The RIFT

[05:18] Welcome to the Podcast, Chris Junior. Can you tell us what a Senior Systems Designer does?

• The beginning starts with a few Podcasts and some alcoholic beverages. So we’ll skip to the end.
• He had lunch one day with Russ Brown and was sold on the idea of Rift.
• Systems Designers are responsible for itemization, classes, the soul system, combat, etc.
• An example of some of his recent work includes making hundreds of little mini pets to make everyone happy!

[06:12] What is your favourite part of Rift?

• The calling systems. He loves the roles and the combinations.
• He definitely likes their applications to PvP.

[06:37] Invasions and Rifts are considered to enhance world PvP, are there plans for people to auto queue and mass join raids for PvP in these situations?

• Coming out with Beta 5: Public Grouping System!
• Players will be able to flag themselves for Public Grouping.
• These will help form groups for Rifts and will help out PvPers as well!

[07:03] How will the Public Grouping System work, and are there plans to extend it to Warfronts?

• Well, you don’t really need to forms groups for Warfronts – just hop in the queue and you’ll be placed right into the action!

[07:14] How are you going to handle match-ups? Something so solo players won’t be matched up against pre-made groups? (Warfronts)

• Based on Feedback, solo players don’t like doing this!
• Their system now tries to match up solo players vs. solo players, and groups vs. groups.
• Of course, in favour of getting players into matches faster, there will sometimes be instances of solo players facing pre-made groups.
• The chances of that happening should be lower now though!

[07:58] According to the recently released PvP video, there are 4 different Warfronts (that we know of). Could you describe each for us?

• The Black Garden (Martyrdom)
  • Available at level 10, there are 10 players on each side.
  • Basically a huge cluster.
  • Objective: Get the Fang of Regulos. What does it do? It kills you! It does more damage to you as time goes on, but you get points for holding onto it. Staying in the middle where the action is nets you even more points!
• The Codex (Domination)
  • Available at level 20.
  • Basically a 4 point domination map – the Telescope, the Statue, the Obelisk, and the Codex.
  • Obviously, the Codex is worth more points than any other object on the map.
• Whitefall Steppes (Capture the Flag)
  • Available at level 30.
  • Typical ‘Capture-the-Flag’ match – with some twists.
  • There is definitely a strong team play component in this one.
• The Battle for Port Scion (Conquest)
  • Available at level 50, there are 20 players on each side.
  • This is just a small version – not the full sized city!
  • The Defiant and Guardians are fighting over a small portion of Port Scion that’s been taken over by the Plane of Death.

[09:54] Port Scion (Warfront) is supposed to appeal to both PvP and PvE players. Could you explain how this will work?

• There are many different things you can do to win.
• You can run around and kill players, do quests, kill ‘bosses’ to spawn helpful NPCs.
• There are some smaller events that will launch helpful mini-invasions against your opponents.
• Capture-the-Sourcestone minigame! Basically, there is sourcestone all over the map and you must collect it and bring it to an NPC to get more points.
• This zone is also larger than the other Warfronts.

[11:42] Is Port Scion going to be ready for release?

• The Battle for Port Scion (Warfront) will be available at release.
• The open world Port Scion will be a post-launch feature.

[12:04] Can you tell us a bit about obtaining the PvP souls and how you use them?

• Currently on Beta and Alpha the PvP souls cost 2500 favour.
• You earn Favour by killing other players (open world PvP), warfront, and quests.
• Each of the souls have a “remove control effects” ability early on.
• Each soul is broken into multiple Tiers that are opened up by obtaining ranks of prestiege.
• You start gaining ranks of Prestige at level 50 through PvP!

[13:31] How do PvP souls differ from the other souls?

• Each of these souls have a 21 point cap.
• You’ll still have 46 points for the PvE tree.
• Each PvP soul is broken into 4 different paths within the PvP soul.
• There are only 4 activated abilities in the roots.
• About 80% of the abilities in the PvP soul are only relevant to PvP.

[14:52] How is prestiege going to be gained?

• It is obtained in similar ways to gaining Favour.
• When you kill a player in the open world, win/lose/tie a Warfront, complete a PvP quest – you’ll gain Prestiege (at 50!)
• Prestiege ranks will progress like PvE levels – you’ll have a bar to fill and will still get an awesome ‘ding’ effect.

[15:53] How will PvP gear differ from PvE gear?

• Definitely a lot of Endurance in PvP gear.
• PvE has a lot of focus and hit that help with raiding.
• PvP has Valour. This increases your chance to live – reduces the damage you take from other players.
• Valour is a “top tier stat” and you gain a bit each level.

[16:50] In many games PvE “control” spells are nerfed for PvP. How hard has it been to balance the PvE abilities to keep both sides happy?

• There are many different souls, and they’ve tried to spread around some of the crowd control spells over them.
• PvP souls don’t have much in the way of control abilities, but they do offer abilities to break control effects.

