RIFT went free-to-play recently, and judging by the server queues and the number of people who tipped Massively about Trion's response to all the shenanigans, it seems like the business model switcheroo had the desired effect of bringing people back in droves.

As an outsider, I can't really wrap my brain around the phenomenon. If the game was good before, my inner cynic says, surely it was worth paying for, no? I can understand the excitement if you've never played RIFT (and if financials were the reason why), but I've seen a few commenters and even a blogger or two who seem to be coming back because they're afraid of missing a deal rather than because they really dig the game. I could be wrong, though, so that's why I'm throwing today's Daily Grind out there.

Assuming you're returning to RIFT, are you doing so because you love the game or is it because you don't want to miss out on a perceived good deal? In short, what's motivating your return to RIFT?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

Back in April of 2011, I asked myself whether I would play RIFT if it were a free game. I know that I was impressed with its build quality but not so much with its lack of spirit. It seemed like a hollow game, one that used gimmicks to take the place of true adventure. At the same time, I didn't want to downplay how well it was made. I still agree with this sentiment; the game is great and has only improved over time, but I still wish it had a little something more.

Did the recent switch to free-to-play change how I felt about the game? Why would a payment model affect how I felt while playing the game? After all, I champion the idea that a payment model does not define a game, but I still have to recognize how a payment model affects people.

Including me.

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Once upon a time, I was teaching a friend how to duel in Age of Wushu. She was easily frustrated by things, and she expressed to me that she felt as if everyone had superhuman reflexes compared to her. Because she was a beginner, I couldn't just convey all the complexity of mind games to her. Explaining all the different options (beyond the basics), weighting them, and explaining the opportunity costs of each was not really an option. She was having trouble even with slightly advanced stuff (which is totally normal), but she also lacked some of the natural "killer instinct" that allows some of my other friends to duel.

At the same time, I had been fighting Zyden, one of the most skilled duelists in English-speaking Age of Wushu. He actually does have near-superhuman reflexes. Earlier that day, though, I had hit him with a very slow-animating feint that he normally interrupts with a stun. Normally, his reactions are superhuman, but there are some times when they aren't. It's not a matter of "off day," either. He just wasn't prepared for me to do what I did right at that moment.

I told my friend, "Outside of a moment, you can only react." Immediately afterwards, I realized just how important those words were.

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Alongside the third phase of beta testing, Square-Enix is also testing another aspect of Final Fantasy XIV's relaunch -- the new and improved Lodestone. The original Lodestone served as a combination community site and data aggregator, but it had some system issues and deserved a revamp along with everything else connected to the game. Players are encouraged to log in to the site now and try out its improved functionality, as well as explore the things that can be done from the site with and without fully logging in.

The new site features all of the functionality of the original incarnation, including character blogs and a surfeit of information about your character even when logged off. It also allows players to search for characters, linkshells, and free companies freely. And it features a mobile version for times that you want to check your character data while you're on the road. Anyone in the game's test (which includes all former players of the first incarnation) are invited to test out the improvements for themselves.

Blade & Soul's biggest update yet is coming on June 26th according to Steparu.com. The site reports that new skill revisions, an upgrading system, new dungeons, an increased level cap, new story chapters, new instanced dungeons, and new PvP areas are on the way.

Whew!

Yes, that's a lot of new, and Steparu has also posted a handful of gorgeous new Blade & Soul posters for your viewing enjoyment. Have a look via the link below.

Remember The War Z? Hammerpoint Interactive is hoping that you don't, at least when it comes to the game's checkered development and customer service history that includes being temporarily pulled from Steam and suffering a major security breach.

At any rate, the firm is looking for a fresh start and has changed the zombie MMO's name to Infestation: Survivor Stories. The War Z's original URL now automatically redirects users to a rebranded website.

[Thanks Paul!]

It's update day for Vindictus, as players will have the fun of exploring the Season 2 Episode 2 patch after the download is complete. The update is a hearty helping of content that includes dungeons, battles, and character revamps.

Nine new battles are now available in the Twilight Desert, and players might have to cut their way through the addition of Grim Reapers and Guardians to get to them. The update implements a time progression feature, which is important since it determines which of the patch's 14 dungeons are open or closed for business. There's also a new expertise to level up in called Gathering, although it's accessible only in the Season 2 zones.

