Originally posted by Panther2103

The game got insanely high pops on two servers. Briarcliff and Wolfsbane. The other servers kind of got left in the dust because of no cross server LFG tool, people got impatient with trying to find their own group, and now they all went to the high pop servers. Creating a queue of 415 at 3:00 am pacific time on wolfsbane.

You're partially correct.

Yes, players have moved to BC and WB, but the main reason for the queue times is due to the Ascend-a-Friend program and the 7 Day Trial. There is no login prioritization for subscriptions vs trial accounts, so paying customers are forced to wait in queues because trial players are clogging up the system.

1:WOW

2:Rift

This is the truth , wow story is more interesting than the story of Rift >okey cool graphic , cool character custamization, but who cares,but the best game is still comming out :D SWTOR 

Originally posted by Elidien

Originally posted by elocke

My thoughts exactly....until I hit level 50.  2 months after launch and I'm back to WoW .  I like Rift, but it doesnt' have enough content, i.e. alternate leveling paths for multiple alts, to keep me playing it the same I way I played Wow at launch.  For me the game, needs to double itself in order to keep me playing long enough to the next expansion or major content patch.

Also, while some of the game is faster paced, I have found that WoW quests obliterate Rift quests in every way.  I mow down 10 mobs much faster in WoW than I ever did in Rift.  Also, PHASING is just awesome to me.  It makes me feel like the quest was worth it.  Unlike in Rift where the quests don't really matter except as a vehicle to get me xp points.  And, if you want to just quest to level cap, you HAVE to do as many quests as you can, which again, ruins any replayability.

Also, those Rifts and footholds get old real fast.  At 50, when I was in Tier 2 gear, you basically are only closing Rifts and footholds for rep and achievements.  It got to the point where people would call "Invasion in Stillmoor!" and I wouldn't even bat an eye.  I just didn't care enough to go do it for the umpteenth time.

For me, WoW still wins hands down, but, RIFT is a great second alternative and I'm sure I'll be revisiting it a year or so from now after more content has been added.  

I couldn't have said it any better. my thoughts EXACTLY.

If you compare Rift 3 months after launch with WoW 3 months after launch, Rift offers a lot more than WoW did. Of course it won't offer the same options and content that WoW does now. if you want to compare like with like, come back to Rift in 5 years and compare.

Originally posted by mbd1968

Originally posted by Elidien

Originally posted by elocke

My thoughts exactly....until I hit level 50.  2 months after launch and I'm back to WoW .  I like Rift, but it doesnt' have enough content, i.e. alternate leveling paths for multiple alts, to keep me playing it the same I way I played Wow at launch.  For me the game, needs to double itself in order to keep me playing long enough to the next expansion or major content patch.

Also, while some of the game is faster paced, I have found that WoW quests obliterate Rift quests in every way.  I mow down 10 mobs much faster in WoW than I ever did in Rift.  Also, PHASING is just awesome to me.  It makes me feel like the quest was worth it.  Unlike in Rift where the quests don't really matter except as a vehicle to get me xp points.  And, if you want to just quest to level cap, you HAVE to do as many quests as you can, which again, ruins any replayability.

Also, those Rifts and footholds get old real fast.  At 50, when I was in Tier 2 gear, you basically are only closing Rifts and footholds for rep and achievements.  It got to the point where people would call "Invasion in Stillmoor!" and I wouldn't even bat an eye.  I just didn't care enough to go do it for the umpteenth time.

For me, WoW still wins hands down, but, RIFT is a great second alternative and I'm sure I'll be revisiting it a year or so from now after more content has been added.  

I couldn't have said it any better. my thoughts EXACTLY.

If you compare Rift 3 months after launch with WoW 3 months after launch, Rift offers a lot more than WoW did. Of course it won't offer the same options and content that WoW does now. if you want to compare like with like, come back to Rift in 5 years and compare.

Im not sure if Rift will be "popular" for 5 years. In the coming months many "big hitter" mmo's will be releasing and will probably suck out most of the population out of Rift. I believe players will leave Rift before the leave WoW to go to these games.

Originally posted by mbd1968

Originally posted by Elidien

Originally posted by elocke

My thoughts exactly....until I hit level 50.  2 months after launch and I'm back to WoW .  I like Rift, but it doesnt' have enough content, i.e. alternate leveling paths for multiple alts, to keep me playing it the same I way I played Wow at launch.  For me the game, needs to double itself in order to keep me playing long enough to the next expansion or major content patch.

