Ravens Forums
General => General Chat => Topic started by: Cernos on March 01, 2011, 04:18:08 pm
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So, I hit the endgame in WoW and got bored again by all the PVE grinds and the fact that the PvP is still terrible. Found myself once more standing around in Orgrimmar for long periods doing nothing and browsing the web for any new MMOs on the horizon. And so I stumbled into Rift and I'm glad I did. I managed to get into the last few days of the open beta and was blown away. Stunning graphics, great gameplay and *very* polished and stable. I've become so jaded by endless mediocre MMO releases that I was surprised to find it gave me a feeling I've not had since my first days exploring DAOC and vanilla WoW. So I went with my gut feeling and subscribed. Currently in the headstart and really enjoying it.
Rift doesn't do anything particularly innovative, apart from a very flexible new class system that allows for all sorts of combinations. But what it does do is take all the best features from other MMOs and refines them, removes many of the annoyances and then adds its own dollop of graphical style and lore. I love the fae atmosphere of the early Guardian zones. People will compare it with WoW, but actually its ancestry appears to have more in common with DAOC, EQ and Warhammer. It has the graphics, UI and features of a modern MMO but has an old school atmosphere.
The public quests are a central part of the game. On one end of the scale you can join anyones public group to complete a quest and actually get boosted xps (so no kill stealing or queueing for quest npcs). At the other end of the scale there's huge public quests to battle the biggest of the rifts, which despite the huge numbers of mobs and players involved doesn't cause any lag (in itself a huge achievement). When an invasion by one of the eight enemy factions happens, the PVE world becomes very dynamic with quest hubs and even towns getting overrun by mobs. Players need to band together to beat the invasion back and there's incentives to do so. The game naturally draws players together without feeling forced and rewards you for doing so, but you can hop in and out of public groups as you wish.
Instances I've seen so far are very impressive and the PvP is a lot of fun. If you're on a PVE server you can do warfronts which are like Warhammer scenarios. Perhaps the PvP will become more hardcore as it inevitably does, but while everyone is a noob it's been great fun.
The class system is impressive. You choose a base class (warrior, rogue, cleric, mage) and then select up to three souls (talent trees) from a list of eight. Some souls are tanky, some healer, some dps, some crowd control. So you put together the type of toon that suits. You can have tanking clerics, healing rogues (bards) and mages, warriors with ranged attacks and even tanking rogues (I've seen rogues main tanking instances). It means there's no true cookie cutter specs, which makes PvP much less rock paper scissor as you can imagine. You can gain access to all eight souls per class via questing and then create multiple combos (roles) which you can switch between easily while in the field. It's like WoW's second spec, but on steroids.
I can't vouch for how the endgame will be, but everything else is so polished it shows promise. They seem to have got the core game right, which should mean less firefighting and more adding new content and features. Of course, it's a MMO and so some form of endgame grind is inevitable.
If anyone is thinking of giving it a try, it lauches on Friday I think, but you might still be able to pre-order and get in the headstart. I'm on the Argent PVE-RP server (as RP servers tend to have a maturer community), Guardian side (cos they have the only midget race), playing a dwarf bard called Cern. There's also PvP servers, but these function the same as in WoW so probably best avoided. They are talking about adding some RvR zones to all server types if players want it (and there's a lot who do). Hope so.
Perhaps catch you there?
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Hiya Cern,
Sounds interesting, I'll have a read up on it. Though trouble is I don't really have allot of time for an MMO right now (I have games stacking up that I want to play as it is !! And Dues ex 3, DA2 coming soon as well !!).
From a brief look on youtube it really does look allot like wow, even the gfx. Was that a conscious choice do you think ? Like the idea of the class specs, sounds allot like the way guild wars did it (i.e. you can pick from different skills and essentially make your own archtype). Only trouble is this does eventually lead to cookie cutter builds all the same, as some just dominate over others. Frankly i'd be happy with just some real choices but seems to me that all the min/maxers just cant wait to prove one build is superior to another then everyone else follows suit etc !
Will be interested to see what you think in a couple of months also, normally that's the acid test. I think I even got excited by age of conan at the start before the realisation set in that it was a steaming pile of donkey pooh ;)
Update me on your travels :)
las
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If I repair my rig I'll prolly give it a shot, though updates would be nice as you play!
