Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

RIFT - I Have One Serious Concern

endersshadowendersshadow Member Posts: 296

 

So the last 3 or so days, I have been digging in, finding out everything I can about RIFT. 

 I have not been disappointed and like most of you reading this, I am very impressed and excited to see such an amazing  game coming to market by early next year.

 

But I do have one major concern. 

 

It has nothing to do with gameplay, classes, pve, UI, pvp, instances, payment method, graphics or dynamic events. From what I have seen of the BIG 3, SWTOR, GuildWars2 and RIFT, they are all solid MMO's.

 

When I talk to people I game with, people in my guild, random people on the server, I rarely run into someone who has even heard or RIFTWhile that might not bother me because people in general can be a bit clueless about MMOs even if they are playing one, guess what games they have heard about, you guessed it, Guildwars 2 and even more so SWTOR.

 

But again, those are just random people. What about the forum goers here on mmorpg.com? What has caught there eye?

To give you an idea here is the HYPE levels for each of those three games on the MMORPG forums.

 

Rift has a 8.16

SWTOR has a 8.05

GuildWars 2 has a 8.7

 

So from that you could deduce that GW2 is first on the Hype Meter, 

Rift comes in at an acceptable 2nd 

and SwTOR comes in at 3rd.

 

 

However, when you take a look at the number of people that voted for each game, that tells more of the story.

Rift 8.16 was generated by 530 votes

Guildwars2  8.7 was generated by 1363 votes (almost 3 times the votes of RIFT)

SWTOR 8.05 was generated by 3106 Votes. (almost 6 times the number of votes that Rift has)

 

I would like to think that I am not biased and if I was, I am leaning towards RIFT. But as of right now, I dont think they are doing enough to get there name out there. Whatever they are doing, they need to do more.

Everyone and there mom seems to know about GuildWars2 and tons of people are looking forward to SWTOR but none of those people are looking forward to RIFT. 

When Everquest was released and even now you can find it anywhere. When WoW was released, you could find it everywhere and the hype was intense. Everyone I knew in DAOC knew about WoW.

But now here I am in WoW and no one knows about RIFT. Thats a problem. 

And before you say "I dont want WoWers in my game", thats not the point.  WoW is so big in and of itself it represents a demographic of MMO players so while you may not WoW fanbase in your game, do you want anyone in your game? Because if those people dont know about your game, the normal person wont either.

 

 


«13456

Comments

  • ruonimruonim Member Posts: 251

    rift looks like another aion

  • bleyzwunbleyzwun Member UncommonPosts: 1,087

    You have to remember a lot of WoW players don't care about other MMOs.  Another thing to remember is Star Wars has a huge following.  It's been around for a long time.  GW also has a following.  It's been around for a while so people know of the name.  Of course more people will hear of the sequal. 

    I don't think this is anything to be concerned about.  I'm also pretty sure both games have been in development longer than Rift.

  • SenadinaSenadina Member UncommonPosts: 896

    I would suspect Rift has less marketing money and therefore is waiting until it gets closer to release to hype it. I think GW2 may be jumping the gun a little. While it's true the hype is working, and I want to play it NOW, release appears to be a ways off. How long can this level of hype be maintained?

    image
  • bleyzwunbleyzwun Member UncommonPosts: 1,087

    Originally posted by Senadina

    I would suspect Rift has less marketing money and therefore is waiting until it gets closer to release to hype it. I think GW2 may be jumping the gun a little. While it's true the hype is working, and I want to play it NOW, release appears to be a ways off. How long can this level of hype be maintained?

    Long enough until it bombs.  Unless it's a success... then the hype will keep going.  Just look at the hype for WAR and AOC prior to release.

  • heimer73heimer73 Member Posts: 147

    RIFT will be a hit I am sure of it.

    The big 3 as I see it in 2011 will be RIFT, GW2 and SWTOR.

    The first one to launch(if its rdy and finished) will have  a sligth advantage over the others, but I am still gonna play all 3.

  • TheMaelstromTheMaelstrom Member UncommonPosts: 393

    RIFT is still in alpha, and is making its rounds amongst the large shows (PAX, GamesCom, etc). I think they're being smart by not doing a full-out media blitz right now. Wait until you're in closed beta and things are progressing nicely. Wait until you feel like you can announce a reasonably certain release date, THEN hit the pavement to raise hype.

