RIFT MMO

[Blackadar]

There's a thread for new MMOs for 2011, but I thought that Rift deserved its own thread considering we're a week away from head start and less than two weeks away from go live.

hxxp://www.riftgame.com

What is it? It's a very technically solid, fun fantasy MMO. On first glance, it appears to be a WoW clone. In many ways, it is. Crafting, UI and hotkeys all are directly taken from WoW. Questing seems like it was taken from WoW, circa-2005. It also has a good mix of EQ2 (collections) and WAR (PvP) thrown in to boot, which isn't surprising since many EQ2 and WAR developers now work on Rift. When I first played it, I wasn't sold on it. I was kind of burnt out on the general MMO mechanic and had given up on MMOs, finally quitting LOTRO and WoW. It's grown on me since and now I'm really looking forward to release.

It's grown on me because:

1. It's fundamentally sound - the first MMO in a long time to be released in a stable state. I've had very few issues with Rift, even since Beta 4 (now on Beta 7). Questing, PvE instances, Warfronts (PvP scenarios), Rifts...they all work very well. I'm sure there are issues, but so far I haven't seen class imbalances like Bright Wizards in WAR. I've had 30-40 people onscreen at one time with no problems and no lag. The damn game just works.

2. It's fun. Read my story below for more details, but I can say it's a good time. The gameplay is derivative, no doubt. If you're entirely burnt on the MMO mechanic, this won't change your mind. But there's always something to do. Don't feel like questing? Then just go do Rifts - I gained 4 levels relatively quickly by doing so - or head into the Warfronts. I've never felt bored or trapped.

3. The soul mechanic is a blast. Essentially, souls are talent trees. But instead of choosing between 3, the 4 classes in the game each have 8 talent trees. You can pick 3 pretty early in and customize your character. Later on (level 14), you can buy secondary specs (eventually up to 4 specs) and do quests to get the other talent trees in your class. And you can use any 3 souls you have access to (remember, there's 8) in any given spec. So you can configure your cleric from being a pure healer to swapping to an anti-caster PvP spec to a ranged DPS machine to a cleric tank. The flexibility is enormous and you can really configure your class to play the way you want to play. Do you want a healing/buffing rogue who can lay traps? It's in there. A marksman who can vanish? Yep. A healing mage with a lot of DOTS? Sure.

4. Rifts & Dynamic Game World. Rifts are portals that open that will have mobs rush through it. They act like Public Quests from WAR, but they're more spontaneous. Plus, sometimes it's not just one Rift - as I said, read on.

Ok, so what's it like? I logged on this AM to find everything peaceful in the Sanctum (level 8-20) zone. I helped close a rift or two (jumping into public groups when they spawned) and everything seemed fine. Then, the smell of brimstone wafted across the air and all hell broke loose. Within two minutes there were over 20 Fire Rifts open and fire invasions were all over the place. Mobs were pouring out of rifts and taking over the towns of the zone. Those of us in the zone fought back, but the fire troops were too many and they took control of the zone with the exception of a couple of wardstones keeping the mobs from invading Sanctum (main Guardian city in the game - think Stormwind). It was pretty epic.

At the height of the fire invasion, we heard another cry throughout the zone and life rifts started popping everywhere. Major life and fire invasions started competing for control of the zone and our guardian defenses were shattered with the help of a 3rd (defiant) invasion. The wardstones at Sanctum were destroyed and suddenly a major rift appeared in the middle of Sanctum. Two massive life mobs spawned from the rift in town and the next thing we knew, the forces of life were literally running amuck in the city. We fought back and killed those two massive mobs with a coordinated effort, then turned to the entry bridge to the city to fight off the invasion forces converging on Sanctum.

Outside the town, a huge scrum involving fire, defiant, life and guardian forces took place. If the other invasions hadn't attacked each other, we'd have been wiped off the map. But they fought and weakened each other for us to start to get the upper hand. We slowly beat back the other three forces and the zone started to quiet down again. We probably fought at least 20-30 invasion groups at the doorstep to Sanctum, but our lines held. Even after we beat back the invasion forces, it still took a while to close most of the rifts and the whole damn thing was epic as hell. I gained two levels (14-16) with that character just in those fights. Frankly, that was some of the most fun I've had in any MMO in many years.



So, if this sounds like the game for you, either message me here or just apply to the guild I belong to at hxxp://www.alloutassault.net/. Reference my name during your application (yes, it's the same as it is here) and so long as you're 18, you should get in. We're going to be playing on a PvP server (it's the right choice for this game and I'm not a big PvP fan), guardian side (because we like being outnumbered).

