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Take a tour of RIFT's free-to-play store
One of the most-asked questions that we've seen following RIFT's free-to-play conversion is, "What does the in-game store look like?" This must be a universal query because the folks over at Rift Junkies have put together a video that takes players on an in-depth tour of the shop and its offerings. You can watch the full video after the break, but be warned: You might come away from it with your pockets a little lighter.
PAX 2011: RIFT sifts through the Ashes of History
PAX has come and gone, but the good news keeps pouring out. Over the weekend, RIFT fan site Rift Junkies got the opportunity to grill Trion's Simon Ffinch and Hal Hanlin about the show itself and the upcoming 1.5 patch. Generally, the devs were pleased to see the crowds pack around Trion's booth, especially since playable stations were always full. They noted that many current RIFT players came to log into their accounts and show off the game to newcomers. Patch 1.5 was a major focus of the interview, and Ffinch and Hanlin said that casual players should rejoice at its approach. Tentatively scheduled for September, 1.5 will include the new Chronicles system that has solo or duoing players exploring hand-crafted instances. These instances are designed to be "snapshots" of the larger raids they're associated with, and will give both casuals and raiders a better glimpse into the lore behind the setting. For example, the Hammerknell Chronicle will tell the story of how the king and prince become corrupted. The patch, which is called Ashes of History, will also include the new planar attunement trees ("It's the players beginning to start taking controls of the powers of the planes," Ffinch explained) and the super-tough "master mode" for dungeons. It's interesting to note that this patch is setting the groundwork for the exploration of a larger Telara, as players will begin to find and renovate items that will eventually allow them to head to new zones. Hit the jump to watch the full interview!
RIFT's first closed beta produces "a hell of a sight"
This past weekend, RIFT played host to thousands of brand-new testers with its first closed beta event. The three-day event featured the first 20 levels of the Defiant experience and wrapped up early Monday. According to a forum post by Trion World's Executive Producer Scott Hartsman, the team couldn't be more pleased with the way things panned out. RIFT's team received over 20,000 pieces of feedback from the event and learned quite a few things, including, as Hartsman put it, "answers to some critical questions." These answers included how the servers would hold up with so many people in so few zones, if they could deliver quick patches, and how rifts would happen with the crowd density. In fact, there were so many people that the team had to double the amount of servers almost immediately, although fortunately the servers held up under the strain. Hartsman identified a number of problem areas that would be addressed, such as mob respawn rate. Because of the massive population, RIFT's titular feature had a difficult time being a challenge until the team made some adjustments: "Where we had hoped and expected to see invasions rampaging across the countryside, instead the population density had become far too high, such that invasions weren't even getting off the ground. We updated the game with even more insanely active tuning on Saturday night to give the invaders a chance to come out and play too, and the response in chat and submitted feedbacks was overwhelmingly positive once that started. By the time it worked, it was a hell of a sight -- Huge invasions finally freed up, setting up footholds, wiping out the local populace, and eventually being repelled by defenders." Trion is working on a number of improvements as it prepares for its second closed beta event, which is prepped to start December 17th. Stay tuned to Massively for a special upcoming post-beta interview!