Also, while some of the game is faster paced, I have found that WoW quests obliterate Rift quests in every way.  I mow down 10 mobs much faster in WoW than I ever did in Rift.  Also, PHASING is just awesome to me.  It makes me feel like the quest was worth it.  Unlike in Rift where the quests don't really matter except as a vehicle to get me xp points.  And, if you want to just quest to level cap, you HAVE to do as many quests as you can, which again, ruins any replayability.

Also, those Rifts and footholds get old real fast.  At 50, when I was in Tier 2 gear, you basically are only closing Rifts and footholds for rep and achievements.  It got to the point where people would call "Invasion in Stillmoor!" and I wouldn't even bat an eye.  I just didn't care enough to go do it for the umpteenth time.

For me, WoW still wins hands down, but, RIFT is a great second alternative and I'm sure I'll be revisiting it a year or so from now after more content has been added.  

I couldn't have said it any better. my thoughts EXACTLY.

If you compare Rift 3 months after launch with WoW 3 months after launch, Rift offers a lot more than WoW did. Of course it won't offer the same options and content that WoW does now. if you want to compare like with like, come back to Rift in 5 years and compare.

That is the thing that I do not get at all. Most people are comparing WoW in its current form to Rift as it is now. I played WoW at launch and for many years after. Rift has quite a bit more content than WoW had hands down when it launched. So with the fact in mind that Rift needs some more time to grow and mature I would say at this rate it has a chance to surpass WoW down the road in terms of amout of time the game was out, how much content, how many people are playing, replayabiltity and much more.

Originally posted by mbd1968

Originally posted by Elidien

Originally posted by elocke

My thoughts exactly....until I hit level 50.  2 months after launch and I'm back to WoW .  I like Rift, but it doesnt' have enough content, i.e. alternate leveling paths for multiple alts, to keep me playing it the same I way I played Wow at launch.  For me the game, needs to double itself in order to keep me playing long enough to the next expansion or major content patch.

Also, while some of the game is faster paced, I have found that WoW quests obliterate Rift quests in every way.  I mow down 10 mobs much faster in WoW than I ever did in Rift.  Also, PHASING is just awesome to me.  It makes me feel like the quest was worth it.  Unlike in Rift where the quests don't really matter except as a vehicle to get me xp points.  And, if you want to just quest to level cap, you HAVE to do as many quests as you can, which again, ruins any replayability.

Also, those Rifts and footholds get old real fast.  At 50, when I was in Tier 2 gear, you basically are only closing Rifts and footholds for rep and achievements.  It got to the point where people would call "Invasion in Stillmoor!" and I wouldn't even bat an eye.  I just didn't care enough to go do it for the umpteenth time.

For me, WoW still wins hands down, but, RIFT is a great second alternative and I'm sure I'll be revisiting it a year or so from now after more content has been added.  

I couldn't have said it any better. my thoughts EXACTLY.

If you compare Rift 3 months after launch with WoW 3 months after launch, Rift offers a lot more than WoW did. Of course it won't offer the same options and content that WoW does now. if you want to compare like with like, come back to Rift in 5 years and compare.

This is the most bizzare attitude ever.  Why should I "cut it some slack" because its new, I will cut them slack on server side issues, login issues and such which are always a best guess scenario at launch.  But content wise ESPECIALLY from an MMO that promised to be "complete at launch" and marketed its self with the slogan "Were not in Azeroth any more" then yes I will compare them now.

The one thing Rift had going for it was the lack of X-realm group finders, and guess whats going to be added.

SW:ToR, GW2 and Tera will wipe the floor with this little filler game I am afraid, and its not that I dont applaud Trion for launching a nicely polished MMO it is a technically good game but thats the problem its "technically" good, it feels like some one plugged the numbers into a spreadsheet and came up with the equasion of "fun" it is great in theory, but out there in the real world it lacks a soul.

My first thought was that Rifts doesn't have the benefit of WoW's years, but then I realized that WoW at launch was more fun than Rifts is at it's launch, with more content and more to do.  Rifts is essentially Wow-lite. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying Rifts, and I left WoW because it was more of the same, but what I'm enjoying about Rifts is that it's new content (to me).  I'm certain that, when I hit 50, I'll echo a lot of the comments made above and quit.  It's something for me to do to kill time until ToR comes out, but I definitely don't see it being something I'd play for 4 years like I did WoW. 

