Returning to RIFT after +2 years

[Zatoitchi]

Hello champs!

So I bought RIFT before it was release to get early access (early 2011?), installed it and played a couple of hour before deciding it's not my cup of tea. Back then I had a low spec PC which made the graphics/FPS unbearable. I've been reading on the game every now and then and how they've improved vastly over the past couple of years which made me think of giving the game another shot. Few days ago, I received an email about the game going F2P. Having a better PC now, I thought I'd give it another try and see how it goes. Before I dive deeply into the game, I'd like some answers to some questions I have:

1- I heard that with the new F2P model, Souls need to be purchased. Do I need to buy them if I already paid for the game?
2- I'm a Mage by heart. Which spec do you recommend for leveling?
3- How does the endgame look like compared to, say, WoW?
4- How's the in-game community of RIFT?

Thanks a bunch!

[Deleted]

Hello champs!

<SNIP>

1- I heard that with the new F2P model, Souls need to be purchased. Do I need to buy them if I already paid for the game?
2- I'm a Mage by heart. Which spec do you recommend for leveling?
3- How does the endgame look like compared to, say, WoW?
4- How's the in-game community of RIFT?

Thanks a bunch!

I'll try and help you the best I can, as it seems no one else is posting here.

1- The only souls that need to be purchased are the souls which you get from buying storm legion. As you own the base game already there are NO other restrictions to you. Although you may find you can't use the AH until you redeem a certain loyalty reward, which you will have enough loyalty to do. (please note that it may feel like there are restrictions, such as locked bag slots, but they are things that they added when the game came f2p, so beforehand you would only ever have had 5 bag slots and now with money you can get up to 7)

2- This is really largely up to preference, most builds are viable. I suggest you include the necromancer or the elementalist souls because they give you a pet which is largely helpful when you get to the higher level zones (Mages are quite squishy :3).

3- I haven't actually done any endgame yet, although the raids are either a 10 man raid, or a 20 man raid, so TotDQ is 10 man, whereas FT is a 20 man.

4- With the exception of the level 1-29 chat (which I suggest you leave once you get to level 30) the community is largely decent, in the 1-29 you get lots of trolls and you can't go 5 minutes without people comparing the game to WoW and stuff.

[Deleted]

Hey buddy, let me try and answer some of your queries:

1- If you did not purchase the XPAC, then you will need to purchase the 4 Xpac souls. You can do this in their store, or you can just purchase a box version of the XPAC like I did. It is good to support the company hehe.

2- I heard that many people like a build with Chloro ? Not too sure. Check out the official Rift forums, they have loads of tips and guides made by the fans.

3- It is not worth comparing the two, wow has 9 years experience ? However, I will say this: the game lacks in PVP, but makes up for it tenfold in PvE. We have raids, hardmodes, chronicles (like scenarios if you insist on comparing), rifts, raid rifts, hunting rifts, crafting rifts, dynamic events (wow, when are you gonna do this ? LOL.), world events... Yeah... And Bgs... Hoping for them to bring out arenas soon... They have the time though.

4- Well at the moment, flooded by F2Pers, once they leave, you will find a lovely MMO community full of the usual protagonists such as trolls and griefers But you get nice people also, just pick your guild correctly

[potis]

1) 4 new souls, one for each class, require to be unlocked, the rest 32 souls are available to everyone, 8 each class as before.

2)The mage leveling specs can be anything, goes with gear..It was always some sort of Necro/Chloro thing for leveling cause of self healing and pets..Doesnt mean it cant be something else, it all depends how much downtime you want.. Necro/Lock as example used to have 0 downtime with self mana and self healing.

3)Generally up to when i was playing last year, the Rift end-game is very similar to WoW Vanilla/TBC.

The more you play, the faster you grind, the better you avoid the fire, the better geared/more flashy mounts etc you have, i dont know how the damage values in Storm Legion are, but in the original Rift the mechanics were very unforgiving in terms of Damage/Player HP Pool.

4)The in-game was generally always rather good, of course there were rotten apples in the form of a top guild player, but as long as you arent a mouthbreather you wouldnt have a problem with them.

Now with F2P i cant comment, the experience is probably horrible ;p.

[Fencers]

1- I heard that with the new F2P model, Souls need to be purchased. Do I need to buy them if I already paid for the game?
2- I'm a Mage by heart. Which spec do you recommend for leveling?
3- How does the endgame look like compared to, say, WoW?
4- How's the in-game community of RIFT?

1. Only the expansion pack souls need to be purchased. If you bought or own the xpack already, there is no need.

2. Elementalist or Necromancer. Anything with a pet really.

3. The same really. Raiding is the end of the line for power progression. Rift has 10 man and 20 man raids which are discrete instances. There are a fair number of them. They can be rather difficult.

