PayPal option worked for me after a substantial amount of tries, registered and linked accounts now. :) Keep trying!

A tip to you OP - the entire part of your site that greets me when I visit, the part that is "above the fold" is about why I should join. Bullet points boasting your features, features almost every other site has. Below that is activities from people that I have no connection with, activities around those features. Someone uploaded image X, someone replied in thread Y. BORING!

Bring real content as your key and people might have been more interested. Don't take this the wrong way, see it as constructive criticism. :)

Originally posted by Betakodo

What if... No one got one and they're only giving them to people who pre-purchase. OoohH can't talk about being invited to the beta, that's a first. I wonder why?

You can't pre-purchase yet

I'd love one if anyone has one! I'll pass any future ones out as well. :)

Well, it's your / your friends site, so why do you say you "found it"?

Yes, it's a filler..

But it's "DYNAMIC".. coupled with a "TOP NOTCH" game engine, how can you not love it more than your first born?

/irony :)

Good review, thanks

Originally posted by gessekai332

what really catches my eye when i go through the posts in this thread is the amount of people that can criticize the game and its components in such a harsh but detailed manner to give the impression that they thoroughly tested out the game but in the end, if you read closely, they mention how they never actually really played the game and they were just basing their conclusions on gameplay and the game's likeness to wow on youtube videos and what other trolls have said on the forums.

 

amazing.

I did play the game in the very last open beta a few days before headstart. I couldn't stand the graphics (even on highest settings..) and the lacking combat .. but it's just my opinion.. I'm aware many people don't see it that way. :-)

Originally posted by MMO.Maverick

It's the combination of the size of a world, the travel options and the content it has that provide the feel of  of a world's vastness or lack of it..

Ah! Then I have to admit i got derailed from the initial purpose of the thread! With the above I agree that only perhaps the largest of any available continents within any game is needed to describe what you just reiterated for me. Cheers!

Originally posted by MMO.Maverick

Originally posted by Wuushu

You need to take into account if game A has 10 more continents of the same size, where game B having only that 1 continent in the picture. It's simple really..

 

I don't see where you got the impression that I didn't.

 

Where I don't mention the complete worldsize is when I don't have those exact figures, so if you see any MMORPG on my list where that's lacking, please feel free to provide the figures and numbers that you think are missing, preferrably with source link.

In your initial post under "WoW", you mention two continents. This to start with is incorrect. It has 4 continents + 1 more expansion worth of zones losely fit together. I don't have exact measurements of these standalone continents but it would serve the argument of the OP to mention these for sake of accuracy..

Kalimdor

Eastern Kingdom

Outlands

Northrend

+ Cataclysm zones

Thanks!

Originally posted by MMO.Maverick

Well, you might find it silly, but I don't and apparently the maker of that map didn't either.

In fact, it gives me a pretty good idea how MMO's compare to eachother when laying one continent next to another of a different MMO, especially if I'm intimately familiar and aware of the size of 1 of the continents used.

You need to take into account if game A has 10 more continents of the same size, where game B having only that 1 continent in the picture. It's simple really..

Originally posted by MMO.Maverick

? What point are you trying to make?

You only need 1 continent of an MMORPG as a baseline to get a grasp of how large one MMO world is in comparison to another one.

Wow, that's just wrong on so many levels.

To show how large an MMO world is in comparison to other games, you include all zones/continents.

I mean.. otherwise it would be as silly as to for example overlay WoW's Kalimdor on a map of Darkfall.. :-)

Originally posted by MMO.Maverick

Originally posted by rokrow

OP's data is very old.

Pre Outlands, pre Nothrend and pre Cataclysm numbers.

 

OPs data was accurate when?  2007?  5 years ago?

 

Why such sloppy work OP?

? Did the continents Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms suddenly grow in size, what used to be a certain time to cross the Barrens suddenly taking double that time?

 

The information for the figures is found in the source links, also what these figures were linked to, the WoW tests done were pretty extensive. Sure, tBC added 2 regions on top of Eastern Kingdoms but it isn't hard to see when following that link what those size figures mean. But I'll add 'WoW vanilla' in the OP for those that don't want to bother reading source links.

If you're not using "current" world sizes, then maybe you should change your signature line from "

I'm assuming it is because they want the game to be available to a big userbase as possible, and a wide range of (low) systems. Hence the focus on good art style and textures, over polygons. But I digress..

