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LF info about Rift
Over a year ago I stopped played WoW and haven`t touched another mmorpg since. Now that I`m not as busy with work, I`m looking for a new one, preferably fantasy, but anything would do . I have joined this website to help inform myself and research as must as possible but I`m still uncertain about what to choose.
So far, Rift speaks out to me because of the soul system, I turned away from WoW because it was becoming cookie cutter to me, but rift seems to be a great answer to that. I`m just wondering how true that is tho, and if there isn`t "builds" out there that are absolutely necessary in order to be able to run dungeons or raid. I`d like anybody`s opinions on what they like or don`t like about Rift, or maybe even a suggestion of another mmorpg that I may not have come across in my search. Keeping away from cookie cutter designs, although from what I gather many of them seem to be that way... 
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Don't usually reply to posts on here but since i played rift for nearly a year i'll chip in on this.
To answer your question, there is cookie cutter builds in rift, that always come up every patch or even hotfix's that are better than most other builds, however saying that, at the time of writing and before my guild broke up reaching 5/8 Infernal Dawn, there were 2-3 viable enough builds for each class to play around with, for example, warriors at the time could choose either to go dual wield, or 2H and both do viable DPS in Raids, rogues had 2 melee specs, and a viable enough ranged soul, clerics had a melee and ranged, and mages had 2 viable dps specs, this is purely speaking high end PvE. Tanking wise theres only so much stretch on each of the classes, so all in all it is a cookie cutter game, no matter what anyone else tells you, some people simply ignore it and play what they want, they don't get far in the game that way but they enjoy it, it's do-able at a low-end level.
I played Rift for about 2 months and I almost made it to max level. I can't speak to the end game content, however I have many opinions about all of the content before that.
First off, I suppose I would ask you what you what mean by "cookie cutter". If you mean "WoW clone" or some facsimile, then I would have to say that Rift is about as cookie cutter as you can get. The questing and crafting sytems are almost identical. Also, the game has a very simiar "feel"; the way it controls, the UI and even the pacing of the game are all really similar.
As for the different aspects (i.e. the dynamic events and the soul systems), I don't think they really add enough to justify its distinction from WoW. Admittedly, I enjoyed the DEs, but they eventually became pretty derivitive. Also, because the game still had the standard questing system, the DEs kind of conflicted with it. Towards the end of my experience, I ended up just doing PvP, and popping out occasionally to check if any events were active. The souls, in theory, are pretty neat. But in the end, there are a lot of skills that do essentially the same thing, and the stong emphasis on balance makes pretty much any build you can come up with feel about the same.
The game still has the "get to the end as fast as you can so you can gear grind" style. Personally, I found it more enjoyable than WoW, but if you are looking for a different experience all together, then I would look elswhere. Unfortunately, there aren't too many AAA games around that can offer a really new experience. The Secret World, TERA, and Guild Wars 2 all seem to be trying to break away from the mould on their own way. I haven't played them, though (other than the GW2 betas).
Thanks for the info guys,
By cookie cutter, mostly mean in how we design our characters and cyberselves. When you see everyone of the same class as you with the same gear and talent build, you are like an oreo. I know it`d be a mathematical endeavor for programmers to have a game out there where this situation wouldn`t be the case, but I haven`t found it yet. Maybe its out there and I`m just not aware. That`s why I`m here.
I see this as being one of the biggest problems with mmorpgs, I may be wrong. But I think many of us playing this genre would prefer to feel like our characters are more unique, rather than something we can pull out of a sleeve and dunk in milk.
Rift will give you almost the exact same things wow gave you in a slightly different package. less cookie cutter, yes .. but not by a lot. unless it's changed drastically since i played you still need fairly cookie cutter specs for dungeons and pvp.
EDIT : Well, you don't NEED them so to speak .. but cookie cutter specs were pretty widespread.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
Also an ex-RIFTer myself....and yes just like all high end-game PvE content there are cookie cutter builds. Its just part of the RPG system based on stats. Developers do their best to balance out numebrs, but liek ou said OP you can only do so much. 1-50 however can be played by a wide variety of builds, but endgame raiding is the same as anywhere else.
Its the main reason I'm breaking away from raiding and gear treadmills myself. IMO, they are stale and cause unwanted competition between guildmates and friends without providing long lasting replay value. Hopefully you find what you're looking for someday.