Rift
Rift is a 3D fantasy MMORPG set in the sprawling realm of Telara, built around classic questing, dungeons, and raids, but distinguished by large-scale public events and a flexible “mix-and-match” class system. Between its rift invasions, deep build crafting through souls, and a robust set of MMO side activities (including housing), it caters most to players who enjoy traditional theme park progression with plenty to do at endgame.
 | Publisher: Trion Worlds Playerbase: Low Type: F2P MMORPG Release Date: March 1, 2011 PvP: Duels / Battlegrounds / PvP Servers Pros: +Huge backlog of zones, dungeons, and activities. +Rifts and invasions add lively open-world events. +Very flexible class and build options via souls. +Cash shop feels largely reasonable for a F2P MMO. Cons: -Race options are fairly limited. -Endgame tends to favor a smaller set of optimal builds. -Core combat, UI, and quest structure lean on familiar MMO conventions. |
Rift Overview
Rift unfolds in Telara, a fantasy world positioned at the crossroads of six elemental planes: Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Life, and Death. At its foundation, it plays like a familiar theme park MMORPG in the World of Warcraft tradition, with hub-driven questing, instanced dungeons, and an endgame built around group content. The difference is that Rift layers several systems on top of that formula that help the world feel more reactive and customizable.
The most defining system is the Ascended Soul setup. Instead of locking you into a narrow class path, the game starts you with a broad calling and then lets you assemble builds from multiple “souls” (skill trees). You can keep several loadouts and swap between them, which makes it easy to experiment or adjust to different group needs without rerolling.
The other signature feature is the rift event model. Across many zones, tears in reality open and pull in enemies tied to the planes. These events encourage impromptu cooperation, escalating from waves of mobs into larger zone activities that can end in open-world boss encounters. In practice, it creates those MMO moments where a quiet questing area suddenly turns into a crowd rallying around a shared objective.
Rift Key Features:
- Living World Events – rifts appear across large zones, pushing players to cooperate to repel invasions and close them.
- Content-Rich Progression – there is an enormous amount to do, from leveling paths to group activities and side systems.
- Strong Character Customization – a solid set of appearance options, including details like hair, facial features, and body adjustments.
- Build Loadouts – extensive build crafting through souls, supported by multiple setups you can maintain and switch between.
- Playable Without Paying – a F2P structure that does not require spending money to access the core MMO experience.
Rift Screenshots
Rift Featured Video
Factions and Races:
- The Guardians – Dwarves, High Elves, Mathosian
- The Defiant – Bahmi, Eth, Kelari
Class Callings and Souls:
- Cleric – Cabalist, Defiler, Druid, Inquisitor, Justicar, Oracle, Purifier, Sentinel, Shaman, Warden
- Mage – Arbiter, Archon, Chloromancer, Dominator, Elementalist, Harbinger, Necromancer, Pyromancer, Stormcaller, Warlock
- Rogue – Assassin, Bard, Bladedancer, Marksman, Nightblade, Physician, Ranger, Riftstalker, Saboteur, Tactician
- Warrior – Beastmaster, Champion, Liberator, Paladin, Paragon, Reaver, Riftblade, Void Knight, Warlord, Tempest
- Primalist – Vulcanist, Berserker, Typhoon, Titan, Dervish, Preserver
Rift Review
Rift (previously Rift: Planes of Telara) is a 3D fantasy MMORPG developed and published by Trion Worlds. It launched in North America on March 1, 2011, followed by a European release on March 11, 2011. While it began life as a subscription MMO, it transitioned to free-to-play on June 12, 2013. The game has received two expansions: Storm Legion (November 13, 2012) and Nightmare Tide (October 22, 2014).
Getting Started
Telara is framed as a battleground world, caught between the influence of the elemental planes of Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Death, and Life. Each plane is associated with a dragon-deity, and the central threat comes from Regulos, the Dragon of Extinction, whose invasion drives the setting’s constant sense of instability. The idea is simple and effective for an MMO, the world is always on the brink, and you are one of the Ascended tasked with pushing back the invasions.
Early on, your identity is shaped by faction choice. Guardians are aligned with Vigil, a central divine figure in Telaran belief, and present themselves as a more traditional fantasy power. Defiant lean toward science and technology rather than religion, which gives them a distinct flavor even when you are still doing standard starter-zone errands. The playable races follow that split: Guardians include the high elves, the Mathosians, and the dwarves; Defiant include the Eth, the Bahmi, and the Kelari.
Character creation is one of Rift’s better first impressions. You get a healthy range of cosmetic choices, plus sliders for shaping features like height and facial structure. The face tool uses a triangle-style selector that sits between presets and full sculpting, it is not the most granular editor in the genre, but it provides enough control to avoid the “everyone looks identical” problem.
Moment to moment, the first hour feels deliberately familiar in a good way. Movement and camera controls are standard, ability use is mapped cleanly to hotkeys, and the quest tracker keeps you oriented without too much friction. Skills are gained automatically as you level, which helps the opening flow. Where Rift stands out is atmosphere: starter areas can quickly shift from calm questing to dramatic skyboxes and sudden planar incursions, which sells the game’s premise immediately.
Souls and Build Crafting
Rift’s defining gameplay hook is its soul-based class system. In the fiction, Ascended draw power from legendary figures, and mechanically those souls function as deep talent trees that shape your role and toolkit. You begin by choosing a calling (warrior, rogue, mage, or cleric) and then select souls within that calling to form a build.
The key is that you can combine up to three souls at once, and you are not permanently locked into a single configuration. That flexibility encourages experimentation, letting you create hybrids, specialize into a role, or build utility-heavy setups depending on what you enjoy. Progression comes from spending points that unlock active abilities and passive bonuses within those trees.
