New to Rift, anyone else?

[Shamanatrix]

Hey all, I'm brand new to Rift, but a long-time WoW veteran and additionally a longtime viewer of this website. I've played Rift for about 15 hours /played, and so far it's fairly enjoyable. As my interest was first piqued by these forums, I was wondering whether there are any other former WoW players checking Rift out at this time. I know there's a fair number of already established guilds on my shard (US-Greybriar), but I'd like to level pretty quickly and get into the raiding scene. If there's anyone else that's brand new to Rift, maybe we could band together, form a guild, and tackle the end-game together? Anyways, just an idea...

[Deleted]

Join instant adventure and level through them, with lots of other people and people on higher lvl are mentored down to same level as yours. Rift made it possible to join the game alone but never have to play alone.

[Deleted]

WoW was the reason i joined this site for more than 3 years.
This site offered the means to get properly introduced to, and finally to join Rift as full member.

Strange to think about it, lol!

[shabbydragon]

I am kind of new, never past level 23 in Rift. Thinking of coming back.

[timarock]

I've just started playing, nice character creation..

[Deleted]

Hello and welcome to RIFT! I hope you enjoy it farily.
- When it comes to RIFT, you don't just stand in the maincity at highest lvl, 50. Whether you have great gear or not, you are always able to go close expert RIFTs e.g. When it comes to PvP, it is imo, very fun! That said, when you reach prestige rank 50 with all possible gear, it is not fun to farm Warfronts anymore, which makes you gonna start world PvP and close PvP RIFTs . Shortly, compared to WoW you'll have alot of fun in 50

[Deleted]

Trying it out right now!

[Olala]

I grabbed Rift out of boredom. I like it so far!

[Velthy]

Im planning to really try Rift when i buy a new PC in a few months. Only tried beta some time ago and it was really cool and interesting but kinda sucks to play with 15 fps.

[Azuri]

Im planning to really try Rift when i buy a new PC in a few months. Only tried beta some time ago and it was really cool and interesting but kinda sucks to play with 15 fps.

There has been a ton of optimization since beta but yeah for sure you need a higher end PC to play especially in the world events where there can easily be 200+ people total from both factions in close proximity of each other.

[Nerph-]

Rift is great, you have to farm a bit (or a lot) for proper sigils to be able to raid, you pretty much need them, and you will have to do a lot of farming for them (you need water one for Hammerknell Fortress, fire for Infernal Dawn if I'm not mistaken) etc, so preparing to raid can be very grindy, but there is also a lot of other endgame stuff to do other than raiding, like 5man Dungeons and their 'heroic' version (forgot what its called in Rift), Master dungeons, then you have Instant Adventures, Chronicles (which dungeons you are in theory meant to do with 2 players, but can easily solo), PvP, then Rifts of all different types in the open world... random events occuring in different zones leading up to you killing a 'boss'. To be honest, it has the best endgame of any MMO out there currently.

I levelled a cleric before they introduced the mentoring thing and lower level Instant Adventures (Instant Adventure's started at 45 when I was leveling, made 45-50 go like a breeze lol), and frankly it was really enjoyable leveling. If GW2 doesn't float my boat, I might consider returning to Rift with the expansion, as it will put me back on a level playing field with everyone else to farm gear, get into raids etc. I was in a really nice guild when I played Rift, Last Dawn on Icewatch EU, one of the friendliest guilds I've been in in ages in any MMO, and the server community in general were friendly. Not once did I ever see someone flame someone in a LFD run. Still can't believe it :P

Damn reading and writing my post kind of make me wanna return to the game lol :P

[kondura]

I was unsubbed a bit due to work commitments, but I am amazed at how many things have changed and nice to see that they release patches so damn fast and furious still.

I just had a glance over this sticky pasted on the forums. Wow... If Blizzard released so much content, I'd still be playing Warcraft.

Beta to Head Start

Patch notes for beta aren't really available to us now. Among the biggest changes that occurred during or near beta:
Guards on PvE servers (only) are tougher vs. players.
Public groups can now be merged.

1.0 Hotfixes
Raid rifts -- new rifts aimed at raid-sized groups.
Locations can be linked in chat.
Coin lock feature (When logging in from a new computer or such, you get emailed a code; until you enter it, you can't do anything that destroys your stuff or removes money from your characters.)
Mobile authenticator added for Android and iOS.

