I don't understand why the fact that Rift is new should be used as an excuse for a lack of endgame content. Even in WoW, few people are raiding anything less than the current content.
Rift has far more endgame content than WoW did two months after release, the difference is that people blew through content in Rift so much more quickly because they've 'done it all before'.
Is the current endgame in WoW so much more in-depth?
Not really.
There's more of it, simply because WoW's been around longer. But on the other side of the same coin, the majority of WoW's endgame is also irrelevant and collecting dust since it gets deprecated every content patch these days.
It could be argued that there's more gimmick fights in end-game WoW, but that's moreso because WoW has "done" the generic boss fights, so the devs scramble to find ridiculous gimmicks so they don't look like they're re-hashing content so obviously.
In less than 30days I did all the quests in Rift, was max level and raided 4 times ran every dungeon on heroic a couple times. Was in full T1 gear with 4 pieces of T2.
From doing every quest and many of the repeatable rep quests I ended up well off with my rep.
And so there was nothing to do end-game in Rift.
All you have is chasing gear/running dungeons or doing the rep grind to finish off the rep for factions.
Sorry but WoW already beat this horse to death so I won't be playing Rift again till they offer something new.
Played: MCO - EQ/EQ2 - WoW - VG - WAR - AoC - LoTRO - DDO - GW/GW2 - Eve - Rift - FE - TSW - TSO - WS - ESO - AA - BD Playing: Sims 3 & 4, Diablo3 and PoE Waiting on: Lost Ark Who's going to make a Cyberpunk MMO?
I'll start by saying that this is likely going to be a long article. If you want the tl;dr version, skip to the bottom.
I rarely comment on articles because they are one person's opinion and often with very little background to their experience in the genre of the game.
However, this article and a bit of recent nostalgia prompted me to respond with a few comments.
I will start by saying that my opinions are based on my experience playing EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, briefly Asheron's Call, World of Warcraft, and observations of Rift over my wife's shoulder.
Firstly, no game is created with the express purpose of "replacing" another game. They are simply a company's attempt at creating something they think is fun and that they would like to share with others. It is, however, the game publisher's hope that this new game will steal many of WoW's player base because they just want money.
"The variety of choices is staggering. Instead of the simpler options available in WoW you can customize your toon how you like to play."
This is not new and was available as far back, to my knowledge, as Dark Age of Camelot. Not only was it available, but I felt it was quite nicely done.
"The creators of RIFT have done several other things to create a much faster paced game than WoW. Besides the high degree of toon customization, mounts are available very early."
I really fail to see how customization, presumably physical, or having access to a mount early on result in "a much faster paced game than WoW". I'm not even sure how character customization has any affect on the pace of the game. Regardless, let's not confuse progression through content with the speed of interaction with residents within the environment. I'm certain I express the opinion of many when I say that WoW is about as fast paced as you can get in a MMO without it being a FPS, especially in the newest content.
"Further the respawn rate is very quick so if someone before you kills the monster you need, you only have to wait a second or two for the respawn. In fact, unless you want to fight the same enemy multiple times, don’t stop to look at your new loot without moving away from the area"
Wow! Another game which makes me feel as though my heroic actions have absolutely no impact.
As someone mentioned, of course it's a replacement because it's [almost] the same game. I recall to mind a video review with one of the lead developers of RIFT. He mentioned almost immediately that it would contain "quest hubs" as players are traditionally accustomed to. This immediately turned me away. This in combination with the "great quest helper built in" just reeks of boredom. All these serve to do is dillute the reward, lore, and purpose of any quest. Who is going to stop to read or care about quest dialogues if they are inundated with them and the map simply tells them exactly what needs to be done? On this note, EverQuest had great, albeit few considering the name, quests. When you completed them, you actually felt accomplished, knew the lore behind it, were rewarded appropriately, and can likely remember it for months or even years to come.
Thus far, of what I've seen, read, and heard of RIFT, it is nothing new that I can't get in other games which, personally, were far superior to even WoW in enjoyment and satisfaction. I am confident in saying, based on what I have read and seen, that I will find myself equally bored with the repetitive end game and progression of this game as I am with WoW.
Levels and improved gear to defeat slightly more difficult monsters do not equate to "content" or enjoyment.
tl:dr
This review should be taken with a grain of salt. The opinions and supporting evidence are quite incoherent and often sound more like an advertisement for RIFT. Let's not continue to beat a dead horse and rather than ask if this is a replacement to existing games, compare and contrast it to past games, which often were far more enjoyable and satisfying than the current largest stakeholder. Highlight the good and bad in an unbiased manner, and then you might have an article worth reading.
