Rift is a clone of MMOs before it just as much as any other game is a clone of previous games in its own genre. Call of Duty and Medal of Honor. Forza and Gran Turisimo. The NHL series and every other hockey game ever.
I think that with MMOs, because people generally dedicate so much time into them, they gain superficial loyalty. Another game comes along and they look at it with suspicion. Oh, it's the same game? That's retarded. It's a clone. Who cares.
The successful MMOs that are still around right now are the ones who take what works and try to do it better. You may say you want an MMO that is totally different, but you'd only want it for a month, because that is exactly what happens to the MMOs that go out on a limb with their concepts--they're gone soon after launch. Why? The winning formula for an MMO has already been created, and games need to take that and build further instead of trying to recreate the wheel.
Well occasionally a game comes along thats revolutionary, some features of TOR for example are, they aren't simply evolutionary like everything in Rift/LOTRO/etc are (WoW was originally just an evolution of what came before, but has added a number of new features).
It's why I'm desperately hoping TOR is good, because damnit voiced branching quests with options other than TEXT -> ACCEPT/DECLINE QUEST? Yes please. A ship with a crew that I can assign to do stuff and levels up in different ways depending how i work them? Sure! Space combat (albiet linear), with room for expansion later? Yea why not
There is stuff there that has never been done in an MMO, or never done in the same way.
override367 on
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FiggyFighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered Userregular
One clarifier, as I operated under this misconception for awhile too. AoC was not a failure. It just wasn't as big as people thought it would be.
Yes it was. Age of Conan sold a lot of boxes by the most devious, disgusting method I've ever seen in an MMO. Develop the fuck out of the first 10-20 levels of the game, then worry about everything afterwards years down the road. Seriously, the amount of content in the latter half of the game was an insult. Instances/dungeons were flat out not working/no loot/fucked up pathing... it was like they didn't even look at that portion of the game because they figured people would buy the game before they saw any of that anyway.
And numbers, below 100,000 subscribers is what I call a failure in MMO terms, including shutting down almost 70% of your servers.
A year ago, some guy made a "news" post trying to "guesstimate" AOC's numbers and came up with some arbitrary bullshit, but there were only 97,000 characters in all guilds across all servers.
In Rift, the same problem could exist with little to no content in the second half, though, seeing as how no one has even seen post level 27.
Rift is a clone of MMOs before it just as much as any other game is a clone of previous games in its own genre. Call of Duty and Medal of Honor. Forza and Gran Turisimo. The NHL series and every other hockey game ever.
I think that with MMOs, because people generally dedicate so much time into them, they gain superficial loyalty. Another game comes along and they look at it with suspicion. Oh, it's the same game? That's retarded. It's a clone. Who cares.
The successful MMOs that are still around right now are the ones who take what works and try to do it better. You may say you want an MMO that is totally different, but you'd only want it for a month, because that is exactly what happens to the MMOs that go out on a limb with their concepts--they're gone soon after launch. Why? The winning formula for an MMO has already been created, and games need to take that and build further instead of trying to recreate the wheel.
Well occasionally a game comes along thats revolutionary, some features of TOR for example are, they aren't simply evolutionary like everything in Rift is.
It's why I'm desperately hoping TOR is good, because damnit voiced branching quests with options other than TEXT -> ACCEPT/DECLINE QUEST? Yes please. A ship with a crew that I can assign to do stuff and levels up in different ways depending how i work them? Sure! Space combat (albiet linear), with room for expansion later? Yea why not
There is stuff there that has never been done in an MMO, or never done in the same way.
As someone who has followed MMO development since before EQ, I am always shocked by the amount of faith people put in PR bullshit. I'm not saying TOR isn't going to be a great MMO, but you need to just wait it out and see for yourself what is actually going to be delivered. If I had a nickle for every time an MMO developer sold their game on a specific premise and then failed to ever deliver on that very premise, I'd have some nickles.
Sticking with AoC, they boasted the ability to build guild towns, raid guild towns, siege the towns, siege mounts, and all that shit all through development. Entire guilds up and left their current MMO to go subscribe to this epic PVP game, only to realize almost none of that stuff was in the game. Everything was minimal and barely functioning. They did, however, deliver on the boobies.
