Summer of Souls: Defiler

The Defiler soul has long been a mainstay for Clerics, offering a mixed bag of abilities that were useful but not necessarily… exciting. With today’s Hotfix, Defiler has changed from merely useful to wickedly dangerous!


The newly honed Defiler is all about damage over time, dealing it out across up to three foes at a time. Defilers have learned to use their own life force to drive their opponent’s Greed to unhealthy levels, and steal their energy by fostering a blinding Rage.

Here are the key abilities Defilers will want to bring to their next battle:

• Aggressive Avarice – The Defiler’s premier Greed based DoT effect, damaging foes with Aggressive Avarice. The ability also builds stacks of the Greed effect. The more stacks of Greed a Defiler has, the quicker their enemies succumb to the Defiler’s signature damaging abilities!
• Explosive Rage – Explosive Rage causes your enemy’s anger to boil over, bursting blood vessels and synapses as it exceeds their physical limitations. Not only does Explosive Rage work to destroy your foes, it also funnels their stolen life force back to you!
• Unholy Nexus – What’s better than a full stack of curses on your target? A full stack of curses that spreads to two additional nearby enemies! Unholy Nexus really makes the Defiler a force to be reckoned with against multiple targets.
• Unstable Transformation –Defilers become the personification of Corruption! Grey gangly arms ending in wickedly sharp claws enhance the effect of all the Defiler’s curses!

Log in to RIFT, summon forth your Defiler soul and tear your foes apart with Rage and Greed!

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Starfall Prophecy Preview: Xarth Mire

Ancestral home of the Tuath’de, and therefore all Telaran elves, the Xarth Mire was inhabited in primeval times, long before the war between the Gods and the Akvan.


During the great battles between Akvan and the Gods, the fell beast Xarth suffered a grievous wound and was driven to ground. Broken and helpless, Xarth’s power was slowly bled by the increasingly bold Tuath’de, who employed dark magics to drain the creature, strengthening their own arcane potential, albeit at terrible cost. This corrupting influence has inexorably transformed the most ancient race of elves from their original role as beneficent keepers of the land to something far more sinister.

The region itself is now known as Xarth Mire. Its stagnant pools of murky water lay in wait, draped between fell hills formed from the bodies of countless sacrificial victims of the Tuath’de. The verdant plants of the Mire have themselves absorbed some of Xarth’s taint, and must be approached with caution, lest an unwary adventurer becomes trapped in their tendrils.

Dauntless visitors to Xarth Mire might be advised to stop first at the Shadow Market. This trading post for the Tuath’de is located on hallowed ground, something that even the corrupt Tuath’de respect. This decrepit slave market is not a place one might want to spend much time in, but valuable information can be gleaned by those seeking to venture deeper into the marsh’s depths.

On the very border of Xarth Mire is Alicorn Isle, so named for the groteque foundation of severed unicorn horns that the island was built upon. Unicorns, and the purity that they represent, have long been the focus for Tuath’de’s special hatred and frequently become victims of their ritual sacrifices.
Explore the isle if you will, then venture over the cascading falls nearby to find deep caverns that extend well beyond the reach of light, and deep into the mountains nearby. Perhaps forgotten treasures can be found within, or perhaps an ignoble end to your adventure. Fate reveals little.

The Tuath’de are not the only residents of Xarth Mire. The fetid swamp is also home to a great number of Boglings, especially at their capital Bailghol. The Boglings of the Mire, trapped from birth in this corrupted land, have assumed a fatalistic attitude, hoping for death as a release from their suffering. An empathetic individual with inspiring words might be able to revitalize these drudges from their torpor, but who knows what the result might be.

The true center of the Mire is Xarth’s Skull. This massive shell of bone has been built into a fortress for the Tuath’de, and from there, Queen Una rules. Decorated with grisly tokens of their victims, this fortress is the center of the corrupted elven domain and is be dangerous to siege if the Tuath’de gather in sufficient number.

Be warned: even the most innocuous details in this capital are more dangerous than they initially appear. The rose gardens, for example, are not a haven for peace but instead the home of carnivorous vegetation capable of snapping an unwary adventurer in two!

Prepare yourself Ascended, Xarth Mire awaits! Will you survive challenge, or will your bones join those already in the innumerable piles within the marsh?

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Rift's Recipe of Longevity and Success - Part 4

PvP, as contentious an issue as it usually is, is at the core of the RPG experience for some players and it is definitely one of the main components of any successful MMO. That is certainly the case with Rift as well, and the way the developers approached it in the beginnings of the game had obviously a great deal to do with its currently successful state. The bottom line in this regard was that they simply had no idea in what direction PvP would go in Rift, so they opened up several avenues: shared world PvP and instanced PvP in the form of Warfronts provided the bulwark, but dynamic content PvP was explored as well. Over time, the preferences of the Rift public became clear.