Where is the "Edit" option for comments? At any rate, please forgive the large gaps in the prior comment. I did not realize these comments would automatically create html paragraph elements every time I pressed the space bar.
Originally posted by mbd1968 I agree with your point on alt playabilty, I was refering to end-game content. WoW had one 10 man raid UBRS and 4 or 5 5-man dungeons. No tiered content at all.
Onyxia and Molten Core were fully implemented 3 weeks before WoWs launch.
Its funny that Ive had to correct 3 Rift supporters on this exact thing in the past week. Is there some Rift newsletter floating around where it gives Rift fans misinformation to spread about WoW and other MMOs to make Rift seem better?
Ive done endgame in WoW at launch and in every expansion and Ive donr Rift's endgame. There is no comparison. Rift's endgame is easy and terrible. WotLK level easy and terrible. It doesnt matter that Rift has more endgame than WoW did at launch if its not better in any way.
We mostly agree. The first paragraph is I think the only point of disappointment. I truly don't understand the people that see a vast difference between this and Warcraft and am sick and tired of hearing "IF U CANT C THE DIFFERENCE, UR BLIND OR DUMB OR BOTH.". I want a game as different from the standard crap as they do and as you do, but am not going to lie to myself to make RIFT that game.
With me, RIFT never had a chance from the first beta I participated in. I logged in and saw the same UI, the same combat system and immediately knew. If I hadn't been playing with past-game friends, I'd've never made it past 10. (I made it to 42 in the last beta.)
Firstly, no game is created with the express purpose of "replacing" another game. They are simply a company's attempt at creating something they think is fun and that they would like to share with others. It is, however, the game publisher's hope that this new game will steal many of WoW's player base because they just want money.
Yeah, indie developers might feel that way but when a big player steps into the ring, it is with the intent to make money. PR firms/departments carefully handle the release of information. This is why a lot of games show exhilerating shots that aren't actually part of the gameplay, because they want you to come play their game.
"Dailies" were not added by any game in the hope players would have more fun. They're added because they want you logging in every day so that the months pass by without you really realizizing it or the little micro-transactions add up.
"The variety of choices is staggering. Instead of the simpler options available in WoW you can customize your toon how you like to play."
This is not new and was available as far back, to my knowledge, as Dark Age of Camelot. Not only was it available, but I felt it was quite nicely done.
FFXI as well, and even moreso.. You could combine any class with any class, and while they're certainly were favorites/bests, you did see the random war/whm. Beastmaster was a class that could accomodate seeral subs very well.
"The creators of RIFT have done several other things to create a much faster paced game than WoW. Besides the high degree of toon customization, mounts are available very early."
I really fail to see how customization, presumably physical, or having access to a mount early on result in "a much faster paced game than WoW". I'm not even sure how character customization has any affect on the pace of the game. Regardless, let's not confuse progression through content with the speed of interaction with residents within the environment. I'm certain I express the opinion of many when I say that WoW is about as fast paced as you can get in a MMO without it being a FPS, especially in the newest content.
For me, races was a part where RIFT failed. Not only do they not really have different backstories, each faction has one starting area. The racials out-of-combat only so your decision for race doesn't really matter and the racial traits are incredibly negligible. (+'s to random resistance.)
To me, a game where any race can be any class has the opportunity to provide some distinction between races because players won't feel slighted because they can't combine their close race + their closen class.
"Further the respawn rate is very quick so if someone before you kills the monster you need, you only have to wait a second or two for the respawn. In fact, unless you want to fight the same enemy multiple times, don’t stop to look at your new loot without moving away from the area"
Wow! Another game which makes me feel as though my heroic actions have absolutely no impact.
The respawn rate was ludicrous in beta. I ran into several mobs that repopped in the same place as soon as you killed them making them a pain. You'd have to kite them away, killing one and another then killing that one and another and then killing that one and another..
As someone mentioned, of course it's a replacement because it's [almost] the same game. I recall to mind a video review with one of the lead developers of RIFT. He mentioned almost immediately that it would contain "quest hubs" as players are traditionally accustomed to. This immediately turned me away. This in combination with the "great quest helper built in" just reeks of boredom.
All these serve to do is dillute the reward, lore, and purpose of any quest. Who is going to stop to read or care about quest dialogues if they are inundated with them and the map simply tells them exactly what needs to be done? On this note, EverQuest had great, albeit few considering the name, quests. When you completed them, you actually felt accomplished, knew the lore behind it, were rewarded appropriately, and can likely remember it for months or even years to come.
