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FromSoftware and George R.R. Martin's 'Elden Ring' arrives in January 2022
Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin's 'Elden Ring' will be out on PlayStation, Xbox and PC next year.
RIFT 2.7: Binding of Blood arrives May 7th
RIFT's 2.6.1 patch may have teased the Binding of Blood raid, but now we finally have a solid date for the full 2.7 patch: May 7th. The 2.7 update will initially incorporate the four new souls unveiled over the last few months (Arbiter, Physician, Oracle, and Liberator), new quests, and an upgraded UI. Trion Worlds will roll out additional changes over the span of the including tier 3 raids, the Greenscale warfront, a hellbug promotional tie-in with Defiance, the annual Summerfest, and a unicorn celebration. We're not judging. Every game needs a unicorn celebration.
Four videos of RIFT's new souls in action
RIFT subreddit moderator Seatin has posted to YouTube complete videos of all four of RIFT's upcoming 2.7 souls and how they perform in combat. To recap, the update will deliver: The Arbiter, an elemental tanking soul for the Mage, The Physician, a primary healing soul for the Rogue, The Oracle, a buffing and debuffing soul for the Cleric, and The Liberator, a tank-healer soul for the Warrior. Enjoy the videos after the break!
RIFT's got a new conquest map and a new rogue soul on the way
RIFT's Steppes of Infinity features "all-new objectives and opportunities for exciting PvP action," according to an update on the free-to-play fantasy MMO's website. Combatants may choose to battle for control of the Brevo and Antapo forts or ferry charges between them, and "powerful rewards for the winning team" are at stake, Trion says. The studio also confirmed the next soul reveal: the Physician, a healing-centric soul for Rogues.
RIFT's Arbiter and Physician are incoming
Patch 2.7 is delivering a bundle of four new souls to RIFT, and that means that every calling will be able to play every role in the game. The support Cleric soul (Oracle) and the healing Warrior soul (Liberator) have already been revealed, but what will Rogues and Mages get? The details were in the most recent livestream: Rogues get Physician as a specific healing soul, while Mages will be able to tank with the addition of the Arbiter soul. According to the most recent development livestream, a great deal of internal testing is being done to ensure that all four new souls remain functional and competitive, even though they're being added before an expansion. Players can keep their eyes peeled for later in the week when the Physician and Arbiter both get revealed ahead of their test realm implementation. These four souls will be purchasable as a bundle, although no announcements on price have yet been made.
Brand-new souls are in the works for RIFT
New souls may not be that far away for RIFT. Rift Junkies has called attention to a dev post in the game's official forums that states that brand-new souls and other class features are being worked on. For full context, Daglar the Dev was responding to a complaint that devs weren't paying attention to player feedback. After stating that the issue was about the many demands on dev's time rather than being willfully ignorant of feedback, Daglar followed up with this gem: "I hate talking about things that are not close to being ready, but Kervik and Aillion are pretty busy working on brand-new souls and other class related features for the future right now." While "the future" is a pretty indefinite term, this is exciting news for folks hoping for new souls to experiment with.
Enter at Your Own Rift: Build to win
We've arrived at the point in RIFT's post-expansion launch cycle when I'm genuinely embarrassed to admit how slowly I've progressed. While many of you are probably 60 and living the high life in the endgame, I'm still (mumbles) 51. I have many excuses for this: a newborn at home, flip-flopping interest between my Rogue and Cleric, a lot of experimentation in Dimensions, and Storm Legion's generally slow leveling pace. But perhaps my greatest excuse stems from one of the core features of the game. I keep making new builds and experimenting with them. Is that my fault? After all, with just one the addition of one new soul per calling a legion of new builds arose. Pun intended. Players on the forums are crunching numbers, fiddling with old builds, and magicking new ones out of thin air. I've become fascinated if not addicted to testing out these player-created builds as of late. Some promise the world and are sadly lacking, while others have shown me synergies that I didn't realize were possible.
Trion reveals RIFT's new Defiler soul
Ready for another RIFT soul reveal? Trion's happy to oblige by way of the Defiler. "The Defiler terrifies and impresses with a repertoire of life-warping desecrations and ghastly heals. A medium for the energies of death, the Defiler can absorb and redirect allies' pain into potent afflictions, twisting friend and foe alike to fit any purpose," Trion says. The class is a pretty good damage dealer, too, and Trion has included a bit of lore to go along with the class description and screenshots on its Storm Legion website. [Thanks to Brad for the tip!]
