With Summerfest behind us, it seems like now’s a good time to begin wondering about the future of RIFT’s world events. Trion is adopting an annual model for many events, including Summerfest, and there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that the developer team definitely tried out something different for the summer holiday. Will the trend continue for the next event? Should it?

To begin answering that question, first we must ask ourselves if Summerfest was enjoyable. Everyone has their own opinions, of course, but let’s face the facts– a lot of folks were disappointed over Summerfest, and that disappointment became pretty evident early on. Many players had issues with the original mazes, and there was a solid number of buggy quests and quests that really needed some more tweaking before they were released on live servers. A few of the scavenger hunt quests in particular. What’s truly disappointing is the fact that many of these issues were reported during the PTS phase.

Update 6/27: Updated for live event

Summerfest– RIFT’s next major world event is currently ripe and unleashed upon live servers! It’s due to last until July 25th. Summerfest is going to be another of our annual holidays, meaning we’ll see it return year after year, much like Fae Yule. MMO summer holidays are often the most fun to participate in because of all the seasonal goodies, tradeskills, and exploration they often encourage. Summerfest is no exception, and let me just say– this holiday has a high dose of creativity, offers some fun rewards, and is, in my opinion, Trion’s finest work as far as world events go.

There are a couple reasons why. First off, the event departs from the usual quest chains we’ve become accustomed to in world events. The event encourages exploration of Telara, and a whole lot of it in fact. The scavenger hunt quests encourage players to put on their thinking caps, think back to their leveling days, and explore every nook and cranny in each of the areas. On top of these quests, players can also hunt down new vanity pets in each of these same areas and fish at special nodes, kind of tripling the rewards for taking part in the exploration.