Because this game was built with the inclusion of a questhelper, I actually found that quests that I needed help with--2 in beta--had nothing to offer in the quest description. just drivel and gibberish.
Thus far, of what I've seen, read, and heard of RIFT, it is nothing new that I can't get in other games which, personally, were far superior to even WoW in enjoyment and satisfaction. I am confident in saying, based on what I have read and seen, that I will find myself equally bored with the repetitive end game and progression of this game as I am with WoW.
You will. While most players here (myself included) can't think of how to revitalize the themepark model, neither could Trion. It's easy to deliver a polished game when not as much money goes into creativity because you're just Xerox'ing. RIFT has no parts that don't properly meld together because they simply copied what has worked properly elsewhere.
Levels and improved gear to defeat slightly more difficult monsters do not equate to "content" or enjoyment.
tl:dr
This review should be taken with a grain of salt. The opinions and supporting evidence are quite incoherent and often sound more like an advertisement for RIFT. Let's not continue to beat a dead horse and rather than ask if this is a replacement to existing games, compare and contrast it to past games, which often were far more enjoyable and satisfying than the current largest stakeholder. Highlight the good and bad in an unbiased manner, and then you might have an article worth reading.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug. 12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
My problem with WoW was homogenization of classes/roles to a degree where playing any class doesn't feel that different from each other. Rift gives you the freedom of your own style and be successful with it. I am currently playing a warlord+paladin hybrid in experts which gives me insane control on trash mobs (you have a bad ass mob, stun for 4 sec, disarm for 4 sec, root for 6 sec, then again stun or disarm if any other cooldowns are available). Give the buffs to group, some unique cds available for support classes. Can this happen in WoW? I feel like I have 50 keybinds to press and I am sure I press 40 of them. This is what OP talks about. WoW is so dumbed down to a point where you can play the game with 5-6 buttons and most of the time the game even tells you what the hell you need to do in a fight (and now they even add a functionality show boss abilities). Is this enough to keep people interested? For now it is for me, because I like a more dynamic combat which I can say I am not doing a set rotation most of the time.
I haven't done any raids in Rift and I have no intention to do it except when it will be tiered up so I can pug it or something but most of the encounters I have seen in Rift feels different than WoW (e.g expert King's Breach last boss). But this is again related to above paragraph, you don't need to do too much of combat in WoW, you can actually watch easily what you are doing. So it feels easier in WoW. Watching someone dies in a heroic in WoW while standing in fire and saying "this is so hard" is priceless for me and it is unfortunately how wow gets balanced. If same thing happens to Rift, I'll of course get the hell out of there as well. Point of the story is, it is new, it is not dumb, community is ok even though I am not even in a active guild. This is what I want and I'll stay here for more. As a side note I have been playing Rift since Oct 2010 and I played WoW for close to 4 years and quitted completely at march 2011.
I have been in some of the top guilds on my server in WoW and so far i enjoy rift better. I enjoy leveling in Wow but it gets really boring. You can pick up rift and instantly burn through the levels which is aparently what rift wanted to happen, they want you to see the content but also want you to get to the end game content more. Im only lvl 40 in rift so i havent experienced the end content but looking forward to it. The Rifts in this game is also amazing. When the whole area your in is ingulfed with rifts that are opening as well as tons of invaders and elite squads where you have to defend certain places while trying to close the rifts and other tasks. During that time you have to group up whihc everyone is eager to do. I really enjoy how when a rift opens up you have the option to join a public party and join wiht anyone around you who is willing to do so. I quit wow because i had personal life problems that i had to deal with and saw a trial here for rift and took it and have never looked back. Im going to be switching to SWTOR once it comes out but i have over 6 months before that happens. So until then Rift is my game of choice.
I don't replace WoW with another WoWish game. if i feel like playign WoWish game, I reactivate my subs in WoW for a month or two and have a blast without needed on leveling new char, gettign gear, farming money, leveling profs etc etc
"Don't argue with dick-heads, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience"
I'm really tired of pople saying "oh it has more that WoW did after 3 months" crap. Yeah they prolly had more as other games already laid the ground work for it and Trion "borrowed" from that work, and to top it off the technology makes it a hell of a lot easier nowadays so yeah their gonna produce quicker stuff. Vanilla was a whole seperate ballgame anyways to Rift, compare Wrath or Cata if you want to play the compare game.
As far as the OP goes...all what Rift does is an alternative to WoW to those sick of it and have overplayed it.