RIFT reveals the Tactician, master of flamethrowers
RIFT has been updated with new areas and content since launch, but the upcoming Storm Legion expansion is set to seriously kick things up a notch. As if tripling the size of the game world weren't enough, the expansion will raise the level cap and add a new technology-based soul to each of the game's core classes. The battle-mage style Harbinger soul was revealed at Gamescom 2012 in August, followed by the Tempest, and data from the test server hinted that the remaining pair might be named Defiler and Tactician. Last night Trion Worlds confirmed our suspicions by revealing the new Rogue Tactician soul to livestream viewers. The Tactician uses a magical weapon that's part flamethrower and part fire extinguisher, able to deal incredible area-effect elemental damage to enemies but actually heal allies. Players using the soul can also place small devices called Cores on the ground to provide area-effect healing, buffs, and additional damage. The flamethrower-like weapon is directionally aimed and can be channelled while the player is moving, so clever positioning is required to get the most out of this unique soul.
RIFT reveals the second new soul for Storm Legion, the Tempest
Warriors in RIFT are usually all about hitting things with weapons. Sure, they drop in some variety, but the focus of the class has always been a strong set of swords or axes or whatever. And the newest soul revealed for the upcoming Storm Legion expansion continues the trend if you assume that "lightning" qualifies as a weapon. The Tempest has been unveiled and promises to bring strong electrical powers and massive thunderstorms ripped from the Plane of Air into the Warrior's hands. Tempests are versatile, able to attack from long range or channel lightning into a short-range destructive burst. They also possess illusory tricks to help evade defeat in the event that heavy armor isn't protection enough. Despite this, they're probably the least adept of all the Warrior souls at wielding non-lightning weapons, which means that another soul is necessary to provide hard-hitting weapon talents. Take a look at the introductory lore and early screenshots on the official reveal page, and keep your eyes peeled for the final two souls as the expansion nears release. [Thanks to Brad for the tip!]
RIFT's test shard hints at new soul names, future events
RIFT's Public Test Shard is a lovely place to take a peek into the future. After the shard's most recent update, such peeks are of a particularly informative variety. Three NPCs aboard the wreck of the ship Endeavor showcase what appear to be new Storm Legion soul names. These fine folk have the labels of Tempest, Defiler, and Tactician. A fourth NPC stands among them with the Harbinger title, which has already been confirmed as a soul for the expansion. The new names match up with hints dropped on the RIFT forums regarding the names of new soul trees. It isn't super official yet, but a new Warrior soul called Tempest, a Cleric soul called Defiler, and a Tactician soul for Rogues seem to all be safe bets. In addition to the delectable new soul teases, the PTS update brought in Tempest Rising, a new world event which introduces the awakening of Crucia. Players will evidently need to fight off Storm Legion baddies, spread the word of the Storm Legion's arrival, and otherwise make ready for the oncoming storm.
Enter at Your Own Rift: A guide for new and returning RIFT players
We're on the eve of update 1.9 in RIFT, and I think it's full of great changes that will bring back returning players. But if you're one of the many who tried the game at launch and left a few months later, it might feel daunting to make a comeback because so much has changed. Fear not! In this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, we'll gently introduce you to some of the biggest changes to the new player experience and provide a condensed rundown of the updates since launch. If you're seeking out a tl;dr version of the game since launch, you've come to the right place!
Enter at Your Own Rift: How will Storm Legion change the face of RIFT?
Expansions are always a great time to get back into a game. Just ask me, Mr. Former-and-Now-Current RIFT Player. That's right -- I've leaped back into RIFT and have rejoined Karen to co-host this column. I know you're just a-shiver with excitement, but keep it together: We've got higher peaks to summit, my friend. Two weeks ago, RIFT muscled back into the spotlight with the announcement of its first-ever expansion, Storm Legion. I don't know if any of you felt like this when you heard it, but I was surprised, considering just how much work Trion Worlds spends on updates. When did they devs have time to squeeze in work on a full-blown expansion as well? But it's no myth. Storm Legion is coming this fall, and it's destined to change the face of RIFT as we know it. The world's about to triple in size, and the team is building on the lessons learned in the first year or so of this MMO's lifespan. Will it bolster RIFT against the current and coming competition? Do we need two more continents? And what, pray tell, are those four new souls?
RIFT developers answer a new round of community questions
There are a lot of questions within the RIFT community, questions the development team seeks to answer with a new set of responses to community inquiries. Some of the answers are a bit on the negative side; there are no plans to expand the game's lore into novels, for instance. There are also no plans to add in arena-style combat or the option of visible cloaks, with the developers feeling that the former makes the game seem less massive and the latter has a detrimental impact on game performance. That doesn't mean it's all bad news, however. The developers are looking into more ways to allow cross-faction interaction beyond the mercenary PvP system. There's also some talk about the next big raid and player feedback, which according to the answers is largely positive. There are also plans for more Souls in the future, which should provide RIFT players with even more options to custom-build a character. [Update: Trion contacted us to clarify the cloak question. They say that cloaks aren't completely off-the-table, they're just not focusing on them right now. There was even a hint that cloaks will be a definite future addition to RIFT.]
Enter at Your Own Rift: Will RIFT survive the SWTORacolypse?
