As was noted by people all over the blog and twitter realms yesterday, the NDA for the first two betas dropped and the third beta was announced. I was lucky enough to find myself with a VIP code thanks to a link from Scopique. A lot of people immediately started naming games that Rift “feels like” in terms of game play, and for me that was no different. It feels a LOT like WAR. Everything from the mouse over loot icon, to the slow-ish (although incredibly beautiful and detailed) paced combat. The UI also reminds me of WAR because you can customize and move every single individual piece with one click of the layout button. Something I always wished other games like WoW would do without the need for an AddOn.
The characters even remind me of WAR but a lot more detailed and a lot more customization options. I mentioned numerous times that it was like they had removed the things I didn’t like about WAR and made them better. When I played (WAR) the only thing I didn’t like was lack of things to do aside from PvP and crafting. The Rifts themselves remind me of Public Quests, which I thought were brilliant. The first 15 levels or so I found quite boring and I dare say that my hand was not just held but I was carried from quest hub to quest hub. Thankfully the addition of souls which is basically an incredibly in depth character class customization kept me interested so I could struggle through those boring bits. I absolutely loved being able to pick skills from various branches of classes to be able to tailor my character my way. I started out the road of the Sentinel which is a pure healer. I added the druid soul, which appears to be an incredibly popular choice. I had so much fun playing my one character that I didn’t even experiment with any other builds (for now). That, and I don’t want to spoil everything before release after all.
The graphics are amazing, and even with the servers being pummeled by players I had no lag. I’m excited about this game coming out. I know very little about the lore and I want to start reading up on it. If you want to read what everyone else is saying about the game Tipa has compiled a nice little collection of related posts. The game doesn’t really offer anything brand new and earth shattering, but to be honest that’s not what I’m looking for. Each game has a few unique qualities that I really enjoy and I expect Rift will be no different once it goes live. The third beta begins on the 28th of December, and runs until the 31st.
Whether or not I stick with the game I haven’t decided. That’s impossible to tell while a game is going through beta. I will play it for at least the first month though, I tend to with pretty much every single MMO that releases and then I’ll make a decision as to whether or not it’s “worth it” from there.
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
Stopped by to see if you are playing RIFT, apparently you are. I am in Alpha, so look me up if you are there, Jokael of course. Defiant though.
And I understand your frustration with EQ2, the game lost me with their horrible expansions and their micro-transactions also.
Assuming that I understand the endgame correctly, you will have a half dozen souls or so and can have four builds that you can swap out. Also, I believe you can drop a soul and pick a new one for a fee (in-game money). To my mind this means that I could have one warrior, one rogue, etc. This is very appealing to me and my alt problem. Also, as there is only one starting area for each faction, I won’t have to go through it 50 times trying out different combinations.
@Olphas – I love the armor looks. It’s great to feel that my character can be covered up and STILL appeal to me and not be horrendously ugly. Finally a game company that understands that to look good adventuring the female avatars don’t have to always wear the barely-there bikini.
@Pkudude99 – it is a very fun spec! Actually, I think they all are. Teehee.
I’m looking forward to this game. I signed up for the beta, but haven’t been invited to the 1st 2. Haven’t checked my email to see about the 3rd yet.
Is it weird that when I read the class descriptions I thought that a Justicar/Druid/Sentinel build sounded like the most fun?
I really like the look of the characters in this game. Especially the level of detail on the armor. AND, very rare these days, it’s believable armor! Not some colorful heap of metal, that would make it impossible to walk through a door or even stand in real life.
Dang thats a sweet screenshot. Nice coverage here and at West Karana.
Your character looks cool!
Weird that we more or less ended up with the same build. I bet it’s a common healer build. The Justicar, a melee healer, looks similar to a class in Vanguard and what my EQ cleric eventually turned into once she got her Tier 2 DoDH heal hammer. RoF, though, included a couple of WoW-like boss battles where you had to keep moving, and I think healing, meleeing and keeping “out of the fire” would be too much.