[18:39] What can we expect about world PvP?

• They think that the Rifts bring some amazing options for PvP.
• Chances are, if there is a Rift, you’ll find players of the opposing factions.
• Players can also take out Wardstones of the opposing factions.
• Sometime (Maybe Beta 6, and definitely release) there will be “Ancient Wardstones” that look extremely different from normal Wardstones.
• If you attack it, you’ll be flagged for PvE. If you defeat it you’ll get bonuses for your faction!

[19:54] What mechanisms are in place (on either server type) to prevent high level characters from killing lower level characters?

• PvE servers – not as much an issue, since you must be flagged. If you are flagged, you are an open target.
• PvP servers – there are the starter zones that are safe and the beginning zones (Silverwood/Freemarch) will not flag the new players for PvP.
• Anything past that (PvP server), you’re open game! He is a big fan of limited rules.
• They do not incentivise killing lower level players – you won’t gain favour, prestiege, or loot.
• A raid of level 20s can roll over a level 50, and they will get rewards. (The 50 wouldn’t get anything from defeating them though)

[21:36] How has PvP affected the overall game? Has it made you implement things differently to help support it?

• PvP has been built into the game from the beginning.
• As you progress through the game the quest hubs slowly get closer together.. and eventually are shared!
• PvE players won’t be forces into PvP combat (if they are on a PvE server!).

[22:27] We’ve heard before from Scott Hartsman that the cities will be heavily defended and not itemized. Has the stance changed on this at all?

• There are still no city sieges planned at this time and the NPCs are not itemized.
• Players are still welcome to try, though he doesn’t recommend going in with anything less than a raid of 50s!
• This could be considered a challenge!

[23:16] Will there by achievements for PvP? First dropped loot or first city siege?

• There is a new broadcasting system for announcing achievements.
• There is not an achievement for killing Asha. Though, there is no saying what the future might hold.
• You can get an achievement for winning a duel in the opposing city! (Duel is with a friendly person)

[24:10] Like Bill Fisher, do you believe that “players are the most dangerous game”?

• They were quite happy with the end of that video, and the fact that it made the cut!
• He definitely agrees, there is nothing more adreneline pumping than being out doing quests and getting jumped by some guy (or conversely, killing him when he thought he would win!).

[24:47] Given the choice of anyone working at Trion, who would you Player Kill on-site given the chance?

• He has a list of developers who put down the Chloromancer name (that was his idea!).
• At launch he will have a Chloromancer and will be running around looking for those devs to kill.

[25:16] How many ways have you found to kill Simon so far?

• He doesn’t really need any help. He finds enough ways to die on his own.

[25:26] Have you killed him with your favourite pie yet?

• He can’t find any bakers around to make one yet!
• It is a cake that has a pie baked into it.
• Apparently it is the most amazing thing ever. (Is the cake-pie a lie? Maybe a pseudo-truth?)

[26:01] Is there anything else you’d like everyone to know about killing players in Rift?

• Looting player corpses: You can’t steal someone’s boots.
• Players all have their own loot tables, and they differ by zone.
• You might be in a Warfront one day and some epic bow drops – there will be some awesome items that only drop in certain zones from players!
• Go PvP! It’ll be worth your time.

[05:21] Arithion introduces Adam Gershowitz, the Producer for Trion World’s RIFT, back to The Rift.

[05:44] From the production side of things, how successful was the first Beta?

• Their first Beta was super successful.
• The servers were very stable, they had very little downtime, and very few crashes.
• It was the first time they got to test the Defiant zones at capacity.

[06:32] The Rift Dynamic Content System changes the number of Rifts and Invasions in the area, can you elaborate on how this works?

• He can’t go into too much detail, since they are actively changing this based off of the decent Beta feedback.
• The end result was that, even with internal and Alpha servers running, the players during the Beta cleaned up everything quite fast.
• They even had GMs throwing invasions out for people to complete, and they were still cleaning them up fast.
• They haven’t gone back to the drawing board, but they are looking at how much activity is in each area to spawn an appropriate amount of Invasions/Rifts.
• They want to make sure the Invasion going into an area takes into account the amount of activity in the area, and scales accordingly.

[09:03] What has changed in Rift that is directly related to the first Beta event?

• Most of it was the Invasion and Rift (Dynamic Content) systems.
• In general, that was the most lacking area from what they saw and what they wanted it to be.
• There was a ton of work done on the zones, and in the next Beta event (in Silverwood) they have already identified a number of bottlenecks and have started measures to prevent them.
• There was a ton of really valuable pieces of feedback on the Dynamic system.
• They learned a number of things on the Defiant side, and made changes on the fly during the event.
• During Beta 1 there were also devs working on making similar changes to Mathosia and Silverwood (Guardian zones).
• It gave them a better idea where to look and areas to focus on for Beta 2 to make it much better.

[11:16] Were there any unexpected hitches during Beta 1?

