I played WoW since day one but, I think cataclysm killed the game for me. Currently, happy with Rift but looking forward to see what tor and gw2 has to offer after those 2 comes out ill decide which mmo I will stick to. But I won't be going back to Wow ever again.
I played rift and wow and by no way are the same. Rift had a good intro and was very accessable. Wow at the time i played was slow and kinda lame. The toons were quirky looking . It didnt appeal to me due to the fact that i was used to playing FFxi . I was used to 6 man parties. I thought they put this rest. Im sorry the mmorpg world doesnt revolve around Wow. Im tired of every game thats out there being labled a wow clone. Any upcoming game will replace wow, as people will want to try someting new.
Rift is a WoW clone. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. There is just too many similarities, and it has NOTHING to do with the fact they are both MMORPGS. How much in common do Rift and FFXI have in common, for instance?
Khm... never understood where is problem? Does this spell bad for game? We could say ... BMW sucks because is only Mercedes clone ... Puma sucks because is only clone of Adidas .... Of course all this is BS. Rift is RIft, Wow is Wow. Bmw is Bmw, Mercedes is Mercedes.
Rift is a WoW clone. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. There is just too many similarities, and it has NOTHING to do with the fact they are both MMORPGS.
By your standards above, then WoW is a DAoC clone, and for the same reasons.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
My only complaint with Rift is in the creation of my toon. I would like greater customization, in particular the ability to have larger breast on my female toons.
Blizzard did a great job building a very successful MMO. It only makes sense to take what people like from that and try to put in their own mmo. To try and re-invent the wheel would be stupid.
If one doesn't like Rift it's either because they are still in love with a different mmo or are burned out on mmo's period. They aren't going to change for a long time so just get used to it. The WoW standard will remain the standard for years to come untill technology introducess something radically different which is available to a mass audience.
How much have vehicles changed in the past 100 years? You see much the same trend in mmo's over the next 10-20 yrs.
Rift is a WoW clone. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. There is just too many similarities, and it has NOTHING to do with the fact they are both MMORPGS. How much in common do Rift and FFXI have in common, for instance?
I think people who don't see just how alike they are must not be at endgame, yet. It's when you see how they've copied that, that Rift goes from having a few similarities here and there, to feeling more like a WoW clone than any other major MMO.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Blizzard did a great job building a very successful MMO. It only makes sense to take what people like from that and try to put in their own mmo. To try and re-invent the wheel would be stupid.
If one doesn't like Rift it's either because they are still in love with a different mmo or are burned out on mmo's period. They aren't going to change for a long time so just get used to it. The WoW standard will remain the standard for years to come untill technology introducess something radically different which is available to a mass audience.
How much have vehicles changed in the past 100 years? You see much the same trend in mmo's over the next 10-20 yrs.
1. People are incredibly dense about this. There are numerous things Rift shares with WoW that arent shared with 95% of the MMORPG world. Right down to the identical endgame activities. TheUIs are extremely similar (though others copied WoW on this too, but the UI is nothing like DAoC or EQ). The talent point system is obviously based off WoW. You earn a level, you place a point in one of three trees to gain new skills, buff existing skills, or gain buffs. Yes, you can change the trees and the root skills are different, but its the same system. EQ games dont have this. DAoC has three trees, yes, but is done in a completely different way.
Put it this way, most other games take different systems from different games. You can usually see where the games got their ideas from and original ideas are scarce since UO/EQ/DAoC/AC/SWG days. Rift is different. Rift feels exactly like they took WoW and asked 'what can we do with this to change it and make it better'. Other AAA MMOs use the genre as a template. Rift used WoW, and it shows.
2. One not likeing Rift does not mean they are burned out or in love with another MMO. To me, and to others I have talked to, Rift lacks soul. Telara is no Azeroth, or Norrath, or even buggy Telon. The base lore is boring. The races are boring. The main cities are boring. The world itself is boring. Everquest's phrase was 'You're in our world now'. And they were right. Telara does not have that feel at all. Everything is technically sound, yes, but its hollow.
