The RIFT

This week is lucky 19! We have the Community Team Invade the podcast. Cindy ‘Abigale’ Bowens and Amanda ‘Amary’ Fry join us again, and we get to welcome Erick ‘Zann’ Adams for the first time.

They take us through how the Community Management team works, and the challenges and opportunities having so many social networking avenues like facebook and twitter poses. They also talk to us about the up and coming Gamer Day at Trion headquarters, and the rapid growth of the Rift Community and don’t forget the PIE!

Today we also announce a random drawing contest we have going for a VIP all events Beta Code or two. Just listen to the podcast where we give the instructions and comment on this blog post with the answer by Midnight CST November 12th 2010. We’ll then randomly draw a couple of the correct answers to win VIP all events Beta Code and announce the winner in the Podcast on Monday November 15th 2010. This contest is open to everyone.

We hope everyone enjoys the podcast. Don’t forget to comment with the answer! And don’t forget to say hi on Facebook and Twitter!

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This week we have Abi join us once again. She talks about her own experiences in Alpha, the contention on the official forums over Beta and the VIP keys, and talks to us in some detail about the Trion Gamer Day.

There has been much contention on the official Rift: Planes of Telara Forums over Trion’s decision to hand out Beta keys in multiple different ways. The keys are available through multiple randomly timed give-aways on Rift’s Facebook, Twitter and Official Forums. Not to mention there are several fansites running competitions to gain the keys as well. These are not the only ways VIP Beta codes will be available, but just the first ones that have been implemented.

Abigale talks to us in this episode about the fine line they walk trying to make sure they fulfill their development, stress and focus testing needs; balance getting the word out about the game; and try to include their supportive community at the same time. Sadly, it is a fine line and not everyone will be happy – If they did manage to find a way to accomplish it, they could bottle it and make a fortune.

We’d like to announce that the random winner of the VIP Beta key comment on our blog contest was: Zephirius. Congratulations!

Don’t forget today is your last chance to get in bumper sticker slogans or create a soul. Entries close at Midnight CST tonight!

We hope you enjoy this Podcast episode.

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This week, interestingly enough, saw the release of the final two races in an article over on MMORPG.COM. The Defiant’s missing race will be the Kelari (or as we prefer to look at it: Dark Elves YAY) and the Guardian’s missing race will be the Dwarves – because come on, what would an mmorpg be, without dwarves.

In this article, they also raised some concerns about the customization process – saying it’s limited in  options for the characters. We can all hope that the devs will let us know about the character customization and whether or not this is intentional and why – or else is the system as yet, incomplete?

Another great information release at MMORPG.COM was the confirmation of the Pyromancer class.  A mage soul that burns their enemies from a range, the pyromancer has some really nice lore to go along with it.

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Noble crusaders are set to defend Telara from the incursion of the Planes!

Paladins have officially been announced as a playable class for Rift: Planes of Telara.

This soul follows the warrior calling, wielding their weapons right on the front lines of combat.  Paladins definitely go for a more defensive approach using a weapon and shield, all the while clad in heavy plate armor.

Paladins have been seen in several games such as the Everquest series and World of Warcraft as a class of defensive tanks to beings capable of powerful healing spells.  So that begs the question – What will set the Paladins of Rift: Planes of Telara apart from those we have seen before?

As always, stay tuned to The Rift Podcast for all the answers when we meet up with Joshua Kurtz on August 2nd, 2010 for a quick chat.

Check out the Paladin Class page, also be sure to discuss the paladin class on the Rift Official Forums

In other news this week…

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This week has been another good week for Rift: Planes of Telara. Even though it’s still just drabbles of information slowly trickling out to us – we grasp at pretty much every tidbit.

Soon though, soon it’s Gamescom time, and after that there’s PAX. Definitely looking forward to the amount of information we’ll see released then.

In this week’s podcast we have Abigale sit down with us and have a nice relaxed chat. She goes over a day in the live of Abigale at the offices, and what exactly it is a Community Manager does. It’s a lot more than just sitting and browsing forums.

She also takes us through a few adventures she experiences in the game including an exciting rift encounter, wondering mobs and clarifies a few things we already know and how they apply in game. It’s the first of our relaxed chats. Get a cup of coffee and have a listen.

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