How is rift?

[randomhero00]

Especially curious for those that liked WoW and are now in love with Rift.

Any predictions (from anyone)?

I'm thinking it'll fail like all the rest...but eventually its gonna fall, just a matter of when.

Rift reminds me of Aeon. Neat surface, crappy everything else.

[The Rose Dragon]

This probably belongs in the Gaming (Other) section.

Unless you are somehow talking about the tabletop RPG, Rifts, and I'm missing something.

[LibraryOgre]

The Mod Wonder: Since he referenced WoW, I'm assuming he meant Rift: PoT, not Rifts.

[Weimann]

I played a teeny bit of Rift, and I can honestly say it was like WoW reskinned. Yes, there's a shift in atmosphere and graphic style and it is prettier, but the basic idea is the same: set target, press button until dead. In the meantime collect quest items.

I'd put it like this. If you're bored of WoW, you will be bored of this game too. If you're not bored of WoW, well, play WoW.

[Incomp]

Interesting.

I don't play MMOs, myself, but in the latest Game Informer had a lot of good things to say about Rift, and the writer of the article specifically said that WoW was going to have to do a lot better than Cataclysm to draw him back.

Sorry I can't be any more specific than that. :smalltongue:

[Prplcheez]

In my opinion, the Rifts were a really good part of this game and definitely something that they did right. However, there was some kind of bug and my computer couldn't handle the game, so I had to quit playing :smallannoyed:.

[Gaius Marius]

It's a very interesting setting! One of the few you don't want to antagonize Quebec, for once!! Although, the rules are a bit weird..


Oh.. Wait.. The video game? Nvm

[Sir]

The actual rifts were boring after a while, as they get really easy. They may get harder at 50 (max level), but I never got that far. The instances are cool, but not extremely better than WoW ones. Interesting boss fights to be had in the ones I did, at least. Not so much for the quests, they are the standard boring fare of any MMO.

The best part is by far the soul class system. It makes for extremely interesting PvP, as every person has different strengths and weaknesses, so it calls for a certain amount of team work. They are pretty balanced, and there was no "better choice" for any of the roles I tried, which is always good.

So to sum it up, Graphics are good, PvP is great (better than wow), and the PvE is.. fine. Not bad, but not that great at low-mid levels. I canceled my subscription a while ago because all my friends play WoW, and the initial love of the soul system wore off, but I can see how a more dedicated player would for sure love Rift. As said, PvP is in my opinion the best part.

[Triscuitable]

I like the "unexpected massive mob" encounters that can come out of nowhere with the Rifts. I played TF2, got the special hat for RIFT, and downloaded the beta. Played it for about an hour, got way into it, then stopped. I can't play an MMO for too long. I have problems with that kind of game. Not to say it's not absolutely "pull a vuvuzela out of nowhere and play it to celebrate a sealed Rift" awesome, but it's awesome. VERY awesome.

[Daverin]

I remember first seeing some info about Rifts when it was still Heroes of Telara (you know, back when they had JVC on board :smalltongue:). It looked really awesome for how much dynamic gameplay they had. Then I saw how it was implemented, and although it was nothing like losing interest, it did reduce the excitement somewhat. For those who have played, is Rifts respectably more dynamic than WoW?

Also, as far as the soul system, I'd be lying if I were not to admit that the claims that it actually just looks like the WoW talent tree system make me doubtful. What does the soul system do that actually makes it more than just WoW but with many more options? Like, does it have a way of truly melding multiple sub-classes together? If not, what is to stop there from eventually being those "optimal builds" that seem to make WoW become less of a roleplaying game and more of a competitive fantasy sport?

[Aricandor]

I've grown quite fond of it. Though it started out feeling quite average, it's started feeling better and better the more I've gotten into playing.

As for the soul system... Well, I don't doubt that there'll be optimal things at some point or another for specific niches. What sets it apart is how you gain (most of) the spells/abilities associated to a tree by spending points in it rather than learning them by default. There are some 1-pointers in the trees that give you new active toys, but most are learned by just putting the points into the tree in general.

It's in this mixing and matching that the real customizability appears, as it gives you fairly free hands in which actual spells/abilities you end up having. It starts out fairly quickly, with 2-3 spells for just having the tree slotted, and then every two points gives you a new one up until 20, after which the rate of new abilities drops off, but they do get markedly more directly powerful. That said it seems like versatility is a useful trait to have, so throwing in all 51 (the max for a tree) isn't necessarily mandatory.

There's no way to look what other players are doing, but from the discussions I've seen there's plenty of mixing bastardry going on so either the game just naturally allows that kind of thing, or it isn't yet old enough that players have started thinking that "this and that is the right way to do it" on a large enough scale for me to notice. It really could be either one.

As for the inevitable comparisons... I'm going to be boringly Swedish and just say it does some things better and some things worse. Its atmosphere and ambience (it does a good job of feeling like a world that's really messed up, far moreso than Cataclysm does in spite of lacking the terrain damage), the soul system, the feel of it being a world rather than a game are stronger points, while it very much can be felt that it hasn't had six years of polish and lacks the crushing weight of available content.

The periodic large scale invasions and roaming bands of enemies that emerge from the rifts and want nothing more than a human sandwich and to set up a new restaurant for said sandwiches do make it feel more alive and messed up a place than WoW in general, but it's gone back on a lot of the gamier aspects that Warcraft's taken on. Whether this is good or not is entirely up to the player. For example, traveling to a dungeon (mind only one player has to do it, the rest then get a teleport prompt) helps the world come alive a bit, but it does so at the expense of speed and convenience.

You also can't be positively sure that you'll be able to go on with your questing in peace, if that's your thing. Invading enemies can and will take over the smaller quest hubs due to general NPC incompetence, and while you can usually solo such a thing a major invasion will often render a zone unquestable in until it's dealt with (it's usually quick, but if you don't want to faff around with that then you might be stuck for a little while).

So Rift sure has its ups and downs. To me they're generally worth it, and it definitely feels more like a fantasy world a la Elder Scrolls (plus some actual zone diversity as opposed to Oblivion) rather than just a setpiece for a "Game of Warcraft".

I will end this with the qualifier that I play and enjoy them both on their own merits, so I like to pretend I'm fairly unbiased here. :smallsmile: