I thought this game was a horrible WoW clone, but

[Acquiesce of Telara]

I tested it in the Beta and I enjoyed it. Its just.. it doesn’t have the feeling a MMO should have. And I got extremely bored after doing the exact same starting quests for my third character. Biggest flaw. 1 starting zone per faction.

For replayability, I'm sure re-running the same zone multiple times would suck, but with Rifts, invasions and footholds, it would be a nightmare trying to gather enough help for all the action if the entire shard's 1-20s were spread across 4 or 6 starter zones. (2 factions, 2-3 starters each)

I think it's better the way it is, it saves a lot of potential racial exploration for the expacs.

[Kiasari]

I've been touting this game for a while. The only thing Blizzard had over Trion, to me, was their excellent customer service. And now that they've killed 600 of those excellent customer service people, I dont have much of an argument left.

Rift is awesome. It's not as polished, it's not as clean, but its MORE CREATIVE, its MORE ARTISTIC, its MORE FUN.

Give it a chance, anyone, it's free to level 20 now anyway.

[Tarien]

If you are going to pay for a EQ Clone...

FTFY.

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it, but quite frankly while I am a massive Star Wars fan and Star Wars Galaxies was one of the most amazing MMOs I ever played, you couldn't pay me to play SWTOR. The endgame raids are shallow, lacking in challenge and in size, there is no LFD tool, the UI is horrific, there are no addons, the are many bugs, the open world PvP zone was and continues to be an unmitigated disaster and on and on.

I could also list all the ways that RIFT is better than WoW, but I've not got the time and there are already plenty of threads on this.

---------- Post added 2012-03-03 at 05:59 PM ----------

I tested it in the Beta and I enjoyed it. Its just.. it doesn’t have the feeling a MMO should have. And I got extremely bored after doing the exact same starting quests for my third character. Biggest flaw. 1 starting zone per faction.

Come back and try dungeons, or PvP, or Rifts and Invasions. I have three chars that have gone from 10 -> 30ish purely through PvP/Dungeons. Lotsa fun.

[Acquiesce of Telara]

I've been touting this game for a while. The only thing Blizzard had over Trion, to me, was their excellent customer service. And now that they've killed 600 of those excellent customer service people, I dont have much of an argument left.

Personal preference maybe, but I couldn't pick Blizz over Trion for customer service. Between rewarding players with free time, problem solving, refunds and adjusting gameplay design elements, Trion has a big lead.

When the River of Souls event pissed everyone off, Trion gave every player in the game the rewards and more as an apology, promising to reconsider the way events are incorporated so everyone can participate in a timely manner. That's just a single example.

[Weiland]

These are the things i like about rift
Instant adventure
zone raids/events for every tier
raids that come to you in ember isle
raids that are coming faster than most casuals can clear current content
solo and duo instances
objective based world pvp
free weekly server xfers
wardrobe/costumes w/o having to pay for transmogging(thus allowing you to carry an additional 5 armor sets w/o taking up bag space
rich graphics that don't look like a cartoon that i watched on cartoon network
class system like no other (teleporting sniper anyone?)
a place where 20man raids are just that 20man and 10man raids are 10man raids
annual sub that saves u 33%
mounts that are cheaper than a months subscription
No Normal Mode/Hard Mode raids, just like ulduar you have to choose if you want to go for the "hardmode" or just go @ it normally
free mobile app to keep me connected with guildmates and friends along with keeping me posted on zone events too (the loot is just a bonus)

did i forget anything i'm hard pressed to find anything i forgot to add to the list of things i like about rift.

Oh yeah
its original and not built around an already established franchise which imo says alot about trion.

Is rift similar to wow yes in many aspects, but wow was similar to EQ.

[Sparklelord]

Free up to a point = win

You know WoW is the same way right? Whether it became that way before or after Rift I am unsure. All I know is WoW is free to play but you can't level past 20.

