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The holidays have ended, the calendar has turned over to 2018, and we’re heading toward RIFT’s 7-year anniversary!

Last year saw the team rounding out content for Prophecy of Ahnket, carrying this epic story through the drop-dead gorgeous peaks of the Tenebrean Schism, right to the tail of the comet itself! Untold numbers of Ascended took part in the deadly battles between the simulacrums of power-mad Ahnket and the vengeful troops of Crucia, both hell-bent on conquering the cosmos.

We also brought in a new soul: Mystic Archer, a dynamic and unique take on the AOE Mage Path, which has earned many adherents since its introduction! This soul showed us how much you like action combat: moving around while fighting with magic, and, just like the Tactician, not worrying too much about who you had targeted but rather relying on which way you are facing, for more organic and authentic feeling battles.

Along the way, we addressed important quality of life issues that you requested: the supply crate system was completely revamped to reward better items, including the prize ticket system to allow you to save up for the cool things YOU wanted. Our work here is never done, and we look forward to being able to make things better and better for you.

We also added seemingly minor but much-requested features such as a “relist all” button in the mailbox for expired auction sales – sometimes it’s the small details that make a game day more fun!

But hey, what are we planning for 2018, you ask?

In a previous Producer’s letter, we talked about ‘challenge servers’ and we got a lot of good feedback on that from you all. Overwhelmingly, you had your own ideas on what would really get you and your fellow playing friends, past and present, the most excited. And those responses led us in a direction we weren’t expecting!

While the idea of challenge servers was received well, the two themes that really dominated the feedback were: first, tons of people want to play fresh, and second, scores of suggestions on how to make the business model more appealing.

With that in mind, we are still keeping our ideas for challenges alive for the future, but we’re going to take our strongest cues from you as we progress in development. Without further ado…

Introducing RIFT Prime

In the Spring of 2018, we will launch a new server, RIFT Prime. We’ve paid a lot of attention in discussions with all of you and within the broader gaming community regarding business models in the MMO and games industry as a whole.

We have the opportunity to experiment with this fresh RIFT server using an oft-requested subscription model and progressively unlocked content. Our goal for RIFT Prime is to provide the experience that many of you have requested: no lockboxes, a significantly reduced store with more of the current store-based items obtained through gameplay (or removed entirely) – plus the excitement of sequential progression through RIFT’s content with monthly milestones and achievements.

We’re excited and we hope you are too!

We plan to present RIFT at its roots as much as is possible to do, and look forward to sharing details over the coming weeks. The PRIME server will progress at a faster pace than the original launch and will eventually come to an end in spectacular fashion.

As a small teaser of what’s to come, dynamically matching characters to their current zone’s level, dungeons dropping loot specific to your character’s true level, caps on the number of professions available to a single character, and participation awards that carry over to your characters on existing servers.

Many upcoming live content changes that apply to existing servers will also apply to the new PRIME server, assuming they’re not restricted by progression locks. We look forward to exploring all of these features and more with you in blogs and livestreams to come.

New life for PvP!

Another area that we have heard a lot of feedback on is PvP. We are happy to say that some time after RIFT Prime is released, we’ll start talking about our next warfront! This will include a new game mode taking place in a completely new area with a new look.

We are also currently testing new gameplay tech that would allow us to make some radical changes, such as servers that are in wide-open PvP status, meaning anyone and everyone is fair game, with the exception of guild members (sorry, extreme griefers!).

(We promise not to do this on existing PvE servers. 😛 )

Hey, is there more PvE content coming?

You bet! We are finalizing a revamp of one of our most classic raids, featuring an ever-hungry dragon, where you may well become part of the buffet! More to follow later in the year..

PvE has always been, and continues to be an important focus for the RIFT team – it was high time PvP crowd had a turn, so we are putting some focus there this year. As we have from the very beginning of RIFT we try to do something for each of our main playing groups and we will certainly be cycling back to cover as many play-styles as possible.

RIFT’s 7th Anniversary is fast approaching – plans are afoot to launch new Instant Adventures set in the Droughtlands and Moonshade Highlands. Right along with the Anniversary, the Carnival of The Ascended also returns to Telara, which includes some spectacular new mounts.

The RIFT Team, old and new!

We are also incredibly happy to welcome Amary back to the team as a Producer! People who have been with RIFT a long time will remember her from the very early days of Telara. She has never really been that far away here at Trion, but she is officially back on RIFT full time. Amary will help us drive and set our direction as well as executing many of the exciting plans we have in store for you.

We change and experiment with many things here on the RIFT team, trying out new things in the game or even trying changes to our business model. One of the other areas we often change and evolve is the way the team is actually organized, and who is responsible for what. In that vein we are changing the way we do class balance and changes. We have many exceptional designers on the team who will work collaboratively on classes and balance rather than placing it on a single individual – spreading around the ideation, and responsibility will be better for the whole team, and for all of you!

Naturally, throughout the year, we will continue to read and address your feedback, run seasonal events and introduce new items.

We are stoked to see what the new year brings, and we’ll roll up new characters on RIFT Prime to relive some of the amazing adventures we had seven years ago.

