Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Rift: Beta Event 5 Report
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Rift's fifth beta event closed this past Saturday with more players than ever participating, including MMORPG.com's Bill Murphy. Bill has a terrific report on what he discovered in Beta Event 5 that you won't want to miss. Be sure to leave us your impressions in the comments below.
The opening area is actually extremely well done, and I feel though it may be damning praise, gave me the same feeling Warhammer Online did when it launched. That is to say that before the curtain came crashing down on WAR, it was undeniable that its early game was rock-solid and a whole lot of fun. It really felt like a war was raging. In Rift, I really felt like I stumbled into the end of a world, the screen was shaking, the atmosphere is ripe with havoc, and it all sets the tone very well. The folks at Trion should be given an A+ on presentation, that’s for sure.
Read more of Bill Murphy's Rift: Beta Event 5 Report.
Comments
I've been testing this games soul system like a person possessed.
Initially skills feel the same, basically just being the same with a different name but i found as i specced deeper into the trees each soul became unique.
So i kinda disagree with Bills take on the soul system
Before the beta ended i spent most of my time respeccing three cleric souls in different ways.
Three healing souls, by making three specs all using three souls but putting more points in a different one each time.
All three felt completely unique. I found the purifier soul a completely different experience than the Warden soul.
If skills all feel the same. how could that be possible?
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
I think this game has a great opportunity to capture a lot of WOW folks, with the wow dungeon changes at 80-85 and its controversy, and the fact that a lot of folks want something new and fresh, this may be it. I for one will be putting my wow account on hold, to go see what RIFT brings.
My main conern with this game is that it offers little to no value for PvP seekers. It really feels like it was tacked on as an after thought. The PvE is interesting, but once you hit max level and are faced to run instances or participate in a mediocre PvP system, I think most people will be leaving this game in 60-90 days. It's a polished game and well made, but I think there isn't enough meat on the bone for long term viability when there are other games that have been out longer that have much more content and almost the exact same gameplay.
TwitchTV Partnered Streamer
MMORPG.com Spotlight Blog Writer
Co-Leader of Inquisition
Youtube Channel
I agree with Paragus1 in the fact that it offers little or no value for PvP seekers. Granted the game is pretty polished and has its goods, the pvp factor is really lacking. The only reason Warhammer is getting thrown into the comparison list is because of Rifts looking like Warhammer's Public Quests. As for the PvP side of it, the only thing similar to Warhammer is "Warfronts" which are like "Battlegrounds", but those instanced pvp areas are in every game.
I would like to see a persistant PvP battleground though like in DAoC with Thidranki and such. Basically it was an "instanced" area, but it was always open and people could join and leave as they please. There also was a big castle in the middle of it to constantly be taken and re-taken.
Granted DAoC was hands down a lot better than WAR and Rift, and many other games, AND they had the coveted THREE SIDES, the concept was still cool.
I think devs are lazy in the fact of offering only 2 sides. How many years have we been screaming for a 3 faction game again?
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
I found the PVP to be very fun, especially the open PVP
Zerackus the Bane
Son of Myrkul
Undead Lords
www.undeadlords.net
It really depends on how good the pve progression at endgame and how well done the prestige system is for pvp.
We've seen simple two-three tier raid progression keep people in mmos for years.
Same with simple pvp systems with nothing but a pvp rankinh/ladder system and reward vendors.
From what i've read the endgame seems stacked and lets not downplay it by just saying its a bunch of instances. This game offers ten multi-wings hardmode dungeons with all types of random elements. Enterable rifts with fights in the open world with massive world bosses and two tiers of raid progression through two raid dungeon with 6-10 bosses in them each that can be cleared with 10 or 25 players.
The pvp offers four pvp warfronts not recreating the mistake of WAR by offering too much. A pvp ranking system similar to vanilla WoW and pvp souls and armor tied to pretige ranks that keeps a pvper progressing well after level 50.
I honestly don't see how that wont keep people in the game. Of course if people are tired of that type of endgame, why even bother with rift in the first place?
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Saw some stuff posted on the Rift forum about open world pvp that has me excited on a pvp server atleast, their is pvp contested rifts and raid content...Pretty nice for something not released yet. These were alpha patch notes posted on their site.
