Well, it's been a few weeks since the Rift head start and I have to say that despite a few flaws, I've had a great time. A lot of people would say that the game is a WoW clone but I'm personally inclined to believe they're incorrect. The game itself has far more in common with Warhammer than WoW and it seems the only copy and paste job from WoW to Rift is the UI. This itself is a great idea because I've always found it a pain to get used to radically different UI systems when switching from game to game. On top of basically porting the WoW UI (and disallowing third party addons, which is a different beast for another post,) the devs also implemented several features that were developed as third party addons for WoW such as snowfall keybinds and several buff mods. Basically the overall "similarities" between WoW and Rift end there in the same way that the similarities between WoW and EQ end at the fact they're both MMO's.

Levelling in Rift was an excellent and refreshing experience. The game itself never got boring with so many specs to try out for my class. Rift uses a system where you are given 9 different talent trees that you can pick three of at any given time. This allows for a lot of leeway in class roles and playstyles. Ever wanted to tank as a rogue or cleric? You can in rift! Want to do truckloads of elemental magic damage as a Warrior? Spec Riftblade! On top of all the possibilities you have for class customization the actual process of levelling is enjoyable as well. Each zone feels unique and has its own backstory that adds to the overall lore of the game. Mob skins and models are rarely reused between zones and when they are the zones tend to be ~20-30 levels apart so you don't get bored of seeing the same old thing.

The best part about the Rift levelling experience is that there's just so much to do. You can play through the game like you would in any standard MMO by simply doing quests. There are also "Saga" quests that span the entire levelling experience and reward you with epics upon completion at level 50. If you start to get bored with quests you can grind on the multiple rift invasions that are up in a zone at any given time. These reward excellent experience and work around the same principle as public quests from Warhammer. They also give good blue and epic quality items if you do enough. Just like any other MMO, there are also numerous dungeons spanning your level range you can run at any given time. Finding groups for these isn't even an issue because classes are capable of doing so many different things. You'll rarely sit around waiting for a tank or healer and instead get to cut straight to the action!

The game does have its downsides though. Roughly one or two quests in each zone seemed to have a bug that would have to be worked around in order to complete them. Dungeons were also slightly overtuned for the casual MMO player. While it isn't really a bad thing that dungeons are difficult, many players would much rather prefer a mindless frag fest for free exp while levelling and I can completely understand that sentiment at times. However, the biggest flaw this game has comes in the form of one of its zones, Iron Pine Peaks. This zone is a huge nuisance for numerous reasons and I highly suggest bringing a friend with you if you decide to quest there. It really seems like the zone could benefit from some fine tuning.

At the end of the day, Rift is a really fun and unique game that I've found a lot of enjoyment in. I plan on continuing to play it at level cap and next post I'll have some info for you regarding the expert mode dungeons that are completable at level 50! Congrats to Trion on a fantastic game and I highly suggest any seasoned MMO player pay Telera a visit!