RIFT is preparing to launch their eighth major content update, bringing to us a new raid, new trade-skills and the ever-expanding role of Instant Adventures. This week, we sat in on a conference call with Hal Hanlin, Scott Hartsman and Adam Gershowitz, and discussed everything that is coming with this latest patch. We even got a taste of what is coming on down the road.

There were plenty of questions regarding Fishing and Survival. We learned that these new skills don’t just bring reasons to roleplay and play around, they bring actual benefits to your character, from a power and convenience perspective. For example, the tents and bedrolls for survival are not just for roleplaying purposes; they do have effects. According to Adam Gershowitz, from a gameplay perspective, they are there to give you a little bit of rest experience as well! The developers main focus is to allow players to pitch a tent, so that they can attend to things happening in real life, like kids or making dinner, and not force the player to head back to town to log off safely.

Check out Rift’s latest Community Blog as they showcase Fishing and Survival skills!

As Ascended you lead thrilling, immortal lives full of combat and adventure, but sometimes, you just want to get away from it all. You want to immerse yourself in the wonder of this unique, plane-touched world, search for hidden treasures, and seek calm from the din of war. Now, Telara’s defenders can heed the call of nature and trek out into the great outdoors with two all-new, bonus trade skills: Fishing and Survival.

Coming in RIFT 1.8: Infernal Dawn, these trades can be enjoyed by everyone in addition to any existing crafting or gathering skills you possess!

Nature Calls in Update 1.8: Introducing Fishing & Survival!

The beginning implementations of RIFT’s patch 1.8 (full in-progress patch notes found here) were released on the public test shard (PTS) this past weekend, and among the changes are two very cool additions– new tradeskills! Telara’s citizens will soon be able to enjoy Fishing and Survival, which can be learned in addition to the three tradeskills already known. The trainers and vendors will be found in Sanctum, Meridian, Silverwood (Argent Glade), and Freemarch (Kelari Refuge).

Fishing grants players the ability to fish in shallow and deep water locations around Telara. It also grants the ability to craft fishing poles and fishing lures, which are, of course, used while fishing. Survival grants the player the ability to make camping gear and cook food. The cooking ingredients mostly come from fishing, which will make leveling both tradeskills fairly simple. The camping gear items in place so far are things like bedrolls and tent kits that are made with cloth.

Head Start is tomorrow and that means that many gamers around the world a preparing for a gaming marathon of epic proportions. MMORPG release weekends almost always attract hardcore players that play double-digit hour gaming sessions. People take off of work, or skip class, and concentrate on getting their character established in the new game world. We here at Rift Junkies would like to provide a guide for you on what to do and how to do it in the most efficient and most responsible way possible.

You don’t want to be that guy who ends up on reddit who met his untimely demise in front of his computer.