My opinion, which isn't superior, of course, just two cents on the box.

Hello everyone, this is Ace Of Spade, from the 90's with exciting 2 european cents on this box!

Today's topic is about Rift.

 

Has you can tell, there have been alot of "fuzz" in this game, with a huge casp in middle of two major groups: One that says "this is the best game ever" with "worst game ever and a clone of X game".

First off, and won't go into details since I can see there is a topic about "Rift is X clone", this game ain't a clone. I'm sorry but clones is a copy exactly the same from the original and this is not a copy BUT YES a simply genetic manipulation that took some parts of one MMO with another to create what they call "the balanced and beautiful MMO".

Taken that aside, let's make a quick review.... bare in mind this is a 1-20 level review and overlook so far. Will update this topic when I reach new highs.

 

 

 

LEVEL 1-20 (took 3 FULL days, I make things slow to apreciate and enjoy every level)

 

Leveling

People say this game is fast to level... I think it ain't fast or slow, it is balanced and quite frankly, a decent leveling curve. If you play this game to reach the maximum level, then you need to slow down because you don't need to make it fast BUT you need to make it enjoyable. The game is fun to level but when I think to re-roll, I think that I wouldn't handle it again because it is a slow and unique experience that you wish to repeat once in alot of months.

Why wouldn't I repeat and build a "alt" SOON? Well, with two starting zones, reduced to one starting zone, if you already got a faction in your heart, even though both of the starting zones are great, with will take time and will be pretty repetetive.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

If you want to level fast, go ahead but I don't recommend that. Just do things slowly and enjoy, believe me that you won't fell the urge to go to the top like your missing something, because you aren't, you got plenty of things in your level to do. If your a "alt-aholic", this game isn't for you since it only haves two starting zones (1 each faction) and you will get bored if you keep creating new characters every day.

 

Leveling note (1 to 10): 8.

 

 

THE WORLD (RIFTS/NVASIONS/WORLD BOSSES) -> WORLD PvE

Has you can tell, and you will get it soon in the game, the game itself is about Rifts and invasions in open world so, if you are questing, prepare that you will stop doing that MANY times just because you have to close a few rifts or destroy invading troops. Don't worry, your not alone the majority of times and you won't find trouble grouping with random people. Some rifts are easy, others are hard but the rift itself addapts to the people that are inside it so it will always be challenging to 2 people or to a group of 5-10 people. During the day, you may find 3-5 MAJOR invasions/rifts/world bosses. Prepare that, in those ocasions, you just DROP everything your doing and MUST fight in those events where you close 6-8 rifts of one kind and destroy 30-50 invasions. The world bosses during those events are hard... and when I say hard, it is HARD even with 50 people on top of the boss. Rifts/invasions/world boss(or rift boss, you name whatever you wish) are rewarding and will stop everything you do near the areas, specially in the events since it is a VERY large scale event.

Invasions can take over camps and will fight enemy rift enemy, including animals in that area. If you have a quest to turn that haves a Invasion settled there, forget it, you have to take out the invading forces and destroy the waypoint (I think that is the name) so the NPC's respawn.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

I think it is pretty darn awsome and makes you fell usefull every second and actually do something else than mindless questing.

The good side is, your ALWAYS busy while leveling. I find myself going late to bed (like 3:30 am) because I feel that I "need" to do this or that before I go offline. The bad side is that if you don't fell like doing a invasion or rift in that moment, you will have a hard time AVOIDING it in order to do your "busniess". So if you don't like rifts/invasions/world bosses that affect your moves, rather than beying something you may wish or not THEN the game is not for you. If you like to fell in a vivid world that you are needed every second one of those world events happend, this game just fells right.

JUST REMEMBER, things can get repetetive and predictable, even though it is noticed the urge on Trion team to make a large variety of rifts/invasions/events.

 

The World (RIFTS/NVASIONS/WORLD BOSSES) note (1 to 10): 7.

 

 

THE WORLD (THE WORLD ITSELF)

This is probably the worse explanation of this area you ever read in a mmo lookup but, if you like Fantasy but stil with a realistic point of view then this game is awsome. I like that style... just now because Rift did it well. Sure, you don't have many races to pick (5 of them since 2 of them are human and count has one but in diferent factions) and there isn't that many mounts BUT who needs more if the small amount of races/mounts is just right? When you ride in a beast in the real world, you ride a horse. The majority of the mounts ARE horses. You got a very thin goat if you want something diferent, a "long legged" rhino and a wolf/lion with two tails if you want something a little off the reality but things fell natural and realistic, even though it screams fantasy a little.

