I have been playing Rift since its head-start, and I must admit that I've had the best first week experience ever. Servers have been smooth. Updates were done when necessary, addressing issues reported as soon as possible. Leveling has been interesting, although traditional and linear. Graphics look great even on my old computer. Quite a lot of people are playing it, so no shortage of players. However, three things really stood out. First, the whole class system is truly a work of genius. I love how I can mix and match my souls to experiment with different specs. There is no cookie-cutter build, and the strength of a character is determined by the skills of a player, not by whether she or he avidly followed someone else's guideline. Two, there's always something to do in the game. The game is so dynamic, having rifts and invasions all over different zones, not to mention Warfronts (PvP Battleground), challenging instances, and raids (which I've not been able to try yet). You have the sense of actually getting involved in this imaginary world. Third, last but not least, it is fun. It's difficult to pinpoint and state exactly why it is fun, but, trust me, it is so much fun. The game definitely has great and lasting value for its price, so I suggest you run into Rift and try it out now.… Expand

Best game I've played since World of Warcraft came out. I would recommend this game to anyone that enjoys MMO's. It may not be he most original game but it takes the best aspects from other games such as wow, eq2, and warhammer and tries to improve upon it while adding it's own twist on things.

Excellent and extremely diverse class system. The world isn't stale like you find in many other MMOs. I've routinely had a goal in mind and been pulled into the world events. I am a casual player and I like it a lot more than WoW. I always hate to make that comparison, but it needs to be made. The only downside I can specify right now is that the server gets laggy during larger events. However, I suppose this will be refined as this game develops. There are a lot of people playing which is a plus and most seem to really like the game. I'd also like to state that the game seems to be quite a bit more challenging on the PvE side of the fence which I personally like. Overall this game is quite impressive. A must buy for any MMO fan.… Expand

I can't stop playing. I'm afraid I'll lose my job! Seriously, this is pretty fantastic. The rifts and invasions are the most fun I've had in practically any other MMO I've played. GREAT co-op! Beautiful, addicting, easy to play, AWESOME! Play this game or else you'll always suck.

Yes, this game is a lot like Everquest, World of Warcraft and Warhammer--but in a good way. It takes the best of those games and combines them into a highly-polished package. The multi-soul system is an improvement on WoW's talent tree; rifts themselves are an improvement on WAR's public quests. It has its completely unique features as well; rifts can spawn zone-wide invasions which require players to fight off hordes of monsters from other planes. Above all, though, Rift is polished to a level above any MMO released in years. All of the features you expect are here, and they're all well-executed. There's an auction house; public grouping; guilds (with advancement); even twitter integration. The client is stable and performs well, even during zone-wide invasions with hundreds of nearby players and monsters. The servers have been extremely stable during beta and head-start.

Not everyone is going to love Rift or abandon their current MMO. But if you're tired of WoW or disappointed by Warhammer, there's a good chance Rift has what you're looking for.… Expand

Played in Beta and headstart. So far this game is best MMO out there in my opinion. Trying out different souls is fun.. I have been doing mostly warfronts, fighting rifts and dungeons. It is nonstop action. Lots of people to group with. Game has just launched, but everything is working smoothly. The questing does not feel like grinding, there is a good mix of stuff to do. The graphics are amazing. I've tried 3 different specs for healing on my cleric already and they are all different but fun in their own way. I got the digital deluxe one with the ingame items. It includes a bigger bag and a cool, double-headed turtle mount which you can use as soon as you get near a mailbox, can't remember exactly, but like level 9 maybe. It makes getting around a lot easier so get that one if you can.… Expand

A great game with smoothest launch of any mmo ive ever played, There is a ton of content to do in the game and being able to participate in zone wide rift invasions is amazing simply one of the best mmo's since wow

I played lots of mmos in my gaming years, but boy I was really impressed by this one. Game itself is total ripoff from everything you saw in every mmorpg you can think of, but these guys took only the best things, improved them in lots of ways, and wrap them together in fabulous package. Public quests, superior auction house, excellent PvP and dungeons, tons of action (youll never get bored here), you name it, rift got it. Best polished and bugfree mmo game I ever played on launch day. If you liked any mmorpg out there ever, buy this one, you wont be dissapointed.… Expand

This has quickly become my favorite MMO ever. It has: a gorgeous world that sucks you right in, interesting but not too daunting lore, very diverse and customizable class system, tons of bonus achievements...i could go on. I just recently completed the first group instance, and it was a blast! I love everything about this game so far. If you even remotely enjoy playing MMO games, then this game is for you.… Expand

I give this an average score for an average game

There's nothing special about it. It's just blah.

Skip this if youre playing one already. If you're pining for an MMO, then play a free one until something good comes along this year

WARNING: Same person who destroyed Warhammer Online - Adam Gershowitz - is in control of game balance here. Great game - up till "balance" patch 1.1, which destroyed a bunch of playstyles in a game which claims to promote versatility in how you can build your characters (this is now gone), and indicates future issues with how game "balance" will be handled. After this patch and the massive outcry from players, it has been revealed that the person responsible for game balance is the same person who destroyed Warhammer Online - Adam Gershowitz. Warning for all gamers intending on playing this game - with Adam in control of game balance. you can expect things to go very, very wrong very soon.… Expand

There is really nothing NEW here that hasn't been done before. The fanboi excitement reviews are just because they are bored with WOW or never played an MMO before. The first thing I noticed is the game is tooooo solo friendly and hardly anyone wants to group prior to level 50. The game is tooooooo EASY as I leveledup without worry and pretty much stomped everything in my path as I was beating mobs 4 levels higher than me quite early in the game all the way to 50. The death penalty is a joke. You don't lose anything but a small amount of time getting back to your corpse and a few gold coins to get your abilities back to 100%. The market is dead because the leveling is TOO FAST. I went to level 12 the first day. To level 30 the first 3 days and level 50 by the end of 7 days. There's no challenge in that and the combat is so repetitive you can roll your face across the keyboard and beat anything. The skills and spells are dry and just don't stand out like say an Everquest version. In Everquest I really felt I was my character and really felt FEAR of dying and losing stuff. There's not a bit of fear in this game and as I said the death penalty is a joke.
The colors for characters are bland as well.. Too much BROWN and Grays. THe weapons are horrible looking and there's no procs so nothing stands out as "OHHHHH I WANT DAT!". Boring colors, boring looking and just an overall boring game. To me this is a game for 8 to 10 year olds. It's that easy and then they can go..."Looky Mommy I beat dah bad guy Look Mommy LOOK!" lmao

The community isn't really friendly especially on the official forums. I've never seen so many negative comments on a game in my life. I mean this game really sucks it's that bad. You're better off waiting for Guild Wars 2.… Expand

First things first. People need to understand that Rift is a very traditional MMORPG. If you played WoW, Everquest 2, or Warhammer, than Rift will feel very familiar to you. But is that necessarily a bad thing? In the case of Rift? Not at all. I'm not a professional game critic, so I'm not going to dive in to every aspect of the game. But, I will let you know right now that one of the aspects really that shine in Rift, would be the classes. There are four primary classes, Mage, Warrior, Rogue, and Cleric. Don't let the number four fool you, because technically Rift has thirty-six classes. Let me explain. Each class that you choose has 9 skill trees (souls). Each class can choose three of those souls to shove skill points in to. So lets say you're playing a Warrior, and you're going to be soloing quite a bit. Maybe you'll want a companion? You can choose the Beastmaster soul. Well, you got a pet now, but maybe you also want to be a dual weapon specialist and dish out lots of damage, you can choose the Paragon soul as well. Well, maybe you want to buff your weapons with elemental power. Then go ahead and pick the Riftblade soul as well.

So basically you're a dual wielding warrior with fire swords and a pet. And that's basically how it works. But remember there are still 6 other souls to work with, and one of them is specifically dedicated to the PvPer.… Expand

Pretty game, but does nothing new for the genre. This would probably be a great game for those new to MMORPG's, but for vets it will probably feel like more of the same. What it did do was take some good elements from other MMO's and incorporated them. Control and UI wise, almost an exact match for World of Warcraft. Rifts are pretty much the same thing as public quests from Warhammer online. The multiple class/soul trees have been seen in Guild Wars. This game, along with all other MMO's just feels like it's trying to build on what's already out there but better, which it does do, but at the same time it doesn't bring anything new to the table.… Expand

It looks good, it feels great. Very smooth launch so far, great zones and the rift system is engaging and highly immersive. Will it kill WoW? Who cares, WoW needs decent competition and Rift is a great contender.

Rift doesn't pretend to reinvent anything, it takes the best bits from other games and rolls them into a great iteration of the fantasy MMO genre. Kudos to Trion, great job!

- Very boring and repetitive questlines. - PvP instances are really mediocre. PvP is quite often premades repeatedly steamrolling pugs, and this is apparently working as intended. Both sides have what is basically a Warhammer Bright Wizard locking down the battlefield with mass AE and mass CC.

