I never post to comment on a game (and why start now?) but I feel that this game had a lot of unique features going for it in the beginning. At first glance w/out playing it seems like a WOW/EQ clone w/ less child-like & better graphics but it did things WOW has lately been unable to do. It had a fun world environment where you didn't know if you were gonig to be caught up in a massive struggle against a PVE event or a PVP brawl. PVP itself isn't flying down out of the sky to kill a low-level player but teams of geared & skilled players struggle to dominate a zone.

Don't get me wrong I like WOW and some of it's features are superior (and some other MMO's) but it didn't have the same dynamism for world play.

Then the expansion hit and some things about it are cool but it seemed like SL lost a lot of it's attention to detail and it just wanted to rush the xpac out to compete w/ MOP (& leveling w/ MOP was much more fun than SL). I'm hoping RIft turns around but until then I'll hope for a dynamic game I can play and that keeps PVP interesting comes out. Maybe that game will be ESO, who knows.

Actually, Storm Legion is one of the greatest expansions I've ever encountered, even with the slight amount of bugs it had the first few months, most of which have already been fixed.  The game is absolutely growing, albeit on a small scale.  Can't see it maintaining it's growth after all the new sandboxy and pvp games coming out late 2013, but for now it's more than just stable as far as population goes.  Warfronts are notably different in population.  At level 50, there are tons of players who are brand new to warfronts, and at first was surprising.  The ques pop instantly 24/7 once you hit 50 and stay that way.  I made an alt and leveled up strictly in warfronts hitting 50 really fast.  Started making friends by answering questions and helping out, hadnt seen new players trying out the pvp since I can't remember.

 I'll play until Arche Age, and most likely will try out the other new games that open this year, like Neverwinter, Wildstar, and ESO if it does indeed happen in 2013.  I'll remember Rifts soul system as the main reason why I stopped playing LOTRO, WOW, and Age of Conan.   MIxing that with pvp is what made warfronts so fun for almost 2 years and counting.  

Very glad Trion is publishing Arche Age.  Until these other games come out, Rift and Guild Wars 2 seem to be the bigger hitters concerning recent games.

Originally posted by DMKano
With Hartsman gone, the game can only improve. He was keeping the game from going where its need to go - I see lots of positive changes coming to Rift in the future.

Hmmmm,  I tend to be in the other camp entirely.  The departure of Hartsman means that the game will head in exactly the wrong direction.  Now I know where you are coming from but after all the original game and its first year has to have been substantially Hartsman's guidance. 

From what I have seen Storm Legion was the result of a rush job to put all of the content in development out the door before they gutted the team.  I said that at the time and even suggested that Hartsman was on the way out as early as November. Well Hartsman's departure has been and gone and his parting comments suggest he lost control way before the announcement.

Some Rift players love the recent changes, perhaps even a lot of the current players.  But I know that 14 out of 24 people in my (now defunct) guild left the game because they did not like Storm Legion and/or the changes.  I was one of them.

Originally posted by craftseeker

Originally posted by DMKano
With Hartsman gone, the game can only improve. He was keeping the game from going where its need to go - I see lots of positive changes coming to Rift in the future.

Hmmmm,  I tend to be in the other camp entirely.  The departure of Hartsman means that the game will head in exactly the wrong direction.  Now I know where you are coming from but after all the original game and its first year has to have been substantially Hartsman's guidance. 

From what I have seen Storm Legion was the result of a rush job to put all of the content in development out the door before they gutted the team.  I said that at the time and even suggested that Hartsman was on the way out as early as November. Well Hartsman's departure has been and gone and his parting comments suggest he lost control way before the announcement.

Some Rift players love the recent changes, perhaps even a lot of the current players.  But I know that 14 out of 24 people in my (now defunct) guild left the game because they did not like Storm Legion and/or the changes.  I was one of them.

I'm sorry to hear about core players leaving the game, but I still find Storm Legion to be one of the best expansions ever.  The housing alone, albeit not as easy with the UI as everquest 2, is possibly the best I've ever seen, with housing leaderboards partly solving the argument between instanced and non instanced.  The bolstering changes to pvp means that instead of twinked out players decimating newer players and turning them off from warfronts, we now have lots of first timers at level 50 asking what to do at the Codex since it's their first time.  (am surprised by how many times this happens now actually)

It's hard to imagine Rift being viable after 2013 with all of the new games coming out later this year.  But for now, most of the changes and the expansion itself have been wonderful and has grown the games population undeniably.  

