I played the beta, but stopped playing at a pretty low level because it felt like a lot of other games I've already played. People seem to be loving it as its hype is jumping, so what am I missing that is new and unique?
I don't believe Trion said they were trying to do any really earth shattering work, with anything new and exciting, maybe the expectation on your end is out of place.
What i find truely fun about the game is the magnitude and variety of the classes and mixing of the soul systems, and it's name sake the Rifts. The huge zone wide events that can happen create such chaos and overwhelmeing odds against the players, it's great to see adventurers come together to free the zones from the grip of the controlling Rift
How low of a level and which beta did you participate in?
There are um...rifts, invasions, multiple soul trees to utilize, more skill points have been added, and you can get all three starter souls before leaving the newbie area.
All that said, honestly to me Rift is fun but it isn't anything ground breaking. What they do, they do well and the rifts, invasions, multiple soul tress, and lore are enough to keep me interested for quite awhile I believe.
Also, we've only seen the first 20 levels and a small part of the world, but judging by how well they've handled changes so far, and the ovverall polish of the game in a closed beta, I'm willing to bet the rest of the game is just as good if not better.
I'll be subbing and probably pre-order, but for how long it actually holds my interest remains to be seen.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
I played the beta, but stopped playing at a pretty low level because it felt like a lot of other games I've already played. People seem to be loving it as its hype is jumping, so what am I missing that is new and unique?
You're probably not missing anything.
For me, i actually found it quite fun. At first i thought the same as you (and ofc, Trion never said otherwise), but then i gave it a chance and it grew on me. It felt very old school and very polished.
The potential is there, who knows, after level 20 the game could really open up.
Anyways, i enjoyed it and i know there is a large demographic who are looking for another generic, seen it all before MMO.
And lets be honest, most people are just gonna play it as a stop gap before GW2 comes out.
I played the beta, but stopped playing at a pretty low level because it felt like a lot of other games I've already played. People seem to be loving it as its hype is jumping, so what am I missing that is new and unique?
You are certainly not the only one that found the game to be underwhelming to say the least. Regardless of the hype rating, just read around on the forums. There is NOTHING new and unique about Rift. One could make the argument that Rifts are a new feature, but in my experience except for the large scale rift invasions wiping out cities, they generally play out exactly like WAR's PQs (this was especially the case in Beta 1 where rifts lasted all of two minutes before they were destroyed). The soul system is nice, but there is a lack of synergy between many of the souls (IMO) and by endgame I could see it turning into 1-3 that are the "best" builds per class or that are the only one's desired (War, Mage, Rog, Cleric). One of the developer's stated that they have an entire team devoted only to the soul system and balance so I would expect so see improvements here. Finally, while optimization has improved to some degree it's still not perfect. Depending on your rig you may get only 20-30 fps even if it is a high end one. This problem seems pretty random and as I said before is probably related to optimization. I would assume this will also improve by launch.
If you like your standard tab-target 1,2,3..., dungeon running, raiding, pvp as a side venture, type of game. This one is probably for you. I am not saying these are bad things, they just don't interest me.
By the same token, I think it's worth pointing out that the developer's (in what I've read) were never shouting from the rooftops that this would be the most new or innovative game ever. I think they have delivered exactly what they promised.
I played the beta, but stopped playing at a pretty low level because it felt like a lot of other games I've already played. People seem to be loving it as its hype is jumping, so what am I missing that is new and unique?
Nothing is particularly new and unique. The soul system is a twist on AAs or Skill Trees from games like EQ2 and AoC. Although what is VERY different is that instead of playing one class, you play several different combinations of classes and you change your role/class completely at the press of a button on the same character. This is not entirely evident at low level and not that much even at 20.
The rifts are similar to games like AO, TR and War, although a lot more elaborate.
The questing hub to hub system is very similar to existing games like EQ2 and LoTRO and not written as well as the latter.
However, RIFT is still a lot of fun. Graphics are excellent and the game runs very smooth even with hundreds of players on screen. (That is for majority of people, some people obvoiusly have issues just like any game).
