Hands of Justice
What we have played => Other MMO's we have played => Topic started by: Mangala on December 22, 2010, 07:24:41 PM
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NDA was lifted on this today - and while some stuff has been seen on its own website: http://www.riftgame.com/en/ - no doubt as a result lots more info will be forthcoming.
Its a mmorpg - 2 factions, pve, pvp etc Rifts that spawn across its world dynamically changing the regions around them for a random amount of time/npc incursion from rifts are fought back. Seems to take from a variety of the market mmos out at the moment.
Intro for each faction:
(Guardian)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ-4IPopXFQ
(Defiant)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah31R8-ZHN4
Basic features include:
Level 50 cap;
There is an achievement system;
Classes are known as callings. And there are 4 initially Warrior, Cleric, Rogue, Mage. On top of which each calling gets 8 souls (think of these as specs ala Wow/WAR etc) More on this here: http://www.riftgame.com/en/classes/system.php Effectively it looks like 270 possible combinations to choose from when building a character;
Rifts (dynamic open world encounter) scale based on number of people in the area. (PQ's anyone?); More on Rifts: http://www.riftgame.com/en/game/rifts.php
There are dungeons for groups of 5, 10 and 20. A dungeon may have wings you cannot access when you are lower level. When you arrive at the dungeon at a higher level those wings will open up. The dungeon inhabitants may have changed, mob placement may have changed and there maybe new or different bosses. It will be a different experience;
Death Penaltys in the form of stat loss etc;
Heroic Challenges - "which are essentially miniature raid bosses that appear in instances and immediately act as quest goals"
Fly throughs of parts of the world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBI2xgEhtgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNXq1JeJZXE
Some first hand info on the recent Closed betas now that the NDA has gone is showing up across the net, including several forums I use. So I'll post the first one that impressed me:
It's a fun, highly polished game that borrows heavily from WoW in class and combat mechanics. The soul system is a borderline brilliant leveling innovation. Leveling is primarily quest based using TBC quest style mechanics (Using clickies, kill 'x' quests, escort missions, loot 'x', etc.), and is the only way you get new soul trees for your character. Rifts are fun, lots of fun, giving you amazing experience and loot drops based on your contributions made (Healing, DPS, buffs) during a rift event, which consist of five increasingly difficult stages. If you don't close a rift in time it spawns a raiding party, which heads towards a player NPC quest hub and can take it over.
The souls are divided into four main categories: Warrior, Rogue, Cleric, Mage. Each category uses the same base mechanic (mana for clerics, energy/combo points for rogues, etc.), and has eight souls that each fill different roles in a fight (tank, heal, DPS, support). When you choose a soul, you gain access to their tree, and whatever base/default abilities are associated with that soul. I focused mainly on the cleric souls, so I'll go into detail on how those worked.
Clerics have access to the following souls:
- Warden (water based HoT healer. Base ability is a HoT)
- Sentinel (light based AoE/balanced healer, base ability is an instant heal)
- Purifier (Fire based direct healer. Base ability is a self damage absorbing shield, think PW:S)
- Druid (pet based support/melee DPS. Base ability is a pet summon that can cast a weak HoT or nuke)
- Shaman (Melee two handed DPS, base ability is a self+melee damage buff and a fast attack)
- Justicar (self heal/group heal tank. Base ability is a buff that heals you a % of damage done when using a damage ability)
- Inquisitor (ranged light/dark magic DPS. Base ability is a light based fast casting nuke and an instant DoT)
- Cabalist (ranged AoE dark magic DPS, Base ability is a 2 second cast time 'bomb' spell that does massive AoE damage once the NPC either dies or takes 'x' damage)
You get your first soul at creation, your second soul from a quest around level 5, and your third soul from a story quest near the end of the second leveling zone (between roughly level 17-20). You can buy alternate specs, which lets you swap to a different point allocation in your souls. So it is possible, for example, to have Warden, Inquisitor, and Justicar as your three souls, and be able to swap between healing, tanking, and DPS between fights. Mind you, each soul has synergy with other souls in terms of how the abilities and talents work, so while you CAN do this, it isn't optimal.
The classes all have interesting enough abilities and dynamics that I'm very intrigued to see how this is going to work out at level 50. You can already begin to see some exciting game play by 20.
Now, no one is saying this is a wow killer - noone uses that term anymore. Wow is the elephant in the room of the MMO market and nothing except Blizzard themselves will change that, but quite a large portion of their playerbase only plays it as there is nothing else about that they get a good feel for, to me it looks like 2011 will change that with Rift and SWTOR both releasing during it.
I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this and also trying to get into the more open betas/stress tests going forward and will report back here. It could actually be fun.
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Now a post that focuses on a downside or two from the posters pov:
I won't post an entire review, but I'll touch on a few points. I'm big on questing and lore so I think I'll focus on that and let others talk about the various other elements instead for now. I may chime in on other things that I liked/disliked later.
In short, despite anticipating it very highly, I do not like Rift. The major reason for this is the questing.
Quests are the main avenue of advancement in Rift just as they are in World of Warcraft or various other MMOs, and Rift's take on it is a perfect example of what is wrong with this system. Quests have become the new grind, and very few players actively like doing it. It has become something we feel like we have to do to advance instead of something we actually want to do. I've got countless posts on these boards and in this thread alone on how to fix this, but it is simply too late for Rift to do something new here. These quests are absolutely the most run-of-the-mill circa-2004 quests that I was sick of as soon as I started. If you've played WoW/Aion/EQ2/Warhammer you've likely already done every single quest in Rift (unless things drastically change after 20 - not likely). There is absolutely no innovation and no creativity whatsoever here, and yet it is the biggest part of the game while making your way to cap. Extremely disappointing.
The most humorous thing about the questing system is that Trion likely thought it was fine because it is what WoW has done and WoW is so successful. The thing is, Blizzard's devs have outright said their questing was horrible. They've taken steps over the years to improve upon it and with Cataclysm they truly have at least done what they can with a flawed system and made the experience far more fun than it used to be. Trion was unable to think ahead themselves to move forward and thus now the game they were emulating has surpassed them before they have even released. Simply put, questing in Cataclysm is 10x more fun than it is in Rift.
