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Trion Worlds has been at the forefront of social media integration since early on in the development of Rift, and they show no signs of slowing down. Their newest foray into bridging the gap between real life and their gaming worlds comes in the form of the newly released Rift Mobile App. Released  several days before any real PR or announcement, the app is still technically a beta release and available only for iOS devices.

Let’s take a look at the app itself and see what it brings to the table.

Rift Mobile App

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Features

Rift Mobile App

The Rift Mobile App requires a game account to use, but at launch it isn’t requiring it to be active – expect that to change shortly though as the app gains traction. Once you have logged in you are taken to a screen that shows a complete list of all your characters on their various shards. Choosing a character advances you into the main section where you can switch between the 5 available functions.

Contacts -

Rift Mobile App

The first window is a simple interface screen that shows you any guild members or friends from your friend list that are online. Tapping a name loads you into a screen that will allow you to send and receive private messages. 

Guild Chat -

Rift Mobile App

Pretty much exactly what you would think, The Guild Chat window allows you to interact with everyone that is online at the time. Players in game will know you are using the mobile app thanks to a special symbol that appears next to your name.  One neat feature that I found is that you are able to see earlier conversations as long as you have a character selected and set to “online” in the app, even when you aren’t actively using the guild chat feature.

Guild Info -

Rift Mobile App

The Guild Info tab displays the Message of the Day as well as any recent wall posts that have been left. One of the more advanced, but often underused features is Rift; the Guild Wall is a virtual bulletin board that can be used to leave static messages for members. It is also a great way to leave raid info, quest info or anything else that warrants being “stickied” and can be a great alternative to web based guild forums.

Zone Events -

Rift Mobile App

One of the sweet spots in the app, Zone Events is a notification system that keeps players up to date on special happenings throughout the world of Telara. Setup is simple as you run through the list of all Rift’s zones and check the ones you would like to monitor.  This isn’t a permanent monitoring system though, and you will need to set the duration each time it expires – you can monitor in various time blocks from 1 to 24 hours.  Notifications will pop up in an overlay even if you have exited the application, so you are sure never to miss an invasion or special event.

Lootables -

Rift Mobile App

The most unique part of the app is the mini-game portion called Lootables. Lootables are three lottery-like scratchers that award you various in-game rewards if you’re lucky. I have won planarite, Malevolent Wrights and various crafting items, so consider me hooked. Each scratch costs 1 credit with 6 credits being given initially and a new credit being awarded every hour until 6 are stored. Crafty Critters is my personal favorite as you have the most chances to win, however the payout is the most pedestrian of the three.

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