It’ll be launching on the 1st of March, with a headstart for pre-orders beginning February 24th.
That’s all pretty standard, though a little sooner than many were expecting. The pricing is a little more peculiar though:
Founder’s Subscription: For a limited time, Trion Worlds is pleased to offer Founder’s Subscription pricing. If you choose a subscription plan by 3/15/2011, you’ll be able to pick one of the special pricing plans listed below. You’ll get to keep this special pricing as long as you retain an active subscription to RIFT.*
*Your payment method will be charged (on a recurring basis at your selected subscription rate) until you cancel your subscription. If you choose to cancel your Founder’s Pricing subscription and later re-subscribe to RIFT, the Founder’s Subscription plan will no longer be available.
| Monthly |
3-Month |
6-Month |
| $14.95/month |
$11.99/month |
$9.99/month |
| $14.95 |
$35.97 |
$59.94 |
This is a little weird, as what we’re seeing is not the normal pricing rates. These are the special Founder rates that you’ll be able to get if you play from launch, up until the time you decide you want a break, whereupon you’ll end up on the, yet to be announced, normal subscription rate.
It’s an interesting way of locking people in to subscribing continuously, for fear of losing that special rate. Unsurprisingly, I don’t much like it, as while it is certainly “interesting”, it’s a bit heavy-handed for my liking, and feels a little like a punishment.
$14.95 a month seems to be the special Founder’s pricing. We’ve not seen the regular pricing yet, and so I am wondering if we are about to see a new price-point set for a subscription MMO.
One good sign is the lack of a lifetime subscription. Lifetimes have become a big red flag for me that says that a developer does not have faith in the longevity of its product, and wants to cash in as soon as possible. Not having one means that Trion believes in Rift.
Update: Starseeker’s comment below suggests that the Founder pricing only means the 3 and 6 month bundles. I’ll be looking about for some clarification on that.
Continuing on from Part 5.
I need to get my dancing feet on if we’re going to check out any new features, as this phase of the beta is due to end today.
5:00 pm GMT, 31st of December
That being the case, I’ve just been bashing my way through the Divine Landing quests, harvesting resources when I can. I expect if I keep on going I’ll either find a crafting trainer, or one or more dynamic rifts.
The server has just gone down again, before I could even take a nice screenshot!! Hopefully just for an update. I *think* beta phase 3 is going for a few more hours yet.
5:27 pm GMT, 31st of December
Back in, and here’s something new!
While the books I collected back in the tutorial seemed to be static, I’m now finding sparklies in the world which do seem to give random artifact collectables. In this screen, I have a choice of which of two different collections I want to add the Principia Conflagera to.
 Rift's Collection Window
Continuing from Part 4.
1:57 am GMT, 31st of December
We’re coming up after another patch, and Osgard has just arrived in the main Rift world at Divine Landing in Silverwood.
 Osgard arrives at Divine Landing in Silverwood He approaches the Messenger for instructions.
Continue reading The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 5 – Silverwood
Continuing on from The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 3.
10:53 pm GMT, 30th of December
The servers have come back up.
We left Osgard up on Ascension Hall, dithering over which soul to claim as his reward. While Ranger was quite tempting, I wouldn’t be spending many points in that tree, meaning that my pet would be forever limited to being level 5, so it would cease to be of any use pretty quickly. Marksman fits Osgard well, especially once he gets rid of this silly bow and finds himself a decent rifle!
As it turns out, this is not the end of the tutorial area, and the Messenger of the Vigil sends me back to Valor’s Hold for more instructions. Two more tasks await me.
1. I must seek out one of the undead steeds that I’ve previously noticed about the place, cleanse it with a magical bridle, and ride it back.
2. I must gain control of a catapult, and use it against the necromancers and their ettin friend.
Now we’re cooking with gas! These sound like mighty and worthwhile deeds, not to mention fun!
 Wheeeeeeee! Unfortunately you don't get to keep this one! Continue reading The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 4
In yesterday’s thrilling instalment, Osgard was born, died, and born again as an Ascended being. Not bad for a day’s work.
He stands now at the Thontic’s Fountain quest-hub in the village of Ardenburgh, having just gained his second soul, and spent some soulpoints. It’s time to get going again.
As Minsc would say, “Evil, meet sword. Sword, meet evil!!!!”.
4:35 pm GMT, 30th of December
The Defiant have placed machines around the village which are capturing innocent villagers and draining their essence, reducing them to undead. Truly diabolical behaviour, and Osgard has been tasked with destroying those machines. He has also been asked to slay a number of Ardenburgh Horrors, and retrieve the holy Sanctified Spheres that they have stolen.
Continue reading The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 3
Continuing on from Part 1
This is phase 3 of Rift’s Beta, and for this one we can play either Guardians or Defiant. You can check out the patch notes for phase 3 here. As mentioned, I’m going with Guardians for this liveblog.
10:16 pm GMT, 29th of December
Osgard regains conciousness in a great hall, the Sanctuary of Rebirth. Before him stands a Messenger of the Vigil, an Angelic being that has come down from the heavens to give Osgard his first newbie quest, and grant him his first soul (subclass).
 The Sanctuary of Rebirth in Rift. This is a good spot to take a look at the UI. There’s nothing there that will particularly surprise anyone who has played an MMO before. We’ve got a radar, a hotbar, healthbars, and the little buttons in the bottom left will bring up the more specialised UI elements like the character interface, quest log, collections, and achievements screen.
Continue reading The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 2
While our digestive systems might still be feeling a little grouchy, and looking dubiously at the coming weekend, it is no time for slacking here as phase 3 of Rift’s beta is in full swing! With the NDA dropped, I can finally speak the words that everyone (give or take everybody other than me) has been waiting for. I declare a Beta Bonanza!!!
Hopefully this one will go a little better than the Mortal Online one, where I was so shocked by the full nudity during character creation that by the time I’d recovered from the vapours the beta had rudely ended without warning!!
How these tend to work is as a semi-stream-of-conciousness affair as I play through the beta. Rather than posting hundreds of posts, I just keep updating the existing one until it gets too big or there is a sensible cut-off point.
This is Phase 3 of Rift’s Beta, and there has been an impressive new patch ahead of the servers opening up.
8:30 pm GMT, 29th of December
So, lets do this thing. Osgard the dwarf has stepped forward to volunteer for this mission, so I’ll be playing on the Guardian side on the Wolfsbane server. Before I create him, lets have a quick peek at the races the Defiant faction has to offer. It’s always handy to know who’s going to be trying to kill you.
 The Defiant Races of Rift
|
|
