GameByNightHardware and Technology EditorMMORPG.COM Staff, MemberRarePosts: 808
Originally posted by Holyfleadip
I want a new CONQUEST area. Twist it up a little. Lag is horrible, but it's still fun.
I wasn't there for the days of subs, but I know they are making a mint on how they have things now. Sub or no sub means jack.
They need to do better on customer service. They do treat non-subs substandard, but when u start spending in the cash shop to support the game, then they need to change that attitude.
DON'T make it so you lvl to end game in a flash. OMG! Didn't we hear enough of that grip with WOW. Vote to /gkick Chris if he ever says such a stupid thing again. Let's get to end game so we can grind the same S##T every day for months. Rep/gear grind anybody. Exploration, lore, and pvp should make the game. NOT end game content.
Don't gkick me! I'm just saying, virtually everyone I know who no longer plays RIFT complains about how long the XP grind is in Storm Legion.
Originally posted by GameByNight Originally posted by HolyfleadipI want a new CONQUEST area. Twist it up a little. Lag is horrible, but it's still fun.I wasn't there for the days of subs, but I know they are making a mint on how they have things now. Sub or no sub means jack. They need to do better on customer service. They do treat non-subs substandard, but when u start spending in the cash shop to support the game, then they need to change that attitude.DON'T make it so you lvl to end game in a flash. OMG! Didn't we hear enough of that grip with WOW. Vote to /gkick Chris if he ever says such a stupid thing again. Let's get to end game so we can grind the same S##T every day for months. Rep/gear grind anybody. Exploration, lore, and pvp should make the game. NOT end game content.
Don't gkick me! I'm just saying, virtually everyone I know who no longer plays RIFT complains about how long the XP grind is in Storm Legion.
XP grind?? Any complaints I'm hearing are from the folks grinding Torvan rep. With XP vials available from the store or free to patrons, I've not heard anyone complain about XP in a long time.
GameByNightHardware and Technology EditorMMORPG.COM Staff, MemberRarePosts: 808
Originally posted by Jaedor
Originally posted by GameByNight
Originally posted by HolyfleadipI want a new CONQUEST area. Twist it up a little. Lag is horrible, but it's still fun.I wasn't there for the days of subs, but I know they are making a mint on how they have things now. Sub or no sub means jack. They need to do better on customer service. They do treat non-subs substandard, but when u start spending in the cash shop to support the game, then they need to change that attitude.DON'T make it so you lvl to end game in a flash. OMG! Didn't we hear enough of that grip with WOW. Vote to /gkick Chris if he ever says such a stupid thing again. Let's get to end game so we can grind the same S##T every day for months. Rep/gear grind anybody. Exploration, lore, and pvp should make the game. NOT end game content.
Don't gkick me! I'm just saying, virtually everyone I know who no longer plays RIFT complains about how long the XP grind is in Storm Legion.
XP grind?? Any complaints I'm hearing are from the folks grinding Torvan rep. With XP vials available from the store or free to patrons, I've not heard anyone complain about XP in a long time.
But that's the problem, you need XP vials to make the grind bearable. They should not turn to purchasables to overcome a design issue.
Too many power resets for me. Too many logins with 'Choose your powers again' as the first thing to do. After the second time in a row, it just wasn't in the cards. I occasionally forget, update log in, and remember. While they look like they've added some instant templates, it's still not tempting enough.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
Played Rift from Day 1, had a great guild that conquered right through Hammerknell and onto the next tier of raiding ( Ca not remember name of that dungeon now) then F2P was announced and our guild disappeared over night. And my wife and I found things "Did" change and it was no longer the same. As many have said, dont expect much to change, its F2P now and unless they start making tons of money in the cash shop, not much is going to get done.
F2P models imo have ruined MMO gaming. I myself prefer a subscription model any day!!!
1 Week after the SL release i was LvL60 and done with the first t1 10man raid. And that was way before F2P or some Xp nerfs for Sl or XP vials...
There is NO EXP grind, there is a huge amount of players with absolute no clue about the class(soul)/makro/skill system.
The biggest problem imo, Rift has since SL/F2P, is the amazing amount of brainless "Just give me 1 Button and 1 Way, or its all bad" players...
