Rift and Free To Play: A Founder Returns

Like many others, I have once again ventured into the realms of Telara. I played in beta and bought my collector’s edition. I was in love with the idea of Rift. I played for about two months with my husband. Our computers were across the room from each other and our guildmates thought it was funny we still used Ventrilo to communicate. Life happened however and I was forced to leave my beloved Telara.

I am sure you could imagine my surprise when I heard Rift was going free to play. I was ecstatic! I immediately began tracking my account, but couldn’t remember the email address. The customer service agent that helped me find it and changed the email I no longer had access to and gave me three free days. Granted this wasn’t much but I popped in. There weren’t many people around and things were slow. Then, Trion Worlds released free to play. I waited a few days for it to settle down before I logged in.

First Impressions

There are people all over the place on my server, Faeblight. I no longer have to wait what seems long times for zone events to start. Apparently, they are based on current server population so these zone events (like invasions by goblins or other planar creatures) are far more frequent. It’s a busy hub of activity now and I am totally loving it.

Housing?

When I stopped playing Rift, housing was but merely a twinkle in Trion’s eye. I got my first chance to see the housing set up quickly within the first realm after the tutorial world. I like the set up. They use dimensions that you can portal to from anywhere it seems like so far. The first one is a small set up but it includes outside, so you don’t just focus on rooms inside of a house. I am most intrigued to see other dimensions.

Final Thoughts

I am thoroughly enjoying the free to play Rift. I get to play one of my favorite MMOs without a care in the world as to how I am going to afford my addiction (two kids can be expensive). With the addition of other players that came for the free to play, it’s a bustling place to spend a few hours adventuring and crafting. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the game has that I have yet to discover since my last foray into Telara.