One of the main reasons for this is storytelling, one of the most important aspects of these games to me.
In a good RPG, you aren't thinking about grinding out that next level. You aren't sighing because you have so many more things to kill or boring quests to complete until you ding. We've put up with that for awhile in MMOs because there was nothing else, but that is finally changing.
With amazing innovations like phasing, WoW is finally moving to a point where you are actually going through what feels more like an engaging, cohesive experience in each zone and leveling is at last taking a backseat to simply completing these parts of the game. When you're an Alliance character in your early teens and you enter Westfall, it is no longer about grinding out quests that you aren't going to read until you hit 18 or 20. Now there is a story there that is hard to miss even if you skip the quest text because of the way it is presented. You are completing this story and when you're done you sit back and realize you hit level 20 without even noticing. That is how it should be.
With Rift, there is none of that. From what I can tell the lore itself isn't terrible (though it certainly isn't good) but most people will not even become interested in or even know what is going on because they aren't going to read the dull quests and there is very little going on outside of that text to communicate the story or what is happening. Occasionally NPCs will spout off some poorly written dialogue, but there is little context if you didn't bother to read the quests. Even if you did, it is unlikely that you feel any connection to what is happening.
Therefore, the quests are just a constant grind. And you REALLY feel it. Right from the start. It is insanely mundane and boring to the point that I wanted to stop playing before I even hit 20 in the first beta, but I pressed on because I wanted to see the first dungeon. I killed boars. I collected meat. I ran from here to there and back to the NPCs who treated me like a glorified errand boy despite the fact that I am supposedly this great hero, this ascended soul. It certainly doesn't feel like it. No, here I am as I was in WoW in 2004 – nothing but a messenger boy who does meaningless tasks that are passed off as somehow important to saving the world.
There is no adventure. Despite the desperate situation the world is supposed to be in, there is no sense of urgency or excitement.
So, I've gone on enough about that. Here are some suggestions that would improve things for me personally, though it is likely too late to do this until an expansion or something:
Racial starting areas: The races seem very bland currently. I have no connection going in and do not even gain one as I play more. Shouldn't there be more to this than just looks and racial traits? I think so, and I think giving each race its own starting area would perfectly solve this issue in addition to the flaw of only having one starting experience per faction. I'm actively discouraged from rolling an alt on Rift because I can't stomach going through the exact same dull experience as I did before. Part of that is just a problem with the quests themselves, but with different starting areas I could at least have a little variety perhaps. This also helps the world feel more real and alive. It currently does not. Extremely bland.
Phasing: I'll just outright say it. You cannot compete with WoW without phasing. You need to get on it and implement it asap. It is an excellent way to tell a story and offer the dynamic content that is so often touted with this game. Once this is in, you have a huge amount of options when it comes to improving questing.
Improve questing and player involvement: Quests need to feel less bland and involve the player on a more personal level. Get us involved and caring about what is going on. What does being an ascended truly mean to me? What if I didn't want to be one? Why don't I have more choices? Why don't my actions affect the zones I am in (again, you need phasing) despite these quests suggesting I have put an end to some threat?
I want to feel less like a cardboard cutout “superhero” who despite being praised by every NPC I walk by ends up being tasked with collecting meat, killing wolves and boars, and swimming around shallows picking up bits of whatever. This is insanely boring and quite frankly insulting in 2010.
Maybe the soul system, the rifts, or whatever raid game Trion boasts in the end will be enough for a lot of you guys, but for me personally I don't want to play a game where I have to stomach the entire leveling process and just get through the dull grind in order to hopefully find some light at the end of the tunnel. I used to be willing to do that. I am no longer.
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i had a beta invite to this but passed on it as it didnt seem like a real beta just a weekend pass to check it out.
and looked like the usual wow clone.
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i had a beta invite to this but passed on it as it didnt seem like a real beta just a weekend pass to check it out.
and looked like the usual wow clone.
The betas were real betas, just weekends during the closed beta (I looked it up).
Ive seen a video of the ui now - and jesus its eq/wow/war all in 1!!
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yeah you were invited to one weekend beta event and then nothing more thats not real beta to me.
a few forum ppl were invited as vips to beta test the whole way through but only the the ones with brown noses got those.
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I am in the closed beta, or at least the next phase of beta (from Tuesday to Friday). Anybody else in now, perhaps giving any suggestions to a noobie? :)
EDIT: Ah, seems I am one of the brown-nosers mentioned above ;) as I have access to all beta tests until the game launches.
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I am in the closed beta, or at least the next phase of beta (from Tuesday to Friday). Anybody else in now, perhaps giving any suggestions to a noobie? :)
Play endlessly with the char creator, research all the souls a given "class" can have and look into the talents (for want of a better word) granted by those souls for that class. Dont just pick a generic type and roll on in, the souls are what makes this game different from its peers.
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well i finally gave the beta of this ago and i must say i liked it.
loved the graphics though my gtx460 with 2 gig helped alot also loved the rift concept had some cracking battles but must remember to only heal my group and not try healing the whole raid on my cleric.
ofc its a wow/everyother mmo clone and i hear its the warhammer engine but it sure seemed alot more stable.
i did think i was lagging quite a bit when i first logged in but some helpfull person told me to turn my shader down a notch in the video settings and this did the trick even with 50 or so people in the same area.
think im giving this ago till atleast swtor comes out maybe september as i got tired of cata very quickly.
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Ive been reading up on the dungeons, they sound pretty good - and there seems to be at least 1 thats limited to each specific faction ;)
Have you given those a go yet?
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first instance starts at level 17 and i only reached level 14 as i was trying different classes but i did find myself in one by accident when i jumped down a well which a quest lead me to.
i started doing the quest then noticed a few elites roaming around so had a read of where i was and found out it was an instance it looked gorgeous sort of an outdoor instance(gardens of fae i think its called) it seemed very sprawling and i heard it takes some time to complete.
edit:realm of the fae its called:)
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Might give the next beta phase a go then if there is one before the release in march.
