trying the free trial of Rift

[Sukurachi]

so this week-end there's some sort of free trial of Rift. I decided to try it out and see what the hubbub was about.

My opinion?

It won't make me quit WoW. But if Blizzard were to suddenly stop all of WoW's servers next week, I guess I could comfortably continue playing Rift.

The graphics are ok. It's a different style from WoW. I can't say its "more realistic", it's sort of the way you might compare Final Fantasy 11 to World of Warcraft. Just different artwork styles.

The quests are ok, feels like WoW. I don't care for the user interface. It feels a tiny bit more limited than WoW's, but maybe I just haven't explored settings enough.

All in all, it's an OK game, but I'm not blown away or anything. It's certainly not a WoW-killer.

Of course, it's not like I got the chance to play extensively... it's a free trial, so like level 10 or so.

But to be honest, I much prefer playing Hunter in WoW.

[TygerDarkstorm]

I got the same feeling from it. It's WoW in a different skin. I personally didn't like the graphics, I found them too much like Guild Wars 1, which I wasn't fond of. I dunno, there's something about WoW's cartoony graphics, glitches and all, that's appealing.

[Lupis]

I haven't played, but from what I've seen online through screenshots and trailers... Really dislike the graphics. Never liked the Final Fantasy sort of real/sci-fi (almost) graphics. I much prefer the clunky WoW graphics.

[Vephriel]

I haven't tried it yet either, but I agree that WoW's stylized graphics have a greater appeal to me. They age well, and I find the games that go for a realistic appearance suffer from uncanny valley syndrome or just seem like they try too hard. I don't necessarily want photo-realism in an MMO, there's something in the simplified yet still detailed graphics in World of Warcraft that speak of creativity and style to me. It's original, recognizable, and I'm just very fond of it overall.

Is the free trial still available Suku? I wouldn't mind seeing Rift for myself and giving it a try just for fun.

[Silivren]

I wont lie and this may offend some people 9 out of 10 people who put down Rift are simply major WoW fanboys who even though they cry WoW is doing everything wrong will still say it kills everything else. My opinion? I love it.. I quit WoW.. Started playing Rift and wont go back... To me playing since the release of WoW...its all the same now I guess and it was time to quit.. I just didnt get the same YAY I LOVE WOW feeling anymore

[Arwyn]

Free Trials still up and available to Monday. In Beta I didn't play Beastmaster, Ranger or Marksmen because I knew there'd be to much of a temptation to compare it to my hunters in WOW so I'm just going to enjoy some other class.

I wont lie and this may offend some people 9 out of 10 people who put down Rift are simply major WoW fanboys who even though they cry WoW is doing everything wrong will still say it kills everything else. My opinion? I love it.. I quit WoW.. Started playing Rift and wont go back... To me playing since the release of WoW...its all the same now I guess and it was time to quit.. I just didnt get the same YAY I LOVE WOW feeling anymore

You don't offend me. If you find a game that you feel like playing go for it.

[Worba]

I wont lie and this may offend some people 9 out of 10 people who put down Rift are simply major WoW fanboys who even though they cry WoW is doing everything wrong will still say it kills everything else. My opinion? I love it.. I quit WoW.. Started playing Rift and wont go back... To me playing since the release of WoW...its all the same now I guess and it was time to quit.. I just didnt get the same YAY I LOVE WOW feeling anymore

You don't offend me. If you find a game that you feel like playing go for it.

You must be the 10th person I guess...

Seriously where are all these "wow fanboys"? I was expecting an angry torch carrying mob or something...

[Silivren]

I wont lie and this may offend some people 9 out of 10 people who put down Rift are simply major WoW fanboys who even though they cry WoW is doing everything wrong will still say it kills everything else. My opinion? I love it.. I quit WoW.. Started playing Rift and wont go back... To me playing since the release of WoW...its all the same now I guess and it was time to quit.. I just didnt get the same YAY I LOVE WOW feeling anymore

You don't offend me. If you find a game that you feel like playing go for it.

You must be the 10th person I guess...

Seriously where are all these "wow fanboys"? I was expecting an angry torch carrying mob or something...

What I meant is a general term I use for people who compare ANY game to WoW. Even if I dont really like the game I dont wanna compare it to WoW because they are different games. I guess to me thats like saying "Oh did you read the new Forgotten Realms novel?" and someone else is like "Yeah but there were no vampires in it like Twilight!" Makes me go...what.. I mean even I've seen in game in Rift someone'll say in general "This isnt WoW" to which its almost always anwsered "Then if you like WoW go back to it, end of story" and then the WoW person goes on for like half an hour about how WoW kicks everythings ass and its just a tedious..very much so un-needed cycle.

[TygerDarkstorm]

That's a pretty big generalization. There is no denying that Rift plays almost exactly like WoW. I couldn't even get through the starting zone, mostly because the graphics started getting on my nerves. But yes, I continue to play WoW; it has its flaws, but it's the most polished MMO out there at the moment. I'm sure Rift is a great game, one of my real life friends is totally obsessed with it, and I'm glad you're enjoying it as well. But just because some of us prefer WoW and have compared Rift to WoW doesn't make us drooling fanboys.

WoW is a great game, it's the top of the market right now and of course people are going to compare other MMOs to it, especially when they feel the same when you play them. It just comes down to personal preference.

I'm honestly glad for all of the people who like Rift better than WoW; I want Blizzard to get some truly good competition going in the hopes it keeps them on their toes.

[Silivren]

That's a pretty big generalization. There is no denying that Rift plays almost exactly like WoW. I couldn't even get through the starting zone, mostly because the graphics started getting on my nerves. But yes, I continue to play WoW; it has its flaws, but it's the most polished MMO out there at the moment. I'm sure Rift is a great game, one of my real life friends is totally obsessed with it, and I'm glad you're enjoying it as well. But just because some of us prefer WoW and have compared Rift to WoW doesn't make us drooling fanboys.

