Rift PvP

[Kawakazi]

Yep, another Rift thread.

I was playing the most recent Rift beta this weekend, and I must say, I genuenly enjoyed leveling in the game and exploring. The first 20 or so levels were filled mostly with quests and the occasional raid to defend a quest hub that I may or may not have been using at the time from being taken over by the forces of Death or Water, which would also fight each other if they came into contact. The next 10 levels were about the same except bigger raids and I had more abilities to help out defending more and launching offensive attacks on the rifts which were spewing out what were attacking our towns. But this was different than before, the new zone I was in, which was level 20-28 was a contested zone mostly in our control, like Duskwood for Alliance or Hillsbrad for the Horde. Our attempts to fend off the invading forces were hindered by enemy players that were using hit and run tactics on our healers or ranged defenders. It turned into a PvEvP scenario with most of our forces attacking the rift monsters while the few in the back would assist but mainly attack the enemy players.
Once I started questing in the heavily contested areas, the world PvP and raids attacking towns was all over the place. While I was able to quest mostly in peace when I wanted, off in the distance I often saw both factions fighting it out in or near a town, only to have a rift open in between them and them fight over closing the rift in order to reap the rewards. Once I hit the maximum level allowed on the beta, I realized the PvP style of this game reminded me of the fond memories I have of vanilla WoW PvP, attacking South Shore with some friends or an entire Guild, or fighting over the various world bosses with the other faction in order to reap the rewards.

Rift also had a dynamicly changing world. The forces of Death, Water, Earth, or any other of the elements could take over your town, and so could the opposing faction. Imagine taking over Tarren Mill, but instead of Horde guards and quest givers appearing, Alliance guards and various NPCs would instead spawn. A Hinderence to leveling, yes, but all the more reason to take it back with force. "Those damned Alliance took Crossroads and made a base for themselves! We need it back!"

While I will not quit WoW for this game as of yet, seeing as how it lacks arenas and I do not know what endgame will be like exactly, nor do I think it will be the end of WoW, it looks like a fantastic game to play during that time you spend flying circles around Stormwind or Orgrimmar wondering "where are my arena partners" or waiting another two hours before your raid.

While I know this final message won't stop the guardians of WoW, the stubborn players who scoff at a change of gameplay or style, WoW is a monopoly in the MMO industry, while WoW will probably always be king until Blizzard kills it, a different game to play with a different style while keeping the MMO format may make your gameplay in WoW all the more fun instead of the routine "Log on, do dailies, do arenas, fly circles, do raid, be bored the three four or five days where you have nothing to do".

Give it a try, it has an open beta starting the 15th for 6 days before the launch, it won't kill you to try it.

[Terranullis]

It's not gonna be a "Wow Killer" but its a nice and fresh change of pace from:
I am enjoying the beta a lot!, Except for the weird schedule :S

"Log on, do dailies, do arenas, fly circles, do raid, be bored the three four or five days where you have nothing to do".

[darkwarrior42]

While I know this final message won't stop the guardians of WoW, the stubborn players who scoff at a change of gameplay or style, WoW is a monopoly in the MMO industry, while WoW will probably always be king until Blizzard kills it, a different game to play with a different style while keeping the MMO format may make your gameplay in WoW all the more fun instead of the routine "Log on, do dailies, do arenas, fly circles, do raid, be bored the three four or five days where you have nothing to do".

This is probably something worth re-iterating (though the entire OP is worth reading, if you are interested in Rift); Rift doesn't have to kill WoW, or be better than WoW, in order to be a good game in its own right, and a few people being bored with WoW or preferring Rift's style doesn't make WoW any less enjoyable for those who do still want to play it.

[Deleted]

Meh, rift is not a wow killer. But it is the best game for ppl, such as myself, who get nausea even from the wow login screen and then go troll the trade chat or go afk.

[Dammagia]

Seriously? The existing Rift PVP thread wasn't good enough?

Guys please at least attempt to use existing threads!