It's worth mentioning that currently you can only dye the lowlights of armour it is not particularly noticeable in many cases. Not sure why you can not do highlights as well. (unless I could simply not figure out how to do it)
I agree with Paragus1 in the fact that it offers little or no value for PvP seekers. Granted the game is pretty polished and has its goods, the pvp factor is really lacking. The only reason Warhammer is getting thrown into the comparison list is because of Rifts looking like Warhammer's Public Quests. As for the PvP side of it, the only thing similar to Warhammer is "Warfronts" which are like "Battlegrounds", but those instanced pvp areas are in every game.
I would like to see a persistant PvP battleground though like in DAoC with Thidranki and such. Basically it was an "instanced" area, but it was always open and people could join and leave as they please. There also was a big castle in the middle of it to constantly be taken and re-taken.
Granted DAoC was hands down a lot better than WAR and Rift, and many other games, AND they had the coveted THREE SIDES, the concept was still cool.
I think devs are lazy in the fact of offering only 2 sides. How many years have we been screaming for a 3 faction game again?
Not being a great pvp lover myself i always wondered the same......DAOC is the best pvp game hands down......why dont devs make WAR or another new title with 3 factions?
It cant be that hard to add another faction can it?.....pvp'r are "crying" out for a 3rd faction for years in new releases.....why dont the devs do that.
For once (hehe) i TOTALY agree with the pvp community for 1000%.
Just as a side note. The performance issue people have with the graphics engine is mostly due to the supersampling anti-aliasing (SSAA) Rift use and RAM issues (primarily VRAM). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersampling
Tabula Rasa used Defered Shading, which has issues with AA, though AA could be forced on in the drivers with various results... Now, if you force multisampling AA on in the drivers while playing Rift you end up with a lot of (typical) issues. Some had their UI disappear completely, other crashed to the desktop. The devs added supersampling as this is, basically, the only AA available. You also need a DX10.1 card, and we all know vendors don't always follow standards 100%...
Supersampling AA use a LOT of computational power and RAM, which will explain the performance hit on some combinations of hardware (2GB VRAM will help...).
First I'd say it's a hardware "issue". Not enough VRAM or raw GPU power. It's an "issue" and not an issue because supersampling IS a beast especially with defered shading in DX10. And different setups respond differently.
Second it's a driver issue (not "issue"). Especially for ATI owners, since my entirely biased opinion is that mostly ATI cards had performance issues, and that'll be fixed in the next driver release as usual.
Third I'd say it's a issue/design choice from Trion. If they can tweak the settings, they will.
its themepark clone (wow clone) which means that there will be no freedom, no real economy, no housing, no fluff, no real loss meaning (death, respawn full no loss), no motivation, no guild utilities(guild will be chat), no diplomacy. there will however be bound items and boundaries everywhere to preserve fun and keeping player imagination and creativity at bay.
It's the typical post of someone who hasn't really played the game. It will call a game "theme park", even though it pegs somewhere in the middle of the graph between theme park and sand box. It will talk about the game not having some things it does have and will mischaracterize other aspects in a way only someone who doesn't know the game could. It will do this for reasons unknown, or to defend some emotional stake in some competing title. You'll see posts like it a lot when any new game nears release from those who will presume to judge what others will find fun and will base their views of the game on their own imaginings.
This game won't be for everyone and it's far from perfect. I also accept that people can have different subjective opinions after experiencing the same game. However, nothing irks me more than "reviews" from people who make it extremely obvious they either haven't played the title, or didn't get far enough into it to say anything they say with any certainty.
I'd even be fine with people who play an hour, decide they don't like their first impressions and then report just that. "Not the game for me, but I didn't get far enough into it to say much more".
There have been some titles in the last three years that have been incredibly theme park. While this game may not be a sand box title, it does a much better job of making the world feel organic in design and mob placement than almost any other title I've played the last three years. I felt plenty of freedom. Of course, the beta has no economy, it's beta. Sad about the housing. Not sure what "fluff" you want in an MMO and found missing. I hated dying as the penalties were fairly steep vs. most other current titles and those debuffs don't go away on their own or with out cost. I found a lot of different motivations, can't comment on guild utilities, scratch my head at why bound items is a problem in an MMO and was surprised at how well the game world provides boundries with out them feeling obvious (with very rare exception).
