'RIFT Lite' announced, makes first 20 levels free to all [Updated]

@Celtar Trion gave us this information yesterday under embargo, and the link was not live at the time. (Presumably so nobody would stumble across it by accident ahead of time.)

Looks like they're running a couple of minutes late -- it'll be there soon!

@Rubi

Good deal Rubi, just wanted to give you a heads up on that if it was an error. :)

@Tanek
I guess it would depend on how they handle accounts - is 1-20 free for current accounts as well? What if I had a 21 but deleted him? If I get to 20 and enjoy the game, would I have to re-purchase the box to continue that character or will they transfer him to my other account?

@Deliverator

Not sure how they are doing it, but in WoW, it did not apply to any account that had a subscription in the past, only to new trial accounts.

Would be interesting if they had a way to allow in current accounts, just locking out any characters you had above 20. That way, a person can come back, start a new character with friends, and later sub to the game again without feeling like they have lost anything on their account.

@Tanek
I know I'll definitely be checking it out. I can't justify paying for a sub right now, but being able to play around and work on some stuff for when I can? I'm there.

@Irem

Which is great and is exactly what Trion wants new players to do. If you had a previous account, though, with characters you've played and items you've gathered, how likely would you be to start up a sub on a brand new account rather than resub to your old one?

@Tanek
That's what I am--a returning player. I have a Trion account and maintained a subscription for a total of three months after launch. I never got past level 17 on any character, though, because I made a lot of alts trying to find one I could stick with, which is why I like the idea that I can go back and play through the content until I've found a character I enjoy playing enough to justify a subscription.

@Irem
The site wasn't up yet with any details, so I did not imagine it would apply to existing accounts. Glad to hear it does, though! :)

@Omegamaniac

Or world of warcraft, or LOTRO, or DCUO, or ...

@hiruuamon
It's a great way to get people into the game but i think it's debatable how many translate into subs.

I for one subbed to WAR from the endless trials but I know a lot of people didn't and some went the other way (dropped their sub and just played the trial). As a PvP experience, the trial was/is still a lot of fun.

Hope it works for Trion.

TOR will only do this once the subs start heading heavily south. I hope it's a long way off.

@hiruuamon

The problem with this model is people hit the cap once or maybe twice and just quit. Rift doesn't have as much as EQ2 to give away but it has more than DCUO. Maybe the level cap should be 30. But I don't know the game well enough to say. Good luck to em, though.

@hiruuamon what's your issue with GW2's model? which is distinct from F2P in that you buy the game and don't have to buy anything else, rather than you have no investment then we'll slowly gouge you to make you pay for stuff to make the game worthwhile. I much prefer that and then being asked to buy expansions down the road to being asked to pay every month when I cant be sure the devs are working on anything on a regular basis. Trion is one of the few companies you can be sure are actually working on improving their game constantly, and i believe arenanet will be too.

@hiruuamon
GW2's buy-to-play payment model is exactly the same as GW1's. You purchase the actual game, but afterward there's no sub fee.

@hassaun2006
My issue with it is that there is no insentive for Arena Net to add free content patches, you will likly have to pay for all content patchers and then later all XPacks on top of it. Hopefuly bud fixes will be free but we will see.

@avaloner

Um... I hate to burst your bubble, but all the massive patches were free. Elementalist tweaking/rebalancing? Free. Dervish patch? Free. The current additional content/storylines for Prophecies and Factions only needs those campaigns unlocked to get them (but you have to beat their campaigns first).

Arenanet has been incredibly good to us, and I only wish all the others would do what they did. I simply could never justify subbing to any game. I'm not one to pay a ransom just to access my character. I loved the Warhammer beta, but they never let me into the free trial (I already had codes in it from the head start), and with WoW? I quit that game after Wrath of the Lich King.

The fact of the matter is, there are way too many good free games out now. Sure, some of them are pay to win (anything by Perfect World), or over-glorified Free Trials (EQ2, AoC), but some just hit a very special nitch where it's fun, free, and MAKES you want to pay them (LOTRO, DDO). Look at Turbine, they GIVE you points for in-game achievements!

You may say "Oh, but terrible customer service!". I used Funcom's live chat, and the service was friendly and helpful, though the issue didn't resolve that day (I waited till the next day, and it worked). I also know several pay to play games with crappy customer service. Heck, Nexon rakes in millions, but it's Customer Service is absolutely terrible.

That said, I hope Rift goes further, or offers up something for box buyers. I'd love for games to start up the "buy to own" model. I have no problems with it, and would rather have that than Free To Play (trials are ok!). Hell, I almost bought SWTOR, but there was nothing for box buyers... not even free access to PvP. I didn't even bother, even though the beta was really good.