RIFT: One Year Later

[Czar]

This game, from the absolute beauty of it, to the game play and the real-life people it attracts, is amazing.

I've been in since Beta and I haven't experienced but 5% of the complete game.

If this were a holodeck, I'd never leave. (Okay... You can put the batteries back into the Dork Alarms.)

[Rymer]

The new Mercenary mechanic in Warfronts is included in 1.7 as well. As the number of people participating in PvP has been going up recently, certain wargroups and brackets have become too-Defiant or too-Guardian favored, causing the other side to suffer extended queuing. The mercenary mechanic aims squarely to fix that, by having people from the more populous side standing in as Mercenaries to ensure the queues are flowing as fast as they possibly can.

...

We have some even bigger thoughts for the future of PvP that we’re really excited about for how PvP could eventually transcend the two existing factions and we look forward to sharing those as well.

While mercenary system solves several pvp queueing problems, it does so by discarding faction identity. Given that faction conflict is a basic part of this game, this is a huge change. And predictably, it's one that a lot of people are unhappy with. (Although there are plenty of pvpers who don't care about faction and are happy with the change.)

As a result there has been a lot of forum discussion (just keyword search on "mercenary"). Ways have been proposed to allow players to opt out being mercenaries which still keeping advantages of faster que times, breaking sync queing, etc.

In reply to this, what we've heard from Trion is...

Nothing.

I've been a very happy Rift customer up to this point, and have had a very high opinion of Trion's direction and responsiveness to players. But putting in a change like this which breaks lore so badly and which discards a major element of the game (faction identity), obviously deserves some care and discussion on Trion's part. The fact that there has been none whatsoever is both very surprising and very disapointing.

I'm not looking to derail this topic, but since Mercenaries and "transcending the two existing factions" are part of Scott's message, objections to that are obviously relevant.

Links:
While people seem to start "don't want to be a mercenary" topics every day or so, the central topic on the issue is: Mercenaries Kind of Suck... (Aside from general back and forth, this topic includes some good suggestions for ways to allow opt out-out without losing advantages of mixed warfronts.)

And on the lore issue, there's, Change "Mercenary" to "Twisted".

[Avriana Lightbreeze]

Great job on this game Trion! Kudos to you! Rift is hands-down the best MMO I've played, and I've played a LOT of MMO's. I definitely notice and appreciate the constant updating, bug fixing and new content.

What I appreciate even more, though, is your obvious commitment to your customers. In a day when most products are crap and don't last, in a day when, for most companies, "customer service" is a philosophy of the past, Trion really stands out. Not only do you say the right things, but most importantly, you back them up with what you DO. Never before have I played a game where I've gotten so many tokens of appreciation, just for playing. I'm talking about things like:

* Veterans rewards - A personal merchant, xp, favor and prestige potions
* Bonus xp and rewards on holidays and days important to Trion
* The Moneybags trinket when Trion was hacked, which wasn't your fault, but was a very nice "sorry about that" anyway
* Actually LISTENING to the players and making the changes and additions we ask for

You guys rock, and you're a shining example to other companies of how business SHOULD be done. I will be playing your game for a long time, and unlike other subscription games I've played, I am never bitter when it comes time to pay my sub. I never question if it's worth it. Every month there is new content, and you've done more in a year than other games do in 2 (and they charge $50+ for their stupid "expansions").

I'm looking forward to buying stock.

Cheers Trion!

[Jhaeda]

Rift is my favourite MMO. Everything you're doing makes me smile and get all warm and fuzzy and, dare I say, a little weak in the knees? *swoon*

Keep up the excellent work, Trion!

[Elistari]

While mercenary system solves several pvp queueing problems, it does so by discarding faction identity. Given that faction conflict is a basic part of this game, this is a huge change. And predictably, it's one that a lot of people are unhappy with. (Although there are plenty of pvpers who don't care about faction and are happy with the change.)

Seriously? Faction identity is so important to you that you'd rather have half hour wait times when you cue for pvp? For me, a bigger issue is the complete destruction of certain soul mechanics that actually made me viable as a dps pvper.

I was one of the few people (apparently) who actually used Archmage to decent effect. I was a 51 Pyromancer/15 Archmage/0 Archon who relied somewhat heavily on the Double Tap ability to help reduce the ridiculous cast times in pvp. 5 points in Double Tap, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, reduced the cast time of a spell to 0 if your spell was interrupted.

Overpowered you might say. Well, first off: I spent 15 soul points to get it, and had to be rank 2 to even buy it. I totally eliminated some actual functionality to get that conditional ability. Second of all: when you're a mage and a warrior decides you're his next target, your life span is about 2-3 seconds after that. If it's a rogue making that decision, add another couple seconds to that, maybe. Finally: when you take into account that most everyone you'll encounter in pvp is wearing gear with lots of valor on it, even with an instant cast Cinderburst you're not doing as much damage as you'd expect. I've never 1-hit anyone (although I have been 1-hit quite a few times).

It evened the odds slightly, and allowed you to at least contribute before you got utterly destroyed. And when you're as soft and squishy as a mage is, you need all the edge you can get.