- While the class structure initially looks great, it in fact is a nightmare of min maxing players vs. devs. Yo-yoing balance patches and random nerfs are pretty commonplace, but they seem to break more than they fix. - The Rift events (their signature "thang") are either nonexistant or overly in your face, locking down entire zones with 12 total players in them with no chance against the NPC invaders. The loot from Rifts sort of sucks relative to other lvl 50 gear so its no surprise people dont really seem to bother.

- The "elite" PvE instances (the ones you run to grind tokens for gear, just like WoW) are rehashes of the instances you see from lvl 1 - 50 with yet more trash to clear.

- Crafting is a luck based system in which you grind dailies to get tokens to get uber patterns. So are some of the gathering "recipes" - random luck based drops off nodes. Yay for luck based MMOs.

- The devs seem sort of out of touch as to what the players are actually doing in PvE, PvP and with the construction of their characters using the "unique" soul system. One example is that there are two main healing classes and the one that is the better of the two cannot even queue as heals using the (now in Alpha) looking for group tool. This is apparently working as intended.

- While gathering or traveling expect masses of gray mobs to aggro you, slow you down, dismount you and force you to clear them. All while trying to get your luck based crafting daily done so you can once again not get a tablet that is necessary to get the good patterns.

Try it if you gotta, but I highly recommend a one month sub because thats about all the gameplay Rift has in it.… Expand

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I admit, when I first started playing Rift in Beta 4 I wasn't too terribly impressed. Sure, the graphics were pretty good but the combat didn't really set my world on fire. But things have improved considerably since then and I'm now an active purchaser/subscriber. I've played WoW since 2004 and while it's too early to tell if Rift is a "better" game, I will say that it's certainly one of the first new MMOs to come along that feels complete with tons of stuff to do. The world is new and gorgeous, combat IS a lot of fun once you start gaining abilities, the soul system rocks, and the rift invasions are a ton of fun. My initial impressions of the rifts/invasions were that they might be gimmicky -- but they've yet to become a bore or tiresome. As others have yet, the quest system isn't anything amazing, but the rifts really do help break up the monotony of leveling. In fact, I would say it hasn't been monotonous at all!

Rift is an excellent game. For anyone to rate this game below a 7 hasn't really played it for any length of time OR is desperately wanting a next-gen MMO (which this isn't-- just an evolution of what we're familiar with). If you are a new player to WoW I would say you'd probably be happier staying with that. But if you're like me and have played WoW for years and have grown tired of its "same ol same ol'", then give Rift a try. I think you'll definitely enjoy your time in Telara.… Expand

I have been playing MMOs for over a decade now and I wanted to address a couple of the negative reviewers: 1. For the person who thinks this is a dumbed down version of WoW, he couldn't be more wrong. Instead of one talent tree, you get three, the crafting system is silimar to WoW, but it has some options in it to make the items much more usable at your level. The UI system is one of the best that I have ever seen. It's very easily customizable and you can easily tailor it to your tastes.
2. For the guy who complains about questing, leveling up, dungeons, raids and rifts... its an MMO!! That is what these games are played for! Holy crap, if you are going to complain about that, play a different game!

Seriously though, I've been playing World of Warcraft since its release and if there was ever a true WoW killer, this game is it. I picked it up very easily without even having to look at a manual and was instantly impressed by the spit and polish Trion Worlds put into their product. I highly recommend this game for anyone who is tired of playing World of Warcraft and wants something new.… Expand

Game has problems with connection and performance. 50 pages of tech problem thread in 7 days speak for themselves. Customer support is awful. Gameplay: Kill and fetch PvE quest system. Farm'n grind, nothing new. Several different currencies allow for specialized grinding. Rift events are permanently popping up everywhere and not challenging. PvP is chaotic, restricted, unbalanced and pointless (no gain whatsoever if the other player was attacked by a mob). If I was able to play it I'd rate it 4/10. But I get disconnected on a regular basis, so the game is unplayable = 0/10. Continuing to wait for Guild Wars 2.â… Expand

Honestly don't see what the fuss is about, Rift is a average game that has done nothing to progress the MMO genre. It's just so bland, boring and dull with the same old same old kill 10 badgers quest system. Animations are clunky with overuse of glow effects, PvP is unbalanced due to many souls. Dungeons lack imagination and are far to easy, the game doesn't offer a challenge at all and the Rifts just get in your way and become tedious.… Expand

This game is visually stunning, beautiful textures and effects. Revolutionary game play. This takes the best of other MMOs and makes it its own in a unique and fluid way. I've been with this game since day one of closed beta. Do not let WoW humpers fool you! This is not a WoW copy, simply an MMO they see as a threat.

Since I stopped playing WoW about year and a half now, been looking for new MMO to start with. I really dont care if the game is WoW ripoff or reminds me something "that I have done or seen befo.." What matters is HOW its done. I cant really be sure about the whole game yet cause leveled my character just to lvl 20. But.. I have absolutely fall in love with this game, its truly fabolous! I have been in headstart since beginning and its just good game. Everything works like a charm. You can feel the quality throught the game and of course after the time passes updates will fix problems. After you get out from your character starting area the fantasy world of Telara just suck you in with great graphx and sound design(wich are much superior when comparing to WoW). And after you become all the new things what there are in character development you will really starting to explore the fantasy world and feeling it! I just love searching artifacts and new places. Leveling is somehow more enjoyable than any mmo that I have played. Maybe this is because you char is not just a one "thing", it can be warrior and mage and you can test new abilities all the time and not get bored. First time I feel that I can truly decide what kind or type my playing style is. So I dont know wnything about this game endgame but the game I am playing know contains so much doing its almost overwhelming. You must fight Rifts, dungeons, explore, find artifacts, level and adjust your char and many many many things.. Hey but enough of this. Im really happy that after a couple fo years I can enjoy good MMO. Maybe its **** after three months or so but hell with it.. Im enjoying it right now!!!… Expand

Rift is the best MMO on the market right now without a question. It is about as much of a WoW clone as WoW is a clone of EQ, meaning they are similar games, yet Rift is the next generation. Every new generation starts out with a game combining the best elements of the previous entries of the genre, adding its own touch and refining the technology. I'm not against WoW, I've played it for years. WoW is a genre defining game, yet rift is the NEXT genre defining game. It takes the instances/raids of WoW, and improves them with its own signature style. It also takes the PQs of Warhammer (Rifts) and adds its own improvments to those. The PVP is a mix of every big name MMO. The questing is slightly boring, yet no more boring than any other MMO. I cannot name an MMO with more interesting quests, as every MMO's questing is fairly boring. If you like questing in MMOs, you will love Rifts questing, if not you won't. Rift is the new big MMO. It innovates where innovation was needed, and keeps tradition where everything worked. The technology is upgraded aswell, creating beautiful graphics and an overall immersive world. Might as well jump on the Rift bandwagon, because MMOs as a genre are going that way aswell.… Expand

Love this game. Finally a MMO for MMO players. The game's overall polish and stability are legendary in a field where all too often players are ready to accept sub-par launches. Rift is the complete package - a fantasy mmo with all the trappings (pvp/crafting) with a system that will leave you reading skill trees for a long time. Its extremely fun to build your character in so many different ways and still have a great time. The public quest feature is extremely fun, allowing you the "big game" feeling on a smaller scale. You can close rifts throughout the world for rewards, and each rift feels like you are contributing to a larger cause. I can't wait to see where Rift takes me.… Expand

Experience: Have been playing since the fifth beta. Currently have a level 46 cleric. Played WoW (and virtually ever other MMO) prior to Rift. Soul System: The soul system allows for flexibility when designing your character. Each class (Warrior, Cleric, Rogue, Mage) has eight souls for PVE, and one soul specifically for PVP. You can utilize any three souls at any given time. Mages can heal and rogues can tank.

Graphics: The Gamebryo engine does a good job of bringing high-fidelty graphics to computer systems while only requiring a DX9 capable graphics card. Textures are extremely detailed and do a good job of pulling you into the world. Spell effects are detailed and abundant but not overbearing so much that they overwhelm and detract from the beauty of the game world.

Rifts: The games namesake are randomly spawning events in which a tear between the game world and an elemental plane will open drawing through it multiple enemies. If left unchecked the rifts will continue spawning NPC's which will attempt to overthrow both defiant and guardian safe havens and quest hubs. The rifts create two things. First, they create a feeling of a living changing world, you might log out one day in a tranquil forest, and log in the next in the middle of a fire rift, the earth scorched and black, to promptly get your ass handed to you by multiple mobs. Pro tip: Log out in a town. Second, they require cooperation I have seen quest hubs overthrown and groups of complete strangers band together to overthrow the elemental usurpers. This required cooperation creates a sense of community.

