That launch that happened four years ago

Remember Trion’s Rift? I really liked it; it had a lot of excitement behind it before release, and then when it came out people seemed to forget all about it. The jump to free-to-play seemed to help a bit with getting players back, but it still doesn’t seem to be talked about as much as the likes of WildStar or Guild Wars 2 anymore.

Well, maybe the newest update will help pull people back. Update 3.4, dubbed Into the Wilds, ??is claimed to be the biggest shake-up the game has ever had. You can watch the trailer on top, but honestly it doesn’t tell you much about anything.

Into the Wilds adds a new calling, which is part of the game’s two-step class system. The Primalist’s ?main gimmick is the reliance on the cunning and fury metres to use its abilities. It can use six different souls (the second part) to specialise in anything from Healer to Tank, and it’s the first new calling added to the game since launch.

One interesting thing about this new calling is that there will be a d??ifferent ability available for each soul to buff that specialisation, making the Primalist seem like an inc??redibly open and flexible class.

Also new is the biggest zone Rift’s ever had, playable race The Bahmi’s ancestral home, the Planetouched Wilds. Apparently it is up to three times bigger than any zone before it and the zones in Rift were absolutely huge before, so that’s a lot of space of rifts to pop up and tear shit up? in.

There’s also of course new dungeons, tweaks, and quest lines available too. It’s a huge up??date. It ??released on October 7, but there will be an event running from October 10-16, which will give you some neat loot.

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Creative Director of Rift ensures players it's 'not pay-to-win'

In case you haven't heard during the madness that is E3, Trion World's MMO Rift is now fully free-to-play as of yesterday, having previously employed a "lite" version of the game that limited players to level 20. The claim is "experience the e??ntire game world; every dungeo??n, every zone, and every level and get full access to all current and future game updates." Essentially, they're going to be making money from their store, which sells faction changes, mounts, boosts, and more. We'll see how it plays out in practice.

Although I didn't maintain an active subscription for more than a few months, I heartily enjoyed my time with Rift, as I thought it was a fairly solid MMO. I'm getting ready to load my old account up as we speak to test out the new model. Interestingly enough this is one of the last big MMOs that follow a subscription model, with many recent conversions in just this past year alone. It'll be interesting to see where the MMO?? marke??t goes from here.

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I hope you didn't just start subscribing

Having previously put out a lite version of RIFT, Trion Worlds is now committed to introducing a full-fledge??d free-to-play model for the MMORPG. They're doing it, and doing it well, it sounds like -- "experience the entire game world; every dungeon, every zone, and every level and get full access to all current and future game updates," reads the announcement.

This transition will occur on June 12; new players will begin with two character slots and three bag slots, while anyone who has paid for Rift or its Storm Legion expansion will retain their current slots. Trion has a rundown of the various bonuses for paying sub?scribers, most of which are boosts typical of MMOs offering a hybrid free/paid ?model.

There are also plans to release content update 2.3, Empyreal Assault, in time for t?he free-to-play launch. Expect a new zone and world event as part of that roll?out.

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In-game trinkets increase playtime, says Trion Worlds

Retention rates for subscription based MMOs are a really hard thing to?? regulate. After all, why do you think so many of them drop their fee to go free-to-play?

Trion Worlds has somehow managed to survive the switch, and is still offering subscriptions. Due to a little imagination on their part, they've managed to increase the daily active user count by 470 percent by offering simple in-game rewards through the websi?te Raptr.

The developer saw results in as little as a few weeks. One of the biggest ways they got people into the game is by offering a free copy of Rift with a one month subscription for reaching an "Experienced" rank playing other RPG games like Torchlight II. There's also an entirely different tiered system once you start playing Rift itself, that will net you free items.

I played Rift off and on for nearly two years now, and it's ??a great game. I haven't resubscribed in a while because I've moved on to many other MMOs, but ever?y once and a while I enjoy going back and seeing what Trion Worlds has to offer.

Case Study [Raptr]

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More mounts!

Rift is celebrating its two-year anniversary in style?? with an in-game carnival. Players will get to attend the "Carnival of the Ascended" and ??participate in events to unlock new mounts and masks to wear. This carnival is part of  a bigger patch, 2.2, that also brings a new PvP Warfront mode, more Planer Attunement tiers, and other new items and collectibles.

From March 21 until April 4 current subscribers will get a 20% increase to guild XP, kill XP, prestige, favor, planarit??e, dungeon currency, and zone event currency. And if you haven't played in a while, everyone will be able to play for free from March 21 to March 25.

If you have no idea what Rift is, it's a pretty neat massively-multiplayer online game, and you can play up to level 20 for free, which you should totally go do.

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Suddenly, corgis.

I don't know a lot about Rift, but I do know a lot about corgis. The world's most perfect animal will be making an appearance in one of the scheduled events for the?? Rift Extra Life marathon for the Children?'s Hospital Network.

Rift Junkies says that this event will close something called a "Corgi Rift," and will have players giving treats to "royal Corgis." And if this didn't sound amazing enough to corgi fans, the achievement for doing this gives the suffix "of House Fluffington." Trion even made a reference to a popular corgi meme, "Suddenly Corgis."

