Oh boy...is is going to be long. I am not a regular poster here on mmorpg.com, but I do come here to read about news every once and then. Of course, I was interested in Rift and have participated in Beta 1 and 3. My English is bad, so please forgive awkward formulations.
Please keep in mind this is my opinion. Don't flame or troll me for it.
Well, here is my impression of Rift:
I am really having mixed feelings. On the one side, there is Trion, who listened to all the feedback and REALLY improved the game in Beta 3. They have addressed a lot of concerns many player had (or at least, those I talked to) and for that alone, they deserve respect. On the other side, I keep having performance issues. It might be my computer, but I was able to run both Aion and Age of Conan (both generally games with good graphics) on highest settings and usually got 30+ fps on both of them. On Rift, all turned down to lowest settings, I get 5-7 fps. In beta 3, it was 12 fps. That worries me greatly, maybe it's my graphic's card or my computer setup that does not seem to fit well with the game.
Performance issues aside, I like the graphics. The environment looks amazing and certainly beautiful enough. Personally, I found Age of Conan more beautiful, but Rift's graphics are good in their own right. The armor is very fitting to the grim setting of the world. It's not high fantasy, but I liked the look my character had. However, my character...he had a plastic look (remiscent of Vanguard, not quite that bad, but similiar) which I did not like. Apart from that, I could not create the look I wanted to make. Hairstyles are very limited. I ran into dozens who looked almost the same as me. Some hairstyles and appearances also look pretty silly. It kind of broke my immersion looking at those weird dwarves in beta 3. Mobs look good. There is some variation and they look grim and not so cute like in other games. They fit the game well. Npcs and Cities look ok, though I wish they were bigger.
What else? Combat. The pace felt good and smooth enough. Pretty standard. Like most MMOs I have played. Dungeons (at least the one I have been to several times) are very fun and well-done. They are not super challenging, but a nice distraction from questing. What I did not like were the skill animation. I have not seen more horrible ones. Playing as a Cleric (Sentinel), my first attack was just some golden blurr that made my mace look like some silly staff from one of those supergirl anime. I was a bit sad that they don't seem to want to improve that. In my opinion, it's a weak point of Rift. Maybe I was just playing the wrong class, I thought, and tried a mage in cb3. I was very sad to see that my first attack was the very same just with a green color (Chloromancer).
Questing. This is where I got serious doubts. The animations, ok, maybe they get better when I level, I thought and performance issues can always be solved, but the game felt very linear in the first 20 levels. Go there, kill this, fetch x. Standard quests that you soon tire of. The lore was nice, but I could not really enjoy questing. Some quests are enjoyable, but those are far and few inbetween.
Rifts, I tried my hand at some. Most of the time, they were incredibly messy (just like questing, trying to snatch a mob when at least 30 others want to complete their quest too), with me trying to either heal the party that was hastily thrown together and gaining few points or mindlessly nuking the mobs that spawned. I don't know if they get better. Seeing the Rifts open is kind of cool, but loses that sense of awe after some time.
I liked the UI, it was easy to use and had a familiar air about it. It's the same as in other MMOs. The skill bars and makros could still need some work, I guess, but I didn't go far in experimenting with it.
Crafting, or better said, gathering, is very basic. It doesn't seem very in depth, but some people I met told me the best weapons/armor can be crafted. It was fun hunting for logs and you certainly can make some money crafting, but for those who like in depth crafting, it would not be first choice I guess.
The most disappointing for me were the classes. I loved reading about them, thinking about how I would combine them. But a lot of classes feel very similiar to each other. The balance isn't very good either. Instead of unlocking skills, you put points into traits like in WoW. Most are the same with some variation for the classes. It felt kind of pointless putting points into them. After you put a certain amount of points into a tree, a skill will unlock. That means I will have pretty much the same skills as all other Sentinels. Sure, I will choose from skills out of three classes, but I can't choose which skill to unlock. The class system feels like WoW's, just with three instead of one tree. Sorry to make that comparision, but that's the best way I can explain it.
PvP-Cant say anything about it, I don't like PvP and such played on a PvE server.
