Notes

Enter At Your Own Rift: What Scott Hartsman’s AMA Means For RIFT
The Trion crew is nothing if not persistent. In an elaborate plot involving Dr. Pepper and a one-manner locked workplace, the devs have been capable of lastly get Trion CCO and RIFT Government Producer Scott Hartsman to take part in an Ask Me Something session on Reddit. It was an attractive discussion that touched on quite a lot of subjects, from up and coming titles reminiscent of Finish of Nations to Hartsman's journey from GM of the MUD Scepter of Goth to his time with SOE and his present endeavors with Trion. We discovered that he's a reasonably hardcore raider, that he plays incognito, and that his raid drink of choice is Grimbergen Blonde. However the focus of the conversation was RIFT, and whereas he did not shed too much light on the upcoming growth, he did drop a couple of hints about what we might see sooner or later. On this week's Enter at Your personal Rift, we'll look at a number of the highlights!

Free-to-play and RIFT

We're in the age of free-to-play right now, so it is not a shock that one recurring question was about whether we might ultimately see RIFT join the ranks of the free. Previously, the answer has all the time been that RIFT was comfy with its subscription-primarily based model, but during the Reddit dialogue, Hartsman hinted that Trion would possibly indeed add in something resembling free-to-play. He defined:

One of the issues that shocked me once we first launched RIFT and were doing our personal analysis was the quantity of people who admitted they have been previous Sub-based mostly avid gamers only, who, in 2011 would now merely refuse to play any game that required a subscription. Clearly there were plenty who were okay with sub nonetheless current, but the swing in the final sentiment was definitely there, and really pronounced. We took that as our problem to make rattling positive we were going to be able to go above and past by way of what people were actually getting for that sub, which we express through our updates and what they comprise. When we drilled down, the resistance to a sub in 2011 was in no small half due to the general state of the economy. The number of people who simply would reply with: "Look, I'd like to play - This is strictly my sort of game, but I simply plain can't afford the $15 a month I used to on leisure. It sucks, however I can't."
He went on to say that RIFT Lite was one resolution that makes the sport accessible to those that is likely to be tight on money. Later in the dialogue, he added that the main focus is on the expansion and the reside recreation, so gamers shouldn't expect to see a new cost mannequin until after that. It's noteworthy that Trion is exploring ways to create a more flexible plan, however even more eye-opening is the revelation that players haven't solely accepted the free-to-play mannequin but anticipate it from fashionable games.

Bards, sing and rejoice!

Whereas we know that Storm Legion will have new souls, one particular person asked about whether existing souls will see any major changes. Hartsman confirmed that souls might be tweaked and that the Bard particularly will probably be given some consideration. He stated he is been playtesting it and his crew is looking at methods to make it a more enjoyable class to play, notably on raids.

PvPers are like snowflakes

Some gamers expressed dissatisfaction with the brand new three-faction Conquest occasion and imagine that Trion has neglected its PvP group. Hartsman gave a shocking reply, with a little bit pushback to the oft-heard complaint:
On segmentation.. One thing I've definitely observed since we got Rift off the ground - is that a lot of people use "PvP Player" as if it was a single minded section that is easy to address, "if only we would hear!" I will use a completely unfair and exaggerated example just for illustration's sake - It's nearly like referring to "The Liquid Drinking Public" and trying to come up with one answer that fits them all - while forgetting that even among themselves, there are lots of, many contradictory opinions.

At this point, there are a minimum of a dozen kinds of "PvP gamers" out there, who all tend to explain themselves as "The PvP Participant." People who assume arenas are the end all be all, however need gear development. Individuals who want TF2 - No gear, just cosmetics, good balance. Bring your skill solely. People who need Frontiers. Individuals who want Alterac Valley. Individuals who for some cause Really enjoyed six hours of "beat up the keep door" in games up to now (PvDoor? Did we just invent a brand new style here?) ...and lots extra.

