So this topic is in relation to the recently brought up Rift and bots and how Rift, being smaller than WoW, doesn't have quite the issue WoW has with bots, and such. At first I was on the defensive, along with others, but as I was walking out of class tonight, I was thinking, you know what? I'm happy Rift is smaller than WoW. Rift isn't so bloody massive that it is a cultural phenomenon and attracts botters/Chinese gold farmers, but at the same time it's not so small no one is logged on. Consistently there are MORE than enough people on, at any hour of the day, doing anything from instant adventures, to conquest, to warfronts, to dungeons, to raids, to dailies, to zone events, you name it, and now with Storm Legion we have even more to do. Frankly, I'm happy Rift is this small. We don't have to worry so much about account security (and if it's a problem at all, coin lock is already in and makes it almost impossible for hackers to get your stuff unless they ALSO have access to your email account) and barely are ever bothered by platinum-sellers.
Another thing that is nice about the game being this small, is our company still gives a damn about customers. I'm not going to say Blizzard doesn't at all care about their customers, but I think there is a different level of caring. When I report a bug in-game, I will typically get a GM response within the hour and they will possibly have already fixed the issue. Quest is bugged and they're still trying to figure it out? Well instead of "that sucks bro" type responses, you get your character advanced to the next part of that specific quest, or to the next quest if that's the case.
Rift isn't so small that they don't have the money or care left to do anything with the game and it isn't so big that they've become disillusioned by the insane amounts of money flowing in. We're at a nice medium and after thinking about this, I'm happy with it. If friends want to try out Rift, I'll encourage it and frankly I'll still hype up and talk about Rift all the time, but I have this to say also - our gaming experience is not bogged down by bugs that will never get fixed until the world is just completely redone nor is our gaming experience covered in gold advertisement PMs/yells every so often each day, nor is our game immediately associated with all of the gold seller advertisements and other such cultural negatives. I feel like Rift is still a "clean" (if you will) gaming experience and has been kept well in order and is very very healthy - it's here to stay folks, better get used to it: people play Rift, more than enough of us, that's apparent for sure.
Happy Storm Legion.