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A look back at RIFT on its second birthday
"Once upon a time in a land called Telara, 573 Guardian players were minding their own business in a region called Silverwood. They were frolicking and levelling, and levelling and questing, and looting and laughing, collecting and crafting.... Ah! What a peaceful time it was. "And then, the world exploded." That's how former RIFT executive producer Scott Hartsman described the Prince Hylas event from Beta 2, and for me, it will always be one of my favorite MMO memories. Telara was instantly transformed into a hellish quagmire, with invaders stacked on top of each other at every foothold in Silverwood. It's hard to believe that two years have already gone by, but it's even more amazing how the game has evolved since that unforgettable beta event.
Enter at Your Own Rift: Rift evolution
RIFT has seen a great deal of new content and features over the past year, and each update tends to generate a lot of buzz about things like new raid zones, new warzones, world events, and yes, even fishing. But there have been quite a few subtle (and not so subtle) changes to the core of the game -- that is, the rifts themselves. Last summer, Justin wrote a great piece wondering whether rifts were in "danger of collapsing," and his point was that they were a good idea on paper but needed tweaks in order to stay relevant to the game. It's worth looking back at the evolution of rifts over the past year to see what's changed since launch day. Read on for a look at what's new with rifts!
Get your lootables and chatables on with Trion's new RIFT iOS app
With little fanfare, Trion Worlds has released an iPhone mobile app this past weekend for RIFT that should make staying in touch with guildies and in-game events far easier for the on-the-go set. The app is called RIFT Mobile and is currently available for the low, low price of "free." The app allows RIFT players to talk to friends and guildies whether they're in-game or also using the app -- and yes, there are push notifications if you so desire. The app also supports guild and officer chat, guild messages of the day, zone event notifications, and the guild wall. Probably the most intriguing feature of the RIFT Mobile app is something called "Lootables" -- ways to earn actual in-game loot while using the app. The app is available in English, French and German languages and can be used only by current players of the game. A community rep on the official forums has confirmed that it's "an early release/beta" and that more official info is on the way. [Thanks to Valotith for the tip!]
Enter at Your Own Rift: The casual revolution in RIFT
The Fae Yule world event has arrived in Telara, and there's one part of the event in particular that really captures the holiday feeling. It's not the daily quests but the festive "shinies" that players can harvest around town, like mistletoe and the holiday candle. At first I enjoyed the fun of clicking and getting nice little rewards, but by the third shiny, I was cursing other players who were racing me to the spot and grabbing the goods before I could! Talk about a Black Friday flashback! Twenty minutes later I was in the middle of the most intense, knock-down brawl for shinies that could rival a top-tier PvP Warfront. You wouldn't think that harvesting little festive oddities could be turned into a hardcore game, but that is exactly what I and a few other players ended up doing. And that got me thinking about Jesper Juul's book A Casual Revolution. In it, he looks at how video games have gone back to their roots and reinvented themselves, leading, for example, to the rise of the Wii. His book focused more on console gaming and didn't address MMOs that much, but in this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, I'd like to look at how his ideas apply to RIFT, particularly with recent changes to the game.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Matter of pact
We're back online in this neck of the woods, and that means that I can catch up on all of the things that I missed over the past week. And even within the fairly focused sphere of City of Heroes, there was a lot going on -- a headstart for subscribers, the removal of leveling pacts, more details on the rewards you can uncover for Signature Arcs, and the lowdown of the Seed of Hamidon event. Interesting stuff, all around, but it was the pact removal that first jumped out at me. One of the things that CoH has been loath to do over the years is remove things. That's part of why the game has become so all-encompassing for so many players -- every new system has built upon its predecessors, adding new options, moving in new directions. So the removal of one of the game's interesting features struck me as a little odd just because it's something that's nearly without precedent in its lifespan.
City of Heroes Freedom invaded by Hamidon again
Hamidon is returning to City of Heroes Freedom in a big way. How can you get bigger than a gigantic gelatinous blob like the first Hamidon? In this latest dev diary, Jeff "Arbiter Hawk" Hamilton gives us all the slimy details. The zone-wide encounter starts with a new monstrosity called the Seed of Hamidon, which drops seedlings throughout the Sunken City neighborhood of First Ward. These seedlings begin the spread of the Tellurian Plague. It is in the best interest of heroes, villains, loyalists, and resistance rebels alike to end the spread of this plague before it conquers everything, as it did on Praetorian Earth. Arbiter Hawk suggests an eight-person group for this encounter, which takes place in two distinct phases. In the first phase, it's up to players to take out both the ground and air seedlings. Don't worry, non-flying characters, because as these ground-based seedlings are destroyed, they grant Buoyant Membranes that allow players and nearby allies to take flight. The Seed weakens as players defeat the seedlings until the Seed is forced to extinguish the remaining seedlings in order to regenerate power. This is when you attack and the second phase begins. Take out the Seed quickly before it is able to completely recharge -- or the cycle starts over again. The dev diary contains many of the deadly details of the seedlings as well as more advice from Arbiter Hawk; be sure to read the entire thing before battling this globular fiend.
Enter at your own Rift: Checking out Update 1.3
The calm before the storm. That's the best way to describe the RIFT screenshot above. As I puttered around and wasted time trying to frame my screenshot from the ideal angle, working that nomad model to his full potential, I was seconds away from a zone event opening up on my head. Instantly, about 50 gigantic desert warriors emerged to attack us for their leader's amusement. And for the next half hour, Fortune's Shore was overrun with warriors, stone golems, and dog people. Fortune's Shore isn't the only place to experience chaos and danger, though. Whatever the Dwarves did in Hammerknell, it's finally caught up with them -- and with all of Telara. Abyssal and Endless Court forces are posing a real threat, and the Ascended are now tasked with repelling the invasions and charging back into Hammerknell. In this week's Enter at your Own Rift, we'll look at a few of the changes from Update 1.3. Read on for a look at tithes, character transfers, trial servers, and towering colossi!
Champions Online tells players what not to expect
Sometimes it's very helpful to hear what you're not getting. It's never particularly pleasant, of course -- we usually like to hear about the cool things coming right around the bend -- but it's also useful to be told what isn't coming for your favorite game. The most recent installment of Ask Cryptic for Champions Online falls under that category, with several questions about upcoming features given a straight denial. There are no plans for four-armed characters, rotating and scaling tattoos, and a current push for more persistent content as opposed to zone-wide attack events. On the flip side, the answers do paint a few interesting pictures, such as talk about potentially adding a villainous counterpart to the game in the vein of City of Villains. The idea is discussed as something not in the immediate future, but on the list for future inclusion -- albeit with a much more sandbox style of gameplay, keeping in the vein of a supervillain romp. Champions Online is currently pretty well dedicated to getting its existing systems shored up and working well, however -- and while that might mean a few rejected ideas, it means that the team wants to build a solid foundation.
Touring the Zone Events of CoX
Now that City of Heroes/Villains players have automated Zone Alerts to tell them when a given zone event is going down, we thought it would be fun to hit the streets and document some of them for you. We got in a little over our heads at times, but everyone survived, just about.There's a lot more to zone events than just the regular appearance of giant monsters, though those are the best known (and some of the most fun). There are also Hellion arsonists, a roaming Ghost Ship, a shy lake serpent, and even two beasts of legend engaged in a full-on battle. Come with us as we encounter some of CoX's more unusual content. Zone events? We've got you covered! %Gallery-29273%
