Rift

[Arclight]

And I really just don't make the kinds of relatively lasting friendships in MMOs that I did a few years ago in CoX and LOTRO. And I miss that. I don't know if games have become too scattered, or MMOs attract different people than they did a few years ago, or I'm just an old out of touch fart.

I've had the same problem in MMOs lately. In WoW in 2005-2008 or so, I was a member of a good guild where we knew each other well in-game and in the guild forums. I was also in a good guild in EQ2 in 2008. The past few years, however, the guilds I've been part of in LOTRO and Rift have seemed incredibly shallow or elitist. But perhaps it's just because I became more casual. I used to be part of raiding and dungeons, but around 2009 I decided I never wanted to bother with raiding again. I did some dungeons in LOTRO but in Rift I didn't bother (leveling was fast).

I usually don't guild hop much in the MMOs I play (I know how bad it makes you look) but in LOTRO, the shallow kinships bothered me so much that I tried out more than half a dozen anyway, hoping that eventually I would find a good kinship with interesting discussions going on. Almost all of them had kinship chat going through molasses. Sometimes I did try typing some interesting sentences to stir up things, but unfortunately I'm not immune to constant ignoring and the dreadful feeling of talking to myself.  Eventually I just gave up and minded my own business.

Perhaps I'm getting old too.

Must be contagious.....That's my experience pretty much as well.
I know I'm old, but my kids think my conversations are relevant and cool...so who knows.

[Teggy]

$20 for the standard version now, including 30 days.

Trion trolled us big time with the latest patch notes, saying epics would be more likely to drop in experts. Same horrible drop rates. It's a horrible grind to get a full T2 set.

[faide]

Looks like Rift is free for returning subscribers from the 13th through the 19th. 

http://www.riftgame.com/en/products/return-to-telara/

[Teggy]

Thought this was kind of funny - apparently Molinar has a higher population than Sunrest now.

http://www.riftstatus.net/graph/Sunrest/history/1d#!/graph/Molinar/history/7d

[Teggy]

Free game + five days to anyone interested:

This code will grant a free copy of RIFT and five days of complimentary game time. Join your friend with the Ascend-a-Friend program and then visit RIFTgame.com/start for instructions on redeeming your free game. Don’t wait—your code must be redeemed by July 31, 2011!


Free RIFT Code
Y6EJ-FFZ6-2NTP-XMDK-MT32

[naednek]

Yes, I'm still playing...

I finally hit lvl 50 last night.  This marks the first time I reached maximum level on any MMO, and I've been playing since the EQ days.  Now I'm not sure what I want to do. I plan on cancelling in October when it runs out, but do I keep playing my 50 character, or play my lvl 37 (not sure what she is, maybe rogue) and try to get her maxed out.  Unfortunately each character is on different sides, so I won't be in my current guild.

[Roguetad]

What is there to do at 50?  My guy is lvl 45, and I still see a lot of lvl 50s running around questing and fighting the larger zone quests.  There must be something there for them...maybe faction grinds? 

I started running out of quests (that weren't 4 levels higher) at level 43 until I followed an old quest lead to the droughtlands and just explored the zone.   

[Teggy]

At 50 you'll primarily do T1 instances followed by T2 instances, followed by raids if you can/want.
You can rank up in PVP for gear, if that's your thing.
There are definitely faction grinds, some more worthwhile than others.

[Roguetad]

I'm working on the faction stuff for the Order of Mathos (sp?) so I can buy one of their cool looking mounts.  I still have a ways to go to reach decorated though. 

Leveling up a rogue has been fun.  If I get bored with the close combat melee thing, I can switch to ranger/marksman, or ranger/bard for support.  Even within the melee rogue souls there is a lot of variety.  It never gets boring.  I tried an assassin/ranger mix this weekened that surprisingly worked really well for solo questing.  I was able to take full advantage of all of the positional bonuses and backstab while my boar kept their attention.  And then I could switch to using ranger skills supporting the zone wide fights.  Worked pretty well.  Lots of versatility.  I've even functioned as a makeshift healer during a few zone battles playing a ranger/bard, keeping most of the group healed up and buffed.

 

[naednek]

What is there to do at 50?  My guy is lvl 45, and I still see a lot of lvl 50s running around questing and fighting the larger zone quests.  There must be something there for them...maybe faction grinds? 

I started running out of quests (that weren't 4 levels higher) at level 43 until I followed an old quest lead to the droughtlands and just explored the zone.   

I know there's game after 50, but I have no clue what to do.  I've never been big on raids.  I tend to play at about 1 hour a session, so anything long term I usually miss out on.

