It seems that I have not logged into Rift in about a week. During that time I have played other games: WAR, STO and LoTRO. Development of Stellar Fortune has taken a good chunk of time as well. Still, I've decided that I will not be playing Rift beyond the first month.
I know it isn't a big surprise. Prior to launch I figured that I would be one and done. There is just nothing about Rift that really grabs me. It isn't the games fault, it is just not something I want to play. There are a number of reasons...
Setting. Compared to the worlds of Star Trek, Lord of the Rings and Warhammer; Rift just feels bland to me. The other Intellectual Properties have been around for years and have a huge history. Perhaps someday Rift's will too, but for now I'm just not very interested.
PvE. In order for me to like a games PvE, I have to really be interested in the setting and the story. STO's Feature Episodes and LoTRO's Epic Quests are what keep their PvE interesting to me. Rift's PvE is pretty much all about progression, which I find very boring.
Soul System. The more I played Rift, the less I enjoyed the soul system. Don't get me wrong, I love the options it gives your character. It just ended up making the 'classes' feel so bland. Take WAR as an example, there are 24 classes and they all have their own look and feel. My Engineer looks like an Engineer.
Dungeons and Raids. It's not that I'm anti-social (well, I probably am), but at this point in my life I have almost zero interest in group content. I really just want to do things at my own pace and my own way. I like the ad hoc nature of Rift's grouping, but I still don't want to raid or run instances.
I don't think Rift is a bad game, it is just not one I really want to play. If I had more time and less options, I probably would. It is the most streamlined MMO I have ever seen, so kudos to Trion for their quality.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
It's not you Rift, it's me