Overall: I liked that Trion listened to the feedback. The game feels polished and I am sure many will find Rift a breeze of fresh air. However, it is „more of the same“. Trion never claimed otherwise, but the certain „something“ is missing. I didn't have much fun playing, I tried to stray from questing and doing Rift invasions, the dungeon and crafting/gathering, but I wasn't enjoying myself. Rift feels linear, boring and tedious during the first 20 levels. It could be that it opens up after that and Rifts and such become a blast, but I caught myself not wanting to download the client for beta 4.
Just thinking about having to do the same quest line in the starter zone again during release made me feel unhappy. Replaying value feels low and having alts seems pointless as many classes play the same and there is only one starter zone for both Defiant and Guardian. I thought the class system would be unique and having alts would be greatly encouraged, but I couldn't find any trace of that in the game. That's just all my impression, as I said. But I don't think I will buy it or pre-order. I hope Trion will continue to listen to the feedback provived and improve the game. It will surely have its loyal followers and in game, a lot of people were enjoying it. The atmosphere, the landscapes are certainly well done. It feels like you are in a world, but a very small one.
I like it.. from what i saw during beta event i'll like this game a lot.. The PvE is nice and the ammount of polish is great.. I jus' hope ill still continue to like it once that "new-car" smell wears off.
edit: i did have a hell of time logging into and playing the game though.. The 89%/49% bug that plauged so many got me a few times and made it a chore to log in.. But i blame my computer as i know there is SOMETHING REEAAAALLY wrong with it.. Virus maybe? All my virus protection stopped working and games play so slow.. Luckily im not really playing a MMORPG atm so nothing is really comprimised.. I plan on reformatting once Rift comes out.
Currently Playing: Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
Personally I like this game right now. It may not offer anything too new, but today I was having a lot of fun when there was an invasion and basically everyone that was playing suddenly banded together to stop it. It was pretty cool, chaotic, but cool. There were a bunch of raid groups and then a ton of people not in raids just running from rift to rift trying to push this invasion back. It was a lot of fun and the best part is how it just happens, and suddenly you are not questing anymore; you are fighting an invading army. Fun stuff. I'll probably be pre-ordering havn't decided yet, but am leaning toward it.
If Generic would be associated with Doctor Evil... then Rift would be its Mini-Me. Clearly most of their money went into marketing and PR, not so much into its design.
Rift will be lucky to have a decent number of subs a few months after launch. Trion paints a pretty product, but delivers an empty shell. Trion is off to a bad start.
Lack of community, and I will call it like it is. The community is in shambles.
I logged in for beta 4 tonight after I had some free time finally. The entire 4 hours of discussion were as follows. This game is wow, no this game is rft, no this game is war. Over and over and over. And all the personal insults and folks calling others out. to other folks just plain flaming for no good.
So there is no community what so ever, the entire night was spent yelling at each other over about if the game was a clone or not.
So much for wanting to be around folks who just want to play the game.So you already got the hats playing the beta, I can just imagine what it will be like when it goes live.
Lack of community, and I will call it like it is. The community is in shambles.
I logged in for beta 4 tonight after I had some free time finally. The entire 4 hours of discussion were as follows. This game is wow, no this game is rft, no this game is war. Over and over and over. And all the personal insults and folks calling others out. to other folks just plain flaming for no good.
So there is no community what so ever, the entire night was spent yelling at each other over about if the game was a clone or not.
So much for wanting to be around folks who just want to play the game.So you already got the hats playing the beta, I can just imagine what it will be like when it goes live.
Really?
On my server we talk about the weather and politics.. Very mature group of people..
Not.. its a MMORPG beta, what do you expect? xD
Currently Playing: Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
A slightly better version of Warhammer to put it blandly.
If I hear it's doing well 2-4 months after release I might consider subbing, but for now im going to be hopping on EQ's time locked progression server in march.
Lack of community, and I will call it like it is. The community is in shambles.
I logged in for beta 4 tonight after I had some free time finally. The entire 4 hours of discussion were as follows. This game is wow, no this game is rft, no this game is war. Over and over and over. And all the personal insults and folks calling others out. to other folks just plain flaming for no good.
So there is no community what so ever, the entire night was spent yelling at each other over about if the game was a clone or not.
So much for wanting to be around folks who just want to play the game.So you already got the hats playing the beta, I can just imagine what it will be like when it goes live.
Really?
On my server we talk about the weather and politics.. Very mature group of people..
Not.. its a MMORPG beta, what do you expect? xD
Im not sure what server your on, I rolled a new defiant toon, and it did not even give the the choise of servers, all I can say was that was all that went down in the general chat room in the tutorial area and after.
