New Player questions: State of Endgame PVE content

[Grevmak]

Hey there Rift players, new player here. I was always a WoW type of guy and right now am looking to get into some other games, trying to be open for everything. I always loved Rift's Souls system and heard the raids were brutal but very fun, which intrigues me about its current state. I've read that many people still like the game and I'd love to join them but I have some questions about endgame which probably have been asked a billion times, but I couldn't find anything about them right away in one concise spot.

...So here we go.

Now I am asking as a Semi-Casual player: What's raiding like right now?
I know that raids are still a thing and I'd like to know how they work in more detail. Are there multiple difficulties? How hard is the hardest one? I don't need raids to be super punishing but if everything's a boring pushover then I'll probably not stick around for long. What PVE content is there besides raids?

Also, while I am at it, is there any class that is particularly good/bad at a certain role? I love how Support is a set role in RIFT but would also like to try out tanking and DPSing.

How important are Dungeons right now? Several MMORPGs I enjoy introduced some sort of scaling system for dungeons to become harder and drop better gear which I quite enjoy, but I also am fine with the older systems of dungeons being reasonably difficult and leading into raids.

And since I'm asking stupid questions, which server has the biggest population? Is there a big divide for EU or does it not matter?

Thanks in advance for any and all answers, have a good one.

[Isp]

Now I am asking as a Semi-Casual player: What's raiding like right now?
I know that raids are still a thing and I'd like to know how they work in more detail. Are there multiple difficulties? How hard is the hardest one? I don't need raids to be super punishing but if everything's a boring pushover then I'll probably not stick around for long. What PVE content is there besides raids?

Raids cleared at the day of release (if you in casual guild it could take you up to a month to fully clear new raid). There are only 2 T1 10 men atm, 20 men are not planned anymore. It should be new T2 10 men this year. Beside raids there is grind - and a lot of it. In order to be competitive in raid you need to do huge eternal grind. I refused to do this grind, but because my main is primalist I still competitive, but other callings need eternal weapon for proper raiding (good group could carry lacking players, as raids are easy enough).

Also, while I am at it, is there any class that is particularly good/bad at a certain role? I love how Support is a set role in RIFT but would also like to try out tanking and DPSing.

The only viable support is archon (as raids are easy you could use any support and not to use it at all, but there is only 1 viable option).
DPSes atm: Primalist > Rogue > the rest. It could change, as it changed multiple times in 4.x, but currently primalists are on top, even after multiple nerfs.
Any calling could tank anything.

How important are Dungeons right now? Several MMORPGs I enjoy introduced some sort of scaling system for dungeons to become harder and drop better gear which I quite enjoy, but I also am fine with the older systems of dungeons being reasonably difficult and leading into raids.

For gearing you could completely skip dungeons and go to T0 raid, hit requirements are the same, but gear better from T0. One of eternal grind steps is to do 100 dungeons.

And since I'm asking stupid questions, which server has the biggest population? Is there a big divide for EU or does it not matter?

Does not matter, and you could switch shard for free once a week. Shard important only for guild and AH.

[Jotunn]

Now I am asking as a Semi-Casual player: What's raiding like right now?
I know that raids are still a thing and I'd like to know how they work in more detail. Are there multiple difficulties? How hard is the hardest one? I don't need raids to be super punishing but if everything's a boring pushover then I'll probably not stick around for long. What PVE content is there besides raids?

Raiding in this expansion is very casual and there are only 10 man raids now. Difficulty will of course depend on your party and gear, so it can be maybe challanging at first but will most likely become a snoozefest very fast after. If you are playing your class well and have good gear and other players in a group you will never see an enrage timers, you will also be using hybrid AoE healers/supports instead of ST and AoE healers and so on, which makes the encounters even more of a booring pushover.

There is a Looking for Raid 10 man that got upscaled to T1. Besides that there is no multiple difficulty raids in Rift atm.

Besides Raids there are Instant Adventures (usually used for lvling up). Raid Rifts which give you a chance for BiS essences, but after doing each of the three available ones per day you will have to spend charges to get more loot rolls. Another type of Rifts are Crafting Rifts, that aare connected with getting certain crafting materials, but these have only one free roll per week. After that you have to spend charges or get (vastly) reduced chances at getting the said materials.

There are also Zone events happening around the clock. Then you have the usual quests, dailies, weeklies. You can go artifact hunting around the zones and so on.

Also, while I am at it, is there any class that is particularly good/bad at a certain role? I love how Support is a set role in RIFT but would also like to try out tanking and DPSing.

For a while now Primalists are the top dogs (a paid class), 2nd are rogues and have been in good spots this whole expansion. Ther other three can be good or decent or so-so, depending on the spec and encounter. But overall ballance in Rift has gone out the window. Top players can do 3x-4x more dps than is required by the encounters (and that is not counting swaping out healing roles and such for more dps ones).

Apart form that, all classes can do all roles (tank/heal/dps/support), but of course one will be better suited than the other. For supports mages have been used primarily, and now primalists are good there too. Tanks usually end up beeing clerics while healers it's rogues and mages helping them out usually.

How important are Dungeons right now? Several MMORPGs I enjoy introduced some sort of scaling system for dungeons to become harder and drop better gear which I quite enjoy, but I also am fine with the older systems of dungeons being reasonably difficult and leading into raids.

There is quite a gear grind in this expansion, primarily around Eternal Weapon. One of it's stages is 100 dungeons. Keep in mind there are only 4 dungeons and only one difficulty, shich was ridiculusly easy even if when players didn't have the gear to hit the bosses properly.

Since the Looking for Raid 10 man got released, there is no real reason to do dungeons at all, except for the Eternal Weapon quest.

And since I'm asking stupid questions, which server has the biggest population? Is there a big divide for EU or does it not matter?

Server choice shouldn't matter much, apart from choosing french/german/pvp server if you so prefer. Trion has implemeted "load ballancing" some time ago which puts every person that logs on on the same shard so make it look populated.

Also recently we got cross shard trading, mailing and by the looks of it Auction House will come too at some point. So it's all coming together into a cluster. You can also shard hop at will (only moves the character there temporarily).