So Has Rift Died?

PhelimReagh

I played not long after it came out, but didn't stick around.

Since it's "free" to level 20, I thought I'd give it another whirl. Well, I did, and I do really like the game, but it seems all but a few servers are empty. I went on one toon and did a search and there were 15 people on the whole server, no one but me in the faction's capital city (Meridian).  Even the one "high" population server was barely 50 players or so on my faction's side.

The game is enjoyable, and the people by-and-large are nice and friendly. But man, unless the game's "search" function is bugged,  this seems to be one of the least populated games I've seen in a while.

 

EDIT: One of the reasons I ask is, when I first played, Silverwood was just a mess of players. Taking on one of those invasion Bosses was like 50 vs. 1, and it was pretty wild. Now, however, I was running around with one other guy trying to clear out a whole zone-wide invasion on a supposedly "medium" server. Just two of us, and it's hard to kill invasion bosses with two tanks and no heals or DPS. The difference between then and now is stark and not a little depressing.

Purutzil

How exactly are you doing the search for people online? For my I play on a rather empty pvp server (since people apparently became pansies and can't accept pvp) due to a mass sever movement causing the other pvp server to become a nice laggy and overcrowded mess. My server right now has 13 level 50s online at 2:30 AM EST time. 

 

Its not dead, and I'll bet the expansion is likely going to bring a lot of people back around. Big issue with an upcoming expansion it tends to drain numbers away and lower population as people rather not pay and just wait for the expansion.

 

Simply put: Its not dead, though some servers might not be as full as others due to the fact free transfers exist.

Yakkin

Considering that Trion managed to make a profit due to RIFT, and the fact that they are still Pay to Play with their first expansion in development, I don't think they are dead.

PhelimReagh

"How exactly are you doing the search for people online?"

Social--> Friends--> Search

Use parameters of level 1-50, as just searching with no parameters, for some reason, doesn't return everybody online.

 

I also had a very hard time using the dungeon finder even as a Healer. Seemed to take forever to get a group for low-level stuff. If there are only a few hundred people online across all servers and levels, that would explain it.

Zooce

Last time I played Rift was back when TOR was in beta and rift opened up server transfers.  Seemed like the game was dying as our 20-man raids were struggling to fill as less and less players were regularly logging in.  Not sure what Trion is pulling to keep Rift relevant- but I assume it will be highly polished, minimally innovative, and resemble something proven effective by another developer.

Kahnray

The search box will only return a maximum of 50 at a time. May have just been a bad time of the day? My server (Threesprings-US) is listed as a Low Pop, and the zones are all healthily populated (the IAs and mentoring help a bit here), no issues clearing out zone invasions in this higher level zones either. I've noticed the LFG is just slow no matter what time of day, or what you queue as, I just let it run in the background and do other things (though I've noticed if I queue as a mentor, I get a group faster).

Finding a guild will help a lot as well, there are loads of guilds that recruit just about anyone just to have a social enviroment in game, and being able to transfer servers for free once a week makes finding a group of people a whole lot easier.

The game certainly isn't dead (IMO), just may need to do a little searching to find a good community.

deamian

Server transfers are free, My wife plays on a populated server but the previous server she was on had a mass exodus, and im not sure why lol. Grass is greener? I dunno, but they also had to move because economy, finding items on market etc.

xpowderx

LOL, Rift is no where close to dead. In fact I would say its alive. I transferred my mains to a medium pop server as the high pops caused serious lag issues with cnquest. Rift is by far my favorite mmo in 2012. The expansion coming out sounds very groovy.

Ohh, Gms visit player chat :-D Dont see that often! Devs also play with the players as well! Player driven game! Love it!!

OldManFunk

The devs are nice guys. The game isn't terrible, it's just kind of turned away from the Rifts (its namesake) and invasions that made the game seem unique.

 

If you like WoW style raiding or 5 mans then you will probably enjoy Rift.

Rydeson

Originally posted by OldManFunk

The devs are nice guys. The game isn't terrible, it's just kind of turned away from the Rifts (its namesake) and invasions that made the game seem unique.

