How can someone call them selves a true alt-a-holic if they have never made a second character, of the same class, but a different race, on the same faction and server? ;P I've done it. Usually to play with a friend, sometimes to change the look.
I think for me, I have more concern over the lack of redundancy in world zones and the effect that will have on willingness to play alts. I much prefer titles where there are multiple starter zones per faction and many ways to mix and match what zones you level up in each time you reroll. If there is only one path per faction, that gets old really fast.
I personally love the fact that your character can do so many different things. You may not see floods of alts, but people will make alts on opposing factions to play through different storylines, and why not make an alt to level with a friend? However, you can really just solo level through the game with little problem in my opinion.
I found much of the content so far (outside of instances and some rifts) to be soloable for the most part anyway and definitely doable for a duo or trio (not nearly as many beta testers on at 3AM). What I'm more concerned with in population is a problem they had with Warhammer- they opened a ton of servers upon release and when people started quitting entire servers were completely lopsided by faction or a ghost town, and of course no company wants to start closing or merging servers after one month because it looks really poor for the game.
Originally posted by Fibbin I was thinking about the soul system today and it occured to me. You really only need to create 4 characters. A mage,warrior, rogue and cleric. They can all quest to get the full set of souls available for their callings. That means less alts. Nobody is going to start a new cleric if they already have a high level one they can just reshape, keeping their levels and gear. How is that going to influence the flow of new subscribers to offset those that periodically leave the game. Whom are they going to group with on the way to the top once the game has gotten 6 months+ on its belt? Other new subscribers?. It's a well known fact that a lot of potential parties is made grouping with peoples alts.
That was kinda the point... they plan on releasing additional souls as well after launch. If leveling alts was all that kept you in game........... you should have left a long long time ago.
I'll also add... there is no exp penalty for level spread. So they can group with whoever the hell they want. There is no exp penalty for being in a raid. So they can join zone events and get good exp. There is no quest completion denial for being in a raid, etc.
Also I am pretty sure that I will make an alt to go through the storyline and just speed level my main so that I can max out its capabilities and enjoy me some PvP!! With the alt I will actually try to read quest text and collect artifacts and find the hidden quests/easter eggs they have everywhere and I will take my time leveling it really paying attention to the storyline; with my main I will probably level mostly off of invasions/rifts and pvp for practice and get gear through those instead of using quest gear. There's you another reason to have an alt.
The thing you have to realize though is that the 4 characters dont become max at the same time, you max one, then another, then another, and lastly, another. That is 1 main and 3 alts, if everyone does this there will be tons of people in the lower tiers, if its just leveling an alt, their second class, or something like twink? I dont know but I dont think itll be that much of a problem, plus with how good I think Rift is gonna be, it is only going to gain more and more people as time/updates come along, once people get completely bored with WoW and SWTOR fails, I think Rift will be something bigger than WoW or all the haters hoped it wouldn't.
The thing you have to realize though is that the 4 characters dont become max at the same time, you max one, then another, then another, and lastly, another. That is 1 main and 3 alts, if everyone does this there will be tons of people in the lower tiers, if its just leveling an alt, their second class, or something like twink? I dont know but I dont think itll be that much of a problem, plus with how good I think Rift is gonna be, it is only going to gain more and more people as time/updates come along, once people get completely bored with WoW and SWTOR fails, I think Rift will be something bigger than WoW or all the haters hoped it wouldn't.
Well, the thing is, you only need 2 characters in Rift.
1 warrior...who currently has top DPS, top burst DPS, as well as top magic casting DPS. As well as Tank
1 Cleric, for healing, support, can go either melee or caster DPS fairly well, but not as well as the warriors DPS.
All other classes and roles are worthless as warriors and clerics can preform all functions in the game better.
This isnt a joke either. The parses are all on the rift forums.
Expect the rogues to keep getting buffs, they may slightly out DPS a warrior come launch, but not nearly enough to outweigh the warrios huge survivability advantage.
And forget the mage class as a whole, it seves not one single fucntion that another class cant do far superior, this includes CC, support, and what they are typically know for, DPS...they have quite possibly the worst DPS and burst damage capabilities in the game. The reamain the weakest classes in sirvivability as well. Also, theyve been getting nerfs these last betas, apparently Trion likes a useless class.
All is not well in class balance land for Rift, so close to launch too...
I was thinking about the soul system today and it occured to me. You really only need to create 4 characters. A mage,warrior, rogue and cleric. They can all quest to get the full set of souls available for their callings. That means less alts. Nobody is going to start a new cleric if they already have a high level one they can just reshape, keeping their levels and gear.
How is that going to influence the flow of new subscribers to offset those that periodically leave the game. Whom are they going to group with on the way to the top once the game has gotten 6 months+ on its belt? Other new subscribers?. It's a well known fact that a lot of potential parties is made grouping with peoples alts.
