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Enter at Your Own Rift: How to tell a great story in an MMO
My character still hasn't (ahem) ascended to Nightmare Tide levels yet, so today's RIFT story will instead be about Storm Legion. I had been working my way through the Eastern Holdings in Brevane when I encountered a quest chain that floored me with brilliant storytelling that showed exactly how MMOs can utilize this platform to tell tales in ways that other mediums cannot. It is audacious, bold, and incredibly dark, especially for RIFT. And I cannot praise it enough, especially in light of long-held claims that RIFT is often weak on story. I have two caveats before we go through what made this quest chain so great. First, I'm going to spoil it from start to finish, so if you haven't played it and want to remain innocent, just bookmark this column to read later on. Second, there are some truly edgy themes in this recap. Got it? Let's go!
RIFT adds extra days to its Autumn Harvest
Grumpy that Christmas music is already blaring in the stores? Then take solace in the fact that at least one MMO isn't prepared to let go of Halloween just yet. RIFT announced yesterday that it will be adding a few extra days to the ongoing Autumn Harvest event. Previously, it was scheduled to end on November 13th, but after "listening to feedback from [its] players," Trion Worlds said that the event will now go on through the end of Wednesday, November 19th.
Elder Scrolls unveils its six-month loyalty reward
ZeniMax has revealed its six-month subscriber reward for players of The Elder Scrolls Online. The devs are continuing with the vanity pet theme introduced for the three-month reward, only instead of a High Hrothgar Wraith, this time we have the Dwemer Sphere. Keep in mind that the reward months accumulate whenever you have an active sub, so if you leave for a month or two and then resubscribe in the future, you'll retain your progress in terms of loyalty rewards.
Enter at Your Own Rift: Do my bidding, minions!
RIFT: Nightmare Tide is here at last, and the one overriding thought that permeates my every gaming minute is this: I am going to get totally addicted to minions. Heck, I already am. I'll be getting into other aspects of the expansion in coming weeks (spoiler: sidekicking is way tubular), but since this one feature is available to everyone right now and it's completely new to the game, I wanted to discuss minions today. There isn't a lot of information out there on the minion system thus far, which is surprising considering how much I've seen guildmates and general chat buzz on about it. Perhaps it's simple enough not to require detailed explanations, but there's still enough depth to elicit a few questions. So what's the minion system like? How does it benefit players? How much money does it require of free players? What are some good strategies for it? I'm all over this today, so let's get into it!
Elder Scrolls Online's Update 5 goes live, reduces VR grind
ZeniMax has published Elder Scrolls Online's Update 5. The patch features improved facial animations, chat bubbles, dungeon and solo-instance scaling, and the Veteran City of Ash. Speaking of veterans, they'll probably be happy to know that the devs are continuing to roll out the previously announced veteran rank revamp with Update 5. Veteran Ranks are now earned via experience points, and each rank will grant an attribute point and a skill point. It now takes 1,432,550 experience points to earn a VR, and ZeniMax says that it expects "this to reduce the amount of time it takes to gain a Veteran Rank." [Thanks Matthew!]
The Daily Grind: Do you defend your favorite MMO?
I think I'm getting old, because there was a time when I'd wade into a forum discussion about my favorite MMO and defend it to the death against all comers. I still catch myself doing that on occasion, but said occasions are getting rarer. The passion hasn't gone anywhere, but I'd rather just go play it than argue about it, you know? What about you, Massively readers? Do you defend your favorite MMOs? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
RIFT's Autumn Harvest returns
Starting this afternoon, RIFT's annual Autumn Harvest will return, bringing back the special fall-themed realm and all of its related quests and activities. In addition to Halloween rifts and the monster mash, this year's Autumn Harvest will activate seasonal minion adventures and a trio of new followers to boss around. RIFT is also hotfixing several small issues today, such as tweaking the minion system, increasing XP in Nightmare Tide dungeons, and making sure hit was added to various quest and crafting rewards for endgame activities. The Autumn Harvest runs from today through November 13th. Both Junkies Nation and RiftGrate have excellent guides for those looking.
Elder Scrolls Online is getting some scary monster face hats
When Massively newswriters are looking for news to write, they generally look first to the Massively newsroom. The Massively newsroom is a place where editors dump links that can be turned into stories, and more often than not said links are labeled with funny/sarcastic/bitterly angry temporary titles. The temporary title for the news post you're currently reading was "ESO Hats... you'd think a game this big could manage more than hat teasers on Twitter, but you'd be wrong!" It's quite a long temporary title as temporary titles go, but that's fine because it really captures the essence of this particular news post. The Elder Scrolls Online is in fact coming out with some new hats. OK, they're actually monster helms and they look pretty badass. You can expect them in Update 5!