BloodshedI smoke my friendsDown to the FilterRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
I really enjoyed CoH. I played on the Paragon server, but after a character or two the same 3 missions over and over got to me, and I had to move on. My first was a Claws/Invuln Scrapper that was amazing til they nerfed all the defensive sets.
Well being below 100,000 subscribers does not entail a failed MMO, it's kind of a bad way to describe it. Basically if the game can still be ran, and at the same time make money it has yet to fail.
Perhaps 2% of all MMOs made have actually failed, as in died out and had to have their servers shut down. Even then those games have been revived via fan efforts.
I really enjoyed CoH. I played on the Paragon server, but after a character or two the same 3 missions over and over got to me, and I had to move on. My first was a Claws/Invuln Scrapper that was amazing til they nerfed all the defensive sets.
I was over on Virtue with the rest of the PA guys, first character and highest ended up being my Martial Arts/Dark Armour Scrapper.
One clarifier, as I operated under this misconception for awhile too. AoC was not a failure. It just wasn't as big as people thought it would be.
Yes it was. Age of Conan sold a lot of boxes by the most devious, disgusting method I've ever seen in an MMO. Develop the fuck out of the first 10-20 levels of the game, then worry about everything afterwards years down the road. Seriously, the amount of content in the latter half of the game was an insult. Instances/dungeons were flat out not working/no loot/fucked up pathing... it was like they didn't even look at that portion of the game because they figured people would buy the game before they saw any of that anyway.
And numbers, below 100,000 subscribers is what I call a failure in MMO terms, including shutting down almost 70% of your servers.
A year ago, some guy made a "news" post trying to "guesstimate" AOC's numbers and came up with some arbitrary bullshit, but there were only 97,000 characters in all guilds across all servers.
In Rift, the same problem could exist with little to no content in the second half, though, seeing as how no one has even seen post level 27.
Rift is a clone of MMOs before it just as much as any other game is a clone of previous games in its own genre. Call of Duty and Medal of Honor. Forza and Gran Turisimo. The NHL series and every other hockey game ever.
I think that with MMOs, because people generally dedicate so much time into them, they gain superficial loyalty. Another game comes along and they look at it with suspicion. Oh, it's the same game? That's retarded. It's a clone. Who cares.
The successful MMOs that are still around right now are the ones who take what works and try to do it better. You may say you want an MMO that is totally different, but you'd only want it for a month, because that is exactly what happens to the MMOs that go out on a limb with their concepts--they're gone soon after launch. Why? The winning formula for an MMO has already been created, and games need to take that and build further instead of trying to recreate the wheel.
Well occasionally a game comes along thats revolutionary, some features of TOR for example are, they aren't simply evolutionary like everything in Rift is.
It's why I'm desperately hoping TOR is good, because damnit voiced branching quests with options other than TEXT -> ACCEPT/DECLINE QUEST? Yes please. A ship with a crew that I can assign to do stuff and levels up in different ways depending how i work them? Sure! Space combat (albiet linear), with room for expansion later? Yea why not
There is stuff there that has never been done in an MMO, or never done in the same way.
As someone who has followed MMO development since before EQ, I am always shocked by the amount of faith people put in PR bullshit. I'm not saying TOR isn't going to be a great MMO, but you need to just wait it out and see for yourself what is actually going to be delivered. If I had a nickle for every time an MMO developer sold their game on a specific premise and then failed to ever deliver on that very premise, I'd have some nickles.
Sticking with AoC, they boasted the ability to build guild towns, raid guild towns, siege the towns, siege mounts, and all that shit all through development. Entire guilds up and left their current MMO to go subscribe to this epic PVP game, only to realize almost none of that stuff was in the game. Everything was minimal and barely functioning. They did, however, deliver on the boobies.
