Casual Friendly?

[Ralidyn]

Is RIFT casual friendly for PVE style play? I used to love raiding but I just don't have the time to do it now. I also work a lot and my time off during the days is during the middle of the day. Is it possible to experience the content without doing the 3+ hour raids 2-4 nights a week?

Thanks!
Ral

[Tarien]

Yes it is. There is TONS to do at 50 that is not raiding, and most active servers are pugging T1 raids with ease now. My fresh 50 rogue pugged all the T1 raids within a week of hitting 50

If you're in the EU, come to Icewatch, pretty friendly, lot's of pugs, very busy.

[Fencers]

There are a lot of side activities in Rift. However, it's all mostly grinding.

[Ralidyn]

I'm in the states, so a EU server might be a challenge. What is the time difference like? I know the actual zoning, but play times are what I'm interested. I can only play during the day (typical work hours for people in the midwest) and I'm tired of only being able to play when others are working, and while I'm working others are on and the server is busy.

Are there US servers that are busy all day?

edit: thanks for the feedback

[Puremallace]

There are a lot of side activities in Rift. However, it's all mostly grinding.

Aion was grinding. Rift rains epics. The 5 man master mode versions of the expert are a easy way of getting tier 1 raid geared. Along with the raid rifts and expert rifts for gear. Even chronicles that are single/duo content drop gear also that new 50's can use.

Also the planar gear that you get with currency from zone events is on par with tier 1 raids. I am pushing Trion to add tier 2 raid planar gear.

[Fencers]

Aion was grinding. Rift rains epics.

Nah. Collecting 100/500/1000 IS and farming event tokens is all the same grinding. The process isn't more elevated than Aion.

[Tarien]

Nah. Collecting 100/500/1000 IS and farming event tokens is all the same grinding. The process isn't more elevated than Aion.

Everything in an MMO is grinding. It's either RNG or grind or both. That's just the way of the world.

[Puremallace]

Nah. Collecting 100/500/1000 IS and farming event tokens is all the same grinding. The process isn't more elevated than Aion.

Apparently you did not play Aion. They had grind + extreme RNG. Remember kill 50 NPc's and repeat quest 200 times.

[Ralidyn]

I don't want to be a jerk, but I would prefer the thread be used to answer my questions and not harbor arguments about "grinding".

Thanks

[Fencers]

Probably not the game for you, Ralidyn. Rift is a theme park MMO with the same endgame structure of EQ/Diku styled MMOs and the token system of Warcraft. The highest progression is in raiding. The rest is time filler or ceiling capped content.

Apparently you did not play Aion. They had grind + extreme RNG. Remember kill 50 NPc's and repeat quest 200 times.

I did and still do. Rift's side activities are no less a grind.

[Sleepysnik]

I'm the same as you Ralidyn, used to raid around 4 times a week in WoW, couldn't be bothered anymore. Started off playing Rift casually on the side, and now that's all I do. In periods I play quite a bit, and try to get the tier 1 raids done for the week. Then I have periods where I don't play much at all, but that just makes it even more fun when I come back.

I would say Rift is very casual friendly, give it a go and see for yourself

[Acquiesce of Telara]

Is RIFT casual friendly for PVE style play? I used to love raiding but I just don't have the time to do it now. I also work a lot and my time off during the days is during the middle of the day. Is it possible to experience the content without doing the 3+ hour raids 2-4 nights a week?

Thanks!
Ral

Ral, All content can be experienced easily, though some take more work than others. There's plenty of quests for dailies, professions, raids, rifts, etc. to keep you amused when you're looking for something to do. You can hunt, work on your achievements, or run dungeons just as you would in WoW. Even the first tier of raiding isn't hard. A decent guild can clear both T1 raids in a single night, though that might be pushing the boundaries of 'what to expect as a newb'.

Basically, if you're not looking to raid, you'll never run out of things to do as a (time-based) casual. Is it grinding? Well, as much as dailies, pvp and running the LFG tool for dungeons is. Is it a maddening grind? No. There's more dailies in the game than you'll ever have time to do in one sitting. Faction rep, holidays, gear, zone events... trust me, you'll stay busy and you'll have fun doing it.

That's without ever switching to an alt.

[Rocketsurgeon]

The question was if it was possible to experience the content without putting in the hours for raiding. I'm not sure what the content you're asking about is referring to. Raid content generally requires raiding. You will actually see some of the main raiding zones through Chronicles, though. I think those are great. The general content of the endgame is all available to you. There are multiple paths of gear advancement other than raiding. It is possible to gather many pieces of comparable loot to a raider without ever interacting with another player. You still get to participate in IAs, and zone/world events as they happen when you're online. Still get all the dungeons.

Without knowing more specifically what you're trying to ask I'd have to focus on the point that a casual, non raiding player in Rift will not run out of things to do and the rewards for their effort are not trivial.

[Deleted]

Very casual friendly!
Alot of side activities available apart from raiding.
This is the only MMORPG so far where I haven't felt the need to raid at all.

[Puremallace]

Very casual friendly!
Alot of side activities available apart from raiding.
This is the only MMORPG so far where I haven't felt the need to raid at all.

More then a few of us want to keep it that way, so we almost require Trion to come out with a raid and something SUPER casual at the same time or very close.

[Ralidyn]

What is the lag like for a US person playing on a EU server? Any ideas?

Thanks

[Tarien]

Shouldn't be too bad, Primal plays from Australia on the US servers afaik and he does okay. Probably 2-300ms depending on your connection. Why would you wanna play on the EU servers though, there are plenty of busy US ones!

[Pachycrocuta]

When I decided to hop over to Icewatch EU for the heck of it, I was getting about 150ms, and for some god awful reason it seemed so bad. I guess getting about 40ms on US realms spoiled me.

[Ralidyn]

Shouldn't be too bad, Primal plays from Australia on the US servers afaik and he does okay. Probably 2-300ms depending on your connection. Why would you wanna play on the EU servers though, there are plenty of busy US ones!

My reasoning was that I work during the evenings and early mornings US time. My time to not work during the day is while kids are at school, so I thought the time differences might be such that I would be able to play during EU prime time as I don't get to play during US prime time. It's just a thought.

[Tarien]

Makes sense. Well it's free to find out what latency is like, so give it a try