Lets talk about RIFT-- not the Oculus kind!

On 07/11/2014 at 09:14 PM by asrealasitgets

MMO Summer Report: Part 2 - RIFT

RIFT
Free-to-Play

Last week SWTOR had a double XP "week", that's "week" and not "weekend" which is a pretty big deal for an MMO. Of course, the devs are putting out a housing patch soon, so they wanted to get people back into the game to remind them of it I guess.

But that's not what this blog is about. This is about RIFT, that other free-to-play MMO that hardly anybody ever talks about. Why? I don't know? In short, it's great! It's pretty soloable so far and there is plenty of customization to be had. I've spent about a week in this game, and I think I will keep revisiting and adding this game to my weekly rotation. I would even move it up to my top 3 MMOs.

One of the issues that comes up with MMOs is the lack of raid content. It's usually vetaran or elite MMO players that make the most noise about this issue. RIFT is basically a constant raid. The whole game is built around this. You don't have to enter a dungeon or join a large guild to join group content, it automatically happens around you most of the time. You can opt to jump into random raids through a menu, or typically you will find other players around to join in. I'm not sure how the rest of the year or higher level areas of the game compare to the beginner area population, because MMO population tends to drop off after summer or after new content has been worked through.

RIFT has new conent coming soon, so naturally players return to level up or start alternate characters to prepare for new patches. Thus, the servers are pretty busy with players right now. I don't know if this is a sudden phenomenon or if the game always has this many players, considering how many other MMOs are out there competing for your time, and this one barely ever gets mentioned.

The game still looks great and plays pretty smoothly. There are four main classes: Mage, Knight, Ranger, Cleric with multiple roles to unlock for each. Crafting is pretty straight forward if you like that, and housing is pretty fun too.

Verdict: A really great game that more people should be playing.

The good: Constant world events and persistant raids always gives you something to do.

The bad: Not as popular as other games, but it should be?

Matt Snee Staff Writer

07/11/2014 at 09:50 PM

hey man, I haven't blogged about it yet but I got my new computer. I'm actually downloading Secret World now, hope to get back into it. I was playing a little FFXIV last night too. Getting back into MMOS!!

asrealasitgets

07/11/2014 at 10:19 PM

I'm all about MMOs right now, so if you want to coop anytime, just holla! The Secret World is really tuff to solo. You will spend a lot of time in the opening area, "Kingsmouth", so might as well join up. I highly recommend RIFT and SWTOR, both also free.

07/12/2014 at 04:14 AM

I got sick of the combat in SWTOR. I liked that game for a while, but the story wasn't good enough for me eventually.

I would love to play some Secret World with you sometime. IF it ever gets done downloading....

07/12/2014 at 04:32 AM

The game is a monster to download. I think it was like 40GB. Part of the reason why I stuck with it was because it took so long to install, and I didn't want to DL it again. The game looks really good though. Almost like a high-end console game if your machine can handle it.

Any how, my info for TSW:
Server: Cerberus
Group: Templar
Name: olliolli

I'll be playing.

xDarthKiLLx

07/11/2014 at 10:25 PM

it looks good...but if I may point out one thing...the UI in that second photo looks downright intimidating.....lots of stuff going on, on that screen.

07/11/2014 at 10:40 PM

You get used to the stuff on the screen. You're really only concerned with your attack bar at the bottom and the enemies health bar really.

That second screen shows a party fighting a boss, so the group health bars (in green) are displayed on the left-side middle. On the right bottom corner the player has his inventory open, which is typically closed.

My screen looks more or less like the first screenshot, but I've also customized the UI to make everything smaller and pushed off to the side. You unlock more action bars as you progress throught the game, but mainly have two main bars at first.

Do you play MMOs?

07/11/2014 at 11:11 PM

I have in the past, though my experience is really limited to a couple: Star Wars Galaxies, Lord Of The Rings Online, and DC Universe Online. I spent an entire month on DCUO...the first month it came out. At that time though the endgame content was utter shit, so I gave it up.

Nicoleb1989

07/13/2014 at 04:38 PM

Rift ive wanted to play but I heard when it first launched the amount of shit going on at one given time was ridiclous. A friend of mine played it and said there was soo much going on at one time that they couldnt keep up good so they quit playing and that kind of made me stay distant to it. If thats improved then i def would be up to play it.

Right now Im redownloading Tera, Ive been craving a play of it so Im gonna jump back on it for a time.

07/13/2014 at 07:43 PM

I'm not aware of any drama? As for stuff going on all the time, I think that is the draw of the game. Many MMOs are usually empty. Guild Wars 2 comes to mind. That game has a very action oriented and hectic combat, but I rarely see many other people playing. With RIFT, the world is always being interrupted with enemy combat, so there is always something to do, it is optional though, you don't have to participate. Does this make sense? I fell most MMOs fell empty, while RIFT is always busy and that is it's strength. I can't see how it is a negative, unless you want a quiter MMO.

I haven't played Tera. I should try it out some time but, so many MMOs.

07/14/2014 at 01:13 AM

Oh no not drama,lol I just ment over all with gameplay and how the game functioned. I typically like it when there is a medium between stuff on MMOs so thats why i got turned off when I heard about it. I might give it a shot though here soon and see if its my cup of tea or not.

Tera is in my opinion a great MMO from what Ive played, when I first played it i instantly stuck with it. I love the combat system especially in it.

07/14/2014 at 02:05 AM

Maybe I'll make room for it, after I progress througn my current roster of MMOs. Does Tera have housing by any chance? I actually think RIFT is pretty great and I'll keep revisiting off an on in the future.

07/14/2014 at 02:09 AM

I dont know if its been added just yet, I know there was talk of it being added but Im not sure excatly of when.

PixlBit