The Content Updates are still ontop with other games or even better, hotfixes every week (sure some bugs take longer, 4am if you know what i mean, but thats kinda the nature of games some time). We got a few new(1 revamped) Raids, new/revamped Dungeons, 1-2 man content, a toon of stuff for the really great housing, a new small lvl 60 zone on EI, ranked 5vs5 pvp,etc..
On top of that, there is a new CQ map, a new Housing/bufffood profession, new 3.0 Souls, and some other nice little stuff like performance improvments on the PTS.
TL;DR There is no exp grind if you know what you do, and Rift gets/got a lot of great things the last/next months..
PS;
There is one point that you can call a grind, the Reputationsystem, but still whats a mmoRPG, with no further carrot besides gear as soon as you hit lvl 60, and still i know toons of games where the grind in the end is way bigger...
They should also get rid of Daglar and his stupid Corsucating Ethereal Shards, too, while they're at it.
It's funny, I quit World of Warcraft because of the arrogance and outright hostility to the player base exhibited by Blizzard developers (Ghostcrawler chief among them), and then the free to play transition basically showed that Daglar was Ghostcrawler in all but name.
When required raid consumables, enchants, seals, and all sorts of items require the same item, of which you can only get enough marks weekly for two and the rest have to be bought on the cash shop or from other players (which just encourages buying REX for plat, which is basically the same thing), my impetus to play the game is gone.
I felt appreciated and welcomed by pre-Storm Legion Trion and Rift. I no longer feel appreciated, I just feel like a revenue source.
I hate to break the news, but you don't get much for FREE!!!! What is the matter with people? I'm going to be playing the games that cost not the ones that are free!
1 Week after the SL release i was LvL60 and done with the first t1 10man raid. And that was way before F2P or some Xp nerfs for Sl or XP vials...
There is NO EXP grind, there is a huge amount of players with absolute no clue about the class(soul)/makro/skill system.
The biggest problem imo, Rift has since SL/F2P, is the amazing amount of brainless "Just give me 1 Button and 1 Way, or its all bad" players...
The Content Updates are still ontop with other games or even better, hotfixes every week (sure some bugs take longer, 4am if you know what i mean, but thats kinda the nature of games some time). We got a few new(1 revamped) Raids, new/revamped Dungeons, 1-2 man content, a toon of stuff for the really great housing, a new small lvl 60 zone on EI, ranked 5vs5 pvp,etc..
On top of that, there is a new CQ map, a new Housing/bufffood profession, new 3.0 Souls, and some other nice little stuff like performance improvments on the PTS.
TL;DR There is no exp grind if you know what you do, and Rift gets/got a lot of great things the last/next months..
PS;
There is one point that you can call a grind, the Reputationsystem, but still whats a mmoRPG, with no further carrot besides gear as soon as you hit lvl 60, and still i know toons of games where the grind in the end is way bigger...
The first person to post that I actually agree with. ^^ This person actually plays the game and knows how to play it. Getting from level 50-60 only takes about 15 to 30 hours depending on if you are using patron bonus or experience pots (low end if you are, high end if you are not). If it takes you longer than 30 hours you either don't know how to play, are a well rounded player, or got distracted by shinies (ie. not focused on leveling).
I have to agree on the lack of hype. RIFT always seemed like a competent MMO, much more so than many other, much more hyped, MMO's. Yet I never hear any buzz or well, anything at all about the game. It's like it exists in its own little bubble
WoW is still doing TV commercials 10 years after launch but I've never seen anything on RIFT
Agree on all points, and I would add one. Up until December I was a year long subscriber, but since the F2P transition the game development has gotten more and more centered around the cash shop. That not only worries me for the future of the game, but it pissed me off enough to get me to let my subscription lapse. So my suggestion is, stop making so many content updates that revolve so much around the cash shop...
------------------------- "Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Lotro might have technically got expansions, but they have paled in comparison to Moria and each one has been worse and worse.
Until finally the disaster that was Helm's Deep, which apparently put in the game into maintenance mode, with no more expansions planned (or new content any time soon).
