WoW is a solid game and Cataclysm is a well-polished and predictable expansion, but it is more of the same mediocre graphics, repetitive quests and stale character building capabilities.

Rift has vivid 3D high definition graphics that look amazing on the highest settings with a fairly good graphics card with 1GB of dedicated memory. At lower settings and with lower end graphics card the game still looks great, but at full detail it is quite impressive.

The Rift characters and their armor look much more realistic than the cartoony graphics of WoW.

Rift also has many more options for building up your characters. Whatever primary type you pick, you can equip up to 3 souls at a time from a choice of 8. The souls are easy to acquire by doing quests in your primary home city (Meridian or Sanctum).

Each soul offers its own tree of talents that you can gain by adding points as you level up. The game play and mechanics for each differ so you can keep things interesting by experimenting with different combinations and by putting points in different trees.

Questing in any MMO can sometimes get boring, but Rift has lots of other ways to earn XP. Rifts tear into the world and you need to join a group and fight them back. Invasions happen spontaneously in random places and the opposing faction or monsters from Rifts will attack your villages and outposts especially near wardstones. You get good rewards for fighting in these battles.

WoW didn't really have anything spontaneous like this.

The warfronts in Rift are much like the battlegrounds in WoW. I liked the WoW battlegrounds. They were one of the best parts of the game for me. Rift warfronts so far are just as fun.

WoW had some great dungeons with cool oversized bosses and various levels of challenges and so does Rift.

Bottom line for me is that the better graphics, more customizable characters and Rifts/Invasions have made a huge difference in my enjoyment of the game, so Rift is the clear winner.

I'm putting my WoW account on hold and switching to Rift when my 30 days are up.

One suggestion is that if you buy the game you should buy the deluxe digital version so you can get a 60% speed increase turtle mount. The description said that you get it at level 20, but you can get it much sooner by getting to a mailbox. Most people seem to have them and it makes getting around much quicker. You also get a bigger bag which is always a good thing.

A lot of people seem to come to Rift because they are bored with WOW.   As someone who is new to WOW, I can't really comprehend how you could adjust to such a tiny world after having a huge playground for such a long time...I'm kind of glad to have started playing WOW right now as I DO have that entire world to look forward to.   I just know that I will have see all of the areas in Rift far before I've seen all of Azeroth.  

Right now, I play Rift as my second MMORPG.  I find it fun in a "pick up and play" kind of way.  I can go in, do a few quests, join in on a few PQs and walk out casually not feeling I have to put a lot of commitment into it.  I see it as a sort of "Team Fortress 2" of MMOs.  

If  Rift is a Wow clone, then  Wow is a UO/EQ/Shadowbane/Doac/... clone.

People that limit there comparion of Rift  only to Wow, are undereducated regarding the history of MMORPGs. 

Wow was nothing new.

It doesn't matter if games copy each other. So far Rift is an exceptional game, that has been fairly polished at launch and taken the best from a lot of other mmorpg's, rounded them up and put them into a single game with unique features as well. I can see rift appealing to wow players, because it has similar gameplay, but i can also see it being interested by the more hardcore mmorpg players as well. In my single opinion, i believe rift has the solid potential to take WOW's throne as the "mmorpg king", not only by player base, but simply because of the game itself

I beta tested Rift a few months ago and I didn't like it at all. Send me hate mail all you guys want, but I played Rift and it felt like I was playing WoW but with different characters (So much for the "We aren't in Azeroth anymore" joke they used in the ads).

I had been playing World of Warcraft ever since it first came out, I had played many MMORPGs besides WoW, and I wasn't impressed at all by Rift. They pretty much got an old rock and tried to convince you that it's worth $50 and for some reason people believe it -.-

Originally posted by Johnchief117

I beta tested Rift a few months ago and I didn't like it at all. Send me hate mail all you guys want, but I played Rift and it felt like I was playing WoW but with different characters (So much for the "We aren't in Azeroth anymore" joke they used in the ads).