RIFT ON!
~The RIFT Team

[EDIT: Brasse here, totally forgot to add a line for “discuss all this stuff over here on the forums.” Please do keep all comments to that thread, so that it’s easier for me to collect the truckloads of feedback, ideas and concerns! Thankee kindly.]

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Tomorrow, we will publish a development blog by the RIFT team; an outline of what’s coming to Telara in 2018! We know that you all want to run WILD with speculation and predictions, so here’s your chance to see if you can get DeadSimon to spill MORE beans! Good luck…

The moment you’ve been waiting for since 2017… Brasse will host DeadSimon and a special guest (Ooo!) as they tackle the  flood-tide of questions we expect about the newborn year. Please keep in mind that while we have an outline of the year ahead, many hard details remain to be filled in – be patient with us, and we’ll make note of all your queries and interests to be addressed as we forge ahead through the year!

RIFT LIVESTREAM
Friday, January 19, 2018
11:30 AM PDT: 2018 RIFT ON!
www.twitch.tv/trionworlds

We will simulcast on RIFT Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, but remember that in order to get in on the prize giveaways, you’ll have to be in Twitch chat!

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Going forward, RIFT 4.0 will be known as Prophecy of Ahnket. This name change will be reflected in game, on our website, in future emails, on ads, etc. And… that’s it, really. The only thing changing is the name.  It is more evocative of the lore – we hope you like the new name as much as we do!

Why the change? We’ve recently become acquainted with a terrific children’s educational charity called the Starfall Education Foundation, and we want to make sure that the names are not confused. This also gives us the chance to start a new page in the history of RIFT by offering the expansion for FREE to anyone who logs in over the coming weekend!

Help us get the word out by whatever means necessary! Tell your friends, your frenemies, your random acquaintances on the street – we want everyone to take part!

Excited? We definitely are!
Of course, no matter how excited we are about this, we’ve got to get back to work. 4.2 isn’t going to design itself.

• Raid updates don’t end with Intrepid Rise of the Phoenix!  The guys are now circling back preparing the “normal mode” version of Tartaric Depths for those who appreciate a bit more of a challenge.
• Vladd has the Planar Fragment system under the microscope.  Expect some massive changes to the system over the coming months.
  The new Primalist Souls are still underway (remember, you get these at no additional cost if you already own or purchase the current Primalist soul pack!)
• Revisions to class balance continue apace – remember to post your thoughts on the PTS  forums as to how they are going there – PTS is your chance to take the soul revisions for a test run!

Make sure you tune in to our weekly livestreams at the new time of 11:30 AM PDT every Friday, for the latest news, fun times and giveaways!

We are now streaming simultaneously across Twitch (twitch.tv/trionworlds), Facebook (facebook.com/RIFTgame), Twitter (@RIFTgame) and YouTube (youtube.com/RIFTmmo). See you there!

~Archonix and the RIFT Team

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RIFT celebrates 6 Years! Archonix sets down his heavy load of final 4.1 launch tasks to share some thoughts and ideas with us all…

It has been an amazing 6 years, and it’s clear that RIFT is here for the long-term.
I personally love RIFT, both playing it and working on it, and am proud to work with a bunch of like-minded developers and supportive staff in all departments here at Trion. Thank you so much for your support over the years. All the feedback, encouragement, ideas and criticism have been invaluable and I want you to keep it coming.

Some Serious Wins

This past year has seen some significant success for us all. As well as the frequent small updates provided, we focused heavily on tech upgrades to improve the game into the future. This was no small undertaking.

We introduced multi-threading and 64-bit to the client, and although it may not have a direct impact right now for all players, it finally provided our team with 64-bit tools. Every RIFT Dev is incredibly excited about this, because it makes us faster. The data sets were getting so big that we were having significant issues, all of which have now gone away. This is truly HUGE for us. Our productivity will increase, and that can only be good news for you and RIFT as well.

While we recognize that the amount of end game content was lacking for 4.0, we also feel that Starfall Prophecy offered something for every play style, served within some of the most beautiful content we have produced. It remains a large and gorgeous canvas for additional content in the future.

Meeting Challenges Head On

This last month has been incredibly challenging for the RIFT team. We have all been working very hard to address what we ourselves and many players saw as some shortcomings of 4.0.
We heard you, we agree, and we are pouring heart and soul into improvements.
Several issues beyond our control have conspired to try and thwart our efforts. Without derailing this letter too much, I’ll mention just a few.

We encountered a catastrophic hardware failure of our version control server that required a full backup of the entire depot. This consists of multiple terabytes of data and the process took days to recover, during which we were unable to add any new code, art, design. We were dead in the water while we waited.
Prior to that, the team (and much of Trion) suffered through rounds of a particularly serious flu in January and February that took normally stalwart people down for three or four days each, making tasks requiring team coordination particularly hard to progress.
Finally, moving the entire office was a massive undertaking, and we are still working out some of the kinks of wiring, power and rebuilding the new space.
It was a challenging situation to say the least, and made it very difficult to progress as fast as we wanted to.

We’re not looking for sympathy here, we just want to be very open with all of you. It sucked.