Rift Invasion: At any given time there may be four or five rifts open in a zone (the number varies depending on the number of player characters in the zone). Rift Invasions tend to happen when the zone is very crowded. All of a sudden fifteen+ rifts will open up and hundreds of NPC's will spawn and attempt to take over the entire zone, destroying defiance and guardians alike, as well as their respective quest hubs and towns. The entire zone will be given a quest to repel the elemental invasion, and upon doing so will spawn a zone boss. The boss will require a raid of people (sometimes forty+ people) to defeat. Epic. UI: The entire UI is completely customizable out of the box. There is no need for any third party add-ons to reorganize your UI. As a note, for better or worse, Trion has taken a stance AGAINST the creation of third party add-ons. I have yet to find a need, or want, for a third party add-on. Certain built in features, for example, the ability to search your inventory for an item by typing in its name (your bags open up and every item other than one you were searching for are grayed out) show that Trion took great pains to make the UI as user friendly as possible. One other neat UI feature, if you are alt+tabbed out of the game and are attacked your Rift tray Icon will blink red, if you are sent a tell it will blink yellow.

Combat: Very little new to see here, if you have played World of Warcraft, or virtually any current day MMO you will feel at home in Rift. You have an action bar(s) upon which you place abilities that are activated by clicking them. You find an enemy, target it, and wail on it, and your abilities until the mob is dead (or you are... maybe you should have healed yourself first).

Questing: Trion has not re-written the book on questing with the release of Rift. Quest for the most part are kill X, collect X, return to me and I will give you a bread crumb quest to your next quest hub. It is tried and true, and it works. I have yet to get bored with the questing, but I haven't been overly excited by it either. They have preserved the status quo here.

Launch: The games launch has gone extremely smoothly. Trion has added thirty+ servers in order to reduce queue times . Trion has been patching the game three to four times a week, downtime ranging from thirty minutes to an hour, with server maintenance once a week lasting four to six hours. Server performance has been stable even during rift invasions involving fifty+ PC's and even more NPC's. For those wondering, the US based servers are located in Dallas, Texas.

Bugs: There have been very few game breaking bugs since release, the only one of which I can think of required Trion to disable a tradeskill (runecrafting) due to a crafty player figuring out a way to exploit the profession. Overall the game feels polished far beyond its age.

The game in it's current form is worth a purchase for anyone interested in MMO's.… Expand

This game is very similar to WoW. But why shouldn't it be? It took all the things that WoW has and added to them. A smart move by Trion. The class/ soul system is unique and allows for many combinations. Haven t been to end game yet but what i have done deserves a rating of 10.

Having played just about every MMO out there, this is by far the smoothest launch in a long, long time. Server's are busy without being too busy, every running very nicely. On to the game - as previous reviewers have said, this game basically takes all of the best features of the best MMOs and adds a ton of polish. Talent trees from wow become the Soul System - much better Public quests from warhammer become rifts - much better
User Interface from Wow is taken and improved a load, its like playing wow with a load of add ons (like bartender) pre-installed - much better
Questing from Wow cataclysm is taken pretty much as-is - you get a fairly linear questing structure leading you from hub to hub.
Mounts are buyable at level 1 if you have the cash - much better

People may criticize this game lack of originality, but the fact is that it is better than all of the competition in almost all respects.

A great launch!… Expand

I decided to go out on a limb and buy Rift on steam the other day. It was such a great decision. The game Looks amazing and the game play is just as good. The class system is so open-ended that it makes replay value pretty high. If you're looking for a well paced, fun and just down right awesome MMO to play, Rift is your game.

The only way to get even close to objectivity, I have attempted the past few days to take a step back and make a list of things I like about the game. On the same sheet of paper I tried to record day to day what the Official Rift Forum Community says most about the gameâ

Rift is a game that fails to live up to it's potential. It has a few interesting concepts: multiple "souls" (aka talent trees) to play around with, and world events in the form of rifts or gateways to elemental planes, which spawn monsters and must be combated. The soul system at first seems like a good idea, but it quickly becomes clear that spreading your talent points between more than 2 trees actually hampers you, and there still is an "optimal" build that you should be using if you want to maximize your effectiveness. It also suffers from talent point bloat, similar to WoW prior to 4.0's talent reorganization - you will spend 5 points to increase the damage of an ability by 5%, for example. The rifts/invasions I felt were fairly well done, if a little simplistic. Even if you shut one rift down, another will open in a short while. I was disappointed when, after closing several footholds on a beach, I turned around to see the first one open again.

The rest of the game, I'm sorry to say, is horrible. For one, there is virtually no replayability. If you've played one Defiant character, you've played them all, and questing is crushingly linear. Except for dwarves and bahmi, the races are virtually identical and consist of a fair skinned human and elf for Guardian and a dark skinned human and elf for Defiant. Boooooring. Questing is 100% the stereotypical 'go here, kill X, click on Y and talk to Z' fare. You will also encounter many instances of finishing a quest in an area, only to get a follow up quest that takes you back into that same area you just cleared. Also, I hope you enjoy the way you look at level 2, you will be wearing that same outfit up through your 20's, not to mention if you are a pet class such as a beastmaster, that creepy purple cat will be with you throughout the entire game.

In closing, you might find a few features you like, but they will be drowned out by the negative aspects of the game.… Expand

This is a standard MMORPG. If you're expecting something revolutionary, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a game like World of Warcraft only that's new and actually has the outdoor areas matter (thanks to Rifts and invasions), then you'll love this game. The soul tree system is also pretty interesting. For people who like this genre, this game is definitely worth a look.

Delivery problems aside, this has to be pretty much the slickest MMO launch for years (if not ever). The game is remarkably polished and extremely fun today. Sure it's not a gaming revolution, it's an evolution taking what's good in there genre and trying to improve on it, and adding their own little twists. So on getting out the stable door.. 10/10 this game will live or die by it's scheduled updates and community attitude!… Expand

Definitely overrated game. Certainly better than other MMO releases within the last 3 or 4 years, but nothing special or new. Pros- beautiful graphics; great scaling with system compatibility; extreme character variety; smooth launch and updates; fresh take on PvP; non-instanced raids; takes the best from well-played MMOs and bundles them.
Cons- the grind: same old linear quests; single player is far too easy, no one forms parties or even chats; PvP is chaotic and unbalanced-but at least it is not WoW garbage; horribly convoluted lore; character classes have too much variablility- I wanted to build a melee healer (Justicar) but the lack of abilities and DPS forced me to cast (Purifier) ranged spells all the time. Most character builds oddly end up performing in a similar fashion despite the vast breadth of choices for development. ---I wish this game luck because WoW veterans (I started in 2004) have been starving for a decent MMO again.… Expand

Since I pre-ordered the digital collectors edition on Steam I was able to play since the beginning of headstart. I really enjoy the game and have played pretty much the whole weekend with only small breaks. I love the graphics and I love the fact that the game is accessible for newcomers to the MMORPG genre. I have not played MMOs before, but I find the community is helpful if I have questions in the game (who came up with all those abbreviations?? e.g. "Mage with CC LFG").
I already recommended the game to a couple of my friends!… Expand

Great great game. The environments in the game are fantastic, especially in the dungeons! Rifts are engaging and fun, and the UI is easy to get used to/customize. The Class/Soul system is super flexible and pretty much anything you decide to try ends up working out fairly well.

I took one point off for some rough animations, no guild bank system, and fairly bland/streamlined questing. Eventually one these MMO's/RPG's are going to have to revolutionize the way we do questing!

All that really matters is I'm almost to level 31 on my Cleric and the game is beyond fun and I can't stop playing! I have a nice collection of my leveling journey in my Steam screenshot gallery located here: http://steamcommunity.com/id/holyliaison/screenshots/?tab=all… Expand

Excellent game with new gameplay features. The rift system is really fun, especially how it integrates while leveling. The game looks great and polished, which is a big plus for a game just released. The class system is a lot of fun as well and a fresh mix to the same class tier system in every MMO.

The game has balance issues in both pve and pvp, there are many talents in tree's that don't work, one was giving 100% armor penetration instead of 1% how this gets through alpha, beta and has been in the game for awhile is baffling, the only pvp in the game is a grind and the maximum pvp level can be achieved in a few days.
There are no arenas or rated clan vs clan warfronts and they have stated in interviews they will not add them, so the new problem is premades are vsing public groups which is unfair.

The good thing about the game is that it only takes 3 days played time to hit max level. It doesn't feel like to big a waste of time when you realize you've rolled the gimp class(rogue).… Expand

Coming from EQ, DAoC, Warhammer, and WoW, this game seems to be a mixture of the best features from all of those games blended into one. The graphics look great on any system, but if you have a high-end rig, it really looks beautiful. It has been awhile since a MMO has sucked me in like RIFT has. I highly recommend it to gaming vets and newcomers alike. Give it a chance, you might like it.

