Housing is not in, being talked about but nothing confirmed.  General feeling having listened to Scott... its not coming since they feel its a game killer.

Issue was with AMD 10.10 drivers.  Which was hotfixed with 10.10e.  So this issue has long been fixed.  I never had it in beta or alpha on my 4890.

No kidding those games, and I play them all except LoL, don't have anywhere near the player base of Rift.  DCUO is down to 14? servers and even then never hits high anymore and rarely run into others outside.

Long queue and releasing servers slowly is good practice.  Means servers are full and that you won't have any that need to be merged into another later.  Also because of the tech they use it doesn't matter performance wise if the 5k people are in the starter zone or spread out, the servers aren't based on zones but on roles.  So not like Aion or WoW launch because people in game are not feeling the load.

That was a good one though, smaller than Vindictus ouch :p

Hence the headstart and staggering server launches.  In other news marathons also have one starting area =O  On launch day its a bum rush for spawns and nodes... a month later you'll be glad you aren't alone until you rejoin the other starter area toons in zone x.

My personal favourite whine on the offical forums is people asking for server moves to lower pop servers... on day 1... as level 6 toons /facepalm.

Here is all that anyone really needs to know.... 50 servers to date all with a queue.  Any other NA/EU live MMO other than WoW have that many?  Rift came out of nowhere for me, but after playing it and following the podcasts and other media its pretty obvious Scott and company are out to make a fun game and aren't dodging anything.  Loved that they shot down character customization and actually gave reasons for it that are tangible so that you can see how they got there.

The game is live for sure, but I can't imagine the bulk of players are pre-orders.  March 1st will be another round of server pounding.  And yes queues have been very very long.  Where Rift and Aion differ is NC Soft said... no new server for you =P and Trion said... 10 more... 2 more... 2 more...  Read somewhere they are up to 50 now.

And this here is why despite buying Rift for sure it won't be at launch ;)  When I get word from my guild that the queue on our server is gone and the starter area isn't shoulder to shoulder I'll activate my key :)  Meantime... back to alpha :O

Its success means playing today is going to be painful.  But tomorrow onward will be fine.  The only real bad is I think some people are going to fixate on being able to use three souls and forget that using 1 or 2 is also fine ;)  Ie originally I was going to be reaver/paly/warlord but now just slot paly/warlord with void at 0 points.

Its a way back machine, not an annoucement for a game launching in 2011 =P  UO2 graphics and motion capture were mindblowing in 2000 and UXO being lined up to compete with WoW looked the part.  UO2 was more about standing with AC and AO.

It would have brought competition to Bliz.  WoW was and in a lot of ways still is the only stylized MMO that will play on a toaster that boasts a large game world that is POI based with group content from 10+.  EQ2 even today needs a beast of a PC and even today has a tiny land mass.  DAoC RvR focus never really made up for little PvE content.  CoX is a completely different animal...  UXO would have meant WoW had direct competition early in its release cycle.

I'll also be playing Rift with my guild from VG.  I won't be there for launch, just don't like the mass rush and fighting for mobs on launch week ;)  Also hope racials get another pass because some are just /facepalm ;)

Originally posted by Fohmyn

I like how you intentionally excluded EVE, as if it cannot be used to show the success of player-driven content because it's based in space.

  EVE is special and yes successful but its boring as hell for me.  As an old school sim player I am excited about Black Prophecy and Jumpgate.  Comes down to what you like to RP.  If I RP a military role, it isn't as a miner ;)

UO had me by the balls for a long long time.  Sucks that UO:Origins and UO2 got canned =(

All I'm saying is having played every major MMO since UO I haven't seen anyone succeed by releasing MMOs that are sandboxes because to date they have been themeparks with no quests and some elaborate write up about social this and that which ammounts to nothing more than PvP without rules.  For me, sandbox means lazy incomplete design mechanics.

I'd love to be wrong, but I've asked this from time to time and no one can list an MMO worth playing that is a sandbox.  EVE is good for what it is, but its really really boring to me.

Originally posted by Fohmyn

A sandbox game is NOT a themepark game with no content or progression. It's an entirely different beast. Player-driven content versus developer-coded content. What you want or desire to do versus what the game allows you to do. 

How is that different than say WoW with no quests?  Or can you list at least one character based MMO that has enjoyed some success with this model?

The sandbox market is a niche market... never going to hold 50% of the market.

This is especially true as long as sandbox just means a theme park with no quests or heavy npc interaction and usually skill based progression.

People are blowing the problems with WoW's DF way out of hand.  One, you can always report ninjas.  Two, server community?  Really?  I could care less about anyone outside my guild let alone track them down to wag my finger at them for ninjaing or some other "not cool" behaviour.  I came back to WoW for 4.0.1 after leaving during TBC and rerolled my paly, got to 15 and never stepped out of SW except to mine/herb.  I had already experienced the overland zones, but not the "to cap" dungeons.  DF is a blast and for every run that goes south I can easily go weeks without incident.  Its a game, its not work, its entertainment.  I want to get in, find the class that suites me best, experience all of the content and move once I have.

Game = Fun

Spamming OOC != Fun

DF = Game

A DF system is a must have if you want the dungeons from 1-49 to ever be seen.  I play MMOs to group, but I am not going to stand in a corner and spam for any ammount of time or wait for my guild run.  I want to run instance A, the game better make it possible everytime I get the urge.  About the only game that had been sucessful at getting groups started other than WoW/DC is CoX because content scaled and you could grab a duo, get going and grow the group overtime.  Normal MMO means you stand around until you have your 5-6, no superpowers so long travel time to zone and group could be complete mess meaning complete waste of time as you travel back to where you were or spam for a replacement.

Really that simple.  If you are against a DF system you are essentially against having fun the entire time you play games.  Or you find spamming LFG fun, can't help with that ;)

Oh noes Rift is an MMO... run away!

If you find Rift shallow or boring, I would love to hear what you do find deep and fun?

I started down this road back with UO and at the time EQ was just jaw dropping and I took breaks for AC, AO, DAoC and other but me and EQ were tight until 2004 when I tried EQ2.  Anyway point being EQ had me by the balls for 5 years but to hear that its deeper, sandbox or challening is a little funny.  EQ is slow not difficult and even today that hasn't changed.  Its still on the short list of MMOs that people can multi box.  That 1 person can play successfully many toons at once kind of speaks to the challenge presented to a player.

Anyway what EQ is though is immersive.  But 10 years on you'd think the UI would be fleshed out and grr fix the boats already.  How does something that worked in 99 not work in 11?  Don't get me started on the choices they made for progression.  I'm in but damn SOE is really good at making terrible choices when it comes to growing its games /facepalm