All on their own, without the developers, players of RIFT have taken the revival of their MMORPG into their own hands, and now it is clear how well that has worked.
What kind of action is this? A few weeks ago, veterans from RIFT came together to save their MMORPG on their own. The title has not been among the big games on the market for years, but it has a small core community that is still active.
For their plan, they launched the project “RIFT – Fresh Reroll Event”. The goal of the project was to unite newcomers and veterans on a Discord server and start in the MMORPG at the same time.
A guild was to be formed where players could exchange ideas, get help, and complete dungeons and raids together. Now, 10 days have passed since the event, and it is clear whether it was a success.
Here you can see a trailer for RIFT:
Successful event, but
How did the event go? Video game journalist Justin Olivetti covered the event for massivelyop.com and has now shared his experiences. While one could only see a small spike in player numbers on SteamDB, many players likely also start via the in-house launcher.
At the start time, everything was a bit chaotic, the journalist says. Sooner or later, however, he did join the guild, which quickly filled up. The chat, achievements, and level-ups of the guild members felt to him just as they would in a new MMORPG.
Olivetti notes that RIFT showed its best side. He states: “RIFT impresses me as always as a very polished and accessible MMORPG. It functions as a game. The movements, controls, user interface, sounds, systems, extras, pace, souls, builds… everything works, and almost anyone can quickly grasp the basics and have fun.”
Was it a success? That depends on the goals. The RIFT event did not manage to revive the MMORPG. Too few players were able to get re-excited. However, for those who participated, it was still a success.
Players were able to explore the MMORPG together with other newcomers, received help from the veterans, and could also complete the dungeons and raids in a good environment without pressure. For these people, it certainly is a success and perhaps even the only way to regain the feeling of a fresh start in RIFT.
RIFT was once one of the “WoW-killers” that sprouted up from the late 00s to the mid-10s. The market situation looks very different today and the development is not only positive: New RPG hit from China shows what the MMORPGs of the future could look like – Our expert shudders at the thought
