My Impressions After Headstart

Dojo

Just wanted to make a post giving my OPINIONS because when I am considering a game these are the types of things I seek out and try to read.  Hopefully I can help other potential players make an informed decision.

I have been playing MMOs since muds then starting with graphical via UO so I have been around a while.  I even beta tested EQ lol.  I enjoy traditional MMOs and I think WoW is a great game.  With that said I also think EVE and FE are wonderful games so my interests are fairly diverse.

I think TRION has done a really nice job with making a good solid entry into the traditional fantasy MMO genre.  It is extremely polished and stable. I found TONS of quests to do.  The graphics were very nice on ULTRA setting in my opinion.  I don't know why people are complaining about the graphics because on my system they looked great.  Are they as good as AoC?  No.  Do they look immersive and realistic?  In my opinion yes.  The major negative that I noticed is that spell effects are pretty weak.  Even with everything cranked they are not impressive.  If this bothers you then prepare to be very bothered by RIFT.  I am very happy with the look of the player characters and the creatures in the world.

The community on my server has been very friendly and helpful.  Everyone seems to be having a good time and willing to chat and help each other out.  I have experienced no queues because I didn't roll on a server that said High or Full.  The areas are still covered in other players so it isn't like the server is desolate.  I have not had to wait to kill any named mobs or complete any quests.  In fact, one nice thing I noticed was that static quest items instantly respawn after another player takes them.  This avoids the headache of having someone run in front of you and grab an item, forcing you to wait for a respawn.

The quests are pretty bland and the descriptions pretty basic.  So far I have not experienced any quests that really pull me into the story. I feel like this will probably change as the game matures.  I would rate it very similar to vanilla WoW before Cataclysm.  The post-Cata quests are far superior to those found in RIFT.  However, wow has had a few days and a couple of bucks to reach this level.

I like the combat.  I LOVE the class system. I chose a mage and have three souls which basically gives me three distinct classes.  I chose Necromancer, Warlock, and Dominator.  Each time you level you can decide where to assign your points based on how you want to build your strengths and skills.  It is a very cool system and you are not locked in to your choices if you don't enjoy it.  The other nice thing about this system is in PvP you really have no idea what an opponent may be bringing to the table.  

The Rifts are kinda cool but at this point pretty basic.  I enjoy participating because you get rewards based on your contribution that can be used in crafting and for special gear from vendors.  They are pretty much the same thing over and over but I really believe the mechanics behind them can be used to add much more interesting content in the future.  It is cool but don't buy the game thinking it will keep you entertained, right now it just won't do it.  Cool addition to normal content but you can't rely on it to make the game.

The crafting is pretty standard but I was impressed that I could jump in and make useful items.  It is similar to WoW with the addition of more sub-components.  

I intend to keep playing the game and see how it unfolds.  The graphics are good, the game is EXTREMELY stable even in a rift even with tons of active players.  The class system is great.  The community on my server is better than average.  All in all a great addition to the ranks of WoW, LotRO, and Aion MMO types.

This is all just my opinion but I hope I have helped some of you trying to decide to play or not.  

Evelknievel

I agree with everything you said Dojo, but I wish there was more innovation to this nice game.

Polished, most certain. Does it  have anything that it brought exclusively to the mmo world of gaming, not really.