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RIFT details upcoming Expert Mode dungeon changes
RIFT's patch 1.7: Carnival of the Ascended is bringing with it some pretty neat things, such as in-game marriage, PvP improvements, and the eponymous Carnival of the Ascended. But long-time, high-level players are probably most curious about the changes coming to Expert Mode dungeons. Tier 1 and tier 2 Expert Mode dungeons are merging into a single Expert tier. What this means is that all players with tier 1 gear will keep that gear (which will be improved by item changes being introduced in the patch), but it will never drop again. The upgraded versions of tier 1 gear will drop in its stead. Previous tier 1 dungeons have had their difficulty increased to be more on par with tier 2 dungeons, and Trion Worlds has also "turned the dials up a bit higher on some encounters to keep things interesting with your flashy new gear." For the full details on all of the changes coming to the Expert Mode system and the endgame gear system, just click on through the link below to the RIFT official site.
RIFT wishes fans happy holidays with a new Fae Yule video
Trion Worlds has released a new video in order to wish its fans happy holidays from RIFT's land of Telara. The new Fae Yule-themed video shows Telara on holiday, with people standing in line for presents, riding some rather derpy reindeer across a snowy landscape, and of course, beating the ever-loving daylights out of a gargantuan treant wrapped in lights. To get your dose of Telaran holiday cheer, just click on past the cut for the full video.
RIFT's patch 1.6 goes live today
Sharpen your blades and hone your spells, Telarans. RIFT's patch 1.6 goes live today, and it brings a ton of new content for players to experience. The new Ember Isle zone gives players a variety of new quests to complete, and the addition of sourcewells to the Island will allow players to fight off invasions on their own terms. Social players looking for a challenge will find just that in the form of the new non-linear instance (known as Caduceus Rise) and new world boss mobs. And of course, what is new content without new ways to progress your character? The second tier of planar attunement is now available, allowing players to further customize the way their characters play. For the full details, check out the patch notes over on the RIFT official forums.
Choose My Adventure: RIFT sealed
Here we are: the last hurrah, the final hour, the closing curtain, the rift sealed. Although it would be unfair to say that I have done everything in RIFT, I believe my experience has been well-rounded. I have done PvP, invasions, solo content, and group content -- even a little bit of resource gathering and crafting. One thing I can say with all certainty is that RIFT has a lot to offer, and the developers at Trion have put a lot of good work into the game. Beyond the cut, I would like to break down my general experiences in game. Some were good; some were bad. Unfortunately, if you are looking for a straightforward review, then you're not going to find that here. RIFT is a complex game, and depending on what you're looking for, your experience will vary. Most of what you obtain from this game will be proportionate to how much you personally put into it. But instead of rambling on here, I'll explain what I'm talking about beyond the break. Follow me there.%Gallery-131417%
Choose My Adventure: Seriia vs. the Guardians
Writing this article pains me. It's not because I have nothing to write about, although it was a bit difficult for me to compile content that I believed was compelling. It's also not because I had nothing to do in the game. There is plenty of content for me to explore. I do not like to tell obvious fans and creators of a game that I do not enjoy their game. As I have said in the past, RIFT holds some incredible content, and the graphics are the most gorgeous I have seen in a game since Age of Conan by far. So why has logging in felt like a burden this last week and a half? The burden of the grind is not the only thing I would like to talk about this week. I also did some extensive PvP before I hit level 20. In fact, I hit level 20 while I was in the Black Garden. That gave me a chuckle. After the break, I have laid out my whole level 10 to 20 PvP experience. Perhaps that will lighten the mood of this somber article. This might be my second-to-last article for Choose My Adventure, but there is still time to get some last-minute rifting done before I sign off. And... umm... can I get a rez, please? %Gallery-131417%
Choose My Adventure: The Telara Saga