[Radii]

I've played in the last 3 betas and am enjoying it immensely. I'm in for the head start w/ a small group of friends, though I don't think we've decided on pvp vs pve server or defiant vs guardian. I have avoided leveling anything up past 20 yet as i don't want to see too much of the world in a beta, my only concern is the "open pvp vs scenarios (warfronts)" issue that plagued Warhammer, where the game was designed around contested open world pvp zones, but a majority of the players found it more efficient to grind scenarios for their pvp points all day long. I forsee a similar problem here, and so far I do compare the game design to Warhammer a lot more than WoW, though really both borrowed most of their designs and UI and all that from WoW of course. But the things that Rift is saying will make it unique are very similar to the things the Warhammer folks said would make it stand out. Rifts are PQs but better, Warfronts are pvp scenarios, and most of the high level zones it sounds like are contested pvp zones.


I have high hopes for it, I like the Soul system, I am definitely playing a mage but can't for the life of me decide which class setup I want to play in pvp, dungeons, levelling, etc. Pyromancer, Warlock and Chloromancer all really intrigue me. I took my Chloro into pvp and love how that works (its a healing mage, it doesn't do a ton of damage compared to pure damage mages but almost all of the damage you do will heal everyone in your group/raid that's nearby). But I love the high damage of a Pyro and the stick and move dot the hell out of everyone warlock style too.

Looking forward to it!

[Thomkal]

I've been playing in the last few Rifts betas myself, and I too came into it with dubious thoughts about its potential. But also like you, its grown on me and I'm impressed with how polished it is already is a week from launch. You don't hear much criticism of the game in chat, and believe me you would if there were problems, and the biggest criticism is that its a WoW clone. If that's the worse criticism, the game can't be that bad. I'm actually considering purchasing it despite financial woes because its grown on me that much.

One of my biggest concerns coming into the beta was that the rifts themselves would be one giant lag-fest. There was some bad lag the first beta I was in, but since then there's been almost none. And they have public groups available to join once you get close to the rift. Just click the button and youre in a public group-no shouting and spamming chat looking for groups to join during a rift event. It was a pleasure. And the game itself is very stable. I'm not even sure we had a crash that brought the game down-only when the mods wanted to add a patch.

I like too how they have the rifts staged-you defeat the mobs in the first stage and you move on till you fight a boss monster. And the rifts events like Blackadar mentioned are just wild. You get warning one is coming when horns sound throughout the zone and various bad guys voices telling you you are all about to be dead. Then some NPC's start calling out asking for help defending their areas. Rifts open all over and mobs don't just stay in the rift area, they start running in packs through out the zone. And the best part? you get loot after the rift is closed/event is over-and usually elite money to buy other elite (planar) items.

I like the crafting set up so far though I haven't devoted much time to it-that's another way to take a break from questing/rifting-go make stuff and catch your breath. Several of the crafts are interconnected and you can train in three of the eight or so crafts out there-you can mine ore for your mining craft and use that ore in weaponsmith and armorsmith crafts for example.

I was most dubious about being able to use skills from 3 souls (classes) and if the beta is how its going to work in the real game, I hope they push back when you get access to the second and third soul. That's because the soul trees are so large and many of the skills you can pick up on them consist of 3-5 levels-like add 1% to damage for one soul point-and there'd be five levels you could get for a total of 5% damage. But at least in the beta by the time you get five soul points, you've gained access to the second soul tree and almost the third. There's just too much to choose from, which is kind of odd to say is a problem. I'd like to develop my primary soul for a while because that's the class I'm going to be most interested in playing, then say level 10 and level 20 maybe get the second and third souls.

And perhaps best of all no cartoon graphics like WoW-I would call it very detailed artwork-take a look at your shield and weapons as you get new ones and see how detailed and different looking they are from each other. And get someplace high where you can look down or across at a rift in the process of opening...wow you just know your about to be in deep do-do when the skies just begins to open up and this long arm of fire, plant life, black death arms, etc start coming out of it.

I havent done the PvP thing because its just not my thing, but the game's backstory sets up the two sides quite nicely especially on the defiants side (don't want to ruin the surprise there-but wait till you see where you start out). The initial quests especially draw you in, making it seem like you are the key hero the world has been waiting for despite the fact that 50 gazillion other Ascended are right there with you doing the same missions.

I'm not one of these players who calculate damage and nitpick over what every skill does or is supposed to do for you in the game or if every skill and class is balanced, I just go and play. So there may be some problems with the game along those lines, but right now the game is ready to play and a heck of a lot of fun.

Now if you excuse me, I think I'll go play some more.