Lack of community, and I will call it like it is. The community is in shambles.
I logged in for beta 4 tonight after I had some free time finally. The entire 4 hours of discussion were as follows. This game is wow, no this game is rft, no this game is war. Over and over and over. And all the personal insults and folks calling others out. to other folks just plain flaming for no good.
So there is no community what so ever, the entire night was spent yelling at each other over about if the game was a clone or not.
So much for wanting to be around folks who just want to play the game.So you already got the hats playing the beta, I can just imagine what it will be like when it goes live.
Like many released games, turn off global chat and everything will be just fine. :-)
I mean, any game with a big chatroom will offer you nothing but boring chat, and most server have their global chat troll either dominating any discussions or playing the doomsayer.
-Surprisingly smooth beta test periods so far which is rather promising in that after the game launches they may not have an infinite number of things broken or borked like some other launches have been lately.
-Lot of variations to the classes far as what you can excel or specialize in which could be fun for those that like to try variation or altaholics
-Impressive graphics and the game seems compatbile with a large array of pcs so those that don't have the newest hardware can probably still enjoy this game
-Lot of things in place even at this stage of beta such as mounts, crafting, chat channels, etc. so there shouldn't be a huge amount of displeasure with gameplay elements missing at launch - least far as low end game is concerned.
Those are some things that stuck out to me far as postive elements. However, there are a few negatives I have as well:
-The PvE side seems a bit lacking in lore. While they did create their own universe I can't say I know exactly what is going on nor have they created any real desire for me to care about it either. Kudos for them trying to be original but frankly nothing about their lore or universe stands out to me or is really noteworthy.
-The rifts are interesting but not anything revolutionary. Simply another form of a public quest. However, they can be fun. So as long as you weren't expecting something unique then truthfully they aren't really a negative. If you were, well, you're going to be disappointed.
Overall, I find it to be a fairly entertaining game with a promising group of developers that given the right time, backing, and creativity could end up being one hell of a game. For now? I don't see many giving up their current game to play this one, but for those looking for a new mmo or are currently burned out on their favorite this is certainly one worth taking a look at. Assuming they don't screw the pooch on how they handle their servers or try to load too much at once in a patch at launch this could be one of the more impressive launches from a gameplay perspective.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I am really enjoying the game. It doesn't have anything new to offer, but it just feels different in a good way. But, can anyone honestly give us anything different nowadays? I think it is going to boil down to a good story, good graphics, and a smooth engine...and RIFT has all of those. My only concern with it is end game since little is known about it yet.
Nothing to really see here. If you played wow or anything like it you have played this game. The "Rift" feature really is more annoying then ground breaking. It's nothing more then a zone wide event that can be triggered by players. Doesn't matter what faction of Rift is opened, they all play out the same. The weak sauce attempt at multiclassing is yawnable at best.
If your looking to get in on another wow clone then Rift is the game for you. Looking for "Next Generation" ? keep looking...
Nothing to really see here. If you played wow or anything like it you have played this game. The "Rift" feature really is more annoying then ground breaking. It's nothing more then a zone wide event that can be triggered by players. Doesn't matter what faction of Rift is opened, they all play out the same. The weak sauce attempt at multiclassing is yawnable at best.
If your looking to get in on another wow clone then Rift is the game for you. Looking for "Next Generation" ? keep looking...
Just to set it straight. Nothing triggers a rift to appear. It just happens randomly based upon how the map looks at the time of the rift appearing. If one faction is dominating a good portion of the zone then rifts of the other three factions will appear and spawn in NPCs to attack the controlling faction and the other spawn in factions. So no its not triggered by players do anything. Its automated and happens based upon feedback of how the gameworld is shaping up at any one time.
The only way you'll know for sure if you like Rift is to try it yourself...yes I know,the vip beta keys have all been used up,so the next best thing to do is wait for a trial if you refuse to hand over 50$ or hope you get accepted with your regular beta key to the remaining events.
The game is not for everyone..yes,it does what MMO's before it have done,just with a new setting and some new twists here and there.Alot of people arent turned on by it as you can see,but if you still have some mainstream MMO craving left then it may be for you..
I personally enjoy it and with all the other current MMO's turning rather stale for me,I'll indulge in Rift.
