This game is actually pretty good. I have to say that it's really nothing groundbreaking although the “rift” concept is nifty and cool and, of course, different.
I have to say that this is one of the better-polished MMORPG's out there. I tried several others when they were released and they were seriously lacking a lot of things, such as the user interface etc.
So graphics-wise, it is very similar to (drum rolls) World of Warcraft, which is neither good nor bad. It's up to players if they like cartoonish graphics or more realistic ones like Guild Wars. I like both.
Combat is nothing new to the MMORPG veterans. For newbies, it's not a steep learning curve. Just point and click.
What's different is the class set-ups and it's very nicely done. Here there are 4 “callings”, which are your typical archetypes: Warrior, Rogue, Mage and Cleric. Each calling has I think about 7 or 8 “souls”, which are like the typical classes. For example, a Cleric's souls are Sentinel, Warden, Inquisitor, Purifier, Shaman, Druid, Cabalist, etc. You can have up to 3 souls active at a given time and thus combine the skills.
On top of this, you can have up to 4 roles. Each role is one soul set-up. For example, you want to be a pure healer for a dungeon group so you equip the souls Sentinel, Warden and Purifier. Then you want to solo, so you want to be a damage dealing Cleric, then you equip your Inquisitor, Cabalist, etc. You have to pay though to unlock more roles (with in-game money of course).
Of course, some soul combinations work better than others but you can always trial and error.
Now, its namesake, “rifts” are dynamic events within the game. They're like portals that open up randomly throughout the world. When they come into existence, they spew out mobs for you to kill. I heard that later in higher levels, if no players challenge them, they can take over whole regions etc. I'm still quite low level and I haven't seen this happening, probably for a good reason.
Rifts, in my opinion, are quite fun. But for the harder ones, you do need a group and it could be frustrating if there was no one else around. But so far, I've managed to find groups near rifts and rifts are plentiful. Group joining has been made very easy. Once you get near a rift, a button shows up to join an existing group. You hit it, bam! you're in the group or raid. Very nice.
So in all, I am enjoying this game. I was longing for an MMORPG fix and I tried a couple, but they didn't quite live up to the hype. Rift, on the other hand, I came across by accident but I'm glad that I did :)