RiFT: Best Expansion 2012 Massively

[iceberg265]

What i find interesting in the list is that GW2 is both Game of the Year and runner-up for Biggest disapointiment. lol

And what is more interesting is that I can see how it can be both at the same time!

That is hilarious.

[Valeron]

Are you talking about when they remade the engine or the Godslayer thingy?

From the first 6 months of the game, where stuff like stats weren't working and male characters literally were doing more damage due the animation differences, to a year after that point. The improvement of the game was astronomical. The shame of it is that it lost all of the players in those 6 months, it about killed the game due to it.

Rift, by comparison, started off on a much better foot. And while there have been improvements it was no way near that scale.

[akaTheDude]

It may be best to keep in mind the company which runs Rift just recently had to lay off some workers. While this can happen with any company, it is not a sign thier product is doing exceptionally well ether.

Doesnt have anything AT ALL to do with RIFT and the well being of the game. Sorry...

[theWocky]

Did you play every iteration of WoW until Cata? whoo boy I did. That was a fall of Greek Tragic proportions. It was so bad, I'm starting to wonder if they did it on purpose to come out with Mists and reinvigorate their own product. *tin foil hat off*

I started WoW sep 26, 2006 - just before TBC. Hit 60 a few days before launch. Started on the US servers, moved to EU a year later. I thoroughly enjoyed TBC and my 25-man guild flourished during this time. Although I liked WotLK, I started taking breaks from the game during this. I missed Ulduar by a few weeks and went back to it, but came back and raided till Cata. I enjoyed levelling in Cata 80~85, but then I just quit. Went back for 4.3 to see the LFR boss, but that was on a 10 day pass - I didn't even finish the pass.

Rift was just plain awesome to me from the start. I took breaks, but the improvements brought me back and I think I only unsubbed like a month or two since beta. I am now subbed for a year, and thoroughly enjoying it.

[RoninaThorstone]

I started WoW sep 26, 2006 - just before TBC. Hit 60 a few days before launch.

You poor bastard.

You missed the best 2 years of gaming I have ever had.

[Fencers]

That is hilarious.

Well, if they are allowing fan or user votes for "biggest disappointment" it would not be in conflict with editorial giving the same game top honors.

There is a difference between consumer and intelligentsia opinion. The two are not exclusive.

It's like Roger Ebert is under no obligation to honor Transformers 2 in editorial by virtue of popularity [or lack as the case may be], sales or vulgar sentiment.

[Lathais]

Which is interesting that Rift won most improved game. Going from Cata to Mists is like going from a negative 10 to at least a solid 6-7. Going from Rift to SL is like going from already an 8 to a 10. (if sources can be believed)

I definitely will heap mounds of praise on Rift, sine I'm loving the crap out of it now...but most improved, no way. (I didn't play original Rift, so I can't comment completely accurately...though from the way people talk and review it, there's no way it was bad at all, and nowhere near as terrible as Cata).

Please note this post is not to start a flame war or game comparisons, just using some simple logic here.

For Most Improved I am fairly certain they are not including SL or MoP since those are labeled as expansions not improvements.

In other words, how did Cata improve during it's cycle? It didn't until MoP

How did Rift improve from release? Leaps and bounds. So much so that you see players all the time saying things like, "I tried it at release and came back(before SL) and the game is entirely different and much improved. I am one of them. I tried it much earlier in the year, before IA and Ember Isle were even in the game and Rifts required a group of 5 or more at level. It was brutal. I played to about 25 and quit, it was not fun and there were too many servers and no one around me leveling. When I came back at the urging of friends after the 7th or 8th patch, the game had definitely been improved more than any improvements I saw in/during Cata.

So when comparing Cata to Vanilla Rift, without considering the expansions, Rift hands down wins.

[Valeron]

You poor bastard.

You missed the best 2 years of gaming I have ever had.

I find it interesting the wide range of experiences. For you (and to be fair, a lot of others as well) vanilla wow was the pinnacle of mmo gaming. For me, I found it to be rather forgettable.

[RoninaThorstone]

I find it interesting the wide range of experiences. For you (and to be fair, a lot of others as well) vanilla wow was the pinnacle of mmo gaming. For me, I found it to be rather forgettable.

Eh. The game was... Not quite imbalanced. I mean, there were issues. But you could kill anyone in almost no gear if you did it right.

The next time I experienced that was the 10 to 49 bracket of PVP in swtor because that was normalized stats.