[ericb]

Anyone still active and playing on a decent (actually populated) PvE or RP-PvE server?  I've started back again and really like the changes but my server appears a little dead during the week.  I love some of the recent changes (the LFG tool, ability to transfer your rift shards to other characters if you out level them, cross shard warfronts, etc) but approaching 50 on my warrior it's looking bleak.  My guild has one other person logged in during the past week and it's got 100+ unique members.  Would love to transfer to a more active shard (Guardian) and more active guild.

[Teggy]

The planar attunement and solo instances that are coming out look pretty cool, but I have less than 2 weeks left on my sub so I don't think I'll reinstall.

[Blackadar]

The planar attunement and solo instances that are coming out look pretty cool, but I have less than 2 weeks left on my sub so I don't think I'll reinstall.

Hell, I hadn't heard about solo instances.  That might just be enough to get me to re-sub.

[Blackjack]

The planar attunement and solo instances that are coming out look pretty cool, but I have less than 2 weeks left on my sub so I don't think I'll reinstall.

Hell, I hadn't heard about solo instances.  That might just be enough to get me to re-sub.

I got an e-mail about it today (new solo and duo instances -- or you can tackle the duo types solo if you're tough/brave -- instances for L50), but I don't recall if I had anyone remotely close to L50.

[Blackjack]

The planar attunement and solo instances that are coming out look pretty cool, but I have less than 2 weeks left on my sub so I don't think I'll reinstall.

Hell, I hadn't heard about solo instances.  That might just be enough to get me to re-sub.

Here's the Chronicles (solo/duo instances) page:
http://www.riftgame.com/en/world/dungeons/chronicles.php

[Teggy]

Ok, when I get settled I may resub to play those.  It's very cool that they've made a way for people who can't commit to raiding (or want to deal with the drama) to experience the endgame content.

[Sparhawk]

Ok, when I get settled I may resub to play those.  It's very cool that they've made a way for people who can't commit to raiding (or want to deal with the drama) to experience the endgame content.

Well.. I wouldn't call it experiencing end game content.  Truth is I found the Chronicles to be something of a let down and they are short and not very "epic."

[ericb]

Ok, when I get settled I may resub to play those.  It's very cool that they've made a way for people who can't commit to raiding (or want to deal with the drama) to experience the endgame content.

Well.. I wouldn't call it experiencing end game content.  Truth is I found the Chronicles to be something of a let down and they are short and not very "epic."

True...these are supposed to be intro dungeons to help a new 50 get gear to run dungeons and introduce content more than anything else.  They are adding more in later patches though and they are adding the new difficulty level (with higher gear) to the older dungeons eventually (think it's only two of them now).  The game itself is much better than when I left it a couple months ago and fun but the population is down an unbelievable amount.  The bad thing is I don't see it getting any better with SWTOR, GW2, Secret World and even Diablo 3 all on the horizon.

[Blackjack]

I lost interest because the meat-and-potatoes questing was very rote, aside from some interesting things lower-to-mid level. Others would say "Oh, they put them all in hub areas so at least they're convenient" but the excitement of planar invasion events could only make up for the lack of inspiration in questing/storytelling for me for so long. I don't blame anyone for that -- nobody promised me interesting basic questing, so I knew once the shiny aspect of invasion events faded away, I wouldn't be sticking around.

I thought the Chronicles sounded promising on paper, but we all know press releases make everything sound totally awesome.  

I found Rift to be full of amazing parts, pieces and features, and yet the sum wasn't something that was going to retain me for more than a few months.

If they should find themselves heading in the F2P direction like so much of the industry, I could see myself checking it out again then.

[El-Producto]

Man, I wish I had grabbed this when it was 7 bucks on Steam a while back.

I'm a casual MMO'er, but this sounds like fun to solo.

[Blackjack]

Man, I wish I had grabbed this when it was 7 bucks on Steam a while back.

I'm a casual MMO'er, but this sounds like fun to solo.

This weekend (Oct. 13-17) it's free to play, whether you're returning to it or never played:
http://www.riftgame.com/en/products/return-to-telara/index.php?utm_campaign=return_to_telara

RIFT™ 1.5: Ashes of History is now live, and you get to see it for free! Explore the dynamic, war-torn world of Telara on your way to Chronicles, Planar Attunement, and everything else the new update has to offer.

October 13 through October 17, we’re giving everyone a free preview of Telara. RIFT has the most aggressive update schedule of any MMO (5 in 7 months so far) and Ashes of History is the biggest yet.

[El-Producto]

Good to know.. thanks.

I really need a 30 day sub though.. I tend to play VERY casually.

Looks like Greenmangaming has it for $15 right now, actually they have 25% off which makes the collectors edition $10.

[Blackjack]

Good to know.. thanks.