One major problem - and possibly a big reason why you feel the way you do - is that currently, RIFT basically guides people away from its most fun parts. People are encouraged basically to go from one generic quest to the next and leave zone when done. The most fun i had in rift was after hit 20 and spent 2 days rifting and hitting the instances and playing with soul builds. Unfortunately, i wouldn't have done any of this stuff if i had just followed the quests out of zone at 18.
I think unless they slow down the leveling or change the questing or add access quests for next zone, people will play the generic quests, assume the game is just like everything else and quit without seeing the game's best content which is rifting, grouping and zonewide events. (and maybe pvp if you do that, i don't)
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall Currently Playing: ESO
I played the beta, but stopped playing at a pretty low level because it felt like a lot of other games I've already played. People seem to be loving it as its hype is jumping, so what am I missing that is new and unique?
You miss nothing.The game speaks for it self.
You didnt like it and i didnt like it either and so many more people.
I m going to play dcuo till tera release date or swtor and then comes the big hit Gw2 and finally diablo 3 will burn us all.hehehe
Thank you for the input everyone. This helped me confirm this isn't the game for me so a pre-order for DCUO is on the way which I found incredibly new and exciting.
They should use marketing slogan: ''You will be RIFTed back to 2004'' because most important thing in game: gameplay(not lore or graphics) is taken from that period. Btw if we talk about graphics, those too are from around same time, maybe 2006. I'm not sure, but I think I have faint memories of celabrating 2011 few days ago.
Personally the 2 most important things about a mmo is the feel of the classes and the PVE, Rift at least up to 20 has potentially the most interesting class system and overall the PVE is great, the 2 region wide events I played through where some of the best PVE I have ever had. And many there felt the same way.
Build Your Class: No other game lets you build your class the way RIFT does. Specialize in a single class or pick and choose abilities from many to create a character uniquely suited to your play style—and have fun while you experiment!
Isn't this exactly what Asheron's Call was, 400 years ago? Pump your xp into individual skills to raise their levels, and pick ones you want to specialize in, or use one of the cookie cutter skill sets?
[Insert reason to be considered a super nerd here]
I played the beta, but stopped playing at a pretty low level because it felt like a lot of other games I've already played. People seem to be loving it as its hype is jumping, so what am I missing that is new and unique?
As they said, Rift is your standard MMO but with rifts.
The strength and frequency of the rifts and their invasions spawn according to the zone population, with the possibility of a zone-wide event being triggered by currently unknown criteria - although the level and number of players in the zone is known to be a part of that criteria.
So what you have is your a standard "kill 10 whatever" MMO with the rift system layered on top of it. The rift system can throw things at the players at any moment, thus providing an interesting game mechanic to break up the standard MMO game play. In addition to this, the aforementioned zone wide events do not need to be triggered (nor ran) by GMs, so they're always a (probably uncommon) possibility. The devs have said that every map will have its own zone wide event that can be triggered.
In addition to that you have some decent, but imperfect soul trees that allow for a reasonable amount of customization for your character. The system helps to alleviate the feeling of the "me-too" cookie cutter characters, and if you're into PvP it will definitely add a twist to that game play.
PvP is optional on the PvE servers, though the system was bugged in Beta 3 and people managed to get other players flagged +pvp. That sucked, but should be fixed prior to release. Most PvP on the PvE servers should be done in war fronts (aka "battle grounds").
That's the gist of it. Rift is not a bad MMO and it has some very cool elements, but it's not entirely ground breaking either. For those who want a certain level of familiarity but also want something new, Rift is the game for them. For those who want something completely new - totally unique - then Rift is not the game for them; they'll probably have to wait for either GW2 or Tera, assuming that they can deliver on most of their promises.
I have pre-ordered Rift and I will do the six month sub. Not because I think that it's such a great game, but because there's enough here to keep a cynical 'ol fart like me entertained until something else is released (I'm keeping on eye on GW2, Tera, and Blade & Soul). The $10/mo price tag was also a major deciding factor, in addition to how responsive the devs have been.