• The largest unexpected hitch (and the first server crash to his knowledge) was when the spawn rates weren’t high enough and Adam tried to spawn millions of monsters and crashed the server!
• After the server crashed, it responded quite well and also showed them their limit for spawning monsters.
• Note for future developers: Always check your Monster ID and number to spawn before sending the command!

[12:11] The second Beta event starts on December 17. Are there any different objectives for this Beta test?

• It will be very similar objectives to the first Beta test.
• They are trying to get a handle on how the new user experience is going to look and feel.
• It will also test how the starting areas will be able to handle a large number of players coming in.
• Their biggest goal will be to take the feedback from Beta 1 on the Dynamic Content and see if they can make the experience better for them.

[12:47] How else did you find that the Dynamic Content went down?

• In general, they thought the Dynamic Content was well received.
• When they cranked up the number of invasions, a lot of people seemed to be having fun with it.
• They want to take the lessons learned from Beta 1 and try to implement that more into the Beta 2 experience.

[13:22] At this stage in the game, do you believe the Soul System and your objectives for it has been obtained or achieved?

• It’s hard to say if it has been achieved.
• The Alpha, Internal, and Beta feedback has been good so far.
• This question might be better suited for Beta 7 or Launch day.
• That being said, he feels they’re doing a good job at achieving their goals.
• They are currently working heavily on the endgame on their internal/Alpha clients.

[15:05] Some souls won’t be advantageous to use from the beginning. Is the choice of only 3 souls at the start being done so those souls, such as group-oriented souls, won’t be chosen at first?

• That is 100% the reason they are doing it.
• Based off some of the feedback they have received, they have reduced the level at which you gain subsequent souls. (Within 5 minutes of gameplay, you get to choose your second soul!)
• They are still confident that restricting the souls in the beginning will help players through the content, but they are looking at ways so players don’t feel stuck with certain souls and advanced players can get the souls they would rather have, faster.
• Unfortunately, there aren’t many details on this right now since it still has a few more phases of Beta to work it all out.

[16:37] Will there be enough information on each soul before launch so people won’t have a problem choosing a soul?

• They are still working on making a lot of information available.
• They are working on an in-game manual.
• They are planning on working with fansites and others (or possibly even themselves) having the information out there (after the NDA is lifted!) and he is sure there will be Soul Calculators available shortly after the NDA is lifted.

[18:24] If you pick a soul and decide you’ll never use that first soul; will there be some way to change that soul out?

• That is probably the number 1 request being heard internally and in Beta.
• Right now they can’t do it, but if the feedback is strong enough they will invest some time looking into.
• The first soul is handed out almost instantly, the second within a few minutes, and the third and fourth within a reasonable timeframe.
• The first soul will definitely be viable to level with. (Specifically solo)

[20:27] Global Cool Down (GCD) has been debated a few times. Why did you decide to implement this in RIFT?

• Most players either hate or love GCD.
• You are always locked out from doing some other ability – an animation timer, or a cast timer for example.
• GCD offers a slightly more action oriented feel to the game.
• It gives people a known pacing that is easy to pick up.
• It allows the developers the balance the game easier and is a helpful known quality for the player.
• In RIFT’s case, it was probably the best match for the type of audience they are trying to hit.

[22:13] Many have suggested an ability queuing system. Will Rift every have some system like this?

• They don’t plan on having a full ability queuing system.
• They are investigating ways to make the current gameplay responsive.
• If the client/server is a bit out of time, it won’t fail on you.
• Their goal is to make sure the combat, or at least the ability activations, are a bit faster paced.
• They are looking at more of a mini queue system so when you hit a button close to the end of a cast, or when the GCD is almost done, the next ability will queue up.
• He personally calls it a “Slop Queue” – it fixes up some errors, whether it be user error, server error, client error, lag error, etc.

[24:08] Are there any plans to make changes to the combat style system that RIFT currently has?

• The combat system stuff is hard to describe.
• A lot of the core stuff – GCD, etc – is pretty solid.
• Combat styles for each of the classes you pickup are actively being worked on so that they have fun and involved combat.
• The evolution of combat will be more tuning for classes so they are fun and enjoyable to play.
• Between now and launch, many abilities will come and go, many abilities will change, and “one-true-rotation” type deals will change and go.
• They are trying really hard to remove cookie-cutter builds, rotations, and classes.

[26:05] What are your plans for progression from release onwards (Day 2 on)?

• Day 2 will probably be a bug fix, Day 3 will probably be a Hotfix, and Day 4 will probably be another Bug fix.
• By Week 1 he believes there will probably be a bit of server downtime that will fix some sort of Gold exploit someone found.
• They plan on keeping it as up-to-date as they go.
• The development team is already talking about adding more instance content, what’s the next step for dynamic content, holiday content, new zones, etc.
• There will be something, fairly exciting, after launch.
• A lot of the content released afterwards will be largely determined based on player feedback (Beta being a large factor).