I really need a 30 day sub though.. I tend to play VERY casually.

Looks like Greenmangaming has it for $15 right now, actually they have 25% off which makes the collectors edition $10.

I'd just play it for 96 or 72 hours straight. You'll know by then if it's something you'll stay interested in casually or not.  

I would check it out but have a lot going on this weekend and Sunday is all about The Walking Dead season premiere. 

[El-Producto]

Good to know.. thanks.

I really need a 30 day sub though.. I tend to play VERY casually.

Looks like Greenmangaming has it for $15 right now, actually they have 25% off which makes the collectors edition $10.

I'd just play it for 96 or 72 hours straight. You'll know by then if it's something you'll stay interested in casually or not.  

I would check it out but have a lot going on this weekend and Sunday is all about The Walking Dead season premiere. 

Problem is, my gaming time is fairly limited these days.. an hour here an hour there.  I WISH I could do a marathon.

[morlac]

Good to know.. thanks.

I really need a 30 day sub though.. I tend to play VERY casually.

Looks like Greenmangaming has it for $15 right now, actually they have 25% off which makes the collectors edition $10.

I'd just play it for 96 or 72 hours straight. You'll know by then if it's something you'll stay interested in casually or not.  

I would check it out but have a lot going on this weekend and Sunday is all about The Walking Dead season premiere. 

Problem is, my gaming time is fairly limited these days.. an hour here an hour there.  I WISH I could do a marathon.

I'm in the same boat and found that Rift is good for playing in those spurts.  I just started 2 weeks ago during the latest Steam sale.

[Blackjack]

Apparently this "giant head" bug is being fixed, but there are several pretty amusing image links here:
http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-general-discussions/general-discussion/268035-does-my-head-look-big-little-bug.html

[Blackjack]

Although I canceled months ago, still got this notice that I'm sure everyone did who had played it at some point:

We recently discovered that unauthorized intruders gained access to a Trion Worlds account database. The database in question contained information including user names, encrypted passwords, dates of birth, email addresses, billing addresses, and the first and last four digits and expiration dates of customer credit cards.

There is no evidence, and we have no reason to believe, that full credit card information was accessed or compromised in any way. We have already taken further action to strengthen our systems, even as we, with external security experts, continue to research the extent of the unauthorized access.

You will notice on your next log in to our website that you will be required to change your password, and existing Mobile Authenticator users will also need to reconnect their Authenticator. When you log in, you will be prompted to provide a new password, security questions and answers, and be given the option to connect your account to our Mobile Authenticator to enhance your account’s security.

If you have used your username and password for other accounts, especially financial accounts or accounts with personal information, we suggest you change your passwords on those accounts as well. We recommend that you carefully review your statements, account activity, and credit reports to help protect the security of those accounts. If you need information on how to obtain your credit report or believe any such accounts have been breached, please visit www.trionworlds.com/AccountNotification for more information.

You should have continued, uninterrupted access to RIFT, and we do not anticipate any disruptions to your playing time.

Nevertheless, if you own the RIFT game, you will be granted three (3) days of complimentary RIFT game time once you update your password and security questions.

Additionally, once you update your account and set a new password, your account will be granted a Moneybags’ Purse, which increases your looted coin by 10%, even if you have not yet purchased RIFT.

Please log in to https://rift.trionworlds.com (and we recommend that you copy and paste this link into your browser to access the site) to update your password, security questions and Authenticator.

I guess we oughta do this even if we have a dormant account? 

[Blackjack]

Origin is now offering Rift ($19.99). Yes, it's weird SWTOR's publisher is now indirectly involved with Rift, but it sounds like they're determined to make Origin a multi-publisher carrier, so to speak (just like Steam doesn't just carry Valve games).

Does it mean EA will absorb Trion Worlds some day, and all those Rift features we want in SWTOR will suddenly move over there? I doubt it, but it's a good rumor to start, no? 

[Arclight]

Thinking of jumping back into Rift. I'll be done with SW:ToR in a week or so. I got so much more out of Rift than I did in ToR. What a let down that was.

[Harkonis]

Thinking of jumping back into Rift. I'll be done with SW:ToR in a week or so. I got so much more out of Rift than I did in ToR. What a let down that was.

I had a lot more fun with Rift than I did with SWTOR, especially with regards to pvp.  However apparently Rift is very much haves and have-nots in pvp and I'll probably wait until they address that (they've said they are)

[USMC Kato]

Thinking of jumping back into Rift. I'll be done with SW:ToR in a week or so. I got so much more out of Rift than I did in ToR. What a let down that was.

I had a lot more fun with Rift than I did with SWTOR, especially with regards to pvp.  However apparently Rift is very much haves and have-nots in pvp and I'll probably wait until they address that (they've said they are)

If they do fix the PVP gear issue, I would consider going back.

