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Map size
Right. I have heard a lot about map size in Rift and I'm still not sure what to make of it. I know it's not sandboxy, but compared with WoW and Aion how big is the zones?
Wow had somewhat 'big' zones with no predetermined path like Aion. In other words, Westfall was quite large and you could go anywhere you want. Cross it from one point another. In Aion I found the map to bee too small. You follow a trail and the story unfolds as you go. Eventually you hiy a larger area but still not as big as WoW's types of map.
Hope you can help!
Comments
If you are comparing zones to Wow right now can't really do that as many of WoW's zones have been expanded since they launched; some in size many in content.
You might want to get a comparision from someone who was in WoW at their launch and ask what the difference is. Someone in WoW release could tell you what zones were there originally and how big they were. Plus it's also what's IN the zone as opposed to what the size is.
Although Westfall is 'quite large', what's really in the zone? Not much was there to do before, just a few quests. It's much more active now that Cataclysm changed the whole zone but at launch there wasn't much to do there. A lot of things got added later on.
Since this is still in beta with two months to go, no one has seen a complete world map posted on a site I don't think. In betas, games don't give you the option of seeing all the zones and Rift is no different.
But the zones I've seen isn't small like where the Dranei start or anything like that.
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For starters Aion is instanced, so that sets it apart right there. But Rift is a medium sized map. It's not as big as WoW was at launch. Take both base continents of WoW and cut a 1/3 of it out and that's the size of Rift. I wouldn't call it a small world, but it's not the biggest world either. The map is a little deceptive and the world is bigger than what it looks like in pics. It will take a good half hour to run from one end of a zone to another. Also in Gloamwood at least it's important to note that there are many places that have underground caves and such. The starting zones are VERY linear, but the zones outside (at least the two we've seen) branch out more.
There are two tutorial and starter areas(1-7,7-20) for Defiant and Guardian. Then there is one more faction specific zone for 20-27?. I believe after that content is shared between sides. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The maps feel like a more densely packed version of WAR to me. I'd say a medium-sized world would suffice as a description.
Drop the next-gen marketing and people will argue if the game itself has merit.
It's not confirmed, but I believe you are right. The next Beta opens up only one zone. The shared zones look to expand in size also.
Not all of Aion is instanced. The starter areas are instanced. I don't remember if the cities are. But then the rest of the world and abyss are not instanced. It does incorporated instances for certain raids, quests, etc.
Also, to the op's point, I don't really consider Aion to have an open world feeling as it mostly feels like a path cut into the world. Abyss is open of course.
As far as rift goes? It's a bit more open than some areas of Aion from what I saw but it doesn't give me the "large land Vangaurd feel" that some were hoping for.
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I believe the zones aren't huge for a reason sometimes I would see a rift open and get there just as others were closing it. This would be even worse if the zones were really vast landscapes you can run to rifts you see most of the time within time especially if it's just a tear by the time you get there usually just opening.
True you can run from one zone to another in a couple of places, but there are zones you can't get to and I'm not just talking about the Abyss with out a load screen. And even if you walk to one zone to another...doesn't it jump to a load screen and then puts you into the new zone? I forget it's been awhile since I played the game. I guess I meant not persistent instead of instancing, once I look at what I wrote. I don't know why I keep thinking of instance when I think of a load screen.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
The map is at least what wow was at begin.And very detailed
IM hell
Op if you played Aion then Rift is right in there with that. I have nothing to gain or lose here. But for ME Rifts maps are a tad bigger than Aion yet AION lol is what it feels like for me meaning "PATH". You cant get lose. Rift opens up and sometime the mops that come from rfits go around killing things....99% of them stay on the path killing NPC's.. and simple but kool.
You cant look at WOW maps and RIft.. not even close. You cant get lost in Rift you can always see the path.. you can always see what mops you need they are very close to each other. Some people love this.. I dont. Yet I dont expect Rift to be like WOW. For me Rift is way to much AION/Warhammer and LOL when you read this in chat. And reading posts here people leave this part out. In every beta there is always talk about how it feels so much like warhammer. Myself I LOVED warhammer. Anyway the maps are not huge but the DEVS did a great job with them. You will always see things to kill and KILL YOU! And see a rift open and mops alot harder coming after you lol.. so could be a blast for some.
Rift is medium in size overall.
The entire Rift world is bigger than the map might suggest.
The starter areas are linear, but less so than in Aion.
Once you get into the L 25+ zones, Rift feels much less linear.
Beta testers have yet to see content above L27. Next beta opens up a L30 zone that both factions share. On the PVP servers this could make for some fun open-world PVP. We will see.
Actually AION is about as instanced as WoW, with maybe 1-2 zones being instanced per map.. The only instanced city was Sanctum (and asmos equal to Sanctum) and maybe a few zones like Fire Temple being instanced per map.. 1 starting zone per faction (pretty decent sized zones too but not huge), another mid lvl zone for each faction that beings introduceing you to grouping (this is somewhat small zone but still decent size), then theres another map for each faction thats around 25-30 that starts introduceing pvp mechanics (again medium sized map), then the last map is a pretty big sized map for each faction that holds some of the higher world bosses.. After that its abyss based which isn't instanced at all.
And some of the maps might feel small but when you get to a higher lvl you'll come back to them only to find out that parts of em were blocked off for end-game.. IMO i found AIONs maps and world size to be perfect especially when Rifts opened up there would always be action.. Rifts world reminds me a lot about AIONs and seeing Guardians run around pvping reminds me a lot of AION too
Currently Playing:
Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta