Friday, February 11, 2011

Rift: Not Enough Chatter

It did not take long. I truly tried my best to avoid all discussion of Rift. Blogs could not sway me. Forums could not irk me.

Then the magic happened.

"Just before Beta 6, we made an anti griefing change that prevented enemy wardstones at hubs and towns from being destroyed by the opposing faction, and significantly boosted guard strength around PvE hubs. We’re pretty happy with how that worked out on the PvE servers...


In time for Open Beta, we’ve developed the ability to repeal those changes on the PvP servers only, to see if they can remain playable without it. Ideally, it’s our hope that there’s gameplay value in having people being able to band together to attack and defend those areas on PvP servers.  "

Scott Hartsman - Post Beta 6 - On Rifts, Raids, PvP, and Damage…

So, with a single move, Trion does something most developers do not want to do. Cater to more than one type of player.

We have seen the promises before of Developers who say they "want" to listen to the player.  They constantly look for feedback, yet how often does that feedback become an implementation. Why is it so many devs make changes that make you shake your head and wonder why?

It was a concern last beta, when these anti-grief changes were done, and then were carried over to PvP servers. The yells of "PvE players are killing our PvP" were shouted on the forums...and at the same time the PvE bunch were all "You got PvP in my PvE" and were crying over this issue, which caused this change to take place.

What is a dev to do? Usually the easy way out. Change the major core and cater to that "casual" crowd as so often happens as of late.

Not this time.

So, for those who continue to worry about Rift, because it is the same? Or is it becoming too easy? Is it catering to that one audience all game devs want...

For once, we may have a company who puts their customer first.

Cheers to Trion...

Oh, and ,my comment ban is removed. Trion and Rift deserve the discussion.

2 comments:

Grimnir said...

I would crap my pants if they went this direction full steam ahead in the future as a major difference on PvE and PvP servers. Maybe skewing more of the end game towards PvP gear on the PvP servers and vice versa so players aren't cornered into one playstyle or another to compete in the manner they enjoy the most. It's one change during a beta phase of an unreleased game, but it's not one we see often. Keep going Trion... doooo eeeeet.

Unknown said...

Yeah this was pretty mind blowing - a fair game change made in a timely matter to address player backlash. Now I hope there is some 10 man content added because 25man raids should be the exception rather then the rule, the peak of epic only, not the only raid available.