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Rift - getting more attention
Is it me or do you think Rift could potentially be a slow starter in terms of popularity.
Im sure WOW didnt start off with 10+ mill subscribers but look where it is today. All i hear people saying about Trion is how well they implement content and how fast. On top of that ive heard some big things with the new xpac much larger world.
Ive heard the only thing they are not really focusing hard on is PVP.
Can somebody tell me or share with me there thoughts as to Rift as i kind of think it could be a rising star in the future....well i cant see how it couldnt be?
Over & Out
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Rift is doing well all things considered, Trion keeps producing content at a good rate, and the PvE side of the games flourishes, and the population has been somewhat stable for a while now.
The thing to know about Rift is that it was relatively cheap to make and everything was paid off fast, allowing for Trion to focus on the future, and keep a decent sizes crew around for the game.
I know a lot of people these days base success on whether you achieve WOW numbers or not, but the fact is before WOW and even now after WOW, you can be succesful as an MMO business with much lower numbers, Rift has found its own little niche, and I believe it will be around for many years.
In regards to PvP its true that Storm Legion is largely a pve based expansion with a few additions for pvp, but Trion is consntantly making changes to souls, pvp maps and gear to balance things out. There is a new Warfront, and there are new Conquest maps in production, however if PvP is the main thing for you as a player Rift might not be the first choice.
They have one of the better wardrobe and dye systems ive seen. Barber shop, weddings, housing, cooking, fishing, setting up tents, campfires, tons of visual effects for your character and a dedicated RP correspondent. I think Trion is smart to target the rp crowd because we are extremely dedicated once we find a home. You grow a healthy rp base and it adds life to your game which appeals to non rp'ers as well. Crafting also becomes more active and competitive which creates a healthy economy.
A good mmorpg grows from a strong community and Trion seems to be one of the only devs left that gets this.
Been playing it since release on and off. While they are the company that truly treats their game as a service with rapid content patches, they will never be a rising star. What keeps them from failing and maintains a stabile sub crowd is what I mentioned in the first line, as with listening what players truly want and not being scared to try new stuff out. Sadly this doesnt count for the PvP aspect, as you pointed out. Yes, they have various options for PvP, but the true fun factor and addiction is lacking, with sense of achievement.
On top of this, Rift is poorly optimized and it hasnt been adressed in this new expansion. It requires much more of your hardware than lets say WoW (one of the reasons wow was succesful is due to low pc specs req).
Theres much more than just this, but cba posting it all
I really did enjoy Rift playing the beta and recently playing Rift Lite.
Trion could potentially have each expansion pack deal with a particular elemental rift. That's 6 potential expansion packs that increase world size, drastically increase endgame content, and various other things.
However, I think for Rift to be a lasting contender and garner a lot of attention/subcribers there needs to be a relatively equal distribution of content among levels.
In my opinion, games like WoW and WAR (in the success that it did have) were that there were multiple levelling paths to take. So as long as Rift implements multiple levelling paths that should alleviate some problems.
Only problem I can see is the inevitable flood of complaints about having to pay for expansion packs. But, as long as it's worth the money that shouldn't be a problem.
I guess the Storm Legion addon will end up the same way the initial game did right after release.
Starting at 39,99, Trion soon had discounts literally every weekend, the game went for less then 10Eur allover the internet and some webshops have given away their keys for free (i still have some). I eventually bought the CE for 6Eur on steam.
So no way i'm going to buy the addon for 25Eur (standard edition), as it might drop to 5Eur again after 4 weeks.
i disagree. they are surviving and putting out an xpac with the pay model they have now. im guessing Rift is the 4th most played mmo right now. in no particular order wow, gw2, eve, rift.
Eve only has around 30k people on at any given time.
WoW grew constantly for years and years. Rift declined for its first 18 months. They put out a lot of patches, and the housing they are adding will help, but i have a feeling neglecting the 1-50 world size is going to hurt their chances of bringing people back.
I could see Rift doing what EQ2 did, decline for the first 2 years then have a nice resurgance for a few years due to quality expansions and game improvements, but ultimately i dont think Rift is going to ever get big. There are just better games on the market (for most people) and releasing a lot of content only goes so far when people prefer other games' content instead.