Personally, i don't believe the Author has played from 50~53 recently as it is no longer a "brick wall" as he puts it. This was addressed in a patch a few months back.
The game is grindy. That's true, but I would argue the lvl 60 grind is the worst. This too has been improved in a patch a few months back, however.
MMO's are generally grindy and I would say that Rift is maybe like TBC in this regard. I wouldn't call it over the top. I would like it reduced, but there are pots for this?
It's a classic example of neglecting the fact that the game is F2P.
You play for free, but if you want to reduce the grind, simply buy an XP pot? I would like to see 160% pots in the Auction House permanently, however. I don't play regularly at the moment, but last time I checked, 80% was the max.
Also, patron bonus increased to 80% and stacking with pots would be nice. There is almost no reason to be a patron at the moment.
The writer left out the single most important thing that is wrong with Rift - performance. It runs pretty much worse than most other MMO's that I've played on my rig. It needs a heckuva lot of optimization. It is completely single-core, CPU locked. Over a 660ti video card makes little to no difference whatsoever.
I would really like to see the game go "back to its roots" so to speak and see more frequent quality updates like Trion was doing. Before Storm Legion launched I was absolutely blown away by the amount of content each update brought to the game. I think just doing that and getting their name back out their more would bring a good chunk of the population back. It's still a really good game it just needs some TLC.
If the content in Storm Legion is really fun and enjoyable to do ... then why the need to speed up leveling?
That right there is one of the #1 things plaguing the genre.... this "need" people have to "go faster! Go go go!". It's the rallying call of a community of players who have become all but completely end-game obsessed, to the exclusion of just about anything else.
It's so funny to see one of the key problems in modern MMOs summed up in such a short space. "We want more interesting content.... but we also want to be able to level through it and to the end faster".
How about, instead of obsessing over how quickly that xp bar is stretching across your screen, just try to enjoy the damn game and let the levels come as they will?
I feel devs have the wrong perception themselves and that is the problem.
I think it already obvious that when gamer's say they are having fun,they don't know what fun really is because we see those same players leaving short thereafter.
Constant updates are NOT the answer,that tells me or SHOULD tell the developer there is a bigger problem.
1 your content is NOT fun and 2 there is no reason to replay the content.If the combat and classes are FUN,then players should want to keep playing OLDER content.
Constant updates is merely quantity over quality and that does not compute.
Leveling too slow?Hahah try vanilla FFXI,but guess what ,we were enjoying ourselves because the combat and creatures were fun to fight and grouping was fun and our classes were fun to play,catch the keyword?>>FUN.
Generic questing ,like we see in EVERY game is not going to bring out the FUN factor in ANY of the game,it is merely a tool for running from one npc to the next,not fun in my books.
The two biggest mistakes i see in game development is class design and how you level and comabt needs to be fun.If the combat is FUN,then we couldn't care less how long levels take.Besides that who cares about levels,they are only a number that mean absolutely nothing.
Here is the other thing,you can't just COPY and paste every other game by offering linear questing then some sort of end game,that generic game design needs to stop and right now would be a good time.
Bring in great grouping ideas and content that brings the whole server together,you know FUN stuff,not leveling and gear grinds.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I feel devs have the wrong perception themselves and that is the problem.
I think it already obvious that when gamer's say they are having fun,they don't know what fun really is because we see those same players leaving short thereafter.
Constant updates are NOT the answer,that tells me or SHOULD tell the developer there is a bigger problem.
1 your content is NOT fun and 2 there is no reason to replay the content.If the combat and classes are FUN,then players should want to keep playing OLDER content.
Constant updates is merely quantity over quality and that does not compute.
Leveling too slow?Hahah try vanilla FFXI,but guess what ,we were enjoying ourselves because the combat and creatures were fun to fight and grouping was fun and our classes were fun to play,catch the keyword?>>FUN.
Generic questing ,like we see in EVERY game is not going to bring out the FUN factor in ANY of the game,it is merely a tool for running from one npc to the next,not fun in my books.
The two biggest mistakes i see in game development is class design and how you level and comabt needs to be fun.If the combat is FUN,then we couldn't care less how long levels take.Besides that who cares about levels,they are only a number that mean absolutely nothing.
