Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Rift: Seven Months Later
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Rift has been in retail release for just over half a year and has taken home the GDC Online Best New Online Game award. How is it stacking up compared to release? Check out Mobin Koohestani's "Rift: Seven Months Later" impressions to find out. Leave us your thoughts about Rift after its first seven months in the comments.
Comments
Rift is ok. Trion tries hard with frequent updates, and more coming with 1.6.
But it just seems to be regarded as a potboiler until something new comes out, i.e.swtor gw2 etc etc
There are differences between this and wow, but it is unashamedly targetted at that game. To secure a long term vibrant playerbase it needs to look for more unique points and less me-too content.
Judge's verdict - middle of the road mmo, interim game for many.
Yeah... Rift was okay. There was no real reason to switch to it if your friends didn't go with you.
Important facts:
1. Free to Play games are poorly made.
2. Casuals are not all idiots, but idiots call themselves casuals.
3. Great solo and group content are not mutually exclusive, but they suffer when one is shoved into the mold of the other. The same is true of PvP and PvE.
4. Community is more important than you think.
It's a great game, probably the best on the market right now.
I know it's kinda silly, but I hate that I can't force antialiasing and have to use the game's crappy AA. I also think the game just looks blurry even with no AA. This stuff bugs the hell out of me
Rift is good, it would be great if I hadn't already played WOW for over 5 years.
Unfortunately for Trion, JudgeUK has got it spot on for me, it is just a potboiler until SWTOR and/or GW2 and I don't think I'n the only one by a long stretch.
On sale for $5 from Trion with subscription discounts.
Another constant praise of a very mediocre game, as always on mmorpg.com and as usual far from the actual truth.
Rifts are still fun after all the time? How comes that the common chorus is that for month no one does them anymore?
"Some notable mmos build up hype and die off in just a few month, Rift however has been able to sustain a pretty well developed community" -hello? Rift "we're not in Azeroth anymore" build just as much if not more hype and died off in a few month as well and outside of guilds there is absolute ZERO community.
I also like that part "Visuals and sounds" in which you praise the awesomeness of the visuals...and while you speak your character rides along mobs and objects pop up out of nowhere 20m infront of you.
I doubt much will be left of the subscriber base after TOR comes out. In comes TOR, out goes the majority of the people playing Rift. When you can choose between WoW and TOR, there is virtually no reason to stick with Rift. They'll be lucky if their subscriber numbers are only halved.
They will come back though. Rift has a really good raiding end game (if you like that sort of thing) and TOR will be a 2-3 month fun excursion for people. They will lose interest in TOR once they go through all the story content.
My opinion is that no matter how much 'new' content they add to this game, it's still going to feel like you're playing all the old crap with a new coat of paint on it.
I have a friend who keeps a subscription to RIFT because of his friends and guild mates, but never actually plays. I log into his account on occasion to see how the game progresses, but after 5 months I still have only one character, and he's level 18 now. I can't play this game for more than a few minutes at a time. It's bland as hell.
I did however, enjoy some of the higher level raids. I went on a few with one of my friend's higher tier characters to try it out with his guildees, and had fun. I only did two though, and I have a feeling if I was playing regularly and doing them all the time, they'd bore me as well. In the end, it's just not worth the sub fee. I think it's the best 'WoW' game available, even better than WoW itself, but I've seen a hundred copies of that game and I can't be bothered to get into yet another one.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
For me, the leveling up process was too slow to mask the lack of fun and variety the questing offered.
Also, even with the Soul system everything was still pigeon-holed into "leveling build" and "PvP build" and "group build" the only difference is they gave you enough "slots" for each of the builds you needed.
I also did not find the Rifts/invasions to be all that interesting after the first month or so. Was easier to just avoid them and wait until the zone reset if my quest hubs were overrun.
Very polished, very well-made game and I agree that the graphics were fantastic but I just never found a reason to care about my character, the world, the story, any of it.
There is nothing next gen or new gen about this game, aside from their servers. Everything is rehashed, unoriginal, and stale. Still, the game is polished enough to where it could be considered a good game IF Trion had paid a little more attention to content on the way to level 50. Instead, the boring questlines and tiny, linear world makes this game fall short of the mark. A year from now, at least half their population will be gone.
I went back to try it also and find they have indeed added a lot of new content which is impressive because of the amount within such a short period. The new Planner system is pretty interesting as is the changes made to rifts/invasions. I can see RiFT being around for a long time and I really do hope the population does survive TOR.
Looking at RiFT status it seems the population is still growing at this point although when TOR hits this will obviously change at least initially.
logged into harrow and it was pretty much deserted outside of a handful of 50s.
an mmo really needs to deal with the problem of lowbies coming to the game and being all alone, and an mmo needs to make grouping while leveling up compelling. Rift does neither. I'm not saying many mmo's do, but that's part of what's wrong with mmo's today, and why they die off so quick.
Should go take a look at Guild Wars 2.
Seriously lol
I played Rift during the beta and then again with a free trial, I liked it alot it was perfect for me because I was sick of playing WoW and I wanted something new, with better graphics, not too different but also not exactly the same. I finally bought the game a few days ago and I'm having a great time so far (i'm level 28). The Rifts are indeed alot more fun now, the server is full of people (Sagespire EU), and I also love the new warfront Library of the Runemasters. I think the game is great, it might not be revolutionary but it's polished, fun and the devs are working really hard to make it even better.