Sax.
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When you see the graphics up close they are not really like WoW. Much more detail and the character models are more realistic, less cartoony. The art style is closer to Warhammer or Aion maybe.
You're probably right about cookie cutter builds emerging, the min/maxxers will always end up doing that. Never played Guild Wars, so this type of system is new to me. But its still nice to be able to make a character to suit. For example, my rogue is bard as main (heals via dps and buffs), has ranger as the second line (pet to keep aggro off me and some ranged damage) and Saboteur third line (so I have some way to do spike damage).
Agree about AoC. Rift feels different, it doesn't have the flaws from the start AoC did and apparently the content is already in place to get to endgame (unlike AoC where everyone ran out of quests and had to grind). There's endgame raids and instances already in place. But the real test will be the endgame, that's where most MMOs fall down, so will keep you posted.
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Will have a look at the tonight - damn work internet filters not letting me look at gaming websites!
Be good to try something new :)
Brigh :D
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Here's some screenies from Rift. I realised I don't have any screenies of an actual Rift, but this should give you a flavour.
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some stunning screenies there cern :)
does the game require a really powerful PC or if you can run WoW smoothly would Rift be ok?
I can't look at the tech specs from work!
Brigh :D
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Just got my retail box this morning. Minimum specs are:
Processor: Dual core 2Ghz.
Memory: 2GB
Video GeForce FX5900 or Radeon x300.
DirectX 9.0c
Recommended:
Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz or better
Memory: 4GB
Video: GeForce GTS250
DirectX 9.0c
So requirements look pretty modest. By all reports, if you can run WoW you can run Rift. Barely seen anyone whinging about framerates in chat (unlike with Age Of Conan where that's all anyone did).
I'm running with Core 2 Quad 2.4 Ghz (which is probably only running as dual core when gaming), 8GB (but only 4GB visible to 32-bit games), Nvidia GTX 260 and can run on High settings without any problems (probably also Ultra but I haven't tried yet).
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Cheers Cern - I have some memory to install into my PC so I should be alright :)
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hey guys :)
Wow Cern, stunning indeed!! :), maybe post it also under our Rift thread on Legion boards, good incentive if ppl are undecided ;)
I got the game as well, urge to try new mmos is really strong always, Cern helped in the process a bit :)
Enjoying the game so far. It's nice to be a total noob again :)
Got an old machine, almost 4 years old, tweaked recently with 4GB ram and new gfx (gforce 260) and the game runs perfectly smooth
cya ingame maybe guys :)
S.
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Couple more screenies. And look, even dwarves can be angelic! :)
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sweet :)
p.s. hey shi ! :)
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It does look like a graphically improved version of WoW.
How is it playing? How important is gear, are there raids. Is there real co-operation between people and is PvP or PvM the flavour of the day with Rift? I cannot figure out if (as in I haven't read back history) if the Rifts are a way into the enemies domains or if they are a way for undead (or other monsters) to attack your home territory there by forcing co-operation to defend the lands, towns and villages.
Sax.
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It doesn't play at all like WoW, and when you see the graphics in game they aren't anything like WoW either.
Rifts are a way for spawns of NPC enemies to swarm into the game world from other dimensions. So imagine you've got zones with mobs and quests in like any normal MMO. Then these rifts start appearing spawning lots of extra mobs of an enemy faction (it might be fire, water, life, undead, earth etc, I think there's 8+ types). The players have to close these rifts. The rifts appear in random locations but don't move. However, this isn't all that happens. Linked to the rifts are Invasions, which are much larger influxes of mobs which are mobile and aim for the towns, quest hubs and other usually safe places. For a while players can lose control of these spots unless they fight the invasion back. The invasion usually has an end boss which needs everyone to join together to take down. Invasions happen every few hours in the noob zones because they are full of players, less frequently in other zones as its based on population.
This whole mechanic causes utter chaos at times. It's fantastic, though the WoW fanboys don't like that their little questing bubble gets burst.
There is real co-operation between players. Dunno if its just the server we're on is friendly, but everyone is so helpful. But I think it's more that the game is designed to encourage people to group and co-operate, but not in a way that requires meticulous planning. You group with the people around you and do your bit.