[Source: Nexon press release]

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Shadowfell Conspiracy is exactly two months away today, so there's still some time to work up excitement over this Forgotten Realms-centric expansion to the game world. We've expanded our screenshot gallery to include 10 new vistas of the Stormhorn mountains, a wilderness area that will feature large in players' adventures. You can check out all of the beauty below:

What's better than a buy-to-play game that has no subscription fee? How about one that's 50% off! Make that game The Secret World and you've got one sweet deal. If you or anyone you know has been putting off purchasing a copy of the horror and conspiracy-themed game in hopes of a good deal, today is your day.

For 24 hours, TSW is a cool $14.99 (or 14.99 euros) on Steam. Got that? Only 24 hours... and already counting down. So if you want to take advantage of this deal and get full access to everything up through Issue #4, there's no time for hemming or hawing about this deal; it goes the way of the dodo at 1:00 p.m. EDT tomorrow, June 20th.

[Thanks to Balsbigbrother1 for the tip!]

Are you tired of bombing around the post-apocalyptic wastelands of the Bay Area, shooting hellbugs in the face and popping wheelies on your four-wheeler, with none of your friends around to watch/high-five? Trion Worlds feels your pain.

The studio has just announced a recruit-a-friend system for its video game/television experiment, Defiance. If you have a copy of the game on any platform and a valid Trion Worlds account, you can hop over to the Defiance Ark Hunter recruitment site and shoot your besties some email invitations. Also available: a recruitment link for social media.

As is customary, bringing friends to Defiance comes with special rewards. Your first friend lands you a Tier I lock box, your first five get you a unique title, and your first ten give you two additional inventory slots. If one of those friends actually buys the game, you'll get a new outfit. Five purchases gets you a flame-emblazoned truck, and every purchase after that results in a Tier III lock box.

38 Studios collapsed upon itself in a heap of flaming disaster last year, and Rhode Island taxpayers ended up stuck with the bill. The state used a $75 million loan, acquired through the sale of taxable bonds, to convince 38 to operate within its borders, and RI is now on the hook for around $89 million after the studio declared bankruptcy.

Some state lawmakers in Rhode Island flirted with the idea of "walking away" from the debt, which is apparently a privilege afforded to a government and not its citizens. However, the state's House Finance Committee has approved a budget that includes, at the very least, making an interest payment of $2.5 million on the debt in May 2014. If Rhode Island is running off the plan it talked about last month, this first payment will be followed by yearly payments of $12.5 million until the debt is repaid.

The budget hasn't passed; it still needs to get through the state's House and Senate. Future interest payments will also have to be approved by the state legislature.

So, EverQuest Next is officially called EverQuest Next. At least until SOE comes to its senses. OK, OK, I'm only half kidding. It's not the worst name ever, but for a game that's already carrying the burden of substantial expectation before it's even been publicly unveiled, EQN seems a little bit vanilla to me.

Titles can be important, too, particularly in terms of first impressions and roping in those yummy casuals. So, how about it Massively readers? Is an MMO's title important to you? Vote after the cut!

Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!

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The switch to free-to-play has caused such a population explosion in RIFT that Trion is converting some shards to trial shards and opening new ones to host new and transferred players alike. But the studio understands that relocating is never easy. So to players who had to pack their bags and leave their beloved homes on EU's Icewatch and Akala shards, Trion is offering "a few small tokens of [their] appreciation for all your contributions to RIFT's success over the past two years."

Within the next few weeks, all former players from these two communities will receive special gifts on all of their characters. These gifts are a title ("of Icewatch" or "of Akala"), a shard-specific Icewatch or Akala regalia wardrobe set, and +1000 bonus loyalty.

The votes are in. The people have spoken. Now, it's time to play. Last week's Choose My Adventure column, the first one centered on Firefall, presented a couple of choices related to the very basics of creating our character and giving him or her reason to fight. Voters enthusiastically chose a beaten-down man with one hope for redemption -- and unwittingly fulfilled my personal fantasy to create a game hero based on Nicolas Cage's character in Con Air.

