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  1. #1

    How is Rift? (GW2 player)

    Hi all.
    I am thinking of trying out Rift, i basically dont know anything about the game. I do play GW2 occasionally after quitting wow, since i find the graphics and lvling process to be extremely fun. Hence the topic of this thread, how would you people who have tried both games compare the 2?
    Graphics, gameplay etc and is the game too hardcore for new people joining in now much late since the games been on for a while?

    Any inputs here for a potential rift player, appreciated.

  2. #2
    I barely played Rift at all, so take this as you will, but it had (in my opinion) the hands-down absolute best class customization system I have seen in an RPG. I don't know how well it worked out (balance, etc.) at end game, but it was definitely very fun to fool around with. Now that it's F2P, I may actually reinstall it at some point.

    Other than that, though, it played like a slower-paced WoW.

    As for GW2, it's dissimilar from WoW and Rift in almost every way. If you're looking for something new, that doesn't feel at all like WoW, stay with GW2 and avoid Rift. If you want something familiar but different, try Rift out.
    Last edited by Silent Earth; 2013-07-01 at 03:26 AM.
    "I will say, I think it passing odd that I am loved by one for a kindness I never did, and reviled by so many for my finest act."

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Well if you played WoW you can pretty much compare that to GW2 as you can Rift. Rift is the ultimate reskin of WoW, but it has a lot of features that is somewhat original or at least polished from other games. Raids and dungeons are the same as in WoW as well as PvP (althought I tend to find Rift PvP a lot more enjoyable).
    Althougt a small warning, Rift is grindy once you hit level 50, not only does the last 10 levels take quite a bit of time (if you don't use bought buffs), but after that you have to grind through two tiers of gear until you can get to raiding (these two tiers are done by doing dungeons and dailies, and can be estameted to take about 3-4 weeks to get enough gear). PvP wise higly unbalanced do to about 1000 different specs, and also getting top gear is probably around a total playtime of at least 50 hours of PvP.

  4. #4
    Altered the title to make it not seem like a game vs. game thread.

  5. #5
    There's a few downsides to Rift compared to WoW or GW2.

    - It doesn't feel as free as GW2 does.
    - It's even more linear (within the respective leveling areas).
    - Animations and controls are worse than both WoW and GW2. There is no skill queueing, or rather, the skill queue is very tight, so you can't just queue two skills up right from the start, you'll have to wait for the mid/end of the GCD. I loveeee skill queueing. I hate that it isn't in Rift and I constantly mess up rotations due to this, because I occasionally don't cast and occasionally doublecast when I feel that I didn't cast. Horrible. Responsiveness is also worse than both. Skill animations trigger, but in your screen it shows you're out of range. This can be very misleading, potentially making you miss tight rotation windows.
    - Weapon swinging animations are arguably the worst of any MMO I ever played. Not all of them, but some are ridiculously looking, as if they wanted to make each swing unique for each race, but without reaching for established Martial Arts (the weapon ones), but rather creating their own. And it's absolutely fugly. I like the 2h male Bahmi swing though.
    - It's more grindy than late tBC, less grindy than early tBC. Nowhere near Vanilla.

    But, for all it's flawes, it has just as many merits.
    - The Soul system can occasionally lead to unique builds. Let's face it, there's always a superior spec, but the thing is, outside the raiding environment, it doesn't matter and you can switch around nearly indefinitely for free (roles) and quite cheap (respec of a role). I have a Roleplaying Rogue build that I personally love and simply don't know whether it's any good, according to math. I just love it, so it's good for me. And I'm not even heavy on roleplaying.
    - The dungeons are fun (and properly voiced), at least once (they were more fun when they were still hard, but at least the atmosphere is still there).
    - Macro's really make your life easy, sometimes too easy.
    - The mentor system, which scales you down, but still makes you receive XP at the same rate you would otherwise, perfect for teaming up with low level friends and currently unique among AAA+ MMO titles, as far as I'm aware.
    - The Wardrobe. Just received my full Icewatch set, so I bought a second slot. And became member, by accident, of Eskimo's in the Desert, WUT? There is no better wardrobe system in any other current mmo title.
    - Switching shards, free once each week. No buying server transfers.

