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[Fayrik]

(Old topic here. Necro-ing didn't seem worth it.)

It strikes me that there used to be a thread to this game, back in the day, but it's recently gone Free to Play, and there has been no discussion about that here yet.

So, in a nut shell, Rift is an MMO. It's fairly average, but it has a few distinguishing features and they're pretty good.
But lets get strait to the point. A few months ago it went free to play, a couple of weeks later a friend convinced me to play it, and I've been enjoying it ever since.

Anyone else here enjoying this game currently? What sever do you play on, and how is the free to play system working out for you?
I've not bought anything yet personally, but I'm quite tempted to as the system seems pretty sound to me.

I wanted to type up a nice bit explaining about the game, but have no idea what to talk about. Everyone plays an MMO for different reasons, so it's probably better to just ask about it if you have any questions.

[Ozyton]

Well, a good place to start I think is to compare it a bit to other similar MMO's.

For example, combat. What kind of combat does it have? Crafting? That kinda stuff.

EDIT: Lazy people such as I cannot be bothered looking this info up ourselves, you see.

[Vendayn]

I thought WoW was far better to be honest. And I actually liked SWTOR a lot more. And actually, RIFT and SWTOR have nearly the same exact graphics style and animation...or is that only me that sees that? People see art and style differently.

RIFT has such a tiny world, and the cities aren't cities...they are a tiny fishing village.

WoW kinda had the same problem with small cities (they were acceptable), but they felt 100 times bigger (okay not that much)...maybe partly because their cities felt alive with NPCs roaming around and all that. At least with Stormwind and Orgrimmar.

RIFT does have events, but personally like GW2 events way more.

Anyway, RIFT is pretty much WoW with events thrown in...and at least last I heard...end game consisted of...raiding...non-stop. And events became a non-feature. Not my thing. At least WoW has/d a lot more variety endgame.

RIFT has shinies though I wish all MMOs had shinies to collect. And a housing system. A lot of MMOs lack that for some reason.

And as another positive...RIFT free model is probably one of the better ones, if not one of the best.

[Fayrik]

EDIT: Lazy people such as I cannot be bothered looking this info up ourselves, you see.

I kinda understood that part, thus the "ask about it" bit. 'course it is there if you wanna look it up. Hint hint.

Well, a good place to start I think is to compare it a bit to other similar MMO's.

So, in a nut shell, Rift is an MMO. It's fairly average, but it has a few distinguishing features and they're pretty good.

It's vague, and I hid it pretty well, but it was there.

It's a WoW clone. It really is.

I thought this forum had argued the whole term "clone" into the ground.
It's running the same engine as WoW at any rate, I'm certain. I'm no MMO historian so I'm not sure where that Engine's come from, but I know enough to say that they share a common ancestor and that the code isn't a direct relation. (Unless they're siblings, but I doubt it.)
But that's the reason it's so similar to WoW.

I just cannot keel seex snow moose for eight bear asses any more, and promptly uninstalled

On the bright side, I've yet to find a quest that asks me to collect something that doesn't have a 100% chance of spawning.
Some of the intractable objects vanish when picked up though, which anyone with experience should know is a pain.

I thought WoW was far better to be honest.

Really? What did you prefer?
So far I've yet to see an aspect of this game that WoW has matched. (Except for character races. I miss being able to pretend to be a minotaur. Moo.)

RIFT does have events, but personally like GW2 events way more.

I've heard someone say the opposite of that, and not having played GW2 myself, I can't really compare them.
If my memory serves me right (and it may not), Rift's events are slightly more deadly.
This has to be the case when three or four invasion forces accidentally pathfind down the same road and become an unstoppable killing force of 20 to 100 mobs.

And as another positive...RIFT free model is probably one of the better ones, if not one of the best.

Of all it's ups and downs, I'd say this would be it's main "selling point". That, added with the fact you can revert your character's level at will. (Re-playability here I come!)

[Shadowgandor]

It's a WoW clone. It really is.

I thought this forum had argued the whole term "clone" into the ground.
It's running the same engine as WoW at any rate, I'm certain. I'm no MMO historian so I'm not sure where that Engine's come from, but I know enough to say that they share a common ancestor and that the code isn't a direct relation. (Unless they're siblings, but I doubt it.)
But that's the reason it's so similar to WoW.

No. RIFT idee The GameBryo Engine, which is completely different from WoW's Engine. The developers looked at WoW and decided to take a lot of inspiration for their own game. Nothing engine related. 

[Fayrik]

No. RIFT idee The GameBryo Engine, which is completely different from WoW's Engine. The developers looked at WoW and decided to take a lot of inspiration for their own game. Nothing engine related.

Everyone says that, yet I'm still not convinced. All the tell tale signs of shared code are there. The most giving clue is the fact that the floating character names all have the same font, colour, size and position.
Copying something is one thing. Duplicating it at a microscopic level is something very different indeed.
Not to mention cursor response, and configuration is identical as well.

I'd be entirely convinced if I could just find one shared feature that didn't act in the exact same way.

[Shadowgandor]

The font isn't even engine related. The reason those are the same is because it's a nice font. It's easily readable. Positioning makes sense too. If I were to create a name label and position it somewhere, I'd position it above the character too :p

Don't recall if the coloring is the same though. Still, color is not engine related at all. Lighting, physics and stuff like that is.