I played the beta and this should have been a clear indicator of what was in store, but there was a group of gaming friends still interested in playing so I tagged along on release. Here it is a month later and I'm bored to tears of the end game content, fed up with repetitive key mashing for DPS and lackluster PVP. It was a great idea of Trion to learn from their peers in the gaming world, to simply create a frankenstein game that just mashed together parts of others is a bit weak though. The leveling was a series of 'quickly get to the yellow ring and kill everything, never mind WHY I'm doing it' that was simplistic and short lived (thankfully). You are rewarded at endgame with tedious dungeons littered with trash mobs, weak loot and the never ending quest for items with purple frames. Trion did add new class structure and features, but these are not enough to overlook the boring old shell of a game this is. It's environments are generic and cliche, its encounters are the same old formula and the story is lacking on so many levels (as well as utterly unimportant), They had the chance to make something amazing, and instead spit out a WoW clone.… Expand

Loving this game. Whilst many of the mechanics are standard MMO mechanics (and let me be clear, most MMOs since Meridian have had similar mechanics (Everquest, UO, EQ2, etc.) the game is still very fun. The rifts add a fantastic dynamic and I find that I spend half my time running around defeating them and still leveling to boot. Definitely worth a pick up, but do us all a favour and play till at least level 20 before you decide it's not for you. As you progress in the game and explore the souls you realize how (in good ways) it differs from WoW.… Expand

As per many RPG's, get past the mundane starting zones and you will find this is a quality MMO. Yes it is a blatant rip-off of WoW, but there are enough differences to keep it seperate. I must say, I was disappointed for the first day I played, loved it the second day, now I am thoroughly enjoying myself. Be patient and give it a go and you will find yourself hooked.

Not since I tried WoW for the first time in the US closed beta have I played a MMO that so thoroughly got my attention and appreciation from the very first moments in-game. After Blizzard's behemoth started to get old and boring I tried Vanguard, Lineage 2, AoC, LOTRO, GW amongst others without satisfaction..

..now I finally feel like I found my way home. I initially bought Rift as a pastime in anticipation of SW:TOR and/or GW2, but now it might just be my next several-year-long relationship.… Expand

Firstly, I should say that I think that Rift is in no way a bad game. For a game that has just came out it runs fairly well, has quests placed in a well thought out order, and has an interesting way of doing character progression. The rift concept works well to break up the leveling grind and from what I've seen it doesn't look like there will be racial imbalances for apposing factions. For a game that just came out it has very few bugs and graphics are nice. The reason I cant give this game a positive score aside from the minor bugs that should be fixed with a patch is because of the lack of innovation. It isn't a terrible thing to take the better aspects from other games and use them, but after this many years of mmo's, one might expect something more than the standard quest grind to end game then raiding with PvP mixed in there every now and then. If you like WoW chances are you'll like Rift because in the end its almost the same game. Not that its a bad thing, but I'm just tired of playing the same game with different names.… Expand

What sets this game apart is the zone wide events, customizable talent trees, and Raiding in the game world instead of an instance. I can't say that this is a superb game quite yet, because i am VERY picky about games. This game doesn't live up to my insane high quality standards, but it does do a decent job of being a typical MMORPG. There is definitely a grind in this game, but it isn't terrible. I am giving this a low score because I am an explorer type player and an altoholic as well. I love choice and being encouraged to chose what I want to do and how I want to do it. It is the starting experience I am not liking at all and the linear leveling zones with little to no choice at the moment. Not that this will never change though. A year from now and this game could be really quite amazing. I have to say that this game in my opinion just won't compete against SWTOR and Guild Wars 2 at all. Once those two games come out, either at the same time or seperately, rift will not be able to compete at all. It just doesn't have the amazing Bioware team with loyal established fans nor the already established ArenaNet to help it out. I say this game will be $30 or less by the fall of 2011, and probably talking about buy to play or free to play by spring 2012.… Expand

Great game. Feels very new innovations to the MMORPG gaming field. Classes are very creative as you can mix and match and find what you like most. No longer are you restricted so heavily. Graphics are beautiful. Anyone who knocks this game hasnt really played it. They are probably just a die hard wow fanatic who compares everything to a piece of junk like wow.

I had a lot of doubts in 2009 when this game was Heroes of Telara, but over the last two years it has really become something worth playing. The controls and core gameplay are familiar, but the level of polish is excellent. Moreover, the Rifts and the huge invasions have kept me up later and later over the last few nights since launch. The world feels dangerous, yet I feel like my character, because I got to choose my classes, is powerful enough to stand tall. A+… Expand

A uniquely polished game. It combines all the great elements from previous MMO's and creates a solid experience. Spiritual successor to EQ2? I think so! Trion's well poised to become a common name amongst gamers.

Incredible and fully featured MMO...finally!!

After years of half finished, buggy, broken MMO games we have the next step in MMO gaming. What WoW was to Everquest Rift is to WoW. It's incredibly polished with loads and loads of content. It unique, fun, thrilling dynamic Rift system that can take over town hubs and the like if you don't stop it and an amazing class system allowing you to create the class of your dreams. Highly recommended.… Expand

Absolutely phenomenal game. Is full of content, extremely stable, and the developers are great. Trion Worlds have crafted a game that could be a powerful contender to World of Warcraft.

If you love WoW and still play it right now it is inevitable that you will go back but if you have quit and are looking for a fresh new MMO this game is a definite winner in the genre. I have played almost all of the big name MMOs and this is definately the best MMO since WoW.

With each patch the uniqueness of the game goes, the nerfs and buffs seem to hurt the game more then help it.
They buffed the mages so high that you deal -damage to them and they one shot everyone, they nerfed rogues so bad no one wants them, they nerfed ranged warriors enough to force them to melee.
There are many exploits going unfixed and people are doing them with no punishment.
The game feels like a beta test, there is still much testing and work too be done.… Expand

Smoothest launch ever, great experience so far. This game is sick. I've had a great time playing it, it's probably the game that IF people were to take 2 seconds out of there time on WoW, would ACTUALLY have the chance of taking it over. At least until Diablo 3, ha.

RIFT is brilliant! At first you think its just another WoW Clone, but after a short Playtime you see that RIFT makes a lot better than WoW. RIFT improved the best things from many other MMO's. The Rifts and Invasions are really funny. Everywhere is action and something to do! No longtime single grinding or questing.

This could seriously be the best MMO Ive ever played, everything is running smoothly. The dynamic world with the rifts are wonderful. I got hooked during the beta, ordered the Collectors Edition and are 100% satisfied.

This game was fun from 1-50. Unfortunately 50 can be achieved within 5 days by an average person, even faster by a power gamer.

After hitting max level, it seemed like to play the game was forcing regurgitated content down my throat. Kill more rifts for more planarite. Do more of those same dungeons you have been doing with maybe 1 more boss and a new corner of the map. Keep doing these for, you guessed it, more currency to spend on items.

All told, the game feels like its solely based on grinding the same things over and over again for currency to spend for minor stat increases. This would not be so bad if the game was not able to be played in such a way that gets you to this boring point within a week.

In the end it just feels like nothing was done that was meaningless. The collection factor (the emotion you get after all that hard work on your character) just isnt there.

Plagued with the standard bugs most games has, coupled with awesome content (that unfortunately fizzles out after a month) means we have an awesome game here thats worth only playing until the subscription price kicks in.

If you want all your time and effort to mean something, Rift is not where you will want to turn.… Expand

i played it got to level 50 first week of the "head start"

this game is the grindfest to end all grindfests

not to mention it runs on gamebyro; its like warhammer online 2 bascially except minus all the fun RvR stuff that made warhammer great - theres nothin next gen about it

The hype was amazing. The graphics are amazing. In a few words, you get to level 30+ and you suddenly realise that everything is getting teadious. You find yourself grinding over and over again the same areas. The variety of souls that you pick to create your character skills unique in many ways, is all that was keeping me playing to be honest. You can level to 50 in 5 days. Pity, it could have been a wow killer.… Expand

This game is terrible. The graphics are just not as pretty as these reviews make them out to be. The gameplay is generic, leaving you with almost too many options. It's such a shameless WOW clone, just play wow... I can't believe I fell for that and bought this. I fell through giant bugs in the map at several points, and then the servers were down like half the time I wanted to get on to play. I played appx. 3 hours and I never plan on touching this game again. I wish I could take it out from my steam account.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Alrite guys I'm going to break this down into simple sections based on PvP, PvE, whats available in the market and why I would give this game a 4 and why it would seem like a troll score compared to what others are saying.

1: PvP. If you are buying rift for PvP, do not buy it. I cannot stress this enough. It is a PvE centric game with PvP tacked on in a horrible way that is horribly unbalanced. If you send me a message I will send you a link to show me deleting my top rank level cap Warrior for PvP. Warrior just cannot be used in PvP at end game. Its that simple. Other classes have had similiar nerfs/buffs completely changing your ability to play the game overnight with little to no community feedback before going live and even months after the change and hundreds of threads, they will not change a thing. The Second part of PVP - Gear. You gain gear by pvping, but the gear gap on the PvP is insane. I have seen players go afk in the highest tier gear vs people who are FORCED to fight them because of no tier seperation and not die to lower tier gear players only to have the player return, use a potion or skill, and then go about killing the 2-3 players that were on top of him for the last 30 seconds. You MUST go through this process in order to obtain gear and it can takeup weeks upon weeks of basically getting beaten from an unfair advantage until you are better. That is statistics speaking, some may say it isn't like that, it really is.