The very best we will do in this world is to make the very best PvP that we are able to, that truly suits in our gameplay system, and hope an viewers is there to enjoy it. May we pick a type of pre-current types of PvP and do a extra targeted and trendy up to date version of it? Absolutely. But we're making an attempt to make our personal manner. That will yield some enjoyable things, and there will even be missteps alongside the best way. So - Short reply. Can we value our PvP gamers? Damn right. Will we plan on persevering with to attempting to create and refine our personal PvP? Hell sure. Is Anything we do going to make everyone who identifies themself as "a PvP participant" glad? Not an opportunity. Maybe half if we're super lucky.
This reply really highlights something that usually gets missed, which is that we simply identify the wide selection of PvE playstyles however do not always acknowledge the same to be true of PvP gamers. It is refreshing to hear a game designer speak about a few of those different playstyles, however it also helps clarify the challenges of making a recreation that includes both PvE and PvP content. He went on to say that Conquest took months of labor from the team with the intention to create 1,000 player matches on stay servers and make it work. It might not be everybody's cup of tea, but Trion continues to tweak PvP and plan new PvP content material to fulfill a higher variety of PvP playstyles.

Alternate-ruleset servers

One query about permadeath and experience loss led to a curious trace about whether or not RIFT followers may see some servers with extra hardcore rulesets in some unspecified time in the future in the future. Hartsman posted:
Humorous factor. Now we have an inside playtest listing that also accumulates random ideas. A similar concept has come up there infrequently. Most not too long ago, final month! By no means know what the longer term will bring. I do agree, although, that special ruleset/brief lifetime servers might be a really enjoyable thing.
I am intrigued by the concept of a brief lifetime server as a result of it is so contrary to the never-ending persistance of MMOs. Players are used to some kind of closure in single-player video games, however that's not really the case in MMOs, besides when a sport has to shut down from financial difficulties. If there have been servers with a particular ruleset and a pre-ordained, restricted lifetime, we would change our strategy to MMOs and how we play.

The state of gaming

Several questions got here up about MMOs usually and the way they've modified by way of the years. Hartsman offered his view on not solely the evolution of gaming however where we may be headed down the highway:
Competition has gone by the roof, clearly. 10 years in the past, just getting to launch meant that a fairly large quantity of individuals would no less than check you out. Not so anymore. Following on to that, manufacturing prices of what it takes to get to launch with one thing performed "the traditional means," that may stir up sufficient curiosity to get sufficient individuals to test you out, have gotten insane and are at the purpose of being unsustainable. I believe that, in concert with the fact that folks use different on-line services (like facebook) for social connections, which didn't used to exist -- when previously many players used MMOs as their outlet for "being social, at residence, on a pc" -- has led to the new styles of online video games that are targeted way more on gameplay -- LoL, Minecraft , and so on. Tighter targeted video games which are clearly all in regards to the gameplay. I think we'll continue seeing extra of "online, more focus" and less "MMO world that prices virtually a quarter billion dollars."
He went on to explore the subject in a later reply, and that i added it here as a result of I believe it's an attention-grabbing point of discussion about whether the hardcore gameplay of early games like Ultima On-line would have been as in style if there had been numerous MMO selections back then. He defined:
Although at least inside the business is the open query: Did it ever even work for UO in any respect once competition existed? Shedding all the pieces was regularly a demise sentence for the customer - they'd stroll. Some would stay. Many would bail. On condition that, I do not know that it's as black and white of a subject. Is it "the group who performs games now is That much more risk averse" or is it "that it did not actually work even among a large crowd again then; and it only worked as lengthy as it did because it was the one recreation in town at that point?" Or one thing in between? Like I mentioned, I'm undoubtedly not the expert there - Just repeating what I've heard others opine on. Some sensible folks have said some good things on the topic.
I'm solely ready to highlight a few quotes right here due to column length, but the complete Reddit AMA is nicely price reading because Scott Hartsman has so much to say in regards to the MMO landscape through the years and the state of the industry right this moment (together with a fantastic comparison between Star Wars Galaxies' NGE and EverQuest II's drastic revamp proper after launch). And if you're a budding recreation designer, he offers up some beneficial advice as effectively. So break out the Dr. Pepper and test it out!

Whether they're preserving the vigil or defying the gods, Karen Bryan and Justin Olivetti save Telara on a weekly basis. Masking all features of life in RIFT, from solo play to guild raids, their column is dedicated to backhanding multidimensional tears so hard that they go crying to their mommas. E-mail Karen and Justin for questions, comments, and adulation.

Here's my website: https://proximal.org/