2.3: EMPYREAL ASSAULT IS OUT NOW!
NOW FREE TO PLAY!
What is Rift?
Rift is an MMORPG set in the fantasy world of Telara, which is at the focal point of different planes (worlds). Through the actions of the Dragon of Death Regulos, these worlds have now invaded Telara in search of Sourcestone, causing rifts to open and poison the world. Opposing Regulos and the other Dragons are two factions: the Guardians and the Defiants. The conflict between these two factions serves as another source of tension and gameplay. Fuck that shit, factions are dumb. As long as you play on a PVE server, there's no more factional divide, as of 1.10! Play whatever the fuck character you want, it doesn't matter beyond where you start and what your capitol is. Also what some Ascended skills are called. Players have the role of Ascended: resurrected soldiers whose task is to defeat the forces of Regulos and cleanse Telara forever of his threat.
Also this pretty lady named Crucia.
Why play Rift?
Because it is the best goddamn managed game in MMOs right now, and Trion deserves every single red cent you put towards gaming. Let me explain.
Rift is the first released game by the relatively new company Trion Worlds. Trion put Rift on the map with a fantastic beta which was relatively bug-free, amazing community support, interesting open-world gameplay mechanics like the eponymous rifts and Zone Invasions, and a truly interesting skill and character progression system.
Since its release, Rift has had 12 major updates, each containing numerous quality-of-life changes, new dungeons, 3 new 20-man raids, 3 new 10-man raids, loads of new lore, new locations to explore, and new ways to play and interact with the rest of the playerbase. All told, we've gotten probably a full expansion's worth of new and interesting content over the span of a year and a half, and this was all for free and delivered once every 1.5 to 2 months.
Every cent you spend on the upgrades in the store goes directly to support Rift's development. That spider mount (and other stuff) you just bought? That didn't go towards Activision's profit line, that went directly to making the next raid $10 better.
So... Storm Legion? What's all that about?
Storm Legion is Rift's first titled expansion. Storm Legion brings with it a whole laundry list of stuff, and that list goes here:
-TWO NEW CONTINENTS ravaged by the planes, Dusken and Brevane. Crucia has fled the main continent of Telara and flown across the sea, and it's up to the Ascended to follow her and dismantle the mechanical armies of the Storm Legion.
-7 NEW DUNGEONS
-3 NEW RAIDS
-NEW CHRONICLE
-NEW SOULS for every class (detailed below)
-NEW CAPITOL CITY for both "factions".
-LEVEL CAP RAISE to 60
-Higher levels in CRAFTING
-Account-wide and simplified PLANAR ATTUNEMENT
-CAPES that look kickin' rad
-PLAYER HOUSING, otherwise known as DIMENSIONS.
-Plus new items, artifacts, mounts, pets, and other stuff.
-At least one GODDAMN COLOSSUS
Well shit, sign me up!
http://www..riftgame.com
What's All This About Free To Play?
As of June 12th, the game is now completely free to play. There are extremely minor "quality of life" limitations to free players, but nothing locks you out of content.
F2P limitations:
-Only 3 bag slots
-Only 2 Character slots
-No Storm Legion souls (more on the souls below!), though this can be bought (and really really should)
-Limited to 1000 platinum and have certain restrictions on chatting, specifically whispers as I understand it
If you spend the equivilent of a month's subscription in the cash shop, or you have ever previously subscribed to the game, this next bit is important!
Previous owners/subscribers of Rift receive:
-5 bag slots (this is the normal amount of slots)
-4 (?) character slots
-Owners of Storm Legion have access to the Storm Legion souls
-After spending the equivilent of a month's sub in the shop, or if you've previously subscribed, you'll receive an item called Account Extension free from the store. This removes the lock on plat and chatting. ABSOLUTELY GET THIS ASAP. Everyone will need to do this, even current subscribers! It's just a game system thing that needs to happen.
Subscribers get a metric ton of extra shit!
+10% mount speed
+15% ALL currency gain
Daily activated bonuses to dungeon/raid/PVP token gain
Daily activated bonuses to XP
Daily activated bonuses to PVP and PVE reputation
Instant access to class trainers, bankers (personal and guild)
Discount on the Cash Shop
What's for sale in the Cash Shop? This isn't a Pay-to-Win scenario, is it?
Nope!
Trion is staunchly against any pay-to-win mechanics through the store, and as such have kept best-in-slot weapons and armor away from being purchased with Credits. That doesn't mean you can't buy SOME statted gear, however.