Shared-world and dynamic content PvP fell by the side later, as they turned out to be not particularly popular with the majority. The two PvP systems gave rise to two basic player categories: stalkers and victims, and for the latter, the experience was obviously not a particularly stellar one. What the team came up to solve the conundrum was a system they called Conquest, which simulated shared-world PvP, while expanding Warfronts quite significantly. While in the beginning, there were but three such Warfronts, that number has gone up to ten and it is being expanded all the time. The bottom line: taking the gradual approach to PvP turned out the be the winning formula for Rift, and it's quite obvious why that's indeed the case.

The streaming community - while not particularly significant in Rift's case - has also chipped in over the years and it continues to contribute to the success of the title to this day. While Rift was indeed the first game to feature built-in, one-click YouTube integration, streaming never really reached the level of what Rift devs call "highly streamable games", simply because the game itself was not designed for that. To make a long story short: while easy to record and publish, Rift game-play videos aren't really highly watchable.

Over the years, the game has churned out an elaborate canon, complete with memorable characters and NPCs, and indeed, looking back, some of these NPCs were quite instrumental in the success and popularity of Rift. The most outstanding character in this respect is without a doubt Volan, a massive event colossus. While Volan's story only takes up a few lines in the event script, his scale isn't just massive. It is one never replicated in any other game since. He's become a true landmark character for Rift, one that can be seen by an unparalleled number of players, when his event is on.

Currently tasked with the maintenance of the Overwatch ranking section, Philip Thalberg has been with GGnet since 2004. 

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Rift's Recipe of Longevity and Success - Part 3

As we discussed in our previous two articles, many factors contributed to the longevity and success of Rift online, and obviously, the continuous rolling out of new features and systems was one of these factors. Not all of these new systems were well received by the public though, however, that did not stop the developer from continuously looking to improve and to innovate. Indeed, from this point of view, Rift online has been the birthplace and proving ground of many a MMO innovation.

The Instant Adventure system was one of the features pioneered by the game. Instant Adventure is just what it says on the package: it is meant to make it as easy as possible for players to team up and to jump into an adventure. For some MMO players, searching out the adventure is half the fun, but according to the devs, that was not the case among Rift players. Instant Adventure mode is all about jumping into action at the press of a button and heading out to complete goals shared by a motley selection of teammates. Bailing out is just as easy and more importantly: guilt free. Instant Adventure takes place in the shared world (and that's where Rift turned out to be a trail-blazer), as well as in some of the in-game raids.

Another feature which turned out to be very popular with the Rift player-base, and which goes hand-in-hand with the above described Instant Adventure feature, is the mentoring/sidekicking system. Mentoring is about allowing the game to auto-balance one's higher-level character down to another player's lower level, so the two can play together and actually enjoy the action as peers. Sidekicking is the opposite of this system: it auto-balances a lower-level character up to another player's higher level, for the above described purposes.

Allowing people from both game-factions to play together through the Faction as Fiction system was another master-stroke by the devs.

Generally speaking, the game is all about erasing all boundaries. Indeed, the borders between the in-game worlds are largely illusory at this point. People can move freely among these worlds, and from one server to another. This is indeed the right solution for one of the most nagging MMO problems, so its popularity is quite self-explanatory really.

As said above though, not all the new features turned out to be popular with the player base. Moving away from the subscription-based monetization model was fraught with disappointment and frenzied solution-seeking for the team. Balancing out the continued creation of long-form expansions with the actual profits wasn't a small feat either. Along this path, there were - as the team puts it - some misalignments of expectations, but in the end, everything was smoothed over. The interesting thing is, that when it comes to the monetization of digital content, there are some very un-intuitive factors involved, as the team found out over the years. Furthermore, the optimal monetization-model is an ever-moving target, so keeping on top of it all the time is definitely no easy feat.


Online casinos have the opposite issue, monetisation of content is relatively simple, but in an increasingly competitive environment, keeping players happy and loyal to a specific brand is a challenge. Players are always looking for reputable online casinos with large games offerings, generous bonuses and loyalty programs, and because there are so many out there, switching from one casino to the next is not difficult to do. This makes player retention a priority.

Philip Thalberg has developed an interest in the esport world back in 2003, and he's been working for the world's top eSports destination since 2004. 

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Going to PAX West? We’ll see you there!

