By Michael Jordan

Aww the grind, one of every MMO staples in design. It is the gateway to the end game, the end goal, where presumably, people are waiting to give you cake and blowjobs upon completion. Well at least that is what I hope for upon any great feat, don’t you? But many of you might be trying to stop me right there, snarkaly saying, “it is the journey, not the destination.” Well don’t worry, Trion Worlds felt the same way before you pointed it out, and has taken the steps in providing users with the journey they desire.

Much of the time in the game, I really felt like the game stood well as a single player RPG, with a huge open world. There are even instances where I ran in to events that where almost over looked, not a quest by any means but provided a reward, and a sense of satisfaction; I could hear the screams of someone being attacked by a gang that looked to be robbing the house, I went in out of my own volition and stopped the gang, by doing what I do best, killing the lot of them, where I was prompted by the NPC thanking me for helping her and giving me a small treasure of money and potions, and a piece of gear. This was something I have not seen executed in any other MMO, and made the world fell that much more alive, while leveling up.

Players are given a many paths in which they can embark on. If you don’t like the area you are in, why not try leveling and questing in another area, that might be more to your liking. Each area has clear enemies and individual hardships that you can work on to overcome, giving the player that their actions will come to a sum of overall victory for their factions.

If you are not a soloist, and prefer the leveling in groups or by killing members of the other faction in the Warfronts, this is a perfectly reasonable method as well. The provided dungeons have their individual features, voice acting, stories, and plot points in the grand scheme of things that keep them all interesting, while not being overly exaggerated with specific groups of monsters that will cause all party members to die because someone forgot to do a minute action. This leaves dungeons not only great ways to level, being just as fun as following story arcs while questing, but great ways to gear up throughout your levels.

The Player versus Player interactions are just engaging though out the leveling process using Warfronts. While this does take a large degree of skill and is extensively easier to do as different classes, it still remains a valid way to push to the top, while developing skills you will later need when playing in the end game, earning PvP levels. It is to be noted as well that there are currently balance issues with some classes, that they are going to fixed, in the upcoming update, v1.1.
All aspect of leveling feel like they had a firm background and understanding, throughout their planning, which is a win win for players, with little need for fixes, complaints or problems. Over all it was deeply engaging experience through and through with nothing really feeling out of place. If for nothing else but the leveling aspect of the game, RPG fans should rush out and pick this game up(or get it digitally from their site.) Follow me in the coming week as I tackle End game, with my affectionate guild of “Cait Shelter”, until then, see you in the rift.

PS. Total Playtime, 7 days 16 hours.

By Michael Jordan

Everyone loves to be acknowledged, it is in our basic nature. Many games today, integrate what many see as an arbitrary number in to games, with the sole purpose of extending game play. But what happens, when that arbitrary number, is not just tacked on, but integrated in to the game from the start, with the understanding and forethought that come with it. RIFT is that game.

RIFT has gone over and beyond what you might have seen before and is a prime example of how to use Operant Conditioning, without abusing it. While achievements can be totally optional, and some are unavoidable, RIFT feels truly inspired with its achievements, giving its players methods of play that where built with it from the start, on not just added in as many games do. Anywhere from solving puzzles that are scattered throughout the land, that actually provide you with upgraded items, as well as achievements for solving, to rewarding players that like to explore and accomplish feats of difficult maneuvering to get to places, that seem like they were never meant to be reached, but being rewarded once you get there, as an acknowledgment from the game of what you have accomplished.

Of course there are your standard achievements that have you grind out some random number of monsters or complete certain tedious tasks, but, one of the things RIFT really does well, is giving the players a number of said tasks that will put them well within the range of the achievement goal, letting players decide, if they want to go out of their way to kill an extra 30 monsters or search for something they might not have seen.

I found that my enjoyment of the game increased, not just from having the achievement, but the direction the achievement pointed me to, showing me little bells and whistles, which would normally be lost in a haze of typical grinding. It really shows how much care and time was put in to developing the landscape.