RIFT performs extensive rollback following hardware outage
Denizens of one of RIFT's more populated servers are experiencing the raw end of a 23-hour rollback following hardware issues. Trion Worlds Executive Producer Bill Fisher announced that a hardware outage hit three servers early this morning, with one of them -- Faeblight -- lacking a recent data save point and requiring a one-day rollback. "This is a significant loss for players on this shard and we fully understand that," Fisher said. "We are currently in the process of identifying and refunding RIFT Store purchases for users from Faeblight, as well as tracking down any Instant Sixty potions that were granted on this shard. This process may take several hours but we will ensure that any credits spent during this time are returned." Fisher said that the studio is giving bonuses to the affected servers and is contemplating more compensation. Trion also implemented a hotfix that is giving a false error to players, stating that the update requires a full re-download. The actual patch is much smaller than that.
RIFT's Nightmare Tide expansion launches today
After a brief postponement, RIFT's Nightmare Tide expansion will launch today. It opens up the Plane of Water, introduces a minion system, revamps endgame classes with masteries, ushers in endless nightmare rifts of all levels, and tweaks the mentor system to scale players' level upward, not just downward. Earlier this month, Massively's Justin Olivetti explored the expansion's key features and weighed the pros and cons of the collectors editions. He noted that free players who don't pay for the expansion will be able to play most of it but will lose out on earring slots, Planeswalker: Water gear, and the Manguo League, though some of the restrictions can be removed with in-game effort. West coast-based Trion Worlds says to expect the rollout this afternoon.
Delve deeper into Elder Scrolls with two new book series
Why have Elder Scrolls Online only on your gaming machines when you can also have it on your bookshelves? Bethesda has partnered again with Titan Books to create two new series that delve deeper into the world of Elder Scrolls, one focusing on ESO and the other on Skyrim. A March 2015 release date is planned for the first volume of each series. The Elder Scrolls Online – Tales of Tamriel will be split into two volumes, the first titled The Land and the second, The Lore. Both will expound even further on the lore of the game and feature never-before-seen art. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Skyrim Library consists of three volumes (The Histories; Man, Mer and Beast; and The Arcane) that moves the all of the game's in-game text to out-of-game print that players can grab and read at their leisure.
RIFT previews the Glacial Maw dungeon
It's nice that RIFT's upcoming expansion is named Nightmare Tide because it really gives you a clear idea of what you're walking into. So when you read about the upcoming level 65 dungeon, Glacial Maw, it doesn't really surprise you. A dungeon that takes place burrowed inside of the carcass of the powerful Izbithu, wherein you fight off an infestation of parasites hoping to make the dread creature rise once more? Nightmarish, sure, but that's what you were promised on the tin. Of course, all of that is assuming that you make it to Izbithu's corpse first, since first you'll have to fight your way past an ice drake that tends to eat anyone investigating the decaying monstrosity and a golem fused with tentacles and sharks. And even once you fight off the insidious parasitic infection, there's something even worse in the depths of the body. Which... just the fact that you're fighting inside of a giant corpse is pretty bad, yes? Take a look at the official preview, but you know it's not going to be pretty.
Previewing RIFT's new masteries system
Trion Worlds has today previewed the new "masteries" system coming in RIFT's Nightmare Tide expansion later this month. Masteries take the place of the soul points normally earned as players level up. Instead of spending soul points to take new powers in your soul trees (which would have created class imbalances), players will essentially buy powers from a new set of skills open to all characters within the same base class. Trion outlines the types of powers available: Most Masteries provide a general primary bonus and a secondary bonus that focuses on individual abilities and Souls. These secondary bonuses have several types of effects ranging from increasing the functionality of a given ability (or type of ability) to improving utility and hybridization options for others. Masteries from level 61 to level 64 focus on passive bonuses. The primary bonus on these Masteries will generally fit a theme for all Masteries at the same level: Level 61: Survivability Level 62: Healing Level 63: Utility Level 64: Damage When you hit level 65, you'll unlock the final tier of Masteries along with an array of active abilities. These are aimed at supplementing multiple builds, allowing you to add damage to a healing build, or even give some healing to a pure DPS build. Masteries are saved per role and can be swapped out of combat.