4. The same as every other modern MMO.

[Griffeth]

Welcome back to the fun!

[Deleted]

Do i get anything else if i buy a boxed version of SL, or just the 4 souls? seems expensive just for 4 souls, only 1 if i only play 1 class.

[Kelimbror]

Do i get anything else if i buy a boxed version of SL, or just the 4 souls? seems expensive just for 4 souls, only 1 if i only play 1 class.

Not entirely clear on it, since it is after the transition, but you should get some loyalty and the souls. Since the souls are roughly $20 and the loyalty for that is negligible for just that item, I wouldn't recommend buying a box for anything greater than $20. If you see it on sale for $5-$10 it's worth it just for the souls.

[Zatoitchi]

Thanks guys for the great replies! I'm done downloading the game so see you in game!

[Deleted]

Thanks guys for the great replies! I'm done downloading the game so see you in game!

Be sure to let us know your returning impressions of the game and bombared us with further questions, We love that kind of stuff!

[Deleted]

I recently returned as well from playing with a level 50 Cleric back around launch.

As excited as I was for the game back then, I couldn't help but be unimpressed by it. The clunky and boring combat (Cleric melee DPS and tank) the rigid cast times (Cleric healer, lack of haste (hasn't improved though)), and the lame encounters (only a few bosses I did back then (before Greenscale came out) were interesting at all). The soul system was cool, however. I really liked how you could make a seemingly endless amount of builds if you wanted to (regardless of viability).

I returned a week ago, being fairly skeptical, and ended up impressed. I played a Mage and got very much into the Pyromancer soul (to a big part thanks to the fact that it has a 1s GCD), the Harbinger soul (same deal) and Rogue tanking (same deal again, I suppose).
I also did one of the new instances in Storm Legion, and although I didn't manage to finish it (we were severely undergeared, I as a tank got two-shotted by the first boss), I thought it was awesome.
The leveling process, albeit still slow, has improved vastly. Instant Adventures, LFG, WFs, Mentoring.. I very much approve of these changes. I just wish professions could give some experience as to give an incentive to level them.

I do have one worry though. How does the max level scene look for casuals? I do like Planar Attunement, I've always thought a way to level after max level was a good idea, but if that's all that changes except raids at 60, I'm not sure I'll stay at that point (I'm not a hardcore gamer anymore, I probably won't have time for raids).

EDIT: I tried Warrior (the character I tanked said instance with) and while I don't think Reaver tank is awfully boring, I think it's a shame Attack Points are so uninteresting on Single Target fights. Are other souls the same?

[Kelimbror]

I do have one worry though. How does the max level scene look for casuals?

Not good. Character progression limits are reached very quickly, leaving you with only rep grinds, achievement grinds, and housing to focus your energy on. For some people this is perfectly acceptable, but it wasn't for me.

With that said, it's still worth playing for several reasons and you shouldn't be dismayed by the quick wall placed on a non raider. This game is focused on raiding, but provides a lot of enjoyment apart from it. By the time you reach your cap, they may have added the new raid tier and let gear trickle down one level so that you can earn better gear. Who knows?

My advice is to do what I did. Just keep playing until you feel stifled, then focus on a different aspect of the game or take a break from it. The best part is that it is free and you can come back at any time.

[Fencers]

EDIT: I tried Warrior (the character I tanked said instance with) and while I don't think Reaver tank is awfully boring, I think it's a shame Attack Points are so uninteresting on Single Target fights. Are other souls the same?

None of the Warrior tank souls have anything remarkable to consume attack points in a single target situation. It's all pretty ho-hum. Warlord does have some interesting attack point using finishers [not always direct damage, but managing their buffs is somewhat engaging]. Though Warlord isn't a true tanking soul- it's meant to be a hybrid solo/pvp defensive soul.

I do have one worry though. How does the max level scene look for casuals? I do like Planar Attunement, I've always thought a way to level after max level was a good idea, but if that's all that changes except raids at 60, I'm not sure I'll stay at that point

There is some advancement after 60 for non-raiders. However, the ultimate goal and endpoint of the game is raiding.

It will take a good amount of time to max out on the non-raiding content that offers progression, if that matters. So if playing casually, and free of sub fee, Rift can keep you progressing outside of a raid for a good few months I think.

Given the speed of Rift's content updates it is likely there will be a new progression threshold about every 2 months by the time a casual player max out on non-raid content.

That said, MMOs such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2 are very accommodating to casual players to a greater degree than Rift. The only MMOs I have played more suitable to casual play than WoW and GW2 are the social MMOs [Second Life, Utropia] and those made for actual children, Wizard 101 or Toon Town.