     

    That's what I'd do. Get people talking about it once you have a large beta pool to help really talk it up. Let's face it, any company can hype its own game. But when you have thousands of gamers hyping it, that's the real deal.

     

    Just my 2 cents.

    No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions
    in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem.
    -Glen Cook

  • DmyankeeDmyankee Member UncommonPosts: 135

    The difference between the three games has been mentioned. Guild Wars 2 has been in development since Eye of the North, and Guild Wars is doing pretty good today.

    Starwars is star wars.

     

    Rfit is seeking or chasing the EQ and VG group making it more of a niche game than a larger focus of the wow group. ( i play wow but i am an EQ1 vet). So as a niche game, i think they would be happy with 500k to 1 mil. subscribers to start and expand from that lot.

    image

    Artorus Giltanus - Ranger EQ1 Retired
    Arturien - 90 Deathknight WoW

  • Tramella1Tramella1 Member UncommonPosts: 2

    Like previously stated Guild Wars has a pretty decent following and the developer is well known for producing a quality game. Star Wars is up there as well because of the developer Bioware and the fact that its star wars. Where as Rift is being made by a unknown developer and has been under the radar for a bit. 

  • NadiliNadili Member Posts: 197

    Rift is also a new IP which may be why it seems like the underdog right now.

    I first heard about Rift from a guildie after the SoE announced EQ2X.  On my server there is one game everyone is taking about and it's not EQ2, GW2 or SWTOR it's RIft.  I believe Trion is being smart they information they have released so far.

    Betas have also changed alot from the older games that is the new marketing thing I think as people get into beta the word will spread more.

    image
  • SeffrenSeffren Member Posts: 743

    Originally posted by endersshadow

     


     <snip>

    But now here I am in WoW and no one knows about RIFT. Thats a problem. 

    <snip>

     


    Hmmm, that would be a good thing imo if you relate it to wow's present community.

    But I know what you are getting at and who knows maybe they'll up the anty as release date approaches. At this point that one is not set in stone yet.

  • dirtyjoe78dirtyjoe78 Member Posts: 400

    I am glad that they arent going off and trying to hype the crap out of the game because no one has been able to deliver on the hype yet so keep it simple show me some gameplay character creation and a little on how classes work and whats available and thats it.  Dont try to tell me its the most revoultionary thing since the invention of electricity because i know you are full of shit just keep it simple if you have something that is new and different then let me know how it works, dont tell me how revolutionary it is and genre changing because again you are probably full of shit.  I hate hype because ruins the game experience, you go into games that are super hyped expecting the world because thats what has been promised and when you get into it and find a bug or something wrong or not working as intended (its gonna happen) people fly off the handle.  Just give me that basics of your game and some lore, let me know the story and why i am playing or if i am the hero or just your average dude that has to pick up his daddys sword and mash faces. 

    I can almost gaurentee that SW: ToR and GW2 are going to release and not have a feature that was promised or hyped or have a couple bugs that are irritating or possibly  broken quests or classes and people are going to start a shitstorm of bitching and the internets will end as far as they are concerned.

  • endersshadowendersshadow Member Posts: 296

    Originally posted by Dmyankee

    The difference between the three games has been mentioned. Guild Wars 2 has been in development since Eye of the North, and Guild Wars is doing pretty good today.

    Starwars is star wars.

     

    Rfit is seeking or chasing the EQ and VG group making it more of a niche game than a larger focus of the wow group. ( i play wow but i am an EQ1 vet). So as a niche game, i think they would be happy with 500k to 1 mil. subscribers to start and expand from that lot.

     

    Yeah this is where I am at. I dont care necessarily if its the biggest mmo ever, as long as it has a Solid Release and builds from there.

     

    I know Star Wars is iconic and cool and always will be, but I really dont understand why everyone thinks it looks so good. Maybe I am not looking hard enough but I have seen way more info and gameplay vids from RIFT and GW2 than I have SWTOR. If I was to guess which game is most likely to bomb after the hype fades and the games are released....I would say SWTOR. Im getting the Warhammer vibe.....alot of great ideas that dont pan out in game.

