RIFT

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.

While most fathers were enjoying brand-new ties and meals out on the town this past Sunday, RIFT Lead Game Designer Bill Fisher decided that he'd be a papa to the PvP game community and take care of their needs. Fisher went into the office on his day off, asked players what they wanted added, and whipped up two new game modes for warfronts.

The Black Garden warfront got a domination mode added, which allows players to wrest for the control of two key points. Also sporting a new domination mode is the Karthan Ridge warfront, although this one is a little more complex. Players in Karthan Ridge have to fight over five control points; the control points on the enemy's side of the map award more score points than do those on the on the home team side.

The hotfix also reinstated the second dimension option to players which had been disabled after the 2.3 patch.

If you decided to take advantage of RIFT's new free-to-play status yesterday, you were probably met with a big fat server queue message that may have ruined your entire life (according to the RIFT forums). While this is certainly bad for anyone wanting to play the game, it's an ironically good problem to have for Trion Worlds and the two-year-old MMO.

The team at Trion monitored the situation throughout the day and night, raising server caps and converting the EU Icewatch server to a Trial Only Shard, but commented that opening new clusters today might be a necessity for North American shards.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

The game that once denounced free-to-play has gone free-to-play. Trion Worlds' RIFT can now be enjoyed with "no trials, no tricks, and no traps" for anyone who wants to explore the game.

"The aim is to keep free and paid players on the same level - this is not pay-to-win," said Creative Director Bill Fisher. "Players will see key differences between RIFT and other MMOs that have adopted free-to-play: we don't restrict content, and we don't offer pay-to-win items."

To help celebrate the new content in RIFT 2.3 and its new F2P status, Trion has also released a brand new trailer and set of screenshots that can be seen below.

[Source: Trion Worlds press release]

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Is RIFT taking the charts by storm? At first glance when it comes to Raptr's most-played PC and Xbox 360 titles in May, it would appear so. However, just as with everything else associated with statistics, it's important to know the full story before jumping to conclusions.

RIFT jumped up 13 spots to garner a 7.76% share of player hours in May, topping even League of Legends and World of Warcraft. This was largely thanks to a reward campaign that quadrupled the number of players from March.

The company notes that Neverwinter was also a "big mover" in the month among Raptr players, netting 11th place.

Trion has published a preview web page for RIFT's Empyreal Assault update. If that name doesn't mean anything to you, how about update 2.3? Still no? OK, it's the free-to-play patch. Happy now?

The patch also features Dendrome, a new zone boasting "lush jungles and windswept dunes." Let's see, what else does 2.3 have for you? It looks as if there's new open-world raid bosses, a new Chronicle called Queen's Gambit, a Sliver called Grim Awakening, and more. You can read all about it at the official RIFT website. Don't forget to check out the F2P page while you're at it, and mark your calendar for the June 12th launch date.

This last weekend saw RIFT account holders get their very own free weekend in preparation for the June 12th launch of the game as a converted free-to-play title. But Trion has decided to sweeten the pot a bit by extending the free weekend until that launch date.

RIFT's 2.3 patch, entitled Empyreal Assault, will still launch on June 12th, but current account owners won't have to pay a dime anymore.

If you're gearing up for the F2P conversion, be sure to check out our previous coverage for more information.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Is your forehead scrunched up in that cute little way you sometimes have when you're trying to understand a topic that's running circles around you? You might be trying to get a grip on RIFT's upcoming free-to-play REX (RIFT exchange) mechanic. A new official dev article seeks to enlighten us all by laying out what REX does, how it's attained, and how it can be spent.

In short, REX is a middle-man currency that is purchased with real money and can then be converted into item store credits (although, as the post states, it's a better deal to directly buy the credits). The twist here is that before it's converted to credits, REX can be sold to other players on the auction house. This effectively gives players with in-game money ways to obtain store credits and players with excess real money ways to inflate their in-game piggy banks.

The post also explains the much simpler topic of gifting store items to other players. You probably have it figured out just by reading the previous sentence.

