With the open beta less than a week away, now is the time for Trion Worlds to step up and address the lingering issues RIFT has before it starts being available for general consumption. Fortunately for the development team, it's a task it's proven quite accomplished at, and the newest wrap-up for the sixth event proves that there's still a lot going on behind the scenes. Scott Hartsman takes the opportunity in the last pre-open beta wrap-up to discuss PvP in the open world, damage tuning, and the difference in raid sizes for endgame content.
As Hartsman puts it, some of the anti-PvP measures put into place will be removed on PvP servers, meaning weaker guards around hubs and destroyable wardstones. Damage levels seem to be in a fairly good place across the board from the development perspective, but they're something that will be watched closely during the open event. Hartsman also touches more on the late-game rift content and what it will mean for the game's balance and the availability of content. RIFT players should take a gander at the full rundown and get ready for the open beta starting on Tuesday next week.
Reader Comments (41)
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 8:01PM (Unverified) said
The PvP change is fantastic. Plain and simple. You-know-who would never tell their players "If you don't want to PvP, play on a PvE server."
It's brilliant.
It's brilliant.
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 9:45PM ErikC said
@(Unverified) It's not really talking down to either player. They basically added in controls to make PvE servers less griefing-friendly, without letting those controls hurt the PvP servers. It makes sense for both playstyles. It's just kinda rare to see PvP servers and PvE servers being different in any way than just having perma-flagging on the PvP ones.
I mean, I realize you weren't necessarily saying they were talking down to the PvE'ers, but you may not have really seen that the change preceding this one was in fact to improve PvE servers. It's less that they're dismissing PvE concerns and more that they AREN'T dismissing PvP concerns. Which is cool.
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I mean, I realize you weren't necessarily saying they were talking down to the PvE'ers, but you may not have really seen that the change preceding this one was in fact to improve PvE servers. It's less that they're dismissing PvE concerns and more that they AREN'T dismissing PvP concerns. Which is cool.
Posted: Feb 11th 2011 11:33AM Dril said
@(Unverified)
As much I find the "omg the PvE masses are crushing us" of the PvP players on the Rift forums fairly annoying, I'm happy this went through. It paves the way for games to no linger nerf abilities to the ground because they were OP in one aspect but absolutely brilliantly tuned in another.
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As much I find the "omg the PvE masses are crushing us" of the PvP players on the Rift forums fairly annoying, I'm happy this went through. It paves the way for games to no linger nerf abilities to the ground because they were OP in one aspect but absolutely brilliantly tuned in another.
Posted: Feb 11th 2011 3:14PM (Unverified) said
@(Unverified), hmm, who's "you know who"? I assumed you were talking about Blizzard, but since they have often said "If you don't want to PvP, play on a PvE server" when people requested changes after being ganked, you must be talking about someone else?
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 8:22PM Tizmah said
Sweet.
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 8:29PM ManaByte said
Trion - Great MMO company or GREATEST MMO company?
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 9:10PM (Unverified) said
@ManaByte Honestly, at this point, i'm starting to wonder that very question. I've never seen an MMO company respond this quickly, and this thoroughly to problems/concerns the playerbase has.
Regardless, excited for the headstart, time to delve into some of the soul system intricacies.
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Regardless, excited for the headstart, time to delve into some of the soul system intricacies.
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 8:31PM Gaugamela said
Nice changes to PvP servers. :)
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 9:05PM Beltyra said
Love the fanaticism but can we let the game come OUT before everyone gets on their knees in a back ally with the Devs?
ORZ
ORZ
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 9:50PM kjhasdfjkhk said
I must say, even though the game itself isn't the greatest MMO I have ever played, this is probably the best MMO company out there in terms of listening to their customers, and quick customer service.
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 10:14PM ErikC said
@kjhasdfjkhk It's not even just listening to the customers, it's respecting them. And you see it in the software itself. You can do a freakin' incremental search on your inventory using exactly the same keys as you do in other software (ctrl-f). The world map becomes translucent when you move your character. If you're attacked while alt-tabbed out, the icon on the windows taskbar begins to flash. There's tons and tons of great little usability features. The game feels like it loves you. It's... a breath of fresh air.
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Posted: Feb 11th 2011 9:51AM (Unverified) said
@ErikC
ErikC has it spot on. The interaction is invaluable and makes me respect them very, very much. If this continues into launch then I can see Trion going far.
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ErikC has it spot on. The interaction is invaluable and makes me respect them very, very much. If this continues into launch then I can see Trion going far.
Posted: Feb 11th 2011 3:20PM (Unverified) said
@kjhasdfjkhk, agreed, I'll definitely be watching for Trion's next entry into the MMO sphere. With the confidence they gain from successfully building a derivative clone like Rift, I expect them to produce something genuinely special and worth playing second time around.
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Posted: Feb 10th 2011 9:55PM Seldra said
Knock on wood I don't want to jinx these guys but I'll say that if they keep this up they maybe the future of the traditional mmo market.
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 10:55PM (Unverified) said
@Seldra We can only hope, the entire game market could use this.
Heh, the Valve of MMO'S? ;)
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Heh, the Valve of MMO'S? ;)
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 11:47PM delphinius81 said
I actually had to stop playing after Beta 3 because I was enjoying the game too much. Whether it was because it was just something new or because it really is that great a game, I'm not sure. All I know is I didn't want to ruin my experience with the game once it finally went live.
I hope Trion has a ton of success with Rift. They seem to be a great bunch of developers. Hopefully their success doesn't go to their heads and they continue to respond this quickly to player concerns, both through updates and open communiques.
I hope Trion has a ton of success with Rift. They seem to be a great bunch of developers. Hopefully their success doesn't go to their heads and they continue to respond this quickly to player concerns, both through updates and open communiques.
Posted: Feb 10th 2011 11:50PM Dread said
As a dedicated PvE player I'm amazed that their is a Dev out there willing to make changes to suit the play styles of both without gimping the other.
Kudos.
Kudos.











