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  • Rift Beta Review

    System Resources

    Minimum System Requirements My System Resources
    Windows XP SP2/Vista/W7 Windows 7/64-bit
    2GB System RAM or more 8GB DDR3 Dominator
    Dual Core 2.0 GHz or better AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
    Nvidia GeForce FX 5900, ATI/AMD Radeon X300, Intel GMA X4500 or better 2X NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 SLI
    Total Memory: 4069 MB
    DirectX 9.0c or newer DirectX 11
    DirectX 8.1 Compliant Sound Card SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio
    Keyboard, Mouse Logitech G19 Keyboard, Steelseries 8 button Gamer Mouse
    Broadband Internet Connection (DSL, Cable Modem or other high speed connection) Broadband Internet Connection (Cable)

    Storyline

    The storyline seemed to flow quite well, but I don’t want to get into it too much as it would spoil it for those who want to experience it for themselves. But I will say this: the factions seem to be divided evenly, with balanced races/classes on each side. The NPC factions (Raids as some people in game call them) were a lot of fun and almost nonstop – you could spend all day leveling on raids alone. They show up on the map as green or red spots. You can run up and if there’s a Public Party already going, you can click a button at the top of your screen to join in and help out. However, I did find the looting system a little confusing to figure out. But in the end, it all tied in and followed the storyline.

    Character Creation


    For me this is a big thing – the ability to have a unique look to your avatar and to have some individuality in a massive world such as this. Although it did have its limits. You’re able to adjust a lot of your facial features, position of your nose, ears, and mouth along with their size and color, allowing for a large variety of combinations for your avatar.

    There were six types of races, three in each faction:

    T
    he Guardians: The Dwarve, The High Elves, and The Mathosians
    The Defiant: The Bahmi, The Eth, and The Kelari

    Class


    There were a lot to choose from here. The four main categories are: Warrior, Cleric, Rogue, and Mage. Now under each of these main classes there are subclasses to pick from, each one having seven to select from. In the spirit of trying to keep this short, I’m not going to list them all; but if you’d like to look for more details go here: http://www.riftgame.com/en/classes/index.php

    Skill Tree


    The skill system is based on a point system where the more points you spend on a particular skill allows you to get more powerful and open up further skills in that class.

    Now I started off playing a Pyromancer and throughout game play was able to pick up a few other classes of mystic-user skills before I was level 20. I still had to spend points on these skills to increase their level, but if you take the time to research you can pick other classes that will complement your main class and boost its power. In my opinion this gives more individuality to the player because you can have a very large combination of skills and classes.



    User Interface


    The UI was very simple to figure out. With very little configuration I was able to delve right into the game – with a few minor mishaps of death right at the very start. The tutorial offered in game explains the UI in a little more detail, but being an experienced gamer, I have a habit of just turning it off and figuring it out for myself. But for the most part it was easy to use, easy to set up, and easy to follow.

    Map

    The way they had the map set up led me to believe there were some more feature in the works to be released at a later date. The Map allows you to zoom out to see the whole world (which was very large and had different regions) and, as far as I can see based on my limited time playing, seemed to be flawless. As you got deeper into the game, the areas got harder and harder with some instance dungeons, forcing you to party up to tackle such places for quests and such.
    Weapons and Armor

    This was interesting. As I proceeded along my journey within this game and did quests, I found I was able to obtain good gear for my level. It might not have been the best of the best, but it was sufficient enough to level with, help out with raids, and didn’t hinder that part of the game.

    Questing


    There is no shortage of quests in the game, which I found refreshing – not because I personally enjoy doing quests, but I know there are a lot of people out there who do. It’s an easy way to make cash and obtain gear and at the lower levels, starting out new, this is very important. The quests are fairly straightforward, i.e. go here, talk to this person, kill this mob, return here for reward, etc. But, I did find a quest or two that sadly I could not complete as it required me to go into an instance dungeon and kill a Boss. I simply couldn’t find anyone to help me with this. Most people weren’t interested in doing this quest at that time. If only I could’ve gotten more Beta Keys for DragonShadow, with more of us there we could have tested this. Either way, the rewards looked pretty cool and I was still very satisfied with all the other quests and rewards I did manage to get.

    Looting System

    Now this is a simple system with a twist. After you kill a monster, you simply click on it and a window appears that allows you to “loot all”. The twist comes in when doing raids in that anyone in your party can loot a monster, and if something comes up you can be greedy and take it or pass. While doing raids it’s important to know that you get some kind of special gem that shows up in your currency. From the research I did in and out of game, you can use these items to buy what I would class as epic gear. A lot of these weapons and armors had some pretty cool stats.