  • endersshadowendersshadow Member Posts: 296

    Originally posted by Seffren

    Originally posted by endersshadow

     


     

    But now here I am in WoW and no one knows about RIFT. Thats a problem. 



     


    Hmmm, that would be a good thing imo if you relate it to wow's present community.

    But I know what you are getting at and who knows maybe they'll up the anty as release date approaches. At this point that one is not set in stone yet.

     

    To me its like, you have two groups you are pulling Subscriptions from, you have "People". Lets define "people" as, someone who has a PC and likes to play any and all types of games. 

    And your 2nd group is the MMO crowd. The biggst group of mmo players right now, love it or hate it is the WoWers

     

    Call me crazy, but as much as I like RIFT, I dont see it catching the eye of "people". The most I can hope for is that it pulls enough of the existing MMO crowd to get a following and that the word spreads.

  • elockeelocke Member UncommonPosts: 4,335


    Originally posted by ruonim
    rift looks like another aion

    I think you are confusing Rift with Tera.

    Rift looks very similar to GW2 where as Tera looks like Aion 2

  • DookzDookz Member UncommonPosts: 562

    Rift I think will remain a niche if they do not create the hype that is appropriate and sustainable at this stage of development. Releasing videos and revealing the rest of the game close to release is not a very good idea if Trion is aiming for the mainstream market. It takes a long time for the giant gaming media to take notice of new IP MMOs and probably just as long if not longer for the non-MMO PC gamer. Example there was a feature article at IGN written on August 27th showcasing the trailers of past, present and future MMOs. All future MMOs were featured together Cata, SWTOR, GW2, FF14 and even TERA but Rift was nowhere to be found. Many of us are only aware of the existence of Rift largely because of an MMO site. That's what the other AAA titles are doing, trying to gather a huge following beyond the MMO community, and maintaining it more or less until release.

    Playing now: Cities: Skyline / Ori and the Blind Forest / Banished

  • twruletwrule Member Posts: 1,251

    It's worth noting that while many people know of Guild Wars 2 (mostly because they've heard of the original and know there will be a sequel), they don't necessarily know enough about it to make an informed choice about it.  Most people I've talked to about GW2 (who are into mmos) immediately associate it with the same game-type of the original and aren't interested.  It's only when I can get them to sit still and watch the gamescom videos and such that they become interested.  For some reason few people seem to bother to do any research on it and dismiss it from the title.

    I agree that RIFT is relatively unknown outside of mmo circles like this site's forums - mostly because Trion has done pretty much zero marketing after having changed the title of the game.  Unlike GW2 and SWTOR, it doesn't have an existing IP for fans to associate it with either.  Personally, I think the devs calling it "your standard mmo with a twist" and their position on class balance are mistakes too and not helping - but I guess they won't encounter the real issues with that until the game is marketed more heavily.

  • endersshadowendersshadow Member Posts: 296

    Originally posted by elocke

     




    Originally posted by ruonim

    rift looks like another aion




     

    I think you are confusing Rift with Tera.

    Rift looks very similar to GW2 where as Tera looks like Aion 2

     

    Personally, I hate comparing them. When I was watching Warhammer, all I heard was morons saying, "OMG LOOKS LIKE WOW DERP DERP". And the art style was considerably grittier and different.

     

    They are all fantasy games and all the art is fantasy based. 

  • xSagaixSagai Member CommonPosts: 94

    Rift is up against some tough competition and I think we are just seeing the marketing strategy they have chosen to use. The impression I get as an outsider looking in is they feel they have a very solid game and are just doing their thing. Within a 6 month time frame we will likely see FFXIV, TERA, SWTOR , Cataclysm and Rift all launch; talk about a brutal schedule to release a new game into. I think it serves them better to embrace the dark horse role rather then try to out hype the others.

  • TUX426TUX426 Member Posts: 1,907

    Originally posted by endersshadow

     


    ...as of right now, I dont think they are doing enough to get there name out there. Whatever they are doing, they need to do more.

     

     


    You're correct. This is the most I've read about RIFT and I troll here far too much. I've seen the "name" before, but I know NOTHING about it...and I don't consider myself "average" in this genre.