The game is basically a mash-up of WoW and WAR with a few other features thrown in. The engine is horribly optimized. systemrequirementslab.com says that my computer more than meets the recommended requirements but my FPS fluctuates between 11 and 30, usually being somewhere around 20. Moreover, the game doesn't have AA enabled yet so I can imagine how much of an FPS hit I'll take if an AA option is added. And it's not like the game has amazing graphics. It's basically like an upgraded version of WAR. I was getting 60FPS is FFXIV and even though that game sucks, the graphics are pretty sweet and tons better than Rift.
Character models and animations need lots of work. Frankly, they suck. There are like 1 or 2 decent looking models and the rest look like they were designed by an intern. The animations... I don't even know where to begin. I mean do the animators have any idea about how a human or an animal body moves? It's not like you can go to youtube and see how a person would swing a sword or jump or run, right?
PVE is uninspiring. It feels like a mix between WoW and WAR but not as responsive as WoW but slightly better than WAR. It's kind of hard to explain... The various spells and attacks are very similar between the classes and the animations are so subdued that casting a fireball spell looks like you're flicking a match.
PvP battlegrou... err I mean warfronts feel like cheaper version of WoW's battlegrounds only somehow Trion managed to make them feel less strategic and more chaotic to a point where you just stop and just go "WTF?!" And it's not because of the intense combat. Intense and combat aren't on speaking terms in this game, unless your version of intense combat is flicking matches at your opponent. Mostly the map layouts make no sense.
The rifts are basically WAR's PQs with a twist. There is no rhyme or reason to them, the spawn randomly and attack random towns. They can spawn next to one town but send an invasion to a town all the way across the zone.
Souls... yea there are a lot of them but besides the fact that you can only use 3 at a time (making it more like WoW's spec system) they all feel very similar and there are certain souls that pretty much must be paired up because they offer bonuses to each other.
The quests are lame, pure and simple. They are mostly kill quests and you get like a dozen of them. Plus, the whole questing progression feels extremely rushed. The game litteraly rushes you from one quest hub to the next.
Basically, it was either I game this game or get Bad Company 2: Vietnam and I'm off to kill some Vietcong. For those of you who are enjoying this game, I hope that you guys have a great time. Personally, I cannot justify purchasing a worse version of WoW with some features copied from WAR.
The game is basically a mash-up of WoW and WAR with a few other features thrown in. The engine is horribly optimized. systemrequirementslab.com says that my computer more than meets the recommended requirements but my FPS fluctuates between 11 and 30, usually being somewhere around 20. Moreover, the game doesn't have AA enabled yet so I can imagine how much of an FPS hit I'll take if an AA option is added. And it's not like the game has amazing graphics. It's basically like an upgraded version of WAR. I was getting 60FPS is FFXIV and even though that game sucks, the graphics are pretty sweet and tons better than Rift.
I'm not convinced the fps that the game shows is accurate. If you have another way of testing that I would suggest you do so. My fps is showing 15 to 20 on ultra but it's very smooth which says to me that something doesn't add up.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
I like the animations, to me the characters feel pretty smooth with the exception of fighting with a two handed sword, that felt clunky. I like how it's chaotic at the start and I love the rifts.
I like how invasions take out areas and you have to fight them off to claim them.
Some of the avatars look good and some "not so much". Especially the males.
In any case I'm preordering, I'm sold and having a lot of fun.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
I like the animations, to me the characters feel pretty smooth with the exception of fighting with a two handed sword, that felt clunky. I like how it's chaotic at the start and I love the rifts.
I like how invasions take out areas and you have to fight them off to claim them.
Some of the avatars look good and some "not so much". Especially the males.
In any case I'm preordering, I'm sold and having a lot of fun.
Im with ya,
I enjoy the game and cant wait for its release.Im not going too far into beta as I dont want to burn out and experience alot of the content before I even get my pre-ordered copy.
The game does need more work here and there,but as it stands now its pretty well done imo.
Thanks everyone for your posts - I'm still not sure because a lot of you like it and a lot of you hate it!
Learn to shift through the useless garbage from some of the posters. Specially the ones complaining about lack of innovation, the ones praising GW2, Insulting EQ and Brad McQuaid like it had anything to do with rift, The short dumb remarks that really doesn't explain anything.
There are a few quality posts both negative and positive but most of the replies in this thread was utter shit.