For Sale:
-Costume weapons and armor
-Statted weapons and armor, a couple tiers down from best-in-slot (basically, you can buy expert gear and immediately get into a raid at level 60 but you aint gonna be good)
-Consumable boosts, like increases to token, money, or reputation gain
-Mounts
-Pets
-Dimension items (player housing stuff)
-Quality of life changes (more bag slots, role slots, and wardrobe slots)
-Character changes, including name, faction, gender, and race
-Lockboxes (which, while they do include some relic-quality gear, are not statted NEARLY high enough to really be considered comparable)
What's NOT For Sale:
-Money
-Top-tier items
-Spatial Awareness
-Winning
-Common Sense
Factions!
REMEMBER: FACTIONS DONT LIMIT WHO YOU CAN PLAY WITH AS LONG AS YOU'RE ON A PVE SERVER!
The Guardians
The Guardians are the chosen of Telara's gods, the Vigil. After the tyrant Aedraxis called forth power from the Plane of Death and devastated Telara, the Vigil chose the greatest souls who fell that day to be harbingers of the next era. A golden age awaits, but Telara must first be saved; by deed, by example, and by the sword. Its people must be redeemed, its corruptors purged, before the world can truly be safe. Guardian races are Mathosians (pale, regular looking humans), High Elves (you know what these guys look like) and Dwarves (ugly short people with lots of hair).
The Defiants
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. They utilize technology powered by the magical sourcestones to fight against the Dragons. Defiant races are Eth (humans with Middle-Eastern features), Kelari (kinda like Dark Elves I guess, all purple with big black eyes), and Bahmi (big blue and purple behemoths, all muscle).
The Classes
So you've got your basic Warriors, Rogues, Clerics and Mages. Two hitty types, two spell types. That's cool! But clerics aren't all going to be healers, and rogues aren't all going to be backstabbers. You make your character with whatever 3 souls you want, spending Soul Points on any combination of the three, to make your own specified class. Wanna warp around AND shoot arrows and people's faces? That's totally doable. Wanna fire off giant fireballs, then heal your party or raid with the power of Life? That's doable too.
Some classes have better synergy than others, but the upcoming expansion is supposed to make them even more balanced, hopefully leading to lots of different types of Rangers, or Justicars, or Beastmasters. Basically, the choice is up to you on how you want to level.
Oh, and do you think you might have made a mistake? No problem. Just respec for less than a cup of Telaran coffee and set up a new role.
Find that your Tank spec, while fine for all those mobs over there you just slaughtered, isn't going to work for this big tool up in front of you? Instantly switch your specialization to one of 5 custom others that you setup and sneak around them using stealth.
If you have any questions about classes, there's a really good chance we can answer them.
I'm about to start playing right now! What do I choose?
Glad you asked.
First, choose the US server Deepwood. It's Player Versus Environment. You can still participate in Player Versus Player out in the world, ugh, but you'll mainly just playing against the game
Next, pick which faction you want to be a part of. FACTION CHOICE ONLY AFFECTS YOUR STARTING AREA AND THE FIRST FEW ZONES. AND WHAT PVP QUEUES YOU JOIN. SORTA. It does not limit what guilds you can join or what groups (dungeon or raid) you can be a part of. Everyone plays together!
Next, you'll pick your class.
-Rogues are DPS, tanks, and offer support healing. They are not main healers and you cannot queue as healing when playing as a Rogue.
-Warriors are DPS, tanks, and offer support.
-Clerics can queue as everything! But you'll usually be tanks or healing. Generally healing.
-Mages can queue as DPS, healing, or support.
Now you'll go through the starter area. The tutorials will tell you how to do Souls and stuff. When you've finished that and you're in the game world proper, pick a guild! Guild play is the best.
GUILDS
GOON SQUAD:
Send a whisper or an in-game mail from a mailbox to Asraa and I'll get you invited to the guild! We're ALWAYS looking for new people to come play with us and the guild is seriously booming right now with 50-60 people on at night, most leveling up their own new characters! This guild is not an official PA guild, because the official PA guild fizzled out over a year ago. Right now, the guild is about 10% PA, 90% Something Awful.
If you have a problem playing with Something Awful players there are many guilds out there recruiting. It's ok. I get it! Their sense of humor isn't for everyone. But what do you do if you want to play with someone else? Well...
SUPERIOR BEINGS:
Send an in-game mail or tell to Aubren (aka @Squid56) if you'd like to play with this friends-and-family guild. Squiddy is in charge of this one, and anything you've gotta say should go to him!
KNIGHTS OF ARCADIA:
...theoretically still exists? I have no clue who's still in charge or even where they are. Maybe Faeblight? /shrug