Rift

[Elmo]

ZAM supposedly has VIP beta keys.  No idea if any are left.

http://www.zam.com/giveaways/rift.html

[jersoc]

just got one, thanks.

[The Grue]

just got one, thanks.

Got one as well.  I entered it in and everything, but where do I go to download the client?

[Elmo]

There should be a download button on your Trion account page where you agreed to the EULA.

[jersoc]

yeah i didnt see a link either. i'll look later tonight.

[The Grue]

There should be a download button on your Trion account page where you agreed to the EULA.

Well, the problem is I added the code, but there seems to be no link anywhere on my Trion account page.  It shows I have not been invited to a beta event, but if I click on the Apply Code button, it shows I entered a key.

[Razgon]

I dont think the next beta event download is up yet, actually

[Chaz]

I signed up from that ZAM link and got some kind of code, but didn't have time to do more than that.  How often are the beta events running?

[Harkonis]

next one starts the 25th

[Covenant]

Instructions say you will get a download link when they send out the specific beta even invites.  Bummer they don't let you pre install it though.

[Elmo]

Well, the problem is I added the code, but there seems to be no link anywhere on my Trion account page.  It shows I have not been invited to a beta event, but if I click on the Apply Code button, it shows I entered a key.

Saw this quote by Zann an Asst Community Manager in the Rift forums.  The last sentence might apply to you.  I have been in all four betas and have preordered but it does not show any beta info for my account either.

Sorry for any confusion. When we did the maintenance the other day, we removed previous betas from the account management page. The information still exists and we can find it if we need to, but we're not displaying it anymore.

We haven't done anything to remove access from people who had it, or made any other changes to permissions. If you have a VIP or pre-order key you will still be invited to Beta 5 as usual.

[Harkonis]

It will show up on the 24th at some time.

[Elmo]

If you have a Trion account make sure it is set to receive Rift email.  Rumor has it the newsletter due out today will have a VIP key.

[Harkonis]

the newsletter showed up.  There is a VIP key in it that can be used 25 times.  So it looks like each of us can invite 25 friends.  No reason not to check out the next beta.

[jersoc]

CTXZ-D62D-9EZF-JRTQ-KGHF

have at it! one of the 25 times one.

downloading the client now.

[naednek]

got my invite, downloading the client now!

[The Grue]

got my invite, downloading the client now!

Me too!

[Barrakketh]

I have a 25-use code as well, 24 uses left. If anyone still needs one, let me know.

[Hyperion]

Anyone else concerned about the ability to respec arbitrarily between all of the souls in each archetype?  Seems to me it will magnify the FOTM syndrome to new levels.

I can understand the notion and how it may appeal to some players, but to me it just seems like it will ruin and identity or individuality you character gains from having the ability to pick and choose your three starting trees.  Eventually everyone, or most people will just respec into whatever FOTM combo that particular patch provides.

Anyways I am hyped for this game, but this concerns me.

[jersoc]

correct me if i'm wrong, but I thought you could only spec within your archtype. like a mage can't suddenly tank.

[Elmo]

You can only use souls from your calling, eight of them plus one for PvP.  However there is a good amount of overlap.  Mages can do some healing, rogues can do some tanking, etc. 

[ericb]

Anyone else concerned about the ability to respec arbitrarily between all of the souls in each archetype?  Seems to me it will magnify the FOTM syndrome to new levels.

I can understand the notion and how it may appeal to some players, but to me it just seems like it will ruin and identity or individuality you character gains from having the ability to pick and choose your three starting trees.  Eventually everyone, or most people will just respec into whatever FOTM combo that particular patch provides.

Anyways I am hyped for this game, but this concerns me.

You can't go into the game thinking my character is what I make of it from these three souls (sounds like WoW with the three talent trees).  Go into it thinking my character has 9 souls and I have to pick the best 3 for my job this time around.  There's always going to be a need to change it around...maybe your rogue needs to off tank this run or your mage needs to give that last little push of extra healing to get past a difficult boss.  I'm actually looking forward to it because I'm a huge alt-holic and now I can have 4 characters total and still hit every aspect I might need.

Anyway, I'm still disappointed they didn't start the beta this weekend.  It's going to run most of next week which is lining up perfectly with one of my busiest weeks in months  

[Huw the Poo]

They emailed me an invite to the next beta.  I guess I'll take a look although I've gone quite cold on Rift now.

[Wargus]

They emailed me an invite to the next beta.  I guess I'll take a look although I've gone quite cold on Rift now.

