Rift (2011)

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 587 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 344 out of 587
  2. Mixed: 150 out of 587
  3. Negative: 93 out of 587
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  1. madhotsoup
    Mar 21, 2011
    6
    Pretty game, but does nothing new for the genre. This would probably be a great game for those new to MMORPG's, but for vets it will probably feel like more of the same. What it did do was take some good elements from other MMO's and incorporated them. Control and UI wise, almost an exact match for World of Warcraft. Rifts are pretty much the same thing as public quests from WarhammerPretty game, but does nothing new for the genre. This would probably be a great game for those new to MMORPG's, but for vets it will probably feel like more of the same. What it did do was take some good elements from other MMO's and incorporated them. Control and UI wise, almost an exact match for World of Warcraft. Rifts are pretty much the same thing as public quests from Warhammer online. The multiple class/soul trees have been seen in Guild Wars. This game, along with all other MMO's just feels like it's trying to build on what's already out there but better, which it does do, but at the same time it doesn't bring anything new to the table.… Expand
  2. Delaro
    Jan 11, 2016
    6
    The Cons.
    1. The game runs horrible, Outdated Gamebryo DX9 Engine that is highly CPU dependent.
    2. PVP in this game is pointless there is not Gear Balance here so if your a new 65 get use to Dying. You simply can't kill someone in R2 and above gear unless it is 3 vs1 or better. PVP is still way off Balance most Souls are pointless to even try. 3. LvL 65 is Grindy as hell unless your    The Cons.
    1. The game runs horrible, Outdated Gamebryo DX9 Engine that is highly CPU dependent.
    2. PVP in this game is pointless there is not Gear Balance here so if your a new 65 get use to Dying. You simply can't kill someone in R2 and above gear unless it is 3 vs1 or better. PVP is still way off Balance most Souls are pointless to even try.
    3. LvL 65 is Grindy as hell unless your Raiding, the majority of what you do is Grind for Tokens this is where the game got boring with Dailies and Weeklies.
    4. The game is centralized around making Cash so expect to Fork up real cash if you want to be Competitive especially if PVP is your main concern.

    The Pros.
    1. Good Story line.
    2. Lots to do if you like Achievements, Crafting and Puzzles.
    3. Plenty of Group Activity.    … Expand
  3. AtlasOrion
    Dec 4, 2012
    7
    Rift has a lot of great things going for it, but needs a lot too. The fights are confusing as heck, especially coming from WoW, and end game is very disappointing. The world looks AMAZING and the mounts and mobs are awesome, but the weapon and armor are completely "meh", could use a Korean touch. The rifts are super fun and always give you something to do, the quests are decent andRift has a lot of great things going for it, but needs a lot too. The fights are confusing as heck, especially coming from WoW, and end game is very disappointing. The world looks AMAZING and the mounts and mobs are awesome, but the weapon and armor are completely "meh", could use a Korean touch. The rifts are super fun and always give you something to do, the quests are decent and engaging and world events are sufficiently fun - but the instanced encounters are a mess.

    And the community is both good and bad - they're friendly and helpful in general, it's not full of trolls like WoW, but in instances everyone treats it like a speed run and doesn't talk. So you don't get a chance to learn anything unless you're doing guild runs. I played for 6 months and gave up on end game, levelling the different classes is really fun but ends at level 60 =(.

    The game looks amazing and has excellent playability - from fully customizable UI to complex talent trees that can be swapped out and customized endlessly. The game feels polished and well thought out, but boss mechanics need to be more transparent.    … Expand
  4. Kalfear
    May 18, 2013
    7
    Great game in theory, quite enjoyed beta testing this game and early retail
    in the end though it was to small, to short, to confined for a MMORPG
    Voiced NPCs would have also helped greatly as most folks just ingored the typing and choose the one option that made most sense to them. Talking to players at end game I would say 7 in 10 honestly had no idea what the storyline while leveling    Great game in theory, quite enjoyed beta testing this game and early retail
    in the end though it was to small, to short, to confined for a MMORPG
    Voiced NPCs would have also helped greatly as most folks just ingored the typing and choose the one option that made most sense to them. Talking to players at end game I would say 7 in 10 honestly had no idea what the storyline while leveling up was because they didnt need to read it.

    Good game that could have been much much much better

    I have not tried the new expansion that brought forth many changes    … Expand
  5. Mac_55555
    Nov 3, 2013
    6
    Rift has the same issues as WOW see below), as they copied almost every feature from that game. So where does wow/rift go wrong? It’s a cookie cutter type game with no depth in gear, spells or abilities… everyone has the same stuff. A new expansion comes out, your: Int, Agi, Str goes up 20 points… ooowee, how exciting! These games are good for a while but you tire of them quickly.Rift has the same issues as WOW see below), as they copied almost every feature from that game. So where does wow/rift go wrong? It’s a cookie cutter type game with no depth in gear, spells or abilities… everyone has the same stuff. A new expansion comes out, your: Int, Agi, Str goes up 20 points… ooowee, how exciting! These games are good for a while but you tire of them quickly.

    Rift figured it would copy WOW because they are successful, which is only partly true. WOW is successful largely due to the fact that there is no competition for this genre game on the market, rather than it being an epic game to play.

    So instead of being creative and coming up with an epic NEW game, Rift sealed its fate by coping another game on the market; a game with more resources and experience in the market. To add to their problems, their developers are not as good as WOW’s (less cash to work with), they have not figured out a proper PVP balance between classes (big issue!), class/gear/dungeons have even less depth. And selling gear and mounts for cash (US dollars) is simply a mistake in the long run. Yes, you make some quick cash but this will come back to bite them later, as it creates major imbalances in PVP and spoils the idea that earn quality gear! Rift definitely has some positive like good support, and sound on-line game play, but the focus of this post is how to improve the game.

    So the big question, how do you fix these games, or better yet, make a game that blows the competition away! Think unique and individual. Who wants to be the same as everyone else? Instead of spending all that time developing PVE which no one plays in end game you build up a colossal gear stash 1st, a broad range of abilities to level (slowly), EQ’s AA were very good. I could say so much here but don’t have the time or space to write it. How do you make PVE fun? Opportunities for reward!! (GEAR), make it challenging where you require team play, and easy group joining creates friendships, roaming rare monsters and again drops worthy GEAR). I’d make opportunities for good gear equal whether it’s PVP, PVE or Raid and almost everything would be drops… very little purchased! How about building your own weapons with special abilities, weapons that level with the character (30-40 levels minimum) so the gear drop really mean something. More of the gear is tradable. And when gear drops is for your level not something you out grew five levels ago!