    And then there's the "plus-minusses".
    - Rifts. They're great, but can turn grindy reasonably quick.
    - Instant adventure. They're great, but turn you into a mindless zombie very quickly.
    - Dimensions. If you like them, great, but if you don't, they have no effect on the actual game whatsoever, making it a gimmicky addition.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Vespian View Post
    There's a few downsides to Rift compared to WoW or GW2.

    - It doesn't feel as free as GW2 does.
    - It's even more linear (within the respective leveling areas).
    - Animations and controls are worse than both WoW and GW2. There is no skill queueing, or rather, the skill queue is very tight, so you can't just queue two skills up right from the start, you'll have to wait for the mid/end of the GCD. I loveeee skill queueing. I hate that it isn't in Rift and I constantly mess up rotations due to this, because I occasionally don't cast and occasionally doublecast when I feel that I didn't cast. Horrible. Responsiveness is also worse than both. Skill animations trigger, but in your screen it shows you're out of range. This can be very misleading, potentially making you miss tight rotation windows.
    - Weapon swinging animations are arguably the worst of any MMO I ever played. Not all of them, but some are ridiculously looking, as if they wanted to make each swing unique for each race, but without reaching for established Martial Arts (the weapon ones), but rather creating their own. And it's absolutely fugly. I like the 2h male Bahmi swing though.
    - It's more grindy than late tBC, less grindy than early tBC. Nowhere near Vanilla.

    But, for all it's flawes, it has just as many merits.
    - The Soul system can occasionally lead to unique builds. Let's face it, there's always a superior spec, but the thing is, outside the raiding environment, it doesn't matter and you can switch around nearly indefinitely for free (roles) and quite cheap (respec of a role). I have a Roleplaying Rogue build that I personally love and simply don't know whether it's any good, according to math. I just love it, so it's good for me. And I'm not even heavy on roleplaying.
    - The dungeons are fun (and properly voiced), at least once (they were more fun when they were still hard, but at least the atmosphere is still there).
    - Macro's really make your life easy, sometimes too easy.
    - The mentor system, which scales you down, but still makes you receive XP at the same rate you would otherwise, perfect for teaming up with low level friends and currently unique among AAA+ MMO titles, as far as I'm aware.
    - The Wardrobe. Just received my full Icewatch set, so I bought a second slot. And became member, by accident, of Eskimo's in the Desert, WUT? There is no better wardrobe system in any other current mmo title.
    - Switching shards, free once each week. No buying server transfers.

    And then there's the "plus-minusses".
    - Rifts. They're great, but can turn grindy reasonably quick.
    - Instant adventure. They're great, but turn you into a mindless zombie very quickly.
    - Dimensions. If you like them, great, but if you don't, they have no effect on the actual game whatsoever, making it a gimmicky addition.
    Dimensions will have alot more impact on the game soon. And I don't feel Rifts ever get grindy cause there are so many variations on the theme. Most notably Strongholds which are basically an amalygom of Rifts and Onslaughts. They are constantly evolving Rifts to keep them from getting to stale. Hunt Rifts is another example. I'm sure 3.0 will have another new evolution.

    GW2 is a action combat MMO more or less. So it feels different from Rift. But Rift feels tigher than WoW to me, I played WoW since Vanilla beta till MOP. Rift also has a much more dynamic GW2 feel to its leveling process due to IA's, Rifts and Zone Events. The one Rift class that plays sorta like a GW2 class is Tactician due to it being position based and conal damage.

    In short I'd recommend the OP try it out and see for themselves.
    Last edited by Khelendros; 2013-07-01 at 01:20 PM.

  7. #7

  8. #8
    The 50-60 grind is brutal. I made it to 56 and had to stop. At least the game is free now, so I can just log on whenever to pick it back up again.

    No way in hell will I ever level any alts to 60 until the exp required gets massively nerfed.