Although I would like to get on the "compare Rift to WoW at three months" bandwagon. It is an inconsequential arguement. Wow is not three months old and a lot of MMO history, "innovation" and progress ahve been made. The OP was suggesting that Rift replace Wow . . . which means Rift now versus WoW now. So it is a valid arguement.
I have been playing Rift since beta and unsubbed Wow many months ago. I prefer the graphics, talent trees and multiple souls of Rift to anything Wow has to offer. All that said, for all of us playing Rift, we cannot negate the arguement of chronological comparison, it isn't valid.
My thoughts exactly....until I hit level 50. 2 months after launch and I'm back to WoW . I like Rift, but it doesnt' have enough content, i.e. alternate leveling paths for multiple alts, to keep me playing it the same I way I played Wow at launch. For me the game, needs to double itself in order to keep me playing long enough to the next expansion or major content patch.
Also, while some of the game is faster paced, I have found that WoW quests obliterate Rift quests in every way. I mow down 10 mobs much faster in WoW than I ever did in Rift. Also, PHASING is just awesome to me. It makes me feel like the quest was worth it. Unlike in Rift where the quests don't really matter except as a vehicle to get me xp points. And, if you want to just quest to level cap, you HAVE to do as many quests as you can, which again, ruins any replayability.
Also, those Rifts and footholds get old real fast. At 50, when I was in Tier 2 gear, you basically are only closing Rifts and footholds for rep and achievements. It got to the point where people would call "Invasion in Stillmoor!" and I wouldn't even bat an eye. I just didn't care enough to go do it for the umpteenth time.
For me, WoW still wins hands down, but, RIFT is a great second alternative and I'm sure I'll be revisiting it a year or so from now after more content has been added.
I couldn't have said it any better. my thoughts EXACTLY.
If you compare Rift 3 months after launch with WoW 3 months after launch, Rift offers a lot more than WoW did. Of course it won't offer the same options and content that WoW does now. if you want to compare like with like, come back to Rift in 5 years and compare.
That is the thing that I do not get at all. Most people are comparing WoW in its current form to Rift as it is now. I played WoW at launch and for many years after. Rift has quite a bit more content than WoW had hands down when it launched. So with the fact in mind that Rift needs some more time to grow and mature I would say at this rate it has a chance to surpass WoW down the road in terms of amout of time the game was out, how much content, how many people are playing, replayabiltity and much more.
Perhaps, then, you should ask Trion why they insist on making direct references to WoW in their advertising. "You're not in Azeroth anymore" is a direct challenge to WoW... in its current state. A newer one I've read about, where they invoke the "Horde"... another passive reference to WoW.
I take that slogan as one way of them saying "Rift is a viable alternative to WoW", and that would be in its present form, not as it was when it launched. In fact, I believe as much has been said outright about the game in the past. So, yes, when I'm looking at Rift, I'm going to compare it to WoW in its current form, because Trion are basically calling my attention to it as such.
Trion are already quite deliberately drawing comparisons between their game and Blizzard's as "clever marketing".
So, when players make comparisons between the two, it seems rather disingenuous to say "well, Rift just launched... WoW's been out a long time..." That doesn't seem to matter to Trion, does it?
Can't have it both ways.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I don't replace WoW with another WoWish game. if i feel like playign WoWish game, I reactivate my subs in WoW for a month or two and have a blast without needed on leveling new char, gettign gear, farming money, leveling profs etc etc
You make no sense, if you have everything done, why resub? The first reason to play rift instead of wow is because you already did everything interesting in wow.
That is the thing that I do not get at all. Most people are comparing WoW in its current form to Rift as it is now. I played WoW at launch and for many years after. Rift has quite a bit more content than WoW had hands down when it launched. So with the fact in mind that Rift needs some more time to grow and mature I would say at this rate it has a chance to surpass WoW down the road in terms of amout of time the game was out, how much content, how many people are playing, replayabiltity and much more.
Perhaps, then, you should ask Trion why they insist on making direct references to WoW in their advertising. "You're not in Azeroth anymore" is a direct challenge to WoW... in its current state.
I take that slogan as one way of them saying "Rift is a viable alternative to WoW". In fact, I believe as much has been said outright about the game in the past. So, yes, when I'm looking at Rift, I'm going to compare it to WoW in its current form, because Trion are basically calling my attention to it as such.
Can't have it both ways.
The ad they're running now, of course, is "JOIN OUR HORDE", and while noone holds the copyright on "Horde", the reference is obvious.