I tried it a while back, but didnt give it a proper go, so may have to.
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Might give the next beta phase a go then if there is one before the release in march.
I tried it a while back, but didnt give it a proper go, so may have to.
next beta starts 4th feb 18:00 gmt(i think) ends 7th then 15th till 22nd and headstart is 24th of feb
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Well, I did like the game suprisingly much ??? So much I did preorder it.
Tried all archetypes on each side, played in all 10 characters to levels 11-14. I avoided getting to 17 on purpose, don't want to ruin the feeling in those later on (altough intend to check out things in next beta).
It's basically what WoW was in 2004. Copy all the good things from existing MMO's but make them slightly smoother. While the soul-system is cool, it is pretty much similar to the LOTRO trait system with a splash of WoW talent-trees. Rifts and invasions I found immensely fun, even though those are pretty similar to LOTRO skirmishes combined with the Public Quests from WAR.
In all, I don't know *why* I liked the game so much. Might be because it is new and shiny (I tend to like new things that are shiny...), but I believe there is something there. I can't put my finger on what it is, but it is definitively best of the MMO's I've been in closed beta phase (LOTRO, AoC, WAR, Fallen Earth).
Of the 10 toons I played 6 were on Guardian side and 4 on Defiant side. I think I'll definitively be a Defiant, their background story is IMO much more cooler. Besides, it feels cooler to step back in time through a time-machine to prevent things going all hell, instead of being an ancient hero woken by gods to fulfill a prophecy. The Defiants feel more like "ordinary people" who just have to fix things that went wrong, instead of the Guardians who all are so full of their goodness :p
(http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/6286/rift.th.jpg) (http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/6286/rift.jpg)
Piglet the boar with his bard-ranger-blademaster pet called Fitzer.
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You guys might like this then:
(http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/6909/riftclasschart.png)
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No invite for me for this weekends Beta try.
Still following all I can on this though, seems interesting.
(PS for those who did, if you can get to a mount vendor at any level under 20 and can afford it, they removed the min20 limit on mounts).
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they are sending invites out in waves right throughout the event too.
not gone mine yet and i pre-ordered and it doesnt start for us euros till 6 pm tomorrow so im not sweating yet but come 6 tomorrow and i dont have one im going to scream blue murder.
on the mount i had enough platinum/gold at lvl 13 or so so no worries there unless it changes for live.
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I did preorder the CE, so if I get it right I should have a mount available. Too bad I am out of town from tomorrow morning until Sunday evening, so I'll be able to check out the thing only then.
Btw, no invite for phase 6 here either, seems they are pretty laggy atm.
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I did preorder the CE, so if I get it right I should have a mount available. Too bad I am out of town from tomorrow morning until Sunday evening, so I'll be able to check out the thing only then.
Btw, no invite for phase 6 here either, seems they are pretty laggy atm.
got my invite about an hour ago:)
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+1 beta invite.
Already had the client installed from the last one I got into and downloaded it for. Thought I hadnt, id just removed the shortcuts ;)
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How does one go about getting a beta invite?
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all the usual gaming sites i think fileplanet and the like.
or check the games official forums people seem to give them out if you ask.
beta event starts tonight at 6pm gmt and runs till 6pm monday then theres another on the 15th of feb.
took me 2hrs to dl the client and patch up last beta event on a 8meg connection.
or google rift beta keys that could help client is universal so no need to look for a euro key or anything.
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Shalbatana, Bahmi Warrior (Defiants)
Server:
Kurtt if you do get a beta key from somewhere, its as BD says a very small DL - 7.5gb iirc from lasttime and goes pretty quick.
Also got Mangala (dorfy thing warrior (Guardians)) on Blightweald.
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Warlord/Paladin/Void Knight souls are a go. Very shiny together actually :)
Done a few lowbie rifts too - even spawned one myself - and wow are they good fun. The PQ style of them is really mint, good to see a game take that on.
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im spending this beta trying different combos just getting to lvl 10 then starting again i dont want to go too far incase i do play it at live.
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im spending this beta trying different combos just getting to lvl 10 then starting again i dont want to go too far incase i do play it at live.
Good idea, ive got a few id like to try out - will always come back to the warrior eventually though.
Im very impressed with the stability of the game right now and how fast devs implement community suggested changes into it. That its tiny install size compared to the rest of the mmos I play excepting eve.
The graphics are nice too - cross between lotro and war imo.
The combat - at least melee - is as fluids as wows, but with a touch of both war and lotro thrown in - especially some reactive stuff ala lotro. Rifts dev team do seem to have looked about and thought to themselves, we'll have this and this and this from x y and z games, and not messed it up :)
I might pick this up either on release or a touch after - wait for the initial rush to die off - and play it for a while as a 4th mmo ;) (lotro wow and eve - with some dcu on the side if i get a station access pass to open up my ps account to get into the Planetside:Next beta) I wouldnt start a hoj there, but I would hope those playing it could end up on same server and try to whore ourselves to the same guild :)
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Got myself a beta key and downloading now. Will give it a go tonight.
Just need to get my head round the class/soul system.
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Got myself a beta key and downloading now. Will give it a go tonight.
Just need to get my head round the class/soul system.
I'll be on voice in an hour or so if you are on it then or whatever (i'll be on voice most of the evening tbh), and I can help you figure stuff out/listen to you bitch about it :)
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Got myself a beta key and downloading now. Will give it a go tonight.
Just need to get my head round the class/soul system.
I'll be on voice in an hour or so if you are on it then or whatever (i'll be on voice most of the evening tbh), and I can help you figure stuff out/listen to you bitch about it :)
You know I will be...
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spent all my platinum/gold on dyes wont do that if i play at live :D
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Zone invasion at mo in Freemarch on the server im on - fuck me thats epic fun. Watching folks having to remember how to play together is brilliant, as its not really possible to be the solo superhero special snowflake when rifts and invasions are up.