  9. #9
    The leveling is absolutely awful in this game, even 1-50, and the instant adventures don't make it any better. I tried making a new char with the f2p with 2 other friends and neither of us made it past lvl 25 before we quit playing. I had a level 50 when that was the max level, so I've played the end game and I know how much better that is over lvling, but good luck pushing yourself through all that boredom...

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by grandpab View Post
    The leveling is absolutely awful in this game, even 1-50, and the instant adventures don't make it any better. I tried making a new char with the f2p with 2 other friends and neither of us made it past lvl 25 before we quit playing. I had a level 50 when that was the max level, so I've played the end game and I know how much better that is over lvling, but good luck pushing yourself through all that boredom...
    I think people who think this are just to hung up on questing. If you just quest in rift it will be a grind cause thats not how you are supposed to level. WoW has made people far far to dependant on quest hub humping.

    But its never seemed like a grind to me when I level any of my alts cause I'm doing all sorts of different things. If I just did IA's or Rifts or Quests than yea I would probably feel like my eyeballs were bleeding.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Khelendros View Post
    I think people who think this are just to hung up on questing. If you just quest in rift it will be a grind cause thats not how you are supposed to level. WoW has made people far far to dependant on quest hub humping.

    But its never seemed like a grind to me when I level any of my alts cause I'm doing all sorts of different things. If I just did IA's or Rifts or Quests than yea I would probably feel like my eyeballs were bleeding.
    So what else is there?

    This maybe the one game with PvP worse than WoW.

  12. #12
    I've almost exclusively leveled 10-50 by doing IAs. They get boring after a while and now I don;t know what to do to level from 50-60 :/

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaidog View Post
    Hi all.
    I am thinking of trying out Rift, i basically dont know anything about the game. I do play GW2 occasionally after quitting wow, since i find the graphics and lvling process to be extremely fun. Hence the topic of this thread, how would you people who have tried both games compare the 2?
    Graphics, gameplay etc and is the game too hardcore for new people joining in now much late since the games been on for a while?

    Any inputs here for a potential rift player, appreciated.
    Well, the best and worst that can be said of Rift is that the game is very... um, traditional.

    That is to say Rift is all that one can name or identify with the class of MMORPGs whereby there is hotkey combat, role trinity, a bimodal endgame and theme park design. If World of Warcraft is the quintessential MMO theme park and Everquest the most supreme example of the trinity/hotkey style, then Rift is directly in the middle somewhere.

    That isn't to say Rift is poor. It might actually be the finest MMO in this style- due to modernity if nothing else. But I think it would be reasonable to assume if one has played Everquest, Everquest 2, World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings than Rift will be rather familiar in design, concept and execution.

    If you want an MMO that is in that style [EQ/WoW], Rift is quite accomplished.

    Guild Wars 2 is definitely not traditional in the spirit of EQ or WoW. As a p;layer of GW2, I am sure you understand the many gameplay and design breaks GW2 takes from bimodal theme park MMOs. Most prominently the nature of GW2's combat and drop-in/drop-out design philosophy. Rift adheres to none of that owned by GW2.

    The art style of Guild Wars 2 is far finer than Rift, imo. But that is a matter of aesthetics, not really graphics. To that end Rift is generally a little tougher on low to mid range PCs than GW2. And you will likely have a greater dip in fidelity in Rift than in GW2 if running the game at low end settings.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by ScottsdaleHokie View Post
    So what else is there?

    This maybe the one game with PvP worse than WoW.
    Zone events, dungeons, IAs, and Rifts. If you only quest, then yes the levelling will be terrible. Where Rift shines is that you can constantly swap from one activity to another whenever you feel like it. With the ability to mentor down there should almost always be a group available doing something interesting. Heck, you can even swap souls on the fly to change up combat if you feel like it.

  15. #15
    If your comparing Rift to GW2, you have to also put some of the smaller features of Rift into focus.

    The major difference for me between GW2 and Rift, and why I left GW2, is because of how both games deal with Player Interaction.