    PVP is based on skill, rather than level/gear so you avoid the unbalanced PVP matches. And is it really that difficult to balance the different classes? It must be because Rift does a horrible job of it, as of 10/2013 rogues and heals rule in PVP, mages are pawns and clerics, warriors do ok.    … Expand
  6. Kaytyworg
    Oct 27, 2013
    7
    RIFT has a feel like WoW--I'm pretty sure it was designed that way. Starting areas for Guardians and Defiants are both interesting. Rifts were fun--at first After the starting areas, the game starts to bog down--leveling seems slow, and I for one got tired of fighting ghouls and ghosts and demons and zombies, or undead whatevers. Like some other games I've played, you have NO chanceRIFT has a feel like WoW--I'm pretty sure it was designed that way. Starting areas for Guardians and Defiants are both interesting. Rifts were fun--at first After the starting areas, the game starts to bog down--leveling seems slow, and I for one got tired of fighting ghouls and ghosts and demons and zombies, or undead whatevers. Like some other games I've played, you have NO chance fighting anything much above your own level. C'mon, guys, you should at least have SOME chance at this Other players were friendly and helpful at first, then things degenerated into kill-fests with not much interaction. End-game content was geared at the Uber-characters(Twinks)--My 50 got Nowhere repeatedly (I -think- that was the highest level!)
    Lack of interesting things to fight made me leave. Too bad--Game showed promise.    … Expand
  7. Hall7718
    Feb 21, 2014
    7
    Rift scores positive points for their unique talent system (souls). However, the system was also hard to balance. Loved the open world events (Rifts). High marks on innovation.
  8. HopelesslyGame
    Dec 6, 2011
    6
    I have written a short review on this game. A quick summary of why I gave it a score of 6: Technically wonderful with lovely graphics, smooth response and very minor glitches. However, gameplay feels a bit bland for long-time players of MMORPGs. Good effort from Trion.
    http://www.hopelesslygame.com/2011/04/entering-the-rift/
  9. Daematune
    Aug 1, 2011
    6
    RIFT is by far not perfect, but an excellent start to possibly something great. The class system is easily the biggest reason you would play this game. It offers a range of choices for any play-style you can really think of, it lacks healer roles though, and is impossible to be balanced. The quest system is repetitive and very boring. The game world itself is extremely small. The biggestRIFT is by far not perfect, but an excellent start to possibly something great. The class system is easily the biggest reason you would play this game. It offers a range of choices for any play-style you can really think of, it lacks healer roles though, and is impossible to be balanced. The quest system is repetitive and very boring. The game world itself is extremely small. The biggest thing that really stunk is that the dungeons are very, very easy.. even in Tier 1 and Tier 2 and some raids, the boss fights are simply tank and spanks with one easy tactic. The dungeon finder as well as the PvP queues are very long as well. If your looking for a challenge with good quality to it you might want to look elsewhere, it's highly overrated.… Expand
  10. MarcTryon
    Nov 27, 2014
    5
    How quickly things change. You can see a positive review from me in July. Now, after a very ill-considered change to the auction house and increasing lag and instability, including a much higher frequency of a very annoying appearance bug (face turns pale and lips green) that you can find references to in forums as far back as 2012, I have to drop my rating.

    The game has its moments but    How quickly things change. You can see a positive review from me in July. Now, after a very ill-considered change to the auction house and increasing lag and instability, including a much higher frequency of a very annoying appearance bug (face turns pale and lips green) that you can find references to in forums as far back as 2012, I have to drop my rating.