Amazing.

The Extra Life Marathon s??tarts on October 20th at 8pm. Details on how players can acc?ess these Extra Life events will come soon. 

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Ever since Rift made a splash on the MMO scene in 2011, Trion Worlds have been hard at work consistantly creating new content for it's devoted fan base. With it's first expansion, Rift: Storm Legion, Trion Worlds is look to bring Rift onto a whole new scale.

Along with increasing the level cap from 50 to 60, players will also have one new soul per calling allowing even greater customization of their character. The biggest addition from Rift: Storm Legion are the continents of Dusken and Brevane; each nearly matching the size of Rift's base game world. With all this new uncharted territory to explore players wi?ll also be able to get ??into new Zone Events, as well as new areas for Conquest and Onslaught.

No word yet on a solid release date for Rift: Storm Legion. but Trion Worlds is looking to bring it out this f?all??.

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It looks like Trion Worlds' has a fair amount to show off at Gamescom, which is impending. During the conference, which takes place in Cologne between the 16th and 19th, Trion will be showing "Storm Legion" for Rift to consumers for the first time, as well as offering a first look at End of Nations campaign gameplay, Defiance pvp, and Warface -- which they are making with Crytek. 

I'm most intrigued by Warface, as the Russians appear to have been joying it for some time already. Nobody likes to feel left out. It's a free-to-play AAA shooter, and for some reason I can't get enough of those right now. Tribes did something to me and it won't let up. 

Dale and Hamza are being packed away in shippi?ng containers for the long journey ?to Germany soon, so perhaps they'll get a peek. 

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Trion Worlds has released a bunch of new lore for their upcoming Rift expansion, "Storm Legion". Infinity Gates, God Engines, Blood Storms, it all sounds like nonsense to me. I suppose there are only so many things you can?? cal??l a made up gate that allows people to traverse various worlds, and Stargate was already taken. 

Along with all the funny fantasy names there's some lovely art and screenshots as well. The expansion will launch later this year, and you can jump into the game now for free up to level 20 with Rift Lite.  

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MMOs are like needy ex-lovers. Not content to fondly remember the good times and simply move on, they always want you to come back. In this case the ex is Rift. Trion are inviting old players, who have at least one level 20 character, back to Telara. Through July 29 ??lapsed players can rejoin the war and experience all new mechanics, PvP, and Instant Adventure zones. 

"Storm Legion", the ga??me's impending expansion, comes out later this year. No doubt Trion are hoping to get lots of old players excited about the major additions to the MMO, such as two new continents. As an early adopter of the title, I'm certainly considering checking out how the game has evolved. It was a competent MMO at launch, and one of the most stable experiences that the genre had to offer.?? Unfortunately, it was utterly uninspired in terms of its aesthetic and setting. It's worth a peek, I reckon.

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To accompany this morning's trailer for Rift: Storm Legion, we've got more details on this next major step for Trion World's MMO. Due out later this fall, Storm Legion will add two new continents, an expansion of the Ascended Class System with a new Soul for each Calli??ng, an increased level cap up to 60, and new customizable player spaces called Dimensions.

That's only the beginning of what's in store. Specifics can be found below, or you can head over to the game's official site for the same information; they've got pretty pictures and everything! I haven't had the opportunity to try Rift yet, though I do appreciate that you can play through level 20 a??t no cost.

A VAST NEW WORLD

• Adventure across two?? huge new continents that more than trip??le the size of the existing world

• Experience epic stories that reveal the true power in Telara … a?nd the gateway to the p??lanes

• Make your move to the island city of Tempest ??Bay, a new stronghold for both Guardians and Defiant

10 MORE LEVELS, 4 MORE SOULS

• A new Soul f??or each Calling expands the Ascended Class System – build the hero yo??u want!

• Rise to new heights of? power through 10 challenging levels, incre?asing the level cap to 60

• Play ??your way! Choose how you level with questing and Instant Adventure everywhere, onslaughts, rifts, even??ts, and more

BRAVE THE STORM

??• Achieve greatness with 7 new dungeons, ??3 raids, a Chronicle, and more!

• Join the Hunt: New rift gameplay propel?s you into battling increasi??ngly-challenging planar bosses

• Fight legions of fantastic?? creatures, including a Colossus that interacts with – and ravages – the world like you’ve never seen

MAKE TELARA YOUR OWN

• Dimensions: Customizable spaces allow players and guilds to ?own a sliver of Telara

• Take your profe?ssions to new heights with Grandmaster crafting

• Become the tal??k of the town and boost your stats with stylish new capes

• New puzzles, artifacts and collectibles, ach??ie?vements, mounts, pets, titles, and much more

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The future of sci-fi MMO Rift is ominously teased in this new trailer for its first expansion, Storm Legion. A sinister female voice, referred to as "Dragon," talks about her plans for total domination through ??the use of something called the "Infinity Gate." I've read enough comic books and seen enough sci-fi television and film to know that anything with ?the word "infinity" in its name is some seriously bad juju.

We will, we hope, be checking out Storm Legion next w??eek at E3. Feel free to?? remain fixated on us in an unhealthy manner until then.