If you are into technology, the technology in this magic-fantasy-rifted world fells right, it ain't SUPER advanced looking but quite simple. People say it is magic envolved on that technology... sure, some parts you CLEARLY see magic involved (more like "magical rift" experiences on mechanical... stuff) but still is a bit of "16-18 century" style with a fantasy twist. It is good if you consider that the fantasy games are kinda "medieval" style.

The armor isn't shiny looking, with flames or sparkly gems for any CLASS or role. I give that a thumbs up. Since when does shiny armor and "good" looking means that it is the top/best player around? Sometimes, just to know what level is that character, I have to click on it instead of looking at the armor. That keeps things quite realistic, still in a low-fantasy environment.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

If you put fantasy with a touch of reality (but not nowadays reality but 16-18 century reality) in a game, you get something like Rift. I started to like that style just now when I saw Rift because it does well.

 

The World (THE WORLD ITSELF) note (1 to 10): 9.

 

 

QUESTING

Has you probably already know, quests are the usual formulas of "kill X and go Y", "deliver this and talk to me afterwards", get rewards, re-equip with the rewards and lead to the next questing zone. No major explanation required in this area. If you played many MMO's, you won't miss something new. The only... but only diference is that, when a invasion/rift gets your questing spot, you must stop it first and then you complete the quest.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

Nothing new... that means older players will get into Rift just fine because they are used to it AND people will grow bored of them for beying the same old thing. You don't need a "quest" helper for the quests because it shows you on the map where it is/where they are. Some of the quests however don't give you locations and are a "you must search yourself" theory. Since people are used to the typical questing system, they won't bother finding themselfs but rather search the internet/ask people for the solution or location.

For me, I think the system works but still, sooner or later, I will get bored of that.

 

Questing note (1 to 10): 5.

 

 

COMMUNITY

The community is still adapting to the game but I can say that the major of the people you will find and group will be just that... a "pass" by like going to the market and cross a stranger, you won't give a "damm" about him/her. Sure, you will group in Rifts/Invasions/Events but that will be it. Even you won't fell the "urge" to add someone on your buddy list. I will probably get haters when I say this but, don't worry, in the end of the free month, the "nomad" players will leave and things WILL settle and probably evolve. For now, count with trolls every now and then in public channels. THANK GOD FOR THE /leave INSIDE EACH CHANNEL. If you play on Europe, get ready for forgein languages in public channels. My server, has an example, the "Level 1-9" Channel is always flooded with Russians saying that the English Shard (Shard is server in Rift) is Russian... which comes to a blow of racism for the couple of hours to come from both parties. Don't expect much GM moderation in public channels, since there are almost 0 GMs in those channels.

If you go to the forums, expect the "Nerf X", "Buff Y", "Z is Hard", "I'm not a troll but you can see my topic is trolling" and the famous "I'm quitting the game since it sucks so read this topic to feed my ego and to actually bother with my decision.". Just pray on whatever you believe that Trion doesn't listen to those topics about people complaining about beying hard, underpowered or overpowered. What I read, however is that they aren't actually going to nerf things if they fell something is "overpowered" but instead, they will boost all of the "underpowered" to make up for the "overpowered". I see why would they do that but I don't know if it is the best solution... since if you boost everything, things will get easy... and we clearly don't need EASY things... for that we have other MMO's, if you know where I am going with this.

Oh and one thing, you can chat with the oposing faction... so imagine the flame war it must be when everyone is yelling at the other to not kill them or to stop "corpse-camping" or "let me destroy this rift! Go away!".

 

My point of view in this scenario?

All I can say is, this ain't the right time to actually look up into the community. Nomads are there and they will troll the game until you are forced to /ignore or /leave. My best sugestion is to find your own guild and stick with the chat inside and only when you need a group to do this or that, you use the public channels. For now, the community is a troll feast with a mix of elitist/snob folks that arrived from other MMO's and already claim to be the "TOP" of the chain.