Patch 1.1
First world event (world event mechanics added).
Video capture, complete with YouTube uploading.
Unmerge option for public groups.
Rift contribution is no longer measured against other players.

1.1 Hotfixes
Self-cast modifier key added.
River of Souls event bonus pack for characters who existed prior to the event.
River of Souls raid open.
Change to AFK logic; if there's no queue, you can be idle for a very long
time without getting kicked.

Patch 1.2
LFG tool added (same-shard only; this changes later)
Wardrobe slots (cosmetic equipment)
Crafting rifts -- new rifts that reward crafting materials
"Slivers" and quantum/omen sight added.
New "sliver" raid added, enterable only with those abilities.
New diminishing returns design for CC in PvP.
Experts retuned for LFG, and to stop requiring second healers.
PvP rank adjustments.

1.2 Hotfixes
LFG instance ranges increased.
Item sellback and purchase confirmation added.

Patch 1.3
Guild banks.
Character transfers added! Character transfers are free, once per character per seven days.
AH remembers recently-used prices.

1.3 Hotfixes
"Trial shards" introduced.
"Exposed" removed.
Bind-to-Account vouchers for planar currencies.
Most event currency made Bind-to-Account.
Hammerknell Raid now open.

Patch 1.4
PvP rifts added.
LFG goes cross-shard.
New sliver raid (Drowned Halls)
Alternate-mode warfront feature added.
Water Saga epic quest chain added.
Quest items stored in separate quest bag.
BoP items tradeable to eligible characters for 30 minutes.
Soul Quests removed (souls are now purchased)
Synergy Crystals added (they give soul-specific set bonuses from armor sets)
PvP ranks 7 and 8.
"Take All" button for mailbox.
New crafting cooldowns.
Apothecaries can salvage planar essences.

1.4 Hotfixes
Can stay mounted in more of Meridian or Sanctum.
Taskbar icon flashes when message boxes pop up.
Vengeance stat added for PvP, Valor retuned.

Patch 1.5
Chronicles (solo/duo instances) added.
Veteran rewards added (subscription-length bonuses).
Planar Attunement (post-50 advancement).
Master-mode dungeons.
New warfront, Library of the Runemasters.
Introduction of addon API.
Ancient wardstones removed.

1.5 Hotfixes
All zone event sourcestone is now purple, drop rates and costs retuned.

Patch 1.6
Ember Isle -- a new zone for well-geared 50s.
New dungeon, Caduceus Rise (actually more than one instance).
Fae Yule world event.
New sliver raid, Rise of the Phoenix.
90% mounts adjusted to level 30, not 40.
Addons can manipulate inventory.
Foraging and mining of some mob corpses.

1.6 Hotfixes
Instant Adventure -- LFG-like open-world adventure for 45+.
Mail to your own characters on same account regardless of faction.
Auction House is also cross-faction.
Rift Mobile app (access to guild chat from smart phones/tablets) for iOS.

Patch 1.7
Massive revamp of PvP ranks and gear.
Massive itemization revamp at 45+.
T1/T2 experts combined into a single tier.
"Purpose" system provides soul templates to help newbies to a role.
In-game weddings.
Master-mode Caduceus Rise.
River of Souls chronicle.
6th role slot.
"Mercenary" system reassigns players to opposite side in warfronts to reduce queue times.
Wardrobes have individual settings for equipment visibility.
Crafting uses bank items.
HUGE volume of UI updates -- seriously, read the patch notes for these.
XP lock -- you can disable XP gain. (Removed in 1.9)

1.7 Hotfixes
Guild bankers added in crafting areas of capitals.
Change to Target Nearest behavior.
Item comparison tooltips show stat comparisons.
Equipment visibility on the non-wardrobe wardrobe slot.
Ember Isle restricted to level 48+.
Ember Isle added to the "only one event" group of Ironpine
Peak, Shimmersand, Stillmoor.

Patch 1.8
Infernal Dawn (new 20-player raid).
Fishing and Survival skills.
Guild Finder.
Leaderboards.
Instant Adventure on Ember Isle.
Seals (a new inventory slot, exclusively crafted).
New max-level crafting quests.
Anti-Planar Augmentation and Holy Champion replaced with a new Fury of the Ascended power.
Many pet graphics updated.
Debuffs have a new priority system to prevent weaker debuffs from overriding stronger debuffs.
New recipes to refine 20 of a material at a time.
Addon-style @ specifiers work even if you don't use addons.
Non-party-leaders can recommend players for invitations.
"Usable" at the Auction House now filters out already-known recipes.
Many more UI tweaks and improvements, QoL changes, and so on.