It's coming. In just a few weeks, Star Wars: The Old Republic will launch, and on every gamer's mind is the subject of how many players it will lure away from other games. It's quite likely that every MMO will suffer a dip in numbers when SWTOR launches -- heck, even World of Warcraft is bracing for impact with a stock downgrade. But as gamers know, a launch is one thing, but how a game does in the months after is more important. In this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, I'm going to grab that third rail and look at a few ways in which SWTOR and RIFT differ, to see what effect SWTOR's launch might have on the game. Keep in mind that I am a fan of RIFT (hence the regular column), and I also really enjoyed my time in SWTOR's beta, have it pre-ordered, and plan to play the game when it launches. So I'm not saying one is better than the other; rather, I'm looking at differences that might appeal to one playstyle over another.
Trion releases RIFT Endless Adventure trailer
As we inch closer to some big MMO releases in the latter stage of the year (and on into 2012), Trion is looking to keep RIFT firmly established in the minds of gamers everywhere. To that end, the company has just released a new two-minute trailer called Endless Adventure. The clip highlights all of the big bullet-point features (raids, world events, PvP, etc.), and shows a smattering of gameplay footage from each. The trailer also focuses on the flexibility afforded by RIFT's soul system, and though the huge, blocky fonts and bright text colors are somewhat distracting when paired with the game's lovely visuals, the clip does a good job of summing up RIFT for the uninitiated (or the unsubscribed). See for yourself after the break. [Source: Trion press release]
Trion unveils new RIFT Rogue trailer
It's been a while since we've seen a class video from Trion, but today the drought is over thanks to the spiffy new RIFT Rogue trailer. The two-minute clip mixes in-game footage with title screens showing the various permutations of the Rogue's soul system, giving would-be rascals a cursory glance at RIFT's take on one of the fantasy genre's most beloved archetypes. Because of RIFT's build-your-own-class mechanics, Rogues in the world of Telara stand out from their contemporaries due to a good bit of versatility. The trailer shows us three incarnations of the class: a death-dealer, a sniper, and a support specialist. In addition to those roles, you may even see a RIFT Rogue playing a lute, teleporting, or possibly tanking a mob. Check out the clip after the cut for more details.
CNN looks at RIFT's server technology
MMORPGs don't get much virtual ink on the world's top news sites, and when they do, it's usually because someone's died during a grind session. RIFT recently bucked that trend with a lengthy spread on CNN.com, and somewhat predictably, the initial focus is on the "battle" between Trion's upstart and Blizzard's World of Warcraft behemoth. While the first half of the article is devoted to describing RIFT in layman's terms, there are a few interesting snippets focusing on Trion's technology (specifically the fact that RIFT's servers are organized by function rather than by location as per usual with other games in the genre). Producer Scott Hartsman tells CNN that developing the new tech was a challenge that will prove worthwhile in the long run. "Yeah, it was hard, but it was well worth it. We're really just now at the point [where] we're about 25% into all of the things we can do with our technology and we're looking to add more," he explained.
Enter at Your Own Rift: 'Role' play
In retrospect, it was all my fault. I had gotten too used to just throwing RIFT dungeon groups together and assuming that with the flexible soul system we'd be able to provide everything necessary no matter what archetype mixup we had. I suppose it's a testament to Trion Worlds' design that an exact group composition wasn't a top concern -- the goal is just getting five willing players together for a fun run. We were running Darkening Deeps, and I decided to start a group so that I could show off the dungeon to Rubi. We had two Rogues, two Mages and a Warrior, and I felt pretty confident going in that we would prevail. And while the Warrior stepped up and said he would tank -- taking the burden off of my Riftstalker build -- everyone else was curiously quiet when I asked if there was another healer who could back up my Bard heals for boss fights. Nothing. Not a peep. The other Rogue didn't have a Bard spec, and the Mages were whistling innocently when I asked if they happened to have a Chloromancer role tucked in their back pocket. Oh crud. This was going to hurt. Six trash pulls into the dungeon later, I called it and said that we simply didn't have enough healing power to make it through the bosses. My bad, I said, thanks for playing!
Enter at Your Own Rift: One month in, how's the game?
Snakes -- they're the one thing in RIFT that I absolutely detest, not because they're dangerous or scary, but because they refuse to drop the last snake tear that I need for my critter tears collection. I've killed dozens, perhaps even hundreds, but every time, I walk away empty-handed. Oh sure, every now and then, one will give off that sparkle effect when it has loot, but it's always just the morale-crushing snake skin. I have killed so many snakes that I could probably string them together and encircle the world of Telara three times. Instead, I'll step away from my snake-slaughter to report on the news from Telara. It's been a month since the head-start launch, and already we've seen several major changes. Read on for a my mini-progress-report on public grouping, security, training dummies, and my incredible shrinking armor.
