Why Rift may be the game for you.

[Meko]

Everquest had something similar to that. Raising rep with certain areas would prevent you from going into other zones/cities etc (by prevent I mean the guards would attack you). Also, DaoC did a good job with 3 factions as I think it sort of balanced out pvp a little. (granted DaoC was really designed around pvp/rvr)

As for RIFT goes: I've put about 6ish hours in so far and I'm really digging it. They did just enough to make the game interesting and exciting versus WoW or any of the previous MMO's over the past 4-5 years (in my opinion). The rifts spawning and the mobs invading is really neat. It is a little aggravating at times when you are in a low population area and there are 20 mobs invading and you have nobody to help. There are 3 of us grouping and while we can get the first few stages down, getting through the timed stages in low pop. areas is nearly impossible so we lose out a little but they are still fun. Another thing I really like about the game is the combat. It's very Warhammer/EQ2 like in that you get to constantly attack and use skills/abilities while auto-attacking but you don't 1-3 shot mobs. I enjoy that and I think it makes pvp a lot more fun. I'm only level 15 so far and I haven't made it to any major cities and I've yet to do a dungeon but so far, I'm really digging the game. I spent a little time crafting and some of the little changes from WoW and such are cool like being able to dye your gear or add bonus stats to them upon creation etc.

Side note: Being able to "rogue/blink (more like evade but I'm relating it to ninjas from FFXI)" tank is pretty damn sweet imo. I'm probably going to end up leveling a cleric as I love to heal but I also really fell in love with being a rogue tank.

[Guyverarmor]

If I remember in EQ correctly, my Druid was completely barred from entering Butcherblock mountains because I decreased my rep. with that area soooooo damn bad

[Kurokikaze]

Are there free trials for the game that I can download? I saw some videos of gameplay and I must say that I am very very impressed.

If not I'll just buy the game, not really an issue.

[Falisa]

Currently you have to buy the game to play it. No free trials yet.

[Positive]

I don't really know where else to ask, so I guess I'll put this here:
I'm interested in start Rift, however I know nearly no one that actually plays. How easy is it to find guilds (leveling at the beginning of course, but I'd like to raid at end-game)? Are there a large number of guilds with decent amounts of success in raiding or does every server only have one or two groups that are doing well? I might be jumping the gun looking into the raiding scene before I've even begun to play, but I've been in very successful (Pre-Cataclysm) raiding groups in WoW and am averse to picking a server to find it's only populated by guilds that are overly-casual and getting very little done.

Edit: I understand that the game hasn't been out for long and that results as far as raiding may not be typical, I'm just looking for an overview from someone who's actually playing now and has an idea of the situation.

[Meko]

It's hard to say really. I've shouted in trade/general chat bust mostly I just receive snide remarks. The community reminds me a lot of WoW's where there are a lot of knuckleheads looking to make jokes rather than to shut up and move on. My wife and I found a guild on our server but they rarely talk or respond in guild chat and there are about 40-50 members in total. So sad that these modern MMO's seem to lack guild flow.

[Katlan]

My wife and I found a guild on our server but they rarely talk or respond in guild chat and there are about 40-50 members in total. So sad that these modern MMO's seem to lack guild flow.

Or you could have waited for my guild to grow a bit lol. I was being honest when I said it was just created, but you both bailed like the next morning (when it was created the night you joined) before we had a chance to even start promoting it. W/in a week we are now 20+ members strong and active in vent and guild chat lol

[Meko]

Well the guy who was leading said he wasn't sure when you would be on. That's why we decided to join another. However, I've spent the past half hour getting ganked by 2 level 50's inside the town in Gloamwood so I might be switching to a pve server anyway. The guards/npcs are just standing around. It's pitiful lol.

[Katlan]

Well the guy who was leading said he wasn't sure when you would be on. That's why we decided to join another. However, I've spent the past half hour getting ganked by 2 level 50's inside the town in Gloamwood so I might be switching to a pve server anyway. The guards/npcs are just standing around. It's pitiful lol.

my friends are saying its not that bad, aside the random ass's.

[Eaglestrike]

Well the guy who was leading said he wasn't sure when you would be on. That's why we decided to join another. However, I've spent the past half hour getting ganked by 2 level 50's inside the town in Gloamwood so I might be switching to a pve server anyway. The guards/npcs are just standing around. It's pitiful lol.

Alsbeth is a PvE server.