Trion delays RIFT: Nightmare Tide's launch [Updated]
RIFT: Nightmare Tide's October 8th release date is no longer set in stone -- if it ever was. In a livestream yesterday, Trion Worlds devs said that there is a possibility of a release delay based on feedback and that the team will decide soon if that delay will happen. Whatever date Nightmare Tide ends up releasing, it will go live in both Europe and North America at the same time. Many smaller details about the expansion launch were discussed during the livestream. The devs said that players will have a way to buy Planewalker: Water Attunement using in-game experience as well as purchasing it through the expansion bundle. Nightmare Tide will release with three new armor sets, new aquatic pets, additional housing dimenasions, four new dungeons, two "return to" dungeons, and the 10-person Rhen of Fate raid. The 20-person Mount Sharax raid will launch at a later date. Trion also admitted to already discussing RIFT 4.0 and 5.0 (i.e., the next two expansions) but declined to give specifics apart from a mention of "an over-arching plan" with them. Update: Trion announced tonight that the expansion will be delayed until October 22nd.
Guild leaders converge for The Elder Scrolls Online's first guild summit
If you weren't invited to The Elder Scrolls Online's current guild summit... well, don't feel bad; only the leaders of 20 guilds and online communities were invited. But it's still kind of nail-biting. What could they be talking about in there? What strange and arcane topics will be brought up? Will special items be handed out? Are there designer cheeses available? Lucky for you, though, the folks at the Tamriel Foundry have taken the time to transcribe what's going down in Maryland so that even those not at the summit can get a sense for what's happening. The first day of the summit covered combat responsiveness, system design, AvA mechanics, and the Champion system. This means both detailed examinations of where the game is currently lacking and what's coming in the future; the Champion system and the rework of the veteran experience is slated for "when it's done" rather than a specific date. So sit back and take a look at all of the hard details on display, possibly whilst eating some designer cheese of your own.
Leaderboard: Nightmare Tide vs. Warlords of Draenor
There are a couple of big fantasy MMO expansions coming out in short order. RIFT's Nightmare Tide drops on October 8th, while World of Warcraft's Warlords of Draenor releases on November 13th. Given those facts, I bet you can guess the content of today's Leaderboard, can't ya? Vote after the cut! Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
RIFT explores the heights of Tarken Glacier
Beneath the waves lies the city of nightmares, but RIFT players exploring the Nightmare Tide expansion will not stop there. Far above those waters sits Tarken Glacier, a massive edifice of frost that stretches to the very boundaries of the cosmos. Players will be exploring this towering mass of ice, obviously, starting at the most basic ascent before moving up to the most distant reaches of the land. Along the way, players will be working with Skelf pilgrims, fighting off vicious frost giants, and seeking the last stronghold of the near-annihilated Pelagic Order. There are port cities nestled within the glacier, great structures devoted to researching the frostbitten land, and marauding enemies from all sides. In short, it's exactly the sort of place players will love exploring and fighting through when the expansion goes live; check out the full preview for more details on the lore of this region. The open beta for the expansion went live yesterday, with the full launch planned for October 8th.
RIFT's Nightmare Tide now in open beta
Trion wants you to know that RIFT's Nightmare Tide open beta is now live. You'll need the company's Glyph launcher, and you'll need to navigate to the server list under the RIFT heading where you can select "PTS." From there it should be pretty straightforward. If you're not inclined to play a pre-release version of the expansion, you can pick up the real thing on October 8th.
RIFT will spawn endless nightmare rifts for its expansion launch
Do you ever get bothered when you go to a restaurant offering something in an endless variety? After all, a restaurant may claim to offer endless wings, but eventually there won't be any more chickens to make into wings, and what then? But the nightmare rifts that will be opening in RIFT are truly endless. Starting on October 8th, Tier 1 rifts will be opening from Freemarch to the Tarken Glacier, and they simply won't end. They'll just keep going, spewing more horrors into the world. You can't stop them; they just keep coming. Why would you want to go after these rifts, then? Why, the rewards, naturally. Loot, achievements, and access to higher-tier nightmare rifts all await as you struggle to overcome these endless fonts of horror. Dealing with the higher-tier rifts will also grant Ghar faction notoriety and endgame Essences, which seem like fair rewards for pitching yourself against a limitless fountain of dread.
The Elder Scrolls Online asks players for a tale of the dead
Aw, jeez. That can't have been happy. There's a story behind that picture, you just know it; people don't just grow spears while sitting down with some wine and cheese. And what is that story, you ask? Well, that's up to you! The Elder Scrolls Online is challenging players to construct yet another tale of the dead, a 500-word story in any format outlining how the unnamed skeleton in this screenshot wound up in this unfortunate predicament. Players who'd like to participate need only post their entry to the official contest thread before 11:59 p.m. EDT on September 26th. The three winners will each receive a $25 electronic gift certificate to the Bethesda store as well as a free t-shirt. If that sounds good to you and you think you can tell a convincing story about this guy, it's time to crack your knuckles and get writing.
