Rift: Planes of Telara

[Paelos]

But if you're not reading the quests or stopping to care about the story, that's your fault. The fact that you can't slow down and read, though, that's not the dev fault. 

I disagree. I did read in the beta. I tried for the first few quests to figure out what's going on. It just didn't make a lot of sense, and a lot of it boiled down to really really bad rationalizations for killing 10 of these things that are invading.

There were some bright spots like discussing how to use souls and finding ways to fight back against Defiant machines, but most of it was really bad. By the time I got to level 10, I just stopped caring. It was all very paper-thin.

[Malakili]

Especially if Bat Country has some kind of presence there in the medium to long term.   

So never then.

Entirely possible.

[Nebu]

Especially if Bat Country has some kind of presence there in the medium to long term.   

I will be happy to start a Bat Country guild or some affiliate on a pve - rp server.  I say RP just to avoid idiotic naming.  I plan to play at release with two friends of mine that I played DaoC and WAR with. 

[Rasix]

Are you doing the head start, Nebu? I may pick this up even though my monitor is kind of messed up.  It'll still be playable, just a bit annoying.

[Lantyssa]

This is nagging at me.  I have read every post in this thread and feel like I missed something while playing.  Jaded f13 MMO gamers really seem to love this game (though I remember a similar thing in WAR beta).  Why don't I love this game?  It's rock solid.  It transitions well.  Still, it feels like it's missing a hook.  Every time I play I can get a toon to level 10 or 12 and lose interest.  Am I just burned out on MMOs?  I'm really trying to convince myself that I just have to give it more of a chance.

It's one of the best technically competent games I've seen.  That's been the main focus of my raving, because it's something I've bagged on a lot in other games.

Were I looking for a DIKU to play, and I didn't have both high level characters and people I really enjoy playing with, I would pick it over WoW.  If I get the desire to play a leveling game, then I might still pick it up.  I'm just well past that entertaining me much, so I see no reason to play at release.

[Hawkbit]

But if you're not reading the quests or stopping to care about the story, that's your fault. The fact that you can't slow down and read, though, that's not the dev fault. 

I disagree. I did read in the beta. I tried for the first few quests to figure out what's going on. It just didn't make a lot of sense, and a lot of it boiled down to really really bad rationalizations for killing 10 of these things that are invading.

There were some bright spots like discussing how to use souls and finding ways to fight back against Defiant machines, but most of it was really bad. By the time I got to level 10, I just stopped caring. It was all very paper-thin.

I was more directly responding to the poster above me, who raced to max level and stated he didn't read the lore because he didn't care, also stating there was none.  Which isn't true.

I'm a pretty big fan of this game and I think it is only missing the mark in a few key spots, namely the treadmill/DIKUness of it and the storytelling.  I wish they had come up with something better than a simple leveling game, but I like the world and content enough to deal with it. 

The bigger issue I have is that you're right; they do spit you from zone to zone doing quests often for no obvious reason other than to push the level along, rather than the story.  I'm not exactly sure how to make that better, as I'm not at all a fan of the WoW 1-60 content revamp.  I think that there needs to be more interdependency (and I'm a solo player) in the world, that would help.  Rifts go a long way to helping that, giving people a reason to group.  Now that they've gone that far, how about making content in the zone that requires a group and does NOT breadcrumb so you can complete it with others? 

I think that overall, what made MMOs work were the other players and like it or not, they're required to make them work.  Now we just have to figure out a way to keep the sheer amount of douchebags from playing along with us...  A couple are okay, but WoW levels make it impossible.  Could it be that the games were better when less players were playing them, simply because the communities are smaller? 

I digress.  The point I tried to make is that there is lore and story there, in the game and out.  If it's uninteresting, fine.  But one can't legitimately complain that there's no story when one doesn't read it. 

[Cadaverine]

There seems to be a good number of people, here and elsewhere, that are really stretching for a reason to not like the game.  It's derivative, and far from perfect, sure, but it's hardly the worst thing to be released in recent memory. 

Frankly, I'd prefer they put out a solid game, and add in the fluff as time goes by, rather than shoot for the moon, and put out a buggy piece of shit that falls flat on it's face, like War.

[Pennilenko]

Are you doing the head start, Nebu? I may pick this up even though my monitor is kind of messed up.  It'll still be playable, just a bit annoying.

I would play on a rp server with you.

[Threash]

Is there a server list yet?

[Draegan]

Not that I've seen.

[Lakov_Sanite]

It's not that people are wanting an excuse to not like the game, people are wanting an excuse to justify buying it. Right now the game is so glaringly like wow that there isn't enough of a draw to play rift over that. The systems set in place are very solid and the play is enjoyable enough but I think the biggest problem this game will have is the blandness described.

