Executive Producer Scott Hartsman gave us all sorts of details on upcoming Rift content, from experience gains past the level cap to new types of instances and PvP features.

New PvP Content

A large portion of the press conference focused on new PvP content that's coming to Rift in the form of Warfront changes and new PvP rifts. A new Warfront gameplay type called Escalation will be added to the Whitefall Steppes map. Hartsman couldn't provide many details, but it will be available for testing on the Public Test Shard today, July 14. According to Community Manager James “Elrar” Nichols, the Guardians and Defiants have deployed massive rune cannons on the map, and players must "capture three Sourcestone from the field and hold them at your base to win. Beware though; Sourcestone can be stolen directly from your base by the enemy."

As far as future Warfronts are concerned, Hartsman said they're working on a brand new Warfront they've playtested internally. “We like it a lot,” he said. "All I can say for now is it's new chaotic fun in a setting you wouldn't expect a Warfront to take place in."

Hartsman said that their world PvP plans are based on feedback from previous features. They started off with things like raid rifts and Ancient Wardstones, which tended not to work as well as they'd hoped. They've since added PvP dailies and hotspots, which helped add incentives and prove there's a desire for world PvP. “PvP rifts are the next logical step,” he said. “We're building on the theme of a known place in the world where PvP is the key activity.”

When asked if any changes will be made to PvP to make it more viable for a casual player, Hartsman said, “I don't think of it as a huge grind despite the fact that it's a long-lasting experience. The moment to moment gameplay is supposed to be the larger fun of PvP, which is why Warfronts are popular.” He mentioned that daily quests pay out well, and said PvP rifts will do the same. “It's definitely a long journey, but as a person who's moderately high up myself, I play because I enjoy the gameplay,” he said.

Cross-Shard Instances

Trion is testing a cross shard LFG system on the Public Test Shard, and Hartsman went into quite a bit of detail about their larger plans for the servers.

"We started by optimizing the servers like crazy. The next step was to buy a lot of server upgrades to basically act like a force multiplier to up the Wargroup capacity themselves. About two months ago we boosted the Wargroups themselves from four shards to eight shards. The next step after that was to get free character transfers rolling to take advantage of this extra capacity. The next step, which we're on now, is we're doing a lot of prep behind the scenes of swapping shard hardware around to get everyone into as large a Wargroup as possible. Once the densities of players match the destinations they transfer to, everything gets better. We're going to end up with a greater concentration of cross-server pools for everyone. … It's all this larger plan around getting players more concentrated into larger Wargroups. That is the method behind all of the madness."

Miscellaneous Topics

• There are plans to add more content for lower levels, but not in the immediate future.
• The drops in the Waves of Madness event will continue to be available once the event ends. “We're also going to be including them as rare drops in Hammerknell related content. That also includes one of the Chronicle instances,” Hartsman said.
• In regards to the popularity of rifts, Hartsman compared them to building blocks that are used to create more content, such as crafting rifts, raid rifts and PvP rifts. “As we take them to the next level and improve the gameplay, they get used more and more,” he said.
• Hartsman can't give a specific date on when players will be able to take the fight to the planes. “It is a theme we like also. It's something we're planning for the future,” he said.
• Following the launch of free character transfers, shard populations are “ridiculously good. In some cases, too good.” The team gets reports every hour of where players are going, and they monitor queue sizes and turn on transfers where needed. “People seem to be self-balancing real well,” he said.
• Plans are in the works for web and mobile apps. Hartsman couldn't give much detail, but said he's seen functional prototypes on a mobile device.
• Trion wants feedback on what types of non-combat secondary skills and activities players would like to see added to the game.
• Hartsman wants to host a Rift or Trion Worlds convention someday. “I would love that more than anything else. We will see when that fits into our plans,” he said.

Darryl Gangloff, editor-in-chief