Oh and Discordant War Golem - level 20 invasion mob, being fought by over 100 lower levels - no lag!!!!!
He has 600k HP!!
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my favorite combos so far.
warden/sentinel/purifer great healer
marksmen/ranger/assasin great dps hunter/rogue type.
the invasions really are epic fun and no waiting for groups to form with instant join group/raid.
i rolled on icewatch server guardian side i was on there last beta and your chars carry forward through all the betas.
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I'm currently rolling with Marksman/Ranger, with the quest to get the third.
Not sure what I think so far. Sure is pretty, but I find myself thinking 'I may as well be playing WoW'...
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"may as well be playing uo/eq/daoc/war/wow/lotro"
Tbh I thought the same on first glance on my first play, but this time round something clicked and its just really enjoyable now. Thinkf or me it was the invasions/rifts and how the method for getting in them is the obvious continuation of the WAR PQ mechanic, which was always fun. Yes the normal quests can be a little meh, but some are quite good .
And the graphics alone is an improvement over cartoonnetwork - which is starting to look dated. Deffo better than WARs though, alot smoother.
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Have been out of town the weekend (got home a few moments ago). Downloading the patch, and *damn* its slow :( Think I'll have something to eat before I log in.
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Oh god, with a good Cleric on me (gone back to my Paladin/Warlord/Voidknight to try the warfronts), Im a juggernaut! And with Discharge (I have a VK ability that stores 55 of each none melee damage attack I take as a thing called a Pact. Discharge releases these pacts and doing theur damage+ a bunch of air damage to targets) proccing all the time + devouring blow (weap+physical damage dealt removes casters mana = to 50% of the combined damage, uses action points so its a combo that i ensure is up all the time) from my VK soul, casters just melt as their mana drops loads! And once the enemy heals have gone its game over!
Also trying the profs - on armorsmith/butchery/miner at mo. I like it, basically its wow style, with certain aspects of lotros thrown in - some items can be added to recipes to give them more of a certain stat then normal or even better planar buffs and the like - its quite cool really. Familiar, yet still with a twist to be new enough.
For achie and "pokemon" types, there is achies, plenty of them (7420 points worth) and for collectors you can get numerous items - including tears of critters and for each completion you get special currency which can be traded for pets, mounts and so on - vanity stuff if you will.
I think in general it can be said of Rift that it amalgamates alot from the current main names in MMORPGs and combines them in a way that is familiar yet different enough to draw you in. You just need to get past the hump of "omg its xxxxx mmo reskinned", and Rifts+Invasions seems to really help with it - especially whole zone invasions!
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Site for working out builds:
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html
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Yeah, I feel pretty much the same. Dunno why, but it feels fresh while still being the same old, same old.
To me the bard has been very cool. I don't heal that much and don't DPS that much, but I simply make the life easier for everybody around me; they do more damage, they take less damage, heal more while also having to heal less, and in a pinch I can off-tank stuff for a short while. A bit like LOTRO captain on steroids, except can't focus as spesifically as a captain (so a captain focusing on healing would be a better healer, while a captain focusing on tanking would be lots better, etc). It's funny in PvP how often I can go unnoticed, apparently because they do not apparently notice the umpteen buffs all my friends have on them :P
Dunno how long I'll stay interested in Rift, but I am going to find out :) I was told Rift uses the same game engine as in WAR, don't know if it is true, but in many ways Rift feels like the game WAR *should* have been.
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Defiant feel like overplayed to anyone else?
Guardian on both servers Ive tried them on are very few on the ground, and flicking through the guild pages seems a lage number are going Defiant too.
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lots of gaurdians on icewatch but seems your right about majority picking defiants.
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Good post on the official Rift Forums about the game from a long time mmoers pov. I dont necessarily agree with some of his scoring (4/10 because he didnt look hard enough in Meridian to find a bank or the AH?! (both of which are in the main outdoor plaza of the city!) and Whining that bags from npc vendors cost too much, when Outfitters can make them with easily found cloths at low levels - so voilá trade other players!) But he does a good job otherwise.
Okay so I've played many MMO's over the years; WOW, LOTRO, AION, Guild Wars to name a few. This was my first RIFT play this weekend. Here is my take on things thus far. Please do not flame and etc, this is just my observation and opinion, yours may differ. I played many different souls, classes, races and faction all to level 12 at least.
Character Creation 9/10
First off character creation is great, many features to play with and customize. However, are all guardians white?...hmmm, may cause some offense here Trion should re-think that one. The body shapes, facial features are very realistic. However, do all the male dwarves have to look like bridge trolls? I mean they are all but ugly....I hit the random button at least 20 times only to find that I was staring at a butt ugly troll, with hairy arms that are not in proportion to their bodies.
Graphics 9/10
The graphics are very good...the beta actually told me I needed to update my drivers before I would get Ultra performance from my Nvidia 8800 GTX. I did that and had no choppy framerate and the lettering was not blurry at 1920x1080, it was however quite blurry at lower settings. I am pretty sure they patched this on Saturday I believe. Detailing was good as was shadowing.
Character Realism/Movement 7/10
My main compliant here is character movement. The characters run like the have a corn-cob up their a--. However, fighting mechanics were quite good. Mages kinda look like they are literally bending over backwards when they cast their spells...lol
Character Racials 4/10
Character racials in this game simply blow. Case in point...the Kelari get this ability to transform into an invisible fox and supposedly mobs ignore them as they walk by, this is untrue I transformed into a fox several times and walked by mobs who proceeded to beat on me. The small increases to Dexterity, strength, etc were almost negligible. So make whatever race you like and forget racials.