 

I had been playing World of Warcraft ever since it first came out, I had played many MMORPGs besides WoW, and I wasn't impressed at all by Rift. They pretty much got an old rock and tried to convince you that it's worth $50 and for some reason people believe it -.-

"We aren't in Azeroth anymore"- (you can tell cuz we used White-Out to change some things)

Originally posted by King_Kumquat

Originally posted by Johnchief117

I beta tested Rift a few months ago and I didn't like it at all. Send me hate mail all you guys want, but I played Rift and it felt like I was playing WoW but with different characters (So much for the "We aren't in Azeroth anymore" joke they used in the ads).

 

I had been playing World of Warcraft ever since it first came out, I had played many MMORPGs besides WoW, and I wasn't impressed at all by Rift. They pretty much got an old rock and tried to convince you that it's worth $50 and for some reason people believe it -.-

"We aren't in Azeroth anymore"- (you can tell cuz we used White-Out to change some things)

LMAO.

There is a reason they call you the King ;)

*bows

hey amana, fanboy trolls shouldn't be mods.  My topic wasn't about comparing wow to rift outside of one or two sentences.  Thanks for locking it and abusing your privileges.

Originally posted by narghile

I've played WoW since Vanilla and I've been involved in the las two betas for Rift.

Rift reminds me a lot of the vanilla days of WoW.

World PVP, World bosses, maybe even the new game smell of it.

 

I've been following Rift threads on a few other Forums and I'ld like post some of the useful and interesting things I've come across.

 

This was a thread labled "100 Reasons Rift is better than WoW"

The count actually went past 120 last I checked.

 

Not all of the Posts are serious, but I think the majority are valid reasons, at least to the one posting.

 

