No, that’s not an accidental typo. The English prefix “em,” along with it’s sister “en,” means “to make into.” So, empower is to make something with power. Subsequently “emmobilized” would mean to “to get people in action for action, like war.” In Rift, every time a rift event drops, the players around mobilize. In a zone-wide invasion event, it seems sometimes that the whole zone answers the call to repel the planar intruders. Except, “emmobilize” is not a word.  “Immobilize” is. In much of my time in Rift’s Head Start, I have felt immobilized despite all internal intentions to the contrary. I have hope that soon the clouds will clear.
There are two reasons that I feel this anti-movement energy within Rift. The first is server queues. It seemed that Trion Worlds forgot to rename launch servers from beta servers, so 5 NA servers have 2 hour queues because everybody wants to play with their guild and friends and 20 NA servers have zero-to-no waiting time. I went to the PvE-RP server, Faeblight, with a 2 hour primetime queue because there is a huge amount of people I want to play with and against. I have started hedging my bet with a Defiant character on the refugee server Estrael, along with Ethic and many other Faeblight exiles.
Rationally, I know that in a week or so, Faeblight will not have a queue. However, emotionally I am not happy with Trion Worlds. First, why didn’t they rename the servers? That would have spread more of the beta community’s population. Second, I am pretty sure the servers are not on “full.” In the queue, only 1-3 people drop per minute. In comparison to the other queues I have been in for other MMOs, that seems abysmally low. Perhaps it’s because so much of the population is congested in the opening zones. It still tugs my hearts strings in that wrong way. So, I feel immobilized. I want to sign on and be with my chosen guild and chosen character on Faeblight right now. Instead, I get second best if I want to play, I guess.
The second reason is in-game. Players will always wonder whether it is worth the time to run or gallop to a nearby rift. Once the rift event starts, the closest players respond very quickly. This speeds up the clock for that rift to close. Players within a minute ride have to determine, based mostly on gut feel, whether to risk stopping whatever action they are doing to check out the rift because there is a good chance that the rift will have closed by the time the player gets there. This also applies to invasion event bosses that are half a zone away.
Many, many players shelled out for the Collector’s Edition (digital or box), which gives the Ancient Tartagon mount for as soon as players are able to hit up a mailbox. This happens around levels 6-7. I did not pay the $10 to get a free mount and some other crap so I had to get my first mount the hard way. Without shoes and in the snow, I trudged to 250 gold to buy something that is a cross between a llama, a cow, and a wombat. Without grinding mobs, using the auction house, or spending more than 5 gold (to be able to warp “home”), it took me until level 15 to get my first mount.
The sour-grapes part was that for 8 levels before I could afford to buy my mount (and the wankers had their’s), I had to use my bipedal-mode of transportation to get to events while all the people with their mutant turtles got there 60% faster. So while these spoiled players were able to get to the events more quickly, I had to decide whether I wanted to run along on foot. This is coupled with the fact that it is very, very difficult to run through a mob-filled area without getting aggro. Obviously being able to move 60% faster improves the chance of taking the shortcut through the mob woods and surviving.
I have to applaud Trion Worlds’ decision to allow mounts at any level, but it definitely created a have’s and have not’s split for much of the first zone that strongly affected how the game could be played. Broke but with my new llowmbat mount, I should no longer have this problem. And, now I can make myself feel special that I get to ride some weird amalgamation of Earth animals instead of an inbred, overgrown turtle. Hopefully most sane players won’t even notice this caste-like discrepancy.
That is not to say that when I do get in my server, and when I can mobilize with all my Guardian compatriots to defend our realm, I am not having an absolute blast. I am just getting to the point where I am messing around with roles, builds, and additional souls, and I am nearing the point for my first dungeon, The Realm of the Fae. Honestly, as these are my biggest complaints, the game is getting high marks. I just have to remember to start signing on about 2 hours before I intend to play, and then go chill with the family.
–Ravious
I have still not settled on a server as I keep hoping Faeblight will magically lose the queue (or Trion smartly clones it to another server) and I can start playing with my chosen server-mates. Each day I see the 2 hour queue is making me that much closer to quitting Faeblight for good.
Luckily the time spent goofing around on low pop servers is giving me time to try other class combos.
I rolled a Defiant on Estrael last night as well… no reason to play both sides on Faeblight given the server population. Maybe I’ll see you guys there! :)
I have not played RIFT – I just came on to congratulate you on your new word.
On Cloudborne (EU) it also seems that 80% of population got CE. I’m seeing mostly turtles even in Scarlet Gorge, so people must like them… Or they’re just greedy :3
But honestly, I got tired of that monstrous turtle by level 20. As soon as I got my 2,5 plat, I got myself an awesome Guardian Rhinoceros (don’t remember what’s it called).
The queue has made playing as a guild tough, but not anything unexpected really. That the server works 99% of the time is itself pretty amazing really.
Next week the queue will be forgotten, and the first zone will be played ‘as intended’ rather than what it is now (which is still a ton of fun, just different)
I’m on Faeblight. Becasue I play GMT hours I only have a queue from about mid-evening. I have to say that Faeblight is packed all day. Heaven knows what will happen tomorrow – the game hasn’t actually launched yet!
I can’t stand the turtles. I wouldn’t ride on even if i had one. I saved up for my wombat-cow, which I love. I enjoyed saving for it and I felt that when I got it was just about right. I still think Trion were right to begin with, when mounts required level 20 to ride. I felt, and feel, that there is a natural point in the mid-teens when you notice that movement is becoming too slow, and that the imminence (mot emminence :) ) of your mount at 20th is a real goal to which you can aspire.
