Why Play Rift?

The Blog scene has been all a buzz about Rift since the official launch.

Tobold today cleared up some misconceptions that "proselytizing Rift fans" have of him. He also laid out the red carpet to have a discussion about Rift and the points that make it a better MMO than others. So I have decided to take a crack at it. This will be a list of the reasons that *I* prefer Rift over many other MMO's including World of Warcraft.


1. Rift feels new. I know it is not really a core mechanic or industry changing point, but I like to look at shiny things as much as the next guy. I stared at the AH bridge in Iron Forge for the better portion of 3 arena seasons. I like the feeling that I can get lost in a major city and not know the landscape of the world better than I know the states of the U.S. 


2. It feels like home. I loved firing up the game and not having to re-learn the key-binds. "B" still opens my bags, "M" for map etc. This is a blessing to someone who has spent so long in the world of Azeroth. 


3. You can actually level through the PVP system. Yes I know that over a long enough span of time you can level in WoW this way but it is nowhere near as efficient questing. This is the way that I chose to play my MMO. I like to PVP and I couldn't understand why I had to play though 80 levels killing 10 swamp marsh pigs or collecting 100 troll tusks to do so.


4. Rift got the small things right. Like the fully customizable UI out of the box. I don't have to make or download an add-on just to get my action bars to look the way I like them. Speaking of add-ons, outside of a couple of convenience things, I don't miss add-ons. 


These may not be enough of a reason to make anyone switch to Rift, but it is the reasons that I personally switched to it. Why did or didn't you switch? Let me know in the comments.