Really a shame that swtor couldn't keep that normalization going in the 50s bracket. : /

edit: Think the opposite feeling of druid warrior vs druid warrior 2s matches in TBC that went on for 45 minutes.

[Lathais]

What games could potentially win MMO of the year and not be perceived as a pay off by detractors of said game?

I am just curious.

Whichever game the poster plays.

[Deleted]

YES, WAAAY. WAY WAY BETTER! Rift 1.6 was waaaay better than v1.0 and 2.1 is waaay better than 1.11
I've played since the beginning. I can accurately state that it is the most improved game out there.

Patch 1.6 = mind-blown just got better and better from there on. never seen a continent roughly 3/4 the size of northrend be put in a freaking patch. LONG LIVE RIFT!

[Pachycrocuta]

Massively says Storm Legion is best expansion of 2012. Tentonhammer apparently says Lord of the Rings: Online's Riders of Rohan is the best expansion of 2012. And I am sure another site will call Mists of Pandaria the best expansion of 2012. And someone else will probably say some other expansion was the best of 2012.

Awards for anything, really, are pointless and usually based on popularity or favoritism. I am not saying Storm Legion is bad. From the little I played, it wasn't bad. Same with MoP and LotRO's expansion (all released around the same time). All 3 of those have been pretty well done. I just don't give any of these award things much credit.

[RoninaThorstone]

Massively says Storm Legion is best expansion of 2012. Tentonhammer apparently says Lord of the Rings: Online's Riders of Rohan is the best expansion of 2012. And I am sure another site will call Mists of Pandaria the best expansion of 2012. And someone else will probably say some other expansion was the best of 2012.

Awards for anything, really, are pointless and usually based on popularity or favoritism. I am not saying Storm Legion is bad. From the little I played, it wasn't bad. Same with MoP and LotRO's expansion (all released around the same time). All 3 of those have been pretty well done. I just don't give any of these award things much credit.

To be fair, the mounted combat system was enough to make me download and start playing. I can see how someone would say that.

[Lathais]

Rift just recently had to lay off some workers. While this can happen with any company, it is not a sign thier product is doing exceptionally well ether.

Or it could have to do with the fact that SL, being finished, means you do not need as large an art or testing department as the level of stuff being added to the game over the course of the next year will not be as much or is at least already half done. Layoffs of this nature have nothing to do with the how well the game or company is doing. Also, not all (if any?) of the layoffs were from the Rift Division of Trion Worlds. If you read the statement and do not fail at comprehension it said Trion Worlds, developers of Rift, had layoffs. you can take out the part in commas and replace it with other games and the statement is still true. Trion World, developers of End of Nations, had layoffs. Does this mean layoffs were from the End of Nations team? Nope.

[Pachycrocuta]

To be fair, the mounted combat system was enough to make me download and start playing. I can see how someone would say that.

It is definitely a good game. Just started up again with the new update (Update 9) and the start of their Yule festival. Last I played was back in October (I think) with their Halloween festival.

All 3 of the games that I mentioned are decent. WoW was horrible last expansion, but I am having fun in Mists of Pandaria (though no game time at the moment). Also having fun in LotRO and Rift (though on the Rift lite). All 3 expansions definitely deserve the "Best expansion of 2012". Which do I think is? I would have to say MoP only because that's the one that I have actual experience playing (don't have SL or an active sub for Rift, and highest level is a 33 captain that I pretend is a "tall beardless female dwarf" since only humans can be captains, in LotRO). But SL is the best deal of the 3, being the cheapest.

[Onorvele]

Which is interesting that Rift won most improved game. Going from Cata to Mists is like going from a negative 10 to at least a solid 6-7. Going from Rift to SL is like going from already an 8 to a 10. (if sources can be believed)

I definitely will heap mounds of praise on Rift, sine I'm loving the crap out of it now...but most improved, no way. (I didn't play original Rift, so I can't comment completely accurately...though from the way people talk and review it, there's no way it was bad at all, and nowhere near as terrible as Cata).

Please note this post is not to start a flame war or game comparisons, just using some simple logic here.

I think you can look at Most Improved as "the greatest change in absolute score" or as "the most improvements added". Rift has had the most improvements added - as TheWocky has most elegantly highlighted. Sure, this has "only" taken a very good game to great, but that's still the most improvements.

[Kelimbror]

I think you can look at Most Improved as "the greatest change in absolute score" or as "the most improvements added". Rift has had the most improvements added - as TheWocky has most elegantly highlighted. Sure, this has "only" taken a very good game to great, but that's still the most improvements.

