Monday 21 February 2011

Bryonis Enters the Rift - Telara here I come!

This weekend has seen the last of the Beta events for Rift. A game which seems to be a bit like marmite to some people. In fact even I was struck by the polar opposite approach when I first tried it. I played the beta about a month ago and found myself disliking the game as it wasn't different enough from others I was playing at the time. When this last beta event invite turned up, I thought I would have another crack of the whip and I am so glad I did! I think that I was being loyal to my previous MMO, so much so that in fact I missed a lot of what was on offer, or that perhaps going straight from one product to another that was similar lead to overkill (I think its a bit of both).

So what caught my attention this time round?
Rift itself brings a few new elements along side a large number of refined ones we have seen in other titles from the genre. The class system is probably one of the best I have seen. It feels like the right balance for me between the rigid classes of titles like WoW and skill based games like Darkfall. It gives direction and has room to grow and change. 
You have a choice of the four main roles – Cleric/Warrior/Mage/Rogue. Which are all the standards. Its when you go that one step down it gets interesting. Each of these Roles has eight souls from which you can choose. Each soul is either, offensive, defensive or healing which can be picked freely (although some are advised to be together). As I am a healer at heart, I chose a Kelari Cleric but from there I picked Justicar, Sentinel, Shaman.
I knew that at some point I would really like to be a healer, I decided to Tank with my Justicar skills. As you can change your souls at any time (for a price) you really don't have to be concerned with getting it right first time. I played through the starting area and made my way along the questing line in Freemarsh. All of which work really well and I did not see a single bug in my time.

The elementals are coming!

The most impressive thing I saw, were the invasions! I was happily questing when all of a sudden I am faced with six elite water elementals/monsters marching towards me. I hit the “join public group” button which appeared at the top of the screen and joined the other players in the area who were hunting this party of invaders! I am pleased to say there is invasion content for all levels! This took place while I was level 12, I was able to engaging in large scale action with many different players. It really takes people working together to defeat the invasions.

You are rewarded for your efforts with currency that can be exchanged for decent items for your level as you progress. Each of which is perfectly attainable. I finished my play at level 16 with 2/3 items that were useful to me (the third was only 20 odd planarite away). Which I think its great, its a real pain when I can out level content that is there to help me.
I have to say I am concern that like, warhammer, the public group content could become difficult if not impossible to complete if as you level there are not enough people around to aid you. Although at first this should not be a big issue, but in the long run it could become an one if left alone too long. How could three people level in a zone if its being invaded by fifty elites?
Crafting is pretty good for starting out, I was able to make myself a mace that was better than quest items of my level and it didn't cost me too much time or effort which again was a nice surprise.
Why out of seventy five?
I don't know who started the 75 skill points per tier of crafting skills, but I am sure the devs could have just chosen a different number. It was just one the small things I don't understand with the genre. Is 75 a special number when it comes to crafting? If so, I think I missed that chapter on crafting in my MMORPG genre manual.

On the first few nights, I had some terrible lag issues due to Rift patching which lead to a problem with my ISP and its priority of information across its network. This however was resolved by Trion with in a few days. To be honest, since its beta that is perfectly acceptable to me. I am glad they had time to face these things before launch... which is point of beta (although most wouldn't believe it).
Bryonis is going to stay in the rift it seems!
Rift really is a good game, so good in fact, I have pre-ordered it! So if you happen to see a Kelari Cleric named Bryonis running by, why not say hi?


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