Like you basically said. Fans can't say "Tehee, the ads are awesom!" and simultaneously blame people for making comparisons.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug. 12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
At present I prefer RIFT to WoW simply because leveling in WoW has become so easy its boring . Thats not to say leveling in RIFT is hardcore though. The two leveling paths bother me a bit and I think it will limit its long term appeal to me . I dont think a return to WoW will ever be a true long term option for me either because of the changes Blizzard have made like the cross server looking for a group system have ruined it in my opinion and its no longer what I'm looking for in an mmo I may pop in again for a couple of months each year out of curiousity then again I might not . I'll play RIFT as long as I enjoy it by which time hopefully another mmo that interests me will be out .
One of my friends bought the game and I was in the beta the whole time. It was fun and somewhat dynamic like most say, but I knew there wasn't anything that would make it last. The rifts and invasions came so much that it got completely boring. The quests had a story behind them like WoW, but something with WoW's quests now give you the sense that you are more involved and in the story.
I think RIFT is a great game, but it has not been around long enough and they should probably have developed the world a bit more if it really wanted to take on WoW so fast. RIFT is basically WoW at the end of the day, so I find myself wondering "why bother?"
it's a good game (so is wow for that matter) but i wish the reviewers would play a game for a lil longer than just a few levels before doing their review; after all we are in a genre of games where people play for months and years, not days and hours.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
This game is Alright and it has some interesting mechanics to the game with classes,the rifts and all i played wow for a long time and if you look at all the raids and everything its all the same rehashed bosses and all and its dull after i got my 3rd toon to 85 i just cancelled my sub and wiated for rift so i'm kinda killing time playing rift til SWtor & GW2 come out.
What killed rift for me where the dungeons at 50. The very last thing I wanted to do was rerun the instances I did while levelling with 1 extra boss added and some new boss tricks. To me this felt as a completel cop out by trion. There should fo been new level 50 only instances not rehash every existing instance. The fact that trion did this completely invalidates the Rift has more endgame than Wow did at release. Wow did not copy old instances at release just to add in "content". I am not a Wow fanboy either. I cancelled my account a year ago and have not looked back. But if blizzard did what trion did and rehashed old content at release then Wow would of had twice the end game at release than rift does.
Rift was a very fun game levelling up. but oncd you hit 50 the game falls completely flat on it's face. Pvp is horrible with to many fotm builds and classes that do not need to be nurfed getting nurfed. I understand classes need to be balanced. Maybe trion is better now, but they had a bad habit of "balancing classes" instead of fixing bugged skills that were making certain builds op.
Perhaps in the future Trion willa ctually add new original content for max levels. But if you want to know what end game rift is... just look at the instances you're running now add a few mobs, make the bosses a little harder and you have it. In all honestly I'd kill someone to have a good modern remake of the original EQ.
All I can say is ROFL!!!!! Wow replacement you got to be kidding. I can see this is going to be a flame fest in progress. I am going to go cook popcorn now.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel there are way to many rifts and invasions going on at once.
They need to nerf the spawn rate of rifts, increase the difficulty of them, and increase the reward substantially.
This would make rifts stand out and would entice people to actually WANT to do them later on in levels. They lose their fluff way too early.
This is more and less exactly the same thing I said in the beta forum already. Too many rifts just make me want to ignore the whole thing and just run past them, they feel like the same thing everytime and you don't get far without running intoi a new.
Dynamic events should be fun, not like killing 10 rats but because they pop up so often and the fact that they are so easy makes the whole thing a lot less fun then how it should be.
Fewer and harder rifts with slightly better loot would make the game more fun.
I don't really see how Rift could be Wows replacement, possibly EQ2s or LOTROs. If Wow ever gets and replacement (which I somehow doubt, I think the time when 1 game is so much bigger than the rest is comming to an end soon) it would most likely be GW2 or Titan.
Trion are not bad but they can't go head on with Blizzard and Arenanet, at least not now. Maybe for their next game, they do have some pretty talented people but they still need more experience and a slightly better budget.
Comments
Not really.
There's more of it, simply because WoW's been around longer. But on the other side of the same coin, the majority of WoW's endgame is also irrelevant and collecting dust since it gets deprecated every content patch these days.
It could be argued that there's more gimmick fights in end-game WoW, but that's moreso because WoW has "done" the generic boss fights, so the devs scramble to find ridiculous gimmicks so they don't look like they're re-hashing content so obviously.
In less than 30days I did all the quests in Rift, was max level and raided 4 times ran every dungeon on heroic a couple times. Was in full T1 gear with 4 pieces of T2.
From doing every quest and many of the repeatable rep quests I ended up well off with my rep.