Finally, last night we told you about RIFT's promo this weekend. According to a tweet this afternoon, that promo is live early -- in fact, RIFT is freely playable for former subbers right now.

So you bought RIFT, and you played it for a while, and then you stopped. Now you're not playing RIFT. But now you also know the game is going free-to-play in June, and so you could jump back in. But you don't know if you want to, you've lost track of the patches... you're just not sure. What you really need is a chance to jump back in the game for a few days and see whether the game still holds some magic for you.

Lo and behold, it's just been announced that RIFT will open the doors to everyone who owns the game from May 30th until June 3rd. If you've left the game but used to play, this will be a chance to drop back in and see if you want to kick off your play again after all. If you don't own the game... well, you'll have your chance soon enough.

It's easy to forget that in all of these game worlds that we're adventuring through, some people allegedly live and work in these lands! Even in the very, very scary places! Reader Xexanos found this run-down house in a dark corner of The Secret World and found himself entranced by the mystery of it.

"I stumbled upon this place during my exploration of the Shadowy Forest (the name really tells you everything)," he said. "I wonder what the history behind this is."

I had just found that last week myself and was wondering that too. If any lore experts want to fill us in, please do so, otherwise head past the jump and check out all of the other great reader screenshots we have in store for you this week!

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Trion Worlds Lead Game Designer Bill Fisher has announced that RIFT won't be allowing raiders to use item store tokens to boost ultra-rare currency gains.

In a forum thread titled RIFT is officially pay-to-win, Fisher addressed the concern over the upcoming item shop's impact in the raiding game. The specific beef was with item store tokens that offered a substantial boost to all currency gained in the game over a period of time. Trion has since nerfed the token's potency (from 100% currency bonus to 80%) as well as removed the ability to gain extra Frozen Eclipse Stones from it.

Fisher explained that he decided to remove the token effect because he felt it was crossing the line of what is and is not acceptable from a cash shop. "I don't want you to have the perception that to take part in that section of the game you are going to be forced into buying something," Fisher wrote. "RIFT doesn't win the race by trying to be exploitative of any given group -- yes, it has to make money to continue getting updates, and I know everyone out there understands that."

If you'd missed it, RIFT recently announced that the game will go free-to-play on June 12th. Obviously, the hope is to bring in a variety of new players, but the circumstances surrounding the announcement can result in a bit of whiplash when deciding whether or not to count yourself among those getting into the game.

On the one hand, RIFT is making humble promises about the item shop... but on the other hand, the development team also promised the game would never go free-to-play. Trion Worlds did just get hit by layoffs, but it's been said those layoffs don't affect RIFT's staff. It's long had consistent updates, but those updates have dropped off sharply this year.

Is trying the game out a good idea? A bad one? Today, we ask our readers to decide. Carefully weighing all the evidence, are you still excited to try RIFT's free-to-play option? Or do you think you'll be giving it a pass?

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!

What will RIFT's free-to-play version look like? While we won't get to see it in action until the game makes the transition on June 12th, Trion Worlds has posted a screenshot of the new item store and some of its offerings for players to peruse.

The store screenshot includes a preview pane of a character wearing a fancy outfit and a top hat, as well as a list of several items. These include 30-day patron pass, faction changing scroll, character rename scroll, rename guild scroll, transfiguration bauble, rune unsocketing apparatus, and planar essence removal device. Later on in the thread, the studio posted a picture of a different cosmetic outfit being worn by a female character.

To "ensure a successful transition," Trion has sent out surveys to all current subscribers about the free-to-play switch.

Trion Worlds has just announced that fantasy MMO RIFT will be headed free-to-play on June 12th. Though former studio reps were once adamant that the game would remain a subscription MMO, the team has apparently decided it can better compete in a F2P world by being F2P. The hybrid model will include an optional sub with fully free content like dungeons and questing; consumables, cosmetics, and even gear will make up the cash shop.

We asked Creative Director Bill Fisher to explain the whys and wherefores of this decision. Check out our interview after the jump!

[Updated: The official site has also posted a handy chart to show you what you're getting at different tiers.]

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