    In GW2, the way classes are done, along with other systems in that game, basically let you never have to group up with someone, or have any sort of team work. The game is almost like two trains side by side on two parallel tracks: you never have a need to party up, even the dungeons aren't mandatory as Best-In-Slot items are easily found outside them. It's a very antisocial MMO, because it puts players together, but never gives you a reason to actually work with them, other than the token "throwing this banner down on my Warrior."

    In Rift, everything is done to throw you into a group as often as possible. You see the same player often, and work with them often as well. Say what you want about the Holy Trinity, but it forces teamwork in a way that GW2's class system doesn't do. It forces player interaction, which is a good thing, because the more players you meet, the more friends you make, the more people in your guild, the less chance you are to be bored. GW2 left me bored about 200 hours in because I felt there was a 'wall' between players/guilds. I spent months hopping between guilds and servers, trying to find nice faces, only to have that door close in Jan when they made server transfers paid. That was when I quit.

    Rift treats player interaction like it's your little brother. "Lookit me! I'm a rogue! Lookit me! I'm a cleric! Play with us in this random Instant Adventure! /poke! /poke! Lookit this random Hellbug Rift Group! Lookit this random Hunt Rift Group! Lookit all these players you just met! Lookit this fun! /poke!

    toomanyrifts.blogspot.ca || A Gaming Blog

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Khelendros View Post
    I think people who think this are just to hung up on questing. If you just quest in rift it will be a grind cause thats not how you are supposed to level. WoW has made people far far to dependant on quest hub humping.

    But its never seemed like a grind to me when I level any of my alts cause I'm doing all sorts of different things. If I just did IA's or Rifts or Quests than yea I would probably feel like my eyeballs were bleeding.

    I moved to a new zone at lvl20. Atm im 25 and i havent done a single quest...
    Warzones, adventures, dungeons and ofc rifts. I dunno if its the free game hype but i have almost no queues for any of the group content as dps/support.

    It all depends on the purpose but as a casual player with a bit of GW2 experience (and a lot of wow) the game feels great so far.
    Last edited by Underscore; 2013-07-01 at 09:31 PM.

  17. #17
    thanks alot every1 for your inputs, makes the decision making quite easy.
    I will stick with gw2, but will dedicate a weekend and try out Rift. Any recomendations which class to start with? i always end up playing casters. And any advice on which server to join? Would prefer an active populated server.

    Thanks all once again

  18. #18
    Very similar to WoW, even the default keybinds are the same. Blizzard and Rift have traded features here and there, so that's kind of neat. As for Rift, they have features like LFD/LFR (at least I think they have LFR), you can move around the default UI, you can use addons, macros and the talent trees are very cool, endless possibilities. I played the beta a little a few years back and have played only a few hours since it went F2P, but it is enjoyable so far.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Vespian View Post
    - Macro's really make your life easy, sometimes too easy.
    They neutered the macros at some point. In early Rift, you could stack spells in a macro and it would cast the first one that was usable. This led to classes having one or two buttons they would spam.

    I thought the strong point of Rift was the automatic creation of groups (for Rifts and such). This was the "in the world" player intereaction Blizzard was looking for, but not finding, for MoP.

    Rift lets you loot while mounted. Oh I wish WoW would add that!
    Last edited by Osmeric; 2013-07-01 at 09:52 PM.
    "There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
    "The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
    "Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Osmeric View Post
    They neutered the macros at some point. In early Rift, you could stack spells in a macro and it would cast the first one that was usable. This led to classes having one or two buttons they would spam.
    This is still possible. They altered how some abilities function though, so these macro's aren't anywhere near as ideal as they used to be. You can still make pretty heavy use of macro's (I know I do) and key together multiple abilities, but it's never going to necessarily be optimal, nor is it possible any longer to have the 1-2 button classes that used to exist in classic.

    ---------- Post added 2013-07-01 at 02:51 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by sTyLnK View Post
    As for Rift, they have features like LFD/LFR (at least I think they have LFR)
    LDF, yes.

    LFR, no. They've not said if they have any plans for it, but they have been clear that they want raiding to remain an exclusive feature for those that participate and that they don't want to make it super easy for people to jump into and out of like LFR makes it.

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