What does Rift have to do to Survive?

David_Lopan · May 2011

I like Rift, even with all its genericness, but I personally can't see it surviving unless they:

1. Double the content by early next year (new land masses, alternate dimensions, etc.)

2. Raise level cap to 70+ by early next year

3. Add more souls and races by early next year

4. Create a better PvP experience (open world pvp, objection warfronts, better balance, etc.)

5. Add way more dungeons, at least doubling them

6. Have way more meaningful quests (less grindy)

Sooner than later would be nice, but when the big boy competition comes, they better be ready or there will be a mass exodus of the game. What do you Rift fans think?

ChochoD · May 2011

Or stop playing it and start meeting with real people and go to real places and have fun with your friends

David_Lopan · May 2011

Originally posted by ChochoD
Or stop playing it and start meeting with real people and go to real places and have fun with your friends

I play Rift 5 - 10 hours a week. I have two toons, one is 14 the other is 26. You are mistaken friend, I leave for Tokyo in a week on business where I am bringing my whole family for two weeks. Last Year I went to Ireland and Spain. I co own a bar/restaurant which I spend most of my time out side of my programming job. I do alot more during the week too. You sir have missed the point

Tabloid42 · May 2011

Originally posted by Aquazen

I like Rift, even with all its genericness, but I personally can't see it surviving unless they:

1. Double the content by early next year (new land masses, alternate dimensions, etc.)

2. Raise level cap to 70+ by early next year

3. Add more souls and races by early next year

4. Create a better PvP experience (open world pvp, objection warfronts, better balance, etc.)

5. Add way more dungeons, at least doubling them

6. Have way more meaningful quests (less grindy)

Sooner than later would be nice, but when the big boy competition comes, they better be ready or there will be a mass exodus of the game. What do you Rift fans think?

All these suggestions are good, and almost a no-brainer as far as expansions go.

New Class and Race, great,..BUT they really need to make new starting areas and quests. Only two gets kinda boring and kills the low level alt game, which is weird becasue the way Souls are set up, you don't neceserilly have a need to role new characters since it's so open that you can cover many roles with one.

I would also add something new to the RIFT mechanic, and namesake of the game. Rifts are what make the game stand out, for me anyways. Expanding on that would be their strength.

Your alternate dimensions sound like it could play into the RIFT mechanic. I have seen, on their forums, people suggesting RIFTS actually function as portals which sounds neat. Why not?

This is Trion's chance to do something new. Ok the quests are normal static things we've seen, just someting to level up through, it's a side game, imho, not THE game, or as it should be, anyhow.

RIFTS/ Invasions/ Soul System are it's strengths, above all else, I say they focus on these in that order.

Put all your eggs in one basket( or three as it was)? I say YES! WoW puts them all over the place, EQ2 does too and Lotro,..Here,...no need to do that, no need to compete with that. Go with your Strengths, Trion!

Namko · May 2011

Originally posted by Aquazen

I like Rift, even with all its genericness, but I personally can't see it surviving unless they:

1. Double the content by early next year (new land masses, alternate dimensions, etc.)

2. Raise level cap to 70+ by early next year

3. Add more souls and races by early next year

4. Create a better PvP experience (open world pvp, objection warfronts, better balance, etc.)

5. Add way more dungeons, at least doubling them

6. Have way more meaningful quests (less grindy)

Sooner than later would be nice, but when the big boy competition comes, they better be ready or there will be a mass exodus of the game. What do you Rift fans think?

So your char is max lvl26 and you're complaining about lack of instances/warfronts... etc?

On your level you got 4instances to do:

- Realm of the Fae (16-17) - Silverwood

- Iron Tomb (18-19) - Freemarch

- Darkening Deeps (22-23) - Gloamwood

- Deepstrike Mines (25-26) - Stonefield

(isn't that enough for a lvl26 char?)

About Warfronts:

-You only can do Black Garden/ The Codex. But there are some more once you level more.

Merlin1977 · May 2011

Originally posted by Aquazen

I like Rift, even with all its genericness, but I personally can't see it surviving unless they:

1. Double the content by early next year (new land masses, alternate dimensions, etc.)

They are adding more content, its just that they are doing in the form of world events.

2. Raise level cap to 70+ by early next year

Only issue with raising the cap is that they would need to add more higher level dungeons and more raids. Now bearing in mind not many people have completed all the raids as it is, they won't increase the level cap anytime soon. Also if they increase the level cap, my money is it would be done in an expansion we would pay for, i doubt it would be free.