I played rift and wow and by no way are the same. Rift had a good intro and was very accessable. Wow at the time i played was slow and kinda lame. The toons were quirky looking . It didnt appeal to me due to the fact that i was used to playing FFxi . I was used to 6 man parties. I thought they put this rest. Im sorry the mmorpg world doesnt revolve around Wow. Im tired of every game thats out there being labled a wow clone. Any upcoming game will replace wow, as people will want to try someting new.
Rift is a WoW clone. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. There is just too many similarities, and it has NOTHING to do with the fact they are both MMORPGS. How much in common do Rift and FFXI have in common, for instance?
Some people like the 'realistic' look, or more importantly, hate a stylish look. So they wont like WoW. But Rifts races are the worst of a AAA MMO. Its two humany things, 2 Elvish things, a dwarf, and a big thing not too far removed from a human. The races are beyond bland and are preseented very blandly in the game as well. WoWs races have a very unique flair to them and all have very detailed mannerisms and motivations.
And not every game that comes out is labeled a WoW clone. Xysom was not labeled a WoW clone. DCUO was not labeled a WoW clone, or a super hero version of WoW. Age of COnan was not labeled a WoW clone. FFXIV? Nope, not considered a WoW clone.
Actually a LOT of people have labled FF14 as a wow clone. The Only reason people did not refer to AoC as a wow clone,was because of the combat system. other than that it was again considered a wow'ish game. But really WoW it self is a clone.
I agree about the Rift races,they should have had a little more deversity.
But honestly if you want to label every or every other mmo out or coming out a wow clone. The same could be said for First Person Shooters. Gears of War is a Halo clone,Left 4 dead is a Halo clone,Bio Shock is a Halo clone..get my drift
Actually a LOT of people have labled FF14 as a wow clone. The Only reason people did not refer to AoC as a wow clone,was because of the combat system. other than that it was again considered a wow'ish game. But really WoW it self is a clone.
Nope, WoW is not a clone. People try to say oh since Rift is a WoW clone than WoW us an EQ clone. EQ isnt even a themepark game, and its advanacement at the time was not gear only. The UI is completely different and so are the mechanics.
WoW may not have had any truly original ideas at launch, but it was far from a clone.
Not that being a WoW clone would be a terrible thing, if they dont clone WoW's lousy recycled dungeon grinding/daily questing pathetic excuse for an endgame
Rift is a WoW clone. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. There is just too many similarities, and it has NOTHING to do with the fact they are both MMORPGS. How much in common do Rift and FFXI have in common, for instance?
Some people like the 'realistic' look, or more importantly, hate a stylish look. So they wont like WoW. But Rifts races are the worst of a AAA MMO. Its two humany things, 2 Elvish things, a dwarf, and a big thing not too far removed from a human. The races are beyond bland and are preseented very blandly in the game as well. WoWs races have a very unique flair to them and all have very detailed mannerisms and motivations.
And not every game that comes out is labeled a WoW clone. Xysom was not labeled a WoW clone. DCUO was not labeled a WoW clone, or a super hero version of WoW. Age of COnan was not labeled a WoW clone. FFXIV? Nope, not considered a WoW clone.
Rift absolutely used WoW as a template. Just like WoW used EQ as a template and to some extent - smattering of other games. The familiar UI and functionality was done on purpose. Two Reasons - One is so people can transition to a new game without having to learn new mechanics. Second is people want change, but not always drastic change.
FPS are basically the same. Attacking an MMO for a similar UI I just will never understand. Heck GW2 looks to have a similar UI too, does that instantly make it a clone? FFXI is its own magnificent beast and sets itself apart from the pack. But many others have tried doing something different and most are not huge sub wise. I mean this is about money too. You need the game to be accessible.
About the races thing and lore. You do know that Warcraft is a stolen IP right? Blizzard took it from Warhammer. Those unique flair you're talking about is directly from WARHAMMER. So WoW is a Warhammer Clone right? Blizzard back in the day wanted to make a Warhammer RTS game. Games Workshop couldn't come to an agreement with them, so Blizzard said fine we'll just take your IP change a few things and call it something else. Ta'dah!