Keep in mind if Rift can get 250-300k people for a few years (I think it will) its still a successful game. But it wont be the next game to top 400k consistently
SWTOR is ahead of Rift. If counting f2p players LOTRO probably is as well. Rift is closer to EQ2 than it is to EvE, probably a lot closer to EQ2 than people realize.
I don't think so. Their subscription numbers are solid, why mess with that?
Rift is one of those games where the develors tried very hard to think up an original lore behind their game to set it aside from others (ok other than stealing the Rift concept from Rifts) ... then made a complete themepark clone.
The developer is one of the best in the industry (if not the best) yet they flat pigeon holed their playerbase by making a by the numbers themepark game. Every single player who is completely sick of this style of game will not play it including me. I cannot get into it. Slapping on original looking art overlayed by original lore and the Rift mechanic which is still my favorite pub system despite my over all hate for pub systems (the mobs ganking you over a map is at least interesting and more dynamic than even GW2's system overall by effect if not planning) still does nothing but throw icing over top of the core implementation of the game which doesn't even try to hide the extreme quest hub driven themepark style gameplay.
I simply cannot play another game where your leveling path is A»B»C»D»E, etc, etc ....
It is so bad and distracting for me and so bad you can even see your next quest hub from where you are at times because it is so close.
You stay sassy!
What makes you say this? They currently have less NA servers than EQ2
No numbers have been published. Theyve added the framework of an ingame cash shop. Theyve dabbled in microtransaction mounts disguised as collector's edition upgrades. Theyve even said they have discussed alternative income models.
I would say its probable that their subs arent where they need to be to support their dev team and are hoping that SL changes that.
All my opinions are just that..opinions. If you like my opinions..coolness.If you dont like my opinion....I really dont care.
Playing: ESO, WOT, Smite, and Marvel Heroes
Rift isnt the first game in the industry with a smooth launch. Other games have launched with minimal bugs and downtime.
And if you are referring to their content updates, I would say their launch was a big failure in that regard for one reason: They had to patch in all that content to survive. Meaning their original release wasnt good enough to keep people entertained. And because of this their expansion got pushed back to nearly 2 years after launch. They should have been starting the expansion first (IMO) instead of desperately trying to make their game competitive.
http://eve-offline.net/?server=tranquility
Average online players in Eve is indeed around 30k. You are perhaps logging in at peak.
On topic I actually think Rift is doing very well with the subsciption model.
Taunted the WoW fans, got mauled by the all-volunteer Blizzard Defense Force junior marketing team, still slowly recovering.
Yes, I am kidding...please stop.
Honestly op? It's still too early to tell. EVE took ~ five years to climb out of its opening day hole.
Trion's best bet is to keep building back up quietly. You should have another year or two before the Disasterous Expansion Your Fanbase Will Complain About Forevermore, if that occurs on schedule.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Rift was not a bad game at all. The wife(yes shes a gamer also) and I have been talking about returning because the other new mmo's are just horrible. She did like Tera, though i havent played it yet. SO its a toss up between rift, aion, and tera. THough i like Vanguard better.
But i did enjoy rift, and with new player housing coming along, it may be enough to swing us towards rift. Granted Aion has housing also, I think Rift housing looks very nice.
But its hard to pick one, i liked rift, aion, and vanguard......
Nah, it was steadily increasing sub numbers each year till release of Incarna, about +20% increase in subscriptions per year.
On topic:
Discussing Rift subscriber numbers is moot since Trion does not provide any numbers.
Trion r smarter than your average bear. Must frustrate the ad numerum fans to no end.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Unfortunately, Rift isn't nearly a big enough success to change the industry. People would rather play in an IP they love than a new IP with a much more polished product.
And if companies come to this conclusion, than they will fail their next project.
Rift not making it big had *nothing* to do with IP. Everquest was an original IP. While GW2 was the first true MMO under the Guild Wars name, the first one still built up a very strong foundation off of an original IP. EvE was an original IP.
I think the biggest lesson to learn is size matters. Tiny game worlds dont cut it.