Rift

Gotta Hand it to Trion Worlds for New Mobile App

1
4 months ago
by DocHoliday in ,

Even though I’m not playing Rift currently, I did notice something pretty darn cool from their press releases.  They announced a beta version of an iOS app that allows you to interact with the game while you can’t get in the game.  This is something I’ve always looked for from other games and they seemed to have hit on a couple of the main areas I’d want:

  • Chat with Friends and Guild mates
  • See Guild Wall postings
  • Notifications of Zone Events
  • Mini games for in-game loot

Check out the screen-shots for examples of how this will look:

NotificationsChatMini-game

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only thing I know people might ask for (me included) would be the auction house, but this certainly is a good start!  I’m continually impressed by what Trion has been able to do with their development team and I’m excited to see how other studios pick up and adapt the gauntlet that Trion has thrown down.

So Turbine, how about something similar?? :)

 

Thinking Secret World Might Become my #2 MMO

6
9 months ago
by DocHoliday in , ,

I’ve been following this game for a while, and I have to say they’ve been doing a great job of giving me enough information to be curious and not too much that I’m oversaturated.  Granted, I have NO CLUE when this game will actually hit, but I’m seriously thinking this could be my next 2nd MMO, after LOTRO of course.  And depending on how it pans out, I could see it moving into that #1 slot for me personally.

Currently I’m off and on playing Rift as my #2, but I really haven’t had enough time to give it a fair shot.  I’m glad I did get the 6-month sub up front as I don’t feel that same sort of pressure to play and I do hop on periodically when I feel the itch to pop into Telara.  But for some reason, I just haven’t latched on to something with Rift and I’m not sure if I just haven’t played it long enough to get into it or if there’s something lacking for me.

I’ll also admit that I’m really not a Guild Wars fan and that’s not a fair assessment of the game, but it hasn’t been able to grab me.  Maybe GW2 will, but for now it really isn’t on my radar other then paying attention to others who are following it.

The other big game everyone (including me) has been talking about is of course The Old Republic.  I am excited for this game, but I’m not expecting anything more then a Star Wars themed Dragon Age.  And don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing at all, I will buy it and enjoy it, but I just don’t see it keeping me involved long term.  I do hope I’m wrong on this assessment but the more and more I see of it, the less I’m seeing co-op KOTOR.  Although I’m sure there will be chances to play with friends, I’m not sure there’s enough there for me to do that I couldn’t experience just playing solo and chatting on vent.

Which brings me back to the Secret World and there are 2 big things that are grabbing me:

  1. It is set in the current day real world
  2. Its lore is based on all the conspiracy theories, an MMO version of Dan Brown’s novels combined with Indiana Jones and Stargate.

Ok, point 2 might be stretching it a bit but for some reason I really enjoy that kind of stuff where people take another path to try and explain the un-explainable.  I was quite bummed when the Stargate MMO never got off the ground, and this could be that idea on a MUCH grander scale.  And of course, they could go horribly wrong with the story or implementation, but there’s quite a bit of substance there to work with.  Oh, and did I mention there are Zombies?

The other aspect that’s grabbing me for Secret World is the character creation and origin stories they’ve talked about.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be spending LOTS of time just trying out different combinations to see what happens before I finally decide on what I really want to do.

Maybe its just the unknown that’s attracting me, but this last Dev Interview on the World and Setting really got me pumped.  Take a look below if you haven’t seen it, and I’ll hit on my favorite points below the video.

 

  • The different areas look very cool and diverse
  • Combining mummies, zombies, vampires, etc. all into one realm
  • Not everything is “bad” – you can cut deals with various typically bad things like vampires.
  • Focus on story and social aspects
  • Kinda cool travel system, although not unique it is a cool way of explaining how you warp around the planet
  • Instances, raids, and PvP all look pretty slick
  • SO MANY options for attacking and defense its quite staggering
  • And that last scene so reminded me of the Shark attacking the plane viral video from last week ;)

What do you guys think, are you excited for Secret World, or not enough to knock one of the other big guys off their perch?

 

New Options to Check Out Rift

4
1 year ago
by DocHoliday in

Today Trion Worlds announced a couple of new programs for people to check out Rift, a free trial period and a referral program.  Both of these programs coincide with the launch of the 1.2 content patch, so we’re seeing not only content by system changes as well.

The free trial lasts 7 days and allows players to quest, PvP, as well as access to the PvE content.  They’re not clear if there are restrictions on the trial to things like mail, chat, etc that other games put on trial accounts, but any sort of trial is always a nice addition.  You can transfer at any point to a paid subscription and carry with you whatever characters and progress you made during the trial.

In addition to the trial program, there’s also the Ascend-a-Friend program which allows current subscribers the option to give out an unlimited amount of 7 day trials.  In addition, for each referrer that purchases the game there are rewards available:

  • 1st Friend Purchase – Obtain a canine companion called Courage.

  • 2nd Friend Purchase – Obtain the Trailblazer Hat

  • 3rd Friend Purchase – Swift Ember Steed Mount wreathed in flames

I’m a big fan of trials as if gives people a chance to check things out, make sure the game works, etc before having to make that initial investment.  And who can complain about companions or new mounts?