I think I said I hope TOR is good, chiding me for putting faith in PR bullshit is disingenuous as shit, I didn't say I had any faith in their PR bullshit - in fact if you check my posts in TOR thread you'll see I'm probably the most negative person there. I just really really hope it lives up to videos like this one
If the quests are all like that I can be assured at least leveling up will be entertaining
Whether it's good or not doesn't change whether or not a feature is evolutionary or revolutionary though. Almost everything about APB was revolutionary, and much of what TOR is doing is new, but that doesn't speak one way or the other to its quality in and of itself (unless, of course, you're burnt out on what is and are eager for something new)
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FiggyFighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
I was referring to how you started spouting off these revolutionary features as if they exist, you've tried them, and they work. Let's wait and see if they even make it into the game (let alone actually work to any satisfaction) before saying the features in the game are revolutionary.
As it stands, we've seen how the rifts and invasions work in Rift, and this idea works. It's not completely new, though. Tabula Rasa had random invasions where drop ships would bring down enemy mobs who would then walk around and shoot players, but that was the end of it.
BloodshedI smoke my friendsDown to the FilterRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
Holding up WoW as a model for success in the MMO market is perhaps a bit unfair. It would be like comparing a privately owned mexican restaurant to Taco Bell, or a small pizza chain to Domino's.
They can still be successful in their own right, they can still make money. LOTRO, DDO, EQ1, EQ2, CoH/CoV are all examples of MMO's that are successful even today, but they don't make the monstrous kind of money Blizzard does, and are thus less apparent. Blizzard can afford the millions they probably spend on advertising, which added to the fact they have the largest subscriber base, makes them look like the only real successful MMO out there.
While we're talking about zam, they also have the soul builder I'm currently using. It's still got some bugs in it, but its the only one I've found so far that also gives you a list of you have instead of making you hunt and peck through the roots.
And, on the common sense front, it appears that (contrary to earlier statements) preorder items will be available for use during the headstart. Scroll down to the 1/20/2011 update. A bit strangely, they haven't updated the earlier part of the FAQ yet so it still also says they won't be. Go figure.
Dang, I managed to secure a key for myself, but my girlfriend says it either closed at 6pm (half an hour ago) or she saw the very last key disappear right before she registered at the site. =(
Oh well...if I like the game we'll probably pre-order and then we can both play at the next one.
By the way, is the focus of the next test going to be about warfronts and pvp, or?
Edit: Just read that the previous one was about warfronts, so I guess this one is more about world pvp?
I got a key and claimed it but I don't know what to do next.
Just keep it somewhere written down or pasted in a notepad file. You can make a Trion account and then apply that key. Then, when beta opens up, you should either get an email or check your account page for more info. You'll need to "read" the EULA and then download the client.
You wait until a day or two before the 25 to download the client.
This game doesn't let you loose, the open beta is made out in 'events' for specific testing, while they have a hardcore series of alpha testers trying to break the game behind the scenes.
By the way, is the focus of the next test going to be about warfronts and pvp, or?
Edit: Just read that the previous one was about warfronts, so I guess this one is more about world pvp?
I think it's world PvPish? From lolLorelol, Scarlet Gorge is the first place that both sides share as a quest hub and both have a vested interest in as well as being the first place with fire rifts as a major zone enemy. However, at this point what they're testing is really inconsequential as they open up everything.
If the Rift forums are to be believed, Zam blew through 5000 beta keys in a few hours and just got a second wave of them put up. So, yeah, there should still be some left. Go get em!
SimpsonsParadox on
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BloodshedI smoke my friendsDown to the FilterRegistered Userregular
This build is great for soloing, both quests and rifts. I went up the Ranger tree first, then Marksman, then Assassin. Future points will go towards Marksman (up to 18), then Ranger (up to 22, when the pet level caps out), then Assassin (up to 17, physical damage bonuses). This also works pretty well as a PvP build, though 26 Marksman is better for that. I only use empowered/deadeye with hit and run (and my AP trinket and elven racial) going, quick shot/swift shot spam the rest of the time does just fine. Finisher priority is Head Shot, then Rapid Fire Shot.
Maxed out Bard, obviously. Ranger for the pet (basically emergency CC), extra crit (for heals), and ranged auto-attack. Riftstalker for the AP (helps with heals) and the endurance buff, plus eventually you'll take the heal boost as well. Saboteur also works as a third soul, for some added CC and AoE (and the +dex talent). Keep your motifs up, keep your debuffs on the enemies, and heal the rest of the time. Build combo points with Power Chord then Cadence. Riff is there for emergencies.