Claire Gearhead - Level 80 Norn Engineer - Far Shiverpeaks (EU)
What did they change about the Rifts to make them more fun?
I am curious, complete and 100% honest question.
Oh hey, another Rift fluff piece.
You just did one for Rift at 6 months, now its Rift at 7 months? What next? Rift at 7 months and two weeks?
Where is the article on Rift closing almost 40% of its servers since launch and why it struggles to retain subs? Guess thats not part of the advertising contract.
I'm with teakbois here.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
Rift is the pinnacle of Themepark games. Fantastic for what it is.
But i've never played an MMORPG that felt more like it had a parking lot in it somewhere where I left my car and a bag full of my "normal" clothes.
I liked the game, it was a nice diversion from wow. Just a shame it released without enough non-raid content i.e more lvl 50 zones (nice to see a new zone added btw, may come back next year if more are added...or not :P).
It did something wonderful for me though, it cured me of my zombie-like addiction to wow......and my addiction to online gaming in general.
What's missing in Rift is depth. The invasion and the rfits are cool, but there's no depth in it. Invasions will soon reset anyway without player intervention and the rfit will close when the time is up. No depth and no sense of importance.
Also there's no reason to craft when the World Event Items are far better than your crafted items.
I think the problem with Rift is that, it behaves as if they are 5 yrs old trying to keep their player base and starting to feel like I'm playing WoW with different graphics. And their updates are actually getting in the way of players trying to enjoy the game. And EXP boost for subs was I believe the most stupid of all ideas because it doesn't allow players to fully explore and experience an area before they out leveled it. I have to skip a lot of quests before they soon are greyed out because I'm leveling too fast.
It's nice to have updates and rewards, but the way they are doing it is I believe is over the top. As a casual player, that's just too much thing to do in a short amount of time. And since I can't keep up, I just stopped trying and unsubscribed.
Also, I like making Alts and allowing me to purchase the other Souls on my main kills this for me. And regardless of the class I choose, every car are loaded on the same rail -- which gets boring after 2-3 runs even with a different character.
I think they try so hard to be like WoW that they don't have their own identity.
Ready for GW2!!!
God I tried Rift's trial and I couldn't even complete the full 7 days because I lost interest so fast. The game's unique features which are rifts and raids are more of an annoyance then a fun feature. There is too many zone wide events in one day. For goodness sakes, how is it fun when you're trying to level up and do quests and you can't because rifts and massive raids are blocking quests hubs? Not to mention traveling is a pain. All of the mobs attack you and none of them are non-aggro even when you're 10 levels above them they still attack. Even if you're mounted you get dismounted 99% of the time when you're attacked which makes no since. Basically if you enjoy being able to actually explore the world in an mmorpg Rift is not the game for you as you'll be mobbed by monsters (and don't even try to run). Also expect to die, a LOT.
Smile
I played RIFT since launch for about 3 months. I stayed with 2 max level chars on both faction sides for about 4 weeks, then I was bored to death. Everything that followed when I re-tried the game since then was a rehash of the same rift grind mechanics. I am sorry, but it BORES me to tears. I just don't see how anything I see here changed that, and I can only marvel how people are capable to stay in this game.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I have/had a lvl 50 rogue, participated in some end-game including 300 crafting (rune). Yeah it was a placeholder for me (5 year wow-vet) but the bugs kept piling up and customer service did everything they could to blambe it on my system. I have a great internet connect (21mbps down/5 mbps up) amd through my Rift excursion I ended up replacing my entire system. At 1st it was piece by piece but finally ended up with a new motherboard on up (phenom II x6, 8gb ddr3, raedon 6790 w/1gb and tons more). Still had serious rendering issues in the city and in major boss fights I thought my card was gonna puke. I tried over the free weekend again and still the same.
Over the "upggrades" I went through 3 video cards, 2 processors and I even tried playing with linux via wine. I have never had these kinds on issues with ANY other game and in the end the continual suggestions that it was my fault pissed me off. Although 1 tech rep (after I sent him video of the issue) did say it was something they were aware of and were working on. And then they made a timed daily that had to be completed in the laggy city the next day! Game over...
I am just sitting here playing old games waiting for something better.. swtor, gw2, idk but somethin will come along, it just isn't Rift.
And Caesar's spirit, raging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
All I can say about this game is blah. Graphics are detailed but lack excitement and color. It feels depressing. The combat is the same. Tons of abilities but not very satisflying feel. Needs some awesome battle music and more BAM in your hits. I love the mechanics but its dull and boooooring. When i smash something in the face i want to SEE something REALLY happen. Even as boring as FFXI was, I found much satisfaction in the feel of a hit and the effect of a special ability. The environments weren't all that exciting, but there were a great deal of cool things to see. WOW took it to the extremes the other direction. They made it too cartoony and simple but you don't fall asleep at the keyboard. I could get past the graphics if they could inject some adrenalin into the combat. Travel feels so sloooow too. Riding around on your mount feels like you got stuck in some kind of time slow effect. But maybe i just play to much Darksiders... or maybe THEY need to.