1.8 Hotfixes
Nameplates added! New settings. Color is based on the colors that unit names were drawn in.
Streaming client; you can now play before a patch is fully downloaded.
Porticulum cost changes (in-zone ports are always cheap).


Patch 1.9
Conquest: New three-way PvP for level 50s.
Mentoring: Starting at level 15, you can artificially lower your level, whether solo or in a group.
Instant Adventure expanded to Silverwood, Freemarch, Gloamwood, and Stonefield.
Queueing for "random adventure" may mentor you to put you in a low-level group.
Barbershop! Basically, recustomization of appearance other than race or sex.
New raid sliver, Primeval Feast. Harder than RotP.
PvP ranks increased to 50, along with new armor and such.
World event.
Optional icons showing what NPCs do.
XP locking feature removed (replaced by mentoring).
Cross-shard friend and chat functionality; you can send tells to Character@Shard, and you can join Channel@Shard private channels. Public channels are not cross-shard.
Daily quests for fishing and survival, additional features and functionality.
Improvements to the 300-skill crafting quests.
Cut/copy work in the chat input field.
World Event currencies that recur moved to the Currency tab.
Many addon API improvements.

And.... They're already talking about 1.10!

[Ofoz]

Twitter post by a former Bioware-Austin employee. I think this just about covers it.

"I've jumped back into Rift for the first time since launch. I'm still amazed by how polished and smooth it is. All the systems just work."

[thewallofsleep]

I am going to level a toon to 20 and see if I want to keep going. I know which shards have the highest population, but I still kind of wonder where they are from a faction perspective. I don't do much with pvp, so that doesn't matter, but I am curious because I want to be on a server with plenty of players from my faction. I am happy with either faction.

I'd like to start a toon I can tank on. Is warrior tanking fun in Rift? How difficult is it in comparison to any of the tank specs in World of Warcraft? I really only ask that so I can get an idea of the kind of learning curve I'm in for, as WoW tanking on the classes I've done it on (Pally back in Wrath, and Druid and DK in Cata) are really quite easy.

Are clerics at all desired in a DPS role (dungeons or raids), or would I most be asked to heal as they don't really bring the kind of numbers people want to see?

Are chloromancer mages a primary/tank healer or more of a support/raid healer? I like the idea of healing by doing damage, but I'm really kind of curious with how the spec handles in high level dungeons and raids.

As far as addons are concerned, do people make ready-made UI's like some people do for WoW? I've seen some really intuitive looking set-ups on some videos. With the in-game UI customization if makes me wonder if such addons are as common or necessary though.

As you can probably tell, I have some basic info on the game (I was watching it when it was nearing release), but am still mostly noob-ish about it. Thanks for any advice.

[Decimation]

I am going to level a toon to 20 and see if I want to keep going. I know which shards have the highest population, but I still kind of wonder where they are from a faction perspective. I don't do much with pvp, so that doesn't matter, but I am curious because I want to be on a server with plenty of players from my faction. I am happy with either faction.

I'd like to start a toon I can tank on. Is warrior tanking fun in Rift? How difficult is it in comparison to any of the tank specs in World of Warcraft? I really only ask that so I can get an idea of the kind of learning curve I'm in for, as WoW tanking on the classes I've done it on (Pally back in Wrath, and Druid and DK in Cata) are really quite easy.

Are clerics at all desired in a DPS role (dungeons or raids), or would I most be asked to heal as they don't really bring the kind of numbers people want to see?

Are chloromancer mages a primary/tank healer or more of a support/raid healer? I like the idea of healing by doing damage, but I'm really kind of curious with how the spec handles in high level dungeons and raids.

As far as addons are concerned, do people make ready-made UI's like some people do for WoW? I've seen some really intuitive looking set-ups on some videos. With the in-game UI customization if makes me wonder if such addons are as common or necessary though.

As you can probably tell, I have some basic info on the game (I was watching it when it was nearing release), but am still mostly noob-ish about it. Thanks for any advice.

The addon scene for Rift isn't as robust as WoW due to a more limited implementation of LUA, but it's coming along. There's RiftUI or Curse if you want to browse.

