RIFT has gone Free-to-Play, but Trion Worlds has kept the subscription around as an optional boost to players. Known as the Patron option, players who subscribe to RIFT will get a multitude of daily and lasting boosts including store discounts, priority queuing and extra currency, experience and reputation gains.
Hello to all our new readers, and welcome back to those who have been following ZAM's bi-weekly column, The Free Agent. Our mission, as always, is to answer the question "Can gaming REALLY be free?"
In our last episode of the Free Agent we got down right medieval with Firefly studios MMORTS, Stronghold Kingdoms. Check out the full Episode 7 article if you missed out on all the castle building, kingdom crushing action.
This week we're back to what ZAM does best, MMORPGs. From the moment Trion announced that RIFT was going free-to-play, I knew it had to be added it to the list of games slated for the Free Agent. It was only a question of when, not if, we would venture into RIFT's game world, known as Telara. Turns out that time is now so, without further ado, I bring you Episode 8 of the Free Agent, RIFT.
When we first broke the news that RIFT was going F2P--in our interview with Trion's Bill Fisher--fans were undoubtedly excited.
RIFT, particularly with the added landmass and content of Storm Legion, is a huge game with involving character customization, huge bosses and a fantastic player housing system in Dimensions.
Fisher promised that the F2P version of RIFT would not be pay-to-win and the promise of "no trials, no tricks and no traps" certainly seems to have held true.
As spotted by our eagle-eyed friend Shawn Schuster over at Massively, owners of RIFT got a pleasant surprise when the past F2P weekend was effectively extended until the end of time.
Announced by Elrar, the friendly neighborhood community manager, all current owners of RIFT have free-to-play until it launches for everyone next week, June 12.
With the announcement that the MMORPG RIFT would soon be going free-to-play, the RIFT development team over at Trion has been unveiling information about some of the games upcoming free-to-play features that players can expect once Patch 2.3 goes live. This week they bring us a walk-through for the upcoming RIFT Exchange and Gifting services.
Originally revealed via a Trion Worlds livestream on Friday, RIFT's Creative Director, Bill Fisher, took to the official forums to detail some of the perks for subscribers who previously signed up for 6-month and 1-year subs, as well as those who choose to remain subscribers (now known as "patrons") as the game transitions to a free-to-play model.
It appears that an unconfirmed number of employees at Trion Worlds have just received a terrible end to the week. According to reports from both IGN and Kotaku, between 70% and 80% of the company have been let go this afternoon. Update: Trion has been in contact and stated that the rumored figures are a large exaggeration and do not reflect the restructuring accurately.
Following a disappointing launch and lackluster reception at the hands of critics, Defiance has struggled despite recently clocking up over a million registered users. The TV series has fared significantly better by comparison, with SyFy recently renewing the show for a second season.
Trion Worlds broke the news today that will excite many MMO Fans: RIFT is going free-to-play.
To outline what this means for current players and the undoubted many who will try the game when it adds the F2P option on June 12, we asked Bill Fisher, Creative Director of RIFT to answer a few questions.
Rift players will be happy to know that a new Dimension has just been added to the game! Welcome to the Moonshade Pools.
The people that create games are some of the most passionate I’ve ever met. Take Simon Ffinch for example: RIFT’s Design Director spends much of his time playing the game he’s responsible for, whether it’s testing new content or going undercover in the live game. In a fascinating interview, Ffinch discussed how the MMO has fared since the launch of Storm Legion and what the future holds.
