Random (Mostly RIFT) Thoughts
Thoughts for today:
* RIFT taking on WoW with its marketing campaign is both clever and potentially stupid. While it will get the attention of the WoW-market, it’s also going to immediately put-off the staunch WoW defending crowd. The question really is: would any of those people have switched to RIFT, anyway? Likely not, but as someone else mentioned, if you piss off enough people they can become the vocal minority. (Look at any game forums.)
* From what I’m reading, RIFT brings nothing new and innovative to the genre. And that’s okay. If you want to play a different MMO that’s similar to other games (WoW, AION, Warhammer from what I’ve seen), more power to you. I will not be one of those people, but to each his own. Edit: I don’t mean different sarcastically, I mean different as in “not one of the games on the market today”.
* Which brings me to a reminder to the game-snobs out there: people have different definitions of fun. Also, it is quite possible to like WoW and other MMOs, too. This is apparently a difficult concept for some people to grasp. It’s likely because they’re WoW-haters in the same grain that WoW has its own legion of fanbois (I so hate that word). So, good for you, you’re just as bad as the trolls you troll on about.
* I’m totally OK with Jef from Massively telling everyone exactly what he thought in his limited playtime with RIFT. He’s not assigned to cover RIFT, he was simply asked his opinion and gave it – fully disclosing the amount of time he played. I don’t understand the problem, here. No game is perfect, nor will it appeal to everyone.
The Beast Within 
I think one of the things RFT has going for it are the Rifts themselves. The second would be the innovative soul system. But in terms of pure mechanics, no it isn’t much different. That being said, and if you would believe Tobold, maybe the key to success isn’t forcing something “new” (and often hard to understand) dynamic or system, it is to take a finite set of systems, and make the best versions out of them. Mastering one trade is better than being the jack of (fuck)all.
I can’t help but wonder, though, if the rift system will actually backfire on the game, itself. Will it be a neat distraction, or is it going to become a “zombie plague of Azeroth” big f’ing annoyance when you’re just trying to turn in a quest. My gut is with the latter.
As for the soul system, I have heard cool things about that, but the cynic in me knows this is going to still result in X number of cookie-cutter builds when it’s all said and done. If X is a big enough number, though, then it will work out and people will have enough variety to keep them playing.
I think there is something to be said for keeping things familiar enough that you don’t have to put hours into learning an entirely new system, so I can agree with Tobold there. After all, how often do you see “polish” associated with “Blizzard”? AION, by accounts I’ve seen, is second in the sub market – and it’s a polished game, too. Familiar enough to WoW, yet focused on PvP (in theory, but that’s a whole other ball of wax).