3. Add more souls and races by early next year

Not sure where you are coming from here with the souls, there are 32 souls in the game plus another 4 pvp souls, there's more then enough choice in my opinion. Races, don't really have an opinion on this, all races do for me is, A: look different to others and B: give different racials, and none of the racials in the game are particularly useful anyway.

4. Create a better PvP experience (open world pvp, objection warfronts, better balance, etc.)

The game has never really been about pvp, more about pve. Open world pvp is down to how busy the pvp server you are on is surely? Balance would mean juggling the classes for both pvp and pve, and Blizzard in 6 years of WoW have still not mastered balance for pvp and pve.

5. Add way more dungeons, at least doubling them

Agree but maybe only 1 or 2 dungeons, level 50 extra ones would be good.

6. Have way more meaningful quests (less grindy)

Would say just more quests, if you don't dungeon then the quests run out later on meaning you need to boost a level in warfronts or just grind.

Sooner than later would be nice, but when the big boy competition comes, they better be ready or there will be a mass exodus of the game. What do you Rift fans think?

I think the issue doing it sooner is that not everyone will have seen all the raids, which is what wow normally struggles with and they still can't get it right. I think a year after release is generally a good time to do an expansion, by expansion I mean a proper expansion, higher level cap, more zones, more dungeons, more raids etc. I'm actually happy with Trion because I don't recall a developer being so proactive with patches, updates etc.

David_Lopan · May 2011

Originally posted by Namko

Originally posted by Aquazen

I like Rift, even with all its genericness, but I personally can't see it surviving unless they:

1. Double the content by early next year (new land masses, alternate dimensions, etc.)

2. Raise level cap to 70+ by early next year

3. Add more souls and races by early next year

4. Create a better PvP experience (open world pvp, objection warfronts, better balance, etc.)

5. Add way more dungeons, at least doubling them

6. Have way more meaningful quests (less grindy)

Sooner than later would be nice, but when the big boy competition comes, they better be ready or there will be a mass exodus of the game. What do you Rift fans think?

So your char is max lvl26 and you're complaining about lack of instances/warfronts... etc?

On your level you got 4instances to do:

- Realm of the Fae (16-17) - Silverwood

- Iron Tomb (18-19) - Freemarch

- Darkening Deeps (22-23) - Gloamwood

- Deepstrike Mines (25-26) - Stonefield

(isn't that enough for a lvl26 char?)

About Warfronts:

-You only can do Black Garden/ The Codex. But there are some more once you level more.

Lol, I am not complaining at all, jeez. What is with you guys. I am constuctivly looking at the game as a whole and seeing how it can stay a float beacuse I enjoy it. Really though, five dungeons( on each factions) is not nearly enough. Plus, at the rate I play I will be maxed by mid summer. I am sure Trion knows this, I just looking to see what you guys think could help it, this topic has nothing to do about me really.

Shadanwolf · May 2011

The producers of the game chose to make a "me too" game..despite voluminous "tester" input.Now they are paying the price. They have chosen to "listen" only to input that is consistent with their vision of the game. Now they can live with it.

Cik_Asalin · May 2011

Originally posted by Aquazen

I like Rift, even with all its genericness, but I personally can't see it surviving unless they:

4. Create a better PvP experience (open world pvp, objection warfronts, better balance, etc.)

imho, from a Westerners perspective, the gaming on rails, of which Rift falls under, by linear questing, railed invasions, heavy solo and team-oriented PvE, shoe-box instanced capture-the-flag pvp, etc. only nurishes my interest in such type an mmorpg gaming so much.

As with most mainstream PvE themepark-centric mmorpgs, Rift already financially broke-even with their combination of box sales and first 3-months of subscribers. However, the player-base will continue to decline to @200-300k as with any other of the type mmorpg.

However, the only thing that would have sustained my enthusiasm for Rift beyond my first 2-months and reaching level cap, would have been open-world RvR implementation. Of which the devs said months ago that if the base expressed interest, they would and could implement. Well, several posts, with thread-counts in the thousands in support of their offer months ago, later there is no meaningful organic player or community-centric value to this game, no interest or know-how by the devs with how to pull this off, but dwindling interest in Rift because of its' end-game shallowness.

David_Lopan · May 2011

Originally posted by Merlin1977

Originally posted by Aquazen

I like Rift, even with all its genericness, but I personally can't see it surviving unless they:

1. Double the content by early next year (new land masses, alternate dimensions, etc.)

They are adding more content, its just that they are doing in the form of world events.

2. Raise level cap to 70+ by early next year

Only issue with raising the cap is that they would need to add more higher level dungeons and more raids. Now bearing in mind not many people have completed all the raids as it is, they won't increase the level cap anytime soon.