They also have been very quick with fixes and such, so I am more excited then I was, as I prefer less instancing.
I found Rift to be... Who cares?
I enjoyed the heck out of it and really think this is a fun game. The lore is amazing and by far some of the best I have experienced so far. It took me 3 hours to complete the tutorial map simply because of the vast amount of small details such as signs on doors and walls with messages and historical events. Books with entertaining stories. And as I was reading a sign on a statue that said something about how the Gods would protect these lands, the background was filled with war and the sky with burning rocks from catapults. Simply amazing.
Experience the game yourself. Only then can you know whether it's a game for you. There's too few reviews on this site with valid and qualified claims. :
Funny after reading this I popped over to the Rift beta forums, there was a post in a thread which simply stated:
"get it! we've all bought and played much worse before"
Rift is nothing out of the ordinary, it is like those other games we've played before and that poster is right, Rift gets a lot more things right than it does wrong, Trion have looked and learned about what's gone before.
I was initially disappointed for the same reason, somehow I got it in to my head that this was a next gen title and expected as much, to be fair they had used the words 'next gen' in their promo video, what I wasn't aware of was that next gen is referring to their server technology and how so much is done server side and not necessarily referring to the game mechanics.
It might only have the rifts, invasions and soul system to separate it from that 'been there done that' feeling yet somehow I started to have a ton of fun , from beta 4 onwards I started to miss not being able to get back in to the game. The higher the level the more the soul system opens out (yes it is much better than you expect in the early levels), the more open the zones become and the more interesting the game play. Playing this weekend up to level 30 and exploring Scarlet Gorge to the max got me invested in the game even more. I'm surprised, my initial reaction was 'meh, stay away' and it's completely turned around. Trion's behaviour, humour and quick response to problems helps, they are proving to be on the ball and very much with the community so far.
It's a game that's really not very different from all the others but it's new, shiny and does it very well, for the audience they are aiming at I'm sure they have a winner. I'm an old cynical gamer but remembering that the root of playing any game is all about TEH FUN! I've managed to get plenty of that with Rift so far.
That brought a smile to my face. Of course the MTV generation barely read anything as they rush from breadcrumb to breadcrumb. I always keep my eye open for interesting stuff, there was some, maybe I am not as observant as you. Guardian seemed better fleshed out to me but I only have one character that side.
I did the same with both my 29 Cleric & 27 Warrior... took all my plat, but was well worth it ( a bit more time in dungeons & rifts brought the plat back up)... pet or no pet... healer or dps. I found each to be different. tried different roles/souls; each was fractionally different, but noticeable. I LOVED wat I could do...
Yes Trion will make some nerfs, make things harder, & make some things better.... it is still Beta... At launch, as with ne MMO, changes still happen. For Rift, I found it as others have mentioned, Fascinating, Fun, Exciting, & 100% playable.
Bick
It's kind of funny, really. None of what Rift is doing with endgame interests me at all, the lack of player housing saddens me, the very limited variety of armor models makes me frown....and yet, I still ended up having a wonderful time playing the darned beta. I don't think this is a game I'll spend more than a month or two in, but they've created something that will fill at least a little time for me; it's not their fault I'm not their target demographic, but they did enough right to sell me a box anyway.
I wish them luck. If every development studio could produce a product as polished as this one (regardless of the theme, features, et cetera), we'd all be much better off.
Some questions about Rift:
1) Do you automatically turn to face what you are attacking as in LOTRO (option) or must you turn manually with the mouse or keyboard to face your target as in World of Warcraft?
2) Do the classes in the game have the same 30+ spells assigned to multiple hotbars like World of Warcraft? Or are there just a few key spells that you'll be using to fight such as with Champions Online and DCUO?
3) Is there a quest tracker that shows specific quest targets as either colored areas or specific points highlighting quest objectives?
4) Are the powers well described with specific numbers for damage, cost to cast and specific effects of each power?
5) Is there an easy way to Respec your characters if you select the wrong souls?
6) Is there a way to test builds before locking in your selection as with Champions Online?
Some of these are my requirements for a new MMORPG. If the new RPG doesn't have more than a few of these, then I may as well stick with World of Warcraft ( If the new RPG has WOW's exact mechanics) or Champions Online.