[28:00] Are they going to allow add-ons for RIFT, and to what extent will they be allowed?

• He isn’t very sure on the specifics/
• They are trying to have a high degree of customizability.
• There have been a large number of jumps in the UI – being able to move UI piece where they want, altering opacity.
• They just recently added in a macroing system.
• They want to have as much available at launch as possible.

[29:08] What types of servers (apart from PvE, PvP, RP-PvE, and RP-PvP) are planned for release?

• Right now they are only planning on the 4 server types for release (PvE, PvP, RP-PvE, and RP-PvP).
• They have had discussions about “hardcore” style servers between themselves, but it’s more of a joke/pipe dream right now.
• It is possible that it might happen down the line, but this will be dependent on the players in the game and the type of content they want to do.
• “Four at start, and who the heck knows six months from now!”

[30:31] What is your favourite pie?

• His girlfriend will kill him for this (because he didn’t say pumpkin!) but he likes Apple Pie.

[30:46] What is your favourite ice cream?

• He is a big favourite of Black Cherry or Chocolate Black Cherry ice cream.

[31:38] Abigale, is there anything that you’d like to add about the upcoming Beta?

• She is really looking forward to it and recommends playing both starting areas (Defiant from Beta 1, and Guardian from Beta 2)
• Definitely check out the different perspectives of the history of Telara.
• Check out the new changes that have been made since the first Beta event, especially the changes to the Dynamic Content mentioned by Adam.
• Each Beta event will have more (and different) exciting things happening.

The Rift: Episode 22

[02:51] What can you tell us about the Beta, from your perspective?

• It was really exciting.
• They started at about 10am Friday morning, letting in small numbers of people at a time.
• There weren’t really many errors. The patcher did have some issues, which were fixed shortly.
• They are taking feedback and making fixes/changes as fast as they can.
• The overall mood in-game was that people were enjoying themselves.

[05:31] On Saturday night, the developers started introducing Invasions.

• The Rifts/Invasions adjust to the number of active players in the area.
• Towns were being invaded; people had to fight through them to finish their quests.
• You can run around and complete your quests or just run around and try to fend off the Rifts and Invasions!
• Invasions will destroy Quest Hubs, so sometimes you will have to take back that area to continue your quests.

[07:53] Has all of the feedback you received been positive, or has there been negative feedback as well?

• There is always negative feedback.
• Some people feel that this isn’t the game for them. This game won’t be for everyone.
• The majority of people that have followed the game and thought this was a game for them were generally pleased.
• Of course, there were a number of things that need to be fixed, suggestions to make things better, etc.
• There were some people who wanted specific things to change to fit their ideal game, instead of Trion’s.
• As an example, people who want RIFT to mimic Everquest 1. There are a number of similarities, but this will not be EQ1.
• This game isn’t meant to reinvent the wheel. It has taken some things from the past, and tried to add some fun and exciting features.

[10:49] How is the Team feeling? Are they feeling positive? Are they hard at working making changes?

• Both. They are very happy about the job they did.
• On Friday night Scott Hartsman sent out an email to the team about how happy he was on how the Beta went.
• There was hardly any downtime and issues were handled quite well.
• Some of the Team even came in with sleeping bags, knowing they weren’t going home that weekend!

[12:23] How do you think peoples’ computers were holding up in regards to the specifications posted earlier?

• She isn’t particularly up-to-date on the specifics.
• In general, there were a few people who had the graphics quite high and running well, and some people who had a lot of issues with low Frames Per Second (FPS).

[13:28] How was the Customer Service system working?

• The bug report/customer issues/etc service ran pretty smoothly.
• There were Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) available all weekend.
• The CSRs were keeping up with the emails and petitions, and many were handled very quickly.
• They still don’t have a full Customer Service team yet.

[14:46] Can you clarify information on the VIP passes?

• If you have a VIP pass, you will be in every event in the future.
• Trion and other websites will continue to be handed out throughout the Beta.
• There was a large number of regular, non-VIP codes added to Beta as well.

[16:28] So the team is taking everything they’ve learned from this Beta event and applying it so that the next events will be better?

• Absolutely. The next Beta (Guardian side) will gather a lot of good information for their starting area.
• By the time that both sides are available (Beta Event 3), most things should be running very smoothly.

[17:26] When will RIFT be releasing?

• Still Soon(tm)!

[18:01] How was the overall response in regards to the amounts of invites sent out to the people playing?

• It seemed that way to Abigale.
• Every server there was packed.
• From what she saw, the servers seemed almost filled to capacity.

[22:03] What ice cream are you going to sit down and eat?

• Ben & Jerry’s Mudslide ice cream!

The Rift: Episode 21 Podcast Notes

[03:20] Can you tell us a bit about how you came into the industry and how you came to work for Trion?