[Thomkal]

oh forgot to mention-If I do get the game, I likely will be a rogue with marksman as the main class probably a pet class second (ranger I think is rogue?). I've always preferred a ranged class in MMO's over a tank. But I've tried all four main classes so I could see what the souls were like and no doubt my "alt-itis" will kick in and soon enough I will have at least one character in each group.

[Radii]

Another plus for some people is that there are benefits to those that like wandering around exploring the landscape. I'm not one to do this but a friend of mine is and I followed her along a mountain range the other day picking up artifacts*** on the ground and found a couple spots where you can simply loot a green/blue item out of a hidden cairn. There are puzzles that can be found that you can do that yield some sort of loot that we've read about on the forums as well.


I took a few screenshots riding along the mountain ridge that I liked, I didn't shrink them at all so i'm just linking them, not putting them in tags:

http://fbcb-fofc.com/img/bfg.jpg

http://fbcb-fofc.com/img/gloamwood.jpg <-- overlooking the next zone which is a darker forest apparently. I haven't been yet but it was cool overlooking the gloomy landscape from the edge of my happy little 1-20 zone.

http://fbcb-fofc.com/img/silverwood.jpg


I've been playing lotro which has an incredible high res client, so its a big step down from that. But I'm waaaay more about content than graphics so this is quite acceptable.


*** artifacts/collections are items you can pick up and find that get stored on your character. when you complete a collection you can turn it in for a reward. My favorite is "critter tears", you know the level 1 cats and dogs and deer and squirrels and such that you see taking up the landscape in any game? Yeah, kill them and they may drop a "deer tear" for your collection

[Thomkal]

nice screenshots there radii-they have some pretty wacky mounts-love the turtle and saw an antelope looking one. I haven't been able to afford any yet.

[frnk55]

Cool pics Radii. Might take a break from LOTRO when this comes out.

[Radii]

http://fbcb-fofc.com/img/riftboss.jpg

When I logged on today tehre was a massive life rift invasion taking place in Silverwood. I was lucky enough to be near most of the key bosses throughout it, this is one of the last guys we killed to close everything off. I had some lag during this one, my casting and movement was just fine, but mobs and friendly players coming into focus was happening very late, often I couldn't see anyone more than 10 meters away or so and by the time i could see a mob right in front of me it was 25% dead at times.

[Thomkal]

holy crap that's a lot of hit points on that boss. No wonder it takes 15 minutes or so to kill one. I think that's one thing they need to improve. I actually got bored today and left the battle with the Iron golem boss because it was just taking too long to kill him.

[tyketime]

Well I'm playing in my 3rd Beta event. And I've already preordered the Collector's Edition, so I get to be a part of the Head Start as well. I've safely tucked away my LOTRO characters, and am looking forward to exploring all that Telara has to offer. I've created 15 different character/soul combinations, and like someone else said, I haven't gone over Level 20. I'm still not sure which one my primary will be.

[Lonnie]

I had some spare change from my fantasy football winnings, so I preordered and paid for the cheaper six month contract. I'm that pleased with how the beta has gone and figure I will at least give it six months. If things go to hell it won't be money I'll miss.

Blackadar, I too want to play on a PVP server so I will most likely just jump on whichever server you guys end up on. I also prefer Guardians for the underdog factor. I'm a little short on time now, but I'll check out the guild site before launch.

[Raiders Army]

Just pre-ordered and went with the 6 month payment option. What server are you guys on?

[Thomkal]

The Retail client for Rift is now available here if you preordered from Trion or otherwise want to download it. They suggest you uninstall the beta client if you downloaded it from them. You may not need to do this with Steam. The Head Start begins on Thursday.

RIFT - Head Start

[Peregrine]

I played several of the Beta events, and liked the game, but got sidetracked by other things. There were a lot of things I liked about the game, but I also have questions about how longlived this will be. Right now I'm playing WoW, but I'm thinking of trying Rift. Is there some option for FOFC people getting together in game? I'd like to find a nice guild.

[Raiders Army]

I haven't received my email yet, but I downloaded the install file and installed. I'm getting a 2002 error though when I try to download the game files.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

I haven't received my email yet, but I downloaded the install file and installed. I'm getting a 2002 error though when I try to download the game files.

Raiders,

The error is because the head start hasn't started yet, you'll be able to download then. I ordered through Steam and got my preorder code right from the patcher, which I thought was kinda neat, especially the option to copy the code to the clipboard so I just had to paste it in my account page to activate it.

[Thomkal]

oh and yes that means after fretting about the cost, I went ahead and got it anyway.

I'm up for a fofc group informal or formal-server names aren't out yet last I looked, but I would prefer a PvE one cause I suck at PvP.