That was kinda the point... they plan on releasing additional souls as well after launch. If leveling alts was all that kept you in game........... you should have left a long long time ago.
I'll also add... there is no exp penalty for level spread. So they can group with whoever the hell they want. There is no exp penalty for being in a raid. So they can join zone events and get good exp. There is no quest completion denial for being in a raid, etc.
I tought that way also. I said ill only need to roll 4 callings and be done with it.
This was before i really started playing the game.
My cleric calling alone has eight specs that im interested in. I can only save four.
What am i supposed to do if i wanna roll a different healing spec or try a Druid instead of a shaman? or a inquisitor spec over a cabalist? you know how annoying it is to respec everytime?
I know for a fact ill be rolling two Clerics and maybe two rogues and mages as well.
So that brings up the question wont i get bored with only two leveling progressions? maybe... but if i space my leveling out, level different ways and maybe focus on other things like crafting i may not.
The game is fun for me and by the time im done with rift im sure ill have over four callings at 50.
If you respec you can choose different souls than the original 3 assuming you quested for the rest. At 20 it only cost me 10g. You don't just get your points back. This is assuming the price stays the same of course.
So yes you could level up another cleric to try a different combo but I don't think many will do that once the system is well known
If you respec you can choose different souls than the original 3 assuming you quested for the rest. At 20 it only cost me 10g. You don't just get your points back. This is assuming the price stays the same of course.
So yes you could level up another cleric to try a different combo but I don't think many will do that once the system is well known
Yeah but thats annoying. I would rather have two cool clerics set with four specs each lol.
So, non alt friendly game due to the souls aspect. I was thinking it was more due to the lack of multiple starting zones personally. It's bad enough we get 1 starting area/path per faction but now the souls themselves making it somewhat pointless to roll more than 4 alts just bites.
I like Rift and it's potential, but this is the main area my concern lie in. I'm a HUGE altoholic and many games that don't offer me various starting areas tend to not last long.
I was thinking about the soul system today and it occured to me. You really only need to create 4 characters. A mage,warrior, rogue and cleric. They can all quest to get the full set of souls available for their callings. That means less alts. Nobody is going to start a new cleric if they already have a high level one they can just reshape, keeping their levels and gear.
I guess the number of starting zones (one for each faction) will add to a reduced number of people creating new chars. If there are different starting zones to explore: yes, many will try that. If you know that you will have to go through exactly the content once more, people are more likely say "ah screw it" and do something else.
So, non alt friendly game due to the souls aspect. I was thinking it was more due to the lack of multiple starting zones personally. It's bad enough we get 1 starting area/path per faction but now the souls themselves making it somewhat pointless to roll more than 4 alts just bites.
I like Rift and it's potential, but this is the main area my concern lie in. I'm a HUGE altoholic and many games that don't offer me various starting areas tend to not last long.
You have an issue doing endgame aye?
I can see that being an issue then.
well even so Rift as a fun 3-6 month game isnt bad.
So, non alt friendly game due to the souls aspect. I was thinking it was more due to the lack of multiple starting zones personally. It's bad enough we get 1 starting area/path per faction but now the souls themselves making it somewhat pointless to roll more than 4 alts just bites.
I like Rift and it's potential, but this is the main area my concern lie in. I'm a HUGE altoholic and many games that don't offer me various starting areas tend to not last long.
You have an issue doing endgame aye?
I can see that being an issue then.
well even so Rift as a fun 3-6 month game isnt bad.
By that time TOR or maybe GW2 will be out.
You read my mind. This is exactly how I am approaching Rift. As a go between until SWTOR and GW2. Yeah, I suppose I do tend to stay away from most endgames. I don't like a lot of conflict/drama which always rears it's head when raiding and I just find staying with one character too long gets boring fast. I need that constant feel of progression and learning and new abilities which rolling alts usually gives. Now that I look at it, that's one of the major reasons I don't like EQ2. Too many classes feel the same so you aren't really doing anything new if you roll in the same class type. Interesting.
Comments
How can someone call them selves a true alt-a-holic if they have never made a second character, of the same class, but a different race, on the same faction and server? ;P I've done it. Usually to play with a friend, sometimes to change the look.
I think for me, I have more concern over the lack of redundancy in world zones and the effect that will have on willingness to play alts. I much prefer titles where there are multiple starter zones per faction and many ways to mix and match what zones you level up in each time you reroll. If there is only one path per faction, that gets old really fast.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
I personally love the fact that your character can do so many different things. You may not see floods of alts, but people will make alts on opposing factions to play through different storylines, and why not make an alt to level with a friend? However, you can really just solo level through the game with little problem in my opinion.
I found much of the content so far (outside of instances and some rifts) to be soloable for the most part anyway and definitely doable for a duo or trio (not nearly as many beta testers on at 3AM). What I'm more concerned with in population is a problem they had with Warhammer- they opened a ton of servers upon release and when people started quitting entire servers were completely lopsided by faction or a ghost town, and of course no company wants to start closing or merging servers after one month because it looks really poor for the game.