You see, if stats are broken you can adjust them, change a class tree all over the place if you want but overhauling things this late in the game like races or storylines, well it's just not going to happen.  Rift is sort of fucked in this regard because it seems like they focused so much on the game systems they forgot how to make the setting fun.  Oh sure its different, I'll give you that but it feel different in the sense of making sure all there art assets were just different enough from wow not to get sued.  The world itself doesn't feel cohesive or unique and it is essentially "Generic Fantasy Game: The MMO"

[Rasix]

It's not that people are wanting an excuse to not like the game, people are wanting an excuse to justify buying it. Right now the game is so glaringly like wow that there isn't enough of a draw to play rift over that.

This works for people that want to play WoW but are a little fed up/burnt out with it. 

[EWSpider]

It is a good game and I'll play it for a few months at least, but it is missing "something". 

This is nagging at me.  I have read every post in this thread and feel like I missed something while playing.  Jaded f13 MMO gamers really seem to love this game (though I remember a similar thing in WAR beta).  Why don't I love this game?  It's rock solid.  It transitions well.  Still, it feels like it's missing a hook.  Every time I play I can get a toon to level 10 or 12 and lose interest.  Am I just burned out on MMOs?  I'm really trying to convince myself that I just have to give it more of a chance. 

Could any of you that have made it to level 40 or so encapsulate what it is about this game that has grabbed your attention?  I need some optimism here. 

For me it's the simple fact that there's nothing else to play right now.  Rift is new and shiny and offers just enough to warrant playing it for now (souls, rifts).  The hope that the devs will continue to develop Open World PvP is also enough to get me to play for a bit.  If it doesn't pan out, no big loss, hopefully it will have at least gotten me closer to the release of Guild Wars 2.

[Tannhauser]

It's not that people are wanting an excuse to not like the game, people are wanting an excuse to justify buying it. Right now the game is so glaringly like wow that there isn't enough of a draw to play rift over that. The systems set in place are very solid and the play is enjoyable enough but I think the biggest problem this game will have is the blandness described.

You see, if stats are broken you can adjust them, change a class tree all over the place if you want but overhauling things this late in the game like races or storylines, well it's just not going to happen.  Rift is sort of fucked in this regard because it seems like they focused so much on the game systems they forgot how to make the setting fun.  Oh sure its different, I'll give you that but it feel different in the sense of making sure all there art assets were just different enough from wow not to get sued.  The world itself doesn't feel cohesive or unique and it is essentially "Generic Fantasy Game: The MMO"

This is pretty much how I feel.  I only read about 10% of the quests where in other games I read every single one.  I was really on the fence about buying it, but the game is so polished technically and has the great soul system that I had to get it.  The artifacts system has me enthralled, the crafting, not so much.  I noticed that when I grouped, even just for a quickie rift, the game felt more fun.  Solo, the game's not that fun, but I seem to keep playing it so there's that then.

[Segoris]

I noticed that when I grouped, even just for a quickie rift, the game felt more fun.  Solo, the game's not that fun, but I seem to keep playing it so there's that then.

That's diku in general imo. I will say that so far groups have been easy to obtain and a lot of people tend to stay grouped when they notice you're on the same quests as them. So it's definitely a step in the right direction for bringing back a social aspect, as the public grouping works outside of rifts as well.

[Segoris]

Rift retail client is up: http://update2.triongames.com/patcher/public/Rift_LIVE_Patcher_setup.exe

[Morfiend]

For anyone thats been playing Beta.

Here is head start info.

LINK HERE

Note:
YOU NEED TO REDOWNLOAD THE CLIENT FOR RELEASE!

[Modern Angel]

I have to redownload? I am disappoint. >:(

[Morfiend]

Unless you have the steam or amazon copy.

Although I am a little worried about that, cause my steam version seemed to install in like 15 minutes. Not long enough to have downloaded the full game again.

If you have the RIFT beta client on your hard drive, be sure to uninstall it before installing RIFT.

Steam™ & Amazon® download customers – If you’ve already downloaded the client from Steam or Amazon, there’s no need to download it again. Just make sure your game is patched!

Pre-order customers – Please remember, you must have a Product Registration Code applied to your account to continue access when RIFT launches (North America: Mar. 1, 2011 / Europe: Mar. 4, 2011).

[Sobelius]

And for those looking for a little story lore:

http://www.riftgame.com/en/world/notable-figures/greenscale.php

I really really want to add a line at the end of the story, based on the accompanying pic, that says "And she did it all in fashionable legwarmers!"

[ghost]

Although I am a little worried about that, cause my steam version seemed to install in like 15 minutes. Not long enough to have downloaded the full game again.

I thought the same thing when I downloaded my copy.  I expect we'll have a lengthy wait for a download with Steam as well. 

[Nebu]

Are you doing the head start, Nebu? I may pick this up even though my monitor is kind of messed up.  It'll still be playable, just a bit annoying.