The good thing is, RARELLY and only if you cannot type /leave in "Level 1-9" Channel, you will find Gold Farmers. The game since launch did a great job to avoid these scum. But still it didn't fix the fact people can troll... but what game doesn't have trolling nowadays anyway (except very old/dying games with top level gamers, where trolls don't even bother to play it).

So, unless you have friends, you will get alot of trolling.

 

Community note (1 to 10): 4.

 

 

UI (USER INTERFACE)

Typical from many MMO you played. Some may claim it is pretty diferent but the truth is, it tastes like any other MMO you played on but with diferent skins and names. The awsome part is, you can edit the UI in sizes, transparency and locations of each... window/options/graphic. If you are used to have the Avatar with his health bars in the lower part, you can move it there... if you are used to the minimap beying on the lower part has well, do it. You don't need addons when you can do it with the game mechanics already avaliable. The good thing is also that, if your not new in the MMO genre, you will easily addapt yourself in this game. If you wanted something new and diferent in terms of UI, you won't find it here unless you want to do it yourself or wait for addons (which I doubt trion will let addons flow in their game since it is pretty much complete).

The awsome thing is the little menu you usually have on your lower left side of the screen (takin'in count you didn't move the UI yet). The menus are very organized and simple to understand.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

Why fix something that is already good? Why do you need something diferent if the old system does the trick? The UI is fine, stop trolling it. I know there are better things you can troll about in this game than a UI. If you don't like it, move the UI yourself in the way you like.

 

UI note (1 to 10): 8

 

 

CHARACTER CREATION

This is where things get very positive, but still weird and lacking.

You have five races... even though tecnically they are 6 but two of them count has in "human" cathegory... the only diference is that one is more "Southy arabia" style (Defiant) and the other is more "White/European" style (Guardian)... but still you can make a Human Guardian that looks like a southy Arabian and a Human Defiant that looks exactly like it belongs to the guardians. Then we have two elven looking races in the game, one each side. High Elves in the Guardian side (typical elf stereotype) and Kelari (Dark Elf stereotype but with the coolest eyes you probably ever saw, stereotype grey alien style, huge eyes with pupils the size of melons AND a nose that looks like it was copied from the movie Avatar tall blue aliens.) on Defiant side. Dwarves in the Guardian side (whatever stereotype you think of the dwarves, short looking with huge beards or human looking, but small sized and no beard, you can make them. Just remember they don't have gigantic shoulders, but rather LARGE hands) with a unique race I ever saw, the Bahmi (I will probably make a stupid observasion but the Bahmi look like... large and strong purple orcs but still with a very human side in their face), on the Defiant side. I, for myself, picked Bahmi because I think it would fit a warrior just nice in terms of "good looking and awsome".

The character creation itself is alarmingly good and bad in certain areas. You will see when I explain.

The good parts you can actually manage is the face. You don't have major options, just a slider to manage the face "details" in preset styles which is not revolutionary BUT simple and not time consuming. The best feature is the Triangle slider that let's you mix together between a "Triangle looking", a "Round looking" or a "Square looking". The results on that feature end up hilarious. You can pick the eyebrow style, the color of skin/eyes/hair root/hair in large palletes. Hair choices are low, unfornatelly, with 12-14 choices each race/gender... so it is pretty easy to pick the hair and not stay in a "I like this, this, this and this... so what will I pick", but yes on a "I just like this one" and go with it. You can pick the Height too but, since we are on 2011, shouldn't they had a slider for fat and another for muscles? What about the chest side for the ladies? It would make it complete. Also, the nose, that is what I strive for. You can make it large and make the tip of it go up or down but the nose always seem to be short and close to your face when you look "sideways" of your character. I didn't liked that part at all. It made my character look incomplete when they have VERY good options in the mix. I can say the character creation haves refreshing things but still lack in major things that SHOULD be avaliable to edit.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

Good race choices, but here is a dare... why not make all races avaliable to both factions? The story is about two factions that have the same goal, they just don't like each other because the Defiants weren't chosen by the gods and the Defiants use tecnology in war if needed. So what? Gods don't like "Arabian" humans, Dark elves and large purple orcs? Dwarves and White elves can't handle tecnology and are all chosen by Gods? It doesn't fell right. I think all races/all factions is the right thing to pick.

Weird character creation... some good options but lack of options in the mix... and in this MMO scenario, character creation options is a must since people really want inovation and graphics.

