Rift launches on March 1st, and I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of it. What has you interested/disinterested, are you planning on picking it up, and if you're a beta tester, what do you like and what do you dislike.

As for myself, I ran in the last beta event and thoroughly enjoyed the game, but I will say it's incredibly like WoW. I loved WoW, and was looking for a new MMO of the same caliber (though not necessarily one so similar), so I'm pretty pleased, especially with how polished the game is for still being in beta. Certainly not a WoW killer (I don't think that's there goal, anyway), but definitely already a really great game. Here is a review of my experiences in beta 4 up on my blog, if anyone's interested in my opinion of the game in much greater detail.

So whether you've played Rift or not, are looking forward to it or think it's over-hyped (or haven't even heard of it), what do you think?

Is this modeled after the Palladium paper-and-pencil RPG, RIFTS? http://www.palladiumbooks.com/WhatIsRifts.html

I'm also looking forward to Guild Wars 2.

I want to play it when its released just for the soul system, but if ill continue to play is questionable.

Here is a review of my experiences in beta 4 up on my blog, if anyone's interested in my opinion of the game in much greater detail.

I'm not much of a MMO player, and when I watched the video, all I heard and saw was choosing your race, customizing your avatar and running around in a 3D environment. Stunning as all of that may look, it sounds like basic functionality I would expect to see in any RPG like game and it didn't exactly wow me.

Your blog post does provide a bit more detail, but mostly about the user interface (buttons, icons) and performance (frames per second, graphics quality). But what I would like to know as a MMO n00b: what's the actual game play like?

Every time I see a new MMO I just think of how awesome MMOs used to be and usually find new MMOs less interesting by comparison.

Compared to other new MMOs it looks interesting, but compared to UO, AC, or even AO they all feel so bland.

I miss having an upgradable skill tied to my ability to jump :'(

But what I would like to know as a MMO n00b: what's the actual game play like?

Basically you run around, kill stuff, complete quests, close rifts (by killing stuff and completing rifts) and run through instanced dungeons with a party (which then runs around killing stuff and completing quests). There's also some PvP.

My suggestion to you is to give DDO a shot. It's completely free, and it'll give you some insight into the MMO experience. Mind you, DDO is a little different from your standard MMO since it's almost entirely instanced and there's a lot more loose action, rather than structured group combat, but it'll still be informative, and for a free game it's quite fun. When you're ready to graduate from that, though, look to WoW or Rift.

I miss having an upgradable skill tied to my ability to jump :&#39;(<br /> <br /> DDO has that, too, actually.

They're giving away beta keys here. Grab one before they're gone (they go pretty quick), if you're interested in the game. The next beta event runs from Tuesday, the 25th, to Friday the 28th.

Rift is pretty fun. It's very polished and the Soul system (their version of classes) is very cool and very unique.

The best part so far is regardless of whether you choose Mage, Priest, Warrior, or Rogue, depending on your choice of souls (you can choose 3) you could very easily tank, heal, dps or enhance (think EQ bard) for your group.

Rogue tank, mage healer, priest tank? Sure! Not a problem if you choose the corresponding soul.

That and I love how if you have multiple corpses near you that you are able to loot, it will loot all of them for you when you loot a single corpse! Genius!

how are the system reqs?

And I know the souls help you fill different base roles, but is there any sort of class hybridization? I really liked back in AC how you could build a swordsman that could study different types of magic to buff himself or what have you.