Gameplay/Questing 9/10
Here is the meat of the game, questing was incredibly good. As with all MMO's it has a majority of the "Go get me this..quests" and the "Go kill 8/10/12 of these things" however, they main storyline was still intact. You felt like you were a part of the game as opposed to being in a game. Quests and zones were all interrelated and the Guardian quests were quite fun. Defiant questing was a little harder, I died more as a defiant then I ever did as a guardian. So defiant quests were harder. There were some defiant quests as well as a small few guardian quests that were almost impossible to do solo. The one quest I have in mind is a defiant quest (can't remember the name of it) were you have to place this object on two portals where these dog head human things (Cynocephaly) were streaming out like water. I couldn't kill these things fast enough to get the object placed. I had to wait for assistance from others to accomplish it. Which was fine, no points taken off for that. I would like to see more creative questing like in LoTRo, there is a few quests where you play "hide-n-seek" with someone, very cool. My biggest complaint here is that I would like to see the level of quest I am about to accept. Nowhere did I see any quest levels, prior to accepting the quest.
Soul System/The Ascended Class System 10/10
This is the coolest system I have seen to date. You can bee whatever you like to play...You can match your playstyle to the game, as opposed to changing your play style to get the most DPS. Oh, I'm sure some brainiac will figure out what class, race and souls chose to be for the most DPS and Healing, but for now...play whatever you want and it's fun. The way it is designed is quite interesting as you can spec however you want and have fun trying all of the different soul combinations. This system really allows you to play many different toons without getting bored. I will probably change souls a bunch of times just to experiment and see what I like to play. It appeared to me that whatever soul choice you make they are all (almost) pretty viable when it comes to PVE content. I REALLY love the pets in this game, the Beastmaster is awesome!! As is the Ranger!! However, the Druid Fairy is GAY!! Although it can heal you so....whatever. I found the Nightblade/Ranger combo to be quite fun....throw fire knives at them, let the pet roll in...run up behind them and gut em like a fish!!!
Financial/Storage/Bank/AH 4/10
Plan and simple vendor items are simply to expensive!! I know people will disagree here but I think 23 gold for an 8 slot bag is ridiculous! And 2 platinum and some gold for a mount is insane. Also, there are way TOO FEW auction houses and banks in the cities and towns. I played to level 12 and visited many towns and cities and never once found a bank or auction house...??? This is both on the defiant side as well as guardian. Although you get a medium sized bag to start and a couple 4 slot bags from quests, once you start your profession....forget it, you WILL need to spend some serious gold for upgraded bags, because there aren't any AH's or Banks around. So know this (unless they fix it), once you start crafting you will need to spend at least 50 gold for two medium sized bags.
Crafting/Nodes 5/10
I didn't get too much into the crafting, but this is what I noticed right away. Someone mentioned that the outfitter had it too easy, well this is true for most tailoring professions that I've seen in games, however the professions are all good. I LOVE the fact that you can DE (breakdown, dismantle, recoup, whatever) the items you make and get back some materials to make more. The ratio is quite steady but not 1 for 1 (which it shouldn't be) in other words if I make an pair of armor boots I can DE it and I have a chance to get back a bar of tin or whatever material it is made of. What REALLY brings down the score here is the lack of mining nodes in comparison to butchering and forageing. Mining nodes are scarce, yet they only give you one to three chunks of "---". However, there is a butt ton of herbs and wood and leather to be had!! As well as artifacting, way too few nodes. Please Trion make more mining nodes throughout the world!!!
RIFT (In game rift openings and gameplay) 10+/10
The concept of public group raiding is absolutely AMAZING, INCREDIBLE and SUPERIOR!!!! It really makes the game for the casual player...well, playable. Not true in MANY other MMO's Trion was really thinking here. For those of you who don't know; a rift opens up in the world and mobs flow out of them. As you run to the rift area, there are usually others there. A button appears at the top of your screen asking if you would like to join a public raid group. You click it and instantly you are in a raid style group to kill mobs and close the rifts (or fight off mobs attacking a town). I did join a raid group and fought of everything I could get my weapons on and received Planerites which can be turned in for great perks and gear. The "Drop" rate for planerites is good as well as other "stuff" (they Need.Greed>Pass system is in place as well). I experimented once and joined the group, but did absolutely nothing...and as you would expect I got nothing. It appears that Trion designed it so that you have to participate in order to receive (GENIUS!!)...Nothing errks me more than someone not pulling their weight! Grrr! I LOVE this concept and this will be a big selling point for me. I hated the raiding systems in so many other games because you had to either be a dedicated player or not work when raids were going on. Rifts open all the time and you can "raid" as much or as little as you want!! PERFECTION!!
Recanted...the killing the NPC's
Monthly Subscription Pricing 10/10
Pay as you go (month to month $15) or prepaid 3-6 months at a time. The best deal? 6 months at $10 a month!!
All in all I will buy this game and play it, it is WAY better than Lotro, Wow, Aion and GW. I will definitely play this game exclusively for a long time (at least until they nerf the s--t out of it as with ever other MMO I've played). All of you who are on the fence I would truly spend the money and try it out, you will be pleased, especially if you are a casual/solo/raiding/group player!
P.S. BUY THIS GAME!!!
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?55101-Veteran-MMO-er...My-First-RIFT-Beta...My-Opinions
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And his points on the rift public raids/groups is awesome. I find it brilliant that everyone gets something for doing stuff during rifts and invasions, even if its just Planarite (special currency that lets you buy planar items (Favor for pvp items)) and exp :)
PS as mentioned earlier in the thread, the next and final beta phase is the 15-22 february. Headstart is the 24th, live is 28?
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live 1st march NA and 4th march EU so we get a big jump on live with the headstart.
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Open beta in a week.
On February 15th Trion will lift the veil on their upcoming MMORPG Rift™ with a six-day open beta event, giving all would-be Defiants and Guardians the opportunity to preview the epic world of Telara before the game launches worldwide on March 1st. Servers are scheduled to be open from 7:00 AM PST on Tuesday, February 15th to 7:00 AM PST on Monday, February 21st, giving users a taste of Telara, including two playable factions, the first 42 levels of play, three PvP warfronts, and several zones and dungeons to explore.
Sign up now at www.riftgame.com/betasignup for a guaranteed spot in the “Telara the Merciless” beta event, and secure your spot in the Rift head start period (February 24-March 1) by pre-ordering the game now at http://www.riftgame.com/preorder.
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Preordered.