As for gear, it's a MMO so gear is part of it. But you can get gear in a number of ways, instances, raids, doing rifts, pvp, epic quests and of course crafting. The PvP gear does have a mechanic called valor which looks similar to Resillience in WoW, but this is only on the endgame gear. The PvP gear you can earn while levelling is equal to or better than what you can get via PVE.
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i'm rly glad Cern hinted me on this game, for me it comes outta nowhere absolutely, and for the lil hype it had it's a true hit
of course it's also 'another mmo'so you will get it all, gear grind , faction grind, dailies, raids etc... but it really feels different, and since it's a totally fresh immersion in a new world it doesnt feel old like getting a new xpack in wow, and most of all, ppl are not in their own corner doing there stuff, since there is so much happening that impacts all in the zone it's kinda hard to walk by and not react hehe
what Cern described above, invasion and rift concept makes it original and unique :)
last night i told Cern & Brigh that im up for a dungeon run, but 1st need to get to the city to fetch myself a drink, since out in the field, you dont want really go afk
I arrived front of an Inn, and few seconds later a huge tree elite giant from life invasion rolled over me :) haha
personally i find the game too intense sometimes hehe, it's not a criticism, but more a statement, it's real madness in the zones where lots of players level
server seems friendly, the RP tags scares of a considerable % of muppets we got in WoW
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I'm up for a dungeon crawl as well, just completed all the quests in Silverwood.
It was chaos last night with the amount of invasions and rifts - I spent the 1st hour trying to dodge them all while killing quest mobs before giving up and joining in :)
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Sounds fun. Like Cern i got bored with WoW again and packed it in, even gave Carco my main toon (xfered it to his account).
This Rift game sounds and looks good, and will prolly get it myself sometime soon.
But like Las i got a small list of games i want to play atm :P Dragon Age 2, Fight Night Champoin, Arkham City (not sure when this ones due) and i want to go back and get Mass Effect 2 aswell. So a Time Sinkers not gonna fit in well atm.
I'm sure i'll get the MMO pull soon tho and give this a whirl :D
Hope it keeps entertaining :)
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Looks like there's now enough of us to form our own guild. Going to use the Legion name. I'm going to get the ball rolling next I'm on, but probably won't be able to form the guild until Wednesday at the earliest. There's a thread about it here:
http://z10.invisionfree.com/Legion_Inc/index.php?showtopic=2564&st=25&#last
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I like the sound of it tbh. I always liked the idea of a invasion mechanic since they tried to bring it out about 5 years ago in a game that unfortunately sunk. I will see how quick I can get reconnected :)
Sax.
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The invasions are fun and it also helps you level, gain items and also keeps the game fresh (for now anyway) :)
Brigh :D
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Well, i ended up getting this today with a Game Card i forgot about in my wallet :P
Will have a little look tonight and fire it up properly tomoz.
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You pick it up in town, or did you have to order it from somewhere?
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In town, ?29.99
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The Legion Inc rift guild has been formed. We're on the Argent server, Guardian side for anyone joining the game soon (Xann, Sax etc).
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I'm liking it alot, and am very impressed how smooth and graphicly pleasing it is for a game that got released a matter of days ago. I'm also able to run it at the highest video specs smoothly, so happy with that :)
Love the way they've made the classes.
I have made up a Human "tanky" Warrior called Xanic atm, but will prolly give the other base classes a try before i settle on a character... see what sleathin's like :D
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I have a few points in the assassin class so I get stealth - it would seem that its only active for 30 seconds and then it will de-stealth you so you can't do like in other games just turn stealth on and relax :)
I probably suspect there are some talents you can get that will enable you to extend the 30 seconds
Brigh :D
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I'm liking it alot, and am very impressed how smooth and graphicly pleasing it is for a game that got released a matter of days ago. I'm also able to run it at the highest video specs smoothly, so happy with that :)
Love the way they've made the classes.
I have made up a Human "tanky" Warrior called Xanic atm, but will prolly give the other base classes a try before i settle on a character... see what sleathin's like :D
hey Xann,
duno if you have allready a Legion Inc forum account, you did play WoW on SC early days also no? cant recall :)
anyhow, make one if you want, and I'll enable ya the access to our boards, so you can see our 'Rift threads' .
Not so many so far, but might grow.