[Deleted]

So you wake up on a Saturday morning and you have the following to do:

- Master mode Darkening Deeps
- Master mode Cadeceus Rise
- Daily expert
- Daily warfront
- Ember island dailies.
- Instant adventure
- Invasions here and there
- Daily crafting quests
- Fool around with carnival

All the above are either solo or 5man material. On top of them you can add 10man/20man pugs or your guilds organized raids and whatnot.

I mean, you always have something to do and you always get the feeling that your character progresses outside of getting loot. Planar Attunement was a VERY clever move from Trion.

This is what makes Rift a good game to play. You have to try really hard to not have something to do when you log in.

[Weiland]

So you wake up on a Saturday morning and you have the following to do:

- Master mode Darkening Deeps
- Master mode Cadeceus Rise
- Daily expert
- Daily warfront
- Ember island dailies.
- Instant adventure
- Invasions here and there
- Daily crafting quests
- Fool around with carnival

all of which are optional too and aren't game breaking if you don't do them

You have to try really hard to not have something to do when you log in.

soo true there is always plenty to consume in this game no matter the lvl.

[Rocketsurgeon]

I definitely couldn't favor Blizz over Trion for customer service. Blizz came closest in early vanilla but quickly flared down into low expectations instead of proactive and attentive. Last few years of Blizz and I've been surprised if a CSR even responded to my ticket/call appropriately, I usually had to have tickets reopened or elevated because of nonsensical replies or reactions. Trion is still all over comprehension of what their players are going through and they throw everything they can at them. I don't agree with every design decision, but I have to admit their course is a good one.

I'm still not settled into my new server, so I'm not raiding as much as I would like. The sheer diversity of options I have to be productive with my time is amazing. Most rewards have a nice steady rhythm that keeps me motivated. PAs, gear, money, costumes and fluff, patch events...pretty much everything but faction grinds
Definitely beats sitting idle in a main city.

[Weiland]

everything but faction grinds

there are some factions that currently have decent or BiS runes for gear .. but not having them is in no way a handicap unless u're really that into min maxing, and u really don't need any gear they sell cause ur still farming for ur starter set or what have you.

speaking of CSR and Trion a few months ago there was a security breach .. they fixed it .. gave players 3days of play time (and it is not the 1st time they have given players a day or 2 of play time) and a trinket to increase the amount of coin mobs drop.. which can be really nice when doing invasions, questing, and instance/raid trash (cause bosses are srs biznezz)

[Weerra]

How big is the client download for Rift, by the way? It says 15 GB disk space, but to how much actual traffic is that compressed?

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE look online for tutorials on power-leveling or how to do anything at all. The best element of playing a new MMO is the WTF IS THAT AND WHY IS IT HAPPENING moments and the exploration of the newfound world.

Eh, it depends on how deep you look into it.
I can clearly identify from memories the moments when Ragnarok Online and WoW lost their magic for me, but I've been looking quest detail for a loong time before that happened. I've been wowheading EVERYTHING I run across in WoW from around level 20 and I lost the feel only after around half a year at level 85 (in ToC)

[Tarien]

How big is the client download for Rift, by the way? It says 15 GB disk space, but to how much actual traffic is that compressed?

10.1GB, ish.

[KCguy]

Wow clone or not that doesn't matter to me. As long as a game is FUN that's all that does matter.

[Djuntas]

Having just hit 50 earliere this weekend (I made a thread recently on the boards)............

Yea, the lvling wasent much fun (If you ask me zones are to much like each other kinda). But its okay really. Once I hittted 50 you feel almost stressed. Ive only just semi-learned DPS melee spec, tanking, and aoe/solo spec. So much choices even as a rogue. Gear seem to be wow-grind aswell, abit booring, but when has gear grind ever been fun. I like that you have many options to gear up trough. Think I grinded 3 epics for level 50 before I was done lvling.

