Rift: A Review

This work is one big piece of opinion, and mine alone.

 

     I pre-ordered Rift and began during the head start event.  I did not participate in any of the Betas.  The first character I chose to make was a Guardian Cleric.  I picked a PVP server, as it is something that I enjoy.  Upon first arriving into the world and getting a chance to attune my first soul I was most intrigued.  Within each calling (Warrior, Rogue, Cleric, Mage), there are 8 souls that you can choose from, plus an additional PvP soul.  Each soul provides a different role and skills, and you can mix and match up to 3 of them as you progress.  Leveling up grants you additional 'soul points' which you pour into the soul(s), that you see fit.  At level 13, through questing, it is possible to attain all 8 souls.  This is Rifts main selling point.  I thoroughly enjoyed tinkering with my souls, trying to come up with ways to maximize my potential to fill various roles.

 

     Leveling, or questing in Rift was somewhat boring.  I expected the same "go here and do this", "kill xx of this", or gather "xxx of this" type quests, as seen in other MMO's, yet it has been done better.  One thing that annoyed me was the amount of times I would be sent into a particular spot.  For example, I was sent into a cave system to do some quests by a few NPC's at a hub.   I fight my way in, complete the objective, and fight my way out.  When I get back I complete and receive new quests to go into the same place.  Again, I fight my way in, complete objective, fight my way out, turn in, and pick up new quests... to go back into the same cave.  Are you fcking kidding me?  I broke up some of the questing by completing achievements and artifact hunting/gathering.  I enjoyed doing some of the achievements.  Things like tight-rope walking, jumping off of certain places, or running over xxx amount of rocks (that blow up), were fun. I even liked completing the exploration achievements, like explore all of the caves in a certain zone, because this isn't something that is specifically marked on your map, which requires you to actually explore.  I ran every instance on my way to 50 a few times each.  These instances were fun the first time, maybe the second, but they got old extremely quick.  I know quite a few players who leveled almost exclusively by dungeon running.  I can't speak for everyone, but I know some of the guys in my guild did it because they didn't want to waste time getting ganked out in the open world.  This however was one of the most exciting parts of the game for me.  Especially once you get into the mid-high level zones many quest hubs/zones are shared with the opposing faction and there will be many encounters with them.  I had many a fun battle over ancient wardstones, rifts, and even quest mobs.

 

     There is one other way to level and gear up, and that is by completing rifts, defeating invasions, and participating in the zone events that happen from time to time.  These zone events are especially fun when they happen in the later areas where you might be fighting the raid boss and the opposing faction at the same time.  You receive planarite, and other forms of currency, from participating in these rifts/invasions, which you can use to purchase quality gear.  These invaders will sometimes take over quest hubs, which you will have to defeat to turn in your quests or accept new ones.   The further I progressed the less of these events I saw, and from what I've heard zone population determines whether or not an event will start.  The first day or two I couldn't take a leak without getting ganked by marauding npc's almost regardless of where I was at, and at 50 when there needs to be more rifts/events... there are less.

 

     Crafting.  Nothing new to see here.  You can gain new recipes by completing daily work orders which will reward you with Artisan's marks.  Recipes are also available through each zones reputation/favor quartermaster.   I do like that the gear that you make early game is on par or better than the quested gear.  Mid game the crafted gear takes a nose dive although with the recent change, hopefully some of that was ironed out.   The favor/reputation vendors in each zone had their recipes bumped up to be of blue quality or better, they were mostly green prior to that.  I don't know if the stats on them actually changed or just the color.   Some of the late-game craft items are very nice.  Speaking of the quartermaster, acquiring some of the gear that requires you to hold a very high status with them is not feasible until you have far out-leveled the item.  Most of that gear is on par with items that you will pull out of a dungeon.  They seem to be more of a novelty item and I would like to see the amount of favor required lowered or the quality of the item bumped from blue->purple.