And so there was nothing to do end-game in Rift.
All you have is chasing gear/running dungeons or doing the rep grind to finish off the rep for factions.
Sorry but WoW already beat this horse to death so I won't be playing Rift again till they offer something new.
Played: MCO - EQ/EQ2 - WoW - VG - WAR - AoC - LoTRO - DDO - GW/GW2 - Eve - Rift - FE - TSW - TSO - WS - ESO - AA - BD
Playing: Sims 3 & 4, Diablo3 and PoE
Waiting on: Lost Ark
Who's going to make a Cyberpunk MMO?
I'll start by saying that this is likely going to be a long article. If you want the tl;dr version, skip to the bottom.
I rarely comment on articles because they are one person's opinion and often with very little background to their experience in the genre of the game.
However, this article and a bit of recent nostalgia prompted me to respond with a few comments.
I will start by saying that my opinions are based on my experience playing EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, briefly Asheron's Call, World of Warcraft, and observations of Rift over my wife's shoulder.
Firstly, no game is created with the express purpose of "replacing" another game. They are simply a company's attempt at creating something they think is fun and that they would like to share with others. It is, however, the game publisher's hope that this new game will steal many of WoW's player base because they just want money.
"The variety of choices is staggering. Instead of the simpler options available in WoW you can customize your toon how you like to play."
This is not new and was available as far back, to my knowledge, as Dark Age of Camelot. Not only was it available, but I felt it was quite nicely done.
"The creators of RIFT have done several other things to create a much faster paced game than WoW. Besides the high degree of toon customization, mounts are available very early."
I really fail to see how customization, presumably physical, or having access to a mount early on result in "a much faster paced game than WoW". I'm not even sure how character customization has any affect on the pace of the game. Regardless, let's not confuse progression through content with the speed of interaction with residents within the environment. I'm certain I express the opinion of many when I say that WoW is about as fast paced as you can get in a MMO without it being a FPS, especially in the newest content.
"Further the respawn rate is very quick so if someone before you kills the monster you need, you only have to wait a second or two for the respawn. In fact, unless you want to fight the same enemy multiple times, don’t stop to look at your new loot without moving away from the area"
Wow! Another game which makes me feel as though my heroic actions have absolutely no impact.
As someone mentioned, of course it's a replacement because it's [almost] the same game. I recall to mind a video review with one of the lead developers of RIFT. He mentioned almost immediately that it would contain "quest hubs" as players are traditionally accustomed to. This immediately turned me away. This in combination with the "great quest helper built in" just reeks of boredom. All these serve to do is dillute the reward, lore, and purpose of any quest. Who is going to stop to read or care about quest dialogues if they are inundated with them and the map simply tells them exactly what needs to be done? On this note, EverQuest had great, albeit few considering the name, quests. When you completed them, you actually felt accomplished, knew the lore behind it, were rewarded appropriately, and can likely remember it for months or even years to come.
Thus far, of what I've seen, read, and heard of RIFT, it is nothing new that I can't get in other games which, personally, were far superior to even WoW in enjoyment and satisfaction. I am confident in saying, based on what I have read and seen, that I will find myself equally bored with the repetitive end game and progression of this game as I am with WoW.
Levels and improved gear to defeat slightly more difficult monsters do not equate to "content" or enjoyment.
tl:dr
This review should be taken with a grain of salt. The opinions and supporting evidence are quite incoherent and often sound more like an advertisement for RIFT. Let's not continue to beat a dead horse and rather than ask if this is a replacement to existing games, compare and contrast it to past games, which often were far more enjoyable and satisfying than the current largest stakeholder. Highlight the good and bad in an unbiased manner, and then you might have an article worth reading.
Where is the "Edit" option for comments? At any rate, please forgive the large gaps in the prior comment. I did not realize these comments would automatically create html paragraph elements every time I pressed the space bar.
Its funny that Ive had to correct 3 Rift supporters on this exact thing in the past week. Is there some Rift newsletter floating around where it gives Rift fans misinformation to spread about WoW and other MMOs to make Rift seem better?
Ive done endgame in WoW at launch and in every expansion and Ive donr Rift's endgame.