Hanging out at PAX West? Stop by our Trion booth and say hi! We’re at Booth #117 on the Fourth Floor of the Convention Center.

Atlas Reactor, Trove, and ArcheAge will all be there, being shown off by many of your favorite staff and community team members!
Get your hands on Atlas Reactor with Kytsu, Muzzy, Hawk and Willibuster! If you have the good fortune to play Atlas Reactor, or share our #LostPuP photo op on social media, you may earn an exclusive, gorgeous enameled PuP pin! Supplies on these items are VERY limited, so find us early!
Find out more about RIFT’s Starfall Prophecy with Darkmoon and Ocho!
Hear the latest dark secrets on ArcheAge from Khrolan and Amary!
#JoinTheParty with our Trove masters of mayhem: Avarem, Twixler and Dopesheet! If you’re really lucky, you may soon sport a pair of Trove pixel-stylin’ sunglasses.
You can tell we’re excited by the number of exclamation marks we use here!!! EXCITEMENT!!!

If you stop by the booth for even a moment, ask for our TRION CODE card: a single code that grants you a terrific item for every Trion game. Whether if you’re ArcheAge, Atlas Reactor, Devilian, Defiance, Rift, or Trove, this card has something for YOU. Come by and find out what secrets are in store!



ONE code to claim an item in every Trion game!

We’re also offering gorgeous new posters for RIFT, ArcheAge, Trove, and Atlas Reactor!They’re so hot off the press that we don’t even have pics of them to share here – come see (and claim) them in person!





Find our #LostPuP, share to social media and get a gorgeous pin! (Quantities limited!)

Attention Trion Creators, streamers, bloggers, videographers and fan site folks: We extend a special invitation for you to get some official one-on-one interview time at PAX with your favorite Devs and Scott Hartsman. Just let Brasse know and she’ll set up a time for you with your Dev of choice: brasse@trionworlds.com (we happily accept walk-up interviews as well, and will do our best to accommodate). Scapes will be on-site all day, every day, to talk about the Trion Creator Program and answer any questions you may have!

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Starfall Prophecy: Eternal Items, New Powers & More

RIFT’s Lead Systems Designer, Andy “Vladd” Kirton, lets fly with information on all the ways you can become more powerful in our upcoming expansion, Starfall Prophecy!


Greetings Ascended,

With Starfall Prophecy on the horizon, I thought I would take a bit of time for a high level overview of some of the new features the RIFT Systems Team is working on. We’ll go into each one more as we get closer to the expansion, but this introduction will hopefully give you a good idea of what each feature is and how it will impact your experience in Telara.

Active Upgrades:
If you boil down upgrades to their core concept, Item Upgrades are quests to make your gear more powerful. In order to upgrade your gear to its maximum potential, you’ll need to procure the required ingredients one way or another. Our goal with Active Upgrades is to embrace that they are quests, while providing exciting thematic experiences and flavor. As an example, and this is by no means going to be an item, if we wanted you to upgrade your mace from Tenebrian Maul to say, “Drathgar, Maul of Undead Slaying” you would need to kill a certain amount of undead with it along with meeting other requirements.

There are a ton of ways that we can use this new system to make your items more a part of your character’s personal story. I’m pretty excited about the possibilities it gives us.

Eternal Items:
With Starfall Prophecy, we are adding a new item rarity: Eternal. Forged by god-like beings from the cosmos, these are artifact tier items in both rarity and power. While some of these artifacts will be found with their Eternal rarity already unlocked, others might need to be upgraded through active upgrades to unleash their full potential.

It’s important to note here no one should expect to wear full suits of Eternal quality items – Eternal Items are much more rare than that! You might have one piece, maybe two if you’re exceptionally diligent and fortuitous. Slots covered will be based on the calling, but because of the powers that each Eternal Item embodies, they will be calling restricted. This allows for more custom tailoring of passive or active effects. Another important note: we are throwing our normal concepts of item balance out the window – that’s how powerful Eternal items are!

Planar Fragments:
One of the things that we’ve been trying to address over the past few major updates is reducing/removing the need for different sets of gear based on your role. For instance, with Mind of Madness, we removed the option for any gear to drop as tank specific, and instead provided sidegrade paths for all DPS drops to change into tank gear. This certainly helped with dealing with the challenge of players who Tank and DPS in obtaining their desired role gear, but it still wasn’t the complete solution that we were looking for. Planar Fragments are a much bigger step towards that solution.