2. PvE: For PvE, this game is not bad. It has horrible graphics and really bad rendering problems due to the water in the maps but I'm not going to comment on graphics and optimization because I'm not a tech junkie its not what you want to read about. The major draw for PVE is end game Raids and partying, and of course RIFTs what this game is named after. Raids: Simple, scripted encounters based on gear and hotbar setup just like other games of the genre. Not hard, not easy. Just a normal setup.
Partying: Very easy, not even required until end game. Can solo most of the game and most players do.
RIFTS: These will seem very 'random' and require a team at first. After reaching lvl 30 and being competent in how you go about PvE, Rifts are no longer requiring a team except for the final bosses which are extremely OP based on what class you are. The 'loot' they offer and other shinys are next to worthless compared to forced PvP and Raid end gear. Otherwise useless little things added to the game to try and attract people and if you play and enjoy rifting I'm not meaning to hurt your feelings, just pointing out that its a content void, like a death rift.


What else is on the market: There are alot of other games and if you haven't tried some of the higher rated more fan related and better % of happy player games out there, I suggest you would go for that one before this one. This is a large mix of what is on the market, and while it is captivating for 50 hours, it becomes very stale. The developers also have no ability to speak to the playerbase and do not attempt to help them out or listen to their concerns at all. There are multiple posts with people deleting their highest tier characters and unsubscribing due to what they feel is unfair and the developers will not speak with the players or even attempt to fix anything. They post feedback threads and delete actual feedback posts and stick with the players agreeing that its not broken. I'm not speaking of troll posts, I'm speaking of posts of people who do the math and do care about the game.

So like I said, its a decent game worth trying if you have nothing else. It is not worth staying subscribed to for long and I believe most of the 10's on this website are lies and fake reviews written because if these people played as long as they said they did and play right now, they would not be posting that. Just check the public forums on the game site.… Expand

I have written a short review on this game. A quick summary of why I gave it a score of 6: Technically wonderful with lovely graphics, smooth response and very minor glitches. However, gameplay feels a bit bland for long-time players of MMORPGs. Good effort from Trion.
http://www.hopelesslygame.com/2011/04/entering-the-rift/

I feel there's something missing. Rifts and invasions were fun for a little while and I liked tinkering with the soul tree, but after that it was just another mediocre MMO.

Right now the user positive reviews are 108 where the negative ones are 14 which says something on its own. I won't say anything more than that Rift is similar, if not better, in content and gameplay to WoW and it barely just launched. The present and future for this game looks bright. On the other hand WoW had no future since its first expansion. Congrats to Trion.

Developers need to stop cloning World of Warcraft. This game could have potential but they need to have a new form of game play that is not a clone of WoW or Lineage 2.

Part of the issue is that the game cloned wow far too much, while it did add a new multi-class system, the simple fact of the matter is, its been done many times before. In the end it leads to only two or three builds per class that is viable for anything.

The developers completely screwed up PvP, the PvE is repetitive and monotonous, this game seems intended to be played by the new "amateur" gamer's of this world. Yeah I know mmorpgs are for the community these days but listen, if the community is full of idiots and bullies (since I dont want to swear in my review) then why bother?

If you are a real gamer, you might enjoy it for 20 to 30 levels, but after that, go seek an actual challenge. The questing is pretty much the same as WoW, the rifts are ok, havnt been done in an mmo but still, they need some work to have more variety.

Part of the issue could be the world events do not happen enough, if there was one always going on at all times it would be so much better.

I bought the game for a friend since they really wanted to play, I played a bit, to level 28 actually, but after 28 I just cant stand to connect to the game now.… Expand

Terrible game. Had one of the longest and largest beta's yet still managed to have massive nerfs from the very first month of release. No end game other than running the same 5 dungeon instances that you've run through the whole levelling process - just on a harder mode.
Everyone's gear looks identical - and poorly at that. The art design for gear is deplorable.
PVP is just assist trains running around.
The game is just 6 months old and the server populations continue to die off rapidly - http://www.riftstatus.net/shards/na/stats

Save your money.… Expand

This is one of the best MMOs I have played since Vanilla WoW. The Questing and Leveling, while traditional and linear, is enjoyable, as well as Rifts (Public Quests) and the Planar Invasions that go along with them. This game has very good graphics for a mmo, which helps with good environmental design,(Iron Pine Peaks is probably the best Snowy region a mmo has ever done to date). And good class system also adds to the enjoyment.… Expand

Lots of grass roots marketing fake reviews going on here in the user comments. Anyways, I love MMO's played Rift, nothing spectacular. It's your A typical MMO RPG. Not bad, but nothing new. If you are a Wow player, stick with Wow. Now if Rift goes free to play, it might be worth checking out.

I wasnt particularly expecting to get sucked into this game. I had tried Aeon when it came out here because i was trying to find a new game to recapture that feeling of discovery that i used to have with WoW. but that place didnt grab me and the controls felt clunky. so i wasn't expecting to get sucked into this the way WoW grabbed me when it was released. But I seem to be willingly giving the game a lot of my time.

This game seems to just take a lot of how wow does things and run with it. So getting into it is easy. The part that is making this place exciting for me, is the rifts. once you get out of the starter zone (lvl5 or so?) you're in a leveling zone where these rifts and invasions and whatnot happen. you go to deal with them, and you join a public group (if you want) with the click of a button. and you're in a raid before you hit lvl 10! sometimes the entire zone is under attack, and it feels like an entirely new place. its exciting how these events go down, and the more you chase down rifts, you get a different kind of currency. my toon is lvl 16 or so, and i already bought her a "blue" quality weapon and chest-piece with the spoils from chasing rifts. But invasions may happen a little too often. Sometimes I just want to quest, but the world is in chaos and you're quest-giver is busy. and when you're a lower toon, theres a limit to how much you can help. a lvl 9 sabateur's bombs dont do much to a lvl 18 invader...except attain dangerous aggro sometimes.

Then theres the class system. I'm really enjoying that. you can mix and match taking 3 out of 8 specializations within each class. each with its own talent tree. there is some redundancy where theres no reason to use the skill from tree A when the skill from B does exactly the same thing with no cooldown, but they all have unique things as well. Its fun to try to build an interesting new class. I enjoy the freedom of choice but there's a lot of options, and when it comes to setting up a character for roles in instances it can get a little confusing trying to decide on the best way to spend your points. I dont know if i made good choices, but they are fun to play so screw it.

Lastly, the game has been REMARKABLY STABLE! i remember when WoW came out there were server crashes galore. Hotfixes up the ying-yang trying to keep the game stable. I have not experienced a single server crash yet. I havent even had a crash locally yet. Finally an MMO that really finished Beta in Beta and released a fully functional game. Bravo Trion!

Anyways, i'm enjoying it, and i suggest giving it a shot. I'm gonna give it an 8 because theres a ton of 10s and i'm not really that deep in yet, but its a really enjoyable game so far.â… Expand

Great game from graphics to class system. It takes alot of the good from past mmos but thats a good thing in my book. I want a good ol mmo like eq eq2 and wow when it first came out. With the latest games Rift hits the spot.

This is a solid MMORPG. It fits into the genre and does not challenge the bounds of that genre in the least, while adding a modicum of innovation in terms of dynamic content that gives players a choice between different MMOs. The developers have produced a solid product. MMO's get better and stronger as time passes. Trion Worlds developers have shown an inclination to react and respond to issues and concerns in a much different way than has been addressed in other MMOs, improving on things in a timely and professional manner. The maturity of the game community and the opportunities that affords also provides a clear distinction from other MMOs. Nonetheless, if one is a fan of one type of MMO and expectations are not managed, such players will find little satisfaction with this game. Kudos to the Trion team. Hope things only get better from here.… Expand

The game's story is a bit cliche for my taste. You are either a good guy or a baddie, and you're fighting against the ultimate baddies while beating each other up. Only reason I'd not give this a solid 10. The industry needs to break away from WoW (or for that matter EQ) stereotypes. At least there are no orcs?

BUT the gameplay is smooth, the graphics are a definite step up from previous MMO's, and the customization for your character is unique and powerful. The world events add a new aspect of gaming to the genre, and bring players together in a way that seems meaningful outside of repetitive instancing. Overall a fun way to pass the time between work and sleep.