There is no comparison. Rift's endgame is easy and terrible. WotLK level easy and terrible. It doesnt matter that Rift has more endgame than WoW did at launch if its not better in any way.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
My problem with WoW was homogenization of classes/roles to a degree where playing any class doesn't feel that different from each other. Rift gives you the freedom of your own style and be successful with it. I am currently playing a warlord+paladin hybrid in experts which gives me insane control on trash mobs (you have a bad ass mob, stun for 4 sec, disarm for 4 sec, root for 6 sec, then again stun or disarm if any other cooldowns are available). Give the buffs to group, some unique cds available for support classes. Can this happen in WoW? I feel like I have 50 keybinds to press and I am sure I press 40 of them. This is what OP talks about. WoW is so dumbed down to a point where you can play the game with 5-6 buttons and most of the time the game even tells you what the hell you need to do in a fight (and now they even add a functionality show boss abilities). Is this enough to keep people interested? For now it is for me, because I like a more dynamic combat which I can say I am not doing a set rotation most of the time.
I haven't done any raids in Rift and I have no intention to do it except when it will be tiered up so I can pug it or something but most of the encounters I have seen in Rift feels different than WoW (e.g expert King's Breach last boss). But this is again related to above paragraph, you don't need to do too much of combat in WoW, you can actually watch easily what you are doing. So it feels easier in WoW. Watching someone dies in a heroic in WoW while standing in fire and saying "this is so hard" is priceless for me and it is unfortunately how wow gets balanced. If same thing happens to Rift, I'll of course get the hell out of there as well. Point of the story is, it is new, it is not dumb, community is ok even though I am not even in a active guild. This is what I want and I'll stay here for more. As a side note I have been playing Rift since Oct 2010 and I played WoW for close to 4 years and quitted completely at march 2011.
I have been in some of the top guilds on my server in WoW and so far i enjoy rift better. I enjoy leveling in Wow but it gets really boring. You can pick up rift and instantly burn through the levels which is aparently what rift wanted to happen, they want you to see the content but also want you to get to the end game content more. Im only lvl 40 in rift so i havent experienced the end content but looking forward to it. The Rifts in this game is also amazing. When the whole area your in is ingulfed with rifts that are opening as well as tons of invaders and elite squads where you have to defend certain places while trying to close the rifts and other tasks. During that time you have to group up whihc everyone is eager to do. I really enjoy how when a rift opens up you have the option to join a public party and join wiht anyone around you who is willing to do so. I quit wow because i had personal life problems that i had to deal with and saw a trial here for rift and took it and have never looked back. Im going to be switching to SWTOR once it comes out but i have over 6 months before that happens. So until then Rift is my game of choice.
I don't replace WoW with another WoWish game. if i feel like playign WoWish game, I reactivate my subs in WoW for a month or two and have a blast without needed on leveling new char, gettign gear, farming money, leveling profs etc etc
"Don't argue with dick-heads, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience"
I'm really tired of pople saying "oh it has more that WoW did after 3 months" crap. Yeah they prolly had more as other games already laid the ground work for it and Trion "borrowed" from that work, and to top it off the technology makes it a hell of a lot easier nowadays so yeah their gonna produce quicker stuff. Vanilla was a whole seperate ballgame anyways to Rift, compare Wrath or Cata if you want to play the compare game.
As far as the OP goes...all what Rift does is an alternative to WoW to those sick of it and have overplayed it.
Although I would like to get on the "compare Rift to WoW at three months" bandwagon. It is an inconsequential arguement. Wow is not three months old and a lot of MMO history, "innovation" and progress ahve been made. The OP was suggesting that Rift replace Wow . . . which means Rift now versus WoW now. So it is a valid arguement.
I have been playing Rift since beta and unsubbed Wow many months ago. I prefer the graphics, talent trees and multiple souls of Rift to anything Wow has to offer. All that said, for all of us playing Rift, we cannot negate the arguement of chronological comparison, it isn't valid.
Gaming since Avalon Hill was making board games.
Played SWG, EVE, Fallen Earth, LOTRO, Rift, Vanguard, WoW, SWTOR, TSW, Tera
Tried Aoc, Aion, EQII, RoM, Vindictus, Darkfail, DDO, GW, PotBS
I tried Rift, seemed like WoW with a different paint job. For me, the WoW replacement is Minecraft.
Perhaps, then, you should ask Trion why they insist on making direct references to WoW in their advertising. "You're not in Azeroth anymore" is a direct challenge to WoW... in its current state. A newer one I've read about, where they invoke the "Horde"... another passive reference to WoW.
I take that slogan as one way of them saying "Rift is a viable alternative to WoW", and that would be in its present form, not as it was when it launched. In fact, I believe as much has been said outright about the game in the past. So, yes, when I'm looking at Rift, I'm going to compare it to WoW in its current form, because Trion are basically calling my attention to it as such.
Trion are already quite deliberately drawing comparisons between their game and Blizzard's as "clever marketing".