[Radii]

Server names are out:

Incompatible Browser | Facebook

PVP RP anyone?

Have at thee, scoundrel! *turns on autoattack*

[Coffee Warlord]

One of these days, Dark Age of Camelot 2 will be made.

And I will be happy.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

One of these days, Dark Age of Camelot 2 will be made.

And I will be happy.

Yeah - we all thought that is what Warhammer Online would be, and were cruelly disappointed.

[Thomkal]

Have to correct my earlier posting, you should be able to download sometime tonight and you'll get an email letting you know as well as it being announced on their forums and Facebook.

[Thomkal]

it should be available now. There is also a new link to a manual on the patcher which I have downloaded but not looked at yet.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Yeah - we all thought that is what Warhammer Online would be, and were cruelly disappointed.

Ayup.

Personally, I think the formula for an awesome large-scale PvP/RvR type game is incredibly simple. Just do not get why it hasn't happened.

Really, just give me two things.

1) 3 unique factions. This is what every RvR game since DAoC has lacked. And it's what makes it.

2) No instanced PvP. At all. Ever.

Everything else beyond that is negotiable and gravy.

[BYU 14]

Could me as another who was burnt out on MMO's but this game is really fun. The last day of Beta I was involved in a large Fire Rift invasion that took a group of 25-30 of us nearly an hour to defeat, I actually progressed an entire level (14-15) during the battle. The Rifts can definitely get intense and chaotic, great fun.

I also love the flexibility with your character and the different types of currencies you need to collect to buy different things.

[Thomkal]

So what do people think will be their "main" character? I'm going Rogue-Marksman-Ranger-????. I had Saboteur here in the beta, but didn't really like it, and didn't test any of the other souls.

Need to pick a server for the FOFC to invade still-I still prefer a PvE one-Greybriar or Keenblade sound the coolest to me. But any of them are fine with me really.

[Thomkal]

and of course Guardian or Defiant

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

So what do people think will be their "main" character? I'm going Rogue-Marksman-Ranger-????. I had Saboteur here in the beta, but didn't really like it, and didn't test any of the other souls.

That's gonna be my main too. This is the style of character I enjoy the most, so that's what I will create. I am afraid that we will not be the only two with these as their main build. It seems to be a popular combo. So I am also inclined to create a "main alt". Probably a Warrior.

I've never really played PvP, but am looking forward to trying it out with Rift. Seems like Defiant is the overwhelming choice, so I will probably go Guardian. I was reading the other day that 3 factions would possibly solved imbalance issues. Maybe a 3rd one will join the fray in a future expansion...

[tyketime]

Sorry. I should have included I'm leaning towards Riftstalker as my 3rd soul. I love the Planar Shift ability.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by tyketime

That's gonna be my main too. This is the style of character I enjoy the most, so that's what I will create. I am afraid that we will not be the only two with these as their main build. It seems to be a popular combo. So I am also inclined to create a "main alt". Probably a Warrior.

I've never really played PvP, but am looking forward to trying it out with Rift. Seems like Defiant is the overwhelming choice, so I will probably go Guardian. I was reading the other day that 3 factions would possibly solved imbalance issues. Maybe a 3rd one will join the fray in a future expansion...

I was looking through the rogue soul choices earlier, and I thought I might try Riftstalker as my third soul as well. Great minds think alike right? I no doubt with have many alts so can play another if need be or have double marksman power for the win!

I have to say I'm surprised Defiants are more popular than Guardians. I know they have the cooler opening story, but Guardians seem more like the "good" guys here, and so I thought they would be more popular. I fine playing either, I just wanted to see what other people were thinking of playing so I could plan accordingly.

[Radii]

Warlock-Necro-Dominator

Pyro was a lot of fun and Chloromancer seemed really useful in a lot of situations, but I had an absolute blast the last day of beta messing around in pvp scenarios with warlock. Once I'm fully levelled up I could totally see switching to Pyromancer due to some of the CC elements that are way high up in their talent tree, but until I get there I think Warlock it is.

Its disappointing to hear that Defiant is the more popular side at this point. I played Guardian all beta and haven't touched Defiant yet, with the intent being to be able to see new stuff in final by choosing Defiant. But I don't want to get in on the side that has way more players, that's a lot less fun all the way around.

[Coffee Warlord]

Riftstalker had some funnnnn things going on. My beta char was primarily a Nightblade/Riftstalker (I basically decided I didn't wanna put points into a 3rd soul), and it's (at least I think) a pretty good combo. Get the basic stealth, one of the better offensive classes (Nightblade), and combine it with strong defenses & teleporting. Vroom.

