The Rift headstart, which I consider to be the launch regardless, begins tomorrow. Many have asked me which server the Keen and Graev Community will be playing on, so let me go ahead and get that out of the way first: Sunrest (RP-PVP), Guardians.
Why RP? There’s always the slightest chance the server may end up like Landroval from LotRO or Antonia Bayle from EQ2 and have RP.
Why PvP? Simply because PvE is not enough to sustain this game and battlegrounds are a terrible form of PvP. Open-world is where it’s at.
Why Guardians? Personally, I like their style a lot more. I like their races more. They’re also the stereotypically less-popular side.
It looks like we’ll have the numbers to form up a guild. What our goals become will depend on the group of people we get playing, but you can be sure that we’re interested in open-world PvP. I’m hoping that Trion has done themselves a favor and made the open-world PvP objectives more than a gimmick.
Some have expressed their confusion about why I would play Rift. Allow me to, one last time, give you the breakdown:
1) It’s generic because it’s more of the same yet
2) The content is polished and the class system is decent and
3) It’s something other than what is already released. If you’re happy and content playing what is already out there then there’s absolutely no reason for you to go play Rift. If you feel a void or currently have nothing to play (maybe you’re bored of WoW?) then it’s the next best thing.
What will really determine whether or not I make it long term in Rift is the content that isn’t raiding. I may retire my raiding hat forever (again) after this generation in WoW and I’m not sure I have it in me to do Rift’s raids, although there is currently only one. I’ll be watching the open-world PvP content, how Rifts play into the end-game, and whether or not Rift, through ongoing development, does anything to differentiate itself. You can be sure that if it does not stand out then I’ll bow out and let you guys know the details.
Until then, I’m ready to have some fun with friends and community.
I’m on the fence on pvp. I may join you guys later.
Have fun
I just hope I can get it downloaded ahead of time. I thought I was done at about 8 GB, then got an error & it looks like there is 3.94 GB to go.
Sweet yet another good guild to play against in PvP! Welcome we will enjoy fighting with ya!
Crap. All my friends have outvoted me and we’re going to a RP-PvE server. *sigh*
I look forward to the updates on what you guys are doing. Please keep us posted.
Well guys you gonna miss all the fun. Briarcliff and Deepstrike would be where all the action gonna be
Howdy, are you not getting Rift?
Well you’ve gone with the exact equivalent to my EU Pick (Firesands EN PvP-RP) and I too decided to go Guardian the first time I saw the racial screen during Beta.
Now this interests me as having discovered that the guild who spoiled the realm for everyone back in Age of Conan are setting up as Guardians on Firesands.
This morning I started to seriously consider “could I tolerate 300 ping and play on a US server?”.
Maybe I will create a character “over the pond” too and see how it feels. Roll on 6pm GMT.
Out of interest if you try to boot the game now do you get the error “You are not authorized to play”? I got that last night after installing the live client and activating my Head-Start – I know it’s not started yet but expected a list of offline servers instead of an error….
I’m on the fence with this one. Played a few of the betas… and had fun. But about my 10th time or so doing the 1st warfront I realized I’d bore quickly of the War/WoW style pvp warfronts. At least in War there were enough of them to provide more of a variety along the way, but 3 seems skimpy. And while I prefer open world pvp… I prefer it to have a purpose/point.
@Thallis: I agree with you entirely. I hope open-world has a purpose too, other than the stand-offs just to have one mob attack another, or else it won’t last long.
Ill be on the same sever with my old guild Wanderers, look forward to killing with ya!
Everyone will be sitting in warfronts 24/7 for their pvp pretty sure thats a given. I am planning on waiting 3 month to see which way the game goes (pretty sure I know which way it is..) then make a decision. Do not want to reward this game design with my $$
I am looking forward to trying this game out. I just hope and pray that it does not go the way Aion did. I had such high hopes for that game. The same with this one. So I am willing to buy the pre-order and give it 6 months of playing. Less if I don’t like it, more if I do. The quests in Beta were definitely what drew me and the class system has definitely pique my interest.
Here’s to regrouping with all of you when we were in Aion.
I played through beta4 beta5 and then open beta. I leveled a Kelari Rogue up to lvl 20(ranger/marks/bard). While it was fun and the game felt fresh and polished I realized i have done this already with WoW. The warfronts were way too similair for me to enjoy them, especially the second one(the name slips my mind) but it was just arathi basin… I let out a deep sigh and then realized i just couln’t do this game.
Since then i quickly realized i love LOTRO and resubscribed as a VIP member. That is a game everyone should give a shot if they are having trouble finding an mmo home. It is Lotro for me until guild wars 2 which i’m hoping will be the “ultimate savior”.
Howdy,
@Keen: I’m REALLY trying to find some sort of spark for me to want to try Rift. But every time I watch a movie about the game it just makes a cold shiver go up my spine. I couldn’t even get the urge to try the beta.
For me the PvP is the main/only attraction, and I haven’t seen much of that at all yet in movies.
Also of note is I love WoW PvP. I like Arenas, BG’s, hell any PvP that uses team work and coordination. But the lack of any real Open World PvP keeps me looking for an alternative. Maybe Rift will have that.
But as of now I haven’t seen anything that doesn’t make me feel like I haven’t done that before. It’s just kinda “Bleh”.