• He’s been in the industry since 1999.
• He has worked on some MMOs and some Consoles.
• A few friends of his worked at Trion and he was invited to interview.
• Of all the places he was looking at at the time, Trion had everything he was looking for: vision, talent, toolset, and financial strength.

[03:50] What is it that a Design Producer does?

• Hal pushes people. He pushes the managers to give clear directions, the Pod Leads to fit an incredible amount of work into a (sane) timeline.
• He doesn’t push people to work ridiculous hours, but rather make them work within a very efficient timeline.
• He’ll push back the Pod Leads to make sure the concepts being brought up will have value and aren’t “heat of the moment” requests.
• He pushes other departments to complete things when others need it.
• Finally, he pushes the design team to deliver more than they think they can.
• Basically he tries to keep everyone honest with themselves: Do they really want it? Can they really use it? Is it important? Is it going to drive subscriptions?

[04:51] What is your favourite Rift?

• They just added a ridiculous number of rift events.
• They just added a Life rift event that continuously pumps out waves of spiders and giant egg sacs.
• Eventually you fight the “momma” and you fight her for a bit, and eventually she releases the egg sacs.

[5:42] What class or faction do you enjoy most?

• Hal is a Warrior, through and through! The Paladin being his “go-to” soul.
• He has tried all of the classes, but he loves playing Warrior classes.
• The Warrior calling is so very flexible with what they have.
• He also plays on the Guardian side!

[06:29] What current or favourite soul combination are you using?

• He tends to play the same three souls, but in completely different ways.
• He has a Paladin/Reaver/Unknown “Anti-Magic” soul.
• He also has 3 different Roles playing those three souls quite differently.
• If there is an encounter with a lot of mobs, he’ll equip a very heavy Reaver soul combination.
• The Reaver is good against multiple enemies and has abilities that will suck the life from them and give it to you.
• Once the trash mobs are done, if a “heavy” mob is coming, he’ll switch into a heavy Paladin build because it is good for single-point damage surviving.
• Paladins have an ability to pop their life back up to (near) full!
• If he sees an area filled with Mages, he’ll switch to a Role that can absorb some of the magic damage and use it in a counter-attack.

[08:49] What are your most and least favourite aspects of Rift right now?

• He loves the Invasions. There is something thrilling about going about your business and suddenly an invasion pops up.
• Sometimes another plane will attack while you’re fighting another invasion, and now you’ll have 2 invasions attacking each other and you.
• His least favourite aspect is PvP. He says he is very bad at it. “Dead Simon” owns him at PvP!
• Two different competing invasions will cause the surrounding terrain to shift between the different factions, and between them and Telara.

[11:29] With the diversity of the class system, is it feasible for a group of all one calling to run a dungeon successfully?

• He believes that it is possible, though it would depend on the gear, the skill of the player, their communication, etc.
• It also will depend on the specific dungeon. Each dungeon and the bosses in it are hand-crafted, so just because a group can do it in one dungeon doesn’t mean they can do it in another.
• There is no one “true build” in the game. Someone will probably end up finding a way to do it, but that’s ok.

[12:32] Should everyone expect that at least one of the Roles a character has will be able to fill an empty slot in the group?

• He doesn’t believe there is a healing Rogue.
• There is more flexibility to deviate from the “Holy Trinity” than in other MMOs.
• Players can change their roles based on the encounters presented, and allows players to switch up and alter their strategies for each boss.
• Warriors can rez!

[13:53] How are the Heal, Tank, and DPS Roles spread out? Are they evenly spread out?

• There isn’t a healing Rogue.
• Since they are still finalizing how the souls will still play, where they will end up he cannot tell.
• One of the reasons they went down this road is so they can have souls that SUCK in PvP or be horrible in PvE, but are awesome for another use.

[14:41] With the focus on the social aspect of the game, will players earn more benefits (ie. experience) for grouping? Is there an incentive to group?

• There is – currently they are trying to discover how to communicate this fact to the players. Some of the benefits are subtle.
• They adjust experience when you are in a group. Quest experience isn’t based upon grouping – but you can finish them faster.
• When there is more people attacking a Rift, the more people that help, the further the rift can be pushed, and the more experience and loot can be awarded than playing solo.

[16:04] Is there a bonus to experience when grouping? (Less than if you were soloing, but more than if the solo experience was split between the group)

• Hal isn’t sure on the specifics, so will leave this for one of the systems devs!

[16:36] Is the max level content being relied upon as the grouping contingent of the game (and the rifts of course)?

• There is a ton of content for groups – even from the beginning in Silverwood.
• There will be a way to group and level – Dungeons, PvP, Warfronts, Group, Solo and Guild Quests, and Rifts all give experience for group content.
• Major Rifts require full groups and are available in every zone.

[17:59] Rift plans to launch with an endgame. Is there more planned for after release? What is the expected lifespan of the current content?