Anyway lvling proffesions been smooth. Made like 200 plat 1-50 or so, spended alot of it on proffesion lvling and buying few items. So all is well! Liking Rift so far, BUT if you are bored of MMO's in the first place I wouldent say Rift is amasing, but its for sure great for thoes of us who still likes MMO's!

Edit: I hate having no fly mounts, but then its nice that they do offer ground mounts to be OK easy to get. Im annoyed that Ultra graphic Rift meelts FPS aswell, haft to lower settings for sure. And the lack of addons to the game aint fun aswell, but you cant exspect them to have addons out in 1 year old game. Using NKrebuff, Karuulalert and some king boss modes? I havent found an DPS meter addon that works propor like Recount yet, really miss that alot.

[Syce]

Having just hit 50 earliere this weekend (I made a thread recently on the boards)............

Yea, the lvling wasent much fun (If you ask me zones are to much like each other kinda). But its okay really. Once I hittted 50 you feel almost stressed. Ive only just semi-learned DPS melee spec, tanking, and aoe/solo spec. So much choices even as a rogue. Gear seem to be wow-grind aswell, abit booring, but when has gear grind ever been fun. I like that you have many options to gear up trough. Think I grinded 3 epics for level 50 before I was done lvling.

Anyway lvling proffesions been smooth. Made like 200 plat 1-50 or so, spended alot of it on proffesion lvling and buying few items. So all is well! Liking Rift so far, BUT if you are bored of MMO's in the first place I wouldent say Rift is amasing, but its for sure great for thoes of us who still likes MMO's!

Edit: I hate having no fly mounts, but then its nice that they do offer ground mounts to be OK easy to get. Im annoyed that Ultra graphic Rift meelts FPS aswell, haft to lower settings for sure. And the lack of addons to the game aint fun aswell, but you cant exspect them to have addons out in 1 year old game. Using NKrebuff, Karuulalert and some king boss modes? I havent found an DPS meter addon that works propor like Recount yet, really miss that alot.

simplemeter, I believe it is called, that is a damage meter, though it may not be as detailed or have the options recount does but it does what it needs to do for the most part.

[Djuntas]

Oh forgot to add, witch I think is worth a post alone...

So inn the game there are global channels for level's (1-29 etc). I must say I have had like 3-4 bad groups 1-50, but from reading that channel you would think the community is 99% retards. Ive seen anything from deviant sex-acts talking/drugs/murder, and game bashing 24/7....

Yea, that channel aint pretty. Its like Barrens chat just worser Trial accounts dosent help it I guess. One can choose to leave channels trough, but damn its a fun channel

[Deleted]

Oh forgot to add, witch I think is worth a post alone...

So inn the game there are global channels for level's (1-29 etc). I must say I have had like 3-4 bad groups 1-50, but from reading that channel you would think the community is 99% retards. Ive seen anything from deviant sex-acts talking/drugs/murder, and game bashing 24/7....

Yea, that channel aint pretty. Its like Barrens chat just worser Trial accounts dosent help it I guess. One can choose to leave channels trough, but damn its a fun channel

Yeah, 1-29 isn't the best channel, It is funny though

[Azuri]

Yeah, 1-29 isn't the best channel, It is funny though

I would guess the level 20 free trials have access to it? I've left it sometime ago and if that is the case I could imagine it's "interesting" to say the least.

[Deleted]

While I was playing it I loved closing rifts. Most of the time I would just clear small rifts and I could find usually find 1 or 2 people going around closing them, but what I loved most were invasions when the entire playerbase in a zone would work togeather to stop it. Close rifts, wipe out trash and comanders and then kill the boss. I wasn't around in vanilla so I don't know what this "sense of comunity" that nostalgic people go on about, but I imagine it to be something similar to what I find when an invasion is playing out.

[gibbie99]

Yep, free to 20. It was on sale for $5 today though, think it's ended now.

I saw that then winced as I paid $60 for a digital copy (with the stupid mount). OH well. I am going to try the free to 20 thing and maybe resub since I am bored with TOR now.