Now the whole not everything being labeled a WoW clone. Most AAA MMOs have been in recent years compared to or labeled as such. Most indie MMOs have not because they are indie and somehow that makes them cool. Fighting against the man mentality I suppose. Xysom is a crap game that is bugged to heck. DCUO has been labeled a City of Heroes Clone not a WoW Clone. Age of Conan was suppose to be something different, but when people saw that Funcom lied to them, they realized that the game was more like WoW than they were expecting and such charges were being attached to the game after release. FFXIV wishes it was labeled a WoW clone. It would mean the darn game was at least playable and had some content.
Yes it was. Themepark games have since evolved. What WoW brought to the table new was the ability to solo in an MMO. This is what opened the game up to a larger audience.
I think people who don't see just how alike they are must not be at endgame, yet. It's when you see how they've copied that, that Rift goes from having a few similarities here and there, to feeling more like a WoW clone than any other major MMO.
I will give you that Rift is a Progression Focused MMO at endgame that is gear dependent. I must have missed something, but I'm pretty sure WoW isn't the only game out their before Rift that was Progression Focused and gear based.
Warlocks, Priests and Mages are all Mages in the sense that Rift uses it.
Hunters and Rogues, Feral Druid are your rogues
Death Knights, Warriors, and Prot/Ret pallies are your warriors
Shamans and Holy Paladins are your Clerics
Resto and Balance druids really dont fit, they are kind of inbetween mages and clerics.
Not really. See if you pick a Priest you are either healing or DPS and that's it right?
A mage in Rift can do everything but tank. 1 character you get to 50 and those are your options.
A Rogue in Rift can do everything but main heal. 1 character you get to 50 and those are your options.
A Warrior in Rift can do everything but heal. 1 character you get to 50 and those are your options.
A Cleric in Rift can do everything but...well heck, a cleric can do everything.
My point is you roll a Priest and get him/her to 85 and you have only the options from the Priest and that's it.
In Rift you actually have other roles you can play at a given time. To be considered a good/valuable player you're probably going to need to know how to do more than one. A lot of people hate that, some love it. That's up to the community, but it does offer more challenge than just knowing one class in WoW.
In Rift you only need to roll 3 alts, 4 characters total to have all the abilities available to you in the game.
How many characters do you have to roll in WoW to accomplish the same thing?
I don't think anyone intellligent has ever labelled FF14 a clone of anything... because it doesn't deserve the attention.
When WoW came out, it was not a clone of anything. It took elements from EQ (UI/Combat), then it took lore from its own game (which is expanded from Warcraft), took systems from its own game (Diablo II Talents) and then it created a world that was accessible to everyone. WoW as individual parts was not new. But WoW's end product, all put together, completely changed the genre. It blew everyone away.
Rift, on the other hand, has no lore worth speaking of, copied UI from WoW, copied quest, talent, levelling systems from WoW, and put together a teensy little world (about the size of one of Azerother's continents) with Rifts that it copied from Aion (NPCs instead of players, UNIQUE IDEA GAIZ). What did they bring to the table that hadn't been done already? Shiny graphics?
I don't think anyone intellligent has ever labelled FF14 a clone of anything... because it doesn't deserve the attention.
When WoW came out, it was not a clone of anything. It took elements from EQ (UI/Combat), then it took lore from its own game (which is expanded from Warcraft), took systems from its own game (Diablo II Talents) and then it created a world that was accessible to everyone. WoW as individual parts was not new. But WoW's end product, all put together, completely changed the genre. It blew everyone away.
Rift, on the other hand, has no lore worth speaking of, copied UI from WoW, copied quest, talent, levelling systems from WoW, and put together a teensy little world (about the size of one of Azerother's continents) with Rifts that it copied from Aion (NPCs instead of players, UNIQUE IDEA GAIZ). What did they bring to the table that hadn't been done already? Shiny graphics?
Rift's world is bigger than one of Azeroth's continents. WoW did blow everyone away and it did completely change the genre. Rift's addition to the genre that will be copied is probably the AoE loot system, the invasions that take over quest hubs (an improvement on Warhammer's PQ system) and the soul system. Comparing Rift's rift to Aion rifting is a huge stretch -imho. To me the Rifts in Rift are closer to the PQ system in Warhammer that actually have a momentary impact on the enironment around it.
Rift actually has fantastic lore. It's just poorly implemented in the game unfortunately. The writing in the comic books and the website is fantastic though. Some of the best I've seen in a MMO. The leveling system is not something WoW came up with and has been used in almost every MMO in the last 10 years. I really wish a developer would break away from that and personally feel the level system is the one key factor that holds Rift back from its true potential. But it is what it is.
