RIFT beta 5 introduces public grouping, will be "twice as big" as beta 4

Ready for their fifth taste of RIFT this week, beta testers will find a host of changes and improvements waiting their assessment. Chief among these is a much-requested feature: public grouping. Because so much of RIFT's dynamic content revolves around spontaneous zone events, players have clamored for a way to quickly group up instead of spending precious time spamming the chat channels. Two UI additions now allow players to connect with public groups as efficiently and quickly as possible.

This news comes from Scott Hartsman, who posted a lengthy preview of RIFT's beta 5 event on the official forums today. Announcing that beta 5 will be "twice as big" as the previous beta event, Hartsman revealed that the team is increasing the number of servers from 18 to 32, which should allow for up to double the amount of players.

Other changes in store for players this week include a better organization of planar currencies, Rogue energy fixes, ranged sound improvements and "significant love" for invasion mechanics. Hartsman also revealed a few items that the team is working on for future updates, such as better racial abilities and master looting. You can read his full announcement here.

Reader Comments (30)

So awesome. Can't wait.

The whole art style and the name RIFT just sounds/looks like one of them generic Asian grind MMOs that goes bust within a six months.

@Miffy

The art style edges towards Aion, if that's what you mean. But Aion is pretty to look at.

As for the name...are you unhappy that it doesn't have the word "War" in it somewhere? What makes a name, especially when it's an English word, seem like an Asian grind?

@Miffy It's not titled "Rift of the Three Kingdoms".

@Lenn I would play Rift of the Three Kingdoms.

@Miffy theres absolutely nothing korean/asian about rift. the graphics engine is an enhanced version of warhammers engine. if anything, the art and style resemble warhammer. honestly, i feel like your comment was just a way to relieve some of your own personal stress... because it wasnt really valid in any way.

as far public groups... im excited. this was one of the great features of warhammer and it works wonders.

i really wish people would do a little more research before just being ignorant and posting some random comment with little to no basis. not just talking to miffy, this trend is all to common these days

@Miffy Played it, can say that it doesn't.

They fixed the Rogue's energy problem?!

Wow, these guys actually *do* listen! Man, this is going to be awesome. :D

Tomorrow cant come soon enough

I've been increasingly impressed with the way they listen to player feedback. It's a real breath of fresh air after so many of these other developers that seem to take an attitude that the players must just not understand "the vision".

I didn't care a whole lot for beta 1. I came back for beta 3 and found that many of my gripes had gone away and I was actually liking the soul system. Now it looks like they've cleared up even more of those little things that although small individually can have a major negative impact when all are taken together.

I'm now really itching to play beta 5 tomorrow, and have shared my guest key with a number of friends.

Crazy that their beta has more servers than most live games =)

@Daelen

Aion was the same way, so dont use that as a basis of how good the game is. Its more like a indicator of how many people are interested.

I just so happened to get my hands on a beta key today so ill give this a go, im pretty skeptical about it personally. But ill try to put all that aside and see how this goes.

I usually give any game with a bard class a try, you can call it a weakness i guess.

@relgoth And fair enough, there are plenty (if not all) MMOs around the corner that lay claim to being the best thing since the first computer was powered up.

For all the talk though, Rift is a lot of fun to play.

I'm planning on sticking with it anyway.

@relgoth
Be sceptical mate, I was and I actually didnt like it for the first few hours I played.
Farther I got out into the world the more I fell in love.

Im hooked now.

If anyone else is looking to give it a try, check this thread for beta keys
(each key was good for 25 uses so odds are you'll find one you can use):
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?31563-A-whole-bunch-of-VIP-keys

Then To Apply the VIP Code:

Go to https://account.RIFTgame.com to login or create a new account.
Click "Apply Code" on the left-hand navigation bar and enter your VIP key.
You're done! You will automatically be invited into the remaining beta events.

I am really looking forward to it -- I can't wait. The devs ARE very responsive. During Beta 2, one, apparently, was actually watching me play and interviewed me about my experience. Apparently I did something pretty unexpected in his eyes (unexpected = dumb lol)..

@Haldurson

In fact they are always watching during Beta.The one thing that I like with Trion is that those guys a real MMO players(just like Arenanet) compared to other devs I have interact so far.

I also remember how they were teasing us at the end of the last beta by saying Guardians are doing better than you with the invasions :p

It's a happy coincidence that I get off work early tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to getting my feet wet. :D

I'll admit, when I got a guest key from one of my friends and went to review a bit about Rift, I went from excited to skeptical looking at the class choices and races. But then the more I read about the mechanics and the more I actually read ABOUT the classes instead of labeling them "Shaman. Mage. Fire Mage. Shaman without fire. WTF is this?", all the classes made more sense, and the game got all the more interesting.

I'm rather excited for tomorrow, actually.

They had better get the pvp invasion rifts working, in other words, make them random drop points instead of into a crowd of the enemy in which you get slaughtered. The nifto 15 sec protection doesnt do squat either.

For stealth its fine, we can get away, but i feel for the slaughtered as they appear, run, and are zerged down. nice to see some energy management change.

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RIFT beta 5 introduces public grouping, will be "twice as big" as beta 4

Reader Comments (30)

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 3:39PM gildhur said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 3:41PM Miffy said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 3:53PM Wild Colors said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 5:20PM Lenn said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 5:37PM Dumac said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 8:40PM wagonfactor said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 6:52AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 6:52AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 3:46PM Branded Alive said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 3:46PM Dranaerys said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 4:06PM aurickle said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 4:13PM Daelen said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 4:25PM relgoth said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 5:05PM JoolaPrime said

Posted: Jan 25th 2011 3:22AM meanieme said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 4:54PM Haldurson said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 10:25PM Valdur said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 5:00PM Irem said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 5:15PM Kaahn Stewart said

Posted: Jan 24th 2011 6:00PM Graill440 said

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