Just to get the 6month sub at £6 a month. Worth it to be honest. Eventually works out at like £10 a month inc the cost of the game. Not bad for a bit of a change.
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Preordered.
Just to get the 6month sub at £6 a month. Worth it to be honest. Eventually works out at like £10 a month inc the cost of the game. Not bad for a bit of a change.
me too went for the 3 month option was riding around on the turtle mount wasnt as bad as i thought but will be getting a horse ingame too.
will probable join some big guild see how it goes i did get an invite to a guild called luminence which seemed quite big but didnt see the point in joining in beta.
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Found me a guild (Defiant side) to join when it goes to headstart, will look for a guardian one eventually too. The defiant guild is like us just bigger - ie they play everything!
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oh god:
http://rift.ign.com/wiki/Guild_Perks
I keep finding stuff it has ready for release!
RIFT really does seem to take the better features from the mmo scene and mash them all together. EQ's collections, WoW's Achies/Guild system, WAR Scens/WOW Bg's (seems to amalgamate those well), vanguard's number of "classes", Reactive combat stuff ala Lotro, parts of lotros crafting etc etc.
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Guy on the Rift Junkie forums posted a few screens from rift/invasions that happened in the Guardian lowbie zone. Im very impressed (takes me back to the tree boss in GA):
(http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp188/Mordib/Rifts/Tree3.jpg)
(http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp188/Mordib/Rifts/Tree2.jpg)
And others:
(http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp188/Mordib/Rifts/riftopening.jpg)
(http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp188/Mordib/Rifts/Mudsnake.jpg)
Comparing wow to rift in pictures (different styles I know, but I like the images they picked to compare):
(http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp188/Mordib/Rifts/canyonscenery.jpg)
(http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp188/Mordib/Rifts/ancients.jpg)
(http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp188/Mordib/Rifts/mounts.jpg)
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(http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp188/Mordib/Rifts/winterscenery.jpg)
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why oh why do people feel teh need to compare gfx for a game thats been out 7ish years with no great gfx overhaul to a new release? and as to oh look thats in WOW. WoW uses every fantasy cliche going so if others also choose too then ......?
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why oh why do people feel teh need to compare gfx for a game thats been out 7ish years with no great gfx overhaul to a new release? and as to oh look thats in WOW. WoW uses every fantasy cliche going so if others also choose too then ......?
No idea, but as I said, I do like the imagery from both sides they chose to do so.
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What can be confusing as you start this game is the difference between classes, roles and souls.
Here is what i found out so far:
Classes: 4, rogue, warrior, mage, cleric
When you pick a class, that choice will determine which souls you can use.
Souls: 8 for each class
Souls are basically collections of abilities. When you level up you get points that can be put into a soul, to unlock abilities.
And abilities are devided into root abilities that unlock automatically after you have put X amount of point in that soul, and branch abilities that you can choose yourself by putting points into.
You can choose your first 3 souls when completing the beginner quests (lvl 1 - 5)...
3 souls is also the maximum amount you can play with simultaneously (ie you can put your level points earned, into one of these 3 souls at any given time) by pressing N and then the ability.
As long as you dont save the soul template you can get points back that you misallocated, by right clicking the ability.
After that, i think at level 13 but could also be level 15, you get quests to earn the other 5 souls.
These quests are more or like the same: participate in a rift event and gather a plane shard (depends on luck and how much damage you did in the rift event). Then, summon a spirit with a quest device (is in your backpack after accepting the quest), kill it, and use another quest device to cleans the spirit.
As long as a soul has 0 points allocated, you can swap it for another soul earned (only when you have 4 or more souls aquired through quests!). Click on the center icon in the soul screen (press N) and you see what options are available.
Role: 4
A role is a collection of 3 souls. You can make 4 roles (so 4 collections of 3 souls) max.
When out of combat for 5 seconds, it is possible to swap roles (press N, press the role # icon).
An example:
I make a warrior. As such i have 8 possible souls : beastmaster, warlord, paladin, reaver, void knight, paragon, riftblade, champion
I earn my first 3 souls during the beginner fase and i choose beastmaster, paladin, void knight, meant as a tanking role.
I put my first points into paladin, level up, put more points in these 3 souls, level up, etc etc
At level 13/15, i do a few quest and each time gain a new soul.
Then i make a new role: this time i choose the combination warlord, paragon, riftblade for my 2nd role, a more offensive type of warrior.
Now i can swap roles during battle between tanking, and playing dps.
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http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1zsqy..VdMx.y0ztrzs
A mage+shaman+ability to squirrel people!! Will be giving this a try out in the OB.
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So, it seems there is a PVP soul - a specialist one - for each class. Not just a soul you can use in pvp, but one that you can ONLY use in pvp. Not sure when its available, but it seems that before you hit 50 you are llimited to what it gives you, but hit 50 and start getting pvp ranks and more and more of it opens up as you rank up.
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Does this mean you lot will all be playing Rift, and poor old HoJ won't be levelling in WoW due to you all not being online? :(
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Does this mean you lot will all be playing Rift, and poor old HoJ won't be levelling in WoW due to you all not being online? :(
I'll be playing Rift and wow and eve and 10 mins of lotro here and there (Until the store button winds me up). And the DOW2 Retribution beta.
Im just a little squeeeeeeeeeeeeee about this, as it takes alot of features from games I enjoyed previously and puts them all into one. Plus 3man guild achies in wow!!!
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Does this mean you lot will all be playing Rift, and poor old HoJ won't be levelling in WoW due to you all not being online? :(
Dont plan on it, ill stick with WoW until SWToR is my plan
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(http://handsofjustice.co.uk/forum/gallery/1_14_02_11_12_54_36.png)
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So what server should i roll on the open beta then?
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So what server should i roll on the open beta then?
Blightweald is where I have my level 4 Guardian faction character. So probably there is best. Im avoiding playing anymore of my Defiant as I dont want to spoil it anymore :)
(Mangala is my lowbies name).
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Player made promo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fislS4T9d0
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right guys.
