Following smooth Alpha and Beta events Rift will go live today in North America and Europe. The reaction of our testers have been positive, from a technical standpoint Rift has had very few problems and runs smoothly. Gameplay is similar to Warhammer and World of Warcraft with elements of other MMO’s mixed in. The user interface, commands and player control should be very familiar to any mmo veteran. The major gameplay feature are Rifts, public quest areas that spawn waves of increasingly difficult enemies. The longer Rifts are allowed to remain unchallenged the more powerful they become, spawning invasions that will attack cities and occupy them if not challenged. Both player factions and Rift monsters may attack and gain control of enemy settlements. This system encourages players to band together for mutual defense and form groups for retaliation. Unlike World of Warcraft which has come to focus almost entirely on ten man content, Rift encourages large scale realm open world fighting and the larger guild communities which support this style of gameplay. Rift provides traditional battlegrounds as well as an active open world pvp environment. End game PvE content also revolves around controlling access to high level Rifts. These Rifts are present in the open world environment, meaning that faction control of these areas will be extremely important as it will determine access to the higher end gear. Rift combines many of the best game play features from several MMO’s creating a game that encourages competition between factions and a more traditional massively multi player experience. Refuting the World of Warcraft doctrine that only smaller instanced content is casual player friendly. If you are looking for a World of Warcraft alternative that encourages both large scale and more controlled scenario/battleground pvp Rift may be your best current choice. |
Rift goes live today.