This past week was exciting. Seriia joined the Gaiscíoch Clan for a bit of rift-running and light roleplay across all of Freemarch. Originally, I had intended to livestream the Telara Saga event for an hour, then sign off feeling good that I helped promote roleplay in RIFT. However, we reached the hour mark before I even realized it. I gave a quick goodbye to the people who were watching so that they did not feel obligated to continue to watch, then continued to stream for another two hours. To my surprise, I ended up having more people watch the last two hours of the stream than the first hour. Apparently, not only was it fun for me to play, but there is an audience interested in the roleplay events in RIFT. As you can imagine, it was difficult to snap screenshots while trying to livestream, but I did get 10 pretty good ones, which I added to the gallery below. After the break, I have snippet of Seriia's story, as usual. Then I have a very important question to ask you as my time in this column draws closer to its end. %Gallery-131417%
Choose My Adventure: Ghosts
If any of you have been following me on Twitter, then you know that I have been extremely active in RIFT this week. However, I did not gain the levels I had hoped. I am currently level 17, which is nice, but I had hoped to be level 19 or 20 by now. I will definitely get there this week. I cannot say this enough: Visually, RIFT is stunning. Below you'll find the gallery of my adventures; I included 19 new screenshots this week. They complement Seriia's story throughout Freemarch and especially the Scarred Mire. The gallery includes some excellent screenshots of Jakub the Tyrant, Alsbeth the Discordant, and March Warden Eliam. My new mount and the Abyssal visions from the daily half-birthday quests also make an appearance. After the break, Seriia dreams of ghosts and tyrants. Eliam Fields seems to be a home for her; she loves the place. Also, I need your help with invasions -- I am not exactly performing the way I would like to in large group activities. Maybe a new soul will help. Let me know what you think after the break. Let the Telaran adventure begin! %Gallery-131417%
Choose My Adventure: Invasion
My time was short this week in the world of Telara because of work and other obligations. However, I did several hours of RIFT-streaming this week; I hope you check out the stream at the end of this article. Although the video is kind of laggy, the inspiration for this article was captured in one of the streams. I die a lot, but thankfully, I'm an Ascended, right? So death means very little to me. I can be brought back many times over. I have a tendency, as you may see in that video, to get in over my head -- a lot. This being my second week in the game, I'm getting used to what it's all about. I've been able to close multiple rifts, and I've leveled up to 13. (I told you I didn't get to play as much as I wanted.) There is much I love about the game, and there are many things that turn me off. Most importantly, however, this week I encountered my first invasion of Freemarch. It took a bit for me to catch on to what was happening. I had thought it was just another rift opening up, but with a glance at my map, I quickly realized that this wasn't your everyday planar tear. %Gallery-131417%
Choose My Adventure: RIFTastic!
Frenzy engulfed this last week's poll, which is one of the reasons I tweeted about it so often. EverQuest II and RIFT battled to the death over which would hold the attention of this writer for the next five weeks. Ultimately, the power of Regulos overpowered the Norrathians, but not without a fight. Usually the first community manager or game developer who catches wind of his or her game's appearance on Choose My Adventure wins. And just like past devs, Community Manager for EverQuest II Tiffany "Amnerys" Spence tweeted and posted in the EQII forums to encourage fans to vote for her game. However, Lindsay Lockhart, Lead Defiant Lore Writer for RIFT, would not have Telara beaten by Norrath, so she tweeted about it and passed the information off to Community Manager Erick "Zann" Adams, who posted it on RIFT's Facebook page. Immediately, RIFT's votes doubled then grew quickly after that. Congratulations to the RIFT fans. I hope I do your game justice, but I do want to give a shout out to all the EQII fans. I hope you stick around for this. You put up an awesome fight and certainly made the poll interesting to watch. As for this week, we step into RIFT's character creator. All the decisions are up to you! Should I roll Defiant or Guardian -- Warrior or Mage? Just cruise past the break for all the details!