3. Add more souls and races by early next year

Not sure where you are coming from here with the souls, there are 32 souls in the game plus another 4 pvp souls, there's more then enough choice in my opinion. Races, don't really have an opinion on this, all races do A: look different to others and B: give different racials, and none of the racials in the game are particularly useful anyway.

4. Create a better PvP experience (open world pvp, objection warfronts, better balance, etc.)

The game has never really been about pvp, more about pve. Open world pvp is down to how busy the pvp server you are on is surely? Balance would mean juggling the classes for both pvp and pve, and Blizzard in 6 years of WoW have still not mastered balance for pvp and pve.

5. Add way more dungeons, at least doubling them

Agree but maybe only 1 or 2 dungeons, level 50 extra ones would be good.

6. Have way more meaningful quests (less grindy)

Would say just more quests, if you don't dungeon then the quests run out later on meaning you need to boost a level in warfronts or just grind.

Sooner than later would be nice, but when the big boy competition comes, they better be ready or there will be a mass exodus of the game. What do you Rift fans think?

I think the issue doing it sooner is that not everyone will have seen all the raids, which is what wow normally struggles with and they still can't get it right. I think a year after release is generally a good time to do an expansion, by expansion I mean a proper expansion, higher level cap, more zones, more dungeons, more raids etc. I'm actually happy with Trion because I don't recall a developer being so proactive with patches, updates etc.

Thank you for your thoughts. I too like Trion a lot, better then most (Turbine is dear to my heart, for some reason I love DDO and LOTRO but have played those two for too long)

Namko · May 2011

Originally posted by Aquazen

Lol, I am not complaining at all, jeez. What is with you guys. I am constuctivly looking at the game as a whole and seeing how it can stay a float beacuse I enjoy it. Really though, five dungeons( on each factions) is not nearly enough. Plus, at the rate I play I will be maxed by mid summer. I am sure Trion knows this, I just looking to see what you guys think could help it, this topic has nothing to do about me really.

Ow, I see.:)

Well Trion does +- every 30days a content update, so once you hit max level I'm pretty sure you will have enough to do!

(for example: patch 1.2 gives you: More expert rifts/raid rifts/ and a new 10raid instance)

About "only" 5 instances(each faction). Since you can join other faction instances also, it gives you 10instances to do while leveling to "only" lvl50. Which is enough imo.;)

David_Lopan · May 2011

Originally posted by Namko

Originally posted by Aquazen

Lol, I am not complaining at all, jeez. What is with you guys. I am constuctivly looking at the game as a whole and seeing how it can stay a float beacuse I enjoy it. Really though, five dungeons( on each factions) is not nearly enough. Plus, at the rate I play I will be maxed by mid summer. I am sure Trion knows this, I just looking to see what you guys think could help it, this topic has nothing to do about me really.

Ow, I see.:)

Well Trion does +- every 30days a content update, so once you hit max level I'm pretty sure you will have enough to do!

(for example: patch 1.2 gives you: More expert rifts/raid rifts/ and a new 10raid instance)

About "only" 5 instances(each faction). Since you can join other faction instances also, it gives you 10instances to do while leveling to "only" lvl50. Which is enough imo.;)

How do you do that, i tried to do the other dungeons. Walked a dangerous road to Sanctum only to not be able to bind anywhere, get griefed by opposing factions, died alot and had to warp back to a defiant side check point. I really tried, a whole group of us did, never made it to one Guardian side dungeon.

Sigurd57 · May 2011

Originally posted by Aquazen

I have two toons, one is 14 the other is 26.

'Nuff said. I have 1 lvl 50 character, in in the time I have available to play, usuaully a couple hours in the evening, there is no way I can get done, daily instances, Rifts, PvP, etc. There is plenty to do, I've no where near run out of stuff and I've got 9 days played time on my single character.

Point is, your lvls 14 / 26 don't really have much weight in any argument. Rift will survive just fine the way they are going. And for people who say there is nothing to do.. WTF?!?! Really? I see no way to actually complete all there is to do on the time I have, let alone keep up with new content, or make new characters.

Gravarg · May 2011

I guess people have bad memory or something. Rift is one of the most complete games to come around in a long time. I can list an almost infinite list of games that have been released with less content than Rift. It also seems that every 2 months or so, they're adding content.

