Who Is Playing Rift?

If there's a free trial I might give it a go.

Not me. Will probably play EQ:Next (whatever it ends up being called). Probably won't have time until it's released.

I'm on, but not played much these past 2 weeks. Any idea what server you'll join?

I wasted too much time being a hardcore WoW player. Telling myself no more MMO's ever again. Only games with pause buttons from now on.

was in the beta, didn't like it, not buying. there was a guild in the beta named "waiting for SWTOR" - my sentiments exactly.

I'm pondering d/l'ing this game now

What's not to like about it? How does it compare to EQ1?

Well i'm playing Rift now. It's very similar to WoW from what I can see. I wish there was more of a necessity to group up for regular leveling and experience, similar to EQ1.

I don't like having every class able to heal/tank/dps .... takes a lot out of the entire RPG experience

but the gameplay is very smooth and overall the graphics are great

Well I'm a level 31 warrior on Greybriar server, Guardian side

So far I think the experience has been rather enjoyable, much more so than my 2 week trial of WoW, which I did not really care for much at all.

Things I like about Rift:

• Ease of play (no apparent bugs, character hardly ever gets stuck) and extremely fast login/logout times
  
• Logical macro system - allows me the ability to manage the endless amount of abilities you gain as you diversify your various talent trees and roles
  
• UI setup - easy to manipulate the UI the way you want to, and no need to save and move around UI files - for example I went from playing on my laptop to a different desktop computer, and all my hotkeys and UI settings were saved on the server-side, so I didn't have to import my UI files (on EQ1 this was a major PITA if you ever switched PCs)
  
• Graphics - the graphics kick ass, especially given my poor system specs, I was surprised that the complex graphics ran so smoothly on my laptop at full resolution
  
• Major invasions/zone-wide raids - this is supposed to be the main change in Rift compared to other MMOs and I was surprised at how smoothly this operates - some people don't like the zerg nature of these major invasions but I like them just fine
  

Things I don't like about Rift:

• A lack of grouping required - I much prefer the harder challenge of leveling wherein a group is almost a must-have. I don't mind soloing but when you are grinding out exp in a group you learn a lot about other classes and you appreciate your gear and experiences more, since earning levels and new gear requires time and patience.
  
• Constant gear upgrades - along the same lines as above, I don't get attached to any of my gear at all, or really prize any of it like I did while leveling up in EQ1. In Rift your gear is only good for 2 levels maybe, and then your next solo quest will give you a new weapon or piece of armor. I much prefer gear that takes serious skill, grouping and strategy to win, even at lower levels. I'm not advocating raid-level stuff either, but at least groupable should be the norm to receive decent gear.
  
• Lack of procs on weapons. One of the main draws in EQ1 was the desire to find rare weapons that proc'd aggro and hate generating spells (for a warrior). In Rift, I haven't seen this yet. Hopefully at higher levels the weapons will do this....hopefully
  

Boring. Cookie-cutter. Run-of-the-mill.

I had high hopes (I don't know why), but I stopped played after 2 weeks. Very disappointing.

Yeah it's not the most exciting MMO, but then again, I've not come across anything that had the draw to it like EQ1 had back in the earlier zerg days of cockblocking and zone crashing due to races.