Rift: Planes of Telara

[Alderaan]

Not once have i glanced at my exp bar.

I was constantly busy either doing quests in villages and castles under siege or being caught off guard with Rifts opening up. My only issue right now is there are obviously way too many people crammed into one zone, and i say zone even though there are no loading screens between them but the rest of the map is closed off for now. Once the entire map becomes available i can only see Rifts becoming even more fun.

The atmosphere of this game is amazing and the world feels so alive.

[Gwynplaine]

Does this game have an interesting story beyond the standard wow-type box of lore text you don't even need to read to finish quests?

[Meko]

So far, I've only clicked on the quest giver and then ran to the designated spot on the map. I've got 4 80s in WoW and 3 70+ so maybe I'm jaded by quests but I just click and run to the spot to killinate faster and go back to get EXP and gold. For me, full blown questing as a means of EXP will be just that. It's mind numbing at times and doesn't always have a story. Sure, some of the quests are interactive with NPCs and a few cutscenes but overall, questing as a primary means of EXP will be just that - full of go kill 10 X's and come back for reward. The idea of the rifts is cool but it's just like public quests in Warhammer with a little more action/invasion. The game is solid but it's nothing new. I don't know that I'll be playing it unless the December patch for FF14 is boring and worthless. Although, in Rift you can jump and swim which always adds a little more immersion in the world.

[Alderaan]

Although, in Rift you can jump and swim which always adds a little more immersion in the world.

Not to mention underwater quests!

So far today it's been non stop Rifts and invasion all over the map. I hit 20 last night, which is the cap right now, and have been doing nothing but fighting off hoards of mobs and trying to close Rifts. Bought my first mount and played with mixing and matching Ranger/Marksman/Assassin souls.

Clerics are ridiculously OP at this level. The one i've been doing rifts with is tanking 10 mobs at once with ease while i can maybe handle 2 before my HP drops below 20%. He's also always at the top of the contribution points when rifts close. We dueled a few times and he utterly destroyed me while his HP barely went down. he laughed and remarked that he could have taken on 3 of me at once. I'm sure this will be balanced later down the line when more skills open up.

We also ran the Iron Tomb instance and died a ridiculous amount of times before we finally beat it. Some of the elite mobs were 2 shotting us so i'm sure it still needs to be tweaked a bit.

[Woozer]

Does this game have an interesting story beyond the standard wow-type box of lore text you don't even need to read to finish quests?

I may be the only one here but throughout the tutorial area there is a little holographic guy that pops up and tells you about stuff. And random NPCs have information about specific events and areas as well. I have read all of it that I have encountered. That's actually one of my favorite parts so far; they have produced a convincing and interesting lore on which to build the game. The quests don't really reflect this that well, at least not yet. And that's kind of sad. It's got a case of the "Kill 10 rats" which as a game touting itself to be a "Fully Polished Next Gen MMO with Dynamic Content" I would hope for something better than this, but other than that the world is pretty immersive. I just think they need to setup the quests to make people care a bit more about the lore. This is by no means me saying the game is bad. So far, I'm having an oddly high amount of fun. I do see rerolls and others as being very boring later since each race/class starts off in the same area, and follows the same progression.

[Alderaan]

Leakerz has some beta vids up.

Rift


Questing - This is the starting area, which was beyond crowded the first night.

[Insanecyclone]

Want a vip key dammit. Not really interested in 1-20 on guardian's side but would love to be in phase 3 for pvp.

[Hyan]

Someone explain the Rifts to me- what possible objectives are there? I mean, is it like... random # of mobs pop out in a random place + boss? And.. you can go "into" the rifts which is its own area or something?

Is there any special objectives other than killing the mobs? Like, Idk, nyzul lamps or "kill specific mobs" or that kinda shit? The mob type is probably random, is there a noticeable difference between them?