  • endersshadowendersshadow Member Posts: 296

    Originally posted by xSagai

    Rift is up against some tough competition and I think we are just seeing the marketing strategy they have chosen to use. The impression I get as an outsider looking in is they feel they have a very solid game and are just doing their thing. Within a 6 month time frame we will likely see FFXIV, TERA, SWTOR , Cataclysm and Rift all launch; talk about a brutal schedule to release a new game into. I think it serves them better to embrace the dark horse role rather then try to out hype the others.

     

    As long as they have a release that is sustainable, then I am fine with that. It doesnt matter to me if thats 10,000 players or 100k. My biggest fear, is that the game is great, it releases small and dies off from not having enough money coming in. That would be a tragedy.  

     

    However, I dont think thats going to happen. I am guessing it will release modest, the other games will release great. So while the other games are released, RIFT will slowly grow.

    When Cataclysm WoW vets are bored again, hey look here is RIFT

    When SWTOR doent pan out, and I really dont think it will long term, hey look there is RIFT. 

    Guildwars 2 like GuildWars will start strong and lose a good deal of subs, where do those subs go once they have been bit by the mmo bug? Why, to ANOTHER MMO...hey look here is RIFT.

     

    Yes I realize I have no time machine, that is just my guess and maybe a dash of wishful thinking :D

  • TUX426TUX426 Member Posts: 1,907

    Bah! Went to the RIFT website after commenting...saw screenshots of swords, armor and an archer...IMO, that's why the game has no following mate. It's nothing "new" or fresh. When I look at the MMO market, there seems to be an obvious saturation of this type of game.

  • SkuzSkuz Member UncommonPosts: 1,018

    I wouldn't worry too much about RIFT having enough "presence" in the marketplace just yet, I think any wily Marketing guy with enough brains is going to try to take a different approach to how the other serious competitors are using.

    I rather suspect they are trying to foster an "underground" & then capitalise on that by having a really impressive beta phase, generating a lot of groundswell opinion & word of mouth before they launch a full-scale media onslaught late in beta cycle to whip up a huge hype machine right before release to try and really maximise that "first impressions count" factor.

    By all accounts Trion are going to be applying a hardcore amount of polish to this title, it's got the formulaic roots but they do have a lot of twists on old ideas & plenty of new ones of their own, kind of a don't reinvent the wheel, but do create a sleek bodystyle & build a fast effecient engine & tune it all to be a fun drive that has a good mileage to go with that not re-invented wheel.

    I'm quietly optimistic about this title & I think it could be a surprise hit.

  • DmyankeeDmyankee Member UncommonPosts: 135

    Think about the Trion Team,

    Lars Butler (EA)

    Jon Van Caneghem (Created Might and Magic left 2009) - Was Creative officer at the beginning of the project.  (edit)

    Scott Hartsman (Saved EQ2 from death)

    now add in the elements they hired, top tiered designers from EQ and VG back ground to console games. They are investing a lot of money in development. Marketing will come problably closer to release date. They have raised over 100 million to develop this game and a lot is riding it. What they are diong is stating we are not competing against World of Warcraft, they have stated it is for a niche crowd with sustained life span. They are also devloping a RTS MMO and  SYFY mmo with Syfy channel developing a TV show that will both be affected by and affect the game. There initial project is Rift, they have a good base following of ex eq and ex vg players who are looking for a deep lore game ... the challenge will be GW2, but since GW2 is buy the box and play , i know i will be playing both ... there is nothing wrong with thier marketing atm, the challenge will be the 2 months leading to release ...

    image

    Artorus Giltanus - Ranger EQ1 Retired
    Arturien - 90 Deathknight WoW

  • twruletwrule Member Posts: 1,251

    Originally posted by TUX426

    Bah! Went to the RIFT website after commenting...saw screenshots of swords, armor and an archer...IMO, that's why the game has no following mate. It's nothing "new" or fresh. When I look at the MMO market, there seems to be an obvious saturation of this type of game.

    That's what I've been saying.  The game is trying to market to a niche audience to begin with: MMO vets that want a polished game with traditional MMO mechanics in the traditional mmo fantasy setting but don't want to play any of the other games out right now such as WoW, EQ2, etc.  That's awfully specific when you think about just how many games have those features already...

  • stayontargetstayontarget Member RarePosts: 6,519

    "A good game needs no defence, A bad game has no defence"

    Ignore the hype and let it all play out,  Players will go to the game that suits them the best.

    Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...

Sign In or Register to comment.