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I have a few points in the assassin class so I get stealth - it would seem that its only active for 30 seconds and then it will de-stealth you so you can't do like in other games just turn stealth on and relax :)
I probably suspect there are some talents you can get that will enable you to extend the 30 seconds
Brigh :D
maybe i missed out some talents, but i checked rogue trees (those sounding stealthish ;)) and Assassin has a 21 pts talent called improved stealth, which as i read it make stealth unlimitted
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Its possibly - I've mainly been exploring the bladedancer soul tree so I would be surprised if there wasn't some talent that extends the stealth time
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I like stuff like that where you can make a stealth mage or something :) or a shady priest....... (wait a minute, i already did that!)
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Opps, didn't mean to post in this thread :)
/wave
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Such blatant post farming :)
Opps, didn't mean to post in this thread :)
/wave
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Cmon Cern, only 348 posts to go ! ;)
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So how goes the Rift'ing ? What I've read about it says it sounds like it's done everything WoW did at launch, took most of the good ideas from other games and implemented them well, also sounds like a pretty stable launch with lots of content etc (pretty strange for an MMO, which I gotta applaud!). I still don't really see allot new here though, just elements of EQ, WoW, GW, War etc etc. ?
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That pretty much sums it up Las. Nothing new and innovative really, lots of influences from other games all rolled together in a polished, stable, enjoyable and visually impressive package. It won't win any awards for breaking new ground but it's fun and the dynamic elements such as the rifts and invasion do add an extra random dimension which keeps things interesting. The soul system seems innovative at first glance, but it's becoming apparent that they want to push things towards warriors tanking, clerics healing, everyone else dps'ing, so the much touted flexibility of having rogue and cleric tanks, rogue healers etc isn't really what they claim.
The PvP is a mixed bag. Fun at lower levels. Crowd control and spike damage a problem at higher levels. Echos of Warhammer really. Speaking of which, a lot of people say it is a WoW clone, but actually I see a lot more influences from Warhammer than I do WoW particularly in the combat system (and of course the public quest system).
There is a heap of content at all level ranges, including endgame, and that's a very good sign. There's also talk of adding some RvR to the mix, but dunno how that will work out with only two factions (when will they ever learn you need 3).
One black cloud on the horizon is that the first round of class nerfs are already incoming and they appear to be pretty brutal for some classes (and yep, as usual I've picked a class getting nerfed, the Bard). Not sure this makes good sense for the game, the community or their business model at such an early stage. But it's still in testing so we'll see.
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I am enjoying it and I feel like I want to play BUT it feels like a WoW clone to me more than anything else; Cern and I obviously disagree on where it got most influence from. I am an 18th lvl Rogue and have gone Assassin - Bladedancer - Riftstalker in that order, I do like the class system but obviously haven't gotten into the game enough to get a really good feel for it or the nuances of how it works.
The Rift invasions and what not are a really neat idea and I dig it, the PvP is very WoW to me with BG's and BG rewards. As a rogue I still generate combo points like WoW, warriors charge like WoW but I don't think they generate Rage but use a yellow bar of energy instead. There are 5 people to a group, instances istead of dungeons e.t.c.
The zones are really nice and feel like real landscapes but I feel the mob level range is a bit lame making the game easy mode, I think the zones are distinct areas but am not sure, I'd prefer a game like Asherons Call where you have one large play area instead of this zone crap that seems to be the norm.
The only instance I have done is Realm of the Fae and it was very good, I enjoyed it and thought it looked really good and had some nice back history that syncs with my own views on the Fae (yes I know they <prolly> don't exist).
I agree with Cern, savage nerfs are bad, best to buff weaker classes and slightly nerf stronger ones, I can only assume tweaking the toughness of all the mobs in the game is harder than nerfing classes and certain combo's. Unfortunately, given the Soul system which I really like it was obvious even to me at the start that certain combo's were going to be king and then cooky cutter, however it really is a nice system. I think they would have had more success starting it simpliar and then adding complexity later.
Will I stick it out? I doubt I am going to make 50th lvl tbh, my gf is away atm for about another 10-12 days so I will be playing quite alot, I expect to get into my 30's but I have always hated lvling and doing it in a different game doesn't make it any more fun for me.
My ratings.