If anyone wants or needs a 7-day key, you can follow this link for my code.

 

Rift 1.2 Alpha (PTS) Patch Notes

2
1 year ago
by DocHoliday in

Just when we got used to 1.1, Trion flexes it development muscles by showing us a sneak peak at what’s planned for 1.2.  And they’re showing no signs of slowing down as there’s a TON of stuff in this update!  Now remember, these are currently on the Alpha or Public Test Server (PTS) so things are still subject to change.  If there’s anything you’re unhappy about, they’ve shown they’re willing to modify things if there’s a solid rationale for it.  This thread on the forums will help if you want to load up the PTS.  As before, there’s a ton of stuff so I’m just going to hit the highlights.

Post 1:

  • General Gameplay
    • Special rewards for those completing introductory artifact collections inside the opposite faction
    • Tweaking the artifact rarity
    • Removed sell value on Guardian introductory relic set
    • Quest markers always show in map regardless of tracker status
    • Discover objectives won’t advance while dead
    • Can’t accumulate multiple daily quests from the same group in their quest journal
    • Tool-tips will appear on under-level mobs explaining they won’t count for certain kill quests
    • Auction House Deposits reduced by about 25%
    • Now an alert message when approaching a currency cap
    • New clothier NPCs
    • 5th roles are now purchasable
  • Slivers
    • Intersections of planes and realities that create new opportunities and rewards
    • Opens up the Gilded Sanctuary 10-person raid
  • Wardrobe Slots!
    • can only wear class appropriate items, i.e. no plate on mages
  • Crafting Rifts
    • Similar to other rifts, but opened by completing weekly crafting quests
    • Provides all sorts of crafting goodies
  • Role/Calling Display
  • Rifts and Invasions
    • New Expert Rift – Auricore Forerunners
    • New Raid Rifts – The Golden King and Drakith Hatchery
  • Ancient Wardstones
  • Guild Perks and Quests
  • Cult Saga
  • Combat Tweaks
  • Souls
    • Archon to Nightblade

Post 2:

  • Souls
    • Paladin to Warlock
  • Zones
    • Droughtlands
    • Freemarch
    • Iron Pine Peaks
    • Meridian
    • Moonshade Highlands
    • Sanctum
    • Scarlet Gorge
    • Scarwood Reach
    • Shimmersand

Post 3:

  • Zones
    • Silverwood
    • Stillmoor
    • Stonefield
  • Dungeons and Raids
    • Abyssal Precipice
    • Charmer’s Caldera
    • Darkening Deeps
    • Deepstrike Mines
    • The Fall of Lantern Hook
    • Foul Cascade
    • Greenscale’s Blight
    • Iron Tombs
    • King’s Breach
    • Realm of the Fae
    • Runic Descent
  • Items

Post 4:

  • Crafting
  • PvP/Warfronts
  • Achievements
  • Graphics and Audio
  • Commands and Macros
  • Auction House UI
  • UI/Settings

 

Rift’s first World Event

3
1 year ago
by DocHoliday in

The good news and bad news about this event is that the timing couldn’t have been worse for me with it.  I’ve barely had enough time to play LOTRO and as such I haven’t logged into Rift at all.  The good news is that it appears that with all the issues they had, all active subscribers are getting the rewards of the event.  Just about everyone is talking about the actual event, but I thought I’d focus on Trion’s response to the situation.

I see this event from two different angles in that I certainly think Trion made a mistake in making this highly anticipated event co-aligned with the free preview weekend.  Especially since they pushed back the start of Phase 2 by a week, that only fueled the hype for the second stage.  Trion’s already seen that when there’s high demand, there will be high queue’s and as such many people  ended up waiting multiple hours just to log on.  To further compound the issue, apparently the duration of the event was incredibly short as well which seems like more bad planning, or just underestimating the voracity of the player base.  I was actually planning to try and hop in to check things out with it this week as I had expected it to be at least a couple days long.  No matter how you slice it, this was really the first mis-step Trion has made with this game but I have to commend them for how they’ve handled it.  Not only was this a mis-step, but considering how this is one of their major differentiators, the magnitude of the mistake is even greater.

From the reports I’ve seen, those who were lucky to be in the event did enjoy it and I don’t doubt that Trion put on a cool and fun event.  Trion was quick to admit their faults and try to keep ahead of all the hate and nasty posts.  In addition, the sending out of the rewards to everyone was certainly a nice gesture and quite un-expected, but it seems like they almost went above what others have done.  I hope this doesn’t cheapen these events and sour those who did actually complete them.

I see these events as an area where Rift will have to shine if they want to continue their push for long-term survivability, especially with the big names like GW2 and TOR coming at some point this year (maybe).   Hopefully they’ve already got the next event in the works and can get that out soon as it would go a long way with the community to have a successful event after such a “flop.”  No matter how they do it, I think the event will need to last at least as long as the longest queue lines such that people have a chance to get in and experience it.  Spanning multiple days would probably be ideal giving folks a chance to not be totally scared off by the queue lines.

 
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