malbec

Meh, it's okay. Much better than SWTOR, moderately worse than the original WoW. I'll be getting it to play in the down time when there's not some other, better game on my plate. The writing is decent, the voice acting is above average, the graphics are good, and the exploration is average for an MMO. I am curious to see what they do with item/questing balance, adjustments to PVP, group dungeons, and end-game. I'd recommend it to a friend, but only barely.

When SL first came out, I liked it quite a bit more than a 6. The grind from 50 to 60, while long, had options. To a player returning to the game after a 9+ month hiatus, there was some lack of clarity on the other leveling options, balance issues not withstanding. Now that the honeymoon period has closed and I am fully back into the game in a casual raiding guild, it is clear that SL was not quite ready for release. Besides the obvious locked zone (the Dendrome) that was supposed to be released in patch 2.1, instant adventures are pointless, carnages are just grinding with bonus experience tacked on, onslaughts are cheap power-leveling areas, gear progression is extremely flawed, experts are mostly moot, grinding for infinity stones and notoriety (reputation) is dull, and end-game raid progression lacks a second 10-man at least. While I understand from the forums that much of this content is on the way, it should have been ready with SL, or at worst with the following patch or two. It has now been almost 3 months and a majority of the issues with the release are still prevalent. That said, I really enjoy Rift over other MMORPGs, but I spend more and more of my leisure time playing other games and other genres.