[Tarien]

I'd like to start a toon I can tank on. Is warrior tanking fun in Rift? How difficult is it in comparison to any of the tank specs in World of Warcraft? I really only ask that so I can get an idea of the kind of learning curve I'm in for, as WoW tanking on the classes I've done it on (Pally back in Wrath, and Druid and DK in Cata) are really quite easy.

Tanking is fairly easy as a warrior, though wait til L18 til you start, that is when you start getting your first aggro bonuses, taunts and damage reducing talents so it will be a lot easier. Probably the most confusing aspect will be how to spec, but there are guides to help with that.

Are clerics at all desired in a DPS role (dungeons or raids), or would I most be asked to heal as they don't really bring the kind of numbers people want to see?

In dungeons because you spend more time on trash than on bosses and Clerics have decent AoE a DPS cleric is desirable. However in raids they have the lowest single target DPS right now, and are preferable as tanks, healers or as DPS/healer hybrids that support the raid.

Are chloromancer mages a primary/tank healer or more of a support/raid healer? I like the idea of healing by doing damage, but I'm really kind of curious with how the spec handles in high level dungeons and raids.

Chloro can both tank heal and raid heal very effectively. Generally clerics will tank heal because of their pre-shielding abilities and their defensive cooldowns, though a Chloro may be assigned as they do give constant healing which may be desirable in certain environments. In raid healing they are generally the best, though their effectiveness goes down the more Chloros there are. Every raid should have at least one Chloromancer for Radiant Spores (16% (26% with armor bonuses) chance to heal yourself for the damage you just dealt). Mage also have great single target damage, though they also have the most complex rotations to boot.

As far as addons are concerned, do people make ready-made UI's like some people do for WoW? I've seen some really intuitive looking set-ups on some videos. With the in-game UI customization if makes me wonder if such addons are as common or necessary though.

There are far less UI customisations than in WoW, this is primarily because if someone reskins the character and target bars, there is no right click or left click context. The addon API is far less robust/developed than WoWs at this time, but it is coming along nicely. There are some great addons being developed however, there is a raiding mod with alerts, various cast bars, ability/DoT timers, cooldown trackers, a power auras type addon, damage meters, and so on.

Also the basic UI is very customisable, you can literally move and resize anything and there are a great many inbuilt features.

As you can probably tell, I have some basic info on the game (I was watching it when it was nearing release), but am still mostly noob-ish about it. Thanks for any advice.

Hope that all helps.

[thewallofsleep]

Hope that all helps.

It sure does. I really appreciate the information. I'm sure I'll have more questions eventually.

I'm not one of just automatically flock to Wolfsbane because it's the most populated NA shard. I'll go there if it's the best server, but I don't get that impression based on the comments I've read on this forum. My main concern is that most of the time, servers are not balanced (in terms of factions), one side always has more, sometimes a lot more. I like both of the factions, so I have no problem playing one of the other, I just want to make sure that whatever server I go for, one side doesn't grossly outnumber the other, so I can be sure to find plenty of guilds and dungeon partners.

[willowe]

It sure does. I really appreciate the information. I'm sure I'll have more questions eventually.

I'm not one of just automatically flock to Wolfsbane because it's the most populated NA shard. I'll go there if it's the best server, but I don't get that impression based on the comments I've read on this forum. My main concern is that most of the time, servers are not balanced (in terms of factions), one side always has more, sometimes a lot more. I like both of the factions, so I have no problem playing one of the other, I just want to make sure that whatever server I go for, one side doesn't grossly outnumber the other, so I can be sure to find plenty of guilds and dungeon partners.

For faction balance, Faeblight (US-RP-PvE) is the best balanced.

We have 2 Defiant guilds with 1k+ players, and, well Guyscrotch (Gaiscoch, they have the aforementioned nickname). on the Guardian side has +4.4k people....

....I'm not joking. 4.4k. They don't even out-populated the rest of is Guards, too, cause there's a lot of us!

[Solidito]

Do instant adventures, a lot of them, i got 1-50 within a week of only playing on weekdays for 3 hours. If you play a lot i'd say 3 days irl is all it'll take.

[willowe]

Do instant adventures, a lot of them, i got 1-50 within a week of only playing on weekdays for 3 hours. If you play a lot i'd say 3 days irl is all it'll take.

I've gone 1-50 on a Mage, 1-43 on a Cleric, and 1-28 on a Warrior since 1.9 dropped, and that's with still doing the dailies/weeklies on my Rogue, lol.