I'll admit it. The first time a rift's tentacles came out of the sky at me, I squealed and ran like a little girl. A lot has happened in the year since that terrifying exchange. Scott Hartsman, Chief Creative Officer and Executive Producer at Trion Worlds, helps us reflect on all that's changed and reveals what might come to Rift in the next year.
It's easy to forget how much Rift has changed since the beta, especially with the nearly monthly updates and constantly evolving content. Just to list a few of the changes Scott mentions:
Five new raids debuted, for groups of both 10 and 20 players: River of Souls, Gilded Prophecy, Hammerknell, Drowned Halls, and Rise of the Phoenix.
Celebration weekends that provide a way to get your friends checking out the game easily, while adding bonuses to our esteemed subscribers.
Master Mode difficulty for one dungeon (as of the time of this writing) with more on the way soon (edit: NOTE! This post was written for translation before 1.7's release)
Alternate Gameplay Warfronts and Weekend Bonus Warfronts, Post-50 soft bracketing, PvP Rifts, and world PvP bonuses. And a new warfront entirely: Library of the Runemasters
A new world event every update, each with its own new zone event and frequently its own rifts
A new Addon system that enables creators to add some really great things to the game. From buff management, to custom layouts, to outfit management, to auctions, and countless others!
A new Costume system, giving you the ability to look like what you want to look like
A Veteran Rewards program that rewards loyal subscribers, and Ascend-a-Friend that gives us a way to say thanks when you get your friends on board
That is not even counting the hundreds of quality of life and playability improvements we’ve brought to the core game.
Scott doesn't just reflect on the last year, he also talks about all of the interesting ideas they have planned for 2012. Reading over everything really reminded me of how much Rift has to offer, and now it even offers some of it for free via Rift Lite.
Source: PC Gamer (opens in a new tab)