The fact that I got the game on the day it was released and there were no tech issues, or 10 hours of patching was a plus as well. Trion delivered a polished game from the date of release, at least 1 studio figured out how to do it!… Expand

Hand's down the best MMO at launch since WoW, speaking of WoW if you love it but now hate it take a vacation from Azeroth and come on down. after talking to a lot about the Cata launch this just may be the bigger change of pace you need with no hit to quality. it all feels familiar yet different. While far more drastic that Coke Vs Pepsi it is easily a matter of taste between the 2. Overall the game is nicely balanced both in terms of what you can do and what you charter can be an has potential for improvement.… Expand

I am (like, I suspect, many other Rift players) a long-time World of Warcraft player who saw Rift as a promising alternative. WoW kept my attention for over five years, but it has become rather stale, and it hasn't done much to address its core deficiencies over the years. Rift made the wise decision to not diverge radically from the familiar MMO format, but rather offer new twists and variations that really enhance the experience. This very well executed balance makes Rift a familiar but refreshing experience. Environments are pretty decent and atmospheric, the audio and visual quality is good, and the class variation and customization is the most welcome aspect of this game. Just about the only thing that annoys me about this game is how much it penalizes you for trying to avoid fights - if you get hit from behind while running, a harsh debuff stacks up increasing the damage you take. Combine that with the fact that you get knocked off your mount pretty easily, and the fact that level gaps make no difference to an enemy's aggro radius, and you have an environment in which simply getting around can be somewhat tiresome. It's an annoyance, but the game overall is a nice, refreshing newcomer to an MMO world that is abundant in quantity but lacking in quality.… Expand

For those who have played World of Warcraft for the majority of their MMO carry, Rift will feel like a breath of fresh air by the very nature of being different. Unfortunately, for veterans, such as myself, who have dedicated countless hours to every major MMO release since before the dawn of the WoW behemoth, there isn't anything new under the sun to see, here. Additionally, there are plenty of glaring balance issues, and server shards go down on an almost daily basis with very little prior info (usually a 10 minute prior announcement). The whole game feels defined by imbalance. Additionally, while the graphics are better in terms of polygon count compared to WoW, other games ranging from Everquest 2 to Age of Conan have much better engines and don't have an almost constant problem of armor clipping on characters. Likewise, the character animations look lethargic and stilted and loose their appeal quickly. While I will give Rift credit for having a better more recent MMO launch, it is sadly not the savior of the MMO genre that I am looking for, nor is it even compelling enough to permanently keep me from playing what still remains the best of the genre: World of Warcraft.… Expand

The good:
Some of the dungeon mechanics are refreshing. The environment and UI both are pleasing to the eye. The music in some of the zones is excellent. The in game community is both helpful and friendly.

The Bad:
The class system is still under development. It should have been handled in alpha. Itemization needs some work. Crafting system still needs some work as the numbers on the green gear are bellow quest rewards and random green item drops. Mats for some of the crafting tiers are sparse and are in zones higher than what your questing in. End game is the standard grind dungeons and BG's for faction to get gear for next tier of faction grind. Gold spammers are a little more prevalent than I would like. Overall leveling was fun until about level 40. That is where it went stale for me as I did not see too many new quest types or mechanics. New MMO players will like it . Vets that expect something more might not. If you have a interest I recommend the 7 day free trial before you drink the cool aid… Expand

Got a rogue to level 30, then quit playing. 0 interest in ever playing this game again. It was fun till level 25, then it just got boring. Maybe i'm not in the right mindset for mmo's at the moment.

LAcks PvP endgame Content, doe snot keep it's name for next generation even in Pve. Raids are boring and it's the same mechanics we've seen before.

An amazing MMO that has me hooked. I usually get bored of MMOs quickly, but not Rift. It has content, story, pacing, environment all fleshed out. I hope to see this game flourish because it deserves it.

This MMO has had one of the most smooth launches in quite some time. The soul system is quite refreshing compared to some generic garbage that other MMO's put out. The public group system is a breath of fresh air as well, which makes grouping quite easy. This MMO takes past features from other games and incorporates them in, making the game extremely familiar from the get go. It may not be 100% original, but it does a great job non the less. Graphics are superb as well and the music is lively. I'd recommend this to anyone, whether you're new to the MMO scene or a veteran.… Expand

Rift doesn't do much to separate itself from other Fantasy MMO's established on the market. Most complaints about the game compare it to WoW, which is unfair. It has gone to great lengths to make itself NOT WoW. It's difficult to write a review without comparing it to other games, as, everything in the game has been done before in other games. Rifts and invasions are nothing more than Public Quests from Warhammer, all dungeons are instanced, like all MMO's since 2004, and the base classes fall under the Rogue, Mage, Cleric, Warrior template.

But, this is where Rift differentiates itself from the pack. With the base classes, there are 8 sub-classes to mix and match to each particular players playstyle. And, by switching roles, you can play different 'soul' combinations, completely changing the make up of the character. Each role can be up to 3 souls (4 souls with End game loots) of the 8, and you can have up to 4 different roles with these souls. Each soul has 2 trees within the 3 souls, where points are spent going 'up' the tree, and the more points put into a soul unlocks traits going 'down' the tree. The combinations are endless! Rogues, having a bard soul, can be back up healers. Mages, with a Chloromancer soul, can be healers, Clerics and Rogues can be tanks... the combos add for a lot of fun. And, that is also a bit of it's downfall. Having so many choices can really overwhelm some players, and thankfully there is no 'magic combination' to having the perfect class. Players are encouraged to play and build the character they want, not follow some formula for face melting.

The game was inundated with naysayers throughout the first month, but, now that the free month is over, it's settled down into a quality game that delivers what it promises. PVP is still being 'balanced' and that is the biggest complaint of the game at this point. For PVE, the game is quite good, aside from the copious amounts of creatures that will plague the players every step, quite literally. Movement in the game can be frustrating fighting through waves of mobs, especially when following roads, through areas beyond the lowbie zone of Freemarch.

I enjoy what Trion has offered in terms of MMO's, but, it's a difficult market to break into with so many choices. There are some things WoW won't be able to steal from Rift, but is it enough to warrant the monthly charge over other more established games? The truth is in the tagline for the game: "We're not in Azeroth anymore." Their marketing strategy is to offer a game that isn't WoW. Those sick of WoW will find a fun, well put together game, but not quite as expansive or all encompassing behemoth that WoW has become. Those expecting the game to be WoW will be surprised at the differences. It is a different game, but, in the end, it is an MMO.… Expand

Trion Worlds tries way too hard to have its cake and eat it too. With a slogan like "You're not in Azeroth anymore", you'd expect Rift to be a game bent on trying to break the mould and perhaps change the MMO genre. You'd only be partly right. You're not in Azeroth, no, you're in an even worse designed and staler world with much less to do. Class system - One of the main selling points of the game is the versatility of the classes, but it doesn't really exist, except in certain cases. The underlying theme in class customisation in Rift is similar to other MMOs - if you customise your character's talents in the wrong way or attempt to create an interesting build, you will almost certainly fail throughout the content, which seems to be almost the same philosophy of WoW, which Trion Worlds attempts to insist that they are not. The Warrior: the usual plate-wearing class which ends up being the only viable tank in the game, but also has the best overall damage by far, making it imbalanced. The Cleric: a hybrid class that can sort of tank, is great at healing, and only does okay damage, despite the majority of their talent trees being damage-focused. Also, if one wishes to heal as a Cleric, there are very few options available as any deviation from pre-determined builds will result in many party deaths. The Mage: The typical spell caster with a tree for healing allies via damage done and some great support talents, as well as very good damage, but still worse than the Warrior.

The Rogue: Easily the worst class of all to play. Despite traditionally being a pure damage class, their damage is easily beaten by every other class, except for the Cleric with which they are equal. They have a tanking tree, but you can only tank one target with it and have very little survivability. They also have a support tree, but it is easily replaced by the Mage's support tree, which provides far more buffs, debuffs, and can cure allies, unlike the Rogue's. Magi also have the option to switch to their healing tree for more healing intensive fights, or to a damage tree and easily outperform a better-equipped Rogue. It is a truly useless class.

Rifts - The namesake of the game, they are events that spawn enemies and provide reputation and experience. These are fun at first, but quickly become tedious and repetitive. There are also Invasions and Footholds, which are essentially rifts that don't despawn after a given time and usually take hold of a quest hub and/or certain reputation vendors, at which point all friendly NPCs disappear until the Invaders an/or Foothold are defeated. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but all too often 10 or more Invasion forces (individually they are solo'able) will occupy one particular point, making it impossible to clear out by yourself and therefor make it impossible to turn in and pick up new quests without begging in various chat channels for help. There are end-game rifts, however, the required tools used to summon them drop from dungeons which provide far better rewards, so it seems pointless to do them when the same time could be put towards running those dungeons again, or simply solo'ing normal rifts if you desire the reputation rewards. All in all, rifts are not really a fun and exciting community experience, but more of a repetitive nuisance.

