when I think about it. It’s more time than I’ve played any one MMO, it’s longer than all but one of my RL relationships, and it will shortly be longer than any one job I’ve ever held. I think that says more about me actually than anything else, but regardless, 3 years is a long time in SynCaine land. Anyway, on to the numbers, in similar fashion to last years update.

Blog Stats as of 8/2/2010

Total views: 692,972

Busiest day: 11,852 — Thursday, September 6, 2007

Posts: 843

Comments: 11,790

Blog Stats 2009

Total views: 335,842

Busiest day: 11,852 — Thursday, September 6, 2007

Posts: 523

Comments: 5,393

Blog Stats 2008

Total views: 104,123

Busiest day: 11,852 – Thursday, September 6, 2007

Posts: 253

Comments: 1,658

What the numbers mean: While the rate of growth has slowed, things are still chugging along here, and considering the blog has been heavily niche-title (Darkfall) focused for a good year now, that’s not too shabby, although I’ve still yet to conquer that BBC-linked post for one-day traffic. Some day BBC, some day. Comments, the best part about blogging, have continued to come in at a very healthy rate. Thanks to everyone who has dropped a line here, and especially to those who comment frequently, you help keep me motivated to write and rant. The next few months should be fun, as both the 1 million views and 1000 posts milestones will be reached.

Top Posts for all days ending 2010-08-02

The love and hate game, WoW style. – 17,626

iPhone MMO, Field Runners, and a slow Friday – 10,564

EQ2, trial of the neverending download. – 9,796

Aion end-game, way ahead of WoW and WAR. – 7,701

Blizzard’s new focus for WoW, just as soon as Mythic finished it- 7,488

Level 4 missions in EVE, and my silly Rohk – 7,130

Warhammer’s major problem, the players. – 5,694

Dragon Age review – 5,378

DarkFall: 3 month review – 4,624

Screen shot comparison. – 4,260

Top Posts for all days ending 2009-06-22

The love and hate game, WoW style. -17,285

iPhone MMO, Field Runners, and a slow Friday – 9,437

Blizzard’s new focus for WoW, just as soon as Mythic finishes it – 7,259

EQ2, trial of the neverending download. – 5,982

Warhammer’s major problem, the players. – 4,767

Screen shot comparison. – 3,848

Level 4 missions in EVE, and my silly Rohk – 3,314

Burned out on WotLK already. – 2,902

Looking in the mirror; the sickness that was WoW raiding – 2,773

Help coming for low population servers in Warhammer Online – 2,526

The top two spots remain unchanged, with the BBC-linked post still holding a very comfortable edge over everything else, with no real contender in sight now that the Field Runners post has slowed its Google-fueled charge. The number three post is rather humorous, because after all these years, people are STILL searching for answers on when their damn download will actually finish. I don’t doubt EQ2 going SOE-flavor F2P might drive a little more traffic over as well.

The forth post shows just how much hype Aion had generated pre-release, along with just how many people are Blizzard trained to think end-game first, everything else last. Down to number five is one of my favorite posts, and as you can see from last year the post itself is not a favorite when it comes to random Google traffic. The post about running missions in EVE, at number 6, shows the steady interest EVE generates, and how year to year, new pilots are still trying to tackle the same challenges as pilots before them. That speaks highly to the design of EVE; that instead of having to reinvent itself every expansion, the game simply continues to add layers, and those early layers are just as important today as they were in the past.

At number 7 is another WAR-related post. Like Aion after it, WAR went live with a lot of hype and hope from the MMO community, and like Aion, it’s sad/frustrating that it did not come close to living up to expectations. Spots 8 and 9 are review posts; people seem to like those, especially if you make them just days after (or even better, before) the game in question is released. Finally last years number 6 rounds out this year’s top 10.

Referrers for all days ending 2010-08-02

virginworlds.com/home.php– 21,138

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/defaul… – 11,015

google.com/reader/view/ – 8,833

tobolds.blogspot.com/ – 4,704

killtenrats.com/ – 3,649

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/defaul… – 3,159

wowinsider.com/ – 2,914

keenandgraev.com/ – 2,701

tagn.wordpress.com/ – 2,529

biobreak.wordpress.com/ – 2,388

Referrers for all days ending 2009-06-22

virginworlds.com/home.php – 11,315

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/defaul… – 11,015

google.com/reader/view – 4,346

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/defaul… – 3,159

wowinsider.com – 2,914

keenandgraev.com – 2,701

tobolds.blogspot.com – 2,598

killtenrats.com – 2,097

bdadv.blogspot.com – 1,386

massively.com – 1,338

Virgin Worlds, just narrowly edging out the BBC last year, reigns supreme a year later, almost doubling the number two spot. The rest of the list is largely unchanged from a year ago, with some minor shuffling and the addition of Biobreak, which pushes the main page of Massively out of the top ten (of course, a lot of Massively traffic comes from individualized pages, so their overall traffic is much higher than what the above list might suggest). Out of all MMO blogs, Tobold had the biggest increase; guess a little dramalama will do that eh? I think next year I’ll break these out to show just the previous year, as this will better reflect the year that was rather than show a total accumulation, and give a more accurate view on who recently sent people over.