It is exactly the greatest change in absolute score...which is why it's not feasible for Rift to do that. Like I sad before, Cataclysm was in the negatives and is now very high. Rift was always very high. Even people that play can't really argue that.

If you compare features Tit for Tat, they are about even on terms of overall new features and improved features. Rift added new and improved rift events, 4 new souls, DIMENSIONS OMG, and capes? Yes there is lots more, but that's simplifying it. WoW added a new race, a new class, Farms, Pet Battles, Challenge Mode dungeons, scenarios, and stuff. Compared to cataclysm, it's like they reinvented MMOs inside of their own game. It's not all connected to the game properly, but they are working that out.

They tell stories equally well and do what they set out to do to near perfection. Like I said though, Rift was already doing this. It is a compliment to say it's not even possible for Rift to win this award. WoW is the one that was a pile of crap and had to compete with Rift's greatness. It did take a lot of features and concepts from Rift and LotRO recently to start raising the bar on their own.

[DeltrusDisc]

Yes but it does beg the question..by what metrics are they going?

For expansion of the year they are certainly not going by popularity, number of subscribers, most profitable, most features..in the end the only common metric I can find for all the award is the publishers own personal opinions. That's fine, because that is how most awards go out, but the gaming news industry is so bloated with biased writings its hard to take anything they say seriously.

Rift wins that by a long-shot.

Have you bothered trying it out?

[Lathais]

It is exactly the greatest change in absolute score...which is why it's not feasible for Rift to do that. Like I sad before, Cataclysm was in the negatives and is now very high. Rift was always very high. Even people that play can't really argue that.

If you compare features Tit for Tat, they are about even on terms of overall new features and improved features. Rift added new and improved rift events, 4 new souls, DIMENSIONS OMG, and capes? Yes there is lots more, but that's simplifying it. WoW added a new race, a new class, Farms, Pet Battles, Challenge Mode dungeons, scenarios, and stuff. Compared to cataclysm, it's like they reinvented MMOs inside of their own game. It's not all connected to the game properly, but they are working that out.

They tell stories equally well and do what they set out to do to near perfection. Like I said though, Rift was already doing this. It is a compliment to say it's not even possible for Rift to win this award. WoW is the one that was a pile of crap and had to compete with Rift's greatness. It did take a lot of features and concepts from Rift and LotRO recently to start raising the bar on their own.

You are still comparing Vanilla to Expansion and one Expansion to another. Compare Rift on Jan 1st to Rift on Nov 12th then compare WoW on Jan 1st to WoW on the day before MoP hit. Rift improved LEAPS and BOUNDS in that time.

Here is a summary of updates this year:
1.7
River of Souls Chronicle
Ascended weddings
PvP improvements - Prestige was originally 8 levels that were insanely long, opened to 40 that took the same amount of time, but you go rewarded along the way.
Expert Normalization - Prior to this there were 2 tiers that had to be done in order, they were combined
Master Mode Caduceus Rise
Endgame gear gets an upgrade
Premade Soul templates
RIFT Lite!

1.8
New 20-player raid: Infernal Dawn
New tradeskills: Fishing and Survival
Instant Adventure: Ember Isle
Guild Finder

1.9
Conquest
Barbershop
Mentoring
Instant Adventure: Silverwood, Freemarch, Gloamwood, and Stonefield
New Sliver: Primeval Feast
Global Chat

1.10
Faction Unity
IA: Scarwood

1.11
Class overhauls


Cata's last update was in 2011, Hour of Twilight. One patch on 8/28/2012 which was the Pre-MoP patch equivalent to 1.11. 1.7-1.10 in Rift are all improvements while Cata sat stale the entire time. Which one is most improved?

[Roboctopus]

I just can't really fathom that given that I played Cataclsym and it almost destroyed my soul and ability to play MMOs. Did you play every iteration of WoW until Cata? whoo boy I did. That was a fall of Greek Tragic proportions. It was so bad, I'm starting to wonder if they did it on purpose to come out with Mists and reinvigorate their own product. *tin foil hat off*

Honestly, as someone who has played WoW since Vanilla, I have to say MoP is the comeback king if I've ever seen one. Cata was so much garbage, that my friends and I actually broke up as a raid group due to how much we hated it. We've thankfully reformed, but it was just dog shit in every way. Mist on the other hand, is so amazing. I love it. I haven't had this much fun playing in years.