    The game has its moments but the combat is sluggish by modern standards and Trion has clearly decided to put it in 'harvest' mode: minimal support while they extract what cash they can. I'd suggest thinking twice about any long term commitment to it but it's worth dabbling with.    … Expand
  11. guinevere2
    Jul 9, 2011
    5
    I just could not get into this game...It does everything right, it is polished, has nice graphic and character creation/development system...but everything else about it seems to be so uhmm, generic and unmemorable, that after 3 days I had to force myself to log in. In my opinion this game ia a monument of how lackluster the mmorpg bussines has become. It is just the same WoW over and overI just could not get into this game...It does everything right, it is polished, has nice graphic and character creation/development system...but everything else about it seems to be so uhmm, generic and unmemorable, that after 3 days I had to force myself to log in. In my opinion this game ia a monument of how lackluster the mmorpg bussines has become. It is just the same WoW over and over and over again made by different company under different name with different world, races and classes, but the core is the same. The only innovative thing about Rift are those "rift events" which turned to be just another excuse to mob grinding...Crafting is poorly designed and unexciting, no open world pvp makes the game even more boring later on...It is just another WoW clone with total lack of immersion factors… Expand
  12. Flash_Over
    Jun 23, 2011
    5
    I will start with the Pros. The games graphics are very impressive. The dungeon system is smooth. Basically everything you would expect from a paid MMORPG is here. Also RIFT brings more things to the table, like multi-class system tree which allows for good variety of game play. Character customization is also more in-depth then most other MMORPGs. The rift events also add a good twist.I will start with the Pros. The games graphics are very impressive. The dungeon system is smooth. Basically everything you would expect from a paid MMORPG is here. Also RIFT brings more things to the table, like multi-class system tree which allows for good variety of game play. Character customization is also more in-depth then most other MMORPGs. The rift events also add a good twist. Cons: The graphics and cities could be a major lag issue for people with less powerful computers. Even by lowing the graphics the mire presence of many players in fairly small cities could cause a major lag issue. The dungeon system is smooth, but they do not make key factors in boss fights easily recognizable (Which could be a con and pro). Rift events especially major ones cause such huge lag problems and can be chaotic with 50+ players attacking the same target, thus moving or even fighting nearly impossible. The armor and some weapons from level 1-40 are pretty much the same looking, 0 variety. The game also lacks a in-game re-customization of your character like WoWs and Lord of the Rings Online's Barbershop. It also lacks a dungeon finder leaving instances easily skipped to avoid the headache of spamming for LFG. Most of all the combat experience is smooth, but leaves you empty hearted and yearning for the "I just kicked some butt" feeling. That eventually leaves you bored and uninterested in grinding. Over all, this games a dud, but by far the best MMO to be released since 2004. If you like casual RPGs with low intensity leveling and combat. Rift is the game for you!… Expand
  13. prh99
    Oct 7, 2011
    5
    You're not going to kill WoW by copying it. The interface, talent trees, and professions etc all feel very WoW like, sure there are some minor additions and tweaks, but this is very much a game buy a company who wanted to go the safe route. Which is not surprising given the costs and time required to make a triple-a MMO, but to then try to go head to head with an 800 pound gorilla that isYou're not going to kill WoW by copying it. The interface, talent trees, and professions etc all feel very WoW like, sure there are some minor additions and tweaks, but this is very much a game buy a company who wanted to go the safe route. Which is not surprising given the costs and time required to make a triple-a MMO, but to then try to go head to head with an 800 pound gorilla that is WoW and invite direct comparison in the ads was fool-hardy at the very least. I mean Warcraft has 20 years of story and lore development from it's origins as an RTS, you can't beat that. It's not a bad game, but it was never going to be a WoW killer. Trion should be congratulated on making a very polished game, and hopefully their future releases will start to veer off the path Blizzard created.… Expand
  14. bosnian
    Mar 18, 2012
    5
    Great graphics and nice balance to the most polished MMO I have seen on the release date. However, game offers one thing that is different from any other MMO, a rift concept, which was cool for the first 20 hours or so and got incredibly old and tideous after that. Other than that, it is WoW... released 7 years later.
  15. Sicklecell
    Sep 25, 2011
    5
    Disappointing game because it's really not about "rifts". It's about dungeons.. and lots of them. The way the game is sold is as an alternative to WoW but it's that only in the sense that fast food is dinner compared to a meat and potatoes meal. There is a TON of grinding for nothing but gear at endgame so if you were looking to escape from WoW because of that, you actually fell out of theDisappointing game because it's really not about "rifts". It's about dungeons.. and lots of them. The way the game is sold is as an alternative to WoW but it's that only in the sense that fast food is dinner compared to a meat and potatoes meal. There is a TON of grinding for nothing but gear at endgame so if you were looking to escape from WoW because of that, you actually fell out of the frying pan into the fire. Rifts seem to be static loot pinatas that you whack every so often and coins for gear come out. Whack enough rifts and you get some really super average gear that isn't worth the time. the lower levels in this game are absolutely abandoned and if you start now, you won't be doing a lot of the huge boss rift invasions because of lack of interest from the community. most people are level 50 and play on alts which they are speedleveling to 50 to play with buddies, so noobs won't get the time of day. fanbois will say "my server is packed and we do stuff all the time" but that's everygame has one or three servers like that while the rest are dying. Rift has about 70 servers mothballed; not technically closed but not technically open neither. If you have a toon there, you can stay but if you start the game you won't even see the server on your list. There are plenty of folks who made homes on them only to have Trion shut them off from everyone else but you can transfer out. That ruined a lot of communities in the game and people quit. their sub rate is bargain basement (probably the lowest in the industry) due to falling subs so if you pay for a year in advance you can pay as little as $120. Pretty desperate but if it fills the game then good idea I guess. SWTOR and GW2 will be coming out soon (GW2 next year) so I'd play consoles until then like BF3, GoW3, Madden, etc and save the 120 bucks for the big event games coming like those. RIFT will probably be going FTP by next summer so holding off would be wise while they try to fix the awful PvP balancing and at least give people something to fight for as now it's just arenaball with no ball. World PvP is non-existant. The game has good things like hit a button and sell all your grey loot, decent graphics (not AoC or FFXIV worthy), and low price. But the replayability is awful because there are only TWO starting zones.. that's right.. two. For a mmo launching in 2011 that's lazy. The armors look horrible (do a Google search for Rift armor and you'll see) and they repeat like.. level 10, 20, 30, 40 etc. So if you find some epic gear at 50 it will have 50 stats but looks EXACTLY like level 30 gear. Again, LAZY DESIGN. It's hard to believe they spend 50 million dollars on this and five or six years development. They didnt even have guild banks at launch. The mounts are all the same that repeat like CE mount: plain turtle. World event mount: Green turtle. Achievement mount: White turtle. LAZY DESIGN. The lore is pretty bland and mundane; it inspires nothing. You dont feel a part of the world or like your fighting to keep mobs from invading.. it feels like your grinding for loot because the story is canned. The game was few bugs at launch but as it's gone on, it's gotten more buggy. Notsure how that happens but things just get broke. Maintainence is pretty much almost every day and for 20-30 minutes at a time but you can have several of those.. sometimes back to back which is annoying. Better way would be once a week for four hours and then done but the piecemeal work is upsetting. The community is made up of 600k people from WoW (or was) so it was kind of immature to start but now it's just plain nasty with one or two nice guilds telling trying to convince everyone new this isn't "their community" even though they play their game. Amazingly funny that. Anyways, to recap: WAIT FOR THE SUMMER WHEN RIFT GOES FTP as they already have a cash shop in the works from their other game that they will no doubt switch over because the population is dropping fast. if you have other games you've been wanting to try FTP now (Fallen Earth, DCUO, EQ2, LOTRO, AoC, WoW trail, Dragon Nest, Champs Online, Star Trek online) you'd be better off spending 10 or 15 bucks once or twice in there and be done with it.… Expand
  16. Reaktorblue
    Apr 3, 2011
    6
    This game was fun from 1-50. Unfortunately 50 can be achieved within 5 days by an average person, even faster by a power gamer.

    After hitting max level, it seemed like to play the game was forcing regurgitated content down my throat. Kill more rifts for more planarite. Do more of those same dungeons you have been doing with maybe 1 more boss and a new corner of the map. Keep doing these    This game was fun from 1-50. Unfortunately 50 can be achieved within 5 days by an average person, even faster by a power gamer.

    After hitting max level, it seemed like to play the game was forcing regurgitated content down my throat. Kill more rifts for more planarite. Do more of those same dungeons you have been doing with maybe 1 more boss and a new corner of the map. Keep doing these for, you guessed it, more currency to spend on items.

    All told, the game feels like its solely based on grinding the same things over and over again for currency to spend for minor stat increases. This would not be so bad if the game was not able to be played in such a way that gets you to this boring point within a week.

    In the end it just feels like nothing was done that was meaningless. The collection factor (the emotion you get after all that hard work on your character) just isnt there.

    Plagued with the standard bugs most games has, coupled with awesome content (that unfortunately fizzles out after a month) means we have an awesome game here thats worth only playing until the subscription price kicks in.

