RIFT flags more trial servers

You kids are going to have to get off this server, now! I mean it! I will turn this whole plane around if I have to!

In a rather surprising move for a number of RIFT players, it turns out that several of the game's servers have been converted over to trial servers. Naturally, it makes players instinctively fearful that it's the first step toward server shutdowns and closures.

But that's not quite what's going on. As explained by community manager Elrar quite some time ago, trial servers are lower-population servers that are essentially being put to one side for large-scale trial programs. Character creation for subscribers is disabled on those servers, and there's a message encouraging you to move to another server with a free transfer, but it's not a shutdown, just a ramp-up to a larger trial period for non-subscribers.

According to Rift Junkies, a total of 11 servers are seeing the trial tag applied, and players are encouraged to move off these servers by January 18th. If you've got a character on Belmont, Galena, Atrophinius, Crucia, Alsbeth, Estrael, Shadefallen, Sunrest, Freeholme, Dayblind, or Faemyst, now would be a good time to start planning for greener, non-trial pastures.

[Thanks to Celestial Lord for the tip!]

Reader Comments (54)

Someone's in a panic.

O boy, here we go. Let the Haterade flow.

Was pretty easy to notice how dead the servers were when I played a month ago.

I'm sorry, but that's bull.. winkle.

I like Rift and Trion but telling us that they need all those servers for "trials" is about as believable as saying that Justin Bieber is a new Mozart.

Truth is that the initial rush of players pushed Trion into opening far too many server... so over time, as people started to get bored or burned out, the servers got empty. These are much needed server mergers, nothing more, nothing less...
Also, no, I don't think Rift is dying. But it's very clear that a lot of people left.

@Floop the Squirrel
I just logged into Crucia not too long ago and the Defiance capitol was completely desolate. Several months ago it was pretty populated. So yeah, I think you got it right.

Given how big of an issue shard population has been for some people on the forums (typically in the form of complaining), this was a smart move for Trion, even if dedicated raiding guilds get hurt by this.

I mean, the complaints against this move are reasonable I guess, but... if people really are hating it just because they have to change their name or whatnot, that's... not the end of the world. And guilds/friends, if they're smart, can... I don't know... coordinate on which shard to move to.

Still, this'll hopefully up the population of the non-trial servers enough to where things seem more lively all around on those servers.

@Floop the Squirrel what worries me is that populated servers (like Faeblight) will get even higher loads. Until I upgraded my rig I was looking at 45-90 second load time into Meridian.

Some servers are already too packed.

Shadefallen is where I originally made my home in the game, but once the free transfers became available I moved all my characters off -- the population was just too low to be useful, and that was months ago, I presume it's only gotten worse since.

What surprises me about this is that they're converting so many servers to trial servers. Are they really getting that many trial players? Or is this just an attempt to avoid the stigma of server closures?

I don't think Rift is "dying", but I suspect after nearly a year they've reached a stable population of subscribers and simply have too many servers.

Let's be clear here. Trial servers are a way to avoid calling it "closures." You cannot create a character on a trial server and there is no way they need dozens of servers for "trial" purposes. Kudos to Trion if you bought that story though:P

They should have done a lot more with rifts and invasions, making those distinct aspects of their game the main focus. Instead, they got stale and seemed almost an afterthought to the end game raid content they were creating. Trion has one big advantage however. That is, the game by most accounts is not considered a failure (ie. buggy release, lack of content) that plagued many other games that had to close servers. They have a unique opportunity to reinvigorate the playerbase by going back to doing things different. And if they do, count me in.

Can someone help clarify this? They are going to make dedicated for trial players? So there are going to be servers populated almost entirely by new players that know nothing about the game? Who do they expect to answer any ingame questions anyone has?

How many non trial servers are there? Guess they are wanting to put population up a bit on servers. I played the game for a good 6 months and I enjoyed my time with it. My friends quit so I ended up jumping ship with them.

Calling them trial servers is nothing more than an attempt to spin the truth - they are merging servers because the game is mediocre at best, and the population continues to fall as a result.

Consolidating players is a good thing for those playing, in that there will be a higher player density, but is indicative of a negative trend overall for the game.

When I played, all my characters were on Alsbeth and Estrael....Guess if I ever resub up I'll have to move out

The most curious and disappointing part of this (to me) is that the servers they chose include some that are named for some of the coolest characters in Rift lore.

Has any other game had servers dedicated to trial players before?

I can't remember not being in the general population in a trial, and I'd think that would be the better way to show off the game, so I can see the high level characters and all their shinies and want to stick around to get there.

@Saucelah Or perhaps it will be a different kind of trial than we're used to. Interesting.

@Saucelah

I'm almost wondering if they really will be "trial servers" as in free trials for new players, or if it's a "trial" as in they'll be testing new server technology with those servers before the non-trial shards get it (so as to reduce possible downtime on the main servers). Or maybe they're going to make an odd sort of F2P model for those servers (I highly doubt this is the case though given what Scott Hartsman said about moving RIFT to f2p).

Can't really tell just from this, but the forum post did say they'd reveal more information on this stuff "as their time comes".

@Sorithal

That's actually what I thought too, at first, but I think somewhere something was mentioned about revamping their current 7 day trial. I can't remember the source though, so take it with a grain of salt.

I did think a wee bit about what might be a suitable "different kind of trial" and came up with the idea of only having quests available until level 20 or some such thing and then players are free to grind rifts and stay as long as they like, or they can pay and immediately transfer to a normal server. I don't really expect that, but it's a thought.

This sucks. I don't subscribe to Rift anymore but when I did, the original server I was on had the same treatment and we had to pick another one which was Galena. Now Galena is being essentially shut down and everyone I knew from the game will have to move? Lame-o.

I don't believe their story that these are all used because of the demand for trials. It's either a massive voluntary consolidation or they are are sectioning off a certain set for the F2P crowd and the existing servers will be for the ones that continue to pay.

@jpkustra
These changes are actually created by the community. The RP player base left Shadefallen and Estrael months ago for Faeblight . Only now is Trion transitioning these abandoned servers into trial locations.

The thing I love about Rift is we players decide which shards stay open and which close through the free transfer program. It's refreshing, empowering, and a big reason why I don't mind paying Rift a sub every month.

| 1 | 2 | 3 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

RIFT flags more trial servers

Reader Comments (54)

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 6:55PM Abriael said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 6:58PM Faction 3 said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 6:58PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 7:03PM Floop the Squirrel said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 9:34PM Oskari said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 9:44PM Sorithal said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 9:02AM fallwind said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 7:10PM Warsyde said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 7:12PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 7:14PM Ehra said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 7:17PM Alex Oglitchkin said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 7:27PM AnathemaOne said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 7:35PM J45neoboy said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 7:35PM nathael said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 8:14PM Saucelah said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 8:16PM Saucelah said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 9:38PM Sorithal said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 1:08AM Saucelah said

Posted: Jan 12th 2012 8:49PM jpkustra said

Posted: Jan 13th 2012 12:25AM jimr9999us said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

MMO Week in Review: E3 didn't suck

Featured Stories

The Daily Grind: Should weather systems impact gameplay?

Massively Speaking Episode 252: Eee Eee Eee

Hyperspace Beacon: The roleplayer's guide to SWTOR event planning

Engadget

Joystiq

WoW

TUAW