Now PvP Minecraft on the other hand has really peaked my interest….but that’s another post.
So if anyone has a movie you think will help me get that “Rift” feeling please let me know. I am really trying!
Doody
Ha, ha, ha Greave… You will never find a community like the LotRO Landroval – It was an accident in the MMO word, a strange combination of testers rolling on the same server to stay together and being joined by mature, fun players genuinely in love with the lore…
That combo is very unlikely to be ever repeated…
Rukgrok (Landroval)
I for one am very excited for RIFT and am glad to finally leave WOW behind. I undrestand everyone has different content they are interested in, most of you looking forward already to end game content and PVP, and that’s awesome!
But I for one am going to enjoy this game from quest #1. For a change I will read all the quest lines, the lore of the game and just treat it like I was reading a book. The final hook for me was during the last hour of open beta I started running to every possible area I could in order to experience new areas other then Freemarch. At level 19-20 you are directed to Stonefield? (excuse me if I have the name wrong) and I was blown away with the scenery that looked like the scottish highlands. I forgot about quests and just explored as much as I could. I did not feel contained in anyway and was pleasently surprised to not only get to the 3 water falls (I felt would be a back drop) but discover the “pine log homes” at the base of the water falls. I know Keen you have written you have enjoyed the lore of WOW and how the story in the books show up in the game. I just wanted to say I for one will enjoy the journey and adventure of this game instead of plowing to the final destination.
My intentions are to try out Sunrest (because your guild will be there) and see just how RP goes.
Always enjoy reading your blog and appreciate the time you put into it.
come on keen, why are you guys rolling on an RP server … geez at least try a less RP-trolling guild name than “happy fun guyz” for the love of christ.
@Howdy: Do you know if your friends are still getting the game? I don’t hear from them often enough since you guys use Skype over Vent.
@Rukgrok: Perhaps it was an accident, but it was not the first time. The Realm, UO, EQ, DAOC, SWG, and EQ2 have also had similar servers and communities. Could it be there is a recipe for coincidence?
@Pierre: It was a play on words in WAR (Goblins, Fungi, Fun Guys) that we liked and we have kept. We could always do something cliche like “Harbringers of Doooooom” or “Knights Templar”. That more RP for you? Better yet, why does it matter to you? Mind your own business. Please roll Defiant.
Maybe it’s just me but in the last few days I’ve seen more and more folks saying they’re rolling guardian. Guess the numbers will play out over the next couple weeks.
I’m hoping for truly even numbers. It’s always more fun that way.
I guess more and more have gravitated towards Guardian as for a long time they appeared to the underdogs with Defiant relatively overpopulated. Less people = shorter queues for Warfronts also attracts a lot of people.
And yeah let’s hope it ends up 50/50.
@Keen
No, we don’t use my Vent server any more. One of my buddies has an insane project deadline for the next 5 months and the other just had a new child. So they are slammed. The couple other guys have their mains on other servers so they don’t log in much to ours. Not sure of their Rift plans, but I’ll ask.
My brother seems to be like me. Not enough different from WowConnanAionWar. But we are still both trying to find interest.
“Until then, I’m ready to have some fun with friends and community.”
This.
Your clear eyes as to why we game is why your site is a favorite for so many. Thanks.
I’m holding out for the next game that actually uses more than TWO factions. I would have thought by now a game would have gone the route of DAoC and implemented at least THREE factions….
@Keen
Yeah it worked in WAR because it fit with the silliness that was greenskins.
Well the EU launch was very smooth: servers up to the minute, no lag and despite lots of people in the main world (i.e. after the L1-6 intro) quests were quite doable.
I raised a few tickets and suggestions right away and had feedback in minutes where appropriate. I even think they fixed sound volume issues within the first hour (combat sounds especially seemed very muted).
Still found that only the Rogue class is fun though, Mages continue to feel incredibly fragile without the commensurate firepower to balance this, Clerics are dull in most cases and Warriors are a bit too slow.
But a great start to a new MMO.
Focking 18 hour queue .And it kicked me out twice already :/
I’ve been in the queue since 1:38 PM ET. Dropped 3x then servers down 2x. At least Aion re-inserted you approximately where you were not back of the line after DCs. OMG. This is only head-start.
The queues have been really bad. They need to let more people on the servers, risk some lag, and stop opening new servers that will turn into ghost towns in a month.
@ Max on briarcliff i take it ? 2500 queue arghhh… wtf
Yeah my guild is there. My 2nd choice (deepstrike) is not better
“Why RP? There’s always the slightest chance the server may end up like Landroval from LotRO or Antonia Bayle from EQ2 and have RP.”
What exactly do you mean by that? Haven’t played on theses servers myself.
@Pris: Those server communities were very good. There were people who often stayed in character. There were server events regularly. Just good people making a good atmosphere.
@Keen
Ah, I suspected it had something to do with that. When I played LOTRO I was on the European RP server Laurelin. The best server community I’ve ever played on 🙂
Although if you pick such a server I hope you will tell your people to pick proper names (i.e. no leetspeak etc) because it annoys us who enjoy RP’ing having L3g0l4s running around 🙂 .
I had the entire fellowship reserved with actual spellings. I let a few of them go to get names I’d actually use. 😉