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DH's Review of Rift 1-25
Darkheart00
Member Posts: 521
in Rift
Well i know i have written reviews for previous MMO's here (AoC,War,RoM,CO etc). So here is my impression/review of Rift :Planes of Telara. This game took me by suprise i have not heard much about it and hype relatively low (granted i haven't played MMOs much in last 6 months). The company TRION was new commer in the gaming industry and IP was self devoloped. So went into this head start with relatively low expectations.
Specs: Intel quad core with ATi 512 mb 5770 and 4 GB Ram. (By HD is getting old so have some issues with that).
I have lv 26 cleric (had a lv 22 mage in OB)
Lets get to meat of the review:
The Good
Let me start out with saying that one thing i was very impressed with lack of bugs. The game ran very smooth. No getting on objects or dropping thru the game world or broken quests . Game engine seems to be quite capable of rendering large number of players (unlike WAR) and yes it is lot better than PQ.
The rifts are quite beautiful especially the lift rifts (which defiants don't seem encounter). Also for those who feared that they will get stale after a while. lv 20 zone rifts are quite different (elementals) than Freemarch rifts. Rifts also add variety and allows for some group activity while doing solo quests, a pleasent change from solo grinding with very little social interaction in open world in vanilla WoW.
32 different specs opens the game up to lot of variey. Also makes grouping easier. For example if someone is looking for a healer i can switch to my Purifer/Warden spec, don't have a tank switch to Justicar spec.
For those who played WoW the game matches it quite well when it comes to content. Warfronts, instances,crafting, AH etc are all present and seem to working out quite well. Even throw in companion pets and mounts.
The Bad
Rift events turn into zerg fests. Did experiance a few lag when there were close to 100+ players on the screen which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Only 2 starter zones can make things boring, i have gone thru it 5 times. First couple times it was fun but not it is waste of 1.5 hours wish the 1-7 Ascension startering quest can be skipped.
Lore is good but compared to WoW or Lotro is bit lacking. For example the various races don't contribute much to the story line.
Lack of a low level instance till you get to 17, so you won't have a chance to run one till about 10 hours into your playing time.
Mob if they are tagged by someone outside of your group it won't give you credit for the kill. Becomes a nuisance during rifts or quests in heavily populated areas.
While soul system and rifts was interesting the game doesn't fundamentally add anything new to MMO scene. It is not earth shattering/revolutionary (got to wait for TOR or GW2), most of ideas and features are based on what is already out there.
Conculsion
IMO based on what i have seen Rifts i would put rifts right there as no 2 MMO in the market. WoW has 7 years of content so of course i won't be able to topple that but ahead of Lotro as the no 2 MMO, because of Pvp and classes are far more fun. So yes it would say i is better than Aion, WAR, AoC or DC U. I conculde to say that this game is what Warhammer Online should have been but wasn't. It is good to see some competition in the MMO market, Rift is definetly an MMO that is here to stay and have a very healthy player base (around 1 mill players would me my guess).
Rating 9/10
Comments
Some of your negatives are subjective, but seems fair enough to me.
Major negative for me:
Current balance of souls. They're just all over the place.
So basically I got this out of your review: You can play something cheaper and save spending $50 or even more on a CE, because theres other games out there that are cheaper and offer almost the same type of gameplay?
I just hit level 26 after about 39 hours /played. I agree with most of the OP review.
I'll just add that having done almost all the quests in Gloamwood (Guardian level 20-26 zone), it has to be one of my favorite zones to quest in in any MMORPG I've ever played. I also can't believe how well them make use of the space. The zone somehow feels huge while you are questing there, while not taking more than 7 minutes to run from one end to the other.
I think I spent about 20 hours there, but I was always finding new locations and content. Lots of Lairs hidden around the landscape, some small caves, some larger. Combined with artifact hunts and other goodies, it's a great game for explorers.
I just hope there are other zones as I advance that are as good or better. For me, Gloamwood was just about perfect.
Note about builds: Experiment! Some builds are more fun and capable than others in a certain level range. I stress level range because I've had some soul combos that were underwhelming at lower levels become much more cpable and fun at level 20+. Also, sometimes a slight alteration of your build can provide huge dividends. I started out as an Marksman/Ranger/Saboteur. I tried to add a Riftstalker/Nightblade/Saboteur around level 12 and it just wasn't as fun or capable as my ranged build. that changed around level 20 and now that I've filled out more skills at 26, it's just as capable and much more suited to my playstyle.
Nice thing is that if I get a little bored, I can switch back to my Marksman for a change of pace. You have to remember to buy skill upgrades for all your Souls as you level, but that a big improvement over games that require you to level up each class on it's own.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
I agree, i see the game grabbing the #2 spot.
Well the only F2P mmo out there that i would recommend over Rift is Lotro, if you are looking for just PvE content definetly go with that.
I place it number two on my list of best MMO's cause UO is still the best. I just could never stomach WoW it always felt like a kids game to me...
Nice review.
"It would be awesome if you could duel your companion. Then you could solo pvp".--Thanes
OP, two remarks for you.
You'll see life rifts as defiant when you enter Scarwood reach. It's higher level than guardians. Then again, Guardians will take a while to see water rifts.
Also regarding lore, each zone describes the relation of a specific race with the world of Telara. For example, Stonefield is about the history of Ethians and how they controlled the titans from the plane of earth. Moonshade highlands is about the story of the dwarves and so on. I wouldn't want to spoil any surprises, especially if you're reading, not only the quest story, but also the comments the various NPC have to share with you.
Probably,
to me the most striking thing was lack of bugs OP stated too.
And actually, I'm very prepared to exhange "innovation" to technically working game. It's quite relieving to play a game and not to tinker around trying to find out what was that thing CTDing me this time. Rift is extremely stable, at least on my system.
It might end up being the #2 MMO just because there is only one popular MMO right now, sort of #2 by default. I expect Rift to be F2P within 2 years though once the actual next gen MMOs start hitting the market.
Having tried the GW2 beta it makes Rift look like a sad joke.
A lot of money /s.
"It might end up being the #2 MMO just because there is only one popular MMO right now, sort of #2 by default. I expect Rift to be F2P within 2 years though once the actual next gen MMOs start hitting the market.
Having tried the GW2 beta it makes Rift look like a sad joke."
GW 2 will be good but the big question mark will be content and support and whether they can do that without a monthly subscription.
One issue people are starting to complain about in the official forums is the frequency of the Rifts and Invasions, seems to happen every 15 mins and people are starting to get bored with the Rifts and avoid them when possible. Thats not a good thing considering a lot of the end game content is opening up Raid Rifts, which are not that much different then regular rifts, just better gear.
Offering the same end game content as other MMO's might bite them in the @ss as people will probably get bored quickly.
yeah i can agree with that the rifts do get little repitative after a while. That said rifts do differ in mobs and appearance in every zone.
Had a chance to run DSM lv 26-28 instance, the boss fights were quite interesting and do involved some strat.