The game is going to be successful. That is a fact. They have already made a lot of money from preorders. I'm sure you can go and count 100+ people just on MMORPG that got CE. Anyway to the OP, I have played all the betas cause I got a VIP key. I personally dont care for the game. The games graphics are really good for MMO standards. The feel of the game is also decent. The game however does lack originality (what game doesn't though). The character customization is better than most games though not as good as lets says Aions. The class combinations are where the game shines in my opinion. If this game did anything worthwhile then it is the multiple classes you can play and combine from the 4-5 base classes that most games have. I dont believe they set out on this game to be amazingly different than the standard MMO. The rifts are ok but they aren't really life altering. If you like how MMOs are played today such as WoW,LOTRO,WAR,EQII,ect. then I think you will absolutely love this game. If you are waiting on a different style such as Tera,DCUO,GW2,SWTOR or anything similar then you will get bored of the "same old grind" and the auto attack/button smashing.
My opinion in short. The game looks good. The game plays good. The game is much of what you have seen in older games compiled into one.
Comments
Oh boy...is is going to be long. I am not a regular poster here on mmorpg.com, but I do come here to read about news every once and then. Of course, I was interested in Rift and have participated in Beta 1 and 3. My English is bad, so please forgive awkward formulations.
Please keep in mind this is my opinion. Don't flame or troll me for it.
Well, here is my impression of Rift:
I am really having mixed feelings. On the one side, there is Trion, who listened to all the feedback and REALLY improved the game in Beta 3. They have addressed a lot of concerns many player had (or at least, those I talked to) and for that alone, they deserve respect. On the other side, I keep having performance issues. It might be my computer, but I was able to run both Aion and Age of Conan (both generally games with good graphics) on highest settings and usually got 30+ fps on both of them. On Rift, all turned down to lowest settings, I get 5-7 fps. In beta 3, it was 12 fps. That worries me greatly, maybe it's my graphic's card or my computer setup that does not seem to fit well with the game.
Performance issues aside, I like the graphics. The environment looks amazing and certainly beautiful enough. Personally, I found Age of Conan more beautiful, but Rift's graphics are good in their own right. The armor is very fitting to the grim setting of the world. It's not high fantasy, but I liked the look my character had. However, my character...he had a plastic look (remiscent of Vanguard, not quite that bad, but similiar) which I did not like. Apart from that, I could not create the look I wanted to make. Hairstyles are very limited. I ran into dozens who looked almost the same as me. Some hairstyles and appearances also look pretty silly. It kind of broke my immersion looking at those weird dwarves in beta 3. Mobs look good. There is some variation and they look grim and not so cute like in other games. They fit the game well. Npcs and Cities look ok, though I wish they were bigger.
What else? Combat. The pace felt good and smooth enough. Pretty standard. Like most MMOs I have played. Dungeons (at least the one I have been to several times) are very fun and well-done. They are not super challenging, but a nice distraction from questing. What I did not like were the skill animation. I have not seen more horrible ones. Playing as a Cleric (Sentinel), my first attack was just some golden blurr that made my mace look like some silly staff from one of those supergirl anime. I was a bit sad that they don't seem to want to improve that. In my opinion, it's a weak point of Rift. Maybe I was just playing the wrong class, I thought, and tried a mage in cb3. I was very sad to see that my first attack was the very same just with a green color (Chloromancer).
Questing. This is where I got serious doubts. The animations, ok, maybe they get better when I level, I thought and performance issues can always be solved, but the game felt very linear in the first 20 levels. Go there, kill this, fetch x. Standard quests that you soon tire of. The lore was nice, but I could not really enjoy questing. Some quests are enjoyable, but those are far and few inbetween.
Rifts, I tried my hand at some. Most of the time, they were incredibly messy (just like questing, trying to snatch a mob when at least 30 others want to complete their quest too), with me trying to either heal the party that was hastily thrown together and gaining few points or mindlessly nuking the mobs that spawned. I don't know if they get better. Seeing the Rifts open is kind of cool, but loses that sense of awe after some time.
I liked the UI, it was easy to use and had a familiar air about it. It's the same as in other MMOs. The skill bars and makros could still need some work, I guess, but I didn't go far in experimenting with it.
