Rift: Planes of Telara

[Alderaan]

http://www.riftgame.com/img/logo-home.png
http://www.riftgame.com/en/index.php The first RIFT beta event begins Dec. 3rd, 2010 at 18:00 GMT. Details for additional events will be available on www.RIFTgame.com/beta as they are announced.

Join legions of adventurers in Rift: Planes of Telara, a new fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in a world being torn apart.

Rifts violently rip into reality across the land and release powerful forces that threaten the very existence of Telara. Each breach brings with it new characters, events, and treasures, while the world itself changes dynamically around you.

The rifts have divided the people and endanger the world. Whether you fight to seal the rifts forever, or harness their power for your own, epic adventures lie ahead for those willing to fight for the future of Telara.


The Rifts of Telara

Mysterious rifts are tearing the world of Telara apart. A powerful magic explosion during the final days of the Shade War has left the veil between Telara and other planar dimensions fractured and torn.

Treacherous and powerful, these rifts occur when another plane of reality intersects with the magical Ward protecting Telara. Rifts create doorways for planar invasion, destroying the lands and people of Telara, but they may also grant otherworldly power to those brave enough to seize it.

Now no part of Telara is truly safe. Invasions can occur anywhere and at any time, and the danger to the world is growing. Two major factions have emerged to save the world of Telara from the rifts: the Guardian and the Defiant. Each faction works in different ways to preserve Telara's future, and both seek to undermine the other.


The Plane of Life

There is no ground in the Plane of Life, and there is no sky. Both are overgrown with plants as exotic as they are deadly.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/planes/POL-header.jpg

The Plane of Death

The Plane of Death is an endless, flat expanse of dust and bleached bone. Shadowy tendrils slither across the horizon, while vast obsidian spikes tear from the ground to claw at skies of purple and gray.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/planes/planes-death-masthead.jpg

The Plane of Fire

The Plane of Fire is a broken and cracked expanse of sharp rocks and blasted mountains, valleys obscured by smoke and ash.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/planes/POF-header.jpg

The Plane of Water

This is the plane of nightmares, the bottomless depths of its endless sea mirroring the darkest corners of the mind.

http://www.riftgame.com/img/planes/POW-header.jpg

The Plane of Air

The Plane of Air is made up almost entirely of its primary element: an endless, turbulent sky.

http://www.riftgame.com/img/planes/POA-header.jpg

Dynamic Layered World

Every player experiences a different adventure in the living, breathing world of Telara. Rift: Planes of Telara™ has all of the traditional quests and deep story arcs you expect from a fantasy MMO role-playing game, but there is unpredictability to life in Telara that guarantees even familiar terrain can offer new dangers and opportunities.

Whether it’s a previously peaceful farm being ravaged by demons, a tranquil forest glen suddenly ripped apart by a violent rift, or merely an unassuming traveling merchant with astounding wares, spontaneous events are taking place all across Telara for you to discover and take part in.

The ebb and flow of activity in Telara is always changing. Thousands of unexpected encounters are occurring at any moment, making every adventure unique — with more being added all the time. And just like in real life, you can revisit favorite haunts to see what's different, adding a novel sense of exploration to even well-trodden ground.

Races

http://www.riftgame.com/img/game/factions/landing/playerFactionTitle.png

http://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/races/racesLogoGuardian.png
Guardians are the chosen of Telara's gods, the Vigil. When the tyrant Aedraxis called forth the power of the Plane of Death and devastated Telara, the Vigil chose the most powerful souls taken by the Shade to be the archons of the next age.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/game/races/racesLanding-dwarf.pnghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/game/races/racesLanding-highelf.pnghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/game/races/racesLanding-mathosian.png

http://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/races/racesLogoDefiant.png
The Defiant do not care whether the gods abandoned the world or not. To them, this entire planar convergence disaster is the gods' fault in the first place. Indeed, as soon as things went from bad to worse, the gods suddenly and inexplicably disappeared.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/game/races/racesLanding-bahmi.pnghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/game/races/racesLanding-eth.pnghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/game/races/racesLanding-kelari.png

Classes & Callings

In the Ascended class system, Soul Attunement is the player’s ability to commune with the souls of Telara’s honored dead and gain their powers and abilities. Each Calling has a unique selection of souls that can be embraced by the player, providing nearly endless opportunity to discover the path that’s right for them!

http://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/warrior/title-warrior.png
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/calling-warrior.png

Warrior Classes

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/champion/champion-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/warrior/champion/titleChampion.png
Champions are powerful Warriors who excel at melee combat. Wielding massive two-handed weapons, these battle-tested fighters find few equals in one-on-one battle.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/champion/ss-litebox-2.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/champion/ss-litebox-1.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/reaver/reaver-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/reaver/reaverTitle.png
Reavers are warriors who combine the art of combat with the entropic energies of death. The slightest touch of their weapon can spread disease, incite madness, and death to those unlucky enough to face them.

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/reaver/ss-litebox2.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/reaver/ss-litebox3.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/paladin/paladin-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/warrior/paladin/titlePaladin.png
Righteous defenders of the weak, Paladins use heavy shields and divine blessings to stand as a bulwark against their foes. The Paladin’s large shield not only offers protection, but affords many opportunities to launch devastating counters in close combat.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/paladin/paladin_web02litebox.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/paladin/paladin_web01litebox.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/warlord/warlord-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/warrior/warlord/title.png
A Warlord’s commanding presence expresses itself in auras that inspire her comrades to victory and cow her enemies into submission, allowing her to control the field of battle.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/warlord/w-litebox1.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/warlord/w-litebox2.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/paragon/paragon-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/warrior/paragon/en-titleTemplate-Paragon.png
The Paragon moves like a furious storm, never giving his enemy time to regroup. A master of dual-wielding, he uses parries and disciplined forms to build up power attacks and stay out of danger.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/paragon/paragon-litebox1.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/warrior/paragon/paragon-litebox3.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/cleric/title-cleric.png
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/calling-cleric.png
Telara’s original wielders of magic gained their powers through pacts with minor elemental spirits. Through devoted study, these Clerics reached out to ever-more-powerful beings, soon communing with demons, faeries, and gods. These holy men and women founded a number of spiritual disciplines: some focused tightly on a narrow ethos, while others retained more free-form theological allegiances.

Cleric Classes

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/purifier/purifier-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/cleric/purifier/titlePurifier.png
The tradition of the Purifier begins with a baptism by fire, a test of faith from which only the strongest souls emerge. Those who pass are reborn as masters of the curative secrets of fire, able to heal the most grievous wounds with a searing touch.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/purifier/ss-litebox-2.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/purifier/ss-litebox-3.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/inquisitor/inquisitor-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/inquisitor/inquisitorTitleEn.png
The Inquisitor is a cleric who no longer follows the doctrines of life or death alone; instead, they stand between these forces demanding purity from both. An Inquisitor passes judgment on those who are worthy, and damns those who are corrupt.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/inquisitor/ss-litebox2.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/inquisitor/ss-litebox3.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/sentinel/sentinel-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/sentinel/sentinelTitle.png
The Sentinel brings the blessings of light to all who do the will of the gods. Capable of healing many wounded at one time, Sentinels bolster their allies and protect themselves with divine wrath.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/sentinel/sentinel-litebox-01.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/sentinel/sentinel-litebox-02.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/justicar/justicar-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/cleric/justicar/titleTemplate.png
Justicars are healing clerics who fight shoulder-to-shoulder with their allies in close combat. Conviction builds with each swing of their weapon, bolstering nearby comrades and powering the Justicar’s potent healing magic.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/justicar/ju-litebox2.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/justicar/ju-litebox3.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/shaman/shaman-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/cleric/shaman/en-titleTemplateShaman.png
The Shaman binds the power of the icy north to his very being, wreathing himself in pure elemental force. This power augments a Shaman’s attacks, making him a powerful melee combatant, and provides shields and reactive healing.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/shaman/shaman-litebox1.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/cleric/shaman/shaman-litebox3.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/rogue/title-rogue.png
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/calling-rogue.png

The history of martial combat stretches back to the earliest days of Telara, when war was a brutal, messy, simple affair. This, as any Rogue will tell you, was the heyday of the Warrior. Their own tradition began much later, after people learned to fight with their minds as well as their muscles.

Rogue Classes

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/nightblade/nightblade-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/rogue/nightblade/titleNightblade.png
Possessing deadly agility and mastery of the blade, the Nightblade can also draw upon the planar magics of fire and death to deal doom in a variety of ways. Favoring light armor, their ability to stalk and quickly eliminate their adversaries means the unfortunate quarry rarely has the chance to defend, let alone counterattack.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/nightblade/ss-litebox-3.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/nightblade/ss-litebox-1.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/ranger/ranger-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/rogue/ranger/titleRanger.png
Rangers are consummate hunters who know the strengths and weaknesses of every beast, taming animal companions to augment their considerable prowess in ranged combat. This synergy between bow and beast allows Rangers to handily overcome the most daunting obstacles.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/ranger/ss-litebox-3.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/ranger/ss-litebox-2.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/assassin/assassin-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/assassin/assassinTitle.png
Masters of subtlety and subterfuge, an Assassin’s ability to walk in the shadows allows them to bypass obstacles and launch devastating surprise attacks. A rare few survive the initial assault, only to succumb to virulent poisons.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/assassin/assassin-litebox-03.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/assassin/assassin-litebox-01.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/blade-dancer/bladedancer-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/blade-dancer/bladeDancerTitle.png
Blade Dancers are masters of wielding edged weapons. They specialize in ritualized combat movements that are lightning fast. Blade Dancers can overwhelm even an accomplished opponent's defenses, setting them up for a devastating coup de grace.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/blade-dancer/ss-litebox3.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/blade-dancer/ss-litebox2.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/riftstalker/riftstalker-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/rogue/riftstalker/en-titleTemplateRiftstalker.png
The Riftstalker is a defensive specialist who bends the planes to enhance his constitution and shift in and out of the physical dimension. These highly skilled and survivable combatants keep their opponents’ focus while easily evading incoming blows.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/riftstalker/riftstalker-litebox2.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/rogue/riftstalker/riftstalker-litebox3.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/mage/title-mage.png
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/calling-mage.png

Since the dawn of time, spirits, creatures, and eruptions of energy from the elemental planes have shaped Telara in profound ways. Mortals watched planewalkers call forth elemental power, and gleaned from their techniques the basics of arcane magic. Through research and experimentation, the ancient Mages learned to control the elements without pledging themselves to any gods or minor spirits. After mastering broad elemental incantations, Mages focused their studies on individual elements, tapping the potential of primal forces controlled by a skilled hand.

Mage Classes

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/elementalist/elementalist-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/elementalist/elementalistTitleEn.png
Elementalists are mages who specialize in manipulating and controlling the raw energies of the planes. Through fierce discipline and strict study, these mages dedicate themselves to commanding the harshest and most chaotic forces known to exist.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/elementalist/ss-litebox3.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/elementalist/ss-litebox2.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/warlock/warlock-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/mage/warlock/titleWarlock.png
Consummate practitioners of the dark arts, Warlocks embrace the grim forces of entropy and death. Protected within a cloak of shadows, they lurk on the edges of the conflict, as their deadly energies inevitably consume all that stand in their way.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/warlock/ss-litebox-2.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/warlock/ss-litebox-1.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/pyromancer/pyromancer-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/pyromancer/pyromancerTitle.png
Pyromancers are destructive mages whose sole focus is the mastery of fire, from launching massive incinerating blasts, to trapping their opponents behind a smoldering wall of flame. No other Ascended can match the sheer destruction at the Pyromancer’s fingertips.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/pyromancer/pyromancer-litebox-03.jpg http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/pyromancer/pyromancer-litebox-02.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/stormcaller/stormcaller-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/mage/stormcaller/title.png
Stormcallers are mages who channel the raw fury of the wind and water to command the battlefield, chilling their opponents to the bone or stopping their hearts with electric shock.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/stormcaller/sc-litebox2.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/stormcaller/sc-litebox3.jpg

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/archon/archon-icon.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/_lang/en/classes/mage/archon/en-titleTemplateArchon.png
Archons are support specialists who steal their opponents’ strength and convert that raw energy into beneficial magic. These mages bolster their allies and unleash potent kinetic blasts, quickly turning the tide of battle.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/archon/archon-litebox2.jpghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/mage/archon/archon-litebox3.jpg

The Ascended (Class System)

In Rift: Planes of Telara, players are one of the Ascended, a Telaran slain during the great Shade War and resurrected to combat the forces of Regulos. As an Ascended, players have access to special powers, the greatest of which is "Soul Attunement", the ability to commune with, and embrace, the souls of Telara's ancient fallen heroes.

The Soul Attunement system offers players nearly endless customization. In Rift: Planes of Telara, you’re encouraged to experiment with many combinations of souls and abilities to discover the path that’s right for you!

http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/soultree.jpg

Players choose an Ascended Soul from one of the four callings (Warrior, Cleric, Mage, and Rogue) at character creation. These initial souls, which grow in power as they become more specialized, are flexible and have well-rounded abilities that make them great for both solo and group experiences. Players can later choose to augment, or even replace, embraced souls with other souls from within their calling. The process of enabling souls that players discover in their adventures is called Soul Attunement.

Players will also gain more specialized "Heroic Souls" that open up a number of new and exciting gameplay experiences, offering special achievements and rewards for players who discover them all.


The Soul Tree

Each attuned soul grants players access to a unique "Soul Tree," which contains all of the traits and abilities that a soul had mastered during its life. As your character levels up, you earn soul points that can be used to improve that tree's soul level, granting players access to even more powerful traits and abilities.

The Soul Tree — Branch Advancement

Players invest their soul points into the branches of the Soul Tree, picking and choosing the specific abilities and passive traits they desire. With each point spent, the Soul Tree increases in level, periodically unlocking new advancement options higher up the tree.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/soultree-1.jpg


The Soul Tree — Root Advancement

Players automatically unlock new "root" abilities as the Soul Tree increases in level. If the branches represent the unique choices a player makes, the root represents the core power of the soul that all players have access to. Root abilities unlock quickly at first, but slow down as the tree’s soul-level increases.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/soultree-2.jpg


Multiple Souls

As an Ascended grows in power, so does his or her ability to attune souls. Leveling a character will unlock the ability to attune additional souls. A maximum-level player will be able to attune up to three souls of their choosing!
http://www.riftgame.com/img/classes/soultree-3.jpg

Instances
http://www.riftgame.com/img/instances/deep-quote-bg.pnghttp://www.riftgame.com/img/instances/instanceGate.png

Darkening Deeps

In the deepest part of Gloamwood, the waterways under a once-stately Mathosian castle play host to the frenzied stirrings of creatures from the rifts. Gloamwood’s goblins built a city into this chasm’s walls, their hovels lining a path spiraling deep into the bedrock. Every day, goblins skulk from this hole to wreak havoc through the woods.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/instances/DarkenDeepsHeader.jpg

Realm of the Fae

In Silverwood, in Hedgerow Court, there is an old wishing well. Anyone who falls down the well lands in a maze of high hedges, where the air is sweet and still and faeries flutter overhead.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/instances/ROTF_header.jpg

Deepstrike Mines

In the heyday of their Empire, the Eth Sorcerer Kings discovered sourcestone under the rolling hills of Stonefield. They carved out a mine like no other: not a maze of shafts but one enormous cave supported by twisting pillars, thick as ancient granitewoods and veined with glowing sourcestone.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/instances/Deepstrike-header.jpg

Abyssal Precipice

The highest spires of Iron Pine Peak are rightly called the roof of Telara, snow-capped giants from whose shoulders climbers could once look out upon the whole world. Today, these lofty peaks overlook a swirling storm of sleet and snow, as if hovering over an endless void. Over the abyss.
http://www.riftgame.com/img/instances/AbyssalHeader.jpg

E3 Gameplay Demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLBYiTQnnuY

E3 2010 - Rift General Manager Scott Hartsman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Erg8H5B208

E3 Dev Walkthrough Vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDTrqbyTQ_w

Iron tomb Instance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un5MMDV_MnQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hGEQ_VFSYE&

[bori]

This game does look promising. Gameplay seems very fluid and pretty.

[Insanecyclone]

I don't know why but I'm getting a Aion vibe from this. Will start out fantastic but go down hill after the first month.

I love skill trees now ,thanks to playing wow, going to get me interested in this. Any news of a beta someday?

[bori]

I don't know why but I'm getting a Aion vibe from this. Will start out fantastic but go down hill after the first month.

I love skill trees now ,thanks to playing wow, going to get me interested in this. Any news of a beta someday?

I do agree with you here. It might just be initial excitement for everyone. Am getting a Aionish Vibe as well. We'll see how it develops.

[Insanecyclone]

OP forgot site link too

http://www.riftgame.com/en/

[Hyan]

It's not made by a Korean company though is it?

But yeah need to see more gameplay, if it plays like every other MMO out there the skill tree system ain't gonna save it. Rifts sound fun though.

[Alderaan]

You may be right but it's the only MMO at E3 that has me interested.

At first i was worried that it did have an Aion vibe, mostly due to the rifts obviously, but it's not a Korean game.

The creative director worked on EQ and EQ2.

Still early and we don't know much about group/solo play or business model, but it has me interested.

[Alderaan]

Some more info:

*Groups are a max of 5 characters

# There is PVP.
# Faction based, there are two factions. The differing factions cannot team up or guild
# PvP will be completely consensual on PvE servers.
# There are "battlegrounds/scenarios".
# You can level with PVP, but you will need to some PVE.

*10 and 20 man raids

Servers

* There will be different server types. (PvP,PvE,RP)
* PvP will be completely consensual on PvE servers.

* Both static and dynamic aspects
* World is mainly seamless.
* Instances make up a, "very tiny fraction of the entire world's content."
* Dynamic "Rifts" that appear randomly and can cause larger changes on the world if they are not closed. Scale dynamically to the number of players in the area. Loot based on how much and how long you helped out in the process.
* Mobs have set behaviors (goals?) and do not always spawn in the same location at the same time. (curious how extensive this really is)
* Different servers will have different features depending on how the servers players progress.
* NPC's may have goals and may react to the world. "The one example I love to use a lot is the merchant that wanders the globe and has her own wants and desires. She wants to go from point A to point B, she gets bored if nobody shops with her, she goes home and restocks, you know, those sort of things."

[Alderaan]

The Hands of Death Walkthrough

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-rift-planes/700767

[bori]

That was pretty impressive. Seems like he was GM killing the mobs at the rift just to show the event. I am also impressed with the mounts and environment in general.

[Lucavi]

Feels like WoW and Dungeon Siege had one hell of a night together and popped out this sucker 9 months later.

That's not a bad thing, but I really feel like the MMO market (both free to play and subscription-based) is becoming very over-saturated with these types of split faction, high fantasy, save-the-devastated-world-esque games.

[Saxon]

Looks promising, nothing special at the moment, but as it gets closer to release could turn out to be pretty fun. Does remind me a lot of Aion, but hopefully not as grindy, more PvE content and no god-damn air combat. Subjob-esqe system sounds cool too.
Just hope they manage to balance the factions.

[bori]

Air combat in Aion was a nice idea, but the execution was terribly off, IMO. Controls were awkward for flight, and yes, it was too grindy.

[Arnwulf]

Yay another generic fantasy MMO, just what the gaming world needs.

[Man0warr]

Really looking forward to this game. Bill Trost is in charge of the company making it (one of the original EverQuest creators, a long with Brad McQuaid) and it's where Scott Hartsman works after leaving EverQuest 2.

Scott is probably the best designer/developer in the business, and single handedly revived EverQuest 2 after a shitty launch+first expansion.

[Komm Suesser Tod]

Yay another generic fantasy MMO, just what the gaming world needs.

That's a huge problem with new MMOs. While players and fans of new games coming out may not feel the term "WoW clone" isn't applicable to their brand of choice, none have really broken away from how they did it. There were a few tries, here and there, like with Age of Conan and Aion, but WoW remains on top, and until something completely new comes along, WoW will remain on top.

Stuff like the Warhammer 40k MMO coming out is certainly neat though, sci-fi finally getting some MMO love.

[Tobi]

Will definitely be trying this out, looks promising so far and a few friends are thinking of trying it out too.

[Alderaan]

That's a huge problem with new MMOs. While players and fans of new games coming out may not feel the term "WoW clone" isn't applicable to their brand of choice, none have really broken away from how they did it. There were a few tries, here and there, like with Age of Conan and Aion, but WoW remains on top, and until something completely new comes along, WoW will remain on top.

Stuff like the Warhammer 40k MMO coming out is certainly neat though, sci-fi finally getting some MMO love.

No one that doesn't play WoW really cares about topping WoW.

All we want is a fantasy MMO for the so called "western audience" built properly. One that plays like WoW but doesn't look like WoW. Aion could have been that but they fucked up with a terrible questing system, not enough PVE, and huge money sinks that don't appeal to us. This is just my opinion anyway.

There has yet to be an MMO since WoW that has great PVE and also great PVP that doesn't revolve around outnumbered ganking. You can't move forward and try new things if you can't even get the basics right.

There are a lot of ex EQ, EQ2, LOTRO people working on this game, so a lot of people hoping for the best.

[Lucavi]

Sounds like you want a true and proper Dungeon Siege MMO.

Nothing wrong with that.

[Alderaan]

E3 Dev walkthrough vid


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDTrqbyTQ_w

Cracking up at BBD soundtrack at the start.

[Isawa]

Phat lewt made me chuckle.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Dungeon Siege MMO? Sign me up.

Game looks good, but so do most other games these days. If it's gameplay matches its prettiness, I might check this one out.

[Purrrfect]

That last vid did look pretty good. I like the environment being dynamic at the rifts. Been signed up with their newsletter for a while now, but haven't heard much on it. Also like the public quests, those were great in WAR. I can see this competing with tera for my side game attention when I'm not in xiv. Need to get my single player backlog done by the end of the year or so it seems...

edit: lmao, paused and stopped to post here just before he said phat lewt. That shit was golden lol.

[Hyan]

Have they told us anything about the combat? Looks a bit generic to be honest, aside from the epic pokerface battle music.

[Lucavi]

Dungeon Siege MMO? Sign me up.

Game looks good, but so do most other games these days. If it's gameplay matches its prettiness, I might check this one out.

/Hi-five.

DS MMO would be quality. The series already lends itself to the MMO format, just giving one toon instead of a party of 3/4/5, and more branching paths and places to explore/level at any particular range.

DS2 would have made for a fantastic MMO if they had tried to go that route. The skill trees, decent graphics for the time, great music, and a half-decent plot would have worked, IMO.

[Alderaan]

Ten Ton Hammer - Class and Callings Q&A with Scott Hartsman (http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/class-callings-scott-hartsman)


TTH sits down with Scott Hartsman to delve more deeply into class choices in Rift
Every time Ten Ton Hammer had a chance to see Rift: Planes of Telera, the more excited we became. After getting our grubby mitts on the game at E3 2010, we tracked down Scott Hartsman, Chief Creative Officer and General Manager of Trion Redwood Shores Studio, in order to have him more fully explain classes and characters having multiple souls in the game. After some “persuasion,” he agreed to talk.


Ten Ton Hammer: The response to the E3 2010 class system seems split between those that think that Rift is simply co-opting talent trees with the soul tree system, and those that are a little overwhelmed with the possibilities. What would you say to the former crowd? Would you say it's your own take on talent trees?

Scott Hartsman: I actually kind of wouldn't. For those who say that it's just talent trees, the only thing I have to say is that once you play it you will totally understand. Just to give you an example from the character I most recently rolled, I chose a warrior. I still had choices with just the one soul up through the first fifteen levels, and it's cool and it's fun. It gets drastically different when you're faced with the choice of what your second soul is going to be - it's reinforced through the fiction and you're this awesome ascended being, therefore you have the ability to control multiple souls. You're making an active choice as to what the next path is that you're going to choose.

It's so different than staring at the same three panes that don't really involve a whole lot of choice at all. With our system, you can customize it down to which individual abilities out of these classes you're going to take. We err on the side of being a little bit too generous, intentionally, in giving you choices also. For example, say my first soul has a melee finisher that's okay, but my second soul has a melee finisher that's actually quite an upgrade, so when I get that second soul I can use one of my attack point builders from my first soul, add a finisher from my second soul, and it really drastically changes the results. By being smart, you can determine which abilities work together to give you the best damage. It's choices at the micro level like that, as well as at the macro level - which 2 or 3 of these choices do I want to have at any given time?

Letting people get a hands-on with it is about the best thing that we can do. All through E3, it was really cool to watch people's eyes light up as they play when they realized, 'Whoa, I was a healer up until five seconds ago, then I slotted this other thing and now my cleric also has this mage-like DPS ability too? This is actually fun! I totally get it now.' We're just looking forward to more people being able to try it out.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/86648

Ten Ton Hammer: So for the 'just a talent tree' crowd, the core message is that these abilities and enhancements interact with each other across souls? And that applies to all souls?

Scott Hartsman: Absolutely; lots of different interactions at different levels.

Ten Ton Hammer: I was going to ask if players can 'double up' on souls, but from your illustration it doesn't sound like that would make much sense.

Scott Hartsman: Doubling up in the literal sense - absolutely not. But what you can definitely do is effectively double up by just investing in one soul all the way to the end. That's a perfectly valid way to play also.

Ten Ton Hammer: So if players envision a very limited role for their character but want to be very good at what they do, they don't have to explore the myriad possibilities you're offering them?

Scott Hartsman: Yeah. If I have a tank soul, I can go all in. I mean, I can go all in on that sucker the entire way. That's going to give me root abilities that are only available to people who do just that.

Ten Ton Hammer: So with all of these choices at hand, let's talk a little bit about the inevitable - revising your choices with a respec. Could you describe the respec options you're planning to make available to players?

Scott Hartsman: What we're going for is, I think, pretty ambitious for a launch feature set, but this is one area that there was no way in hell that we were going to skimp on. What we are doing from the outset is, yes, you absolutely can from the outset go to a trainer and pay (with in-game currency) to reset your souls. You can then re-invest those points any way you choose.

Characters will also have multiple attunements - multiple specs - from the get-go, so you do have the ability to buy multiple specs immediately in the game. All of those have hotbars saved with all of your loadouts, and once you have those multiple loadouts, you can switch between them in the field.

For example, my current character has a high-end DPSing plate-wearer. He's got his 'I am übertank' spec, which is mostly invested in a single tank soul. He also has a hybrid soul where he's 50-50 with a DPS soul to really plow through soloing, questing, that kind of stuff. I can switch back and forth between those two anytime I want, and later on I'll go buy a third spec. And maybe later on when I find a different role for myself - PvP perhaps - I'll buy a fourth spec. The idea is to give players the ability to come up with loadouts that they like and be able to switch them at will.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/85697

Ten Ton Hammer: And you can pick up multiple attunements at any level?

Scott Hartsman: This is an open question for us - should we tie multiple specs to different level ranges - i.e. I can buy a second one at 15, a third one at 30, and so on. But the more I play the more I think we don't want to do that - just open them up all at once instead of trickling them out over time.

Ten Ton Hammer: How are players' ability points divided between these multiple attunements? Are you picking and choosing between abilities you've already bought, or is there a separate point pool for each of your attunements?

Scott Hartsman: You have one pool of points for your character. At level one you have 1 point, at level 2 you have two, and so on. It's which places you choose to invest those points is where it goes.

Ten Ton Hammer: In many MMOGs, players typically have their level-up build and their group build, but then at level cap, their chosen build becomes narrowly defined so as to capitalize on their class's core strengths. Is this how you envision things playing out with attunements in Rift?

Scott Hartsman: I think high-end is when you want to give people the most flexibility. For example, wouldn't it be neat if you could take your plate-wearing dude and have him be a cool soloer in one set, a great PvPer in another set, and an awesome raid tank in another set? I think it's really important to give players more things to do in the high-end rather than pigeon-holed into a single role. I think that's kind of boring.

Ten Ton Hammer: But players tend to pigeon-hole themselves, seeking that one über build, right?

Scott Hartsman: Sure, and I think it's on us to make sure we have a game where that's not the end-all-be-all game experience. You're talking about raiding, and the classic case of the tank that's built up and geared up to be a raid tank, and that is it, period, end of sentence. I think it's on us to make games that have more to do even when you're that guy.

Ten Ton Hammer: So from a class design perspective, are you designing with all that in mind? Will there be multiple paths to perfection in any given role?

Scott Hartsman: I don't know how close we'll get to this; I'm a very honest person if nothing else. But the goal is this: no matter what choice you make at character select on day one, the idea is that, yes, you should be able to go be the best at endgame-something, but that you should be able to successfully fulfill multiple roles in group, in raid, and in PvP. We don't want anybody to ever be at the point where they've put hundreds of hours of time into this character, and now that they've hit the end-all-be-all, they're a one trick pony. That's really not fun.

Ten Ton Hammer: So the idea is that there will be no bad class development choices, essentially?

Scott Hartsman: Don't get me wrong, we're giving players the tools to make all kinds of bad choices. But, none of them are irreversible, and sometimes the difference between good and bad is just moving a few points around. We expect there to be a lot of theorycrafting too.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/85694

Ten Ton Hammer: On the classes and callings page , we see nine of the 16 souls revealed. Are you pretty set in concept for what those classes will be?

Scott Hartsman: Absolutely, on all but one. And the other thing is: there's more than 16. That's all I can say on that right now. The thing that you should take away when you look at that website is that that ain't the full complement. There's more.

Ten Ton Hammer: Since not everyone has the time or desire to delve deep into theorycrafting to make the kind of character they want. Is it clearly laid out, or will we have to sit down and puzzle about our character out-of-game using detailed charts and graphs?

Scott Hartsman: I wouldn't worry about that too much, because we expect a couple of things to happen. First, when you have a system like this, and it's customizable, there will be many conversations, threads, etc. of what's your favorite build, what works well for this, etc. In any game, there's going to be some cookie cutters that everyone is going to like. That's fine.

