Hello Everyone, I Just Bought Rift...

[Mortaegus]

...and I was wondering if there was anything I should know before getting into the game. Forced to wait while it patches something massive, so I've a few hours with little to do but twiddle my thumbs in anticipation. This is sorta my first foray into MMO games and I picked rift as the one to go with because of the generally positive reviews and the low up-front cost, since there are not bunches of expansions to buy to get into the game.

I like the look of all of the class trees, and I think my first character will be a mage, maybe a necromancer, since I like the idea of having a pet to tank damage if I can't find people to party with. But the soul system is sort of confusing to me, and looking at it from outside the game might be the problem, but then again maybe not. Are there any guides on how to choose your souls to work well with each other? And any general gameplay guides you would recommend?

Any tips or hints you would grant to a new player who is also new to MMO's?

Thanks,

Mortaegus

[Feid]

Tis a fun game. versatile class system. pick one of the higher pop shards thoe wolfs/dayblind defaints outnumber guardians preatty much across the board.

[Jarlyn]

If this is your first mmo youll have a blast. Just be patient cause the low lvls are kind of a grind atm. You can harvest and then craft your own gear which is nice. I came from eq2 so the dungeon finder is kinda new to me but i love it. Use the forums to look up guides on different classes. Since this is your first mmo you kinda just gotta find your niche when in comes to classes whether you want to tank dps or heal. The game is fun but watch the forums There are trolls in every mmo that are never happy so they spend there day posting propaganda about everything they dont like. This is a great game and i hope you stick with it cause it can be a blast.

[Akhet]

The first response to your thread shows you one thing that you'll encounter in MMOs, terrible people. Disregard them with your handy ignore button and carry on.

For mage things, try checking out the Mage guide Compendium and the Mage Forums.

It's kind of hard to try and tell you everything about MMOs. I guess just don't be afraid of dying. And having to try things again, potentially in a different way.

Also be ready for sporadic hotfixes when the game will be down, they usually happen in the morning and the developers often post about it the day before.

This forum may also be of interest to you if you enjoy fluff items and achievements.

[Forbin]

Assuming you are US and want a PvE server, roll on Wolfsbane. Alternately you could pick the RP server Faeblight. They have the largest guild in the game and could be a good source of friends and information. Faeblight is also an RP server and the people there are generally friendlier (not that the other servers are really that bad).

[the_real_seebs]

I guess the big thing: Be a little relaxed about what you're doing. Be ready to be interrupted and to find that your planned activities are being replaced by something that's happening instead. Roll with it.

That seems to mostly do it for me.

[Archemys]

Hey, welcome to Rift : D

If you're new to MMO's I'd suggest taking it easy and getting a feel for the game yourself first. GL HF.

[Mortaegus]

Thanks for the advice and comments.

@Forbin
Why wolfsbane/faeblight? Are they higher population? More active players?

@Akhet,
Thanks for the link, it eventually led me to a site called the soul tree calculator, which is a good way to sink the next few hours. Seems a little too heavily metagaming, but I like it a lot. Currently examining the popular builds, seeing what works for other people.

[Forbin]

Thanks for the advice and comments.

@Forbin
Why wolfsbane/faeblight? Are they higher population? More active players?

Wolfsbane is the most populated server, and faeblight has (imo) an awesome community and is decently populated. If you dont like your server Rift does allow you to change though.

Rift is a very top heavy game (its been out almost a year after all) so those two servers will probably have the most people in the low/mid levels.

[Akhet]

Soul Tree calculators are fun, forgot about that. I should have posted it, heh.

Wolfsbane is the highest population shard currently. Faeblight is the home of what could be the largest Rift guild that there is, called Gaiscioch.

Of course that's all assuming you're the type that prefers lots of people. If you want a pleasant shard that isn't busting at the seams, you can also check out Gnarlwood, Laethys, Greybriar and Keenblade.

[Khelendross]

Hi and welcome.

Laethys is one I recommend since its Oceanic, which means people from down under (Australia, New Zealand) play. Which tends to mean that its always at least at medium population. Which means regardless of when you can find time to play, there are people around.

Be aware that a fairly large portion of the game is 50 now, and due to the huge flexibility of the soul system, roles, and respecs. There may not be many people running around in the low level zones since you don't need to roll a new character every time. This is both good and bad as you will see.

Mage is a hugely versatile class. Necromancer is great. Elementalist is also extremely good at soloing. Warlock and Chloromancer pair very well with Necromancer. Stormcaller pairs well with Elementalist.

When level its most fun to try and do as many things as possible. Do some pvp (warfronts) do some quests and do some rifts. There is a world event going on right now so do those dailies and rifts/invasions as well. If you can find people dungeons are terrific fun and great exp. Rift has one of the best dungeon design teams of any MMO. You are new to MMO's so this will be easier for you than for people coming from other MMO's but I'll tell you this anyways, be careful how many enemies you approach. You will get a feel for aggro radius quickly but Rift has a dense population of enemies and you can very quickly find yourself overwhelmed. So be careful. The death penalty is light, so its not a huge deal. But death can be frustrating.

Have fun, and best of luck.

[Acesfool]

I agree with Khelendros. There is a lot to experience as you level up. Try it all. Don't worry about completing all quests. But try to do the Saga chain as you level.

Overall my opinion of Rift is that there's nothing really mind blowing about it. But it's fun and entertaining. Like most MMOs it's what you make of it.

[Jeanette]

Things to keep in mind. The newcomer forum is full of various bits of good information, the general forum is, in general, more of a complaint forum with some tips scattered throughout. One major difference between this game and most others, you will NOT need to re-roll your toon if you feel you have made bad choices in your soul selection. You will gain 3 souls free before you leave the tutorial area, and you can also, with 20g, be able to purchase more of your souls from the class trainer, even while in the tutorial zone. You will have up to 8 souls you can select from, not including a pvp soul purchased only from a pvp merchant. I'd suggest that you just check out the forums, both newcomer and mage specific, for good tips.

[wowsucks]

I love Rift so WELCOME. I come from WOW and LOTRO. I am in love with Rift. My main is a mage. I run necro/lock (great lvling, not pvp) and chloro/lock(fun pvp). I also have a Rogue i love(ranged weapons is fun to me).

I am in the guiild Carnage on the Freeholme server and this server is really fun and the guild is extremely helpful. So good luck in Rift and hope to see you in game!