The attunement version changes all that, and not for the better. If you buy it up to full (and spending a ridiculous amount of planar attunement points in the process), the "equivalent" ability reduces your cast time by 20% if you get interrupted. So, you can get interrupted and quite literally never get a spell off. Warrior/rogue gets Favor and experience, and you get to wait a few seconds to respawn so you can go get humiliated again. Yep, totally fair.

Mages have literally been reduced to support/harassment roles in pvp. They're little more than speed-bumps now.

[Soularis75]

Through these past months I have been off and on. Yet I still return to Telara, why? Because this game actually give you something to look forward too. Something new and fresh is always great for players all over. I just wanted to thank you for giving me this opportunity to witness Rift first hand. I cannot wait to see what new content you all bring up. This will be my longest journey yet within a MMO. Once again... Thank you Trion!!!

[Ealdaien]

Rift is a great game to play and the people is what makes the game for me. I just wish Trion would promote the game more and open up moore shards instead of closing them. Other then that the game is fantastic and worth evey peny.
Keep up the good work guys

[Matnose]

well when im on the forums i usually am raged from pvp...i would like to say thank you so far for what you have done it is quite impressive as far as mmo's go..i mean the updates are nize its like u guys at the building are actually working to produce content and not just sitting in the leather chair witha cigar counting the $...my only pet peeve is certain classes are far better then others..please sit down each patch and find out which class is just dwarfing others in dmg... raiding gets dull when every rogue is required to be marksman ranger...but ya thanks allot please balance pvp more... less pvp content more balancing...other then that i think the gaps are closing with every patch but please look at classes that are massively underplayed and..or state why at 50...in other words i some how picture certain people are assigned certain classes to try and balance at trion...but it seems some of the classes just get neglected clearly..my soul barely gets changed in updates and noone uses it

[Matnose]

Seriously? Faction identity is so important to you that you'd rather have half hour wait times when you cue for pvp? For me, a bigger issue is the complete destruction of certain soul mechanics that actually made me viable as a dps pvper.

I was one of the few people (apparently) who actually used Archmage to decent effect. I was a 51 Pyromancer/15 Archmage/0 Archon who relied somewhat heavily on the Double Tap ability to help reduce the ridiculous cast times in pvp. 5 points in Double Tap, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, reduced the cast time of a spell to 0 if your spell was interrupted.

Overpowered you might say. Well, first off: I spent 15 soul points to get it, and had to be rank 2 to even buy it. I totally eliminated some actual functionality to get that conditional ability. Second of all: when you're a mage and a warrior decides you're his next target, your life span is about 2-3 seconds after that. If it's a rogue making that decision, add another couple seconds to that, maybe. Finally: when you take into account that most everyone you'll encounter in pvp is wearing gear with lots of valor on it, even with an instant cast Cinderburst you're not doing as much damage as you'd expect. I've never 1-hit anyone (although I have been 1-hit quite a few times).

It evened the odds slightly, and allowed you to at least contribute before you got utterly destroyed. And when you're as soft and squishy as a mage is, you need all the edge you can get.

The attunement version changes all that, and not for the better. If you buy it up to full (and spending a ridiculous amount of planar attunement points in the process), the "equivalent" ability reduces your cast time by 20% if you get interrupted. So, you can get interrupted and quite literally never get a spell off. Warrior/rogue gets Favor and experience, and you get to wait a few seconds to respawn so you can go get humiliated again. Yep, totally fair.

Mages have literally been reduced to support/harassment roles in pvp. They're little more than speed-bumps now.

they need a check box to choose if u want to act as mercennary cause personally ide rather not play with the guards..i do stuff while i wait for q's ...which ive always found arent that long...should be an option not mandatory..also dont feel so bad about mage i swear sabateur rogues and a few other random rogues i kill are wearing the gear thats lower then cloth..ultra cloth or something...as sab ive been hit in 1200valor for 3.5k in single instant cast

[Rymer]

Seriously? Faction identity is so important to you that you'd rather have half hour wait times when you cue for pvp? ...

There are many long replies to this, but the short one is... If few people care about faction identity, then few people would opt, and hence there would no significant impact on queue. And if enough people did care about it to opt out, then that would demonstrate that it was an unwanted change. But either way you cut it, the folks who value short queues over faction identity would get in fastest.

As for "many long replies", I recently did a review on the topics and replies from Trion...

We're almost done with our 3rd week of 1.7, and thus merc battlefronts. I thought I would go back and get a feel for the number of topics on the issue. I did a keywords search on "mercenary" and then picked the topics where the topic was about mercenaries (pro, con). This isn't meant to be a perfect list, but to give a reasonable idea of the level of discussion.

With list below, I get 38 topics, 256 page of discussion.

