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How does this game compare to EQ2 a few years ago?
I've been in a bit of MMO limbo for a while lately, and I'm looking for a good one to get back into. This game caught my eye after learning that many of the developers had previously worked on EQ2, a game that I played the hell out of and thoroughly enjoyed. Since it's pretty clear after recently trying to go back that EQ2 is no longer the same game it was a few years ago, I'm hoping that maybe Rift can help take its place. My question is, how similar is Rift to EQ2 around the time of 2004-2009, and would you recommend it to someone such as myself?
For the record, some of the things I liked about EQ2 of old were:
- an interesting and useful tradeskill system. While I'm not a huge fan of click-to-combine crafting, as long as there are unique and exciting things to craft, and as long as tradeskilling is actually useful, I can deal with it.
- the relatively close-knit community feel despite the game having fairly densely populated servers (obviously this is no longer the case)
- the strong emphasis on group play in dungeons and raids, and the interesting group dynamics
- a large, interesting, cohesive, lore- and content-filled world to explore on my own with or without a specific reason such as a quest pointing me in that direction (just running around and finding new quests in previously unexplored corners of the map was always fun)
- player housing (I know this isn't currently in Rift, but I've heard it's coming in the expansion. Any details?)
Thanks!
Comments
Rift has WoW crafting, so utterly boring, and the things you make aren't great either.
The community is close-knit, but mainly because of guilds. Join a big guild, there aren't many really large ones, but once you're in one you are with like a large portion of that server. Everyone is normally helpful etc.
Instances and Raids are very imprtant at 50, before then instances are only done for leveling purposes. Instant adventures mean you can literally level 10-50 in a massive raid group too in every area at the click of a button. Never have to do a single quest after 10 if you don't want to.
The lore is great, if you actually read about it and don't just skip over it, ie quest text and books etc that you find randomly. I don't pay much attention to lore though myself.
Player housing is apparently instanced, but in a massive instance of the entire world, you can make a house anywhere in the instanced player housing world. Which seems very good.
Edit; I'd just like to say, I've never played EQ2, but I just answered your questions as best I could.
rift is fun for a while, then its meh.
Nothing like EQ2 when it comes to dungeon runs and quests.
I suppuse raiding is still hard enough, but its a themepark more than anything. Quests are just speedbumps.
I suggest you look into the secret world. The quests, lore and atmosphere is the best you will find anywhere atm. Cant say much about dungeons yet, as im just on normal dungeons, but they are fun. Not sure how hard they will be at nightmare and hell mode.
No raids as of yet, but the first will come soon (tm)
The game is just a couple of weeks old, so you will not have any problems with finding ppl to group with.
I have a buddy key still i think if youre interested, lasts 24 hours.
When you hope Rift will be a sucessor of EQ2 you will be disappointed. The game is good enough to give it a try, but has nothing you seem to be looking for.
It takes one to know one.
One of the best things I like about Rift is the lore. If you haven't read the gazillion of books you find in the game, you probably won't like it, if you're a lore-junkie like me. The biggest problem I have with Rift is on the roleplay server, noone actually roleplays. They might talk in character and so a little bit of non-combat associated roleplaying, but it's nothing like lotro.
Not similar at all really. But then 2007ish EQ2 might have been the best MMORPG era ever, right up there with vanilla WoW, Velious EQ1 and LDoN EQ1.
Tradeskills, as said, are pretty much WoW. There is nice gear for fresh 50s, but you wont be able to make it on a fresh 50. 1-49 goes by so fast its not even worth it, unlike EQ2 where MC gear was so desirable.
In-guild community s fine, the Rift players are a nice bunch. But they are so damn antisocial outside of guilds. Invasions are weird, 40 people in a raid together, not interacting and just soloing. Dungeons are usually antisocial affairs too, unless done with guildies. As far as server density, I would see there are 5 servers in Rift that are of freeport/AB population, one that has more (wolfsbane), and the rest are below average eq populated servers. AT primetime all 10 NA EQ2 servers hit medium or higher, only 6 of Rift's 16 servers hit medium or higher (but they feel more populated since the world is 1/10th the size)
Rift's group dynamics are quite different than EQ2. There isnt that complex class synergy like EQ2 hand, and the souls feel ridiculously shallow compared to EQ2's classes. There isnt careful construction of MT groups and caster groups like in EQ2. However, Rift you often dont play the same class the whole raid, there are often fights youll switch to something sifferent. EQ2 is deep but rigid, Rift is shallow but flexible.
The lore is YMMV. Each zone does have an out of the way puzzle to solve and a loot box in some high place, but lore exploration is limited. Overall there is much less to do while leveling and seeing the world in Rift. Rift is very low key in its lore presentation. There are a few nice chain quests, but overall not much in the way of the awesome HQs of EQ2. Closest things to hidden quests are sometimes rare nameds drop quest starters for simple turnins. You will see 95% of the world just going through the quest chains.
No one knows much about housing yet. Only two games have ever compared with EQ2s housing, UO and SWG. Housing was major feature of those three games, Rift's is an expansion addition. Im not holding my breath for it but maybe Trion will surprise here.
The best thing about crafting is it isn't tied to adventuring level, so you can have a level 1 character mastering 3 craft skills sitting in the factory while your other questing characters do the gathering for them. I like the idea of pure crafter who doesn't need to be a 50th level adventurer just to gain mastery in armoursmithing or whatever. That never made sense to me in other games (LOTRO for example).
RIFT is fun and addictive in the first 2 zones then you start to getting closer to that wall that you suddendly stop logging in and dont really understand why, it was so great at first, what change?
repetive and "dynamic event" flavour worn off and you see the game what it is.
It's not a bad game IMO It's pretty good for what it is and TRION are forking out patches and content pretty fast, which is quite unuasual in this genre.
For me I stopped beacuse i hit a wall around lvl 38-39, dont really feel doing engame raids till I'm blue in the face.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
I didn't hit a wall, I usually do in most mmos I play, but in Rift I levelled two characters to 50, which is really unusual for me so it must have had something to hold me. I just loved the zone design, the soul tree idea and the general playability of the game. It was fun and easy enough to solo up to 50. I now enjoy raiding and playing Ember Isle where I don't seem to be getting bored yet of the daily quests. I also don't like grinding dungeons, but there seems to be enough to do at 50 without doing that.
I have found with many games that at a certain level, the game lacks quests or they are really boring quests. This seems to be a problem of quality control. Get people into the game and worry about quality at some future time. I hate to pay $15 per month and hit a wall. Hope Rift will be the exception.