For those who are just in Rift for the social experience and don't want to play the class system at all, that's fine. Just keep investing in the one class you picked. Chances are, you will come out okay. Alternately, built right into the game is the invest and preview ability. It's not a system where every time you click a button [your choice is] confirmed forever. If you go to respec all of your points, yeah, you can respend them nine or ten different ways and experiment with them in real time before you finally hit okay and accept all the changes. We're building that in from the beginning; I think you have to with a system like this.

Ten Ton Hammer: So respec'ing won't break the bank? It's not an escalating amount of money you have to pay?

Scott Hartsman: It's not obscenely escalating, we'll put it that way. We're expecting people to want to do this. Actually, we're expecting people to need to do this. We're tuning it more to be a token cost and less of a 'holy crap, I need to save up tons of money so I can do X tonight.'

Ten Ton Hammer: Some folks think class balance will be an impossible task with the system you've described. I'm not sure how anyone can talk balance prior to beta, but how are you addressing balancing concerns from the get-go?

Scott Hartsman: Sure. Here's the thing: I love when people say, 'Oh, this is going to be hard or impossible to balance' because, to me, that means they're adept at finding ways to cheat the system, which means they're going to have fun with it. That said, there are some people who think of imbalance as a universal problem. Imbalance is only a problem if it traps users into a corner where they have no way to make their situation better. This system gives you so many tools to help you help yourself. And if something is incredibly out of whack, of course we'll deal with it.

Ten Ton Hammer: It often seems to matter more that players have the perception that classes are out of balance, whether they actually are or not. Are there things you can do at this stage to address the perception of imbalance? Sort of work on your trusting relationship with players?

Scott Hartsman: The perception of imbalance I think is always going to exist. I'm actually more afraid of systems where there is no such perception because if you have achieved perfect numeric balance, congratulations, you've just made the more boringly overbalanced game in existence. That's actually far more deadly to the success of a game than making something that had the potential to be too interesting. A lot of it will always come down to how good an individual player is behind the keyboard.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/86647

Ten Ton Hammer: Have you toyed with the idea of class build presets? Sort of the old KOTOR-ish auto-level idea?

Scott Hartsman: It's something we've talked about, but that's the kind of thing where I'd want to see what happens in beta first to determine if we really need that. In our testing so far, we have our own fair share of newbies (on a dev team this size, we have lots of people who aren't involved with the class system at all, and we haven't seen the need for it yet). If we need it, we can go that way.

Ten Ton Hammer: That kind of leads into my last question. The soul tree is a purely level-based development system; you're getting points per level to spend on classes and callings. Will there be a skill-based component to character development as well?

Scott Hartsman: Not to developing primary skills like that, no. Our tradeskill system, however, does use learned skills over time. But for combat, it's all about the leveling. You allude to something that we've had lots of conversations about, continuing to add new dimensions to the system. But we realized we were already going to have our hands full with just the system as spec'ed - we'll try that first and then see if we need new complications. So far, I think we're good. We started out on the assumption that we'd need one full time class designer to handle all the souls, and very rapidly that expanded to 3 and 4. Most games that I've worked on in the past have generally had one person or two. It's rapidly turned into something that we wanted to double down on to ensure we come up with something great. We're trying to put our money where our mouth is on that one.

[Insanecyclone]

Podcast 3
http://www.riftpodcast.com/?p=23

[Alderaan]

PC Gamer Interview (http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/07/15/create-three-class-combos-in-rift-planes-of-telara/)

Create three-class combos in Rift: Planes of Telara

You have died. That’s the start, not the end of Rift. You are simply too awesome to stay dead. Instead, you start the game fighting your way through limbo back to the land of the living, at which point you’ll emerge at an interdimensional crossroads, and into the game proper.

Rift is a fantasy MMORPG in a world that’s being invaded by not one, but about half a dozen other planes of existence. Through, yes, rifts. Game-wise, that makes it an unpredictable landscape of sudden attacks pouring out from these portals, and unexpected opportunities to jump through them and explore a completely different universe.

“The entire idea of the engine that the game sits on,” says development director Scott Hartsman, “is that it lets us do some interesting things with dynamic content that you’re not gonna see in other games.” So it’s not just a few ambling critters wandering out of a hole in spacetime – there are rival factions who can take over whole settlements depending on your actions.

http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2010/07/rift-planes-of-telara-1-590x365.jpg

“Having the world reacting to what the players are doing, so that the balance of power can be pushed from faction to faction, is definitely one of the things we’ll be doing with this system,” says Scott. “There’s a system behind it that knows the state of all the players in the world, so we have ways of intelligently doing this without stepping on the poor level six guy who just wants to beat up the undead.”

Without seeing something like that in action, it’s always hard to judge how much of it is a nice theory and how much will truly make the game world a more exciting place to be in. So the most interesting thing about Rift, to me, is the way that they’re handling classes.

“Players are ascended souls,” Scott says, “and there are some souls that weren’t quite strong enough to make it. So when you begin the game, you choose what your soul was in its life – a Pyromancer, a Nightblade – and that’s the soul you begin with. That determines your abilities, your power system, the primary resource mechanic, and the gear you can use. Then later on, through questing or advancement with NPCs, you can discover other souls. You can collect and, not to sound vampirey but, embrace these other souls.”

You can ultimately embrace up to three different souls at the same time, and they can be different classes to your own. You then pick and choose how to invest your powers across them: spreading them evenly across three different classes, keeping your original as your primary, or even investing everything in one of the new souls you’ve picked up to completely change your character. “It lets players create their own combinations of classes and cool combinations of powers that even we didn’t really foresee,” says Scott.

http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2010/07/rift-planes-of-telara-2-590x365.jpg

“In all the MMOs I’ve worked on, people have always wanted more and more ways to do interesting things with their classes, and what we’ve done is taken class play and class experimentation and almost turned it into primary gameplay.”

A quick way to find out if someone really loves the game they’re working on is to ask them how they play it. Scott immediately lights up at the question, then hesitates. “Hmm, am I playing announced classes, or classes that I can’t talk about? Right now I’ve been playing a Nightblade/Ranger combination that’s quite a bit of fun. So it’s a guy who has the ability to attack from afar, has the ability to have a buddy out there in the field, and then also has some throwing weapon abilities and an excellent melee finisher.”

Between them, Scott and his team at Trion have worked on 27 different MMORPGs. Sharing and analysing that experience has informed their decisions about Rift on every level, right down to the nitty-gritty like group size. “We’re doing five-man groups – and ten- and twenty-man raids,” says Scott. “The last few games I’ve worked on have been six person groups. The reason we ended up going with five-man groups is if you want to create challenging content, you end up having to solve what’s called the two healer problem.”

http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2010/07/rift-planes-of-telara-3-590x368.jpg

In a six-person group system,” he explains, “if you make content that’s hard, people will bring two healers to it. Two healers, a tank or two, and a couple of damage-dealers. And what happens if you balance for that kind of group is that you just make it even harder for groups to get off the ground, since healers and tanks tend to be limiting factors.”

“So our goal is to not make it even harder for players to get into groups. It’s one of those things that you don’t really realise until you’ve been doing something the same way for seven years and you think: ‘You know, there’s probably a better way of doing this.’”

It’s nice to think that the sheer number of fantasy MMORPGs out there might actually start making them better, rather than increasingly hard to tell apart.

[Insanecyclone]

I hate that I'm more excited about this than FF14.

http://www.massively.com/2010/07/19/exclusive-video-diary-of-the-souls-of-rift-planes-of-telara/

Video in link is them talking about the classes and the skill tree


You could be forgiven for not catching it immediately from our E3 hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara, but there are some unique things going on with the game's class system. It's hardly the first game to allow you to change classes, but the game also goes into combining them, shifting aspects, interplay between multiple class types... it's a maze of inter-relationships. Luckily, we have an exclusive video developer diary from the staff at Trion Worlds that discusses the whole setup at length, giving future players a much clearer overview of how the system works.

When players start, they choose one of four Callings -- Warrior, Rogue, Mage, or Cleric -- which determines the player's core playstyle. As they level, they gradually acquire Souls, and it's there that the bulk of a character's abilities come from. It's a fusion of the talent tree system popularized via World of Warcraft with something much more interesting, and the possibilities for mixing the different Souls together can give rise to all sorts of interesting theories. But don't take our word for it -- watch the exclusive developer diary just past the cut.

[Kiarax]

Oh God everyone who works there is so bald. That's a pretty damn awesome class/skill system. Still no word on a release date, right? Might have to give this a shot depending on when it comes out.

[Insanecyclone]

Oh God everyone who works there is so bald. That's a pretty damn awesome class/skill system. Still no word on a release date, right? Might have to give this a shot depending on when it comes out.

I read somewhere that it's coming out next year. I hope that means the beta will happen sometime later this year.

[Maguspk]

I am thoroughly unimpressed by everything except for the class mixing/matching they mentioned. That could be very interesting, that changes the number of 'classes' from about 8 to nearly 60 and then the allocation of skill points even further customizes each of those 'mixed classes'. The whole 'dynamic', 'world is changing around you', bullshit is just words until I see it working in practice, nearly every MMO claims this feature but none have truly implemented it well.

[Alderaan]

Insanecyclone beat me to it and i totally agree about being excited.

Also from an earlier interview Magus, they were saying that every server has the potential to be completely different depending on the players interactions. I think GW2 is also taking this same approach and it could be really interesting, provided it's implemented well like you said.

This will be interesting to see what direction certain servers take since they will be split up between PVE/PVP/RP.

[Insanecyclone]

Sounds good

http://www.massively.com/2010/07/26/rift-looking-to-be-the-social-outgoing-type/


It seems as though one of the holy grails of MMORPG development is to encourage players to be social and group up without forcing them to do so like back in the olden days of yore. Rift's creative director, Scott Hartsman, thinks the dev team's found the key to this problem: "We want our MMO to be a social experience and we've realized that it's not that people don't want to be social, it's just because they don't want to be inconvenienced."

In an interview with ZAM, Hartsman details how Rift: Planes of Telara is hoping to change the minds of players about teaming up for the game's signature instances. While a character can solo through them just fine, the more players that enter a rift equals greater amounts of experience and loot for everyone. Rifts will adjust both loot and difficulty based on the number of players involved, and Trion Worlds expects that this will go a long way to combating antisocial behavior that MMOs have encouraged.

Guilds are another facet of socialization on which Trion plans to focus. "One thing we haven't talked much about is people getting together to build their guild up and build a structure (in the metaphorical sense) that provides you and all of your friends benefits," Hartsman said. You can read the full interview, including details on PvP, at ZAM.

http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=22861 2 page interview

[Lucavi]

FF typically goes the other way: the more people, the less XP and incentives for everyone. Good to see a developer that gets it. The most fun I've had in MMOs or MMORPGs was banding up and getting more xp/loot, ala. diablo, dungeon seige, ect.

[Insanecyclone]

Newsletter mentioned beta keys.


Join us at GamesCom and PAX for Rift Beta codes!

Players at GamesCom 2010 in Cologne, Germany expect to be awed by Rift: Planes of Telara, and Trion is coming through big-time. Anyone who visits the Trion Worlds booth will have their dedication rewarded with a free chance to join the upcoming Rift closed Beta. If you can't make it out to Cologne, fans attending Seattle's PAX will receive Beta codes as well.

Many exciting revelations await GamesCom attendees, including a chance to play the Guardians faction. The original Ascended, the Guardians have their own vision for Telara as they step up to confront both the all-consuming Regulos and the rebellious Defiant. Players will brave new zones and confront new creatures invading Telara through blazing Fire Rifts, all of which will be unveiled at GamesCom and PAX.

http://www.riftgame.com/en/classes/warrior/paladin.php


Paladins stand as a bulwark against their foes, deflecting even the most monstrous blows with their heavy shield and divine blessings. These glorious defenders of the weak deflect incoming damage and retaliate with devastating counterattacks. Martial skill and the blessing of their patron gods let Paladins extend their protection to nearby allies. Fans can learn more about Paladins on the Rift: Planes of Telara website.

[Alderaan]

Zone Preview: Gloamwood

Huge pics
http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/218/0/ http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/219/0/ http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/220/0/ http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/221/0/ http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/222/0/ http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/226/0/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNXq1JeJZXE

Zone Preview: Darkening Deeps

http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/248/0/ http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/249/0/ http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/250/0/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zxyH0Fo1KU


Both of these look dark as hell compared to the E3 vids of the bright planes of Telara.

[Purrrfect]

Beta selection thread
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?1922-The-Official-Beta-Selection-Thread&p=59655#post59655

[Lucavi]

Reminds me of a Dungeon Siege MMO, which is great in my book. Best of luck to this game.

[Insanecyclone]

Beta selection thread
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?1922-The-Official-Beta-Selection-Thread&p=59655#post59655

:hamster:

[Alderaan]

Meh, i hate the way they're selecting for beta. I have a total of i think 9 posts on their forum. It does encourage people to not be tools on their forum and hopefully builds a better community, which is what they're going after, i suppose.

[Hyan]

Hmm so if they're inviting people to beta already when is the estimated release date?

[Purrrfect]

Spring '11 I think? I was a little let down about the posting thing, though shouldn't have been a surprise, Tera did the exact same thing for the FGT2 selections. I believe my post in that thread was maybe my 3rd on the board...

[Alderaan]

http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/hands-on-preview-part-1

5 new classes!

* Pyromancer
* Assassin
* Sentinel
* Beastmaster
* Saboteur


An exclusive first look at Trion’s upcoming MMOG
Very recently, Ten Ton Hammer was among the first group of gamers to spend some hands-on time with Rift: Planes of Telara. For this part of the preview, we'll explore never-before-seen classes, character creation, and the new starting areas of Shadowlands, Free Marches, and Silverwood. Along the way, we'll delve deeper into concepts like character progression and rifts and discover never before discussed topics like the death penalty, early boss encounters, professions and crafting. All that, plus some close-up impressions of one of Rift's never-before-revealed classes in part 1 of our first ever Rift: Planes of Telara hands-on preview!

New Classes and Character Creation

After settling into our seats at Trion's posh Redwood City studios, the first step was to make our characters. While we were busy toggling and sliding, Trion Creative Director Scott Hartsman took the opportunity to dispel some misconceptions about the game's player factions, specifically the Guardians. In our first Rift interview with Scott, he noted that it isn't as simple as the Guardians are good and the Defiants are evil. Instead, the Guardians serve the gods and the Defiants serve their technology. And both sides view each other as dangerous, if not outright evil.

Nightblade
http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/87880/preview

Scott took this point further, noting that in the lore, the Guardians are far from a bunch of white hats. Only the smartest and best at killing made their way back from the Shadowlands to take on Ascension at the hands of the gods, regardless of their moral choices in life. The gods simply need an army of the strongest fighters imaginable, and the souls that fell short... well, that's where the game's dual-classing system comes in. You can tack on these souls to become even more varied and powerful, but more on that below.

In Rift, souls (or classes) are split down the Guardian / Defiant divide. We were introduced to several previously undisclosed souls, primarily on the Guardian side. A few of these classes included the Sentinel (a healer in the classic sense), the Pyromancer (fire-based DPS and direct damage), the Assassin (a poison DoT rogue), the Beastmaster (loads of pets and DPS), and one of my new favorites, the Saboteur (a class that specializes in sneaking up to five bombs onto a target, then detonating them - preferably when the mob is appropriately loaded down with de-buffs).

Your character will look pretty good, especially for a recently dead guy. Character creation is as rich and detailed as you'd expect in a modern RPG, complete with the en vogue triangular sliders for face and body shape, loads of hair styles, et al. The only sour note (and this too seems to be a trend) is the lack of a fantasy name generator. Being that this is how I and a number of my friends found our gamer tags in the first place, I'd hate for Rift to make the omission, but we'll chalk it up to the game being in late alpha.

And that brings me to my next point. Rift is officially in late alpha, but through level 12 (the highest I could get in our five hours with the game) it's more polished than games I've played in late beta. The options included novelties such as adjusting "footstep volume" (strange how much this can grate on you after a while), convincing goblin voiceovers, multiple combat and death animations for enemy groups, and swimming doesn't give you vasoline eyes and the inevitable smeary underwater zone headache. The Rift devs even took a page out of the FPS playbook: if you start to run short on hitpoints, the screen starts to grey out and your hear your heart beating faster.

Shadowlands

The Shadowlands is what Scott called "the island on Telara's River Styx - you're dead but not quite dead." It's your introduction to what your side - Guardian or Defiant - believes, who you are, what your mission is, and what your race has endured. Better yet, Shadowlands isn't a single player tutorial , but a true multiplayer experience hosting up to 30 people from your faction, complete with substantial opportunities to group within your first fifteen minutes of gameplay.

Satyr Dominator
http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/87874/preview

Shadowlands is darkly gorgeous, heavy in contrasty blacks and purple hues and pierced by otherworldly light. Dead souls fell ominously from the sky like a meteor shower, only to be absorbed by the Shadowlands' soil. Meanwhile, ghastly creatures kept guard over the paths to the purifying shrine (Guardians) or technological wonder (Defiants) that would take my reincarnated character back to Telara. These creatures were a little terrifying too, especially if you zoomed into first person view. And yes, you can go first-person, and it's one of Rift's many little wonders - fun in snatches but inadvisable when fighting with potential adds beside and behind you. But it's not all darkness and despair; the landscape is full of trees, glens, streambeds, and comfortably twisted takes on a nice enough earthly landscape.

At spawn-in I was told that I have two soul tree points, so I immediately I got a taste of one of Rift's defining systems. Disparaged by some as simply Rift's take on talent trees, having experienced the soul tree firsthand I can say that it's not just a system of enhancements for your abilities. Instead, your choices in the Soul Tree determine what spells you'll have, both directly and indirectly. As a direct damage-dealing pyromancer, for example, I started out by enhancing my fireball and flame dart abilities with soul tree points. So far this sounds pretty familiar, right? But spending those points on unrelated abilities unlocked a new flame armor self-buff in a separate part of the soul tree. A few short levels later I obtained my fourth point which, once spent, granted me a spell which drains charge (charge builds as spells and abilities are used, much like rage with a WoW warrior) to increase the damage output of my fire spells. It's worth noting that in addition to Soul Tree enhancements, players can spend money at a trainer in town to rank up their spells and abilities too.

Respecing, multiple specs, and the ability to switch out specs on the fly are a fundamental part of Rift's character development. "People love playing with combinations. The idea is to facilitate it and turn it into fun rather than having people pay obscene amounts of money to respec." -Scott explained that player can buy up to four loadouts to switch between any time they're not in combat. If you notice your healer is having a tough time keeping your tank battle-ready, maybe you can switch to a build that includes minor healing. Or maybe a boss mob has lots of knockback - why not switch to a build with more ranged capability? 270+ combinations result from taking on up to three souls (two plus your starting soul). Won't that variance lead to a balancing nightmare? "We fully expect that people will discover new and exciting things that never occurred to us, and that's ok... that's part of the fun. We're not trying to overbalance everything and make everyone feel exactly the same."

Scarred Mire Ranger
http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/87882/preview

Shadowlands also featured the first glimpse of dynamic content in the form of a extra-planar tear; a tear that can quickly grow into a rift. Planar tears are the start of an invasion from the planes of fire, water, life, and death. Minions from these planes seek soulstone, as do the Guardians (who use it to gain power from the gods) and Defiants (who use it to power their technology). Players can use Planar Lure items to enter the rift and fight the baddies before they're ready, but if tears are left unaddressed, tears become rifts, and rifts become huge and terrifying. The plane of fire rift in the Guardian Shadowlands quickly grew to a hissing maelstrom that dominated the skybox in a matter of minutes. Rifts - early ones at least, are soloable, multiple stage battles provide encounter-changing consumables and loot (via a nifty UI frame, I might add, that saves you from having to loot a chest at the Rift site). Rifts, however, have been compared to Warhammer Online's public quests, and not without good reason. But rifts can turn into something much more than simple, localized PQs, but for that you'll have to stay tuned for part 2 of Ten Ton Hammer's hands-on with Rift.

Silverwood and Free Marches
Following a harrowing multi-stage boss encounter at level 5ish, your character will be transported to Telara. For Guardians, this means the lush sylvan dreamscape of Silverwood in the north, for Defiants it means the slightly more foreboding Freemarch area in the south. Advance parties of extra-planar minions stalk both areas, warping and empowering the local flora and fauna to the whims of their masters. Tears and Rifts break out in greater frequency here, and quests begin to revolve around putting an end to the growing distubances.

Meridian Warlock Purifier
http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/87879/preview

While we weren't able to craft anything usable at this early stage, some of the gathering professions were represented by trainers upon zone in. Butchering, mining, and gathering were among the trainable professions in the Free Marches and Silverwood starting area. Mining nodes randomly spawned atop rock outcroppings and Free Marches, being a bit more stark, is better suited for miners. Silverwood, on the other hand, seemed to contain more gathering nodes, and both areas were rife with animal-like enemies for butchering. Players can train a max of three professions and can retrain anytime, so it's worthwhile to train these professions even if you don't plan on crafting much for the extra soul tree training cash.

I spent the bulk of my hands-on time in Silverwood, playing in an around the level 9+ Argent Glade area deeper in Silverwood, and my Pyromancer continued to develop new skills, including a seven second root (perfect for kiting) and a long-lasting casting circle that amped up my damage spells even more. I evolved a tactic of creating a casting circle then moving forward a short distance and hitting the enemy with a long-cast fireball to pull, then using flame darts as the mob approached. Then I used the fire net ability to hold the mob in place moved back into the casting circle, and hit it with another volley of fireballs and flame darts. It worked pretty well, and I was pleasantly surprised that these kind of tactics were available even before level 10.

I looted my first collection around this time too. Scott explained that Rift will follow the EverQuest II model of collections, meaning that collections aren't just completionist tasks. Well, they are, but collections can be turned in or "stashed" (as Scott put it) for rewards.

It was in Silverwood that I had my first brush with death in Rift. It's been some time since anyone's tinkered with the MMO death mechanic. Rift's take? Once an hour, instead of respawning at a bind point, you can undertake a "Soul Walk." That sounds very nice and peaceful, but really it's eleven seconds of sheer terror as you rise from your corpse and run away from whatever killed you (and other things that want to kill you). Escape, and you're rewarded with no loss of progress or death penalty. In Rift, you're penalized for the crime of dying by surrendering a chunk of your hitpoint and power bars, and one way to gain back your precious pools is to eat special foods. The penalty is punishing but not too punishing, and the Soul Walk reintroduces some corpse run-esque excitement to a tired old mechanic.

Hopes and Fears
The Soul Walk, represents the proper mix of old and new required to successfully innovate on core gameplay. Truthfully, Rift is full of these sorts of minor innovations which add up to major improvement. Rifts resemble PQs but are (as I'll show you in part 2 of this hands-on report) PQs with a purpose. The Soul Tree is much like a talent tree, but offers more (including good reasons to spend points that players typically hoard). Aspects of classes and combat are very familiar, but Rift gives you more options sooner. Best of all, a comfortable level of solo and co-op challenge is back for low level players of a top-tier fantasy MMORPG.

Skeletal Barbarian
http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/87875/preview

That's not to say that I don't have concerns, primarily with how Rift is interpreted. Trion has garnered top devs from across the industry. More than a few of these devs, such as Class Designer Adam Gershowitz, came from the Warhammer Online design team, and classes like the Pyromancer and Sword Dancer bear a striking resemblance to WAR classes like the Bright Wizard and Blade Master (respectively). Many believe that imbalance (or at least the perception of imbalance) played a big role in WAR's cold reception, and Scott Hartsman has made it known that some imbalance (especially in light of the 270 soul combinations) will be an ongoing part of the game.

While we didn't see an PvP action this time around, we did sneak a peak at UI frame labeled Warfronts. No details were available on this feature, but it seems likely that Rift is also adopting another favorite feature from Warhammer Online: scenarios. If that's the case, players who put a strong emphasis on fair play (or believe themselves to be the sole arbiter of fair play) will get to compare classes fairly early in the game, rather than when the Guardians in the north finally clash with the Defiants in the south at higher levels.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The most promising thing about Rift is how far along the game is even in closed alpha, meaning there will be plenty of time to get all the kinks worked out. And we haven't yet covered some of the more exciting things about PvE, such as what Rifts evolve into and what awaits players in dungeons and instances. This and more in part 2 of our Rift: Planes of Telara First Hands-On Preview!

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.curse.com/articles/rift-news/799723.aspx


Last week we were able to get our hands on an exclusive showing of Rift: Planes of Telara! We were able to take our starting character from level 1-11, check out some of the starting quests/zones, and participate in a level 20 instance with a group.


Starting

The folks at Trion set up a beautiful play testing area for us and Scott Hartsman gave us a brief introduction to the game including the two factions Defiants and Guardians. Although it might sound like good and evil, both sides are committed to achieving their goals and will do whatever is necessary. Guardians do it while serving the old gods, and the Defiants have turned to new technologies. He also mentioned that the way Guardians Ascend is by being the best at fighting and killing in their past life. Both Guardians and Defiants are brought back by the gods who are amassing an army of the strongest individuals, regardless of which way their moral compass pointed in their past life.
Playing The Game

Character Creation - The character creator is as lush as any major MMO. There are options to customize nearly every aspect of your character

Polish, Movement, Extras - Rift: Planes of Telara has an incredible level of polish and ran very well. For a game currently advertised in Alpha, it felt more like an open beta client and really impressed.

Character movement is very intuitive and feels like other MMOs. Camera angles could zoom in, zoom out, and felt completely fleshed out.

The team really put some thought into making the game enjoyable and alleviating painful tasks. For example they added the ability to click once to loot multiple surrounding drops (an excellent feature for anyone who's been mobbed by lots of quest spawn). Players also don't need to worry about repairing armor, and sitting out after a death (detailed in interview below).

Leveling and Early Gameplay - We were able to reach level 12, the highest level of the day by anyone in the press group (Go Curse!), and ran through around 30 quests. The most impressive feature of Rift was the absolute lack of any grinding through level 12. In the lower level areas the quests focus more on exploration, interaction with the map, and solving problems more than killing wingbats and bringing back their toes to the smelly old guy who collects them. It kept the game fun, and intriguing during the playtest. You also really get a feel for the soul system, and are actively changing your talents and spec as soon as you hit level 2. Making a few quick changes to my character before hitting the next quest made a huge difference in my play style and kept me constantly trying new combinations.

During a quest we came upon a swirly logo on the world map and encountered our first Rift. Rifts provide a ton of content, massive spawn (massive means massive, during one encounter huge mobs were dropping from the sky while these massive tentacle like creatures started appearing in the sky, very cool), lots of fighting, and great XP/loot. Closing the rift took about 15 minutes and absolutely had me excited to find another one and see what would come out of it.

Through level 12 we were able to see three distinct zones, completely fleshed out with NPC's, Vendors, Quests, Mobs, and a large area to explore. Even when exploring areas that were not related to quests we had or areas we were supposed to be near, it was still very apparent that the entire zone had the same level quality.

High Level Instance - Toward the end of the playtest the folks at Trion let us hop on level 20 pre-mades to try our hands at an instance. We played a DPS class character and were able to use the soul system to pick a combination of spells and abilities. The final boss of the instance was a ridiculously huge turtle/frog like beast the spewed purple venom vomit and was incredibly hard to kill. As a group we wiped about 8-9 times, and granted most of us were not familiar with our spell set or our surroundings, but the instance was very challenging and required a lot of team work.

We were able to catch up with Scott Hartsman a few days after the playtest for some follow up Q&A; enjoy!
Q&A With Scott Hartsman

Curse: The screenshots have shown consistent armor styles. Will armor vary graphically by archetype, or by souls. Is the equipment itself restricted to a particular soul?

Scott Hartsman: We will be locking it to archetype. Through a lot of the releases we've done so far, we've been sticking to certain armor sets, but as more armor sets come online over time you're going to see that look evolve, and since we are locking it to archetype, that really lets us do A LOT more visuals. For example, everytime you make a piece of armor you have to fit it to every race/gender combination in the game, and because of our archetype lock and number of race/genders we're going to be launching with more armor models than are available in many other MMOS. We're currently targeting about 15 or 16 base models.

Curse: Can you talk to us a little about death penalties in the game and how they will work?

Scott Hartsman: The one we've been play testing with for the last few months is a penalty to max health that players can eat away. It's tested really well, with a few balance tweaks, for example, what does it cost to get the food that removes the penalty, and how long does it take to eat away the penalty. Those are our tuning points.

Curse: What are the mechanics of multiplayer combat, are there combinations, how will players be able to work together using the different classes or soul system?

Scott Hartsman: The classes themselves are supposed to create synergies pretty well with each other. We're investing more time and effort into letting players discover souls and how they interact with each other on their own. Using different souls will create interesting combos as players learn how to use them over time. Our game is more about the individual souls themselves and the interactions that players can discover on their own.

Curse: Regarding end game content and progression - will certain content be gated off via flags and keys, or is it planned to be accessible to everyone from the beginning?

Scott Hartsman: When we release the world we want it to be as open as possible. We won't be setting flags or gates, ours will be can you kill it or will it kill you. It's not about questing for 80 hours to try and get somewhere.

Curse:: How many points will you have available for your souls at max level? Previous info alludes to 1 per level, but the last root ability is at 51 points. Is there any point acquisition aside from leveling?

Scott Hartsman: It is tied to one point per level, and what we fully expect to happen when we release is the same thing that's happening now in testing. We made the idea of having different roles, or what you might think of as a spec, available for purchase. So don't think of it as "man I've only got one point, and if I want ability X I have to invest in all of it and now I'm locked in". If you have four roles you can swap back and forth between, then great, you might have a paladin soul you use for a dungeon, and then one push button away you have a role that has spoints spread across other souls. The character I'm playing on alpha right now has two specs I use, if I'm just plugging through content I'm just 100% Beastmaster. I can also switch to my soul set that's 75% paladin, and 25% beastmaster because there are some good synergies there. Then when I want something new I switch to my other set which is part Champion and part Beastmaster. The point is you're able to take on multiple roles and switch between them at will. You can buy additional role slots at your trainer and you're able to put the roles right on your hot bar and swap anytime you're not in combat. It gives players a level of infinite discovery, and lets them find new and interesting combos to do without getting tired of their characters.

