Preparation for the launch of Storm Legion is well underway at Trion Worlds. On the Public Test Shard yesterday, players got a chance to provide a little feedback and see Phase 3 of the expansion’s precursor World Event, Tempest Rising, in action. Phase 3 largely continues where Phase 1 and 2 left off, in Iron Pine Peaks. Queen Miela of Brevane relocates to IPP to issue out some new dailies, and slowly but surely, the enemy armies of Storm Legion make their way to Telara through portals, causing havoc in the streets.
Phase 3 reads: Tempest Rising
Alliances strain as minds bend and break beneath Crucia’s will. Madness seems to sweep through villages, towns, and cities as mortal after mortal falls victim to the Storm Queen’s insidious commands.
- Find and purge the corruption Curcia’s will is unleashing throughout Telara.
Note: As always, any PTS information is subject to change at any time.
The storyline continues with a series of quests to discover hidden spies among the Guardian and Defiant ranks. Back in the capital cities, war is beginning to erupt, and we’re treated to a new Instant Adventure right in our cities. The City Siege Instant Adventure is pretty fun, though it still needs some tweaking. It takes part over all of both Meridian and Sanctum, and we’re tasked with defeating a whole slew of air-based enemies.
The Ascended also provide aid to the city in the IA, building barricades to protect the NPCs, and guarding Wardstones that are being built. This is a nice touch to the usual IA spam, and makes the whole experience a little more immersive. What’s also nice is the fact that since City Siege is an IA, it’s easy to hop online, and join in on the action. RIFT players by now are accustomed to the IA design, and the pace of the event suits Instant Adventures well. There are five different bosses to defeat in the IA.
Out in Telara’s villages and faction outposts, there are also other hidden spies of Crucia that must be dealt with. This is the continuation of the story quest, and where it currently ends on the PTS. There is also a pretty cool group story quest that is obtained when looting one of the Cloudbourne Ice Rings that can be found in snow-covered shinies around the ice of Crucia’s Temple in Iron Pine Peaks. This quest takes players to some of the more exotic locations of Telara, even including some items hidden in Chronicles.
We also got a chance to test out the new Tempest Rising zone event, which is being called Storm Rising, and takes place in Iron Pine Peaks. It starts with killing waves of Crucia’s army as they come through portals, and ends with quite an entertaining phase that involves some aerial combat. By running into swirling vortexes on the ice, players find themselves catapulting into the air, where they gain an ability that lets them charge into the Storm Revenants, dealing damage. It’s similar to some of the flying fun we saw during the E3 Storm Legion video.
After the wave of Storm Revenants, we get our final boss– a dragon by the name of Discia, who watches the entire fight from the skies above. She slowly descends when all her minions are defeated, allowing players to damage her.
The zone event was quite enjoyable, although it currently needs some heavy adjusting before going live. All of the battles were a little too simple for level 50 players, and we were told that we’ll be seeing a more challenging version for level 50s when the event launches.
One other new thing we saw today was a new set of raid symbols. Here’s a preview of some of them:
Yep, at the tail end there is a smiley face raid symbol and a cute little squirrel. Leave it to Trion to give us a happy face symbol! Now all we’re missing is a corgi raid symbol and a bacon one, and… I better not give the team any bright ideas here.
LET'S GET SOCIAL