I also found the game world, atmosphere and story very conducive for imagination. I felt more of a connection in that regard than I have felt for an MMO in sometime.
Subjective? Yes. However, I don't presume that my perception will be shared by everyone or that what I find of value in the space will be judged the same way by everyone else.
This is a solid entry into the genre. It even offers a few nice innovations and a lot more control over character builds than most titles today even dare. (The more freedom in character design, the harder it is to balance, which is why so many games today are becoming more and more limiting). Not everyone will like it. However, the game more than meets the minimum requirements for being worth a solid try by anyone open to a new title. The rest will be subjective.
It's kind of funny, really. None of what Rift is doing with endgame interests me at all, the lack of player housing saddens me, the very limited variety of armor models makes me frown....and yet, I still ended up having a wonderful time playing the darned beta. I don't think this is a game I'll spend more than a month or two in, but they've created something that will fill at least a little time for me; it's not their fault I'm not their target demographic, but they did enough right to sell me a box anyway.
I wish them luck. If every development studio could produce a prodcut as polished as this one (regardless of the theme, features, et cetera), we'd all be much better off.
Oh! do you have that link of the armor models? I mean you dont see much while leveling thorugh the first 30 levels. Do you have links to the endgame stuff?
Too say armor is limited you must have info on it right?
If so i would greatly appreciate a link, if its under NDA please send me a private message.
I love the armor styles personally so i would love too see what the high end armor sets look like.
I'm sure she's just talking about the limited variety of armor at lower levels she's been exposed to in Beta so far. As in people being forced into the same limited choices for look. That said, it is only Beta. Plus, I'm guessing that Trion has some awesome looking outfits available at higher levels. Ok, appearance tab anyone? This is a feature I wouldn't mind seeing at some point, along with player housing. Oh, and more hairstyles and face options please. *.* ( I know, I'm getting greedy)
One question, does Rift have a dye-system allowing for some diversity and color coordinating armor and stuff? Does anyone know?
I put up some Pics of my character in sky blue die.
Before calling Rift anywhere close to being a sandbox, I'd suggest finding out what a real sandbox game is. Rift is all box, no sand.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II "People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
It's kind of funny, really. None of what Rift is doing with endgame interests me at all, the lack of player housing saddens me, the very limited variety of armor models makes me frown....and yet, I still ended up having a wonderful time playing the darned beta. I don't think this is a game I'll spend more than a month or two in, but they've created something that will fill at least a little time for me; it's not their fault I'm not their target demographic, but they did enough right to sell me a box anyway.
I wish them luck. If every development studio could produce a product as polished as this one (regardless of the theme, features, et cetera), we'd all be much better off.
Maybe you should join a dev chat next time they offer one. Player housing is already being discussed as well as cosmetic clothing/armor. The devs are VERY open to what the players are asking for, you just need to speak up and ask.
As to the armor models you obviously did not explore armor crafting, or take a gander at some of the higher end factional armor sets. They are absolutely amazing. I can not remember the faction off the top of my head was one of the Guardian factions, but the rogue pvp set is a black leather cat suit that hugs the body like a second skin... meowwww.
Also take into account we have seen a VERY VERY small part of what the release client has to offer. Trion is holding back an immense amount of the game so that we will have some new and fresh content at release.
I got deep into the level 30 areas of the game on both factions and was amazed by what I discovered and I only scratched the surface of the game. One of the coolest things I got was lycanthropy from a collection I got the ability to turn into a werewolf, a very sexy werewolf.
I see so many people complaing about what RIFT doesnt offer, and the fact is 9 out of 10 complaints are just made by players who have not gotten to the content they are claiming is not there.