Curse: Does equipment use a durability system where all equipment must eventually be replaced, or is it tied to the death penalty and then repaired back to full indefinitely?

Scott Hartsman: There is none, the penalty for death is you lose some of your hit point cap/health cap, until it goes away. As far as equipment it will not break down or change. You do not need to go to Timmy the blacksmith to repair your epic armor.

Curse: Has anything regarding faction-specific souls been finalized? Will some souls be permanently locked off to a faction?

Scott Hartsman: At the moment the only locks we have in testing, are the choices you make when you first create your character. As you level up, are offered quests, and find other opportunities to get souls, you'll find that both sides have access to the same souls. There are some fictional gymnastics that we have to do to make that make sense, but at the end of the day we felt the need to do that - we didn't want to create a situation where we would have to balance the sides, and that isn't a winning road for players or us.

Thanks Scott and Trion for the great experience, we are anxiously looking forward to this new MMO!

[Priran]

sounds like aion with the ratio of asia grinder:WoW tilted even further towards WoW

[Alderaan]

There appears to be actual content, so i'm not sure where anything, other than the "rift", sounds like anything remotely similar to Aion or Asian grinder. This is an NA game with very respected devs that actually know what's going on.

[Priran]

things other than the defining feature that are similar to aion:


the Saboteur (a class that specializes in sneaking up to five bombs onto a target, then detonating them - preferably when the mob is appropriately loaded down with de-buffs).

In our first Rift interview with Scott, he noted that it isn't as simple as the Guardians are good and the Defiants are evil... both sides view each other as dangerous, if not outright evil....

Only the smartest and best at killing made their way back from the Shadowlands to take on Ascension at the hands of the gods

The character creator is as lush as any major MMO. There are options to customize nearly every aspect of your character

Curse: Can you talk to us a little about death penalties in the game and how they will work?

Scott Hartsman: The one we've been play testing with for the last few months is a penalty to max health that players can eat away. It's tested really well, with a few balance tweaks, for example, what does it cost to get the food that removes the penalty

For eons, the Ward held. And then, abruptly, it was breached... and a devastating magical disaster known as the Shade swept across the land, destroying or maiming whatever it touched.

Soul Attunement is the player’s ability to commune with the souls of Telara’s honored dead and gain their powers and abilities

also the art looks very similar to aion

what I meant is that this game looks and sounds like someone looked at the disaster that was Aion and decided it was interesting but they could do it better

[eunhye]

I think Hartsman is the original Eq1 developer

[Lucavi]

Game sounds pretty badass, and to me, that mostly stems from what others call and consider "fluff". Footstep sound adjustments and a seemingly-intense focus on the little things have me looking at this game more and more for a "non-pretty" alternate to FFXIV when I get tired of the stiffness and rigidity that that game is going to offer.

Thanks for keeping these updates coming.

[Man0warr]

I think Hartsman is the original Eq1 developer

Nah he joined EQ1 after it had been bought by SOE, around the Luclin expansion I think. He went on to totally reinvigorate EQII after it's dreadful launch + first couple expansions - he was heavily involved with the Secrets of Faydwer and Rise of Kunark expansions (2 of the best expansions for EQII).

He is rather respected by most of the gaming community that are in the know. He also trolls and responds to threads on some of the major MMO gaming forums like FoHguild.org

There are a lot of ex EQ/Vanguard people working on Rifts though, including one of the original EQ guys Bill Trost - some think he is the actual genius behind EverQuest (the first few years, release + Kunark + Velious) rather than Brad McQuaid - who was later found out to be a complete nutjob and addict after the inner workings of Vanguard were revealed.

Anyways, I have high hopes for Rifts solely because of Scott Hartsman.

[Alderaan]

Sentinel Soul Announced
http://www.telaracentral.com/?p=603#more-603


http://216.81.70.212/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/sentinel_shadow12.bmp

Sentinel – “It is easy to have faith in one god. I have seen the truth of the universe, devoted myself to the Vigil as a whole. I bring succor to the one and the whole alike.”

Overview

The Sentinel brings the blessings of light to all who do the will of the gods. Capable of healing many wounded at one time, Sentinels bolster their allies and protect themselves with divine wrath.

Strengths

Sentinels are defensive clerics who excel at group support. Their divine powers aid the weak and ensure that everyone in their group lives through the fray.

Weaknesses

Sentinels sacrifice offense for a strong defense, and thus struggle to deal massive damage to their opponents.

Background

Unable to reconcile the contradictions between the gods, the Elf initiate Niyol Cliffswind made a pilgrimage to Hammerknell. In the capitol of the Elves’ ancient enemies, the Dwarves, he tried to learn how Bahralt’s bustling cities could coexist with Tavril’s pristine wilderness.

His days there were a misery: jostled and berated, unable to gain audience with a priest of Bahralt. Then one night, a lynch mob pulled Niyol from his bed. “Filthy spy!“ they cried, for an Elvish surprise attack had breached the city walls. Dragged toward the gibbet, Niyol heard the clamor as fighting raged through Hammerknell.

The Elf vanguard burst into the grand hall just as the hangman fitted a noose to Niyol’s neck. A moment later, the dwarf fell with an arrow in his throat, knocking Niyol off his bench. The rope drew tight.

Battle choked the Dwarven hall, yet no combatant who fought near Niyol succumbed to their wounds. Even as he swung from the noose, the initiate mouthed a healing prayer, offering his last breath to save kinfolk and persecutors alike.

http://216.81.70.212/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/group_titans_rest_016.bmp

White light poured from the eyes of every statue to a god in Hammerknell, the words of his prayer booming from stone lips. Anyone who saw the light was healed; everyone who heard the words succumbed to a quiet serenity.

As the Elves lay down their arms, the Dwarves cut Niyol down and declared him a saint. Both sides pledged alliance ever after, and the mendicant went on his way.

The Elf commander had heard of Niyol’s pilgrimage, and asked if he had learned how the gods could overcome their conflicts.

“Each god values the life of each and every mortal. In this, there is unity,” Niyol said with the sure, clear voice of enlightenment.

Niyol spent many years spreading his revelation, performing miracles, finding in every culture a link to the divine. When the gods formed the Vigil, Niyol’s sentinels spread hope through unity to all the people of Telara.

http://216.81.70.212/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/sentinel_random_012.bmp

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.massively.com/2010/08/18/massivelys-hands-on-with-rift-planes-of-telaras-dynamic-conte/

2 page hands on of the dynamic content.

[Alderaan]

http://www.massively.com/2010/08/18/massivelys-hands-on-with-rift-planes-of-telaras-dynamic-conte/

2 page hands on of the dynamic content.


http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively.com/media/2010/08/orphsl01.jpg

Just a few weeks ago, I was invited to attend Trion Worlds' Gamer's Day in San Francisco to get some hands-on time with a couple of the company's upcoming titles, including Rift: Planes of Telara. If Rift seems to have come out of nowhere, that might be due both to the acquisition of EverQuest II veteran Scott Hartsman to head the project as chief creative manager, and to a clever name change meant to reflect the team's shift in development focus.

In fact, that shift in development focus is precisely what I was at Trion's studio to test -- I got to check out the Rifts themselves in all their glory, in the context of the greater dynamic content system that the developers are so excited about. Massively's writers have been able to play and report on character creation and the starting areas of Rift several times over the last year or so, including earlier this summer at E3. But until today's embargo lift (coinciding with the reveal at Gamescom), no one had quite seen the fabled planar invasions and takeovers in action.

Now we have.

The very first thing I got to do was roll up a new character. I kinda knew what to expect, since our previous demos of Rift all started this way too. What I wasn't expecting were the new classes not yet revealed or only hinted at in earlier articles. Paladins, assassins, sentinels, and pyromancers (the last two since revealed officially) were among the new classes I spied; I also caught a glimpse of the Kelari and the Dwarves, who were also announced in the interim (we were assured that female Dwarves are en route and will not, in all likelihood, have beards). I must say that the Eth are hardly done justice by their portrayal on the official site. Characters of all genders seemed more or less well-proportioned and realistic (no one looked ready to keel over due to being, shall we say, top-heavy). I saw a good mix of eye colors, hair styles, and skin tones (important to me after all too many games sporting a hundred shades of pasty). It's no Star Wars Galaxies when it comes to character customization, but it doesn't have to be.

Eye-candy

I was particularly impressed at how lovely all of the characters were at creation. It seems to me that Trion has found the sweet-spot between so-few-options-that-everyone-looks-the-same and so-many-options-that-there's-a-million-ways-to-make-an-ugly-character. And I don't just say that because I'm obsessed with my character having just the right shade of lilac eyes. The game is split into two extremely interesting philosophical factions -- the faithy Guardians hand-picked by the gods to save the world, and the anti-theist Defiants who decide to bypass those useless gods and save the world themselves using technomagery. And if you know anything about games with two factions, you know that no amount of deep philosophizing and backstory about the lore of these two sides will ever, ever convince the players that one side isn't good and the other isn't evil. That dichotomy is inevitable. Players can't resist taking shortcuts to conclusions like these. So it's especially important that the "obviously evil" side not also be loaded down with a grotesque sideshow of freakish and unappealing races or species, or players will look only at that and sort themselves accordingly, just as in World of Warcraft and EverQuest II and Warhammer Online: goodie-two-shoes on one side, hardcore thuggin' on the other. Sure, the noble, holy Guardian faction gets the High Elves and sure I saw some angel-wing spell effects floating around, but the Defiants' humanoids are exotic and beautiful too. The team's goal is to banish those cheap storyline cliches and make the players' choices more about philosophy than about whose butt you want to stare at all the way to 50.

In any case, it's not just the characters who are appealing -- everything is exceptionally beautiful. The game is clearly employing clever tricks to reduce the strain of all the eye-candy (low polygon counts on things like foliage and reduced landscape textures when your attention is elsewhere), but the world is nevertheless gorgeous, and the devs are sparing no expense when it comes to the stuff players look at all the time. The particle effects are splashy and fun; the level-up effects are compelling; and the NPCs are ridiculously detailed and appealing. Heck, in some places, the terrain was so lush and the grass so thick that I could hardly see the LotRO-style targeting circle at the mobs' feet. It was fun to hear some of the Trion employees (who hadn't yet seen all of the characters we were running into) gasp with surprise at how amazing it all looked as the sum of its parts. They almost seemed shocked at their own handiwork. And maybe they should be -- I was similarly unprepared for the shock of seeing an NPC in game who looked identical to the impressive concept art on the site. Not since Guild Wars have I seen something like that! I was also gratified to see that female NPCs had a nice mix of clothing and armor both chaste and racy, unlike characters in some games I could note.

Pew pew and pets

I decided, in the end, to roll up a Defiant elementalist, complete with her "charge" bar -- every class has a unique mechanic, and the mage classes get a fun little bar that improves their boom factor. I don't usually go for mages straightaway in MMOs because I find fire spells a bit on the dull side, but I do love earth and water and air magic. The elementalist begins life with an earth elemental pet, crystalline earth shards, an earth ward, and... lightning comin' outta the sky? Yes please. I haven't really seen a good magician class since EverQuest, and I've been jonesing for my earth controller in City of Heroes.

Let me rephrase here. I shouldn't say my character begins life -- I ought to say she was reborn, as that is the chosen game mechanic. Every player character has died and is returning to the land of the living to save the world via sheer will. I jumped into the Shadowlands newbie area and proceeded to carve a path through the lowbie mobs -- rather, my pet did. Pet controls were lined up just like LotRO's or WoW's, and my pet was chomping down on mobs with barely any input from me, which is exactly the reason pet classes are so much fun -- laziness! The earthie was surprisingly well-animated and put to shame such pets in other games (I'm sorry, Mister Poo). I discovered that I would later get an air elemental pet too, along with an arsenal including fire to round out the elementalist. Earthie and I smashed our way through the now-expected assortment of kill, click, travel, possession, and gather quests, cackling gleefully at the iconic death squeal of the newbie mobs (will those be so adorable after a thousand squeals?).

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively.com/media/2010/08/emnightblade12bmpjpgcopy.jpg

Your roots are showing

Since I keep comparing Rift to other games, I should get something out of the way. I'm a WoW fangirl. In fact I've played so much WoW that when I take a break to sample other games, I suffer a strange readjustment period. WoW makes me forget how much clunk there is in gaming. There's something about WoW's combat and movement system that's so smooth; there's a brilliant, intuitive intersection of animation and effects at play. Most games -- even those I love (hi LotRO!) -- just don't have that. They have funky skidding feet and pauses and jerking, and nothing ever works quite like you expect. WoW just works in a comfortable and organic way without any fuss, and you never notice how polished it is until you try to play something else.

So please understand that I mean it as a high compliment when I say that Rift: Planes of Telara has borrowed many of WoW's very best assets, including a distinct lack of movement clunk. I kept hearing caveats like "it's still in alpha" -- and indeed, the other media folks and I were playing on the alpha server along with alpha testers and internal testers, and every time we found a bug, someone would call upstairs and add it to some poor programmer's to-do list -- but I'll be frank and say I've seen releases from top-tier companies that were far less polished than this. Granted, we were a bit on rails during the Rift testing, but we got to play for several hours across several zones and instances. What I saw was polished and playable, and I was feeling completely comfortable with the game within about 15 minutes. If this is alpha, and content implementation continues at this pace and quality, I have high hopes for launch.

But Rift has significantly more in common with WoW and the preceding generation of games than just fluid movement and animations. Mobs and quest objects glitter to catch your attention. Inventory bags pop up like WoW's old standard. Merchants sell food and water to restore health and mana, along with familiar scrolls and potions to restore the same. Combat text scrolls along overhead. A resting mechanic rewards you for time offline. Emotes weren't quite finished yet (no /spit? what!?) but /wave worked just fine. Rift is even eschewing ammo for its ranged classes just like Cataclysm will. Stylistically, of course, it probably leans more heavily on newer games like Allods Online or Warhammer Online, whose updated graphics and interesting melds of fantasy and steampunk-lite make for strangely gritty cartoon settings. Scott Hartsman told us that the game will ship with a full complement of crafting professions, as well, from which players can choose three per character. In fact, three is precisely what I saw in the early areas; there were NPCs willing to train butchering, mining, and foraging. Rift will do away with crafting tools altogether, leaving your bag space open for the good stuff.

It also seems as though Trion has grand plans for PvP akin to WoW's and WAR's. Although I did not get to participate in any PvP at the event (unless you count the /kill cheat!), I did flip my way to a game panel sporting several joinable PvP battlegrounds, called Warfronts. I saw several lower-level battlegrounds tiered for levels 8-10, 16-20, and 10-19, marked as capture-the-flag events. We know Rift will offer both PvP and PvE servers, and the Trion team assured us that a PvP-flagging mechanic would be in place even on PvE servers, allowing for both consensual PvP and PvP during city raids (yes, city raids!). In fact, Scott told us that the team is considering allowing experience to be gained during PvP sessions, if that doesn't prove too unbalancing to the world-experience and dungeon-experience formulae.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively.com/media/2010/08/04autumnterrace22.jpg

Interface and mods

Rift has a standard, modern interface that's easy on the eyes and simple to learn. Players of the major MMOs of the last few years will be right at home with button bars, minimaps, party windows, and so on. The map includes a quest tracker, quest pointers, quest pop-ups, and quest map-highlighting (something that's becoming more and more standard for the genre). I found the UI a bit clunky for healing (more on that later) but honestly that's because I'm spoiled by games like WoW with their huge array of addons. Healing in almost every MMO is an awkward flurry of clicking at UI elements and inefficient eye-movement as you try to monitor too many bars set just too far apart. It just seems out of place in a game like Rift -- a game in which the designers are intentionally attempting to focus player attention on the center of the screen, not the periphery. Being the mod-junkie I am, I asked Scott Hartsman specifically about Rift's future insofar as addons and was told that the team is currently planning for basics like resizing, rescaling, transparency, and possibly even skinning, but that we shouldn't expect full-scale modding at launch. Scott suggested that the framework for such addons might be a post-launch project. I pouted, but I can understand the decision to polish first and pile on later.

Different strokes

Some of the genre staples Rift has borrowed have been vastly improved. For example, Rift features an elaborate achievements and collections system that rewards the player with various cosmetic bonuses like pets, mounts, and titles, without bogging him down with tedious grind. Several of these items dropped for me in the lowbie zone and I had only to click them to add them to my collections panel. Interestingly, Trion has chosen to tally your achievement points (though not achievements themselves) across your entire account, meaning that you haven't got to be a completionist on every character -- unless you really want to be.

I hardly had time to peek at my character's talent pane let alone play with respecs, but my glimpses showed talent trees very similar to WoW's -- with a multi-classing twist. Much has been said on Rift's elaborate build system, and for good reason -- few MMOs give players so many options to build their characters just the way they like. While we'll not be able to change our initial calling (i.e., class), players will be able to pick and choose skills and talents from all of the possible callings to craft their own hybrids -- ideally, players can choose to spec wide or spec deep. Scott told us that he estimated there would be over 270 combos at launch. And you'll get to try many of those out -- each character can have up to four loadouts at a time, so you can have your normal adventuring build, a build for when the guild needs you to tank, a farming setup, and maybe a build for PvP. Not every combo will work for every situation, and the team believes that by allowing everyone to do everything, balance issues will be mitigated. Easy respecialization built right into primary gameplay will help too -- respecs can be performed on the fly anywhere when not in combat. You can actually swap in a different build for trash mobs vs. bosses!

So how dynamic is dynamic?

I should have been prepared for Rifts and yet I wasn't. Public quests aren't new; several Mythic games like Ultima Online and Warhammer Online have them, and Champions Online polished them into a quality MMO concept. But Rifts... Rifts are even better. When you see one pop up on your map or minimap, you can gather up your friends and charge on in, forcing the Rift to open on its own if it's being pokey. Entering the area will provoke a pop-up with instructions for completing the encounter. The Rift will transform the landscape and spawn waves of mobs, scaled to the folks in the area. Solo? No problem. Twenty of your best friends? Rift can handle big. You needn't even be grouped up; your contribution is tallied individually, and even if you should perish, a convenient pop-up loot panel will ensure that you're properly rewarded for your efforts (and everyone is rewarded with something -- no losers here!). I found the Rifts to be pretty spooky and entertaining, if over a little too fast for my over-eager groupmates. Presumably, higher-level public quests will be more difficult, and they seemed to be propagating fairly consistently since so many of us were in the zone.

"An enemy planar boss and his minions had spawned, and they were steadily marching toward the nearest town, intent on laying waste to my allies."
Past the newbie zone, the map widened considerably and became dotted with the multi-colored warning symbols of enemy footholds. These enemy base camps are generated randomly based on zone participation, and can be attacked and subdued for fortune and glory just as Rifts can. In fact, if two opposing footholds spawn too close to each other, they are very likely to begin fighting each other (since the planes are all at war, too). I really loved that I could see the enemy's position on the large map, as if I were some general plotting out my campaign. But what really got everyone interested was a funny little arrow slicing its way across the map. That arrow, we were told, was the first sign of an enemy invasion. An enemy planar boss and his minions had spawned, and they were steadily marching toward the nearest town, intent on laying waste to my allies. Players could choose to tackle the invading army immediately, or proceed with a bit more strategery -- a bit of patience might allow the players to ambush the army while it was busy skirmishing with an enemy foothold along the way. Why not let the other NPCs do some of your dirty work, after all? And all of this is going on amidst normal questing endeavors. On a PvP server, this mechanic could get even more interesting!

Should the invaders make it to their destination unharried, they will carve a wide path through NPCs, including quest-givers in the hub towns, so everyone has a vested interest in stopping invasions quickly, although Trion has made clear that this system won't create more burden than it's worth for players who just want to carry on with their questing. Given the experience and loot rewarded by these types of encounters, I am hard-pressed to understand why players wouldn't leap at the chance to hunt down invasion NPCs! I can hardly imagine what Heroes of Telara would have been like if the team hadn't added in Rifts and these other dynamic aspects. Except for these unique features, Rift is actually fairly standard fantasy. It really needs a stand-out mechanic, a hook to bring in the crowds, and the invasion system delivers. Literally!

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.massively.com/media/2010/08/paladingloamwoodhorse.jpg

High elves can't jump

Yes, you can jump in Telara. As we all know, the ability to jump is a critical gameplay feature! Really -- while jumping really won't reduce your aggro, it does instill the player with a sense that the world is truly 3-D. It helps sell the space and suspend disbelief. In fact, several Trion folks made a point of showing us that we could jump up into places other games would forbid, including up and over mountains and into zones that might be a tad out of our level range -- your life is yours to risk in the name of exploration. Of course, you can die when falling, so it's best not to climb too high. In Gloamwood (the recently released werewolf-ridden zone where the attendees were grouping up for adventure) I took it upon myself to climb up one of the bizarre, Gothic, Ewok-treehouse towers and throw myself off in an emo tribute to the gloom, but alas, I never did manage to kill myself, although I did come pretty close to drowning while taking notes. While most of the other writers were busy gaming up the levels, I was happily swimming (and fighting!) in greenish waters and thinking how fluid (forgive the pun) the animations were. Anyone can create a monster-bashing level grind; a great team manipulates the little things to convince us that the world is more than just a nicely painted hamster wheel.

I continued my adventure off the rails after getting separated from my team. Mounting up on the free epic mount I was given -- some sort of woolly-rhino thing -- I bounded around for a bit, enjoying the speed and smoothness of the ride. (I've spent too long in SWG, I fear, where the creature mounts are annoyingly slow.) I ran east toward what looked like a castle and was greeted with the gleaming spires of the Holy City of Sanctum. I treated myself to a tour, being primarily impressed with the quality and quantity of the NPCs stationed in Tavril Plaza and inside the keep itself. I could only wonder whether those NPCs would be victims of -- or victorious allies in -- the next invasion.

Fighting and dying (mostly dying) in the Realm of the Fae

After my excursion to the city, my level-18 group re-coalesced just in time to plunge (literally) into the depths of the Realm of the Fae instance. (The zone entrance was a watery hole in the ground!) Our five-person team (complete with an overleveled rogue tank -- yes, this is a game that really doesn't want you pigeon-holed too much into just one role) set about mopping up ents and fairies and dionysian satyrs wielding wine cups, all of whom seemed quite offended that we were crashing their festivities. The instance was divided up into several seasonally themed areas (greenery for summer; dead leaves for fall; snowstorm for winter), and it was a bit guided, to be sure -- hedges often marked out our path, and they didn't always look placed to perfection. And yet we still managed to get lost a few times. Nothing out of the ordinary for our first trip in a new dungeon, and at least the encounters appeared functional and playable (a far cry above the pathetic dungeons with which Warhammer launched).

I was quite pleased with how my premade cleric held up. He was pretty cute for a High Elf (we'd switched to Guardian faction for the afternoon), but I was wary -- while I like to play healers, I usually avoid holy-based healers. Strangely, my cleric's spells reminded me a whole lot more of my LotRO minstrel than my long-abandoned EQ cleric or WoW priest. I love that he sort of dipped to the side and behind to call forth his shimmering light. I certainly wished for a better healing UI, but I think we did all right with the default, barring a few deaths when we got split up or overextended. Not to worry; death in Rift seems fairly trivial. Once per hour, you can "soul walk" -- that is, resurrect right at your corpse, similarly to the revive/retreat system in LotRO, although in Rift you're given several seconds of impunity to scurry away from any lingering danger. After my second death, I resurrected inside the entrance to the dungeon, just as in Champions Online. A small health debuff was applied to my character until I ate a bit of food, and then we were off and en route to the final boss, whose death triggered yet another convenient pop-up that distributed loot to everyone on the team.

Over lunch, one of the other participants noted that she found the early game a bit too easy for her tastes, and most of the writers agreed. But the instance seemed appropriately challenging for mid-level characters, especially given our unfamiliarity with the premade characters we were playing. The Trion reps said that the scaling difficulty was intentional -- they want the starting areas to be accessible for newcomers to the genre; the later game will ramp up in challenge if you seek it out. Indeed, Scott told us that they particularly aim to ensure that no Rifts murder any newbies in the area, EverQuest-style. And no hell levels! Ever!

Closing my Rift

You know you've got something special when you're genuinely sorry to log out of the alpha client to go play more games, and yet that's exactly how I felt. I was skeptical about the game, going in. Among gamers, there's a feeling that MMOs made by "indie" companies -- at least companies not counted among The Big Three -- will forever be doomed to second-tier status. I have concerns about Trion's insistence that Rift: Planes of Telara will function under a traditional subscription model, not because I don't think the game is worthy (it is), but because I'm worried that the industry will have moved even further from that model by the time the game releases. We see the signs already in other top-tier MMOs, and players have begun to rebel against both extremes of the F2P/P2P spectrum. In some ways, Trion is asking people to risk a lot of money on an untried, untested dev team and an unknown, original IP. Will players be willing to do that next year when Rift sidles up to not just WoW: Cataclysm, but Guild Wars 2 and SWTOR too? I really hope so, because if Rift were releasing today, it'd probably be the smash hit of the last few years, WotLK notwithstanding. This is the game Warhammer should have been. I don't want to see it elbowed aside by sequels and star-power from teams with deeper pockets.

In the meantime, I've seen enough to know I'm looking forward to it anyway.

Realm of the Fae

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mq_pPhsFNo

Gamescom trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0JirfhEPhE

I particularly like the last paragraph when she says she didn't want to log out.

[Lucavi]

Now that's a preview. How is this game already having such massively deep previews when its not out till next year when FFXIV launches next MONTH and the previews are a cryptic and broken as anything still in development?

Pretty, realistic graphics can't be the only reason reason.

[Alderaan]

It's crazy that this is the alpha build and it already looks quite polished.

[Man0warr]

WoW was the same way - it could of released 6 months before it did. They used the beta to hype the fuck out of it and it was really fun to play and polished - people were paying hundreds of dollars for beta keys on eBay.

Rifts is supposed to have 32 classes/"souls" at release, that seems to be their major focus right now because at the moment less than half have been revealed.

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GXQLESmfX4

Camera guy at the end got a beta card.

[Alderaan]

If this game somehow manages to come out this year i'll be ecstatic.

I get the impression that there's always something going on, with the rifts and pvp, and not just exp'ing for the sake of exp.

[Man0warr]

Feb 2011

[Insanecyclone]

Lots of pics someone took from GC
http://www.rift-calculator.com/pic/zoom/art_2/

Revealing a lot of new classes for cleric and rogue souls

[Alderaan]

Some of my favorite pics from the above link, resized cause they were fucking huge.

I'm liking the character models. Nice middle ground between too perfect and ugly as sin.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/Alderaan/Rift/gamescom_day1_016.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/Alderaan/Rift/gamescom_day1_082.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/Alderaan/Rift/gamescom_day1_081.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/Alderaan/Rift/gamescom_day1_030.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/Alderaan/Rift/gamescom_day1_055.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/Alderaan/Rift/gamescom_day1_070.jpg

Fuck yeah, capture the flag PVP!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/Alderaan/Rift/gamescom_day1_032.jpg

[Gokulo]

The link doesn't work? :<

[Alderaan]

Ranger + pet gamplay from Gamescon


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuOqr5jnYxY

Elementalist


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFd9KTVp7ew


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjSq47zVQJs

[Man0warr]

So hyped for this game, working on getting a beta invite from some connections right now :o

[Gokulo]

I didn't really follow it until lately, but since you mentioned beta: is there any place to sign up for it or nothing yet?

[Man0warr]

Sign up for their newsletter, also sign up on the forums - theres a post by the CM where you can apply by posting your MMO and testing experience, as well as why you want to test Rifts.

[Alderaan]

So hyped for this game, working on getting a beta invite from some connections right now :o

Hook me up! I only have a handful of posts on their forum so i doubt i'll get in.

[Alderaan]

http://riftnexus.com/page/articles/_/events/gamescom/rift-at-gc2010-the-nexus-experience-part-one-r62


I had a chance to play Trion World's upcoming MMORPG, Rift: Planes of Telara, over the weekend, for a total of over 14 hours. During this time I had a chance to create multiple characters, complete the starting area for both factions, explore the larger game world, heal three dungeon instances, play with quite a few souls, and look at crafting. In this first article I'll be talking about the beginner's experience in Rift. Don't forget to check the bottom of the article for links to our 1080P videos!

The actual booth was deafeningly loud, mainly because of the surrounding stalls and it made my ears hurt so I had to wear earplugs - sorry, but what I did hear of the games audio with the headphones on was good, though I didn't notice voice-overs for quests. See this brief video for an idea of the booth itself. After taking a quick look around and saying hi to some of the awesome Trion people staging the event, I settled in to make some characters and explore the Shadowlands.


Character Creation
I'll discuss the various callings and souls more in part two, but I did mess around with quite a few races and callings in both factions. It's evident that the character customisation options aren't complete, so please treat my comments below accordingly.
http://riftnexus.com/uploads/1281391199/med_gallery_1_5_333521.jpg

The first thing you'll do is choose your faction, followed by race and gender, and lastly your calling and chosen starting soul. After this you can alter your character's appearance. I must say, that the character models are some of the best I've seen in a game, especially the humans, looking both realistic and well proportioned. Dwarves were only available as male at Gamescom, but the females are being worked on - they also have the biggest hands I think I've ever seen on dwarves in a game.

Character customisation options are currently quite limited, in my opinion, for a game being released in 2011. As already noted in many other reviews, there is a triangle slider which goes from round to square to triangular face shapes and also changes how much your nose protrudes. The circular element around the outside does very subtle changes that effect jaw profile and other small details. These two creation tools seem more efficacious in their customisation of males, (though they too could be improved) with the females left looking much too similar to each other, for instance, all my attempts at creating different Mathosian women resulted in a series of clones, or at best sisters. The strength of these tools in creating different face shapes also seems to vary between races, which may or may not hint at some of the improvements to come.

In addition you have skin tone, eyebrows, facial markings (varies depending on race) and colour, makeup and colour, and for dwarves you can pick a beard. Here too there is a need for much more choice, and I imagine extra options will be added over time.

