It’s been a busy week for all things Rift. Patch 1.11 hit live servers on Wednesday, bringing a huge number of class changes in preparation for the expansion’s launch next month. The second closed beta test of Rift: Storm Legion started on Friday, coinciding with a flurry of screenshots and live streams as the NDA dropped -- In fact if you want a chance to participate in the beta, go here now! Some of the team at Trion even participated in 24 hours of non-stop gaming to raise money for Extra-Life.

With all of this going on, senior producer Adam ‘Gersh’ Gershowitz still found time to chat with members of the Rift community about the class changes in Storm Legion. The roundtable inquisition was also joined by some of the top Rift raiding guilds, unearthing some fantastic insights into how Trion approach class design, from defining items like Synergy Crystals to new signature abilities.

You’ve seen our eyes on report of Rift: Storm Legion from Gamescom. You’ve read about the recent class changes in patch 1.11. Now’s your chance to experience it all for yourself, as we hold our beta key bonanza!

Explore the new zones of Brevane and Dusken. Tour the grand new city of Tempest Bay. Try out the new Souls, including Harbinger and Tactician. Take the fight to Crucia and her minions and battle your way to the Infinity Gate. And all the while, help Trion to make Storm Legion an incredible expansion with your valuable feedback.

Getting your beta key is easy: head on over here and request one! You’ll need a free ZAM Network account, but getting one should only take a few clicks. So what are you waiting for? Get your key, get downloading and get in!

Eager to get into Rift: Storm Legion? After feasting our own eyes on Trion’s upcoming expansion, we don’t blame you. With features like the new Tactician Soul and Dimensions to build a home in, there’s certainly a lot to look forward to.

Beta Event 2 throws its doors open on Friday 19th October at 10AM Pacific, and stretches through all the way to Wednesday October 24th, giving plenty of time to explore the new continents of Dusken and Brevane. If you caught the Questing livestream last week, you’ll recognise City Core as one of the new locations in Storm Legion, with the additional zones of Eastern Holdings and Seratos opened for exploration.

This weekend is also the chance to start building a place of your own, with Dimensions being unlocked. Continuing the torrent of new features, Hunt Rifts, Grandmaster Crafting and zone puzzles all make it into this beta weekend.

Getting into the Rift: Storm Legion beta is guaranteed when you pre-order the expansion. But that’s not all – ZAM will also be launching a beta key give-away! Stay tuned, as we’ll be announcing the details very soon. 

Questing. It’s the been the bedrock of almost every MMORPG, from the earliest tales to modern-day epic sagas. With Rift: Storm Legion rapidly hurdling towards launch, Trion used their latest livestream to detail the changes to questing in the upcoming expansion. We also heard teases of information about the new open-world puzzles, and other ways we’ll be encouraged to explore the vast continets of Brevane and Dusken

In a spoiler-laden reveal, we were taken on a tour of one of the central questlines in the City Core zone. We’ll spare you the details on the quests themselves, but they highlighted a change in approach for the quest design team. While core story quests will still be found in quest hubs, much of the additional quests have been moved out into the open world for us to discover. The biggest change was to Carnage quests, where killing one creature might spawn a quest to kill ten more, with completion and reward being performed away from hubs.

A unique aspect of Rift is something the quest team call “scuba diving”; starting out on a quest, only to be sidetracked by an invasion, rift, or some other event, and coming up for air later to discover that you’ve wandered off-path. This isn’t lost in Storm Legion, although we did see a quest that uses an on-screen overlay to direct players down a particular path. The team did mention that this effect is used sparingly, to help steer players through particular areas.

Alongside a heap of new questing content, we’re also told that each zone will have Instant Adventures for those who prefer objective-driven content. New open-world puzzles have been made even more fiendish, each requiring a completed collection of artifacts to unlock. While the artifacts themselves might give clues on how to complete the puzzle, failure will occasionally result in death. And yes, there are more hard-to-find artifacts, more jumping and climbing puzzles, and even more hidden cairns loaded with treasure.

The livestream hasn’t run dry yet, with even more episodes planned for next week. On Tuesday 16^th at 2:30PM Pacific, the dungeon team will take us through the new Exodus of the Storm Queen instance. And if the recent Dimensions trailer has whetted your appetite, a further livestream reveal has been planned for Friday 19^th at 2:30PM Pacific.

The second beta weekend for Storm Legion also opens on Friday 19^th, with preorders guaranteeing access to the beta. Those of us who prefer ordering via Steam are also in luck, as we’re told that Valve’s store will start offering preorders from Monday 15^th.

