Rift Storm Legion , who's still playing ?

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diabolus

New member
So i've been checking out Rift again (it was free to play this past weekend) in anticipation of the expansion launching this week (13 Nov). I must add i have been playing GW2 also, but in terms of PvE an character progression, Rift still takes the cake.

I'm quite surprised how much they have added while i was gone. I got two chars to lvl 50 back in the day (few months after launch) , and the last zone was Stillmoor at that point.


I figure i'll just give a rundown of the things i've noticed on my return, needless to say i'm excited to play the expansion (note these are changes prior to the expansion) :

1. Servers merged, so you will most likely need to transfer your characters (instant and free).

2. All your souls probably reset, but Trion made great enhancements here to make it easier to "get going" , since Rift's soul configurations can get pretty complicated, especially if you haven't been playing for a year. They now added "premade" soul configurations which you can pick instead of doing it yourself. You can still do it all as always, but now you can also simply pick on the builds Trion made, they seem to have about 5-6 builds per class, normally covering the main roles (Tank,Healer,DPS,Support) the class can play.

If you pick a premade soul build, they even configure your action bars for you , so you're good to go right there.

3. There is a TON of new content and "activities" , this is BEFORE the expansion, things that is definitely new since i last played:

[a] Ember Island , basically a new lvl 52 zone (meant to be a zone for lvl 50s). It's all tropical island with a volcano, very nice zone i must say. The zone also got a dungeon and things that comes with a Rift zone.

Planar Advancement. Similar to EQ2/AoC where you now got another "leveling" path past lvl 50, without actually leveling past 50. Can call it "alternate level" . You don't really get anything extreme, there's alot of things to unlock though, there's a type of "talent tree" for every Rift Type (air,water,fire,earth,life,death) and you can then specialise deeper and deeper. Specialising in say Water can increase your swimming speed, your dex, damage against water creatures etc etc. It looked like there's alot of depth with this (i could see there is 3 talent trees per element).

[c] Conquest . This is kinda like Guildwars 2's WvWvW . It's 3 faction, it's on a huge map, basically a copy of an existing zone like Stillmoor i think, without the mobs but with all these points to be captured. You can upgrade the points with turrets and so on. I haven't played in depth, but i did not notice any "siege" type of fighting (as in standing on a fortress wall and shooting with catapults) , but at the end it plays same is GW2, zerging around and such. Factions gain points based on points they capture and eventually one faction will capture the entire zone instance.

[d] Instant Adventures. This is open world public group quests type of things, but they are not Rifts (but technically similar) and they are fixed to a specific area. There's one in Sanctum, and i'm not sure what triggers it, but it's basically like an on-going quest making your defend, attack and carry around stuff around Sanctum. You can join these adventures from anywhere in the world or just join in while you are in Sanctum. Difference is, if you were thinking of idling/AFK'ing in Sanctum, don't be surprised coming back finding yourself dead. This does make Sanctum specifically very "busy" with a constant invasion going, but it's good for making money and adding Planar experience.

[e] Chronicles. This is kind of like LOTROs "skirmishes" . It's solo/2-man instance adventures. You pick a chronicle and go into this instance and do a type of dungeon on your own or with someone. I haven't really done much of this, so can't say much, but definitely useful.

[f] Warfronts . They were there before, there is more of them. Haven't done yet, the PvP in Rift was always a bit of a hit and miss, i doubt this changed.

[g] Dungeon Finder/Group Finder/Quest Finder . They did add this just when i left, but they've streamlined this very very well. You can now find a group for -anything- you want to do that needs a group. Got a 3-man quest? Just use the tool, got a Raid Quest? Just use the tool etc etc. You can also pick what role you plan to play in said group (tank,healer,dps) and all that. If you played Rift you most likely know every class is very flexible with their roles, you can instantly change from Healer to Tank to DPS (assuming you've set up those builds). The Premade builds from Trion help with this, for in case you're not sure how to make say a tank build out of your class, use the premade.

[h] PvP Rifts . This initially looked like something from Aion , but it's not. Basically one side opens a PvP Rift (same way you open a PvE rift) which will then have objectives. So far it looks like you need to defend a pillar and carry stuff somewhere. The opposing faction basically get warned about this PvP Rift, and they have the opposite objective (to prevent the other faction from carrying stuff around and destroy the pillar). This is basically "open world PvP" between the 2 factions , but it's random can happen anywhere and is short enough to make you stop a moment and go check it out.

