RIFT MMO News, Guides, and Features at Ten Ton Hammer

For the moment, the designers kept mum on a faction system or class specs tied to rift types or even what or who is causing the other planes to invade. But as for whether the rift concept is considered level-up content, an extension of the quest system, or a way to garner good loot, the answer seemed to be all of the above. We had every indication that we still have a lot to learn about rifts, and the rift concept is such a pervasive and integral part of the game that, as Scott Hartsman pointed out, it's now quite literally the name of the game.

One thing that rifts are not is a replacement for instanced dungeons. Adam took me into one unique instance, Four Seasons, that awaits players in their teens. Realm of the Fae is an airy outdoor deungone that progresses from tier to seasonal tier - Spring to Summer to Fall to finally Winter, where Fae Lord Twyll, an evil emissary from the Plane of Life, awaited us. The designers pointed out that each dungeon would have common sense exit points; that backtracking through an empty dungeon wouldn't be part of instance design in Rift: Planes of Telara.

Character creation in Rift is both streamlined or nuanced as you wish, with no stat point assignment decisions to muddy the primordial waters. Players first select whether they'll side with the idealistic Guardians or the thoroughly practical Defiants, then choose their race, customize their character's appearance and facial attributes using the en-vogue triangular slider that adds another dimension to slider bars. For the demo, we were shown the High Elves, a lanky Defiant-aligned race that certainly didn't come from Felwithe.

Two Defiant classes at level 20 - A Bladedancer (left) and a female and male Reaver (right).

Finally you'll choose your class, which was yet another subject that Trion is playing close to the vest on at the moment. If you're bored of WoW's narrow take on the class numbers and variety, Rift might be for you. The class list for the Defiants boasted nearly a dozen classes. We did sneak a peek at two classes, however - the tankish, sword-and-shield wielding Reaver and the roguish (but stealth spurning) dual-wielding Bladedancer. Both were Defiant classes, and at level 20 had less than a full bar of spells and abilities, which led me to wonder if spell and ability design was WoW-ishly deep than EQ2-ishly wide. Adam assured me that Rift wouldn't be a 3 button mashing MMO, however, but this question will probably have to wait until we can get our grubby hands on a beta build.

This screenshot of the Arcane Library shows the attention to graphical detail in Rift: Planes of Telara.

Graphically, mobs, characters, and the setting we saw was designed with obvious care, and an excellent example of the "stylized realism" we hear so much about - sort of an idealized photorealism rendered in "bright palette" colors. Hartsman described Rift as one of the first true high-definition MMORPGs, and while "HD" is largely open to interpretation, the character models and zone environments looked impressively crisp. So crisp and clean that Rift would be an ideal candidate for 3D, should Trion wish to open up that option. Animations are another place where Rift shines. Movement and combat is incredibly fluid, and with a reported 10,000 animations in the game, every type of mob dies in several different ways. It's one of those small things that tends to make a big impression as you play. Other essential MMO features - PvP, crafting, a player-to-player economy, were hinted at as well, but not discussed in detail.

Detractors might say that the fantasy MMORPG niche is thoroughly saturated. But for a number of "core" MMO gamers that spurn WoW and who quickly grew disenchanted with games like Vanguard and Aion , there's cause for excitement here. Between a known cadre of developers that has definitely paid their dues, a diverse cast of classes and races, a visually arresting world, crisp graphics, and, best of all, a well-polished first reveal (or re-reveal, if you prefer), Rift: Planes of Telara definitely has the potential to become the kind of fantasy MMORPG we'd hoped so many half-baked MMORPGs in recent years would eventually resolve into.

More coverage from Ten Ton Hammer coming soon, but in the meantime, learn more at http://www.riftgame.com