Here is the other thing,you can't just COPY and paste every other game by offering linear questing then some sort of end game,that generic game design needs to stop and right now would be a good time.
Bring in great grouping ideas and content that brings the whole server together,you know FUN stuff,not leveling and gear grinds.
Well stated, Wizardry. I particularly agree on the FFXI part... though I also realize many gamers (especially those accustom to "modern MMOs") would consider old-school FFXI to have been a fate worse than death.
I agree with you, though.. It was always fun. The fights were longer and slower... but the coordination and communication between players, the sync'ing of skill-chains and MBs and such... and the ever-present possibility of another mob getting too close and linking on made fighting in that game an enjoyable pastime... worst case, it was acceptable. The slower combat speed and longer fights facilitated, even necessitated that interaction. Defeating a really tough enemy was a satisfying experience, and it wasn't limited to Instances and HNMs. Some will try to dismiss that as "rose colored glasses", but they'd be wrong. It's the combat - among other things - that kept me playing XI for over 7 years, as with many others. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it.
It's unlikely that a modern AAA MMO developers will ever a create a MMO with the keeping power or long-term loyalty of a FFXI, or many of its time, because they continue to design the games in complete contradiction to what gave those games their longevity in the first place.
So long as they continue to keep making these MMOs with ever faster leveling, ever more hand-holding and guidance and ever more "convenience" and ever more "rewards" for ever less effort... They will continue to fall into the same trap. Over and over and over again. It's like no one at these companies is paying attention to the rest of the genre, what has worked, and what hasn't. They're too blinded by Blizzard's success.
There are valuable lessons to be learned from those older MMOs. Things that worked, and continue to work, even a decade+ later. As long as they continue to ignore those things, we'll keep seeing the same thing repeat ad nauseum.
I have to agree on the lack of hype. RIFT always seemed like a competent MMO, much more so than many other, much more hyped, MMO's. Yet I never hear any buzz or well, anything at all about the game. It's like it exists in its own little bubble
WoW is still doing TV commercials 10 years after launch but I've never seen anything on RIFT
Rift was the most overhyped MMORPG its first year, at least on sites like this. They ran an article every other day, about stupid crap like "RIFT'S 7 MONTH ANNIVERSARY!!!"
But you called it right, its a competent MMO. there are plenty of MMOs just as 'competent', if not better that get less hype. For instance, EQ2. When was the last time you saw an article on this site about EQ2 outside of a press release about an expansion? Hell I know some of the writers on this site don't even know that Rift's housing comes from EQ2.
I had the same login problems after not playing for over a year. Login screen said my password or email was wrong, when it wasn't. They just wanted me to reset my password by going through my email address to get access to answer my secret question in order to reset my password. If I didn't remember my secret question I would have to answer 3 of 4 very specific questions about my account to get access to reset my password. After I answered my secret question and reset my password I was taken to another screen which read that I could not access my account until I created a new password and new secret questions. After that I logged in and read that I would have to transfer and rename some of my toons, after that I had a coin lock on my toon, then I was logged out of game cause my password had changed....
Reseting my online banking password is easier then this and with GW2 I just hit play as it remembers my ID and password.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
If the content in Storm Legion is really fun and enjoyable to do ... then why the need to speed up leveling?
That right there is one of the #1 things plaguing the genre.... this "need" people have to "go faster! Go go go!". It's the rallying call of a community of players who have become all but completely end-game obsessed, to the exclusion of just about anything else.
It's so funny to see one of the key problems in modern MMOs summed up in such a short space. "We want more interesting content.... but we also want to be able to level through it and to the end faster".
How about, instead of obsessing over how quickly that xp bar is stretching across your screen, just try to enjoy the damn game and let the levels come as they will?
What, exactly, is the freaking hurry?
I think that's an overall problem these days. People walk and drive like they're in a race and it's so normal to them they don't even think about it. I had a friend from work I would walk with to the store for lunch sometimes, he had one walking speed 'hyper' I nearly had to jog to keep up with him. What's the big hurry?