And of course, there's the number of responses from Trion: 0


List of topics preceded by number of pages in the topic (which for me is a 10 responses per page). Listed in search order result - i.e. by date of most recent reply).
10 Let us choose whether or not to queue as a merc
03 Amazing ! I love it Trion !
06 Mercenary System: love it, keep it
02 Request: Can Merc be a choice instead of forced?
04 Please increase the minimum player cap before a WF queue pops
01 PVP, since the creation of Mercenary. and some other things.
52 Mercenaries kind of suck...
13 Mercenary System: wtb a way to disable it
09 Mercenaries
05 Mercenaries
05 Why Mercenaries aint good.
11 Defiant Mercs tried to lose WFs on purpose
01 Need to be able to Opt-Out of Mercenary
08 I will AFK every single game that you make me play for the other team.
15 Don't want to play on the opposite team
13 [Exploit/Griefing] The Mercenary System major issues.
08 Thanks for the Merc System
01 merc system: Pass or Fail ?
06 Why Mercenary Fails : I will not kill my brothers.
13 The Mercenary mechanic destroys team spirit and should be removed
05 Mercenary system should NOT be opt out
02 Change "Mercenary" to "Twisted"
01 I HATE the mercenary system
01 The Mercing system, how about a compromise.
13 WARFRONTS - MERCENARIES, dont cry against this, seriously.
01 Slave Soldiers
05 Listen to your community and make mercenary optional on queue.
05 Mercenary: lol + lol = wee!!
01 About Mercs...
11 Mercenary System: How will this work? whats your opinion on it?
01 RP Solution to Mercenary: Allow Teammates to view me as a race from their faction
01 Trion, Mercenary Warfronts are the Best Feature You've Added Yet
01 Trion, please keep the mercenary system the way it is.
07 'Mercenary Mode' = Worst Concept EVER
01 Merc problem solved
01 Ups and downs in Warfront
02 HELPING HATED OPPONENT WIN ??? Mercenary :-/
11 No Option for Mercenary?

The relevant point here: Scott's post is "recent changes and looking forward". You would think that part of the point of such a post is to get feedback from the community. And, consequently, you would think that with the amount of negative feedback on the mercenary system, Trion would have something to say (preferably an effort to resolve the issue, but at the very least a post on why it "really, really has to be this way, even if we lose customers over it").

But instead, what we're hearing is... Nothing.

[austlander]

Can't believe it has been almost a full year already.

A couple of my favorite things about Rift are that Trion truly includes its customers in the game development process and that I have always felt I have gotten my money's worth. Thanks for a great game, and now... to the planes!!

[Birds of Fire]

I have said this before. I will say it again. DO NOT CHANGE THE FUNDAMENTAL MECHANISMS FOR HOW MY CHARACTERS WORK. I quit playing WoW because I grew tired of having to re-learn my own characters every 6 months. My characters in RIFT have worked the same for a solid year. THANK YOU! I am a casual player. I don't play every day. BUT I PAY MY MONTHLY FEES EVERY MONTH JUST THE SAME AS IF I DID. There are lots of us, way more of us, in fact than there are "serious gamers" in this world. DON'T FORGET US, AND WE WON'T FORGET YOU.

Everquest is history. Soon, WoW will be history. Why? Because they decided to "fix" what they thought were "fundamental defects" in how the characters worked. There are no perfect characters, just like there are no perfect real people. Everyone could be better. Let me learn to play the game as written. Don't worry if it takes me a couple more years. I will get there.

In the meantime, if some hotshot wants you to totally revamp how the characters work, tell him to raise his own capital, get his own servers, and write his own game. This game is called RIFT, not "Johnny always wins". If Johnny wants a game called "Johnny always wins" and the players work exactly the way that Johnny wants them to, then he should put up the money and write his own game.

I am satisfied with playing RIFT exactly as it is. Add more adventures? Sure. Add inventive challenges? Yep. Change how my character works to address those challenges? DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! Learning to optimize my character to overcome the obstacle that you have put it its way is the whole point of playing a GAME. This isn't real life. It's an entertaining fiction. Let it be so.

[Birds of Fire]

The guy who complained that you changed how his souls worked is 100% correct. Listen to him. Put his sould back to the way that it worked in the first place. His Double Tap effect was useful to him. He is almost certainly NOT the only player who used this and is almost certainly NOT the only person who wants it back. Restore that person's character to their original state and MAKE IT WORK LIKE IT DID IN THE BEGINNING. He learned to love that effect and spell. He learned to love his character because he had learned how to use that effect. Now, his love is gone and his character has been RUINED. LET THAT GUY LOVE HIS CHARACTER AGAIN.

[Doomgoat]

Only started playing this game like 2 days ago but I already like it keep them updates and new features coming

[the_real_seebs]

The guy who complained that you changed how his souls worked is 100% correct. Listen to him. Put his sould back to the way that it worked in the first place. His Double Tap effect was useful to him. He is almost certainly NOT the only player who used this and is almost certainly NOT the only person who wants it back. Restore that person's character to their original state and MAKE IT WORK LIKE IT DID IN THE BEGINNING. He learned to love that effect and spell. He learned to love his character because he had learned how to use that effect. Now, his love is gone and his character has been RUINED. LET THAT GUY LOVE HIS CHARACTER AGAIN.

If you're talking about the recasting channelled spells to get a big damage burst, that was a bug/exploit, and the way it worked in the beginning was bad for the game.