Thank you for showing me the light of day, this is one bullet i will dodge thanks to the elite forum poster. I am going to go and preorder dcuo right now, because it has something shiny and new.
You people are The Stepford Wives of the mmo world. Wouldn't you like this bright, new, shiny penny I have? LOL
Finally, while optimization has improved to some degree it's still not perfect. Depending on your rig you may get only 20-30 fps even if it is a high end one.
Meh, I beg to differ, as I was in beta 3, and even during the large scale Rift events I was easily pulling 52-56fps on max settings. Including some event that was outside the main city for the Defiant {Meridian?}, there must have been 80+ players there all beating on a huge metal construct, and everything was smooth as butter.
It's really simple for me. How does Rift compare to Lotro pve wise. I'm already fully immersed in lotro with a few characters so rift will need to clearly be superior to Lotro for me to even bother.
Dynamic content built upon a world that has very few bugs and a dev team that seams to care about their game. Rift never promised that the skeletal structure of game mechanics would be much different than standard MMo's. It is the ability to serve up dynamic events with tons of people onscreen, on a stable server system that does not crash, that is new.
I personally loved the rifts themselves. To me that was the only real main thing to set it apart from other games like it. They impressed the living crap out of me tho, i had fun every single time they were up.
The main story line quests were very cool too, felt like an ongoing story event for a short while, was cool.
I dont enjoy the game enough to buy it tho.
Jeremiah 8:21 I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief. Join me on TwitchFacebook Twitter
I personally loved the rifts themselves. To me that was the only real main thing to set it apart from other games like it. They impressed the living crap out of me tho, i had fun every single time they were up.
The main story line quests were very cool too, felt like an ongoing story event for a short while, was cool.
I dont enjoy the game enough to buy it tho.
Really? Personally, I found the rifts repetitive and boring. In fact, I started to avoid them completely after the first 5 or so.
*shrug*
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
Yeah i see a lot of posts from people that were bored with the rifts.
That was the only thing i really liked about what i saw in the game. Other than the graphics which are beautiful, the gameplay is good and familiar but in my case its far too familiar thats why i wont be playing it.
I'm curious if people really think that devs/GMs will be hanging about servers triggering events...
If they care as much about the release as they do about their beta im sure theyll find the time to trigger events, i mean it is the whole premise of the game.
Jeremiah 8:21 I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief. Join me on TwitchFacebook Twitter
Comments
I don't believe Trion said they were trying to do any really earth shattering work, with anything new and exciting, maybe the expectation on your end is out of place.
What i find truely fun about the game is the magnitude and variety of the classes and mixing of the soul systems, and it's name sake the Rifts. The huge zone wide events that can happen create such chaos and overwhelmeing odds against the players, it's great to see adventurers come together to free the zones from the grip of the controlling Rift
How low of a level and which beta did you participate in?
There are um...rifts, invasions, multiple soul trees to utilize, more skill points have been added, and you can get all three starter souls before leaving the newbie area.
All that said, honestly to me Rift is fun but it isn't anything ground breaking. What they do, they do well and the rifts, invasions, multiple soul tress, and lore are enough to keep me interested for quite awhile I believe.
Also, we've only seen the first 20 levels and a small part of the world, but judging by how well they've handled changes so far, and the ovverall polish of the game in a closed beta, I'm willing to bet the rest of the game is just as good if not better.
I'll be subbing and probably pre-order, but for how long it actually holds my interest remains to be seen.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
You're probably not missing anything.
For me, i actually found it quite fun. At first i thought the same as you (and ofc, Trion never said otherwise), but then i gave it a chance and it grew on me. It felt very old school and very polished.
The potential is there, who knows, after level 20 the game could really open up.
Anyways, i enjoyed it and i know there is a large demographic who are looking for another generic, seen it all before MMO.
And lets be honest, most people are just gonna play it as a stop gap before GW2 comes out.