At the moment the game also doesn't offer any way of customising your character's body shape, and similar customization tools for changing your height and weight would be a great improvement. So, in short summary - for an alpha stage game the character models look cool and the starter armour sets are good, but the limited customisation makes for characters that don't look as different as I'd personally like, though I remain very hopeful for improvement, as the devs have stated that customisation is still very much a work in progress.

Judge for yourself in the following two videos (view on 1080p settings):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPCfYEluJ0U


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPukP0yEcno

After having created a character, I entered the Shadowlands and managed to complete each faction's version.

First of all - the game is gorgeous to look at with beautiful and atmospheric graphics... the actual rifts for instance really do create a sense of dread and excitement as they open up, the main column towering above you.

The Shadowlands is the game's start up area and both factions share the same basic concept - you're a hero who died in the Shade and have been brought back - either by the Vigil in the case of the Guardians or by your fellow Telarans if you're a Defiant. The rest of the experience in the Shadowlands is also fairly similar, and the 1st quest for both factions was a bit of a letdown. You're an immortal ascended being and your first quest is 'kill 6 bugs' as a Defiant or 'kill six undead' as a Guardian. I know it's pretty much a beginners training ground, and that's how most games of this genre begin, but with all the talk of next generation gaming, maybe I was hoping for a little bit more imagination - something that lived up to the epic premise and really pulled me in. My own expectations may seem a little unfair however, as there are numerous, other 'kill 10 of these' type quests as you progress, which are standard MMO fare in any game I suppose. There were no instances in the Shadowlands either, which is a plus for me, indeed apart from dungeons and PVP war fronts, there are no instances in the game, personal or otherwise, its totally open.

http://riftnexus.com/uploads/1282606000/med_gallery_1_5_338019.jpg

The game ran very smoothly for the most part, with only a couple of minor bugs which the guys at Trion told me this were already fixed in a more current build.

Along the lines of Aion, there is a question mark that shows up above the hotbar at the bottom when you have a new experience which help to explain it. However, the first time I completed a rift there was no notification at the bottom and it took me a little while to realise how to get my reward. Animations in the game are overall very good and I was as only jarred away twice - once by a weird backward lean that female elves seem to do that looks positively back-breaking, and the second time by the way females seem to dual wield weapons.

Later this week I'll discuss combat in detail, but combat seemed rather 'normally' paced and there was some type of global cool down being used. However, rogues appeared to have a shorter one or maybe it was weapon speed that impacted the global cool down, either way assassin combat seemed faster than combat on a paladin I tried. Also, after many longer skills you could use an instant ability as soon as the long skill completed, resulting in a very quick succession of two skills. One oddity is that when playing a melee character it would look like my weapons were nowhere near the mob I was fighting, but he would still take damage. Very briefly - all callings with the exception of clerics had an extra mechanic like action points for warriors, combo points for rogues, and charge for mages.

One last comment on the Shadowlands experience - it feels much more epic for Guardians. As a Guardian you get to fight your way up a hill that has Wanton cult members on it and it culminates with a prayer at an altar which opens a portal to Telara and also offers an amazing view of the rest of the Shadowlands. However, for Defiants, all you do is kill a bunch of Bomani (they look like Anubis out of Egyptian mythology) and activate a techno-magical portal after killing an easy 'boss'.


Rift's User Interface (UI)
This reviewer found the UI to be very clean and polished to a very high standard, especially for an alpha product. Scaleform is being used, although the UI cannot be scaled (yet) and seemed a bit large even at the 1080P resolution being used at Gamescom. Currently you can choose additional hotbars, up to three on the bottom and two on the side. When you add additional action bars, the surrounding interface, such a the quest window, move around the bars.

In regards to the quest interface, it was very helpful and told you were to go including map markers, but not to the extreme extent of quest helper addons in other games.

Some very nice features I saw were the addition of Area of Effect (AoE) looting so you can kill a few mobs and just open the nearest corpse to get everything, along with searchable bags and bank space which are some great features. Also, the overhead map dims when you start moving in a semi-transparent fashion so you can view a large map while moving around. You'll see this feature in some of the videos Nexus is showing this week.

As for interface issues? There are a few, of course, although it's up to the reader to decide if these are personal preference issues. Firstly, it was hard to tell sometimes when reactionary abilities were available. For example, most classes have abilities which require a block or a parry or may be 'finishers', but all that ever seemed to happen was the action bar icons would regain their colour when they could be used. Personally, I'd prefer a bit more notification in the centre of the screen in regards to this so it didn't feel like I was focusing intently on the action bars and then avoiding action in the centre. Also, distances for spells and other ranged abilities just resulted in the action bar number going from white to red when out of range and made it hard to tell sometimes. However, most of these seem fairly minor, for alpha, and hopefully they can be improved by release. This is definitely a good interface overall, from this reviewer's perspective and I can only hope there will be more customisation options available at release.


Overall
Apart from customization, Rift was very polished and I cannot believe the game is alpha with the exception of the few bugs I encountered. It is more polished than most games have been at launch and we're still around 6 months away at this point. It's one of those rare games that just feels very cozy from the moment you log in, and despite some small game play criticisms it also possessed that rare quality, which many recent games have seemed to lack for me - it was fun! It was a visually stunning game to look at with standard MMO game play that was naturally quite easy being a beginners area with the titular Rifts playing out like public quests (though I'll go into the Rifts more in a later review) and where as Shadowlands, like most beginner areas was pretty much 'on rails' the open and expansive world of Telara with its dynamic play now awaits!

Stay tuned for part 2 - Into the world. I'll write about the first areas on Telara and go into more detail on combat and the various souls, as well as crafting, achievements, and more!

Short vid of the above

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB7mECfnGuE

Fire Rift in Shadowlands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBXxW_kLDSg

[Insanecyclone]

October or November would be my guess

http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?2688-No-Beta-Date-Yet


Hi, Folks-

I have been catching up on the forum posts and I have seen something I want to clear up with you.

We have not announced a beta date yet.

It seems there was some confusion at Gamescom. We had a number of German speaking people helping to staff our booth since none of us speak German. Apparently some of them were telling people the beta started in September. This was a mistake. I haven't been able to track down where they came up with that information as it was never something we at Trion said.

I apologize for any confusion. And for future reference, remember that if you don't see confirmation of a beta date here and on our official site, it is most likely a rumor or misunderstanding. As soon as we have the date set and are confident it won't change, we will announce it to you her

[Alderaan]

http://riftnexus.com/topic/100-rift-at-gc2010-the-nexus-experience-part-one-the-mainland-and-the-soul-system/


This review follows up on the first part, which talked about first impressions. Having completed the quests in the Shadowlands and notched up about six levels, you then teleport to the more open world of Telara. Our high-def videos are at the bottom of this article.

http://riftnexus.com/uploads/1282606000/med_gallery_1_6_258141.jpg

My Warlock outside of Meridian, the Defiant Capital

I'd like to mention briefly Achievements and Collections. These could have been discussed into the introductory article, as players will experience collections while in the Shadowlands. However, upon entering the Telaran mainland you will definitely be aware of achievements as you receive the 'Soul Survivor' achievement for completing the Shadowlands. As you explore the world you will find collectable item sets, although the rewards were not yet in place from what was seen at Gamescom. All in all, both achievements and collections seem the same as with any modern game, with Achievements definitely being very similar to both WAR and WoW. Check out this video of the current achievements in-game and viewable.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szki9nE3w6E

Before going on to the next section which talks about the class system, please take a look at the developer diary on the class system, especially if the terms callings and souls mean nothing to you right now. For me the the more extensive Class/Calling/Soul system adds a layer of depth and complexity that you won't find in any other game of this type currently, and really sets it apart from the rest.

The Callings
There are four callings (archetypes) as explained below, each of which will have eight souls to choose from by the time of release, although each faction did have a different selection of starting souls. A Rogue calling would have souls like a Ranger or Bard etc. and a Warrior might choose a paladin or a Reaver and so on. Here's a link for more information on this Each calling's souls share a common mechanic from what was seen, although the actual style of play does vary from soul to soul. In all cases, the combat UI was responsive, as long as you were not currently locked down due to a Global Cooldown (GCD).

Warrior
Warriors have health, energy, and action points. Health is rather self-explanatory, and energy is somewhat akin to stamina in other games, and then there are action points, of which you can have up to three and are displayed as small crossed swords under the player's healthbar. During combat certain abilities will gain you an action point, and then another ability, which requires the points to become usable, will expend them. The more points you have - the more damage that combo will hopefully achieve. However, depending on the warrior soul being used there are other skills which have a precursor such as having recently parried or blocked, so it's not necessarily a case of you spamming the same buttons in the same order every time, although most battles may open with a similar sequence. Lastly, your action points do not go away or decrease unless you use them, so it might often come in handy if you have some saved over for the next fight.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5sJKxVmiuE
Reaver Soul Tree


Rogue
Rogues also have health and energy which have the same function as for warriors, but they have combo points instead of action points. The main difference here seems to be that there are five combo points instead of three action points and also that combo points are stored on the mob being attacked as opposed to the rogue, so they show up as little skulls on the left side of the mob's icon/dogtag. In a typical fight as a rogue (obviously this will vary depending on which soul you play, but the base mechanic seems to apply to all, even bards, in the brief time I had to play with them) you will build up combo points to try to get to five and then do a sort of finishing move that does more damage depending on the number of combo points. You tend to have skills that build combo points, skills that require you to use another skill (and land it on the mob you are attacking), some reactionary ones like blade dancer skills that need you to dodge to use them, and then finishing ones that use up combo points and do more damage if you have 3 points up instead of 5 for example. Overall I personally found rogues to be very fun to play and this may be the first game that I roll one. It might seem that rogues have a disadvantage since they can't carry combo points around like a warrior can - but rogue skills somehow seem to be faster than the warrior's and I could quickly build up combo points - I am not sure if the global cool down (GCD) was different for rogues or if that was weapon speed related, however.

The rogues I tried do play differently, with the assassin having stealth options, the ranger using a pet and having ranged attacks, and the blade dancer just being some fun dual-weapon DPS with a high dodge rate, and then Marksman... well you'll have to wait for some more official information, but it seemed to be a great ranged DPS with no pet.


Mage
Like clerics, mages use have mana. However, they also have another mechanic known as charge. The way charge works is that mages have a number of abilities/spells that build charge up when used and there will be other abilities/spells that then use charge (these are often channeled). When I was playing a Warlock (the mage soul I spent the most time with at Gamescom), my spells would basically start with a void bolt (a ranged direct damage spell), then a life drain, then a few DoT-type spells on other mobs in the area to ensure I had a group around me. Once I had a nice group and my charge was full it was time to hit the 'win button' - Mortality. This spell is channeled, uses charge, and basically is an AoE life drain. Since I was playing an Ethian as well, if I was ever worried I would just use their racial ability that gives you a damage shield when pulling a large group and basically could kill around 4 mobs at once and end with full life...and if you get in a spot there are also other abilities (further up in the tree than I got to play at Gamescom) that do things like take your own life for mana, charge for life, etc. I cannot comment on the elementalist since I did not play one.

Cleric
Clerics only have mana and in that respect play like clerics in many other games. I had a chance to play inquisitor, sentinel, druid, and shaman, and warden (more on the warden in a later article and you'll have to wait to hear much about druids or shamans, sorry!), and each one of these had their own unique play style. However, it did still seem like the odd one out in terms of some extra mechanic for the calling as a whole. You'll have to wait for the next article to hear much about clerics as I spent most of my time healing three instances: Iron Tomb, Deepstrike Mines, and the Darkening Deeps. But right now I will say that you won't be stuck healing unless you want to, as souls like the Inquisitor are DPS and debuff focused (it actually has no healing at all). However, I was left wishing there was some other mechanic added, but I'm not a game designer and I can see how it's not good to just add something for the sake of it, as it might end up being gimmicky. But even a charge-like mechanic such as the mages have, would be at least 'something'...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDGIZj8ImF4

Purifier Soul Tree

The Soul System
The Soul system then refines your character, ultimately giving you a choice of three soul trees within your chosen calling. You can add points to any three to create what ever sort of experience you want. Although you can only have three at any one time this doesn't prevent you from buying other souls and swapping them out to alter your character again.

The system is very fun to me, but I do have one small criticism - at the alpha stage the game doesn't inform you about having points to spend in your soul tree. You actually start the game with one point, but if you are coming from a game like WoW that doesn't give you any at the beginning, you could naively play for quite some time before it even occurs to you that you have points to spend. However, I'd imagine the beginning of the game will have some pop-ups or tutorials around the whole system before the game is actually released. It's hard to explain in this review how fun and interesting it is to play around with the soul system, and the reviewer only got to touch on that briefly when she was leveled to 20-something to run some instances, which will be written about in the next article.

Death
It sounds like a Warlock is a killing machine, but my experiments with the Mortality spell made me experience it myself... as much as an Ascended being can - I was killed by a pack of Bomani dog-men when I accidentally cast my DoTs on some its ranged friends. Luckily, death is not the end - I hit the soul walk ability and walked out of harm's way to respawn. Then I drank some cheap wine and ran back into the fight...to die again. It was then that I noticed I couldn't Soul walk for another hour and was forced to use the respawn option which took me to the respawn point and my health bar had been reduced by 10% necessitating my eating what I'll call 'death food'. Eating this food took a short period of time and eventually removed the penalty. Over the next day I'd learn that it is accumulative, so if you die multiple times without eating it -seems- like you are losing another10% from your new total.

Mainland Telara
If you rolled a Defiant Character then, after arriving from Shadowlands, you'll find yourself in the land of Freemarch which is like a sweeping green savannah. If you're a Guardian you'll arrive in Silverwood, not far from Port Scion, and incidentally just across a stretch of water from where the Defiant start in Freemarch. The areas are rather different in terms of ambiance and I found the Silverwood area to be absolutely gorgeous, with lush atmospheric graphics - My character would have probably vacationed there if it wasn't for all the angry mobs and monsters, rifts and invasions which demanded her heroic attention (it would be nice to have some quiet breathing room from time to time). I can't comment too much on how the quests between the two areas differ as I only got potentially mid way into the zones, unfortunately, but there were more than a few quests that were not just along the lines of 'kill six bugs'. One involved some NPCs where your actions offered two completely different outcomes and was never in a quest journal - I'll let everyone experience that for themselves some day. There were also many rifts opening or already open and I got my ass handed to me by a fire invasion more than a few times, though I'll talk about those more next time. But the quests, including the standard MMO fare, were always fun, soaked in game lore and best of all, they all led to a completely grind free experience, with rifts and instances to help level, so that you can have fun mixing it up.

http://riftnexus.com/uploads/1282606000/med_gallery_1_3_425649.jpg
Argent Glade in Silverwood

http://riftnexus.com/uploads/1282606000/med_gallery_1_6_424147.jpg
A view of Port Scion from the Defiant starting area in Freemarch - from on top of a Yarnosaur.

As you adventure, you're always free to wander off and explore for yourself, though gradually your quests will lead you through these lands towards the capital strongholds. The Defiants have various camps along the way until you reach Meridian, which really felt like a War capital, a large and impressive city, full of technology and generally had a more organised feel to it. The Guardians Sanctum of the Vigil was absolutely gorgeous, like a giant cathedral, and had some lovely music in it that I look forward to hearing again, though It didn't really feel like the Guardians' 'war' headquarters and seemed somehow smaller. In fact the Guardians habitats felt more decentralised with another large area called Argent Glade (home of the Guardians' university) preceding Sanctum, so although quite beautiful, it felt a little less epic than Meridian...probably as intended given the lore.

Exploring Freemarch and Meridian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNzhUKIGBxA

Sanctum of the Vigil with Faerie Pet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtymOYjmfXc

Shadowlands and Warlock Soul Tree

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Yqn561PHw

[Alderaan]

http://riftnexus.com/page/articles/_/events/gamescom/rift-at-gc2010-the-nexus-experience-part-thre-r67


Professions
Unfortunately I didn't have a huge amount of time to work with the professions in Rift, and mostly got to do a little bit of gathering and crafting. More time was spent looking through recipes and finding out what was actually available. So apologies in advance, but if you hang in there, I'm told Trion has a bigger reveal of crafting planned for sometime after PAX (no exact date).

Here are the gathering professions:

* Butchery - Lets you get hides off of dead animals of certain types.
* Foraging - Used to pick herbs and other flora.
* Mining - For gathering metal ores from mining nodes and also gets gems sometimes from nodes in addition to ores.


Here are the crafting professions:

* Alchemist - Potions, etc.
* Armorsmith - Chain and Plate armor.
* Artificer - Jewelry and things like totems and magical off-hands.
* Bowyer - Did not look, but the name seems rather self-evident.
* Heavy weaponsmith - Did not look at recipe list.
* Light weaponsmith - Did not look at recipe list.
* Outfitter - Bags and light (from cloth) and medium (from leather) armor.
* Runecrafter - Lets you add magic bonuses such as +dexterity to items.


Gathering
Gathering (I tried mining and butchering...) was very much like other MMOs to me, where you can only use the skill on the appropriate resource if you have a sufficient level of skill. Points were more easily gained when the resource was closer to your skill level and the opposite was true when you get above the resource's skill level. When mining I would sometimes find an extra item in addition to ore, which when opened would have gems inside - tin, copper, and zinc were seen in the low level areas I explored. Butchering sometimes resulted in extra animal parts, many of which were white so probably used in some other crafting endeavour. As noted, I did not have a chance to try other gathering professions.

http://riftnexus.com/uploads/1282606000/med_gallery_1_6_172885.jpg
Just inside Stonefield on a Yarnosaur. In the background can be seen a rift from the Plane of Death and the cursor is over a zinc node, which is used in mining.

It's obvious the gathering resources hadn't been finished yet since I ended up swimming off the cost to kill fish to butcher while in Silverwood, but there were wolves and other easily-accessible animals in Freemarch. This is to be expected in Alpha build like the Gamescom version, though. At release I'd expect starting areas to be quite similar in terms of their gathering profession support.

As with some other MMOs, you do not need any specific skill to gather cloth and most humanoids seemed to drop it - I saw burlap (in the very early starting area), cotton (in Iron Tomb), and wool (in Darkening Deeps) while playing.

Lastly, you do not have to have a skinning knife, mining pick, or anything else in your inventory to use gathering professions, even though when mining, for example, the animation does show you using a pick.

Crafting
Again due to time limitations there isn't too much to report, but there will be some official announcement(s) coming sometime after PAX. However, this is what I saw. The interface was simple and easy to use - all you do is make sure the items are in your inventory and hit 'create' or 'create all' and they get made. An item can either be made or cannot be made and there was no chance of failure from what I could see. Skill increases happened all of the time at orange level of difficulty (recipe colour in interface) and the frequency of increase went down at yellow and green, with grey meaning on chance of an increase. You do need to make sure you train for the next 'level' as soon as you hit the top of your current one, or your skills will not go up. At this stage, I did not see anything like a 'critical' success, but who knows what the future holds.

When browsing through some of the recipes at Gamescom, I saw more than one instance where one crafting profession had a recipe that required materials from another crafting profession, so there will be some amount of synergy between crafting professions it seems.

Light Weaponsmithing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vGBoxsxF_g

Runecrafting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLRONJHrjvU

Overall, gathering and crafting did seem fairly simple and straightforward but worked very well. Keep in mind that this was an alpha build at Gamescom, so much is still in a state of flux. I did speak to the devs and the current plan is that crafted items will be better than quest rewards but not as good as dungeon loot - they were not prepared to talk about end-game yet, though.

Mounts
There were just three mount types available to try at Gamescom (in both fast and faster versions). None of these had any colour choices and no training was required, either. However, there were videos released prior to Gamescom which show players riding on horses of different colours, so that most likely means that we were shown an older Alpha build at Gamescom. Lastly, with this version there did not appear to be any faction restrictions for mounts, but this could change by release. The mount animations seemed very well done, and the models looked amazing (although for me, the horse textures could be a little higher resolution perhaps) - check out the videos below and judge for yourself.

Riding a horse around Sanctum of the Vigil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WkCBej8NWo

Riding a najmok around Sanctum of the Vigil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPDkAOoRP5o

Yarnosaur Mount - Sanctum of the Vigil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFSLSbOegxc

Yarnosaur Mount - From Meridian to Port Scion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDs2BaOEyeQ

[Alderaan]

http://riftnexus.com/index.php?app=ccs


Today's article is short since a bit more will be talked about in the Rift Podcast on Monday.

While at Gamescom I had the opportunity to heal three instances as a Warden - the Iron Tomb, the Deepstrike Mines, and the Darkening Deeps. All three have an amazing ambience, but my personal favourite is the Darkening Deeps as it is just massive - the instances also had bosses which were not simple 'tank and spanks' which is very nice considering these are low level instances. As has been advertised before, when you enter an instance for the first time you (and everyone else in the group) will get quests automatically.

http://riftnexus.com/uploads/1282606000/med_gallery_1_3_163402.jpg
Inside the Deepstrike Mines instance.

The tank in our group (it was a paladin) was good at keeping aggro, but things did get hectic from time to time. Luckily, many souls seem to have some form of crowd control and I found myself using a silence and knockback spell on my warden almost every time they were off of cooldown. The warden was fun to heal with and involved the use of HoTs (some that were front-loaded and some that were not), healing orbs, and some AoE HoTs, but little in the way of direct heals. The class is in alpha obviously so it was most likely nowhere near being finished, but I still found it fun to heal with.

Two of the instances have been discussed already by Trion but I'll just say they are much more amazing in-game than they are in the screenshots and flythroughs we've seen so far. They also sprawl across multiple levels and are not on a single floor, which adds to the atmosphere.

We have two videos to share of the Iron Tomb, an early instance in Freemarch. The German guild Thelyn Ennor is featured in playing in the instance videos. Watch the video below:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un5MMDV_MnQ


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hGEQ_VFSYE

[Syntex]

Like another has said this looks like Aion all over again.

It may have some cool points and so do other games but they need to offer more to people that the big names aren't which is SE and Blizzard to stay somewhat successful in the market.

[Gokulo]

Except this isn't Korean which is already a big plus over Aion. Still, they're just taking ideas from games like WoW, EQ or WHO and put them together into a solid game, it might be a good title, but not have what is needed in today's market to hit it big.

[Hyan]

What I'm afraid is that they'll drop into the same pit as other developers do because they copy WoW.

Grind ain't bad.. as long as there's enough things to do in low- midgame.

[Alderaan]

What Rift and GW2 have going for them is a solid team behind the game that just gets it.

What this game offers is a potential home for lots of EQ, EQ2, Vanguard, and LORTO players that don't really like WoW or FFXIV, with a community first approach. I just happen to be in that boat and know quite a few people that feel the same way. I could care less about it having huge sub numbers as long as it's steady after 3-6 months. Timing is everything and i believe you're going to have lots of disgruntled players looking to get away from some the above games for various reasons. Hell, there's enough people that hate WoW and are disappointed with FFXIV to have a healthy population right there.

You also have to have other things to do to keep players busy other than leveling. Trion has already showed up dynamic content with the rifts, an acheivment system, capture the flag style pvp, and low level instances. All of this and it's still 6 months away. They seem to be in no rush to release the game early which is also a good sign. Also as Gokulo stated, don't underestimate the fact that this is an American company in the long term growth and popularity of this game. The only down side so far for this game is unfortunately GW2, but more options is never a bad thing.

[Hyan]

Well, sounds like they know how to market the game at least.

[Alderaan]

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/trions-rift-has-a-budget-over-50-million/




According to CEO Lars Buttler, Trion Worlds has spent just over $50 million on the development of their first MMO, Rift: Planes of Telara. The title has spent around four years in development due to various delays in the project. Buttler told Develop that the engineering of Trion’s own development platform contributed to the large budget, which he pointed to as an example of the company’s desire to succeed in the MMO space.

“Rift: Planes of Telara is already very ambitious because it is over $50 million in development,” he said. “One of the first questions we asked before we started the Rift project was, ‘why cannot online games be of the quality of videogames?’”

“We felt that, sooner or later, the whole [MMO sector] will have to go down this route.”

Since its founding in 2006, Buttler has worked to secure over $100 million in venture capitalist funding to spread over the company’s three projects. In addition to the aforementioned Rift, Trion is partnered with Petrogylph to develop End of Nations, billed as the first massively multiplayer real-time strategy game. Rift and End of Nations are slated to be released for PC sometime in 2011. The last project is an action MMO in collaboration with Syfy, but more details on that project have not been released.

Seems like a decent budget for Trions first MMO. Considering Aion cost around 20mil and had barely any content, i'm hoping for loads here. More importantly, content in the right places.

[Alderaan]

New Ten Ton Hammer video interview with Executive Producer Scott Hartsman.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/scott-hartsman/new-classes-and-starting-areas

[Gokulo]

Soo, a friend of my buddy was at Gamescom and apparently he got a couple of beta codes D; What a nice surprise just before XIV OK :D Now to wait for a date ^^

[Alderaan]

Soo, a friend of my buddy was at Gamescom and apparently he got a couple of beta codes D; What a nice surprise just before XIV OK :D Now to wait for a date ^^

Damn you!

[miokomioko]

What Rift and GW2 have going for them is a solid team behind the game that just gets it.

Their solid team could use an art director that isn't only inspired by the illustrations in his D&D manuals... These budg MMORPGs are plagued with generic fantasy design that makes the whole experience feel dated. ;/

[Alderaan]

Their solid team could use an art director that isn't only inspired by the illustrations in his D&D manuals... These budg MMORPGs are plagued with generic fantasy design that makes the whole experience feel dated. ;/

The art in GW2 is by far the best i've seen in quite some time. I absolutely love it.

[miokomioko]

The art in GW2 is by far the best i've seen in quite some time. I absolutely love it.

I hope your not talking about concept art, because that's an entirely different story and I love all concept art of all varieties. Admittedly, GW2 design looks a tons better than Rift, but it still falls under OK for me.

[Alderaan]

I'm talking about the art design in the actual game along with the art style. I love it. It's a perfect blend of not too real without going the ugly route like WoW/Warhammer. Of course that's subjective, but i like what i like.

Also the pics on the official Rift site look pretty average and don't do the game justice when compared to actual in game footage in HD.

[Gokulo]

Yeah, GW2 has this cool pastel thing going on in-game.

[Alderaan]

Part 2 of the TTH interview.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/scott-hartsman/planar-invasion

[Alderaan]

Another gameplay demo vid that i somehow missed showing off Void Knight and mixing talents. Hey look at that jumping into water!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQJyPp4R18k

Best part is the last comment. "If anyones played an MMO before, you know that 4 of your 5 party members will grasp the situation very rapidly and there will be that 5th guy who always dies."

[Alderaan]

http://riftnexus.com/page/articles/_/rift-news/rift-planes-of-telara-exclusive-stonefield-z-r71


Trion Worlds gives us an official preview of the Stonefield zone in Rift: Planes of Telara. Stonefield is an early zone for the Defiant faction, one where players will fight the old servants of the titans and defend helpless townspeople from the undead, before potentially adventuring in to the Deepstrike Mine. Read further for this exclusive look at the zone along with images and a high definition flythrough video.


Stonefield

Thunder in the Hills
Wind rattles like labored breathing through the hills of Stonefield. The grass strains to stretch across rounded hills that bulge together like the muscles of some vast stone giant, ready to tear through the grass and stride out from the deep earth to crush mortal men.

http://riftnexus.com/images/Stonefield_01x300.jpg
Sleepers in the stone
Long, long ago, the brilliant and mad sorcerer kings of the Eth dared to call titans to Stonefield from the Plane of Earth. The Eth put these beings—perhaps the purest expression of their element’s invincible might—to guarding Stonefield’s priceless sourcestone mines.

Stone is not just hard and strong but patient, cold, confident, hiding veins of brilliance. The titans waited, and plotted, and slowly raised an army of mountain trolls, earth elementals, and troglodytes. Without warning they rose up, and swept the Eth from Stonefield like an avalanche.

With ingenuity, tenacity, and years upon years of bloody fighting, the Eth overcame the titans and bound them deep under the hills. It is said that they rage within their prison-tombs, and every avalanche and trembling rock, every shift in the stone, is the result of some furious titan slamming his fist into an unyielding wall.

The Bones of the Earth
In some places, the titans’ influence bursts through the very stone. At Titan’s Rest, the skeleton of a particularly vast specimen juts from the hills, jaw agape in an endless scream. Rocs flit between his ribs, as if hoping to pick an ancient scrap of meat from the bones.

Mountain trolls wander his upturned grave, resting against his wrist-bone or making their lairs in his empty eye sockets. These rough-hewn brutes are split into two factions: those who yearn for a return to titan rule, and those who savor the freedom to roam the hills, smashing and slaying at will. When trolls from rival camps meet, they charge at each other, their bulbous feet tearing the earth, and crash together like boulders. Cracks in the titan’s massive bones might be evidence of where one troll smashed in another’s head.

http://riftnexus.com/images/Stonefield_05x350.jpg
Granite Falls
Granite Falls is just as dry and barren as its name suggests. Once, this was a prosperous mining town, its skilled miners tapping some of the richest sourcestone veins on Telara. The miners respected the earth, and never dug too deep for fear of waking the ancient prisoners. This sensible approach has done nothing to protect the townspeople from calamity after calamity since the coming of the rifts.

Displaced from the Deepstrike Mine by the Endless Court, the people of Granite Falls have lost their livelihood, the unemployed sit, surly and despondent, in the overcrowded tavern. Adding injury to insult, a mysterious illness has swept through the hill folk, poisoning even the miners’ leathery lungs.

Those who succumb to disease, hunger, or despair find no rest, for the dead rise in the cemetery outside Granite Falls, eager to swell their numbers with the fresh-killed corpses of mourners and passersby. Death Rifts are now nearly as common in the hills as Earth Rifts, and nothing in Stonefield stays buried long.

Transcript from the lectures of Haru Windsworn, Master of Bahmi Studies in Meridian
“Today, we are honored by the presence of Bora Temurgal, Ascended reaver of the Red Sun tribe. As you can plainly see, the Bahmi emblazon themselves with narrative tattoos called ‘sefir.’ Unlike Mathosians, bragging around their campfires, the stoic Bahmi save their breath by writing their exploits on their flesh.

