Last week Trion Worlds announced that they would be publishing XLGAMES’ new MMORPG ArcheAge for Western audiences. At first glance it might seem unusual for a company that already has one MMO (or even two once Defiance launches) to run what could be a competing title, but although RIFT and ArcheAge share some of the same general mechanics there seem to be more differences than similarities.

Trion Worlds is starting to become quite the ambitious MMOG developer, producer, and publishing company. In a very awesome move to most fans of RIFT and Trion and SyFy’s upcoming DEFIANCE project, Trion announced yesterday that they are teaming up with XLGAMES to bring the hugely ambitious, sandbox-style Eastern MMORPG ArcheAge to Western audiences. Trion will become the localized publisher for the game. No release dates or beta dates are known yet, but Trion does have a placeholder website in place already.

Now, if you haven’t heard much about ArcheAge yet, it’s showing a lot of promise in Korea, mainly due to the ways in which players will be able to participate in a wide variety of innovative, open activities. We’re talking in-game gems like naval combat, the ability to build your own ships and housing, large-scale PvP siege combat, an arena system, aerial gliding, and customized pet, farming, and judicial systems. If you’d like to find out more about the game, XLGAMES has a few video trailers available on the current ArcheAge site.

The official press release for the announcement can be found on Trion’s website.

A rather large bombshell was dropped during yesterday’s first half of RIFT’s second annual State of the Game address (also known as Producer’s Letter). Scott Hartsman, who has been the Executive Producer for RIFT since the beginning, is stepping down from the position and leaving Trion. He left Dahanese with this letter for the RIFT community:

I wanted to let you know that I’m stepping down from my position here at Trion. It’s been an amazing time, working with some of the best developers anywhere, getting the company’s first game off the ground, taking it all the way through a multitude of amazing updates, then to Storm Legion, and even a little bit beyond.

And I’ll still see you in RIFT.
Scott Hartsman

Daglar will be finishing off the continuation of the Producer’s Letter later today, where we’ll undoubtedly find out more about what Trion has in store for us in the coming year. Best of luck to Scott Hartsman in his future endeavors. He’ll be missed.

Now that Storm Legion’s been out for a while and the holidays have come to an end, many members of the RIFT community are becoming a little concerned. Why’s that? Because of Trion’s lack of recent community interaction and support. Botting has been a problem on and off in the game for a while, especially since the addition of fishing, but it has never been as rampant as it is now. Fishing bots are helping inflate the in-game economy on many shards, and AFK leveling has also been an issue in the expansion. Trion has yet to say much about either.

Many players are also concerned about Trion’s general lack of recent community support when it comes to player harassment and in-game chat and name moderation. There has been an influx of new and returning players in RIFT since Storm Legion, and many of the chat channels across multiple shards are becoming a little hostile. The official forums have also been fairly quiet as of late. Between Trion’s recent flux of layoffs and the winter holidays, a bit of silence is to be expected, but how much silence is too much, exactly?

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.

If you were playing RIFT last year, you might remember the fun that was had during Extra Life 2011. If not, here’s a recap: players and Trion staff members joined up to play RIFT for 24 hours straight… for charity! Gaming for a good cause! Friends and family members were able to donate, and the proceeds went directly to the Children’s Miracle Network.

It’s that time of year again, and Trion’s gearing up to take part in Extra Life 2012. The best part is, we’re all welcome to join, either by signing up at RIFT’s Extra Life page and joining Trion’s team, or by donating to the cause. The event starts on October 20th.

Oh, and in case you’re curious, yes, players who take part do get a nifty title. Trion will also be using their new, fancy live stream page this year, and will be streaming some of the action, along with gameplay footage from the other titles Trion Worlds is hard at work on. Keep reading to see the full announcement and all the details on how to join in on the fun for a good cause.

During next weekend’s PAX, Trion announced earlier this week that they will not only be attending and showcasing all kinds of RIFT goodies, but the team will be live streaming the presentation. PAX runs from Friday, August 31st to Sunday, September 2nd. Here’s the announcement:

Originally posted by Elrar (Source)

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We’re taking our live streams to a whole new level!

When we invade PAX next weekend you’ll get to join the action – whether you’re coming to the show or halfway around the world you’ll get to see the latest and greatest from RIFT, Defiance, and End of Nations.

Join us next weekend starting Friday, August 31st – Sunday, September 2nd from 10:30AM to 5:30PM Pacific (5:30PM-12:30AM GMT) for live coverage from the show floor. We’ll be showing off the latest in Storm Legion with interviews, playtests, and more – just tune into Twitch.TV/trionworlds!

Sounds exciting! Oh, and in case you haven’t heard– we won’t see our next Storm Legion class reveal (although we do know names now!) until after PAX. We will, however, hopefully see some new goodies at PAX in the likes of interviews, area reveals, and feature reveals.

During Scott Hartsman’s Ask Me (Almost) Anything Reddit chat last Friday, Hartsman gave his honest opinions and some rather large answers to questions that RIFT players were curious about. There were specifics about Storm Legion, for example, that he couldn’t reveal, but for the most part, he answered the questions very thoroughly. He delved into some interesting subjects including the different types of PvP players in RIFT, the MMO industry’s past, the MMO industry’s future, the future of the Bard soul, and Trion’s stance on one day turning toward a free-to-play model.

Massively published an article yesterday in which the author takes a closer look at the answers Hartsman issued about these subjects, and speculates a bit about what they might mean for the future of RIFT.

Trion Studios conducted their question and answer session on Reddit today with Scott Hartsman taking the stage. The Executive Producer took part in a RIFT AMAA, which stands for “Ask Me Almost Anything”. This meant that, unfortunately, some questions remained unanswerable, especially most pertaining to Storm Legion and patch 1.10. Still, some interesting questions did get answered, and similar to yesterday’s AUAA session with Trion’s Community Team, we received a rare glimpse into the work place where Telara comes to life.

The entire AMAA session can be found on Reddit, but for a distilled version with only the questions and answers, keep reading. Note: it’s still quite a long read, though I’ll do my best to cut out some of the unneeded fluff.

This week, Trion’s hosting a two-day AUAA (Ask Us (Almost) Anything) Reddit chat. Yesterday was day one of the chat, and Trion’s community team members– James ‘Elrar’ Nichols, James ‘Walsingham’ Weeks, and Amanda ‘Amary’ Fry answered a whole bunch of questions. The entire Reddit chat can be found here, but in case you want the short version, here it is, with only the direct questions and answers. That said, it’s still quite a long read, and you can definitely tell the team had fun with some answers!

Not all questions asked were given answers, unfortunately, but there’s still one more day of questions and answers to come. Today, Scott Hartsman is supposed to be among the team members answering questions from the community, so it’s possible that we’ll see answers to some of the more design and developer-focused questions then.