Generally, gear being for a Tank or DPS is determined by the amount of endurance on it along with tertiary stats such as Dodge and Crit Power. With Starfall, gear will no longer drop with tertiary stats attached to them – Planar Fragments give you the ability to customize your stats the way you like! The fragments will have their own tab in the Character UI where you slot in the fragments with the stats of your choice. Similar to the wardrobe system, there will also be saved sets that you can swap on command. In other words, you can keep the same set of gear equipped but change between Tank and DPS stats by swapping out your Planar Fragment equipped set. This can be done via the UI or through a command in the chat window. This will make an amazing difference for folks that have been maintaining multiple armor sets. We also have some changes coming for runes and dream orbs to help out with this, but I’ll save that information for later.

You’ll gain Planar Fragments from throughout Telara; you might find them in dungeons, get them through crafting, see rare examples as world loot, or obtain them in PVP, LFR and raids. By default, Planar Fragments are bound to your account, so that if you get an awesome fragment for your Warrior alt, you can mail it to yourself. Each character will maintain their own individual inventory, though. Speaking of inventory, Fragments will have their own separate inventory similar to Quest Items so that we don’t take up your normal bag space. If your Fragment inventory fills up, it will overflow to your regular inventory.

Legendary Powers:
Legendary Powers are how your character increases in power and flexibility, in addition to just gaining more stats per level as you work toward the new level cap of 70. Each level past 65 will award a Legendary point which can be spent to unlock a Legendary Power. You’ll be limited to a maximum of 3 Legendary points spent per soul and only if you have more than 44 Talent points invested in said soul. With 0 to 14 Talent points invested, you can spend 1 Legendary point and 15 – 43 Talent points invested allows you to spend 2. As for which abilities will be targeted for Legendary upgrades, we can say for sure that each soul will have the 61 point, the 41 point, and one of the 0 point abilities will have options as well. There also will be a sub-15 option, but that wildly varies from soul to soul.

Our goal with Legendary Powers is to change up how your character plays, based upon the powers purchased. For instance, an ability that is normally a 6 second channel that doesn’t allow movement might become a 3 second channel with double the ticks, allowing movement, and also applies all of a certain type of buff to you instead of needing to individually cast each one.

Another interesting twist to Legendary Powers is that the 0 point Legendary is not designed to be taken by anyone that will invest more than 15 talent points in a given soul, but to appeal to more off-soul choices than what is supplied by just the talent point investments. An example is Legendary Flame Bolt, where it increases the damage of your next non-fire damaging ability by 20%. Clearly this is of no benefit to the Pyromancer as all of their damage is fire-based, but for an Elementalist or even Warlock, that’s awfully tempting!

So, as you can see, we have a lot coming down the pipe for Starfall Prophecy and I still haven’t talked about Looking for Raid or Personal Loot yet! I’m super excited about all of these systems and how they will change Telara. I can’t wait to see the imaginative ways you’ll put them to use!



-Vladd

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Summer of Souls: Saboteur Explodes Onto The Scene!

With an arsenal of volatile concoctions, the Saboteur Soul has long had a habit of blowing minds. Now, with RIFT’s Summer of Souls, it’s an even bigger blast!


With today’s Hotfix, the Saboteur is capable of even more explosive damage, bringing the pain to up to eight foes simultaneously. Interested in igniting your enemies? Here are a few of their most fiery salvos:

• Sticky Bombs – With three separate varieties of sticky bombs available to the Saboteur, there’s one that’s right for every occasion. Fragmentation and Scatter bombs are absolutely fantastic, but Sticky Annihilation Bombs are the new black this season!
• Stun Grenade – While raw explosive power is good for almost every situation, sometimes the Saboteur may choose to employ a bit more finesse. For those special times, a Stun Grenade provides a certain percussive grace!
• Implosion Engine – Sometimes a beautiful explosion can move your soul with its fiery glow. Other times they can move the body. Or several bodies. This implosive device drags any enemies towards your target, to set them up for your next act!
• Cloud Maker – Once enough stacks of Chemical Mixture are available (gained through use of your other abilities), it’s time for the big one! Cloud Maker brings the pain, shredding your foes with a massive blast of explosive force. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of this strike!

Log in to RIFT today and blow up the damage charts with Saboteur!

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RIFT Livestream – 8/26/16 – 3:30 PM PDT

Join Ocho and Keyens on the Trion Worlds Twitch channel for our next RIFT livestream. This week we’ll be talking about the the systems of Starfall Prophecy!



RIFT Livestream
Twitch Channel: http://www.twitch.tv/trionworlds
Start Time: Friday, August 26 at 3:30 PM PDT (GMT-8)
Duration: 45 minutes

See you all there!

