We received news today that Storm Legion’s third beta will take place starting Friday, November 2nd and last until Monday, November 5th. This beta event will be open to anyone who makes a RIFT account and downloads the beta client. Scott Hartsman, RIFT’s Executive Producer, had these words to say regarding the decision to make Storm Legion’s final beta completely open to the public:

“The first two closed beta stress tests were big successes, and we appreciate all the valuable feedback that we’ve used to improve and polish STORM LEGION. After months of hard work, we’re ready to show this incredible game to the world, and we encourage RIFT fans old and new to log in and try it out before the official launch on November 13th.”

This final beta event, which is being called “At the Gates of Infinity”, will feature all the leveling content of Storm Legion, including all seven dungeons, a chronicle, and all leveling maps.

November 2nd’s open beta begins at 10 AM PST. Similar to the other beta events, players will be able to create new characters or transfer characters over from their live accounts.

Also, for pre-orderers, early dungeon access to Exodus of the Storm Queen, the first 5-man dungeon, begins October 30th.

As the days continue to count down toward Storm Legion’s release, Elrar gave forum goers a handy bit of information yesterday– Storm Legion will open its gates during the morning PST hours of November 13th. Similar to the original launch of RIFT, Trion will not be doing a midnight release for the expansion. Elrar also announced that the North American and European shards will experience Storm Legion going live simultaneously. Here’s the full post:

Originally posted by Elrar (Source)

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Storm Legion will not open the doors at midnight – so please do enjoy your last evening of restful sleep

As always we’ll look at opening things up in our normal morning hours here on the West Coast – this ensures we’re all hands on deck to provide a smooth and successful release!

Europe and North America will be opened simultaneously.

Only 3 weeks to go!

It was Storm Legion’s second beta test last weekend, and RiftJunkies was there to get the inside scoop! We joined Community Manager James Nichols, better known to us as Elrar, for a tour of some of the new zones, raids, dungeons, and Dimensions.

Regulos is one creepy dude. We already kind of knew that, of course: players meet him for the first time within their first few levels when he heralds the end of the world. But once you enter Chez Regulos inside the new Endless Eclipse raid you quickly realize you’re dealing with the dragon god of Death on a whole different scale.

There are going to be some major changes to the North American shard structure starting this Wednesday, October 24th. Similar to what happened months ago with the European shards, a number of NA shards are going to be made trial-only: Briarcliff, Byriel, Deepstrike, Gnarlwood, Greenscale, Keenblade, Millrush, and Silkweb. Players on these shards will be able to utilize RIFT’s free transfer system to transfer their characters and guilds to more populated shards.

Thanks to Trion’s server tech advancements, all remaining NA shards will also be placed in the same wargroup, allowing us to have a larger stock of players for warfront and dungeon queues.

Keep reading for the full announcement, which was made by Elrar yesterday evening on the official forums, as well as a followup post regarding guild transfers, trial players, and transfer level requirements.

Storm Legion’s mega beta weekend is in full swing along with Extra Life 2012 today, but just in case you aren’t able to attend the festivities, Trion held another fun live stream yesterday, this time focusing on Dimensions. Let me just say– player-made Dimensions are going to be hot in RIFT. The amount of creativity that players can put into them is frankly quite astounding, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the game attracts some new players due to the seemingly unlimited potential Dimensions have.

Let’s get right into the action and go over the highlights of yesterday’s live stream and Dimensions in general, shall we?

GENERAL
* PVP:
- Reduced the base amount of Valor granted from Armor and Weapons. (A couple still need to be adjuisted.)
- Increased the reduction to single target and AoE heals and absorbs in PvP.
- Boosted the amount of Valor granted from Pure Valorstone augments.
- Reduced the amount of Valor granted from Bolstering in Warfronts and Conquest.
* World Event Merchants are no longer attempting to celebrate Fae Yule early!

SOULS
* The following passive abilities no longer disappear when you respawn:
- Inquisitor: Pursuit of Truth
- Justicar: Salvation
- Purifier: Hot Streak
- Warden: Rising Tides
- Warlord: Down and Dirty
* Beastmaster: Call of the Forest: Fixed a bug causing this to not work properly.
* Beastmaster: Command to Stand Ground: Fixed this not granting its Armor bonus correctly.
* Dominator: Degeneration: Fixed this being unusable on valid targets in certain situations.
* Justicar: Interdict: Fixed mana cost.
* Justicar: Mien of Leadership: Corrected tooltip.
* Paladin: Fixed a stacking collision with Reverent Protection and various souls’ self-shields.
* Warlord: Everything is a Weapon: Will now update its values as you gain or lose Armor buffs or armor items.