Everytime I log in I see a dozen things I'd like to see changed.  Little things that catch my eye that would make my play session more enjoyable, annoying things that interrupt my play.  It's a nice game, but it won't topple Wow.

I will disagree with Blizzard that people who left WoW for Rifts will come back to Wow, however.  People who left Wow left for a reason, and Rifts will only remind them why they left.  They'll either grow bored in the same levelling grind, or get to 50 and find nothing there and quit.  Some may go back, but most left for reasons that Rift doesn't fix either.

Good news, it definitely is a replacement for WoW.

Bad news, it definitely is a replacement for WoW.

The core gameplay is very similar, but with many, many improvements. Yet still, it's pretty much the same gear treadmill skinner box in a gameworld that lacks substance.

I had fun with Rift for a while, but if I wasn't so burnt out on themepark MMOs from WoW, I'd probably still be interested in Rift.

Originally posted by bujko

1:WOW

2:Rift

This is the truth , wow story is more interesting than the story of Rift >okey cool graphic , cool character custamization, but who cares,but the best game is still comming out :D SWTOR 

  Okay so what you are saying is

  " This is the truth, Warhammers story is more interesting than Rift"

  Because the WoW lore is all pulled from the original Warhammer fantasy from the early 80's, same for Starcraft from 40k.  I like all these games but WoW's lore far from good, as is Rift.

This is a WoW alternative, nothing more. People bored of WoW are playing this. When (IF) the next gen MMO comes out (Tera, GW2, KOTOR .. etc) it will die a quick and painless death. This game is a placeholder so people have 'something to do'.

I'm loving Rift atm.  WoW's great, no doubt, but I've "been there, done that."

Now Rift plays like a WoW 2.0 with a dose of WAR, and I'll enjoy it until I consume all its content, like I did in WoW.

After playing extensively in the beta, I finally picked up a copy of Rift a month after release - and quickly got just as disinterested in it as I did during the last stages of the beta period. With a few weeks left on my Rift account, I resubbed to World of Warcraft and am enjoying myself trying a few things I hadn't done before.

Rift is only a very shallow imitation of what has gone before. It's as though the developers were less interested in creating a fully fleshed-out world and focused more on making a "good enough" game. I don't care much for what has been done with the core gameplay of WoW lately, but I do enjoy the "world" feeling. Trion has to resort to frequent "events" to keep people interested.

From the article

 

While I haven’t participated in either yet, there are instances and PVP zones early as well. The instances start at level 17 and PVP begins around level 12. I have seen a few posts on leveling toons strictly through PVP so apparently the PVP is robust enough to allow exclusive play.  One of the best things about RIFT is the huge variety of fast paced play available very early in the game. In two evenings of play I leveled two different toons to level 14.

Two evenings was enough for me to suspend my WoW account for now. I am enjoying the game play enough that I have decided to focus on RIFT for a while. The play is complex enough to keep me mentally engaged and with the huge variety of play available its hard to get bored.

Sorry, this just seems like an advertisement and the last two paragraphs cinch the deal. The author was looking for bonus points so named elements that she hasn't even played.

With all due respect, most players sharing the same, or opposing, oposing opinion would have their thread locked and pointed to the stickied "This is just like WoW/Warhammer/AoC" comparison thread. Players, of either opinion, who chose to cite elements of the game they hadn't played would also be flamed until the mods saw it, and then flamed again til the mods (rightfully) locked the post.

PVP is a huge disgrace in this game, there are posts every week about the OP FotM class by the people who rolled fotm last week. A person who had experienced PVP in rift, unless they were the FotM class (deliberately or coincidentally) wouldn't highlight rift's pvp. Informed and experienced gamers, while they may like a class should also know when it is OP, and if they knew that, they again wouldn't cite PVP as a plus here.

For example: I played World of Warcraft and I played three classes priimarily

• Prot Paladin - It sure as hell was op throughout all but the beginning of Wrath. I played it because auras (to a small extent), hand spells, and Divine Guardian gave me an immense amount of control over the survival of the raid. I'm the type of player that likes to make up for others messing things up. Prot throughout Wrath and the beginning of Cata gave me that ability. (<3 wog).
• Disc Priest - I never was convinced Disc was OP but I will admit that the buff it provided to raid survival was more powerful than anything else. A disc priest needed the other healers as bad as the other healers needed other healers to assist in 10 and 25 man fights.
• Resto Druid - I knew the weakest players in my raid and I knew the cycles of the fights. I greatly enjoyed being able to assist them at those key points. Not as powerful as Disc but a strong strong healer.

