I've seen ads about RIFT for a while now, but have always chalked it up as an AION clone or one of those cheap free-to-play (f2p) MMORPGs. But a few weeks ago, my curiousity was piqued enough to sign up for the beta. I was quite surprised, when I got a beta invite, that the beta event I was invited to was only 3 days long...and on weekdays. I had to look the email over a few times to be sure I read it right.
I suppose they were running server load tests for different times and days to monitor peak use or something like that, but it certainly did limit how much time I had for the game. Still, I was able to get a few hours of game time to have a really good look at some of what the game had to offer. UPDATE: They extended the beta for one more day, giving extra time for more testing.
Getting some stuff out of the way
First off, just to put everything in context, I am an avid World of Warcraft player. I raid at least 3 nights a week and spend a good amount of time in the game. WoW is still fun for me and there is a lot to keep me entertained while online. I am not looking for a replacement for WoW nor am I trying to "go against the flow" by choosing a new, lesser known game, nor am I trying to find that "wow-killer" game. I went into RIFT out of plain curiousity and with an open mind. Is RIFT really a good game or will I just be wasting my time?
RIFT is like WoW - and that's not meant to be a bad thing. There is no need to be completely revolutionary to be successful. To say that RIFT is like WoW is like saying a Honda sedan is like a Toyota. Sure, there are differences, but also many similarities. In the end, the game has to stand on it's own merits and drawing on already established aspects of popular MMORPGs only helps that. Debates of RIFT vs. WoW are ultimately pointless so I will avoid comparisons unless necessary.
Starting the Game and Game Performance
The first thing I noticed was that the loading times was really long. The RIFT logo screen was up for about half a minute after the intro cinematics. Speaking of which, I don't really like the main cinematic of the game which consists of stills, a voice over, and a LOT of on-screen text. The last part is what made me cringe. It's a pity that it totally distracts from the images, which are quite well done.
The game is also very graphics intensive. I run an i5 with 6GB RAM and a GT 220 video card. Not top of the line by any means, but no slouch either. I can barely get 9 fps on ultra graphics mode. Even on medium setting, I still can't get past 20 fps. I settled for the low settings, plus a few customizations to play at a smooth 45 fps. The game still looks very good on low graphics settings so I was more than happy to continue with that setup.
Factions/Races
With two factions and 3 races each, there aren't too many choices in this regard. They both have some kind of human and elf on their sides. The Guardians have dwarves while the Defilers have giants called Bahmi. Naturally, each class have their own racial abilities so those can also influence your decision on what to play.
The factions, to me, seem rather arbitrary really, with the conflict between them fueled only by fanatacism (Guardians are religious fanatics while Defilers swear by their machines). So far in my gaming, I haven't seen any reason why they simply cannot work together especially given how bad and powerful the common enemy is - no one is willing to see the middle ground. But hey, factions are required for PvP to happen so fantatic hatred it is.
The Class/Soul System
One of the biggest selling points in the RIFT ads was how much you can customize your character based on how you want to play. You get a choice of 4 base classes and each one allows you to pick 3 out of 7 'souls'. These souls provide abilities based on how many points are spent in them. The base mechanics of the class tends to be the same, but the souls give plenty of depth to augment the class itself.
All points spent on souls can be refunded for free by the class trainer and redestributed. Points cannot be all spent on one soul however, and you will be forced to put points in a secondary soul. Naturally, secondary souls have lower limits on points that can be spent on it compared to the primary.
Unfortunately, I had only enough time to play 2 characters. The first one was to get the feel of the game in general and the second was to actually try to level. I had a thing for tanks so my first character was a warrior with paladin(primary)/warlord/void knight souls. I followed that up with at justicar/shaman/druid cleric which I enjoyed playing.
As good as the customization is, I can see there being some limits to it. Not all souls have synergy with each other and there are only so many points to actually spend. Chances are, there will be optimum soul/talent combinations for various situations near the end game, which will put some limits on customization.
New roles can also be learned and it gives another set of 3 souls to set up. Having multiple roles are rather nice as it is like being able to switch to another class without creating a new character. My cleric tank has a secondary role of a DPS with good damage over time and area of effect spells.
Learning those other souls required quests where you close a rift and defeat the summoned spirit from the quest item you loot. Unfortunately, at the time of the beta, souls can only be learned one at a time. This makes trying to learn all souls for your selected class quite tedious. Then again, time sinks are what makes MMORPGs function so it is likely intended.
And since I mentioned rifts....
Rift Events
Another selling point of the game are the rift events. Various rifts open up periodically around the world. These rifts spawn monsters that need to be killed to get to the next stage in closing that rift. The rift closes when the boss of that rift is defeated. There are also invasion events where towns and cities get attacked.
Defeating invasion groups and rifts give various rewards that are used as currency for purchasable items. Because of this, rifts and invasions become part of the grind for better gear and, after some time, it really feels like a grind. It's one thing to go and fight an invasion or rift nearby; and another thing completely when trying to hunt for them.
While I still had some fun fighting these rifts, there is just little variety in them. The only thing that changes are the kinds of monsters that spawn out of the rift. It already started getting old and tedious after 8 hours of playtime, so I can't imagine how it will be later in the game. I suppose Trion will balance the rifts. Too few, and there will be quests that cannot be completed in a decent amount of time, while too many will make the rifts old news very quickly.
So What Do I Think?
While it feels like a quality product, there is still much that is still missing. I only managed to hit level 21, mostly due to spending my time exploring, but the level cap of the last beta was 30 out of the 50 in live. End game class balance and content are still things that haven't yet been addressed and the release date is almost a month away.
The fact that I lost track of time while playing says a lot - it is that engaging. But being great entertainment for a few days does not mean it will be entertaining months down the road; and that is what any MMORPG needs to focus on. In this respect, I cannot even begin to guess how good RIFT will be in the long run - there just isn't enough information.
I have to say it again, my first impression is that RIFT is a good game. It just isn't a "must have" game for me. I will be in the "wait and see" mode and, while I may not play RIFT at all, I do hope that it becomes successful.