On top of soul points, Rift also includes Root Advancement, a separate track used to improve core attributes shared across characters. The end result is a layered progression system: one part defining your playstyle through souls, and one part strengthening your baseline character power. For players who like tinkering with builds, it is still one of Rift’s most compelling strengths.
Rifts, Invasions, and the Open World
Rifts are not just a theme, they are the game’s most important world system. They open across zones and kick off public events where players fight through staged encounters, defeat a culminating boss, and seal the breach. The game ties rifts to the six planes (Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Life, and Death) and supports multiple difficulty tiers: Minor, Major, Expert, Raid, and Hunt.
As of patch 1.51, Crafting Rifts were added, focusing rewards around crafting materials. That matters because it pulls in players who might otherwise ignore combat events, which helps keep these activities populated.
Invasions add another layer. Some rifts can spawn roaming invader groups that pressure a zone over time. If they capture a Wardstone, they can strengthen their foothold and escalate into bigger threats, up to epic bosses that require a sizable group and a longer fight. Closing rifts and participating in these events rewards tokens that can be traded for gear and other items, creating a clear gameplay loop that supports both casual drop-ins and organized zone pushes.
A Classic Theme Park Foundation
Rift released in an era when many MMOs were chasing the “WoW killer” label, and you can feel that influence in its systems. Dungeons, raids, and structured PvP are foundational pillars, not afterthoughts. If you like the cadence of leveling into instanced content and then refining your character through endgame activities, Rift is built to accommodate that.
At the same time, it does not come across as a low-effort imitation. The souls system and open-world events give it its own identity, and the amount of content reflects serious production values. The game also benefited from a substantial initial budget (over $50 million USD), which shows in how many features are present and how broadly the world is supported with activities.
More to Do: PvP, Adventures, and Housing
PvP in Rift comes in a few forms. You have duels and structured Warfronts that play like familiar battleground modes (objective capture, point control, and similar formats). With factions in place, the game avoids the chaos of full free-for-all PK rules, but once you hit Level 10, PvP becomes a real option depending on your server and activity choice.
Instant Adventure is another standout feature for keeping players moving through the world. At Level 45+, it groups players into large, open-world raids and sends them through shared zones to complete objectives and fight enemies without shifting into an instanced copy of the area. It is a practical way to gain experience near endgame and also makes zones feel active because groups are visibly doing content out in the world.
Housing is handled through “dimensions,” instanced spaces where you can build and decorate. It is a quieter system compared to rifts and raids, but it adds longevity for players who enjoy customization and social hangout spaces. Alongside that, Rift offers the expected MMO checklist: difficulty options for instances, achievements, titles, mounts, and larger raids.
Monetization and the Store
Rift’s shop includes the standard service items (transfers, renames, faction changes) alongside cosmetics, mounts, boosts, pets, and convenience options. The important point is that it generally avoids the kind of purchases that outright invalidate progression, although spending can accelerate your path to late-game readiness through boosts and related items.
Players can also opt into a subscription-like patron status, which grants various bonuses such as increased XP, reputation and currency gain, plus extra items and quality-of-life perks. Free accounts have some restrictions, largely aimed at limiting abuse and gold selling. Additionally, some souls are tied to owning the Storm Legion expansion.
One unusual, practical design choice is how the store interface replaces many traditional vendors. Instead of bouncing between NPCs for basic supplies, you purchase essentials through the same UI. It is not a flashy feature, but it does streamline small annoyances that add up in long MMO sessions.
Final Verdict – Excellent
Rift remains an easy recommendation for players who want a classic MMO structure with a few standout systems that still feel distinctive. The soul-based build flexibility is genuinely fun to experiment with, and rifts keep the open world from feeling static. Combat and questing follow familiar genre patterns, so players looking for a radical departure from traditional theme park design may bounce off.
For anyone who enjoys the World of Warcraft-style loop and wants a free-to-play option with a lot of content and a generally fair store, Rift is still one of the stronger choices in the genre.
Rift Links
Rift Official Site
Rift on Steam
Rift Wikipedia Page
Rift Wikia (Database / Guides)
Rift Gamepedia (Database / Guides)
Rift Metacritic Page
Rift System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 2.0 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce FX 5900XT / ATI Radeon X300 Series
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 15 GB
Recommended Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7 / 8
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD equivalent or better
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 / Radeon HD 3870 or better
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Disk Space: 15 GB
Rift Music & Soundtrack
Rift Additional Information
Developer: Trion Worlds
Lead Content Designer: Julia “Darkmoon” Fleming
Composer: Inon Zur
Game Engine: GameBryo
Closed Beta Date: December 3, 2010 – December 6, 2010
Open Beta Date: September 24, 2008
Free to Play Date: June 12, 2013
Steam Release Date: October 24, 2013
Foreign Release(s):
Australia: March 1, 2011
Europe: March 11, 2011
Expansions:
Storm Legion (November 13, 2012) – Raised the level cap from 50 to 60, added instanced player housing (dimensions), four new souls, and two new continents: Brevane and Dusken.
Nightmare Tide (October 22, 2014) – Raised to level cap from 60 to 65, added four new souls, six new dungeons, aquatic mounts, minion cards, mastery abilities, and three new zones: Tarken Glacer, Goboro Reef, and Draumheim.
Development History / Background:
Work on Rift started in 2006 and was backed by an initial budget of over $50 million USD, as stated by Trion Worlds CEO Lars Buttler. The game was first shown to a wider audience at E3 2009 through a trailer featuring gameplay. Rift launched as a subscription MMORPG on March 1, 2011, and later shifted to a free-to-play model on June 12, 2013.