Durability of Rift in the future?

[CptEgo]

So, I love the game but I hesitate to really dedicate myself to it because I'm unsure about how long Rift will last as a game. It's always a bad sign when a game goes Free-to-play, and I don't wanna see Trion Worlds go belly up the day after I reach level 60. So, how do you guys feel about it, is it worth it going all in on Rift at the moment?

[Alianora]

Rift is doing REALLY well atm with their f2p model, and has always produced quality content. Trion's commitment to listening to players and responding to their needs (half of the features that have been implemented in the game since initial launch have been by player request) means the game will be sticking around for a long while.

Feel free to jump in, I doubt you'll regret it.

[Deleted]

So, I love the game but I hesitate to really dedicate myself to it because I'm unsure about how long Rift will last as a game. It's always a bad sign when a game goes Free-to-play, and I don't wanna see Trion Worlds go belly up the day after I reach level 60. So, how do you guys feel about it, is it worth it going all in on Rift at the moment?

Well, considering we are already hearing about plans for 3.0 coming next year which takes us into the Plane of Water, adding masses of new content, new souls for each classes, Tanking Mages, Healing Warriors, Healing Rogues and Support clerics. Also the fact that we are just over a month away from 2.4 which introduces 2 new epic raids, one taking us into the Plane of Earth and one that will feature some epic battles outside of the Infinity gate. Even after 2.4 There are at least 4/5 large content patches confirmed before the release of 3.0.

I'd say the future of RIFT is looking pretty damm good!

[RoninaThorstone]

So, I love the game but I hesitate to really dedicate myself to it because I'm unsure about how long Rift will last as a game. It's always a bad sign when a game goes Free-to-play, and I don't wanna see Trion Worlds go belly up the day after I reach level 60. So, how do you guys feel about it, is it worth it going all in on Rift at the moment?

If you are an MMO player, more than just a WoW player, you are going to have to get over that myth.

[Delekii]

If you are an MMO player, more than just a WoW player, you are going to have to get over that myth.

Besides Rift, I am yet to play an MMO that has started F2P, or started subscription and gone F2P, that you can't see the detriment such a system makes on the game. It might be a good model from a financial standpoint, but it is doing immeasurable damage to the longevity of MMOs, and that won't become apparent for years yet.

Rift is the exception - they are doing a much better job than most.

[Airlick]

Rift as a game will do fine, you should ask yourself if you can stand grinding all day with no really interesting activities to do. It can only get worse with the new xpac, as Trion will have to incite players to sub, and what better way to do that than force us to farm not 250, but 400k rep? I know getting to venerated with Torvan Hunters and Lycini was an absolute nightmare for me, and I was on the boost all the time.

Rift is not worth dedicating to, I only started playing it because I was bored and am waiting for Wildstar, and I know I'll never look back once it's out. I did and actually still do enjoy playing Rift, but the grind is slowly killing the whole game for me. If it had more raids, more of more fun dungeons, more chronicles - generally, non-grind content, it would be a great game. As it is...

[RoninaThorstone]

Besides Rift, I am yet to play an MMO that has started F2P, or started subscription and gone F2P, that you can't see the detriment such a system makes on the game. It might be a good model from a financial standpoint, but it is doing immeasurable damage to the longevity of MMOs, and that won't become apparent for years yet.

Rift is the exception - they are doing a much better job than most.

By what? Making them live longer? AoC and Lotro would have folded years ago if they didn't switch to a better model like F2P. Since then, they've added expansions and regular content updates. If anything, the subscription only model is a determent to any MMO still using it.

[Slipmat]

I'm unsure about how long Rift will last as a game.

Rift survived just fine two of the most over hyped releases in the past 2 years when it was a sub based game and came out better once people realised the hype on those games was just that, hype.

There's nothing even remotely coming out in the next year, in my opinion, that can change my mind on Rift not surviving, as Public Enemy rapped.. "Don't Believe the Hype!"