    If you want all your time and effort to mean something, Rift is not where you will want to turn.    … Expand
  17. dondon
    Jun 9, 2011
    6
    Been there done that. Nothing new to make the game call itself it's own. Something new to look at and better graphics. If this was my first paying MMO ever I would keep going with it but it's not. If your looking for ranked PVP you won't find it here. Devs themselves stated they will not implement ranked arenas but there is battlegrounds for those light pvpers. Combat a lot like WoW,Been there done that. Nothing new to make the game call itself it's own. Something new to look at and better graphics. If this was my first paying MMO ever I would keep going with it but it's not. If your looking for ranked PVP you won't find it here. Devs themselves stated they will not implement ranked arenas but there is battlegrounds for those light pvpers. Combat a lot like WoW, nothing new except learning mechanics for the bosses.… Expand
  18. TerKaDer
    Mar 26, 2011
    7
    I bought Rift with a couple of guild mates from Wow. We needed a break and that is definitely what we found in rift. The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the beginners zone was how beautiful the game looked and sounded. I don't have the best computer but even at medium settings it looks great. The class system is a nice fresh way to get different specs as well, when you canI bought Rift with a couple of guild mates from Wow. We needed a break and that is definitely what we found in rift. The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the beginners zone was how beautiful the game looked and sounded. I don't have the best computer but even at medium settings it looks great. The class system is a nice fresh way to get different specs as well, when you can mix and match what ever you would like to make a tank, dps or healer on nearly every class. The random rift openings and invasions help to keep things fresh for a bit, and the fact that you can jump into a public group and take care of these events or even jump into a group to finish a quest is great. But in the end Rift is still a MMO and you will still get a multitude of quests of go here and kill this many enemies and then take this letter to that guy three feet from me because I'm too lazy. Rift is a great game and if you enjoy MMO's or are curious to play one this is a good game for you.… Expand
  19. grandroyal
    Jul 10, 2011
    6
    This game is exactly what it appears to be, a WoW clone with a better graphics engine. This is either a good or a bad thing, depending on your experience. For me, it was a bad thing. Right from the start of this game, I couldn't find any reason to care about the plot or my character's progress. After character creation you're given a very small piece of lore to explain whats going on, andThis game is exactly what it appears to be, a WoW clone with a better graphics engine. This is either a good or a bad thing, depending on your experience. For me, it was a bad thing. Right from the start of this game, I couldn't find any reason to care about the plot or my character's progress. After character creation you're given a very small piece of lore to explain whats going on, and then sent to the leveling treadmill. To be fair, the Defiant's starting zone was actually pretty cool, and their story works well. The Guardian's however, is just..... bad. So with little incentive to read into the thin plot, I found myself grinding levels, professions, rifts, etc... then I realized that I'd already spent 100's of hours doing the same thing in WoW - and honestly this game just convinced me to go back to WoW (which I haven't played in over a year). Seriously, with the time I've invested in WoW and how many friends I have there, Rift offers absolutely nothing extra to make me want to make a permanent switch.

    Anyway, great game engine, designed well, but absolutely no originality and therefore no lasting value. Sorry.    … Expand
  20. dionissos
    Dec 31, 2011
    6
    Ok rift has not bring revolution to mmorpg genre. It seem to follow the same path like wow and any other wow clone in mmorpg. Same boring quests, same gameplay mechanics , boring pvp.
    Is not bad game if you never play again a mmoprg but is boring for a veteran in this genre. The game has some good moment like the nice graphics and the open world and a nice idea for the randomly invasion of    Ok rift has not bring revolution to mmorpg genre. It seem to follow the same path like wow and any other wow clone in mmorpg. Same boring quests, same gameplay mechanics , boring pvp.
    Is not bad game if you never play again a mmoprg but is boring for a veteran in this genre. The game has some good moment like the nice graphics and the open world and a nice idea for the randomly invasion of mob through rifts.    … Expand
  21. Dethstar
    May 17, 2011
    5
    I have been playing since early beta and finally gave up today. The launch was pretty smooth and the game felt alot more finished than many MMOs at release. All great stuff. Unfortunately, its so like World of Warcraft I just got serious dejavu all the time. Now that might sound like a good idea but consider that Wow is something like 10 years old now. It just feels out of date. TheI have been playing since early beta and finally gave up today. The launch was pretty smooth and the game felt alot more finished than many MMOs at release. All great stuff. Unfortunately, its so like World of Warcraft I just got serious dejavu all the time. Now that might sound like a good idea but consider that Wow is something like 10 years old now. It just feels out of date. The PvP in particularly is a disaster. World pvp has no integration or objective so in reality your just harassing people which soon gets boring. There is a lack of end game content and for the first weeks until recently to hide this Trion just made the game harder and harder. People started to leave in frustration, both at the lack of content and the lack of difficulty. So a week or 2 ago in some sort of kneejerk reaction they dumbed the game down to the point where pretty much anyone can do anything. Reducing everything to a mindless grind and putting a massive skill gap between the end game raids and the general instances dungeons. (Same ones you probably already done a 100x or more). If you like PvP then this is probably the worst MMO choice you could make. If you like WoW, your probably already playing it. Also, forgot to mention, it runs like a lame dog on high end machines. particularly multi gpu. All this has resulted in a game loosing subscribers hand over fist (at least on the pvp servers I play on) I actually cancelled my subscription today. I had more than 50 people on my friends list 4 weeks after launch. Now, only 1 or 2 are still playing. Its cartoony and its simple, its very safe for kids being highly corny with some of the most corny cartoonish voice acting you will see this side of loony tunes. I would feel comfortable with my teenage kids playing it. is probably the only real positive I can offer on this after experiencing as much as I can get out of it.… Expand