Crafting, or better said, gathering, is very basic. It doesn't seem very in depth, but some people I met told me the best weapons/armor can be crafted. It was fun hunting for logs and you certainly can make some money crafting, but for those who like in depth crafting, it would not be first choice I guess.
The most disappointing for me were the classes. I loved reading about them, thinking about how I would combine them. But a lot of classes feel very similiar to each other. The balance isn't very good either. Instead of unlocking skills, you put points into traits like in WoW. Most are the same with some variation for the classes. It felt kind of pointless putting points into them. After you put a certain amount of points into a tree, a skill will unlock. That means I will have pretty much the same skills as all other Sentinels. Sure, I will choose from skills out of three classes, but I can't choose which skill to unlock. The class system feels like WoW's, just with three instead of one tree. Sorry to make that comparision, but that's the best way I can explain it.
PvP-Cant say anything about it, I don't like PvP and such played on a PvE server.
Overall: I liked that Trion listened to the feedback. The game feels polished and I am sure many will find Rift a breeze of fresh air. However, it is „more of the same“. Trion never claimed otherwise, but the certain „something“ is missing. I didn't have much fun playing, I tried to stray from questing and doing Rift invasions, the dungeon and crafting/gathering, but I wasn't enjoying myself. Rift feels linear, boring and tedious during the first 20 levels. It could be that it opens up after that and Rifts and such become a blast, but I caught myself not wanting to download the client for beta 4.
Just thinking about having to do the same quest line in the starter zone again during release made me feel unhappy. Replaying value feels low and having alts seems pointless as many classes play the same and there is only one starter zone for both Defiant and Guardian. I thought the class system would be unique and having alts would be greatly encouraged, but I couldn't find any trace of that in the game. That's just all my impression, as I said. But I don't think I will buy it or pre-order. I hope Trion will continue to listen to the feedback provived and improve the game. It will surely have its loyal followers and in game, a lot of people were enjoying it. The atmosphere, the landscapes are certainly well done. It feels like you are in a world, but a very small one.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
I like it.. from what i saw during beta event i'll like this game a lot.. The PvE is nice and the ammount of polish is great.. I jus' hope ill still continue to like it once that "new-car" smell wears off.
edit: i did have a hell of time logging into and playing the game though.. The 89%/49% bug that plauged so many got me a few times and made it a chore to log in.. But i blame my computer as i know there is SOMETHING REEAAAALLY wrong with it.. Virus maybe? All my virus protection stopped working and games play so slow.. Luckily im not really playing a MMORPG atm so nothing is really comprimised.. I plan on reformatting once Rift comes out.
Currently Playing:
Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
Polished, generic MMO. I won't be buying the game but at the very least I'm guessing it's going to have a decent player base.
Personally I like this game right now. It may not offer anything too new, but today I was having a lot of fun when there was an invasion and basically everyone that was playing suddenly banded together to stop it. It was pretty cool, chaotic, but cool. There were a bunch of raid groups and then a ton of people not in raids just running from rift to rift trying to push this invasion back. It was a lot of fun and the best part is how it just happens, and suddenly you are not questing anymore; you are fighting an invading army. Fun stuff. I'll probably be pre-ordering havn't decided yet, but am leaning toward it.
Thanks everyone for your posts - I'm still not sure because a lot of you like it and a lot of you hate it!
Rift can be summed up in one key word.
GENERIC.
Rift's Generic status can be elaborated with another key word:
SUB-PAR
Other words that might help shed some light on Rift:
Below Average, Underwhelming, Minimalistic, Watered Down, Weak, Uninspired...
If Generic would be associated with Doctor Evil... then Rift would be its Mini-Me. Clearly most of their money went into marketing and PR, not so much into its design.
Rift will be lucky to have a decent number of subs a few months after launch. Trion paints a pretty product, but delivers an empty shell. Trion is off to a bad start.
Lack of community, and I will call it like it is. The community is in shambles.
I logged in for beta 4 tonight after I had some free time finally. The entire 4 hours of discussion were as follows. This game is wow, no this game is rft, no this game is war. Over and over and over. And all the personal insults and folks calling others out. to other folks just plain flaming for no good.
So there is no community what so ever, the entire night was spent yelling at each other over about if the game was a clone or not.
So much for wanting to be around folks who just want to play the game.So you already got the hats playing the beta, I can just imagine what it will be like when it goes live.
Really?
On my server we talk about the weather and politics.. Very mature group of people..
