First up on this rainy Monday morning agenda is the news of free character transfers for RIFT. I was hoping, but I didn’t really think they’d do it, mostly because we’re used to how much MMO companies try to milk as much cash from you as possible. But, no, apparently your monthly sub is enough for Trion, which is going to let you move to “select servers” once a week for free. I like that guilds will be able to transfer their details as well, and that there’s no initial limit on how many times a particular toon can move.
So I guess I have to just give Trion a round of applause here. Really, they keep upping the ante with how much and how fast they’re giving to customers, and I know transfers was a big “WANT” item on many folks’ list. I don’t think they nor their game is perfect, but they’re already light-years ahead of how Blizzard or Cryptic treats their customers. I mean, heck, even in LOTRO I had to shell out $25 and wait over a week to get my captain moved between servers.
If nothing else, I think that Trion’s aggressive strategies are going to pay off for players of many other games too, because good competition means that hopefully all parties will get shaken out of complacency and start trying harder.
Enough of that — on to Guild Wars. Yes, Guild Wars!
It’s been a game I’ve been meaning to return to, but I haven’t gotten worked up enough to do so until last night. And then it was that whole ordeal of coming back to a game after a prolonged absence where you don’t remember anything you were doing, what your skills meant, your goals, etc. On top of that, during my break ArenaNet completely reworked my class (the Dervish) and allowed us to use 7-hero parties (yay).
So a lot of adjustment, but I actually got really excited about it all last night. Found a great guild and soaked in a lot of advice for my noobish mind. I don’t know what it is about Guild Wars, but I perpetually feel like there’s so much I don’t know in that game compared to other MMOs. It’s not radically different, just different enough.
Anyway, I worked up a new build and captured a new elite skill to go with it, which was fun. After running a mission with some guildies and dying a lot, someone finally figured out why the mobs were aggroing me nonstop — my armor was pretty crappy. In my defense, Guild Wars doesn’t really go out of its way to tell you how to upgrade armor or when you should or give you good armor drops, so I guess I’ve been stubbornly plowing my way up through the levels with incredibly sub-standard gear.
So now that I’m not dying all the time, the game’s gotten more fun and I’m looking forward to actually finishing up my first campaign in the next week or so!
Bio Break 
To be fair about Cryptic regarding character transfers – it is a non-issue with Cryptic’s current games since there is no need to transfer anything in the first place.
So far my experiences with their customer support has been fairly ok, although one can certainly argue about some other price tags they have.
Trion’s approach seems to be a reasonable compromise with the set-up they have now.
Guild Wars downplays the importance of gear compared to many other fantasy MMOs, so it may be easy to miss that it still plays some kind of role. Luckily it is pretty easy to get good enough armor; it is more tricky of you also want to go for one of the specific looks – or at least more expensive usually.
Guild Wars is nice in that it took a different path to multiplayer RPG territory than the typical Diku/EQ route and it works quite well.
I wasn’t ragging on Cryptic in regards to that so much as the company’s attitude that we are merely a pocketbook to be plundered, with stuff that should be free (or included in the subscription cost) is perpetually price tagged.
I was hugely impressed with this move by Trion. They are really taking huge strides with regards to customer service.
Their game may not be perfect, but it’s certainly upping the bar.
When i first started to play guild wars I felt compelled to seek out new armour npcs whenever I reached a new outpost until I got max armour.
Different people have different experiences.
“I don’t think they nor their game is perfect, but they’re already light-years ahead of how Blizzard or Cryptic treats their customers. ”
The Rift transfers are only to certain servers. Blizzard has been offering free transfers to selected servers for years.
Blizzard has been offering free transfers to selected servers for years
As a one-off thing. If you didn’t like your new server, you were stuck.
This is more akin to switching districts in Guild Wars. It is done with an in-game feature (but has a 7-day cooldown) and you don’t have a cap on it (yet).
This is both a way to balance the population and a social tool for those that want a change of scenery and meet new people.
Yeah, I checked every outpost for better armor when I played Guild Wars for the first time. Then when I got max armor, I didn’t even realise that I should upgrade it with runes and stuff, or do the same with my weapons. It took a good guild and a little PvX to help me figure that out. : P
Considering Blizzard recently came out with a payment plan to play with your friends on different servers through the LFD tool, it would seem that Trion is is just taking swing after swing at the perceived standards of the market.
Everytime someone thinks that a game should do something they come around and throw some new spin on it. It’s quite entertaining from a marketing perspective. Nothing world shattering, just some small timely changes and people think gold is falling from the sky.