Rift's 3.0 Update To Add New Souls, Companions, and More

[IanDavis]

Rift's 3.0 Update To Add New Souls, Companions, and More

Trion teases a new update as the MMO heads to the Plane of Water.

Earlier this month, Trion World's MMO Rift went free-to-play and got a new dose of content, thanks to the [a href=http://www.warcry.com/news/view/124655-RIFT-Empyreal-Assault-Update-2-3-Detailed]2.3 update[/a]. Now, only a few weeks later, Trion is already talking about its upcoming 3.0 update, which will feature a massive new zone, new souls, enhanced item advancement, and new companion abilities.

During the nearly [a href=http://www.twitch.tv/trionworlds/b/420071973]three-hour livestream[/a], the developers talked freely about the sizable 3.0 update. If you don't have time to watch the full thing, that's ok, because the guys over at [a href=http://www.riftscene.com/reports/rift-3-0-expansion-reveals-and-teasers/]RiftScene[/a] did, and they took notes for you.

The 3.0 update will focus around the Plane of Water. It won't all be swimming though, as players can expect lots of caverns, Atlantis-type cities, and frozen areas. Players will get four new souls to customize their characters with, including the Support Cleric, Healing Warrior, Tanking Mage, and Healing Rogue. Companions will have a larger role, and they'll gain abilities and levels similar to player characters. Item customization will also become more advanced, and players will have more choices as they upgrade their gear over time. Trion also dropped hints at increased interaction with the dimension housing system, but were vague on what exactly that entails.

More details should spill out as the patch gets closer to release.

Source: [a href=http://www.riftscene.com/reports/rift-3-0-expansion-reveals-and-teasers/]RiftScene[/a]

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[Denamic]

Was in a hard-core guild at launch. Almost had world worst green dragon dude kill. As with our almost world first Aion fortress capture, we were minutes away from it. Maybe I'll dust off my old warrior at some point.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It looks like a fun game. I might give it a go now when it's gone free to play.

 

[AuronFtw]

It looks like a fun game. I might give it a go now when it's gone free to play. Is there anything I should know about it?

Prepare to grind your eyes out. Grind for money, grind for plaques for gear and for high-end recipes, grind skills up, grind levels (as usual). I mean, yeah, it's a MMO, but holy *shit* there was a ton of grind.

I took a break from WoW to play Rift, stuck with it for 2 or 3 months at launch - Trion really impressed me with their dedication to the game and to its players, and their bugfixes and patches were usually very timely and on-topic (something even Blizzard struggles with). However, the multitude of small bugs, hilarious imbalance between specs (or "souls") including some of them being 100% not worth bringing to anything, and the unending grind even at max level just turned me off.

And yes, when a game is so grindy it's making an ex-WoW raider complain about the grind... you know something is up.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'll pass then. Grinding is a waste of time. I don't understand how people can possibly think it's fun. Between a choice of grinding all day for virtual goods and doing something productive like actual real life exercise, I'll choose exercise. It's summer. Time to lose all that winter-acquired fat and get into shape again.

 

[Tactical Pause]

I'll pass then. Grinding is a waste of time. I don't understand how people can possibly think it's fun. Between a choice of grinding all day for virtual goods and doing something productive like actual real life exercise, I'll choose exercise. It's summer. Time to lose all that winter-acquired fat and get into shape again.

I'd just like to mention that there is not, in fact, a lot of grinding. It was a grind at launch, sure, but since then it has drastically scaled that back. Speaking as somebody who recently rejoined (and is already geared for raiding with minimal effort), the endgame grind required today is practically nonexistent compared to what it was at launch. Just my two cents there.


OT: But... there already were support clerics. It's just that almost nobody was observant enough to notice that could be a thing in the soul trees.

 

[Raven_Operative]

I'll pass then. Grinding is a waste of time. I don't understand how people can possibly think it's fun. Between a choice of grinding all day for virtual goods and doing something productive like actual real life exercise, I'll choose exercise. It's summer. Time to lose all that winter-acquired fat and get into shape again.

I dunno, man. I've still got an active account, and I have never once found myself grinding (on the other hand, I enjoyed the story tidbits the kill quests gave, so...). For me, it was more along the lines of: Oh look, quest hub. I think I'll see whats going on here. Ok, cool bit of lore. I'll go kill a bunch of these things, fetch that item, guard this NPC, close that rift. Oh? I finished that last quest, and a bunch more came up. Might as well complete them as well.

3 hours later

Ok, quest hub complete, lets see how my XP bar is do.. Holy shit, did I really level up that many times?

 

[AuronFtw]

I'll pass then. Grinding is a waste of time. I don't understand how people can possibly think it's fun. Between a choice of grinding all day for virtual goods and doing something productive like actual real life exercise, I'll choose exercise. It's summer. Time to lose all that winter-acquired fat and get into shape again.

I dunno, man. I've still got an active account, and I have never once found myself grinding (on the other hand, I enjoyed the story tidbits the kill quests gave, so...). For me, it was more along the lines of: Oh look, quest hub. I think I'll see whats going on here. Ok, cool bit of lore. I'll go kill a bunch of these things, fetch that item, guard this NPC, close that rift. Oh? I finished that last quest, and a bunch more came up. Might as well complete them as well.

