Enter at Your Own Rift: My 2013 wish list
The end of the year and the beginning of a new one is the traditional time to take stock of the past and make plans for the future, no? I thought RIFT had a banner year, especially in pushing out a great expansion less than two years after launch. Trion Worlds has continued to get those meaty content updates out, fleshing out the now-annual celebrations and growing the game in new and often-surprising ways.
Really, we have such a wealth of options and content on which to feast, so you'll really have to excuse me as I ignore everything the studio's done to date and talk about what I'd like to see done, changed, or added in the new year. Yup, it's time for a RIFT wish list in this Fae Yule season, straight from my fingers to Santa Crucia's home at the Death Pole!
My wish: More races
For a game that has just scads of diversity and creativity with its souls and character building system, it's downright primitive when it comes to its racial selection. It's something I can't seem to stop picking on, and I'm sorry if I've gone on about it before, but come on. These races are so fantasy cliche and uninspired, no matter what semantic lore differences you assign them.
How cool would it be to find out that the team agrees and has been working on one new race per faction? As a side wish, it would also be welcome to some to allow players to switch their race if so desired.
My wish: Expand RIFT Lite
RIFT Lite is the hybrid child of an infinite trial and free-to-play, creating a service so memorable that you probably haven't thought about it in months until just now. I'm not bashing it; it's actually a very smart thing to have for a subscription-only title in an age of overwhelming F2P competition. My only wish is that Trion would expand the program to bring in even more souls.
With the expansion out, the logical growth of the RIFT Lite program would be to allow players to level up in the core game to 50 and possibly look into some restrictions regarding dungeons and the like. I say this having no idea whether or not it would bring Trion any additional goodwill or money, but as a gamer, I know it's something I would appreciate seeing.
My wish: Word of another expansion
I have no illusions about a 2013 expansion; it's simply too soon unless it's a very, very small one. Maybe 2014. Maybe. But I'm always dying to know what plans the company has for the future, especially in the expansion department. We probably won't hear anything, but that won't stop me from wishing for it.
My wish: More mobile app functionality
I've always said that the mobile app could be so much more if Trion wanted. The current app is a great start with a couple of cool ideas, but... yeah. I'll let my article speak for itself.
My wish: Guild calendar
This isn't just a wish in RIFT but a wish in every ding-dong-diddly MMO out there. Guilds need great in-game tools, starting with, I don't know, a way to communicate to members the times and dates of future guild events. A... calendar, or something!
My belief is that if Windows 3.1 can handle it, so can RIFT. Chop chop, devs!
My wish: Time-traveling world events
Am I the only one who thought the tutorial zones were cool because we got to see both the past and the possible future of Telara? And am I the only one who wouldn't mind a little more time-travel in this game, particularly to that horrible mid-apocalyptic realm?
My wish: A no-quest server
Take a server. Yank all of the quests and leave the dynamic events, instant adventures, and dungeons. Perhaps dial up the frequency of these events. Then open it up to the public as an experiment. Who knows -- maybe a less distracting RIFT would prove to be even more compelling?
My wish: Wardrobe weapons
The wardrobe system is terrific, and I have to give Trion props for making the change so we can use gear from any class in it. If I may make one more suggestion, I'd love to have the option to choose a weapon skin as well. Sometimes you just find an awesome-looking weapon that you'd love to keep around for the visual alone, but the stats demand you dump it.
My wish: Let us take the fight to the planes
Rifts shouldn't be such one-sided affairs. I can't be the only one who sees these planar creatures continually littering up our world, provoking me to want to kick their doors down and see how they like it. What's on the other side of those rifts? I want to see it. And then I want to burn it all.
Those are my wish list items for 2013; what are yours?
Whether they're keeping the vigil or defying the gods, Karen Bryan and Justin Olivetti save Telara on a weekly basis. Covering all aspects of life in RIFT, from solo play to guild raids, their column is dedicated to backhanding multidimensional tears so hard that they go crying to their mommas. Email Karen and Justin for questions, comments, and adulation.