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Left because of 2. Normal mobs lv. 50 have several times more HP then ELITE(!) mobs lv. 50 in old world. It takse insane ammount of time to kill trivial mobs. Left and I'm not returning until they fix this.
I only played for a short time and I really didn't get far in the game. But from the beginning area I got to tell ya it honestly wasn't that great... it definitely didn't make me want to venture further into the game that's for sure. I honestly don't see what was so great about the game to give it a great rating or to keep people really submerged in the world.
If the content in Storm Legion is really fun and enjoyable to do ... then why the need to speed up leveling?
That right there is one of the #1 things plaguing the genre.... this "need" people have to "go faster! Go go go!". It's the rallying call of a community of players who have become all but completely end-game obsessed, to the exclusion of just about anything else.
It's so funny to see one of the key problems in modern MMOs summed up in such a short space. "We want more interesting content.... but we also want to be able to level through it and to the end faster".
How about, instead of obsessing over how quickly that xp bar is stretching across your screen, just try to enjoy the damn game and let the levels come as they will?
What, exactly, is the freaking hurry?
I think that's an overall problem these days. People walk and drive like they're in a race and it's so normal to them they don't even think about it. I had a friend from work I would walk with to the store for lunch sometimes, he had one walking speed 'hyper' I nearly had to jog to keep up with him. What's the big hurry?
To get to something fun. Grind is not fun, better to get through it as quick as possible. Kill 10 rats slowly or quickly? Hard decision.
GameByNightHardware and Technology EditorMMORPG.COM Staff, MemberRarePosts: 808
Just so we're clear, I have played through 50-53 or I would have refrained from writing this. It is better than launch, but the fact remains, the XP from 49 to 50 and 50 to 51 feels much longer without an experience buff.
I do agree that the rep grind is rough as well.
It baffles me how quickly everyone is turning to "buy an pot!". No. That is not a good answer. That is buying your way around a design problem. Aren't we the same players that criticized LotRO for selling solutions to design problems?
Comments
Don't gkick me! I'm just saying, virtually everyone I know who no longer plays RIFT complains about how long the XP grind is in Storm Legion.
XP grind?? Any complaints I'm hearing are from the folks grinding Torvan rep. With XP vials available from the store or free to patrons, I've not heard anyone complain about XP in a long time.
But that's the problem, you need XP vials to make the grind bearable. They should not turn to purchasables to overcome a design issue.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
Played Rift from Day 1, had a great guild that conquered right through Hammerknell and onto the next tier of raiding ( Ca not remember name of that dungeon now) then F2P was announced and our guild disappeared over night. And my wife and I found things "Did" change and it was no longer the same. As many have said, dont expect much to change, its F2P now and unless they start making tons of money in the cash shop, not much is going to get done.
F2P models imo have ruined MMO gaming. I myself prefer a subscription model any day!!!
What XP Grind ?
1 Week after the SL release i was LvL60 and done with the first t1 10man raid. And that was way before F2P or some Xp nerfs for Sl or XP vials...
There is NO EXP grind, there is a huge amount of players with absolute no clue about the class(soul)/makro/skill system.
The biggest problem imo, Rift has since SL/F2P, is the amazing amount of brainless "Just give me 1 Button and 1 Way, or its all bad" players...
The Content Updates are still ontop with other games or even better, hotfixes every week (sure some bugs take longer, 4am if you know what i mean, but thats kinda the nature of games some time). We got a few new(1 revamped) Raids, new/revamped Dungeons, 1-2 man content, a toon of stuff for the really great housing, a new small lvl 60 zone on EI, ranked 5vs5 pvp,etc..
On top of that, there is a new CQ map, a new Housing/bufffood profession, new 3.0 Souls, and some other nice little stuff like performance improvments on the PTS.
TL;DR There is no exp grind if you know what you do, and Rift gets/got a lot of great things the last/next months..
PS;
There is one point that you can call a grind, the Reputationsystem, but still whats a mmoRPG, with no further carrot besides gear as soon as you hit lvl 60, and still i know toons of games where the grind in the end is way bigger...
They should also get rid of Daglar and his stupid Corsucating Ethereal Shards, too, while they're at it.