Miss our last Livestream? Well here are two livestream recaps for the price of one!

August 19, 2016
Starfall Prophecy: Gedlo Badlands

In this livestream, we traverse the Gedlo Badlands, part of the new RIFT expansion, Starfall Prophecy. Ocho, Darkmoon, Icarus and Captain Cursor are your guides on this journey through the second zone of SFP, coming this fall!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLvRXuu52H0

August 12, 2016
Starfall Prophecy: Scatheran Forest

Brasse, Darkmoon and CaptainCursor explore Scatherran Forest, along with its weird and wonderful denizens, part of the Starfall Prophecy expansion coming this fall!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjONNd24I8w

Set your calendars to 3:30pm PST every Friday for the RIFT Livestream on https://www.twitch.tv/trionworlds

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Starfall Prophecy: Gedlo Badlands

Not much good comes out of the Gedlo Badlands. Of course “bad” is a judgment call. A Telaran would find a certain beauty to the sharp ridges of rock and shifting beds of fine gravel, particularly at dawn or dusk when their brown and black tones are enriched with gold and red. But to the devils that now rule the Plane of Fire, this desert expanse is fit only for goblins.


The land is almost barren, and harsh. No soft and nourishing forests, no comforting leafy shade. You’ll be glad to hear that there are no rivers of lava, raging wildfires or burning atmosphere either. If the liquid pools of the caustic oasis were water instead of clear, flammable oil, it might actually be habitable for someone other than an Ascended or the cruel denizens of the Plane of Fire.

While mortals would find the badlands arid and hot, the goblins of the Gedlo Conclave consider it an exile in the freezing wastes, denied their rightful place among the burning fields of condemned souls that they covet. Only the kobolds of Saint Taranis deigned to travel to this desert wasteland, and then only for the yearly pilgrimage to wage holy war.

The goblins have been in the badlands since time immemorial and are hard at work, single-mindedly simmering with rage and thoughts of revenge against all who wronged them. The devils of Ashenfell, the mortals of Telara, and most especially the noble kobolds of Saint Taranis. The Ascended must discover what the Goblin horde is up to; rumors of a stolen prophecy of Ananke, and the plans to destroy Saint Taranis are about to hatch, now that the kobolds are trapped on the comet with them.

The goblins are centered an area known as Gedlonia, and some say they have closely guarded drake hatching grounds nearby. The most bloodthirsty among them rove about the land in war bands and attack the kobolds whenever they can; revenge for the many years of defeat at the hands of the dog-like warriors.

The Kobolds of Saint Taranis, on the other hand, are a noble, if similarly warlike faction, devoted to earning honor and redemption that the souls of their ancestors failed to find in the mortal realm. Taranis, a kobold that ascended to sainthood, has shown them the way. Each year they make pilgrimage to these badlands as a test of their prowess and courage. If they can stand against the horde of goblins with artistry, courage and nobility, then they too may just find redemption. Each year they made this pilgrimage to defeat the Gedlo Conclave and each year they returned home victorious. It was their unwelcome fate that Ahnket tore their battlefield from the Plane of Fire while their temporary holy city was erected in the badlands. Now the prospect of victory and redemption grows fainter as the goblins lay siege, and faith is shaken in the various camps of artists.

The leader of Saint Taranis is the kobold monk Veist, who has struggled to hold the various camps together and inspire them to face the horde of goblins in what might be an unwinnable battle. He knows that noble warriors respect action more than mere words, so he has embarked on a quest to find a champion or two among the strange lands from distant planes that have been taken by the Comet of Ahnket. It is this quest that brings him in contact with the Ascended of Telara and the Champion of the Vigil, Cyril Kalmar, who has too long been temple bound.

Together, these mighty warriors will help the Ascended in learning more about the Gedlo goblins, the monstrous denizens of the badlands and the Devil Lords of Ashenfell who plan to unleash a fiery apocalypse upon the world of Telara. Best prepare yourself well first, in knowledge and armament. The Gedlo Badlands is a crucible for the heroic spirit, and is part of RIFT: Starfall Prophecy, coming this fall!

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Unicornalia and the Celestial Unicorn Return!

Giddy-up! Unicornalia returns to RIFT through August 24.


Rejoice at the return of the classic Onyx and Opal unicorn mounts! You can earn these only during the event, so don’t delay! Speak with the PRI representatives in your capital city to get started (or continue) the quest for your own unicorn!

You can also once again acquire a Celestial Unicorn, a truly regal steed acquired through the Limited Edition: Celestial Unicorn Troves on the RIFT Store. Luck be with you!

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