I’ve been playing Rift for a week now and I have to say it’s one of the better MMO’s that I’ve played in quite awhile.  The PvE is definitely better than anything out there, but I haven’t played around with the PvP much, but I suspect it could be better.  What I wish it had is something more along the PvP “lakes” that Warhammer has in each of its major zones. 

If you’re a PvP player, it is in the game, but you’ll have to go looking for it. Unlike Warhammer, where I was PvP’ing by level 6 or 7, in Rift I’m level 30 and have only seen one opposing character, and he wasn’t even flagged for PvP – so the two factions are quite segregated.  I suspect you have to portal to a PvP zone if that’s what you want to do, but from what I can tell, the PvP has no impact on the gaming world, so why bother?  At least in Warhammer the whole zone/world received some benefit to capturing and holding PvP objectives.  Mythic is still the king of what I’d call casual, yet engaging PvP.

Rift is an awesome PvE game, however.  A huge improvement in creating a dynamic and exciting PvE world.  Much more engaging that LOTRO, DDO, WAR, and WoW.  The level progression is pretty quick.  I’ve only been playing a week and I’m already level 30, and I’m no “power-gamer” by any stretch of the imagination.  What’s nice is that it feels like there’s still a large world out there for me to discover.  Another nice touch is finding the “secret areas” in the game where one can find a cache of goodies, or an interesting title unlock, like “Dances With Squirrels.”  

All in all, I’m enjoying myself quite a lot more in Rift than I have in any MMO since WoW or DAoC.  I miss the “casual PvP with a purpose” from Mythic’s offerings, but for now the engaging PvE is keeping me happy.  Hope your week is a great one, Enjoy!