1: AOE looting
2: No Ghostcrawler
3: Like WoW but with shinier graphics
4: Customizable UI out of the box
5: Less people playing
6: Rifts
7: It’s not WoW
8: It’ll be free in 6 months like Aion is now
9: No Knaak
10: Character customization
11: Rogue tanking
12: No gnomes
13: It has a shorter name and sounds dirty
14: No Druid shapeshift nerfs
15: Not having to run around the capital city doing nothing.
16: The talent system is mind-blowing
17: Reclaiming mats from old gear.
18: No arena
19: Offensive healers
20: Good tree graphics
21: Amazing, smooth and diverse animations
22: Water actually looks like water
23: Squirrels on fire
24: The map! It zooms!
25: The login screen
26: No ice lance
27: The male Mathosian dance
28: One-click import for UI.
29: Better lore
30: No taxi system
31: Not limited to 1 talent tree
32: General chat is tolerable
33: Bards
34: Nobody manipulating the economy...at least for now.
35: INVAAASIOOOOONS
36: Alliance look cool
37: Items you can buy to open rifts
38: Necromancers
39: Hearthstone doesn’t take an inventory slot
40: Support classes
41: Healer mage
42: Awesome racials
43: 'Tis new and fresh
44: quad spec, allowing ANY combination of souls you've acquired, not just the 3 active.
45: being able to acquire more than 3 souls in the first place
46: talent tree decision making (you need 31 points in a tree to get to the top, but you need 51 points (ie, one spec entirely) to acquire every spell that tree has to offer)
47: PvP only souls, which implies that balance between pve and pvp may wind up not impacting each other later on.
48. The beginner backpack has 20 slots
49. When one member enters an instance, other members get teleported in.
50. no elitists
51.Awesome death "Rifts", with even more awesome dangerous creaturs spawning from them
52: Even the first 2 dungeons have tactics that will wipe you when people fail and are more difficult that cata heroics where at the start.
53: Being able to do decent dps as a healer when I have the tank fully hotted.
54: Join public raid option for rifts.
55: Never needing more than 4 characters to enjoy every class aspect of the game.
56. The forums aren't full of people who can't read instructions even when in the title
57. only 6 Races, plenty of room to expand
58. Trolls drop Goat Gruff (read your fairy tales)
59. The ability to stack items in units higher than 20.
60. Devs listen to community
61. Doesnt take 2 months to fix obvious problems
62. No flying everywhere
63. World PvP
64. PvP Players have a loot table
65. Cleric tanking
66. Devs speak to us across our screens and are actually funny and engaging.
67. no gearscore, very few a-holes in the beta, feels more like an old school mmo
68. Dynamic cycle of dominant builds in pvp like in GW.
69. CHLOROMANCERS!
70. A rogue, two mages, a cleric and a warrior walk into a Dungeon. The rogue tanks, the cleric melees, one mage heals, the other debuffs/controls (find me a WHOLE CLASS in wow that has more than the odd CC and interrupt - I'm talking a whole 2 mage souls dedicated to shutting down the opposition) and the Warrior nomnomnoms you with Dot's and Pets.
71. no undead
72. no Slyvanas and her emo fanboys.
73. Loads of wow fanboys will stay away (haters gonna hate)
74. Dances with Squirrels title!
75. More D&D high fantasy than steampunk comedy
76. No "a more powerful spell is in existence" which GC lied about going in cata.
77. Poisons stay on daggers until YOU swap them, no refresh every 60 mins
78. it's absolutely beautiful, even on the low-end graphics
79. Critter Tears Artifacts.
80. Faction Vendors in the big cities
81. More fantasy-like than the high-tech technology WoW
82. Armor and weapons look more real than the WoW gear
83. Buyable blues for low levels
84. Get mounts in three different levels, lvl20, 40 and 50. 60%, 100% and 110%
85. Clerics "blink" with random direction and range.
86.The Rift elements will fight among them selfs (fire will attack water...ect) and can take over towns.
87. It's something different after almost 6 Years
88. Players will have to learn the fight as there will be no "deadly boss mods" addons (skill>addons)
89. Soul system can be added to in future expansions
90. Artifact collections > Archaeology and give ANY class epic gear!
91. Cool old stuff mixed up with cool high tech stuff (teleporting machines, high tech technology).
92. Nightblades stealth does not last forever, it lasts 60 seconds and after you leave it its on a 10s CD.
93. You don't need to reroll fotm, only respec in most cases.
94. "Hunters" Can shoot in melee range
95. Sounds muffled underwater adds to realism.
96. Recap: The new Guild banner idea in rift is unreal, and I'm shocked wow devs have not thought about it to bring back world pvp and improve guilds.
97. No "gaps" in professions (name one crafted staff in WoW for example, archaeology doesn't count obviously)
98. The Shattering (pre-Cata event) ... ALL DAY LONG
99. No Garrosh or Varian (hopefully!)
100. NO FROST MAGES or ring of frost

101. Taunts actually doing something (AWESOME) in PVP! As someone who has always played Tank in PVE, being able to do it in PVP makes me SO excited.
102. No Tol-Barad which is completely unbalanced (attacker at huge disadvantage)
103. Able to put what stats you want on gear from the start of your profession.
104. I'll be playing a new game. So we're all newbs!
105. Pve changes that only affect pve servers and pvp changes that affect only pvp servers. BEAT THAT BLIZZARD!
106. Armor dyes - OMG we may not all look identical for a change!
107. Exploration is awarded with artifacts and other hidden goodies
108. You won't get Uber Gear for less than Uber Effort (dev quote)
109. Level requirements have been removed from the previously-level 20 mounts. If you can get to them, and can afford them, you can use them. This includes the Collector's Edition turtle mount.
110 (?). It's only just beginning so can only really improve if devs continue to listen to players. (I hope)
111. something- Level 1 gold spammers? Easy to ignore since no1 really talks in capital city chat
112. Related to 111. - lvl 1-9 chat can be turned off, basically the chat is broken down so that you can view only the character level you wish to view. Basically you can turn off low level Gold spammers and "Barrens" chat.
113. Looting while mounted.
114. Every zone has a Ward boss you can summon if you can control all the wardstones.
115. No retarded trolls that think their inept comments are rofltastico status.
116. The game is totally engaging right out of the gates, there is always something to do, its fun, lively and all around just a blast to be playing!
117. All Endgame raids will be 20 man, no "easymode 10m" versions.
118. Specific 10m content

119. Loot is dynamically awarded based on your contribution to the group

120. Same Gear stats are used for both Caster clerics and Melee clerics o_O !! Spell stats are converted to Melee stats via the soul tree.  Spell crit = melee crit , spellpower = attack power, etc....