• The announced content is for the Day 1 endgame.
• The engine they are using was built for this – it was designed from the ground up as a service that they are streaming the new content to the players.
• The development structure has been setup for this as well.

[19:05] Will the best items be available from raids? Will there be crafted items that require raid drops to complete?

• It really depends on the items being talked about.
• Raid instances will give awesome loot, for sure, and will most likely be the best items.
• Raid rifts will give the best Essences and Focus items.

[19:42] What are Essences and Foci?

• A Focus is an item that you can equip, purchased via currency earned by doing rifts.
• Essences – Greater or Lesser – also drop from rifts, and can be placed into Foci
• The Lesser Essences have stat adjustments and resistances to a specific planar type.
• As an example, Hal has a Focus that has 1 Greater slot and 5 Lesser slots.
• His Greater Essence has a “vampiric” effect – it sucks the life out of the enemy and gives it back to him.
• The Lesser Essences on that Focus all have a bunch of Death resistance. Similarly, he has 5 other essences for the other planar types.
• The stat boosts / resistances stack, so you can build your own trinket!
• Raid Rifts will give the best Essences and Foci.
• You can also get raid-level recipes from raids, you might be able to craft even better Foci.
• The harder the content, the better the loot. The hardest content will give the best loot – but there are lots of different types of hard content, each of which benefits your character.

[23:28] The resistances actually mean something to help mitigate damage?

• Definitely. There is a noticeable difference between having the correct resistance type equipped and forgetting to have it.

[24:15] Scott mentioned earlier that around two-thirds of the design team has transitioned to endgame content. Is the endgame content going to be one of Rift’s main selling points?

• It will definitely be a selling points.
• The main selling point is that the game is awesome.
• It has HD graphics, it’s an MMO world, and has a complete feature set from Day 1 – including a fleshed-out endgame system.
• They have an unprecedented dynamic content sitting on top of a platform designed to deliver even more of it.
• There is the dynamic elements of rifts, invasions, and footholds as well as a way to give progressive content through the ages.

[25:30] What are the plans to get the word out about the game with a few months left until launch?

• Trion has not yet begun to fight. The massive marketing blitz has yet to begin!
• Once people see the game, they are interested. Once they get a hands-on preview, they get hooked.
• People will soon start to hear about Rift everywhere.

[26:49] Is the Soul System really going to be mix-and-match, and are people going to be able to choose their souls from the beginning?

• Players will spend hours tweaking soul builds to try out different combinations.
• They’ll try multiple different ways until they find one they like, and then name that Role. Then it becomes part of their Armoury.
• You can have up to 8 souls, of which 3 can be active at anytime.

[28:23] Is there any way for players to test their souls?

• There are manikins / training dummies available.
• The best way that Hal found to test new builds is to go to an area with mobs just below your level and test out your new Role on them.

[29:01] Is the first souls only available from the 3 “starter” souls, or can you choose any of them?

• When you start playing, you are just your calling. Shortly after you choose your first soul from the 3 starter souls.
• If people don’t want that first one, don’t worry: you get another new souls (your choice!) a few minutes later.
• The starter souls are designed to help new players so that they don’t end up picking a soul that will be hard to play – for example, a group-oriented soul.

[30:06] What sort of things will players have to do to obtain souls?

• There is an entire Pod focused on “massaging” around how and when you get your new souls.
• They are trying to find the balance between just far enough so that you are like, “I really want another one.. awesome, I got one!” and not “It’s going to be forever!”.
• It certainly will not be “Wow I got them all, it was too easy” with no challenge.
• The easy answer to how you’ll obtain souls: You play Rift.
• You can get souls through: crafting, questing, dungeons, raiding, or rifts.

[31:41] In an earlier interview you said, “Our goal is to create content that is memorable and vivid, and worth coming back to over and over as opposed to just ‘more more more!’”. How on track is your team to this goal?

• Without reservation, they are exceeding their expectations.
• An example would be the original starting area – the Shadowlands. They gathered feedback, which basically was – “You guys need to do better”, so they did.
• The new starting experience is now completely and radically different for both factions. The Defiant and Guardian starting areas are completely different.
• Coming out of the starting area, you know what it is to be your faction and you know why the other faction is evil, horrible, or whatever justification you need to go and slaughter them in large numbers.

[33:47] How many character slots will there be?

• At this point they are planning on shipping 6 character slots per account.

[34:05] Are you concerned at all about replayability? (Since we know of only 2 starting zones, and only 4 callings that can get all the souls)

• He has played several characters throughout the game, and done the same content a number of times.
• The world itself is not the same each time you play through it.
• You can choose to level alts in a completely different way – Questing, PvP, Dungeons, Rifts, etc.

[35:15] If there is an invasion coming at you from around the same level, will you need to run away? Is there an element of danger or risk involved?