[Darkmere]

Rift was supposed to be a WoW-killer (haha) so it copied everything it was trying to exceed just to make sure it didn't alienate the fanbase it wanted. I've only played wow personally, but some friends tried to get me into Rift for all of a week or so, then they went back to wow. Blizzard developes all their engines in-house and doesn't sell or license them outside the company. It's not the same engine.

[hemmingjay]

No. RIFT idee The GameBryo Engine, which is completely different from WoW's Engine. The developers looked at WoW and decided to take a lot of inspiration for their own game. Nothing engine related.

Everyone says that, yet I'm still not convinced. All the tell tale signs of shared code are there. The most giving clue is the fact that the floating character names all have the same font, colour, size and position.
Copying something is one thing. Duplicating it at a microscopic level is something very different indeed.
Not to mention cursor response, and configuration is identical as well.

I'd be entirely convinced if I could just find one shared feature that didn't act in the exact same way.

There is zero shared code. Blizzard is extremely guarded about all of their IP and are notoriously litigious. Furthermore, Rift is not some Chinese scam company. It's a major US developer who spent more than $50 million on the initial game alone. They used elements from WoW and a few other games to make a familiar type of game for a base and then use their showcase feature of dynamic world events as a selling point. It has been a critical and commercial success and is now in a spindown cycle where costs are lowered as much as possible while they continue to draw in subscription and F2P revenue. I would not be surprised to see them sell the game as the industry chatter is they want to convert to traditional games and leave behind MMORPGs. 

I don't mean to slight you Fayrik, but saying that there is shared code between Rift and WoW is silly after 5 years of that same conspiracy crap being disproved. Rift was it's own game and stood on it's own feet very well and was cited as WoW's best competition by the media and Blizzard. Every game that came out after WoW HAD to take elements of their design in order to succeed because they set the standard.

[woosholay]

One of the best f2p offers atm, but they should have converted to it earlier.

Things i like:
1)1-50 lvling is a blast - Rifts, pvp, instant adventures, questing, puzzles and lots of other things to do.

2)Soul system (Talent trees - if you are coming from WoW) - With only 4 basic classes it gives you many options of how you can build and play your character, without forcing you to reroll whenever you want to try something new.

Things i didnt like

1)Expansion is really grindy, bland and boring. Apparently they made it when they were running out of funds, and it really shows.

2)PvP lacks balance and is more of an afterthought

3)A huge gap between fresh 60s and someone who's been raiding for a year, with no real way to close it (since not many people are playing it, its really hard to find a group for outdated raid content)

[Fayrik]

Still, color is not engine related at all.

Well, I'd like to see you pick out all 4 bytes of all 4 possible colours by eye.
Since, that's what's leading me to this conclusion, it's not that these small details are similar, they're the exact same.

There is zero shared code. Blizzard is extremely guarded about all of their IP and are notoriously litigious.

Furthermore, Rift is not some Chinese scam company.

but saying that there is shared code between Rift and WoW is silly after 5 years of that same conspiracy crap being disproved.

I don't exactly see how this works.
I'm also going to make it perfectly clear here, I'm not saying (nor have I ever intended to say) Blizzard sold anything.
All I am saying is that both companies have done what would have been perfectly sensible for any company in that situation to do. They've simply bought a base engine, then modified it to their own ends.
This is what I don't get about this topic.
Big companies do this all the time in the games industry, it's no dirty secret. Writing the initial sequences of a game engine can be some of the most time consuming and least productive of a game project.
Yet, to suggest this is the case with an MMO and suddenly it's a conspiracy theory.

...If we go on about this any more it's going to need a new thread. Jeez.

One of the best f2p offers atm, but they should have converted to it earlier.

I can understand that.
It sounded to me like they had struggled a little for subscribers towards the end of the subscription lifetime.

Though, from what you say, it sounds like I may only hang around for the levelling.
I quit WoW the moment I hit level 80 and was introduced to end game content for the first time.
And I happily admit that time was a kneejerk ragequit. I'd spent all that time leveling up, only to be told that the end game content consisted of nothing but leveling up your gear.

Although, I imagine, in Rift, the level 60 gap in gear will shortly be closing with the new influx of f2p players. Of course, it may not. Only time will tell.

[Sensei]

Neither of them bought a base engine at all. Serious AAA developers do not ever do that, Havok physics aside. When Blizzard made WoW, there absolutely was no "engine" for what they were doing. And yes, it's possible that they copied the exact same colors without actually using game assets.

[Zangi]

1 positive I can throw in about Rift:

Random unmarked 'NPC Events' that happen all over the place which can lead to loot, 'story' and well... events.  Though, they do happen in repeating cycles, so it is always the same/always starts from the beginning, regardless of outcome.  (There may be a timer for some of the better events.)

[Rift]

...I was never planning on charging.


 

[alexandertnt]

Still, color is not engine related at all.

Well, I'd like to see you pick out all 4 bytes of all 4 possible colours by eye.
Since, that's what's leading me to this conclusion, it's not that these small details are similar, they're the exact same.

Color is not engine related at all, it is an art thing. Its as simple as that.