All I can say is play deeper into the game explore the factions, the crafting, and the deeper off the map areas of the game before you go posting what is not in the game.
Granted DAoC was hands down a lot better than WAR and Rift, and many other games, AND they had the coveted THREE SIDES, the concept was still cool.
I think devs are lazy in the fact of offering only 2 sides. How many years have we been screaming for a 3 faction game again?
I could not agree more. Everytime a new game is announced that people are reasonably excited about everyone always asks for more than 2 factions and the story is no different here with rift.
Shame they went for only 2, but the game is still a v good fun one and I am definatly looking forward to its release
Just as a side note. The performance issue people have with the graphics engine is mostly due to the supersampling anti-aliasing (SSAA) Rift use and RAM issues (primarily VRAM). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersampling
Tabula Rasa used Defered Shading, which has issues with AA, though AA could be forced on in the drivers with various results... Now, if you force multisampling AA on in the drivers while playing Rift you end up with a lot of (typical) issues. Some had their UI disappear completely, other crashed to the desktop. The devs added supersampling as this is, basically, the only AA available. You also need a DX10.1 card, and we all know vendors don't always follow standards 100%...
Supersampling AA use a LOT of computational power and RAM, which will explain the performance hit on some combinations of hardware (2GB VRAM will help...).
First I'd say it's a hardware "issue". Not enough VRAM or raw GPU power. It's an "issue" and not an issue because supersampling IS a beast especially with defered shading in DX10. And different setups respond differently.
Second it's a driver issue (not "issue"). Especially for ATI owners, since my entirely biased opinion is that mostly ATI cards had performance issues, and that'll be fixed in the next driver release as usual.
Third I'd say it's a issue/design choice from Trion. If they can tweak the settings, they will.
Wow very informative I am impressed, I have have no problem with the graphics with everything wide open and all effects at max and was feeling people that were complaining about them must be trolls lying about it. Your post explains a lot.
I run dual 260 GTX's with 12 gigs of ram, sometimes I forget many people are still gaming on pentium 2's with with on-board video, and 2 gigs of ram.
I wish they had used a different game engine, just like WAR before it, this engine is not efficient and always has issues with different computer builds.
I would like to see an autoface option in the settings for those of us who like this feature.
I would like to see real housing set up around cities in real neighborhoods and hopefully not instance crap tacked on later that no one is going to visit because it's not in the real part of the game.
I would like to see a lot more explorable adventure areas that are not tied to quest hubs.
I don't like how some souls require significant point investment in order to get class defining abilities, while others do not. Making some builds far too narrowly focused as you can't afford to invest much in a second soul, let alone the third. They need to rearrange some souls so we can invest in all three souls like most other builds. Ranger, Marksman, Elementalist and Warden souls in particular have this issue.
I don't know if the problem is due to mobs being spread out everywhere or if every area is set up as a choke point or both, but aggro ranges and the inability to get anywhere without having to fight your way there every step of the way is getting to be quite annoying to me. It wouldn't be such an issue if we got decent XP for killing mobs, but sadly this game, like many others, puts the lions share of XP in the quests themselves and it feels like a hinderance to my advancement to have to fight my way to and through every single quest area.
I'm not a big PvPer, but when I do occassionally join in, I would like to see more of a Dark Age of Camelot approach, with persistent areas that allow for keep sieges and so forth, that not only give it meaning, but allow for more strategic gameplay other than running around with someone's stupid flag. Having three factions would also be nice, as would having siege engines and aerial combat and maybe the ability to enter keeps / objectives through sapping tunnels and underwater caves.
This game rocks, I have been playing it since Beta 2. I allready preordered it! Pre-order the collectors edition , and get it for the price of the standard!
Maybe you should join a dev chat next time they offer one. Player housing is already being discussed as well as cosmetic clothing/armor. The devs are VERY open to what the players are asking for, you just need to speak up and ask.
My own beta experience was extremely good. Exploring at level 15+ was seriously fun which surprised me because of some of the silly comments you see about invisible walls and monsters everywhere. Not remotely true, you just have to get past the tutorial areas.