Rift's world is bigger than one of Azeroth's continents. WoW did blow everyone away and it did completely change the genre. Rift's addition to the genre that will be copied is probably the AoE loot system, the invasions that take over quest hubs (an improvement on Warhammer's PQ system) and the soul system. Comparing Rift's rift to Aion rifting is a huge stretch -imho. To me the Rifts in Rift are closer to the PQ system in Warhammer that actually have a momentary impact on the enironment around it.
No, Rift's world is tiny. Im not even sure if its as big as one of WoW's continents.
The AoE loot thing is nice, but its not some game changing innovation. The improvements to WARs PQ system ARE indeed very nice and a system like this will be used in other games Im sure. EQ2 already added PQs before Rift even launched and I will bet money WoWs next expansion will have them. However if Guild Wars 2 delivers on its promises with its dynamic questing, Rifts system will be forgotten about fast. Ill believe uit when I see it though.
The souls sytem is nothing new. Multiclassing has been around since D&D. Rifts soul system is taking WoWs talent tree system and giving you 9 options to choose from for your three trees instead of 3 and 5 specs instead of 2. Its more flexible than other class based games, yes. Its one of the strong points of the game and I understand why people like it. I just wish it wasnt limited to archetypes. You cant, say, make a battlemage and you cant make an archer that dabbles in dark magic.
I personally greatly prefer Runes of Magics dual class sytem if it wasnt attached to such a boring game. Lots of options, you can combine any two classes and foten the reverse of the combo plays quite differently. And the combinations mean something and have unique abilities.
And the leveling system mold has been broken in the past. But thats not peoples basis for WoW comparisons. Your skill acquisition though? 100% carbon copied from WoW, every last bit of it. You assign talent points to your trees and every 2 levels go see trainer for upgrades (which WoW has since changed with cataclysm).
Yes it was. Themepark games have since evolved. What WoW brought to the table new was the ability to solo in an MMO. This is what opened the game up to a larger audience.
No, EQ was not a themepark game, at least not at the time it launched and Blizzard began their MMO plans. It wasnt a true sandbox either, not in the sense that UO was and you can argue that EQ led the push to the themepark games (and eventually became one), but at release it lacked clearly defined goals about what you should do. Norrath was your dangerous playground to do as you wanted with it.
And WoW didnt introduce soloing, it introduced the concept of soloing (and questing) being by far the most efficient way of leveling.
Rift's world is bigger than one of Azeroth's continents. WoW did blow everyone away and it did completely change the genre. Rift's addition to the genre that will be copied is probably the AoE loot system, the invasions that take over quest hubs (an improvement on Warhammer's PQ system) and the soul system. Comparing Rift's rift to Aion rifting is a huge stretch -imho. To me the Rifts in Rift are closer to the PQ system in Warhammer that actually have a momentary impact on the enironment around it.
Google MMO world sizes. RIFT's world is tiny.
Blizzard has fended off aoe-looting requests for a long time by saying it would only further enable botters and farmers.. They might implement it now that RIFT did but the forums have been asking for it for a long time.
Just like Guild Housing, Player Housing, Appearance Tabs, Vanilla Servers (lol), Cross-server mailing within the same account mostly for BOE, and the list goes on.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug. 12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
Rift is great at hooking new players after a day or two.
My prediction? You'll be heading back to WoW with in 3-4 weeks. Just give yourself a few days to decompress from the pace set by Rifting, before trying to hop back into a previous title.
Rift is yet another MMO that succeeds at providing a solid early impression, but has a serious lack of content to bring players beyond a month or two of play. Not only is content lacking, but the quality of content is generally downhill as you progress through the game.
Rift needed two more years of content creation and should have launched with 3X the number of zones and maybe 4X the amount of content. It's clear that Trion hoped that Rifts would substitute for real content, but I can promise you that Rifts and Invasions start to get very, very old by the end of the first month, as well as becoming more sparse in the higher level zones.
Trion also set course to greatly pair down the number of viable builds and tune class balance around the least capable, least fun builds. Every balance patch has sucked a little more life from the game. It won't be long before it offers little advantage over other titles as far as fun class play is concerned.