• There is always an element of danger.
• The invasions are the balance tippers: if you’re involved with something else, they can appear and add a whole new dynamic to your gameplay.
• Both Footholds and Rifts can spawn invasions.
• If players decide to not do their job of clearing rifts, the world will becoming invaded by planar invasions – each of which will attack other planes and player footholds.
• Even if it gets to that state, a group of players can do a significant amount of repair work.
• On a platform where they can change the rules, as long as they message it properly, there are a number of possibilities!

[38:33] Is the idea to make the endgame so robust, extensive, and enjoyable that players will fall back less on making new characters?

• There is an immense number of things to do at level cap.
• The amount of content that can be done up through level 50 – and you can fall back to it even once you are at 50. (Example: crafting)

[40:18] Hal mentioned before that they didn’t want a “group dependant” soul as one of the first choices. Do you want to then have different Roles for this? (Group dependent, PvP, Solo, etc)

• That’s one of the selling points for the soul system.
• You can use the same 3 souls in different combinations to achieve different tasks. (In different Roles)
• Many that have a “support” Role actually spec it out as a full-blown support role.

[41:13] What is your favourite pie?

• Hal and his son bake a profound Apple Pie (Though we haven’t been able to get the recipe from him yet!)

[41:22] Is there anything else you’d like to let the fans know about the game?

• Sign up for Beta events!

[42:07] Arithion asks Abigale how the Beta Events are going to work.

• When people are selected they will be sent a link to where they have to sign the NDA.
• They will have to sign the NDA before they download the client.
• People will be kicked out for breaking the NDA. (Just don’t break it!)
• Abigale, and everyone at Trion, is excited for the Beta events to start!

[43:48] When is Beta?!

• Beta starts December 3rd! It’s right around the corner!

[44:13] How about when is release?

• Looks like we’re back to Soon(tm) again!

The Rift: Episode 20 Podcast Notes

[02:45] How have you all enjoyed the tour of the studio and meeting all the devs?

• Very interesting, they got to meet all the devs.
• It was “like a zoo”. (But no petting!)

[02:26] How was the after party?

• Rabb1t enjoyed it, and played “media guy”.
• Darcnova and Delith hung around and talked with the devs and other gamers.

[03:31] What were your impressions playing Rift?

• It was great – they did not want to stop playing (even with free food being offered!)
• They had issues peeling themselves away from the game

[04:13] Did you get to try dungeons?

• Darcnova and Delith tried 2 dungeons.
• It took more than 4 seconds to kill mobs.
• Tank ‘n spank mobs, some with a twist!
• The dungeon took them about an hour (not including the 3 wipes).

[05:14] What classes did you play?

• Darcnova – Paladin/Warlord (for the starter area), Beastmaster/Riftblade/Champion (for the dungeon).
• Delith – Purifier/Cabalist (starter area), Purifier/Warden (more healing centric).
• Rabb1t – Riftstalker/Bard/Assassin.

[08:41] Could you give a brief overview of how the videos from PAX and Gamescom compare to what you actually got to play?

• Character customization is much different, there are a lot of sliders!
• Height is now an option to change. (No Aion midgets though)
• From talking to the devs, it sounds like they want to have a lot of customization options for launch.

[10:44] Is the soul system as flexible as we’ve been told? Will players have a high degree of freedom within their calling?

• Yes. A lot of freedom.
• At the beginning you have to choose to level your starter soul, or the next soul you get.
• Defensive, offensive, different soul paths within souls.
• Even the zero-point abilities are still useful, so empty souls are still useful.

[13:03] How is a cleric’s soloing?

• Delith got to level 15 without dying (until she turned away to talk to Hal and drowned!)
• Darcnova died quite a few times, in comparison.
• Sentinel is pretty close to the Everquest cleric.
• Some souls are based on melee, some based on magic.
• Darcnova got his warrior up to 14: He thinks they are decent soloers, but not so great against ranged.
• Wardens have more “Heal Over Time” type abilities, while Purifiers have more “Direct” abilities.
• You are given your first soul, and will eventually get second and third souls.
• You will have to buy different “Roles” – the combination of 3 souls – after the first (given) one.

[16:46] Did you get to test out crafting at all?

• They cannot disclose any crafting information at this time.
• It is interesting, however.
• Rabb1t has some footage from the after party as well.

[17:39] Did you get to try out PvP Warfronts?

• They were familiar – similar to Battlegrounds from EQ2 or WoW.
• They are more environment based.
• PvP flagging is consensual on the servers, though there will be PvP servers (including RP-PvP), along with PvE and RP-PvE.
• Warfronts are cross-server, and should be familiar to most people.

[18:49] Has playing the game changed your mind on which faction, race, or class you were going to play?

• The Defiant starting experience seemed really fun, and the lore attached to it was enjoyable.
• Delith is still undecided, but she really enjoyed the class she chose.

[19:49] How was the starting experience?

• It is very newbie friendly. It introduces the player to the game and the lore.
• They only experienced the Defiant side.

[21:04] What was your favourite thing about the game?