This build will tank everything available so far without any problems. If there is a bard in your group, make sure you use different anthems and fanfares. Rift Disturbance every time it is off cooldown, keep three stacks of Phantom Blow up, then spam Planar Strike. Finisher priority is Rift Guard, Guarded Steel, then Annihilate. Later on you could go heavy bladedancer (for dodge/parry) or heavier riftstalker for the buffs that you get from shifting, but since you can only get the armor one at this level I didn't really find it worthwhile.
I am very curious about Bard for group play. Are the animations decently done?
I know I had a group in last beta that really wanted a bard for the buffs they gave, so they'll hopefully have a place in higher level group play. As for animations, here's a video of a guy playing a bard in Warfronts (Rift's Battlegrounds):
After you grab that and enter the beta key at the rift website, is there a client download or anything that should pop up? I didn't see anything else after entering the key.
I guess this is going to sound pessimistic. I am really not trying to, I'm genuinely curious about this game and haven't played it so take it with a grain of salt please.
Interesting Bard video. I haven't seen a whole lot of gameplay video so far. But what I have seen is very odd to me. It seems to me that the gameplay (now I mean the presentation, animation, gameplay aspect only) looks like literally a combination of Lotro/wow/war. The interface partially looks like war and wow, the animations look to be a combination of lotro (especially that bard) and wow. Now that's not really a bad thing, as if you cherry pick features you pick the best ones and try to refine them.
However, it looks to me to be kind of uninspired. If someone showed me that bard video and didn't tell me what game it was, I would have no idea. I'd basically say it looks like a mashup of wow/war/lotro. It just doesn't seem to have a draw or any unique characteristic that makes it stand out.
Now, I thought the same thing about DCUO (because it looked like CoX and CO) but after playing it, the action in DC is so much better that it's actually a draw to me. So in all honesty, what would be the draw of rift over the other games?
You wont be able to download a client until 24-48 hours before the beta event starts, which is the 25th.
Also I don't know what the draw would be, having not played it, but you can spot some more singular videos of people playing. OMFGCata on youtube has videos of Jesse playing the beta for instance.
Plus if you go back a page, ZAM STILL somehow has keys, so snag one so you can mess around in the beta events.
I guess this is going to sound pessimistic. I am really not trying to, I'm genuinely curious about this game and haven't played it so take it with a grain of salt please.
Interesting Bard video. I haven't seen a whole lot of gameplay video so far. But what I have seen is very odd to me. It seems to me that the gameplay (now I mean the presentation, animation, gameplay aspect only) looks like literally a combination of Lotro/wow/war. The interface partially looks like war and wow, the animations look to be a combination of lotro (especially that bard) and wow. Now that's not really a bad thing, as if you cherry pick features you pick the best ones and try to refine them.
However, it looks to me to be kind of uninspired. If someone showed me that bard video and didn't tell me what game it was, I would have no idea. I'd basically say it looks like a mashup of wow/war/lotro. It just doesn't seem to have a draw or any unique characteristic that makes it stand out.
Now, I thought the same thing about DCUO (because it looked like CoX and CO) but after playing it, the action in DC is so much better that it's actually a draw to me. So in all honesty, what would be the draw of rift over the other games?
Well, far be it from me to discourage anyone from checking out the game for yourself (I totally think you should), but I personally think asking the question "what's the draw of this" is the wrong one to ask. That is to say, if you are A) already playing another MMO, and really pretty happy doing so, I'm not sure there IS a draw to RIFT.
However, if you play one of the above-mentioned games and ever think you'd like it to be slightly different in some way, say, WAR with better PvE, or WoW with better graphics, or LOTRO with better animations or more classic MMO professions, or faster combat, or any of the above with more robust profession design, or more unpredictable content, a more dangerous world, better public quests, etc.
Any of these things, really, well, THAT is the draw of Rift. All those things, and polished, and with a server backend that allows for changes and improvements on the fly. If you've never wanted any of those things, then I think you'd be hard-pressed to find something about Rift that specifically appeals to you.
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FiggyFighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
What game is this?