Voters also chose from among Firefall's five battleframes, with the jack-of-all-trades Assault frame beating out the smash-it-in-the-face Dreadnaught frame by just 26 votes. So, to recap: We have created a character who's an ex-con with no reason to live, handed him an assault rifle, and dropped him into a violent world where pretty much anything goes.

This is getting good.

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Artillery fans in Europe waiting for World of Tank's update 8.6 can start enjoying the all the goodies that this patch brings today, from the new artillery units to the new Korean-based Sacred Valley battle arena. Other areas of the globe, however, will have a longer wait before they can participate in the patch; it will go live in Southeast Asia on June 20th, followed by the American release on June 25th, and then finally hit South Korea on July 4th.

Also included in this update are new SPGs that boost that line to Tier X and the A33 Excelsior, a new premium British tank. Take a look at the vehicles in the renderings, screenshots, and artwork in the gallery below. And in case you missed the teaser trailer for this update, we've tucked it behind the break for you!
[Source: Wargaming press release]

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Jagex has announced today the appointment of Alex de Rakoff as Creative Director to the popular MMO studio. Not only has de Rakoff directed award-winning music videos, but he's also well-known for his films, working with actors like Orlando Bloom and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.

No, that doesn't mean Jagex is working on a Legolas or a gangsta rap MMO, but it does mean that the upcoming Transformers Universe and RuneScape 3 will both benefit from de Rakoff's experience and creativity. In fact, before being officially hired in-house by Jagex, de Rakoff had already been writing the story for Transformers Universe under contract.

You can learn more about Alex on his IMDb profile.

[Source: Jagex press release]

When City of Steam threw open its browser-based beta doors to all players, certain classes and races were noticeably missing from the soirée. But some fan-favorites have finally gotten their invitation and will be rejoining the party when the 1.3 patch Tears of the Oracle hits next week; greenskins, dwarves, and Channelers will once again be available to play.

And that's not even the half of it! This next patch will also be raising the level cap, expanding questlines, and adding plenty of new things, including the Founder's Annex suburb, a PvP event, a collection system, rare mobs in dungeons, plenty of cosmetic items, and even a new crafting system. On top of that, levels one through nine can resurrect for free in dungeons and the salvage system got an overhaul. So get ready to get your goblin (or hobbe, or orc) on next week!

[Source: Mechanist Games press release]

For this week only, Blizzard is lowering the price of World of Warcraft and all expansions for the popular MMO's annual summer sale.

From now until June 24, you can get the WoW Battle Chest (including the original game, The Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King) for only $5 US. 2010's Cataclysm is also $5, and the recently launched Mists of Pandaria is half price at $19.99. That means you can get the complete game and everything launched since 2004 for only $29.99.

Head over to the official summer sale page for more info.

[Thanks to Sharvis for the tip!]

Is Destiny a shooter with MMO elements or an MMO with a lot of shooting elements? According to a recent video interview with Chris Butcher, it's the former, and seeing as he's the Engineering Lead at Bungie he probably knows what he's talking about. But there's also some more nuance to the game which Butcher explains, and while it might not fall comfortably within the MMO header it's got a lot of persistent options.

Butcher explains in the video how the game's many public areas work -- there's no UI elements to let you know that you've entered a shared space, just the sudden sight of other players alongside the announcement of dynamic events in the area. It's certainly an interesting take on shared spaces, and it's more than you might expect from a straight shooter. If you're looking forward to the game, the video embedded past the cut is well worth your time.

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We've talked about weather systems and day/night cycles before, although generally MMOs and gamers seem to think of them mostly as cosmetic features that are fine to have as long as they don't get in the way. But what if they do get in the way? What if weather actually has an impact on your character and the game world?

What if a pass got snowed in so that you couldn't reach a certain area? What if whiteout conditions kept you from seeing that face-eating monster 10 feet away? What if wind gave your character an extra bounce in his or her step if it came from behind or actually slowed you down if you were facing into it? What if lakes dried up in drought or lightning could strike metal objects (like, um, your plate mail)? Would it be more immersive for you or just more annoying?

Seeing as most of the potential ways that weather could interact with us are negative, this might be a silly question. Still, I'm putting it out there: Should weather systems impact gameplay, and if so, how?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!