Can I still enter the open beta? and is it worth entering the open beta? Heard good things about this around the net...but need to hear it from the horses mouth as so to speak
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yes, open beta is open to all - head to the rift site:
http://uk.riftgame.com/en/beta/index.php
And follow zee instructions.
It is a good game - just put aside the "wow did this, wow did that first" thoughts and you'll be set. The game is pretty much an amalgamation of all thats good about fantasy MMO's lately combined with a dev team that actually listens to its playerbase, and a class system that is awesome for its versatility.
I'll be on voice from 6pm this evening when OB opens so guys feel free to jump on and we can chat about this, or I can answer questions if you do play etc.
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cheers Ped. I think it'll take me a a year to download, as i only have a 3mb connection, but i'll get mesen on vent (or whatever) tonight.
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hmm, ive created an account and beta profile, but it tells me I need to be invited to a beta, or have pre-ordered etc.
Any other way i can get a key?
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the client doesn't take as long as you may think it will took me 2 hours on a 8 mb connection.
may roll a char on the server you mentioned look out for meral or melos.you never know we may get as far as the first instance. :)
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hmm, ive created an account and beta profile, but it tells me I need to be invited to a beta, or have pre-ordered etc.
Any other way i can get a key?
you should get a email at some point pointing you to the client or just check your account as the client will turn up there.
they want as many people in the open beta as possible so dont think you need a key anymore your account will just become flagged for it.
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hmm, ive created an account and beta profile, but it tells me I need to be invited to a beta, or have pre-ordered etc.
Any other way i can get a key?
you should get a email at some point pointing you to the client or just check your account as the client will turn up there.
they want as many people in the open beta as possible so dont think you need a key anymore your account will just become flagged for it.
Pretty much this.
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?62480-We-Don-t-Need-No-Stinking-Codes!!
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http://update2.triongames.com/patcher/public/Rift_BETA_Patcher_setup.exe
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good stuff. will set it off soon as i get in from work
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may roll a char on the server you mentioned look out for meral or melos.you never know we may get as far as the first instance. :)
Nice! Im also going to roll a cleric - druid maybe, or bard - to give those a try over the OB. Guardian side on Blightweald as per Mangala.
My bro is also trying OB.
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Pidge is downloading it too. Are all of the HoJ lot on the same server/faction then? If so it looks like some guild instances are in order if us 2 can frame ourselves and catch you all up level wise.
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Pidge is downloading it too. Are all of the HoJ lot on the same server/faction then? If so it looks like some guild instances are in order if us 2 can frame ourselves and catch you all up level wise.
i think most of us will be starting from scratch as my chars are on a different server.
first instance is at about lvl17 guardian side as ped mentioned server=blightweald faction=guardian
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LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!
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LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!
NO
come get some :)
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Pidge is downloading it too. Are all of the HoJ lot on the same server/faction then? If so it looks like some guild instances are in order if us 2 can frame ourselves and catch you all up level wise.
Those who have given various closed betas a try are all over.
If we want to go through this OB together, then Blightweald Guardian side is best bet. I'll setup a custom channel (effort to setup a guild for an OB to be honest) when I get on and figure out how :)
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I'll be on tonight to have another mooch. Might give Cleric or Warrior a go.
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I'll be on tonight to have another mooch. Might give Cleric or Warrior a go.
Im honestly not trying to get people away from WoW, but my enthusiasm is catching :)
Paragon/Champ is a nice starter pairing for Warriors, throw in Reaver or VK when you get a 3rd soul and you are a dps machine :)
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200mb patch is available via the launcher now. It also applies after it downloads it.
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servers are up now
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servers are up now
(http://www.fohguild.org/forums/attachments/mmorpg-general-discussion/163866d1297787308-rift-planes-telara-heroes-telara-e3-09-riftvd.jpg)
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/join hojchat and you join an ingame channel I setup :)
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Bloody bugged final quest in starter zone
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I'm in a queue to get on the server...
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well found out my problem with latency is caused by trion changing ports into the 6000 range which bt actively block as p2p they are aware of the issue and are working with bt to solve the problem. :)
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well found out my problem with latency is caused by trion changing ports into the 6000 range which bt actively block as p2p they are aware of the issue and are working with bt to solve the problem. :)
Been alot of chat about that in 1-9 chat, so fingers crossed it happens for you BT chaps.
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Ooh look! Something my ISP didnt muck up! :)
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Ooh look! Something my ISP didnt muck up! :)
:)
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The Guardians: Religious Fanatics
The Defiant: Badass time-travelling rebels
Pretty much nails it.
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Full on fire rift invasion in Silverwood at moment.
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Full on fire rift invasion in Silverwood at moment.
the one that was active when you logged last night was awesome, got myself 2 of the blue crystals :)
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I got a corrupted sourcestone from this one this morning. Quite please, just need more planarite before I can exchange it.
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So, those who have tried it over the past day or so. What do you think of it - given its a near release ready beta and given the type of game it is?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi4AWgf_Bog
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So, those who have tried it over the past day or so. What do you think of it - given its a near release ready beta and given the type of game it is?
i like it but its a pity bt are blocking rifts ports though has just started again 40k latency so unless they sort it i wont be subbing.
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So, those who have tried it over the past day or so. What do you think of it - given its a near release ready beta and given the type of game it is?
Liking it a lot so far. hell of a lot. Level 6 now, and just got to silverwood. Suppose the game starts here ;)
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So, those who have tried it over the past day or so. What do you think of it - given its a near release ready beta and given the type of game it is?
Liking it a lot so far. hell of a lot. Level 6 now, and just got to silverwood. Suppose the game starts here ;)
yeah you start to hit rifts from 6 onwards and they are great fun. :)
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So, those who have tried it over the past day or so. What do you think of it - given its a near release ready beta and given the type of game it is?
i like it but its a pity bt are blocking rifts ports though has just started again 40k latency so unless they sort it i wont be subbing.
Apparently Trion are going to fix that at their end, rework the ports they use. So fingers crossed.
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So, those who have tried it over the past day or so. What do you think of it - given its a near release ready beta and given the type of game it is?
