Rift is getting a brand new expansion named “Starfall Prophecy” and at Gamescom 2016 we spoke with the developer Christopher Junior, who had all sorts of info about the upcoming expansion for us.
“You wanted bears? Here you have bears! There are so many bears!” With these enthusiastic words, Game Director Christopher Junior justified the fact that it is only with the upcoming expansion “Starfall Prophecy” that bears are in Rift. Yes, you read that right, there were no bears before, just some weird bear-like monsters. But the community insisted on the fuzzy original, and so they are now abundant in the game. A particularly bear-like specimen is named “Sir Bearington” and is even a quest giver.
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The Bear is Not Enough
Even though Master Petz is an important and community-requested innovation in Rift, the new expansion is not just about these furry beasts. Not at all, because the world of Rift is threatened not by a rabid bear invasion, but by a falling comet! But the chunk is not just a large, fat stone; it is controlled by an evil deity.
To stop the thing, our heroes must travel to the comet (which is no problem in Rift) and defeat the evil force behind the Starfall. For this, we will quest through massive new areas assigned to the elemental planes typical of Rift. For example, the land of life is a dark swamp, while the fire region is a desert where we are to help the goblins against the nasty goblins.
“We want to focus more on high fantasy,” said Christopher, showing us a region that could almost come from a twisted version of Mordor from The Lord of the Rings. Lava and jagged rocks everywhere. In between, the obligatory demons and “fire cacti, because they are cool!” The last zone, on the other hand, is a chaos of various planes, which is supposed to consist only of dynamic events.
The Tower is the Boss!
At the center of the comet stands a gigantic tower that contains the power of the evil deity behind the comet. This tower is the final challenge of the expansion, and in the months following the release of the addon, further levels of the structure will gradually be unlocked. Each floor will pose a different challenge for our heroes.
By the way, at launch, there will also be two new dungeons and a new raid for the expansion, and the level cap will be raised to 70. To quickly assemble a raid group, a raid finder is now finally available in Rift. Lastly, the complex skill system of Rift will be expanded again, as there are now supposed to be legendary abilities that significantly extend our existing skills. For example, the legendary version of “Bull Rush” is supposed to throw the enemy wide away from us and deal massive additional damage.
Mein-MMO says: Rift is still not dead and has carved out a solid niche where it thrives well. According to Christopher Junior, there are currently seven EU servers and eight machines in the USA, which demonstrate relatively stable population numbers and attendance rates. Therefore, the expansion is worth a look for all fans of the MMORPG. The addon “Starfall Prophecy” is, by the way, not free2play and must be purchased separately for 39.99 euros (Standard Edition) or 59.99 euros (Deluxe Edition).