• Darcnova – Invasions were really entertaining.
• Delith – The Rifts were interesting, especially with the cooperative aspect of it.
• Rabb1t – The flexibility of the system is great, although he still has some concerns with it.

[22:32] What was your favourite thing about Gamer Day?

• Rabb1t – He has some interesting art department pictures that may or may not end up in the game!
• Delith – Dinging level 10 on the large screen TV in front of the devs!
• Darcnova – Playing the game, having fun, and talking to the devs while playing!

[24:54] Was there anything else about the experience you’d like to share?

• Rifts are not as easy as they looked when the devs “one-shot” them.
• The Rifts are randomized, so you won’t always face a similar Rift each time they are opened.
• Critters. Deer make wonderful noises.
• When you’re underwater, the music and sounds is diluted as though you were underwater.
• Area of Effect looting!

[27:02] What is your favourite pie?

• Rabb1t – Dutch apple with the crumbly cinnamon topping.
• Delith – More of a cheesecake person, but likes apple pie and probably blackberry pie. Mostly apple pie, apple crisps, or apple puff cake even!
• Darcnova – Same as Delith: Apple pie!

[29:41] Arithion was able to catch up with Doc on the weekend as well!

[29:55] Did you enjoy Gamer Day?

• It was fantastic. Better than anything he could have expected going into it.

[30:28] How was the Guardian starting area?

• It was great. It puts you right into saving Mathosia (the city).
• The mob placement and density was great.
• When it throws you into the game, you’re directed right to the first quest NPC.
• The in-game tips did a great job explaining everything that is going on, even if you’ve played MMOs before.

[31:48] What did you think about the classes you got to play?

• Unfortunately, he only played the Cleric calling.
• He tried the Inquisitor soul – a caster type soul that can deal damage.
• His premade character was a Sentinel/Warden/Purifier for the dungeon.
• Sentinel had a ward on the tank, which gave him enough time to put the Heal over Time abilities back on the tank.
• The Purifier had some nice big heals, but they took a longer time to cast.

[33:29] From Gamescom and PAX videos, how has the game developed based on what you saw?

• Even on the same settings (around medium), you can see where they have done an art overhaul to add much more detail.
• He experienced no issues on the “average” systems that they were playing on.

[34:30] Did you ever get to play it on maximum settings?

• They got to see Russ play it on maximum settings.
• The screenshots of Iron Pine Peak are near, if not the same, as the Max settings.
• The difference is phenomenal.

[35:12] When you have a level 50 character, how easy is it to adapt to the souls?

• Doc chose a Cleric (Justicar/Shaman/Sentinel) for the PvP testing (and buffing!).
• Shaman and Justicar worked well together, while the Sentinel had an instant heal and a small ward.
• The dwarf hands aren’t that noticeable in game!
• It was a bit of a challenge to adjust to 3 souls directly at 50, as opposed to learning it from level 1.
• It isn’t too hard to add in a new soul you haven’t played before, but revamping your entire soul combination will take some time to relearn.
• Points don’t get saved until you hit Save on the screen.

[38:21] How was PvP?

• The best way to explain it is Warhammer Online: The Age of Reckoning – they were similar to scenarios (without the bad mechanics and lame classes).
• The one he did was holding an idol that dealt damage. The further from the middle of the map you are, the less points you get for holding the idol.

[39:30] Was it easy to play the Cleric in PvP?

• It depends on the build.
• Doc’s Justicar build allowed him to hit multiple opponents at once and regain life from every hit, however it died quickly when the combatants decided to attack from a range.

[40:39] Is there anything else about PvP that others might want to know about at this time?

• The system uses the same type of scoring bored at the end of the game (and you can check it throughout the game) as Warhammer did.
• You aren’t just rewarded on one thing – there are a number of categories on the score board.
• It rewards for assistance, healing, damage, and killing.

[42:08] Would you say you liked the PvP?

• They are similar to the scenarios in Warhammer, and he liked those scenarios.
• He did like the system currently in the game.
• They seem to really reward people for trying to work together and doing it correctly.

[43:18] Doc describes his experiences with the Rifts in Telara.

• He decided to pick up a pre-made level 30 Warrior character and decided to play with rifts.
• Watching the Earth rift open the first time was “absolutely amazing”.
• It had some big troll things and a couple hobgoblin or gnoll things.
• He went to another tear and opened another Earth rift – completely different from the first.
• Rifts are doable by yourself, though probably not through the timed stages at first.
• The final Rift he did was another Earth rift (yet again different from the other 2), however the mobs were even different this time.

[46:44] After playing, did it change your mind about which faction or race you will choose?

• As a guild, they decided to go Guardian. (Abyss – A Guardian Guild)
• It really hit home once he got to play the game, the Guardians were more medieval and classic fantasy.
• It did help him figure out what he really wanted to do.

[50:09] What’s your favourite pie?

• Pumpkin pie!