Rift: The Planes of Telara

[Aadill]

EQ and AO were the only MMOs I ever cared to play. Upon taking up a trial of WoW I found it so incredibly dull that I quit.

What bothered me in WoW more than anything were the pop culture references in a fantasy setting. If I want to immerse myself in a multiplayer game of FW: FW: FW: FW: FW: e-mail messages that my aunt sends me, I'll go play WoW for the low-brow humor. Both classic EQ and classic AO have an atmosphere that really makes you feel like you're part of the world. Eventually both Sony and Funcom fell away from that and the games no longer have the same appeal. I do blame the market for MMOs going from actual interesting lore to money-makers. Even single player games still try to tell a story - what are MMOs trying to do at this point?

[Cyrius]

SOE is working on "Everquest Next", a rework of the EQ intellectual entity. I have no details on it, but we can only hope...

Yeah this is my "last hope" also. But i doubt it will be released within 2011 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. So it will be quite a wait.

[Cyrius]

Upon taking up a trial of WoW I found it so incredibly dull that I quit.

LOL exactly what i did, started WoW when it was released with a couple friends (they had the special edition with the 10 day trial in it). I played 4 hours, was a lvl 13 or so undead mage, specced for ice and fire? And solo'd a lvl 14 elite mob. When i asked my friends (wich been playing a few weeks longer, it took them a while to convince me [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]) if this mob was considered difficulty, and they replied "its a group mob", i clicked X, uninstalled the game, and threw the 10 day trial CD in the trash.

[Yak]

Not only that but who's to say that Sony won't fuck up Everquest Next. I have no faith in any game companies at this point. Remember years ago when Sony had the same idea and created EQ2! What about Vanguard and all it's bugs that killed it. For now I am just going to enjoy EQ. If something better comes along then great, if not I have EQ Classic for now.

[Cyrius]

Yeah i agree, but at least i have hopes that they get it right the 3rd time they try it. 3rd is a charm no? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Yak]

Originally Posted by Cyrius [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah i agree, but at least i have hopes that they get it right the 3rd time they try it. 3rd is a charm no? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

LOL, true 3 times is a charm!!!

[Crone]

And I'm on the totally opposite end of the spectrum... lol

I got into EQ2, and played that for about a year, before I switched over to WoW, and have played that for years. Took quite a few breaks, but seem to always go back. But as quickly as I pick it back up, I'll drop it again as well. Most recently.. I came back in August, got a couple level 80s, and was all pumped to go to Blizzcon, I went, and I've logged in once since I got back. For some reason, going to Blizzcon lost me all interest in WoW, and so I haven't been back. Dropped it that quick, with no intentions of going back to it for Cata either.

Then again, I quit P99 back in March, and I'm now back. Hopefully for a while this time.

I loved WoW. All the raids I went on, and the guilds that I was a part of. I loved all of it. I'd venture to guess I've raided more in WoW than any other game, including EQ. Played EQ way more, but was never at a raiding level very much.

The ramping up to the raid stage is a common complaint of WoW, that it's too easy. However, coming back to the game, no guild, no friends really, I appreciated it. Being able to just spam heroics for sweet gear, whcih allowed me in on pick up raids to get more gear. It made it super easy to gear up and get back into the game. I don't really see this as a problem.

[Aadill]

Originally Posted by Crone [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

before I switched over to WoW, and have played that for years. Took quite a few breaks, but seem to always go back. But as quickly as I pick it back up, I'll drop it again as well.

See, that's the problem - it doesn't hold your interest except just long enough to get your next set of gear... just long enough to pay Blizzard some money for your account to remain active.

[Taluvill]

I know this is a tad offtopic, but someone mentioned darkfall. I wish it was a bit more polished at release. I played it for a few months with loads of gear, close to max archery and some spell stuff, and was in 1000 man raids with hyperion and stuff.

Was good, and the crafting system was insane, but if you weren't killing someone the game was so incredibly dull, and you couldn't go kill someone without having a whole group with you. Cool game, wish it had a polished release or i'd seriously consider never leaving. Very cool interguild politics/drama/land control type thing, player run mmo/economy.

[zorro]

I'm the type of gamer that does not give a shit about how long or difficult is to level up as I will just grind it out to the max level before I start getting the best available gear. I'm a raider through and through. I started the beta since the beginning of the beta and here is what I have done and seen. I picked a champion to start with and a friend I duo'd with picked a cleric.

The first starting area is the tutorial zone (it is instanced to control the amount of noobs stealing mobs). Many of the quests can relate to World of Warcraft as you kill this many of these mobs and collect this then return. The quest givers have a "!" above their name. The map shows where the quest can be accomplished. Once you finish the quest the turn in guy will have a check mark above their name. After you finish the quest, the quest guy will usually give another quest to move to the next area that provides harder quests.

Once you are about level 6-7 then you will move out of the newbie zone and into the real world. The quests are very similar to WoW. It is usually killing a # of mobs, collecting items that drop off of mobs, or collecting items from the ground, and then going and kill the named. Once you complete quests you receive experience, platinum, and gear.

Grey gear - no stats, Green - stats, Blue - rarer and better stats, purple - epic and fantastic stats. When a uncommon-epic item drops all group members select need, greed, or pass and it automatically rolls. There is bind on pickup, bind on equip gear items.

I forget what level, but probably around level 8-10 I was able to choose my second character class. My first was a champion(dps) and my second was a warlord(tank). Each level receives 1 talent point that you put in your talent trees. Each class you receive you can put in 1 point into either class' talent tree.

I recieved my third class after completing a level 18 quest (void knight). These are great to create a unique character. If you go to your class trainer (warrior trainer) you can buy another soul. This means that you can have a tank spec with a warlord talent tree and another spec such as DPS where i put all my talents in the champion talent tree. You have an ability to cast a spell which switches between the soul of your choosing. (if you are a DPS class, such as a ranger/bard spec you can switch between a ranger and a bard whenever you like; depending on how you place your talents you can be a bard with a pet even)

The cleric and I duo'd to level 20 (max beta level) in about 13hours; everything is soloable but will take a little longer because you have to drink to get HP or mana. The main city contains class trainers, trade skills trainers, vendors, bankers, auctioneers and a porter to port to different places that was not available to the beta.

Once we were 20 we went to the first instance. The instance has some unique encounters. The first named hits really hard and casts an aoe. The 2nd named has an event where you kill 3 named 1 at a time, then you kill all 3 at the same time. The last named has a deadly aoe that is avoidable only if you run to the protecting ghost when it spawns right before the aoe.
Rifts spawn anywhere at any time. The rift spawns mobs in 5 waves, with 2 names. If the rift is kept open the attackers will spawn and run through the roads and take over towns if not stopped.

TLDR

-Quest/ leveling system very similar to WoW
-Easy to level
-Unique class/talent system
-Receive gear/plat from quests as you level
-Uncommon,Rare,Epic gear - Bind on pickup / Bind on equip
-VERY good graphics
-Hardly any bugs - very polished
-Unique encounters in the instance
-Auctioneer/mounts/trade skills/instances
-PVP battlegrounds (could not experience is in beta)
-Gear well itemized so far
-Rifts form anywhere and spawn mobs in 5 waves
-Attackers spawn if a rift is not closed (will attack/take over towns)

I will not give up on this game yet because of the similarities to WoW. I enjoyed WoW when it first came out until the first expansion destroyed all the time I spent farming raid instances for gear. I need to find out how the end-game is and how the PVP is. I do not give a shit how quick it takes to level as I would just grind it out anyway.