There is a solid and growing excitement for this game and I think it will do very well. You can see it in the posts from the MMO veterans who discovered a fun and engaging MMO when they expected a bland experience.
It's kind of funny, really. None of what Rift is doing with endgame interests me at all, the lack of player housing saddens me, the very limited variety of armor models makes me frown....and yet, I still ended up having a wonderful time playing the darned beta. I don't think this is a game I'll spend more than a month or two in, but they've created something that will fill at least a little time for me; it's not their fault I'm not their target demographic, but they did enough right to sell me a box anyway.
I wish them luck. If every development studio could produce a product as polished as this one (regardless of the theme, features, et cetera), we'd all be much better off.
Maybe you should join a dev chat next time they offer one. Player housing is already being discussed as well as cosmetic clothing/armor. The devs are VERY open to what the players are asking for, you just need to speak up and ask.
As to the armor models you obviously did not explore armor crafting, or take a gander at some of the higher end factional armor sets. They are absolutely amazing. I can not remember the faction off the top of my head was one of the Guardian factions, but the rogue pvp set is a black leather cat suit that hugs the body like a second skin... meowwww.
Also take into account we have seen a VERY VERY small part of what the release client has to offer. Trion is holding back an immense amount of the game so that we will have some new and fresh content at release.
I got deep into the level 30 areas of the game on both factions and was amazed by what I discovered and I only scratched the surface of the game. One of the coolest things I got was lycanthropy from a collection I got the ability to turn into a werewolf, a very sexy werewolf.
I see so many people complaing about what RIFT doesnt offer, and the fact is 9 out of 10 complaints are just made by players who have not gotten to the content they are claiming is not there.
All I can say is play deeper into the game explore the factions, the crafting, and the deeper off the map areas of the game before you go posting what is not in the game.
Okay, fair enough. My own experience was limited to a level 27 Warrior, a level 19 Rogue and a level 12 Mage, so I definitely did not see everything there was to see. My comment about the limited armor models was based only on what I experienced, which involved crafting (up to and including Chromite), Planar armor (up to Stonefield) and quest armor. I'm absolutely willing to admit there may have been things I didn't find, but the armor I did find all looked very much alike. It seemed as if there were only one or two models per "tier," which is far fewer than I'm used to. (The crafted Iron armor looked almost identical to the quest armor I got, which looked just like the Planar armor I got- same helmet, same breastplate, everything; while that made it easy to avoid the clown costume syndrome, the lack of variety was a little startling to me).
I considered the fact that variety might improve as I leveled up, but all I could really comment on was what I experienced. Furthermore, it seemed unlikely that the design approach would change midstream; why wait to expand upon variety, when most people form their opinions of a game during the first 10 levels? Again, those are just assumptions, but they're assumptions based on numerous past experiences with other games. If they're inaccurate, then I apologize for the mistake.
It's also a possibility that they'll be adding a lot more models. This is my first experience with Trion, so I don't know what their process is. My previous experience with betas tends to suggest that art assets aren't added in great numbers during the last phase of beta, however, as they take more time to produce than any other resource. As noted, however, it's possible Trion's production queue functions differently.
Anyway, having reread my post, it came across more negative than I intended it to. I really meant it to be a largely joking tone, indicating that, despite the fact the game focused on areas that I wasn't particularly interested in rather than those I tend to prefer (not every game is targeted at every player), I still found it to be an enjoyable, well-made product. That's also why I closed the post wishing them luck, and citing that we'd all be better off if every company approached their development the way Trion does.
If, as you suggest, they do eventually add more armor models, housing, an outfit system, and other such things, then more credit to them. Those are pretty big additions to make at this late stage of beta, but all of them would greatly enhance the game's value to me. Cheers!
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
It's kind of funny, really. None of what Rift is doing with endgame interests me at all, the lack of player housing saddens me, the very limited variety of armor models makes me frown....and yet, I still ended up having a wonderful time playing the darned beta. I don't think this is a game I'll spend more than a month or two in, but they've created something that will fill at least a little time for me; it's not their fault I'm not their target demographic, but they did enough right to sell me a box anyway.
