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http://syncaine.wordpress.com/ - Bringing back the carebear stare...

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syncaine.wordpress.com - 27 hours ago
Passing MMO judgment
— syncaine.wordpress.com — 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 in the Eurogamer method of MMO ... (more) Passing MMO judgment

Comments vote down Ardwulf's Lair found this 27 hours agofound this
DarkFall: Lessons from the fall of TRA

Published 2 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

Sunday night saw VAMP and co (the alliance either has no name, or the name changes on a daily basis, so I’ll just refer to our side as VAMP going forward) siege another TRA city on Yssam. While there was some fighting, the siege was never in question and the whole thing overall was ‘easy’. ...
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DarkFall: CtS gets a Q&A and a release date.

Published 4 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

Taking a break from tourist talk and doomed MMOs for a moment, lets talk about what really matters to MMO gamers, DarkFall! First off the next expansion got delayed until Thursday , with a notice that DF might be down for 24 hours as the patch is added and some last-minute-testing is done. ...
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Mark Jacobs should have listened to his own blog.

Published 4 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

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 ‘made it’ and were mainstream because of WoW. What Mark has now ...
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syncaine.wordpress.com - 5 days ago
What caused Warhammer Online to fail?
— syncaine.wordpress.com — 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 bad game. ... (more) What caused Warhammer Online to fail?

Comments vote down Tobold's MMORPG Blog found this 5 days agofound this
DarkFall: Spotlight on ship-related changes

Published 7 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

For the TL:DR crowd, I’ll just sum up the new spotlight for you: bla bla bla pure gold bla bla bla. I’m curious to see how the new collision detection works with bigger ships pushing smaller ones, and whether this might lead to future changes of say, mounts/warhulks pushing (or ...
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syncaine.wordpress.com - 5 days ago
Dragon Age: Thoughts after the finish.
— syncaine.wordpress.com — I finished Dragon Age last night, and I must say the ending was somewhat disappointing. I mean... the actual ending, not the events leading up to it and the final fight with the Archdemon (did I just spoil that for you? Sorry, and enjoy the rest of ... (more) Dragon Age: Thoughts after the finish.
Comments vote down Tobold's MMORPG Blog found this 5 days agofound this
Life Evolution in the sandbox

Published 8 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

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 into consideration. What can be enjoyable in the first month might ...
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Why a sandbox makes life more difficult for a griefer

Published 8 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

If you only know one thing about DarkFall, you likely know that a LOT of people just outright hate the game, or more accurately, the supposed playerbase behind the game. If you have been playing MMOs for any decent length of time, you surely have come across a ‘griefer’, so when an MMO ...
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DarkFall Community Publisher update

Published 9 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

With the DarkFall Community Publisher initiative a week old, here are some initial thoughts: The link itself gets clicked quite often here, more so (on average) than any other link. Whether this is due to placement, the link being an image, or simply because DarkFall is awesome is hard to ...
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Are you sure that’s really an expansion?

Published 12 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

In the comments of a previous DarkFall-related post here , the question of whether the next update should be considered a patch or expansion was brought up. Now I’ve already written what pushed the update from patch to expansion for me here, but that conversation circles around a bigger ...
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Some random Dragon Age questions

Published 13 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

My rogue is wearing a massive armor set, mainly because the chest has a +15% backstab bonus and other rogue-friendly stats. It looks badass as well (warden set) That seems odd, but even more odd is the fact that I can still get off most of my abilities during combat before I run out of ...
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DarkFall caravans = roaming mobs or economic tool?

Published 13 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

So far so good on the DarkFall twitter front, with little updates on what certain teams are working on. I’ve said this before, and it comes up again here, but Aventurine loves toying with ForumFall, with the latest example being this little line: “working on… trade route NPCs”. Come again?  ...
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DarkFall expansion gets a release date, from Twitter

Published 14 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

It’s a good thing Greeks don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, because it looks like the next DarkFall expansion is set for release late next week (with some caution that it might slip a few days, but that never happens in MMO land thankfully). If they manage to get it out by Friday that should give ...
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Speaking of getting paid…

Published 15 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

I find it funny people are wondering who would pay $20 for a gold guide when people are freely spending $10 (or more if you gotta-catch-em-all) for a pet, one that will ultimately provide less entertainment per dollar than said guide (And while buying the guide has zero impact on future ...
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syncaine.wordpress.com - 7 days ago
I am, in fact, paid by Aventurine to promote DarkFall
— syncaine.wordpress.com — It’s been joked around here that because I talk so highly of DarkFall, I must be paid... by Aventurine or just Tasos directly. While that is sadly not the case (feel free to contact me though Tasos), today is the first time this blog will be used for ... (more) I am, in fact, paid by Aventurine to promote DarkFall

Comments vote down Tobold's MMORPG Blog found this 7 days agofound this
A question for Bhagpuss

Published 16 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

This is going to be addressed directly to Bhagpuss, but really I think it covers quite a large group of players, so please chime in. @Bhagpuss: I saw on Tobold’s blog you said you played Dragon Age for 14 hours straight (sick bastard), and previously you stated here you were worried about DA ...
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Hey look, a post about Dragon Age

Published 16 days ago by SynCaine at Hardcore Casual

I think I’m close to the end in Dragon Age. Not ‘one fight to go’ close, but reasonably close. I’m level 18 right now, and looking at the skill trees and such, I don’t think you are intended to level much higher. Also the usual RPG hints of ‘the end is near’ are starting to creep up. I’m happy ...
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syncaine.wordpress.com - 15 days ago
Enjoying the Dragon Age themepark, minus the sub fee.
— syncaine.wordpress.com — Having read a fair amount of reviews and impressions of Dragon Age, I’m a bit confused by... the complaint by some that it’s too linear, or not ‘sandbox’ enough. I view those statements the same way I view “Aion is too grindy” or “CoD:MW2 needs more ... (more) Enjoying the Dragon Age themepark, minus the sub fee.

Comments vote down Overly Positive found this 15 days agofound this
syncaine.wordpress.com - 20 days ago
Bambie is coming to DarkFall!
— syncaine.wordpress.com — Another day, another Spotlight , more drool in the drool cup. I’m happy that the wildlife coming... to DarkFall will be part-time scenery, part-time resource node for leather/meat. That’s exactly what they should be, and I think the addition will ... (more) Bambie is coming to DarkFall!

Comments vote down N/A found this 20 days agofound this
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