Not.. its a MMORPG beta, what do you expect? xD
Currently Playing:
Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
A slightly better version of Warhammer to put it blandly.
If I hear it's doing well 2-4 months after release I might consider subbing, but for now im going to be hopping on EQ's time locked progression server in march.
Im not sure what server your on, I rolled a new defiant toon, and it did not even give the the choise of servers, all I can say was that was all that went down in the general chat room in the tutorial area and after.
Like many released games, turn off global chat and everything will be just fine. :-)
I mean, any game with a big chatroom will offer you nothing but boring chat, and most server have their global chat troll either dominating any discussions or playing the doomsayer.
Don't like the game.
Played to lvl 15 Beta 1
Played to lvl 10 Beta 2
Played to lvl 12 Beta 3
Played to lvl 6 Beta 4
Uninstalled
There is only one opinion that matters.
-Surprisingly smooth beta test periods so far which is rather promising in that after the game launches they may not have an infinite number of things broken or borked like some other launches have been lately.
-Lot of variations to the classes far as what you can excel or specialize in which could be fun for those that like to try variation or altaholics
-Impressive graphics and the game seems compatbile with a large array of pcs so those that don't have the newest hardware can probably still enjoy this game
-Lot of things in place even at this stage of beta such as mounts, crafting, chat channels, etc. so there shouldn't be a huge amount of displeasure with gameplay elements missing at launch - least far as low end game is concerned.
Those are some things that stuck out to me far as postive elements. However, there are a few negatives I have as well:
-The PvE side seems a bit lacking in lore. While they did create their own universe I can't say I know exactly what is going on nor have they created any real desire for me to care about it either. Kudos for them trying to be original but frankly nothing about their lore or universe stands out to me or is really noteworthy.
-The rifts are interesting but not anything revolutionary. Simply another form of a public quest. However, they can be fun. So as long as you weren't expecting something unique then truthfully they aren't really a negative. If you were, well, you're going to be disappointed.
Overall, I find it to be a fairly entertaining game with a promising group of developers that given the right time, backing, and creativity could end up being one hell of a game. For now? I don't see many giving up their current game to play this one, but for those looking for a new mmo or are currently burned out on their favorite this is certainly one worth taking a look at. Assuming they don't screw the pooch on how they handle their servers or try to load too much at once in a patch at launch this could be one of the more impressive launches from a gameplay perspective.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I am really enjoying the game. It doesn't have anything new to offer, but it just feels different in a good way. But, can anyone honestly give us anything different nowadays? I think it is going to boil down to a good story, good graphics, and a smooth engine...and RIFT has all of those. My only concern with it is end game since little is known about it yet.
Nothing to really see here. If you played wow or anything like it you have played this game. The "Rift" feature really is more annoying then ground breaking. It's nothing more then a zone wide event that can be triggered by players. Doesn't matter what faction of Rift is opened, they all play out the same. The weak sauce attempt at multiclassing is yawnable at best.
If your looking to get in on another wow clone then Rift is the game for you. Looking for "Next Generation" ? keep looking...
Just to set it straight. Nothing triggers a rift to appear. It just happens randomly based upon how the map looks at the time of the rift appearing. If one faction is dominating a good portion of the zone then rifts of the other three factions will appear and spawn in NPCs to attack the controlling faction and the other spawn in factions. So no its not triggered by players do anything. Its automated and happens based upon feedback of how the gameworld is shaping up at any one time.
The only way you'll know for sure if you like Rift is to try it yourself...yes I know,the vip beta keys have all been used up,so the next best thing to do is wait for a trial if you refuse to hand over 50$ or hope you get accepted with your regular beta key to the remaining events.
The game is not for everyone..yes,it does what MMO's before it have done,just with a new setting and some new twists here and there.Alot of people arent turned on by it as you can see,but if you still have some mainstream MMO craving left then it may be for you..
I personally enjoy it and with all the other current MMO's turning rather stale for me,I'll indulge in Rift.
Skill: Planar Lure
Casting Time: 2 seconds
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Use at a tear to lure out the planar forces breaking through and START A RIFT EVENT.
Thats player started to me bob. but thanks for setting the record "straight".
p.s.
are you even in beta or just guessing how things work ?