WoW is a great game, it's the top of the market right now and of course people are going to compare other MMOs to it, especially when they feel the same when you play them. It just comes down to personal preference.

I'm honestly glad for all of the people who like Rift better than WoW; I want Blizzard to get some truly good competition going in the hopes it keeps them on their toes.

I'm not saying you are which is why I said "I do not mean to offend" I'm saying in my experiance I see a LOT of fanboys and overly crazy-obsessed fanboys of any kind are extremely annoying. While WoW is at the top of the market I do take the attitude that one day it probably will fall and it can fall. Some people (not saying anyone here) deny it has flaws and believe its completely perfect. The fact remains that it isnt but what gets to me is putting it atop a pedestal where some people believe it can never topple because anything can change.

[TygerDarkstorm]

I see, and I agree with you. There definitely are people out there like that, especially on MMO-C. WoW will eventually get knocked down a peg or two eventually, there's some good quality MMOs coming out.

*Looks forward to seeing how Tera goes in the west, Guild Wars 2, and SWTOR*

[Silivren]

I see, and I agree with you. There definitely are people out there like that, especially on MMO-C. WoW will eventually get knocked down a peg or two eventually, there's some good quality MMOs coming out.

*Looks forward to seeing how Tera goes in the west, Guild Wars 2, and SWTOR*

GW2 I will definately play if theres anything I'm uber obsessed with its GW. I thank you for seeing my point, it just irks me to no end - I spent a good 5 minutes today with some guy whispering me asking me if I played wow and why didnt I still play wow and did I miss wow and...well it just went on before I put him on ignore lol... Tera I looked at as well <slight derail again> I LOVE the castanic race in that game and the uh...oh shoot um..the big..brown ..alien looking things.. ><

[TygerDarkstorm]

I love the way Tera's looking at doing their combat system. I really want to try it and see if it's as good as it looks. And yes, the castanics look awesome.

I tried the free trial for GW1 and I couldn't get into it. I hated not being able to jump and after a little bit, the graphics got on my nerves.

[Silivren]

I love the way Tera's looking at doing their combat system. I really want to try it and see if it's as good as it looks. And yes, the castanics look awesome.

I tried the free trial for GW1 and I couldn't get into it. I hated not being able to jump and after a little bit, the graphics got on my nerves.

You can jump in GW2! Yea I found some videos of the combat stances and movements for female warrior types and magic types.. Very haunting for the magic user that is.. Beautiful to watch and kind of seductive

[TygerDarkstorm]

Haha, yeah, I saw they added jumping to GW2. I saw a video of some of the game play for GW2 and I'm liking the way the way the new graphics look right now. And the combat looked interesting. Plus, I can't argue with free to play. XD

[Silivren]

Haha, yeah, I saw they added jumping to GW2. I saw a video of some of the game play for GW2 and I'm liking the way the way the new graphics look right now. And the combat looked interesting. Plus, I can't argue with free to play. XD

Oh me either I'm all about the charr and the norn course it helps the charr's leader is voiced by my favorite anime voice factor EVER!!!

[cowmuflage]

Nar I played a bit of rift. I personally can't stand that kind of "realistic" art style for RPGS anyway. Well really games in general :S Unless it's warhammer related (aka dawn of war) but thats becouse thoses guys are realy good at detail (this from someone who plays the table top game trust me those tiny models are VERY well done).
Yeah I've tryed other games I liked city of villains but the lag was so bad it turned me off and I wanted to love warhammer online but that was yeah not good. I'm not even going to try the DC one. Conan looked good but it was not (love the books/movies/comics)

I'm not saying Rifts bad but it's not for me in the slightest. The only MMO I'm looking forward too is the Warhammer 40K one if that ever comes out. I'm so getting the collecters one for that even if I don't like the game there art books rock!

[sXe Angel]

For me its a bit too soon to be trying Rift out, their still in beta and I like to wait for their game to get nicely polished and finished for a final release before I give it a try. Because I know me, and I know that I will be comparing its gameplay to that of WoW, much rather do that with a finished product to be fully fair to the Rift dev team. I'm happy that there are plenty of new games in development that are willing to be competition for WoW, in games competition is a good thing, pushes companies to keep raising the bar and putting out better and better stuff. I also can't wait for SWTOR, it's the game that has already got me willing to get parallels for my mac just to play it if no native mac port will be released at the start for it. As long as everyone finds games their happy playing, shouldn't be any need for the 'fanboy arguments'. =D

[Sukurachi]

For me its a bit too soon to be trying Rift out, their still in beta and I like to wait for their game to get nicely polished and finished for a final release before I give it a try.

no, they're in full release right now, have been for a few weeks, nearly a month, as far as I know.
it's no longer a "beta".

[Sukurachi]

On thing that didn't impress me about Rift, and I guess that would be the fault of both WoW and Final Fantasy, was the "sameness" that I felt from all the races. I played both sides, checked out all the races, and really didn't feel any strong pull to any of them at all.

An unnecessary detail, in my opinion, was all the "personalizing" you could do to your character... extreme minor details like the width of the chin, etc... that's all very nice and fun while you create your character, except, you don't really get to see those details on your character ever again (except form the character selection screen when you log in).
You can choose your toon's height, but I was hoping, with all that "fine detail" that you could also choose your toon's physical girth, which would have had a far greater impact on how I see my toon. As it was, with the races I tried, the only thing that would have made any real difference would have been if I had chosen a female instead of a male.

But that's a very minor complaint. It didn't affect gameplay. It just seemed an odd detail for them to spend any real time incorporating. I'd MUCH rather they had allowed me to alter the appearance or abilities of my pet.