Last week, I had the opportunity to see Rift's new expansion first hand with a guided tour by former WAR Community Manager, James Nichols. It's no secret that Rift isn't my game of choice, but as a MMO fan I've been following it for quite a while and played during beta and launch. Is Storm Legion enough to get me back into the game?
First, let's start with a montage of some of what I saw. I think every morning should start like this actually.
PvP. One of my first questions was about PvP, of course. Trion will be including a new warfront in the expansion, called Karthan ridge.
Karthan Ridge – Opposing sides must run empyrean bombs into their enemies base and detonate them at designated Power Sinks. We’ll be testing this mode out in Open BETA this weekend and make adjustments or try out other formats depending on the feedback we get.Blowing stuff up does appeal to my inner Dwarf.
Carnage Missions. The full fruition of Kill 10 X quests without having to actually pick up the quest. Kill something and the quest will just start. I expect this to lead to the mass slaughter of creatures on these new continents.
Dimensions. Rift will be including player housi.... err zones in Storm Legion. Full free form placement for a zone instead of just a house. I saw some amazing creations and that was just beta stuff. Crafters will get to build items to decorate these new areas. You can even add some NPC's to your area.
On the downside, there does not appear to be much in the way of functional items. So no true vendors, auction house guys or banks it seems. For someone as anti-social as me that is a bit disappointing. I can understand why Trion would not want to go that route though, as it might empty out their social areas.
Crafting. No new professions, but a new tier of crafting will be added with new recipes.
Visuals. I was very impressed with the visuals of Storm Legion. Thew new areas and raid zones looked fantastic. As did the creatures, and especially the bosses. This was on my 5 year old box too, so I suspect it might look better for a large chunk of you with newer systems.
Mechs. As you can see in the video, one of the new dungeons ( Storm Breaker Protocol ) allows you to control a Mech ( think Play as Monster WAR fans ), who has rocket launchers. Rocket launchers.
New Souls. There are 4 new souls in the expansion, during my tour I chose the Tactician. He has a big gun and shoots fire and ice, how could I not? He seemed pretty fun in my brief time playing him.
To answer the question I posed at the start of this post, yes I will play Rift: Storm Legion. I love new expansions, and there is a lot about Rift I want to check out. Instant Adventure, Conquest PvP, 2 huge landmasses, Dimensions and more. How long will it hold me? We shall see.
