I'm an Mmo junkie. Plain and simple. I collect them , well as much as one can collect mmo's.
So when rift appeared on the map I hopped at the chance to try something that seemed
new within the genre.
First let us get the comparisons between It and Wow out of the way.
However before we do so one most remeber that Wow wasn't the first MMO out there
and drew on mechanics from other games and managed to blend them
into a decent game.
so Yes rift it has simular systems in terms of combat, world pvp, and crafting.
Yes rift has BG's, called warfronts, and a way to que for them simular to wows.
yes there are mounts, but none that fly currently.
Yes there instanced dungeons and raids.
yes there's two factions with different races between them.
Yes rift borrow's wow's "spirit world" when you die, but also draws from
guild war's death penalty system which also replaces wow's and many other mmo's
damaged gear mechanic.
yes rift has factions, and reputation levels called "notoriety" which allows for
tiered rewards from a faction you have a freindly or better notoriety with.
What's different then? Well a good number of things actually.
The first warfront, called "the black garden" is an "oddball" style arena,
The crafting system allows you to add enhancements to the crafting process via
gem's you toss in while crafting the item. Which may or may not succed
Class system:
Rift has a mix and match class system akin to something you might
get if you mixed Wow, guild wars, and coh. You pick an archetype, warrior, rogue
mage, and cleric. then you pick from one of about 8 or so souls each with
different abilities when you being the gam. By the time you leave the tutorial area
you end up with about three asuming you did all the soul quests there. don't worry you can get the others later even if you missed them i nthe starter area.
Each soul has a tree. Much like wow's talent tree. However rather than getting skills
based on your level like in you, they unlock based on how many points you have in a soul's tree.
you still ahve to train them via..well, a trainer, once you unlock them to make them stronger.
However it's nice to get the skill the instant you unlock it rather than having to rush off
and purchase it.
Unfortunately Rift has the same flaw as wow were it seems you have to return to capital city to train
the skills, as if there weren't people experinced enough to teach you out in smaller camps and towns the world.
Anyway the souls each archetype as a decent variety to make trying to
figure out what works for you, or the various stratagies that can be mixed an enjoyable
challenged with there being no one "teh best op class evah" though such converstations do exsist.
I'v healed as a mage, tanked as a cleric, exploded things as a rogue , and buffed/debuffed and down right hindered enemies as a warrior.
Yes the sterotypical core forms of the archetypes are there, you can be a tank or pure dps warrior,
you can still cast the spells that make the baddies fall down, or turn them into dust outright,
you can still do a pure heals cleric, and yes you can still play stabby invso rogues.
Just having the ability to be more flexable with your builds is a very very nice feature.
Public Quest system
Rift has an excellent public quest system which is part of the core game
and makes for a very nice break if you want a break from grinding quests.
the rewards are aactually pretty nice, ranging from "essences" that increase your stats/resistances and are a kind of like jewels from wow cept that they only fit into a "palanar focus" that's equipped to your charater, to artifacts for your collection, to weapons and sometimes even mounts.
with the later being more related to the current event.
The public quest system coems in roughly three forms.
the rifts themselves which are based on the elemental planes and
form where the barrier between telara and that plane are weak.
Foot holds that are established by invaders that are spawned by rifts left open for too long
and invasions which act as zone wide events where players have to close rifts, stop quads of invaders, defend "ward stones" in the various camps from said invaders, and then fight a boss once
enough rifts and invaders have been defeated. These events turn down right epic at times and offer
rewards that are pretty darn awsome.
Guild system:
It's guild system feels a tad more robust than wows, but with less items
as rewards. Instead there are perks that players of all levels can access
they just just may need to purchase the the apropriate regent to activate some
while others are passive.
Which have I enjoyed more? to be honest While I have fond memories of
Wow. It's never held my attention long term. Often causing me to take month or
year long breaks from it. Even when I was in an active guild. The only
real appeal had to it for me was the landscapes and trying to fidn the easter eggs
hidden through out the game itself. Points to anyone who knows who
"souixsie the banshee" (located in the Deathknight homebase) is a tribute of.
The lore of the game was decent, however I felt more invoeld with it in the orginal
game's that spawned the game. I mean how many player's on wow now a days
can claim to know who Grom hellscream was, or how thrall came to become warchief
or how silvanis windrunner was turned into a banshee, and a mockery of her nightelf sisters
I'm coming off as elitist I know, and not my intentions at all. The point I'm trying to make
is I just felt more involed in the actual happens of the world when I was leading armies
into battle in the rts rather than controlling just being a champion in the MMO.
Rift, feels solid at it's core, and as such has a good base to build upon.
The battles between the factions that i'v witnessed or been a part of have been epic.
Specially when the closing of a rift is involved. The lore decent, and, like wow, has some down
right funny moments despite it's darker setting. there's more to collect in terms of artifacts
which actually feels like it add's to the lore rather than half assing it by adding another secondary job like wow did.
For me rift has proven more entertaining, with new lore that I'm actually interested in
learning about, and mechanics that are more interesting to me than wow's. is it perfect? no,
of course not, it's an Mmo still in it's infancy, theres improvments to be made, and content to be added. it's still had a pretty damn good. start though.
I do intend to purchase their charity pets just for dontations sake,
but other than that and as i'v stated about I'v had fun and fond memories of wow, and I'm not bashing it but it's far past the time that I'v needed to move on from it to greener pastures.
I do intend to purchase their charity pets just for dontations sake,
but other than that I don't think I'm going to be rushing back to the game anytime soon.
I do want to thank blizzard for the year's i'v spent on itheir game.
Thanks for time in reading my post ladies and gentalmen, Ihope you consider it well spent,
or if not, atleast time that wasn't wasted to much.
~ Fuhai Mitsuki