Here is a particularly rousing tale that stretches from First Hunter Temurgal’s lower biceps to loop around her wrist. I will read it aloud, and those of you who did your coursework are free to read along.

I killed a troll, and this was strong.
He thought to strike me from ambush.
I heard him coming,
Loud as tumbling boulders.
His fist hammered down,
But he crushed only earth.
His teeth gnashed shut,
But he chewed only air.
My axe tore a canyon into his throat.
He thrashed and he reached for me.
He clutched only death.
To be sure, I put my axe in his head.
And I sat on his corpse awhile,
Wondering why, as he died
He grunted the name ‘Centius’
And this was wise."

Flythrough Video for Stonefield

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCwL6onTk2I

http://riftnexus.com/images/Stonefield_02x250.jpg

http://riftnexus.com/images/Stonefield_03x250.jpg

http://riftnexus.com/images/Stonefield_06x250.jpg

[Alderaan]

Updated OP with some more info and classes.

3 more classes need to announced so i'll add them then.

[Purrrfect]

Lol 5th guy. Nice couple vids.

[Alderaan]

New info from PAX.

* Guilds will have levels
* Guilds will have assignable ranks (leader/officer etc.)
* Guilds will have quests that they can complete as a guild. For instance the guild leader or officer can pick up a quest for the Guild to harvest bushes or kill elementals. As your guild quests normally it counts off the items for the quests.
* Guilds will have different achievements and benefits.
* Guilds will have buff flags or standards.
* Trion believes guilds should be more than glorified friends lists


* Newly announced Ice Mage class called Storm Caller!
* Confirmation on World Raid Bosses!!!
* Greenscale Blight Raid instance will contain a Dragon boss.
* Hammerknell Fortress Raid will contain 10 bosses.
* PvP Flag is a go on PvE servers
* Choloromancer (spelling?) is a healing mage.
* Tier Raid progression
* AA like System that gives buffs to resistances from high level rifts. These will be slottable.


* Token System similar to WoW for Raids.
* Softcaps on Stats.


* Duels are in. Similar to WoW. Duel request, flag drops, countdown, duel starts.
* Female mages had a dance animation, males did not seem to have one yet. PAXzen in IRC stated it was ” A little side to side wiggle. Nothing memorable.”


* There is a Quest Helper built into the UI
* Combat felt inline with EQ2 or WoW in terms of responsiveness.
* World Bosses are CONTESTED. PvP anyone?!?! Yeah!!!!
* Macro system is in. Kilrathi did not get to mess with it.
* Rift Raids are in.
* Dueling currently gives XP, will probably change before release.
* Devs state that there will be big expansions and small ones.
* Expansions are already in the planning phase.
* Beta this year, no closer estimate than that.

My only concern is how important the gear from world bosses will be because i'm not going through that shit again. Although i do find it more fun if PVP is involved.

[Alderaan]

The Telara Chronicles, a 128 page graphic novel will be release on 2/1/11.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v686/Alderaan/Rift/Rift.jpg

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.massively.com/2010/09/06/pax-2010-hands-on-with-rift-planes-of-telara/


The dungeon portal loomed ahead as a developer pushed a headset into my hands. "You heal," he said to me then moved on to the other four players standing next to me. "You tank. You three DPS. Don't worry too much; you're all a little over-leveled for this dungeon. Let us know when you're ready."

I hardly heard him as I frantically tried to memorize the full array of skills in front of me, rearranging my hotbar to put my heals up front and center. "Ohh, you're a druid," another Trion Worlds developer said over my shoulder. "They're fun -- they get a faerie pet that heals your team as well." I followed his pointing finger and clicked on the skill to summon what appeared to be a cross-breed between Tinkerbell and a Troll doll. Fun times.

The developer who pulled me into the live demonstration at PAX Prime took up his microphone and directed everyone around the booth to look up at the big screen and watch a team of total strangers jump into a mid-level dungeon. Welcome to Rift, I thought nervously. There's nothing like diving in head-first with your potential humiliation on public display.

Cyberpunk fantasy

Earlier that day, I had the opportunity to bend the ears of the Trion team members as they set up for the imminent PAX crowds. Squirreled away in a private room, a pair of devs walked me through the character creation process. I had to admit: Up to this point, Rift had been clocking pretty low on my interest radar. It took just one interview and a hands-on demo to change all that.

On the surface, Rift may seem like every other fantasy game out there -- after all, there are elves, humans, dwarves, swords and demons. I'd even wager heavily on the presence of dragons somewhere. But the devs stressed that this was a fantasy world in upheaval as it was under constant threat of invasion from chaotic dimensions, and this had the effect of subverting all the typical fantasy tropes. For example, one of the two main factions -- the Defiant -- have eschewed the old religion and gods for cold, hard technology. To illustrate this, their characters can choose pseudo-cyberpunk (fantasypunk?) looks.

As we fiddled around with the character creation visuals, the devs stressed that their primary goal with the art style was to make a beautiful, bold aesthetic that wasn't quite as realistic as it was highly-detailed and memorable. There were several options to pick from -- skin, eyes, hair, makeup, markings, and sliders for the face and highlights -- although Trion wanted to avoid going overboard with too many options. "When you start fiddling with dozens of sliders," a dev commented, "It's ridiculously easy to end up with an ugly character and no way to make him or her attractive." I couldn't agree more.

Charging ahead

While I -- ever the consummate professional journalist -- failed to write down the name of the dungeon we were running, I blame the fact that the combat started fast, continued furiously, and never quite slowed down. We weren't too concerned about mezzing and single pulls, but instead resorted to the time-tested tactic of the tank running in and trying to grab aggro while the rest of us inconsiderately did our best to take it away.

Our main foes were goblins, and they came in several varieties as we wound our way down what appeared to be a torchlit hive of sorts. As the healer, I started out by just spamming the group heal, but that drained my mana faster than I would've liked. I eventually discovered that I had several different varieties of heals on hand, as well as a skill that would boost my next heal spell by 50% when used. After that, it got a bit easier.

I found myself pleasantly surprised at how fluid the gameplay was; everything felt polished, looked terrific, and performed spot-on. In fact, it all flowed together so well that I simply concentrated on the dungeon run like I was sitting at home instead of having my every healing flaw pointed out on the jumbotron with color commentary.

A class of your own

Back in the quieter demo room, I was shown one of the key features of the game: the character builds. Unlike most MMOs, Rift doesn't want to pigeon-hole you into a rigid, pre-defined class with little room for individuality. Instead, players will collect "souls" (think of souls as specialty classes) to mix-and-match in order to create a unique build. Eventually you'll have the option of a three-soul build, so you can pick three out of however many souls you've collected already in order to make a class of your own.

For example, I was shown an elf rogue whom the dev wanted to fashion into a close-quarters powerhouse. So he chose three souls that complemented each other: assassin (for close-combat DPS), blade dancer (DPS and dodge) and saboteur (who launches bombs and injects poison at point-blank range). The dev stressed that he didn't know whether this was going to be an effective build or not, but he had the option of starting with an idea -- running into a crowd of mobs, dancing out of the way of damage while throwing down a bomb or two.

Classes are further customized by investing points into each of the souls' talent trees. These function much like you might have seen in other titles, although they do have an interesting twist. The more points you invest into the top part of the tree (which contains passive and active talents), the more bonus talents you unlock in the bottom part of the tree, which may grant additional skills. With several build presets available, and a minimal respec cost for the talent trees, Trion hopes that players will feel free to create as many classes as they desire.

Don't stand in the fire, noob

At the bottom of the pit's spiral lay our first boss, an ugly cuss of a goblin with a penchant for launching firebombs at us left and right. It was here that we experienced our first wipe, due to my inadequacies as a healer and our entire party being flagged for the burn ward.

Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult to recover (except for our ever-wounded pride) -- a virtual snack of food took away the death penalty, and I rejuggled a few heal spells to conserve mana for a longer fight. With experience at our back, we steamrolled the goblin, looted a couple pieces of choice armor, and unlocked the next phase of the dungeon.

Riding the rift

If the vast array of character build options is one of the tentpole features of Rift, the titular effects deserve equal recognition. Rifts are basically rips in the fabric of the universe where six chaotic dimensions -- death, life, water, fire, earth and air -- are doing their darndest to spit in Captain Planet's eye and make this world just like their own. Wardstones defend certain areas from rifts opening, but they can't cover the entire landscape, and sooner or later nasty things will happen.

The devs explained that the game is smart enough to slow down the process of rifts appearing and opening when players aren't around (say, in the middle of the night), and to move the action to where the crowds are. When a rift appears, players have the option of jumping into it -- although I wasn't shown this aspect -- or combating the inevitable invasion that follows. An opened rift changes the landscape around it according to its element and launches a dynamic invasion of demons and other nasty critters that march toward wardstones to take them down. Seeing as how invasions can be repelled and wardstones repaired, it behooves players to join the fight instead of ignoring it and going on their merry way.

Trion Worlds has designed the rift system to not only offer dynamic world events, but to entice players into working together by increasing the rewards when more and more characters are involved. On an interesting note, I learned that the dimensions actually hate each other, and if two invasions from different dimensions cross paths, they're as likely to fight each other as they are players. Each dimension also has a representative cult in Telara, so even when rifts aren't present, the danger always is.

Until we meet again

I declined to stay past the hour it took to reach the first boss of the dungeon, although it certainly wasn't for a lack of fun. If anything, I came away from PAX this year with a newfound respect for Rift -- its creative concepts, its attractive art design, and one of the coolest mounts I've ever seen (the Yarnosaur, a rhino/camel beast). I can't vouch for the rest of the game, but Trion Worlds certainly appears to have a serious contender in the works.

[Alderaan]

Curse.com Q&A
http://www.curse.com/articles/rift-news/812863.aspx


This year at PAX, Trion was showing off their newest MMO, Rift: Planes of Telara. The Curse team was able to experience an invasion which occurs if players do not stop an open rift from closing.

We also were able to sit down with the team and have a series of questions answered! All questions have come directly from the dedicated Rift: Planes of Telara community. Check out the interview below!

--------

Q: Around how large will the game world be on release?

A: It's a very large world. We have tons of zones. We have one instance per-zone and you can re-enter the instances at different level ranges. So it's a pretty big game.

Q: Will world PvP be encouraged in any way?

A: Oh yes! World PvP will be encouragd because invasions and rifts will be tagging players for PvP. So we'll for sure have some world PvP.

Q: Will there be specific PvE and PvP gearsets? Or will there just be one type?

A: They will be somewhat interchangable. There is obviously some gear that's better for PvP and some gear that's better for PvE. It's going to be up to personal taste. It's more like our class system will allow you to choose a PvP build because it's pretty dependant on how you do your builds. You can definitely get a major difference between a character who's built for PvP and a character who's built for PvE. It's really more dependent on your class build and how you spec your souls. We're finding that people make very unique and imaginative soul combinations to do PvP.

Q: Is there any information on what players can expect from battlegrounds?

A: Not yet, but very, very shortly. We'll be releasing those shortly.

Q: Will there be dynamically generated content such as NPCs that spawn only during a certain time of day or according to certain conditions?

A: Yes, definitely. We already have that in-game, right now in alpha. We have this concept of invasions where rifts and footholds create invasions. For instance, if you defeat a foothold, you will inspire NPCs to spawn and go out and attack other footholds and you can follow them and recrut your own little personal army that you run around with. It's pretty fun!

Q: Are there any plans to expand upon the current character creator?

A: Right now, we're taking feedback from alpha, we're looking at the character creator and over the course of our testing we're always going to take feedback and we're always going to make changes.

Q: Is there any information about how long it might take a player to reach max level?

A: Right now, our max level is 50. In alpha, we're seeing a wide variety of times, we're adding more and more stuff to do. We definitely don't have a set number but it looks like it's going to be about 10 days of played time.

Q: How severe will the consequences become for not being able to close a rift in time?

A: This is dependent on zone. In the lower level zones we generally don't have the stakes as high as in the higher level zones. Basically, you can lose questgivers, most of your merchants, you can lose any sort of NPC, areas can change, you could lose the ability to turn in quests, it's pretty severe. We're encouraging players that it's not like you can't do anything, we're giving you another form of gameplay.

Q: Will players be able to play both factions on one server?

A: Yes.

Q: Will there be any cross-faction communication?

A: Right now I don't know what the plans for cross-faction communication are. But right now we're not going to allow it.

Q: What types of servers will be available at launch? PvE, PvP, RP, etc.

A: Yeah, we'll have PvP, we'll have PvE, we'll have roleplaying servers, we'll have the full game.

Q: Will players be separated by region? US, EU, etc.

A: We will have data centers in different areas of the world we will not stop people from playing the game on any region's servers.

Q: And is the current plan for Trion to handle a world-wide release?

A: That is the current plan, yes.

Q: What plans are there for end-game content?

A: We have all your classic end-game experiences, we have raids, we have rifts, invasions, warfronts, everything. We have tons of stuff. Crafting, just have fun!

Q: Can you tell us anything about the crafting system right now?

A: Sure! The crafting system is actually fully available at PAX right now. You can have up to 3 crafting skills and we have various forms of harvisting, so you can take 2 harvesting, one production skills, or one harvesting and two productions, it's really up to how you want to do it. You can even make all harvesting, or all production. We have all your classes like outfitters who make leather and cloth gear, mining, butchers, scavengers, artificers, runecrafters, we have loads.

Q: And will lots of the end game gear come from crafting?

A: A good amount of it will. We want to make sure that end-game crafters are important.

[Alderaan]

PAX interview with Russ Brown, VP of Development.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLA7L9MgEXQ


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=885bS5mdhu8

[Gokulo]

Seems you can get a beta card by buying Chronicles #1

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=38349

From their FB page:

TELARA CHRONICLES #1 hits stands tomorrow. As an added bonus, when you pick up your copy at a comic retailer, you can also get Issue #0 and a Rift: Planes of Telara™ Beta Card (while supplies last).

[Insanecyclone]

Guild beta sign ups

http://www.riftjunkies.com/2010/09/28/beta-guild-applications-now-open/


Hi, Folks!

Many of you have been asking me about getting your guilds into beta. We are certainly going to want to have some guilds participating. We will need help testing things like raiding, pvp, guild progression and the guild tools themselves.We will want to have a variety of guilds participating. So we will need all sizes and play styles.

To help us with that, I would like to start a list here. Please provide the following information to be considered as a beta guild.

Guild Name:
Number of active members:
How long has your guild existed?
What games have you played together?
What is your guild play style (casual, raid, PVP, etc,)?
Please link to your guild website if you have one.

Please note: it is very important that you make sure your guild members have signed up for a Trion account. If your guild is selected, we will only be able to invite those members who are registered with us. So make sure they are all signed up and ready to go!

Please keep this thread free of discussion. This thread should only be a list of potential beta guilds. And please only post your guild once. Multiple posts in this thread does not increase your chances. ;)

[Alderaan]

How awesome is Trion?
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?3816-Name-a-Soul-for-Rift!


Name a Soul for Rift!

Hi, Folks!

We have a decision to make around here and we thought we would ask for your input. We have bounced around a lot of ideas of our own but decided that it would be nice to hear your ideas as well!

We have a Mage soul that we've been calling a Chloromancer. But somehow, that just doesn’t seem like the best name we could give it. We'd like your help in making this important decision.

First, let us tell you a little bit about what this soul is and does.

Overview
Drawing on the vital energies of plants and nature, this mage finds a balance between life and death. Only [Soul]s can focus these life energies into a devastating force, or recycle destructive magic to heal their allies.

Strengths
Their every destructive spell generates healing magic, so a [Soul] can survive situations that would kill most mages, and keep their allies alive even as they annihilate the enemy.

Weaknesses
Invaluable allies though they are, [Souls] possess neither the destructive potential of their fellow mages, nor the restorative spells of most clerics, and their ability to heal is dependent on the damage they deal in combat. A [Soul] who cannot hurt her foes cannot effectively heal her allies.

And here are a couple of screenshots of this nameless soul in action!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/5036381747_75abe80cb5.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4144/5036998304_014340c3c4.jpg

What do you think? Do you have any ideas for what we should call this soul?

Post your ideas here in this thread. We will pick out the best of them and list them in a poll. You as a community will vote with us to decide which name it should be. Your vote carries the same weight as a developer's!

The name that gets the most votes will be the name of this soul when Rift: Planes of Telara is released!

Let’s hear your suggestions and then watch for the poll in the coming days so you can cast your vote!

[Alderaan]

A couple new Gametrailers vids that aren't crappy video phone shots.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx5v2BHFZNs


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAm49ZwX8_4

[Insanecyclone]

The MMO Report shakes up the formula this week as host Casey Schreiner devotes his entire show to a special look at Trion's upcoming Rift: Planes of Telara MMORPG. Featuring gameplay footage and interview snippets with producer Adam Gershowitz, the segment fills viewers in on Rift's unique backstory as well as various dynamic gameplay features including, of course, the titular planar rifts.

Gershowitz also goes into detail regarding the game's classes, including the ability to "take a variety of different classes and mix them together [using] the ascended soul system."

Check out all the Rift footage after the cut or at G4TV.com.

http://g4tv.com/videos/49009/The-MMO-Report-Rift-Planes-of-Telara-Preview-Special/

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.massively.com/2010/10/03/trion-worlds-explains-rift-beta-sitch/


The beta for Rift: Planes of Telara is looming -- looming, people! -- and yet the masses are somewhat confused as to how to get into it. This was made more complicated this past weekend as Trion Worlds posted a Sign Up For Beta Now link on the front page of Rift without sending users to an actual beta sign up. Community manager Abigale posted a lengthy explanation on the forums as to why this happened and how Trion is planning to recruit for the beta.

Essentially, Trion Worlds meant to send out an explanation email before the link went live. But now that it is live, Abigale laid out the three tiers of beta invites and access:

* Guaranteed beta invitees: These are the folks who got their hands on a VIP All Access pass at one of Rift's community events. This guarantees a beta spot in any and all betas. If you didn't get one yet, don't worry -- Trion will be handing out more of these codes in the future!
* First beta pool: Any fans of the game who have either entered in a code for a chance at beta access or have merely signed up for a Rift forum account previous to October 2nd is now part of a pool of potential beta players. Trion will pull more testers from this pool as the beta events roll out.
* Second beta pool: Anyone who signs up for a Rift account after the 2nd (which means that if you haven't already, this will be you) is placed into this pool. This gives you a shot at the beta, although not as great as if you were a part of the first pool.


http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?3942-Your-Chance-at-Beta


Hi, Folks!

I've heard from a lot of you asking about the new link on the official site that says "Sign Up for Beta Now." I know you are wondering what that means and why it doesn't take you to a sign up page.

Well, I have to apologize. Things got a little out of sync here. I mentioned today in IRC that you should be expecting an email from us in the next couple of days. Well, the truth is that you were supposed to get that email before that new link went up. So to keep from causing any confusion, I am going to have to spoil the surprise and tell you what will be in that email.

As of today, everyone who has a Trion account has been issued a code for a chance to get into beta! This code is the same as the codes that were handed out at PAX, Gamescom and with the comic book. They give you a chance to be in the beta! Your code is automatically assigned to your account. There is nothing you have to do. If you are signed up with a Trion account as of today, you are in the beta pool!

Anyone who signs up after today will be in a different beta pool. So when they sign up for a Trion account, they are signing up for beta in that pool.

When groups of people are needed for beta, a much larger percentage will be taken from the pool of beta codes who were from here on the forums. If you entered a beta code or were a member of our forums, your chances of getting into beta are much greater than if you just signed up after today.

Here is how beta is going to work. There will be a series of beta events. There will be a determined number of testers needed for a weekend. People will be selected from those beta pools. If you are selected, it is for that session only. Once that session is over, your beta participation will be over.

There is an exception. Remember those passes that were handed out at the community parties that said they were an actual invite rather than just a chance? With those codes, you are invited to all of the beta events! They are VIP All Access passes!

You do not need more than one code. If you received a VIP pass from one of the parties, enter that. It over rides other codes. Any other code (from a con, comic book, Trion account, etc.) puts you into the same pool.

There will be many ways in the future to get VIP All Access passes. There will be contests, give aways and maybe even sponsored events! We will also give a number of them to community members as we determine the numbers we will be needing. And we will continue to add people to alpha as we need more people to test our content. We will continue to look to our community for that.

I'm sorry I had to spoil the surprise of the email. But I am happy that I was able to be the one to tell you:

If you have been part of our community, you have a greater chance of getting into beta! And we will still be looking to you for helping us with alpha!

I will be watching this thread and will try to answer any questions that come up. I wish we could invite everyone to beta. But we can't. So we have tried to make it as fair as we can. We do want to show our appreciation to the community. And the ultimate goal is to test in the best way that will produce a great game!

Thank you all for your support and encouragement. I look forward to seeing many of you in beta and the rest of you after launch! See ya in Telara!

[Alderaan]

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/431/feature/4590


Rift: Planes of Telara: Meridian, City of Wonders

Welcome, Defiant, to Meridian. Enlightenment waits within these graceful walls, atop the towers of the learned.

I am Orphiel Farwind. I haven't the time to show you everything personally, but I shall tell you of some of our city's wonders. I do appreciate scholarly questions, but please keep them in mind for later.

As you may have noticed, refugees from the Kelari Isles make camp at the base of the great stairway. Oh, don't fear for the Kelari Elves. An adaptive people, if perhaps foolhardy, they are our welcome guests and allies.

From those stairs you can see majestic Meridian herself. Telara has not seen such deceptively sturdy walls of polished sandstone since the ancient Eth city-states. The sweeping towers crowned with twirling machines, the arabesques adorning the walls... it almost transports you back to the ancient Eth Empire! Listen, and you'll hear the chanting of the Sorcerer Kings.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xulh0MP8pbA

In pursuit of progress

Our more exciting experiments take place in the first courtyard. There, we ply the lost arts of technomagic, those sourcestone-fuelled feats that could banish the rifts from Telara and plunge everyone into the lap of luxury--if only the Guardians would cease their meddling.

If you visit this courtyard, do watch out for rogue water elementals. Meridian is built over a former Abyssal nest, so from time to time a faulty experiment unleashes one of Akylios's spawn. Progress has its risks. The scholars usually banish the wretches before recalibrating their instruments.

Located in the second courtyard, our main portal can transport you to any other portal you've discovered in Telara. It's for Ascended only, so I envy you its use. Try and warn mortals away--they lose too many limbs like that.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4590/images/Meridian2_t.jpg

Learning, commerce, and armed might

Be sure to visit our military headquarters at the command center. Peruse our tactical maps at your pleasure, or speak to one of the emissaries from our various conflicts with the Guardians. They'll be more than happy to ship you off to a Warfront. Yes, Asha Catari spends her time in the command center. Yes, she will notice if you stare.

Across the courtyard is the manufactory, where we hone our crafts. Many of the brilliant inventors out in the first yard began their careers putting hammer to anvil in our workshops.

Just behind the manufactory you'll find the College of Planar Studies. Behold, the most advanced orrery--that's a moving model of the cosmos--in all Telara. In the center spins Telara herself, and the planes rotate around. Studying the alignment of the planes is vital to subduing and someday mastering their power.

Connecting the command center and manufactory is the indoor promenade where Meridian's merchants hold bazaar. Remember, Meridian is no filthy Guardian hovel, and our merchants work eldritch wonders. Be sure and wave to Sparky, the potion-mixing automaton.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4590/images/Meridian3_t.jpg

The tower of visionaries

You should eventually find yourself in what my colleagues have generously called "Orphiel's Spire." This grand tower symbolizes Defiant superiority over all Telara. Note by your shortness of breath that the city constantly climbs skyward, just as we Defiant reach for the heights of power and innovation. You'll be ascending the tower via short-range teleporter, so you can recover.

The Faceless Man waits by the first-story teleporter. I'm sure he does have a face under that featureless mask, but no mortal shall ever look upon it. He serves as contact for all Ascended heading into the Dragon Cults' most dire strongholds, so you'll be seeing him often. Do try to be cordial: Those horns are quite real, and his time among the Abyssal has made him cagey and dangerous.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4590/images/Meridian4_t.jpg

The second story is the Mages' level, where our arcanists develop new spells to employ in the name of progress. Clerics cement their bargains with cooperative spirits on the third story, and above them, Rogues practice the arts of stealth and... neutralization. Finally, my study forms the apex of the tower.

Oh! I'm afraid I don't have time for questions after all. But do feel free to visit my aerie and look out upon Meridian. From there, even the other towers look small.

All Telara stretches out before the Defiant. You need only reach out and grasp it.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4590/images/Meridian5_t.jpg

[Alderaan]

http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/reader-submitted-questions-part1


Rift’s Creative Director answers questions on rifts, loot, content updates, and more.

In the first on an ongoing series of exclusive interviews with Trion Worlds, Ten Ton Hammer seeks out as much information as they can about Rift: Planes of Telara, the upcoming, action-packed MMOG. This time, we talk to Scott Hartsman, Creative Director and Trion Redwood City Studio Lead. If you have any questions that you wish to be asked in future interviews, post them in our official Rift forum.

Ten Ton Hammer: When you go into a dungeon or raid, are you able to switch your roles? (Submitted by Khalathwyr)


Scott Hartsman:Absolutely. You’re able to acquire up to four roles by visiting your trainer, and once you have those roles, you can switch back and forth between them any time you choose out of combat. You can’t do it in the middle of a fight. That would be kind of goofy. Other than combat, you can switch at any time. I’ve noticed that it is extremely useful just for soloing through the world. You run into a place where you need a little bit of stealth, and so you switch. Later on, you run into a place where you need a little bit more tanking, so you switch. It makes you feel that you have a ton of tools at your disposal. It’s really cool.

Ten Ton Hammer: That is cool. One of the things that pop immediately into my mind about that sort of thing is that when devs are designing encounters, dungeons, raids, etc., you always have to take into account every possibility. A lot of designers don’t want to limit things to where you need to have a specific class for a certain fight. But if you’re able to change on the fly, then you’re actually able to do that.

Scott Hartsman:It definitely helps. At the end of the day, players are always come up with interesting ways to beat the hell out of things that we create in ways that we didn’t expect. If you want to take a good example from a different game such as, “Yes, this fight is imminently doable if you bring nine paladins with you.” If that turns out to be the strategy, then guess what? That’s fine because anybody can become a paladin; technically any warrior can become a paladin for the fight, assuming they went that way and got that soul. It’s not that we’re trying to design fights that require nine of a given class, but we sure could, I guess.

Ten Ton Hammer: I guess the point is that you’re not limited.

Scott Hartsman:Yes.

Ten Ton Hammer: Does the map of your world extend eastward into the islands? (Submitted by Khalathwyr)

Scott Hartsman:Aha! The launch world, in fact, is as it is right now, meaning that the map that you see is the world that we are launching with. It is that and a goodly number of interiors, instances, and dungeons.

Ten Ton Hammer: So when it comes to the islands, is that a hint that there’s going to be boats for travel and perhaps even player boats? (Submitted by Khalathwyr)

Scott Hartsman:Right now, the world does not extend out that way. The mainland is the launch content.

Ten Ton Hammer: Are you still going to shoot for what you want at launch or are you saying, “We’d like to have this in for launch, but we can’t. We just don’t have the time so we’re going to put it in a later content update.”?


Scott Hartsman:Our launch content is our launch content. We already are at the point, and we have been for awhile, where we have the launch content planned out and have what the post-launch content looks like for the first few updates. We’re not doing the, “Oh, we didn’t finish it. I guess it’s live content now.” The launch world is scoped very specifically to fit into our development time window. Some of the post-launch content, such as the art, is already started. This is a very intentional roll-out plan.


Ten Ton Hammer: How random are rifts? Will there be known spots where players can camp and wait for them to pop up or are they really random and can strike anywhere?

Scott Hartsman:There will be some known spots that are very intentionally set the way they are because of the story. Just because something is a rift doesn’t mean that it’s a part of the global world invasion system. There are some that we’ve placed for story. There’s one in a war-front for instance, which is one of the gameplay elements there. In general, there are hundreds and hundreds of places where they can possible pop up, and that’s just based on the mechanics of laying them out and making sure they look good and play well. For instance, if we had a system where it was literally any place in the universe with developers unable to say, “Not here,” where a rift would open up, then it could do so on top of an inn in town. That would be extremely frustrating and make for bad gameplay. You wouldn’t be able to fight anything that was there. There are just some realities of game creation that make us steer them. We can’t say, “Yes! It’s absolutely anywhere, including places you could never get to and places that would piss you off!” The idea is to make sure that the gameplay is fun. It is highly random. If you waited in a specific spot for a rift or an invasion, you would be disappointed. It is not camp-a-spot gameplay.

Ten Ton Hammer: Are there any free update contents planned for after launch? (Submitted by Khalathwyr)

Scott Hartsman:Absolutely. That is one of the core tenets of the game. We have the ability because of the underlying architecture of the game and dynamic content engine to be able to add content in a way that is more economical than most games can. That’s a huge part of the value that we’re hoping to bring.

Ten Ton Hammer: Grouping or crafting, which offers the best loot?

Scott Hartsman:Interesting. We have a ton of different ways for loot to get into the game, so I don’t know to say whether it’s grouping or crafting. The last time I went over the list with the itemization guys (and the number and crafting guys as well), the number of vectors by which an item can enter the game…there’s 25 of them. There’s everything from soloing to random world drops to war-fronts, PvP loot, questing, crafting, raiding, grouping, and so on and so on. The way we think of the majority of our crafting loot is that if you go through the trouble of crafting something, you’re always going to prefer that item to something you get from soloing. Sometimes, you’ll get items that are preferable to grouping. Overall, there’s a ton of loot and we keep hooking up more and more ways to make it happen because there are 11 or 12 different types of gameplay activity that you can do…actually it’s more than that…all the way up the line. We need to make sure that if you play a certain way, you’ll get rewarded and it needs to be fun.

Ten Ton Hammer: Do you have an auction house or a broker system designed yet?

Scott Hartsman:Yes. We actually have it in the game right now.

Ten Ton Hammer: Does it have any unique feature like posting want ads?

