I've read these "yeah, servers are alive again!!" cheers after every single patch Trion released, as well as after SL.
Still the only steady thing about Rift's population was that it dwindled down to "1 server high, every other server low" soon after.
People were worried if Rift would survive the release of SWTOR, then TERA, then Gw2, then MoP...while people leaving Rift wasn't so much about other titles getting released, but rather because Rift itself was never an outstanding game with staying power.
Not everyone left because Rift had a sub, not everyone left because another title was F2P, as not everyone is going to play it because F2P suddenly makes it an awesome game now. Most folks i talked to weren't interested because Rift has always been a "meh" experience on many levels in first place.
The F2P move is not going to change this. Servers will go down in population with or without F2P again.
Trion stated that they went F2P because "it was the most wanted feature fans asked for". Aside from this being a straight out lie, give it 6+ month and Trion will have a rude awakening about it.
What's funny is I've heard the exact opposite. It goes much less to the game as it does to the industry and marketplace of gamers. When you have a new game literally being launched every 3-4 months (or it feels like), it is even more difficult to keep gamers attached to one game. Do we need to do a history check of all games released after 2005? Or 2004 for that fact? A new player coming into this genre will have a multitude of options as compared to back in the EQ/AO/EQ2/WoW days where you had how many triple A titles out?
Feedback from said players will vary a ton as if you're talking to folks who been playing for years upon years as to someone who just hopped in say a month or year ago. F2P bodes very well with today's marketplace, with the increasing presence of console gaming and us veterans phasing out, its simple business to find more ways to get people into these games without having them "commit" to these games.
Rift has been having its population coming back because of Raptr and it was before free to play was even announced durr OP. If people are being given a free game , pets and expansion plus 30 free days of game time of course its going to get people playing its common sense.
Also plenty of people go to the forums and tell people why they leave and trust me its never once been because it has a sub fee listed. Its because its still at its heart and soul a wow clone and still to this day does absolutely nothing at all better than wow does it .Contrary to this jaded opinion of majority on this SMALL site , wow is about 1000x better than rift ever will be and if you are going to play an exact end game clone of wow but with about 10x more grinding for tokens and marks than wow ever had on its worse day what do you expect people to do? Thats why all you hear in rifts general chat is wow jokes and dissing on wow by a bunch of angry nerds that just lost their first love and are burned out of wow. Yet they are ALWAYS the first to run right back to wow every single expansion that releases. Trion had at its prime maybe 250k subs , wow even losing subs is 8.3 million , you can do the math yourself and see why people leave.
I disagree. I played WOW for 6 years and left because it was complacent and mediocre. I can't think of anything WOW does better unless you're into arena. I've always been so surprised more never changed over but I think many only stay because of friends and the time they have invested.
things wow does better than Rift:
PvP (by a HUGE margin..the flexible soul system leads to kind of blah PvP 'classes'...WoW has a much better set up for class counters and such)
combat overall (Rift is extremely GCD spammy...WoW certainly can be too but just feels better than Rift. better animations and overall more fluid)
Raiding (sorry, Hammerknell so far is an anomaly...the rest of the raid content isnt quite as good or as difficult...not that its bad, but its not better/harder than WoW heroics)
Questing (again, not even close)
Lore/Game world
since storm legion/MoP: content addition
grind factor: people complain about dailies but for the most part they are optional. however rift's various currency grinds are far worse than valor points and the Rift faction grinds are horrendous.
things Rift does better than WoW:
class customization
HOUSING (by far Rifts biggest asset over WoW at this stage)
dungeon difficulty (They need a master mode for all the dungeons, but the expert modes are tougher than anything WoW throws at you on a group level)
the invasions are cool
PA system. It may be the worst AA system ever implemented but its certainly better than nothing. People wouldnt bitch about dailies as much if they got exp toward more stats/abilities for them.
things they are more or less equal on:
crafting
fluff (Rift has artifacts, WoW has the pokemon, archaeology, brawlers guild, and a few other minor things. WoW has tons more pets and mounts to collect, but thats because of its age. Both have a nice variety of achievement related things)
You're trying to state your opinions as facts. I prefer Rift over WoW in all aspects. The only thing that made WoW good was the fact that Blizz looked around when they were making WoW, took everything that worked, wrapped it in a very child appealing package, made it accessible to everyone and advertised the hell out of it. Then BOOM video game giant.
Nothing about WoW is cutting edge, they did not pioneer anything. They did a great job at making a awesome entry level game, then they dumbed it down so all the whiners could be successful. THEN they let people make mods to hold their hand though their raid content and everywhere else. Sadly Rift is allowing that now as well. That is all fact.
My opinion is: Rift is the superior game. My opinion may not be shared by all and that is fine.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
My wife and I, along with our close friends, have come back and have been enjoying ourselves immensely once again. I was there at launch and was in the raid group that dropped greenscale on wolfsbane for the first time, and it was awesome. Life happened after that and i simply could not justify subbing to any game at all. Too many more important things to put money towards...
But now this? f2p? I was skeptical. I generally avoid cash shops and the like, but it is inevitable that we will encounter one these days with any and all games, but the game's f2p model is vastly superior to the....interesting...decisions that Bioware made with ToR's conversion, so i was sold. Brought myself and twelve people with me back to Telara and i haven't been happier to be honest. It is a quality product and i think it will have a larger impact than some detractors think it will starting Tuesday.
Comments
What's funny is I've heard the exact opposite. It goes much less to the game as it does to the industry and marketplace of gamers. When you have a new game literally being launched every 3-4 months (or it feels like), it is even more difficult to keep gamers attached to one game. Do we need to do a history check of all games released after 2005? Or 2004 for that fact? A new player coming into this genre will have a multitude of options as compared to back in the EQ/AO/EQ2/WoW days where you had how many triple A titles out?
Feedback from said players will vary a ton as if you're talking to folks who been playing for years upon years as to someone who just hopped in say a month or year ago. F2P bodes very well with today's marketplace, with the increasing presence of console gaming and us veterans phasing out, its simple business to find more ways to get people into these games without having them "commit" to these games.
Rift: Storm Legion Raid Progression Tracker
You're trying to state your opinions as facts. I prefer Rift over WoW in all aspects. The only thing that made WoW good was the fact that Blizz looked around when they were making WoW, took everything that worked, wrapped it in a very child appealing package, made it accessible to everyone and advertised the hell out of it. Then BOOM video game giant.
Nothing about WoW is cutting edge, they did not pioneer anything. They did a great job at making a awesome entry level game, then they dumbed it down so all the whiners could be successful. THEN they let people make mods to hold their hand though their raid content and everywhere else. Sadly Rift is allowing that now as well. That is all fact.
My opinion is: Rift is the superior game. My opinion may not be shared by all and that is fine.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
My wife and I, along with our close friends, have come back and have been enjoying ourselves immensely once again. I was there at launch and was in the raid group that dropped greenscale on wolfsbane for the first time, and it was awesome. Life happened after that and i simply could not justify subbing to any game at all. Too many more important things to put money towards...
But now this? f2p? I was skeptical. I generally avoid cash shops and the like, but it is inevitable that we will encounter one these days with any and all games, but the game's f2p model is vastly superior to the....interesting...decisions that Bioware made with ToR's conversion, so i was sold. Brought myself and twelve people with me back to Telara and i haven't been happier to be honest. It is a quality product and i think it will have a larger impact than some detractors think it will starting Tuesday.
The game is such a a massive grindfest.
Raids are fun if you are into them.
Grindfest? What game are you playing??? Certainly not RIFT.