Search Terms for all days ending 2010-08-02

hardcore casual – 6,772

syncaine – 3,466

darkfall review – 3,275

field runners – 3,149

dragon age review – 2,439

darkfall reviews – 1,097

aion endgame – 1,038

wotlk – 1,000

darkfall account – 913

wheel of time mmo – 773

Search Terms for all days ending 2009-06-22

field runners – 3,106

hardcore casual – 2,011

syncaine – 1,117

wotlk – 998

darkfall account – 762

warhammer online server population – 749

warhammer online collectors edition – 711

field runners for pc – 670

wheel of time mmo – 583

sandbox mmo – 536

I win! Fighting off Field Runners, the name of this blog and its author return to their rightful Google places as number 1 and number 2. Fitting that Darkfall comes in at number 3, just ahead of last year’s champion. As mentioned above, people love reviews, and Dragon Age made quite a splash when it released, so no surprise with number 5, followed by people looking for even more Darkfall reviews, with others looking for information about Aion’s endgame. Cute that wotlk shows up with exactly 1000 searches, ahead of getting a Darkfall account and the long suspected and hoped-for WoT MMO.

That’s it for the numbers; now let’s talk a little about what actually happened this past year here. I mentioned in my last yearly review that Darkfall was a pleasant surprise, and perhaps the surprise for this year is that I’m still at it a year later. Blood has all but officially gone inactive, and a re-return for Inq is not in the plans atm, but I fully intend to find a new clan to play with and continue on with Darkfall to feed the MMO need. With one expansion set to drop soon, and a massive update coming at the end of the year (or so), I see Darkfall keeping me entertained MMO-wise for some time. I’m sure the release of Civilization 5 is going to cut (deeply) into everything else come September however.

It’s funny that last year I was hoping for a third faction to be added to WAR, because a year later the hope is the same, if somewhat diminished due to how poorly the game has held up overall and with all the staff reductions over at Mythic/EA/Bioware/whatever. This plus the fact that WAR never did become that fun casual PvP game for me, and little attention has been paid to that game around here, which is a major change from a year ago.

“RMT is the future” update: This one is interesting, because the ‘traditional’ F2P model has still not produced a major MMO hit in the US/EU, while at the same time it seems each week another subscription MMO is announcing some F2P-ish account options. My captain obvious prediction? Soon the ‘standard’ for MMO pricing will be a hybrid of the sub and F2P model, and more than one games future will be determined by just HOW they mix the two. As usual, I expect SOE to set the standard on how NOT to do things, someone else to set the baseline for how to do it well (Turbine?) and Blizzard to come in later and ‘polish’ that idea to set a new industry standard, for better or worse. That said, I expect F2P will be very popular (and profitable) if executed in a manner similar to how Riot is doing things with League of Legends. When the model is win/win for the players AND for the company, you know things are good.

So that’s 3 years, damn. Hopefully everyone has enjoyed it (or enjoyed hating it) as much as I have, and fear not, things will continue. Be it a new Friday Blog war, another ‘out of the blue’ MMO surprise, or a second year of ganking in Darkfall, I’ll be writing about it, and hopefully you will be here reading and commenting. Happy gaming everyone, and thanks again for dropping by!

Posted in Aion, Blogroll, Civilization Series, Darkfall Online, EQ2, EVE Online, Inquisition Clan, Random, Site update, Warhammer Online | 11 Comments

Maintaining gaming momentum

Posted on July 30, 2010 by SynCaine

I find that momentum is a very important aspect to playing an MMO for a prolong length of time, and it’s also very difficult to maintain, especially when RL forces a break. It’s also something that is equally influenced by both game design and player action. If you are playing an MMO that is overall less than great, even the most motivated groups will have a tough time keeping their momentum. On the other side of the coin, even a great game might fade for you if you don’t have a social backing to keep you going. Throw in the wildcard of a different title drawing away your attention, perhaps instantly breaking whatever momentum you had, and staying with any one title for a long time seems like a rather difficult or unlikely occurrence.

I bring this up because I’ve been playing Darkfall since its EU release, back in early 2009. When the NA server opened, Inquisition did not transfer over immediately, yet even with that I continued to play the game and enjoyed it. Inq came back, then left again, and still I continued, joining up with Blood down on Ruby. I now find myself in an odd spot, where day to day I’ve not found my rhythm with the game since returning from vacation, yet being more excited about the game than ever before due to both the upcoming changes and also in-game events (the return of TheMercs and the overall shifting of power with the relative decline of Zealots).

Other factors include my two good friends going on DF hiatus, playing the very enjoyable League of Legends with Inq, and Blood being somewhat less active then when I originally joined. To top it all off, the majority of my character development is more or less done, and while there are still plenty of skills I could improve, none of them are really ‘key’ skills I’m dying to reach.

Those negatives are offset by the fact that PvP in Darkfall has really never been better thanks to the most recent patch, and that I’ve yet to really experience more than a few major battles since that update. I was looking forward to last night as a siege was going to be dropped, but unfortunately that ended up not happening.

From my current perspective, I need some long-term goals added to the game, something to slowly work on during the downtime between PvP encounters or clan events. EVE is full of such possibilities, which no doubt partly explains not only its continued growth, but also its ability to retain players for such extended amounts of time. I’m hoping the soon-to-arrive expansion brings at least something like this, and I don’t doubt the next expansion will give everyone plenty of new things to do. At the same time, I know that if I make a solid effort to get myself back in the mix of things, the natural social momentum will start up and give me reason to log in on a consistent basis, and perhaps a major siege will be just the catalyst I need to jump back in.

Chuck-o-the-day: Chuck Norris owns the other half of the mask from Phantom of the Opera.

Posted in Darkfall Online, Inquisition Clan, MMO design, Random, Site update | 10 Comments