  22. goliva
    Aug 28, 2012
    7
    This game is a WoW clone, a good one but the graphs are more serious-realistic look like. At first sight it looks kinda bad, but if you give it a chance and explore and level your character further on, you will find it pretty entertaining.
  23. hakblood
    Oct 11, 2012
    7
    This review is just Rift and the 1st 6 months from release. It was a fun and polished entry to the MMO market. It is a WoW-clone, no bones about it, but it was entertaining and better then the later xpacs of WoW. The class system was nice for the players, like myself, whom like versatility. I let my sub lapse after 6 months and moved on, however i enjoyed it enough, that with an upcomingThis review is just Rift and the 1st 6 months from release. It was a fun and polished entry to the MMO market. It is a WoW-clone, no bones about it, but it was entertaining and better then the later xpacs of WoW. The class system was nice for the players, like myself, whom like versatility. I let my sub lapse after 6 months and moved on, however i enjoyed it enough, that with an upcoming Xpac on the horizon, I am considering re-subbing.… Expand
  24. tunaphish6
    Mar 13, 2011
    7
    It's always difficult to review an MMo. While just about any and every MMo will have problems and glitches upon launch, usually they can be ironed and the game improved upon over time. However, there are many things that are simply too ingrained into the game, its gameplay, mechanics or engine to readily be changed.
    Half the reason any other MMo's have been successful is the general    It's always difficult to review an MMo. While just about any and every MMo will have problems and glitches upon launch, usually they can be ironed and the game improved upon over time. However, there are many things that are simply too ingrained into the game, its gameplay, mechanics or engine to readily be changed.
    Half the reason any other MMo's have been successful is the general fluid-ness of gameplay, its (default) interface, graphics and animations. While the graphics might seem 'modernized' compare to more dated MMo's, no screenshot can do justice to how jarring the animation can be. Personally, I'm    … Expand
  25. cassus
    Mar 19, 2011
    7
    There's really nothing bad about this game, on the flip-side, there's not a lot of great stuff either. After about 100 hours of playing I lost all interest in continuing. I had quite a lot of fun doing rift events. PvP was okay-ish, and the questing was.. well.. Questing will always be dull in mmorpg's it would seem. The game has a nice interface, quest log and map markers and stuff, allThere's really nothing bad about this game, on the flip-side, there's not a lot of great stuff either. After about 100 hours of playing I lost all interest in continuing. I had quite a lot of fun doing rift events. PvP was okay-ish, and the questing was.. well.. Questing will always be dull in mmorpg's it would seem. The game has a nice interface, quest log and map markers and stuff, all very nice. It shows that the developers have been playing WoW for a while and stole many of the addon designs for that game. The real problem is that the gameplay is just a ton of stuff you've already played a million times. And the casting/combat in the game has a sluggish feel to it that's just uncalled for in this day and age. It's slower and more janky than WoW, and 5 years past the release of WoW, there's just no excuse. Combat doesn't feel immediate at all, it feels like you're just queuing up stuff for your character to do at its leisure. Suggesting spellcasts and attacks, much like the olden days of mmo's. With games like Tera and Guild Wars 2 on the horizon, going for that old tick based sluggish combat system seems like an odd choice. I assume the reason they went for such a system over a more direct control instant cast type system is that the netcode of the game feels somewhat unrefined. All in all, though, it's probably the best mmo so far in 2011, and if you were let down by the crappiness of Cataclysm, it's well worth a try. If for nothing else than the Rift events, which are pretty sweet, and shows just how awesome Guild Wars 2 is going to be with its way more complex public quest type gameplay.… Expand
  26. kozmonster
    Mar 3, 2011
    7
    Firstly, I should say that I think that Rift is in no way a bad game. For a game that has just came out it runs fairly well, has quests placed in a well thought out order, and has an interesting way of doing character progression. The rift concept works well to break up the leveling grind and from what I've seen it doesn't look like there will be racial imbalances for apposing factions.Firstly, I should say that I think that Rift is in no way a bad game. For a game that has just came out it runs fairly well, has quests placed in a well thought out order, and has an interesting way of doing character progression. The rift concept works well to break up the leveling grind and from what I've seen it doesn't look like there will be racial imbalances for apposing factions. For a game that just came out it has very few bugs and graphics are nice. The reason I cant give this game a positive score aside from the minor bugs that should be fixed with a patch is because of the lack of innovation. It isn't a terrible thing to take the better aspects from other games and use them, but after this many years of mmo's, one might expect something more than the standard quest grind to end game then raiding with PvP mixed in there every now and then. If you like WoW chances are you'll like Rift because in the end its almost the same game. Not that its a bad thing, but I'm just tired of playing the same game with different names.… Expand
  27. makdrumz
    Mar 18, 2011
    7
    Right now the user positive reviews are 108 where the negative ones are 14 which says something on its own. I won't say anything more than that Rift is similar, if not better, in content and gameplay to WoW and it barely just launched. The present and future for this game looks bright. On the other hand WoW had no future since its first expansion. Congrats to Trion.
  28. Thicky
    Mar 23, 2011
    5
    It's been a month now. I love MMO's when they are fresh and still retain that new game smell. I tend to rush and tell my friends about the most amazing game I am playing, then a few weeks later the shine is gone and I hardly remember a thing about it. Most recently I drug friends and family through the launches of champions online, Aion, Warhammer Online and Fallen Earth. Each time I wasIt's been a month now. I love MMO's when they are fresh and still retain that new game smell. I tend to rush and tell my friends about the most amazing game I am playing, then a few weeks later the shine is gone and I hardly remember a thing about it. Most recently I drug friends and family through the launches of champions online, Aion, Warhammer Online and Fallen Earth. Each time I was excited about the games and how awesome they are. They weren't awesome, they were just new and a little different.