Thank god for the gear dyes at least.

 

Character Creation note (1 to 10): 7

 

 

CLASSES/ROLES

Four classes and still soo much to pick... with EIGHT roles each class + 1 PvP role (1 each class).

Large Soul Trees but soo little soul points. If you want to adventure with roles, you can pick whatever combo of 3 roles are active at the same time. If you want, you can always go for the "recommended" combo of souls.

Warriors can make excellent damage on melee range with two handed weapons or dual wield and still cast range spells from affar (even though it ain't their strong point) OR you can make a paladin and have a few healing skills (but with MAJOR cooldowns, to keep you focus on defence instead of giving you too much healing abilities like major MMO's do with paladins)... or just stick with the old'fashioned tank. Hell, you can even have a pet has a warrior.

Clerics are the masters of healing and support, but still they can damage pretty badly, with spells or melee range, or even tank! Don't let the chain armor trick you because they can still be good defenders. You can even have a pet has well.

Rogues are the masters of physical damage. Ranged or close, sneaky or obviously damaging, pet or no pet, they hit you hard. Even rogues can suport players instead of damaging all the time. They can use some magic too.

Mages are the masters of everything that is magical. Always on range, they can have two kinds of pets if rolled correctly. You want Damage over Time, go for it. You want slow, but deadly skills, go for it. Want fast attacks? Go for it. Want to support your teammates? Go for it. Want to control your enemies? I said, GO FOR IT! Want to heal? Goddammit, go for it!

 

My point of view in this scenario?

It ain't THAT inovative but it is something diferent. You may have only 4 classes but it feels like you have a dozen or more with all those roles. Sure, with many roles it comes to a part that you have SIMILAR attacks/skills repeated... but with diferent animations and you just "discard" it off your action bar because they share the same Cooldown and do the same. With soo many options, it is rare for you to say: "I want to re-roll a diferent class" because you can have almost every roll with the class you picked.

Let's review: Warriors can do everything except they just can't heal that much or suport. Rogues can't tank or heal... but pretty much fill any other roll (unless you consider "pet tanking" a roll, but it ain't really a roll but more of a damage). Clerics can do everything... yes, every roll. Mages can't tank... that is all (but like a rogue, you may consider "pet tanking" a roll, but it ain't has well, but more of "damage" dealing).

Talking about pets, there isn't pet tamming... you just have a skill to summon a pet (warriors have cats, rogues have boars, clerics have mythical creatures like fairies and mages have walking corpses or elemental figures). I know why they did it like that but I can say it ain't a good option... and that is why I stay away from the pet rolls (except mages and clerics, their pets are understandable of why they shouldn't be tamming skulls or rocks/bucket of water/thin air/etc or mystical creatures). All I say is, warriors and rogues in their pet rolles should be able to tame the same creatures and in the wild, not in your skill bar magically.

I take this advantage to say: Please people, roll more healers! The community lacks healers in almost every event or PvP! Clerics are the LEAST played class. Give clerics love! Now just wait and let me level my dual wield warrior with a cat...

 

Class/Roles note (1 to 10): 8

 

 

GAMEPLAY/SKILLS

The old system works... use W,A,S,D keys to move, press X to change from Melee to Range weapon, space bar to jump and hotkeys for your spells. Sometimes, you will smash those buttons mindlessly BUT, if you dedicate time instead of mindless leveling up for end game, the learning curve/leveling curve will let you, sooner or later, learn your skills without smashing them. Like I said, some skills are equal to each others, just diferent animation and still share the same cooldown so... that is kinda of a letdown.

You actually move slow in that world, thumbs up for reality! Mounts move in a natural speed and not like a steam machine! FINALLY!

The Racial skills are weird in half of the races. The high elves you have temporary wings that make you jump from one point to another. The Bahmi is the same thing, only without wings, which makes it more of a "what the hell" moment of weirdness. Dwarves are like... "light weight" when they fall, gravity doesn't work like that, gentlemen (someone in Trion team didn't pass physics class)! Kelari morph into a beast for a few seconds, pretty good racial. Humans move faster (it means, they run a little) for a few X seconds, finally some realism in the racials. Each race haves 20% resistance on a respective element (there are 6 elements in the game so 6 races, each one more protected to one element than the other elements).