And once GW2 fails to meets the unrealistic expectations people have for it, they'll be back.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
You are certainly not the only one that found the game to be underwhelming to say the least. Regardless of the hype rating, just read around on the forums. There is NOTHING new and unique about Rift. One could make the argument that Rifts are a new feature, but in my experience except for the large scale rift invasions wiping out cities, they generally play out exactly like WAR's PQs (this was especially the case in Beta 1 where rifts lasted all of two minutes before they were destroyed). The soul system is nice, but there is a lack of synergy between many of the souls (IMO) and by endgame I could see it turning into 1-3 that are the "best" builds per class or that are the only one's desired (War, Mage, Rog, Cleric). One of the developer's stated that they have an entire team devoted only to the soul system and balance so I would expect so see improvements here. Finally, while optimization has improved to some degree it's still not perfect. Depending on your rig you may get only 20-30 fps even if it is a high end one. This problem seems pretty random and as I said before is probably related to optimization. I would assume this will also improve by launch.
If you like your standard tab-target 1,2,3..., dungeon running, raiding, pvp as a side venture, type of game. This one is probably for you. I am not saying these are bad things, they just don't interest me.
By the same token, I think it's worth pointing out that the developer's (in what I've read) were never shouting from the rooftops that this would be the most new or innovative game ever. I think they have delivered exactly what they promised.
Steam: Neph
Nothing is particularly new and unique. The soul system is a twist on AAs or Skill Trees from games like EQ2 and AoC. Although what is VERY different is that instead of playing one class, you play several different combinations of classes and you change your role/class completely at the press of a button on the same character. This is not entirely evident at low level and not that much even at 20.
The rifts are similar to games like AO, TR and War, although a lot more elaborate.
The questing hub to hub system is very similar to existing games like EQ2 and LoTRO and not written as well as the latter.
However, RIFT is still a lot of fun. Graphics are excellent and the game runs very smooth even with hundreds of players on screen. (That is for majority of people, some people obvoiusly have issues just like any game).
One major problem - and possibly a big reason why you feel the way you do - is that currently, RIFT basically guides people away from its most fun parts. People are encouraged basically to go from one generic quest to the next and leave zone when done. The most fun i had in rift was after hit 20 and spent 2 days rifting and hitting the instances and playing with soul builds. Unfortunately, i wouldn't have done any of this stuff if i had just followed the quests out of zone at 18.
I think unless they slow down the leveling or change the questing or add access quests for next zone, people will play the generic quests, assume the game is just like everything else and quit without seeing the game's best content which is rifting, grouping and zonewide events. (and maybe pvp if you do that, i don't)
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
You miss nothing.The game speaks for it self.
You didnt like it and i didnt like it either and so many more people.
I m going to play dcuo till tera release date or swtor and then comes the big hit Gw2 and finally diablo 3 will burn us all.hehehe
What's new and unique about Rift?
It's a fantasy game I actually like the look, lore, AND gameplay of.
Thank you for the input everyone. This helped me confirm this isn't the game for me so a pre-order for DCUO is on the way which I found incredibly new and exciting.
They should use marketing slogan: ''You will be RIFTed back to 2004'' because most important thing in game: gameplay(not lore or graphics) is taken from that period. Btw if we talk about graphics, those too are from around same time, maybe 2006. I'm not sure, but I think I have faint memories of celabrating 2011 few days ago.
Personally the 2 most important things about a mmo is the feel of the classes and the PVE, Rift at least up to 20 has potentially the most interesting class system and overall the PVE is great, the 2 region wide events I played through where some of the best PVE I have ever had. And many there felt the same way.
I'll be waiting for TERA
Isn't this exactly what Asheron's Call was, 400 years ago? Pump your xp into individual skills to raise their levels, and pick ones you want to specialize in, or use one of the cookie cutter skill sets?
[Insert reason to be considered a super nerd here]
As they said, Rift is your standard MMO but with rifts.
The strength and frequency of the rifts and their invasions spawn according to the zone population, with the possibility of a zone-wide event being triggered by currently unknown criteria - although the level and number of players in the zone is known to be a part of that criteria.