    Rift, played the game in all of the beta phases. Loved it. Absolutely adored it. I bought the CE and a 6 month subscription. I got my brother inlaw to do the same. "Dude, so many soul choices, build what you like!", he was sold.

    It's now been a month of release and tonight I get a text from my inlaw "r u logging on tonight?", no I am not. The magic is gone and here's my thoughts:

    Classic Trinity. Warrior tanks, Cleric heals, Mage dps. We were supposed to be past this, but we're not because Rift is a clone. Rift is a mashup of WoW and Warhammer. You will hit the level cap within a week without trying, once there you will have nothing to do but join Warfronts (pvp battlegrounds) and hope your team has less bots and afk'ers.

    Bots are EVERYWHERE. Just pause for a moment in town and watch the characters run on rails following a scripted path. Why are people botting? For one, there's no cheat detection built into Rift. There's a program called rifterrorhandler which just scans what programs you're running to make sure it's not cheatengine or something easy to spot. But any cheat or bot that is not listed will not be caught. The next factor is the level cap, there's not much to do at 50 other than very tedious pvp battles for rank. Join a warfront at any level and you will quickly notice that sometimes half of your team isn't moving. That's the afk'ers. They just run a script that let's them join warfronts and collect xp for your hard work. The other people on the team may be bots. Does Leggolas always jump down to the left of spawn and wander off to the side instead of heading to the objective while ignoring your pleas for help? That's a bot. Since release bots have invaded the game without any action from Trion.

    Hackers. Rift was released with an exploit that allowed anyone to access your account and take your items and money. A large chunk of the population was hit by this exploit and it has been weeks since it happened and customer support refuses to help them.