 

If you like WoW style raiding or 5 mans then you will probably enjoy Rift.

That is basically it.. the reason why I cancelled.. It was repeating WoW gear grind all over again.. Rift invasions were only a side distraction.. Just way too linear for my liking.. 

Keylogger

Which realms are populated?

 

I'm on a "High" pop server and from 1-20 I've yet to see anyone.

reploidx

I play on Faeblight and it's pretty crowded on the weekends, and has a devent amount of people during peak hours in the weekday. I can get three random dungeons back to back on a weekend, two on a weekday if i'm lucky.

Sylvii

Greenscale seems to have a decent population.  Logged back in and played a low lv alt for the f2p levels. 

k-damage

Originally posted by Enigmatus

Considering that Trion managed to make a profit due to RIFT, and the fact that they are still Pay to Play with their first expansion in development, I don't think they are dead.

You mean, like Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning ... ? ;-)

mastersomrat

Well, while I don't play all the time....because of work and what not...when I do, the cities are always packed.

Ambros123

Could it be that those in random instances/Bgs are not going to show up on the list?  Not to mention are you on a grossly inflated one side faction server?  The number sounds awefully low but the way the game is trudging along it's doing fine and will be a nitche crowd. 

Not dead but not a high success. a decent success but then this is all speculation as no company ever gives their numbers out.  CCP is one of the few that will.   For all we know Trion coffers are slowly draining and they are gambling with the expansion, not like this would be the first time a company did this.

teakbois

Originally posted by Ambros123

For all we know Trion coffers are slowly draining and they are gambling with the expansion, not like this would be the first time a company did this.

I wouldnt see its a gamble, but its likely a last hope to keep both the fast development and the sub only revenue.

Expansion being a success and drawing people back to Rift (and actually keeping them this time) then nothing changes.  If the expansion is recieved the same as 1.8 or 1.9, then Rift is probably going to have to add in a full blown cash shop to support the dev costs, since I dont see them reducing development.  Certainly not the end of the world for those who love Rift by a long shot though,  I dont see Rift dropping below 100k or anything.

Tokken

I usually see a high population server has alot of high level characters but don't see many low lvl characters.  I think rift is mainly an endgame game now.

azmundai

yep, completely dead. all games start working on expansions when they die.

KenFisher

Originally posted by Tokken
I usual see a hihg pop server has alot of high level characters but don't see many low lvl characters.  I think rift is mainly an endgame game now.

 

I agree.  Endgame centric themeparks with fast progression often end up top-heavy.

Warcannibal

I recently re-upped Rift after their open weekend (players were able to play their high end toons for free).

Leveling alts and pvping is FUN.

Playing my geared out end game toons SUCKS.

The alts offer me a chance to see things I skipped before, or go hunting (Artifacts, Crafting mats, unique kills etc).

The mains suck, because at end game, your either one "best" spec or your a newb (According to your peers).

The community in Rift SUCKS if you are not "hardcore" (or atleast geared enough to be spoken too.

This is a fun game being smothered by pre-pub adolecents that have no clue what loyalty to product is.  They want the best and no transitions.

Ever.

"So"...

cronius77

see i hate rift honestly and i think after what you just put is my reason for hating it is the community. We had a rank 18 guild there called dominion and even after coming back after a almost year long break we started the guild back up with a few friends and added in new members . We ranked up a few more ranks for it over the couple of months staying on faeblight and i can honestly say i really hated that community worse then wows. Also every person we invited to guild which was well over 40 would log in about once a week for a couple of hours then log out and either not play or go back to other servers im not sure which but this was level 50s as we didnt invite under level 40 to guild since our goals was raiding and pvp. The game just sucks hardcore and the community makes it terrible. Anyone on their boards that says they want to change one thing get attacked and told l2p and whatever cool l33t speak the trolls can think of next. Also as my observations were about 3 months ago or maybe less whenever 1.9 and that trainwreck conquest hit almost all the servers during primetime on the weekends were low population except 4 hitting medium with 1 more hitting high . That was american servers of course but to me that game is dead in the water if i havent seen one before. Well you can argue its not but warhammer online probably has a little less population then rift does and everyone considers them dead, especially with the fact trions servers cannot hold all that many people , i think like 1500 total or something.

