RIFT opened!

@Boruk
Thats why I buy digital copies rather than a box. Who needs materials in hand when I just want to play the game. I don't have to worry about net usage caps where I am in the US anyways.

@Caskio yeah, aside from collectors addition physical bits, i can't think of a single reason to buy a physical copy of a game anymore. especially one that needs to be shipped!

@Aberhams: Saving money? I swear, if I had actually paid for Cataclysm, I really would've been upset. Waiting the ship time was annoying, but the $45 still in my pocket was worth it. :p

@Aberhams Because they cost the exact same price. So if that's the case i'll buy the boxed copy every time. I just can't justify paying the same price but not having the box or materials. It just bugs the crap out of me.

I have FIOS so I have plenty of bandwidth and no caps so that's not an issue. It's just that there is such a low profit margin for the developers when selling boxed copies as there are so many channels it has to go through to get to you that I can understand the price.
However with digital copies it goes straight from the devs to you so it should be cheaper. A lot cheaper. So I just refuse to pay the same price for a digital download that I can for the physical box.

I have purchased many downloaded games via steam. But they were all on sale and the cost savings easily justified it.

I bought Rift's digital collector's edition direct from Trion - no hassles, no waiting, and I felt they deserved to have the cash direct without paying a cut to a retailer for delivering such a polished launch game.

Sure, some of the stuff in the retail collector's box looked nice, but ultimately none of it enhances your experience in the game itself - you get all the in-game stuff in the digital version - most of the retail box stuff is just clutter - on balance I preferred to be playing headstart with my guildmates with no problems at all. It's just a matter of choosing what's more important to you.

@Jesse A I agree I'm having a blast in Rift, finding it not to be a grind. Joining the public groups and closing rifts and the invasions of the towns is a great change of pace from questing.

@Jesse A

I play LOTRO (f2p with all content packs), WOW (occasional subscriber) and RIFT (founder... at the moment until I stop one day I suppose).

In terms of grind, from worse to best:
Classic WOW (worst)
LOTRO
RIFT
WOW Cataclysm (easiest)

You don't have to like WOW, I just want to be fare to all games and say that after the changes in Cataclysm - there is hardly any grind. I consistently out level a zone before I was able to complete all of its quests.

LOTRO's slow grinding level hasn't changed since it copied the same style from WOW classic. And I didn't see it get any easier after going F2P. I think with all the money injected to Turbine after going F2P - they should reinvest some of that back into the game. E.g. more skirmishes

I've actually fallen asleep grinding away in RIFT these few days. Which is odd because I didn't feel the same playing Cataclysm and leveling a new character. There are far more "kill x number" quests in RIFT - but mixed with frequent invasion and rift events which breaks the mood - that I really like.

Story-wise though, RIFT is new. WOW Cataclysm is new. LOTRO is old story, but told well.

@Beltyra "Hmm no mention about PvP or Warfronts or even really dual faction content."

Maybe you should watch it again.

@Beltyra

Funny thing is, that viral "We're not in Azeroth Anymore!" campaign has been talked about ad nauseum for the past months. Every time someone brings up just how stupid that advertisement is, RIFT gets just a little bit more exposure.

The goal of marketing is ____________

Zoom Zoom?

-Birk

@Lenn
Uh there was no mention of Warfronts and the only PvP mentioned is that there are hubs for you to control.

I'm just saying PvP is a selling point that was not explored.

@Birk

True that. Any press is good press and all that, eh?

@Beltyra Maybe it sounded a bit hostile, but I have to agree with this mostly. I'm glad people are enjoying the game, but it's not really the 'next big thing', it's just the 'same old thing' done very well.

I do hope they add more variety for the rifts too, even by the time I got done with the first zone (which...seems to last a bit long) I was pretty sick of invasions almost every hour. Though again, that also could be because the server population was so heavily focused there.

@Addfwyn

Mmm.. I think I play at weird times or something, because I find myself CRAVING invasions. Maybe because I play in the evenings, and invasions get quelled before they can truly begin? Any way, I am lvl20 and I am not sick of rifts or invasions yet, I find myself looking for them and hoping they will spawn. But yeah, I get that if you feel your questing is constantly interrupted, that's a pain, but to me it seems you can still just ignore what is going on around you and continue to quest.

Any way, loving the game. It made me re-live my very very early WoW days, the feeling I had then, wanting to explore it all, getting giddy at every new level.

Loving it deeply so far, I can only hope this love will continue throughout endgame. Been loving PvP so far as well, but it's still early days so don't know if that will hold at max level. But I'm optimistic!