    Customer support. Pretty much non-existent. Trion Worlds contracts out their support staff to a company called Rightnow, which is ironic because if you need help it won't be right now, it will be much much later. It could have something to do with having customer support based in Nigeria (not a joke), check their own link https://trionworlds.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/478/~/how-do-i-contact-trion-support%3F

    I have canceled my account with Rift. I look forward to the next shiny new MMO to hit the market and again I will try and hold off on a rushed review.    … Expand
  29. Fireside
    Mar 18, 2011
    7
    Got a rogue to level 30, then quit playing. 0 interest in ever playing this game again. It was fun till level 25, then it just got boring. Maybe i'm not in the right mindset for mmo's at the moment.
  30. Deyadissa
    Mar 13, 2011
    6
    LAcks PvP endgame Content, doe snot keep it's name for next generation even in Pve. Raids are boring and it's the same mechanics we've seen before.
  31. luvhavingfun
    Mar 7, 2011
    6
    What sets this game apart is the zone wide events, customizable talent trees, and Raiding in the game world instead of an instance. I can't say that this is a superb game quite yet, because i am VERY picky about games. This game doesn't live up to my insane high quality standards, but it does do a decent job of being a typical MMORPG. There is definitely a grind in this game, but itWhat sets this game apart is the zone wide events, customizable talent trees, and Raiding in the game world instead of an instance. I can't say that this is a superb game quite yet, because i am VERY picky about games. This game doesn't live up to my insane high quality standards, but it does do a decent job of being a typical MMORPG. There is definitely a grind in this game, but it isn't terrible. I am giving this a low score because I am an explorer type player and an altoholic as well. I love choice and being encouraged to chose what I want to do and how I want to do it. It is the starting experience I am not liking at all and the linear leveling zones with little to no choice at the moment. Not that this will never change though. A year from now and this game could be really quite amazing. I have to say that this game in my opinion just won't compete against SWTOR and Guild Wars 2 at all. Once those two games come out, either at the same time or seperately, rift will not be able to compete at all. It just doesn't have the amazing Bioware team with loyal established fans nor the already established ArenaNet to help it out. I say this game will be $30 or less by the fall of 2011, and probably talking about buy to play or free to play by spring 2012.… Expand
  32. Arshan
    May 17, 2011
    7
    Tried rift's free trial, because of all the fuss that's being made about it i decided to review it and since it aims to compete with World of Warcraft specifically i'll spend most of the time comparing Rift and WoW (world of warcraft):

    Simply put: It is World of Warcraft, but with better graphics (still not really good though), unimaginative enemies, crappy animations, a more fun talent    Tried rift's free trial, because of all the fuss that's being made about it i decided to review it and since it aims to compete with World of Warcraft specifically i'll spend most of the time comparing Rift and WoW (world of warcraft):

    Simply put: It is World of Warcraft, but with better graphics (still not really good though), unimaginative enemies, crappy animations, a more fun talent tree specialisation (with the drawback that it becomes boring after a certain time and doesn't work well for the balance in player versus player combat) and ofcourse it has Rifts.
    The music is slightly worse then that of WoW, but that matters little because in practice very few people play mmo's with the original music on.

    The story behind rift isn't exactly remarkable but that's no surprise when it has to compare to games which are based on already existing expansive storylines. (World of Warcraft, DC Universe Online, Lord of the Rings online, Star wars: knights of the old republic etc.)

    In the end it's a decent but unremarkable mmo with some decent new additions that get old really fast: - Rifts are fun but after a while they're not more remarkable then any other random event in any given mmo.

    - Rift's main competitor (World of Warcraft) has worse graphics, but better music and more interesting enemies, of course this only matters if you care about such things.

    - The talent (or soul system as they call it) is far more customisable then that of any other, however in practice only a few combinations "work" and it gives problems for player versus player based combat as some soul combinations are a lot stronger then others.
    In the end this means that while you do have more choice you will always go for a certain choice if you want to compete with others, since some combinations simply stand out too much.

    In the end all the difference between Rift and World of Warcraft is a matter of taste, however World of Warcraft has a lot more content for the moment due to its age.    … Expand
  33. Adler1945
    May 6, 2011
    7
    Well, now that the game is a couple of months into being online, and the whole euphoria of "NEW TOY SYNDROME" has worn off for me, I think it's a good time to sit down and write a review. This review will be organized based off of multiple sections and each will be given their own score, with an average score being the final.
    Graphics- 8: Many people immediate jump in and give this game a    Well, now that the game is a couple of months into being online, and the whole euphoria of "NEW TOY SYNDROME" has worn off for me, I think it's a good time to sit down and write a review. This review will be organized based off of multiple sections and each will be given their own score, with an average score being the final.
    Graphics- 8: Many people immediate jump in and give this game a 10 for one reason...you need a top end graphics card or SLI rig to be able to run it at maximum all. While this does lead to a very VERY pretty game, it still is not nearly as beautiful as some in the genre, most notably Final Fantasy 14.There is no real Anti-Aliasing option between "Edge Smoothing" and "Supersampling" (which can lead to a really big difference in visual quality...at the expense of 2/3 of your FPS) and the graphics don't rate max level in my book. The surrounding areas, while MUCH more pretty and realistic than WoW, still have some flaws that are glaringly obvious, especially in viewing objects at distance, some of the animal animations, and the like. I think the biggest glaring graphic issue for me is a graphics snafu on the wall of the tunnel leading to the CC instance where the lack of coordination in graphics for the wall shows a completely visible LINE in the graphics halfway up the wall.-Tacky...
    Gameplay/UI -6: The gameplay and UI for this game is pretty much your cut and dry MMORPG circa...well pretty much anything nowadays. Simple AWSD with numbered boxes, cooldowns, and the like. The gameplay itself can be kinda wonky with areas STILL not loading correctly and random disconnects still plaguing a majority of the population.
    Customization of Character/Class-10: The amount of customization of your character on the creation screen is on par with games like AoC and well beyond WoW and some of the other, older MMOs. The customization of your class is where this game is AWESOME in that you have, not only 2 but FOUR different spec sets you can keep at once and interchange as you need to. These specs are chosen among the 8 different souls your class can use, leading to just about any number of possible specs to fit just about any play desires...Sadly there is very limited healing among warriors, which makes soloing a bit of a chore, but otherwise it is worlds apart from pretty much every other MMO as far as customization of your class is concerned.
    Immersion-6: Back at launch of the game I would have given this a 10, but that was before I made it through to the end-zones and saw how LIMITED the world is in Rift. Firstly there are only 2 capitol cities. Each of which is about half the size of a Capitol City in WoW. TWO. That's it. Aside from that you have a few mid-range size towns (think slightly smaller Southshore or Tarren Mill) scattered about, lots of little outposts with 4-6 quest NPCs, and LOTS of mobs that want to kill you. You can't take two steps in this game without getting agro from SOMETHING. The Rifts add a sense of urgency and need to the zone, but if you fail Rift invasions there really isn't a huge downside aside from having to kill invasion points and such to get quest givers back. A super boss that will 1-shot anyone would be a good consequence in my book. Sadly, the game lacks in pretty much anything that makes you want to care about your faction or the people of Telara. Once outside of the starter zones you find that all of the citizens of Telara are either giving you quests, are guards, or one of maybe 50 npcs that are meant to add "feel" to the game. Sadly this does NOT provide any immersion value at all unless you find constantly fighting for your life to be an immersive experience.
    RP-Friendly- 3: This is where the game really suffers. The lack of areas for players to congregate for RP purposes (There are only 3-4 inn type places for tavern RP), the lack of comprehensive lore (they're still making it up as they go), and the complete lack of immersive areas where people can actually try to base a RP event around leads the RP to mainly be Tavern-based or PvP based. At least on my server. Developers- 6: I give the devs a 6 primarily due to their obvious willingness to be open and willing to admit mistakes. (Check the RoS apology) However, they are also very absorbed in trying to make everyone happy, and thus have made some MASSIVE (no exaggeration) changes to classes/souls all in the name of "Balance" that have effectively either ruined the soul for their role (Riftblade) or made it damn near unkillable (Pyro). This leads me to some sad conclusions for the future.
    Sadly, the direction of the game has taken even more of a turn toward being a WoW copy. The implementation of a LFD system, the blatant favoritism of certain souls, and the lack of direction of the game other than creating events based off of the Rifts (More combat, less immersion) has the game leaning away from the slogan "We're not in Azeroth anymore" and more toward "A prettier, smaller Azeroth".    … Expand
  34. akelz7
    May 7, 2011
    7
    It's a WoW clone. Plain and simple, it's WoW but with a few name changes and pretty graphics. That's a good thing, because WoW is a good MMO, but in the end it's all personal preference that would make you play rift. If you like WC lore like I do, play WoW, if you want pretty graphics, play Rift.
  35. Lanhavoc
    Mar 27, 2011
    7
    Takes all the aspects we love from MMOs such as WoW and WAR, removes all the garbage and fat, and leaves us with an interesting blend that is familiar but well crafted. Add to this better graphics and pvp than it's predecessors and Rift is an all around excellent MMO experience.
  36. Amilmadien
    May 5, 2011
    7
    I'll be honest here - I was hoping for something a little more unique. Instead I just got World of WarhammerQuest. I can't complain about the game's stability and beauty, nor Trion's dedication to quality and customer service. However, you can count me out of this loop. I've run my last quest and /ignored my last griefer, because playing WoW again was not what I wanted.
  37. Jokr
    May 10, 2011
    7
    A new mmorpg wanting to compete with the heavy weight that World of Warcraft is (literally as seen in the advertisement campaigns) that does a lot of things right, but nothing really new. Trion worlds gathered most of the solid and safe mechanics other mmorpgs and of course WoW has to offer, added a new and quite interesting lore to it, let it bake for about the right amount of time andA new mmorpg wanting to compete with the heavy weight that World of Warcraft is (literally as seen in the advertisement campaigns) that does a lot of things right, but nothing really new. Trion worlds gathered most of the solid and safe mechanics other mmorpgs and of course WoW has to offer, added a new and quite interesting lore to it, let it bake for about the right amount of time and voilà there is Rift.