GFX - 9 /10
Sound - 8 /10
Class System - 9 / 10 (this is bound to drop as they swing the nerf bat)
Rift System - 8 / 10
Plagarism - 8 / 10 (to much has been copied)
Sax.
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I'd say my Rift experience was short and sweet, i enjoyed the game... might even say i enjoyed it alot... but saw what was down the line and i don't think it would have kept me intrested beyond max level. Mabye they'll be new features released that would improve the game later on, but i thought i might aswell stop now, instead of leveling to 50th then stopping.
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Sorry to hear you've stopped Xan, we all wondered what had happened to you. But I understand if you don't think it's the game for you in the long run, not worth sticking it out.
I think I approach from a different angle to yourself and Sax, for me it's about the journey not the endgame. I enjoy levelling, exploring the landscape, getting into scrapes, pushing the PVE content as much as I can and generally sticking my nose into all the nooks and crannys. The PVE content does get more challenging as you progress and that ezmode feeling Sax mentions will definitely change.
It sounds like there is quite a lot of endgame content already in place, so I think this is a positive sign. So many games don't launch with any semblance of endgame content (Warhammer, Aion, AoC. LOTRO to name just a few) so I think it's a good sign if there's already stuff to do. There's a major patch and world event coming in the next few days, that will be an indicator of what we can expect.
I understand the WoW clone thing when it comes to the mechanics of some of the classes (combo points for rogues is the obvious one), but in many cases it differs. Warriors have no rage mechanic (thankfully) and use a chargeup and energy system for abilities which is more Warhammer. Mages use a combination of mana and charge, which makes them different to WoW mages, but again maybe there's some similarities with mages in Warhammer. Healing clerics do seem similar to Holy Priests in WoW, but the melee clerics are closer to Disciples of Khaine in Warhammer.
I think the thing is, they've borrowed from all over not just WoW. And WoW in turn has never been shy of borrowing from other games and genres. I find the PVE in Rift pretty engaging. I don't think the PvP will hold my attention, I'm no fan of instanced PvP. However, they've suggested that adding RvR is on the table.
I think the whole MMO genre does need something new and someone willing to break free of the choking influence WoW has on MMO design. SWTOR might offer it with its storytelling. Guild Wars 2 might offer it with its dynamic world content (taking the rifts and invasions style of things one step further). But will anyone offer something new for PvP? If only someone could make a DAOC 2, although probably better if it isn't Mythic!
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people still Rifting? hows it going? any major patches yet? whats max like?
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Not many people still playing. Most gave up when free month ended, guild went from 20 online at same to time to 2 or 3 at end of free month. Just a handful of us still playing. I have a 3 month sub so will play until that ends in July, after that will see but unlikely unless the endgame changes direction. I think the problem for most is the endgame. There's plenty of content and its well done, but fundamentally it's all a WoW style gear grind and everyone has been there done that. The biggest mistake for me though is that they made PvP an instanced gear and favour grind, again WoW-style. Sad.
I feel a bit deflated because when I played the beta the game showed a lot of promise and levelling up was fun too with all the rifts and invasions. But it seems once you hit 50 all those rifts and invasions don't really matter anymore and the game switches identity and just flips into WoW-clone endgame mode. Grinding expert dungeons (heroics) for gear to allow you to raid, faction grinds, daily grinds, PvP grinds etc. No wonder they didn't show any of the endgame in beta. If the PvP was more fun I wouldn't care that PVE endgame was like WoW. But the PvP is like WoW too, but inferior.
Major 1.2 patch is incoming tomorrow but I don't think it will change much. It is mostly just a balancing patch plus a Looking For Dungeon tool (same server for now, but how long before it goes cross-server and destroys what's left of the community like it did in WoW?) and some cosmetics such as an outfits wardrobe (a welcome feature).
There's still time for the devs to take the game in a good direction, but I think they have set up their stall to try and capture some of the WoW market by offering a similar product. That's not going to cut it for me, if I want the WoW model I'll play WoW. I'm after something different.
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Yarp, I made it to about 26th level then got a little side tracked, back on Civ IV! I tried Civ V but it still isn't as good as # IV imo. The new BAT mod is very good and there is a really nice realism mod out for it, though it is very realistic and adds alot.
Sax.
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Yeah i gotta agree, despite trying Civ V just hasn't really done it for me :(