I'm not saying wether it's the right or wrong thing to do, I'm just saying what I think their standpoint is. Of course I would love for MMO's to have "low settings" be working on a calculator and look decent, while "ultra settings" be something that could only run on a PC from 5 years into the future. Sadly I doubt we'll see a large range in assets/models settings etc of that kind anytime soon^tm. :(

On a totally unrelated topic, UE3 looks brilliant!

You don't build an MMO-engine to be futureproof for "decades" ahead. Simply not possible knowing what techniques/hardware will exist in 10 years time. However updating it with frequent intervals is the way to go. :)

Originally posted by Xasapis

You can dissect it all you want. The bottom line is that WoW graphics engine was dated 3 years ago. Rift is not cutting edge, but it looks current.

 

One of the games I have fond memories is the original Prince of Persia, the platform. Great graphcis at the time, unplayable right now in a modern 26+ monitor.

 

There comes a time where the "artistic" whatever excuse can't cover the aging beast of an engine. For a company that makes billions per year, this type of engine that has zero scalability to today's graphics standards is just unacceptable.

The thing is Xasapis, that's just your personal opinion.. :-) For most people playing WoW, it's not "dated"!

Originally posted by redcloud16

As an artist, I thnk Wow's graphics are far superior to Rift. I am going to use the terms 'art style' and 'graphics' seperately, however. 

Also, the WoW screenshot you used is from classic and it's obvious. I think a comparison of something new from Cataclysm would be more appropriate. 

Yes, RIFT's graphics engine or whatever is vastly superior to World of Warcraft's, it should be it's brand spanking new. 

My problem with RIFT is it has no art style whatsoever. It's going for generic realism in a high fantasy setting, which gives the illusion of having an srt style, imo.  Any jo-shmo can take a photo and slap it on to a tree or a character's face. The silhouettes off the character models are uninteresting and bland. When I first played the beta I was using my old compuer and had not received y laptop yet, so in orer to run the game I had teh settings turned down all the way. At those settings the textures are so muddy and flat that you can see the model itself better, which I spent time to look at. The boots of some of the characters resemble the fake felt 'boots' that are prevalent in children's Halloween costumes, for example. 

Their animations too, aren't the greatest. Not the worst, but not the greatest. 

That being said, RIFT can look gorgeous. The lighting and all of the technical graphic ends of things are really well done. They just . . . don't have a defining look or style. It kind of does, with that female Defiant moscot lady, but it has so much more potential. Which is funny because that was my problem with the game, it has so much going for it, and it has so much potential but it can be a tad underwhelming. Maybe I'm just jaded haha.

Anyway, I also wanted to point out that stylization =/= cartoony.  While SOME of WoW can look cartoony, not all of it is. But then again, I guess if you have vibrant colors and use the 12 Principles of Animation any leyman would associate those things with cartoons and Disney and whatnot. Which is a travesty. 

Anyway, I'm aware that I'm being nitpicky and ranting, but I'm done.

---

TLDR: In a technical aspect, Rift 'looks' better than WoW. In an art aspect, WoW looks better than RIFT. IMO. 

This quote is 100% truth. Thanks for educating everyone in this thread! I'm sure they will thank you one day.. but not before their Rift-tinted glasses are worn out... :-D

Originally posted by RiftFan

Originally posted by Wuushu

Originally posted by Serenes

If your going to bash WoW atleast give it a shot by showing current graphics

http://us.media.blizzard.com/wow/media/screenshots/screenshot-of-the-day/cataclysm/cataclysm-ss1309-large.jpg

 

i know still not great but rift is not a whole shit ton ahead... WoW is 7 years old give me a break if rifts graphics are good you are naive.

Finally someone posting current WoW-screenshots, and not BETA-screens... ! :)

WoW has up to date graphics engines sort of. When they talk about WoW they mean the art style.
People are looking for more realism in their characters and WoW art style just does not head
that direction.

"People"? Some perhaps, some not. It's a matter of taste in that case, not a matter of which is a matter of fact "better". I simply wanted to point out that the screenshot used by the OP was grossly understated in terms of how nice it looks. But it works great for his/hers lackluster and biased argument.

Originally posted by Serenes

If your going to bash WoW atleast give it a shot by showing current graphics

http://us.media.blizzard.com/wow/media/screenshots/screenshot-of-the-day/cataclysm/cataclysm-ss1309-large.jpg

 

i know still not great but rift is not a whole shit ton ahead... WoW is 7 years old give me a break if rifts graphics are good you are naive.

Finally someone posting current WoW-screenshots, and not BETA-screens... ! :)