I am curious though, which changes caused you and your guild members to leave?

Originally posted by greene75

Originally posted by craftseeker

Originally posted by DMKano
With Hartsman gone, the game can only improve. He was keeping the game from going where its need to go - I see lots of positive changes coming to Rift in the future.

Hmmmm,  I tend to be in the other camp entirely.  The departure of Hartsman means that the game will head in exactly the wrong direction.  Now I know where you are coming from but after all the original game and its first year has to have been substantially Hartsman's guidance. 

From what I have seen Storm Legion was the result of a rush job to put all of the content in development out the door before they gutted the team.  I said that at the time and even suggested that Hartsman was on the way out as early as November. Well Hartsman's departure has been and gone and his parting comments suggest he lost control way before the announcement.

Some Rift players love the recent changes, perhaps even a lot of the current players.  But I know that 14 out of 24 people in my (now defunct) guild left the game because they did not like Storm Legion and/or the changes.  I was one of them.

I'm sorry to hear about core players leaving the game, but I still find Storm Legion to be one of the best expansions ever.  The housing alone, albeit not as easy with the UI as everquest 2, is possibly the best I've ever seen, with housing leaderboards partly solving the argument between instanced and non instanced.  The bolstering changes to pvp means that instead of twinked out players decimating newer players and turning them off from warfronts, we now have lots of first timers at level 50 asking what to do at the Codex since it's their first time.  (am surprised by how many times this happens now actually)

It's hard to imagine Rift being viable after 2013 with all of the new games coming out later this year.  But for now, most of the changes and the expansion itself have been wonderful and has grown the games population undeniably.  

I am curious though, which changes caused you and your guild members to leave?

Some of them simply never logged in again.  A couple despised the changes to Clerics and found the sacking of the cleric dev to be disheartening. Some found the rep grind to extensice to bother with, many had problems with the expert mode dungeons lots of reasons.

For myself:  Account wide PA, the "mini games" where you become a mech. The change from a balanced approach to Magitech to a much more tech centered environment.  The heavy emphasis on particular roles being focussed on one aspect within a class, compellng switching of roles on a much more frequent basis.  Too many fishing bots and the idiocyncratic way that they attempted to handle it.  The presence of "Conquest Perks" and the trinket that made doing Conquest (PvP) a requirement for raiding.  A significant drop in the performance of Customer Support after the departure of Walsingham. The gutting of the development team for Rift. Other things but this is turning into a rant.

I am curious though, which changes caused you and your guild members to leave?

Some of them simply never logged in again.  A couple despised the changes to Clerics and found the sacking of the cleric dev to be disheartening. Some found the rep grind to extensice to bother with, many had problems with the expert mode dungeons lots of reasons.

For myself:  Account wide PA, the "mini games" where you become a mech. The change from a balanced approach to Magitech to a much more tech centered environment.  The heavy emphasis on particular roles being focussed on one aspect within a class, compellng switching of roles on a much more frequent basis.  Too many fishing bots and the idiocyncratic way that they attempted to handle it.  The presence of "Conquest Perks" and the trinket that made doing Conquest (PvP) a requirement for raiding.  A significant drop in the performance of Customer Support after the departure of Walsingham. The gutting of the development team for Rift. Other things but this is turning into a rant.

You seem to know a lot about the game, and i agree about fishing bots and drop in customer support.  In fairness though, fishing bots have been handled and was hampered a lot by the Holidays and the two week vacation for Trion employees.  

I also hate Conquest and forced pvp for raiders but like it much more now since its been tweaked/fixed . . . although it still needs more work.  (There are other trinkets now to get besides the conquest one)   I also love the PA account wide, was happily surprised by it.  And as far as switching roles in warfronts/raids, i think it's one of the best examples of why lots of people enjoy Rift.  I love being able to master more than one role and switch as needed.  It takes more work, is more of a challenge, and provides a lot more flexibiility.  

I still feed Rift needs to be more immersive, but not sure what qualitites can fix that, and is something fairly subjective.  Hope you and your guild can at least rejoin in another game you enjoy, and still sorry to hear you all go.  

Originally posted by greene75

I am curious though, which changes caused you and your guild members to leave?

Some of them simply never logged in again.  A couple despised the changes to Clerics and found the sacking of the cleric dev to be disheartening. Some found the rep grind to extensice to bother with, many had problems with the expert mode dungeons lots of reasons.