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In what is now becoming the new standard for MMO launchers/patch updaters, Rift has upgraded its client to include seamless patch integration. What that means is that when there's a large patch that usually precludes you from playing the game, you can almost immediately log in and stream the patch while questing. Even though World of Warcraft (among other games) has been doing this for a while now, it's nice to see Trion Worlds making an effort.

A Trio?n Worlds community manag??er explains how it works on the official post, "In-game, a download indicator at the top of the screen will show the current status of your download, time remaining, and whether objects around you may be loading slowly. This indicator will disappear when the client is fully updated."

I played Rift for a bit, and I have to say, it's a pretty solid MMO. In fact, it's one of the only remaining MMOs that hasn't gone free to play (not that there's anything wrong with that!), so I'm really happy for Trion Worlds' success. It also goes without saying that I'm interested in seeing what's in store for them in the future.

RIFT Streaming Client [Rift Forums]

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A new patch is on it's way for Rift, and in true subscription based MMO fashion, it has a ton of content. Headlining patch 1.8 is the twenty player Infernal Dawn raid, but there's a few extras coming as well, like leaderboards, a guild finder, and ad??ditional trade-skills. If you care to check it out, the above video primarily features the two main raidbosses, Maelforge and Laethys.

If you're curious, go ahead and give Rift Lite a try -- while it doesn't do anything beyond normal MMO conventions, it does do them well, and at this point it has a ton of end-game content. In fact, I considered coming back to Rift for a while after quitting The Old Republic and leaving my 50 behind, but I've had way too many games to play lately. It's a shame, because Rift is actually pretty good.

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RIFT is one of the few MMOs left around that hasn't gone free-to-play. If you are still playing RIFT, o??r if you are thinking about getting back into it, this would be a good time to do so.

You can now pay for more than one month at a time and receive a discoun??t. The more months you buy, the cheaper it is. It's noth??ing new to the world of MMOs, but it is a nice incentive to keep playing.

You can get three months for $12.99 per month, six months for $10.99 per month, and a full year will be just $99. If you sign up for one of these plans now, you can get an additional free month of game time. Those on the fence can grab a free seven-day trial over here.

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The year isn't quite over yet, so there's always room for another hacking fiasco. This time, the victim is Trion Worlds, maker of Rift, and its customers. A?ccording to the developer, there was an unauthorized intrusion and the villains gained access to the account database. The information held in the database is plentiful, including customer names, addresses, encrypted passwords, dates of birth, and the first and last four digits and expiration dates of credit cards.

Trion Worlds is emphasizing that there is no evidence that full cred?it card information was obtained. Customers are being made to change their passwords and update their accounts on the developer's site. Upon doing so, they will receive three days of free game time and a free item --?? the Moneybags Purse -- which will increase looted coin by 10 percent.

Players should have received an email with instructions and recommendations; there's also an FAQ available d??etailing what happened and how it affects customers. All in all, it's a crappy situation, but the game's servers are still up and Trion Worlds appears to be working hard to make amends.

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It seems as though Trion Worlds will be pulling back the game development curtain a bit to shine light on the future of its games. On October 14, in Room 1A24 at New York Comic Con, various Trion World?s team members will be ?discussing what the studio will be bringing to its virtual worlds in the coming months.

Discussing the success of Rift, and what lies in its future will be design producer Hall Hanlin and lore lead Morgan Lockhart. Senior producer Chris Lena will give attendees a demonstration of End of Nations, a free-to-play, large-scale RTS that will include both cooperative and PvP gameplay modes. Finally, senior producer Rob Hill will talk about Defiance, an MMO third-person shooter for PC, Xbox 360 a?nd PlayStation 3 that is being developed alongside the Syfy channel series. The game will place ??players on a world that has been desecrated by years of war, and where both humans and aliens struggle to survive.

If you will be attending NYCC this year and have an affinity towards MMOs, RTSs or technomagical cosplayers in general, this would be a good way to kick off the weeke??nd.

...

Congratulations! You've found a Defiance scavenger hunt code: N4S9EK

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Rift players are in for a treat, as next week will see the release of Rift 1.5 which comes with a lot of big features. Some of these addi?tions are things you might expect from a paid expansion instead of a simple client update. Here's just so??me of what you can expect:

• Planar Attunement - This new system allows players who have already reached the level cap of 50 to spend XP on Planar Attunement points to help increase their skills.
• Chronicles - You and a friend can take on Chronicles, which lets you explore story-driven dungeons like Greenscale's Blight and Hammerknell and take part in the world's lore.
• Veteran Rewards - Rewarding loyal players, veteran rewards will grant you item bonuses in regards to how long you've been subscribed to the game. While most of the items seems to be gear, there are some pretty useful items in there as well.
• AddOns Beta - You will now be able to customize your UI with fan-made "AddOns." It's always so heartwarming to see a game go the extra mile and extend some extra love to their community.

There's even more mentioned over on the official update site for you to check out. It looks like they're trying their hardest to keep high-level players entertained as long as possible, which I know is one of the hardest tasks for MMOs to accomplish. I??t just seems like too many MMOs are heavily lacking with end-game content these days.

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