Dungeons: The dungeon experience in Rift is almost exactly the same as in WoW. The only difference is that at end-game, Expert dungeons (same as Heroics in WoW) require one of the DPS to fill a support buffer/minor healer role instead of the typical 1 tank / 1 heal / 3 DPS, but that is honestly where the changes end. Just as in WoW, you'll experience the same dungeons but at a harder difficulty with a couple of extra bosses and slightly different mechanics than the lower level version. You'll also get better loot than the lower level versions, and you'll earn tokens from killing bosses which you can turn in for even better gear or certain crafting ingredients. Sounds a lot like Azeroth to me. Crafting: The crafting is very easy in Rift but the trade-off is that the high end crafted items are worse than the random mob drops in Experts. The only reason to take on a profession would be to 1) make bigger bags, and 2) gather materials to sell on the auction house, which other people won't buy because the random drops are better than anything they can craft.

Graphics: The graphics and overall look of the game is quite lackluster, and brings nothing special to the table. It's a very bleak and dead world with very few colours and little artistic work. The comparisons to WoW are usually seen as unfair and irrelevant among the Rift community, but they are completely valid. Trion made it clear that they wanted to be compared to WoW, and specifically on how different and better Rift is. However, they've merely produced an equally priced knockoff with nothing special or innovative.… Expand

Despite the seemingly innovative rift system for dynamic content, I found that Rift was one of the least imaginative, most formulaic MMO I have experienced in some time. It looks gorgeous on a high-end PC, but the game has little substance. The setting isn't very immersive or memorable, and there is almost no attempt to provide any mission content beyond the bog standard "hunt X of Y" stuff. The game is linear to the extreme; there's not much opportunity to cut your own path through the world. The dynamic rift events turn out to be context-free grinding...chaotic and not all that fun. The character customization is one of the more impressive features, but it is not as robust as it first appears since here are only certain soul combinations that are practical...a small minority of the technically possible combinations.… Expand

Rift has a decent lore, graphics and a unique soul system that allows customization beyond other mmo games. Unfortunately that is about all it has above the rest because the rest is just good old fashion grinding and same old boring dungeon runs. Yes you will have to grind reputation, many different currencies and the rift feature is also just another form of grinding and are just really quick public quests that aren't anything special. You should be pulled into a rift, that would be much cooler :P Even warhammer had public areas similar to the rifts so its nothing that hasn't been done.

If you are a pvp junkie (like myself) then Rift will let you down completely. The potential for great pvp play is in Rift but with the amount of stunning, silences and confusion along with spammable "polymorphing" and severely overclocked souls pvp play becomes frustrating and boring very quickly. PVP also has no affect on the game world as its just arena scrapping in small, chaotic and simple warfront maps. Once again, even Warhammer has this beat as well.

Even though the game is all around plain and identical to the rest, the player base is very friendly and can be a lot of fun to play along with, so if your just a casual gamer this game is for you, but if your more hardcore and don't leave your basement often, I wouldn't recommend investing your time in it. Even at 50, raiding is just the same old stuff, nothing new at all. You will just once again have characters on a game that will eventually be behind within a year or two.

We need something original! Rift gets a 3 for its effort at graphics, soul system and decent enough lore.… Expand

Did you play WoW? Did you enjoy WoW? Would you like to play WoW again, with slightly improved graphics and completely improved and innovated, well, nothing else? If you answered yes to these three questions, then perhaps Rift is for you. The game features loads typical MMO fare, replete with endless grinding, enemies completely devoif of personality, shoddy combat animations, weightless weapon strikes, repetitive click fests while fighting and a never-ending need to craft items for the sake of crafting items. As for the game's namesake, the Rifts are an interesting mechanic. Unfortunately, you really just end up staring at the same invasion time and again, day after day and even hour after hour. Watching the same mobs and same boss invade 10 minutes after you just defeated that invasion really kills the fun. If you can find any in this endless grindfest to begin with. A must play for hardcore MMO lovers; a must avoid for everyone looking for a game with any sort of personality.… Expand

Don't bother with this one. It's so derivative that it fails to create it's own uniqueness. It may have fun technical features, but it lacks soul. Borrowing heavily from World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online, it fails to be better than either and instead settles as a solid "time filler" while you wait for better games to come out. The animations are poor, the music is generic, and the performance is all over the place. The community is also the absolute worst I've seen in a MMO, and I've played many. When I made a new character on the Seastone, I said "Hi, I'm new to the game" on local chat and everyone told me to "GTFO." So after giving this game 3 weeks of my time, I decided I'd rather not play with a bunch of immature kids who bought time cards at Walmart because they're not old enough to use credit cards, and find something better to do with my time.… Expand

from 10 to 0 I'll tell you why... Ok So you are tired of your current MMO and want to try something new , yet very familiar...then you remember rift that game everyone was talking about a few months ago and you decide it to try it now, after all these months, patches and updates it must be really good now right? doh think twice! keep reading... Ok so you start leveling your new character and quickly fall in love with the game: wow the character creation is outstanding, the graphics are really awesome you discovered the endless possibilities of the soul system, multi class at it's best yeah! and the rifts-invasions are just epic! oh glorious day you finally found a new home you are so happy and considering to pay 6 months in advance also that epic fiery mount looks yuummy so you should invite some friends to join the fun! right? no wait and read to the end! So you finally reach level 50 and you fell almost complete, so you decide to try some endgame...wait, most servers are not even bothering, and you realize even expert dungeons are an endless grind, if you pug using the LFG tool you also get a raiding token to get cool raid tiers! wow, uh oh... wait a second I get a token per run and I need over 500 tokens?! you gotta be kidding me! okay I'm going to try a faction rep mount! they look so cool, wait a second, months of pointless grind? ok ok pvp was so cool in the lower tiers so it's time I join the battle once again, you have enough favor to buy the first epic set, here you go. And yes there you go... to hell, just like rift. Believe me Rift's lvl 50 pvp is just awful, it should actually get the award for worst pvp system ever in a mmo, yes you are going to grind your hiney for at least two months playing non stop to get nearly competent and until then you are going to be daddy's toy and yeah you are going to suffer , you'll see, DEVS thought it was a good idea to mix rank 0-1 new 50s with all mighty god mode ranks 8 you will be in a train my friend, in a train of pain, get ready to jump in to the most frustrant experience a game can give you around. It is unbalanced, unfair and very awful, but I have seen that in other moo you say, ok not like this I can tell you, the difference between a rank 1-5 and a rank 8 is so huge a single r8 (no matter what class) can literally wipe a group of 5-10 low 1-3 ranks and I am serious about it, so if you want to play RIFT go ahead but stay away from 50 pvp, at least until they fix the unbalance, I left because I was so sick of losing all day for months, yes Trion messed it up with an otherwise awesome game.… Expand

Disappointing game because it's really not about "rifts". It's about dungeons.. and lots of them. The way the game is sold is as an alternative to WoW but it's that only in the sense that fast food is dinner compared to a meat and potatoes meal. There is a TON of grinding for nothing but gear at endgame so if you were looking to escape from WoW because of that, you actually fell out of the frying pan into the fire. Rifts seem to be static loot pinatas that you whack every so often and coins for gear come out. Whack enough rifts and you get some really super average gear that isn't worth the time. the lower levels in this game are absolutely abandoned and if you start now, you won't be doing a lot of the huge boss rift invasions because of lack of interest from the community. most people are level 50 and play on alts which they are speedleveling to 50 to play with buddies, so noobs won't get the time of day. fanbois will say "my server is packed and we do stuff all the time" but that's everygame has one or three servers like that while the rest are dying. Rift has about 70 servers mothballed; not technically closed but not technically open neither. If you have a toon there, you can stay but if you start the game you won't even see the server on your list. There are plenty of folks who made homes on them only to have Trion shut them off from everyone else but you can transfer out. That ruined a lot of communities in the game and people quit. their sub rate is bargain basement (probably the lowest in the industry) due to falling subs so if you pay for a year in advance you can pay as little as $120. Pretty desperate but if it fills the game then good idea I guess. SWTOR and GW2 will be coming out soon (GW2 next year) so I'd play consoles until then like BF3, GoW3, Madden, etc and save the 120 bucks for the big event games coming like those. RIFT will probably be going FTP by next summer so holding off would be wise while they try to fix the awful PvP balancing and at least give people something to fight for as now it's just arenaball with no ball. World PvP is non-existant. The game has good things like hit a button and sell all your grey loot, decent graphics (not AoC or FFXIV worthy), and low price. But the replayability is awful because there are only TWO starting zones.. that's right.. two. For a mmo launching in 2011 that's lazy. The armors look horrible (do a Google search for Rift armor and you'll see) and they repeat like.. level 10, 20, 30, 40 etc. So if you find some epic gear at 50 it will have 50 stats but looks EXACTLY like level 30 gear. Again, LAZY DESIGN. It's hard to believe they spend 50 million dollars on this and five or six years development. They didnt even have guild banks at launch. The mounts are all the same that repeat like CE mount: plain turtle. World event mount: Green turtle. Achievement mount: White turtle. LAZY DESIGN. The lore is pretty bland and mundane; it inspires nothing. You dont feel a part of the world or like your fighting to keep mobs from invading.. it feels like your grinding for loot because the story is canned. The game was few bugs at launch but as it's gone on, it's gotten more buggy. Notsure how that happens but things just get broke. Maintainence is pretty much almost every day and for 20-30 minutes at a time but you can have several of those.. sometimes back to back which is annoying. Better way would be once a week for four hours and then done but the piecemeal work is upsetting. The community is made up of 600k people from WoW (or was) so it was kind of immature to start but now it's just plain nasty with one or two nice guilds telling trying to convince everyone new this isn't "their community" even though they play their game. Amazingly funny that. Anyways, to recap: WAIT FOR THE SUMMER WHEN RIFT GOES FTP as they already have a cash shop in the works from their other game that they will no doubt switch over because the population is dropping fast. if you have other games you've been wanting to try FTP now (Fallen Earth, DCUO, EQ2, LOTRO, AoC, WoW trail, Dragon Nest, Champs Online, Star Trek online) you'd be better off spending 10 or 15 bucks once or twice in there and be done with it.… Expand