 

My point of view in this scenario?

If you want a new way of playing MMO's, out of the pattern, you won't find it here. It is good for the players that are used to it and like it that way. Why fix something that is already... good? Yeah, sure, bring the hate but... you can learn what each skill does and not use repeated skills and actually don't button smash the game. Button smash is like the lottery in Rift, you may win but you may lose, depends on luck of what you actually smashed or not. The game won't reward you for smashing more buttons than your opponent.

My complains are on the useless racials (not the resistance racials, those are okay). The repetable skills ARE understandable and it is easy just to discard them.

 

Gameplay/Skills note (1 to 10): 7

 

 

ECONOMY/CRAFTING

Getting currency, no mather each is actually balanced... you don't get poor if your smart or get that rich for your level (unless you have a high level character to transfer to your low level).

In this game, you have a Auction House. The Auction House mechanics are a bit weird to understand in the beggining but you will addapted. The Auction House economy is still a tad overpriced/low priced. It is a new game and people just got it and the prices are a bit wacky yet. It will settle thru time.

Crafting is rewarding, don't let the people get into you saying it is useless. Sure, you make repetable and useless items now and then but then you can always destroy them, collect the scapts and make new items out of the scarps or materials you wouldn't have any other way. The learning curve of the crafting ain't that hard... slow maybe but not hard. But that is just me saying, I only tried Mining/Butchering/Armorsmith (in this game, you can only have 3 professions at the same time) so things may be diferent in other professions, I don't know.

I won't explain each profession of the game but I will explain that there are gathering professions and productive professions. Gathering bases on finding herbs, butching a beast (of course, butcher) or mining around the world. Productive professions are many and the explanation is obvious in each one of them... so I won't explain them.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

Repetetive is the word you want to know. Sure, it is rewarding but it is repetetive and you won't fell encoraged in leveling those... even though, like I said, it is rewarding. The gear I normally use is made by me (Armorsmith), destroying every quest reward gear than I enconter, rarelly equipping the rewards (unless they are weapons, necks, rings or trinket). I could name a few MMO's with the same crafting system but I don't need to because you know them. The only diference is that everything you craft, it is worth it.

 

Economy/Crafting note (1 to 10): 6

 

 

ACHIEVEMENTS/REWARDS/COLLECTIONS

A mix of many games you may think of... but it makes quite a delicious soup. If you like to have many achievements done, well, go for it.

The rewards when you do each rift/enconter/pvp/quest/etc are nice so it makes up for the times you fell like "I don't want to do this rift/enconter". If you ever fell like that, think of the reward afterwards. You will say "I don't want to this time but I know it is going to be sweet when I defeat/win this."

Collections are a new way to say achievements... but the diference is that you find "achievements" on the ground randomly and exchange them for pets or "funny-looking" items.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

I was never into achievements so I my point is, I don't care much... still it is nice when I see something saying: "Achievement earned" from the bottom. Collections are a extra, but not mandatory and, for me, a waste of time but I know people like collecting stuff, so good for them, you have something to earn. You earn pets and funny items anyway.

 

Achievements/Rewards/Collections note (1 to 10): 7

 

 

GRAPHICS/BUILDINGS

Good graphics.... very well done. If you want a game with good graphics, this is the game, even though I am one of those people that don't care about graphics but more on the content. You don't need a good computer to apreciate it. Like I said before, the game is in the fantasy gender... but keeps things 16th-18th century realism, even in the graphics. There is no flashy armor like I said, just realistic has a fantasy game could offer.

The buildings in this game are nice and stick with the fantasy/realism theme perfectly. If your a defiant, you will find tecnology around. If your a guardian, expect more monuments and ruins.

The only thing you need to know is, guardians have bigger posts/towns than the defiant... but the counter part from the defiants is that they have a bigger, organized and beautiful capital city compared to the guardians.

The world size is "cozy" and just right when you walk and ride on a fair/realist amount of speed compared to many other games. DON'T expect a big world to explore.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

Like good graphics? Pick this game without thinking twice. Even for those people that don't have a great PC/Mac with everything maxed out, you can enjoy the graphics nicelly without your PC/Mac performance slowing down.

Want a huge world and get lost on it? Sorry but this isn't the game for you. Cozy is the word for this game, even in sizes.

