Rift is a
rare specimen in the MMOG world, instead of shedding subscriptions like
fleas from a sinking dog it is actually picking up steam as it heads
into its second month. Whether you are a vet of the genre or a total
noob, each new game brings with it its own new wrinkles and
idiosyncrasies. To help you get the most out of your style="font-style: italic;">Rift experience, we
threw together a quick primer of tips, tricks and hints to help get you
acclimated.

General

• Devil in the
  Details – The little things matter in Rift, add runes when
  available and don’t forget to keep your Source Core updated and
  upgraded. These seemingly small statistical gains offer huge benefit.

• Rift it Up
  – They didn’t name the game Rift for nothing. Do as many rift events as
  you can: besides being tons of fun and a great way to meet people –
  their rewards are tangible and often the fastest path to improving your
  character.

• Shard It
  – Currency rewards earned during rift events are divided into three
  categories – Purple, Blue and Planarite (Green). Purple and Blue shards
  are useable only in the zone they were earned in, while Planarite is
  universal (and the most common)

• In the Bag –
  Upgrade your bags as soon as you can afford it, you will need the extra
  space. When you replace the bags simply drag and drop the new one onto
  the hotbar slot of the bag you wish to replace and all the items will
  magically swap to the new container.

• Spells Queue
  Too – Similar to EQ2, you can queue up the next
  spell/ability you want to use by pressing it while the current one is
  casting. The queue length can be modified in the setting menu, it can
  even be removed if you like to mash buttons and clip spells.

• Tweet Tweet
  – If you have a twitter account you can instantly share accomplishments
  and screenshots will all your followers by using the /twitter or
  /twitterpic commands in game.  

• Riddle Me
  This – Each zone has a unique puzzle that grants a reward
  and an achievement when solved. Be on the lookout for a guide to these
  puzzles here soon.

UI

• Super Size
  Me  - You can change the default UI scale in the
  settings menu, from microscopic to geriatric.

• Stock Options
  - Rift
  has a robust set of interface options that directly effect gameplay,
  but most are disabled by default. Access Settings and then Interface to
  enable the features you want.

• Imported –
  From the main menu you can access this handy feature which allows you
  to clone virtually any aspect of the interface from one character to
  another (provided they are on the same shard)

• [protip] Use the slash command /exportui or
  /exportkeybindings and /importui and importkeybindings to share
  settings with characters on different shards [/protip]

• Color by Role
  – Since there are so many different class combinations
  in Rift, UI
  bars are color coded to reflect role instead. Healers are blue, Ranged
  DPS are yellow, Melee DPS are brown, Tanks are red and Support classes
  are purple.

• Control-F
  – This key combination allows you to search your bags.

• Key Binds
  – No need to scroll through a long list of keys to bind an action in style="font-style: italic;">Rift, simply hover
  the mouse over the corresponding button on your UI and activate the key
  you want to bind.

• On a Role
  – The icons in your character window that show your roles also double
  as hotkeys to quick swap them. Just drag them over to your hotbar for
  one touch action.

• Quick Sell –
  Tucked into the bottom right corner of a vendor’s inventory window is a
  small circular button that allows you to instantly sell all grey
  quality trash items.

• That’s a Plus
  – Clicking on another player should display a small circle at the top
  of their character portrait with a + sign on it. Click that symbol to
  be added to that players group – this is super helpful when engaging a
  named quest mob.

• Where’s the
  Loot – After completing a rift or world event the loot
  will be available in a pop up window resembling the objective window,
  click the circular button that looks like a bag to collect your loot.

• Boom Goes the
  Dynamite – Healers and DPS will both love the handy Cast
  on Target of Target feature. By enabling this feature in the settings
  menu, you can simply keep the tank targeted and do damage to their
  target to maintain healing focus or to prevent attacking the wrong mob.

While this list is far from complete, it should be a good head start to
get you going on the way to Rift
supremacy. Have some great tips and tricks of your own? Reply with them
below and we will update our list with the best of them.