As for getting to Rifts at low levels in Silverwood, at the moment, with populations so high, you can pretty much stand in North Argent Glade all day long and have invasions come to you, and you can see about four or five rifts permanently spawning from the perimiter of Glade/College. I had absolutely no problems getting more Rift action than I could handle while on foot. If there was a problem it was too many rifts, often opening right on top of me.
IN gloamwood it’s a very different story. At the moment you can have all the rifts you want and have them to yourself. I’ve been there all day today and so far we have lost every zone event by a wide margin. Most people aren’t even attempting to deal with the rifts there as far as I can see. Personally, I’ve been farming wool for about 6 hours, so I haven’t helped much.
Huhnhuhhuh… you said “wombat-cow”
Rolled a Guardian cleric named Agmund on faeblight and am very much so looking forward to lighter queues. I completely agree with the turtle mounts issue though I have to say it removes alot of incentive for the crazy people who would normally buy plat from a gold farmer.
I dont think renaming the servers would have made a difference. Yeah guilds were in beta on the server with the same name. However they were there because of the server type. My guild for instance wanted a RPPVE server. With only 1 server to choose from, at launch it wouldnt have matterd if it was named DontRollThisServer.
The ONLY thing that will help this issue is to offer free transfers to lower pop servers. Then the guild can make the call to move servers and that will free it up.
The main thing I think they messed up on was the fact that they probably didnt correctly analyze the appeal of a RP Server. Launching with only 1 RP PVP and 1 RP PVE was a mistake..
The issue about not renaming the servers is an extremely good one. It was obvious prior to headstart that if you completely rename them (as I think Trion were claiming they were going to) it would allow people to spread out across the servers a lot more normally. It is unfortunate that they didn’t, because everyone stayed on the original beta server that they’d been playing on.
Regarding queues on high-pop servers, I very much wish that they would just offer free transfers to other servers. I know that that would have a high admin cost, but surely not as high a cost as pissing off so many people?
I agree Ravven, at this point their best option seems to be offering up free transfers, although it may take them a while to get the infrastructure in place to do so.
I think it’s a short-sighted choice to go to a low population server at this time.
Personally, I would rather experience a temporary queue (that will completely disappear in a week or two) as opposed to setting up shop on a low population server away from my friends / guildies.
Is the urge to ‘progress and achieve’ so potent that is overrides the social bonds we supposedly value? Or maybe it’s those very social forces that makes us feel ostracized and impotent when we are sitting in queue while others are playing.
Don’t let the game get in the way of the game.
The queue is an illusion.
The cake is real.
Sure, but one has to also consider the balance of time. I sometimes can plan two hours ahead to know when I will have free time. Some people have the luxury of being able to sit there for two hours because it’s a small chunk of their daily game time. For some people, they get 1/2 hour to play, which might come… now, oh my god start the client!
That is how things work for me, when I get time, I play. If there is a 2 hour queue I cannot play. I am not going to log in for the chance I may play later, that just clogs the queue for people that are. I need to be able to get in with 5 or 10 minutes or I will do something else. I rarely play for more than an hour at a time.
I totally get that, I do. However, I just can’t reconcile how early adopters experiencing some ‘early adopter’ symptoms (queue) can’t be more zen about the affair – present company excluded.
It’s my own insecurities that register something totally reasonable like, “I’m going to roll on another server to avoid a queue,” as passive aggressive.
My reptilian adolescent id recalls a charismatic bully that, upon not being included in an activity would declare said activity lame and start another game elsewhere, drawing everyone to him.
What was the number to my therapist …. :P
Cheers. Hope it all sorts itself out soon.
To me, being zen about the whole thing is to do what I do. I encounter a wall so I find another path. No stress I just go play my game.
I try the old path again next time and see a wall once more. Eventually I stop trying that path and follow the one I have traveled more frequently for good.
I do not expect anyone else to follow me, they can stand at the wall and wait for it to let them pass. I only lament their loss for not being on the same path as me any more.
If I get word that the wall has fallen, I may try that path once more in hopes of finding old friends, or my time invested down the new path may keep me it.
flow like leaf in river
around stones of server queue
Rift is the first game I have bought the collectors addition. $10 extra for every character I ever make to start with a mount and 4 extra bag slots was too enticing.
Queues would not have been a problem if they has just looked at their pre-order numbers better and started with more server on the announced list that guilds had to plan with.
I echo Bhagpuss, I’m only encountering queues in Faeblight from the mid-afternoon on. Before that it’s instant logging. Which of course makes a lot of sense.
Tomorrow and the next few days will be pandemonium again, but eventually it will settle.
The mount really doesn’t help that much for getting through a mob-filled area. Chance of dismount per hit is something like 2/3, so pulling one mob usually puts you on foot.
The queues will settle. It was crazy mayhem (2000+ queue, 5-6 hour wait time) on the first day on Wolfsbane, but they’ve diminished to the point where I only had a 1-2 hour wait on American peak time at night (+ Oceanic weekend morning, which is usually the most crowded time ever.)
And I’ve been managing to log in on Oceanic nights with zero queue, nyah ha ha. :)
The fun thing about being zen and taking it slowly is the rest of the headstart crowd has rushed right by. They’re all in the 20s-40s pushing and shoving, whereas Freemarch has cleared to a more excitingly playable point.
I’ve managed a few solo rift rounds/wardstone defeats (with NPC help) and small groups of 3-5 rift closures. There are actually objects that spawn with rifts that provide buffs and NPC allies – it’s a different dynamic from the zerg onrush when too many people swamp a rift. And those still happen when the zone invasion events start. Best of both worlds.