The game is basically a mash-up of WoW and WAR with a few other features thrown in. The engine is horribly optimized. systemrequirementslab.com says that my computer more than meets the recommended requirements but my FPS fluctuates between 11 and 30, usually being somewhere around 20. Moreover, the game doesn't have AA enabled yet so I can imagine how much of an FPS hit I'll take if an AA option is added. And it's not like the game has amazing graphics. It's basically like an upgraded version of WAR. I was getting 60FPS is FFXIV and even though that game sucks, the graphics are pretty sweet and tons better than Rift.
Character models and animations need lots of work. Frankly, they suck. There are like 1 or 2 decent looking models and the rest look like they were designed by an intern. The animations... I don't even know where to begin. I mean do the animators have any idea about how a human or an animal body moves? It's not like you can go to youtube and see how a person would swing a sword or jump or run, right?
PVE is uninspiring. It feels like a mix between WoW and WAR but not as responsive as WoW but slightly better than WAR. It's kind of hard to explain... The various spells and attacks are very similar between the classes and the animations are so subdued that casting a fireball spell looks like you're flicking a match.
PvP battlegrou... err I mean warfronts feel like cheaper version of WoW's battlegrounds only somehow Trion managed to make them feel less strategic and more chaotic to a point where you just stop and just go "WTF?!" And it's not because of the intense combat. Intense and combat aren't on speaking terms in this game, unless your version of intense combat is flicking matches at your opponent. Mostly the map layouts make no sense.
The rifts are basically WAR's PQs with a twist. There is no rhyme or reason to them, the spawn randomly and attack random towns. They can spawn next to one town but send an invasion to a town all the way across the zone.
Souls... yea there are a lot of them but besides the fact that you can only use 3 at a time (making it more like WoW's spec system) they all feel very similar and there are certain souls that pretty much must be paired up because they offer bonuses to each other.
The quests are lame, pure and simple. They are mostly kill quests and you get like a dozen of them. Plus, the whole questing progression feels extremely rushed. The game litteraly rushes you from one quest hub to the next.
Basically, it was either I game this game or get Bad Company 2: Vietnam and I'm off to kill some Vietcong. For those of you who are enjoying this game, I hope that you guys have a great time. Personally, I cannot justify purchasing a worse version of WoW with some features copied from WAR.
I'm not convinced the fps that the game shows is accurate. If you have another way of testing that I would suggest you do so. My fps is showing 15 to 20 on ultra but it's very smooth which says to me that something doesn't add up.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I suppose I'll be the odd man out.
I like the animations, to me the characters feel pretty smooth with the exception of fighting with a two handed sword, that felt clunky. I like how it's chaotic at the start and I love the rifts.
I like how invasions take out areas and you have to fight them off to claim them.
Some of the avatars look good and some "not so much". Especially the males.
In any case I'm preordering, I'm sold and having a lot of fun.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Im with ya,
I enjoy the game and cant wait for its release.Im not going too far into beta as I dont want to burn out and experience alot of the content before I even get my pre-ordered copy.
The game does need more work here and there,but as it stands now its pretty well done imo.
Learn to shift through the useless garbage from some of the posters. Specially the ones complaining about lack of innovation, the ones praising GW2, Insulting EQ and Brad McQuaid like it had anything to do with rift, The short dumb remarks that really doesn't explain anything.
There are a few quality posts both negative and positive but most of the replies in this thread was utter shit.
The game is going to be successful. That is a fact. They have already made a lot of money from preorders. I'm sure you can go and count 100+ people just on MMORPG that got CE. Anyway to the OP, I have played all the betas cause I got a VIP key. I personally dont care for the game. The games graphics are really good for MMO standards. The feel of the game is also decent. The game however does lack originality (what game doesn't though). The character customization is better than most games though not as good as lets says Aions. The class combinations are where the game shines in my opinion. If this game did anything worthwhile then it is the multiple classes you can play and combine from the 4-5 base classes that most games have.
I dont believe they set out on this game to be amazingly different than the standard MMO. The rifts are ok but they aren't really life altering. If you like how MMOs are played today such as WoW,LOTRO,WAR,EQII,ect. then I think you will absolutely love this game. If you are waiting on a different style such as Tera,DCUO,GW2,SWTOR or anything similar then you will get bored of the "same old grind" and the auto attack/button smashing.
My opinion in short. The game looks good. The game plays good. The game is much of what you have seen in older games compiled into one.
The Game.