So what you have is your a standard "kill 10 whatever" MMO with the rift system layered on top of it. The rift system can throw things at the players at any moment, thus providing an interesting game mechanic to break up the standard MMO game play. In addition to this, the aforementioned zone wide events do not need to be triggered (nor ran) by GMs, so they're always a (probably uncommon) possibility. The devs have said that every map will have its own zone wide event that can be triggered.
In addition to that you have some decent, but imperfect soul trees that allow for a reasonable amount of customization for your character. The system helps to alleviate the feeling of the "me-too" cookie cutter characters, and if you're into PvP it will definitely add a twist to that game play.
PvP is optional on the PvE servers, though the system was bugged in Beta 3 and people managed to get other players flagged +pvp. That sucked, but should be fixed prior to release. Most PvP on the PvE servers should be done in war fronts (aka "battle grounds").
That's the gist of it. Rift is not a bad MMO and it has some very cool elements, but it's not entirely ground breaking either. For those who want a certain level of familiarity but also want something new, Rift is the game for them. For those who want something completely new - totally unique - then Rift is not the game for them; they'll probably have to wait for either GW2 or Tera, assuming that they can deliver on most of their promises.
I have pre-ordered Rift and I will do the six month sub. Not because I think that it's such a great game, but because there's enough here to keep a cynical 'ol fart like me entertained until something else is released (I'm keeping on eye on GW2, Tera, and Blade & Soul). The $10/mo price tag was also a major deciding factor, in addition to how responsive the devs have been.
See ya 'round the planes infested lands.
edit: quick typo fix + quick pvp mention
Thank you for showing me the light of day, this is one bullet i will dodge thanks to the elite forum poster. I am going to go and preorder dcuo right now, because it has something shiny and new.
You people are The Stepford Wives of the mmo world. Wouldn't you like this bright, new, shiny penny I have? LOL
absolutly nothing.
its a 99% clone of WAR, which was a 99% clone of WoW with added RvR and crashed and burned long ago...
99% troll.
The ignorance of some of the comments made on these forums is truly staggering.
No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions
in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem.
-Glen Cook
You don't know what you're saying about warhammer, but yes rift doesn't really offer something really new.
Meh, I beg to differ, as I was in beta 3, and even during the large scale Rift events I was easily pulling 52-56fps on max settings. Including some event that was outside the main city for the Defiant {Meridian?}, there must have been 80+ players there all beating on a huge metal construct, and everything was smooth as butter.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
What's new?
Dynamic content built upon a world that has very few bugs and a dev team that seams to care about their game. Rift never promised that the skeletal structure of game mechanics would be much different than standard MMo's. It is the ability to serve up dynamic events with tons of people onscreen, on a stable server system that does not crash, that is new.
I personally loved the rifts themselves. To me that was the only real main thing to set it apart from other games like it. They impressed the living crap out of me tho, i had fun every single time they were up.
The main story line quests were very cool too, felt like an ongoing story event for a short while, was cool.
I dont enjoy the game enough to buy it tho.
Jeremiah 8:21 I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief.
Join me on Twitch Facebook Twitter
Really? Personally, I found the rifts repetitive and boring. In fact, I started to avoid them completely after the first 5 or so.
*shrug*
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
It's sad that the state of MMOs is so low that a "Working" MMO is an accomplishment.
---
As with every beta, many people get mediocre performance, some get great performance, etc.
I have an older computer and was getting 10 fps in medium settings, this was not during events, but was wandering through the city.
(e6600/gtx260/4gb)
---
I'm curious if people really think that devs/GMs will be hanging about servers triggering events...
Drop the next-gen marketing and people will argue if the game itself has merit.
Yeah i see a lot of posts from people that were bored with the rifts.
That was the only thing i really liked about what i saw in the game. Other than the graphics which are beautiful, the gameplay is good and familiar but in my case its far too familiar thats why i wont be playing it.
I'm curious if people really think that devs/GMs will be hanging about servers triggering events...
If they care as much about the release as they do about their beta im sure theyll find the time to trigger events, i mean it is the whole premise of the game.
Jeremiah 8:21 I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief.
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