I wish them luck. If every development studio could produce a prodcut as polished as this one (regardless of the theme, features, et cetera), we'd all be much better off.
Oh! do you have that link of the armor models? I mean you dont see much while leveling thorugh the first 30 levels. Do you have links to the endgame stuff?
Too say armor is limited you must have info on it right?
If so i would greatly appreciate a link, if its under NDA please send me a private message.
I love the armor styles personally so i would love too see what the high end armor sets look like.
I'm sure she's just talking about the limited variety of armor at lower levels she's been exposed to in Beta so far. As in people being forced into the same limited choices for look. That said, it is only Beta. Plus, I'm guessing that Trion has some awesome looking outfits available at higher levels. Ok, appearance tab anyone? This is a feature I wouldn't mind seeing at some point, along with player housing. Oh, and more hairstyles and face options please. *.* ( I know, I'm getting greedy)
One question, does Rift have a dye-system allowing for some diversity and color coordinating armor and stuff? Does anyone know?
I put up some Pics of my character in sky blue die.
Comments
It's worth mentioning that currently you can only dye the lowlights of armour it is not particularly noticeable in many cases. Not sure why you can not do highlights as well. (unless I could simply not figure out how to do it)
I have been playing WoW since it´s release, and i somehow feel this game may make me feel what i did not for a long time now.
I am glad i got into the new beta so i will be able to test it by myself.
It may as well be the game i will play ´till the release of GW2.
Rawr.
Not being a great pvp lover myself i always wondered the same......DAOC is the best pvp game hands down......why dont devs make WAR or another new title with 3 factions?
It cant be that hard to add another faction can it?.....pvp'r are "crying" out for a 3rd faction for years in new releases.....why dont the devs do that.
For once (hehe) i TOTALY agree with the pvp community for 1000%.
GIVE 3 factions devs!
i still think they ain't next gen tho. looks quite 2nd gen to me
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
Just as a side note. The performance issue people have with the graphics engine is mostly due to the supersampling anti-aliasing (SSAA) Rift use and RAM issues (primarily VRAM). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersampling
Rift uses a modified Tabula Rasa game engine and this link is informative in a nerdy way: http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems3/gpugems3_ch19.html
Tabula Rasa used Defered Shading, which has issues with AA, though AA could be forced on in the drivers with various results... Now, if you force multisampling AA on in the drivers while playing Rift you end up with a lot of (typical) issues. Some had their UI disappear completely, other crashed to the desktop. The devs added supersampling as this is, basically, the only AA available. You also need a DX10.1 card, and we all know vendors don't always follow standards 100%...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_shading (note the edge detection mention in the article).
Supersampling AA use a LOT of computational power and RAM, which will explain the performance hit on some combinations of hardware (2GB VRAM will help...).
First I'd say it's a hardware "issue". Not enough VRAM or raw GPU power. It's an "issue" and not an issue because supersampling IS a beast especially with defered shading in DX10. And different setups respond differently.
Second it's a driver issue (not "issue"). Especially for ATI owners, since my entirely biased opinion is that mostly ATI cards had performance issues, and that'll be fixed in the next driver release as usual.
Third I'd say it's a issue/design choice from Trion. If they can tweak the settings, they will.
It's the typical post of someone who hasn't really played the game. It will call a game "theme park", even though it pegs somewhere in the middle of the graph between theme park and sand box. It will talk about the game not having some things it does have and will mischaracterize other aspects in a way only someone who doesn't know the game could. It will do this for reasons unknown, or to defend some emotional stake in some competing title. You'll see posts like it a lot when any new game nears release from those who will presume to judge what others will find fun and will base their views of the game on their own imaginings.
This game won't be for everyone and it's far from perfect. I also accept that people can have different subjective opinions after experiencing the same game. However, nothing irks me more than "reviews" from people who make it extremely obvious they either haven't played the title, or didn't get far enough into it to say anything they say with any certainty.
