Rift Server Choices

I got asked today which server I'm going to be playing on when Rift arrives.  I did decide to go with my gut and roll Guardian on the more familiar PVE ruleset.  I liked the Guardian lore and feel better than the Defiant side, and I've never been that fond of open PVP.

Guardian Side
My current plan is to join Ferrel and Massively's Karen Bryan on Byriel, a US PVE server.  (Their group had previously been looking at Belmont, but I'm glad they switched - being on the first server in the alphabetical sort can end poorly.) Pahonix and The Grubs guild are also rolling on Byriel. 

The US-RP server Faeblight seems to be a choice destination for Guardians and Defiants alike.  To my knowledge, the Guardian contingent includes Syp and Pete from Dragonchasers.  I'm neither for nor against the RP ruleset per se, but I don't want to be told that my server needs to be merged due to underpopulation but can't be merged due to the ruleset.

(This concern results from a bad experience with underpopulation on EQ2's LDL server, which lived on for months after it had become uninhabitable because there was no RP server with room to take us.  SOE finally gave up and merged it with a regular PVE server this month.  The "good" news for Faeblight is that so many people are heading there that it looks more likely to become overcrowded than underpopulated.  I've also heard a rumor that it's one of the unofficial Penny Arcade servers.)

Finally, if you're in the market for Guardian RP-PVP, Keen and Graav are taking their folks to the Guardian side of Sunrest (the US RP-PVP server).  I know they've had good success with their WoW guild, so this alone could be

Defiant Side
I know lots of people who have said that they plan to roll Defiant, but relatively few who have picked specific servers.  Here's what I know so far:

• Counter-balancing the Guardians of Faeblight, a group of people including Ardent Defender, MMO Gamer Chick, and Magson are rolling Defiant on that server, as part of a guild run by Multiplaying.net.
• Pete says he's putting some Defiant alts on Shadefallen (the other US-RP server).  
• The guys at Rift Watchers are setting up a Defiant guild on Sunrest, the US RP-PVP server.

I'll probably roll up a Defiant alt eventually, if just to see some of the content, so I'll definitely be interested to see where my readers are playing.

Anyway, that's where I stand for now.  I will keep this updated and/or tweet tomorrow if/when I get settled in.  Also, feel free to leave a comment with your server, faction, and blog/guild if you'd like to be added to the above list.

P.S. If you're looking for unofficial oceanic servers, Buboe says you're looking for Wolfsbane (PVE), Briarcliff (PVP), or the ever popular Faeblight (RP).  

Class Selection By Role Subtraction

Like Spinks, I'm pondering what I'm going to do about a main character when Rift's headstart kicks off this week.   Historically, I've done pretty poorly in guesstimating which classes I will prefer in a new MMO.  That said, I'm writing down my Rift open beta class thoughts anyway so I can see how they compare to what I actually end up playing.

The Two Honorable Mentions
A quirk to today's flexible class systems is that in some ways you're choosing based on what you don't want to play (or at least are willing to forego) as by what you like.  For example:

• Rift's warriors do some interesting things.  In a few examples, there is the anti-magic specialist Void Knight, the DPS Beastmaster with its off-tanking pet cat, or the highly mobile ranged elemental attacking Riftblade.  That said, warriors can't heal others and offer only limited support/utility.  If you're not looking to tank, you're just another DPS.  That's a bit of a liability in a game where you're probably going to run into open rift groups that have someone tanking but are struggling for heals. 
  
• Ranged DPS pet classes always have an easy time leveling since they have a tanking pet they can hide behind.  Rift makes this even easier for the appropriate combinations (Rogues who take Ranger and Bard, Mages who take Chloromancer and either Necromancer or Elementalist) because these archetypes offer passive DPS smart healing.  You won't have to watch your pet's health, because you'll be topping it off automatically as you nuke, and you won't need to worry about aggro too much since your DPS will usually be slightly lower to account for the healing output.  No thanks.

There are some interesting options elsewhere in the mage tree - for instance, both the Dominator (a CC specialist) and the Archon (buff/debuff specialist) have some interesting tricks, and even the Elementalist does a decent job of providing the player with offensive spells so that you're not left feeling like you're some NPC pet's sidekick.  Even so, mages can't melee (or tank) at all, and I hear underwhelming reviews of their damage potential, so I think I'll save that one for a future alt.

The Top Contenders
So, I'm left with the Rogue and the Cleric.

Rogues do a bit of everything.  Beyond the smart-healing bard (which might be very useful in public rift groups, where you can't be sure who will have aggro or who else will be trying to heal them), I find the Riftstalker tanking soul intriguing.  Riftstalkers can turn their combo points into damage shields for extra durability and healing.  The other soul that stood out for me was the trap-based Saboteur.  If you're going to be tanking the mobs yourself anyway (which everyone does while solo), dropping traps at your feet seems like a good way to increase your AOE damage.  Also, throwing half a dozen explosive charges at a mob and then detonating them all at once is one of the more amusing combo mechanics in the game. 

Priests also do a bit of everything, but with a major in healing and a minor in off-tanking (rather than the other way around).  The Justicar off-tanking soul does some passive self healing powered by life elemental attacks, including life spells you get from other souls (such as the healing/nuking Sentinel or Purifier).  Melee priests seem to like the elemental attacks of the Shaman, but I found that I was getting by alright with the Druid occupying the third slot with a mix of melee, ranged, healing, and a support-based pet. 

