A game blog for grown ups (sorta).

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Rift Beta

Well I got my Rift Beta key, the new MMO developed by Trion Worlds. I'm downloading the client now to make sure we're good to go for Tuesday when the event goes live.. The Beta event starts on Tuesday so we'll see if just because we're not in Azeroth anymore if we still wish we were.

I always wonder why MMO developers go after WoW. You can't do it. Blizzard have unlimited time, money, and talent. They didn't invent the modern MMO but they certain perfected it. It is pretty common knowledge that it takes a lot of resources to build an MMO from the ground up and a lot of companies who take aim at the better half of Activision/Blizzard end up folding. A lot of companies who don't take aim at them but still put out an MMO end up folding.

We'll see if Trion has the stuff to compete.

2 comments:

  1. Honestly, I think developers have a chance of taking some of Wow's pie. Cataclysm isn't as polished as Blizzard products are normally. Essentially, they pushed out a Beta to the live servers & a lot of people aren't happy. Now, people won't be leaving in droves but they'll lose active members.

    In the short run, I think another developer has a small window to snag people away from Wow. They have to make an amazing game that will keep everyone interested though.

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  2. I think the standard routine of grinding (which essentially boils down to running errands for NPCs to get a reward in the form of tools designed to help run the next errand) is getting stale. I don't know how people play WoW as much as they do; I maxed out after 6 months of grinding to get to level 66. I bought Cataclysm and played for about fifteen minutes before I was bored again and cancelled my sub.

    I don't know how Rift aims to be different, if at all. I'm really interested in Guild Wars 2 because they claim to spearhead this problem. That, and the Guild Wars aesthetics have always appealed to me like no other game.

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