Rift is an illusion of a good MMORPG. It doesn't take most players more than a month before the illusion wears thin and it becomes clear how lacking the game is beyond the ability to provide a solid impression during the first few weeks of play.
It's very possible to get your money's worth for the box purchase if you manage to put in a solid first month of game play. However, if you are looking for a long term title to replace a game you've been at for many months or years, Rift can only let you down.
I honestly don't even like WoW but I'd consider trying it if they'd allow more classes to perform more roles, as Rift's soul system allows.
Rift is just far too similar to that one without being as good or better. Just another solo grind to cap then grind dungeons/raids MMO. Pretty disappointing overall.
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Played WoW on and off since 2005. Rift just doesn't really offer much more than better graphics to keep playing.
Khm... never understood where is problem? Does this spell bad for game? We could say ... BMW sucks because is only Mercedes clone ... Puma sucks because is only clone of Adidas .... Of course all this is BS. Rift is RIft, Wow is Wow. Bmw is Bmw, Mercedes is Mercedes.
By your standards above, then WoW is a DAoC clone, and for the same reasons.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
My only complaint with Rift is in the creation of my toon. I would like greater customization, in particular the ability to have larger breast on my female toons.
Of course Rift is much like WoW !
Chevy is much like Ford.
Sony Tv's are much like RCA.
Blizzard did a great job building a very successful MMO. It only makes sense to take what people like from that and try to put in their own mmo. To try and re-invent the wheel would be stupid.
If one doesn't like Rift it's either because they are still in love with a different mmo or are burned out on mmo's period. They aren't going to change for a long time so just get used to it. The WoW standard will remain the standard for years to come untill technology introducess something radically different which is available to a mass audience.
How much have vehicles changed in the past 100 years? You see much the same trend in mmo's over the next 10-20 yrs.
I already grinded a lot in WoW. Why should I start over the grinding?
I think people who don't see just how alike they are must not be at endgame, yet. It's when you see how they've copied that, that Rift goes from having a few similarities here and there, to feeling more like a WoW clone than any other major MMO.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
1. People are incredibly dense about this. There are numerous things Rift shares with WoW that arent shared with 95% of the MMORPG world. Right down to the identical endgame activities. TheUIs are extremely similar (though others copied WoW on this too, but the UI is nothing like DAoC or EQ). The talent point system is obviously based off WoW. You earn a level, you place a point in one of three trees to gain new skills, buff existing skills, or gain buffs. Yes, you can change the trees and the root skills are different, but its the same system. EQ games dont have this. DAoC has three trees, yes, but is done in a completely different way.
Put it this way, most other games take different systems from different games. You can usually see where the games got their ideas from and original ideas are scarce since UO/EQ/DAoC/AC/SWG days. Rift is different. Rift feels exactly like they took WoW and asked 'what can we do with this to change it and make it better'. Other AAA MMOs use the genre as a template. Rift used WoW, and it shows.
2. One not likeing Rift does not mean they are burned out or in love with another MMO. To me, and to others I have talked to, Rift lacks soul. Telara is no Azeroth, or Norrath, or even buggy Telon. The base lore is boring. The races are boring. The main cities are boring. The world itself is boring. Everquest's phrase was 'You're in our world now'. And they were right. Telara does not have that feel at all. Everything is technically sound, yes, but its hollow.
I am enjoying Rift very much, get in a good populated guild and the game is amazing 7 day free trial, give it a shot 9.5/10
Lets just all Play Vindictus or Berkanix :P
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Actually a LOT of people have labled FF14 as a wow clone. The Only reason people did not refer to AoC as a wow clone,was because of the combat system. other than that it was again considered a wow'ish game. But really WoW it self is a clone.
I agree about the Rift races,they should have had a little more deversity.
But honestly if you want to label every or every other mmo out or coming out a wow clone. The same could be said for First Person Shooters. Gears of War is a Halo clone,Left 4 dead is a Halo clone,Bio Shock is a Halo clone..get my drift
Nope, WoW is not a clone. People try to say oh since Rift is a WoW clone than WoW us an EQ clone. EQ isnt even a themepark game, and its advanacement at the time was not gear only. The UI is completely different and so are the mechanics.
