Rift Patch 1.8 Impressions

Mike Zrimsek / Jun 15th, 2012 No Comments

The latest patch for Rift was the 1.8 Infernal Dawn patch, where several key changes were introduced to the game. First off, there were changes to Souls of each of the four Callings you can start with when you make your character. Along with this, the newest 20-man raid, Infernal Dawn was added to the game including encounters with seven bosses in an effort to release Maelforge from his volcanic prison. Less notable additions were the guild finder, which allows you to more easily find a guild of people to join up with, the new fishing and survival tradeskills, and leaderboards. Since then, there have been 12 hotfixes, adding quality of life changes to balance changes or fix bugs that have been affecting gameplay in Telara. We really haven’t seen too much in the way of content since Rift’s original conception.

Given that not a terrible amount of things have changed since it was initially released, the biggest news for Rift is the recent announcement of the game’s very first expansion. Now, let’s put this in perspective for a moment. Burning Crusade, the first World of Warcraft expansion, was released when WoW was three-years old. A little more than a year after Rift’s release, they have developed Storm Legion which will be making its appearance in the fall. On top of this, it seems like the expansion is going to be, in overall size, very proportional to the BC. On top of everything, the fact that Rift, a game that is essentially competing in a genre that is dominated by a single behemoth, is doing well enough to release an expansion is something to applaud and I am looking forward to what this expansion will be adding in content to this game, something I will be touching on in just a moment.

Rift v1.8 from Trion Worlds

Let’s get into what exactly this expansion means for the game. Most notably, Storm Legion will be raising the level cap to 60 from 50, adding new end game content for those who are ready to start in on it. Two huge new continents, more than tripling the playable world will be added with new “epic stories that reveal the true power in Telara.” Given how large the world is currently, tripling in size is really something noteworthy. With size comes content, so I think it’s fair to expect a wide range of new enemies, areas, weapons, and the like. It will make the game much more diverse than it really already is, creating completely new levels of gameplay and experiences for players both old and new alike. Trion Worlds will also be adding a new level for crafting, along with new capes, achievements, collectibles, titles, mounts, and pets. For group content, they will be adding seven new dungeons, three new raids, a Chronicle, and more that has yet to be announced. It has been said that upon release, this expansion will literally change the world as Telara completely, making it something strikingly different from the pre-Storm Legion era.

It’s safe to say that Trion has really gone above and beyond in Storm Legion, even without all of the information. Not only are the giving players more of an incentive to explore and adventure to new places, but they’re more than doubling the content available in the game. I know people who would have played Rift if they thought there was more to do in the game that, after this release, will have no excuse not to at least give the game a try. You can play Rift for free up to level 20, which is time to venture through more than enough content to sell someone a subscription. All in all, even with the limited amount of information we have received in the short week since the announcement, there is no reason in my mind why someone would want to miss out on all the amazing content about to hit the game. If there was ever a time to start playing Rift, it’s once Storm Legion goes live. Stay tuned for more information as it arises. There’s definitely more to come from Trion on everything that is going to make it into the Storm Legion once it is released later this year.

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Mike Zrimsek

Currently attending school to get a degree in Computer Science, I am an avid gamer of many genres. While I may be busy with school and work, I spend most of my available free time either playing games or writing about them.

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tags: mmorpg , rift , trion worlds

Rift Patch 1.8 Impressions

Mike Zrimsek

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