Gareth “Gazimoff” Harmer, Staff Writer

RIFT: Storm Legion is fast approaching and the developers at Trion Studios have shown off a brand new video, showcasing the Dimensions feature in the new expansion.

If you want your own sliver of Telara, a place to call your own, built and designed by your own hand, the expansion is going to tickle your fancy. Customizable river barges, fully decked out houses with stocked libraries and upper floors, a castle pool with deocrations, even something as simple as a small hut by a lake. It's all up to you - you only have to make it.

RIFT: Storm Legion comes out November 13th, and Trion will be livestreaming the expansion next week on October 19th at their Twitch.TV channel. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

In front of a frenzied livestream audience, Trion pulled back the curtain on the eagerly anticipated new Storm Legion soul for the Rogue calling. And wow, does this one get all the toys. The Tactician is a master of area effect combat, using a flamethrower-like magical weapon to dispense Torrents of damage and, interestingly, healing. Alongside this arcane burninator is a mix of Cores that can be placed on the ground to give a mix of damage, healing, or buff effects.

Going on the rampage with your favorite new weapon isn’t just a case of squeezing the trigger and watching enemies melt in front of you. In order to get maximum damage, you’ll need to spend some effort pointing the cannon of fiery delights in the right direction, and making sure that whatever it is you don’t like is within range of that roasting jet. In better news, you can channel Torrents while moving, allowing you to spin and chase down any potential escapees while you have energy left.

All new souls in the Storm Legion expansion are based around the use of magical technology, and the Tactician is no exception. Cores are the collective term for the arsenal of gadgets the Tactician carries around, just waiting for the best situation to use them. A barrier remote might form a protective shield, while a curative remote placed near an enemy might heal allies that deal damage to it. By contrast, an engine placed on the ground might heal the Tactician when they take damage, or add a splash damage effect to their attacks. Either way, they’re sure to be carrying one bulging utility belt.

We’re told that the Tactician should synergize well with the Bard, Saboteur and Nightblade souls, with a collection of new Purposes, or premade builds, ready to get you started. The Flametrooper is a potent mix, combining the AoE damage from Tactician with the single target attacks of the Nightblade. The Medical Technician takes all the raid buffs from the Bard, and combines them with the healing from Tactician, to create a strong AoE group healer. Finally, the as-yet-unnamed Tactical Saboteur build caters to those who want all the destruction, all the time. With the Saboteur’s new 61-point Molotov Cocktail crowning the build, it’s sure to bring a warm glow to everyone’s hearts.

If you simply can’t wait and want to try this out for yourself, don’t fret! Put in a pre-purchase for any version of Storm Legion, and get swift access to this weekend’s Storm Legion Beta Event!

Gareth “Gazimoff” Harmer, Staff Writer

RIFT: Storm Legion's closed beta begins this Friday, says an announcement from Trion Worlds. If you've purchased the Storm Chaser Edition of the game, which bundles the expansion and a full year of RIFT, or if you've just pre-ordered the expansion instead, you have an automatic in to this weekend and future beta events. 

Trion is planning on many more closed beta weekends leading up to the full release of the game on November 13th. It's not too late to get the expansion if you want in!

Julian "Mirai" Williams

The hunt is on! Rift has unleashed a new feature for Storm Legion, dubbed Hunt Rifts. Hunt Rifts put you on the hunt for elemental lords, the baddest of the bad boys. The first-tier lords are in Dusken and Brevane, and defeating them unlocks unique Achievements, rewards, and sets you on the path for more Hunts lategame, dubbed Great Hunts. To get to these, you must be an experienced hunter, and win the approval of the Torvan Hunters. 

The hunt begins November 13th!

Julian "Mirai" Williams

1.10 Hotfix 4 - 8:00am PDT 9/26/12 [NA] - 1:00am GMT/2:00am BST 27/9/12 [EU]

General

• The World Event should no longer randomly disappear from the quest tracker.
• Conquest: Fixed a case where players on the defeated team were able to respawn or teleport into Conquest after the match had ended.
• Gloamwood: Removed the four Solemn Brothers as targets for the Gloamwood Advanced Adventurer achievement.
• Gloamwood: Moved the location of the Instant Adventure, 'Solemn Family', so it will work more reliably.Fixed a rare case where players could execute multiple auto attacks in a short time.
• Added some tracking to help hunt down the cause of ability lag that people have been reporting.Yay, client stability fixes!

Trion Worlds cannot be described as shy in terms of promoting their highly successful game Rift.

In fact, it wasn't that long ago they were poking sticks at the 800ib gorilla in the room with their "We're not in Azeroth anymore" campaign.

Now they're highlighting their upcoming Storm Legion expansion with an animal with high visibility for gamers at the moment: the panda.