WoW may not have had any truly original ideas at launch, but it was far from a clone.
Not that being a WoW clone would be a terrible thing, if they dont clone WoW's lousy recycled dungeon grinding/daily questing pathetic excuse for an endgame
Rift absolutely used WoW as a template. Just like WoW used EQ as a template and to some extent - smattering of other games. The familiar UI and functionality was done on purpose. Two Reasons - One is so people can transition to a new game without having to learn new mechanics. Second is people want change, but not always drastic change.
FPS are basically the same. Attacking an MMO for a similar UI I just will never understand. Heck GW2 looks to have a similar UI too, does that instantly make it a clone? FFXI is its own magnificent beast and sets itself apart from the pack. But many others have tried doing something different and most are not huge sub wise. I mean this is about money too. You need the game to be accessible.
About the races thing and lore. You do know that Warcraft is a stolen IP right? Blizzard took it from Warhammer. Those unique flair you're talking about is directly from WARHAMMER. So WoW is a Warhammer Clone right? Blizzard back in the day wanted to make a Warhammer RTS game. Games Workshop couldn't come to an agreement with them, so Blizzard said fine we'll just take your IP change a few things and call it something else. Ta'dah!
Now the whole not everything being labeled a WoW clone. Most AAA MMOs have been in recent years compared to or labeled as such. Most indie MMOs have not because they are indie and somehow that makes them cool. Fighting against the man mentality I suppose. Xysom is a crap game that is bugged to heck. DCUO has been labeled a City of Heroes Clone not a WoW Clone. Age of Conan was suppose to be something different, but when people saw that Funcom lied to them, they realized that the game was more like WoW than they were expecting and such charges were being attached to the game after release. FFXIV wishes it was labeled a WoW clone. It would mean the darn game was at least playable and had some content.
Yes it was. Themepark games have since evolved. What WoW brought to the table new was the ability to solo in an MMO. This is what opened the game up to a larger audience.
I will give you that Rift is a Progression Focused MMO at endgame that is gear dependent. I must have missed something, but I'm pretty sure WoW isn't the only game out their before Rift that was Progression Focused and gear based.
Not really. See if you pick a Priest you are either healing or DPS and that's it right?
A mage in Rift can do everything but tank. 1 character you get to 50 and those are your options.
A Rogue in Rift can do everything but main heal. 1 character you get to 50 and those are your options.
A Warrior in Rift can do everything but heal. 1 character you get to 50 and those are your options.
A Cleric in Rift can do everything but...well heck, a cleric can do everything.
My point is you roll a Priest and get him/her to 85 and you have only the options from the Priest and that's it.
In Rift you actually have other roles you can play at a given time. To be considered a good/valuable player you're probably going to need to know how to do more than one. A lot of people hate that, some love it. That's up to the community, but it does offer more challenge than just knowing one class in WoW.
In Rift you only need to roll 3 alts, 4 characters total to have all the abilities available to you in the game.
How many characters do you have to roll in WoW to accomplish the same thing?
I don't think anyone intellligent has ever labelled FF14 a clone of anything... because it doesn't deserve the attention.
When WoW came out, it was not a clone of anything. It took elements from EQ (UI/Combat), then it took lore from its own game (which is expanded from Warcraft), took systems from its own game (Diablo II Talents) and then it created a world that was accessible to everyone. WoW as individual parts was not new. But WoW's end product, all put together, completely changed the genre. It blew everyone away.
Rift, on the other hand, has no lore worth speaking of, copied UI from WoW, copied quest, talent, levelling systems from WoW, and put together a teensy little world (about the size of one of Azerother's continents) with Rifts that it copied from Aion (NPCs instead of players, UNIQUE IDEA GAIZ). What did they bring to the table that hadn't been done already? Shiny graphics?
Rift's world is bigger than one of Azeroth's continents. WoW did blow everyone away and it did completely change the genre. Rift's addition to the genre that will be copied is probably the AoE loot system, the invasions that take over quest hubs (an improvement on Warhammer's PQ system) and the soul system. Comparing Rift's rift to Aion rifting is a huge stretch -imho. To me the Rifts in Rift are closer to the PQ system in Warhammer that actually have a momentary impact on the enironment around it.