I about spit my coffe everywhere

23: Squirrels on fire

ROFL

Originally posted by Schwaahly
 

I belive its more of a social aspect... ie WOW has been around, I know this cuz I played WOW from the start to litch king and it wasnt the game.. it was the guild I was in and the peeps I met that keep me playin . sure it got old .. not cuz graphics.. lame content  ALL THE BULLSHIT IT TOOK TO GET A RAID GOIN (or havin to respect all the time deff in the early days, and maby still cuz blizz couldnt and imo still cant have class balance again just imo)// it was for the people I met online and if rift can do that well hell its worth a shot. from what ive seen of rift it reminds me of WOW hell early EQ for that, but its still a mmo and its the social game that will make it thrive or fail not graphics or content its if ur buddies or gona get on and play..

 

I gotta agree with Schwaahly. I played Wow from near the beginning. Wow is a great mmorpg...don't get me wrong. But I was with 2 great guilds back then...Anger Management and Wow addicts. It was an absolute hoot at the time. But after that, it declined. Now it is ruled by much younger players and the ingame help has declined as well...

Rift=Aion. Its new.

Pls everyone remember Aion. Everyone was like: Omg this game is so awesome...you can fight in the air and the fightanimations are so awesome...its definitely going to destroy WoW and take its place as the best MMORPG in the world.

And now? What happened? Right. Aion is free to play cause its boring and cant keep up with the old-school, bad comic graphics and imballanced WoW.

The 120 reasons are ****. Srsly...this guy just doesnt want to play a fantasy-mmorpg with classic roles but a superhero-mmorpg where he can be everything at once. A healer that can tank and do decent dps at the same time. And obviously he hates frostmages. And big communities. And taxisystems in big worlds?

I really like the system of souls they created in rift. But it doesnt really have that much NEW stuff...sure there are some nice new roles like the bard....a supporter with dps-abillity...but there are also very many roles that allready exist (ofc...how could there not?). So there are some more or less interesting new classes (a warrior that only fights with range magic??? that is interesting.).

I didnt play the beta but i watched like every vid on youtube about rift that exists... I like the good graphics, the new fighting animations, the soulsystem even though many of the roles are just RANDOM and/or boring, i love the pet-stuff on many speccs and i definitely love the awesome variaty of individual looks you can create for your char. 

I really hope they people have fun with this game but i really dont think that it will be that much of a threat to WoW which is just so much bigger and detailed (yet)...

Originally posted by FreezyTouch

And now? What happened? Right. Aion is free to play cause its boring and cant keep up with the old-school, bad comic graphics and imballanced WoW.

Since when did Aion go F2P?

Here's my comparison:
WoW: It's not fun any longer. I've just played it too long.
War: Wasn't really that much fun to begin with. Even at launch there weren't very many people it seemed like.
Aion: Knew it was going to be a grind. It seemed long on graphics and short on game. Not interested.
Rift: Doesn't look all that great on paper, but they don't seem to be promising too much. Beta was fun and the game is a blast. Many of the people I played WoW with are having a blast too.

I don't really need to get any more in depth than that.

* edit *
Add to the list:
In crafting, instead of 120+ items to craft and 12 items you use, there are 30 items to craft and 12 items you use.

Originally posted by FreezyTouch

Rift=Aion. Its new.

Pls everyone remember Aion. Everyone was like: Omg this game is so awesome...you can fight in the air and the fightanimations are so awesome...its definitely going to destroy WoW and take its place as the best MMORPG in the world.

And now? What happened? Right. Aion is free to play cause its boring and cant keep up with the old-school, bad comic graphics and imballanced WoW.