For myself:  Account wide PA, the "mini games" where you become a mech. The change from a balanced approach to Magitech to a much more tech centered environment.  The heavy emphasis on particular roles being focussed on one aspect within a class, compellng switching of roles on a much more frequent basis.  Too many fishing bots and the idiocyncratic way that they attempted to handle it.  The presence of "Conquest Perks" and the trinket that made doing Conquest (PvP) a requirement for raiding.  A significant drop in the performance of Customer Support after the departure of Walsingham. The gutting of the development team for Rift. Other things but this is turning into a rant.

You seem to know a lot about the game, and i agree about fishing bots and drop in customer support.  In fairness though, fishing bots have been handled and was hampered a lot by the Holidays and the two week vacation for Trion employees.  

I also hate Conquest and forced pvp for raiders but like it much more now since its been tweaked/fixed . . . although it still needs more work.  (There are other trinkets now to get besides the conquest one)   I also love the PA account wide, was happily surprised by it.  And as far as switching roles in warfronts/raids, i think it's one of the best examples of why lots of people enjoy Rift.  I love being able to master more than one role and switch as needed.  It takes more work, is more of a challenge, and provides a lot more flexibiility.  

I still feed Rift needs to be more immersive, but not sure what qualitites can fix that, and is something fairly subjective.  Hope you and your guild can at least rejoin in another game you enjoy, and still sorry to hear you all go.  

BTW my own feeling is that Conquest was an Elrar project from go to wow and as an example of his project managment skills does not bode well for the game.

Originally posted by craftseeker

BTW my own feeling is that Conquest was an Elrar project from go to wow and as an example of his project managment skills does not bode well for the game.

Conquest was a complete disaster, and was the confirmation that Trion had no direction for their game.  They tried to sell it as what players wanted, but it wasnt.  PvPers were asking for meaningful open world PvP, not another battleground type system.  It required a convoluted scenario to fit in with the lore in order to adapt a 2 faction game into a 3 team battleground.  Players didnt ask for it, it didnt make sense with the game's lore, so why was it made?

Because 3 faction PvP s a buzzword.  This was a concept designed not to make the game better, but to draw more people in (or maybe keep people from leaving for the other 3 faction PvP games).  The implementation was lazy (existing zone?  really?) and the release was a technical disaster.

Not to say conquest isnt fun (it is), but they could have focused the efforts to mae an open world PvP area that was what the players wanted and would make sense in Rift.

But hey, patch 2.2 is coming.  It features an event that they had last year and tier 3 PA (which is barely different from what was on the PTR last march) and alternative rule set for one of their battlegrounds.  So much for major patches every 6 weeks.   WoW's 5.1 patch was more impressive than Rift's 2.1 and 2.2 combined, and they have an enormous patch coming out within the next couple weeks.  Seems like Trion is no longer king of content updates.

Originally posted by strangiato2112

Originally posted by craftseeker

BTW my own feeling is that Conquest was an Elrar project from go to wow and as an example of his project managment skills does not bode well for the game.

Conquest was a complete disaster, and was the confirmation that Trion had no direction for their game.  They tried to sell it as what players wanted, but it wasnt.  PvPers were asking for meaningful open world PvP, not another battleground type system.  It required a convoluted scenario to fit in with the lore in order to adapt a 2 faction game into a 3 team battleground.  Players didnt ask for it, it didnt make sense with the game's lore, so why was it made?

Because 3 faction PvP s a buzzword.  This was a concept designed not to make the game better, but to draw more people in (or maybe keep people from leaving for the other 3 faction PvP games).  The implementation was lazy (existing zone?  really?) and the release was a technical disaster.

Not to say conquest isnt fun (it is), but they could have focused the efforts to mae an open world PvP area that was what the players wanted and would make sense in Rift.

 

 

But hey, patch 2.2 is coming.  It features an event that they had last year and tier 3 PA (which is barely different from what was on the PTR last march) and alternative rule set for one of their battlegrounds.  So much for major patches every 6 weeks.   WoW's 5.1 patch was more impressive than Rift's 2.1 and 2.2 combined, and they have an enormous patch coming out within the next couple weeks.  Seems like Trion is no longer king of content updates.

Actually, the next tiers in planar attunement, especially the next tier in pvp is kind of a big deal.   The alternate Codex warfront as well is a first time thing, and is supposed to pit random players against one another in the middle of the warfront.  Not sure of WOW's patch, might be bigger and even better, but this upcoming patch  for Rift is adding at least 4 oz. of grade A meat.  :)   

(last sentence might have been a tad too much, haha)