Planar Abilities: They seemed to have expanded on the whole Rift stuff, and i still don't know what some of the abilities do. One ability for example, you can now use Planar charges (you get this by closing rifts) to call upon a mini-NPC army (group of 5 or so npcs) to attack a foothold/invasion spawn point (usually when there's a Rift invasion, the NPC mobs start pitching camps and spawns little invasion groups from it, well now you can create your own little group to take that out). You can also upgrade
wardstones with more defenses (invasion NPcs always go straight for wardstones) . Basically a few more abilities which use those planar charges to make things easier. Ember Island got turrets/beacons and things that you can upgrade to heal/attack mobs, always useful if you're solo'ing around and an invasion is in your way ;-)

There's also this whole "parallel universe" thing, where you can see things in "other planes" , but you need the rather expensive planar ability for it. So i can't really comment much on it as i don't have it yet, so far i assume it reveals portals to dungeon areas and such.

[j] Fishing: Yes they added fishing. Works similar to WoW. You got to be certain level to fish in certain waters and you craft all kinds of 'lures' to catch certain other fish. Can catch chests and other items too.



3. They streamlined the visibility of all the Rift events and things on the map . Now you can see on the world map what is happening in each zone (i.e. if there's an invasion going on). Definitely nice, i remember back in day people constantly shouting in public chat about an invasion in zones.


Annnyway, that's alot, probably missed a few, So what's coming in the expansion? I played the open beta a bit (this is free too at the moment), and simply:

1. 2 Continents that looks like it's the size of the original continent of the game. I'd probably say it's 2 Outlands continents (from WoW's burning crusade). So it's big.

2. A new soul for each class. This is pretty big i'd say , it's like adding 4 new classes in a game. From my quick observations:

[a] Mages now get a "Melee DPS" soul. In other words think "Battlemage" with swords .
Warriors now get a "Ranged DPS" soul. Looks like it's a bit of a spellcasting type (throwing Lightning bolts and such) .
[c] Rogues get a "Utility/Support" soul. It looks like an "Engineer" class to me, you know, build Turrets, shoot with guns. Rogues are already the class which can do most things, so this does look interesting.
[d] Clerics get a type of a Necromancer soul? I haven't played a cleric alot, so i don't quite know what this is, it's called "Defiler" . Clerics were very well rounded also, so i can only assume it's a type of DPS, probably ranged DPS.


Some people does moan a little in that it feels like the classes are becoming "everything" , as you can clearly see with Mages and Warriors, but they definitely play differently still. I'm not going to complain about having too much choice ;-) .


3. Player Housing. I've only seen this on youtube. Looks amazing, will see how this pans out, i'm not big on these things unless it's changing my game play. So far i expect this to be a side attraction, same as LOTRO's instanced housing, just with alot more customization. I am hoping they put housing more "in your face" making it useful for more than just looking at.

4. Level cap raised to 60.


I know there is more, definitely more Raids and Dungeons, i'm not sure what else they can add (Flying Mounts maybe, but i'm willing to wait until GW2 adds ground mounts first ;-) ).
 
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As much as I loved Rift I doubt I could go back to those slow static battles where the holy trinity is a must. Guild Wars 2 has given me much higher expectations in that regard.
 
Isengard said:
As much as I loved Rift I doubt I could go back to those slow static battles where the holy trinity is a must. Guild Wars 2 has given me much higher expectations in that regard.
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Well in a way it's true, but what did GW2 actually do with the Holy trinity? They just gave everyone self-heals , you know "everyone for themselves" abilities. Irony is, in Rift everyone can make the same hybrid builds if they want, everyone can change to their hybrid-tank-heal spec and play similarly. But yea, the dungeon designs are "traditional" (not always a bad thing, my experience with GW2 dungeons weren't exactly super great ).

The combat, yes, can't argue there. GW2 is alot more action and faster paced , less strategic though imho. Rift combat definitely slow in comparison.
 
SO is playing rift... GW2 just did what wow did when it came out, presented what was already present just in one package.
 
diabolus said:
Well in a way it's true, but what did GW2 actually do with the Holy trinity? They just gave everyone self-heals , you know "everyone for themselves" abilities. Irony is, in Rift everyone can make the same hybrid builds if they want, everyone can change to their hybrid-tank-heal spec and play similarly. But yea, the dungeon designs are "traditional" (not always a bad thing, my experience with GW2 dungeons weren't exactly super great ).