Its worth looking at, there are a couple really innovative things that are fun to play with: 1) character design is fantastic, probably the best out there right now, 2) Rifts which spawn in random locations  and can bring invasions of whatever that try to conquer the region. Its cool opening the map & seeing battle lines drawing as the hordes move to take objectives.

The graphics are fantastic and the story is pretty good.

Those are worth checking out (especially for free). 

[Huw the Poo]

Yeah I'll definitely try it out, I might be pleasantly surprised.  Good character design is a definite plus for me and the rift stuff sounds interesting.

[Elmo]

The Wanderers are in the process of deciding the server type we will play at launch, PvE or PvP.  So some of us will be rolling new characters on a beta PvP server starting Tuesday and continuing to play there through the end of beta to check out open PvP.  Anyone is welcome to join us.  If you are thinking of playing with us at launch we would be interested in hearing your thoughts on PvP vs PvE servers as well.  The guild officers will make the final decision before headstart on Feb 24th.  I will cross post this at the OO forums as well.

[Wargus]

The Wanderers are in the process of deciding the server type we will play at launch, PvE or PvP.  So some of us will be rolling new characters on a beta PvP server starting Tuesday and continuing to play there through the end of beta to check out open PvP.  Anyone is welcome to join us.  If you are thinking of playing with us at launch we would be interested in hearing your thoughts on PvP vs PvE servers as well.  The guild officers will make the final decision before headstart on Feb 24th.  I will cross post this at the OO forums as well.

My problem with open PVP is the gankfest it invariably becomes. 

[CeeKay]

downloaded the client today, they must have some nice servers because it was done in just over an hour.

[Harkonis]

The Wanderers are in the process of deciding the server type we will play at launch, PvE or PvP.  So some of us will be rolling new characters on a beta PvP server starting Tuesday and continuing to play there through the end of beta to check out open PvP.  Anyone is welcome to join us.  If you are thinking of playing with us at launch we would be interested in hearing your thoughts on PvP vs PvE servers as well.  The guild officers will make the final decision before headstart on Feb 24th.  I will cross post this at the OO forums as well.

My problem with open PVP is the gankfest it invariably becomes. 

I play pretty much all my games on Open PVP when possible and I don't know what you're talking about.  I've never had too much problem avoiding fights when I didn't feel like fighting.  It's the people who stubbornly insist that the quest that is right where the other team is camping HAS to be done right now and refuse to go do something else for a bit that have problems with O-PvP.  If you avoid the commonly travelled areas and stay off the roads when not looking for a fight it's not so bad.  Also having friends on the server helps since if you dont' travel alone you're safer. 

All in all the thrill of knowing that there is someone out there at any given moment keeps PvE from being dull.  The excitement of pulling a mob then realizing that you're being hit from a player and having to quickly react or eat dirt is also fun for me.  I miss the frontier in DAOC where you got xp bonuses from PVE'ing in the 'danger zone'.

[Wargus]

The Wanderers are in the process of deciding the server type we will play at launch, PvE or PvP.  So some of us will be rolling new characters on a beta PvP server starting Tuesday and continuing to play there through the end of beta to check out open PvP.  Anyone is welcome to join us.  If you are thinking of playing with us at launch we would be interested in hearing your thoughts on PvP vs PvE servers as well.  The guild officers will make the final decision before headstart on Feb 24th.  I will cross post this at the OO forums as well.

My problem with open PVP is the gankfest it invariably becomes. 

I play pretty much all my games on Open PVP when possible and I don't know what you're talking about.  I've never had too much problem avoiding fights when I didn't feel like fighting.  It's the people who stubbornly insist that the quest that is right where the other team is camping HAS to be done right now and refuse to go do something else for a bit that have problems with O-PvP.  If you avoid the commonly travelled areas and stay off the roads when not looking for a fight it's not so bad.  Also having friends on the server helps since if you dont' travel alone you're safer. 

All in all the thrill of knowing that there is someone out there at any given moment keeps PvE from being dull.  The excitement of pulling a mob then realizing that you're being hit from a player and having to quickly react or eat dirt is also fun for me.  I miss the frontier in DAOC where you got xp bonuses from PVE'ing in the 'danger zone'.

See, this is where we disagree. On your second point, I agree (and I also mist DAOC).  But in DAOC's case you sought out the open PVP, however didn't have to live with it all the time.   As far as camping quest locations, what you are failing to state is most of the time the other team who is camping it is twice the level (or more) of anybody who would be using those quest givers.  I know this helps their epeen, however doesn't take that much skill to pull off.    I'd love to see a DAOC style system put in place (or a WAR system - that worked for me too). You didn't have to live with open pvp 100% of the time, however it was available for you when you wanted it.