Fantasy MMO, without escaping too much from the impossible is, in fact, a win, for my taste. People may deslike the style... but opinions are opinions. I will give this note based NOT on my taste, but based on the graphics/building objective/message.

 

Graphics/Buildings note (1 to 10): 9.

 

 

STORY/FACTIONS

I will be honest, the story isn't that "special". It is simple and quite easy to understand, but confusing.

So, you got a world that was created in the middle of six major elementals, each one controlled by a dragon. The "major" elemental and dragon are part of the Death/Reaver. -> It appears the Gods made a bad choice when creating Telara in middle of such dangerous realms of elemental energies... but that is just me.

The elementals want to destroy Telara and everything within it. To do so, they open rifts of massive energy and invade the world you live on. Some of the Gods want to help the intelligent folk on that world and decide to bless them with souls from ancestors that were aces of doing their roles. -> Of course... so first, they make a world in the middle of hungry realms and now they realise they did a louzy job and decide to help. Makes sence.

The people that got ascended from those Gods and got blessed with souls are the Guardians... or "chosen ones". This is when the Defiant appear from the mist.

The Defiant are a group of intelligent races that know what the Gods did was wrong and won't give them a second chance, not even to clean their own mess. The Defiant use tecnology to steal the souls from the guardians, in order to give those souls to them than the Gods pets.

If you roll a Guardian, you were resurrected by the Gods and gave a chance to go back to the past and prevent the elemental dragons to conquer Telara with the help of souls. You are a blessed lucky God's lad/lass that must go to the past to ensure the doomed future.

If you roll a Deviant, you were resurrected by the power stolen from the Guardians. You have given the chance, has well, to travel to the past and ensure the doomed future.

Basically, what we have here is two factions fighting for the same, but in diferent ways... that is why they hate each others.

The games actually haves books and collections all over the place so that you may learn the lore. That is a great thing for people that are "into" lore and RP.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

The Lore is poor and simple. Still, they offer everything from books and collections for you to earn and read if you want.

What I like the most is that they did two factions that clearly doesn't show signs of who is good and who is bad. Plus, they put humans in both sides, which clearly shows trion had that objective all along. The only thing that can tell if who is good is good and who is bad is bad is your opinion.

If you think the Gods deserve a second chance, go Guardian.

If you think the Gods did enough when they made a world right in middle of a bloody trap, go Deviant.

I personally like the Deviant because I think the Gods were too stupid to make a world in middle of 6 bloody dragons, with their own realms of elements. Even though life in a world in such conditions isn't worth, it rather okay to try and survive on your own, without the same Gods that though it would be such a amazing ideia.

Still, that doesn't make the game lore lacking and simple. Still, lore is overrated and people may like this setup. I like it too in terms of factions, but not the lore itself... it was pretty stupid way of putting yourself in middle of rifts: The Gods did a mistake and so you are beying attacked by 6 hungry dragons, now go and kill stuff that pops out of rifts.

I mean, Gods are supost to be superior in everything compared to a mortal... but I think any mortal would know that creating a planet in middle of 6 hungry dragons would mean trouble, like putting a mouse inside a cage with 6 hungry cats.

 

Story/Factions note (1 to 10): 4.

 

 

PvP

The PvP system is not that much diferent from the other MMO's you probably know. I only tried Warfronts yet though so I will update this when I get a chance and experience.

Besides the massive and epicness inside a Major event of rifts opening here and there, 30-50 invading troops wondering around and a world boss, while destroying the enemy faction that stands for diferent ideals (sorry but that is pretty "badass" and you got to agree, unless your someone that dislikes PvP), the PvP isn't diferent.

Some Warfronts are small sized, others are huge and there are others that are more of a race than actually PvP... you got every flavor for your tastes. Still, it ain't hard to actually come up with a decent strategy. For example:

Guarden: Easy, zerg the middle and get the shard before the other does... if you get it, don't stay too much behind your base because you earn less the further away you are from the middle. So the best strategy is: Run, get the shard and hide behind the tree with every member of your raid right next to you to defend you. You will die sooner or later, since the damage carrying the shard will increase the more you have it with you until it 1-hits you and kills you.