[Alderaan]

Your main objective is too close the Rifts by defeating all of the mobs that they spawn. Rifts spawn randomly across the zone but you can see where by opening your map. Each Rift seems to spawn mobs in stages up to 5 i believe. Right now they're fairly easy and zergy since everyone is crammed into one zone but when i happen to come up across one solo on my scout i have to be careful not to pull more than 2 mobs. Your loot, which so far has been crafting material, artifacts for quests, and items you can turn if for badges for gear, is decided by your contribution points at the certain Rift.

If the Rifts aren't closed then the mobs start invading quest hubs and towns. You can also see these packs of mobs moving across your map to intercept them. We had one group outside the gates of Meridian, which is the capital of the Defiant. I can see Rifts becoming more hectic once players are spread across the entire map though.

[Gokulo]

The devs can also alter the spawn rate of Rifts at any time in case the zone is empty or overcrowded.

[Alderaan]

The devs can also alter the spawn rate of Rifts at any time in case that the zone is empty or overcrowded.

Yeppers! Which they did the first night to keep everyone busy.

[Meko]

Rifts are nearly the same thing as "Public Quests" in Warhammer with a little more invasion added to them. Basically the rift opens and then anybody can attack the mobs that spawn then once the stages are complete, bosses spawn and if you win, the rift is sealed. You also get loot and such based on the amount of interaction you had during the rift.

[Hyan]

I hope they keep expanding on that concept. There's a lot of potential to be had there, right now it sounds a bit one-dimensional. That's to be expected though.

Is it optional? I mean, you can just quest grind your way to the top if you want to? What are the incentives?

[Meko]

I don't know that rifts will be the PRIMARY focus other than a break from quest grinding. People hit the level cap very quickly in this beta but it could be because they wanted us to. I got to level 12 or 13 in a matter of 3-4 hours. I just find myself taking quests and completing them as fast as possible. If the rifts spawn close, I'll deal with them but if not, I keep on questing. That's more my style as my most recent MMO playing has been in WoW so I'm used to just grabbing the quests and moving on. What do you mean by incentives? What incentives does sealing the rifts bring?

[Hyan]

Well since the game is named after this feature I was thinking it would be the primary focus. Then, I was wondering what the incentives are to participate in the Rift encounters as opposed to quest grinding. It may be fun at first, but people need proper incentives to do it, no? Or is it more like an endgame thing, an alternative to normal raids and instances?

[Meko]

At the early levels, aside from some very low level items/drops, there really isn't an incentive aside from preventing the NPCs from taking over quest hubs. It does give a little bit of exp, currency and loot so it's not all bad but early on, it doesn't really have a driving incentive. I never played Warhammer post level 10 so I don't know how they handled public quests higher up but in general, I think the game is pretty much like WoW or WAR where you have dungeons/instances and normal quest grinding. Without phasing in the game, I'm not sure the rifts will be too much more than just a little side jog of immersion.

[Gokulo]

Well getting the currency to buy tokens might be an incentive to do them more in general, right now in the beta there's just not much you can buy with it. Plus if you leave them alone they might take over questing hubs and that would suck :D

[Hyan]

Hmmh.. if they ever flesh the system out more, I think I'll give the game a go. But right now it doesn't sound important enough... and I've already played my share of wow & friends.

More objectives would be epic. Some puzzles or shit like that.

[Meko]

Yea I'm in the same boat. I'm holding out for this patch for FF. If it isn't what it should be or what I'm hoping it to be, I may just wait and see what 2011 brings and what Guild Wars 2 looks like. I'm itching to play a new MMO that captures me but so far, nothing really has. For FF, I feel like the game may never be what it could have or should have been. For RIFT, I think it'll share the same base that WoW shares so I don't know that it'll be anything different than a new WoW-esque game although the PvP could change that perception.

[Hyan]

It's going to be hilarious if none of them 2011 mmo's pick up.

I'd see this game has the best chance to do so, but never have a playerbase in the millions. Reasonable enough.