Looks like a mix between Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, and Counter Strike.
But seriously, I really do not understand the confusion or animosity toward MMOs that "look like" their competitors. Like any other genre, MMOs will emulate each other and try to refine features to come up with a superior product. Sometimes, an MMO will go way out in left field to try something different, like Timeshift did with shooters. In that case, it didn't work, just like it doesn't work often in MMOs.
There is nothing wrong with sticking with what works. The Call of Duty series has been doing that for years, and no shooter franchise is giving it much of a run for its money, just like no one has really tried to give WoW the shakedown.
I see Rift as an attempt to compete with WoW, which on one hand is a hugely successful MMO, but on the other hand it has a slew of people who are sick of the game, want a change, and will flock to the next polished MMO that can offer the same level of play.
Quite often, MMOs fail because people come from one fully developed, functioning MMO to a new game that is full of bugs, lacks content, and they don't feel like sticking around for it to find itself. The MMO genre especially is notorious for launching too early and developing on the fly, but now that there are so many established MMO games out there, I don't think players are going to accept that any more. Waiting around for bugs to be fixed, combat to be smoothed out, servers to be stabilized, PVP to be implemented, end-game to be added, or whatever else was missed before launch is not needed any more--players have the choice to go elsewhere.
Luckily, Rift seems really, really polished so far, so it won't be losing players to that syndrome. I still don't know about endgame, however, since all tests have conveniently left that aspect out.
Posts
Don't mention Lineage 2, please. It was my first MMO ever, the fact that City of Heroes was my second was the only saving grace for the genre with me.
Well occasionally a game comes along thats revolutionary, some features of TOR for example are, they aren't simply evolutionary like everything in Rift/LOTRO/etc are (WoW was originally just an evolution of what came before, but has added a number of new features).
It's why I'm desperately hoping TOR is good, because damnit voiced branching quests with options other than TEXT -> ACCEPT/DECLINE QUEST? Yes please. A ship with a crew that I can assign to do stuff and levels up in different ways depending how i work them? Sure! Space combat (albiet linear), with room for expansion later? Yea why not
There is stuff there that has never been done in an MMO, or never done in the same way.
Yes it was. Age of Conan sold a lot of boxes by the most devious, disgusting method I've ever seen in an MMO. Develop the fuck out of the first 10-20 levels of the game, then worry about everything afterwards years down the road. Seriously, the amount of content in the latter half of the game was an insult. Instances/dungeons were flat out not working/no loot/fucked up pathing... it was like they didn't even look at that portion of the game because they figured people would buy the game before they saw any of that anyway.
And numbers, below 100,000 subscribers is what I call a failure in MMO terms, including shutting down almost 70% of your servers.
A year ago, some guy made a "news" post trying to "guesstimate" AOC's numbers and came up with some arbitrary bullshit, but there were only 97,000 characters in all guilds across all servers.
In Rift, the same problem could exist with little to no content in the second half, though, seeing as how no one has even seen post level 27.
As someone who has followed MMO development since before EQ, I am always shocked by the amount of faith people put in PR bullshit. I'm not saying TOR isn't going to be a great MMO, but you need to just wait it out and see for yourself what is actually going to be delivered. If I had a nickle for every time an MMO developer sold their game on a specific premise and then failed to ever deliver on that very premise, I'd have some nickles.
Sticking with AoC, they boasted the ability to build guild towns, raid guild towns, siege the towns, siege mounts, and all that shit all through development. Entire guilds up and left their current MMO to go subscribe to this epic PVP game, only to realize almost none of that stuff was in the game. Everything was minimal and barely functioning. They did, however, deliver on the boobies.
Battletag: Kain#1658
Perhaps 2% of all MMOs made have actually failed, as in died out and had to have their servers shut down. Even then those games have been revived via fan efforts.
I was over on Virtue with the rest of the PA guys, first character and highest ended up being my Martial Arts/Dark Armour Scrapper.
