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Casual Pvper Rift Review
Angier2758
Member UncommonPosts: 1,026
in Rift
I’m going to try to be honest in this review of Rift. Some opinions/facts you may like and others you might not like, but keep in mind I’m trying to give the reader an objective review of what Rift is. I’ve played many MMO’s since UO and EQ so my review may be a little cynical.
The Good –
Rift is a beautiful game with some amazing graphics. It’s especially apparent on the Guardian side after you get out of the newbie zone.
The dungeons are actually decently difficult at lower levels. There are fights where they obviously take advantage of the multispec system. Some fights you will definitely need 2 healers and others will make your tank cringe.
The PVP is fast paced and the battlegrounds (warfronts) are actually done with varying terrain and cover.
The class system is unique and is more fluid than WoW’s. Every role has multiple functions based on what they choose.
Crafting seems more useful early on in the game because you can actually make better armor / weapons than you’d get normally by doing quests.
The Bad –
I feel like there were some small short cuts taken when working on the movements of the different races. Hair won’t move, sometimes combat looks clunky, and well the men on the guardian side look like puds. Nothing game breaking though.
PVP isn’t very balanced and while some people say it doesn’t matter because you can switch to an OP class I do believe that approach detracts from the games flavor of classes.
I’ve found it’s fairly difficult to get a dungeon group and it would be helpful to have a looking for dungeon tool in the game.
Security issues in game have been a pain point lately; however Rift has been a bit more open with their issues which could be a boon for the game in the long term.
The Ugly –
There’s a mindset which started slowly in EQ and DAoC that only certain classes are viable regardless of if a player can actually make the class work. People trash the under used classes calling them useless when in fact they just aren’t as good (currently) as the OP ones. As an older player I just wonder what’s happened to originality or challenge? Rift could help this by taking a very active approach to class balance (pve and pvp) hopefully more buffs than nerfs.
AFKers and just asinine people in WF’s… Rift needs to have an AFK/Jerk boot option.
What happens when older players get all their roles to 50 (only 4)? What happens to new players? Will it be barren?
Overall score (out of 10) I’d give Rift: 7.5.
It’s a decent game which was launched in a good state. At first glance it’s fairly close to WoW. However, once you get playing it’s actually closer to EQ2 + WAR in terms of atmosphere and gameplay. I hope they expand on support classes and some of the more unique classes within the game. Rift seems fairly active if you look at server rough server populations so I don’t think it’ll see the same level of drop off subs after the first month like most recent MMO’s have.
I’m a semi casual pvper so my highest characters are: Marksman/Ranger 31 & Chloromancer/Warlock 25 (The classes I like the most and play the most). I have not reviewed any aspect of the “end game”. I personally wish I could play more, but currently I'm playing maybe 10-15 hours a week.
Comments
i'v said it many times and i'll say it again. more freedom to choose your skills does not make for a more diverse gameplay it actually does the opposite it pushes people into 1 or 2 fotm OP builds. the more build choices you have the harder it is to balance every possible variation so it is inevitable that there will be 1 or 2 builds that are just way better then all the others. people will always take the easy way out (nobody likes to be handicaped by their build), and OP builds are just that.
just look at DF for this. in DF have complete freedom to choose any skill set up and what happens? is everyone different? nope.
everyone just ends up getting the same OP build in order to be competitive. everyone is exactly the same in DF, and now that the devs have understood this they are implementing "armor restrictions" in order to force people out of the single fotm OP build.
the only way to have more diversity is to RESTRICT the build choices. then people have to make hard choices, and truly different play styles emerge.
To be fair to rift they have been trying to do something with your kind of idea. Basically you're strongly pushed towards picking a main class because most classes get bonuses for how many points you've invested,
Now the main problem is that certain classes have more a focus than others... best example of lack of focus would be the blade dancer..... fun class to play solo.. but fairly pointless except in duels.
The first step to fixing any talent based system is to make each tier of talents cost more than the previous tier. That way specializing actually has a drawback and everyone isn't forced into doing it.
I don't know if that would help anything.. making each higher tier talent cost more (wouldn't work with the current system anyway) but even if it could work... all you'd do is water down any "classes".
Very true.
You can look at pretty much any game with and open skill advancement and see this. For example Mortal Online, if you want to be a melee PvPer thier is only one build to make or you'll lose.
When ever you give people total freedom they just find the most OP build and use it.
This is exactly why I'm never going to be a fan of respecs, insanely fast leveling, multiple souls etc. It just makes it easier to force people to play their characters a certain way. If you can simply change your role, go respec at the trainer or level a character in no time, everyone is going to be FOTM builds after a while.
Of course I can see the reasoning behind being able to respec. People don't want to be forced to start over if they make a mistake. That's fair enough I guess, but why is it a mistake? Because it's not what FOTM tells you to pick. People can't get it both ways.. It's that simple.
Make a mmo like the older ones (EQ, AC etc) where leveling is slow and don't give people respecs (Unless it's after a skill nerf or something perhaps) then people will be playing what they like and they will be allowed to join the groups, as no one's insane enough to require you to reroll and play another 6 months to get close to the cap again.
The simplicity of new mmos, also makes it simple setting up "The perfect group". Stop the dumbing down of the mmo genre and you'll find more 'room' for your own fantasy and builds.
OR... OR... OR... *holds his lips and jumps like a little kid* I know this... wait... wait... YEAH! Here we go:
Make a "Pay to re-spec" (Real life money). That way, only if you REALLY want to change specs without making a new char, you will pay. That will make re-spec avaliable but still they won't re-spec mindlessly and follow EACH person builds from those websites WITHOUT thinkin'twice.
- "Sorry but I missed the key and re-spec it wrongly"
Each time you spent a point, a message box would appear: "Are you sure you want to spend here? You won't be able to change it without buying the service if you accept this" OR you could just be more carefull or re-roll.
___QUOTE___
I’ve found it’s fairly difficult to get a dungeon group and it would be helpful to have a looking for dungeon tool in the game.
____________
NO! These things ruin the communities and make players more independent. These tools make EVEN MORE people go "If I die once, I will call everyone idiots and leave" or "kick the guy, this guy sucks ballz", etc.
I see a universe where unicorns fly... and my mother-in-law is in a grave at last.
|BEST UNIVERSE EVA AWARD|