[Raiders Army]

8.32 GB. Yikes. 7 hours remaining.

[Lonnie]

My highest character in Beta was also a Nightblade/Rifstalker(/Ranger), same thing I had only about 2 points in the third soul, mainly to get a boar to keep some aggro off of me. I got to 21 on that one.

Even after all of the betas, I am still undecided on a main. I really wanted to be a mage so I might stick to that. Rogue was fun, but I have a feeling there will be no shortage of them. Cleric is a wildcard for me as I know they will be in high demand for groups and the ones I played were not too bad. I guess the fighter is the only one I did not really play a lot. I have a feeling that I'll one of each and eventually I'll end up playing one a lot more.

Server wise I want Guardian PVP. I don't really care if it is RP or not as it seems hardly anyone roleplays anyway.

[Lonnie]

I checked out Blackadar's guild All Out Assault and they are going to play on Briarcliff as Guardian. I'm going to start there today.

[Thomkal]

I'm willing to at least try a PvP server. why don't we play there (Briarcliff) and then a PvE server too-maybe Defiants there? that gives us some options at least and lets those of us with "alt-itis" to give in to the "disease" a bit. I'll likely play a warrior calling on the PvP if we go that route and save the rogue calling for the PvE.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

I'm willing to at least try a PvP server. why don't we play there (Briarcliff) and then a PvE server too-maybe Defiants there? that gives us some options at least and lets those of us with "alt-itis" to give in to the "disease" a bit. I'll likely play a warrior calling on the PvP if we go that route and save the rogue calling for the PvE.

I think thats a good idea, I am not a huge PVP guy either, but as Blackadar said this game seems made for it.

Lets decide on a PVE server we can join as well, I played on Keenblade during Beta, but have no preference.

[Thomkal]

One Million+ Acccounts opened for Rift:

1 MillionTrion Accounts!!

[Lonnie]

hmmm 20 minutes to launch and I'm working wishing I could be playing.

I'll be on Briarcliff tonight though. Since we are starting on PVP I will be a Cleric. Now just have to decide on which souls.

Keenblade sounds as good as any for a PvE Defiant server.

[Thomkal]

I will be on as soon as the servers open. I'll likely start on Keenblade PvE as a Defiant Rogue, and try the PvP server later when more of us are likely to be on.

[Thomkal]

And true to their word the servers are up exactly on time

[Lonnie]

I went and grabbed my laptop to sign in over lunch and just create my characters so my names will be reserved.

12:05 and I am 2662 in queue, estimated wait 2 hours 16 minutes.

[Thomkal]

I've created my Rogue on Keenblade-Severian

[Thomkal]

wow Lonnie I got in right away

[Thomkal]

They have a neat thing where they announce the first player to loot a rarer item-I was the first to find the battered bow of the trickster! I'm a marksman, so I can use it, sadly its not better than the bow I got for completing my second quest.

[Thomkal]

just so you know they haven't changed anything to when you get your second and third souls so I have all three now-Marksman, Ranger, and Bard. I decided to go with Bard since I figure I may be grouping more than I normally would so the Bard's buffs could come in handy.

also those who paid to get the turtle mount at level 20, that has been changed so you now get it as soon as you are past the opening stage of the game, which will likely be around Level 6.

[tyketime]

From the Go-Live Patch Notes:

MARKSMAN
* Swift Shot: Damage reduced.
* Empowered Shot: Damage reduced.
* Deadeye Shot: Damage reduced.
* Strafe: Damage reduced.
* Hasted Shot: Damage reduced.

RANGER
* Dire Wolf, Blood Raptor: Damage reduced.
* Shadow Fire: Damage reduced.
* Splinter Shot: Damage reduced.


Ouch!

[Thomkal]

yes my Marksman/Ranger says OUCH indeed! I did think they were a bit overpowered in beta, seems like I never had to struggle too much to beat regular mobs.

Lag has been bad at times, non-existant a majority of the time-I got disconnected once from lag, but was able to get right back on thankfully.

[Thomkal]

they just shut down the servers for a bit-making people who had to wait two hours to get in not very happy. My guy is Level 8 and just made it out of the Arc quests.

[Mustang]

Ah hell.. I'm going to have to get this.

[Lonnie]

Well I had hoped the rush would have subsided by now, but I guess there are a lot of people like me just getting off of work.

Briarcliff - position 2482
Keenblade - position 644

Looks like it'll be a bit before I get logged in. There are a couple of servers that are not full, Freeholme and Emberlord. They were not on the original list, I guess they are scrambling to get up more servers.