Scott Hartsman:There are some features that we’re calling utility features and we need to make sure that we have enough time to spend on the stuff that we really, really care about, such as souls, rifts, and invasions; all the things that make Rift unique. Stuff like mail and auctions are things that we will add on to over time, but we need to make sure that we have the basics and that they are able to do what they need to do.

Ten Ton Hammer: Lastly, what about beta? Everybody wants in!

Scott Hartsman:Actually, we just started doing solicitations for folks to submit their guilds for beta and there is the official thread being tracked on our forums. We are at the point where we want to start to build the pool of guild-less people who played MMOGs. We want to know who they are and get them registered on the site. If you don’t have an account on our site, we won’t be able to find you. We want to have you in. We’re putting the collection of people together right now. Consistent to what I was telling people at PAX is the current goal is to be in our beta event by the end of the year, and we’ll see how it goes from there.

Our thanks to Scott Hartsman. If you have any questions about Rift: Planes of Telara that you want to be asked in future interviews, please post them in our official Rift forum.

[Insanecyclone]

Login to the Trion site and see if you got a Community Beta added. I have it on my account.

http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?4139-Codes-Being-Assigned


Hi, All-

By now some of you have realized that your code has already been applied to your account. And some of you have noticed that you still don't have one. Here's what's going on.

They are applying the codes and run into technical difficulties. So the process has been slowed. Not all codes were applied at once. They will continue to work on the problem until all of the accounts have been assigned his/her code. We will be sending the email confirming that your code has been applied when the process is complete.

I apologize for any confusion. I'll keep you updated on any changes.

Remember, these codes give you a chance to be selected for beta. Please refer to these threads for further details on beta selection:

Your Chance at Beta
Beta Questions

And finally, beta dates have not been announced yet. If you are selected for beta, you will be emailed further information and instructions. Stay tuned here on the forums for official up to date news and future announcements.

Thank you for your interest in beta. We look forward to hearing your feedback. And we look forward to seeing you in Telara!

[Purrrfect]

I got the email that they were going to do this, but haven't got one about the code being applied to me yet.

[Alderaan]

Just got the code applied email yesterday.

[Alderaan]

http://g4tv.com/videos/49031/Rift-Planes-of-Telara-Walkthrough-Video/

Nothing new but it's something.

[Alderaan]

Rift “bonus rounds” & PvP discussed at NY Comic Con 2010
http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/nycc10




New and rewarding ways to seal a rift revealed by Trion VP Ricardo Sanchez, plus much more.
Ricardo Sanchez, Trion VP of Digital, came out swinging during the Trion panel at New York Comic Con 2010. “What we’re creating is the most polished and complete MMO released since 2004… Basically, it’s pick whatever you want from an MMO and we’re going to give it to you.”

As fans know, Rift: Planes of Telara is an 8 sided battle royale between two human factions (Guardian & Defiant) and six Planar NPC factions (life, death, and fire, plus the previously undiscussed water, air, and earth planes). The NPC factions, Ricardo noted, take advantage of the “extensive highway system” to spread as rifts progress and span out, creating new footholds in player-held objectives.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/90551

While Trion has suggested that planar invasions could be used and guided as part of player vs. player tactics, Ricardo noted that Guardians and Defiants could actually team up to defeat invasions without a loss of reward. Since players must be flagged to directly participate in PvP, it’s possible to work alongside with players of an opposing faction if not to directly group with them.

The Rift progression concept has changed slightly since we last spoke with Trion. Highlighting how Rift battles grow and change as more players become involved, Ricardo introduced us to the series of timed “bonus rounds” that players will experience after successfully sealing a rift. At least two bonus rounds are available when rifts reach a certain level of interaction, which become progressively more difficult with shorter timers. If players succeed, they’ll be rewarded with incredible levels of loot and experience. If they fail, the Rift will close and players will be rewarded richly anyway.

In past coverage, we’ve gone into great detail on Rift’s class and callings system, but Ricardo put a new spin on the system for PvP players, emphasizing all the permutations that characters can go through. And while the extensive hybridization offered by Rift allows PvE players form an attachment to their character (since one character can perform a number of different and interchangeable roles), the system also makes competitive players much more unpredictable. “It’s really a new level of variability for PvP players,” Ricardo noted.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/90548

The videos released this week show some of what Ricardo called the “loving detail” poured into the game, right down to hand-drawn stained glass in Meridian and individually crafted snow drifts. You’d think that level of detail comes at a price in performance, but Ricardo insisted that Rift’s minspec is more than reasonable.

Finally, Ricardo fielded a number of questions about what’s being done to make the Guardian faction more desirable over the steampunkish Defiants. Players were concerned about potential player imbalances between the two player factions, and Ricardo noted that despite efforts made to show off some of the rougher edged Book of Eli-ness of Guardians (including a purpose-built Guardian trailer), it is a bit of a struggle to increase the inherent coolness of the Guardian faction. While he gave no details, Ricardo noted that Trion hopes to differentiate Guardians on gameplay – a distinction that will be easier to prove as the game moves deeper into beta over the winter leading up to a planned 2011 release.

[Purrrfect]

http://t.co/tm5gd91
Picked that up on twitter earlier.

[Alderaan]

Exclusive First Look at Rift's Plane of Water, Iron Pine

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/708036/MMO-Report-Presents-Exclusive-First-Look-at-Rifts-Plane-of-Water-Realm-of-Iron-Pine.html

[Alderaan]

Rift Podcast 16: Scott Hartsman on PvP, Dungeons, RaidRifts
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/riftpodcast16/id379844537?i=88265227#

* Leveling speed matches content.

* Dungeons are instanced and not open world. (nice explanation against timer based content, ala Kings in XI)

* PVP rewards including favor and prestige which unlocks rewards and PVP souls. Can also level up to cap in PVP.


I really enjoy the way Scott answers questions and it seems like his priorities are in the right place.

[Alderaan]

Rift: Planes of Telara: The Justicar Revealed
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/431/feature/4624/page/1


Overview

Justicars are healing clerics who fight shoulder-to-shoulder with their allies in close combat. Conviction builds with each swing of their weapon, bolstering nearby comrades and powering the Justicar’s potent healing magic.

Strengths

A Justicar’s healing comes from damage dealt in close combat. Thus he can survive and thrive in the thick of the fighting while ensuring his allies do the same.

Weaknesses

A Justicar’s divine magic depends upon his melee prowess, so foes are wise to try and keep the Justicar from the front lines.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4624/images/Justicar1_t.jpg

Background

Nidris the giant wolf crept unseen through the Faering Wood, following the scent of the invaders in the domain of Greenscale the Primordial. He tracked this war party of humans and Dwarves to an overgrown temple. Among stones pulled apart by vines, they bowed their heads in prayer, led by a Dwarven cleric who wore chainmail under his robes of office. He knelt at the remains of the altar, leaning on what looked to be a staff.

“Bidding farewell to your gods? They’ll soon be devoured by our lord Greenscale.” The impish voice belonged to Corrigan, a changeling who rode upon Nidris and fancied himself lord of this forest.

“Shed your worldly concerns,” said Corrigan, “and frolic with us in this paradise.”

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4624/images/Justicar2_t.jpg

A coven of winged faeries that doted on Corrigan buzzed out towards the group and began tugging at beards, pulling at tunics, and rifling through pockets for sport.

“I will frolic when I am done with my prayers,” said Thorvin Sternhammer, Justicar of Thedeor.

“A lackey of the gods!” taunted the changeling. “Do absolve us of our sins before Nidris devours you and I use your holy staff to pick the sinew from his teeth.” The faeries tittered mischievously. Nidris growled, shaking the forest.

“You wee winged demons misunderstand my faith. I am not here to absolve you. The god of battle showed me how that fat toad you call master could be beaten.” The faeries giggled and continued to painfully braid his beard. “But the strength of my faith lies not in sermons, and this is no preacher’s staff.”

The Dwarf brandished his maul of cold iron. “Absolve you? I’m here to smash you!”

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4624/images/Justicar3_t.jpg

The maul landed with a mighty thud, flattening a flittering faerie. Nidris howled in challenge, and Thorvin glared into its eyes. He swung his bludgeon at the tiny sprites, knocking some to splatter against the great wolf’s pelt.

Thorvin’s soldiers charged, their courage bolstered by his conviction. Teeth and metal clashed, and though Nidris bit and clawed the invaders, the soldiers’ wounds healed with every blow their cleric struck. The tide of battle turned, and soon the mighty beast found himself bloodied and nearing death.

“Flee! Flee!” screamed the terrified changeling, his mocking tone drained away. “This is no mere mortal, but an avatar of war!” Nidris yelped like a pup and turned tail, but Thorvin crippled the beast’s leg with a swing of his maul.

His heart pierced by the spears of the soldiers, Nidris collapsed with a final anguished cry, Corrigan tumbling from his back. Scrambling uselessly, the Changeling tore himself on brambles as the stout cleric strode toward him.

“I repent! I repent!” the changeling sniveled.

“I know you do, lad,” said Thorvin as he hefted the bloodstained maul. “And I’ve got your absolution right here.”

They say Corrigan’s death rattle haunts the Faering Wood to this day. He had met Thorvin Sternhammer, whose crusade hounded mighty Greenscale across all of what is now known as Mathosia.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4624/images/Justicar4_t.jpg

Quotation

“Many preach their vision of the gods. They speak of love, and health, and happiness. I am here to tell you the truth of the world. Anything good must be fought for. You must stand toe-to-toe with your demons and crush them. Only then will the gods bless you.”

[Trocian]

Sweet.

I always liked the Warrior Priest in WAR, and Justicar seems pretty similar.

[Trocian]

Stupid double post.

[Alderaan]

Rift: Planes of Telara: The Stormcaller Revealed
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/431/feature/4627


Strengths

Stormcallers weave Air and Water magic together, their spells reaching heights of devastation in concert they could not achieve individually.

http://images.mmorpg.com/images/newsImages/432010/riftstormcaller2x.jpg

Weaknesses

Just as a storm cannot be wind or rain alone, the Stormcaller must combine spells to reach peak devastation. They thus take longer to warm up than other mages and are vulnerable to foes who know how to interrupt their rotation.

Background

It is said the Stormcaller Amunet could stop a man’s heart with the shock of her touch. Yet before she joined Thorvin Sternhammer’s crusade to imprison Greenscale, Amunet was called the Weather Witch of the Emerald March. Without the Justicar’s intercession, she would have burned at the stake as a heretic and dragon-pawn.

In the rich farmlands of the March, Thorvin’s band encountered a land beset by harsh storms and persistent frosts that had left fields washed out and barren. The March folk lay blame on the Eth woman Amunet, who stuck out with her swarthy skin and pale white hair threaded with silver. The crusaders found her bound to a stake in the village square of Smith’s Haven, surrounded by villagers bearing torches. Thorvin stepped forth as the hand of divine judgment, and bid them allow him to confront the condemned.

“Do you have the power they accuse you of?” he asked her.

“I do,” Amunet responded emotionlessly.

“Did you cause the frost?”

“I did,” said the witch.

“Why?”

A smirk curled on her lips. “At last, someone bothers to ask.”

As his men kept the villagers at bay, Thorvin untied Amunet. She led the party onto the March, where frost withered the delicate leaves of the seedlings. The Elven ranger Durnes wrinkled her nose, as the plants were rank with planar taint. The witch explained that she had discovered Greenscale’s minions seeding the land with pods from the Plane of Life, and called in the storms to keep them from blooming.

Together, they laid a trap for the Lifetouched wretches. The heavy rains quelled and the frosts receded when Amunet released the spells she had cast on the land. Thorvin’s party hid themselves within the field. That very night, human cultists stole through the farmland, sewing the earth with corrupted seeds.

Amunet surprised Thorvin’s crusaders with her command of weather magic. She stood back from the fray, shielding herself with gales that threw back the cultists like rag dolls. She encircled the cultists in frost, inflicting the deep chills of hypothermia. Lightning danced down from the sky, bursting single targets like ripe grapes or arcing between wretches in a terrifying game of leap frog. Though each crusader felled many cultists, Amunet racked up victims by the score.

When it was over, they found a member of almost every local family among the slain villains. Disgusted, Amunet decided it was time to leave the March, and Thorvin offered her a place in his band, the legendary hunting party destined to bring down gluttonous Greenscale.

Quotation

http://images.mmorpg.com/images/newsImages/432010/riftstormcaller3x.jpg

”Should you feel a chill in your bones, or an electric current in the air, you may want to run very far, very fast. You can no more hide from my lightning than block hoarfrost with a shield.”

[Alderaan]

Rift: Planes of Telara: Warlord Revealed
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/431/feature/4630/Rift-Planes-of-Telara-Warlord-Revealed.html


Strengths

Warlords can draw upon vast tactical experience, empowering their allies and weakening their enemies to change the course of battle.

Weaknesses

The Warlord’s focus on enhancing the capabilities of her allies leaves her vulnerable when isolated from friendly ranks.

Background

Numbered among the greatest generals in Telara’s history is Börte, daughter of the Shalastir leader Bahmi—for whom all Telara’s Shalastir are named. Her greatest triumph among many was breaking the Storm Legion’s hold over Iron Pine Peaks. Though outnumbered four-to-one, she marched a mixed force of Telarans to overtake Crucia’s stronghold.

When the Telarans saw the enormous horde arrayed against them, the war-machines poised to spew death, and the elite Archons with their empty, compassionless faces, despair seeped into their souls. Crucia took the first few skirmishes through sheer numbers, and made an example of every captured Telaran’s slow death.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4630/images/RiftWarlord1_t.jpg

Hope was already fragile before infiltrators from the Storm Legion began whispering of relief through surrender. Their honeyed lies quickly took root in hearts weakened by terror and fatigue. Hearing groans of resignation, Börte rode before her army on the dawn of battle.

“Children of Telara! I see the fear in your eyes, cold as these icy peaks. Let your fury melt it away! Stand unbent before the forces of the Storm Queen, and laugh at them for assuming you would break!”

“Our despair is Crucia’s strength, so she wants to break us, to see us submit. But in standing against her now, we have already won! We are girded against her victory by our unbroken spirits. We stand next to each other, emboldened by hope: Hope that our children will fear no planar whelp, and will only know of the Blood Storm as proof their ancestors were strong!"

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4630/images/RiftWarlord2_t.jpg

She paused to pass her gaze over the assembled throng, watching backs straighten and eyes harden. “In a not-so-distant place, my father led the Shalastir to drive Crucia back! Today, I bid you do the same! Hold fast to this world! Rip Telara from Crucia’s claws and break her fingers so she cannot grasp at us again! Ride, my brothers! Fight, my sisters! CRUSH THEM!”

The Telarans roared their triumph, driven forth with the fury of lions. Börte’s words shielded them and bolstered their attacks, healed their wounds, and kept Crucia from controlling their minds. She led from the thick of the battle, manipulating allies and enemies alike with auras of inspiration and intimidation. As her main force tied down the brunt of the Legion, strike units took out their fortifications before crushing their flank.

That day, the Telarans seized victory, imprisoned Crucia, and entombed her forces in ice. Börte’s tactics would be studied for generations to come, but only Warlords of her tradition understood that it was inspiration, not mere strategy, that shattered the storm that day.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4630/images/RiftWarlord3_t.jpg

Quotation

“I know the battlefield like my own soul. Stand beside me, trust in my guidance, and I will never let you fall.”

[Gokulo]

Damn, so many choices already, they're making it hard D:

[Lucavi]

Too many purchasable games on the horizon. This does not bode well for my wallet.

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.riftpodcast.com/podcast/2010/10/25/rift-podcast-17-abigale-alpha-beta-and-vip-keys.html

Rift Podcast 17: Abigale, Alpha, Beta and VIP Keys

This week we have Abi join us once again. She talks about her own experiences in Alpha, the contention on the official forums over Beta and the VIP keys, and talks to us in some detail about the Trion Gamer Day.

There has been much contention on the official Rift: Planes of Telara Forums over Trion’s decision to hand out Beta keys in multiple different ways. The keys are available through multiple randomly timed give-aways on Rift’s Facebook, Twitter and Official Forums. Not to mention there are several fansites running competitions to gain the keys as well. These are not the only ways VIP Beta codes will be available, but just the first ones that have been implemented.

Abigale talks to us in this episode about the fine line they walk trying to make sure they fulfill their development, stress and focus testing needs; balance getting the word out about the game; and try to include their supportive community at the same time. Sadly, it is a fine line and not everyone will be happy – If they did manage to find a way to accomplish it, they could bottle it and make a fortune.

We’d like to announce that the random winner of the VIP Beta key comment on our blog contest was: Zephirius. Congratulations!

Don’t forget today is your last chance to get in bumper sticker slogans or create a soul. Entries close at Midnight CST tonight!

We hope you enjoy this Podcast episode.

[Alderaan]

Combat and Abilities - Rift: Planes of Telara Reader Submitted Q&A #4
http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/reader-submitted-questions-part4


Lead Systems Designer divulges combat system philosophy, abilities, souls, and PvP.

In our fourth exclusive interview with Trion Worlds, Ten Ton Hammer probes ever deeper into the upcoming Rift: Planes of Telara MMOG. This time, we talk to Lead Systems Designer Cameron McNeil, who goes into depth of the combat system in Rift. The combat-themed discussion also touches on various abilities, soul trees, the user interface, and even PvP. If you wish to have a question answered in a future interview, please submit them in our official Rift forum.

Ten Ton Hammer: For most MMOGs, the heart of the game is the combat system. What about Rift: Planes of Telara? How does that combat system work?

Cameron McNeil: The combat system in Rift is very similar to other traditional MMOG combat systems. There’s ability selection, target selection, cast times, cooldowns; if you’ve played an MMOG, you’ll understand the core fundamentals on how the game plays. A lot of what happens though depends on your class, what you’re doing, and how you want to play the game. We don’t want to change the fundamentals of the game. We want to change what sits on top of those fundamentals and the things that make it fun. Pressing “1” to swing my sword, changing that isn’t necessarily what we want to do. What sword do you want to swing?

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/91185

For a given fight, depending upon my class, I’m going to find my target, I’m going to start off by throwing a damage-over-time spell, I’m going to hit my instant, I’m going to start throwing around my bread-and-butter fireball, and when they get close to death, I’m going to finish them off either with my instant, which has hopefully cooled off, or with another ability that will hit them harder when they’re under a certain amount of health.

For harder pulls or larger mobs, I’ll throw in some crowd controls, pop a cooldown, drink a potion; all the things you would expect to do in an MMOG.

Ten Ton Hammer: Basically, it’s along the philosophy of “if ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.” Would the advantage here be that it sounds like the system would easily be picked up by players if they’ve ever played other MMOGs before?

Cameron McNeil: Yes, very much so. We want people to sit down and start playing immediately. Having never played Rift before, you should be able to pick it up and go, “Hey! I know how this works. Let’s start killing stuff!” What we have is an incredibly flexible soul system that allows players to create their own classes and play style. What we want is for players to define how they want to play, which abilities to use, what effects they want, and the general strategy. That’s where we want our players to feel that our game is different. That’s what we think is fun. It’s not in pressing the “1” button, it’s in my choice as a player deciding on what I’m going to do.

Ten Ton Hammer: How many abilities are going to be within a rotation? Obviously, you can’t give exact examples, but do you think it’ll be a lot of rows of hotkeys that people will be using or is it going to be five to seven main abilities that people will rotate through?

Cameron McNeil: Each class has generally about 20 abilities. We certainly don’t expect you to be using all of those. A lot of those are situational, and a lot of them are reactionary. In my general rotation, four or five abilities are might what I throw around. If something happens, I have access to other things. A lot of it depends upon your class as well. If you’re a stealth class, you’re going to have a few more buttons that you’re going to use. If you’re a class that’s going to set themselves up as a tank, then there’s going to be one or two more things that you’re going to do at the start of combat. We don’t expect you to be pressing the one through nine buttons in order before looping back to one again.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/91187

Ten Ton Hammer: Would you say that you have the standard arsenal of damage-over-time, direct damage spells, AoE spells, and that sort of thing?


Cameron McNeil: There are certainly those abilities in there, and more abilities sitting on top that you don’t see around the place very often. Your standard MMO fare is in there. That’s your meat and potatoes, and there’s a little bit of desert thrown in on top of that as well.

Ten Ton Hammer: Does that mean that we’ll see the holy trinity return in combat, where you need to have a tank, a healer, and a DPS class?

Cameron McNeil: Yes you do if you’re going to attempt a dungeon or a raid, but unlike other games, who your tank is might not always the same person. If the warrior isn’t on for the night, someone can change their role quite easily and use the options in another class. Just because there is a holy trinity, it doesn’t mean that you have to have the warrior, cleric, and the mage.

Ten Ton Hammer: Talking a little bit more about the combat on the screen, some games tend to get so intense with ability rotations that you find yourself focusing on the UI and not the combat itself. Would you say that that is something you’ve been trying to avoid?

Cameron McNeil: It’s something that we’re very aware of. There are things that we try to do to make sure that the information you need is easily accessible onscreen. We have an incredibly talented UI department who are looking at these things all the time. How do we make this better? How do we make sure that your focus isn’t sitting on the top left or the top right corner of your screen? We want you to be looking at the center of your screen. We want the effects to be meaningful. We want you to know what everything means. If something happens and you have to react to it, there should be something sitting there to help you know when to do it. You shouldn’t have to look at the top right hand corner of your screen and go, “Oh! That little icon has popped up.”

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/91186

Ten Ton Hammer: Do the abilities have ranks?

Cameron McNeil: Yes. If an ability requires a rank, then it has a rank. For example, how much your fireball hits for. That’s going to go up in ranks. Something like a Silence, we don’t put ranks on that. It’s a single ability. You buy it once and it’s there now. There’s nothing else there that needs to rank up on it.

One of the reasons for that is when you do get a new rank in an ability, we want it to feel special. We don’t want it to be that you go up a level, and now you’re hitting for one more extra point of damage. We want you looking forward to getting those new ranks. When you get a new rank, it’s like, “Awesome! I’m hitting for more damage now. I’m healing more now. This makes me feel better as a player.”

Ten Ton Hammer: You’re bringing meaning back to leveling again?

Cameron McNeil: Yes.

Ten Ton Hammer: How will players gain access to new ranks or new abilities?

Cameron McNeil: New ranks are unlocked slightly different from new abilities. Once you have the first rank in an ability, you are always entitled to upgrade to the next rank. There are no restrictions on it. We don’t want there to be a restriction on it, other than “Hey, you got to level 35. You now get access to rank 4.” For unlocking the abilities themselves, that’s kind of the core of our system. We have this soul system where you define where you want to spend your points. You decide if you want to be a little bit of a champion, and a little bit of a paladin. Depending upon the number of points that you spend in those classes, that’s going to give you access to abilities that they have. If I want my Charge, then I’m going to have to spend some points in my champion. If I want my Shield Throw, then I’m going to have to spend points in my paladin. Once I get the first rank of it, that ability is unlocked for me. I don’t have to worry about not spending enough points to get the second version of that ability.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/91188

Ten Ton Hammer: Are there any abilities that are unlocked just be leveling without spending points in the soul trees?

Cameron McNeil: No. You only gain ranks by leveling. With that being said, equipping a soul tree will always give you something a little bit special and a taste of the class.

Ten Ton Hammer: How frequently are upgrades to the ranks available? Does it come with every level or every two levels? How does that work?

Cameron McNeil: It depends upon the ability and it depends upon your level as well. At the start of the game, we hand them out a little more frequently to ease you into it. After that, for damaging and healing abilities, it’s going to be every five to six levels. It’s enough so that you’re not running back to the trainer every other level, and when you get it, it feels important. It shouldn’t be a matter of, “Oh my God! I can’t play until I get my next rank.” It should be, “I’m playing well and when I get my next rank, I feel really powerful for a level or two.”

Ten Ton Hammer: Are you going to have different abilities for PvP than you would for PvE?

Cameron McNeil: We don’t have different ability sets for PvP versus PvE. We do have different things, such as crowd control, that has diminishing returns and a maximum duration. There are those things in place to make sure that we’re not creating an unpleasant experience for people. We want you to have fun while you’re playing. On top of that, because we have this wonderful soul system, we can create, and we have, PvP specific souls. These are souls that you take into PvP. They have very specific PvP uses and abilities and are things that you would want to take in with you.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/91190

Ten Ton Hammer: Just to reiterate, the abilities reflect more upon the soul rather than the calling? Or would you say you get more abilities from the calling itself than the souls?

Cameron McNeil: The calling itself has no impact upon your abilities. Your abilities come directly from the soul. If I want to be a warrior that deals a lot of damage, I pick my champion soul. If I want to be a warrior who tanks hard bosses, then I take a paladin soul. The abilities that those two souls grant you are obvious in what they do. You have your paladin with your shield blocks and your shield crushes. You’re a champion; you’re swinging around a big two-handed weapon. Your soul defines what you do, not your calling.

Ten Ton Hammer: To touch a little bit on the UI in terms of combat, do you have separate windows for hostile targets as opposed to friendly targets or targets-of-target?

Cameron McNeil: There’s two parts to that question. A multi-target system is something that should be built into the core of the game’s combat system itself, with abilities and effects designed around having access to multiple targets. What that means though, generally, is that tends to lead to more complex combat systems. One of our goals is to ensure that Rift is very accessible to new players, and we feel that a multi-target system takes away from that accessibility. So it’s something that we’re not looking at right now.

The second part of that dealing with target-of-target and focused targets; we certainly have that for the people who want it. We don’t feel that just adding an offensive and defensive target into the system itself is going to help players who are new to MMOGs.

Ten Ton Hammer: In your personal opinion then, what is it about the combat that really engages you as a player?

Cameron McNeil: For me, it’s all about choice. What choice do I have when I’m creating my class? What choices do I have when I’m in combat and fighting? Did I take someone with stealth? Does that give me a kind of sap? Can I open with a stun? Should I take the mage who is very flimsy, but can deal a lot of damage and can root from range? A lot of it is how do I want to play this class today? It’s also about solving problems. I tried to kill this guy, but it didn’t quite work out. How can I come back and kill him? Did he put a DoT on me or did he summon some friends? What can I do that will make killing this guy easier the next time I face him?

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/91189

Ten Ton Hammer: So there’s a lot of strategy involved, you would say?

Cameron McNeil: Yes, that’s exactly it. What are you taking in with you and how can you best use it? What does this other guy have and how can I counter it? Especially in PvP, that’s something that’s going to be ongoing within the game itself. As soon as there is a flavor-of-the-month build, someone else is going to be working on the best way to kill that build.

Ten Ton Hammer: Is there anything else you want to tell us about the combat system?

Cameron McNeil: I think what we’ve created here is not just the combat system itself; it’s a combination of the combat system and the soul system. Our combat system is something people can sit down with and feel right at home. Very soon into the game, you start to see what’s really cool about our game. You get to see this wonderful soul system where you can make your own classes and make your own choices. It’s not just that the combat is fun, it’s the whole thing together that makes for a really rewarding experience.

Our thanks to Cameron McNeil. If you have any questions that you would like to see answered in a future interview, post them in our offical Rift forum.

[Alderaan]

Dev Diary: Scoring Rift


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF-2DgFIn20

[Alderaan]

Abyssal Precipice Zone Revealed
http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/t/774/abyssal-precipice-zone-revealed/


Trion just released a bunch of details via their press site on what seems to be their latest instance, the Abyssal Precipice. Below you will find the lore behind this zone, as well as screenshots and a fly-through video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4xhKi83DTo

The brink of the void

The highest spires of Iron Pine Peak are rightly called the roof of Telara, snow-capped giants from whose shoulders climbers could once look out upon the whole world. Today, these lofty peaks overlook a swirling storm of sleet and snow, as if hovering over an endless void. Over the abyss.

This vista chills the blood of bold explorers, while encouraging the mountain's new full-time occupants to redouble their wicked efforts. These cultists of Akylios find the seemingly bottomless expanse almost comforting, a reminder that if their schemes in Iron Pine are successful, all of Telara will be swallowed in cold, roiling chaos for them to rule over.

The Abyssal have made camp in these mountains, seeking to awaken an ancient horror. This cephalon, a loyal servitor of Akylios during the Age of Dragons, knows where the Profane One is imprisoned. The Abyssal must not wake the cephalon, lest his secrets help free the maddest of dragons.

http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/347/0/

http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/348/0/

Cold like the crushing depths

Cultists of Akylios make camp throughout the Abyssal Precipice, manning eldritch machines meant to pinpoint and draw out the spirit of the banished cephalon. They have planted seacaps in the snow around their camps, and the vicious little crustaceans pounce on any intruders who draw near the cultists' sensitive equipment. Furthermore, water elementals patrol the cliffs, large enough to drown a full-grown Bahmi in their flowing bulk.

As they race to stop the Abyssal ritual, heroes must plunge into icy caverns teeming with juvenile Deep Ones. What they lack in the adults' tremendous size, these young make up for in ferocity and numbers, and their claws can tear clean through plate armor. Siltreavers also lair in these caves--hungry tentacled horrors who lurk under the snow, ready to drag adventurers into madness and death.

For a chance to free Akylios, the Abyssal have brought their two most loyal enforcers. These cultists command liquid in any form: One blends water magic with the frost of Iron Pine to summon up deadly spikes and blasts of ice, while the other can manipulate the very blood in his enemy's veins. Both of these villains must be overcome to find the leader of the Abyssal before he can unleash the cephalon amid the cold peaks.

http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/349/0/

http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/350/0/

Stem the tide of madness

It is in all Telara's best interest that the Abyssal fail to summon Akylios's cephalon advisor. Not only is this being ancient and horrible in its own right, it is rumored to know the location of its master's prison. Akylios's madness transcends mortal understanding, and if Telara is to survive, he must remain chained.

The Faceless Man, who spearheads the Defiant's more clandestine operations, bids his fellows to claim a book of horrid spells integral to the Abyssal summoning efforts. Once an Abyssal himself, he seeks the book's secrets to stop his former comrades from unmaking the world. The Guardians would rather destroy the book than trust him, or any Defiant, with such twisted magic.

