It is time for me to take ownership. Rift is now my MMO of choice. This is not a declaration that I will never return to WoW, more like I am taking an official break from WoW. Today I cancelled my WoW subscription as I haven’t logged in the past 30days. It was a waste of money for me to let the subscription continue. There are a couple of things that have gotten me to this point and I think both of them are equally interesting.
The first of the two was “game defense.” Recently I have found myself mentally defending Rift. This has not been a Rift is better than WoW conundrum but more of a give Rift an honest shot sort of thing. More specifically, a couple of friends recently tried Rift on for size and I found myself doubting whether they could really give the game a shot before they made their decisions.
I am not sure why any of this mattered to me but it did. Because it did, I realized that I had made the shift from WoW player to Rift player. I think it is possible I am viewing their opinions through tainted glasses. Where they are finding negatives about Rift, I can point to a positive. I realize now, it is all about perspective.
I guess there are two questions to this issue. The first being “Can a person who is heavily invested in WoW give an unbiased opinion on Rift?” The second question is, “Can person who is invested in Rift recognize and unbiased opinion when they see one?” I don’t think I have the answer to either of these questions. This bothers me.
The second signal that I was no longer a WoW player arrived this week. It was the cinematic for patch 4.1.1 have always been a big fan of Blizzards use of a cinematic to usher in new content. The Wrath of the Lich King cinematic was my favorite to date. The cinematic for patch 4.1 was horrible, it wasn’t even close to what I have come to expect. The production work felt half done and the recycled content didn’t help things.
As I was thinking these things about the 4.1 cinematic I realized I was a Rift player who had no interest in the message the cinematic conveyed. Unlike the WotLK cinematic, this one had no value for me. Knowing this, I realize that my opinion of the patch as well as the cinematic is skewed. I am guessing that there are plenty of WoW players who are eagerly awaiting the patch and the cinematic was a welcomed sight.
So there you have it, I am a Rift player. Right now WoW is in the rear view mirror. I want to take this time to say thanks to all those folks who helped make WoW my game of choice for the last 5 years. Most recently, Face on Fire has been The Crew. There are a lot of good people in that guild and I will miss them. To the guys and gals that made up Starfall, thank you as well.
With that being said, you can all find me here writing about Rift. If you happen to wander into Telara, I am on the Kelpmere shard wearing the Black Sunshine guild tag. Give me a shout and we will get you set up and make you feel at home.
“Can a person who is heavily invested in WoW give an unbiased opinion on Rift?”
I recently first-killed Nefarian in each of the two 10-man raid groups I’m in, and I think Rift is an excellent game that I wish I had more time to explore. That said, I often find the gameplay itself, especially tanking, frustrating because the interface [essentially] lacks the polish that WoW’s has. The two main things are the lack of enemy name plates, and the mushy action buttons with a queueing system that doesn’t play nice with off-GCD abilities.
I think it’s impossible to give unbiased opinions or consider Rift without comparing it to World of Warcraft because that’s exactly what Trion games has tried to get people to do with their commercials. Using the tagline “You’re not in Azeroth anymore…” is a calculated move that honestly may hurt the game in some ways.
I still think that Rift could be a great game, it’s just not for me.
you didn’t even play wow when you played wow.
I just let my Wow subscription expire today too! I had been playing (off and on) since day 1.
I tried Rift a week and a half ago and it really has appealed to me in a way that Wow no longer does. Plus, it just seems like (at least on my shard) that people are generally friendlier and more polite.
Makes for a more pleasant game experience.
@ Coreus – The name plates can be turned on/off in settings. Also I haven’t noticed the GDC issue you mentioned. I will pay closer attention next time I am in game.
@ Khaas – Trion did aim straight for Blizzard with that line. How goes the new home?
@ Frost – Touche. Where did you end up Frosty I heard you made a move as well?
@ Haala – I am really enjoying the game myself as well. With 1.2 we are getting Slivers (10man instances) and that is right up my alley.
The Alliance is a weird place to be, I can best sum it up with this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzFSvPqSllw&feature=feedf
However, everyone’s been friendly and welcoming. Even with extra raid nights it doesn’t feel like a chore, it doesn’t even feel like I’m staying in raids that long (which really I’m not since we clear BOT in an hour and call it a night as one example).
I miss people, and it’s generally more quiet than I’m accustomed to. So, I guess what I’m saying is it will take time to adjust. And I’m okay with that.
As for Frost, he went to a different server entirely.
I never played wow with any of you guys, but I came to Rift with an open mind and an open wow account, I left with 0 people from wow and assumed I would not like it from more of a social aspect, I am very open and like to chat/talk about whatever it is I am playing, down to being an active member on all the social boards, warlocks den etc.
In whats it now 2 months, I have cancelled all 3 wow accounts, Have not even browsed at a wow blog/website. Only contact I have with the friends I ave run with for ~6 years is my former guilds website.
Rift itself has bugs, No more than wow has as well. Rift is far more balanced for pvp “albeit it has been said its a PVE primary game”
I have been enjoying researching classes again, Thanks cos for your chloro post.
Ok so what I really dont like about wow anymore, Everyone says “its repetitive/recycled material” This I disagree with, I though all the new dungeons even if remodled were quite fun.
I feel personally Wow has become a Vanity grind far over anything else.