It's funny, I quit World of Warcraft because of the arrogance and outright hostility to the player base exhibited by Blizzard developers (Ghostcrawler chief among them), and then the free to play transition basically showed that Daglar was Ghostcrawler in all but name.
When required raid consumables, enchants, seals, and all sorts of items require the same item, of which you can only get enough marks weekly for two and the rest have to be bought on the cash shop or from other players (which just encourages buying REX for plat, which is basically the same thing), my impetus to play the game is gone.
I felt appreciated and welcomed by pre-Storm Legion Trion and Rift. I no longer feel appreciated, I just feel like a revenue source.
The first person to post that I actually agree with. ^^ This person actually plays the game and knows how to play it. Getting from level 50-60 only takes about 15 to 30 hours depending on if you are using patron bonus or experience pots (low end if you are, high end if you are not). If it takes you longer than 30 hours you either don't know how to play, are a well rounded player, or got distracted by shinies (ie. not focused on leveling).
Uruketo, 70 Bard/Ninja/Warrior
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Final Fantasy XIV - Midgardsormr
http://www.grievancegaming.com/
I have to agree on the lack of hype. RIFT always seemed like a competent MMO, much more so than many other, much more hyped, MMO's. Yet I never hear any buzz or well, anything at all about the game. It's like it exists in its own little bubble
WoW is still doing TV commercials 10 years after launch but I've never seen anything on RIFT
-------------------------
"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004
Lotro might have technically got expansions, but they have paled in comparison to Moria and each one has been worse and worse.
Until finally the disaster that was Helm's Deep, which apparently put in the game into maintenance mode, with no more expansions planned (or new content any time soon).
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
Personally, i don't believe the Author has played from 50~53 recently as it is no longer a "brick wall" as he puts it. This was addressed in a patch a few months back.
The game is grindy. That's true, but I would argue the lvl 60 grind is the worst. This too has been improved in a patch a few months back, however.
MMO's are generally grindy and I would say that Rift is maybe like TBC in this regard. I wouldn't call it over the top. I would like it reduced, but there are pots for this?
It's a classic example of neglecting the fact that the game is F2P.
You play for free, but if you want to reduce the grind, simply buy an XP pot? I would like to see 160% pots in the Auction House permanently, however. I don't play regularly at the moment, but last time I checked, 80% was the max.
Also, patron bonus increased to 80% and stacking with pots would be nice. There is almost no reason to be a patron at the moment.
The writer left out the single most important thing that is wrong with Rift - performance. It runs pretty much worse than most other MMO's that I've played on my rig. It needs a heckuva lot of optimization. It is completely single-core, CPU locked. Over a 660ti video card makes little to no difference whatsoever.
http://youtube.com/WockyCC
twitter @WockyCC | you-tube: WockyCC
If the content in Storm Legion is really fun and enjoyable to do ... then why the need to speed up leveling?
That right there is one of the #1 things plaguing the genre.... this "need" people have to "go faster! Go go go!". It's the rallying call of a community of players who have become all but completely end-game obsessed, to the exclusion of just about anything else.
It's so funny to see one of the key problems in modern MMOs summed up in such a short space. "We want more interesting content.... but we also want to be able to level through it and to the end faster".
How about, instead of obsessing over how quickly that xp bar is stretching across your screen, just try to enjoy the damn game and let the levels come as they will?
I feel devs have the wrong perception themselves and that is the problem.
I think it already obvious that when gamer's say they are having fun,they don't know what fun really is because we see those same players leaving short thereafter.
Constant updates are NOT the answer,that tells me or SHOULD tell the developer there is a bigger problem.
1 your content is NOT fun and 2 there is no reason to replay the content.If the combat and classes are FUN,then players should want to keep playing OLDER content.
Constant updates is merely quantity over quality and that does not compute.
Leveling too slow?Hahah try vanilla FFXI,but guess what ,we were enjoying ourselves because the combat and creatures were fun to fight and grouping was fun and our classes were fun to play,catch the keyword?>>FUN.
Generic questing ,like we see in EVERY game is not going to bring out the FUN factor in ANY of the game,it is merely a tool for running from one npc to the next,not fun in my books.