Keeping forbidden lore from their enemies is just one reason Guardians would assault the Abyssal Precipice. According to legend, the sword of Thedeor himself stands on one of the cliffs. No one knows for sure whether this oversized blade belongs to the war god, but Guardians who have seen the weapon claim it filled their spirits with holy light. If so, all Guardians should strive to make this pilgrimage, for a true vision of righteousness is precious in a world where madmen wake slavering nightmares.

http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/fa/351/0/

[Alderaan]

Rift: Planes of Telara: The Archon
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/431/feature/4708/page/1


MMORPG.com and Trion Worlds have partnered to bring you news and information about four of the classes players will be able to choose from when Rift: Planes of Telara goes live. The first in our series is the support specialist, the Archon. We have screens, basic class information and a lore story to breathe life into the Archon.

Overview

Archons are support specialists who steal their opponents’ strength and convert that raw energy into beneficial magic. These mages bolster their allies and unleash potent kinetic blasts, quickly turning the tide of battle.

Strengths

Archons draw upon an enemy’s strength to empower their friends and unleash potent spells, helping their allies face down seemingly insurmountable odds.

Weaknesses

An Archon is weakest when caught between transfers. Having expended their own life force to gain access to their enemy’s, they must feed on the energy of others to regain strength. During this time a strategic assault can quickly overcome the Archon’s meager defenses.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4708/images/Rift-Archon-1.jpg

Background

The Archon’s Bahmi servant looked the Paladin Amardis up and down. Amardis shifted uncomfortably, unused to the desert heat.

“Many warlords seek the aid of the Archon Tahkaat. Her power brings victory to any army. What priceless treasure do you offer for her support?”

“None,” replied the Paladin. “My forces and I have taken a sacred vow. We will take no pay, nor spoils of war. We march against Laethys, Queen of Avarice, and we’ll give her greed no purchase.”

The Archon was clad in robes and veiled from sight in her tent. She appeared to be meditating in a circle of incense and spices. The figure made the barest nod, and her servant looked back, smiling.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4708/images/Rift-Archon-2.jpg

“The Archon Tahkaat thinks you wiser than you appear. She will fight with your army, and through her strength the dragon will fall.”

In their third week afield, the army faced attack. Stone constructs rose from the desert sands and set upon them. Rushing to the front lines, Amardis saw the Archon’s litter explode. The Mathosian Paladin ran toward the blast, finding at first only fire and shards.

Tahkaat’s servant sat nursing her as the Paladin arrived at their side. The Archon’s veils were askew. Amardis laid eyes on Tahkaat for the first time and saw an emaciated and frail Eth woman, bleeding on the sand.

“Is this her great power?” yelled Amardis at the Bahmi servant.

The Bahmi looked at Amardis, leader of a noble crusade, as if she were no more than an ungrateful child. “Take a look at your army, Northerner.”

Amardis was stunned. Wreathed in stone and flame, their skin like rock, every one of her soldiers, from the hardened tribesmen to the boys who last season had been shepherds, matched the golems’ terrible strength. Every apprentice wielded spells like a magus, each infantryman fought like a champion. They dismantled the golems of Laethys a child smashes his toys.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4708/images/Rift-Archon-3.jpg

“She needs healing,” said Amardis, ashamed at her lack of faith.

“No!” The Bahmi gently picked up Tahkaat. “Something is coming.”

Suddenly, a series of thunderous blows shook the battlefield. “Titan!” the soldiers cried. A gargantuan figure towered over top of them. Even in their empowered state, the army was no match for this force of nature.

Before Amardis could sound the retreat, magma gushed from a sudden crack in the hill, washing over the foe, and Amardis felt her hands surge with the titan’s own might. She looked at the Archon, whose eyes burned like the molten blood of the earth. No longer frail and wizened, Tahkaat was regal, beautiful, and awesome to behold.

“Attack!” she bellowed.“Trust in the Gods, and the Archon Tahkaat!” Her army rallied, empowered anew. Amardis had never felt so strong, so unstoppable in her life.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4708/images/Rift-Archon-4.jpg

As Amardis drew her blade from the Titan’s desiccated heart, she felt Archon Tahkaat’s hand on her shoulder. Amardis loved the gods, but at no moment in her life had she felt closer to a divine being.

[Alderaan]

Rift: Planes of Telara: Hands-On Preview
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/431/feature/4709/Rift-Planes-of-Telara-HandsOn-Preview.html


MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh recently had the opportunity to attend Trion's Gamer Day in Redwood City, California. During the day, Carolyn played the alpha version of Rift: Planes of Telaraand was able to check out several level 30 characters and classes, different builds and several areas of the game. Check out her experiences with Rift and then leave us a comment below.

On a bright sunny Thursday in Redwood City, Trion had gathered five members of the Rift: Planes of Telara community who were not in the Alpha Test stage and a handful of media for a day with hands-on the game. Although still in an Alpha stage, the game has a polished look and feel, equal to some games that were launched in previous years. Remember some of the really painful launches? Yes, I think we all do.

With a quick reminder that the game was in Alpha and a request that we report any bugs we encountered and file feedback, we were let loose at the machines on accounts where several level 30 characters of each faction and various builds, and a slot for creating our own characters. Having played the previous build, I ran through the character creator and the starting experience again. Remember. Alpha Test stage. Things may and will change. Having stressed that, read on.

Starting Experience

Each faction had three races to choose from: the Guardians had a human, elf and dwarf and the Defiants had a human, elf and half-giant (more or less), and class selection at character creation is a broad choice of: Mage, Warrior, Cleric or Rogue. Once I got into the game, I was faced with my first choice of specific class and given three choices as a Mage: Pyromancer, Elementalist and Warlock, (Purifier, Inquisitor and Sentinel for Cleric) and given a short demonstration of the class powers by an in-game NPC. Like any other starting tutorial, I found quests, quest NPCs, and directions that led me out of the re-birth area into the world beyond.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4708/images/Rift-Archon-1_t.jpg

I made it through the second Ascension with the Guardian Cleric – taking Purifier with the first Ascension (first choice of three classes) and Justicar at the second Ascension at level six where I had the remaining seven classes to select from. Then I received a quest which required me to go through a pass to take down a boss. Whoa! I screeched to a halt after running through a field of mobs when I glimpsed the wall of level five and six mobs I had to go through, including a named. I checked my mini-map as well as my larger map to make sure that I was headed in the right direction. Sure enough, I was. A couple of PR guys had noticed I sat back in my chair as I pondered my options and checked the quest. Suggestions were tossed back and forth, and Devs came on over…

“Did you get something you were supposed to use?” “Miss a step?” “Come on, Carolyn, you can do it! Wimpy looking mobs, don’t you think?”

Actually, no. They were nasty looking mobs, but what the heck. I shielded up and charged… and triggered a Guardian’s “guardian angel” that smote the nasties – all of them – and infused me with the blessings of the Gods to take down Mr. Big, Mean and Nasty that I was tasked to do. Okay! When I finally took him down and leapt through the portal, everyone behind me cheered as I had gotten through the newbie tutorial.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4708/images/Rift-Archon-2_t.jpg

Well, that totally had to be the most un-newbie tutorial area I’ve run through. I thought the tutorial consisted of the hot-tips I was getting as I moved, picked up quests, etc. etc. Hey wait! I’m not done with the area yet! But there was no going back. The world had been waiting too long for my Ascension and return. Onward toward battling the Rifts and Invasions from the planes!

I was able to run both the Defiant as well as the Guardian starting experience although I did not make it through the Defiant tutorial area, the experience was similarly epic. The sense of danger was all around, with explosions rocking the area, the various experiences, not only combat, but activating machines (Defiants anyway), blowing mobs up with ballista, freeing Cyril’s horse and riding it across the battlefield, collecting, harvesting, leather working – yes, you learn your first harvesting skills in the field. I found myself trapped in the “Get quest from NPC A, return to NPC A” syndrome a few times, running halfway back to my starting point before I realized that I had received the rewards and the quest was complete, or else I was to go to a different NPC farther afield. I like that.

Dungeon Experience

We also got to play in a dungeon as level 30 characters, with Devs filling in to have enough of a mix of classes to make groups of five. This particular dungeon was instanced for our group and mobs did not respawn. We looked through our builds and skill bars, pressed buttons and hoped for the best. We did rather well, all told. In a departure from the usual boss with say melee and spells, each mini-boss had enough different powers and abilities that we were entertained trying to figure them out. One had spectral healers that spawned and those had to be taken out first. Another summoned crystals with AE explosions. High-level loot opened a window with buttons for Need, Greed or Pass.

http://images.mmorpg.com/images/newsimages/462010/Rift-AbyssalPrecipice_t.jpg

PvP

I unfortunately missed playing the PvP as my group was determined to have just one more go at the final boss in the dungeon despite an AFK member (we did not succeed). I created a character on the PvP server, met Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds, buffed up to 50 but missed trying out the PvP arenas before the server went down and we were to move on to the next planned activity. Currently there are three maps: King of the Hill, team based Attack/Defense and a team based “Kill the Courier” or maybe it’s “Protect the Courier” depending on whose team has the ball. According to the players that did get to try it, it was a lot of fun.

Questions, Answers and Evening Demo

It was a packed day which continued with a Q&A session in a conference room with an HDTV and an NVIDIA 3D Vision box, so for fun, the game was run through the box and the glasses passed around so everyone of us could see the game in 3D – and that really rocked – but on with the Q&A where community questions were answered. Most answers were based on their philosophy of making the game fun, not tedious.

* Day and night cycles are being tweaked and the cycle will be an odd number. Currently set at 7 hours – so you aren’t always logging in during day or night, pure dark night will also be very short and there are no day/night specific quests.
* Balance between two factions is not required. PvP maps and games are not about stronger or more numerous forces.
* Rare events are the random events whose outcomes depend on player actions. For example a regular or black market may spawn depending on how the wandering trader is treated.
* Mentoring will be in the game after launch (not much need for it right at launch). The main designers of the EQ2 mentoring system and the CoH systems are now at Trion.
* Travel around the world will consist of portals, fast mounts and guild summoning.
* There are no “safe” areas out in the field. Invasions can happen across the land, and you may log back into an invasion.
* There are underwater areas, and in Gloamwood, an underwater cave for adventuring in.
* Dragon cults are themed for personality, for example, the Golden Maw are rich, evil and villainous, the Wanton are crazy, chaotic and use fire.
* Avatars will only have first names because of the great number of titles they have in game. The final decision on whether they will have a last name has yet to be made
* The Dwarf female has to be found – it’s part of the lore, and unavailable as a class choice currently.
* There’s no dynamic weather but zones will have their own climate, so to speak, and this will be a gradual change and not an abrupt change when you cross the virtual zone line.
* The only zoning you will encounter are specific instances and some dungeons.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4630/images/RiftWarlord3_t.jpg

We were treated to the first public visuals of a Plane of Air and Water invasion / rift, and a Dev’s build of an Assassin, Ranger, Bard which was said to provide crazy soloing and PvP utility.

Quotable Quotes

In reference to dynamic world changing events and when players will experience them: “Once you learn what the world is supposed to be like, then you can mess up the world.”

Speaking of characters and customization: “Cyril was named before my time. I’d have chosen a more butch name.” “We women want eye-candy too. Make sure the male avatar looks good. Teeny loincloths please!”

Scott Hartsman during discussion of our hands-on experience: “We won’t have quests that will make you run back and forth and back again the same area or kill the same mobs repeatedly, to get different things from them.” Not that there won't be any quests at all that make you go back to the same area, but that they won't be onerous. Scott further said "If you think players get loud about it when it happens, you should see what happens to our internal playtest list when devs find them."

Impressions

What we saw of the game is impressive in an Alpha stage. We weren’t told where we could go or couldn’t go, or that we had to play this tiny vertical slice or dungeon. We were on the live Alpha server and sat down to do what we wanted to do. I spent little time on character creation which I have a hazy impression of having lots of options and sliders as I wanted to get into the game right away after hitting the random button a few times.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4662/images/Rift-Lore-Nov2-3_t.jpg

This is my second look at a different newbie experience and of course it’s a new and improved version. I like the pace of combat, development and advancement in the early stages of the game. The first build had newbies attacking rifts at level 3, but as Scott Hartsman said, you’ve got to know what the world is before you know that it’s changing. The second Ascension could come a little later, in my opinion, after you got out of the tutorial zone or a couple levels later even. The most impressive thing about the day was that the Devs came by all day to interact with us, speak to us to get our feedback, note what we were doing and not doing. One asked me what I was doing when running around the newbie town and noted that a particular mob’s spawn wasn’t adequate. Oh, and did I mention the sound field? Some fabulous sound work there.

[Alderaan]

Rift: Planes of Telara: The Paragon
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/431/feature/4712


In the second installment of our exclusive Rift: Planes of Telara class overviews, MMORPG.com is pleased to show off the dual wielding specialist, the Paragon. Paragons deal damage at a steady, brutal pace and have the ability to hurt enemies at a distance as well. We've got exclusive screens, information and lore behind The Paragon. Check it out and then comment below.

Strengths

With a finely tuned mind and body, the Paragon wields two weapons to perfection, devastating his enemies. Paragons specialize in dealing consistent damage, and can also hit their enemies from range.

Weaknesses

Paragons suffer against healers who can outpace their steady damage output, and these methodical warriors tend to be weaker against opponents who specialize in burst damage.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4712/images/Rift-Paragon-1.jpg

Background

One day, along their journey to confront the first incarnation of Regulos, a party of heroes realized they were being followed. So the Riftstalker Anan hung back to ambush their pursuer.

Anan found an old Bahmi man sitting before a fire. “Sit. Have a bite,” said the elderly fellow, peering straight at Anan under the shadow of an exceptionally large hat. He turned a spit on which was skewered an alarmed-looking rodent. “You should know, however, that the forces of Regulos will be arriving in just a few moments.” No sooner did he say so than a cadre of skeletons spilled over the hill. Anan whipped out his daggers, ready to confront the first wave before they could harm the old fellow.

In a flash, the Bahmi was on his feet, a long, slender blade in each fist. “Strike like iron!” he bellowed, and did.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4712/images/Rift-Paragon-2.jpg

He made bone mulch of the oncoming horde with a dizzying onslaught of attacks. As a second wave crested the hill, he swung his swords in an arc. A wave of energy flew from his blades, shattering bones and spilling marrow on the grass. Before more could come, he danced back to turn his spit. Anan could not help but admire the old swordsman’s disciplined, fluid movements. One blade struck while the other repelled, flowing between well-practiced forms. When a foe managed to knock one sword from his grip, the Bahmi used the spit from the fire to defend himself.

Just as the skeletons had been laid to rest, an enormous flesh golem appeared on the hilltop, casting a monstrous shadow in the bloody light of dusk. It lumbered straight for the swordsman, who crossed his hands over his chest and shouted, “Way of the Mountain!”

The aberration’s charge hit the old man with an anticlimactic thud, as if rushing against a solid pillar of earth. It stumbled back, yet the Bahmi remained completely unmoved. Before it could recover, Anan joined the swordsman in a dual attack, and the battle ended quickly. Before the dust could settle, the man sat back at his fire.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4712/images/Rift-Paragon-3.jpg

“Great warrior,” said the Riftstalker. “I am Anan. My fellows and I journey to rid the world of Regulos. Would you join us?”

The old man took a bite of rodent, and with a twinkle in his eye, he said, “I am the Won Odego, and I will join your cause gladly. But first, I will eat.” And so the father of the Way of the Paragon joined the crusade to end Regulos.

[Insanecyclone]

http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?5818-Rift-Beta-Dates-Announced!!&p=175458&viewfull=1#post175458




Here is a copy of the press release that went out today! Yes, it's official!!!

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. – November 18, 2010 – Trion Worlds, a global developer and publisher of premium online games, announced today that the first closed beta event for RIFT™, the highly-anticipated MMORPG, is scheduled to take place December 3-6, 2010. Gamers worldwide have the chance to participate in one or all of the upcoming beta events by creating an account at www.RIFTgame.com/betasignup.

“This is a momentous event for the entire Trion team, as well as the fans that have been following RIFT since we first announced the game,” said Scott Hartsman, RIFT’s Executive Producer and Trion’s Chief Creative Officer. “We’ve created this deep, vibrant world that’s just waiting to be populated with enthusiastic players, and our hope is that gamers will enjoy playing the game as much as we’ve enjoyed building it.”

Players interested participating in the closed beta event series can sign up for an account now at www.RIFTgame.com/betasignup. Additionally, players can improve their chances of being selected by obtaining VIP beta-keys that Trion will be giving away on RIFT’s Facebook, Twitter, and community forum pages leading up to each of the event. If selected, testers will be notified via email a few days before the start of each beta event with download and feedback instructions.

Featuring the first 20 levels of play, the “Rise of the Defiant” closed beta event will include the full starting zone for RIFT’s techno-magical Defiant faction, plus the Plane of Death-invaded land of Freemarch. Players can tour the fortress-city of Meridian, and battle hordes of undead in the Iron Tomb dungeon.

[Alderaan]

Rift: Planes of Telara: The Riftstalker
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/431/feature/4716


In the third installment of our series of Rift: Planes of Telara character class reveals, we are pleased to present the Riftstalker. The Riftstalker is known as a defensive specialist that uses magical abilities to avoid enemies' blows. They also have the ability to shift out of the physical realm to suddenly reappear behind a foe. We've got exclusive screens, information and lore. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

Overview

The Riftstalker is a defensive specialist who bends the planes to enhance his constitution and shift in and out of the physical dimension. These highly skilled and survivable combatants keep their opponents’ focus while easily evading incoming blows.

Strengths

A Riftstalker is an incredibly mobile fighter capable of shielding himself from harm and appearing in the ideal place and time in a fight.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4716/images/Rift-Riftstalker-1.jpg

Weaknesses

Harnessing planar energies places Riftstalkers under tremendous strain, so while formidable in short engagements, they quickly lose ground as they exhaust their bag of tricks.

Background

It had been years since the accident, but Anan Mkhai recalled vividly the agony of having his very essence torn to shreds by his father’s experiment.

“Just one more adjustment,” the old man murmured, tinkering with the sourcestone lode he’d balanced within a crude assortment of metal rings held together with rawhide bands. As the lode clicked into place, the device erupted, shooting a bolt of wild planar power straight into Anan.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4716/images/Rift-Riftstalker-2.jpg

The agony returned whenever Anan detached himself from physical space. Of course, when a snarling Bomani thrusts a spear at one’s midsection, pain is a small price for vanishing into thin air before the blow lands. Anan forced himself through the shadowy realm between realities to reappear behind the Bomani, jabbing his daggers into the dog-man’s kidneys. The Bomani crumpled, and Anan wiped his blades on the leather of his leggings.

A soft crying caught his attention. Turning, Anan noticed a small girl huddled by the beset caravan. Bending the threads of space and time, Anan stood beside her in moments. The bodies of her parents lay nearby.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4716/images/Rift-Riftstalker-3.jpg

“Let’s get you out of here,” Anan said to the girl softly. As he leaned down to scoop her up, his ears pricked to the clink of chain against stone. Closing in fast, a spectre charged, howling and whipping the air with ghostly chains.

Anan put a finger to his lips as tears welled in the little girl’s eyes. “Shh… I will be back for you.” He studied the spot, and in his mind, a beaming mote appeared in the girl’s location, visible across the immaterial lines of reality.

Anan closed with the spectre, and knew for once the frustration of facing a foe who could wink in and out of existence. Countless times they vanished and reappeared, like warring shadow-puppets in a lightning storm. At last, Anan poised his blade where he knew the shade would materialize, and it appeared once more, impaled on his blade, and dissipated with a bloodcurdling screech.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4716/images/Rift-Riftstalker-4.jpg

A second scream drowned out the spectre’s, and Anan whirled to see a Bomani poised to skewer the terrified girl. He honed his mind in on the mote he had laid near the child, and in a flash, he was back beside her, burying his dagger in the heart of the beast. The girl in his arms, Anan walked from the ruins of the caravan toward the small cluster of survivors.

Transporting his mind to another time, Anan saw his father cradling his own body tenderly, muttering apologies and weeping after smashing the device—his life’s work—to spare his son from complete disintegration. For all the agony, his father’s experiment allowed Anan to spare others from pain, a gift he shared with the next generation of Riftstalkers.

[Alderaan]

Rift Beta Dates Announced!!
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?5823-Rift-Beta-Dates-Announced!!&p=175613#post175613


REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. – November 18, 2010 – Trion Worlds, a global developer and publisher of premium online games, announced today that the first closed beta event for RIFT™, the highly-anticipated MMORPG, is scheduled to take place December 3-6, 2010. Gamers worldwide have the chance to participate in one or all of the upcoming beta events by creating an account at www.RIFTgame.com/betasignup.

“This is a momentous event for the entire Trion team, as well as the fans that have been following RIFT since we first announced the game,” said Scott Hartsman, RIFT’s Executive Producer and Trion’s Chief Creative Officer. “We’ve created this deep, vibrant world that’s just waiting to be populated with enthusiastic players, and our hope is that gamers will enjoy playing the game as much as we’ve enjoyed building it.”

Players interested participating in the closed beta event series can sign up for an account now at www.RIFTgame.com/betasignup. Additionally, players can improve their chances of being selected by obtaining VIP beta-keys that Trion will be giving away on RIFT’s Facebook, Twitter, and community forum pages leading up to each of the event. If selected, testers will be notified via email a few days before the start of each beta event with download and feedback instructions.

Featuring the first 20 levels of play, the “Rise of the Defiant” closed beta event will include the full starting zone for RIFT’s techno-magical Defiant faction, plus the Plane of Death-invaded land of Freemarch. Players can tour the fortress-city of Meridian, and battle hordes of undead in the Iron Tomb dungeon.

[bori]

I really hope I get a beta key!!!

[bori]

If you haven't already, if you create a GameSpot account, you can register for a key, and they give you a code that you enter on the Beta Page on the official Site.

[Insanecyclone]

Today On the Spot - Rift: Planes of Telara, OnLive (http://www.gamespot.com/shows/today-on-the-spot/?tag=topslot;thumb;1)

[bori]

I was able to stack 2 codes onto my account, Gamespot and Curse. Not sure if it helps, but I did it anyway.

[towelliee]

Does stacking a code mean you're in the beta?

[Gokulo]

Applying more than 1 code doesn't increase your chance to get into the beta according to their FAQ.

[Alderaan]

Rift: The Shaman
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/431/feature/4723/page/1


Trion Worlds and the Rift development team have teamed up with us this week to reveal four of the classes upcoming when Rift goes live. Our final installment features the Shaman, an elemental force who can wreath companions in powerful shields and provide healing as well. We have lore, screenshots and a basic overview of the Shaman. Check it out and tell us what you think by commenting below.

Overview

The Shaman binds the power of the icy north to his very being, wreathing himself in pure elemental force. This power augments a Shaman’s attacks, making him a powerful melee combatant, and provides shields and reactive healing.

Strengths

A Shaman strikes hard and fast like the fury of a winter storm. He can quickly close into melee and unleash powerful blows fueled by muscle and magic.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4723/images/Rift-Shaman1.jpg

Weaknesses

Shamans lack other clerics’ abilities to bolster defenses and heal grievous wounds, so they fare poorly against foes with a strong defense of their own or who can keep the Shaman at bay.

Background

Ekkehard was a bear of a man, even after age turned his beard white and fine as snowdrifts. He was the last of the Valnir clan to fall when the Storm Legion swept through Iron Pine Peak. His maul toppled many of Crucia’s finest, but at last they captured the mountainous man. As the other imprisoned northmen looked on, the Storm Legion commander blinded Ekkehard with a hot poker. He was chained with the rest of the captives and marched toward Crucia’s chamber for assimilation.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4723/images/Rift-Shaman2.jpg

Despite his blindness, Ekkehard spent the long death-march preaching faith in Thedeor, god of storms and justice. One night, the commander dragged Ekkehard out of line for rousing the tribesmen to a particularly passionate fervor. Stripped of all but a few loose furs and beaten savagely, the once-unstoppable northerner found himself left for dead in the snow.

Somehow, Ekkehard found the strength to limp along the roadway, following the ruts left by the Legion’s wagons. As his body began to fail, limbs turning solid with the cold, he cried out, “Thedeor! Avenge my people! Grant me your strength, and I will crush the mindless hordes of Crucia!”

The cold in his limbs deepened, as if arctic water ran in every vein, yet Ekkehard felt completely at ease. All pain vanished, and he felt the winds flowing around him, guiding him through the dark to where the slave train made camp.

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4723/images/Rift-Shaman3.jpg

Silent as a stalking lion, Ekkehard felt his way to the wagon carrying the weapons confiscated from the Valnir. No sooner did he clutch his trusty maul than living lightning poured from his fingertips, charging the weapon with Thedeor’s wrath.

Blind but no longer helpless, Ekkehard let his ears guide his assault. Creeping toward the prisoners, Ekkehard heard the guards mocking the bedraggled northmen, and directed his fury toward their laughter. He charged, roaring, and smashed the first guard’s skull to flinders, lightning arcing from the blow to fry the second to a husk.

Ekkehard was prepared for the third guard’s rush, summoning a flurry of ice and snow to obscure the combat and blind his foe. Ekkehard struck her with such thunderous force that she flew out of the flurry and into a cliff face with a sickening crunch. The snow settled back to the ground, and Ekkehard stood before the astonished prisoners. He hoisted the maul high and cried out, “Praise Thedeor!”

http://images.mmorpg.com/features/4723/images/Rift-Shaman4.jpg

The Storm Legion quickly fell to the freed Valnir. Their commander begged for mercy, so Ekkehard put his eyes out with spikes of lightning from his maul, and left him to wander the ice. “Let’s see if Crucia aids you as Thedeor aided me!” Ekkehard declared. Ever after, the Shamans of the northern tribes have driven back the Blood Storm with bitter cold and the fury of the sky.

[bori]

Awesome talent builder

http://www.riftrolebuilder.com/

[Alderaan]

Here's the On The Spot video with just the Rift parts


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAbufPtVMI8

Also a link to all the confirmed or announced classes/souls. I'll update the OP when they're made official on the main site. 32 Souls so far sounds insane.
http://telarapedia.com/wiki/Class

[Vespula]

Hello,

Just posting to let everyone know that ZAM is giving out VIP Beta keys for the upcoming Rift Beta slated to start Dec. 3. With the VIP keys you will be eligible to participate in all upcoming betas for this new MMORPG. Feel free to check out ZAM for more details on how to win one of these coveted keys.

Go to zam (dot) com (slash) forums for details!

[Kiarax]

How do you get one? Visit us at http://rift.zam.com/ and become a registered member of our forums and help us create some buzz! We will select winners based on their activity in the forums, story comments, the topics they create, and our overall impressions of them as a participant on the Rift @ ZAM website.
Lol.

[Katlan]

lol that criteria is so fail.

[Purrrfect]

Just won a VIP key from their twitter feed. Looking forward to next weekend. The Yoona addon for firefox was pretty handy.

[Alderaan]

Damnit i keep missing the VIP keys. Hoping i can get in with the 3 regular keys i have.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Looking forward to this beta too, hope I get selected! If BG people wanna join up together, I can offer teamspeak and a forum we can use on my website.

[towelliee]

Hey all, TGN has received about 50+ VIP keys and we will be holding a contest on our Youtube channel to give them away. We are also speaking Trion and have a meeting setup to allow their content during beta on our channel.

So be on lookout guys and gl if you enter the contest.

I can't enter the url yet

[towelliee]

http://www.youtube.com/tgnrift

[Gokulo]

Aaand what? :D You just wait on the channel for something to pop up? ^^;

[towelliee]

Yeah basically until we put up the contest this week. I will find out more info from the boss man. I work for their WoW channel.

[Gokulo]

Oh ok, thanks :p Good to know so I won't stay up all night expecting anything now D;

[Alderaan]

My hate for everything Twitter/Facebook has me keyless =/

[Weltall]

Installing the alpha now /cheer

[Jintu]

Got my hands on a VIP key the other day so hopefully I'll be testing this coming weekend as well

[Alderaan]

Wow i hate you guys. Someone get me a VIP code.

[bori]

Just got a VIP code. Can't wait for the 3rd!

[Alderaan]

Updated OP with new classes and random info scattered throughout the thread.

[towelliee]

Hey all here is the Beta Key contest we are holding over in TGN Rift

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4seYnRkmpxc

[Alderaan]

Dungeon IRC chat Questions and Answers
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?5912-Dungeon-IRC-chat-Questions-and-Answers


Here's the questions and answers from today's Abyssal Precipice chat at RiftIRC.com with the raid/instance team. These types of chats are pretty common there so keep your eyes out for future chat sessions.

I edited out most of the chatter:

<Berenger> For those that don't know me, I'm Berenger Fish, the lead for Instanced Dungeons and Raids for Rift.
<Berenger> I brought with me 3 members of my team...
<Berenger> I said... 3 members..
<Berenger> there we go
<Adam> what up!
<Adam> I was captivated by your questions
<Allen> Good to meet you all, I'm Allen Vandegrift, I design content for the instanced dungeons in Rift
<Adam> I'm Adam Hetenyi, you may have heard my dulcet chocolatey voice in that guy's street interview from Gamer Day
<Adam> I work on encounters for the dungeons as well!
<Berenger> Adam is very... "street".
<Allen> Wow Adam, you are so much funnier in text form.
<Berenger> Alrighty..lets get goin..
<Shaughnessy> I'm Billy Shaughnessy, the guy with the sweet mustache. Movember!

Will you be able to change your role inside the dungeon?
<Berenger> Yes!
<Berenger> Not only can you change your role... we embrace the fact that you can.
<Berenger> It allows us a lot of flexibility when designing encounters because we know that players will have access to many types of abilities.