Rift has more content than WoW did at launch. It doesn't seem like much since everything can be done with minimal investment of time. Dungeons in WoW and almost every other game take at least an hour, Rift is 30 minutes. Leveling from 1-max takes about 4 days or more, Rift can be done in 2 days. Don't mistaken the time it takes to do things for lack of content. Rift already has 2 raid dungeons. WoW launched with NONE, but was added before most people even got to it. About every month in a half or so it seems Trion will be having world events that add new content (dungeons and equipment). In WoW and just about every other MMO it takes at least 3 months for new content patches. Even DCUO, which stated they were going to have monthly content update, can't match the rate that Rift is growing.

Now as for suggestions, there's always something that can be done to make things better in any game. One of the biggest things I've wanted since my first Rift experience was to follow the Rift "tendrils" back through and whip that Planes arse, so they wouldn't ever dare come back to my world I think it would be pretty neat if on the closure of Major Rift Tears you have an option to travel back through the Rift to that Plane and have a whole 'nother world to explore and conquer

Sigurd57 · May 2011

Originally posted by Aquazen

How do you do that, i tried to do the other dungeons. Walked a dangerous road to Sanctum only to not be able to bind anywhere, get griefed by opposing factions, died alot and had to warp back to a defiant side check point. I really tried, a whole group of us did, never made it to one Guardian side dungeon.

It helps to know where you're going. Walking into Sanctum, not exactly smart as a Defiant.

You'd be looking for Realm of the Fae, look it up.

David_Lopan · May 2011

Originally posted by sigurd57

Originally posted by Aquazen

I have two toons, one is 14 the other is 26.

'Nuff said. I have 1 lvl 50 character, in in the time I have available to play, usuaully a couple hours in the evening, there is no way I can get done, daily instances, Rifts, PvP, etc. There is plenty to do, I've no where near run out of stuff and I've got 9 days played time on my single character.

Point is, your lvls 14 / 26 don't really have much weight in any argument. Rift will survive just fine the way they are going. And for people who say there is nothing to do.. WTF?!?! Really? I see no way to actually complete all there is to do on the time I have, let alone keep up with new content, or make new characters.

Stop being redundent, i have played plenty mmorpg's. I have asked people who think (mainly guild mates) the same in game. Come on. I am not attacking this game.

elocke · May 2011

Already left myself after having gotten into tier 2 gear I just lost all desire to log in and play. The game is great for ONE character up to 50 then it just bites from there on out. I plan to come back in 2 years just to see how much has changed/been added. Hopefully at that time I won't be sucked into the worlds of SWTOR, GW2, and ArcheAge, never to return, , so that I can truly see how long I last in Rift after 2 years of post launch content. (Actually, I hope the 3 games I mentioned do pull me into another dimension where even RL seems dull, lol)

gessekai332 · May 2011

i personally dont think they should have made "normal" difficulty dungeons and should have left the dungeons until end game. The reason is, the dungeons really are not fun at all until they pose somewhat of a challenge (not the snorefest normal dungeons) and give rewards that are worthwhile (like endgame tokens and t1/t2 gear). The story doesnt even properly progress unless you play the expert dungeons, which will allow you to fight bosses that are integral to the story of the game. Honestly, I didnt even really remember the dungeons in normal because they were so easy, boring and pointless.

demolishIX · May 2011

Originally posted by ChochoD
Or stop playing it and start meeting with real people and go to real places and have fun with your friends

No good loot outside..

Gravarg · May 2011

Wow that was fast Trion. I just mentioned it on the forums for the first time, and with today's update that just happened, you can go through Rift "Slivers" to a 10-man raid instance on the other side of rifts XD

David_Lopan · May 2011

Originally posted by elocke
Already left myself after having gotten into tier 2 gear I just lost all desire to log in and play. The game is great for ONE character up to 50 then it just bites from there on out. I plan to come back in 2 years just to see how much has changed/been added. Hopefully at that time I won't be sucked into the worlds of SWTOR, GW2, and ArcheAge, never to return, , so that I can truly see how long I last in Rift after 2 years of post launch content. (Actually, I hope the 3 games I mentioned do pull me into another dimension where even RL seems dull, lol)

This is exactly why Rift needs to put there heads down and get a ton of content out sooner than later. By the way, Trion, you guys are doing a great job, thats why I want more.

Rommie10-284 · May 2011

Content, Content, Content. Rift has proven that releasing a game in working order, and with ample "polish", is a requirement, not a feature. Players will get bored with your shiny new toys just as quickly as they do with the old broken toys.

When you get to a point in the game where you are doing the same things overandoverandoveretc you suck the enthusiasm out of all but the most hardcore customer.

It's a BIG problem for developers. It is entirely unfair to compare the content of a new game vs. one that's had years of development into it. It is also the reality of the situation: players can, and do, compare the games.