The two biggest mistakes i see in game development is class design and how you level and comabt needs to be fun.If the combat is FUN,then we couldn't care less how long levels take.Besides that who cares about levels,they are only a number that mean absolutely nothing.
Here is the other thing,you can't just COPY and paste every other game by offering linear questing then some sort of end game,that generic game design needs to stop and right now would be a good time.
Bring in great grouping ideas and content that brings the whole server together,you know FUN stuff,not leveling and gear grinds.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Well stated, Wizardry. I particularly agree on the FFXI part... though I also realize many gamers (especially those accustom to "modern MMOs") would consider old-school FFXI to have been a fate worse than death.
I agree with you, though.. It was always fun. The fights were longer and slower... but the coordination and communication between players, the sync'ing of skill-chains and MBs and such... and the ever-present possibility of another mob getting too close and linking on made fighting in that game an enjoyable pastime... worst case, it was acceptable. The slower combat speed and longer fights facilitated, even necessitated that interaction. Defeating a really tough enemy was a satisfying experience, and it wasn't limited to Instances and HNMs. Some will try to dismiss that as "rose colored glasses", but they'd be wrong. It's the combat - among other things - that kept me playing XI for over 7 years, as with many others. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it.
It's unlikely that a modern AAA MMO developers will ever a create a MMO with the keeping power or long-term loyalty of a FFXI, or many of its time, because they continue to design the games in complete contradiction to what gave those games their longevity in the first place.
So long as they continue to keep making these MMOs with ever faster leveling, ever more hand-holding and guidance and ever more "convenience" and ever more "rewards" for ever less effort... They will continue to fall into the same trap. Over and over and over again. It's like no one at these companies is paying attention to the rest of the genre, what has worked, and what hasn't. They're too blinded by Blizzard's success.
There are valuable lessons to be learned from those older MMOs. Things that worked, and continue to work, even a decade+ later. As long as they continue to ignore those things, we'll keep seeing the same thing repeat ad nauseum.
Rift was the most overhyped MMORPG its first year, at least on sites like this. They ran an article every other day, about stupid crap like "RIFT'S 7 MONTH ANNIVERSARY!!!"
But you called it right, its a competent MMO. there are plenty of MMOs just as 'competent', if not better that get less hype. For instance, EQ2. When was the last time you saw an article on this site about EQ2 outside of a press release about an expansion? Hell I know some of the writers on this site don't even know that Rift's housing comes from EQ2.
I had the same login problems after not playing for over a year. Login screen said my password or email was wrong, when it wasn't. They just wanted me to reset my password by going through my email address to get access to answer my secret question in order to reset my password. If I didn't remember my secret question I would have to answer 3 of 4 very specific questions about my account to get access to reset my password. After I answered my secret question and reset my password I was taken to another screen which read that I could not access my account until I created a new password and new secret questions. After that I logged in and read that I would have to transfer and rename some of my toons, after that I had a coin lock on my toon, then I was logged out of game cause my password had changed....
Reseting my online banking password is easier then this and with GW2 I just hit play as it remembers my ID and password.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I think that's an overall problem these days. People walk and drive like they're in a race and it's so normal to them they don't even think about it. I had a friend from work I would walk with to the store for lunch sometimes, he had one walking speed 'hyper' I nearly had to jog to keep up with him. What's the big hurry?
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I only played for a short time and I really didn't get far in the game. But from the beginning area I got to tell ya it honestly wasn't that great... it definitely didn't make me want to venture further into the game that's for sure. I honestly don't see what was so great about the game to give it a great rating or to keep people really submerged in the world.
To get to something fun. Grind is not fun, better to get through it as quick as possible. Kill 10 rats slowly or quickly? Hard decision.
Just so we're clear, I have played through 50-53 or I would have refrained from writing this. It is better than launch, but the fact remains, the XP from 49 to 50 and 50 to 51 feels much longer without an experience buff.
I do agree that the rep grind is rough as well.
It baffles me how quickly everyone is turning to "buy an pot!". No. That is not a good answer. That is buying your way around a design problem. Aren't we the same players that criticized LotRO for selling solutions to design problems?