I'm hoping this same thing won't occur with Rift.
That was kinda the point... they plan on releasing additional souls as well after launch. If leveling alts was all that kept you in game........... you should have left a long long time ago.
I'll also add... there is no exp penalty for level spread. So they can group with whoever the hell they want. There is no exp penalty for being in a raid. So they can join zone events and get good exp. There is no quest completion denial for being in a raid, etc.
Shadus
Also I am pretty sure that I will make an alt to go through the storyline and just speed level my main so that I can max out its capabilities and enjoy me some PvP!! With the alt I will actually try to read quest text and collect artifacts and find the hidden quests/easter eggs they have everywhere and I will take my time leveling it really paying attention to the storyline; with my main I will probably level mostly off of invasions/rifts and pvp for practice and get gear through those instead of using quest gear. There's you another reason to have an alt.
The thing you have to realize though is that the 4 characters dont become max at the same time, you max one, then another, then another, and lastly, another. That is 1 main and 3 alts, if everyone does this there will be tons of people in the lower tiers, if its just leveling an alt, their second class, or something like twink? I dont know but I dont think itll be that much of a problem, plus with how good I think Rift is gonna be, it is only going to gain more and more people as time/updates come along, once people get completely bored with WoW and SWTOR fails, I think Rift will be something bigger than WoW or all the haters hoped it wouldn't.
Well, the thing is, you only need 2 characters in Rift.
1 warrior...who currently has top DPS, top burst DPS, as well as top magic casting DPS. As well as Tank
1 Cleric, for healing, support, can go either melee or caster DPS fairly well, but not as well as the warriors DPS.
All other classes and roles are worthless as warriors and clerics can preform all functions in the game better.
This isnt a joke either. The parses are all on the rift forums.
Expect the rogues to keep getting buffs, they may slightly out DPS a warrior come launch, but not nearly enough to outweigh the warrios huge survivability advantage.
And forget the mage class as a whole, it seves not one single fucntion that another class cant do far superior, this includes CC, support, and what they are typically know for, DPS...they have quite possibly the worst DPS and burst damage capabilities in the game. The reamain the weakest classes in sirvivability as well. Also, theyve been getting nerfs these last betas, apparently Trion likes a useless class.
All is not well in class balance land for Rift, so close to launch too...
I think you missed the point. Like ...completely
I tought that way also. I said ill only need to roll 4 callings and be done with it.
This was before i really started playing the game.
My cleric calling alone has eight specs that im interested in. I can only save four.
What am i supposed to do if i wanna roll a different healing spec or try a Druid instead of a shaman? or a inquisitor spec over a cabalist? you know how annoying it is to respec everytime?
I know for a fact ill be rolling two Clerics and maybe two rogues and mages as well.
So that brings up the question wont i get bored with only two leveling progressions? maybe... but if i space my leveling out, level different ways and maybe focus on other things like crafting i may not.
The game is fun for me and by the time im done with rift im sure ill have over four callings at 50.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
If you respec you can choose different souls than the original 3 assuming you quested for the rest. At 20 it only cost me 10g. You don't just get your points back. This is assuming the price stays the same of course.
So yes you could level up another cleric to try a different combo but I don't think many will do that once the system is well known
Yeah but thats annoying. I would rather have two cool clerics set with four specs each lol.
Thats just me though.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
So, non alt friendly game due to the souls aspect. I was thinking it was more due to the lack of multiple starting zones personally. It's bad enough we get 1 starting area/path per faction but now the souls themselves making it somewhat pointless to roll more than 4 alts just bites.
I like Rift and it's potential, but this is the main area my concern lie in. I'm a HUGE altoholic and many games that don't offer me various starting areas tend to not last long.
I guess the number of starting zones (one for each faction) will add to a reduced number of people creating new chars. If there are different starting zones to explore: yes, many will try that. If you know that you will have to go through exactly the content once more, people are more likely say "ah screw it" and do something else.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
You have an issue doing endgame aye?
I can see that being an issue then.
well even so Rift as a fun 3-6 month game isnt bad.
By that time TOR or maybe GW2 will be out.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
You read my mind. This is exactly how I am approaching Rift. As a go between until SWTOR and GW2. Yeah, I suppose I do tend to stay away from most endgames. I don't like a lot of conflict/drama which always rears it's head when raiding and I just find staying with one character too long gets boring fast. I need that constant feel of progression and learning and new abilities which rolling alts usually gives. Now that I look at it, that's one of the major reasons I don't like EQ2. Too many classes feel the same so you aren't really doing anything new if you roll in the same class type. Interesting.
As others have said Rift is just a hold-me-over until GW2 or TOR comes out. It's a good game, but it's very standard in almost every way.