As Storm Legion quickly approaches, many players who enjoy crafting are wondering how exactly the recipe currency system will work this time around, and whether or not the costs make sense in their current state on beta. Taleen had a few words to share about the mark requirements for crafting recipes in Storm Legion on the official forums. Also touched on is the matter of crafting lures.

Originally posted by Taleen (Source)

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With the usual “I’m not promising anything and this is always subject to change” clause …

1) The current cost of recipes is unlikely to change much, if at all. However, there will likely be addition ways to acquire various marks (AMs, MCMs, and GMCMs) added in the future if we feel that the addition of new recipes and the ballooning costs create an unhealthy environment for new players.

2) Upgrading MCMs to GMCMs (probably at a rate of about 35:1) will likely appear in a post-release patch. Downgrading marks is unlikely at this current time, but not entirely impossible eventually.

3) The rate at which new recipes appear in future patches should be much better than it was with Live. We really didn’t add any substantial crafting updates until Infernal Dawn. I’m hoping to prevent that from happening again.

4) Crafting Lures for Storm Legion zones will likely appear in a post-release patch.

All this sounds pretty good to me.

Storm Legion’s final beta weekend, which is a completely open beta, begins this morning at 10 AM PST, and one of the new features we’ll be getting to test out is the brand new Warfront Trion is adding in Storm Legion, Karthan Ridge. Trion is looking to do some player testing in Karthan Ridge this weekend, and is going to be holding a series of special events that include dev-slaying and nifty player rewards. Keep reading to see the full announcement, which was posted on the official forums yesterday afternoon by Elrar.

Since the main quest line for Tempest Rising, Storm Legion’s prelude world event, grants a cosmetic wardrobe set including a chestpiece for the last step, some players questioned whether or not the quest line will disappear once the expansion launches. We received a confirmation on the forums yesterday (as well as one on Twitter) stating that the quest line will stay around just in case players would like to complete it at a later date on alt characters, etc.

Here is that announcement:

Originally posted by Mortt (Source)

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I wanted to pop in to let you all know that the Storm Legion Prelude quest line (that gives out this set) will be sticking around after this event ends. So if you are not yet 50, you will still be able to complete it at a later date.

Handy bit of info for wardrobe and alt connoisseurs.

Last week, randomly selected participants in the Storm Legion beta were emailed a survey about their experiences. The questions were pretty standard, such as asking what the player thought of each new feature and checking how likely they are to recommend the game to friends. There was one question, though, that stood out as being particularly relevant.

RIFT is often accused of being derivative of World of Warcraft, and their original marketing slogan of “we’re not in Azeroth anymore” certainly didn’t help with that perception. At its launch in March of 2011, the UI seemed directly lifted from WoW right down to the special hotkeys and exclamation points to mark questgivers. While rifts themselves were a new concept with new graphics, dwarves and elves fighting fantasy creatures with magic had already been done a million times in a million different games.

Some of us have already seen a bit of the Defiler– the expansion’s new Cleric soul– in action on Storm Legion’s beta server, but for those who haven’t, here is all the information and highlights from Friday’s Cleric reveal live stream, which will most likely be viewable on Trion’s TwitchTV page shortly. For now, if you’d like to watch it, it can be found on Youtube.

The Defiler soul’s slightly different from the other new Storm Legion souls thematically. The team referred to the soul as “tragically misunderstood.” It is a ranged healing soul, capable of both AoE healing and tank healing, as well as putting out decent damage. Defilers are unique in that they balance both life and death within their fingertips. The soul does require some fairly in-depth strategy to play to its full potential, which may be why it’s somewhat misunderstood thus far.

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.

When you enter the new Frozen Tempest raid there is no doubt that you’re stepping into the home of the Storm Legion. Where Regulos’ lair in Eternal Eclipse is dark and organic, Frozen Tempest is bright, cold, and heavily influenced by magitech. The centerpiece of the raid zone is a huge clockwork wrought metal tower called the Tempest Engine, which leads up to a platform where players will finally get to meet (and shoot at) the infamous Crucia.

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.

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?