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.

For all of us who enjoy collecting pets, Summerfest has been an interesting– and hopefully fun– experience. The sheer randomness of attempting to catch the critters that scurry around Telara can be a little frustrating, especially when we don’t know the exact mechanics behind the spawns. Don’t get me wrong– the mechanic itself is a very enjoyable one, but it’s good that Summerfest is going to be an annual holiday, because getting every single pet this time around might be a little difficult. But challenge is good, right?

In my Summerfest guide, I posted a list of the pets, including coordinates for the locations I was aware of during PTS testing. A couple other players did the same. One smart player finally consolidated those lists and plotted the points out on a map, so players who are attempting to farm out the pets can quickly grab a visual of good locations to try.

RIFT’s 1.9 patch came at an interesting time. With the announcement of Storm Legion flying through the MMO community, many gamers who had previously played RIFT or just kept an eye on Trion’s successes were well-aware of the patch. Many even resubbed. Conquest was the huge draw in 1.9, and has caused quite a ruckus– both positively and negatively– in the RIFT community. But what about the patch as a whole? Is it building up on the exciting expansion momentum, or was it, as the saying goes, “a swing… and a miss”?

We received some clarification yesterday about the persistent world event currency that RIFT has been moving toward beginning with patch 1.9. Basically, we’ll be seeing certain events year after year including Fae Yule, Carnival of the Ascended, and Summerfest– and the rewards for those events may not be designed to be able to purchase everything the first time around. In fact, it seems the intention may be the opposite.

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.

With the upcoming Patch 1.9: Conquest next week we don’t want you feeling like a fish out of water. There will be a ton of changes but there are some fun things with fishing that we’re going to tackle. For the Summerfest you will get three quests, one is called Lurecraft where you will need to use Sunplant Leaves to create lures. For each Summer Sunfish Lure you will need 5 Sunplant Leaves. The lures will guarantee you catch only Summer Sunfish and will give you 5 charges.

Trion recently updated their official site with some of the coolest highlights of patch 1.9. We couldn’t help but share! Keep reading for the list, along with links to the coverage we’ve provided on some of the upcoming features.

RIFT 1.9: Conquest

Maelforge and Laethys are dead, and with the Blood Storm on the run, the Ascended have splintered over philosophical differences. Three groups have risen among these mighty immortals, and their inter-dimensional war has come to a head in a battle that rages across realities.

Conquest introduces factions that transcend the differences between Guardian and Defiant. Join the Oathsworn, the Dominion, or the Nightfall, and experience pulse-pounding player-on-player bloodshed in a whole new way. Earn PvP ranks and armor sets as you fight your way across this incredible conflict.

RIFT’s Public Test Shard is useful for all kinds of things: testing out new features like Conquest, playing with new builds, and keeping tabs on world events. Oh, and datamining! Since the PTS client is closer to the client Trion’s development team works on, every now and then PTS players are able to glimpse into the world of Telara as imagined in the future, and find out about the cool things headed our way that haven’t been announced publicly. Most of the information datamined is pure speculation at this point, but that’s half the fun!

This past week, a couple PTS players noticed some very interesting additions to the achievements tab. One of which is pictured above, and was located under the “Zones” section. Yep, that’s right. Six new zones. Six. Dusken Spires, Eternal City, Pelladane, Seratos, Morban, and Steppes of Infinity. Interestingly enough, there are six planes. Could these possibly be the new zones in the next huge content addition?

Trion, in the past, has talked about the addition of expansion-type content that will eventually allow players to move through the planes, and take part in battles in a world we are unfamiliar with. It’s possible that these zones are connected to that content, since the numbers match. It’s also possible that these zones are connected to content located in Planetouched Wilds, which is an area discovered on the PTS last year, or a new continent entirely.