I pre-ordered from Amazon, so I'm not sure if that includes the head start or not.  I do have a product code, so maybe I do. 

I'm going to give this game an earnest try.  I've been itching for something with more depth than DCUO that isn't as cartoony as WoW.

[Nonentity]

Although I am a little worried about that, cause my steam version seemed to install in like 15 minutes. Not long enough to have downloaded the full game again.

I thought the same thing when I downloaded my copy.  I expect we'll have a lengthy wait for a download with Steam as well. 

Modern patchers for MMOs are pretty agile as far as checksums and all that. I copied the 'Asset' folder out of my beta install and dumped it in there. Unless there was a sweeping asset file change from open beta to retail, it should be able to catch up just fine.

[Sobelius]

Modern patchers for MMOs are pretty agile as far as checksums and all that. I copied the 'Asset' folder out of my beta install and dumped it in there. Unless there was a sweeping asset file change from open beta to retail, it should be able to catch up just fine.

Hmmm. I uninstalled the Beta via Control Panel and yet I still have all of the asset paks intact in the same local data folder where my screenshots are stored. Could it be the asset pak location is kept separate from the authentication client such that, as you suggest, some checksum magic will optimize what really needs to be downloaded even though if you do a by-the-book uninstall?

[Threash]

Great, still no server list.  Also worried about the steam install, it was instant.

[Jherad]

Just wanted to make sure people are aware that the steam 'install' is just a patcher - it needs to be run, and will download the game/patches just like the beta client.

I'm not looking for an excuse to not like the game - I pre-ordered a while ago. I'm just aware that it is lacking a buzz for me. Still, I *know* that short of a launch day nerf, I'll get my money's worth. At least I'm not having to think about it in terms of 'potential', a game to be magically fixed down the line by a miracle patch. I made myself a deal some time ago that if the main reason I wanted a game was what it could turn into down the line, I wouldn't buy it. I've seen too many WARs. :thousand yard stare:

[Threash]

I ran it, didn't patch anything. 

[Hawkbit]

I preordered through Trion and their patcher is up for download, but once installed there are no game files yet. 

[Bzalthek]

Supposedly the rest of the game will be available later this evening when they're done fucking with maintenance.  Right now we can only get the patcher.

[Shatter]

http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?78953-Downloading-the-Rift-Game-Client

We want to update you on the process of downloading the game client for Head Start. You may have found that you are able to download the patcher but have been unable to download the game itself. Don’t panic! Nothing is broken!

You will be able to start downloading the game client this evening. We will let you know here on the forums and on Facebook when it is ready. We will also be sending out emails to make sure you see when it’s all ready!”

I know everyone is anxious to get going and start downloading. Thank you for your patience as we get everything in order and ready to open the doors! 

[Falconeer]

Right now the game is so glaringly like wow that there isn't enough of a draw to play rift over that.

That is true if you already are a WoW player. On the other hand, if you are not a WoW player, there is not a single reason to get WoW over Rift.

[Morfiend]

Server list posted.

My guild will be staying Sunrest. Guardian side.

* Lotham - PvP
* Faeblight - RP
* Sunrest - PvP-RP
* Belmont - PvE
* Spitescar - PvP
* Seastone - PvP
* Keenblade - PvE
* Deepstrike - PvP
* Greybriar - PvE
* Shatterbone - PvE
* Reclaimer - PvP
* Byriel - PvE
* Snarebrush - PvP
* Gnarlwood - PvE
* Briarcliff - PvP
* Wolfsbane - PvE
* Shadefallen - RP



European Severs

* Blightweald - EN PvP
* Cloudeborne - EN PvP
* Steampike - EN PvE
* Icewatch - EN PvE
* Argent - EN RP
* Firesand - EN PvP RP
* Whitefall - EN PvP
* Brutwacht - DE PvP
* Trübkopf - DE PvP
* Akala - DE RP
* Brisesol - FR PvE
* Rubicon - FR PvP

[Vinadil]

Right now the game is so glaringly like wow that there isn't enough of a draw to play rift over that.

That is true if you already are a WoW player. On the other hand, if you are not a WoW player, there is not a single reason to get WoW over Rift.

This.  And, with the more "casual" nature of Rift (spawn your own 10-man raids) our guild is actually moving off of WoW TO Rift, and many of us, myself included, are coming back after years away from WoW.  This will easily be 3-4 months of fun if you have some friends to share it with.

[Rasix]

US servers time zone neutral?

Nm, they're in Dallas.  Go go FAQ.

So, Faeblight or Shadefallen?  I know a good deal of folks here prefer a RP server to trade their assholes for RPing assholes with appropriate names.

[Malakili]

Right now the game is so glaringly like wow that there isn't enough of a draw to play rift over that.

That is true if you already are a WoW player. On the other hand, if you are not a WoW player, there is not a single reason to get WoW over Rift.

This seems spot on, off the cuff.