So, when players make comparisons between the two, it seems rather disingenuous to say "well, Rift just launched... WoW's been out a long time..." That doesn't seem to matter to Trion, does it?
Can't have it both ways.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
You make no sense, if you have everything done, why resub? The first reason to play rift instead of wow is because you already did everything interesting in wow.
Pi*1337/100 = 42
The ad they're running now, of course, is "JOIN OUR HORDE", and while noone holds the copyright on "Horde", the reference is obvious.
Like you basically said. Fans can't say "Tehee, the ads are awesom!" and simultaneously blame people for making comparisons.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
I wouldn't say replacement, but I would definitely say a solid game that's very,very similar.
... if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into you.-Friedrich Nietzsche
At present I prefer RIFT to WoW simply because leveling in WoW has become so easy its boring . Thats not to say leveling in RIFT is hardcore though. The two leveling paths bother me a bit and I think it will limit its long term appeal to me . I dont think a return to WoW will ever be a true long term option for me either because of the changes Blizzard have made like the cross server looking for a group system have ruined it in my opinion and its no longer what I'm looking for in an mmo I may pop in again for a couple of months each year out of curiousity then again I might not . I'll play RIFT as long as I enjoy it by which time hopefully another mmo that interests me will be out .
One of my friends bought the game and I was in the beta the whole time. It was fun and somewhat dynamic like most say, but I knew there wasn't anything that would make it last. The rifts and invasions came so much that it got completely boring. The quests had a story behind them like WoW, but something with WoW's quests now give you the sense that you are more involved and in the story.
I think RIFT is a great game, but it has not been around long enough and they should probably have developed the world a bit more if it really wanted to take on WoW so fast. RIFT is basically WoW at the end of the day, so I find myself wondering "why bother?"
The cake is still a lie.
it's a good game (so is wow for that matter) but i wish the reviewers would play a game for a lil longer than just a few levels before doing their review; after all we are in a genre of games where people play for months and years, not days and hours.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
This game is Alright and it has some interesting mechanics to the game with classes,the rifts and all i played wow for a long time and if you look at all the raids and everything its all the same rehashed bosses and all and its dull after i got my 3rd toon to 85 i just cancelled my sub and wiated for rift so i'm kinda killing time playing rift til SWtor & GW2 come out.
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Maybe it's just me, but I feel there are way to many rifts and invasions going on at once.
They need to nerf the spawn rate of rifts, increase the difficulty of them, and increase the reward substantially.
This would make rifts stand out and would entice people to actually WANT to do them later on in levels. They lose their fluff way too early.
What killed rift for me where the dungeons at 50. The very last thing I wanted to do was rerun the instances I did while levelling with 1 extra boss added and some new boss tricks. To me this felt as a completel cop out by trion. There should fo been new level 50 only instances not rehash every existing instance. The fact that trion did this completely invalidates the Rift has more endgame than Wow did at release. Wow did not copy old instances at release just to add in "content". I am not a Wow fanboy either. I cancelled my account a year ago and have not looked back. But if blizzard did what trion did and rehashed old content at release then Wow would of had twice the end game at release than rift does.
Rift was a very fun game levelling up. but oncd you hit 50 the game falls completely flat on it's face. Pvp is horrible with to many fotm builds and classes that do not need to be nurfed getting nurfed. I understand classes need to be balanced. Maybe trion is better now, but they had a bad habit of "balancing classes" instead of fixing bugged skills that were making certain builds op.
Perhaps in the future Trion willa ctually add new original content for max levels. But if you want to know what end game rift is... just look at the instances you're running now add a few mobs, make the bosses a little harder and you have it. In all honestly I'd kill someone to have a good modern remake of the original EQ.
lmao
This is more and less exactly the same thing I said in the beta forum already. Too many rifts just make me want to ignore the whole thing and just run past them, they feel like the same thing everytime and you don't get far without running intoi a new.
Dynamic events should be fun, not like killing 10 rats but because they pop up so often and the fact that they are so easy makes the whole thing a lot less fun then how it should be.
Fewer and harder rifts with slightly better loot would make the game more fun.
I don't really see how Rift could be Wows replacement, possibly EQ2s or LOTROs. If Wow ever gets and replacement (which I somehow doubt, I think the time when 1 game is so much bigger than the rest is comming to an end soon) it would most likely be GW2 or Titan.
Trion are not bad but they can't go head on with Blizzard and Arenanet, at least not now. Maybe for their next game, they do have some pretty talented people but they still need more experience and a slightly better budget.