[ydejin]

Thinking of jumping back into Rift. I'll be done with SW:ToR in a week or so. I got so much more out of Rift than I did in ToR. What a let down that was.

I leveled a character up to 50 in Rift, but once I hit endgame I burned out very quickly.  While I had notions of running a character up on the other faction, I never got around to it.

In SWTOR OTOH I feel a lot more attachment to my main character, and I've started leveling up some more characters.  I'm really enjoying the story focus in SWTOR.

We'll have to see what Bioware does or does not add.  If they can give me the equivalent of a top notch DLC storypack every 2-3 months or so, I'll be pretty happy with it.  If all we ever get is new Warzones and Flashpoints, that would make me sad.  But either way I'll still be having fun until I run out of character storylines.  I did play through Mass Effect 1 at least 5 times though (including 3 with the same character on all three difficulty levels).  So I may be overestimating what it takes to keep me happy.

[Blackadar]

Thinking of jumping back into Rift. I'll be done with SW:ToR in a week or so. I got so much more out of Rift than I did in ToR. What a let down that was.

I had a lot more fun with Rift than I did with SWTOR, especially with regards to pvp.  However apparently Rift is very much haves and have-nots in pvp and I'll probably wait until they address that (they've said they are)

I know that the upcoming 1.7 patch (already on the test server) is really focused around improving the PvP stuff, so I imagine it's just about to be fixed.  

Oh, I've recently returned to RIFT and have an AAR going:  http://brokenforum.com/index.php?threads/return-to-rift-aar.573/
(not trying to pimp another forum, that's just where I decided to do it)

[Teggy]

It would appear that from the 8th to 14th you can use your old characters for free. It says "high level ascended", so I don't know if that means only 50's or you are simply restricted to characters you have already created or what. I'm considering downloading so I can try some of the new single player content but the timing is not great with ME3 in 360 at the moment.

[PR_GMR]

Neato news: Rift expansion pack announced with this teaser today. It will be called 'Storm Legion'. 

[ericb]

The expansion may get me back in...2 new lands plus expanding the original (tripling the original size), 4 new souls, player housing, instant adventures for lower levels, 10 more levels, 7 new dungeons, 3 new raids, advanced crafting, capes and more of everything else (mounts, pets, puzzles, etc).

[Roguetad]

Arise!  With the freeplay weekend (11/7-11/11), has anyone tried getting back into Rift?  I had a character close to max level at 47, but RL and other games pulled me away and I canceled earlier this year.  I patched up and looked at my characters, and man, it's overwhelming how many soul combos and skills there are in this game.  I'm spoiled by GW2 just having to worry about 1 hotbar of skills.

It looks like they added some soul templates with explanations, which is helpful.  It's still a lot of skills to manage.  After about 30 minutes of trying to relearn some of the souls, I logged off and went back to GW2.  I'll give it another try this weekend.  I enjoyed Rift while I was playing, but I just don't think I could go back.  Both GW2 and TSW intentionally limit the # of active skills you can carry on your hotbar, which I like.  I hate having to manage 3 banks of skills.

[MythicalMino]

I am attempting another look at Rift...although, with playing Guild Wars 2, I am having lots of difficulty with it. So many things GW2 did that is better than any other MMO out there, I feel.

I do like the rifts, though...but the questing? My God, my God...

[Blackjack]

Natural evolution? Eh...

Rift MMO hit hard by layoffs at Trion
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/183304/Rift_MMO_hit_hard_by_layoffs_at_Trion.php#.UMicPh19K2W

An affected source tells us that the number of developers out of work today -- developers spanning several disciplines, including artists and designers -- numbers somewhere in the neighborhood of 40.

The company confirmed that there were layoffs today "in response to market conditions, product timelines and the natural evolution of our company," though refused to confirm either the number affected or whether it was the Rift team specifically.

I've started to say the only time you want to be working for an MMO dev not named Blizzard is just before launch. It's like a paper airplane. Exciting until launch, and then eventually a decay back to earth is inevitable...

[Roguetad]

Corporate spin is hilarious.  It's like creative writing.

I think Rift is a good fantasy mmo, but the days of the pay to play, $15 a month model are gone for most companies.  Maybe Blizzard can do it with their next mmo.  Most companies can only dream of a large customer base all willing and eager to pay $15 a month to play their mmo...for years at a time. 

My suggestion for anyone considering developing a new mmo not named Blizzard is to design it without a monthly fee and build in a good store model.  Also, see SWTOR for how not to do it.  Hopefully Bethesda is watching the MMO market closely and adjusting their plans for the Elder Scrolls online.