trying the free trial of Rift

[TygerDarkstorm]

So I'm not real sure what the graphical difference is between ultra and medium, but I kicked the graphics up to nab some better shots of the horse. It probably doesn't help that I picked the real dark furred one.







The eye is a little strange looking; I think it's the lighting effects, but I'm not real sure, but overall I've been fairly impressed with it. Although my Kelari rides it rather awkwardly.

[Saturo]

The difference between medium and ultra are usually lighting/shading effects and reflections in liquids. Seems to be so for Rift too, at least to me.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Yeah, I think that's what I'm noticing as well.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Here's the two beginning ranger pets.

This first guy is probably one of the ugliest brutes I've ever seen, but I find him oddly endearing:


Lack of the piggy's cuteness is made up for by the dire wolf--I think he's adorable:


How it basically works is that the Razorbeast (pig) is a tank pet, and then the wolf a DPS pet. A lot of the other pet classes follow a similar suit.

Turtle Mount!

[cowmuflage]

The rhino/pig mutant thing is cool. The wolf I dunno looks stunted or something :s I think its the neck but I can't put my finger on it. I'd go for the rhino/pig mutant.

[TygerDarkstorm]

The wolf is lacking a bit of a neck. I think it's a dire wolf thing maybe? Where they're real thick in the neck and shoulder area.

[cowmuflage]

Hmm maybe. I'd go look at pics of ones in real life but there all dead XD I think. The Razorbeast reminds me of two of the Beastmen units in warhammer ( I have a few of the models in my army)
The Tuskgor


And it's more mutant kin the Razorgor

[TygerDarkstorm]

I googled dire wolves and from what I can see, they're bigger than regular wolves but otherwise look the same so I can only assume Rift was going for a sort of fantasy look with. Which seems plausible with fire squirrels and bright red deer running around.

[cowmuflage]

Does the pig rhino mutant come in more colours than purple/blue? I'd like it more if it was brownish. Then I could name it after one of my Tuskgors lol Sir oinksalot!

[TygerDarkstorm]

No. You get assigned your pets in the game which is the only downfall with Rift's hunters. They have some wicked epic beasts that would make cool pets.

The pig and wolf both get an upgrade later on, but my rogue isn't high enough level yet.

[cowmuflage]

Oh poopies. Was just like that in WAR with the Squig hunters and White lions you only got certain pets.
Sir oinksalot will be sad lol that and I just broke his head :S I need glue stat!

[TygerDarkstorm]

Yeah, it kind of stinks, but it's just the way their talent->powers system works.

On a side note, I'm totally gonna run main spec bard as one of my group support specs. ^_^

[cowmuflage]

All im gunna say is "play that funky music white person" (you have to be PC about these things now lol)

[Serendipity82]

Saboteurs for the win. I love that class XD

[TygerDarkstorm]

I love all the classes. @_@ I don't think I have a clear favorite. Although I play my cleric the least so far. My warrior and mage have been tied for most played so far, although I've been playing my rogue today.

[Silivren]

No. You get assigned your pets in the game which is the only downfall with Rift's hunters. They have some wicked epic beasts that would make cool pets.

The pig and wolf both get an upgrade later on, but my rogue isn't high enough level yet.

When they get upgraded the Razorbeast turns a brown color with stripes, the wolf turns into a hyena pattern which looks really cool imo. Also theres one more pet but thats at the top of the ranger tree and is the Blood Raptor. Primal Companions(EPIC LOOKING ALIEN CAT THINGS!!) are for warriors aka Beastmasters.

[TygerDarkstorm]

I actually think the Beastmaster cats are kind of ugly because of the purple splotching.

And you know what, I've seen a hunter with one of those raptors. Shame on me for forgetting since it inspired me to roll my rogue as a ranger. XD

I was a little disappointed that the only change to the wolf was the coloring and it didn't look more like the epic Shadetouched Alphas in Freemarch. The hyena coloring is neat though.

[zedxrgal]

So you cannot tame a single pet throughout the game you're just given one?

[Saturo]

Aye. There are plenty, though! Elementalist mages get elementals, necro mages get skeletons, ranger rogues get wolves, boars and raptors, beastmaster warriors get rather hideous cats, and druid clerics get faeries and stuff.

[TygerDarkstorm]

So you cannot tame a single pet throughout the game you're just given one?

Yep. But to be fair, their Ranger class works differently than a typical hunter class.

The only game I see coming out in the future with a WoW like hunter class is Guild Wars 2.

Rift is already pretty similar to WoW and I fully enjoy that they don't have a pet class like WoW's, even if I kind of pine for some of the beasts. I like it because I don't get the feeling that one pet is better than another. There's no competition over which pet is the shiniest, coolest, must have pet of the moment; they're all the same. I'm finding I kind of like that aspect of it.

And of course, everything that Saturo said. ^_^