[Harkonis]

their level is irrelevant if you just ignore/avoid them though.  Rarely will someplace be camped 24/7 by the opposing faction.  It's not FFA O-PvP.   In my current server of WoW there are frequently level 85 enemy players around the level 50-80 areas.  They have literally 10x my hp but it's all good because you can just wait until they move on or move to another zone if they stick around.  It can be an inconvenience, but it's really a small price for the more dynamic feel imo.

I played DAOC on an open FFA server.  There were some places that truly were camped 24/7 by level 50's.   You simply didn't go there, ever.  Well at least unless you had a group of your own 50's and wanted to start something. 

Rift does have areas that are favorable to one side or the other as well btw.  Guardian members going to the Rift lower areas will be at a disadvantage.

[Elmo]

There is a new podcast up that is mostly about PvP:

http://www.riftpodcast.com/podcast/2011/01/24/podcast-28-chris-junior-on-all-things-pvp-in-rift.html

One thing Chris Junior says is that you get no XP, favor, prestige, or loot for ganking players 7 or more levels below you.

[CeeKay]

One thing Chris Junior says is that you get no XP, favor, prestige, or loot for ganking players 7 or more levels below you.

there's still the joy of tasting their tears and hearing their wails of despair though 

[Teggy]

There is a new podcast up that is mostly about PvP:

http://www.riftpodcast.com/podcast/2011/01/24/podcast-28-chris-junior-on-all-things-pvp-in-rift.html

One thing Chris Junior says is that you get no XP, favor, prestige, or loot for ganking players 7 or more levels below you.

Isn't that the point of ganking? There's no reward, people who do it do so for the sick satisfaction. Like Hark 

[Harkonis]

Correct, not having xp/rp rewards for taking out people who don't realistically a threat is a good thing.  It means that otherwise non-asshole people don't have incentive to become assholes.

I will still kill anyone of the opposite faction though, regardless of level.  If higher than me, I will give it a shot, if lower, it will only take one shot.

[tcweidner]

i think what will make World PVP on PVP servers fun is that the world is kinda dynamic, unlike other games.   Camping wont happen as much, because in a blink of an eye, a rift may open and suddenly the quest hubs etc is in jeopardy, or someone is attacking wards,  .  Its also interesting early on that the quest turn in hubs in lower levels are quite far apart, they get closer the higher you level.  At the last levels, the hubs for both factions are in the same place.  That will be insanity.

 So with the batlle over the high lev hubs, rifts openings, invasions, faction strikes,  instances ( dungeon and warfronts)  cities to try to sneak into,  I really dont think ganking a level 25 at lev 50 will be even close to the funniest thing you could be doing at 50.

[rittchard]

I really think it comes down to the kind of game you are playing and the game design/lore.  For a heavily PvE game like EQ2 it would seem off to me personally to have PvP all the time.  But a game like DAOC or WAR or Rift where the game has established factions that are at odds with each other, it seems like it just makes more sense to at least be able to fight opposing faction players.  (I'm assuming Rift pvp servers are still faction based and not true FFA).  It always drove me nuts in WAR where they allowed you to intermingle with the enemy faction but you were unable to attack them (and vice versa), seemed more of a design flaw than a server/personal choice.  My hope is that the designers are balancing/testing with this in mind, so that it's an inherent part of the game and not an afterthought.  It looks like they are definitely putting more thought into the server rulesets pre-release than some other games, but it will interesting to see if it will be "enough" to avoid some of the issues that other games have had in the past.

[Harkonis]

who are you and what have you done with Ritt? 

You're right though.  In faction vs faction games it drives me crazy to not be able to attack the other faction in open areas.  I understand in big neutral cities, but in the wild it seems silly to just wave at each other.  Rift open pvp is faction vs faction and I think there are still limits on certain zones like the lower 1-20 areas that put the opposing faction at a disadvantage.  There is also the safety that either friendly guards and/or neutral rifts brings.   

[tcweidner]

listening to the podcast,  first off those chicks really knew their stuff and asked some very good questions,  secondly, it is nice to hear the game has been developed since the first day with pvp in mind

[tcweidner]

even on a pvp server, for those times you really dont want to be ganked while pveing and so forth, their are always pve dungeon instances that can be done.  So there is options these days with instancing.