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Rift Beta Impressions
TL; DR
Although fun, overall Rift has a been there, done that feeling. Two areas that could save it from the fate of Warcraft Clone are souls and rifts.
Game World
Folks have complained that the game world is small. This is true, though for a reason. The game is built around rifts popping up and forcing folks to defend areas and attack rifts. If the game world was super large (and player base more spread out) that would short circuit the rift system.
When I started exploring Telara, I was surprised at how small the world seemed, but once I accepted that the game wasn[object Window]t really about exploring, and more about a feeling of constant battle, it was less of a concern.
Characters Creation
Nothing ground breaking, but I enjoyed the art style. Customization has what I consider enough options, not as simplistic as Warcraft, but not as in depth as Vanguard.
Questing 1-20
Try to keep in mind that beta is only 1-20, out of what I believe is 50 levels. Imagine trying to review Warcraft at just the first twenty levels.
That said, I agree with a lot of beta testers impressions that although the questing is very polished, it feels very much like WoW which can cause boredom to set in fast.
Additionally, questing is so steamlined, that it can feel like the world isn[object Window]t a living breathing place, but just a network to connect quests. It also doesn[object Window]t help that the overall artwork and animations feel very similar to Warhammer, futher making the game feel like it is trying to cash on on what[object Window]s already out there MMO wise.
Souls
The class system in Rift is built around getting souls (representing different classes) and combining three souls, picking talents from each that (hopefully) compliment each other.
For example, I started as a Justicar (ranged holy damage dealer) and paired that with a Shaman for more elemental damage.
There are a few key things to point out about this system:
1. Currently, the in game descriptions are not detailed enough to really understand what each soul is geared towards, and why certain souls are better paired with other souls.
2. Not all the souls are in the game yet.
3. You can not have your full compliment of souls yet.
The system has the makings to really set Rift apart by allowing players to create very custom characters, that can fulfill different roles on the fly, eliminating the holy trinity while allowing for PvP balance. I am excited about this feature, but it isn[object Window]t developed enough in beta to get all fanboi over.
Rifts
Rifts open up randomly all over the world, and bring mobs that rampage around the map (you can track them on the map, which helps avoid them). They attack towns, NPCs, everything. My experience in beta with rifts was they seemed like little more than Warhammer public quests. I am told by folks who were involved in a massive rift invasion that the experience totally changed their view of the game. I have yet to be involved in a massive onslaught, but if they are as fun and unique as I hear, rifts could also set Rift apart from other MMOs.
Trion and Conclusion
Many complaints raised during Beta 2 were actually addressed by Trion (the developer), most notably adding more detail to the souls system, to make it easier to get into. If Trion keeps listening to its players, while more fully developing the souls system and the rifts, I think it will be able to overcome what it currently the games biggest weakness; it feels too much like WoW and WAR.
Comments
I was involved in a large invader battle in Beta 2 against the giant goblin.. I showed up when the crit had about 3/4 health remaining and it took another 20+ minutes so the battle probably lasted ~30 minutes. In the end noone got anything that I know of ( maybe whoever got the first hit ).. There were about 30 people saying " WTF!?! " and " LAME " and other not so nice things.
yes but they also told us in the beta forums that the rewards system is something they are working to improve. So like OP said they are addressing many of the issues people are having.
Not sure if you are talking about Cinderon or whatever it's name was and was on the same server as us, but we had first hit in our group (the MOB was tagged the entire time) and got nothing for it after the 30 minute fight (none of us died during the fight either) as from normal Rift loot; however we think they were just testing the scaling the rift at the time as they mentioned it on the server wide message that they were testing the scaling and to bear with them. They obviously scaled the HP a bit too high in that case, but the boss was certainly fun and it was challenging keeping my group alive.