    The game is polished, borrows traditional and established mechanics from the genre and does it quite well. It looks shiny too and offers a unique and at first sight very deep soul system with a lot of variation. This variation starts to vanish in the endgame content when you are easily outperformed by players of the same skill but simply different soul and talent combinations which become sort of mandatory to compete giving all those players who thought they can use their unique combinations at any point of the game a straight middle finger.

    The leveling content is really fun, the rifts offer short periods of fun and action and give you an overall fun experience until the level cap of 50. From this point the game changes to the grind dungeons grind raids end game content that so many other mmorpgs have as well. For my taste this is a quite cheap approach and while I see that many players like it and that it can give you hours of content if you wish to do it, the presentation and motivation in Rift to grind that content is beneath average.

    I simply did not feel motivated to grind my plaques and gear and even though I had an active guild and really decent gear, for the early state of the game, I did not find it fun anymore. The PvP is, just like WoW, mostly playing Warfronts and getting your Favour (Honor) to buy more items. There is a deeper specialisation for your spec if you want to focus more on PvP, but there again some specs just overtrump most others which takes away a lot of the variation.

    Overall I give this game 8/10 for the leveling content which you should be able to finish within the first "free" month. 5/10 for the content past level 50 for which you have to pay a subscription ( you sure can start raiding within the first month but there is really no point if you don't want to play this game for a longer time and want to subscribe) what results in a 6.5 /10. Having some faith in Trion worlds to make the end game more fun I give Rift 7/10.    … Expand
  38. disorient
    May 29, 2011
    7
    Rift decided WoW is a genre and added to it this game has been methodically conceived and implemented. The development must have been tightly perfected because it preforms really, really well and with no compromise. Few places are completely safe for a character so the entire experience is much more lively. World combat features that were limited to special events (eg, zombie invasion) orRift decided WoW is a genre and added to it this game has been methodically conceived and implemented. The development must have been tightly perfected because it preforms really, really well and with no compromise. Few places are completely safe for a character so the entire experience is much more lively. World combat features that were limited to special events (eg, zombie invasion) or zones (eg, halaa) in WoW are accessible in different modes of play all over the map. The originality of this game is in the technology instead of the immersion, and on the latter Trion is making no pretense.
    This is the best example of a mainstream MMO right now and would deserve a 10, but I can't give it a higher rating because may God help you if your account is plundered.    … Expand
  39. hallei
    Mar 5, 2011
    5
    Lots of grass roots marketing fake reviews going on here in the user comments. Anyways, I love MMO's played Rift, nothing spectacular. It's your A typical MMO RPG. Not bad, but nothing new. If you are a Wow player, stick with Wow. Now if Rift goes free to play, it might be worth checking out.
  40. dnfstorm
    Mar 21, 2011
    6
    Not a huge fan, it is a wow clone with some good ideas but not enough balance to last long, most users on it will go back to games like wow which is far superior or wait for the new mmo's incoming like gw2 or swtor
  41. Cell1e
    May 8, 2011
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I enjoyed this game, this crafting is fun and useful and collecting the artifacts is really nice too. Im not one for online games as I lose interest in them after a while (as a solo player) but this one kept my interest for longer than most. The rifts are a nice one of letting people who like to solo beenfit from nice rewards and drops. Good job to the developers there.… Expand
  42. Thane
    May 22, 2011
    7
    Polished and with a broken public quest features inspired from WAR, Rift doesn't bring enough worth playing for veterans, but for new people in the mmorpg genre, can be a fun experience.
  43. Fredelas
    Jul 18, 2011
    7
    Lacking in end-game at launch, but frequent live events are entertaining. Not a lot of new concepts, but the game play is still fun and above average.
  44. sundog005
    Apr 16, 2012
    5
    I played rift til level 30, its a WoW clone like AoC and most MMO's out there...if you like that stuff you'll love Rift its WoW in a new setting, ofc it has all the old problems WoW did, Elitism over gear, unbalanced class's that can solo better than others, in fact solo elites in a bikini and not lose any health from what i saw and heard....if you are a power player and like no challengeI played rift til level 30, its a WoW clone like AoC and most MMO's out there...if you like that stuff you'll love Rift its WoW in a new setting, ofc it has all the old problems WoW did, Elitism over gear, unbalanced class's that can solo better than others, in fact solo elites in a bikini and not lose any health from what i saw and heard....if you are a power player and like no challenge and bragging rights its a game for you....the Clerics and Mages don't even need to rest or buy drinks, I believe the phrase the players use is "Duracel" Clerics and "Energizer" mages....they seem to be oblivious of the fact that if you are fighting elites solo and not losing health the game is broken badly. The macro system is also a leet kids wet dream of convenience and mash this button to win gameplay, the players didn't even talk to each other in instances or when they did it was a novelty thing, sad proof that tactics and teamwork were not required in this so called MULTIPLAYER game...try the trial don't buy it like i did you'll regret it, if you're an old school fairplay gamer like me...unless they fundamentally change it in the new patch which i haven't seen any signs of, i'm not going back....bring on a balanced MMO someone please! sheesh or even something vaguely original lol...i ask too much obviously! apologies *sighes and heads back to skyrim with his tail between his legs*
    It gets 5 for the cool Rift effects!    … Expand
  45. aatassi
    Feb 28, 2014
    6
    Played for 3 days until lvl 20
    Good things : graphics similar to Guild wars 1, sound, rifts, mounts, special items used during quests, skills tree
    less : no story lines, quests similar after a moment, need 5 players to sign for guild creation, dungeons mobs
    Game play : 5, graphics : 6, Back ground : 6, lifetime : 6, sound : 7
  46. Silas32
    Apr 16, 2012
    7
    similar to wow, but still original... The way you can customize your character is far better than wow... Its random events like rift invasions do the game more exciting.
  47. Winterlight212
    Nov 13, 2014
    7
    SEEMS like it really could be fun, but there were certain things that annoyed me, can't put my finger on it exactly, but just didn't "FEEL" right and I think "FEEL" is a big part of any game. I may re-visit this game in the future, but for now I'm done. Don't take my word, haven't really given this game as much effort as other games I've played, but I really couldn't get into this game that much.
  48. Tetsuro
    Jan 23, 2014
    6
    It's a decent game with nice but 'rigid' graphics. Gameplay could be a bit awkward to one used to the likes of Ultima Online or Neverwinter Nights and AI is a bit on the 'stupid side'. The game in itself is very little compelling, it's boring (in everything.. from graphics, to monsters, to quests) and party with someone else is boring too. I have not found any decent player to form a realIt's a decent game with nice but 'rigid' graphics. Gameplay could be a bit awkward to one used to the likes of Ultima Online or Neverwinter Nights and AI is a bit on the 'stupid side'. The game in itself is very little compelling, it's boring (in everything.. from graphics, to monsters, to quests) and party with someone else is boring too. I have not found any decent player to form a real party to do PvE, everyone is busy on doing its things even if it's playing inside a party. And the talking system does not help at all since it's akward (where it was the center of the game in Ultima Online for example). I give it a & but I could have done better with my time.… Expand
  49. isidore12
    Sep 3, 2021
    7
    Rift used to be great for PvE, passable for PvP up to 2.0.

    The 3rd expansion was a massacre of the game:
    * world map with no details)
    * boring boss fights
    * daily quest: "click 20 times" (no joke)

    Most of old good players lefts, guilds are scarce.
  50. pythag0ras
    Jan 29, 2016
    6
    Pros:
    +engaging story
    +smooth PvE combat +Dimension system is interesting +Can solo or group to level effectively +Can get real money credits through in game currency +Great graphics +Large player community +world events +weekly updates +leveling is rewarding Cons: - Never seen such grinding.. nothing in RIFT gets done quickly.. -end game consists of repetitive daily and    Pros:
    +engaging story
    +smooth PvE combat
    +Dimension system is interesting
    +Can solo or group to level effectively
    +Can get real money credits through in game currency
    +Great graphics
    +Large player community
    +world events
    +weekly updates
    +leveling is rewarding

    Cons:
    - Never seen such grinding.. nothing in RIFT gets done quickly..
    -end game consists of repetitive daily and weekly quests , and dungeons to build up enough marks (takes years to get enough because you have a finite amount of dungeon bonuses per week. ) and just when you get enough marks they release an xpac that makes all your gear obsolete overnight. When your not grinding dailies/weeklies , youre waiting for raids . see next
    -Raiding --worst raiding of any game i have played. Extremely difficult and unforgiving on boss fights. Requires grinding the boss fight over and over and over again to get the mechanics down ..and oh you can only do it once a week. And then once you actually get through the raid you get to the end chest and its one piece of gear that everyone in the raid gets to roll on.. so more often then not ,you will put in a ton of work and still get nothing.
    -TOO MUCH RNG! Every single thing in the game is RNG based , which of course , adds to the grind. Many many situations where I spent hours working toward something just to never get it (but got to watch 3 other people get it like it was nothing ) Even the chests that you pay real money for are "random" , and usually contain many items that are not only useless (pvp announcer anyone?), but unable to be resold to players or vendors so usually deleted.
    -Dungeon runs take too long and have too high a learning curve for people new to that dungeon. also the loot is for the group to roll on so the majority of times you end up running the dungeon and getting nothing u can use at the end.
    -Constant remaking of the classes , you just get your rotation of your spells you have to cast and they then change it all and you're back to square one with relearning it.
    -No flying mounts (and the devs have stated they will not be adding them in the future) this means you are running everywhere..and the initial mount you can buy is so slow it doesnt even seem faster then being on foot.
    -TONS of restrictions unless you spend money.. no auction house access, the classes you have access to are under powered compared to the pay-for classes, you get knocked off your mount when anything looks at you, more that i cant remember offhand.

    All in all id say its worth playing ... but not worth paying a single dime for.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Best PC Game of 2011
31
#31 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
50
#50 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 59 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 59
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 59
  3. Negative: 0 out of 59
  1. AusGamers
    Nov 29, 2011
    90
    There have been obvious comparisons made to WoW, with some even going as far as calling it a clone. But what makes Rift so special is that it goes out of its way to avoid falling into the same traps as the many that have fallen before it. It avoids the painful, mindnumbing grind, makes incremental patches everyday and listens intently to its rapidly growing community.
    Read full review
  2. Computer Games Online RO
    Jul 20, 2011
    89
    It's true that the soul trees offer outstanding flexibility for character development and the rifts bring a welcome sense of insecurity into Telara's everyday life, but for some players this simply might not be enough.
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  3. Gamers.at
    Jun 28, 2011
    88
    Rift offers a really polished MMO experience but looks and feels much like a mix of many good MMOs like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and Warhammer Online.
    Read full review
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