To my knowledge, the only MMORPGs that are different which may be out this year are Guild Wars 2 and Secret World. Everything else rehashes the features, and disadvantages of World of Warcraft.
Oh! do you have that link of the armor models? I mean you dont see much while leveling thorugh the first 30 levels. Do you have links to the endgame stuff?
Too say armor is limited you must have info on it right?
If so i would greatly appreciate a link, if its under NDA please send me a private message.
I love the armor styles personally so i would love too see what the high end armor sets look like.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
This again!? Why 25? Why couldn't they make it 20 or 30 so that it would be more convenient to do alliances with other guild's 10 man dungeon teams? This never made sense to me when Blizzard did it and it's idiocy that Trion is copying it.
So far, I , a long time MMO player as yourself, love all that Rift has to offer
Bick
I have no idea...
If i had my way they would give us 40 man raids and call it a day.
I want big massive raids with giant bosses maybe a dungeon that takes months to progress through with 10-20 bosses.
I guess ill have to settle for 25 but hopefully they take a while to progress through.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
I did spend the tail end of Beta 5 creating a new character just to see how the classes worked. I had been able to get my rogue up to 20 and wanted to see some other aspects of the game classes.
During that last few hours before they shut the servers down, I did find it a bit hard to get enough people into the Rifts. Sometimes I even found a Tear and opened up the rift hoping that others would join in, but unfortunately many times it was myself or maybe 2-3 others trying to fight off the horde of Lorn or Regulos ourselves. That said, I still had a lot of fun, though hated the Warrior class, too slow and not as much of a tank as I expected - Back to the Rogue for me (Mage was fun too - guess I'm DPS at heart).
I do think that as time goes on, people who join the game late or create alts will find it hard to get into the Rifts and Invasions as people will have moved on. And for this, the game will be similar to WAR with the inability to get into the PQ's without the numbers to back you up.
Funnily enough the NDA includes random chancers on the interwebz.
Just wanted to say that its been stated (at least by telarapedia) that raids are in the size of 10 and 20 mans and there isnt a 25 man option. Whether thats confirmed or not Im unsure but thought i'd put it out there
I don't think you'll see major rifts opening if there are not enough people in the zone. During the very last hours of Saturday, Gloamwood (hope I spelt it right) had only tears and no rifts.
Another thing you may have not noticed is that each zone had it's own major sourcestones, which tied them of course to the rare rift vendors. So, if you want something for the vendors, you'll assist vs the major rifts.
Just found this from the source btw
[19:41] Rifty: Josh asks: How many players does it take to fill a raid? Are there multiple sizes?
[19:41] Adam: We will launch with 10-player and 20-player versions of each raid
To answer a few comments on my question about Auto Facing.
There is nothing wrong with having to face your opponent, it adds an additional level of tactics to gameplay.
HOWEVER, being forced to face your opponent manually only makes sense if:
A) There is collision detection, so you cannot run through other players. You end up with two players perhaps ontop each other, with twelve more running around and you're trying to see who you have targeted...and where they are. It's chaos but not due to the battle, due to the game mechanics and user interface.
Having a 30+ hotbar User Interface AND demanding manually turning to face puts many players at a disadvantage.
It makes the players that click powers at a disadvantage, ALTHOUGH clicking powers is supported by the UI.
It makes players with the money to purchase enhanced gaming Keyboards and MMORPG mice like the Razer Naga have a large advantage over those who cannot afford such devices (in PVP). There are great benefits over the traditional keyboard when it comes to PVP with having these mice with a large number of buttons. Yes you can map Q, R, F, C etc. etc. and you can even get funky and use EDSF instead of WASD...but the guy with the mouse with 12 buttons on it will be able to run around you while facing you and firing his powers much easier than you can. I am also not discounting the fact that with enough practice you can get very adept at finding powers and spamming attacks. One only needs to look at a professional Starcraft player to see how quickly someone's hands can move across a keyboard. But what I'm saying is that this method of input that has stuck for the last 10+ years is not, and never has been, optimal.
While you may disagree with my views, I think that Guild Wars 2 will change the face of MMORPG gaming and suddenly many players will find the current 30 spell system to be unacceptable.