Hrimnir

I hope someone on page 2 mentioned this.

If you logged in under the trial program you were on a trial server, not the subscriptions server.  Those servers are pretty much dead all the time.

On my server you can see so many people online in the city at prime time that the engine won't load them all.  I'm talking 100's just in the main city.

cronius77

Originally posted by Hrimnir

I hope someone on page 2 mentioned this.

If you logged in under the trial program you were on a trial server, not the subscriptions server.  Those servers are pretty much dead all the time.

On my server you can see so many people online in the city at prime time that the engine won't load them all.  I'm talking 100's just in the main city.

you can play any old account with any of your toons under level 20 on any of the main servers you used to be on and that plays a ton into their population as well.

Hrimnir

Originally posted by cronius77

Originally posted by Hrimnir

I hope someone on page 2 mentioned this.

If you logged in under the trial program you were on a trial server, not the subscriptions server.  Those servers are pretty much dead all the time.

On my server you can see so many people online in the city at prime time that the engine won't load them all.  I'm talking 100's just in the main city.

you can play any old account with any of your toons under level 20 on any of the main servers you used to be on and that plays a ton into their population as well.

Most of those servers were turned into Rift Lite servers.  So, if he quit way near the release instead of in the last 6 months, which if he had characters under 20, he probably quit before 1.1, then there is a VERY strong chance the server his character on is a Rift Lite server.  They merged down from like 67 servers to 20 or so live servers and 12 or 13 rift lite servers (cant remember the exact numbers).

Adren

Originally posted by cronius77
see i hate rift honestly and i think after what you just put is my reason for hating it is the community. We had a rank 18 guild there called dominion and even after coming back after a almost year long break we started the guild back up with a few friends and added in new members . We ranked up a few more ranks for it over the couple of months staying on faeblight and i can honestly say i really hated that community worse then wows. Also every person we invited to guild which was well over 40 would log in about once a week for a couple of hours then log out and either not play or go back to other servers im not sure which but this was level 50s as we didnt invite under level 40 to guild since our goals was raiding and pvp. The game just sucks hardcore and the community makes it terrible. Anyone on their boards that says they want to change one thing get attacked and told l2p and whatever cool l33t speak the trolls can think of next. Also as my observations were about 3 months ago or maybe less whenever 1.9 and that trainwreck conquest hit almost all the servers during primetime on the weekends were low population except 4 hitting medium with 1 more hitting high . That was american servers of course but to me that game is dead in the water if i havent seen one before. Well you can argue its not but warhammer online probably has a little less population then rift does and everyone considers them dead, especially with the fact trions servers cannot hold all that many people , i think like 1500 total or something.

Faeblight is prolly one of the better servers...ive played there and i didnt see very many trolls..if you want trolls go to wolfsbane..and the community on Rift is way way way better then what u see on WoW...on WoW i get stalked and trolled...seriously...Rift isnt a hardcore game..its casual and alot of ppl will tell you this.. Rifts community may not be the best but theres worse..and i enjoy RIFT more then any of the other MMOs..not a fanboy..been back and playing rift for 2 months now...i hate leveling in Rift cuz once you leveled one character its pretty much the same everytime so its a pain..its fast but still boring as hell...i think Rifts dungeons should be s very challenging.prettier...i hate pvp in Rift..but all in all the game is pretty good..once u get to HK and Infernal Dawn.raiding becomes very challenging..all the other raids are fairly easy..if you use to like WoW and looking for another MMO..Rift is a good replacement..just get to level 50...should prolly take you a full day (ingame time) just to get to 50 if u do nothing but IAs ..RIFT is not dead its just struggling...i think its 2nd place next to wow.. if you think of quality...prolly 3rd place if you think of subs...dont judge the game based on its subs tho