The combat, yes, can't argue there. GW2 is alot more action and faster paced , less strategic though imho. Rift combat definitely slow in comparison.
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The lack of holy trinity means that when our guild wants to do a dungeon we just go "hey, who's up for a dungeon" instead of having to wait for a tank or healer.

The fact that everyone is responsible for themselves (to a degree) is why for the first time in an MMORPG I actually enjoy doing dungeons instead of dreading them like I did with my Cleric in Rift.

GW2 is far from perfect I know, but it's given me exactly what I want from an MMO that the WoW (I mean everquerst) clones just aren't.
 
Still enjoying GW2 way too much, the cracks are starting to show through the fresh paint, but still enjoying it.
 
Shrike said:
Still enjoying GW2 way too much, the cracks are starting to show through the fresh paint, but still enjoying it.
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Yea, luckily there's no sub with GW2, so i don't have to squeeze everything out now. I'm basically picking the games where i expect alot of players starting fresh on the same level , so Rift it is for a bit. Too many games for me at the moment, i was eye'ing SWTOR F2P, but think i'll skip that, definitely playing Planetside 2 (launching next week) for my action fix though.

Oh Launch Trailer came out, showing some scenery. Must admit i'm still very impressed with the effects inside Rifts, how the entire area around you change and how it gets dark and all that, you stop noticing it after awhile, but coming back it definitely hits you.
 
So just a headsup with the Housing in Rift, now that i had a chance to play around with it. I'd say it's easily the most advanced "house builder" i've seen in an MMO yet.

It still derives from what i've seen in EQ2, you get an "instance" aka "dimension" which is basically like an open space with a view. You can pay more for bigger "dimensions" and obviously buy "dimensions" in different zones which implies different scenery. Unlike EQ2 which gave you a "house with rooms" in a city (which you only decorated on the inside) . In Rift you get a piece of land with a few structures (like trees and such) on it, but not an actual house, you need to build your house from scratch (assuming you want to build a house that is) . It's literally a tiny piece of an existing zone (like a hilltop) , so you actually feel like you are in that actual zone as you see all the sights you would've seen in that zone. I think the default instance is in Silverwood (Argent Glade, starter zone). They created a nice "illusion" effect, so that if you venture to the edge of your dimension you will start seeing the shimmer of a barrier (the limit of your little dimension) , so while you see the entire zone and the mountains, you can't go that far.

They have added a whole instance menu where you can easily travel to your dimensions (you can have multiple) or anyone else's. There is a "+1" system where if you travel to someone's instance and like it, you "+1" it. This creates a kind of "best instances of the week" and "best instances of all time" list. You can travel to anyone's dimension instantly if they opened it up to public (same as EQ2 you can open your dimension up to friends and/or public and set what they can do in it). There's also a "go to random dimension" feature if you're of that type to randomly travel to people's homes.

So the juicy bit. There's a vendor to buy dimension items from. This can range from tables,chairs and to more basic building blocks like wooden planks and stone bricks. Inside your dimension you go into "edit mode" and you start placing these things. You can then rotate, scale and x,y,z move them (i.e. you can put things in mid-air if that makes sense, i.e. like building a staircase)

Basically it becomes like a bit of Minecraft, without the ability to terraform the actual piece of land you are building on. I can already see how, with enough time you can build some serious stuff just with the basic building blocks (the wood and stone), i mean that is all you need in Minecraft too. For example, something simple, i took 3 flat bricks and scaled them to be huge, turning them into "stone floors" (so you don't actually need a 100 bricks to lay a foundation) , so my home's foundation was laid with 3 of these bricks. Building the walls, you can flip those same bricks (scaled again to a larger size) on their sides to form walls. The roof, same thing.

The editor knows you are placing stuff on top of each other too, so it does kinda snap to the surface you place it on, however you can still then move it to be above or below the surface.

I've already seen people building ships and stuff and doing all kinds of things with the basic building blocks, you don't need to use the round tables as tables either. Obviously there is a few more enhanced / interactive items too , like torches that lights up your place and so on.


So from there, you get Guild dimensions, which is pretty much the same thing , but with a few more security options. You can give your friends edit rights, so you don't have to do all this by yourself, can have other people build in your dimension (guild dimensions will most likely be a cooperative exercise).

This is definitely far more interesting than LOTRO with the fixed houses in a "neighbourhood instance". I'm not sure how far Trion can take this dimensions thing, it is still not truly in the "open world" , but i like how they did make it very social in terms of exploring other people's places, especially if you're looking for ideas.