[zeropeorth]

Tera is doing just fine as F2P. Rift hasn't degraded at all as F2P. SWtOR is actually still improving, even though their F2P model isn't the best in the business.

It seems losing 40% of the subs for WoW; that the sub model might be a detriment. I know, as much as I'd like to say I wouldn't, would probably still play WoW if it was F2P, and not feel like I'm getting raked by all their microtransactions and store crap; since I'd see that as a valid monetary generation if the rest of the game was free. (Trion still gives you a free transfer every week) For a lot of my old raid group; we all feel the same way; the core game isn't worth paying for any longer, we'd play if it were F2P, and spend some money on the game if there wasn't a sub. Their loss, really, as miniscule of a loss it is

[Fencers]

It's always a bad sign when a game goes Free-to-play

This is totally false and merely personal perception. F2P is the direction of the market across all genres. Business analysts have been on about this for years now.

I don't wanna see Trion Worlds go belly up the day after I reach level 60.

Super unlikely. Like so unlikely as to not even be a worthy concern.

Rift is more likely to go for years & years just as the majority of MMOs. There are MMOs & MUDs from the early 90s with active user bases and even active development still available.

MMOs rarely "die".


Just jump in. It's fine.

[kvakvs]

If you are fine with sometimes googling solutions to badly designed quests, like events, festivals, locations of randomly located quest objects with poor map indication (like current summerfest quests with 8 spawn locations over a ENORMOUSLY huge zone), and if you are fine with grinding with eventual questing and eventual raid here and there, and if classic "kill 5-25 of this, bring 5-50 of that, discover this, kill the boss" quest lines are fine for you - then rift is a very nice game.

[RoninaThorstone]

If you are fine with sometimes googling solutions to badly designed quests, like events, festivals, locations of randomly located quest objects with poor map indication (like current summerfest quests with 8 spawn locations over a ENORMOUSLY huge zone), and if you are fine with grinding with eventual questing and eventual raid here and there, and if classic "kill 5-25 of this, bring 5-50 of that, discover this, kill the boss" quest lines are fine for you - then rift is a very nice game.

>_>

rifthead.com

[Fencers]

I can't think of a single quest or event in Rift over 2 years that couldn't be solved in like 2 mins. Haven't even seen such a claim leveled at the quest design in 2 years on 3rd party or official forums.

What sort of players are goggling the solutions to Rift's very basic questing structure?

[RoninaThorstone]

What sort of players are goggling the solutions to Rift's very basic questing structure?

Kill 10... Wolves? Alright. Time to google wolves!

[Valeron]

Doesn't Rift show you exactly where to complete your quest on the mini map as well? Don't think I've read that complaint about Rift before.

[Kelimbror]

Besides Rift, I am yet to play an MMO that has started F2P, or started subscription and gone F2P, that you can't see the detriment such a system makes on the game.

I guess you haven't really played any of them the? I haven't played a single game except SWTOR that F2P has had a negative impact on. In the long run, that might not even prove true.

It might be a good model from a financial standpoint, but it is doing immeasurable damage to the longevity of MMOs, and that won't become apparent for years yet.

Yes. We will all regret the downfall of MMOs when we have so many well made ones to choose from 5 years from now, as opposed to only being able to play 1 out of 3 subscription only MMOs that give you no choice in how you want to play the game or pay for it.

Doesn't Rift show you exactly where to complete your quest on the mini map as well? Don't think I've read that complaint about Rift before.

Yes. Just like every other current MMO. Even GW2, who has no 'quests', marks exactly where everything to do is on the map. There is no googling required unless you don't understand words and a dictionary isn't readily available.

[Slipmat]

Doesn't Rift show you exactly where to complete your quest on the mini map as well?

The OP probably means the current World Event that started last Thursday, Summerfest.