Trion thought they had enough in place to get by for launch, and preened about how much more was in the pipleline. They were wrong, and have been scrambling for weeks to fill the gap.

You don't think EA has taken notes, and are now scrambling themselves to pile on the Stuff to Do in TOR? The players are used to games with years of goodies in them. Releasing a game that doesn't match up is now a recipe for failure if you want to consider your game as a AAA release. TOR is an even bigger "Me Too" game than Rift, and Trion has shown EA that "Me Too" includes "Me Too's" amount of content.

Again, it is really unfair to expect a new game to crank out the development results of an old one in 1/3 to 1/2 the time, but that's the way it is now. If you don't add more, you'll get your game consumed by the player Locust Horde quickly, and then it moves on En Masse to the next feeding ground.

And to make things even worse, there's no guarantee that your game will flourish, even if you do pull off a massive amount of activities for your players. After all the work, they may decide It Sucks and not play anyway. Fun times for MMO developers.

TL;DR: More content, quickly. It's no guarantee of survival, but not doing it is one for failure.

chaod1984 · May 2011

blah blah blah...Trion needs to put out more content, pvp and more dungeons.

My argument with all of that is that they haven't gotten any of that right yet.

Dungeons - Feel more like hand holding elite mob killing than an actual living breathing dungeon. They are all very static and have no real immersion to them. They are terribly constructed and seem as though they were all built in the witching hour prior to release.

PVP - With 32 (I think) souls it would be IMPOSSIBLE to balance classes enough for viable pvp....throw that out the window.

Content - Again, just like the dungeons...very static. Even the combat is bland and dull. It's overly generic. Hit this button for a DoT and 1-2 point towards finisher. Hit this button until you get 3-4 for more points toward finisher. Now hit finisher....rinse and repeat. It's awfully, dreadfully, dull. Trion doesnt even try to hide the grind that questing holds within it...The quests are very similar to quests in Aion (dare I say Aion's are better).

If you like this game, Im glad, but please dont say that it's the most complete game ever launched. You can have all the bells and whistles you want, but if they dont work properly or make a sound that you really dont want to hear, then what's the use of having everything. In the end you end up with nothing.

Tardcore · May 2011

To survive, probably not too much. To thrive however they will need to release new content much faster than their predicessors.

Hellfyre420 · May 2011

Originally posted by chaod1984
blah blah blah...Trion needs to put out more content, pvp and more dungeons.

My argument with all of that is that they haven't gotten any of that right yet.

Dungeons - Feel more like hand holding elite mob killing than an actual living breathing dungeon. They are all very static and have no real immersion to them. They are terribly constructed and seem as though they were all built in the witching hour prior to release.

PVP - With 32 (I think) souls it would be IMPOSSIBLE to balance classes enough for viable pvp....throw that out the window.

Content - Again, just like the dungeons...very static. Even the combat is bland and dull. It's overly generic. Hit this button for a DoT and 1-2 point towards finisher. Hit this button until you get 3-4 for more points toward finisher. Now hit finisher....rinse and repeat. It's awfully, dreadfully, dull. Trion doesnt even try to hide the grind that questing holds within it...The quests are very similar to quests in Aion (dare I say Aion's are better).

If you like this game, Im glad, but please dont say that it's the most complete game ever launched. You can have all the bells and whistles you want, but if they dont work properly or make a sound that you really dont want to hear, then what's the use of having everything. In the end you end up with nothing.

I'd say it's ONE of the most complete MMO's launched.. And the dungeons are actually done rather well.. Sure some of them are a little static (cough FC cough) but the bosses usually take some kind of tactic to beat and ROTF will stand out for me way more then wailing caverns did.. Honestly from what i've seen the dungeons are way more of a challange then those i played in WoW.. I mean, there was a dungeon in WoW that had a graveyard (forgot name) that took litterally 10mins to complete and dropped almost 2-3 purple gear each time.. Maybe i'am just used to challanging long dungeons as the majority of my time spent has been on AION's instances, but even then they are long, tedious, and few and far between.

Deathofsage · May 2011

They need something to distinguish themselves.

The class system had a lot of potential but as many people knew, and everyone knows, you can't balance that many classes like that. You just can't. It's terrible that they took a promising system and lost the beauty of it. Game companies never learn but here's an important lesson: Don't promise balance and flavor if you haven't actually achieved it, you just make enemies.

The rift/invasion system - the core point of the game - didn't do that. People played and viciously attacked anyone who had anything bad to say about RIFT but watch this forum and people are signing off. Serious PVPers were the first to go. People hitting 50 and finding it just as stale as other game's endgame, but with less content (so repeating less things more often) were the second to go...

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