I can see this being a huge money sink for some people, it certainly is not far from a little minecraft kinda of addiction if you are into building things , however it's still pretty much a side attraction to the game. There are already people building jumping puzzles (like from Guild Wars 2) and exposing their dimension as player content rather than a "house".

Since everyone always seems to ask for housing in MMOs, i'd say this is probably as good as housing gets in a Themepark MMO. I've seen Star Wars Galaxies housing which was great in the sense that it was out there in the open world, but Rift got them beat in terms of custom building, you can build anything you want in Rift , just need to be creative with your use of the items.
 
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Holy crap, that sounds amazing! When my GW2 addiction peters out, I will most definately consider playing this.
 
This gives a good idea what the Housing/Dimensions are about, just follow the screenshots. This person didn't actually build something with a roof, but nothing stops you. Check out the link for details, i'm only linking the start and finish of the one dimension.

http://rift-mmorpg.com/storm-legion/dimensions-sanguine-shores/

Sanguine-Shores-1.jpg

(Default Empty Dimension, you get it for free)

Sanguine-Shores-7.jpg

(After the player built something , yes the one room is in the air, one would probably put a few support beams below it to make it look "realistic", but of course you don't have to)

In the link the person also made a Laboratory of some sorts in another dimension, so the options are endless. I think Trion is definitely going for the "player created content" thing here, nothing stops anyone from turning their dimension into a puzzle, or a dungeon or a quest or adventure (granted Trion provides some of the tools needed to make those). Effectively this is a "level/map builder" , like those found in Morrowind or Counterstrike etc.
 
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Having played GW2 (and I'm sorry to say this comparison is probably going to be made a lot) - I found going back to traditional combat insanely frustrating. While this isn't as noticeable if you play melee classes - it's very noticeable if you play ranged/caster classes. I'm so used to moving while casting that I almost always interrupt myself.

I also don't get why people say there's less strategy involved in GW2 dungeons. In my experience thus far - especially with an elementalist - swapping your weapon set before a fight can make a huge difference. If our group wipes a fight I know a lot of people in the group switch out weapons and skills and it can suddenly turn into a cakewalk. If anything, there's more strategy involved than any other MMO I've played so far.

As for housing - I've only experienced player housing in Aion - and I can't see it as anything more than a gimmick - you play around with it for a couple of hours, get creative ... and then the novelty wears off. Yes - it's nice that they give you all the additional options and customisations, but in the end nobody goes home, logs into their MMO of choice, to be able to go home again.

Guildhalls/Starbases/Legion-fortresses ... those I get. Single player housing ... not so much.
 
shadowfox said:
Having played GW2 (and I'm sorry to say this comparison is probably going to be made a lot) - I found going back to traditional combat insanely frustrating. While this isn't as noticeable if you play melee classes - it's very noticeable if you play ranged/caster classes. I'm so used to moving while casting that I almost always interrupt myself.

I also don't get why people say there's less strategy involved in GW2 dungeons. In my experience thus far - especially with an elementalist - swapping your weapon set before a fight can make a huge difference. If our group wipes a fight I know a lot of people in the group switch out weapons and skills and it can suddenly turn into a cakewalk. If anything, there's more strategy involved than any other MMO I've played so far.

As for housing - I've only experienced player housing in Aion - and I can't see it as anything more than a gimmick - you play around with it for a couple of hours, get creative ... and then the novelty wears off. Yes - it's nice that they give you all the additional options and customisations, but in the end nobody goes home, logs into their MMO of choice, to be able to go home again.

Guildhalls/Starbases/Legion-fortresses ... those I get. Single player housing ... not so much.
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Yes, the traditional casting nuisances are there, however i must say the new souls that were added is definitely closing that gap. The Tactician (Rogue soul) for example works identical to the GW2 Engineer . They get this flame-thrower mechanic which is a "channel" cast and you can move around while casting it. In fact you -have- to move around because it's directional too . Now i called this "flame-thrower mechanic" because you get multiple types of "flame throwers" including one that HEAL. Again, it implies you run around and heal players in a cone in front of you , very nice and fluid. Either way, it feels alot like GW2 in that regard.

So i won't deny, playing a classic mage in rift does feel frustrating, hence i don't play one (although their melee soul might make me rethink trying one).

As for the housing, yes it's always a gimmick. I do think you can do alot more with the housing in Rift, quite a few jumping puzzles and mazes has been created. The ability to vote on dimensions also makes it easy to explore and find other players' creations, i usually check out the top 10 and see what it is about.
 
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