I have heard two very different description of rifts.
On one side I hear they are these amazing dynamic event that, if left unchecked, could change the landscape and take over towns and so on and so forth.
On the other hand I hear that they are just elaborate mob spawns that just spawn and then despawn with no actual effect on the world.
Which is closer to the truth?
Rifts are mob spawners. They appear in the same hard coded spots on the map. Their locations are NOT random, but the time in which they appear will vary, abit, not by much.
Invasions are hard coded paths in which certain mobs which spawn from the Rift travel. Each town is designed in such a way that without player intervention, they will fall. This is due to the fact that if an invasion uses elites and the town does not, then its pretty much set.
Games have done this in the past as well. You can see instances of it in Tabula Rasa for example.
A couple days ago I thought you knew what you were talking about and were right.... I've done enough research and gametime now to discover your wrong. It isn't as simple as you want people to believe. There ARE some hard coded spots (ie. the first area you get to when leaving the tutorial zone. That area has 3 or 4 hard coded spots), but the majority of the game is random and more dynamic than you give credit.
Actually I am not wrong. If you dont wish to believe me, believe Trion's Scott Hartsman. Rifts have to have set spawn points. What he ended up admitting was that Rifts might spawn at "random times" but never random spots outside of the pre-set spots. This HAS to happen because 1) its too expensive (cpu and resources wise) to have real random location spawning. It needs to be limited and controlled. 2) Mobs react to way points. Rifts need to spawn where there is a clear path to those way points. Invasions are not dynamic outside of the tracks the devs layed down for them to follow. Therefore the spawn points have to have what we call "path nodes" which connect to all spawn points. The design dictates that the locations HAVE to be pre-set.
Do you understand what I am saying? I am trying to keep it as simple as possible without the technical jargon. The dynamic pitch they were giving was how the server was set up, not necessarily a reference to the actual mode of play. The game is not truly 100% dynamic, however it tries to give the illusion of dynamic gameplay. That is what is important. I think they failed in this area, but then again, I know more about whats under the hood so to speak, so the illusion is easily broken from my perspective.
Sorry if you continue to choose not to believe me. Either you will find out in time, as you begin to see the pattern emerge, or you wont and will never know.
I still believe based on my knowledge and experience that Rift will not be a huge hit. It will be lucky to have 10% of Aion's numbers after 6 months. Just so you all know, Aion has over 3 million users world wide.
Can you please post a link where Hartsman says what you say he did.
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Can you please post a link where Hartsman says what you say he did.