Any RIFT beta reports out there?

So, I saw a comment on one of my favorite webcomics (Ctrl-Alt-Del, if you're curious) about the author really enjoying the beta of Rift, the new MMORPG that is due for public release in March. I know Beta testing is going on, and from what I understand, the beta is open up to folks who have preordered (I think - may be wrong about this)

But, it looked interesting - so I wondered if anyone has played the beta or has any thoughts. Right now I know pretty much nothing... I know it's a subscription game, but not what the monthly fee is. I know the forums have lots of good stuff and no negative comments, but that tells me either a) it's a great game or b) they're doing a good job of squashing negative comments...

Anyone here have any thoughts on Rift? I'm curious, but not sure I'm really ready to get pulled into another MMORPG again - I enjoyed WoW, but was never hardcore enough to keep playing after I felt I'd seen all the content a casual player could be expected to see.... (and, yes, I left before Cataclysm, so I know I've probably missed a bunch since then...)

 

It looks like a free to play game that you have to pay for. I'd rather wait for Guild Wars 2. Even the boss fights few videos I've seen look like free to play content, nothing to speak of.

My impression, if you want to pay for Rift, might as well just play Aion which looks better.

 

I played Rift for a few hours and found it to be extremely similar to WoW.

All in all, I enjoyed it more than Conan and WAR. It wouldn't be an MMO I would get, since WoW is still my main MMO that I play casually and playing two MMO's or more at any given time is far too big of a time sink, hehe.

Graphics look much better than WoW too.

 

Think of it was a cross between Warhammer, EQ2 and WoW. It has all the best traits of all three.

 

Here's a copy paste from my write up in the m11x forums.

I've been in a few of the Beta weekends so far and color me unimpressed. It's definitely a solid WoW clone, but that's all it is with some stuff cribbed from WaR and other MMOs. The one word I would use to describe it is generic and I couldn't motivate myself to even get out of the starting area. The whole time I was playing I just kept on getting deja vu and a whole bunch of been there, done that.

Graphics are decent and controls are nice and tight. Lore made me yawn and after the first few quests I stopped bothering to read the whole quest description and just went doing the stupid killing and collecting tasks that game devs seem to think we love. Rifts are just public quests, didn't pvp but heard that there were some issues with people getting flagged involuntarily by jerks.

On the plus side, my m11x had no problems running it. However to say that this will even have any effect on the WoW player base is silly. Why would anyone leave a better game that all their friends are already playing for just a shinier skin? There's a reason why WoW is still the top dog and RIFT isn't taking any lessons. I don't even play WoW anymore and have no intention of buying Cata but I will give Blizzard mad props for keeping me engaged in a game for 4 years.

Even Yahtzee couldn't bring himself to hate Cata: The Escapist : Video Galleries : Zero Punctuation : World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Just to bring my opinions in perspective here's what some other people though of the beta: RIFT beta events: Impressions from the staff | Massively

As you can see some people definitely enjoyed it while I got the same feeling as Jef. I guess I'm becoming a cranky old MMO vet.

In case you're wondering about the "innovative" soul system. Basically each archetype has a bunch of different souls, think of these as a skill tree from WoW. You basically make your own class I guess, so you would be taking the Unholy tree from Deathknights, the Arms tree from Warriors, and the Retribution tree from Paladins. Sure you could put together your own combination to be a special and unique butterfly, but inevitably some combos work better together than others and eventually everyone will be running the best combos.

If you've never played an MMO before I would recommend it, but if you have played an MMO stick with your current game. This game is neither new or innovative.