Going hand in hand with the achievements, is the treasure hunting. Now while taking your journey through RIFT you will notice many glowing small objects in strange places in the landscape. This is the most noticeable treasure that you will find, with varying values depending on what other players are willing to part with for them. These Artifacts that you find combine in to set which give different levels of rewards depending on the size of the set and the level of the area at which that set was collected. While this is totally optional, it is almost like having a set of baseball cards, which can give you rewards such as mounts, pets, or things to change your appearance. Now while some of these items can be collected through grinding rifts, the majority are gathered from exploring areas you might not go normally, encouraging people to take the time to explore the nooks and crannies of the world that they are investing so much time in.

While you’re exploring, you might find something of a treasure stash in with a level associated with the area level that you are in, with some surprisingly valuable results, giving all players the chance to find and gain Epic gear. While not tremendously difficult it is another way to get you to an area that is challenging in a different way, while earning something you can truly use.

RIFT proves that you can get out of the Skinner Box, and reward players in a way that does not trick them, later feeling like they wasted their time, but giving them optional reward, for playing the game in another way, that does not require them to follow the conventional rules of mmo gaming, when they just want to take a break from it all.

Next we will be looking at leveling from 16-40 and rounding it out with level 41-50 as well as end game.
See you in the rift.

By Michael Jordan

Aww economics, one thing we can never escape. There are 3 thinks in life we have to do or there are major repercussions; eat, sleep, and pay dues. This is also true in many games, especially MMOs. But how does one gain significant amounts of wealth to buy all the shiny new items and mounts, which we use to recreate the fantasies of warring designer jeans while driving around in a Ferrari? Crafting.

RIFT opens up the idea of juggling not two but 3 skills, while condensing what many would think of as conventional skills while adding some new ones. As well as stream lining some skills that make for all skills to be viable and profitable, where many MMO fall flat, all skills seem more integrated with each other; a butcher will not only be able to skin and tan hides from animals for use in crafting, but will be able to take rib bones, teeth, etc. for the use in Apothecary skill.

Gathering has been implemented more realistically in this game with Foraging gathering wood and plants you might find to use in Apothecary, Weaponsmithing, and Artificing. Butchery will gain leather and animal bones, teeth, etc. for Apothecary, Outfitter, and Armorsmithing. Mining will round out its skills buy gaining items that they might mine for use in Armorsmithing, Weaponsmithing, and Artificing. Runecrafting is a skill that is more selfcontained, not needing items from any other skill to be productive, giving us a total of 6 Crafting and 3 gathering skills.

The desired formation for most players is 2 Gathering skills and 1 Crafting, to make themselves self-contained and to maximize their productivity. Some might feel that Cloth and Leather Classes might get off a little easier with them being able to us Outfitter for crafting there armor with Butchery being the only Gathering skill requirement, and leaving the last skill spot open for Runecrafting, which is a self-contained skill, as the quickly forget that outfitting and runecrafting require players to mainly get there items needed from hunting and killing specific monsters or characters, and the destruction of said items to make far less valuable items, balancing out its strengths.

The crafting system seems smooth if not a little slow, especially when you have gathered many, many items that need to be crafted in sets; making 500 bolts of cotton took so long that I was able to get up and make a sandwich as well as finish eating it. Other than that the systems and menus for each skill are simple to use and user friendly. You will never feel that you are struggling with crafting, and you will always feel that it is a beneficial experience.

One unique feature that will definitely stand out is the ability to add additional stats to your items through items you get from crafting or quests in the forum of shards and other stones. This will result in a title change in the item depending on what you add, but it might also result in a fail to craft said item, and a loss in the material that it used, which is not that big of a problem considering resources are abundant, and this could give you the edge in battle.

Crafting quests are simple, but sometimes costly as it does require a bit of your materials that you could be using to make yourself a shiny new vest, but will benefit you more in the long run as tokens can be earned for better items that are most likely going to blow away anything you got previously, so saving is the key.

All in all, Gathering and Crafting add to your experience while not being to troubling, while feeling very beneficial even at starting levels. The style and thought that went in to this part of the game feels good all around, and is definitely an example of how to do it right.

As I approach end game and several hours of gaming (up to 40 hours so far I think) I will be going over one of my favorite features in the game, Artifact collecting, as well as exploration and Achievements.
Until next time, see ya in the RIFT.