Codex: Even more easy than guarden. When it starts, everyone is going to rush for Codex, since in all those 4 capture points, Codex gives you more points. If you look at the map, if you get Scope and the Statue, the oposing team won't be able to even touch Codex.. so the plan is simple -> Rush to the Statue and Scope at the same time. If you get those, it will be a matter of time for only one member of your raid run free, without beying worried of a attacking force of the other faction, and take codex in the way. Vault is a extra. People may disagree with me and say: "You just run to codex and get Statue or Scope in the way." but seriously, think twice and you must agree, if you get scope and statue, people can't touch codex since it is right in the middle of those two. It is harder, yeah, but it is the easiest and a "almost" victory for your team (almost because everything may turn a twist againts you... nothing is sure in PvP, suprises happen).

Either way, I like the fact that, in the Warfronts, they don't reward people that just zerg... they reward the TEAM in a hole so, if you do the objective, you will win ALOT more then playing "deathmatch" in a warfront. Because of this, many players finally are using strategy in a PvP environment... which is rare in many MMO's nowadays since most of these only care about killing than rather actually do what your supost to do because many MMO's reward killing players instead of actually doing what your supost to do.

There is still no Arenas of some sort in this game but I think the game will have sooner or later, because we can all see NPC's with tags, clearly indicating there will be Arenas/Pit fighting in the future.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

The PvP system isn't that much diferent BUT it haves a few tricks up that almost no MMO has though of implementing. It is more of a "time will tell". They show potencial in their PvP systems.

If you like strategy and mass numbers, this game is for you.

Unfornatelly, we have to wait for most of the players to learn these PvP enchants in this game to actually take to a new level.

For now, the best PvP experience is World PvP... and quite entertaing I must say, specialy when you can mix with World Events!

 

PvP note (1 to 10): 8.

 

 

PvE/DUNGEONS (comming soon)

Still didn't do a dungeon, will update when I finish one.

 

My point of view in this scenario?

Still didn't do a dungeon, will update when I finish one.

 

PvE/Dungeons note (1 to 10): ?.

 

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SCORE:

Leveling note (1 to 10): 8.

The World (RIFTS/NVASIONS/WORLD BOSSES) note (1 to 10): 7.

The World (THE WORLD ITSELF) note (1 to 10): 9.

Questing note (1 to 10): 5.

Community note (1 to 10): 4.

UI note (1 to 10): 8.

Character Creation note (1 to 10): 7.

Class/Roles note (1 to 10): 8.

Gameplay/Skills note (1 to 10): 7.

Economy/Crafting note (1 to 10): 6.

Achievements/Rewards/Collections note (1 to 10): 7.

Graphics/Buildings note (1 to 10): 9.

Story/Factions note (1 to 10): 4.

PvP note (1 to 10): 8.

PvE/Dungeons note (1 to 10): ?.

OTHER SCORES:

Innovation note (1 to 10): 6. -> Not much innovation... but more of a "dust" cleaning from ideias of many MMO's you may know.

GM service note (1 to 10): 7. -> They seem to do the right thing, ignore the stupid requests, but clearly need more chat vigilance againts trolls.

Population quantity note (1 to 10): 9. -> Since it is the first month, the world is quite vivid with players... for now.

Monthly Payment VS Product quality note (1 to 10): 8. -> I would totally pay monthly for this game... but a little cheaper wouldn't hurt.

Addiction note (1 to 10): 9. -> VERY... you always have something to do.

 

FINAL ULTIMATE SCORE (1-100): 68

(8+7+9+5+4+8+7+8+7+6+7+9+4+8+6+7+9+8+9) Dividing by 2 (20 cathegories)

NOTE: One cathegory score is still missing, so far is still 68 points but will rise a little after PvE/Dungeons is rated.

Final though: Very good game, but not a 180º innovative. It sparks here and there and can be quite fun. This game is a example of why the old tricks still work on a sucessfull MMO. If you want innovation, this ain't it. This is a place where you can play and have fun for a while... but let us see what the future will reserve for this game, it haves potencial if you look at it without the "fanboy" eyes. This game may be a temporary win, but could be a major lost in the future, leaving almost no scar in the MMO community. For now, it is fun, let us wait and see the future. But no denying, the launch was sucessfull with almost no bugs on it. Just for that solo, it is worth trying.

 

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That was my two cents, this was Ace of Spade, from the 90's see you soon.

 

~Ace of Spade, from the 90's.