The upside of being unable to work for several days at a time is that it provided opportunities for some of the dev team to hop on the servers and interact with you all. This was a lot of fun for all involved, and you can expect more of this in the future.

We have an incredibly passionate and dedicated team of people on RIFT. Many of them have been on the team since before launch and still take great pride in making RIFT as great as it can be. Do we always get it right? Of course not, but it is not due to lack of effort, skill or love for RIFT. Experimentation drives innovation, and we adjust as needed. When we make missteps all we can do is review feedback and take action to improve things going forward.

We want to thank all those who offer constructive feedback on a regular basis – you help us out daily, and more than you can ever know.

For those who offer snark, rude comments and trolling, that helps no one, and certainly does nothing to move the world of Telara forward. Please consider your approach when posting – imagine that you are sitting right across from us when you start your conversation, one human speaking to another. I can’t imagine anyone making cruel, cutting comments to folks like Vladd, Keyens or DeadSimon in person – please remember we are all real people. We all care about the game as much as you do.

Even the most passionate, critical post on our forums shows us that you care – just be courteous or the Dwarf will get you.

There are untold thousands of players to every one Dev, so it’s hard to engage in direct, one-on-one conversations, but we can accomplish so much through good feedback and useful suggestions. Let us continue to work together to make RIFT the best it can be!

The Future of Telara

Now, on to the future of RIFT, as that is what really counts, right?

• Just around the corner is 4.1 and the introduction of Eternal Weapons. These come with an involved and long quest line to upgrade them to something truly epic for each calling.
• A Planar Crafting Revamp that will lead to Best in Slot Helms and Ranged Weapons.
• The 10-Man Raid “Tartaric Depths” will go live (also using the recent Looking for Raid feature).
• New weekly quests are in the works.
• Carnival follows right on the heels of that, as we celebrate an amazing 6 years of RIFT.
• Next up, we have already started on update 4.2 (yeah, I know, great name, isn’t it? We’ll get a cooler title soon).
• This will usher in a new level 70 zone! Looking back again for a moment, this has been something we have done with all our our major releases. We followed up our initial release with Ember Isle. Storm Legion was followed by The Dendrome; Nightmare Tide by Tyrants Throne and Plane Touched Wilds.
• The new zone for Starfall Prophecy is Vostigar Peaks. As with the previous zone followups, this is a high end zone designed for max level players. There is even an elite area for level 70 group content. The lead image in this blog post is from this new zone!
• On top of that, 4.2 will offer new daily and weekly quests with awesome rewards.
• A full new quest line is in development, with much of the content replayable for max level players.
• New zone events and at least two new Instant Adventure lines are on deck.
• New Raid Rifts, Chronicles and the final installment of Primalist souls are also included.…in short a ton of stuff is coming for max level players in SFP. We heard you loud and clear!

There will be far more detail about both of these updates as we get closer to their release, as well as others we have in the pipeline. Watch for blog posts and livestreams as we develop this new content!

Looking Even Further Forward

So file the following under crazy experiments and absolutely no promises. We’re letting you know what we’re considering. I am so excited about it I’ve just got to spill the beans, probably to the chagrin of our Marketing folks, who are now rolling their eyes. Remember, this is all subject to change!

One of the threads that pops up pretty regularly in our forums runs along the lines of, “I remember when RIFT was actually a challenge, and wasn’t that cool.” Funny thing is, we have been feeling nostalgic too, so we started playing around with the logistics of a “Hard Mode” server. We set one up internally, and guess what? It is a heck of a lot of fun! Damn, that Jakub hits hard! OW!

We were not sure exactly how long this experience would remain fun, though. Would this be something that players would pursue for a long time or would it become boring once the novelty and nostalgia wore off?

Then someone suggested that perhaps this sort of server should be a limited time thing. That is, after a set period of time, it would be replaced with something different. The lights came on for everyone and the ideas came thick and fast: some crazy, some cool, some doable, some we only wish we could implement!
For instance, after Hard Mode, maybe next time you are buffed off the charts on an easy mode server, enabling you to take on some of the content you never even got a chance to see the first time through.

After much discussion, the concept of special rule set servers called “RIFT Challenges” was born.

Now, as I said, this is still very much in the experimental stages and we have no idea in what form, if any, this will eventually be taken LIVE, but the initial idea is that you play on the challenge server to reach a specific goal, which then awards you something truly awesome for your main live server character. Amazing new armor, weapons, new *cough* race *cough*… there are many details yet to be worked out and again, NO promises. No dates. This is a HUGE project that may or may not work.

We are anxious to hear your thoughts on it! In fact, we have an official feedback thread on it for you!

State of the Game Summary

All in all, it is an exciting time here for the RIFT team. We have finally all moved in to our awesome new offices and people are energized to try out some of these “out of the box” ideas.

Rest assured, aside from the crazy-town special ruleset ideas above, we have long term plans past 4.2 for our current servers too.
The idea is to revitalize those servers, not replace them, so stay tuned for future updates as we solidify the plans. Remember though, nothing is solid until the formal content announcements are made.

THANK You, Ascended!

So please, keep playing, keep posting, keep caring.
I look forward to playing alongside you for many years to come.
~Archonix