I'd even be fine with people who play an hour, decide they don't like their first impressions and then report just that. "Not the game for me, but I didn't get far enough into it to say much more".
There have been some titles in the last three years that have been incredibly theme park. While this game may not be a sand box title, it does a much better job of making the world feel organic in design and mob placement than almost any other title I've played the last three years. I felt plenty of freedom. Of course, the beta has no economy, it's beta. Sad about the housing. Not sure what "fluff" you want in an MMO and found missing. I hated dying as the penalties were fairly steep vs. most other current titles and those debuffs don't go away on their own or with out cost. I found a lot of different motivations, can't comment on guild utilities, scratch my head at why bound items is a problem in an MMO and was surprised at how well the game world provides boundries with out them feeling obvious (with very rare exception).
I also found the game world, atmosphere and story very conducive for imagination. I felt more of a connection in that regard than I have felt for an MMO in sometime.
Subjective? Yes. However, I don't presume that my perception will be shared by everyone or that what I find of value in the space will be judged the same way by everyone else.
This is a solid entry into the genre. It even offers a few nice innovations and a lot more control over character builds than most titles today even dare. (The more freedom in character design, the harder it is to balance, which is why so many games today are becoming more and more limiting). Not everyone will like it. However, the game more than meets the minimum requirements for being worth a solid try by anyone open to a new title. The rest will be subjective.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
I put up some Pics of my character in sky blue die.
Before calling Rift anywhere close to being a sandbox, I'd suggest finding out what a real sandbox game is. Rift is all box, no sand.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
Definitely not a sandbox, but there is a difference between going to the County Fair and going to Busch Gardens as well.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Maybe you should join a dev chat next time they offer one. Player housing is already being discussed as well as cosmetic clothing/armor. The devs are VERY open to what the players are asking for, you just need to speak up and ask.
As to the armor models you obviously did not explore armor crafting, or take a gander at some of the higher end factional armor sets. They are absolutely amazing. I can not remember the faction off the top of my head was one of the Guardian factions, but the rogue pvp set is a black leather cat suit that hugs the body like a second skin... meowwww.
Also take into account we have seen a VERY VERY small part of what the release client has to offer. Trion is holding back an immense amount of the game so that we will have some new and fresh content at release.
I got deep into the level 30 areas of the game on both factions and was amazed by what I discovered and I only scratched the surface of the game. One of the coolest things I got was lycanthropy from a collection I got the ability to turn into a werewolf, a very sexy werewolf.
I see so many people complaing about what RIFT doesnt offer, and the fact is 9 out of 10 complaints are just made by players who have not gotten to the content they are claiming is not there.
All I can say is play deeper into the game explore the factions, the crafting, and the deeper off the map areas of the game before you go posting what is not in the game.
Just a heads up, alchemists can make dyes as well. No need to get them from vendors in the released game.
I could not agree more. Everytime a new game is announced that people are reasonably excited about everyone always asks for more than 2 factions and the story is no different here with rift.
Shame they went for only 2, but the game is still a v good fun one and I am definatly looking forward to its release
Wow very informative I am impressed, I have have no problem with the graphics with everything wide open and all effects at max and was feeling people that were complaining about them must be trolls lying about it. Your post explains a lot.
I run dual 260 GTX's with 12 gigs of ram, sometimes I forget many people are still gaming on pentium 2's with with on-board video, and 2 gigs of ram.
I wish they had used a different game engine, just like WAR before it, this engine is not efficient and always has issues with different computer builds.
I would like to see an autoface option in the settings for those of us who like this feature.
I would like to see real housing set up around cities in real neighborhoods and hopefully not instance crap tacked on later that no one is going to visit because it's not in the real part of the game.
I would like to see a lot more explorable adventure areas that are not tied to quest hubs.
I don't like how some souls require significant point investment in order to get class defining abilities, while others do not. Making some builds far too narrowly focused as you can't afford to invest much in a second soul, let alone the third. They need to rearrange some souls so we can invest in all three souls like most other builds. Ranger, Marksman, Elementalist and Warden souls in particular have this issue.
