Rift is a Fantasy MMORPG created and released by Trion Worlds and from their marketing they’re aiming to take a piece of World of Warcraft’s fan base. Rift features a dynamic world in which Rifts will open up at different places in a zone that players need to close and Invasion forces will come and try to take over towns and questing hubs so players will have to defend or retake them if they wish to continue to do quests. The game also features a highly customizable class system with four classes and each one can mix and match any combination of 3 souls out of a total of 8.

Rift takes place on the world of Telara where two factions are at war with each other, The Guardians and The Defiant. Telara is being torn apart by Rifts between it and the planar realms which are the result of an incident which weakened the barrier between the two. The Guardians are the chosen people of the gods and the heroes in which players take control, The Ascended, of have been brought back to life by the gods so they can fight against the Rifts and save Telara. The Defiant on the other hand blame the gods for what is happening to Telara so they decide to use a mixture of technology and magic to solve the issues instead of relying on gods that have gone silent and abandoned them. The Defiants artificially create their own ascended using their technology and these are who the players control if they choose this faction. The story in Rift is definitely new and interesting but eventually I just ended up mostly accepting quests without reading the text because I lost interest but if you’re really into the lore of games it’s there for you. There are also books and artifacts you can collect and add to a collection tab with background story and lore that you can access at anytime.

One thing that disappointed me greatly in Rift was the races. There are a total of six races with three for each faction. The Guardians have Mathosians, which are humans of the Mathosia kingdom, Dwarves and High Elves. The Defiants have the Eth, which are a human tribe from a desert region, Kelari, which are rebel elves, and the Bahmi, which are a large bulky race with bluish grey skin. Each of the races has distinctive looks and the game gives players a great deal of options to customize them. The disappointing part is that each race is the same except for 2 racials, one which gives them a momentary speed boost or jump and then a negligible bonus to a type of magic resistance. Every race in a faction has the same starting zone and story so race just ends up being a choice on what looks cooler.

Game play in Rift is pretty standard for an MMO and if you’ve ever played World of Warcraft is exactly the same. The player’s main source of experience for leveling up will be questing and it’s pretty standard fare there as well, collection quests and kill quests make up the majority of them. While out questing monsters are actually dangerous and if you happen to pull extra you will probably die if you’re alone. Player’s can also gain experience from doing dungeons which is also pretty standard where a tank, healer and some damage dealers are needed. There does seem to be a lot more strategy required even in the earlier dungeons and it’s possible to wipe if people don’t follow directions. Another source of experience is PvP Warfronts which are similar to Battlegrounds from other MMOs and include victory conditions of holding an idol to collect points, holding positions and a capture the flag warfront.

The main feature in Rift and is even included in the name are the Rifts and the dynamic world events. Rifts are tears in the veil between Telara and the different elemental planes that changes the environment and area it touches with enemies pouring out. There are six different elemental planes and each type has its own unique monsters. For players to close Rifts they must defeat waves of enemies and then bosses until it closes or time runs out. Players get rewards from closing rifts depending on how much they contributed to the effort but at the moment it seems like you can get to the gold/best level just by spamming instant cast abilities or attacks. Also from these rifts will come invasion forces that will attack anything they come across on the road and they’ll attempt to take over towns, villages and questing hubs. The invasions are a fun and cool idea but can be extremely annoying if there are not enough people in the area to help take them back and can bring your progress to a complete halt. A cool feature in all of this is the public party/raid system which players can opt to join in when they come into an area with an invasion or rift which makes teaming up with other people easy. This can also be done while out questing if you click on another player and then above their portrait will be a button to join their party so you can easily work together rather than compete for quest objectives. It is awesome.

The class system in Rift is unique and allows for a great deal of customization. There are for main classes; Warrior, Cleric, Rogue, and Mage. Each of these four classes have eight souls to choose from and there can be three active on a player at a time. This can allow players to mix souls like damage dealing, healing and a tank soul if they like or two healing souls and a support. The game does a good job indicating which souls play which role such as healing, support, tank and damage. This is the first game I’ve seen where rogues can tank, deal damage and heal and Mages also have a healing class that can heal effectively. The game also gives hints as to what combinations are good but that doesn’t mean trying others wont be just as effective or better. The game also allows players to have up t four specs similar to World of Warcraft’s dual spec system so players can always be ready for a different role.

Rift is a great looking game that takes elements from other games, improves on them and has a fresh story. If you weren’t a fan of MMOs before because of their gameplay and combat then Rift still wont be for you. If on the other hand you are a fan of them but have gotten tired of WoW and the others Rift is a breath of fresh air. It’s challenging, promotes cooperating with other players and has dynamic world events that are pretty cool looking and fun. On the other hand if you’re fine with WoW and still having fun with it I can’t actually say whether it’s worth jumping ship for.

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