I think I said I hope TOR is good, chiding me for putting faith in PR bullshit is disingenuous as shit, I didn't say I had any faith in their PR bullshit - in fact if you check my posts in TOR thread you'll see I'm probably the most negative person there. I just really really hope it lives up to videos like this one
If the quests are all like that I can be assured at least leveling up will be entertaining
Whether it's good or not doesn't change whether or not a feature is evolutionary or revolutionary though. Almost everything about APB was revolutionary, and much of what TOR is doing is new, but that doesn't speak one way or the other to its quality in and of itself (unless, of course, you're burnt out on what is and are eager for something new)
As it stands, we've seen how the rifts and invasions work in Rift, and this idea works. It's not completely new, though. Tabula Rasa had random invasions where drop ships would bring down enemy mobs who would then walk around and shoot players, but that was the end of it.
They can still be successful in their own right, they can still make money. LOTRO, DDO, EQ1, EQ2, CoH/CoV are all examples of MMO's that are successful even today, but they don't make the monstrous kind of money Blizzard does, and are thus less apparent. Blizzard can afford the millions they probably spend on advertising, which added to the fact they have the largest subscriber base, makes them look like the only real successful MMO out there.
Battletag: Kain#1658
http://www.zam.com/giveaways/rift.html
Get em while they last!!
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html
And, on the common sense front, it appears that (contrary to earlier statements) preorder items will be available for use during the headstart. Scroll down to the 1/20/2011 update. A bit strangely, they haven't updated the earlier part of the FAQ yet so it still also says they won't be. Go figure.
Yay, my turtle!
Battletag: Kain#1658
Oh well...if I like the game we'll probably pre-order and then we can both play at the next one.
By the way, is the focus of the next test going to be about warfronts and pvp, or?
Edit: Just read that the previous one was about warfronts, so I guess this one is more about world pvp?
Well, that's weird then, my girlfriend said she refreshed the page and it showed "Sorry, no more beta keys."
Can anyone confirm there are still beta keys?
Update: Okay, so she actually managed to get one now. This is weird, because she did see the message at school when she tried to get one.
Oh well! There are still keys, go get 'em folks.
http://www.zam.com/giveaways/rift.html
Hit "Enter Beta Key" on the site or go to http://account.riftgame.com/
Sign in (or register and sign in), then go to "Apply code."
Just keep it somewhere written down or pasted in a notepad file. You can make a Trion account and then apply that key. Then, when beta opens up, you should either get an email or check your account page for more info. You'll need to "read" the EULA and then download the client.
Not sure if you can download prior to.
Edit: Beat'd
This game doesn't let you loose, the open beta is made out in 'events' for specific testing, while they have a hardcore series of alpha testers trying to break the game behind the scenes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIiraDqzQYU
I think it's world PvPish? From lolLorelol, Scarlet Gorge is the first place that both sides share as a quest hub and both have a vested interest in as well as being the first place with fire rifts as a major zone enemy. However, at this point what they're testing is really inconsequential as they open up everything.
-edit-
If the Rift forums are to be believed, Zam blew through 5000 beta keys in a few hours and just got a second wave of them put up. So, yeah, there should still be some left. Go get em!
Battletag: Kain#1658
Ranged Solo PvE Build: http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0MNfM.VMcb.xhx0c.0VR
This build is great for soloing, both quests and rifts. I went up the Ranger tree first, then Marksman, then Assassin. Future points will go towards Marksman (up to 18), then Ranger (up to 22, when the pet level caps out), then Assassin (up to 17, physical damage bonuses). This also works pretty well as a PvP build, though 26 Marksman is better for that. I only use empowered/deadeye with hit and run (and my AP trinket and elven racial) going, quick shot/swift shot spam the rest of the time does just fine. Finisher priority is Head Shot, then Rapid Fire Shot.
Bard Group Build: http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0McNp.Vcksfosko.V.V
Maxed out Bard, obviously. Ranger for the pet (basically emergency CC), extra crit (for heals), and ranged auto-attack. Riftstalker for the AP (helps with heals) and the endurance buff, plus eventually you'll take the heal boost as well. Saboteur also works as a third soul, for some added CC and AoE (and the +dex talent). Keep your motifs up, keep your debuffs on the enemies, and heal the rest of the time. Build combo points with Power Chord then Cadence. Riff is there for emergencies.