Basically you pick up the meta quests for all zones and all you can see marked on the map is the quest giver in each zone. It's up to you to try and find the quest objective then in the zone with very few hints, a "hunt" as the name Scavenger Hunt clearly suggests

The problem is today's gamer, this Event lasts 4 weeks, 2 weeks for each phase yet people want to have their hands held, port to a big, fat X on the map and complete the whole thing in 2 hours

If they can't find the objective within 2 mins they flood the forums with "it must be bugged, it's so confusing, i can't find anything, worst Event evah....."

People aren't willing to actually spend time exploring a zone, looking for clues, frustrating as it might seem to try and find a sparkly object in a big zone, like i said, you have 2 weeks for each phase. You can easily tell the people that Google or rely on sites that publish 'hints', one such site mistakenly posted the totally wrong objective, a P2 quest instead of a P1 one and people were camping out that spot in vain

The solution? it's either stop doing World Events completely, as it seems most modern gamers haven't the patience to search for anything, they want it all and they want it now....or simply turn them into normal quests, big X marks the spot, pick up quest, go to mark on map, complete quest, all zones done in one hour

[Recondition]

Besides Rift, I am yet to play an MMO that has started F2P, or started subscription and gone F2P, that you can't see the detriment such a system makes on the game. It might be a good model from a financial standpoint, but it is doing immeasurable damage to the longevity of MMOs, and that won't become apparent for years yet.

Rift is the exception - they are doing a much better job than most.

That isn't something you can possibly forecast while the events are happening and is only the kind of thing that can be said in hindsight.
But you're dead wrong, MMOs that go f2p don't all stop updating and go buy to win and BiS items are sold in the store.

On-topic: the only things I've needed to google for Rift were the puzzles and summerfest--things that weren't designed to be easy to solve.

[Fencers]

Doesn't Rift show you exactly where to complete your quest on the mini map as well? Don't think I've read that complaint about Rift before.

Yes, it does show the exact location of most objectives. In the cases when it does not, you are most often given a location device that paints a literal lighted path to the objective.

I have done a lot of Rift quests. Not all. But pretty close to all. I can't recall a single quest in which the location or objectives are obscured, unexplained &/or not revealed to the player in exact coordinates.

[Edge-]

Besides Rift, I am yet to play an MMO that has started F2P, or started subscription and gone F2P, that you can't see the detriment such a system makes on the game. It might be a good model from a financial standpoint, but it is doing immeasurable damage to the longevity of MMOs, and that won't become apparent for years yet.

Rift is the exception - they are doing a much better job than most.

I bet Warhammer players are glad that the game hasn't transitioned to F2P! All 10 of them!

How does going F2P do "immeasurable" damage to the longevity of a MMO though? Assuming a non-shitty monetization system (i.e. most Western F2P MMO's), having a higher average cash flow would keep a game running, or running better, for far longer than they would if they saw continual contraction of their subscriber base.

Examples: LOTRO/DDO. Both games had smallish playerbases and the games had some issues which led to them contracting in size over time. Both went F2P early on (some of the first of the second gen MMO's to do so) and today both are still getting regular free content updates and expansions.

Warhammer on the other hand...gets a few token updates a year and a few events, but hasn't had a real substantial content patch or PvP balance patch in a very long time. Vanguard didn't even have a development team for years after it was launched due to the size of the playerbase (super dedicated but very small). SoE transitioned it to F2P and put a proper dev team on it, and since the transition it's still maintained some of the dev team and there is still content and more fixes in the work for the game.

There are other MMO's that have gone F2P and seen the game grow, or at the very least stabilize, so that the games could continue to be developed (DCUO, AoC, SWTOR, Tera, EQ2, STO to name a few). So it's not like this is a fluke. And while we don't really have any proper longterm statistics (DDO is the earliest transition, happening 4 years ago), we do have evidence that F2P transitions actually help improve the longevity and health of subscription based MMO's with smallish playerbases that are still shrinking.