Rift actually has fantastic lore. It's just poorly implemented in the game unfortunately. The writing in the comic books and the website is fantastic though. Some of the best I've seen in a MMO. The leveling system is not something WoW came up with and has been used in almost every MMO in the last 10 years. I really wish a developer would break away from that and personally feel the level system is the one key factor that holds Rift back from its true potential. But it is what it is.
No, Rift's world is tiny. Im not even sure if its as big as one of WoW's continents.
The AoE loot thing is nice, but its not some game changing innovation. The improvements to WARs PQ system ARE indeed very nice and a system like this will be used in other games Im sure. EQ2 already added PQs before Rift even launched and I will bet money WoWs next expansion will have them. However if Guild Wars 2 delivers on its promises with its dynamic questing, Rifts system will be forgotten about fast. Ill believe uit when I see it though.
The souls sytem is nothing new. Multiclassing has been around since D&D. Rifts soul system is taking WoWs talent tree system and giving you 9 options to choose from for your three trees instead of 3 and 5 specs instead of 2. Its more flexible than other class based games, yes. Its one of the strong points of the game and I understand why people like it. I just wish it wasnt limited to archetypes. You cant, say, make a battlemage and you cant make an archer that dabbles in dark magic.
I personally greatly prefer Runes of Magics dual class sytem if it wasnt attached to such a boring game. Lots of options, you can combine any two classes and foten the reverse of the combo plays quite differently. And the combinations mean something and have unique abilities.
And the leveling system mold has been broken in the past. But thats not peoples basis for WoW comparisons. Your skill acquisition though? 100% carbon copied from WoW, every last bit of it. You assign talent points to your trees and every 2 levels go see trainer for upgrades (which WoW has since changed with cataclysm).
No, EQ was not a themepark game, at least not at the time it launched and Blizzard began their MMO plans. It wasnt a true sandbox either, not in the sense that UO was and you can argue that EQ led the push to the themepark games (and eventually became one), but at release it lacked clearly defined goals about what you should do. Norrath was your dangerous playground to do as you wanted with it.
And WoW didnt introduce soloing, it introduced the concept of soloing (and questing) being by far the most efficient way of leveling.
Google MMO world sizes. RIFT's world is tiny.
Blizzard has fended off aoe-looting requests for a long time by saying it would only further enable botters and farmers.. They might implement it now that RIFT did but the forums have been asking for it for a long time.
Just like Guild Housing, Player Housing, Appearance Tabs, Vanilla Servers (lol), Cross-server mailing within the same account mostly for BOE, and the list goes on.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
Rift is great at hooking new players after a day or two.
My prediction? You'll be heading back to WoW with in 3-4 weeks. Just give yourself a few days to decompress from the pace set by Rifting, before trying to hop back into a previous title.
Rift is yet another MMO that succeeds at providing a solid early impression, but has a serious lack of content to bring players beyond a month or two of play. Not only is content lacking, but the quality of content is generally downhill as you progress through the game.
Rift needed two more years of content creation and should have launched with 3X the number of zones and maybe 4X the amount of content. It's clear that Trion hoped that Rifts would substitute for real content, but I can promise you that Rifts and Invasions start to get very, very old by the end of the first month, as well as becoming more sparse in the higher level zones.
Trion also set course to greatly pair down the number of viable builds and tune class balance around the least capable, least fun builds. Every balance patch has sucked a little more life from the game. It won't be long before it offers little advantage over other titles as far as fun class play is concerned.
Rift is an illusion of a good MMORPG. It doesn't take most players more than a month before the illusion wears thin and it becomes clear how lacking the game is beyond the ability to provide a solid impression during the first few weeks of play.
It's very possible to get your money's worth for the box purchase if you manage to put in a solid first month of game play. However, if you are looking for a long term title to replace a game you've been at for many months or years, Rift can only let you down.
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No. This game has NO staying power, what-so-ever. It's a horrible clone game. I like WoW because it goes a lot deeper than this.
I honestly don't even like WoW but I'd consider trying it if they'd allow more classes to perform more roles, as Rift's soul system allows.
Rift is just far too similar to that one without being as good or better. Just another solo grind to cap then grind dungeons/raids MMO. Pretty disappointing overall.