Staff Writer Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland sat down with Design Producer Hal Hanlin to discuss Rift's upcoming content update.

Closely following guild banks were artifacts. The new patch notes promise a whole bunch of new sets, and Hanlin said we won't be disappointed. “First, there is a new ability purchasable by the planarite vendors called Sliver-Sight,” he said. “When activated, it will show new artifacts with a red glow.”

CORRECTION: Following this interview, Trion Worlds sent us the following clarification: "The abilities Quantum Sight and Omen Sight are already in the game - We're adding new artifact collections that only show up when you have sight activated, and they're red."

There are a whole bunch of fun rewards from these sets, including a weapon looking like a shovel, a badger pet, and fun prank items. When pressed for specifics on the pranks, Hanlin gave examples, such as, “an item that turns you into a shrubbery, and another that sets out fake artifacts to fool your friends.”

Besides the artifacts, there are a whole slew of new items being added. “Enough to take up two long tabs in an Excel spreadsheet,” he said. Many of those will no doubt be available through the new raid and world event.

Hammerknell is the big 20-player raid planned for 1.3, and it features both the planes of Death and Water within its three wings, which hold 10 bosses. “The Abyssal Cult is trying to free Akylios, the dragon of water, from within Hammerknell. Meanwhile servants from the plane of Death fight for control, and Telarans are stuck in the middle,” says Hanlin.

The story for the raid will be outlined in quests and the five phases leading up to the opening of Hammerknell's gates. Hanlin said that when it came to the lore, “the raid's story has been developed for a while. The entire lore of Telara is really moving forward. These aren't nameless bosses; these are big dragons! Players have killed Greenscale already; if we bump off Akylios, that's two out of only six.”

A lot of Hammerknell details will be given during the Waves of Madness world event. It will consist of five stages shown in the regular UI. “The phases won't be in perfect cadence,” Hanlin said. “You won't be thinking, 'Oh, the next phase comes out Thursday, I better log in.' The best way to be sure you don't miss a thing is to log in often!”

Compared to the first world event, Hanlin says this one “will be longer, have more varied types of quests, and more quests overall.” When the gates themselves open, “the denizens of Hammerknell will come out to play,” sending zone bosses out to areas all over the world for players to fight. In this way, there is plenty of content for lower level characters as well as those at the level cap.

I attempted to address some of the rumors from E3 about the possibility of expanded PvP in Updates 1.4 and 1.5, but I was told pretty firmly, “anything you hear is just a rumor at this point.” That said, Rift players will have plenty to occupy themselves when Update 1.3 launches next week.

“We continue to add content at an unprecedented rate compared to every other game,” Hanlin said, noting that Rift is just about to break its millionth activation. “We've arrived, baby!”

Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland, Staff Writer