The 120 reasons are ****. Srsly...this guy just doesnt want to play a fantasy-mmorpg with classic roles but a superhero-mmorpg where he can be everything at once. A healer that can tank and do decent dps at the same time. And obviously he hates frostmages. And big communities. And taxisystems in big worlds?

I really like the system of souls they created in rift. But it doesnt really have that much NEW stuff...sure there are some nice new roles like the bard....a supporter with dps-abillity...but there are also very many roles that allready exist (ofc...how could there not?). So there are some more or less interesting new classes (a warrior that only fights with range magic??? that is interesting.).

I didnt play the beta but i watched like every vid on youtube about rift that exists... I like the good graphics, the new fighting animations, the soulsystem even though many of the roles are just RANDOM and/or boring, i love the pet-stuff on many speccs and i definitely love the awesome variaty of individual looks you can create for your char. 

 

Again, I gotta quote Schwaahly and say that it is the community that makes a game nowadays. I'm hoping I found such in rift. If I haven't... then I will move on.  I hope I meet Schwaahly someday. Good ppl r hard to find.

I really hope they people have fun with this game but i really dont think that it will be that much of a threat to WoW which is just so much bigger and detailed (yet)...

That last part was not me!

Originally posted by FreezyTouch

Rift=Aion. Its new.

Pls everyone remember Aion. Everyone was like: Omg this game is so awesome...you can fight in the air and the fightanimations are so awesome...its definitely going to destroy WoW and take its place as the best MMORPG in the world.

And now? What happened? Right. Aion is free to play cause its boring and cant keep up with the old-school, bad comic graphics and imballanced WoW.

I think you are confused. Aion is not free to play and probably never will be.

Originally posted by tepthtanis

That last part was not me!

That was Freezytouch... please put things in order mmorpg.  Quit confusing ppl.

Right! I am sorry. Its not free to play....that was my fault. But it definitely failed to get WoW off its throne and thats what i think Rift will do, too. Even if it got way better graphics and animations. I think what really makes WoW so good in many peoples eyes is the size of the world they play in and the high max-lvl you can achieve. Ofc there are other things like the variaty of roles, speccs and jobs and stuff like that...but thats something rift allready is equally good in. 

WoW cataclysm is a  complete joke right now. Can someone tell me what exactly changed in that expansion? Sprinkle a bit of fire here,edit the top portion of trees there, and give 4 possible leveling areas to those who aren't tanks who get instant ques to dungeons to level.I made threads of possible future hints of expansions nobody gives a shit about meanwhile blizzard bans me off the forums because half my predictions to a predictable company was true. Right now they're pulling out their keyboard keys in rage because rift stole (not really) the next installment to their shitty line up of xpacs "the rift system" .Which phases you in diffrent areas of the new azeroth "the future"and embark on the longest chain questline in mmo history.Each area in the old world will have  this feature. I read that one time they would allow communication between both fractions in this so called "time system" as a means to story line...in the end horde and alliance are best buddys while leveling. 

On the outside of this everything present is back to normal as the fail xpac continues to progress. Blizzard knows its ture so thats why they banned me off the forums.

Originally posted by Alrestor

WoW cataclysm is a  complete joke right now. Can someone tell me what exactly changed in that expansion? Sprinkle a bit of fire here,edit the top portion of trees there, and give 4 possible leveling areas to those who aren't tanks who get instant ques to dungeons to level.I made threads of possible future hints of expansions nobody gives a shit about meanwhile blizzard bans me off the forums because half my predictions to a predictable company was true. Right now they're pulling out their keyboard keys in rage because rift stole (not really) the next installment to their shitty line up of xpacs "the rift system" .Which phases you in diffrent areas of the new azeroth "the future"and embark on the longest chain questline in mmo history.Each area in the old world will have  this feature. I read that one time they would allow communication between both fractions in this so called "time system" as a means to story line...in the end horde and alliance are best buddys while leveling. 

On the outside of this everything present is back to normal as the fail xpac continues to progress. Blizzard knows its ture so thats why they banned me off the forums.

lol sounds like someone is bitter at Blizzard for being banned. It's an expansion, it's not supposed to be a new game.