New RIFT lore highlights the fearsome Frederic Kain
These RIFT lore reveals are getting to be old hat by now, what with Trion releasing one every week and all of them boasting both interesting prose and scrumptious screenshots. This week's entry is no exception, and it tells a grim tale from the adventures of one Frederic Kain, an uncompromising Guardian commander who leads a fearsome band of warriors known as the 12th. Whether due to Kain's eerie silence in the heat of pitched battle, or his penchant for using captured Defiant prisoners as makeshift catapult ammunition, Ascended on both sides of RIFT's eternal struggle would do well to tread a wide path around any territory occupied by Kain and his men. Check out all the gory details after the cut.
Bring your friends to RIFT for free this weekend
You have to hand it to Trion. It's pulling out all the stops to mitigate the dreaded one-month population churn that often accompanies a newly released MMORPG. First it was a series of live events and a smattering of new content for the title's 4-week anniversary, and now comes word of the Allies of the Ascended promotion. From April 1st through April 4th, current RIFT subscribers can bring a friend, loved one, or any other type of acquaintance to the world of Telara for free. An ally code "will grant new players (excludes existing RIFT subscribers) a digital download of RIFT and access to certain features of this game during the Allies of the Ascended event." Check the email associated with your RIFT account for further details, or head to the official website to get started.
RIFT's March 30th update bringing live events, exclusive items, new 20-man raid
RIFT is about to pass the one-month mark, and Trion's fantasy title is marking the occasion with an update that's bringing a good bit of new content to the war-torn world of Telara. Beginning on March 30th, Regulos the Destroyer is taking the gloves off, and Ascended heroes will have "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of a key moment in the game's history," according to a Trion press release. Alsbeth the Discordant will lead invasions across every Telaran zone, and players who brave the hordes will earn hundreds of new items (including exclusives like a spectral horse and transmogrifying disguises). Trion also tells us that once these rifts are sealed, the unique loot items will never again be available. The update is also bringing a new 20-man raid zone to RIFT, and the River of Souls encounter will test the mettle of Guardians and Defiants alike as they battle Alsbeth's undead minions and attempt to bring the fallen mage to justice.
Trion details RIFT's Silverwood lore
It's mid-week, and if you've been following our RIFT coverage for some time, you know that that's generally when Trion graces us with another lore-centric news item. Last week it was a profile of Alsbeth the Discordant; this time around we've got a look at the primordial elven sanctuary known as Silverwood. RIFT's high elves are described by Trion as the wardens of all life, and so it follows that the race be given stewardship over the untamed wilds, forests, and vibrant greenery of their ancestral home. Join us after the cut to explore how Tavril, Telara's nature goddess, bade the high elves defend Silverwood through the ages and how the forests are faring under the onslaught of the destructive planar rifts. %Gallery-101448%
World of Warcraft bloggers fight back against RIFT
While RIFT is certainly a four-letter word, it's becoming that kind of four-letter word for certain bloggers in the World of Warcraft community. Reala of Click the Lightwell went so far as to whip up a graphical badge certifying WoW blogs as RIFT-free zones in response to the amount of virtual ink devoted to Trion's title on Azeroth-centric websites. "Many of us are experiencing tough times in WoW, we have lost friends, guildies, entire guilds have crumbled and fallen. I don't begrudge RIFT the shelf space, but when there are more RIFT posts on a WoW blog than WoW posts... well... I don't like it," Reala wrote. While we doubt that Blizzard is circling the wagons just yet -- or scheming up ways to fend off the new kid on the block -- the fan community is clearly feeling the heat of what some are calling a sizable migration.
RIFT's head-start is standing room only
To almost no one's surprise, Trion's RIFT head-start was an exercise in multitasking for many would-be players. MMO launch-day veterans are probably familiar with the one-eye-on-the-queue and one-eye-on-something-more-productive routine by now, but for everyone else, the fact that a good portion of the day was spent not playing RIFT was a bit frustrating. In some cases, estimated wait times approached 15 hours (though in fairness to the folks at Trion, the counters did fluctuate quite a bit). Demand was so great that a whopping 13 additional servers were added around noon, with 10 more going up as the day wore on. Tell us about your head-start horror stories in the comments (if you're not too busy playing, that is).