I don't know if the problem is due to mobs being spread out everywhere or if every area is set up as a choke point or both, but aggro ranges and the inability to get anywhere without having to fight your way there every step of the way is getting to be quite annoying to me. It wouldn't be such an issue if we got decent XP for killing mobs, but sadly this game, like many others, puts the lions share of XP in the quests themselves and it feels like a hinderance to my advancement to have to fight my way to and through every single quest area.
I'm not a big PvPer, but when I do occassionally join in, I would like to see more of a Dark Age of Camelot approach, with persistent areas that allow for keep sieges and so forth, that not only give it meaning, but allow for more strategic gameplay other than running around with someone's stupid flag. Having three factions would also be nice, as would having siege engines and aerial combat and maybe the ability to enter keeps / objectives through sapping tunnels and underwater caves.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
This game rocks, I have been playing it since Beta 2. I allready preordered it! Pre-order the collectors edition , and get it for the price of the standard!
http://direct2drive.tellapal.com/offers/615051861/interstitial/4621429e-0b49-4c05-8082-a15891c9d9d8
Enjoy!
I'm interested! Mind providing a link please?
My own beta experience was extremely good. Exploring at level 15+ was seriously fun which surprised me because of some of the silly comments you see about invisible walls and monsters everywhere. Not remotely true, you just have to get past the tutorial areas.
There is a solid and growing excitement for this game and I think it will do very well. You can see it in the posts from the MMO veterans who discovered a fun and engaging MMO when they expected a bland experience.
Okay, fair enough. My own experience was limited to a level 27 Warrior, a level 19 Rogue and a level 12 Mage, so I definitely did not see everything there was to see. My comment about the limited armor models was based only on what I experienced, which involved crafting (up to and including Chromite), Planar armor (up to Stonefield) and quest armor. I'm absolutely willing to admit there may have been things I didn't find, but the armor I did find all looked very much alike. It seemed as if there were only one or two models per "tier," which is far fewer than I'm used to. (The crafted Iron armor looked almost identical to the quest armor I got, which looked just like the Planar armor I got- same helmet, same breastplate, everything; while that made it easy to avoid the clown costume syndrome, the lack of variety was a little startling to me).
I considered the fact that variety might improve as I leveled up, but all I could really comment on was what I experienced. Furthermore, it seemed unlikely that the design approach would change midstream; why wait to expand upon variety, when most people form their opinions of a game during the first 10 levels? Again, those are just assumptions, but they're assumptions based on numerous past experiences with other games. If they're inaccurate, then I apologize for the mistake.
It's also a possibility that they'll be adding a lot more models. This is my first experience with Trion, so I don't know what their process is. My previous experience with betas tends to suggest that art assets aren't added in great numbers during the last phase of beta, however, as they take more time to produce than any other resource. As noted, however, it's possible Trion's production queue functions differently.
Anyway, having reread my post, it came across more negative than I intended it to. I really meant it to be a largely joking tone, indicating that, despite the fact the game focused on areas that I wasn't particularly interested in rather than those I tend to prefer (not every game is targeted at every player), I still found it to be an enjoyable, well-made product. That's also why I closed the post wishing them luck, and citing that we'd all be better off if every company approached their development the way Trion does.
If, as you suggest, they do eventually add more armor models, housing, an outfit system, and other such things, then more credit to them. Those are pretty big additions to make at this late stage of beta, but all of them would greatly enhance the game's value to me. Cheers!
For those seeking a similar, yet different WOW/WAR/EQ2 experience Rift sounds like its right up their alley.
But the more I think of it, I don't think I can play this sort of MMORPG anymore.
Gonna have to keep my eye out for something truely different to help me past my burnout.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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Thank you for the screenshots. Me likes.
pie.
A more informative (p)review of Rift Beta 5 because I found the above report lacking: http://www.higgens.net/tansfairgrounds/?s=tansfairgrounds-020211