Under shiny graphics hides a polished turd. Quests are typical bring/kill x numbers of [insert here a random mob/item name] from start to level cap 50. PvP is an unbalanced joke, and an insult to the players Trion didn't do anything when people exploited new Conquest war front during its launch period. I found a new synonym to word boring; Rift.

Been there done that. Nothing new to make the game call itself it's own. Something new to look at and better graphics. If this was my first paying MMO ever I would keep going with it but it's not. If your looking for ranked PVP you won't find it here. Devs themselves stated they will not implement ranked arenas but there is battlegrounds for those light pvpers. Combat a lot like WoW, nothing new except learning mechanics for the bosses.… Expand

It's always difficult to review an MMo. While just about any and every MMo will have problems and glitches upon launch, usually they can be ironed and the game improved upon over time. However, there are many things that are simply too ingrained into the game, its gameplay, mechanics or engine to readily be changed.
Half the reason any other MMo's have been successful is the general fluid-ness of gameplay, its (default) interface, graphics and animations. While the graphics might seem 'modernized' compare to more dated MMo's, no screenshot can do justice to how jarring the animation can be. Personally, I'm… Expand

I just could not get into this game...It does everything right, it is polished, has nice graphic and character creation/development system...but everything else about it seems to be so uhmm, generic and unmemorable, that after 3 days I had to force myself to log in. In my opinion this game ia a monument of how lackluster the mmorpg bussines has become. It is just the same WoW over and over and over again made by different company under different name with different world, races and classes, but the core is the same. The only innovative thing about Rift are those "rift events" which turned to be just another excuse to mob grinding...Crafting is poorly designed and unexciting, no open world pvp makes the game even more boring later on...It is just another WoW clone with total lack of immersion factors… Expand

This is a very good game. Its not quite as polished as Warcraft but, considering this has just released, that is to be expected. The level of polish it does have, however, is amazing. The visuals in this game are absolutely astounding outside of the opening areas and I really did believe that I was fighting in a Great War in a fantasy world - very well done to the developers for achieving this level of immersion. As I just mentioned, however, the opening areas where you will begin your journey are a bit cliched and not as good looking as the other areas in the game so I am going to substract a couple of points for that. The character creation and progression systems are also very well realised. At a time when World of Warcraft is cutting choice when it comes to our characters in half (all talent trees chopped to pieces, less spells, less customization), Rift has given the (obvious?) option of having 3 talent trees. The result of this is a set of skills, powers, spells and abilities that could be utterly unique if you wish it to be or the fad of the month if you play that way. When it comes to pvp Rift has some battlegrounds that are very innovative compared to the tired, boring, 6 year old "capture the flag" and "resource battles" that WoW keeps on pumping out, having taken ideas from console pvp games such as HALO and Gears of War. Lastly, World of Warcrafts graphical engine, having been developed in 1999 is starting to show its age. I will always be the first to say that gameplay is more important than graphics but what if you could have a game that has WoWs gameplay with mind blowing, next-gen, immersive graphics? That game is Rift. Because of the poor starting areas that nearly made me quit, the stupid story and the fact that it is not quite as polished as World of Warcraft, I am going to subtract 1.5 points from ten (0.5 minus for each bad point) and give this game a very well deserved 8.5. If you are bored of World of Warcraft I urge you to give this cheeky little game a shot. I hope you enjoy Rift as much as I have and let me just finally add that the PVE RP server EU has a very good community.… Expand

There's really nothing bad about this game, on the flip-side, there's not a lot of great stuff either. After about 100 hours of playing I lost all interest in continuing. I had quite a lot of fun doing rift events. PvP was okay-ish, and the questing was.. well.. Questing will always be dull in mmorpg's it would seem. The game has a nice interface, quest log and map markers and stuff, all very nice. It shows that the developers have been playing WoW for a while and stole many of the addon designs for that game. The real problem is that the gameplay is just a ton of stuff you've already played a million times. And the casting/combat in the game has a sluggish feel to it that's just uncalled for in this day and age. It's slower and more janky than WoW, and 5 years past the release of WoW, there's just no excuse. Combat doesn't feel immediate at all, it feels like you're just queuing up stuff for your character to do at its leisure. Suggesting spellcasts and attacks, much like the olden days of mmo's. With games like Tera and Guild Wars 2 on the horizon, going for that old tick based sluggish combat system seems like an odd choice. I assume the reason they went for such a system over a more direct control instant cast type system is that the netcode of the game feels somewhat unrefined. All in all, though, it's probably the best mmo so far in 2011, and if you were let down by the crappiness of Cataclysm, it's well worth a try. If for nothing else than the Rift events, which are pretty sweet, and shows just how awesome Guild Wars 2 is going to be with its way more complex public quest type gameplay.… Expand

This game doesn't reinvent the wheel. But it is an awfully nice wheel.

Playing this game felt like I was playing old school "Vanilla Warcraft" before Blizzard they decided to try and level past the old content as fast as possible. Also, the graphics are pretty good and often remind me of a high-fantasy novel, instead of a cartoon-anime-fantasy setting like Warcraft has become.

Rift is one of the most polished MMO releases in a very very long time, so far everything just simply works. There are fantastic features which are common accross all mmo style games, pve dungeons and pvp battlegrounds to name some obvious ones. Both are very fun an polished in Rift. The originality comes in the form of Rifts and Invasions. Rifts/Invasions are EXTREMELY fun, they bring a whole new depth to the world as a whole. Rift's world is not a static bore-fest that many MMO worlds are. There is constantly some kind of Rift or Event going on all around you in the areas you quest in. If you are a fan of the genre I highly recommend this game, it is clean, polished, runs well on all levels on computers and its a damn good addition to a flooded MMO marketplace.… Expand

After playing WoW for a few years I was seriously burnt out on MMOs. Since WoW, I tried LOTRO, Aion, Warhammer, and Star Trek. Rift is the only MMO since WoW that has kept my interest. The class system is unique in that I can create a particular character in the way I want to play. The graphics are pleasing to the eye and I enjoy the quests. Give this game a try..I don't think you will regret it.… Expand

I bought Rift with a couple of guild mates from Wow. We needed a break and that is definitely what we found in rift. The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the beginners zone was how beautiful the game looked and sounded. I don't have the best computer but even at medium settings it looks great. The class system is a nice fresh way to get different specs as well, when you can mix and match what ever you would like to make a tank, dps or healer on nearly every class. The random rift openings and invasions help to keep things fresh for a bit, and the fact that you can jump into a public group and take care of these events or even jump into a group to finish a quest is great. But in the end Rift is still a MMO and you will still get a multitude of quests of go here and kill this many enemies and then take this letter to that guy three feet from me because I'm too lazy. Rift is a great game and if you enjoy MMO's or are curious to play one this is a good game for you.… Expand

I'll tell you what, after playing SWTOR this game feels like the most innovative game in the universe. Seriously, good lord. So anyway, this game is basically a cookie cutter theme park mmo, but it's probably the most stream lined and polished one I've played. The rifts are the gimmick of this game and they are pretty fun, but can get a little annoying at times. Still, it's a nice addition. The best thing about this game - the developers. Crazy thing I know, but it's true. They pump out INSANE amounts of content, easily more than double or triple most other mmo companies, and it's not just crap content. I have a lot of respect for a company like this, and they address what players ask for.

In general the game has a lot of nice features: great UI, rifts and zone events are awesome, constant world events, collection system, nice exploration carrots like puzzles and so forth, robust achievement system with rewards, alternate advancement system, nice realistic graphics, world full of immersion with npc chatter and scripted activities, swimming, day / night, weather, creatures, etc (if you've played SWTOR you've seen the exact opposite of world immersion). The game does have negatives though like only 1 starter zone each, minimal races to choose from and they are all humanoid, lacking pvp, generic quest types, typical end game mechanics of raid or pvp, generic questing, smallish community, etc.… Expand