Trion Worlds: RIFT has surpassed one million registered accounts
In case you couldn't tell by now, Trion has officially confirmed that a lot of people are interested in its RIFT fantasy MMORPG. The new title has surpassed one million registered accounts, according to a press release that coincides with today's headstart kickoff. RIFT officially launches on March 1st in the States (March 3rd in most of Europe and March 4th in the UK). The game will feature 33 opening-day servers to distribute the load of incoming players as well as several ruleset flavors including PvP, PvE, and RP. Check out our extensive RIFT coverage from the head-start period all the way up to launch day, and head to the game's official website for more info.
RIFT's endgame detailed in 18-minute video
Much has been written about RIFT in regard to the title's first 20 levels, its soul system, and the titular rifting mechanics. Endgame has remained something of a mystery up to this point, but a new article (and an accompanying 18-minute video) at G4TV has conspired to shed a little light on the proceedings. RIFT's endgame features both 10- and 20-man raid types. Trion calls the 10-man exterior raids "on-demand rifting," and in a nutshell, the encounters function similarly to the game's public quest system. The main raid group initially opens the rift and deals with the resulting enemies. Random players can also join, and the more who do, the harder the content becomes. What about loot? Only members of the rift-opening group are eligible; late-comers will receive tokens and cash. The 20-man raid experienced by G4 was an interior instance named Greenscale's Blight, which featured a more traditional setup in that there was a lockout timer and no provisions for public participation. RIFT will feature five unique raid types at launch, with more unlockable instances scheduled for post-release. These raids will open up via world events, and they're not progression-based, "meaning you don't have to do the 10-man exterior rift raids in order to try out the 20-man ones." Hit the jump for the full video. [Thanks to Puremallace for the tip!]
Rift: Planes of Telara introduces the Plane of Life
"The newest area in Rift: Planes of Telara sounds a lot more peaceful than it is. The Plane of Life evokes images of a peaceful, pleasant place with plenty of growing things. There are, in fact, growing things, but they're probably not quite what you had in mind: "There is no ground in the Plane of Life, and there is no sky. Both are overgrown with plants as exotic as they are deadly. Roots clash like enemy armies, shoving and scrambling, while vines bulge together, sprouting thorns to stab each other." The Plane of Life is survival of the fittest at its purest. Check out the newest images and trailer below. %Gallery-99479%
Massively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content
Just a few weeks ago, I was invited to attend Trion Worlds' Gamer's Day in San Francisco to get some hands-on time with a couple of the company's upcoming titles, including Rift: Planes of Telara. If Rift seems to have come out of nowhere, that might be due both to the acquisition of EverQuest II veteran Scott Hartsman to head the project as executive producer, and to a clever name change meant to reflect the team's shift in development focus. In fact, that shift in development focus is precisely what I was at Trion's studio to test -- I got to check out the Rifts themselves in all their glory, in the context of the greater dynamic content system that the developers are so excited about. Massively's writers have been able to play and report on character creation and the starting areas of Rift several times over the last year or so, including earlier this summer at E3. But until today's embargo lift (coinciding with the reveal at Gamescom), no one had quite seen the fabled planar invasions and takeovers in action. Now we have.
This week on The MMO Report
It's Thursday night, which means Uncle Casey and his mailbag are back to review this week in The MMO Report. Casey Schreiner gave us a rundown of all the latest and greatest MMO news. The rundown began with all of Trion's big news from earlier this week, including the newest look at Rift: Planes of Telara, End of Nations, and MMO that ties in with SyFy's One Earth. Star Trek Online's Season One -- the latest batch of content centering around DS9 -- got a look in, as did LotRO's birthday celebration. BioWare's new SW:TOR dev diary earned a "holy crap" from Mr. Schreiner (we agree), and then it was off to the mailbag after a quick stop by the WoW store to check out the newest goodies. Follow along after the jump to take a look, and check out The MMO Report every Thursday at G4TV.