When designing raids, does the knowledge that players can shift their soul spec rapidly on the fly make designing unique encounters more or less difficult?
<Adam> It makes designing unique encounters easier, but designing encounters period a bit more difficult, if that makes sense
<Adam> Because players have access to so many different builds, right

When raiding can you use one pre-set soul to buff, and then change class to fight; or do the buffs disappear when you change your soul?
<Berenger> They are removed. We don't want "buff" builds. That would be silly.
<Allen> They disappear

Will players enjoy a vastly different experience on Expert modes or will it be similiar to Normal mode?
Will AoEs like the reaver's spreading of diseases break CC? I didn't like how they changed it in WoW and made it easy mode where pld consecration would not break CC.
<Berenger> There are definitely differences. I guess it would depend on the definition of vastly....
<Berenger> still answering....
<Berenger> Every Expert dungeon has more bosses... but even the bosses that are in both are different as well
<Berenger> We make them more challenging and I don't mean by just bigger stats.
<Berenger> Some dungeons get signficantly bigger..
<Shaughnessy> In Rift you need to be careful how you used CC. It is breakable so you need mind your damage effects, like AOE, around CC'd mobs.
<Allen> And they also expand on the story being told int eh dungeon
<Shaughnessy> You'll have to manage where you CC mobs to avoid the attention of patrols. You also have to manage the order and use of your CC. We have diminishing returns, and CCs have non-standard up-times and cooldowns, so communication is important.

will all dungeon encounters require a tank?
<Berenger> Yep. There are serveral different types of tanks though. Some builds might be more helpful than others.

Will boss encounters be your standard boss sitting there waiting for you to come to it or will we have scripted event type boss encounters?
<Berenger> Yes.
<Adam> Some bosses are chilling in their humble abodes
<Allen> some bosses lounge
<Adam> others are clearly pursuing some nefarious work
<Berenger> We like players to be able to see what's about to punch them in face.

QUESTION will you be able to change your role during infight? aka while battling an encounter
<Allen> sometimes the bosses taunt your efforts and call you names. And sometimes that hurts more than dps
<Berenger> Can't change during combat. That would be a bit insano.

Can rifts appear inside instances?
<Allen> Rifts can appear inside dungeons!
<Adam> Good answer
<Berenger> jaja
<Allen> I know because i placed them there
<Shaughnessy> This is kind of like the scripted events question. Rifts are one type of event we can use in dungeons. Where it made sense they are others, like the beams in Deepstrike or the fire bombardment in Darkening Deeps.
<Allen> please send all grievances to berenger fish
<Berenger> with a check

are there dungeon lockout timers after completing one? How long do they last?
<Berenger> There not any lockouts on the Standard dungeons. The expert dugeons will have one. But we have enough of them that I don't think players will feel too bad about it.

So spontaneous Rifts cannot open inside an instance, only a pre-placed one . . . ?
<Allen> so in the Rift cases I'm referring to, I wanted to do a heavily scripted event to help push an wat with a specific type of rift. But that doesnt mean you will never see Ranondom ones.
<Berenger> what's a wat
<Allen> random
<Allen> what wut?
<Adam> oh mans
<Adam> Allen went off script
<Allen> im a loose cannon!
<Berenger> Allen had to be bleeped



Please for the love of God tell me that the raids/dungeons will require a lot of CC and strategy and not just aoe tanking/dps?
<Allen> ok, what i meant to say was, i've placed rifts myself because i wanted to push an encounter with a specific type
<Allen> but that doesnt mean there is only pre-place rifts...
<Berenger> We want there to be a wide variety of methods to deal with encounters. There are some that we want players to have to use CC. Others we allow them to nuke away.
<Berenger> If it was always one way or the other, that would be pretty boring.
<Berenger> It's something we always look at for each encounter.


How much pleasure do you all get out of hearing about us wiping numerous times on a boss and then finally getting him down?
<Adam> Answer: that's basically the most fun part of my job
<Allen> he gets a little too excited actually
<Adam> not the wiping
<Adam> that part is alright
<Adam> but the wiping and then victory
<Adam> that's awesome
<Allen> its satisfying to put together a puzzle, like a boss mechanic, and watch people figure out ways to overcome it.
<Berenger> I love... LOVE.. watching players trying to figure out an encounter... usually while some giant beasty is bending them over...
<Berenger> As long as it's fair to the player. There has to be tatics that allow the players to win. We don't want to make things difficulty just to kill the player.
<Shaughnessy> We're already hearing people's strats for Expert modes in Alpha. That's pretty cool.

Are there specific guidelines you follow when designing an encounter?
<Adam> There are several, but I would say the most important guideline is communication of mechanics
<Adam> We can pump up the difficulty, but if you appear to die for no reason, you'll probably just get frustrated, or it will feel buggy/incomplete
<Adam> So no matter how difficult or complex we make an encounter, we always want to make sure that we clearly communicate what is going on in the fight.

Will raids be launched with the game?
<Berenger> There will be raid content launched with the game. We're not allowed to talk about it.

Will there be dungeons where you must have a specific soul/calling to succeed?
<Berenger> The only requirements for Standard Dungeons is that have a tank and healer that are spec'd to do so.
<Berenger> Expert dungeons are a little different in that we know players have a lot more flexibility.
<Berenger> While we won't make an encounter that requires soul X to suceede, there might be encouters that we might say expect off heals.
<Berenger> that sort of thing
<Shaughnessy> The various callings offer a lot of tools for players. Some tools are shared across callings, so if we require a certain tactic or ability for an encounter, we can be sure players can bring it in a raid.

How long will it takes, in general to complete a regular dungeon? Say Darkening Deeps.
<Josh> take*
<Allen> Typically, for standard dungeons we shoot for a reasonable amount of time to complete like 45 minutes
<Berenger> They do vary a bit though depending on the difficulty setting, group make up etc
<Allen> We want the content to be enjoyable, but dont want to eat up your entire day

Will you need to clear a standard dungeon or raid to unlock the elite version? Also will you need to clear one dungeon to unlock another dungeon? Progression style where dungeon A is teir 1 then Dungeon B is teir 2 etc.
<Berenger> There are no hard progression locks. Once you hit level 50 you can technically go into every expert dungeon. You might not be geared for them though.
<Shaughnessy> Expert modes provide materials you need to craft openers for Expert Rifts, so players will see and progression tie-in there.
<Shaughnessy> a* progression


How many players does it take to fill a raid? Are there multiple sizes?
<Adam> We will launch with 10-player and 20-player versions of each raid

Will there be any instance blockers? Something along the lines of "Your group has to defeat boss X to move on to boss Y".
<Berenger> Within an instance itself there are some bosses that require you to beat others.
<Berenger> Other times there bosses that we consider "optional"
<Berenger> But if you want to get the full reward for completing a dungeon.. all bosses must die.

Are dungeon bosses static? ie always the same bosses up every time?
<Berenger> Most bosses are static. There are some boss encounters that are a bit more random. Two quick examples...
<Berenger> In one dungeon, one encounter is a manticore.. but there are different types that can spawn.
<Berenger> Another example... there is a boss with a "hunter cat" type of minion. In the Standard mode 1 of his 3 cats is with him. On Expert.. you'll have to fight all 3 at once (plus the boss).
<Allen> Also, depending if you are on a dungeon quests, that also changes what creatures you encounter. So you could end up fighting bosses that you would otherwise not see.

I noticed that a lot of your "dungeons" are actually outdoors. Was that a premeditated design philosophy, or did you find it just make more sense for Telara?
<Shaughnessy> We were tasked to make a dungeon for every zone. That's a lot of art bandwidth. Turns out exterior dungeons are easier and quicker for art to create. So it was mainly a production decision. However, it has totally paid off in awesomeness - all of our dungeons look great.
<mobster> guys, i trust you with most of my private live and like 80% of my thoughts for the next few years. you are awesome
<Shaughnessy> Design is about working with your constraints to made good content, and the team has done well in that regard.

is there a reward for completing a dungeon aside from the loot that drops from the bosses?
<Allen> We give faction rep as well
<Berenger> Every instance you enter automatically gives you a quest to defeat every available boss.
<Adam> Also consider that for Expert mode, we have lots of difficult achievements for players who enjoy that sort of thing to pursue
<Adam> Berenger in particular has cooked up some very cruel achievements

Will the rewards for Expert dungeons be unique to that mode or will they be upgraded versions of Normal mode?
<Berenger> They are unique.

What is your favorite encounter or dungeon that you have worked on? Minus the details.
<Berenger> My favorite encounter is a raid that isn't yet public ;(

when you say that each dungeon requires "a tank and a healer," do cross calling roles suffice for this requirement? Will a Riftstalker and Chloromancer be able to sufficiently fill these roles in a single group without being overgeared and/or overleveled?
<Berenger> Our intent is that any class that is meant to be able to fufill a role that they be able to do so. You'd have to talk to the Class designers about the intent for the various souls.

[Jintu]

Dynamic Invasion trailer from October, didn't see it posted here.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2010/10/19/rift-planes-of-telara-dynamic-invasion-trailer?show=HD

[Alderaan]

Been camping MMOsite for VIP keys since they have a countdown til keys are available unlike these random times from other sites i always miss.

The last 2 days as soon as that shit hits 0, all keys are gone =/

[Jintu]

New instance information: King's Breach
http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/30/rift-reveals-new-kings-breach-instance/

http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2010/11/rift-header.jpg

[Alderaan]

I dunno what it is but Rift screen shots always look terrible to me.

It's like a totally different game from the vids.

[Purrrfect]

Need to get that client download out soon... Gonna have some people making noise when they have trouble downloading it on friday 3 hours before start.

[bori]

Emails going out soon!

http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?6905-VIP-Codes-for-thutee-Next-5-Mins

[Insanecyclone]

FUUUUUUUUUU missed the chance for vip in that thread

[Grey Jorildyn]

Meh totally want a VIP key. the way they did this beta key stuff is just odd and incredibly frustrating for many. It is forcing us to want to learn more about the game though. great marketing idea, but really not the best PR. Not that I'm upset about it, I actually find it kinda interesting. very interesting in fact...

that said, any extra VIP keys floating around??

BTW: My gaming community will likely be recruiting for this game sooner or later. If people are interested in playing with those of us that have VIP keys (taking a tally now), and want a TS and forums to coordinate on, please let me know in PM and we can exchange some info!

[Alderaan]

I'm holding out hope for one of my regular beta keys to get me in at some stage of the beta.

I'm also interested in joining a gaming community, Grey. I've been scouring the guild threads on the Rift board for a while but would much rather play with people from XI.

[Gokulo]

Damn all the good things happen when I sleep :{

[Hyan]

This game is released simultaneously in EU and US, right?

[Gokulo]

This game is released simultaneously in EU and US, right?

Hmm, I think so. Never saw any mention of differentiating between EU and US.

[Hyan]

Yeah, I just hope they don't outsource it.

[Grey Jorildyn]

I'm holding out hope for one of my regular beta keys to get me in at some stage of the beta.

I'm also interested in joining a gaming community, Grey. I've been scouring the guild threads on the Rift board for a while but would much rather play with people from XI.

Awesome. Reg on my forums at http://forum.5thedition.net and I'll give you access as a rift member and you can meet the gang. Almost exclusively ffxi players but we have quite a mix and so far six others showing interest in the game. Think I'd like to see ten before opening recruitment for the game so if ya know anyone interested let us know.

The community seems to be leaning toward PvE servers so we can choose when to PvP. Hope that's alright with you :)

[Gokulo]

Yeah, I just hope they don't outsource it.

And this pops up today...

http://www.rift-news.com/index.php/t/807/ubisoft-to-publish-rift-in-europe/

[Hyan]

l o l

Has ubisoft ever done anything as far as MMO's are concerned?

This sounds like Codemasters publishing RF online long time ago. Fuck.

Although it's still probably better than Frogster for TERA... maybe :/

[bori]

Installing client now!

[Jintu]

Installing client now!
The patcher is actually quite solid, d/ling at roughly 1mb/s. Does BG have a policy on releasing beta information on the forums, knowing full well the purpose of the nda?

edit: figures right when i post this i get error #1003.

[bori]

Try disabling firewall/antivirus. SO far so good for me.

[Insanecyclone]

Just got my invite. Hopefully I can get a VIP key eventually because I know I'm going to enjoy this.

[bori]

ugh download error...got so far too

[SamanosukeShiva]

got beta invite, did they give this out to everybody? i never get into these things

[Jintu]

got beta invite, did they give this out to everybody? i never get into these things
Anyone with a VIP key gets in, those with normal beta keys have a chance to get selected.

[towelliee]

I am downloading not 6.51GB not bad

[Alderaan]

Rift System Specs
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?7166-Rift-System-Specs


Today, we are releasing the system requirements for Rift. Here is the official information:


Minimum System Specification
Operating system: Windows XP, Vista or 7
Processor: Dual Core 2.0 GHz or better
Memory: 2 GB
Hard disk space: 8.0 GB available
Video: Nvidia GeForce FX 5900, ATI/AMD Radeon X300, Intel GMA X4500 or better.
Sound: DirectX 8.1 compliant card
DirectX®: 9.0c, June 2010 update
Broadband internet connection (DSL, cable modem or other high speed connection)

Recommended System Specification
Operating system: Windows XP, Vista or 7
Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or better
Memory: 4 GB
Hard disk space: 8.0 GB available
Desktop Video: Nvidia GTS 250 or better
Notebook Video: Nvidia GTX 200M series or better
Sound: DirectX 8.1 compliant card
DirectX®: 9.0c, June 2010 update
Broadband internet connection (DSL, cable modem or other high speed connection)

[Alderaan]

Why You Should Care About Rift: Planes of Telara (http://pc.ign.com/articles/113/1137700p1.html)


The quietly simmering MMO is showing far more promise than we expected.

Whether it's because of vast improvements since we last saw it, or simply that the PCs here at IGN are pretty darn powerful, Rift: Planes of Telara is now an undeniably gorgeous game, and an MMO that any fan of World of Warcraft or EverQuest should pay a great deal of attention to, because it is also a lot of fun. Rift is built for experienced MMO players. Its setting, Telara, is a world enveloped by a war between the Defiants and the Guardians and several non-player factions, all vying for territory and dominance.

The war between the Defiants and Guardians had weakened both sides, so when an "ancient evil" swept in, the mortal races were unprepared and incapable of defending themselves. That's when Regulos, a giant purple demon-guy decided to go ahead and let his Plane of Death totally engulf Telara. As a Defiant, I began on a cold, hard metal platform and had just been brought back to life, assumedly having died at the hands of the forces of Regulos the Destroyer.

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/113/1137700/rift-planes-of-telara-20101201042636028-000.jpg

I had just chosen my Calling (which is kind of like a class archetype) -- the Cleric -- and was about to choose my first soul (which is kind of like a specific class). A quest giver told me to check information points scattered throughout the room to learn about the three starter souls available to me. As a Cleric, I would have the most flexibility in terms of my soul choices. As a Cleric, I was a mail-wearer, giving me the second toughest armor, and would ultimately have access to souls that made me not only a very good healer, but a competent tank, as well as ranged and melee damage options.

My first choices were between the Inquisitor, a ranged damage-dealer with both damage-over-time abilities and high-damage "nukes", the Shaman, who had a more melee focus, and the Sentinel, who was all about healing. I went with the Inquisitor, and stepped out of the stone chamber to observe the charred wasteland-in-the-making that was Terminus. A volcano in the distance spewed lava, and lighting to the left forked down from the sky, but no rain fell. I was told I had to make my way to the "Failsafe Device" if Telara were to have any chance at survival at all. What was the Failsafe Device, though?

As a character explained to me a short time later, the Failsafe device is a rudimentary time machine. Incapable of transporting the users wherever they wish in the past or future, the Failsafe Device could only transport a single user to the location and point in time that it had been created. You, the most advanced "Ascended" ever created, would be the one to go back and warn your pals from the past of their imminent doom, and your opening series of quests all direct you along this path.

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/113/1137700/rift-planes-of-telara-20101201042632278-000.jpg

In terms of gameplay, Rift's structure is by no means unique or inventive. It plays, for lack of a better comparison, almost identically to the games that came before it -- EverQuest, World of Warcraft and the like -- and makes no effort to hide that fact. This certainly works against Rift when you're simply glancing at the game from between the shoulders of other people on the floor of a game show, or when you're browsing screenshots in a gallery somewhere. But don't let Rift's familiar structure fool you; where Rift differentiates itself from its predecessors is in its flexibility and polish.

My character is currently a Justicar/Inquisitor hybrid. The Inquisitor specializes in ranged damage, and the deeper into the tree you put your points, the more potent those ranged abilities become, adding abilities that slow foes, or cause them to flee in terror. The Justicar is almost the exact opposite; every ability is melee-oriented, with a focus on hammers and shields. Melee strikes restore health to you and your allies, and give you resources to cast more healing abilities. As it stands now, I've focused mostly on the Justicar soul, but two of my most-used abilities are spells I unlocked from the Inquisitor tree. The end result is a melee-heavy fighter who is capable of healing himself, while dumping a couple of damage-over-time spells on opponents to wear them down.

While it does well enough (although a little slowly) for solo-fighting, my character build would shine brightest in a group, where every one of my blows, and every tick of damage, would heal my allies as well. Looking at it now, for leveling, I would have been better off choosing the Shaman soul to combine with the Justicar, as the Shaman would add further damage for each melee strike. Luckily, that's an option that will become available down the line as I unlock it and other souls. If PvP were my focus, the Inquisitor might have been a better choice due to its stuns and slowing abilities. Merging it with a healer or tank soul could provide some extra survivability for myself and teammates as well.

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/113/1137700/rift-planes-of-telara-20101201042626435-000.jpg

The system is built to appeal to the hardcore MMO player -- the kind who sits in front of talent calculators, figuring out just which talents will provide the absolute highest damage-per-second, or the most flexible healing options, or the greatest amount of survivability and hate-generation. There is still some distinction between the Callings, though. Yes, the Cleric is the most flexible of the callings, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a way to make it a good twitch-fighter, and its ranged damage options are simply not as strong as some of the others. The Warrior calling doesn't even have a ranged damage option, while the Mage calling lacks any sort of tanking options, and has very limited melee options in general. The Rogue calling lacks heals, with the exception of the Bard soul, whose healing capabilities are narrow, but whose buffs are unparalleled.

As my time in Terminus drew to a close, a Death rift spat forth a gigantic and extremely impressive looking dragon. I was sucked back in time to a much greener Telara, at a point in time when the war between factions was still strong, but before Regulos became the dominant threat. Little Defiant settlements dotted the landscape, but there was simply no way to get between them other than on-foot. The quests were structured to slowly push me from the top of the zone to the bottom, but at some point I ignored them and simply set off to explore. Upon my death at the hands of a gigantic flaming boar, I found that the only way back to safe territory was on foot. I asked one of the players online at the time -- almost certainly one of the developers -- whether there was any means of fast-travel, and they told me "Yes, but it has its limitations, and you have to earn it."

That is what Rift is all about, though. It's tough, but is built deep, and happens to be very pretty. As development of Rift continues, it will ideally only become better. Is it going to be the coveted "WoW Killer?" I hate that term, and am automatically inclined to say no because of that. I would say that is destined to at the very least be a good "WoW Alternative," kind of like the Zune to the iPod, except hopefully less of a complete and utter failure.

[bori]

This makes me even more excited!!

[Insanecyclone]

What time cst does the beta start? Time zones confuse me sometimes.

[Kiarax]

The RIFT beta will be kicking off this weekend with the first beta event, Rise of the Defiant, which is set to begin Friday, Dec. 3, 2010 at 18:00 GMT and run through Monday, Dec. 6, 2010 at 18:00 GMT.
Unless EU and US get different betas, that'd be 12:00 CST.

[Insanecyclone]

Alright cool because whenever I see GMT time I feel stupid.

[Grey Jorildyn]

That's a really great article. Very exciting to read.

[Alderaan]

Holy hell, glad i checked my spam folder just now cause i got my beta invite for this weekend.

[Grey Jorildyn]

grats! just checked mine as well. there were quite a few messages in there but none from trion :(

[Alderaan]

This patcher is ridiculously fast, some people averaging over 6mb/s on faster connection.

I'm around 700kb/s on my slow connection but that's still good.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Snagged a vip key from here: http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/2/t1599020-trions-rift-beta-event/

[Purrrfect]

Got all updated last night. I had the error a few others did on initial install cuz you have to run as admin, but been going great other than that. Finished over night on my slow-ass horrible-signal wireless.

[Zerocool]

Anyone happen to have client link or have it up for torrent? I got my Guild VIP code today but they didn't give a download link.

[Jintu]

New Videos covering the Defiant starting zone and character customization, 1,2,3 respectively:

http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/rift/videos/rift-kennenlernen-leicht-gemacht-1-11896/
http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/rift/videos/rift-kennenlernen-leicht-gemacht-2-11893/
http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/rift/videos/rift-kennenlernen-leicht-gemacht-3-11899/

[Alderaan]

New Videos covering the Defiant starting zone and character customization, 1,2,3 respectively:

http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/rift/videos/rift-kennenlernen-leicht-gemacht-1-11896/
http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/rift/videos/rift-kennenlernen-leicht-gemacht-2-11893/
http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/rift/videos/rift-kennenlernen-leicht-gemacht-3-11899/

Love these vids, especially the incoming artillery part between the 2 factions.

[Gokulo]

Anyone happen to have client link or have it up for torrent? I got my Guild VIP code today but they didn't give a download link.

+1

[Jintu]

Anyone happen to have client link or have it up for torrent? I got my Guild VIP code today but they didn't give a download link.
I haven't encountered anyone hosting the files or torrent, but this is from Abigale on the forums:

"If you applied a VIP code to your account today or later, those accounts will be enabled later in the week. A new batch of emails will be sent for you.

If you do not have a VIP code at all, you may still get an invite. Some were invited today but more invites for non-VIP codes will be going out tomorrow."

[Gokulo]

Applied today and hoping it will be enabled soon since download might take some time ^^;

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hc2ZZcu-2o

[Alderaan]

Applied today and hoping it will be enabled soon since download might take some time ^^;

The downloader is ridiculously fast. Mine finished in a couple hours on my 3mb/s connection.

[Zerocool]

I haven't encountered anyone hosting the files or torrent, but this is from Abigale on the forums:

"If you applied a VIP code to your account today or later, those accounts will be enabled later in the week. A new batch of emails will be sent for you.

If you do not have a VIP code at all, you may still get an invite. Some were invited today but more invites for non-VIP codes will be going out tomorrow."

Yeah I just saw that. That's going to be disappointing if I can't get in the first event. But I guess if they're doing another one next weekend I'll just have to wait.

[Gokulo]

The downloader is ridiculously fast. Mine finished in a couple hours on my 3mb/s connection.

Not worrying about myself since I've got a good connection here, but I have a friend who's on a sucky one and might have problems to get it on time, good downloader or not.

[Alderaan]

New Videos covering the Defiant starting zone and character customization, 1,2,3 respectively:

http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/rift/videos/rift-kennenlernen-leicht-gemacht-1-11896/
http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/rift/videos/rift-kennenlernen-leicht-gemacht-2-11893/
http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/rift/videos/rift-kennenlernen-leicht-gemacht-3-11899/

Uploaded part 2 to YT since i think that site is blocked to some of my friends at work. Also i equate the race being played to a galka, which is why they walk sorta funny.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9bSIEmAzzM

[Katlan]

Game is starting to get a ridiculous amount of hype... especially from previews saying how polished / good the alpha / beta has been. It seems like a bunch of top notch mmo's are coming out in 2011, now it's just a matter of which one, or two, are going to be worth investing in. But I'm starting to look forward to this game

[Grey Jorildyn]

As with other MMOs, gotta hope it lives up to the hype. This weekend's beta should produce a lot more player videos without all that marketing fluff so we can get the true look and feel of Rift. Thus far, I'm optimistic, but it's hard not to be at this point.

edit: just got the email to download client and all that jazz. i have total of 3 members in guild that will be beta'ing if anyone wants to join us :)

[Kaylia]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hc2ZZcu-2o
"polished at launched"

If they managed to pull that off, some people on FFXIV board will have to eat their words (I'm looking at you Hyan).

I'm kinda excited about this game. The gameplay look fluid, the world is pretty, and there is enough original ideas to make me want to try it. I'm holding my opinion until I see more first impression (or get to try it), but it looks like it could be worthwhile.

[Grey Jorildyn]

FFXIV was the worst beta i've ever been in and Rift will be the fifth MMO I will beta. Lineage II came close though. People who think a game cannot be polished at beta as just SE fanboys who don't get it.

Anyway, I'm all set to go. Are BG people leaning more toward PvE or PvP servers?

[Alderaan]

I usually always lean towards PVP servers but i haven't seen anything posted about rule sets yet.

The thing that worries me is that it appears that way more people are rolling Defiant.

[Kuya]

I like the idea of my enemies not being giant enemy crabs.

[Jintu]

I'm gonna be playing with a few friends this weekend, together with vent, so if anyone else is interested info's in the tag.

208.100.14.166:4489 pw:jintu

[Lucavi]

Enemy factions that aren't simply mobs = day one purchase for me. I'm tired of you vs. the world, or you + 3-5 others vs. the world.

I hope Rift changes the game, a little. Lord knows SE and others could use another refresher course on how to stay relevant.

It kinda looks like a Dungeon Siege on steroids. Graphics aren't the best, but graphics aren't everything. Not even close. If I want a pretty game that makes my brain hurt from all the bugs and stupidity, there's one out right now that I can play for free while it tries to get its own act together.

[Eanae]

Looks nice, skeptical about new MMO's after the last three I've played sucked hardcore. Will watch this a month down the road from launch for sure.

[Grey Jorildyn]

anyone else wanna join up (PvE'ers)? PM me for info :)

[Purrrfect]

If there is a choice today when the rubber meets the road I'll be going PvE. Of course, I'm at werk so I'll be delayed in starting a bit. Though I do plan on trying to use logmein to help load up the servers when they hit the big red button.

[Insanecyclone]

Almost time

[Purrrfect]

Up

[Insanecyclone]

Aaand I can't create my guy on Byriel gonna be rough for the first few mins

froums crashed lol

[Purrrfect]

I hit byr and then it hung for like 3 mins before going to the faction select.

[Kiarax]

Can't even load the menu, lol. Just hangs when loading gets to 49%. Successful stress test is successful.

[Purrrfect]

I saw insane talking in /4 lol.

edit: damn I want to leave work now. ><

[Gokulo]

Can't even load the menu, lol. Just hangs when loading gets to 49%.

Same sadly, was able to load fine 5 min before servers were up ^^;

[Kiarax]

Finally got to the server select. Why'd you guys choose the PvE server? :<

[Gokulo]

Finally got to the server select. Why'd you guys choose the PvE server? :<

Common sense says it might be less packed than PvP I think >.<;

[Kiarax]

There was 3 servers listed as Full, one as High. Byriel was one of the Full ones.

[Gokulo]

Yeah, from what I hear every servers are packed full atm, but that's not surprising for the first hours after start ^^;

[Kiarax]

Ugh, game froze on character select so now I gotta hope the menu actually loads again, lol. Might just wait a couple of hours and try again.

[Gokulo]

Yeah, I think I'll just wait for morning here to try again, and will just abyssea exp during the night or something X.x

[Purrrfect]

I hopped off for now, too slow to do anything over logmein, but everything seemed to work well. Its pretty heavy on one core, at least in the starting spot. There was only minimal usage on a second core. If you see Playerone later, that is me!

[Insanecyclone]

Lv6 now Reaver/Warlord

[Jintu]

Made it to lv4 Sentinel so far but mid-fight the game encountered an error and now I'm in queue: est time 45min :/

[Grey Jorildyn]

hooray for queues!

[Lucavi]

Good shit. Keep stressing those servers. Lets see what real preparation can do!

[Insanecyclone]

Loving it so much. Unless I have to get off early or encounter an error I should be in my teens in a few hours!

[Meko]

So far, just from the few forums I browse, people are digging the game. Sounds like RIFT might be something to look into. I'll find out later, hopefully! :)

[Kiarax]

Can't tell if the insane ping is my internet or their servers. Wasn't playable as it was and then the game crashed, not gonna wait an hour to get back in whilst it's like that. Once it's stable and my computer stops being retarded it should be a damn fine game though, the intro was really well made.

[Katlan]

ppl should post pics :)

[Woozer]

Is it just me or is Defiant the only option right now? It won't let me make a guardian :0(

[Weltall]

Lots of level 50's in the alpha version. Reaver is OP as hell as its the best tank and highest DPS. Rogue is really bad right now from all I hear.

[Meko]

From what I gather, you can only be defiant currently if I'm not mistaken.

[Purrrfect]

Is it just me or is Defiant the only option right now? It won't let me make a guardian :0(

Really? lol


"Rise of the Defiant"

[Woozer]

Yea, I figured it was probably just a one faction thing. :0(

[Weltall]

Alpha is pretty much the entire game except for the endgame raids, which they just added a 700MB update last night worth of endgame stuff. Game seems legit

[Grey Jorildyn]

game is running smooth as a baby's bottom once you get in. UI is really nice and customizable. graphics are not really up to snuff but the animations are stuff are pretty cool nonetheless. having lotsa fun doing *gasp* QUESTS! you readin' this SE? this game has quests!

[Woozer]

I'm honestly surprised at how well it's running, I have to admit I was rolling my eyes at the whole "fully polished MMO at launch" PR bull they were spouting. But so far it seems very likely. Call me impressed.

[Grey Jorildyn]

got about 10 in my group now. others are welcome to join for beta if they like :)

[Insanecyclone]

Had to afk for a while :( have to sit in queue boo

[Meko]

My take on the game is this. If Warhammer and Everquest/Everquest II had a baby, this game would be it. It feels very Warhammer-esque with the layout and the UI. The character models remind me of EQ/EQII (one of the guys from EQ is a head guy for this game so it makes sense). The jumping and running looks awkward much like Warhammer. The talent tree seems kind of neat as certain talents unlock other abilities. Overall, the game runs pretty well for a beta. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, I'd say it's about a 6.5. Very WoW/War like though with quests and such.

[Alderaan]

My take on the game is this. If Warhammer and Everquest/Everquest II had a baby, this game would be it.

Exactly my thoughts also.

There's just so much going on around you it feels overwhelming at first. Hint to SE, this is how you make a lively world. I'm having to dodge artillery fireballs while questing.

Right now there's too many damn people, which is my only beef. This game is a lot of fun so far.

I'm also only getting around 15-20 fps on my crappy PC on lowest settings but it's still running smooth.