Liking it a lot so far. hell of a lot. Level 6 now, and just got to silverwood. Suppose the game starts here ;)
Oh yes it really does. Wait till a zone wide invasion + rift event lands on you. You'll love it!! Had 3 or so today over the course of a play session, plus smaller footholds from time to time too. Good that we are on a busy beta server as the population makes the rifts stronger/more frequent etc
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After playing through some of the proper game after the starting zone, al lI can say is wow. it...is....epic. The rifts and invasions are just so immersive. And even the questing doesnt feel like too much of a grind tbh. A lot to do and think about, so doesnt feel too grindy. Well impressed.
WoW sub has been cancelled. Gonna be Rift for me until SWTOR at least.
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Very nice game indeed.
Only thing I like less is that loosing to an invasion doesnt have (many) consequences. By questing you have the feeling you get ahead, by fighting rifts - not so much.
Won't sub though through lack of ISK...
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Well, since hitting Silverwood, my game performance has bombed to the point if the game being unplayable.
The starting zone was fine, just Silverwood onwards sucks form me FPSwise. Also getting bad sound stuttering also.
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Well, since hitting Silverwood, my game performance has bombed to the point if the game being unplayable.
The starting zone was fine, just Silverwood onwards sucks form me FPSwise. Also getting bad sound stuttering also.
Sucks Danny boy. As its pretty much where the game gets actually interesting too.
I'll nosey around forums and stuff, fingers crossed others have had it and theres a way to make it better.
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Well, since hitting Silverwood, my game performance has bombed to the point if the game being unplayable.
The starting zone was fine, just Silverwood onwards sucks form me FPSwise. Also getting bad sound stuttering also.
i believe thats due to ISP shaping, especially if you are with BT its confirmed that they shape the particular ports the game uses as being P2P traffic. The devs are looking into it i believe.
My internet connection can be flaky at the best of times and apart from the odd laggy chop, it runs within acceptable parameters.
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Well, I've cancelled my other MMO subscriptions. I'll be playing a Defiant rogue in (pre-)release, so playing various Guardian souls now.
I still can't say why I like it so much. Of course it's new, it's smooth, I like the "multi-classing" (reminds me so much of the good old days playing AD&D or WHFRPG :) ) and I think the rifts&invasions are just cool.
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If you havent bought it already chaps, look for it cheap somewhere and then via the trion site you can upgrade to the Collectors for £5 :)
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Had an epic hour or so ingame. Made 3 blue shards, 250 planarite and 1 epic shard.
Basically the Aelfwar started life rifts and invasions all over Silverwood and the Wardstones in Quicksilver College % Sanctum became Sanctified which gave them an npc army to defend them.
Players had to defeat all the rifts and lots of invasions before heading up to Overwatch Keep to kill Aelfwar Idols and the 3 Giant treants defending them - each had 140k hp, and took multiple raid groups to kill. Was great fun, especially getting some coordination going.
(http://handsofjustice.co.uk/forum/gallery/1_17_02_11_7_16_38.jpg)
(http://handsofjustice.co.uk/forum/gallery/1_17_02_11_7_15_06.jpg)
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Necros have a skeleton rogue (melee dps), tank, and skeleton mage (ranged dps).
Mage is pretty similar, Water pet is ranged dps with an interrupt I think.
Rangers get a boar (tank pet), dire wolf (dps), blood raptor (AE melee dps).
Beastmaster only gets one pet, but you can buff it to change it into tank or dps.
All pets have greater versions after ~20-24 points spent in the soul that scale past level 30 and have additional abilities.
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Looks like the ports issue for BT has been sorted, thank fook for that! Hope it works.
Ped, had a right zone wide battle lastnight like the one you posted above. Was about 20 mins or so after you'd logged i think. Made me a load of planarite and an epic shard, despite being 10 levels below the epic mobs, dying over and over again and barely being able to hit them.
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Also, I think the time may have come where Rift may need it's own section by the looks of it. Loads and lods of info for different stuff over 8 pages on this thread ;)
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Also, I think the time may have come where Rift may need it's own section by the looks of it. Loads and lods of info for different stuff over 8 pages on this thread ;)
I'll wait till release.
Would be handy at that stage, even if we are off playing with another group, I do feel this MMO may stand the test of time, but we shall see ;)
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well todays patch was supposed to fix bt latency issues by changing the port range, it didnt work :'(
and as bt throttle like bastards during the weekend no beta play for me :(
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well todays patch was supposed to fix bt latency issues by changing the port range, it didnt work :'(
and as bt throttle like bastards during the weekend no beta play for me :(
Probably fixed:
Originally Posted by Hartsman
BT customers -- The BT engineers have made some updates on their end.
Can you please try again with logins as of now (around 22:38 GMT) and reply here with whether or not the experience has improved?
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well todays patch was supposed to fix bt latency issues by changing the port range, it didnt work :'(
and as bt throttle like bastards during the weekend no beta play for me :(
Probably fixed:
Originally Posted by Hartsman
BT customers -- The BT engineers have made some updates on their end.
hope so :)
Can you please try again with logins as of now (around 22:38 GMT) and reply here with whether or not the experience has improved?
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epic pet: my own killerrabbit of Antioch!
dropped from a lvl 15 rift-rainbow-thingy ;D
(http://handsofjustice.co.uk/forum/gallery/18_20_02_11_12_07_38.jpg)
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Originally Posted by Hartsman
BT customers -- The BT engineers have made some updates on their end.
Can you please try again with logins as of now (around 22:38 GMT) and reply here with whether or not the experience has improved?
that would be about the time the game became unplayable for me, couldnt get logged infor more than 30secs, skill lag, vendor lag and just general unresponsiveness, will try again today.
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Originally Posted by Hartsman
BT customers -- The BT engineers have made some updates on their end.
Can you please try again with logins as of now (around 22:38 GMT) and reply here with whether or not the experience has improved?
that would be about the time the game became unplayable for me, couldnt get logged infor more than 30secs, skill lag, vendor lag and just general unresponsiveness, will try again today.
Who are you with ISP wise?