 

     Artifacts are objects that can be found in places as obvious as the side of the road, or hidden very well in the recesses of a sunk ship.  They appear as sparkly objects, and to gather it you simply do so as you would any other gatherable, you click on it.  The artifacts that you gather appear to be random, although some of the more hidden spots seem to have a higher chance of rewarding one with a more rare artifact.  Once obtained, you place the artifact into your collection, and when you have all of the artifacts of a certain set you can turn them in for a currency which will allow you to purchase things such as companions.  If you get enough you can purchase an epic mount.  Artifacts add a neat little touch to the game.

 

     Puzzles and Cairns, in short, are awesome.  Each zone has a unique puzzle, that is usually in a hard to reach spot.  Once found, you attempt to solve the puzzle, and if successful you will be rewarded with an achievement and a piece of gear, of blue quality or better, usable by your class.  Cairns are also in hard to reach or hidden spots and when found you simply click on the gatherable and you will receive a bag with an item in it, of green quality or better.  You also receive an achievement for the Cairns but only when you have found all of them.  I don't want to spoil it by going into detail, but again, these were a welcome, and amazing addition to the game.

 

     End game dungeons are a rehash of the same instances available to a player while leveling up, except this time harder with the option to run them in expert mode.  These were also fun the first time or so through, but grinding them for plaques (a form of currency to buy gear) wasn't.  The new changes giving daily quests for the expert dungeons, both tier 1 and tier 2, were a welcome addition.  Overall it wasn't terrible,  but there should be new content to do when you hit 50.  I'm not talking about the raids GSB or ROS, since those are not do-able until you have spent a fair amount of time working on your gear.

 

     While I enjoyed the PvP on the way to 50, AT 50, it needs some love.  You can run Warfronts, which are similar to scenario's or bg's, and are fun to do once in awhile.  The exciting open world PvP really isn't there too often, as there aren't any objectives to take.  Of course you can go around and gank people that are leveling, but that really isn't exciting to me.  I've seen plenty of 50's camping level 30ish quest hubs, so apparently it keeps some people entertained.

 

     Graphically, Rift is OK.  I play the game on max settings, and it's nothing special.  I've tried to keep other MMO's out of this review, but the graphics are not up to par with an MMO released two years ago, and eat more resources.   Not everyone can afford to throw down a fair amount of cash to play a game.  I have seen many complaints from people on open channels and in my guild of the game running sluggish.  Usually these complaints are responded to by other players telling so-and-so to buy a new computer. 

 

The straw that broke this camel's back.

 

Simply put, I am an alt-o-holic.  I love to make and level new characters.  There is such a lack of replayability, that it is shocking.  Three main reasons: 1.  There are two starting areas, one for reach faction.  So if you roll a new character of the same faction you go through the exact same quests that you've already done before.  2.  Even if you rolled a new character with the opposite faction, after level 28 or so, many of your quests are the exact same as you start to share questing areas/quest hubs with the opposing faction.  3.  And the biggest one, there are only four callings.  As amazing as I think the soul system is, having only four callings really does hurt it.  Once a player has one of each, what alt-rolling is left?  The racial abilities aren't big enough to warrant an entire new character.  A player might want to try a new spec, but why reroll a class you already have when it's easy enough to just respec and find out right there.

 

      I do realize I play much more than the casual gamer, but many of the casual gamers in my guild have just begun hitting 50 last week, or are very near it now.  I myself have two 50's and a 34.  And although I did somewhat speed through the content on my first 50 (possibly from the number of hours I was playing), I definitely stopped to smell the roses on my second trip.  I think the replayability issue will become more well-known as others begin to work on new characters.

 

     I like to stick with an MMO for a number of years.   I am not one of those players who says "well I am only playing this game until xxxx games comes out."  I try out a game, put a fair amount of time into it, and see if it is for me so we can stick it out through the long-haul.  Rift wasn't for me.  Some of you will find a new home here and I wish you well.