3 hours later

Ok, quest hub complete, lets see how my XP bar is do.. Holy shit, did I really level up that many times?

Yeah, that's what grinding is. I spent most of my WoW nights raiding, working on different fights and mechanics, and we'd spend 3-4 hours downing multiple bosses (or working on 1 really tough one). It didn't seem like 4 hours had passed, but the company suckered me into pissing my friday night away slaving at repetitive tasks glued to my desktop.

That, my good friend, is what MMOs are about. You are grinding even if you aren't realizing it - and doing quests from quest hubs is about as grindy as MMOs get.

 

[NortherWolf]

I'll pass then. Grinding is a waste of time. I don't understand how people can possibly think it's fun. Between a choice of grinding all day for virtual goods and doing something productive like actual real life exercise, I'll choose exercise. It's summer. Time to lose all that winter-acquired fat and get into shape again.

I'd just like to mention that there is not, in fact, a lot of grinding. It was a grind at launch, sure, but since then it has drastically scaled that back. Speaking as somebody who recently rejoined (and is already geared for raiding with minimal effort), the endgame grind required today is practically nonexistent compared to what it was at launch. Just my two cents there.


OT: But... there already were support clerics. It's just that almost nobody was observant enough to notice that could be a thing in the soul trees.

As someone who's been playing Rifts for the past couple of years, I'll need to chime in and say you're not being truthful here.
Rift is Grindtastic, even more so nowadays than before. Out of all the score or so guildmates I've seen dropping out, Grinding is the predominant reason why they leave.
A former raidtank gave up when he realized he would need something along the lines of 200 Expert dungeons to get enough marks for raidgear.
It's a shame, because Rift as it was probably was one of the best MMO's ever, it was fun and had a company that tossed new content at you all the time unlike WoW.
And then, Storm Legion and everything turned to shit.
"Ohai, grind 35 of this, then 55 of that beastie."

 

[Tactical Pause]

I'd just like to mention that there is not, in fact, a lot of grinding. It was a grind at launch, sure, but since then it has drastically scaled that back. Speaking as somebody who recently rejoined (and is already geared for raiding with minimal effort), the endgame grind required today is practically nonexistent compared to what it was at launch. Just my two cents there.


OT: But... there already were support clerics. It's just that almost nobody was observant enough to notice that could be a thing in the soul trees.

As someone who's been playing Rifts for the past couple of years, I'll need to chime in and say you're not being truthful here.
Rift is Grindtastic, even more so nowadays than before. Out of all the score or so guildmates I've seen dropping out, Grinding is the predominant reason why they leave.
A former raidtank gave up when he realized he would need something along the lines of 200 Expert dungeons to get enough marks for raidgear.
It's a shame, because Rift as it was probably was one of the best MMO's ever, it was fun and had a company that tossed new content at you all the time unlike WoW.
And then, Storm Legion and everything turned to shit.
"Ohai, grind 35 of this, then 55 of that beastie."

First off, maybe you disagree with me, you evidently think I'm wrong. But to suggest that I'm just straight-up lying is a little bit insulting to be honest.

I hit 60 roughly a month ago, and am currently as geared for raiding as I'd like to be before I begin the actual raids. This was through a relatively laid-back combination of on-and-off dailies, expert dungeons and crafting. No, I don't have a full set of epics, but I'm in a casual guild and do I have what's required to begin raiding.

Perhaps in the incredibly hardcore guilds you are required to grind endlessly before you can even enter raids (I've been there in vanilla, you really have to want it), but for most people, hardcore raiding isn't the norm.

 

[Raven_Operative]

I'll pass then. Grinding is a waste of time. I don't understand how people can possibly think it's fun. Between a choice of grinding all day for virtual goods and doing something productive like actual real life exercise, I'll choose exercise. It's summer. Time to lose all that winter-acquired fat and get into shape again.

I dunno, man. I've still got an active account, and I have never once found myself grinding (on the other hand, I enjoyed the story tidbits the kill quests gave, so...). For me, it was more along the lines of: Oh look, quest hub. I think I'll see whats going on here. Ok, cool bit of lore. I'll go kill a bunch of these things, fetch that item, guard this NPC, close that rift. Oh? I finished that last quest, and a bunch more came up. Might as well complete them as well.

3 hours later

Ok, quest hub complete, lets see how my XP bar is do.. Holy shit, did I really level up that many times?

Yeah, that's what grinding is. I spent most of my WoW nights raiding, working on different fights and mechanics, and we'd spend 3-4 hours downing multiple bosses (or working on 1 really tough one). It didn't seem like 4 hours had passed, but the company suckered me into pissing my friday night away slaving at repetitive tasks glued to my desktop.

That, my good friend, is what MMOs are about. You are grinding even if you aren't realizing it - and doing quests from quest hubs is about as grindy as MMOs get.

Ah, see I only consider grinding to be those moments where you're sitting there for hours on end going 'only 20k more xp... only 19k more xp... ' (played runescape for a bit... ugh.). If its not mind numbingly boring, and you are enjoying yourself, how is it any different than playing COD, Skyrim, or any game, really? After all, I doubt you're doing anything more in those games than sitting there, mashing buttons or clicking about. (unless you're on the Wii)