Lately, my two games of choice have been SWTOR and Rift. I'm subscribed to the first game and a free player for the second. However, Rift's F2P model has little in the way of restrictions, so I can PvP as much as I please.
Ever since I left WAR, there has been a void in my gaming life. That void has been PvP. I really miss it, so I've been looking for something to help fill that void. My first choice was SWTOR since I was already playing. To be clear, I consider SWTOR a PvE game, so my PvP expectations are not very high.
PvP in SWTOR is pretty limited. You have a handful of Warzones (scenarios) and that's about it. There are world PvP opportunities in the Gree Event, but I have not experienced much on that front. In patch 2.4, SWTOR will be introducing arenas which feature a solo queue. That certainly kicks things up a notch, but so far my time spent on the PTS has not left me with a great feeling. We'll see how it goes once it is live.
Overall, I don't have nearly as much fun in Warzones as I did in WAR's scenarios. It's hard to put my finger on why exactly. Part of it is due to all the CC and interrupts, but that could just be because I'm a Commando healer.
Next up is Rift. Rift also offers their version of scenarios called Warfronts. There are a limited amount of them, but some feature alternate rulesets which help liven things up. Rift also has a mega-warfront called Conquest, which is a 3 way pvp zone. I have yet to experience it, so I can't offer my thoughts about it. There are also PvP Rifts, of which I know nothing about.
For me, warfronts are more enjoyable than SWTOR's offering. I don't feel as locked down by CC and Interrupts like I do in SWTOR. There is also the frequency at which they pop. Rift uses cross server technology and they are always popping, which is a big plus.
Then there is the clincher. When you kill an enemy in Rift, you get Experience, Favor and coin. I never realized how much I missed that small detail. In SWTOR, you only get rewarded at the end of the match. There is just something very satisfying about receiving those small incremental rewards.
So for PvP, I would have to give the edge to Rift. SWTOR may make a comback with arenas, but only time will tell.
Monday, August 26, 2013
PvP: Rift vs SWTOR