In the end, I think I'm going to go with the Cleric to start with.  My favorite race, the high elves, comes with a minor bonus to the priest primary stat.  I'd like enough tank-ability to solo, but I'm more interested in healing than tanking in a group setting, and the Clerics definitely offer more options in that department (even if fewer involve smart healing).  The thing that's surprising about this decision process is that it's almost entirely driven by what I'm less interested in doing than by what I'm actively looking for. 

Now watch me end up switching to a warrior in the first week, just because I said I wasn't that interested.  :)

What Difference A Respec?

I've spent the Rift open beta weekend finally doing some testing to see what I'd like to roll up when the retail servers arrive.  The exercise has left me simultaneously impressed and concerned about the variety of the soul system.

Right Souls, Wrong Time
I was curious to try then caster clerics, and a post by Ravious at Kill Ten Rats suggested that I pick up Inquisitor, Cabalist, and a misc healing soul. 

So there I was, at level 4, with 3 points in Inq and 2 points in Cab.  My spell list consisted of a nuke, an AOE nuke, two dots, and a channeled spell that is nigh useless solo because you lose volleys whenever you get hit.  I could manage one mob, but aggroing a second mob pretty much meant my immediate demise. 

Then I hit level 5 (gaining a point), picked up the Sentinel soul, and went to the trainer to respec.  When the dust settled, I had four points in Sentinel and 2 points in Inq.  The character lost the channeled spell, but picked up another nuke with a 30% snare, an instant heal, an instant damage attack, and an endurance buff. Suddenly, a single mob was easy, and even a second mob started to become manageable by applying dots and healing.  It was like getting an entirely new character in a single level up. 

Know your roles?
The soul system does look like it's going to be a lot of fun to play with; no matter how badly you bungle your character initially, there's probably going to be some combination that's actually usable.  Every single level potentially opens a previously impossible combination of abilities, especially as players get a larger pool of souls to choose from. 

That said, first impressions in this system can be challenging, and the learning curve is a potential issue.  Based on my first attempt ("I'd like to be a caster priest, so I should take both caster priest souls"), I would have concluded that caster priests just aren't very good.  If I'd started with the other build, I might have reached the conclusion that the game is "too easy".  Throw in some of the inevitable balance issues (I think my Riftblade warrior did better ranged DPS than a mage I tried) and it could be a long time before things settle down in Telara.

P.S. One of the more intriguing concepts is the Void Knight - a warrior tanking soul that specializes in destroying anything with a mana bar at the expense of not being able to use most of its abilities if there are no casters around to smite.  This just wouldn't be a viable class in a normal game, but Rift opens up its dual spec option early enough to have highly specialized souls. Again, time will tell whether having this degree of specialization causes problems for PVE (and/or PVP) balance.

Multiple Classes, Fewer Options?

Massively reports that the US version of Runes of Magic will be adding an additional class option to its dual class system in April. 

The present and the possibility
Currently, each character has access to two of the game's eight classes (with a further restriction that two classes are exclusive to each race).  At any given time, one class is your primary and the other is your secondary, providing access to some of its basic skills and a handful of unique "elite" skills that can, in some cases, fundamentally change how the class plays.  For example, my Druid/Rogue learned a primary nuke spell powered by the Rogue's infinitely regenerating energy bar, rather than the druid's standard mana bar, leaving the entire blue bar for self-healing. 

Massively's post repeats a rumor that the new system will actually give the player full or partial use of three classes at once, but the comments suggest a less balance-altering suggestion - apparently some international versions of the game currently allow characters to have ACCESS to three classes, while only permitting the USE of one primary and one secondary class at a time.  (This would explain the odd class-swapping UI - there's no reason why you'd ever want to do without a secondary class once you've earned the ability to use one, but the game makes you select your one and only second class from a pulldown menu when you switch them.)

Implications
The three classes each have their own exp level, so players will have to obtain the exp to level the third class from one to the cap if they want to use it.  The devs are probably figuring on selling more exp potions this way, since that is one of their primary sources of revenue.  Storage could also be an issue for your third set of gear.  On the plus side, you could keep the third class separate for running low level group content, or playing with a static group.

(The most efficient way to level the third class will probably involve using your existing high level classes to grind out some daily quests, and then switching over to your new low level class to turn them in for large exp awards - I was already running low on content in the 30/30 range with two classes, much less three.)

In terms of options, players will be free to take the "optimal" secondary for their preferred role in group content and an additional class for other purposes (e.g. solo or PVP).  Alternately, a player could fit all three holy trinity archetypes on a single character (again, with a potential issue with gear storage). This also insulates you a bit against future nerfs - with six possible pairings, it's almost impossible for all of them to become unplayable.

Butting heads with Rift?
One commenter suggests that this move is intended to combat Rift's more versatile soul system.  I maintain that this change is more about selling more potions, storage, gear, etc than a direct competition.  Though both systems will give any one character access to about a quarter of all possible specs, Rift is designed to allow players to swap on the fly to up to four specs.  ROM still appears to be designed around less frequent changes. 

That said, it will be interesting to see whether the addition of more options leaves one or both games feeling ironically like there is less variety left for future characters, when your first can fill just about any role with an appropriate spec switch.