    Currency


    They have a system in place similar to WoW where 100 silver = 1 gold and 100 gold = 1 platinum. Most of the items you need to buy, such as health and mana potions, are affordable. And as you kill monsters, do quests, and sell old/unwanted gear from drops and upgrades, you can sufficiently maintain your finances.

    Crafting

    This is a very in-depth system. There are many types to choose from and a lot to learn here. You can craft most things such as: potions, armor, weapons, enchantments, etc. To get to this point you need to learn skills for foraging, mining, and skinning animals to obtain materials to craft with. You need to level these skills to be able to get better materials. To craft better gear, you have to level that skill by crafting lower level items to boost your crafting level. But no worries, there are Daily Quests you can get that will help that process move a little faster.

    Mounts

    There are a larger number of mounts and skills these mounts have, but most of them were too pricey to afford during a limited-time beta so I didn’t get to try any of them out. I believe I saw one for 700+ platinum, and the cheapest was for 2 or 3 platinum. But they all looked pretty cool.



    Player Market

    This is done through an in-game auction house located in the main towns. I put something up for sale to see how it worked. Although no one bought it, it seemed to be working. There are no AFK (away from keyboard) shops like in some games, clogging up town and lagging the server. If you go AFK for too long, the game will log you out. I’d really like to see how the player-based market evolves as there was no one other than me who had anything in auction.

    Clan Creation

    I found the NPC (non player character) which allowed me to create a clan, but I needed 5 other players and one platinum to start this process. Apart from that, it seemed pretty straightforward and easy enough to do.

    Pets

    I am not sure if all other classes get these, but I was given a pet early on in the game and he helped out a lot with my leveling. He was a great little tank and pulled agro of the mobs allowing me to kill them. Now I saw some people walking around with much better pets than I had, so I can only assume there is a way to evolve them or get better ones, but I did not get to that point in time.

    Mailing System

    The mailing system is straightforward. You have to go to a town with a mail box and know the name of the player you wish to mail. I didn't get a chance to try this feature.

    Bank and Inventory

    The banking system in town seems pretty straightforward. The inventory is limited, but you can buy inventory extensions in the form of bags. There are different sizes you can purchase.

    PVP

    I ran out of time before I could test this out and I’m kind of beating myself up over it as I really wanted to test this aspect of the game.

    SUMMARY

    All that being said, there is much more to this game than we (the beta testers) could have gotten to in the limited time we had. In my opinion, this game was well thought out and put together. The graphics are impressive, and with my system it really shows a truly amazing 3D world full of colors and textures. I found game play smooth and simple with lots to do. It also seems that they’ve adopted a lot of the best parts of already-established MMO's and added their own twist to them, which I thought was a good idea. However, this beta lacked interaction with other players. Maybe if I had time to test the PVP it might have changed my view; but at this point, I highly doubt it.

    The Rift is definitely a game well worth looking into, but at the same time I personally don't feel it’s enough to pull me away from Lineage 2, quite yet. I’ve only hinted at some of the features in this game and for anyone reading this they really need to have a look for themselves as these are from my point of view and my opinions only.

    I give Rift 3.5 RAWRS out of 5


    As i was finishing this up I discovered this,

    Quote Originally Posted by http://www.riftgame.com/en/beta/schedule/listings/111810_merciless.php
    Telara the Merciless
    Tuesday, Feb. 15 2011 at 10:00 AM PST (18:00 GMT) through 10:00 AM PST (18:00 GMT) on Monday, Feb. 21 2011
    Levels 1-42
    A tireless and unending horde, invaders from the planes continue their assault on Telara. The final (beta) battle is at hand and the fate of the planet depends on the courage and strength of Telara’s champions. Become one of the Ascended and fight for a world that’s on the brink of losing all hope.
    Play to win! Defeat any dungeon boss and you could be eligible to win an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 video card! Terms and conditions apply, click here for details. And In-Game Prize Packs will be given away to ten (10) select players who complete the objective!
    So you are all going to want to sign up here is the link. https://account.riftgame.com/en/outside/new_user.html
    Comments 2 Comments
    1. Dani Oliver's Avatar
      Dani Oliver -
      After watching you play and reading what you had to say about it, I'm in! I signed up for the beta about an hour ago.
    1. Dani Oliver's Avatar
      Dani Oliver -
      I applied for and was accepted to the 6-day beta and am LOVING this game. Just sucks that the contests they have going are only for US players. A new video card is always nice (even though the system I'm playing the game on has a better one).

      The graphics are pretty slick and the character creation offers enough choices to allow for individuality. I'm finding the skills and some other elements of the game a little confusing, but there seems to be enough information out there to help -- mainly on sites other than the official one. I just need the time to do the research (i.e. anyone know how I get Conviction? LOL)

      And the raids are addictive. Virtually nonstop. I die a lot but it's all good. Too little time to be overly-cautious. And hey, even the death system looks pretty cool.