Tank Build: http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0MpcN.xGt0z0co.xoz.xh
This build will tank everything available so far without any problems. If there is a bard in your group, make sure you use different anthems and fanfares. Rift Disturbance every time it is off cooldown, keep three stacks of Phantom Blow up, then spam Planar Strike. Finisher priority is Rift Guard, Guarded Steel, then Annihilate. Later on you could go heavy bladedancer (for dodge/parry) or heavier riftstalker for the buffs that you get from shifting, but since you can only get the armor one at this level I didn't really find it worthwhile.
I know I had a group in last beta that really wanted a bard for the buffs they gave, so they'll hopefully have a place in higher level group play. As for animations, here's a video of a guy playing a bard in Warfronts (Rift's Battlegrounds):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Utd5o1NEis
After you grab that and enter the beta key at the rift website, is there a client download or anything that should pop up? I didn't see anything else after entering the key.
Interesting Bard video. I haven't seen a whole lot of gameplay video so far. But what I have seen is very odd to me. It seems to me that the gameplay (now I mean the presentation, animation, gameplay aspect only) looks like literally a combination of Lotro/wow/war. The interface partially looks like war and wow, the animations look to be a combination of lotro (especially that bard) and wow. Now that's not really a bad thing, as if you cherry pick features you pick the best ones and try to refine them.
However, it looks to me to be kind of uninspired. If someone showed me that bard video and didn't tell me what game it was, I would have no idea. I'd basically say it looks like a mashup of wow/war/lotro. It just doesn't seem to have a draw or any unique characteristic that makes it stand out.
Now, I thought the same thing about DCUO (because it looked like CoX and CO) but after playing it, the action in DC is so much better that it's actually a draw to me. So in all honesty, what would be the draw of rift over the other games?
Also I don't know what the draw would be, having not played it, but you can spot some more singular videos of people playing. OMFGCata on youtube has videos of Jesse playing the beta for instance.
Plus if you go back a page, ZAM STILL somehow has keys, so snag one so you can mess around in the beta events.
Well, far be it from me to discourage anyone from checking out the game for yourself (I totally think you should), but I personally think asking the question "what's the draw of this" is the wrong one to ask. That is to say, if you are A) already playing another MMO, and
However, if you play one of the above-mentioned games and ever think you'd like it to be slightly different in some way, say, WAR with better PvE, or WoW with better graphics, or LOTRO with better animations or more classic MMO professions, or faster combat, or any of the above with more robust profession design, or more unpredictable content, a more dangerous world, better public quests, etc.
Any of these things, really, well, THAT is the draw of Rift. All those things, and polished, and with a server backend that allows for changes and improvements on the fly. If you've never wanted any of those things, then I think you'd be hard-pressed to find something about Rift that specifically appeals to you.
Looks like a mix between Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, and Counter Strike.
But seriously, I really do not understand the confusion or animosity toward MMOs that "look like" their competitors. Like any other genre, MMOs will emulate each other and try to refine features to come up with a superior product. Sometimes, an MMO will go way out in left field to try something different, like Timeshift did with shooters. In that case, it didn't work, just like it doesn't work often in MMOs.
There is nothing wrong with sticking with what works. The Call of Duty series has been doing that for years, and no shooter franchise is giving it much of a run for its money, just like no one has really tried to give WoW the shakedown.
I see Rift as an attempt to compete with WoW, which on one hand is a hugely successful MMO, but on the other hand it has a slew of people who are sick of the game, want a change, and will flock to the next polished MMO that can offer the same level of play.
Quite often, MMOs fail because people come from one fully developed, functioning MMO to a new game that is full of bugs, lacks content, and they don't feel like sticking around for it to find itself. The MMO genre especially is notorious for launching too early and developing on the fly, but now that there are so many established MMO games out there, I don't think players are going to accept that any more. Waiting around for bugs to be fixed, combat to be smoothed out, servers to be stabilized, PVP to be implemented, end-game to be added, or whatever else was missed before launch is not needed any more--players have the choice to go elsewhere.
Luckily, Rift seems really, really polished so far, so it won't be losing players to that syndrome. I still don't know about endgame, however, since all tests have conveniently left that aspect out.
42 out of 50 lvls and we see more Warfronts.