Welcome to RIFT 1.11: Tempest Rising!

General Notes | Crafting Notes | Warrior Notes | Cleric Notes | Rogue Notes | Mage Notes

== FEATURES ==
The patch notes for 1.11 are super incredibly long, so some sections have been linked to the appropriate forum thread rather than displayed in the patcher, particularly Calling and Crafting changes.
* World Event – Tempest Rising: For years the Icewatch, with the aid of the Ascended, have stood guard over Crucia’s icy prison in Iron Pine Peaks. New rumors rise from the east, claiming that the Dragon of Air is not captive at all, but is in fact biding her time while her schemes come to fruition. For the sake of Telara, Crucia’s rise must be stopped!
* The new dungeon, Exodus of the Storm Queen, will be unlocked in a later phase of the World Event!
* SOUL CHANGES: Major updates come to basically every soul in the game – you can find summaries below with links to specific Soul change details on the forums! Be sure to also check out the GENERAL COMBAT changes which apply to all Callings.
* PLANAR ATTUNEMENT is now shared among all characters, and has been converted to a simpler method of gaining levels – see details under PLANAR ATTUNEMENT, below.
* CRAFTING has also seen some significant tune-ups and has detailed notes linked from the forums.

Yesterday Trion announced all the details about this year’s huge Extra Life event, which is taking place this coming Saturday. Participating players will be able to swap between shards if they so choose, including exploring Storm Legion’s second beta, which begins on Friday.

Here’s a preview:

“We’ve made some adjustments that allow us to tell who has played a full day on any shard, including BETA, for the full 24 hours. This means that you can mix and match your playtime so you don’t have to miss out on raids or playing with your friends while still being a part of the festivities!

Want to hang out with us? We’ll be spending the majority of our time on the Laethys and BETA shards – if you want to get in on the sheepening, naked runs, and other shenanigans this is where you’ll want to be. And of course, if you’re just joining us and want to know where the action is currently happening, we’ll be Live Streaming most of it starting between 8-10AM on Saturday at www.twitch.tv/trionworlds.”

Returning participants will receive the “Sleepless” prefix title and first-timers will receive “the Insomniac” suffix. Elrar is also going to be hosting a fun bonus challenge of sorts, where participants can make a level 1 character on Laethys and compete for prizes by aiming for special goals while leveling. There have also been alleged rumors about some corgi-type action taking course over the weekend, including a nifty achievement, rift, and shall we say… a fluffy title? Yes, definitely fluffy.

Check out all the details on Trion’s Community Blog, and prepare for a RIFTtastic weekend.

The folks at RIFT are big supporters of the Extra Life marathon for the Children’s Hospital Network, including sponsoring their own team and encouraging players to participate with special events. This year, like last year, there are plans afoot to set up a special Extra Life server and award in-game prizes for participating for some or all of the 24-hour marathon.

Previously players already knew that there would be special titles for full or partial participation, but player Slipmat turned up something even better in the achievements section on the current Public Test Server:

Apparently the Extra Life events will include closing something called a “Corgi Rift”, and have players giving treats to “royal Corgis”. The achievement gives the suffix title “of House Fluffington”, which is undoubtedly the cutest title ever. Trion has not yet shared the details of how participants can access the special Extra Life events, but more details should be coming soon.

The Extra Life Marathon officially starts on Saturday, October 20th at 8am in each participant’s time zone, and ends at 8am on Sunday, October 21st. Players interested in joining in the fun or donating should check out the official website. All proceeds go directly to your chosen Children’s Hospital Network location.

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Want to donate to Extra Life? Jessica’s personal donation page is here.

Just a heads up for those who want to catch some Live Streams from Trion this week. Today, Trion will be streaming a Storm Legion dungeons at 5:30pm EST. Friday, you will be able to watch the team go over Dimensions, RIFT’s version of player housing.

You can find the RIFT Twitch channel here.