Can't call it a replacement, it seems as though it does the things WoW does .. but not as well? .. The only big thing that RIFT has going for it is, OMFG INVASIONZZZZ , and that get's boring after the 1000th time.

Dunno, not saying WoW is all amazing and what not, it does have its flaw /pvp ... but, this is no replacement in my eyes. 

I don't understand why the fact that Rift is new should be used as an excuse for a lack of endgame content. Even in WoW, few people are raiding anything less than the current content. 

Originally posted by SuperXero89

I don't understand why the fact that Rift is new should be used as an excuse for a lack of endgame content. Even in WoW, few people are raiding anything less than the current content. 

Rift has far more endgame content than WoW did two months after release, the difference is that people blew through content in Rift so much more quickly because they've 'done it all before'.

If RIFT lasts a few years, it could replace WoW.  But it suffers from a serious disadvantage.  Telara is a new world without the rich backstory that informed WoW from all the previous WarCraft games.  Azeroth is a world that people played with for years before going online with it, and that history shows up in all sorts of places in the game.  RIFT had to start from scratch and that's a tall order.  I chose my first character in WoW (an undead) based on what I had played in WarCraft 3.  In RIFT, I look at Defiants and Guardians as basically extensions of Horde and Alliance.  They don't have that backstory to engage me.  Now, most new games don't have that history to work with, but having one is a massive advantage.

Originally posted by Ceridith

Originally posted by SuperXero89

I don't understand why the fact that Rift is new should be used as an excuse for a lack of endgame content. Even in WoW, few people are raiding anything less than the current content. 

Rift has far more endgame content than WoW did two months after release, the difference is that people blew through content in Rift so much more quickly because they've 'done it all before'.

Is the current endgame in WoW so much more in-depth?

I left Wow last fall and have not been back and the wife and I have prepaid for Rift until October but unlike her I am at the point at just level 35 that I can not log in. I can't really describe it the game for me just does not have it.

Originally posted by mbd1968

Originally posted by Elidien

Originally posted by elocke

My thoughts exactly....until I hit level 50.  2 months after launch and I'm back to WoW .  I like Rift, but it doesnt' have enough content, i.e. alternate leveling paths for multiple alts, to keep me playing it the same I way I played Wow at launch.  For me the game, needs to double itself in order to keep me playing long enough to the next expansion or major content patch.

Also, while some of the game is faster paced, I have found that WoW quests obliterate Rift quests in every way.  I mow down 10 mobs much faster in WoW than I ever did in Rift.  Also, PHASING is just awesome to me.  It makes me feel like the quest was worth it.  Unlike in Rift where the quests don't really matter except as a vehicle to get me xp points.  And, if you want to just quest to level cap, you HAVE to do as many quests as you can, which again, ruins any replayability.

Also, those Rifts and footholds get old real fast.  At 50, when I was in Tier 2 gear, you basically are only closing Rifts and footholds for rep and achievements.  It got to the point where people would call "Invasion in Stillmoor!" and I wouldn't even bat an eye.  I just didn't care enough to go do it for the umpteenth time.

For me, WoW still wins hands down, but, RIFT is a great second alternative and I'm sure I'll be revisiting it a year or so from now after more content has been added.  

I couldn't have said it any better. my thoughts EXACTLY.

If you compare Rift 3 months after launch with WoW 3 months after launch, Rift offers a lot more than WoW did. Of course it won't offer the same options and content that WoW does now. if you want to compare like with like, come back to Rift in 5 years and compare.

I disagree.  I am comparing this to WoW's launch.  Being a huge Altoholic and a semi casual raider, WoW gave me 10 times more world to explore which added more leveling paths.  Basically 3 different starting areas per faction based on race choice.  That comes out to 6 alternate leveling experiences that only came together at about level 40ish and even then you had your choice of zones for those levels.  Rift offers 1 starting zone per faction, equalling only 2 leveling paths that come together at level 25. 

That's a MAJOR difference in Alt playability and again, is why I am bored with Rift with one Guardian toon at level 50 and my second toon, a Defiant, at 23.  I've seen all there is too see aside from the  Greenscale Raid and the River of Souls. 

The game needs more content.  However, all this talk about housing is good and is a step in the right direction on giving alternate endgame activities that don't require raids or grinding dungeons.